Disasterous New Year

Posted on January 31, 2020 by MICHAEL LEE

This past weekend, what should’ve been a day to celebrate the new year (lunar), turned into something far from a celebration. Hong Kong protestors came out onto the street and displayed their dissatisfaction with the government. It would seem as though some of the citizens are unhappy with the contract to their government. It should be noted that the island has a history of “forced” contracts. From first being taken by the British (1842), to being returned to China (1997). It would seem as though the Island as gone through changes power, without being asked if they consented to the change. For “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (pg. 156). The relationship between the Island and the government seems to be less than amicable. It should also be noted that the coronavirus has hit Hong Kong, causing more tension between the people and the government. Although, at times, a government must (or will) go against the general consensus of the people. However, the people of Hong Kong have shown their unhappiness with their votes, by voting in pro-democratic parties (I believe pro-democratic parties have the majority). What an interesting (political) world we live in.

Note: I apologize if I offended anyone in any way. I know this is can be a controversial subject, so I try to keep as neutral as possible. Additionally, I apologize for being late.

Does Society Cause Disease?

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Lauren

“With so few sources of illnesses, man in the state of Nature has, then, little need for remedies, and even less for Doctors; in this respect, too, the human species is no worse off than all the others, and one can easily find out from Hunters whether they come across many unhealthy animals in their treks” (Discourse on Inequality)

There’s been a recent viral outbreak in Wuhan that has been all over global news as of late. Society has forced everyone away from the state of nature, where they would naturally spread out. In nature, people are foremost concerned with basic and personal needs and not worried too much about what others are doing. In order for everyone to have adequate resources from the natural world, people wouldn’t tend to be very close together and steal from each other, but would instead move on to different areas that contain more resources. Without society, there would never exist such high population densities that we see in our largest cities, and this allows for rapid expansion of diseases. The fact that the people of Wuhan have been forced to rely on the artificial government for meeting many people’s basic needs as opposed to providing for oneself and living off of nature has led to civil unrest because the government has been unable to deliver supplies to many. People naturally realize the many disadvantages of society and the lack of capability government has in meeting basic needs during states of emergency. People place power in government in return for meeting basic needs of the people, but many times society fails to reciprocate and needs aren’t met. (Also, sorry this is late.)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-its-like-to-try-to-get-treatment-for-the-coronavirus-in-china

Super Bowl Not So Super

Posted on January 30, 2020 by NICHOLAS FRIES

This Sunday thousands of American’s will sit down to watch the Super Bowl, it’s commercials, and the halftime show, although this far be from our natural state. While it may be called the Super Bowl, it is far inferior to the past. Our desires by nature are meant to be simple, yet this Sunday we will be heaving entertainment on top of entertainment. Are we not satisfied? And after the game, fans of the losing team will be distraught. There was no such worry or concern at our origin, yet with the development of our society, so have our desires developed, but for the worse. Man will go out onto the field with pads and a helmet, attempt to overcome their opponent, but neither team would be able to compete with a savage man. “But if you want to see an even more unequal fight, pit them against each other naked and disarmed, and you will soon realize the advantage of constantly having all of one’s forces at one’s disposal.” (Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau 48). Many observers will view these athletes as superior. This inequality would be far absent in the past, but with the progression of society has come the regression of us.

https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl

Are We Thinking or Is Technology Thinking For Us?

Posted on January 30, 2020 by NIKOLAOS KOLTSIDAS

For this weeks blog post (which I know is late but I’ll go for it anyways), I’d like to discuss the current phenomenon in the fallacies of using technology for doing things that we would rather not apply ourselves to do.

The mind is a complex tool that is given to us so that we can think about ideas and processes in order to progress. But how is technology hindering this use of our mind as a tool? I understand technology is advancing and has only become more integrated in our everyday lives but isn’t it a bit much sometimes? For example, look at navigational applications and software that is so commonly used today. You hop in the car and put in the address you want to go to and an app like Google Maps tells you the step by step directions to get there. This seems great with everything laid out for you but for some reason your directions tell you to take the next exit and you want to go across four lanes of traffic in hopes that you’ll make it. Why does this occur? There are literally signs telling us how far the exits are from the points of the sign but we ignore these signs because we’d rather rely on our GPS to tell us when/where to exit the freeway. I’m not saying this is the app’s fault but rather our dependency of technology over using our own minds to think about our next move. This is just one example of how technology has hindered the mode of human thinking.

“And our skills deprive us of the force and agility that necessity obliges him to acquire” (Discourse on Inequality, p. 68). If we rely on technology to do the thinking for us, then we lose the ability to think for ourselves.

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-always-on-technology-hinder-groups-ability.html

Discourse On Climate Change

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Fermin Aguilar Gomez

I will discuss about man and its indifference towards the state of nature when he becomes civil. Climate change being a condition of instability imposed by human activity is present in modern cases. The fires in Australia have been more than provoked by the extremities in climate causing the drier summer and colder winters. Let us suppose this to be false and an extreme climate is some sort of natural phenomenon that occurs occasionally. The difficulty that the substituents impose is that of the accumulation of green houses which is actually measured and considered an accurate analysis of the state of nature. The state of nature ultimately opposes the reasoning of right wing politicians, such as, those in Australia who have become civilized in order to enforce and maintain the inequality they benefit from through wealth. Their difficulty to understand may lay an argument for a different language that may allow them to hone in on respecting the state of nature and the basic needs of survival. As I have discoursed in the topic of inequality, we must take in note “that, since the child had all his needs to explain and consequently more things to say to the mother than the mother to the child, it is the child who must make the greatest effort toward inventing a language.” (Discourse on Inequality, pg. 57) Therefore, in order to formulate a proper example of communication for those indifferent to the state of nature, it is natural for those opposed to climate change to have difficulty explaining the importance of the topic as it would conclude to be a foreign language. The amount of individuals attempting to create this language also creates confusion as each language is contrary to another as they are much of the individuals making. Now the reasoning of the right wing party is also inappropriate as it undermines the basic needs of humanity. “And thus dissolute men abandon themselves to excess that cause them fever and death,because the mind perverts the senses and because the will still speaks when nature is silent.” (Discourse on Inequality, pg. 53) Concluding a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom due to greed indulged by the mind.

https://time.com/5765603/australia-bushfires-prime-minister-essay

Parasite in Paradise

Posted on January 28, 2020 by JINGHAN CAO

Movie “Parasite” shows not only the gap between the rich and the poor, but also the vanity and envy that all humans share in a civil society. The son in the poor family isn’t satisfied with just finding a job (as a tutor for the daughter in the rich family), he wants his entire family infiltrated in the rich household. It then leads to the tragedy in the end. Human needs make people corrupt because what they need is no longer the basics of living, but pleasure, convenience or leisure that they desire. The inequality in the society is caused by corrupt human wants, for”those conveniences having through habit lost almost all their pleasure, and being at the same time degenerated into true needs, being deprived of them became much more cruel than possessing them was sweet; and they were unhappy about losing them without being happy about possessing them”(Discourse on Inequality, p.72). The wants will eventually becomes the needs, which will control humans. In “Parasite”, the characters, especially the poor family, are in some ways enslaved to their desires which ultimately leads to their own tragedy.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/

A Progressive Split, Grave Echoes of 2016

Posted on January 28, 2020 by SALVADOR FRANCO

With the passing of the 7th Democratic debate for the Iowa caucus, certain issues have begun to arise that give me grave reminders from the previous election cycle. The people of interest in this debate, in particular, are senator Warren and senator Sanders. As observed in previous debates the two Progressives seemed to never debate against the other seeming as they had previously agreed to ceasefire both on and off the debate stage. Yet with recent allegations from the media stating that Bernie does not believe that a woman could not win the presidential election, tensions between the two rose. Due to the biased form of the platform, as CNN treated the allegations as the truth when asking the senators about the issue, in which the 7th debate took place the tensions quickly escalated forming a rift between the previously amicable candidates and their respective voter base. With this split between the two leading progressive candidates, the Democratic party finds itself at an impasse as the general will of the people that support the party was split between the establishment democrats such as Biden and the progressives. This new split further divides the will of the party shifting from the general will of the people to a more niche collective will of private individuals. I find it improbable that with this further division in the party that the will of one of these increasingly niche candidates will resonate amongst the general will of the nation.“But the whole less a part is not the whole, and as long as this relationship is the case, there is no longer a whole but rather two unequal parts. Whence it follows that the will of the one is certainly not general in relation to the other.” (On the Social Contract, 179). It seems that the cycle of division that started with the 2016 election is bound to happen once more to the Democratic party as it continues to hold to different pieces of the puzzle which unless united cannot fulfill the general will of the people, and therefore cannot hope to win the presidential election.

Sorry about the disgustingly long URL.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-dispute_n_5e23a957c5b673621f77228b?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jb25zZW50LnlhaG9vLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIfiBImstee9npyNM0fnFvyceat-XWQ7vYpkp9Gj7l_ESA98zXw8JSL3s_9VcYdjt2vo_Vql4VxlgsLCWwyMYchnzCpOlHraa1IoLFJd7tuwdILP0d2oS8Cb03PjmL3Sy8dAhckWh1E-sj22d6pQEhzfIIhm3iIlmkAnnLjE0Dyo

Kobe Bryant: An Inspiration To The Physical And Metaphysical

Posted on January 28, 2020 by TIMOTHY HONG

In the very recent passing of Kobe Bryant, it becomes apparent to us as individuals and as a society how short and how precious life truly is. It causes us to reflect on our own lives and reassess our goals, accomplishments, and lifestyle. Now that Mr. Bryant has moved beyond the contstraints of this Earth and joined our Creator in the land of the
Divine, perhaps his desires will return to the state of nature, such as God intended. After all, it is said that “Man’s first sentiment was that of his own existence,” (Discourse on Inequality, p. 69). In his journey, we hope he finds the peace he so well deserves and that we may one day join Mr. Bryant the Lord Himself in Heaven.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/kobe-bryant-dies-in-helicopter-crash/index.html

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