Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Dr. King Cluster Reflection Final

                   Hi, my name is Joseph Buonocore and my reflection towards this class on the theories and relevant subjects that tie together will be entirely, and gladly, based off of what I have learned throughout the semester. The real issues of reality are the most of our concerns when it comes to human rights. Human rights are our natural endowments and give us the same essentials that provide for us a basic lifestyle considering others in perspectives where respect is the border line. Human rights are not to be violated and give us the insight of freedom to explore the universe for what it is and for many of the most important roles, to me are research and studying, and give us a guideline on how to be a better human being. Unfortunately, due to the many misconceptions and viral corruptions that portray life as unfair are due to the massive amounts of violations that are being promoted to others. Violation of these rights includes the underground trafficking of slaves. Slavery demeans and tools those who are brought into this world uneducated and unaware of their surroundings and is with a hateful or purposeful intention used for labor to profit from. If there is one thing I have learned from this class is that slavery is not only a harmful tool to others but a structure that is constantly used in our everyday lives. The structure I am talking about is the structure that blinds the human eye and creates an illusionary environment where our sole purpose in life is to do what we are told to do instead of doing what we want to do by nature, what we love doing most with ourselves. The curtains that life gives us are staged by the men who format the system to be that way and in the deepest manner want to benefit from everything but not give back. Dr. Martin Luther King’s A Testament of Hope gives the insight that the world is not built up by goodwill, but rather built up on individuality. His beliefs were of those that will never give up in the sense that world will correct itself as long as you work together under the same cause and not have war, racism, or any type of economic exploitation become a part of our lives. It was because of king that my eyes were opened to see to it that my country is not in any way what should be, that there is a potential for the greater good but used for self-greed. The love Dr. King used was not at all the love we think it is, the love he was talking is years ahead of our time, the love I am talking about is the level of love that is agape. Agape’s true nature works as a healing measure where ones recognition of the other in understanding and accepting your enemy can exploit both sides for the greater cause. Agape to King is not to be distributed with humility, but rather have your enemy become your closest friend. The greatest lesson I have learned and will never forget will be of that with agape. The cruel punishments, the unfair trials and the years of brutality African Americans have been given in the past had gone to show that nothing will ever amount to peace and non-violence. Dr. King’s non-violence theory is a lesson that should be given to every child that provoking your enemy will do nothing but provide a grudge and fill your senses with spite. Not only that but because of the technology it is now possible that arguments that intimidate both sides of the fight will only lead to certain death and nothing will be resolved. The nonviolent theory shows us that there is nothing in the world better than the feeling of understanding, goodwill and brotherhood. The connection between Linguistics and Nonviolence is vocal and law. The law can go into great lengths of either assuring a person their rights or denying them, but can be used to best describe what is natural or what is accustomed in different point of views. Cultures for instance are to be abided by but is opinionated that most of those accustoms are wrong as they violate the natural rights of humans The strength derived in Dr. King’s marches were not derived from pure cause, but because of the amount of power in his peaceful yet aggressive tones he used throughout all of his campaigns. Martin Luther King’s voice in his campaigns was the symbolic turning point that gradually led the people to believe that there is nothing to lose when your cause is for the common good. It was because of his voice, that he was able to gather so many people and with no use of gun or sword was able to change the world’s view on human rights. Mahatma Gandhi’s method of nonviolence and law had similar functions to Dr.Kings but in overall view was able to show that the only way to help and improve others is peaceful understanding. Religion as a role in both methods roots back to the days of Christianity and Buddhism, in their perspectives it is not the person you are looking at, but his words of wisdom that the person has to offer. Jesus may I state said “When you are struck down, offer the other cheek”. He is not teaching you do just one thing but you must do another to do what is right and understand .Another recited moral from Buddhism’s own method of “sahasrara” teaches that the elements of peaceful understanding are the only methods that not only resolve but understand between both right and wrong .Other major ideas that have come from the same sense are the ideas of theory and reality. Theory and reality are the images that we have the potential to work together and make our lives less corrupt yet cant because of the already made up system. But Dr. King’s non-violent theory had broken the gap between theory and reality and has greatly gone into depth to show that anything is possible when we work together as one voice. The best lessons I was able to form from my cluster classes were the lessons of morals and ethics we can develop to fix our already corrupt world and why the world is for what it is. The real root of evil starts by denying people their rights and it is because that, that our society is not as advanced as it should be. We cannot just sit back and live in silence when the basic thing in this world for it to progress is to affirm that everyone has the right to life and not just those of certain “groups”. Professor Justin Rogers and Professor Blagojevic were able to show us that the humans by nature can resolve any problem as long as there is a voice to be heard. Using the human strength of voice alone can make a difference in ours and other’s lives by just peacefully protesting the differences of right and wrong. Learning that we are all a part of the same accustoms and that we should treat each other with the same amount of respect that we deserve and should have towards everyone has become the lesson not only to use but to self-reflect on ourselves. If there is one thing i have learned is that there should be no judgmental thought towards anyone as we are all the same and that our characteristics define us for who we are or where we grew up. Human rights has taught me many things but in overall i have seen the ugly side of society and it is unfortunate that the potential world we live in could do so much better, if we just stopped for a minute and think "why am i doing this". Greed, slavery, dehumanization of those less fortunate and uneducated, and law in politics all lead to money. Money is the gap that separates us from "reality and theory". In my own view, it’s an abolished and corrupt world full of criticism and contradictions trying to hold itself in an illusionary environment which prevents us from being who we truly are and pursuing what we love the most. Human rights have in great depth shown me that we need to make theory come alive. There is too much going on that we do not know about including the underground trafficking of slaves. Human rights have impacted me incredibly with no over exaggeration. The views I had on things back then and today are completely different thanks to a class full of people with different backgrounds and experiences. I could not be the same after leaving. My reflection on this class is to pursue in doing what IS right and try not only change myself but to show others the ethics and that we all deserve the same respect and rights that we are born with. Human beings have senses that give us the unique characteristic of who we are and define us for why we’re different. In the end, we do not judge people off of their personality; we have no differences, internally, emotionally and mentally.




Monday, November 7, 2011

Dante's Essay : Reflection

Dante's description of the non-violence method had explained that Gandhi's method of non-violence and ethical behavior had become one of the most iconic symbols for the equal rights movement that still goes on even today. Dante's quotes and interpretations have shown me that there is no method that works with humiliating the opponent in defeat or in bloodshed but rather in a moral sense where rights and wrongs are corrected by understanding and thought out logic. His essay caught my attention the most when he mentioned that most fights or issues are not solved when it comes to war or social conflict, but rather have opposing sides agree that justice and law are the right way to resolve the human behavior. It opens up my eyes to see that Gandhi's methods have worked efficiently and without any hatred or anger involved. His ideas in Law and pursuit of the human nature in equality has shown sense to many and has impacted society more than we know, we can see that when Dr King used the same method. It costed him his life but its movements like occupy wallstreet that greatly accustom to those same methods, because they know that our corrupt system can be changed like the way it was in the time of Dr king and Gandhi. 

Monday, October 31, 2011

Blog #4: Cluster Reflection

Learning that we are all apart of the same accustoms and that we should treat each other with the same amount of respect that we deserve and should have towards everyone has become a great alternative for a lesson in the classes so far. If there is one thing i have learned is that there should be no judgemental thought towards anyone as we are all the same and that our characteristics define us for who we are or where we grew up. Human rights has taught me many things but in overall i have seen the ugly side of society and it is unfortunate that the potential world we live in could do so much better, if we just stopped for a minute and think "why am i doing this". Greed, slavery, dehumanization of those less fortunate and uneducated, and law in politics all lead to money. Money is the gap that seperates us from "reality and theory". In my own view, its an abolished and corrupt world full of criticism and contradictions trying to hold itself in an illusionary environment which prevents us from being who we truly are and pursuing what we love the most. Human rights has in great depth shown me that we need to make theory come alive. There is too much going on that we do not know about including the underground trafficking of slaves. Human rights has impacted me incredibly with no overexaggeration. The views i had on things back then and today are completey different thanks to a class full of people with different backrounds and expiriences. i could not be the same after leaving. My reflection on this class is to pursue in doing what IS right and try not only change myself but to show others the ethics and that we all deserve the same respect and rights that we are born with. We have NO differences whatsoever internally, emotionally and mentally.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

   Joseph Buonocore

       Mary Reynolds, from a reading of "A Red Record" had been a victim of White supremacist game. The events that Mary Reynolds had explained in her response had involved a higher level of abuse towards her for reasons unknown.  The purpose and function of these unusual abuses towards not only her but several other slaves were not entirely purposes or functions other than the self-indulgences that increasingly grew in the south during that era. In Mary Reynolds response, the owner was aware that no one was around and had committed rape to her. It was a given that he had sent out the other slave so that he wouldn’t come back for a while, in which he would use the time to reveal what he really wanted to do. It was as if he revealed his true nature.
 Another event in A Red Record that had consisted of unusual punishment and violence towards African Americans, which caught my attention was located on p.98. African American Roselius Julian had killed a white judge Victor Estipino .The lynching of those who were related but not involved in what had happened was a big deal to the “mob”. But the purpose and function that I had noticed here was that it could only go to show that white supremacists were only looking for reasons to kill or torture African Americans. Even though this Case had only consisted of one person with a motive and no one else, those who were apart of his “tree” were still killed. To me, it’s as if “We can’t find the killer, but we’ll kill his family or relatives” which in any sense does not make any. African Americans who were not even related had still been lynched on charge of Affiliation. White supremacists in this sense were only trying to find a reason to kill African American out of hate, there is no argument in that.
 The roles, purposes and effects of violence against African Americans before and after the civil war were not at all different as the same treatment to those of their skin color remained the same. Racism had greatly applied to those who believed African Americans weren’t human and had always, since the start of it, needed reason to get rid of them or make them suffer for labor, which wasn’t right at all. To sum it up, the civil war before slavery was work, beat and kill. After the civil war we can read that it had still had effect towards African Americans in “The Red Record”. Lynching is brought up 85% of the time during the reading and most of them are because the white supremacy brought up after the war. White supremacy had organized crime towards any African American if they were so much as mentioned for doing the smallest thing.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Passage Interpreting -

Reading from Kathy Violetta's Tweet : p.66-"The result is a growing disregard of human life".

an understanding from this quote is that slavery was a promoting further thinking that we are starting to depreciate human life and that life has no value as long as we keep on degrading those who dont deserve to be degarded becuase of their skin color. A keyword to me that comes to my head is depreciative ignorance. The majority that believed in acting cruel towards those who are different from white skin choose not to open their eyes and see that we are all the same and that different color skinned people have the same sensations we are born with.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Language of Human Rights

           The language of human rights to me is the explanation of what our natural endowments are, as beings/species of the same nature. The corrupt thought that the different colors human beings are brought upon birth are not at all in any way what they are thought to be, which to most people is class. The judgement we all make in each other is only caused by the very corrupt and political analysis the greedy use to make a profit from. Slavery is the first thing we think of when the topic "Human Rights" is brought upon. It was huge in the early years of our ancestors and was again nearly Half a century ago during WWII. Human rights define that we are all equal and not in any amount different. Human rights have become a contradictory piece of literary art that the "Founding Fathers" of the American nation have ,so to say, fought for. Human rights..what are human rights? we may know the definition, we may know the sense, the knowledge, the background, the lining, the structure and the format. But it is still held to question as does it even exist? Human rights only exist to those who to wish it to exist. Other than the majority, human rights are abused, Stripped, demeaned, and restricted by the higher authority. So human rights exist on two perspectives: in the believers and the non-believers. Society today still hasn't changed them or enforced them because of how complex those 2 words put together are. Human rights are vowed or sworn to be given to those who are all born under the "universal father" or the "universal mother" (which whom I'd like to refer to as mother nature) yet they arent. Human rights is a big term that can only go so deep into. That to me is the explanation of human rights.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Blog Assignment Two: Explaining Contradiction By Joseph Buonocore

      Contradictions are statements that assert claims that cannot really be true. We could also think of contradictions as statements or arguments that seem inconsistent. For example, the Declaration of Independence said "all men are created equal," but the Constitution only gave voting priveleges to white men. We could then say that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence contradict one another. Contradiction is a form of saying one thing and doing another. We could also think of contradiction as a form of conflict. When one thing disagrees with another thing, they contradict. 
      A contradiction portrayed by Equiano in his travels was the contradiction of him mentioning his hunger problems on page 9.  "We were then unbound, but were unable to take any food; and being quite overpowered by fatigue and grief". To me as a reader its as if it seems he was starved up until  [Quote]: " They offered us some victuals; but we refused it" that I questioned as to why he would not take the offered food. Looking from different points its understandable that his emotions may have gotten in the way of him eating as for some reason i felt a little bit of pride in his literature. The contradiction here to me just means that his emotions have made his fatigue and grief worse and should not have said anything to make it seem as if he wasn't offered any food. To me this is a good example of contradiction

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

LIB100 Response

1. I honeslty wouldn't know why authors would claim that people would rather use the word "drama" than "bullying". But I can see from a point of view that drama is more empowering. Drama is more empowering than the use of the "bullying" because "bullying" is negatively toning the way it is describing the action of a person. Drama in a different result is excessively used as an everyday term that shows how immature a group of people are in a direct moment or from past events. It is unfortunate to know that cyber bullying has become a direct effect to the suicidals that happen from it.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Language as a Weapon

       The law can go into great lenghts of either assuring a person their rights or denying them. Language is a tool that can be used to best describe what is natural or what is accustomed in different point of views. Cultures for instance are to be abided by but is opinionated that most of those accustoms are wrong as they violate the natural rights of humans. Robert Amsterdam gives great examples of those rights being mistreated with a few articles including several activists and their arrests.

When upon reading more of one of the activists, i found this one to be the most interesting becuase of the amount of datainment and cencorship china has acted upon and is accounted for of multiple violations of human rights: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

His movement had inspired many, but China's government has shown complete dictatorship over its country with surveilance and confinement.

Human Rights Article

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/sean_bell/index.html

The example i have posted up is of the case of Shawn Bell shooting. The trial had consisted of violating his rights, considering the right of "you are innocent until proven guilty" had not been taken into effect and had been shot immediately by the police force. Instead of arrest for suspicious acts, he had been numerously shot on the related suspicion of drug dealing but instead was celebrating with his freinds the day before his wedding.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Selecting Passages for Evidence and Analysis

          What I found interesting in one of the passages of When I was a Slave, as told by Mary Anderson, was the amount of emotional dialogue that had been used to describe a different side of how the slaves on that plantation in particular were being treated. Her point of view on the secure over-watch by the owners had not been negatively toned out but instead very kindly cautioned as the owners had their own way of dealing with things without condoning violence or any harsh punishment to be arbitrarily given out as others would. Mary Anderson's point of view had been under the perspective to be raised with manner and kindlyness as their owners , the Marster & Missus, had a completely different system of making things work on the plantation.Mary Anderson ,at the age of 86, had been interviewed and made it clear that Reading and Writing were not allowed ,but instead the care of health and social manners had been a primary to the slaves at the time. Ms. Anderson , as directly said had greatly mentioned "They knew no better, of course, and seemed to love Marster and Missus as much as they did their own mother and father" on page 2. Interpreting Ms. Anderson's words, as pointed out, had given me a very strange reaction as this was not something I would normally hear or read about. It significantly enough had given me the idea that other plantation owner's have different systems similar to this one but unfortunatley not for the most part, as the majority would not succumb to that kind of comfort care. It is deeply moving to hear it coming from a former slave that they did not go through harsh treatment and the owners actually cared for their health and well being. For slaves to feel that amount of comfort on a plantation as to familiarize yourself and compare an owner to a mother or father is just truly astonishing

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Bannaker and Equiano Assignment #1

       In Benjamin Banneker's letter to former US president Thomas Jefferson, he argues that humans are equal because a "Father" has "afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties. Yet we see in Equanio's text various encounters with African and European slave-traders that suggest human beings are not, somehow, equal after all. This can be greatly expressed and defined through Equiano's literary point of view in his writings of "The Interesting Life" and the many said statements Banneker had claimed in his letter to Jefferson.
Benjamin's main claims in his letter were to , in point , show that the cause American's had been fighting for were for their independence and freedom from  British rule, only to get to his point that all men were created equal. The contradiction , Banneker had so greatly accused of Thomas Jefferson was not in any way under disrespect but to show the disregard of the phrase "all men were created equal". The "Father" as he titles had from the beginning used his own flesh and blood to create the very essence of life. No cultural difference of color is to be marked as different if we all carry the same senses and feelings. Equiano's experience on the slave ship was a brutal misfortune to be under. The feeling of loss, fear and utmost curiosity as to where life would take him next is greatly felt as he clearly explains the horrors through the context of his slave ship. Food was scarce and the cruelty through punishment for attempts of suicide, trying to survive or disobeying the slave-owners is of the most harsh descriptions he greatly portrays during his travel. It is through wording and true experience from these 2 astonishing writers, that the ability to have multiple views on important aspects of slavery that it could make it possible to end it.





Tuesday, September 13, 2011

So far..

The classes I have are, at a pace, teaching me to see things from different perspectives and help me think and deeply look into the one thing we use everyday (our language). It has opened up my eyes as to where its origin, and code came from since the days of first human communication. I found the Yo-He-Ho theory to be interesting because I would never come across the idea that our origin of communication may have come from the sounds we made with our, never knew these words until class today lol, larynx and pharynx. I'm glad I'm slowly learning how to blog, as annoying as it is, i guess its easier if the class is to connect.