Statistical Information on ESGV
Posted: 10/31/2016
East San Gabriel Valley shows a relationship between race and economic success in the region. Higher minority populations have higher unemployment rates and lower home values.
East San Gabriel Valley shows a relationship between race and economic success in the region. Higher minority populations have higher unemployment rates and lower home values.
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ESGV Law Enforcement Population Compared to National Averages
Posted: 10/30/2016
With the exception of Glendora, the cities with more minorities are more populated. The more population, the more police. This is true even for Glendora, but note the ratio of officers to civilians employed by the police department based on race. Moreover, ESGV law enforcement personnel is substantially below the national average, despite heavy expenditures in public safety.
With the exception of Glendora, the cities with more minorities are more populated. The more population, the more police. This is true even for Glendora, but note the ratio of officers to civilians employed by the police department based on race. Moreover, ESGV law enforcement personnel is substantially below the national average, despite heavy expenditures in public safety.
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Domestic Expectations
Posted: 10/23/2016
The point of civil disobedience is to create such social disruption that your oppressors are forced to the negotiating table. Shutting down freeways is a form of civil disobedience and if it is ever mentioned on your newsfeed, it is typically a negative reference. Society hates disruptions in traffic. Civil disobedience should be proportionate to the plight it is acting against. The most extreme action, however, should take the form of the preferred action. This mean, if roles were reversed, you would likely not want violence used against you, therefore you don’t use it as an oppressed person. There are a number of reasons why: (1) where the chances of success are low, nonviolent alternatives are generally more effective; (2) nonviolence gets more support; (3) nonviolence ensure that changes made are not based on violence, so that the new group “in power” won’t have to defend their power with perpetual violence; (4) violence is a distraction from productive negotiations; and (5) violence makes the oppressed as guilty as the oppressor. There are more reasons to support nonviolence, just as there are restrictions on the categorical rejection of violence.
The point of civil disobedience is to create such social disruption that your oppressors are forced to the negotiating table. Shutting down freeways is a form of civil disobedience and if it is ever mentioned on your newsfeed, it is typically a negative reference. Society hates disruptions in traffic. Civil disobedience should be proportionate to the plight it is acting against. The most extreme action, however, should take the form of the preferred action. This mean, if roles were reversed, you would likely not want violence used against you, therefore you don’t use it as an oppressed person. There are a number of reasons why: (1) where the chances of success are low, nonviolent alternatives are generally more effective; (2) nonviolence gets more support; (3) nonviolence ensure that changes made are not based on violence, so that the new group “in power” won’t have to defend their power with perpetual violence; (4) violence is a distraction from productive negotiations; and (5) violence makes the oppressed as guilty as the oppressor. There are more reasons to support nonviolence, just as there are restrictions on the categorical rejection of violence.
Social Disruption as a Tool for Social Change
Posted: 10/23/2016
The point of civil disobedience is to create such social disruption that your oppressors are forced to the negotiating table. Shutting down freeways is a form of civil disobedience and if it is ever mentioned on your newsfeed, it is typically a negative reference. Society hates disruptions in traffic. Civil disobedience should be proportionate to the plight it is acting against. The most extreme action, however, should take the form of the preferred action. This mean, if roles were reversed, you would likely not want violence used against you, therefore you don’t use it as an oppressed person. There are a number of reasons why: (1) where the chances of success are low, nonviolent alternatives are generally more effective; (2) nonviolence gets more support; (3) nonviolence ensure that changes made are not based on violence, so that the new group “in power” won’t have to defend their power with perpetual violence; (4) violence is a distraction from productive negotiations; and (5) violence makes the oppressed as guilty as the oppressor. There are more reasons to support nonviolence, just as there are restrictions on the categorical rejection of violence.
The point of civil disobedience is to create such social disruption that your oppressors are forced to the negotiating table. Shutting down freeways is a form of civil disobedience and if it is ever mentioned on your newsfeed, it is typically a negative reference. Society hates disruptions in traffic. Civil disobedience should be proportionate to the plight it is acting against. The most extreme action, however, should take the form of the preferred action. This mean, if roles were reversed, you would likely not want violence used against you, therefore you don’t use it as an oppressed person. There are a number of reasons why: (1) where the chances of success are low, nonviolent alternatives are generally more effective; (2) nonviolence gets more support; (3) nonviolence ensure that changes made are not based on violence, so that the new group “in power” won’t have to defend their power with perpetual violence; (4) violence is a distraction from productive negotiations; and (5) violence makes the oppressed as guilty as the oppressor. There are more reasons to support nonviolence, just as there are restrictions on the categorical rejection of violence.
Corporations: Super People
Posted: 10/22/2016
Under the law, corporations are considered separate entities. Arguably, the 14th Amendment has been more a corporate tool than a human one. Additionally, we now equate money as speech. Citizens United gives corporations the right to use that speech in elections. Corporations are bigger, richer, and more powerful than individual people. There are hundreds or thousands of individuals making up large corporations. All of these individuals form another individual, the corporation. The aggregation of individuals into the super person has the same impact as the sub-constituency politics theory of representation. The power of corporations show how powerful grouping individuals and their resources together can be. Even if these individuals are individuals who have lost their right to vote. Not a single corporation has ever been permitted to cast a vote in an American election. Voting is important because it grants you direct political representation. However, this voice can be created in other ways; super people.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205
Under the law, corporations are considered separate entities. Arguably, the 14th Amendment has been more a corporate tool than a human one. Additionally, we now equate money as speech. Citizens United gives corporations the right to use that speech in elections. Corporations are bigger, richer, and more powerful than individual people. There are hundreds or thousands of individuals making up large corporations. All of these individuals form another individual, the corporation. The aggregation of individuals into the super person has the same impact as the sub-constituency politics theory of representation. The power of corporations show how powerful grouping individuals and their resources together can be. Even if these individuals are individuals who have lost their right to vote. Not a single corporation has ever been permitted to cast a vote in an American election. Voting is important because it grants you direct political representation. However, this voice can be created in other ways; super people.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205
The Triple Evils
Posted: 10/21/2016
Dr. King tells us that America suffers from three evils: (1) racism, (2) materialism/poverty, and (3) militarism. Racial inequality was present at the nation’s creation and remains present now. The conditions of minorities have subtly shifted, but the suffering has just taken on different characteristics. Instead of having slaves, we have prisoners. Working for their room and board, but producing products sold for millions. This represents the second evil, materialism. Our love of material possessions empowers us to exploit individuals to maximize our personal profit. This leads to extreme poverty and individuals literally working much of their day, just to make ends meet. Some individuals still need public assistance after working more than full-time work loads. Economic destitution plagues our poor communities. Our solution: investment in more jails and prisons. Our solution to suffering is force, instead of love. Our third evil is the fact that our government responds to social crisis with war and force. Police in Ferguson reminded us of militaries in repressive countries like Egypt and China. Unfortunately, not much has changed since Dr. King taught this lesson in 1967.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8d-IYSM-08
Dr. King tells us that America suffers from three evils: (1) racism, (2) materialism/poverty, and (3) militarism. Racial inequality was present at the nation’s creation and remains present now. The conditions of minorities have subtly shifted, but the suffering has just taken on different characteristics. Instead of having slaves, we have prisoners. Working for their room and board, but producing products sold for millions. This represents the second evil, materialism. Our love of material possessions empowers us to exploit individuals to maximize our personal profit. This leads to extreme poverty and individuals literally working much of their day, just to make ends meet. Some individuals still need public assistance after working more than full-time work loads. Economic destitution plagues our poor communities. Our solution: investment in more jails and prisons. Our solution to suffering is force, instead of love. Our third evil is the fact that our government responds to social crisis with war and force. Police in Ferguson reminded us of militaries in repressive countries like Egypt and China. Unfortunately, not much has changed since Dr. King taught this lesson in 1967.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8d-IYSM-08
Information Asymmetry and the Legal "Reasonable Person" Standard
Posted: 10/20/2016
Information asymmetry, also considered information failure, exists when one party to an interaction possesses greater relevant information regarding the interaction than the other party. Asymmetric information has been considered the cause of numerous market failures, include mortgage meltdown that led to The Great Recession (Perry & Dell, 2010). Additionally, asymmetric information plays a large role in the everyday decision making of individuals.
When considering the fact that laws are based on a “reasonable person” standard, we must assess what “reasonable” means. If a man’s decisions are “unreasonable,” they may be considered a crime. Additionally, most crimes are only crimes based on the rationality of an actor. The act of punching someone in the face is only a crime if you did not have a rational reason for doing so, e.g. self-defense. In assessing rationality, we have to consider the decision calculus of the actor and the information available to them at the time of the decision. This requires attention to the role of rationality and information in decision-making.
Perry, M., & Dell, R. (2010, December 26). How Government Failure Caused the Great Recession. Retrieved from American Enterprise Institute:
https://www.aei.org/…/how-government-failure-caused-the-gr…/
Information asymmetry, also considered information failure, exists when one party to an interaction possesses greater relevant information regarding the interaction than the other party. Asymmetric information has been considered the cause of numerous market failures, include mortgage meltdown that led to The Great Recession (Perry & Dell, 2010). Additionally, asymmetric information plays a large role in the everyday decision making of individuals.
When considering the fact that laws are based on a “reasonable person” standard, we must assess what “reasonable” means. If a man’s decisions are “unreasonable,” they may be considered a crime. Additionally, most crimes are only crimes based on the rationality of an actor. The act of punching someone in the face is only a crime if you did not have a rational reason for doing so, e.g. self-defense. In assessing rationality, we have to consider the decision calculus of the actor and the information available to them at the time of the decision. This requires attention to the role of rationality and information in decision-making.
Perry, M., & Dell, R. (2010, December 26). How Government Failure Caused the Great Recession. Retrieved from American Enterprise Institute:
https://www.aei.org/…/how-government-failure-caused-the-gr…/
Social Contract
Posted: 10/19/2016
The social contract is the informal agreement between a government and the people it governs. As humans, we are born through a natural process into a natural state of humanity. This is common amongst all of us. However, there are unnatural aspects of our identity that get attached to us after birth, such as: race, nationality, immigration status, etc. These aspects of our identity come with social repercussions. If we are born free in our natural state, this means all of the unnatural aspects of our identity must be voluntary. Otherwise, why would a free individual subject themselves to a title or position that would leave them worse off than if they had not accepted it? Therefore, the social contract is the agreement between a government and the governed, in which individuals pay a price to the government and in return get benefits from the government. The price is consent to be governed; therefore, abiding laws, regulations, and policies. The benefits are all those which are provided to you by the government. The burdens of citizenship should never outweigh the benefits. The mere perception of this imbalance will result in a loss of public trust and consent.
The social contract is the informal agreement between a government and the people it governs. As humans, we are born through a natural process into a natural state of humanity. This is common amongst all of us. However, there are unnatural aspects of our identity that get attached to us after birth, such as: race, nationality, immigration status, etc. These aspects of our identity come with social repercussions. If we are born free in our natural state, this means all of the unnatural aspects of our identity must be voluntary. Otherwise, why would a free individual subject themselves to a title or position that would leave them worse off than if they had not accepted it? Therefore, the social contract is the agreement between a government and the governed, in which individuals pay a price to the government and in return get benefits from the government. The price is consent to be governed; therefore, abiding laws, regulations, and policies. The benefits are all those which are provided to you by the government. The burdens of citizenship should never outweigh the benefits. The mere perception of this imbalance will result in a loss of public trust and consent.
What is Social Justice
Posted: 10/17/2016
Social justice apparently finds its roots in the principles of distributive justice discussed by Aristotle, Aquinas and others (Miller, 1999). According to Miller, social justice is an expanded version of distributive justice, which is “distributive justice pursued more systematically and with respect to a wider range of benefits (1999, p. 2).” While the definition of social justice has taken many forms, for purposes of this discussion, we will borrow from Miller’s discussion on social justice and accept Pandelidis’ definition of social justice: as an end, with an “egalitarian vision of economic, political and social equality (Pandelidis, 2013, Sep 06).” Thomas Jefferson established an egalitarian basis for American society when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all people are “created equal (Merritt, 2004).” According to Merritt, there should be four fundamental ideals of social justice: (1) equal worth of all citizens expressed through the provision of equal rights and civil liberties before the law; (2) every citizen is entitled to basic needs for income, shelter, and other necessities; (3) provision of opportunities and life chances commensurate with effort; and (4) reduction, and where possible elimination of unjust inequalities (Merritt, 2004). Therefore, social justice advocacy would be advocacy toward achievement of these four goals. Social justice advocacy takes on different roles based on the intricacies and complexities of the injustice that is being advocated against (Miller, 1999).
Miller, D. (1999). Principles of Social Justice. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Pandelidis, N. (2013, Sep 06). Nick pandelidis: Return to the original question: What is social justice? York Daily Record , Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.leopac.ulv.edu/doc…/1430506157…
Merritt, C. (2004). Social Justice: What is it? Why Teach It? Journal of Geography, 93-101.
Social justice apparently finds its roots in the principles of distributive justice discussed by Aristotle, Aquinas and others (Miller, 1999). According to Miller, social justice is an expanded version of distributive justice, which is “distributive justice pursued more systematically and with respect to a wider range of benefits (1999, p. 2).” While the definition of social justice has taken many forms, for purposes of this discussion, we will borrow from Miller’s discussion on social justice and accept Pandelidis’ definition of social justice: as an end, with an “egalitarian vision of economic, political and social equality (Pandelidis, 2013, Sep 06).” Thomas Jefferson established an egalitarian basis for American society when he wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all people are “created equal (Merritt, 2004).” According to Merritt, there should be four fundamental ideals of social justice: (1) equal worth of all citizens expressed through the provision of equal rights and civil liberties before the law; (2) every citizen is entitled to basic needs for income, shelter, and other necessities; (3) provision of opportunities and life chances commensurate with effort; and (4) reduction, and where possible elimination of unjust inequalities (Merritt, 2004). Therefore, social justice advocacy would be advocacy toward achievement of these four goals. Social justice advocacy takes on different roles based on the intricacies and complexities of the injustice that is being advocated against (Miller, 1999).
Miller, D. (1999). Principles of Social Justice. Boston: Harvard University Press.
Pandelidis, N. (2013, Sep 06). Nick pandelidis: Return to the original question: What is social justice? York Daily Record , Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.leopac.ulv.edu/doc…/1430506157…
Merritt, C. (2004). Social Justice: What is it? Why Teach It? Journal of Geography, 93-101.
