1984 #3

I agree with this statement. Winston's belief is applicable to the world we live in today because no matter how many people aren't willing to stand up for what they believe in, there are those who will come together and do what they know is right. It reminds me of a show called "What Would You Do?". In the show, there are many different scenarios in public places that see what viewers will do in what they think is a real situation. A couple situations are: seeing pilots drink alcohol an hour before flying, people yelling at a mentally disabled person bagging groceries, and a waiter refusing to serve gay couples and their families. The people in the show who stand up for what's right in the world show that most people have the decency and morals to help show the inherent nature of individuals.

1984 #2

I definitely see a connection between the censorship of our language and vocabulary today to Newspeak in 1984. I think it is nonsensical to remove some of the ideas and books from classrooms because they are deemed offensive or controversial. When a child is of age to their own decisions, they should have all the information necessary to make an informed decision on what they want to believe or not. Parents stepping in and making sure their kids don’t have books that teach a different way than they are brought up or have a child acting in a negative way, shouldn't have that right if the kid is at a certain age or if it must be taught to be informed. To have words such as soda banned and needing to be said as Coke or Pepsi because it’s “regional bias” is a little ridiculous; or hordes banned because it is in reference to immigrant groups. Nowadays people read too much into things. I doubt anyone would get offended by me saying I made a snowman instead of snowperson. I understand if it is actually discriminatory against a certain sex or racial group, but we should all think about what is really important in the world. Why shouldn't we be able to say the words we want, we are Americans right? This is the land of the free…including freedom of speech.

1984 #1

Newspeak is "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year." It is a language that has reduced and simplified grammar. Th Party created it to eliminate "crimethink" by destructing words that in any way describe freedom or rebellion. Instead of using antonyms and synonyms for good, whether you really like it or dislike it, you say doubleplusgood or ungood. Newspeak is the name of the new language that will replace Oldspeak in Oceania by the year 2050.
One example of a leader that uses language to put a spin on reality is President Obama. Although he is a great orator, he uses many examples in his speeches, but does not give all the facts. For example, health care, he puts a very positive spin on it, but is it truly going to mean everyone is covered? Another example is media coverage, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh sometimes stretch the truth in their stories to sensationalize it. Many people know that they are not always completely true with the coverage they give, but some people are oblivious to this exaggeration of the truth.

Cloning

In my first blog, I was completely against cloning, but I didn't know everything there is to know. Now, after seeing the video, I agree with a couple of forms of cloning. I definitely agree with therapeutic cloning. It will be great when everybody who needs an organ or tissue transplant will get one by medical advancement. I think In Vitro Fertilization is an okay thing to use when trying to reproduce, but I don't agree with cloning as a way to reproduce. I don't agree with food production cloning. I think food is better for people when it is organic and not genetically altered. I agree with animal cloning when a species is endangered due to human influence.

Brave New Babies

It all starts with everybody thinking just one thing is harmless. I mean, what's the harm in choosing the sex of your baby? What is wrong with this situation is what will come next. I think now that parents have started choosing the sex of their baby is the beginning of choosing the intelligence or good looks of their baby. I think this is very harmful to society. What makes us human is our good qualities as well as our flaws. I think if it becomes a possibility to choose qualities of a baby it will destroy each person's individuality.

Brave New World #1

This World State Society reminds me if a different world such as one I read of in The Giver. It seems as though the government controls what they have as a caste system. Each person who is made has a certain place in society that they will serve. Some of the people who are made have figured out that there is more to the world around them than what is put into their brain by the government. I found a connection between knowing the truth and being happy in something we have discussed before. Plato talks about people who live in a cave and are not shown light, but then some of those people are allowed to venture into the light and experience the world. Once they are put back in the cave, they see what they were missing so they miss it. They can try to explain to the others what it was like, but the explanation is nothing like the experience. When people don’t know they can live a better life they are perfectly content with it, but when they know something better is out there they want it more and more because they know the truth. I think that soma is something that resembles a drug or alcohol. It seems to make the people happier and give them a release from the world around them.

Healthcare

It's hard to believe that in other countries the health care systems seem so easy and carefree as Sicko showed. The whole time we were watching it I was thinking of how badly i want to move to one of those countries in fear of something bad happening to me here in the United States and not being able to afford it. What Sicko didn't inform me on was the waiting lists they have in those countries. In Dead Meat it talks about the wait Canadians must go through to get in to see a doctor because they have a national health care system. Canadians interviewed said it it nice that it's free, but the waiting lists are sometimes life and death situations and the quality of care is not top of the line. According to the article, the U.S. is the second best nation in quality of health care. In Dead Meat i though the analogy of the veterinary clinics was a good point. Having a tremendous amount and specialty clinics drove down the cost and many clinics gave special benefits because each is trying to compete for customers. If only we could translate that into the American health care system. I don't understand everything on health care, I just know we definitely need a change.

"Machiavelli and the Mullahs"

Rusin is trying to get the point across that if the leaders of the nations would read Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, the world would be a better place. If Bush would have followed his advice, he would understand that "some conflicts are inevitable." He needed to tackle the problems we started having with the Middle Eastern countries instead of ignoring them and hoping they would get better on their own. We need to instill fear in those Islamic nations because having "security in being feared" is more important than being loved. We went back on our word from threatening Iran with our power and saying we were going to do something. Taking action against them will instill the fear we need from them. As was said in the book about only trusting those troops of your own nation to have the motivation, Bush used local Afghan fighters to fight against Al Qaeda. We can only trust ourselves to take care of the things we need to get done. We should have been preparing during peaceful time so that we could have eliminated the danger we are in and problems we are having now.

Should the United States Send Peacekeeping Tropps to Darfur?

I agree with Kaplan on this issue. Many advocates for Darfur have shown that they have ulterior motives in trying to help this grief-stricken nation. They need somebody who will help them in a non-self beneficiary way. That, and the innocent killings of too many people, are the reasons why America need to step in and use our power to craete justice in the slaughter of Darfurians. However, if we did send troops there, they would need to be able to use their power and not just fight if the enemy does first. Reason being that the enemy has already shown what horrific thing they can do.

HoD Blog: Section III

“In seasons of pestilence some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease--a terrible passing inclination to die of it. And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.”

I think this quote means that even though something bad is going on around you, you feel a desire to want in on it. Even if getting in on this repudiated subject will get you into trouble, you have a need to be a part of it. I think that the second sentence is stating something similar to the first: it tells of a man's heart that will prove to want this consequential "thing", and that he only needs one incident to bring that want to the surface.
The connection I see in Heart of Darkness to this quote, is when Kurtz is obsessed with the ivory. He wants the ivory so bad that he will put his own health in danger by not taking care of himself. His obsession with the ivory causes his death, but it is what his heart wanted because it would gain him profit.
The first thing that came to mind when trying to relate it to another book we have read, is Lord of the Flies. I saw the "consequential thing" as being the power some of the boys wanted. None of the boys knew they wanted this power over their peers until they saw a chance to have it when the plane crashed. Even though terrible things came out of wanting this power, they couldn't stop themselves from wanting it because it was instilled in them.

Looking Back

My favorite part of the past semester was reading 3 Cups of Tea. I wasn't into it at first, but after reading a bit of it I started to really enjoy it. It taught me a lot about the Middle East because I have never really been interested in it. However this book put everything in words that I can understand. I also learned a lot about the U.N. I'm not into politics so it was an interesting look into something I have never learned about before.

HoD Blog: Section II

I now see a deep connection between Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies. One part of the book i can see a connection in is the part when Piggy dies. The boys kill him and one of them feels upset about it. In a sense, this happens in Heart of Darkness. When the helmsman dies, Marlow is upset, but the others on the boat want to eat him because they are cannibals. Another part that struck me as connecting was the eeriness of the boat and it's surroundings. They are in a beautiful jungle in both books, but in both books an eerie scene foreshadows a terrible thing happening. In Lord of the Flies, it's at the signal fire in the pitch dark and a huge object comes out of the sky. In Heart of Darkness it is not knowing which way to go, the heavy fog, and the dense, unclear jungle.

U.N. Blog

I strongly agree with Andrea Seastrand that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations. Almost everyone agrees that there is a huge problem with the U.N.'s policy. The Muslims were held back by the U.S. when the Bosnian Serbs attacked in which they could not even launch an offensive to try and fight. There are many problems with the equality in voting in the U.N. General Assembly. The United States, with 262 million citizens have the same vote as Palau, with 15,000 citizens. This is a terrible way to give a vote to each country because most of the countries are small and poor. They vote on many subjects including approving policies related to war, economic expenditures, wealth distribution, and regulatory restrictions. I think it is ridiculous that the American taxpayers are subsidizing the privileged U.N. workers' taxes.