Story for news team

The story our news team is writing about is about how dependency affects dignity. In particular the elders (senior citizens) of society. As I had mentioned in my first blog posting I think that dignity can be shaped and determined by different characteristics. I think that dependency is one of those characteristics. Ones dignity may be affected by how much he/she is dependent on someone or something i.e. we all know that people who are independent are admired and praised and therefore everyone would like to be independent and not rely on anyone for anything. But this isn’t always the case with our elders
Our elders because mostly of their age are forced to become dependent on people, in most cases these are family members, old age homes and government pension grants. So we want to answer the question: How is dignity affected through dependency? Because the situation of dependency that is created is not always easy nor is it comfortable e.g. they find themselves in situations where they have become burdens on people so their dignity is affected, their dignity is also affected in that sometimes they do not get the correct respect from people. When they are trying to get grants some of the government employees do not treat them with respect when addressing or assisting them as the elders.

We have divided our work into sections: research on old age homes and reasons why old people are left there or why they become burdens. Interviews, on of the interview is with of the oldest women we have in the country and is done already and answering questions based on the overall topic. We did have ethical questions rising from this topic such as : is it right to have someone look after your parents or grand parents for you or sending them to old age homes.

privacy is privacy

To me an issue that goes along with dignity has to be respect. Your dignity is upheld or destroyed according to the amount of respect people have for you. The respect that you have from people is something that you work for, you earn it. Ones dignity that has been gained throughout their life can be destroyed by one incidence that make people loose their respect for them.
I am speaking from experience because unfortunately I learnt the hard way that people always notice the bad in someone but and are quick to forget the good.
Recently there was an incident were my privacy was invaded. I had things that were very private on my student drive but someone invaded my private space and took what was supposed to be personal and private and made it public for everyone. When that happened people became very judgmental and came to their own conclusions. Yes my dignity was affected very badly!
But in that experience I have learnt that in life there are challenges that will try to bring you down as an person and affect your dignity but what is important is how you handle the situation because handling this in an decent, humble and respectful way makes you an dignified person.


IS THE INTERNET DEMOCRATIC?


According to Becky Hogge the internet is loosing its democracy. “Internet is starting to look more like a tool of control, not one of freedom.” (Hogge, 2007) This is happening as censorship and content filtering increases amongst countries. This was discovered by the ONI Open Net Initiative a joint initiative with the goal to monitor and report on the internet filtering and surveillance by nations. Countries studied are blocking different types of content in a variety of areas – political, social, human or minority rights and internal conflicts.
In 1994 the vice president Al Gore of United States used the metaphor an “information superhighway” to refer to the internet. Claiming that "The Global Information Infrastructure ...will circle the globe with information superhighways on which all people can travel. These highways ...will allow us to share information, to connect, and to communicate as a global community.
This was not a good choice of metaphor because people (citizens) have seen the opposite of this. “Traffic jams, accidents, the disintegration of post-WW II infrastructures.”(Druick, 1995).
I think yes the internet is democratic. But at the same time I feel that censorship is important and necessary I say this because since the internet is open for everyone people are free to say anything that they want to say people sometimes abuse that privilege People end up being exposed to hate speech, more especially in politics. Because everyone uses the internet children are exposed to pornography. So I disagree with Becky when he says that the internet is loosing its democracy I think it is being filtered for all the bad and unnecessary and what is being left is the content that is “clean”, helpful.

Dignity

The concept of inherent human dignity means that everyone is born with dignity. It is part of the human being. Everyone has the right to have their dignity respected and protected along with that right comes the responsibility of earning that respect. The concept of dignity is a social concept structured by people so therefore the characteristics and qualities of a dignity may vary from person to person. I also feel that even though you are born with dignity u actually inherit it once you enter a part of life that you are proud of because dignity can be about feeling important and valuable and this feeling is brought by knowing you have achieved and succeeded. But if you do things that are not correct you will loose your dignity people will have no respect for you.

An example of a person that I feel has demonstrated what I feel is a characteristic of human dignity is Nelson Mandela. He has gained respect and honour from me because he has earned it .He is a well-groomed, grounded man.