Schindler's List Reflection

Oskar Schindler was a German business man bent on making money and building a high life in Germany. He makes many friends in high places in the Nazi Party. Then, he formulates a plan to make himself more money: he wants to hire the Jews to work for him so that he can pay them little, but mass produce his pots and everything that he makes. He witnesses much harsh treatment of the Jews, but all the while, only cares about making more money. He hires Itzhak Stern to organize everything for him, like a secretary, to find ways to make more money. Eventually, after witnessing so much wrong doing and becoming so close to Itzhak Stern, he realizes that there's more to life than money, and decides to help the Jews by hiring around 1100 Jews so that they wouldn't be worked to death in the work camps, and so that they could live safely (or as safe as you could be in those times) away from all of the crazy Nazi soldiers trying to constantly kill them. Schindler creates a list of all of the Jewish names he/Itzhak knew and "buying" them so that they could work for him. Also, he had been producing faulty bullets so that when the Nazi's would try to kill the Jews, their guns wouldn't work. Schindler was then a criminal, and at the end, he had to make a run for it, but he had saved the lives of around 1100 Jews. He died on October 9, 1974 in Hildesheim, Germany.

http://www.oskarschindler.com/
http://www.teacheroz.com/wwii.htm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler.html

a. What does the word power mean to you? What does it mean to Goethe? What does it mean to Schindler? Do these people misuse power?
To me, the word power means being able to control things; being in control-you have power over it. To Goethe, power was in essence the same thing, but it was also something that could be abused without consequence, because since he was in such a high seat of power, it didn't matter if he used it to do things that weren't necessary (like shooting people from his balcony). To Schindler, power was money (in the beginning of the movie). Also, power was having friends in high places, and being able to bend the rules because of that. By the end of the movie, to Schindler, power was being able to control the outcome of a situation without people knowing. People misuse power all the time, but there's no way to stop that from happening.

b. Schindler went from being an "antihero" to a hero. What specific events did he experience and realizations did he have to create this transformation.
Schindler witnessed the many Jews being murdered, which is enough to make any sane person shiver. He also became good friends/colleagues with Itzhak Stern, who was continually trying to make Schindler realize that he should be doing this for the good of the Jews, as opposed to the good of himself and his money.

c. Did you think this film was effective? Why? Why not?
I think it was effective in the sense that it let people know what was going on, what happened and how. It showed the brilliance of Schindler, and shows you that having friends in high places helps.

I Thought "Security" Meant Safety

Homeland Security means the safety of our homeland, America, right? Well don't be so sure that everyone in those offices are so pro-safety of every human being in America. Ever heard the name Brian Doyle? I hadn't until just tonight when I was researching Homeland Security. A link popped up on Google with jokes about Homeland Security. My curiosity got the best of me. I clicked the link and found out that a man named Brian Doyle, a Homeland Security official, had been arrested "for solicit sex from a teenager" who turned out to be a cop undercover posing as a fourteen-year-old girl. One of these jokes, made by Jay Leno, reads, "...using his government computer and cell pone to try and have sex with a 14-year-old girl. He would send these girls porno on the Web cam. Nice to see our surveillance cameras being used non-stop in the war against terror." At first I sat there laughing for a little while, and then I thought how very true that is. This man is supposed to be working for the protection of our country, not to get points with chicks. So naturally, I was curious. I did a Google search on good ol' Mr. Doyle and found an article about this little incident on CNN.com. Apparently he tried to seduce this girl of fourteen (really a detective) and even gave him all his phone numbers, including his office number and his government-issued cellphone. He sent porno clips to this girl as well as regular pictures of himself to her and said that he would send her nude pictures of himself if she got a web cam and sent naked pictures of herself to him in return. Occasionally he would address the girl by the wrong name by mistake which caused the detectives who worked on this case believe that he had held conversations such as these with other girls before. In Doyle's first conversation with the girl, he was pretty graphic as to what he wanted to do with her. "'Many of the conversations he initiated ... are too extraordinary and graphic for public release,' a statement from the sheriff's office said."
"'I read the transcripts,' Judd said. 'I wanted to see if this was just as outrageous as the detectives depicted it. ... It shocked all of us who have worked vice, narcotics, organized crime, homicides.'"
After reading this article, I didn't know whether I should laugh or take this matter seriously. I mean, of course it is a very serious situation, things like this have happened to girls all over the country, many ending in murder and/or rape, but a Homeland Security official? Using his work computer? It seems too surreal not too laugh at least a bit. Is this what the government workers do on their spare time? Of course, this articl dates back to 2006, but whos to say that other Homeland Security works haven't done things like this since then, or at least considered doing something of this sort. So after I giggled to myself about the situation, I decided to look up the definition of 'security' just out of curiosity. I chose my three favorite definitions from thefreedictionary.com:
Security-
1. Freedom from risk or danger; safety.

2. Freedom from doubt, anxiety, or fear; confidence.

3. Something that gives or assures safety
Well Homeland Security definitly isn't the right name under these circumstances. They should be called, "We Do It In Our Homeland With Minors." There, that's a more sutable name for the office branch that Doyle worked in. But don't think too harshly, not all of our government is screwed up...

Was Brian given his job back?

The "Color-coded Threat Level System"

Homeland Security Advisory System

The color-coded threat level system is a series of colors with different levels of risk of our country being attacked by terrorists on each color. (Chart shown on right). As of August 29 of this year, the country was placed at the elevated level (significant risk of terrorist attacks). For flights, the threat level is high (high risk of terrorist attacks). The government is taking extra precautions during the current elections for extra safety purposes. There is claimed to be no specific reason that the threat level has been raised, but homeland security must have some reason. If there is a reason that our country is in danger, then we as American citizens have the right to know. Take a moment to think back to your youth. If something was wrong with your parents, something bad might soon happen to them, or you or they were hurt, they would tell you that everything was going to be alright, even if it wouldn't, but they said it just to comfort you. This could possibly be what the government is doing for us now. Well personally I prefer truth to comfort and if there is any particular reason to be worried, we deserve to know.

Why was the threat level raised?
How do they judge what to set the level at?

Image from: http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/Copy_of_press_release_0046.shtm

Tapping the Wires of Terrorists

Back in September of 2006, President Bush wanted more power over wiretapping without need of a warrant. "The terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cellphones and open anonymous e-mail messages." Bush claims that he wants to change these laws to attempt to catch terrorists who may be doing this. In order to prevent more attacks on the U.S. like Sep. 11, Bush has upped the airport security and has tightened border patrol. "Many Americans look at these events and ask the same question. Five years after 9/11, are we safer? The answer is, yes, America is safer. We are safer because we've taken action to protect the homeland. We are safer because we are on offense against our enemies overseas. We're safer because of the skill and sacrifice of the brave Americans who defend our people. Yet five years after 9/11, America still faces determined enemies, and we will not be safe until those enemies are finally defeated." A Strong statement yes? Of course it is. Bush is trying to make the American's feel safer. But is it really necessary to defeat our enemies? Can't we negotiate? But rather than negotiating, he would prefer to tap wires to find out if terrorists are listening in.

Does Bush realize that when packages are being shipped by planes, they aren't scanned to see what's inside them?