Sleep

I start school at 9:00AM Monday through Thursday. I get off of work at 12:00AM every night, usually falling asleep around 2 or 3AM. Needless to say, I'm tired. I woke up this morning at approximately 8:25AM to the sound of my brother opening my door. I sat bolt upright when this happened, spitting out the first word that came to mind after reading my clock: "shit". -I usually aim to get up earlier than this - I rolled out of bed, changed clothes as quickly as I could, jumped in the car, and went to class. Class was, as usual, long and mostly boring. The lack of sleep did not help. When both of my classes had finished I met my girlfriend and friend and had lunch. While talking to them about the day I realized something, I could not remember half of what I had learned in the day. I attribute this to the lack of sleep. I am not always so tired, however, so I can safely say that today was the exception. What I have learned, though, is how important sleep can be before class. In fact, the only reason I am writing what I am at the moment is the fact that I'm too tired to figure out what else to write about. In all honesty, I simply want to finish this. I suppose I should apologize for the randomness and lack of enthusiasm in this writing, but I won't, since it probably makes no difference. Sleep is good.

Vocab.
1) Juxtaposition: noun 1) An act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. 2) The state of being close together or side by side.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/juxtaposition

2) Bourgeoisie: noun 1) The bourgeoisie class 2) (In Marxist theory) The class that, in contrast to the proletariat or wage-earning class, is primarily concerned with property values.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bourgeoisie

Video Games

Today, I have decided to talk about video game violence and the debate that still goes on today concerning this topic. I need to mention first, however, that I have not done any real "research" on the topic, I am simply basing my ideas on what I have heard and read throughout the years. The argument which I thoroughly disagree with goes something like this: Violent video games have a tendency to promote violent acts. Children who play these games therefore become more violent. They become more aggressive as well as hostile and care less about those whom they affect or hurt in their actions. The conclusion that several individuals draw from this is that violent video games should not be made. They believe that companies who develop and manufacture these games should stop what they are doing and essentially be punished for creating the games they do. My main argument is with the latter of these statements. Whether it can be definitively proven or not that violent video games create violent children does not concern me, what concerns me is the conclusion that is drawn from such research. Those who protest violent video games and the creators of such games are targeting the wrong people. Whose responsibility is it to monitor what children are doing, watching or playing? Their parents. We live in an age in which children are spending more time in front of the TV than with their parents. There should be no problem with violent video games, as long as they are being played by the adults for whom they were meant for. Parents need to take responsibility for what their children are getting their hands on. Whether or not violent video games influences children makes no difference, the fact is that children should not be getting their hands on them to begin with. That is the responsibility of their parents, not the creators of violent games.

Vocabulary:
1: Aggrandizement: n 1: The act of aggrandizing, or the state of being aggrandized or exalted in power, rank, honor or wealth; exaltation; enlargement; as, the emperor seeks only the aggrandizement of his own family
http://www.answers.com/topic/aggrandizement

2: Preponderant: adj 1: Having superior weight, force or influence 2: Having greater prevalence
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preponderant

Lunch

Every Monday and Wednesday I usually have lunch with my brother and girlfriend. During these lunches we typically discuss what we did in class that day. Today, my brother, Ben, decided to bring up an issue that was discussed during his philosophy class, courage. I've decided to discuss it here since it was somewhat interesting to hear what his class had had to say about courage (and because I cannot think of much else to discuss). Someone in Ben's class had come to the conclusion that courage exists in the absence of fear, or that the "fearless" are extremely "courageous". Ben went on to say that the rest of the class generally agreed with this statement, something that my brother, my girlfriend and I could not do. In fact, the point this student made, the point that most of the class agreed on, makes absolutely no sense! Courage could not possibly exist without fear! If someone has absolutely no fear (something which is virtually impossible) then their actions could not possibly be courageous. If a man ran into a burning building in order to save a child, knowing that his life is in danger, he is being courageous. But if this same man has no concept of fear, and therefore does not realize or understand that his life is in danger, or if he simply does not care whether or not he dies, he is NOT being courageous. Why? Because being courageous is committing an act while overcoming the fear and danger it involves, not blindly doing something without any idea of what fear or consequence is. The students in his class also decided that an excess in courage equals overconfidence. I have to disagree with this as well. Courage and confidence are, simply put, not the same thing. A man may have the confidence to ask someone on a date, but that does not necessarily involve courage. Confidence would involve the idea of believing that one is "worthy" of a positive response from the other, while courage relates more to the ability to accept rejection. Of course, it depends on the situation and the individual, and at times there is a fine line between courage and confidence, but they are not the same thing. There is, of course, more to the discussion that took place in my brother's class, I just found it interesting how these individuals came about these conclusions about the idea of courage, and how easily they agreed with someone that clearly had no idea what they were talking about. This, however, is not an uncommon occurrence, but I'll leave it at that.

Vocabulary:
Thetic a : 1: Set forth dogmatically; prescribed 2: In Greek of Latin poetry, pertaining to or constituting the thesis; also, beginning with a thesis
Umbrage n : 1: Shade; shadow 2: That which affords shade; especially foliage 3: Offense; resentment and displeasure 4: A semblance or shadowy appearance

How important is education?

In my last blog I mentioned that I have been enrolled at SJSU for around 6 years but that I do not regret it, the time spent in college I mean. Though I have spent much of my time taking several classes, not focusing on one major area, I feel that it has benefited me overall. What could possibly be wrong with learning as much as one can in several different areas of study? Herein lies a major problem I have with our education system in America and how college is looked upon, especially in California. As most of us would agree, education is among, if not the most important part of any society. It is the driving force behind the way any society runs. It leads to increased productivity, decreased crime levels, and techological advancements as well as advancements in all other fields. But in the United States education is seen as something required for a good paycheck. Although not everyone sees it this way, education, and especially college, is seen as simply a means to more money. While we are taught at an early age that getting a college education is important, we are taught the wrong reasons for this. The emphasis is placed on the amount of money one will earn with a degree, not on the knowledge one will hopefully attain. The idea of getting out of college with a degree as quickly as possible is presented as the only way to do it, to be successful. In California things are even worse. Students are being forced to graduate as quickly as possible, and denied the opportunity to take classes outside their field of study (my brother is a good example of this, but I won't get into that right now). At the same time, any attempts to raise taxes to increase money spent on education are voted down by a population that is both naive and uninformed. So how important is education? The answer would seem obvious, but apparently it isn't.

Vocabulary Words:

Sacrosanct: 1. Extremely sacred or inviolable 2. Not to be entered or trespassed upon 3. Above or beyond criticism, change or interference (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sacrosanct)

Inviolable: 1. Prohibiting violation; secure from destruction, violence, infringement or desecration 2. Incapable of being violated; incorruptible; unassailable (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inviolable)