Blog Entry # 6 Amy Goldwasser "What's the Matter with Kids Today?"

Amy Goldwasser in her essay "What's the Matter with Kids Today?" offers her view on today's young people Internet worshiping. She claims young generation's "stunning ignorance" of history and literature... who have read nothing, knowing only some specialty or other, for instance, computers."
I must say from my experience children these days are lazy to read books, it is easier for them to watch TV or use computer. To my mind Goldwasser’s answer here is not exactly but right: "The Internet according to 88-year-old Lessing, has "seduced a whole generation into its inanities." Actually, I don’t think it’s really "the kids" who have changed a lot but the adults. Every generation thinks that the youth that comes after them are somehow “less” than they were. And, what else may be added - nothing can be done with progress - this is the natural process how the life goes...
For sure, kids tend to know more than the previous generation because they have easier access to information by using internet to get connected to social networks such as face book or my space. I can't deny that nowadays children have more possibilities to learn about a lot of new things online. Teenagers are reading and writing more and spending about 16.7 hours per week on the internet writing and reading and all this, I hope, is for educational purposes. So, it looks that the internet is not a bad thing at all, because it offers learning benefits and makes kids to write and read more than they usually do. Having the internet, teenagers get unlimited access to any information from all over the world. They, of course, can use this information to educate themselves and be better at school.
I completely agree with Goldwasser when she emotionally states: "Once we stop regarding the Internet as a villain, stop presenting it as the enemy of history and literature and worldly knowledge, then our teenagers have the potential to become the next great voices of America."

Entry # 5, Paul Campos "Being Fat is OK"

Paul Campos in his essay "Being Fat is OK" offers a strongly worded response to a "propaganda war." I think it is unfair that the media has used weight in order to make money on people.
So, Campos presents and attempts to refute what he calls three "lies." And I agree that many people are very focused on their weight. I know people that are within their BMI and still think they are fat. Focusing too much on the weight is really damaging. That is true and only very few people realize that. The writer states that he runs 35 to 40 miles a week, but he is still "overweight." And on the contrary, if you are skinny it does not mean you are healthy. Some skinny people are not healthy and they still think that they are fat, but also some people are overweight and think they are fine the way they are, but have many health risks.
On the one hand, I agree that eating habit is a private matter. On the other hand, I still insist that people cannot just choose to be thinner and the author of this essay emphasizes: "the failure rate for diets is estimated to be between 90 percent and 98 percent... any statistically significant group of dieters will end up weighing more, on average, than a comparable group that never began dieting."
I do agree that people always worry about their weight whether they are fat or not. But also, I think that as long as they are healthy then they should not worry too much.
In conclusion, instead of concentrating on different studies about the supposed health risks of fat and going through different methods to lose weight, I believe that people should enjoy life and be happy and stay healthy no matter what size they are.

Entry #4 David Zinczenko "Don't Blame the Eater"

David Zinczenko titles his essay "Don't Blame the Eater" because the problem he speaks about - "the fast food is a thriving enterprise in America's economy these days. One can find a fast food vendor nearly every block." The author blames fast food companies for causing obesity in many youths around the nation. Today the fast food restaurants are the only option for many of youths, for those whose parents are often at work during the day, so they fall victim of delicious, cheap, and convenient meals offered at the fast food restaurants.
And the main problem is that most of these youths do not know the dangers of eating such meals, for example such consequences as obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes. Zinczenko underlines: "money spent to treat diabetes has skyrocketed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that diabetes accounted for $2.6 billion in health care costs in 1969. Today's number is unbelievable $100 billion a year." These figures are shocking and let us to see that so many children now suffer and how much money it takes to treat them.
I think that the main problem is that the fast food companies do not care about their consumers - "complicating the lack of alternatives is the lack of information about what, exactly, we're consuming...Advertisements don't carry warning labels..Prepared foods aren't covered under Food and Drug Administration labeling laws." The fast food companies are only there to make money and they know that people will continue to purchase their meals because it is cheap and fast. If people were really educated about the nutrition, they might turn to look for the healthier options.
I agree with the author of this article that fast food companies are causing obesity in many cases, but I do not believe that the lawsuits against them will improve the situation. I feel that the only way to get these companies to change their policies is to get the Food and Drug Administration involved. The FDA regulates food, dietary of everyday life and can improve policies upon fast food companies. The FDA must require nutrition facts to be written on packaging or to make food companies serve healthier options too.
II believe and hope to see in the future that fast food become more healthy or that the public become more aware of the responsibilities and consequences that come with and from eating fast food!