When I was younger and learning to accept failures in life was hard, my dad use to tell me that we are master of our own destinies. Both my parents’ families were immigrants themselves or came from immigrant families. Both living behind their lives in another country to start all over in a land of opportunities as they say because they were going to accept how their lives were in their old country. Thought although they knew they were going to face prejudice and hate they took that chance because they were not going to let fate boss them around. It’s a lesson they still teach today to me and my other cousins about how they took hold of their live and made it what they wanted and didn’t let someone or something control them.

Being the master of our own destinies is something that I believe in. it’s something that my family holds dearly as a belief. I have faced people who have told me I will be nothing and will never amount to anything. Being compared to my brother is something I always dealt with as being the youngest son and he having a 4.0 GPA in high school and going to a prestigious college called Bowdoin College in Maine. But I chose not to accept what these people said because I would always be remind by parents that I decide who I will become in life and not matter what others says they cannot control your life, that is something only you can control.

Now what I took that advice to heart, I played sports I had never played before and despite others telling me I will never be good at them I winded up as the captain of my lacrosse team and graduated high school with honors. I am still in a relationship with a girl that was my high school sweetheart for 18 months now despite what people say about how those relationships never work and you’ll break up. You know what me and her didn’t care because I told her what my family would tell me and we still love each other despite being five and a half hours away.

Everyone has to have a moment when they say I guess this is just fate and I can not control it. Thinks bout it again because I about to tell you a moment in my life where there has happened to me. When I was younger my great grandmother whom I got to see for 10 tens before she passed away. She had so many problems but she never gave up on life, she would slap on the grandma smile that lets you know that they love every day of life and seeing their grandchildren. I would jump right in the car when my dad use to say we are going to see your great grandmother and I would just put in my headphones and wait for the car ride to be over. Family and friends use to call her “beauty” Pascale because no matter what life through at her she was always happy and that would just brighten up my day. She passed away in 2008 in a hospital and I remember that day perfectly when my dad called me to tell me that she had passes away over night in her sleep. There came that dad advice say we are the master of our own fate just like your great grandmother yet and despite what those doctors said she never gave up the fight until she was ready to go to the good lord.

This is all I have so far.

Now this I believe podcast is a little tricky so bear with me as I try to explains two ideas for you. The first being titled judging a fish on its ability to climb. some many now this because it is part of a quote by Albert Einstein greatest theoretical physicists in history, this idea is really about by struggles in school when I was younger, having a brother who had a 4.0 GPA all the way through high school and currently attended a highly prestigious academic school called Bowdoin College, having to always live up to him and get the same grades as him even though we are not the same person. Both having our own strong points in school and the subjects they we truly succeed in. Well that is just the first idea and the second one that I was thinking about would be titled we are masters of our destinies. this would talk about how people blame faith for why things happen and don’t take responsibility for them and it would also cover not giving up no matter how many times you fail and think I just was destined to succeed. Drawing from personal experience I have fail many times in different aspect of life. I have failed in relationships, with friends, in school, in sports, etc… and talk about how despite me failing I end up succeed in all of those things because I chose to take control of my life not blame fortune for my mishaps. But for both of these topics I’m not truly sure of how they are going to play out.

Now on to my passion blog, I believe I’m going to stick to the same topic of crime in the United States because it is something to truly draws my attention and interest but I might also switch it up in an economic blog and talk about how the US economy and the European economies are currently doing and what might happen with them. I like the economic topic because that is my second major besides criminology. And the Economy is something that might interest people because it affects all them. Whether a company wants to higher new people, a new store opens, you buy a house or not, and so on. So any input on this decision would be highly appreciated.

For the civic issue blog I was this of one topic being religion and how it shapes human rights domestically and internationally. Discuss how different religions value the life of a person and what inalienable rights they have because of their religious beliefs. This might be a touchy subject so not sure if it’s the right thing to blog about. But the second topic I was thinking about would discuss gender and its hypocrisy. How people preach equality but have a double standard or how one gender has power over the other in many aspects of life. And just talk about how the discussion of gender baits to the idea of hypocrisy. These are my topic for the civil issue blog so if you have any advice or ideas to share with me regarding my topics it would be greatly appreciated.

Topic: The paradigm shift in religious freedom

Purpose: to get people to see the shift in the idea of religious freedom and to see what it means now

Thesis Statement: This paradigm shift is one that shows how the events of the world have now changed a peaceful idea, law, and mentality of people into that of mistrust, disgust, and prejudice and how it has changed into an ethereal idea that we can’t have.

Introduction
what if i told you you can’t practice what ever religion you want any more. that the government and the people can decide if your religion is okay to practice. or if i told you that you are bot safe in this world because you practice one religion over the other. Well I am Roman Catholic with a pretty devote life to God. i attend church on Sunday, I pray to God, and I hold his laws dear to my heart. and I bet any other religion does the same thing to their teachings.

Body
I. Main Idea – religious freedom is now and ideal.
A. hate crimes directed against those of another religion
1. 9/11 attacks
2. persecution of thousands or Catholics, Jews, and Muslims
B. restrictions and punishments directed against those of religions by the government of people
1. bakery in Colorado fined for not making cake for gay couple
2. the wanted removal of God from the Pledge of allegiance

II. Main Idea – Persecution of religion in the eyes of people
A. restriction of religion from one public life
B. Mass killing of religious people in the Middle East

III. Main Idea – the separation of church and state

A. the state should not get involved in the church

B. the church in other words any religion should be allowed to flourish with out being restricted.

  

So I have not really made up my mind yet on what I want to do as my topic but I have narrowed it down to about 2 ideas. The first idea is about religious freedom and how over the years it has shifted and become something of an ideal and not a law. The start time would be right after the 9/11 incident in the US and there won’t be an end time because it is still shifting. The people being affected by this shift would be anyone who is a believer in any religious faith.

Before 9/11 people in the US could practice any religion they want without facing the hatred, criticism, and backlash that they know receive. After 9/11 there has been criticism of basically every religion especially Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. There are people committing hate crime acts against these people and laws are being placed to affect people of certain religious groups and people are receiving backlash for expressing their religious belief. They get label homophobic, murders, or get told they don’t belong here and their country shouldn’t exist. The people who are obviously resisting the shift are those who believe in a religion because they are the ones being persecuted. The shift is in response to the 9/11 terrorism attack on US soil as well as multiple events that have occurred since then.

Now for the medical paradigm shift idea which I think I was going to do on how prescribed drugs are used now. The start time would be the early 200’s when prescribed drugs were the use of prescribed drugs rally changed. The ideology before is that prescribing drugs to kids isn’t really a good idea and they should be saved for when people really need them. The ideology after is that prescribing drugs to a kid just because I doctors says he needs them or because you think your son needs them is completely okay. And that is about all I have for this idea.

From the moment they start talking about creatures from the Mariana trench you get the feeling that there is more behind this then what is presented.to some this might be easy to pick up one when you first start reading it but for others it might take you a couple more lines to see where they are going. Talking about moving all the creatures into one tank so that they can have the same habitat as they did in the wild or so they think. They first had the little guys in one by one and they are both peaceful in their transition from isolation to a new community. Each doing what it did in their separate tank whether it was exploring the tank or just relaxing at the bottom uninterested in what was going on. Then the added the seahorse babies who flooded the tank in excitement. All of these creatures as they are used in this metaphor to describe the community around us and the different aspects of it.

Our community loves to explore new things like the octopus and find new things. It is just how people in our community are and in the circle as well. The need to always keep endlessly searching for something new that has not existed before. We are also like the seahorse in a way because we often get bored and not amused with the new things that we create because we have already grown tired of them. Thus when we see something new we get amused for a short while and then get tired of it and that is what the seahorse was like. It got its new habit and enjoyed it for a second or two and then just retreated to the bottom of the tank like it does and stayed there not moving.

Then you put the tuna in this scenario and they stand for the new changes that happen to society and how they often scare the people who have been there the longest. Like the tuna at first changes move at a rapid pace bounce back and forth but over time they start to slow down and you grow use to the changes and they seem to now fit in unlike they did at the beginning.

Then you have this god for saken shark that loves the spotlight and is a lot more deviant then you think. The inhabitants of the tank sensed the shark and took cover in the coral to protect themselves. And the shark was eager to get in the water and play with these tuna aka changes in society. Because like Ty said ” All this, the f**king shark that eats the world”(484). That is what the circle is, the shark because it devours the community and takes the changes and destroys whatever stands in its way of doing what it wants. like the shark which killed all the tuna and the destroyed the coral to kill the octopus and then the little innocent seahorse because it wanted the tank to itself just like the circle wants all the power to itself and doesn’t want to share. The circle has shifted from what is was originally intended to do into a monster that must be stopped.

 

Stenton abuses the animals by isolating them or showing them off for his entertainment or for purposes of experiments. He took these creatures from their habitat in the Marianas Trench and put them in an aquarium where he can view them all he wants and show them off to the public. And he shows them off every time Mae gives a virtually tour of the Circle she is told to show of the different creatures in the aquarium and make people want to see them. Hey are Stenton’s to parade around like he owns them but in reality how can one man own a piece of nature. He uses the excuse that they have ever been seen before and/or captured alive for people to see as his excuse for trapping them in tanks for his pleasure.

Look at how they describe the poor seahorse for example. It’s not even around its own offspring and is isolated from everything. It was hiding when Mae first went to go look at it and it seemed amused. It was not happy with its living conditions and didn’t care what happened to its offspring. And it looked and seemed sad when Mae had to walk away and it looked out as if it knew that Mae was there. It wanted company from outside of the tank but it couldn’t have that because Strenton wanted to take it from its home.

Then we have this stupid shark that that Stenton’s cares about so much and is his pride and joy. Taking it from its mysterious home of undiscovered creatures and yet to be discovered knowledge. Now this shark is really the only one of the animals that Strenton really gives a crap about because it is the one that is the most mysterious. He is so concerned about knowing everything there is about this shark that it is actually concerning. Feeding all kinds of animals just to see how they can get digested by the shark and whether the shark can even eat the different types of animals. And he wants everyone to know whether this shark can do it that is why he always has Mae go to the shark during its feeding time so the viewers can see the shark do its thing. But that is like treating the shark like a slave in a sense because you are now stripping the freedom of when the shark can eat, what it can it, and where it can go. Before when it was out in the wild it had all these freedoms and no one could say whether it can or can’t do something besides itself.

Now isn’t the stripping of one’s freedom and claiming to own them the definition of slavery. Whether you think it is just an animal or not it is still a valid question to think about. Strenton using this shark for experimentation instead of just letting it live its live like normal out in the wild. But it is the Circle and you never know what you are going to getting or stumble upon.

During the presentation Bailey brings Mae onto the stage and starts asking her question about a kayak and use it to introduce his three mantras which are Secrets or lies, sharing is caring, and privacy is death. These are mantras that Bailey pride himself so much on that he basically embarrassed Mae in front of the other circle members. Well I’m not like the other Circle members and will fall in love with everything that Eamonn Bailey says or does. Like these mantras for example are kind of ridiculous when you think about it. They were created on the opinion of one man with a literal cult of followers. Now let’s get started on these so called mantras.

For starters let us talk about “secrets are lies”, this being based of the opinion of the same guy who made cameras to spy on everyone without their knowing. I’m not a fan of this mantra and believe that it is kind of a manipulative sentence. It is basically saying if you don’t say anything then you’re lying you don’t even have be say a lie for you to be accused of lying this way. In our culture people always have secrets among their friends or families and they don’t tell other people but that doesn’t make then liars now does it. Because in my book they aren’t lair because they haven’t actually said anything for it to be considered a lie. Mae kept secrets about her and Kalden but she isn’t lying but not letting people she had sex with him.

Then we have the saying we all heard as kids which is “sharing is caring.” Which is the only one of the mantras that were presented that I am actually willing to defend. We all grew up with people telling us to share our toys or food with other people. Our society is based on people sharing their knowledge or material possessions with those who don’t have the knowledge or items. In the book you could say by Mae sharing your person information with people is caring because it shows other people that you want to meet them and you’re welcoming them into your life. Examples from our culture range from Goodwill to scientific communities. Each expressing a different meaning of what sharing is sharing is about.

The last Mantra is the good old “Privacy is theft”. This is my first time ever heard someone say that by not sharing every aspect of your data that you are somehow a thief. Mae wants to keep her sex life a secret but by doing that she is somehow a thief to the community. Or the kayak that she took which she didn’t tell everyone at the circle that she took a kayak designated her as a thief. In our culture people are entitled to their privacy and are not label thief for exercising that entitlement. Think of Facebook as an example, we can make all of our information public or hid some of it from people and to me that isn’t a thief.

That do you think of this so called mantras?

My civic artifact is going to lend it’s to movies as a whole. How the have a targeted audience and in them there is allows hidden messages that reveal things about people in our society or our society in general. I am going to talk about how movies like American Sniper have a persuasive purpose and call us to act civically. How the rhetoric elements that were in American Sniper are in most movies that are produced now, how movies often promote different ideologies that we have in society. And discuss how movies lend themselves to the rhetoric ideas and use them to convey ideas.

Then I’ll give explains out how these movies do so and the types of movies that our prominent for doing so. Like how Dora shows how people with disabilities are treated differently in society. And the ideologies such as we need to be nice to people with disabilities and that they are often outcasts of society. I will talk about the description of the rhetoric choice and the interpretation that comes to mind with this choice.

I will also talk a little about the history of movies and what they use to be used for. Talk about the first movies that implemented rhetoric ideas. As time progressed how they didn’t types of rhetoric concepts used varied and how they used the essence of Kairos to help decide when a film should come out. The government used them for propaganda and played with rhetorical concepts in order to get people to act civically. While people used them to show what society is like for people and persuade them to take a second look of the ideas that are brought up?

I will tie all of this together to show how American Sniper ties into movies in general.

In life there is all ways a connection between data and privacy in all aspects of society. When we have access to data and share our data we often do so with the hope of it being protected and us having some privacy. Well that’s not always the case and that bother most people when they hear their data isn’t protected. That people can see what they have been doing and what they are doing. We think of them going hand and hand with each other and you can’t have one without the other. But we need to come to grips with the fact that you limited privacy in life and it’s for the safety of others.

The government is always watching what you are doing and keeping tabs on you but that is really the extent. Other people are locked out of your personal data and you are granted that privacy that is so much affiliated with data. In the circle it talks about how the government of Denmark allowed the placing of tracking chips in young kids. And one day an incident happens and a couple kids die and the people blame the tracking chips. People loved the chips at first and thought that the data of tracking their kids and the privacy of them only knowing where their kids where was the next best thing. Then once the incident happened they blamed the chips and the data tracking for their privacy and the main reason it happened.

But then Francis talked about doing it again but this time perfecting the mistakes that they had made. He says you will know where there are at all times and they will not have to worry about sex offenders and child molester like they used to. But they would have to give up some privacy in order to get the data needed to protect these people. He then says what’s better knowing where your kids are and knowing their safe our a little privacy. And that where these really touches on the relationship of the two. People don’t like to admit it but in life you are going to have to give up a little of one for the other. It’s a give and take and you can’t have it both ways. And Francis brings the relationship up through an emotional point of view that privacy is good but sometimes getting the data is better than the privacy aspect of it.

Then there is the part where Mae didn’t so up to one of the co-workers brunch and everyone was informed of it. They then had a meeting and had to write up a report of the incident and state that everything is all good between Mae and that co-worker. Mae had left to go meet Annie, which she was already late, and before Mae could even say anything Annie goes I know I have been following the whole thing. Mae has no privacy in the data that pertains to her. Everything that is said about her or mentions her name is public knowledge, even private meetings. This tries to show how there isn’t privacy when it comes to data and that everything is out in the open and it should be that way. Lending itself to say only one can exist.

You tell me if you see a real connection between data in privacy in this book. Every time one is mentioned it either overshadows the other or is payed little attention. Can both of them exist in our society and the society of the Circle?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose to do the movie “American Sniper” as my civic artifact. In the beginning of the speech I’ll start of be asking how many people have seen the movie and follow up with a second question asking how many people have had loved ones or friends serve in the army.

Then I’ll show a little clip of the movie which will be the main point of my speech. The clip will be of when he is looking down his sniper scope which is pointing at a little boy who might be carrying an explosive device and he has to decide whether to take the shot or not. And from there i will talk about how it responds civic and what it calls us to do and the hidden messages that are brought to light when we look at it.

After that I will get into how rhetorically this artifact presents itself and how it tries to persuade the audience to have a different look on soldiers and what they go through. How it embodies the commonplaces that we hold about the military and what goes on in war. That these people are killers and they kill innocent civilian while I would bring up a contradictory commonplace ideology that this is war and you don’t know who is friendly and who is an enemy. How this movie calls to people to think again about what war is like for the soldiers who have to go through it every day and how they have to deal with their actions.

How it plays onto the rhetoric idea of language is action and how we listen to Chris Kyle and understand what war has done to him and what he has had to do. I’ll end by talking about how others why doubt movies and this movie in general as being a civic artifact and its use as a persuasive device.