Christopher Smith And Christopher Mccandless - 1295 Words

From the 1830’s to the 1860’s, a group of idealistic philosophers known as the American Transcendentalists spread their new and unique beliefs across the nation. Some well-known influential thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and many others introduced the philosophical social movement that established due to rationalist thoughts. These thinkers focused on being one with nature and the divine. After these ideas flourished in the mid-1800’s, individuals from the 20th and 21st century such as Christopher Smith and Christopher McCandless have also taken part of the Transcendentalist ideas. However, transcendentalist ideas seem to backfire than succeed in these modern day cases. Christopher Smith was just another a man living in Colorado when he decided one summer day to participate in what is known as the Tiny House Movement. The Tiny House movement is a modern day movement where people downsize the living space in which they reside. Christopher Smith decided to document his journey on film throughout his participation in this movement as he built his new â€Å"tiny† home from scratch to about the size of an average parking lot spot. He begins his documentary Tiny with a quote by Henry David Thoreau from the book Walden: â€Å"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.† With thisShow MoreRelatedHenry David Thoreau s On Living The Good Life1537 Words   |  7 PagesThoreau s other philosophical precepts. In April of 1992 a recent graduate of Emory University named Christopher McCandless, set into the Alaskan wilderness, far away from civilization, to practice an extreme example of economy. It can be said that within the fateful story of McCandless and the philosophy of Thoreau certain parallels can be highlighted. However, it is quite clear that McCandless took Thoreau’s social experiment to an extreme and lost sight of a practical application of his transcendentalistRead MoreThe Authors Biases in Into the Wild and In Cold Blood1062 Words   |  5 Pagessituation. In both Into the Wild and In Cold Blood, the authors form distinct opinions about their main characters and believe family structure heavily influenced their future. Truman Capote forms a close relationship with convicted murderer, Perry Smith, and allows his own personal perception of Perry to influence his story. Capote repeatedly puts emphasis on the fact that Perry comes from a troubled background and portrays him as a victim rather than a murderer. Perry confesses to a night he â€Å"remembersRead MoreLiterary Criticism : The Free Encyclopedia 7351 Words   |  30 PagesMann (1924). Pather Panchali, by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1929)[29] Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (1936) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1936) Native Son by Richard Wright (1940) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943) The Green Years by A. J. Cronin (1944) The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger (1951)[30] The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (for plot character Eustace Scrubb) by C. S. Lewis (1952) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) In the Castle of My Skin

Nietzsche Exposing the Christianity Hoax Essay - 1144 Words

Nietzsche: Exposing the Christianity Hoax For thousands of years the Bible has represented the foundation for one of the largest religions in existence, Christianity. â€Å"The Book† affects millions of people’s lives. The creation of morals makes the biggest impacts on individuals and society. Morals are hinted at throughout â€Å"The Book†, but are clearly stated in Matthew’s gospel. These morals are written in a series called the Beatitudes. Through morals, laws are created and society is given guidelines, most people see this in a positive manner. Friederich Nietzsche, a philosopher from the late 1800’s, views religion as a cult made for weak minded simpletons who need something to carry them through life. Nietzsche is often viewed as†¦show more content†¦Even if they were weak before gaining the earth would change them from a weak person to one with power. In the minds of most people the strongest and smartest always become leaders and through these leaders the world is run. T he meek and poor look at the powerful with jealous eyes, hating what they stand for but at the same time wanting to be them. They think that they would act differently if they were rich and powerful, which is not the case when thought about. If you give a poor man lots of money he is not going to act like a poor beggar. His â€Å"noble† instincts would take over and his guilt would fade away. This guilt was created by Christians to keep people from fully using their power. Why would God not want us to be powerful? The Christian fear of power is if someone gains power he will also gain the understanding of his power and use it on others. This is best said in a sermon by Rev. Charles Irvin who writes, â€Å" Life, for Nietzsche, is for the strong, the dominant, the ruthless; it is for those who understand power and its uses. Abundance, wealth and the ability to control and manipulate others come only to the fittest of our species. All the rest of us resort to religion, to Christ, along with all of the weaklings who need Him. For Nietzsche, self-justification is the only justification worth anything at all. The only fulfillment, which is at all fulfilling is

Billy Budd1 Essay Example For Students

Billy Budd1 Essay Herman Melvilles Billy Budd, Sailor is evidently an extremely divisive text when one considers the amount of dissension and disagreement it has generated critically. The criticism has essentially focused around what could be called the dichotomy of acceptance vs. resistance. On the one hand we can read the story as accepting the slaughter of Billy Budd as the necessary ends of justice. We can read Veres condemnation as a necessary military action performed in the name of preserving the political order on board the Bellipotent. On the other hand, we can read the story ironically as a Melvillian doctrine of resistance. Supporters on this pole of the debate argue that Billy Budds execution is the greatest example of injustice. They argue that the execution is a testament of denunciation, deploring the shallow political order of a paranoid military regime. I do not wish to argue either side of this debate. I have pointed it out to illustrate that Billy Budd, Sailor is a text about princi ples of right conduct, or at least this view is held by critics. Is Veres conduct right or wrong? This is the basic question at stake. In this sense it is a text about moral values and ethical conduct. However, considering that Billy Budd, Sailor is an ethical text, what I find most curious about it is the mysterious absence of the emotion guilt. Here we have a story about two murders. Billy obviously kills Claggart and Vere (Although it is indirect, ultimately the decision is his) kills Budd. Neither of these murderers shows the emotion of guilt in the form of remorse. For a narrative which tries so hard to situate the reader in an ethical and moral position of choosing interpretations, isnt it somewhat ironic that the characters themselves dont exhibit that which would seem to be the most ethical and moral of emotions following the taking of a persons life? Where is the guilt? This is the question I have sought and found a possible answer for in this paper. I have said that neither Billy Budd nor Captain Vere exhibit remorse following their acts of killing. Immediately following the fatal blow to Claggart we are shown no outlet of emotion stemming from Billy. Whatever emotion he may be experiencing is not accounted for by Melville. Indeed, he is silent and nothing is revealed of his physiognomy as Vere orders Billy to exit the scene: This order Billy in silence mechanically obeyed. This is not behavior one would typically expect from someone who just accidentally murdered someone. An ethical or moral reaction would seem to be one of surprise and inquiry such as, My god, What have I done! or something to that effect. Instead Billy is mechanical. When he reemerges for the trial, Billy says this to account for his actions: I did not mean to kill him. But he foully lied to my face and in presence of my captain, and I had to say something, and I could only say it with a blow, God help me! This statement illustrates Billys emotional reaction to his crime. Firstly, he shirks the full weight of his action by pointing to its accidental nature, which surely accounts for something, however in his own mind this is a complete reprieve. Billy is sorry that Claggart was killed, but he is sorry in the way a schoolboy is sorry. He states the utterance as a response without truly feeling apologetic. Indeed this statement is an appeal to save himself more than a eulogy to Claggart, however a feeling of remorse for murdering another human being is nowhere to be found. His concerns are not at all for the one he killed, but for himself as is indicated by God help me!After the hanging of Billy Budd, the narrative ceases to relate the events on board the Bellipotent. For this reason, we are never shown Veres emotional reaction to his decision to hang Billy. The only reaction we are presented with is immediately before the death, when Billy cries out God bless Captain Vere! At this moment Vere stood erectly rigid as a musket in the ship a rmorers rack Melville accounts for Veres emotion at this point by describing it as stoic self-control or a sort of momentary paralysis induced by emotional shock. Either Vere is completely indifferent or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure or pain at the penultimate moment, or he is overcome by the weight of the events and is physically frozen. In either case, no release of emotion is evident and Veres inner feelings regarding his action are conspicuously concealed from the reader. In each instance, moral and ethical dilemma is laid out for the readers to squirm under. Indeed, as Joseph Schiffman says regarding the execution, does not the reader gag? But what about the characters? Why are the readers coerced into a moral stance while the characters exhibit none? Earlier I asked the question what happens to guilt? To understand the relationship of guilt as it applies to these two characters, Captain Vere and Billy Budd, I will examine their relationship in the context of what Neitzsch e calls the contractual relationship between creditor and debtor in the second essay of On The Genealogy Of Morals entitled, Guilt, Bad Conscience, and the like. Captain Vere is the creditor and Billy Budd is the debtor. Patriotism EssayIt is the punishment that precludes the expression of guilt and remorse in Billy Budd, Sailor. To read the story as either accepting or resisting an ethical dilemma is perhaps a moot point. The ethical thrust of the story could possibly be to indict mans insatiable need to punish and requite injuries through erroneous means. As Nietzche seems to think, we may unhesitatingly assert that it was precisely through punishment that the development of the feeling of guilt was most powerfully hindered. If we conceive of the text of Billy Budd, Sailor as situating the reader for an alignment with this viewpoint, then perhaps the reader gags at the death of Billy Budd not for the seemingly unfair and unjust killing of a sympathetic character, but instead for its illustration of a social system inherently disjointed at its foundation; one which doesnt make sense considering human nature, but one which is so inextricably linked to society that it is doubtful that it could ever, or will ever, be changed. Bibliography:

The Vast Cyber-frontier Is Being Threatend With Censorship From The Go

The vast cyber-frontier is being threatend with censorship from the government Thesis: The vast cyber-frontier is being threatend with censorship from the government. Internet censorship should be left up to the individual not the governments discretion. I. Censoring the Internet. A. Clinton passes the C.D.A. B. Our rights as Americans. C. Exon's victory. D. What's really online. E. Strike to free expresson on Compuserve. II. Where the Internet stands now. A. Judges Panel. B. Congress and other's opinions. C. Background information. D. Other opinions. III. Solutions. A. Family's responsibility. B. Censorship Software. C. Civil Rights. * Conclusion. After threatening the Communications Decency Act with a vetos of the past versions, President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on February 8, 1996.1 Before hand, congress approved the largest change of the nation's communications laws in 62 years. One of the largest controversial topics included in the bill is the censorship of pornography, which now is a strenuously enforced crime of distributing knowingly to children under 18. The congress overwhelmingly passed the bill with a landslide 414-16 House vote and a 91-5 Senate vote.2 It seems now that the wide bill might not be what it cracked up to be, as it stands now, anyone who might upload James Joyce's Ulysses could be placed in jail for two years and have up to a $250,000 fine.3 Representatives of on-line services industries were concerned about the bill, and feared they could be held criminally responsible for Internet conversations.4 "We face a unique disturbing and urgent circumstance, because it is children who are the computer experts in our nations families," remarked a concerned Rep. Senator of India Dan Coats.5 Although in reality, censorship would do little to stop the pornography problems. The bill is a nation legislation trying to control a international network, which is virtually impossible. According to the First Amendment, Americans were granted to write anything they please, whether it's indecent or not, several series of judicial decisions also helped the freedom down the road.6 Nebraskan Democrat James Exon, put together an informational binder known as the Blue Book to show the Senate about the goings on within the Internet.7 Along the pages of the Blue Book were pictures of people bound and being burned by cigarettes, people pierced with swords and people involved in sexual activities with animals.8 The Senate, acknowledging their ignorance of the Internet, passed Exon's proposal after seeing the pictures in the Blue Book.9 Along with distribution of pornography, a person carries the chance of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine which is a good reason to restrict much of the flow.10 The Internet is extremely massive, filled with usenet newsgroups, web pages, IRC channels, ftp sites, gopher sites and much more. The Internet is the last and largest frontier of uncensored speech, anything from friendly chat to child porn to bestiality goes on. Pictures of anything that can be imagined are most likely available to the searcher. Some estimate that over 30 million people are on the Internet. On IRC(Internet-Relay-Chat) a live time conversation can be held along with trading files from illegal computer game trading called warez to illegal picture trading goes on. 'Cybersex' is also a occupance that happens more in live chat areas then others. MUDs or Multi-User-Dungeons, live chat like IRC was first started for Role Playing uses like online Dungeons and Dragons, now among the MUD servers there are sexual MUDs for people interested in SUsenet newsgroups account for 11.5% of total Internet traffic and is a major distribution of smut pictures.11 The WWW also known as the World Wide Web is today's largest portion of the Internet as well as the fastest growing with well over 12 million pages accessible. Despite its gargantuan proportions, it still remains fairly clean from hardcore smut comparative to its size. BBSs seem to be the major uproar of censorship, although BBSs are NOT part of the Internet, many of their pictures found in them later become available to users via someone uploading them.12 Electronic Bulletin-Board Systems(BBSs) require a user to dial that computer directly thought the phone lines resulting in long distance charges and often monthly access fees. In late December of 1995, a prosecutor in Munich struck a devastating blow to Compuserve and the larger picture of freedom of expression.13 This prosecutor was able to prevent the flow of information for 4 million people in 140 countries.14 By merely informing Compuserve that it was breaking Baravian law by giving German residents access to sexual newsgroups, Compuserve removed any newsgroup that had titles with "sex", "gay", or "erotic" which in turn denied access to not