Blog #7. The Allegory of The Cave through History

     In the allegory of the cave Socrates talks about this people who were in a cave their whole life chained together. The only reality they saw was their shadows and that was the only truth to their eyes; for them that was reality. The allegory is very relevant to our lives. Media plays a big role now a days and advertisements are what keep us humans interested in a every single product that is coming out, or just we just leave ourselves fall in the temptation.

     There are so many advertisements that show us a product that in reality is not the same. For instance when there is commercial in The T.V or in a poster about MC Donald’s, one sees this hamburger which looks delicious and looks huge because they say that comes with double meet or extra cheese which is true but at the end of the day when you go to the actual store and buy it because you expect the same thing you saw in the advertisement it ends up being complete lie. The hamburger is not what you expected is look way smaller and yes it might have extra cheese and double meet but it does not look like in the commercial.  This is one situation in life were we live in an illusion.

     One often sees these advertisements and we always fall in the same game.  We refuse to accept that they exaggerate in advertising a product just so people can but it. One only buys a product because they in a commercial they say it is the best and better than other ones. There a lot more advertisements like the one from MC Donald’s and we get carry away just because of what we see. I love how the carton we saw in class shows exactly what I am talking about and how life in now a days we also live in this cave were the T.V. and the internet is everything.  Us humans live in this world where everything is about the media and what they want us to see in order to persuade us.

Blog #6. Destiny in Oedipus

     Oedipus always tried to avoid his destiny but he could not. Oedipus was born with his destiny chosen and the prophets knew what was going to happen in his future. When he found out about that the cure for the plague in Thebes was to find the killer of Laius and have this person be punished as Creon told him in line 126, he started asking questions and trying to find this killer not knowing that it was him. When they hear about the cure the chorus leader suggest Oedipus to call Teiresias, “But at last Teiresias in being guided here, our god-like prophet, in whom the truth resides more so than in all other man.” Line 354, that’s how the chorus leader describes him.

     Teiresias is a wise man who knows who Oedipus really is and what he has done but he does not want to say it, Line 410 “I will say nothing more. Fume on about it, if you wish, as fiercely as you can”. He is a prophet who knew that Oedipus killed his own father and marry his mother. When trying to find the Laius murdered, Oedipus he gets into a fight with Teiresias and does not really listen to  what he is saying because Oedipus is very arrogant and does not want to admit the truth. Teiresias finally tells Oedipus that he is the killer of Laius, his father. Oedipus now knows the truth but he does not want to admit it, he does not want to say that he killed his dad, and married his mother. “I say that you yourself are the very man you’re looking for” Teiresias says and Oedipus responds “That’s twice you’ve stated that disgraceful lie- something you’ll regret.”  Line 433, this show how Oedipus didn’t want to admit the truth having so many clues.

     Besides being arrogant I considered Oedipus to be a good person. We wanted to find the murdered and save all the citizens in Thebes who were sick. Also when Oedipus found out about the prophecy when he went to the oracle, tried to avoid killing his father that is why he goes away; but trying this to not happen not knowing Laius is his biological father, he kills him. Destiny was something that Oedipus could not run away from. He always tried to avoid them but by doing this thing got worst and he ended losing his wife/mother and he learns that necessary being able to see you can understand what is going, but a blind person like Teiresias who is blind does not see but do understand. This is proved when he says “so I say this to you, since you have chosen to insult mu blindness- you have your eyesight, and you do not see how miserable you ar or where you live, or who it is who shares your household…” line   412.

Blog #5 Final Draft. Not Utopia at All

Diana Florez                                                                                                                   

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay # 1

10/15/12

Not Utopia at all

     A place where there is discrimination because of one’s genes would not be considered a utopia. Utopia will be a place where everything would be perfect no discrimination would exist and nothing will go wrong and for me this is not Gattaca. The essay “The man on the moon” by George J. Annas has different pieces of writing that can be compared to the dystopia place I considered Gattaca to be. Would you expect a murder to be committed in utopia? Throughout the movie technology plays a big role in the movie Gattaca, and each character on it is affected in some way because of it.

    As the essay by George J. Annas says, in the article about the Unholy wars “The Nazi experiments involved murder torture, systematic and barbarous acts with death as the planned endpoint. The subject of these experiments, which included lethal freezing and high-altitude experiments, were concentration camp prisoners, mostly Jews, gypsies and Slavs people the Nazi viewed as subhuman.” This is very similar of what is going on in the movie Gattaca. Vincent’s mom “put her faith in God's hands, rather than her local geneticist” when she conceived him. This affected Vincent’s life drastically because he was considered an invalid person in his society. This discrimination makes me think of Gattaca as a dystopia place, where you are discriminated because of your genes.  In Gattaca children were born the “natural way” when the eggs of the mother were fertilize and you could be able to pick the best candidate to be born. One could also chose the color of the hair, eyes and even gender of their child.  A child born by genetic engineering could be benefit from it because by having the chance to pick the best candidate, parents would pick a child with less illnesses, but they would not be perfect at all. Irene was considered a valid person in Gattaca but she wasn’t perfect, she had an unacceptable risk of heart failure. Also, in Gattaca your genes will determined the kind of carrier you would be able to have. Valid persons would have higher jobs while the invalid people like Vincent would have also be considered but eventually became part of an underclass and once his job was to clean toilets. Would utopia discriminate others by not giving them the chance to prove themselves just because they were not born the “natural way”?

     A place where murder is attempted to commit will immediately be considered a dystopia. In a perfect place nobody would have to kill others because you do not accept the decisions they make at work. And this is what happens in Gattaca a mission director is killed because he was trying to cancel a mission. Would you expect this in utopia place?. “The enemy was the nonbeliever, the infidel; killing the infidel became a holy act. The ability to label an enemy as “other” and subhuman, and to justify killing the “other” in the name of God …”  so it will be a holy act committing a murder because simply the “other”  does not believe what you do or want what you desire? . Utopia does not consist of this; there is no trust between your co-workers.

      Technology and science have helped human being create a better place that cannot be perfect at all but can offer us a better quality life. There are many technological advances in the movie Gattaca. It is almost incredible how Vincent is able to get away with his plan, and is able to achieve his  dream. Gattaca is also very advanced in science and they have frequent space travels. Many people now days would benefit from these advantages if this was their dream like it were for Vincent. As mentioned in the essay about the voyage of Apollo 11 it was the most spectacular exploration, and more of these voyages would be something incredible in our society. But if you look at the world we live in, and the past years, technology and science have advanced tremendously. There are a lot of technological devices that help us have a better life, science is so advanced that we might be born with certain illnesses but the scientist also have come up with a lot of cures for this illnesses. There are so many things that in the future there will be that we don’t even think of them now or expect.

     I strongly believe Gattaca was just an attempt of utopia. There could be much eradication of illnesses, the environmental safe mans of transportation and even the frequent space travels and advances in science but our planet has also change drastically over the years. We live in a world that day by day also attempts to be perfect, but I think no one and nothing would ever be perfect in earth. There will always be differences and obstacles that one has to overcome in order to succeed and from this thinks is the way one learns. If we would live in utopia we would of have being born with a lot of knowledge and would not have to learn anything.

Blog #4 Complete Draft. Not Utopia at All.

Diana Florez                                                                                                                        

ENGL 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay # 1

10/10/12

Not Utopia at all

     A place where there exist discriminations because of one’s genes would not be considered a utopia. Utopia will be a place where everything would be perfect no discrimination would exist and nothing will go wrong and for me this is not Gattaca. The essay “The man on the moon” by George J. Annas has different pieces of writing that can be compared to the dystopia place I considered Gattaca to be. Would you expect a murder to be committed in utopia?. In Gattaca there are also examples of where we see the other being discriminated. Technology and science have helped human being create a better place that can be perfect but can offer us a better quality life.

    As the essay by George J. Annas says, in the article about the Unholy wars “The Nazi experiments involved murder torture, systematic and barbarous acts with death as the planned endpoint. The subject of these experiments, which included lethal freezing and high-altitude experiments, were concentration camp prisoners, mostly Jews, gypsies and Slavs people the Nazi viewed as subhuman.” This is very similar of what is going on in the movie Gattaca. Vincent’s mom “put her faith in God's hands, rather than her local geneticist” when she conceived him. This affected Vincent’s life drastically because he was considered an invalid person in his society. This discrimination makes me think of Gattaca as a dystopia place, were you are discriminated because of your genes.  In Gattaca children were born the “natural way” when the eggs of the mother were fertilize and you could be able to pick the best candidate to be born. One could also chose the color of the hair, eyes and even gender of their child.  A child born by genetic engineering could be benefit from it because by having the chance to pick the best candidate, parents would pick a child with less illnesses, but they would not be perfect at all. Irene was considered a valid person in Gattaca but she wasn’t perfect, she had an unacceptable risk of heart failure. Also, in Gattaca your genes will determined the kind of carrier you would be able to have. Valid persons would have higher jobs while the invalid people like Vincent would have also be considered but eventually became part of an underclass and once his job was to clean toilets. Would utopia discriminate others by not giving them the chance to prove themselves just because they were not born the “natural way”?

     I believe a place where murder is attempted to commit will immediately be considered a dystopia. In a perfect place nobody would have to kill others because you do not accept the decisions they make at work. And this is what happens in Gattaca a mission director is killed because he was trying to cancel a mission. Would you expect this in utopia place?. “The enemy was the nonbeliever, the infidel; killing the infidel became a holy act. The ability to label an enemy as “other” and subhuman, and to justify killing the “other” in the name of God …”  so it will be a holy act committing a murder because simply the “other”  does not believe what you do or want what you desire? . Utopia does not consist of this; there is no trust between your co-workers.

      Technology plays a big role in the movie Gattaca. There are many technological advances. It is almost incredible how Vincent is able to get away with his plan, and is able to achieve his dream. Gattaca is also very advanced in science and they have frequent space travels. Many people now days would benefit from these advantages if this was their dream like it were for Vincent. As mentioned in the essay about the voyage of Apollo 11 it was the most spectacular exploration, and more of these voyages would be something incredible in our society. But if you look at the world we live in, and the past years, technology and science have advanced tremendously. There are a lot of technological devices that help us have a better life, science is so advanced that we might be born with certain illnesses but the scientist also have come up with a lot of cures for this illnesses. There are so many things that in the future there will be that we don’t even think of them now or expect.

     I strongly believe Gattaca was just an attempt of utopia. There could be much eradication of illnesses, the environmental safe mans of transportation and even the frequent space travels and advances in science but our planet has also change drastically over the years. We live in a world that day by day also attempts to be perfect, but I think no one and nothing would ever be perfect in earth. There will always be differences and obstacles that one has to overcome in order to succeed and from this thinks is the way one learns. If we would live in utopia we would of have being born with a lot of knowledge and would not have to learn anything.