As we study the history of western culture, you should notice that there are two kinds of governments - limited and unlimited. A limited government is obliged to obey laws established by a constitution and to recognise that some powers belong to people and organizations outside the government. An unlimited government, by comparison, has no obligation to obey laws (laws are only for citizens) and controls all rights and authority. The government of the US is definitely limited - our constitution is the supreme source of authority, and it guarantees certain rights for all citizens. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't "gray areas" - times when the government and some citizens disagree about who is in charge. In those instances the disagreement is usually settled in the court system. (While the courts are technically part of the government, they are designed to work independently, meaning that no one, not even the president or congress, can tell the courts how to do their business or what their decisions should be). The relationship between the government and the governed (that's us) is constantly evolving, making the decisions of the court system extremely important to all of us.
This week's assignment is to do some research about current events in the Middle East and specifically about a disagreement that has arisen between the US government and the news organization CNN. First go to the link http://www.npr.org/2012/09/20/161491148/libyan-militiaman-says-he-warned-u-s-of-dangers to read about recent protests and attacks against Americans in the Middle East, and then go to the link http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/09/22/cnn-posts-report-on-diary-slain-ambassador-stevens-us-state-dept-says-family/ to read about the dispute. In your essay, answer the following questions:
1) According to the US government, what has caused the recent violence? Are there other common opinions about the causes?
2) How do you think the US should respond to these attacks? Why?
3) Was CNN right in releasing the information from the diary of US Envoy Christopher Stevens? What were the issues you think they considered before they made the decision to publish the information? What ultimately led to the publication?
This is an opportunity for you to gain further understanding of current events and to weigh the important balance between freedom of the press and the trouble "too much information" can cause. Give this some thought and provide meaningful feedback to your classmates. The requirements for this assignment are exactly the same as all those that preceded it.
The government says that the cause for the recent violence in the middle east was not planed and was just an impulsive attack. But the diary of Stevens says that he knew it was planed and knew he was on the death list and when this was going to happen. So therefore I think that the us government should up the security on all the us Envoys because this is going to show them that that they can attack them easily and they should not do anything that should cause a war in the middle east. But they do need to make sure that all us Envoys are safe. Because I feel like they are going to attack other envoys CNN was very wrong to publish the information in the diary because it was the personal property of the dead Envoy Stevens so therefore it should be inherited by the family. I think they should have given it to the family and if they felt like it needed published they could let CNN know. I honestly don’t think they considered many issues because if they did they would not have published it. The only issue they considered was that they thought we deserved to know what was in it. They also wanted to show how bad the government is by not protecting someone that tells them there going to get killed with lots of information to back up this statement. This is what lead them to publish it.
ReplyDeleteAustin, I really enjoyed reading your essay. I, too, agree that they just wanted to should how bad the government is. I also think it was our if selfishness. All they wanted was a good story for people to listen to our read through them. Sometimes, people can only think about what they want and don't think about what is actually right for that person.
DeleteNice report, Austin. I could see your opinions in this and I thought they were very, good ones. I agree with you that they need to safely secure all of the other United States Envoys in case of any other attacks against them.
DeleteThis week’s assignment was actually quite difficult for me to write; perhaps, because it is so real. Anyway, according to the United States government, the attack was random. A lot of people believe that the attacks were brought on by a video that was released, while others believe that the attacks were not random, but planned. I personally believe that the United States should respond to the attacks by really considering what happened and “upgrade” security. Whether you believe the attacks were random or planned-they attacked and they may attack again; therefore, extra security would be logical. I really don’t think that CNN had a right to release the journal of fallen U.S. Envoy Christopher Stevens because it belongs to his family, and CNN also broke a pledge to the Envoy’s family to not release the information found in the journal! I’m sure the man who released the information-I hope at least- had good intentions of letting the public know a witness of the situation’s point of view, but it was still a major breach of privacy. CNN ultimately decided that the public needed to know what happened as opposed to violating a promise and violating a deceased Envoy’s privacy.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Rebecca Dunmore
Great job on you essay! It wa well composed and full of information. I enjoyed reading you opinion on the subject.
DeleteThis week’s assignment was also kind of challenging for me to write also. It was a very thought provoking assignment that made me begin to wonder and think about it harder that what I have in the past. Two events that happened on one very important date is significant to America and will always be remembered. Well one thing that stuck out to me in both of these articles was, was this planned. Was it planned that one Sept. 11, 2001 the twin towers would be destroyed and on Sept. 11, 2012 that our ambassador would be assassinated. What has caused these recent violent attacks? I am not for sure, I personally think that because of later greater inventions that could have “possessed” or put thoughts like this into people’s minds to be more violent. Also, according to Revelations it is a sign of the end time. How should the U.S respond? If I was in that area I am not really sure how I would go about that, but I would always try to stay prepared and ready for those kinds of attacks because the U.S. is going through financial difficulty. I would also obviously try to keep in touch with the countries that could potentially be an enemy and just see some current events happening in their country. Publishing Stevens’s diary thing, I would consent first with the family of his and see what they think and want. Some issues would be defiantly a question if they even should publish and always asking themselves if Stevens would want it published.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Bethany! As always, your essay was well thought out and researched!
DeleteComments
ReplyDeleteRebecca Dunmore: Great Job on your essay!! I thought it was very well- written and very well thought out about. I do have to say I think the attacks were planned. I think it was kind of humorous that you said it be more logical if we had better extra security! It would be more logical! I am not really sure on how that works but I am sure it wouldn’t be easy! Great Job on your essay!!
Austin McQueen: You did well on your essay!! I really liked your opinions and what you thought on if it was right of them to publish it or not. I didn’t know that Stevens knew or thought it might happen. So that was good that you put that in there! Good Job on your essay though!
According to the U.S. government, this recent violence was caused by a thirteen minute video that someone posted on YouTube insulting Muslims. I personally think it was something more than just a video that outraged these radicals. One big reason is that these kinds of protesters hate Americans, even though we are the ones who give them financial support. I think the United States should buckle down on the security in terrible events like this. If we don’t respond with force, than it makes America look weak which could lead to more awful attacks on our citizens.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think CNN was right in reporting the information from Ambassador Christopher Steven’s diary without first returning it to his family to see. Like one politician said that if the family wanted to inform the government and citizens of what the diary said, then they would have told them after they had the opportunity to see it themselves. I see why the CNN reporters wanted to release this important information that said Steven’s knew of the attacks and that he was probable going to die, but this doesn’t validate them for doing this. The reporters must not have cared about the consequences that would come from releasing this. The publication was made, because CNN said, “We felt there were issues raised in the journal which required full reporting, which we did.” The article also said that the public has a right to know what CNN learned from the diary.
Altogether, this is just one, big mess that has occurred from Muslim radical attacks, and the US government for not having enough security.
Good essay Sara. I agree that these attacks were caused by something more than a video on YouTube. I do think that CNN was right in reporting on this because I believe the public has a right to know
DeleteThe government says this was a random act of violence. Not something planned. The reason for the attacks is probably because of radical Muslims responding to some videos that were put on the internet. There are other opinions about the matter though. Some say the attacks were planned. This is a possibility because like I said before there were some videos that were offensive to Muslims. The US government should first of all raise security in Libya. This could have been prevented if the government would have had better security in the first place. I think that the US should maybe even put some troops in Libya. When CNN put Stevens diary on the media I thought it was a good thing but also a bad thing that they went against the wishes of the family. This was a disrespectful thing to do. They even told them that they were not going to reveal that they had it. But on the other hand I do think it was the right thing to do though. The public needs to know things like this. It lets us know that what is going on in the outside world. The way CNN did it though should have been different. They should have had gotten permission from the family first. The only problem was the family did not want to reveal the diary. So I do think CNN made the right choice in showing what the diary said. They showed us something government did want us to see.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your essay, Hunter! I thought you answered the questions correctly and completely, and your opinions were very good and informative. I thought you had a great response about the releasing of the Ambassador’s diary. It was both a good and bad thing. The information telling that Christopher Stevens was “on a hit list,” was some, very valuable info that the government needed to be aware of. But like you said, it was disrespectful to the family members of Mr. Stevens who had just lost him, and that was one of the last things left of him that told about the situation he was in. Altogether, I thought you had a very, excellent essay.
DeleteTo me the government really doesn't know if the attack was random or not. Yet to me, I believe that this attack was planned. It seems that there was too much stategy put into this for it to just happen with no plan. I think this attack was the result of one, over involvment in the middle east. And two, the attack probably came about from certain videos posted on the internet. How should we respond? Umm thats a tough one. I mean we've had a lot of troops there before. So I mean uping security really doesn't make sense. We probably need to try with local government officals to make peace. Yet if it doesn't work then we need to pray. Our nation was built on christian values, yet we have turmed too far away. Ergo our country needs to go back to Christ Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ for he strengthens me. Now in the case of CNN, it was morally wrong for them to release Mr. Stevens' diary. His family should have seen it first. I think Cnn's only thought before publishing was if the family wanted them too or not but clearly they did't care.So I think our Government knew this was planned and a form of action needs to be taken
ReplyDeleteYou're so right Tyler, we really do need to pray. so many people have forgotten what our nation was found on and now it seems like those values are worthless and looked down apon.
DeleteI think the cause of a lot of the conflict in the middle east is over Religion. I'm sure there are many other reasons for conflict but religion is probably one of the reasons. The Muslims, Christians, and Jews all claim Jerusalem as their holy city. These issues over religion may never be resolved, they even went on during Bible times. Another reason for war in the middle east is oil. There is a lot of oil in the middle east and every country needs it, and it is very valuable. This is where the US gets involved, we need oil for our cars. According to the United States, the attacks were random, but I'm not sure about that. It was not right of CNN to publish the diary of US Envoy Christopher Stevens. I feel as if that was a violation of privacy and the constitution. His family should have seen it first before it went all over the internet.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the US government, the 13 minute video on YouTube insulting Muslims was the cause for recent violence. The government said the attacks were random and not something that was planned. However, Christopher Stevens diary said that the attacks were planned. I think the US should respond to the attacks by raising security because you never know if it may happen again. I do not think CNN was right for releasing the information from Christopher Stevens diary. I think they should have given it to the family first or at least ask them for permission to publish the information. On the other hand, the information was very important and something everyone needed to know, they just did the wrong thing by going against the family's wishes.
ReplyDeleteSummer your article was very informative. But why do you feel like CNN did wrong by publishing the diary?
DeleteThis assignment was a bit of a challenge for me, but I learned more about the security of our government and the violent attacks in the Middle East. The US government says that the cause for all of the conflict was not set up before or planned out. Stevens wrote in his diary that he knew that it would happen and that he was on the death list himself. Personally, I think that our government should refresh our security system. I also think though that CNN shouldn't have posted the diary because it was supposed to go to his family, not the country. We, as Americans and people, should respect each others privacy. I would, at least, ask his family first before publishing it on a well-known site and broadcast. But the main cause for all of this is that the US needs to update their security and the Muslim racial attacks in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteGood essay McKenzie! And I agree, they should updated their security system and should have asked the family first. Good job girly!
DeleteMckenzie, I love how real you are in this telling us about how difficult it was. But you did a very good job at telling us about all the points. But why do you feel that we need to respect each others privacy?
DeleteWhen the government says that this was just a random act of violence, I don’t believe that anything such as that could be unplanned and just random. I believe that the reason for the attacks were because of the Muslims just responding to the controversial videos on the internet. There are many different opinions on the matter though. Some say that the attacks were for sure planned. And I believe that it’s a possibility that they were because of the of the videos posted on the internet. The US government should and would have had way better security in the first place. I think that this may have been preventable if the government would have been better in the first place. And also that the us maybe they went against the wishes of their own family. They have shown us something that our government didn’t want us to see.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the US government a YouTube video made two years ago throwing off on Muslims caused the attack. Many people though believe that it was just another revengeful attack on the memorable September 11. I think the US should increase security in result of the attack so that we will be ready next time. I believe that CNN should have given the diary to the family first because they would have wanted to read their loved one's last words before anyone else. CNN probably fought with the morality of making the diary public, but I think they did publish the diary because they thought the people should know that they had for seen the attack no matter what the government said.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts Lydia. I agree that should increase its security as a result of the attack.
DeleteGreat job on your essay this week as well,Lydia! I definitely agree with you.
DeleteThe U.S. government claims that the September 11th attack in Lybia was a random act and unplanned but there is a lot of speculation that it was planned (especially considering Chris Stevens diary) and a venful attack in reminder of the September 11th attack in 2001. I definitely feel that action should be taken regarding the attack but to what extent I personally don't know how far I feel we should go. It should not be swept under the rug and simply forgotten because Stevens isn't the only innocent person to have been killed and they don't deserve to be forgotten because the government wants to hide their mistake.I don't feel that CNN was wrong to publish the diary but I do think they were wrong in how they went about it. There are important things in the diary that the citizens should have been able to know such as Stevens knowing he was in danger because that does show that government knew and choose to ignore it but I do not think that they sgould have published it when the familt had very clearly asked them not to.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your essay! It was written well and full of information on the topic. I enjoyed reading your opinions.
DeleteAccording to the United States government the attacks were random. Some people say that they were brought on by a 13 minute youtube video that was put on the web. Then their are others that say that the attack was planned and with a cause. Honestly, i believe the U.S. government should take action with these attacks and figure out the cause and put an end to the fighting and uproar before it occurs a second time. In my opinon CNN had no right to publish the journal of U.S. envoy Christopher Stepehns one because the journal was private information only belonging to that of military or his family. Not only that but media also promised to the loved ones to not publish and leak the information in this journal. But instead, news media went completely against the family and posted it for us as users to see online and on live television. Now, CNN im sure was just trying to release news about the subject to be the first to uncover the major story but instead they went against all promises to the family of fallen envoy trooper Stepehens.
ReplyDeleteIn the past month there have been a lot of problems in the Middle East. On September 11, 2012, radical Muslims invaded the American embassy in Libya. To make matters worse, CNN uncovered the personal diary of the late American ambassador Christopher Stevens. Stevens wrote about how he believed that he was on Al Qaida “hit list” and that security in the embassy was insufficient. According to the government these attack were just random, but most people believe now that Terrorist had been planning these attacks for a long time. I think that as a result of these attacks the United States needs to strengthen security in its embassy. I think that CNN was right in reporting on this information because not only is it news-worthy, but it also shows how the government might have been wrong in their official report. CNN found Mr. Stevens were the ones who found diary in the embassy, so it was there right to report on it. The one thing that they did wrong was pledge to Mr. Stevens’s family not to report about it; it was wrong for them to break trust with the family. Before they published the information they probably thought about how both the public and the government would respond. They probably knew that the government would not be happy with them reporting this, but they did anyway. I think what ultimately led to its publication was CNN feeling a responsibility to show the truth of what happened.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your essay bobby. You made several good points. I don't think it was right for CNN to break trust with the family as well. I don't think it should have been published.
DeleteAccording to the United States government, the attack was random. A lot of people believe that the attacks were brought on by a video that was released,others feel differently. Christopher Stevens diary said that the attacks were planned. I think that the US should do something about the attacks because if Americans are dying the government doesn't need to sit back they need to take action. I don't think that CNN had any right to publish the diary of this man. I mean he was dead and I am sure his family would have liked to see what was written in it before anyone published it or even looked in it.The only thing that they did wrong was pledge to Mr. Stevens’s family not to report about it and then break that promise just cause they wanted a hitting story. Before they published the information they probably thought about how both the public and the government would respond. They knew that the government would not be happy with them reporting this, but they did anyway. But end the end I think CNN felt like they had to tell the public what happened but they went about it the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteGood job on your essay Abby Sams. Proud moment. I agree with all you said.
DeleteThe attack of the US ambassador was a random muslim act of violance just to show the US that they are still just as powerful today as they were 11 years ago. I think the attack was planned on September 11th to make this very mournful day for the citizens of the US even worse. There are other reasons to why they did this some people believe it was the Youtube video insulting muslims was the reason for the attack. I Think the United States should have had better security for the ambassador since he played a major role in Libya and knowing what the muslim people are capable of doing. The reason they should have more security is to keep one of our major ambassadors feel safe while doing there job and to save the life of a US citizen. I thisnk that CNN was wrong in how they handles the diary of Christopher Stevens, but I also think that they should have posted it on the news. I think they should have givin the diary to the familt of Steven and let them decide what they wanted to do with iy. I also think the reason CNN went ahead and published it was because they knew that the world needed to know about it but they were afraid that the familty would not have given them consent to publish it.
ReplyDeleteFor this week’s assignment, we were asked three questions. The first, “According to US government what caused the recent violence? Are there other common opinions about the causes?” According to the article there was no cause they just planned to attack. Stevens says in his journal, “He knew they were going to attack, he knew he was on a death list.” And I feel like with him telling the US that and them doing nothing was wrong they should have put more security or something on that man. The second question asks, “How do you think the US responded to these attacks? Why?” I feel like when the US found out he was dead and that he had tried to warn them they felt guilty I would if I were them. They probably felt this way because they did nothing to help the poor man they just left him there to die. The third questions asked, “Was CNN right in releasing the info. From the diary of us Envoy Christopher Stevens? What were the issues you think they considered before they made the decision to publish the information? What ultimately led to the publication?” I feel like CNN was wrong to release the information. His family had asked them not to and they went against their wishes. I would sue. The issues they probably considered were what if we get sued. What ultimately led them to do this was it’s a great story they probably made tons of money and hade tons of reviews so basically it was for their business and they didn’t even care if it hurt the people or not.
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