Culture Days

Hello,
So the culture days are over. I really enjoyed it but to be honest, it’s good to have it behind me. It was a culture shock. Too much information in too short time. Even though I’m  still digesting all the info, I try to fix my mind on 10 that I watched. These are my top 10.

Ireland:

 1.Julia Seeman:The Symbolism of the Harp.

2. Alexandra Pasca: Hero or Enemy? How the World Sees Bobby Sands

3.Katrin Wiesinger: Reek Sunday on Crough Patrick

America:

4. Orsolya Csizmár: Two Heroines of American Aviation: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman

5. Marina Margeta:  Things you might not know about San Francisco and the Bay area

6. Livia Perschy:  Danger of Society Threat Groups in American prisons

7. Lucie Bois: Comic books and Superheros

8.Anna Agabani:  Why on earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!

9. Louis Nguyen: Harlem, New York City

10.Bianca Stadler: Sacagawea: Her Claim to Faim

The 5 that I chose to be tested on:

1.Lucie Bois: Comic books and Superheros

2.Anna Agabani:  Why on earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!

3.Alexandra Haunold: The Columbian Exchange

4. Danger of Society Threat Groups in American prisons

5. : Two Heroines of American Aviation: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman

All the presentation I saw were in some way great. Some of them were great because of the topic, some for  the way they were presented or the PP/Prezi design. I learned a lot of new  and additional info in those  2 days. Thank You!

Whistleblowers

Dear Readers,

As we are all in the midst of the finals, it gets harder to find the time for a post. Although, I see that many of you manage it and that gives me the power to go on. I don't really feel a change in the intensity because for me the end of the semester is at least as hard as the it was in the beginning. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 4 more weeks and a couple of homework more and we are over it. But this is not the actual topic that I want to write about. Today I stumbled over a video about "whistleblowers". Actually it was two. 

One guy who's name is Bradley Manning was a US Army soldier who passed classified materiel (top secret information) to "Wikileaks". This was in 2010 and his case is still under discussion. For the Government he is a traitor, but for many people he is a hero. Standing up against authority takes a lot of courage if you ask me. His opinion is that  everyone should have the right to know what is really going on, even if this means life sentence for himself. For the Government he is a terrorist who tried to pass information to the enemy, but he just tried to enlighten the people. If you ask me, a few more weeks and no one will remember him.

The other whistleblower is Edward Snowden. He works/worked for the NSA (National Security Agency). He was in a very high position, earning tons of money and enjoying life on Hawaii. He had access to authorized information and, as you may have guessed, leaked the info. It is interesting to see that people in high positions who's interest is that this system of corruption and surveillance should work forever, change their mind and expose themselves to the world. This must mean something.

(This is a very interesting interview with Edward Snowden)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video?CMP=twt_fd

Maybe it’s because I read too much George Orwell or I'm just growing up, but it seems to me that we are somehow fooled. For example, there is a revolution going on in Turkey. Even though people died by the hands of the police (who are supposed to protect us), the media did not broadcast anything about it for days. We know just what the government wants us to know and even if they introduce certain news they introduce them in the light they want the viewer to see them. So they achieve that the most people are loyal.

I hope I did not offend anyone by this post. Sometimes I have this unbearable intention to spread the word, which cannot be heard or seen in the news.

Take Care,
Harald