Blog #7

Illusion of Wizardry

Among all other living beings, human beings are considered superior to any other species in terms of intellect, outlook and logic. However, there have been instances in past which has proved human intelligence to be wrong. Belief in superstition such as witchcraft can be notified as one of the most prominent misconception that people had which affected the life of people.

     Wikipedia defines witchcraft, as a use of supernatural or mystical power which misfortune to someone else’s life. Belief in witchcraft was spread all over the world from Europe to Africa and Asia. According to the African belief, people could practice witchcraft by their desire. However, the people in west believed that ill-intentioned people (generally women) associated with evil spirit and prepared potions and spells by which they could control one’s life. They believed that witches dance at night, in the forest and spelled misfortune to people they envied. Moreover, people at those times also practiced witch hunts, in which they would presume some women to be witch, and those women had to pass test to prove their innocence. The trial included, walking on fire and, jumping in water etc. If the women tested burnt in fire or drowned in water, they were considered sinless (this was what actually happened).  Either ways, those women had to suffer for no good reason.

However, this illusion is still considered reality in some parts of the world. 
Sources

http://www.endevil.com/historicalbeliefs.html

http://www.topix.com/forum/world/zambia/T0FEQMMFFNKU6TAT4

Blog#6

                                         

                                                                                 Fate against Freewill

In the play, Oedipus certainly possessed attitude of trusting in destiny and fate more than on himself and his actions.   His entire life incidents, from leaving Corinth, killing his own father, getting throned  as the king of Thebes, to  marrying his own mother was based on his fear of what he was destined to do.

     Line 1188 which says, "Loxias once said that it was my fate that I would marry my own mother and shed my father’s blood with my own hand. That’s why, many many years ago, I left my home in Corinth", which explains that just because of a prophecy, that said that he would commit dreadful sins in his life, Oedipus made a huge decision of leaving his own country, while, on the other hand, he always possessed option to keep himself away from these sins just by practicing self control. Here, he chose fate against freewill. Similarly, when the messenger said that his father, the king of Corinth was dead, he seemed to be happier that the prophecy did not act on him, rather than to mourn for the incident. (line 1170-1176) Furthermore, because he feared that his mother, the queen of Corinth, was still alive, he denied going to Corinth for his father’s funeral. These shows how strong believer of destiny he was, who did not even have courage to go to attain his father’s funeral because of the fear of his fate which could have easily been outcasted by his action.

     Undoubtedly, Oedipus had been placed in a difficult situation by fate; however, he always had a choice to make it better. For example, killing an old man who happened to get into his seat or leaving his own kingdom by fearing the future had nothing to do with his fate.  It was his “self- decision” which happened to bring him closer to what he was destined to do.  If he had not killed Laius on the way or not left the kingdom just by believing in the prophecy, his life would have been much easier. However, his arrogance and stubbornness always won his self conduct. Line 1470, by the messenger,  which states, “vilest things, brought on by choice, not accident”, explains that the choices Oedipus made were the real reasons for his downfall and not his destiny.  Nevertheless, Oedipus always believed that his ill luck brought him into bizarre situations. When the messenger says that the boy he saved was actually Oedipus, he said “Ah, my old misfortune.” Line 1231, by which it is clear that even though the actual reason for all the mishaps was the choices he made, he believed it was his destiny that was responsible.

     Thus, Oedipus always kept his destiny in the first place and not his freewill, which placed him in abject situation.

Blog #5 Essay 1

Veeshoka Mudwari

English 101- 0768

Dr . Vasilieiou

Essay #1

10/15/12

Perfection Seeks Equality and Freedom

Gattaca is a society consisting of genetically engineered humans with higher intellect and better personality who are opportuned to live a beautiful, disease free, happy life. However, along with these “super species”, the society also comprises of normally born humans with normal acumen and looks who are destined to have a default life and do menial jobs. Taking in consideration, Annas’s view in the essay “Man on The Moon” and few other examples, Gattaca is bound to be considered dystopia because of its prejudiced approach to life and ignorance to human spirit and aspirations.

     The entire concept of Gattaca society is based on discrimination on the process of birth of a child, which clearly makes it a dystopia. Underdogs like Vincent have a default life for the absurd reason that they were an outcome of their parent’s love and not an outcome of their parent’s best genetic combination. By stating”It is the meaning of humanness (our distinction from other animals) that has given birth to the concept of both human dignity and human rights” (pg. 235- location 3516, Science and Philosophy, Amazon.com), in the essay, Annas  reflects the concept of humanity by taking in consideration the need of human rights and human dignity. However, as projected in the movie, Gatacca society denies the right of a normally born child to make a choice for his future.  Vincent lost his right to carry on his father’s name. Moreover, he was made to believe that he was weaker than his brother. When Vincent says, “the defect lies in my genes” (before his first job interview), the ruthlessness of the society to normal people and helplessness of the inner heart of the normal people was reflected.  Thus, Gattaca society is actually an example of a prejudiced society which ignored the prime ingredients of humanity, which are human rights and equality, undoubtedly, making it an apt example for dystopia.

     The Gattaca society overpassed emulation of normal born human beings to achieve their goals. As projected in the movie, the only way to accomplish the aim for those normal people like Vincent, was to fake their identity.   For them, dreaming, aspiring and believing were like jokes faith played with them.  When Vincent showed his interest on space travel, his own father shook his confidence by saying that the only reason he could ever enter a space craft was to clean it. Similarly, when Vincent cleaned the glass of the office, the old man sarcastically said him not to clean it too clearly otherwise he might get second thought. By saying all this, they constantly tried to oppress Vincent’s inner confidence. Thus, society lacked the concept of scope of improvement in human beings. They merely distinguished two kinds of people; genetically engineered and normal born and then and set a boundaries like what job they are capable to perform. However there have been incidents in past where the restrictions of by society to a person’s limitation held untrue. Albert Einstein, whose name is taken as a synonym for “genius”, was actually born with learning disabilities. He was regarded as a “below average” student by his teachers. Similarly, Opera Winfrey, who has been one of the most iconic faces on TV, had once been fired by television channels saying that she lacked stage presence. (Source: www.online college.org)  However, these and many other known and unknown figures ignored the barrier society had set for them and rose above all to prove themselves by their inner spirit and enthusiasm towards their goal. Thus, the Gattaca society, despite its great scientific accomplishment, portrays of a dystopian world which ignores the upliftment of human soul to achieve what people aspire to become.

      Undoubtedly, Gattaca had an impeccable side, such as eradication of terminal illness, environmentally safe means of transportations and similar scientific breakthroughs, which people might assume as utopian factor. However, can eradication of terminal body illness also eradicate the mental restlessness a heart feels when it is made to believe inferior not for the reason of its act but for the reason of its birth?  Can an environmental friendly vehicle drive away hatred for a person’s own identity? Certainly not!!  No matter how advanced or modern science become, there is no way a person can become happy merely by getting materialistic satisfaction. In the essay, Annas states, “Novelty is not progress, and technique cannot substitute for life’s meaning and purpose,”(234 location 3498, Science and Philosophy, Amazon. Com) by which he explains that genetic engineering, though being an example of modernity, can never be assumed as perfection and mere techniques to achieve the uniqueness must not be supposed as a reciprocation of the vast inexplicable meaning of life.

      Despite great scientific inventions, the society of Gattaca limits the freedom of responsibility of human towards their lives and what they can make out of it and distinguishes the normal born for no specific humanitarian reason. Thus, it is to be considered a projection of dystopian world.

Blog #4 (draft- Essay #1)

Veeshoka Mudwari

English 101- 0768

Dr . Vasilieiou

Essay #1

10/09/12

 Perfection Seeks Equality and Freedom

     Gattaca is a society consisting of genetically engineered humans with higher intellect and better personality who are opportuned to live a beautiful, disease free, happy life. However, along with these “super species”, the society also comprises of normally born humans with normal acumen and looks who are destined to have a default life and do menial jobs. Taking in consideration, Annas’s view in the essay “Man on The Moon” and few other examples, Gattaca is bound to be considered dystopia because of its prejudiced approach to life and ignorance to human spirit and aspirations. 
     The entire concept of Gattaca society is based on discrimination on the process of birth of a child, which clearly makes it a dystopia. Underdogs like Vincent have a default life for the absurd reason that they were an outcome of their parent’s love and not an outcome of their parent’s best genetic combination. By stating “It is the meaning of humanness (our distinction from other animals) that has given birth to the concept of both human dignity and human rights” (pg. 235- location 3516, Science and Philosophy, Amazon.com), in the essay, Annas reflects the concept of humanity by taking in consideration the need of human rights and human dignity. However, as projected in the movie, Gatacca society denies the right of a normally born child to make a choice for his future. Vincent lost his right to carry on his father’s name. Moreover, he was made to believe that he was weaker than his brother. When Vincent says, “the defect lies in my genes” (before his first job interview), the ruthlessness of the society to normal people and helplessness of the inner heart of the normal people was reflected. Thus, Gattaca society is actually an example of a prejudiced society which ignored the prime ingredients of humanity, which are human rights and equality, ultimately, making it an apt example for dystopia.
     The Gattaca society lacked the freedom for normal humans to believe in themselves because scientifically, they were proven weak. Thus the only way to accomplish the aim for those normal people like Vincent, was to fake their identity. For them, dreaming, aspiring and believing were like jokes faith played with them. When Vincent showed his interest on space travel, his own father shook his confidence by saying that the only reason he could ever enter a space craft was to clean it. Similarly, when Vincent cleaned the glass of the office, the old man sarcastically said him not to clean it too clearly otherwise he might have a second thought. By saying all this, they constantly tried to oppress Vincent’s inner confidence. The society lacked the concept of spiritual improvement in human beings, however there have been incidents in past where the boundary set by society to a person’s limitation held untrue. Albert Einstein, the greatest mathematician the world has ever had, was born with learning disabilities. He was regarded as a “below average” student by his teachers. Similarly, Jay Z, the present day rap star was not given fair opportunity in the fashion and music world because of his race. However, these and many other known and unknown figures ignored the barrier society had set for them and rose above all to prove themselves by their inner spirit and enthusiasm towards their goal. Thus, the Gattaca society, despite its great scientific accomplishment, portrays of a dystopian world which ignores the upliftment of human soul to achieve what people aspire to become.
     Undoubtedly, Gatacca had an impeccable side, such as eradication of terminal illness, environmentally safe means of transportation and similar scientific breakthroughs, which people might assume as utopian factor. However, can eradication of terminal body illness also eradicate the mental restlessness a heart feels when it is made to believe inferior not for the reason of its act but for the reason of its birth? Can an environmental friendly vehicle drive away hatred for a person’s own identity? Certainly not!! No matter how advanced or modern science become, there is no way a person can become happy merely by getting materialistic satisfaction. In the essay, Annas states, “Novelty is not progress, and technique cannot substitute for life’s meaning and purpose” (234 location 3498, Science and Philosophy, Amazon. Com) by which he explains that genetic engineering, though being an example of modernity, can never be assumed as perfection and mere techniques to achieve the uniqueness must not be supposed as a reciprocation of the vast inexplicable meaning of life. 
     Despite great scientific inventions, the society of Gattaca limits the freedom of responsibility of human towards their lives and what they can make out of it and distinguishes the normal born for no specific humanitarian reason. Thus, it is to be considered a projection of dystopian world.

Blog#3 essay 1 early draft

Topic 2

Perfection seeks Equality and Freedom

Gattaca is a modern society, where only genetically engineered humans are bound to do professionally qualified jobs  with better opportunities, while , the normal born humans are considered defective and are confined to do menial job. Taking the views of Annas in the essay, the outlook of movie Gattaca is a dystopia for me because of its strong opposition to one's freedom of life's choices, spiritual growth and human emotion. The movie along with the book discusses what the world would be like if it was governed by a set of genetically engineered people.

     A genetically engineered human possess a genetic structure which makes him more intelligent, better looking, and everything that a human would want to become, which people might assume as utopia. However, for the underdogs like Vincent (in he movie) have default life for the reason that he was an outcome of love of his parents and not an outcome of the best genetic combination of his parents. Decision about what he could achieve and how he would do it was made within ten seconds of his birth. He was made to believe that he was weaker than his brother Anton. Moreover, he lost his right to carry on his father's name. When he says, ' the defect lies within my genes", in the movie when he initially goes for his job interview, the ruthlessness of the society to a normal person, and helplessness of the inner heart is reflected. On the contrary, in the essay, Anna explains that the basic characteristic of human is to have an ability to change the environment without changing the 'humanity' and basic human values, including human rights, which when happens, then will be considered utopia.  However, the society of Gattaca completely denies a human's freedom to what he can be and how he can be merely by considering the procedure of his birth, which is rather dystopian.

     Similarly, a dystopia is considered as dull place without happiness or goodness. Undoubtedly, the society of Gattaca possessed smartness, beauty, luxury cars, and great scientific inventions; however, it lacked the spiritual awakening of a person. As the movie starts by a note "there is no gene for human spirit", explains that it does not matter if you are not a perfect genetic specimen but what matters is your spirit and zeal towards achieving the goals. When Vincent cleaned the glass, the old man sarcastically said him not to clean it too clearly otherwise he might have a second thought, to which Vincent smartly replies if he cleaned it well, it would be easy for the old man to see Vincent when he would be on the other side of the glass.  In the same way, Anton, Vincent’s brother, who is considered perfect outcome of genetic engineering loses the swim race they put on the day Vincent is rejected from the job interview, he said he had nothing to lose. By saying this, I want to ponder that the society constantly tried to push the inner determination of Vincent and made him feel inferior considering the fact that he was not as well equipped as his brother or those who he dreamt to be like, which certainly gives a feel of dystopian world filled with prejudice and discrimination not giving proper opportunity for achievement of human spirit and zeal towards goal. Moreover, Anna explains in the essay that ' humanity must inform science, science cannot inform humanity', considering that a dystopian society would have things taken control over by science providing no space for human spirit and determination.

     Thus, since the society of Gattaca limits the freedom of responsibility of human towards their lives and what they can make out of it and distinguishes the normal born for no specific humanitarian reason, I consider it to be dystopia.

Topic 1

 Superiority As a State of Mind

      The essay, The Man on the Moon', is a science fiction based essay which explains how it would be to have a world with genetically engineered people. The writer explains that the class of people (usually the superior ones) overpowers the other class (usually the weak ones),  which I consider is true because of inhibited human nature of an urge to feel superior, and also necessity of for doing so.

     The writer in the essay explains that in a society of blind people, a person with normal vision would be considered abnormal, thus any possible procedure would be carried out to make his eyes dysfunction. This indicates that it is a human trait to make his or her contemporary similar to himself. Similarly, in Gattaca, when the underclass people, that is, those people born without undergoing process of  genetic engineering were dominated by the genetically engineered people. Those people with normal birth were considered substandard for any kind of qualified professional job and no initiatives were taken to improve or support them. Instead, they were made to believe that they were weak and had no right to dream of becoming somebody who they want to be because they were not considered smart enough to carry out the job. This society never looked upon the interest of dreamers like Vincent, as a result he was forced to change his identity and chase his dreams. If they had found out that Vincent did not belong to their range of society, they would have certainly out casted him from the workplace. Thus, taking in consideration, on how a normal human would react to such situation, it is not impossible that the 'normal' would take over or try to erase the significance of 'the other' who they cannot relate to.

The Nazis, during 1933 - 1945, considered Jewish to be 'the other', who they wanted to get rid of for the mere reason that they believed Jewish were not as good as they were.  The Holocaust, which is the mass killing of Jewish people, homosexuals, disabled people by the Nazis can be considered an apt example of how  a powerful community reacts to a weaker one to erase any distinction or eradicate the existence of 'the other' from their surroundings. Similarly, taking the reference of the movie Gattaca, the fact that Vincent's father did not want Vincent to carry his name forward because he was considered an exception in the society of Gattaca, so, his genetically engineered brother, Anton got to carry his name forward. By doing this, Vincent's father was trying to eliminate Vincent's identification as his son.

     Thus, taking both fiction and history in account we can agree that the superior range of people will certainly try to dominate and eliminate the people different from them to maintain their identity.

Reference : English online

I don't think my paragraphs and lines are connected well !!! Will you help me in the connection of the paragraphs???