Lord of the Flies Blog

Prompt 1: “Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death”

                I agree with this statement 100 percent. The more society grows the more people are going to butt heads and not agree with each other. Having a president doesn’t always help. There is always going to be someone who is out of the loop. There is always going to be that one person who has bad thoughts about doing stuff. This is why there have been so many things that happen in the United States and all over the world. These such bad things would be known to be: school shootings, terrorist attacks, serial killers, and many more things. They way society forms a person makes me wonder what it would be like if everyone in the entire world would live in a giant bubble and had to follow very strict rules and wear uniforms and couldn’t do anything bad. It makes me wonder who would be the first person to crack because they can’t take it anymore. This is what people do now. They crack because they can’t handle society anymore and want to make a statement so they go out and shoot a school up. Doesn’t make sense but that is what society does. Yes, I agree with the statement at the top, society knows how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death.

Prompt 2: “If we can’t separate our civilized self from our savage self which will take over and why?”

                I think that our savage self will eventually take over our civilized self. The only way it won’t is if you have a really good head sitting on your head like Ralph did in the book The Lord of the Flies. I believe that our savage self with takeover because we will eventually fall into temptation. Temptation when it comes to our personal self in my eyes is the root to all evil. Our savage self is going to take over fist because of temptation and because out savage self has taken over our minds are not going to think twice about what it tells our body to do. Because out savage self has taken over our minds are not going to think about our conscious we have when we think about doing things. This is why bad things happen is because our savage self takes over our civilized self.

Prompt 3: How is civilization created? Are people controlled by society or is society controlled by people?

                Civilization is created when man built shelters near rivers for water and somewhere close to food too. Civilization was created because man needed a place to settle, so they built shelters like I said in the previous sentence. I believe that people are controlled by society. People somewhere in time set in stone norms for society. Everyone just follows them and when someone goes against the norms they stick out like a sore thumb. For example the Florida school shooting that just took place last week. The ex-student of that school decided that he was going to shoot up the school he got expelled from. In school everyone follows rules and when you don’t follow them there is a punishment. His punishment was being expelled, because of this he shot up the school and killed 17 innocent people. He went against the norms of society resulting him to stick out like a sore thumb and his face all of social media. This kid shooting up that school resulted in a big uproar and I am sure that is what he wanted because his savage self-took over. He hadn’t been taking his pills like he was supposed to which resulted in his savage self to take over and his mind not to question what he was doing. Therefore, I believe that we are controlled by society and that it eventually makes people go crazy.

Questions:

1.       What is the LOTF talking about?

a.       Simon is the odd man out right now and that if he doesn’t start to fit into the norms he is going to end up dead.

2.       What has Simon been doing that makes the LOTF angry?

a.       Going against the other boys and staying to himself, not picking a side.

3.       Why Simon in particular?

a.       Because he is hallucinating and because he is very famished and is keeping to himself, stays away from everyone else.

4.       Why not any of the other boys?

a.       Because they are all fighting between the two groups and they all went against the norms of the society that Ralph had established. 

Refugees Assignment

1. How long does the typical refugee process take?
             a. 18-24 Months
2. The Obama administration had a goal of admitting how many refugees in fiscal 2017?
             a. Admission 110,000 refugees
3. Over the past decade most of the refugees have come from what 2 countries?
             a. Burma and Iraq
4. How many Muslim refugees entered the U.S. in 2016?
             a. 39,000
5. Most of the refugees were resettled in what 3 states?
             a. California, Texas and New York
6. Looking at the bar graph (shifting origins of refugees over time) list 3 observations that really surprise you.
             a. In 2004 50% of overall admitted refugees were from Somalis, Cuba, and Laos
             b. How many of Asian refugees the US allowed over the time period of 1975-2017
             c. The decrease of European refugees the US allowed.
7. Looking at the bar graph (religious affiliation) list 2 things that surprised you.
             a. How large the number of the religion is Christians.
             b. The slow increase of Muslims allowed into the US.
8. Looking at the pie graphs (American generally don’t welcome refugees) why do you think Americans were more welcoming of Albanian refugees in 1999 compared to refugees in other years?
             a. Because it is the start of a new generation, and the culture is changing things are more acceptable now.
9. How have refugees changed in South Dakota over the years?  Most refugees today come from where?
             a. Went from Afghanistan to Sudan to Somalia to Bhutan then to Burma back to Bhutan
             b. Most came from Bhutan
10. Using the map above what are 3things you learned about other states and their main refugee settlements.  (Ex. Ukrainian refugees and where they settled.)
             a. That in 2017 Bhutan and Burma refugees are in nine different states
             b. Dem. Rep. of Congo refugees are in most of the states (14)
             c. Eritrea and where they are settled (Montana)
11. What is the ceiling for refugees decided by Donald Trump?
             a. Trump ordered a ceiling of 50,000 total refugee
12. Tell me one thing looking at the line graphs that you have observed.
             a. Number of refugees slowly decreased
13. How many people are now displaced from their homes in the world?
             a. Nearly 1 in 100 people worldwide are now displaced from their homes
14. How many Syrian refugees are now displaced from their homes?
             a. About 6 in 10 Syrians are now displaced from their homes
15. What 2 countries in Europe are receiving record number of refugees?
             a. Norway and Switzerland
16. Do you believe the U.S., being a world power and first world country, has an obligation to help refugees and/or give them humanitarian aid?
             a. Yes, because we are a big enough country we might as well help them out, they are coming from a country that has nothing.

Bacha Bazi Assignment

Reaction Part:

            I do not think that this custom over there should be allowed. Someone needs to go against the custom and end what is happening to all those poor young men. Those men are being violated and the boys are having their lively hood ripped away from them. They are having all of that torn away just because it is a custom over in Shomali. Those boys are being victimized by sexual predators and being dressed like girls for enjoyed. It is extremely wrong that these boys are being used as enjoyment for the predators that took them. In my mind someone needs to go against the norm and make it so that the custom is no longer a custom. It is all wrong that those boys are getting their lives taken away from them just because it is a custom over there and are used for predator’s enjoyment.

Sociological Part:

            If I were to put my feet in the boy in the article that I read I would be able to understand how he felt. I would be able to understand how he felt while he was being violated, not having a family, constantly being forced to dress as a girl and go and “please” his predator. My feet are now in his shoes. I would feel like that there is no hope and that there is no way I would ever be able to escape it and get back to my family. But wait…my family doesn’t want anything to do with me. Now I just feel very depressed and don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to get away from all of these horrible things that are happening to me. I wish that the guy that is doing this to me was dead or would just let me go. Wait, now is my chance, I could break free from this. I finally escaped from this horrible life. But, now I have to be on the run because I am afraid of being captured again, so I have to hide so none of those horrible men can find me again. I am free but not truly free. I wish that I never would have been captured, my life might actually be normal. I wonder what it would feel like to be normal. Normal is there such a thing? I guess I will never know, my life has been altered and I will never have my past back. I just have to except the fact that I must live my life the best I can now and just stay hidden, so I cannot be captured again.