Evil Outweighs Good

Keaton Segebart

Professor Kepros

College Reading

30 September 2013

The Terrible Evil

            From what I have learned about genocide I personally believe that evil outweighs good. After reading night and darkness and watching the killing fields there is no doubt in my mind that evil by far outweighs good. No one in their right mind could kill that many people if they were good.

            As the psychologist said in the most recent Ted video we viewed “the world is, was, and always will be full of evil. Evil is the exercise of power. While watching this clip I saw pictures. Pictures, might I add, that should have never been taken. These things that happened in these pictures should have never happened and is a perfect example of evil outweighing good. The chain of command in that situation prevailed over the younger personnel would listen and obey their superiors.

            Genocide. What exactly is genocide? "Genocide," a term used to describe violence against members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy the entire group, came into general usage only after World War II, when the full extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime against the Jews of Europe during that conflict became known (www.history.com/topics/what-is-genocide). Hitler’s attempt to wipe out the Jewish population was an ultimate failure when the Allied Nations liberated the concentration camps. This is another prime example of how evil outweighs good.

            After rereading Children of Cambodia I came across two sentences that caught my eye. “My dear friend Sakon was married to a handicapped Khmer Rouge veteran against her will. He was mentally disturbed and also suffered from tetanus. (Children of Cambodia)”. These two mere sentences are showing that people were forced to do things they didn’t want to do. The story goes on to say that Sakon’s husband suffers nightmares of his crimes and killings. And then he beat her. In the end he ended up killing her by stabbing her to death.

“Schools were turned into Khmer Rouge headquarters where people were interrogated, tortured, killed, and buried. School yards were turned into killing fields (Children of Cambodia).” This caught my eye because the Khmer Rouge took over schools, which is a negative deal because children were unable to get an education. Instead the Khmer Rouge killed more innocent people. This is another prime example of evil overtaking good.

When it was all said and done with an old man stated "It takes a river of ink to write our stories.(Children of Cambodia)" That tells me that they went through a lot and have a lot to tell us. It tells me that the genocide was bad and should have never happened. Evil outweighs good in so many different ways. These are just a few that I have stated. From the Hitler era to Cambodia to now evil outweighs good. It always has and always will. 

Evil outweighs good..

Allie Murphy

Genocide

College Reading

9/30/13

Genocide: Good vs Evil

The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group. Night, This Killing Fields, Elie/Oraph interview, and TED they all tell different stories about genocide and how good and evil challenge each other in each story. All four of them are examples of evil but in every story there is good also.

            What I have learned from watching/reading: The Killing Fields, Elie/Oprah interview, reading the book Night, and watching TED is that it can go both ways with evil outweighs good or good outweighs evil. On the TED show, a person is asked questions, and for every question they get wrong, a voltage of electricity shocks them. The person that controls the amount of voltage that shocks the person is told that no matter how high the voltage and the outcome of the shocking, they will not be held accountable for what happens to the victim. They could be hurt really bad or end up dead without getting into trouble for causing it.

 In one scenario on the TED Show, evil overweighs good because a person could end up killing an innocent citizen without having to feel guilty, because they know that there are no consequences for their actions. In a different scenario, a man falls onto the tracks of a subway as it is headed his way. A man that sees him has his children with him. He puts them to the side and goes to lay on top of the man in the middle of the tracks, preventing him from being hit. The good overweighs the bad in this case because the man risked his life for another person, even though his children were there waiting for him and watching this happen.

            Elie Wiesel wrote a personal novel, Night. In this book he talks about his journey in life living through the holocaust, and the many struggles between good and evil that he was faced with. At Buna, a concentration work camp, Elie witnessed a boy getting hung for disgracing the SS officers. At this point Elie started to lose his faith. “ For God’s sake, where is God? Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” Elie used to be a strong believer in God and faith, but he let the evil outweigh the good and lost all hope in any higher power. To Elie it seemed that there would never be a chance for good to find and rescue him.

            Even though Elie’s journey was filled with evil and hardships, he started out with a strong religious foundation. He had a lot of faith and a good outlook on life. He believed that God would give him the strength to make it through each day. “I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions”. Elie listens to God for directions on where to go and to guide him through life. Good outweighs bad because Elie has hope and is optimistic about the life ahead of him, even though he did not know at the time what he would be facing.

Last year Elie did an interview with Oprah at the main gates of one the concentration camps, Auschwitz, in Germany. At Auschwitz Elie and Oprah looked at a room in the museum that had children’s clothes and suitcases. Oprah asked if many of the babies lived and Elie replied, “ They had no chance. No”. This shows that Evil took over because the women and babies in Auschwitz didn’t survive at all. Babies were killed and since many women never left the sides of their children, they too were murdered.

In the movie The Killing Fields, The Khmer Rouge people were formed to be the leaders of Cambodia. They turned on their own people and turned fields into places where they made their people slaves for working. If they didn’t work, they were shot, killed, and dumped in ditches within the fields where millions of other innocent Cambodians were gathered. Since Cambodia was bombed, the Khmer Rouge thought they were headed down an endless path and took over the country. They evacuated over 2 million people in the country and forced them to walk to the country-side where they were forced to work and killed.

In all the stories that we have looked at evil outweighs good because in each story the victims would try to find good but because of the situations the evil made them lose hope for any good. In Night by Elie Wiesel he thought there was good in the beginning because he had a lot of faith but after he left his home for the holocaust that turned very quickly to evil outweighs good. In the show TED the people that were doing the shocking to the victim did not have any consequences so they would go ahead and shock them anyway. In the movie The Killing Fields Cambodia was bombed and the Khmer Rouge took over and started killing there own people. I think that evil outweighs good because in theses stories the victims had to experience horrible things that permanently impact their lives.

WH Marvelous Live - Marvelous.avi

Oprahs Legends Ball feat. Bishop Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins

Nobody But Jesus- Carla Taylor

Vanessa Bell Armstrong - Peace Medley

Genocide

Genocide

There isn't a word that can describe it.

I asked myself why did hitler hate jews so much? so i looked it up. They said he never had anything against jews. He started hating them after Germany lost World War  II. After they lost they went into a great depression and riots started to happen. (If i am not correct, correct me if so)

I still dont understand how one person can do such a mass masquer do that so many people and get a joy out of it. It shows how much far hate can take a person. It makes me sick. 

I have read Night its a great book i had to read it in class after i learned about the Holocaust and what it was all about. I loved it the first time but as i read it the second time i know whats coming and i barely wanna turn the page its sad and all i can think why did these people have to go threw this there could have been docters, people who could have cure cancer.  Then after watching the clips with Opera and Elie Wiesel it made it more harsh seeing all those shoes,suit cases, hair etc. It makes it even more harder to turn the page cause all i can see emotion Wiesel try to hide during the interview.

The Genocide

To me the genocide is a big war about power which nobody really wins.  There is a leader who is in charge of the whole community/ country and whatever he says you have to do or you will be killed.  Many mothers and fathers were killed because they had to give up their children and they wouldn't listen to them.
I don't know what i would do if i had to leave my parents and never see them again, especially at a young age like most kids had to deal with.  There is nothing more important than family and i feel like if all of your family is taken away from you and you have no one left then there wouldn't be a reason for me to be alive.  I could only imagine how those kids felt seeing their parents leave or even killed, and it would be way worse to see the children being killed in front of their parents.

The Sandlot

When I think of any movie in the world, The Sandlot (1993) comes to mind.  The Sandlot is a movie about a group of kids trying to get a baseball back from what they think is a viscous dog.   His mom just got a new husband and Scotty Smalls (the kid) has nobody to hang out with.  One day Bill (the stepfather) is going to teach him how to play catch... didn't turn out so well when Smalls caught the ball with his eye.  Smalls always had a love for the game and one day he was walking around town and saw a group of kids at a baseball diamond playing ball.  As he was watching he heard a growl behind a fence.  He didn't know that it was ...THE BEAST!
Scotty can't throw a baseball or catch a baseball because nobody taught him. All the kids made fun of him because he wasn't good at baseball but there was one kid...Benny (The Jet) Rodriquez, that was determined to teach Smalls about the game of baseball.
One day smalls grabs his dad's signed base ball by Babe Ruth (one of the best baseball players since..... ever).  Long story short, the ball gets hit over the big green fence in the outfield and is taken over by the Beast behind it.  The group of friends try whatever it takes to get the ball back until one day Benny "The Jet" Rodriquez jumps the fence and is in one of the biggest pickles of his life.

This is a blog about my favorite book... Wait, to be honest i don't even remember the last time I read a book. Just wait! If your starting to judge me because I don't remember the last time I read a book, you should ask the person next to you when was the last book they read. School just started and I had a great summer. Didn't read any books though. Surprisingly I have read one book and enjoyed that one book,the title of this book is Touching Spirit Bear. A thrilling action packed book with an amazing story line. The main character Cole ; is very rebellious and that attitude is what got him on a deserted island with a bear. Cole and I are a lot alike were both crazy and have been arrested multiple times...JUST KIDDING! But during the time period I read this book I made various connections. The point of view he had on things, he took things for granted and tried to bench pressed more than he could handle in this circle justice system. This program is of Native American Origins and focus's on the healing of the criminal.

Genocide

I am ANGRY,ENRAGED, and INFURIATED! How could you take so many innocent lives? There is no good enough reason to try to eliminate one whole race or group of people. Doing so your killing families... like your own. How would you feel if it were one of your babies and your wife being killed just because they were Jewish? Pretty bad i bet! Killing a whole race because you feel they are inferior to yours is ludicrous, especially when you don't know them on a personal basis. Everyone is equal and taking out an entire race is just a terrible objective.

Interview

My thoughts about genocide is that how could something happen for such a long period of time without anyone really knowing whats going on or how many people are suffering and dying and why no one tried to stop it? It should never matter what color your skin is, your hair color, the color of your eyes or the race you are, we are ALL PEOPLE, human beings, with life and feelings inside of us, so how this happened is beyond me. The people that participated in killing the Jewish are disgusting, how could you kill innocent children and not feel anything? How could you see people suffering and growing weaker and weaker and their bodies withering away? What if this was their children? Their own families or even them?

Night

The documentary about the book "Night",was very interesting and I liked it a lot.  It was very sad, but of course it was going to be sad.  I thought the place where all the shoes, clothes, and hair were was very interesting.  I also like how he talked, he was very moved by where ever he was.

Genocide

Why leave an unforgettable place, just because someone said that you needed to be evacuated. Was it because they told you they were going to shoot you and kill your whole family? Is their time left that you can send your kids away to a different country, fast, and allow them to live and just let your self parish in the unknown?
To be honest I don't know what I would do in that situation. I think it would be life to death to me... Is there really something to live for once your family is murdered? I don't even have a clue what I would pick. The whole genocide thing just really blows my mind. There is one person, in charge, and everyone listens to him/her? I'm sorry, if someone in the parking lot at Walmart said, "Hey lookie here! Help me move this car on its side and we can light it on fire, because it's blue!!" I'd look at them and think they are crazy! Yet this kind of stuff is still going on. I don't feel it's right by any means. I do believe in an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind though. Looks like it's going to be a cold dark world.

Wiesel Interview

After watching the Elie Wiesel interview with Oprah I saw, in my head, what the holocaust really was. Yes, I learned about it in high school. Just seeing the walk through of the prison camps and hearing Wiesel talk about the pain and suffering that the Jews went through during the holocaust. The sad things that Wiesel talked about in all the parts of the interview and the things he showed touched me and made me resent the holocaust even more after seeing what the Germans did to the Jews. Elie taught me more about the holocaust and what it was actually like in the 6 clips we watched.

Genocide

Genocide is a terrible thing. killing off a mass amount of people just because it make you feel better isn't only wrong, but its sick. some say "people have been killing people for years," yes thats true but that doesn't justify it. we all have to ask ourselves does our end justify our means? does killing people because you view them not only as a inferior race but not even human make it right? I say no. you should too.

Elie

I'm sure all of us have the question of why would people in the right mind would do something so horrific as this. Harming millions of innocent people in the most cruelty way possible. Well I know that I have these thoughts running through my head after watching the interview with Oprah and Elie. I think we'll never really understand the exact reason why Genocide happen.

It makes me cringe at the sight of all the hair that was shaved off of  men, women and children scalps. Hair is not just on your head but it individualized everyone. We recognize people by their  hair. It makes us who we are, it gives us our own personality. Losing your hair to cancer is one thing but having your hair being sold for profit to a factory is a lose of dignity and self worth.

Elie Wiesel Interview

No words can describe the pain and horror the Jews were put through. The Nazi's were nothing, but wanting to control everything and everyone. When I first heard Elie speak about what happened in Auschwitz I was horrified. The size of that camp was enormous and I couldn't believe that someone would go through that much just to harm innocent citizens, and it was unsettling that the people who passed away from hard work, starvation, suffocated, or even just killed for no reason were treated like dirt. They didn't care what happened to you as long as it was one less person to worry about. I found it interesting that after so many years have passed, Elie still has no answers, it makes me wonder what questions weren't answered, what else would he like to know? After so many years, of going through that hell, I think he deserves some answers as to why and how another human being could do something like this. Over 5 million Jews would die before the camps were destroyed. When he said "I chose this madness," what did he mean by this? Was he referring to the unanswered questions hes had all these years, or from seeing friends, family, neighbors, and other close people he may have known vanished without question. I think that the Nazi's were inhumane, when they lied to the elderly, mothers, and children, and babies were told they were getting showers, but instead they were killed. That's sick and during the movie seeing what they did to those innocent lives, almost made me sick. How could someone sit there and be ok with killing innocent people who didn't do anything wrong to you? I found it interesting that they would shave the hair off of the corpses and people who were still alive, and sold it to make cloths. I know that there were more genocide, but this one stuck with me, I couldn't imagine living in that world where you were hated for no reason. It makes me think "Why was it so important to the Nazi's to do this?" I'd like to ask the soldiers who were in charge how they would feel if it was their mother, father, brother, sister, friends, who were being killed, and I'd like to know what they would say in that situation.

Elie Wiesel interview...

There is no words that can describe the horror that the nazi's have put the jew's through.... When i was listening to Elie talk about where the last time he saw his sister, mother, grandmother you could just hear in his voice how much he still hurts from it... Another thing when i was watching the interview there was mounds of hair and shoes, the suit cases that had there name and birthday on it. You knew there was pictures,clothes,brushes,shoes in them.. It makes me sick to think that some people like Hitler could do something like this. I mean Elie still today this day ask himself why did i survive. NO one in there right mind should ever have to feel this way.
What is really sad about this interview is seeing the baby clothes where you knew that they had no chance going in to the concentration camp....

Ellie Wiesel interview

I am thinking of why or how those evil people had the courage to kill all of those people, especially the children and babies. If I was a surviver, I would be miserable and lost for a long time. I don't think there is any thing that is more sad than the Holocaust. When I was hearing Ellie Wiesel speak I can feel and visualize what pain he was in. I am speachless of watching this interview.

movie

Fire poof   it is about a mairrg they r trying to make the mairrg work. he did not what to do anything he what her to do all the work aord the houes. he didn't what to holp her holp her paerin out becus her mom wus scik she need a new wiee cahr and a new bed.

Pursuit Happiness

 Pursuit of Happiness is a true story very touching in many areas in some others life as well. He was a good family man with a wife and son, they also worked at one point however the father became jobless the wife income was not enough to keep the house running smoothly, being behind in rent along with in need to continue to pay for child care was difficult for the wife, she became angry with her husband which lead her to leaving him with their child to make it on their own, the young man and son lived homeless here and there at times sleeping in public bathrooms carry backpack with necessary things to get by, he continue searched for work making a few dollars when possible the people he had contact with never knew he was homeless he kept his head up through everything, its everlasting as a reminder to keep holding on to the end.normaharris13@gmail.com

Love The Twilight

I love.............. the (Twilight) its such a thrill and so romantic. I love............ how Bella and Edward are so much in love, but I always wonder why Bella an Jacob didn't get together instead  since its oddefince they love each other.

green eggs and ham

My Favorite childhood book of all time was Green Eggs and Ham. My father would always read this to me before i went to bed every night. My father always got  This book was published in August 12, 1960 but then it was renewed in 1988. I do not like them,  Sam-i-am i do not like green eggs and ham. Sam i am is always trying to get them to eat Green Eggs and Ham with a mouse in a house with a fox in a car.. etc. By the end of the book everyone loves Green Eggs and Ham.

The Freedom Writers Diary

There was a point in time where there was tragedy, violence and horror that happened in South Beach, California from 1993-1996. There was a teacher named Erin Gruwell that had a lot of motivation and perseverance, that taught the kids that had no sorts of knowledge and motivation until Erin made them better as readers, writers and better people outside of Wilson High School. Erin Gruwell was given the "unteachable" students these kind of students are more concerned about gang activity and would rather do that instead of read Shakespeare or any other books that would actually make them learn. They say that Wilson High School was located was so called a safe place to go to school for the rich and the poor and the kids that wanted to go to Wilson School had to take at least two buses at least every day to go to school. This story about a young teacher trying to succeed in everything she can do possible, and one thing that Erin did right  was in the end she braugt abunch of her "unteachable" students to becoming teachable and that is one thing to be proud of.

Charlotte's Web

Favorite childhood book of all time is...... Charlotte's web. published October 15, 1952 by E.B White.

Wilbur the pig was saved from being the Christmas feast, due to the farmer's daughter. Wilbur and her grew a strong bound with each other and the rest of the barn animals! (I would become friends with animal if they could talk too!!!!) With all the care and attention Wilbur got from the barn animals and Fern, ( farmers daughter) He WON the blue ribbon at the county fair!  

You Have Now Been SOLD.

It's not very sunny in the high mountains of Nepal. It's monsoon season and your family crops have now been washed down the mountains. Your little hut, that you call home, holds you and your family; plus your family goat. The money is tight and your father is forced to go work, and you feel hopeless. You want to help your family, but you know in your country, there isn't much for women to do. That's when you get sold.

Lakshmi, a 13 year old girl was sold by her family to a man who gave them money for keeping their daughter for x amount of years. They, the purchaser, told the family that Lakshmi will be going into maid work. The family is poor and has no other option, but to sell Lakshmi away, to keep food on the table for the other family members. 

Sadly, the plot thickens and the story line starts to get REALLY good. Nobody would have ever thought what would have happened next. She never was ever going to become a maid. She was sold into, wait for it... keep waiting...PROSTITUTION!!!... in India. (For all of those geographically challenged people out there, India and Nepal are two different countries, next to each other, separated by mountains.) 

After I finished this book, it instantly became my favorite book.(Granted I don't read many books, and when I'm forced to by my teachers, it takes me YEARS to finish it.) I couldn't put this book down. I would recommend this book to everybody and anybody! With this fast paced, action packed, tale of Lakshmi, you, yes you, will not put this book down. 

Favorite Book

My favorite book is...... Die Smiling. I am into the suspense of these models being murdered, who would ever think as to kill them? It takes you back to this little boy who takes his girlfriend away from her abusive mother. Little does she know he's a devil in disguise. He sent her a present.....which was a severed finger, talk about giving someone the finger. He's very manipulative to keep what he wants, but she found the courage to break free from his grip and lives with her dad. I like when it goes back and fourth from the present to the past to show what she encountered and shows why she became a detective in the first place.

Favorite Book

The Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters was so adventurous and so AWESOME that I thought I was in the book. I LOVE this series, but I haven't read the fourth book and newer books that the author wrote. The way these books are about the Greek gods makes me want to read on more. The first two movies of this series were great, just that the books put more detail in the writing.

I Hope They Serve Beer In HELL

Its an biography about Tucker Max. Most dudes will think hes a god but majority of chicks who have a brain thinks hes an ASSHOLE. He knows he an asshole he uses that to pick up girls. Basically his books are about how he went to Harvard for law and didn't do shit but party and sleep around with chicks and had all his friends cover his ass when he got into a trouble. Sounds like the ultimate college experience right? He has a lot of fucked up stories to fucking a midget stripper to whipping his ass on a white couch. I could go into more details but that is for you to pick the dam book and find out your dam self. May seem a bit hostile but i mean what i say. Have a Nice Day Folks.

Friday Night Lights

By far the best book I have ever read was Friday Night Lights.  

When you think about the term Friday Night Lights... what do you think about?   I think of high school football.  Everyone has been to at least one of their high school football games.  It was always fun hanging out with your friends and watching football.  

I like football and I liked high school a lot.  This book is based on high school football players and other high school students.  One moment the book is talking about a high school party, then boom.... your in the stands at a game on Friday night cheering on the team.  Just getting out of high school and just getting into college we can relate to the book.  Reading this book takes me back to high school and its almost like I'm going through it again. 

Chicken Little

My favorite book would have to be Chicken Little by Stephan Kellog. My grandma and my mother would always read this book to me (pretty much every night) before I went to bed or whenever I wanted it read... haha.
If you've never heard of this book or your parents or grandparents haven't read this to you then I guess you're missing out! The book is about a little chicken who believes that the sky is falling. He goes to all of his friends house and says "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" All of his friends start to believe him and once he's gone to all of his friends houses, they decide to go to the kings house to warn everyone about this frightening news! When he gets there the king says, "Chicken Little the sky is not falling, an acorn hit you in the head." I find this funny because the first time you read it when you're little you really believe it, but when you find out the truth you giggle to yourself knowing that Chicken Little is a goofball and the sky realllllly isn't falling.

The Sacred Acre

My favorite book is "The Sacred Acre: The Ed Thomas Story". My football coach had the entire team read the book before our first game my Junior year. The book shows the dedication that Coach Thomas had in the classroom as well as on the field. It quickly became my favorite book, which is saying something because I don't read. In May 2008 an F-5 tornado struck Parkersburg, Iowa and destroyed the town. My favorite quote from Coach Thomas was "God willing, we will play our first home game here on this field this season." 100 Days later the Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons won their first game on the new field and it was dubbed The Sacred Acre. Just as Parkersburg was recovering another tragedy happened. Mark Becker, a former student and player, walked into the weight room and shot Coach Thomas, point blank, and killed him. The news of the hometown hero spread across the nation. It became my favorite book because Coach Thomas showed dedication not only on the gridiron, but in the classroom as well. 

The librarian's fav

Tonight when you go to bed, look at the walls all around. See any trees? Leaves? Monsters?

I love the book Where the Wild things are by Maurice Sendak. It's the tale of a little boy, Max, who is sent to his room for being cheeky. Oh, little boys! He then imagines a fanciful journey to the land of The Wild Things, where they rumpus. 

We have this book in the Kirkwood Library - see: http://catalog.kirkwood.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=51803 if you want to check it out. 

Let's Begin!

I am excited to begin our class blog. For your 1st post, please blog about what your all time favorite book is and why. Remember to use the things we discussed in class about the craft of blog writing. Have fun!