en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2456353 Comments by 1911Que7 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment148988166 War, in the dictionary is it’s defined so gentle and harmless, “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations”. Behind these words war has so many horrific things behind, it is the cause of many instabilities, it the cause I many nations to go in top complete melt down. Because of war many people have lost their entire family, their lively hoods, and the things that make them human beings. War in itself is a big money maker, all the weapons that are crated and sold, all the allies that are made through the suffering and pain. I have been I a war, I have been in several wars and seen devastations. I have seen people killed, people hands cut off, people being burned in their houses alive, babies looking for their mothers, mother liking for their children, people in disarray, and all while others are watching. America has played its part in several different wars over the years. Just a few of the major ones include WWI, WWII, Vietnam and now the War with Iraq. These wars America has benefit from them one way or the other. From the time when America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the world has been scared of the US. With that one bomb it led to many things, kids being born with deformities, people no surviving, and taking decades to rebuild. Catastrophic is the word that should be used when regarding to war. With war, we all know there is much controversy from citizens and people affected by it, in regard to support and whether it is right or wrong. There are always those who strongly oppose war for different particular reasons and those who are actively for it and support all its efforts. War is so terrible it affects the people doing the hard to other, they come back from the experience messed up and they want to define as other things. When you are in war the ability to kill comes instantly, unless you are the one who is afraid for their lives. It’s easy to kill at times it become a custom but if you let it consume you and take over your lives it would eat you up inside and then you will have nowhere to go because it’s in your mind and it will keep eating you inside out. With these factors in mind, there are many different opinions that have and currently do emerge from the public, such as concerns about the people in the war. But war will never stop it is in our blood and we will be in war until we destroy the war. Thu, 5 May 2011 00:52:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment148988166 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141162141 After watching the video today in class about solders dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder I understand why Amanda Gardner, wrote Up to 31 percent of soldiers returning from combat in Iraq experience depression or post-traumatic stress disorder that affects their jobs, relationships, or home life, according to a new study by Army researchers. For as many as 14 percent of these veterans, depression and PTSD cause severe problems in their daily life. These problems are often accompanied by alcohol misuse and aggressive behavior, the study found."These things begin to snowball," says Robert Bossarte, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York. "Your work performance suffers; you experience job loss and economic strain.". It is truly factual because in the video it gave the example of a solder coming home from Iraqi. When he first arrived in the United States everything fins, he acted normal and life was good. He saw his wife, mother, father and other relatives, he even started going to school at the local community college. As time goes by this war veterinary started to smoke more, drink more and more and things began going downhill very dramatically. It was shocking to me how thing went south so fast, he started telling stories about what he has been thru saying that people do not understand. He was right all along others wouldn’t understand but it was as if he was lost in his own past. He later killed him self and the family was very distruct. Another solder talked about how he opened fired on an innocent women. Images and thoughts like that don’t just go away or leave your thoughts; they keep on reoccurring and causing damage to your internal mindset. It is said that from the invasion of Afghanistan until last summer, the U.S. military had lost 761 soldiers in combat there. But a higher number in the service — 817 — had taken their own lives over the same period. With all the evidence out there it is true about what’s being said. More soldiers are being lost at home that in over sees. It takes hard work and discipline to train your mind not to feel anything and then when you return back to civilian life you have to do the reverses that are a lot for the mind to go threw. Sat, 9 Apr 2011 04:02:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141162141 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139280070 This quotes “Fear is something I am very familiar with.” hits home. My first day of school in America was terrible; I started in the fourth grade. In the morning I was the first child awake, I was running through the house screaming saying “mama mama today is the day” in our native dialect krio. But my mother was already out the door going to work, my father had to get me ready to school and dropped me off since he worked nights as a baker. On our way waking to school it was gloomy outside, a trolley passed by us and I was so amaze because that contraption was still new to me. After waling for about ten minutes we were standing inform of a huge four stories light brown building. He said “well Mohamed this is your school” when those words came out of his mouth I was scared. I thought to myself “really papa are you just playing or is this big building really my school” I was not use to a school being that size, the schools I went to in Africa were at the most two stories high. As soon as we went inside I was terrified because people were talking very fast and I was not use to this type of English, “yo men how was your break?” “men my break was aight we went to Disney World it was so awesome” I was used to the British style of English. I was not use to how things worked; moving from classes to classes, different teachers, walking in the hallway required a pass, I had a very hard time. When it was time for lunch I was sat by myself at the end of the long cafeteria bench. A boy came up to me a ask me “are you the boy from Africa” he talked so fast that I did not understand what he said so I said “han” he then said “you African boy han” I said “yes” and then I heard a chant spreading through the cafeteria like a contagious disease “African bootie scratcher, African bootie scratcher, African bootie scratcher”. Then a teacher came a said “stop that this instance” by the way she reacted I knew this was a bad thing. Recess came and no one played with, I was crushed. When my dad picked me up he knew the day went bed for his child. Gradually things became better, the names never stopped but once kids found out I was good at kicking I would get picked to play kickball. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 03:13:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139280070 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment139277524 The poem Frost Bites by Pennsylvania Lifers written on March 20, 2011, is a very powerful poem which embodies the same emotions I feel every day. I am not locked up in a prison but I still feel cold, my mind wanders, and I feel like I am alone in this world. The poem states Numb I wonder why I feel so cold My mind wanders Thoughts seek refuge from the frigidness inside me I must be dead, but others see me So then I’m around the dead, but I see them We are all spirits walking blindly into the shadows of hell. But why am I cold? Surely, I’m in hell Around evil beings Who have no hope No joy, no warmth, no…. heart? I am cold because around me are cold souls My heart is cold I pray for the day that it will thaw To be warm with love and compassion I refuse to be amongst empty souls who shed no tears for being where they are Content with destruction I need to live I want to love But for now… I’m cold My heart is frost bitten. Before I came to this country I would say I was somewhat happy about my life style, I am not sure if it was because I was ignorant to what was going on in life but I was happy. I did not have a care in the world but having fun and warring about school. When I came to America its like my eyes opened up and everything changed. Now I have things to worry about and it was very much stressful. Then I started having friends which was much more stressful. I had a friend who was pulled over by the police for drunk driving. Her life was already in shambles and now she had another thing to worry about which brought grave stress to me, as a friend I needed to be there to support her throughout her ordeal. In this state the friend was always depresses and had to do several things like appear in court and do other several duties that one cost money and two took time and stress out of her life and mine. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 03:03:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment139277524 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/07/who-am-i/#IDComment135972110 When we talk about defining yourself we always do things that don’t relate to others, but Morgan Spurlock did an experiment that defined many people in America. In the movie Super Size Me there are a lot of things addressed by Morgan Spurlock. He started the documentary by stating very important information that people here in America are afraid to realize, saying “America is now the fattest nation in the world.” Spurlock backed up his statement with facts such as “nearly 100 million Americans are today either overweigh or obese, that’s more that 60% of all U.S adults” “since 1980 the total number of obese Americans has doubled, with twice as many overweigh children and three times as many over weigh adolescent.” This is a documentary that is aimed at Americans biggest fast food industry McDonalds. Spurlock wanted to prove that McDonalds causes health issues and physical harm after two girls sued McDonalds blaming them for their obesity and illnesses. Unfortunately the girls lost the lawsuit. The documentary presented very strong arguments, but while watching it I also found some weaknesses. By eating nothing more than McDonalds for thirty days and documenting everything on film, Spurlock’s argument was strengthened. While doing the experiment Spurlock visited three doctors, before, during, and after, to make sure that the results he got were accurate. Some weaknesses of this documentary are, the poor who maybe the largest targeted audience many no have access to this video, while conduction his experiment he had experts telling him to stop eating McDonalds while the girls who sued did not have any experts telling them to stop. Also seeing McDonalds over and over makes the viewer crave the food, (after I was finished watching the movie I went and bought a double quarter pounder.) In the documentary Spurlock’s credibility was clearly established. Throughout the whole film he did not hide anything from the viewers. He gave a background on his life and how his mother cooked dinner every day; they ate out on rear occasions. Spurlock talked about eating the burgers and how he craved them, how he felt depressed even though everything in his life was going great, and he even shared the part about his love life taking a nose dive. There were also the occasional facts thrown in like “obesity is now second to smoking as a major cause of preventable deaths in America, causing more than 400,000 deaths per year.” I truly like his approach, which made his character more genuine in my eyes. Spurlock interviewed a girl who was going through emotional stress because she was bombarded with images of beauty and because she was obese she did not fit that standard. The girl talked about how she wanted to be considered beautiful just like the cheerleaders, the models, and the girls on television. He also interviewed a man who was undergoing liposuction; the man said he wants to go through with the surgery because he wants to change his life. The man said that the surgery would cause him to loose plenty of his illnesses, with diet and exercise. Spurlock interviewed these people to show the emotional aspects of being overweight, how it is painful to be obese. Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:45:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/07/who-am-i/#IDComment135972110 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment134343538 Many people live their lives for that one get rich quick skim, and most of those people are poor with low education, which means they don’t have many opportunities to get out of their low income environment. We all dream of hitting the big one, or wish that we could fall into instant riches by simply choosing the right winning lottery numbers or allowing them to be randomly generated from a computerized We all dream of hitting the big one, or wish that we could fall into instant riches by simply choosing the right winning lottery numbers or allowing them to be randomly generated from a computerized lottery machine onto a little piece of paper, but it has often been said that we should be very careful about what we wish for as everything comes with a price, including winning the lottery, especially when it involves winning millions of dollars. The actual chances of becoming a multimillion dollar lottery winner are astronomical to begin with, but when fate intervenes, miraculous things can happen that will forever change a person’s life, for better or worse. Even though huge winnings can change a person’s life style dramatically, it is said that if you were happy before winning a huge sum of money, then you will be happy afterwards, but if you were an extremely unhappy person to begin with, winning a multimillion dollar jackpot will change nothing except the size of your bank account. In other words the problems that you had are still lying in wait to rear their ugly head, and the lottery money only temporarily covers up the problems for a brief period. Experts have looked into the lives of past lottery winners and have learned that not all multimillion dollar winners have a happy ending. A common issue within our society is the belief that money solves most of our problems. Another big problem is the lack of financial guidance when being handed over a large amount of money. In fact nearly one third of multimillion dollar lottery winners become bankrupt in just a few short years after they’re big win. If you are not accustomed to having great wealth as many of these big lottery winners were not, then the problems that come with suddenly having a lot of money overnight can be so overwhelming that depression becomes inevitable. Sat, 12 Mar 2011 02:34:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment134343538 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment130715335 In this one instant we see or get a first-hand proof of how social structure does shape free will. When the word polygamy comes up, most of us who are bread to think it’s a bad thing we all tend to look displease. When the topic comes up most people think it’s one man being married to two or three or even four women, but in this video we see the other side of things. Sam wrote when most of us think of polygamy we imagine one man with multiple wives; however, sometimes it’s one woman with multiple husbands. While most people in our culture can’t imagine it to be true, polygamy can make a good deal of sense when the sociological conditions “call it forth,” so to speak. I agree with the last sentence because polygamy can make a good deal of sense when there is less outside influence. Polygamy can be a good thing when the husbands or wives are working to a same goal, or are trying to accomplish a meaningful goal. Then there is no jealousy, envy, or betrayal. In this video it talks about polyandry which refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered form. Which it was the case because land is scares the three brothers are married to the same wife and they have no problem with it, even the woman is ok with it. Now with the influence of the outside world, televisions, satellite, and electricity, the people are thinking about changing their ways of life. With education the children are becoming more aware that it is not a social normal and they are beginning to shy away from it. In regards to religion Islam also bans polyandry. For example, Quran Surah Nisa’ Chapter 4 verses 22-24 gives the list of women with whom one cannot marry. Nikah Ijtimah is a pre-Islamic tradition of polyandry, which was forbidden in Islam. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:34:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/15/social-structure-shapes-free-will/#IDComment130715335 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/15/creating-terrorists/#IDComment128864738 The article “More cause and effect in the War against Terrorists” highlights a lot of things that are not mentioned when it comes to painting a good picture on how America is doing on the war against terrorist. This article highlights several issues but two things that stood out to me were the American attack on the large passenger bus, and also the attack that killed five family members. These two incidents should be talked about time after time. In the article it stated "American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near the southern [Afghan] city of Kandahar on Monday morning, killing as many as five civilians and wounding 18". This incident was not a good one and in my opinion it perpetuates terrorism. If I had a family member that was killed for no reason I would want to retaliate, in one way or the other. Also the incident about American troops in mid-February entered a village in the Eastern Afghan province of Paktia, killed five civilians (a male government official, his brother, and three female relatives, including two pregnant women and a teenager) and then lied about what happened. This would make someone go off the deep end and snap out. Some people believe that if they lose their family members then there is nothing more to live for. An example of someone losing it is Haji Sharabuddin -- the 80-year-old patriarch of that family who lost two sons, two daughters and a granddaughter in the attack. Presenting sheep is such a powerful form of requesting forgiveness that the father is now obligated not to take revenge, even though he has told reporters he wanted to become a suicide bomber. . . . But the incident so inflamed the family, the father initially vowed to take revenge, "even if it breaks me into pieces." "I have lost patience. I am obliged to revenge my martyrs," he told an ABC News cameraman on March 18. "I will destroy everything I have and will launch my own suicide attack. My heart is burning.” After voicing his opinion they tried to pay him off for each victim that was lost, as if money is a supplement. Terrorism is being perpetrated as we saw in the video the lady strapped a bomb to herself and blow up several other because her husband was killed. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:53:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/15/creating-terrorists/#IDComment128864738 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127440583 The Poem Getting Life is very touching. It reminds me so much how we need days like Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I think this day reminds kids how they should strive for the better, how they should be more like Dr. King and strive for the better not go to jail where “I cannot remember my first day in prison and what I felt. I cannot remember when my whole family support system became just my Mom. I cannot remember the date when I lost my final appeal. I cannot remember the last time I heard from any of the friends I grew up with. I cannot remember the last time I heard from a woman I dated, was friends with, loved, or thought I loved, or the one I married.” When I hear these things it really make me think about how we go astray and how we need guidance. Many students do not have a strong appreciation of history. They spend too much time engrossed in pop culture, on-line social networking and Pod's. This leads them to forget about the importance of historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. He was a pioneer in the movement to end racism in American society. Without him, there would not be as many opportunities in today's society for African Americans. Campuses need to give students this day off and offer historical lectures, marches and videos. Students can be encouraged to attend these functions, if the schools offer extra credit or other incentives. In addition, these activities can be primarily based on the new technology. For example, schools can create an interactive Web Site featuring Dr. King's speeches and other information. Then students can provide their reactions through instant messages and social networking sites. This will keep them interested and simultaneously foster learning. This helps students to remember that we need to appreciate diversity and embrace our differences. Without Martin Luther King Jr., there would still be segregation in American society. Finally, racism is a problem that still exists in some parts of today's society. We need to have students come together once a year to evaluate our progress in completely eradicating racism and take steps to prevent it from reoccurring in the future. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:43:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/09/4092/#IDComment127440583 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125085754 Life is crazy; it never turns out how we want it to. There is a saying “whatever you have planned God has his own plans in mind for you “. With the American gone wild article it has a lot to do with coincidences and people doing right by the situation they were placed in. The incident happened in Florida. Which a little kid who was five years of age brought his step fathers gun to school. With that situation no one knew what was about to happened, the step father took his step child to school and apparently he was careless with his gun and the kid took the gun to school. It was a very simple situation that could have happen to anyone; all we have to do is thank God that no one hot hurt. In the article there were several things said that was not relevant to the situation. In the video the super intendant of the school was talking about the action of the boy and family did not reflect the community they live in. He goes on saying that the five year old kid is the victim in this situation and he has been probably neglected. I don’t know if it’s just me but I really do not understand why the kid was suspended; I realized it was to set an example but why punished a little kid for something he doesn’t even understand. It was a good thing to suggest the step father take responsibility of the situation but the little kid should be taken out of the equation. If we want to look at the problem we should look at the American society and how it has a hold on gun. Mostly everyone in America own a gun, in some states more than other, people love their guns more than their kids sometimes. In America the gun laws are very loose that’s why there are so many murders; people think they can take the laws into their own hands, robbery, etc. We need to change things from the inside if we want to see any chances. There need to be some stronger gun laws. Tue, 1 Feb 2011 07:50:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125085754 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/i-too-am-free/#IDComment124389668 I hear people always talking about live, love, and laugh. What is the purpose of living when you don’t have your freedom? They say freedom comes at a price, what is that price? Is it something that we humans control? I applaud aashita for writing this “I, too, am free” piece. It was very well written and it covered many things that circulate around freedom. While reading this piece I thought about a lot of things, and I began to reflect on these things. I thought about the word freedom and how it is used so loosely, how the word itself means so much and yet so little. I thought about life how people including me take it for granted, how he do things that doesn’t matter, how we take things that doesn’t matter and make it a big deal so we can feel important. I pose this question to everyone, sincerely asked yourself “am I living”? Am I doing the things I love to do? Am I living my life based on other people and what they think about me? When I asked myself these questions I found out that I was not living. I found out that I am not doing the things I love to do, I am trying to please my father, mother, aunts and uncles, and those in my circle who I think care about me the most, I am living for these people. I thought about the word love, have I loved myself unconditionally. The people I surround myself around do they love me, do they bring out the best in me. I have been around people who just thought about themselves and no one else, when they have a problem you are supposed to stop everything on your end and rally around them but when you have a problem it’s hard for them to give you the support you need, to rally around you as you did for them. Instead they give you excuses on how it hard for them to be supportive and bring the issue right back to them. To laugh is to put all your problems in the back and just have a good time. Laughing is a form of release and when you feel that release the problems that you are face with tend to just disappear or you find simple and efficient ways to solve them. Freedom is something you hold onto; even people who are not in jail are not free. There are people roaming the streets, rooming the earth who are not free from themselves, society, the norm, expectations, and other things that are simple to control if we just let our minds be free and just laugh. The mind is key to being free. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:08:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/i-too-am-free/#IDComment124389668 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/suicide-in-japan/#IDComment122916259 Suicide What would I say to somebody that on the brink of ending their live? That is a very excellent question. When I think about it I get chills, If I was on the other line of someone that about to committee suicide I think the thing I would do is lie to them, try to relate to the and somehow convince them that living I a good thing not a bad thing. Looking at this clip I am somewhat shock about the amount of people that tried to commit suicide in Japan and the numbers are growing rapidly. I am a little aware of the economical downfall that’s occurring throughout the world and that people turn to killing themselves than try to remedy the problem but I guess killing yourself is the easy way out of every problem. To some people suicide is a way they would feel in control of whatever they are going through, It is their way to empower themselves from not being and outcast in their own body. Life is hard, it’s no jokes. Personally I have thought about committing suicide. People have problems, I have problems, my parents have problems, my friends have problems and everyone had their own way to deal with their problems. Some people face their problems head on, some people try to use different routes to solve their problems, some people hide from everyone and try to solve the problems on their own (and most times they fail by themselves), and then there are others who hide from everyone and have thoughts of committing suicide. It is said that those people who try to commit suicide the most are those who are loners, those who think the world is against them, those who believe that there is no hope for our society. I was once in a state of depression and it took a lot to get out of that state of mind, I am still somewhat in that state of mind when I feel like things are going wrong or when I feel things might wrong. I know how it feels to be in that state and to be honest it’s very difficult to come out of that stats as the same person you were before the great change. This usually happens when there is a dramatic change in someone’s life. Things like losing one’s job, losing a spouse, a change of location, and other things that may be little to you but is very important to someone else. I don’t think that there is any social way to handle things than to face it head on and try to talk to someone about problems that are effecting you internally and externally. Sat, 22 Jan 2011 04:25:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/suicide-in-japan/#IDComment122916259