Writing is like...

For me writing is like taking out the trash. I always let it build it up until at the last minute its so full you have to go and drag it out to the trash. However, the feeling after taking it is great. Your kitchen doesn’t have that weird smell and you feel like you can start all over again. That’s how I feel about writing. I know I have to do it and I always wait till the last minute to do it. The feeling after completing a paper is amazing and how I feel accomplished with a task I started off not wanting to do at all. 

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Research Log #5

Research Log #5

Eigen, Peter. "The Role of Civil Society." Corruption and Integrity Movement Initiatives in Developing Countries. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://mirror.undp.org/magnet/Docs/efa/corruption/Chapter05.pdf>.

            I found this article to be a good one to end on. Not only does it give a great explanation on what role civil society plays in our life, but it is also an organization to help fight against corruption and to keep civil society together. They believe there is three pillars that make a non-corrupted society, the government, a private sector and of course civil society in general. It also talks about how where the government lack, civil society would come into play and take over. We also have ethical standards and without those we would be counter-productive and also be hypocritical at certain things. The article also goes on to say that with the freedom of the press we are able to speak our minds, let our voices be heard. With this valuable right we can maintain order in society and keep it anti-corrupted. The government must also not neglect the people in the society, for then everything will be corrupted and we wouldn’t trust the government anymore. I really liked this quote in the article, “Civil society will indeed be needed everywhere; it is the key for access to that cultural diversity.” Pg 87. The article then says that it would be impossible for the government to take over the role of civil society for it is what we all fight to not have.

            I really like how it talked about how we should be culturally diverse and that it is one of the main factors in holding a civil society. Without it we all would not be happy and wouldn’t be able to function or be civil towards one each other at all. I also liked that this article was based on a non-governmental organization that is trying to promote anti-corruption. Its nice to know that there are groups out there trying to make a difference in our society and helping us understand why it matters so much. The government does play a huge role in our life but we also need to stay together and not let it over run everything. We live in a free country and have rights to do certain things that are personal to us.

            After reading about all these different things about a civil society, I have found that the government almost tries to take it away. Although they may seem like they want us all to stay civil, just more in a political society.  I also would like to learn more about other organizations that are out there and see what they are trying to do to make our society stay civil. Now I can do some more research and see if there is possibly anything I can do to help out as well. 

Research Log #5

Research Log #5

Eigen, Peter. "The Role of Civil Society." Corruption and Integrity Movement Initiatives in Developing Countries. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. <http://mirror.undp.org/magnet/Docs/efa/corruption/Chapter05.pdf>.

            I found this article to be a good one to end on. Not only does it give a great explanation on what role civil society plays in our life, but it is also an organization to help fight against corruption and to keep civil society together. They believe there is three pillars that make a non-corrupted society, the government, a private sector and of course civil society in general. It also talks about how where the government lack, civil society would come into play and take over. We also have ethical standards and without those we would be counter-productive and also be hypocritical at certain things. The article also goes on to say that with the freedom of the press we are able to speak our minds, let our voices be heard. With this valuable right we can maintain order in society and keep it anti-corrupted. The government must also not neglect the people in the society, for then everything will be corrupted and we wouldn’t trust the government anymore. I really liked this quote in the article, “Civil society will indeed be needed everywhere; it is the key for access to that cultural diversity.” Pg 87. The article then says that it would be impossible for the government to take over the role of civil society for it is what we all fight to not have.

            I really like how it talked about how we should be culturally diverse and that it is one of the main factors in holding a civil society. Without it we all would not be happy and wouldn’t be able to function or be civil towards one each other at all. I also liked that this article was based on a non-governmental organization that is trying to promote anti-corruption. Its nice to know that there are groups out there trying to make a difference in our society and helping us understand why it matters so much. The government does play a huge role in our life but we also need to stay together and not let it over run everything. We live in a free country and have rights to do certain things that are personal to us.

            After reading about all these different things about a civil society, I have found that the government almost tries to take it away. Although they may seem like they want us all to stay civil, just more in a political society.  I also would like to learn more about other organizations that are out there and see what they are trying to do to make our society stay civil. Now I can do some more research and see if there is possibly anything I can do to help out as well. 

Research Log #4

Podcast by CATO Institute
Civil Society vs Political Society
Edward H. Crain
Napples, Florida Febraury 9th

Research Log #4

            Edward Crain did a speech through a podcast about a civil society versus a political society. Crain says “A civil society is where you can make decisions about your life, money, where your kids go to school and how to plan for your retirement.” Then he also states, “A political society is where someone else will make those decisions for you.” I found that to be a very powerful statement, but it is true. Crain believes that the government does have respect for the dignity of the people and we do follow what the constitution holds for us: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  He says we follow the constitution so closely that we, the American people, will even argue wither things are constitutional or unconstitutional. As in there is a rule of law rather than rule of man. He believes that we have a lawless society. The congress and the president have plenty of power to do what they want and that they believe they also have no limitations. Crain quoted congressman Pete Stark, who has recently been reelected to the house for the 20^th time in California. Stark said, “The federal government can do almost anything in the country.” Crain thinks this outrageous and no one should have that kind of power in our society. Might as well have a dictatorship. Crain also mentioned that our country always turns to the constitution when we fall out of control, as if to think we need the constitution to help us stay in order. This would make sense because we are a country framed on documents made from the founding fathers.

            I really enjoyed this podcast and what Crain had to say in his speech. There were a few things that sort have ventured off topic, but overall a great podcast. I thought that it was interesting to hear someone say that we do always look for the constitution for what is right and what is wrong, but I do not find that to be a bad thing. We are a country based off rules and regulations and we all have standards we try to make. To keep us all in order I think that we do need a higher power government, that doesn’t take fully control, but help us regulate some rules that we all agree on and have the right to appeal it. We will always have government involved wither we like it or not. Realistically, we need them to help us maintain a civil society or else we will have disorder.

            I choose this source because I found it interesting to see how we use a civil society and how a political society is different. Apparently a political society takes more control over what we can and cannot do. What I would like to research more about now after listening to this is how if we didn’t have a government to tell us what to do, wouldn’t we have disorder and no one would follow any rules. 

Research Log #3

Research Log #3

Chandler, David. "Race, Culture and Civil Society: Peacebuilding Discourse and the Understanding of Difference." Security Dialogue 41.4 (2010): 370-90. Sage Journals Online. Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://sdi.sagepub.com/content/41/4/369.full.pdf+html>.

            The main focus on this article is to help us understand how civil society is framed and how in nature, it changes consistently.  The author also is giving examples on how peace building and civil society are almost based of the same aspects. Our structure of civil society and peace building has been made up on our different races, cultures, and how we tie them all together to build a stable civil society.  We all have an understanding on how we should act, and we have a nature of knowing what the problem is and how we must go about it to solve it. The author tries to help us understand the way our society is framed and that there are some that really stand out. We frame civil society around our government and the political side of our society. Without the Politian’s to shape our government and tell us what to do and what we should do, we would be a wreck. We also have rights and interests that our Politian’s must see and work to make everyone happy. This quote I believe helps me understand what civil society truly is, “Civil society will only have been achieved when this subject makes the ‘right’ or ‘civil’ choices, revealing a rationality and maturity with regard to collective interests.” Pg 379.  With this said, we will have a society that is able to live around each other, make our own good choices, and still have great outcomes. Another quote said, “The focus upon civil society maintains the role of race or culture in rationalizing difference and inequality.” Pg. 387. I believe that with the way our society is set up, that this quote would make sense and we can all live in a world where we co-exist.

            I found this article to be very interesting on revealing how we frame a civil society. I also liked how it introduced its own research on peace building and how it ties into civil societies. The article also said that they were not doing research on people, but more with people. I thought this was interesting because we always tend to do research projects on things, instead of dealing with the actual project. Another idea that stood out to me was how there are different sections in peace building including race, culture and a civil society and how they all tie in with each other. Its almost like without all three, we wouldn’t have a well understanding of each other and wouldn’t know how to live in the same society.

            I thought this journal would show me a new aspect or idea of how you can look at civil society. I never really thought of a civil society to be apart of race and culture, however we deal with those topics almost everyday. I would enjoy learning more about how politicians view civil society and how can they come up with new ways to make it possible to have no conflict and to provide rights and interests for everyone. Researching this, I believe I will go and look for more politicians’ speeches or even some of their books to see if and how they talk about a civil society.

Research Log #2

Research log #2

Bahatti, Shumaila Javah. "Civil Society to Bring Positive Change." Http://www.MarkTheTruth.com. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. <http://www.markthetruth.com/articles/1500-civil-society-to-bring-positive.html>.

I decided to search more outside of my question, and looked for more of how different countries deal with their own civil society. While doing my research, I stumbled into a man named Shumaila Javed Bhatti who wrote an article on the fact that if Pakistan had no civil society, the place would be a wreck. He also says that civil society is a war against the government and the state. If the two does not get along then the country will run into many problems. Bhatti also said, “When components of a civil society are not conscientious and active enough, then the society is like a flock of sheep. Bad governance always causes deterioration in a society.” I would agree with his statement, if we do have a terrible government that was disorganized, then that would reflect on how our country would act and go about living our day-to-day lives. Another thing Bhatti points out is that in time of need, like natural disasters, everyone in the country comes together and helps out. This makes the country have a positive civil society by everyone agreeing and working with each other to make the matter right and fixes it. Basically what his main point is, without government controlling us and keeping us in order, we would be in a state of chaos and civil society would fail miserably.

Bhatti says in his article, “The power of civil society in shaping and mobilizing public opinion is unquestioned. In many countries of the world I have seen how civil society, through its proactive role, has brought about revolutionary changes in national thinking.” I found this quote to be a strong one for I do believe that the way civil society is, it makes us change what we believe in. different countries will have different mind sets on how the society should act because of their own culture. Bhatti also mentions that when we do see something minor that we don’t like, we report it immediately to the police, or someone who can change it and make what that person is doing wrong in trouble, so they learn to never do it again.

My next step in my research project will now be to look more into how other countries deal with their civil society, and maybe if they have a different kind of governing if that would make a difference onto how civil society is viewed as. What is civil and what isn’t? Once I start looking into more details on how other countries handle their society, it might give me an idea how ours handles it as well. But most importantly how we can address uncivil manners as well. 

Research Log #1

Research Log #1

Ferguson, Adam. "Adam Ferguson: An Essay on the History of Civil Society: Part First." Index. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. <http://www.constitution.org/af/civil1.htm>.

I found Adam Ferguson’s essay to be very educational and made me think deeply into my question of what is considered to be a civil society and how it even came about. Adam discussed that we as humans are born into groups and then to have sides, as in we are either for something or against it. We view ourselves as individuals but still form a society with others to build each other stronger. A good quote I found to support this claim is, “The human kind, the species has a progress as well as the individual; they build in every subsequent age on foundations formerly laid; and, in a succession of years, tend to a perfection in the application of their faculties, to which the aid of long experience is required, and to which many generations must have combined their endeavors.” Adam suggests we form societies by the way e collect facts, observations and how we deal with past experiments. He also says that we as a union have to get along, and those we have more powerful leaders before us that we follow. Adams writes, “The state of nature is a state of war or of amity, and men are made to unite from a principle of affection, or from a principle of fear, as is most suitable to the system of different writers.” With this said, Adam is saying to us that we follow those who are viewed as a leader to us, we will unite and abide by the rules when we are put into fear of the consequences. He says that we will put up with everyday individuals, just so we can get along and for the profits they will offer when agreed upon things in a civil matter.

            This article stood out to me in a variety of ways. The way Adam says that we count on each other for many things is a huge starting point at where acting civil around each other would be necessary. If we all didn’t get along there would be no point in even thinking about what civil is and how we should go about in acting upon it. I also liked the fact that we all started off being born into groups of people, or a society. If we were animals, we would be born into herds or groups of animals as well and would grow up following the footsteps of our parents and the ones around us. Like animals, we act the same, when forming communities and interactions with other.

            I believe this article was a great starting point for me to think about different ideas on issue of civil society. After reading Adam’s essay, there were a few questions he brought up that made me want to investigate those issues as well. For instance, Adam asks, “Can we explain the principles upon which mankind adjudge the preference of characters, and upon which they indulge such vehement emotions of admiration or contempt?” This question brought up my attention by asking why we have preferences for character types? Overall this article made me think of a lot more topics of a civil society in different ways. 

Reading Response for Generation "Y"

I really enjoyed reading both of these articles for it portrays on my own generation and made me think, am I like this? When reading the ‘Why Worry Generation’ article I found that college students who are graduating are going into an economy that is truly failing and hardly with any well paying jobs. I was shocked to read, “57% of college students will have a job in hand three months after graduation.” Its almost sad to think that all these students are paying so much for a decent education and can not even do anything with it after graduation. This makes me think, am I going to even be able to get a job? Is it worth it to keep going to school and finishing out my degree? Then I have something that is deep inside that is telling me, “yes of course you can finish and find a well paying job, why not you, you are deserving of it.” Then the article said that this generation is suffering from over-confidence. Could this be me as well? I sure hope not, but I do hope that I have some sort of confidence in myself or else I don’t think I would be able to have motivation to go to school at all.

The article had another quote that stood out to me. Jeffery Arnett said, “They’re extraordinarily optimistic that life will work out for them.” Well if we are not optimistic about life is there even a point of living? How could life be exciting if we don’t hope for the best? I know I think optimistically when thinking about my future but in a positive way, always hoping for the best, but we can never be quite sure. I believe that our generation has gone through a lot of hardships like 9/11, the war in Iraq and of course the recession. I feel that these events have only made us stronger and thinking, well hell, we can only go up from here right? We do want our lives to be lived to the full potential, so I think that our generation will be confident in everything we do to try and make that difference. Just like how we talked about this generation “Y” in class, being spoiled-brats and always depending on our parents to be there when we cant fix something or even think we are deserving of encouraging words or good grades in all of classes, we still try to be the best we can be, and that’s not our fault, we were grown up this way.

 If you think about it, there are so many people out there who are willing to give us chances and make jobs or other things a lot easier for us, so we will always expect the best out of everything and also for everything to be a lot easier for us. Like the iPhone for example, the iPhone can pretty much do everything for us! And did this generation of kids come up with it? No, we didn’t, we are way to young to have come out with something like that. So I am going to have to say maybe we should blame this all on the generation before us. And to those who think this generation suffers from narcissism, do you really think that no one should love themselves a little? Yes I do agree that some will suffer narcissism way more then others, and those people will be looked at as cocky. I think that our generation will do great in the future, and yes I will say I have confidence in that, because if I don’t, who will? 

Every Type of Lie Examples

The White Lie:
This lie is the lie that you would use to avoid a conflict. An example of this would be, friend "does my hair look good?" me "oh yes it looks great!", but you know it looks terrible. This is such an easy way out of having heated conversations and possibly a huge argument.
Facades:
This lie is when you go out into the world acting like someone who you completely are not. Example of this would be going to class everyday looking and acting extremely proper, then when it comes time to you being at home, you would be a slopy joe and perhaps rude. I would call these types of liers fakes.
Ignoring the Plain Facts:
This lie is simply when you go out doing something but knowing that it is a lie. An example of this is when you say you are a certain religion, but then go out and do the opposite of what that religion teaches.
Deflecting:
When you dont want to truly say or talk about how you feel. An example of this one is when your friend or someone important to you ask how you are doing, you simply ignore the question and then ask them that same question right back. This lier is trying to avoid whatever there hiding by bouncing the question of themselves right back to the person who asked it.
Omission:
This lie means when you go on with doing something and when someone ask what have you been up to, you say what you were doing and what not but may leave out the fact of where you actually were. This lie is when you leave out a few main parts, but those main parts could turn the situation around.
Stereotypes and Cliches:
This is when someone who is of a different race is just looked at as maybe being a terrorist and telling people that when they know personally that that person is not.
Groupthink:
This lie is when someone who doesn't like to drink will drink because they dont want to be outcasted from there group of friends. They will do anything to stay with them and even will change there personality to hang.
Out and Out Lies:
This one is when you just straight up tell a lie when it is obvious that you did it. The person will just say anything so it will look like they didnt do it.
Dismissal:
This is when your lie is actually making you think of something that truly is not, but by telling this lie it becomes true to yourself.
Delusion:
The lie that puts you almost in a fairy tale. You go out telling or showing someone one thing, but knowing deep down that it isnt true.

Rant: REPLACING TOLIET PAPER AND NOT PUTTING IT BACK ON THE ROLLER!!!!

How is it sooooo difficult to replace the toilet paper back onto the roller??!! It is honestly a three step procedure. First take off the plastic roller, then throw away the cardboard. Second, put the plastic roller throw the huge hole of a brand new toilet paper roll. Then finally, easiest part, put the damn thing back between the middle clips, which quite frankly is super easy to put back on! Seriously how hard is it to do. I mean your already half way there. Keep going your basically like 5 inches away from putting it back on! You had the decency to notice that the toilet paper was running low and replaced, I will give you props on that, but come on your bathroom time will be so much easier and convenient when its one the roller!  I feel like the person is just lazy to take it off and put it back on again. But when I go to the bathroom and then realize that it is awkwardly sitting on the counter, oh man I almost go insane! It also bothers me how it is sitting on the counter and how gross the counter it is on looks disgusting and crawling with germs! Then knowing that I have to use it, ugh, grosses me out! Oh and the fact that the counter could possibly be wet! So of course when you go to use it, pick it up half of the bottom of the toilet paper will be wet and soggy!! Ahhh just please replace the damn toilet paper back on the roller! So simple and not only wastes my time and have to think how gross that counter could be, your saving your own time as well and sanitation. And that will conclude my rant. =]

Freedom Quickwrite

I think freedom is a way of expressing a way of life and how our country as a whole has the right to be who they want to be. America has a vast range of different characteristics of people. No one is going to tell you how to be or act, besides your parents, so you can make your own personality. In the other countries that don’t have freedom, they would have to pretend to be someone who they are not for their own security and laws. Example of that would be to practice a religion you don’t even believe in and to change your culture or way of life because of it. For me personally, I have been able to decide what I want to believe, where I would like to move away and be myself and not have to change who I am for anything or anyone. Our country may have made money or established documents that talk about God or even promote Him, but the countries government is not forcing you to change your religion just because we were founded on a Christian based country. We even have laws saying that the public schools are not allowed to actually teach any type of religion. Freedom is something that we should really cherish and appreciate having. Even though we may seem like we can do anything with freedom, we just need to be able to do anything that is morally right. 

Two Wars Reading Response

I thought the show “Two Wars” was really interesting and sent a good message. What really stood out to me in this show was that the Iraqi man named Abu Abed had actually made a booth where people could talk to an actual Iraqi about anything. Some of the people who would come up and talk to him were military men or people who have served in Iraq. These people, however, seemed to be very rude to Abu and were angry at what was going on over there. I thought that it was hard to understand that most people in New York were actually against the war in Iraq, even after what has happened to them. Abu had more people tell him what they believed what was going on in Iraq than him telling them what he actually witnessed and sees as an Iraqi himself. I really like what Abu said when he was talking to some of the military men. He said, “there is bad and there is worse.” He said this relating to how it used to be with Saddam, but not it has grown even worse with the U.S army over there. I also found it really sad to hear him say that he feels ashamed to be living in America because his friends may look at him badly who live in Iraq.  I was amazed at how smart and brave he was to do this and that people do need to talk about what is going on in our world and maybe look at it in some other cultures eyes. 

10 Things About Me

1. Seen the musical Wicked in London
2. I have odd dreams that I live the life of Dexter Morgan
3. My friend and I have a habit of talking like Borat
4. I cried when the Raiders lost the Super Bowl and sent them a letter to not give up
5. I have a step sister who is 40 years old
6. When I was younger, my friends and I would make music videos
7. I really enjoy swimming, but deathly afraid of the ocean waters
8. I'm so afraid of IVs that I had my wisdom pulled while I was awake
9. I sat on a table and broke it in half
10. I'm afraid of the dark