Pagan Kennedy, writer for the New York Times, states in her article “The Secret to a Longer Life? Don’t Ask These Dead Longevity Researchers” that the best thing we can do for increasing our lifespan is to not focus on our own personal decisions, but instead to fight for better public sanitation, cleaner water, and control of infectious diseases. In her article, Kennedy discusses the many different self-experiments conducted in the field of anti-aging and longevity research. She references several different scientists, using appositives to clarify where they worked and their positions. Some scientists, such as Dr. Walford, followed fad diets such as calorie restriction with optimal nutrition (CRON). Other scientists included supplements or added compounds to their food, such as Dr. Brenner, who drinks vitamin-B-laced milk. All these methods would supposedly allow one to live past 100, with some claiming up to beyond 120 years, but all failed due to complications not related to food. Many circumstances we are unable to control on an individual level, such as bad genes, accidents, or exposure to smog or pesticides, as mentioned in the article. Kennedy talks about the history of lead exposure in the United States and how outlawing leaded gasoline worldwide and reducing sources of lead exposure led to average lead levels in the blood dropping by more than 80%. This in turn resulted in decreasing the “risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and possibly dementia.” She regards this as a “lifestyle choice,” one that was a result of many people’s decisions, not by one person. She uses studies, citing one that suggests “babies that exposed to high levels of air pollution in the womb may be at risk of premature aging.” All of these are instances where food plays little control in actually affecting lifespan as opposed to choices we make collectively. At the end of her article, Kennedy uses humor by saying “That’s why I’ve added some new components to my diet-and-exercise routine this year: I’m calling Congress and donating to organizations that work for environmental justice.” She urges readers to do the same, making a call to action and talking to them directly.

In determining whether the use of copyrighted material is considered “fair use,” four factors are brought into question: Purpose and and character of use (commercial vs. nonprofit educational), nature of the copyrighted work, amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. (https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html). The biggest concern for creatives is to what extent will their work be protected and for others, how much of a work they can use in their own. Every day, thousands of videos are being taken down from YouTube for copyright infringement, ranging from just muting the video to blocking it entirely worldwide. Many of my favorite dance videos were taken down as a result of copyright laws. This leads me, the viewer, to be disappointed, but more important, the dancer to be discouraged from posting, in fear of of their future videos getting taken down as well. Fans of artists are not able to make their own lyric videos or fanmade music videos  for this same fear. DJs and music producers would not be able to sample specific sections of a track in order to create their own music. Amateur film critics and parody makers are unable to integrate clips of the movies in their own videos. As a result, many people resort to other video streaming websites such as Vimeo. YouTube is meant to be a platform where content creators should, in theory, be able to post as they please. Understandably, some content used in videos is fairly blocked but many record labels and recording studios abuse their copyright laws and end up hurting content creators in the first place. With almost five BILLION videos being watched every day, it’s unjust that the amateur filmmaker or DJ is reprimanded for wanting to put out their work and get recognized. At one point, there was even a hashtag trending on twitter, #WTFU (where’s the fair use) with content creators speaking out against this issues. These copyright laws should be revisited with cases of fair use being reviewed further, as opposed to giant labels abusing their power and “protecting” their work.