Genocide Debate

This past Thursday our debate on the Rwandan genocide took place in class. My group was assigned to the view point of Belgium, I feel what my country did during the genocide was bad, we favored one side too much then to fix it we favored the Hutus more instead to help balance things out which in the long-term effects did not help at all.

I learned that France was the one to train the Rwandan army, which helped more people to be killed during the genocide, and that neither the United States nor United Nations did anything to help stop the genocide in any way. Another thing I learned about the genocide is that the MRND hosted a radio broadcast which talked badly against the Tutsi people (A hate radio). The RPF asked why they would influence so many people to start hating the Tutsis, the MRND defended by saying they were simply saying what they felt and were not saying it in a hateful or negative way.

Overall I enjoyed the debate very much; I learned many things of many groups both bad and good. It was a very good way to help each group think and say about the issue we are trying to resolve. I also like the fact that instead of reading about it or having a test on an article referring to the genocide we had something hands-on to do instead, which helped me learn more quickly of the problems happening in Rwanda.

No one can blame what has happened in Rwanda to just one country, because it was the act of all of the groups and countries acting together and making wrong choices that really triggered this whole genocide. Most of the groups blamed the US and UN but there was many others such as Belgium and the RPF that took a major role in the genocide. I hope we can have another debate such as the one we had last Thursday because I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot of different things.

The American Scholar

Emerson's argument in"The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today.

One reason is the fact the many jobs today only provide one skill. Such as my father who has been working as a computer technician for his entire life and he has not thought of any other options since. Also in the article Emerson also states that people get so into their job its second nature to them - “The priest becomes a form, the attorney a statue book, the mechanic a machine, the sailor a rope of the ship.”

Another reason the article still is true is because many of us rely on doing the same thing veryday. Many working men and women do the same thing, wake up, go to work, do the same thing at work they have been doing for the last few years, go home and start the cycle all over again the next day. So many Americans today are doing the same thing everyday and not exploring any new possibilities for their lives.

Halloween

Halloween is always the best time of the year – candy, scary movies, candy, dressing up and did I mention all the candy?

One of my favorite scary movies I’ve seen was the original “The Exorcist”, it may be a very old movie but it is a very scary one in my opinion. When I first saw it I couldn’t sleep for the next week and a half, and I usually don’t get scared by movies easily. Another movie that I was horrified of when I was about in the 4th grade was Chucky. I couldn’t stand him he just freaked me out, and every now and then my mom would trick me and tell me to turn the channel to this “cool” show and it would be chucky.

Dressing up isn’t a big thing in my family; I have dressed up as the same thing since I was in the 1st grade. I really don’t mind it as long as I get the candy; it is a skeleton mask with a black cape. (The Grim Reaper) My brother usually buys a new costume every year and never looks at it again after that year Halloween.

My favorite kind of candy is Milky Way’s and Mint Three Musketeer’s, but no one ever pass those out since no one else likes them. I never stay out to get a lot of candy because my next door neighbor gives her left over candy.

This year I didn’t even go tricking treating I went to On The Border for my father’s birthday which is the 31st and rented a free movie because it was his birthday. The movie I rented didn’t keep to the Halloween spirit – it was Land of the Lost, it wasn’t that funny but some parts were. My favorite part was when Will Ferrell said “great now we are stuck here with these things peering into our souls” he was referring to these animals with big eye that were staring at them in this small room.

So overall Halloween is a fun part of the year its beautiful outside and people are happy. It is the one holiday that’s main focus is to give kids lots of candy, which is what makes it such a great holiday.