Joseph Stack is a Terrrorist.

     Robert Wright is a journalist who emphasizes culture, politics, and world affairs in his writing. The argument made by Wright in his article about the Joseph Stack "Legacy" is this; Joseph Stack was a terrorist who had major commonalities with most Tea Partiers. "In common usage, a "terrorist" is someone who attacks in the name of a political cause and aims to spread terror- to foster fear that such attacks will be repeated until grievances are addressed"..."this man was, by prevailing semantic conventions, a terrorist"(Wright, 2010). Wright also indicates that Stack had a lot in common with most Tea Partiers, mostly his "populist rage". Wright makes this argument based mostly on the manifesto left by Stack, which outlined his reasoning for flying his plane into an IRS building. In short, this argument is based on hard evidence- a true primary source of research.


     Wright's argument convinced me that Stack was "the first Tea Party terrorist". I am convinced of this because the man I thought of as disgruntled and perhaps mentally ill- and I based this on my lack of information about the incident- was revealed to me in his truer form. Joseph Stack intelligently and deliberately plotted and carried out this plan. He did not care that he ran the risk of killing innocent people (and he did kill one). Accepting this argument seems to hold the implication, for me, that I need to take the time to learn more about situations before I form opinions about them or the people involved. I empathized with Joseph’s frustration and hated him for his actions to begin with. After reading this article, I do not empathize with him, nor do I warrant him the energy it would require to hate him. He was a terrorist- a disturbed man.

     This article holds political significance for two main reasons. First of all, calling Stack out as the terrorist he was should serve as a catalyst in the hearts and minds of the American people- to remember that terrorism is within our borders, and our vigilance is all that will prevent future attacks of a much larger scale. Second of all, it shows just how much one has to do to call attention to his grievances. Would any of the American people have cared if he tried to make his hardships known in some other fashion? Would they have cared? Does the American public, in general, care about anything but American Idol? As a nation, we vote little and complain a lot. Some, voters or not, suffer to the point of losing their senses- for this reason, democracy seems to need reviving. Hopefully, this incident can spur a revival in each person affected by it to reach out more for the common good. The Tea Party seems to have the right idea, but Joseph Stack had it all wrong.

  

More Troops Into Afghanistan

When President Obama ordered 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, Republicans applauded his decision, while Democrats were left to ponder their reservations about the idea. In a recent USA Today article by Mimi Hall, both sides of the debate over this issue are offered in a non-biased manner, which makes the article viable and worthy of reading. The Republican Party platform supports the US occupation of Afghanistan, on the basis that is the responsibility of Americans to help third-world countries become self-sustaining democracies. The Democratic Party opposes the surge in troops headed to Afghanistan, because of the massive spending, which is not at all in keeping with the Democratic ideals of fiscal responsibility. Everyone should take a few moments to read this article, as it contains pertinent and valuable data concerning Obama's decision to push the number of troops in Afghanistan up to 100,000 people, in order to firmly secure the safety of the American people (he was addressing the students at West Point, and hinted at 9-11).

Quiz Me, Squeeze me

"A Little Civics Quiz"- 17 out of 33 correct gives me a score of 51.52% (heh, wow).
I apparently have my work cut out for me this semester. I can't believe an American person with a High School Diploma doesn't know ALL of these answers. We need to just imitate the Japanese Secondary School model and raise the bar!

"A Little Current Events Quiz"- 38% puts me 10% higher than the average score earned by a person in my age group (18-29).
On average, people my age did worse than I did. Thank goodness! I am surely inspired to pay attention this semester, and start reading the paper perhaps. Although, I am not sure I can overcome my fear of the government endorsing certain messages in the media. I don't want to just go out and seek today's propaganda (yes, propaganda!). I suppose I will attempt to learn as much about today's world, and act oblivious to the very real possibility that much of what I will learn is false or at least altered. What can you do? Nothing!

Am I political, per se?

I have never given a great deal of thought to my political affiliation or ideology, so it was inevitable that this class would inspire me to find out how I feel about things. I didn't know where to start, so I took 7 political questionnaires to see if there was any continuity among them.
All that I learned is this; leading questions lead to desired results. I scored all over the place. I still have no idea where I stand. My goal for this semester has become, in part, to figure that out. I have considered myself a Republican since high school, for the most basic reasons, but I am starting to think more and more that I am a libertarian. Anyhow, here is what I discovered. Please keep in mind that you may end up with consistent results simply because you are familiar with political terminology. I had to google a lot of the words and concepts I was being questioned about, rather then answer based on a firm grasp of them. I am going to repeat the experiment at the end of the semester and see if I come up with more consistent results, due to a firmer grasp on the concepts being presented.
According to Advocates For Self-Government's "The World's Smallest Political Quiz", I am a Right-wing Conservative. I find this interesting, and perhaps not light-years from the truth. According to The Political Compass, I am a neo-lib. This is also within the realm of possibility, as odd as it may sound. I really have a lot to learn, so one never can tell. According to GoToQuiz.com, I am a fascist! (Communist was a close second...scary). Right then- moving on. According to BlogThings, I am a "Don't Tread On Me Libertarian". According to SelectSmart.com, I am an Anarchist. Haha! I am really starting to enjoy this process! According to All The Tests, I am a Democratic Socialist. Interesting. Finally, according to ProProfs, I am a Libertarian. Wow. Well, that's all she wrote...er, I wrote. This wasn't assigned, but come on, people, let's try to have some fun being bloggers!
If you have the time, and the patience for some poorly designed quizzes, please be obliged to do all 7 of these and post your result as a comment on this blog, so that I can see how other people fared. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely yours,
Ashley L. Brock