IB English - Journal 19

Journal 19

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”
---Assata Shakur

Journal #19:

   I am very pessimistic when it comes to wars and world peace. For anti-war protestors, violence is never the key. While I agree that violence can generate more problems than it solves, war is inevitable. As Shakur states no freedom has been gained from passive congregation. Therefore, change a rises from the ashes of war. 

IB English - Journal 18

Journal 18

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely that your very existence is an act of rebellion." --Albert Camus

Journal #18:

   In the past, where the world faced a series of depressions, wars and social problems. In all of those situations, particular individuals rose in the public eyes to bring hope and peace to the masses. Those individuals were not always political scholars but regular people that decided to fight a problem. When I think of Camus' quote I think of those regular individuals becoming the face of a fight. Even now we have regular individuals that come to mind when we think of a problem. For example, when I think of the Black Lives Matter movement, I think about Michael Brown. However in this quote, I imagine someone like Katniss Everdeen, I know she's fictional, but her character fits the quote. Living in a corrupt society, Katniss stood up as the face of the rebellion. Katniss became the rebellion. The government wanted to get rid of her because just by her existing it was an act of rebellion, as the quote states. However there are plenty of real life individuals who are examples of Albert Camus' quote. 

IB English - Journal 17

Journal 17

For the past five weeks, we’ve studied how language perpetuates ideology and hegemony throughout the world via mass communication. Specifically, we’ve looked at how language is used to construct norms in relationship to gender, and now race. Let’s transition the conversation now to look at how language is used to resist, deny, or reconstruct the status quo. For this journal, offer examples that are either modern or historical, in which language has been used to challenge ideological norms.

Journal #17:

   Now in more modern times, our generation has started to break free of institutionalized norms that the society has impeded in us. Even now our parents are recognizing the paradigm shift of homosexuality. My parents have stated homosexuals were not as expressed as they are now in days. Our generation has been more open, respectful and out spoken for the problem in the lgbt community. Not only in lgbt problems but also in other problems in the government, environment and society. Most of the resistance is discussed in social media, such as Twitter. Twitter has especially been involved in politics since the election of Donald Trump as president. 

IB English - Journal 16

Journal 16

We’ve become such a narcissistic, “me-first” society that common courtesies have gone right out the door – with a moral fiber that’s barely a thread. And while I’m hardly a religious zealot, I do think a large part of the problem is the secularization of our culture at the hands of the allegedly tolerant and compassionate “progressives.” We’ve taken God out of our schools and poke fun at religion; we devalue human life by condoning abortion and branding anyone who stands up for the unborn a woman-hating Neanderthal. Two-parent households are considered an anachronism; a woman who stays home with the kids instead of getting a job and relegating child rearing to day care is deemed lazy. We all but legalize a drug, marijuana, that takes away ambition and drive, and we attack anyone who’s successful and wealthy – regardless of how hard they work, or how many sacrifices they’ve made in life to get where they’re at. Government has become not an enabler of the private sector, but it’s a misguided Robin Hood, at the expense of personal responsibility – and personal values. ---Stephen Arnold

Articulate the central claim that Arnold makes and discuss the ways in which you agree or disagree with his position. Support your argument by providing reasons and examples from your own experiences, observations, or readings.

Journal #16:

   Arnold states that society has become narcissistic due to the hands people that secularize the society. I agree that society has become narcissistic however I do not agree that it is due to the lose of importance religion has in society. I think there religion might help some individuals become more modest but it is not the universal answer to solve narcissism. On the topic of a stay at home mom being considered lazy, I don't see that stigma in the society I am in. Instead I see both mothers who choose to stay at home for the needs of the children and the mothers that work in order to help the families income and/or working for the enjoyment they get from the job. For the legalization of marijuana, it is a very controversial topic that has multiple reasons to both sides, I do not have a strong or educated knowledge to choose a side and create an opinion. The critics of the wealthy, I believe stems from a popular stereotype of corruption from the wealthy and successful. I absolutely agree that the government has separated themselves from the private sector and are using personal values at the expense of their cause, which would be to stay in control.

IB English - Journal 15

Journal 15

This week we discussed the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. For this journal, explore your mask. What does it say? What does it hide? Who built it?

Journal #15:

   Dunbar poem, "We wear the mask," is about how all individuals wear a mask. In the first five stanzas, Dunbar describes the mask as a cover that lies and smiles while behind the mask the emotion is the opposite. In the next paragraph, first stanza, it reads that the world is over wise. I believe that  this stanza suggest that the world is interested in how we express certain emotions. Sadness and depression are the emotions most investigated by the world, suggested by the terms, "Tears," and "Sighs." It is the over-analyzation of the world that leads individuals to put on a mask due to fear or shame. Fear of what the world might think of our sadness and/or depression. Shame for the envisioned reaction of the world in response to the sadness and/or depression. 

IB English - Journal 14

Journal 14

Before Washington journalism turned into blood sport, and politics turned into an exercise in serial lying, there was a fairly firm understanding by the press that personal failings were none of the public's business unless misbehavior affected the performance of one’s abilities to perform public duties. No more. Yet there is a national longing to return to the good old days when political news was more about issues and policies and less about private lives." 

Explain the significance of the writer's claims that this new style of journalism has turned politics into a "blood sport . . . and an exercise in serial lying." Using logical reasons and specific examples, discuss whether you agree or disagree with the author's claims about journalism.

Journal #14:

   Everyone holds the power to become a journalist and many have. With our cell phones we have the ability to video, write and take a picture of an event that we can later publish in social media for a greater audience to see. However some people hold too much power over the media that then it becomes a "blood sport." This competition can be seen in news channels. Most of our news is controlled by few companies that have risen and want to continue to rise to the top. The companies then have the power to control what is in the news and a lot of what is on the news is politics. However the politics chosen to be shown are more sensationalized then politics are really. In the news, concerning the last election, there has been more gossip talk then political talk. The news were mostly about the heat between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump then their causes and then other presidential candidates that were not involved in such drama. Based of these experiences, I agree with the authors claim about Journalism. 

IB English - Journal 13

Journal 13

The media is too concentrated. Too few people own too much. There’s really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see, and hear. It’s not healthy.

---Ted Turner (American Media Mogul, Founder of CNN)

Explain Turner’s argument, then discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree. Support your argument with examples from your readings, observations, or experiences.

Journal #13:

   Turner's argument is completely accurate. Due to few people controlling many media sources, our news is filtered through their bias. News is suppose to be as objective as possible so that the audience can make an informed decision. Instead we have large amounts of people spreading half side news causing so much ignorance on what the true facts are. The five companies control, just as Turner states, our news and it causes so much bias on news that the audience cannot get the real objective facts. All news channels have their own bias, such as Fox and CNN. In class we have viewed and analyzed these biases and their affect on the general public. Which is why the audience should find as many sources for their news to gather the most facts that lead us, the audience, closer to the truth.