#gradedpost

Relating to the lecture received last class, drawing on the symptoms/ signs of  PTSD. Although this is not the same as when adults experience trauma, it still is under the umbrella of stresses.

A study was conducted to see if psychedelic substances could be used as a method to aid the process of quitting smoking. In one case, a woman who had been smoking for 37 years underwent treatment using psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic which can be found in certain fungi. After the treatment, she supposedly quit, and hasn’t smoked since! Another study showed that 80% of subjects who had undergone psilocybin treatment were able to abstain from smoking for at least 6 months after undergoing the treatment.

So if we know there are upsides to the use of these substances, why aren’t we experimenting with them more to see if we can utilize them further? According to this video, the problem lies in how we categorize these substances. Substances like psilocybin and LSD are schedule 1 drugs basically everywhere. As a result, academics who are capable of conducting, what could be potentially life-changing research, are restricted by the many hoops they need to jump through in order to go about doing so. 

This article relates to our class because it discusses the relevant issue of the Trump Presidency and public support for his policies . This article outlines that people who support Donald Trump are more likely to rate his timing for enacting policies as appropriate, while those that do not support his policies are more likely to rate his pacing as too fast to address the issues in the united states effectively. 

This class involves analyzing the validity of sources, which include polls, and in this case the polling to indicate Trump’s pacing may be more indicative of public support for his policies as opposed to the speed in which he enacts said polices. And as the outcome of the election has showed us, polls should always be questioned and correlation should not be confused with causation. Keeping this in mind, we can better understand how the public will interact with the Trump administration and the policies he enacts. 

This article illustrates how environmental science and research within the United States can be stopped by a gag order. The Trump administration have repeatedly denied the idea of climate change, and with Trump in power, this denial could become a reality. To note, the Trump administration has removed any information that was associated with climate change off the White House website, thus continuing this denial. The idea of politicians creating their own “reality” has taken a step forward. The famous quote from Karl Rove have resounding effects in the present, for “...when [the gov’t] act[s], we create our own reality.” 

Not only does this gag order on the EPA prevent any future environmental protection, but also prevents any other environmental or humanitarian groups to take a stand through a sense of fear. The ability to have a “immediate impact” on federal agencies concerning such global issues is a warning of what is to come in the next few years. With lack of environmental research and knowledge, the damage humans can cause for personal gain is relentless. 

Similarly, as discussed in class, this relates to a Kleptocratic government, a government that is ruled through exploitation for one’s own personal gain. With Trump’s background in buisness, the benefits of censoring an environmental organization with such influence such as the EPA can be seen as a decision made with a rather capitalistic motive, than for the sake of the country. 

https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/24/genital-costumes-at-womens-march-alienated-trans-women/

**spoiler alerts if you have no seen the movie ‘Get out’ yet**

The movie “Get out” was a wild ride. One of the things that stuck out most was the hidden meaning in a lot of the scenes. Relating to some of the aspects in the film watched in class (”Upstream color”) there was double meaning to a lot of different things especially with regard to colors. In ‘Upstream color’, the colors of the flowers symbolized healing (yellow) and sickness (Blue). In ‘Get out’ red and blue clothing are used to symbolize the political division of Republicans and Democrats. The Republicans being Rose and her family and the democrats being Chris. Another example is the musical selection. In ‘Upstream color’, the music was responsible for creating the mood in scenes when there wasn’t much speaking. The music would express feelings of anxiety, sadness, or panic. In ‘Get out’, the song Redbone by Childish Gambino was also used to induce feelings into moviegoers. The song plays in the beginning to set the mood of the movie. ‘Redbone’ uses the phrase ‘stay woke’ to be aware of ones surroundings which Chris is throughout the whole movie,

Nutmeg! Grenada’s main export and the worlds second largest producer. That may not seem like much but for a 348.5 square kilometer island, it’s a pretty big feat. I want to relate this to our recent class and the movie we watched about Jamaica, Life and debt. The film talked about Jamaica’s financial situation in 2001 when they were receiving financial aid from the IMF and World Bank after many of their factories got shut down. This reminded me when I went back home to Grenada and across from my Grandmothers house is a closed down nutmeg pool (where they process nutmeg). I asked my mom about it and she said it closed after Hurricane Ivan passed. This natural disaster caused damage to all kinds of buildings, homes, families and the economy. The agricultural industry, specifically nutmeg industry, suffered tremendously and they are still recovering to this day. The agricultural sector is still recovering but things won’t be the same. Therefore, the Grenadian government had to look towards the service and industry sectors to sustain their economy. Similar to Jamaica that also had to look towards tourism to sustain the economy after the closing of many textile factories and hurricane Ivan as well.