#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)    

#4: Left Authoritarian Explained

In my understanding of left authoritarian, a leader guides followers to success through strict rules and harsh punishment. On the economic side government controls most of the economy and regulates business practices.  Authoritarian is characterized by highly centralized power that controls government completely. I'm not completely left authoritarian; I feel that the government should have some control over business regulations to keep things fair. Authoritarians believe in a higher power. There has to be a leader, or like a head of the household. Submission to authority is common among authoritarians. They think highly of punishment for crime and children who disobey their parents should be physically punished.  Authoritarians emphasize arbitrary law rather than rule of law. They base laws of individual’s discretion. Most communist would be considered hard left authoritarian. Communist governments completely control their people’s government. Communists create a classless society where all of its people are of the same wealth, no matter what your profession. Adolf Hitler was one of the very extreme authoritarian people. He instructed the population to take what he said as absolute law and any one would failed to respect his authority could get the death sentence. Hitler loved control; he was the alpha male of his society. This is just one of many extreme authoritarians. Joseph Stalin was an extreme left authoritarian. Stalin created a highly centralized control economy in the Soviet Union. Modern views of Stalin explain him as a tyrant. Authoritarian could be looked at as a bad form of government, if taken in extreme measures. I agree with most of authoritarian beliefs but not to the point of complete control. I do believe there should be a leader who guides us, and I feel we should be punished for the things we do wrong. I feel a leader can help keep order, but he should have a set of rules to follow.

#2: Advertisements Steal Our Thoughts

In the article "They Say" he talks about how greatly we are influenced by society. They bring up the example of when we go into a mall there are so many people pushing you or influencing you to buy their product. The author asked the question, Have you even went to the store to buy shoes but end up buying an entire outfit. Advertising is a big part of our society. It’s everywhere; even when we are at home it raids our TV. Have you ever watched a commercial for a certain product or service and thought that you really needed it? People are constantly creating new ideas to bring in customers. Advertisers love children. They think it’s their easiest target to get, although it doesn’t affect the kid, it affects the parent with the money. Think of McDonalds, they offer a toy with every happy meal and the kids will beg their parents to buy it because they want the toy. Anyways money isn’t the only thing advertising consumes. Advertisements can even change the way we think about things. Elections are coming soon, and there is a mass of advertising for that. They strive to get voters to vote for their candidate by telling them they will do this for society. Some candidates may even change people’s thoughts on a topic with advertising bringing that vote to them. The author also brought up the point about computer hackers these days stealing our information through the internet. We support those who say they will bring a stop to it. The internet is yet another medium for advertisements. Most websites that are offered for free make their money through advertisements being shown on the site.  The advertisers pay big money to be on social media sites like Facebook because they know millions of people will see it and be influenced by it. Advertisements can influence our lives in so many ways. It can be good or bad, we just need to control our urge to give in to it.

#1: Terrorism All Over

In the book An Introduction To Criticism, Michael Ryan talks about terrorism and people associated with it. People stereotype specific groups, for example: when people think terrorism, they automatically think of Muslim or Islamic groups. If an American went somewhere and shot a bunch of people no one would think of him as a terrorist (even though he is), they just think of him as another psycho killer you see on the news every day. We spend most of our time worrying about the terrorism in other countries when we could do more to fix the terrorism here. He is also talking about how certain behaviors are accepted in certain cultures because they are part of the culture, such as teaching young boys to become killers. These are practices common to Islamic and Muslim culture, but Americans would be outraged.  Americans see as terrorists, Muslims see them as freedom fighters. He also gives the example of Germans witnessing Jews forced into concentration camps and turning a blind eye to these atrocities.  That was because those behaviors were socially accepted in that culture. Muslims think that America is an evil culture. They think our behavior is unacceptable. Every culture has their customs and traditions. What’s weird to one person may be totally acceptable to another. The author brings up many points in his article about criticism. He talks about a point of capitalism. He says that the majority of people work while the minority of people benefits from it. He talks about wealth being conformed about what people value certain items. In example a bill with a 10 wrote on it is worth less than a bill with a 100 wrote on it. Although it is the same material . We just assign a value to it and say that’s what it is worth. All paper money is worthless. The paper itself is worthless but the gold that backs the paper is what gives it value. All paper money is backed by gold. Otherwise our bills would just be a pile of paper lying around.