Discussion on weeks-4--5-research-and-journal

[Joe G]

ok fellow class mates, maybe we can post ideas here/share and or
discuss weeks 4-5 here soon, seems a little more intense, I just took
a quick peak at this but will read soon. thanks, joe

[Anna S]

Anna Sondall

Wilde, Oscar. 1981. A Picture of Dorian Gray.
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."

Bacevich, Andrew. 2008. The Limits of Power: The End of American
Exceptionalism.
"Whether the issue at hand is oil, credit, or the availability of
cheap consumer goods, we expect the world to accommodate the American
way of life..."

These quotes relate to each other in the sense that they both are
saying that everyone must give in. In Wilde's book the character is
saying that we must give in to temptation. Bacevich states that
Americans expect everyone to give in to them. Americans expect that
they should get everything that they want and the rest of the world
should comply with that.

[Joey Anne]

Wilde, Oscar. 1981. A Picture of Dorian Gray.

"All influence is immoral--immoral from the scientific point of view.
Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does
not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His
virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as
sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an
actor of a part that has not been written for him."

Bacevich, Andrew. 2008. The Limits of Powers: The End of American
Exceptionalism.
"The ethic of self-gratification has firmly entrenched itself as the
defining feature of the American way of life...Over the past six
decades, efforts to satisfy sprialing consumer demand have given birth
to a condition of profound dependency."

Gray and Bacevich share a common idea. That people are naturally
dependent on each other. Though written over a hundred years ago,
Gray's perception of dependency still applies to today. Gray states
that there is no individualism, that people have "forgotten the
highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self" and are
bullied by "temptation". This reflects similarly to Bacevich's idea of
"self-gratification", and "profound dependency" to one another. Gray
believes that the only way to solve this selfishness is to come to our
senses, and Bacevich believes that we should simply acknowledge it.
Both Gray and Bacevich recognize that the only solution is to accept
it.

[Hong C]

Wilde, Oscar. 1981. A picture of Dorian Gray. Chapter 1
A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say
when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always
looks absolutely delightful. Your mysterious young friend... is some
brainless beautiful creature.

Bacevich, Andrew. 2008. The limits of powers: The crisis of profligacy
Crediting the United States with a "great liberating
tradition"distorts the past and obscures the actual motive force
behind American politics and U.S.foreign policy.To insist that the
liberation of others has never been more than an ancillary motive of
U.S policy is not cynicism; it is a prerequisite to self-
understanding.

Wilder exposes that those in power commonly tend to become rigid and
ignorance when they abuse their power.Bacevich states same idea in his
book The limits of power that under a belief of liberty, American
politicians have a narrow sights and unwilling to accept change of the
world. Also, They believe other countries should accommodated with
America, and they are not hesitate to use force when others disagree
with them.