Many people will argue that professional athletes are overpaid. The average NFL player makes 1.9 million dollars a year. However, when you look at the bigger picture, look how much revenue a football team brings in. The NFL generates anywhere between 11.5 and 14.7 billion dollars a year. If the player is all around a good player, I think they deserve the pay they get.

In chapter 10, we learned about convincing and persuasion. One section of the chapter covered advertisements as a form of persuasion. I think using advertisements is a good form of persuasion. Advertising can be used anywhere from a magazine, the walls at schools, to billboards along the highways. This makes it easily accessible to viewers. Advertisements are often an image with little words on it. Quick and to the point. I think putting a visual with a sentence helps it have more meaning and makes it more powerful for a viewer.

People are always debating that reality TV shouldn't exist and shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the Real World should be cancelled. I personally enjoy reality television. I think its enjoyable to watch someone else's life, just for fun. I don't think it really defines the kind of person you are if you watch reality tv. People take things too seriously. There is no reason to worry about what someone else watches in their free time. I think it is kind of an escape from your own reality to watch these shows. If it weren't for these shows, alot of channels wouldn't exist most likely, like E! network. 

Recently, Target has been under fire for a photo that was poorly Photoshopped advertising a bikini. Along with the comments came people putting the company down for Photoshopping their models. I personally am not a fan of Photoshop, I feel people should be represented as themselves not by some editing on a computer. I do not think it is okay for people to alter someones body to fit society's definition of what beautiful should look like. However, I think parents should also be teaching their children that no one looks like the model in the magazines. Not even the models look like that. Every company and magazine uses photoshop in their ads. It isn't their responsibility to tell us what we should think is beautiful or not.

It is often debated, should a man defending our country make more money than a man defending a ball? Many sports stars make millions of dollars per year. Often the bigger the name, the bigger the pay check. While army/navy/etc. families can barely afford to take care of their families. I understand, athletes put their health on the line, taking the hits they do during plays. But our service men and women put their lives at risk every day of their lives, they don't get a 'season' off. I personally think that people enlisted in services to help our country should be able to live comfortably and take care of their families financially. Does anyone really need millions of millions of dollars? Especially, when there are people out there who can't afford to put dinner on their tables. I think there should be a cap for sports players and I think service men  and women should receive more money than they do.

I chose to read the article in Chapter Six titled "Devices Enforce Silence of Cellphones, Illegally." In the article, author Matt Richtel discusses a device, the jammer, that cuts off cellphone transmission within a certain radius of the device. He talks about an architect who was using public transit and was disrupted by a passenger talking loudly on her cellphone. He decided to use his jammer, thus leading to the lady being cut off from her phone call. He also talks with a man who sells the jammers online. In the U.S. jammers are illegal because the radio frequencies used by cellphone carriers are protected. My personal opinion when it comes to cellphone jammers is I don't think they should be legal. Cellphones are very common and yes, listening to someone else's conversations isn't pleasant, however, I think it is unnecessary to cut off cellphone transmission. Someone around you could be on a very important call with a doctor or a family member and cutting off their line would be unfair to them. If you ever come in counter with a loud talker, I think it's best you politely ask them to quiet down or just try to ignore it.

In the article, "Is Social Networking a Waste of Time," author Bernhard Warner discusses how normal it is for people to be on their networking sites at all times of the day. Whether it be in the work place or during school, people are constantly keeping up with their sites. In the article he also encourages the use of social networking. He uses examples such as, "students who use social networking sites to build and promote projects," and students who design widgets and applications. I agree with Bernhard when it comes to the encouragement of social networking, if it is intended for good. Many times we have seen social networking being used for bullying. You go on Twitter or Facebook and can easily find pages dedicated to hurting others. However, I have also seen many pages dedicated to helping others. For instance, when the tornadoes went through Central Illinois, many people took up collections and donations via Facebook. For the most part I would definitely encourage people to use social networking as long as their intentions mean well.

The article "More than 7,000 Oklahomans could lose mental health services, agency leaders warn," is an article discussing state cuts and Oklahoma's shrinking mental health system. Although this article focuses mostly on Oklahoma's federal dollars, I was more focused on the mental health patients themselves. For some reason, society/media never wants to talk about mental health. I personally, believe mental health is just as, if not more, important than physical health. Believe it or not, you most likely know more than one or two people who have a mental disorder that you will never know about. The idea that there are states cutting back on an already shortage of help, makes me sick. I personally think that we should focus more on people's well-being rather than money. I'm sure there are plenty of other areas a state could cut their funds rather than mental health systems.




Link to Story of Discussion:
http://newsok.com/more-than-7000-oklahomans-could-lose-mental-health-services-agency-leaders-warn/article/3926299