ARW 6/3

Watching TheYoungTurks' videos was entertaining and informative at the same time. I had watched their videos before, and back then I thought that they were hilarious but had no credibility, However, I checked Google if they were credible or not, and it turned out that they have a big fan base because of the way they present various news, balanced and neutral. Rab emphasized that he recommends them to us students, and because he is extremely educated and has gained my trust, I am convinced that they are a good source of information. The thing Rab mentioned at the end, saying that politics involves everything, not just war, was very interesting. The topics we discussed concerning TheYoungTurks were not all about politicians, such as the girls fight in a soccer game, the sexy Italian teacher, etc. It gave me a new perspective on politics, because Rab mentioned that people getting fired and getting sued for fighting in sports are part of politics, and I never considered those things.

We had a discussion about if the girl that punched another girl for tripping her should have been charged of assault. I felt that this would not have happened in Japan, because no one sues anyone unless something drastic occurs. America is famous for people suing people for the smallest things, and I think that played a big part in this incident. Discussing about this topic brought up a confusing question. How come violence and attacking someone in sports is allowed but not allowed in the streets? Why is it allowed in sports when its illegal on the streets? From a nonviolence perspective, sports can be seen as an excuse to commit acts of violence. However from a person that watches or plays a lot of sports, that is just utter nonsense. It's a difficult problem to solve, because it involves more than the law, as it involves cultural aspects as well. Personally, I know from experience in playing in competitive sports that fighting in sports and fighting in the streets are somewhat different. However, if we allow violence in sports, then why is it allowed in sports and not on the streets? If we make exceptions like this to the law, then I feel that there are many places where the law can become exploited in a similar way. There needs to be a clear line of what is allowed and what is not, and currently there isn't because a lot of violence goes on in sports in Japan, not only in games but corporal punishment in practice, violence from sennpais to kouhais, and etc. This is what my essay is going to be on, which I need to work on more and get it finished by the deadline.