Hale's Junior year Blog

The most challenging part of this book for me is how Toni Morrison doesn’t make it totally clear what is going on in the book. This happens many times as Toni transitions without context. On page 126 this is what I felt when I was reading. I think that this page was particularly confusing as Ruth just starts talking about how she did not hurt Milkman on her knees. This could have many meanings but nothing is clear. I think that it definitely has to do with the religious ties in the book. One thing that I do to help get around this confusion is to just read past it to get some context and then go back and reread. On page 126, I got very confused when Ruth started talking to Milkman about how she didn’t do any harm on her knees. She also talks about how she nursed Milkman for too long. Reading past all of this got to where the page starts to make more sense, and I was not as confused.

My given name (Hale) comes from my dad’s middle name. If one traces names back my name is either a first, middle, or last name. No one really knows where it originates from. However there is thought that the names was passed down from Nathan Hale, a famous American spy during the revolutionary war. He gave the revolution a lot of information and was eventually hung by the British. As for country of origin, I know that my father's side was from Sweden and Germany, but no one is completely sure of when they came over. My mother's side I know came from England and Germany to Pennsylvania. Eventually they moved to Chicago and Winnetka. My family has also always been Christian as long as you trace back my family.

Recently many big social media companies have started shutting down accounts that are radical or violent. This is a very good thing because most of the accounts shut down are sharing a message of violence and hatred. The accounts can also be inappropriate or in some cases affecting elections. USA Today has an article on this topic( Click Here ). However in some cases accounts can be shut down for no reason or for a political reason. It doesn’t matter what the banned person is saying but it does matter why they were banned An article by Forbes shows these biases ( Click Here ). These biases can hurt free speech, even though they break no laws. What do you think, is banning accounts an infringement on free speech? What types of account should be banned? Should any accounts be banned?

In the United States the National Security Agency collects much of our online data every day. They can track people, listen in on conversations, and much more. They say that the data on most people is swept up while looking for people who have committed crimes. ( Click here for an article on this ) However is this too far, many people like their privacy and is it worth it to sacrifice everyone’s privacy to catch more criminals. In China they have a social score where everything you do, can affect where you live, what your income is, and so forth. In China there are many emerging surveillance technologies emerging, brain scanners in hats, facial detection everywhere, and police using smart glasses with facial recognition. All of these technologies have the potential to spy on people everywhere in the world and judge our every move. Has China taken surveillance too far? Could the United States be going in this direction? Do you think that this technology can actually reduce crime? ...

Facebook is seen as a bridge connecting millions of people. It claims to bring them together so they can communicate, learn, and share. Millions have benefited from facebook, making new friends, showing the world who they are, and posting whatever they feel like. There is an enormous amount of freedom, however this freedom has serious downsides. Some people use facebook to spread hate speech, bully, and spread negative messages. I don’t mean just negative opinions, in Myanmar many people have said Facebook has been used to propagate genocide. Click Here  for an article on this. Just recently Facebook was hacked and exposed 50 million users. This hacking can lead to robbery, blackmail, and influence on political events.  Click Here  for an article on this. Do you think Facebook leads to more bridges or more borders? Do you think the negative uses out weigh the positive? How do you think this problem could be solved?