Read & Response "Why i like vicious, anonymous online comments"/"Make our ugly discourse better"

     First off, I loved these two articles. They both covered things that do happen constantly in our society, and I would love to go off about them. But first I'm going to try and answer the questions about them and try not to go off topic (which after my first draft I found out that not going off topic is easier said then done).
     A hot spot in these articles that i noticed, is how they both had to do with other people "trolling" others or thinking and saying something so low to some one else just because there beliefs, views, or even just cause of a video they posted on youtube. In the online comments article, one commenter says, "It amazes me how easy it is to sit behind a computer and launch a heap of self-righteous cynicism at something as harmless as this." and that's so true. People hide behind user name's to comment or say vulgar,cruel, and ridiculous things at others, which to me makes them look like a total jackass, but if it was there real name or there ip address that showed they would never say some of these things cause they would be scared about how it would make them look or the flack that would come back at them, so instead they use "the protective force field of anonymity" and Matt zoller seitz the writer is correct when he says, "they say things they would never say in the presence of flesh-and-blood human beings." In the "make our ugly discourse better" article, a part that seemed a hot spot to me would be when he says,"Any time you see or read or hear anybody step over the line, call them on it. Do it politely, with kindness and consideration. But do it clearly and cleanly, with a humble explanation of what they did wrong." I loved this part because its like the "proper" way to show someone there wrong and i just got the biggest kick out of it, also his examples were pretty good.
     I ran into difficulties of understanding when both articles quoted comments people posted on a youtube video or a comment one would say to the other because they viewed things differently. I mean myself i lean towards the right side and i love getting into arguments/debates with people with a different view on something as me. But to let an argument get to the point of vulgar mud slinging or even getting into fisticuffs is ridiculous. Also for someone to make a point and watch a video that they don't  even like just to leave rude and cruel comments on it is just utterly incompetent. Don't they have something better to waste there time on like some hobby. If some has something mean or vile to say to some one, why not just keep it to your self, because obviously the other person or other people that will read/hear the comment don't want to hear it. I mean it shows how low our society has become, and the only way to come back from how low we've gone is if people find self-control or get some common sense to tell whats wrong and whats right.
     A couple questions these articles have raised for me is, what motivates some one to try and "crap" on some ones life by either commenting on a thread/post/video and leaving rude comments or how can people let there anger get the better of them in an argument or just in general. I mean i understand some people just can't control there anger or what they say, but the average human should have the will power to watch what comes out of there mouth. Most of my questions are kind of just repetition with what I had difficulty understanding.
     I agree with actually everything that these articles state, for the most part, i mean i agree that web sites should make people use there real name or something that can be traced back to them, even though that's against their rights or whatever, but i mean i think people should be held responsible for what they say or do, in any case.
     Mainly "make our ugly discourse better" has the biggest relation to the issues were raising in class i think because we discuss different things which usually ends up getting into some debate or the topic is a debate, and if people reacted like a "civilogue" instead of a hot headed extremest, we would have a more civil society in general.
     So I really love the articles you chose for us, i mean compared to the dry topics in high school were given, these ones are fun to read and give a response to or have a discussion about.

Meaning of "Freedom" 8/30

What does freedom mean to me? To me freedom means a person has the right to express themselves how they want to. To have the ability to go after a dream or goal. To be free is to be able to speak up in class if you disagree with something or to express your opinion if you chose to. One event that I thought showed freedom, was in 7th grade, my grade started a protest in front of our school and all the other grades (8-12) followed us and protested as well. Atleast the oens that beleived in the same goal as us. We protested because we felt a teacher was getting thrown undewr a bus and we all fought for him. The great thing about this was that we could do something like protest and fight for something we beleived in. So freedom to me is to be able to go after something or do something that your passionate about and not be severly punished for doing so.

"Two Wars" - The American Life Reading & Response

Chad Durkin

ENGL 130

Mrs. Pape

8-25-11

"Two Wars" Video Response

     In the episode "Two Wars" which is part of This American Life tv series, the main subject Haider Hamza who is an Iraqi sets up a stand that says "Talk to an Iraqi" in America. He talks to Americans about the war in Iraq and the u.s. occupation there, but in this video there is a focus on how the Iraqi citizens them self feel about all of this. Haider talks to many people including a few members of the military such as marines and a fellow in the army.

     A "hot spot" that stood out to me was how Haider felt about the U.S occupation and how he talked about it, i don't know the quote exactly but this is is pretty close to it, "When Saddam Hussein occupied Iraq it was bad, but the U.S. occupation is hell..." Yes, I am pro war in iraq (which its more war in Afghanistan now) and i don't want to totally bash on this video just because i see a lot of flaws in it, and i do still see both sides of this topic so I'm not just one sided even if I may sound like I am. My opinion after watching this, which brings me to the hot spot and quote i pointed out, is that just because Haider Hamza was a born Iraqi citizen doesn't give him the right to believe he can speak for all the Iraqi citizens. Yes he can feel free to spread and share his opinion but when he starts talking as if he knows how EVERY Iraqi citizen feels, is when he opens himself up for criticism. Maybe he has his own experience's with the U.S. occupation but most or at least a majority of the citizen (which I can't say for sure, but its my opinion) welcome the U.S. occupation because they are there not only there to protect them but to rid that area and surrounding areas of terrorist who are trying to spread terrorism and also doing acts of terrorism. People blame the military there for the bombings and deaths which is ridiculous because they aren't even the one's planting the car bombs or making acts of violence towards the citizens. But on that note I can say i understand there are those messed up military members who do make acts of violence towards citizens, but to say the entire army/marine and other forces there are the ones doing them is ignorant. And those points are a few of the points that I disagree with.

     The claims Haider made in this piece related to the issues we're raising in class because it deals with current events or past events that we're HUGE in debates and discussions. The claims also are a good place for the class to start with because it's a good topic to get people out of there shell and speak up in class and share how they feel about it.

     Some questions this raised for me is how could Americans not stand behind and back up there troops when they are over in the middle east and fighting terrorism and making it so us Americans back here won't have to worry about there being another event such as 9/11. I mean everyone who tries and talk bad about our troops and make them sounds bad should take a good look at what there really doing. Just because they hear things on the news or listen to how the media twists things about the war doesn't mean they know what there talking about. Our troops are risking there lives for us to protect our home. If critics think that they're going to protect our home by using peace and harmony and not affecting other peoples home or lives need a reality check on life, because they would get a real eye opener if they went over there themselves and tried to use peace and harmony as a way to protect us. I'm not saying that peace and harmony is out of the picture, but with the way how young and innocent children are corrupted so easily in our society and in the other cultural society's shows little hope for peace and harmony in the future.

     I don't know if I'm answering this next question right, but I ran into difficulties of understanding with how small minded people can be about the war in Iraq. In the video an eleven year old girl apologized to Haider for what we've done. Well does she think that the Taliban's or terrorists are going to apologize to her father, who is/was over there, for shooting at him and trying to kill him and the other Americans there? I mean they do have a right to protect themselves cause obviously there not going to just put there guns down and surrender, and we are over there in THERE home so its just natural for them to fire back. But the point is that there are terrorists over there, maybe the military is looking in the wrong spots, but the military is still looking and still putting forth their time and effort trying to stop terrorism so they don't strike back, because that is exactly what they would do if we pulled out of the war right now.

     So as you see talking about the war kind of riles me up because I can't see why people can talk so badly about our military for trying to protect us. Yeah, maybe it is in a cruel and blunt way, but if we wouldn't of retaliated after 9/11 then they and other countries would think that they can make acts of terrorism on the United States and get away with it.

10 things about me

1. My name is Chad Thomas Durkin
2. I think i'm funny
3. I'm pretty tall
4. I love basketball (all sports for that matter)
5. I'm from an extremely small town
6. I like to eat... alot
7. I loooooove mexican food
8. All girls in my family or with my last name have been married into it, not born into it
9. I'm Irish and Alasken Native
10. I have huge feet but small hands.