Reading Log 4: Satyagraha

Gandhi was a very influential figure who fought for peace in India. He coined the term Satyagraha to distinguish his fight for peace from the other 'passive resistance  acts going on in other parts of the world. Satyagraha is the 'love-force' or 'soul-force' that Gandhi believes in. He used it to win 'battles' by winning peoples hearts. There are 3 things you must try to do when using this technique. You must one, keep a good relationship with your opponents, winning their hearts as much as possible. Two, earn the sympathy of the spectators, and perhaps even their help. And three, fortify your own heart. You can do these things by being good, fighting with truth and reason to do what is right and just, and re-conceptualizing the battle as being cooperation between you and your opponent. I agree with Gandhi when he says that you must earn the sympathy of the spectators. When you are fighting for a cause against something you want as much help as possible. If you win the people over, or 'the mob' and you huge attention to your cause. The people you are fighting against will have no choice but to give you what you want because they won't want look bad in front of the world.

Reading Log 3: The Concept of Discourse Community

What is a discourse community? Well after reading "The Concept of Discourse Community" by John Swales I think I understand it a little bit more. This was very tough to read through. The language was very advanced and I didn't have any background knowledge in this area of knowledge. My understanding of a discourse community is a group that has goals or purposes, and uses communication to achieve these goals. I am part of a discourse community! I am part of a video game clan. We all have the common goal to win each game and eventually win the championship. We have our own form of communication during matches so that we know where everyone is and can help out each other when someone is in trouble. We have our own clan website so everyone knows when matches are. The only difference between Swales characteristics of a discourse community to my "discourse community" is that our members are all experts. Swales says that a discourse community needs a reasonable ratio of both experts and novices to survive. But if we had novices we probably wouldn't be that good and we would never complete our goals. Either way the topic of discourse communities is sketchy and hard to explain to an audience that isn't all too familiar with that area of knowledge.

Introduction

Machiavelli and Lao Tzu were two very intelligent people who contributed their ideas of how a leader should rule. They were both polar opposites with their views. Machiavelli said that it is better to rule through fear than love, that the ends justify the means, that you should have a strong military and that a leader has no requirement to be trustworthy. Whereas Lao Tzu said that a ruler should put trust in the people, let world problems play out, minimize government control and let go of desires, wealth and power. Machiavelli's views are more realistic and applicable in contemporary society whereas Lao Tzu's are more suited for a utopian society because of the nature of the human race and the way the world is structured today.