Veidt/Castaway

In the graphic novel Watchman there are two war mentioned: Vietnam War and the Cold War. The Vietnam War was a conflict involving the US, approximately from 1965 to 1975 and the Cold War a state of political tension and military rivalry between United States and Soviet Union following World War II.[1]

       In the book a horrific alien invasion planned by Adrian Veidt, the smartest man in the world, whom comes in to conflict with his former team of masked heroes who would and do plan to stop him.[2]

      However, he will do anything to achieve his goal of world peace, which includes the killing of half of New York City.    

The pirate comic, a story of despair as a self-fulfilling prophecy, is one of the most obvious examples of linkage. It does affect readers' understanding of Veidt's plan and the role of hope in the book.[3] 

The Castaway assumes that the black freighter’s crew has devastated his hometown, and so he himself causes the carnage he feared. Veidt assumes that without his intervention, the world will end, and so he himself causes the book’s greatest destruction.

I think that part of the point of the pirate comic is to suggest that Veidt is wrong, that his deadly plan was not the only way to prevent World War Three.

There may be other various ways to prevent the war by not killing, if you know Veidt’s plan would you stop him or support him?

[1] "BBC - History: Cold War." BBC - Homepage. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/ (accessed April 1, 2013).

[2] Collura, Scott. "Cast of Characters: Watchmen - IGN." Video Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, Reviews, News & Videos - IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/01/cast-of-characters-watchmen?page=9 (accessed April 1, 2013).

[3] Shores, zantium's. "The Fredösphere      ." The Fredösphere      . http://www.fredosphere.com/2008/10/watch-it.html (accessed April 1, 2013).

Dr. Manhattan and the power of nuclear weapons

In the graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons utilize the graphic novel form to highlight the shock of same characters for example, showing how Laurie Juspeczyk deals with the rape of her mother by the hand of the Comedian and how the murder of a young girl transforms Walter Kovacs into Rorschach.

However, one character's story connects the personal trauma with one of the novel's main themes and one of the major global issues discussed today, the fear of nuclear devastation. That character is John Osterman, the man who becomes Dr. Manhattan.

After his father realizes the power of the Atomic Bomb and after hearing of its effects on Hiroshima, a watchmaker, force his son to enter a career as an atomic physicist.

 In an unexpected accident at work, Jon is vaporized in an experimental intrinsic field chamber. However, Jon does not die in the experiment; he slowly reassembles himself, using his new ability to "control atomic structure" (Moore 4: 13). Reformed into a human-like (God figure) being with blue skin and blank white eyes, Jon tries to return to a normal life.

Nevertheless, because of his appearance, his super-human powers, and the lasting emotional consequences of his accident, he cannot. His powers make him crucial to America's defense strategy and the government even renames him Dr. Manhattan.

Although the fear of nuclear weapons and the devastation they can make, is an important global issue still present today, because of the many unstable nations like North Korea and some Islamic countries that are in possession of nuclear weapons.

That fear in the decade in which the novel was published was present in the everyday life. The fear of a possible atomic war between America and Russia was the central focus of the cold war, and is even the main reason of the plan architectured by Ozymandies to re-establish the peace and a worldwide cooperation.  

As we all know the power of nuclear weapons and the destruction they can provoke is a major global issue still discussed today.  

  

War and Watchmen

War and Watchmen

War is an organized and often prolonged conflict that is carried out by states and/or non-state actors. It is characterised by extreme violence, social disruption, human suffering, and economic destruction. Still today this evil phenomena takes place. Yes, I say evil: caresty, death, economic crisis, demolition, anger, loneliness, suffering...all characteristics or adjectives for war. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities, and therefore is defined as a form of political violence or intervention.

This theme of war is one of the major ones present in the comic book "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Without making references over their plans on the Cold War, the book explains the story of a group of superheroes. Everyday, one of this superheroes gets involved into a war against the world: crimes, fights, murders etc. Even though its uselessness in real life, this theme gives to "Watchmen" an intriguing and interesting story, full of emotions...but it still classifies it as a bad behavior which means its teachings are educate. 

A way through which the two authors describe war as a wrong thing is seen in the last chapters. The aim of Ozymandies, even though his results were not all positive, was to prevent the possible Cold War.

Sources: 

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War 

"The nukes are gonna be flyin' like maybugs..." The Comedian

The Cold War, a global issue of the past and a main issue in the comic book “Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

            First of all, what was the cold war? he Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred  such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall and many others.

For many the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue.

Weapons of mass Destruction, the main problem, the main issue that persists through time. Still today weapons of mass destruction are available to the most unpredictable governments.

In the novel “Watchmen” the main issue was nuclear war. The U. S. and Russian tension was at its highest rank. In the novel it showed with incredible detail what people thought, heard in the news papers and tv news. The Cold War propaganda which caused fear and concern.

One of the novels characters Adrian Veidt, the worlds most intelligent man, and also known as Ozymandias, came up with a plan to stop this imminent war crisis. Although his plan cost the life of many, it was not a totally wrong idea. The reader felt that Adrian was the antagonist of the story, but definitely not considered an “evil” antagonist. He came up with an alien invasion which would have reunited the worlds most powerful nations of that time to fight this greater evil.

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Personally I wouldn’t have stopped Veidt if I were living in that time period because the only thing I knew was that the nuclear war was imminent.

Once again Nuclear weaponing and mass destruction weapons are one of the world most global issue. After its invention it has been the most discussed and most delicate topic, which concerns us all.

Source:

 http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com

www.historylearningsite.co.uk

www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/watchmen

Sport Corruption!

Most of the world enjoys practicing and watching sports, for this reason I would like to give a brief introduction to the increasing problem of corruption.

Since sports involve many money, there is corruption. But today this problem is evolving as it is the second most corrupted sector in the world. Soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis, football, baseball...any sports involve some corruption.
Some of the various way to be unfair are:

• pay players and referies to to fix games

• kickbacks for player's transfer demanded by club owners

• betting crimes

• use of doping drugs

Some researches have said that only by gambling and illegal betting people have reached hundreds of millions of euros. It is now a serious fact because the reputations of sports professionals and associations are becoming worst, plus it is become a worldwide threat involving money used for illegal things.
Some solutions to stop or decrease sport corruption are: 

• openness in policies and decisions

• government help for sports association

• big amount of money to pay if cought

• control bids 

With the strength of our love for sports and the government's help it will be possible to end corruption in sports. 

Resources:
1)http://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/sport
2)http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/corruption-in-the-uk/sport
3)http://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Corruption/Integrity-in-Sport

Alarm: Facebook's dependence


What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social network created by Marck Zuckenberg in 2004. It has initially been concieved as a progress netowrk that could enablee people to communicate with others with who was difficult to keep in touch with.

Unfortunately, with time passing a huge problem has been seen and analyzed: its dipendence.

Frequent studies have explained that this social Network can be defined as a "drug". More than 60 million people have a Facebook account, and an estimated 85% of the users are prooved to be addicted.

Scientists say that the maximum daily access should be around 30 minutes. Addicts, instead, spend around 2-3 hours a day.

It is said that young woman between the age of 12 and 19 are the users that spend the most time on Facebook, by posting photos, adding comments and searching for news to say between friends.

Spending much time over the computer in addition, creates psychological disorders and a greater chance to have stomach aches, sleeping problems, anxiety or even depression.

The only way to stop this addiction is to limit the internet connection or if strong enough cancel your account.

How much time do you spend online? Try and time yourself to understand whether you are an addict and get some preventions.



Sources:
1)http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/04/05/the-true-costs-of-facebook-addiction-low-self-esteem-and-poor-body-image/
2)http://news.oneindia.in/2011/08/09/tech-negative-positive-effects-of-facebook-part-1.html

ALCOHOL ABUSE BETWEEN TEENAGERS



Another developing negative habit between teenagers is drinking alcohol.

Alcohol is not always a negative thing, but everything depends on how it is used. It can be pleasurable to drink a beer with friends during vacations or to drink a glass of wine for dinner once in a while. But things start to become a bit exaggerated when it becomes a daily habit and the quantity drank is way more than expected.

Teenagers represent the largest part of drinking people as they describe it "cool" to be drunk. In all the world, alcohol is considered a public health problem. This because of various surveys and results reported.

It is proven that the average age at which teens start drinking daily is at 15. In addition, millions of youngs are completely addicted to alcohol and are not able to stop. This brought today an estimation of 30,000 medical treatments for students after the overdose of alcohol.

Some of the many effects alcohol has over the human body are:
liver disease
memory loss
damage to the brain
nerve paralysis
difficulty in muscle coordination

Just as if this was not enough, when drunk, teenagers tend to have unprotected sex. This is the main reason that cause teenagers to become parents. In conclusion, between the age of 15-21 the 3 principle causes of death are: automobile crashes, suicide and homicide. All three of them are factors of alcohol.

Sources:
1) http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-1/79-86.htm
2)http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-teens-and-alcohol

Cyberbulling...Let's stop this!


There has always been a stronger person who had fun playing with other people feelings. With the evolution of internet and networks such as Facebook or Twitter, this nasty phenomena named bullyism has diffused more and more until it became known as cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, tease or target another person. Usually speaking, cyberbullying refers to childrens or teenagers between the age of 8 and 17 years old. If the person is over 18, it is illegal and the consequences can be drastic. 

The effects of cyberbullyism may bring the victim to: violence, juvenile delinquency, depression, mental disorders or even suicide instincts. It is not obvious whether or not a child is cyberbullied, but some aspects that could help understand it are: change in behavior, stop eating, terror of people, isolation and scholastic grades decrease.

Just as the Social Network listed above grew in size and popularity, this sort of bullyism became more stronger. As a matter of fact, scientists proved that 1 teen out of 3 and 1 preteen out of 6 are victims of this dangerous phenomena.

Some preventions can be taken which psychologists encourage to adopt. First of all block the bully, then limit access to technology, do not give personal facts online, ask for help to parents or to the school or try to avoid any situation/conversation that may involve insults. 

Sources: 

1)http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/take_action/take_a_stand_against_cyberbullying.html

2)http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/cyberbullying.html#

Respect to each individuals!

 In the 21^st century racial discrimination, a serious social problem still exists in America and all around the World. It occurs when a person is treated unfairly because of race, color, and nationality, ethnic or national origin. It is a deep social problem in US because there is a lot of minor ethnic groups are living in the American society.

Race discrimination covers four areas:

l   Direct discrimination: treating someone less favorably because of their actual or perceived race, or because of the race of someone with whom they associate

l   Indirect discrimination: can occur where there is a policy, practice or procedure, which applies to all workers, but particularly, disadvantages people of a particular race.

l   Harassment: when unwanted conduct related to race has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual

l   Victimization: unfair treatment of a worker who has made or supported a complaint about racial discrimination.[1]

 

            In Martin Luther King’s well know speech:” "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal’ … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." [2]

This anti-discrimination campaign is not only the business of black people in America, but becomes the all world’s sounds of heart and was heard by throughout the world.

            Without him, everything cannot be changed.

            The key to fight with this problem is education. Even though it will take a long time but gradually racism will disappear.

           In my opinion, the key word is to respect! Respect people also their background and be proud that you are not racist.

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[1] "Acas - Race discrimination." Acas - Home. http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1849 (accessed February 11, 2013).

[2] Jr.&, the time of Martin Luther King. "Martin Luther King Jr. | Facts Summary Information." History Net: Where History Comes Alive - World & US History Online. http://www.historynet.com/martin-luther-king-jr (accessed February 11, 2013).