Blog #33: Relevancy of Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is relevant to today’s society and can affect all ages, but it tends to affect college students the most next to high school kids. Peer pressure occurs in all colleges and in many different forms. It is present in almost every college organization or club and it all depends on the group of people involved in the organizations. Peer pressure comes in both negative and positive forms and is relevant to college students. Peer pressure will always be around in colleges and it all depends on how each group and people in the groups deal with the different pressures. One of the biggest forms of peer pressure in college has to do with binge drinking or getting black out drunk. This form of peer pressure affects about half of the college population and mostly affects males over females. Male college students are affected to a great extent because they are constantly trying to fit in and keep up with their buddies. Female college students are not affected as much because they are afraid of the negative effects of drinking, such as sexual abuse. However, positive peer pressure is relevant to college students all over. It affects kids involved with community service projects, which is benefit both the community and their well-being. Also positive peer pressure can help students find out who they are and where they belong in society. It can make them a stronger person and change their personality for the better. So, peer pressure will always be relevant to a college students' life. Peer pressure will always have a good and bad effect on the lives of college students; it just all depends on how each of them deals with it.

Blog 32: CP Timely

My topic is peer pressure and it is timely because it applies to college students all over the U.S. Peer pressure is all over colleges and comes in many forms. Some peer pressure is positive and some is negative, like binge drinking. The pressure to drink and binge drink in college is one of the most common types of peer pressure. Students are all pressured by friends and acquaintances to drink and some times binge drink to the point where it is life threatening. It was reported that 47% of college students reported that they drank until the point where they blacked out. A lot of kids fall into the trap and feel the pressure to drink almost every weekend. Most kids do not know how to say no or stand up for what they believe in because they don’t have their family and friends to support them. Also, they want to feel accepted and included so they drink a long with everyone else and sometimes they over drink, which can lead to death. It was proven that there is more peer pressure among males when it comes to drinking in college because they try to keep with their buddies. They also drink in order to loosen up and gain confidence. However, there are good types of peer pressure in college as well. One example is joining a community service program because all of the kids around them are doing it. This is good because they are doing something beneficial for their community and themselves. Peer pressure is said to help people analyze themselves and find themselves. It can help people gain confidence and to do what makes them happy instead of conforming to everyone else’s idea of what is “cool.” Peer pressure will always be there and every college student faces it at one point or another.

Blog #31: CP Topic

The topic I think I am going to write about for my Common Place paper is peer pressure. I want to talk about how it affects everyone at college, whether it is a good or bad form of peer pressure. I want to discuss what classifies someone as a leader versus a follower and how the leaders cause the peer pressures on others. Also, I want to discuss why someone stand up for what they believe in and how they should learn to think for themselves. From experience, I know that some people give into peer pressure because they want to feel “cool” and accepted among their peers. I want to also talk about how peer pressure can make a person stronger and even push them to become a leader. There are many forms of peer pressure such as abuse or bullying in order to get people to follow what you want them to do. I want to talk about people compromise their morals and values when placed under peer pressure. I also want to mention how the people and friends around you affect your decisions and may even cause you to do things you never thought you would do. I want to talk about how you get to decide your life and how it plays out to an extent and how you need to be smart about who your friends are in your life. I would like to talk about being proud of who you are and not letting people change you for the worst. Also, right versus wrong plays a part in peer pressure as well. This is just a work in progress, who knows I might change my idea.

Blog #30: CP Article 3

The article I choose to read was titled “Anorexia and Bulimia: Raising Awareness,” and it was written by Briana Bennington. This article discusses eating disorders and the effects of the disorders. The author stated that at OSU 3,000 females out of about 30,000 have an eating disorder. It goes on the talk about how it can take over a persons mind and body and that it has the highest mortality rate of mental illnesses. A good point is brought up in the article that the media, while trying to support the awareness of the eating disorders, also causes the mindset that in order to be beautiful you have to be skinny. The media is not the only factor to blame. Other factors like stress, anxiety, and depression all go hand in hand with eating disorders. It is sad to read that it is all a chain effect and how depression and anxiety cause low self esteem which causes the need to control something, which turns into an eating disorder. It is upsetting to think that so many females are turning to eating disorders as a way to feel in control and self worth, when they should be turning to their family or friends for help. The author of this article also talks about how she had an eating disorder and now is a three-year survivor. This example helped to make the article more personable and helped to pull me in as a reader. I found this article to be timely, interesting, and made me want to help raise awareness about eating disorders. I feel that eating disorders often get over looked compared to drug addiction and alcoholism, and that people should pay more attention to eating disorders. I also feel as if we should have more role models, especially in the media, that take pride in being healthy, not the fake type of healthy. 

Blog #29: CP Article Two

The article I chose to read was called “The Dangers of Social Networking Sites,” and was written by Chelsea Bates. This article discusses the affects of social networks and how they have a negative impact on our world today. The author talks about how these social networks, such as Facebook, can affect our health, job opportunities, and even cause legal issues. She discusses how these sites can cause one person to be chosen over another for a job because of what is on the Internet. It is also stated that it affects on health in the ways that it causes obesity, poor circulation, and eye issues because people are sitting in front of the computer all day. The author does go on to talk about the positives of the social networks. She states that they are helpful when keeping in touch with family members, and such. She does raise a good question of how much should we rely on these social networks and do the cons out weigh the pros. I agree with her that they do provide many dangers to our world, in the sense that we are causing ourselves health problems, job issues, and sometimes even legal troubles. I think that we should all think twice about what we post on our facebooks and twitters because they do really affect our lives. I also like how the author talked a little bit about the positives to show that she was not completely one sided. Overall this article was very interesting and very timely, since we all deal with social networking issues. 

Blog #28: CP Article

The article I read from Common Place was titled “I Can See Stupid from My House.” This article was written by a student from OSU named Drew Kambic. This article discussed sound bytes and how influential they are in the United States. He discusses how they are getting shorter and shorter in today’s world and how it is harmless when it comes to advertising products. He goes on to discuss the effects that the shortness of the sound bytes of politics and how this has a harmful affect on the world today. The author discusses how the reason for the shorter information messages is all due to the fact that the attention spans of Americans today are shorter and that if the important information were to be said, it would be to long and lose majority of the people. He is saying that people do not know the truth about the politics in the world nor do they care to know the truth. Basically, the comedy is what sticks in peoples’ heads and not the important issues because those however take too long to explain. The author made a good point that understanding comes from time and effort. I agree with the author that I would much rather have an audience that is small and informed than a large audience that knows absolutely nothing about the subject of the matter. I feel that we should take more time to focus on the world events and really understand what is going on in the world. I feel if we spent more time watching the news, then listening to comedy shows, that we would be smarter and able to present better arguments and ideas when the time comes. 

Blog #27: Intro

Villains, monsters, evil; many people know them as these common names, but is there only one type of villain? Are they completely evil or are some that fall into the grey areas of the evil scale? Some villains are pure evil, like the Joker or even Scar from the Lion King. Others, like Doctor Evil from Austin Powers or Doctor Doofenshmirtz from the Disney show, Phineas and Ferb, are not completely evil. There are two types of villains in the world, ones that are pure evil and others that are only partly evil and many people would classify them based solely on good versus evil. Others believe that some villains fall into a category that is in between, where they are not completely evil but are not purely good either. The villains such as Dr. Evil and Dr. Doofenshmirtz are not purely evil or purely good; they are just some where in between. These types of villains have s source of humanity left in them. Meaning that they have a little bit of kindness, sympathy, and a good human nature left in their soul and are not soulless or purely evil. Most would say that all villains are pure evil, but there are a select few that still perform good acts that pull them out of this classification of pure evil. Both Dr. Evil and Dr. Doofenshmirtz help their nemeses by not destroying them completely and by giving them a head start in their plans so that they have some competition. Other villains like the Joker would destroy their enemies right away instead of playing games with them, and these types of villains have no humanity and are soulless. It is believed that some villains or evil people, and no matter how evil they might be, have some humanity in them even though majority of their actions say otherwise. This statement is demonstrated in many television shows, books, and music and is seen all around in the world today. It is shown through metaphors and even is flat out stated. Many people would disagree with this, but others, like Anne Frank, would agree that everyone is basically has some good in them. One show displays this idea that no matter how evil the person may be, that they still have some humanity left in them and this show is titled Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The particular season is season two and the episode “Surprised” does a good job in providing examples of how humanity is present in the evil villains or vampires. The scene involving Drusilla and Spike, also known as vampires, and a terrible monster really proves how humanity is present in some of the worst creatures. 

Blog #26: Implications

The episode, “Surprised” from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer has allowed me to see that people, just like the vampires, in the real world have some sort of humanity left in them. No matter how evil or horrible they may seem and no matter how their actions may prevail that, they still have some humanity left. This show has proved that humanity can be suppressed by higher up authority figures and power. It has demonstrated that even the evil vampires under the rule of a monster, or the military officers under the rule of authority figures, have emotions and humanity it is just suppressed. The military officers, like the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, are just trying to obey orders and fulfill their desires to serve. The vampire were trying to fulfill the orders and desires to take over the world, while the military officers who were overseeing the prisons were just trying to fulfill the desires and orders to serve their country and make it a safer place. They both were under situational pressures, which affected the way they acted. Both, the vampires and military officers were under the spell of the power and authority that they had for a very short time. This power and authority caused them to suppress their humanity and act out in ways they never thought they would act. They ended up hurting others and even themselves. The close comparisons between the show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the real world is scary and the creator of the show really wanted the world to think twice about the awful things that occurred at these prisons. 

Blog #25: Real World (work in progress)

However, there are extreme cases in which a person is lacking all of their humanity, but on the other end of the scale there are extreme cases in which a person has all of their humanity intact. The Judge in Buffy, an immortal demon, is an example of an extreme case in which he lacks all of his humanity. Since it is not just black or white, there are grey areas or intermediates in which a person has more or less humanity than the next person. Drusilla and Spike, bad vampires, are an example of an intermediate case in which they have some humanity left and are not completely soulless. In their case, their humanity is suppressed by the presence of the Judge and their desires to want to follow the orders to destroy the slayer, Buffy, and the world. Drusilla and Spike are metaphors for people such as military officers, who lack some of their humanity due to the fact that they want to obey the orders given to them by higher up authorities. The military officers, just like Drusilla and Spike, are not all dehumanizing people or bad people.

Even though they may seem to be lacking their humanity, in the big scheme of things they just want to be obeideant and demonstrate their loyalty to their country. Overall, it is mostly the situation that masks their humanity and makes is seem as if they are heartless.

 The personal testimony of the head of the Stanford Prison Experiment is a good real world example of how the powers of an authority position and the situation can suppress a person’s humanity and causing them to appear “soulless.” The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted in 1971 by a psychologist named Philp G. Zimbardo. It was experiment in which Philp Zimbardo conducted a study to see which would trimpuf, “good people or an evil situation” (Zimbardo para 4). They picked out 24 healthy, physically and emotionally, male college students and divided them into two groups, the guards and the prisoners. The participants were then placed in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department (para 5). The experiment was planned to take two weeks in order to receive enough evidence to answer Zimbardo’s question of who would win. The experiment first started off slow and it took the participants about a day to get into their new roles. By the second day of the experiement, the prisoners began to get into their roles and even rebelled against the guards (para 6). The guards then began to think of the prisoners as not their classmates, but actual prisoners. The guards soon began to come up with rougher punishments and games as the experiement went on. Even though, Zimbardo clearly stated in the rules of the experiement that physical punishment was limited and that the prisoners were to be punished accordingly, the guards still felt they had to do what was necessisary (para 6). The guards each created their own set of rules and games during their shifts. One example of a games described in Zimbardo’s article, “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation,” was titled the camel game, which was a sexual game where one prisoners is the female and the other is the male and they are forced to hump each other (para 9). Zimbardo then states, “by day 5, five of the student prisoners have to be released early because of extreme stress” (para 11).  All of theses men before the experiment were healthy and mentally stable and now their either monsters or scum. None of the visitors, family memebers, of the prisoners or guards said anything about the experiment or asked that it should be stopped. This helped make it seem as if the torturing and the pressures that the men were facing was okay. Another psychologist, who happen to be Zimbardo’s girlfriend, saw the experiment and what affects it had on the men and she was the one who said it was wrong. She made a point to him that “human beings were suffering” and that the experiment should be stopped (para 14). Zimbardo argeed with her and decided to terminate the experiment a week early.

Blog #24: Bridge 1

The argument that all creatures or people, good or bad, have some amount of humanity left in them links to the real world because no matter how evil a person is they will still have some source of humanity left. It is basically the situation that masks their humanity and makes it seem as if they are soulless, just like the monsters in Buffy.

The monster, the Judge, in Buffy is the only one who can take a creature or person’s humanity away from them, which then results in them turning into dust. This action is a metaphor for the authority positions and power because the act of the Judge taking away their humanity and killing them is representing how authority positions and power can cause people to act inhumane, which therefore kills a small or large part of their soul. The vampires, such as Drusilla and Spike, are representations of the people who are under the rule of the  higher up authority figures. They represent people who lack most of their humanity and the people that dehumanize or act unjustly towards other humans. Most importantly, Drusilla and Spike represent real world military officers and how they lack humanity during the times when they are in combat and imprisoning terrorists. The vampires are the link to the real world and make the show seem more real. Sometimes the show seems more real than reality itself and the vampires and other monsters seem even more real. These vampires do a good job in representing the inhumane people in the world, some are military officers others are criminals.

Blog #23: Argument

This scene is showing that the creator of the show, Joss Whedon, is basically trying to argue that all creatures, good or bad, have some amount of humanity left in them, whether it is in the form affection or jealously. Joss Whedon is trying to convey that no matter how evil or how wrongful they are they still have some emotions and some humanity left. This scene with Drusilla and Spike is a great example of how evil creatures, such as vampires, still have humanity. Dru and Spike have affection and jealousy towards each other, which is shown by their lustful touching and the way Spike reacts when Angel is around. The Judge was able to pick that out within the first few seconds of meeting them, which proves that their humanity as a whole was dominating the room. Even though they are depicted as evil soulless vampires, this proves that even the horrible creatures can still have humanity. It just seems as if their humanity is suppressed by their desires to want to kill the slayer and to take over the world. This is a major driving force for why they repressed their good side and embraced their evil side. It is believed to be that the creator of the show is saying that the situation and the authority suppresses their humanity and causing them to act out wrongfully. However, they are still evil vampires with the ability to be affection and jealous towards each other.

            Another good example is from the episode “Innocence”, when the Judge says that Angel, Buffy’s newly evil vampire boyfriend, has no humanity left and is “clean.” Angel seems to still have some emotions and affection towards Buffy. This is demonstrated when Angel, instead of fulfilling his desire to kill her, wants to harm her and make her pay for making him feel “human.” Since Angel wants revenge, this type of emotion shows that he still has feelings for Buffy.  Later on in the episode, he tells Buffy’s mom that he loves her and needs to be with her, which proves that he cares about her. Even though this might be a front, Angel still has a little bit of humanity left in him and is not completely soulless. 

Blog #22: The Scene

It was a dark night when the scene starts off in an abandoned warehouse that was decorated with white lite candles, when Dru is seen seductively dancing to eerie music playing in the background. Spike slowly rolls up in his wheelchair next to her with a smirk on his face and a box in his hands. Dru all excited takes the box from his hands and places it on top of the others, and this becomes the final puzzle piece. The boxes light up and the doors open and there appears a blue monster, the Judge. The Judge, known to have the power to strip anyone of their humanity, slowly walks towards Dru and Spike and says “You.” The Judge looking right at them says, “You two stink of humanity, you share affection, jealousy.” Spike quickly replies, “WOAH WOAH, we brought you here.” Dru then buds in and offers him a present, well rather someone who he can strip their humanity in order to gain his powers. He gladly accepts and takes the humanity of one of their worker vampires with just one touch of his monstrous hand, leaving them to turn to dust. Dru and Spike continue to follow him around the party like little puppy dogs just so they could stay on his good side, as if he had one.

            This is a scene from the episode “Surprised” from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In this scene Dru and Spike are evil vampires, who have feelings and lust for one another. They also have this desire to want to take over the world, which is why they brought the Judge back to life. They also were Angel’s, Buffy’s semi-good vampire boyfriend, vampire family until he left to be with Buffy. This is also another driving force for their desire to want to kill Buffy and take over the world.

Blog #21: Quotes

The military officers that were located at prisons, such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, committed crimes of torture and dehumanization of their prisoners. The reason for committing these hateful acts was because of the situational pressures and the orders given to them by higher up authority figures. It is believed that they were overwhelmed at the fact that torture was acceptable and normalized. However, they did commit these acts of torture, so they must all be held accountable for the dehumanizing of the prisoners. Many of them did view their prisoners as demons who were inessential or superfluous to them. This is idea believed to have come from the orders given and the anger from the terrorist acts on the U.S. In the article, “Abu Ghraib and the Normalization of Torture and Hate,” Alkadry and Witt state that “the soldiers who committed the crimes must be held accountable, they were overwhelmed by a sense that torture was acceptable and that their victims were superfluous demons” (Alkadry 136). The author is basically saying that the military officers who committed the torture acts are to be held responsible for them. This quote is also stating that the soldiers were overwhelmed by the idea that the acts they committed were right and that they were not going to be in any trouble with the military for them. Also they believed that their prisoners were some type of demon that was superfluous and inessential to them. This shows how the soldiers were confused on what was right and what was wrong when it came to the treatment of their prisoners. It comes down to the fact that they had previous ideas and orders that made it seem as if torturing their prisoners was acceptable, when it was clearly not.

Blog #20: Integrating Quotes!

Not every military officer in the U.S. military is bad or evil. Some of those who torture the prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay still have some humanity left in them; it is just that it is suppressed. They only end up doing the wrongful things because of the situational pressures placed on them from the higher authorities and the fact that they cannot stand up for what they believe in. In the article, “Promoting aggression and violence at Abu Ghraib: The U.S. military’s transformation of ordinary people into torturers,” Lankford stated that “the vast majority of people within the military are good people—including some of those who end up doing very bad things” (Lankford 394).  Lankford is trying to convey that not everyone is in the military is evil, even though they may seem like it. It is just that they have a hard time doing what is right instead of obeying the orders given to them by their authority figures. It is all about the pressures and orders that they face during combat and how they deal with them. The way the military officers running the prisons deal with the pressures and orders may not be the right way, according to many people. Torturing human beings, even though they did wrong, is not the right way to treat people, but it has to be understood that they are facing a dual loyalty. The dual loyalty they face is one that is their loyalty to their country/military and one that is to their morals and doing what is right.  That is why they cannot be considered all bad people with no humanity. They still have some humanity it is just suppressed by their loyalty to their higher authority figures.

Blog #19: Quotes!

The military officers and especially the medical personnel in the military are often faced with ethical issues. These often involve dual loyalties to their government and to their patients, who happen to be the prisoners. They face this dual loyalty majority of the time, but it is the most apparent during the time of war when they have to face their duties to the government and their duties to protect their patients’ wellbeing. According to Peter A. Clark, the author of “Medical Ethics at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib: The Problem of Dual Loyalty,” “Military medical personnel, especially in a time of war, are faced with the most ethically difficult dual loyalty of doing what is in the best interest of their patient and doing what is in the best interest of their government and fellow soldiers” (Clark 571).  As he stated that many military officers and medical personnel have to deal with the dual loyalty that they hold to their government and fellow soldiers along with the loyalty to their patients. Their patients just happen to be the prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay Prison, who are known to be terrorists. Many people would think that since they are prisoners that they do not deserve the correct medical treatment, but they are still human beings. That is why it is so difficult for the medical personnel, who may seem to have no humanity, to decide whether the prisoners’ health is important or not. They are given orders from the higher authorities to ignore their rights, but when they became doctors they took an oath to protect all human beings no matter what. 

Blog #18: Quotes and more quotes

Some reasons why the military officers at prisons, like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay, dehumanize and torture their prisoners is due to the many kinds of coercive pressure on the soldiers from the higher authorities. These types of pressures were orders to so call soften up the prisoners so they could interrogate them. According to the author of the article called “Promoting aggression and violence at Abu Ghraib: The U.S. military’s transformation of ordinary people into tortures”, “The kind of coercive pressure on soldiers at Abu Ghraib to obey may be another reason why most chose to follow orders and carry out torture” (Lankford 393). The author, Lanford, was trying to say that the coercive pressure on a soldier is the reason why they may have chosen to carry out the torture and abuse on the prisoners. Basically, the good apples are being transformed into bad apples because of the orders that the authority figures are giving them through the tactic of coercive pressure. These soldiers were all normal young men when they first joined the military and we soon desensitized to horrors or warfare. They were trained many torture techniques used by the many different branches of the military. They were physically and mentally stable and had no type of psychological disorders. Once they join the military they soon change into aggressive dehumanizing people, but this is all due to the forceful pressures placed on them. Their humanity is still in tacked and it is suppressed by the pressures and orders placed on them. It is the enviornmeant and situation that cause that their morals and values are absent at the time. 

Blog #16: Quote 1

An authority, like a military officer, has some amount of humanity and it is the situation that masks the existence of their humanity. The situational pressures that the soldiers face and the responsibility to obey orders is a reason for suppressing their morals. The pliability of their humanity is what makes them cave in to those pressures created by the situation and responsibilities. Philip Zimbardo states in his article, “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation,” that “human nature was more pliable than previously imagined and more responsive to situational pressures” (para 2). The author is basically trying to demonstrate that the humanity or values of a person are easily transformed for the worst. It is the conflict of interest that causes the transformation of their humanity into something cruel and immoral. It is not that the military officers or authority figures are lacking humanity; it is more that they choose to ignore their morals and values by dehumanizing and abusing the prisoners. Many people would say that what the soldiers are doing to the prisoners is in fact the correct treatment and that they deserve to be tortured, since they are so called “terrorists.” But, what about the ones who are or maybe innocent? Do they deserve the torture and mental abuse? It is a matter of how would Americans feel if our people or American military officers were treated in this abusive and degrading manner. Our country and our people would not be happy if American soldiers were mistreated and this will probably end up happening has revenge.

Blog #15: Article 5!

The last article I chose to read was called “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation” written by Philip G. Zimbardo. This article discussed a series of studies done in the 1970s that were about establishing the social power of groups. It talked about how smart people make stupid choices when they are involved in-group thinking projects. It also talked about good versus evil and how authority figures can make us do the wrong thing even though we know it is wrong. It talked about how they set up a study where they picked 24 college students to participate in a prison experiment, where somewhere guards and some were prisoners. All of the students chosen were mentally and physically stable and were considered good people. This mock prison was set up in the basement of Stanford University and took place over several days.  It shows how good and smart young men were turned into horrible abusive people, who mentally and physically abused their classmates. They did things they never thought they would do, like sexually harass them. Some prisoners were released due to emotional stress and this all occurred less than a week into the experiment. It was made clear to the head of the experiment that human beings were suffering, not prisoners. This is one of the best quotes in all the articles I have read because even though they are prisoners they still should be treated like humans! All of the people involved in the experiment had been transformed into their roles and were actually using their roles to their fullest ability, which is sickening. “The situational forces in that "bad barrel" had overwhelmed the goodness of most of those infected by their viral power.”  He states that the situation won and humanity had lost meaning that those men did not bring morals they had learned from a young age into play, but instead let the situation get the best of them. “The critical message then is to be sensitive about our vulnerability to subtle but powerful situational forces and, by such awareness, be more able to overcome those forces.”

I learned a lot from this article and I think it will really help me with my paper. I learned more than what I had hoped to learn about. I learned about how authority positions and power can cause the loss of a person’s humanity, just like these young men lost theirs.

Zimbardo, Philip G. "Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Lesson in the Power of Situation." Chronicle of Higher Education 53.30 (2007): b6-b7. Academic Search Complete.ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Blog #14: Article 4

I read the article called “Medical Ethics at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib: The Problem of Dual Loyalty” written by Peter A. Clark. This article discusses how the US military medical program did not protect the prisoners’’ human rights, violated the basic principles of medical ethics, and ignored the basic tenets of the professionalism (570). It talks about how the human rights were overlooked and violated in order to find out important information in order to win the war. Basically, the officers have to balance their duty to the military and the medical needs of the prisoners, which is given the name of dual loyalty. The abuses were defined to be sleep deprivation, lack of food, clothing and means for personal hygiene. Also, their religious rights were denied and they were event put in unsafe work areas. Even though the medical personnel are taught through their training about human rights, they still seem to find loopholes in law in order to treat the prisoners badly. The medical personnel as stated in the article should have reported the abuses and attempted to stop them or else this is a violation of the principle respect for persons (575).

I hope to find out more about the dual loyalty and why the medical personnel treated the prisoners with such disrespect. I hope to be able to support the question of how the loss of humanity is related to authority positions. I hope to find out more about what the thoughts of the medical personnel were and how they dealt with the dual loyalty.

Clark, Peter A. "Medical Ethics at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib: The Problem of

            Dual Loyalty." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 34.3 (2006): 570-580.

            Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Blog #13: Article 3 (Guantanamo Bay)

           I chose to read “Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay” written by Daniella Schneider. This article talked about the treatment of the prisoners and the human rights issues that are being debated. It discusses the status of the prisoners and where their rights should be protected. It talks about the articles that of the Convention, such as stripping them of their own clothes and they are humiliated when they first arrive. It says that the prisoners can be denied of certain rights, but it all depends on the case. It seems as if the people held at Guantanamo Bay Prison are treated better than those held at Abu Gharib, but there is still a lot about Guantanamo Bay that we do not know about because it is kept a secret. It seems by the means of this article that they their rights are protected and they are not treated as badly as those who were held at Abu in Iraq. It also raises the question of how the US soldiers will be treated in the future when captured by other forces. The article refers to the Abu prison incident and how the treatment of those prisoners was inhumane and the fact that pictures were released was wrong as well. It talks about how people are starting to wonder about the treatment of the people being held at Guantanamo Bay.

            I hope to learn more about the setup and the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. I hope that I learn more about it so that way I can compare it to Abu Gharib and be able to use some of the information in my paper to back up my statement about whether being in power causes the loss of humanity in that authority figure.

Schneider, Daniella. "Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay." Journal of Criminal

            Law 68.5 (2004): 423-439. Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Blog #12: Article Number Two

The next article I choose to read was called “Abu Ghraib and the Normalization of Torture and Hate” written by Mohamad Alkadry and Matthew Witt. This article discussed what was done at the prison and why they the soldiers did what they did to the prisoners. It talks about how the soldiers were charged with up to ten years in prison and there were about 15 guards. The guards said at their trials that they were only doing what they were ordered to do to the prisoners, just like the Nazis claimed (136). The guards were not given specific orders to harm or torture the prisoners, but their commanders condoned it and did not punish them for doing so. In the article, the author related to the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram shock experiment to help explain why the soldiers tortured the prisoners (136). The author states how the abuse and torture that the prisoners faced was cruel and inhumane and that even though they are bad people, they still do not deserve that type of treatment. It is stated that the soldiers were trying to “soften them up for interrogation,” which in my opinion was just an excuse (136). It also provides testimonials of soldiers and one even said how he could have stopped some of the torturing, but he didn’t. Also there were testimonies provided in the article from various prisoners, and they talked about how badly they were treated. A good question that was asked in the article was, “Is torture of a terrorist legitimate if it saves the lives of innocent people?” In my opinion, I do not think it is right.

            Overall, from reading this article I hoped to learn more about why the soldiers did the awful things that they did and who exactly gave them the orders to do so. Also I hope to learn more about if the loss of humanity can be related back to an authority position or power, which I think it can. I also hope that I find some good quotes that back up my paper as well.

Alkadry, Mohamad G., and Matthew T. Witt. "Abu Ghraib and the Normalization of

            Torture and Hate." Public Integrity 11.2 (2009): 135-153. Academic Search

            Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Blog #11: Article One

The article I choose to read first was called “Promoting Aggression and Violence at Abu Ghraib: The U.S. Military’s Transformation of Ordinary People into Torturers” written by Adam Lankford. This article discussed how the U.S. military transformed typical soldiers into cruel guards at the prison of Abu Ghraib in Iraq. It talks about how the soldiers were taught through their training and their built up anger to dehumanize the prisoners, or terrorists being held at this prison. It says that these soldiers were screened before entering the military and they were all found to be ordinary people with no psychological disorders or early life traumas that would explain their reasoning behind their cruel behaviors. They have recently found research that recruits who are young and male with shared respect for authority and shared values are the ones who are most likely to follow the violent orders given to them by their commanders (389). These soldiers are basically desensitized and are taught to act out violently. They teach them that they are not supposed to be soft and cuddly, but are supposed to be tough.

            This ties into my paper because it will provide a lot of research to answer my question as to whether authority positions or powerful positions are the reason for the loss of humanity. This article within the first paragraph presented a lot of information that backs up my point that authority positions are one cause for the loss of humanity, which is often related to kindness and goodwill. These soldiers are only one example of how they go from ordinary people to violent torturers. This is also proves that they are closer to being more like vampires than vampires themselves.  Vampires even though they kill, at least they are not dehumanizing the people they are eating. In fact the vampires, must kill in order to survive, but these soldiers are only doing this just because they can without fear of retaliation.

Lankford, Adam. "Promoting Aggression and Violence at Abu Ghraib: the U.S. Military's

            Transformation of Ordinary People Into Torturers." Aggression & Violent

            Behavior 14.5 (2009): 388-395. Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr.

            2011.

Blog #10: Research with included works cited

I am choosing to research the question of how the positions of authority and power affect or cause the loss of humanity. Humanity is often defined as sympathy, kindness, and goodwill. I chose to research different events in today’s world both past and present that help to show how positions of authority can really change a person for the worst. Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghradi, and the Stanford Prison Experiment are a few of the events that involve authority positions and the lost of humanity. I chose these to research because Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghradi are current events that involve authority, power, abuse, and human rights issues that often deal with humanity. I will have to do more research on them, but from what I know that the authority positions at both of these prisons and the fake authority positions in the Stanford Prison Experiment prove to have lost their humanity. This is proven because of the way they treat other humans and do not seem to flinch when abusing or directing orders.

            I hope to find that with these articles that my research question is answered and that with these articles that authority positions and the episode are able to be connected. I hope that I learn more about how authority and power can cause the loss of humanity. I hope to learn to true meaning of humanity and what it means to have a good human nature. I also hope to get a better insight into how the episode and this real world issue are connected.

Alkadry, Mohamad G., and Matthew T. Witt. "Abu Ghraib and the Normalization of

            Torture and Hate." Public Integrity 11.2 (2009): 135-153. Academic Search

            Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Clark, Peter A. "Medical Ethics at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib: The Problem of

            Dual Loyalty." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 34.3 (2006): 570-580.

            Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Lankford, Adam. "Promoting Aggression and Violence at Abu Ghraib: the U.S. Military's

            Transformation of Ordinary People Into Torturers." Aggression & Violent

            Behavior 14.5 (2009): 388-395. Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr.

            2011.

Schneider, Daniella. "Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay." Journal of Criminal

            Law 68.5 (2004): 423-439. Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7 Apr. 2011.

Zimbardo, Philip G. "Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Lesson in the Power of Situation."

            Chronicle of Higher Education 53.30 (2007): b6-b7. Academic Search Complete. ebsco. web. 7

            Apr. 2011.

Blog #9: Prospectus (Humanity)

I chose to discuss the main issue of the episode, “Surprised”, from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In this episode, it is Buffy’s birthday and her friends throw her a surprise party, which is sadly interrupted by Vampires. These vampires are carrying boxes filled with the Judge’s body parts to a near by place. The reason for this is because they want to bring him back to life, so he can kill Buffy and her vampire boyfriend, Angel. The Judge is known for his ability to strip people and creatures of their humanity by a simple touch. Angel’s soul is sadly taken at the end of this episode after having slept with Buffy for the first time.

The argument being made in this episode is the fact that without humanity, a person is no longer the same and is in fact “soulless.” This is shown throughout the episode especially when the Judge ends up taking Angel’s humanity away from him. Angel then becomes soulless and ends up attempting to harm and potentially kill Buffy. This is also shown after Buffy and Angel sleep together that he changes into a different person, literally. Buffy says in next episode, “After we slept together, he was a different person.” Basically the creator is trying to convey, through the use of metaphors and monsters, that once a person loses their humanity, they will be completely and utterly different.

This links us back to the real world because even though a human cannot have their humanity stripped by a creature, however they can be born without a good human nature or in fact “lose” it through a traumatic event. Once a person has lost their humanity, they are no longer sympathetic, kind, or have an ounce of goodwill in them. They are simply coldhearted and soulless or often described as dead just like a vampire in this show. But, what traumatic events cause the loss of a person’s humanity? Can a person really be born without humanity or is humanity just a word that stands for something abstract? The main question is, what is humanity and how does it affect the personality of a person?

  

Blog #8: Vampires, Werewolves, Frankenstein: All metaphors or just plain Horrors?

“High School is Hell” was a very interesting article read and it really helped me to further connect the episodes I watched from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the real world. It really discussed how the show, like I thought, dealt a lot with metaphors and irony of being a teenager in high school. It talked about how sometimes metaphors can be depicted as more of a reality than a fiction story. I agree with this statement because the metaphors, like her boyfriend turning into a different person after having slept together, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer are closer to reality than the actual fiction of the show. Also, the show deals with real life situations among teenagers, but presents them in a metaphorical way, like the use of monsters as our fears. As described in the article, there are multiple ways to interpret the metaphors and irony in the show. This approach helps the viewer to be able to connect with the characters in the show in their own way. It also helps the views to actual use the metaphors and the way the issues are handled in their daily lives. These mythical characters have stood for many different things over the years and have provided writers with a way to convey their thoughts and ideas about social and political aspects without actually stating them. The show, like I said in earlier blogs, seems to make the fiction more of a reality than the actual reality we live in today.  This article really helps to bring forth the argument that this show and among others are more than just teenage soap operas, that they actually incorporate issues that teenagers face daily and they even provide solutions to these issues. I think that people should take a second look at these types of shows and possibly stop giving them a bad name just because they may seem dramatic and unrealistic. To many teenagers, these shows are often what keeps them sane and what helps them get through high school. Like they said,’ High school really is Hell.’ So we mine as well learn to deal with it.

Blog #7: Surprise, Buffy!

The episode I chose to watch next was “Surprised” from season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I chose to jump backwards so that way I could get some of the pieces that I missed. This episode was about Buffy having nightmares about Angel dying and other bad things happening. It also takes place on Buffy’s birthday and all her friends decide to throw her a surprise party. Then, the party is interrupted by vampire who is trying to bring the Judge back to life to kill Angel and Buffy.

The main problem that can be related back to the real world is the problem of humanity. The Judge is known for taking peoples’ humanity, or human nature, away from them by touching them. When a vampire is stripped of their humanity, they become awful soulless creatures. This relates to the real world because people often relate humanity to sympathy, kindness, and goodwill, and without these features a person is considered to be coldhearted or evil. In today’s world, a creature cannot take the humanity of a person but it can be “lost” through a traumatic event. I think what this episode is trying to convey is that the humanity of person is what makes them and that without it the person is completely different.

Buffy will have to move on from Angel because he is now an uncontrollable vampire. This will be very hard for Buffy to do since she loves Angel, and they had just “made love” for the first and last time. This is related to real world because it is very difficult to give up someone that you love, even if they “lost” their humanity.

Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.”

Blog #6: Buffy vs Passion

I chose to skip a head in the Buffy show and to watch an episode from season two and the episode I picked was called “Passion.”  This episode dealt with stalking issues and how the soulless Angel would not leave Buffy alone. Angel ends up leaving notes on Buffy’s bed while she is sleeping and even leaves notes at Willow’s house. Then, He ends up killing Giles’ ex girlfriend, the teacher, which upsets Giles. Giles then tries to kill Angel, but does not succeed.

This is linked to real world because often there are times when ex boyfriends stalk their ex girlfriends and it gets serious, in some cases people end up dead. It just shows how sometimes people can change or they are not who you think they are and end up going crazy. It really helps to show that we should be careful about whom we trust and what type of people we date. It also shows that we should inform our parents about the people we are in relationships with because they can help us and talk to us about staying safe, just like Buffy’s mom did with Buffy.

Also, in this episode there was a scene where Buffy and her mom have an intense talk about Angel. This is basically when Buffy’s mom has “the talk” with her. It shows how concerned she was and how much she cared about Buffy and her wellbeing. I feel like this is a common thing that occurs today with teenagers and their parents. Buffy, just like any teenager, was embarrassed and knew that what she had done was a big mistake. This shows us that everyone makes mistakes and that we have to learn from them and live with it. It connects with the real world because it shows that as strong as some people might be, that they are just like everyone else in the way that they feel pain. Buffy is a strong girl and in this episode she shows a lot of emotions and shows us that we should not let them get in the way of our work. Even though Buffy is hurting and suffering from all the horrible things Angel has done, she still does her job and manages to move on with her life. At the end of the episode, Angel says “If we could live without passion maybe we would know some peace…Without passion we would be truly dead.” I agree with his quote and feel that passion does cause a lot of issues, but without it we would be lifeless.

Blog #5: Gotta Love Buffy

I continued with Buffy the Vampire Slayer because I am really getting into the show and I think it applies to my life in some ways. The next episode I watched was “Angel” and it was a very touching episode that dealt with love.  In this episode, Buffy found out that Angel (her crush) was actually a vampire, who was unique because he has a soul and emotions. She ends up thinking that he bit her mother, when it was really a jealous girl vampire who was in love with Angel. The miscommunication, he doesn’t inform Buffy that it wasn’t him, leads Buffy to become angry and end up trying to kill him. Buffy goes to kill him and can’t because she realizes that she loves him too much.

So this episode talks about love and how it is not an easy thing. It shows us how there will always be obstacles that get in the way and it is just how you chose to deal with them. In Buffy’s case, she chose to try and kill him, but Angel ends up killing the girl vampire because he loves Buffy. Neither one of them could do what they were supposed to do because of love. We can’t help who we love and sometimes the person we love ends up being not what we expect. We learn that sometimes you have to let the things or people you love go because it is what is best for you and the other person. As much as Buffy and Angel did not want to let go, they knew they had to or else someone would get hurt. So, we know love is strong and are told how love can get you through anything, but how strong is love, really? 

Blog #4: Oh no, Buffy

I decided to watch, yet another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it is intriguing and the episodes apply to daily life issues. The episode I watched was “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date” and found this episode to be better than the last episode, “Teacher’s Pet.” The main issue in this episode had to deal with balancing social and work aspects. Buffy had to deal with the issue of dating and wanting to have a social life along with slaying evil characters. It teaches us that balancing the different aspects of our lives is an important skill and that every teenager has issues with it. Buffy shows us that you should not mix work with pleasure because it doesn’t always end well.  In Buffy’s case, when she mixed the two she ended up with a broken heart in a way because the guy ended up liking the thrill of her work more than Buffy herself.

Along with balancing your life, the episode teaches about that judging others and fighting for guys’ attention is common and that every girl deals with it at some point in her life. It shows us that judging others based on their job, looks, or status is not right and ends up making you look bad instead. It also shows that sometimes fighting for attention doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to. For example, one of the popular girls tried to steal Buffy’s date by throwing herself at him and in the end it turned out that the guy liked Buffy more because she was ‘real.’ This episode, to me, related to my life the most and I really got into the show even more. I feel that majority of the Buffy episodes have a real life issue and show how to solve it. I think that more people, well teenagers, should watch this show. Anyways, I am really excited to watch the next episode and can’t wait to see what Buffy will face next!