Position Paper 2013

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Challenge 3_ Colombo americano 

Create a law to forbid listening to music without headphones or earphones on buses

Angie Quijano

 Respect is a two-way street, if you want to get it, you’ve got to give it 

R.G. Risch.

In our current society, technological development has allowed more people to have an easy access to devices that let them listen to music anywhere. The first known portable radio was developed by Sony in 1958 (Sony, 2013), this development allowed people to listen to music even in places where there were not electrical connections. The growth of these kinds of devices has evolved in the creation of devices as MP3s, MP4s and applications available on cellphones. This situation has generated that a large number of people listen to music without headphones in public places as buses. From my point of view, this habit is a sign of disrespect with our peers. It generates discomfort, annoyance and sometimes anger.

It is known by everybody that music can have positive effects in our lives. According to (Ingenium ABP) when a person is listening to music, dopamine and other chemical substances are released into the brain to help the human body to equilibrate its reactions and to feel relaxed, generating a sense of well-being. So, although music can make us feel relaxed, we cannot forget it can generate the opposite effect if the music is not the kind of music we prefer. On the other hand, most of people who listen to music without headphones in public places think that they are free to behave this way, thoughtlessly in the effects and consequences that it could have on others. It can be argued that in accordance with the article 19 of humankind rights “Everybody has the right to freedom of opinion and expression…” (United Nations). However, does not our freedom have limits?.


Unlike the opinion given by people who listen to music without headphones in public places (supported by the article 19 of Humankind Rights), I advocate the quote of Augusto Klappenbach that says “My freedom ends where the freedom of another begins” – “Mi libertad termina donde empieza la libertad de los demás” (Klappenbach, 1998). In my opinion, everybody is free to do whatever they want without hurting or disturbing others. For this reason it is important to clarify the limits of freedom. In this order of ideas, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights establishes restrictions to the article 19 of Humankind rights as follows (Lozano Ramírez):

• It needs to ensure the respect to the rights or freedom of others.
• It needs to ensure the protection of national security, public order, or health or public moral.

It is important to stand out the last of the restrictions because the fact of listening to music without headphones in public places contributes to a current problem called “Noise pollution” that affects our health.

Noise pollution is an excessive and annoying noise that could be generated by the loud sounds in the street, like loud music, horns of the cars, sounds generated by constructions, among other things. This noise pollution generated by the loud music can be created by people who listen to music without headphones, so how can this loud music affect our physical health?. Studies have demonstrated that sound levels of loud rock and roll, either at concerts or from domestic stereos, frequently exceed hearing damage risk criteria (Cohen, Anticaglia, & Jones, 1970). When someone is listening to music without headphones (independently of the kind of music) is contributing to the environmental noise, which can generate a gradual loss of hearing.  For instance, a study of the primitive Mabaan  in African Sudan conducted by (Rosen, 1987) demonstrated that environmental noise causes a kind of loss of hearing sensitivity called sociocusis . In this tribe the environment was almost free of noise and hearing abilities of men who are seventies or eighties is equal those healthy children at age ten.

According to United States Environmental Protection Agency, an agency of the U.S. federal government which protects human health and the environment through writing and enforcing of regulations based on laws passed by Congress; in United States over 100 million people are living in residential areas with noise levels above recommended limits (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1974). Similarly, a study made by Andes University (Pacheco, Franco, & Eduardo, 2009) shows that 75% of places in Bogotá does not obey the standard set by the national authority. Therefore, it is evident that noise pollution is an issue that affects us all, and it is in our hands to make something to solve it. Obviously, listening to music without headphones is one of the ingredients that makes this problem bigger. It is affecting not only our physical health but also our mental health.

I think it is annoying to everybody when you are on a bus, and someone is listening to music without headphones or earphones. It generates us stress and irritability, so our mental health is being affected by this kind of behaviors.  In southeast of United States, the records of two groups of workers (one group of a noisy plant and the other one of a quieter plant) show that workers who are exposed to high levels of noise have a greater rate of accidents, diagnosed medical problems and nonattendance ( Cohen A. , 1973). Following this line of thought, we can deduce that not only bus passengers, but also the bus driver is affected by this situation, which can generate traffic accidents.


To sum up, the habit of listening to music without headphones in public places is a people’s behavior that affects the tranquility and health of the community. For this reason, not only is it necessary to create campaigns that incite people to leave this praxis generating awareness about the consequences of this habit, but it also is necessary that the national government forbids it through the creation of a law that imposes a monetary penalty for those who listen to music without headphones. As part of the campaign, I propose that everybody carries on his bag or purse a pin that says: “Respect us, use headphones” and paste posters on public transportation with the same slogan and with related images, this with authorization of the bus’ owner.

Bibliography

Cohen, A. (1973, May 13-18). Industrial Noise and Medical, Absence, and Accident Record Data on Exposed Workers. Proceedings of the International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, 441-453.
Cohen, A., Anticaglia, J., & Jones, H. H. (1970). 'Sociocusis'- Hearing Loss From Non-Occupational Noise Exposure. Sound and Vibration, 12-20.
Ingenium ABP. (n.d.). Cómo afecta a tu cerebro cada género musical. Retrieved July 13, 2013, from CNN: http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2013/01/18/como-afecta-a-tu-cerebro-cada-genero-musical/
Klappenbach, A. (1998). Libertad, liberalismo y abstracción. Claves de Razón Practica, 32-36.
Lozano Ramírez, J. (n.d.). Universidad Autónoma de México. Retrieved June 29, 2013, from Límites y controles de la libertad de expresión: http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/4/1844/11.pdf
Pacheco, J., Franco, J., & Eduardo, B. (2009, October 6). Noise Pollution in Bogotá City: A Pilot Study. Revista de Ingeniería, Universidad de los Andes, 72-80.
Rosen, S. (1987). Presbycusis Study of a Relatively Noise-Free Population in the Sudan. Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology, 727-743.
Sony. (2013, September 21). Sony. Retrieved from http://www.sony-latin.com/corporate/SOLA/acerca/infocorporativa/historia.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1974). Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety.
United Nations. (n.d.). The Universal Declarations of Human Rights. Retrieved June 29, 2013, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

NO DOG SHOULD BE BANNED IN BOGOTÁ. BAD OWNERS MUST BE

Camilo Páez

William Pardo

DOGS have been partners of humans for almost 12000 years. In the beginning they were used for different tasks, supporting the human development. Over the years the dogs became "the man's best friend", because they have played different roles. Humans, raising different kind of breeds with specific uses, taking advantage of the characteristics inherited in each breed, have genetically modified their behavior. Some breeds were raised for surveillance, hunting, shepherding, but now many people own some kinds of not appropriate breeds to the space where they live and their life style; so, they do not train them appropriately and are ignorant about their dog's inheritance and behavior, making those animals dangerous and aggressive. We are strongly convinced that no dog is genetically bad or made to kill. The owners made them aggressive.

Many people think that some breeds of dogs are dangerous and even murderous. They argue their opinion with the last cases showed on TV, Internet and newspaper. If you look the archives in “El Tiempo” for the last few weeks, a lot of cases are about the risk that these breeds represent; kids, adults and elder people, in those cases the dogs are the “criminals” and the people are the “victims”. This news increases people’s fear feel for Pitbulls, Dobermans, Akitas and other breeds. The media is a very important influence for this kind of thought; showing many attacks in an exaggerate way, moreover, they show the worst case scenario and perform bloody scenes; for instance, the aggressor dog´s jaw smeared of blood; meanwhile, you can hear “Jaws” soundtrack as background music of the reportage!  Obviously people feel frightened. This type of news coverage never shows the picture, neither the dog's habitat nor how the owners treat the dog, nor which kind of training they provides to the animal. The wrong notion remains in the audience and they cannot see the wood for the trees, and they just stand in the first impression, the mass media impression.   Maybe if they know, for example, that the pit bull was called "the nanny dog" (People left the children with the pitbulls like a nanny) or with the accurate direction a Rottweiler could be a guide dog or an experienced member in a rescue team.

People have to know which kind of breed is appropriated for every life style, maybe this terrible episodes never happened if they should know how to train the dogs, understanding the nature of every breed. Many of the breeds trait that have been raised by humans for their own help, modified genetically, making different behaviors.  For example, pit bull was used to tame livestock on farms; later, in the 20th century, was a synonym of loyalty, and for his good character and friendly behavior people called him "the nanny dog". Things changed in the eighties when drug dealers and gangsters began to use pit bulls as a part of their rough appearance, changing their habits and trainings, making an aggressive dog and a stereotype. Who is to blame for this animal attitude? For us not the dog, owners are the irresponsible.

People think that the dogs are dangerous and just fight and bite innocent people. They never imagine that the dogs receive appropriate training; they could be a help for many tasks and activities. Those breeds of dogs could be a support for people that have problems and could be a good company for solitary and elderly people. For example, there is an exceptional case (not the only one) to support our point. The 11^th of September in 2001 in the terrorist attack at WTC, a guidance Labrador Retriver saves the life of his owner Omar Eduardo Rivera, a blind born engineer who used to work in the 71th floor. Meanwhile, in the middle of the chaos produced by the crash of the airplane against the tower; instantly the dog found his owner and help him went downstairs spending approximately an hour, saving Omar’s life. So, are dogs a problem for the society? Or may could be useful for those who need it?

To show another example or loyalty that those breeds of dogs represents, we have the most classical loyalty case is Hachiko, an Akita owned by Hidesamuro Ueno. Since Ueno bought to Tokyo Hachiko in 1924, every day when he left for his teaching job, Hachiko would stand by the door and watch him go. Then at 4 p.m. the Akita would arrive at Shibuya Station to meet his owner. A year later Ueno died at work, but Hachiko continued the routine and returned to the train station at 4 p.m. every single day, searching for his owner. The dog lived in the train station, and the stationmaster sometimes took care of the dog. Hachiko died ten years later waiting for his owner to come. For the people of Shibuya (Tokio) the dog became a symbol of loyalty and patience. They made a bronze sculpture that represents that the dogs are. It is good to remember, that the Akita is considered one of the most dangerous breeds.

So… what do you think about it? Do we still want to think in that way? It is not just because the article said. It is an important social problem that all parts of society have to solve. Ethology, the science that studies animal behavior, tells us about how the dog is under the owner influence, so dogs have feelings and instincts that the owner has to control. So, our invitation: ¡You don’t have to believe more in that media morbidity! They show those kinds of images and videos just for business; usually, they do not care about the real situation. You must believe in your pet training, teach good habits and the most important, enjoy their company, ¡they are your friends!

Eating Meat is Not Necessary to Live

Meat consists mostly of water (60-85%), proteins (16-22%) and small amounts of other nitrogen compounds (free amino acids, peptides, nucleotides, creatinine, etc..), Fat (2-13%); carbohydrates, lactic acid, vitamins and minerals. Meat has been, for many years, an essential part of the diet of humans. At the beginning of mankind, when man was basically herbivorous, when humans evolved noticed they need to eating meat. Over time humans discovered that provided greater amount of nutrients that if they only consumed fruit and vegetables and found another way to provide themselves with it. Anthropologists say that man began to domesticate animals to meet this need since 9000 BC. Meat, is a essential food in the diets to obtain different nutrients and it was one of the most important elements in the evolution of the human. Until the 70's it was believed that man's ancestors were hunters only, without considering the possibility that he had actually been originally a scavenger. Today we know that early hominids ate any food available in their environment. The scientists have different opinions about the consumption of meat, because the emergence of new food trends, that would prevent animal abuse, while still getting the same nutrients, proteins and vitamins. It is the reason why our position paper is “Eating Meat is Not Necessary to Live”.

According to some nutritionists, meat contributes between 16% and 22% protein, a higher proportion than other kind of food. These proteins, like all those that come from animal foods (milk and dairy meat, fish and eggs), are considered of high biological value for its quantity and it is content in essential amino acids (those that the body cannot synthesize themselves and whose only source is obtained through food) these substances are essential for growth, defenses and tissue regeneration. For this reason they are considered one of the cornerstones of nutrition in many developed countries. The World Health Organization says that meat is incomplete from the nutritional point of view, lacking vital nutrients like carbohydrates, antioxidant vitamins (A, C and E), and calcium, and the few it has, it has in very low percentages, meat proteins does not bring any amino acid that cannot be obtained from vegetables. In fact, herbivores animals whose muscles are also essential amino acids derived from vegetables they eat.

HEALTH


Fats from animal flesh increase by 40 percent more likely to have cancer and are at increased risk for heart disease and many other diseases such as a heart attack, obesity, appendicitis, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes and food poising. Do you expect to have a disease to find a solution? Meat contains large accumulations of pesticides and other chemicals (hormones, penicillin). For example, it would not be possible to maintain the reddish appearance of the meat for days considering the rapidity of the putrefaction. If we learn we see that our digestive system shares more characteristics with the herbivores than the carnivores. We certainly need proteins and meat is a rich source of them. However, there is variety of healthy foods richer in protein, such as the diversity of vegetables, cereals, quinoa, soybeans and their combination.




ANIMALS


It is known that animals in factory farms are treated like machines, we can find different information or videos that show the reality in these places . Gary Yourofsky, activist for animal rights, who has been arrested more than 13 times as a result of sporadic acts of kindness and compassion after watching and documenting such events. Gary narrates how people abused animals with different techniques,all these animals spend their short -plan- lives in crowded and full of faeces. Many cannot even breathe fresh air until they are pushed and hits to put them in trucks and give them a ride to the horrible slaughterhouse, often at extreme temperature and always without food or water.

WORLD HUINGER AND THE ENVIRONMENT


Calculating our supply of grain and we gave it to humans malnourished, instead of giving it to cattle, it could easily nurture all chronically undernourished people on the planet. Approximately to produce one kilogram of grain to feed a cow are necessary at least 150 liters of water; Also 90% of oats, 85% corn and 80% of soybeans produced in the United States are given to livestock. The food that would be saved if all humans consumed only vegetables is enough to finish several times with the current world hunger. Many developing countries have expanded their animal production for export while a lot of people are starving. For example, In Guatemala, nearly half of children under 5 years go hungry while this country is exporting millions of tons of meat to the United States each year.

A third of all staple (basic) foods consumed in the United States are used in the production of meat diets, and more than half of the water consumed in the country. A person who does not eat meat can be fed with less than 10% of the water needed for a carnivore. Farming techniques needed to produce meat diets have caused erosion of much of the earth's surface. Millions of hectares of productive and diverse forests in both temperate and tropical areas have been cleared and are intended to pasture for livestock, thereby altering ecosystems-rich lungs of our planet. Meat is the food that most wastes environment, the most cruel and inefficient that we ingest.

ETHICS


What right do we have to take the life of animals unnecessarily? 
It is true that animals do not know their rights and do not always respect us. A child is often found in a similar condition. Therefore, it is irrelevant to justify cruelty. If humans are intelligent and know the reality, why not change our behavior with the animals? It is impossible to live life without causing any damage, but that does not entitle us to intentionally cause unnecessary harm. Just because you might accidentally hit someone with your car is not reason to hit someone on purpose. And if everyone runs over to others,do you need to do that? Is it not more courageous thinking and being conscious rather than blindly follow the mass?
The murder, child abuse and animal cruelty are all immoral behavior. Today our society promotes eating meat and the cruelty of factory farming, but history teaches that society once fostered slavery, child labor and many other practices that today are recognized globally as erroneous.

Restating our argument we already know that the animals do not have suitable conditions like hygiene, space, natural food, etc. To grow up and develop, that is defining in our days like abuse and cruelty. Over time we have learned that slavery, violence, and bloody deaths are wrong in reasoning specie, the one we presume belong to. Afterward, our body does not have carnivorous characteristics; we cannot digest appropriately the animal proteins (meat), that is why we get a lot of chronic illnesses. It is not a secret that many people in the world does not have the same conditions or possibilities to feed themselves, and the healthiest food for them are vegetables, cereals, soybeans.This kind of food are natural, that means it does not have chemicals to grow fat people, this food is rich in nutrients necessary to human body.
Humans have reasoning; do you know the feelings of animals?

STRICTER PENALTIES FOR PEOPLE WHO JUMP INTO TRANSMILENIO

Claudia Torres

A person’s risking his life to avoid paying for a service is a serious issue in our city. Nowadays, we see in the news and in our daily experience how students and other people jump into Transmilenio. Although there have been alarming cases of people being killed, this unacceptable practice of jumping into Transmilenio has become more and more common. According to Transmilenio’s manager and different newspapers, 54 people died in 2012 and 90% of the accidents occurred due to inappropriate pedestrians’ behavior. Considering this scenario, I think that it is necessary to stop this dangerous practice, and the only way to achieve this is with stricter penalties, such as jail.

From the point of view of the hundreds of people who jump into Transmilenio, this is a justifiable behavior because according to them, the high prices and bad quality of the service are the main causes. In this way, the National Union of Bank Employees reports that only 40% of the economically active population in Bogota has a formal job. On the other hand, although in the opening of Transmilenio, the mayor of the city (Enrique Peñalosa) promised to reduce the price of the service. Today, ten years later, we see that the gap between the price of a bus and a Transmilenio keeps increasing. For these reasons, it is possible to affirm that the majority of users have informal and low-wage jobs that makes difficult to afford such expensive means of transportation.

However, despite the high costs of Transmilenio, the true causes of this behavior are others and mirror serious problems in our culture and children’s behavior. Alexandra Rojas, CEO of the Road Prevention Fund, states that Transmilenio users have this behavior because they are in a hurry (33%), they are lazy (23%) or reckless (17%). In this point is important to mention the high participation of children and teenagers in this situation because they think that jumping into Transmilenio is a game where the risk is fun. 

Additionally, within the ways to avoid paying this service, the most unacceptable practice is to cross the street and force the station’s doors to open because it generates a great amount of accidents and deaths. For example, if a Transmilenio bus stops violently to not run over a pedestrian, it is possible to generate an accident that affects each user inside the bus, which can be really risky considering that those buses are very crowded. In contrast, if the bus does not stop, it is possible that the imprudent pedestrian ends up with serious injuries or dead. As reported by the World Health Organization, 22% of the population died in traffic accidents and 30% of these victims are pedestrians. 

To sum up, if this problem is not solved, it can generate a higher and alarming number of traffic accidents and casualties, whereby it is necessary for the government to create projects to solve this problematic. For example, I believe that the solution could start with a real eye-opener campaign that creates awareness and a self-critical behavior among people. It is important to support civic education because each user needs to take care of Transmilenio´s system, giving example with his own behavior. 

However, there are people who constantly jump into Transmilenio, and society should be stricter against them and this dangerous practice. I think this because they do not have justifiable reasons to risk their lives and the safety or comfort of other citizens. In this sense, each person must be aware of the impact of their own actions on others and for this reason, accidents generated because of this unacceptable practice must be judged with the law. Jail is the appropriate punishment because offenders do not respect existing campaigns: for instance, as part of the campaign “Save Lives” exists not only a lot of announcements at stations, like “let the doors close, your life is worthier more”, but also a penalty of a minimum wage for the people who jump into Transmilenio. However, I have never seen someone being punished. 

JUAN MANUEL SANTOS SHOULD NOT BE RE – ELECTED

Mauricio Reyes

Kevin Ramírez

Juan Manuel Santos began his government on august 7 of 2010, with the highest number of votes in the history of Colombia’s elections with the percentage of 69,13 % in contrast, with Mockus 27,47% in the second round. Santos was minister of defense during 3 years when Alvaro Uribe was president of Colombia, Santos was member of “Partido de la U” since 2005. He had a strong position with national security during his government, though. He did not hold his position. He also has had a lot of problems during the three years of his administrations and that is why we think that Santos should not be re-elected.

Some people think that Santos has had a good handle on the different situations that the country had faced, but others think that his efforts are not enough for the country needs. Firstly Juan Manuel Santos has had accurate decisions like re-establishing relationships with neighbors like Venezuela and Ecuador. For instance, he joined the Pacific Alliance (6 June 2012) where other members are Chile, Peru and Mexico, and that contributed to the development of the region by creating agreements that allow citizens to travel to the alliance countries without the need of a visa or the creation of business that promotes economic activities. On the other hand, he did not take the precautions to protect the little producers like the milk, potatoes and coffee sectors. He did not keep control over the foreign product prices, destroy the local agriculture economy, and at the same time increase taxes that produced loss for peasants. 

Mainly, we have to understand what a Free Trade Agreement is. It is a bilateral pact in which two countries import and export their products with less taxes. That means that when a product enters the country, it does not have so many taxes, and that makes the products cheaper to access to the market, however in the United States and Colombia’s agreement, there are certain facts that make it unfair for Colombia, in special for the little producers because peasants in United States have subsidies and support of the government. On the other hand, in Colombia peasants have to pay a lot of money for produce their products. Juan Manuel Santos government did not take the precautions. For example, a peasant has to buy a really expensive fertilizer and transport it is also expensive because of the price of gasoline, taking into account that Colombia is a big producer of oil, that is why Colombia is not ready for a Free Trade Agreement with an industrialized country like the United States. 

On August 19th different sectors of Colombian agriculture stop their activities and began with demonstrations that tried to obstruct the principal highways of the country. Peasants argue against the different Free Trade Agreements that put them in disadvantage with foreign markets and drive them to misery for the expensive costs of production and the little payment they get for their products. The government of Santos did not care about the peasants situation and only sent anti-mob police to unlock the highways. However, the peasants did not allow that, and more sectors of peasants and citizens joined to demonstrations like potatoes, milk, miners and different groups of students. At the same time, they did not allow the transportation of food that make a lot of pressure to the president with all cases. Finally, that makes that a lot of ministers of the government renounced and a group of negotiators were sent to made agreements with peasants. That event left 12 dead, more than 485 injured including peasants and cops. So we think that Santos had a really bad management of the demonstrations. He also encourages violent acts by saying that the national agricultural strike did not exist. 

Another important issue that the government of Santos has failed is in Health. The government has never paid attention, even when they give a lot of money for resources for hospitals, it is spent in unnecessary things, or it is stolen by corrupt organizations. Juan Manuel Santos has never shown interest in solving that, health is really unfair in Colombia specially for people with low economic resources. For example, with people dying in front of the hospitals because the hospital does not give the attention required. Furthermore, in some cases the excuse is that the hospital does not have the appropriate infrastructure, personal, medicine and expenses, but Santos does not think a special solution for that. Besides, the problem has become worse day after day. If he follows with his current policies, Colombia will fall in an abyss, so it is time to change the system and find a solution for this huge problematic. 

In conclusion, Juan Manuel Santos and his work’s group did not accomplish the majority of his goals, he did not do what people expected of him. He follows the same   policies and made the same mistakes of the last governments. In Colombia, we need a government that improves our life quality and specially for the ones who need it more. Santos did not take the correct decisions in many issues, as we can see the enormous problem with the peasants; the lack of support to the industry and agriculture, or the wrong management of the demonstrations and the continuous problem of the health system. Maybe a lot of problems did not begin with Santos, but he did not solve them, and what Colombian needed is a president that contributed to the development of our country.

Internet... A world that connect a universe

Valeria Quintana – Stiven García

Internet through time has been considered beyond a system for storing information, a way to set people free in ourselves. In a beginning, it was supposed to be used with militaries purposes, to enable large distances communications for keeping people ready and prepared to any event, but it never did. However, Internet was used by first time in 1969 to communicate 3 universities in the United States, giving the next step into a different era with the development of new and never seen communications. Internet nowadays has become in part of our daily life, it has broken the barriers of the human wit, allowing us to communicate with the whole world throughout 40 years, and during that time, we have shared tons of ideas, which have built the society that we know today, so It will be totally wrong that few people, with a selfish thinking, take control and destroy all the work that we have done to build a fear society.

Currently, governments are trying to find new ways to govern and keep up the order in the society because of crime, violence and all the possible problems they could face; Corruption and avaricious as the worst enemy for humanity, has changed the perception that people used to have about governing. So they were forced to show people what they only want, hiding and depriving the real information to give a good conception of them for the society, and an effective way to do it, is through the communications, fundamentally Internet, that it has over 1854 million of daily users. However, it would be a violation of our rights, inasmuch as they would be limiting our capacity to think and express freely our ideas, in that way we would be subject to a system which would not have the participation of people, because of the opinion is censured.

Since Internet has been in our society, it has opened many doors for people worldwide, creating new opportunities for working, giving more chances to develop our world. A clear example of this, are all those companies that offer their services, products and help, through the Web, contributing and promoting everyday a better quality of life. Internet is not just a way to get jobs or some business; it is also a means which we can expand the possibilities to connect people around the world in one place, breaking the caps, going beyond of our limits. The regimen of each country expect to restrict and control all those connections that have allowed to people communicate, to supervise our behavior in the web, looking for “possible actions against the state”, going into our privacy, watching over us for some wrong conduct.

Another important issue is the privacy; this can be considered as people’s freedom, inasmuch as, through privacy people can express as themselves, without any kind of restriction, without being judged or criticized. For instance, “without privacy life would be hell. It would mean that you would be highly vulnerable to the control of others, lose your freedom which may lead to inhibition, tentativeness, may be less spontaneous, and you would be more likely to be manipulated”. There are many ways, which people is being fooled, and forced to live without a consistent privacy, because of we are part of a system where everyone needs to know what you do, to allow you permissions (licenses, offers, etc.), any kind of job, and even for buying something; if you don’t agree with them, you would be rejected. Furthermore, another common way to go into our privacy is through Internet, insomuch as, this is a massive media with million and millions of daily users, which has offered us unimaginable possibilities, both good and bad. We can find some danger while we are connected, since as we are exposed to people with malicious purposes, seeing that they can steal our valuable information, like web accounts, passwords, credit cards information, etc. any kind of material which can threaten our integrity. For that reason, it is very important to keep our information, because we will never know about what the other’s purposes are. In addition, disrespect of privacy is considered as a violation of the human rights, because that means do away with people’s freedom; so would you like the idea to be watched all time by entities or people to see what are you doing, exposed to many risks online?

Besides, today there are many corporations such as Microsoft, Facebook, Google and even mobiles companies that try to “hide” some important information for the customers in their super large products user agreements licenses, making people lazy to read it, skipping many important information. For example, when you install new software, or you when you create an email or social network account, before you would be able to use it, you need to agree the user’s policies contract, and if you do it unconsciously, you are committing to follow those statements whose purposes are both overprotect themselves as well as to allow them manipulate your information, but if you don’t agree, you can’t use their products, so you were forced to used it, surrendering your freedom.

Therefore, Internet has become our biggest mean of communication and expression; likewise, it has lead for malicious acts by governmental entities or a simple person that has his own interests or wants to sell the world a misleading information, or in the same way hide the true facts about things that happen around the world; in that way, we would be able to say that Internet censorship is one of the forms of impediment of free writing and thinking. That is why we are living in a foolish society, where most of the opinions are false.

Military Service Should not be a Mandatory in Colombia

William Durán, Andrés Fúquene

Military service is a controversial topic all over the world, although there have been some differences about it depending mainly on the country laws. The first country that has mandatory military service in Latin America is Chile, and it was in 1900. Countries like Iran, Greece, Russia, South Korea and Egypt force their men, and in some cases their women, to get into the service. A general aspect of the military service is that they require people between 18 and 21 year old the most. They could be either urban or rural areas citizens.  In  the army, they also  have  some  requirements about  weight, height and traits  to  draft their  workforce. In Colombia there are  people that go just because, other people  are forced  to  go,  and  some  other  people  that want to  join the army, but  they are  not accepted. We believe that military service should not be mandatory, and we will explain why with different arguments.

Many  people say  mandatory military service would  have very  good  advantages because  people  who  join the  army would become stronger  not  only   physically but  also mentally. According to what they say, people would have more discipline and responsibility every way; putting people into the service, we might avoid some general national problems in different topics like for example, in health we could decrease a great percentage of the obesity. That is not totally true because many people come back from the war with mental illnesses or bad behaviors that did not exist before their military service. For example, the posttraumatic stress disorder is a common disease of people that have gone to the war. With the posttraumatic stress disorder, you can hear about other experiences of anxiety or anger behavior. Another case is about some people that have not gone to the army and they are responsible citizens with a lot of discipline like university or high school   students. When our young people come back from the military service, they have had time away from the academic knowledge, and they become disinterested to learn new things; In some cases, they would rather do  other activities different to study.

First it is necessary to talk about the people who disagree with the military service, they are called “objectors” and with them some politicians support this idea. For instance, the secretary of government, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo. He is working, with different human rights organizations about conscience objections, and their goal is to get it as a fundamental right. “Who does not want to go to war should not have to go to war”, he said. Conscience objection is the refusal to comply with certain legal standards that people considered opposite to their ethical or religious beliefs. The objectors totally disagree with illegal drafting in Bogota. There are many people who believe that conscious objections are valid for those who do not agree with the war or those who their political or religious beliefs are against the violence. Finally they are based on our political constitution which says in its Article 18: “... it is guaranteed freedom of conscience. No one shall be molested for his convictions and beliefs or compelled to reveal them or forced to act against his conscience”.

Another topic is about the selection to the military service. There are boys who want to go there, but they cannot be accepted because they do not have the necessary requirements to get in, for example the height. The idea to take people who do not want to go to  war is dangerous because in our troops you can find young people with mental problems like Posstraumattic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and some other mental diseases, which in some studies has reached up to 80%. In Vietnam veterans found that up to 66% had other affective, or anxiety disorder, and 39% had alcohol abuse or dependence. In Colombia there is a prevalence of 16,66% for PTSD (Corzo P, Bohorquez A, 2009). We thought that it is better if our troops have brave boys, that are sure about what they are doing. That is why,  the objectors believe about the importance of the willing  to be there for our soldiers and anybody who protects us.

Military service in Colombia affects principally the poor and country people, who do not have the right to declare themselves as conscience objectors, and cannot pay for the military card. Annually, about 80,000 young people are forced to get  into the armed forces. The rich and the middle class pay huge quantities of money to buy the military card. Many politician’s sons. For example, Alvaro Uribe’s did not do the military service. Conscience objectors argue that paying for the military card is to collaborate economically with the war and that is like paying for the bullet that could kill someone. The position is more moral, and ethical than real; Military card does not generate more revenue for the armed forces, whose budget amounts is about 3.4 trillion pesos. But the injustice does not end there because the people who do not have military card live a kind of civil death. They cannot work, or sign any kind of contract with the government; They also have many difficulties to find employment in the private sector, where many companies require the military card. They cannot even get their degree at some educational institutions.

According to these arguments, it is evident that military service has important and serious consequences in our society, like for example it could affect the mental health of people who go there. Besides that, it is unfair not only for poor people who have to pay huge quantities of money to buy the military card, but also for the conscious objectors who do not have the same opportunities to get jobs or  their degrees. Being against the military service is a right that many people do not know, and many authorities do not respect. We are totally sure that military service should not be mandatory.

PREVALENCE OF ACUTE STRESS DISORDER AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN COLOMBIAN SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN COMBAT

PAULA A. CORZO P., M.D. ^a* Y ADRIANA P. BOHÓRQUEZ P., M.D. ^b