Darfur

I understand why we can't leave Iraq at the moment because of the chaos that would ensue, but we've been there for years, people are dying on a daily basis in Darfur. This is one of those things they will make a movie about in 50 years and the US will be an enemy. Maybe we specifically can't help, but can't we get other countries to help out this nation. A genocide is going on and we're doing nothing. If it can't be us, we should support other countries who will go help. This is mainly a moral issue as i see it, how can we sit aside while so many people die? Its not even a secret anymore, Darfur is a problem, and i believe we need to do something about it.

Heart of Darkness 2

1. The blacks are portrayded as savages. They are animals, they have no idea what to do with their lives and where they are going. They are "simple beings". Marlow is in a way racist because he does treat blacks as inferior, but I think he shows more respect for them than anyone else does in the book thus far. I think what scared him about them is their lust for life and freedom, which is something he will never have. He grew up urbanized, but he feels a slight pull towards this primative way of life. When he sees such chaos he doesn't want to see that these people are humans too.

2. I think he believes in exploration and spreading out to make a home but his idea is not to have men just take over and completely destroy a culture and another person's way of life, which is what the English seem to want to do.

3. Becasue he was made to be refined and above everyone. All the people respect and work for him. He tried so hard to be everything that everyone wanted, i think he went through a real break down when put in a situation he got too tired to handle.

Heart of Darkness

1. He talks about his industry of the shipping. He discusses how there were ilks in the countries and that it was not well organized.

2. I think he means that when people are different from ourselves, we are allowed to control them, and we justify it by saying that they are different than us. It's like he's trying to justify it but he really doesn't believe in it himself.

3. He wanted to be the first to explore these places. They are where he wanted to go and what he wanted to see. When other people now live there it shows that the world expands and these places that were once big black spots are now being explored and modernized.

Should the US Withdraw From the UN

I don't think we should just leave. The US has been a leader for years and years, if we leave now, reform might never take place. By leaving the UN we are subject to the crueltys that its constitution protects us from. I think we need to help fix the UN, by leaving we are just goin to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouths. I think the UN is a great thing, it has the potential to do so much. If we could take advantage of that power, I think everything could be fixed.

The N-word Part 2

The rest of the book to me was just really boring. I thought the begining was very interesting because it talked about the word's history but the rest was just proving his point over and over again. Some of the cases were interesting, but I really didn't see how you could just delete that word from the dictionary. If we do that, i aren't there other offensive words we have to also get rid of? It was really hard to pay attention to parts of the book because they used words far beyond my vocabulary and it started to get monotanous. Over all the book was very informative and it was very interesting to learn about how much a word can effect a society, cause violence, and even bring about legal action.

N-word

This chapter was really an introduction to how the word can be used in so many different contexts. It's also about how the word came to be. It started out as a classification, then became an insult, but after comedians started using it in their pieces, it became more of a term of endearment. It was actually really interesting to me, obviously the word has never specifically effected me and I still don't say it out of respect because I don't think its my place. I still believe that I shouldn't say it because I am white. I'm sorry if that's racist but it's just not a word i feel like I need to use. I still believe there are other words that are more offensive that I don't use. Certain words I just don't think should be used. I've never said the c-word or other words that are considered racial slurs. I don't want to be offensive to another culture but I also most of the time don't know what they even mean so how can I use them? I thought it was cool how they said that Eminem didn't use the N-word in his songs, it shows its significance and the real pain and power the word has behind it. Maybe not saying it just gives the word more power but I refuse to say it, it's just not a word that I need to use. I think swear words or other words that have such a huge effect on people are just a reflection on the person, as the video said, and a lack of a good vocabulary.

The Republic

These books discuss how if there was a perfect society, people would just make what they needed and nothing else. However, no such society can be created because people always want luxuries. There are different classes of people. The first Socrates talks about how there will need to be warriors and the producers will be them. They must be taught just the right things so that they will know what is exceptable behavior and what is not. One of the most important things they learn is not to fear death because there are so many things that are much worse than death. The "hero's" in these stories must be purly good and honest and no sex, because that is what they want their children to be taught. Not only do their minds need to be in good shape but their bodies do too. The next class will be the rulers who are loyal to their country no matter what. The guardians listen to them.