Task 1

 

In this photo i can see ruins all around me. Destruction lies around me, all from the brutal war. The smell of ash and blood stung my nose. Looking all around, it was dead silence; the only sounds were the sound of our boots clumping onto the ruins. But then, all I could taste was the saltiness of my sweat from crossing all those kilometres. I was tired, sweaty and I felt sticky. My foot seemed to crack every time i crossed over any ruin.

Lynching

In Mississippi burning, it showcases blacks being lynched by Ku Klux Klan. But what exactly is lynching?

Lynching is a "punishment" in which the blacks got. The form of 'punishment' is usually hanging, even though other forms include shooting and burning. In Mississippi burning, the Ku Klux Klan used hanging. As a result, they lynched a total of 3,500 blacks. This demonstrates how great the impact of lynching was.

Obviously, lynching is wrong. The blacks did not do anything wrong, so what did they to let them to be deserved to be 'punished'? Plus, hanging is equivalent to a death sentence. I believe that capital punishment should only be reserved for serious crimes like attempted murder and so on. Also, in the first place, no crime was committed. Secondly, these 'punishments' were not official, and thus the Ku Klux Klan did not have any right or permission to lynch people just because they look different from the others.

Missisipi Burning

Recently, we were given the show, Mississippi burning to watch. It is a really, really old film, about racism. It depicts the lives of the blacks and how they were treated by the Ku Klux Klan, a group of people that used to be a political party. Their main aim is to achieve control over the blacks. To reach their goal, they lynch the blacks, and use other cruel methods to torture them. The blacks are afraid to oppose, and can only try to defend themselves from being lynched as far as possible. But why are they afraid to oppose? Is it because the Ku Klux Klan outnumber and outgun them, or they just simply did not feel like fighting for their rights, because the others did not?

Mio Problems

I think I should go into more detail about why I had to change my modem into a new one in the first place.

I was downloading microsoft office 2010 from the internet, when suddenly, the download became 0 kbps. I thought perhaps the server which I was downloading microsoft office from had stopped working. Thus, I paused that download, and tried to go back to the download page and try redownloading. However, Firefox 4 kept giving me "The page could not be displayed". As this was actually not the first time my internet had stopped working, I looked at the modem. Obviously, the modem had just reset, as there was only the power light on. The rest of the the services, broadband, wireless, phone were not working. I was thankful that the modem recovered within a minute, and I started redownloading. I then decided to do my science worksheet. I stumbled onto a difficult problem, so I decided to search wikipedia about the answers. However, wikipedia failed to load, and I looked back at the modem. It had just reset again! I was frustrated. It happened more than 15 times that day, so I called the customer service officer. He sent a technician down the next day, and he changed the modem. It seems fixed. It's all good (for now)

Mio Modem dosen't work!

Just today, when i went back home and booted up my computer, I tried logging into Xfire, a chat service. Usually, in the process of logging in, there would be a small message telling me when the connection would time out. Most of the times, it logs in when there are 117 seconds left. But now, it logs in only at 113. Yesterday, our modem had been changed, because our old modem kept cutting off randomly. Later, I called Singtel about this incident. The friendly service person then guided me through the speed test. My plan is a 3mbps plan, yet, it only managed to get a maximum of 0.6mbps. My computer was right next to the modem, and my ping was a mere 11 milliseconds, so it should not affect a lot. Obviously, the modem has to be changed again. The serviceperson told me that the technician would be coming tomorrow at 4pm, so hopefully, this technician would fix the problems

Prejudice

Prejudice is something that you have against others, probably because of bad past experiences with the person, or because of the influence of other people around you. It can also be due to the people being a different, race, gender, nationality or religion.
WANT: What do I want to know/learn about prejudice?
I want to know why in the first place, people are so obsessed with race, nationality etc. Is it due to the happenings around or just simply a natural distaste? Is prejudice found in multiple forms? How can it be expressed? What are some symptoms of prejudice?
(Update: I realised I saved it as a draft instead of posting)

Harper Lee's novel is full of intersting and richly painted characters. Which Character was your favourite and why?

Out of all the characters,  I felt that Dill was my favourite character, at the start of the story, during the first time he came to Maycomb, he brings about the idea of going to get Boo Radley out. He was the first person in the story to ever try such a thing. This shows that unlike the rest of the Maycomb folks, he has bravery. Also, when Dill runs away from home, it shows that he is not just any other ordinary child who is fully-controlled by their parents (e,g, Mayella Ewell and her father). Also, he is actually one of the smartest of the three children being able to find out things more quickly than the others, as well as being able to find ways around problems

As you followed the action in the courtroom, which character did you emphatise with most? Least? Explain.

As I followed the action in the courtroom, I empathised  with Mayella Ewell the most. Everytime Acticcus questioned her, the questions seem to stun her, and she always seemed in difficulty. She did not know what to say, and it was obvious that she was not actually telling the 100% truth. Most of the things she said were just impromptu, but it was not as if she wanted to be up there, and it was only because she was afraid of her father, that she went to the court. Every time she was unable to answer, she would break down in tears.

I empathised with Bob Ewell the least. Being Mayella's father, he should care for her, yet he leaves his daughter to do most of the talking to defend him. He most probably also forced Mayella to go up, not sparing a though for her feelings at all. Plus, even when he talked, all he did was to use bad and rough language to accuse Tom Robinson.

Describe on paper an everyday situation in which one person might judge another person incorrectly. What things can interfere with making a fair judgment?

Example: When the school asks its students for a donation to charity, person A donates $3, while person B and the rest of the class donate $10 and above. Person B then thinks that Person A is selfish because he donated so little. However, in actual fact, Person A's family has very little money, and can only afford to donate $3.

Usually, we do not make a fair judgement, because we think that all results only have one cause, whereas in actual fact, many causes can lead to the same result. Also, it also can be due to the fact that we already have a stereotype towards a person, so we always predict his/her personalities, and thus do not believe in the real facts.

?What do you think is involved in making a fair judgment about a person or situation?

What do you think is involved in making a fair judgment about a person or situation?
I think that there are many factors involved in making a fair judgment about a person. First of all, we need to look at his habits. For example, if he likes to spit on the ground, we can tell that he is very unhygienic and selfish. After that, we go on and look at his physical appearance. If you see that he has very messy hair, we can tell that is an untidy person. Then, we look at the way he talks. If he uses many vulgarities and rough language, we can tell that he is ill-mannered and badly disciplined.

Actually all the above, is from what point of view you look at that person. Perhaps you have been influenced by others so that you now have a point of view which is not your own. Also, you cannot just look at one of the above aspects. You have to look at the whole overview of him.

2i3 Blog Posts

It reminds me of me when I was young. Unlike Scout, who constantly goes out with her brother around the neighbourhood, I did not, as I only stayed mostly at home, either playing with my only lego set, or playing some childish computer games. I was afraid to go out; not only was a shy, my parents ordered me not to either, saying that it was a very dangerous world outside, and that I would be in danger there. If I ever wanted to go to my nearby playground, one of my parents would have to accompany me, and to accompany me, they had to be free. So I had to treasure the times I was able to go to the playground. Most of the time, all I could do was watch the children play from my window, and I wished I could be like them, play in there.

LA seaside description

The slimey and green ooze lined the discoloured ocean. Unattractive black spots of ugliness emerged out of the already ugly ocrean, no better than a rubbish bin. Swish, swoosh, slap, smash, against the beach the horrible beast. Whispering only now, it whispers quietly, sneakily throwing its immoral waste, bit by bit, onto the smooth, fine and pearl-white beach. The parasite spreads, black moles immerging out of the pearl’s perfect complexion.       

Cartoon

I chose the MRT scene in the cartoon, as the MRT is a public transporrt service that is found only in Singapore. Also, this helps to convey the messages of the character's point of view towards the public transport system in Singapore. Also, the MRT helps depict a "fast-paced" life in our society, where competition is tough. Lastly, the
MRT is a 'place' where anyone one can access, regardless of race or religion.

In the second comic, a scene of the character buying food from a food court in shown. This yet again depicts another Singaporean scene, related to food culture. For dining of food, people, whether poor or rich, go to food court to buy food. This shows that is suited not only from all races, but suited for all classes of people too.

My last scene is an office room, presumably a room in the employee's office. The office is shown to be spic and span, even though most of the things are just actually chucked into a corner. It is here where things start to get serious, after some dining.