Eric Alterman

Nation of Lies Why do we lie to others, but expect others to be honest with us? Today in society, lies have embodied the lives of many to the point where it has become a natural part of our lifestyle. Lying has become a natural habit for us, it has become a factor in how we carry out our lives. Whether we may have lied in consideration of how others may feel, or if it was because we did not want to carry out something we were assigned, lying has become so natural to us that we cannot distinguish it from what the truth really is. Lying has become a cultural cancer, as Stephanie Ericsson states in her essay, “The Ways We Lie”, that we have come to the point where we accepted it into our society. It has become an “incurable” disease that is spreading throughout our society as it is eating away what our culture stands for. Lying is becoming so much of a second nature to us that it is becoming an invisible aspect of our reality, our lives, just as water is an invisible aspect to the fish that swims in it. Would you ever lie to your children, your family, even after knowing that the consequences may be much worse if they find out? People lie for many reasons but would you accept it from someone you were raised by, someone you were raised with? This was a question Audre Lorde had to answer in her essay, “Fourth of July”. During the time of this story, segregation was still alive in the United States. However, Lorde’s parents did not want their daughter to realize that the color…

In 1961, John F. Kennedy took the podium after being sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. People gathered around, despite the bitter cold, in hopes of hearing reassurance from their new national leader. At this time in history America was struggling with social inequalities, racial tensions, and a fight against communism. With the current issues in mind, Kennedy sought to invoke a sense of unity across the nation. Through the use of rhetorical devices such as strong dictation,…

Are we at war? The once cheerful cartoons on the small television monitors get tuned into a muted vivid image of a plane heading toward the twin towers. Than another. Flames begin to blaze as smoke surges through the air, the oxygen we must breathe now. The buildings immediately tilt as our world starts to break, humans’ ordinary humans have a life or death decision to make. But do they really? Because, either way the ones attacked physically need to choose how they’ll die that day. The…

Before this course, I was familiar with the immigrant stories of Mexicans, families and students. After this class, I was able to learn about other stories of immigrants coming from Latin America, and Russia. Society already defines immigrants to be only Latino’s or people from Mexico but in reality, there are millions of immigrants who have ben in the United States and who are coming now from Russia, Korea, Canada, Syria etc. Just like the immigrants from Latin American many of them are…

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy starts off in a shopping mall in Washington D.C. Cammie and her class are there as a field project. The assignment was to see if they can identify who is following them and get them off their trail. The teacher wants to see if the students can spy on people to figure out who is following them. Two boys start following Cammie and her partner Bex. They headed to the museum to meet their teacher and the boys went after them. The girls broke two important rules.…

I read a book called, “Animal Farm” written by George Orwell. The book is about animals on a farm who are overworked, and not treated as they should be. Then, a rebellion made up of animals with pigs as their leaders, rebel against Mr.Jones (owner of the farm) by driving him off the farm. The animals try to make the perfect life for themselves, but that doesn’t go as planned. Animal farm then, starts to fail. The farm fails because of the pigs not being fair to the other animals, and the animals…

The Selfish Giant is a story about a process of a selfish giant becoming a generous one. The Giant had a very beautiful garden where the children like playing. After the giant expelled children rudely, only the cold winter was in his garden. Finally, he realized that is was his selfishness prevented the coming of the spring. The giant proceeded to ruin the wall of his garden and to welcome children to play in his garden. Years later, the giant died and was taken to the Heaven by the child who…

In this chapter, I will be exploring the history of Penguin and their book covers/jackets, looking at the layouts and developments of design as the years progressed. Subsequently, I will be primarily looking towards Phil Banes’ Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005, as, while it is not a comprehensive catalogue of the entirety of Penguin’s cover history, it contains the main pathways, showing the development of the brand along with their changes in design and the new series’ and prints that…

If you pay attention closely throughout the parts we have read so far in “Animal Farm,” many leaders are trying to manipulate others to follow them and trust their decisions over others. Two big example that have stood out more to me than others, is how Napoleon manipulated Squealer. (Pages 56-58) When Snowball was chased out of the farm, Squealer constantly backs up Napoleon's word. He was always telling other animals about his good ideas, but more importantly he was manipulated when he told…

How does the tortoise know he will win in The Tortoise and the Rabbit? How does the tortoise trick the antelope in quitting the race before he even crossed the finish line in The Tortoise and the Antelope? These two fables show very valuable lessons for success in life. Though both are compelling in different ways, they hold more similarities than you may realize. The tortoise is the sharpest animal in these fables while obviously the rabbit and antelope are gullible and smug animals that need…