Defend the Poet/Dinosauria, We

Dinosauria, We is a poem depicting the world before, during, and after the apocalypse by German- American poet and novelist Charles Bukowski.  The poem opens with many references to many controversial American subjects to depict how the world is now. Then as the poem progresses the poem talks about mass chaos and violence to depict the world during the apocalypse. Finally the poem ends with the end of all life and a curiosity for what’s next.

I enjoyed how the poem cleverly addressed a variety of problems and subjects like finding work, war conspiracies, medical expenses, large jail populations and the national debt of America.  Also I enjoyed Bukowski’s vivid description of a sci-fi and chaotic apocalypse.  Bukowski’s apocalypse depicts robot men fighting, radiated men cannibalizing each other and mass murder and chaos while the rich and powerful are able to avoid this apocalypse and watch as the world burns safely in space.  

But what I found most interesting is that the current problems that we have combined with the ending seem to make the apocalypse seem like a good thing. It’s almost like the apocalypse isn’t a dreadful end but a new beginning or an end to all these problems we have now.  Despite all the dread and pessimism found early in the poem, there is still optimism.  I enjoy endings like that where the situation progresses to something entirely different instead of where the situation starts good or bad and ends good or bad.

Open Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Cormac McCarthy

I loved your novel, The Road. It’s refreshing yet depressing interpretation of the apocalypse really appealed to me.   So much of post-apocalyptic fiction only gets its appeal due to being sci-fi or fantasy. The characters are often unrealistic and neither the story nor the characters make you think.  I am happy to say I did not have those problems with The Road.

The Road didn’t show a large amount of survivors banding together to overcome the harsh conditions provided by their post-apocalyptic world but instead it showed 2 survivors who seem to be the only good people left in the world. This is refreshing when most of the post apocalyptic fiction that I have read only shows the first interpretation that I mentioned.  It’s more realistic to have a great majority of evil human beings than scared and noble human beings because historically we have done more evil  things than good things to each other.

I did have a few questions however.  Can you tell me a little more about the circumstances and mythology the boy and the man faced? For example, I was unsure if most forms of food were destroyed or was it just agriculture and livestock were destroyed so stored forms of food could still be around. Also, what are some of the theories that caused this apocalypse and what were the events that characterized this apocalypse in the road? I am curious to what the people in the novel thought may have caused this and I am curious to know what is unique about the Road’s version of the apocalypse.

A Direction the Class Needs

I honestly don’t believe the class needs a new direction.  I believe a class needs a new direction if I’m not learning, if the class is difficult, or I’m not enjoying the class.  

I’m definitely learning and how I’m learning differs from other classes. Learning fact upon fact or learning one true method of doing something is truly boring. In philosophy, there are often no right answers and we learn to develop our own methods of thinking. It is different and somewhat difficult to answer something that has no right answered but enjoyable nevertheless.

The class isn’t difficult either. I think you would have to almost try to fail this class or do close to nothing. The reading isn’t hard or difficult to grasp like the non-fiction literature we get in other classes.  We often form opinions and that’s way easier than trying to remember what year something happened or what some character said.

“If its not broken, don’t fix it.” That quote applies perfectly to my philosophy class.   The class isn’t difficult and I enjoy the teacher. Mr.  McCarthy seems more laid back and efficient than some of the more strict, uncompromising or arguably incompetent teachers I have had. A bad teacher, for me, can ruin my favorite subjects, and McCarthy does not do this.

I believe other classes need a new direction.  They could learn a lesson from this class. Most teachers often  teach for the paycheck and they do not care about how they teach or even if the kids are learning. They ignore all the complaints and failure and blame the kids.

Father and Son, Mother and Daughter, Mother and Son, Father and Daughter

Father and Son, Mother and Daughter, Mother and Son, Father and Daughter.  They are all parent and child relationships but they  couldn't be any more different.  Each one being different  in terms of bonding and protection. 

The father and son relationship, from what I have experienced, is the defining factor in the son's transition from a boy into a man. The father should teach and guide the son with the use of experience and the use of space because if the father attempts to control instead of guide the son, this relationship can be the most antagonistic and violent of all. This relationship should result in a closer connection between father and son because of the bonding between the two for educational and recreational purposes. The father should protect the son so the son can learn and one day protect himself.  My father attempts to do with his difficult childhood experience and wisdom to direct me from his mistakes and encourage my success. 

 The relationship I share with my mother is far from this. As my father teaches me to be a man, my mother tries to teach me to be a better man. She compliments his success orientated lessons in manhood, pride, and happiness with how I can achieve them.  My mother is almost like my failure's greatest enemy. She will teach me to learn from them and how to avoid them. 

I hope to develop the same beneficial and necessary relationships with my own children. I only want them to succeed at what makes them happy. 

How Do I Know What I Know?

How do I know what I know? Rene Descartes altered the course of philosophy by raising this question. Descartes’ method of doubt questioned beliefs, both scientific and religious, that could be known with utter certainty. Descartes was able to show most of our, scientific, mathematical, religious, and everyday beliefs really cannot stand up to that kind of assessment.  

This systematic doubt brought an issue that philosopher would debate upon for decades to come. Do we learn about the nature of things, through our physical senses or by logic or reasoning? A great philosopher by the name of Immanuel Kant tried to resolve this issue. He argued that we in fact never have understanding of reality but only of things as they appear to us, and that the mind itself supplies the form in which we know appearances.

What do I think of all this? Even before I took this class, I often wondered about my and others’ perceptions of reality. I used to think what if my entire life was a dream or a hallucination? How do I know if the things around me even exist and do they exist to others? It’s really terrifying to think about and I believe that the phrase ignorance is bliss truly sums up what I think about it. Would you want to know if you were a brain in a jar or would you rather continue believing that you are an organism who actually interacts with his environment?  We would say a scenario like that is highly improbable but how do we know?

God in 2010

The God of the Christian faith has definitely lost his a great deal of his impact on this planet. We have come a long way from societies where religion was the absolute truth and anything against it was blasphemy.    Societies were formed around God and government's claimed to act according to the will of this God. Now, the frequency of how many times God is mentioned or how important his history and impact on the world are mere fractions of what they used to be. Instead of being thanked for keeping a civilization in power or functioning. He is thanked for meaningless things such as academy awards or touchdowns.
Why has this happened? Man has the ability to manipulate and question their environment unlike any other creature that has ever existed or continues to exist. The questions and answers evolve as we do.  Early answers to our existence claim that many gods are responsible for many things that are out of our control.  This explained everything for awhile and then human's questions and answers evolved once more and humans believed that if there was a higher power, there would only be one. The answer would then evolve into what we know as Christianity. Christianity answered arguably the most important question of all time. How did we come to exist on this planet so its only logical that the religion would have extreme significance on any and everything.
What does Christianity mean today? Some would say truth. Some would say its mythology. What do I say? Control.    Christianity arguably has kept the world from destroying ourselves and the planet with ideas of what's right and wrong.

Candide’s Punishments, Do They Fit the Crime?

Candide was naive and innocent but these are the only things he was truly guilty of in the beginning. He was taught the world he lived in was the best of possible worlds only to be nearly destroyed by it. Why? Pangloss, the man who was supposed to teach and inform Candide to the best of his ability,  taught him an act considered an unforgivable crime, something that only led to his banishment and the beginning of his suffering,.  After his banishment, he nearly had his skin flayed from his body for "deserting" the army of another nation.
Candide, like his namesake, is innocent. He is like a child really. Children don't understand the cruelty, suffering and corruption of the world. This can cause them to be manipulated, abused, and suffer in an unforgiving and challenging world. If a child imitated what he saw his teacher do or followed the teachings of those more experienced, should he be banished? It's pretty extreme right? This also applies to when Candide was forced to run the gauntlet, a punishement where a line of men strike him with weapons. He simply went for a walk and it was declared desertion. Desertion is punishable by either execution or the gauntlet.
The people in the world Candide lives in practice their beliefs to the most extreme. Instead of simply accepting that maybe everyone may not have the same ideas and beliefs they do or even know of them, they punish them with the most  harsh or extreme sentences imaginable.