Enough is Enough

I am writing this note because I needed to share a few thoughts on yesterday’s heinous act of terrorism against the innocent Christians in Egypt. I was flabbergasted at the Breaking News headline “Bomb Hits Egypt Church at New Year’s Mass, 21 Dead”. Before finding out about this tragic event, I was preparing to go to my aunt’s house to ring in the New Year and start a new chapter of my life like everyone else in the world did, but I went numb from head to toe as the pictures started loading onto the screen. How could someone be motivated to do such an awful thing on one of the most exciting and hopeful days of the year?

Here is a brief overview of what has happened after the attack, the Muslims say that the Christians are at fault because they forced a woman to convert to Christianity (the previous dilemma that has led to this attack) and this is their retaliation, and the Christians say that it is Al Qaeda and Muslims in general trying to get them to leave the country so that they can live in harmony. What is the element that the Christians have caused to disrupt this harmony? I am not going to get into what I believe is the answer to this question but it is a simple factor that is causing all this trouble; hate. The hate that these people have is beyond what anyone here can relate to. When I visited Egypt this summer I was awakened to the discrimination and disrespect that Christians get in the country. We are oblivious to the freedom we have here as Americans in which we can walk around anywhere we want, whenever we want, and for whatever reason we want. They only go out for necessities. I started out writing an example of something that happened to me there so people could relate to what the conditions are over there, but I have realized that posting it on the web mean that anyone could access it, and I am not in the position to put anyone’s life at risk there because I was too disturbed by what happened and had to get some of the anger and pain out. You might be reading this and saying to yourself, “Wow he is really paranoid about this”, but I want you to ask yourself how a person cannot be paranoid after seeing innocent people dying in such a horrific event.

While this is a test of their faith and ours, there are some points that can be taken away from this. The first point is that those 21 souls that were lost in this attack are now in heaven with the Lord and are in peace. Point two is that we should not pray for them as they have earned eternal salvation and are praying for our souls. We should pray for their families to have comfort or anything near comfort from the brutal death of their loved ones right in front of them as it is being replayed on television even as we speak. Three, is that hate is the cause of all the attacks and terrorism that we see on television and it needs to be stopped. People need to stand up for what they believe in and not let a group of cowards have the power to cause fear and bloodshed around the world.

Now that I have gotten that out I will leave with only a minor note. I believe that this was another test of not only mine but millions of people’s faith. This event, even though it has shaken me to the core reminds me that each day we are all a step closer to heaven. In Matthew Ch. 24 the Lord tells us how we do not know the time or the day when the Son of Man will return and that we should prepare accordingly. Yesterday’s attack was an example of how short life is and how it can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye. So I pray for peace and protection for all of the Christians there and ask that all of you send a prayer for them that the Lord may protect them, and give comfort to all the broken hearts.

Final Draft

Well team, we have made it to the end of the line, here is my final draft of my paper and hopefully it accomplishes everything that I intended it too and gets a good grade!

The Final Post

For me, one topic that we discussed during class really stuck out in my mind not only because of the personal connection but the common attribute this topic had was the one about countering. The fact that most people do not counter an argument or another person in general is amazing. Throughout the lecture over it I remember saying to myself how awful I was when it came to arguing or having a passionate side to my defense but rather that I take their point and just say no because I said no. Countering however, as Harris notes in his chapter is the disagreement of a viewpoint and having a real reply or counter to the person’s point of view or idea. The fact that this is such a common human reflex, there are examples of senators, world leaders, news broadcasters, etc that have the proof that arguing has taken over the intellectual side of things.

My writing has changed dramatically for the better after taking this class. Before this class, reading, typing, and studying were not my specialty and I despised the language because of previous teachers missing the point of showing the blessing of the language and different uses for it. My writing style has improved with the way I approach topics and back them up; I also am able to cite sources correctly in text thanks to this class. I have started reading more with blogs and the papers provided and have become addicted to the sites which allow me to do some more reading on a daily basis rather than spend time on facebook or playing around.

One example of how my writing has changed is the fact that now I cut out the extra fluff in my sentences while writing. After writing a piece I reread it like we did in class and checked for grammar mistakes and extra words. In terms of reading, now I go to different sites such as Daily Dish and World Newser in order to see different topics and viewpoints of people discussed on different topics.

Second Essay Rough Draft

Here is the link to my second essay rough draft, I feel that it has more voice than my other one.

Taking an Approach

In taking an approach, we are told to take all that we have been taught by Harris and do not exactly the opposite but rather apply them to the different approach he wants us to take as writers (Harris 74). What we have been doing as bloggers over the past semester is nothing in respect to “Taking an Approach”; what we are doing is forwarding what we get from our different sites and sources and respond to them and in a sense are adding our opinion to a story that has already been gnawed on by possibly millions of people. The next question that follows this is how then if we are just forwarding information and ideas around that we can take an approach and actually fulfill this duty to writing, and the answer is just to take an idea and put a spin on it or in essence just write it from a different point of view (Harris 75). Even though this seems similar to responding, it takes more effort to come up with personal ideas to support this approach; as Harris says, "To reshape, not replace or rebut." (Harris 74).

In my blog for example, it is evident that they try to take an approach (in respect to the news sites/ each other also) by adding either a question or a specific part of a story and make that the highlight of the topic. One site has its opinion blog which is basically taking an approach, while the other one has the day’s highlights and allows people to dictate them to the best of their abilities and react. For me to take an approach takes away some of the fire associated with the story or subject being discussed; if only one aspect is shown or the story has no background with it then there is information lost and a qualified opinion can be hard to conjure. In retrospect, the fact that the subject is being discussed and that now people are giving their views on a subject opens up a new and positive can of worms in which everyone with a blog can now see different points of views and either agree and tell why or disagree and elaborate on their feelings. Nevertheless, in terms of “Taking an Approach” The World Newer Blog does not compete with the New York Times in the sense that it is more specified and organized for what Harris is saying as taking the approach rather than forwarding, which is the key to what ABC News does in their blog for World News.

Forwarding

The Vast Majority

As I go through my classmates’ different news sources I see that we as a class have a common “fall guy” as I like to put it. The majority of the class seems to be interested in searching the known news sites such as CNN, ABCNEWS, FOXNEWS, etc. It may be the fact that the lack of televisions on campus force students to go to these sites, or maybe the commonality or recognition that comes with these news sites give a comfort to students that they can trust the material they are getting from their trusted news site. This, however, I see as a misconception due to the fact that different sites/stations have their different approaches and biases.

Hedges and Carr would both see this as the fallout from the advancement of technology. Both would perceive these methods of getting the news as I interpret it as a sign of the times; less radio and television, and more surfing the internet and doing less research. With online news, the reader has the option of what they want to read about. The web page is organized so that instead of having to read the whole paper to find out what you wanted to know, now you can just look under the organized tab or column and search for the specific article you were searching for. Nevertheless, Thompson would see this as the advancement of the human mind to be able to organize a system that would assist people to find out what they were looking for as quickly as possible. The ability to find out about the world in a matter of seconds is a revelation that we are more civilized as a nation and have more information to indulge our minds into.

The fact of the matter in which I write this paragraph over shows the difference one class and chapter in a book can make. The reason why these news sources are popular are because we are forwarding the information given to us by different web pages, and word of mouth along. As you are reading this, I am forwarding to you what people have told me and doing what Hedges and Carr might see as adding to the downfall of human nature by the blogging and technological world.


I revised the whole last paragraph as I had a whole different aspect on how people got their news. Rather than see the obvious fact that the news is forwarded from one source or person to another, I was stating my idea as whoever is giving the news is the firsthand witness to the event. As Harris tells us that we are just forwarding information and not changing it, it surprises me how different sources forward information but yet change it when they have no right to do so. If the story is being used on a opinionated program then by all means tear and do whatever you want to do to the story, but when it comes down to reporting the news, the facts are all that should be given.
 

Times v. Newser

As I read the The New York Times and compare it to the other blogs that I have been reading, it is interesting to see how both are written about the same subjects yet the content seems to be filtered in a much more biased sense. It may be that I prefer one organization over the other, but the differences in the language used cannot be overlooked; and even the order of the different stories on their page. It does boil down in fact to who the editor’s and publishers are, but that does not make a difference as both blog companies are trying to entertain the same type of audience that each other compete for.

The World Newser is the same as the times in the fact that the main focus is the different news that affects our daily lives and allows people to respond to it. The New York Times has a specific writer do all the work on one blog so that it can be opinionated and also in my opinion controversial or stirs up the viewer’s mind. The relationship can be seen as separate but equal in the sense that there is the same topic with the same focus in getting the audience to react to the story, but the way both blogs approach the method of presenting different things are interesting in the sense that they are not afraid to form their own opinions and ideas for people to disintegrate.

Both blogs can be seen as working as a part of the press sphere as Jarvis called it by the fact that they are done by multiple persons and are aimed at the individual person rather that an audience as a whole. The “me” factor as I mentioned in my previous blog is a major component of today’s news and as evident in The World Newser blog the stories are put out to create a deep personal reaction from the reader and how it, as in the story, affects them in any sort of way. Rather than talking about the economy as a whole as done in previous years, the blogs that are written today are intended to give the audience an chance to let their side of the story come out and let them complain about prices or how they lost their job, etc. Nevertheless, the ecology of news has changed dramatically and both blogs have proven the theory of the news world’s transformation and as Sullivan so blatantly describes as the personal touch to every day events.