I'm too sexy: People’s perceptions of body image and income

Message from the author: Before we get started, I want to make it very clear that this is not an academic article. Yes, I have a Masters of Science Degree in Psychology (California Southern University), and yes, I have an undergraduate degree in counseling (California State University).Also, yes, I have conducted two research studies that were peer reviewed ,and wrote a thesis about Language Acquisition and ESL. But, I got sick of the fucking academic, “holier than thou” attitude, of some of the people involved in academia land. No, I didn’t go to an Ivy league school. If that’s what you’re looking for, you can slither your way, the fuck back, to your ivory academic tower. I write these articles to get people thinking, and hopefully not bore them to death with academic jargon. If you like what you read, let me know (thesocialgelo@gmail.com) and I’ll do a podcast on YouTube and dive deeper into the subject. Thanks for reading!

Angelo Ferrer (Aka Social Gelo

I was browsing though my Facebook feed, when I came across this video. (Spoiler alert)I was surprised to find, that the majority of the women in the video, chose body type D, as the type of body they found the sexiest (“I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt , so sexy it hurts”).

Personally, I’m a gym junkie and an MMA coach(amongst many other occupations). I workout 6 days a week and alternate my schedule to fit in MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, Kajukenbo(Hawaiian Kenpo), weight training and running.

I’ve met plenty of guys that wanted to get as shredded as they could (“like bro, you think benching 300lbs is enough, I don’t think it’s enough”), not realizing that girls don’t give a fuck about how shredded they are(or what their max bench press is). In fact, according to a research study conducted by Wang et al.(2018), women find men more attractive when they have a higher salary.

This got me thinking, what would happen if we added salary to the YouTube body experiment? 

I don’t think women can be shallower than men. I personally know plenty of guys, that care more about looks(and breast size),more than anything else (even personality). I want to make it clear, that this isn’t about one gender being more shallow than the other. I was genuinely curious, if men would consider a women’s(or men’s) salary, when rating who they found attractive.

So my research predictions(hypotheses) were as follows: 

A)When presented with rating women by their bodies and salaries, men will pick a body type over salary

B)When presented with rating men by their bodies and salaries, women will pick salaries over body type

Methods(How the fuck did I ask people about this?)

I went on Facebook and posted the following posts in public and private groups with these pictures:

Quick Social Experiment 

Just checking the similarities and differences for men and women.

If you want to participate feel free to chose a letter and explain why you chose that person. Each letter has a yearly salary attached, so be sure to read carefully before choosing.

Who would you choose as a suitable life partner and why?

*later changed to: who do you find the most attractive?

Men picture

A-$200,000 a year 

B- $100,000 a year 

C- $40,000 a year

D- $30,000 a year 

E- $100,000 a year 

F- $200,000 year 

Female Picture 

A-$200,000 a year 

B-$100,000 a year 

C- $40,000 a year

D- $20,000 a year

E- $100,000 a year

*I’ll post the results in a week or so along with my hypothesis

Later, I switched the question to “who do you find the most attractive”? I also removed the salaries to see if more people would respond. (they didn’t, in fact less participated in that version)

Results (What did I find out?)

Prediction(hypothesis) A-When presented with rating women by their bodies and salaries, men will pick a body type over salary (Partially true)

Prediction(hypothesis) B-When presented with rating men by their bodies and salaries, women will pick salaries over body type (false)

First of all I found out people hate responding to this kind of shit online. The first few comments were mostly criticizing the research question and sarcastic remarks (“I could never make this kind of decision based on headless torsos!”).There were 34 participants (N=34 this represent total number of participants)7 female and 27 male .Only  21 participants (61%)actually gave an answer. 33% of the men mentioned they didn’t care about the income of their future life partner.Only three women(42%)gave an answer to thequestion with the income attached (there just wasn’t that many women who participated).

Female #1: “I've already got what I want, but no E or F for the male section. It would be a marriage, so not platonic.”

Female #2: “Interesting. I picked D on both the men and women.”

Female #3: “Salary is meaningless to me. It'd be an added bonus. For ladies, I like A. For dudes, I like F. They both look like real people.”

On the question with no salaries. Two women chose C&D (similar to YouTube video result).One woman chose F. The last two women were angry about the selection.

One female participant said “first of all, they’re all white”.

Another female participant, felt she was being“coerced into making a decision”and chose not to participate. The women’s results were too mixed to come to any solid conclusions.

67% of men who participated mentioned that income wasn’t a deciding factor.

One male participant said “the yearly income of my partner doesn't really matter to me unless she doesn't have a job at all. 40k and up is fine.”

One male participant chose B for the mens picture and said: “Without looking at the salaries I chose B. Then I looked at the salaries and I'm still good with B”.

Another male participant that chose D said: “A man who makes me laugh will have my heart and if you have a decent body and Tattoos you will have my big dick up your butt”. 

34% of the men chose the female picture C (making this body type the most chosen),14% chose the female picture A (making it the second most chosen)and the remaining answers were mixed between other choices or not choosing one in particular. 

Discussion (what does all this mumbo jumbo mean?)

Overall,there weren’t enough participants to come to any solid conclusions. One of the biggest problems was that the women just didn’t like the selection of men in the survey (“bro she’s just not that in to you”).

According to the women’s comments, the men were either too muscular, too white, or “not skinny” enough , for them to choose any of them (this is the most surprising find because I thought I would get more complaints from the guys on this topic).

I think the other issue, was that this was done on Facebook. I’m not sure if a women would feel comfortable sharing her thoughts, with the majority of men in the group, dominating the discussion. There’s something to be said about being anonymous and not having people criticize your choice. Most of the women that commented, felt that the survey was flawed (and they were right about that), and that they could never decide their “life partner”, based on these two factors.

All this leaves a lot of shit to say about the guys

Apparently, most of the guys had no problem making a choice based off these factors. Not only did they not care about income (34%), the remaining 66% didn’t mention if they cared or not. They mostly made comments about their preferences of body type.

To give some credit to the guys, 22% of the participants mentioned that they would be more concerned about the woman’s personality (fuck us guys seem pretty shallow when I look at this stat).

It’s funny, because some of the female participants, felt it would be shallow to pick a guy based on income. But the majority of the men, had no problem basing their decision only using“torsos” (as one of the participants that didn’t choose a picture put it).

Another find, was that the larger body type A, placed second. One participant said: “she looks the healthiest out of all of them”.

I say this is a find, because in the male study, done on YouTube, the larger body type F was not chosen by any of the female participants in that study. In my study a few women chose the F body type for the mens picture. This might be related to the older age demographics of the participants in my study (20-60 years of age).

Warning Will Robinson! Don’t take this shit too seriously!

Honestly, I think the guys saw this as a game, so I wouldn’t take these results too seriously. Things can easily get heated online. For example, one of the guys complained about the selection in the survey saying:“None of the females are Asian, or short, so not interested in any of them.” This prompted another participant to argue saying: “Lol you have no idea how tall they are, or what the race is. There's no depth to your shallowness.”

In the end , I was actually surprised there wasn’t more arguing going on. Especially considering how trollish people can be online. Now, beforeI get too many comments, bashing how shallow men can be. I would like to end with some of the best comments, coming from people who did not choose any picture.

Female participant: “Neither body nor money matter.Sweet, loving, and protective men are the most attractive. Feeling safe in their arms, and in their presence, is the most important thing.”

Male participant: “The value of a human isn't rooted in the shape of their body or the money that they make. Some of the most wealthy and physically appealing people have the most rotten, fetid, rancid character traits and personalities. Some of the most poor and physically unappealing have the most radiant, loving, selfless, beautiful souls.”

Thanks for playing!

I want to thank everyone who participated and shared their thoughts (good and bad). It can get easy to hear opinions you don’t agree with and just lash out at people online. But just because you don’t agree with how someone thinks, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Being able to get passed a difference of opinion, is what I believe, helps us grow as individuals. Ignoring them and calling them names(racist,sexist, bigots, fembots, libtards, trash etc.), isn’t going to make them go away. You might be surprised who you can win over (if you’re not an asshole first).

All the best! Until next time!

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

If you like what you read or have an idea for a research topic contact me thesocialgelo@gmail.com

References

Wang, G., Cao, M., Sauciuvenaite, J., Bissland, R., Hacker, M., Hambly, C., ... & Speakman, J. R. (2018). Different impacts of resources on opposite sex ratings of physical attractiveness by males and females. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(2), 220-225.

Relationships and Arguing: Knowing isn't half the battle

Sometimes I feel like no matter what I do, I just can’t do anything right. I try my hardest but sometimes I fail.

What do you do when your hardest isn’t good enough?

As someone with a masters in psychology you’d think I have all the answers when it comes to relationships. But the truth is, just because I can diagnose a problem, and I know clinical approaches. It doesn’t make it any easier to deal with them and sometimes it makes them worse. 

Same Argument Different Day 

In my marriage (14 years and counting) I feel we get stuck arguing about the same thing in different ways. Most of our arguments are  about how much time I spend engaged with the family. I know I can be a space case, but I do try my best to use mindfulness  techniques(focus on what people are saying, stay off my phone, show appreciation to the people around me), to stay present. 

Stubbornly set in my routine

Psychologists Stephenie and Elisha Goldstein, talk about how to apply mindfulness to the family in their works. But, even though I know these techniques, and I apply them. I still fall into the trap of being set in my routine (waking up, marital arts training ,running ,working out and going to work).

On the other hand,  having a routine is another important part of mindfulness and Zen. I love my routine, it helps me manage my stress (running a business, being an Expat in Japan, being the main income provider etc.). The problem arises when my routine is broken by a stressful event (sickness, injury, family emergency). 

Trying to do it all and failing 

While exercising, working out until your muscles fail is considered a good thing. But maybe that philosophy should stay in the gym. Sometimes I don’t  seem to know when to just focus on the issue that is throwing me off my game. If something comes up I try to take care of what I’m asked to do, while at the same time doing what I usually do. This drives my wife nuts and leads me to overloading my schedule (routine failure if you will). 

Wife: Why don’t you just skip the routine? Do you have to work out Monday through Friday? One day off won’t kill you. 

She’s right, but if I don’t go through with it I feel like shit. But if I do go through it, it makes me feel like a “bad father” that neglected the family (I wish I can be at two places at once). 

Sacrifice, Sacrifice and Sacrifice some more

A study in the Journal of Happiness found that the more social support (sacrifice) a partner reported giving to their spouse, the higher the couple would rank when it came to marital satisfaction. 

But, if  this is done to often it can lead to resentment. I don’t resent my partner, but I know she resents my work out schedule. We get to this point where we both feel we are sacrificing too much. I feel I sacrificed everything (career in psychology, friends & family in California) to support her here in Japan. She feels that she sacrificed everything (career as a preschool teacher in California, friends) to come back to Japan, to support her aging parents. 

Being a Zen master 

Knowing about Zen doesn’t make you a Zen master (and even Zen masters get divorced). Meaning that if you get caught up thinking that your impervious to relationship issues, that’s when things can get really ugly. There’s a zen proverb:

A fool that thinks he is wise is the biggest fool. 

This is why it’s important to stay modest and know when I’m over intellectualizing a problem. At this point staying calm and addressing it is the only thing I can do. Couples argue and it’s actually part of a healthy relationship. It’s the couples that no longer argue or communicate that are at a high risk for a divorce, because  they are dealing with their disagreements by not talking about them (which leads to the resentment I was talking about earlier). 

Although being a Zen master won’t prevent you from having arguments, having a healthy set of coping strategies is better than going in blind. My degree in psychology allows me to see what is happening, but I still need to work on what to do after the fact. 

What coping strategies do you use to handle arguments with your partner? Feel free to share in the comments section below!

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology/Editor) 

Have a story about relationships that you would like to share? Feel free to contact me to have it published on my site! 

Revisiting Fukushima: Concerns about radiation years later

The disaster in Fukushima has been on everybody's mind in Japan.Once a year the news is flooded with reminders of what happened and what is being done about it. Only problem with this is that in America, everyone is more concerned with ratings and what not, so the American News media has not reported much on the subject. 

However, Japan has, so have reputable international journalist companies such as Reuters. I have a friend, that use to work for Reuters, and one of the reasons he quit, was because he wanted to report everything he felt was important. But the only problem with this was that main stream news (popular news), seemed to get peoples attention more than groundbreaking stories. In other words, it wasn't that they were not reporting about the situation, it was that people were not reading about it. People drive what news media feeds them and vice versa. As you also know this leads to people focusing on irrelevant news. 

Two Extreme Opinions

With so much news flying around, some websites have enjoyed blowing things up to get peoples attention. Which is why if you Google Fukushima radiation , you will find two extremes. 

1- We're all going to die and the government in hiding this from everyone. 

2- There is absolutely nothing wrong and everyone in Fukushima and Japan are just fine, please come to Japan for the Olympics 

Both approaches in my opinion are wrong. Me, as well as other Expats, and local Japanese scientists, have been following this and have found some reputable sources to give us insight in what is really going on. 

Asahi Shinbun

Personally, I like the Asahi Shinbun (Newspaper). It's a Japanese journalist firm that has nothing to do with the government and has done some whistle blowing in the past .It is translated into English and I feel it does a good job of not sugar coating things. 

To address the news about the Robots being destroyed recently here is an article about it from the above source:

Robots destroyed by radiation while examining the damage caused.

It goes into detail about how their is still a lot of work to do when it comes to the clean up itself.

Here is another article that goes over how some high school students measured the area and found hotspots as well inhabitable areas after the fact. 

Highschool Students check for themselves in Fukushima

My neighbor went out and bought a radiation reader because he too, did not trust the governments readings. He found that there was sustainable levels of radiation in my area (mind you I live very far away from Fukushima). But the fluctuations in radiation can be explained by global warming.

People forget that there is a lot of radiation coming in from space and the sun. A radiation reader reads radiation period. This explains why my friends radiation reader would spike after it rained. Since the atmosphere absorbs solar radiation, it pours from the sky into the water table.Which is why if you measure the water (anywhere), you can find traces of radiation that are not harmful. 

It should also be noted that this has been happening for a long time and some people suggest that this why when people started living longer, we suddenly saw more incidents of cancer. Cancer is a genetic weakness. Some people can smoke all their lives and never get lung cancer. Some people smoke and quit in a year and get lung cancer. The same argument can be made for radiation. Here is an article that explains solar and space radiation. 

Solar Spikes and Radiation Risks

Scientists revisit Fukushima to investigate 

In May of 2016, a group of scientist felt the government was hiding something so they went out on their own, with their own equipment, with their own money, to do something about it.

• They found a few hot spots and also some areas that were deemed safe to rein-habit.

• They also found three prefectures, that had agriculture, that did not want to let them in, out of fear of losing money for selling contaminated food.

For me the solution to this is easy. I don't eat food from the prefectures, that didn't allow scientists to test their crops from Fukushima. Since I don't live near Fukushima, and the Ocean Current in my area drifted all the contaminated water to the Eastern Pacific Ocean, towards California, I'm safe and believe it or not you are too. Why?

A team of scientists (both American and Japanese) measured the radiation  that drifted towards the U.S. and Canada,  they found that the half life of the main isotopes was 8 days and it dissolved because of the salinity of the ocean. In other words the U.S. is safe from radiation from Fukushima as well.  

Here is the article about the Japanese scientists in Fukushima, click on the above hyper link (under main isotopes) to read about the study done by the international team. 

Scientists revisit Fukushima in 2016

The relationship between radiation and health

The final point, is to try to keep in mind, how radiation effects health in general. Although radiation is harmful it is not as dangerous as people think (there are more dangerous cancerogenous in our environment). This article explains all the different types of radiation and how it effects humans DNA and genetic dispositions. 

Nuclear Radiation and Health Effects

www.world-nuclear.org

Nuclear Radiation and Health Effects (Updated July 2016)

Looking towards the future

With all of this in mind as an Expat and as a Scientist, I know about the risks of being exposed to radiation. Even if the conspiracy theorists are correct, there is not much, me as an individual, can do. If it is a worldwide catastrophe, statistically speaking, it would be pretty amazing if we were the last generation of humans on the planet. Think of the chances. Some scientists predict that considering the distance of the Sun to our planet, we are actually premature in our own existence and life would be 1,000 times more likely a millennia or so from now. 

So the fact that we made it this far (in my opinion ) is amazing, and I live everyday with this in mind. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

Conspiracy Theories: Where do you draw the line?

I will openly admit that I used to be big on conspiracy theories. On September 11, 2001, (I was 18) the twin towers came crashing down on national television. In the middle of the chaos, I thought to myself:

“This has to be an inside job”

As crazy as this might sound (to some of you), several polls have revealed that 1/3 of Americans, agreed with the 18-year-old version of me.

Now you might be asking yourself, why do I keep referring to this in the past tense? What changed from then to now?

Looking for a fight

At the time I was in a different place in life.  I thought I didn't have time to go to college and I hated people that sold out to “the man”. I felt that college was a brainwashing institute, designed to get you to trust the government. It was a tool to control you!

Being an outspoken liberal, I argued with my friends that went to college. If I could prove them wrong, I could prove that they weren’t that smart, and college couldn't help them from losing an argument.

The reality was that a part of me hated my job and really wanted to go back to school. I dropped out of college one class short of being A.S.E. certified as an automotive mechanic, to work in the family business (automotive repair shop). It paid well because I was essentially self-employed. We were successful, but I hated what I did. I was not happy working on cars and towing them 24/7 (I never did repos only road side assistance).

My Japanese wife had a completely different life experience. She had traveled around the world and had settled down in the U.S. after finishing her degree in child development. She never complained about her job as a pre-school teacher. So she was really confused as to why I was complaining all the time. She asked a question that would change my life:

“If you hate what you do, why don't you do something else?”

I don’t why I had such a huge fear of starting all over again. But I knew I wanted to travel and experience new things. My current job was not going to support that life style. After looking at different jobs available overseas, ESL teaching was the easiest option (outside of the military). The only problem was that in order to satisfy the visa requirements, I needed to have at least bachelor’s degree (in any subject).

Going back to school

It wasn’t easy going back to school after 5 years of not writing an essay. I was older than most of my classmates and couldn't relate to spring break vacations in Cancun. With no classmates to distract me, I dove into the reading assignments.  The thirst for knowledge seemed insatiable.  It wasn’t long until I declared a double major in Social Science and Psychology, with in emphasis in counseling and research.  

The years flew while studying about the human brain and society. It was fascinating learning how to apply the scientific method, to psychological research with human subjects (I know people hate the word subjects, I prefer participants)(Brown, & Ghiselli, 1955).

At times, psychology can be a bit terrifying; especially when you learn how easy people can be manipulated to do horrible things by their environment (Haney, & Zimbardo, 1998). Psychology also has a dark history, in the 1960’s, the deinstitutionalization movement  (see video) helped stop the involuntary admittance of patients, that were being forcibly admitted into asylums, for unethical practices such as gay conversion therapy (Bachrach, & Lamb, 1982).

The way oppression operated became an interesting topic for me. This was why eventually I conducted research studies on racism for my senior undergraduate thesis. The 8 years I spent studying, ultimately ended with my Masters in Science in Psychology, as well as two B.S. degrees in Social Science and Counseling.

I never would have thought I would go past the basic requirements needed, to teach ESL in Japan, but I did, because I fell in love with science and learning.

What did any of that have to do with conspiracies?!

Don’t worry this isn’t a click bait article. The relationship between the two topics is that the entire time I spent studying, I never stopped questioning everyone (professors, colleagues), about where they got their information. As a researcher I discovered that:

“There’s lies, there’s damn lies and then there’s statistics”

Not surprisingly if you look at history you’ll find that conspiracies can and do happen. The deinstitutionalization movement, Watergate, the Tuskegee experiments and the Bay of Pigs, are all proven conspiracies (Clarke, 1979;Kornbluh, 1998;Olson, 2003; Thomas, & Quinn, 1991).

However, one thing they all have in common is the simplicity to their discoveries. Although the organizations involved tried to hide the truth, somehow, sooner or later, people found out. In many of the cases, such as with the deinstitutionalization movement, it wasn’t so much a conspiracy, as much as misguided values and application of unethical practices.

Fear Addiction

The reason people love conspiracies is because they play with a primordial part of your brain. In the Big Picture Science podcast: “Fear Itself” , researchers from the Setti Institute, interview several social scientists, from different fields to explain how this works. To sum it up, conspiracy theories satisfy our want for complicated events to have complicated solutions (Brotherton, 2015). Only problem is that sometimes, complicated events have simple answers.

Paranoid Schizoid Personality Type

The latest version the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders has proposed that mental disorders are on a spectrum, rather than a set category. This means that anyone can sit on the spectrum of a disorder, without ever being diagnosed. However, this doesn’t mean it does not effect how they see the world.

On the spectrum of Paranoid Schizoid Personality Type, the person can be susceptible to delusions of persecution.  This disorder can influence these individuals to believe in conspiracy theories that have no scientific evidence. As long as these individuals do not present a threat to others or themselves, they can live out their lives without ever being diagnosed.

Taking the Blue Pill

After learning what I have about the human brain, I realized a few things about myself:

First: When I was young I  was projecting my fears of being uneducated, by arguing with my friends who were in college.

Second: My love of conspiracy theories was fueled by my up bringing as a Jehovah’s Witness (at the time a doomsday cult).

Third: I am on the spectrum of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

For me, the last realization was really scary. But at the same time, having insight into how your mind works, gives you the power to not be a victim of your own thinking (Hamilton, & Roper, 2006).  

This is why I don’t dive into conspiracy theories anymore. After all, once it is said and done, how does knowledge of a conspiracy theory (proven or unproven) help me take care of my family?

Truth is following a conspiracy theory, feeds the primordial part of my brain, which is addicted to anxiety and fear. For me personally, I would rather live without those things. How about you?

Social Gelo with Angelo

 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Bachrach, L. L., & Lamb, H. R. (1982). Conceptual issues in the evaluation of the deinstitutionalization movement. Innovative approaches to mental health evaluation, 149-161.

Brown, C. W., & Ghiselli, E. E. (1955). Scientific method in psychology.

Brotherton, R. (2015). Suspicious minds: Why we believe conspiracy theories. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Clarke, G. J. (1979). In defense of deinstitutionalization. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society, 461-479.

Haney, C., & Zimbardo, P. (1998). The past and future of US prison policy: Twenty-five years after the Stanford Prison Experiment. American Psychologist, 53(7), 709.

Hamilton, B., & Roper, C. (2006). Troubling ‘insight’: power and possibilities in mental health care. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 13(4), 416-422.

Kornbluh, P. (Ed.). (1998). Bay of Pigs declassified: The secret CIA report on the invasion of Cuba. New Press.

Olson, K. W. (2003). Watergate: the presidential scandal that shook America (pp. 168-75). Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Thomas, S. B., & Quinn, S. C. (1991). The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 1932 to 1972: implications for HIV education and AIDS risk education programs in the black community. American journal of public health, 81(11), 1498-1505.

Check the WikiLeaks! Is WikiLeaks a reliable source for information?

Americans have lost faith in journalism.  Although some feel that this is related to recent political events, polls have actually found that Americans faith in journalism has been steadily dropping since 1972.

Not surprisingly Americans have reached a historical low when it comes to their trust in mainstream media. Because of this people have began turning to Internet sources to find “the truth”.

Too many truths

Unfortunately there are an abundant amount of sources on the Internet. Many people have a difficult time separating what they want to believe and the truth (Dutton, & Reisdorf, 2016).

Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as confirmatory bias. Confirmatory bias occurs in research when a researcher gathers data that confirms their hypothesis and ignores any data that refutes their hypothesis. Because of this, researchers are trained in the scientific method, to try to avoid biased research from being published. Further safe guards are put into place by having other professionals in the field review the research (peer review process) before the study is conducted.

Even with all of these safe guards in place, bias research still ends up being released (Woo, O'Boyle,& Spector, 2016).

If this phenomenon occurs amongst trained professionals what would be the effects on someone with no background in social science?

This was the question that was investigated by Villarole et al (2016). The study found that when people are presented with information they agree with first, it leads to confirmation bias in their arguments.

Wikileaks and the new face of journalism

It should be noted that Wikileaks played a substantial role in Americans distrust in Clinton and selecting Trump as POTUS.  Not to say that Clinton didn't serve her own role by her actions. But it was interesting how Trump played on Americans distrust of the government and media, to make himself look like a politician the people could trust.

Does this mean that Wikileaks has an agenda and cannot be trusted?

This question is very difficult to answer. Wikileaks is an organization that provides information. By definition it is considered a type of journalism. However, academia does not consider Wikileaks as a valid source of information, because it is not peer reviewed before being published (Malkan, 2016;O’Loughlin, 2016;Ruby et al, 2016).

This doesn’t mean that Wikileaks does not have reliable information. For instance, there were some government files about the conflict in Afghanistan, which were released to the New York Times by Wikileaks. The documents were brought to the White House for verification and it was found that those particular files were authentic. 

However, in other cases Wikileaks has shown to look more like the cover of Weekly World News (bat boy , alien invasion stories). Because of this some people doubt the legitimacy of the information itself. Although Wikileaks tries their best to ensure that the information is from verified sources, there are still those who doubt some of the information published.

What are people’s thoughts?

To get an idea of what people thought on this subject. There was a small poll conducted on the Social Gelo Facebook Account (Gelo Topics) that asked the question:

Do you feel Wikileaks is a reliable source for information? Why or Why not?

Out of the 32 respondents 92% felt that Wikileaks was more reliable than other forms of Media.  

Distrust in the Main Stream Media

One of the themes that showed up was an overall distrust in mainstream media with 25% of the respondents mentioning that they trust Wikileaks more than any other media outlet.  This was an interesting point because Wikileaks has actually sent their findings to be published by Le Monde, El Pais, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.The Guardian has also been known for sending some of their findings to the New York Times. 

This is one way that Wikileaks can further credit their information, because it allows other professionals in the field to review it (a type of peer review if you will).

They have never had to retract an article

Many of the respondents (32%) argued that Wikileaks was a valid source because they have never had to retract an article. There was a small problem with this argument because it is a type of circular reasoning. As one of the antagonists  (8%) pointed out:

“In 40 years, The National Enquirer has only had to retract two stories. That doesn’t make one (it) a reliable source of information”

Only as reliable as their sources

Although the majority of respondents trusted Wikileaks, 8% felt that the information was only as reliable as it’s source. As it was mentioned earlier in this article Wikileaks does verify the source of the information, but the accuracy of that information is another story.

Since anyone can submit any information to Wikileaks, if and when Wikileaks finds pertinent information regarding a government cover up, they will hand over the information to media sources to publish. At this point the media sources (journalists) verify the information sent.  Wikileaks does not send their files on Aliens to any sources (most likely because they know the information is reliable but not valid).

Conclusion

Wikileaks is a database and like all databases has information available to the public. But it is up to the public to discern what information is valid. In social science this dilemma comes up in our discussions about the differences between reliability and validity (Silverman, 2016). 

My Thoughts 

Researchers are not fixed on their beliefs (at least theoretically they shouldn’t be). This is why although I may have my own beliefs about Wikileaks, I let the evidence guide me to a conclusion.

To be honest, when I started this research inquiry I was more cynical about Wikileaks. After reviewing the data I have changed my mind about the validity of some of the information provided by Wikileaks. This is the difference between using the scientific method and theology.

Considering the amount of conspiracy theorists feeding on information available on the Internet, it may be wise to air to caution and always verify the validity of anything you find.

Limitations

The data presented does not go without limitations. There were only 32 respondents and since statistical significance can only be established with at least 50 respondents (some argue more), the findings from this poll are interesting but not valid (irnagl, 2016).

The respondents were collected using a type of snowball sample (Facebook responses to other respondents), which is another issue because the gold standard for research is random selection (more variety of people from different backgrounds) from any given population (Patten, 2016).  Therefore the results cannot be generalized to a larger population.  

This was more of a qualitative study than a quantitative one (Padget, 2016).

Special Thanks

I want to thank all my Facebook “Friends” who participated in this poll. I will be doing a podcast on this soon. Stay tuned!

Social Gelo with Angelo

 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Dirnagl, U. (2016). Statistics in Experimental Stroke Research: From Sample Size Calculation to Data Description and Significance Testing. Rodent Models of Stroke, 301-315.

Dutton, W. H., & Reisdorf, B. C. (2016). Cultural Divides and Digital Inequalities: Attitudes Shaping Internet and Social Media Divides.

Malkan, S. (2016). Standing up for transparency. Nature biotechnology, 34(1), 23.

O'Loughlin, J. (2016). The Perils of Self-Censorship in Academic Research in a WikiLeaks World. Journal of Global Security Studies, 1(4), 337-345.

Patten, M. L. (2016). Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials. Routledge.

Padgett, D. K. (2016). Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). Sage Publications.

Ruby, F., Goggin, G., & Keane, J. (2016). “Comparative Silence” Still? Journalism, academia, and the Five Eyes of Edward Snowden. Digital Journalism, 1-15.

Silverman, D. (Ed.). (2016). Qualitative research. Sage.

Villarroel, C., Felton, M., & Garcia-Mila, M. (2016). Arguing against confirmation bias: The effect of argumentative discourse goals on the use of disconfirming evidence in written argument. International Journal of Educational Research, 79, 167-179.

Woo, S. E., O'Boyle, E. H., & Spector, P. E. (2016). Best practices in developing, conducting, and evaluating inductive research.

Fighting the Blues: 5 Steps to being happy

Feeling down? Here are 5 steps to help you cheer up!

1 – Breathe

Now I know this sounds like some New Age mumbo jumbo. But scientists have found that 20 minutes of deep breathing can help relax you and bring down your blood pressure (Brook, et al, 2015;Modesti, et al, 2015;Drozdz , et al, 2016). Guided breathing is quick and easy to do, plus it doesn't require a lot of time or space. 

For a quick guide on helpful breathing exercises for beginners check out this site:

Guided Breathing Exercises

2 – Exercise

Now if your like me, sitting and breathing for 10 minutes or more sounds boring. This is why exercise is a great way to achieve the same physiological changes while burning some calories. You don’t have to be a cross fit fanatic to benefit from some moderate movement. In fact studies have found that 30 minutes of walking can help your brain attain a state of flow, which has the same benefits as guided breathing (Doyle, et al, 2016).

If you're up for more of a challenge, try running for 30 minutes and follow it with 30 minutes of calisthenics or weight training.

3 – Eat well 

We all know how a bad diet can affect your body. But did you know that a diet full of high fat and cholesterol could affect how well you perform tasks?

In a study conducted by Gullimen et al, (2016) it was found that participants that reported restricting their diets and following a diet routine, reported having higher energy levels through out the day. In turn the participants reported feeling better about their work days as well.

Other studies have a found a relationship between bad nutrition and depression (Needham, et al, 2015; Rahe, & Berger, 2016). It’s no wonder that if you eat fast food everyday it can make you feel crappy at the end of the week.

You don’t have to be a health nut to eat healthy. Meal prepping is a great way to ensure you avoid fast food and is easy on the budget as well.  Me personally I like going grocery shopping with my wife on Saturdays and planning what we will eat together through out the week. I try to limit red meat to two meals a week (I usually eat two steaks a week). This leaves the rest of my meals consisting of chicken and fish.

For great tips on how to meal prep for a family check out this link!

Meal Prepping

4 – Let go of negative thoughts

This can be a tough one. In psychology rumination is when people repeat negative thoughts in their heads. Sometimes it’s an argument or something negative that someone said. Other times it’s a negative event (political outcome, loss of a game from a favorite sports team). Whatever the case is, we become the bullies of our own minds when we don't let these things go.

Studies have found that when people problem solve (engage in an activity, solve a puzzle or play a video game) it can help stop the rumination cycle (Bijttebier et al, 2015; Kinnunen et al, 2016). 

For more information on how to stop rumination check out his link

Stopping Rumination

5 - Talk to a friend

You don’t have to talk to a licensed counselor (although it does help) to get some help when you’re stressed. Previous research has found that, having a strong network and social support, can help alleviate stress and prevent risk factors associated with illness (Wills, & Ainette, 2012).

Humans are social creatures, so it shouldn't be surprising that we need to reach out and talk to others sometimes.

Life goes on

Life does not go in a perfect line. If you have been lucky enough to get by this long with no hard times, then good for you! But if not, remember that you are not alone in your struggles.

In Zen they talk about letting in the good with the bad and avoid seeing life as a series of dichotomous events (good and evil).  As a social scientist I find myself writing about negative events all the time, so I use many of the steps mentioned above to keep my head up.

Just because bad things happen in the world, doesn’t mean we have to let them consume our daily lives.

Stay healthy and live strong!

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

References

Bijttebier, P., Raes, F., Vasey, M. W., Bastin, M., & Ehring, T. W. (2015). Assessment of Repetitive Negative Thinking in Children: the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire–Child Version (PTQ-C). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 37(1), 164-170.

Brook, Robert D., Elizabeth A. Jackson, Paolo Giorgini, and Cheri L. McGowan. "When and how to recommend ‘alternative approaches’ in the management of high blood pressure." The American journal of medicine 128, no. 6 (2015): 567-570.

Doyle, J. P., Filo, K., Lock, D., Funk, D. C., & McDonald, H. (2016). Exploring PERMA in spectator sport: Applying positive psychology to examine the individual-level benefits of sport consumption. Sport Management Review.

Drozdz, T., Bilo, G., Debicka-Dabrowska, D., Klocek, M., Malfatto, G., Kielbasa, G., ... & Kawecka-Jaszcz, K. (2016). Blood pressure changes in patients with chronic heart failure undergoing slow breathing training. Blood pressure, 25(1), 4-10.

Guillemin, I., Marrel, A., Arnould, B., Capuron, L., Dupuy, A., Ginon, E., ... & Urdapilleta, I. (2016). How French subjects describe well-being from food and eating habits? Development, item reduction and scoring definition of the Well-Being related to Food Questionnaire (Well-BFQ©). Appetite, 96, 333-346.

Kawecka-Jaszcz, K. (2016). Blood pressure changes in patients with chronic heart failure undergoing slow breathing training. Blood pressure, 25(1), 4-10.

Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., de Bloom, J., Sianoja, M., Korpela, K., & Geurts, S. (2016). Linking Boundary Crossing from Work to Nonwork to Work-Related Rumination across Time: A Variable-and Person-Oriented Approach.

Modesti, P. A., Ferrari, A., Bazzini, C., & Boddi, M. (2015). Time sequence of autonomic changes induced by daily slow-breathing sessions. Clinical Autonomic Research, 25(2), 95-104.

Rahe, C., & Berger, K. (2016). Nutrition and Depression: Current Evidence on the Association of Dietary Patterns with Depression and Its Subtypes. In Cardiovascular Diseases and Depression (pp. 279-304). Springer International Publishing.

Wills, T. A., & Ainette, M. G. (2012). 20 Social Networks and Social Support. Handbook of health psychology, 465.

Social Inequality: Why am I biased about it?

On one of my podcasts I once shared about a time that I interrupted a room full of college students arguing about welfare and poverty with the following statement:

“All of you are arguing about people that are not present in this room, whether you’re for welfare or against it, you are all speaking for people you know nothing about”

My flaw as a Social Scientist and Researcher

As a researcher I was taught to remove myself from the data and be an observer not a participant. This was done in order to remove researcher bias. After all if I have a biased opinion, it could alter my findings when analyzing my research.  My problem in the above situation is that I have personally experienced poverty.

My flaw as a researcher is that my mother had to be on welfare after she separated from my father to make ends meet. This stigma is something I never admitted to anyone until I wrote this article.

From riches to rags

It happened so fast, the move from middle class to poverty. My mother left my father and in an instant was living out of her car. There were several factors to this and my mother being mentally ill did not help (Anakwenze, & Zuberi, 2013;Harris, 1993). But the fact was clear. I had to help my mother and through this, experienced what it was like to be homeless for two weeks.  The experience changed my perception about society and how people treat you when belong to the underclass.

We were lucky

My mother was lucky enough to get government assistance within two months. She was also lucky that my father gave her money to survive while the government aid was being processed.

But the experience made me think about those single mothers that were not so lucky. In the two months that it took my mom to get a job and receive government assistance, another family would have gone into debt. This is why, when in college I wasn’t surprised to hear that 80% of government aid recipients were single mothers  (Broussard, Joseph & Thompson, 2012).

The fall from grace

Even though we were lucky, my mother never could work her way back into the middle class. My father paid child support and eventually she remarried. But all the while, she stayed below the poverty line while working several jobs, to make ends meet.

My father was a business owner and entrepreneur but this didn’t save him either. Cancer struck when he was in his mid 50’s. In just 2 years of chemotherapy treatment, he went from upper middle class to below the poverty line. 75% percent of the money he saved running a mechanic shop was gone.

He hated the idea of government aid. He strongly opposed my mom for taking a “hand out” after they divorced. But he had nothing left. With the doctors giving him 1 year to live he filed for social security.  It was tough on him, but what was even tougher was that he felt his work philosophy betrayed him. He told me he wished he would have taken more time off to spend with us. He also told me that seeing his end drawing near, made him realize that the things he valued the most, weren’t the possessions he had, but the relationship he had with us. He died 2 weeks before Christmas on December 8th, 2009. 

I was lucky and did some smart real estate investments, took a high-risk loan, that worked out and kept a roof over our heads.  But while I was going through this, most people in similar situations across the U.S.  lost their homes.

The 1% and other rants

While all of this was happening I was also studying to get my degree in psychology and sociology. It probably is not surprising to you as the reader, why I gravitated to theories written by Webber and Marx.  Even though I also read books written by Adam Smith and the other founding fathers of the Unites States of America. They just didn't resonate with what I was observing from the society I lived in.  

Now I know some of you are already calling me names like “socialist” and “communist”. But after many years I realize that both of these systems failed when implemented because  Marx, Webber and Smith underestimated how powerful greed can really be. 

Even if you take the money from the rich it somehow never ends up going back to the poor, yet find its way to other people who don’t deserve it that later become rich. This is the why communism didn't work for Czechoslovakia or any of the other countries that tried to implement it to supposedly fix social inequality (Hirst, 2014;Korbel, 2015).

But you can see why during the “occupy wall street movement” I was really excited to see some of the sheep open their eyes. I also caught a glimmer of hope, for those not as lucky as me, when Senator Bernie Sanders started talking about the same concepts during his campaign.

Now I am not writing this to convince you of anything. You can save your angry rants. I know I can’t convince you that the top 1% are controlling 48% of the wealth in the U.S. and that this pattern is repeating itself across the globe.  But do know that it is being well documented, and maybe 100 years in the future people will look back and laugh at the way we are running things now.

My Advice to Trolls

Although I admit I’m biased, my perception has been shaped by my experiences and my education. I went to school and I studied these subjects from several perspectives. After looking at both sides of the argument and analyzing data published by Professors that were peer reviewed, I came to the above mentioned conclusions.

So my advice to those of you who troll me on Twitter and Facebook:

·      Don’t waste your time sending me a YouTube Video or Blog to argue with me

·      Read a book for a change, that was peer reviewed and contains real data

·      Draw your own conclusions from the data, not opinion, not even mine

Perhaps the disturbing thing is how the common people will defend greed without doing any real research (beyond Internet blogs and Podcasts). This is why I decided to make my blog and podcast. Not so you can reference it, but for you to look into the books and published papers I report about. 

Speaking of which, here are some books about Capitalism, Communism and Socialism that I recommend. Feel free to click on the links and buy them from Amazon: 

The Communist Manifesto by Engels and Marx

Economy and Society by Max Weber

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The Price of Inequality by Joseph E. Stiglitz

I recommend you read them because many people refer to concepts that were formulated by these people, but they have never read any of their work. The last book is a modern interpretation of how these concepts have shaped the current state of the economy in the U.S. and the factors that lead to the last recession (Stiglitz, 2012).

Keep in mind I have read these books on this subject and many more in my studies, over the last 15 years. So please spare me your “Devils Advocate” thoughts. 

"Don’t trust me read about it"

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Anakwenze, U., & Zuberi, D. (2013). Mental health and poverty in the inner city. Health & social work, hlt013.

Broussard, C. A., Joseph, A. L., & Thompson, M. (2012). Stressors and coping strategies used by single mothers living in poverty. Affilia, 27(2), 190-204.

Harris, K. M. (1993). Work and welfare among single mothers in poverty. American Journal of Sociology, 317-352.

Hirst, P. (2014). 6 Problems and Advances in the Theory of Ideology. Ideology.

Korbel, J. (2015). The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia, 1938-1948: The Failure of Co-existence. Princeton University Press.

Stiglitz, J. E. (2012). The price of inequality: How today's divided society endangers our future. WW Norton & Company.

Racism : A thin line between love and hate

There is a strange thing occurring in modern day racial relations. Everyone understands that racism exists but they get frustrated and angry when people of color bring it up.

Beyonce: I love her I hate her

Take for example Beyoncé's half time performance where she wore a black panthers uniform that outraged Fox news. Many people jumped on the bandwagon saying they hated Beyoncé for fanning the flames of racism in America. 

But a few days later continued to post videos of white folk dancing to her music at weddings. Apparently some people are not as offended watching others dance to her music. 

Frustration 

People hate when someone talks about racism because they know it is occurring but don't know how to stop it. This why they get angry when anybody brings it up. 

The data can no longer be denied but people will close their eyes and hope it goes away. 

Some will blame the victims in order to feel as if they brought this upon themselves. But what it comes down to is the rest of the world is watching and it is pretty obvious. 

The U.S. does and always has had issues with racism and discrimination. 

Are they really racist? 

I have to question if some people are really racist or just intoxicated by hate. After all the dopamine and adrenaline rush of hate is pretty addicting. 

I've heard people talk about how much they hate and resent Mexicans then after a few Coronas head over to the local taco shop and order their favorite Carne Asada burrito. 

I find it interesting that if they really hated the race so much. Why not boycott their products? 

Perhaps it's a struggle that they struggle with everyday. Hating and being addicted to hate. 

As a psychology major I find it fascinating how they project this concept. It's the reason I continue to write about it well after Grad School. 

The defense 

In their defense they are trying their best to fix it. Well some are. Also compared to the history of racism they have come a long way in a short amount of time. 

However only time will tell if the issue will ever truly be resolved. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

ADD & ADHD: Does everyone have it?

Anyone who knows even a little about psychology knows about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or as it is now officially called ADHD.  In fact in 2011 the CDC went as far as saying that there was an epidemic of ADD/ADHD with 11% of children in the U.S. having it. This means that 6.4 million children have been diagnosed with ADHD and 4.2 million children are taking psychostimulants.

Is there really an epidemic?

The truth is that ADHD is actually very difficult to diagnose.  Since most parents cannot afford proper psychological treatment for their children, psychologists are given a short period of time to come up with an answer. But this actually does not mean that kids are being misdiagnosed. In a study conducted by Sciutto and Esisenberg (2007) when evaluating prevalence studies and diagnosis, there was not enough evidence found to justify and over diagnosis.  However, this does not stop the mainstream media from claiming that ADHD is being over diagnosed. 

Kids Popping Pills

What worries the public is that kids are being given medication at a young age. This is something that concerns psychologists as well. Some have felt that if the criteria were changed this would change the prevalence of diagnosis. However, previous research has found that there was not difference in prevalence (4% - 11%) when comparing revisions made to the diagnostic manual (Thomas et al, 2015). 

This means that year after year the same percentages of kids are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. However, several research studies have found that with proper treatment, these kids can lead normal lives (Cortese et al, 2013; Faraone,  & Buitelaar, 2010; Pringsheim, & Steeves, 2011; Vaughan, & Kratochvil, 2012). 

Is it the kids or society?

Although there is a stigma against kids taking medication to treat ADD/ADHD, there is not sufficient research for grounds to prove the patients are not being helped by the medication. There is also not enough empirical evidence to prove that ADD/ADHD are being over diagnosed. Although the number of diagnosis has gone up, this follows the rate of population growth and the percentages themselves have remained constant (Thomas, et al, 2015). 

In general the pubic has become distrustful of treatment because of big pharmaceutical companies.  Personally I remain a bit skeptical. But at the moment science does not support the claim that ADD/ADHD is being over diagnosed. To be honest when I started doing the research for this article I believed ADD/ADHD were over diagnosed. But as a scientist, I have to follow the research. The beauty of science is that nothing is set in stone. Future peer reviewed studies (not YouTube or Wikipidia or even my blog), may prove otherwise,if they do, I would be more than happy to change my opinion. 

My own experiences with ADD/ADHD 

As a child I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. However, I was not given any medication because it was not severe. I was taught techniques to identify when my ADD/ADHD was effecting my concentration and this was able to help me manage it. But I know that there is not cookie cutter approach to treatment.

 I’ve also talked to many people who had severe ADD/ADHD. They reported that there was a big difference between their focus and grades when using medication, when compared to being undiagnosed.

Although it may bother some people morally that a child is taking pills to treat their disorder, if other types of treatment have failed, it may be a viable answer. In my opinion, being hard on parents who have to make this decision is not fair to them, or their children.

For those of you reading this that are outraged.....

Perhaps take comfort in knowing that if your child does not have severe ADD/ADHD, you were lucky enough not to have to go through this yourself. 

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References 

Cortese, S., Holtmann, M., Banaschewski, T., Buitelaar, J., Coghill, D., Danckaerts, M., ... & Sergeant, J. (2013). Practitioner review: current best practice in the management of adverse events during treatment with ADHD medications in children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(3), 227-246.

Faraone, S. V., & Buitelaar, J. (2010). Comparing the efficacy of stimulants for ADHD in children and adolescents using meta-analysis. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 19(4), 353-364.

Pringsheim, T., & Steeves, T. (2011). Pharmacological treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children with comorbid tic disorders. The Cochrane Library.

Sciutto, M. J., & Eisenberg, M. (2007). Evaluating the evidence for and against the overdiagnosis of ADHD. Journal of attention disorders, 11(2), 106-113.

Thomas, R., Sanders, S., Doust, J., Beller, E., & Glasziou, P. (2015). Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 135(4), e994-e1001.

Vaughan, B., & Kratochvil, C. J. (2012). Pharmacotherapy of pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 21(4), 941-955.

U.S. Justice System: Is lady justice really blind?

Recently there has been a lot of attention on law enforcement and police brutality. While I do want to talk about these issues and even further complications of the history of how the police in the U.S.  came to be the military complex that it is today. I would like to take a moment to analyze the justice system itself because I think both sides can agree (Police and Civilians) that the justice system is not working properly. 

How is the justice system supposed to work?

In a just society, the police bring in suspects and they are given a fair trial by a jury of their peers. This is the basic premise of the justice system.

You are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

This last statement is so important to basic human rights, that even the United Nations adopted it in their Declaration of Human Rights Principles, article eleven, section one (Pennington, 2003). 

What happens when a suspect is shot and killed before

receiving a fair trial?

Well for starters it reverses the basic human rights principle to:

“Guilty until proven innocent”

 This in itself is a human rights violation.  Not to mention you have to ask yourself:

Does the punishment fit the crime?

When you look at the recent shooting in Tulsa.  A man was tased, shot and killed. The officers made a similar claim that has been used many cases before this one , which was he did not comply with their demands and resisted arrest (Whichard, & Felson, 2016).

Looking at this at face value. Let’s say he did resist arrest.

 The man was suspected of being under the influence of a narcotic.

But even if all of this was true does this justify the death

penalty?

Another problem with this is that the dead suspects character is now on trial, not the crime he was accused of committing. Even the U.S. Marine Corp, does not train their soldiers to shoot to kill, when engaging the enemy on the battlefield .This indicates a serious issue with how police officers are being trained when engaging civilians.

Compliancy is Rewarded

The justice system is built so that compliancy is rewarded. If you are a criminal and have money, you can get away with the crime. Perfect examples of this can be seen with David Becker and Brock Turner.

In both cases the criminals (not suspects) pleaded guilty to charges of rape and both were set free with minimal to no jail time.  

Don't forget Dylan Roof  who was taken out to eat by the police, after shooting 9 people at a church prayer group in Charleston, North Carolina. 

The message to real criminals is clear. If you commit a crime stay calm, don’t resist arrest and chances are you will be given privileges that are not awarded to suspects who panic. You might even be acquitted of all charges if you have enough money. 

The Factor of Race

Notice I did not mention race in any of the articles mentioned. The reason I didn't mention it was because I wanted to use the same colorblind logic, that spurs many people’s assumptions of the justice system.  But one look at the articles and you will find that race is a factor in these cases. Arguably perhaps not the only a factor, but definitely an important one.

Studies have found that when race is included as a factor, Whites serve less time for the same offenses when compared to African Americans and Hispanics (Kutateladze, & Lawson, 2016;Mustard, 2001).

Another observation I’ve made is that when these things happen, people of color immediately post the articles and videos on Facebook. While many of my friends that identify as white don’t catch on until a few days later.

When they do, a large percentage of them post anti-black lives matter posts, along with blue lives matter slogans. But this is not going to fix the justice system:

What happens when this is not longer a racial issue?

What happens when justice becomes truly blind and everyone starts to become the victims and taken their rights to a fair trial?

What if these are signs of a Gestapo style police force that is on the rise?

 

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References 

Kutateladze, B. L., & Lawson, V. Z. (2016). THE UNDERBELLY OF THE BEAST: MISDEMEANOR PRACTICE IN THE ERA OF BROKEN WINDOWS AND SATURATION POLICING: How Bad Arrests Lead to Bad Prosecution: Exploring the Impact of Prior Arrests on Plea Bargaining. Cardozo L. Rev., 37, 973-1127.

Mustard, D. B. (2001). Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in sentencing: Evidence from the US federal courts. Journal of Law and Economics, 44(1), 285-314.

Pennington, K. (2003). Innocent until proven guilty: The origins of a legal maxim. Jurist, 63, 106.

Whichard, C., & Felson, R. B. (2016). Are Suspects Who Resist Arrest Defiant, Desperate, or Disoriented?. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 0022427816632571.

9/11: We can never forget

Do you remember the Maine? Probably not. The reason is that it was a battle ship that sunk in 1898 .Historians still  debate if it was due to an accident or terrorists, but that didn't stop the U.S. from using  propaganda that led to the Spanish-American War. There slogan was: 

"Remember the Main" (click on for more info)

Sound Familiar? 

How was 9/11 different? 

For starters we had solid evidence that terrorists attacked the twin towers. We also really wanted to blame Saddam Hussein for all of it. Especially since President Bush was looking for any excuse to go back and finish what his daddy started. 

How was it the same?

We had no solid evidence for the occupation of Iraq that followed.  At first their were claims of weapons of mass destruction.  But no weapons were never found nor discovered by anyone. There was also no connection between the terrorists attacks and Saddam Hussein. Even President Bush admitted that he was wrong about his allegations. 

2016 and we're not allowed to forget 

Now we have been occupying the Middle East fighting an ideology for over 25 years.  So it's kind of ironic that the slogan is "never forget"  because the truth is we've been reminded every day since the first plane collided into the first of the Twin Towers. 

Not to show any disrespect towards the 4,000 men and women that lost their lives in the attack.  Also much respect for the members of law enforcement and emergency workers that risked their lives to save those they could.  But lives are still being lost because of this one event. 

Since our occupation of the Middle East over 1.3 million  lives have been lost. 

So please remember the lives lost on 9/11 but I ask of you this:

What are we going to do about the future lives lost over an ambiguous war on a concept?

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

Simply Rich: A book review of Republican and Religious Rhetoric

Simply Rich was written by the co-founder of Amway Richard De Vos. Now you might be asking why and how I ended up reading this book. A friend recommended it to me because of a rant I went on about owning your own business and being self employed. I honestly had no idea it was related to Amway. But I gave it a chance and read it. Nothing against my friend or Amway, but I definitely didn't agree with about 85% of what I read and heres why.

A false sense of America 

The ideology was simple. If you are a Christian, conservative, who believes in the old America ( you know the Christian one) than you too can be rich, with some hard work and effort. 

Honestly I agree that running and owning a business takes a sense of independence and hard work. But I didn't agree with the integration of religion and business ideology that he spewed over and over again through out his book.

There was also this sense that America used to be great, right after WWII, but somehow things have gotten so bad now. As he put it "People are just not proud to be American!"  I'm guessing he never had to be on the receiving end of discrimination and racism people of color fought for during the same time period. 

I'm just not sure how you can be patriotic yet hate what America has become. This seems very Un- American to me. 

The Religious Political Rant got louder 

The book opened up about how Christians are better than everyone else in his opinion. He made this clear when he talked about how he tried going to a regular school but just felt that his Christian school mates grew up better because of their faith. This was the reason he decided to re-enroll into his Christian High School after dropping out. 

I let that slide. But it was interesting that I knew he was a Republican before he announced it and started hammering away with it towards the end. 

I'm an independent. But in the end he was exactly the kind of Republican I thought he would be. Fears of socialism as well as a hate for communist countries. Eventhough he admitted that communist countries make him the most profits for his company. 

In the end I felt he used Christianity as an excuse for success. In his defense he did mention that he separated Christian sermons from Amway meetings. Which was the least he could do, considering that his book did not do so. 

The book was very repetitive. He's rich because he's chose the Christian Faith, is a Republican and is an American. It left a stale taste and I will not judge all of my Republican friends on his scale because that would be generalizing. Unlike him, I try to avoid this type of critical thinking error. 

However, I feel that his type of old fashioned thinking about politics and religion needs to die out with his generation. In order for things to get better( and yes believe it or not they are better) we need to progress towards new ways of thinking. Not revert to old ways that didn't work. It didn't work then and it won't start magically working now.

As far as his defense about not taxing the rich because then they wouldn't be able to donate large sums of money to good causes (like Christian Churches). How about this proposition. We don't tax the top 10% that hold 90% of Americas wealth and power more. Instead we tax the Churches they helped make rich. No! Why? 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

Abnormal Psychology: Hoarding, Prevalence and Treatment

You may have seen the American television show hoarders and thought to yourself how can someone live like this. For those of you who haven’t seen the TV show here is a YouTube link to see what I’m referring to.

Hoarding

Hoarding is prevalent in 2-4% of the U.S. population and has been found to be comorbid(connected to) other mental disorders (Claes et al, 2016). Hoarding is closely related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with an estimated 42% reporting a compulsion to hoard (Storch & Lewin, 2016). But OCD is not the only disorder that hoarding is comorbid with.

Hoarding has also been observed with people who are diagnosed with depression, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and people with impulse control issues (Shaw et al, 2015). Since the hoarder usually ends up collecting waste along with the object they hoard, many times their homes cause heath issues to the hoarder as well as the people around them. This has made hoarding a public concern. 

Treatment

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been found to be the most effective way to treat hoarding (Williams & Viscusi, 2016 ). But since hoarding affects the entire family, CBT is most effective when the family becomes involved with controlling the hoarders impulse to hoard. In several cases, hoarders are enabled by their families. This is because in some cases the hoarder is hoarding to mask a bigger issue within themselves.

Hoarding and Bereavement

The onset of hoarding because of family problems is especially true if hoarding is due to the loss of a loved one (Ayers & Dozier, 2015). In my case this is what happened to me after my father passed away.

I just didn't want to throw away anything that reminded me of him.

I started collecting things around the house and even collecting things that reminded me of him. At one point my wife intervened and said we should remodel the house. I grabbed all of the things that were not functioning and threw them away. I did keep a few things, like his two classic cars, but other than that everything else was sold or thrown out. It was hard but the relief it brought was worth it. I also went to grievance counseling and the combination of professional help along with my wife’s support got me through it. 

Tips

If you or someone you know is having an issue with hoarding here are some tips that you can do that may help. 

I can not point out enough the need to work with a professional who has experience working with hoarders and is a licensed psychologist in your state or province.  

Best of luck and know that your not alone in your fight

against hoarding!

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

 

Special thanks to 24/7 Waste Removal and Matteo Grader

for providing the infographic.

To learn more about how to  deal with a spouse who

hordes check out the following link:

http://247wasteremoval.co.uk/blog/how-to-deal-with-a-hoarding-spouse-infographic/

References

Ayers, C. R., & Dozier, M. E. (2015). Predictors of hoarding severity in older adults with hoarding disorder. International Psychogeriatrics, 27(07), 1147-1156.

Claes, L., Müller, A., & Luyckx, K. (2016). Compulsive buying and hoarding as identity substitutes: The role of materialistic value endorsement and depression. Comprehensive psychiatry, 68, 65-71.

Shaw, A. M., Timpano, K. R., Steketee, G., Tolin, D. F., & Frost, R. O. (2015). Hoarding and emotional reactivity: The link between negative emotional reactions and hoarding symptomatology. Journal of psychiatric research, 63, 84-90.

Storch, E. A., & Lewin, A. B. (2016). Introduction. In Clinical Handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (pp. 3-4). Springer International Publishing.

Williams, M., & Viscusi, J. A. (2016). Hoarding Disorder and a Systematic Review of Treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive behaviour therapy, 45(2), 93-110.

The Amazing Bento: Awesomeness in a box

One of the things that has always fascinated me about Japan, was the concept of Bento. Bento is a boxed lunch that is prepared using various methods and ingredients.  Family members make Bento for their kids and some housewives try to show off their coordinative skills by decorating their Bento’s to look like Pandas and other cute creatures. But for me, I love that you can buy a Bento anywhere in Japan at any time. 

Tradition

My wife’s family has a long tradition of making Bento’s for their kids and husbands. So when I started working out here full time in the city, she felt the need to make me a Bento every day. At first I was flattered, but after a while I felt bad that she spent so much time cooking and preparing meals for me. Eventually I told her that she didn’t have to make me a Bento, I discovered that there was a supermarket next to my work that made awesome Bento’s for 500 yen ($5) or less.

 She was relieved and her family tried to make her feel guilty about it. I reminded her that all those years we lived in America she didn’t have to make me Bento’s so why should that change because of our new living situation? She obliged and sometimes if we had some left overs for dinner she would pack them into a Bento for me. I always appreciated this.

Health Benefits

The awesome part about a good Bento is that it includes some healthy carbs (rice), protein (fish, beef or pork) and some vegetables (salad, steamed, or pickled). Personally I go after the ones that are 500 calories or less. So not only am I getting a quick meal, it’s also healthy. Compared to spending 600 yen ($6)or more on cheeseburgers, fries and a drink from McDonalds, a Bento is a great way to get fast food that is good for you.

Pictured above is a Salmon Bento from 7/11

 I know that sometimes I complain about some aspects of Expat life in Japan. But a Bento is definitely not one of them. If you ever come out here I suggest trying them out at your local Supermarket or convenience store. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

Expat Problems: Why are you staring at me?

I was sitting on the train in Japan waiting for it to go to my local countryside town, when a young couple stumbled onto the train. As they walked in to the train everyone’s eyes started glaring at the young couple. The girl was Japanese and the young man was African American. They forgot to push the button to close the door on the train. As she walked to push the button to close the door, the American yells:

Why are all you mother fuckers looking at me and my girl!?

I was staring at my smartphone reading some Manga and looked up to see him mad dogging everyone on the train. His girlfriend told him to calm down. He said:

“ I just don't get why people be staring at me all the time!”

I felt bad because that guy was saying what I think everyday, as people stare at me everywhere I go in Japan. I wanted to tell him that it's because we're Gaijin

(Foreigners) but I realized he was a bit drunk and I wasn't sure if my joke would lead into an unneeded fight.

That's the last show we need to be putting on for all the people already staring at us.

During this situation I realized two things:

1 - I've been in Japan so long I handled the situation the same way as all of the Japanese people on the train did.

 By ignoring him and staring at my smartphone, now in my defense I was already staring at my smartphone and not pretending to like everyone else was.

2 - I really did want to say something, but didn't want to be starred at more than I already was for not being Japanese.

Being in Japan for almost 4 years I've gotten used to people staring at me. I haven't seen someone get upset about people staring at them in public for 4 years since I left the U.S. We were the only people of color on the train and I felt so bad that I handled the situation in such a Japanese fashion.

I was little ashamed that I didn't take the time to reach out to him to get to know his story. But I guess it wasn't the time or the place. In a weird way he made me miss America. His last comment he made out loud to his girlfriend made me laugh inside my head:

“I'm crazy and these mother fuckers are scared of me.”

Maybe your reading this and thinking he was off the handle but I've seen many other Americans literally lose their minds out here to know what the signs look like.

There is only so much silent staring and glaring a person can take, until they finally crack. Some feel like rockstars and become victims of their own Ego's. While others get sick of being a "Gaijin" (Foreigner) and never really getting past that label. Maybe he's almost there.

Before I got off the train I decided to break out of my shell and introduced myself to him. He apologized for yelling and made it clear that he wasn’t directing his anger at me.

I told him he wasn’t crazy and everyone was staring at him and the few that weren’t, started to after he lost his head. It doesn't make it right, but it happens, especially out here in the countryside. Many of these people have never seen a foreigner in person.

He laughed and said he knew better, but that it just gets to him sometimes, especially when they glare at his Japanese girlfriend for dating a “foreigner”. Turns out he’s been living out here for about a year. But it was his first time coming out to the countryside. I told him that I get my share of stares but that they mean no harm. They’re just curious and too shy to say anything. We wrapped up our conversation and I said goodbye.

As I got off the train I realized that sometimes being out here, I complain that I never talk to anyone outside of my wife and coworkers. But I’m glad I broke out of that pattern today. Like I mentioned earlier I’ve seen many Expats come and go. One day my card will be up as well. I can only hope that my short conversation with that young man, will help him with some of the culture shock he is going to experience out here.

I want to make it clear that outside of staring, Japanese people are some of the kindest people I have ever met.

You just got to get past their shyness and introvert issues.

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

Constantly Changing: How working on yourself changes the world around you

Some people be mad at breakfast? How the fuck are you going to be mad at the most important meal of the day?

-Kat Williams (Comedian)

I’m constantly amazed at how hateful people can be angry all the time.  I’ve said this before in another post. It can’t be good for you.

No matter what you think your cause is, getting angry and focusing on the negativeis not going to solve anything.

Work on you and the rest will follow

Instead of trying to change the world, change yourself. The problem is that you see a separation between you and the rest of the universe. This type dichotomous thinking is causing a rift between what you want and who you are.

I’m going to change the world!

-The fool on the hill

The world will change on its own. In fact it is in a constant state of change. It may not be the change you want but that is irrelevant. Let me ask you this:

 "Why are you so driven to change the world?"

Is your perception of self so grand that you think you should be listened to and adhered?

I personally go on rants all the time (I’m a blogger, it’s kind of what we do). But I don’t get caught up thinking about how many people listen or care. I’m actually surprised when people share my articles. So my suggestion to all you world changers is:

"Work on your art and work on yourself the rest is just noise"

Don’t let your Ego get the best of you. Try to remove yourself from the outcome and immerse yourself in the process. Because the process is the reason you are doing the work. It is a cycle that you create and it can help you achieve all your dreams, or it can become your worst nightmare.

But ultimately it is your choice!

Have a great week folks!

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (MS Psychology)

The Battle of the Somme: 100 years later

"You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain” 
 

- Miyamoto Musashi

Today marks 100 years of what some historians say was the bloodiest battle of modern warfare history. The British suffered over 57,000 casualties on the first day alone, as the war continued both sides casualties would eventually be estimated be over a million (Fussell, 2009;Keegan, 2011;Marshall, 2000).

What can we learn from this?

For starters that battle of the Somme showed what happens when new technology develops and isn't tested. Since before WWI the largest battle was at Waterloo in France (Napoleon), people were not ready for the carnage that bombs, tanks and heavy artillery fire could bring to the table (Kegan, 2011). Kind of makes you think about how military technology has changed in this century.

Soldiers without faces

Since the turn of this century once again military technology has changed drastically since the battle of the Somme.

It is easy to think about the Middle East conflict and Syria as a something detached from us. Especially because of most of the western worlds involvement has been with unmanned military drones and air to surface missile strikes. But conservative estimates are at 270,000 in 2011 alone (Leenders & Heydemann, 2012).

The longer a war lasts the more both sides lose

As in the battle of the Somme the occupation of the Middle East is amassing a death toll that should bother you, no matter which side you’re on.  If anything during WWI the world learned that if you drag out a battle long enough, one question remains:

Are wars won by putting people in a meat grinder or diplomacy?

I would hope the later would be the answer. For now I would like to commemorate the lives lost in the battle of the Somme as well as the lives lost across world on all the battlefields. Because if anything history teaches us, it’s this:

Leaders make decisions that result with individuals suffering, but ultimately it is their decision that can stop the madness…………

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Fussell, P. (2009). The Great War and modern memory. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

Keegan, J. (2011). The face of battle: a study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme. Random House.

Leenders, R., & Heydemann, S. (2012). Popular mobilization in Syria: opportunity and threat, and the social networks of the early risers. Mediterranean Politics, 17(2), 139-159.

Marshall, S. L. A. (2000). Men against fire: the problem of battle command. University of Oklahoma Press.

Color Blind Ideology: I want my racist cake and I don't want you calling me out on it

Color blind ideology is based on the notion that some people can hold on to the same values that racists have, but do not consider themselves racist (Bonilla-Silva, 2006).

These people want to blame immigrants and people of color for the social issues that their countries are facing, but they want to be seen as good, honest and kind at the same time.

Emotions fit into nice compartments

I think it’s interesting that some people can afford to compartmentalize their feelings on this subject. For example when talking about politics, they can say:

“It’s not about race it’s about economics”

It just so happens that the economics will mainly affect people of color.  Or it will only target a certain population of people who belong to one particular religious faith.

I find this interesting because as a person of color I can’t afford to be objective on the matter.

“Now here is the part were some people will roll their eyes and click X on the blog”

The reason is I can’t turn away from this and be objective is because I have experienced racism first hand. I have seen police unjustifiably beat an immigrant landscaper and deport him. I have paid and gone through the proper paperwork to have my Japanese wife become a U.S. resident. Only to have to lose the residency because we live in Japan now and we can't afford the fees.  Now if I move back to the U.S. we will pay all the fees all over again (roughly $3,000 and then another $1,000 every two years).

So when I hear people talking badly about immigrants and how much money they waste on them, I’m wondering one thing:

“If your paying and I’m paying where is all the money going?”

This is the question you really should be asking yourself. Because no one and I mean no one gets a free ride (unless you’re born into a rich family and even those people argue that they didn’t get a free ride). So instead of blaming one group of people, you should be looking at the people, that your giving all your money too and wondering how they are spending it.

It doesn't matter what your political affiliation is, you need to hold your representatives accountable for the money you gave them. Instead of getting angry with immigrants (undocumented or documented) ask yourself this:

“Who keeps hiring them and underpaying them for jobs that you won't do?”

These flash and mirror tactics were used during the founding of the Chicago Craft Union (between 1919 -1939) with People of Color and European immigrants (Cohen, 1991).  Mean while the companies responsible for dividing these two groups raked in all the profits. Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself.

Social Gelo with Angelo

 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2006). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Cohen, L. (1991). Making a new deal: Industrial workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. Cambridge University Press.

Immigration: Go back to your country!

“Do you know how old that line is?”

When European immigrants in 1840 (half of them Irish fleeing famine caused by a potato disease) came to the U.S., they were greeted by Americans saying the above line, while having rotten fruit and sometimes rocks thrown at them as they disembarked from their ships (Martin, 2002). Funny thing is that these same “Americans” ancestors, were also immigrants from England, who fled because of religious persecution from Puritans in 1620.

“Hmm people fleeing religious persecution by a sect of their own

religion. Why does this sound familiar?”

It’s interesting to look at the hate and fear people have of immigrants considering our ancestors were immigrants themselves.

“What gives some more rights than others?”

Well apparently it’s about how far back your generations go and how many of them resided in the country longer. I should mention this isn’t just an American issue. According to a YouGov Poll conducted in 2014:

“10% think immigration in the past ten years has been good for Britain, while 71% think it has been bad”

These results were backed up recently with the UK leaving the EU over economic issues, as well as fear and hate of immigrants (Bridgen et al, 2016).

“You have to accept us but we don't have to accept you!”

This is the message that is being sent to a global economy. We want to do international business and want relaxed laws as we travel, but we do not want to reciprocate this action.

The age of terrorism

This has not been easy since we entered the age of terrorism. Now it should be mentioned that terrorism had always been an issue. Hilter blamed terrorism for enacting the SS soldiers and implementing the Gestapo’s (Webbell, 2016).

Terrorism plays an interesting role on the human psyche.  The enemy seems desperate and the emotion of fear leads us to make poor decisions and take more unnecessary risks (Zhang et al, 2016).

“We ignore what we don’t see, just as we ignore the space that is to our back”

-Katagiri (Soto Zen Roshi)

It is easy to ignore other possibilities and give into our fears. This trait is inherently human. But if we are to let terrorists dictate how we treat people who are not our enemies, who will we label as our enemy next and how will this effect us?

Personally I fear an Orwellian society that uses fear to control people into making decisions. But that's just my personal opinion. 

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Bridgen, P., Meyer, T., & Moran, B. (2016). Expense turns to investment: How the welfare state supports EU migrants’ economic achievements.

Martin, P. (2002). Immigration to the United States. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Webel, C. (2016). Terror, Terrorism and the Human Condition. Springer.

YouGov, (2014).YouGov / Sky News Survey Results. Retrieved from yougov.co.uk on June 22, 2016.

Zhang, Y., Chen, Z. J., Luan, M., & Li, H. (2016). Affect Intensity and Risk Preference in Life-Saving Decisions. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38(2), 89-97.

Mass Genocide: There are no exceptions

Personally I love Star Trek. Now I know what you are thinking:

Did I just fall for click bait? But please hear me out!

 I love the idea of Star Trek because it depicts a future where mankind has put aside its differences and is working on a common goal as humans. Unfortunately, we are far from this goal.

Every culture is guilty of hate and genocide

When you look at history you realize that every culture is guilty of hate and death. Modern day Israel is at a stalemate because two groups of people have been hating each other for centuries (Jews and Muslims) (Meri, 2002).  

Travel to the East and you will learn about how the Mongols killed millions of Chinese during the reign of Gangis Kahn . Later modern day China invaded Tibet and forced the Dali Lama to flee, oppressing anyone who followed Buddhism (Chirot & Edwards , 2003).   

During the invasion of China in WWII, Japanese soldiers killed around 300,000 civilians, and were guilty of forcing the surviving women into prostitution, leading the incident to be called “The Raping of Nanking” (Alexander, 2012).

During colonization, America killed over 2 million indigenous tribes while taking over the frontier (Tinker, 1993). At the same time, Australians were hunting aboriginal people for sport and killed an estimated 10,000 people, this number does not include the amount of Aboriginal tribes that died from first contact (200,000 before contact, 60,000 after contact) (Tatz, 2006).

When will it stop?

The above examples are a small spec of a giant mountain of narratives that pepper every cultures history. I could write a whole book if I included every country. But the point I wanted to make was:

No one is exempt, all of our ancestors are guilty

We can’t change the past, but we can change the future. As each generation passes we as humans are slowly becoming more tolerant of each other. But if we are ever to achieve the kind of future that is depicted in Star Trek, we have a long way to go.

Personally I don’t want to wait for our planet to be invaded by Aliens, before we get our shit together.

It’s sad to think that perhaps the possibility of life on other planets is more probable than human finding peace amongst themselves.

But I do hope for a brighter future for my kids and can only with that you do as well.

Have a great week!

Social Gelo with Angelo

Sifu Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

2nd Degree Black Belt Instructor

Kajukenbo

References

Alexander, J. C., & Gao, R. (2012). Remembrance of Things Past: Cultural Trauma, the “Nanking Massacre” and Chinese Identity. The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Sociology, 583-609.

Chirot, D., & Edwards, J. (2003). Making sense of the senseless: understanding genocide. Contexts, 2(2), 12-19.

Meri, J. W. (2002). The cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria. OUP Oxford.

Tatz, C. (2006). Confronting Australian Genocide". In Roger Maaka, Chris Andersen. The Indigenous Experience: Global Perspectives. Canadian Scholars Press.

Tinker, G. E. (1993). Missionary conquest: The gospel and Native American cultural genocide. Fortress Press.