Making the Invisible Visible

The issue that we are addressing is police corruption, which is quite a challenging subject to study because everything is kept so secretive. Police Corruption is a major issue in Malaysia because it happens so often, and there are very few police that we can actually trust.  This issue is very important because the police are supposed to be someone that we turn to when we are having any trouble or anything bad or threatening happens to us. We need someone to help us, and not someone who is just going to make it worse. Some surprises that I have encountered in my research is what the police actually do and what actually makes the police corrupt. Policemen have been doing things like extortion, cheating, drug offence, and rape. This is just so shocking because if I didn't know anything and I heard someone was doing that, then I would expect them to be a criminal and the police should help, not for them to actually be police themselves!

 Learning about this issue makes me feel many emotions actually, shocked, scared, angry, I don't really know how to feel. I'm scared because police are meant to be people that you turn to when you are in trouble, and people that you can fully trust to keep you safe. Who are you then supposed to go if the police are committing crimes? That's what really confuses me. I just get really angry because working for the police force is such and honorable job, you are protecting your country and the people. That is your job. Also how they call themselves 'police' and that they work for the 'police force' really annoys me because I personally don't feel they should have the right to call themselves something that has a job to protect people from crime when you are actually committing crime yourself.

How to Deal with a Dictator

Dealing with a dictator in most cases, is difficult and challenging as dictators have so much power and strength over a country. The way that the dictator is leading the country can be quite dangerous sometimes, as people don’t have freedom of speech, people live in fear and the dictator shows full control over all citizens. Obviously that’s not what’s best for a country, so there needs to be some ways to bring this dictator down. 

As a person living in the inside they could possibly try to start a riot or rebellion, getting most citizens to turn against him/her and bring their power away. The could also attempt to get the army to turn against him/her, even though this might seem difficult and impossible, it’s always worth a try. 

As someone living on the outside of the country, personally I feel the best way to take down the country suffering severe dictatorship would be for countries to come together and combine forces to try and gain a stronger force than the other. This will give them the advantage of being able to physically remove the dictator from power, as there is no chance for him/her to be able to fight against such a strong force. Dealing with a dictator is not an easy job, and there are very few options that will actually work. But once you have a stronger force than the dictator does, you have a higher chance of bringing them down.

Malcolm X was an African American that fought for the rights of Black people in the United States of America. Malcolm X was assassinated in New York in 1965, after he tried influencing the culture of Islam, and gaining rights for African Americans. I believe that people are assassinated out of jealousy, and out of believing what they feel is right. I don't feel that assassinations are ever justifiable, as killing someone is never the right thing to do and usually there are other ways out. But when someone is so powerful and has so much affection from the public, for example Caesar, it can be the only option and the only way out. Malcolm X and Caesar are both very different in what they were fighting for, Malcolm X was fighting for other people's rights, and Caesar was fighting for himself and gaining power. Looking at this I feel that Caesar had more of a reason to be assassinated than Malcolm X did, as Malcolm X had a reason to fight for and Caesar wasn't fighting for anything but for power himself.

Thandiwe Chama

A young girl grows up in a community full of HIV/AIDS, her only hope is that she can finish school and have a successful future. Living in a small house, and having to work at a young age in order for her family to afford education, winning the “Children’s Peace Prize” seemed impossible. Adoring her days at school suddenly realizing that it was going to be taken away from her. This is Thandiwe Chama the girl that brought education back into her community. She stood up for both her and her fellow 60 schoolmates, she also went to the government officials to try and get them to build her community a new school so that they had shelter from the hot sun and the rain. At only 8 years old having her school shutdown, and living in Zambia flowing with HIV/AIDS, Thandiwe fought for the right to education and for people to take action and fight along side her to make her community a safer and more educational place to live.

Thandiwe is fighting for the right of education and for people to realize that it is the key for a successful future. There are two types of education needed in Thandiwe's community, regular education that can help you get into college and get a job, and education on how to prevent catching HIV/AIDS. When Thandiwe was only 8 years old her school was shut down due to lack of teachers. Thandiwe did not accept the fact that she had no education, and decided she was going to stand up for herself by going to the government and demanding education for her and her fellow 60 classmates. Thandiwe and her schoolmates learned out in the hot sun all day, so Thandiwe went to the government official to plead for a new building where students could learn in the shade, and have shelter through the bad weather. The government listened and Thandiwe was granted a new school where both her and her schoolmates could learn. Thandiwe had terrible personal experiences in her community with HIV/AIDS and she knew how important it was to keep yourself sanitized to stay away from those diseases. HIVS/AIDS can be spread through sexual intercourse or sharing needles for injections of drugs or steroids. Children need the education in order to help prevent them from catching HIV/AIDS and Thandiwe knew that. Thandiwe knows that education is the key to a successful future. Without a good education, there is very little chance of a successful future. She wanted the best for both herself and the people in her community, so she fought long and hard for her community to be granted the gift of education.

Thandiwe knows that she can’t go through this fight all on her own, and that she is going to need people to take action and fight along with her. Thandiwe rallied with her community so that the government would provide more land for more classrooms. She organized this rally, and made sure she had enough supporters for it to be successful. Once Thandiwe won the “Children’s Peace Prize” in 2007, she started getting noticed by a lot more people, and was able to interview big stars like BONO. People decided they were going to help her, and after Thandiwe gave her speech during the “Children’s Peace Prize Ceremony” she was granted a library. The library was called “Thandiwe’s Library” and it was placed in the middle of her community so that all her people could have access to it. She knew that she couldn’t win this fight if she was fighting it herself. Thandiwe knew how important it was for people to take action with her, after she won her award she made sure everyone knew about her.

A young girl growing up in a small town in Zambia, the right to education being taken away from her and her schoolmates, very little education on how to prevent HIV/AIDS, and a very slim chance of succeeding in her future. Thandiwe fought for 9 years, for the right of education and for people to take action along the way before she became successful and won the ‘Children’s Peace Prize’ in 2007. Thandiwe was successful throughout her journey on trying to make her community a better place for both her and her fellow people, and was recognized for that by being given the ‘Children’s Peace Prize’ award of 2007. Thandiwe was absolutely delighted with her accomplishment, and so was her country. She made her community proud as it is now a better place to live in, full of education and more awareness on how to prevent HIV/AIDS.

In "Harrison Bergeron" different types of irony is used to make a statement relating back to the present. 'Vonnegut' the author, used dramatic irony to show us how Hazel and George think they are living in a utopia, when really they are living in a dystopia and we as readers know that. In this Vonnegut is trying to make a connection at how people nowadays think that there is such thing as perfection. But even when you think you have perfection, you really haven't got it at all. Vonnegut is showing us that in his story by having Hazel and George think they are living in a perfect world, where everyone is equal and everything is fair, nobody is better than anyone else. When really, nothing is fair, people don't have any rights, yes they might think everything is equal, but really there is no such thing as happiness. Vonnegut is trying to tell us, that there is no such thing as a utopia, it can be written in books, and told in stories, but we will never have a true utopia, it doesn't matter how hard we work. We are living in a dystopia and that will never change.

Chiune Sugihara

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat that worked as a Consul-General in Kaunas, Lithuania. One day when Sugihara was getting up for work, he looked out his bedroom window and saw at least 200 Jews waiting for Sugihara to issue their visas. Sugihara was their last hope, and the Jews all knew that if Sugihara signed their visas they would be on their way to freedom. From then on Sugihara knew he had a purpose in the world, and he was going to help save as many Jews as possible. But there was obstacles along the way, Sugihara had to go against his government to save the Jews. Sugihara sent at least 10 requests for permission to sign the Jews visas. But there was no approval. So Sugihara just went and did it himself without permission. Sugihara had shown Dissidence in his actions by going against his government, by not waiting for an approval because he knew by the time he would have got one, it would be too late.

Sugihara had shown dissidence by not listening to what his government was telling him to do. The Japanese consul denied all of the requests that Sugihara had sent asking the if he was allowed to issue the Jews visas. But that didn’t stop Sugihara. He kept asking and asking, until he had reached the point were he knew that it would be too late, whenever the Japanese consul did approve his request, or if they ever approved his request. So Sugihara signed the visas without his consul’s permission. But by doing that he had saved so many Jews from death by the Nazi’s. So Sugihara showing dissidence to his government wasn’t a bad thing at all, he decided to do what was right, than do what he was supposed to do. Sugihara said that he chose to obey God, rather than obey his government.

Sugihara had saved over 2,000 Jews from the Nazi’s by issuing their visas, sending them to Japan to safety, freedom and a better life. Sugihara woke up every morning and signed visas, he signed visas when he was ill, when he was tired, and even when he was meant to be having time off. Sugihara was working under pressure because he knew that if the Nazi’s ever found out about what he was doing they could take him away, separate him from his family, and kill them all. But that didn’t stop Sugihara from doing his job. He knew that if he had issued the Jew’s visa, then they would be able to go and live a safe life in Japan away from all the torture and horror in Lithuania. Sugihara was a dissident person because he didn’t care in the end about what his goverment had told him to do or what they wanted him to do, he made sure that he did what was right, and that was to save all the Jews that he had saved.

Sugihara to me was a truly inspirational person. He was so selfless and didn’t care about himself at all. Sugihara didn’t want to be known as a superhero, he didn’t want to be famous and popular, he knew his job and he wanted to do it correctly. Sugihara saved over 2,000 Jews from the Nazi’s, when they could have all been sent to their death. Even on day’s when Sugihara was sick, tired, and felt that he couldn’t work, he made sure that he signed more visas and as much as he possibly could. He didn’t care about himself being sick or all the medical attention that he needed, he knew that there were more important things in the world than him, and he wanted to make sure that they were seen to.

Sugihara had such courage to help all of the Jews. What really stood out to me was that he knew the severe consequences he would have to face if he was ever found out about. But he kept going, and signed visa after visa after visa. Sugihara was a true hero to all of the Jews who thought that there was no hope, and that they were going to get killed. But he stopped them thinking that, and told them there was hope and not to give up, he didn’t tell them that with speech, but with actions. He made sure that he could save as much Jews as he possibly could. He never gave up, and showed actions of dissidence, that people now would have thought that that would be dangerous, going against your government when they had so much power. But Sugihara didn’t care and wasn’t going to stop until he really had too.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” -Elie Wiesel