The square is a documentary film directed by Jehane Noujaim. This documentary brings to light the ongoing revolution in Egypt which began in the summer of 2011. The film focuses on Tahrir square in Cario, Egypt, where a majority of the protest/revolution took place in the form of sit-ins. The revolution initially took place in-order to remove the dictator Hosin Mubarak. When Mubarak took office he put a state of emergency in Egypt which brought forth insane and extreme laws which basically took away the basic rights of Egypt's citizens. Once Mubarak stepped down, the military took control who instead of helping made things worst & so did the other president Morsi.This film has many strengths and a few weakness. The biggest strength of this documentary is how the filmmakers takes their audience in to the epicenter of the revolution and provides raw footage of the sit-in. The film makers also do an amazing job at providing raw footage without editing the violence, blood and brutality of the military against the people; giving a sense of how intense things were at Tahrir square. The only weakness I thought the film had was that it didn't shed light on the history of how all this mess began, I was a bit confused at the beginning to why the revolution was happening. The use of technology by the protestors played a crucial part in showing the world the awful conditions of Egypt.
After doing research on whats's happening in Egypt today I found that their current president ,Abdel Fattah el-sisi, has started to abuse his powers and has became a dictator. He has complete control over Egypt controlling the media, army and other basic services. This is the third president after Mubarak stepped down, who claimed he would change things in Egypt but instead made things worst. Egypt condition has improved alittle since the summer of 2011 when the revolution started but a lot still has to change and improve, making the revolution ongoing.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
The Square Extra credit
Part 1
The documentary "The Square" by Jehane Noujaim follows the events of occupation of demonstrators the Tahrir Square in Cairo Egypt. The start of the documentary follows around the people who are occupining Tahrir Square. The reason for the occupation is that the people feel the their government is corrupt and in particular there leadership is corrupt. So they have gathered with the goal of getting the dictator Hosni Mubarak. After some time in the square they were able to get Mubarak to resign. After his resignation the protesters began to clear out of the square feeling that there job was complete. They later returned to the square because they realized that the job was incomplete and wouldn't be complete till their corrupt government was fixed. The army then decided to use force against the protesters to remove them from the square. This incident involved hiring thugs to get inside the square and cause a riot to remove the protestors. Once the army had control of the square the Muslim Brotherhood made a deal with the army to use the square to spread there their beliefs. This lead to a split in directions of the protestors, the ones who supported the Muslim Brotherhood and the those who didn't. The events that this came after this were a presidential election where the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won. The election was controversial due to the fact that the candidate were Morsi and Ahmed Shaflik who a large potion of the population didn't want either. After the elections Morsi declared himself pharaoh. His rule proved that there was still corruption in the government. The people began to call for a temporary government and for reelections to be held. Later that year the peoples cries were heard and Morsi was forced out of power and reelections were going to be held.
Part 2
After the events that were shown in "The Square" there was much that needed to be change and the reelection to be held. After Morsi was taken out of power the Muslim Brotherhood began to deteriorate. Incidence began occurring where Brotherhood members were being killed. The first incident killed 51 supporters who protesting outside of a military base where Morsi was believed to be held. The worst of the incidents involved over 900 supporters being killed while police and soldiers were cleaning out a camp of the supporters. The situation in Egypt has changed enough that the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned by the courts of Egypt.
Social media played a big role in the Egypt revolution. The start of it was on Facebook after someone saw images of someone who was beaten to death by police. He then made a Facebook page to bring the incident to light. This page had 300 people join it in 2 minutes and had 250000 people join after 3 months. He later was on television where he broke down crying after seeing photos of what had happened to people who have been killed during the protests. Social media has also played a large role in the protest in hong kong where they are using social media to communicate with each other to setup the protest.
sources
http://www.theguardian.com/film/interactive/2014/jan/24/the-square-egypt-revolution-anniversary-interactive-timeline
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/books/review/how-an-egyptian-revolution-began-on-facebook.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
sources
http://www.theguardian.com/film/interactive/2014/jan/24/the-square-egypt-revolution-anniversary-interactive-timeline
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/books/review/how-an-egyptian-revolution-began-on-facebook.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The Square Review- Lilyan Eldadah
PART ONE:
The documentary, The Square, directed by Jehane Noujaim,
started off with the quote, “The lights are out all over the world.” This quote
was very powerful and stood out to me because it was implying that, while Egypt
had no electricity, this was not the tragedy. The bigger problem was the world being
shut out the real, full truth of what was happening in the all over the world. Noujaim did a great job of explaining and
showing what was happening in Egypt, that was not being shared through social media,
information that was being hidden from the public.
Egyptians have been fighting for social reform for over thirty years and Noujaim, grouped with many other civilians, came together to help show what was happening, risking their lives at certain times, and making difference in the society and friendships along the way. Hosni Mubarak, the original dictator, became the new ruler of Egypt when the former ruler was murdered; he then continued as the ruler for over 30 years. At first he did not allow others to run against him and that is why he was “re-elected” every election. In 2005, he allowed people to run against him, but won the election by a landslide, and it was thought that he rigged the votes. (“Profile: Hosni Mubarak.”)
Civilians were outraged and started to protest in January 2011 to show all the wrong that was being cover up by Mubarak, including the imprisonment of several innocent people. One of the most popular places to protest was Tahrir Square, a place located in the middle of the city where civilians’ voices were heard. Around the spring of 2011, Mubarak stepped down, but the protests continued to gather because Mubarak’s people were still ruling Egypt. As the summer of 2011 approached, the protests started to become very violent because the military arrived arresting hundreds to thousands of protestors in cruel ways. I was actually in Cairo, Egypt the summer of 2011 with my family, and several times when we walked out into the streets there were protests happening. Knowing that Mubarak had stepped down I was confused on why the protests were continuing to happen and this documentary helped me understand more about the problem. When I was in Cairo, there were military tanks and trucks on almost every corner of the streets, soldiers fully dressed in uniform, guns strapped around their waists and a gun over their shoulder; it looked like these men were about to go fight a war against the enemy when really they were fighting their own civilians. It was scary being there at that time, but I knew it was going to be beneficial for me because I got to see, hear and feel all the emotions that the civilians in Egypt were having that most people in America could not.
The protests became hectic when the military stepped in, killing and injuring hundreds, and the Muslim Brotherhood who was supposedly with the protestors and against the military actions, were making promises with the military. “Good and free people are being called traitors, and bad people are being called heroes.” Military cars were running over the peaceful protestors, shooting at them, spraying tear gas at them; instead of a revolution, Tahrir Square turned into a war. The people began to feel alone and hurt. Instead of the army fighting for the civilians, the military was fighting them. The new election was against Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, and another man who was part of Mubarak’s government. Morsi was elected president with 51%, and the people decided to give him a chance, but shortly afterwards, Morsi gave himself unchecked powers, giving him more power than Mubarak. This enraged the protestors causing more problems. Civilians reunited at Tahrir Square to begin again, and this time it was bigger and louder protests; in fact, one new source says that it could have been the largest demonstration of a protest ever. At the end of the documentary, it ends with “Our voice is our only weapon…we are looking not for a leader, but for a conscience.” Noujaim directed this documentary mainly so Egypt’s voice, which was being blocked out by the media, could finally be heard.
The use of
technology played a huge role in keeping the protests going. They used big
sites, such as YouTube and Facebook to upload the actions taking by the
government and military against the innocent civilians. This helped the
Egyptians’ voices be heard not only in Egypt but also all over the world. The
strengths were listed above, including graphic images and videos of what was
happening, a detailed step-by-step information of what was going on, etc. A
weakness about this documentary was it did not seem to have enough information
on how Hosni Mubarak managed to stay in power for so long, and what Mubarak was
doing wrong. The documentary assumed that everyone watching already knew the
background story of what was happening with Egypt’s government, when in fact, a
lot of viewers might not know, and it could lead to a lot of confusion. Another
weakness was the fact that this documentary was not translated in English, but
only in Arabic and in Spanish. The fact of having to watch an hour and forty-five
minutes of subtitles got boring quickly, and since many kids have short
attention spans they would probably stop watching or fall asleep faster since
they had to read subtitles.
PART TWO:
The current ruler
of Egypt is Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and he took this position in August. Both
Morsi and most recent former ruler Badie are in jail. Also, the charges against
Hosni Mubarak have been dropped and he was freed from jail, after being there
since imprisoned in 2011. Not much has changed or improved in Egypt, protests
are continuing to happen and while al-Sisi claims that he is a ruler, his
actions scream dictator. Conditions have
improved in Egypt from the time when the revolution began, but still need a lot
of enhancements to better Egypt. As each new leader is elected, each one of
them has abused their power and ignored the civilians’ rights. Egypt has been unstable ever since Mubarak
was kicked out, so any leader who takes his place is given so much power, and
this power can very easily be abused, and that is why it is hard to find a
leader who will not abuse this power (Smith).
I decided to research Ai Weiwei to compare where else we see social media playing a prominent role for people who are trying to record abuses and/or promote alternative ideas. Ai Weiwei is a political artist in China who uses his artwork to directly criticize the Chinese government and express how the way the government is treating their people is unfair. Ai Weiwei records himself and people around him as he is on a continuous stream through Twitter and Instagram. Weiwei gives the persecutors what they want, and he gives them no way in editing and changing his words to use against him since he is always streaming. Using his artwork and himself, Weiwei is helping stand up to the unfair government in China. “Both are merged in an ongoing performance in which the man has become the art, and the art is the man,” says Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, a British journalist who has published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Ai Weiwei has a studio with his pieces displayed, full of sculptures and paintings that portray how he feels toward the government. Also, his continuous posts on social medias such as Twitter and Instagram help him increase awareness and show the world the reality of events occurring in China. Weiwei has been beaten up and arrested by cops for unjust reasons, just like protestors in Egypt and he showed it publically and had recordings to prove to the world that was the media was telling them was not the truth, which is very similar to how the protestors in Egypt used the media to portray evidence.
Overall, besides having to read subtitles for almost two hours, I really enjoyed watching this documentary because it helped me understand the problem occurring in Egypt that it did not fully understand. Also, I feel like this documentary is very eye opening to all those who take the simple things, such as freedom of speech and rights, for granted. Since, Americans automatically get those rights, most of us forget that we are luckily born with them, while some people are risking their lives fighting for those simple rights. For all those who watched this documentary, including the ones who did not like it, I think they all learned something new, and may even feel different about the privileges of being a United States citizen. Below is my work cited and the links to the cites I used if any of you would like to check them out! :)
WORK CITED:
"Profile: Hosni Mubarak." BBC News. BBC, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
Sebag-Montefiore,
Clarissa. "An Interview with Ai Weiwei." Aeon Magazine.
Aeon
Media Ltd, 2 May 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/an-interview-with-ai-weiwei/
Smith, Lee. "Viewpoint: Egypt’s New Leader Is
Unfit to Rule | TIME.com."Ideas
Viewpoint Egypts New Leader Is Unfit to Rule
Comments. Time,
Inc., 20 Aug.
2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/20/viewpoint-egypts-new-leader-is-unfit-to-rule/
The square review.
Part 1) Courage, That is the word that kept running around in my head as I watched. I cannot really imagine the courage it must have taken to stand up against a regime that had used torture and violence to such extremes in the past. I decided to take my review in a slightly different direction. Instead of discussing the things that we all could see in the film, the stuff that others will discuss, I decided to talk about deeper meanings. I think this will provide another layer to our understanding, if we take a look beyond the obvious. One of the things I noticed was at the beginning; when Hosni Mubarak was giving the speech directed at the protester just how calm he was, even when threatening them. To me that speaks to the total corruption of his character, someone who has had absolute power for so long and has abused is so really has no need to fear anyone or anything, and that shows in his confidence. In their fight, the protesters were united against injustice and tyranny. Freedom has such a powerful pull on mankind, throughout history much blood has been shed in the pursuit of freedom.
I liked how they kept moral up with songs and chants. Music is very powerful and it was nice to see that they took advantage if it. It is much easier to get people to sing and chant when they are fired up, and the result is that people have to take notice. I think that is one of the best things about these protests, it made the world stop and take notice of what was happening. I don't think That could have happened quite like it did without social media and You Tube. The threats were very real, I think it is interesting that they were more afraid of leaving Tahrir square then staying. The secret police are a totalitarian regimes best friend. They black-bag and torture people and are one of the most effective ways that a dictator can rule with fear. I enjoyed the film, but not because of the film itself; what I enjoyed the most was seeing just how much power the average person has. We may not feel it all the time, but we all have the power to do things like that if we are set to a great enough purpose.
Part 2) This film and the whole situation reminds me a lot of the movie "V for Vendetta". Near the end there is a protest against the corrupt regime, the main character has one line that I think really fits the whole idea of protesting injustice when he says that " Ideas are bulletproof" I think that this is very much the spirit that the youth had while they were in Tahrir Square.The idea was justice and freedom, and in the end it was just too much for Mubarak to stand against. One of the things I found in my research was that Tahrir square is also called " Martyrs Square". This is very much inline with what we saw in the film. People died there, they died fighting for a better life for their families and the promise of a better future. I also found it interesting that there were several cases of self- immolation during the protests. That is a recurrent thing in protests in eastern world, most often in Asia and it is a very powerful statement. It was also interesting to learn that the success of this revolution led to another one in Tunisia that overthrew another long time tyrant.
The situation improved after Mubarak was ousted. There was a constitutional review later in 2011 and the first true elections in most of the protesters lifetime. Most of the protesters demands were met. However not all of them were, some were promised and are ongoing, others simply never came about. In 2013 The country went back into a period of uncertainty when Mohammed Morsi was ousted. It seems that Egypt will be stuck in this type of situation for the foreseeable future. I think it is just too easy to abuse power with the current situation being what it is, unstable.
One of the greatest assets that the protesters had was social media. They were able to organize and gain support in a way that wasn't possible a decade ago. Social media is being used in the current protests in China as well to much the same purpose. In this concrete example social media made it all possible. They were able to spread the message and share it with the world in an instant. With out it I doubt they would have been successful. Without social media I think it would have been difficult to show enough support to make it work, this would not have worked with just a few dozen people. Mubarak would have been able to crush a few dozen voices without trouble, but a few hundred thousand cannot be silenced.
I decided to research Joshua Wong and his contributions to the Hong Kong protests in 2014. I wanted to learn about him because he is the same age as we are and doing such amazing things. He founded a movement called Scholarism that basically is all about pressuring the government to affect change. They have been labeled an extremist group by the Chinese government. One of the things I learned about him is that he has been at this for quite a while. When he was 15 he fought against communist indoctrination classes in the public education system in China, that was when Scholarism was born. The main point to take away from his story is that youth has power, and even the most unlikely of people can make great changes if they are really passionate about it. His is truly a inspiring story.
I liked how they kept moral up with songs and chants. Music is very powerful and it was nice to see that they took advantage if it. It is much easier to get people to sing and chant when they are fired up, and the result is that people have to take notice. I think that is one of the best things about these protests, it made the world stop and take notice of what was happening. I don't think That could have happened quite like it did without social media and You Tube. The threats were very real, I think it is interesting that they were more afraid of leaving Tahrir square then staying. The secret police are a totalitarian regimes best friend. They black-bag and torture people and are one of the most effective ways that a dictator can rule with fear. I enjoyed the film, but not because of the film itself; what I enjoyed the most was seeing just how much power the average person has. We may not feel it all the time, but we all have the power to do things like that if we are set to a great enough purpose.
Part 2) This film and the whole situation reminds me a lot of the movie "V for Vendetta". Near the end there is a protest against the corrupt regime, the main character has one line that I think really fits the whole idea of protesting injustice when he says that " Ideas are bulletproof" I think that this is very much the spirit that the youth had while they were in Tahrir Square.The idea was justice and freedom, and in the end it was just too much for Mubarak to stand against. One of the things I found in my research was that Tahrir square is also called " Martyrs Square". This is very much inline with what we saw in the film. People died there, they died fighting for a better life for their families and the promise of a better future. I also found it interesting that there were several cases of self- immolation during the protests. That is a recurrent thing in protests in eastern world, most often in Asia and it is a very powerful statement. It was also interesting to learn that the success of this revolution led to another one in Tunisia that overthrew another long time tyrant.
The situation improved after Mubarak was ousted. There was a constitutional review later in 2011 and the first true elections in most of the protesters lifetime. Most of the protesters demands were met. However not all of them were, some were promised and are ongoing, others simply never came about. In 2013 The country went back into a period of uncertainty when Mohammed Morsi was ousted. It seems that Egypt will be stuck in this type of situation for the foreseeable future. I think it is just too easy to abuse power with the current situation being what it is, unstable.
One of the greatest assets that the protesters had was social media. They were able to organize and gain support in a way that wasn't possible a decade ago. Social media is being used in the current protests in China as well to much the same purpose. In this concrete example social media made it all possible. They were able to spread the message and share it with the world in an instant. With out it I doubt they would have been successful. Without social media I think it would have been difficult to show enough support to make it work, this would not have worked with just a few dozen people. Mubarak would have been able to crush a few dozen voices without trouble, but a few hundred thousand cannot be silenced.
I decided to research Joshua Wong and his contributions to the Hong Kong protests in 2014. I wanted to learn about him because he is the same age as we are and doing such amazing things. He founded a movement called Scholarism that basically is all about pressuring the government to affect change. They have been labeled an extremist group by the Chinese government. One of the things I learned about him is that he has been at this for quite a while. When he was 15 he fought against communist indoctrination classes in the public education system in China, that was when Scholarism was born. The main point to take away from his story is that youth has power, and even the most unlikely of people can make great changes if they are really passionate about it. His is truly a inspiring story.
Grant Trainer - The Square Extra Credit
PART 1:
"The Square" is an amazing documentary that tells of the events that have happened in Egypt while the revolution is taking place. One of the biggest ideas or events in the film is the sit-in, or more rather multiple sit-ins, that occur in Tahrir square. The people flood in and occupy this area with the intentions that they will not leave until their demands are met. After removing the original dictator from power, Mubarak, another one rises. This dictator is Morsi who is with the Muslim brotherhood. The Muslim brotherhood rises by exploiting what is happening in Tahrir Square. I think that this film has many strengths and few weaknesses. The first and biggest strength: it is a legitimate cause. This isn't just some mindless problem that people pay attention to even though they should not. This is a serious problem that people are facing. The problem of their rights being taken away and something big needs to happen in order for changes to be made. The importance of this issue makes this film much more interesting and impacting because it is a serious issue that needs a serious answer and solution. Another strength of the film in my opinion is their approach. The creators of this film do not work to just slander and destroy the name of the people the revolution oppose but instead works to convince you of their views and actually get you to see why they are fighting. The creators also do a very good job of making sure that they do not leave the cruel, violent, disgusting things out that the dictator and army do but instead do no glorify the blood, but the actions and intentions behind these actions instead. They continue to preach their cause and not violence. Another big strength of this film is that by giving you a view inside to the people who are actually protesting and the people who are actually being abused and beaten for trying to gain their freedom, the film helps to build a sense of empathy. We begin to feel for these people and to feel their pain. We begin to want to help them. One weakness of this film would be that I do not think they give us enough insight on the countries history and how it came to be at the point it is today. I think it would have been helpful to have more history of the country and its religions and groups in order to better understand what is happening.
PART 2:
After researching online to find out information on the state of Egypt today I found that their struggle still very much continues today. They are currently ruled over by President Abdel Fattah el-sisi. Although his title says president he is definitely a dictator. Sisi rules over the country with complete and total control. This means he has control over the army, media, goods, services, and much much more. Although the people still call for change today ad conditions have improved since the start of the revolution, there is still a lot of work to be completed and progress to be made. The biggest problem the people face is finding a leader that when elected and put into power, will not abuse it and work towards fixing their own agenda. Egypt is a country that has made many many huge changes in the recent past but who also still has many problems. Problems they are working towards fixing and changing, but that will take time.
Opinion of the film: I enjoyed this film extremely and think it did a great job of opening up my curiosity to the issue and giving me some insight on it. I think it was very well put together ad beneficial to watch. I recommend that you continue to have future students watch it and hope they enjoy as well! Thanks!
"The Square" is an amazing documentary that tells of the events that have happened in Egypt while the revolution is taking place. One of the biggest ideas or events in the film is the sit-in, or more rather multiple sit-ins, that occur in Tahrir square. The people flood in and occupy this area with the intentions that they will not leave until their demands are met. After removing the original dictator from power, Mubarak, another one rises. This dictator is Morsi who is with the Muslim brotherhood. The Muslim brotherhood rises by exploiting what is happening in Tahrir Square. I think that this film has many strengths and few weaknesses. The first and biggest strength: it is a legitimate cause. This isn't just some mindless problem that people pay attention to even though they should not. This is a serious problem that people are facing. The problem of their rights being taken away and something big needs to happen in order for changes to be made. The importance of this issue makes this film much more interesting and impacting because it is a serious issue that needs a serious answer and solution. Another strength of the film in my opinion is their approach. The creators of this film do not work to just slander and destroy the name of the people the revolution oppose but instead works to convince you of their views and actually get you to see why they are fighting. The creators also do a very good job of making sure that they do not leave the cruel, violent, disgusting things out that the dictator and army do but instead do no glorify the blood, but the actions and intentions behind these actions instead. They continue to preach their cause and not violence. Another big strength of this film is that by giving you a view inside to the people who are actually protesting and the people who are actually being abused and beaten for trying to gain their freedom, the film helps to build a sense of empathy. We begin to feel for these people and to feel their pain. We begin to want to help them. One weakness of this film would be that I do not think they give us enough insight on the countries history and how it came to be at the point it is today. I think it would have been helpful to have more history of the country and its religions and groups in order to better understand what is happening.
PART 2:
After researching online to find out information on the state of Egypt today I found that their struggle still very much continues today. They are currently ruled over by President Abdel Fattah el-sisi. Although his title says president he is definitely a dictator. Sisi rules over the country with complete and total control. This means he has control over the army, media, goods, services, and much much more. Although the people still call for change today ad conditions have improved since the start of the revolution, there is still a lot of work to be completed and progress to be made. The biggest problem the people face is finding a leader that when elected and put into power, will not abuse it and work towards fixing their own agenda. Egypt is a country that has made many many huge changes in the recent past but who also still has many problems. Problems they are working towards fixing and changing, but that will take time.
Opinion of the film: I enjoyed this film extremely and think it did a great job of opening up my curiosity to the issue and giving me some insight on it. I think it was very well put together ad beneficial to watch. I recommend that you continue to have future students watch it and hope they enjoy as well! Thanks!
The Square- extra credit assignment.
1.
The Square
was a documentary, directed by Jehane Noujaim, about the evens over the last few years in Cairo, Egypt.
There have been a lot of riots and protests, along with a lot of violence. The biggest
of these places to protest, by far, is Tahrir Square. People believe the best
place to go to voice their opinions in Egypt is Tahrir Square. Located in the
middle of the city, it is a place flocked to by people to protest. In the
documentary, the events over the last few years are recorded in detail.
Beginning in January, 2011, the oppression of the people by the military, and
the government leaders, in particular the leader Mubarak. By the spring of that
year, Mubarak is removed from power, however, the oppression continues. This is
because his people are still in power. As protests in the square continue off
and on over the months, by summer of 2011, things get much worse. Thousands of protesters have been arrested, and the military is stepping in, making things worse. On top of this, the Muslim Brotherhood is acting like they are with the protesters,
but are actually only with them for their own interests. I big problem
throughout this documentary is that there is always a struggle for elections to
exist, yet there are no parties, and no one knows anyone to vote for because the
place is in such chaos.
“Good
and free people are being called traitors, and bad people are being called heroes.”
The chaos
is so real, and there is so much anger and confusion in this place. People feel
as though they are all alone. The army that is meant to help them is hurting
them. One man, when interviewed described, “Our army is killing us”.
Later
on in 2012, Morsi, with the Muslim Brotherhood, is elected president. He soon
gives himself unchecked powers. This only adds to the tensions between the
Muslim Brotherhood, and the protestors.
One thing
to note throughout is, the use of technology plays a role in this ongoing
protests. Leaders tell people to use websites such as youtube.com to show the world
the injustices done here, and the urgent need to help Egypt. In this way, the
people of Egypt can have their voices heard all over the world.
However,
in 2013, on June 30th, one year to the day of Morsi’s term, the
protests are beyond anything ever seen. One news source says that it is perhaps
the largest demonstration of a protest ever. The people get what they want, but
at a cost.
A voice
tells how, “The people pay the price for everything. The people always pay the
price.”
As the
documentary concludes, one of the narrators ends with, “We are looking not for
a leader, but for a conscience.”
2.
For
today’s news, I found something from the New York Times. “Egypt’s New Police State” by Sara Khorshid, posted on NOV. 16, 2014.
As
I was reading through, to see changes over time, this part in particular stood
out to me.
“This
is worse than the situation under Mr. Mubarak, when only state-owned media
adopted an unwavering pro-government editorial policy whereas privately owned
media were more open to diverse views.”
In the
article. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi,
the current president, is a dictator without limits. He controls the media, the
basic goods and services, including things such as electricity, and so on. He
is oppressive, and has put many political opponents, journalists, and civil rights’
activists in jail.
The biggest challenges in Egypt today are, that he people
want change, but they do not have a face to turn to. Every time a leader is
selected, that leader only works on his own personal agenda, and so nothing
changes.
However, I do believe there is a chance for things to get
better. I say this because, the optimism and determination of the people who
want change in Egypt will not lay down, or give up.
Here is the link to my source, check it out
here. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/opinion/egypts-new-police-state.html?_r=0
Monday, December 8, 2014
Exploration 9 - Lorenzo Palma
Part One:
I would say, that even though this essay wasn't the best out of all three essays, I'd say that my last paper was the best paper I've written in my opinion. I really changed up the way that I conveyed my voice in this paper. Instead of the 'claim-evidence-warrant' robot I am, I mixed it up and just went with what sounded essential in my head. It was sort of like a rant, but with structure to it. Also, it was an educated rant. I have done a lot of research in this topic because music is one of the things that really interest me and I'm really passionate about music.
Music supplements, complements, and conjures emotion in all different settings whether it be, real-life, movies, video games, performances or advertisements. But what if someone told you that all of those emotions, like Hope, Triumph, Anxiety, Misery, Elation, Doom and Gloom; Music did not contain any of those emotions. Yes, the lyrics might, but the music does not. So, for example, Major Chords aren’t happy while Minor Chords aren’t sad. It’s just the fact that people have been “trained” to hear them that way. Plato had a theory: The Imitation Theory, which states that music imitates the movement or characteristics of a physical expression or “general feeling”. So essentially, wide intervals in music sound expansive and accepting while upward harmonic progressions sound uplifting and jaunty rhythms sound… jaunty.
I'd say this passage is a good example of the rant-y, informed voice that I tried to convey. I was being really annoying, giving abrupt and abundant examples of what emotions music can exhibit, of all the things that music could be used for, because there are so many things that music can have people feel, see or hear that there's technically no time to stop and think about it all. Then, the evidence that I was using in my paper, like Plato's imitation theory, was something that people wouldn't think music would be related to but it is extremely related to music.
Passage #2
Cultural Training explains why brake squeals or explosions don’t affect us as listeners because we simply think of them as not containing meaning but to some level they still could have the same characteristics that should affect us in an emotional aspect. We are not emotionally receptive to those sounds; we have that emotional wall because we are “Culturally Trained” to not expect any communication from those certain sounds. Two researchers, Patrik Juslin and Daniel Västfjäll, boiled the list of things that would cause us to be receptive to sounds into 6 main categories: Brain Stem Reflexes, Evaluative Conditioning, Emotional Contagion, Visual Imagery, Episodic Memory and Musical Expectancy all contribute to the ways we feel stuff while hearing things. In other words, sad music isn’t simply, “sad.”
This passage is another good way to show the kind of research I did for this paper. I don't want to sound pretentious, but I'm proud of the amount of research I did for this project. I was willing to do a lot of digging in order to prove my point because "sad music" not being sad is not something that 95% percent of the world's population would think (I'm exaggerating here.)
Part Two & Three:
My final subject for this class (Oh man, that sounds so morose...) would be the story of "The Wolf Among Us". It's a video game that takes place in a little city in New York called Fabletown. It's where many fairy tale characters, called fables (which is also what the story arc of the game is based off of) have moved to so they could start new lives outside of their books.
I would say, that even though this essay wasn't the best out of all three essays, I'd say that my last paper was the best paper I've written in my opinion. I really changed up the way that I conveyed my voice in this paper. Instead of the 'claim-evidence-warrant' robot I am, I mixed it up and just went with what sounded essential in my head. It was sort of like a rant, but with structure to it. Also, it was an educated rant. I have done a lot of research in this topic because music is one of the things that really interest me and I'm really passionate about music.
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Passage #1Music supplements, complements, and conjures emotion in all different settings whether it be, real-life, movies, video games, performances or advertisements. But what if someone told you that all of those emotions, like Hope, Triumph, Anxiety, Misery, Elation, Doom and Gloom; Music did not contain any of those emotions. Yes, the lyrics might, but the music does not. So, for example, Major Chords aren’t happy while Minor Chords aren’t sad. It’s just the fact that people have been “trained” to hear them that way. Plato had a theory: The Imitation Theory, which states that music imitates the movement or characteristics of a physical expression or “general feeling”. So essentially, wide intervals in music sound expansive and accepting while upward harmonic progressions sound uplifting and jaunty rhythms sound… jaunty.
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Passage #2
Cultural Training explains why brake squeals or explosions don’t affect us as listeners because we simply think of them as not containing meaning but to some level they still could have the same characteristics that should affect us in an emotional aspect. We are not emotionally receptive to those sounds; we have that emotional wall because we are “Culturally Trained” to not expect any communication from those certain sounds. Two researchers, Patrik Juslin and Daniel Västfjäll, boiled the list of things that would cause us to be receptive to sounds into 6 main categories: Brain Stem Reflexes, Evaluative Conditioning, Emotional Contagion, Visual Imagery, Episodic Memory and Musical Expectancy all contribute to the ways we feel stuff while hearing things. In other words, sad music isn’t simply, “sad.”
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This passage is another good way to show the kind of research I did for this paper. I don't want to sound pretentious, but I'm proud of the amount of research I did for this project. I was willing to do a lot of digging in order to prove my point because "sad music" not being sad is not something that 95% percent of the world's population would think (I'm exaggerating here.)
Part Two & Three:
My final subject for this class (Oh man, that sounds so morose...) would be the story of "The Wolf Among Us". It's a video game that takes place in a little city in New York called Fabletown. It's where many fairy tale characters, called fables (which is also what the story arc of the game is based off of) have moved to so they could start new lives outside of their books.
This is the cover art for the game, showing the main character of this
story, Bigby Wolf a.k.a. The Big Bad Wolf of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'The Three Little Pigs.'
Bigby Wolf is the sheriff of Fabletown. In charge of managing all of the fables, keeping them from killing each other since, now that they live outside of their stories they have the freedom of making their own choices instead of following their story which tells them what to do, where to go, and essentially, when to live... or die. But, as fictional as these fairy tales get, the problems that these fables experience are more or less the same as most human beings, mundies, experience. First, there's the problem of the economy. Families that derived from royalty, Beauty and the Beast for example, are used to their higher-than-life lifestyle. They were used to having very intricate and expensive items.
Beauty and the beast being confronted by Sheriff Bigby for taking loans
out and spending all of it on all of their unnecessarily expensive belongings.
Beauty and the Beast are pressured to take loans from a dangerous crime lord because, firstly, the government in place did not help them financially for things that they needed: Food, Clothing, and Shelter. When they started taking loans out, the money that they had in their possession, at the time, was more than enough to supply their needs so they used the extra to buy their other belongings. Their addiction to spending and taking out loans put them under more and more debt, just so they could get that little rush of luxury as they bought these things. This I feel like is a very real situation that, although not everybody will go through, is something that people could experience more than what most people would expect. But speaking of the government, another problem that The Wolf Among Us addressed is the corruption that exists in the government.
Ichabod Crane, the mayor of Fabletown. He abuses his employees
when things don't go well and he personally doesn't address them, instead having the same
employees he abuses take care of them.
Ichabod Crane, the acting mayor of Fabletown, was exactly how he was depicted in his story, 'The Legend of Sleeping Hollow,' which was that he was a scheming, selfish, character who only cared about his own self gratification. He ran Fabletown without actually running it himself instead leaving all the work to his assistant, Snow White. While he didn't do anything to help the city rise up from its people's problems, he was also stealing money from the city in order to supply his own pleasantries from a nice house and a nice car, to hiring hookers. Although this would be an extreme example of corruption, it's not something that is absent in reality and is not something that is essentially addressed and examined as much as it should.
These two examples aren't all of what The Wolf Among Us depicts in its story. What impresses me is that, although it may be a short story, it lets the player/reader know about how many problems that us real people experience.
Explortaion Nine - Haley ClevelandBull
Exploration Nine – Of Your Own Design
Through the semester, I am most proud of my profile
essay Priscilla Mead: Feminism and
Legislature. Due to the fact that it is much too long to
post to the blog, I’ll share my beginning paragraph.
Prior to and throughout the early 1960’s a
remarkable woman was defined, through society’s fallacious lens, as stated in
the beginning of Mona Lisa Smile, a provocative period piece on feminism set in
the 1950’s, “It is our duty, nay, our obligation to reclaim our place in the home,
bearing the children that will carry our traditions into the future, [so that
women may once again fulfill] the roles they were born to fill… [Remember] the
only grade that matters is the one he gives you” (Mona Lisa Smile, 2003). Today, a remarkable women is defined by her
intelligence, achievements, and most importantly her integrity and
character. Though the battle of feminism
is not over, women in the 21st century are truly blessed to have the
opportunities throughout their lives and to have access to the education that
allows them to choose any career path they aspire to follow that will lead them
to success. Being an exceptional woman
still takes much effort, but because of an aspiration, a discipline, and a
successful endeavor it is possible to gain recognition and to become a
remarkable woman due to the struggle and perseverance of strong women who paved
the way before us; women like Priscilla Mead.
The reason I chose to share my opening
paragraph is because it contains my thesis, which will undoubtedly give a quick
understanding as to my essay topic. What
made essay one my favorite, and in my opinion, best piece of work from this semester
is because it provided the opportunity to connect with an acquaintance,
Priscilla Mead, who is a retired female politician.
As the world shifts toward new forms of
energy, it is necessary to understand the ramifications it may cause. A topic that I feel holds importance, as I
have been researching it this semester, in today’s ever growing society is
environmental racism. At the most basic
level, environmental racism is the placement of hazardous waste and dangerous
technologies within or in proximity to socioeconomically oppressed
populations. There are many factors that
play significant roles when discussing environmental racism, but the two that I
will discuss is socioeconomic status, and environmental justice. When you reference socioeconomic status in
relation to environmental racism you are generally referring to those
containing “lower socioeconomic status in terms of education, poverty,
unemployment and of speaking a native language” (Huyser, Sakamoto, and Takei,
541-42). Another factor that is
significant when looking at environmental racism is the defining of environmental
justice by the EPA which states: “that no socioeconomic group should bare a disproportionate
share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial,
municipal, and commercial operations” (“The Principles of Environmental Justice”,
2). It is pertinent to be aware that
though each demographic group has their own statistics in socioeconomic status that
each should bare equal amounts of the “negative environmental consequences” (“The
Principles of Environmental Justice”).
Unfortunately, with an ever expanding population, and the need for new
forms of energy, environmental racism is occurring around the globe, and those
of a lesser socioeconomic status are baring an unequal share of hazardous energy
waste.
 |
| This is an image depicting the core idea behind environmental racism. It shows a young child sitting near a sign warning of hazardous chemicals. It definitely evokes the viewers emotions in understanding that socioeconomic status and race should not decide whether we are or aren't exposed to dangerous chemical waste, or who has the right to breath fresh air and who does not. |
Works
Cited
Huyser,
Kimberly R., Arthur Sakamoto, and Isao Takei. "The Persistence of Racial
Disadvantage: The Socioeconomic Attainments of Single-Race and Multi-Race
Native Americans." Population Research and Policy Review 29.4
(2010): 541-68. Web.
"Principles of Environmental Justice." Principles
of Environmental Justice. N.p., 24-27 Oct. 1991. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
http://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html.
Final Exploration- Haley Miner
Part 1: Something I wrote this semester that I am very proud of is the second part of exploration 6. I am proud of this because I went back in time to a very hard time in my life. I revisited the days before and the day of my dad's death. I think I did my best writing in this piece simply because it was my own story and I had a deep connection with this. "We drove around for hours with no place to go and somehow ended up back in town. We dropped my best friend off and every time he would feel like he was dropping off one of his own children. My father treated every friend of mine like his own child because he had that affect on them" this was part of my characterization of my dad showing that he was there for anyone who needed him. I decided to share this because I know there are a lot of people that have to deal with some really hard obstacles in life and I want everyone to know that you are never alone in those times. I know from experience that there will always be at least one person who wants to help you. I tell the story of my dad so people can see who he was and meet him even though it is not in person. I also share this story to keep him alive in a certain way that is close to my heart.
Part 2: The song I want to share ties back into my dad. I showed him this song one time and he loved it. Every time something was not going right or getting too hard to handle we would listen to this song and it would remind us that anyone can accomplish anything all they have to do is look at the bigger picture and keep fighting. I feel this song is important because everyone goes through a rough patch and need something to motivate them. This song does that for me, it motivates me knowing that this is just a small step to a bigger picture. As I always said, Life is a climb but once you get to the top the view is great.
It was great having class with everyone and if anyone ever needs to talk about anything I will always be available to talk. Don't give up and have a wonderful college career!
Exploration 9 Preston Bryan
1. The writing that I think I wrote the best would be the second paper we wrote for personal narratives. This narrative was about a choice that I made that I have come to regret. to summarize it I let a friend take the full blame for something that I was involved in. This is a paragraph is one that I think that my writing was the best frrom this semestar.
We were enjoying the rest of our day and then we look out into the parking lot next to the campsite. What we saw there was something that made us begin to panic. There was a Park Rangers car that just pulled up to the campsite. I was just standing there staring at it, I knew exactly what they were there for and I knew that I was going to get in big trouble because of it. The ranger get out of his car and from the view I have of his face I can tell that he is not pleased to be here. One of the assistant scoutmasters goes over to the car and when they come back the troop is told to assemble down at the waterfront. By the time I get down there I think what am I going to do. I whisper to Andrew asking what we should do, and we both agree that we should admit it was us and except our punishment. Then the moment of truth come and the scoutmaster is asking the entire troop who it was who did this. He said in a loud voice “Whoever did this raise your hand”. I look at Andrew whose hand is just beginning to go up into the air. In what felt like an hour but was really just a few seconds I begin to raise my hand. Before I get my hand halfway into the air I stop. Andrew is there with his hand in the air and I am there with my hand barely raised. The crowd begins to look at him and hardly anyone has their attention on me. The park ranger looks towards him and then looks at the troop as a whole and said something that made me feel terrible. He put his attention on Andrew and said, “I could arrest you for putting that picnic table in the lake but because your boy scouts I think that this will be a good learning lesson”. As soon I he said that a lot of the stress I felt from what I did went away but now I am standing there while Andrew is take the full force of the blame for what we did.
I Think that this is one of my best writings because it is rememrable. Out of all my uses of imagery this is one that the reader remembers. Standing in lines with everyone else is powerful image and makes it easy to remember.
2. The last subject that I will talk about are rubiks cube. Rubiks cube are a puzzle that is a 3x3x3 cube that you mix up and then try to solve it. There are many different cubes ranging is sizes from the 2x2x2 to a 20x20x20. In the 3x3x3 there are 43252003274489856000 different permutations. Along with these cube there are also other puzzles such as the pentaminx which is like the rubiks cube but has pentagons and 12 sides instead of 6. I am talkimng about rubiks cube because it is somthing that I have dealt alot with in the past and collect them to be better at them.
\
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube
We were enjoying the rest of our day and then we look out into the parking lot next to the campsite. What we saw there was something that made us begin to panic. There was a Park Rangers car that just pulled up to the campsite. I was just standing there staring at it, I knew exactly what they were there for and I knew that I was going to get in big trouble because of it. The ranger get out of his car and from the view I have of his face I can tell that he is not pleased to be here. One of the assistant scoutmasters goes over to the car and when they come back the troop is told to assemble down at the waterfront. By the time I get down there I think what am I going to do. I whisper to Andrew asking what we should do, and we both agree that we should admit it was us and except our punishment. Then the moment of truth come and the scoutmaster is asking the entire troop who it was who did this. He said in a loud voice “Whoever did this raise your hand”. I look at Andrew whose hand is just beginning to go up into the air. In what felt like an hour but was really just a few seconds I begin to raise my hand. Before I get my hand halfway into the air I stop. Andrew is there with his hand in the air and I am there with my hand barely raised. The crowd begins to look at him and hardly anyone has their attention on me. The park ranger looks towards him and then looks at the troop as a whole and said something that made me feel terrible. He put his attention on Andrew and said, “I could arrest you for putting that picnic table in the lake but because your boy scouts I think that this will be a good learning lesson”. As soon I he said that a lot of the stress I felt from what I did went away but now I am standing there while Andrew is take the full force of the blame for what we did.
I Think that this is one of my best writings because it is rememrable. Out of all my uses of imagery this is one that the reader remembers. Standing in lines with everyone else is powerful image and makes it easy to remember.
2. The last subject that I will talk about are rubiks cube. Rubiks cube are a puzzle that is a 3x3x3 cube that you mix up and then try to solve it. There are many different cubes ranging is sizes from the 2x2x2 to a 20x20x20. In the 3x3x3 there are 43252003274489856000 different permutations. Along with these cube there are also other puzzles such as the pentaminx which is like the rubiks cube but has pentagons and 12 sides instead of 6. I am talkimng about rubiks cube because it is somthing that I have dealt alot with in the past and collect them to be better at them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube
Final exploration
PART 1:
Something that I wrote this semester that I am proud of was one of the arguments I used in essay three. My essay three was an argument on why euthanasia should be illegal. The arguments I made to support my claim were
- It would not only be for the terminally ill.
- It would become involuntary
- It stands against everything a physician stands for.
I think my third argument was the best piece of writing I did this semester. I used the hippocratic oath to support my third argument because I believe this was my strongest argument and the hippocratic oath explicitly states that a doctor should not intentionally harm a patient nor should they give a patient poison or harmful drugs; basically the exact opposite of euthanasia.
Something that I wrote this semester that I am proud of was one of the arguments I used in essay three. My essay three was an argument on why euthanasia should be illegal. The arguments I made to support my claim were
- It would not only be for the terminally ill.
- It would become involuntary
- It stands against everything a physician stands for.
I think my third argument was the best piece of writing I did this semester. I used the hippocratic oath to support my third argument because I believe this was my strongest argument and the hippocratic oath explicitly states that a doctor should not intentionally harm a patient nor should they give a patient poison or harmful drugs; basically the exact opposite of euthanasia.
The final argument I would like to make takes into consideration the second group affected by euthanasia - the doctors/physicians who are called upon to carry out this deceitful act. Euthanasia goes against all the values/beliefs a physician stands for. As a physician enters the medical field they are required to take the Hippocratic oath. Regarded as the most popular greek medical text, the Hippocratic oath requires a new physician to swear to follow specific ethical standard. The Hippocratic oath explicitly states that a physician shall not harm a human nor shall they administer poison to anyone one :
“With regard to healing the sick, I will devise and order for them the best diet, according to my judgment and means; and I will take care that they suffer no hurt or damage.
Nor shall any man's entreaty prevail upon me to administer poison to anyone; neither will I counsel any man to do so.” (Hippocratic oath)
Therefore, the act of euthanasia goes completely against the Hippocratic oath. The legalizing of euthanasia will also undermine the commitment of doctors and nurses to save lives; As the physician will be less motivated to treat terminally ill patients assuming that eventually the patient will request to be euthanized. A majority of medical professionals are against the legalizing of euthanasia; nevertheless, if euthanasia is made legal the medical professional would be forced to comply with the patients request to be euthanized, thus making euthanasia “involuntary” on the physicians side.The research to develop new treatment and cures will also be “put aside” by legalizing euthanasia.
PART 2
Most of you would be familiar with the ALS ice bucket challenge that everyone was doing and posting on Facebook,this past summer. Therefore the subject that I would like to write about is the ALS association and it's effort. ALS association is an organization that raises money to fund research on ALS disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS association has conducted various efforts to raise funds for research and have been able to raise $99 million until summer of 2014. However, this past summer ALS association came up with the ALS Ice bucket challenge which became viral and a huge success. Millions of people, including me, did the ALS ice bucket challenge and nominated their friends to do it within 24 hours or they have to donate $100 to ALS (this is the reason it beach viral). Many people donated $10 after doing the ALS ice bucket challenge. Hence, since June of 2014 ALS has received a donation of over $115 million, the highest they have generated to date. The ALS association believes that these donations will be extremely helpful in the research to cure ALS and will provide ALS patient with the best treatment and facilities to make their lives as comfortable as possible. I wanted to share this because I believe ALS is a bitch of a disease and it was really fascinating to me that how the ALS accusation came up with such a simple yet successful idea on how to inform the public abut ALS and an effort to raise funds to fight against ALS. There are some links where you can find more information about ALS and the ALS association. There is also a link to an article which describes what the funds raised by the ice bucket challenge would do in the fight against ALS.
http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html
http://www.wfmz.com/news/whats-impact-of-ice-bucket-challenge-on-als/27619180
Most of you would be familiar with the ALS ice bucket challenge that everyone was doing and posting on Facebook,this past summer. Therefore the subject that I would like to write about is the ALS association and it's effort. ALS association is an organization that raises money to fund research on ALS disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS association has conducted various efforts to raise funds for research and have been able to raise $99 million until summer of 2014. However, this past summer ALS association came up with the ALS Ice bucket challenge which became viral and a huge success. Millions of people, including me, did the ALS ice bucket challenge and nominated their friends to do it within 24 hours or they have to donate $100 to ALS (this is the reason it beach viral). Many people donated $10 after doing the ALS ice bucket challenge. Hence, since June of 2014 ALS has received a donation of over $115 million, the highest they have generated to date. The ALS association believes that these donations will be extremely helpful in the research to cure ALS and will provide ALS patient with the best treatment and facilities to make their lives as comfortable as possible. I wanted to share this because I believe ALS is a bitch of a disease and it was really fascinating to me that how the ALS accusation came up with such a simple yet successful idea on how to inform the public abut ALS and an effort to raise funds to fight against ALS. There are some links where you can find more information about ALS and the ALS association. There is also a link to an article which describes what the funds raised by the ice bucket challenge would do in the fight against ALS.
http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html
http://www.wfmz.com/news/whats-impact-of-ice-bucket-challenge-on-als/27619180
FINAL EXPLORATION: LILYAN ELDADAH
PART ONE:
I admire Philippe Petite.
Twenty-four years old.
Eight months prior planning.
Anxiety filling his head and stomach.
This is impossible. This is impossible. This. Is. IMPOSSIBLE.
One thousand three hundred sixty three feet up.
Nothing but thin wire.
August 7, 1974.
A day to be remembered.
High Wire Artist, Philippe Petite takes on the Twin Towers.
Looking like a small speck to the hundreds of curious spectators below
Petite performs outrageous, dangerous tricks.
A quarter mile up.
Bowing.
Saluting.
Lying down.
J
U
M
P
I
N
G.
Dancing.
Kneeling.
Applause.
How long was the irrationality going to continue?
Eight Rounds.
Forty-Five minutes later.
Insanity escapes Petite’s mind
and reality pours in.
“My intuition told me it was time for me to close the curtain of this intimate performance,"
Petite was let off with a penalty to perform to children.
Shock.
Inspiration.
Respect.
Persistence for my dreams.
I admire Philippe Petite.
I think my best writing this year was this poem about Philippe Petite. I am not a very good writer to begin with, and writing poems and artistically has always been really complicated for me. For this poem, I edited the piece two or three times and had someone else edit it for me too. I wanted to perfect the poem, because when I wrote it, I tried so hard to make it perfect and I really believe it was the best poem I ever written. I used sensory details and short/long sentences to add emphasis to the word/sentence. I really enjoyed this poem and hope you did too!
PART TWO&THREE:
Something important that few know about is the Palestinian-Israeli War that has been going on for over 60 years now. A lot of you may have heard about this war before but many of you might not know about the background of how the war started up again. The media seems to cover so much information from the Palestinian side, so most Americans see it only through the Israelis eyes. Recently, Israelis have been capturing and torturing/killing Palestinian boys. So in defense the Palestinians captured an Israeli, to show the Israelis that they can fight back too. This outraged the Israelis so they began to bomb Palestine. I don't have anything online research or videos to give as evidence, but the reason I know this is because my mom's side of the family lives in Palestine and when they had a few hours of electricity and internet they called my mom and told her everything that was happening. While this information may be bias, just like international news is usually bias, the information is true because it is first hand evidence of what is happening. The problem is that in the international news, no one mentioned that the Israelis were the ones who began this problem because they were torching little Palestinian kids, but instead all that was mentioned was Palestinians captured an Israeli boy and were keeping him captive and Israel had a right to start bombing Palestinian borders.
This is just a little background on the story and I just wanted to portray to you that not all information given by the media is 100% true. It is usually edited and changed to reach the viewers eyes, and make them feel a certain way toward the topic. Basically, if they want you to feel good about something, even if its bad, they will change up the information so it sounds good. All I am saying, is while news is considered factual, I would advise that you research a little more about the subject and not believe every word thrown at you by the media.
This is just a little background on the story and I just wanted to portray to you that not all information given by the media is 100% true. It is usually edited and changed to reach the viewers eyes, and make them feel a certain way toward the topic. Basically, if they want you to feel good about something, even if its bad, they will change up the information so it sounds good. All I am saying, is while news is considered factual, I would advise that you research a little more about the subject and not believe every word thrown at you by the media.
This picture screams a million different thoughts and feelings. On http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/israel-killed-1300-kids-in-gaza-un/ they stated that Israel has killed 1,300 kids Gaza. Its so scary to think that people can just kill babies and kids like the way kids are dying in this war. Since I have cousins and nieces and nephews in Gaza, Palestine its so upsetting and so frightening to think that they may be bombed and killed any second. I want peace in Palestine, not only for my mom's side of the family, but also for all the kids and teenagers that have to go through the blood and pain of losing someone at such a young age. No child should have to watch his mother die between his arms due to a shooting. No parent should have to watch their child die infront of their eyes because of a bombing. This war is a huge tragedy and has been going on for far too long.
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