I read the article "On The Road in Iran" by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times Up Front. The article was about how the younger generation in Iran is more educated and less conservative. Throughout the article as Kristof conducted mini interviews he showed how a lot of the older people in Iran have a much weaker education, like when he talks to a 38 year old man who he says has a 9th grade education. Later in the article Kristof talks about kids playing banned videogames like Battlefield 3 and Grand Theft Auto, showing how liberal the younger generations are becoming. Towards the end of the article Kristof talks about seeing a police officer yell at a women for rolling up her sleeves. "Finally, she covered her forearms a bit more, and he accepted a truce." The article showed a really strong contrast in the generations, and how the older generations are treated stricter whereas the younger generations are allowed to play illegal videogames.
The author wants me to feel hopeful for Iran. He talks about Iran possibly being the most pro-America country in the middle east, and interviews several people who are also very pro-America, many of whom are younger. Kristof is CLEARLY trying to point out how younger generations around the world are becoming consistently more and more liberal. Kristof is trying to show what a problem the older conservative generations are in clashing with the younger liberal generations by showing interview after interview with completely opposite views and opinions. Kristof gives much lengthier quotes/interviews from people who oppose the strict government which helps you to understand and connect with their views, which persuades you to absorb their views and oppose their conservative government.
I think that the conservative government in Iran should be more liberal, or just moderate. To be fair, they should let people live. I was disturbed when I read that it was illegal to play certain videogames, and that you could get fined for having satellite TV. "So they just take the dish and go away," without imposing the fine." I took away from the article that it's important to know how others live and how they treat things like TV that we take for granted, they have to hide and be careful about because they can get fined, or thrown in jail for having luxuries that we don't acknowledge.
http://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/02_18_13/book#/12
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Non-existant Doom
I just finished The Doom Machine by Mark Teague, which I found to be a relatively easy book after learning it's surprisingly for 8-10 year olds, though I still found a deeper meaning.
In The Doom Machine Jack and Isadora are abducted by aliens and travel across the universe to try and save Earth, which I found to be a pretty basic plot. Throughout the book I saw them being faced with moral challenges, where they could either save Earth, or succumb to an alien authority and let Earth be captured. Jack and Isadora's goal was to destroy the doom machine, created by Jack's uncle Bud. If the Skreeps were able to figure out how to use the machine, they would've used it to create tunnels in space to make it easier to capture and eventually colonize Earth. The overall purpose of the Skreeps existence is to ultimately take over everything that exists and rule with immense greed and apathy.
Throughout the book I noticed the Skreeps being unnecessarily cruel and repeatedly untrustworthy to their prisoners (Jack and Isadora) who at any point could've allowed the Skreeps to use the machine and just become one of them. The four human main characters in the book all showed their different views of how to deal with the challenge at hand. I think morally, Isadora wouldn't have succumbed because of what an intelligent character she was, especially compared to Jack. I think Isadora, believing strongly in science and knowledge, felt like she could've found a more logical way to overcome the Skreeps. I think someone like Jack on the other hand would've been more excited to try something ridiculous like infiltrating their land with aggressive force. Bud on the other hand had a mindset between Isadora and Jack, where he was up for an adventure, but also used science and logic to be able to *SPOILERS* save Earth. I interpreted Bud as a character who would be more likely to lean towards Jack and want to blow something up versus persuading the Skreeps to stop. I saw Isadora's mom, Dr. Shumway as someone who would just be an older version of Isadora, who through the story line was paired with Bud for the majority of the book, and I thought she treated him just as Isadora was treating Jack. I thought both of the female characters in the book treated the males as wild, unintelligent beings, whereas I felt like they were looking at themselves as the intellectual superiors (which I agreed with), though they never questioned what the doom truly was.
I feel like the moral dilemmas brought up in The Doom Machine can easily be extended to our world. I think a lot of the time people can be faced with something simple, where they can either just feel nothing for others and let these bad things happen to them, or stand up for others and really fight back. I think this could be simplified into bullying, where the Skreeps are the bullies, and they're bullying Earth. Part of Earth sees this happening, and can either side with the Skreeps, and let the rest of Earth be bullied, or stand up to the Skreeps and fight back to protect the rest of Earth, and in the book, Jack and Isadora do fight back and end up saving Earth.
In The Doom Machine Jack and Isadora are abducted by aliens and travel across the universe to try and save Earth, which I found to be a pretty basic plot. Throughout the book I saw them being faced with moral challenges, where they could either save Earth, or succumb to an alien authority and let Earth be captured. Jack and Isadora's goal was to destroy the doom machine, created by Jack's uncle Bud. If the Skreeps were able to figure out how to use the machine, they would've used it to create tunnels in space to make it easier to capture and eventually colonize Earth. The overall purpose of the Skreeps existence is to ultimately take over everything that exists and rule with immense greed and apathy.
Throughout the book I noticed the Skreeps being unnecessarily cruel and repeatedly untrustworthy to their prisoners (Jack and Isadora) who at any point could've allowed the Skreeps to use the machine and just become one of them. The four human main characters in the book all showed their different views of how to deal with the challenge at hand. I think morally, Isadora wouldn't have succumbed because of what an intelligent character she was, especially compared to Jack. I think Isadora, believing strongly in science and knowledge, felt like she could've found a more logical way to overcome the Skreeps. I think someone like Jack on the other hand would've been more excited to try something ridiculous like infiltrating their land with aggressive force. Bud on the other hand had a mindset between Isadora and Jack, where he was up for an adventure, but also used science and logic to be able to *SPOILERS* save Earth. I interpreted Bud as a character who would be more likely to lean towards Jack and want to blow something up versus persuading the Skreeps to stop. I saw Isadora's mom, Dr. Shumway as someone who would just be an older version of Isadora, who through the story line was paired with Bud for the majority of the book, and I thought she treated him just as Isadora was treating Jack. I thought both of the female characters in the book treated the males as wild, unintelligent beings, whereas I felt like they were looking at themselves as the intellectual superiors (which I agreed with), though they never questioned what the doom truly was.
I feel like the moral dilemmas brought up in The Doom Machine can easily be extended to our world. I think a lot of the time people can be faced with something simple, where they can either just feel nothing for others and let these bad things happen to them, or stand up for others and really fight back. I think this could be simplified into bullying, where the Skreeps are the bullies, and they're bullying Earth. Part of Earth sees this happening, and can either side with the Skreeps, and let the rest of Earth be bullied, or stand up to the Skreeps and fight back to protect the rest of Earth, and in the book, Jack and Isadora do fight back and end up saving Earth.
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