Muslims, or Terrorists?

When you google the word "Muslim." This is one of the first images that comes up on the screen. In this image, are a bunch of seemingly angry men. Many people say that Islam is the religion of peace, yet in every western media outlet that I follow, I constantly see images such as this, and those below. I see people constantly trying to defend the religion, after the Cologne attacks, after the San Bernandino shooting, after the beheadings, saying "Not all Muslims." Well, sure, but it certainly seems like "Most." The imagery here portrays violence and the willingness to hurt people for one's beliefs.

While these images may not represent the whole of the 1.3 billion Muslim men and women worldwide, it does involve a significant number, namely, the nearly 1.3 million refugees flooding into Europe. After the Cologne attacks, the sentiment in all of Europe towards migrants, plummeted, with stories of Rape, and sexual abuse toward minors as well as gang beatings and robberies running rampant through all of Europe, the media became increasingly divided. There have been many incidents of the media fighting back, to prevent Muslim men and women from recieving a bad reputation. The phrase "Not all Muslims..." Has circulated in response, in an attempt to recognize the fact that not all Muslims are terrorists. However, as a response, we see more like this: 

I couldn't confirm whether or not this is true, since there are a multitude of information sources giving out different sets of data. However, the opinion listed here, is that Muslim's seem to account for the majority of attacks worldwide, whether this is due to the media "spin" or reality is meaningless in this context. Listed here, is simply the opinions of a large group of people, many of whom feel threatened in more ways than one, by a large migrant movement heading into their country. If you look at many of the polls, t he opinions on migrants is becoming increasingly negative, and the ad-campaigns formed to sway public opinion, haven't seemed to have done much in the way of changing people's minds on the issue. Sad truth is, as long as Islamic terrorists exist in this world, there are likely to be links between Muslims as a people, and Terrorism. Much in the same way that Blacks and Latinos can often be thought of as Gangsters, and Rednecks as Racist gun-toters.

The main point of all of this, seems to be that negative stereotypes are sticker, and harder to remove than positive ones. And "Not all Muslims." has a long way to go, before it can win the hearts of the people (it likely never will)

Marshall Henrie's Resolve

This week, I had the opportunity to interview a man with an incredible story. Marshall Henrie was only 10  years old when his older brother James died in a terrible accident while hiking in the twins peaks mountains with his friend.

The Sheriff called the family, informing them of a distress signal received by Eric, the family was instructed to wait at the entrance to the mountains.

"The first news, we knew something was pretty bad,
was when Eric, my brother's friend came down, was life-flighted to the hospital."

After that, Marshall remembers waiting quite a while longer, more family members arrived at the base of the mountain. They were all talking, just shooting the breeze when the sheriff came back and spoke to his father. "I'm sorry, but there are no signs of life in your son." the sheriff said.

Eric had slipped and fallen nearly 200 feet and had survived by landing in a ravine, which broke his fall. James while attempting to get down to Eric to help, slipped and fell himself, falling over 400 feet in a straight drop, to his death.


There weren't many times in his life that Marshall had seen his father cry, this was one exception.

Marshall distinctly remembered his brother, Tanner, saying "We need to do whatever it takes to get back [to the Celestial Kingdom] so we can see our brother again."




The words stuck with Marshall, shaping him into becoming the man he is today. It was a short time later, that his family would go to the ochre mountain temple to be sealed to the newest addition to their family, a young adopted daughter from china, who was only 1 year old when her brother James fell to his death.

"knowing that families are eternal, when you see it with your own eyes, it has a much more lasting impact."

https://soundcloud.com/aaron-endy-684270772/sounds-from-monday-evening-2/s-NZzuj

https://soundcloud.com/aaron-endy-684270772/sounds-from-monday-evening/s-5CUhG

STEM FEST

Robot cars trying to pick up balls and boxes, and just generally smashing into one another.

Today in Sandy, the Second annual STEM fest took off in full swing as kids piled in from nearby counties to interact with the various booths and experiments set up around the Expo Center. There were booths with Robotic cars which picked up and moved balls and various other pieces of equipment, which the kids could of course play with. There was a “vortex cannon” which was simply a trash can, with plastic taped over the top and a hole cut in the bottom.

Logan with his snazzy hat, pictured above

“Stem is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and I think it’s pretty cool because it helps you get into careers that need those [skills] to help you excel in what you can," said Logan, a 13 year old boy, who had just finished testing out the vortex cannon, which is a cannon that can produce smoke rings which are capable of knocking cups off of tables, or in this case, human heads.


Seen Above: Logan getting ready to test out the Vortex Cannon.

He described how being at STEM FEST had influenced his decision on which way he wanted to go as far as a career path. Currently Logan is planning on becoming an engineer. And, upon talking with other children, I quickly found that they felt the same way. “It’s pretty neat,” said Thomas Waller, “Right now I could go and take a robotics class, I think would be kind of cool with C-Tec.”  He described the experience of STEM fest as being “Ingenuitive.”


Scott Dilbert pictured center.

Scott Gilbert who works at IN-Flash, described the goal of today’s events in a nutshell. “We’re trying to get kids excited about Math, Science, and Technology because we’ve got great jobs in engineering and technicians.” “It’s cool to get kids thinking about… if I’m interested in math, science, or technology, I could actually apply it with what I do in my job every day.” After the interview, they then let me try on a large “kid sized” engineering suit. I have to say that I felt like I had to do yoga just to get into the thing, but I won out in the end.



Pictured above, Aaron Endy in a Engineering getup

At the end of the day attending STEM fest was a lot of fun. I was able to interview several people, and learn a bunch of new things. Of course, as I said before, this is about the kids. So, I wanted to know what BYU students and faculty could do to help with the program.

Tamara Goetz, executive director of the STEM action center told me “BYU students could be involved in the program by being a mentor, and helping with after-school activities and to create a culture at the University of working with K-12 children.”

When talking about STEM fest, she said this:
"We want them to learn more about STEM, and we feel that the best way for them to do that, is to meet the companies in their own backyard, so to speak, that do STEM, because you can’t be what you can’t see,"

My first experience in the capitol!

The Utah State Capitol building in SLC, is an amazing place, filled with rich history and amazing people. But all I could think about most of the time, was "Where are the caffeinated beverages!" My adventure began early in the day, and ended shortly after lunch-time. I took the train up to Salt Lake City, and was bussed to the capitol. Since there weren't currently any sessions being held, I was able to view many of the rooms that would normally be jam-packed with people.

There is a sense of urgency that one can feel at the Capitol, as everything seems to be on a tight deadline, with reporters and politicians alike following strict schedules. All in all, it is was a relatively new experience for me, the majesty of the building, the rich history, and the feeling of being part of something larger than myself. Those are the only ways in which I can describe the experience.

Journalism is About People, Not Technology (analysis)

So, this is my first post regarding some class content that I need to publish.

Essentially, it revolves around a paper titled "Journalism is about People, Not Technology."

In my current job, I am a marketing professional. As such, I deal every day with lead marketing and social media tools. I strive to become familiar with all of the tools available to me as a Marketer. As such, technology plays a huge role in what I do. I must constantly be aware of updates to technology, new social media websites, and the different aspects of communication.

One quote that stood out to me was: "We are living in the age of digital Darwinism. This affects any business using digital technology to publish content, whether it's journalism, music, movies, or funny cat videos."

This is definitely true. The individuals who take the time to learn the new technology and platforms will be more likely to succeed than those who are simply stuck in the past glory of "what was". I feel that it is necessary to transform and change with the flow of resources that we have available.

Another quote that really stood out to me was "How do you prepare yourself today for a job that doesn't currently exist?"

This is important. One thing I have learned in College, is that many of the jobs that exist right now are being filled by individuals who may not necessarily have gone to college to learn the skills necessary to fill these positions. They are simply playing it by ear, and learning as much as they can on their own. One example of this, is Social Media Marketing, which is a relatively new job classification. What skills am I learning now in college, that will help me when a new technology comes out? Will I be prepared to fill a job that didn't exist when I was in school?

One way to prepare for this is to "Use a wide-angel lens when viewing the world". In order to be best prepared for what is coming, it is important to immerse  yourself in new technology, read business magazines and websites, Have a wide-variety of intelligent friends on social media. Once you find something interesting, seek to become an expert in that thing. Especially if it is trending.

"Collaboration: Whenever possible, collaborate with people outside your regular team. Mixing with people from other disciplines or interests will teach you new ways of thinking and approaching problems." While this just continues the sort of mindset from the earlier parts of the paper, I feel that it is an important point to re-iterate. Choose friends who have a wide variety of skills and interests. I promise that if you do, your life will never be boring, and you will be able to pick up easier on what is currently trending. This in turn makes not only news gathering, but marketing easier. One way I have sought to apply this to my job, is by essentially being involved in the lives of many friends who have many differing views and areas of expertise. Thus, if I ever have a question, I can simply ask one of my friends.

The next portion of the text involved journalism "having a bright future". One aspect in particular that I wanted to focus on, was "...find success by starting small and concentrating on very specific topics." While there is nothing wrong with being a jack of all trades, in the world of writing, people will likely pay more attention if you have something that you excel in. Finding very specific niches and then seeking out like-minded individuals, is a good way to create a group (which you can then market to) In my case, I deal with mortgages, a very broad topic. However, we seek to provide value by creating a community of honest individuals who will help one another and offer advice. Essentially, even if you don't want to refinance with us, or use us for your home purchases, our hope is that we can at least be a resource.

All in all, I found this article rather interesting, and to be able to apply it to my current career (marketing) rather than journalism, allows me to see many of the similarities between the two. But I'll save that comparison for another time.

The life of a madman

So, I am starting a new blog. The idea behind this is to really post my thoughts, feelings, and opinions online for everyone to see and scrutinize. Expect more to come soon, but my very first post is simply going to be about me.

I'm 28 (I turn 29 this year) Married, and living in Provo. I'm LDS (Mormon) which says a lot about my standards of conduct. I'm also intensely nerdy and I love everything from Dungeons and Dragons, to Video Games; Star Wars to Anime. I was pretty big into hiking once upon a time, but my feet don't really let me do that so often anymore.

As for my political views, I would say that they are just right of Center. I think I have a lot in common with libertarianism, I really feel that people should be largely left alone by the government. Additionally, I am pro-capitalist. In other words, I don't ascribe to the fantasy of socialism.

I am very much against PC (politically correct) culuture. For those of you reading this, realize that I don't ascribe to the definitions within the sociology student handbook. Racism = someone who is predjudiced against a certain race (regardless of what race it is). Racism is not power+predjudice. It is the same thing with sexism.

I'll likely write more, but a bit later, as this is really just the intro to my blog. I am looking forward to getting to know all of my readers and hopefully having meaningful conversations along the way. Welcome to my blog!