My Lens on Contemporary Issues by Ilai Juster

Heritage

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-21 19:06:22 UTC

I was born and raised, for the first seven years of my life, in Israel. The large majority of my extended family still lives there, so I tend to care more than average about the well-being of Israeli civilians. The information I received about the complex situation in that region of the Middle East was very heavily skewed in favor of Israel, so I have only fairly recently begun discovering the full picture

My Parents

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-21 19:12:04 UTC

My parents are both intelligent, although in wildly different ways. My dad taught me to think critically and academically, while my mom is very into conversations about the state of the world and the human condition. These are two very different experiences, but they both help me to form my own opinions and be my own individual person

Religion

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-22 02:48:14 UTC

Despite my upbringing in Israel and the opinions of my entire extended family, my close family and I are not Jewish but instead atheistic. This does not have much relevance to my views, as I would like to think I would be much the same person if I believed in a religion, except to maybe make me slightly less susceptible to having more extreme views on subjects affected by Judaism such as the existence of Islamic countries and Muslim people

Knowledge

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-22 02:55:15 UTC

I enjoy learning. I prefer some subjects, but I will usually be interested in new information. I like to learn from multiple sources in case one is wrong or biased, but I tend to trust scientific sources the most. I believe this leads to a very informed view of any major issues or topics that are currently being discussed nationally or globally

Education

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-23 00:53:20 UTC

I have been taught many things at school, but the facts that most shape my views on important subjects are stories about repressed groups which I would never had heard had it not been for the school system, such as the LGBTQ community and especially its younger members

Rationality

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-23 04:39:22 UTC

I stand firmly behind the principle of not letting emotional, spiritual, or any kind of pure belief interfere with the process of figuring out one's stances or opinions. I am not trying to say that I am some perfect being that always makes correct decisions regardless of feelings, but that is an ideal I strive towards

Socialism

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-23 04:45:47 UTC

I believe that those in a disadvantaged state should receive benefits from their society, and that in aiding these people, the society as a whole will benefit. A selfless approach will ultimately lead to a desirable result even to the selfish, who do not care about the positive impact on others. I believe in systemic changes such as universal health care and financial aid to the poor, especially if that money is acquired by taxing the rich, megacorporations, and churches

Incarceration

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-23 04:51:13 UTC

The prison system in the US needs a major overhaul. Firstly, a privatized prison system is awful and creates several conflicts of interests (thanks, Reagan). This country should focus on government-run, or at the very least heavy government oversight of, facilities as well as encourage these facilities to focus more on the rehabilitation of inmates instead of treating them as garbage to be punished, no matter the crime

Agriculture

ilaijuster25 — 2024-05-23 05:03:19 UTC

The way the farming sector is being managed here in the US is untenable and currently leading to a crisis. Each year, we lose more and more of our healthy topsoil. Healthy topsoil helps keep plants healthy and the ground from performing a grand reenactment of the Dust Bowl. Topsoil is kept healthy by varieties of plants replenishing its nutrients, as different plants give and take different nutrients from the topsoil. However, the current US strategy is "farm this crop here", which even with crop rotations, is not enough. Topsoil needs entire ecosystems in order to stay healthy, and without any healthy topsoil, nothing can grow