On The Media: Guantanamo Bay Prison

Earlier this week, President Obama officially announced his plans for closing down Guantanamo Bay Prison, which is a U.S. military prison/detention camp. He explained how former President George W. Bush also had this in his plans as well. So, what's the big deal?


I will refer to the prison as a "camp" from this point forward, because that's what it is; a detention camp specified for detaining extraordinary dangerous people. Since it's opening in 2002, there have been over 700 attendees of the camp, and it was surprisingly common for them to be released after a couple years of serving in the camp. Several Al-Qaeda leaders have been captured and brought to the prison over the years, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and  Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh. Many suicides have happened within the camp as well. This is likely because of the sever interrogation and torture set forth by U.S. officials to gain information on possible connections with terrorism.


So why shut it down? It seems like the idea of it is doing nothing but keeping bad guys off the streets; really bad guys, that is.


First of all, it's definitely been a financial burden. In July of 2012, it was reported that the facility received $40 million dollars for a communication upgrade. It is costly to transfer these high-profile people to and from their locations when they are entered into the camp, and when they are released from the camp. They're actions must be facilitated by U.S. officials all the time.


In Obama's second attempt to close the prison (he had plans for it when he was first elected in 2008), he expressed some of his opinions on why this camp must be closed was released in a public statement, found at  http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/obama-congress-guantanamo-bay-closure-plan-219663


The article writes, "The White House will seek to entice lawmakers by portraying the plan as a money saver, saying it would cost $65 million to $85 million less per year to hold Guantánamo prisoners in facilities in the United States. Onetime costs of $290 million to $475 million to upgrade existing U.S. facilities or build new facilities would be recouped in three to five years, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity".


Yes it is obviously a huge cost issue between maintenance and upgrading the facility. But furthermore, Obama expresses, “If you think it’s better to kill people than to capture them and obtain information from them, then I guess you like this idea,” he told MSNBC. He also states in his announcement, "It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law. As Americans, we pride ourselves on being a beacon to other nations, a model of the rule of law”. It's an ethical issue. They capture the most wanted terrorists in the world and torture them until they tell us what we want to hear. Is this the right thing to do? Or is it right to just kill them? Whatever the case, they can cover it up to the public as a financial issue.


One of the top Presidential candidates, Senator Marco Rubio, has explained that he disapproves of Obama's plan to shut down the facility. The future of the Guantanamo Bay Prison will remain in question for at least the next year or so.

On The Media-Zika Virus

This week's On The Media subject is all about the Zika Virus.

Every time I see news of some sort of virus coming to America, it seems as though it is a blown out-of-proportion frenzy by the media to "warn" us; just like Ebola. Once I saw that this was about yet another virus, I immediately stereotyped it, just like I'm sure others have. It's a taboo really; I know of zero people personally who had any sort of connection with Ebola, just as this is the first time I've even heard about the Zika Virus. For what it's worth, the on the media this week actually provided some thought-provoking information. Taken with a grain of salt, here are my thoughts:


I had to do a little more research on my own to see what the buzz was really about (a mosquito buzz, get it?). I came across several articles that had some general information on the virus. One in particular, that was somewhat rattling how recent it was, called "Model-based Projections of Zika Virus Infections in Childbearing Women in the Americas" caught my attention. The article states,


"On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization designated the ongoing Zika virus epidemic in the Americas as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, defined as an 'extraordinary event' that 'potentially requires a coordinated international response" (Perkins et al, pg. 1).


Now, the World Health Organization is something I've actually heard of before. This article opened my eyes, honestly. This whole thing could be another taboo, however, the article's description of the epidemic are certainly note worthy. The article goes on to describe how the Aedes aegypti mosquitos carrying the virus are spreading quickly across the America's. The biologists did a calculation based on documented history of the Zika virus and the mosquitos to project what could possibly occur in the America's. They write,


"Our results are among the very first projections of the potential magnitude of the ongoing Zika epidemic in the Americas. In total, we project that 64.2 million people in the Americas could be infected during the first wave of the epidemic" (Perkins et al, pg. 2). They also predict Brazil will be at majority risk of infection for the reasons of the country's size, and "suitability for transmission". It is also predicted that island countries in the Caribbean, such as Cuba and Haiti, have the environmental conditions of a severe Zika outbreak as well. Another projection about childbearing women stated that 1.14 million childbearing women could be infected after the first wave (Perkins et al, pg. 3).


The article then went into it's methodology of this research, including data on fertility rates, sex-structure of women, and a Poisson distribution of random variable distribution (for the calculus nerds who know what that is).


I believe this is a legitimate case that will probably affect many people within certain regions. It is sad to think of the potential damages done to the families across Latin America and especially the Caribbean Islands. It also doesn't feel right ethically for me to say I think the United States will be alright. Because who the heck knows, really? Yes, the United States would likely be able to fight the virus with our advances in the medical field compared to those in South America. Yes, this is a potentially dangerous epidemic to those who it could possibly affect. It is selfish of me to think "I'll be alright, it probably won't affect me", but, sadly, it's a natural feeling for a privileged American male living in the state of Utah.

Perkins, A., Siraj, A., Ruktanonchai, C. W., Kraemer, M., & Tatem, A. (2016). Model-based Projections of Zika Virus Infections in Childbearing Women in the Americas. bioRxiv, 039610.

Social Media Campaign Plan

Cool It! Cryotherapy & Massage

For my Social Media Campaign, I will be taking over in part for the Cool It! Cryotherapy & Massage business here in St. George. My goal is to introduce more people throughout St. George to cryotherapy, and give them a better understanding what it's all about. To do this, I intend to make one video that generally sums up what the business is all about. I want to make it friendly to all audiences so that the average Joe can understand cryotherapy. To do this I will need to link the video to Cool It's YouTube channel, hopefully allowing the video to get more views through there as well. 

 In addition, I would like to introduce some new clients to Cool It by expanding the target market. I want to make a post that is innovating enough to attract new audiences. The three primary personas of clients at Cool It are as follows:

1) Men ages 55+ who are interested in an active lifestyle. These people are retired and are into the outdoor activities that Southern Utah offers. They are the kind of clients who are valuable because they are able to come to Cool It for recovery sessions on a regular basis. 

2) Women ages 55+ who are interested in an active lifestyle in St. George as well. Old married couples are really what we're talking about here. 

3) Athletes. While there aren't many professional athletes around St. George, there are plenty of male and female college athletes that go to DSU. There are also the local fitness geeks who go to places like VASA, and Dixie Crossfit that could be good clients as well. These are men and women ages 20-25. 

So building off of this, I would like to introduce a new target market. Perhaps active lifestyle dads or stay at home moms. Middle aged people who just want to try cryotherapy for a general sense of well-being. 

The main key is I want to maintain the feel and tone of the business that owner, Jody Wright, has created for Cool It. He likes to keep it relaxed and fun (you can tell this by the staff selfies on the website's homepage), but also keeping it professional. I want the Facebook to reflect this. I will plan on changing the profile picture to the brand logo to keep it professional. I will include a mixture of educational posts about cryotherapy, as well as including posts that are funny, like memes. I also plan on boosting several posts throughout the semester to really get the Cool It name out there. 



https://www.facebook.com/CoolItCryoMassage