Ethan's Block Blog

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Apology Summary

The main idea of Apology was that he was that standing up for what he believed in and the philosophy that he tried to follow was more important to him than death. Rather than giving into public's perception, he would rather die. Socrates always takes everything that people say to him as being literal. He feels that the only reason people do any good while alive is to protect their life after death or "the end." He feels that the young people are the future and that by limiting what they are allowed to experience, they are limiting their future as well as the future of the entire Athenian community. His apology seems riddled with these types of warnings. Socrates' accusers want the death penalty and he states that he is not so afraid of death as backing down from something that he believes in so deeply. I thought it was kind of ironic that here is this very old man (especially in these times) who expects to die soon. The accusers seem to not realize this and sentence him to death anyway. Socrates also heads off certain accusations that he is just using his "eloquence" to win over the verdict when he is actually speaking the truth and that others should listen and consider what he has to say.

Monday, November 27, 2006

The Color of Change Response

The fact of the matter is that the color of your skin or your ethnic background should play no role whatsoever in college admissions, scholarship applications and other life changing decisions. Unfortunately, people have taken affirmative action to mean "to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently." This is completely wrong. The only thing that should be looked at when considering a student for admission or scholarships should be their scholarly and extra-curricular accomplishments. The students with the greatest accomplishment including best grades, most extra-curriculars and the roles they play among them. Also, teacher recommendations should play a heavier role due to the fact that these teachers have known the students in close contact for a year and many times more than that. Affirmative action should never look at any physical differences among people, but rather the intellectual differences between them.

Monday, November 13, 2006

"While men are perishable things, justice will live as long as the human soul and the law will live as long as the human mind"

Justice and law are and always will be two separate things. Justice is the feeling we get when a law is carried out. The law is something that is intellectual while the justice has a sense of coming from the soul. There will always be a definite relationship to the two, however. When a law is carried out and enforced, we get a sense that justice was also carried out. The quote means that as long as man's thought is carried out there will be new, better and fairer laws and as long as the human soul survives there will be a sense of justice among the people. Also, if a law is enforced, there may not always be justice involved in it.
In Billy Budd, Billy is accused of murdering the master at arms. Budd is an extremely likable character on the ship and because of this the court's first reaction is to let him off completely without any consequences. The fact of the matter, however, was that Budd had killed a man. It didn't matter that he was such a nice guy and that he only did it because he couldn't find the words to express himself when the victim was lying straight to the captain's face. Budd still killed a man and because of this there had to be definite consequences. Unfortunately for Budd, the consequence for killing someone onboard was death by hanging, something that the entire crew was against and didn't agree with. While the law is carried out, nobody feels that it is justified to kill Budd for what he did.
In Inherit the Wind, Bertram Cates is accused of teaching evolution when it is illegal in an extremely religious town. As he continued to fight for the right to teach different ideas the entire town turned their backs on him. The ruling came down that Cates had in fact broken the law, however his consequence was extremely leniant. Many thought the sentence was far to lenient for what Cates did, but Cates and his lawyer, Drummond, thought differently. They decided to appeal to the ruling because they felt it was unjustified. This is another example that while the law may be carried out just as it was intended, it may not be justified.
Howard Zinn feels that if we as a people feel the laws we are forced to abide by we have a right to change these laws. We have an obligation to make sure every action the government and our courts take are justified. We have a right to be treated fairly and equally to all other people in terms of freedoms and prosperity.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Law and Justice Response

The main idea of the article Law and Justice is that as a people we have a right to change the government by disobeying the laws it sets upon us when we feel that we are being wronged. Not only is it our right to challenging our government to increase our well being but in many times it is our obligation as a citizen to stand up for our beliefs so we can help others as well as ourselves. By standing up to the exploitation we are fulfilling the right that was given to us that we reserve the right to overthrow a government when it is not protecting us. While we may not be overthrowing an entire government, we are challenging its status and ways of doing things to better suit the changing times and thoughts. The fact of the matter is, if we hadn't expressed ourselves and fought to change laws, we would still be part of a monarchy in England, and women and African Americans wouldn't have the right to vote. If we do not use this right to change the government, we are just agreeing with an overbearing government. By not protecting ourselves, we are not protecting our future.