BLOG 19

Class Reflection

The three blogs I consider were my best pieces of writing were blogs #9,13,15. This is because in the beginning of the semester my writing skills weren’t good enough but now I have excelled in my writing. These blogs reflect my ability to write not only about different perspectives but real life issues.

It is better to write online because I can type a lot quicker. The organization is better than handwriting. In addition, it was easier for me to have access to a dictionary online then by looking for the word in the dictionary, since all I have to do is type it in. Writing blogs helped me a lot because it made my writing skills stronger. It was a hard process since there were so many of them to write. It showed me that I am capable of writing many interesting works. To me this was an individual activity but sometimes when I needed help this was a shared experience for the person that was helping me and myself. When I finished my blogs or needed to add more information I read other student’s blogs. This showed me the different perspectives individuals have on different subjects. It even helped me favor one side more than the other when it came to agreeing or disagreeing. I never thought about someone reading my blog. It doesn’t affect me in any way since everyone has their own opinion on various topics.

            From this class I learned that writing is the key to everything. Throughout life you will need to use writing. It is needed in all my subjects that I take. The blogs really helped me to understand the real life issues that make an impact on today’s society. The main lesson is to never give up only keep pushing yourself to you reach your goal. I wanted the class to be more focused on grammar and punctuation. This is because I am a student that has trouble with English since it is my second language and I believe that many students in the class had the same problem. This class taught me how to write essays, summaries, and even map my ideas out. When I started the course I didn’t know what a summary even was. Writing my thoughts in an organized way was not necessary in my eyes. The food unit was memorable to me. It showed me that what may seem good to us is not really good. It opened my eyes to new experiences. Now I drink tap water and eat healthier. I even look at labels before buying a food related item. I would recommend any students to take only this class especially if you are working. Don’t try to take any other courses since all the assignments take a big amount of time to complete. Since I am a full-time student it sometimes took me till 2am to finish various assignments. I recommend Dr. Ximena Gallardo who is an amazing and funny teacher, because she makes the class very interesting. It seems as if she drinks big amounts of energy drinks since she is always energetic. If you don’t pass the CAT-W then its not the professors fault because she helps you from beginning to end just to prepare you. I hope I will pass because I have been studying every night by reviewing my notes. J

BLOG 18

The Story of Stuff

According to Annie Leonard “The American economy’s ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods.” In my experience, I find this to be true because nowadays people buy more items especially if they have discounts on them. In addition, media creates an image that we need to buy the latest items to keep us satisfied and replace the worse quality objects we once had.

I see many individuals that occupy the mall hallways. The parking lots are always full especially during holidays. I always wonder why people in the United States especially where many are in a recession, spend their earned/saved money on worthless items that may not be needed in the future. The answer is simple; the industries want you to increase your spending money so they can have a greater interest.  Industries pay for advertisements mainly to persuade the consumer into buying their product. They believe that this method is the best and most convenient way because many people watch television shows. Females such as me go shopping mainly to be in fashion. The shoes that you wore last year must be thrown out since they aren’t in style the following year. New technologies can be similar since technology is changing every couple of months and everyone wants to buy them just for show. One example is the newest Iphone 4s model. Many people were waiting for days just to get it. It is the same like the other Apple phones but people believe that each phone has improved dramatically inside which is not always true.

The ultimate purpose of the American economy should benefit the population. An industry producing more leads to more people buying their products. If this wouldn’t happen we would only spend our money on necessary items such as food and housing.  In conclusion, the more people that buy from certain companies help the workers have a stable job because they are depending on their consumer’s money.

BLOG 17

The American Dream

The American Dream is life, liberty and happiness. Everyone believes that’s the ideal life but many people can’t find this in the environment they grow up in. This is why they seek it in different places that don’t always have positive impacts on their life. Memo is a good example of someone who was tricked trying to reach the American Dream.

            Memo is a young individual that lives in an area where he can’t accomplish his dreams in comparison, to many immigrants. Living in the small village Memo’s biggest dream is to leave his small city and work for a high – tech company in the United States. In his free time, Memo builds an antenna so that he could hear voices from different places all over the world. One night he overheard a conversation between Rudy, a drone gunship operator and his colleagues. When his signal was detected Rudy received orders to kill Memo and his family since they were “aqua terrorists.” The next day Rudy blew up their house and killed Memo’s father.

            After his father’s death Memo moves to Tijuana to support his family. His biggest dream finally comes true. Memo starts to work at Cybracero, a virtual labor factory, where people can work distantly for many US companies without leaving their country.

His father never understood Memo’s fascination because Americans built a dam upstream and they destroyed his plantation, which was something that he worked for all his life. After a while Memo realized that his father was right.

           The American Dream was only an illusion. Although Mexicans can work for American companies, they could never cross the board to the United States. Americans exploit them because they only complete the jobs the Americans do not want. Americans don’t pay for the health problems the workers face since this is going on in Mexico and not the US.  The image that media creates is also different from reality. The TV shows that his brother loves to watch when the good defeats the bad guy, has nothing to do with the truth. Someone like Rudy is presented as a “super hero” even though he kills innocent people with cold blood. Rudy has been uncertain about the Santa Ana operation occurring. When he found out the truth he wanted to meet Memo and confessed that he killed his father. Rudy offers Memo help for what he has done to his family and Memo finally accepts his help.

             Memo and Rudy destroy the dam, which made all the residents of the town excited and there is water flowing again. The movie isn’t mainly about two different backgrounds competing over a dam but more about not having boundaries. Everyone should have the right to live how he or she wants. There shouldn’t be any exceptions based on your background. Individuals should be willing to help each other out instead of battling between themselves. Sticking to your traditional values is more important then trying to live a different unknown life that you imagine. 

BLOG 16

“The New Industrial Migrants”

Part I

In the article “The New Industrial Migrants (part I)” Eric Schlosser wants to draw our attention on a big problem, which is the turnover rate in slaughterhouses. Every year the slaughterhouse hires about 5,000 workers from Mexico, Central America and Southeast Asia for meatpacking. The working conditions are so hard that the average person quits after three months. Most people that work at the beef plants are immigrants who don’t have any education and they don’t speak English. They live in bad conditions that often include sharing a room with a large number of people. Slaughterhouses offer health insurance and pay for vacations, but you need to work for them at least for six months, which for most of the employees seems to be impossible to accomplish. Most employers don’t care about people that work for them and they don’t even try to improve their working conditions as a result, each year the turnover rate at the slaughterhouse is about 80 percent.

The second part of the article is about how companies recruit migrants to work for the slaughterhouses. Since the job is very hard and they pay small amounts of money the companies have a big problem with employees because nobody wants to do work. Therefore, they are recruiting people who are very poor and desperate sometimes homeless. The slaughterhouses hire buses to bring illegal immigrants to work for them. Since they don’t have health insurance they sleep in shelters and nation meatpacking communities pay for this.  The Immigration and Naturalization service know about the procedure of hiring illegal immigrants, which the beef companies are denying and there is nothing they can do about it. Every time they find illegal immigrants they are sending them back home, but in their place there will be always be another one.

Part II

            In the article “ The New Industrial Migrants” Eric Schlosser states that owners of the slaughterhouses don’t care about the conditions the workers face. In my opinion if the workers would work in a better environment then they would work there for a longer time. If you work in a slaughterhouse your manager should offer you insurance since this is a risky job.

 Individuals from Mexico and Southeast Asia migrate to the United States in search for a better life. They are so desperate to earn money to help their families that they get tricked into working in harsh conditions that are life threatening.

            Many businesses would want to have a high profit with little money invested that’s why their employee demand is high and offer bad working conditions. There are many cases of deaths and injuries reported in these factories and the people that wanted to earn money to improve their life can end up dead or critically injured when faced with this job. A good example can be my dad’s friend. He came to the US to help out his family in Poland and didn’t understand or speak English. An agency offered him work in an asbestos manufacture. They didn’t tell him about the risks he would face later on. He earned big amounts of money a week and sent half the money to his family. At the age of 39 he decided to end his career and go back to his family in Poland. One year later he died because of lung disease.

This shows that people would do anything to improve their everyday life but at the end all that money goes to waste when they die from life threatening diseases.

BLOG 15

“Mom, Dad, Buy the Broccoli”

           In the article “Mom, Dad, Buy the Broccoli” from The New York Times the author explains that in recent years the companies that were selling junk food to children are “out of control” that even the food industry were alert. A few companies came up with the idea to reduce the advertisement of unhealthy food and replace them with the healthier once. They want to accomplish it by removing cartoon characters from unhealthy foods and stop advertising their products in elementary schools.

The author reports that we should not promote unhealthy food to young children. I believe most of us would agree with this statement because advertisements can influence children to buy junk food especially when it is associates with positive feeling. In addition, eating this kind of food may lead to serious health problems.

The food that contains a lot of sugar, salt and fats is almost in every school. Our children can buy them from vending machines and they don’t help in keeping our youth in shape. Children spend most of their time in school and it is very likely that they are going to buy something to eat. Since there is no healthy food they will end up with chocolate bars or soda. This food can be really addicting and sometimes kids would starve if they would not eat them. It is a very good idea to remove those machines from schools or at least replace them with healthier options in them.

I remember when I was young, candies and chocolate were for special occasions and I could eat them once a week. Now times have changed and children like my cousin who is 12 years old eat them every day. A few weeks ago I watched a good movie about what our young generation knows about eating healthy. Jamie Olivier came into a kindergarten classroom and showed a few fruits and vegetables to the students. The outcome was that none of them could tell the difference between the vegetables. Many knew what ketchup was and how it tasted but no one knew that it comes from tomatoes and were shocked when they found out. Since children don’t have enough knowledge they can’t distinguish the difference between healthy and unfit foods. As a result, the obesity rates are growing among the youth instead of the adults and are developing more life treating diseases such as diabetes.

We can always blame the companies that make these unfit foods but at the same time we are not teaching our children any better. Since they are exposed to these kinds of foods everyday they would tend to eat more of the junk food instead of fruits and vegetables. If children would help cook meals with their parents then their minds would be more focused on healthy instead of unhealthy foods.

BLOG 14

HAPPY MEALS

In the article “Happy Meals” Michael Pollan give us a few advice about how to eat better.  Some of them can be really useful and I think that my family and I could take his advice and change some things, but some of them are out of the blue.

           Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. When I was young my grandmother had a beautiful garden where she planted flowers, vegetables and fruits. Back then people didn’t go to supermarkets to buy food everything that they ate came from their own cultivation. Their food was fresh, healthy without any pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Nowadays most of us don’t know where our food comes from and what it’s made of. So, if we want to be healthy we should take Pollan’s advice and don’t buy and eat anything that doesn’t look/taste like real food.

           Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. In New York City there are no farms where you can buy fruits and vegetables straight from the producer. The nearest farm market is an hour away from the city. When you are tired after work or school the last thing you want to do is drive a few hours to buy something to eat when the nearest supermarket is five minutes away from your home. Maybe “you won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market” compared to your local store, but we have influence on what we buy. Once in a while I can go to a farm market but this can be hard to accomplish everyday, that’s why I go to the supermarket.

Cook. If you can, plant a garden. Eat complete meals, at a table, if possible not alone. Eat slowly. I have so many things to do in my life that this part of Pollan’s advice is impossible to accomplish. Although I would enjoy having a garden it is really hard when you live in apartment especially in New York City. Besides, I don’t think that one garden could provide food for my whole family.  I don’t like to cook especially when I need to spend a few hours in the kitchen preparing a meal. I prefer to do other tasks that are more interesting than cooking. In addition, my family and I have a different schedule that’s why we cannot eat together. Everyone goes to work and comes back at various hours so eating at the table is not an option.

BLOG 13

“The Story of Bottled Water”

It all started a few years ago when one of the French companies came up with a brilliant idea to convince people that it is cool to buy bottle water. How do they convince people to pay for something that they have at home for free? Simply by saying that bottled water is safer, healthier and it tastes better. When we are watching all the advertisements on TV with all those beautiful mountain views where the water is crystal clear and then you compare it to your tap water the result is obvious. Your tap water is dirty, has a lot of bacteria and it tastes filthy. There are many myths about bottled water and one of them is that “bottled water tastes better than tap water.”

 Most people state that they actually know the taste of their favorite brand and with closed eyes they can tell the difference between bottled and tap water. Researches wanted to know if this is true, so they took a few well-known brands and tap water, sent them to the laboratory and found out that there is no difference between the two. After that, they gave the water out to people to try. Not that they couldn’t tell the difference between them, the tap water was rated higher.

They say that good advertisements can sell almost everything and it is true because we pay for water even though that we don’t have to. Sometimes people waste big amounts of money just to buy a special kind of water. Last year I went to Florida to visit my friend over the summer. She decided to take me to the beach. I was in a hurry and I forgot to buy something to drink so, I filled an empty bottled with tap water. When my friend saw that she poured it out into the sink. I asked her why she did that and she replied that it carries bacteria and I can get sick. She gave me her Fiji water and said that it’s healthier and it’s the only water that she drinks. When I told her that there is no difference between them she started to argue.

Most people think like my friend and it’s really hard to change their minds. We prefer to spend our money on water even though the water that comes from our sink is even better than the bottle one. What we can do to change this is to stop paying for bottled water, buy the aluminum bottle and refill it. This way we can save big amounts of money and the environment will be much cleaner. If someone were so skeptic about the tap water I would recommend them to watch the 20/20 report to see where their bottled water really comes from.

BLOG 12

“The Fattening of America”

When reviewing “The Fattening of America” Elizabeth Kolbert the author explains why people started to put on weight. She quotes the recent studies made by a health economist Eric Finklstein where he states that we should blame price drops on food and drinks for those conditions. I believe most of us would agree with this statement; however, there may be other reasons why Americans have weight problems such as bad food choices and that people are lazy.

When you live in New York you are always late. Everyone is constantly rushing from one place to another. We don’t have time to prepare a breakfast at home not to mention a dinner. Therefore, we go to the first store, restaurant on our way without thinking what we are putting into our mouth. Instead of going to a supermarket and buying fresh food to make a healthy meal, we choose a restaurant or a store where food is not always healthy and fresh. It’s true that it is easier to go to restaurant and pick up something from the menu rather than going grocery shopping and cooking something, as a result we know what we are eating.

            When it comes to food our choices are not always healthy. Since fast food and sugary drinks like Coca – Cola are not reserved for special occasions like they used to be according to Eric Finkelstein, moreover they are cheap people that have easier access to it.  For example, the college that I attend has vending machines where you can buy candy, chocolate bars and soda. I haven’t seen any fresh fruits or juices. The only healthy option is water. When you are hungry you are going to buy what the vending machines has to offer such as, a lot of sugar, slat and fat which according to David A. Kessler our brain reacts to sweet, fatty foods the same way that addicts’ respond to cocaine. This will trigger us to buy not one chocolate bar, but two or more.

Changing your eating habits can be hard especially when what you eat is unhealthy. It’s going to take some time and effort, but in the long run it will be worth it. You will start feeling, looking better, and you will have more energy.

BLOG 11

PART I

The Meatrix

In the video Leo has a conversation with Moopheus. He describes the living conditions of pigs to Leo. He offered him a pill and Leo chose red. He was zapped to an overcrowded factory where pigs are kept. This shows that many people think that pigs are freely walking around on a farm meanwhile, they are kept in cages with no air or light.

The Meatrix: Revolting

This video showed Leo how cows are treated. Since they have bad living conditions and get sick the cows get an overdose on antibiotics. They get RBGH, which is an artificial growth hormone. The babies are separated from their mothers and are fed through a machine. Instead of milk they get cow's blood from dead cows, which can cause mad cow disease.           

The Meatrix II1/2

This video took place in a slaughterhouse. It showed how meat is processed and from the intestines juices drop to the meat. The companies don't care about safety only the profit. Since they have bad conditions it cause the people that buy the product to get a disease. Also the people that work there are responsible to what happens to the meat during the packaging and the people when they eat the product.

            The main message of these video clips is that anyone can change the way animals are treated and what we eat depends only on us. 

PART II

After watching The Meatrix movie I started to think about what kind of food I am buying, but most people don’t know where they food comes from and don’t know if the food is good for their health. I think that their minds are filled with pictures where animals are living in good conditions, and their fruits and vegetables grow without human interference. Maybe a few years ago we didn’t have to think about all those things, but times have changed and so has our food.

When I was a young my grandmother and neighbors grew their own vegetables and animals. They were able to live on a big farm with grass surrounding them, unlike being kept in a small overcrowded one getting hormones injected in them. In past generations, people didn’t know the term organic but, the way they handled their livestock was all natural. 

I am a person who reads labels, ingredients before I buy something but I tend to get lost with all the information displayed. Last week, my teacher showed me different milk labels: one contained only milk and the other one had milk, vitamins a and d, and the cows ate plants and not animal based ones. I always knew I should look at labels, but more into the ingredients. Also the company where the milk comes from will never tell you how the milk was actually produced since they want to sell their product. Many people can relate to me. They don’t really know what they are buying unless someone else points out the negatives in the product.

Nowadays, a lot of people that want to be healthier depend on organic labels. Organic farmers need to let their animals roam around freely. There can’t be any hormones or antibiotics added into their bodies unlike in sustainable methods. The only way a company can get a label that uses the word “organic” is if it is USDA approved and they have a certificate. If someone violates these regulations that are specified by the USDA they will be fined great amounts. So, either farmers stick with their sustainable methods or try to decrease the obesity rates by producing organic foods. 

BLOG 10

“Imitation of Film: Here’s Smoking at You, Kid”

In the article “Imitation of Film: Here’s Smoking at You, Kid” Nicholas Balkar tries to show us how movies can influence young children to smoke by showing them actors that smoke. The author quotes recent studies made by a professor of pediatrics, Dr. James D. Sargent, based on 6,522 children, nationwide. The results of those studies were overwhelming. They show that kids, who watched movies where actors are smoking, reached for cigarettes two and a half times more frequently rather than those who weren’t exposed to those movies. Dr. Sargent suggests that we all should take those studies seriously and I agree with him that we should not disregard them because smoking especially at a young age can cause a lot of health problems.  The one thing that was missing in his report was how many children began to smoke before they saw those movies. Although famous actors can have an impact on young kids I believe that their friends and family has a more major one since they see them everyday. Young kids don’t go to the movies that often for the movies to actually have a negative impact on them.

            Everyone knows that smoking is a bad habit, but people don’t care about their health until something bad happens. For example my friend started to smoke when she was 12 years old. She was a very beautiful girl who loved to do sports. She had asthma and she knew that she shouldn’t smoke, but she didn’t care. After a few years of smoking she ended up in a hospital because she had problems breathing. When I visited her in hospital I could barely recognize her. Her skin was gray and her teeth and nails were yellow. She looked horrible. When I asked her why didn’t you quit or why did you start to smoke in the first place? She replied that she thought it was cool and after a few months of smoking she tried to quit, but she couldn’t. 

            My friend is a great example of a person who didn’t have a good role model to lead her on a good path. Her parents were always busy and they didn’t pay attention to her. She spent most of her free time hanging out with her friends who were much older than she was. They offered her a cigarette, which was her first one. When she started to cough they were laughing and told her that maybe she shouldn’t smoke because she doesn’t know how to. She wanted to prove to them that they are wrong and after a while she was addicted to it. Her parents were always smoking cigarettes therefore they weren’t the best role models for her. No one told her that smoking could cause cancer, heart disease, lung disease, cancer and heart attacks.

            There are a lot of reasons why young kids reach for cigarettes. The people that can be blamed for causing a child to do bad are their friends and media but, as parents we are the main people that are responsible for this. If young children can have a stronger bond with their parents then no one would be able to convince them to reach for any unfamiliar item or do a specific activity. 

BLOG 9

Most People Do Not Want Freedom

In the article “The Matrix, Liberal Education, and Other Splinters in the Mind” Christine Corell and Patrick Malcolmson states that “freedom is not something that most people are going to be inclined towards or be receptive to.” Is it better for us know the facts and face them or do we prefer to ignore them. I think that a lot of us at least once in their life try to answer to this question.

Most of us claim that they would rather know the truth rather than to live in ignorance. I believe that people don’t want to hear the truth because then they have to face reality, since it can sometimes be painful and ugly. My friend Agnes is a great example of a person who ignores the facts. Even though she knows her husband is cheating on her she doesn’t take any action. She believes that after she leaves him, she will not find anyone else. Leaving her husband would mean that there would be too much pressure on her trying to balance her personal and social life.

Another example of a person who is so afraid of knowing the truth is my aunt. Two years ago she started feeling sick, but thought it was nothing so she didn’t bother to visit the doctor. After a few months her daughter told her to go, since there have been cases of cancer in the family. Finally, a year passed by and she changed her mind and saw the doctor. It was too late to take any action except for surgery.

A person should always listen to the truth instead of living in lies. Even though you can’t force someone to believing something, it would only benefit him or her. Based on my friend, I believe she should realize the truth and the male she is with is hurting her. Every female is capable of being independent even her. Looking at my aunt, if she went to the doctor quicker she could of got rid of her problem without surgery. Dealing with the truth is more difficult than the lies but everyone is capable of getting through the situation. 

BLOG 8

Red Pill or Blue Pill?

Living in lies can benefit an individual. If every person were a clairvoyant then they would live in fear. They would know what happens in everyone’s life. A clairvoyant can’t live his life in lies since he knows everything. An example can be a Polish clairvoyant Krzysztof Jackowski. He helps the police in criminal and missing people cases. In an interview he said that he wouldn’t like to be a clairvoyant because he feels that he is responsible for all the problems that occur. Krzysztof said that if he would have the ability to be a normal person he would want to. Facing reality can be really hard and even for him it is. He would like to see how it is living in lies and not knowing what happens to the people around him. Sometimes living in lies is better, since in most situations your voice wouldn’t make the situation better. Sticking to what you know is beneficial for some because if they find out the truth more problems can arise. Knowing the truth and trying to resolve it not always brings a positive impact.

Fate or Free Will?

I believe that Neo went down the path of fate instead of free will. Oracle knew from the beginning that Neo was the one but told him the complete opposite. She informed Morpheus that he would soon find The One. When this would occur then Trinity would fall in love with him. Why did Oracle lie to Neo and mislead him by saying he is not The One? If Neo knew from the start that he was The One then his potentials would go wrong to be accepted. When the Agents captured Morpheus, Neo tried to rescue him. He was very determined to complete the task even though he was prepared to die at the end. His final defeat made him realize his true ability that he was The One. At the end, he finally realized he was The One just like the Oracle and Morpheus believed.

BLOG 7

The Dangers of Reality TV

In the article “The Dangers of Reality TV” Timothy Sexton states that “image over ability” is expressed in media. Appearance is the first thing people look at before looking at your skills. People get judged based on looks instead of their ability to complete a task.  Many believe that by changing the way you look can lead them to becoming successful later on in life. In these reality shows anyone can achieve the American Dream without an education. This is where “image over ability” comes in.

 I agree with Timothy Sexton that for many people looks is what they mainly depend on. In our generations visiting doctors to get special treatments is becoming more normal instead of taboo. Managers look for workers that can help them get more customers instead of looking for someone that can quickly get the job done.

While working in my grandma’s restaurant I realized that she is “image over ability”. She would rather choose a more elegant looking female than one that is hardworking. My grandma believes that by having an attractive waitress more people would start coming to the restaurant. There was once a girl that didn’t have such good looks but was a hardworking, always on time and completed her job correctly, but my grandma didn’t like the way she looked. Instead, she picked a female that was more appealing but was lazy when it came to working. Many managers do this because they believe that attractive workers bring positive impacts to their business.

Another incident that made me believe “image over ability” will get me far in life is visiting my doctor. I came to get my shots since I wasn’t up to date and came out thinking I should care more about my looks instead of my ability to complete a specific task. My doctor suggested that I should get botox and other procedures. When I asked him why, he told me that it’s one step closer to becoming fortunate. This is because in my generation education plays a less important role than looks in an individual’s life. He told me many people rely on their looks to be acknowledged by others.

“Image over ability” can be related to “never judge a book by its cover”. Many people will pick up a book with an interesting cover instead of a best selling book. In comparison, many will choose a more appealing person than a less provocative individual. By watching reality television shows many people believe that the importance of having an education and behavior doesn’t count. It is sad, but in many cases this can relate to everyone’s life in one way or another.

BLOG 5

THE PERFECT WORLD

 Seahaven can be related to New York itself. Of course, we live in a big city with crowded and littered streets not in a suburban area, but we all are followed and watched by hundreds of cameras every day. We don’t think about or realize it, but based on our credit cards, phones and Internet anyone can be capable of interfering with our social and personal life. I once watched a television show where one volunteer agreed to give access to her credit cards and Facebook account. I was surprised on how much information someone can pull out. For example where you were born, how many children do you have, what’s your favorite music, food and many other personal information. The easiest way to track someone down is through a phone. Many don’t notice that communication devices have a location application built in which helps them be located by many individuals. So how is our world different than Cristof’s? The only difference is that my neighbors aren’t so friendly, and we all don’t live in beautiful houses.

If I had the chance to choose between Cristof’s world and the world that I live in now I would choose Cristof’s. I would rather live in a world where people are nice to each other, have jobs and where there is no place for sickness and homelessness, where you don’t have to worry that you are going to loose your job or someone from your family will die of cancer. The Seahaven life can be compared to the American Dream. Everyone is happy and there is no wrong. The actors and actresses appear to lead a perfect life. This is the life I would like to live even though nothing or no one is perfect. Besides what’s wrong with an ideal sunset every day?

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QUESTION 2: Reality or Illusion?

I think that Truman's life is a one big illusion. He is the only one person who doesn't know that the real life is outside Seahaven. Everyone besides Truman, are actors and they all get paid to play their role in his life. For example his mother which, is not related with Truman because he was born an orphan. As Amzarzi explains in his response, “I’m one part of the movie he felts in love with a girl name Sylvia and when she try to free him from the his fake world they remove her and introduce Truman to Meryl leaving him with no other option than marrying her. We see this type of situation every day; take for example a father that tells his teenage son he can choose any career he wants. His son wants to be a musician but his father doesn’t approved, so he’ll find a way to manipulate his son into the career he wants.”

GRAMMAR

BLOG 4

I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts.

In the article “I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts” Jeffery Kluger explains why people insist to believe in rumors rather than facts. The author quotes the recent studies made by R. Kelly and Erik Nisbet based on 750 people who had the wrong conception of the Islamic cultural center. The researchers came up with a conclusion that even though, with all the facts that have been given to those people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs, instead of changing their opinion. Our mind is predisposed to bias, it resists rational explanation. If rumors reinforce our beliefs we are happy to ignore the facts and protect our faith by subscribing to rumors.

 I agree with studies made by R. Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet that even though, with all the facts and time that has been given to people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs. We make instant judgments; most of the time not favorable for the person being judged and we don’t like to be told that we are wrong.

This article can be related to my personal life. One day my friend and I decided to go shopping. We took the train to the World Trade Center. We were talking when all of a sudden two Arabian men came in the train. They both had on two large backpacks that were pretty full. When the train was leaving the station they decided to put their bags on the floor next to us. We thought that they were going to hold onto the railing, but instead they walked to the other side of the train. We didn’t know how to react because we had no clue what they had in those bags. I thought in my mind that they were terrorists and that they were planning on killing everyone in that train cart. When I searched for them, they were on the other side looking at the MTA map. After a short period of time, they came back. My friend and I felt a little bit ashamed because we were judging these two men based on what other people from their race did. We didn’t know how they could react because after listening to all the news across the world, we may judge/ react to a certain race in an unpleasant.

            I came across a situation where I believed I was right and no one can tell me otherwise. This occurred in chemistry class when I was given a group assignment. My friend and I sat down to do it not knowing the whole criteria and what the professor expected us to do. We decided that we were going to write an essay just like the rest of the people in my class. When we handed in our assignment the professor said he couldn’t accept it because it wasn’t written the way he wanted it to be and some things were missing. My friend stood by my side and we both argued that he didn’t explain his expectations to us and we could of wrote about anything as long as we understood the topic. Just because he gave us a format didn’t mean that we had to go along with it. We could have done it a different way and so we did. By doing this the professor decided not to accept our paper and gave us a failing grade. Us arguing with him didn’t help us in this situation because the teacher is always right no matter what. By the professor telling me that I was wrong I was really mad. I believe that I am always right; by him telling me I am wrong I stay strong to my word and will argue to get my point across.

             Rumors can be very powerful and dangerous tools.  We should not judge a person based on rumors that are spread in society and expressed in media. By going along with these rumors we could hurt someone in many different ways. Instead of relying on rumors we should be familiar with the facts and based on that make up our own opinion. As a result, we should not stick to our own beliefs only be open minded in situations.

BLOG THREE

1. SIGNIFICANT IDEA: “Even when people do take time to learn the facts, the effort often does no good.”

2. CLAIM: I agree with studies made by R. Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet that even though, with all the facts and time that have been given to people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs.

3. REASONS:

a) We make instant judgments, most of the times not favorable for the person being judged.

b) No one likes to be told that he is wrong.

c) Our mind is predisposed to bias, it resist rational explanation.

d) If rumors reinforce our beliefs we ignore the facts.

4. THEISIS: I agree with studies made by R. Kelly Garrett and Erik Nisbet that even though, with all the facts and time that have been given to people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs. We make instead judgments, most of the time not favorable for the person being judged and we don’t like to be told that we are wrong. Our mind is predisposed to bias, it resist rational explanation. If rumors reinforce our beliefs we ignore the facts.

The allegory of a cave

In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” Socrates tells a story to his student Glaucon to explain the way people think, and how humans are afraid of change.

This allegory was written 2,400 years ago, showing a double meaning in which we all can learn from until this present day. Plato describes men that are living in an underground den since their childhood. The men are chained therefore, only thing that they can see are the walls and objects pass it created by a shadow as a result, it is the only thing they know that exists. Somehow one of the prisoners is released and escapes from the cave into the unknown world. He is distressed and scared. However, with time he gets accustomed with the new situation. One day he comes back to the cave to share with his peers what he experienced, but they believe he is insane and they want to kill him.     

According to Plato’s allegory the cave represents things around us, and the way we lead our lives. We can be compared to these prisoners because we live by a set of rules that are based on our gender role. We don’t question these rules since this is the way we were taught by our role models and society. Most people tend to depend on their senses so much that they don’t read in between the lines to get a better understanding of the world they are currently living in. Outside the cave there is a real world with lots of challenges and problems. The freed prisoner represents a person who decides to take up the challenge and share the truth about the real world with others. Of course, there will be a lot of people like those prisoners who are afraid of change and they prefer present conditions rather than tackling new obstacles.

From reading this allegory, one can conclude that there will always be a person that will be more “enlightened” then the rest, one that will question his/her discovery and one that will live life the way he/she was taught as a result, this may open the eyes of others, teach them something new, or even change our perspective on the world.

I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts.

I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts.

In the article “I know the truth, so don’t bother me with facts” Jeffery Kluger explains why people insist to believe in rumors rather than facts. The author quote the recent studies made by R. Kelly and Erik Nisbet based on 750 people who had the wrong conception of Islamic cultural center. They researchers came up with conclusion that even though, with all the facts that have been given to those people, they tend to keep their prior beliefs, instead of changing their opinion. Our mind is predisposed to bias, it resist rational explanation. If rumors reinforce our beliefs we are happy to ignore the facts and protect our faith by subscribing to rumors.