Socratic Seminar Reflection

Late last week and early this week, my English class participated in Socratic Seminars about different themes from the book Brave New World. One of the groups I was in discussed the irony of John the Savage's name and the significance of the names of the various characters. The other discussed the power of language in the book, and the power of the word to influence thought and behavior.

I really did not feel as though I encountered any striking new ideas (or at least ones that would stay with me through the weekend and other school work). I felt as though much of what was said were confirmations of many of my own thoughts. The idea that John was more civilized than the "civilized" world and John's emotional understanding but not comprehension of Shakespeare were already thoughts to me. There were not very many challenging of ideas during our talks (though I think that is mainly due to people being respectful to one another and not wanting to have a bad grade). Even though I did not find drastically different points of view from my classmates, I did found out a little background about background such as character name origins when preparing for the seminars. Interestingly, Bernard Marx somewhat exiles himself from society by going to the Savage Reservation. Similarly, Karl Marx (who Bernard is partially named after) is expelled from Paris at the end of 1844 but then returned when a revolution first broke out (or Bernard returned to society). Also, the name Lenina Crowne is said to come from Vladimir Lennin, who supported Karl Marx. I tie this to Lenina trying to understand Bernard and supporting him.

In retrospect, I think I did fairly well on my parts of the conversation. The most difficult part, I would say, would be trying not to interrupt someone who is speaking when an idea pops into your head that feels as though it must absolutely and positively be said at that moment. Even though we had eight minutes to discuss our topic, I felt as though I hadn't said all I wanted to during that time. During the conversation about the power of words to influence thought and behavior, we did not get to talk about Newspeak from the book 1984 by George Orwell. Nearly all of my research for that discussion was about Newspeak (which included quotes from 1984). Even with my negative comments, I enjoyed sitting down with a group of my friends and mutually being aware that we were about to engage in serious and deep conversation. I would invite people into the conversation more often who weren't given much of an opening during the conversation to speak if I had a do-over. Overall, I enjoyed our Socratic Seminars though I would give a little more time to discuss than eight minutes to let everyone say what they wanted to and cover most everything.

That information about Karl Marx being exiled is from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html.

Annotated Reading List

Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2009. Print.

Suzanne Collins supplies an atmosphere of oppression and rebellion in her book Catching Fire, which is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Katniss thought she would no longer have to deal with the Capital and its calmly insane president after her Hunger Games. She was wrong. There is unrest in the districts due to Katniss' defiance of the Capital, and who wouldn't be angry at a government that made you send your children (or you) to entertain the masses by killing one another. Trust is a major theme in Catching Fire because Katniss has to determine who her allies are and who her enemies are. "Remember who your enemy is" Haymitch says to Katniss before stepping into the arena. In the world of Catching Fire, there is the all-powerful Capital to oppress the other districts in a tyranical sense. I can tie this idea back to Brave New World in that there is one tyranical person who controls almost everything in the resident's life. I believe that if the world described in Catching Fire were our world, we would find it to be our "duty to overthrow the government that has not acted in the general public's best interest". However, many people claim that today's government is terrible, yet they do nothing. So if something truly horrific happened similar to the events of Catching Fire, would people be too indifferent to rise up?(400 pages)

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.

What is a utopia? Is it a place where everyone gets along well? Is it a place where no one is biased against another person for their physical looks? Is it a place where everyone enjoys their work? The Brave New World in which Huxley writes of is a utopia he believes we will one day become. However, unlike the typical connotation of the word utopia, Brave New World is not exactly a perfect society (or at least at this point in time we would not describe it as such) with its loose sex, approved use of hallucinogenic drugs, and genetic predetermination. Huxley prophesies that a decay in moral values will lead to his (dystopia)utopia. Some of this decay in morals can be spotted in our society such as many people now considering it normal to have lovers in a year numbering into the double digits. Soma, or the drug of Brave New World, is used by the people whenever they want an escape or are feeling too much emotions. Taking a gramme of Soma sends the person on a "holiday" away from reality to a feeling that is described as being "Christianity without the tears." This drug can be related to the want to legalize marijuana in the US. Utopia may not be pretty, but it's "perfect", right? If you wanted a utopia, what would you be willing to sacrifice for it? (259 pages)


Postman, Neil, and Steve Powers. How to Watch TV News. New York, NY: Penguin, 2008. Print.

How to Watch TV News will enlighten you on how to... well watch TV news. How to Watch TV News is both informative and a warning to the general public of what TV news is all about. Money (well, maybe some news too but that's back seat to money). Postman and Powers describe how TV news expose their viewers to ads. One technique is for the anchor to grab a person's interest just as they are going to commercial break so that that person stays with them. Also, "breaking news" may get many people's attention (which equals more viewers, which equals more people watching commercials, which equals more money), even if those first reports are not exactly solid facts. With the age of technology that we are in now, reports can be sent instantaneously back to the studio. These first reports may not be as accurate as news stations would have you believe. If something catastrophic happened five minutes ago, how do you know so much about it anyway? How to Watch TV News describes the inter-workings of TV news and how it affects our perception of certain events. (169 pages)

The annotated bibliographies are here.

Random Stuffs

Because I was surfing the web and found some stuff that relates to English Class and Starcraft 2 (kinda incongruous, huh?) English related: dystopia (and no, I'm not starting a political war here, it's a joke, don't blog rage), 1984, and some soma.

The source of that above comic and another translated strip here.

Pink and the US' abundance of abundance

Pink's humorous criticism of American's abundance sheds light as to how America is evolving today. Pink explains that "during the twentieth century", most middle-class Americans aspired "to own a home...." He then states that "more than two out of three Americans own a home in which they live. The use of the word aspiration in Pink's sentence paints a picture that owning a home was more than a simple goal to Americans that could be easily reached. Also, Pink uses a bit of his humorous criticism by later saying that "in fact, some 13 percent of homes purchased today are second homes. This new abundance has left Americans more capable of satisfying one of their needs of survival: shelter. This idea of the elimination of the fight for survival is driven home as Pink describes that "abundance has freed literally hundreds of millions of people from the struggle for survival" and has "made it possible to extend the quest for self-realization." The use of the word "struggle" suggests a kind of air that a great burden is lifted from many people by our abundance. This example explains how abundance has taken away the fight for survival (the use of the words "from the struggle for survival" greatly represents this point) and let people start exploring the right-brain parts of life, thus evolving.

Got a deathstick?

(click the image for a better view)

Above is an ad for a "New crush-proof box" for cigarettes. The ad is, of course, denouncing cigarettes and not promoting them with the box being a casket among other details.

Though the ad is short on very long text, the longest string of words explains that "The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health." This may seem as if it were one of the most obvious facts in the world; however, the fact that this statement has been determined by the Surgeon General makes the statement much more credible. Most people would trust the word of anyone who could rightfully be called a surgeon but if that surgeon were the Surgeon General, who wouldn't believe what he or she has to say about your health? If this person were important enough to have a title that no other surgeon has, one would think that that person were much more knowledgeable than many other surgeons in the world. Another credible source to help strengthen this ad is the text about the use of the FTC method at the bottom of the image. The FTC method has been used to tell the amount of tar, nicotine, and other substances in cigarettes since 1967. The FTC method has been revised since to show the levels of tar and nicotine when a cigarette is smoked under higher intensive conditions. Because the FTC method is used in all cigarette advertisements and by the major cigarette companies, this bit of fact is not to be taken as a said statement by an untrustworthy source.

A few facts around this ad state a few hard facts such as the amount of tar and nicotine per cigarette and the Surgeon General's warning. 8 mg may not seem as though it were that much tar, but how many cigarettes are in a pack and how many packs do some people smoke in a day? Some people may consume up to 32 ml of tar a day, or even more. Again, the Surgeon General's warning has the simple fact that smoking is dangerous to your health. That simple statement states a fact which is impossible to argue with.

The largest part of the above photo is that of the coffin with a few cigarettes tucked into it's bed. The coffin may be reminiscent of the passing of a loved one or someone a person knew. From there, one could go as far to relate the loss of a loved one to lung or similar cigarette caused cancer. This thought can really pull on the heart strings of someone who has actually lost a loved one to cigarette smoke and even bring back painful memories. Even the joke at the top of the ad about the "New crush-proof box" has a kind of emotional appeal. At first a grin may cross a viewers face, and then a grimace after a little consideration about what is being said. The joke may even be suggesting that the smokers are more concerned about a few precious squeezed cigarettes than their health or the health of those around them.

Ethos, Logos, and Pathos are used in this advertisement against cigarettes by borrowing some of the Surgeon General's credibility, stating a fact about tar content, and reminding us of lost one to this addiction. This ad blends all parts of Aristotle's persuasive appeals to persuade people to not use cigarettes.

Something Taken for Granted

Late last night, while trying to find a topic for my final thINK summer assignment, I glanced at the counter to find food from my mother’s parent’s house. The food looked great; a kind of flour chips, a sauce, dried onions, and banh xeo comprised this tray of brought home food. I just had a sample of each but as I lay in bed, I realized how important home cooking is.
Both my maternal and paternal grandparents cook their own meals. I’ve never known any of them to so much as look at a fast food restaurant. What is a fast food joint anyway? Is it a place to find a good deal or delicious food? I beg to differ.
Even though the fast food places may seem to be a cheap place to get food, if one were to look a little closer, questions can be raised. If the value menus are composed of $1 items, what is the quality of the actual food? Restaurants are built to make money, not give it away, so how would they make money by serving high grade food for such a low price? I have watched my father cook a $40 batch of gumbo which fed my family and friends for days. How much fast food could a person get for $40 at not even a fraction the taste?
Besides being healthier and more cost efficient, cooking meals yourself brings people together. Why go eat out somewhere when you can cook for a friend or a loved one? If that cook doesn’t want to cook alone, they could get a loved one or friend(s) to help them cook, this is actually quite fun.
Whenever you get the chance, cook a nice home meal for yourself or your family. Not only will you hone cooking skills and save money, you will also get to spend valuable time with family and friends.

Money, Greed, and Temptation

Money leads to many problems in life and some go so far as to call money "the source of all evil." Money causes tragedies when in excess or when people think they need much more.

These ideas are expressed vividly in the short story The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving. Tom Walker was a meager, miserly fellow who lived just a few miles from Boston, Massachusetts during 1727. In short, Tom met a man claiming to be Old Scratch. He offered Tom the treasure of a pirate for the usual price. With much greed in his heart and fear for not wanting to lose the treasure, Tom struck a bargain with Old Scratch to be his "usurer" of money. Tom gained vast amounts of money by squeezing the money from poor debtors and land-jobbers. One day as he was about to foreclose on an unlucky land-speculator for whom "he had professed the greatest friendship", Tom lost his composure and exclaimed, "The devil take me if I have made a farthing!" Old Scratch was glad to comply.

Tom showed much greed when Old Scratch instructed him to "lend money at two per cent. a month" and he replied that he would charge four. Tom shows an even deeper greed and selfishness as he replied to Old Scratch's instructions to "extort bonds, foreclose mortgages" and "drive the merchants to bankruptcy--" by saying that he would "drive them to the devil."

Pink Floyd actually has an entire song about money and how it affects people. During the aptly named song, "Money", Pink Floyd explains how money changes people into greedy and selfish beings that "grab that cash with both hands and make a stash". Pink almost seems to compare money to drugs as he sings, "Money, it's a hit" in that we can't get enough and need another hit similar to a drug. Pink later goes on to sing about man's selfishness by stating "get your hands off my stack." This statement describes how people would not be moral enough to share any of their money.

In this society money can be the illusion of happiness, the more one has, the happier that person is. We see money's corrupting hand in our government and in other organizations. Even children are affected by money, some have too little, just enough, or too much for their own good. Many crimes are driven by the hunger for more money such as robbery, muggings, and the sale of illegal drugs and substances.

Be very careful when you handle money. Keep a firm grip on what cash means to you or it can posses you. Ultimately, I agree with Pink Floyd's lyrics, "Money, so it seems, is the root of all evil today."