This powerful anti-racism social experiment will make you think

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An interesting, thought-provoking Lithuanian PSA video by Lithuanian anti-discrimination organisation Svetima Geda has been doing the rounds and is very quickly going viral on the internet. The aforementioned video, which is mostly in English with the Lithuanian translation on the subtitles, is a social experiment that highlights and challenges attitudes towards racism in Lithuania and the modern day world of social media.

The video which is 5 minutes and 30 seconds long starts with a sped up time-lapse of the experimenters wiring the actor up, setting the cameras up and arranging the ‘set’ which largely resembles a waiting area for a job interview or something similar in a big corporate building where the candid experiment is carried out.

The plot of this candid social experiment starts with an actor playing an African immigrant new to Lithuania, who is sitting in a waiting area when a variety of unsuspecting Lithuanian locals including men, women and even a child from all walks of life, join him in the waiting area each at separate times.

The video depicts a montage of each time the African man and each of the locals exchange pleasantries and small talk then silence as they wait until the African man then asks each of the locals to translate a message in Lithuanian which he received on Facebook and cannot understand. He explains he is new to the language and someone has sent him a message on Facebook which maybe the locals could help him translate. The video cuts to each of the locals mostly happy to help and some politely agreeing with a smile, but once the locals read the message their faces immediately change.

The interesting part is how the Lithuanian locals react once they read the message. Some take a long pause and are visibly distressed by the message they have just read, some shake their heads whilst most refuse to even say back what they have read. It is clear to see all the locals are shocked and appalled by the message and have great difficulty to even tell the African man what the message entails. One woman describes it as “humiliating” and a man responds after being asked “nope, there is no useful information here” whilst another local man pronounces that he cannot say what has been written while looking at the African man.

What is striking is that the men all decline to interpret the message whilst majority of the women emotionally recite back the message to the African man whereas the child innocently interprets without any thought. All of the unsuspecting locals apologise to the African man with a look of guilt and remorse as if they have written the message themselves.

This is the purpose of the video that no matter whom these people are and what their beliefs are when confronted face-to-face with racism there really is no good that can come out of it and how anyone reacts to it is largely the same, there is simply no place for it in today’s world.

How would you deal with this situation? Would you be honest? Would you refuse? Would you lie? On the flip side how would you react if you were the African man hearing these things?

What you don’t know about Facebook’s privacy?

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Undeniably Facebook is one of the most recognised brand names in the world and is listed in the top 20 world’s most valuable brands by Forbes. The power social media site which has captured over a billion users worldwide was only founded 11 years ago and has continued to grow on a massive scale since its launch in 20 accumulating over 800 million active users per day and over 1.3 billion monthly active users.

The social media site has grown from its humble beginnings as a platform for individuals to keep in touch, share images, videos and instant chat with friends and family to a global branding and marketing tool for businesses to increase awareness and engagement. The past four years has seen Facebook launch its translation tool allowing users to read posts and comments in different languages including Spanish, French and Italian. Furthermore Facebook’s success has seen the online social media site turn into a public company and its growth is still looking stable despite fierce competition from other social media sites such as Twitter.

On the controversial issue of privacy Facebook has seen its fair share of backlash from the public about how user’s content is handled.

Facebook has been criticised by some regarding how easy it is to make a Facebook profile. When signing up to Facebook all you need is a name, email address and password. With this simple account set up process Facebook has seen the creation of 83 million fake profiles according to CNN despite strident process of requesting proof of identification for suspected fake profile users. Shocking? With such a huge number of fake profiles do you really know who you are talking to on the other side of the net? Well for the most Facebook is used as a means to keep in touch with people they already know, however some use it as a platform to meet other like-minded people. On the other hand Facebook utilises face recognition software allowing them to close in on fake accounts.

A privacy concern among users involves third party companies having access to your information. We have all received the Candy Crush invites or clicked on apps which ask for permission to have access to our information, even going as far as asking permission to post on your behalf in order to use their application. For many wanting to use these apps it simply is a non-starter as you have limited to none access if you do not agree to such terms. In some cases Facebook is obliged to give information to third parties such as the government upon request.

One major subject which has hit headlines in recent years is that Facebook owns rights to your photos and videos. In that respect Facebook has a right to use your content in any way it sees fit. A report by The Telegraph highlighted that:

“Specifically for photos and video uploaded to the site, Facebook has a license to use your content in any way it sees fit, with a license that goes beyond merely covering the operation of the service in its current form. Facebook can transfer or sub-license its rights over a user’s content to another company or organisation if needed. Facebook’s license does not end upon the deactivation or deletion of a user’s account, content is only released from this license once all other users that have interacted with the content have also broken their ties with it (for example, a photo or video shared or tagged with a group of friends)“.

With the vast amount of information people share on social networking sites some even sharing their home and work addresses it is always a concern as to who has access to this information.

Another feature of Facebook is that it automatically sets your profile photo to be seen by the public when uploaded despite you having only friends or individuals set to see your updates. This is missed by so many people who think ‘all’ their photos are private. Although that is the case it is easy to revert your profile picture to private once uploaded.

Overall Facebook has captured our attention and its addictive nature will sure continue for the foreseeable future as it continues to implement new ways for people to be engaged whether it’s the buying up of other social media platforms such as Instagram or WhatsApp, Facebook has a mission to remain among the top social media sites for a long time and remains a force to be reckoned with.

Four signs you need to leave your job!

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When is the right time to leave your job?

We have all been there, stuck in a job where the future just seems bleak, day in day out Monday to Friday feeling that same old miserable feeling of hopelessness, bitterness and worry; the feeling of being stuck in a job you are not happy with. Whether you work for a medical institution, marketing agency, engineering firm or translation company, you may be faced with challenges which may result in you deciding to leave your job. Some of the signs it’s time to move on from your current employment are highlighted below. If you can relate to any of these points it might be your time to leave.

 

  1. Waking up in the morning and feeling sick? This feeling is very common and is a definitive sign that maybe things need to either change at your current workplace or maybe it’s time to hang your work boots for that particular job. Ever woken up and felt anxious about your day at work? Many of us do whether it is because of important meetings ahead or boardroom presentations, it is normal to experience such emotions. What is not natural is feeling this way consistently to the point where you are physically sick. If you feel this way it probably is time to make some changes firstly for your health and wellbeing and secondly for your peace of mind.
  1. Feeling underappreciated? Whenever you have an idea and present it to your supervisor or manager and despite you highlighting the benefits, you are completely ignored and your suggestions and opinions are disregarded without any thought. The question is for how much longer can you withstand such behaviours? Considering we spend most the time we are awake at work it is vital to spend it in an environment where you are appreciated.
  1. Is your boss is always right, even when they are wrong? Now dealing with different personalities is a quality we   all have to learn and in some ways are forced to develop in the workplace. Let’s face it we are all different in one way or another and we all have differences in the ways in which we deal with situations, however a sign that it may be time to leave your job can translate through how your manager approaches situatio
    ns     especially when things aren’t going to plan. We have all been taught to not let other peoples actions dictate our emotions however when you are working under the supervision of someone who feels they are never wrong and is always putting the blame on you this can be hard to follow. If after speaking to your management/HR about their behaviours the same pattern follows it really is time to look elsewhere.
  1. When promises never manifest. Ever been promised a pay rise, flexible working hours or even a bonus which has never been fulfilled? Yes the same old story of “oh the company did not perform as well as we thought this year, maybe next year” and before you realise it’s been 3 years. This is a clear sign of false promises which will never manifest. Good employers value their workers and understand that them being happy is good for the business.

The job market has in recent years taken a huge slump which has forced many people to put up and get by as the demand for work has been consistently higher than the jobs available. A dilemma many people face is whether to leave their well-paid job they do not enjoy to work in an environment they are happier to be in for lower pay. This dilemma is something we may all face at some point in our careers. Whether it is due to parental duties we will have to experience once we have children or other push factors which may well put us in such predicaments. On the plus side the job market seems to be on the mend with the Guardian highlighting that 50% of British businesses were planning to take on more staff in 2015.

Are robots more harmful than we think?

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We have all seen the movies, read the books and even heard things from the weirdo at the back of the bus saying robots will take over the world and enslave the human race one day. Most of us will usually not take any notice or even laugh it off as a sign of paranoia, but do the movies; books and weirdo all have a point? Do they know something we don’t? Is there more to these artificial beings than just a way to aid the human race? Are robots more harmful than we think?

To decide whether these lifeless beings pose a threat to the human race we must first understand where robots came from. The original idea of artificial beings stems from the ancient world, although it wasn’t until the age of the industrial revolution that through the introduction of electricity made it possible to power machines using electric motors. Therefore in the early 20th century the modern concept of humanoid robots were conceived. The term ‘robot’ was coined in the 1921 science fiction play R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Czech writer Karel Capek whose brother Josef created the word from Czech word “robota” which roughly translates into servitude or job.

Of course not all robots are bad; robots are actually very beneficial to us. They help us with everyday menial tasks, the machine robots have helped us advance as a race by basically being the automotive, manufacturing and engineering industry by mass producing on a major scale because without robots we would have not seen demands met. Robots have taken humans out of dangerous and health hazardous jobs and probably saved a lot of human lives in turn. You can find robots anywhere from the retail industry to the entertainment industry but one of the most important jobs robots are conducting right now are in the medical sector. Robots are utilised within the pharmaceutical side of mass producing medicines for all types of medical conditions as well as preforming potential lifesaving surgeries on patients through human controlled robot surgeons. Of course as technology moves on there are more and more autonomous robots being created with a view in mind to make our lives easier, for example auto vacuum cleaners, self-driving cars and so on. But could this be making us too complacent? In short, not really but we could well be weakened as a race.

When discussing robots and their effect on the human race it is hard to deter from the topic of whether all these advantages of robots in the work place can be a disadvantage in the long run and lead to displacing humans in the workforce altogether? Could we be at the start of industries looking to invest in artificial intelligence for more than just laborious tasks, leaving more of us unemployed? It remains to be seen whether the bleak vision of current trending Hollywood films of a future of a globalised world filled with mass poverty, disease, and unemployment is true, where artificial intelligence is put in place to work for the rich whilst strictly controlling the poor. As more and more money is being used to fund the type humanoid robots that mimic human and even animal movement, we could be witnessing the actualisation of scenes straight out of the Terminator series. Adding to the fact that robots have the potential to be stronger, faster and more ruthless than humans. If the movies are true and robots develop their own agenda then we don’t stand a chance.

So are robots more harmful than we think?

Right now, no. In fact robots have been responsible for a lot of good and advancement for the human race; they have made our lives easier and maybe made us lazier, also robots do not have the capacity to feel emotions, to love, hate, envy etc. So they are only as smart as the human they are taking orders from. There is a lot of sensationalism about robots and what they have the potential to become and of course there is a potential for them to fall with the wrong people to utilise them in a wrong way and if we are not careful, things could become depressing like the films but one thing that is for sure it is in our own hands for now.