homework assignment sept 15 2010

Considering the numerous assessments that you will participate in for English A2 this year
what are your goals?
how will you achieve these goals?



i have many goals pertaining to the english subject of my senior year. first of all, i would enjoy expanding the use of different vocabulary to add it to my day to day conversations. i would also like to improve the format of my essay-writing. what would also please me is if my grades improve due to over-comprehension of the material we will be taking, reading, analyzing, and studying.

i will complete this goals in various ways. i will first take the vocabulary we begin to learn and apply it into the essays that we will be writing, in both english class and out. from this basis i will expect my vocabulary words to slowly find themselves in my conversations.

to improve the format of my essays, i will make extra drafts and be sure that they are sticking to the directions given.

to improve my understanding of the texts that we will be receiving, i will read them thoroughly, and perhaps summarize every chapter so i have something to look back to. this will definitely help my understanding as this will lead to further development of thoughts surrounding the text.

muse- resistance

The song “the resistance” by Muse has many indications and analytical interpretations that relate to the novel “1984” by George Orwell. They share many themes, such as the theme of stealth. The song states, “ is your secret safe tonight? And are we out of sight”. This portrays the importance of hiding in 1984. It shows the necessity of hiding and this is confirmed when the song continues, “ or will our world come tumbling down”. This also shows how important it was for the characters of 1984 to hide themselves from the eyes of the party, which were everywhere in the form and shape of technology. The next theme present is fear. Winston and Julia were afraid of being uncovered and caught. This is also shown in the song with the lines, “ will they find our hiding place? Is this our last embrace? Or will the walls start caving in”. Winston, Julia, and the rest of the resistance share this same fear. They recognize the punishments they may face, but once a rebel, the person can never go back. They are not able to forget what they have learned. The third theme is the theme of hopelessness and suppression. This is uncovered with the lines, “the night as reached its end - - we cant pretend - -we must run - -we must run - - its time to run”. This reveals the theme of hopelessness because it portrays the idea that this is the only possible option left for their survival. In other words, they must run, or else they will be stuck in a suppressed and thoughtless world and risk being caught and killed for simple thinking.

In your own words, please explain how “war is peace”

According to the theories of Big Brother and The Party, they believe that as long they are at war with a strong outside force, the people will be able to unite under one common cause to fight the “common enemy”. As long as this enemy is there, the people will stand under one roof, and they will prosper and procure under the belief that they must be united and strong as a nation to achieve this high quality of life which is only there acting as a façade to the truth behind their quality of life. Since there is a common enemy, the Party is able to have a higher level of control leading to the vulnerability of the people. When they are at war, they will not be tempted to revolt according to their bad treatment; in fact, they may not even realize that such bad treatment exists. Being at war awards the feeling that they must be united to stay and fight strong against the evil that is pushing inwardly. Also, in this situation, citizens are empowering the government by allowing them to make larger decisions without their consent. This can be very dangerous, because the more powerful a government gets, the more selfish it can become. The government may destroy all rights of the citizens, turning them into slaves or zombies. They will be viewed as pawns, and this is a very valid example that pertains to the novel 1984.

media entry # 7 (the radio)

in kuwait, the most popular english radio station is 99.7. personally i believe 99.7 is famous because there are no other all english radio stations in kuwait, so it is a monopolistic feature that it has. i believe that 99.7 can help many, but also annoy many. Linda from 99.7 attempts to advertise the brands she is supposed to, yet she also guides the public into making smart choices, such as driving safely and taking care of the other surrounding drivers as well. She also complains about the stupid decisions many drivers make which lead to serious accidents. linda inspires us to act safely on the road, and to think about our loved ones which leads us to make smarter decisions. however, many forget that linda is paid to advertise cars that are supposedly "safer" like the nissan ultima. She can be very misleading since she has created the image that she actually cares about the kuwaiti public, so we take her word for things. this is the modern form of propaganda. this is where money can change opinions and change decisions that people make, and it is the essence that funds media.

media entry # 6 (use of computers)

Computers are found in every Kuwaiti household in multiple amounts, yet the most people that are affected by computers are the high school students and younger. this is because they have the option and choice to stay connected with their friends whilst doing something else. this "something else" could be homework and this could affect the final product of the homework leading to a drop in sufficient work done for each homework assignment. since most young adults use computers, the internet has become a great advertising device. i see advertisements for all kinds of things everyday, and almost on every website! since this is so, us teens have learned to block out pop ups and advertisements due to it being everywhere, therefore transforming it into an ineffective advertising method. the fact that most of the advertisements are completely pointless does not aid this situation for advertising agencies. in Kuwait, it is rare to find people who purchase products online, since it is hard to find certain sites that ship and send to Kuwait, or simply recognize Kuwait as a country! Also, people here and everywhere have learned to question the credibility of the advertisements since most of them try to make a complete mockery out of its "clickers".

media entry # 5 (blackberries and "bbm" in Kuwait)

the blackberry "frenzy" is often misunderstood by many who have not decided to join it, but all residents in Kuwait can see for themselves that this blackberry stuff is crazy! 9 out of 10 Kuwaitis have a blackerry, and 8 out of 10 residents here have blackberries. i can safely assume that most of the population that live in kuwait own blackberries. I own a blackberry myself, and it turns into a point of ridiculousness when i realize how many bbms i get everyday and every hour. it is quite disturbing and annoying, and many students struggle to stay on task in class and at home when their blackberries are in that same room. blackberries have demolished the option of keeping a phone in the room of study, unless strong will is evident.

However bbms do have a bright side. with bbms, us blackberry users receive broadcast messages of funny jokes that can put smiles on many faces, or the newest headline. the benefit of this is that we don't have to go search for the newest coverage, because we know that if its big, its gonna be broadcasted by many. however many times people were mistaken and mislead and decided to broadcast gossip that people took seriously. this is where news from bbm truly fails. about once or twice a month, rumors are sent as facts. last month, there was a rumor that Johnny Depp had died. this all started from one mislead person who decided to broadcast and spread is depression on bbm. when he realized he was wrong, it was too late. it was already on every blackberry in kuwait!

media entry # 4 (dependency on media)

As every day passes, we manage to pull ourselves even closer to media than our predecessors. we use it, think about it, create it, and also spread it. think about the items or gadgets we use in a daily basis. how do they change or affect the natural flow of our lives? some may consider these shortcuts as gifts, and some may consider them as curses. this is because many realize the effect that technology is having on our everyday lives and it inspires laziness, and creates a dependency for it. yet many look at the bright side and say that things can be done much quicker because of these technological advancements. now most of us share cupidity towards newly invented technology as we are all waiting to be blown away by the "new blackberry" or "new Iphone". we have become so dependent and so affected by technology that we trust it way too much. we trust it with our personal information. we trust it with our bank's information. we also trust it with our families. this leads to multiple branches of problems. one of the branches is identity theft. we risk identity theft every time we purchase something off the internet. we risk being robbed of our money through the credit card information we have given. when it comes to news, we risk receiving the wrong information and this can lead to various different circumstances, such as preparing for a hurricane that will not hit the area that you are staying in. we are guided by the media, and sometimes, we are mislead onto the wrong path. we should stray away from the dependency upon forms of media that we all share.

media entry # 3 (associated beliefs that come along with media)

the media and news has its ways of being taken as a trustworthy and credible sources, even when it comes to news that is completely one sided. many people on every side of the globe create opinions and back up their old beliefs with one-sided information that can be very misleading. people must understand that many news stations give off news that supports the views of THAT station, making it very biased information that is being sent as a ripple through the public. simple yet radical beliefs are now shared among many because of the biased opinions that the media places within its watcher. beliefs that the arabs are all terrorists are very untrue. Media has been used as a weapon throughout history for many causes. When the USA was fighting communism, they used media to their advantage, using it to spread out lies that communism is evil and it will lead to the mass destruction of the world and all that is good. However, we do not know if the beliefs that are held by the watchers have come across because of the watchers' personalities or because the media is being untrustworthy. the news is very helpful at moments, but the watchers must be smart enough to know that they should not believe everything that they hear or see on television.

Media entry #2 (feelings associated with media)

Media has its ways of finding out how to scare us the most. since we believe that media is 100 percent reliable, we do not question its credibility, therefore believing its stereotypes, exaggerations, and half-truths. this can leave us blind-sided, as well as fearful towards unnecessary things. for example, most Americans think that the entire middle east is restless and unsafe. they also believe that arabs are dangerous terrorists and that the middle east is plotting against them. these are all false accusations. Another recent situation where this happened was the H1N1 flu. the media had jumped on it taking advantage by using it as a major headline. they were speaking about it as if it would end up killing us all! some news stations stated that it would be the worst pandemic to ever come across the earth in the past 500 years. now that it has past, it is judged as the lightest pandemic the world has ever seen.
the news gets more money if more people watch it. if people are scared and hopeless, they look for hope through the news. for the media, they can take advantage of people who are gullable as well as the people who believe what the news has to say.

media entry #1 (general views)

Media has its ways of affecting almost every aspect of our lives, even the tiny ones! most of these changes that media has been the cause of are barely noticed. generally speaking, humans are copy cats, and i have seen friends re-act scenes from a movie or show numerous times, sometimes not even realizing it. media can change our opinions and also strike up certain feelings. these feelings that are provoked may not necessarily be needed, since the media can always be affected by stereotypes and can represent the wrong images of certain places and people. whenever i visit the states, many people ask me if we ride camels to school here in Kuwait. i reply with a simple dirty look, point at my phone, clothes, and Ipod, and ask them what THEY think. some people proceed to ask if people live in tents where i come from. if they only knew that people in kuwait were spoiled with money and each house here could make up for the size of a small hotel. the most common question people ask nowadays, is when they ask, " is it safe down there?". the people who end up asking theses questions are greatly affected by media, for if you ask them to back up their claims about kuwait being unsafe, they would follow their question with a rhetorical question saying, " well isn't there a war down there? DUH". (and this is when i begin to laugh at how affected they are by the media and how they may believe that terrorists take refuge in every arab country with the support of the government.