Patriotism, Education, and Cosmopolitanism

I enjoyed reading the two articles "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism" by Martha Nussbaum, and "Education and Cosmopolitanism" by Cynthia Scott because they were two different viewpoints on the same topic. For the most part the two authors would agree on the issues, but when it came down how they would like to fix it there was some difference. The main points the two shared were that we are all American Citizens and we have a dedication to the country, and that starts with Education. The main problem is that our schools are not global enough. From our first history classes we go over the same thing ever three years in grade school. Both authors would argue that this needs to change and more present day global information needs to be added. When it comes down on how the two approach this. Nussbaum explains on how these things need to change, but never gets into to much depth on how. Scott argues that this is way harder then even Nussbaum realizes. Scott agrees that this change needs to happen but she is more of a realize believing it will not change over night.

Patriotism, Education, and Cosmopolitanism

In Martha Nussbaum's essay, "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism", she focuses on the way America's education system works, and how it could be improved. She believes that Americans are very self centered around their own country, and are to blind to what is going on in other countries around the world. She points out that everyone should become "citizens of the world" and not be divided. On the other hand, Cynthia Scott is not completely sold on this idea entirely, which she articulates in her essay, "Education and Cosmopolitanism." She agrees with some of the ideas that Nussbaum has, but Scott thinks that it would be extremely hard to get everyone in our country to come together as one whole group with the world. America has so many different types of people from all over the world, therefore it would be very difficult to bring everyone together. She also argues that it would not be good for America to try and do this. Overall, Nussbaum makes some valid points, which Scott agrees with, but the education system in America is just too complicated to convert everyone into "citizens of the world" and become familiar with many other different cultures.

Doug West: education, patriotism, and going cosmo

Both articles, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” by Martha Nussbaum and “Education and Cosmopolitanism” by Cynthia Scott, relate to each other with similar topics dealing with world citizenship, nationality, and American education system. Nussbaum presents a possible way to change the education system. She points out that American school systems are extremely focused on American culture and nationality. It is her belief that an American student should learn more about other cultures around the world. Her essay puts a lot of emphasis on learning, ”Global citizenship” in school. In the second essay Scott responds to Nussbaum’s essay. Scott’s essay agrees and backs up a few points made in the first essay. Scott agrees with the fact the American school system fails to teach students global issues and the quality of living in other countries. The disagreement Scott brings up is how to fix the problem. She claims that Nussbaum’s solution to the problem will destroy American culture and patriotism.

In the first article, "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism" Martha Nussbaum emphasizes the importance of citizenship. Not citizenship of a single nation, but citzenship of the world. She stresses this idea by presenting four points which she uses to connect her ideas to cosmopolitanism. For instance, she mentions that having good international connections allows one to become more worldly. All her ideas are summed up by saying that a person who is a citizen of the world is one who, "refuses to be defined by their local origins and local group memberships."

The second article, "Education and Cosmopolitanism" by Cynthia C. Scott, backs up many of the ideas presented in the first article. The only difference is that Scott is somewhat skeptical as to how Nussbaum plans on incorporating her ideas into the world. She says that Nussbaum has great ideas, but implementing them would be nearly impossible.

“Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” and “Education and Cosmopolitanism”

In the first article, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” by Martha Nussbaum, she clearly states that she is a supporter of more cosmopolitanism in education. As she goes on to support her argument, she states four main points. These points include, first having the cosmopolitanism educational system help us discover more about ourselves; second is to be an international corporation to be able to solve problems; third is to realize the issues at hand of other struggling countries; and fourth is understanding that we need to watch our actions because what we do affects others. In the second article, “Education and Cosmopolitanism” by Cynthia Scott, the author created a response towards Nussbaum and her argument. Even though throw many of the points she agrees, her questioning towards some the ideas and how the process will happen is debatable for herself.

Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism & Education and Cosmopolitanism

The first article "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism" by Martha Nussbaum, is about embracing our worldly identity. Nussbaum urges us as Americans to respect our own culture but also understand other cultures. He writes that we can do this through education, solving problems that require international cooperation, recognizing moral obligations to the world, and by making a consistent and coherent argument based on distinctions we are prepared to defend.

The second article "Education and Cosmopolitanism" by Cynthia Scott goes very much in hand with Nussbaum's article. Scott believes that students are ignorant of the world around them but to educate students, it would take a great deal of change in our school systems. Scott is not so enthusiastic as Nussbaum, and I agree. While I think we should be more educated about these issues, it might be easier said than done.

Cosmopolitanism

In Martha Nussbaum's Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism many ideas of being a member of society and a member of the world are discussed. She talks about the need for a general sense of awareness about surrounding countries and their issues. Nussbaum stresses the importance of learning about ourselves so that we can be a better member of society. Her idea of universal citizenship and education of this starts with understanding of humanity and the respect for the people around us. In this article it is made apparent that it is our responsibility to become involved in our world by becoming involved with the people in it. She is very passionate about the idea of cosmopolitanism and thinks that it should be heavily emphasized in education. She has a great passion for the people of the world to collaborate and better the world together.

In Cynthia Scott's Education and Cosmopolitanism she agrees with some things that Nussbaum says but she raises many questions about how possible this idea of intergrating cosmopolitism is. She addresses the fact that Nussbaum's idea is a bit idealistic and not so realistic. Scott brings up the point that the how must be answered in addition to the what. We need to know how to use this process of cosmopolitanism and how effective its going to be if it will be effective at all. Scott provides much more logic behind the idea of intergrating cosmopolitanism and realizes that it will take a while and be very difficult if not impossible to change an entire system of living. She agrees with Nussbaum in the fact that this change would be beneficial but realizes that it is a giant leap from the world we live in now.

Patriotism, Education, and Cosmopolitanism

The first article, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism,” written by Martha Nussbaum, discusses what it means to be a citizen of the world, the benefits of understanding the idea of Cosmopolitanism, and what the term means. Nussbaum address the idea of being a citizen of the world by stating that it is a person who “refuses to be defined by their local origins and local group memberships.” In the article, Nussbaum encourages against the practice of having no connections to a group of people or place because those connections are what define who we are. The author also mentions that we are all unknowingly trying to connect with everyone in the world and make one giant community. Nussbaum also made some very interesting connections in her numbered paragraphs to her topic of Cosmopolitanism, such as having good international relationships can lead to better understanding of, and cooperation with other nations, which will achieve the goal of tying everyone into one big community.

The second article “Education and Cosmopolitanism,” written by Cynthia C. Scott, acts as a supporting argument, agreeing with what Nussbaum suggests happens in the school system, but raises questions as to how that should happen. The difference between the two articles is that Nussbaum’s article comes off as being theoretical and philosophical while Scott’s article is logical and to the point. In her article, she asks if the integration of cosmopolitanism into schools would even be effective along with many other questions regarding formalities.

Patriotism & Cosmopolitanism, Education & Cosmopolitanism

“Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” and “Education and Cosmopolitanism” are both readings that are similar and differ in many ways. Nussbaum’s writing issues four ways of making the educational system a little more focused on citizenship rather than national aspects. First, Nussbaum spoke about making the educational system cosmopolitan, second being global knowledge and planning around the world, third being global recognition, and fourth being aware of decisions that we make everyday that could possibly affect others. Scott’s reading was essentially a response to the first reading by Nussbaum. American’s don’t understand the living arrangements in other countries, therefore, making it harder to understand what other people around going through throughout the world.

cosmopolitism

In Martha Nussbaum's article regarding cosmopolitism she makes 4 arguments. The first, is about learning more about ourselves. The second, is that to solve problems, international cooperation is necessary. The third, is that we need to recognize the issues that other countries struggle with around the world. The last, is that we need to recognize that what we do affects others, so we need to watch what we are doing. I agree with Nussbaum's article we need to be more aware of everyone else. In Cynthia Scott's article she is responding to the article Nussbaum makes in her article. While Scott agrees that changes need to be made, she does not agree with how Nussbaum thinks we should go about it. She thinks Nussbaum's plan is too extreme and makes some opposing arguments.

Patriotism and Cosmopolitism; Education and Cosmopolitanism

Martha Nussbuam offers four arguments that are in support of a more cosmopolitanism education in the United States. This would include making us more worldly citizens rather then specifically loyal to our individual country. The four arguments are, 1) Through cosmopolitanism education, we learn more about our-selves. 2) We make headway solving problems that require international cooperation 3) We recognize moral obligations to the rest of the world that are real, and that otherwise would go unrecognized. and 4) We make a consistent and coherent argument based on distinctions we are really prepared to defend.

Cynthia Scott's article Education and Cosmopolitanism is a direct response to Nussbaum's. While she does agree with Nussbaum in some instances, she also raises some good oppositions showing how much work would actually be necessary in order to transition into this new way of education, and how it is ultimately too much.

Patriotism and Cosmospolitanism and Education

The two readings were “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” by Martha Nussbaum and “Education and Cosmopolitanism” by Cynthia Scott. In Nussbaum’s writing she offers four ways of making the educational system more focused toward the world citizenship as opposed to national. First is by making the educational system cosmopolitan. Second is global knowledge and planning around the world. The third is global recognition, knowing the issues that other countries struggle with. Finally being aware of the decisions we make and how they will affect others. The second reading written by Cynthia Scott is a response to the first reading. Scott agrees that there is an issue with American’s not understanding the living standards of other countries and their daily concerns. She does not agree that the solution is to incorporate cosmopolitanism into the educational system. She believes there is a lot of work that would have to go into the change that wouldn’t make a big enough impact in the end. I agree with her point of view. By removing the patriotism from education the country will lose its sense of unity, culture and patriotism. Being a culturally diverse country causes the need to create a sense of unity and this is currently being done through patriotic educational system.

Cosmopolitanism Blog

In the essay "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism" by Martha Nussbaum, she clearly starts her argument by stating that Americans do not know the basic rights of citizens in other countries and other daily problems. Many Americans are prideful and share a strong sense of national identity, to which Nussbaum infers that Americans believe we are above all other citizens of the world. We need to be taught that we share this world will human beings with citizens of other countries and respect them. Nussbaum says we should not allow differences of nationality or class or ethnic membership or even gender to erect barriers between us and our fellow human beings. Four points she makes to provide support for her purpose of a cosmopolitanism education are: 1)we learn more about ourselves 2)we solve problems that require international cooperation 3)we recognize moral obligations to the rest of the world that are real 4) we make a consistent and coherent argument based on distinctions we are really prepared to defend. In conclusion she refers to Marcus Aurelius statement "one must learn many things before one can judge an other's action with understanding."
In the essay "Education and Cosmopolitanism" by Cynthia Scott, she responds to Nussbaum's in both an understanding and confusion to what Nussbaum is looking for. Scott agrees that we need to become more aware about other countries by being taught in school. But she feels that while teachers emphasize on certain countries, they will have to quickly go through the others, not fully understanding the difference in cultures and fully respect their style of living. Scott states that while "integrating the cosmopolitanism education in a meaningful way collides with the reality of time- and cash-strapped public educational system. She sees it as not effective in separating from a patriotic system. The impact on social structure within a classroom or on a campus would be a concern for how students interact with each other. In conclusion, Scott finds it hard to believe that students would take in a cosmopolitanism education in which they have to change the fundamentals in which they have been accustomed too.

Cosmopolitanism

In the article “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” by Martha Nussbaum, the author begins by stating that a commitment to basic human rights should be part of the national education system. But then he analyzes whether Americas should be taught that they are better than other US citizens or that they are better than other people in the world. I was a little confused by this paragraph. However, the reader can conclude that Nussbaum believes that America is does not care enough to learn about the rest of the world. She includes a historical digression before listing four arguments for the second conception of education, or “cosmopolitanism education”. The first thing he lists is that through cosmopolitanism, we learn more about ourselves. Number two says that this type of education will lead to more international cooperation, which is always a positive thing. The one talks about how cosmopolitanism will encourage nations to recognize moral obligations. Finally, the author says that we should make a consistent argument with details that we can defend and support. The article “Education and Cosmopolitanism” by Cynthia C. Scott, the author mentions the benefits that a cosmopolitan education would provide, like a knowledge of how people in other countries live, but she also lists the disadvantages. She mentions how schools would have to change their text books and how history teachers would have to spend more time when teaching about other countries. I can see both points made by the authors. I do not know whether it would be more beneficial to have a cosmopolitan education or not.

Patriotism and Education Articles

The first reading spoke of how America should adopt a cosmopolitan point of view in our education system. It said that having a universal perspective rather than a nonsecular view, is a big positive. Which it is, according to Scott, author of "Education and Cosmopolitanism". She argued that while this idea is definitely a good one, Nussbaum failed to think about it practically. Establishing this cosmopolitan mind set would mean replacing and adjusting the entire country's educational foundation, which is highly impractical. Overall, Nussbaum's writing makes a lot of sense, but it is very theoretical. Scott makes a good point that it would be a burden to bring Nussbaum's idea to life.

Tipping Point

Gladwell writes about something known as the "tipping point". This is the idea that there is a certain threshold which determines human behavior. The Hush Puppies did not gradually become popular, but it happened instead in a hurry. There's a certain number for different behaviors that, once crossed, somehow influences and alters the behavior of a vast majority of the population. Gladwell includes examples from Micronesia with suicide rates, and compares those to cigarette smoking in western teens. It is still unclear to me why exactly this happens, I guess that is why it is considered a phenomenon. It is very interesting, however, that a smaller portion of a population, that has no real influential power, can somehow set a trend for the rest of society, and future generations.

In the second article, outsourcing jobs was the main idea. It seems as though America is getting rid of not just some labor intensive jobs, but white collar high end jobs as well. When is this going to stop? This article casts a dim light on the employment situation for our generation.

Tipping Point: Doug West

Malcolm Gladwell delivers thinking out of the box viewpoint of social epidemics in the United States in "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference". Malcolm questions why certain social trends are overlooked and thrown into the dumpster while other trends reach the “Tipping Point” and explode in popularity. Malcolm uses several examples such as hush puppies, cigarettes, and outsourcing American jobs. He goes into great detail of the origins of these “Epidemics”. These ideas and products all started as an unpopular and untrendy thing to do. Powerful and effective social marketing was the main cause cigarettes became popular. The ability to sell the idea that cigarettes are “rebellious, and cool” to a young generation has made the cigarette business explode since the 1960’s. The cigarettes are addictive, but smoking cigarettes has become an unstoppable lifestyle for most users. Malcolm’s intention is to make the reader question why Americans follow the trends and to recognize how much social media and word of mouth interactions influence our lives. With all this said why are Uggs popular? Someone explain that to me please.

The Tipping Point

The reading “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” written by Malcolm Gladwell, discussed how cultural fads originate from small groups of people, get noticed and then blow up and become the latest “thing.” I thought the most persuasive example Gladwell used was the kids from Micronesia that were killing themselves because of little things such as being rejected for a date, or being yelled at by a parent. This practice became a common practice among the teenage boys in Micronesia because one boy hung himself because his Father yelled at him. The kids in Micronesia thought this was cool and almost a way of getting back at whoever hurt their feelings, but they were really just hurting themselves. I found this example the most interesting because it is so outrageous and unbelievable. I thought it was crazy that these kids were just doing what they thought was cool and it is all because of one person.

The Tipping Point

In the article "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference," Malcolm Gladwell uncovers some interesting trends in society that may been viewed as a conundrum for most people. He gives may examples throughout the article about how one person, or a small group of people can quickly and easily start an epidemic. The first example he writes about is the way Hush Puppies became so popular. It all started with a small group of maybe twenty to hundred kids in New York City who wore the Hush Puppies into clubs and bars as their own style. All it took was two designers to see the shoes, and they were a nationwide phenomenon is a very short period of time. The tipping point is just the right number of guys who wear the shoes, were the shoes rapidly become popular to everyone and start a massive trend. Other examples of tipping points he talks about are: crime in NYC, suicide in Micronesia, and even smoking in the U.S. All are similar in that, once they have a person or enough people to reach a tipping point, the trend just takes off drastically because people feel as though it is acceptable to follow other peoples' lead. Overall, this was a very interesting article, and I like how Gladwell had a lot of statistics to back up his argument.

Tipping Point and Your Local News

In the article "The Tipping Point" the author describes how little events leads to a huge outbreak, and he uses this to describe how quickly people can catch on to things. Societal trends are created so quickly, and then spread to everyone within the blink of an eye.I agree with this, because one day everyone has one thing and then the next something else is newer and better and much cooler, and then everyone has to have that, or be a part of it. Most people don't really pay attention to this, but it happens everyday every where. In the article "Your local news" the author talks about outsourcing news articles. The author believes that this has a negative impact and strongly disagrees with it.I agree with the authors view of this, and believe that it is completely wrong. I didn't really find a very strong link between either of these articles, but I connected more with the first article than with the second.

The Tipping Point

This reading was from “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” written Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell explains how something can start as a small thing and can "catch fire" and become popular just through word of mouth through his example of hush puppies. Hush puppies were unpopular and then suddenly became popular. He similarly describes the crime rate falling in New York City. He says if you would ask a police officer in NYC, they would say the rate falling was due to "Police strategies dramatically improving," but Gladwell states that the rate plummeted too fast for this to be true. He describes both of these events as epidemics in action. I strongly agree with the arguement Gladwell is making. Especially in the younger generations, if you see someone wearing something cool or someone that has something that you think is cool, you are automatically going to want to have it. And once you get it, people are going to see you with it and it will spread. I believe Gladwell gave very legitimate examples and good arguments.

Tipping Point and Your Local News

In “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” the author Gladwell describes that small random events can set off an epidemic. What he means by this that people catch on to things very quickly. Society tends to have many trends, and these trends start off as something small. Once people realize how cool or how great this small thing is, they have to have it. This sets off an epidemic for many people. An example Gladwell uses in the article is that there is rise of hush puppies and a fall in New York crime rate. Both of these are examples of contagious behavior. Once a person is exposed to theses new ideas it then becomes widely spread. I agree with this very strongly. It is obvious that America relies on trends. What is great one day can be overused or unnecessary the next day. In the article “Your Local New- Dateline Delhi” it talks about about outsourcing news articles. The author claims that people from India are currently writing for American newspapers and they aren't making the commute. I believe this is wrong on so many levels. As Americans it is our job to keep jobs within the United States. To even think that we are outsourcing such simple jobs like that scares me.

The Tipping Point

In the article “From the Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell, the author writes about how one small thing such as a comment, the growth in popularity of hush puppies, or way of marketing things, such as cigarettes, can make a big difference in the long run. The author tells a narrative about a young boy who lets down his father and is then scolded. Because of this the young kid kills himself. The author then goes on to talk about how because of the way cigarettes advertise, more young people will want to try them. Young people only want to smoke because they believe that it will make them look more mature since the smoking age is over eighteen. I think that this article was very interesting. Before reading this I never gave much thought towards all the little things that can add up to making a huge difference. In the article “Your Local News-Dateline Delhi” by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author talks about how outsourcing to other countries has negative consequences and strongly opposes it. She then gives example as to why she thinks that outsourcing is a bad idea. Her strong opinion on the matter is very evident. I tried to find a link between the two articles but I could not find any similarities between the two. I believe that the first article by Gladwell was more interesting and easier to follow than the second article.

The Tipping Point & Your Local News Dateline-Deli

“The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” is the questioning of trends that occur among humans. Gladwell brings examples such as Hush Puppies, and soaring suicide rates in Micronesia, and the explanation as to why teenagers smoke. Because of these causes, the smoking rates have increased. In a way, Gladwell is trying to make a statement that smoking gives you more maturity because you have to be 18 in order to buy it. But I do agree with him because having an age limit to buying certain things does give younger children the sense that you are more mature and cooler because of the ability to buy things that they won’t be able to for a while. Smokers overestimate the harmful effects, which is why there are so many commercials and media trying to expose the negative effects of smoking. However, the effort to inform the public, especially the smokers, hasn’t made a big enough impact yet to stop people from smokers and expose the harmful and negative effects that smoking brings. Barbara Ehrenreich, writer of “Your Local New- Dateline Delhi” goes along with the previous article because she explains why she doesn’t like when other companies outsource to other countries. She is very stern about her opinion stating that she wishes that “the next time some managers get the idea of cost-saving through outsourcing they’d go for the CEO’s job.”

Tipping Point and Your Local News

In Malcolm Gladwell's article "From The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference", he approaches the article with an example of a small company item, Hush Puppies, and continues to show that the trend over time becomes more and more popular, just with the help from the few people that initially wore the shoes. He continues on proving his point that it's the little things in life that create the greatest impact and make the biggest difference without many people knowing. He proceeds on in his essay to use more examples including smoking and also how the media has an effect on many of the trends and little things that eventually become more popular. He explains smoking not as a popular trend arising that will make people cool but rather as an action that cool people do. Due to the media influencing many of the consumer's minds, mainly the younger popular, allows the trend to become more popular by having a good amount of them wanting to aspire to be like the younger generation. Gladwell goes on to explain that Hush Puppies would not be as popular without the younger generation of kids. In the other article "Your Local News-Dateline Delhi" by Barbara Ehrenreich, the idea of outsourcing is at hand and the author has a seemingly negative perspective of it. She gives her opinion and list of examples of why she does not agree and does not believe in companies outsourcing with each other. She seems to have an intense opinion towards this topic and also seems to assume that her readers know and are updated on the current information of outsourcing, when she probably should have gave more back ground information on the subject.

The Tipping Point

"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell explains how society's outlook on popular things are strongly influenced by small trends that start up. For instance, he uses the example of Hush Puppies. They became popular due to the sole fact that kids began to wear them, otherwise nobody would wear them to begin with. Then he discusses how people know how smoking is bad for them but still have no idea why because they aren't well-informed. It obviously shows maturity because there is an age restriction. But, in reality, it shows just how dumb our society really is. If people can't read on the package that smoking kills them, there really isn't much else to do. Smoking isn't much of a trend, it's an epidemic. TV and media have a ridiculous amount of influence on peoples' thoughts, habits, and pretty much everything else in their everyday lives. Kids are exposed to these little ideas that increase their knowledge, interest and possible curiosity on the subject matter. There seems to be an idea that teenagers feel like there's a novelty in thinking it's fun to do bad things.

The Tipping Point

"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell, is an article about how little things can make a big difference. His article was very interesting and made me think a lot about how things actually happen and what causes them. He states that people wore hush puppies because kids wore them around time. This is pretty obvious to me because products would not get popular if people did not start using them. I agree that smokers underestimate the impacts of smoking. There a lot of adds saying it's bad for you, but not a lot on why. I think if people were told more what happens to you then more people would stop. This add could also be a little thing that makes a big difference. While reading this I thought about MTV and how they have several adds that promote healthy lifestyles and thinking above the influence but all their shows consist of drinking, drugs, and sex. I think this is very ironic. Things like this make a very big impact on our youth even though they are just as small as a tv show.

The Tipping Point Blog Post

The first reading was from “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” written by Malcolm Gladwell. In this reading Gladwell questions trends that occur among humans such as the cause of the sudden popularity of Hush Puppies, the high suicide rate in Micronesia, and why teenagers smoke. He offers plausible explanations for each case but I was most interested in why he believed teenagers smoked. I thought it was interesting how he tried connecting it to different causes such as people in their lives, their sex drive and a desire of maturity. He explained that our society shows smoking as a thing for older people to do as well as “cool.” Because of these causes smoking rates have raised. I agree with his statement that smoking seems to show maturity since you have to be at least 18 to engage. I had never thought about it before but to a young child who wants to be a big kid it seems like the thing to do. Even the efforts made to reduce smoking rates seem to be encouraging it! In the article he stated that most smokers overestimate the harmful effects of smoking. The effort to inform smokers hasn’t made a huge impact. The second reading was “Your Local New – Dateline Delhi” written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich explains why she dislikes companies outsourcing to other countries. Her article’s tone is stern and passionate about the issue.

The Tipping Point

From "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell, he explains the idea that all epidemics are started by a few people, which then gives permission to others to follow. Gladwell uses the examples of Hush Puppies making a comeback in the fashion world, crime rates going down, suicide becoming more acceptable, and smoking as not cool, but something done by cool people. Within these examples, it usually begins by the influence of one person or more people that start a trend that makes everyone want to try it out. By experiencing this new found image, they believe they are cool or better than they were before. It may not be good, but it is the image that everyone so desperately desires. Gladwell characterizes three ways in which these epidemics occur: 1- contagiousness, 2- the fact that little causes can have a big effects, and 3- that change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment. I think that as sad as it is to hear these stories and how influential little things can become, it is a true and still current issue in today's culture.

The Tipping Point

"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell is all about the way that little things make a difference and cause major changes over time. I thought this article was very interesting because sometimes it seems like there are no real explanations; that it's just phenomena. But Gladwell attempts to make connections between changes in society. He asserts that fads happen due to word of mouth. Using the example of the Hush Puppies shoe brand, he discusses that if it weren't for kids wearing them around town and to clubs, they would not have gained popularity. Gladwell also uses the examples of suicide and smoking, and the way that imitation affects these two things. When someone commits suicide, although an atrocity, Gladwell believes that it almost gives other people the "okay" to go ahead and do it themselves. I really agree with Gladwell's stance on smoking. My school district employed the D.A.R.E. program to teach kids about the negative effects of drug abuse, but of course there will still people who smoked or tried drugs. I believe that the more you tell teens not to do something, the more curious they become.

Disastrous Decisions

The article "Why do some societies make disastrous decisions" was very interesting because it laid out all the current problems in society. It showed how society in general is very lazy. Society has to be me proactive and more unified to make important decisions. I also enjoyed how he laid how the 4 main reasons why society is failing. I give credit to the author for going against something that is so important to every human. Unfortunately humans do think for them selves so it makes it very hard. The main point i got from this is the fact that when problems come up they need to be addressed the correct way. If not then every person could be in jeopardy.

Disastrous Decisions

In Jared Diamond's "Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions" Diamond gives many reasons as to why societies fail themselves. He says that there are four main reasons. First the groups making the decisions for the society fail to anticipate the problem, then they fail to perceive the problem. Next, they fail to attempt to solve the problem and finally the groups fail to successfully solve the problem. He says that many societies fail themselves because they don't relate their problems to problems already solved in history. He says they also don't use the new information and facts that are right in front of them. Diamond's writing style was helpful because he used many descriptive examples to assist the reader in understanding his points.

Societies' Disastrous Decisions

Diamond addressed the topic of how societies seem to make terrible self inflicted unnecessary injuries. My thought on this piece, other than the fact that it was very interesting, is that I noticed a lot of psychology in play. Even bringing up the question of how a society could act so stupidly is called hindsight bias. Everything seems so obvious when you're looking at it in the past. Diamond brought up how problems exist and how they are tackled. First a society must recognize the problem, which was some times impossible even, due to a lack of technology. The creeping normalcy was also brought up, which was another explanation for how we might not perceive change that's happening right before our eyes, change that will ultimately lead to disaster. Then even if we recognize a problem, we might not know how to solve it. If we think we know how to solve it, sometimes our hypotheses are still wrong, and if we as a society fail to break from this perspective, this is called fixation. Finally, even if societies every now and then recognize a problem and know how to solve it, the solution may be impractical, essentially rendering it unresolvable. And of course, we cannot forget people just being selfish. Humans tend to think for themselves before they'll think or act for some one else, let alone a society or government. All of these issues combined, it's no wonder societies make the seemingly idiotic decisions that caused so many problems. The only real solution for nationwide-like problems, is a united effort, which is a theory filled with a lot of holes. Again, interesting read, but I am unsure if it is an issue that could ever be settled.

why societies make disastrous decisions

I found Jared Diamond’s article “Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” really interesting and relatable to the problems our society is facing today. I really connected with his idea of the reason for society’s falling is that they cannot make big decisions, and the reason is that people cannot completely agree on the solution to a problem. Our society is facing this kind of problem right now with the threat of global warming. He pointed out several interesting reasons why these societies fall and the one I liked the most was that basically the societies were too lazy and naïve to anticipate a problem. He also made an interesting statement saying that when societies do experience and overcome a crisis they do not really learn how to prevent it from happening again in the case of the people in Tuscan, Arizona. This one was one of my most favorite readings so far because it relates to us and shines a light on the things we do right now.

Disastrous Decisions

In the article "Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions," Jared Diamond explains the decisions different societies make that lead up to horrible outcomes, hence the name of the article. Diamond states three different points on why societies make bad decisions. These points are: failure to anticipate a problem happening, perceiving or falsely perceiving a problem after it has already arrived, and failure to even attempt to solve the problem once it has been perceived. When reading this I pictured a snowball effect in which all of these bad decisions are related and would snowball until it got too large to reverse any problem. Diamond states that the last point is the most surprising and it also was to me. I felt like Diamond did a good job explaining all his points and feel like he did so thoroughly and gave good examples for each. I found this to be an interesting read altogether.

Disastrous Decisions

Jared Diamond presents that societies make disastrous decisions in this article. He writes that societies fail to see a problem coming, and therefore cannot prevent it, and then therefore fail to solve the problem in general. He says that this happens because groups of people are bad at making decisions.He also presents four categories in which societies fail as evidence for his argument. He also makes the point to say that once a problem arises it should be dealt with immediately rather than put off, because that only makes the problem worse, and harder to solve.

Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?

In Jared Diamond's article "Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?", he argues that societies do not come to logical conclusions when involving decision making. He composes three reasons towards this point involving not only their failure to anticipate a problem and their failure to perceive the problem, but also failure to solve the problem. He points out that societies are not able to see the problem before it occurs, which is a problem to begin with. I felt like even though this essay was not the most exciting to read, it was a very interesting in its points and it was clearly structured and organized.

Why Societies make Disastrous Decisions.

Jared Diamond brings up specific points to try and explain why some societies make disastrous decisions, the title of his article. He argues that societies fail to anticipate, fail to perceive the problem after it has already risen, and fail to solve that problem. While these are simple enough, they can often be over looked. We learn best from looking at the past. I know its a cliche' that people often say, but history can and does repeat itself. Now the only way to prevent that is to actually learn from and be informed of our past. That is what i believe was one of the main points that I got out of this article. Like some of my classmates said though, the way Diamond wrote was a bit hard to interpret.

Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?

In Jared Diamond's article, he writes about the mistakes societies make and attempts to figure out why they "shoot themselves in the foot". He states that a group may fail to anticipate a problem, may fail to perceive a problem once it has arrived, or they may perceive it but fail to solve it. Lastly they may attempt to solve a problem but simply fail. He lays out specific examples of societies, who have historically made costly mistakes. He blames some of the mistakes on the fact that they may have forgotten previous experiences or not learned from those experiences. I thought this article was intriguing but difficult to read. The way Diamond writes can be very confusing.

Doctors Killing Babies: and How Society Needs Be Informed.

Why societies make huge mistakes by making bad decisions is explained in the article “Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” by Jared Diamond. He reasons that societies at large make mistakes because of poor anticipation of the future, miscommunication of a potential issue, and poor execution to solve the problems. The logic presented in the article may sound rather obvious and simple but the reason as to why societies make poor decisions is rather sophisticated. Jared touches on the fact that societies make bad decisions because of a lack of information, and the lag that is created by societal changes because of social norms and attitudes that take long amounts of time to adjust. For example in the 1600’s a scientist discovered that if a doctor washed his hands before delivering a baby, he could decrease childbirth deaths by 90%. It took until the 1790’s for the practice of a doctor washing his hands before delivering a child to become a norm. This is an example of how society, specifically the doctors in hospitals, failed to accept the facts in front of them until accepting the facts almost 200 years after the cure was found. The same works for any society. If a society is not correctly informed and persuaded, it will tend to make bad decisions based on out of date information that could be misleading or wrong.