Science is a religion? FALLACY!

"…Scientology textbooks sometimes refer to psychiatry as a "Nazi science. Well, look at the history. Jung was an editor for the Nazi papers during World War II. … Look at the experimentation the Nazis did with electric shock and drugging. Look at the drug methadone. That was originally called Adolophine. It was named after Adolf Hitler."

Oh, famous celebrities! You make us laugh! But commentators, what happened to you?

Well for starters, the first thing mentioned in this argument is scientology. Now, I’m pretty sure scientology doesn’t reflect the actions of the Nazi’s. In this argument it starts off with a subject of interest, but after reading more into it, the subject of interest changes to something completely tangent: the holocaust and the World War II. This type of fallacy is called the Red Herring: when you start off with subject A, mentions subject B afterwards, and completely forget subject A. The person that is speaking about Tom Cruise’s “religion” is stating that his religion is like a Nazi power. Afterwards he goes in a rant about the history and events of the holocaust and the war that was part of it. Completely, scientology isn’t’ mentioned ever again for the new interest is what occurred in the World War II.

Truly the person’s reasons are to make a clear point that scientology is evil, leave it there and then distract the reader to hear the history of the war in order to emphasize how horrible scientology is.The speaker doesn’t mention the history of the “religion” or what it is about, he just rants on and on about historical events that have nothing to do with what he started. Truly his distraction works for many of the people that viewed it seemed content with what he proclaimed, but in reality they were fooled for the full explanation or details of his subjects weren’t complete, thus making this argument unreliable to believe; it is illegitimate.

Are vegetarians evil? FALLACY!

"How can you argue for vegetarianism when you wear leather shoes ?"

In this argument, the commentator is arguing that the man stating the argument wears leather shoes. He isn’t focusing on his argument alone; instead he’s criticizing his appearance. Yes, there is an ironic situation for the one speaking is wearing leather which comes from cows, but that still isn’t a right way to approach a decision whether what is being stated is legitimate by noticing appearance. With this type of fallacy, everything is done to attack the speaker, thus ignoring what they are explaining. This type of fallacy is the Ad Hominem fallacy. Truly, with this fallacy it is taken very personal for what is commentated by the listener can be quite distracting. For example, in the example given, the criticizer is making the speaker’s argument weak by attacking the fact that the man is “false”. That possibly isn’t the case for we don’t know the full story of his appearance. But for this type of fallacy it doesn’t matter for the purpose of this attempt is to distract the reader away from the speaker’s reasons, thus making their own attempts successful on catching your attention which leads to not believing what the speaker says for their credit is lowered.
This fallacy can be seen as a personal attack for emotions, physical appearance, beliefs, ect, and it can be seen as an attack, purposely made for the speaker, thus making him vulnerable. This vulnerability can be ghastly for it can distract the readers away from the reasons, thus cause an illegitimate conclusion on whether to accept or discredit what is trying to be portrayed.

Will we all pass this class? Will the professor take pity on us? Find out next time! Same bat channel! Same bat time!

In the beginning of the class, I was almost terrified of what horrible works I would do in class. My writing skills are not the best and as for my skills on understanding literature work? Let just leave it there. I felt the need to somehow escape the class for my pessimistic attitude wasn’t helping my nerves, but as the professor started to speak more and more I realized that maybe this summer experience wasn’t going to be so bad! As the professor went on with her nerdiness about English literature, I noticed her passion for the subject. People that are passionate about what they teach, gives the subject being taught an interesting tone which makes the learning experience quite exciting. I was never bored in class and taking notes didn’t seem extremely tedious. When we started poetry, unfortunately, my wonderful emotions for the class seemed to dwindle a bit. Poetry is by far the most difficult subject for me due to the fact that it seems like a foreign language in my deprived noggin. Fortunately, the professor and many internet sources helped my deprivation seem not so horrible. I really struggled, though with the whole writing assignments. As my friend noted to me a couple of years ago, I can speak eloquently, but once my thoughts are put on paper, I seem to mess it up somehow. Basically, I make the impossible, possible. I know, right? Such a wonderful, honest friend? Even though her comments seemed to strike my heart in a negative way, she was right. Fortunately I had outside sources to help me with writing my papers, especially my boyfriend that would work endless hours with me fixing my horrible sentence structures. I have to admit that the professor’s grading style is hard, though! I feel so fortunate to know that I get passing grades in my essays. I am a perfectionist when it comes to science and math grades, but when I get B’s or even C’s in my essays, it feels like A’s. Yes, I am that horrible at writing.

One of my favorite short stories is “A Rose for Emily” because that story is just super creepy. How many stories end with a corpse and a grey hair on the pillow next to the corpse found? From what I’ve noticed: not many or any at all. So this story is just mystifying to the point of horror.

My favorite poem would have to be “Cinderella” because it is just so easy to follow. It starts off with the mention of lucky events from people and ends with the happy ending of Cinderella. I also love how funny it was when it mentioned the unfortunate betrayals of the step sisters when it came to their shoe fitting fails. Love that poem!

My favorite play is The Tempest because of William Shakespeare. Put a Shakespeare play in front of me, and I assure you I will love it. William is just a genius with anything he creates. Period. Love William Shakespeare!

I found the point of this class to have the purpose of enlightening us about many literature works that exist out there. I was exposed to many thing that I’ve never witnessed which made me glad because new things are always fun to explore. Also, this class helped me notice how horrible I am at writing and how much guidance I needed to be where I am now. Glad this class equipped me with more techniques which will help me improve my writing skills.

I am glad though that we got the opportunity to read Shakespeare. I adore the man for being so well with his words. So once we hit The Tempest, it wasn’t a tempest for me but quite a pleasing experience once again. So thank you professor for letting us read Shakespeare!

I will miss the daily meetings at CCC. English usually leaves scars for they are painful classes for me, but this class only left sadness for it ended too fast. I enjoyed it very much! So, unfortunately, I bid you adu to everyone. Also, have a wonderful summer! It was a delight to have met you all and spend eight weeks with you!

P.S. I add this video for everyone to hear.

Why so serious?

I would consider “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare a serious drama due to the fact that the protagonist faces many challenges. Prospero has to overcome the challenge of being thrown out of his own kingdom with a three year old daughter he has to take care of, as well. Through his journey, he finds an island that becomes his new home where he raises his daughter and learns “magic” through the readings of science and math. It is very serious because Prospero goes through a process that redeems his enemies in order to restore peace in his life. He causes a tempest on Alonso and his followers in order to bring them into the island, which there they go through the meetings that Ariel puts them through. Ariel is the ghostly figure that obeys Prospero all the way. He is the one that helps the magical works of his master to be more powerful. He is very faithful and protects his master. Ariel answers to Prospero’s commands due to the fact that he owes him his duties. Prospero freed him and now he’s entitled to enslavement until his entire master’s plans works out. Through these plans and meetings, the enemies find Prospero, and with his encounter, they all feel sorry for their actions and reunite to start a new life together again. If Prospero’s plans would not have gone perfectly as he planned, this sympathy wouldn’t have resulted. Even though everyone seems to be forgiven, Prospero gives his warnings to Sebastian and Antonio, for they haven’t changed their evil ways. So this whole journey takes a serious turn because there are many things that the main character does which he must consider meticulously in order for his plans to go the way he intends them to go. Another reason I believe it is serious is that this whole journey ends in the likeness of a comedy. There is a love connection between Miranda (Prospero’s daughter) who ends up being together with the son of Alonso, Ferdinand. Through this martial bond, the hatred and uneasiness between Prospero and his old enemies are stopped and there is a repair in the relationship between these families.

So in my opinion, I believe the drama is serious because everything the main character does is serious and vital for his freedom from the island. He takes every step with preparation (for he is well educated) and makes his daughter part of his plans as well for she is well educated by his own wisdom. By using all of these things already counting for him, he ends up becoming a forgiving man and also a puppeteer in making some of his enemies become redeemed and proper. Even though there was a lot of seriousness in planning, the drama, in my opinion ends up with a more comedic turn when the daughter marries and ends the drama between the families.

You're such a doll! Flatter me!

We have encountered many themes in the past. Out of all of these themes, the one that compares to the dramatic play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen is the control men have over woman. When I was reading the dramatic play, I noticed that much of Helmer’s treatment to Nora gives a funny, childish manner. Instead of treating her like a mature wife that deserves the treatment of equality and understanding, he gives her nicknames like “little squirrel”. This precise treatment is compared to the short story called “A Yellow Wallpaper”. John would also give his wife childish names which would bring her down instead of treating her like his wife. Through this treatment they develop a type of control over their wives due to the fact that the wives play the part of a little child. They do as they are told without giving the care of questioning whether they are wrong or right. They accustom themselves to ask before doing anything for they know they are not masters of their own lives, and so on. Even though, at first, this control seems harmless and somewhat cute at first, the consequences seem always to lead to something horrible. Nora ends up leaving her husband and children behind in order to find herself, instead of seeking approval of how she should be. The narrator or wife of “A Yellow Wallpaper” ends up insane and kills her husband due to the fact that the reality she was forced to accept ended her touch with what was real and what wasn’t real.

Another example of total control over women is “A Rose for Emily”. In her story, her father would control her every move and would not let her get married in order to keep her to himself. She grew accustomed to this life and as a result, after her father dies, she loses touch of her main guide. By losing her guide we see her break her touch with reality as well. She cannot fathom the thought of being alone and letting go old habits. So she ends up killing the man she loves (for she never knew how it really felt to have a man by her side or know how to deal with a relationship) and afterwards keeps the body as a cuddle toy in her bed. Due to the confliction of not knowing how to deal with life due to her entrapment, she ends up not knowing how to react to life on her own, leading to her insane tactics of not letting go and murder.

The theme is treated more exaggeratedly in dramatic plays due to the fact that people must act it out to show how horrible the event is or how exciting it is. In stories we can only imagine to the limitations of our imagination how it can act out. So I see a difference in exaggeration when comparing the themes to a dramatic play or a short story.

Through the process of seeing how the consequences of complete control of women can lead to disastrous circumstances, I realized, society back then was ghastly!

Such a horrible life you have, Oedipus!

I would characterize Oedipus as a tragic figure due to his horrible fate. The definition of a tragic hero, according to Aristotle, is a list of characteristics that the hero must obtain.

First off, a tragic hero must be of noble stature and greatness. In the beginning of the dramatic play, Oedipus is king of Thebes. He is explained as being an intellectual being with the power to rule over Thebes.

Second, he must have a flaw. Oedipus is too curious. His stubbornness and eagerness to know everything and for everything to go his way hinders him from seeing his surroundings as well as his way of not taking advice from others. His anger is like a bomb waiting to blow up due to his impatience to wait.

Thirdly, the tragic hero brings their own downfall due to their imperfection. Oedipus’ curiosity to know his future led to his fate being certain to become a reality. He searched for an oracle with the curiosity to know what will happen to him, which gave him his fate to be certain. He killed his father, married his mother and ended up being the one at fault for causing Thebe’s misery. By killing his own father, he brought all the other downfalls with him.

Fourthly, the punishment exceeds the crime. He takes his sight and has to live in exile in order to restore the health of Thebes. Yes, he caused the downfall and future embarrassment of his family and the death of his mother, but he compensated by taking his sight and accepted the lonely life until his death, which he explains as a deserved death by going to Hades and facing those he has lost, blinded.

Fifthly, there is an awareness of the tragic hero. He is the son of Laius and the son of his own wife. He had children which came from the same womb he came from. His whole life unravels as not being the children of the people he was adopted from. His whole life is unraveled in front of his eyes.

Finally, every play ends with a catharsis (a relief from the grief we feel for the hero). The catharsis in this play is when he takes his sight, reliving Thebe’s suffering by pouring it upon Oedipus. He doesn’t take his life due to the fact that he wouldn’t suffer; that would just be an escape. That is why he suffers eternally for his actions, thus repaying Thebes.

AHH! DRAMA!

Well, at first the whole concept of making a “good student” face distractions seemed incredibly easy. My group was pumped up and we were ready to write, but as our heads started to think of how to make this whole simple concept into a dramatic play, our brains seemed to turn into mush. We had the to face the difficult task of realizing, “What on earth are we all going to say?” For some reason this part of writing a drama was horribly difficult! After this obstacle, we also realized, “What distractions?” We found it a bit of a joke how we couldn’t agree on anything, but once we put ourselves into the problem, we recognized that the problem wasn’t too hard to figure out. We all talked and just blurted out whatever came to our heads and if we all agreed, that was what made itself onto our script.

As our plays went on into acting mode, I realized that making it comical or serious, it helped remember whatever was mentioned. The actors would play their parts, and just watching and listening at the same time helped understand and remember the concepts and themes of the play. A lecture is amazing, I’m not going to complain, but acting out the parts is SO MUCH HELPFUL! Understanding and grasping many of the main themes are so much easier when people act it out, seriously. It works out as a drama because you are acting out a play about tragedies that need to be overcome, such as incredible distractions for a “good student”. In the plays there were tragic moments for a protagonist, and antagonists that would try to interfere with the protagonist. The protagonist must find ways of overcoming the challenges and dealing with the antagonists. Thus, a dramatic play is formed/witnessed.