Most recent public comments by Madeleine Duff https://nowcomment.com/users/6097 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505905 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505905 The media takes everything out of proportion and spins it in their favor to sell more magazines and make the stories greater and bigger. Why do they do this? It is simple because they can. In a majority of the cases I do not believe the media helps or promotes a solution to a problem. I believe they exploit the issue, especially specific cases to make the story bigger and better. How can we stop the media and get to the truth? Mon, 04 Apr 2016 22:21:08 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505903 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505903 I agree. I believe the issue of police brutality has just gotten worse with the new digital age. The pictures, the videos, and the journalist all give an overwhelming amount of information that show police brutality is a huge issue in our society and one that must be fixed. Should police be labeled in this sense in all cases? or are there just a few corrupt officers in a huge nation of police men and woman? Also, how do we show the greater public that it is only a few and not the whole system? Mon, 04 Apr 2016 21:27:06 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505902 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505902 The war on drugs is such a prominent topic in society and has been all over the media in the recent years. I think the justice system does a terrible job with trying to come up with a solution or stop the war on drugs. The justice system locks up an abundant amount of people up for selling drugs where in jail they have even more access to drugs. I don't think labeling drug addicts or putting them in prison is going to be a solution for the war on drugs. I think society is much more open about speaking about drugs and addicts, which is a step in the right direction but no where near close to solving the problem. How can we create society to be more open about the war on drugs to solve the problem instead of labeling and locking people up? Tue, 05 Apr 2016 00:35:11 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505877 https://nowcomment.com/documents/52798?scroll_to=505877 I believe there is a predetermined notion that the majority of people in prison are black. I don't know why or how this notion got started. Maybe because of all the police brutality we see on the news regarding black people or maybe it is societies general assumption but I believe we need to move away from this stereotype. Even in the media and TV shows there is an overwhelming amount of black people in jail. If I am correct I don't remember seeing one white inmate in jail with Wee-Bay and Avon, but why is this? What has promoted our news and media outlets to only focus on a majority of blacks being incarcerated besides the case every now and then of a white person shooting up a school, or selling drugs, or raping someone? Mon, 04 Apr 2016 21:34:19 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484403 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484403 I thought you're questions you ask are very interesting. I don't know the exact answer I don't think its because they do not trust the teachers, because some of the kids do behave in class and even the corner kids behave when certain teachers of authority walk in. I think their behavior more has to do with the fact that they know they are not going to get out of the game. They know their fate is destined by who their parents are and where they have grown up. I think it has to do with structure something all these kids have lacked. Wed, 02 Mar 2016 10:06:20 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484330 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484330 Though I agree that some kids in the wire have no other choice but to enter the game I don't want to say that michael had no other choice, maybe because I am still bitter about how he did not get out. In the beginning of season 4, Michael was the only character who rejected marlo's money and seemed to not want to take part in the game, but dire circumstances call for drastic measures and when his father returns he just wants to get ride of him. He didn't explicitly tell them to kill him, but maybe he knew that was the only outcome. I still think Michael could have still gotten out after that event happened, but after he saw the power of the game he didn't want to. Wed, 02 Mar 2016 09:56:18 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484309 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484309 This sentence reminded me of the stoop vs corner kids. For example, Randy's foster mom implemented rules and when he was told to come into the house from the stoop he would listen, categorizing him as a stoop kid. Whereas, Namond was encouraged to be a corner kid. Wed, 02 Mar 2016 12:10:32 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484306 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484306 This 'closed system' reminds me of Hamsterdam in season 3. I believe Hamsterdam can be viewed as a closed system of corruption. Though it was not intended to be corrupt, but intended to help stop the spread of drugs it was still a perfect example of how a police force can abuse their power, even if they believe it is for the greater good. Though the police did not punish people for making complaints they did make it fairly clear that they need to stay in the boundaries of Hamsterdam or there would be consequences. Hamsterdam became a place where these drug users and dealers could survive in their own bubble. Though the techniques are different from the Martinique I believe the central theme is the same. In both cases, who and how are suppose to protect these people? Wed, 02 Mar 2016 09:48:50 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484279 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49882?scroll_to=484279 This sentence automatically made me think of Miachel's mom. She clearly was emotionally unstable and an active drug addict all of which combined to her being incapable of taking care of Michael and his younger brother. Clearly, living beyond the means and having a mother be so unstable placed Michael in the role of authority- making decisions for his brother and even giving his mother an allowance to feed her drug habit. Though Michael's mom is clearly not a fit parent my question is can you blame her? Can you blame her because she cannot get the help she clearly needs to get sober in the conditions she lives in? Can you blame her that she too most likely grow up in this environment and it was all she new?How can you stop this cycle if there is no help for the parents to break it? Wed, 02 Mar 2016 09:41:54 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49884?scroll_to=483612 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49884?scroll_to=483612 I think we need to be careful when saying the whole community frowns upon drug dealings, because the community who lives in the area are directly involved in the buying and selling and do not frown on it. The people outside this community can be said to frown upon drug dealing but where should we draw that boundary. In my opinion, having an Hamsterdam would not work in society the risk would be too large and the implementing of the policy would never work. The experiment would be too risky and would have huge backlash and uproar. Tue, 01 Mar 2016 22:20:17 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49884?scroll_to=483605 https://nowcomment.com/documents/49884?scroll_to=483605 I agree with what you said. I believe one of the reasons she was so invested in trying to get Namond into the game was to teach him street smarts because that is the life she could give him. I also think she wanted him in the game for her benefit as well because we saw in the beginning of season 4 Avon's sister telling her that she was not longer going to give them money and there was nothing left she could do. Its her livelihood just as much as Namonds. Tue, 01 Mar 2016 22:03:21 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452917 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452917 I think using fiction in television in a way to expose the general public to real life issues is the safest way to go about very sensitive subjects. Though it may be fiction the show is touching on real life social and economic our society faces. I think the act of saying it is fiction is almost like a security blanket in order to not try to offend people who cannot handle the truth. Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:08:49 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452916 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452916 I agree I think its very interesting to see the different types of drug dealers and even drug robbers and find similarities in them. Also one of my favorite parts of the first season is when McNulty says ' nice work' to Stringer Bell and in the last episode Stringer Bell leaves the court room by saying " nice work' to McNulty. Tue, 02 Feb 2016 19:05:30 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452914 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452914 This sentence " your life is worthless. It's the triumph of capitalism over human value" I believe is one of the problems with our economy. Everyone is always focused around how to make a profit. Our society is created on a dream where everyone wants to be able to ' make it' and 'live the american dream' and for that to happen you have to make a profit. So many times the profit is what triumphs over everything, and for that I believe leaves our society a little lesser of a place to live. If human life has no worth and the only thing that matters is profit than is The Wire just exposing society to its own truth? Tue, 02 Feb 2016 18:55:30 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452841 https://nowcomment.com/documents/46407?scroll_to=452841 I think the authenticity of The Wire is one of the reasons of why it has been casted as 'one of the greatest shows ever to be on TV'. The actors do a fabulous job of portraying the harsh realities the show presents, and on top of that the script is so raw and dives so deep to the topics of race, class, and gender that anyone can find something to connect with even if they might not have experienced anything like the atmosphere portrayed in the show. Often, when watching the show I find myself thinking about how real the show seems and wonder how similar some of the events that take place could be going on outside the screen without my knowledge of them occurring. Tue, 02 Feb 2016 23:59:28 -0500