Violence

I did not know what to post, then I suddenly thought of this topic - Violence. Violence is seen in Mississippi Burning, when the blacks were terrorised by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). It made the movie very real and also earned the movie a rating of R. I wanted to post this in Term 1, but it was incomplete. Thus, I left it for Term 2.

Some Definitions:
Violence (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/violence)
1. swift and intense force: the violence of a storm.
2. rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment: to die by violence.
3. an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power, as against rights or laws: to take over a government by violence.
4. a violent act or proceeding.
5. rough or immoderate vehemence, as of feeling or language: the violence of his hatred.
6. damage through distortion or unwarranted alteration: to do editorial violence to a text.

Number 3 seems to be the best definition for the violence in the movie Mississippi Burning. In my opinion, violence is used only because people are unable to voice their opinions in words, and resort to violence. Thus, I do not appreciate violence as it makes people not think critically and they would lose the ability to voice their views peacefully after too long. This is not beneficial to a nation's progress. Therefore, I am AGAINST VIOLENCE, and prefer PEACE AND HARMONY. Only with peace, a nation can prosper. In nations in chaos because of violence, there is little or none political stability and thus, no progress as a nation.

Violence is a very broad topic. Lynching is only one small part of violence. Maid abuse and animal abuse is also a part of violence. I decided to talk about this as I suddenly thought of it. In my opinion, maids, or more correctly known as domestic helpers, are also humans and thus, deserves our respect. We should not despise them just because they are less well-off than us, and think that they are our slaves, which causes many maid abuse cases. If we can do CIP and help up those in need, or donate so much money to charitable organisations, why do people still treat domestic helpers like that? Also, animal abuse is also another serious problem. Animals are too living things. Imagine a giant beating you up everyday and not feeding you. What are your emotions now? That is the feeling those animals abused feel. Therefore, we should treat domestic helpers and pets with respect and care, and not treat them violently.

Violence can also be seen in the form of language, as seen in definition number 5. When I think of violent language, the first thing that comes to my mind is the use of vulgarities. In my opinion, vulgarities are only used by people who cannot express their anger and emotions through proper words and resort to vulgarities to vent their fury. Vulgarities come in different varieties and languages. If you can use suitable words to express yourself, vulgarities are not even needed. Also, people would tend to think that people who speak vulgarities are uncivilised and unsophisticated.

Task 2 - Diary

A day in the life of World War II.

Our nation has just surrendered yesterday. I felt lost. The country was in a mess of debris lying everywhere. My Jewish friend, Adam, his mother Aliza, my mother and I were found a dilapidated house to stay in. For now, we were safe, but in wars, everything was unpredictable. Who would have known France would surrender to Germany?

As we crawled around scavenging for food, German soldiers suddenly appeared. In a rough and crude voice, one of them said, “What are you doing here?”

Aliza immediately replied that we were just civilians and we were looking for food to alleviate the intense hunger we were feeling then. The German soldiers then asked for our race. Being young and innocent, Adam blurted out that he was a Jew. Aliza immediately covered his mouth, and quickly tried to convince the soldiers that Adam was just spouting nonsense.

The brutal creatures had a sudden change of facial expression when they heard this news, and grabbed Aliza by her hair, again asking her of her race. She had no choice but to say out the truth. Because of a little mistake Adam made, Adam was stabbed to death, while Aliza was lead to somewhere else. My mother was too dragged away. I was left there alone. All alone. For the second time since yesterday, I felt lost.

One of the cruel beasts instructed, “Scram, you little boy!” After he said that, the rest started sniggering at his bad sense of humour. I felt insulted. And lost. But then, I could do nothing, but to tell you all about this.

Diary, I just hope the war ends soon. I cannot stand this anymore. I am all alone now. Even my mother is not with me now. What should I do now?

Descriptive Paragraph

The place was in ruins. Debris lied everywhere. It was a disgusting scene to observe. An injured soldier was lying on the floor, groaning in pain and agony. I could smell the stench of blood in the air, and the air tasted bland. There were no emotions at all in the area. There were just blood and dead bodies lying around. As I stood by my fellow soldier who was in extreme agony, I felt a solemn cloud hanging in the air. I knew I had to fight for my country, even if I had to die. I had no choice.

Please give me comments to improve this paragraph. Thanks. :)

Essay on Blogs

How far do you agree that weblogs are more beneficial than harmful to individuals and society?

A weblog, or more commonly known as a blog, is a public online document where people can voice their opinions, thoughts and feelings with posts. They are often written in first person and in informal tone and language. However, business blogs are also becoming trendy lately. I agree with the statement that weblogs are more beneficial than harmful to individuals and society, which can also be seen in the business sector.

In business, weblogs can increase brand awareness, since it is made easier to develop and promote the brand with blogs. Also, even if you are not in business, blogs promote greater individuality as you can choose your own design and content in your blog. Back to business, blogs too give your company a professional appearance. Since you can choose your own domain name for your blog, you would have a shorter URL. For example, http://brandnewshoes.blogspot.com is definitely sound much better than a long URL like http://websites.com/brand%20new%20shoes. This makes people want to buy your products or services advertised on the blogs, and this is beneficial to individuals.

The long and short URLs bring me to my next point. The length of the URL does affect the amount of traffic to one weblog. With an easier domain name, people are more likely to remember it, and thus more people would visit the site. More people visiting the weblog with higher frequency is beneficial for the company as their products would be viewed more often, therefore increasing sales. Not only do shorter domain names increase viewership, but the weblogs also have updated and focused content. This causes the blogs to be able to be found in popular search engines like Google and Yahoo. This too is advantageous to the individuals in a company. Moreover, it is favourable for the society as well since they can find information much faster since the blogs would tend to be top searches in search engines, and the content in the blogs are concise.

In addition, weblogs enhances communication within and outside of the company which owns the blog. Internally, information can be released easily, be it about managing projects or developing teams. Externally, communications with customers and business partners are made easier through blogs. This makes communication better and people can also respond quickly to messages online. Seeing from this perspective, it is beneficial to individuals and also the society, since there is more efficiency and higher productivity with weblogs.

Although there are disadvantages which come with weblogs, they are generally desirable. People who insult others online may result in conflicts, sometimes racial and religious in nature. This is bad for the society, but even without weblogs, people can still find ways to post insulting comments. Therefore, weblogs are more beneficial than harmful.

In conclusion, weblogs are more beneficial than harmful to individuals and society, as seen even in the business sector. Weblogs are very useful in our lives, and we should never do away with it. I believe it would continue to live on, and continue to give convenience to our lives.

(507 words)