Patty’s Page

I believe I have learned a substantial amount of life lessons. I feel like it hasn’t been an english class about old things and books that usually have nothing to do with our lives. Not only was I exposed to issues that are usually ignored like racism, but also introduced to satire; one of my now favorite things. This semester has been so productive even though as some points, I must admit, it felt like it wasn’t. We worked on reflecting about many themes like evil. Learning and analizing how they affect us and the world around us in each and every way. I also liked the deep in class discussion that created a very relaxed enviroment where we could express ourselves without being judged. Which was definetly needed with some of the controversial topics that we talked about. Overall, I have very good memories about the 1st semester, mainly because it helped me understand how I feel and how my peers feel about issues like racism, evil, fate vs. freedom, and satire. I must admit I have very high expectations for the 2nd semester. I hope that the issues we walk upon will be as good and interesting as the ones we hae covered. I also want to continue our blogging because it is my favorite! I am sure that with your guidance we will be able to accomplish all of thse goals!

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2007-01-03T131127Z_01_L02264396_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-SOUP-PORK.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-oddlyEnoughNews-3

This article is ridiculous because it shows how racism still even exists for the homeless. You would want to think that atleast something like that would offer a normal and non-racist help for anyone who wanted and needed help. Even with something that is supposed to be so helpful, we still find racism.

The article is about police in France who banned a homeless shelter for serving pork and chicken soup and discriminating against Muslims and Jews who do not eat these meats. France said that they believed the soup was not racist. I think that they just had to say that because it is so shameful so have racism issues even in “kind” and “caring” place for peoples. You would expect that everything could be good and dandy but yet again it shows us that our society is so advanced but our morals and views are still very much the same. It is sad to know that it will most likely always be like this, unless something would take all of our stereo-types and prejudice away. Unfortunately that would never happen.

“Next morning I could not stand up I was so weak and exhausted from loss of blood. My eyes and head were completely swollen, and for a few days I had to remain a poor sufferer - the victim of a woman’s spite and hatred for a poor despised race. What I had done to deserve all this treatment I knew not. Here I was, no one to care for me, no one to console me. After awhile I got so that I could resume work. She never repeated that kind of treatment again, but consigned me to a worse fate for the future - I may say for a limited period. Whenever I did anything that was considered wrong after that I had to go to the cellar, where I was stripped naked, my hands tied to a beam over head, and my feet to a post, and then I was whipped by master till the blood ran down to my heels.”

This whole passage from Issac Mason’s from Issac Mason as a Slave is eye opening. I cannot understand how this must have been like. He was beaten senseless for the color of his skin. How could a human being beat up someone because of their skin color. This truly shows to me how slavery was disgusting. He was also a very young boy who did not know how to deal with this situation. He could not fight back or beat her because of course she was a woman and his mistress.

Reading this passage makes me so mad! If i was him i would have killed her. I have to admit that slaves are the most courageous people i have ever known about. How could they keep all that anger bottles up inside them and just stand by waiting for something to change; but that change taking so long and still no being completely fair. I would have gone mad and killed every single one of my owners because they totally deserved it.

This passage shows me how slaves were forced to contain every single emotion and feeling that a normal human being would have. It is ridiculous how their masters made them get rid of everything that was normal for a person.They only wanted to be working machines that did everything they wanted. After-all, they truly did believe that they were merely capital, never ever human beings. It is disgusting to believe that someone would make someone else do that.

I have no idea what i would do if someone took me away from my country, pressured me to get rid of my human qualities, and made my work from dawn to dust. That doesn’t even cover what slaves like Issac Mason went through. What saddens me the most is to think that some slaves really did not do anything about it since they were so used to the conditions that they thought nothing could change.

Looking at some of these slave narratives, especially this one, has helped me to feel a true compassion and respect for slaves. Their courage and strong personalities helped maintain their human effort to be recognized. I also like learning about slavery through the eyes of someone who has been through it better than just reading a secondary source. It is not rated and gives you everything and more.

I believe that slave narratives are about the first hand experiences of people who were slaves. I mostly think that these narratives will be about the horrible and most difficult things about slavery. What i know about slavery, is what i have learned during my whole life and years of learning it in Social Studies classes. It is always the basic facts and as you grow up you get to learn to more about slavery. I think that it was the most inhumane and disgusting thing that any human being that can do to another human. I also believe that most of the people who were in slavery, specially the ones who were ripped away from their countries and not born here, has horrible experiences of rape, abuse, famine, ridicule, etc. I think that these narratives will open my mind to many new aspects of slavery. Even though it is such a harsh topic, i have always been interested in studying it.

I am not really sure what we are supposed to do for this blog since you did not post anything on your site but i want to take time to comment on Ryan Haid’s post. I just really want to use and talk about the website he used. You would think it would be easy enough to find a site of racism but the world just shocks you and finds you a website. It is unbelievable to think people actually take the time to make things like this. How much hatred and evil must people truly have in themselves? This website truly shows us that there is an indefinite amount. One of the most shocking things to think about is that our society has come so far from racism and slavery, but people that create these websites brings all those efforts to the ground. When i take a look at this website, it makes me want to emphasize diversity even more and i hope that other people who are not racist look at it that way as well. These people truly show that they have nothing better to do. It is amazing to think that in such an advanced world there are still so many issues that have to been completely solved; and probably will never be. It is sad to think that people stop themselves from great friendship and love just because of someones skin tone, religious views, etc. I don’t think there is much we can do besides promote the opposite of what they try to do. Racism is such a hard topic to understand since it involves so many different and similar topics, but i am glad that we get to do this to understand it a little better, at-least.

As i was watching the Colbert report i realized that i am one of the people who likes satire a lot better than reading a normal news report. I believe that what he was trying to say about the troops in Iraq gets more attention than a regular article written in a newspaper. I believe that using satire to emphasize controversial events and ideas is way more interesting and eye-opening than writing a report with no feeling. Satire also makes the issue more public and it brings more attention to it; and overall that is better because more people learn about it. Most of the “jokes” that are made with satire can be funny but the crude funny that makes you think twice before laughing. However, since there is a deeper meaning to it, it makes it okay to laugh. I would rather here about the troops in Iraq this way than just reading it. One of the reasons why i am glad satire exists!

Today in class we had a very meaningful discussion about all the things that are going on in Iraq. My option about the whole situation is that, as Basel said, the U.S should focus on the major conflict which is between the neighboring countries of Iraq. This is the major problem and could be the solution. Another one of the biggest topics that i liked to talk about was whether we should pull out or not. I want to discus this because i feel we really didn’t have that much time in class. I believe that the united States should not pull, but that it should not put more troops in. That would only led to the death or more and more chaos. They should not make America suffer by helping Iraq. They should not pull out right now, but they surely should be considering to sometime soon, because if they don’t it may really affect us. Another reason why they shouldn’t pull out right now is because a “scramble” might start up between all the neighboring countries. This would make America look bad and it could be a spark to future hatred of America. Also many of these countries might plan to use terrorism to get back at the U.S for ditching them. The United States has gotten itself into a really huge mess, it needs to act mature and deal with the consequences, however always thinking about its people first.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1810083.htm 

This link will take you to the very interesting article i found about an article that was posted on an Australian newspaper about a teacher who called a Lebanese-Australian student a terrorist. This was not the part bad of the blog, it was the fact that the readers of the newspaper commented racist comments about Muslims who live in Australia. Many people who were Muslim found this to be very disturbing since the website was not censoring people from making these comments. One of my favorite quotes from this article was what Mr. Yusuf said when he read this; “My main concern with the Telegraphisn’t so much that they’re actually allowing that stuff through, but it’s more the fact that they’re allowing that stuff through and at the same time taking an editorial line where they will condemn other people for doing exactly the same thing.” I liked this quote because it can show how people can be so unconscious when writing a racist comment. However, that is absolutely no excuse to do so. I think maybe these types of feelings were what many people thought in Huck Finn when the used the n-bomb. I think this article helped me further learn what the people who used the n-bomb were thinking.

I absolutely love this topic because it is hilarious. One of the reasons why people like to read it its because in a way it is sort of like a comic relief for our lives and our culture. As funny as it is, it can also open the eyes of many people so see how sad it is that our culture has come to be the way it has. Most people like to laugh about the serious issues through satire because they are so exaggerated. People are interested in making fun of society this way to bring out a deeper issue; for example in the article we read in class about people solving the poverty and deaths of children. The author was making a point that things were in such horrible conditions that they might as well start eating them because there was nothing better to do with these children. When a person makes satire and especially when they are well written it can really help open peoples eyes and look at the bigger picture, which is why satire is a good thing.

My favorite type of satire has to be BORAT! because it is such hilarious movie. It explores every cultural problem, issue, event in the American society without any remorse. The director and creator of the movie is willing to go the extra mile that most people never cross in their whole lives; and that is what makes it a great form of satire. Something like Scary Movie is not a satire because they are not making fun of the American culture or have a deeper meaning to them. They are only movies that are making fun of other movies that don’t explore the American culture. Like i mentioned previously, i love satire! It is a fun way to have a quick laugh and get you thinking of how American deals with different issues. I would prefer to learn about something with satire, better than just reading all the facts about it. It definitely makes me want to know more about the topic. My favorite satire has to be Borat because there is absolutely any type of situation imaginable. Even though it can get a little too graphic sometimes, it is still worth your while. If you have not seen it yet, you must find some way to watch it!

I wanted to talk about why slaves sung songs. Ever since i learned about slavery i always thought that the slaves sung these songs because they wanted something to keep them going through with the tribulations they had during the day. These songs were like little breaks or little pushes that would keep them on task and alive just enough for another day. I also believed that it helped them in many ways keep their hopes up that one day they would be free men and women. Most of these songs were mostly about wanting to be free and maintaining this hope alive! However, when someone wrote on the board that one slave had said how he hated these songs and they reminded him of such hard times that he never wanted to remember again; i was interested in knowing because it showed me that all slaves were different. I used to believed a generalization that all slaves loved these songs. I am glad that this was brought to my attention because i got rid of this stereotype.