Assignment 4: Liz Graves

In 1989, the morning after the Chinese military suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests through excessive force, this man walked in front of four tanks and just stood. The tanks stopped. Most people know him as "Tank Man," or the "Unknown Protestor." The footage that accompanies this photograph, aired on CNN, shows the tanks trying to go around the man in the road. He hesitates for a second, and then jumps in front of the head tank again. The tanks stopped. Again.
This iconic moment captivated the world. Some hollered in triumph. Some scoffed at the ridiculousness of the situation. Others, similarly, were absolutely dumb-struck at the fact that this one man could stop a line of heavily armed, huge tanks. Repeatedly. Tank man became the embodiment of the "man vs. society" struggle, where one individual is pitted against seemingly insurmountable odds and refuses to back down. This man is literally facing an army all by himself! No one can know what he was feeling as he stood in front of the tank. Maybe he was fed-up, overwhelmed, scared, desperate, or just crazy, but so many identify with him because the kind of struggle he is facing is universal. Most people, at one time or another, have felt as though the world was pitted against them and there was no way to overcome their obstacles, but this man proves it can be done. And not only that is can be done but individuals have more power than they think they do. Realistically, this man couldn't have expected the tanks to stop, but he still summoned the bravery, gumption--whatever you want to call it-- to face impossible odds and he came out on top.
The attention this picture initially got eventually died down, but no one has forgotten this man. The picture wasn't just a passing news story. This picture, more specifically, the man in it, rocked the world. He changed the way people view their own trials and tribulations. He changed the idea that governments have absolute power that can't be challenged. He proved the power of an individual. Tank man is a hero for the entire human race.

Assignment 4- Jessica Sunnenberg

12-14-12. The day 20 children and 7 others lost their lives in a tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Here is a poem written about the event that still gives me chills to this day:

The Field Trip
"Please don't cry, we're okay.
We went on a field trip today.
A secret place where there's fun to be had.
And the principle's with us, so we won't be bad.
It's full of toys and rainbow slides.
Cotton candy and high cloud rides.
A funny zoo full of different things.
I even saw a man with wings.
We're not alone so don't you fear.
We're chaperoned by Jesus here.
It's really nice so I think I'll stay.
And hold your spot till your field trip day.
I know Christmas is here and there's toys to be given.
So please tell Santa that I'm in Heaven."

That morning, when the parents of those children were dropping them off for just another day of school, it probably never crossed their minds that it would be the last time they would ever see each other. The children were expecting to get to go home after school to their loving family and play outside in their neighborhoods and eat another home cooked meal and get tucked in and read bedtimes stories, but that became impossible due to the events that occurred that day. The picture above depicts a group of hysterical children being lead away from the schools by an even more hysterical adult, another devastated woman on the phone, and several images of people comforting each other. While these pictures were taken, police were out trying to catch the man that did this. The question I always ask in situations like this is how could someone do something like this. They were children. Elementary school children. They had barely even begun to live their lives. There were still so many lessons and so many things to learn. So many more hugs, kisses, losses, memories, etc. One man made that impossible for 27 people that day. It is heartbreaking to think that one person has the power to take 27 lives and an abundance of memories away from a person in such a short amount of time. It makes me wonder how many other people have thought about doing something like that and if they have truly thought about all of the repercussions and affects their actions will have.

Haiti 2010 Hannah Freibert

In January of 2010, an estimated 3 million people's lives were shaken with a magnitude of 7.0 MMS. The initial earthquake that took place on January 12th was followed by over 50 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater. Between 100,000 and 300,000 Haitians fell victim to this catastrophe. Haiti, flushed with poverty prior to the disaster, suffered immensely, losing about 70% of buildings in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. Medical centers crucial to providing the necessary care to victims crumbled to the ground, along with notable landmark buildings.

Pictured above, a woman covers her mouth with a cloth to filter the contaminated air resulting from fallen debris. Around her lie the ruins of a community. Powerful pictures like this one circulated the globe as countries around the world responded to Haiti's cries for aid. Rescue teams, medical care, supplies, and sanitation became aid priorities. While yielding devastating effects, the 2010 earthquake represents a time nations have joined forces to respond to the humanitarian instinct to help those in need.

Reality Can Change in Seconds - Daniel Kolpek

April 20, 1999 started as a normal day for hundreds of innocent students at Columbine High School in Colorado. However, when students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived that afternoon, this typical day quickly took a tragic turn. The two students, who were carrying multiple firearms, four knives, and 99 explosives, entered the school and planted bombs in the school cafeteria; set to go off when most of the student population was present.  The two then proceeded to heartlessly slaughter the innocent teachers and students of the school. A school lockdown was issued and the swat team came to evacuate students.

Life can change in an instant. You can go from feeling happy and safe to afraid and depressed in a matter of minutes. For example, take the students in this picture. Every one of them feel terrified and flustered. Some are confused and have no idea of the massacre occurring inside the school. They evacuating the school and running to safety while their fellow classmates are being murdered by two cold-hearted killers. Their lives are changing like that of a man whose dad just passed away. The helpless teachers have no idea what to do, and the swat members are trying hard to save as many students as possible. When people think of Columbine now, this is the picture that pops into their head: students experiencing sadness, distress, and horror. A picture is worth a thousand words.

After it was all over, twelve students, one teacher, and the two perpetrators were dead. An additional 21 were injured; three of which were attacked while trying to escape this nightmare. This tragedy brought up many issues on gun control and forced implementation of new school safety policies. It is impossible to know what these students faced that day. Hopefully no other school or student will ever have to endure the heartbreak and despair that this event brought.

Assignment 4-Cameron Combs

Tragedies occur on a daily basis in our world, but on August 29, 2005, noone in the world was more in shock than those living in New Orleans. On this day, Hurricane Katrina hit this area and destroyed everything in its path. As citizens of the United States watched the news on this morning, they may have seen a picture similar to the one below. While looking at this image does not make you experience the same terror that was occurring during this time, it sums up the severity of the destruction taking place. Thousands were killed and millions lost their homes as a result of this disaster, but there was nothing that could be done to prevent it. Seeing images such as the one below gave Americans a sense of hopelessness in that they want to do all that they can to help those people in New Orleans, but all they could do was watch it all unfold. All of the emotions and memories that people in New Orleans and all throughout America connect to this event can be summed up into this one image.
.http://images.digitalspy.co.uk/screengrabs/katrina_screengrab_cnn.jpg

POST 4 Mason Saunders

Thousands of displaced Syrian peoples crowd the niches and crevasses of a destroyed street. This picture is significant because it provides a summation of the life of a refugee. Cramming into inhumanly tight spaces with individuals that you have never met before, always wary the impending hazards around you (i.e. falling concrete, getting caught in crossfire, starvation, dehydration, IED's, illness from that person next to you who won't stop coughing up fluids) constantly unsure if you or your family members will make it to the next day or even the next hour? That is what this photo tells us and while seeing it may not be a historical event for the American people, it should definitely be thought provoking. For me, I think of what I can do now, virtually nothing, and what I can do later, much more, and it inspires me to push myself to be the best I can, if for anything, the benefit of peoples like this who can benefit from my work post medical school.

just a little boy Alec

In a move that shocked and changed the world, The United States leveled an entire city with a single bomb. While many people close enough to see the explosion died in its wake, The world was shocked by the massive show of force. Japan did not immediately  surrender, but a second explosion brought an unconditional surrender. It was the start of the Nuclear Era. In one fell swoop the United States started an arms race for the ability to wipe out humanity. Nuclear weapons would be the first time that we could end humanity ourselves. Their godlike power was unmatched.

The "Little Boy" bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, and killed tens of thousands of people. No military target was destroyed. The cutely named hunk of metal and uranium changed the world. Today we don't even think about our country having an arsenal that could destroy the world twice over. Yet we worry about Iran getting a single one. And we look back to the only bombs ever used on people, the little boy and the fat man. This little boy changed the world.

Noah Tapp- Assignment #4

This image  depicts Americans raising the flag on Iwo Jima February 23, 1945. The flag was raised  by  five marines and one navy corpsman on Mount Suribachi. The battle of Iwo Jima was during World War 2 between  America and Japan. On the island, Japan established fortified military bases with  bunkers, artillery, and fighter jets. 

4 years before the Iwo Jima, the Imperial Japanese Military bombed Pearl Harbor. Americans were distraught and fearful. Our country was in danger and we perceived Japan as a serious threat to our nation.

The island required 30 days to capture. 6,891  men in the marines were killed and 18,070 men were wounded. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The flag raising symbolizes the defeat of the Japan's military base and predicts the extent of which Japan would go to defend their country- a decision that influenced the dropping of nuclear weapons. The picture changed our view as a nation on the war with Japan. It elicited patriotism among the american people and depicted the struggle for protecting freedom. The capture brought revenge to Americans and inspired them to victory in World War 2.

Rachel Roberts- a picture is worth a thousand words

The Boston Marathon. A race people train years for, spending hundreds of hours of their lives working towards.

On this fateful day in 2013, all that time and training was taken away in an instant. Lives were destroyed and ended in a matter of seconds. This was not want was expect, this wasn't anticipated. It shook the nation. We banned together to help our fellow man, took a closer look at the realism of homegrown terrorist and how dangerous they are, and tightened our security at public events. But most importantly, we didn't let it stop us. The Boston Marathon still ran in 2014.

This picture was taken momments after the expolsion, the smoke hasn't even cleared yet. People rush to help those who are injured. People and blood fill the streets. People who saw it happen are fill with panic and questions. Who did it? Why did they do it? Where did they go? Who are they?

The thousands of spectators and runners not directly affected are fill with terror. The runners and spectators who were in the area the bomb exploded fear for their lives. Many of which lost the limbs, or their lives.

Local and national news sources soon began reporting and the whole nation saw the evil that had been done. But for a moment, the marathon goers were isolated in chaos, filled with shear terror. Out this horrendous act the people of Boston became "Boston Strong" in the aftermath of tragedy. They were able to stand tall and help out their fellow Bostonian through hard times.

I do no know how it feels to be so scared yet so strong. The marathon goers seen in this picture are truly amazing. They did not flee to safety in fear of another attack, but instead went to the injured runners before the paramedics got to them. They weren't thinking of themselves, they automatically went to those who needed it. This is truly admiral.

And that is what it means to be "Boston Strong".

Clara McKinley #4

Just before a photography snapped a shot of terrified children holding on to each other in hopes of making it out together, they experienced an event most people never will never come close to. As they sat in the elementary school class near the end of December, awaiting the joyous holiday break they would spend with their families they began to hear gun shot after gun shot. They tucked away in the lock down they always thought would just be a drill and close their eyes not able to believe this was happening. They longed for their mothers and fathers and attempted to wrap their small brains around what could possibly be going on.
The children walked in a state of confusment and utter distress. Behind them, in the school they attended everyday, lay fellow students who lost their lives in that moment. This photo show's us the smallest bit of their emotion through their tears and distraught looks and the rush you can see in their step. Outside the rectangle this photo encompassed lays pure chaos; media surrounding the event, every police car that could reach the school and worried parents attempting to find their child who they hoped had made it outside of the school that had become a death trap.

Misfit Toys Hannah Freibert

In 2015, two plus two equals four. In 1915, two plus two equaled four. Two plus two has always equaled four; and it will always equal four. It is for this precise reason that I find comfort in math- that is, when I'm not being lost in the equations consisting of far more letters than numbers. The point: it is black and white. Good vs evil? Hm, not so much.

As humans, we take refuge in the certainties. Thus, its no wonder that events are consistently told with two sides; the triumphant hero, and the dissolute villain. Unfortunate for the rest of us, this clear cut division does not extend beyond the water in your eyes after hour 3 of straining to watch "The Dark Knight Rises" from a dim lit laptop. Batman- good, Joker- bad. Thats all, right? Wrong. Don't get me wrong, there are those people. And by those I mean the perfects; the "performs each life task flawlessly with a pristine moral code closely-followed" type people. And you wonder, "God, is there anything you can't do?" On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the historically renown "evils". Osama Bin Laden, Fidel Castro, Adolf Hitler, the gist. But even then, were their motives truly evil? Isn't it true that ISIL is performing acts in the name of its religion, in which they believe justifies them as righteous? *(still clearly not moral, don't spin me wrong- just going for a point here).

I recall being given a prompt last year in Psychology that went as follows: A man's wife is fatally ill. However, a cure exists... the asking price? $100,000. If she does not receive the treatment, she will die. The man contemplates swiping the medicine in secret, while every other patient must pay full price. Should he steal the medication for his wife? Is it not still stealing? Can it be differentiated from any other circumstance? Here lies the problem. What IS the line? One man's answer cannot speak for that of his neighbor. Looking past the outliers- the perfects and their polars', that is where we reside. In the gray moshpit of misfit toys. And this is where humanity will remain, attempting to sort through what we think is just and what we think it not just. But for the most part, we all fall right in the middle.

Good vs Evil- Meriwether Carling

In most stories I read when I was younger there was always the "good guy" and then there was always the "bad guy". But in real life, is there such thing as being the hero or the villain? In my opinion, the answer to that question is no.  There is no definite good and evil. Much of it has to do with the circumstances that arise around the situation to confirm it as such. Take Robin Hood for example. Robin Hood takes from the wealthy and gives to the poor. Does this mean he is a good guy for helping the less fortunate? Or does this mean that he is a thief who should be considered evil for stealing from people? One can not define him as a bad person because he is helping those who can't help themselves, but one also can't define him as a good person because he is stealing money that is not rightfully his to take. Just because someone does bad things does not mean they are bad people and vise verse. No one can be good 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It not how us humans were built to function.

 I believe people have good and bad intentions but I do not think that one is born to be evil or be good all the time. This is where the so called grey area comes in. Its all about perspective and how the situation is viewed by someone. And with this, I conclude that a so called "hero" or "villain" are only terms that we give people to place them into groups with others of the same name.

Assignment 4: A World in Pictures

On Monday morning, you could have stood on the top level and witnessed the beautiful eccentrics of New York city. On Tuesday morning, you would have run in horror.The two tallest buildings in New York City fell on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 and because of the consequential pain and destruction, America would forever be changed.

On September 11, the majority of the nation watched in horrific silence as they saw the pictures of chaos.

This picture from New York Magazine marked the start of a new era for America.

Pictures show us what we cannot know first-hand. They can make a statement or argument. They can educate on the reality of the world. They can change how a person thinks about an idea or event. This week, find a picture that shocked, comforted, or changed a nation or community of people (falling of Berlin wall, JFK assassination, etc.)

Include your picture, a description of it, and what it provokes you to think about in your blog.

If you're facing writer's block, consider the following:
What happened just before the photograph was taken?
How do the people in the photograph feel?
What is happening outside the frame of this photograph?

Due Sunday, September 20th at 11:59 pm.

Assignment #3- Noah Tapp

To best understand the difference between good or bad we should define both of them. Good is putting others before yourself. Compassionate and empathetic. Always doing wants is best for other people and not only yourself. Bad is being selfish. Exploiting other people for your own desires. 

In our world we see good and bad around all the time. All people have good and bad moments in their life... it is not just one or the other. There are people like Warren Buffet who donate 1 billion dollars to cancer research and there are people like Adam Lanza who kill 20 people at an elementray school. As conscious people we can clearly distinguish the difference between good and bad but good people  do bad things and bad people do good things. People have a combination of good and bad things but I believe it's the intention that differentiates between them. Nelson Mandela, who opposed the apartheid  in South Africa, signed to  kill innocent people in South Africa. Although his good may override the bad, there is no denying that he did bad things. Good and bad is not clear cut. It's a combination of ones experiences. Good is not going to destroy bad and bad is not going to destroy good. Both will coexist but as a people today we should strive to do to good as often as we can.

The Timeless Struggle - Emily Sandford

Good vs. Bad is the most known struggle encountered in popculture, and real life. You can't even walk down the street without hearing people talking about how wrong something is, but what defines whats wrong or right? What defines whats bad or good?

Like Sirius Black once said,
          "Besides, the world isn't split into good             people and Death Eaters. We've all                 got both light and dark inside us.                     What matters is the part we choose               to act on. That's who we really are."
This is the best point anyone real, or fiction can make, we're all equal parts good and bad. Am I bad for reaching my toleration of annoying limit and mentally threatening people, or am I good for putting a smile on my face and working through the pain? The answers not obvious, it's never obvious.

Frozen  is known for twisting Disney's reputation of fairytales, Prince Hans is very much like this quote from Taylor Swift,                "When I was a little girl I used to read              fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet                    Prince Charming and he's everything            you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad          guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is          always wearing a black cape so you              always know who he is. Then you                   Grow up and you realize that Prince               Charming is not as easy to find as you.           thought. You realize the bad guy is not         wearing a black cape and he's not easy           to spot; he's really funny, and he                     makes you laugh, and he has perfect.             hair."
Both Hans and Taylor show that popculture is making the move to the gray area. That what looks good isn't always what many think of as good and the same goes for bad.

The timeless struggle will continue on, but the matters it covers will slowly shift to that of gray.

Dark Side Tommy Gardner

There is good and evil in the world, it is just not as separated as some people think. These days most people have a dark side and a kind side. Most people are capable of bad things. Those people that are not capable of bad things are few and far between. These people tend to be those that are very easy to be around. Although at the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those people that are almost incapable of doing kind things. They tend to be the people that you would feel on edge while you are around them. The people at the extremes of the spectrum are not very common, but when you find someone that is on one of the extremes it is pretty obvious. To recap there is good and evil in the world, but there are very few people who fall completely into one category or the other, with everybody else falling into the middle group.

Liz Graves: Assignment 3

Human history has been shaped by conflict. When we, as students, learn about World History, U.S. History, or even the history of an organization, we focus on a certain struggle and the fallout from that struggle. Usually, the ones telling the story are the good guys; the Rebels fought the American Revolution against the tyranny of the British; Batman defeats the Joker in an epic battle of quick wit and explosions; the Kentucky Wildcats dominate the Louisville Cardinals, which can only mean that God Himself is a UK fan. We are told that there can only be the noble vs. the cheaters, the brave vs. the cowards, but have any of us ever stopped to think about what makes one noble, brave, a cheater or a coward? Is it the motivation of the individual? Is it the way they fight? Is it simply the cause itself, and therefore the ends will always justify the means? Is the good fight always the good fight?

Probably the most common way people analyze good vs. evil is the motivations that drive an individual to fight for a certain cause. The Avengers, in this case, are the essence of pure good, because their motivation, after all, was to save humanity and to restore peace to world. But are all the people they must have killed in their battles with extraterrestrials inconsequential? What do we say to the people who were financially ruined and lost everything in the utter destruction of New York City? To many of those people, the Avengers are the enemy; their carelessness cost them everything. Many may chuckle at this analogy because the idea of someone like Captain American being the villain is preposterous, but why? Why do we defend him even after he caused so much destruction? The answer: perspective. We are able to overlook the negative consequences because we, as outsiders who have no stake in the hypothetical ruin of an entire city, can see that the end result is good. 

What happens, though, when we cannot remain objective bystanders? Say, for instance, you are the CEO of a booming business and the headquarters of your business was in one of the buildings that were destroyed in the Avengers' fight. Now, your business wasn't always booming; you grew up in poor family and you had "to work twice as hard as everyone else just to get half of what they have". You're smart, though, and you've made some very shrewd business deals that brought your company out of your basement to a grand, important office in a skyscraper. If the story was told from your perspective, the Avengers are now an arrogant group of government cronies that slaughtered your livelihood and left you with nothing. You, the good, hard-working citizen, have lost, and the evil Avengers take home this victory. 

It is also entirely possible that you could be the bad guy in this case, too. There could be a receptionist that works in your office that makes an effort to smile everyday and bring cheer to the office. Her own life is a train wreck, though. She has been laid off three times in the past year, she is struggling to buy groceries because of her crippling student loans, and her only friend in the world has just moved out of the country. You, of course, have no idea of any of this and you treat her with disrespect everyday because she is just a lowly office worker who works for you. You are now the epitome of evil. You are selfish and cruel. She is brave and kind. 

There is an endless list of scenarios one can come up with, and all of them can be framed in a way that allows the most devilish villain to have the truest heart and angelic damsel in distress to commit the most unforgivable sins. Through this we can see there is no such thing as pure good and pure evil, even when technically the same story is being told. The bad guy and the good guy are both determined by the perspective of the one narrating. To me, there is no question of whether or not there is good and evil, but rather what is the good and what is the evil? Strife will always exist in the world as long as humans inhabit this planet. As certain as the presence of that strife is, so is the uncertainty of what is right and what is wrong. 

*This is a paraphrase of a quote from the popular TV show Scandal.

Good vs. Evil- Jessica Sunnenberg

The battle between good and evil will always exist. Whether you see someone as good, or whether you see someone as evil, all depends on your views. Everyone has grown up differently, with different people and things around them to serve as influence. Someone might have been taught growing up that a certain thing is bad, when that same thing could be second nature to a completely different child in a completely different household.

Lying is a great example. Almost all children are taught not to lie. "Lying is bad." "Nothing good ever comes from lying." This, while having some truth, can also be seen in a different way. Sometimes people lie so that other people don't get hurt. It could be something as simple as telling a friend you like her clothes when you really don't, just to make her feel better. These people are still not good. Sure, they might believe that they are doing a good thing because that is one less hurt feeling in the world, but that is not true. At least I don't believe it to be true. I think that anyone that lies to you should not be your friend. They are doing no good.

One definition of evil is morally wrong or bad. Like I said earlier though, everybody's morals are different based on how they were raised, their family, friends, religious beliefs, etc. This means that everybody's definition of evil is different. Pure evil might exist in a single person's eyes, but it will never truly exist until everyone's morals are the same....which will never happen.

In the grand scheme of things, no, I do not think that any person can be purely good or purely evil. A good person always does bad things. As my home girl Hannah Montana would say: everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days. There are also the bad people that still do some good things. You can't define a person as good or bad, but you can define their actions based on what you believe.

voldeland- Henry Walther

Evil- profoundly immoral and malevolent.

Here's a news flash; evil doesn't exists.

Well, there goes most common contemporary archetype that plagues the land of stale remakes and reboots, the place of no substance: hollowood.

Not only are the ideas hollow in the place that-must-not-be-named (vol...vold...voldeland?) but also are the so called "villains". Singular motives drive medieval actions which lack any justification. Weak backstories often attempt to justify unjustifiable acts unsuccessfully. There in lies the problem of voldeland movies, any so called "evil" villain must lack a moral compass. The real world (or the matrix) does not work like that (unless we're all in the matrix).

The way I see it, in the real world, everyone posses a moral compass but everyone's differs. That is the inherent problem with the concept of "evil", it hinges on the false assumption that some lack morality. If one can justify their action in anyway that pleases them, it is subjectively moral and therefore does not satisfy the definition of evil.

Many would rebut with "well well well is Hitler and Bin Laden not evil? *smiles smugly*"
It depends on if the judgement is taking place in a vacuum of only your opinion, or humanity as a whole. If you admit to the former, you admit subjectivity. If you agree with the latter, you submit to objectivity which means your individual moral compass can't be applied to others. Here lies the catch-22 (my favorite book), if one does not express remorse for their actions, they have justified their actions which means their actions are objectively moral and therefore not evil, if one does express remorse, malevolency is negated which also negates evilness.

Because of this catch-22, nobody can ever be evil and therefore evilness does not exist.

Boom.

Good vs.Evil -Brian Sato

The idea of good vs evil is nowhere near black and white. There is so much grey area that there is no absolute good and evil. Its not as clear as you would think. The concept of good and evil isn't very clear and has many obstacles in its way which makes it so confusing. Imagine a cop chasing a man who just stole cans of food from a store. He follows him to his home which is underneath a bridge and you realize he's stealing so that he can feed his kids and his wife. Stealing is condoned as bad and shouldn't happen but does it really mean that the homeless man is evil. All he is trying to do is feed his family and does it mean that the cop is evil if he arrests him? These type of scenarios are unclear and can have both options to be bad. Is the homeless person viewed as good or bad. It's all about perspective. Even good people do bad things. Bad people do good things. Can you say that the police officer is truly evil for arresting him even though he's doing his job. It all depends on perspective.