Morals and Ethics Socratic Seminar

Today's discussion in class was all about morals and ethics. The conversation in my opinion was very intriguing and interesting. A lot of people had a lot to say about the essential question alongside the other four additional questions. I did observe though that some people just kept saying the same repetitive ideas which got a little tired of hearing after a while. But, I did understand where everyone was coming from. Overall, it was a pretty good discussion and almost everyone participated. Some feedback that I have is that next time we have a socratic seminar, we should have a lot more space within each other. To be completely honest, we were all pretty squished and I was quite uncomfortable (as I'm sure many others were).

bell brothers

While we were watching the documentary on the Bell brothers, we talked a lot about the different types of steroids or the different ways to consume it, as a non harmful drug.

Chris was always against steroids because his “hero's” didn’t use those drugs to help them get as big as they were, later the “heros” of Chris admitted or were caught to using the drug. Both his brothers, Smelly and Mad dog were using steroids to help them profill their dream to become wrestlers or weight lifters. Mad dog used steroids to play football, but later got addicted to cocaine, marijuana, and other substances, later attempting to commit suicide. Quickly after that he turned his life around and tried to achieve his goal once more, by performing wrestling for local people. Smelly had a wife and a son to care for, so he used steroids in a safer way, that both he and his wife decided on. Many people use steroids if they have asthma or if they need to recover faster from a operation.

Morals and Ethics

As a child, I grew up listening to different ideas about how to live life and what events to turn away from. For example gay marriage, in my personal opinion I don't think the idea of being married to the same sex is right. Morally I believe a man should marry a women.  However that doesn't mean I hate or dismay LGBT people. Its the matter of the action, I don't agree with. Although, some might contradict saying why do you even care about their actions and my answer is, well if a LGBT campaign was to approach me and say do you support, belong side my moral belief I will say no. Personally I have gay friends outside of school and they know that I don't agree with there standpoint, but I still hang out with them. Its not the matter of me hating or discriminating them for what they want to do in life, they can do whatever they want, it is the matter of them (everyone) pressuring that I am supposed to support.

Morals and Ethics

After watching the Marcus Dupree documentary, in order to establish if someone was morally and ethically good, I looked mainly at what they did to better themselves in this situation. Someone who had their own interest at hand and played that so that they can better themselves came off as someone who was not morally right. This does not necessarily mean that they are ethically bad though, because there are times when morals and ethics do not line up. Even though Barry Switzer put his own interest first, he was a coach that wanted to win, so his actions weren't necessarily unethical. For Uncle Curlee though, I thought that he was unethical because he took advantage of his nephew. In that situation, he should have been there for him the entire time, but he kinda took advantage of Marcus when he needed someone to guide him. I think that the normal “rules” don’t apply when it comes to family. Family must be morally and ethically stable for others in their family. Curlee started off by not being morally right, and when you look at his actions from really any standing point, his came off as selfish and a bad man. I think that for the USFL, it is harder whether to say that they were morally and ethically okay because for one, we didn’t get to see a lot from them, but also because their interest was recruiting and winning, and we all knew that. The standards for sports and coaches rather than family is much lower because their is almost a set expectation from them to be aggressive and having their interest at heart.

Major 🔑 about Ms. B

To start I would like to share my feelings with everyone.

Ms. B is happy, Ms. B is not sad

But oh how I dare not make Ms. B mad

From day one I knew Ms. B was pretty rad

We have talked about police brutality

A white and a black accused for battery

We questioned what is true legality

Ms. B is such a savage she can cause fatality

Morals and Ethics

Talking about morals and ethics made me think more about how in certain situations we are persuade or we talk ourselves into doing something that we strongly believe is wrong. For example, when we don't feel or aren't in the mood of going out with people we tend to say a "white" lie like my mom said that I couldn't go or something came up. If we think that is wrong and immoral to lie, why do we do it some times and call it a white lie? In my opinion I think that we used the term of "white lie" to make us feel better after lying and now a days it has just become harder to always put our morals and ethics out there because people are easy to judge, separating themselves from us because they don't believe in the same things as one might do. They can see you as a good friend, person but after they disagree with your point of view about a certain thing they suddenly turn their back on you.

Personal Relativism

At the end of the documentary on steroids that we watched today, a weightlifter said that he couldn't judge you and we couldn't judge him because our morals are different. This reminded me of cultural relativism, a concept we learned in Softmore year English. He brings up an interesting argument, can we judge people who take steroids, even in sports, or is that up to their fellow athletes?

Senior Documentary Videos

In class on (8/16/16) we watched two seniors documentary videos. One documentary was on serial killers & child abuse, the other documentary was on the bad effects of drinking soda. It was interesting to open up the year of global with two different documentaries of post graduated students. I say this because I feel like well for me and probably a lot of other seniors we are already thinking a lot about the senior project. It was a relief to see some of the things other students have done in the past because before that I really had no clue what the project really was like. I had a brief view in my image of what we would have to do, but the two videos that we watched showed that it was a lot more simple then what I thought it would have been. I know now that I really shouldn't worry to hard because we will have a lot of preparation leading up to the project.

The Pressure Behind College, and The Future Ahead Of You

Darwinism is the idea that the fittest survive, and the weak essentially die, so here in the Bay Area where we're surrounded by pristine universities like Stanford, Berkeley, and Santa Clara. While being a current student in high school there's an ethic around the bay that students must compete to be the best student possible, so that way they can get into the top universities and further advance their chances of getting their "dream job", which in this case is the job that pays the most per university. Many students especially at schools located in either Cupertino or Palo Alto feel the necessity to have very strenuous schedules that are full of extra curricular activities that they believe will further advance them in front of their competition for a spot in the most premiere universities. This is an ongoing problem that I believe universities and high schools  should definitely bring up to students, because high school isn't always about the academics, most people I know always tell me that these are the best but fastest 4 years of your life.

Fear and Machiavelli

Earlier in the week we started to discuss Machiavelli, primarily whether a leader should morally and ethically use fear to control others. To Machiavelli, fear was a means to an end, with the end being peace and stability. In a broader sense, Machiavelli believed that the ends justifies the means. But are there exceptions to this rule and if so what are those exceptions? What makes a mother putting her child in a time out to encourage good behavior, different than hanging murderers to prevent murder? A good example for discussion would be the Hamburg and Dresden bombings, they killed ten of thousands of innocents and demoralized German civilians, making the war easier. Was it justified?

"Bigger, Faster, Stronger"

The main focus of the documentary was the use of performance enhancing steroids. There were different purposes for each people using steroids; one using to be like his childhood star, one using it for competition, and there may be more reasons outside the documentary. Particularly I think it's morally acceptable for using it for self satisfaction, but not in competition. Using it individually wouldn't affect anybody except for the person itself; on the other hand using in competition would abuse the basic principle of sports - fairness - among athletes, and as a result it'll create conflicts. Although the documentary reported over 90% of the MLB players were using it; some might say it's acceptable if the majority is utilizing it. In this case fairness is being protected by the majority, and from an ethical perspective it's approvable. Yet from a moral standing point it's unacceptable since players gained strength of what they shouldn't had, and it infringes the clarity of sports.

Where to draw the line with Steroids

During the documentary "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" when Chris was talking about all these people that he sees as Hero's for example like Hulk Hogan, and like Rambo and how they were known to be these big, buff and tuff guys. At a young he saw them as people who had really worked hard to where they are and wanted to be. But, soon when he found out that they had took steroids to make them stronger. This had then brought of the questions in class about are steroids completely bad and to what extent do you draw the line. Erika had then talked about how inhaler's actually contain a form of steroids in it. When we had then talked about this, it made us think about to what extent do we draw the line of the use of steroids. What I ended up agreeing with is that if you cannot physically do something on your own for example how the inhaler helps you breath or you could die. But on the other hand how the people trying to get strong and lifting weights you can completely do it on your own.

Marshmallow and Spaghetti Activity

When tasked with the challenge to make the tallest structure possible only using uncooked spaghetti and a marshmallow, I shockingly learned a lot about myself and how I like to problem solve. I of course thought of the simplest and most safe structure possible at first, and was content with it. It wasn't until Ms. Bissonnette came over and told us to push ourselves did the group come up with a solution to make the structure double its height before. This allowed me to reflect about how I always seem to seek the easiest option possible, but with a push I'm capable of much more than that. The activity also made me realize how I act in a group setting when challenged with a task. In this activity particularly I took more of a leadership role because I had an idea of how to build the structure. However when I'm not struck with an idea instantly, I tend to fall victim to the bystander affect and let my peers take charge. What seemed like a simple task at first shockingly enough taught me a lot.

Steroid use

Many athletes use steroids and see it ethically right. But personally it's something wrong because your injecting yourself with a drug that causes muscle building for which it's cheating and playing your own abilities. In which Steroids should be used as a medical treatment because it helps people with their health problems. For example people who have asthma should take it because it prevents future asthma attacks.

Steroids

Yesterday, we watched a documentary called "Bigger, Faster, Stronger". In this documentary, the idea of steroids was brought up. Before we actually discussed as a whole class with Mr. Stewart, I honestly thought steroids were EXTREMELY bad for the body. As people began expressing their views on steroids, I maintained an open mind as to what they were saying. I remember Miranda saying that her dad had to use steroids because he was recovering from a major surgery. Erika also mentioned that she has asthma and that her inhaler contains steroids. When I took these factors into consideration, my opinion completely shifted because these are things that are vital for people to stay alive. From yesterday's discussion, I can take away the fact that steroids isn't as bad as I thought it was and it can save many peoples lives.

Steroids

After the discussion that we had steroids I feel that steroids are not bad if you use them for health reason not just to win a weight lifting competition. It should be used for medical treatment because if you use them for sports not everyone is on them so your not able to win a competition fairly. Watching the documentary shows how Chris who is the only one not using steroids and is the smallest one gives us an example of how unfair things can get when people use steroids or things other then medical reasons.

Morals

After watching the beginning part of the documentary "Bigger, Faster, Stronger", I began to ponder the question, do we still have morals even when no one is watching? The documentary followed one family whose children all experimented steroids at one point in their wrestling career. Many athletes in that sport abuse steroids and don't seem to feel any form of guilt or remorse until they got caught. They seem to forget about all of their morals when they feel no one is watching. They do whatever it takes to get a step ahead in the competition, even if that means sacrificing their own personal beliefs. This creates an uneven playing field in the world of sports and can even cause other athletes to feel pressured to use performance enhancing drugs as well.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

In the documentary Bigger, Faster, Stronger, there was a lot of talk about steroids. I know that steroids are a drug, and it can be harmful. The way I see it, the only reason I see using steroids in a good way, is for medical reasons. It can help those who have a problem with muscle loss and people who have breathing problems. The use of steroids when you don't have medical issues can result in you becoming addicted to it. It is a drug, and like any drug you can experience withdraw when you don't have it in your body for a certain amount of time. Continued use of it can make it impossible for someone to not have children and have their body rapidly decline if they do decide to stop.

NO jail for RAPE

A judge decided that an 18 year-old rapist won't go to jail to avoid impending his "college experience." David Becker was charged with two accounts of rape and one count of indecent assault. He assaulted two unconscious women at a High School Party in Massachusetts. Becker admitted to one count of rape. He said he apologized to one of the victims through text message the next morning. His sentence was no more than 2 years of probation. Becker also will also avoid having to register as a sex offender. If he completes his probation the conviction will never appear on his record. Becker's attorney used a line that we have all heard before with these cases. "We have all made mistakes when we were 17,18,19 years old. Putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid's life."

Becker has admitted to rape and what does the judge do. They let him get off with probation and not having to register as a sex offender. What about all the other cases and people who have committed rape?  Don't you think that they would only want 2 years of probation and not having to register? What about the victims? Don't you think that they want this guy to be locked up for what happened?

Spaghetti and marshmallow activity

During one of our first classes we did an activity where we had to build the tallest tower possible out of pasta and it has to be strong enough to hold a marshmallow on top. This activity required us to work as a group and we saw how everyone works together. We were able to build a structure but unfortunately in the last 3 seconds it collapsed. Then we watched the ted talk where it talked about how kindergartners are usually the most successful because they try multiple structures to see which could hold the marshmallow the best, and business graduates did the worst because they think there is only one good way to build it and wait till the last moment to see if it holds the marshmallow and then it collapses. I realized after the video that we are somewhere in between because we tried multiple ways to make it stronger or taller but we also were so focused on trying one design but making it better that it only stood for so long and collapsed at the very end.

Morals and Ethics

It's been interesting seeing different people's reactions to our discussions on morals and ethics in class.  Although we all seem have some shared base morals (don't kill, family), we all interpret them differently.  For example, with the "family" moral, there's definitely this debate on whether genetics or giving birth to someone affect this, as shown by the Baby M case.  Although I was aware that people viewed genetics as important, I didn't really understand that as a reality until today.  This isn't meant to insult that view--it's just not one I have, and I hadn't ever talked to someone and heard them say, "Yes, because this child has her genetics, she should be able to keep it."

Did anyone else have this experience?

Spaghetti and Marshmallow Activity

From the Marshmallow and spaghetti activity, I continued to notice that I am a very competitive person, even if its something small. I like to win, its in my nature, and I guess it is in a lot of other peoples too. Its like the animal instinct to be the Alpha, we still have that urge to be the top dog in whatever little competitive way we can

Spaghetti and Marshmallow

Yesterday we were given spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow for the activity. With this we had to create a structure within  limited time. To an extent we had to make the tallest structure from other groups and putting the marshmallow at the top. My group did well in the beginning because we we're working together as a unit and had different ideas to build a successful structure. But towards the end we we're rushed  because of limited time. In which caused us to be disqualified but we still had a great time. My take away from the activity was that we have to put effort in our work and use our ideas. Also working together to be successful but exploring different ideas and be open-minded.

Spaghetti & Marshmallow activity

The activity basically consisted of making the highest tower in class using only 20 pieces of spaghetti, tape, a string of yarn and the marshmallow that happen to be placed at the top of the tower. At first it was hard to come up with a strategy of how to set it up but brainstorming with each other as it was taken more like a fun activity and not as "assignment" it made it easier to build the tower. In the video that we watch later on in class basically said that kids were have the highest success than adults which I thought kind of relates to all the stress that we put on ourselves to always succeed in class assignments. Not all assignments have to have creativity involved but if it was more encourage than just the standard format it wouldn't be to so hard  to succeed yet still learn from it. Overall the activity was a good way to learn to work as a group but it just kind of prove that exploring different possibilities and just being open minded can be helpful than on keep doing it as one certain way.

Spaghetti and Marshmallow Activity

We were given spaghetti, string, tape, and a marshmallow for this activity. And with that we were instructed to build a structure where the marshmallow stood at the top. At first, my group was conflicted as to how we were going to build such a structure that wouldn't fall apart knowing how fragile the spaghetti was. We figured out that we could just stick the spaghetti in the marshmallow and somehow make it stand. We got it to stand for a bit but then Ms. B came around to my group and said that we still had plenty of time left to make it even taller. We then collaborated and put a little more thought into it and taped it to the desk and somehow it managed to stand. In this activity, I learned that we have to put thought and effort into our work and use our creativity. All in all, our structure ended up being 18 inches and it was one of the tallest ones.

Welcome!

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