Week Five: War: Huh, What Is It Good For? (hint: absolutely nothing)

Wars have been fought since the dawn of mankind. No matter what we do, what measures we take, it feels as if
warfare will always be a part of who we are. Interspecies conflicts are normal in the animal kingdom. Species of
ants tear each other apart for territory, lions fight for the right to mate, and wolves face off to see who gets to be
the alpha. Evolution calls for the survival of the fittest,

so conflict must be ingrained into our DNA. 

But why is this? Why do we feel the need to physically dominate others in order to prove our strength?
It seems that war might’ve been necessary during times of chaos, but is it still necessary in the modern
age? I do not believe so. Warfare leaves death, suffering, and pain for all involved. At this stage
in humanity’s existence, I believe we could be at a turning point for warfare. There has not been a
war with major superpowers on each side in a long time, and hopefully, this is a sign that warfare
is dying out. But I believe there is a more sinister answer for why fighting seems to be less frequent:
nuclearization. The Cold War inspired an arms race to see who could produce the most nuclear
weapons between The USSR and America. North Korea now has nukes, and it seems Middle
Eastern countries like Iran are not far behind. Countries are now afraid of war because everyone
either has nukes or has an ally with them. But during this race to the top, did anyone think about
what would happen if even one of those nukes were dropped? A bomb goes off, and the next thing
we know everyone is firing their missiles like there is no tomorrow, probably because there wouldn’t be
one. Nuclear war would destroy much of humanity in the process. It’s called “mutually assured destruction”,
and its acronym makes perfect sense: MAD. If we are thinking in our best interests, we should avoid war,
especiallynuclear war, at all costs. 

This piqued my interest in what the strategy should be for humanity when it comes to war. To be
frank, I do not know what the answer is, and I don’t think anybody does. I see one of two
scenarios playing out, we either decide that everyone should get rid of all of our nukes, or we
keep them until someone decides to set one off, inciting the sixth mass extinction event. In a
perfect world, all nations would come together and deactivate every one of their nuclear weapons.
There would still be wars, but we’d remove the threat of annihilation. But my strategy seems a
little bit too unrealistic. After we got rid of all nukes, would everyone hold hands and sing
Kumbaya? I am doubtful that everyone would have the trust in others to get rid of our greatest
weapon, but it would work to our benefit. Without nukes, we could have trust in other countries.
I believe nukes serve no purpose other than to provide us with the ability to wipe out humankind
overnight. Seeing this type of power resides in the hands of impulsive leaders like Vladimir Putin,
Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump keeps me up at night. The fact that these men, who seem
to only act out of their own self-interest, can wipe out a large portion of the population with the
push of a button, does not bode well for the advancement of humanity. I remain optimistic
that we will find a solution, but I am petrified of the outcome if we can not.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/world/meast/irans-nuclear-capabilities-fast-facts/index.html

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1991-09-01/nuclear-weapons-after-cold-war

Week Thirteen: Online Audit: Maintaining Privacy in an Age Where It No Longer Exists

The first thing I wanted to do was an online audit. I searched my name on Google to see what came up. In order to raise the stakes, I played the role of a stalker, trying to figure out how much creepy information on me was online. What I found was mostly unsurprising to me. Because I played a big role in my successful high school football team, tons of articles about high school sports came up, including highlights and stories about my team. Someone could easily figure out where I lived and what school I went to. The next thing that comes up is my Twitter account. Because my account is set to public, anyone can see what I post on the site. While I do not tweet very often, the things I retweet tell a lot about the person I am. Anyone can easily figure out that I go to HPU and uncover my political affiliation, which is not ideal. Further research takes me to my very public LinkedIn, and in the case of keeping things private online, this is the biggest offender by far. LinkedIn offers to anyone with a computer my work history, interests, what skills I have, and who my friends or "connections" are. It is difficult to try to balance privacy on this site when the entire purpose of it is to market yourself to employers. In order to get on their radar, I need to have as much relevant information out there. Otherwise, your account will be lost in the sea of other competitions. If anything, putting out more personal information is better on the site, which makes it a bit scary. But for me, the information I market to employers is not information I am ashamed of, otherwise, it wouldn’t be posted. For the most part, all of the things I found online are items I don’t feel bad about sharing. Goofy films I made with friends in high school, my Bar Mitzvah video and middle school projects are not the worst things in the world for me to share. This information tells the story of who I am and allows me to share my past with friends. If I am being honest, when it comes to my privacy I would rather stand out from the crowd than blend in anonymously. I do not share too much of what I do on a daily basis online. For the most part, I like to think of myself as more of an observer rather than an interactor on the internet. I do not comment on things on FaceBook or Youtube for strangers to see. On Instagram, I strictly leave comments on my friend's accounts, and accounts of businesses I follow, mostly just the Baltimore Ravens. This information I am comfortable disclosing. 

In the age of isolation and quarantine, one of the best ways to retain your sanity is to stay connected
to the outside world. Fortunately, we live in the most connected societies in history, so staying in
contact is relatively easy. All you have to do is tap a few icons on your smartphone, then boom!
You're instantly online on one of several different social media sites which can put you in contact
with essentially anyone in the world. When I was researching the topic of online privacy for my
Media Law and Literacy course, the prospect crossed my mind that this may not be all that good.
At this age, it is very difficult to be completely anonymous. The concept of privacy is nearly
completely gone, and it made me want to do some research on my own.

I think if someone is going to leave a mark on this world, they are going to have to be okay
with allowing people to know what they do. That is just a part of being a person who makes a
difference, which is above all else what I want to do with my life. The portion about my privacy
that really scares me, are the things that I do not know are being tracked. When Google seemingly
can read my mind and market to me the exact product that I need. How I bring my phone with me
everywhere and that I know it is listening and tracking my location. This information is what
scares me the most. The information that I give to companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple is
probably not smart, yet I do it anyway because of convenience. Credit card info, access to my face,
and fingerprint, and I allow their own personal listening devices like Siri and Alexa into my life. I
constantly wonder how these technologies will progress in the future, and what potential risks they
bring. When it comes to sharing what I do on a daily basis in the privacy of my home with complete
strangers, that is where I draw the line. For now, I will be more careful about what permissions I give
to cites, such as my internet cookies. But it is difficult to monitor all the information that we
unknowingly give to strangers. For now, this information (as far as I know) has only been used to
benefit me, but I fear the day when this knowledge will be used for harm.

https://privacyrights.org/consumer-guides/online-privacy-using-internet-safely

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/apples-siri-is-eavesdropping-on-your-conversations-putting-users-at-risk

Week Twelve: Diffusions of Innovation: How LinkedIn Created the First Business Social Media Cite

This week in my Media Law and Literacy course we were learning about the theory of Diffusions of Innovations, which is the discussion of how an innovation gains popularity and becomes a staple of human society. The founder of the theory, Everett Rogers, believes that there are four elements that influence the spread: the idea itself, communication channels, time and a social system. While discussing recent innovations that followed this trend, I wanted to take a look at how LinkedIn became the staple of business connectivity, and how it could affect society in the future. 

LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and officially launched in 2003. The site is one of the oldest
social sites, being founded before YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The idea itself came from
Reid Hoffman, who started the company in his living room. Hoffman is a very successful
entrepreneur who was on the board of other successful companies like Google, eBay and
was even close with Elon Musk by helping with PayPal’s construction. 

The idea of a business social media site spread like wildfire. Within two years of its launch,
it already had five million users. With the growing popularity of FaceBook coinciding with
LinkedIn’s release, the site began to really gain traction. One year later in 2007, the site tripled
in user base, with over 17 million accounts. Since then, it has rapidly grown into the monster
that it is now. LinkedIn currently has over half a billion users and essentially has a monopoly on
the business social media market. Time and the rise of social media in our current society has
helped to push the idea to the monster status it has now. I think that LinkedIn is a great example
that helps prove Everett Rogers's theory of Diffusion of Innovations. It truly followed all four of the
elements that influence the spread of an idea.

I now wonder what the future of LinkedIn looks like, and how it will affect society in the future.
I think that LinkedIn is just another testament to how powerful the internet has become and how
helpful it can be. Creating ease for businesses in finding employees, while also making it easier
for people to find a job that is a perfect match is really important. Business efficiency is important
for capitalism and helps our society overall progress. Now companies can spend less time and
money on sifting through thousands of physical resumes and interviewing people who are not good
matches. They can easily find prospects that will fit their needs and find all relevant information that
helps them to make an informed decision. I think that LinkedIn is a fantastic innovation, and I believe
in the future there will be more sites and innovations similar in principle to it. 

https://www.businessofapps.com/data/linkedin-statistics/

https://thelinkedinman.com/history-linkedin/

Week Eleven: Eight Values of Free Expression

This week in my Media Law and Literacy course we discussed the eight values of free
expression. They include the marketplace of ideas, participation in self-government, stable
change, individual self-fulfillment, check on government power, promote tolerance,
promote innovation, and protecting dissent. These are all different ideas from various
philosophers about why free expression is valuable. While I think all of these are great
examples of the benefits of free speech, I believe there are a few that stand out in particular
to me. It came down to a toss-up between individual self-fulfillment and promoting tolerance. 

Of these three ideas, I had a hard time deciding which value meant the most to me.
I believe that the promotion of tolerance is certainly one of the most important because
a society that is tolerant of one another is overall a better society than one that promotes
hate and injustice. When we are tolerant of everyone, we are able to see people for who
they are beyond just what culture they are from. When people from different cultures are
able to share their world view with others, we see the world from new perspectives and
gain a deeper knowledge of the world and the people around us. A society that is tolerant
is more efficient, effective, and achieves greater things. That being said, I feel as if free
expression limits tolerance. Lee Bollinger, the founder of this thought, explained that the
goal is to hear others' hateful comments and grow from them. While this may be the case
sometimes, for the most part, it results in people just being intolerant to hurt others'
feelings, and growth stagnates. When intolerant people express their views, more intolerant
people follow them, creating a cycle of hate and violence. So while in theory, this is a great
idea, in practice I believe it does not always play out that way. In that sense, this value is not
my favorite. 

That led me to choose individual self-fulfillment as my favorite one of the eight values
of free expression. I think one of the best examples of this is my blog for this class.
When I am writing this blog, I am allowed to talk about anything topic I desire and express
my opinion of myself. While doing this, I share the person I am with anyone who is
potentially reading, but I also figure out a lot about myself. I did not realize I had such strong
opinions on topics before I started blogging. This blog has helped me organize my thoughts
and understand what I believe a little bit better. I think I have a stronger connection to who I
am and this would not have been possible without free expression. I think if I were to continue
to blog, it would only help me to deepen the connection I have with myself. I find this to be
the most valuable aspect of free expression to me. I believe that if we were not allowed to
talk freely, we would not have a good understanding of what we believe in. When people are
allowed to share their disagreements with the government or other entities, it allows for ideas
to be generated and overall wellbeing to improve. This helps people reach self-actualization,
which is the highest value on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and the last step to becoming happy. 

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1284/c-edwin-baker

Week Two: Mindfulness: How Doing Nothing Can Improve Your Communication, and Your Life

Humans living in the 21st century, especially in the United States, lead very busy lives. We feel constant pressure to work, or else risk falling behind our peers. I am not an exception to this. I wake up, instantly check my phone for notifications, and then get my day started. I go to class for about three to four hours daily, followed by an equal amount of time on schoolwork, an hour or two of exercise, and constant movement in between each activity. When I have a spare moment, I spend my time on YouTube or Skillshare, researching Ted Talks or other videos on topics where I want to learn or expand my skills. I do not get the recommended eight hours of sleep a night. If I'm lucky, I might get a short nap in the middle of the day, but when I am not constantly busy I habitually pick up my phone to mindlessly scroll through social media. Many days, I wake up at 5am and my brain doesn’t get a true break until I fall asleep, around 11pm. This lifestyle is a recipe for unnecessary stress and I feel the impact on my mental health when I do not give myself breaks. The pressure I feel to constantly improve makes me feel sick about wasting time. I notice when I am at a level of heightened stress, my communication skills are the first to suffer. I become more agitated and communicate my thoughts poorly with friends and peers. This becomes a nasty cycle, as I am then stressed because of my inability to communicate, which then leads to worse communication. My schoolwork suffers as well because of my inability to elaborate on my thoughts.

It is only when we are able to identify there is a problem, that we can then clue in on a solution. For me, I felt myself spiraling early last semester. My brain was so clogged by stress that I did not have the headspace to even recognize there was a problem. I was spending too much time worrying about my friends when I was doing schoolwork and then found myself worrying about schoolwork when I was with my friends. It was difficult to be in the moment and enjoy an activity while I was doing it. That is when I was introduced to a video on mindfulness, from Vox's Netflix series: The Mind Explained. It talked about how a person can practice mindfulness by purposefully bringing their attention to the present moment. A monk in the Netflix video spells out the many benefits of mindfulness. He compares it to a workout for our brain. Just like going to the gym to strengthen our muscles, we can practice mindfulness to strengthen our minds. All of this information was backed by research, including one study that even shows that expert mindfulness practitioners had a higher tolerance for pain than others.

Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, protests his government by setting himself aflame. While he was burning he was so at peace that he did not move or make a sound during the incident.

There are many ways people try to give their brain a dose of mindfulness. You can achieve it through yoga, listening to music, playing sports, or doing any activity that allows you to achieve a "flow" state, or being in the zone. The most common way to practice mindfulness is through the act of meditation. Taking five or ten minutes to sit still, and do nothing but focus on your breath, has drastic benefits to your health. I started to practice meditation after watching the video, and I have noticed fantastic results. I became particularly interested in this video because of the ability to calm your "monkey mind", as monks like to call it. The monkey mind is when our mind is chattering non-stop and we cannot control it. The monkey mind wants to pull our attention out of the present moment to focus on the stresses in our life. By practicing to tame the monkey inside us, we allow our brain to stop worrying about the past or the future, and to live free from worry in the present.

All of this got me interested in how I could become a better, happier version of myself. As I said, my biggest issue with stress is the handicap it puts on my ability to communicate with others. I now understand that the idea of mindfulness can be implemented in everything we do, including, in my case: becoming a mindful communicator. When I am speaking with friends or peers, I try to eliminate any distractions, such as being on my phone, to focus solely on what the person has to say. I have noticed that when I actively practice this, I have higher emotional intelligence, greater empathy, and an ability to pick up on more social cues than before. Science has proven that being mindful helps improve communication and even relationships. A study done by researchers at the University of North Carolina found that after couples went to an eight-week mindfulness training, they experienced higher satisfaction in their relationships.

I really would encourage everyone to try to practice mindfulness, especially through meditation. I ideally like to practice in the morning, about fifteen minutes after waking up, and fifteen to thirty minutes before going to sleep. Set a timer for three minutes when starting out, and only focus on breathing in and out. Allow the air to reach deep into your diaphragm, and then exhale slowly. Acknowledge any passing thoughts or distractions, and bring your attention back to your breath. Allow your brain to do absolutely nothing. Do not feel worried if you have a hard time focusing. It will be difficult, and you may even feel quite stupid at first. Afterward, take a moment to assess how you are feeling. Most likely you will at least feel a bit more relaxed. As you become better at the skill, expand the time to five, ten, and eventually twenty minutes. My life has been positively affected by this practice, and if you are struggling with stress or overwork, you may find this helpful. I truly believe if everyone would give themselves a few minutes of mindfulness each day, the world would be a much brighter and better place.

Here are some links that you may find helpful on your journey toward mindfulness!

https://www.headspace.com/meditation/meditation-for-beginners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyj8l9miy4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq6j9uWrcfg

Week Seven: iPhones: How the Introduction of Smartphone Technology Has Impacted Our Society

Can you remember what life was like before you had a smartphone? How did you spend your free time? When you were bored, what did you do when you couldn’t pull up the entire internet with a few touches of a button? How has this invention changed your life, and where do you think you would be if the smartphone was never invented? The king of all smartphones, the iPhone, was first announced on June 29th, 2007, and the world was forever changed. While it wasn’t the first smartphone, the iPhone 1 ushered in the technology to the mainstream public. It had only 4GB of space, a single two-megapixel camera, and was 3.5 inches thick. Thirteen years of innovation and fifteen models later, the iPhone 11 can now hold up to 512GB of data, shoot video front and back with a twelve-megapixel camera, and is now 8.3mm thick, less than ⅓ of an inch. There are now over two million applications on the App Store. The iPhone has undoubtedly made an indelible impact on society. My question is: has it changed the world for better or for worse?

Of course, the iPhone, and smartphones in general, offer so many different advantages. All the information we could ever possibly need is right there in our pockets. Running late to work? Mapping apps like Waze can find the quickest route possible to your destination by avoiding traffic. Looking for a place to eat? Yelp will help you find the best spot for whatever you are in the mood for. Certain innovations even save lives. In the Health app on iPhone, you can put any information that may be necessary for an emergency, such as medical issues, medications, and blood type. So if you are having an allergic reaction, vital information can be easily accessed by first responders, without them having to unlock your phone. Life 360 allows you to see the location of anyone you connect with, as well as other safety information. My family mostly uses it to tell me to “SLOW DOWN!!” when they check my driving history. Phones allow rescuers to pinpoint exactly where to help during an emergency, connect people on opposite sides of the world, and bring ease to business life. They have allowed for better communication, easier sharing of information, and overall convenience for all of humanity. 

A recent study shows that around 80% of the population uses smartphones daily. Never before has the world been more connected. But what effect does all this phone usage have on our society? For me, my iPhone has become an addiction. What would I do without my phone for a day? I have friends who go crazy if they forget their phones outside of the bathroom. It is the first thing I grab in the morning and the last thing I look at before sleep. Endless scrolling on Twitter provides me with zero benefits, yet I do it so often because my brain craves the dopamine that a funny meme or update on LeBron James provides. My screen time application says that this week I have averaged three hours and five minutes on my phone a day, and I pick it up an average of 114 times daily. The average human spends three hours and 15 minutes a day on their phone. Imagine what you could do if you had three extra hours a day. What if instead of picking up your phone 114 times a day, you picked up a book 114 times instead? What could you do with all of this extra time, all of this extra knowledge? Now imagine if you multiplied these numbers out on a scale of years, decades. Multiply that number onto the rest of the 80% of the population. Based on this calculation, approximately 150 trillion man-hours are spent on the phone a year. Where would our race be with this much more time off our phone? Would we spend the time being productive, or would we find another way to waste time? What advances would have occurred? Would we already be mastering interstellar travel, or be in the same spot as we are now?

Obviously, these are very hypothetical examples. Smartphones have become so ingrained in our society, and there are far too many variables to account for, that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly how the world would be different without them. But the list of negatives they bring is alarming. Studies show that addiction to smartphones is very common. People are spending less time in the real world and more time on the little rectangle in our pockets. I have more friends with Nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, than without. Spending excessive time on the phone has been proven to have a negative impact on sleep, happiness, and health. Unfortunately, it seems that companies do not care about this. They specifically design their apps to act like a slot machine, psychologically designing it so we spend endless time on the phone. 

The current way we use smartphones is a detriment to society. The wasted hours, loss sleep, and reduction in happiness it has brought me outweighs any benefits I can think of. Unfortunately, I have found it hard to find a way to beat the addiction. Our society has moved toward making smartphones more mainstream by integrating it into daily life. While this means it is more convenient for those who have smartphones, it makes leaving them behind almost impossible. So how can you fight your addiction?

The first thing I would suggest is to track how much time you spend. The screen time app will allow you to see data on your phone usage, including how much time you were on the phone, how many times you picked it up, how many notifications you have on average, and which applications you use the most. You can set restrictions on how much time you can spend on the phone, and on specific apps. My next solution would be to not keep your phone in the room when you are trying to sleep. Charge it outside of the bedroom, and use a designated alarm clock to wake you up. Turn on Nightshift, which reduces the amount of blue light, the type of light that keeps us awake, your phone emits after a certain time. I would also say delete apps that are not essential. If you need your phone for work, only use your phone to make calls, check emails, and keep anything else that helps with business convenience. If you struggle with this, do what I call “Zero Dark Thirty” mode, an idea I copied from basketball star LeBron James. During the start of every NBA Playoffs, James will post a black picture with the caption “ZERO DARK THIRTY Activated” on all of his social media platforms, and go quiet online until the playoffs are over. James, who is known for stepping up his already ridiculous basketball production in the playoffs, has always been someone I look up to. When I am especially busy, I adopt his philosophy in order to cut out distractions. I delete all nonessential apps, like Instagram and Twitter, so that my phone is only used when absolutely necessary. I would recommend this to anyone who has trouble focusing. Other solutions would be to turn on Grayscale, making the phone much less interesting to look at, or turning off notifications except calls and texts. 

I am grateful for the invention of the iPhone. I do not believe the creators had malicious intentions when it was invented. But I believe our society has a problem with the way we use it. Overuse has led to widespread addiction, mental illness, and loss of patience. As humanity progresses, we will need to learn how to overcome phone addiction. I believe that those who recognize the problem early and actively take measures to reduce their time spent on the phone will be the most successful. I urge everyone to give the steps I outlined a try, and snap out of the spell of phone addiction before it's too late…

https://blog.rescuetime.com/screen-time-stats-2018/
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/6/21048116/tech-companies-time-well-spent-mobile-phone-usage-data

Week Three: Founding Era: My Thoughts On The Supreme Court, The Constitution, and How to Survive In An Always Changing World

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States and believed to be the most powerful judicial body on Earth. It derives its power from the Constitution, and is incredibly important to society, as it has helped to shape our country's laws. Many other courts around the world have modeled their judicial system after ours. The public trusts the nine justices to remain impartial on issues, and preserve the legitimacy of the Constitution by ruling on cases based on what our Founding Fathers wanted for our country.

While learning about this, a question arose in my mind. Should we still look to the Founding Fathers to uphold our democracy? Should we read their words as literally as possible? Or should we strive to maintain the ideals they believed in? The ideals of forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing liberty, freedom, and justice for all. As influential as they are to shaping our country, and the modern world in general, should the Founding Fathers still have an impact on how we make laws? The last Founding Father to die, James Madison, passed away in 1836, nearly two hundred years ago. Society has changed so much in this time, could the Founding Fathers even imagine the world we are living in now? It would be impossible for them to prepare for every single scenario.

Now I am not calling for the entire Constitution or Supreme Court to be thrown out and changed. Far from it. The ideas of innovators such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were far ahead of their time, and these men should be immortalized for their accomplishments. I believe the system as it stands is in a good spot, I just question looking to these men, who lived during the 1700s, to guide over how we live in the year 2020. The world was much different back then. In order to continue to make advances as a species, we need to adapt to our current standing, and not take the exact words of a document written in a much different era as law. If we do not continue to improve upon our current problems, our progress will stagnate. Evolution is the survival of the fittest. Those individuals who overcome challenges and grow from them will be the most successful. I think this belief holds true for our country as a whole. 

One case study for this would be the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment grants us the right to "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". Certainly, this amendment was of importance during the time period. We were just coming out of a brutal war. People who felt they were being wronged by their government rose up to fight the tyrannical British Empire. This amendment was put in place so that people could feel safe, and it ensured to the people in charge that if they made laws that infringed on people's rights, the populace could fight back.

But looking at the amendment in a modern-day perspective is much different. There have been significant advances in weapon technology. In the 1770s, the weapon of the time was a flintlock musket. The reload time was anywhere from 15-30 seconds for each bullet. A rifleman needed to manually go through all of the steps to reload, including pouring gunpowder down the barrel of the gun. At peak efficiency, a rifle could be shot anywhere from 2-4 times a minute. After two hundred years filled with war, and billions of dollars poured into warfare innovation, a typical rifle now can fire as high as 150 rounds a minute. These weapons have been designed to kill many people as efficiently and effectively as possible. The rise of gun violence in the United States poses the question: Should the Second Amendment be updated? Could our Founding Fathers have anticipated these types of advancements? What would be their opinions be if they were here now? The United States by far has more gun violence than the rest of the world, and I believe that while the Second Amendment is important, we should look at it from a 21st-century lens. Certain weapons, such as the AR-15, which is used in many mass shootings, should have stricter rules on who can acquire it, and when/where it can be used. I certainly believe that Americans should have access to protection in the form of guns, but there should be a strict training process and screening period, in order to ensure only good people have access to them, and they understand the damage that can be caused. 

This is why looking at the Constitution, and the Supreme Court's rulings, through the eyes of our Founding Fathers can be dangerous in certain cases. The laws have not changed, and because of that, there were more mass shootings than days of the year in 2019. Fortunately, Article V of the Constitution addresses this issue. The most forward-thinking piece of the Constitution, Article V allows Congress to amend the Constitution. Since then, the Constitution has been amended a total of twenty-seven times.

It is my belief that we need to view the Constitution as a living, breathing document that should be updated based on the IDEALS of the Founding Fathers, and less on the exact wording of what was written in 1787. The Founding Fathers provided an amazing framework for how our democracy should be run, now it is up to the Supreme Court to validate their document, and update it to modern standards. The Supreme Court should strive to uphold the Constitution in order to advance the United States, and all of humankind, in the most efficient but fair way possible.

https://constitutionus.com/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/08/05/743579605/how-the-u-s-compares-to-other-countries-in-deaths-from-gun-violence

https://qz.com/1212809/compare-us-mass-shootings-and-gun-control-to-germany-china-russia-switzerland-and-australia/