Ogletree:
From the Democratic primary in 2008:
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Our Loyalty
Well in class we saw two short videos. We saw the Bulgers brothers and David Kacynski. It was about loyalty. Was David Kacynski being loyal to family ties when he turn in his brother or to himself and society. Or Billy Bulgers who deny knowing where his brother was hiding. Each had their own loyalty dilemma.
In class we divided in small groups to discuss loyalty dilemmas in our own lives. I personally do not know what was discuss in other groups. I will tell you a little about my loyalty dilemma I had. I stop speaking to my 35 years old sister who had 3 children and was and still is unfit to be a mother. Her 3 kids were taken from her due to she left her oldest boy who was 6 years old to keep an eye on his 2 sister age 3 years old and a month old. When the kids w ere taken from her she came running to me to help her. I refuse to help because this was not the first time it happen and she was not going to learn anything. My two nieces were adopted by their foster parents but my nephew was given back to her last year. As of today she still live from house to house and she left her 17 year old living on his own. No money or a permanent place to live. He will be turning 18 on Dec . 14, 2011 and he told his mother he wanted to live with his older brother. He has been there 2 days already and they sign him up to get his GED.
My loyalty were to my nephew and nieces and I am happy my nieces are happy, safe, and just a joy to be with. My nephew is on the right track now and I am glad for him to realize that he was not going anywhere with his mother.
It is never easy to cut off loved ones but there is time that its needed for your own survival and peace of mind.
Chapter 9 - Loyalty and Morals
If one is patriotic and loyal to their own nation, do they have an inherent responsibility to reconcile with past injustices of their past compatriots?
Where do assimilated immigrants and foreigners stand? Is it just and economically sustainable to pardon victims with repatriation for every crime? Are there exclusions and exceptions for those who are recluse and nonparticipant? Must we civilly sue each other as a way to maintain an integral society?
Can past injustices such as cruel treatment during the occupying of Manchuria by the Japanese, be ever forgiven? Wouldn't repatriation serving as a bribe, simply insult the victim? Does it only aid to clearing the conscience of the murder? Is repatriation a way of clearing the past sins for embracing a nation's economic fruition and sorrows amongst the victims?
Does this only serve as a mechanism to enable further acts of crime? Isn't it to say that recalling thousands of Ford Pintos, due to the small chance of an explosion of faulty fuel tanks, not worthwhile, because the cost-benefit analysis deems it so? Ford says it's cost-beneficial to repatriate, only when justice is brought against them. Does this deem Ford immoral?
England still hold very much of accumulated wealth, in addition to the economic uplift from their colonizing endeavors of past centuries. Should there be a ceremony and celebration when the England transferred the sovereignty of Hong Kong back to the People's Republic of China, in 1996, despite the history of the opium wars?
How does one about the event of victim refusing repatriation? Is it ever just for China to seek retaliation? An eye for an eye?
It's arguable to say that we're not always a collective human whole, when it comes to loyalty? Do we only serve loyalty amongst our six-degree of separation first, before others? What if one has no extended, nor a nuclear family? Is it perhaps, we only sincerely owe loyalty to ourselves?
Where do assimilated immigrants and foreigners stand? Is it just and economically sustainable to pardon victims with repatriation for every crime? Are there exclusions and exceptions for those who are recluse and nonparticipant? Must we civilly sue each other as a way to maintain an integral society?
Can past injustices such as cruel treatment during the occupying of Manchuria by the Japanese, be ever forgiven? Wouldn't repatriation serving as a bribe, simply insult the victim? Does it only aid to clearing the conscience of the murder? Is repatriation a way of clearing the past sins for embracing a nation's economic fruition and sorrows amongst the victims?
Does this only serve as a mechanism to enable further acts of crime? Isn't it to say that recalling thousands of Ford Pintos, due to the small chance of an explosion of faulty fuel tanks, not worthwhile, because the cost-benefit analysis deems it so? Ford says it's cost-beneficial to repatriate, only when justice is brought against them. Does this deem Ford immoral?
England still hold very much of accumulated wealth, in addition to the economic uplift from their colonizing endeavors of past centuries. Should there be a ceremony and celebration when the England transferred the sovereignty of Hong Kong back to the People's Republic of China, in 1996, despite the history of the opium wars?
How does one about the event of victim refusing repatriation? Is it ever just for China to seek retaliation? An eye for an eye?
It's arguable to say that we're not always a collective human whole, when it comes to loyalty? Do we only serve loyalty amongst our six-degree of separation first, before others? What if one has no extended, nor a nuclear family? Is it perhaps, we only sincerely owe loyalty to ourselves?
Monday, December 5, 2011
Unabomber stuff
Analysis from Washington Post of the Manifesto: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.summary.htm
Loyalty
Some thoughts on loyalty in trying circumstances (we'll watch these today, 12/5)
Next time (12/7), we're going to talk about loyalty and solidarity obligations, like patriotism. On the menu: reparations. Yup, we're going there.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Purposeful Point-of-View? - Chapter 8
In Chapter 8, Aristotle presents his philosophical idea of Telos; justify the actions or desires based on inherent purpose.
Are ideas and beliefs completely absolute, or are they constantly being altering?
Referring back to Chapter 2; is the purpose of obtaining a college education, a scholarly desire, or is the means of a cost-benefit one?
Furthering this: Are we merely scholars who partake in research and expand the universe's knowledge for the sake of learning, or are we merely students here funded by corporate tuition reimbursements, to primarily further one's earning potential?
Are we to do more than to just simply eat, sleep, and work? Do we ignore the blessings of evolving cognition and language?
What if the purpose is to be find out our purpose here in life? What if life as we know it, is a journey, an embarkment of discovering one's purpose? What if we can't justify our purpose, in our lifetime?
What is one's purpose here, at Bunker Hill Community College?
Yet again,
Pre-Gamers
Are ideas and beliefs completely absolute, or are they constantly being altering?
Referring back to Chapter 2; is the purpose of obtaining a college education, a scholarly desire, or is the means of a cost-benefit one?
Furthering this: Are we merely scholars who partake in research and expand the universe's knowledge for the sake of learning, or are we merely students here funded by corporate tuition reimbursements, to primarily further one's earning potential?
Are we to do more than to just simply eat, sleep, and work? Do we ignore the blessings of evolving cognition and language?
What if the purpose is to be find out our purpose here in life? What if life as we know it, is a journey, an embarkment of discovering one's purpose? What if we can't justify our purpose, in our lifetime?
What is one's purpose here, at Bunker Hill Community College?
Yet again,
Pre-Gamers
Reacting to Affirmative Actions - Chapter 7
It can be seen that Americans preach a sense of pride when they proclaim their country as "free", often referring to the founding fathers of the United States, and the amendments of our Constitutions and Bill of Rights. Incorporating the readings of Michael Sandel of Justice in Chapter 7, invokes the sudden question: how far does freedom of discrimination span?
In our 5th amendment; section 1:
Sandel provokes the widely held topic leading to modern-today: affirmative action. Is it just?
Pre-Gamers
In our 5th amendment; section 1:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Sandel provokes the widely held topic leading to modern-today: affirmative action. Is it just?
Countering this claim is the number of for-profit collegiate institutions that are arising, today. Most notable are The University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, The Art Institutes, Academy of Art -- with their commercials and advertisement that plaster webpages and televisions -- nationwide. Has society become intertwined with disrupted belief of the necessity obtaining a college degree?
There is also Harvard Extension School, which was founded on the belief of serving the educational needs of the greater community. Are there two realms in segregated disguise? Exclusive and lucrative side that brings prestige to the famed leading institution: Harvard, and the less idolized cousin, Harvard Extension School, whom focuses its attention on serving (educating) the greater community and beyond.
Doesn't it seem like many corporations of today, share the same setup? Bank of America, an influential Fortune 100 company, is attacked from all angles; from excessive debit card fees, unsavory sub-prime mortgage lending practices, to obnoxious annual executive bonuses. Yet, there is the acclimating Building for Opportunity program that sponsors community development, plaguing the 'like' buttons of Facebookers all over. In the umbrella of this BofA, it appears that affirmative action is in effect, pardoned, low-interest, long-term loans to serve the "Energy Efficiency" to areas with low-income families.
Must Bank of America have their charitable arm and marketing department present a shining light amongst themselves? Is there a certain image, they feel obligated to maintain?
This response can be furthered, with the rise non-profit collegiate institutions embarking on massive global fund-raising campaigns, collecting often billions -- many times triumphing the surrounding entities and businesses. You can see MBTA advertisements, in addition to those found in the Boston Metro newspaper, that feature accelerated tracks for degrees in Masters in Business Administration, or the handful of specialized degrees tailored for company men and women, as to an academic scholar. Suffolk, Northeastern, and Boston University are no strangers to marketing and tuition reimbursements.
Universities today hold more power than ever, and it doesn't seem to come to a standstill. Are we to believe affirmation is merely superficial and hollow? After all, institutions do offer honorary degrees to those dropped-out or never attended, much to those of such to the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Despite changing the paradigm of personal computing as we know it today, these technological pioneers did not completely endure the scholarly efforts in hardship of research and indoctrination, yet their offerings were distinct and warmly appreciated.
Is this the case for Harvard Extension School? Do we live in a society where we feel compelled to overshadow the unsavory things we do on a daily basis, with the presentation of doing good? Or are we misconstruing a questionable identity, which we allow entities and institutions to partake in a puppet theater of a "double-life"?
Perhaps, community engaged, Harvard Extension School, and community colleges are intrinsically more favorable to attend than Harvard College and typical baccalaureate institutions.
If promoting diversity is the objective, rather than selectively lowering standards to those of minority and disadvantaged backgrounds (and by omission, raising the standards for outsiders), shouldn't universities base their admission practices on pure merits? Meritocracies in baccalaureate institutions are commonly found all over the world. Chinese and Korean students place their child and adolescent-hood on preparing for their nation's college entrance exam. There are rarely second chances, and if ever, they are certainly hard to come by for the average family.
If we restrict the growing, influential and powerful collegiate institutions from making arbitrary discriminative admission decisions, in favor for one based purely on merits, do we, say that it's just to live in a world based on inherited, blessed advantages? Are these advantages just, for they were immorally accumulated? How do we reconcile and rekindle beyond the past endeavors and suffering, engrossed by our respective ancestors and heritage, in a balanced way? Is it ever possible without bias and contempt? Does this obstruct identifying the entirety of one's character, background, adversity, and potential?
Pre-Gamers
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
DIGICATION UPDATE (important)
Don't panic!
I know your portfolio might look like it has disappeared. It hasn't. Digication has encountered some technical problems--BHCC can't fix them, they're at the servers that Digication itself owns. I'm not clear about what exactly has gone wrong, but Digication assures us they are working on the problem. Right now, it looks like portfolios have disappeared; Digication is assuring us that your data has not been lost, and that its staff are working to restore the data.
I know this is probably disturbing and irritating to you as you work on your final portfolios. This is really irritating to me too--I know I promised to get all your portfolios back by Friday night, and I had planned to get them all back by tonight (Thursday night). Tonight is definitely not going to happen--we'll see about Friday!
We'll see how quickly Digication is able to get the portfolios back online. I'll keep you posted!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Late Half Time Post
Is it possible to make a perfect island/country with laws that both appease and help everyone?
Alex says: Perfection in itself is impossible to maintain, especially when in the creation of a society. Too many personal desires get involved and divide the final answer. I think instead of perfection, a society must reach a level of compromise that tends to everyones needs rather than everyones wants. Only then can a culturally combined society thrive under laws that protect everyones individual rights to exist as themselves.
As members of a society, are we constantly only thinking about ourselves or do we think of others and how are decisions may affect others?
In terms of your constitution groups, were the laws you created realistic to today's society, or just an outline of the perfect society we all wish to live in?
Would you consider having a veil of ignorance a positive or negative thing for society? Do the laws you constructed in groups somewhat reflect thinking with a veil of ignorance?
Monday, November 28, 2011
Service Project form
Please fill out this form documenting your service project. This is important both for my records and for the College's records.
It should take ten minutes or less, I expect!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
REMINDER! Service project due WEDNESDAY at 11:59 PM!
Hi everyone!
Just a quick reminder: the service project is due tomorrow, WEDNESDAY, at 11:59 PM.
You can find the guidelines in the previous post. Briefly, by 11:59 PM tomorrow, please send me an email (profpoole at gmail dot com) with a link to your portfolio.
In your portfolio, you should have completed the "Service Project" section. In that section, you need to:
1. Explain what you did. Describe your project, complete with multimedia. Make your readers feel like they were there.
2. Explain how it impacted people--the people you served, your colleagues in service, and yourself.
3. (important but hard!) Explain WHY what you did was, morally speaking, the right thing to do. What is the philosophical justification for why what you did was right?
Tomorrow, Wednesday, 11/23, CLASS WILL NOT MEET AS USUAL. From 1:05-2:15 tomorrow, instead of class, I will be in my office (B-227-H at BHCC Charlestown), and available on Google Chat and email, ready to respond to your last-minute questions about the service project. This will PROBABLY be your last chance to be in touch with me before the portfolio deadline, as I teach Wednesday afternoons and evenings!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Service Project guidelines
Also: here are the guidelines for the service project, in case you have lost your copy.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Visit to TLITC for e-portfolio
Remember, tomorrow, Wednesday, we're meeting at our usual classroom and then immediately going to E-230, the Teaching, Learning, and Instructional Technology Center to learn about Digication, the e-portfolio app that you will use for your portfolios, where, among other things, you will display your SERVICE PROJECTS. (YAY!)
Please bring your photos, writing, etc for your portfolio so you can get started in creating your portfolio with your real stuff! You could use a flash drive, a cloud service like Dropbox, or just email the files to yourself.
Please make sure you have logged into bhcc.digication.com and made sure your login works before tomorrow's class! Your login is your entire BHCC email address (whatever@bhcc.edu), your password is your email password.
Please bring your photos, writing, etc for your portfolio so you can get started in creating your portfolio with your real stuff! You could use a flash drive, a cloud service like Dropbox, or just email the files to yourself.
Please make sure you have logged into bhcc.digication.com and made sure your login works before tomorrow's class! Your login is your entire BHCC email address (whatever@bhcc.edu), your password is your email password.
Half Time Post
In class we talked about equality; The concept that all people are not restricted by their means and are given equal chance to benefit their own life and society as a whole. Other definitions include equal opportunity in the military, jobs, education, and marriage.
1. In terms of the "veil of ignorance", Rawls says ignorance about ourselves will lead to a fair society for all people. Do we allow our class, race, ethnicity, and family background to interfere with the decisions we make towards society as a whole? Are we limited in life because of where we come from or how much money we have?
2. Does succeeding in todays society depend on whether you come from a wealthy background or any other type of social or economic advantage?
3. Regardless of family background or class, a person should be free to work and strive in any job in any society. Would our society today benefit from a merit based society, one in which people are rewarded for their efforts, not put down because of disadvantages we cannot control?
4. Will those with natural talents always get ahead of those with less of an advantage? For example, take two basketball players, but one with a natural born talent reaches the NBA and makes millions, beats out the other competitor who works hard to make himself better. How can we equal out the playing field to allow those with less of an advantage in life become just as successful as people with natural talent?
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Pregame Post: John Rawls and Equality
Hello! Pregame team here with some questions posed from "Chapter 6: The Case for Equality / John Rawls" from Justice by Michael J. Sandell and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.
What makes a contract just?
What kind of obligations does a seller have to a buyer?
Is it fair to take advantage of an uneducated buyer?
What is the advantages / disadvantages of a free-market?
Is individualized success always fair?
Is it okay to handicap our talented?
Should our successful be forced to share their wealth?
Is it possible to adjust an unequal society without serious repercussions?
What does an individual deserve?
Is "accident of birth" or "natural born talent" an unfair advantage / disadvantage?
What is motivation?
Is the individual born motivated?
Is incentive important to keeping talented individuals motivated to contribute to society?
Who decides what skills are valuable to a society?
Is it fair to pay an actor more than a teacher?
Should we accept the "unfairness" of life?
Can our differences be something to work with?
What makes a contract just?
What kind of obligations does a seller have to a buyer?
Is it fair to take advantage of an uneducated buyer?
What is the advantages / disadvantages of a free-market?
Is individualized success always fair?
Is it okay to handicap our talented?
Should our successful be forced to share their wealth?
Is it possible to adjust an unequal society without serious repercussions?
What does an individual deserve?
Is "accident of birth" or "natural born talent" an unfair advantage / disadvantage?
What is motivation?
Is the individual born motivated?
Is incentive important to keeping talented individuals motivated to contribute to society?
Who decides what skills are valuable to a society?
Is it fair to pay an actor more than a teacher?
Should we accept the "unfairness" of life?
Can our differences be something to work with?
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