Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Blog #10 Essay #3 Final Draft


Are you willing to give up your Rights for Safety?

     Today the Government violates our civil rights using unethical means, but many say it’s fine as long as it’s safer for the greater good. It is also said that it deters and reduces crimes but I have to disagree and say the means being used for our safety is unethical and violates civil rights, and not all people are okay with that. We saw a movie in class last week called “Minority Report”, and in that movie its many years in to the future and criminals were arrested before the crime was ever committed. I live in NYC and its fine for the cops to stop and interrogate people on the streets and that’s called stop and frisk, because they have a probable cause and that probable cause is “suspicion”. What about airport security now, it’s fine for them to search anybody in a room and even strip search individuals that they feel may be a threat or terrorist. We find our civil liberties endangered by the very government whose job it is to protect them, and our civil liberties should not be taken by claiming that the threat is worth it.

     Stop and frisk is a big dilemma in NYC because not only is it unethical due to racial profiling, but it goes against our civil rights, but fine as long as there is probable cause. Today the minority groups that include the blacks, Latinos/Hispanics who have to deal with the stop and frisks due to racial profiling and discrimination are mostly the ones being stopped and frisked. CHAPPELL, KEVIN in his article in the sixth paragraph stated “Black and Latino males between the ages of 14 and 24 account for 4.7 percent of the city's population; however, they made up 41.6 percent of stop-and-frisks”. These racial profiling’s can cause the minority groups to fear cops and lose respect toward the law. The loss of respect will cause a rise in criminality also those who fear the cops will tend to not call the cops and those crimes won’t get reported. Crimes that don’t get reported result in a statistical error formed by the (UCR) Uniform Crime Report, an FBI program since 1929 that collects information on crimes reported to law enforcement. If reports aren’t made government will budget cut the police departments in the area causing police officers to be fired and a decrease in officers can really cause crime to rise.
     With government invading our privacy first with unwarranted searches of our property, and now with unwarranted searches of our person violates our fourth amendment which is protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. Airport security is using unethical means on how they use full body scans to reduce strip search but these full body scans are also intruding people’s privacy on a new level. The full body scan was controversial because the images taken are close to a naked image, even though many say its fine as long as it makes it safer to ride, where’s the privacy we all supposedly hold. Then there’s Security officers that do “random” searches when choosing individuals for these scans but in all reality they look for a specific group that are categorized as terrorist like Arabs, and Muslims for example. On Christmas of 2009 there was the underwear bomber incident where a Nigerian man sowed a bomb to his underwear. From the online news article by “Daily Mail Reporter” “agents admitted that Abdulmutallab did not look like a terrorist”, and if it wasn’t for the failed explosive it would have been a tragic Christmas for many. I believe Security officers should be taught to have an open mind when looking for a suspicious person and not the way a terrorist is stereotyped to look like. It is more likely officers will single out the wrong passengers than the actual threats.


     In the movie “Minority Report” it is about 50 years into the future and there is a system called pre-crime. This system is made up 3 physics called “precogs” that tells the future of those who are going to commit murder or suicide. This may seem like a good future but all civil rights were taken from the people as they were convicted before he/she knew they were on trial, and are not allowed a defense, now that would be against the sixth amendment which is the right to counsel and a fair trial. Not only that but when the pre-crime officers were looking for a convicted criminal they would send these robotic spiders that would enter into anyone’s apartment to scan their eye and you had to let them. If this kind of future was possible I would not want to be a part of it because those in control of such power would abuse it such as Lamar Burgess did so in the movie, maybe not like Lamar but slowly taking away civil rights to ensure the safety of all.
     To say the least I’m not with the whole safety talk and having to let them intrude on some simple liberties we supposedly have. Next thing you know we would be living a similar future like in Minority Report and the Minority’s now will lose their voice and I am a part of the Latino minority group today. There could be better ways to ensure safety but also ensure the rights of the people because at this rate we could ultimately be handing our freedom over to the government. It just takes one bad incident for the government to come in and promise a safer environment but we would have to give something up for that better safer life.

Blog #9 Essay #3 First Draft


Are you willing to give up your Rights for Safety?

     Today the Law enforcement violates our civil rights using unethical means, but many say it’s fine as long as it’s safer for the greater good. It is also said that it deters and reduces crimes but I have to disagree and say the means being used for our safety is unethical and violates all the people’s rights, and not all people are okay with that. I live in NYC and its fine for the cops to stop and interrogate people on the streets and that’s called stop and frisk, because they have a probable cause and that probable cause is “suspicion”. What about airport security now, it’s fine for them to search anybody in a room and even strip search individuals that they feel may be a threat or terrorist. We saw a movie in class last week called “Minority Report”, and in that movie its many years in to the future and criminals were arrested before the crime was ever committed.

     Stop and frisk is a big dilemma in NYC because not only is it unethical due to racial profiling, but it goes against our civil rights, but fine as long as there is probable cause. Today the minority groups that include the blacks, Latinos/Hispanics who have to deal with the stop and frisks due to racial profiling and discrimination are mostly the ones being stopped and frisked. CHAPPELL, KEVIN in his article in the sixth paragraph stated “Black and Latino males between the ages of 14 and 24 account for 4.7 percent of the city's population; however, they made up 41.6 percent of stop-and-frisks”. These racial profiling’s can cause the minority groups to fear cops and lose respect toward the law. The loss of respect will cause a rise in criminality also those who fear the cops will tend to not call the cops and those crimes won’t get reported.
     Airport security is using unethical means on how they use full body scans to reduce strip search but these full body scans are also intruding people’s privacy on a new level. The full body scan was controversial because the images taken are close to a naked image, even though many say its fine as long as it makes it safer to ride, where’s the privacy we all supposedly hold. Then there’s Security officers that do “random” searches when choosing individuals for these scans but in all reality they look for a specific group that are categorized as terrorist like Arabs, and Muslims for example.


     In the movie “Minority Report” it is about 50 years into the future and there is a system called pre-crime. This system is made up 3 physics called “precogs” that tells the future of those who are going to commit murder or suicide. This may seem like a good future but all civil rights were taken from the people as they were convicted before he/she knew they were on trial, and are not allowed a defense, now that would be against the sixth amendment which is the right to counsel and a fair trial. Not only that but when the pre-crime officers were looking for a convicted criminal they would send these robotic spiders that would enter into anyone’s apartment to scan their eye and you had to let them. If this kind of future was possible I would not want to be a part of it because those in control of such power would abuse it such as Lamar Burgess did so in the movie, maybe not like Lamar but slowly taking away civil rights to ensure the safety of all.
     To say the least I’m not with the whole safety talk and having to let them intrude on some simple liberties we supposedly have. Next thing you know we would be living a similar future like in Minority Report and the Minority’s now will lose their voice and I am a part of the Latino minority group today. There could be better ways to ensure safety but also ensure the rights of the people because at this rate we could ultimately be handing our freedom over to the government. It just takes one bad incident for the government to come in and promise a safer environment but we would have to give something up for that better safer life.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Blog #8


     “Minority Report” and “Oedipus the King” both deal with the issue of free will and determinism whether they lived a life of free will or was it determined already. Free will is to believe you control you life in every aspect up to the decisions you make as determinism is the factor of how your life was already predetermined already and the choices you make were destined. In "Free Will and Determinism" the author Michael Huemer tells us that determinist believe we have zero control over our lives, and I believe he has a point in a way.
     The play Oedipus the king you can say free will didn’t really exist it was a plan of destiny to make people believe they have a choice but it’s already destined to be that way in the end.  I would have to say Oedipus the king was one hundred percent determinism because he was already told of his future and his actions made him fulfill his prophecy.
     The movie “Minority Report” showed a type of determinism in which these twins and women can see future murders and they were called pre-cogs emphasized as the oracle. In the world of Minority Report the people seen by the pre-cogs committing a murder were arrested before the crime was committed. By the end of the movie it shows free will and how the main character John Anderton was seen committing a murder, even though he still did it he showed that he had a decision. Another example of free will is when the Chief is seen murdering John Anderton but instead he also made his decision and killed himself. The pre- cogs only showed one dimension where the crime was committed but there was also the reality that they may have not committed the crime but were already arrested before it was done.
     It is hard to say, do we live in a free will world where we have control or are our lives already pre-determined. I like to believe I have free will but then again this subject of free will and determinism has you thinking especially after watching Minority Report and reading Oedipus the King.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Blog #7




     I think people who were taught something and later find out it wasn't true don't want to believe the truth so they live in that illusion that it still exists. Many rumors also help start to jump start illusions people believe in today.
     Illusions people still believe in today is the fact of who was actually the first president. If you go around asking random people who was the first president most or all of them will say George Washington but that is because we were taught that but never told that there were presidents before him. In fact George Washington was the 17th president but first due to the independence of the United States. We were never really told about before the independence of America where Congress ran the United States during the American Revolution.
     The first president of Congress was Peyton Randolph and there was also John Hancock who was the fourth and the thirteenth president of  Congress. Many people know about John Hancock since his signature does appear in the Declaration of Independence.
     Do people really know the truth or just lazy to go into depth on certain situations or just don't know the truth

http://listverse.com/2010/09/15/top-10-misconceptions-we-want-to-believe/

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Blog #6


                                       Was it Destined or free will?

     In the play ‘Oedipus the King’ we see how a prophecy comes true, but was it destined? I believe it was the power of free will that led to Oedipus’s tragic ending. It all starts even before Oedipus is born where his Father King Laius of a town called Thebes goes to the Oracle for a prophecy on his son and how great he will be. It turns out the prophet says he will have a son that kills him and marry his mother. Trying to avoid the prophecy they send the new born to be killed but that never happened and Oedipus grows up thinking he is son of a king and queen of Corinth.
     Oedipus is told he isn't the son of the king and queen and can’t bear to think if it true or not so he goes to the oracle to find out. Instead he is told that he will kill his father and marry his mother and father his brothers and sisters, so what does Oedipus do he leaves Corinth to avoid the prophecy from coming true (It shows In lines 955-959 that he says “When I heard that, I ran away from Corinth… so I would never see that prophecy fulfilled, the abomination of my evil fate”).  So as Oedipus is on his way to make a new living towards Thebes he encounters a elder man which is Laius in his way and both thinking their superior want the other to move. Now here we go again Oedipus even after the prophecy he just heard becomes irate and kills the man which was his actual father. Oedipus could have avoided this by not killing anyone especially an elder man that can possibly be your father.
     On his arrival to Thebes there is a sphinx that was sent by the gods to punish Thebes for Laius misdeeds. Oedipus solves the riddle asked by the sphinx thus ending it reign of terror on Thebes. Oedipus is the savior and his proclaimed to be the new king and marry the widowed queen since the former King Laius was found dead thought to be murdered by robbers.
     Then comes Teiresias a blind prophet that tells Oedipus the same prophecy he heard before (lines 550-559 “he will be blind, although he can see, he will be poor, although he is now rich… He sowed the same womb as his father and murdered him”).  After that Oedipus still didn't realize exactly what Teiresias was talking about messengers come forth and tell Oedipus the truth and who he really is. The prophecy all came true.  One messenger says to Oedipus in line 1469-1471 “And soon will bring to light the vilest things, brought on by choice and not by accident. What we do to ourselves brings us most pain.”
     Yes you could say there were things that pushed Oedipus to his prophecy but if Oedipus would've stopped thought about a few things before he did them he could of changed everything. If he spoke to his adoptive parents they would have probably told him and things could of ended differently. Also when he came in contact with his actual father on the road, instead of killing him he could of just  let him pass or just gave him a good beating but he took things to the next level and his actions led to his already horrible predicted future.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Blog #5- Essay 1 (Final draft)


Santos Chavarria                                                                   
ENG 101- 0768
Dr. Vasileiou
Essay 1 Final draft
Oct. 10, 2012

Who are ‘The Others?’
    Imagine a world with genetically engineered humans to be the best of their parent’s genes known as the super humans or the valid and the regular normal humans known as the invalids, according to George J. Annas one side will seek to control or destroy the other. I will have to say I agree with Annas because having just two sides with the world’s population rather than having over hundreds of others will lead to chaos because humans will just focus about the super humans. The movie Gattaca shows how the normal and super human’s way of life are different from each other and how super humans strive better than the normal humans, which is not surprising, but it also shows that science isn’t always what they make it seem to be perfect.
     Having the super humans will bring all the normal humans together no matter where they might be from, what culture, race, etc. it will bring them together to seek back control from super humans once they have taken away all the good things they once had. The normal humans would see the super humans as the others because they would see them as the ones who took over what was once theirs and are now the cleanup crew in Gattaca. In the movie Gattaca to get a high class job as an astronaut you would have to be genetically engineered to be fit to go to space. There was a normal human named Vincent who was born with a 99% chance of dying from a heart disorder at about the age of 30 who dreamed of going to space since he was a little kid, but no matter if he lied on his resume the employer saw he was an invalid just by seeing his DNA profile. Invalids will soon after feel discriminated not on race, gender, culture etc. but discriminated by “geneialism” (as Vincent called it) because their DNA wasn’t built for certain types of jobs when long before they had those jobs before the super humans came to be. 
     In the near future having the genetically super humans will cause a war between the two groups and with the technology so advanced the war machines could end up destroying the world. If I were able to pick a side honestly I would be the regular human I am now, even if genetically super human live in a world where diseases are myths and death is only caused by old age but isn’t perfect. In the movie Gattaca there is a young lady named Irene who works in Gattaca and was genetically engineered but ended up having a heart condition. Vincent who also had a heart condition was said to die by the age of 30 lived beyond the doctors expectations and he says to Irene “I’m 1000’s of beats passed my expiration date.” This goes to show you that science is not perfect and not the solution to everything in life.
     If we go back a few decades to the 1930’s and 40’s during the WWII era when Adolf Hitler dictated Germany we can see an easily identify who were seen as the others. Annas also speaks of this in his essay on how “Nazis philosophy was founded on the belief that Germans were a superior race whose destiny was to subjugate and rule the inferior races.” Germans believed this and sought out to eliminate “the others” and they were the Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs. Germans wanted to be pure and superior so they eliminated the others causing casualties very high in the millions. I believe history likes to repeat itself whether it is a disease such as the swine flu which broke out in 1976 and again in 2009 or the World Wars 1 and 2. Now as you can see there is a huge chance there be another war due to the fact that we will have a similar situation as Germany back then whether normal or super humans want to rule the inferior gene.
     To conclude my opinion on the ideal genetically ‘superior’ humans will cause repercussions to the world we live in now. Also if science isn’t perfect why try to change the human race, and according to Gattaca it was a successful new world for those who lived in it but what about the unfortunate who will suffer only because their genes weren’t altered.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Blog #4- Essay 1 (complete draft)

Santos Chavarria                                                                
ENGL 101- 0768
Dr. Vasileiou
Essay 1 complete draft

Who are ‘The Others’
    Imagine a world with genetically engineered humans to be the best of their parent’s genes known as the super humans or the valid and the regular normal humans known as the invalids, according to George J. Annas one side will seek to control or destroy the other. I will have to say I agree with Annas because having just two sides with the world’s population rather than having over hundreds of others will lead to chaos because they will not just focus about that one other group. Having the super humans will bring all the normal humans together no matter where they might be from, what culture, race, etc. it will bring them together to seek back control from super humans once they have taken away all the good things they once had. The movie Gattaca shows how the normal and super human’s way of life are different from each other and how super humans strive better than the normal humans, and that science isn’t always what they make it seem to be perfect.
     The normal humans would see the super humans as the others because they would see them as the ones who took over what was once theirs and are now the cleanup crew to clean after the super humans messes. In the movie Gattaca to get a high class job as an astronaut you would have to be genetically engineered to be fit to go to space. There was a normal human named Vincent who was born with a 99% chance of dying from a heart disorder at about the age of 30 who dreamed of going to space but no matter if he lied on his resume the employer saw he was an invalid just by seeing his DNA profile. Invalids will soon after feel discriminated not on race, gender, culture etc. but discriminated by “geneialism” (as Vincent called it) because their DNA weren't built for certain types of jobs when long before they had those jobs before the super humans came to be.       
     In the near future having the genetically super humans will cause a war between the two groups and with the technology so advanced the war machines could end up destroying the world. If I were able to pick a side honestly I would be the regular human I am now, even if genetically super human live in a world where diseases are myths and death is only caused by old aged. In the movie Gattaca there is a young lady named Irene who works in Gattaca and was genetically engineered but ended up having a heart condition. Vincent who also had a heart condition was said to die by the age of 30 lived beyond the doctors expectations and he says to Irene “I’m 1000’s of beats passed my expiration date.” This goes to show you that science is not perfect and not the solution to everything in life.
     If we go back a few decades to the 1930’s and 40’s during the WWII era when Adolf Hitler dictated Germany we can see an easily identify who were seen as the others. Annas also speaks of this in his essay on how “Nazis philosophy was founded on the belief that Germans were a superior race whose destiny was to subjugate and rule the inferior races.” Germans believed this and sought out to eliminate “the others” and they were the Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs. Germans wanted to be pure and superior so they eliminated the others causing casualties very high in the millions.
     To conclude my opinion on the ideal genetically ‘superior’ humans will cause repercussions to the world we live in now. Also if science isn’t perfect why try to change the human race, and according to Gattaca it was a successful new world for those who lived in it but what about the unfortunate who will suffer only because their genes weren’t altered.