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 A reaction to the videos presented Monday. 

After watching the three videos on Monday night, is your reaction positive or negative in regards to the human condition?
Poll ended at Mon Jul 19, 2004 12:17 am
Positive 33%  33%  [ 3 ]
Negative 67%  67%  [ 6 ]
Total votes : 9

 A reaction to the videos presented Monday. 
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Starting with the first then the second and finally the third video, I felt a gut reaction of disbelief, disgust, disappointment and faith. Seeing the failures of the human race can be a humbling experience. I have a hard time coming to terms with the lack of control, the decomposing of humanity and the succumbing to fear that was portrayed before our eyes. As human beings, we still have a long way to go before we are able to totally control our desires, fears and lack of control over our impulses to facilitate the dark side of our capabilities. I have faith that this demonstration of the human condition is only an infinitesimal example of who we are as human beings and in no way portrays what we will become. As teachers of tomorrow's civilization, I hope that we are able to help mankind's future step forward in humanity's ability to make decisions that are less immoral than the decisions that our race has made in the past.

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Chuck Rananto


Last edited by Chuck Rananto on Tue Jul 13, 2004 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:08 am
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Chuck:

Though I voted negative on the poll, what I got out of the video was touched on by Sarah McCarthy "Why Johnny Can't Disobey." It seems to me that most people are inherently good, but are told to do bad things by "authority" figures representing a larger organization. We talked in class about how individuals are ultimately responsible for their actions, but I find it hard to believe that most people would do a lot of these things without the coersion that is inherent in any organization. I find it hard to believe in a military setting for instance that a soldier is going to act on his own such as in the case of Mai Lai and in Iraq.

I understand that military personeel are not suppose to carry out immoral orders, but if there are negative repercusions for not carrying out the orders, I cannot see where the organization is not accountable for the soldiers actions.

I did find it disturbing that a middle aged man, who was part of an experiment on a voluntary basis would follow through with the experiment.

It is unsettling that in all of these senarios, the motivation was to not get into trouble with those in "authority" not from any malicious intent on the part of the actual perpetrators.

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Graham Ponder


Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:04 am
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I have to say that I found each of the videos intersting and valid for a commentary on human behavior, but I did not find them shocking or surprising. I think people in general are motivated to do horrible things when prompted by someone or something that they feel validates the action. The Mai Lai video is a prime example here.

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Denise Marlow


Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:32 am
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Civilization is a veneer - but that does not really speak to the "human" condition - you will find disappointment in human behavior only if you are looking for something "outside" of our nature to be embodied within our nature (a conscience can be a fleeting thing) - perhaps, as Zoroaster maintained: evil is the absence of good


Fri Jul 16, 2004 8:32 pm
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Chuck,

I've had to think about my reaction to this question. I'm not surprised about what I saw in terms of the human condition, but I was saddened to learn that humans haven't learned a thing about evil from history. Maybe I’m being a little naive in thinking that Hollywood has helped to desensitize human compassion--in other words, the bloodier the better; most audiences laugh in the face of horror and danger. I guess that’s another reason I left journalism. Nothing about the human condition shocked me, it just saddened me.

As a Christian I know there is nothing new under the sun, but I still hope that more humans will learn from the mistakes recorded in history, and begin to consider their neighbor and show more compassion toward others.

My vote: negative reaction

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Charlanda Ollis


Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:24 pm
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Charlanda,

As a student of history, I can assure you that there is absolutely no Lamarkian construct in (or within) the human race as concerns its past

While we may, in theory, study history so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past; in reality, any study is, usually, merely a primer for repetition

Dan


Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:16 pm
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The videos showed us the choices that individuals made. The Mai Lai video showed us that when the commanders are not actively involved the action that problems will occur. It you look at Iraq today the military prison commanders said they didn't kow what was going on. Isn't it their job to know?

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Andy


Mon Aug 02, 2004 12:35 am
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I feel sorry for these soldiers who were involved in the Mai Lai massacre. I watched this thing and I dont believe they knew what was going on at the time. In the Vietnam war the average age was 19; 7 years less younger than the average in WWII. These boys were taking orders and wanted to live. Im not saying it was right by any means but it was total war. Militarys would target civialians with the hope the other side would give up.

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Jesse Tanner Beam


Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:40 am
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