Stereotypes have been a part of human history ever since we developed a conscience. It is natural for us to stereotype, yet it is not necessarily a good thing. In today’s society the most common place to find stereotypical views is in the media. In the media the most stereotypical and straightforward views are often found in political cartoons.  The most commonly encountered stereotype is that which is often directed toward a certain ethnic group. Below are two political cartoons. The first one is a modern day political cartoon of U.S.’s view towards Iraqis and the second one below that (in a link) is an older cartoon used to portray Irish and/or African Americans.

Modern Day 21st Century Cartoon

Cartoon from the 19th Century

http://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/19thcentury/alienmenace/

            Even though our society has changed in numerous ways since the 19^th century, many ideas, views, and beliefs have stayed the same. The way which our society judges “outsiders”—people of different faith, beliefs, ethnicity, race, and gender—has still remained a part of our political and personal views. I will compare and contrast the above political cartoons and discuss what has changed and what has stayed constant in society’s beliefs of immigrants.

            Immigrants in the United States are referred to as “Aliens” and in other countries as well they have many labels. So why label them as “Aliens”?  What makes them so different from presently residing citizens of a country? Immigrants have been long viewed as outsiders who do not belong, and who bring harm to a country and not much good. Often many immigrants leave their home country in order to find better living conditions, and because of such conditions many of them are usually less economically stable than most citizens.

In the two above cartoons artists depict society’s views towards “Aliens”. In the first modern day cartoon, an Iraqi immigrant is working hard in the land of liberty and freedom. Yet his Iraqi shadow is following him everywhere he goes, in a way ready to stab him in the back. Mainly because of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Immigrants from the Middle East have been discriminated much more than others. In the second cartoon there an Irish man (as discussed in class) who looks like an African American male. He looks mad and he certainly does not resemble a model citizen or even an appealing character.  

These cartoons seem very different at first yet they also have many elements in common. What they have in common in the disproportion of the immigrant’s image. These immigrants do not look in reality as they are portrayed in the cartoons. Instead they are portrayed in the way society views them.  The also are similar in the fact that neither cartoon shows an immigrant that remotely resembles a citizen. Society makes it clear that not only do are immigrants not welcome in their land but that they also make an effort to show them quite different in physical appearance than citizens.

I don’t think that society really looks at the Irish with the same negative degree as they did back in the 19^th century. Society has shifted its focus on the immigrants that it chooses to discriminate more than others. Now immigrants from the Middle East are viewed world wide as a greater threat than other immigrants such a Irish immigrants. In the United States Mexican Immigrants—also referred to as “Latinos”—are also a part of the discrimination brought fourth by society. So as it can be seen that views towards immigrants certainly change with time.

1.      Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmissible_spongiform_encephalopathy

I chose this Wikipedia article because it provides adequate information on the disease that prions can cause in humans and it will be adequate to gather information from for my wiki article.

2.      Prion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prions

I chose this Wikipedia article because it is the primary web page that provides the most information on prions and the disease that they cause in humans. I will also be able to refer to it for historical information on prions.

3.      Neurodegenerative disease

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurodegenerative

I chose this Wikipedia article because this is the type of disease that prions cause, and by having more information on the disease caused by prions I will also be able to find more information about how this disease emerged and when.

4.      PRNP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRNP

I chose this Wikipedia article because PRNP is the gene isolated that relates to the prion diseases. This will be useful in finding more historical information on the discovery of prions, such as when this gene was first isolated.

2 External Websites:

1.      Center for Disease Control (CDC)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/prions/

I chose this website because it is very reliable and it is very helpful in providing information about prion diseases as well as the history of prions and their discovery.

2.      National Institute of Health (NIH)

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/healthscience/healthtopics/prion/

I chose this website because it is also a very reliable government website that provides more than enough adequate information on prions and their history, especially on the history and discovery of mad cow disease (one of the most popular prion diseases).

2 Published Books:

1.      Microterrors: The Complete Guide to Bacterial, Viral and Fungal Infections that Threaten Our Health by Tony Hart

I chose this book because it is a wonderful guide to all the prion diseases and explains their possible emergence, and how it might have occurred.

2.      The Pathological Protein : Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and other Deadly Prion Diseases by Philip Yam

I chose this book because it contains a great deal of information on the history of research of prions and how they were first discovered. It also provides insight on the modern history of prions and possible future outcomes from the study and research of prions.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
                    - Genesis 1:28 (NKJV)

The perfect utopia exists in a community where man coexists with nature and every living thing around him.  Man should use the resources provided to him, yet he should not take advantage of his wealth and destroy the environment he’s been given to live in.  The above community was built to represent the perfect environment of a utopian society.  The residents of this community will experience and practice “…individualism and work for the common benefit” much like Robert Owen’s Utopian society. The freedom to practice individualism will bring wealth and prosperity as long as the residents uphold that society with the attention that it deserves.

Economically speaking this community will prosper from its natural resources which are not limited. They will equally share their resources and the community is built in such a way that if for some unrealistic reason the resources begin to diminish then the residents have will use their morals and intelligence to equally divide the remaining resources among themselves.

Such equal sharing as described above will be possible because of two reasons. One important reason is that this society will refrain from violence and the second reason is that this society will be gender, age, and race equal towards all individuals without any sort of discrimination.  Refraining from violence will be a result of an intense intellectual curriculum provided in schools, along with an extreme nurturing process as each individual develops during childhood to adulthood. One important part of nurturing children and creating strong family values is through family time. This family time will be established through eating all three meals of the day together as a family. By taking family vacations and by having family time in the evenings to play games and to have conversations as a family. Building a strong family is essential in any community, especially more in a utopian society.          

As far as religion is concerned individuals have the right to practice their own beliefs as long as they cause no harm to other residents. They have the right to create their own spiritual relationships through their own means, or though collective means.     

       The physical design of the community includes forestation and orchards surrounding the town. This is for protection from outside forces as well as for protection against Mother Nature. This setting will catch most winds cause by hurricanes and other natural disasters. The farmlands around the homes will provide easy access to food, as well as be a reservoir for floods. The homes are arranged in such a way that they are close to the workplace, as well as community parks which are important for children to attend, as well as for family events.  If you notice there are no factories because the citizens are able to produce their own material objects through skills that they’ve acquired throughout their education.

This utopian community is based strictly on moral values, and the love that keeps the community together. Such happiness was often sought by many during the 19^th century search for utopia. The problem was that such a utopia is almost impossible without some sort of communist or socialist reform, because individualism and freedom cannot co-exist with a utopian society since you cannot always want the same thing and still be individualistic.   

In class we discussed “Slave Ads”. Throughout the time that I’ve been in school and have learned history, for some strange reason I had never heard of the slave ads until the discussion we had recently in class. What surprised me even more is that these ads have been kept as historical records which are easily accessible in an online database.

These ads were published in local newspapers when a slave would run away. They would be published by the slave’s owner, and they were a way for the owners to find the slaves. They would range from very specific to very brief information given on the slave’s runaway. The ad would usually give some physical characteristics of the slave, when the slave ran away, and sometimes a reward was listed for the person(s) who would find the slave.

There are a several databases that have slave ads. The one that I used is the Geography of Slavery website which is accessible by clicking on this link: http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/ and by further clicking on the “Advertisements” link at the left of the page. The online database had different means of searching for an ad. The first search I conducted was by using a keyword. I thought it would be fun to search by typing “November 3” which is my birthday to see if anything would come up.

Surprisingly enough one result came back from my query.  The following is the ad published on November 3^rd, 1796, exactly 190 years before I was born:

Norfolk Herald (Willett and O’Connor),
Norfolk, November 3, 1796.

COMMITTED to the Jail of this County, a Negro Woman by the name of SARAH, of a light complexion, about 21 years of age, about 5 feet 3 inches high, says she belongs to John Singleton of Norfolk Borough, who purchased her of Robert Gibson of the same place. The owner is desired to pay charges and take her away. JOHN WILLIAMSON, Jailor. Norfolk County, November 3, 1796.

This ad has been posted by Willet and O’Connor which are most likely the owners. The slave that has run away is a girl named Sarah and she is only 21 years old. That is how old I am.  I could not possibly imagine ever being in her position. I assume that if my freedom was ever limited I might do something of the sort. That is why I’m thankful for the life that I live, and the unlimited opportunities that I’ve been presented with.

I also did some subsequent research, this time I did random browsing, and found ads that contained extensive information. Some of these ads were follow ups from previous postings. There were two types of follow up postings. One showed that owners kept looking for their slaves. The other showed that the slaves had been caught previously and had now run away again. In follow up postings usually the price for the slaves caught increased.

This was definitely an interesting experience for me because I had never heard of ads for slaves, and I can imagine that during a certain time period before the abolition, the number of runaways increased making the paper probably more than halfway full of ads.