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/

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.

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.

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.

Blog #3: Essay 1 (early draft)

Santos Chavarria                                                                  

ENGL 101- 0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay 1 early draft

Oct. 1, 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 they are not just focused 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 jobs. 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.

     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 by seeing his DNA profile.

Question: So far did i show some good details to support my thesis?