log 7b

I was taken back when all that the Katrina piece was only a photo, rather than the normal long passage that we have to read. Though they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I guess its like we read a thousand word passage. The first “hotspot” for me was found in the expressions in all the peoples faces. The look of despair on their faces, I cannot imagine what they were seeing or what was happening to them. Perhaps they were being told by the soldiers that there was no more relief for them, or that everything they had was destroyed. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst national disasters that this nation has ever known, the devastation to the people affected is unimaginable, their lives will never be the same. All we can do is help them try to rebuild, but that takes more than just thinking about it to make a change, it takes money and effort on our part. The second part of the photo that stood out to me was the apparent chaos in the situation shown. It is impossible to predict when such a disaster will strike, which means when it does it is all the more terrible. The thought of losing everything is not a pleasant one, so people don't usually think about it. When you do lose everything, I imagine some people would go into denial, which only makes reality hit harder once it sets in. The chaos of trying to feed and shelter this large amount of people is a nightmare, and when you tell people that there simply isn't enough, that is when all hell breaks loose. People fighting each other for the basics of life we take for granted every day, the very definition of chaos cannot be shown in a better way.

The first hotspot on the second reading came when I realized that the terror that the people of Cambrai suffered was brought by another group of people, that is the Boche. I know that we still have problems like this in Africa today, but thinking about it is still disturbing. The thought of slaughtering a village of innocent people is unthinkable. It's a shame that there are people in the world who have to worry about whether or not they will survive the day, or have to wonder about whether or not they will eat tomorrow. I know we try to help these people but it seems that no matter what we do it doesn't do anything. I suppose that it is simply human nature to fight, but to take it so far as to level a village of innocent people is beyond that argument. Though as they said, seeing the Boche prisoners cleaning the mess they made brought justice, but how much will that really help in aiding the people who's lives were destroyed by the war. The answer is it wont help that much, but justice is important because it makes an example of everyone who would think of causing such pain on others.

The second hotspot for me was at the end when the motives of helping were being scrutinized by each other. This type of behavior only leads to more problem sown the road, and only hurts the people that need help. I don't see why all the different countries need to be so suspicious of each other, as they are all there for the same purpose. I really hope that we can learn to set aside our differences in the future, maybe then we can do even more to help these people in need. I don't see any possible ulterior motives for being in Africa, so the countries are only suspicious because of what they think of the other countries helping. People probably think America is only there for the resources it can get there, which is wrong. Until we can get rid of this suspicion, I fear that there is no way we can ever help Africa and maintain the aid we give them without them falling back.

7b

After reading “Katrina: Growing Despair”, I had two hotspots. My first one was on page 225. It said that the hurricane had done an estimated 81.2 billion dollars in damage. This was one of my hotspots because I obviously knew that the hurricane had done a lot of damage, but I never knew the number that they put to it. I can't even imagine how much 81.2 billion dollars is and I can't imagine how they will ever be able to get anything close to that amount back. Literally everything must have been destroyed. I've seen pictures, but it's definitely not the same thing as being there in person. It's good to know that there are celebrities and other people going over there frequently to help rebuild the city and put their own time and money into it the reconstruction. I wonder what the city looks like now and how fair it's come. It's definitely not the same but it has to be better than what it was. It's going to be a landmark for forever now.
My next hotspot was also on page 225. It said that the “head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned amid accusations of poor leadership and mismanagement of resources.” This was my second hotspot because I remember hearing on the news that the federal government's reaction was poor and slow. I did not know that the person in charge actually resigned. You have to wonder why it took so long for the government to react. Of course there were probably other things going on, but something bigger than the loss of 2,000 lives in one city? That should be a big red flag and you would think help would be sent immediately. I guess we'll never know the reasons behind the lack of reaction to the hurricane, but just hope it never happens again if another catastrophe ever happens.

“The Devastation Is Terrible” had two hotpots that caught my attention. The first one was actually in the introduction on page 227. It said that “Ashe wanted to serve with the American Red Cross during World War 1, but she was rejected because of her age.” I haven't done my math so I'm not sure how old she was the time but it was a hotspot for me because of all the injuries and casualties that occurred during WW1, you would think they would take all the help they can get. Even if she is young, she could still help gather things and bring the real doctor's what they need. I don't know, I just thought it was strange that help was rejected in a time of need.
My second hotspot was on page 228. This is when it talks about a lady who was in charge of a hospital and 107 men took refuge in there. She kept them there for two weeks and let them escape one at a time. She disguised them as butchers, bakers and other things so they wouldn't get caught. She also burned their uniforms in a furnace. She eventually got very sick and was sent to a prison hospital where she walked for miles to try to get away. She was caught and returned to the hospital. This is a hotspot of mine because I could picture her as I was reading this, doing the things she did. I could picture her helping the men out and her running away from the prison hospital. I could picture her getting thinner and thinner like the book says. It's sad, really. A little old lady (I'm assuming) doing these things for other people and protecting people when it puts her life in danger. The ten accomplices she had also put their lives in danger for people they barely knew. I like how the lady said that “no one knows what freedom is who has not been deprived of it”. I like this because it's so true. We take our freedom for granted everyday without knowing, and we never will understand our freedom until it's stripped away from us.

Log 7a

After reading “Time To Think About Torture” by Jonathon Alter, I had two hotspots that caught my attention. The first one was on page 9. It talks about a “torture warrant”. This caught my attention because I had never heard of such a thing. It's weird that there would be a warrant that you could just just as easily as a search warrant. I do like how it goes on to say that a Harvard Law School professor said that “I'm not in favor of torture, but if you're going to have it, it should damn well have court approval”. I like this because if it is something we would have, I do agree that it should be something that the court should approve and it would make the whole situation easier, if it had to be done. I don't really understand what they would do with it though. Do they just catch whoever they're going after and just use a way of torture to get the information out of them? I could see how it could work and I could see how it couldn't. It does make me wonder how often a “torture warrant” would be used. Would it be used for the most extreme cases only? Or would it be used anytime officials want any kind of information at all?
My second hotspot was on page 9 also. This was where the paper quotes retired Col. Kenneth Allard. He says, “prisoners have only one objective-to end the pain.” This is a good point because when put under pressure, it's easy to lie. Especially when you just want to get out of the situation you're in. The prisoner's could easily just make everything up to avoid the torture. This is why I don't think it's a completely reliable technique. Officials could just be fed a bunch of BS and not get anything that they really need. At the same time though, we could just hope they are telling the truth. But hope isn't something that's solid enough to use in situations that deal with terrorists or murders. It's just not enough. Maybe we could give them a lie detector test as they spill out information. That might be effective.

In “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman” by Tadeusz Borowski, I had two hotspots. The first one was on page 158. This is when the people get excited about the transport coming. This is my hotspot because I think it's so sad that this many people have to get so excited about a train coming with clothes and food. If I was them, I would be just as excited to get those kind of things too because of the situation they're in. While reading, I just keep thinking that I would try to run if I was one of them even though I know that's not really an option because you'll more than likely die doing so. It's hard to think that the person with the most food has the most power. It's not even the best food. It's bread, onions and other things that you just have to throw together.
My other hotspot was on page 156. This was when it said “Sent all the way from Warsaw- only a week ago my mother held this white loaf in her hands.” This is a hotspot because it's weird that her parents know that she's in the spot she's in and the only thing they are doing is sending food. Of course that's nice of them but I would just think that they would be trying to do other things to get him back to his family. How do those people end up in those camps anyway? Are they just in the wrong place at the wrong time and get stuck there? As you read, you hear about the terrible conditions that they're all in and it kind of seems like they're just taking it. I know I'm not in their situation so I can't really judge what they are and aren't doing. I'm sure some of them tried to get away and it didn't work and that's why others haven't, because they've seen what could happen. It was just weird for me to read that the family knows where their son or daughter is and they only send food. Maybe that's all they can do though and they're trying the best the can at the moment. How do you deal with your child being in the Holocaust? That's just crazy.

log 7a

The first hotspot in “Time to Think About Torture” came when the author described forcing detainees to listen to rap as a form of torture. I'm not really a fan of rap, but I never thought that listening to in was a form of torture. I don't know if the author can be held as credible, as he seems like he is almost too eager to torture people. Granted, this essay was written soon after 9/11, so the author might have been angry when he wrote this paper. He goes on to describe how the country changed after the attack, and how torture became more widely acceptable in the United States. The next hotspot was the section about the truth serum. I always thought that truth serum was created by fiction and didn't really exist, so when I read this I was amazed to learn that such a substance actually exists. Although I soon learned that it didn't actually work, the fact that most people talk in response to torture cannot be disputed. I would imagine that it is difficult to determine what is true and what is false. There can be no sure fire methods to gain accurate information from people we are torturing, but the fastest way to gain any information at all is definitely torture. I would imagine that in the wake of 9/11, people were all to eager to approve torture and seek vengeance for what was done to us. The fact that we didn't catch these people ahead of time is unfortunate, because now we have to live in a paranoid world where getting on a plane is a giant security check, instead of how relatively easy it was back in the pre-9/11 days of this country.

The first hotspot in “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” was when I learned the meaning of the term “Canada”. I was puzzled by this at first, and even more so when I learned its meaning. The term is used to describe people who are part of a labor squad to unload the Jewish prisoners from the train cars to send them to either the chambers or to work. I am still unsure why the term “Canada” was used to describe this group, but I hope to learn more through discussion.

The second hotspot was when the Jewish woman ran from her child on page 166. I imagine that the woman was trying to save the child by running from he kid, but due to the child's cries for her, the guards threw the child in with her. I didn't really like this story, I found it hard to follow and kind of boring to be completely honest. I know that this is a sort of autobiography from the author, and the hardships that these people endured were unthinkable. I was interested also by the fact that the author wrote from the perspective as one of the non-Jewish worker, and said he didn't really care what happened to the Jews. This is a lot different from the common viewpoint we are given, that is from the view of a Jewish person. This doesn’t make what the Nazi's did any better, it only shows what they did from a different view. To be honest I would probably do the same thing if I was in the same situation, simply because I would want to survive. It's kind of funny to see what people will do or how they change in order to protect themselves, and I can honestly say that I am probably no different from the author in this regard, and would probably act the same in his situation.

hot spots 7a

In the story This way for the gas, Ladies and gentlemen written by Borowski I could tell it was about the holocaust just from the title. It was a sad story about the holocaust and what was being seen, and how the jews and others were deceived until their death. “ It is hot, terribly hot. Our throats are dry,each word hurts. Anything for a sip of water”(165)! This was my first hot spot I found. I chose this because it gave me a really good visual. It made me really say when I read this and made me realize how lucky I am to not have to worry about this. Especially because I am jewish I am lucky to be born when I am. I think this helped me imagine what was going on I pictured someone working so hard and gasping for a breath who just needed water. This story made me sad when I read it, the holocaust is a horrible, horrible genocide.
On page 167 I found my second hot spot. “In the silence that settles over nature at this time of the day, the human cries seem to rise all the way to the sky.” I think this was interesting especially coming from someone who was narrating the story. When I picture something going on I would have picture someone screaming and yelling for help but when I read this it came calm. It was as if i could imagine him saying this. I think this is a sad analogy, people were being tortured so badly, but it was silence. I think it is interesting how the author speaks of silence and screaming in the same sentence yet, it just makes sense given the circumstance.
Its time to think about Torture Written by Jonathan Alter . This was all about just what the title talks about, thinking about torture. It is weird because although I have heard about all of these types of torture this story talks about I really have never thought about it at all. My first hot spot was found on page 8. “The world hasn’t changed as much as we have.” I chose this because it engaged me right away. I thought this was very interesting and true. We have changed throughout all the generations in many ways. Ways like, technology, self images, laws and even kinds of torture. I think this is a great quote, the world has basically stayed the but we have all changed and who knows whether it has been for the good or for the worse.
My second hot spot was found on page 9. “ I’m not in favor of torture, but if your going to have it, it should damn well have court approval”(Dershowitz). I thought this was almost funny in a way. Even if you took a torture case to court could it be approved? I think this is almost sick in a way that our nation has changed so much someone would even think of bringing a torture case to court. I think it is interesting how he says he is not in favor or torture. I think this because how many people are, i hope not a lot. I think this was a good insert to the story it really got my attention and made me think all about torture and how it comes about, and how much our nation really has changed as a whole. I think it is interesting how he knows so much about torture and how I have known about this much too but I have never once really thought about it. It does not really shock me when I hear about things going on in the world which is sad. You hear about so many things in the news and in the media that the do not even shock you any more. This is when I think everyone should know changes need to be made.