Challenge For Thursday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqMQ26Gqi4

The audience for this video is clearly for high school students like us, because the teacher is funny and charismatic. The teacher taught the lesson in a very attracting and funny way, not too boring or awkward. I understood the lesson very easily and learned some new facts about writing essays like, how important thesis and introduction are. One fact I learned about thesis is that it has to be strong, it can't be "maybe yes" or "maybe no." I also understood that thesis is the statement that answers the questions, which is the topic, in addition, every sentence and word used in an essay should all revolve around the thesis statement.

Act II Anticipation

Power always corrupts the one who holds it.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
                 -Lord Acton

Why do power corrupt? When almost all human beings thrive to obtain power, when all the great men who has power becomes bad men. We think to ourselves, do we really deserve this power? Or should we let the ones who can hold on the power, obtain the power. When man attain power, the main thing they think of is to do whats best of it, which means how to use to power to get money.

People who corrupted power that they've had, they all have something in common. Which is greediness. For example, Kim Jong Il was a dictator that ruled North Korea. That country became so corrupted and most people don't agree on the things he does. First he worked his way up to become a dictator, then he corrupts the power he has in his hands. To me this doesn't sound right because if one becomes the president of a country, they should rule the country fairly and freely, not to corrupt the country and make it look bad. 

Another example is the sixth king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah. He was extremely greedy and had an estimated fortune at $18 Billion US dollars. Both of these dictators have one thing in common, which is extreme greediness.  All human beings want power and strength, but use it wisely, or else you will just become like one of these dictators. 

It is sometimes necessary to take decisive, preemptive action against someone because of what you fear he or she might do later

     Life is unpredictable! That's what makes it interesting and exciting but also challenging. Your past actions and words, no matter how small, can impact your future dramatically. Even thought you don't know what the future will be like you can try you best to shape it. You have full control over your life and the people who are in it. This brings me to my topic of " is it sometimes necessary to take actions against someone in fear of what they might later become. I absolute believe it is necessary to do whatever against someone if what you believe them to become will be a danger or harmful to you.

     Looking back in history you see that all the dictators, tyrants, and "evil guys" had something that would have stopped them.  Imagine if just one person had taken charge and put an end to their evil ways. All the black marks in our history could have been non-existent.  Even though those things happened we have learnt from them that even one person as the power to do extraordinary thing, good or bad. In Julius Caesar we learn of the plot created by Cassius to kill Caesar. They don't believe Caesar to become a good ruler of Rome. Killing might be a bit extreme but countless other ways would work better. They could have exposed his weaknesses to the world thus making all the people of Rome against the idea of him as ruler. I would never support murder for any reason. 

     You have to plan ahead and decide how you want your life to be. Do you want to be a follower or a leader. Taking action for the well-fair of yourself and loved ones can be beneficial or very harmful. You could create many enemies along the way if you don't go about it in the right way or you could ultimately control your own life. It is sometimes necessary to take decisive, preemptive action against someone because of what you fear he or she might do later because in the end it is your life.

    

   

Act I anticipation

Positive change can be brought about through violence.

Not all violence bring negative changes to the society. You may question this, but violence does not bring all negative changes.For example, the recent issue of Amanda Todds had a huge impact to the society, whether it is positive change or negative, it hasn't been yet. After this situation got serious, the government tried to tell the teachers not to show their students the video. Why? It is all because the government tried to ignore the situation. As said on Ottawa Citizen,"(Teachers) should have the ability to make that decision themselves," said BCTF president Susan Lambert. "We know that that video has gone, as they call it, viral. We know that kids have looked at that video. It's far too late now to try to ignore this situation."

In some of the violence situations out there, the negative side is still greater than the positive side. A way of showing that is when a situations gets so big that the government decides to take charge of it, they will see what they have done wrong, or why the people that caused the violence is right. This way they will probably make a change of what they want. The government should sometimes listen to the people that are against them, maybe they will have a point, a point that they are missing.

Positive effects of violence

It is not necessary that that violence always has negative effects, it can result in positive ones too. Violence is always predicted as negative behaviour with intention to hurt someone. Aggressive behaviour is not always negative.

             In real life situations, aggressive behaviour happens really frequently and is often justified. In some situations its unfortunately necessary. These situations include self defence  when someone is threatening or robbing you, you could do something about it like using pepper spray to atleast get away from situations.

             Now with normal people aside, the policemen and soldiers are keepers of peace who bring peace with violence when it is necessary. It concludes that violence is only justified when there is self defence. In wars too, people might think that "why do they kill each other?", its because it a kill or be killed situation but killing normal people/ civilians is considered terrorism as they don't have any part in the war. Unnecessary violence has negative effects but at right times it can be used to maintain peace too.

Power always corrupts the one who holds it

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  If we look at a lot of the great leaders in the past like Hitler, Gaddafi, they all have similar characteristics. They are all dictators, so that means they have plenty of power. In fact, most of the power is in their hands.  But with great power comes with greater responsibility.

Hitler was very successful at the beginning as leader of Germany, so quickly after he earned the trust from he’s people; he decided to go to war.  He’s ability to earn trust from the rest of Germany was amazing. The people agreed with the speeches that he made, and ultimately, most Germans had the belief that they hated Jewish people. His act was of course intolerable to witness from the perspective of the rest of the world, so countries went to war with him, and after many years at war, he lost. When Germany lost, he didn’t take responsibility for he’s acts. The country was in a very poor condition, with many cities destroyed by the bombing.  And Hitler himself decided to just escape all the casualties and results by suicide. This example clearly demonstrates that sometimes there is too much power. If anyone has the courage to use all those power, they should also have the courage to face the responsibility of having that great power.

Nobody wants to be the loser of anything. After the chaos caused by both Hitler and Gaddafi, none of them had the braveness to stand up again what they’ve done, so in the end, both died as a result of corruption in power.  Power should be given equally to everyone, because too many times through history and present has proven that one man simply cannot deserve that much power.  The results of corruption in power can be very harmful to society as well.  So many times, people get hurt as a result of protest against power.  So the bottom line is, if one person has that much power they should either just give it up, or share it with everyone else.  If they don’t, protests and corruptions or even assassination can all possibly occur.

Julius Caesar Anticipation Guides

Julius Caesar Anticipation Guides

Act 1:

1.      It is sometimes necessary to do things you know are wrong in order to achieve an important goal.

Whenever we are going to do something that makes us feel guilt or nervousness, then whatever we are going to do is probably wrong 9 times out of 10.  If we know that some things are not right, we should take the time to think up of a new possible solution. Usually, there should always be another way. For example, if we want to eat pasta but we don’t have the money, we should take the time to count how much money we have to eat something else instead of stealing. Or, if you want somebody to like you, it shouldn’t be right to be telling that person false information about yourself just to get their attention. So I don’t think doing things that’s wrong just to achieve a goal is acceptable, by doing something wrong, another person probably has to make up for the mistake that we make. In addition, sometimes we just have to be honest; I believe that people will accept honesty rather than anyone trying to tell a lie. To conclude, no matter how important or major the goal is, by attempting to do something bad just to achieve a particular goal is simply unacceptable. Wrong is wrong, there isn’t any “a little bit wrong,” or “wrong that’s okay.”

Nothing should ever be that important for somebody to make a mistake just to make that goal come true. People should have the courage to do something else or think of a new way. If we have the time to tell a lie or do something wrong for that goal, then why don’t we have the time to think up of a new way to solve that problem.

Are there positive and negative consequences for being too loyal?

     Honesty is the best policy. Many have heard this saying their whole life but few follow it. Lies come as easy as breathing to us these days, but why. Do we do it for self protection, the fear of causing conflict or punishment? Maybe even of being rejected by someone or just to make us seem better than who we are? Lies are wrong but there is one type that we have brainwashed ourselves into think is okay, the gray area if you will. Lying for loyalty. It is a constant battle against loyalty and honesty. They both have their pros and cons. One is telling them what they want to hear and the other is telling them what they need to hear.

     Loyalty is fealty, devotion, constancy, allegiance, fidelity and a sense of duty or of devoted attachment to someone. This is an amazing thing to share with someone. It means they will stand by you and your beliefs support you and care you. Know that you have someone loyal to you will give you confidence to put yourself out there. You already know one person supports you, why not make it more. Another positive thing is the effect you have on the person who you trust. It sometimes makes your word more important than any other’s. This meaning that whatever you say speaks up volumes above everybody else’s. You can influence their judgments, beliefs and actions. 

     Being loyal to someone also has it negative consequences. You are emotional attached to this person which makes you never want to be the reason for their sadness. This prevents you from honestly telling them their faults and wrongs. This goes back to telling them what they want to hear. You might have to sell out your own beliefs for their “happiness”. Honesty isn't always the best option because sometimes the truth is more harmful than saying nothing at all. We all want a good balance of both but sometimes society just doesn't allow it. We have to evaluate the situation and put off before the other depending on that. Life is a choice and there are positive and negative consequences for every action, no matter how small.

      Loyalty or honesty is the big question. Risk a special bond for the cold hard truth or tell them what they want to hear. Loyalty is an amazing thing to have but what will you lose in the effort of trying to keep it? 

Doing Wrong

      I think sometimes it's important to to do wrong things to achieve an important goal. Most people think that how can doing a bad thing be good? Well, it can be because sometimes doing the wrong thing have a greater good. It only applies to the things that happen daily in our lives like lying to someone if you think he would be hurt but you have to be careful because you can do even more damage by lying.this is when you are doing wrong but for the better of someone.

      On the other hand this can be really bad because if you are robbing a bank you might take "robbing the bank" as a goal. Its not good to do bad things like that, they have even worse consequences. Even if you don't get caught doing something your guilt always follows you around wherever you go. Bad on small things is still acceptable and others forgive you but if you do bad like killing someone the others are like - "If you killed someone else, why should you suffer less?"
   
   Doing something  you know is wrong is only right when you know that its for the greater good.

Amanda Todd

I didnt know about Amanda Todd's situation before i saw the video. After watching the video i was wondering that what role did her family play in the whole thing.... They just ignored it thinking it was nothing but they could have done something about it. It cannot be that they didnt know about it as she had to change her school so many times. They could have taken all her electronics or something but they just made it worse..... This also makes me wonder about cyber-bullying coming up as an new issue. Its is bad but it can also be prevented.......

Amanda Todd Video Response:

                I wonder why such tragedy can happen to a normal teenage girl just like us. Isn’t going to school mean that we will be safe and happy? I wonder what the teachers and the government are doing about this problem that could have been prevented. Over the years, many different kinds of bullying such as discrimination, verbal attacks have been the cause of many suicides of young people.  This proves that bullying is indeed a serious issue that should be treated as like any other law.  I feel like it’s so hard to believe how mean people can be on the internet. Amanda Todd was already very depressed, but how could anyone be so inhuman as to curse her to die, or go to hell? Teachers or government officials should start sending the message that bullying is simply not a very nice way to treat someone. Remember the golden rule: “Treat someone like how you want to be treated.”

The Amanda Todd "Situation"

Before I saw the video, I didn't have much compassion for Amanda Todd. All I knew about her was that she had flashed her breasts on the internet, was bullied for that and sleeping with a boy in a relationship and had committed suicide. I had felt she was getting way too much publicity, when part of it was her fault. Countless others are going through the same thing  but she is the one being glamorized.......... but then I watched the video. My "feelings" towards it were changed as dramatically but I understood the "situation" better. Amanda was not just bullied, but prosecuted and rejected. All this resulting in her moving schools many times, having no friends, drinking bleach and sadly taking her own life. Yes, she could have done things differently but so could many others. People should have corrected her, accepted it and moved on, but sadly this wasn't done. I now have much more compassion for Amanda Todd and I hope her story will be a lesson and help prevent bullying. Her story might just help save lives.

Response to video

The story of Amanda Todds made me feel that society needs a change. We always say that but we are the society. Amanda Todds was a girl who got bullied and she eventually couldn't take it anymore, so she decided to suicide. The cause of her suicide was more off to the mental health side, because of her mental issues, she killed herself. If she had treated it earlier she wouldn't have chosen to suicide. While most people on the internet are saying that she was bullied to death, in my opinion it was her mental issues that made her suicide. For Amanda, getting bullied was a big issue, because of bullies, she had to transfer several schools to get away from them. Unfortunately the bully spread the word too early even other schools knew about it. One of the main person that caused this whole thing was the old person on the internet that told Amanda to flash her, because of that situation, everyone knew who she was. In many situations, things could be solved if things were said clearly and not to decide who to believe until they fully understood.