It seems a lot of youth nowadays are describing themselves as atheist or nontheist - at least what I've noticed here.
I'll put the disclaimer out here first: this isn't about who's right and who's wrong.
Here comes Descarte's Third Meditation De Dios Que Existe (God that Exists)
In philosophy today, there was so much dissent over this meditation that irrefutably and academically proves the existence of a God.
Whatever your belief, Descartes says that this is a truth about life. Whatever your belief, you have SOME idea of a God-figure. Whether you believe that figure exists or not is irrelevant: when I say the word "god", some image or idea comes to mind.
That being said, the way Descartes describes the idea of "god" is the most perfect being. And by agreeing that existence is better than nonexistence, we conclude that existence is more perfect. Thus, any perfect being could not be lacking in the smallest characteristic, much less existence. Therefore, God, god, whatever you want, exists.
My point in this entry is not to remind you of Descarte's third meditation, or to teach you about it, but rather the BOLUDEZ that was in the classroom. What really gets me irritated is the inability for people to have an open mind; better said, when people speak before they hear.
I only wish I could have recorded the mess in the classroom: everyone talking, voices raising, dissent, disagreement, refute ALL AT ONCE. GOD EXISTS; NO HE DOESN'T; WHERE'S THE MATERIAL PROOF BLAH BLAH BLAH.
I almost walked out early. If people would just understand that this is philosophy; someone's own personal opinions after days on days on days of reflection then there would be no disorder! Everyone shouting out without listening or probably even without having read the text is outrageous.
I stayed the whole time, and I heard one girl say, "Guys come on, this is philosophy, just take it in. If you don't agree that's fine but this is what's been around for hundreds of years." It's as if God heard my cry. Well, not really my cry, but my immaterial plea to some perfect being in existence somewhere outside the body and I know this information directly; oh look, the immaterial moved the material again.
Unfortunately, that girl was refuted by another.
Then I really lost it.
There's my rant, probably aggravated by the end of the semester exhaustion.. and something else.
Sorry... (but I'm not).
These are MY thoughts.
Angela
Tango en las calles de la Boca
13 June 2012
04 June 2012
Failing Myself
We are getting our grades back for the partial exams (midterms) we took in May now, today I received the last grade: Philosophy. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 an A+; 9 an A etc etc, I got a 4. You must earn a 4 to "pass" and proceed to the final. If not, you take the recuperatorio, which is basically the midterm redo, and try to pass that to get to the final. If you fail that second time, you have to recourse completely the class. I thought I did better than the equivalent of a C+, but I guess not.
The good thing is that when I went up to the professor at the end of the class to have the corrections clarified and ask a few questions myself, he told me he had no idea the exam was mine - as in my grammar and my writing was not differentiable to any native student: confidence boost. That boost is probably what made me more than anything have the guts to ask him if I actually earned a 4, because one of the three questions I answered was SO WRONG... only because I copied down the question wrong. No explanation needed, it was my fault. So I understand. He said yes, it really was a four - my main reason for asking was that I didn't want my gringa status to push me over to pass if I really didn't (which to me it didn't seem I should have...). I asked him if I should take the redo test, and he said it was up to me to do so, because officially I had passed. Something in me told me I should actually prove myself instead of squeak by, because I can; so I told him I would come in next Monday to retake the test.
I have a 10 minute, no shorter, oral presentation on any theme I want, and I must do it well in order to pass.
He scratched out the 4, and put a "D", for "desaprobado" (not approved). So I failed myself...
with the shining opportunity to prove myself on Monday.
I will choose the question I wrote completely incorrectly on the exam, to show that I do know what I'm talking about and that I can do better than "pass".
Con suerte,
Angela
The good thing is that when I went up to the professor at the end of the class to have the corrections clarified and ask a few questions myself, he told me he had no idea the exam was mine - as in my grammar and my writing was not differentiable to any native student: confidence boost. That boost is probably what made me more than anything have the guts to ask him if I actually earned a 4, because one of the three questions I answered was SO WRONG... only because I copied down the question wrong. No explanation needed, it was my fault. So I understand. He said yes, it really was a four - my main reason for asking was that I didn't want my gringa status to push me over to pass if I really didn't (which to me it didn't seem I should have...). I asked him if I should take the redo test, and he said it was up to me to do so, because officially I had passed. Something in me told me I should actually prove myself instead of squeak by, because I can; so I told him I would come in next Monday to retake the test.
I have a 10 minute, no shorter, oral presentation on any theme I want, and I must do it well in order to pass.
He scratched out the 4, and put a "D", for "desaprobado" (not approved). So I failed myself...
with the shining opportunity to prove myself on Monday.
I will choose the question I wrote completely incorrectly on the exam, to show that I do know what I'm talking about and that I can do better than "pass".
Con suerte,
Angela
Alazán
My favorite phrase is easily contains the word enojar(se) which means, to become mad. It is used almost daily because of Alazán, our dog. He usually becomes angry when someone makes his bed (aka fixes his blanket) - he has to scratch the blanket, sniff it, and has this whole fit, that usually results in tears streaming from my eyes and him sitting angelically (really) on his newly destendida cama (untended bed). Here is a video of his fit.
This dog is the owner of the house, and we always say he is the best looking dog in the house. While this is right, as he is the only dog in the house, he is the Miss Priss too. Naturally we must feet him and walk him and pet him, for if not, he becomes enojado, at which point he makes us "angry" and then we always break out the phrase that "Estoy enojada con Alazán" or "Alazán está enojado", for one reason or another.
We're not really mad at him, and he isn't really mad at us. Even if he were, Eduardo informed me today that dogs too get get Alzheimer's, and that Alazán probably doesn't remember why he is mad. After all, when he's done messing up his bed and puts on the "holy curtain", he looks as though he has no idea what he just did...
so he sits down and sleeps. Again.
And I had no idea this guy had enough in him to JUMP up to my bed, but he did! He had a bath on Saturday and this happened on Sunday, so I didn't mind... until he farted. Then he was out. And now he is banned.
Angela
This dog is the owner of the house, and we always say he is the best looking dog in the house. While this is right, as he is the only dog in the house, he is the Miss Priss too. Naturally we must feet him and walk him and pet him, for if not, he becomes enojado, at which point he makes us "angry" and then we always break out the phrase that "Estoy enojada con Alazán" or "Alazán está enojado", for one reason or another.
We're not really mad at him, and he isn't really mad at us. Even if he were, Eduardo informed me today that dogs too get get Alzheimer's, and that Alazán probably doesn't remember why he is mad. After all, when he's done messing up his bed and puts on the "holy curtain", he looks as though he has no idea what he just did...
so he sits down and sleeps. Again.
More or less the Holy Curtain
Angela
Disruptive Ruckus
Cacerolazo is a word in spanish that means "banging on pots and pans in a sign of political protest" and is also something that is occurring quite frequently these last few days. Thursday night was the first night I noticed it- the protest was particularly pungent in the barrios of Palermo, Belgrano and Barrio Norte: there was a good amount of commotion outside and cars honking incessantly, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. It was mainly muffled by the cement walls of our apartment building; I guess the government has the same kind of filter, just in their heads.
What the people are protesting is the corruption in the government and the fact that they cannot buy United States dollars. It is virtually impossible to obtain US currency in this country. You can get it on the black market - por about 7$ pesos per dollar. Official exchange rate has the conversion at about 4,50$ pesos per dollar, but you can't get it at that. (Basically that conversion only means something when I change my electronic US money to Argentine pesos to go shop.) I couldn't get dollars out of the bank if I tried - even if I am a US citizen. The government so tightly regulates the flow of the dollar now that they require you to declare your purpose if you travel to the states and what I've heard is you have to even declare how much you bring back.
Needless to say, the Miami-vacationing Argentines are upset. Not only because they can't buy dollars for vacation, but because dollars are more steady (if I save 1000u$d and 1000$ pesos, at the end of the year I will have still 1000u$d but only 750$ pesos; a result of the outrageous inflation here that is truly around 25% instead of the 8% claimed by the government), medical operations not covered by social care are charged in dollars.
The peso used to be equal to the dollar, on a fixed scale. Now the peso can float and it's just floating on away. I wonder if they'll ever get to the point like in Germany when they got paid by the trillions daily because of so much inflation - people would wheelbarrow around their earnings because they couldn't handle all the bills. I find myself still guarding my 100$ peso bills with my life, but it's only about 20u$d now... Still I don't want to lose them, but it's NOT 100u$d.
Anyways, I was walking through Colegiales the other night to meet a friend for dinner when I was met with the cacerolazo as I disembarked the bus. I had my camera with me and thought I was so risky for pulling it out to record with disruption, but really I felt extremely safe in the neighborhood. No one threw their pots and pans from their apartment balconies of kitchen windows, so all is well.
On Thursday, there is a manifestation in Plaza de Mayo, right in front of the Pink House - where the president works. It's catching on through Twitter. What is really interesting, is when I was sitting with María at dinner one day and she said something that sums up to this: it's weird to see these manifestations, and it's a bit unsettling because about thirty years ago, the overthrow of a government was started by a protest not unlike this.
Angela
What the people are protesting is the corruption in the government and the fact that they cannot buy United States dollars. It is virtually impossible to obtain US currency in this country. You can get it on the black market - por about 7$ pesos per dollar. Official exchange rate has the conversion at about 4,50$ pesos per dollar, but you can't get it at that. (Basically that conversion only means something when I change my electronic US money to Argentine pesos to go shop.) I couldn't get dollars out of the bank if I tried - even if I am a US citizen. The government so tightly regulates the flow of the dollar now that they require you to declare your purpose if you travel to the states and what I've heard is you have to even declare how much you bring back.
Needless to say, the Miami-vacationing Argentines are upset. Not only because they can't buy dollars for vacation, but because dollars are more steady (if I save 1000u$d and 1000$ pesos, at the end of the year I will have still 1000u$d but only 750$ pesos; a result of the outrageous inflation here that is truly around 25% instead of the 8% claimed by the government), medical operations not covered by social care are charged in dollars.
The peso used to be equal to the dollar, on a fixed scale. Now the peso can float and it's just floating on away. I wonder if they'll ever get to the point like in Germany when they got paid by the trillions daily because of so much inflation - people would wheelbarrow around their earnings because they couldn't handle all the bills. I find myself still guarding my 100$ peso bills with my life, but it's only about 20u$d now... Still I don't want to lose them, but it's NOT 100u$d.
Anyways, I was walking through Colegiales the other night to meet a friend for dinner when I was met with the cacerolazo as I disembarked the bus. I had my camera with me and thought I was so risky for pulling it out to record with disruption, but really I felt extremely safe in the neighborhood. No one threw their pots and pans from their apartment balconies of kitchen windows, so all is well.
On Thursday, there is a manifestation in Plaza de Mayo, right in front of the Pink House - where the president works. It's catching on through Twitter. What is really interesting, is when I was sitting with María at dinner one day and she said something that sums up to this: it's weird to see these manifestations, and it's a bit unsettling because about thirty years ago, the overthrow of a government was started by a protest not unlike this.
Angela
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