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The Manchurian Candidate Last Scene Shot by Shot Film Analysis

#uci blog5 filmanalysis winter2015

Christianity & Torture Entertainment

Torture as entertainment becomes the root of a dehumanized society. It engulfs everything I stand against. "There's got to be more than just this flesh and bone," sings Mat Kearney from his new album that echoes melodically both on the Christian radio station and in my head.

Ironic isn’t it? -- How in a time, when there’s MORE to life than JUST our physical bodies,yet our society has come to a state where almost everything in entertainment features torture as its amusement factor for popularity. It’s hard to turn on the television and not be faced with this twisted type of delight.

My favorite place to be is the beach. The sun on my face. The sand in between my toes. The salty air that gently glides through my hair. The cute, old couple that strolls down the shore. I love spending time at such a magnificently natural place full of beauty that NO ONE can fully create, yet so much people spend MORE time in front of a computer or a television screen to either play violent games or watch action shows. Why?

Everything I am and how I view life revolves around my faith. I find beauty in my personal spiritual life and I am not ashamed of it. Since the day I was born, my entire life focused on the Fruits of The Spirit: kindness, faith, love, peace, goodness, and gentleness. My parents, family, and friends all share some of these gracious fruits and encourage each other to continue this fruitful growth. I find my identity in Christ and my purpose in life is to be the best loving daughter of God I can be, but it pains me to see my world fall to a point of such cruel amusements.

Sadly, I too am drawn to these awful shows through their beautiful leading actors and intricate plotline, but the very moment any bit of torture or intentional violence appears my emotions flip 180 degrees. I cannot stand watching people in pain whether they are the good guy or the bad guy. It just eats a little part of me away.

It upsets me.

How can any person with a heart and soul, purposely inflict intentional pain both physically and psychologically towards another person -- with a beating heart -- with a soul. It’s inhumane.

I truly believe that ALL people are create equal yet society argues otherwise... Entertainment says “oh sure it’s fine, this happens all the time! It’s normal!” Normal… NORMAL?…

HOW IS IT AT ALL NORMAL ? How does a man believe that he is greater than another, and therefore have the very right to harm another in any way, shape, or form in order to benefit himself personally?

I just don’t get it. It almost seems utterly impossible that the torturer, born into this world in the same ways like his victim, grew up learning how to live life like his victim, dealt with struggles and overcome them like his victim, with his own perspective on life like his victim, can torture his victim and believe that justice is on his side.

Humans were created to love one another. We are all part of a greater plan. We are all part of God's family. Love is the greatest power that we have. To be human is to receive love, to have love, and to give love. Torture removes the essence of love and dehumanizes the soul.

My Savior was tortured and killed on the cross. My heart breaks each and every time I am reminded of that moment during Easter. I sometimes imagine the pain He went through -- the suffering before being nailed on the cross. Being tied, whipped, and awfully humiliated. He was an innocent man, but He was intensely tortured… My broken heart cannot even bare to understand an ounce of His pain. DVD’s are made to capture His suffering, but I will NEVER watch it for entertainment.

The whole idea of torture does not and will NEVER make perfect sense to me.

#humcore winterquarter 2015 uci blog4

Being Human

As the Humanities Core winter quarter shifts from the events of the American Civil War to the ideas of torture, things become harder to swallow. Before there was a wrong and right way of doing things with bad people and good people, but now there appears a grey shade among this black and white comparison. Torture became a common practice legalized by the country to get information from "bad people". Torture dehumanizes the soul as one person inflicts great and cruel pain upon another person under the assumption that this person is ideally the bad people who has the information needed. In this position, a human, believing he is doing the "greater good" by purposely applies pain upon another human who cannot defend himself. The soul becomes shifted as the person believes he is greater than another and therefore is allowed to show his influence through torture. However, there are always two sides of an event, and the people being tortured might not even have information they're looking for. Those who favor torture believe that they are in a "ticking time bomb" situation where they must torture the victim with great time pressure in order to avoid a mass devastation of the deaths of innocent people. No matter the reason, I do not support torture in any way, shape, or form.

When I was put in different scenarios, my view of the other side changes.

Justice is fair punishment to the person who committed the crime, however true justice does not exist. There is an uneven display of justice that if this person commits a specific crime, then he will receive a specific punishment if caught, but who decides if this is the fair punishment? Who makes the decision that this crime is equivalent to this punishment? In our society, laws are the basis of foundation, but they are not always fair therefore that is not justice. There is an uneven shift of justice. For example, if my dog were to escape my house and run outside without a leash, my punishment will be that of a speeding ticket. The price to pay does not seem equivalent. A speeding car can kill people and severely injure many civilians. A escaped dog can tinkle on the neighbor's lawn. Is the punishment for both cases just? There is no true justice, not under the laws made by people. They try their best to be just but it will never be absolute justice.

If I were a patriot, I must really love my country. I must love it enough to fight for me country and possibly die for it as well. My country will forever support my decisions as I defend it. I would have to hurt others to stand up and fight for my country. However, if I was a terrorist, I would love my commanders that run this secret organization. I must love them, trust them, and risk my life for them. It would almost be as if I was a patriot of a secret organization because I will feel the same way as I believe what I'm doing is right according to those above me in the social hierarchy. These are the two sides of a similar situation.

Ideas, morals, right, and wrong can all be shifted and warped. The foundation of one's action defines their soul, but also their upbringing of those they love. Being human is to not be right nor wrong but to experience the grey side of these situations where you, yourself makes the final decision based on your own beliefs, not those of your leaders.

#blogpost3 #humcore #uci

The Cotton Pickers Analysis

The Civil War was one of the most terrible war that America has gone through as it looses great quantities of its men. A civil war is something that every country dreads for it derives from an internal problem that can tear the nation apart through countless of deaths. America's Civil War in 1861 started as the North decided to stand against the Southern ideas of slave expansion. Many multitudes of slave groups escaped to the North to seek refuge before the war began and some even fought in the war against their homeland.

"The Cotton Pickers" is a fairly large oil painting by Winslow Homer in 1876 after the South's defeat. The material of oil paint gives off a very worthy and respected "expensive" medium of art instead of simple watercolor. Homer was one of the very few who "pictured African-Americans with sympathy and respect" (Jenny's blog) where he painted them through a perspective of a view from below as these two women stand high above the field.

Even after a decade from the war, African Americans were not treated in the best manner which is clearly illustrated in this painting. These two slave women, although now free and paid for their labors, are still being exploited by the landowners for they only receive half of a man's wage. Cotton picking is not only one of the lower jobs that they can get, but also one of the more painful ones since the actual cotton plant has tiny thistles that can prick their hands if not careful. In the picture, some of the cotton are also attached to the women's dress so one can imagine their misleading texture. The warm tone colors in the painting does not have excitement, instead it shows the calmness of the rural fields as the wind softly passes by the dried pasture. This dry essence reflects the women's thoughts for this life is not enough for them; they yearn for more, for a life that fulfills their hearts' desires.

Homer succeeds to capture their presence and aura of being their own people and no longer as any man's property. The woman in the front hold her head up so we as the audience can distinctively see her face which gives her individual importance. She also looks far into the distance as if imagining a time where freedom will improve their status and roles in a time where they will be treated equally. Patiently waiting for a time where she can be her own person full of independence among the white Americans. The focus point of this image directly draws the viewers' eyes towards the women in the center who take up a majority of the space granted. Their lighter dark complexion invites the audience to believe that are mulattoes who are born from both black and white. Their skin tone portrays the past where their mothers were most likely raped by their masters.

In the background, the sky itself is very cloudy which can be represented that their days will continue to be rough and clouded long before their days will be clear.

Works Cited :

Bichara, Jenny. "The Cotton Pickers" – Winslow Homer 1876." Jennys Serendipity. N.p., 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. <http://jennysserendipity.com/2012/02/14/the-cotton-pickers-winslow-homer-1876-2/>.

Truth & History

History is usually seen as the truth of the past, however, depending on how biased the accounts are, it is be hard to fully understand if it is truly accurate or not. In my opinion, things such as dates and broad events can easily be accepted because other accounts will agree on such facts. But when it comes to personal diaries, articles, or works of art, it will be almost impossible to see if it is the absolute truth of not since we were not there to witness them. Only a few recorded evidence can be extremely misleading since we do not know for sure if they're primary or secondary. Most will assume each piece is primary unless stated otherwise, therefore we can rarely depend solely on this piece for the truth. Due to misconceptions, we can never 100% accept any work without questioning the author's purpose, point of view, and liability.

One of the Fall Human Core Professors once said that each each personal article is true to an extent and not one is more true than the other for it was during that time, place, and perspective. However there are many things to take into consideration for the absolute truth.

For pictures, primary sources hold more truth than secondary (translations as well) for the the secondary source can remove or add in extra items without the consent and be different from the original. But we will not know unless we have the original to compare. One example was when a illustrator drew a sketch of slaves coming into Northern territory, but when sent to the newspaper, they took out the woman and her child from the photo.

It is nearly impossible to know if something is 100% accurate, but there is partial truth in everything.

Blog Post # 7

Rhetorical Analysis of Frederick Douglass from a short passage from "What Shall be Done with the Slaves if Emancipated?"

"But would you let them all stay here? — Why not? What better is here than there? Will they occupy more room as freemen than as slaves? Is the presence of a black freeman less agreeable than that of a black slave? Is an object of our injustice and cruelty a more ungrateful sight than one of your justice and benevolence? You have borne the one more than the two hundred years — can’t you bear the other long enough to try the experiment? “But would it be safe?” No good reason can be given why it would not be. There is much more reason for apprehension from slavery than from freedom. Slavery provokes and justifies incediarism, murder, robbery, assassination, and all manner of violence. — But why not let them go off by themselves? That is a matter we would leave exclusively to themselves. Besides, when you, the American people, shall once do justice to the enslaved colored people, you will not want to get rid of them. Take away the motive which slavery supplies for getting rid of the free black people of the South, and there is not a single State, from Maryland to Texas, which would desire to be rid of its black people. Even with the obvious disadvantage to slavery, which such contact is, there is scarcely a slave State which would be carried for the unqualified expulsion of the free colored people. Efforts at such expulsion have been made in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina, and have all failed, just because the black man as a freeman is a useful member of society. To drive him away, and thus deprive the South of his labor, would be absurd and monstrous as for a man to cut off his right arm, the better to enable himself to work."

Frederick Douglass' style of writing is very persuasive as he strongly supports his claim with his firm focus. He uses different rhetorical techniques in each of his pieces, some by emphasizing the inhumanity by poetic language, others by repetition, references in three's pattern, and name-calling. His style is very broad with his many devices to convince his audience to his side. In the article above, his usage of diction, tone, and rhetorical questions to establish his conclusion.

In this article, Douglass answers "what shall be done to the slaves if emancipated?" In this specific paragraph, he emphasizes the answer by consistently repeating his opinion throughout this paragraph and whole article. The purpose of repetition is to show the audience it's importance and value. The audience will also be made very aware of Douglass' point of view on this argument. Although he does not obviously state the answer specifically in this paragraph, he indirectly references to his answer.

Douglass' usage of rhetorical questions in the first half of his paragraph illustrates his passion towards this subject and leadership style. Rhetorical question directly after one another without a pause allows the audience to follow Douglass' train of thought and ideas by mentally answering his obvious particularly-worded questions. He personally directly talks to the audience through addressing them using "you" frequently throughout the passage.

Douglass' use of diction becomes the "cherry on top" for his argument with specific words that sets the serious tone in which he calls his audience to act. Douglass uses words like "freedom," "incediarism, murder, robbery, assassination," and "violence" to create a picture of his view of the real world that is needs to be aided.

I Was Born

I was born on the shores of a fairly nonexclusive island from the

chain of islands in Hawaii. I saw the sun before I saw my mother's face.

I felt its warmth embrace as the rays of light kissed my cheeks and nose. It

was probably in the mid-afternoon since the sun was directly above us. I

grew up as an island girl helping my grandpa with his small pineapple cafe.

Because I was an accident from my mother's affair, I never met my

father and sometimes I wonder if he knows about my very existence.

Growing up, I spent more time with the sun than I did with my own mother.

Since my mother was still young when she had me, I was given to my

grandpa to be taken cared of while she ran away from home.

Everyone on that island had parents, and they all knew who their father was.

Each night before going to sleep I would long for this information.

I stopped asking my grandpa because all I got from failed attempts was

a stressed adult who could not walk anywhere without hitting the wall.

All I know about my father was that he gave me my dark brown hair and small ears.

I remember when I was too young to work at the cafe, I would

sit on one of the chairs in the front welcoming people as they walked in.

My favorite part of it was that I was able to see kids asking their father

for their favorite sweet at the candy store a block down. Across the

street was the beach where I can see all the young ones riding on their

fathers' shoulders. I would always imagine being in their shoes and

having father-daughter moments as well.

Summer was the only time any tourists would come where I

could meet new people of different ethnicity and appearances. New people

always intrigued me. Any one of them could be the father who helped

my mother create me. Spring was the time all the flowers bloomed and

hummingbirds visited. But my favorite part about spring was how long

the sun stayed out. Winter and fall were the same for me with my

everyday routines. When the sun rises, my workday starts. As the sun

travels across the sky, it was time to pick out pineapples along with fresh

seasonings from the market, open the cafe, and serve all the guests.

When the sun sets, that's when I start to end my day at the cafe and

head home. When the sky fades from navy blue to a misty black, it was

time for bed and I would listen to the waves crash against the shore with

it's tremendous roars, I would remember my birth and think about my father.

North Korea's Government in Machiavelli's Terms

After reading The Prince, by Machiavelli, I could relate his

teaching and principles to many of how the leaders rule to this day.

Having a novel dated back centuries ago, that shows all the different

methods to leading that connects to this century, shows that the human

mind adapts and lives by the same set of beliefs. Leaders now are not

much different from leaders back then, despite the time and

circumstances.

North Korea, as we all know, is an isolated communist country

in East Asia that has tension with its free neighbor, South Korea. This

country, now known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is

actually ruled by a dictatorship despite its name. The current supreme

leader, Kim Jong-Un, the son of the recently deceased Kim Jong-Il,

continues his father’s rule of a strict orderly system in which human rights

do not exist. Any crimes against the government, severe or mild, leads

to extreme punishments. North Korea’s rule is completely totalitarian

based.

The government, in which is actually one person, suppresses all

forms of freedom that range from speech to religion to individual

opinions. Punishments include prison camps as well as detention

facilities with the most inadequate conditions. These prisoners, which

include young children, are then tortured, forced to do overbearing labor,

locked in confined areas, sleep deprived, and sexually abused. North

Korea is one of the most cruel places in the world where everything is

very secretive.

Kim Jong-Un uses his citizens’ fear to his advantage to

gain their loyalty for fear in itself is a strong feeling that weakens strength

of oneself. Fear, once overbearing, can be the end to oneself as it

makes the human soul a slave. It is the exact feeling that Kim Jong-Un

uses to have such success in ruling for cruelty is a method Machiavelli

believes as necessary to a successful prince. However, it seems as if

Kim Jong-Un’s method of cruelty is “badly used” for he does not limit his

actions of cruelty, but instead uses it constantly which drives his citizens

to despise him. However, since the citizen are so used to this traditional

principality where a dictator has ruled for so long, the citizens are less

likely to conspire against him.

Kim Jong-Un uses the same methods to rule as Machiavelli

would partially advise. His traditional principality and cruelty method

leads to a successful rule. I believe that not one citizen would have the

strength to go up against their firm, cruel leader.

"World Report 2014: North Korea." Human Rights Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/north-korea>.

#blog6 #ucihumanitiescore munoz NorthKorea Machiavelli

Brecht's Argument About War

Within the play, Mother Courage and her Children, written by

Bertolt Brecht, there tells a story about a woman’s life that feeds off the

war. Brecht focuses on Mother Courage, the protagonist of that play

that does not learn anything. He uses her character’s actions to de-

naturalize drama events that occur on stage. Through Mother Courage’s

actions, Brecht illustrates the horrible results in individual character due

to warfare.

In this scene, Mother Courage tries to save all her merchandise

in hopes of making profit,half a guilder per to be exact, but ironically the

setting is right after the battle at Magdeburg where thousands of deaths

just occurred. Mother Courage is so caught up in her own world that she

refuses to help save any of the farmers as they constantly bleed right by

her side. She would rather wait to sell her linen shirts to some soldiers or

customers in the future, then use them to wrap up severe injuries to

save any of the lives.

Mother Courage easily looks over the fact that these victims from

the town are literally about to die at any second due to great blood lost,

yet she strongly refuses to donate a single shirt for such a cause, not

unless she gets anything in return. Her understanding that these poor

farmers have nothing that they can give her solidifies her firm refusal.

Her selfish, self absorbed characteristics are the results of war which

leads Mother Courage to feel that the only way to survive is to drag her

cart after the war to sell her merchandise and make a living from it on

her own.

She feels as if there is nothing that she can possibly spare during

these harsh times, even to help a dying victim. That in itself shows her

great lack of compassion and virtue. However, luckily the Chaplain lift

her up, and forcibly takes the shirts and tears them up to bandage these

poor victims. With so much death around, she even has the nerve to

say, “I’ve only had losses from your victory,” (Brecht 60) as a response to

hearing the victorious music. This demonstrates her priorities which only

focuses on her desires for profit.

Although her daughter, Kattrin tries to threaten her mother to

help these poor people, Mother Courage could care less about her

daughter’s desires and happiness. At the end of the scene, Mother

Courage only loses four shirts, yet she cries and complains about them

while the people around her are dead from this horrendous loot of

Magdeburg where soldiers threatened, burned, and killed unarmed,

defenseless, innocent people for their possessions and for just the

reason that they could.

Brecht uses Mother Courage’s actions to teach the audience by

giving them an image of what they should never become, and even

more, do something against. With Mother Courage’s traits, Brecht

provokes the audience to “un-make” the world he created. Brecht tries to

present a terrible world through epic theatre as pedagogical theater in

which the play will teach the audience on how to behave and hopefully

to become a collective of “thinking human beings” according to Professor

Newman.

Works Cited:

Machiavelli, Niccolò, and William J. Connell. The Prince: With Related Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005. Print.

#blog4 #munoz #machiavelli #ucihumanitiescore

Brecht's Purpose of Mother Courage and Her Children

Mother Courage and Her Children is a German play written in

1939 by a communist supporter, Bertolt Brecht. During the time this play

was written, there were many influences around Brecht which included

the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Thirty Years' War. Growing up,

Brecht's life was surrounded by war in which he critically observed the

authority around him. He noticed several effects of this authority in which

he portrays in his anti-war play. Serving as an Anti-War play, Mother

Courage and Her Children is Brecht's attempt in teaching his audience

to un-create the war he created on stage through de-naturalizing the

dramatic events as they appear.

Brecht’s purpose was to use pedagogical theater, “teaching

theater”, to encourage his audience to act collectively to stop the world

represented by Mother Courage and Her Children. Mother Courage

supports the war due to her self interest to gain cash. Her life revolves

around following the war in order to sell her merchandise. She is so

selfish to the point of where she would not even give shirts to a dying

farmer because he are cannot to pay her. Her characteristics are effects

of the war surrounding her which needs to change. Brecht continually

interrupts the audience’s thought process through his series of songs in

each scene to de-naturalize the characters making them un-relatable.

Pity, sympathy, or any emotions connecting the audience to his

characters are undesirable to Brecht for he wants to isolate his

characters completely in order for the audience to become a collective of

“thinking human beings”. Through Brecht’s interruptions, he provokes the

audience to think about the values in the play, judge them, and un-

create them.

However, there was a connection between the audience and

Mother Courage as they pity her due to her loss. Brecht’s great

concern caused him to add an extra line to the end of his play in which

the audience will disconnect with Mother Courage. Right after Mother

Courage mourns for her daughter, she quickly goes on saying her new

line, “I have to get back in business” which concludes in her overall lack

of learning throughout the play after losing all of her children. Through

Mother Courage and Her Children, Brecht ultimately hopes that his

audience will become critical thinkers and act collectively in order to

destroy the setting and values the play focuses on.

After reading Mother Courage's last line, I was completely

disconnected to her character. Since those were Brecht's intentions, I

believed he did it successfully. Mother Courage's character full of greed

makes me never want to become like her, but narrowly speaking, I

should not let the circumstances surrounding her occur which forced her

to become the person she is. If Brecht was still I alive, I believe I would

be one of his favorite audience for falling completely for his desires.

Works Cited

Brecht, Bertolt. Mother Courage and Her Children. Bedford Square: Methuen Drama, 2009. Print. (Translated by Tony Kushner)

#blog5 #munoz #Brecht #MotherCourageandherChildren #ucihumanitiescore

Representation of Thirty Years' War

Being only alive for 18 years on Earth in a safe country like

America, I cannot imagine a war lasting for over a year let alone thirty!

Just the thought of a year that long, about twice my age, gives me the

shivers as I envision constant death of thousands and thousands of

innocent individuals. I understand why this war is the most horrible war

to be remembered.

The Thirty Year's War was one of the most traumatizing, tragic

wars of creation. This war, like its name, lasted for horrendous amount

of time in Europe from 1618 to 1648 between German Protestants and

German Catholics. The possible causes of this war ranged from religious

differences, to the Holy Roman Empire, to structural causes; however,

the exact cause of this mass destruction, that lasted for ages, is still

unknown to the twenty first century. However, it is remembered as the

most devastating war due to its losses. Europe lost half of its population

in casualties.

In the city of Magdeburg alone, about 20,000 people of all ages

died. The sack of Magdeburg was mentioned in Brecht’s Mother

Courage, when a soldier tries to get a product from Mother Courage

after overcoming Magdeburg, but cannot afford to, due to his orders of

an hour limited time to rob. He complains that only an hour to swindle

any valuable possession isn’t enough, but more would be inhumane

which is extremely ironic because the whole idea of ransacking in

itself is inhumane. The soldier came late to each house

so everything that was worth taking was already taken that even

threatening the villagers had no use. Magdeburg was only of the of

towns overtaken by the army, yet such a beautiful town was set off in

flames.

The destruction felt endless as villagers were slaughtered,

houses were in flames, ladies were raped, and everything was left in

ashes. In this scene, the war was not a war where two armies fought at

a battlefield, but instead, an army, with all its weapons, against a

defenseless town with peasants and farming families. This war hit home

in a literal sense where it was the villagers and everyday people

who were the victims in their unconditional defeat. There was no chance

the people could defend themselves and their families against a huge

army marching into their homes and attacking those who stood in the

way.

Even in pictures of the Thirty Years’ War, it becomes so

devastating because it’s not a war between armies but between soldiers

and the people who the soldiers are supposed to be fighting for. The

Thirty Years’ War’s length and raw nature consumed the townspeople

and Europe in itself with its endless deaths.

Works Cited

GHDI - Document." GHDI - The Siege of Magdeburg. Friedrich Wilhelm Hoffmann, 01 Jan. 1631. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=4396>

English Historical Review." The Causes of the Thirty Years War 1618–48. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. <http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/CXXIII/502/554.abstract>.

#blog3 #munoz #ucihumanitiescore #magdeburg

What is Force and How It's Related to the Lack of Agency?

After reading The Iliad, and listening to my amazing charismatic

professors, I did not see The Iliad like just another Greek novel that is

simply used for entertainment. To my surprise, this once orally told epic

contains detailed concepts pertaining to force and agency.

Homer's Iliad is a poem of force, portrayed in each of the main

characters. From the onset of the epic, Agamemnon used force to take

away Achilles' prize and justified his right with his authority to

power. Force, the powerful idea of one man submitting to the other

to his rule. In this rule, a man must hand over his will on a silver platter to

the one in charge. With that said, agency, the will to decide to act on

one's own behalf, is loss. Force is a concept in which only one can

obtain it, and the multitude of others cannot. Many of the warriors in

both armies display a lack of agency due to both authority and force.

Each of the warriors, even the most powerful ones, must obey the one

in charge for they are unable to fight the leader. In book 6,

Menelaus almost spared a Trojan life, after listening to the poor soul beg

for mercy and bribe for his life. Treasures or gold and silver, anything that

Menelaus desires will become his if he were to spare this warrior,

however, Agamemnon joined in and changed his mind completely with

vulgar words discouraging his actions. In this scene, Menelaus lost

his agency as his actions resulted to the death of the one he almost

spared due to Agamemnon's words.

The Iliad is not only a Greek poem, but also an artifact of

force and agency which reflects in modern society all across the world.

All around the world in developing countries, lives are threatened and

agency disappears. In China, being ruled by a dictator, there is

no agency of the society for their actions and beliefs all fall under the

dictator's influence. The dictator himself, Xi Jinping, controls all the forces

and anyone, in his country, against him will surely die or tortured in one

of their hostile camps. Everyone in china must submit to Xi Jinping's

dictatorship and let his force rule over them. China is only one of the

many countries ruled by dictators. In the end, force causes the lack of

agency for with increase force, agency decreases which can easily be

seen today.

WORK CITED

FlorCruz, Jaime. "The Xi Jinping Cipher: Reformer or a 'dictator?'" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

#iliad #china #ucihumanitiescore #blog2 #munoz

What does a study of humanities mean to me? Why is humanistic study important or unimportant? How does war feature in this course of study?

If you asked me thes questions during the summer, I would

vaguely say humanities is the study of humans throughout time without

thinking too much about it. To add on, I would say it is not very

important to study because one can survive in the modern 21st century

without understanding this concept. War, being the main concept of this

year's course, was never interesting to me, but as I studied it

throughout the weeks, my views have changed. I now see that

understanding this concept will help with understand how the human

mind works.

Ancient religions, music, cultures, politics, and society are all

parts of the wide range in the study of humanities. As the dominant

creatures of the Earth, humans have overcome many obstacles to be at

the top of the hierarchy; therefore, human history should be

acknowledged and understood. Our ancestors did something

that allowed us to be here today in this environment just as we are.

Important factors of how society worked thousands of years ago

contribute to how society works today. Questions like "What are the

similarities that society still have?" or "What is a major problem?" should

be studied and answer to help better our understanding of history. One

obvious problem, occurring thousands of years ago, yet still today,

is war. Ironically, even as the top species on pyramid, we turn towards

each other.

In the beginning of time when the world began, war broke

out and killed thousands of people all around the world. A few centuries

ago, the same thing occurred in World War I AND World War II. War is

so threatening, dangerous, powerful, and damaging, yet it cannot be

avoided. Why? Before that question, let's start at the beginning. What is

war? War is the outcome of different ideas and morals clashing. It's a

constant battle that humanity faces due to one's prideful nature

believing one has more right than the other. Understanding the concept

of war would benefit individuals who become the new generation in

their society.

War will continue to be a constant problem in the human race

due to differences, but a higher understanding of it and why it truly

occurs, down to the root of the problem may help solve a few

wandering views. Additionally, after learning about the concept of war,

one will also have a higher understanding of oneself. After reading and

discussing so many war concepts and novels, my thoughts of war

changed. Before I thought it was just awful and needs to be completely

avoided to have peace, but looking at the patterns throughout history,

sometimes in order to have and maintain peace, war needs to occur

and war strategies must be enforced.

#ucihumanitiescore #war #fallquarter #munoz #discussions

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