The Martian Chronicles- ISU BLOG POST #6 (FINAL POST)

Social Issue

Throughout the book the social issue has been colonization and with the book coming to an end another issue has arose. For majority of the book the social issue has been colonization and now its also isolation. In the previous chapter a nuclear war has started on Earth which has the colonists of Mars going back to their home planet. It seemed as if everyone had left Mars but now we find out there is one person who is still on Mars because he was accidentally left behind. This man is named Walter Gripp and he manages to survive on his own but after he starts to feel lonely. However it turns out that there is someone else on Mars who is a woman, so a woman and a man are the last two people on Mars but it doesn't turn out to be the romantic ending you would expect. After seeing the woman the man is not at all attracted because he finds the woman to be very annoying and disgusting which leads to him going far away from her so he can never be found again. With only two humans left on Mars, the issue of isolation is loud and clear because they are living on a planet that at one point used to be populated with two different races of species.

Connection To A News Article

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-depression-cure/200907/social-isolation-modern-plague

This article is about social isolation and how it can affect a person's life in a negative way. This article also talks about the effects of social isolation like the higher risk of vulnerability to brain illness and depression. This article suggests that people should be more socially active by interacting with others so they can avoid loneliness. This connects to my book because a man on Mars was isolated and lonely until he found someone else. This has improved my understanding of isolation and being lonely because now I have learned that interacting with others and being social is very important when it comes to living a healthy life.

THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON MARS

The Martian Chronicles-ISU BLOG POST #5

Social Issue 
For majority of the book the social issue has been colonization and now another issue has arose. With the population of humans increasing on Mars there are still a lot of things happening on Earth. There is a rumor going around Mars that there might be an upcoming nuclear war on Earth and this rumor turns out to be true. As the nuclear war is happening, the people on Mars come out to see explosions that are happening on Earth and after seeing the condition of their home planet they feel sympathetic for the people on Earth. The next day, the remaining humans of Earth use radios to contact their loved ones on Mars to tell them to come back home. This nuclear war has people going back to Earth to spend time with the family they had left behind.


Connection
On Earth there have been multiple acts of nuclear violence. In the past, a lot of nuclear attacks have occurred in Japan like the atomic bombings on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This nuclear violence resulted in hundreds of thousands of people getting killed and injured. After the bombings WW2 came to an end. This incident relates to the nuclear war in my book because in both cases nuclear violence has led to a lot of change. This text to world connection shows how nuclear wars can result in an end, an end of a world war war or the end of the colonization of another planet.

This connection has made me realize that the characters in this book have handled and found solutions to many problems. The resolution of issues in my book has shown how people can make things better just by handling their problems in the right way and this has made me understand how no problem is ever to big to handle. When there was a nuclear war on Earth, the humans that were on Mars did the only thing they could do to make things better and that was to go back to Earth and help others out on their home planet.

The Martian Chronicles- ISU BLOG POST #4

Social Issue
The social issue of colonization in this book has intensified as more and more as people continue to come to Mars. This evident by by how senior citizens have come to Mars after retirement to start a new life. Also, humans have colonized Mars so much that they have started to rename places. This shows that with the increasing human population on Mars, the control that humans have over Mars has also increased. Colonization has become a real issue in this book because humans now have so much power on Mars that Martians have little say on what happens on their home planet.


Connection
Humans practically control Mars now because they so much power. They were once colonizers but now they are "controllers of the red planet." In the history of the world, there have been many times where people who were trying to colonize somehow managed to completely takeover a land. The British have been considered to be one of the best colonizers of all-time because in past centuries, the British have colonized and settled in various continents like Europe, North America, and Asia. The British Empire had set up multiple colonies in North America by the 1800's and after this they colonized parts of Africa and Asia. At this point in history, the British had so much control over the world that they were a dominant and powerful nation. What happened in the past relates very much to my book "The Martian Chronicles". What the British did and what the humans have done on Mars connect because they both started off colonizing small parts and then eventually created a dominant empire that controls an entire planet. In both cases, a group of people who just wanted to settle and start some colonies on an unknown place ended up becoming the dominant rulers of that land.

This connection has made me realize that a lot can change overtime. In the book, whatever happens in the future will be unexpected and who knows, maybe the Martians will once again be the controllers of their home planet. This connection has made me understand the anything can happen in this book because so far everything that seemed expected did not happen.

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas

Retell
This movie was about true and loyal friendship between the most unlikeliest of friends. In Nazi Germany the family of a Nazi commandant moves from Berlin to an unknown place that is located close to a concentration camp called Auschwitz. Bruno is a nine year old boy who seeks adventure but when his family forbids him to explore, he gets more tempted to go on adventures and explore his surroundings. Bruno goes against his parent's orders by exploring and this leads to him seeing a young boy sitting on the other side of a fence. The boy is named Shmuel and he is wearing striped pajamas and a cloth cap. The two boys start talking and Bruno questions Shmuel about his living conditions and why there are so many people on the others side of the fence that are wearing the same clothes. Bruno continues to explore the woods near his house and he often spends time at the fence with Shmuel. One day, Bruno puts on the stripped pajamas and goes on the other side of the fence to help Shmuel find his lost father. In the concentration camps the extermination of the Jewish prisoners begins, the boys find themselves in a gas chamber which ultimately leads to their death. 

Relate
The historic event that this movie was based on was the Holocaust. There have been a couple of moments in history when a person has taken their hatred to extreme levels. In the Holocaust, Hitler wanted to exterminate millions of Jews and he succeeded in doing so. This connects to other genocides that have occurred in the past like the one in Cambodia in 1975. This event was caused when Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government in 1975 and began a "re-education" campaign targeting political dissidents or people who didn't agree with him. These citizens consisted of doctors, teachers and students who were suspected of receiving education, the consequence of this was that they were tortured at a prison. In the four years that Khmer Rouge was in power for, two million Cambodians died. The Holocaust and the Cambodian genocide relate because in both cases a person has abused their power to get rid of people they didn't like. 

Reflect
From this movie we learn that we can overcome all of our differences to maintain a loyal friendship. This is evident by how a German sacfriced himself to help out his Jewish friend, their friendship was so real that they ended up dying for each other. When Bruno's parents discovered that their son had died they realized that inncoent people were being killed like their son. From this movie we should take in how friendship can overcome hatred which can lead to people realizing their mistakes.

The Sniper News Article

Streets of Dublin Turn Into a Battlefield

   Last night, three dead bodies were found on a street on a street in Dublin. Two of the people shot were men while the other was an elderly woman. It is said that this was another act of Ireland trying to get independence.

   The street was filled with blood, weapons, and dead bodies which has to be the result of an epic fight.

   With the Irish pushing for independence, the Republicans probably were trying to rebel against this, that’s probably what sparked this shootout on the street.

   People who heard the gunshots last night have said “It was brutal , we were all so scared, we thought that we were also going to get shot.” Other people who are pushing for independence have expressed their feelings by saying “If fighting is the only option for independence, then it must happen!”

   Many questions are being asked about the people who died last night like who, what, why, and how all this happened. All the people who were killed were shot and it appears as if it was one person who caused all this. All the bullets that were fired came from one direction and from the same gun, it is being said that this person was a Republican.

   The streets of Dublin have turned into a battlefield and they’re no longer considered safe due to the events and deaths that occurred last night. 

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES- blog post #3

Social Issue

After reading more of this book, another social issue has arose. The first one was colonization which was evident by humans taking over Mars and starting to develop small towns there. This new social issue is racism because many African Americans are going to Mars to escape the racism they are facing on Earth. This displeases the white people because they are no longer going to have anybody to boss around. The African Americans build their own rockets so they can now emigrate to Mars. 

Connection to a News Article

  http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/28/entertainment/la-et-stephen-colbert-accused-of-racism-over-asian-tweet-20140328

This article's main message is that many people get discriminated against based on their race and ethnic origin and that they have taken action to stop it. This connects to my book because the black people in America were getting discriminated against and facing racism which led them to take action, they did this by emigrated to Mars. In the article it is Asians that are facing racism on social media and they are taking action by having the original messages deleted. In both cases, a group of people have faced racism which has caused them to take action.

 

This picture depicts how it would look as if a rocket was actually landing on Mars.

Slam Poetry

Colonization
Why do they think they can just takeover our land?
That's not fair
But why would they care

These people just want land
They don't care about us
But they ain't going to get away with this
They ruined our space
And now they are going to get chased

Author's message in The Sniper

I think Liam O’Flaherty’s message in this story is quite clear and very important. His message is that that conflicts can make us do actions that we won’t regularly do and will end up regretting after.  This is evident when the sniper had to kill three people because that was the only was he could survive. Also, after he killed the people on the street he felt bad but he overcame that guilt by realizing that killing them was the only option to survive. After, when he saw that the man he killed was his brother the story ended but afterwards the sniper was probably regretting his decisions. But what could he do, it was the only option. This shows what actions that we will have to make in a conflict and what the consequences or outcomes of our actions maybe.

The Sniper Summary

The short story "The Sniper" is filled with thrill and a lot of unexpected events. It starts off with a sniper on a rooftop where he was just minding his own business until  two bullets from the opposite side of the street almost hit him. He looks on the opposite side of the street and he sees another man with the intentions of shooting at him. Soon after an armored car pulls up on the street below him where an old woman tells the enemy where the sniper is located. To defend himself the sniper shot the man who was driving the car and the old woman. But the other enemy on the opposite rooftop was still alive and he continued to shoot and eventually the sniper was shot. He healed his wound on his forearm by putting iodine on it and then wrapping it up. Now the sniper’s main objective was to only kill the enemy and he had come up with a plan to do so. He was going to make it appear as if he was dead and when the enemy was satisfied that he killed the sniper, the sniper would fire back at the enemy. The sniper was successful in executing his plan and the enemy was now dead as he fell off the rooftop. The sniper was quite impressed to see how good his enemy was at shooting and was curious who this person could be. As a result the sniper went down to the street to see his enemy’s face who turned out to be his brother. The author’s purpose in writing this story would be that you will have to do anything if you want to survive in a war or conflict.

ISHAMAEL BEAH VIDEO ANALYSIS

Connections

There are many similarities and differences between the Ishmael Beah video and the article “Teaching Kids to Kill.” First of all, the main similarity is violence and how children are being forced or being “brainwashed” to do these terrible acts. Ishmael Beah was forced to kill but others are being influenced to do this and the reason behind this is media violence.  Children try to understand and mimic what is on television and this leads to them being unable to discern the difference between fantasy and reality. This is where they get the knowledge and skill to do violent acts like killing. To stop this we should start regulating what the violence industry is selling to kids, controlling the sale of visual violent imagery to children. Just like Ishmael Beah children are being led into the violent direction. The thing that differentiates the children from the article from Ishmael is that he didn’t have an option, was forced to kill and become a child soldier while other children were being influence by the media to do violent actions. Children’s being violent is not acceptable and it needs to stop.  

                                                                                           

Challenges

Ishmael Beah’s story was truly captivating but how can a person go from being a normal twelve year old boy to being a child soldier so quickly? He mentioned how he was forced to kill and how he was drugged and traumatized to lose himself so he can kill, but how does all this happen so fast? He also said that it was easy for him to kill people and killing became his life and when he went to rehab he regained his humanity, how does all this happen so quickly? At first it may have been a little difficult to stop killing him but after a while he probably just returned to being his normal self.

Concepts

From Ishmael Beah’s story we must learn about why having child soldiers is wrong and how we should prevent this from happening again. Violence and witnessing murders can ruin a child’s life and they can probably never be the same again. After all that violence it is very difficult for a child to regain his humanity so we should stop the use of child soldiers. UNICEF and other organizations are rescuing child soldiers and we should support them because what they’re doing is very important. 

Changes

After watching this video my knowledge about child soldiers has increased because now I understand what really happens to these innocent children. After listening to an actual child soldier’s experience my thinking and attitude towards child soldiers has changed drastically. With a greater understanding on this topic I realize that we should prevent and stop innocent kids from being brainwashed to become child soldiers.

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES- blog entry #2

Social Issue

It seemed as if the entire martian race was wiped out due to chicken pox that was given to them by one of the astronauts on the previous expedition but there are still some martians that are still alive, which means that humans are not the only ones on Mars. The social issue is still the same and still remains to be colonization because humans continue to come to Mars as settlers. The is evident because at first there were only a few humans on Mars but now the human population on the this planet continues to grow because humans need more space. Another social issue arises of careless humans destruction when humans start to set up dozens of towns all across Mars. They make the towns look like the ones on Earth because they want to feel at home. The carelessness of humans is evident when they destroy the naturalness of Mars for their own well-being and comfort when they set up Earth like towns on Mars.

Connection To A News Article

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/treesofstrength/benefits.htm

This article is relevant and connects to my novel because of one main reason. This reason is that when humans first came to Mars they had lots of difficulty breathing so one settler named Benjamin tried to solve that problem. This led to him planting oxygen producing trees everywhere  but he didn't know if they'll grow. Then one morning, after it finally rained he sees that the once-barren landscape is now covered with green trees. The article and my connection relate because they both show the importance and benefits of trees and also show how trees make living so much more easier. Living on Mars was at first difficult but with these trees now planted life on this planet became so much more convenient for the humans.

Picture

This picture depicts and shows how humans are taking over Mars and making it their planet.

Poem

http://sciencepoems.net/sciencepoems/mars.aspx#.VRTZ4eHsfNk

Martians are coming,
Martians are here,
They're from the 4th planet,
Oh-my and oh-dear!
Their planet looks red,
From iron oxide,
What should we do?
Run, fight, or hide?
Their planet's named Mars,
Half of Earth’s size,
But those Martians look giant,
Have lasers for eyes!

Martians are here,
A fact we can’t hide,
They came in a spaceship,
A long, long, long ride!
But news is now out,
From Fiji to France,
Martians are friendly,
They came here to dance!

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES- blog entry #1

 Social Issue

 After reading about half of the book, there seems to be one main social issue that keeps on repeating itself. This social issue is colonization and it is evident by how humans keep coming to Mars to explore and trying to start a colony so they can settle down there. So far in the book there have been four expeditions to Mars three of those were unsuccessful and the fourth is still in progress. When the first rocket landed on Mars the astronauts were killed by the Martians and the same thing happened on the second expedition. The reason behind the Martians killing the astronauts is because they were shocked and a little sacred that another race of species exists. Also, they wanted no one Mars but themselves because they didn't want anyone starting a colony on their planet. Four years later another rocket landed on Mars, this time one of astronauts named Jeff Spender is fascinated by the civilization that the Martians have created, at one point he kills some of the crew members because he now doesn't want humans to settle on Mars because he wants to protect it from them. Spender believed that humans ruin everything, an example would be Earth, and he did not want the same thing to happen to Mars.

All this shows why humans keep on trying to start a colony on Mars which is probably because they are probably trying to get away from a conflict or issue that is happening on Earth. I predict that more and more people will continue to come to Mars to get away from Earth.

Nobody on these expeditions wants to destroy Mars or ruin the Martian civilization while the Martians don't want anybody else on Mars but them. So far in the book humans have only started to explore Mars but they haven't started a colony but they soon will because that is why they are exploring Mars in the first place.

Connection to a News Article

http://www.slmc.uottawa.ca/?q=european_colonization

This article shows another example of colonization that happened with the Europeans and First Nations in Canada. With the Aboriginals already settled in what is now Canada, the British and French came explored and just took over. They had so much control and power that they started to settle there and start colonies there. This led to the creation of a lot of problems between the Europeans and First Nations. This connects to my novel because this time it was the humans who were exploring Mars and it may be them who take over the land of the Martians. In this connection the Martians are in the same situation as the First Nations were in because their land will probably be taken over and colonized by other people.

These pictures show how humans are planning to colonize Mars and change everything about the Martian civilization.  

Poem

Mars Mystery by Kayleigh 

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/kids/poetry.html

Why? Why does Mars stand out from the crowd. Why does his color say
aloud. "I am different, I am strange, but don't worry about keeping your
range. Although I have no air with me to share, I can't help it that
it's just plain not there. My face screams aloud I'm red with fury, stay
away. But truely I say come to play. Me and my moons have so much of
fun, it would be more better to play with everyone. So learn about me
with sertany, not mystery, please know I want you to be with me." Mars
is a place where somewhere you'll find the beauty of it's features shown
to mankind.

Europe's Muslims struggle for normalcy after Paris attacks

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/150129/europes-muslims-struggle-normalcy-after-paris-attacks

Summary
Between February 7-9 2015, terrorist attacks took place in Paris where extremists killed seventeen people. The article basically describes the effects of those attacks which led to Muslims not being treated the same anymore in Europe despite the fact that there are over 200 million of them there. Others are afraid of Muslims now because of their terrorist attacks in the past decade or so, like 9/11 and now this. 

Community leaders are trying to get rid of the fear that others have for Muslims. Also, thousands of Muslims  now want to fight with the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. Muslims have done so much for Europe in the past century and this is how they are being treated now. The French Prime Minister has called for an "apartheid" which will separate Muslims from the rest of the population in French cities. Others are just saying that unity is the only answer to stop terrorism and that idea has gotten many supporters. Now many politicians are making sure that youngsters in deprived areas with little education and no job prospects don't become extremists and get brainwashed online. Some Europeans even went to Syria and Iraq to fight for IS and this just shows what people are doing to stop extremists. Now, Muslims are just trying to defend their faith and their status as members of European communities. 

Connection
Muslims have been in this situation before where they are being feared based on someone's terrorist attacks. The connection that can be made to this article is text to world because of the similarities between these Paris attacks and 9/11. As 9/11 was for the U.S, the attacks in Paris were al Qaeda's and the Islamic State group’s first declaration of war against Europe. In both attacks, Muslims were the ones who were blamed and afterwards dealt with a lot of discrimination. Also, they had to defend their culture and religion because all the blame was put on them.  Should an entire culture, religion, and an entire group of people be judged and be discriminated against just based on the actions of a few? The answer is that racist and anti-Islam groups take the opportunity to smear Islam and to increase racism. The results and aftermath of 9/11 were really bad for Muslims and we cannot let that repeat. Everyone must put up a fight against terror because this conflict between Europeans and Muslims may lead to a war.