Blog #10 Essay #3 (final draft)

Veeshoka Mudwari

ENG 101- 0768

Dr. Vasileou

Essay 3 Draft

Date- 12/03/12

Better Inspected Than Insecure

Safer place leads to a freer world. In contrast, freer place risks safer world. The society in Minority Report, emphasizes more on safety of people, overlooking unethical approach such as violating human rights and freedom by precrime officers to arrest predicted murderers. As members of a civilized society, we should also disregard little ethical misconduct on us, in order to ensure safety for a larger group and thus perform our responsibility towards society.

     The need of safety of people is as committal as their basic needs like fooding and clothing. One’s safety always comes prior to one’s freedom or right. When it comes to facing with terror, we humans naturally should give preference to safety and compromise our rights for the sake of our own goodness and the benefit of our society as well. For instance, if prediction of bomb plantation is made near our house, and concerned authorization wants to scrutinize us, wouldn’t be irrational on our part to stick in trivial ideology of right and freedom in such emergencies and not let the people examine us? We would rather choose to be inspected than to be unsafe.

     Nothing in the world is free. Safety also comes with the price, which might rather be as big as violation of our own freedom and right. Nevertheless, if we want to ensure our safety, we ought to compromise at some level. It turns out to be our responsibility to actually help concerned authority do their duty by providing them with whichever help we can. In the movie, Minority Report, the existing society is declared “murder free zone”. There is an advertisement scene in the movie showing gratitude by the people who could have been murdered if precrime had not come to their rescue. However, the people in the society had to give up some freedom and right to make precrime a success. The scene in GAP store, where eyes are scanned for identification of people and also the part of the movie where the spiders try retinal identification of the people can serve as an example. Nevertheless, people in the society recognized their responsibility towards precrime and thus discredited their rights for they realized that its ultimate purpose is actually to save them and not harass them by violating their personal freedom. Therefore, if dishonored right can lead to a safer place, it is better to vilify our right by supposing it as our price paid for the safety of our society.

     The usage of means that might eliminate or reduce crime can be extremely beneficial not only to expel a single crime scene but also to discourage other possible similar crimes that might occur.  It serves as a threat to the ill intentioned people in the society which certainly helps make life of people easier. In the article published on October 19 2012, on Wall Street Journal, “Second Suspect in Fed Plot”, Tamer El-Ghobashy and Devlin Barette have explained a recent incident about an immigrant from Bangladesh, Nafis, who was taken into custody for an attempt of bomb blast in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. He started affiliating himself with people who claimed themselves to be against American officials from Facebook and got involved into severe planning of a bomb attack in the bank, targeting President Obama as a victim. However, he had no idea that whoever he had been connected to in the criminal act were actually FBI agents conducting sting operations by tracking people who aim to be terrorists. David Raskin, a law-enforcement officer explained that his act of predetermination of criminal suspect by the FBI not only helped eliminate one of the possible terrorist of the future, but also made other such deleterious people in the society, who “aspire to terrorism” through similar mediums such as social networking sites conscious that their actions are being watched. (Ghobashy and Barette A2). Undoubtedly, there has been violation of Nafis’s right to connect and communicate with people, however, had it not been the FBI agents interrupting people’s rights, this incident could have more severe consequence. Thus, the violation of one’s right in this incident can in no circumstance be regarded as unethical or unfair. In the contrary, it proved to be beneficial for the society by ensuring safety.

     With the advancement of technology, humans have come up with few tools and techniques to help foretell possible crimes and culprit, to an extent. These available techniques to help predict crime scenes have been constantly used for safety purpose and certainly, it has been yielding positive results. An article published in The New York Times, dated August 15, 2011, by Erica Goode explains how the computer programs used by police officers to predict probable crime helped arrest two women, one, who was found to have ample warrants to be arrested and the other, who was seen to have carried drugs, for the prediction of robbery. Even though, these women did not commit robbery, they certainly had the conditions outstanding enough for detention. Thus, this act must not be questioned for violating ones right or freedom. Moreover, this concept of predetermining crime will be of a great help in a degraded economic condition by saving a lot of monetary and human resource in minimizing crimes (Goode A11). Captain Malinoswki, from Los Angeles Foothill Patrol Divisions, justifies their act by explaining how the new advancement of technology has taken crime investigation to a different level and how it can serve as a key ingredient to help provide safety to the society (Goode A11). Thus, as the technology enhances, society will further get safer by eliminating people, who can be threat to the society just like the two women (considering the fact that they already were in the list of the police department as criminals), which again, not in any stand be taken as a violation of human rights.  

     Human right protagonists, however, might disagree to the point that even if it is risking numerous lives, one’s personal freedom ought to be followed. Difficulties that one might face, in an airport just because one looks Muslim, or troubles one might go through in a street for vandalism for the mere reason of being Hispanic or Black, might bother them. However, wouldn’t it be unfair to question the government or safety department which has been working all day and night for our own safety for suspecting us? They follow the patterns because they take past references to actually determine future incidences. If every individual tries to fight for their right by ignoring the necessecity of safety issues, and attempts to avoid the investigation of the government, the actual culprit will also get chance to escape and thus the probability of crime taking place would increase.

     Safety issue is not a want, but a need. A society where people’s rights, freedom and action is observed to prevent any unsafe act will prove to be a better place to live in than a society where, culprits get channel to prove their innocence in the name of freedom and  rights . Hence, it would be wiser to choose a safe world to live in with fewer rights than a chaotic world to survive in with more freedom.

Work Cited

Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise. Amblin, 2002. Film

El-Ghobashy, Tamer and Barett D. “Second Suspect in Fed Plot.” Wall Street Journal 19 Oct.  

      2012:  A2. Print

Goode, Erica. “Sending the Police Before There's Crime.” The New York Times 16 August

     2011: A11. Print

    

 

Blog #9 Essay 3 Draft

VeeshokaMudwari

ENG 101-

Dr. Vasileou

Essay 3 Draft

Date- 12/03/12

Sacrificing Personal Rights for Safety

Safety is needed no matter how difficult it is for people to go through it. If an unethical approach can reduce crime, then certainly, it is not wrong to violate ethics. As the people in movie Minority Report do not really emphasize on violation of human rights for their want of safety, today’s society also should disregard few unethical conduct in order for them to stay in a safe environment because it minimizes (if not eliminate) crimes to an extent and it also keeps in track laws and orders of the country to follow.

The movie, “Minority Report” shows that the society is free from any kind of “murder”.  The advertisement of precrime projects its popularity among people. There is an incident in the movie which presents the people who were supposedly murdered came on the advertisement of precrime and explained how they survived the crime with the help of precrime. However, the people had to give up some of their rights to the precrime officers. The scanning of eye, can serve as an example for this. The people, in any circumstances let the spider-like machines scan their eyes and then continued their work. Nevertheless, the people in the society felt safe and protected due to the existence of precrime, which was the major reason  why precrime became a success in the society of minority report.  These incidences also can be related to our own society.

In the article,“Second Suspect in Fed Plot”, Tamer El-Ghobashy And Devlin Barette explained the recent incident about an immigrant from Bangladesh was taken into custody for suspicion of planning a bomb blast in Ferderal Reserve Bank in NewYork. He started affiliating himself with people against American officials from facebook  and got involved into severe planning of a bomb blast, making President Obama as the target. However, he had no idea that whoever he was connected to for the criminal act were actually FBI agents conducting sting operations by tracking people who “aspire to terrorism”.  This sting operation made the society eliminate one of those ill intentioned people who can be regarded as a threat to the society. However, on doing so, the public certainly realized that their personal right on using social networking sites is been constantly observed and questioned. Nevertheless, these types of affiliations of the undercover agents can help prevent numerous crimes in the way it prevented the attack in the Federal Reserve. The violation of rights of people in this incident can not in any circumstance be regarded as unethical or unfair. The aim of the approach is to eliminate crime, and for that if the people have to give up a few of their rights, it should not be questions.

The individualistic people, however, might disagree to the point that even if it is risking numerous lives, one’s personal right ought to be followed. However, this questions a concept of eliminating law and order from the society on the name of personal or private right. Difficulties that one might face, in an airport just because one looks Muslim, or troubles one might go through in a street for vandalism for the mere reason of being Hispanic or black, might bother a human right protagonist. However, is it ethical to actually risk the life and safety of thousands just to protect the right of an individual? Similarly, is it fair to question the government or safety department which has been working all day and night for our own safety for suspecting us? They follow the patterns because they take the past references to actually determine the future incidences. If every individual tries to get their right in correct place and escape the suspicion of the government, the actual culprit will also be missed and thus the probability of crime taking place would increase.

Thus, in order to make the people feel protected and safe, and in order to minimize the occurance of crime by taking affective action for not letting the culprit escape, it is important for the people in the society to give some of their personal rights.

Blog #8

Freewill and Determinism in Minority Report and Oedipus, the King

The movie, Minority report frames human life as a manipulative phenomenon which is diverged along with the choices humans make in their life. While, on the contrary, the play, “Oedipus, the King” projects human life as predetermined incidents experienced by humans, which in not any circumstance can be changed or modified. Taking in reference, the article, “Freewill and Determinism”, the movie “Minority Report” shows soft determinism, while, the play, “Oedipus, the King” shows hard determinism.

     In the movie, precogs undoubtedly predict the future about murders and the culprits. The predictions made by them however does not always hold true, that is, there always exists “alternate possibilities and alternate future” for everybody. The prediction that John Anderton would murder Crow, the prediction that John Anderton would be shot dead by Lamar Burgess and the existence of minority report, proves that even though there is a high probability of a person to have a predicted future, he or she always will be open to many other options to change it by practicing “self control” (as referred by the article).  Agatha, in the movie constantly told Anderton that he still had choice, eventhough he did not have minority report. She predicted the future of Anderton’s son, if he had not died. Moreover, when the precrime was after Anderton, she modified future by making Anderton hide behind balloons and under umbrella. Thus, the movie aptly portrays an example of “soft determinism”, written in the article, which explains that there exist multiple futures to a human depending on the course of action he chooses to perform.

     However, the case is quite a contrast to the play, “Oedipus, the King”, which displays the idea of hard determinism (as explained by the article).  King Lauis tried to escape his predetermined destiny of being killed by his son by making his servant throw his son in river. However, destiny chose to keep his son, Oedipus alive. After years, when Oedipus confronted his destiny of killing his own father and marrying his own mother, he madea choice of leaving his kingdom and living in a far away land, away from the king and queen of Corinth, who he thought were his parents.  Despite making their choices to move away from destiny, Oedipus and King Lauis could not move away from what was predicted. Oedipus did kill his father and marry his own mother, though he was not aware of it for a long time.  Thus, this shows the lack of freewill of humans to make any decision for an alternative option. This clearly portrays the incidence of hard determinism in human life.  Similarly, in the play, it is also predicted that the person who killed King Lauis would be poor, blind and miserable in the near future, which exactly happened. Thus, this incident of prediction can also prove how disable a human life is in front of its destiny. As explained in the article about  hard determinism, that humans are slaves to their predetermined future which cannot be manipulated in any case no matter how hard one tries has been clearly conceptualized and illustrated in the play. 

     Thus, the text and the movie are two completely different examples of two intellectually varied philosophies of life, illustrated in the article, which are hard determinism and soft determinism.

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.