Do we need the internet?

It's hard for me to imagine living without the internet, and I think most other people who've grown up with it can say the same.

I was actually about to make a joke about how everyone who's not dead probably understands me, but just before writing that first sentence, to double-check the fact that the internet was invented, like, forever ago, I Googled when the internet was invented. There's a complicated history of APARNET and node networks that I can't understand, but the internet we know today, with our access to a bunch of different websites, messaging, and all that good stuff, was invented in 1990. So that's actually not like, forever ago, and now I'm embarrassed.

Obviously I could just play it off like, "Yeah, I knew the internet's only been around for 27 years," and I wouldn't have to embarrass myself, but I'm trying to make a point here: the internet today is used for so much that I feel like I need it.

People who've grown up with the internet, and maybe even those who haven't, but lived with it for a while now, are becoming dependent on it. Just two paragraphs ago I "Googled" something. And now, I'm going to "Google" when Google was invented. September 4th, 1998. About two months before I was born (November 29th, by the way. Don't forget). That's just 18 years, and in them we've grown to rely on Google for finding out information so much that "google" is a verb.

And if you asked me how I'd find all my information if we didn't have the internet, I honestly couldn't tell you. Run to the library?

Look at this thing! I saw it once. Be jealous.

Okay, but say I want to -- no, I need to -- find the weight of the world's largest potato. After getting to the library, I'd have to ask the librarian to look up books (with the old card filing system, not the quick and easy internet) on potatoes. She'd then have to look through the library to find me the books on potatoes. Then, I'd have to look through the potato books to find that one particular fact: the weight of the world's largest potato. I'd say that all this probably takes at least an hour. I can't imagine finding all information like this, especially with other people also looking for information -- oh, and Google gave me the weight of the world's largest potato in 0.68 seconds. It's 6 tons.

And the internet doesn't just provide us information. It gives us entertainment. You know, like memes and Netflix. And I'm pretty sure we can all agree that people are obsessed with those things. Okay, maybe just teenagers like memes, but Netflix? Everyone loves Netflix. Or Amazon video. Whatever.

In one of my classes some time ago, we all discussed what we needed to have in an ideal world, and the majority of us said the internet. There was some argument, but ultimately I remember us all agreeing that in terms of survival, of course we don't need the internet, but we've come so far at this point in time that we can't really live without it.


But is that really true? Do we really need the internet, for things like knowledge and entertainment?

The novel Feed by M.T. Anderson takes place in a future where everyone has the internet implanted in their brain (it's called the "feed") -- so they have constant and essentially unlimited access to information and entertainment.

Did you know that half of people with a CPAP machine don't even use it? Well, what about the people in Feed with access to information? Do they use it?

It doesn't look like it. In the beginning of the book, the main character Titus's friends have an argument about whether the face is an organ, and nobody bothers to search the feed for "is the face an organ?"

And Titus is pretty sure that, because of the access people have to information with the feed, people do need the internet. In the book, after a hacker interferes with the feeds of Titus and his friends at a party, technicians have to take the feed out of their brains to make sure they haven't been bugged with viruses.

So for a few days, Titus and his friends are left without their feeds, and Titus says this while thinking about how much he misses the feed:

"People were really excited when they first came out with feeds. It was all da da da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips, closer than their fingertips, etc. That's one of the great things about the feed -- that you can be supersmart without ever working. Everyone is supersmart now. You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit" (47).

George Washington, who fought in the revolutionary war, died in 1799. The Civil War began in 1865.

Clearly, it doesn't make a difference how much access to information Titus, and everyone else in Feed, have in their heads. Titus takes pride in how supposedly "smart" the feed makes people, but if the example he uses to prove his own point is wrong, I'm not so sure he's right.

We even believe today that countries with the internet are more "advanced" than those who don't have it. But people jump on what other people say in an instant, even without checking the information on the internet. And even though the internet has plenty of false information, the truth is there. We just have to think critically about where the information's coming from, check it with other sources, and consider if it sounds realistic based on what else we know.

But people spread information that's been proven false, or that has no evidence (even the American president, God help us) all over social media. So why do we act like the internet makes us smart?

And what if you couldn't binge watch Orange is the New Black or laugh at the distorting of Bee Movie in every way possible? Well, it sure sounds like Titus had fun without the feed. After a couple of days in the hospital without a word from the technicians, he tells us:

"We decided we needed to be cheered up big-time. So Marty invented this game where we blew hypodermic needletips through tubing at a skinless anatomy man on the wall...It was the beginning of a great day, one of the greatest days of my life. We all played the dart game, and we laughed and sang 'I'll Sex You In.' Everyone was smiling, and it was skip" (57).

Titus literally says that these days, the days without the feed, were the best of his life. If that isn't proof that the people in this future can have fun without the internet, I don't know what is.

He has fun because he's playing the game and singing to the song, which he mentions got annoying to everybody who witnessed the hacker attack, with his friends. I don't want to sound like a cranky grandma complaining about "kids these days," but I do think that the internet makes us forget about the value of interacting with our family and friends.

His experience with his friends in the hospital reminds me of the fun I have every year with my family when we go to Ocean City, Maryland. We don't sit around on our laptops, and though what we do do isn't much (watch Family Feud on GSN, a channel we don't have at home, go to the beach, walk on the boardwalk, play mini golf -- little things like that), we always have a great time. Just thinking about it makes me happy. What matters is the people I'm spending time with (wow, this is getting really deep and personal). We love each other, and we know each other. Our connection makes it easy to joke around with each other. I can't even explain it that well, but it just makes the trip so fun.

So we don't really need the internet to have fun.

It looks like we don't need it at all.




Biel, O.

Sources:

Feed, M.T. Anderson.

Word Count: 1376

The future...and expectations.

Some future we got…

To think Robert Zemeckis’s film franchise “Back to the Future” missed the mark on so much! And yet, the Chicago Cubs actually managed to win a world series just as the movie predicted! But, I still think Zemeckis has to be a little disappointed being that there are no flying cars, hoverboards, and well time travel is still just a myth. Unless our government is hiding something from us…but, why would they do that?

**They did not sweep so look who's wrong again**

 Published in 2002, Feed by M.T Anderson also takes place in a futuristic setting. By the time this book was written, travel to the moon had already happened. Still 15 years later, your everyday teenager could only dream of outer space. A lifetime of trials and perseverance and there is still nearly next to no chance you get to leave the planet.Even in the movie Gattaca the 1997 futuristic flick based on perfection, it shows just how much a man is willing to endure to travel outside of his planet. From body modifications to mental abuse it really draws you in with good character development and even more interesting plot twists. Plus, just look at young Jude Law, man we all should know he was hoping for a better glow up after 20 years. 

Poor guy...

So how did the teenagers in Feed really react? Oh, you know it was the time of their lives. “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” (pg1) Okay, I know, I lied. Thing is, this future is pretty advanced. Each and every person in this setting is equipped with something called ‘feed’ a database that mimics today’s internet except it is already built inside of us. Advertisements constantly pop up on feed just as they would on television on commercials. I guess the world has to be so advanced for a bunch of teenagers to be able to be so nonchalant about going to the moon. Then again, even the moon wasn’t what you would expect Neil Armstrong to describe it as. It has actually turned into some type of attraction that’s already being littered on “…and instead there’s just the rockiness, and the suckiness, and the craters all being full of old broken shit, like dome’s nobody’s using anymore…” (pg4) oh how EPA would be proud.

 M.T Anderson did hit the nail on the head several times in the first two chapters of Feed. When the main character is thinking to himself about the loneliness he is experiencing, you can’t help but groan or snicker when he says to the readers “Plus, I was thinking that maybe Loga and I could hook up again, if we didn’t find anyone else…” (pg12). That was only right after he explained to us the rocky overview of their history together, that nearly ended with the line, ‘I never want to see you again’ coming from Loga to the narrator. Just as a witness in society, to me it is obvious this kind of thinking is not outdated at all. This was not the only instance where Anderson had gotten right. When all the guys were hanging out, the narrator describes it as him trying to have fun but constantly telling himself to try to have fun. This is still way too common, and probably always will be. Expectations exist whether you want them to or not. When someone’s expectations aren’t meet for a hang out, it usually ends in them being bored and not having the fun they were looking for.

By looking at just the plenty of examples of what film directors, book writers, and just about anyone with an imagination had in mind for us, we’re beat. Yeah, I said it. The time we live in is not the future everyone hoped for. No talking animals, time travel, spaceships, or accessible road trips to the moon calls for entirely no fun, right? Wrong, just think for even a moment what you would be doing without your Iphone. Oh, you don’t have one? A Galaxy then. Oh…you’re using a flip phone? Okay, grandma, then riddle me this, what are you reading this on? Definitely not a newspaper article, that’s for sure. That all being said recent technologies like the common Iphone, Window’s phone, or Samsung’s Galaxy were all made popular not even ten years ago. Trust me, I was astonished too. Even laptops were not popularized until this most recent decade. So, I guess were getting somewhere.

That’s where expectations tie back in. Just as our narrator has these, not so common may I add, expectations of how a trip is going to go, Zemeckis and so many others expected huge imaginative things for our future. Now, these things are legitimate expectations. If you were to ask the average classroom if they expect cars to truly be able to fly, within their lifetime, you’re probably going to see a lot of children in agreement. Trust me, I’m expecting it too. No matter where the idea of these futuristic technologies came from, they are now and have been setting the bar. There are just plenty of people waiting for the day a board can hold the weight of a human being and almost magically, hover. Just like me, many are waiting for the chance to say “They’ve done it! This dog can actually talk you’ve got to come see this!”. To me, it’s just lame no one has reached the bar yet. Dear scientists, hurry up I’m almost 20.
Jordan L 919 words

The Result of Sacrifice

Throughout history, humans have always performed sacrifices for either the good of themselves or the good others, maybe both in some situations. In ancient times when Pharaohs ruled, they would offer sacrifices to the gods in exchange for rain. In south America, Indian Tribe leaders would kill wild animals or members of the tribe to offer to their god in exchange for protection. Even though the time periods are different, some people must suffer in order for society to thrive. In today’s society, the poor suffer and sacrifice so that the wealthy can gain and prosper. After reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, I realized that a Utopian society can exist, however only with sacrifice. It does not have to be major sacrifices like killing each other, it can just be small compromises such as giving up the opportunity of getting a chocolate fountain.      

In The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the author describes Omelas as a beautiful place where everybody is happy and content with life. She states “The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings, processions moved. Some were decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and gray, grave master workmen, quiet, merry women carrying their babies and chatting as they walked. In other streets, the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a dance. Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights, over the music and the singing. All the processions wound towards the north side of the city, where on the great water-meadow called the Green' Fields boys and girls, naked in the bright air, with mud-stained feet and ankles and long, lithe arms, exercised their restive horses before the race. The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without bit”(pg 1). It honestly sounded like every lunatic’s’ dreamland. People went around naked without a care in the world. That aside, Omelas seemed like a pretty good place to live in. Everything seemed so perfect.

The citizens were not aliens, zombies, or supernatural beings. They were normal people like us. In the story, the author stated that “ They were not simple folk, you see, though they were happy. But we do not say the words of cheer much anymore. All smiles have become archaic. Given a description such as this one tends to make certain assumptions. Given a description such as this one tends to look next for the King, mounted on a splendid stallion and surrounded by his noble knights, or perhaps in a golden litter borne by great-muscled slaves. But there was no king. They did not use swords or keep slaves. They were not barbarians. I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but I suspect that they were singularly few. As they did without monarchy and slavery, so they also got on without the stock exchange, the advertisement, the secret police, and the bomb. Yet I repeat that these were not simple folk, not dulcet shepherds, noble savages, bland Utopians. They were not less complex than us”( pg 1). These people seemed perfect. Their lives were perfect. They had no problems with wars, poverty, and social discrimination, well that’s what they wanted people to believe. In fact, they were not perfect. Beneath their mask of perfection and happiness was a deep dark secret.

While everyone enjoyed life, one boy did not. He was responsible for the happiness of the citizens of Omelas. The author states “. The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room, a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect. It picks its nose and occasionally fumbles vaguely with its toes or genitals, as it sits hunched in the corner farthest from the bucket and the two mops. It is afraid of the mops. It finds them horrible. It shuts its eyes, but it knows the mops are still standing there, and the door is locked, and nobody will come. The door is always locked, and nobody ever comes, except that sometimes-the child has no understanding of time or interval – sometimes the door rattles terribly and opens, and a person, or several people, are there. One of them may come and kick the child to make it stand up. The others never come close, but peer in at it with frightened, disgusted eyes. The food bowl and the water jug are hastily filled, the door is locked, the eyes disappear. The people at the door never say anything, but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother's voice, sometimes speaks. "I will be good," it says. "Please let me out. I will be good!" They never answer. The child used to scream for help at night and cry a good deal, but now it only makes a kind of whining, "eh-haa, eh-haa," and it speaks less and less often. It is so thin there are no calves to its legs; its belly protrudes; it lives on a half-bowl of cornmeal and grease a day. It is naked. Its buttocks and thighs are a mass of festered sores, as it sits in its own excrement continually” (pg 3). Because of everyone’s happiness, this child’s life is sacrificed. He/she is verbally and physically abused. The child is forced to be locked away and hidden from society. Even though he is hidden, the people of Omelas knows of the child’s existence but choose to ignore it. They ignore the child’s pain so that they can continue to live happily. Would you be able to do that? I would not be able to be okay or ignore this because the quilt would eat me live knowing that the reason why I’m happy is because of someone else's suffering.

The people of Omelas are basically Utilitarians. Utilitarians believes in Utilitarianism which is  a system of ethics where one is sacrificed for the many. The people of Omelas allowed the child to suffer since it’s beneficial for the community as a whole. Although they knew it was morally wrong, they chose to ignore it.

Bhagwandin A
Word Count: 1103

How We're Conditioned to View a Utopian Society

In pre-k, I was taught to raise my hand so that my voice could be heard; to either ask a question or to answer one and that I had to always sit in my assigned seat. Now in college, I still raise my hand even though I'm free to speak out and  I, like many others, still sit in the same seat even though there are no assigned seats. I never questioned these things when I was younger because I didn’t think that I can. I believed it was just how things worked.

It was during a class discussion when my fellow peers and I had a “holy shit” moment. You know that moment when you realize that the voice actor of Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender is the same guy that voiced Jake from American Dragon. Anyway, I learned that we were conditioned at a very age to view things in a certain way such as; appearance, gender, and perfection. It’s like we weren't allowed to have our own opinion or to hold our own thoughts as if it was taboo.

Our teachers from pre-k to, lets say, third grade practically brainwashed us into believing that perfection could not exist but also that it should not stop us to strive for it. From our parents, we learned that a girl needs to act, talk and dress differently than a boy should. As for social media, we learned that appearance means everything and I mean EVERYTHING! You can’t be beautiful if you weighed a certain amount or that you couldn’t be cool if you didn’t dress a certain way. It's honestly ridiculous because we don’t notice this until someone, like me, brings it up. You see the ridiculousness of it all now, right?

What I’m trying to get at is that we were thought to not think to just follow what was thrown to us and that is why it is so hard for us; humans, to believe in a Utopia. We were taught that a Utopia was perfect but we were also taught that perfection couldn’t exist. Even if a Utopia did exist we were conditioned to believe that something just HAD to be wrong with it. That the Utopian society probably makes weekly sacrifices, that they were probably cannibals or just did crazy shit in the middle of the night to maintain the illusion that it’s “perfect”.

Ursula Le Guin created a satire The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas, to address our conditioning of viewing a Utopia. She described Omelas as a beautiful city near the sea where the people and the animals were happy! They were self-governing people that lived in peace, were intelligent,  had festivals, danced, sing.  They were living life!

Le Guin taunts us by asking, “Do you believe? Do you accept the festival, the city, the joy?” She already knows that it would be hard for us to break away from the conditioning that was drilled into us.

Le Guin then asks us to imagine that “In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, or perhaps in the cellar of one of its spacious private homes, there is a room….In the room, a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded....it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect….they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery.” '

Le Guin explains that “The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting.” What she is trying to say that our thoughts are not our own! Our “bad habit” of being pessimistic when it concern a Utopia because we were raised that way by our teachers and parents.    

Through The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas, Le Guin is trying to get us to realize that the little voice of doubt that’s implanted into our mind is not our own but was a voice that was conditioned over the years to make us believe that it was our own.

You might not see it but she is challenging our way of thought by asking us to imagine the faults in Omelas;“I fear that Omelas so far strikes some of you as goody-goody. Smiles, bells, parades, horses, bleh. If so, please add an orgy. If an orgy would help…” She wants us to question ourselves; “Why does something have to be wrong with Omelas?” “Why can’t it just be a peaceful place?” “ Does it really have to need these bad factors to exists?”   

We need to understand that we’re stubborn little shits that hates being wrong; we always want to be right and prove others wrong. And Le Guin uses this to her advantage because she WANTS us to prove her wrong, to break free from the conditioning that was drilled into us. So that we can not only imagine a place like Omelas without having faults, but also start to think for ourselves.

Alabi O.

Word Count: 882

How to get girls's for dummies

Every since man kind was created love was always in the air. Love is a funny thing and it often makes people do crazy things. Have you ever did a crazy thing for a crush you had growing up? like did you giving them flowers, chocolates or try and ask them out? How that go for you? my bet you crashed landed and couldn't even find enough courage to actually go through with your plan. Well lucky for you I have a few tips kind of like Ned Declassified School Survival Guide but a better Joe Shaw version. Step one if you like a girl why don't you try and write her a song, a play or poem, A great example of this step is Shakespeare. Shakespeare a poet, playwright and actor in the 14th century he was a monster for writing plays about love. some of those plays being Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummers Night Dream, Twelfth Night, and many more no question Shakespeare was a man on a mission to impress the one he had a crush on. Hey who knows if you don't get the girl you might have found a new love a love for writing. 

Step Two don't be afraid to talk to her. Gentleman don't be a scaredy cat and not talk to a girl you like. You don't want to look like the weird guy that is always looking at her from the corner. Just go up to her and introduce yourself so she knows who you are. Then you go from there maybe if your lucky she thinks your cute too. If you want to know how it's done read the book FEED. In the novel FEED Titus is afraid to talk to violet at first but then he gets enough courage to ask her to come out with him and his friends later to a club. Yes shit goes down at the club but he still was a man and

asked the girl he thought was cute out on a date. But say if you strike out on the girl you have a crush on don't think your ugly theirs always a Juliet for you, you just got to take a chance and see what happens. As Thomas J. Watson says "Every time we've moved ahead in IBM, it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put his head on the block, and try something new."

Step three get her number. Getting a girls number is easier then you think fellas, and if you follow the three steps I am about to tell you I promise you will have it in no time. Frist you want to follow step two of my book by going up to her and start a conversation. This is the most important step of the whole thing because if you don't approach her and talk to her you can't do the next two steps I'm about to tell you. The next step is the trickiest part this is where you have to sweat talk her and drop

some pick up lines like "hey are you from Tennessee because your the only ten I see" or "

Is your name Ariel? Cause we Mermaid for each other!" but if you really want to impress her hit her with this line "Are you a camera? Because every time I look at you, I smile." If all hope fails and for what ever reason those great lines don't work start quoting Bruno Mars songs. You might think I'm crazy but listen from personal experience once you drop a quote from a Bruno Mars song on her she thinks you are a sweat guy and falls in love with you right there on the spot. Last step is to ask for her number. If you did one and two right number three is like a no brainer for her.

Step four and the final step to getting a girl ask her out. The time has come for you to ask your crush out. When you ask your crush out try and do it in away so they don't think it's a date maybe ask them to tag along with a group of friends to the mall or something. When you become more friendly with her the time has come to ask her out on a date just you and her no body else. A great first date is a movie or something cheap because you don't want to go over board and spend like $200 on her on the first date, that will just makes it hard to one up yourself on the next date. After you go out with her a couple of times spoil her more and more if she says she likes something take note of it and buy it for her. Girls love the little things you do for them it makes them feel appreciated and a girl that feels appreciated will be yours for a long time. If you follow these four simple rules I have laid out for you I grantee that your little crush will be your girlfriend in no time.

Joe S Word Count 967

      

Utopia and the Tudors

Ira Shor came up with four basic ideas that he believes define Utopia, futurism. questioning the status quo, social engineering, and decision-making. At first none of these things make any sense, but if you're like me, you'll start to get those wheels turning in your head and begin to make connections that only make sense to you. Everyone else thinks you're crazy. What did my over active, yet simultaneously lazy mind come up with this time? What is most likely the weirdest thing you'll ever read.

Heck yeah I'm about to go there

Yes! This is it! How the Tudors compare to the four points! Who here is excited?😄 Nobody, okay. I'm still going to write this though so bear with me. Lets start with futurism. Shor describes it as being, "hope, innovation, experimentation,imagining and designing a better way to run society in the future, launching experimental projects and attitudes." Although the Tudors are not known for being accepting, they lived in a time period of great societal change. In 1485 England was a country disrupted by civil war between the ruling classes. A man named Henry Tudor put an end to this when his army killed the Yorkist king Richard III. Henry VII changed the way money was handled in England. He was stingy and was seen as a dower old man by his people. When Henry VIII became king the people saw this as a new beginning, where fun and light would be back in their lives. They saw the future in the 17 year old king and his bride, the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. Henry had great ideas for England. He wanted to be as great as his ancestor Henry V. Henry VIII is known for many things, having six wives and for changing the course of history by bringing the Reformation to England. His son Edward VI "experimented" with Protestantism. And by "experimented" I mean he changed the official religion of England to Protestantism and killed anyone who disagreed with him. Same with his older sister Mary, but with Catholicism and returning into the Papal fold. Now that I think about it the only Tudor who fits this  ideal of futurism is Elizabeth,also known as; Good Queen Bess, Queen Liz, the Virgin Queen and the greatest monarch in British history. Under her art and literature flourished. New lands were explored. The first British colony in the New World was founded. Liz kind of created her own Utopia if you think about it.

Moving onto "Questioning the Status Quo" I think I can honestly say the whole dynasty did this. Henry VII questioned whether a blood line that descends from illegitimacy can become the ruling power. Henry VIII questioned the Pope so he could get his coveted son. Mary I,Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn all questioned why a woman could not become queen. And boy did Mary and Elizabeth show everyone, that women can rule, and they can rule well.

"Elizabeth shall be a greater queen than any king of yours!" tell 'em Anne

Social Engineering is one I've been looking most forward to, because it reminds me of one person in particular, Mary I. Mary was only eleven years old when  she was separated from her mother. She was seventeen when she was stripped of her legitimacy and her titles. She was then forced to be servant to her baby half sister, Elizabeth in a house where she was beaten and mentally abused until she was twenty and finally gave into her father's wishes. Which put her at odds with her own conscience. She was thirty-two when her father died and thirty-seven when she finally became queen. Shor's definition  of Social Engineering has a line in it that say, "individuals are the results of their social experience," The situation and pain of her life made her go from and sweet young girl into a woman who suffered from multiple mental health issues and some serious daddy issues. The aspects of a patriarchal society directly caused Mary to become embittered and sad in her adult life, which in turn lead to a woman who is (unfairly) called "Bloody Mary"

if you look closely you can see evilness in her eyes

Now we've come to the last one (finally) and I'm sure that if anyone actually read this you're bored as heck right now, but hold on just a little bit longer. Decision-making, who made the rules in Tudor England. It's easy, the king/queen. They told you how to worship and in the case of Elizabeth I, when you had to wear a woolly hat.

I'd never say that Tudor England was a Utopia. With Sweating Sickness around every corner and Henry VIII's axe happy ways, it was more like a dystopia. All I wanted to do is to compare the tumultuous world of the Tudor's to Ira Shor's Utopian Ideas, mainly because I love the Tudors. This whole thing might make no sense, but hey, I tried.

Hannah R, 819

 Citations: "Some Basic Utopian Ideas" by Ira Shor