Month: October 2018

Never stop questioning. Never assume that what is accepted today will always be set in stone. Never believe in someone else without question. If the brilliant astronomers and philosophers throughout the entirety of human history would have stopped questioning the world’s current beliefs of space, we would still assume that the earth is in the center of our universe, the stars revolve around the earth symbolizing gods, and worst of all, we would be completely unaware of the breathtaking mysteries and wonderous theories of our universe.

Paradigm shifts constantly occur relating to space which change our understanding about the universe and act as a turning point in our understanding of space. Today, new theories relating to our perception of the galaxy are strongly encouraged with hopes that through these theories we will acquire a better understanding of our universe, however, developing new theories has not always been this welcoming throughout human history. The paradigm shift that this blog will focus on is humanity’s shift in belief from the geocentric theory or earth being in the center of our galaxy to the heliocentric theory or the earth revolves around the sun. It required a large amount of sacrifice and confidence and which occurred over a span of thousands of years and drastically changed the way humanity views space as well as the ways in which we accept scientific theories which question our current understandings of the universe.

As previously mentioned, the paradigm shift relating humanity’s change of belief from the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory spanned over thousands of years and required a large amount of sacrifice. The first monumental philosopher that influenced how humanity perceives not just the universe, but all theories of life in general was the Greek philosopher Socrates.

Socrates encouraged the Greek society to question all current beliefs and wanted to promote change to the way humanity perceived the current government and the environment around them. Unfortunately, Socrates was charged with impiety and corruption of the youth. He was executed for his beliefs by being forced to consume a vile of hemlock. The sacrifice of Socrates inspired future astronomers and philosophers to continue questioning humanity’s views on the universe and was the starting point to the paradigm shift of humanity’s views from the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory.

The first astronomer to go against the world’s current belief of the geocentric theory was Nicolaus Copernicus. He confidently believed in the heliocentric theory and had evidence to prove his claims form his analysis of the planets and stars and their orbits in space. Despite his evidence, the Roman Church strongly enforced the heliocentric theory, and feared that taking away the belief that the heavenly body of earth was not at the center of the galaxy would take power away from the church. Copernicus was shunned by the Roman Empire and died before any of his ideas were accepted.

The turning point in the geocentric to heliocentric paradigm shift occurred in the time of Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer and philosopher who strongly believed in Copernicus’s heliocentric theory. At this point in history, Galileo’s mathematical evidence supporting the heliocentric theory was accepted by other astronomers and physicists and became the official turning point in humanity’s view from geocentric to heliocentric, as well as the way we accept new theories which go against our current beliefs.

Throughout all of human history, we have looked up toward the sky and wondered what mysteries the great unknowns of space have yet to reveal. The paradigm shift relating to humanity’s shift from the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory not only changed the way we perceive the universe, but influenced our acceptance to new theories that challenge those currently known to us. Never stop questioning.

Prior to taking CAS, I had nothing to do with politics unless they involved space or matters which interested me such as the latest box office hits, or video game reviews. Coming into CAS class, one of my main goals was to become more politically involved. As of now, I will confidently state that I do not disagree, nor do I agree with many matters involving politics simply because I lack experience in analyzing and discussing the matter.

Proclaiming my opinion on The Proud Boys and their beliefs will be a large stepping stone of mine in terms of politics and stating my individual opinion, and I am rather excited to dive deep into my inner thoughts involving the topics.

When learning and reading about the proud boys, I really took it upon myself to analyze why members decided to both develop and join the movement. I attempted to analyze the group and its members’ hidden motives by analyzing the group’s three degrees that must be completed if one is to become a true proud boy.

While analyzing the three degrees, I decided to group the first and third degrees together. This is due to the fact that both degrees are carried out to influence dedicated members to proclaim they are an official proud boy. I believe this tactic is done not to truly test a member’s loyalty to the Proud Boy group, but to advertise in public. With the first degree involving dedicated members to publicly announce their loyalty to the Proud Boys while claiming their viewpoint is the only proper and just view and the third degree involving a tattoo with the words “Proud Boy”, I truly believe these two degrees were solely made for publicity.

Analyzing the first and third degree really drew my attention to something my mom would often say to me when I was younger. She would state, “If you want to prove to me that you’re serious about something, show me through your silent actions not your words.” I believe this quote portrays that the Proud Boys embody a sense of childishness when blatantly proclaiming to the public who they are.

Yes, The Proud Boys need to grow in size if they want their movement to be successful, but this could be done through silent actions such as hosting information sessions or spreading out posters which commercialize their idea. This should not be done through violence, forced tattoos, or forcing members to proclaim their view as the only one that is just. To me this tactic reveals The Proud Boy’s childish nature that may potentially stem from previous events in their lives.

While analyzing the second degree, I was truly interested on the statement #nowanks, and personally felt like this degree has more meaning behind it than is stated. This goal is often said to have helped members acquire more women or do better in their personal relationship. I also find it interesting that The Proud Boys venerate the house wife. This gives more power to the man in a relationship and allows the men in relationships to call the shots. In my opinion, it would be interesting to see how many members of The Proud Boys have had relationship issues in the past or have struggled to find a girl. Would many members join The Proud Boys for their claim of getting more women?

I personally do not support The Proud Boy movement and feel that the group is extremely childish in its approach to recruitment, and I do believe a portion of the members have struggled in their previous romantic lives and join Proud Boys in hopes of improving this aspect of their lives. I believe analyzing the rhetoric of The Proud Boys movement is extremely important because the group is influencing the world to truly state their opinions on Western views. The Proud Boy movement has proved to be extremely controversial and may have even paved the way for how future organizations will be managed in the future.