9/11/01

Seven years pass and the anniversary of 9/11 again challenges those with faith in the human person to try and understand how and why people can willingly seek to exact such death and destruction on those whom they've never actually encountered. Blog your thoughts about this: why are humans not only capable of such violence, but also why do they actualize this capability against others?



Humans are capable of such violence through several means. One is a religious one; I am a Catholic, and I believe strongly in the idea that God gave us free will. This complete freedom allows us to choose our own path in life (and incidentally contradicts the idea of an omniscient God). Some people label the terrorists as insane people, and in some cases it may be true, but overall I think that they just believe that what they do is right. In their worldview, the only way to make their point is to commit such acts. They use these acts to terror; one could say it is a dramatic form of bullying. They seek to inspire so much terror, panic, chaos, and general disorder in order to pressure their targets to subject to their demands. In certain cases, some do not have any aim, and yet still terrorize; those people are, in my opinion, psychopaths. I would also say the ease with which one can acquire weapons is also a reason. Overall, I think that humans are capable of violence because we have freedom, and certain people actualize it because of their belief or because they just do not have control

Economic Blog

We've read a few pieces recently about commerce and capitalism, individualism and collectivism. Taking to mind especially the most recent readings on Creative Capitalism and on labor unions, please blog about your opinion on the following:

Is it possible given human nature that, as Gates says, we can "create a world where no one has to live on a dollar a day or die from a disease we know how to prevent?" Can capitalism and humanism co-exist to the point where all have basic human rights and the opportunity to pursue economic aggrandizement? Can workers get to a place where they have fair wages and benefits everywhere? If not, why? If so, what do you think has to happen for us to get there?

In my opinion, it is essentially the thought of an idealist that we can create the world that is essentially almost perfect. To me, it seems that the natural flow of the world works in a fashion that is best explained by Chaos Theory, otherwise known as the Butterfly Effect. A certain event occurring will have an effect somewhere else. For example, people talk about eliminating crime once and for all. Not only is this improbable, but it also causes one to think- what will happen to millions of jobs? That would render Law Enforcement null and the Judicial System's docket would be cut down severely, thus causing millions of people to loose jobs. Some might say that this is pessimistic or even just downright horrible; I say that even though it is not ideal, it is the way that things are. So when someone proposes a world where disease is virtually non-existent, I say that it is impossible (I realize this is tackling one section of the quote, but it is an easy example). Especially given human nature, this is not possible; although Bill Gates is donating billions (and the addition of Warren Buffets' vast fortune is not overlooked), it is still not enough, and not enough wealthy people in the world share Bill Gates sense of philanthropy.

I also believe that capitalism and humanism cannot exist in perfect harmony because to me, the entire concept of capitalism is essentially Economic Darwinism. As for fair wages and benefits, this is something that is a bit more probable. However, many Americans do not realize that cheap labor is a large part of the reason for the lower cost of goods in the United States. Therefore, while conditions might improve (particularly for migrant workers, illegal or not), some may claim that they always deserve more.

Individualism (Third Post)

Both of the weekend readings imply the idea of individualism, though in different contexts and using different language. Blog about that idea of individualism as you see it in the world as you look around. Is our world, or our country--either, both, neither--too individualistc? How can you justify your answer? What do you see that informs your answer?

In my opinion, individualism is located in most facets of American society. The whole idea of the American dream is to be successful. Our economic system of capitalism is essentially stressing individual success. However, in Asian societies, it has been shown that they all work together in general. The article about China mentioned the Beijing Olympic Games Opening ceremony, which was one of the most intrinsically coordinated shows I've ever seen. the performers worked together to form a collective work of art. The article also mentioned that if an Asian nation could awaken from economic stagnation, it would become great. I'm not saying that I'm a communist, but their system seems to work; China is taking over the world economy exponentially. The lack of strength behind the U.S dollar is a strong indicator of that. I believe that if the United States were to learn more about collective thinking, the effects could only be positive. Overall, I think that a mix of the two cultures would produce something extraordinary.

Second post- Contextualizing?

b. You context…talk a little bit about yourself and about your context—what things might inform or color your opinions on the world and on what you encounter in others’ responses to it? This might include your age, your thoughts about your future, your family, your demographics, your experiences, etc

Things that may inform or color my opinions are the fact that I'm a 17 year old male from a middle class family. My parents are both immigrants from the third world country of Sri Lanka. I've been raised a devout, moderate Catholic. I want to major in business when I go to college. I'm applying to University of Notre Dame, UW, Georgetown, Gonzaga, and a few other places; I'm not positive where I want to go for sure. I row. A lot. My goal is to one day row in the Olympics, and as for experiences, I suppose it would depend on the situation to say what experiences might influence my opinions.

Edit- My name is Mihindukulusuriya Sahan Mario Joseph Fernando

First Post

a. Why you’re setting up a blog in the first place and what you believe you might achieve in spending a semester (at least) blogging both about your own ideas/opinions and in response to those of others.

I believe that we are setting up a blog so that we can track our thoughts and opinions over the varying articles that we will be reading. It is for both us and the instructor to view our thoughts and opinions and how they evolve over the semester.