Questions for essay 3

Questions for Essay 3
Topic: Violence against the Police.

 1)  What motivates people to engage in violent acts against police? 2)  Why do people feel it is acceptable to attack the police?
 3)  Do citizens know what a “regular day at the office” is for a law enforcement officer? 
4)  If citizens are harming the men and women who are supposed to be protecting them, who is going to protect the citizens when they really need protection? 
5)  Has violence against the police always been a problem or is it a fairly new?
 6)  Has the percentage of violence against police increased over the years?
 7)  Does the location play a role on how police officers are treated?
 8)  How have people’s views on law enforcement officers changed over the past few years?
   9)  Why have people’s perspective changed?
 10)  Will this problem get worse in the future?

The first connection between the Perils of Indifference and Friendswood is that people knew something bad was happening and didn't do anything about it. This is partially because the people were not being directly effected so they were indifferent about the situation. By them being indifferent to the situation, it gives the impression that they do not care about what is going on. In the Perils Wiesel explains "Why did some of America's largest corporations continue to do business with Hitler's Germany in 1942?" He wants to know why if America knew what was going on in Germany why didn't they stop it. This gives the people in Germany they feeling that America didn't care. This also makes Hitler feel like America was supporting him.

This also happened in Friendswood, Avery Taft knew what was going on in Baines field, but still wanted to build on it. In both of these situations money plays a role. In the Perils, if America did something about Germany, then they would lose business which means they would lose money. In Friendswood if Avery Taft doesn't build on Baines Field then he loses money as well. So in order to keep making money Taft has to be indifferent about the situation. He needs to have a opinion on it in order to keep his business going. In 1942, it was a little different because eventually the United States realized that saving the people in Germany was more important than the money they were making.

In Friendswood indifference plays a huge role. Wiesel explains "indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred". This is because anger and hatred show emotion, which gives people the impression that someone cares deeply about a topic. Indifference gives the impression that people do not care. In Friendswood, Willa's parents do not seem to care about her health after the rape. We know this because when they police come to Willa's house her parents just want them to leave and not deal with Willa's rape. So in this case Willa's parents are indifferent to her situation. Lee on the other hand is very angry at Taft for wanting to continue building on Baines field even though it is not safe. Lee is very passionate about this because of her daughter's passing. Lee's anger show that she care a lot about this topic and wants the problem to be fixed. Many other people in the town seem to be indifferent about this situation because they are not directly effected by it. Wiesel would back Lee up because he know what it is like to be in a situation were people feel indifferent to something so dangerous and harmful.

Dissent

     In the town of Friendswood there is a huge oil spill that has been effecting the town. One of the problems is the EPA told the citizens that it was safe to stay in the town. There are many effects that the oil has on the town. Jess, the daughter of Lee, has passed away from blood disease. Lee believes that her daughter died from the oil spill. This has led to Lee trying to prove that the land is not fit to be built on. Since the EPA has been telling the town that it is safe to live there the citizens are believing it. Lee has done research and realized that the land is not safe and she is trying to relay the information to the town. She wants the town to stand up to the EPA.

     This situation can be compared to things going on in the United States today. Many people feel that with the new president things are going to revert back to what they were many years ago; specifically women's rights. The people that have felt like their rights are being taken away they have been protesting and speaking up. An example of this is the Women's Marches in many different states. These marches took place in January 2017. Many women, men and children took to the streets to stand up for their rights. This is important because if people do not stand up for what they believe in then they will feel like that are being controlled. These marches are showing young children to stand up for what they believe in.




     The importance of both of these situation is people are standing up for what they feel is right. Lee feels that not building on the land is the safest thing for the town and the people living in it. The women and men walking in the marches want to stand up for rights of women. No better what the situation is one person can not change everyone's mindset. There needs to be a lot of people standing up for the issue. If there are more people, there is more of an impact.

log questions

Annamarie Santangelo
Professor Rasheda Young
College Writing Workshop 1001
30 January 2017


1)     Willa Lambert is a a tall, quiet, tall, with dark hair, and pale skin. Willa and her parents are really close and they go to church a lot. Willa's has these visions that she says "if she doesn't focus on the visions, it was almost like they weren't there".  The first vision she describes is she saw a small, grey woman reaching up her arms. Willa explains to us that she has homework to focus on so she does not pay attention to the woman in her vision. The origin of these visions seem to be when she is completing her homework.

2)         Dex lives in a trailer with his mother and sister. The trailer is parked next to the Baptist Church. Dex seems close to his mother since his father left them. His relationship with his sister seems more distant. Dex’s mother askes him if he can watch over his sister next year, his response was “What makes you think she’ll let me?” This statement makes me feel that the two of tem are not as close because if they were then why would there be a problem with him looking out for her next year? Dex carries the football equipment around at practice while the football players run laps.

3)         Hal is Cully’s father. For a living Hal real estate agent; “He passed the Reese house, which he’d sold just below the asking price back in December”. Hal feels that him and his son, Cully, are the closest when Cully is playing football and Hal is sitting in the stands watching. Darlene is Hal’s wife. The relationship seems to have many issues, but they try to work them out. Darlene says she doesn’t mind cleaning up after Hal, but his bad moods and drinking are the problem.  

4)     Lee is Jess's mother. The significant tragedy that happened in her life is he daughter passed away from cancer.  This has had a huge impact on Lee.  She is always think of her daughter which is not unusual.  Whenever she sees something she members it the way it was when Jess was alive. Lee is constantly living in the past. Jack, her husband, also left her and now she lives alone. The community members see her as an active member of society. Lee is trying to make sure the land that has the sludge is not built on to prevent illness of other citizens. 

5)     The chemical dumping that has occurred in Friendswood is a result of the runoff from the oil refinery. In the beginning the society lived with it because the EPA said " its a small concentration of stuff, it can't hurt anything". So the community continues to live their lives as if nothing was wrong.  The signs that the environment has been affected are the sludge would come up from the ground  the dirt had too much oil in it and the oil was also leaking through the cracks in their driveway. Then eventually the chemical dumping became so bad that everyone had to move out of the town. 

6)    The incident that is being discussed in Friendswood is similar to the situation in flint, Michigan. In Flint the water is contaminated with lead. This is unhealthy for the citizens because they are drinking, bathing, cooking, etc with the contaminated water. This is still going on in Flint, but it began in April 2014. So for the passed three years citizens of Flint have not had clean water. The crisis began when the city switched water suppliers in 2014. Since the water has been contaminated there has been a massive health risk. The pipe were corroded, which led to leeching the water.  The effects of this is there are mental health problems, and citizens being anxious and fearful. 




                                                                     

                                                                 Works Citied
Goodnough, Abby and Atkinson, Scott. "A Potent Side effect to the Flint Water Crisis: Mental Health Problems"
30 April 2016  www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/us/flint-michigan-water-crisis-mental-health.html?_r=0 accessed on 29 January 2017

Kennedy, Merrit. "Lead-Laced Water In Flint: A Step-By-Step Look At The Makings Of A Crisis." NPR 
20 April 2016 www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis accessed on 29 January 2017

Steinke, René. "Friendswood" New York: Riverhead Books 2014