#8 howard zinn

Howard Zinn is one of few authors who dare to write a US History from the perspective of those peoples, in each generation, whose democratic rights have been trampled upon. Mostly, these were minority groups who had little or no voice in the conduct of our public affairs. He has written episode after episode of internal and external actions, and concludes what Pres. Dwight Eisenhower said in his farewell address: beware the growing power of the military/industrial forces in our nation.

During his tenure at Boston University, he taught a very popular class on civil liberties. The class was not a university requirement, but one that many students took as an elective. In doing so, I would suspect that they wanted to challenge themselves to think about civil rights. With certainty, I suspect that Zinn encourage them to “stand up” to civil injustices. I think that Zinn spoke out about the past in an effort to educate the present. Perhaps he recalled the words of the twentieth century novelist George Santayana who stated this concept most eloquently when he said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In Zinn’s views, those who forget about the struggles for human rights, the causes of war, and the inequality in society are condemned to repeat history.

# 3: Scientific revolution

I love the line in the video “21st Century Enlightenment that states “It has become cliché that Education is the most valuable resource in global knowledge economy.  I would argue that fostering empathetic capacity is just as important to achieving a world of citizens at peace with each other and themselves.”  I agree completely and feel that our children grow up in a world and go to school to learn everything but how to be empathetic.  I feel as though our school system focuses more how much knowledge they can cram into our heads and leaves out the important issues on how to actually care about another individuals.  Should children learn this at home? Yes but is that enough?  No!  To me Empathy should be emphasized just as much as getting a college degree because no matter what your degree you hold if you can’t put yourself in other’s shoes, you’re not going to get very far. Today there is to much push for people to get a college degree to obtain a good “career.” Who says working at a fast food restaurant is bad? If that is what you want to do for the rest of your life then be my guest. Why should anyone who doesn’t want to further their education have to? You dnt need a college degree to get a good paying job. Many people who have a degree think they are like royalty. Like that they are better than the rest of the illiterate world. They have no empathy for other humans on this earth.

#7: Biblography

“Climate Change: How Do We Know?” Global Climate Change (No Date: Accessed September 10, 2012): http://climate.nasa.gove/evidence/

“Causes of Climate Change” Climate Change (No Date: Accessed September 10, 2012): http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html

Weart, Spencer. "Rapid Climate Change." The Discovery of Global Warming. N.p., January 2011. Web. 12 Sep 2012. <http://www.aip.org/history/climate/rapid.htm>.

Pittock, A. Barrie. Climate Change: Turning Up the Heat. Sterling: CSIRO Publishing, 2005. Print.

Nesje, Atle, and Dahl Svein. Glaciers and Environmental Change. London: Arnold Publishers, 2000. Print.

#6: Dirty Little Secrets

Monsanto is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation who claims to support American farmers. One of the advertisement slogans says “Americans grow America.” From the advertisements they seem like a great support for our farmers but what about the dirty little secrets most people don’t hear about. Although they claim to support American farmers, they have had lawsuits with a lot of small town farmers. For example Monsanto tried to make a small farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan Canada pay them because his canola fields had been contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-up Ready Canola. Schmeiser had been growing canola on his field for over 40 years. Monsanto tried to sue the Schmeiser for patent infringement. Although Schmeiser’s defense contained evidence that, he didn’t not knowingly contaminate his fields with their canola. Schmeiser brought up a second trial stating that Monsanto has deliberately trespassed on his land and took samples. In the end Schmeiser won the case.

But this isn’t the only time where Monsanto has been in a lawsuit with small farmers. A band of 30,000 farmers sued Monsanto for harassing and threatening organic farmers for patent infringement if any type of GM product of theirs ends up on the farmer’s property. It seems Monsanto has a problem keeping their seed on their own property. It is wrong for Monsanto to threaten these farmers. It is not their fault that Monsanto’s seeds end up on their property. If Monsanto has that bad of a problem with it then why don’t they find a way to stop the spread of their seed instead of trying to start lawsuits against American farmers they claim to support.

Monsanto claims to be good supporters but they don’t support organic small farmers. It’s the small farmers that produce our purest foods, not the foods that contribute to undernourished and obese kids and adults. 

#5: A Faulty Trial

In the video “The Child Cases,” it talks about sudden child deaths often assumed to be murder by the last caregiver. A reporter interviews a woman named Monea Tyson. She was accused of her son’s murder. Tyson stated that she found her son unresponsive and called 911. A man named Dr. Shrode performed the autopsy and found that the child died from multiple blunt force traumas. Tyson told the reporter than she it was hard to live with the accusation because she knew she wasn’t guilty. Several trials took place and eventually they found that her son had died from an infection. It was reported that the places where Dr. Shrode had reported blunt force trauma were birth marks.

The reporter interviewed Dr. Thogmartin, a Chief medical examiner, and he stated that he reversed two child cases handled by his predecessors. He stated that they had imagined damages, and they get caught up in the anger, emotion and despair. He said it’s always homicide unless proven otherwise. The reporter also interviewed a Defense Attorney named Tony Axam. He stated that in baby cases they are approached in a different manner. If the caregiver said she did not hurt the child but there is no evidence to prove otherwise then it must be the caregivers fault.

I think when handle cases where emotion, despair and anger can play a big role, there should be a view point from a few professionals rather than one. Why was Monea’s case driven by one doctor’s autopsy when later on he was fired for malpractice? It should not be based on one person’s perspective. Pinning a child murder on a person is a big deal. That can ruin a person’s life even though they are not guilty. There should be set regulations on the autopsy’s and I think that the result of an autopsy can be biased depending on the person performing it. If the doctor, in his mind, thought that the baby was murdered then I believe it will affect his work, just like the cases Dr. Thogmartin’s predecessors took. 

#2: (revise) Big Target!

In the article "They Say," David Rushkoff talks about corporate America and how we are influenced by them through advertising. He makes a clever point giving them the name "they," and he says that, "They say humans only use 10 percent of their brains." "They say that computers can predict the weather," and so on. After he brings up the point, who, exactly, are "they," and why do they say so much? Why do we listen to them? (Rushkoff 1) Every day we are tempted by some advertisement, no matter whether you are out and about or just sitting at home. It on the internet, on our TVs, even on social media websites they are pinned all over. Everyday new strategies are made to keep us succumbed to their must have item. As one strategy starts to lose its effectiveness, they whip up another clever strategy to catch our attention.

I have a personal experience with advertising. I could easily be considered their biggest target. I’m the kind of person that would buy something just because I got a good deal, even though I didn’t really need it. When I see an advertisement, I’m like a deer in headlights, especially fast food commercials. I watch them and I’m heading for the door to go eat and I’m not even that hungry. There are many times when I see people standing outside of Wal-Mart for some charity. I tell myself I’m not going to talk to them because I know if I do they will get my money. I am easily persuaded.

Advertisers can be very sly and conniving. They can creep up on us and take us by surprise. Everyday technology is advancing and new ways of advertising are made.  We just need to look out for them and spot them before they take over our minds.  

#1: (revise) Culture is Conforming Our Minds

In "An Introduction to Criticism," Michael Ryan talks about how culture has many deciding factors that run your life. Mostly people are always like their elders because they are taught these cultures. Not many people these days strive towards what they really want to be. Ryan gives the example of Germans during the holocaust. When good Germans saw Jews being marched off to concentration camps, they knew this action as an acceptable part of their reality because they were instructed to do so. These people were taught that these action were ok when they were int he wrong, but anyone who opposed would be killed. (Ryan 166) This shows how culture is being sew into the minds of society instead of people having their own belief and acting out. There are places on earth where if you choose to practice a different religion than theirs, you could be executed.   

I am a young adult in school, still living with my parents. My parents pounded their religion and there political views into my head all through my childhood. As I start to grow up and branch out into my own life I see things in a different perspective than I use to. I can see my self changing and my beliefs changing to who I really am in society. I see myself a lot different than who my parents want me to be.  

People should strive to be who they want to be, not who someone else wants them to be. Branch out from society and do your own thing; be a leader not a follower. Culture shouldn’t be something that’s forced into our minds. Let your mind run free and choose what makes you happy. Stories are what people believe and how they believe, and how people believe determines how they act and how they live. (Ryan 180)