en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2454048 Comments by daitokatana http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963951 Another thing that I disagree with about this article is the way the information was presented on the internet. I did not like how the article had the pictures and videos from the deployment so easily available on the website. If I was a parent I would not want my child to see the things posted on the website. I understand that it is up to the parents to censor information from their children and there are things like parental controls on televisions and computers, but a parent cannot be watching a child all the time. Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:19:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963951 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963906 The article does not accurately represent this case. I feel that the article is trying to blame everyone involved in this case. I am not sure if everyone is responsible or not but I am not going to jump to conclusions about the people involved in the case nor any armed service member. I feel that this article creates a group of people that read these articles and believe that this pertains to all armed forces members. The way the article was written seemed to just pick put the guilty parts of the case without giving the chance of another side to what happened. There are facts that you can't get around but many of the parts of the article seemed to hint at a completely guilty platoon of soldiers. I know that there will never be an article that will tell both sides or tell the complete truth but I feel that this article breeds a skewed and negative view of the military. Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:19:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963906 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963860 This article is a good and bad thing. The contents of the article is good and bad, but the way that the information was presented is poorly executed. I believe that the citizens of the United States deserve to know the truth and have a right to know what they want to know. The information is also something that I don't believe should be exposed to the public. I hope that someone that reads this article will try to gain all the facts from both sides and try to fully appreciate the situation before making a decision about what to think about the topic. But there are a lot of people who will take the information they are presented at face value. This is Rolling Stone and they have a liberal slant and there are other slants to the this article. Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:19:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143963860 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141978070 The way to solve the problem of people fearing being seen as a coward and being afraid of coming out about their problem is by making the problem a big deal. The military can make testing for PTSD mandatory and provide services to deal with stress. But the only way to get people to be totally honest about their problem is to have them want to talk about their problem. By having more people who talk openly about PTSD who have PTSD in the military might encourage people to seek help. By showing that PTSD isn't a weakness is one way to prevent people from silently suffering alone. Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:08:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141978070 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141978031 I believe that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an under evaluated illness of returning veterans of Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom (OIF/ OEF) and the war in Afghanistan. I believe that the reason that PTSD has been recently a problem is because of the new acknowledgement of this disorder as a problem. The problem of PTSD has always been around but only recently has the military accepted this problem as serious. The problem of PTSD is not only because of the lack of acceptance by the government and the military but also due to the service members attitudes towards weakness. The military has an atmosphere of never showing weakness and always putting away your problems to help the greater good. This atmosphere was created to emphasize that the military is a team and to teach unselfishness in combat. The consequence of these lessons is a culture of fear of being seen as a weak person. This is what prevents a lot of people from readily admitting to having a problem. Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:07:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141978031 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment139966360 Even further is how does this woman plan on implementing all the ideas she is putting forth. She wants to have women involved in fifty percent of the peace talk. How would she suggest going about finding the women who best represent the desire of the women populous and putting them into the peace negotiations. She mentions how much money the United Nations spend and speaks about investing in women. How does she plan on attaining these funds and getting the money and how to use it. Using the money to build schools and improve neighborhood. What makes men incapable from doing these jobs and using the money this way. I don't believe that she gives men enough credit where credit is due. I can understand that she wants peace and wishes to take a kinder and gentler approach to war. And that women are very important to building nations and peace negotiations and probably if women ran governments they'd probably run better. But what I feel she is missing is that we sleep peaceably in our beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf. Mon, 4 Apr 2011 20:14:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment139966360 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment139966315 I think that the speaker has good and bad points about her talk. As she said, we only have one view on war. She makes a good point that women are underappreciated in the peace negotiations of war. And also that women are the ones that do seem to hold down the home front while the men are fighting. But what I feel she's missing is that each culture is different when it comes to war. Even though the "fear" may be the same, the way countries go to war is different. In Iraq and Afghanistan, there were plenty of civilian casualties and many were women and children. But the combatants of both wars decided to blend and hide with the civilian populous. The coalition forces are not the ones that asked the enemy to use the civilians as human shields. The main point that she is trying to make is that women do not have enough say when it comes to war. I believe that this is true. In most militaries and governments today, women are the minority, especially amongst the higher ranking personnel. But what I don't understand is, what makes the men in the military who do talk about the peace treaties less capable of coming up with an adequate or successful plan. Mon, 4 Apr 2011 20:13:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment139966315 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment139185865 This brings me to anomic suicide. When people lose their social norms and begin to feel alone is when they feel tempted to commit suicide. When a person goes through a hardship such as prison, or boot camp, or even high school, it is important to have connections with others in order to cope with the ordeal. Even greater than the friendships people have is the feeling of being important in someone's life. This man in prison talks greatly about how he likes feeling important and being a parent figure to the younger inmates. If a person can feel important in someone's life, it can help a person endure hardships. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 19:58:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment139185865 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment139185832 While thinking about this letter, the lecture about anomic suicide comes to mind. This man makes an emphasis on the importance of relationships and I believe this directly ties to anomic suicide. He talks about how it is hard to keep in touch with people outside of prison and as time went by the number of letters he received became fewer. The relationships that this man has made in prison are very important to him and the letters he gets from his friends and former teachers mean a lot to him. I believe that when a person goes through hardship, it's important to have relationships. When my friend went through boot camp he said that letters are the things that picked him up when things were rough. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 19:57:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment139185832 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136528763 I can understand that this may not sound like a good idea to some people. That there is a chance that if we let a murderer out of prison because it is believed he has repented for his crime and wishes to move on with his life that there is a chance that he might kill again. And that could have been another life that could have been saved. But it is up to society and the citizens to take that chance. To realize that ruining one man's life in order to get payment for a life lost is not always the right answer. This poem and these blogs have shown me a side of these men that I would not expect when I think a convicted felon sentenced to life in prison. I cannot be totally certain if these men are genuinely expressing their true feelings or not but I believe that people can change and that these men have changed in one way or another. Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:16:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136528763 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136528722 Before I started taking this class and reading these blogs I used to think that a life sentence was a necessary and well deserved punishment for those who have committed a serious felony. But after being in this class for half a semester, I have learned the importance of looking at things from other people's perspectives. and of course there are those that definitely deserve to be put in prison for life, but I have realized that a life sentence is unnecessary in many cases. Before college I did not really know a lot about the justice system. I just thought that it was there to put people who have committed crimes in order to punish them. After taking this class and a few criminology classes I have realized that the corrections facilities should be put in place to help those that are sent to prison. I understand that these men have committed a high level crime and should be punished for their actions but I believe that we should give them a second chance before locking them up for good. Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:16:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136528722 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment135616903 To think that a jury and all the judicial officials appointed did not take the accused’s age into account seems unlikely. To think that for 464 cases the judge and jury have ignored the fact that the accused is a child is beyond reason. Maybe some of the cases were botched and unfair but to sentence such a large amount of children to prison with life without parole seems like there must have been a good reason. I am not saying that children deserve to go to prison for life without parole and I am not saying that the Pennsylvania judicial system is not a bit on the ridiculous when it comes to life sentences. What I am saying is that I do not believe that the judicial officials and jury members were so stupid to have callously sentence a juvenile to life without parole without accounting for the age of the accused. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:20:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment135616903 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment135616860 I did not know that Pennsylvania had so many juveniles sentenced to life without parole. I find 464 to be a lot of children put into prison for life. When I think about what life without parole means, I get this uneasy feeling of claustrophobia. To be stuck in the same place, doing the same things, seeing the same people every day for the rest of one’s life is an uncomfortable feeling of despair. To think that there has been so many children whose lives have been ruined by this sentence. But for some reason I am not nearly surprised as much as I think I should be about how many children are in prison with LWOP. I do not know too much about the judicial system in Pennsylvania but am sure that these children went to trial and had a court hearing with a jury. I do not know the crimes that these children have committed but I have to assume that they must have been something pretty terrible. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:20:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/14/kids-getting-life-how-is-this-serving-us-really/#IDComment135616860 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484619 So I guess what I am trying to say is that a lottery can be good and bad and greed is the force behind it. Not saying greed is a totally bad or good thing but that there can be friction when it comes to being presented with a large amount of money so abruptly. Tue, 1 Mar 2011 04:28:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484619 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484590 So if his family is doing poorly he may try to use his friendship with the lottery winner to get money. This isn't bad greed. And sometimes people will give money to those who need it and that's a good thing. But when a lottery winner has a bad greed and someone asks him for help with money he might see that all these greedy people are trying to take away his luxury. Or the other way around. An asker with a bad greed asking for a boat or yacht can come off as a bad person also. Tue, 1 Mar 2011 04:28:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484590 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484580 When the lottery was first born, it was illegal. In was a person (bookie) who had a lottery and people paid a fee to be in this gamble. This was a lucrative way for organized criminals to keep a large flow of cash coming. When the government saw that all this money was going around they wanted a piece of it. So the lottery became government sanctioned. The gangs wanted money for organized crime and the government saw the large flow of money and wanted to have some of it too (greed). State lotteries in modern day is a way for a lucky person to get rich fast. Despite the reason (for luxury or survival) a person hoping to win the lottery is greedy. And once a person wins the lottery the greed of people around them shows. A lottery winner's friend asking for money could be the man who spotted the large herd of cattle and wants to ensure his family's survival. Tue, 1 Mar 2011 04:28:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484580 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484516 But when money means more than survival, when it means luxury, it can become a bad thing. Wanting nice things or comforts in your life is not a bad thing but when that need for luxury consumes a person's life, then it is. Tue, 1 Mar 2011 04:28:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484516 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484445 The lottery was born from greed because I believe that people are inherently greedy. I am not saying that everyone is greedy in the way the word is commonly used today (like a corporate fat cat) and I am not saying having some sort of greed is a bad thing either. I believe greed is in our nature because, like many animals, humans have the instinct of self preservation. When humans were hunter gatherers and food and water was important to survival, in the interest of self preservation, a human would probably collect enough food to ensure his or her family/tribe's survival. And if food was scarce, if possible, a human would be greedy and try to collect too much food to feed his or her people in order to ensure that food could last for however long it was needed. So if a hunter finds a huge herd of cattle when food is scarce, he's gonna try to get as much food as possible to ensure that his tribe can survive. In my opinion, this is how greed is not a bad thing. Wanting more than enough to ensure survival is not a bad thing. And in a world that relies largely on money to get the necessities for survival, money means survival. Tue, 1 Mar 2011 04:27:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment131484445 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130022648 The other half of the news media selling drama, is that people are interested in the drama. People want see the dangers and dark sides of the world. It's the same reason why people slow down to see a car crash on the highway. Even if the news is horrible, people have an interest in it. I believe that when the media is showing a story on the dangers of kidnapping in a neighborhood, a person living in that neighborhood will have a greater attraction to that story rather than a story about increased town spending on parks. Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:04:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130022648 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130022635 Another factor that could be adding to this fear of kidnappings in the world is the new stations. The business of news reporting is one of money based in viewer ratings. What gets views are interesting news stories, especially dramatic ones. The media may take a story about kidnapping and make a big deal about it. News stations may run a kidnapping story multiple times, emphasize the fears and danger of the event, and try to dramatize the message to viewers. To try and make them think, this could happen to me. And then the news may bring in a 'professional' who can tech you to "lower your risk of having your child be a victim of kidnapping". The news media is a business and the more viewers are attained through selling the drama. Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:04:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130022635