Final Suggestions

Apart from our take home portion/ project, I have a suggestion besides everyone's answer of Jeopardy. Perhaps we should take a look at several modes of media ranging anywhere from passages to YouTube videos. We would then have to use the "isms" we have learned/other theories we learned in the semester and apply them. This would get a discussion going and who knows where we would end up. It would be a good way of using everything we've learned while giving us a pleasurable intellectual experience that would most likely help us retain the knowledge years from now since it will be linked to something we can remember.

5 Things to Change the World by Omir

1) Set up some sort of law that would require all cars to be efficient, green, and low-mileage. Yes, it would suck not being able to drive my Jeep anymore, but if we don't want L.A., Pittsburg, NYC, etc to be uninhabitable in a few hundred years, it's only logical.

2) Determine a good health care system that helps citizens who have paid their taxes. If you have a condition, there's no reason you should be killing yourself just to pay for the medication that keeps you alive. Seems redundant right?

3) Fix the education system. We all know the US is falling behind rapidly. But globally,we need to make education much more accessible, and even mandatory up to a certain point. With the technology available today, there should be no excuse for any child to be left uneducated. Education kills ignorance and ignorance kills a lot of other negative things.

4)End Racism/ Stereotyping. We all do it. Usually we end up pleasantly surprised and befriend people we normally thought we couldn't. Don't forget everyone has things they are going through, but everyone also has inner beauty.

5) Declare Gang members terrorists/ make it illegal to be a gang member. This would wipe out about 25% of some cities' population, but crime would go down significantly and some neighborhoods would be restored. People live in fear around the world paying taxes to gangs. That is beyond heinous.

Ideology

Theory Toolbox suggests that ideology is a difficult to get at in addition to it being such a difficult concept to understand. Ideology: the study of ideas, just like Biology is the study of bios or life. Well, it's a lot more complicated than that. It can be described as the "material study of immaterial things" (83). We learn that the word's early meaning carried a negative, that it was someone trying to convince people of ideas as opposed to realities. I know there are a lot of different ideologies out there ranging from almost anything you can think of. There are obviously a number of ideologies that people agree with and disagree wit as well. There are certain ideologies that people tend to be scared of, a famous example would be Hitler's ideology that lead to the holocaust. Some people disagree with the current president's ideologies saying that we are getting to close to socialism or already there. I argue that everyone has ideologies that are shaped through their environment, life experiences, and personalities. We have already studies a few isms in class this semester, and we can use those to gain a deeper understanding of what ideologies consist of.

Snow White

Will be copied and pasted soon. (not like plagiarism).

Subjectivity

Subjectivity and Objectivity are clearly polar opposites. But my question is, when are they respectfully appropriate and under what conditions? In America, we clearly try ( at least many of us) to remain polite and politically correct. Often, we see people engage in heated and ferverous debate when politics are discussed. One may have a specific stance on an issue such as taxes or health care, whereas another person thinks the complete opposite, it is then we we see blatant subjective views. Can one ever be objective in such a personal issue as politics? Not likely. I find it is very hard to discuss an issue without expressing some sort of personal bias. This leads to my main question/point stemming from Theory Toolbox. How are we supposed to act in the academic world? As professors and students, how far should we express our subjective views? I believe that staying subjective in the classroom is extraordinarily difficult to do, and I rarely see i it happen in many of my discussion courses. But I find that to be a good thing. I want to know what other people's opinions are on different subject matters. It is good to hear when people agree with you, but it's also interesting to see the opposite or counter-argument. When it comes to politics, I have a hard time associating myself with either the GOP or the Democratic party. My beliefs are linked to both parties. Yet, I don't want to be known as an independent. I want to identify with a bigger group. Sure, people's opinions can sometimes enrage people to the point of anger and physical violence. However, I believe that the conversation and debate is stimulating. Nowhere in this world will you find a place where everyone agrees and isn't bored out of their minds. Many things shape our subjective mindsets: our parent and the way they raised us, our economic status, our race(s), our language, and our exposure to different things. I believe one needs a good balance of both objectivity and subjectivity in the classroom. For example, last night I went to Taco Bell with a friend. On our way back we were pulled over by the police because our car fit a description of a car they were looking for. I immediately wanted to yell at the cop because she was giving me the worst attitude and was clearly trying to make up for her insecurity of being a female officer. However, I stayed objective and called her ma'am. Subjectively, I haven't had the best experiences with the Fort Worth police as they seem to think every party deems 5 police cars. Subjectively, I was thinking, Aren't there worse neighborhood around here with drug addicts? I kept my cool and after 20 minutes we were off with cold tacos. My point is, like many things in life, one must find a reasonable balance.

What I Learned

Overall, I learned a lot in this course this semester. I was always interested in Twain both as an author and as a person. I knew he was revered and greatly respected. After reading a good amount of his works, I see that he was a compassionate man who stood up for his beliefs and he defended the less privileged. He wasn't one of these crazy transcendentalists who questioned everything, he was arguably the most influential author in American history. He was a family man as well who cared deeply for his family. His "angelfish" in his later years showed me he was a loving man till the end, even after all his personal tragedies. he stood up for slaves, women and stood against imperialism and racism. He was bold in his writing and was as influential as anyone could be.

The Mysterious Stranger

The Mysterious Stranger was quite the reading for me, and I understand why Dr. Williams chose it for the very end of the course. We developed our analytical skills and it was a good yet melancholy close to our readings. We all know what the piece is about, so the real question is, was the devil right?"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true" ( Twain). The core of me wants to refute this and ignore it; it makes me want to say that through God or my religion, this does not apply to me. But as a scholar, I have to take this seriously. What if this world the devil speaks about with nothing but ourselves is true? Don't some people live just like this? I believe that there are some dark truths out there in the world, but through good company and good morals one can overcome the darkness.