Week 9 Thursday 25th November.

Total War
These are my notes that I took from the lecture;

• American nationalism is not organic
• 19th century nationalism and propaganda is designed to justify territorial demands in time of war
• The nation state is modern
• The Italian state is weak - therefor they have many layers of police officers
• Pluralism is the opposite to Totalitarianism
• State of nature according to Hobbes would be living in fear. His solution would be to alienate our rights to a supreme sovereignty in order to live in peace
  
• The French state was more powerful before the revolution

• Totalitarianism is present in every society, mainly by societies ability to implement war. War is the thing that impels totalitarianism

I have found the last three weeks of lectures and seminars difficult to get my head around if I'm honest - they've suddenly become very technical and my brain can't handle it!

Week 8 Thursday 16th November

John Carey - The Intellectuals and The Masses

Points Discussed;

• It is a shame that the masses have simply accepted that the Intellectuals see themselves as 'more important'
• We questioned whether we were receiving a quality education - the modernist idea of putting literature out of the reach of the masses can be seen reflected in our education system.
• There are links between Hannah and John - both discuss Hitler, Stalin and talk about what should happen to the masses. Although Hannah is much more extreme and is not afraid to say what she really thinks.
• She finds the idea of killing people very normal which shocked us
• When Carey mentioned that the growth of the European population between 1800 - 1914 had risen from 180 million to 460 million we were also shocked to see how the intellectuals must have been fearful.

Week 7 Thursday 11th November.

Totalitarianism and Phemonology

A Definition of Phemonology: 'why is there something rather than nothing'
Before we can think about a set of ideas for example religious ideas, we first have to think about what religion is and why it is a thing.

Hannah Arendt
Hannah was a 20th century writer who was associated with communism who wrote during the Holocaust.

Hannah's Ideas

• She thought that World War 2 was too horrific to talk about
• She strongly believed that people should think for themselves
• Her idea 'The Benality of Evil' came about after the trial of Eichman. He was a man involved with the Holocaust; he claims that he was just doing his job. He claimed that he followed Kant's theories of duty and so by following this he was just obeying the duty laws. Hannah said that collaboration is death therefor he did murder.
• She emphasized that we must think and do for ourselves and not obey others.

History of the Time
There were four main stages in the German genocide;

1. Lock them in a building and set it on fire so that they burn to death
2. Deport them to Siberia and then move them onto holding camps
3. Shoot them in the street
4. Work them to death in labour camps and if this was not quick enough they would be rounded into gas chambers

The whole system was used as commercial exploitation from peoples hair being used in the production of fabric, gold from teeth was used as currency and calcium from bones.

Hannah believed that the Holocaust was the fault of EVERYONE. From the train drivers to the cooks.

THINGS I LOVE. Chocolate Cake.

As if there wasn't already too many things that could make a woman pile on the pounds, I now know another 12 thanks to MSN.

After a girls night in consisting of Sing Star, a Chinese takeaway and chocolate mousse it's fair to say that I'm feeling a little heavier than normal...so the last thing I needed before heading off to bed was an article telling me the 12 things I never knew could make me fat. Great.

Its a sad fact that most girls are conscious of their weight whether its a very prominent thing in their life or maybe they're just worried about fitting into that dress but the worst thing about it all is that even though we know we shouldn't care...we do, and we even WANT to find out how to shed those few pounds or get our bikini bodies, I mean who doesn't want to look their best.

According to MSN these are the 12 things we never knew could make us fat;

1. Stress
2. Our Job
3. Our Boyfriend
4. Television
5. Stealth Calories
6. Cold Weather
7. Ready-Made Lunches
8. Smoothies/Fruit Juice
9. Coffee
10. Alcohol
11. Lack of Sleep
12. Dehydration

But you know...I really don't think that we should know all of this - I mean it's already tough enough knowing that my favourite thing to eat (chocolate cake) probably has as many calories as Prince has kisses so if I now know that my boyfriend, watching television and my job as well as nine other things could make me fat there's a possibility that one day myself and every women around the world do nothing out of pure fear of putting on 2 pounds!!

...who am I kidding...I'm just going to eat my cake and be happy. Join me?

(To read the full article click here.)

THINGS I LOVE. People.

Today I saw an advert on TV by TMobile so I went on YouTube to see the whole version and I have to say it's the best three minutes of anything that I have seen in a while.

I have now watched it several times and every time I can't stop my smile from growing. To me this video shows how we can all come together and create something amazing which affects so many different people.

I think you have to watch the video to understand what I'm saying and how I feel, so here it is:




you can also click on 'TMobile' above which will take you to their YouTube page.