Week 15 Journal Response 5/7/2018 – 5/11/2018
Consider Monster Thesis 5: The monster polices the borders of the possible. We create monsters when we take them out of their own environment. Think of Dinosaurs out of time in Jurrasic Park
Also consider Monster Thesis 7: The monster stands at the threshold of . . . becoming. Monsters are our children. We create them, we birth them.
Make sure to include a link, summary, and analysis. Minimum 250 words. Comment below.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
In monster thesis number five, the monster polices the borders of the possible, we see the effect of pushing a monster out of its comfort zone and pushing them into our world. When we talk about the newer movie Jurassic World coming out, we see how the cast is going back to the site of the “fallen kingdom” where in the first Jurassic World the monsters escaped their enclosure they were put in. The cast is coming back to the island to move them back to another unfamiliar area in order to save them from the volcano that is going to erupt. The uncomfort the monsters feel are what drives them to act out because no one wants to move away from what they are comfortable from. Moving into the seventh thesis, the monster stands at the threshold of becoming, we see how if we would let the monsters grow without interruption how they could possibly evolve into something we could not even fathom. The monster could grow into something new that maybe one day we can look at critically and analyze ultimately how to change our ways into what the monster has become.
LikeLike
http://www.oaoa.com/article_3e4b1629-89dd-5827-8e26-bb5fb19d767d.html This is an article from 2011 about a mountain lion attacking a four-year-old boy. A woman was keeping the twelve-year-old, 150-pound mountain lion caged in her front yard. Animal control had warned the woman months prior to the attack that the cage was too small, and the openings were too large, but she failed to fix the problem. The mountain lion had reached out and grabbed the boy when he got too close to the cage. He suffered lacerations and puncture wounds to the left side of his body as well as a bite mark on his face. The woman also did not keep up on the mountain lion’s vaccinations, so after the animal was euthanized, it had to be tested for rabies. I chose this article because of the instructions for the journal to consider monster thesis V, The Monster Polices the Border. The example of Jurassic Park was given along with, we create monsters when we take them out of their own environment. I don’t know if this fits the monster theory, but it made me think of people keeping wild animals as pets who later attack. Wild animals are meant to be in the wild. Even if they are raised from babies as pets they still have wild animalistic instincts. When put in environments as pets around people, it creates risks of injuries. Even dogs, who are kept as pets can sometimes bite their owners or other people. Imagine having something like a mountain lion. In this case I don’t know how long it was kept as a pet, but because it acted like a wild animal, what it’s instincts are, a young child was injured but thankfully survived, and the mountain lion had to be put to death.
LikeLike
When I consider monster thesis five, the monster polices the borders of possible, I remember the incident at Sea World that took place in 2010. A trainer was killed during a dive with Orca Tilikum after one of the shows. The Orca was captured in Iceland in 1983 and eventually transferred to sea world Orlando in 1992. The story was also featured in a popular documentary “black fish” which sparked a huge movement against sea world leading to major change. Sea world is no longer able to breed orcas in captivity which is a start to fixing the issue but creatures as complicated and intelligent as orcas should not be kept in captivity. They captured Tilikum which led to a trainer being killed. If they had never captured him and took him out of his element the incident would have ever took place. The monstrous killing was a product of people trying to keep these creatures in unlivable conditions. Which also relates to theses seven, the monster stands at the threshold of becoming, “monsters are our children and we birth them”. This whole incident also demonstrates cause and effect. Sea world using animals to make money, the capturing of tillikum, the years of captivity taking a toll on the animal, sea world failing to realize the neglect. All leading up to the death of the trainer and then the law change.
LikeLike
https://asiasociety.org/education/brief-history-nuclear-weapons-states
When considering “Monster Thesis 7: The monster stands at the threshold of . . . becoming. Monsters are our children. We create them, we birth them,” what popped into my head is the fact that we (we being humans) created this thing called a nuclear bomb even though the power of such a weapon would be devastating. This connects because we literally created nuclear weapons to “one-up” all other countries so that we could be the most powerful. Now there is a cloud looming over all of our heads that there might be a nuclear war if one step is taken out of line by a country with the possession of nuclear weapons. The power a nuclear bomb holds is undoubtedly greater than any other weapon. This is shown by the sheer number of lives it took in Japan. In Hiroshima, it killed or wounded nearly 130,000 people and in Nagasaki, 74,000 were killed and another 75,000 sustained severe injuries. Again, “we” created that monster and now we must live with the fear that a nuclear war is “at the threshold of . . . becoming.” It’s sad and unfortunate, but it was the birth child of human beings, showing how not all monsters are people and how people can create monsters.
LikeLike
https://morningsidereview.org/essay/monster-culture-in-post-911-america/
In Cohen’s monster theory number 7 The monster stands at the threshold of . . . becoming “Because monsters are simply the manifestation of certain desires of the society in which they are created, Cohen states that they generally serve as a prelude to a cultural shift in which the society embraces those qualities embodied in the monster”.(Cohen 20) We can see this in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York city. The terrorists can be considered monsters in a since the did these horrible acts. “Over the past five years, we have allowed many of our democratic rights and values—those same values of free thought, free will, free speech, and peace that seem so alive in our snide references to the “freedom-hating terrorist”—to slowly fade away”. (Morning side Review) In a way the terrorists were freedom taking monsters as they wanted to show that the US has to much freedom. Including the freedom of religion most of these terrorists want us to practice a religion that they deem to be customary. In the fact that we have free will and free speech these terrorists will think that we need more government control as most of these foreign nations are under a dictators control. It is a real shame that when monsters are taken out of there comfort zone that they feel as if they have to attack our freedom, and our rights just because they don’t have these rights and don’t know any better. I also feel that being under a dictators control is a bad thing as one is always told what to do, and if they don’t comply they are to be killed off.
LikeLike
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS719US719&biw=1366&bih=662&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=Yjb2WpuOKsGa0gLN2JrIBA&q=immigrant+cartoons&oq=immigrant+cartoons&gs_l=img.3..0j0i5i30k1l4j0i8i30k1.3498.6083.0.6456.9.9.0.0.0.0.112.764.7j2.9.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.9.764…0i67k1.0.LDvSlsllImU#imgrc=dM5yiNgFCpbV1M:
This week in class we discussed more on the topic of monsters. In thesis 5 it states “The monster polices the borders of the possible. We create monsters when we take them out of their own environment”. Immigrants lately have been seen as monsters. That they are uneducated and are stuck in poverty. So people get upset or triggered that the government gives the tiniest amount of support to them. Well, they are only continuing to be uneducated since getting a quality education is expensive. How can they educated themselves if education is difficult to reach. In this photo I came across illustrates two white cops pulling over a non white person. One cop in his hand has a color scale as the other has a gun. Since he is not the same color as them the man is seen as dangerous and different. This represents the united states how immigrants, usually with different colored skin are seen as monsters. Since some say they are not helping our economy. When in reality they are doing no harm. They are seen different, since they are not in their usual environment. This does not make them monster, but we create them in our heads. Plus we keep birthing them since we do not not give them the same amounts of opportunities.This is also a great example of showing that we each defined monsters differently. To some they do no harm to others they are as a disturbance.
LikeLike
http://thenationaldiscourse.com/2733-kanye-west-2733/
The Article talks about how the Democratic party and all the Leftists are demonizing Kanye West for agreeing with Trump and him exposing the leftist’s views on “group-thinking”. Kanye states in one of his tweets “You don’t have to agree with Trump, but the mob can’t make me not love him.” (Kanye), he has his own viewpoints and refuses to be told what to think about other people who may oppose the “mobs” views and ideas. The leftists are demonizing Kanye for his actions by calling him crazy and turning their backs on him when he has stopped believing their ideal of inter-sectional victimology. The leftists in a way are using monster theory #5 “The monster polices the borders of the possible. We create monsters when we take them out of their own environment.” they are doing this to prevent another well-known artist from thinking independently too. Although the leftist’s actions seem to be failing since Chance the Rapper has also begun to question and challenge the ideals of the left when he tweeted out “Black people don’t have to be Democrats.”. The Leftists are also using other well-known artists to try to manipulate Kanye’s thinking and force him back into the leftist’s mentality. Kanye defends himself in a tweet he sent out saying ““We’re being starved and anyone who starts asking unpopular questions gets demonized. Only freethinkers can change the world.” Which hints that the left is trying to eliminate every form of freethinking unless it is composed of ideas and thoughts that they agree with and do not deem to be a threat to their current ideals.
LikeLike
This is Childish Gambino’s new music video called This is America
right off the bat I new it was a representation of the high accessibility and passion for guns in America and it does so very effectively using the imagery and sudden changes in tone such as when he goes from dancing and singing to executing someone. This video can be linked to Monster Thesis VII : The monster stands at the threshold of becoming because the abundance of guns in America is definitely a monster that we as a nation have created because of how high we value firearms in America. I am curious to see how the president responds to the message Childish Gambino is presenting along with other artists. I think he did a very good job at emphasizing how dangerous weapons really are as he wipes out a whole choir committee said to represent the church shooting that occurred in the past. In the end the gun debate boils down to one question, why are American citizens choosing to be blind to the studies that clear up this issue such as the wide range of articles explaining the effects accessibility to weapons bring forth. In the end of the day this country can easily (arguable) change the outcome of gun violence and countless mass shootings if they minimize the accessibility of firearms because the two are directly proportional. I am glad this monster is surfacing more and more because I would hate to be directly affected by gun violence as would everyone.
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/children-of-isis/transcript/
Since the Syrian civil war began, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, more infamously known as ISIS, have taken tens of thousands of children under their control. They recruit these children to aid them in combat. These children are called “ashbal al khilafa”, meaning the “lion cubs of the caliphate”. One child, who joined ISIS, did so after they convinced him they were pure Muslims; this is a commonly used tactic by ISIS to sway young minds to fight for them. They are trained just as the adults are; they are taught how to proficiently load guns, stand in shooting position, and perform beheadings. They are shown videos of suicide bombings to coerce them to volunteer and take part in them, and it works. The videos are shown to them repeatedly and according to the child, it inspires the young children so they go to ISIS and say “I want to become a suicide bomber”. These child fighters relate to monster thesis 5, the monster polices the border of the possible, and thesis 7, the monster stands at the threshold of . . . becoming. ISIS created the child fighters by taking them out of their environment, and manipulate them. Young minds are easy to mold, and they have taken complete advantage of that. These kids are so brainwashed, they are willing to sacrifice their lives and violently take the lives of others.
LikeLike
When considering Cohen’s Monster Thesis 5: “The monster polices the borders of the possible. We create monsters when we take them out of our environment.” We could think of school shooters, for example. We categorize people who do horrendous things in our society of monsters. Of course actions like shooting schools are absolutely terrifying but why call them monsters? Monsters are supposed to be the fictitious characters that only scared us as children, right? There is a threshold one has to meet to become a monster i.e. killing, abusing, cheating, or even stealing. That is when one is no longer human and becomes a monster. What else besides ones actions makes someone a monster? A person does not just wake up one day and decide they no longer value the life of another person, it manifests as that person goes through life and most of the time starts when they are in their adolescent years.
In an article titled, “The Monster Next Door” by Ethan Epstein states (in regards to Nikolas Cruz’s shooting) “They may be “angry” or “insecure” or “jealous,” McCrary says, or full of “rage,” as Schechter puts it. In other words, their emotions tend to be those of a normal human—but their reactions go to vicious, abnormal extremes. In this sense, Cruz’s history of hurting animals was in fact telling. It’s not necessarily a predictor of serial killing per se, but indeed, “violence against socially valued animals is a strong predictor of adult violence,”
Anyone can become a monster but it doesn’t happen overnight. It starts in the mind of a person when they are young and If and only when they act on their hideous desires is when we label them not longer as a human being but as a monster
https://www.weeklystandard.com/ethan-epstein/the-monster-next-door
LikeLike
This is the opening scene to the movie Red Dragon when detective William Graham discovers that Hannibal Lector is the serial killer Graham has been after all along. The scene ends with William Graham being stabbed and Hannibal Lector being shot. If you had thought that Hannibal Lector and William Graham died after this scene, then you’d be wrong. This sparked an entire movie revolving around a twisted relationship between Hannibal lector being in prison and Graham carefully using Hannibal’s psychotic mind in order to track down another serial killer.
Hannibal Lector was a serial killer who, with an intense interest in human anatomy, would murder his victims and eat their corpses. This ties in with Monster Thesis 5: The monster polices the boarders of the impossible because in Hannibal Lector’s home, this sort of behavior is treated as an art form. The movie actually starts off with Hannibal Lector feeding his dinner guests an ‘unknown dish’ which the viewer can easily assume to be one of Hannibal Lector’s victims. The house guests that had been feasting on his signature creation would’ve never even considered the food to be another human. This plot in the story also ties in with Monster Thesis 7: The monster stands at the threshold of becoming because Hannibal Lector was an unexpected serial killer. William Graham had been partners with Hannibal Lector in an investigative quest of finding this mysterious cannibal serial killer. Little did detective Graham know; Hannibal Lector had been observing Graham’s mind and manipulating Graham in order to set him off track. Hannibal Lector was a respectable man with a degree, wealth, and a nice smile. He was the type of person that people would turn to for guidance.
-Jack Adams
LikeLike
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Nobel
“Monster Thesis 7: The monster stands at the threshold of . . . becoming. Monsters are our children. We create them, we birth them.”
Alfred Nobel was an 18th century business man who was also an engineer and chemist. Looking at his name you would recognize that the Nobel Peace Prize and the implications of the award, being given to those who make strides towards world peace. During his life he invented a device that would increase the momentum of the industrial era tenfold. This invention would be dynamite, which would be used in mines and quarries to dig deeper and collect ore. It was made using nitroglycerin and a siliceous material and was relatively dangerous to produce with the technology at the time and led to the death of his brother and many workers when the glycerin exploded. Somehow the irony is very noticeable as he was a pacifist who wished to further human rights for women and his factory workers and yet the death of his brother and an entire factory of workers did not phase him and many factories were built afterwards. As he was a pacifist, he wished his invention would bring about an end to war, and in a way it certainly can, but as of right now it has not come true. Although his money went to fund the Nobel peace prize it is still strange that it was built off of bomb money in a search for world peace. Explosives are used more in war now than most other wars combined, and all because of the man who wish for its end .
LikeLike