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Advanced Essay #4 Kobe Nabried
I wrote this essay with the intention of debunking the theory of systematic evil. Systemic evil is often a source of blame that people use for their negative actions. I beg to differ.
The morals of the human heart have been questioned time and time again. Travesties like violence and war are two of prominent contributors to the stress that can be exerted onto the human heart, mind and soul.
The Vietnam war was a conflict that was met with great protest from US citizens. Protesters came from multiple backgrounds. The early on protesters consisted of peace activist and leftist intellectual, but the protest picked reached a prominent level when the US began bombing Northern Vietnam in earnest. This sparked national protests marches and speeches against the war.
People in the US were openly opposing the war because it was an unjustifiable act of violence. The US had been drafting soldiers as young as eighteen to fight in a war that many wanted no role in. Hundreds of potential soldiers fled to Canada as a method of avoid conscription. The soldiers who hadn’t fled to another country weren’t too keen on engaging in conflicts with the Vietnamese people when they were stationed in the country. Vietnam War veteran John Grant had told spoke of how a platoon of soldiers had reached an agreement with local villagers that if neither side fired on each other that they would remain peace and never engage. Even the fighters on the ground in the war were against fighting in the war.
The soldiers in that platoon had a great level of awareness and sense of right from wrong. Though they were put into a position to act violently and were and were often given orders to do so, they took of the responsibility of decision making themselves. Time and time again soldiers who are put in the same exact position relinquish their decision making abilities to a higher power of a system.
Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment. In this experiment the psychological affects of being a prisoner and prison guard were observed through a set of volunteers. Through this experiment it was shown that once the volunteers were placed into their roles as prisoners and prison guards, the prison guards began to carry out horrendous acts of violence. ZImbardo gave a TED Talk a few decades after this experiment to explain some of his findings. One of the most prominent beliefs that he shared in this talk was that either the person, or the situational forces at play in the scenario were responsible for the actions of the guards. The situational forces that are in the scenario, or the system, cannot possibly be to blame for the actions of those prison guards. This is simply for the fact that the volunteers were regular people before they went through the process that Zimbardo called, “Becoming an anonymous uniform.” He believed that when a person put on a mask or a uniform that they essentially took a new identity, or role in the world.
Free choice has occasionally been confused as civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is defined as the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. One of the more noteworthy occurrences in the past few years was Edward Snowden. Edward Snowden is an American computer professional and former Central Intelligence Agency employee. He came under fire from the nation for leaking information about how the United States had been secretly keeping track of US phone records. Snowden, as opposed to leaking this information as a form of protest, did it because he felt it was to the benefit of public interest.
It is arguable that people who assume positions of authority spontaneously act aggressively, such as the volunteers in the Stanford Prison Experiment, because in the sudden shift of status. Going from an average civilian to a guard of a prison may lead someone to believe that they are open to more as someone with a more authoritative and aggressive title. However, Snowden, who had been an employee of the CIA since 2006 before leaking phone record information to the public, was not subject to that shift before acting. It came as a realization to the justifiability of what the NSA was doing at the time.
The differences between the volunteers of the Prison Experiment and Snowden vary, but one substantial one is that the former had no basis to act the way they did except for their job title, while Snowden made a choice based on what he had been observing for some amount of time. In the former, there's an automatic evil that exists with nothing but being entered into the system, but in the latter, Snowden found the evil in the system after years. Both actions are the result of systemic evil, but that kind of evil exists in different ways, resulting in different actions.
Kobe Nabried Advanced Essay #2
The first quarter of English 2 for Copper stream was the beginning of an era for my learning experience. It marked the beginning of what would be a world-changing period of educational growth. In terms of outline, Copper stream wasn't far from any other 10th grade English class in the city. What made the experience so unique was the discussions we were able to have on the text that we all read as a class. Reflection on last year, specifically in that class, I've been able to come to the conclusion that group analysis and discussion is the best way to understand literature.
Since its original publishing in 1954, William Golding’s “The Lord of the Flies” has grown to be one of the most frequently challenged novels in recent history. This is due greatly to its allegorical references to society. I remember sitting and picking apart and analyzing the content of the book in E-band for almost the entirety of the first quarter. The fact that there was enough in the book to allow me to analyze it for a whole quarter and still find new things is what makes it so powerful. As we powered through the book, the students that were truly engaged in the class and its works were building up to a mass revelation. As we were preparing to begin the process of our benchmark, I was anticipating Kay assigning the class a prompt about human nature, due to the fact that it frequently appeared in the book and was often discussed in the class. That wasn’t the case, but it wasn't far off from what we actually ended up doing. We were given the task of forming a thesis statement and justifying our thesis throughout the course of our essays. Having only written essays based on specific prompts before, this style of writing was all new. Writing that essay caused me to reevaluate the manner in which I wrote analytical papers. I had never been given the task of forging a thesis that had to meet specific standards before. D.U.C.K stood for debatable, unique, creative, and knowledgeable. If our thesis statement failed to meet that criteria, we would only be granted approval when we submitted something that did. Within a week, the majority of the class had submitted their essays and were awaiting a grade. After he had read and graded the essays of the class, Mr. Kay commended Copper Stream, stating that the batch of essays that had been submitted might have been the best that he’d ever seen. I would like to think that we did the novel some justice. The goal of Lord of the Flies was to spark great debates and conversations, and that’s exactly what it did.
The thesis that I used for that essay was “People are often restrained by society. In the William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” the boys have been on the island for around two months when Jack begins to paint his face. When Jack begins to paint his face, it symbolizes his release from societal restraints.” I proved this thesis by using a series of quotes. The first quote and analysis was “When Jack first paints his face in chapter three he begins to break away from his societal restraints. When he wore the mask, Jack felt liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” What came with reading so far into the book was being able to see from the get-go that most often, it will contain some form of metaphorical symbolism, and not everything should be taken so plainly as a boy deciding to paint his face.
Literature isn't something that can be memorized and regurgitated onto a piece of paper so someone can say you understand it. Everyone has to come to their understanding of literature at their own pace and point. Nobody reads literature the same way, and nobody understands it the same way. Literature is a powerful thing, and I'm glad I got to experience it the way I did.
I found my pace, and eventually, my point, by being able to share my literary journey with a group of people embarking on the same journey. Through this, I found my own way. Discussions allowed me to see how everyone was comprehending it, therefore making me look at things in a multitude of different lights. Literature never only means one thing, so it shouldn't be taught like it is either.
2 Questions:
How many memories would you suggest that I use?
What would you suggest that I use for additional evidence?Advanced Essay 1: Kobe Nabried
Days By the Water
Kobe Nabried
Water Stream
[The goal of this paper was to polish and publish a collection of my summer journal entries. In this essay I’m confident that I successfully expressed the way that I felt in a vivid and relatable manner. An aspect of this essay that could be improved is the vocabulary that was used. The essay becomes somewhat monotonous at certain points. ]
The water was clear and calm, as it always was. The few usual patrons mingled with each other underneath of the awning that sat across the pool from the lifeguard station. The shaded area where they sat would soon be compromised by the setting sun. The midday guard had just departed as 6 O’cock rolled around, signaling the end of her shift. The opening guard took it upon himself to become relieved of his responsibilities and left an hour before he was scheduled to. That was the regular routine between the two of them. The midday often did her job as it was to be done. He had apparently become jaded half way through the summer and decided that once another guard had arrived he was not obligated to complete his job.
That was business as usual at this place though. I rarely minded if either of them had left early. It was a slow pool anyway; everyday was basically the same. The midday guards departure marked the beginning of the two hours that I would spend guarding alone until closing time,y favorite two hours of every day. I could finally relax and retreat into my mind to sort my thoughts.
As the last two regular patrons start back to their apartments, I put my earbuds in and let the music bring life and color to the dull world that I live in while on guard. “Don’t want to be an American Idiot!” are the first lyrics that I hear as Green Day’s explosive energy and high speed tempo make their way into my thoughts. The music was rarely on the forefront of my mind though. It had always served as a background for the things that went on in my mind, a soundtrack of sorts.
I sat, thinking and humming along to the next track on the album. “I’m the son of rage and love.” I said to myself. It was as if I needed to be reminded of who I was, and this album always did the job. With all the time I spent alone here at that place, you would think that I’d know that by now, but there are just too many days when the thoughts fail to form inside of my mind, days when everything seems just out of my mental reach. It’s been like this for so long that I have given up on trying to snap myself out of it.
I stood to gather the water testing materials. Guards are often required to test the chlorine and Ph levels of the pools that we are stationed at. It had become a mindless task, like taking a shower, or brushing my teeth. As I dipped my left hand into the cool water I began to question whether or not this job was actually worth it. Yes, it may have been the easiest job that I’ve ever done, but it felt like a waste of time. Eight dollars and twenty five cents an hour never felt so pointless. I reminded myself that I’m just there to make money. That’s what I tell myself every time I question my . But now it just seems like the money isn’t worth it. Forty hours a week, plus overtime. No, it wasn’t worth it. I should be off somewhere with my friends, enjoying the beautiful season of summer, but no, I had become a slave to money. As time slowly crept past 7pm, the thoughts of everything I would rather be doing found their way into my mind: sleeping, enjoying friends, running, my guitar. I could have spent the summer playing guitar, feeling elated the way I did when I played my way through my first chord progression. I vowed to myself that I would not let next summer be as much of a waste as this one had been. After next summer, I want to have fun memories and good times to nostalgically look back on. I think back to the times of excitement and joy. Two feelings that I wish that I had right now.
