Does Prejudice Overthrow Empathy?

According to a recently published study, children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults.

I will have to read the actual study in order to capture the important details, which Pappas does not identify in her article.  As much as I am inclined to chuckle at this article, and smugly snort "Why yes, only stupid people could be prejudiced," the article goes so far to say that people with low intelligence would also be more likely to be politically conservative.

So here are my questions:

1. How is "intelligence" being defined and assessed by the researchers?

2. If people with Down's Syndrome or other developmental disabilities are also identified as people with "low intelligence", would people with Down's Syndrome or other developmental disabilities also be more likely to prejudiced or politically conservative?

3. Would Adolf Hitler be considered someone of low intelligence, considering that he was a white supremacist who believed in military dictatorship?

4.  Does being "liberal" make you more likely to be of "high intelligence" and/or less likely to be prejudiced?

5. Is there an assessment tool that defines and measures empathy?  Non-human animals are capable of empathy; non-human mammals will nurse baby animals outside of their species, and non-human animals raised with other species will get along with those different species (including humans).  Do humans operate differently than animals in this regard?

Please feel free to comment and discuss.

Making Abortion Illegal Does Not Make It Disappear

According to a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization, abortion rates are higher in parts of the world where it is illegal.  It is more likely for an abortion to take place in the developing world, and fifty percent of those abortions are performed in an unsafe manner. 

Abortion in the United States is legal, but only if the embryo is less than twenty four weeks old, when it would not be considered viable to live outside of the womb.  In every state of the Union, abortion rates vary due to social stigma, whether or not health insurance plans cover abortions, and how far one must travel in order to have an abortion.  African American women are most likely to have an abortion, while white women are the least likely.  Ironically, women in the United States are more likely than men to disapprove of abortion.  You can read more about it here.

It is also possible that more legal abortions are performed in states where there are higher numbers of abortion clinics.  No one knows how many illegal abortions are performed in the United States, but one would imagine that, if North Dakota only had one abortion clinic, and someone lived on the opposite end of the state who wanted an abortion and could not get there, unpretty things would happen. 

Why Some Children Learn To Hate School--Their Teachers Hate Them

Male African-American children more likely to receive harsh punishments in school for minor offenses than their peers, according to a report from the National Education Policy Center.  The "discipline" that these children receive does not instill "good" behavior, but often leads to more frequent disciplinary action as these students advance through their K-12 education, reduced academic performance, and early dropout rates.

A UCLA based study revealed that students were aware of ethnicity-based stigma as early as second grade.  Ethnicity-based stigma in school made students more likely to experience academic anxiety and not perform to their potential.  At the same time, ethnic minority children were more likely to be motivated learners in school than their white counterparts--in particular, young African-American students.  

A major human rights crisis exists in our K-12 environment.  No matter what federal and state laws say about providing equal opportunities for education to all children regardless of race, religion, etc etc etc in the United States, there is not one federal or state law which states that people must prove their cultural sensitivity before embarking on a career teaching children or adolescents.  While many state teacher certification programs may include a course or training session on multiculturalism, anyone can learn how to pass a class.  The question is, can someone apply cultural sensitivity and acceptance in their own classroom just because they learned about it in a class?

Fifty percent of new teachers in the United States leave the teaching profession after five years.  It is a difficult job to be sure, often for low pay.  Reasons for leaving the profession include difficult working conditions, lack of support and mentoring from senior colleagues, and a realization that teaching in "the real world" is not the same as student teaching.  What many of those former teachers do not mention is that they, too, may experience some form of prejudice from their colleagues, or may be disgusted by the acts of prejudice that they see their colleagues perform.  Some new teachers are asked specifically if "the black students" are giving them a hard time.  Some new teachers are told specifically to just send certain students (often students of color) to the principal's office if they as much as walk into the door of their classroom.  Many teachers believe that students who are seen and not heard do not hear them use ethnic, homophobic, and transphobic slurs on school grounds.  Even with a new generation of teachers arriving on the scene, a generation cited as more accepting of diversity than previous generations, blatant discrimination against certain children in K-12 schools has not decreased.

Martin Luther King Digital Archive Opens Today

Martin Luther King digital archive opens to the public today in Washington D.C..

You can search the digital archive here!  Indexed in the archive are nearly one million documents associated with the life of Martin Luther King, Jr..  200,000 of those documents are personal ones, including a handwritten draft of King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. 

Health and Human Rights in the United States

Some facts:

1. People in the United States must pay more for health care than in any other country in the world.   The United States spends twice as much on health care per capita ($7,129); in 2005, the national health care expenditures totaled $2 trillion (National Center for Health Statistics).

2. While Americans pay more for healthcare than anyone, the United States is the only wealthy industrial nation without a universal health care system (Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences).

3. In 2006, approximately 47 million people in the United States (about 16% of the population) did not have health insurance (U.S. Census Bureau).  In Minnesota, roughly 8% of the state population does not have health insurance; nearly 75% of those are working, employed white people (MinnPost.com).

4. 75% of all health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, many of which can be prevented, including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure, and cancer (Health Affairs).  Most of the time people with these conditions have not seen a doctor to monitor their condition due to lack of health insurance, and often end up in emergency hospitals.

5.  From 2000 to 2006, overall inflation has increased 3.5%, wages have increased 3.8%, and health care premiums have increased 87% (Kaiser Family Foundation).

6. Roughly half of bankruptcy filings in the United States are due to medical expenses (Health Affairs Journal, 2005).

For more health facts that take away our American Dream, visit this website.

Save Money and Get Married in Iowa

Same-sex couples married in Canada who are not Canadian nationals will have to go back to Canada if they wish to divorce each other.  This is because the United States and many other countries still do not recognize same-sex marriage as a legal bond.  A rumor is spreading that the Canadian government is dissolving all same-sex marriages performed in Canada for foreign couples...this is not true! 

Here is the truth--even if your same-sex marriage was performed in one of ten nations that have legalized same-sex marriage, it is not recognized by the federal government of the United States as a legal bond.  It will not guarantee you health benefits, inheritance, Social Security payments, tax deductions, child custody, or property.  It means if there is any sort of imbalance in your relationship, the state is unlikely to help you out in any way, and good luck finding marriage counseling.

The Canadian government has advised all same-sex couples to work with lawyers to draft nuptial agreements and contracts, thus paying even more money out of pocket just to prove their bond to each other.

Insufficient data exists about the stability of same sex relationships as opposed to heterosexual relationships.  Gays and lesbians around the world risk persecution, torture, or death if they come out.  Gays and lesbians in "safer" countries still have a more difficult time finding potential mates than heterosexual people, and do not always have role models for functional same-sex relationships.  There is still no societal expectation for gay or lesbian children to get married and raise a family, as there is for many heterosexual children, so gay and lesbian adults are probably more likely to say that finding someone for a committed relationship is truly their decision and desire. 

Rick Santorum, Humanitarian?

U2 lead singer Bono made some staggering comments about Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum during the Iowa caucus.  Bono said, "I would suggest that Rick Santorum has a kind of Tourette's disease; he will always say the most unpopular thing. But on our issues, he has been a defender of the most vulnerable."

What connection does Bono have with Rick Santorum to say "our" issues?  Well, since the 1980s, Bono has been actively involved with generating food aid for Africa.  In the 1990s Bono toured the United States to talk with Christian aid organizations--many supported by Republicans--about providing aid to Africa.  Rick Santorum sees a logic in the United States providing food aid, farm aid, and AIDS assistance to African countries; if the United States does not assist African nations, they will be "breeding grounds for radical Islamists".

In African nations, some of the most vulnerable people are LGBT populations.  The majority of African nations punish people who are openly homosexual, lesbian, or transgender, many times with torture or execution.  Heightened persecution of LGBT populations has taken place in African nations where faith-based organizations provided aid, especially Christian organizations funded by the United States and supported by Rick Santorum and Bono.  

What Bono does not talk about is U2's move from Ireland to the Netherlands to avoid paying their taxes, tax money that Ireland desperately needs for its own poor people.  Charity, indeed, begins at home.  Perhaps taxes is another area where Bono and Rick Santorum see eye to eye. 

"The Internet is Not a Human Right"

According to one of the inventors of the Internet, "Internet access is not a human right."

While it can be argued that someone in the 21st century could survive without the Internet, would they live as well as their Internet-surfing peers? 

Would someone be a hypocrite if they claimed that literacy is a human right, or freedom to access information is a human right, but stated that Internet access is not a human right?

Even Amish children who might not have electricity at home due to the religious beliefs of their community often go to public libraries where, with parental permission, they may use computers with Internet access.

The leaders of North Korea keep their people from having Internet access, in order to maintain their authority. 

The leaders of China continually try to censor and block what the Chinese can view over the Internet, but they see the value of all people having Internet access for commerce, education, and communication. 

Wireless Internet access in developing countries has the potential to make education more affordable and readily available for poor people in remote areas.  Internet access also makes it much easier for these same people to acquire free or low-cost EBooks, as well as free or low-cost means of communication or trade. 

If everyone had Internet access, would it level the playing field in some areas of human existence?  Is it possible that, in every case, those living without Internet access are at a disadvantage economically and educationally?