en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2430065 Comments by nth5046 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266895 They say war can bring out the worst in people, but it also exposes the worse people. Hopefully these men are locked away forever, but that’s besides the point. You cannot convince me that any conflict that results in war couldn’t have been resolved a different way. You cannot convince me. There’s always an alternative. And when innocent people have to suffer at the hands of bloodthirsty intervals, why not search long and hard for that alternative before you send our people to war, and condemn innocent people to death. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:50:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266895 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266849 I for one know that I’d never join the military voluntarily, for a many number of reasons. The only scenarios that could bring me to war are a National Draft, or if the people that I love and care about most were murdered by an enemy. I’m naturally not a violent person. My mother told me she never heard me raise my voice. I’ve never started a fight in my life, though I’ve played the violent sport of football since I was young. I cannot comprehend what would provoke another human being to commit such a heinous act on another human being, lot alone a child…A CHILD! Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:49:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266849 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266791 Very disturbing to read. The first two pages of the article alone make you want to stop reading. Make you want to forget. Make you want to continue on with your life as it was before you started reading; but that is easier said than done. As hard as it was to read an account on such a despicable act of mankind, it is nothing in comparison as to what it must have been like to live through it, or rather, die through it. The boy died in rags, alone, unarmed, and confused. That father saw his son in a pool of blood, murdered at the hands of my countries “heroes”. I couldn’t imagine seeing a friend like that, even an acquaintance, let alone my child. I’d rather die myself than experience that. So, supporters of war, do you really support this? Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:49:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment145266791 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287569 For the rest of us it could be a number of things: A soul mate; a lawsuit; a trip to Burger King. Whenever our realization happens really depends on how far off base we are in the first place. Some will never even have one, even being raised from birth or dying a certain way. All that’s true is that if we don’t learn to see way the way C does, we might have some answering to do in the next life. Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:08:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287569 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287553 Besides the obvious factors of videos, television, movies, and any other type of media outlet, what other influences, big or small, may there be in why men construct a certain view about women. Is it because men are taller than women? Is it because a women’s basketball is smaller than a males? Is it because a softball field is way smaller than a baseball field? Is it because when two people are married, man comes before wife? Is it because they are introduced as Mr. and Mrs.? Who knows what tiny instances or details cause certain people to feel certain ways. When it comes to the obvious: pornography, music videos, and pretty much on MTV, it’s easy to see why some men have truly lost touch with what women want. But how do we become able to see things the same way C now does? Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:08:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287553 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287528 Who came first? Adam. Who came second? Eve. From that point on, in many cultures across space and time, women have often been looked at as second class citizens. Whether it has been the fight for a voice, the fight for the right to vote, the fight for equal wages, or even the fate for respect, women have historically had a tougher time getting ahead and sharing the same advantages in this world that men have. We talked about this in class not long ago, when talking about women in music videos. Why is it that many men look at women as objects to be used, rather than to be loved, or even respected? Why is it that it takes some men lifetimes to see the errors in their thinking? Why is it that some men never do? In C’s case, it took incarceration – permanent incarceration. But he did finally see the deficits in his thinking. Now how can we? Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:08:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/what-a-man-is/#IDComment143287528 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149561 Since a lot of us haven’t seen this side of humanity for ourselves, we can’t truly emphasize with these individuals, even if we want to. Jeff, the soldier from the video that took his life, is just one of many soldiers who have lost their lives after the fighting was done. Because for soldiers who have undergone unparalleled mental strain, the real war started for them when they got back home. We can’t understand the nightmares that drive some of them to suicide. The night terrors that keep them up at night. The terrible guilt that can only be rid of by ending their own lives. We can’t understand, so many of us don’t embrace, just as we’ve always done. Sat, 9 Apr 2011 02:50:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149561 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149524 The experiences of killing and seeing death occur are something that all the vets from the video have seen. I have never seen somebody get killed. I’ve seen my grandfather die…naturally. I’ve never seen a mangled body. I’ve never seen the mangled body of a child. I’ve never seen a child dead. Period. Most of you who are reading this haven’t. The experiences that these men have gone through has completely changed the way they look at the world. They now live in a different reality then the one they thought existed when they were kids. They’ve seen the ugly side of war. They’ve seen the ugly side of humanity. And it is weighing on them. Sat, 9 Apr 2011 02:49:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149524 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149469 Throughout human history the strange and foreign have always been met with a sense of uneasiness and fear. Whether it was the first humans dealing with fire, wild animals, and each other. Or the first settlers who came across the Native Americans. Or even Major League Baseball when Jackie Robinson and company came into the league. Whatever the case, we’ve always either downcast the strange and unusual or have just tried to outcast them from society all together. In class today we watched a video on war vets who are suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Though this is definitely a known problem in our society, it is not a particular popular subject, mostly because it deals with something that isn’t understood or comprehendible by the general population. Sat, 9 Apr 2011 02:49:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/war-vets-and-ptsd/#IDComment141149469 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284500 As a juror, I know it would be hard to side with R, especially without the backing of his siblings. He could have fabricated the whole story just as a means to give himself a motive, a reason, an obsession just crazy enough to make everyone see why what he did had to be done. The fact that R’s life even came to point were the thought of killing his parents was constantly in his head is a tragedy. None of us can cast stones at him because if what he says is true, almost all of us can’t even come close to relating to him. Sociologically speaking, R never had a chance Sat, 2 Apr 2011 03:35:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284500 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284456 The most fundamental relationship that effects a human being is its relationship with its parents. A secure relationship can develop a foundation in a person that leads to more successful encounters throughout a lifetime, and an insecure relationship can have the very opposite effect. A child with happily married parents will probably have a very good chance of growing up with a successful marriage as well. A child whose father was never around my have trust issues. But what if Dad was around? What if the man who brought you into the world constantly put you through hell time after time after time. In fact, what if every person the one should be able to trust were the very people that you could trust the least? Supposedly, that was R’s life. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 03:34:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284456 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284395 In sociology we constantly talk about the “invisible strings.” How the fact that we are born a certain skin color, to a certain set of parents, who belong to a certain social class, which exists in a certain village/town/city/state, which exists in a certain country, which exists on a certain content, which comprise the entirety of the land mass on planet earth. In R’s case, who was born into a twisted world. The fact that his parents were who the were made all the other invisible strings that existed in his life be severed. Sam talks about how kids at Penn State have very little chance of becoming CEOs and things of that nature, but what would he say about R? I think he would say, sociologically speaking, that R was born to be a murderer, and he never had a chance otherwise. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 03:34:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/23/fear-2/#IDComment139284395 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137628023 Now that scientists know where humans and other animals originated from, it has now become clear to some what comes after death: Nothing. The theory of some is that we are all here due to chance. There is no afterlife, and therefore no reason to make the most out of the one chance we have hear on Earth. Why go to praise a false god when we could be indulging in earthly desires that alter are mind and satisfy our human desires? Why should you live for others when it is much easier to live for yourself? When religions are challenged and answers to many of our questions are put out there, it makes it easier for people to throw away religion and live for their own reasons and to die for their own reasons. Whatever your poison, it is clear that this Age of Discovery that we live in is a challenge to religions almost everywhere, and it is clear that the attribute of faith has become more important than ever. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:43:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137628023 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137627980 As we go further and further into the technological revolution, many go further and further from Church, Temple, and other traditional places of worship. The theory of evolution has obliterated the story of Adam and Eve. Rationality has overcome faith when it comes to stories like that of Noah’s Ark, or other well known Biblical events/stories. Doubt has crept into the minds of many who have turned on their TV sets and have seen the horrors of modern society. Social sites such as Facebook allow self-promotion and obsessing over others to be easier than ever. Everyday there seems to be another social crisis. Problems pile up but the true answers really don’t. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:43:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137627980 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137627944 Since the beginning of human history, people have been turning towards organized religion to find the answers to the internal questions we all have: Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going. All religions, from Christianity to Hinduism, try to answer those questions for all who decide to become part of their selected denomination. And for hundreds of thousands of years, religions served as the “Ask.com” for human civilization. But then came science, evolution, creationism. And so came doubt, modern day religions, atheism. Science has brought reasoning and rationalizing to the forefront of society, and for some people has pushed religion to the back burner. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:42:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137627944 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959188 Then again, will letting this prisoner back into society really give him back the life he could have had? Will it rid him of the guilt that he feels whenever his mind wonders? Will it get rid of the nightmares that make him scared to close his eyes? Probably not. Here’s some food for thought: Maybe the “victim” in this case is really the luckier one. Maybe he is in a MUCH better place right now. Maybe he is praying harder than anyone else for his murder, looking down everyday and feeling sorry for the man that delivered him to a place where no one could be happier. Maybe while we may all ask this prisoner why, maybe all his victim wants to say is thank you. Who knows? We sure don’t. All we know is that this man is paying for his crime. Whether that payment should last the rest of his life is and will probably always be up for debate. Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:14:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959188 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959131 Now don’t get me wrong, as unfortunate as this individuals circumstances were, I do believe this man should pay for the crime he committed all those years ago. Should he still be paying? That is the real question. Some may argue that he should rot in jail forever. Why should he be given a normal life when that is exactly what he allowed to be taken from another human being. Actually, it had to be more than one, right? The victims family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, admires etc. all had normality stolen from them that night. So why should he ever be given his back? Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:14:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959131 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959080 Although I, like many of the other participants in this blog, may rush to say how differently I would have acted in this situation, it is really impossible for me to say. If I were in that situation, my entire life and view of the world would not be what it was when I actually was 14 years old. We don’t know exactly what was going through this man’s head that night. We don’t know what his feelings were. Only he knows that, and time may even be altering his perception of what those feelings were that night where his childhood ended. Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:14:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment135959080 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment134299848 People who weren’t used to be careful with their word selection are those who this video is aimed at. Though someone may think using the R-word is an okay thing in everyday speech, it would be hard to look a person with Down-syndrome, like the young man in this video, and use it to their face. Even the most ignorant of people would struggle with that task. So though it is a sociological issue, it is also a moral issue. If you know a word offends a many number of people, it is probably best not to use it, or to try and use it as little as possible. Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:27:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment134299848 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment134299799 The issue with the R-word is not dissimilar to the controversy surrounding the word “gay”. The word gay has garnered notoriety because it almost is always used to refer to something in a negative sense, just like the word “retard” is, or any variations of the word. Some would say that being gay and being mentally disabled are both things that people are born with, just as one can not help being born black or white. It is because of this that people also compare the use of the R-word with the use of the N-word. Neither should be thrown around lightly, and when it is used publicly or politically, backlash should be expected. Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:27:33 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment134299799