Freedom of the Press

Do you believe what you listen or see? You might have heard about Goldman’s news from headline or updates about health care reform. Every day we are exposed to lots of information from every field and we choose whatever we watch or read. We tend to believe the mass media does not influence our way to see things or judge, but the information which we get directly from mass media is most of the time manipulated. Fortunately we are living in a country which supports the press’ freedom so we can know what happened in our history or what is going on in our society but there are lots of places don’t. The basic right is encroached by intention.

According to survey assessed of the 195 countries and territories by the organization Freedom House in 2008, it found that only 17 percent of the people in this world live in countries that enjoy a Free press while 41 percent have a Partly Free press and 42 percent have a Not Free press . Obviously the places of Partly Free and Not Free parts are shown in low-educated countries compared with developed country. The countries which are designated as a Not Free section would be under the government, which puts pressure to reporters to cover the news and abuses an ability of media as tools to make their citizens blocked from any information that has hazard. You can imagine what sort of politics the leader will perform. People will be deaf and dumb like a babe in the woods. To make matters worse is that if the government pushes them down with force, people can’t realize that is immoral because of the lack of information. It’s the easiest and fastest way to make people’s head empty.

Here is another example. Before Google withdrawn, if you want to search “Tiananmen square protest”, you could find only travel pictures on Google China. There is a total different view on other Google sites; we can find some pictures of military tanks which you can never find on Google China. This fact demonstrates how Chinese government takes the right to know from their citizens. In this case, there is no way for the upcoming Chinese generation to know about the historical incident. It’s clearly to know that those students cannot get a right education about true history from their school. This is the way the shameful history is fade.

You may wonder how about communism. Compared with democracy, it’s not easy to get some information about pro-communism because most of leaders in democratic societies don’t want their citizens to start being interested too much regarding this topic which may lead to some sort of new adepts. Before even noticed it, book containing deep contents about communism are not released that much and even published. The world we are living in is made by few of influence. You should feel like you are betrayed by your reliable country, but still now, we have no idea what kind of information is taken away or given to us. We just know what we can reach.

The press is a bridge between people and society which connect each other and it should be neutral by keeping away from both sides. If the bridge is rotten, those big communities cannot be connected, and then it cannot be called as a society. The press shouldn’t be a tool for politics or economy. The freedom of the press and the freedom of expression must be guaranteed. Both our history and the fact which is happening now are should not be hidden. Human being is not for society; we make our own community.

Maps

Map=>Comparison and contrast

Meeting with K'NAAN

I just discovered this talented singer while doing some research.
His songs are awesome.
I encourage you to listen some of them and tell me what you think.

Here is the link to learn more about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27naan

Five titles that you can check on Youtube to discover what the K’NAAN’s style is:

Waving Flag
Fire in Freetown
In the beginning
Take a minute
ABC's

In my case, his songs are kind of helping me to recharge my batteries when I’m tired!
His lyrics are full of rhymes and deal with issues such as history, politics, education etc.

The last time I bought a CD was in 2004, and next week I’m going to buy his CD, just because he is great.

Map=> Cause and Effect

Meaning of My First Name Goé

My name is Goé André Ismaël TOE, and I’m going to explain the meaning of my first name Goé. My home country, Burkina Faso formerly called Upper Volta is located in the middle of West Africa. The country is bounded on the North West by Mali, North East by Niger, and the South by Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. My dad is from Toma, a village located nearby Mali. Goé was the nickname of my great grandfather.



My great grandfather was the leader of a small group of wrestlers from Mali. One day, after days of walking, his people and he arrived in a village called Toma, and he said that he is the new king of the village. He was well known in the region as a good wrestler, so the villagers thought he might be a good leader. The actual king disagreed with that and challenged him with initially two tasks. Suddenly that day became a holyday, the news spread throughout the village, and within a few minutes the audience was full of people. Then the king announced the tasks.

First, my grand dad had to fight the best wrestler of the king. Usually when two wrestlers are fighting, it can take hours before the bravest wins. So during that time people just drink, eat, exchange news etc. Unfortunately after a demonstration of his wrestler’s abilities, everybody knew the feast will end up sooner. It took only a few minutes to the king’s wrestler to admit that my great grandfather was the best. Then the king announced the second task.



To be sure that my great grandfather won’t win, the king ask him to cut a cotton yarn with an arrow and a bow. The king suggested to my great grandfather to take the day off to be prepared, and the latter answered that a great wrestler does not need to be prepared; he is always ready to do any tasks. That was good news for the villagers; otherwise they have to return to their duties. Two people were holding the cotton yarn at a hundred meters to my great grandfather. Suddenly the public became silent. A few people were making fun of him saying it was impossible. He cocked this bow with an arrow made from a certain timber, and then everything went so fast. The cotton yarn has been cut into two equal parts. Victory for my great grandfather, but the king wanted an ultimate task. He asked to my great grandfather to fight an animal called the panther that the king had.

Without any hesitation my great grandfather accepted. People thought that was enough the king has to honor his words. They brought a wild panther in front of my great grandfather. For a minute neither he nor the panther moved. Some people said my great grandfather was kind of communicating with the animal. Then he decided to fight the panther with bare hands. After an incredible battle, my great grandfather won. I know he got some injuries but I don’t remember how serious they were. Since that day people gave him the nick Goé which means Panther in my language.



Since approximately hundred seventy years my people are the leader of my village. Even we don’t have any more a king; they have a very important role. I really wanted to experience that day, it looks it were a day to do not miss.

Map=>Reading "Northing"

FREEDOM AND ME

For centuries the meaning of Freedom has been a topic of debate. When I think of freedom, the words such as rights, freedom of speech come to my mind, but I think there is no more freedom except the pride that everyone owns. By definition freedom in philosophy is the human value or situation to act according to one’s will without being held up by the power of others. “While the State exists, there can be no freedom. Where there is freedom there will be no State” is a quote from “State and Revolution” by Lenin. We are still thinking there is freedom in our societies because there is written laws that tell us we are free to do certain things, but I think just by thinking about the word freedom makes us prisoners of the society.

I believe freedom dates back to the prehistory. Here is what I call freedom. There are two million years ago, when the cavemen wake up in the morning, they probably look for something to eat unless there is the rest of yesterday food. Then next they will probably turn around and then they will do whatever they want, like going to the river for taking a shower or fishing, take a nap, make a spear etc. When they are hungry they will go to the jungle to find some fruit or chase an animal. After they had a full stomach they will probably sleep again or find something else to do like discovering their environment. So they could do whatever they want whenever they want without feeling obliged to do anything else. Of course they lived in a hostile environment with dinosaurs, volcanoes, and earthquake but at least they were totally free.

Then they learned how to live in society. Without knowing it they have begun to lose their freedom for the benefit of the society and I think that’s why Lenin said “While the State exists, there can be no freedom. Where there is freedom there will be no State”. When I think about society, I automatically think about others, and when you think about others this already restricts your actions. In a society there are rules, you cannot as you want. For example you cannot chase whatever you want whenever you, you need first to get a hunting permit and then respect a schedule. Back to the prehistory they did not have any hunting permit, they just chase when they want. After all life in society is to meet the needs of the community therefore we cannot do whatever we want.

Why do I think I’m not free? First of all I’m a prisoner of the society. Since my birth I am destined to do certain things like go to school, then find a job, and have a family. I couldn’t avoid going to school because my parents wouldn’t let me any choice. Now I’m an adult I can decide to do not go to school, but who will feed me after my parents died. The society will not help me because I’m not giving to it something in exchange. I have to follow what the society wants or die. I never taste a caveman life style nevertheless I think I’m the kind of person who does not need much to be happy. A simple life in the Mother Nature like what do the Bushmen in the Kalahari will be great for me.

As a conclusion since the human being exists, he progressively creates the lost of his own freedom. The total freedom no longer exits since the creation of the society. Instead of controlling the society, the latter took over on us. To fight this unfree world, the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature Albert Camus, a French Novelist, wrote “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion”. At least we are free to have free thinking of mind.

Map=>Description and Reflection

My Valentine's Day

Today is President's Day and yesterday was Valentine's Day. Wednesday, after my last class of the week, I went to Sacramento to visit my friends.

I spent two nights at my friend Ousseny's house, he has one son and one daughter. The two last nights I was at my cousin's house, she has one daughter. As you can see on the pictures I spent my time with Ousseny and my cousin' daughters. I don't know why but I like kids. I like them so much when I was a young boy I wanted to have my first child at 21 years old...

Kelya is the name of my cousin's daughter. I visited Kelya once a week when I was in Sacramento. I miss her a lot. So on my Valentine's Day I took care of her and did my maps at the same time. It was my first time to spend a lot of time with her and it was so hard because she was trying to type on the keyboard or taking away my book. I was so happy though because when I see a baby smiling that's enough to me to feel good ... I took a lot of pictures and videos of her. Babies are beautiful, adorable but they give a lot of work to the mother. My cousin is so brave to raise her baby alone, and keep studying.

I said God bless all mothers
and thank you to my mom for everything.