"The Roots Of War" Seminar Reflection
I really was interested in what Elliot and Jonathan were having a large argument about terrorists and how it was affecting different countries and trust. I agree with what they were saying. This whole war between us and the terrorists are threatening the alliances we have with other countries. The war we’re having with the terrorists is not helping the other countries’ trust in our country, so I fully believe in that argument.
This seminar helped understand more about how the human race is influenced highly by warfare. We have always been engaged in some type of war and it’s been influencing our societies piece by piece. We’re funding the military a lot more than we should be right now. This is probably one of the reasons why there are so many terrorists. They probably feel threatened by how large our army is becoming and they want to try and bring our economy down so that we can’t fund the military.
A connection that I had with the argument connected with what I said above. I’ve always thought about why we are still in this war. Then, in this discussion, we talked about the whole deal with 9/11 and the terrorism, then, I started thinking that it’s because they feel threatened. I always thought that it was still going on because they just felt like starting a random war. This conversation really made me understand better.I really do need to start connecting to the text because I’ve never really connected to the text. For what I did talk about, connecting to the text was the only thing I didn’t do. For example, when I was clarifying one of my statements I could have referred to the text a lot. The text could have helped me prove my point better. I did do well at clarifying my points, even though I didn’t refer to the text in those clarifications. I felt that when I was clarifying my points, I made my point and my statement to be clearer than it was.
Deogratias Seminar Reflection
1. What was the most interesting idea from the Deogratias Seminar? Explain why you think is so interesting, and how it helped you to better understand the book.
I found that the most interesting idea was the Star Wars analogy about what the role of Julius was. Even though the analogy was confusing to some people, I was able to understand it and process it. It gave me a better idea of the role that Julius played in the book and I was able to understand the book more.
2. How do you think your group's seminar went? Explain why, with specific examples.
Our seminar did not really go well because everyone was interrupting each other over and over and it really became annoying. When it came to the Star Wars analogy, everybody really became confused and it became hectic. This was not our best seminar and I think we could have done better.
Slaughterhouse 5 Seminar Reflection
In the seminar I noticed the comment that Mikael made and how he brought it up from the story. He referred to the part where Billy finds the book that explained his whole experience with the Tralfamadorians. While I was reading, I was thinking, “Wow this is cool.” Then, I forgot about it when we began the seminar. Then, when Mikael brought it up, I realized that that part of the book could have been a really key answer to the question that was brought up at the time. As we went on, the answer was becoming clearer and clearer based on this one reference.
This seminar changed what I thought about Billy Pilgrim. Before, I thought that Billy Pilgrim was just some lunatic thinking that he had been abducted by aliens, when really; he just got drunk a lot. In this seminar, my thoughts changed as I heard the references to the part where he finds the book that explained his experiences with the aliens. When I heard this, Billy Pilgrim did not seem as insane as he did before.
I have never heard of or seen any connection of any type connecting to this book. This is something completely different from anything.
I don’t think I did anything well in this seminar as I did not speak as much as I should have. To improve this I think that I could put myself out there more and express my ideas instead of being laid back and not speaking at all.
Jihad vs. Mcworld Seminar
Throughout this seminar, we described the basis behind the article of Jihad vs. Mcworld and I started seeing and understanding some of the ideas that were coming from the article. I've been seeing that what our country is fighting is the same thing that they're becoming, both having the same idea of believing in one idea.
Being Peace Seminar
This seminar was something new for me because I had never really studied the idea of peace and buddhism and all of the things that could lead to true enlightenment. I learned that a lot of these ideas behind buddhism were requiring people to basically remove all temptations, all things that could be considered evil or violent from their lives.
Omelas Seminar Reflection
1. In the seminar, Gregor mentioned the idea that throughout history, we have never truly known what happiness is. I really agreed with this idea except I found that people have always used material goods as a way to express “happiness.” I believe that our idea of happiness has been a façade to our consumerist ways. Even during the Stone Age, cavemen wanted the new rock or the wheel and found it as a way to express happiness. As the centuries and centuries have passed by, we have always used materials as an excuse for happiness and as new, more intriguing items (technology, fashion, etc.) are being made, we’re becoming more and more of consumerists. I’ve always been one to really think about things like this. For example, currency and money have taken over and is essential to life. So, what was said about this idea made complete sense.
2. I’m a person that has always been some type of consumerist. I see how money and items are slowly consuming us as we’re consuming them. An example of money domination is that Wall Street accident a few years back. People lost a lot of money on that day and a lot of people committed suicide because they were so consumed by money that when lost it all, they felt like they have no reason to live. That was a prime example of the corruption that is happening in our society. Another example was the bombing of the World Trade Center. This was a main building of trade and income. When this building went down, people were shocked by the bombing and scared of the problems that the economy was going to have because of it and the reason we were worried about the economy was because of money. Today everything is about money.
3. What role does the idea of happiness play in this story?
In the story, Omelas was like a fairytale, all things happy, but unrealistic. But, do these things and events that are mentioned in the story truly make someone happy, or is it what society has told them to think is happiness? Throughout the story, you can see how there are the bad parts of this supposed happiness. For example, the kid being locked in the closet is part of a fantasy? I find that to be total cruelty and that there is no happiness or bliss involved with that. I think that most people would think that is horrible as well. I guess that it’s explaining how happiness is just a figment of our imagination because no person can truly be happy and we believe that items make us happy.
4. Is it more moral to stay in Omelas or to walk away? Why?
I believe that it is more moral to walk away from Omelas because the whole town was just a fantasy that was most likely going to ruins soon. I feel like you could find true happiness if you avoid everything that taught you to believe that material things made happiness. The city of Omelas seems like it was made to be total bliss when there is bliss and beauty out in the rest of the world.
5. Did being a small town contribute towards the peace of the town?
· What was the true point of locking the child in the closet?
· Was the city made to be perfect to all people at all costs?
I think that the city was made for pure perfection for all people because it seems like everyone in the city felt happy by the society’s expectations, but did not really feel true happiness.
Geopoliticus Child Seminar
I learned a few critical thinking skills while doing the seminar and looking at the picture. There were many different aspects someone could have taken on this photo, things like religion, politics, humanitarian stuff, etc. I looked at the political side and saw how it had shown the dark side that people had seen in the United States.
Dulce Et Decorum Est Seminar
During this seminar and this reading, I started seeing the importance of different poetic devices. Later on in the project I started using some of these poetic devices like metaphors, similes, etc.
