Synthesis Essay Outline

Title: Does Internet Encourage Democracy?

Format: MLA Style

Thesis: Internet nowadays DOES encourage democracy in many ways. However, there are problems that

needs to be solved. In order to maximize the encouragement of showing and explaining one's thoughts and

ideas, WE are the ones who have to make the change and encourage democracy.

Detailed Outline and Briefed Contents:

# of Paragraphs: at least 5

expected length: 800~950 words

Paragraph 1: Introduction & Hook

: People nowadays are greatly involved with Internet. Unlike ten years ago, much events in people's lives are

happening inside or through the Internet. People buy, sell products through Internet, they chat and communicate

with each other, they study and assist each other through Internet. Just like that, Internet's so close to us, we

can't even imagine daily lives without Internet. Out of all the various influences of Internet, ability to allow

people share and speak(?) their thoughts and ideas is one of the most influential and important ones. Through

that, Internet greatly encourages democracy to spread. ~ (in what ways. Briefly mention 2~3 reasons 


HOW it encourages democracy. Briefly mention few counterarguments. End with strong reemphasis


of the thesis) 

--> Need a Hook(!!!)

Paragraph 2: Body 1 -  How Internet Encourages Democracy 1


The Internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out the country, which is essential for a truly 


free democracy.


Points to Develop

• Government have many ways to control the media. Even though people don't know that the media is getting controlled, but it is happening, EVEN in the country with democracy in its roots.
• Internet makes it IMPOSSIBLE for government to control the information. (China, Egypt)
• People share and develop innumerable thoughts and ideas (Ex.Facebook, Twitter, Youtube
• Thus, Internet encourages democracy.

Paragraph 3: Body 2 - How Internet Encourages Democracy 2

The Internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow grass-root government.

Points to Develop

• In order to develop democracy, there needs to be a complex and solid system to organize mass number of people. --> Internet is a GREAT system
• For the countries like China and Egypt, the government represses the citizens who works for democracy to come into their country (Tell an example or a story about this)
• Again, Internet is a great way to communicate and impossible for government to control how much they try since it is so big.
• Thus, Internet encourages democracy.

Paragraph 4: Body 4 - Counter to Counter-Argument(s)

The Internet can be used to quash democratic movements, and digital divide leaves the same people in 

places of influence and power.

Points to Develop

• It is true that internet can be also used to quash democratic movements. However, there is more good  than bad in internet. What I mean by this is that people share and communicate more than efforts to quash those movements effect people
• Digital divide is a story of the old days. As the technology develop day by day, more and more people are being able to access internet. Also, not the same people can be in places of influence and power. (Ex. Google)
• Thus, Internet encourages democracy, rather than discouraging it.

Paragraph 5: Conclusion & Ending

Reemphasize the thesis, briefly summarize the points for and counter-arguments.

Sources:

• Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times, 24 March 2010
• Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010. 
•  Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, "China: The New Virtual Political System", Council on Foreign Relations 2011

THB Internet Encourages Democracy

In today's society, internet takes a very big part in people's lives. People work, shop, share, and play 

through internet. Out of all that uses and applications of the internet, 'share' part of the internet is the most effecting aspect to its users.

The Photo Essay - Brother

             This is a photo of my brother and I few months back. I was planning on writing about my best friends before. However, during the weekend, I was so motivated to write about my younger brother and decided to write my photo essay about him. My brother and I aren’t in those kinds of “best and lovely” brotherhoods. We always fight and quarrel over trivial stuff. 2 months ago, before I came to KMLA, we had a big fight over the possession of iPod. Since then, I didn’t go back to home and we never contacted each other. However, when I went back home this weekend after 2 months, I found that troublesome iPod on my desk with a new cover and a sincere letter from my brother telling me that he’s sorry. I was so moved by his actions and felt bad for not being a better older brother and decided to write about him – what my brother means in my life.

             First, my younger means an annoyance for me. Even since he was born, he was nothing but an annoyance for me. When he was a baby, he seemed to take everything that I wanted too - Parent’s attention, toys, foods, etc. I didn’t like him for that. When he grew up a little older, he began to bug me to play around with him. I wanted to play catch or hide-and-seek while I just wanted to read books, watch TV, or play video games. If I didn’t play with him, he’d go to mom and tell on me. Mom forced me to play along. Also, we fought when we played together. When we played hide-and-seek, he didn’t take turns and always wanted to be a hider. When we played with lego, he always took the handsome characters and structures. When I fought with him over that, mom always punished me for not yielding. When we grew older, we still kept on bugging me to play even though I needed to study. So, all throughout my life, my brother was an annoyance.

             Second, my brother means a family to me. Even though he was such a pain in the neck, my brother was always a family to me. Of course, we shared mom and dad, but that’s not what I mean. We always fought, grumbled for having brother, but we still cared for each other. For example, we always took care of each other’s birthdays even though we fought a day before. On my 13^th birthday-eve, my brother broke my precious video game CD. I was so angry that I shouted I didn’t even need a brother and wished he was never born. My brother would have been quite hurt. The next day, my brother gave me a brand-new, all updated video game CD. He used all his money he got from grandparents on New-Years Day. I was so embarrassed at myself. Also, we took care of each other whenever we got injure while we were playing. We also gave each other cards and Christmas presents. There are so many stories related to this. So, all in one, my brother was and is a family.

             Lastly, my brother means a friend to me. I am four years older than him. My interests, friends, and values are clearly different from him. Even our personalities and looks are different. However, throughout my life, my brother worked as a loyal and good friend of mine. It was him who comforted me when I was punished by my mom, it was him who helped me with my girl problem. It was him who took the first step to yield. He always gave me his opinions, ideas, and comforted me when I was in hardship and was lonely. For example, when I flunked the important exam to be accepted to KMLA, he comforted me, saying that he was proud of me for being so smart. He said that I was known as the smartest person in my town among his friends and his friends were jealous. Just like that, my brother stood beside me, helping me through challenges as a friend.

             All in one, my brother means annoyance, family, and a friend to me. I think he will continue to be like that. Right now, I’m far away from my brother, not having enough time to even talk with him. However, I promise myself that one that I will pay back all the things that my brother has done for me in the past. I loved him. I still love him. And I will keep on loving him. As a family and a friend. 

Photo Essay - The PHOTO

This is the photo that I'll use for my essay.

This is a photo that I took last weekend when I went to club activities to Mt. Chiak with some of my

best friends.

Three Side Story: Operation CHEATING

(Person1: the CHEATER)

             “Thump, thump. Thump, thump” My heart beat widely, banging my chest every second. A drop of sweat ran down my neck, giving me a tingling sensation and causing shiver. Mind going half-blank and half-thrilled, I began to bite my fingernails and shake my legs hard. Right then, Mr. Kim came into the room striding fast from the class door to the podium with his long legs in a second. It was time.

             “All right everyone. Please put everything away. Only pencils and erasers are allowed on the              desk. I said only pencils and erasers! No pencil cases!”

Well, I was expecting the no-pencil case rule from Mr. Kim. He’s notorious for him all-seeing eyes and never-ending suspicion about students.

             “Hey! I said to put all your garbage-like notes away! We have to take the test!”

Mr. Kim shouted to one female student in the front. I just don’t understand those girls who look at their pitiful notes briefly right before the test. At this time of the test, nothing is going to help you but all the hard work you have put in during the semester. However, I had some sympathy for her since the subject for the test this period is U.S. History, full of stupid acts, policies, wars, contracts, and names that won’t be heard for the rest of your lives.

             “Alright, I’m going to hand out the answer sheets first. Make sure that you put your name      and the student number on the top.”

When I received the answer sheet, I could hear the moans and groans from all over the class. Mrs. Son made over 70 questions for the test. Someone shouted,

             “Come on, this is not an AP test that we are taking!”

Murmurs of discontent and agreement were heard here and there. I agree. 70 questions including 10 free response problems in 90 minutes? That was too much. What was Mrs. Son thinking when she was making this?

             “Be QUIET! We are taking a test here! If you take any problems you are more than welcome              to go out of this room and run to Mrs. Son complaining about the number of questions. Let’s see what happens if you do that!”

Mr. Kim growled in a low, threatening tone. The class went silent in a second. He was right. We would have to just take the test, except me. Well…‘take’ wasn’t a best word choice me. I started to make my action.

*           *           *

(Person2: the BYSTANDER) 

“Hey, was it President Eisenhower who was Republican but made some sort of social security reform?” I hurriedly asked you sitting diagonally from me. You seemed to do well on his quizzes and I heard that you were third place in class in mid-terms, so I thought I could trust you enough for a credible answer.

             “What? What did you say?” You looked quite surprised when he heard the question.

             “I asked you about President Eisenhower! You wouldn’t say that you don’t know!” I whispered in a frantic way before the test paper reached me.

You looked pretty nervous then, with red face and shaking his legs. Still, that’s what everyone feels before taking the test, right?

             “I…I’m not sure. Sorry, I can’t answer. Oh man, I remember that section is important!” you whispered back in a pitiful voice.

             “Wha..what? How can YOU don’t know that? No! The test is on its way! No!”

             “Hey! Didn’t you heard to be quiet? We are taking a serious test here. If you are not              confident or have some problem, you are more than walk out the room and run to your parents. If you want to take the test, then shut up and concentrate!” Mr. Kim’s fierce threats resonated through the room.

*            *           *

 (Person1: the CHEATER)

A girl asked me an extremely annoying question right before I was going to make my action. I lost a few seconds because of that, but that didn’t hurt me from carry out my perfect plan of CHEATING. It had two parts. The first part was a classic cheating method of making a cheating paper with all the important information in it. However, making a cheating paper for US History was too much work because it covered such a large amount. So, after completing 60% of the amount, I moved on the second part. The second part was dangerous yet genius. After listening to numerous lectures in the classroom, I knew that the window on the left side of the room could reflect something written on the desk placed on the left side. Thus, I placed the cunning paper on the very corner of the first table, where nobody sits. I hid the paper with cans and garbage, so even though someone finds it, they would just think that it’s a leftover note. When I looked at the window in a 45 degree angle, I could see the cunning paper completely.

             “Did everyone receive the test sheets? Alright then, the test starts NOW!” Mr. Kim shouted.

With a smug smile on my face, I started the test.

*           *           *

(Person3: the TEACHER) 

             “Did everyone receive the test sheets? Alright then, the test starts NOW!” I shouted.

Finally, after so much shouting and growling, the test begun. I thought kids these days are out of common sense. No matter how many times I repeat the direction, they seem to ask the same question a minute later or they are doing things that I emphasized not to do even a minute later. I flashed back to seconds before I announced that the test started. A minute before than I repeated THREE times to not to talk someone beside or behind you. However, ignoring my caution, the girl on the left side of the room talked. Shaking my head, full of anger and disappointment, I began to patrol the room. I was quite proud of my achievements until then, with uncovering cheating for five times in past three years. I was confident that nobody would get past me while cheating in this classroom.

*           *           *

(Person1: the CHEATER)

After few seconds, only harsh breaths and beat of pencils knocking against the desk could be heard. I began to casually read down the questions, looking over what section the question belongs to. I thought I would make easier for me to categorize the questions by sections and solve them. It was first time for me to cheat. Unlike my expectations, it felt far from guilty. I could feel the adrenaline going down my spine. It was also so relaxing and made me full of confidence. I wondered,

             ‘Why didn’t I think of this before? This is amazing!’

I started to mark the answers easily. With all the solution in front of my eyes, it was just a piece of gum to literally ‘find’ the right answer.

*           *           *

(Person2: the BYSTANDER)

I started down the long test from the first question. It was relatively easy and so was the next question. Then, I got stuck on the third one, which was about President Eisenhower. I pulled my hair and knocked on my head, trying to remember what I memorized. After few seconds and I looked up on the window, still combing through my brain to remember.

             ‘Please God. If you are there, help with this one.’

I prayed in my head. Then, I suddenly saw it. I saw the answer, hovering on the window right in my sight.

*           *           *

(Person3: the TEACHER)  

I strolled up and down the room, slashing my all-seeing eyes here and there. Fortunately for the test takers, I didn’t find anything abnormal. They seemed to be taking the test with their best efforts. I felt pity of some of them who already retired and started rolling their pencils. Still, most of the students were working hard. Then, on my third trip down the room, I finally caught something out of sight. It was happening on the left side of the room; the two students, who fudged my directions before by talking, where both looking out the window for a long time.

             ‘Well, well, what is happening over there?’

I casually strolled towards the left side, inspecting every element around them. At first, he looked pretty nervous when I started to walk towards him. To my disappointment, nothing was wrong. They seemed to be taking the test as hard as the students around them.

*           *           *

(Person1: the CHEATER) 

Perfectly planned out, even the notorious Mr. Kim couldn’t uncover my genius cheating operation. Still, I was so surprised when Mr. Kim started to come over to my table.

             ‘Thump, thump. Thump, thump.’

Barely holding the heart that felt like bursting out from my chest and shivering from the tingling sense down my spine, I went back to enjoying the outside view.

*           *           *

(Person2: the BYSTANDER)  

After few minutes from help of the God, I finally figured out the trick; the guy in front of me. I don’t know how, but he was the guy who planned everything out. I knew this since he was also looking outside the window for a minute or so and write down the answers.

             ‘So, that’s what made you the third place in mid-term, huh? That’s why you were so              confident before the test saying that the lowest score you can receive is 90! Well, you know   what, I figured out the little trickery of yours. It’s all over!’

I began to raise my hand: only in my HEAD. My hand refused to move as my conscious told to do so. Then, a spark of conflict burst through my head.

             ‘Should I tell Mr. Kim? Of course I should! This is cheating and this must be stopped! This is             immoral, against the rules, and… I just have to tell the teacher!’

I repeatedly told my hand to move and call Mr. Kim. However, it didn’t. Right then, another thought crossed my mind.

             ‘Still, with all that information, I can get a very good score of the test! Since I studied harder               than him, I would probably do better on the free response questions, right?’

All kinds of thoughts passed through my mind. I was surprised that it wasn’t so natural to sue cheating, especially when you can cheat together with the original cheater. Seconds passed and minutes passed. I stuck to cheating together. However, sense of immorality just didn’t get erased, disturbing me every question. Then, Mr. Kim suddenly shouted,

             “Alright kiddies, only five more minutes left!”

Mixture of sound of discontent, worries, and relief streamed out of the students.

             “What? No!” I shouted, without even knowing that I’m shouting.

*           *           *

(Person3: the TEACHER)  

             “Hey! This test isn’t over yet! Stop muttering helpless things and start wrapping up!”

             ‘Finally, this stupid test assistant was coming to an end.’ I thought.

However, that strange sense of suspicion on the left side kept hovering over my head. It felt like that I saw the similar scene before. I wasn’t a man who passes by something doubtful even a one bit.

             ‘Well, I’ll just have to check after the test,’ I thought.

The time watch beeped in my hand, telling that the test was over.

             “Alright students, put your hands on your heads, the test is over. If you move before I take all            the answer sheets that would count as cheating”

*           *           *

(Person1: the CHEATER)

I was right on time. Even with the cunning paper, it was pretty hard to figure out the answers without any studying what-so-ever. It felt great. I was flooded with sense of achievement.

             ‘Should I recover the window-cheat paper right after the test?’ I thought.

             ‘Nah, I should recover it after a few days. It would look suspicious if I go right there when    everyone is leaving the classroom.’

The test was over and I had no regrets at all. At that time, overwhelmed by the joy of completing the cheating without getting caught and talking to my friends about the tricky questions, I couldn’t hear someone calling me from behind.

*           *           *

 (Person2: the BYSTANDER) 

The test was over and I messed up the whole test, caught up between morality and good score. I couldn’t believe myself from letting the cheater walking right away from me. The tears welled up in my eyes. I began to call him from few meters behind. But he didn’t look back, surrounded by bunch of boys complaining about insane number of questions.

             “Hey, I need to talk to you!”

I shouted at him, trying as hard as I can to prevent the tears falling down from my eyes. However, he was long gone with his friends.

*           *           *

 (Person3: the TEACHER) 

After all the students have left, I went over to the left side and began to search from the back. I thoroughly investigated each desk, one by one. Then, on the last desk, the desk on the very front that I oversaw, I finally found it. The smile began to form on my face.

             “You know kid? You are using the exact cheating process that I used right before I got caught.            It seems like that it’s going to happen to you too!”

Laughing and full of memories, I began to walk out the empty classroom.

Brainstorming : Three Side Story Assignment

           The assignment for this week in Mr. Garrioch’s class is the ‘Three Person Story’ - which is an assignment to write the same story in three different people’s view. After getting a horrible score on the last assignment, the Catfish Review, I brainstormed hard and long (?) to make an outstanding ‘Three Person Story’.

             The first thing that came into mind was as always, the ‘triangle love relationship’ between two guys and one girl. This topic was quite tempting because I actually saw and experienced the similar situation so closely before. Also, I had an experience of writing about love story in Mr. Garrioch’s class last semester (which received a good score).

             The next topic that came into my mind was a story concerning basketball and the team. I thought about making the three people in the story as the captain of the team, the ace of the team, and the least valuable player on the team. In addition, I thought of a different setting such as a model student playing sport, defying his or her parents’ scolds.

             Another topic that I thought about was named the “Mission Impossible”, dealing the episode about cheating in the test. I planned to set my three perspectives as the cheater, the teacher, and the bystander. I thought this was a good idea since I believed that I could give enough emotion and tension to each character in the story.

             The last topic that I thought was about the adopted boy or girl searching for his or her real parents. If I actually choose this topic, I’m going to set three perspectives as the adopted boy (the main character), the real parents, and the parents who adopted the boy. I think this is a pretty good topic since I can merge in some seriousness, sincerity, and heartwarming effect in the story.

             These are the topics that I brainstormed for the topic. I dropped the second topic after brainstorming and now I’m balancing between the other three. Each of them has their own strong points and weak points. I plan to ponder over for next one or two days and start writing the story. 

Review on 'Catfish' : Effect of Social Network in Modern Society

            Coming into the dormitory after a day’s hard work, I rush forward to my desk and turn on the laptop. After a minute or two, I click on the Internet Explorer icon, sighing of the thought of various homework and quizzes due tomorrow. After a second or two, a screen pops up. However, the screen doesn’t show familiar Google, Naver, or Yahoo screen. Instead, there comes out a simple blue and white icon. On the right of that icon, red alerts show that I got few notifications to check on. With a sufficient smile on the face, I began to plunge myself into the world of Facebook.

             Just like me, many people nowadays have a close life with Social Network Systems (SNS), similar to one above. In fact, it is so much into our lives; we can’t get along without them. Accordingto the official statistics by Facebook, more than 500 million active users over the world and half of them log in every day. Another SNS called MySpace had over 43.2 million users in 2009. Seeing this, we can’t deny that social network systems have become part of our lives.

             Social networks are on-line, computer-based networks that help building social relationships with people who share same interests. SNSs consist of a profile that represents a user, list of other users with shared interests, and the views of connections from other users. Along with these profiles, SNSs provide users various features such as messaging, leaving comments, notifications photo sharing, etc. to share ideas, events and interests. Through these profiles and features, SNSs are characterized in a way that they allow us to make connections with people who otherwise would not have known.

             Developing through various success and failures, SNSs nowadays show great influence over the whole society. This result is rooted in the basic characteristic of SNSs: egocentric. Unlike online communities that existed before SNSs that focuses on users’ shared interests, SNSs form around the user him/herself. This gave users the feeling of being in the middle of the society and events. With this, SNS users massively increased, empowering SNSs with great influences and effects it has today. Some effectsand influences are positive and essential to us, while some are harmful andmust be improved.

            First, SNSs let us communicate actively with numerous people, integrating more social interaction in our lives. SNSs nowadays, users have ability to comment and respond to statements or comments from other users, initiating communication. These comments are not limited to words and sentences. There can be comments using photos, music, and even videos. By allowing such active feedbacks, users can widen their social interaction with people close to them and with people who are far away but share interests.

             Second, social networking sites enhance mobility of its users. SNSs offer mobility to its users through access of information and communication with others at any time and in any places. Chance of meeting people with the same interests is greatly increased. For example, a user in South Korea can form a connection with a user in San Francisco, sharing the interest of Golden State Warriors. Along with that, users can maintain a constant connection with existing friends and family who might live in places far away.

             Third, social networking sites provide freedom by bringing people together with varying backgrounds who might otherwise never have met. This kind of communication can be possible because of the virtual anonymity of online experience. Anonymity reduces social discomfort and discrimination, or stereotyping of age, disabilities, race, gender, or culture that might have acted as a barrier to join, interact, and communicate with others in real-life. By communicating online, people aren’t concerned by physical differences and focus on a deeper connection, discovering similarities that may have been previously disregarded.

            Fourth, SNSs offer news and information that actually interests and is important to the users. Through the connections between close friends and users with common interests, SNS users can gain information that they need or attain information that interests them. This differentiates SNSs from various portal sites such as Google or Naver, which presents innumerable information and news. However, most of them turn out to be unimportant or useless to people.

            While social network systems prove to be a great help in our lives, SNSs don’t only have positive effects. They definitely have downsides that must be improved. First of all, SNSs are insecure about the users’ privacy. Strange people can take a look at any information in any profiles if they want. This means that users’ home, phone number, school, close friends, etc. are all in danger. This can lead toproblems such as hacking into personal computers and stalking. For one, there was a Facebook user who got his account hacked because of clicking on fake emails. Fake emails stated that “You requested your Facebook account password and the email associated with your account to be changed. This process was initiated by someone correctly answering your security question.” This kind of email could have tricked any user at all.

             Second, users can get addicted to SNSs. As mentioned before, people love the idea of the events forming around him or her. Some people are able to control themselves in those feelings. However, some others aren’t able to resist that and sometimes neglect their duties. For example, teenagers who aren’t able toresist the temptation of SNSs often find themselves with lower grades than they expected. This is also shown in a survey that will be talked about later on.

             Third, SNSs lessen face-to-face interaction in real-world. Through development of social network systems, people now don’t have to meet somewhere outside their homes to talk or discuss. They just have to sit in their couches and chat with each other. This leads to lack of face to face communication with people. However, even though face to face communication can be laborious and annoying, it conveys much more meaning than just chatting. Through signs such as making faces, eye contacts, body language, and etc., face to face communication delivers such emotions and feeling that can’t be said through chatting in SNSs. Severance of face to face communication can cause disability to properly express emotions or understand such gestures and motions.

             With all these negative effects, should we keep using SNSs? Do positive effects overpower negative effects to keep us using SNSs? In my opinion, we should keep making use of SNSs. Actually, it’s not something you can keep. SNSs are way too much into our lives to stop using it. Without SNSs, people of our generation won’t be able to communicate thoroughly, or keep in contact. SNSs are not what we can choose but are what we have to accept. Still, accepting SNSs doesn’t solve its downsides. By accepting, I don’t mean to take it on thoughtlessly. Users will have to continue their use with necessary improvements and supplements.

             What kind of steps can we take to prevent leak of private information? There can be many different solutions. For one, social networking sites can block any personal information from users who are not friends with us. Another solution can be omitting the phase where new users write down their information. However, if we take on the first solutions, users will feel frustrated when they are looking for other users with similar interests. Also, if social networking sites adopt the second solution, there will be no point of the profile at all because it is profile that contains information which introduces the users to other people. In my opinion, social networking sites should respect the autonomy of its users. The users should be the people to choose what they are going to do about their information. Users should be able to select which information they are going to put on their profile and which information they are not. For example, one user can choose to show his name, birth day, and hobbies, but block his address and telephone number. Also, a user can decide to show all her friends only to friends who are close to her. In such ways, users will be responsibility of any leak of personal information in social network systems. What SNSs can do, however, is to strengthen their security program of sites and programs. Even though users decide to block certain information, it can still be seen through hacking. Social network sites programmers will have to prevent that in order to protect its users’ personal information.

             Also, solutions to SNS addiction are necessary. Addiction is a primary reason why people are reluctant to start SNS and it is also a primary reason the users quit SNSs. There can be two kinds of solutions. First, there can be a type of solution where users can act on. These solutions depend on honesty and efforts from the users. For example, we can promise ourselves to only use Facebook 15 minutes a day. Nobody regulates us. Carrying out the promise entirely depends on us. Second, there can be a type of solution where SNSs’ programmers can act on. For example, they can make the sites to go down if some user uses it more than the regulation time. However, no matter what kind of regulations that SNSs provide, there’s only one way to prevent SNS addiction – self-control.

             Solutions to the last problem – the lack of face to face communication – doesn’t come up so easily. SNSs have infiltrated our lives enough to make us stare at iPhones even though people meet in a café or restaurant. In my opinion, this kind of flow is impossible to avoid. Humans have advanced technology to gain more comfort and convenience. Now that people have gained convenience, they won’t let go of it easily. However, face to face communication on SNSs can be suggested. Since it is impossible to pull out the users from SNSs, we will have to pull the necessary interactions into the SNSs. Now that technology have developed greatly, face to face communication such as video chatting is possible. By developing this technology and making it more convenient, we will be able to fill in the lack of face to face communication.

Harmful Walmart: Its Employees and Local Communities Around It

             “Hey, son, I think we need some peanut butter and strawberry jam soon.” Dad says, on one Sunday morning. Sooner or later, I’m walking along the high stands full of jams and butter in Wal-Mart, with just a five-dollar bill in my pocket. Just like that, Wal-Mart allures us with is such low prices of products we need. According to the article “Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities”, Wal-Mart provides us, the consumers, with a choice that would have not been available before. This “choice”, adds up to the higher quality of life, allowing its consumers to save up more budgets to spend somewhere else. However, it is an unfortunate truth that Wal-Mart is blindfolding its consumers with the “choice” they provided from all the harms and damages they presented to all the people and society around it. The primary victims of Wal-Mart’s hidden truth mostly concern its employees and local communities. Specifically, the wages and working conditions of employees along with closings of local shops and businesses are Wal-Mart’s primary source of assault. There is no doubt that Wal-Mart benefited its consumers by its never-ending desire to wring out the costs. Still, on the other side of such benefits, there exists a much darker side from workers and local merchants. There is more harm than gain from Wal-Mart’s deeds, and the first darkness that Wal-Mart tried to hide is impacts of it on the employees.

             One of the most concerning issues about employees are about wages and working conditions. As mentioned in the article “The Price of Pickles”, most of the full-time workers at Wal-Mart work 40 hours at the most getting paid around 7~9 dollars an hour. Some defenders of all-mighty Wal-Mart claim that 7~9 dollars is more than twice the minimum wage. Nevertheless, that is just another excuse and a blindfold to fool the world outside Wal-Mart. Unfortunately many employees in Wal-Mart receive free medical aid or equivalent relief programs from in numerous states. Now, this is a sufficient piece of information that no matter how hard you work in Wal-Mart, you still won’t be able to escape from the swamp of poverty. According to the article “Always Low Wages”, Wal-Mart provides nearly 1.3 million jobs. Although Wal-Mart might be able to squeeze through the chain of laws, we can say that Wal-Mart is responsible of at least 1.3 million poverties or near-poverties. Opinions may vary about whether 1.3 million near-poverties is more harm than supplying cheap products national-wide. Sadly, there is more (POP). There are various reported cases of Wal-Mart forcing the employees to work overtime without proper pay or locking them in the shop to “prevent stealing”. In addition, Wal-Mart blocks or steers its employees away from the union. One union organizer says in the article, ‘Wal-Mart is one of the most anti, if not the most aggressively anti-union company in the entire history of the United States’. One incident where Wal-Mart closed all of its fresh-meat departments when meat workers of Wal-Mart constructed labor union clearly supports such statement. Now it might be easier to decide between benefits from Wal-Mart’s low prices and harms done to its employees. If it is still not easy, another story about Wal-Mart’s international/foreign employees will make the decision easier.

             Put in a nutshell, the most serious damage done by Wal-Mart is in the developing countries, as strongly mentioned in “The Price of Pickles”. Wal-Mart employs labor from such countries at a ridiculously cheap price. For example, in Bangladesh, Wal-Mart hired about 189,000 seamstresses, paying only around 13 and 17 cents per hour. Not only that, those seamstresses work 14 hours a day, having 10 days off at most a year. This ruthless employment in developing countries like China or Bangladesh is harming hundreds and thousands of people worldwide. In other words, Wal-Mart is assisting developing countries to maintain poverty. Thus, Wal-Mart is dealing harm not only is the United States, but also internationally.

                   Another most concerning issues about harm done by Wal-Mart concerns the local communities around it. Most visible harm is destroying of local shops and businesses. For one, 43 per cent of men’s and boys’ clothing shops went out of business. Businesses in small town had an especially hard impact due to Wal-Mart, unable to compete against a gigantic cooperation that’s alluring the local customers with a cheap price. As mentioned in “Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities?” some people argue that everyone except the owners of small stores gained from the cheap price and Wal-Mart’s just providing them with another free choice. However according to research mentioned in “The Price of Pickles”, concluded that ‘the presence of Wal-Mart unequivocally raised family poverty rates in US countries during the 1990s.’ Research stated that while the poverty rates in countries without Wal-Mart decreased from 13.1 per cent to 10.7 per cent, the value in countries with Wal-Mart only fell to 11 per cent. This is not a mere coincidence. It shows the long-term outcome of net harmful effect on communities, cheap prices not able to offset Wal-Mart’s harms. Furthermore, Wal-Mart’s never-ending expansion is slowly but steadily killing the local merchants and businesses all over the United States. Thus, in addition to harm done to its employees all over the world, Wal-Mart results harm to local communities, destroying the local businesses and in long-term, hindering poverty rates from going down which is due to Wal-Mart’s cheap prices that pro-Wal-Mart supporters insist on so much.

                   With these in mind, let’s go back to the original question: Does Wal-Mart gives out more benefits from its cheap prices than harm? The answer is clear now. There is no doubt that Wal-Mart does more harm than benefits to all the people and society around it. Worldwide, Wal-Mart is extorting labor from its employees with a very low wage, keeping them in the cycle of poverty even though they work 14 hours a day. Locally, Wal-Mart is ruining small shops and businesses. The cheap price that Wal-Mart boasts about proved to be hindering poverty rates from decreasing in long-term. People will still shop at Wal-Mart allured by money saved when they shop there. However, it cannot be denied that Wal-Mart is harmful indeed – a fact that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Works Cited

-          Fishman, Charles. “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know.” Fast Company 19 Dec. 2007: 7 – 10. Print.

-          L. Anderson, William. “Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities?” Mises Daily 1 May. 2004: 21-23. Print.

-          Bolton, Brian. “Always Low Wages.” Sojourners Feb. 2004: 17. Print.

-          Lanchester, John. “The Price of Pickles.” London Review of Books 28.12 (2006): 3 – 6. Print.

Change in Outdoor Regulation

Change in Outdoor Regulation

             “Hey, are you going out this weekend?”

             “I’m thinking about it. Mom’s pushing me to come out…”

             Every week, on days near the weekends, we can hear this kind of conversation all over the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. Just like it’s important to use the self-study period efficiently, it is very crucial to use weekends wisely in this school. Some students prefer to remain in school, but other many students tend to go back home during the weekends to refresh and reenergize. However, since KMLA is a dormitory school, students can’t leave the school during weekends without notifying the dormitory parents. KMLA is enforcing this notifying rule with an ‘outdoor regulation’, giving penalty points to anyone who left the school without permission.

             Until last year, it was quite easy to keep the outdoor regulation. Students just had to go in KMLA Online and check a box to inform that they’ll not be in school during the weekends. However, starting this year, the regulation changed. Now, the students have to notify their parents first and the parents have to inform the students’ advisors about not being at school on weekends. The change was made to prevent students from lying that they will be visiting home but going elsewhere with friends. Even though the change was made for good reasons, there are complaints here and there.

             Most complaints are about the robbing of freedom from the students. One student said “It’s not as troublesome as I thought it will be. Still, I feel bad about losing our freedom concerning outdoor regulation.” Also, there are complaints that outdoor regulation became more tiresome. This type of dissatisfaction is especially high from the students with the foreign advisor teachers. “It is difficult for our parents to contact our advisors since foreign advisors don’t understand Korean and our parents don’t speak English. Furthermore, there’s some pressure to be formal and polite to the teachers, which makes the procedure tiresome.” On the other hand, students who agree to the changes say differently. They say that it was students’ responsibility on the first hand to keep the promise with the school. Outdoor regulation is sort of a promise between students and school the he or she will go home or formal events with their parents knowing about it. Unfortunately, students broke that mutual promise by going somewhere else without their parents knowing. Students who approve say that it’s our fault to not manage our freedom. In addition, students who agree with the change say that the difficulties concerning foreign advisors can be overcome by simplifying the ‘advisor notifying’ process by using e-mails or text messages to convey the message.

             Is this change good? Or is it bad? We can’t be sure yet. Until now, not much trouble has occurred but it is clear that school has lost their trust on us and robbed us from our freedom. We will have to wait for a little longer and see how the events concerning new outdoor regulation come out. However, it is crystal clear that if we want to prevent any other ‘robbing of freedom’, we have to put our efforts for school to retain their trust on us. 

Harmful Walmart - Must be Regulated : Synthesis Essay Sources

           The thesis of my synthesis essay about Walmart is that Walmart must be regulated by government because it does more harm than benefits to the people around it. I'm planning to support my thesis with two main topics. The first one is about Walmart’s impact on its employees. In this topic, I will talk about the wages, working conditions, and foreign workers concerning Walmart. The second topic is  Walmart’s impact on local communities. There, I will about Walmart destroying local merchants and businesses. Furthermore, I will relate the Walmart’s idea of expanding as much as it can to the influence of the company to people around it. I found three sources to make my arguments concrete.

1.Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities? 
   http://mises.org/daily/1521

           If someone looks into this source, they might find it peculiar that I choose this article as my source because this article titled “Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities?” actually defends Wal-Mart from its criticizers. He says that Wal-Mart helps the local economy by giving numerous citizens another choice and freedom to buy cheaper products and says that Wal-Mart is already paying its employees enough. Some might say, this source is not giving me any sufficient information to support my arguments. However, with the information and proofs from other sources, I am going to rebut what Mr. Anderson said, thus strengthening my arguments one step further.

Here’s the article (I highlighted the important things from the article)

In a recent poll on the CNN website, viewers were asked the "poll" question of whether or not they believed that Wal-Mart stores were "good" for the "community." Perhaps it is not surprising that a large majority answered "no." 

Now, this by itself does not mean much, since these online "polls" are not scientific and reflect only the views of the moment by people who choose to participate. What is more significant, however, was the anti-Wal-Mart content of a speech recently given by Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry's wife and an influential person in her own right. Speaking at a Democratic Party rally, Mrs. Kerry declared that "Wal-Mart destroys communities."

Indeed, Wal-Mart bashing is in vogue. Whether one journeys to the sight of Sojourners Magazine or reads even mainstream news publications, the charges against Wal-Mart abound. According to the consensus of the critics, Wal-Mart is guilty of the following:

• Paying low wages to workers, and generally abusing them.
• Intimidating shoppers by having them "greeted" by an elderly person at the door. (As one writer said, the real purpose of that greeter is to let shoppers know that they are being watched.)
• Putting small stores out of business, as shoppers stop patronizing the little "mom-and-pop" boutiques for the big box, thus "destroying" the look of "Main Street" in small towns and cities.
• Purchasing low-priced goods from abroad, which puts American workers out of jobs.
• Contributing to that allegedly harmful disease known as "consumerism," in which Americans are constantly purchasing goods that the Wal-Mart critics insist that they really don't need. As the bumper sticker of one of my faculty colleagues proclaims: "Mal-Wart: The Source of Cheap Crap."

Of course, what really bugs the critics is that people choose to shop at Wal-Mart instead of the places where they would want people to spend their money. (Activists on both left and right often will invoke the name of the "people" when their real goal is to restrict the choices of those "people.")  Yet, while up front I question the real motives of the Wal-Mart haters, it still behooves us to answer the charges using economic logic, since many of the arguments against this chain store also appeal to economics.

In a recent article, "Always Low Wages," Brian Bolton declares that Jesus would not shop at Wal-Mart, since the company's employee pay scale is not up to Sojourners' standards. Furthermore, he all but declares it a "sin" for Christians to patronize the store because it imports cheap goods made by people who make even less money than Wal-Mart employees. As Bolton writes, "lower prices equal lower wages."

Nearly all of us would accept higher payment for our services, and Wal-Mart employees are no exception. Yet, that condition alone hardly makes a company's pay scales illegitimate, as Bolton and other critics contend. If my employer were to double my pay tomorrow (which is highly doubtful), I doubt I would object, although I'm sure that most of my colleagues would see the event in a different light. That Frostburg State University does not make that offer to me does not make my current salary illicit, nor does it make my employer the second coming of Silas Marner.

The point is this: payment for services involves mutually agreeable exchanges. They are not manifestations of power, as some would say. No one is forced to work at Wal-Mart; people who choose to work there do so because they prefer employment there to other circumstances.

At the local Wal-Mart where I shop (contrary to Bolton, I do not believe that shopping at Wal-Mart violates the Holy Scriptures), I have noticed that many employees have stayed with that company for a long time, and there does not seem to be much turnover there. Furthermore, from what I can tell, they seem like normal people, not the oppressed slaves that the critics claim fill the ranks of Wal-Mart workers.

Now, my personal observations hardly constitute proof that Bolton and the other Wal-Mart critics are wrong, but unless they can repudiate the opportunity cost argument, they have ground upon which to stand. Wal-Mart is not engaged in a grand conspiracy to push down wages in any given market, and twisted logic cannot prove otherwise.

For example, Bolton writes that part of the problem faced by recent striking union grocery store workers in Southern California was that Wal-Mart super centers in the area paid lower wages, which placed pressure on the other grocery stores. Thus, he reasons, it was Wal-Mart that ultimately kept workers from receiving "just wages" for their work.

No doubt, Bolton can appeal to the anti-capitalist mentality of many people, but his work stands economic logic upon its head. By paying lower wages, Wal-Mart makes grocery stores like Vons and other places that pay union scale more attractive to workers (although labor unions do not exactly welcome some potential employees with open arms). The success of Wal-Mart does not have to do with the pay scale of its employees, but rather with the perception by consumers that the store will have the goods they want at an affordable price.

Bolton claims that Wal-Mart can charge lower prices and still be profitable because it pays its employees less than do other companies. As anyone with even cursory training in Austrian Economics knows, such an argument is false. As Murray Rothbard points out in Man, Economy, and State, economic profit exists because of temporarily underpriced factors of production. Over time, as the owners recognize their position, they will either refuse to sell their factors at current prices and look to other options, or accept the current price because the opportunity costs of selling to other buyers may be higher than they wish to incur. If it is the latter, then one cannot say that these particular factors are even underpriced, as their owners are not able or willing to do what is necessary to gain higher prices for their employment.

In places like Southern California, where there are numerous employment opportunities, to say that workers are "forced" to work at Wal-Mart for "slave wages" is ridiculous. As noted before, the fact that workers there would be willing to accept higher pay is not evidence that they are enslaved. That they would prefer more to less simply means that they are normal, purposeful human beings.

One can easily dismiss the charge about the "greeter" at the door—unless one truly is intimidated by the presence of a diminutive 60-year-old grandmother. (What I have found is that if I select merchandise and actually pay for it, then no one there bothers me at all. If activists are upset that Wal-Mart does not like individuals to steal goods from their shelves, then they are advocating theft, and one does not have to pay attention to their arguments at all.) 

The "Wal-Mart destroys the community" charge, however, needs more attention. It goes as such: Wal-Mart enters a geographical area, and people stop shopping at little stores in order to patronize Wal-Mart. The mom-and-pop stores go out of business, the community is left with boarded-up buildings, and people must leave the small businesses and accept lower wages at Wal-Mart. Thus, while a shiny new store full of inexpensive goods is in the locality, in real terms, most everyone actually is poorer.

Again, these kinds of arguments appeal to many people. For example, all of us have heard of the theoretical owner of the small, independent hardware store who had to close his shop when Wal-Mart or Home Depot moved into his community, then suffer the indignity of having to go to work at the very place that put him on the streets. The former owner has a lower income than before, which is held up as proof that the "big boys" create and expand poverty.

A few items need to be put in order. First, no one forced the hardware owner to close his shop; he closed it because it was not profitable enough for him to keep it open. If the new chain store meant that many of his former customers had abandoned him, that is not the fault of the new store. Instead, consumers faced with choices and lower prices that they had not previously enjoyed freely chose to patronize the new store.

Second, while the owner of the smaller store has suffered a loss of income, everyone else has gained. Third, if the employees of the smaller store go to work at the new chain store, it is almost guaranteed that their pay will be higher than before and they will enjoy new benefits that most likely had not been available to them previously.

Third, the presence of Wal-Mart means local consumers will pay lower prices for goods than before, and also will benefit by having a wider array of available items than they had previously. (And they save on time by being able to stay under one roof while shopping for different items.) Whatever the reason, we can safely assume that consumers in that particular locality are exercising their free choices, choices that they perceive will make them better off than they were before the store existed. Activists may not like their reasoning, but that is irrelevant to our analysis.

Having dealt with the "Wal-Mart" creates poverty argument, we now turn to the more nebulous claim that the chain store "destroys" communities. Now, I have never seen a place that has been severely damaged or "destroyed" by Wal-Mart. (I have seen places that have had their quality of life spoiled by rent controls, "urban renewal," and other statist interventions that so-called activists have championed, but that is another story for another time. Suffice it to say that activists are unhappy that individuals freely choose to shop at Wal-Mart, and they want to restrict their choices in the name of "community.")

In fact, I would like to make a reverse argument; Wal-Mart and stores like it add to the quality of life in large and small communities because they provide consumer choices that otherwise would not be available. Take the area near Cumberland, Maryland, where I live, for example.

Cumberland is something of a time warp, a place that 50 years ago was a manufacturing center and was the second-largest city in Maryland. Today, most of the large factories are long shut down and the population is less than half of Cumberland's heyday numbers. Furthermore, the area has a relatively high unemployment rate and many jobs do not pay very well.

The presence of Wal-Mart and Lowe's (a large hardware store), along with some large grocery chains, however, means that people here can stretch their incomes farther than we would if those stores did not exist. If they suddenly were to pull out, one can be assured that our quality of life here would not improve in their absence. Furthermore, the fact that Wal-Mart and other large stores are willing to locate in smaller and poorer communities also makes these areas more attractive for people who wish to live here but do not want to have to give up all of the amenities of living in a larger city.

Others on this page and elsewhere have dealt with the charge that Wal-Mart destroys American jobs by purchasing goods from abroad, where the goods often are manufactured in what activists call "oppressive" conditions. (In fact, Sojourners elsewhere has openly stated that Third World peoples should simply be supported by American aid, and that the West should do all it can to make sure that the economies of these poor nations do not grow, all in the name of environmentalism. In other words, none of us are poor enough to satisfy the anti-Wal-Mart activists whose real goal is to eviscerate our own standards of living and "turn back the clock" to an era when life expectancy was lower and people generally were more deprived.)

The last objection—that Wal-Mart helps create "mindless" consumerism—is easily refuted by Austrian economics. The very basis of human action is purposeful behavior; to call human action "mindless" is absurd. Consumers at Wal-Mart and other chain stores are not zombies walking aimlessly through the building with glassy stares. They are human beings with needs and desires who perceive that at least some of those desires can be fulfilled through the use of goods purchased at Wal-Mart.

In a free society, activists would have to try to convince other individuals to change their buying habits via persuasion and voluntary action. Yet, the very history of "progressivist" activism in this country tells us a story of people who use the state to force others to do what they would not do given free choices. Yesterday, Microsoft was in their crosshairs; today, it is Wal-Mart, and tomorrow, some other hapless firm will be declared guilty of providing customers choices that they had not enjoyed before. A great sin, indeed.

2.The Wal-Mart You Don't Know 
   http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html?page=0%2C6

           This is the source of most of the information that I used to support my arguments. There are few paraphrases and quotations from this source. This article titled “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know” shows my Wal-Mart is harm and tells this in a similar way as the article that I read called “The Price of Pickles”. (The length of it is similar too) Since the article is too long, I won’t post it on the blog.

3.Always Low Wages 
   http://www.sojo.net/print/magazine/2004/02/always-low-wages

           This is a short article specifically about the low wages that employees get in Wal-Mart. I found this source as I was looking for the source that provided me with specific examples and data to support my first argument. Although it’s shorter than the two above, I have provided me sufficient reasons to rebut and claim my argument. The title of the article is “Always Low Wages”.