en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2394332 Comments by amjimmbo http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145262292 This video is very interesting at first... seeing the vast change and exponential increase in explosion size from 1000AD to the wars today. In the (mid) middle ages there's not much going on conflictwise. Everyone in those times were just focusing on technology and the finer philosophies; from the medieval to modern to the renaissance era there are only about a few battles/wars fought and inbetween most there's 20 30 40 years. It progressively gets to the point later in the millenium where battles are being waged constantly in usually the same areas (as sam mentioned in the abstract about it dealing with expanding nations). These nations that were usually on the offfensive were creating empires. Ideally anyways. Falling back to that idea that the larger/stronger you are the longer you'll live (the human fear of death and demise). There are either 2 possibilities: the only wars we have recorded from that time are in the europe/midleeast/southasia areas or those in fact were the only wars happening at the time. Even the more modern ones which we should have more data on accompany the same locations. This is one of the major details that can be construed in this video: 1. All wars occur in the areas of notable socioeconomic development and political expansion. [Empires] 2. The wars keep occurring at faster rates as time goes forward. 3. The more people to want the various areas, the more competition (and thus warring activity). Those conclusions can all be related if looked at through the sociological perspective of human life and activity throughout the ages as well as the basic functions of our primordial habits and longings. Those wars could have been over "religion" or "differing opinions" or even revolting peoples but if we look into the whole picture it could be deduced that 95% of them were over land, precious metals (different for their own times), wanting to become an empire. The reasons would be resources. Once that connection can be seen the 3 conclusions fall into place. We always want more resources be it for greed or selfpreservation or just believing in dominance; the more population growth the more competition then for these resources; and in the end as sort of a self fulfilling prophecy, the more use of the resources the less that are left which escalates warring even more. This is the factor behind the "Perpetual War" we talked about and as Dick Cheney first called it. As long as we need energy, food, currency, and self value there will be war because it is the inevitable. And it will only get worse from here on because 8billion rising and possibly being past peak oil is a ticking time bomb. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:23:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145262292 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment143281989 The video we watched in class this week definetely showed war from a different side most Americans are used to; as we talked about the militainment side of the industry and medias outlook on war alot of the mainstream stuff focuses on how war is good and patriotic and how it benefits everyone, basically all that bullcrap, etc; and this is the exact opposite of what anyone in the military wants to be acknowleded with. Post tramautic stress disorder is a mental disease, which some could construe as even worse than a physical one because when one is affected by such a large ordeal it can begin to take over one's life. As we saw in the video the different veterans and returning soldiers and how they all reacted to comeing back into real life after being out on the battlefield, where they were trained to basically not think based off of their brain but their instincts, it was quite crazy at first to think of the "healthy" unharmed military men returning and in fact turning out to be more harmed than imaginable. The stastistics given in the video about the amount of PTSD and mental health tolls on anyone that has been deployed gave a new perspective on the outreach and overall diminishing effects from war. There were 2 main points that bugged me in the video: the harsh and painful reality for each and every one of those men that were interviewed, and that the military branches totally ignored, if not denied that anything was wrong with these people (the examples of the commanders and sergeants and such disowning these men as weaklings). The main way to deal with such a big problem is to not deny it or turn your head away from it, but embrace it and try and alleviate the issue; instead of condemning these victims as not worthy of still being soldiers, give them the medical help and closure they need to help them feel better, dont make the matter worse. All of the guys in the video had serious problems acclimating and none of them ever did 100% of the way get back to normal, because the way they are trained changes them as a person. The one boy (whose parents said they noticed it the first day) said he wanted to be numb because they did not feel in the war, they just obeyed and followed orders... which is why many of them turn to the drink or violence at home, it gives them ways to feel nothing as they were accustomed to. The man whose girlfriend separated from him, went out everynight, and even turned up to his siblings graduation drunk, eventually killed himself because of how war changed him... this is one of many similar proceedings because it is estimated more soliders take their own lives than die in combat as of the recent wars. Only a larger sign to change the way somethings are done. Sat, 16 Apr 2011 02:32:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment143281989 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141042465 As we talked about in class the relationship between political decisions and those politicians' benefactors' benefiting from the various decisions is about as linear as water freezing below 0 degrees C. Obviously in life no matter where or who the events are dealing with, there will always be a sort of "I scratch your back, you'll scratch mine" mindset. This is the dilemma of how the American political system works; as Sam mentioned "we aren't living in a democracy because legalized bribery is rampant"... I think instead of a democratic state or republic or whatever we could be accurately described as a Fascist government (Religion/Corporations running the government). Obviously as this article states and as just plain reasoning can comprehend, most of the politicians in Washington don't make the real decisions; they're the puppets and figureheads of the wealthy class and corporations that supply them. Taking a step back from how immoral and wrong and unfair these proceedings may be, that is the way it is and as far as our country is concerned it probably benefits the average american more than screws them. Looking at the bigger picture without such implementations in todays politics and if the big oil had less huge tax breaks, maybe the senate and house would feel less pressure to pay interests to the companies and actually rule on general issues more comprehensively and on a regular basis. Granted the American Petrolium Institute is one of the largest lobbyists in washington and the large industry reaps so much money in every year and contributes to offensive warring (as we talked about the perpetual war for resources) it does make us able to fill up our cars every day with gas, that isnt too expensive, and helps some of our economy where other parts decline. I absolutely think cutting all the tax breaks for these wealth hogs even by 10% max could infinitely make up some of the US's insane deficit in the coming years but absolutely doubt it will happen. As said before that's the way this part of the world works and I can't forsee anything big changing anytime soon (until the revolution Jesse Ventura and Glenn Beck hope will come to pass) The huffington post sums it up in the first sentence of the article. "Clout in Washington isn't about winning legislative battles -- it's about making sure that they never happen at all. The oil and gas industry has that kind of clout." That fact is all that needs to be said. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 17:10:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141042465 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139232828 The classes where we touched on income inequality were some of my favorites. The sociological analysis of the facts behind it, or rather the facts that most people don't know or plainly overlook, revealed a lot of information on the terms of why things like this come around and why they are allowed to keep happening no matter how wrongly the proceedings may be; if anyone reads these statistics and thinks they are 100% ok there is something wrong with them, because the basic idea of caring only about money or yourself at anyone else's expense is completely immoral and wrong. Since Sam said he wanted to see some students replying on other replies I decided to jump right in and critique the first one I disagreed with. Now Chris here above me at least realizes the kind of scumbag elitist 1% wealthiest upper class crooks that are the main players in these "games of checkers" are actual crooks, but brings in things about the invisible strings. I absolutely agree with the fact that society and our americanized culture gives us the idea that happiness can be bought with money and it's one of the most important aspects of life and that these hundred millionaires and billionaires are just taught/learned to act in these ways but I feel like that isn't the question or issue at hand. The main point is that this inequality is getting worse with every day that passes and something must be done about it until it's too late. The average American needs to stop being complacent and actually care enough to stop being a "freerider" as we talked about. This is the kind of stuff that is starting to affect everyone on a personal level, and it probably will take the majority of middle and lower class being affected greatly to provoke such actions on the verge of a revolution. Granted we are going to die soon but that doesn't mean our lives have to be based off of fear and what the elite tell us. The West is more modernized and such compared to places as the middle east or 3rd world countries... the revolutionary ideas are spreading (even if slowly in places as distant as here) and just as war is perpetual something along the lines of a revolution in our homelands is pretty inevitable. My idea is act earlier and save more trouble in the long run. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 00:09:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment139232828 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/managing-crowds/#IDComment137126720 This is a very interesting topic because of the recent circumstances that allow us to relate to group activity on the more personal level; with the proposed budget cuts to higher education and such related objects Sam and the class have discussed the way it will affect students all around the state including the big toll that the penn state family would take on. The free rider dilemma that he talked about in lecture today laid out basically the problem of society as a whole from the activist and not putting extra effort in from the average person. Because people would rather be lazy and not put in that extra time and work, if they see other people doing the work they will just sit there and reap the benefits. This is the main problem with getting large groups organized with one specific agenda as well.. It takes a while for people to rise forward and try to lead and then the other people that want to be the achievers want to do other things and by the point a specific pathway is established everyone else in the group doesn't care or expects others to pitch in for their loss. It's the same basic establishment that a true communistic way of life wouldn't work. People are just naturally inclined to want to do less work if they can get away with it by human instinct. Once that the main problem has been identified for people who are trying to be leaders and rally the masses up for one cause they need to try and make the issue seem real and at a major level of importance, showing that it would affect every person in the specific group adversely and on a personal level. On the level of something where a nuclear power plant would affect a whole populous as in japan that is the most extreme way to get people at that large of a mass to react all in the same way to benefit eachother. There if you don't act according your whole family could be affected for generations. Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:30:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/managing-crowds/#IDComment137126720 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135742513 I really enjoyed monday's class concerning the topic of gay and lesbian families, and well whether or not they have the right or fill the definition to be called the term family. It was an interesting topic because there are so many different standpoints you can take from the issue.... morally, sociologically, literally, or religiously every other one has another thing to bring to the table. I myself come from a very conservative area in southwest pennsylvania and wouldn't say the kind of people that live there are racist or bigoted or anything but definetely a larger proportion of redneck citizens compared to most areas. So be it on the topics of gays or lesbians (or black presidents) there really wasn't anything positive said about the ideas; no one really ever gave two thoughts about two women or men dating, or especially having children and raising a family together. I also went to a private Catholic grade school and being that young we weren't exposed to those types of things as much and didn't understand conflicts greater than those on the playground, but nonetheless there was definetely that aura that resonated throughout the religious background that they were looked down upon by the church. These previous exposures or nonexposures rather to the issue as a whole made it interesting for me because I never really had any serious opinion concerning it. When brought up in lecture before we've went through the process of how liking the opposite or same sex is all based off of genetics + the application of the invisible strings, so therefore it's not a choice to be gay or lesbian and hence those people shouldn't be discriminated against. When we looked at the LGBT family question it almost seemed to prove more factors in their favor; after going through the sociological definition of a family (what we went over in class from socializing the young, to providing basic needs/shelter, creating a loving environment, etc) there were at least 95% of the qualifications double mom or dad families could easily surpass. The kid from Iowa in the video above says it right out "my family is not any different from yours" and I believe he is correct, they have the same problems and struggles and can share the same magical and loving moments heterosexual parent families do. I wouldn't be surprised if alot of LGBT children are more stable than those of "regular" families. The point from all of the arguments made is that being allowed to have children shouldn't be based off of gender or orientation but rather character. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:41:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135742513 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment133771397 Helsinki, Finland. Such a fun name and more interesting one to type when putting in your address. How could some place with such an awesome name have this kind of stigma attached to all of it's inhabitants. It seems sort of juvenile or naiive at first to think sunlight has such an important part in our lives but after some careful investigating and trusting in our gut feeling (as well as some science background) it can actually be seen as a very powerful and tight string tied to everyone. There has actually been quite some research in the past relating amount of sunlight exposure to things such as happiness or lack thereof increasing signs of depression. I mean if you just think about it logically or simply for a few minutes it's quite easy to ascertain; if you look outside during the summer on the brightest, hottest day of the year there will be a lot more people taking part in activities, engaging in healthy habits, or just seemingly having more fun in contrast to perhaps a cold dark day of the winter. ( The video didn't mention the fact that Finland is a pretty cold country in Northern Europe. I'm sure that only adds to the effects that worsen the atmosphere for these people in Helsinki just being drained of energy more in terms of body temperature and/or motivation to do things.) Just how we talked about religious people being happier on average people in sunnier places are probably happier as well. Almost all of my vacations have been to somewhere that has better weather or sunnier warmer days than at home for the same time like going to the beach once it starts snowing or out west during the rainy season. I would venture to bet 90% of travelers pick places that are along the same lines and reasons for going there/ leaving home. I've read also that sunlight helps the accumulation of Vitamin D in the body. Just all of those factors and that the government of Helsinki takes steps to try and alleviate the lack of sunlight thru therapeutic lamps and highly lit festivals proves evidence enough of the importance of decent exposure for everyone and that something we take for granted every day controls many invisible strings in our lives; the suns probably a big example of something you wouldn't know what it's worth until it's gone. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 04:59:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/01/lighting-our-way/#IDComment133771397 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130491062 When I first saw this video and Sam's comment regarding it I thought "Wow that is so true." I don't know anyone that has had any negative issue with strangers, and when I myself was in any bad situation more often than not someone I didn't know lent me a phone, or gave me a ride home. I bet if we took everyone in our lecture section and all their family and friends there would be maybe 1 situation considering a kidnap or something of the sort. There's alot of topics we've been covering that this sorta thing could be related to. The most recent I can recall is how we talked about group think and conformity; this isn't exactly the same situation but its along the same lines. People are afraid of uncommon things as Sam mentioned. The average person is so adverse to trusting something out of the norm that they would rather condemn it than actually trust and learn something from it. That's the background of the whole "stranger scare" but from that point on society and the media takes control. We bring these strange occurences with 1 out of a hundred thousand chances of happening into broad daylight in order to scare the average person.... the way society functions as we have been talking it just goes through the process of enlarging the issue then just pelting us over and over again with the news until it becomes reality. Just like how we talked about the lottery manifesting itself as a part of people's lives and it being a factor beyond their control, we take these crazy random unlikely things as serious and base one of the things we teach our children off of. This overprecaution went from being just a random thing to being how 99% of todays parents socialize their kids. Understanding the reasons and factors that make this process possible may be impossible to do but you can do so possibly through seeing the sociological imagination of it. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:12:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130491062 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/13/dont-be-spreadin-the-love-around-here/#IDComment129004579 When first reading these articles about the actions taken by Malaysian officials towards Valentine's Day the first couple of things to pop in my mind were, excessive, unnecessary, stringent and perhaps just a little bit crazy; growing up in an area of the United States where we learn to embrace those holidays and the true meaning behind them, I was puzzled at how radical the dimensions they take these steps to. There are several things from islamweb.net that just are so atrocious or far from the point of Valentine's Day and they seem to greatly overestimate the means. The fact that this guy is stereotyping other cultures as too soft hearted or pompous and ignorant is quite evident when it states "in Islam a husband loves his wife throughout the year, and he expresses that love towards her with gifts, in verse and in prose, in letters and in other ways, throughout the years - not just on one day of the year." He's insinuating that places such as our country for example are full of nothing but horndog men and promiscuous women that engage in all the wrong acts and are going to be condemned because of our actions. Getting caught up in "romantic love" it says instead of waiting for true "pure" love in the future. Now from the sociological perspective (analyzing the Muslim backgrounds and strings attached to their participants they have to watch only their Eed, cant imitate other "bookbelievers" following the Quran) there is quite the rationale behind banning such acts because they fear it will turn people awry. But then again it's way too intense to totally ban V day because they don't truly understand it. Not the majority but rather a significantly small percentage of Americans are the epitome of their vision, just as we talked about college students overestimating sex stats so too do these radicals. Most relationships aren't based off of fake "love" or wrongly based ideals, but rather we act in such ways as human beings needing companionship. It's the basic instinct to want/need society and culture meshed together. Valentine's Day is just a way for some people to break out of shells, others to get some unusually needed attention, others to just be able to express feelings together and just share time. Now I obviously don't understand the full beliefs of what Allaah would want but 2 unmarried islamic people should be able to be friends if they are of opposite gender and being alone for more than 10 seconds probably won't cause them to stray from his path. Ultimately I believe they are in the right mind because "individual" thinking is not good for large organizations such as a large religion but there is no need to go to the extent of banning some petty holiday. Cupid's intent is never anything negative but rather warm and kindhearted. Sat, 19 Feb 2011 02:56:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/13/dont-be-spreadin-the-love-around-here/#IDComment129004579 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127471672 When given the stats of American travel outright it can be quite amazing at the lack thereof. The article touched upon some and Sam has mentioned in class that we might not be as free as we'd like to think but I would like to expand on some factors that influence that minuscule percentage. It's interesting to see the comparisons to countries in Europe where the majority of them have passports and only a bit over a quarter of Americans have one. Now there are obvious underlying variables that affect the amount or lack of travel that we partake in on average; the United States is such a huge landmass when looking at it beside small European places like Lichtenstein or Luxembourg ( the distance it takes us to get across some states is larger than the whole width of a lot of small countries). Everyone in Europe goes camping in the Netherlands whereas here in the States we just drive a few hours down state. Our location in the western hemisphere is quite far from most places that seem appealing to visit and that brings up another big factor, cost. Everything is beginning to cost more so people would rather drive somewhere or fly across the US instead of across the Atlantic; the biggest point I believe Natalie made in her article was that other countries compared to us travel more because they emphasize "leisure time" better. (We would rather work and save than take time off and spend) Now some might say you can go to Canada or Mexico cheap but neither are that exciting as going to the Vatican City or seeing the Caribbean beauties. Then when you get to the people that are considered wealthy, they understand stuff like the economy and I believe most of them prefer to visit US resorts and territory to give their earned money back into our economy. There are many sociological factors that go into making Americans just not tend to travel that much; it could be because we aren't free to and we just blame and state other things that we think are in our control. From my perspective it boils down to money, population, and the overall size and diversity of the United States : The huge melting pot of different races and societies in our country induce the need to not leave the country but rather leave our basic areas of living to experience a different culture to travel to (plus its alot cheaper to just drive a few hundred miles ) Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:18:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127471672 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126049780 Everyone's first reaction to this video is going to be the same; it's witty, comical, and the majority of the watchers would say this situation never happen or that they would never act the same way. The beauty behind the experiment is that 99% of the time they would act the same way... but what is this phenomenon behind the actions taking place? Behind the humor of the situation there can be many intuitive remarks made about the seemingly unnatural happenings. The matter of the fact is this; people tend to act like other people, talk like other people, walk like other people (even if it might be in very awkward situations) despite most grounds in order to be alike to not be an outcast. None of them want to be weird so in turn decide to conform. This startling discovery came to light when Soloman Asch, who the Asch conformity tests were named after, decided to investigate typical human nature in decision making / acting. This idea of a "group thought" instead of an or being better than an individual thought even if it's wrong or different is very intriguing. What Sam touched upon the last 2 lectures about people wanting to fit in rather than think for them selves contains such an immense depth that it took these scientists and researchers quite some time to get an actual idea behind the issue. Just like how we look weird when we trip on a curb, we do when we walk the wrong direction down the sidewalk or say something atheistic in church or skip in front of anyone in a queue for lunch. All of the actions one can participate in are so vast but a large majority of the time it's the same actions as everyone else in the room; these videos illustrating all of the previous facts about society and human/animal activity though comical they may be, only further corroborate the idea of invisible strings taking hold and influencing our thoughts and actions. Here they tighten up when we do something nonconformist, so perhaps the only way to stand out is perhaps to make an ass of yourself... Sat, 5 Feb 2011 01:48:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126049780 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/24/life-without-parole-001-blog/#IDComment124435834 When talking about morals there’s many different roads you could go down; the whole topic’s direction can change depending on many things. In this day and age with tons of different religions, cultures, areas, everything basically dealing with the sociological aspect, finding one solemn definition of what is right or wrong can be a hard task. Everyone has their own opinion on the matter so sometimes morals can be debated as much as what kind of cheese is better: provolone or American? Due to all these complications when coming to the subject, it is very hard if not impossible to judge your own moral compass; if you’re not biased already, your thoughts and piece on the matter are shaped by all of the background factors and past experiences that have made you who you are today. What one person sees as a sin punishable by nothing else than hell’s inferno another can perceive as just a normal part of a normal day. Just as M. said, there are many aggravating and mitigating circumstances to some situations that make them hard to evaluate. Just as living under my parents roof the last 18 years, getting home cooked meals (usually) every night, finishing high school, getting my own car, having a girlfriend, all with their ups and downs have shaped my values and moral compass, this lifer going to prison at 14 and having to grow up and mature the past 22 years in an 8ft cube as he put it has shaped his compass. No one person can make an answer to the question of morality; this is a kind of debate that has been going on for centuries and will continue throughout the future because there’s pretty much nothing else to do. The government or your neighbor or even parents can’t patronize you for doing what you believe in as long as you believe it is moral. Wherever our lives’ paths take us the only true way to find ourselves and what is meant to be is through meditation and true understanding of what is right. The story behind why M. is in prison for life without parole may have ended unjustly or there may be some discrepancies between the final result but at least he has found his center and believes to be morally sound; in the end, that’s all that truly matters in life. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:53:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/24/life-without-parole-001-blog/#IDComment124435834 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122885899 When first coming across the title and topic of this article I expected the exact opposite of what it actually composed; being written from a person that’s been in prison for over a decade and that has many more decades to come with no change, I assumed there would have been more dreariness or anger behind the messages. But on the other hand this man with nothing to look forward to or call his own actually made some great insights about life and freedom as a whole. From the mentioned topics it seems like a lot of thought was put into them, corroborating what Sam said in class about going into prison and nothing but a huge mirror being put in front of you. B.’s analogy of freedom being just like wallpaper was a perfect comparison; it goes along with the saying that you don’t know how much you value something until it’s gone and you fully realize how much it was truly worth. Just like how we talked in lecture about people saying America is the freest country until traveling elsewhere, he, a man who has had that “wallpaper” torn down, is able to see how free every one of prior days were and understand what it all counted for. If you can’t grasp the immense meaning behind his words just try to immerse yourself in a world where those things listed: eating what or when you want, go take a walk wherever, drive an automobile, go hang out with friends, to something as insignificant as watching the sunset. The majority if not all of us take 99% of those things for granted so just remember most lifers would give anything to have a couple of those freedoms. B. grasps the true meaning of freedom in his thoughts touching upon just being able to decide what you to do, where you want to do it, and when you want to do it, no matter how important or superfluous it may be. I totally agree with his findings and think that it’s great he can put effort and optimism into his days thinking about the freedoms he still has rather than focusing on the past. Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:44:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122885899 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cm%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122624268 Soc 001 booyahh Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:48:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cm%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122624268