Sibsky’s bloggy

The unknown is something that I am not really sure about.  I can understand people’s reason for beleiving in things like crop circles and aliens but without good proof I am skeptical about the existance of these “unknown” happenings.  For example crop circles they could be Alien ships or they good be a couple of drunk kids with two by fours.  As for UFO’s that doesn’t necassarily mean alien spce ship it could just be some guy flying a prop plane and some funky lights on the side.  Everything has an explanation.  No I don’t think people can just spontaneously start on fire, no I don’t think that people have been abducted by aliens, and no I don’t think that the government has secret information locked away that that they don’t let anyone else see.  What I do beleive is that there is possibly aliens out there, and that there are unexplained things that happens and no one knows how or why these things happen.  We may never know how these things happens.  Until then I will not beleive in Ghost Stories, SHC, Crop Circles, or Aliens that is without proof.

For my narrative I talked about the Child Soldiers that are in Africa.  I researched and actually found that a lot of the information was close to the movie Blood Diamond.  I learned that in war torn African countries the rebels turn the children into child soldiers.  Kind of like Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.  He used to be a good boy but now he is taking over the universe.  This is a bit of a dramatization but in reality kids are being used to fight and take over things for the rebels. 

They are treated so brutally that we wouldn’t even believe.  The older soldiers give them drugs and turn them into terrible people that only look forward to killing and doing drugs.  I mean they make little kids stand in the middle of the road so that people stop and then they shoot the vehicles with missiles.  Then it leaves people no choice but to keep driving.  There is obviously something wrong with this world when the most scary thing a person can see is a an eight year old with a AK-47.  I sure hope that the UN could do something about this.  They should get in there and prevent this because there is no reason that anyone should have to live that kind of life. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mh9jHEbTCj0

To me this was a very enlightening unit.  I knew some of this stuff but I hadn’t really taken the time to think about how people are affected by equality and inequality.  To me equality means to think of people as people.  No stereotypes and anything esle to get in the way.  If i am treating or thinking of people equally it would be for me to act based on what I know about them from talking, listening, and being around them.  Sadly I realized that there is far to little of that out there.  Even the most pure of mind (the Pope, Dahli Lahma) must have been affected by the stereotypes and disrimination in society.  This is terrible and I know I am not perfect I definately have been affected by these actions and is possible that I have affected others out there by my actions.  I know that is bad and I guess now that I have thought about it it will be harder to do.

For me it is the stories that we read that got to me.  Especially Of Mice and Men this book had so many examples of equality and inequality that I never want to have a society like they had in the 1930s.  It sickens me to think that people actually allowed this to happen.  I am glad it has gotten better but I sure hope it gets better still.

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=us4Sj_mHWRM equality song

Done

The two themes that i want to touch on are Isolation and Inequality, since we have talked about these so much and the book hits on these to themes specifically.  Inequality was a humongous factor during the time that the novel took place.  Society had little mercy for Blacks, Women, and the mentally handicapped.  Anyone dalling into those categories could expect brutal treatment and no way to stop it.  Women were used for pleasure and otherwise ignored.  African Americans were used as workers and were paid very little money for hard jobs.  If they did something even slightly offensive they could be dangling from a tree real quick.  We all know what happened to Lennie.  It may have been a mercy killing but society just didn’t accept him and wasn’t willing to deal with his handicap.  I hate to think about what can happen to those people who just weren’t “normal”.

Inequality and isolation are so closely related it is alost impossible to have one without the other.  I mean if everyone in society can use you as toilet paper then why stay in society?  Crooks knew that he was better than that so he kept to himself as much as possible.  He is proud of his heritage-as he should be-so as to avoid confrontations he keeps to himself.  In a way everyone in the book is isolated.  The depression drove such fear into everyone that they wouldn’t trust anyone but themselves.  While George and Lennie appear to have beaten the isolation effect the opposite happens.  Lennie eventually dies leaving George alone in the world like every other ranch hand.  Even Candy lost his dog.  This is a really depressing theme to think about how eventually you will be all alone with no friends.  I am glad to think that it isn’t the thirties anymore.  

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjUUdxh6Gw8

In the older days they had a zero tolerance for most crimes.  Back then people could kill others just as long as you reason.  A good reason could be that they were murderers, rapists, insulted you, frisky with your wife, etc.  They didn’t have the legal system that we have today.  In those days people kind of made up the law from right and wrong, then reinforced it with harsh penalties.  If they didn’t kill you they would run you out of town tarred and feathered.  You could get away with a lot more than you can today.  George could have gotten like ten years un jail when he killed Lennie.  Even Carlson may have been charged with animal cruelty for shooting Candy’s dog.  Back then that wasn’t even something to think about before you went to sleep.

There was definately justice in Of Mice and Men, it was the fairness that they kind of skimped out on.  They were definately mislead when it came to women and other races.  They didn’t know that women and black people should be treated like other people.  You can’t really blame them for treating black people and women that way because everyone in society did the same thing.  It was a norm.  You would think that somone would stand up for them….Yet it was difficult times and they did what they could to survive.  even if that was to take advantage of those different.

This is a hard  question to answer because you can answer it in two different ways.  You could say yes this happens or you could say that only it only happens in certain places, by certain people, during certain times in history.  An example would be the Holocaust.  Here what was “just”depended on if you were Arian or Jewish.  they were treated in totally different manners and it could be the worst display of Anti-Semitism ever.  This can also happen in specific placesl; like in Prince Albert Penitentiary it is something like ninety percent Aboriginal.  You could say that the judges and people are biased or you can say that those people did those crimes.  I think that after a Judge (or anyone) sees so many Aboriginals go to jail he/she would start to think (in the very back of his head) that most Aboriginals are guilty of some crime.  Imagine if everyone in society thought that.  You wouldn’t be able to give your side of the story you would just be sent off without a chance.

I think that the definate answer to this question is yes Fairness depends on culture.  I know it shouldn’t but it does.  People take different perspectives on different cultures.  No one is free from opinion or the stereotypes that have been developed.  Some of these stereotypes have very negative impact on the culture that it is addressing.  It would be nice if all the people in the world were of the same race and under the same culture.  Seeing how that isn’t going to happen it would be nice if no one judged anyone else on their race or culture.  Seeing how that is not going to happen we might as well make the best of it.

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This is so common in society I don’t think anyone out there can truthfully say that they have never misjudged someone else.  People misjudge for many things including race, gender, religion, physical abilty, and mental disability.  We have to keep our minds open about what other people are capable of.  Some judges don’t take the word of younger people because they are so used to younger people being wrong.  They follow the stereotype instead of the person’s word.  For example if a guy were to bug a girl until she is really angry bad things can happen.  The guy may think that the girl won’t do anything but, she may know karate and beat the crap out of the guy.  There are many reasons why we should keep an open mind about people and try not to misjudge other people.  An obvious one is so that you don’t get embarrassed by asking a bad question or doing something stupid, but another thing is that it won’t hurt other people.  An example is when you say something that you think is funny yet it deeply offends someone in that group who has a religion that you just insulted.  You thought that this person wasn’t involved with religion but because you didn’t take the time to interpret what these people are like. 

Really it isn’t to hard to be a less judging person and it is better for everyone.  Imagine being the new kid in school and people are looking at you sideways because your hair is to long or you have braces.  If people just take the time to really no the people we are judging you may be surprised.  The kid you labeled as a geek or a prep or a gangster could possibly be your best friend that is if you give them a chance.  If we shun each other into different groups you lose something that you never even had.  On top of that there becomes rival groups that on the most extreme levels become gangs.  I say that you have to give someone a chance and if it turns out that you to don’t get along fine.  Just give people that chance.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1210932875704103247&q=stereotypes&total=4709&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3&hl=en-CA a stereotipical example on video.

Living in a free country like Canada we have awsome rights and freedoms that many other countries go sadly without.  The hitch is since we we are so much better off than countries in places like Africa we are responsible to help them.  When people say responsiblity most people seem to think that it is some kind of chore.  This is not true it is more of something that is simply expected of you.  To buy someone in a Third World Country a goat is probably a great feeling.  The “guideline” is that is you are in better condition than someone else you try to help get up to your living condition and hopefully they will help others in need.  If you are the low man on the totem pole with the worst living conditions then it isn’t expected for you to give others before you help yourself.  Yet people shouldn’t just wait around for handouts because they will become lazy.

The question is should we help people in other countries with their problems?  The answer is a definate yes.  The thing is you have to be smart about it.  People shouldn’t just donate to things like; the “Help Those People in Africa With the Bad Disease majigger”.   You have to research the company and find out ifthey are going to actually help the people you want to be helped.  There are many different organizations that are out there and it is p to the donator to choose which one they think is best.  ANother good question is whether you want to donate locally or internationaly.  Both sides have their benefits and weaknesses, but either one can still change someone’s life.

Our rights as free people are very important.  They allow us to stick up for ourselves and for other people.  Rights are probably the most important part of society in this day and age.

I learned a lot about the black slave trade and the brave people that fought to bring it to an end.  Its not easy to look back and understand what they were going through when we have it so much easier today.  We have the information and the knowledge about the specific time peroid but, there is no way we can understand exactly how they felt and the difficulties they faced.  Yet we can still try.  If we don’t look back at the past and realize what the people before us went through we wouldn’t understand why society is like it is today.  We should know more about the conditions they were in, the ways they escaped, and descrimination angainst black people. 

The conditions and treatment towards black people were horrible for the average black man in the Southern States.  I was appalled to learn of the conditions that the black race was put through.  The owner’s treated their slaves worse than their dogs.  I am deeply dissapointed that members of the humans race could do that to their fellow man.  Yet i can’t help but wonder that if i was an American in the 1800’s would I care for a slave?  Would I be one of the invaluable slave savers or would I keep a slave and beat him and his family to work for my family.  I can only hope that I would have the decency to care for a slave instead of ruining their lives.

Still if you grow up where everyone is hateful towards black people wouldn’t it be a given that you are discriminative to them, too.  I think that it is a good question that we must ask ourselves; “Would we know right from wrong?”  We all hope that we would do the right thing ,but i am not so sure myself.  Think about it.

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjUUdxh6Gw8

From my point of view there is far to much racial tension occuring in our society today.  There are many different levels of discrimination that occur in our world from the name calling to the Holocaust it is all bad.  People seem to believe that since someone else is a different color of skin or believes in a different religion they can control them and step on them.  For example Adolf Hitler was on of the most notorious racist and he was trying to use the Jews to make Germany more powerful.  Since the Jews were generally wealthy and the Germans were generally in trouble he blamed them for the Germans problems and tried to erradicate the Jews just to make Germany stronger. 

Another thing that people do is they stereotype against certain races.  People say that all Oriental people are short and sit behind a computer there whole life.  I happen to know a few Oriental people who are good friends of mine and they spend all their time outside.  These people are urban Ninjas!   Other common steroetypes is that towards the black people.  Everyone seems to think that a black person can live somewhere unless it is in the slums sorrounded by gangs.  Yet today the Barrack Obama is the most likely person to be the President of the United States we are talking about the most powerful man in the world here!  I might as well clear up the rest of the stereotypes while I’m here.  Not all Natives are fat and live off wellfare.  Many of them are hardworking who provide for themselves some Natives whos lineage goes back forever don’t even use their Treaty Card.  Lastly is the Trailor trash white people or the Hillbillies.  Most cocasion people don’t go through five boxes of twenty-two shells in a weekend.

Rember everybody: keep your minds open.