Response to Sam Cattell's "Ask No Questions"

I really like when you discuss how we've been lied to our whole lives. Whether somebody has been taught religion or not at a young age we are almost spoon-fed lies. I think that ultimately you nailed it when you stated "personally I believe that lying is an integral part of being human; it allows us to surprise others, withhold information to our advantage, and ultimately protect ourselves against the varied and unpredictable nature of life." I mean is there a specific person that started lying first? Not that we know of. Theres no company that created lies and sold them to us even thought they knew they were "bad" (like cigarettes or booze) so maybe it really is just in our genes. Nice post though-very interesting read!

Heres a link to her post: Sam Cattel "Ask No Questions" Post

Lying

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So as I sit here in my dorm room sick I couldn't help but to think back to when I was younger. When I was a kid and my parents were making me go to day camp I used to literally make myself physically sick because I didn't want to go. I tried to pull every trick in the book all so that I could stay home. I got over it eventually and started going willingly but when I was in high school (primary school) I continued the trend of lying in hopes to get out of a day or two of school. I'd even develop a plan of attack to lie to my parents so that they would believe me and call me off the next day. I remember that I would wake up in the middle of the night and go into their room with tears in my eyes telling them that I had "gotten sick" and I thought I had a fever-I was quite the actress- and they'd feel bad for me and often just automatically call me off school when they woke up the next morning. I mean how awful am I? I know everybody lies (at least once in their lives-I mean personally I haven't met any saints) and I still have a hard time thinking about why it is we do. I'd definitely say that for me personally looking back I lied quite a bit about stupid things that benefited me-the whole being sick thing, that I was staying at one friends house and really was somewhere else-dumb little baby lies. But they are still deceitful and although I'm sure my parents knew I was lying at times I feel like I still probably hurt them. Luckily now a days I realize how cool my parents really are and I can pretty much tell them anything. But I'm still not lie free. Although I lied for my own benefit when I was younger I find myself telling lies now in hopes to spare somebodies feelings. Is this still wrong though? I mean its hard not to when you know that you could hurt somebody by telling them the truth. It's one of the hardest things to see yourself hurting another person but most of the time the truth will come out later and it will just hurt them more. So the question still remains why do we lie? Here is a link to an article that discusses some of the possibilities on what different lies sound like, why we do tell these lies and how to try to avoid these lies: "The Truth About Lying" by Jenna Mccarthy

Field trip/activity suggestion

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I think if we did an activity we should watch "Thank you for smoking"..pretty good movie and I think it goes nicely with the class. For a field trip I'd say we all go to Cadbury World since chocolate can be both good and bad :)

Info on school bookings: Cadbury World

Smoking

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Google: "Smoking" and what comes up? Heres just the first few topics: NHS Go Smokefree, Smoking: Health risks, Smoking-articles for teens on smoking..and the list goes on. Not only are the articles anti-smoking but so are most of the images (such as the one above). As if we didn't already know the dangers of smoking already without having to read a million articles on it. What if I googled smoking in hopes to find the newest, coolest brand of fags, would seeing these articles come up really prevent me from ultimately redefining my search and trying again? I think not. I'm not even a smoker and it gets under my skin the way society has started to try to ban and prevent people from smoking. I've never felt that just because I don't smoke that I have the right to tell somebody else that they shouldn't or can't. I mean really aren't we all supposed to make our own decisions? Being from America I always wondered why our government thinks that its their place to tell somebody they can't smoke in front of a building but instead have to be 25 feet away from the building or else they may get fined. I mean okay, I understand the ban on smoking inside or a public building more because I realize the effects 2nd hand smoke may have on people who really despise smoke but outside? I personally think thats pushing it. What will be next- no smoking and driving? the banishment of all cigarettes? And whats after smoking? I mean we all have bad habits that others may look down upon- I know for me I play my music in my car wayyy too loud and get more than the occasional glare from the cars next to me. I just think that we should all take a look at our own habits before pointing the finger and trying to take away something somebody enjoys-such as smoking. Heres an article that discusses why its wrong for the government to get involved in banning smoking-from 2006: "Government smoking ban would stomp on human rights" by Dan Hemp