Sara Inoue

     News of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been all over the news. Every social media platform, every news channel has been reporting the bombs and deaths of Ukrainians and continuous interviews of people who are under attack have aired. Since the start of the invasion, I have been researching why Putin was planning on invading Ukraine and what his purpose was. Many websites and news articles that explain the situation state that the expansion of NATO is a threat to Russia and how Putin values his legacy, just like precedent prime ministers, he wanted to be remembered as a somewhat politically strong figure. Up until now, I haven't talked to anyone who had the same mindset as Mr.Paterson. He talked about the history of Russia and Ukraine, and the fact that Ukraine is not the only victim, despite the invasion and other damages. It was truly eye-opening to hear a perspective so different from myself and others. Before his explanation, we were told to discuss in small gro...

     One business strategy I was stunned by was planned obsolescence, which is a technique that is certainly not sustainable, yet too common in contemporary society. The product is planned and designed by the manufacturers to have a limit so that consumers would come back. For example, Japanese houses are said to last around 30 years; however, it usually takes 30 years to pay back the mortgage of the property. Houses are designed to deliberately deteriorate so that people would keep buying new houses. The same goes with terminator seeds which I was completely unaware of. The DNA of the seeds is tinkered so that only one plant grows and is terminated. This strategy procedure creates a cycle so that consumers would have to come back for more. From these examples, I was able to learn how the efficiency of marketing concentrates on profit rather than the quality of products. Although businesses need their profits in order to grow, it made me wonder whether these houses are wo...

     "Top of the Pops", a British music chart television program by the BBC, was broadcasted weekly between the years 1964 and 2006. The host of the show, Jimmy Savile who was seen as an eccentric TV personality, had been sexually assaulting hundreds of people throughout his life. Surprisingly in his peak state of his career. It is sickening to think how many people he has mentally and physically damaged. According to a report from the Guardian, a female victim is believed to have told the Metropolitan police she was assaulted in Savile's campervan in a BBC car park. Nevertheless, no action took place and the police file cannot be located. Many of his other claims are unsubstatiated, which should have been disclosed when it was an ongoing situation.       After doing a quick search on Jimmy Savile, most of the articles did in fact delineate on his cases. There were articles that interviewed victims and the quick search became an hour long probing. I wa...

     We had an unusual class, where students were tod to spread out and a set of "rules" were displayed on the board. The activity "rules" were clear; yet, also broad in a way that changes could be made easily. Before starting, Mr. Paterson introduced this game as a means to scrutinize our creativity, which was probably one of the main reasons people started thinking in ways that could make their answers unique.  I found it interesting how Mr.Paterson showed us one common way of doing this activity by drawing a 3x3 circle format. This example became a big clue for the majority of students, which made them start off by drawing the same 3x3 circles.       I realized that the first rule, which was to draw 9 circles in a square pattern, did not specify the structure of the square. Therefore, I decided to set aside the idea of drawing 3x3 circles and drew 4 circles in one straight line. As long as there were four circles in the corner, I perceived it a...

     Today was quite different than our usual class. Tables were set up and we sat in groups of 4, with strange materials. There were 20 raw spaghettis, 1 yard of tape and string, and most mportantly a marshmallow. Having no clue of what was going on, Mr.Paterson assigned us a challenge, which was the Marshmallow challenge. Our mission was to build some sort of tower so that the marshmallow would be held on top. our group worked pretty well, in the sense that we started building the tower as soon as the 18 minutes timer went on. We started working on the base of the tower, so that the thin spaghetti strips would support the levels on top. I personally thought that the base woud be stable if we made it a square, but after a quick talk we realised that we should use the spaghetti strips wisely, as well as the tape. Cautiously taping the strips together, we found that the easiest way to make a tall, and strong tower was to tape more paghetthis to the bottom area, to strength...

     James VI of Scotland became the king of both Scotland and England. As England became bigger and stronger, he gradually shifted towards business that benefited the UK. Even though the two regions were not a union, Scotland was dragged into England's wars with other countries. This left the Scottish people unhappy and disconsolate. Until in the 1680s, James married a catholic wife, which lead to the fight between William, who was not catholic. It was quite difficult to catch up regarding the disputes between members of the royal family, but the main point of Mr. Patersons' talk was that the Scottish and British have been hostile for decades.      England and Scotland continued as two separate states sharing a monarch. I was shocked to find out how the 1979 election completely broke the purdah by changing the rules last minute. Even though there was 38% of voters wished for the independence of Scotland, it had to be more than 40% in order for it to go thr...

 Ranked 5th in GDP ranking for 2021 was the UK, and they were able to maintain their economic rank due to Scotland's resources.  95% of the UK's oil, gas, and fishing, 100% of the wave power of the UK is in Scotland's waters. Other resources such as coal and forestry are also provided from Scotland. If Scotland became independent, it would be one of the richest countries, kicking out the UK in GDP rankings. In addition, they would have the right to take back the sea boundary that the UK has been moving ever since the order in 1987 (Picture below) . The only setback is that the British government has been mobilizing the media to get Scottish people to vote against their interests.        From previous classes, I knew that BBC was owned by the British government and presented heavily biased content. Yet, I was still shocked about the weather map used in their weather reports. Even though the two areas in Scotland, Stornoway, and Edinburgh are 200 miles a...

     After watching yesterday's documentary, I realized how much the knowledge I gained from previous terms, had affected the way I viewed the documentary. For example, snippets of news reports were included when giving evidence of media manipulation. Before taking Mr. Paterson’s lessons, I would have conceived every information as trustworthy. Not only did I see the media as a platform to rely on facts, I was completely unaware of the fact that there was also deceitful information. Before the internet, people were informed through newspapers and radios; which were owned by rich people who had the money to buy the radio and news companies. Due to this, wealthy people were able to control the media and the information put out to the audience. Net Neutrality is the idea that internet service providers, must treat all internet communication equally, allowing individuals to put out information freely. We looked at websites such as Indymedia, information clearinghouse, and fai...

     "War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" is a documentary about the manipulation of the US government and their view towards war. Norman Soloman, the author of the book and creator of the film attempted to expose how the American government was controlling the audience through media. Officials have explained and justified operations to the American people, by withholding crucial information about the actual reasons and potential costs of military action. Their purpose was not to inform but to generate and maintain support for the war.      Throughout the documentary,  every president has claimed that they are against wars and desire peace, even while ordering military action. The contradiction between their statements and actions is obvious; however, people like George W Bush have gained enough trust and credit to have a great impact on the audience. I was shocked to see the political news filled with lies, deception...

     Not many people know how GAP is one of the most detrimental sweatshops. Their manual workers are employed at very low wages, with poor environment, and most importantly they are children. Protestors would go up to GAP stores and demonstrate until they became more creative and started to approach from different ways. People would go up to cashier counters as "customers" and ask questions like "were these made by children?" and by continuously doing so, they were able to keep the cash corner out of business for an hour. They were able to do this with only 10 people, and without breaking any laws. Moreover, a group of people also succeeded in passing a law to stop food chains to sell unhealthy products. Although their wish to get rid of already existing chains did not supersede, they were still able to bring about change.      I was astonished to find out about the copyrights once put on neem plants, and basmati rice. Both of them were produced and tradit...

     "The people who decide on war should be the first people who have to go to war." is what Smedley  Butler claimed in his book, War is a Racket.  600 congressmen decided on the Iraq war, yet only one person had a family member who was going to fight for the war. He strongly believes that war would disappear overnight if people who make the decision, go to war instead of the poor. Tanks, ships, and guns are destroyed in wars, and new ones are made by corporations. Furthermore, newspapers have more to report and sales go up for news companies, meaning the money goes up during this time.       I didn't necessarily think these corporations "like" war, but they definitely do benefit from all the ravage. The luxurious lifestyle that politicians had in the clip, made me furious after seeing all the demonstrators struggling. Something I also found interesting was the northern Scottish accent used in a commercial. According to a late 19990s survey,...

     "Virtually every relationship we have is a commercial" caught my attention in the documentary. The borderline between genuine relationships and business/profitable relationships is indeterminate. With the difference in advantages and losses, people will only look at what the outcome is or what benefits them. One example is the weirdly large packaged products we buy online. Even if the product itself is small, the enormous boxes have their brand names written across, promoting their own business. I never paid attention to all the free advertisements we either participate in or involve ourselves without realizing; therefore, it has opened a new perspective on techniques regarding the proliferation of sales/profits.      We discussed whether the patent for biological life is acceptable or not. As our society is maneuvering its way through creating new technology and altering DNAs, it is definitely a topic that needs to be touched upon. Even corporations t...

     Oil corporations intentionally produce less, so the higher demand for oil leads to more profit. This only benefits the corporation and does not make sense for consumers when they are able to get more oil. But learning about the cold war between the US and Iran, and the damages were shocking. The economic sanction from the US towards Iraq was a whole another level, so ludicrous that they were banned to have pencils because they could make bullets out of the lead. this was between 1991-1997, 7 years of sanctions on cooperation with Iran business, ban on all imports.    DU (depleted uranium) was also used by the US during this period, and due to its chemical toxicity, it has caused cancer and killed thousands of Iraqis. The depleted uranium odes into the air and reached millions of people. Inevitable from the appalling decision made by the US, half a million children died because of the sanctions. Iran economically and financially deteriorated and stole thousa...

     Political compass is a website where people can take tests, to determine their political ideology in a spectrum . The x-axis indicates whether individuals are closer to a libertarian or an authoritarian, and the y-axis shows whether one is economically left or right. I contemplated more on social questions rather than the political questions. statements like " The enemy of my enemy is my friend" sounds irrelevant to political views but I realized how individual views relationships between people affect their views on a larger scale.      I was on the bottom left of the political compass, which is where most of the people in my class were. The website also displays presidential elections in different countries and years. I was shocked to see how the majority of politicians start off authoritarian right (top right) and the closer to the left or bottom the people were, they were not as famous. Barack Obama was surprisingly close to where Biden and trump w...

     Pfizer, the American biotechnology corporation is headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. They interact with the people living around them and improve their impression as a corporation. Whilst they have strengthened security systems for train tickets and enhanced the safeness, the money spent is fully tax-deductible.  The tax would have gone straight to the government if Pfizer opt to use the money otherwise; however, since they have used it on areas around their headquarter, the money does not reach areas that need the most improvement,       Moreover, the dark truth of Disneys' business also left me shocked. Since the copyright on Mickey mouse expires in 2024, Disney bought star wars and marvel. Their plan was to keep gaining profits, even after losing Disney character copyrights. prior to the control of star wars, many science fiction writers wrote books that fit the storyline of the published series. However, Disney claimed all the boo...

     Another technique for manipulation is targeting young children. According to the documentary, parents state that 20-40% of the products would have never been bought if it weren't for their child nagging. Furthermore, the rivalry between corporations on who gets more attention from children causes even more extreme manipulation. As Mr.Paterson mentioned, the information given to younger audiences needs to be closely checked and assured that it does not affect them in unnecessary ways. However, advertisements on TV and media have already impacted young people's perspectives. For example, Joe camel was an advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from late 1987, appearing in magazines, billboards, and other media. The problem with Joe camel was that their campaign promoted a lethal and addictive product to young children and adolescents.       Unlike Joe Camel advertisements, more imperceptible ads are being propagated. This way, consumers don't realiz...

     Planned obsolescence is a business strategy that is certainly not sustainable, yet too common in contemporary society. The product is planned and designed by the manufacturers to have a limit so that consumers would come back. For example, Japanese houses are said to last around 30 years; however, it usually takes 30 years to pay back the mortgage of the property. Houses are designed to deliberately deteriorate so that people would keep buying new houses. Moreover, extreme right capitalists claim that business has nothing to do with the environment. Although there are individuals that do not take accountability for their industrial causes, the documentary expressed how institutional roles and individuals are not always the same.       After watching the clip of demonstrators vandalizing the house of a worker, I realized how little consumers know. We do not know who to blame when something happens, which makes it easier for people behind businesses...

 Toxic chemicals permeating our lives are one of the main causes of cancer. synthetic chemicals used by factories have toxic effects, not only on the environment but also on humans. corporations that push the chemicals into the environment do not take responsibility, which is another example of externalities. Furthermore, a hugely destructive chemical named Agent orange was used after WW2, when the French tried to control Vietnam. This was used to destroy the forestry and jungles in Vietnam so that the U.S. military could drop the bombs. Eventually, the chemicals sunk into the ground and affected the water, which caused birth defects for 40 years. Even the American soldiers who were in the vicinity, for maximum 3 years were affected by this chemical.  The Vietnamese people have been exposed for 50-60 years and around 3 million people were affected. 50,000 Americans were paid 280 million dollars compensation from the government. But the 3 million Vietnamese locals were paid not...

    In today's class, we watched, "The corporation" a documentary that shows the change of corporation and the reality behind gaining profit. Robert Leyes, the president and CEO Canadian council for international business mentioned how companies/businesses and corporations are akin, which is not true since corporations are there to make profits for the owners. Moreover, corporations are legally bound to put the owner's profit above anything else. One example of this was the foundation of "Dodge" the car company. Ford was originally owned by two brothers who needed enough money to start their own company. Therefore, an increase in wages for the workers and discounts for customers were turned down.       Corporations cannot be put in prison. Even if people are killed, workers who were involved may be arrested, but the corporation as a whole still continues. In addition, externality is also an ongoing issue. air pollution and people living in the vicinity is o...