Blog 4

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/1131421.stm

The cult of personality described in this article is much like Jacks. In that Kim Jong Il is a ruthless dictator but is popular because he controls the media and everyone praises him.

He also rules with fear and Jack used the fear of the beast in order to keep the kids in line.

http://www.ethiopiantreasures.co.uk/pages/derg.htm

This article details the rebellion of the communist forces in Ethiopia known as The Derg against the Imperial Forces of Haile Selassie. While the Selassie regime was not doing too well at the time, with falling oil prices and famine, the Emperor urged his people to be patient. Needless to say: they weren't. He was ousted from power and later suffocated to death. While the Imperial government might have been considered bad, the Derg was far worse. Corruption, suppression of freedom and an even worse economy than the Imperial one.

This is like what happens to Ralph at the hands of Jack. While Ralph may have had his misgivings and made mistakes, he wasn't malevolent and corrupt like Jack was. However, just like what happened in Ethiopia, the people were unable to bear with him and replaced him with a far worse leader.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19740104&id=0R0zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tTgHAAAAIBAJ&pg=3424,716632

The article explains that an adviser of Richard Nixon, the corrupt USA president who was sentenced could have been used as a scapegoat.

Like that man, Piggy was an advisor used as a scapegoat and who took the brunt of Ralphs failures.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7994426.stm

The military commander of Fiji, a small island nation, overthrew his government and declared himself Prime Minister. Jack was the leader of the warriors, who acted like the military. He then eventually overthrew Ralph.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/30/taguba/

In 2004, the prison of Abu Ghraib was revealed to have been a place where US soldiers tortured, raped, sodomized and killed Iraqi prisoners, mostly for kicks.

This is like Roger, who tortures and abuses people for his own pleasure.

Freedom of speech: Essay 3

Freedom of speech, undoubtedly a good thing, it is one of the very pillars of the modern democratic world. The Canadian charter of rights and freedoms lets people speak democratically until politeness is done away with and it is replaced by slander, lies or hatred. That is what free speech should be, some reasons for this are: it sets a more positive tone for children and people in their developing years, it makes people more responsible for their language and it disallows people who are racist, sexist or discriminatory to insult others legally.

The start off, children are very susceptible to outside influences and can easily be shaped by them, so it is beneficial to them and for us that they do not grow up in an environment where people are allowed to make racial or ethnic slurs without repercussion. Unlike adults, children are inquisitive and will try to find out what a word means and even use it to feel cool, telling their friend, creating a "chain-reaction" of kids learning bad new words.

Furthermore, it causes people to hold their tongues, especially in public places. If a person is racist or has negative opinions against anything to do with a person the threat of legal repercussion would do wonders to keep their opinions to themselves. This in turn creates a more multi-cultural society, as immigrants flock to Canada or other nations with rules like this because they feel safe or accepted from bigotry of racial violence.

Last but not least, this kind of freedom of speech makes it unable for others to legally insult other people based on their race, creed, size or any other factor. Take the recent incident with Ann Coulter as an example; a radical, bigoted and mean-spirited American who was told that Canada does not allow hatred and evil top be preached, yet did it anyway at one university, making the University of Ottawa protest until she canceled her speech there.

To conclude, because t sets a more positive tone for children and people in their developing years, it makes people more responsible for their language and it disallows people who are racist, sexist or discriminatory to insult others legally, freedom of speech should exist but should not exist when hate speech and slander are used.

Journal #2

In this day and age, much has changed since our parents time. However, some of these changes were negative, and have become obstacles in our daily lives. These include over dependence on technology, new and more powerful drugs and the fact that the internet can be used for harmful activities. 30 years ago, when my parents were in school, they had no calculators during tests or class, no internet to find stuff or any word processors to type with. Instead they had to do mental math to solve their problems, go to the library and study books or archives and write things by hand. They also didn't have as fast cars, phones or microwaves. This made them more patient and tolerant to setbacks or delays. Meanwhile with the quick internet, phone and microwaves and other such electronics even a slight delay like the internet lagging or taking the time to prepare food might irritate or annoy us. With this obstacle the second and third ones can be achieved, the one that happened first chronologically is the introduction of more potent and hard drugs. The access to the more powerful chemicals created by technology as well as other advances have made it easier to create and distribute drugs, as well as making their effects last longer and more strong. In the past, however drugs were weaker and had less chemicals in them, making them less dangerous. The last obstacle that our generation must face is the Internet. For most people the Internet isn't bad, but for others it is a way for terrorists to communicate, a way for criminals to exchange information or set up deals or a way for criminals to attack, harass or solicit people while being hidden in anonymity.