The Hazards of Facebook and Health Insurance

As I logged on to Comcast the other day, I cam across a disturbing article. (To view it, click here.) It describes a Canadian woman who was out of work, battling severe depression, and receiving sick-leave benefits. The money from her insurance company stopped coming this fall, and she was informed that the reason for this lack of benefits was that the company had seen pictures of her on Facebook partying and vacationing. 
     The company's rationale was that a person who was actually severely depressed would not party or go on vacation, but the woman's doctor specifically instructed her to do both of these things in an attempt to battle the illness. She is now suing the insurance company in a case that will go before the judge on December 8th.
     The main question that the court will be addressing is whether or not the insurance company can make that sort of decision based solely on pictures off of Facebook or similar sources. They have made a medical judgment from pictures, which seems to me to be an ineffective method. 
     The company did release the statement that, "we would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on Web sites such as Facebook." Despite this blanket statement, any other method of gathering evidence against the woman has been unclear.
     My main concern while reading this article was that of personal privacy. How disturbing would it be to have your insurance money taken away after agents merely saw pictures of you on Facebook? 
      It seems to me as though we feel like there is some anonymity on the internet, and that therefore we use much less caution online than we would otherwise. This is just one more cautionary tale for those of us who cannot seem to get that through our heads!
     Do you think that it is acceptable for an insurance carrier to search their clients on Facebook?

Knowlege, Recieved and Discovered

In the spirit of always questioning the world around us...
       In class, we have been talking about the benefits and downsides of different methods of learning. The main argument seems to be that the most effective way of learning is to discover things for yourself and not to rely on others to hand-feed you every little fact. 
      The challenge of this method is that it is quite time-consuming. It also cannot really be tested in the standardized tests (which are currently so vital to success in school) because the outcome of such personal discovery cannot always be predicted or controlled. Personally, I quite enjoy learning by discovering the knowledge for myself, and I tend to remember things better that way.
      In school, the main way we learn is through received knowledge, simply for time's sake. During American Studies, however, we try to discover things for ourselves as much as we can. We tend to do this via class discussion, and I believe that this poses a few problems.
      First of all, when there is a certain piece of information or a certain conclusion that our teachers want us to arrive at by the end of the discussion, they tailor the conversation to meet their wishes. Sometimes it seems as if the class is having a discussion that has taken on a life of its own and that is yielding new discoveries, but then, the invisible hand of one of our teachers will come down and ask a question or make a comment that directs the conversation towards the exact place that they want it to go.
      As the discussion draws to a close, the point that they are driving at becomes clearer and clearer, until finally, it is revealed.
      The point that I am trying to make is that even though the entire class is contributing and participating during discussions, Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor are always there in the background (and sometimes in the foreground) guiding the learning. So, even though we are "discovering" the knowledge for ourselves, they are determining what exactly we are going to discover. 
     There are, of course, some exceptions to this, and I do not think that it is an incorrect teaching method. In fact, I think that it makes for very interesting classes. I just think that we all have to bear in mind the fact that even discovered knowledge can be helped along by a teacher, and therefore, does not depend solely on the student's own discovery. The problem this poses is that

sometimes, received knowledge can feel like discovered knowledge. 
     Just something to be mindful of.
    Any thoughts?

Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash

Today when I read the Science Times, one article in particular stuck out at me. It was titled Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash. (To view the full article, click here.)

     In short, the article discussed gyres, which are areas of the ocean with very strong currents and weak winds. There are about five large gyres in the world, two or three of which are in the Pacific. Here is the astounding part: One of these gyres in the Pacific doubles in size every decade and is currently twice the size of Texas.
     The trash that swirls about these massive pools consists largely of fishing refuse, toxic chemicals, and tiny plastic shards that have been broken off of larger plastic forms. Not only are they unsightly, but they also cause health risks to any person who eats fish that have swum around in these areas.

    The final line of the article struck me: "For the captain’s first mate, Jeffery Ernst, the patch was “just a reminder that there’s nowhere that isn’t affected by humanity.” (Lindsey Hoshaw)

     Needless to say, I found this article to be, on the whole, exceedingly disturbing. I have always thought of the Pacific Ocean as an impossibly huge expanse of water, largely untouched by people.

     One of the main problems with our attitude towards the world is the fact that it has not adjusted recently enough, despite the fact that our role as a species in the world has changed significantly. In just a few hundred years, humans have filled in the corners of the map and explored and conquered most of the planet. Despite this, we still subconsciously feel like the underdogs.We seem to think that our actions make little to no impact on our surroundings.

    If we humans cannot rectify our world view, we are going to destroy our planet in a very short amount of time. Americans especially produce an excessive amount of waste per capita. This means that we are even more to blame for the havoc being wreaked on the Earth. 
    Our frontier is gone, and we now must preserve the space we have.

An Aversion to Sadness?

When we attended Lit Fest as a class on Friday, the woman from the Handsome Family group said one thing that particularly stuck with me. She said that she only liked to write songs that had some sadness and melancholy feelings in them. She also critisized Americans on the whole for having what she called "an aversion to sadness".

     Now, I personally would consider myself a very happy person on the whole, and I must admit that I pride myself on the fact. I like being happy and I feel better when I am smiling. Is everyone else not the same way? Isn't one of the goals of living to be happy?
      Scientists have shown that the simple act of smiling releases endorphins in your brain, which chemically improve your mood. Alan Hirsch, neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, says, "Endorphins are neurotransmitters produced in the brain that reduce pain...They have also been known to induce euphoria." (from your total health) 
      Reducing pain. Sounds great, right? Maybe not. "Creating" happiness just by smiling might make you feel good, but after a while it can feel a little bit shallow. Even simple happiness is a strange thing. "Happy" is one of those "easy" adjectives that most English teachers tell their students not to use in formal writing due to its lack of true description and depth. It's like the Froot Loops of describing words. 
     My personal theory of why Americans in particular have such a love of happiness: we have short attention spans. Being happy is easy, as we are attracted to bright lights, laughing people, and funny commercials and pop-ups. Actually taking the time to experience some "real" emotion is something that we might not all do. 
    But maybe it would be worthwhile.