Final Post

This course has taught me many things that have helped me in my daily life in making my decisions. I learned about propaganda and how media never gets the full story of any incident. They cut information out of stories to make them more interesting. This usually happens when a sports team of the area loses they would find some type of excuse to make the people that watch the news feel better. I also learned how the government is able to do what ever they want. Like put drones up in the sky and supposedly only spy when there’s any crime being done. The truth is that they can use the drones any time they want if they think you may be a suspect of any crime.

New skills that I learned in this class would be determining media bias. I also learned how to organize my writing and always add lots of facts to support my beliefs. Writing the weekly blog helped me to improve my organization with my writing. I also learned how to always see the opposing side of a argument and how it improves your argument because you can counter arguments. Reading articles from The Week helped me see both sides of the arguments and to never take a side without seeing all the facts.

I learned many things about my self especially with politics. I learned that I always chose the side of the person who seemed nice I never looked for facts I always believed anything they said. Since I took this class now I’m actually wise with politics I know what’s going on when I see the news and I’m always interested. Before I wouldn't care even though those decisions that the president makes will affect me in the future. I also learned that I’m a good writer only with subjects or discussion that I’m interested in and if I’m not interested my argument would be weak.

I would change only a few things and it would be adding pictures to the blogs because at time I would forget to add the pictures to the blog. Also I didn’t like the discussion board only because I didn’t like responding to other peoples answers because I wasn’t sure if they would get offended or get mad because I went against their answer. Also some better topics would have made the class experience better for me because some of the topics weren’t interesting to me. Other than those things, I loved the class.

A skill that I learn from this course that I will carry on into my education would be always staying in touch with the news and what goes on with the government changes.

My favorite Topic was Eye on the Sky the Rise of the Drones because I found it so interesting that the government is taking that step. It made me wonder all the problems those drones would bring with them if the wrong person had control of them. If the government saw you as a suspect they can put a drone to show your ever move. It would affect all of us and our privacy.

The Dangers of Drones

Drone use has become more prominent than ever in the last 8 years in the U.S.. The use of drones peaked during the Obama's first term of office, it's highest during 2010. Each type of drone has it's own purpose. Attack drones have been mainly used to eliminate terrorist figures, and spy drones are used for numerous purposes. Although the use of drones is kept secret from citizens for the most part, with what we do know many people would come to the conclusion that the use of drones is immoral and takes the easy way out by looking at only the short term goals.

Those in support of using drones do so for many reasons. A big pro for drones is that there is no loss of ground soldier's lives because drones are operated by remote controls here on the homeland. If there is no soldiers being sent into the field, we save thousands of lives and the "bad guys" who are deemed terrorists are taken out without a drop of U.S. blood spilled. Another advantage to using drones is that we don't need as many soldiers in the army.It makes it more logical to downsize the Army and Marine Corps. The government would save 487 billion.

The use of drone technology is immoral because in the case of spy drones, it invades privacy. Even people who aren't criminals do things they may not want to be on camera. We all have those days where we check our armpits in case we forgot deodorant or other embarrassing things that shouldn't be filmed. Attack drones are also immoral because of the amount of civilian casualties, the people who make the final decision to kill, and the fact that the U.S. attacks these countries without any declaration of war. For every one "terrorist" killed, there is one civilian killed. It is against the rules of war to attack a country without explaining or declaring war. The budget cuts are also a con because there will be tons of soldiers without jobs.

Trouble in Syria

Trouble in Syria

The uprisings during the Arab springs in Egypt and Libya were largely successful, Syria seems to be unsuccessful. There are many reasons, but the first is that many nations don't want to get involved. Although nearby countries are uncomfortable because the don't want refugees pouring through their borders, the US and UN seem to have their hands tied. Do these rebels deserve help? And from who?

The US doesn't want to get involved for a few reasons. The first is that we don't want to be stuck in the middle of another middle eastern conflict. We are finishing up in Iraq and we're still involved in Afghanistan, so there's no need to be heroic, we have nothing to prove. We also don't want to get involved in a revolution that the outcome isn't any clearer with our involvement than without. Our involvement in the Syrian uprising still makes a positive outcome an "if." That certainly doesn't make the risk of US lives worth it. The US and also the UN are held back by the interests of Russia and China. The UN can't make any real commitments with two large countries opposed, and the US doesn't want to step on their toes because we haven't been great friends with either country and they are both large world powers.

Although it wasn't clear at first, the Free Syrian Rebels are extremely violent and may not be able to put a successful government in place. In the US, it must bring back memories of the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem. The US involvement made things worse for our country by getting us sucked into a long unsuccessful war. Obama administration isn't looking to repeat history. The choice of how to respond or even if the US or UN should respond comes down to one question: which is the lesser evil? Would it be better to help rebels who, if they are successful, may be as repressive as the government in power now, or to let things play out on their own? The rebels have been reported to be responsible for civilian deaths, The difference between these Syrian rebels and those of Egypt and Libya is that the Syrians aren't innocent or helpless. They are becoming exactly what they are fighting against.

No other country should be involved in this conflict. When the rebels started taking civilian lives as collateral damage it became a bad idea for others to get involved. It almost made it more private, like a friend's family problems, and one really doesn't want to get involved. It also made the rebels look stronger almost as if they don't need the help. The fact that they are also as corrupted and immoral as their government turned away many countries because it would not improve any of the current issues. Syria and it's rebels will have to settle this one on it's own. Sources : http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/when-the-syrian-rebels-lose-their-halo/254842/ http://theweek.com/article/index/225817/are-syrian-rebels-just-as-cruel-as-assads-military http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9156307/Human-Rights-Watch-study-details-torture-and-executions-by-Syrian-rebels.html