Although I already mentioned this video in the previous post, I feel it deserves individual recognition. Created by Californian students Cory Broad and Jolon Timms, It serves as an important reminder of the environmental and health dangers of genetically modified crops, which many consumers are unaware of. With your help, this video might just make it to Barack Obama’s screen. So, with that in mind, I ask that you share this video any way you can, meaning email, social networks, or even word of mouth. The video can be found below.
Monsanto Protection
On Tuesday, March 26, President Barack Obama signed into law HR 993, an act meant to prevent a government shutdown due to disagreements over federal spending. But while this measure may seem harmless, there is one very dangerous component deep in this new piece of legislation, one which has the potential to affect the American populous without its knowledge.
Buried seventy-eight pages deep in HR 993 is the Farmer’s Assurance Provision, dubbed by critics the Monsanto Protection act. Essentially, this act prevents federal courts from suspending the sale of genetically modified foods, even if those foods are a proven health hazard. This is dangerous because certain short-term studies have already proven the health risks associated with genetically modified foods, and now long term studies will be ignored.
Along with this, because current laws do not require that genetically modified foods be labeled, Americans will be unaware if they are eating these foods.
Perhaps of even more concern is how this section was written. When composing the Farmer’s Assurance Provision, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt collaborated with the bio-tech giant Monsanto in its specific language. Clearly this provision favors the economic success of Monsanto and other bio-tech companies over general public health and saftey.
Of course, the passage of this act has generated popular outcry. This movement includes Cory Broad and Jolon Timms, two Californian students who created a video expressing their concerns over the provision. The video highlights the possible environmental and health risks of genetically modified foods while imploring that President Obama reconsider his decision. These students are just two of the many opposed to these new laws.
So what can you do to help the cause? Well, there are a few things. First of all, you can support movements like that of Cory Broad and Jolon Timms by spreading the word any way you can. As for your personal health, the safest thing to do right now is to eat certified organic foods, as they cannot be genetically modified, or go to markets like Whole Foods that are labeling genetically modified foods themselves. Other than that, your only option is to wait until Obama realizes the mistake he has made.
Monsanto Protection
On Tuesday, March 26, President Barack Obama signed into law HR 993, an act meant to prevent a government shutdown due to disagreements over federal spending. But while this measure may seem harmless, there is one very dangerous component deep in this new piece of legislation, one which has the potential to affect the American populous without its knowledge.
Stop Internet Bitterness
It is a well known fact that the internet can bring out the worst in people. Due to a complete lack of consequence, these heathens (colloquially known as trolls) poison the World Wide Web with content meant only to sadden, anger, or degrade its viewers. And frighteningly, these cold expressions of contempt can be found anywhere and everywhere on the internet. Of course, this is not new. Ever since the infantile days of the web people have found ways to express pent-up rage which would be considered highly inappropriate in a public setting. Lately, however, I have noticed a steady rise in internet spite, and it is beginning to get on my nerves.
For the sake of simplicity, I am going to concentrate this article on the most well known variety of internet malice, although it extends much further: comments. It is standard that blogs, video sharing sites, and social networks have a commenting system, allowing viewers to comment on the content. Of course, these systems are abused by the aforementioned heathens. Take, for example, YouTube. Nearly every video is followed by a series of rude remarks which simply tears the creator apart. These comments, of course, serve no purpose: its quite obvious they are meant only to make the author feel bad.
Experienced content creators such as the mastermind behind The Oatmeal have learned to ignore such criticism, but to the amateur internet surfer this behavior creates a hostile, and ultimately undesirable experience. One would certainly not like to attend a concert if the crowd were reprimanding the performers non-stop.
So what are we to do? How can we convince people everywhere to maintain a certain amount of civility when discussing internet content? Well, unfortunately, we cannot. Trolls will be trolls, and trolls will always have an insatiable urge to make others angry. Therefore, the only thing we can do is control ourselves (meaning us who look down upon internet rudeness). Trolls feed off negative reactions: their only purpose, after all, is to generate them. So rather than responding to their comments, simply take a deep breath, flag them as inappropriate, and move on with your day.
With time, and an immense amount of patience, internet trolls will realize they no longer have an effect on people, and we will be free from the burden. So with this knowledge, I implore you to assist me in my quest to stop internet bitterness.