Saturday, May 27, 2006

Milwaukee: A great place on a great lake

Stories from last night

Man killed in Greenfield Ave. shooting


Man killed in N. Sherman Blvd. shooting


Two men shot during argument


Man shot in the thigh on St. Paul Ave.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a random response-not a response to Milwaukee being a great place to live. I am posting this comment in response to a discussion that took place on "Why-it's" blog regarding differences between males and females. I noticed that many of those that commented during that discussion also comment on this blog. Since it doesn't seem as though the blog in which this subject was originally discussed on has much activity, I decided to post my comment here to ensure that you all have the opportunity to read it. For those of you who have not read the discussion on variances between males and females I suggest that you do if you are interested. I am intereseted in hearing some more opinions regarding this topic. The following is my response to the original discussion:

I have gathered that one recurrent complaint presented on this site is the presence of communication barriers, particularly amongst males and females. I would like to begin by expressing that I concur with this observation.
There is an abundance of data affirming and additionally offering a degree of concrete explanation for this phenomena.

Most primitively, a consistent difference exists in the anatomical makeup between male and female brain matter. Specifically, female and male brains on average are composed of 55.4% gray matter vs. 50.8% respectively. The function of gray matter is that of higher order thinking, reasoning, processing and ultimately those processes that distinguish us as humans. Men listen with only one side of their brains, while women use both, according to information on brain imaging presented in November 2002, at the 86th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

These differences manifest very early on in life. Baby girls are more easily comforted by soothing words and singing. Girls seem to be better than boys at identifying the emotional content of speech prior to understanding language. From the outset of life, females express a greater interest in communicating with others. One study involves babies of only 2-4 days old. It shows that girls spend almost twice as long maintaining eye contact with a silent adult, and girls also look longer than boys when the adult is talking. At four months of age, most baby girls can distinguish photographs of people that they know from photographs of strangers whereas baby boys cannot.

Additionally, differences between males and females exist biologically. Hormones also play a role: estrogen in females seems to produce better health (for reproducing the species?), especially protecting against heart disease; testosterone in males increases their aggressive response to danger, and may be related to dominance and competitiveness. Males who adopt extremely macho traits and superior attitudes run the risk of several other major problems (Stillson, O'Neil & Owen, 1991). Examples: the highly masculine stereotype has been shown to be associated with family violence, delinquency, fights while drinking, child sexual abuse, and rape. The macho male suppresses feelings and, thus, has more health and psychological problems as well as more superficial and fragile relationships. These facts should help the tough, loud, dominating, belligerent male re-consider his life style. Almost no one, except a few insecure, hostile buddies, respects the inconsiderate, aggressive male. Instead, men should get in touch with their feelings, their bodies, their close relationships (or lack their of), and their basic purposes in life. Strengthening values, and commitment to others including personal relationships would allow a more complete, wiser, caring man.

The facts presented here are fractional in respect to the overwhelming abundance of data available regarding this topic. In response to your expressed frustration regarding observed differences in reactions, desires, and responses between men and woman, I suggest that you delve into this research for yourself. In doing this you may be able to increase your own understanding of these variances as well as their manifestations. My feeling is that this would alleviate a lot of your confusion. Additionally, it might divert your energy away from posting negative, destructive comments to allowing for yourself to gain some degree of purposeful, constructive understanding.