Friday, February 1, 2008

Live Blogging: The Damned Human Race

As you live blog, please remember the following:

1. Keeping hitting the F5 key to refresh the page and view new comments.
2. Type in Microsoft Word first to make sure you have proper spelling and grammar.
3. Aim to make at least five thoughful comments.
4. Keep the discussion focused and academic.

60 comments:

Lauren L said...

YO

Lauren L said...

Race wasn't about how smart a person was it was all about color the darker you were the dumber you were. White people were the superior then any other race!

SaraB2009 said...

I agree with Lauren. And also they tried to prove that Negros and other races were less evolved then the white people.

MadisonF said...

The reason white people thought they were better was because the blacks were just bought over and they had no idea why there were different in the way they looked, talked or acted.

MandyN said...

I agree with lauren because the white's were thought of to be superior than other races. They thought that they were smarter and better.

TaylorH said...

I think race became such an issue at this time because the black man for example became educated and ignited the revolution to create equality amongst all races.

TaylorH said...

I think race became such an issue at this time because the black man for example became educated and ignited the revolution to create equality amongst all races.

Lauren L said...

Sara its black people we don't use the word negro anymore...hahaha

Hannah L said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mallorym said...

The white people are so caught up in themselves, they believe that they've always been "in charge" and superior, so they want to keep it that way. I wonder if they ever felt threatened by the negros that they were trying to control...

MandyN said...

I also agree with taylor that it is race. Race was everything back then because it disguinished people into different categories.

jordang said...

yeah mark twain actually fought in the civil war
did yall know that

TaylorH said...

I think that the idea of a scapegoat was heavily used throughout the black mans struggle. The idea of evolution from different animals which would create racial tension and created the idea that not all men are created equal

MadisonF said...

Going along with Taylor, i do think that whites thought that the blacks were taking over their country because they weren't thought as equals.

LyndseyB said...

I think that they did feel threatened when the blacks began to get more rights so they used "darwinism" to justify their actions.

kelsieb said...

I agree with Emily when she said that the people of that age just took interest in it because it makes them look superior to their slaves.

blakeh said...

Along with what Mallory said; I do believe that at one point that the white race felt threatened by the black people rising to more power than they had expected.

SaraB2009 said...

I think in the article Twain is putting people down saying they are the lowest on the chart, but strangely he is a human so does that mean he is relating this article to himself or is he not including himself in this argument?

mallorym said...

I agree with taylor. they used darwinism as a scapegoat.

WesL said...

Twain defenetly sees that the humans have lost all natural goodness and that. We are the only animals that can do horrible things consciesly.

IanW said...

Damn those humans! Yeah! We are a group of unbalanced and disproportioned creatures who do vile and disgusting things and are only hindered by our own "superiority". Twain is frighteningly right in everything he points out in this piece.

MandyN said...

I agree with lindsey when the black's started to get more power the white's felt threatened because i think that they realized that they could lose everything, power and their respect.

Lauren L said...

White people are thought of coming to america first even though its not true. But because white people are so powerful and are so worried about becoming a minority we decide to diss on other races.

LyndseyB said...

Like Brian said about moral sense that our moral sense creates the chaos Twain seems to suggest that to be ignorant about your actions is better.

TaylorS2009 said...

In reply to what Sara said, Twain is saying that the human race as a whole is worthless and is very low. Individuals are so different from people in a group.

WesL said...

The people of the human race only car for themselves and are very selfish.

jordang said...

Something mark twain emphasizes in his piece is that humans have the ability to make decisions, and that as a result they are often much more cruel, evil and bad, but at the same time, he is capable of being, generous, merciful, gregarious etcv

blakeh said...

I agree with Ian. The human race has gotten carried away with what we do. And as always there is a scapegoat to justify our actions

MadisonF said...

The whites were afraid because their territory was being taken over and being filled with people that didn't fit in and didn't look the same. I think that everyone was so unsure about the new land and not living in there home countries. nobody had a real foundation in the new world, until people started to take control of the chaos.

mikee said...

Lauren makes a good point, people were so narrow minded that they never analyzed anything they way it should have been.

kelsieb said...

I agree with Ian when he said that even with this idea we look at good and evil in everything we do.

BenE said...

To what jordan said, I think that the ability to make decision give us the opportunity to make decisions based on pleasure, while animals make decisions based on instinct.

Cconrad said...

to what sarah said, twain is including all people he just believes that everything we do makes us go lower and lower on the food chain, he believes there's no hope for the human race we are the lowest and always will be.

MandyN said...

I agree with jordan that the human race is capbale to do very evil but good things. It is all social darwinism, the strongest will over come the weak. It is different between animals and humans.

Pat said...

Humans self destruct

Hannah L said...

I agree that there are different qualitys in man than just bad traits. He does do good as well and Twain does not focus on that.

BenE said...

I agree with Ian that the abillity to differentiate between good and evil lets us choose. Animals have no sense of good and evil, therefore they can be neither.

mikee said...

I agree with john when he says that there is nothing wrong with trying to fend for someone else, especially those who depend on you.

Lauren L said...

The man who robs the store and kills people knows its wrong animals dont know any better and the eat other animals thats always how its been. The guy should have just gone and killed an animal or just stolen from the store.

Janae said...

i don't think that human aren't self destruct they do thing they need to survive.

MadisonF said...

In the inner circle, I think that it was wrong for the person to kill for food, its not instinct for us to kill people. animals have their instinct to kill to keep alive, but people know right vs. wrong and we have been taught not to kill.

kelsieb said...

I think that it is good to fend for his family. It's one thing if he holds up a store because he is trying to feed his family.

Kristin M said...

Twain is saying that when a cat plays with a mouse, he doesn't realize that he is hurting the mouse, but when a man hurts another man he knows he is hurting the man. So he is saying that when the cat plays with the mouse he doesn't realize he is hurting the mouse, but the man realizes when he is hurting another man.

Hannah D said...

I believe that race was something that whites weren't used to. But, what I think about, is that when a single person, thinks outside the box, then others who are of the majority, such as the white people, will go along with the flow, and therefore, since the blacks just came, and they were different, the whites were together in them thinking differently, and therefore, a whole issue starts.

mallorym said...

Somewhere at the end of the 3rd page of the piece, Twain mentions nhow higher animals engage in individual fights, never in masses; and how Man is the only animal that do things in masses, like War. As humans, it seems like we are afraid to do things alone, and we're too dependant on our masses.

TaylorH said...

with that mrs leclaire said about instincts, being a human; a highly evolved species, we have advanced our selves to the point where robbing another to provide is immoral.

ryan f said...

I disagree with Jordan on the aspect that animals survive on their own behalf when animals act often for the better of the whole and base their decisions on the ability to survive

TaylorS2009 said...

I think that animals do have morals and know what is right and wrong. But it is what they think is right. People have morals that are set, but that doesn't really mean that something is evil, even if it is said to be.

mikee said...

I agree with Wes in that animals may have morals, they just don't show them as often as we do.

MandyN said...

I agree with sara that the society sets the standard. It is wrong to kill a person for food but it is not wrong for a lion to kill a deer. it may be survival but it is ok for the animal to kill but not a human.

BenE said...

I think pat is right when he says humans self destruct because they ultimatly control their destiny. They kill each other and that is somthing you see only in humans.

kelsieb said...

I agree with Wes when he said that animals have morals because animals live in "families" just like we do and they don't like seeing someone else in their family being hurt.

Hannah L said...

It is survival for man to kill animals to stay alive but, man does tend to take more than he truly needs and that is wrong.

Pat said...

We developed a mind and conscious so we don’t have to live like animals. Our brain is one of our traits to make us superior and have advantages. Why must we need to live like animals when we have the ability not to?

mikee said...

I think that morality is a learned trait, because you would have no incentive to abide by the rules, if you wouldn't be punished for breaking them.

MadisonF said...

I agree with John, we are a very rebellious generation. We do things to make others angry for entertainment.

LyndseyB said...

I think humans are inherently good by nature but society corrupts them. IF you look at little kids they are more generous than the average human.

blakeh said...

So if if animals show human emotions, describe to me what a companionship with a man and a dog might mean. If the dog defended his master by attacking the opponent at hand, wouldn't that be yet another emotion revealed to humans from animals?

Janae said...

i think we learn are moral buy then we choose which moral we use.

blakeh said...

Madison i don't think that we would be rebellious just for fun. Maybe "rebels" today have meaning to their actions aside from mere entertainment?