Kittenwhiskers’s Weblog

So, back in May, I took the Advanced Placement European History test. This test covers information of Europe from circa 1300 to now. Quite frankly, the class is a bitch and so is the test. There’s a lot of reading of useless things that happened in Europe(as if anyone really cares who Charles IV was).

The test itself consists of 85 questions(if I recall correctly), a DBQ(Document Based Question) and two FRQ’s(Free Response Question). After you take the test, they spend over two months grading how much you sucked, whilst you wait anxiously for your crap score. You can score anywhere from a 1(really bad) up to a 5(super awesome).(One thing that kinda pissed me off though, was that they grade the tests on a curve, so basically, if I miraculously did really well, but everybody else did better, I would get a 1.[If I get a 1, I will find the person who graded my test, and shove the 1 up their butt. Fuck you grading person.])

Anyway, I was positive I would fail this test. Like epically fail. But when I was taking the test, it seemed so simple. The essays were easy-ish(meaning I knew a lot of information, but the stuff that I bullshitted made sense) and the multiple choice questions were simpler than I thought they would be.

So, after the test, I felt pretty confident. I thought I had it “in the bag” if you will. Then I started to doubt myself, then console myself. I told myself, “Self,”(That’s what I call myself when I’m talking to me)”Even, if you did suck, you tried your best.” And then I realized how untrue that was. Because I could have actually studied and stuff. Then after about 10 minutes of this(if I had a longer attention span it would have gone on for longer)(after reading that, you might be thinking, “Well, if your attention span is so short how do you write such interesting blogs?” And to that, you unbeliever, I say that….oooh, shiny.)(In all seriousness though, it takes me like over an hour to write one of these, just ’cause I get distracted so easily. So your welcome. I’m giving up hoursfndesgserjvl–sorry a moth just attacked my face and keyboard, true story–hours of my time to write a super awesome blog, just for you, well, maybe not all of you.), I moved on and started thinking about food or something(I was hungry).

Anyway, I just saw my AP Euro book(which is for sale by the way.), which reminded me of this whole test thing, and then I decided to blog about it.

I don’t get to find out what I got until the third week of July. Grrr.

Well, this is the end I suppose.

POST SCRIPT;(Yeah, that’s right I wrote it all out, you got a problem? I’ll bust a cap in yo’ ass!) I’ll let you know what I got, when I find out(Just ’cause I care about you oh so much).If you want to read a happy blog in a few weeks, hope that I get a 3 or better ’cause that’s passing. If you want to read a sad pessimistic blog, or if you just hate me ’cause you’re a bitch or don’t like that I wrote out POST SCRIPT, then hope that I get a 1 or 2, then you can go die in a river. :]

~End~

Question:

Why is it that one death is a tragedy, but 1,000 deaths is just a statistic?

According to statistics, Angola (a country in Africa, for all of you who don’t know geography and actually think Europe is a country) has the highest IMR (or Infant Mortality Rate for those of you that aren’t acronym savvy) with 192.5 stillbirths out of every 1000. Who is helping Angola better themselves so that less children die? Not me, not you. (Chances are you’re not even donating to the “Feed the Children” thing that save hundreds of children. I know I’m not. Why? Because I’m a selfish American prick and the gluttony of this country has taught me that I shouldn’t care that others are staving as long as I get my Caribbean Passion Jamba Juice with an energy or soy protein boost.)

You might be able to write me an essay on heart disease and cancer (the two top killers in the U.S.), but you probably haven’t even heard of nephritis and septicemia (the 9th and 10th top killers in the U.S.) which together kill more people a year than diabetes(number 6 on the American Homicide list).

However, when one person dies (especially celebrities), it’s a huge deal. Some people think Elvis is still alive. 7% of Americans over the age 18, admitted to believing that Elvis is still alive.

But our sympathy is not limited to people. Recently, people were up in arms about an “artist” who left a dog to starve and die on display and called it art. People went apeshit over this. It turned out to be a hoax. But it was the perfect social experiment. It showed how much people cared over one little thing that they couldn’t change.

So, why is it that one death is a tragedy, but 1,000 deaths is just a statistic?

Personally, I think it’s because people understand what one death feels like, they can relate. But when the newscaster says that thousands of people just died during an earthquake in China, they think “Wow, that sucks.” and then go watch reruns of the Hills on MTV. They can’t relate. They can’t wrap their head around a thousand. It’s too big (That’s What She Said).