Tarzan and Jane (extra-credit)

Finish the story

Last Blog

Well kids :), we end our last blog with a topic we discussed in the beginning of the semester, that of free will vs. determinism.  If you don’t remember what that is, check your notes. :)

Remember when we watched a video entitled IT’S NOT MY FAULT about those people who committed crimes but felt that they were controlled by forces beyond their control.  (At least that’s what their attorneys said.)  Remember the one story about the LA riots, Reginald Denny the truck driver and the kids who threw the brick on his head?  Well, following is a another story about that incident that you will find very inspiring.  

STORY BEGINS HERE:

In one of the most disturbing images from the Los Angeles riots, six black assailants dragged Reginald Denny, a 33-year-old truck driver, out of his truck in South Los Angeles and bashed his head in with a brick. A television chopper broadcast the violence live. The attack happened shortly after not-guilty verdicts were handed down in the racially charged trial of the police beating of Rodney King, which kicked off six days of rioting that left dozens dead and thousands injured.

About a mile and a half away, Titus Murphy and his then-girlfriend Terri Barnett were watching the Denny attack on live television. Murphy, who was an unemployed engineer at the time, couldn't believe what he saw.

"When this gentleman was getting beat something was just telling me this isn't right, this isn't what it's all about," he told Yahoo News 20 years later. "When he got hit in the head with the brick something told me to go down there. I just reacted."

Murphy and Barnett drove about a block away from the now infamous corner of Normandie and Florence to see if the rioters would let them get any closer. Murphy saw that Denny had managed to drag himself back into the cab of the truck, which was moving very slowly. Murphy ran to the passenger side and jumped on the running board; he saw a woman named Lei Yuille comforting Denny inside the cab. Just then, a hulking guy named Bobby Green leaped on the running board of the other side. The two stared at each other through the windows, each fearing the other was a rioter.

"I asked him, 'Who are you? What are you going to do?'" Murphy says. "He said, 'What are you going to do?' I didn't know he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. I figured I had to take him on, he figured he had to take me on. We were both over 6 feet tall. I told him I was going to drive the truck and he said, 'I'm a truck driver.' That was the end of that."

Green jumped in and drove the massive truck a terrifying three miles to the hospital, with Murphy's girlfriend Barnett guiding the way by driving in the car in front. Murphy clung to the outside of the truck for the entire journey, feigning to be a rioter by pounding on the outside of the vehicle as if he had taken it for loot.

"There were cars approaching us and swinging bats and sticks and guns and stuff," he said. "I had to pretend that I was part of the riot so that the people in the cars wouldn't try to take us on or try to take advantage of the truck again. I started beating on the truck like it was mine. The trick really worked."

From his position on the running board, Murphy was also able to guide Green, who couldn't see through the truck's cracked windows. "Each one of us could not carry on the task without the other," says Murphy. "Bobby couldn't drive the truck without me on the outside. Mr. Denny was attended to from the inside [by Yuille], and we couldn't drive the truck without Terry in the front of us."

The result was a perfect collaboration. "We all came together as a team," he says. "It was like it was meant to be."

After extensive surgery, Denny survived the beating, but his speech and ability to walk were damaged permanently. His four rescuers, who were all black, became a symbol of hope in the devastating violence that engulfed the city for three days.

"I was just helping a person who was in need," says Murphy. "I didn't look at his race at all. Never thought about it once."

Murphy and the three other rescuers haven't kept in touch, he says, but he remembers them fondly. Denny has moved to Arizona and shunned media attention for most of the past 20 years, although he did reportedly accept an apology from one of his attackers.

Murphy now lives in Escondido with his wife and children. He worries that the anger of 20 years ago could bubble up again today. America still has a class of "have-nots" who need better opportunities to get ahead, he says. "In every major city in America and in cities all over the world the same thing could happen," says Murphy,"until we decide as a people that we work together and stop looking at things as race but realize we're all one."

STORY ENDS HERE:

Here’s a link to the same story as well with some video footage:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/l-riots-good-samaritan-remembers-scary-truck-driver-105229769.html

So, pretty cool story huh?  Very different from the story of the attacker, or is it?  Can these Good Samaritans’ behavior be attributed to forces beyond their control like Reginald’s attacker?  Or did they have free-will, just like Reginald’s attacker?  

Why is it that people have a tendency to attribute bad behavior to determinism but good behavior to free will?  Should we have a double standard for good and bad behaviors?

Anyway, tell me what you think and have fun blogging.  

Mr. Fong

Lucid Dreaming

Well class, I actually asked this question during class but I want to hear your opinion on it.  As you know, lucid dreaming is when we can control what is happening in our dream.  So, suppose you are having a lucid dream and you do something immoral.  When you wake up, should you feel guilty about it?  Tell me why you feel the way you do.  

Depression and LDS Women

I recently found this article on the KSL website regarding the title of this blog.  Following is a copy of the article:

ARTICLE BEGINS:

OREM — Striving for perfection may be driving some female members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to depression, one researcher says.

Utah Valley University professor Kris Doty looked at depression among LDS women, finding that "toxic perfectionism" was one major factor of depression reported by the group.

The other four factors, Doty found, were genetics, history of abuse, family relationships and feeling judged by others.

Deseret News:

UVU professor's study puts focus on LDS women and depression
LDS women in Utah are at risk for depression due to "toxic perfectionism" and a host of other cultural factors, according to a recent study presented at Utah Valley University Thursday.

Over a one-year period, Doty and her colleagues looked at clinically diagnosed depressed women who identified as LDS. Seven of the women were using multiple medications to treat their depression, 19 were on only one medication and 10 had participated in therapy.

Women in the study said the church's teachings about perfection led to painful misinterpretations wherein many women believed they could not make mistakes. This belief, Doty said, caused them to "become hyper-competitive and anxious."

At a symposium on the topic Thursday, study participants said church leaders were reminding women — especially mothers — that they are not required to be perfect.

ARTICLE ENDS

Please respond to the any of the following questions.

What are your thoughts about this article and the professors findings?

What aspects of Utah culture or LDS culture (not doctrine) do you think contributes to this finding?  I make a distinction between LDS culture and doctrine because I do not believe that the doctrine itself is a contributing factor.

Do you know of individuals that fall under this professor's description?

And any other issues you would like to bring up under this topic.

Have fun blogging!!

Mind Brain Problem

Hi Class,

Go ahead and read the following article and then answer the questions following the article.  If by chance you have no clue what this article is about because you were absent when I shared the background of this story, following is a link that will shed some light.  

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/woman-killed-at-lehi-lds-church-husband-in-custody/article_743369d0-4698-5775-87c6-072d759a4df1.html

ARTICLE BEGINS:

David Ragsdale's family is hoping to show that a cocktail of antidepressants and other mood-altering drugs are responsible for the shooting death of his wife.

After a hearing at Provo's 4th District Court on Wednesday, Tamara Ragsdale said she believed her brother is innocent and that he was "not conscious when this tragic act was committed."

David Ragsdale is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense. According to police, Ragsdale shot his wife, Kristy, in the parking lot of an LDS church in Lehi on Jan. 6.

At the time of his wife's murder, David Ragsdale, 35, was taking seven medications, including Paxil, Doxepin, Ritalin, Provigil and two forms of testosterone, his sister said. Tamara Ragsdale said the plethora of negative side effects he suffered from the drugs were not properly monitored by the nurse practitioner who prescribed them, and the interactions chemically altered his brain.

"David put his faith and trust in a nurse practitioner, the [Food and Drug Administration] and the pharmaceutical companies that these drugs were safe," she said. "David is now living in his own hell as he is coming off of these meds. He is waking up to the horror of this reality."

At Wednesday's hearing, David Ragsdale's attorney, Gregory Skordas, requested a continuance so his client could undergo a psychological evaluation. Skordas said the evaluation would be completed by the end of the month. Judge Claudia Laycock scheduled the next hearing in the case for April 9.

"We want to make sure we have all the evidence together to make the correct decisions," Tamara Ragsdale said. "There's a couple different tests we're going to have done."

Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson said the Ragsdales will use a private psychologist, not a court-appointed one.

"This is news to us. This isn't something that we had appointed or anything in any way," Johnson said.

Tamara Ragsdale read a statement written by her brother in which he apologized for Kristy's death.

"Words cannot describe how incredibly sorry I am for the death of my wife, Kristy. I want the Palizzi family and everyone to know that I would do anything to bring her back, even if it meant giving up my own life," Tamara Ragsdale said as she read her brother's statement. "It is time for the public to educate themselves of the adverse reactions of these mind-altering drugs and how they act on the brain."

Some of the listed side effects of the medications Ragsdale was taking include manic reaction, suicide, homicidal tendencies, hallucinations, delusions, psychosis, amnesia, panic and seizures, Tamara Ragsdale said. She said her brother was suffering blackouts, severe headaches and other side effects from the drugs.

Tamara Ragsdale said her brother had gone to the nurse practitioner who prescribed the drugs at the urging of his wife. He had been taking some of the medications for about a year, she said, while others were prescribed just two months before the shooting.

While spending Christmas with David and Kristy, Tamara Ragsdale said she noticed marked changes in her brother.

"I'm a nurse, so I knew something was wrong with his behavior and his meds," she said. "These medications were altering his brain."

She criticized what she described as a tendency of some people to rely on prescriptions to fix their problems. She also said the family is considering legal action against the nurse practitioner who prescribed the medications.

"I think that when people aren't happy they tend to go to the doctor, or ask their spouse to go, and think that there's going to be a magic pill that's going to fix something," she said. "David happened to be a victim of this and tragically ... what happened was he suffered from the adverse reactions."

Carrie Peters, Kristy Ragsdale's cousin, made a brief statement to the media after the hearing, but declined to comment on the progress of the case.

"We just want everybody to know that we just love Kristy so much and we miss her a great deal, and we are hoping that through justice and forgiveness we might be able to find safety and closure," Peters said.

END OF ARTICLE

Here are some questions for you to think about and respond to.  You don't have to respond to all of them but I would like to see some good thought out entries.

What is your initial reaction and thoughts about where the sister is putting the blame?  Is what she is saying valid?  Should the drug companies, nurse and doctors also be liable for this shooting?

How is this related to the mind brain problem?

Can drugs cause us to do things we would not normally do?  If yes, are we responsible for our actions if our brain/body has been altered?

When it comes to who is in charge of our behavior, is the mind always in control?  Or does the brain/body take over sometimes?  If your body can take over, then are you responsible for what happens?

Have fun pondering these deep questions!  :)