Cultural Differences

Many disagreements between individuals, and groups of people are started over differences in their beliefs, or morals.  The article The Challenge of Cultural Relativism states how different cultures have different moral codes, how there is not one universal code of ethics because different cultures have their own codes, and how despite many differences, all cultures are bound to have some characteristics in common.  I agree with this article in that people's morals and beliefs change according to their culture, and that there is not just one universal code of ethics, but many different codes depending on an individuals culture.  This is also evident to me in the book Things Fall Apart.  In this novel, Christian missionaries arrive in Africa, and begin trying to convert the Africans from their tribal culture to a more Western one.  This created a lot of turmoil in those African regions, and ultimately led to violence.  This also happens a lot in the real world.  In the Middle East, Muslim cultures believe that the woman is inferior, and they do not allow her to show any of her hair, or most of her body for that matter.  If a woman is seen showing these things, she is beaten, and sometimes even killed.  I view these things as morally wrong, but that is because I am a part of a different culture, where women are allowed to show their hair in public, and are treated with more respect, and kindness than the women in the Middle East.  This is just one example of a difference between our culture, and that of the Muslims, and could also be why there is so much tension between the two.  In my opinion, people should focus more on the similar values between their cultures rather than the differences.  As stated in The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, all cultures have some values in common, such as valuing their children.  The world would be a much better, and more peaceful place if people of various cultures thought to focus on the similarities, rather than the differences in between cultures.

Tragedy Reveals True Character

Most people develop a general idea of who they are throughout their lives based on how they react to certain situations. Often times these perceptions that people have of themselves are comforting to think about because their perceptions are that they are good people, and have quality personality traits.  In Arthur Miller's Definition of Tragedy, he brings up the interesting topic of a "terror and fear" that is associated with tragedy, and is still relevant in today's society.  I completely agree with Arthur Miller, and the "terror and fear" that he discusses in his article.  Character is tested when a person is faced with a tragic situation, and it is very interesting to see how people react during these situations.  The "terror and fear" that is present in tragedies is due to a person's fear that they will be torn away from the chosen image, or perception that they have created for themselves in this world.  More often than not, when a person is faced with a tragedy in their lifetime, their reaction is very drastic, and unfitting towards their normal personality.  For example, after discovering that he married his mother, and killed his father, Oedipus decides to gouge his eyes out in order to punish himself.  Also, in the play Hamlet, after learning of his father's murder, Hamlet decides to seek revenge on those responsible instead of just forgiving them, and letting it go.  As for the real world, a tragedy has recently presented itself at Penn State.  As many people know, it has just been discovered that a former football coach had sexually abused many children on and around the Penn State campus.  It is no secret that this is a huge tragedy for not only the families of the victims, but also the University and its reputation as well. However, it is most interesting to learn of how certain people reacted to this tragedy, specifically Joe Paterno.  Joe Paterno is a legendary football coach, and a very generous man who played a huge part in making Penn State the University it is today, both academically and athletically.  Although, when he was told of this tragedy, he only told the people above him, and never went to the police.  This is a real life example that tragedy indeed does reveal true character because while Joe Paterno had always done the right thing his entire life, and was always a very generous man, when he was faced with this tragedy he did not do the right thing, and clearly did not have the victims and their families in mind when he didn't go to the police right away.  In my opinion, he didn't go to the authorities because he was trying to protect the reputation of the university as well as the football program at Penn State.  In other words, it was his fear that his image, and the image of the football program would be torn away, and replaced with one of less respect, and dignity. 

Heroism

In my opinion, one of the most important characteristics a hero can posses is complete selflessness.  The hero has to commit acts of heroism for the sole purpose of helping others, and for no personal gain whatsoever.  In the poem Beowulf, Beowulf is presented as the hero, and his heroic actions and deeds are described.  The poem tells of how Beowulf came to the rescue of the many people in Hrothgar's kingdom, and saved them from the evil monster Grendel.  Then, it tells of how Beowulf tracked Grendel's mother to her underwater cave, and also defeated her there.  Finally, in Beowulf's final battle, he chooses to fight the dragon alone in an attempt to save his own kingdom.  The poem portrays Beowulf as a hero because of his "heroic" deeds where he always came to the rescue of helpless people and used his incredible strength to prevail.  Now, in question 14 of the socratic seminar questions, it asks what the poem teaches about the qualities of a hero, and a villian.  The poem teaches that the qualities of a villian are simply to oppose the hero.  Also, a villian has to be causing some harm against humans.  I completely agree with the poem's version of a villian.  However, I do not agree with what the poem teaches about heroes.  In the poem, a hero is portrayed as someone who does heroic acts, and saves others, as well as recieves the benefits of fame, and fortune afterwards.  This is shown by the fact that news of Beowulf's deeds travel from kingdom to kingdom, and when Hrothgar gives him the gifts after defeating Grendel.  This leads me to believe that Beowulf may have had the intention to save others, as well as the desire to gain fame, and fortune for himself, which makes him not completely selfless, like a hero should be.  In the real world, the closest to a hero that I have ever seen anyone get is the firefighters that went into the twin towers on 9/11.  Those men went into burning towers, and risked their lives for the people that were trapt in them.  Their only intention was to save those trapt people, and that to me makes them completely selfless, and heroic.

Prison Brutality

As I went over the socratic seminar questions, number 33 in The Power of One questions caught my eye.  It was one we didn't get the chance to talk about in class, but still a very significant topic.  The question asked about Lieutenant Borman, and his hatred toward the prisoners.  The root of the Lieutenant's hatred lies in the fact that the prisoners are African, and therefore a different skin color than him.  Being white, Lieutenant Borman believes that he is above the prisoners, and that the prisoners should not be treated as equals, but rather like slaves, or animals.  This also leads to why Borman dislikes Peekay and Doc.  Peekay and Doc help the prisoners write letters home to their families, and then sneak their families responses back in the prison to them.  Therefore, Doc and Peekay are very well liked throughout the prison, and this causes Doc and Peekay to treat the African prisoners as equals, which Lieutenant Borman does not believe in.  Now, even though all the warders were very abusive of the prisoners, especially Geel Piet, Lieutenant Borman was the worst.  Eventually, in an attempt to get Geel Piet to confess that Peekay and Doc were sneaking letters in and out of the prison, Lieutenant Borman beats him so bad that he actually kills him.  This brings about the discussion of prison brutality in America's prisons today.  Some people think prison brutality is okay because everyone in prisons is a dirty criminal, and probably deserves it.  I'm here to say that this is not always the case.   Some prisoners are beaten, or even killed and are acutally innocent.  The most recent demonstration of this is with the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia.  Almost everyone believed that Troy Davis was innocent, and yet he was still put to death.  Even the people who testified against Troy in his original trial recently spoke out and said that he is innocent, and that they were almost forced by law enforcement to testify against him.  Even with this, and the fact that Troy and others have been insisting that he is innocent since 1989, Troy Davis, most likely an innocent man, was still executed.  Many people claim that the execution of Troy was due to racism. 
Hundreds of event like this occur all the time all over the United States, and must be stopped.  Whether criminals, or innocent people, they are still human beings, and still should be treated that way.  The fact that prisoners are being beaten so harshly that they are killed is a huge problem in the American prison system.  It also shows that something like what happened to Geel Piet is very much a reality in America, and something should be done to stop it.