I think this was the first debate I was really captivated by and actively involved in. I paid attention and listened to each candidate throughout the night. I think Hilary Clinton is very intelligent but I also think she is really cunning and clever and that makes her dangerous. She can accomplish so much and get away with so much and I don't want characteristics like that in a President who's in charge of this country. I really appreciated how calm and "polite" all the candidates were, and their ability to respect the time limits. That was a nice refreshment compared to the other debates where they just yelled over each other for 5 minutes past the time limit. Although there was some heated attacks and responses, it was, for the most part, civilized. And several of the candidates even answered the questions - with truthful and realistic answers too! I continually heard relevant topics come up like taxes and education and the Paris attacks and foreign policy. From what I heard I didn't hear climate change addressed as a question, although one of the candidates mentioned natural resources as part of another point. Overall I was very pleased with this debate and I gained a lot of insight into each of the candidates and their views, and my own political affiliation.
After the debate ended, news about the Paris attacks came on. Hearing the stories and reports of the events and exact timing and witness accounts made the attacks real. It reminded me of all the reports and stories we've heard about 9/11 and the videos we've watched over the years. I couldn't help but compare these attacks to the 9/11 attacks and think about the 200 casualties compared to the 3,000 casualties from 9/11. Although these terrorist attacks are awful and should have never happened, in a way France was lucky because things could have been much much worse. For example if the bombers had made it to the soccer game the death toll would have tripled at least. The references to ISIS and the Islamic state reminded me about studying this last year in Jessica's class. I thought about the class conversations we had in September and October about these issues and I remember watching the news on TV and then writing my online discussion posts. This issue has not gone away, as much as the less frequent media reports might suggest. Just because we stop actively digesting this information and reminding ourselves daily of the world's problems, unfortunately it does not make them go away. When we stopped actively learning about this problem in humanities, I put it away and didn't think much about it, and didn't seek out information to stay informed. I understand the problems with that, and why maybe that is a problem for the world right now. With so little time and so many problems - both personal and worldly, it's hard to stay informed on every issue, from abortion to gun control to presidential candidates to Afghanistan to climate change to ISIS. It's horrible events like those attacks that bring this issue to the surface of our conscious so we continue to see it as a problem.
After the debate ended, news about the Paris attacks came on. Hearing the stories and reports of the events and exact timing and witness accounts made the attacks real. It reminded me of all the reports and stories we've heard about 9/11 and the videos we've watched over the years. I couldn't help but compare these attacks to the 9/11 attacks and think about the 200 casualties compared to the 3,000 casualties from 9/11. Although these terrorist attacks are awful and should have never happened, in a way France was lucky because things could have been much much worse. For example if the bombers had made it to the soccer game the death toll would have tripled at least. The references to ISIS and the Islamic state reminded me about studying this last year in Jessica's class. I thought about the class conversations we had in September and October about these issues and I remember watching the news on TV and then writing my online discussion posts. This issue has not gone away, as much as the less frequent media reports might suggest. Just because we stop actively digesting this information and reminding ourselves daily of the world's problems, unfortunately it does not make them go away. When we stopped actively learning about this problem in humanities, I put it away and didn't think much about it, and didn't seek out information to stay informed. I understand the problems with that, and why maybe that is a problem for the world right now. With so little time and so many problems - both personal and worldly, it's hard to stay informed on every issue, from abortion to gun control to presidential candidates to Afghanistan to climate change to ISIS. It's horrible events like those attacks that bring this issue to the surface of our conscious so we continue to see it as a problem.