Article

Bad Boy Bieber Source: CNN News 1 July 2014 This is a conversation between a reporter, a psychologist, and teenager observer discussing the world-wide famous young singer, Justin Bieber (aged 19 years old) who has transformed himself from the “baby” to become the “bad boy”. As early as 2010, Bieber began to show signs of stress. One of Justin's wildest nights went down at a Miami strip club. Then Justin was arrested for drag racing in a rented Lamborghini. The two experts believe that Justin’s wild behaviours are the result of him trying to impress his father Jeremy who is a bad influence on him. It is also the result of taking steroids, alcohol, and smoking marijuana. In my opinion, nowadays there is a shifting trend in the world, that teenage artists, aged from 13-20 years old, are become more famous rather than the adult ones, either in films or in the music industry. The globalization of communication and the internet is the key factor. Everyone has a smart-phone and they can easily connect to social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, etc. In the process, teenage artists are more engaged with it rather than the older generation. It is the media through which they can actualize themselves to their fans, mostly to the teenage fans who usually form fan groups, e.g. Justin Bieber’s fan group which is called the Beliebers. Then the Beliebers will imitate and follow all the behaviour conducted by Justin Bieber, whether it is good or bad. Thus, the effects are very dangerous not only for the artist specifically, but also for society in general. The “bad boy” attitudes, such as drinking alcohol, free sex, consuming illegal drugs, etc, are become common in society. Moreover, if parents allow this situation, they can no longer control their own children. Omens of Apocalypse Source: National Geographic Channel, 1 July 2014 On New Year's Eve 2011, thousands of red wings blackbirds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Nearby, fish and more birds perished. Then, a wave of unsettling animal deaths seemed to sweep around the globe. Next, the narrator questions whether those deaths are the omens of an apocalypse. Later, many assumptions suggested by various scientists are examined. Firstly, it can be one of a conspiracy theory that these effects are a result of a project being carried out by the USA government called HAARP (High-Frequency Active Aurora Research Program) which is causing climate change in the atmosphere. In the meantime, some space scientists believes that these deaths are the effect of “vagina of outer space”, in which the sun and planets in the solar system are in a parallel position, and this can disrupt the balance of the system. While, another theory is based on a biblical statement that God will create disasters if humans are no longer following a righteous path and continuously performing many great sins. However, the narrator makes the final conclusion that those deaths are just coincidences in nature. In my opinion, the narrator is just simplifying the problems. Although these can be coincidences in nature, I believe that there must be a reason why something is happening. In other words, these sudden and massive number of animal deaths are mostly caused by a dramatic change in nature. Actually, I am more interested in discussing about the apocalypse (or Judgement Day) which is an intriguing topic because there are many debates regarding when that time will come. I will try to answer it from a natural and religious perspective. I believe that everything has to come to an end someday. Rationally, the earth is growing older now, so in the near future the earth must be destroyed, like an old human is going to die. There are many signs which could indicate this, such as, world-wide natural disasters, sudden animal deaths, climate change, the melting of the polar ice-caps, etc. Next in the Islamic perspective, the apocalypse is inevitable. I believe that God will destroy the universe including the humans living on it. After that, Judgement Day will come. Then God will raise all humans and retaliating their good or bad conduct during their time in the world. Lastly, the good people will go to heaven, and the bad people will go to hell.