SCC English Dept. Scholarly Journal – Two Waters Review 2.2 by Scottsdale Community College

Fall 2020 – Summer 2021 Volume 2, Issue 2

Tw o Waters Review Essays from

Scottsdale Community College English Department

Scottsdale Community College improves the quality of life in our communities by providing challenging, supportive, and distinctive learning experiences. We are committed to offering high quality, collaborative, affordable, and accessible opportunities that enable learners to achieve lifelong educational, professional, and personal goals.

Student

Volume 2, Issue 2 September 2021

iii All student works collected here are copyright © 2021 by their respective authors. Licenses for publication in Two Waters Review by the English Department of Scottsdale Community College are on file at the college.

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“The

78… Nico

iv Table of Contents

Hooley , “Breaking Barriers: A Decolonized Approach to Global Mental Health Care” Tammy Tran, “The Importance of Global Health Security in the 21st Century ” Greg Resendez, “Living through COVID-19” Banuelos, Endangerment of Indigenous Languages in Mexico” Armknecht, “To Defy an Empire of Dreams: Disney’s Conquest for Cultural Hegemony ” Greenlee, “Hollywood against Streaming” Trimarche, [an argument criticizing social media]

19…

49… Ariana

LookingtotheFuture1…Rachael-GraceM.Sands

62… Graham

72… Malachai

1 Breaking Barriers: A Decolonized Approach to Global Mental Health Care Rachael Grace M. Sands Hooley

Breaking Barriers: A Decolonized Approach to Global Mental Health Care

In 2002, Elisa Lacerda Vandenborn moved from Brazil to Canada. Struggling with loneliness, Elisa quickly fell into a state of depression, ultimately leading to her decision to attend therapy. Unfortunately, her therapist was of little help, causing Elisa to walk out of her sessions feeling at fault for her struggles (Zapata, 2020). But why did this happen? Brazilian culture is centered around the community rather than individualism. In Elisa’s case, had her therapist understood the values of Brazilian culture, her sessions would likely have had more positive outcomes. Elisa’s story is not unique but does highlight the need for a different approach in counseling to better serve a multicultural clientele. The intersection of decolonization and multicultural counseling is not a new concept in mental health care. The 1950s brought a new wave of applied counseling to different racial and ethnic groups, although, at the time, multicultural counseling was not the language used to describe it. “Minority counseling” was a more common terminology, due to counselors primarily encouraging minorities (hereinafter referred to as “underrepresented groups or communities”) to assimilate into the cultural masses. As the field matured counselors ceased imposing their personal beliefs and values onto their clients, and “minority counseling” became unacceptable. The Civil Rights Movement helped push the notion that counselors should seek to appreciate cultural differences, rather than force their clients to assimilate (Gelso et al., 2014). Further dissent expressed by those who desired greater cultural inclusivity allowed for significant strides to take place in recent years. Professionals within the behavioral sciences have acknowledged the continued need for deconstructing

3 the field of psychology, largely based on a Eurocentric model and approach. Eurocentrism is the belief that European American (i.e. Western) culture should be the norm and the standard against which all other cultures are judged. While some may question why this is an issue, studies have shown that a lack of cultural competency by therapists can cause high levels of distress among underrepresented groups. Present day social justice movements have rallied their calls to undo the harm that exists within various institutions. The inclination towards greater inclusivity and cultural competency in mental health care is growing while the current system teeters on a precipice that will determine the future of its efficacy. Will it maintain the status quo, relying on standard frameworks that have shown to be less effective among people who do not fit the white, Western, hetero male parameters? Or can the field progress in a way that considers a more personalized, lived experience that incorporates native traditions and cultural values? Without the latter, a decreasing number of people are likely to receive proper treatment, in turn, causing those suffering from trauma, mental illness, or other emotional difficulties to struggle more. The need for a decolonized and culturally competent approach to mental health is not limited to the United States alone, it is necessary worldwide. Decolonizing global mental health care would mitigate harm experienced by marginalized communities through the application of culturally competent and affirming practices.

A Harmful History Scientific racism (scientific concepts and data to create and justify ideas of an enduring, biologically based racial hierarchy) continues to play a significant role in psychological research and mental health care. According to Vanessa Jackson (2002),

author of “In our own voices: African American stories of oppression, survival, and recovery in the mental health system,” scientific racism was used to justify and uphold systems of oppression, such as slavery. For hundreds of years, Black people were treated as less than human and, in many cases, the color of their skin was regarded as an affliction that could only be cured by becoming white. This mentality would pave the way for continuous harm to be perpetuated in the mental health system for generations to come. Scientific racism was introduced into psychology in the early 1900s and used as a tool to support continued racial discrimination. “Race psychology” studies from 1910 to 1930 were inspired by “Negro education debates” during the Civil War era. The debates justified the restriction of educational opportunities for Black people, which only intensified under Jim Crow laws (Winston, 2020). The idea that people of color were intellectually inferior to white people, was maintained for many decades. Despite criticism, many psychologists chose to remain neutral on the subject and would neither confirm nor deny this ideology due to claims of insufficient data. Today studies on racial intellectual inferiority may no longer be applicable, yet disparities in the field still exist. Historically and currently, white people (often men) have been centered in multiple aspects of psychological research. One of these aspects is who is conducting the research. Assistant Professor of Psychology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Steven O. Roberts found that 63% of first authors (those responsible for conducting research) were white, compared to only 23% for persons of color and 14% who were labeled unidentifiable (De Witte, 2020). Numbers this disproportionate present an issue when considering the impacts of research. Limiting cultural, ethnic, and/or racial diversity in who is conducting, editing, and disseminating

Generational trauma due to the effects of colonization can be psychologically detrimental among Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC). The colonization of land and people has occurred throughout history and the world. Its effects are still felt today. A study for the Journal of Counseling and Development emphasized that Filipino Americans frequently suffer from a “denigration of the Filipino self” due to colonial mentality (Tuazon et al., 2019). A colonial mentality is a form of internalized oppression that conditions colonized people to experience feelings of inferiority, shame, and resentment towards their ethnicity and/or culture. This mentality reinforces the belief that the ethnic persons’ culture is inferior to Western culture or whiteness. It is a problem that extends far beyond the United States and with much greater consequences. Clinical psychology student and author, Jose Luiggi Hernandez (2020), observes in his article “Guidelines for decolonizing psychotherapy in Australia,” that Indigenous people of Australia are at a much

Historically the data has not favored diversity, and some have named structural racism as the culprit. However, according to the Association for Psychological Sciences, an increase in racial and ethnic diversity has occurred in recent years, particularly in the United States (Roberts et al., 2020). This increase will support a broader understanding of how people from various cultural and ethnic groups think, develop, behave, and navigate the social world.

Trauma, Stigma, and the Need for a Socially Just Model of Care

5 psychological research can produce a skewed perspective of the human mind causing inaccurate studies due to underrepresentation. The additional concern of who is participating in current psychological research exists as well, leading to similar results.

Factors such as stigma and cultural irrelevance cause BIPOC to seek mental health care services less frequently. Higher rates of misdiagnosis, racism, and overall dissatisfaction with treatment play important roles in reinforcing stigmas. VITAL RECORD, a digital newsroom of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center, stated that in 2018, “non Hispanic white people received mental health treatment twice as often as Hispanic and Black people” (Hendrix, 2020). Many BIPOC cultures emphasize strength, resilience, and the ability to persevere in the face of life’s challenges. Psychological struggles such as anxiety and depression are often regarded as “easy to overcome” and therefore not worthy of mental health support. In the Black community, surviving slavery largely accounts for the stigma. It comes from the notion that struggling with anything “less than” could be

6 higher risk for suicide compared to non Indigenous people. Persistent experiences of discrimination and inequity are known to have negative consequences on one’s well being. The impact of generational trauma can be so detrimental that changes in the brain are possible. A feature in Counseling Today explained that changes in neurobiological responses, known as epigenetics and psychoneuroimmunology, can occur from experiencing prolonged periods of stress, trauma, and inequality (White et al., 2020). These new responses are due to an increase in stress hormones, which were discovered while studying Holocaust survivors and their children. High levels of anxiety and depression, ineffective coping skills, and a decrease in social functioning have been several of the observable changes (White et al., 2020). Thus, it is not unreasonable to assume similar responses for those who suffer from generational trauma due to colonization, given the inequities and discrimination many colonized people experience to this day.

7 conceived as a moral weakness, claimed Victor Ray Armstrong (2019), Vice President of Behavior Health at Atrium Health Behavior Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. Of course, mental health is not discriminatory. It does not consider a person’s skin color or culture and should certainly not be considered a personal failing for anyone unable to overcome struggles on their own. By far the most highly underrepresented groups of people in North America are Native Americans and Alaska Natives, for which mental health stigma is high. The process of deculturation (the loss of traditional ways) has been correlated with the level of stigma attached to mental health disorders, according to research conducted by Donna Grandbois, a nurse and associate professor at North Dakota State University (2005).

As a result, community members who still refer to cultural beliefs and traditional healing are less apt to seek and/or continue mental health services. This is especially true when therapists neglect to integrate cultural awareness and sensitivity. A study released from Antioch University established that 50% of Native American clients who attended therapy chose not to return after their initial session, in part due to an absence of culturally relevant services. That is a 20% higher rate than other groups (Raye, 2020). Without the ability to destigmatize mental health among BIPOC and provide culturally relevant services, too many people will continue to struggle. A framework based on equity is necessary for restructuring the mental health system to provide relevant care for BIPOC. Systemic inequities account for high amounts of distress experienced by BIPOC. The Journal of Psychological Services released a publication that explained how individuals who have experienced racism or other systems of oppression, would benefit greatly from attending therapy sessions with counselors who

8 understand and acknowledge the inequities that exist for those people (Marshall Lee et al., 2020). Individual experience does not exist in a vacuum and is consequently influenced and impacted by societal “norms.” Too often these norms are detrimental to the well being of BIPOC. As social justice issues continue to dominate the minds and hearts of many, counseling centers are beginning to provide services that acknowledge those issues while offering a safe container in which to discuss them. Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California, offers counseling to their Black and African American students who experience grief and anger related to racist acts of oppression and violence. A model called anti oppression psychotherapy (AOP) facilitates an empowerment centered change process to help clients navigate the impacts of intersectional violence, oppression, and trauma (Timothy and Umana Garcia, 2020). It is this type of commitment that will help facilitate progress and build resiliency within affected communities. Other parts of the world are making positive strides in recognition of the harmful implications of discrimination and inequity as well. Several fields within the psychological sciences are choosing to restructure and reformat their approach with a less Eurocentric perspective. For example, in South Africa, professionals are examining ways to “Africanize” psychology curriculums, conceptions of mental illness and treatments, and research methods to make education and practice more relevant to the struggles of South Africans, as reported by the American Psychological Association (Clay, 2017). The process of Africanizing includes embracing African heritage and defining, interpreting, and promoting African culture through the lens of the African experience. Historically, the methods of psychological assessment had been used to maintain white supremacy during the years of apartheid. Today, however, South

Cultural competency begins with assessing personal beliefs and biases to determine a mutually beneficial relationship between therapists and racially and/or culturally diverse clients. Acts such as stereotyping and expressing prejudiced beliefs can cause significant harm to a client, even when done unconsciously. An article published by New England Psychologist stated that multiple challenges are presented when working with clients of different races and ethnicities, therefore, a framework that includes cultural sensitivity is necessary for reducing harm (Robertson Souter, 2020). For this reason, therapists must understand how their beliefs and values are informed by familial or cultural expectations and standards, and that those beliefs have the potential to negatively impact the effectiveness of treatment. To counter this, therapists would do well to take an agnostic or client knows best approach which puts the client as the expert. “The dialectical (ability to relate in a logical discussion of ideas) qualities of a psychotherapist learning from the client helps greatly for the therapeutic alliance to move forward and in tune with the cultural nuances so critical to the client’s therapeutic progress,” explained licensed clinical psychologists, Dr. Saunia Ahmad and David Reid (2009). In other words, therapists must remain resolute in keeping their own biases at bay and focus more on learning from the clients' lived experiences. Although, the capacity for honoring differing ideologies will vary from therapist to therapist, ultimately determining the quality of the therapeutic relationship. For therapists who wish to be the most effective, research points to improved

Cultural Competency: Effectiveness, Application, and Challenges

African students of psychology are being educated from a decolonized perspective, which will ultimately allow for a more equitable institution throughout the country.

Integrating native cultural practices with the standard western therapy model has been linked with increased effectiveness among Indigenous groups. The Native American Counseling and Healing Collective in Denver, Colorado incorporates traditional native practices such as beading, sewing, dance, or meditative walks into therapy sessions. Many cultures value ancestral practices such as song, art, and storytelling to heal the spirit. Some believe that when the spirit is out of alignment, physical, emotional, and/or mental ailments can occur. Indigenous healing practices without applied psychotherapy (or vice versa) may prove beneficial for some but will not for everyone. To remedy this, counselors are integrating local native practices with culturally competent psychotherapy. Psychologist Rebecca Troeger (2019) indicated that Maori psychologists in New Zealand use a concept known as “wananga” (loosely translated to a meeting, discussing, learning, and the passing down of wisdom) as a way to help their clients identify and make sense of their struggles,

10 results in a culturally competent setting. A culturally competent setting is a space established by a therapist who is accurately aware of culturally learned assumptions by themselves and their clients, comprehends the culturally relevant facts and information about a client's culture, and can intervene skillfully (Pederson, 2002). Based on findings from researchers in the Departments of Psychology at the University of California and University of Oregon, professionals who employ skills that culturally validate and affirm their clients are at an advantage for positive outcomes versus those who do not (Sue et al., 2009). Cultural awareness and validation are key for creating a mutually beneficial relationship between a therapist and client; strong relationships help to establish a foundation of trust and safety, both vital to the longevity and efficacy of treatment.

11 rather than simply pathologize them. Similar to Indigenous cultures, storytelling is an integral part of Maori tradition. These stories are passed down, generation to generation, to serve as a guide for observing and behaving in the world. The model appears to be working. While collaborating with the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona, psychologist Mary Cwik saw a reduction in suicide rates by 38% between 2006 to 2012, compared with the previous six year period, after incorporating spiritual prayers, songs, and stories as part of the intervention and recovery efforts for those suffering from suicidal thoughts (Stringer, 2018). For cultures that emphasize healing the spirit to attain well being, maintaining traditions within a psychotherapeutic setting is key for improved psychological outcomes.Multicultural counseling is a broad spectrum that can present challenges in its application due to a lack of competency. Competency begins with an adequate education.

An adequate education begins, in part, with the ability to learn from racially and ethnically diverse educators. According to a 2015 report from The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), only 25.6% of counselor educators and supervisors were ethnically diverse (Meyers, 2017). However, counselors in training would benefit by learning directly from educators who have first hand knowledge of the culture or experience they are learning about. Without adequate competency, the real world application of multicultural counseling becomes a challenge. For example, research shows that many African Americans utilize spirituality to maintain their well being, but few therapists will know how to implement culturally relevant practices that affirm their clients’ beliefs, as noted by American Counseling Association President, Cirecie West

12 Olatunji (Shallcross, 2013). So far, a consensus for what qualifies as a fully culturally competent therapist appears to be missing. Further research and education are recommended to solidify agreed upon terms as a way to maintain consistency within the field. Currently, all CACREP accredited courses only require one multicultural class as part of a student's training. Without adequate education, many therapists (certainly ones who are newly licensed) will be prone to feeling unprepared for knowing how to work in a multicultural environment. The American Psychological Association (APA) and The American Counseling Association (ACA) code of ethics advise therapists to practice within their boundaries of competence (Farook, 2018). Even with advisements in place, circumstances may arise when a therapist attempts to practice outside those boundaries. Doing so can cause unintentional harm, or at the very least, prove to be ineffective. From a dark history of scientific racism in psychology to active decolonization efforts in mental health taking place worldwide, slowly but surely, progress is being made. Removing mental health stigmas is one of the first steps and is crucial for reaching across racial and cultural barriers to provide necessary services to those in need. Though they remain high among underrepresented communities, global campaigns to eliminate stigmas are in full effect. But disparities in care will continue to be an issue as long as social justice inequities are prevalent. Fortunately, numerous leading voices in the field are paving the way towards a more just and equitable system. The intersection of social justice, decolonization, and cultural competency are working their way into mainstream therapeutic applications to help address and treat overlooked and misunderstood trauma and distress. Psychology and counseling programs are changing as well to include a more

13 culturally sensitive and inclusive narrative. Nevertheless, multicultural competency is complex. What the research does agree upon is that professionals must be aware of their own beliefs and biases, acknowledge the beliefs and values of the diverse populations they work with and that therapists have the relevant skills to support those populations. However, the work is never done. Continuous research, education, and training will be required for therapists who wish to deepen their empathy, understanding, knowledge, and skillset when servicing a diverse clientele. Without it, risks such as misinterpreting clients' difficulties as resistance to the therapeutic process, misdiagnosing disorders, or prematurely ending treatment are possible. For therapists who find themselves outside their boundary of competence, the ability to acknowledge those limitations and refer clients to someone with relevant experience will be critical. The evolution of counseling is underway. Decolonization initiatives, described by some as radical, are necessary if the system is to change with the times. As the field continues to expand, employment is expected to rise as the need for mental health services grows. Consequently, the demand for multicultural counselors is likely to continue growing as well. Considerations for global mental health are not without a barrage of challenges, but with time and the implementation of the proposed initiatives, change is possible. Through dedication, determination, and perseverance towards a more equitable and culturally competent system, stories like Elisa’s are destined to become concerns of the past.

Ahmad, S., & Reid, D. (2009, October). Cultivating cultural competence: Understanding and integrating cultural diversity in psychotherapy. Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/cultivating cultural competence understanding and integrating cultural diversity in Armstrong,psychotherapy/.V.R.(2019,

Counseling Services in Support of Social Justice. Cosumnes River College. (n.d.). Crc.losrios.edu. https://crc.losrios.edu/student resources/counseling/counseling services in support of social justice. De Witte, M. (2020, June 25). Psychological research has a racism problem, Stanford scholar says. Stanford News. https://news.stanford.edu/2020/06/24/psychological research racism problem stanford scholar says/.

14 References

August 1). Stigma regarding mental illness among people of color. Behavioral Health Services of Greater https://behavioralhealthservicesogc.com/mentalCleveland. health/stigma regarding mental illness among people of color/. Clay, R. A. (2017, November). Decolonizing psychology in South Africa. Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/11/decolonizing psychology.

Luiggi Hernández, J. G. (2020, April 17). Guidelines for decolonizing psychotherapy in Australia. Mad In America. https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/04/guidelines decolonizing psychotherapy australia/.

Hendrix, L. (2020, July 31). How stigma impacts access to mental health care for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Vital Record. https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/how stigma impacts access to mental health care for black indigenous and people

In our own voice: African American stories of oppression, survival and recovery in mental health systems. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community w-_oppression_survival_and_recovery_in_mental_health_systems?email_work_card=viehttps://www.academia.edu/1312811/In_our_own_voice_African_American_stories_ofWork.paper

Jackson,0regardless,twice%20as%20often%20as%20Hispanic%20and%20Black%20people.color/#:~:text=Stigma%20plagues%20access%20to%20mental%20health%20care%2ofV.(2002,January1).

Gelso, C. J., Williams, E. N., & Fretz, B. R. (2014). Counseling Psychology. American Psychological Association. Grandbois, D. (2005). Stigma of mental illness among American Indians and Alaska Native nations: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 26(10), 1001 1024. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840500280661

Farook, M. (2018). The state of multicultural counseling competencies research. Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/the state of multicultural counseling competencies research/.

counseling profession diverse/. Native American Counseling and Healing Collective (NACAHC). (n.d.). https://www.nacahc.org/. Pedersen, P. B. (2002). The making of a culturally competent counselor. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307 0919.1093 Raye, C. (2020, February 22). America's most oppressed minority: How incorporating traditional healing practices can create more culturally relevant treatment for Native clients. Odyssey Online. http://odyssey.antiochsb.edu/student

Marshall Lee, E. D., Hinger, C., Popovic, R., Miller Roberts, T. C., & Prempeh, L. (2020). Social justice advocacy in mental health services: Consumer, community, training, and policy perspectives. Psychological Services, 17(S1), 12 21. Meyers,https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000349L.(2017,October25).

activism/americas most oppressed minority how incorporating traditional healing-practices can create more culturally relevant treatment for native clients/. Roberts, S. O., Bareket Shavit, C., Dollins, F. A., Goldie, P. D., & Mortenson, E. (2020). Racial inequality in psychological research: Trends of the past and recommendations for the future. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1295 1309. Robertsonhttps://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620927709Souter,C.(2020,August18).

How can therapists become more culturally competent? New England Psychologist | An Independent Voice for the Region's Psychologists. https://www.nepsy.com/articles/leading stories/how can therapists become more culturally competent/.

Making the counseling profession more diverse. Counseling Today. https://ct.counseling.org/2017/10/making

Anti oppression psychotherapy: An emancipatory integration of intersectionality into psychotherapy Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia. https://pacja.org.au/2020/12/anti oppression psychotherapy an emancipatory integration of intersectionality into psychotherapy

Tuazon, V. E., Gonzalez, E., Gutierrez, D., & Nelson, L. (2019). Colonial mentality and mental health help seeking of Filipino Americans. Journal of Counseling & Development, 97(4), 352 363. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12284 Varanasi, A. (2021, April 19). Decolonizing therapy: Why an apolitical mental health system doesn't work. Rewire. https://www.rewire.org/decolonizing therapy mental health/.

Timothy,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793275/.R.K.,&UmanaGarcia,M.(2020,December18).

Māori approach to mental health offers empowering alternative to western psychiatry. Mad In America. https://www.madinamerica.com/2019/05/maori approach mental health offers empowering alternative western psychiatry/.

Troeger,ce%20in%20clients%E2%80%99%20lives.counsellors%2C,oppression%2C%20trauma%2C%20and%20intersectional%20violenoppression%20psychotherapy%20is%20a%20therapeutic%20approach%20that%202/#:~:text=AntiR.(2019,June3).

Stringer, H. (2018, February). The healing power of heritage. Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/02/cover healing heritage. Sue, S., Zane, N., Nagayama Hall, G. C., & Berger, L. K. (2009). The case for cultural competency in psychotherapeutic interventions. Annual Review of Psychology.

around the world/202101/should global mental health decolonize. White, R. K., Hanks, A., Branco, S., Meade, N., & Burt, I. (2020, February 12). A collective voice: Indigenous resilience and a call for advocacy. Counseling Today. https://ct.counseling.org/2020/02/a collective voice indigenous resilience and-a-call for advocacy/. Winston, A. S. (2020, May 29). Scientific racism and North American psychology. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Zapata,acreforehttps://oxfordre.com/psychology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.001.0001/Psychology.9780190236557-e-516.K.(2020,September21).

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cafes

Weine, S. (2021, January 1). Should global mental health decolonize? Psychology Today.

Decolonizing mental health: The importance of an oppression focused mental health system. Calgary https://calgaryjournal.ca/2020/02/27/decolonizingJournal.mental health the importance of an oppression focused mental health system/.

Tammy Tran Importance of Global Health Security in the 21st Century

The

Advancements in science and medicine have made life safer and infectious diseases as mere history lessons. But infectious diseases are only getting worse and are anything but part of history. Many emerging infectious diseases (EIDS) have reemerged due to unknown circumstances. Zoonotic diseases are (EIDS) that can pass from animals to humans, and are also emerging infectious diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), or better known as the Coronavirus. SARS is a prime example of an emerging infectious disease that has impacted humans on a global level. The current pandemic has caused millions of deaths and caused the economy to decrease significantly.

Urbanization leads to more infectious outbreaks due to animals’ habitats being destroyed, which leads to changes that increase zoonotic outbreaks. Infectious outbreaks are more common due to zoonotic diseases, and can easily lead to full scale pandemics if humans are not prepared to fight back. To prevent the next outbreak, nations must band together and work together. This idea that nations join together for a common purpose is global health security, to prevent the next illness that threatens the health of all humans on Earth.

Recent outbreaks of ebola and the zika virus represent how often outbreaks can occur even if the outbreaks do not occur in certain countries. In addition, globalization, which is where business occurs on an international level and requires travel between multiple countries, makes infectious outbreaks even more contagious. Outbreaks are not rare and

SARS has also led to changes being made about how the world views infectious outbreaks, such as how common outbreaks are and the dangers these diseases pose to the world.

Globalization and urbanization increases chances of spreading infectious diseases. Urbanization and globalization impacted how the modern world is today. Raquel Reyes, an assistant professor of medicine, argues that “Infectious diseases are propagated via different forms of exposure, including exposure of an uninfected individual to the infected droplets, feces, or bodily fluids of another individual or exposure... Urbanization necessarily provides more opportunity for contact and exposure and therefore has great implications for the transmission and the evolution of infectious diseases around the world.”1 In summary, the nature of how zoonotic diseases spread and urbanization easily forms an epidemic. Urbanization increases the chances of infectious diseases spreading since urbanization moves people closer, hence a denser population is created,1 which helps with the transmission of diseases. Another reason why infectious diseases are affected by urbanization according to Sohel Ahmed, from Sage Journals, is because many diseases are zoonotic, meaning that they spread from animals to humans, and in developing countries 26 percent of the infectious diseases present are zoonotic and rural to urban migration

WHAT IS GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY

21 the ongoing pandemic showed how unprepared nations and their constituents were for this pandemic with the proper knowledge and defenses. Thus the global health security system should be advanced and more funding should go towards researching infectious diseases to increase global health. Also, the One Health perspective should be used to protect global health security, since health is viewed holistically, which only further solidifies global health security. Urbanization and technological advances threaten global health security, requiring an increase in research on emerging infectious diseases.

22 increases infectious outbreaks.2 Zoonotic diseases are commonly found in developing countries, which are often rural areas, therefore once a migrant is infected and moves to an urban center where the population is much denser the infection is at a higher risk of spreading. Thus urbanization impacts the way a disease spreads due to the close-knit population. Globalization also contributes to the transmission of infectious outbreaks due to the ability to spread across bodies of water. Reyes states “As globalization continues and travel increases among the major cities both nationally and internationally, diseases can be propagated between and among urban centers. This can lead to farther reaching even worldwide outbreaks of disease.”1 Globalization encourages business between different cities and countries, which means that once a migrant is infected, and travels to different cities or countries, the outbreak can increase transmission and can lead to a pandemic.

Although globalization may be good for the economy, infectious diseases spread easily from traveling between multiple cities and countries, which creates a breeding ground for the disease to sweep over the globe. This breeding ground for infectious outbreaks hinders global health security due to many getting infected, and weakens the general public’s health. Urbanization encourages the spread of outbreaks due to the sheer number of people inhabiting a city, and globalization helps the disease jump to other countries due to travel, which impacts global health security.

Global health security is threatened by emerging infectious diseases. Global health security is the idea of “protection of the health of persons and societies worldwide. It includes access to medicines, vaccines, and health care, as well as reductions in collective vulnerabilities to global public health events that have the potential to spread across

23 borders”3 according to Sigfrido Caceres, who is an international consultant. Global health security means to protect the health of people across countries and ensuring the supplies to maintain health. Emerging infectious diseases have been around for as long as there has been life on Earth, and protecting health has been around since humans first learned about infectious diseases. Professor David L Heymman, from the Lancet, supports the idea that global health security has been around since the 14th century to slow the bubonic plague when quarantine was first used to prevent the outbreak from spreading across the border.4 The idea of quarantine has been around since the 14th century, which means that the concept of global health security has been around since. To support global health security, the International Health Regulations was established in 1969 to regulate health security and prevent outbreaks.4 From this, it is apparent that global health has been a goal for human existence since the beginning of outbreaks, and global health has only become critical as urbanization and globalization develop. Infectious outbreaks have greatly impacted the human population and threaten the health of humans. Furthermore, Professor Dr. Jason K. Levy, from the University of Hawaii, states that emerging infectious diseases report for more than one tenth of diseases change due to factors that are not well understood.5 The unpredictability of infectious diseases indicates how dangerous outbreaks can be, since the changes in infectious outbreaks are not well understood. The ambiguity of the development in infectious diseases is a concern for the public’s health and the concept of global health security.

Global health security is important due to the prevalence of infectious diseases. It has been established that infectious diseases are a threat to global health security, and now global health security must be strengthened. Global health is not just merely not getting sick, but also that people are healthy and have access to necessary items to maintain health, especially in poorer countries.3 Jordan W. Tappero, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), acknowledges that “To contain health threats and ensure global health security, all countries must rapidly detect and respond to public health emergencies and, when overwhelmed, call upon global deployment capacity. This need is clearly evident, as the world is more susceptible to infectious disease threats due to increased international travel and trade, spread of newly emerging or reemerging microbes, and inadvertent release of dangerous pathogens from laboratories or bioterrorism acts.”6 Tappero’s view of global health is to prompts multiple nations to unite and take action once an outbreak. This occurs because infectious outbreaks have the capacity to spread like wildfire. The current pandemic showed how unprepared the world was. and the set back for countries that lacked actions toward the outbreak. The gravity of the pandemic demonstrates how global health needs to be enforced to prevent the next epidemic. Some experts argue that global health is unnecessary due to the involvement of politics because there would be differences that impact the outcome of global health security. Catherine Yuk ping Lo, a political scientist, argues that cultural and religious differences may affect the risks and measures taken to ensure global health security.7 Although, religious and cultural differences could redirect the course of action for global

IMPORTANCE OF GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY

Infectious outbreaks occur more frequently than expected regardless of technological advances. Leaps and bounds have been discovered about science and technology since the bubonic plague in the 14th century and the influenza, but there is no certainty that the next infectious outbreak will not be detrimental or even wipe out humanity. Joshua Lederberg, a microbiologist and former president of Rockefeller University, addresses the misconception that modern science is enough to fend off epidemics such as the influenza of 1918.8 Lederberg also acknowledges the theory of evolution and how there is no guarantee that humans will always succeed.8 There is no direct relationship between the amount of science understood and the certainty that humans will abolish epidemics. Henceforth, advances in science do not mean that epidemics are a minor issue, on the contrary, infectious outbreaks have only increased.

25 health, the ultimate goal is that humans are healthy. Regardless of cultural or religious differences, the universal goal is to preserve life, which global health security does. Therefore, global health should be considered for the future and it would be wrong to ignore global health due to differences or hindrances.3 Differences are bound to occur, but the gravity of epidemics should be dire enough to put disagreements aside for the sake of life on Earth. The severity of infectious diseases have become hazardous, it is crucial to enforce global health security to avoid the next outbreak and prevent the next pandemic.

Bahar Gholipour, from Scientific American, postulates that population growth of humans causes more infectious diseases, two thirds of the new diseases are zoonotic.9 Gholipour also quotes Dr. Peter Daszak, who says “‘Each wildlife species carries a bunch of microbes, most of them we’ve never known about’ Daszek said ‘When you build a road into a new

26 patch of rainforest, you put a pig farm in there, people move in and come into contact with these pathogens.’” 9 Therefore, the sheer quantity of people is the cause of more infectious outbreaks. More people require more space, thus forests are abolished and cities are built, which exposes people to different pathogens carried by other animals, which leads to infectious outbreaks because the pathogens are foreign to the human body. Arguments could be made about how humans rarely come in contact with wildlife to be exposed to these pathogens, but Maureen Miller, from Columbia University, points out the fact that intermediary animals, such as a civet cat acts as a bridge to make the jump to humans.10

SECURING GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY

The virus will mutate in the cat to be able to infect humans.10 Zoonotic diseases become more susceptible to humans due to intermediary animals due to the little technology used to track infectious diseases. The concept of intermediary animals supports the major concern of zoonotic diseases, since two third of new diseases are from animals,9 and how these diseases can mutate to infect humans. Infectious outbreaks are becoming more common due to population increase, and technological advances can be of use in diminishing the severity of epidemics.

Funding lacks the proper distribution needed to provide supplies to aid global health security. Odd fundings for infectious diseases do not contribute to global health security. Inga Vesper, from SciDevNet.Net, argues that even though the United State is one of the biggest funders towards emerging infectious disease research, the country also receives the most from its own funding.11 Vesper also notes that most of the research and development which is rapidly growing, happens in industrial nations, which is counter

27 productive since emerging infectious diseases are more rampant in developing countries.11

Leah Rosenbaum, who writes about the business of healthcare for Forbes, points out the glaring fact that “companies that focus on infectious disease, whether developing vaccines, antibiotics, or other therapeutics, have been historically underfunded...Drugs for cancer and heart disease can have much higher price tags than a new antibiotic that might sit on the shelf as a last resort treatment. ‘The profit opportunity compared to how risky it is to develop a new drug,’ Rockman says, ‘that math is just much harder’ for infectious disease companies.”12 Global health is in the hands of the idea of profit and loss, which is why funding is not enough, since the more immediate threats such as cancer receives more funding, while infectious diseases are not perceived as an immediate danger do not. Proceeds for emerging infectious diseases are being put below other diseases that are deemed urgent, but the current pandemic demonstrates how severely companies underestimated the gravity of zoonotic diseases. Even how fundings follow trends of what is on the rise, such as how there was great interest in Zika and Ebola until it eventually died down due to the digression of the diseases.12 Funding for infectious diseases should not follow trends, or it will be very difficult to ensure global health security due to the nature of outbreaks. Advances should be made to improve technology to track infectious diseases.

There is funding towards emerging infectious diseases, but the money seems to be going to first world countries. Infectious outbreaks are more common in developing countries, thus proceeds should contribute to third world nations. Money seems to be only benefiting first world countries, which leaves developing countries to be defenseless, and the cause counterproductive. Not only is funding skewed, but also fluctuates more than it should.

One way of measuring zoonotic disease spillover is to test antibodies just like with SARS CoV-2 in bats and people who lived in the area.10 There are ways to safeguard against infectious outbreaks or at least minimize the impact of outbreaks and antibody testing is one of the ways to take action. Another method to prevent the next infectious outbreak according to Maureen Miller and Emily Hagan, is to simply prevent the upcoming outbreak.

Trends of how and where funding should go will be the downfall of global health, and the rise of epidemics.Moretechnology should be created to protect global health from increased fundings. Since most infectious diseases are zoonotic, one of the most important aspects of preventing outbreaks is to measure how zoonotic disease spillover to infect humans.

Hagan accounts for the economic situation and supports that “Relative to the economic, social and political costs of epidemics, prevention will always be less expensive, if the targets of prevention activities are well understood and acted upon... The political commitment for prevention activities will often be less than that for a reactive response elicited by the emergence of a terrifying new infectious disease. However, political support may be improved if surveillance is made to be, and appear, more cost effective, by focusing on specific diseases in population subgroups who live in ecologically fragile hotspots.”13 Hagan recognizes that money is vital to preventing infectious outbreaks and if surveillance is cheaper, then there would be more incentive to prevent the next outbreak rather than spending a fortune on battling the next pandemic. Hagan mentions hotspots which are also crucial to surveillance, because hotspots are where spillovers are most likely to occur. Therefore honing into the specific areas will not only prevent the next outbreak,

THE ONE HEALTH SOLUTION

The One Health perspective must be considered for global health. One Health is looking at health from a holistic point of view, which is considering all the factors that impact global health. Gigi Gronvall, from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, defines One Health as a way to counter diseases that are a threat to humans, animals, and the environment.14 Gronavall also states that to achieve this goal will require many different fields to come together and attain the goal of global health.14 One Health is an ideal way to look at zoonotic diseases since this method will ensure that animals and the environment are well taken care of to prevent the next outbreak. Some may be against looking at animals and the environment to attain global health security, since surveillancing zoonotic spillover is enough, but “Diseases that affect wildlife are relatively neglected but may affect the wild food chain, the farmed food chain (as diseases do not recognize farm fences), the economic health of the agricultural sector, and, in the case of zoonosis, human health”.14 Gronvall’s perspective of looking at wildlife as to ensure global health security is necessary to prevent the next outbreak, since infectious outbreak are impacted from the environment. There is no way to contain unknown pathogens from animals, thus to prevent the next epidemic, a One Health solution must be established. The approach to One Health has been established in Brazil and has shown to at least spread

29 but may also be cost effective due to the conciseness of the plan. The ongoing pandemic has shown how modern technology and science can be very useful in containing the pandemic, but at what cost? Therefore, the prevention of the next outbreak should be the priority next to slowing down infectious outbreaks in the present and the future,

30 awareness of the situation according to Andre De Souza Leandro, from Plos Journal.15

Leandro also argues that One Health led health agents to have better data about the Coronavirus and other diseases when screening houses under risk, and having more access to data will result in the public being more aware of the situation.15 Collecting data demonstrates the severity of the outbreak to the general public, which helps spread awareness of the dangers of infectious diseases. The application of One Health is not only suitable for preventing outbreaks, but also spreads awareness of the situation in rural areas where infectious diseases are more susceptible. This combination of attaining more data for diseases and spreading awareness is one step closer to attaining health security.

One Health is an ideal way to support global health security and spread awareness of all of the infectious diseases in hotspots. How will the next pandemic be handled if no changes are made to how the world views infectious outbreaks? The current infectious outbreak of the Coronavirus has shown emerging infectious outbreaks to be fatal and modern knowledge to be limited. To counter the next outbreak, changes must be made as to how infectious diseases are perceived. Global health should be strengthened by putting funds in the right place and developing new surveillance systems to detect outbreaks. Infectious outbreaks should be seen as a major threat to health just as cancer or any other common diseases. The human population is at its highest, which means that more space is needed, and this increases deforestation to build cities. This is urbanization, and causes the proximity between houses to become closer, also globalization aids the outbreak to spread across the globe within days. Fundings must also remain constant to prevent the next outbreak, alongside

31 developing the proper equipment and supplies to detect and manage the next epidemic.

One Health is an option for securing global health, since One Health looks from multiple perspectives to lessen infectious diseases, which will proportionally enhance global health security. Global health security may seem irrelevant, but is a pillar to maintaining human life on Earth due to the rate in which infectious diseases are emerging and the billions of lives at risk. The next pandemic could be brewing right now until it gets out of hand. To avoid the next pandemic and not wipe out human life on Earth, global health security is the key to maintaining normal lives.

32 References

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4. Heymann D, Chen L. Takemi K, Fidler D, Tappero J, Thomas M, Kenyon T, Friedman T, Yach D, Nishtar S, Kalache A, Olliaro P, Horby P, Torreele E, Gostin L, Sigonda M, Carpenter D, Rushton S, Lilyewhite L, Devkota B, Koser K, Yates R, Dhillon R, Rannan Eliya R. Global Health Security: The Wider Lessons from the West African Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic. The Lancet. 2015;385 9980. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140 6736(15)60858-3. Published May 09, 2015. Accessed July 21, 2021.

2. Ahmed S, Davila J, Allen A, Hak;ay M, Tacoli C, Fevre E. Does Urbanization Make the Emergence of Zoonosis More Likely? Evidence, Myths and Gaps. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247819866124. Published September 14, 2019. Accessed July 21, 2021.

3. Cáceres Burgos Sigfrido. " Global Health in an Era of Global Health Threats" National Center for Biotechnology Information 2011;1962 1963. doi: 10.3201/eid1710.101656. Accessed July 21, 2021.

5. Levy J. Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Research, Management and Response. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/EID. Accessed July 21, 2021.

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8. Lederberg J. Humans Beings Forget that they Will Always Share the Planet with Microbes. Public Seminar. https://publicseminar.org/essays/pandemic as-a-natural evolutionary phenomenon/. Published May 21, 2020. Accessed July 21, 2021.

6. Tappero, J. W., Cassell, C. H., Bunnell, R., Angulo, F. J., Craig, A., Pesik, N....Martin, R. (2017). US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Its Partners’ Contributions to Global Health Security. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 23(13). https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2313.170946

11. Vesper I. Keep Focus on Emerging Infections, Diseases X: Analysts. SciDevNet. https://www.scidev.net/global/news/keep focus on emerging infections disease-xanalysts/ Published September 17, 2020. Accessed July 21, 2021.

9. Gholipour B. What 11 Billion People Mean for Disease Outbreaks. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what 11 billion people mean disease outbreaks/. Published November 26, 2013. Accessed July 21, 2021.

7. Lo Yuk ping Catherine and Thomas Nicholas. How is Health a Security Issue? Politics, Responses and Issue. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Vol. 25 issue 26, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czq063

. Published October 18, 2010. Accessed July 21, 2021.

10. Miller M. The Next Pandemic is Already Happening- Targeted Diseases Surveillance can Help Prevent It. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the next pandemic is-already happening targeted disease surveillance can help prevent it 160429. Published June 1, 2021. Accessed July 21, 2021.

12. Rosenbaum L. Record Year for Funding Infectious Disease Companies- Will That Continue? Forbes.https:/ /www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2021/06/10/covid led to-a-record year for funding infectious disease companies will that continue/?sh=678ce3d32046. Published June 10, 2021. Accessed July 21, 2021. 13. Miller M, Hagan E. Integrated Biological- Behavioral Surveillance in Pandemic- Threat Warning System. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.175984. Accessed July 21, 2021. 14. Gronvall G, Boddie C, Knutsson R, Colby M. One Health security: an important component of the global health security agenda. Biosecur Bioterror. 2014;12(5):221 224. doi:10.1089/bsp.2014.0044. Published September 25, 2014. Accessed July 21, 2021. 15. Leandro A. The adoption of the One Health approach to improve surveillance of venomous animal injury, vector borne and zoonotic diseases in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. Plos Journal. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009109. Published February 18, 2021. Accessed July 21, 2021..

As new information formed on COVID 19, new measures and guidelines went into effect to stop the spread of this disease. Learning about the infectious disease took some time as research was conducted to learn more on how this virus impacts the body and what type of treatments might work against it. From these analyses, COVID 19 vaccines were quickly developed to combat against this deadly disease. While there may be some hesitancy toward these new COVID 19 vaccines, receiving the benefits from these immunization shots will impact the future and help return to a sense of near normalcy.

Since the virus had not been identified before in humans, health guidelines were developed to protect and stop the spread of this volatile disease. With the emergence of new data developing, this allowed symptoms to be identified and tests created to diagnose the disease. This process led in the right direction to understand and counter the disease with the development toward a vaccine.

It is late New Year’s Eve 2019 and people are preparing to welcome the new year as the clock strikes midnight. As celebrations, cheers and midnight kisses brought the end of 2019, unknowingly people would all be committing to the same resolution: surviving the COVID 19 pandemic. On January 21st, 2020, the United States (U.S.) faced the unsettling news that the first case of an unknown virus made it into the country. It wasn’t until March 11th, 2020 that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID 19 as a pandemic.

Greg Resendez Living Through COVID 19

The U.S. quickly went into defense mode as this new disease began rapidly killing people.

Jocelyn Solis Moreira, a writer for Medical News Today recalls a conversation she had with Dr. Eric J. Yager, an associate professor of microbiology at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Albany, NY. Dr. Yager says, “scientists have been studying coronaviruses for over 50 years. This meant scientists had existing data on the structure, genome, and life cycle of this type of virus” and “Research on these viruses established the importance…for the development of antibody therapies and vaccines” (qtd. in Solis Moreira). Fortunately for the research under similar Coronavirus, the scientific communities had a good understanding of what they were dealing with. The family classification from prior evidence found from studying similar viruses led the way to identifying the type of virus COVID 19 is. Subsequently, this data propelled researchers toward creating vaccines to develop immunity against the virus. With the available data from prior research on coronaviruses, experts utilized this information with new research from COVID 19. This allowed for swift DNA sequencing of the COVID 19 virus to produce potential vaccines.

Once it was discovered that COVID 19 was a strain from the Coronavirus family, the scientific communities were able to utilize research studied from other coronaviruses over the years.

Robin Marantz Henig’s essay “In Science We Must Trust” published in the National Geographic magazine shares how new information developed so quickly that science is rapidly in motion producing new discoveries about COVID 19 during this pandemic. According to Marantz, All that research focus has led to a remarkable amount of information in a remarkably short time. Within weeks of the first known animal-to-human transmission,

37 scientists had sequenced the virus’s full genome. By summertime, more than 270 potential COVID 19 drugs were in active clinical trials in the United States.” (59).

Anti science attitudes have created COVID truthers, who cause divide and vaccine hesitancy among the public and medical experts by advocating the pandemic as fake or made up. Marantz, who recognized these views against the COVID 19 pandemic writes, “We’re also seeing the emergence of COVID truthers, who insist the pandemic is a conspiracy or a hoax” and “coronavirus misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories circulating around the globe”. Anti science attitudes toward the medical

Existing data from research on the Coronavirus family, with the blitz of new information from cases of those infected with this new strain of the Coronavirus, allowed researchers to determine the exact sequence of DNA in the virus. DNA sequencing explains what the virus is and how it might mutate over time. Sequencing is important in the development of vaccines, as scientists rely on this data to create effective vaccines that elicit immune responses to fight off the disease in those infected. Understanding how the virus mutates allows scientists to anticipate and modify vaccines to match the changes to stay effective in creating immunity. However, medical breakthroughs like vaccines do not come with guarantees, which may even lead to hesitancy. Some will be wary of new medical devices, leading to hesitation. Some people may be skeptical toward new therapies like vaccines and the medical professionals behind the science. Showcasing the benefits over the side effects through the succession of time will allow trust to build against hesitancy. However, propaganda and the fear inducing stories have not helped alleviate hesitancy toward the new COVID 19 vaccines.

38 community are not new by any means, as hoax or conspiracy theories are an outlet for those fueled by uncertainty. Due to freedom of speech from the United States First Amendment (Amendment I), a platform has been created that allows one’s ideas or beliefs to be expressed against scientifically tested evidence. These ideals COVID -truthers perpetuate in public lack proof to back up their claims. However, even without evidence, information is shared via social media and this disinformation leads to fear, confusion, and hesitancy. These claims backtrack the efforts within the scientific communities trying to establish trust using actual data and research to showcase the efficacy of a vaccine to fight a very real pandemic. On the other hand, COVID truthers are not the only disinformation spreaders as Anti vaccine groups also play a role in undermining vaccination campaigns. These groups sensationalize stories by blaming the vaccine administration as a cause of deaths instead of recognizing other underlying conditions that could be as the cause of death. In Liz Szabo’s article, “Anti Vaccine Activists Peddle Theories That Covid Shots Are Deadly, Undermining Vaccination” she highlights how Anti vaccine groups are distorting the relationship between receiving a COVID 19 vaccination and those getting sick or dying after shortly after. Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases specialist tells Szabo, “[Anti vaccine groups] are blaming patients' coincidental medical problems on covid shots, even when it's clear that age or underlying health conditions are to blame” and “will sensationalize anything that happens after someone gets a vaccine and attribute it to the vaccine” (qtd. in Szabo). Claims like these by Anti-vaccine groups create vaccine hesitancy in those already confused by the misinformation they see on social media. This strategy instills fear in

39 people already teetering on the decision to get a vaccine shot when it becomes available to them. It’s easy to forget that old age and underlying health conditions take lives every day, and it was this group of people who were some of the first to qualify for the vaccine, to help protect from the severe effects of the disease and death. Regardless of the stories spread by these anti vaccine groups, people are being drawn out of their hesitancy as they are affected by someone suffering or dying from COVID 19. Those who are living through and witnessing the disease firsthand are using this relationship to prompt them to get the vaccine. Star Resendez, a Social Service Director at Imperial Care Center a Nursing home facility in Los Angeles California, recalls how staff and residents witnessed the COVID 19 disease claim lives in their facility, which she feels aided in the combat against vaccine hesitancy, as both staff and residents came forth for vaccination. Resendez comments “Even though getting the vaccine isn’t enforced in our facility, when staff and residents realized their friends weren’t coming back, it sparked something inside them, and when vaccines became available, we had roughly 80 85% come forth to be vaccinated.” It’s clear to those being affected directly by this pandemic that the fear of death from a deadly disease outweighs hesitancy toward vaccines. From the front line workers experiencing the effects this disease has on the body, to the loved ones coping through disease or loss, this pandemic is affecting the whole world. Clearly there’s no room for vaccine hesitancy when there are resources to help educate on the efficacy of their use. The quick development of the vaccine created some wariness among people, but the worries about its effectiveness are public knowledge. There’s plenty of information about the benefits the vaccine has on the body and its effects toward the population. With

40 this information, people gain the knowledge to make an educated decision regarding their health in taking part in the vaccination initiative. This choice will not only help protect themselves, but also protect those around them, which will lead back to a more recognized sense ofOnenormal.ofthe main and very publicized sources of information during this pandemic has been The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Their website has been a trusted reference in the media that has been used to share ongoing and updated information about the pandemic and the vaccines. The CDC website has listed that the US vaccines are effective at preventing COVID 19 and may prevent severe illness of the disease if infected. According to the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases content published on “Benefits Getting a COVID 19 Vaccine” from the CDC website, “Based on what we know about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, experts believe that getting a COVID 19 vaccine also helps keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID 19.” While this disease is new, medical experts who have been providing us with lifesaving treatments and therapies are utilizing their credible data to support the use of new COVID 19 vaccines. Consider other vaccines used today, like the Tdap vaccine administered during pregnancy to help protect against whooping cough or the yearly recommended Flu shot to protect from the potentially serious complications from the flu. Getting the COVID 19 vaccine is going to allow that person to be better prepared to handle the diseases and its severe symptoms that could ultimately lead to death. Considering the alternate of the worst-case scenario, it

41 would be wise to trust in the experts and science behind the vaccines developed to fight this disease.While the vaccine was created to protect the individual receiving it, a second benefit is how it affects those around that person. Becoming fully vaccinated helps safeguard not only each other but loved ones who are at a higher risk for severe illness due to underlying conditions. The NCIRD shares on the CDC webpage that “Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID 19” ("Benefits"). When considering whether to get a vaccine or not, remember it’s also going to affect individuals considered high risk for severe illness like elder adults and those with existing medical conditions. By receiving the vaccine for the benefit of self protection, the second benefit takes effect by preventing the spread to those that need the extra layer of protection, if unable to receive the vaccine themselves. Being vaccinated is that much more beneficial to not just the individual but their loved ones and the general populace but providing the much needed immunity to help put an end to this disease. Understanding the benefits of the vaccine for personal and public health, people can recognize the impacts vaccines will have on the future. Considering the effects this disease has caused, living in a world shut down by a pandemic has been hard for many people. Finding a way to manage or prepare for this disease might be one way to counter it to prevent a full scale shut down in the future. The creation of COVID 19 vaccines is a key aspect for returning to the state of life before the pandemic shut so much of it down. One goal that should be considered is if there’s a way to put an end to this Coronavirus disease.

Utilizing the COVID 19 vaccine may set up a future of co existence in the same way the flu shot was created for and is tailored to combat new variants each year. Jon Cohen’s article “How soon will COVID 19 vaccines return life to normal?” shares insight on the speed of vaccine development and how simple it might be to modify vaccines to combat new strains of the COVID 19 virus, which he shares is already being utilized with the Flu shot.

Cohen writes “Flu vaccines, after all, are updated yearly to keep up with the ever morphing influenza virus and are quickly approved. Makers can pop out components from the old vaccine and replace them with new ones.” It’s important to understand the science behind a virus and how new strains are created, to really grasp the concept of modifying vaccines.

RNA or DNA encased by a protein coat make up what we call a virus, and in this case the COVID 19 virus, and over time can alter or mutate due to its replicating process. This replication can effectively change the makeup of the virus, and in turn makes vaccines and prior immunities useless against the disease. However, it could be wise and safe to prepare against variants of the COVID 19 virus that are already present in areas of the world like the United Kingdom and South Africa. The vaccine's effect of creating immunity and preventing the spread of COVID 19 meets its purpose and being able to modify these COVID 19 vaccines will impact our future by continuing these purposes. While the vaccines are providing benefits for our future, the ending result should be working toward the elimination of this disease. In addition to a future where vaccines are modified against new strains of the COVID-19 disease, vaccine implementation could lead toward eliminating or eradicating the disease. Kristen Feemster, Author of the 2017 eBook Vaccines: What Everyone Needs to Know

43 describes what it means for elimination and eradication of infectious diseases. According to Feemster, “Elimination of an infectious disease means that there are no more new cases of a disease within a specific area” and “Eradication refers to a permanent elimination of an infectious disease worldwide” (150). The lockdowns and safety guidelines created to prevent the spread of this virus during this pandemic caused a social standstill. The direction of vaccine administration is propelling the future toward eliminating this disease with possibly eradicating it. Working toward the elimination of this disease not only benefits U.S. but the world as whole. Progress is being made from the vaccines that have been created in conjunction with prevention methods like social distancing and mask use. However, eradicating this disease is the end goal for experts and the public and could one day be Inreality.themeantime, becoming vaccinated impacts our future by allowing us to loosen the protective restrictions that have kept us from social gatherings and physical connection. Referring to Resendez, she described how the future is changing in the facility by returning to less restrictive business practices as protective guidelines lessen due to vaccinations. Resendez said “I’m ready for life and work to return to the normal we had before this pandemic” and “we all know now how much we took for granted like physical connection, the smile now hidden behind a mask, the social gatherings or the already sick loved ones who didn’t stand a chance against this disease.” The use of the new COVID 19 vaccines is providing people with hope as restrictions begin to lift. The year 2020 impacted everyone to deal with restrictions and protective guidelines in the wake of this new disease. Many public events were cancelled and stay at home orders forced business to operate

44 differently to stay open. However, those suffering from the disease and dying alone with no loved ones by their side has been the most heartbreaking part of this pandemic. As more people become vaccinated, restrictions on social distancing and mask mandates are beginning to ease up. Vaccinations are aiding toward a near sense of normalcy as people can again reunite through gatherings and public spaces again without the social distance or mask mandates. The future is already on the path to change, as those vaccinated are helping prevent the spread of COVID 19 to high risk individuals, who might otherwise suffer from a grim fate. In essence, the overall benefits from the use of the vaccine can help us reach a sense of normalcy, even a slightly different normal than before. As the U.S. enters a period of recovery to life before the COVID 19 pandemic, reviewing historical pandemics like the Spanish flu can provide some insight on how people endured toward a new normal. In the eBook “The Coronavirus Preparedness Handbook:”, Tess Pennington shares how humans survived through past pandemics and how this information will help understand how people survive through COVID 19. Pennington cites a study by Howard Markle of how communities untouched by the Spanish flu enter a recovery phase. Markle says “[I]t can lead to retrospection and action in terms of preparedness for subsequent Epidemic events” (qtd. Pennington). Since people have survived these past epidemics, it has enabled their retrospection to create a type of template for how future generations can be more prepared to manage through a pandemic. The U.S. utilized this archetype when creating the safeguards like the social distancing and mask mandates to stop the spread of the disease. This isn’t the first

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to a pandemic, but here is what we know: the world has been hit time and time again with diseases that span the globe killing many in its wake, but somehow, we are still here. In the developed world, we have been able to hold off the takeover of these pandemic diseases using vaccines, antibiotics, and the natural eradication of certain diseases. When you reach the end phases of a pandemic, the world as you know it has permanently changed. The question on so many people's mind is regarding the return to normal. COVID 19 has changed the world in so many ways that the question should not be when will things return to normal, but instead will we adjust to a new sense of normal. Maybe working from home becomes a business normal. Maybe the new services to get groceries delivered to your home or pickup methods to retrieve your goods from stores will continue to be a new normal. The connections to immediate family created from the lockdowns will surely be part of this new sense of normalcy. Perhaps willpower is what will remain normal throughout this pandemic. The willpower of people to survive, overcome and remain through deadlyPeoplediseases.inthe U.S. are dealing with the same aftermath this pandemic has created while surviving through it. While the COVID 19 vaccines are new, over time they will

45 pandemic to affect the world and it likely will not be the last, but it’s how people survive and prepare for that next large scale event that leads us into a new normal.

While the benefits of the vaccine help return to some semblance of normal, the effects felt by the pandemic may prevent a full return to normal. Referring to Pennington, she shares what one can expect post pandemic,”

46 become a standard part of the fight against this deadly disease. Coupled with more data gathered on the virus, new treatments or therapies will be developed to treat those infected with the disease. However, hesitancy may always trouble new vaccines and the medical community since people struggle to trust what they do not understand or have experience with. But the immunity benefits from these shots could potentially return life to a recognizable normal before the pandemic. Although with the ever growing use of social platforms, disinformation and fear inducing stories will continue to play a role in vaccine hesitancy; instead, people should seek credible information to help understand the benefits of the COVID 19 vaccines, which will allow for the potential to help eliminate and hopefully eradicate the disease. Meanwhile, this pandemic has affected almost every facet of life, and people are looking toward a future without COVID 19. As we move forward with vaccinations and alterations to vaccines to fight against new strains, coexistence could be the future. Ultimately, getting vaccinated will help prevent and lessen the illness in this battle against the COVID 19 disease.

National Geographic, Nov. 2020, pp. 56 Pennington,65.

Resendez,=ehostcom.ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2403621&sitelive&scope=site.Star.Personalinterview.1Apr.2021

47 Works Cited

Benefits of Getting a Covid 19 Vaccine. 21 Apr. 2021, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019 ncov/vaccines/vaccine benefits.html.

soon will covid 19 vaccines return life normal. Kristen A. Feemster. Vaccines : What Everyone Needs to Know®. Oxford University Press, 2017. EBSCOhost, search

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The Endangerment of Indigenous Languages in Mexico

49 Ariana Banuelos

“Mexico’s Dying Languages”, over 6 million of Mexico’s population speak indigenous languages, but most of them are bilingual. The author also explains that because students

Mexico became the home of at least 25 indigenous regions and hundreds of indigenous languages and dialects throughout its many years of history before the Spanish invasions. But the invasions did not get rid of the Native Indians that lived there before the Spaniards came. Mexico has been the home of millions of people who speak indigenous languages and speak Spanish as a second language. According to Hetrick in the article

Actress Yalitzia Aparicio, who starred in the movie Roma, has parents from Mixtec and Triqui descent. Yalitzia and both of her parents were born in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although her father is Mixtec, she is not fluent in the Mixtec language because according to her parents, they did not want to teach her in fear of her being discriminated against for speaking the language. Even though she was not taught, she had to learn the language for the movie Roma. Native Indians or Indigenous people in Mexico have had to endure a lot of discrimination despite them being natives of the country. A lot of their languages and dialects are now endangered as well as their culture. There is not just one reason for this, but it has become a major issue in Mexico because the majority of the languages are either endangered or on the brink of becoming extinct. The important indigenous history and culture that shaped the country of Mexico became compromised by the lack of effort by the Mexican government and its citizens to preserve the indigenous languages and might result in a major loss of culture for the country.

50 learn Spanish from a young age and it is also the primary language used, many stop speaking their native tongue (12). Even after many years of the invasions, these languages are still used and considered part of Mexico. With this, although there are hundreds of other languages in Mexico, less than one hundred are recognized and most of them are indigenous. The author Cirjak in the article, “How Many Native Languages Are Spoken In Mexico?” states that, “These [indigenous] languages come from eleven language families, and the Mexican government actually recognizes 68 national languages. Out of these 68, 63 are native languages”. Even for having a primary language, the government does not recognize Spanish as the official language because of the many other citizens that live in Mexico who speak one of the 63 languages or one of the hundreds of dialects that come from those languages. These languages existed much longer before Spanish in Mexico. A big part of the history in Mexico is all the languages and cultures from the different groups of Native Indians who live in Mexico. Mexico as a multicultural country does not recognize one language as the official language due to its citizens speaking hundreds of different indigenous languages. In the article “Las Lenguas de México'', the author talks about the story of the indigenous languages in Mexico. The author also explains that because over six million of the indigenous people speak Spanish as a second language, it is hard to make Spanish the official language. This suggests that even after the Spanish invasions hundreds of indigenous languages were still spoken around the country, and because the country had so many languages it would be unjust for only one language to be recognized as the official one. Even though these languages have existed even after the invasions, they have

51 changed over time. Now in more modern times, the original dialects and pronunciations are different. Five centuries have passed since the arrival of the Spaniards at the Mexican coasts and there have been a lot of interactions between Spanish and indigenous languages, therefore, the current indigenous languages are not the same, but there is no material to prove it (Las Lenguas de México). Even though the languages may no longer be the same as they were 500 years ago, they are still being spoken around the country and continue to be part of the culture and history. Out of the hundreds of indigenous languages in Mexico, like Mayan and Tepehua, there is one language that is the most spoken one throughout the country. In the article “Las Lenguas de México”, the author states that Nahualt is the most spoken indigenous language in Mexico. Just how Spanish is the most common language, indigenous languages have a most common language as well. Furthermore, with Nahualt being a very common language, it had a major impact on a lot of Spanish words that are to this day used by Mexicans. In “Las Lenguas de México” according to the author, aguacate[avocado], chocolate[chocolate], tomate[tomato] and popote[straw] are some of the few words that were taken from Náhuatl and there are around 200 Náhuatl words that have been used in the Spanish language. Nahualt has had such a major impact on the Spanish language that even some of the most simple words that are used by people every day came from that language. The word “popote” which means straw, is a very unique word considering that in other Latin American countries the word for straw is different. In the article, “¿Cómo se les dice a los popotes en otras partes del país o del mundo?”, the author explains that in Argentina and Ecuador the word for straw is “sorbete” and in Peru “caña”. Mexico is the

52 only country that uses the word “popote”. Not only are these languages part of history on their own, they also made their way into being part of how the Spanish language is used throughout the country.

Even after the Spanish invasions, natives are still trying to use their language and are fighting for it to still be spoken throughout the country. According to Dakin in the book Language Contact and Change in Mesoamerica and Beyond, Tepehuan communities in Mexico are still trying to find ways of speaking their language in public in Spanish dominant territory, where prior only Spanish was spoken, to keep their language alive (30). This shows that no matter what the dominant language is in Mexico, people will always fight to make sure that their language continues to be part of Mexico’s history. Even though these languages might be spoken in their communities, once indigenous people arrive in a bigger city, they have to fight and find a way to speak their language. Because of the existence of this fight, many of these languages are now endangered. According to Delgado in “Lenguas indígenas, un legado en extinción”, Otomí and Mayan languages are two of the big groups of the 22 languages that are disappearing and 19 other languages are slowly being replaced including some of the most common ones which include Nahuatl and Zapotec languages. Considering Nahuatl is one of the most spoken languages in Mexico and it is being replaced, the languages with less speakers are in even more danger of becoming extinct. Not only are the languages disappearing and being replaced, but so is their history and culture. Yet, although indigenous languages are a major part of Mexico’s history, not much has been done to preserve the languages.

The younger generations have become more comfortable with speaking Spanish rather than speaking the native language their family speaks. According to Hetrick in the

The lack of effort to preserve the indigenous languages by the Mexican government and its citizens has been very visible throughout the years. Issues like poverty, politics, and social inclusion have damaged the possibility of preventing the loss of the languages. In the article, “Lenguas indígenas, un legado en extinción” by Marjorie Delgado, she talks about some of the reasons for the disappearance of these languages. Delgado points out that the level of poverty, level of exclusion, political conflict and lack of legal recognition, are some of the reasons why so many languages are going extinct. Although some languages are recognized by the government, they are not doing enough to make sure these languages are established as national languages. Not only that, many of the indigenous communities live in very poor areas where they are excluded and a lot of times are seen as minorities even though that is their native country, and because no one visits these poor areas, many of them move to bigger cities where they have to speak Spanish because it is the dominant language. Additionally, the Mexican government does not attempt to include these regions where they speak the languages. In an interview with Professor Aizpuru from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, she explains that a reason why these indigenous languages are disappearing is because of the lack of support by the Mexican government and the lack of motivation to include indigenous people in the many diverse social contexts. This is because most of the time during holidays, native culture is excluded, and the impact it has had on Mexican culture is ignored. The culture and language is not only ignored by the country but also by its own community.

article “Mexico’s Dying Languages'”, because it is children and young adults who are more comfortable speaking Spanish, when their parents or grandparents speak to them in their native tongue, they will likely respond back in Spanish and that is also another reason why these languages are disappearing. This shows that it is not just the government’s lack of effort, it is also the people’s. A way of preserving these languages would be to make sure people speak them. If the younger generations decide to stop speaking their native languages it will cause them to become extinct over time. If there is no one to teach their kids, those kids will not pass on the language to future generations, and the language will simply stop existing one day. Hetrick also states that it is not uncommon for a grandchild to respond in Spanish to a question his grandmother asks in her native language. This is seen in many cases and with many different languages like Spanish and English in the United States, not just in Mexico. The less parents and grandparents worry about what language their child or grandchild speaks, the higher chance there is for them to stop speaking the language. This can become very dangerous especially for those languages that are the most atNotrisk.only is it the younger generation’s fault, it is also the unwillingness of the last two speakers of an indigenous language to maintain their language alive, which builds on to the disappearance of native languages. In the article “The Sounds of Silence'' by Erica Alini, she tells the story about two men, Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, who are the last two men in the village of Ayapa, Mexico who speak the language of Ayapaneco, a language that is on the brink of becoming extinct. Alini explains that the two men who are the last who speak the language refuse to speak to each other because they reportedly

55 do not have much in common. Also according to Alini, Manuel Segovia spoke the language until his brother died a decade prior; Segovia speaks the language to his son and wife, but they do not answer back in Ayapaneco. In addition, Isidro Velazquez simply does not speak the language to anyone.This also demonstrates that in order for these languages to continue existing, native speakers must be willing to play a part in making sure that happens. If the two men, Segovia and Velazquez, made more of an effort to keep their language alive, maybe they would not be the last two speakers of their language. In many households parents are more strict about what language their children speak at home. If it had been done by these two men, maybe Ayapaneco would have a higher chance of surviving as one of the many spoken languages in Mexico. Lastly, these languages are not the only thing endangered. The loss of the languages would include more than just the language. In the article, “Lenguas indígenas, un legado en extinción” the author Marjorie Delgado states that because indigenous people are no longer speaking their native tongues, the country is missing out on transmitting a legacy of knowledge. The language as well as the ability to for a legacy to continue existing would be lost. These languages are important and without them a major part of Mexico’s culture would be left in the dark. The knowledge and history that come from these languages would be lost, and there should be a bigger fight to prevent that from happening. Delgado also observes, “With the disappearance of languages, their identity and collective memory are decreasing and there is also a risk that goes unnoticed by many which is: a loss of knowledge that has been and will continue to be a key to the region’s future”. The disappearance of these languages that goes unnoticed is a

56 major issue. People should become more aware of the fact that the languages and cultures that shaped the country are slowly disappearing. If more people became aware it would mean that more people would fight for these historical parts of the country to stay alive.

Transfiguration: Zapotec Tones as Contemporary Art and Strategy for Resistance'' by Gala Porras Kim, the author states that the Whistling and Language Transfiguration (WaLT)

Indigenous culture like monuments and dances would result in a loss of significance without the languages of the people that created those aspects of Mexican culture. In the article, “Indeginous People” written by the International Minorities group, the author states, Generally, indigenous people retained local forms of organization to defend their culture and livelihoods. Others witnessed the collapse of their traditions under the burden of poverty and believed that they must reject their ethnic identity and integrate into mestizo society if they were to improve their living conditions. The “mestizos” are people of Spaniard and Indian descent. The own natives are having to watch their traditions disappear as if they did not matter. Not only do they have to witness their monuments and dances disappear and become unknown to people, but they also have to reject their descent because otherwise they would have to face discrimination and poor living conditions in their own country. Fortunately, there are still some ways to preserve these languages and cultures. Actions like music and language classes can ease the problem of finding ways to preserve the endangered languages. Music is a very popular way that can be used to help prevent the loss of indigenous languages. In the article “Whistling and Language

57 project, the work presented as a record can be used to revive some languages and because of its popular musical appeal it is more accessible to people (234). Because music is so popular and because the WaLT project would be accessible to people, learning an indeginous language would become much easier. Not only that, but it would also attract younger generations since music is such a major part of the culture and it would also be a fun way for people to learn. They could also learn about indigenous music, not just the language. The music would not be the only interesting aspect of this method. Porras- Kim also explains that many indigenous languages are whistled and this was a way of communicating from long distances. She also goes on to explain that the melodic tone of the words changes depending on the meaning of it. Adding the music with the whistled languages would attract more people to learn about the languages. This music could also be included in the language classes that would help prevent the extinction of languages. A way of preventing the loss of native languages is to make sure students learn about their culture and languages in school. In the article “Lenguas indígenas, un legado en extinción'' by Marjorie Delgado, Delgado quotes German Freire, World Bank social development specialist and author of the report Latin America Indigenous of the XXI century, who states that a good quality and culturally relevant education would help reverse the disappearance of these languages. Not only that, but it would also allow for a more inclusive and adaptable development. This suggests that education about Native Indians is very important not just for more people in the country to know about it, but also for the Native Indians to make sure their culture and languages do not disappear. Also according to Freire, only 1 out of 3 children continues to speak their native language after

58 they finish school and that is because schools have done a poor job of accommodating indigenous culture and languages in schools. By accommodating these cultures and languages, it would create more opportunities for other students to learn about them too.

Not only would it help prevent the extinction but it would become a more inclusive country if more people became aware of the indigenous history. These classes could become crucial in preventing the disappearance of indigenous culture and history. Finding people who speak the language to teach classes would also help prevent the endangered languages from going extinct. In the article “The Sounds of Silence'' by Erica Alini, the author states that Mexico's National Indigenous Language Institute is said to be working with two men, Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez, who speak Ayapaneco to hold language classes in hopes that more people learn the language. These classes would allow for these endangered languages to not become extinct. Although many people have argued that offering language classes in school curriculums is important, it is also difficult to make that happen. According to Keturah Hetrick in the article “Mexico’s Dying Languages'',TheMexican government is interested in preserving the country’s indigenous languages. Schools that have tried to promote mother tongue literacy have found it difficult to institute a bilingual curriculum, because teachers often came from different regions and weren’t fluent in the respective native languages themselves (13). Because there are so many dialects, and not everyone speaks the same one or the original language, it has become difficult to find people to teach these language classes. Although this is difficult, dedicating time to find people who do speak the language fluently

59 would be worthwhile to ensure the prevention of the loss of indigenous languages. In the indigenous regions, there have to be many people who speak at least one of the languages and finding them is important to make sure they not only teach the language but also the culture behind that language. The indigenous people of Mexico and their languages shaped a major part of Mexico’s culture, and the absence of the Mexican government and the citizens to help prevent this issue will result in the endangered languages becoming extinct. It is important not only for the government but also the citizens to make more of an effort to avoid a major loss in the country. There are so many people that speak a language other than Spanish, and it would be unjust and unfortunate if they became extinct. It would be a devastating loss if these languages disappeared along with the culture. The culture and languages have brought so many beautiful traditions like the Day of the Dead, and the loss of this history would cause those traditions and holidays to lose meaning as well. Indigenous culture is just as important and meaningful as all the other cultural aspects like music and monuments in Mexico. The history of Native Indians should be protected, because without it, Mexico would not be the country it is known as in today’s world.

Popotes y más Popotes. www.popotesymaspopotes.com/index.php/articulos/76

60 Works Cited Alini, Erica. “The Sounds of Silence.” Maclean’s, vol. 124, no. 16, May 2011, p. 41. EBSCOhost, ¿CómoAizpuru,live.search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=63540937&site=ehostLupita.TranslatedbyArianaBanuelos.Personalinterview.24April,2021.SeLesDiceaLosPopotesEnOtrasPartesDelPaísoDelMundo?TranslatedbyArianaBanuelos.

popotes en.

Futurist, vol. 48, no. 4, July 2014, pp. 12 13. EBSCOhost, search ehostcom.ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=96365615&site=ebscohostlive. “Las Lenguas de México.” Historia de la Sinfonia, WordPress, www.historiadelasinfonia.es/naciones/la sinfonia en mexico/generalidades/las

Čirjak, Antonia. “How Many Native Languages Are Spoken In Mexico?” WorldAtlas, WorldAtlas, 16 June 2020, www.worldatlas.com/how many native languages are spoken in mexico.html. Dakin, Karen, et al. Language Contact and Change in Mesoamerica and Beyond. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2017. Delgado, Marjorie. “Lenguas Indígenas, Un Legado En Extinción.” Translated by Ariana Banuelos. EL PAÍS, Ediciones EL PAÍS S.L., 21 Feb. Hetrick,elpais.com/internacional/2019/02/21/america/1550775899_161121.html.2019,Keturah.“Mexico’sDyingLanguages.”

lenguas en%20la%20%C3%A9poca%20de%20Carlomagno.li%20o%20lengua%20mexicana.&text=El%20origen%20del%20nombre%20proviene,mexico/#:~:text=La%20lengua%20nativa%20con%20mayor,llaman%20mexicatlahtolde

Porras Kim, Gala. “Whistling and Language Transfiguration: Zapotec Tones as Contemporary Art and Strategy for Resistance.” Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 96, no. 2, May 2016, pp. 233 237. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1215/00182168 3484102.

Empire of Dreams: Disney’s Conquest for Cultural Hegemony

Four mega media conglomerates dominate the entertainment space: Netflix, Time Warner, Comcast, and Disney. While Netflix and Disney are a bit more obvious, with Netflix commanding a significant profit lead in the streaming industry and control of shows such as Stranger Things, Lucifer, Bridgerton, Lupin, and a wide host of other Netflix original shows (Huddleston). Disney, on the other hand, doesn’t need to go so far out of the way to create new content for their platform, owning a vault of classics ranging from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to Moana, to Lucasfilm producing Star Wars and Indiana Jones, capping their

Everyone has their heroes. While many of us have our icons in our everyday world, sometimes we’ll venture into the world of fiction. Whether it be the soaring idealism and embodiment of the American dream in Superman or Moana’s courageous nature of journeying into the unknown, fiction often speaks to our hopes, our dreams, and our values. The power to write stories is an immense one, with possible cultural implications that span for generations. Butas the proverb goes: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And when companies begin to have monopolies in entertainment, their ability to influence minds only increases with the lack of competition. Media conglomerates— in particular the Walt Disney Company— pose a serious problem through their syndication and monopolistic practices to influence and control the populace, especially children; consumers and elected officials should be more cautious and wary of the messages and actions of the Walt Disney Company (WDC) andshould start considering trust busting options to allow space for new creative enterprises.

62 Graham ArmknechtToDefyan

63 library with the dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe. What’s less obvious is how far these companies have expanded outside of the confines of the box office. According to Carly Hallman writing forTitleMax, Disney also owns ABC, Pixar, Maker Studios (a production company sponsoring popular Youtube creators) all 21st Century Fox assets, along with their theme parks, resorts, cruises, and merchandising. They are also majority shareholders in ESPN and Hulu, 80% and 60% respectively. This short list is just the tip of the iceberg, but gets a much broader point across: like Standard Oil before it, Disney has bought smaller competitors and companies for horizontal integration, in addition to owning the processes of production in nearly all aspects of their business for vertical integration. Granted, Disney isn’t the only company guilty of this: Comcast owns AT&T, NBCUniversal, Sky Broadcasting, DreamWorks Animation, all massive companies from communications to mass media, to entertainment (Johnston). All of this is to saythat these 4 companies command tens of billions of dollars and nearly all oxygen in the creative and cultural spheres belongs to these companies. However, the true ownership of the culture belongs to one company: the Walt Disney Company. Many would argue that Disney holds no special powers in the market place as it still has competition from the other mega media corporations. After all, Disney’s control of the entertainment industry isn’t absolute: Netflix has them beat in streaming for the time being and 5other companies compete with Disney in the box office. But, with Disney, there are two aspects that are important to understanding their dominance in the entertainment sphere: the business aspect and the cultural aspect. In business, the rate of Disney’s growth and expansion in the entertainment sphere is staggering. But, Disney only held 33% of box

64 office revenue in 2019 (Whitten), doesn’t have the highest streaming numbers of all platforms (Ha), and other companies producing other culturally significant films— such as Warner Bros (Time Warner) owning and producing Batman movies. But, the company’s rate of growth over the last decade displays the true power in modern box office numbers; in 2008, Disney only accounted for 10.5% of box office revenue (Whitten). Their steady acquisition of more entertainment properties— first Marvel in 2010, then Lucasfilm in 2012, and most recently 21st Century Fox in2019— can account for their meteoric rise. In fact, when factoring in Disney’s purchase of Fox, Disney made up 38% of box office earnings, with the closest competitor being Warner Bros. at 13.8% (Whitten). However, since the halting of the box office and shuttering of many movie theaters since the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic in March 2020, the massive box office numbers might begin to embody a moot point. After all, more people feel comfortable streaming entertainment from their couch. For now, Netflix dominates the streaming sphere, experiencing amassive boost during the pandemic with their subscribers streaming a total of 6.1 billion hours over one month in 2020 (Clarendon). But, Disney+ only launched in 2019 and is picking up ground quickly, as the viral popularity of The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 displayed the true potential of their fledgling streaming platform. More frightening is the cultural aspect of Disney’s dominance: as Giroux puts it in The Mouse That Roared, … [Disney] is uniquely situated as an icon of American culture and middle class familyvalues. It actively appeals to both parental concerns and children’s fantasies as it works hard to transform every child into a lifetime consumer of Disney products and ideas.

65 This cultural shaping aspect of Disney’s charter not only through their shows and movies, but also through the modern day cultural meccas of Disneyland, Disney World, and other Disney experiences, is really what sets it apart from other entertainment giants. As Wills puts it, “Dyingchildren make it their last wish to go and visit Disneyland or Disney World. For a majority of people, a trip to Disney is a trip of a lifetime.” Ultimately, while other companies are making progress by winning battles with individual films and different streaming platforms, Disney hasalready won the war by winning the culture and not just customers, but consumers.

Disney’s business practices of taking and maintaining control of pre existing intellectual properties (IPs) has paved the way for them to create a rich and diverse portfolio of characters toshut out other competition, including independent filmmakers and creators. While the WDC’s rapid expansion in the 2010s has been emphasized, their ability to get there was built by one character: Mickey Mouse himself. Those three circles, constantly smiling face, and an upbeat, chipper voice personify the Walt Disney Company itself, with the inverse holding the same ground. His creation in 1928 was a desperate time for Disney himself, where it was do or die forhis animation studio to create a lasting and iconic character (Korkis). As we know today, MickeyMouse exploded and did great with the American public, becoming the biggest IP in entertainment and— arguably— corporate industry. It’s his evasion of copyright law that’s posedserious implications for the company. At the time of his creation, Mickey has been protected from entering the public domain twice: first in 1976 and then later in the mid 1990’s (Crockett). Because of the WDC’s symbiotic relationship with the mouse, the copyright laws have been expanded from 56

66 years to 95 years from conception. But, as Crockett put it, “Ultimately, none of this may matter: … Disney has no less than 19 trademarks on the words ‘Mickey Mouse’ (ranging from television shows and cartoon strips to theme parks and videogames) that could shield him from public use.” The irony of Disney wanting to extend copyright law isn’t lost on many: early into the company’s career, public domain stories like Alice in Wonderland and Snow White helped them build the foundations of their empire. In the present day, Disney is waging a crusade to buy up as many important culturally IPs as possible. Everything from Marvel Comics, to Star Wars, to the Simpsons, to Toy Story, and many other prominent properties are owned and operated by the WDC. This creates, as Daniel Jennings puts it, a “character monopoly.” Why should consumers go to any other entertainment company when oneof them owns all of the most culturally dominant IPs? Not only does this allow Disney to corner the box office, but it also means they can produce fewer movies that play it safe with audiences by sticking to the familiar and nostalgic, as Disney has done over the years. Furthermore, with franchise mega hits dominating the box office, the opportunities for independent films or new IPs from Disney become more risky and less likely to be produced. And if Disney controls all major characters protected under 95 years of copyright— and a strong minority of box office earnings, it removes creative oxygen from the metaphorical room and stifles creativity (Jennings). Anywhere you land on the board, rent goes to Disney. But to fully answer how is Disney so successful, it’s their targeting of children as their primary market that they’ve built their empire upon. It’s the company’s consistent brand and mission that began with Walt Disney himself: to enjoy the child like state of

67 innocence and joy.As alluded to, the ability to write stories means the ability to influence hearts and minds. As Michael Eisner, former CEO of Disney once stated, “the specific appeal of Disneyland, Disney films and products— family entertainment— comes from the contagious appeal of innocence…Obviously, Disney characters strike a universal chord with children, all of whom share an innocence and openness before they become completely molded by their respective societies” (Giroux). It’s this openness and innocence that makes children the perfect people to market to. Beyond that, being able to mold children to love and cherish the Disney brand means that they will want to help mold their children to love Disney. It’s this passed down nostalgia that’s madeDisney the powerhouse that it is, because Disney isn’t just a movie studio: it’s an experience.

Disneyland, Disney World ((which is its own private city municipality (Overdeep)), a fleet of Disney cruise liners, and other experiences made the DWC $3.173 billion in the second quarter of 2021 (Trent). These parks along with many of their owned franchises exist to sell merchandise. The baby Yoda dolls, the Mickey Mouse watches and ears, the Disney Princess gowns, and every single possible tee shirt, bumper sticker, and coffee mug with any assortment of characters or franchises, all exist to make money. In 2017, Disney made $57 billion on merchandise alone (Handley). Typically, this merchandise is meant to be most appealing to children, followed closely by their parents who want to give their child the “it” toy. This combination of innocence and appealing to children when they’re younger can be put rather succinctly: “Disney educates and entertains in order to create identities and to define citizens as consumers and spectators” (Giroux). The final aspect of this veneer of innocence and family- friendly persona is the dismissal of Disney from many

Supporting movies with hard earned dollars is how to speak in a language these mega corporations understand. The next, and much harder task, is to lobby members of Congressand the federal government to restructure copyright laws that give more license and leeway to individual holders, and to roll back the number of years corporations can

68 consumers as just fun. It allows parents tohave a solitary two hours away from their little girls as they disappear into the world of Elsa and Anna, or a day or two for their boys that watch Star Wars. However, this Dis missal serves Disney rather well, as they seek to expand into and to control as many aspects of life as they can.

Following that logic, since Disney knows that they’re releasing fewer films and that they have a monopoly on the mostpopular IPs, they can demand a higher percentage of a cut from movie theaters, as can be seen with the “onerous” requirements around Star Wars:

Disney has a clear monopoly on entertainment, which harms Disney fans, parents, and the entertainment industry particularly movie theaters— as a whole. As broken down by Brett Heinz for Prospect, despite the fact that Disney is bigger than ever, they produce half as many movies as they did in 1990’s. As mentioned previously, producing fewer, safer movies through name recognition and ridiculously high budgets will turn a higher profit.

The Last Jedi where Disney demanded 65% of profits from movie theaters on top of requiring them to show the movie in their premiere cinema for 4 weeks and to keep it in theaters for 8 (Heinz), and to break these stipulations meant 70% of ticket sales would go to the Mouse. With this in mind: what can be done to help diversifythe box office and break the stranglehold of the WDC? First, consumers should support box office darlings that are outside of the Disney space, such as Nobody, The King’s Man, and Wickedin 2021(IMDb).

69 have access to a copyright, especially if it’s been bought or purchased over produced in house. However, Disney has lined the pockets of many politicians to protect their interests in the past, and they likely would again. To start that uphill climb, more buzz should be generated about the power of these colossal conglomerates and how their ability to hold character monopolies through ownership of IPs through copyright laws that extend to just shy of 100 years harms consumers and creates an unjust monopoly. These moves would be a good start towards progress, however much more could theoretically be done. Monopolistic practices in the media entertainment sphere pose a grave threat to the futureof creative content for consumers. The Walt Disney Company, the prime example of how buyingup popular IPs and using that popularity to control children, consumers, politicians, and the box office, should be broken up or at the very least be limited through government action. It should be pointed out that while consumers should be wary of Disney’s power, it doesn’t mean one can’tenjoy entertainment put out by the company. These popular IPs can only be access in one place, and not many people have the ironclad will to abandon their favorite characters to snub Disney. However, if the public wants to have the American Dream and a diverse, hungry entertainment industry, Disney and other companies like it need to be checked.

70 Works Cited

Crockett, Zachary. “How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain.” Priceonomics, 7 Jan. 2016, priceonomics.com/how mickey mouse evades the public domain/. Giroux, Henry A., and Grace Pollock. The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End ofInnocence. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Ha, Anthony. “Nielsen Says 'The Office' Was the Most Popular Streaming Series of 2020.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 12 Jan. 2021, techcrunch.com/2021/01/12/nielsen says the office was the most popular streaming series of 2020/.

Hallman, Carly. “Every Company Disney Owns: A Map of Disney's Worldwide Assets.” TitleMax, TitleMax, 14 Apr. 2021, www.titlemax.com/discovery center/money finance/companies disney owns worldwide/. Heinz, Brett. “It's Time to Break Up Disney.” The American Prospect, 1 Oct. 2019, prospect.org/power/time to break up disney monopoly/. IMDb. ALL 2021 MOVIES (In Release Order). IMDb.com, 15 Dec. 2020, Jennings,www.imdb.com/list/ls029217360/.DanielG.“IsDisney(DIS)aMonopoly?”

Medium, DataDrivenInvestor, 5 Dec. 2018, medium.datadriveninvestor.com/is disney dis-a-monopoly 970f1cbf9a3. Johnston, Matthew. “5 Companies Owned by Comcast.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 31 Aug. 2020, www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/101215/top-4-companies owned comcast.asp.

Clarendon, Dan. “We're Watching Billions of Hours of Netflix.” TV Insider, 9 May 2020, www.tvinsider.com/933154/netflix statistics quarantine viewing habits/.

Huddleston Jr., Tom “Netflix Says These Are Its 5 Most Watched Original Series – How Many Have You Seen?” CNBC, CNBC, 5 Mar. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/netflix most watched original series launches.html. Korkis, Jim. “The Mickey Mouse Creation Myth.” MousePlanet, 30 Oct. Overdeep,www.mouseplanet.com/10510/The_Mickey_Mouse_Creation_Myth.2013,Meghan.“MindBlown:DisneyWorldIsTechnicallyItsOwnCityWith Its Own Residents.” Southern Living, www.southernliving.com/travel/disney world city reedy creek. Trent, John F. “Disney Revenues Drop By Over $600 Million In Second Quarter.” Bounding Into Comics, 14 May 2021, boundingintocomics.com/2021/05/14/disney revenues drop by over 600 million in second quarter/. Whitten, Sarah. “Disney Accounted for Nearly 40% of the 2019 US Box Office.” CNBC,CNBC, 29 Dec. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/12/29/disney accounted for nearly 40percent of the 2019 us box office data shows.html. Wills, John. Disney Culture. Rutgers University Press, 2017.

Malichi Greenlee Hollywood against Streaming Hollywood is a key player in the movie industry that generates billions of dollars annually in North America alone. But with the rise of streaming services and their selfowned production companies, experts are pondering: will Hollywood survive the streaming services boom? With the rising popularity and success of superhero blockbusters, some say Hollywood has nothing to worry about. These films provide a perfect merchandise model that is continually successful in making studios more money than ever. However, their focus on producing blockbuster after blockbuster has left room for independent filmmakers to create the artistic, diverse content that many viewers want to see. Amazon, HBO, and Netflix both won multiple academy awards in past years, and with their in house distribution system that Hollywood studios can not achieve, they are quickly becoming an area of fierce competition. Yet, as being part of a non essential industry, filmmakers have always had to compete for attendance with new technologies; such as radio and television. This industry is one that has survived the Great Depression and many other catastrophes, and has the mettle it takes to adapt to new challenges.

Hollywood’s blockbuster model and selling films to streaming services will allow it to thrive among said streaming companies. Hollywood will have nothing to worry about if they continue to follow their current movie making blueprint. According to experts like Steven Gaydos, executive editor and vice president of Variety, blockbusters are “designed to be a giant marketing tool for merchandise and theme parks that generate billions and billions” (Ladika 5). Oftentimes,

73 the action packed superhero movies Hollywood releases are based off of popular comics or graphic novels, such as the works of DC and Marvel Studios. This means that a dedicated fanbase already exists for the movie before it is released. Julian, a student from The Greene School, told New York Times, “A big factor that made this film amazing was that I was in a room with people who were clearly devoted fans to this franchise,” when asked to share his thoughts on Avengers: Endgame (2019) (“What…”). This also means that the pre existing content offers enough story to be turned into multiple sequels with ease. There are oftentimes hundreds, if not thousands, of comic books released starring the same character. These franchises can also generate billions in solely apparel, toys, and revenue earned from related theme parks. Blockbusters provide an efficient outline for predictable and high income every year. Despite the quality of films produced by streaming companies that are released directly to their own platforms, many people still prefer to see new movies on the big screen. Hoggard High School student, Ashley, said, “Something about seeing it in [theaters] gave me a rush that I don’t think I’d get from [watching] it at home,” when questioned by New York Times about the hit movie Avengers: Endgame (2019) (“What…”). She said part of the movie going experience is being served at the concession stand, which is an aspect that does not come with streaming movies at home. Other students said being in a theater watching a giant IMAX screen surrounded by fellow moviegoers and massive Dolby speakers is a special feeling. Watching a movie at home is not the same exciting event as going out to the local cinema. The memories of going to the theaters as children or adults hold nostalgic value to people that put anyone in the mood for seeing a good film there.

The film business is made up of fiercely adaptive people, and it is already inventing ways to compete with new streaming companies. For example, movie theaters have undergone extensive renovations to attract customers; including: “recliner seats, reserved ticketing, and alcoholic beverages” (Lang & Rubin). Studio Movie Grill has had great success with their method of serving restaurant quality meals to audiences as they request them by the push of a button. AMC has also been experimenting with new versions of movie passes that make it cheaper for customers to see multiple movies throughout the year. According to AMC, their revenue increased by 10.5% in 2017 “due in part to the upgraded seating but also to its AMC Stubs loyalty program” (Ladika 22). But the process of attracting customers starts all the way back to writing the script. Movie theaters show the films people want to see: sequels starring fans’ most beloved characters, the franchise films which have proven to be huge hits over time, and the novel adaptations many fans look forward to seeing. Moviemakers are also notably taking aspects from successful television dramas and sitcoms and applying them to ‘film series’ that keep audiences coming back to see what happens to the characters next. Marvel Studios is a great example of a company that draws attention by starring recurring characters in their films, and having the separate worlds of their cinematic universe collide for epic mash ups. Hollywood, armed with its blockbuster model and licensing deals with streamers, will thrive in this new world of streaming. Data from the Motion Picture Association found that the industry of digital entertainment “jumped 29% to $28.2 billion from $21.9 billion in 2018” (Watson). DVD sales peaked in the mid 2000’s at such a high number they made box office ticket sales seem nominal. As Netflix gained more popularity around this time for its

75 cheaper alternative of mail in DVD rentals, Hollywood had no other choice than to sign monstrous deals with emerging rental companies. Yet, as the switch to online streaming turned paid movie subscription services into an exponentially growing industry, the old studios of LA reaped the benefits of their licensing deals. As the companies that challenge the relevance of movie theaters grow, Hollywood will also continue to take a portion of the profits their competitors make. Multiple Hollywood blockbusters surpassed the 600 million dollar mark in the record year 2018 in just North America. Already being the cornerstone to a billion dollar industry, it cannot hurt Hollywood to share earnings with the digital entertainment side of things, as well.

It scares me to think that so many people see movie theaters as becoming obsolete, but I know going to them is a different experience that will never be replaced by watching movies on a laptop or a TV. I was surprised to see there is so much competition between Hollywood and streaming applications since I always assumed they were parts of the same mission: to share movies with as many people as possible. Yet as I read, it made sense that DVDs brought in a lot more direct profit for studios, as the cost of a DVD for a newly released movie was about the cost of a monthly subscription for unlimited online movies through Netflix. Streaming is a big part of my life, and having access to thousands of different movies and acclaimed television shows across different platforms makes my life as a film student much easier. However, the adventure of meeting up with a group of friends and all of us going to see a new movie at the theaters brings a lot more joy to us than watching something at home. The new accommodations movie theaters have added make the viewing process much more enjoyable than in the past. Cinemas used to have

76 the most uncomfortable airline style seats that would have my back killing me by the time a two hour movie was over. Now, some of the fancier theater chains, such as AMC, have big cushioned recliners. Some of them even have fold up arm rests, so if people go to the movies with a significant other they can lay together like it is on one giant couch. Going to the movies still has its place in this technologically advanced world. Streaming is a more casual and affordable option for movie watching, but a day at the classic movie multiplex is still worth the trip and the money for those special occasions, as frequent or infrequent as they may be.

2?accountid=227.

"What Students are Saying about: Digital Memories, Youth Sports and Movie Theaters: Current Events Conversation." New York Times, 9 May. 2019, Proquest, https://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login?url=https://www proquest com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/blogs, podcasts, websites/what students are saying about digital memories/docview/2222115071/se

2?accountid=227.

Ladika, Susan. “Movie Industry Disruption.” CQ Researcher, 8 Feb. 2019, pp. 1 56, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2019020800.

Lang, Brent, and Rebecca Rubin. “Movie Theaters Bounce Back: What’s Behind the 2018 Rebound.” Variety, 26 Dec. 2018, variety.com/2018/film/news/box office 2018 review theaters bounce back 1203095729/.

Watson, R. T. "Hollywood Relies More than Ever on Movie Streaming Revenue from Overseas; China in 2020 was Expected to Unseat the U.S. as World's Largest Box Office market until Widespread Theater Closings due to Coronavirus." Wall Street Journal (Online), 11 Mar. 2020, ProQuest https://ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/login?url=https://www, proquest com.ezproxy.scottsdalecc.edu/newspapers/hollywood relies more than ever on movie/docview/2375959743/se

77 Works Cited

78 Nico Trimarche [an argument criticizing social media]

The trending popularity of social media platforms, specifically Instagram and Facebook, is causing the younger generations to spend more time on their phones than read or learn. These platforms have prevented people from obtaining their potential capability through doing hard things and achieving goals. The elevated and consistent dopamine output that social media induces prevents people from doing more uncomfortable and less stimulating behaviors. This leads to a tolerance to high stimulation, thus making it even more challenging to do more difficult and more uncomfortable yet rewarding long term behaviors. Critically, social media is psychologically destructive when used as the primary way of developing relationships. Furthermore, it can instill a distorted interpretation of worth as well as a value system misguided towards material objects and validation through peers. Although some may argue that social media is a positive resource when considering opportunities and connections, these platforms need to be moderated or renounced as they deprive people of time, satisfaction, mental health, psychological stability, capability, skill, and overall success.

Arguments suggest that social media is a positive resource. Admittedly, activities such as art, connecting with family and peers, learning through the community, online shopping, job opportunities, social engagement with nonlocal peers, and inspiring motivational messages from influential people are positive and accessible through social media. At this time in the world, social media seems to be even more of a beneficial utility, “As many of us are forced to socially distance, we have found a lifeline in social media’s

79 ability to keep us connected to our loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages sharing texts, memes, and emojis with friends, family, and colleagues that can only serve to better our collective mental health” (Prendergast). This seems quite reasonable; however, social connection is an intangible pursuit that requires real life interaction. Social media is attracting people emotionally, yet in creating relationships through the internet, people are influenced to believe they are meeting their social needs and becoming socially developed. This is not the case. When we socially interact with those same online friends in the real world, there is dissonance. This is because relationships and conversational depth on the internet do not correspond to comfort when communicating in the real world. People go from a social landscape where they do not have to express themselves spontaneously but instead can calculate what they want to say in their text as well as how they want to say it, to a face to face conversation where they are forced to be extemporaneous. James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media further elaborates, "When you are constantly on your phone or texting people in an anonymous or very impersonal way, it's a very different communication and studies show that that can impact intimacy, empathy, and some of the basic elements of human communication” (Fox and Edwards). When people get so used to socializing online, they become more competent in that landscape, but less competent in the real world. The lack of connection in the real world setting urges people to retreat to their phones, where they can feel secure about their social abilities. This creates a negative feedback loop which keeps them on their phones and away from real world relationships.

80 Social media consumes time and therefore opportunity, which is not something we can get back once we lose it. According to Common Sense Media, “ [as of 2020,] teens spend an average of nine hours a day… compared to about six hours for those aged eight to 12[,] and 50 minutes for kids between 0 and eight.” (Anderson). This deprives people of 3,285 hours of time in a year. The total of 72 hours per week could instead be time spent investing into real world relationships, spirituality, a profession, intelligence, the future, music, new languages, personal fitness and health goals, one’s own business, education, wellbeing, and financial security. Even when people aren’t using social media, evidence supports that it disrupts people during tasks such as school. The study from the West Virginia Education Association explains the magnitude to which social media gets in the way of our lives by disrupting our thought processing and ability to synthesize information. (Fox and Edwards). Like bondage, this hindrance prevents people from productivity and stifles thinking The excessive amount of time spent on these platforms makes it an unhealthy and disabling resource that needs to be moderated or furthermore, abandoned.Social media is leading more people to mental health and overall dissatisfaction than ever before. The American Psychological Association conducted a study that proved social media to be directly correlated to mental health problems such as depression, suicide, and psycholgoical distress. Researchers are discovering more and more evidence that social media usage and mental health problems are linked. “A...study compared the mental health of 14- to 17 year olds who used social media seven hours per day to that of teens who interacted with it for only about an hour a day. The frequent users were more

Social media is leading adolescents to psychological instability in the critical period of brain development. People going through adolescence begin to compare themselves to others, causing dissatisfaction, self doubt, social insecurity, misguided beliefs and values, and lower self confidence during the process of developing one’s personal identity. Social media magnifies the comparative developmental tendency - and in this case, they are comparing themselves to an embellished highlight reel of the lives of others. In the University of North Carolina, the Department of Psychology reinforces that “[t]hese [comparative] behaviors are important to [the] adolescent identity construction processes, as adolescents seek to ascertain normative standards of behavior and engage in reflected appraisal (i.e. evaluation of the self based on perceived opinions of others; Harter et al. 1996). However, high levels of technology use may be associated with increased levels of these behaviors among some adolescents'' (Nesi and Prinstein). People are vulnerable to social judgment at a young age, and the misinterpretation of how life should be drawn from social media leads some of the younger generations to harshly judge themselves as being of lower worth or inferior to other people of higher status. Adolescents use a variety of methods to present themselves online as absolute. This results in the elevation of their self interest, which heightens their seeking of feedback and causes them to compare

81 than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression, been treated by a mental health professional, or taken medication for a psychological or behavioral issue during the 12 months preceding the study” (Jamison). The issue is becoming out of control, as workers for social media conduct their platforms to become more engaging and appealing to their users. This leads to people expending more of their time, and less of it into other activities.

The trajectory of mental health related issues is continuously increasing exponentially. Changing the habit of unbridled time spent on social media in America could result in an increase in the quality of the lives of people, a heightened level of productivity within the community, more time and potential for people to discover their passions and work towards their goals, more opportunity, and improved connecting with other people.

social media or moderating use could in turn cause people to receive an abundant amount of time back within life. This reward can result in an increased level of education, success, and more experience (e.g. revelation, vacation, purpose, self fulfillment, high accomplishment, and meaningful connections with people). For many, deleting social

82 themselves more frequently, specifically towards people who they believe are of higher status then themselves. This leads to make the problems of identity development more intense, and the lack of interpersonal connectedness becomes too difficult for adolescents that they are instantaneously measured to confront their problems with greater immediacy and constancy. (Nesi and Prinstein).

Some studies suggest that social media serves to improve self esteem and feeling of belonging (Prendergast), but a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania says “high usage of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram increases rather [than] decreases feelings of loneliness. Conversely, the study found that reducing social media usage can actually make people feel less lonely and isolated and improve their overall wellbeing (Robinson and Smith). Both sides have valid results. The factors that go into getting the results revolve around why people use social media and what they do when they are on social media

(Prendergast)Quitting

83 media could mean a new level of opportunity, potential, and happiness. There are definitely gray areas, as people who don’t use social media for the wrong reasons are probably not negatively affected in any drastic or even negative way. However, social media is impacting many people, specifically adolescents, and the research shows evidence for that. An immense change in our communities could lead to a reversal in these statistics. For many, deleting social media could mean 3,285 hours a year to do more! All that time and burden could be lifted and redirected towards a better lifestyle and for many people who struggle, that could mean so much more for their lives.

worried-they-spend-too-much-time-on-phones/ Accessed 7 December 2020 Fox, Maggie, and Erika Edwards. WVEA, www.wvea.org/content/teens spend astounding nine hours day front screens researchers Accessed 7 December 2020 Nesi, Jacqueline, and Mitchell J Prinstein. “Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms.” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5985443/ Accessed 10 December 2020 Monroe, Jamison. “Psychological Effects of Social Media.” Newport Academy, Newport Academy, 3 June Robinson,health/psychological2020,www.newportacademy.com/resources/mentaleffectsofsocialmedia/Accessed10December2020Lawrence,andMelindaSmith.“SocialMediaandMentalHealth.”HelpGuide.org, Sept. 2020, www.helpguide.org/articles/mental health/social media and mental health.htm Accessed 10 December 2020 Prendergast, Clementine. “'The Social Dilemma': Are Facebook and Instagram Really Affecting Our Mental Health?” Vogue, 5 Oct. 2020, www.vogue.com/article/the social dilemma impacts of social media Accessed 7/10 December 2020

84 Works Cited

Anderson, Jenny. “Even Teens Are Worried They Spend Too Much Time on Their Phones.”Quartz, Quartz, 23 Aug. 2018, qz.com/1367506/pew research teens

“Social Networking Sites and the Positive Impact They Have on the Society.” Technology.org, 6 June 2019, Social Networking Sites and the Positive Impact they have on the Society | Technology.Org Accessed 10 December 2020

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Two Waters Review was founded in order to showcase the exceptional work our students produce in first year composition. To qualify for publication, an essay must be formal, eloquent, research based, and consistent with a standard citation style. The only changes made by the reviewers were with the purpose of formatting the text for publication.

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