Write a response of 300 words or more about why your position changed. If none of your positions changed, write about a different statement than you did before. This assignment is due by Monday, April 21st.
1. Those who would exchange freedom for security deserve neither.
2. To assure our country's freedom, the government should be able to spy on its citizens.
3. Patriotism means supporting your government during times of war.
4. Torture of a person who is a threat to our country's freedom is acceptable as long as the person does not die.
5. People who are a serious threat to the government should be able to be held in prison without being charged.
6. The government has a right to know what people are reading so they can determine who might be a threat.
7. Society would be safer if we had security cameras in public places to catch potential criminals.
8. For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it.
9. Reporters should submit their work to government officials so they can determine if its a threat to the country.
10. The only way to prepare for peace is to be prepared for war.
8 comments:
My position for number 8 which is "for an idea to exist, we must have words to express It." my position for this changed after reading 1984. At first I thought if you had an idea you must be able to express it by any means. In 1984 there was something called thought crime and thought police. If a citizen was to come up with an idea he or she has committed a crime. These people think express their ideas by words. All they did was think of it and they would be charged of thought crime. So I changed my position about it. People got charged with thinking. Than an idea really can exist without expressing it in words. My position also changed for number 6. I thought we would be safer if the government could have the right to see everything. Well due to 1984 I see that I had to change my position. Sure we become safer if the government could see everything. This will work out for a while. But their will be times that you are going to need privacy. If the governments could see everything you would never be by yourself or in privacy. Other situation with this is that the government could misinterpret things like the party did. One could be reading about terrorists and the government could get that person mistaken for a terrorist. Well due to 1984 I became a little more aware of our government and society.
In the beginning when we first filled out the Anticipation Guide,I wasn't sure about some of the but i was definantly sure the next time we completed it. One that I agreed with [#5] in the beginning i disagreed with in the end. My opinion on that now is that if there needs to be change in a government and if people have certain opinions on the government, they should be able to voice their opinion without being arrested or charged with a crime. I was unsure about number 9. Like it was said in class, if reporters had to submit their work to government officals, they wouldnt put any bad things about them.IN our eyes they would be perfect. Like in 1984 everything would be checked and changed and if comething happen there would be no evidence on if it really happened or not. The people would not be aware of alot of things that are going on that shouldn't be going on.From reading 1983 and looking at this guide I disagreed with everything on the paper. Reading 1984 made me realize that we as a people do not have freedom to give up. And that we should have more freedom then what we have. The government should not be able to spy on people because that is an invasion of privacy.There should be some cameras here and there but telescreens and mikes in bushes is going overboard. We should be able to say what we feel, think what we feel as long as it is in a non violent way and not disrespecting anybody. I also realized that 1984 is very similar to now and that this world needs a changed before it gets any worse.
The position I am writing about is statement number nine. Statement number nine says that reporters should submit their work to government officials so they may determine if it’s a treat to the country. Before reading the book “1984” I knew about how much power the government had, but I didn’t realize how out of hand it could get (or it’s getting) so I put a question mark for my response to the statement. After reading the book I have changed my mind. I think the government should not control what reporters write. Reporters keep us informed on what is going on around us. They are responsible for our knowledge about all the missed information that the government decides not to tell us. Without such reports we would be oblivious to the small, yet important details that seem to be pushed aside by government officials. If the government was to know everything that reporters were writing, they wouldn’t allow them to write anything other than good about them. In this scenario we would be just like the Proles in “1984”. Although they have the power to over-throw the party they will never do it because they are unaware of what the party is doing to them. They live their lives day by day and they just want to survive and keep living their own lives. They do not have the reporters that we have to feed them information about the government other than the government itself. With the government changing their history, they become confused as to what used to be and what is wrong from right. This is why me position on statement number nine has changed. If this was to occur, we would all become strangers to our own country: poorly informed, and blind folded to the reality of life.
3. Patriotism means supporting your government during times of war.
This statement is very untrue. Patriotism means for a citizen to be proud of his or her country during all times. Unfortunately, many citizens only show they are patriots during the time of war. In the United States, during 9/11 many citizens became patriots of the country because we were attacked by terrorists and thousands of people had died. This only lasted somewhat weeks. After a couple of weeks and the news about 9/11 had died down, everyone went back to their normal lives and forgot about the word Patriots. A patriot most of the time is a braggart. The country is at war now. There are many people who love the United States but don’t agree with the war in Iraq, does that make them not a Patriot. The definition of a Patriot is one that had love for his or her country through out thick and then such as a marriage. Being a Patriot doesn’t only mean supporting your country when they are killing innocent people or from what the government tells us protecting the citizens. Being a patriot means loving the way businesses are condemned, loving the way the president makes laws for the country, loving how your society is, and just overall loving every decision your country make. Obtaining loyalty for your country in war or not makes you a patriot. In the book 1984 if one would agree with this statement then that would mean that all the Proles were patriots. I would say that Winston wasn’t a patriot because he went against everything that the government did. Parson would be a patriot because he loved the way the Party controlled things and never disobeyed its rules. After being arrested, Parson still remained a patriot because he still had love and loyalty for his country even though they were going to kill him.
Before reading the novel, 1984 by George Orwell, we all filled out an anticipation guide. The guide had ten statements to reflect upon. If you agreed, (+), if not (-).
These statements were: Those who would exchange freedom for security deserve neither, to assure our country's freedom, the government should be able to spy on its citizens (+), patriotism means supporting your government during times of war (-), torture of a person who is a threat to our country's freedom is acceptable as long as the person does not die (-), people who are a serious threat to the government should be able to be held in prison without being charged (-), the government has a right to know what people are reading so they can determine who might be a threat (-), society would be safer if we had security cameras in public places to catch potential criminals (-), for an idea to exist, we must have words to express it (+), reporters should submit their work to government officials so they can determine if its a threat to the country (-),
and finally, the only way to prepare for peace is to be prepared for war (-).
Before reading 1984, the two statements I agreed with were those who would exchange freedom for security deserve neither and for an idea to exist, we must have words to express it. I thought of how scared this country has been since 9/11 and the war and how willing citizens are to sacrifice rights so they can be cozy. My own U.S. History teacher at school said she was fine with the Patriot Act, if it meant safety. But how does being violated assure liberty? The second point, you need words to express yourself, so an idea can’t exist with out them.
A month later, after finishing Orwell’s 1984, my classmates and I were given the same sheet full of statements and asked again how we felt. The only thing I agreed with this time was ideas needed words. I changed my stance on exchanging freedom for security. Everyone deserves freedom. And if you are willing to exchange it, you were never free. You think you are, but the wool is over your eyes.
My poition changed for number 10 from (-) to (+). The statement was "the only way to prepare for peace is to prepare for war." I disagree with the statement first because if your in peace, theirs no need to perpare for war. And if your parparing for war, other counties might get affend and there might not want to work with you. Work with you as in doing foreign trade and forming allies. Because they might think you are all about violence. Later on after reading the book my postion changed because with oceania in war with euraisa, it seem like they was at peace, maybe beacuse they was being control by big brother, so they had to have love for him in order to have peace. Also in the book when o'brien was giving Wiston pain and taking it away, Wiston had love for o'rien for the fact he was controling his pain, teaching him from right and wrong to survive in their society, just like perparing for war. And showing him how to love big brother and not care about nothing else so he can have peace.Other example from the book is, just like at the end of the book Wiston was happy because he loved big brother. I guess if you have love, no matter what you going though, you will have peace.
My position has change in statements three and four. Before I agreed with statement three and disagreed with statement four and now i agreed with statement four and disagree with statement three. The reason I now disagree with statement three is because I thoroughly thought about what it means to be a patriot. Being a partiot does not have to do with supporting the government in whatever it does, being a patriot is supporting the people in any which way possible. In times of war if you support your country when times get rough you support the government. In times of war when you revolt and demand change you love your people and are therefore a patriot because if the war is necessary and the people do not want the war, then you are asking for what the people want. I used to agree with this statement because I believed that being a patriot would mean supporting the government when times were rough, but it is not the government you need to support, it is the people. I now agree with statement four because if someone knew something about the terror attacks of 9/11 and they were protected by our laws as to not get tortured, then it would be a tragedy to know that not torturing a person destroyed hundreds of people's jobs and took hundreds of lives. Also things like suicide bombings and airplane hijackings would be decreased in the future because if people were to reveal all the information of future activities then maybe we would be able to stop them before they happen, especially if the person endangers a massive amount of innocent lives. These were the only two statements that my opinions have changed on from before I read the book to after. Other statements.
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