Peekay's insightful learnings

From Nanny:
     "She spoke in Shangaan so that all could share wide-eyed and groan and nod and sigh in the appropriate places(12)."
  -this quote is where Peekay first began to learn the importance and significance of language and communication.

     "In the end it is the earth who will win, every African knows this(14)."

     "Life is all beginnings and ends.  Nothing stays the same, lad... Parting, losing the thing that we love the most, that's the whole business of life, that's what it's mostly about(135)."
    -this quote is from Peekay's Grandpa, but I feel that his Grandpa served the same purpose in the story as Nanny, because he is providing wisdom for Peekay to live by.

Hidden vs. Manifest

    In our society I feel we act as a whole with a distance between the hidden and the manifest.  What I mean by this is that in the U.S. we have a democracy, and each person has their own opinion and rights.  Those individual opinions may be overshadowed by the entire population, or simply by those who cast their votes during elections, and those who are vocal through interest groups.  The distinction between hidden and manifest here is that the manifest is what is portrayed in the media about our government, and the public issues, and the interest groups focused on those issues.  The hidden aspects of our society are all of those independent views of each person, and the entire truths behind everything portrayed in the media.
    There are many things that are portrayed in the media from several different angles.  This allows us to see many sides of the same story, but it is still difficult to always get the entire story.  These clouding of stories allows for overseeing all the truth that is available, so making it more hidden.  That goes as well for all the individual ideals and opinions, not because they don't matter, but simply because each individual idea is not strong enough to gain attention.  This is not an intentional hiding of the basic diversity in our nation, but there is just no way to represent every individual, so they may fall to the side.
    The interest groups and political policies, the media and the public policies represent our nation, and therefore, they are the manifest parts of our nation.  These parts are more recognizable to other nations looking in on us than those individual aspects.  Also, the things that are readily available for the public to see shape what the public thinks about, so manifests itself more.  Therefore, in our society the manifest is not what the whole population chooses to show, but what the voices for the population choose to show, such as foreign policies, and the ways in which public policies are affected.  The hidden aspects of our society (like how many people or different groups of people view a particular issue) are not necessarily intentionally hidden, but are covered up by the more general aspects of the media and voices of the political parties.  This gives the hidden side the quality of desiring to have the manifest, but it does not have the power to take over the manifest.

Tidbits about China

    Right now I don't really know that much about China besides the obvious fact that it is in Asia.  I do, however, recall from my history class last year that China is a communist country, and though they have a president, they are a highly dictatorial nation.  China is also one of the most industrious nations, with most of their money coming from the exportation of goods to more industrialized nations like the U.S.  China is one of the world's most populous nations, but it has a large land area, so it is not as crowded as some of the Asian nations.  I don't remember where I learned this, but I know that China is one of the countries with the highest number of McDonald's per resident ratios.  It also seems to me that Buddhism is a major religion in China.  Historically I know that the Chinese were not allowed to have more than one kid, but now I do not know what their policy on family size is.  The Chinese people eat a lot of rice, because the land in China is good for growing white rice.  Also, the Chinese generally sit at low tables that don't require chairs, so that they can sit on the floor.  I know that there are several different dialects of the Chinese language, including Mandarin Chinese, that are all different from each other, and used in different parts of the nation.  Finally, the last thing that I can recall about China and its people is that the Chinese use Yen for currency.

Plentimaws and Floating Gardeners

   When reading about the Plentimaws tangling up the stories in the Ocean of Story Streams and their relationship to the floating gardener, Mali, I was reminded of society as a whole creating wastes, and the recycling system organizing that waste.  I don't, however, think that the word waste is appropriate for this analogy, because, the stories that are in the Ocean of Story Streams are not waste.  The stories do, however, get used by the creatures of Gup in ways that they need them, in order to understand their world, and to communicate with others.  Then when the stories become used and are not useful to the citizens of Gup anymore they are digested by the Plentimaws and turned into new stories.  This is just how we get rid of things that are no longer useful to us, and send them to the recycling plant.  The recycling system sorts the garbage and decides how to use it, as Mali, the floating gardener, untangles the stories and decides how to organize them.  The Plentimaws are like the general population, while Mali is like the recycling system used to organize the mess that society makes.

INDIA

I.                   a.  There are many nationalities in India.  They include:

                                                              i.      Arabian, Persian, Armenian, Turkish, Dutch, and English.

b.      There are also a variety of religions practiced in India.  These include:

                                                              i.      Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

II.                1857—the Great Revolt

a.       In 1857 there was a combined effort in Northern India by the Muslims to shake off the British rule, and from the Hindus trying to remove the ways of Western education and social reform.

b.      The unrest that led to the Great Revolt was caused by political frustration, and uneasiness produced by the influx of Western influence.

c.       The British ultimately had success in controlling the revolt, because Southern India was not affected by the unrest in the North, and so maintained their relations with Britain.

III.             Impact from the West (Europe)—beginning in 19^th century

a.       The faith of Christianity was heavily imposed on the native peoples.

b.      The old system of mercantilism was dismantled and the country began to industrialize.  Today its top industries include:

                                                              i.      Textiles

                                                            ii.      Steel/iron

                                                          iii.      The railroad

c.       This was the first time that the government began to organize itself in a way that they could collect taxes, so an income tax was begun.

d.      This era was filled with debate about importing goods from foreign nations (particularly Great Britain), and using domestic goods.

IV.             Major issues in India today in the World Community

a.       Today India (in relation with the Middle East) is one of the world’s major persons traffickers.

                                                              i.      Women, men, and children are trafficked into the region from the Middle East (and vice-versa) to be sold and exploited for physical labor, factory labor, working in brick kilns, agriculture, and embroidery factories.

                                                            ii.      Women, specifically, are trafficked for marriage and sexual exploitation.

                                                          iii.      Children, specifically, are exchanged between the Middle East and India to be used as beggers, and be forced into terrorist groups.

b.      Today India is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of opium, so they sell it on a legal market.  Unfortunately, they also illegally sell and transport large amounts of opium internationally today.  Besides opium, they illegally move narcotics around the world.

Justice or Cruelty?

    The question of when Justice becomes cruelty is one that cannot be answered in black and white, but rather in tones of gray, where there is little distinction between what is right and what is not.  When I dwell on this question I am reminded of something that Dr. Seuss once said.  Almost as though he was thinking about the line between Justice and cruelty himself, Dr. Seuss stated that "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."  I fully believe this quote applies here, being as how there are so many levels to this question, and it invokes thoughts of many instances where Justice seemed blind, or extremely biased, like the so-called Justice brought to the people of Iran during the cultural revolution, and those people's personal justices with their changed lifestyles.  The answer that I have personally come to is that all Justice is cruel, and whether you see the cruel end or the justifying end depends on the cards you were dealt.
    The Cultural Revolution that took place in Iran set into motion a landslide of people giving up their customary lifestyles for the strict laws and customs of the supreme leader.  Statistics today have shown that over 99% of all Iranians are conservative Muslims, but this is not necessarily true.  I believe this statistic only points out that 99% of Iranians have conformed to the strict conservative laws and customs brought with the Cultural Revolution.  Just like the neighbor of the Satrapis in the graphic novel Persepolis, many of the people who are now "conservative Muslims" may not have always been, and may only be wearing that physical and social costume of who they are in order to avoid any punishment.  The supreme leader is bringing justice to the region in his own mind, and he is definitely unifying all the people by harshly controlling them, but he is by no means giving them personal justices.  Marjane's personal justice for that she does for herself is to tell the truth and not let the misconceptions of her society to become what she sees as the truth.  For her there is a personal justice here, but she is robbing others of their personal justices when she argues against what the teachers are saying in class, and she makes darn well sure that the other students know what she knows.  I say that she is robbing others of their personal justices, because others have accepted what they have heard, and they are relying on that to be the truth, even though it isn't necessarily all true.  So, knowing the truth is a justice to Marjane, while being unaware of the truth is a justice for others.
    The simple answer that I have come to from class discussions and through reading Persepolis is that justice always comes with cruelty.  Therefore, the question concerning when justice becomes cruelty is slightly misleading in my mind, because justice and cruelty are not two separate entities, but a single body.  It seems that no matter what kind of justice is delivered, there is always a party that is effected negatively, while others may prosper, so justice is always paired with cruelty, but the measure of each is determined by the case, and the perspective from which it is viewed.

Understanding the Middle East

    For me it is important to understand the complex nature of issues in and involving the Middle East for social reasons.  If I understand what is happening in the region I can more fully participate in discussions about it, or relating back to it.  Understanding what is going on there will also help me to understand view points of other people.  If someone expresses an opinion about something that is happening in the Middle East than I will be more able to understand where they are coming from, and see their side of the story, as well as make my own educated opinion of the matter.  Finally, in order to understand issues in our nation that involve politics and military strategy, understanding the region of the Middle East will be very beneficial in my own social life.