1984 post

1984 begins with the reader being introduced into the life of Winston Smith. The Party and their domination constantly surround Winston and are very controlling.  There is a moment in the beginning of the book that Winston is struggling to walk up the stairs of his apartment and glances up the wall and sees a poster on the landing of the stairs that says “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” I think with this sudden distraction, there is a since of importance in this occurrence. Winston’s role in the Party is insignificant and it seems he tends to feel overpowered throughout his life. The poster has an importance to this part of the book simply because it points out the life that is lived in the nation, and that everywhere you look there is a constant reminder of power and control. Throughout the selected reading there are many instances that can be pen-pointed with control. For example when Winston wanted to write in his journal, there were many thoughts that went through his mind before he actually began his own personal thoughts. The fear and anxiety that powered over Winston after the instance with the journal writing provides another example of power that the Party has over the people. There is immediate guilt and fear when these things happened. There are also many reoccurrences of Winston’s past. This is important because it explains how the motivation and control that the Party has had on his life is causing him to vaguely remember the times before the Party came to power. 

global over-population

“Global overpopulation is the real issue” by Boris Johnson brings forth many interesting perspectives on the thought of overpopulation and what the core problems are with it.  Towards the beginning of the reading is that the primary challenge for us as humans and living in this world is the actual reproduction of ourselves. This being said I think that he is trying to say that people are miss understanding the real or prominent reason for some of the problems that we face in our world. With global warming and the reduction of consumption being main problems that we face, they can’t be fixed unless people start to realize that the shocking amount of people that we have living on this earth, the consumers, is what is causing these issues. Then the reading goes on to explain that the political views and the un-educated outlooks are what is causing people to not realize these things. There are many restrictions put on this topic in the political world that is causing these subjects to never be brought up. In turn, if they are never brought up there will be no change in the overpopulation problem that we deal with today. 

Population Article

Leeuwenhoek seemed to be a very interesting person. Just from the first few paragraphs his work and study ethic seemed to be intensive. Having five children his perk of curiosity of humans and how many of us there are is understandable. The microscope that he created took him into a whole new world of research and findings. The “animalcules” that he found gave him the opportunity to find the amount of people that live on earth. Along with these findings he could come up with a number of people that no one had ever known before. There were a few consensus’ before but very few. This finding was the start of many years of a rapidly growing population. With the population still growing very rapidly there are many things that are being negatively affected by it. With the increase in population there are many predictions of what we could be facing in the years to come. With this scare many people are trying to find different proposals to fix this problem.  One of the main and most important solutions is to get people out of poverty. The article believes that is the central challenge for the future of people. 

Heroism

Although it might be difficult, I think I am going to do Catwoman as my character. I believe that she can be considered a hero with many different physical and mental characteristics that she holds. Catwoman began with a very tragic childhood and ventured onto take care of her. With these rough circumstances Catwoman was then turning to crime and wrong doing which started her days in the spotlight of action. Batman then saved her from this wrongdoing and that is where she then became the infamous Catwoman. Sometimes she is alongside Batman fighting against others but then other times she could be partaking in things that would lessen her characteristics of a hero. With these contrasts, I think this is why it is hard to determine whether she is a hero or villain.

I believe that she is a hero. It was hard for me to come to a conclusion of what I thought she was because of the many uncertain things she partakes in. She represents a grey area in the eyes of a viewer when it comes to heroism and villainy. She became along side Batman when he saved her from continuous crime and his instant attraction was that she was almost like the girl version of him. He also didn’t know what to think of her stature; whether it is a hero or villain.  When I think of heroism I define it as a very abstract term. In our world there are so many different views of heroism and what someone with those certain characteristics would entail. I think I would define it in close regards to Bernstein’s definition. A hero is a person that carries certain powerful and higher-reigning characteristics that are used to protect others and is trained to fight in the face of danger. 

Heroism

The Philosophical Foundation of Heroism beings by expressing the numerous kinds of heroes and villains we have in this world. That all can depend on ones liking and also depends on what one thinks is the definition of heroism and what depicts that from villainy. In the many different ways heroes and villains are portrayed to people is through movies, comics, television shows and much more. With this being the case, there is an array of different opinions that could go towards a specific character or create a liking/disliking for someone. When looking up the definitions of heroism in the dictionary one of the main topics the definitions focus on are the physical and predominate characteristics in a hero or villain. Like in the reading, I agree that heroism is defined by our individual morals as a person and the way we perceive certain things. Some might not understand your specific reasoning as to why you think a certain person or character is a hero or villain but that is the only way that it can be established. There are also many different attributions that we look at to define heroism and the level of strength. Some of the other main characteristics that a hero should have are knowledge, physical and mental power, morals, and many other characteristics. Above all I think one of the main qualities that should be in a hero is courage. By having this courage it portrays to all of the little children that admire such a character as a hero and they can one day try and be a hero in their own special way!

Chapter 5 response

Telegraphy began the ages of technology. Although we think now it isn’t up to technology compared to today but back then it was very important. The discourse of telegraphy began the stages of “broken time and broken attention.” (Lewis Mumford) In the reading it expresses the telegraphs initial hope was to bring about a form to technology to transport information. Now a day we take the new and improving technology and mold the information we receive to form media. With this altercation of technology that I think is what is causing the misuse of it today. Also throughout the chapter there are many different forms expressed that also portray the language of communication. Forms like, photography, books, and many more can speak in many different forms. With the combination of photograph and telegraph came films. This sparked a whole new array of technology that is still growing today. This is where the title of the chapter ties in, Peek-a-Boo!! Like the child’s game of peek-a-boo, television and film brought about a form of entertainment that is endlessly entertaining. With the advances of television and movies, it put off a sense of a core social universe. This universe that everyone thinks they should occupy. By this thinking, that gives people a mindset that they are never satisfied and always want more. Even though it is unrealistic and on television that is still what people think.