News we should be ashamed of in 2005 by Andréa Medrado
A new year is just beginning. Browsing the magazines, I read about the most important events in 2005. I see the shocking pictures of a flooded New Orleans, the smiling face of Condoleezza during her world travels, and the not-so-smiling face of Benedict XVI, the new pope. I am also drawn to the eye-candy Hollywood couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, find out about the hottest celebrities of the year and, surprise, learn that Ronaldo, the Brazilian soccer player, is dating another model.
Following the examples of the magazines’ and TV shows’ end of the year specials, I decided to blog about the news that caught my attention in 2005. The difference is that I will not simply list the events (and, hopefully, they will not be as shallow). The stories I chose indicate that our society has not evolved beyond the prejudices and brutality that still take place up until the present day. Although only two in zillions of news that can make us angry, they illustrate a world of cruelty, injustice, and inequality we should all be embarrassed about.
Story 1) The US carried out its 1000th execution.
On December 2, 2005, the 1000th person was put to death in North Carolina. Kenneth Boyd, a convicted killer, was executed for the murder of his wife and her father. Boyd spent 11 years on death row after being convicted of stalking and shooting his wife, Julie, and her father, Thomas. According to BBC, he never denied his guilt, though he has claimed that his experiences in Vietnam contributed to his state of mind on the day of the killings.
There is no doubt about the grievousness of the crime Boyd committed. I can definitely understand that an outraged victim of crime seeks extreme punitive measures for the murderer. The history of mankind is filled with war, violence and revenge. However, I cannot help but notice the irony of this incident. Boyd was a Vietnam veteran, which leads me to the conclusion that the state played the following roles in this case: it taught a man how to kill, by training him for war, it annihilated his mental health, by sending him to war, and finally, it literally killed him, by applying the lethal injection.
The question is: how legitimate is it for the state to kill its citizens? In the midst of the 21st century, capital punishment is immoral, cruel and inhumane.
Recent pools do, however, indicate support for death penalty is starting to wane. Courts have been less inclined to use it.
Story 2) Another school barrier for girls in Africa: no toilet.
Written by Sharon LaFraniere, the article ran on the New York Times on December 23, 2005. It talks about schoolgirls struggle for an education in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Balizenda, a rural community in Ethiopia, Fatimah Bamun is the only girl of the 23 students in her class. In fact, she is one of the three girls in the school who have made it past third grade. In a school where there is no latrine and no water, the onset of puberty makes it very difficult for girls to keep attending school.
According to LaFraniere’s story, “in a region where poverty, tradition and ignorance deprive an estimated 24 million girls of even an elementary school education, the impact of nonexistent school toilets and water on girls' attendance was until recently unfit for discussion”.
That impact of the lack of hygiene and privacy is substantial. “Researchers throughout sub-Saharan Africa have documented that lack of sanitary pads, a clean, girls-only latrine and water for hand-washing drives a significant number of girls out of school. The United Nations Children's Fund, for example, estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skip school during menstruation or drop out entirely because of lack of sanitation”.
International organizations, African education ministries and women’s rights movements are increasingly rallying behind the notion of a "girl-friendly" school, one that is more secure and closer to home, with a healthy share of female teachers and a clean toilet with a door and water for hand-washing.
On the positive side, the article points out that Unicef is building latrines and bringing clean water to 300 Ethiopian schools. Still, more than half of the nation's 13,181 primary schools lack water, more than half lack latrines and some lack both. Moreover, those with latrines may have just one for 300 students, according to Therese Dooley, Unicef's sanitation project officer.
Final Words
Stem cell research, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Internet. There is no denying of the advancements we have made in the past century. However, reading about the Ethiopian girls’ battle for something as essential as a toilet, and that the world’s most industrialized nation’s way of punishing its wrong-doers does not differ much from that of the medieval times, I realize that our society still has a long way to go.
Following the examples of the magazines’ and TV shows’ end of the year specials, I decided to blog about the news that caught my attention in 2005. The difference is that I will not simply list the events (and, hopefully, they will not be as shallow). The stories I chose indicate that our society has not evolved beyond the prejudices and brutality that still take place up until the present day. Although only two in zillions of news that can make us angry, they illustrate a world of cruelty, injustice, and inequality we should all be embarrassed about.
Story 1) The US carried out its 1000th execution.
On December 2, 2005, the 1000th person was put to death in North Carolina. Kenneth Boyd, a convicted killer, was executed for the murder of his wife and her father. Boyd spent 11 years on death row after being convicted of stalking and shooting his wife, Julie, and her father, Thomas. According to BBC, he never denied his guilt, though he has claimed that his experiences in Vietnam contributed to his state of mind on the day of the killings.
There is no doubt about the grievousness of the crime Boyd committed. I can definitely understand that an outraged victim of crime seeks extreme punitive measures for the murderer. The history of mankind is filled with war, violence and revenge. However, I cannot help but notice the irony of this incident. Boyd was a Vietnam veteran, which leads me to the conclusion that the state played the following roles in this case: it taught a man how to kill, by training him for war, it annihilated his mental health, by sending him to war, and finally, it literally killed him, by applying the lethal injection.
The question is: how legitimate is it for the state to kill its citizens? In the midst of the 21st century, capital punishment is immoral, cruel and inhumane.
Recent pools do, however, indicate support for death penalty is starting to wane. Courts have been less inclined to use it.
Story 2) Another school barrier for girls in Africa: no toilet.
Written by Sharon LaFraniere, the article ran on the New York Times on December 23, 2005. It talks about schoolgirls struggle for an education in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Balizenda, a rural community in Ethiopia, Fatimah Bamun is the only girl of the 23 students in her class. In fact, she is one of the three girls in the school who have made it past third grade. In a school where there is no latrine and no water, the onset of puberty makes it very difficult for girls to keep attending school.
According to LaFraniere’s story, “in a region where poverty, tradition and ignorance deprive an estimated 24 million girls of even an elementary school education, the impact of nonexistent school toilets and water on girls' attendance was until recently unfit for discussion”.
That impact of the lack of hygiene and privacy is substantial. “Researchers throughout sub-Saharan Africa have documented that lack of sanitary pads, a clean, girls-only latrine and water for hand-washing drives a significant number of girls out of school. The United Nations Children's Fund, for example, estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skip school during menstruation or drop out entirely because of lack of sanitation”.
International organizations, African education ministries and women’s rights movements are increasingly rallying behind the notion of a "girl-friendly" school, one that is more secure and closer to home, with a healthy share of female teachers and a clean toilet with a door and water for hand-washing.
On the positive side, the article points out that Unicef is building latrines and bringing clean water to 300 Ethiopian schools. Still, more than half of the nation's 13,181 primary schools lack water, more than half lack latrines and some lack both. Moreover, those with latrines may have just one for 300 students, according to Therese Dooley, Unicef's sanitation project officer.
Final Words
Stem cell research, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Internet. There is no denying of the advancements we have made in the past century. However, reading about the Ethiopian girls’ battle for something as essential as a toilet, and that the world’s most industrialized nation’s way of punishing its wrong-doers does not differ much from that of the medieval times, I realize that our society still has a long way to go.
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