Tyranny, Injustice, and Self-Determination

Tyranny-when someone abuses their power
Injustice- when someone acts unfairly
Self Determination- to do an action without anyone else's opinion

In the book, Animal Farm, these three terms are used. Tyranny is used when Farmer Jones uses his power to torture the animals to do whatever he wants them to. He abuses his authority which leads to him being unjust (injustice). He acts unfairly by not giving the animals less food than they need and killing them when they become weak and cannot work anymore. Self-determination is used when the animals are determined to begin the Rebellion and overthrow Mr. Jones. The animals become strong and are determined to live better lives. This is how tyranny, injustice, and self-determination are used in Animal Farm.

I Sit Here In This Trench

I sit here in this trench,

Because I have fallen,

To the ground.

I wonder,

“How did I get into this mess?”

“Why am I here?”.

One part of me says,

“You have to help your country,”

“And save your people.”

But the other part,

Is longing to go home,

And to take care of my parents and siblings in peace.

I am being pushed and pulled,

Like a tug-o-war,

My mates yell to me:

“Come on, buddy!”

“Get up,”

But then, even they go into hiding.

I hear a,

“Chk, Chk,”

And I knew I was next.

All my guns had been taken,

I was, helpless.

The enemy looked at me,

Aimed his gun… and boom!

I sit here in this trench,

Gone, forever.

I dedicate this poem to all the people who sacrificed their lives in WW1.

Citations:

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/blog/question-mark.jpg

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Egecase/images/BillieFamily.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x204/havokie/WW2/young-german-soldier-teen.jpg

http://www.2ndguards.com/Images/gallery%203/normal_NO6D8712.jpg

http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Warfare-Trench.jpg

Is the Military in My Future?

In some countries, joining the military is mandatory, in other countries, optional. In my country, the United States, applying for the army is not mandatory instead optional. According to the CIA World Factbook, you have to be 18 years of age (17 years of age with parental consent) for male and female voluntary service.

Since I am a girl, others (men) may not want females in their force. They might think that they make them lose the fight. If this did happen, and men said that girls cannot fight, I would join to prove that girls can do anything guys can. I would also join the army if it was mandatory for people my age. I would be against it, but I would know that I had no choice.

But, if none of this happened I would say no to war. I feel that people should not be forced to fight if they do not want to. Also, war is also just a path to world destruction and horrible economies. So, why begin one if you know that it's going to end nasty? My last reason why I would want to join the army is because, that would stop me from living my life like a normal teenager. I wouldn't be able to walk around and talk with my friends. Instead, I would be in a training camp, preparing for war.

This is why I would not want to join the army.

Great Powers Game Reflection

1.What are the main visual elements?
The visual elements in this cartoon are the different countries and how each person had a different amount of hands. The more hands they have, the more alliance they have.
2.What issue is this political cartoon about?
3.What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
I think the cartoonist's opinion on this issue are that when you make alliances,
4.What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion on how the cartoonist feels?
5.What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?
6.How does this cartoon relate to the Great Powers Game?
We all had made alliances at one point of the game and in the cartoon almost everyone had at least one alliances/ treaty with someone at one point of time. Also, some countries have alliances with more countries than others do. Some countries are trustful while some aren't.

Great Powers Game Debrief

1. Which country were you? How did it feel to build your empire? Which countries had the advantage at the start of the game? Why? How did you empire compare to other empires?

My country was the Ottoman Empire. I'd say that the US, France, Germany, and the UK were the countries that had the largest advantage in the beginning because they're amount of industries/colonies was larger than most of the other countries. My empire had been defeated by many of the countries ( Italy, France, UK, Russia, and Austria) before which is why we were also one of the few empires that had no real allies (just friendship with France).

2. In the long run was it more important to buy armies, navies, industries or colonies? Why?

I think it was more important to buy industries and colonies that way the money you have would increase which would lead to you being able to buy more armies and navies in the next year. And when you have stronger armies, you'd stand a better chance against any people that would want to start a war against us.

3. What did you do well? What would you have done differently?

I think we bought the right amount of industries each year and knew how to split up how much we should buy of armies, colonies, and navies. I also think that we didn't get in the way of the wars occurring each year and if we did help our allies we wouldn't be able to help ourselves considering we didn't have very strong industries and armies. I think we should have bought more industries in the beginning of the game so we could save up for even more armies.

4. How successful were your alliances? Did they help or hurt you? Could they be trusted?

Our country's alliances weren't really any use because we never got sent to war so we never needed their help. Our alliances were, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Russia, and Japan. The only alliance that betrayed us was Italy. In the last round the US had declared a war against Japan and everybody but three countries joined which made it a Great War. All of the small countries joined Japan while Italy was undecided. The whole war really depended on Italy, who was the strongest of all. In the end, Italy joined the US and betrayed many of its allies.

5. What are three specific things you learned about conflict from this simulation?

I learned many things from this simulation:

• You can't always trust your allies so don't depend on them.
• Buy industries in the beginning instead of armies. Armies are no use in the start of the game because countries are trying to stay clear of each other and avoiding war.
• Even though I didn't do this, don't start wars against people who have strong allies or else you will be left defeated and with nothing.
• Lastly, I learned that don't always think you are the stronger country with lots of industries and armies because you never know when people with defeat you and leave you dead.
  

Quarter 2 Feedback/ New Goals- Quarter 3

My goals last quarter were:

• To have better study skills to study for test because my test scores could be better if I knew how to study better
• To do my homework the night it was assigned so I wouldn't have load the day before.
  

• To add more detail into my projects (writing wise) like I said in quarter 1.
  

I feel that my first goal partly met because my test/quiz scores had improved from last quarter and were usually in the range of an A or B. I think my second goal was partially met because I still did some homework the night before instead of the day it was assigned. I think my third goal was met because I saw an improvement to how specifically I describe things.

My goals for this quarter are:

• To do my homework the night it was assigned, so I wouldn't have a load the night before.

• To add more detail and voice into my writing pieces. I would be able to know if I improved if I could picture what I was describing very clearly.

• To improve my geography skills. I would know if I improved if in TMTU questions.