Gay Marriage

Mr. Thompson, the author of this reading, is definitely sure of what he believes in, as am I. I cannot believe when people are against gay marriage. They are just like us; they are not trying to reap the benefits that are granted to married couples. They just want to be seen as normal. For most of these individuals’ lives they have been unaccepted by their peers and as their friends go off and get marries, they stand there with their partner wishing for more. Some of these people dream of sharing the last name of their partner, but they cannot. Although there are legal ways to change an individual’s name, they are expense and just not the same experience. The author also says something about polygamy. Polygamy and incest are illegal because interbreeding can cause mutations in an individual’s DNA which can lead to sever birth defects and even more. Those laws are there to protect a family from the hardships of seeing the child like that. Although I would love to see every single person marry the person that they love, that just cannot happen. But gay marriage can happen and it should be allowed to happen. I am for gay marriage and everyone should be proud for who they are. 

Age Gap Relationships

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with age gap relationship ships. People are allowed to love whoever they choose. In fact, my dad married a woman that is over ten years older than him, and I see nothing wrong with that. Now, there are some exceptions. I just couldn’t accept a 90 year old dating a 25 year old. But I still would not judge if that were to happen. Love is love and you cannot do anything about it once it is sprung on someone. But, sometimes age gap relationships can be for money, or that is the stereotype. As long as the relationship is all love and no greed, then it is okay. Now, if my son or daughter came to me and said he or she was dating somebody my age, I would be a little flustered but I wouldn’t just put it down as if it never existed, I would give the relationship a chance. And like the author said, these types of relationships are becoming more popular, I agree with that. I have some friends in the past and even a few now that are dating people that are much older than themselves. I have never judged them for that and I never will. Everyone should be accepted for who they are and who they choose to be. 

Not Against Headphones

Throughout my life, I have always owned a device that required or could use headphones. I have never thought anything of it. Headphones have been controversial but there is really no need for that. Some people just need to escape from their everyday lives and that is how they do it. They put their headphones in and people know that bothering them would not be a good idea. I have always loved having headphones; they allowed me to listen to the music that I wanted to without having any interruptions. One place that I love to use them is when I am walking on campus. Listening to music makes walking on campus so much more interesting. I am pretty sure that other people do not want to listen to my music when they are on campus also, the headphones allow for this privacy. Not everybody listens to their headphones with the volume all the way up. The children that are losing there are losing it because they do not know they safe zone for headphones.  I do not believe that headphones cause an antisocial tendency, that is just ludicrous. Yes, music should be enjoyed by all but sometimes, people just want to be left alone and that makes plenty of sense to me. Without headphones, many people could not enjoy music when they are sitting in a library or lounging in the park. Headphones make it more fun to enjoy your music. 

Overpaid Athletes

Before this reading, I did not fully realize just how much money the athletes that we watch on television make in a year. To think that these people, who are just playing the game they love, make so much money is just ridiculous. These people do not work; they just play baseball or football all day. Yeah, the sport takes a lot of work and you are away from family sometimes but that doesn’t mean you need to make millions of dollars in a year. Athletes should be paid less, the less money they are paid the cheaper it is to attend an MLB game. Many people do not get the chance to enjoy a really Major League Baseball game in their lives, which is because they are just too expensive. They have to charge a lot to make up for the players salary. I believe that athletes deserve a pay reduction, now. These people are just going to keep asking for more unless there is something done. If money really is not important to you, than why do you keep asking for more and more? You can live just fine with 7 million dollars a year; there is no reason to bitch. Athletes earn way too much money, it needs to stop. 

What is SOPA?

According to the author, Brian Barrett, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is essentially a bill that will allow intellectual property owners to shut down a website that they believe is copyrighting their material. There has been a lot of controversy over this bill because if it passed, random websites would be shut down and we would not have a clue. SOPA has been postponed as of right now but voting should happen sooner or later. I honestly do not think it is going to pass because there are so many people that are completely against it. According to Brian, SOPA is just a bad thing. It should never ever be passed. The Stop Online Piracy Act is just like any controversial bill before it, it will take forever to vote on it or maybe eventually it will just disappear and nobody will remember SOPA. SOPA is aimed to protect United States property, and in some way that is a good thing, but the internet is a different story. The internet is not something that is meant to be controlled, no matter how hard the government tries to control it, they cannot. If this bill was passed, the internet would change as we know it today. SOPA just should not happen, and that’s that. 

College Athletes Should be Paid

This argument makes a good point. College athletes do raise a lot of money for their school; they also give up a lot of their free time, just for the sport. There are many sports that are in a college that do not make a profit. But the ones that do, they work hard for it. These athletes do deserve to be paid, maybe not as much as someone in the NBA, but enough to allow them the opportunity to not have a job. These students do not have enough time to get a job and sometimes there academics suffer because the sport comes first. Yes, they are usually going to school for free, but what about spending money? These athletes do a lot of work and they earn the money that they should make. I agree with everything that was stated in this reading. These students deserve to be paid. They make a profit for their school so they in turn should be paid back for all of the hard work it takes. There is so much money in college sports, not paying the players sounds pretty ludicrous. It takes a lot of work to be on a sports team while trying to maintain your studies, they should be paid. 

Fliers, Think Before Turning on Electronics

This reading got me thinking about how many times I have had my electronics on while flying. I never thought that it really mattered if you left your phone on. When I had a phone that I knew how to put in airplane mode, I would. But, most people do not what airplane mode is. If just one cell phone, laptop, or tablet can cause a plane to go down, than I will definitely make sure that I am not the one to cause that. Flying can be scary to begin with, but if someone in the cabin does not turn off their phone, they are just raising the risk. Many people think that the no electronics rule on an airplane does not matter, well obviously it does. Cell phones, tablets, can laptops have caused many accidents, whether airplane or vehicle. People just need to learn how to live without their communication for a couple of hours. Is it really necessary to put everyone’s life in danger? Well, I do not think so.  Whatever it is that you are doing, can probably wait until later. I try to adhere to all of the rules when I am on an airplane, I do not want anything to go wrong.