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Which is more effective non-violence or violence?

Posted by Zeyah Gomez in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on
​There were four college students that were standing up for segregation rights so they went to the local dinner and was not served food. Other people that saw this begin to stop coming to the diner because the racism that was taking place at the diner. These students from A&T a historically black college.  This was called the “Sit in” in Greensborough, North Carolina. Their protest was to sit in at a segregated Diner. The Greensborough four said the waiter said: “they can’t be served and you're going to get yourself in a lot of trouble.” Franklin Mccain stated “ I was too angry to be scared. We're not going to leave until you serve us.” This is a primary example of a peaceful protest. There have been numerous debates about what is more effective violence or non-violence. I am on the non-violence side. Notable figures like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King has also had their opinion about what is the most effective way to bring change in the world. 
Multiple activists in the world have different views of what is the most effective to bring change. Malcolm X believed an eye for an eye, to not be weak and not sit there and take mistreatment. Malcolm X wanted black people to stand up for each other when they were being mistreated. In this quote Malcolm X believes that there will be a clash between “The oppressed and the oppressors”. This quote shows that Malcolm X believes violence is the most effective way to bring change and not to talk it out you have to take freedom by force and not just sitting there and trying to bargain with your freedom.“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”...” Malcolm’s dream was different from Martin’s, Malcolm saw that there will be fights between blacks and whites and some altercation.  When he says taking it it's referring to taking it with force and not just reasoning with the person taking your freedom it's by force. Some say this method was really effective and gathered a lot of people together but it also turned a majority against Malcolm. The same thing that worked against Malcolm helped Martin Luther King. The non-violence factor gave Martin more people because it gave more people an idea of how black people were being treated and lead more people to join the movement. 

Martin Luther King took the non-violence approach which seemed more popular because it got not only blacks on board but also white people also. A death in a non-violence protest was believe it or not it was beneficial for the protest because people questioned why are people getting beaten and killed and they are protesting peacefully.  This quote Martin is choosing love instead of causing more hate which he realizes will only cause more problems because the whites were in power so if Martin’s protester fought with force they would lose because of how little power they have. “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” The Selma marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, in defiance of segregationist repression, and were part of a broader voting rights movement underway in Selma and the best technique was to not fight back. The Selma-to-Montgomery marchers fought for the right to vote, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress, calling for federal voting rights legislation to protect African Americans from barriers that prevented them from voting. Although the process of the non-violence march took some years it did influence a change. It is hard for some to look at all the deaths that transpired and actual say change is coming from people keep getting killed but there’s a price for freedom and Martin Luther King believed that and unfortunately died for it. 


The freedom ride was organized in 1961 by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights group committed to direct, non-violent action. More than a decade earlier, the U.S. There strategy was to protest till the other side would fight them and be so angry. This is like a boxer in a fight, the boxer is willing to get hit until the other person is tired then the boxer tht was getting hit makes his move  “We felt we could count on the racists of the South to create a crisis so that the federal government would be compelled to enforce the law.” They wanted to change the law by being the ones taking the punishment. 

In conclusion, there are many debates that non-violence and violence which one is more likely to bring change. Change is always a process and non-violence is the most effective but it always comes with a price. 

Advanced Essay #3: The Reality of Adults and Children Living in War Zones

Posted by Kyla Gladney-Enos in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
Introduction: 
WIth this essay, I was trying to focus my writing on one theme and make it as clear as possible. I hope I accomplished my goal. I am proud of the sources I found and that I learned something new about war zones. 


Essay: 

People do not realize just how harsh war zones are. They are the things that can make or break a country. War zones have a major influence on people. They add to the stress of people, and can produce insecurities, fear, depression, etc. When children are added to this, it creates a whole different type of problem. Children can become influenced by what they see and hear in their environment. In a violent, militarism environment, children may be drawn to the violence and the mistreatment of others. Children are vulnerable and our actions can leave a print on them that can never be changed.


War zones are hard places to be in. For a lot of third world countries in war zones, families have to live in little spaces, barely getting by in life. “Abu Yahya, his wife and four children are squeezed together on a sofa. This is their living room and now it is also their bedroom. Like most houses in their area, the second floor has been blasted by shells” (Hattenstone, Mahood 2014). This is just one example of what life is like in war zones. This place, in particular, is Syria.. With this family, the dad used to ride through his neighborhood in his truck selling fruit, but now, he cannot do that anymore. The war made it unsafe and impossible for him to just ride around in the streets of his neighborhood. As a result, he and his family are not getting money, cannot properly eat, and do not have enough money to live in a stable home in a safe neighborhood. His children may never know what it is like to wake up every day without having four rockets dropped on their neighborhood every morning. Loud, disturbing noises can cause one to have PTSD, and if that is all these children know, then they are most likely to develop it.


Children are dependant on the adult(s) that provide them care and affection. This attention helps build character in the child. During times of war, they might not get this. “Their attachments are frequently disrupted in times of war, due to the loss of parents, extreme preoccupation of parents in protecting and finding subsistence for the family, and emotional unavailability of depressed or distracted parents” (Santa Barbra 2006). When this happens, the child is left with a substitute guardian whose love is not enough for the child. If these children do not get the affection they need, they have a higher chance of having behavioral, emotional, and social problems as they grow and get older (Harmon 2020).



There are a lot of unjust actions that happen when people are in war zones. Adults and children have a higher risk of losing a limb and becoming paralyzed in a war zone than if they were not in one. Sometimes it is hard to tell whose on which side and as a result bad things happen to innocent people. “Hundreds of thousands of children die of direct violence in war each year. They die as civilians caught in the violence of war, as combatants directly targeted, or in the course of ethnic cleansing” (Santa Barbra 2006). The saying “kill or be killed” comes to my mind with this example. In order to not be killed, soldiers have to take over a lot of land to plant booby traps and keep watch. As a result, schools have become the next battlefields. Children have become the next target to get the enemy’s attention. “Increased fighting in urban areas and the growing use of bombs in densely-populated areas has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children killed or maimed - 73,000 of them in 25 conflicts since 2005. Children are also being targeted with more brutal tactics, such as the use of young people as suicide bombers, said the report The War on Children” (Watt 2018). Since 2005, about 73,000 children have been killed or maimed due to attacks. Children are not meant to be used for escape plans or plan B’s. Children are the future of the world and should be treated better.



In conclusion, innocent people in places where there is an active war are being treated without respect or consideration. Adults are forced to quit their jobs and find another way of making money while children are being forced to commit suicide as a tactic to scare their enemies. It is not right and this has to change. Adults are our mentors and children are future mentors.


Citations:

Hattenstone, Simon, and Mona Mahmood. “Life in a War Zone – Syria.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 July 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/05/life-in-war-zone-syria.


How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?” War Child Holland - How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?,  www.warchildholland.org/psychosocial-support/.



Harmon, Katherine. “How Important Is Physical Contact with Your Infant?” Scientific American, 6 May 2010,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/.


Watt, Ewan. “'Schools and Playgrounds Are Battlefields': One in Six Children Living in Conflict Zones.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 15 Feb. 2018, www.theirworld.org/news/one-in-six-children-live-conflict-zone-attacks-on-schools.



Advanced Essay #3: The Bystander Effect

Posted by Justin Peccina in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on

Introduction

For my essay, I decided to discuss the bystander effect and its effect on those outside of violent situations. I attempted to discuss multiple factors that allow the bystander effect to remain. Through my sources, I analyzed these factors and created a thesis for my essay.


Essay

The effects of violence are different for each individual. Those exposed to or directly affected by violence are influenced by its effects in different ways. However, those who are not influenced by violence react to it with contrast. Those who are not affected can be considered a bystander to the situation. They are able to view the violence without becoming involved with or being affected by it. However, bystanders are also able to insert themselves within a violent situation. Thus, they are able to involve themselves within a situation but are more likely to disregard the effects of violence than those who were not given the option to become a bystander.

In terms of more physical violence, a bystander is able to place themselves into the situation to stop it from happening. More often, it is consciously seen as right to avoid becoming a bystander. This forms a moral dilemma for bystanders as to their involvement with violence.

In many cases, bystanders are able to feel involved while not necessarily taking action. This common pattern has become an issue; bystanders adopt a belief that they are solving situations without supporting those affected by violence. An article for Quartz, a website for historical and reflective articles, by Keshia Naurana Badalge proposes that this problem is caused by the a recent push for social activism on social media. “Psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley, who first demonstrated the bystander effect, attributed this phenomenon to two factors: a perceived diffusion of responsibility (thinking that someone else in the group will help) and social influence (where observers see the inaction of the group as evidence that there is no reason to intervene)” (2017). Recording and discussing injustices through violence online is seen as an efficient option for creating social influence. If one person posts about an event on social media, others are more likely to join them. However, this spread of social influence through social media fails to solve the issues of the bystander effect. If people are more inclined to record and write posts against violence, they are not actively attempting to stop the violence that is currently happening. This is how social influence connects to the diffusion of responsibility. People feel that they are doing their part by simply posting online. They are no longer responsible for stopping the violence because a focus on social media allows them to feel as though they have solved the issues. Social media’s effect on a bystander is massive. It allows them to feel as though they are involved in stopping violence, while still remaining a bystander.

In the same article, the writer discusses further the actions of bystanders and their goals through social media. This author also discusses a potential unconscious trait that is shown through the posting of these videos. She sites a video from a situation on April 9, 2017, saying that “a video of a man being dragged off a United Airlines flight was posted on the internet and went viral. But I don’t need to tell you that. Each of your most outspoken Facebook friends probably posted about the event, highlighting the aspects of it that best reinforced their worldview” (2017). Social media is a powerful tool in attempting to reveal violence. However, it’s potential becomes blurred as the focus on violence shifts to bystanders attempting to prove their thoughts on a situation. Many people attempt to bridge the violent situation into their personal beliefs, essentially making the situation about themselves.

In a report written by Bibb Latené and John M. Darley, the authors discuss the cause of the bystander effect. They write, “If an individual is to intervene in an emergency, he must make, not just one, but a series of decisions” (1969). The causation of the bystander effect lies in self-preservation. This “series of decisions” includes many factors, most of which balance the benefits of intervening against the drawbacks. Potential harm and incentive are just two of the considered factors that result in said decision, and both directly affect the bystander. By the time the decision is made, the violence could have expanded or shifted somehow, causing said bystander to consider additional factors. This creates a cycle, which causes more bystanders to not involve themselves in dangerous situations. The idea of self-preservation forms the bystander effect and allows a bystander to stay one without feeling repercussions.

Social media and self-preservation are just two of the elements that reinforce the bystander effect. There are many other components, and discussing several of them allows for more discussion on the topic, including potential discussion on how to change of remove this effect with positive results.


Works Cited

Our phones make us feel like social-media activists, but they’re actually turning us into bystanders (2017) by Keshia Naurana Badalge

Bystander “Apathy" (1969) by Bibb Latené and John M. Darley


Cultures of Violence - Advanced Essay #3

Posted by Emma Vass on

Acts of anger and violence are hard to miss in United States history. As it appears in American culture, through our entertainment and through our core values, is only enabled to be problematic via the environments it is cultivated in. It is often questioned whether this violence is by nature or nurture. However, because environments which systematically encourage it are entirely responsible, this answer will not have an impact. Looking at the human mind will be rendered insignificant if we fail to pick apart the systems that mind is processed through.

At an initial glance of the many scenarios in which violence occurs, it might be difficult to find a unifying factor between all of the variables at play. One article from Scientific American entitled Understanding Violence goes over some of the reasons violence plays a role in the human experience. Findings from research on our counterparts, monkeys, has explained how other species use violence more practically. “They do not start a fight to alienate themselves from another individual, but rather to renegotiate the terms of an ongoing relationship,” and goes on to say that “peacemaking, an important part of this negotiation, appears to be in part a learned skill.” Looking at how these observations relate to the way monkeys work, it is clear that the learned skill here is not the violence, but what it is used for. Regardless of how their brains impact their actions, the bulk of their decision making comes from their learned routines. Had they grown up around an environment in which violence was used for another purpose, that is the purpose they would use it for as well. In this instance, the violence utilised by individual monkeys is influenced by the culture cultivated by the group, and considering their relation to the human race, it can be inferred that a similar phenomenon might be at play in people.

Observing how monkeys express and deal with issues using violence is not the only way to understand how it relates to the human experience. Philip Zimbardo, an American Psychologist known for his work on the Stanford Prison experiment, often discusses the complexities of violence in the human mind. In a Ted Talk on this subject, he asks the question, “where do people go wrong?” heavily exploring the lines between learned violence and people that are, hypothetically, intrinsically violent. In his conversations regarding violence, Zimbardo outlines some reasons for the violence that comes out in people. More heavily, he blames “blind obedience to authority,” and “conformity to group norms.” Most notably, it is important to point out that this would obviously have an effect on people when their environmental context is that of violence, anger, etc. In his work, Zimbardo discusses the events at Abu Ghraib, in which American soldiers not only torture their prisoners, but documented their horrific endeavours, posing with a smile and thumbs up. These American soldiers were dropped into a world in which violence against the other was acceptable, and so that is the path they took. Along with the fact that these people had previously been functioning, normal members of society, this shows that their behavior was heavily influenced by the environment they were in, both in their peaceful and violence environments.

In 1968, third grade teacher Jane Elliot designed a social experiment to conduct on her students. She wanted to test how the students would react to dividing them up and assigning stereotypes to separate groups. After seperating the class into blue eyed and brown eyed students, she told the students with blue eyes of their intelligence, and brown eyed students that they had inferior traits. Within the day, she noticed brown eyed students becoming more anxious and less confident, in addition to their grades and comprehension dropping. Additionally, the blue eyed students would begin to bully the brown eyed students for their differences, and take advantage of the privileges they were given because of their blue eyes. The next week, the students were informed that they had been misinformed; those with brown eyes were in fact superior. Almost immediately the roles were reversed. This shows, that regardless of their actual intelligence, students based their actions and beliefs on that of the group; when students felt superior, they bullied those in the other group. This shows that the environment set out for a group of people, either by an authority or higher system, is entirely responsible for the way that they take out anger and violence on those around them.

Knowing the impacts of the environments people are placed in, not only in their development but throughout their life, is significant because it can help us to create a more peaceful environment, confident that it will create a peaceful outcome. Regardless of a person’s baseline mental state, they will end up going with the grain. In the end, realizing the impact of systems and environments as influences will help us shift the responsibility on the bigger picture, and come up with larger scale solutions to problems of violence in the world. This is important because it shows that the changes we make in the world should not be with the soldiers or the students, but in the government systems and in the schools.


Bibliography:

  1. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en

  2. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/understanding-violence/

  3. https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-class-divided/

Advanced Essay #3: [Invisible Violence]

Posted by Grace Conley in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
Introduction:

     In this paper my goal is to point out the flaws with our society and how we view abuse, I want readers to question their own judgements and assumptions. I am proud of the research I did for this paper, I think i have a good balance of personal stories and scientific research. I hope when reading this you can better understand what those being emotionally abused are going through. 

Essay: 

                                                                       Invisible Violence

     Psychological violence is the act of using manipulation, and verbal threats to control of another person. It is one of the four major types of abuse in relationships, those being: physical, emotional, sexual and psychological. In today's society, only the physical forms of abuse are deemed worthy of recognition. Specifically focusing on parent-child relationships, often psychological and emotional violence are not recognized as real abuse by child protective services because there is no physical evidence. In reality psychological violence is just as damaging as physical violence to growing adolescents.
     A bruise, a red mark, the fear of a belt, a sob, a yelling mother, slamming doors, the sound of hand pressed against skin, a sting, a burn, the lack of a home. This is a description of  how society sees abuse. We only see the loud, the dramatic, and the physical, but psychological violence is not as visible as this. This violence is a threat to harm oneself or someone else; it's unjust blaming. It’s constant lying to make another feel crazy, it’s berating and name calling and threats to abandon. Psychological violence doesn’t attack the body, but the mind, a tactic used to make someone feel worthless and out of control. You can’t see the physical effects of this kind of violence, which is why it is disregarded by society - we as people only believe what we see. Children who are victims of psychological violence are told they are lying, or are not believed because there is no proof; this stigma furthers their own devaluing of self. 
     An article from Psychology Today entitled The Enduring Pain of Childhood Verbal Abuse dives deep into the personal stories of abuse and how it affected the individuals’ brain development: “I didn’t know that the way my mother talked to me wasn’t the way other mothers talked to their daughters. I was an only child, and her constant criticism and putting me down made me feel terrible about myself, and it made me double my efforts to please her. More than anything, I wanted my mother to be happy with me.”(Aileen, 2016)  This quote shows that those struggling with verbally abusive parents do not realize that it’s wrong; it is all that they know. Children are taught that being physically hurt is wrong, but they are never told what to do when their parents hurt their emotions. From the moment they are born, children are taught that adults are always right, and that they must respect their parents. Along with that, emotional battery is a common occurrence in many households, and because it isn’t physical, it’s swept under the rug. Without having an outlet for all of their feelings the children internalize what their parents say to them and start to believe it, such as with Aileen. The abuse affected the way she viewed herself and lowered her self esteem. And that made her focus all of her efforts into pleasing her mother, therefore her mother benefiting from the situation and remaining in control. Some people label this as simply “strict parenting”, but in reality it is manipulating a child's vulnerable mind for selfish gain.
      Insecurity isn’t the only outcome of psychological abuse, however, as the pain becomes deeply rooted. “If you want to get a sense of how abuse affects a person’s life...in the long-term, imagine skipping a stone over water and then watching the ripple effect. There’s the direct effect of the verbal abuse in the moment, which inflicts deep emotional pain”(Peg Streep, 2016). This metaphor of skipping a stone represents verbal abuse, mindlessly hopping over the traditional definitions of abuse, and sinking into the water cleanly, escaping the consequences of being labeled abusive. But with every hop comes an emotional bruise to the victims brain, which turns into more and more bruises until the person has been fully broken down. This system of emotionally wounding a child makes them more compliant and dehumanized in order for the parent to reign in control. 
     But what, specifically, are these bruises doing to the adolescent mind? In a research paper from the Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences entitled Parental Psychological Abuse Toward Children and Mental Health Problems in Adolescence, the author states that, “In many cases PA [psychological abuse] is considered to be the most developmentally damaging dimension and has been linked with negative outcomes such as impaired emotional, social, and cognitive development, including helplessness, aggression, emotional unresponsiveness and neuroticism. Research consistently suggests that PA and neglect in childhood have negative effects on normal development.” This shows that psychological violence is having a larger impact on development than expected, and that all research points to society taking this form of abuse more seriously, but why it is still ignored. We as Americans have built up a reputation of being strong willed, and wary of being sensitive. We popularized the expression “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” We are a country afraid of showing weakness, and fragility. Therefore we will not express emotion, a country that doesn’t recognize violence until we see it with our own eyes. We are a country that ignores peaceful protests, makes every blockbuster and video game filled with gore, and that idolizes the strength of war and fighting. We will never see words as weapons, and children of generations past and to come will suffer because of it.

Works Cited: 
1.  Defining Violence and Abuse https://www.gov.nl.ca/VPI/types/
2. Parental Psychological Abuse Towards Children https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3998989/
3. When Parents Are Too Toxic To Tolerate https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/health/20mind.html

Advanced Essay #3: Nationalism and Militarism: The Real Enemies

Posted by Michaela Lieberman-Burak in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on
Introduction:
The focus of my paper is the connection between nationalism and militarism, and the resulting adverse consequences on a macro level and micro level. The goal was to show how nationalism breeds xenophobia, and militarism has shaped a society that encourages violence. The ultimate point was that the intertwined nature of these concepts contribute to the preservation of an unjust social hierarchy through the continuation of systematic violence. I am proud of the way I integrated the quotes I chose to include, as well as the way that my paper uses my intro paragraph as an outline, following the points in the order they were first presented. I feel that this is important to note.

Essay: Nationalism and Militarism: The Real Enemies

The intertwined nature of militarism and nationalism within the United States produces violence, and results in adverse consequences within the nation and across the world. Nationalism operates on the basis of believing oneself to be a part of a superior group, and viewing other nations as inferior enemies. From this stems the nationalist desire to demonstrate and maintain dominance over the group perceived as the enemy, generally through violent actions. This same prejudice permeates society, in how people see and react to each other. When individuals view each other as a threat, violence is the result. This violence links back to militarism, and reinforces a dangerous cycle resulting in countless unnecessary deaths.

Nationalism, or the belief that one’s nation is inherently superior to all other nations, encourages the idea of an enemy. According to Emma Goldman, a writer and anarchist political activist of the early 1900s, “Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.” (1908). A militarist nation operates on the belief that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. In the case of nationalism, the people of the nation believe that they represent the ‘good guy’, and therefore must have the right to a gun. Naturally, the view of oneself as the “good guy” cannot exist without viewing another party as the “bad guy”. A militarist nation views nations that are fundamentally different from it as a threat; these nations are portrayed as the “bad guy”. Nationalism condemns differences of culture, values, beliefs, and other practices or ways of existence. This is founded on xenophobia, which is deeply ingrained in society.

The structure of a nation is mirrored by the society within it. This applies to core values, as well as the ways of dealing with a perceived threat to these values. Just as the military prepares for a non-present war, individuals prepare for a non-present threat. A militarist nation is one that anticipates war, even in the midst of peace. If conflict is not present, a militarist nation will use this as an opportunity to prepare for any potential future conflicts. This is done in the name of protection, yet ultimately achieves the opposite effect. “The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength.” (Goldman, 1908). Just as a nation perceives other nations as the source of this theoretical threat, individual people view other people as a threat. This is the basis of prejudice, and the resulting violence.

This nation stockpiles weapons in case of a need to protect itself. On a smaller scale, each person acts as a nation. Some see the right to bear arms as vital to the protection of oneself and one’s rights. The people of this nation have grown accustomed to constantly having an enemy they must triumph over. Because militarism is the default, people are inclined to create an enemy when no threat is present. As noted by Robert Elias, an author and a professor at the University of San Francisco, “Americans have been preoccupied, perhaps uniquely, with the problem of our ‘enemies’.” (April 19, 1993). Quite often, the people framed as the enemies are those who pose a threat to the social hierarchy of the nation. “Dissidents are not alone among our domestic enemies. We often perceive other threats, especially to our economic well-being, such as from other races, ethnicities, religions, classes, or genders.” (Elias, April 19, 1993). The majority gains privilege from oppressing the minority, as this oppression works to maintain the social hierarchy that advantages the majority, especially those at the top. As a whole, the privileged majority has a superiority complex, believing themselves to be the “good guys”, treating groups of people that are the minority as the “bad guys”, thus using this as justification to oppress them. The primary perpetrators of this are white people, and the victims of this tend to be people of color.

Because the US stockpiles weapons, and there is a president who threatens to use them, other nations react. North Korea is activity testing nuclear weapons. If this works on a macro level, it also has an effect on a micro level. Heavily armed individuals, such as people in law enforcement, are always prepared to use their weapons. Because of the right to bear arms, there are more guns in this country than there are people. It is not always possible to tell who has a gun and who does not. This makes police feel threatened. They act on their prejudices, believing people of color to be the enemy, using this as justification for horrific acts of violence.

In conclusion, the United States suffers from the combined effects of militarism and nationalism. Nationalism creates the nation’s superiority complex, which breeds xenophobia. Militarism has shaped a society in which violence is seen as a viable solution. These concepts and the resulting actions on a macro level are mirrored on a micro level by the people of the nation, and can be seen in the way individuals interact with each other. The result is the preservation of an unjust social hierarchy through the continuation of systematic violence. Ultimately, the intertwined nature of militarism and nationalism within the United States produces violence, and results in adverse consequences within the nation and across the world.


Works Cited:

Goldman, Emma. & Paul Avrich Collection (Library of Congress).  (1908). Patriotism : a menace to liberty. New York : Mother Earth Publishing Association


Turpin, Jennifer E & Kurtz, Lester R (1997). The Web of violence : from interpersonal to global. University of Illinois Press, Urbana



Advanced Essay #3 - The Phases of War

Posted by Madison Siegel in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on

War causes violence throughout many parts of the world. This includes Vietnam, Syria, Iraq, the United States, and many other places. The morality of the soldiers fighting in these wars is questioned from the moment they decide they wanted to become a soldier. The U.S launched an attack on Iraq in 2003 of that year. The soldiers went over to Iraq to lift off bombs, raid their houses, and kill people. It’s hard when a soldier is asked to do difficult things, and once they’ve crossed those lines, it’s hard to navigate back. For an infinite amount of veterans, coming home doesn’t end with kisses and hugs. Now there is an increasing awareness, and some say an urgent need for America and Americans to step up and share the pain of our returning veterans and help them reclaim their lives. An important factor in the return of some vets is that much of the country has not shared the pain of the wars they have been fighting. This essay will analyze the psychological effects that soldiers go through and how that changes them for the rest of their lives. The pain people feel after going through war can be just as traumatic as anything else. War conditions create memories and wounds that outlive the wars themselves. In an article for CNN “I’m Prepared to Talk About the Things I Did in Iraq” Samuel Madel says, “Their images and sounds persist in many parts of peoples lives through multiple generations.” Soldiers can remember things that take decades to work through, and it is not definite that their soul can ever recover. Studies show that there are higher rates of physical and mental illness after coming home from war. These memories can create psychological conditions that are often hidden in the way we write history. In textbooks, we only see the facts, not the opinions, but a person’s perspective emphasizes on their opinion. That can stop us from seeing how war can affect soldiers, specifically in Iraq. People hear about the things that these people did when they were in Iraq and have trouble believing that the soldiers they know and love actually did this. Their experience forever changes the mentality that soldiers go through after going to war. They have seen so many traumatic things that mental illness is increasingly likely to happen. Sonya Timson, writer for the New York Times says, “In evaluation of successes and failures, scholars and policymakers have a responsibility to recognize these intricacies, beyond logistics and statistics, and to resist the urge to reduce a people’s wellbeing to the toppling of a regime.” This quote shows that the question that instead needs to be at the forefront of any discussion about the effects of war is what it means for a “liberated” society to live in conditions of constant rupture. To be “liberated” while experiencing enduring loss and grief caused by the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers; or to be children growing up in exploded neighborhoods and raided houses, internalizing and suppressing wartime anxieties. Unless a person experiences what these soldiers go through, it is unlikely for them to ever understand. For example, many movies and T.V. series cover topics of the PTSD that is created after experiencing war. In the T.V. show, Grey's Anatomy, one of the surgeons fought for our country against Iraq and had experienced PTSD on the show. In the next season, it was as if that character had never been to war. That proves that even if people do extensive research like famous T.V. shows have to do, it is hard to believe that these soldiers will never be the same. People want to believe that their loved ones mental illness will magically go away, but the exploits that these soldiers go through compare to nothing of an American's regular daily life. In conclusion, soldiers have to go through so much pain that there is a question if they will ever recover from it. We don’t know if they will ever be the same, we don’t know what happened while they were there, and we don’t know their perspective on everything they saw. These soldiers will never be the same to the point where they could now have to deal with mental illnesses. They will forever wonder what is right and wrong and what is black and white. They will never forget what has happened to them and will continue to have flashbacks and dreams of being at war. They could wonder what they could have done differently, but in the end, soldiers know that there is nothing that they can change about their pasts. Us as Americans should try our best to help them cope, and hope that the tiny things we can do can make a change in their lives for the better. If you know someone who is a soldier keep an extra eye on them because not only have they helped you in more ways then you know, but they also could be dealing with something you have no clue about. 

Advanced Essay #3: Can nonviolence be the solution?

Posted by Samera Baksh in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on

Introduction- In this paper I discussed about nonviolence and how that can end many wars going on now. I explained about two activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. These two powerful men overcame situations in their society nonviolently.

Essay

How often are you scared about your loved ones getting killed every time you step out of your door? America’s trust in nonviolence strategies are nonexistent, even though there were many successful nonviolent movements in our history. There are many ways people can approach a situation nonviolently. If we look into the Afghan war compared to MLK strategies during the civil rights movement, we see how the civil rights movement Nonviolence can solve the problems that war tries to solve, yet constantly fails at. Today, in the United States, we can venerate and follow activists as a role models to end all the violent wars.

Throughout history, many activist leaders approached problems in a nonviolent manner. This brought peace and unity to the nation. An outstanding example is when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ended segregation, but not by starting war. Instead, he led protests, strikes, drafted and delivered speeches, and much more. MLK is the reason that we are all able to sit in classrooms with people of many different races, ethnicities, religious backgrounds, persuasions. “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals,” MLK stated. This is a very powerful quote about how nonviolence is metaphorically a type of weapon that could end violence altogether and, as well, engender tranquility, should people allow it to transpire. MLK united his followers and arrived at a variety of nonviolent acts, yet effective, strategies to peacefully end segregation.

In one of the third world countries, India, this nation achieved its own liberation from a powerful country, the United Kingdom, but in a nonviolent approach. Mahatma Gandhi, was the Indian activist who proposed this approach. It certainly was a major achievement for a third world country to over power the United Kingdom in the 1940’s. This alone is a historical event that has been often overlooked. One may inquire, ‘How did Gandhi accomplish this feat?’ nonviolently, of course, although it may seem unbelievable. Gandhi had two main concepts that he followed, ahimsa and satyagraha. Ahimsa is common in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. This concept translated to “not to injure” or “nonviolence.” Gandhi used this concept to overthrow the colonial rule set by U.K, including the racial discrimination and social divisions. Satyagraha translated to “Holding onto truth” or “truth force.” Gandhi developed this concept as a weapon to fight injustice. It is a way of nonviolent resistance that he used to overrule the British. He was a very peaceful, but  powerful man at that time.“Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.”said Gandhi. As one can see, Gandhi believed even if you react to a situation violently, it does not solve the problem or come to any sort of a resolution. The problem would instead perpetuate, and may even exacerbate. He believes that people need to have the inner faith and change. Gandhi’s morals and speeches were not the only way India became a country; He started a series of hunger strikes, salt marches, and prohibited Britain from their goods. This all brought independence to India without any deaths or casualties.

Next, is the question, “Why does the U.S constantly deploying missiles and bombing innocent homes?” Afghanistan is constantly being attacked now. The U.S has been doing this for years, and continues without any sense of discontinuation. Further, the Iraq war was going on for 15 years and the Afghanistan war has been going on from 2001, with no foreseeable termination. In an article by Kimberly Amadeo, she stated, “In June 2017, President Donald Trump authorized sending 3,000 to 5,000 more troops into Afghanistan to strengthen training efforts there. On January 11, 2018, the Pentagon announced it will send in drones and 1,000 new combat advisers in advance of the spring fighting season. The administration's focus is on attacking terrorists and not nation-building.” This quotes explains that the U.S government is continuously sending troops to Afghanistan till this day. The president sent troops there just to make their training better. This shows that the Afghanistan war has no specific reason why it is still going on. Sadly to say, the U.S government spends so much on these wars for many unknown reasons. Instead of being vicious, the U.S could easily make peace with Afghanistan and put an end to violence altogether.

When the government take action nonviolently is causes more unity among the nation. It is not just about the government, but also society. Many mass shootings are going on in our neighborhoods. We can all end a situation by approaching it in a peaceful manner. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both successfully brought unity among their own countries without causing crucial destruction. Today we can use these two role models to end many wars going on now. Approaching situations in a negligent manner leads a nation to disintegrate. This is all happening in our society now, as in the aforementioned cases of Syria and Afghanistan. The United States retaliates in a violent way, hundreds and thousands are being put to death because of the sudden bombings. The U.S government can end this and bring unity in a non violent manner. There are more leaders that follow a non-violent approach other than MLK and Gandhi. The United States government could use its tactics and bring unity. Many human lives could be saved and the money could be used for more important needs. If Gandhi can gain independence from Britain, I believe these unnecessary wars can all come to an end. These two events I stated show that taking action nonviolently has a positive and peaceful outcome.  

Citations:

The Balance, Kimberly Amadeo, March 15, 2019. Afghanistan War Cost, Timeline and Economic Impact. https://www.thebalance.com/cost-of-afghanistan-war-timeline-economic-impact-4122493


Srcharitycinti, Pray for Peace and Nonviolence. http://www.srcharitycinti.org/opjcc/images/Nonviolence_prayer.pdf


Tampa Bay Times, January 24. “People Need to Remember King’s message of Nonviolence.”

https://www.tampabay.com/letters/thursdays-letters-people-need-to-remember-kings-message-of-nonviolence-20190124/




 


 


Advanced essay #3

Posted by Kishara Erwin in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on

Introduction- My goal for this essay is how violence changes people. Also that its not always recognizable firsthand. People need to be aware of how serious violence is.

Violence is not inevitable. It's used in many different ways and causes several different emotions in people. Some of those emotions are; suffering,pain, danger, and fear. Violence is known to change people. There are many types of violence. We have brutal beatings, murder, stabbings and so forth. People use violence as a resolution to something or a way of power. The big question is How does violence change who we are?.

The definition of violence is strength of emotion or an unpleasant  destructive force. Another meaning is behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. When people refer to violence, normally they are referring to the second definition. Violence is also known as cruelty. Most times violence is physical, but we can also suffer mentally from it. There's many ways to tell if a person has changed from violence. You can notice the changes in their body language and how they begin to act. Normally we see violence expressed through anger.    

Everyday on the news you hear that someone has been killed. The source of killing is another form of violence. What's heartbroken is the victims are either families, children, or an innocent individual. Each story behind each victim is about something insufficient. violence is being used in a reckless way; they use cruelty for anything without thinking about the consequences. As a community we have to do something to stop all of this. Instead of witnessing these attacks, let's do something to stop them.  

You never acknowledge how much violence can affect you until you experience it firsthand. In my family, we experienced violence and it cost people their lives. The worst experience of all is my uncle. In 2018 I recieved news people fear getting. I remember this day like it was yesterday,, so here we go. An article the violence around us, said “Children (and even adults) may simply imitate the violence they observe”.  The way we see others behave is the same behavior we imitate. Its normal for humans to start acting like one another. When we see violent behavior then eventually that's our new behavior. Unfortunately violence is something that has been used in one point of our lives.

It was a regular sunny day on may 23, 2018. Everyone had just came home from school and work. My mom came home and needed to rest. A few minutes later my step dad also came home. Me and my siblings were downstairs watching tv. Suddenly, i heard my mom on the phone saying” what, I'm coming auntie. Her voice was in a panic and she rushed downstairs and out the door. When my stepdad came down the steps I asked him “what was wrong” . In a normal calm tone, he said your uncle has been shot. The words echoed and I started feeling anxious and confused. I grabbed my phone to distract myself. When I unlocked it i saw a post made by sister. The post said “ I hate getting worst news.” A few minutes after, there was a follow up post. That post said “ and just like that”. As soon as I saw the post i instantly knew what she meant. So i grabbed my phone and texted my sister. The text said any updates on uncle jeffrey. She responded “no baby he didn't make it”. Tears formed my eyes and I dropped my phone on the floor. My heart was hurt for my mother. That was her brother I knew she would be in pain.

Following this sunday, I had to attend school the next day. During the car ride my mom kept repeating how my uncle was shot 37 times. By the time we reached sla i was on the verge of tears. When I went to class I was quiet and tried to explain why I was late. No words came out everything was silent. My mind was somewhere else. Ms. hull took me in the hallway and I explained what happened. The way I told her was through tears and it just blurted out. I was a total mess and couldn't do anything.

 After losing my uncle I realized how much violence can destroy people's lives. The person who commits these violent acts doesnt think about the consequences. He/she just moves on like its nothing. Violence can make someone angry enough to harm someone. Physically hurting someone is not the solution to anything.  

So many things can trigger what makes someone violent.  What they went through in their childhood. Parents, etc. Violence can be inherited within a person. Phillip Jet once said “I think violent crime has more to do with a combination of maltreatment, circumstance, and emotion”. Angry people tend to take their anger out on other people. The amount of anger is enough to destroy someone. Its not about having power, it's about having an outlet to release.  

As humans we don't how violence psychologically affects us or our families. In children we see fear. In adults we have guilt, low self esteem, and isolation. It's not always obvious how violence affects our people. We just begin to act different. In our society, all you see is one of us attacking the other. So when people see us they instantly have fear. No one knows how far someone is willing to go. In any situation someone who commits violence is the person who has control over everything.  

As a society we should realize what violence does to our community. Yes violence is inevitable but it should never be your first choice. In some cases violence is necessary. One  case is when your in danger and need to protect yourself. There are times when violence can be prevented. Something triggers inside our minds and causes us to commit harm on an individual.  

No one is perfect each and every one of us have flaws. Its ok to express our emotions and release what's upsetting us.Every situation and obstacle we face mold us into the people we are today. There are certain experiences we never come back from. Violent situations are where people lose themselves. They become different people and there's nothing you can do. Surround yourself with people who push you to be your best self. When your around the right people they will help you heal and be your best self. Violence can not define you unless you let it.
​

Works Cited

http://www.criminalelement.com/can-violence-be-genetic-and-inherited-comment-sweepstakes/

https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/anger

Advanced Essay#3 Constant Violence in US

Posted by Charles Langley in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on
​

Introduction:

My goal for this essay is to show how much violence is in our country and how much we see it on a daily basis. I just want people to be aware of this. I'm proud of the work I put in it and shout out to Christina and Tobi for the peer review.


Constant Violence in US

There are a lot of examples of violence being ingrained in our minds in our society. Whether it be subconsciously or consciously we cannot escape because these factors are all around and are influencing us daily. One example is the media. The media always reports shootings, robberies, and other acts of violence on a daily basis and then go on to the next topic: essentially just glossing over it like its nothing new. The second factor is our own president Donald Trump. At his rallies, he has a history of condoning violence.  What both of these examples have in common is that they’re things that people look up too or look at. These are just some of the many things that we see everyday that affect us and ingrain in our brain. If you go on NBC 10 News you’ll see a violent act that was committed and then right next to it is something light-hearted or even silly. In a article on the NBC 10 news website (April 23, 2019) it stated how the body cameras on the policemen were being used incorrectly as there was a police shooting. Then there was a news report about an Easter Bunny using violence to defend a woman who was being assaulted by a man. To be fair this kind of violence (The Easter Bunny) could be justified because he was trying to protect the woman t. The problem in this situation are the bystanders. During the incident they were just watching the woman get beat up. The people on the sidelines were cheering for the Easter Bunny, they said, ” Beat his a** .” multiple times, condoning that this “Easter Bunny fight the man that was fighting the woman. Later that day we come to find out the man in the Easter Bunny suit is a fugitive from New Jersey with a violent past. Here are three pictures of the incident.





In the first picture and second picture, it’s the man in the Easter Bunny suit. In the third picture is him defending the women by beating up the man with excessive force.  

Related image

That was just one example of how violence is ingrained in our brains due to the e daily violence shown on media.

Our own president has taken a part of this in many of his rallies and has been known to instigate violence. During Donald Trump’s various rallies he claimed that he didn’t  condone violence. However, that couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

Donald Trump has been contradicting for the longest time.It’s obvious that during this time Donald Trump was trying to gain people’s votes by saying he didn’t condone violence but, it got to the point where he really doesn’t care what he says during his rallies. Donald Trump really has a history of encouraging violence in our country. The crazy part is when he said, “Knock the crap out of them” people were cheering and supporting him with this statement. This shows that if the people in power think it’s ok others will also think its ok that we have violence in our country.   

One last example out of the many examples out there is The Army Experience Center. In the ACE they try to recruit kids in the army by making them play violent video games. They use these games as a means to unlock the violence that’s inside kids without them even realizing it. Here are some statistics from the ACE,” As of October 12, 2009:

  • The AEC had registered nearly 13,000 new visitors

  • The AEC had contracted a total of 149 recruits -- 134 for active duty and 15 for Reserves

  • The AEC had obtained 72 “quality enlistments," referring to recruits who scored in the 50th percentile or above on the Armed Forces Qualification Test

  • On average, 80 people visit the AEC per day

  • The HMMWV [Humvee] is the AEC’s most popular simulator”

And this is just for 2009. There were 80 People visiting a day being brainwashed by violent video games so they can join the army. Using video games as a means to gather kids to join the army is kind of sick. The kids don’t know better either, they think they’re just there to play some Call of Duty or something when in actuality the people who work at ACE are evaluating how useful they can be in the army.  

There is a way to solve this. We all need to be careful what we look at what we feed our minds because if we feed our minds violence it’s going to want violence. If we feed our minds kind thoughts and kind actions then our minds are going think positively and do positive things. If we keep just following others like Donald Trump it’s just going to strengthen the hold that violence has on our minds but if we don’t allow to take control of us then everything will be fine. This is why we need to be aware that violence is being ingrained in our mins.

These are just three examples of how violence is ingrained in our brains. No matter how hard we try to avoid it there will be violence all around us, it’s just how society is at this day and age. There are even people out there who support violence as seen in example two. In the end, the many examples out here can ingrain violence in our brains but that doesn’t mean everybody is hostile.  


Work sited

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004269364/trump-and-violence.html?playlistId=1194811622182&module=tv-carousel&action=click&pgType=Multimedia&contentPlacement=0

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/waging-war/a-new-generation/

https://www.nbcnews.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H3CsKX01ME

Advanced Essay #3: Medical Influences

Posted by Nasya Ie in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on

Intro: This paper was challenging to write, I had trouble finding the right flow and balance. After revisions, I finally realised what is needed in this essay. My goals for this essay was to have better flow and stronger vocabulary, hopefully I met my own goals. Overall, this essay was a good challenge. (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ*

The U.S. military has high standards for medicine, the standards in mainstream medicine should be raised. Medicine is the solution, a practice to treatment preventing illnesses or injury. Medicine is not just about doctors, it is about specialties and qualifications. Modern medicine can be overlooked, but it doesn’t always have the solution to everything. Today, training and practices are still improving to treat patients efficiently and correctly. Many trauma centers across America are influenced by military medicine. Military medicine faces a challenging situation that requires intense training. They have limited time and materials on the battlefield, but are driven to treat the patients. On the other hand, trauma centers are able to ‘fluctuate’ the time and they have the materials needed, but why are trauma centers influenced by the military, it should be vice versa.

The training and the budget for modern medicine are not always as reliable. Modern medicine training do not have the same pressure to adapt to the situation. A fundamental value is funding; it is funding dedicated to military training and it is an advantage. The money towards training creates this foundation, it forces them to use all resources to do what they can save. With that convenience, would modern medicine be influenced by other specialties? Or have created this innovation at first hand?

Mainly, trauma centers are influenced by military medicine training and practices, according to U.S. Medicine, “‘Historically, many improvements in trauma care have been observed during war and innovations made on the battlefield due to the large and concentrated number of severely-injured patients,”... “Historically, improvements in operative trauma care have been driven by war and innovations on the battlefield.” (2016) Clearly stated, trauma centers use innovation used on the battlefield, and it has improved care. We can gain these alterations into civilian life. The first thought that comes into mind about the battlefield, we tend to think about death. We should turn that thought around and acknowledge that it’s not just about trauma.

Gaining innovations like damage-control resuscitation (DCR), which is what the military doctor use, is now something that many trauma centers practice. According to the U.S. Medicine, Wars’ biggest damage to a soldier is blood loss from weapons, bullets, grenades, missiles, etc. Several techniques are used to slow down the flow of blood, a rope is tied around the wounded limb, but as simple as that it wasn’t in the favor of the wounded soldier or doctor. The method of choice on the battlefield now is to cauterize the wound, burning the flesh to create a temporary close. Compared to modern medicine, this method is used for emergency surgery to stop bleeding. That innovation changed the game for modern medicine.

Small innovation on the battlefield can create a large impact; simply observing a wound can lead to a medical breakthrough. A fresh wound on a soldier may illuminate or glow. The ‘glow’ that appears on the wound may predict a higher survival rate than those who do not have the ‘glow’. What is the reason behind the glow? The glow came from Photorhabdus-luminescens, which is a bacterium carried by nematodes. The soldier crawling through mud attracted insects which had the bacterium. The bacteria is found to fight off insects, but also competing for microbes. Photorhabdus-luminescens is now used to treat antibiotic infections. Now, other researchers found a way to treat HIV and other diseases. These situations of battlefield innovations prove that it creates a large impact on mainstream medicine. How can modern medicine create the same innovations?

Having the same high standards for modern medicine might be the solution. Creating the mentality that military doctors have, these innovations can be created. If trauma centers had the same mentality would the survival rate increase? Just a simple observation can create an impact. Brought to Life Exploring the History of Medicine states, “War is often associated with new discoveries in medicine. Some of these discoveries have been relatively small, but others have had a significant impact on our understanding of the body and the impact of the trauma of war on the mind and body.” To keep in mind, the situations that a soldier goes through may not be seen in a trauma center, the environments are different. The situation may not ‘simulate’ the same during war. Comparing these two different, but related topics may not be a straightforward comparison. War’s pressure and environment might also be an element to these advancements.

Medicine is a battlefield itself, finding any way to fight off infections and injuries. The techniques and methods used in war are now used in modern medicine, it’s efficient and less invasive. Plato said, Necessity is the mother of invention when needed something, it must be forced or find a way to achieve it. That is the mindset that the military doctors have to have strict training, meanwhile, modern medicine doctors should follow along and it might change their own results. With the training and pressure given to the military, many innovations were achieved. Creating reliability may be the answers to more innovations, but also finding the right balance. Training, mentality, and environment all play a role in mainstream medicine, thus, benefiting our society. We can gain these advantages that military medicine goes through, we shouldn’t have to look back at the advancements made on the battlefield. Starting now, creating our own environment to create our own innovations.   

Citations:

Usmedicine.com. “Major Military Advancement in Trauma Care Now Adopted by Civilian Medicine.” U.S. Medicine, 8 Apr. 2016, www.usmedicine.com/agencies/department-of-defense-dod/major-military-advancement-in-trauma-care-now-adopted-by-civilian-medicine/.

“Science Museum. Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine.” Medical Innovations and War, http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/war/innovations


Advanced Essay #3-Bystander Effect in Today's World

Posted by John Eagen in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on

Violence is what makes the world go around, said no one, but it seems eerily true. You could look anywhere in the world and find terrible things happening. Isis just claimed responsibility for what happened in Sri Lanka, China has started to militarize Pakistan. Myanmar is jailing reporters who opposed the dictatorship in place, it seems as though the Russians just hacked into the US elections system. The US in general is just a political mess, people in Venezuela are trying to escape a ruthless dictator, and the stories just go on and on. Sadly this has almost always been the case in human history, people doing horrible things to each other for personal gain. The violence seems to have no end in site. But there is some light in all of this darkness, documentation. The progress of the digital world has helped us see things that we never would have had a window to before. It has not always stopped the violence from occurring, but it has made people who do these things way more cautious. And maybe one day, will stop all of these events in general.

Our new found use of technology has helped us in many ways. Things that we never could have seen before are now accessible to almost everyone. These crazy events that happen on the other side of the world can still be seen. But sadly this has left us with a new problem, accountability. Since now everyone is seeing everything, it is assumed that the problem is being taken care of. And as long as everyone is assuming that it is someone else's problem, nothing is going to get done. This is called the bystander effect, which according to psychology today is “the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation”. This was first just seen as an issue with people who are seeing the same even with their own eyes. But now with the internet spreading everything, this effect has spread with it. Leaving society with a problem that very much so needs to be addressed.

A clear example of this effect would be facebook live and things that have been broadcasted on it. An example of this was reported on by Times Magazine, when a 15 year old girl was sexually assaulted on a facebook live video that was viewed according to a source by 40 people. Despite this no one called the police. An example outside of the internet would be when Ilan Halimi was kidnapped in paris by Moroccan “Barbarians” to try and get money from his family because of the fact that he was jewish reported the New York Times. While in captivity several of the neighbors to the place that he was being held in heard the commotion and in some instances actually saw what was happening. Yet again, no one called the authorities or tryed to put an end to what was happening in any way. This is a really big physiological problem that we as humans have yet to be able to fully understand. The list of examples is so long that there is an example of this effect in the bible, when Jesus is telling a lawyer about how everyone is everyone's neighbor. And he gives an example of this happening, were several people pass by a man on the side of a road who has been beaten. And in the only person who stopped to help him was a samaritan. What this story is trying to say is very important, regardless if you are religious or not, it exposes human nature and people who aim to change it and people who just go along with the same old same old.

As I have said many many times this is a problem, but I haven’t really gone in to how to fix it. And that really is the problem, because to fix this we need to do something that humans by nature do not do. And that is accountability, and we can see this in multiple aspects of life. Everything from climate change, to who is responsible for finishing the benchmark. It all comes down to people owning up to their mistakes, and not only doing that but fixing them. Which is something that we don’t typically do, it is part a of our subconscious. This is why we need to start actively thinking about this consciously. Even if people just took a little more initiation when seeing something, the world would be a much better place. Not even what happens on social media, but if you see someone getting called call the police. Or if it is your job to do something actually do it, and don’t just depend on others to get it done. And even if it isn’t your job, and you  just see someone in need, do something about it instead of just leaving it for someone else. I am not at all exempt from this, and I really do think that by fixing the little things it could affect things that I didn’t even expect. If every single person just took on a little more responsibility, we could actually solve some of the worlds problems instead of ignoring them.


Citations-

  • “Bystander Effect.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bystander-effect.

  • “Chicago Teen Sexually Assaulted on Facebook Live Fears Home.” Time, Time, 22 Mar. 2017, time.com/4710231/chicago-teen-sexual-assault-facebook-live/.

  • Smith, Craig S. “Torture and Death of Jew Deepen Fears in France.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/world/europe/torture-and-death-of-jew-deepen-fears-in-france.html.

  • “Who Is Your Neighbor? Well, Who Are You?” Desiring God, 3 May 2019, www.desiringgod.org/articles/who-is-your-neighbor-well-who-are-you.



Advanced Essay #3: Power to Violence

Posted by Michaela Donnelly in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
Intro: 
In this essay I ​talk about the tie between people in power and violence. I talk about how people who have power are easily able to inflict violence on to others. It is easy because it doesn't involve them. They aren't the ones being hurt. 

Essay:

Humans are physiological creatures. We think and find a reason for everything we do, even if that reason is not “good.” Everyone does it including the people you wouldn’t expect; people with high authority over others. Those people believe they have more of a right to inflict violence onto other people because of the position they have. They are also more perceptible to violence. This all leads to a world of violence due to the people of power.

In early August of 1971, 24 male college students from the US and Canada were chosen to be part of a social psychological experiment; The Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment would split the group into two. Half of the group would play the role of prison guards while the other half of the group played the role of  prisoners. These positions were all chosen at random. Instructions were given to the prisoners while the guards were given little to no instructions. It was their house to run. The experiment studied and evaluated both groups. They wanted to see what stripping a person quickly of their identity would do but they also wanted to see what power would do to an everyday citizen. The results were shocking. It took a very short amount of time for the guards to sink into their roles. They created rules for the prisoners to follow. They treated the prisoners like true criminals. They degraded the prisoners by making them wear prison dresses as their uniforms. They punished them by making them do push-ups, similar to how Nazis punished Jewish people in concentration camps. The fact that this happened so quickly is scary to see. These were everyday college students, all with positive backgrounds that just wanted some money (paid for doing the experiment). This shows us that people with authority will do whatever it takes to degrade someone who is below them. They believe that if it is not hurting them that it is alright. Before the experiment started, all 24 men were similar. The one switch changed it all. Power. Power gave them the ability to inflict violence. They had the power and didn’t care how bad it would hurt others who in all reality, were just like them. The master behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, the experiment talked about above, is a man named Philip Zimbardo. After the experiment, he went on to make a TED Talk and write a book about what he calls the Lucifer Effect. He defines the Lucifer effect as,“ Individuals and groups  who usually act humanely can sometimes act otherwise in certain circumstances (TedTalk, Zimbardo). This proves that everyday people are easily able to change their ways of thinking and acting based on a situation. In the case of the SPE, we saw the guards act out because they were put in a non-everyday situation. A situation that gave them power.

People of authority and power also tend to make important decisions without the input of the people the decision will be effect. Look at the case of our government and presidents (past and current). Wars have been waged without the consent of our nation. National emergencies were called with little to no thought of the people. Presidents have skipped the approval of the congress to go to war. There are rules such as the War Power Act, that presidents completely ignore. It seems as though presidents, some of the people with the most power in the US, don’t think about the violence that going to war can bring. The violence doesn’t directly affect them; So why should they care? They are not the ones fighting in the fields. They are not the ones trying to keep them alive. They are not the ones dying for the Nation they should be running. If people have power over others, the chance they wouldn't send those other people into the violence is slim to none. They do what they want. They don't want to be hurt. They would rather have others fight the job so they don't have to.

In conclusion, we can see that through social psychological experiments and with everyday life that people of power use violence to their advantage. We can see a tie between violence and power. When people are given power in situations they are more likely to use it to their advantage and inflict violence on people who they feel are lesser. People who have power do not think about the people the violence will affect. As long as it is not them they don’t care.


Work Cited:

1.) Stanford Prison Experiment https://www.prisonexp.org/the-story

2.) War Power Act https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2001/09/what-war-powers-does-the-president-have.html

Advanced Essay #3 Power to Violence

Posted by Michaela Donnelly on
Intro: 
In this essay I ​talk about the tie between people in power and violence. I talk about how people who have power are easily able to inflict violence on to others. It is easy because it doesn't involve them. They aren't the ones being hurt. 

Essay:

Humans are physiological creatures. We think and find a reason for everything we do, even if that reason is not “good.” Everyone does it including the people you wouldn’t expect; people with high authority over others. Those people believe they have more of a right to inflict violence onto other people because of the position they have. They are also more perceptible to violence. This all leads to a world of violence due to the people of power.

In early August of 1971, 24 male college students from the US and Canada were chosen to be part of a social psychological experiment; The Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment would split the group into two. Half of the group would play the role of prison guards while the other half of the group played the role of  prisoners. These positions were all chosen at random. Instructions were given to the prisoners while the guards were given little to no instructions. It was their house to run. The experiment studied and evaluated both groups. They wanted to see what stripping a person quickly of their identity would do but they also wanted to see what power would do to an everyday citizen. The results were shocking. It took a very short amount of time for the guards to sink into their roles. They created rules for the prisoners to follow. They treated the prisoners like true criminals. They degraded the prisoners by making them wear prison dresses as their uniforms. They punished them by making them do push-ups, similar to how Nazis punished Jewish people in concentration camps. The fact that this happened so quickly is scary to see. These were everyday college students, all with positive backgrounds that just wanted some money (paid for doing the experiment). This shows us that people with authority will do whatever it takes to degrade someone who is below them. They believe that if it is not hurting them that it is alright. Before the experiment started, all 24 men were similar. The one switch changed it all. Power. Power gave them the ability to inflict violence. They had the power and didn’t care how bad it would hurt others who in all reality, were just like them. The master behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, the experiment talked about above, is a man named Philip Zimbardo. After the experiment, he went on to make a TED Talk and write a book about what he calls the Lucifer Effect. He defines the Lucifer effect as,“ Individuals and groups  who usually act humanely can sometimes act otherwise in certain circumstances (TedTalk, Zimbardo). This proves that everyday people are easily able to change their ways of thinking and acting based on a situation. In the case of the SPE, we saw the guards act out because they were put in a non-everyday situation. A situation that gave them power.

People of authority and power also tend to make important decisions without the input of the people the decision will be effect. Look at the case of our government and presidents (past and current). Wars have been waged without the consent of our nation. National emergencies were called with little to no thought of the people. Presidents have skipped the approval of the congress to go to war. There are rules such as the War Power Act, that presidents completely ignore. It seems as though presidents, some of the people with the most power in the US, don’t think about the violence that going to war can bring. The violence doesn’t directly affect them; So why should they care? They are not the ones fighting in the fields. They are not the ones trying to keep them alive. They are not the ones dying for the Nation they should be running. If people have power over others, the chance they wouldn't send those other people into the violence is slim to none. They do what they want. They don't want to be hurt. They would rather have others fight the job so they don't have to.

In conclusion, we can see that through social psychological experiments and with everyday life that people of power use violence to their advantage. We can see a tie between violence and power. When people are given power in situations they are more likely to use it to their advantage and inflict violence on people who they feel are lesser. People who have power do not think about the people the violence will affect. As long as it is not them they don’t care.                       


Advanced Essay #3: Violence in Life

Posted by Nhu Lai in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
Introduction:

My goals for this paper is for people to realize that we need to reduce childhood exposure to violence. I'm proud of myself for getting really good sources to support my evidence, that children do get affected for the violence contents around them, and as adults, people should understand and find a way to prevent it from happening. 


Essay:

Our propensity for violence is based on how much brutality we are exposed to when we were young. Whether we experienced or witnessed violence as children, it affects us for the rest of our lives physically and emotionally. When adults see violence in today’s society, they tend to blame the society that they live in, instead of understanding the fact that in order to reduce these violent tendencies, we must first reduce childhood exposure to violence. 

History classes across America focus on one thing for the majority; war, an extremely violent battle between multiple groups around the world. Introduced to kids through different structures for entertainment and education every day knowing that it could be unhealthy for kids to take in the information. According to the InfoRefuge, “While the obvious reason for this is to maintain public morale and support for the life-threatening conflict, American military intervention since that civil war has been projected internationally” (2018). War casualty is there for public morale and support, showing the violence they have experienced in battle. Publishing it so people memorize and understand what those who suffered have been through. Not understanding that these stories would affect someone physically and emotionally, especially younger children because they have not learned nor determined the unnecessary part of the war or how dangerous it could be toward the people and nature itself. Children have been taught that war is a place where people fight against each other for their desires and beliefs. It affects them physically and emotionally, driving them to violence, and, they begin to think that violence is the path for good things to happen. 

Furthermore, entertainment has become one of the biggest factors in kids daily life. According to the CNN reports, children under 9 spend at least two hours each day watching screens for entertainment. Network-wide web is a place that nobody has the right to control, and the media's mention of violence can go viral overnight without delay. CiPHR stated, “Past research has shown that technology-based exposures to and experiences of violence, which includes harassment, bullying, or unwanted sexual exposure, can sometimes be associated with psychosocial challenges”(2017). These reports and news on violent acts will affect the young people who obtain the information and burden the family of the kid. Adults criticize the public for ruining their kid's life; indeed the parent of the children could help solve this problem by helping educate younger folks about these problems in a mature way. Adults can also argue that they have no ability to control the world-wide network, but they do have the ability to lead kids through a better path compared to the research and information kids have found on their own about the problem.

Most importantly, violence cannot be deleted from the mindset nor the things that we have learned. Therefore, people will have to create a better path to help kids learn through when in a situation where violence could occur. In agreement with Jocelyn Kelly, “Even more tragically, these same young men would often struggle to reintegrate peacefully into their communities when hostilities ended” (2018). If someone witnesses a violent action themselves then they will have an underlying recollection of that time and it may be more feasible for them to react with the violence of their own. Adults who have experienced a violent event can become diagnosed with Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If adults cannot even handle this, how could a child be expected to deal with it by themselves? Nobody can stop PTSD from happening, but we can take steps towards stopping the cause of PTSD. 

People who have experienced a violent event can sometimes be stuck in a place where things are not the same for them afterward. Depending on the situation, but most likely the images related to the event will be embedded forever. The U.S government encourages those who are in trouble to get therapy but does not want to take the blame for the events that happened. They tend to blame the situation itself by saying that was something out of their control. An example being the Vietnam war, the U.S military blamed the company who created Agent Orange (A herbicide and defoliant chemical) and said that it was their fault by putting in the chemical that affected humans. The truth is the U.S military is the one who pulls the trigger, and they understand that the chemical could kill innocent people, but they keep going and acting like a victim.

We cannot control publicity, but we can control what is under our rights. Controlling the world-wide-web is impossible, but helping our kids understand the real dangers is possible. Every problem can have a solution, we just have to find the best one to solve the issue. Violence is something that we cannot stop, but we can learn how to deal with it in a better way that prevents it from becoming an everyday thing for a child's life.

Works Cited:

 1. Kelly, Jocelyn. “The Ripple Effects of War: How Violence Can Persist after Formal Peace Is Declared.” dev4peace, 29 Aug. 2018, blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/ripple-effects-war-how-violence-can-persist-after-formal-peace-declared.

2. “How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?” War Child Holland - How Does War Child Provide Vital Psychosocial Support to Children?, www.warchildholland.org/psychosocial-support/.

3. Inforefuge. “How the U.S. Media Promotes War as Entertainment.” InfoRefuge, 29 Apr. 2010, inforefuge.com/media-promotes-war-as-entertainment.

4. Howard, Jacqueline. “Report: Young Kids Spend over 2 Hours a Day on Screens.” CNN, Cable News Network, 19 Oct. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/health/children-smartphone-tablet-use-report/index.html.

Advanced Essay #3: America's Road from Nationalism to Violence

Posted by Sara Frunzi in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
Summary: My essay is all about the way that nationalism is ingrained into American culture, leading to teens and young adults being pressured to join military. This is a product of government manipulation and societal culture as a whole, ultimately resulting in the loss of lives.
America's Road from Nationalism to Violence

America is known for its displays of patriotism and admiration for the military. It is something that many take pride in, but perhaps shouldn’t without thoroughly looking into its background. The ideas of violence and joining the military are ingrained into American culture through nationalism and government manipulation of the media. Through extreme, modern-day nationalism, fuelled in part by paid patriotism, and corrupt recruitment methods, teens are pressured to join the military and manipulated to dehumanize their actions once they join.

The “Star-Spangled Banner” is a prime example of American nationalism in the media; it is played at nearly all major-league sporting events, most recognizably, football and baseball. The song was played at baseball games before it had actually become the United States’ national anthem, dating back to 1897 and being played at significant holidays and events, such as America’s entrance to World War I. In 1931, the “Star-Spangled Banner” became America’s national anthem, and was played more often throughout the first World War. Eventually, it became a tradition. While a song may seem harmless, it is a representation of America’s undying loyalty to itself while simultaneously encouraging war and violence in front of the millions watching. The song is often played as a tribute to America’s veterans, a display of admiration for the violence people have been forced to commit on behalf of our government. These actions of patriotism can be good in small bursts of pride for a home country, but overall lead to manipulation.

While the anthem has been played at baseball games for may decades, it only started being played at football games recently. However, this was not simply because the NFL felt like it; they are paid by the government to play the song before each game. This is an example of paid patriotism in our country. According to the National Public Radio, “the Pentagon spent $6.8 million to pay for patriotic displays during the games of professional sports teams.” The government needs more people to fight in their battles, so they pay the largest televised sports leagues to act patriotic and support their cause. From the time we are young, kids are encouraged to play and watch sports; this applies especially to boys, who are often expected to like baseball and football. When it is ingrained into our society for children to grow up watching these games, thus watching displays of nationalism, the country is ingraining militarism into these kids as well. America is paying millions of dollars of taxpayer money for nationalism and violence to be intrinsic to their youths’ childhoods and futures.

In addition to the government forcing patriotism on citizens, they specifically manipulate young adults in their recruitment methods. At the “Army Experience Center (AEC)” in Philadelphia, they lure young people in with video games and tell them about all of the positives of being in the military, yet none of the negatives. The purpose of the AEC was to “offer young adults a chance to immerse themselves in the hi-tech world of 21st century war craft while discovering well-paid, military career possibilities through touch screen technology.” This statement is a thinly veiled way of saying that they are recruiting young people to fight wars with technology. They, and other army recruitment centers, desensitize the killing of other beings by making it seem like a video game, especially with the future of fighting wars with drones. A person could be sitting in a room far away, safe and sound and able to go home to their family each night, but they are killing other people. By making war the equivalent of a video game young people are paid to play, the government takes away the meaning and horror in taking of others’ lives in order to compel young people to do so. This is a large scale manipulation of America’s young people by making war and violence common and seem like a game.

Overall, it can be concluded that the American government is brainwashing its citizens to make a killing factory based on nationalism. There are few policies regarding dangerous weapons, making violence much more prevalent in the United States than other countries. In addition to this fact, there are large companies being paid to act in “admiration” of their country to make their viewers feel patriotic. This leads to pressure to join the military in the name of serving the country they claim to love so much. These acts of patriotism, once combined with unethical military recruitment strategies, leads to teens joining the military without knowing the weight of their actions until it is too late. This manipulation of teens and young adults by the American government shows a clear path from nationalism to violence, resulting in the loss of not only countless lives, but entire childhoods.


Works Cited:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/22150/why-do-we-sing-national-anthem-sporting-events


Advanced Essay #3: War vs. Story

Posted by Chloe Simmons in English 3 · Block/Harmon · Y Band on
​Introduction: The goal of this essay is to show how war is always romanized rather than what war is. The reasoning for this can vary. I'm really proud of how I was able to make my essay flow and usage of my sources. One thing I wish to improve on is my time management. 


                                             War Vs. Story

In my living room, my siblings and I sat on the couch with tired eyes, trying to stifle our yawns for the fifth time. My father was sitting in his favorite chair. Our Uncle Fro came over that day, going on about a time where their great-uncle went to France in WWI; A time that I honestly did not care for. They fought. Someone won and someone lost; that’s war. As our uncle went on, we became exasperated. My dad interrupts my uncle.

“That’s not how the story goes,” my dad spoke up.

“Oh really? Then how does it goes?” replied my uncle with an annoyed expression.

“You forgot to tell them about his tail.”

I raised my head in interest. I see from the side that he also got my siblings’ attention.

“What tail?” I asked curiously.

“The tail he got in France,” he replied, “listen and I’ll tell you.” My siblings and I sat up straight and focused our attention to our father as he told the story about his great-uncle’s tail. As focused as I was, I could notice my uncle shaking his head.

“Fables,” he muttered.

Many stories of war are heard out throughout life. What we receive can depend on how it’s told, and it can be told in many ways. But it’s never the straight truth. There’s always a different way of hearing the story. It’s always romanticized. War is often told without the horrific parts rather than straight truth to give it a meaning.

War stories are often changed and shaped into propaganda. In one video called The Army Experience Center by Roger Stahl, it showed a building controlled by the military who “merged the imaginary and actual worlds of military life” (April 2nd, 2015) through video games. It goes on to say that the young people that usually come by can play video games and seek staff if they’re interested in joining the army. When creating a video game, there must be a plot to it, and a plot is a story. With these video games, users are interacting with the war stories  created through video games. Thus, some users see war through a lens created by the army, who wants them to see something other that what war really is.

With war, it’s hard for soldiers to connect with people who haven’t had the experience for themselves. Stories are ways for people to connect with each other, and war stories are no different. With the book, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, one chapter called Good Form tells of how he has made up many stories within the book. What was his reasoning? He goes on to say “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth” (171). When saying “story-truth” and “happening-truth,” he simply means a story versus the truth. In the book, he tells of the detailed story of how he killed a man versus how he watched the man get killed. When telling the event the way it is, it most of the time draws people away from the story, especially if it’s a story similar to others. To avoid it, there’s a twist to the truth that keeps people’s attention, just as O’Brien did in his book. He knew it would be hard to understand where he comes from when it comes to war, especially when you never experience it. It can be hard to tell all the details without hurting, as shown in the chapter entitled Courage To Speak. Instead, rather than explaining the truth to people, it’s made into stories that people can relate to in some way.

In this world, countless countries try to make themselves appealing and greater than what they really are. A way they do this is the way their history is told. In America, when learning of the history of wars we’ve been in, we focus on the wars that we’ve won. It shows the victories and achievements that were made during these wars. Never looking at the losses we’ve had. As Chris Ryder said in his article entitled (Partial) History: Why 'History Is Written By The Victors' Couldn't Be More True, “we tend to assume what we are reading is true.” (2016) It’s showing we tend to make their perspective of history the true history, and unable to connect when real history is presented. With this, countries continue to write their history in the perspective they saw it as. After all, history is written by the victors.

Why is it easier to accept fictional stories rather than truth? We translate war to stories that have morals and meaning because we can't deal with meaninglessness. If it doesn’t have meaning, then don’t know how to relate to it. However, is it ok to believe in a story of the truth rather than the real truth?

Citations

The Things They Carried: A Work Of Fiction. New York: Broadway Books, 1998. Print. O'Brien, Tim.

Ryder, Chris. (Partial) History: Why 'History Is Written By The Victors' Couldn't Be More True. Odyssey. Last modified May 3, 2016. https://www.theodyssesyonline.com/partial-history.

Stahl, Roger. The Army Experience Center. The Vision Machine. Last modified April 2, 2015. https://thevisionmachine.com/2015/04/the-army-experience-center/.

Advanced Essay #3: Mindscape of sorrow by Ivan JR

Posted by Ivan Lopez in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on
​introduction 

the meaning of this essay is to dive into the idea mindset of people who go the hardship of war. Not much else to say but hopefully you enjoy my essay.


War and violence are things that can drastically change a person for better or worse. Thought usually it’s for the worse and that leads to a multitude of other problems. It teaches us who’s hiding something deep within that they themself didn’t even know existed. Violence Teaches us how to react when attacked and how will you respond when they point fingers to figure out who to blame. War teaches us how one tiny battle can blow up to the point it drags everyone and thing till there's nothing left but an empty hollow of what was. In the classic lyrics of ‘’War’’ by Edwin Starr ‘’War...huh….what is it good for? Absolutely Nothin’’.

Some people stay haunted by their past decisions and it can become a life wrecker. Whether or not it’s from guilt, or some suppressed memory they’ve kept locked away for a long time finally coming back to light. These haunting memories can lead to depression, suicide or a long life of self loth and hate towards one’s self. Like Norman Bowker, a man who felt like there was nothing left for him. In the book of ‘’The things they carried’’ by Tim O'brien, he committed suicide at a YMCA and had left a seventeen page hand written letter saying how he couldn’t find meaning. When Bowker was writing ‘’If I die in a combat zone’’ it brought back a lot of memories of his time in vietnam and one of the biggest being the death of his best friend Kiowa. He would constantly blame himself for his death, believing that he caused it with his flashlight looking at a picture of his (Ex) girlfriend during the time. Leading to a mortar hitting the mud, water and shit feld their crew were camped in and Kiowa being sucked into the ground beneath.

Going back into the idea that war changes a person is a very interesting topic and a quite difficult one. The difficult part of it is the question of ‘’were they always like this?’’ or was it the environment that shaped what they would become? Then that's where the interest comes in because your hooked and now you just need to know or you won’t get sleep or even rest. If we say environment then the conditions are what come to mind. Could it be the weather of the area that stings the mind from overbearing heat or bone freezing cold? or maybe it’s the constant annoying animals and insects that never shut up day and night keeping your mind in neverending noise? But if we go by the war itself then it’s easier to figure and understand (from an outside view). A close death encounter could change your view on the world like you take it easy or try to find that thrill again. That or being on the front line of the fighting and seeing the many horrors war can bring to you in one place.

It’s all this that cause people to change from good people to just death wanting husks of their former selves. These horrible and disturbing moments truly twist the way you view the world and make you realize that life isn’t as peaceful as you once thought. So whenever you see a homeless vet or a vet with PTSD think twice before you immediately demonize them. Because they seen and done things that still haunt them to this day and did things you would never do. Respect to the VETs and thank god for your service.       

 

Sources: ‘’The things they carried’’ by Tim O'brien


Advanced Essay #3

Posted by Juliana Long in English 3 · Block/Harmon · B Band on
​Introduction

This paper discusses the issues that women face in a world of photoshopped advertisements and the true violence of forcing women to live up to impossible standards. In this essay, I describe lots of different reasons why photoshopping women in advertisements can have life-threatening effects on consumers.


Essay

There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by others. It’s only human nature to look at someone you think is beautiful and desire to look like them - I go through this thought process every day and most of the time it serves to deepen my sense of style and self-image in a positive way. A problem arises when we as women are being presented with examples that are physically impossible to achieve. It’s dangerous for a young girl to desire a biologically impossible waist size after seeing a photoshopped woman in a magazine or on social media. This is how women start to become angry with themselves for not being able to achieve certain criteria. They ask themselves, “Why can’t I look like that? Why don’t I look like that? What’s wrong with me?” as opposed to asking themselves what’s wrong with companies who produce and stamp in these standards. Women have started to take desperate and dangerous measures in order to achieve the beauty standards they see advertised to them every day.

This phenomenon is in part because women, especially young women, often aren’t aware that the women they see in advertising every day have been photoshopped. They think that it’s possible to attain these features. “The more and more we use this editing, the higher and higher the bar goes. They’re creating things that are physically impossible,” says Henry Farid, professor of computer science who specializes in photo manipulation. Most of these standards such as teeny waists and thigh gaps are only achievable with surgery and photoshop for the vast majority of women, who are blaming themselves for not being able to achieve them with exercise, dieting, or simply just inhabiting a certain body type.

In 2011, the American Medical Association released a statement about the connections between photoshopped advertisements and eating disorders in young women, “A large body of literature links exposure to media-propagated images of unrealistic body image to eating disorders and other child and adolescent health problems.” More and more magazine editors and social media influencers are broadcasting an unattainable archetype for impressionable young girls to see without presenting them as fake. To present women with impossible standards of beauty and claim that it’s natural and something they can achieve is only bound to cause seriously dangerous methods of reaching that goal. It’s no wonder that women have begun to venture into unsafe methods of dieting, and it’s an act of violence to let women keep believing that’s their only option.

The pumping out of airbrushed and tampered-with images of female bodies has also caused women to undergo dangerous illegal cosmetic surgeries in order to attain certain standards. In 2018, popular rapper Cardi B admitted to getting silicon injections back when she was a stripper by a surgeon without a license. According to licensed plastic surgeon, Dr. Wright A. Jones, the non-medical grade silicone she was injected with could have entered the bloodstream and travel throughout the body, causing infection, loss of limbs, stroke, kidney failure, respiratory failure, heart failure, and in extreme cases, death. Professional and safe cosmetic surgery is way out of range for most women in terms of cost, which is the main reason why women book appointments with “freelance” cosmetic surgeons. Some women feel as though going under the knife by someone who doesn’t necessarily know what they’re doing is one of their only options to feel confident about their appearances.

We’ve still got a very long way to go before corporations start representing the most common body types in women and stop advertising impossible ideas of what women should try to look like. Regardless, some companies such as Dove, Aerie, and CVS have begun to rule out photoshopping women in their advertisements. About the subject, the Marketing Director of Dove says, "As a beauty brand, Dove has always celebrated real women and their beauty -- we believe the No Digital Distortion Mark will help women identify reality in what can be a confusing, digital world and relieve some of the pressure to look a certain way." We can only hope as women and allies alike that more and more companies will make this decision, but until then, we can only try to fight back to the beauty standards being imposed upon us and keep one another safe from the corporations that profit off of our insecurity.

Works Cited

- https://beautyredefined.org/photoshopping-altering-images-and-our-minds/

- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/body-evidence/201106/whats-photoshop-got-do-it

- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cardi-b-butt-injections-could-have-killed-her-says-plastic-surgeon-110111



Majo Bostani Capstone

Posted by Majo Bostani in Capstone · Ames/Hirschfield · Wed on

Airlines are scrambling to train and hire young aviation professionals, and will be almost indefinitely. Aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus are projecting the industry to need 1.3 million aviation professionals, such as pilots, mechanics, and dispatchers within the next twenty years. With aviation being one of the world’s favorite forms of transportation, with 48% of American vacationers flying in airplanes for travel, it is important to sustain the industry.

Aside from transportation, aviation is used to power global commerce giants, to protect our pipelines, fight wildfires, among numerous purposes. With aviation having an employment disparity of this level, it is important to engage the next generation to fill the important needs aviation solves. Thus, aviation needs to be promoted as the welcoming field and community it is.

Unfortunately, it is hard to decide on pursuing aviation with a lack of exposure to it. It is hard to know if you enjoy flying an airplane if you don’t know what’s involved in it. The Philadelphia Youth Aviation Fair is a gathering of aviators, current and future to promote careers in aviation to the next generation. Participants in the fair will receive a complimentary flight in an airplane, a tour of the airport facilities, and access to numerous career-oriented opportunities.

Five high school students, from Science Leadership Academy experienced aviation first-hand. With the partnership of the Experimental Aviation Association, all participants are now enrolled in an online ground school and will be eligible to apply for the prestigious Ray Aviation Scholarship.

Bibliography:

Airplane Owners’ and Pilots’ Organization. “High Schools.” Be a Pilot, More Fun, Lower Cost - You Can Fly. July 11, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://youcanfly.aopa.org/high-school. This source provides information on another aviation nonprofit organization’s efforts to attract youth to aviation. This organization admits that attracting young aviation professionals isn’t a competition, it is a collective effort by the aviation industry. This organization is working with educators to promote aviation topics to youth, by developing a STEM curriculum.

Camera, Lauren. “A Push for Aviation to Take Flight in Schools.” U.S. News & World Report. November 9, 2015. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/11/09/new-push-to-get-kids-interested-in-aviation-jobs. Lauren Camera wrote this article to promote how important youth exposure is to the future of aviation. Camera states that clubs like the Future Farmers of America are successful in their purposes, and that there is an importance for a nationwide club that grants the youth of America to aviation, and promotes aviation as a realistic, prosperous career choice.

Experimental Aviation Association, comp. “Entire Publication.” EAA Pilot Update, November 26, 2018, 1. November 26, 2018. Accessed January 25, 2019. http://pages.eaa.org/index.php/email/emailWebview?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpFM01HRXdNMkptT0daaiIsInQiOiI2RHBYa3pnYUZFZ0RDb1hacklYeXJJQVlWUmM5eURvb2VyUDc1d1lPeUN3bW43NGVMRTBrb2FOc0JnV0ZYQmgwdGtubmdwUC8wd3NQYzRhQm9pSzMzWFBFeUdhUnlwa2ZwOG5qWGFpenBHbGZhMEZFUUY5Y05oRUg4cVg2V0dCLyJ9. This source is a sample of a newsletter that the Experimental Aviation Association publishes, and sends to its volunteers for events of similar nature to my capstone. I need to subscribe to this publication in order to remain up to date in order to have the latest and greatest of regulation information, so no one gets in trouble.

Experimental Aviation Association. “ICE (In Case of Emergency).” Experimental Aviation Association. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1507-ICE-v2-PDF.ashx. This source basically provides guidance for what to do if something unfortunate happens at an aviation event. There is a risk at my capstone being exercised, just like any other activity. Basically, this document tells its readers not to talk to the media, call the Federal Aviation Administration, and first aid. Media will push things out of proportion, in order to get people to watch it, so you have to be careful when the media tries to interview you.

Experimental Aviation Association. Young Eagles Pilot Guidelines. Oshkosh, WI: Experimental Aviation Association, 2018. https://www.eaa.org/-/media/Files/EAA/EducationResources/YouthEducation/YoungEagles/1602REV-YE-Pilot-Guidelines.ashx This 2-page brochure provides the basic guidelines that the volunteers at my event must follow in order for my event to be successful, and so that no one gets in trouble. This document is very short, yet it is all that is necessary, which is really beneficial for me, considering the simplicity of everything. The main ground rules for me is to make sure everyone passes a Youth Protection Check, that the pilots’ are safe and proficient, and to make sure parents sign off on the flight. All in all, this resource is going to be the document that rules the world for my event.

Garcia, Marisa. “A ‘Perfect Storm’ Pilot Shortage Threatens Global Aviation.” Forbes. July 29, 2018. Accessed January 22, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisagarcia/2018/07/27/a-perfect-storm-pilot-shortage-threat ens-global-aviation-even-private-jets/#3163cc1b1549. Marisa Garcia, a retired professional in the aircraft manufacturing industry provides thoughts on the impending pilot shortage. Garcia claims that airline incentives are not enough to alleviate the blow the pilot shortage will have on the commercial aviation industry. Garcia openly supports greater incentives, including a loosening of hour restrictions for airline pilots, citing 250 hours as adequate to operate a commuter aircraft. Reasoning for the removal of the 250 hour requirement is provided, considering a Colgan Air accident that occured in the year of 2009. Garcia uses this to weigh insights on how to attract young pilots to aviation.

Gear 74. “Worldwide Pilot Shortage [2019] Is the Pilot Shortage Real?” YouTube. October 03, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5aE97LGgOw. A high-ranking Boeing 747 pilot shares his opinion on the pilot shortage on YouTube. He claims that the pilot shortage is caused by young pilots being underpaid about five years ago, which was misleading, considering the training requirements needed to become a professional pilots are so high. The pilot suggested that entry-level airlines have increased first-year salaries, and have increased signing bonuses tremendously, in order to attract younger pilots, and encourage them to continue throughout their training.

Kotwicki, Jon. “Solving the Pilot Shortage…” YouTube. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ksy53JJ84. Jon Kotwicki: a world-renowned flight instructor, flight instructor, and successful entrepreneur details his experience at Lufthansa Aviation Training, in Goodyear, Arizona. While this video touches on solving the pilot shortage, its main purposes seems to be advertising for Lufthansa. Kotwicki himself said that he went to apply for a job there in the video. However, Kotwicki did detail that Lufthansa hires people off of the streets, and gives them a full scholarship so they can fly for Lufthansa to alleviate the pilot shortage in Germany. This reminds me of the U.S. Naval Academy. If I were to grow my capstone organization out, I might consider giving a scholarship to young pilots who are legitimately interested in aviation.

Nickerson, Dana. “Can Grassroots Flying Solve The Pilot Shortage?” AVweb. January 03, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/Can-Grass-Roots-Flying-Solve-the-Pilot-Shortage-232078-1.html. Dana Nickerson, a recreational pilot recalls the differences of what it meant to learn to fly back then, and how it’s different now. Nickerson stated that pre-9/11, students would gather at local grassroots airports and fly ultralight aircraft, such as hang gliders and airplanes with very small engines. It used to be accessible to anyone whom wanted to learn, and was willing to help the operation. Nowadays, flight training is being controlled by expensive flight schools, that sit behind the fences and gates, that prevent people from feeling welcome to an airport.

Tulis, David. “Boeing Forecasts ‘unprecedented’ Pilot Demand.” Senate Addresses Maintenance Tech Shortage - AOPA. July 24, 2018. Accessed January 23, 2019. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/july/24/boeing-forecasts-unprecede ed-pilot-demand. David Tulis, an independent, vintage aircraft pilot discusses Boeing’s efforts to help alleviate the effect the pilot shortage has on the industry. What Boeing highlights in their activities is that there is not only going to be a pilot shortage, but also a technician shortage, and that the industry needs both. This narrows the scope of my capstone to include discussion on more of the technical sector of aviation. What I disagree with is the venue of their efforts; an event known as EAA Airventure, the world’s largest aviation convention. The reason why young people attend Airventure is because they already are interested in aviation. Some inner city child won’t attend Airventure, considering they don’t have the interest in aviation (at least yet).

Capstone - Ashton Reigner

Posted by Ashton Reigner in Capstone · Kaur · Wed on
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_mwPL6QThA1lODtLLlbUosY1uWrYHz3KR6m8xw0gYYs/edit

I wrote four essays about death, fear, love, and life. These things can be defined in many different ways but I wrote about the ways I have tried to understand these concepts. I wanted to write about these things because I believe they have a big part in all of our lives. I always knew I was going to write something for my capstone but I decided to do this because I think it could help a lot of people struggling with the things I write about. The past year has taught me so much and these essays are proof. These essays got rewritten and edited more than 10 times. I wanted to make sure these essays were something I could be proud to share. Writing about these themes helped me deal with them and I think it can help others too. That’s what I care about, helping others. I want to go into psychology and social work when I’m older. I want my life to be about making the lives of others easier. So many people struggle their whole lives because of things they don’t understand, I thought that if I could just make one person happier by sharing the things I learned, it would make me happier also.