Demonic or Determined?

I do not believe that Nicki Minaj is possessed. I believe her actions at the 2012 Grammys were supposed to make a statement; however, I am unsure as to what that statement might be. Singers nowadays are becoming more and more extreme in their performances in order to attract media attention. I believe all of Nicki’s actions were with the intention of gathering attention for her upcoming album, not intentionally shaming the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, I believe that the Catholic Church’s reputation for being involved innumerous aspects of people’s daily lives leads to the Church being criticized by the media and public.

I personally was not offended by Nicki’s performance at the Grammys. While she did make several digs at the Catholic Church, it was done in a way that was poorly executed and reflected badly on her, not the Church. However, I can see where people would be upset about her performance. While mock exorcism was not vulgar, I found the singing of “Come All Ye Faithful” very distasteful. I understand Nicki wanting to make a statement, but to mock a song that numerous children hear growing up, a song often associated with Christmas, was unnecessary.

I also agree with Bill Donohue in his assessment of the choir boys praying and the women prostrating themselves on the prayer table. This scene was simply poor taste. It served no purpose to enhance her performance, in fact, in only added confusion to an already lackluster showing. I normally enjoy watching Nicki perform on stage, I feel that she has a lot of talent and her quirky ideas for stage performance are often novel and interesting. However, Nicki stuck out on this performance.

As for Donohue claims about other religions not receiving the criticism that Church receives, I have to agree with him. However, I do believe that most of the time, the Church brings the criticism onto itself. While the Jewish and Islam communities are vocal about their ideas, the Catholic Church is much more open to telling other of their ideas. Furthermore, since many Americans view Church ideas as being archaic and not up-to-date with the times, their comments are often ridiculed. While I do not believe any institution should be mocked because they have strong believes, when you’re the only fish in the sea, people are bound to come after you.

Response to Apple Products

After reading this article, I was not 100% percent shocked to learn what was happening at Apple products plants in China. Our culture is known for having sweatshops, child labor, unsafe working conditions, and many more human rights violations for the sake of saving money. We live in a materialistic world, a world where efficiency, both cost and speed, are king over everything else. Big corporations, like Apple, do not show compassion or care towards the workers in the factories. Their actions leading up to and including the explosion at Chengdu, clearly show this mind set.

As an apple user, I do view the company differently; however, I also realize that this change of view will most likely not affect my use of Apple products. I have an iPhone. I use this technology everyday in life. Whether as a phone, music listening device, email, or internet, Apple products have become major part of my life. This article might affect my futures actions regarding Apple. Maybe I won’t but the iPhone 5, or for my next laptop, I will not get an Apple. However, even if I was to boycott Apple products, the other technologies I would buy would be no better. Dell, Sprint, Toshiba, all of these companies probably have the same poor working conditions that Apple does. As much as I would like to make a difference, I fear there is no way in today's society to do so. I do not mean to sound hopeless in this statement, but unless everyone in the world signs sign a petition or boycotts the company, the billion-dollar technology industry will not listen.

My consciousness has definitely been raised by this article. One day, when money is not as much of an issue as it is today, I will do my best to buy American made products or products that do not violate the human rights of others. I hope that one day disasters like the one in Chengdu will not happen. It is my hope for the future that one day; all humans will receive the basic rights that have been given to me. Furthermore, I hope that governments will protect their people from unscrupulous companies like Foxcom in order to ensure the safety and well-being of their people.