Kony 2012

ony 2012 is an online campaign that expanded through internet memes such as, Facebook, Twitter, and overall by popular social networks. This would be an example of Darwin's theory of immitation which explains the replication of memes. This immitation works with simple details such as changing your BBM picture all the way to creating videos on YouTube that get millions of viewers every day. Although people are not aware of the details of the Uganda criminal.The irony of the whole movement is how their stategy was to make a man who leads massacres to kill the civilians, actually famous.

“Niceness Dies a Darwinian Death”

COOPERATE and DEFECT. Those two words may seem insignificant, but when you’re playing for your grades, it’s all that counts.  As Dawkin was able to explain in Chapter 12, “niceness dies a Darwinian death” (202). This tempting strategic game is called Prisoner’s Dilemma, and it may as well have cost me -.5 in my blogs. The rules are short, if both cooperate then both win, and if both defect then both suffer a punishment, but the tricky part is when one decides to betray for even more points by playing defect while the other is left cooperating. Those .5 points are just sitting their tempting both players, and if one player risks the “mutual cooperation”, all hell breaks loose. In my case, as I was playing, I thought about playing cooperation on the first round, but my ambition to earn those extra points took over, and surprisingly my opponent did the same. From there on, there was no trust whatsoever, every time we lost points we were holding a grudge that would eventually doom us by the time we were finished.

If we look at the game theory, there are two types: cooperative and non- cooperative. It focuses on how groups of people interact in an effort to reach their own goals. The question becomes does Prisoner’s Dilemma apply to the animal world? According to Dawkin, of course it does, and not just in animal and human life, but plant life as well. His example in The Selfish Gene was the birds that removed each other ticks from their feathers. IN this activity they are in the same position as I was during class. The bird can have his own ticks removed and then remove the others ticks, but wouldn’t it be easier to trick the bird and fly away tick-free? These decisions are constantly being bombarded towards us, whether to ask for a favor and then return it, or get away with it and throw in a weak excuse.

Just like Daniela Paternina mentioned in her blog, “choices reflect a person’s true nature”. In her argument, she states that we are in a constant struggle against our selfish genes. In other words, we are creators of our own destiny and if we were raised with correct values, no situation is going to alter who we are no matter how strong the temptation. I agree with Daniela, but if only mankind was a model of Darwin’s “nice guy”, then it would be a win-win situation to every individual. Self-interest, ambition, and temptation would no longer be a leading factor in humanities constant battle to survive in the competitive world.

We’re No Different

Interactions between survival machines in the Animal Kingdom usually take place among the same species. Take a ride along the African Safari and you will surely see zebras grazing in herds with zebras, flocks of the same birds migrating, and ant colonies working hard amongst themselves in order to survive. But this is where we are wrong.  Look deeper into the lives of these animals and you will notice Darwin’s idea of reciprocal altruism, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” (166).The selfish gene can benefit on a greater scale if the animal lives within a group, for example a herd. Sure, it is going to mean less food for the individual, but it is willing to risk that if it means a more efficient way of hunting in order to get bigger prey. Still, just as explained in W.D Hamulton’s paper called “Geometry of the Selfish Herd”, the individual participant in a herd is always going to be selfish. For example, when a prey finds himself in the “domain of danger”, he doesn’t plan to be the first one eaten. He wants to survive just as much as the rest do, and when selfishness takes over it becomes every man for himself.

However, there comes a point where Dawkins theory changes into “you scratch my back, I’ll ride on yours”. The cleaner fish has a stripy pattern and special dance that labels them as “good”, so let’s compare this to our own human society. In my school the cleaner fish would probably be that person who’s reputation is seen as useful, a good catch. In the ocean, large fish restrain from eating them and allow the cleaners to access their interior and exterior, but in school, those specific personalities are usually taken advantage of. Certain groups take them temporarily for pure interest, and yet this person doesn’t mind. He or she has been accepted to the group and is willing to stay there as long as the relationship is stable. The pattern continues, the cleaner fish plays an important role in the coral reef, for it becomes a win-win situation. The cleaner fish has its natural habitat intact and the large fish can return repeatedly to the same cleaner instead of finding a new one every time. Once again, it’s the same in the Animal Kingdom as in human nature. For example, let’s focus on a specific type of person; a drug dealer. This dealer roams the streets of New York looking for a way into the business. Finally, the client or “the big fish” approaches him in desperate need of drugs. The dealer now has a weekly income, and the client now has an official dealer who he can trust to get him any substance he needs.

In this chapter I realized just how similar of a nature we have compared to animals. In our competitive world people benefit from the failure of others, just like when a zebra is saved when the tiger attacks the weak member of the herd. We hold grudges, we become selfish, and we manipulate each other in order to get what we want. We tend to live in “herds”, cuddled safely in our communities because we know it comes to a greater advantage to all of us and our probability of “surviving” increases. Still, no matter how many times we try to ignore it, it will always be “you scratch my back, I’ll ride on yours”. 

Selfishness Lies in our Gene

 Personally, Biology is not even close to being one of my favorite subjects, and when the book The Selfish Gene was handed out goose bumps ran down my arms. But then again, Dawkins use of metaphors and allegory did a better job at explaining genetics than my Biology teacher ever did. He does an exceptional job comparing chromosomes to 46 volumes of books, genes to pages, and the nucleolus to book cases. It allowed me to interpret the text by relating those complicated terms to things I encounter on a daily basis. Obviously, it is very different from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. When I am reading The Selfish Gene my purpose is not to decode the author’s hidden message towards society, but instead I am applying what I have learned in DNA replication and evolution to understand Dawkin’s concepts. In page 16 Dawkins states: “But let copies made from other copies, which in their turn were made from other copies, and errors will start to become cumulative and serious”. The author never mentions the name of the actual process that is taking place, but as a reader I know he is referring to specific mutations in DNA.

In chapter 3, Immortal Coils, Dawkin explains the reason he decided to name the book The Selfish Gene. How can a gene be actually selfish? It all starts with the definition of the gene, “…it is defined as any portion of chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough generations to serve as a unit of natural selection”(28). In other words, the gene seeks longevity in the form of copies. It is willing to fight its way through using natural selection, in order to obtain the best traits and characteristics that will ensure the organisms survival. So yes, the gene is in fact selfish, for it looks out only for its self-interest and believes in survival of the fittest. The gene is able to manipulate the body, jumping from one generation to the next, and towards the end when the body is dying, it is already safe and sound in the organism of the offspring. Another example of selfishness comes from the mutator genes. Their job is to copy errors in the rest of the genes in order to wipe out all competition. This specific gene knows that the disadvantage of one gene means an advantage to itself, and it opens the door for it to finally spread through the gene pool. It is hard to think of something so remote and complex like the gene to be actually selfish. I usually relate selfishness to human nature, but I stand corrected by Richard Dawkin’s theory.

The Truth is Revealed

Of course! All the dead cities, the hidden, the trading, the continuous ones are actually just one independent city: Venice. It all makes sense now, the network of canals, the domes, the bridges suspended with tracery balustrades, are all characteristics of Venice. I must accept, Calvino does a flawless at tricking the reader, as well as Kublai Khan, that Beeisheba, Anastasia, Cecilia, and all the other cities are in fact one of the most detailed descriptions of the city in Italy. The image propagated by the young venetian is only skimmed at, the true meaning lied deep under the cities names, until the eager Kublai Khan asks: “On the day when I know all the emblems, shall I be able to possess my empire at last?”. He was blinded by pure ambition to defeat each and every one of the last enemy troops. So much that he was late to realize “there is still one of which you never speak. Venice.”(86).

The emperor was taken by surprise, why did he not start off his story by introducing Venice as it is? Polo’s answer was simple, “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little” (87). Marco Polo’s passion is so powerful when it comes to his birthplace that he hesitates in revealing the true essence of Venice all at once. Italo Calvino feels Venice cannot be wasted by lips that speak of the city to the point where it is lost. He cherishes it, and speaking of other cities is the way he can express the images Venice leaves implanted in one's eyes.

Skipping Stones

On page 82 of Invisible Cities, a symbolic lesson of life is portrayed through a bridge. Marco Polo starts to describe a specific bridge stone by stone. Kublai Khan (as well as I) wondered what is so magnificent about this bridge, of each and every rock, which is the grand one? Marco answers: “The bridge is not supported by one stone or another, but by the line of the arch that they form” (82). This clearly leaves Kublai Khan bashful and thoughtful, for the arch is the only thing that matters in his perspective. This is where we are all wrong. In life we tend to focus on the big picture, we discredit those small details that make a true difference in the outcome of anything we know of. In the technological sector of society; Apple, Conoco Phillips, Ford Motors, and other companies stand out as large corporations on a global scale in the worlds market. But who or whom are the people overshadowed by these big names? Are they given any credit for what they have created? In most scenarios the answer is no. Their names are barely mentioned, and yet they are the masterminds behind the millions of dollars the companies produce. This is only one of the many examples where society reacts just like Kublai Khan towards the stones in the bridge. The same idea can be seen later on in the text when the traveler begins to describe the city of Phyllis. He rejoices every window, every kind of pavement embedded in the sidewalks, and the fortress walls. “Happy the man who has Phyllis before his eyes each day and who never ceases seeing the things it contains…” (90), here the traveler is hypnotized by the city itself, so much that he decided to stay. This is when he stops seeing the big picture and notices the rose windows, the statues on corbels, the pantones of sunlight, a bench, a hole that you stumble upon, each on a detailed level.

You start to realize those simple yet meaningful aspects of the city that are what truly make it so peculiar. Acknowledging every route and soon enough every footstep becomes crucial in the understanding of the city. It all comes down to the same message, that “without stones there is no arch.”(82)

Calvino's Decoration of Chapters

As I was reading Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, I noticed the book is divided in six sections where every page contains Marco Polo’s description of the elements, design, and structure of different cities. At the beginning of every section an introduction between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan is present in order to guide the reader in the setting and situation of the story. After that, chapters with no more than 2 to 3 pages are labeled on the top right corner with names:

·         Cities and Memory

·         Cities and Desire

·         Cities and Signs

·         Thin Cities

·         Trading Cities

·         Cities and Eyes

·         Cities and Names

·         Cities and Dead

·         Cities and the Sky

·         Continuous Cities

·         Hidden Cities

I refused to pay attention to these titles but as I continued to read and analyze the text I noticed there had to be a pattern that characterized each group of cities or city.  I started by guiding myself with the table of contents and finding any similarities in the repetition of names and appearance of new ones. I wrote them on a sheet of paper and started to make a rough draft by jotting down the titles horizontally. I started with Cities and Memory and every time it was named I started a new line. By repeating the process in sections 2-9, I caught on the pattern by which Calvino introduced them.

My final draft looked like this:

In Chapter 1 the titles appeared to the right, every line a new city was mentioned from 1 being Cities and Memory, 2, 3, and Thin Cities 4.

In Chapter 2 it has 5 cities starting with Cities and Memory and at the end in 5, Trading Cities appears. Up until this point the cities are being mentioned in a rightward manner.

From Chapters 3 – 8 now the First cities are out, moving leftwards. For example in Chapter 3, it doesn’t start with Cities and Memory but rather the second one which is Cities and Desire and so forth every time introducing new cities as if it were a machine sliding to the left and eating up the first city name mentioned.

In Chapter 9, the pattern is continued but it is repeated 3 times as if it were 2 new chapters, but the difference is that it stops and Hidden Cities and then continues to delete the first names and no new ones are added.

Journeys to Relive Past or Recover Future?

In Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Marco Polo describes or imagines describing to Kublai Khan his journeys towards rare unimaginable cities where blind men walk with cheetahs on a leash, where nymphs possess the pipes, and where inhabitants praise postcards that remain unchanged. Their way of communication was “the more one was lost in unfamiliar quarters of distant cities, the more one understood the other cities he had crossed to arrive their…” (28). With this Calvino’s goal is to demonstrate how deeply Kublai Khan wanted to enter Marco Polo’s train of thought, leaving him to the streets he crossed, the creaking of wheels and carrousels he rode, the galleries and mullioned windows he viewed, all to take a course of their own. But how can this be possible? Did it not matter whether questions or details were laid out loud or kept in mere silence? How can one imagine interrupting or imagine answering each other’s questions? Apparently it is a technique Calvino chose in order to explain the complex relationship between both characters. After all, in order to absorb and cherish a perfect and detailed description of any object, you need more than just words, you need images. Images Kublai Khan would find only if he entered Marco’s mind to follow his answers and objections through his memories.

His characters have a unique relationship; anyhow, he takes advantage of the conversations between both to establish a message. For example, Marco Polo believes that his past has changed gradually as he advanced on his journeys. In other words, “the travelers past changes according to the route he has followed: not the immediate past” (28). To him, the cities are not only an empty structure, but rather they represent a past he did not know he had. Nostalgia seems to overwhelm the character knowing that he could be the man sitting at the plaza’s corner if he had only stopped a long time ago in that man’s place. So Khan’s question becomes: were those journeys to relive your past or recover your future? This teaches a vital lesson to all of us about the past we believe is unchanged and closed behind our backs. No key of return. In our journey through life we regret words, actions, and decisions, and as each day passes we are most certain that the past is the past, but according to Calvino it is not. Just as arriving to each city Marco discovers a new past, an event in our future lives may change the way our past is written out, whether it be finding love, to reunite or loose friends and family, or tragedy. So we need to set out on a quest and fix every mistake that haunts us, no regrets included, and relive our past differently.

Invisible Terminology

Gangrene:
verb (used with object)- to affect or become affected with gangrene
noun- necrosis or death of soft tissue due to obstructed circulation, usually followed by decomposition and putrefaction.


Domes:
noun- a vault, having a circular plan and usually in the form of a portion of a sphere, so constructed as to exert an equal thrust in all directions.

Nubile:
adjective (of a young women)- sexually devloped and attractive.

Bergamot:
noun- a small citrus tree, Citrus aurantium bergamia, having fruit with a rind that yields a fragant essential oil.

Banister:
noun- a baluster

Marjoram:
noun- any of several aromatic herbs belonging to the genus Origanum, of the mint family having leaves used as seasoning in cooking.

Onyx
noun- Mineral. a  variety of chalcedony having straight parallel bands of alterning colors.

Cornice:
noun- Architecture. any prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting feature surmounting a wall or other construction, or dividing it horizontally for compositional purposes.

Labile
adjective- apt or likely to change.

Knapsack
noun- a canvas,nylon, or leather bag for clothes, food, and other supplies, carried on the back by soldiers, hikers, etc.

Halberd
noun- a shafted weapon with an axlike cutting blade, beak, and apical spike, used especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Scaffold:
noun- a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the erection, repair, or decoration of a building.

Zodiac:
noun- a belt of the heavens within about 8° either side of the ecliptic, including all apparent positions of the sun, moon, and most familiar planets. It is divided into twelve equal divisions or signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces)

Despising Gold and Precious Stones

As Candide and Cacambo arrive to Eldorado, Pangloss’s words were now doubted by his pupil. How can Westphalia be a better country compared to a place where children play with gold and Emeralds as if they were simple toy marbles? Do they really have it all? Are they pleased with their government, with their religion, and most importantly do they not have social differences? In Candid’s world such a place does exist, but in our world a country where happiness rules in every community is merely just a symptom of our imagination. Candide was also astonished by how society praised every aspect in their life and had no complain, “We have nothing to ask of God, since he has given us everything we need” (76). Voltaire never gives away the secret of this utopian country in a direct way. Certain clues are shot out for the reader to catch and realize that all that glitters is not gold. It starts when Candide questions how their religion works, “There is only one God, not two¸ three, or four. What odd questions you foreigners ask!” (79).

 Well now we see that really these people of Eldorado are forced to follow one strict belief 

and who knows what will happen if one individual decides to protest.

This is just an aspect of the Royal Family’s impressment because the real trick

uptheirsleeveis the lawthat keeps everyone inside the country. This means no one is allowed to set foot

outside of their little kingdom that anyhow is sorrounded by "unscalible rocks and precipes" just in case. I 

must accept it was a well decided idea because by keeping outside influences such as European nations out, 

they mantain order and ignorance amongst their own people. Their goal is for them to never get rebellious 

ideas or hear about succesful revolutions because it might set an example, like the French to the Americans. 

Cuba works the same here in our own modern world and how have people reacted? Do they agree with 

staying in permanent lockdown inside their country? Eldorado seems to be a paradise that every citizen longs 

for, but it is much more complicated than Candide ever saw it to be, but who can blame him. He ran out 

with enough money and gold to create his own empire.

The New Batman and Robin

Candide has gone through the story  as an innocent lover, a Pupil in Panloss's teachings, and now after saving two naked girls from the Oreillons, he is a hero. Its no surprise This character had evolved throughout the story, but where will he end up? Voltaire never gave Candide a specific mission, but instead a desire to reach the new world for a fresh beginning. His journeys couldn't be more dreadful,Voltaire manipulates his world so that in every conflict Candide is found in, the only thing that appears to save him is pure luck. Luck is present when their ship splits in two and everyone is perished whil Candide and Pangloss swim to shore.It is present in the Spanish inquisition where Pangloss is hanged but Candide walks away with a whipping. Candide is now missing one thing every hero must have, and his name is Cacambo.

 Cacambo  is introduced in the story as Candides trustful servant, but I see him as his new fellow sidekick who might be the reason luck is not needed anymore. He covered for Candide when he killed a Jesuit, and as if it wasn't enough he also saved him from the hungry Oreillons thanks to his "logical" reasoning. It might be a little extreme to compare his relationship with Candide to Batman and Robin, two typical heroic figures society refers to as soon as they hear sidekick. Candide is trustful of him, " Very well, well do as you suggest, and trust in Providence"(74), and in a way he is his right hand. Isn't this friendship just like the relationship of our two marvel hero's? Sure Batman and Robin battle against Mr.Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing Gotham City, and it may sound absurd to relate them to Voltaire's characters. Never the less, Candide and Cacambo have just begun their journey and who knows who or what they might come up against with that might destroy or strengthen their partnership.

Aren't You Tired of Forbidden Love?

The love between Lady Cunegonde and Candide has always been forbidden, even if destiny brings them together, somehow it seems like they are bound to be apart. From the beginning, the Baron was always in the way of their fairytale and as if it wasn’t enough, the perfect world of Westphalia was invaded and they were dramatically torn apart. You would think that when they finally met again they would leap into each other’s arms to find the life they always dreamed of. It would have been the most logical scene, but Voltaire’s style is anything but ordinary. Candide was once again forced to leave Lady Cunegonde.

Forbidden Love has been seen  not only in classical literary works such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where families hate each other, but in modern teenage books such as Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, where vampires came from being monsters to romantic figures. Movie directors constantly bombard the audience with this theme in movies such as A Walk to Remember and The Notebook. Here the couples are facing death, incurable diseases, and parents who believe the person their daughter marries must be rich and successful. In the case of Candide, poor Lady Cunegonde is taken Hostage and raped, and as if it wasn’t enough for Voltaire, she ends up choosing the “Captains Fortune” (60), instead of Candide. So why is this theme constantly used by authors if the readers can more or less predict the ending? It’s simple, we all love the idea of two people risking everything to kiss again, to hold each other’s hands one more time, and finally, if it’s the only way to be together, they are willing to die and unite in heaven. Forbidden love has always been one of our favorite sceneries, and even in Voltaire’s time it was a popular theme to write about. It never gets old.

Arrested for Speaking and Listening

In chapter VI of Candide, as you read through the text you can’t help to notice how absurd Candide’s world really is. This is the effect Voltaire wants to create in his audience, and he does this by using a sarcastic tone. After the earthquake that had destroyed Lisbon, a Basque was convicted for marrying his godmother, two Jews for eating bacon with their chicken, and Candide and Pangloss for speaking and the other for listening with approval. The way he narrates these absurd events in such a casual tone make it sound like the most logical situation. The consequence for their actions is where the author once again decides to use sarcasm, “Pangloss and Candide were led off separately and closeted in exceedingly cool rooms, where they suffered no inconvenience from the sun… ”(36). After this “beauty treatment” you would think they were set free, but as a reader you take a shock when in one sentence you realize Pangloss is hanged. The end of one of the main characters is too soon in the story.

"Then You Don't Believe in Free Will, Sir?"

My previous post was about Voltaire’s unique sense of writing: satire. Now we will analyze how Voltaire reflects his beliefs and personality through his own characters. Let’s take in Dr. Pangloss, the well-known philosopher from Westphalia. After he and Candide survive a devastating shipwreck, citizens helped them into a good meal, but the people were sad as they ate in silence. Pangloss came back to his reason that there is no cause without an effect. He ensures the people that the event was no tragedy, rather it was just destiny, it was inevitable no matter the circumstances,” For it is impossible for things not to be where they are, because everything is for the best ”(35). Here we can see how Voltaire expresses himself through Pangloss’s words, or perhaps it isn’t his way of thinking, but rather the people that surround him. As a reader I can sense catholicism starts to take place in the story, “…there can be no such thing as the fall of Man and eternal punishment ”(35).  This statement is said by a secondary character in the story of no importance, but what Voltaire wants the reader to understand is that the character represents the opposition to his beliefs. Pangloss is attacked with questions of Free Will but he believes that there is no such thing as Free Will, but rather it’s called Absolute Necessity. He means that the man does not make choices freely, but rather he makes them because they are vital of “necessity” as previously mentioned.

We know that Voltaire grew up with a certain thirst to reality. He is defined as a deist, but he did believe in the existence of God; “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”, he said. He understood people needed this kind of faith in order to survive all the grievances life brought upon them, but that God had no favorite people, church, or country. This page in Candide reflects Voltaire’s views on God; how he has no plan for eternal punishment of man, but instead he has equal tolerance to all mankind.

Satire: a New Way of Writing in Voltaire

 In  Candide, the author seems to focus on satire as his main writing style during the whole text. He dramatizes and exaggerates every aspect of the story through his main character Candide. Voltaire focuses on ridiculizing Westphalia starting with the stereotypical aristocracies of Europe, “…that in the best of all possible worlds, his lordships country seat was the most beautiful of all ”(19). Clearly as described before, this grand mansion is really a simple house with a door and no windows which makes it absurd to call such a thing a mansion where one of the most influential noblemen live. Another example of absurd is when Candide suddenly decides that after being beat up by the Burglars because of his cause and effect theory, he now wants to find somewhere else to pursue his reasoning. This cause and effect theory comes  from Dr. Pangloss, a philosopher who perhaps is the only one who exists in town, and here is where the reader can decode Voltaire’s mocking humor toward’s Pangloss and his teachings of “ metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology”(20).

The second aspect of satire, hyperbole, is his way of testing the reader to actually capture these events and take them in as a simple exaggeration in every matter. For example, “Rifle –fire which followed rid this best worlds of about nine or ten thousand villains who infested its surface” (25), here you can tell that that extremely huge number of villains doesn’t make sense if there talking about such a small and simple Westphalia. His descriptions are also so detailed and in this case gruesome, that you sense the hyperbole thanks to the diction Voltaire chooses to use; ”Whichever way he looked, the ground was strewn with the legs, arms, and brains of dead villagers ”(26).

Voltaire has a unique way to introduce certain issues in the story such as the STD Dr. Pangloss has recently acquired; “ In her arms I tasted the delights of paradise, and they produce these hellish torments by which you see me devoured ”(30). Instead of taking a direct approach on the characters sickness, he simply chooses for the dialogue between Pangloss and Candide to be obvious enough that you can infer it’s a sexually transmitted disease.