Strange Defenses: The Matrix defense

Strange Defenses: The Matrix defense 

In 1999, the now iconic sci-fi film The Matrix was released. The movie depicted a future in which human beings were encased in cocoons so that their life-force could be harnessed to power the machines that ruled the earth. Within this dystopian future, these enslaved humans go about their lives within an artificial simulated reality in order to keep them under control, which they wholeheartedly believe and accept to be their reality. In the past two decades there have emerged a series of high profile, gruesome crimes committed by people who actually seem to believe that the world of The Matrix films is literally real, that it fueled their bloodlust, and that their crimes have taken place within this false reality, even going so far as to use this as a defense in court. It is a phenomenon now known as “The Matrix Defense.” 

In 2000, 27-year-old computer science student at San Francisco State University Vadim Mieseges brutally murdered fellow student Ella Wong, who had been renting him a room in her apartment. Mieseges was found by the police, wandering around a mall with a knife, on drugs, and acting bizarrely. Upon his arrest he told  authorities that he was living in the virtual reality of The Matrix, and that therefore Wong had never actually been a real person or existed. The judge in his case declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial and he was institutionalized.

In July of 2002, 37-year-old Tonda Lynn Ansley, of Butler County, Ohio, got a gun and proceeded to shoot a Miami University professor who she was renting a house from, Sherry Lee Corbett, 55, multiple times in the head. The coldblooded murder was carried out in full view of startled witnesses in broad daylight, and Ansley was quickly detained. Upon questioning, Ansley told detectives that she believed that the world they were in was not real, and that she was living in a computer simulation like in The Matrix. In this alternate reality, she said that her landlady had been involved in a conspiracy to keep her brainwashed and under the control of the simulation, as well as “invading her dreams,” with the ultimate goal of killing her. In Ansley’s mind, this was all simple self-defense against the sinister agents conspiring to keep her in the 

virtual dream world. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Later that same year in October of 2002 18-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo was tried for the murder of 10. Over a 3-week period he carried out a series of coordinated sniper attacks with accomplice John Allen Muhammad throughout Maryland, Virginia, and DC. Although he did not use the films as a legal defense, while in prison Malvo drew sketches and wrote messages in his cell that alluded to The Matrix films, such as one that read: Wake up! Free your mind, you are a slave to the matrix ‘control.’ The outside force has arrived. Free yourself of the matrix ‘control.’ Free first your mind. Trust me!! The body will follow. Remove fear, doubt, distrust, watch the change then. He also allegedly told investigators that if they truly wanted to understand him and his motives then it was imperative that they watch The Matrix films.

The use of films and other strange defenses as ways to shirk responsibility for heinous crimes seems to be a disturbing trend, and one which has seen much debate as to how much weight it should be given in a court of law. It seems that criminals are not above trying to latch onto whatever is popular at the moment to attempt to bolster their defense, whether they really believe it or not, but the fact is that these people were probably already in a sense predestined to commit their violent deeds even without such help from the pop culture they were inundated with. Although violent films can certainly give criminals a sense of justification for violent impulses or reinforce them in their minds, it has mostly been doubted that the movies are what generated these impulses in the first place. After all, out of all of the millions of people who have seen The Matrix films, very few of them have gone out and killed anyone. The “Matrix Defense” and other strange defenses rarely work, in fact they are only used in 1% of cases and only work 25% of the time within that 1%. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/almost-psychopath/201208/the-insanity-defense

https://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/21/ctv.matrix.insanity/

https://www.foxnews.com/story/the-matrix-made-me-do-it

Racism

Racism In The World


Racism without a doubt has always been an issue. Throughout the years there has been a lot of improvement when it has come to race. We have human rights and segregation is no longer around. People have been able to coexist in a world and respect each other, however, within the past few years we have begun to go back into time and discriminate against people of color.

Times like now where there is a lot of discrimination against minorities can be scary for the youth. Minorities begin to worry if a cop will be the reason for their death or the way their skin looks will cause them to get in trouble. As a result, minorities have to learn to assimilate in order to protect themselves against the racist minds of their communities .

Children as young as 10 are whitening their faces to avoid being subjected to racist abuse in Britain, a child protection group has warned, as police struggle to stem a rising tide of hate crimes against minors.

A total of 10,571 racially-motivated hate crimes against children -- an average of 29 a day -- were recorded by police in 2017-18, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) found. Toddlers and even babies were among those targeted.
That number is now a fifth higher than it was just three years ago, and is growing at a rate of about 1,000 new crimes a year.


The charity's report, based on police records in regions across Britain, highlights the scale and breadth of racism in the deeply divided nation. Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, the crisis has swelled so severely that children yet to reach their first birthday are counted among the victims.

Is Cannibal Cop A Criminal?

In 2012 an NYPD police officer that goes by the name of Gilberto Valle was arrested for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and using the police database for inappropriate reasons that did not relate to his work. Gilberto Valle was a man in his late 20's with a wife and a newborn baby. To some people he had a perfect life, he had a great job, a wife and a new born baby but to him it wasn't enough, he eventually turned to the dark web where he could talk in chat rooms with other men and women about all of his dark fantasies that he had about women. Of course he couldn't discuss his dark thoughts with his wife or other people in his daily life so the chat rooms were seen as his outlet.

During the investigation against Gilbert all of his messages from the chat rooms were exposed to the media. In the chat rooms he talked about cooking his wife, kidnapping women that he met in high school and etc. Gilbert has even told the chatrooms that he had a basement full of equipment that he could use to torture women with but when the police searched his house they found nothing he told the people in chatrooms he said he had in his house, he didn't even have a basmement in his home.

Gilbert only faced 6 months in jail because he looked up different women information on the police data base and he only planned to kidnap women but he never actually did it. Should someone be charged for crime that they never committed? Should someone go to jail just for their dark thoughts?

47,000 texts and a suicide

This recent case of a girlfriend convincing her boyfriend to kill himself is similar in many respects with the case of Michelle Carter that we studied, although it has some important differences.

On Monday, October 28, 2019, former Boston College student, Inyoung You, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death by suicide of her former boyfriend, Alexander Urtula. In the two months leading up to the suicide, Inyoung had texted Alexander 47,000 times (an average of 800 texts per day), often telling him to “go die,” or “go kill yourself,” and that she, his family and the world would all be better off without him.

In May of this year, Alexander was only hours away from his Boston University graduation when he jumped from the roof of a parking garage. Inyoung was there to watch. Inyoung and Alexander had been a couple for 18 months, unlike in the Michelle Carter case where the “couple” had very little actual contact and hadn’t known each other very long. In this new case, Inyoung had been "physically, verbally and psychologically abusive" toward Alexander, according to authorities. In the days just before the suicide, she intensified her abuse, making it more frequent and more demeaning. She had total power and control over him.

The Michelle Carter case involved a 17 year old girl with her own depression and distorted thinking, where she was seeking attention by being associated with suicide. By contrast, the Inyoung You case looks more like a form of domestic violence. Domestic violence is often about manipulation, power, and control, and affects people regardless of gender. "Domestic violence may not always look the same, but it is always about power and control," said the Massachusetts district attorney prosecuting the case. Inyoung You was not present for the indictment because she left school early and returned to her native South Korea.

What the Trump decision about Turkey and The Kurds means for America and it's allies

The first question we need to ask is: Who are the Kurds, and what to they mean for the safety of the Western World? The Kurds are the largest ethnicity in the world with no ethnic state. They have been fighting ISIS with a largely female fighting battalion since in the Muslim religion if a man is killed by a woman, they will not go to the same afterlife as other men which mean that ISIS fighter run directly away from them due to not wanting to be killed by them. The Kurds are fighting the fight against ISIS with that hope that they will be able to control enough land to declare their country of Kurdistan as sovereign nation.


The connection of allegiance to the United States is another important factor. The main connection that America has to the Kurds is through Israel. Inside the Middle East, the closest allegiance that the Kurds have is Israel, and visa-versa. Israel is America's best ally in the Middle East and through that connection the US army was working closely with the Kurds to defeat ISIS.

Trump abruptly called for the US to exit Syria and leave the Kurds to "Be Slaughtered". The decision was made after phone call with Turkish President Erdogan who is one of the prime enemies to the Kurdish people. Trump may have inadvertently caused the Kurds to be killed in their own homeland.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/opinions/why-did-trump-abandon-kurds-after-call-with-erdogan-ghitis/index.html

The new Michelle Carter - Inyoung You

On May 20, 2019, Alexander Urtula committed suicide 90 minutes before graduating from Boston College. The events leading up to his death showed various similarities with Michelle Carter's case. Girlfriend, Inyoung You,  was recently charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of Alexander. "The indictment alleges Ms. You's behavior was wanton and reckless...," Suffolk County district attorney Rachael Rollins said while she was announcing Inyoung You's charges. As I began to read articles about this case, I noticed that a lot of them compared this story to Conrad Roy and his death. Witnesses say that Inyoung had been abusing Alexander verbally, physically, and psychologically. Inyoung would be constantly telling Alexander that everyone's lives would be better without him and would send him texts saying "go kill yourself." There were journal passages written by Alexander that showed how Inyoung was treating him, which made me wonder how similar Michelle Carter was to Inyoung You.

Though there were a lot of similarities between the two cases, there are big differences between the two. One of them being that Alexander and Inyoung had a real 18-month relationship who would be together constantly, compared to Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy where they had a clear online relationship. However, a big similarity between the two is that Inyoung was the one who led him to suicide and knew he was going to do it, but didn't do anything to help. Alexander jumped off a building, and Inyoung was right beside him on the rooftop and did anything but stopping him.

 I feel like this is more than enough evidence to find her guilty because, compared to Michelle Carter, Inyoung was present at the time of his death and she knew he had depression and suicidal thoughts, but she never felt the need to stop herself from continuing to trigger his mental health. This case shows that the relationship between the two was not equal, and Inyoung felt she had power over him and could manipulate him into doing anything.

Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/boston-college-suicide-manslaughter.html

Twinkie Defense but what is a Twinkie?

Twinkies were created in 1930 by Continental Baking Company. They feature a delicious golden sponge cake with a creamy filling. They are so wonderful that in 1999, President Bill Clinton included Twinkies in the millennium time capsule as an icon of American food culture. Today the urban legend now lives on that twinkies have a shelf life of multiple decades. The legend has been featured in shows like Family Guy and the Simpsons which is a testament to the importance of twinkies in American society.

In 2012, a travesty happened. Twinkie's maker Hostess was facing bankruptcy. This was due to a national trend towards healthy eating. Which was even been exemplified by the first lady at the time Michelle Obama and her food pyramid we all learned about. For one truly solemn year, Twinkie's were off the shelves and to make matters worse their Canadian manufacturer was still circulating them in Canada as Americans were left empty-handed. The American Twinkie, however, made it through. The angelic company Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co bought Hostess for $410 million. The next year twinkies were back on the shelves and since then have been thriving in our local supermarkets.

What do twinkies mean to you? Were you devastated when they left our supermarkets?
https://www.thespruceeats.com/the-history-of-the-twinkie-1328770
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/07/05/what-it-took-to-save-the-twinkie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie

Teen Suicide

Internet and Suicide. 
Conrad Henri Roy III (September 12, 1995 – July 13, 2014) was an American who died by suicide at the age of 18 with encouragement from his long-distance girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, via text messages. The case was the subject of a notable investigation and involuntary manslaughter trial in Massachusetts, colloquially known as the "texting suicide case". Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter involved scores of text messages, emails, and phone calls recorded between Carter and Roy in the lead up to the latter's death. Roy had seen numerous mental health professionals, and he insisted that he wanted to die. Carter and Roy had both been prescribed psychiatric medication. The case raised complex questions pertaining to the nature and limits of criminal responsibility. Judge Moniz inferred that Carter wanted Conrad dead and that her words coerced him to kill himself.

This case brought up the question of how the use of messaging and a virtual relationship can drive someone to take their lives and who is responsible? Is it the person who is behind the screen or just what the media influences people at low points in their life to do? 

Suicide is a considerable public health problem; more than 30 000 suicide deaths in the United States and nearly 1 million suicide deaths worldwide occur every year. 

There are several specific ways that social media can increase risk of suicide behavior. Cyber-bullying and cyber harassment, for example, are serious and has become an issue in today's society. Reported results from a survey given to approximately 2000 middle school children that indicated that victims of cyber-bullying were almost 2 times as likely to attempt suicide than those who were not.


The media's influence on suicidal behavior, especially suicide methods used, has been well documented, and social media may possibly increase the risk of the media contagion effect, especially among young people. One example of this would be through, shows, movies, videos, etc. 

These are only a couple of ways that the internet has influenced suicide. However there are a lot of ways we can use the internet as a way to prevent people from taking their own lives.  We can use platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat to bring more positivity  instead of negativity. 

Luxton, David D, et al. “Social Media and Suicide: a Public Health Perspective.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, May 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477910/#bib14.

stand your ground laws

• Alabama Alaska Arizona Florida Georgia Idaho Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Michigan Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada New Hampshire North Carolina Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah West Virginia

these are the states that have their own stand your ground laws. you can read them if you like, and leave a comment about your views on what each states sees fit for a stand you ground law. 

Persa Canario

Persa Canario or otherwise known as a "Canarian Catch dog", was first kept from people to complete work tasks, this was at least long before a person could evolve kindness for the obedience. Once well trained the dog could cooperate with the owner for the different uses, their appearance was what advised that they could do more then what other dogs were not worthy of doing. The shape of the dog showed features visible to know that the dog was fitted for a variety of duties. Overlooking the history from the 16 to 18 hundreds these dogs apart from their roles were set to hunt other animals in order to protect the owners. This then over the years would set fear in witnesses making the Personas a rare species as they over decades either became banned or costly.

Ted Bundy as a Serial Killer

Ted Bundy was a serial killer in the 1970s (possibly earlier). He had kidnapped, raped, and murdered many young women and girls. The identity of Ted's father was never determined with any degree of certainty. Ted had a very rough childhood, including identity issues with his family members. Family, friends, and even young Ted were told that his grandparents were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. His stepfather Samuel Cowel was a tyrannical bully and a bigot and beat his wife, the family dog, and swung neighborhood cats by their tails. As a child, Ted explained how he perused detective magazines, crime novels, and true crime documentaries for stories that involved sexual violence, particularly when the stories were illustrated with pictures of dead or maimed bodies. Although having rough family issues, Ted was still able to attend college, but on a very bumpy path. Ted graduated high school in 1965 and spent 1 year at the University of Puget Sound, then transferred to the University of Washington in 1966 to study Chinese. He even dropped out in 1968 and began working small minimum-wage draws. The then re-enrolled at Temple University, then transferred again to the University of Washington. This is when his violent personality really started to take a toll.

Ted's first attempted kidnapping was in 1969, while still being in college, in Ocean City, New Jersey. While failing to complete his goal, later in 1947, he had successfully murdered 18-year-old Karen Sparks. One month later, he killed Lynda Ann Healy. Then in the following months, girls at University of Washington were dropping like flies. Donna Manson, Susan Rancourt, Roberto Parks, Brenda Ball, Georgann Hawkins, Denise Naslund, Janice Ott and many more. Not only did he kill these young girls, but he kidnapped, naped, and brutally abused these women and their dead bodies.

Now, Ted Bundy was not like every other man. Ted had a series of mental illnesses that were to blame for his violent demeanor. He was diagnosed with Necrophilia (sexual attraction to corpses), however still insisted "I knew I wasn't crazy, insane, or incompetent, or anything else" during his trial. He had Bipolar disorder, a brain abnormality, pornography addiction, psychopathy, and finally Antisocial personality disorder. When we dive in deeper to the root of his psychopathy, we can see that Ted Bundy had a genetic mutation. Jim Phallon has found that just by looking at brain scans, all psychopaths have some sort of orbital cortex damage and temporal lobe (amygdala) damage. Looking into DNA, Phallon had found the MAOH, also known as the Warrior Gene, which predisposed individuals to have more violent behavior.

Yes, Ted Bundy was a horrible and cruel criminal, but in his defense, he has genetically predisposed to violence and in addition had a traumatic childhood, which is a recipe for disaster. I do not think that we should FEEL BAD for Ted, and defend his actions, but we do have to take his mental health and his genetics into consideration while analyzing his case.