The story Harrison Bergeron Essay Example for Free

The story Harrison Bergeron Essay The story Harrison Bergeron was set in two different years in the future, 2081 and 2053. The basic story between all three works is everyone being equal and â€Å"handicapped†. Harrison is a young adult living with his parents and is taken away because he is too smart than the â€Å"average† person, which in the real world be considered dumb. He rebels against the government and shows up on television to show people how their live would be without being handicapped. At the end of every story he is shot and he dies. His family doesn’t realize what happens but all they know is that something sad had happen. In the first film the way the future is in the year 2081. Technology is advanced and everyone is equal and handicapped. Harrison is in jail for trying to rebel against the government. He is giving propaganda to the people so they take off their handicaps. Both of his parents are wearing bands that stop them from thinking or being smart. His father is wearing weights so he is handicapped like the rest of the people. His mother is considered average. Harrison breaks out of jail and goes to a theatre that is being televised. He has many weights and no band. He breaks his handicaps. And he starts to dance with one of the ballerinas that are there. She also takes off her handicaps. The government or people in charge try to cut the signal to all televisions. He still gets the signal with a device he had. He then start to dance to and with the girl to show the people what they can accomplish without handicaps. He is then shot by the woman in charge of the people. That event was also televised and people did not know was going on due to their band but they know something sad happen like his family. In the second film Harrison Bergeron it is set in 2053. The future is not so advanced. The government saw that people were happier in the 1980’s so they changed everything to that time. All people are handicapped and have bands. Harrison is the smartest in his class. He is too smart then takes a test that sends him the secret place where he then falls in love with a woman. He gets a job of taking care of what gets televised. He then rebels because his boss hurts the woman he loves. He shows films and music of when people were still different and not handicapped. After some hours he is caught and forced to say that everything that he had sad was a lie. During his televised interview he Is admitting to lieing about what he had showed the people he shoots himself in front of everyone. Everyone’s band is tripled to not rebel also. Again his family doesn’t know what happen. All they know is that something sad has happened. The third work is a story. The story follows the same basic story as in the films except Harrison is seven feet tall and he is better than everyone else. In all three stories Harrison is shot on t.v. and people only know that something sad has happened and not that he died. All three works follow the same story. He has a different physical appearance in all three works. He only goes to jail in the film 2081. The film 2081 is also the only work where Harrison find a girl he likes. The story and film 2081 are set in 2081.

Buddhist Philosophy of No-Abiding Self

Buddhist Philosophy of No-Abiding Self Outline and discuss the Buddhist philosophy of no-abiding-self (anatman). What is rebirth if there is no soul being reborn? In the first noble truths, Buddha taught that suffering or dukkha exist in our lives. The Buddhas teachings are simply a path way to enlightenment (?) so that the suffering can end all together. to become enlighten is to wake up to the true reality of things so that one can see who they really are in the deepest levels. It is at that moment when the realization of selfishness takes place and all the suffering falls away. When someone is not enlighten, then their current understanding of the world and who they really are, does not match the reality. Because of this confusion, suffering takes place. Unless one is enlighten, then this person will continue to identify with the wrong version of their self. There is this sense of duality in the world of the notion of me and I. From this notion people tend to create all of their attachments such as my house or my family. This way of thinking and perception springs all human feels; desires and aversions. Where does the idea of self, derive from? When Buddha was asked about I he said, in paraphrasing, where is this I? Point it for me. (Reference) Buddha wanted to make his followers this notion of the self. Are we our names, for instance? Often times, individuals can feel compromised by the existence of another person having the same name as themselves. Does that mean that we can only exist in our body? Our body constantly changes. The body a person has when they are 80 years old is not the same as the body they had when they were new born. So how can the body constitute a permanent self? Individuals derive to this sense of self due to rapid interplay of many physical and mental processes. The Buddha explained that everyone has five aggregates that work together to form the sense of self (Boisvert, 1995).In Sanskrit these five aggregates are called skandhas (Boisvert, 1995: 17).The five aggregates consist of form, consciousness, feelings, perceptions and mental formations (Boisvert, 19 95: 4). They all work in combination to each other. Because they seem to work so simultaneously it is easy to incorrectly identify with these aggregates as they are constituting our permanent and unchanging self. However, the Buddha pointed out that it is our identification with these aggregates that is creating this illusion of permanence and as long as we continue to cling to these as being who we are we will continue to suffer(Boisvert, 1995: 8).REBIRTH The first aggregate is form or matter (Boisvert, 1995).This includes the four great elements; earth, water, fire and air (including all the forms; internal and external, which are derived from these elements such as the physical body) (Gethin, 1998: 140). The Buddha wanted to draw our attention to the six sense organs; eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body(Gethin, 1998: 140). When these are working properly they can detect the five sense-objects; visible form, sound, odour, taste, and tangible things(Gethin, 1998: 150-153).The coming together of sense-organ and sense-object, allows the corresponding sense-consciousness to arise (Gethin, 1998: 150-153).For instance, if the eye sense-organ meets with the visible object, then eye-consciousness arises. It is this arising of the consciousness which allows us to become aware of the presence of that sense-object(Gethin, 1998: 150-153). One the eye-consciousness arise, it forms an interaction between the sense-organ and the sense-object and thi s allows us to become aware of the presence of the object(Gethin, 1998: 150-153). Once we have the consciousness of an object, then this allows for the other aggregates to arise. The aggregate of feeling refers to feelings that arise from eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and intellect-contact (Gethin, 1998: 215-218).There are three kinds of feelings we might experience; pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings (Gethin, 1998: 212-214). So it is from the contact of the sense-organs, the sense-objects and the sense-consciousness that these feelings can arise and these sensations van be either enjoyed, disliked, or be neutral. Then there is the aggregate of perception, which is what identifies what it has been noted by the relevant consciousness (Boisvert, 1995: 46)This allows an individual to recognize it, label it and categorize it. Thus, this aggregate allows one to stop making sense of the world because up until this point, the aggregates could only perceive things but not give it any meaning (Boisvert, 1995: 46-47). For instance; when drinking coffee, through the contact of the tongue, one is able to taste the coffee. Thus, the tongue-consciousness can perceive the taste of flavour. For the aggregate of feeling, in this example, the sensation might be quite pleasant because of the coffees warmness and flavour. Then this becomes the aggregate of perception which actually recognizes the liquid as coffee, because it fits into the pre-digested mental categories of what the properties of coffee should be like. With the aggregate of perception an individual is able to identify the stimuli around them (Boisv ert, 1995: 46-47). The last aggregate is mental formations and fabrications(Reference). This aggregate indicates that each individual has different ways they can react to a sense-object and develop different feelings and perceptions of it(Boisvert, 1995: 49). As the name suggests, this aggregate is interests in the ways an individual can initially react on a mental level, even before this person follows through with some behaviours of speech, body and mind(Boisvert, 1995: 48-50). This aggregate is interested in all the wholesome and unwholesome intensions or impulses that arrive in relations of what we see, hear, smell, taste, feel and think(Boisvert, 1995: 48-50, 214) These intentions arise before we react with our body, speech or mind. In Buddhism, they refer to these intentions as the karma seeds(Gethin, 1998: 214)These actions have the power of bring happiness or suffering. We can make our own choices. But there is no concept of sin as there is in the Christian belied. They believe that unskilful c hoices can lead to bad karma, while skilful choices can lead to good karma(Gethin, 1998: 214)Perhaps, one of the most important point of this aggregate is that this is where human habits of mind are created (Gethin, 1998: 154). This is where individuals develop all their ideas, opinions, and prejudices about things and people, as well as all of their compulsions(Gethin, 1998: 153- 154). So this aggregate really determines whether one develops positive qualities of the mind or not. This is where individuals can shape their mental habits and the person they want to become. The five aggregates show that the interactions to people or situations in life are not immediate or automatic. There is a process involved where the individual is not at the mercy of their feelings or thoughts. There is a choice in how to respond to everything. This is a very liberating concept because if individuals can develop enough mindfulness to recognize their impulses or intentions as they arise, they can then learn to replace them with more wholesome ones and they can decide whether they actually act out on them or not. They can decide whether they will verbally abuse someone who insulted them or whether they can practice patience in a challenging situation. Essentially, individuals can decide what karma they create and whether they move towards enlightenment or not. Mindfulness is the quality that initially allows us to depersonalize the aggregates (Reference). So a person will not say the thought as being his/hers thought but simply he/she can say a thought is a thought. It is a phenomenon they can choose to entertain or not. With this perspective, thoughts are nothing more than an identity that arises and passes away (Reference). This brings a lot of lightness to our thoughts. There is no need to allow ourselves to get caught up in them anymore and get stuck on certain thoughts. Instead individuals can become dispassionate and objective observes and they will be able to remain calm and peaceful when thoughts arise whether they are wholesome or unwholesome ones (Gethin, 1998: 214). Getting back to what the teaching on the five aggregates mean in the of no self or anatman; the Buddha explained that these five aggregates are the basic elements of a person and they are in the state of continual change (Reference). For instance, an unpleasant feeli ng passes away to give rise to a pleasant feeling. One moment of consciousness is replaced by a different consciousness based on a different sense-organ. Of these aggregates, none of them can stand alone or constitute a permanent self because they are in a state of constant change. Every moment the sense-organs come into contact with the sense-object. These four processes of consciousness of sense, feeling, perception, and mental formation, occur with lightning speed, and because it happens so fast it gives the appearance of continuity and that of an unchanging entity (Reference). So it is because of the combination of these aggregates working together that there is the sense and idea of permanence and permanent I and it is conveniently labelled as self. Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with fabrications, disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, Fully released. He discerns that Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world. (Reference) The Buddha was saying that once one realizes that he/she is not their thoughts, feelings or perceptions, then the individual will no longer continue to cling to them and will finally be liberated from their self-limiting views. It is all of the self-grasping that creates our suffering. All the misconceptions and the mental stories that individuals built on them, they bring out a lot of suffering. It then becomes possible to live in the world with greater lightness of being and ease. It is within that space of peace and tranquillity that best decisions can be made. When he Buddha became enlighten, he did not just vanish into thin air; he still had his body, his speech ad his mind (Reference). He just did not identify with his aggregates as possessive things ad as permanent entities. When speaking to a monk named Bahuna, the Buddha explained: Freed, dissociated, released from ten things, Bahuna, the Tahagata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Which ten? Freed, dissociated, and released from form the Tahagata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Freed, dissociated, and released from feeling from perception.. from fabrications from consciousness from birth from aging from death from suffering and stress Freed, dissociated, and released from defilement, the Tathagata dwells wit unrestricted awareness. Just as a red, blue, or white lotus born in the water and growing in the water, rises up above the water and stands with no water adhering to tit, in the same way the Tathagata freed, dissociated and released from these ten things dwells with unrestricted awareness. (Reference) Once an individual is freed from the contains he/she identifies with, the five aggregates, the Buddha is saying that there is still an unrestricted awareness that remains (Reference). There is some kind of consciousness and cognition that experiences. This consciousness that is without feature and without end does not rely to any of the six-organs and continues to be experienced when the six-sense stop function (Reference). However, even this unrestricted awareness is not something one can pin down at any moment and say that this is my permanent self, because it is constantly in a state of change. If we are not our bodies, our names, our thoughts and our feeling, then what are we? Buddha explained that when there is no clinging of these five aggregates the what remains is an unrestricted awareness that is luminous all around. The concept of anatman and selflessness are linked with these five aggregates of form, consciousness feelings, perceptions, and mental formations in which individuals wrongly identify with as being who they are. When an individual has the realization of selflessness then there is freedom that comes with is because he/she are no longer confined to their limited views of who they are and nor are they grasping anything as being an extension of themselves, so they can let go of their need to cling to possessions or even people in their lives. In fact, individuals will appreciate everything more and in a much more freed way. Citations: Boisvert, M. (1995). The five aggregates. 1st ed. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. LOOK AT CHPATER 2 6 Gethin, R. (1998). Foundations of Buddhism. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Genetically Modified Plants in Agriculture :: GMOs Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Plants in Agriculture The use of agriculture to grow edible plants is an essential step in the worldwide goal of nations to maintain self-sufficiency. Through agriculture, crops are raised by the cultivation of soils, in conjunction with the biological processes that allow for plant growth. In recent years, genetic engineering has enabled plant scientists to insert genes from one type of plant species, which will express a desired trait, into a different plant species that had not been able to obtain the genes through cross fertilization or other natural pathways. The possibilities arising from the use of genetically modified (GM) plants seem as an excellent answer to the overwhelming problems of environmental degradation and food instability worldwide, but society is now faced with the possible implications that could occur with an influx of "new" plants. These implications lead to a massive debate ranging from health issues to who owns seeds that are produced by GM plants. Included in this debate as well is the question of how much power should be given to large multinational companies who have developed the new technology. Farming and agricultural methods have become far more complex, as they have evolved throughout time. Ancient methods allowed for the taming of plants and animals to provide for a transition from nomadic lifestyles of constantly moving in search of food and water, to the agricultural lifestyle of self-sufficiency at a permanent residence. Evolution in the complexity of agricultural methods and techniques has occurred in part due to a search for maximum efficiency by an advancing society. Efficiency has always been a dominant motivational factor for new techniques to be allocated in this field, and in this last century, especially in the last decade, changes unfathomable to farmers past and present have taken place along the lines of efficiency. Along with increased use of fertilizers, high-yielding hybrid seed varieties that have been produced by plant breeding techniques have dramatically increased the average production per land area. In recent years, the scientific community has developed a process enabling genetic engineers to insert genes expressing a desired trait into crops that had not been able to obtain these genes from other species through cross fertilization methods. These genes can then be passed down to the seeds of the newly recombined plant and will be expressed in the generations following. The Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources better describes how genetic modification technology affects agriculture in the present era:

Role of Prisons in Reducing Recidivism Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

Role of Prisons in Reducing Recidivism The role of prisons and prison wardens in reducing recidivism is a major concern today. With programs initialized in the prison systems, recidivism rates still have stayed about the same for forty years. Almost two-thirds of prisoners will be arrested after their release, and of those, half will return to prison for a new crime. The obstacle faced by professionals to change behavior is a multi-layered complex problem that needs to be addressed in our society today. Different views and opinions are given, and they do not lesson the impact of each other, but a multi-dimensional program should be utilized to achieve the goal of recidivism. Professor Alex Holsinger of the University of Missouri states that each individual has a responsibility for his or her behavior and not to look at the penal system for absolute rehabilitation. The recidivism studies tend to clump entire criminal behavior into one study and do not look at all the different criminal offenses separately. For example, chronic drunk driving behavior and shoplifting behavior s...

Entrance to the Profession Narrative :: Essays Papers

Entrance to the Profession Narrative I remember seventh grade Open House at my suburban Catholic grade school in the southern curve of St. Louis’ Mississippi River. I remember the glaring, bowl-shaped auditorium lights hovering over milling parents and sheepish classmates, everyone looking for their own, or their own child’s work so they could make their exclamations and get on with the night. I remember it so well because on my orange poster-board balloon, under a fifth grade school photo—with the red pullover sweater, plaid Peter Pan collar, and bouffant bow—someone had written â€Å"Aspiring Author.† I didn’t know anyone knew. I didn’t even know myself. Maybe it was in the stories I wrote for our weekly vocabulary sentences. Or the dramas I enacted for book reports that ran fifteen minutes over our allotted five. Perhaps I revealed it in my Social Studies notebook with pages upon pages of illustrated, full-paragraphed definitions of Civil War details, in the three-page poem I recited from memory in front of the class, in zealous literature projects, in my natural ability to crank out grammar trees, or in the novella I turned in for a one-page writing assignment. It never occurred to me to articulate such an aspiration—perhaps because it was too close. But others could see it—this love affair with language. For whatever reasons, I continued to dismiss that orange balloon discovery until several years after I left—I thought—the academic world behind for good. I understand now why my undergraduate years were such a struggle. This bouffant-bowed aspirant hooked flailing arms around a biology major, when math and science had been only sources of tedium and misery. After a year of unbearable classes, I switched my major to English—more out of a sense of failure than a sense of right. My motivation for grasping onto science was the thought of a clear, and perhaps interesting, job-title after four years. My motivation for running back into the arms of my former lover was that it felt familiar and natural. I cringed every time I heard someone say, â€Å"Oh, an English major†¦what will you do? Teach?† Was that my only option? I couldn’t do it. Yes, I loved to read and write, to crawl into glittering tunnels of analysis, to discover ideas as they revealed themselves under my pen, but it all seemed so†¦removed from life. Entrance to the Profession Narrative :: Essays Papers Entrance to the Profession Narrative I remember seventh grade Open House at my suburban Catholic grade school in the southern curve of St. Louis’ Mississippi River. I remember the glaring, bowl-shaped auditorium lights hovering over milling parents and sheepish classmates, everyone looking for their own, or their own child’s work so they could make their exclamations and get on with the night. I remember it so well because on my orange poster-board balloon, under a fifth grade school photo—with the red pullover sweater, plaid Peter Pan collar, and bouffant bow—someone had written â€Å"Aspiring Author.† I didn’t know anyone knew. I didn’t even know myself. Maybe it was in the stories I wrote for our weekly vocabulary sentences. Or the dramas I enacted for book reports that ran fifteen minutes over our allotted five. Perhaps I revealed it in my Social Studies notebook with pages upon pages of illustrated, full-paragraphed definitions of Civil War details, in the three-page poem I recited from memory in front of the class, in zealous literature projects, in my natural ability to crank out grammar trees, or in the novella I turned in for a one-page writing assignment. It never occurred to me to articulate such an aspiration—perhaps because it was too close. But others could see it—this love affair with language. For whatever reasons, I continued to dismiss that orange balloon discovery until several years after I left—I thought—the academic world behind for good. I understand now why my undergraduate years were such a struggle. This bouffant-bowed aspirant hooked flailing arms around a biology major, when math and science had been only sources of tedium and misery. After a year of unbearable classes, I switched my major to English—more out of a sense of failure than a sense of right. My motivation for grasping onto science was the thought of a clear, and perhaps interesting, job-title after four years. My motivation for running back into the arms of my former lover was that it felt familiar and natural. I cringed every time I heard someone say, â€Å"Oh, an English major†¦what will you do? Teach?† Was that my only option? I couldn’t do it. Yes, I loved to read and write, to crawl into glittering tunnels of analysis, to discover ideas as they revealed themselves under my pen, but it all seemed so†¦removed from life.

Analytical Response Paper #1

Analytical response Paper #1 I have found that both â€Å"Kick Back and Endure Being Bored and Uncomfortable† by Clive Hamilton, and William Deresiewicz’s â€Å"The End of Solitude† can be efficiently summarized with the great social psychologist, Erich Fromm’s quote, â€Å"If I am what I have, then I lose what I have, who then am I? †. Hamilton’s article reflects his view illustrating that he views modern technology as a deterrent for people’s natural ability to not only accept, but to appreciate absolute gratification of solitude.It is this concept of people’s growing disvalue of solitude that both I, and Deresiewic concur with (demonstrated in his essay). I feel that the ability of people’s easy accessibility to social media is nothing more than a barricade to individuality, preventing people from realizing their true self; in doing so they fall victim to what I would like to call â€Å"True loneliness†. This co ncept of â€Å"True loneliness† I characterize by a constant bombardment of social interaction occurring solely through technological means.Deresiewic’s essay is a brilliantly compiled work of literary genius that ensnares the perception of today’s youth being consumed by social networking. He does this with references to the sociological importance of one’s self developed during the romantic movement; then goes on to compare them to the his own theory that the â€Å"self† has lost significance in this day and age due to social networking. Deresiewic refers to a teenager’s cell phone bill stating that the adolescent had sent over 3,000 text messages from his cell phone in the matter of one month; this means that he had sent a text message once every ten minutes.It is this dependence that has forced both myself, and Deresiewic to find our society’s addiction to technology to be utterly repulsive. When the culture we establish demands t hat every teenager must have a cellular phone, and must use texts to keep in contact with friends that live mere minutes away just supports how our dependency on technology has been stretch to an unhealthy level. My point is best solidified by analyzing Deresiewic’s quote â€Å"Not long ago, it was easy to feel lonely. Now, it is impossible to be alone. Not long ago people had the grace of being able to live in a state solitude; now it is near impossible to find even a single moment in their day when they are alone. In Clive Hamilton’s essay entitled â€Å"Kick Back and Endure Being Bored and Uncomfortable† Clive casts light upon the otherwise shadow bound, insidious effects technology has on the average American family. Clive uses examples of children getting their own personal televisions in their rooms or the family car, as a way to identify that parents now lack both the time, and the patience to deal with their children’s boredom.I concur with Clive ’s statement when he says â€Å"They put televisions sets in their bedroom, which surely should be regarded as a form of child abuse†, because I too feel that parents oversaturate their kids with influences of television to the extent that our generation has can consider the TV set one of their parental figures. As Clive Hamilton’s essay progresses he goes on to provide an example of a family sitting down at a diner for a meal but the children are too engrossed in their cellular phones to even communicate with the other members dining with them.While provided this example I am consumed by Hamilton’s tone of sheer disgust as he comments â€Å"why [do] they have children if they have nothing to say to them over dinner. † In conclusion to me reflecting on Hamilton’s essay, I would like to note that I found his essay to have a sense of vigor and passion but lacked the proper literary tools to fully capture my attention. Overall, Hamilton, Deresi ewic, and I share the same conclusions concerning the topic of interacting via technological means, in that it is more of a destructive asset of our culture rather than a positive addition to our society.Too much attention is given to our desire to never be alone with our own thoughts in this day and age. This in turn leads people to have no sense of self unless it is somehow justified through our social interactions. We, as people, have gone from the thought focused on in the romantic era, and best quoted by Clive Hamilton, â€Å"He may have put his neighbors off, but at least he was sure of himself.Those who would find solitude must not be afraid to stand alone†, to the notion that being alone means you suffer from some kind of social, or anxiety disorder; and it is this kind of thinking that fuels our addiction to social networking. Youths do not want to go a single day without updating their statuses on Facebook to alert their peers to exactly what they are doing. Adults provide young children with their first catalyst into technology by being too busy to spend time with their child and introducing them to television from the time they are in diapers.In conclusion, us, humanity, society, and even as individuals, have lost what it truly means to be just that, an individual, and I fear that if something is not done to relinquish the control electronics have on our daily lives we will end up as socially neurotic, constantly anxious, sociopaths that constantly hide behind a brightly light screen to voice their thoughts instead of using our ability to look at someone in the eyes and carry on a conversation.

Language Loss

As we increasingly realize that our own self-destruction is inevitable in the destruction of the planet, the insular notion of Western modernity as the height of human progress is finally being questioned. However, the resultant paradox is that although we realize the resultant flaws of depending on one form of progress, the only alternatives that we could turn to are dying off of the face of the earth. Thus the global trend of language loss is an issue incredibly worthy of long overdue attention; it may in fact be our last meaningful alternative to rescue the plight of humanity’s survival.As a repository of knowledge, an expression of culture, and a symbolic embodiment of a way of life, the loss of a language speaks for itself. Although some Aboriginal languages are on the brink of extinction in Canada, regrettably, not many people are listening to the last cries of the voices that are quickly vanishing. I will explore the reasons why this is the case. Firstly I will delve i nto the roots of language, as a vehicle by which the essence of each particular culture comes into coherence in the material world and how its culture’s level of conceit that sustains its insularity.The history of Western culture, as a product of European colonialism and industrial capitalism, clearly exemplifies that its essence and more importantly its arrogance, is fundamentally at odds with a harmonious relationship with the natural world, currently leading to its own detriment. With this colonial mentality in mind, a second aspect I will explore is the stark alternative to this one way of thinking that is exemplified the in the culture of the Squamish people of Vancouver.Thus thirdly, the settlement, industrialization, and current urbanization transforming Vancouver, is arguably augmenting the divide between both ways of being, perpetuating the self-destruction of all people who are at the mercy of the dominant culture’s conceit. Thus I will argue that in contrast to Vancouver’s Aboriginal people’s way of life, the current level of arrogance sustaining the dependence on Western modernity will ultimately, inevitably be the demise of humanity. It is undeniable that language, like all things that humanity has created, is ultimately an invention of natural world.As a watershed of imagination, language tries to make sense of the world and may be understood as the symbolization of the human thought in trying to grapple with the nature of existence. Although these symbols were created in order to mediate and make sense of humanity’s place in the universe, since their creation they have transformed and pervaded human cognition to such an extreme extent as to actually replace inexplicable nature of existence with a false sense of ‘rational’ reality. Symbols, now meaning speech, are a cultural phenomenon fundamental to encompassing what define civilization (Zerzan Language: 237).As much as symbols in any culture try t o grapple with their reality in a complex scientific, or rational sense, due to their inherent detachment from the natural world and intrinsic reductionist nature, all attempts to find the answers of the universe, to fit harmoniously with mother earth will ultimately be at odds with what is in fact, incomprehensible. The seemingly rational is ultimately irrational. The layers of complexity now sustaining the process of symbolization account for an ongoing need to label and thus control what ultimately could never be comprehensively defined. SOURCE). An important element in this process of symbolization is the man-made conception of time. Time is one the earliest layers of symbolization’s complexity that enhanced a constructed nature of reality. John Zerzan notes that time’s fruition accounts for the need to define a sense of ‘progress’ that would dominate man’s sense of history, further alienating him away from the natural world. In a cycle of their own creation and perpetuation, the purpose of civilization has therefore, only been to reinforce itself.The perpetual construction of this notion of progress has ultimately led to the self-induced domestication of the mind, enhancing man’s estrangement from the natural (Zerzan Book: 25). Instead of surrendering to man’s harmonious connection to the inexplicable cosmos and thus accepting his own visceral nature, this false notion of progress has been perceived as an inevitable part of human development. Progress is now out of human control and thus alternative ways of existence are seen as backwards and illogical. Future Primitive: PAGE). The zenith of this sense of progress, is encompassed in the current notion of modernity as it is both the height of this civilization and yet the worst reality that the natural world has yet to endure. The sense of progress has always been subjected to the dictatorial role of arrogance and economics, what Williams calls the â€Å"inh erent dominative mode of thinking†(SOURCE). Economics narrates man’s conception of property in an alchemical mix of human labor on the earth’s soil in the pursuit of material wealth.Excessive material wealth superficially bolsters the sense of privildege, evolving to be better understood as their hubris. The Western cultural lineage that has pushed humanity ‘forward’ depends strict on this mentality, and now there exists a common belief that as Westerners works diligently towards the height of modernity, somehow other cultures in the world have become intellectually idle (Davis 2009: 166). Progress is largely perceived as a rushing current of vim and vigor, with an unstoppable momentum carrying all of us in its wake.Upon arrival in North America, with superiority imbued in their mentality, European colonialists brought a sense of progress to the New World. As both a by-product of their amalgamated colonial imagination and their equally delusional sci entific minds, Canada became a laboratory to be poked, measured, defined and prepared for extraction back to continue the fervent industrialization of Europe (Rigney 1999: 109). The colonial mentality is highlighted in their sense of property. Colonialists believed that property had to be enacted; it is as much a physical reality as it is constant aspiration to control.In their minds, property is a verb that must be put to work in order to define it (Blomley: 566). This is in accordance of the influential perspective of John Locke, who helped to ingrain the belief that if the land was not being used, it is being wasted. Thus the divine commons was rendered private property, â€Å"Eden sank to grief† and our natural world was at the mercy of man’s endless attempt to control and accrue all that they could from their surroundings (Blomey: 561). Just as Language is a creation of the natural world, it is the architect of sustaining meaning for a culture.Therefore in its use , language is also a system of power that allows the meanings imparted by cultural hegemony to endure and endure themselves (Focault: 22). Although this cultural lineage now dominates the world’s sense of progress, not all people believe in this once sense of reality. On the margins of modernity, some people’s resilient existence stands as testimony that this one insular mode of thinking is not be the only way of being, nor is it the best way for humanity to survive (Davis: PAGE).Such people do not feel the need to subjugate and try to feebly control the wonders of the natural world, but rather their existence is at the will of what they realize they cannot control. Instead of feebly trying to control the world around them, they would rather be spiritually submerged in nature’s all-encompassing, inexplicable power (Davis: Page). The Coast Salish indigenous people that have historically dwelled in what is now defined as the city-limits of Vancouver are just one e xample of such a people who’s underlying purpose in life is arguably not at odds with the natural order of the universe.Coast Salish is there common name, however within this label are a number of different cultural heritages that are uniquely defined by both their geographic location and correspondingly, their language. In Vancouver’s major reservations today, such identities as the Musqueam, Squamish and the Tsleil-Waututh peoples still dwell in a miniscule enclosure of their ancient homelands. Although their lands are being encroached on from all sides, they try to uphold the ways of their ancestors as a more visceral reality, that was once so harmoniously in balance with British Columbia’s ecosystem (Baloy: 520).Because of their ancient history of being so intimately tied with their surrounding terrain, these peoples distinct cultures, embodied in their in their oral traditions and expressions of art, encapsulate their belief in humanity’s divine conn ection with the land. Living adjacent to the Pacific, what is mentioned in more than one of these peoples’ creation stories is the belief that the land around them sprung from the rich expanse of water on which they heavily rely (Blomey:). In stark contrast to the European’s colonial conception of the property as Terra Nullius, or that it was there for the taking.The resultant boundaries that European’s created in this region are deeply embedded cultural experiences that had specific meanings for colonist. The concept to divide territories on the ground set limits marking distinct social groups and provide a mental template for categories of control (180). In contrast, Coast Salish peoples believe that the land that they gratefully depend upon came into being for a higher purpose. It was not inanimately waiting for humans to define it or bring it to life, but rather its very existence would be what defined them.Following the creation of land from the ‘mud of the ocean,’ the Squamish Coast Salish speak of an extended period of silence that enveloped the earth, in which humans, if they existed at all, only touched lightly on the land (Hill-Tout 1978: 20). The world in their sense was pure and if humans were there, they did not leave any traces of their settlement along the coast nor did they turn on their environment to accrue a sense of history via material wealth. Their ancestors quietly followed the nomadic paths of existence, dictated by the rhythms of life (566). Territorial connections are underwritten by heir relational epistemology- a way of knowing the world through relations. Their knowledge, use, control and even ownership of the land is based on complex relationship with ancestors and spirits which go to the heart of indigenous experiences of dwelling in that place (Thom 2000: 179). Today anthropologist remark on the sophistication of the Coast Salish economy, political structure and way of life. Virgina Crawford att ributed their civil aptitude to the security of their marine substance, as it allowed them to develop a complicated social system based on inherited or acquired clan rank (299).Although Crawford’s perspective gives credit to the Coast Salish people’s intelligence, it is expressed as both a novelty for Indigenous peoples and is tinged with Western lens of progress as if Coast Salish resource extraction was evidence to their efforts to civilize their society. Ultimately this perspective actually reduces the true intelligence of these peoples, which is beyond what Western science can coherently understand. Due to the fact that their existence is imbued with a spiritual understanding of the cosmos, every aspect of their daily lives revolves around ritual (Crawford: 299).Their devout survival is perhaps best captured in their most visible expression of culture, their art. In correlation to the Coast Salish creation story, their rich motifs are an attempt to imbue the awesom e aura of the natural world into an implicit design. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. The main thrust behind the degradation of human diversity is the crude face of privilege. The sense of superiority that some cultures have over others because they see world through a monochromatic lens, and persist in interpreting what their perception through a single cultural paradigm, their own (WF-Davis: 6).Vancouver’s Indigenous Community: Squamish: History, Creation, Art, Knowledge, Colonial Encounter Colonial Encounter: Mentality, Property, Language, ProgressSignificance of Urban environment Each word of even the most remote language is the a resounding testimony of cultural identity, and serves to act as a link connecting people with their past, their social, emotion and spiritual vitality (Norris: 12). (Norris 1998: 8) means of communication, but a link which connects people with their past and grounds their social, emotional and spiritual vitality. Norris 1998: 8) Although loss of language doesn’t necessarily lead to the death of a culture, it can severely handicap transmission of that culture. Modernization vs. Language vitality Without doubt, the forces of dominant languages and modernization exert a strong influence on any minority language. In the case of Aboriginal languages, historical events such as the prohibition of indigenous language use in residential schools have also contributed to this process. In addition, the fact that most Aboriginal languages were predominantly oral may also have diminished, in an already difficult environment, their chances of survival. Norris 1998: 8) Facts as of 1996- The current 50 languages of Canada’s indigenous peoples belong to 11 major language families- 10 first Nation and Inuktitut. Several major dialects within them. (Norris 1998: 9) Largest Language in Canada is Algonquin- 147,000 people Geography contributes to size, distribution of Aboriginal Languages Research: M. Dale Kinka de 1991 â€Å"The Decline of Native Languages in Canada† Root of Language- Geography of Canada- Plains accommodate a large group of people.Soaring mountains and deep gorges tend to restrict settlement to small pockets of isolated groups in B. C- small languages. Salish, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Haida, Tlingit, Kutenai- could not develop as large a population as dispersed Algonquin. (Norris 1998: 9)- Isolation can also play a part (Indigenous Issue) Mother tongue population: those people who first language learned at home, and still understood is an Aboriginal Language. (Norris 1998: 10) Index of ability (Kn/MT)1: compares the number of people who report being able to speak the language as a mother tongue.If for every 100 people with a specific Aboriginal mother tongue , more than 100 person in the overall population are able to speak that language, some clearly learned it as a second language either in school or later in life. This may indicate language revival. (Norris 1998: 10) (Stat) Because unlike other minority groups, Aboriginals cannot rely on new immigrant to maintain or increase their population of speakers, passing on the language from parent to children is critical for all indigenous languages’ survival (Norris 1998: 11) (Indigenous issue)Canada’s Aboriginal languages are amongst the most endangered in the world- significant numbers of languages have either already disappeared or are close to extinction (Norris 1998: 15). Among the languages spoken today 2 out of 50 are viable with a large population base- Large or small viable languages (Norris 1998: 15) (Stat) Research: How the English Language Became the World’s Language- Robert Crum Globish. Revival- Sacred Ways of Life: Knowledge. Chelsea Crowshoe- crowshoe consulting Inc.Everyone is a community or culture, hold traditional knowledge because it is collective- WHO: defines traditional medicine- the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on theories, beliefs, a nd experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as the prevention diagnosis, improvement of treatment of physical and mental illness Traditional knowledge is shared through ways of exchanging cultural and traditional information such as storytelling- (Crowshoe: 2)Language and culture are the foundation of nationhood of First Nation, Inuit, and Metis people. Canada’s cultural wealth is not merely its official bilingualism- or its multicultural tapestry- Aboriginal languages re part of the our mosaic- A number o Aboriginal languages have died (WHICH ONES? ) and more are at risk- 29% of First Nations people can converse in their language- only a few are flourishing: Cree, 85,000 speakers, Ojibway, 30,000 speakers, Anishiimowin 12,5000- Montagais0Naskapi 11,000.Most Inuit can speak one of the dialects of Inuktitut but statistic Canada report a decreasing number using it as the main language at home- Michif- tra ditional language of the Metis These values are associated, amongst other things, with economic reductionism, mechanistic modes of thinking, aggressive individualism and the destruction of community. (Bennett 2010: 9) The residential school system, mobility and more recently, television, internet are responsible for the loss of language. Canada does well on Global Standards- All of Caribbean languages are extinct- half of the indigenous Central and South American languages-Last ten speakers of Nitinat (Ditidaht) or Comox spearks of Vancouver Island 100 Seneca Cayuga or Onodaga speakers of the nearly 4,000 in south Western Ontario Baloy, Natalie J. K. We Can’t Feel our Language: Making Places in the City for Aboriginal Language Revitalization Language Revitalization efforts are overwhelmingly located in rural environment despite the fact that aboriginal people are increasingly choosing to live and rasie their families in urban settings. Youth are anxious to learn language (Bal oy 2011: 515) Emerging language ideologies of urban aboriginal peopleStrong Aboriginal identity and urban lifestyle are mutually exclusive Land, language and identity- how can this be fostered and nutured in urban spaces (Bayol: 516) The sduy of language ideology-has emerged as a mediating link between social structures and forms of talk. Language ideology refers to the social connection people make with the own or other’s languages, dialects of language variations. The fate of many minority language is likely determined to a large extent by ideology (Baloy 2011: 517) Language ideology- rich possibilities for understanding how people think about and value language.Identifying how language ideologies are constructed, maintained and contested can meaningfully inform strategies for language documentation, planning education and revitalization in contexts of language loss. Ideological clarification (Baloy 2011: 517) Contemporary language ideologies evolve out of historical experi ences and are shaped by mainstream attitudes towards language, government policies and demographic changes (Baloy 2011: 517) Government policies perpetuated mainstream ideologies that position English as a powerful international lingua franca and aboriginal languages as outmoded.Aboriginal languages are often unrecognized, unknown, unappreciated by non-aboriginal society. Sensitive to multingualism- most highly educated and politically influential, largely ignorant of the sheer diversity and complexity, the cognitive and cultural richness of the native languages of the First Nations peoples (Baloy 2011: 517) Historical policies and processes have contributed to the devaluation of aboriginal languages in Canada- continue to resonate today.Residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, galvanizce gnificanation of aboriginal- (Baloy 2011: 517) As a result, many aboriginal parents refrained from speaking their heritage languages to their children in efforts to boost their chances for success i n mainstream society- a generation of young Aboriginal children grew up monolingual in English- drop after residential schools. (Baloy 2011: 518) Angered by the loss of language, community leaders seek redress as the loss of language has become a symbol of government oppression and assimilation policies. Baloy 2011: 518) Reclamation of Native identity, pride, decolonization, assertion of sovereignty (Baloy 2011: 518) Henry Davis stated: â€Å"If you talk to anybody on the reserve, the chiefs will stand up and say two things of utmost importance: language and land† Dual significance What bout about Urban Aboriginals? (Baloy 2011: 518) Urban vs. Remote comparison, similarities, contrasts Urban Example: Vancouver Diversity of British Columbia- Western Canada Vancouver is located in the traditional lands of the Musequea, Squamish, Tsleil-Watuth. The Katzie, Kwantlen, Sto:lo, Tswassan- recognized as local First nations.Umbrella Coast Salish- Squaimish and Musqueam have urban reser ves- Musqueam’s language: Henqeminem- no fluent speakers though there are some semifluent speakers- efforts to restore and revitalize language- Squamish: Skwxwu7mesh Snichim- some fluent speakers, working toward language revival (Baloy 2011: 519) From beginning Vancouver’s development aboriginal nonlocal aboriginal people have made the city for temporary or long-term settlement. Great diversity of aboriginal people living on traditional Coast Salish homelands. Vancouver jobs, education and services. Baloy 2011: 520)There are over thirty five First nations groups represented in the city. First Nations groups are represented in the city in additional to Metis and Inuit peoples. There are now over forty thousand people who identify as aboriginal in the Metro Vancouver area. 1/5 of the total aboriginal population in the province. (Baloy 2011: 520) The number of Aboriginal people has risen in Vancouver- 30% since 1996. Aboriginal peoples living in the city continue to grow- (Baloy 2011: 520)In the early 1950’s 7% of aboriginal people in Canada lived in urban settings- Today approximately 54% of aboriginal people now living in cities. 0% in B. C Moving back and forth between city and reserve. Though many identify with a particular Native heritage and homeland, their aboriginal life is situated in city life (Baloy 2011: 520) Despite urbanization- language revitalization work has maintained mostly an on-reserve focus- reflects wider trends in social science research on aboriginal people as well as mainstream understandings of aboriginal identity (520) Cities or places that had the potential for economic development Why the city has been ignored for so long? Rural aboriginal homelands- rural bound up in colonial histories- Themes of genocide, dispossession of land, and aboriginal government relations emphasize these geo-demographic patterns Reserves are native space- Colonial practice placed reserves in their favor. By interrogating these processes scholars can avoid reifying colonial practices that have contributed to trop of rural aboriginal homelands. Peoples from communities across B. C and Canada have ow moved to Vancouver to live dwell on Coast Salish homelands an urban environment (524) negotiating cultural protocol in such diverse context can become somewhat impler when local people are emphaisized. Outsiders still honor the Coast Salish homelands and attempts to rvitalize language. Some people believe that the world would be a better place if we all spoke the same language. If this is true, and the world’s sole language somehow ended up being Arabic for instance, I wonder what life would be like not being able to converse with someone else in my mother tongue.My world would be inevitably enveloped in silence, I would not be able to coherently articulate stories of my heritage nor utter words that could cohesively encompass the full expression of who I am. It is undeniable that this would possibly be one of the loneliest states of existence imaginable. Unfortunately, such an unthinkable condition is in fact a stark reality for some peoples in the world. This phenomenon has mainly tightened its grasp on to weakened Indigenous communities whose dying tongues have been systematically forced to the edge of extinction on a global scale.As languages continue to disappear from the face of humanity’s cultural diversity, the need to address this issue becomes increasingly more pertinent. Unlike learning French or Spanish, within Indigenous communities, learning a language is ultimately a spiritual process. It gives peace, a sense of reality, a sense of peace. In an urban setting, learning an aboriginal language can enrich one’s links with other people from the same nation or strengthen connections to one’s aboriginal heritage on deeper personal level. Meeting these language goals requires approaches different from long-term language learning.The most intensive projects for lan guage workers and learners aim to develop conversational, everyday use of language. (530) New words in the urban setting- like the internet, or the elevator that are not readily at hand for aboriginal peoples. This fast pace, changing the modern world is almost impossible for English to keep up with. (530) Many of their words are obsolete. Conversely, words that aboriginal langues do have in abundance, such as vocabulary related to local food procurement and specfic land features have limited relevance in the urban setting. Language is obsolete in that sense. 530) It’s now up to the community to change language to fit the city-dwellers needs. Thus making IDEOLOGICAL places for language in the city involves identifying how aboriginal languages can fit into urban people’s lives, integrating how aboriginal languages (531) What is offered in the inclusion of Native Languages in the lives of urban aboriginal people. Research participants suggest that urban language learning can have wide-ranging effects: it can strengthen individuals bonds with their own identity and their test to homelands, community building efforts.We can’t feel our mother, we can’t feel our language. Being cut from the land they are literally cut from all meaning language. (537) Musqueam, Squamish and other local nations- resilience, connections between land, language and identity remain strong and resilient. The close connection between language and the land. Have developed by geography. Getting out in the wilderness is where language makes sense- where language is manifested. Noting that sounds emulate the land. The diversity of languages in BC- physical geography of B. C (324)