HW
Based on the story that we read today - pg 189-191 - please post on this blog or write in your notebook, an entry on the topic of...
Do you believe something terrible could happen in the United States today because of this idea of going along and failing to act as an Upstander? It doesn't have to be as horrific as the Holocaust.
If yes, why? Don't we have protections against something like that?
If no, why do you feel like we are different from the society the professor described in the story? Don't we still have hate crimes and utter poverty?
The question is...is 21st century America immune from the power of the group and going along with the crowd to extremes?
36 comments:
I think there are terrible things that happen everyday because people fail to act as upstanders. For example the videos we watched in class about the guy who didn't stop his friend from killing the small girl and the bystanders who did not report the boys vandalizing the car. I don't necessarily think that something as bad as the Holocaust could happen because we do have protections against it. Our government is ruled by the people, therefore it would take an huge group of people to go against the common good. I do not think that America is immune from these problems. We do have hate crimes, poverty, and hate groups, but they do not overcome the rest of society.
I think that there are many cases where people see bad things happening but they don't do anything. There was that one case where a woman got raped in broad daylight. Everyone heard her screaming and saw the rape, but nobody did anything. There is also car theft, bullying, vandalism, etc. Everyone has seen it in some form but most of the time, they don't do anything because they are scared of reprisal or bodily harm. I myself have seen bullying and vandalism but didn't report it. Nobody is immune to this kind of thing, but people can stand up to it. It's just a matter of courage and the will to do the right thing.
I believe that the possibility is there. However, in this day and age, there is some sort of protest group for almost every cause so I don't know how easily something terrible could happen since people could find a way to get their voice heard. The media is so much more advanced than Nazi germany since word flies at lightening speed thanks to the internet. I do believe the majority of US citizens would most likely follow the idea of not being an upstander like the professor expressed in the story, but there are more radical people in society than during the Holocaust because the threat that they had doesn't exist at the moment in this type of society. The fact that we are under a democracy helps.
In my opinion, I do believe that something terrible can happen in the United States today if people are failing to act as an upstander. When there is an issue in our society, people have two choices, to deal with it or to ignore it. I feel that most people in our society today ignore issues in our world that need to be helped instead of ignoring them. However, I do realize that some people do not have the confidence they need when dealing with an issue and then there is no protection provided if people are not willing to help out.
I believe terrible things happen everyday, even things we may not be aware of. For example, every night on the news there is a new story on someone being wanted for doing this crime or that crime and like bleekerst. said above, even the video we watched in class of the guy killing the little girl in the bathroom and his friend not saying a word. Not everyone will choose to be a upstander, but that is their choice. It is definitely a lot harder now a days for something extreme to happen because we are protected against crimes and such. Of course crimes and poverty and hate groups will never go away, but that doesn't mean it conquers all of society. Whether you become an upstander or not is completely up to you.
Yes, i think the act of failing as a bystander could lead to something terrible happening. The police is some sort of prevention but, they can't always cover everyone and crimes do happen.
I think groups still have some power in the 21st century and people sometimes do follow the group. However, i feel the group causes aren't as extreme as groups use to be such as the nazis. I think that people know more now than they use too. Morals and ideals have changed greatly since the times of these extreme groups. all though there are extreme groups, they don't muster the followers they use too.
I believe that in order for a large amount of people that are sufficient enough to be upstanders in 21st century America, a large amount of rights have to be infringed upon, or a large amount of death to happen simply because people respond better to drastic events.
I do not believe that in America it is possible for something as drastic as the Holocaust to happen, but I do believe that there can be lots of little things similar to the Holocaust that can happen. For example, Americans are not going as far to say that we need to eliminate Hispancs, but we are going as far to say that we need to limit illegal aliens across the board from coming into the nation. I think that our society will not allow something like the Holocaust to happen on our home soil because there will be upstanders, but Darfur aside, Americans are not willing to sacrifice their own lives, freedoms, and funds for an entire different natioin.
Absolutely not. There are too many social and political groups that would end something before it could happen. Our protection would be from such high securities since after 9/11. We do have hate crimes, but the problem is that only the "major topics", such sexual orientation and anti-semitism and racial prejudice toward African Americans are usually fought against. Sometimes, the racial issues are the hardest to stop.
I do believe that something like this, maybe not as horrific as the Holocaust, could happen again. You cant underestimate the power of forming a common enemy and the security somebody-or a group of people-feel when they have a common cause. Though we may think that we have protections, not everything happens overnight. Over a long period of time, though steady influence, a specific victim can be singled out to the American public. Aren't we well on our way with the stereotyping we do as a country against Muslims?
I think the article was interesting in terms of how it talked about the progression of all these events. The fact that they grew from small to large obviously allowed it to happen without many people questioning what was going on. This happens because people blindly follow something. We don't really have anything to prevent this in America except for being taught history as a way to avoid this kind of thing. After Pearl Habor, Japanese people were put in camps which wasnt as bad as the Holocaust, but somewhat similar so obviously this can happen in America.
I think that people who fail to be upstanders in society could result in a terrible things happening in the US. Obviously nothing as bad as the Holocaust, but crimes and violence usually involve groups of people, and any of those within the groups that commit the crimes and violence could choose to be an Ustandtander and stop the violence. For example, the video we watched in class about the young kids vandilizing the car displays how many average american people choose to be bystanders to violence. Very few people that witnessed the valdilization chose to be upstanders nad contact the police, other authorites or even confront the young boys to convince them to stop. The laws against violence and crimes do nothing within the US, while there are so many bystanders and fear to be hurt or victimized by being an Upstander.
No, I do not think something horrific, even something of a less caliber as the holocaust could happen in our country. I do think that we have grown as a country and significantly evolved from our fellow counterparts as well as from our old ways. Because of stories like this one and the holocaust, I think people are extra aware of their surroundings and a lot more people than you think stand up to what they think is wrong. The US has turned so much to technology these days that wrong doings, crimes, outrageous bizarre things, everything is highly publicized. Yeah we have hate crimes and poverty, I don't think that we're perfect, but I do think that we have made substantial progress from where we have come and I think we as a country continue to grow every day.
I believe that something terrible could happen in America today because people fail to act as upstanders. People constantly feel as though its not their responsibility or maybe that because no one else is doing it, they shouldn't bother either. Its these sort of things that cause problems in society today. Without people willing to stop crimes, violence or social injustice, our society could have a significant downturn. However, I don't feel that something as drastic as the holocaust could happen today because our government enforces laws that provide protection over this sort of injustice. Although we have protection so that massive genocides do not occur, the government sometimes lets things go unnoticed. The racial dilemmas that go on in our nation show that these problems of "the other" still exist. Sometimes the power of the people can overcome the power of the government, which shows that our government does still have flaws. We never know what could happen in the future, but hopefully the government can detect injustice and have enough power to stop it.
Yes, I do believe something could happen in the U.S because of the idea of going along and failing to act as an Upstander. Group mentality can often change the way people act, and many feel that they won't make a difference standing up alone. Although there are many political groups in the United States I feel like many people will not join them while under the influence of the majority group. Because everyone stereotypes, proganda can be used to conjure up hate against a group.
i think we keep harping on this but in all honesty it really cant happen again, in a country as developed as america is now, as well as being every single action and decison being well scruitinized from both sides and documented as well. we also have the media whcih is covering every angle at every step of the time, and though it may be easy to convince and get some of the "less intellegent" members of society to follow along, i think americans in this day an age are smarter and posses more common sense than 20th century germans. Last i checked we were able to begin to get out of a recession without turning to a dictatorship and genocide, this isn't something that happens all the time, and the "what if" situations are getting a little out of hand
I don't believe anything horrible like the story we read could occur in America. Many government officials are in position to keep any one person or group from taking over. Even though there are many crazy people in our world, nobody has the resources to take over in America. A various amount of laws do protect us and that isn't. True fonother countries. I feel we are safe in America and shouldn't worry too much.
No, I don't beleive that something terrible could happen in this day in age in the United States. Today, with all the security options that we have, and how strong our military is I don't see anything like the Holocaust or anything of that nature happening again. I agree with 2arabianhammer that since the media is all over everyone and everything it would be really difficult for a huge disaster to happen.
I think that it is very possible for something to happen in the United States. I think that there is already something going on at this point in the exact style as well. When the government slowly implements little things over time the people dont notice and normally wont say anything. Everytime it gets a little worse, but who ever thinks it will get that bad. It is very easy for a group of people to fall under this type of ruler. I think that we do have a lot of protections against this sort of thing happening, but nothing is being done for the exact reason mentioned in the story. Most people do nothing or wait it out. Some protections we haev are the bill of rights.
No I do not think something like this is possible, especially in America because of our constitutional laws. We have learned from the past and I think if anything were to happen that our laws would protect us from it going to far. I think that a lot Of people in today's America would stand up for what they think is right.
There are things happening in this world that should not be happening because people fail to act. Even in the United States things happen that should not happen because people do not want to put themselves out there and be the one to have to say something.
Something like the Holocaust could potentially happen again, even in the United States.The world is not perfect, in fact it is far from it, and not everybody has the best intentions.
So though people would like to say nothing like this could ever EVER happen, we are far from being able to predict the actions of humans, and the consequences a simple idea can have on society.
I do think that terrible things, although not as terrible as the Holocaust, do happen in the United States every day. I think that many people pass by situations where they see hate crimes and poverty and don't do anything about it. There are protections in our society that protect us from something big happening, but no one really thinks about the little things.
I don't believe that the U.S. is vulnerable to any event as horrifying as the Holocaust. Our government is built to prevent such events from happening within the U.S., because it prevents single groups such as the Nazis from having complete control over our nation. Also, our society encourages everyone to preach their own opinion and protest against ideas we disagree with which also prevents groups like the Nazis from taking control. While I don’t believe our nation is capable of genocide, our history and current stereotyping against Muslims shows that we are capable of isolating certain groups. And with new strict policies at airports our government scares us, and puts us under the impression that the stereotyping of Muslim’s is acceptable. While we may not be vulnerable to a Holocaust, our government is perfectly capable of policies that support the singling out of a single race, which is the idea that lies behind genocide.
I do not think that America is immune to the power of the group in any way. It is possible that something terrible can happen, but I don't think it's very likely that something as extreme as the holocaust ever would. The professor said that the holocaust was possible because things were taken in baby steps, which I think America is also capable of. Already, I see things that I know what never be seen years ago. For example, while I was watching tv last night there was a man swearing at a 5 year old girl and it was meant to be funny. 10 years ago I bet this would never be okay and if it was put on television people would be outraged. Now a days, it is completely normal and humorous to many. This is not nearly as drastic as the holocaust, but it demonstrates in the same way that anything can happen if it is done gradually.
I do not think anything as horrific as the Holocaust will ever happen again in our country because American's are not as afraid to stand up for what they believe in like they were in the past. American are making great strides to make changes in our country such as changing gay rights and making bullying laws. We have learned from the past that if we are passive and we don't speak out for what we believe in, destructive things will happen. Not to say that bad things don't happen every day in our country because I know they do, I just think that when our generation is ruling the country a lot of positive changes will happen because I think we are a very liberal generation.
i do believe something horrible could happen. The main reason is because most people are so naive that if something was happen they would not realize it. In order for that to happen though I would think america would have to instill fear into the americans. Once fear is instilled people begin to think and act irrational. But i do not think it will happen but i think it can happen. Long as people look at the past as a reminder then it will not happen
I do believe that something horrific could still happen in America today. Even though there are laws out in Place to protect the people's rights, it's amazing what some people would do if they had the power. It is also interesting to see how much people value self preservation and what they will do or say or not say for that matter to protect the peole they love. This is a selfish world and I believe that if something horrible would happen in this world, people would be too selfish to stand up against it.
I believe that there alot of people that witness something wrong, but they fail to do anything because they don't want to deal with the drama of the sitituation. I feel a lot people want to do a good deed and help out in the situation, but are to scared. And all they think about is what factors could affect themseleves. Its a very selfish mindset, but I can understand their reasoning. Me, I would be willing to help anyone based on the situation. I wouldn't get invovlve in no kind of gun situation, but I would call the cops for help. I believe all can help in some kind of fashion.
No I do not think anything as drastic as the holocaust could occur because our country has some sense of organization and favor towards each other.. but hostility I feel is promoted towards certain racial groups and that is something, at least in my eyes, that will never grow old. This could at some point cause a riot or an uproar but I believe that's as drastic as it will ever get. I don't think there's any way to stop something that shows no sings of occurring, especially since I think the government works so hard to maintain a positive image.
I believe that the US could have a "holocaust" of its own, maybe not mass genocide but a negative event that could be brought up slowly and unperceptable to most. Why I don't think it can happen to us is because Germany was in crisis at the time and we are just coming out of a recession. The issue of don't ask don't tell is no different then the Nazi influence in Germany, people don't want to think or act and put themselves in harms way. In this country today we still do nothing about things that we should address and be upstanders for. I can only hope that we can think and act boldly in a time of utter crisis.
i think that something terrible could happen in the united states because people in power definitely going to great lengths to get what they want. Everyday new terrible things are happening in the world that nobody was expecting to happen. On the news we hear of new crimes, violence, and danger everyday. Not everyone will choose to be a upstander, but everyone has the ability to make that choice. Its a lot harder in modern day for something awful to happen because we have such high protection all over the place.
I think that something in the United States that is terrible could easily happen. Even looking on the streets today, there are so many things that are wrong with our world. Whether it's the issue of homelessness and people's attitude towards those who are homeless, or even if it the vandalism, rape and theft. People need to realize that there are "not good" people in this world that cause issues to our modern day society. Being an upstander is something that not everyone decides to embrace. With the given ideas of bad America i listed before, it's clear that people don't live up to that potential. However, i would argue that it is much harder in this day and age to create a "modern day holocaust" within the United States. With the way our government is set up and the fact that many people decide to use their law of freedom of speech, it would be hard to do something like that, or really even half as bad. However, i would not doubt that someone in America would try to pull it off and could even be somewhat successful.
I agree with 2fluffy. You never know what could happen. If the U.S. gets the right leader, and the right amount of followers, something horrible is possible. It may not be as drastic as the Holocaust, but something is possible. I also agree with 9superman in that the rights granted by the constitution limit the possibility of another Holocaust. Since we are all grated freedom of speech and assembly, several groups with different opinions will emerge.
I personally believe that 21st century America is not immune from the power of the group of going along with the crowd of extremes. I believe something terrible could happen in the United States today because of this idea of going along and failing to act as a bystander. I think that the world we live in today is full of followers and many people are afraid to speak for what they believe in. Also, I believe society is lazy and just follows everyone else. I agree with 9Mr.Rager in that in this country today, we still do nothing about things we should address and be upstanders for. I also agree with 9Mr.Rager in that I can only hope that we can think and act boldly in a time of utter crisis.
No i don't think anything along the lines of the holocaust could happen in our country because we have developed as a country and people are much more aware of te general surroundings ad if the horrible things that they can lead to.
I think that something in the United States that is terrible could easily happen. Even looking on the streets today, there are so many things that are wrong with our world. Being an upstander is something that not everyone decides to embrace. it's obvious that people don't live up to their full potential. However, i would argue that it is much harder in this day and age to create a "modern day holocaust" within the United States. With the way our government is organized, it would be hard to do something like that, or really even half as bad. But, i wouldn't doubt that someone would try to pull creat it anyway and could even be somewhat successful.
I believe that something like this could definitely go wrong. Not to the same extent, but if you get a person who can really make people start to believe in what you have to say, and they are making good points, and advertises themselves very well, then i do believe that an awful tragedy can happen again. Not to the same extent as the Holocaust, but it can very well be up there.
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