Thursday, October 4, 2012

Pedestrian and Harrison Bergeron Period 3

76 comments:

  1. What would motivate the kind of equality demonstrated in Harrison Bergeron?

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    1. Motivation for this could be a group of people growing too powerful because of money, intelligence, popularity.

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  2. Do you think in some ways the the handicapping radios used in Harrison Bergeron are helpful to society?

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    1. Lena:
      I think handicapping radios would help society because it help achieve the goal of equality.

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    2. Lena:
      I think that the handicaps go against human nature(to be different) and this will only cause the people to be more prone to rebellion.

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  3. What would happen in today's society if we had these 'handicaps' it makes me wonder what mine would be, and my friends, peers, ect

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    1. I wonder also. It would be cool to at least find out what your handicap would be but not actually being a member of this society.

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    2. Alexandra-
      If the government tried to enforce handicaps like this the people would revolt. No one will willingly carry a sand bag around their neck and wear a hearing aid that shatters your thoughts. They would rather fight with their full strengths then simply exist with diminished strength and freedom.

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  5. Do you believe that Harrison Bergeron and Leonard Mead have a lot in common? If so, how? If not, why not?

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    1. Yes, because they both choose to push and to defy the system.

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    2. I think so as well. Also, at the end of the story they both end up in a bad situation. Either they are dead or on the way to jail.

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  6. Lena: I think that handicapped radios would be very non-helpful thing because there is never higher thinking involved in day-to-day life.

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    1. Elise, at the same time, do you think that it could help take pressure out of society? For example, people were given handicaps so that another person wouldn't have low self-esteem.

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    2. Lena: I think that the pressure is not as important as the ability to speak up and most importantly actually think for themselves.

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    3. Lena, I think it would take some pressure off society, but at the same time, in achieving perfect equality, individuality is lost.

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  7. Is it possible for humans to see each other as equal, even if handicaps are put in place?

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    1. Anthony, I feel that although the humans were made "equal" in the government's eyes, they did not see each other as equal. Some had handicaps that were far greater than others. The wife, I'm sure, did no see her husband as her equal because they are nowhere near the same person.

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    2. I don't think so, because would the more you have weight wise, or the more uglier of a mask, why would that make everyone equal? If you had the ugliest features, then wouldn't someone say that you are prettier, or stronger based on what is your handicap.

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    3. Tony:
      I don't think it is possible for humans to see each other as equal because of there self confidence and the stereotypes that the place on other people.

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    4. Allie and Lena:
      What keeps people from humbling themselves and accepting equality? Will that ever be possible, weather on our own accord or not?

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    5. Tony:
      Also, people can't ever see themselves as equal because the more someone is handicapped, the better they would have been if not handicapped than the rest of society.

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    6. Anthony, I think the handicaps show the inequalities between humans even more. If they had more handicaps it would show that a person was to strong, smart, or good looking. If you had less or none people would know that you aren't very "gifted". My point is that I believe there is no way humans can see each other as all equal.

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  8. Lena, I do not think that these handicaps are at all helpful because not only do they restrict people's knowledge, but they also could damage people's minds.

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  9. Lena: No, I believe that the handicapping radios are only helpful to keep the reigning government in power

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    1. I agree as well it is just like censorship.

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  10. Elise: I agree. If we didn't have the high level thinking in our society, we wouldn't be making any progress.

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  11. Why does Hazel have no handicaps? Why does the author include her in the story?

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    1. Tyler: I believe that Hazel has no handicaps because she likely fit in a "bottom class" and required no handicaps.

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    2. I think that she is required in the story to set the norm or to what level they are handicapping everyone to.

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    3. Anthony:
      I agree with you. I think that she is the "definition" of the perfect person. Therefore, she does not require any enhancements to her mind.

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    4. I think the author included her in the story because there had to be almost a control in the story to show the dramatic change between someone who does not have a handicap, and who does to make a point.

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    5. Allie:
      I agree that the author put her in the story as a sort of placebo.

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  12. What lead to this society where everyone is equal?

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    1. Alex, I think that maybe the reason the society became equal was because everyone was tired of competing against one another, and no one wanted people to be better or worse them.

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    2. Alex: What I think lead to this society is that people didn't like that some could do more than others. Equality is important even today and I think that they just took it a little too far.

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    3. But how do the "popular" or people who are winning the competetion agree with this?

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  13. Tyler: I believe Hazel has no handicaps because she has a mental disability

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  14. Alex: Riots against the government probably caused the handicaps, which made everyone "equal"

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    1. Ian
      How would riots cause this? Did the government do it out of anger? Is it like the hunger games? Did the people get tired of competing?

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  15. Tony, no I do not think that it is possible for people to see each other as equal because it is just natural for people to compare themselves with others. If anything, I think that these handicaps make inequalities more obvious.

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    1. Sophie:
      Excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. Why do you think it is natural for people to compare themselves with others?

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  16. In our society today, technology is what is leading us as humans to progress and change. In the story, why should technology be the thing to stop learning and progress?

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    1. Technology is a power, and when it is in the wrong hands, it can be manipulated to stop growth, just as it is used to promote growth

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    2. The potential of technology is unlimited, but it is being used as an obstacle. In the story, people are using the technological "handicaps" to prevent growth. What would preventing growth do for a society?

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  17. Tyler: Hazel was included in this story because she is an example of the type of people in their society that they are all trying to be equal too.

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  18. Who picks the handicaps? Who chooses the measure of beauty, isnt that opinion based?

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    1. Alexandra, I think that they based their opinions on the society (ours) that didnt have everybody "equal". Basically that means they based the handicapped on our standards

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  19. Alex, I think that the government really liked the thought of communism, and that is why everyone was made "equal."

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  20. Alex, i don't know what lead to society being like this, but even today people want everybody to have equal rights and this seems to be the extreme, It seems like the government, just did it for themselves not thinking about the people

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  21. Hasn't this already happened in society? With The Soviet Union? Did that work? Was that a fair form of governing? Is Communism a better form of government? Economically is it better?

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    1. Jacob:
      In the Soviet Union, they didn't make everyone equal, they just put all people except government at the same social level.

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    2. That is communism? All this is doing is taking people's physical and mental attributes all the same.

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  22. Lena-
    I think that the handicapping radios would be unhelpful to society because there would be no way to advance society, and the handicaps are meant to handicap people to the lowest individual, rather than advancing them to the highest individual.

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  23. Tyler, I think Hazel was written without handicaps to show how this government wants people to act and how hard it is for people with these handicaps compared to how it is for the non-handicapped people

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  24. Tony: I agree with Sophie because it's human nature for people to compare one another so it is not possible for people to see each other as equal

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  25. Why did Harrison have such a high mental capacity, even with his extreme handicaps?

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    1. Because he had learned, due to his high mental capacity, to overthrow the handicaps.

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  26. Is there such a thing as too much equality?

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    1. Yes, I believe there is, because sometimes, if everyone is the same, how can people progress, or make any advancements? If everyone is the same, and they think the same things, then haw can the world continue to move on and come up with new ideas?

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  27. Why do you think that Mr. Mead reacted so calmly at the end of "The Pedestrian"? DO you think he was really mental?

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  28. In the setting of the short story "Pedestrian" why is there a minimal amount of crime?

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  29. Grace: Yes I do believe there is such a thing as too much equality. If there is too much equality, then there will be no forms of leadership, causing society to fall apart

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  30. Do you think this is a form of Communism?

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  31. What do you think happened within this society to lead to this, why did the government decide to handicap people?

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  32. Do you believe that the society in HARRISON BERGERON was a utopia?

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  33. Could a situation like this be caused by severe insecurities of a dictator, or ruler who wishes to make all equal or below him?

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    1. Possibly. However, if everyone was equal, the dictator would drop to their level too.

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  35. Alexandra-
    I agree with you because the handicaps are completely opinion based. How would you measure to see how much handicap someone needs to have?

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  36. Grace: I do think there is such a thing as too much equality because with too much equality there would be nothing to separate us, and as Ian said, there would be no form of leadership

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  37. Grace, yes I think that there is such thing as too much equality, for example, communism is very unfair. People could be really smart, but couldn't use their ability to advance, or improve things or society. They couldn't move up in society.

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  38. Would life be boring if everyone was equal? Wouldn't this be a society where hard work isn't helpful or necessary? A society where no body is motivated to discover new things or new ideas? What happens if some one has cancer? Would there be a cure? Or someone to find a cure? I don't think so because no one has any incentive to find a cure

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  39. Doesn't someone have to have the high level thinking to obtain the control and equality in the society? Who would that be and what were the determining factors?

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  40. Tyler-
    I believe Hazel was put in the story to act as the base example of the lowest human being.

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