This Thursday, we had our class debate on the genocide in Rwanda. After studying on the subject from the point of view of Paul Kagame, I really do believe he was doing the right thing. For one, unlike many of the other groups think, he didn’t start the genocide at all. The problem started in Belgium. When Belgium created the identity cards to separate ethnic groups, they made tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi people even more prominent. The Tutsi people, who were already in power, were forced out of control by Belgium and put under a Hutu government. The Hutu government, headed by President Juvenal Habarimana, the FAR, and MRND, ruthlessly forced the Tutsi people out of their own country into exile in Uganda. The Tutsi exiles couldn’t live in Uganda forever and had to invade their own country just to be able to live in their homes. Hutu people took this action the wrong way and sent the FAR and Interhamwe to slaughter the returning Tutsi people. The Tutsi exiles couldn’t just let their people die and were forced to fight back resulting in the Rwandan Genocide. This is what I think truly happened to the Tutsi people.
This experience to debate helped me learn a lot about how SIMUN may work in the future it was also a fun way to learn. I thought it was interesting to simulate what a real world UN meeting would be like. Everything from “yielding” the floor to someone, to a moderator to control what goes on was 100% real. I liked the point of view I was looking from in this debate, as I believe Paul Kagame was doing the right thing. I hope the class can do these sorts of activities again because it was a much more interesting experience than learning about the conflict in lecture form. We were all able to express ourselves better in this form of learning. This helped the class get much more involved than what we normally are. I know all of us would like todo this again and I can't wait until it happens.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
The American Scholar
Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today.
Emerson's arguement has similarities to modern American society. One reason his argument is viable is the mention of division of labor within our country. In the past, people were taught a variety of different skills. Today, people have been reduced to doing one, specialized job. Modern people want to feel whole doing these jobs, but the have lost sight of what is important. The statement "a priest becomes a form and an mechanic becomes a machine" says that these people do not neccesarily need to do other things, but lost the meaning of being a priest or mechanic. In this way many people have become overwhelmed by their jobs.
These people who have become their occupation have also become "mere thinkers" the total opposite of "the Man thinking. Emerson expresses how he disikes mere thinkers and how they get their ideas from the work of others. "Men thinking", however get their ideas from the world around them. It is true people today are like this, an example being those who plagerize essays or take credit for others ideas for money. True Men thinking, generate their own ideas, and take together knowledge of the world to use. Inventors and scientists are just two examples of people who use this knowledge.
Emerson's arguement has similarities to modern American society. One reason his argument is viable is the mention of division of labor within our country. In the past, people were taught a variety of different skills. Today, people have been reduced to doing one, specialized job. Modern people want to feel whole doing these jobs, but the have lost sight of what is important. The statement "a priest becomes a form and an mechanic becomes a machine" says that these people do not neccesarily need to do other things, but lost the meaning of being a priest or mechanic. In this way many people have become overwhelmed by their jobs.
These people who have become their occupation have also become "mere thinkers" the total opposite of "the Man thinking. Emerson expresses how he disikes mere thinkers and how they get their ideas from the work of others. "Men thinking", however get their ideas from the world around them. It is true people today are like this, an example being those who plagerize essays or take credit for others ideas for money. True Men thinking, generate their own ideas, and take together knowledge of the world to use. Inventors and scientists are just two examples of people who use this knowledge.
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