Journal 1-6 Max Bardowell 10-20-07

For The Greater Good

Answer to last entry’s question: There is some debate over which publication was the first newspaper because the definition of a newspaper has been flexible. In ancient Rome, acta diurna, or government announcement bulletins, were made public by Julius Caesar. They were carved on stone or metal and posted in public places. During the Tang dynasty in China (618-906), the Kai Yuan Za Bao also published government news; it was painted on silk and mostly read by government officials. However, the World Association of Newspapers recognizes Johann Carolus’s Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historie, published in 1605, as the world’s first newspaper. The Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. of 1618 is also considered by some to be the first modern newspaper since the Relation looks more like a book than what is now considered a newspaper. The newspaper Opregte Haarlemsche Courant from Harlem, first published in 1656, is considered by some to be the oldest continuously published newspaper, though it was forced to merge with the newspaper Haarlems Dagblad in 1942 by the German occupier. Since then the Harlems Dagblad appears with the subtitle Oprechte Haerlemse Courant 1656 and considers itself to be the oldest still-publishing newspaper in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper

The world is, with each passing day, becoming more and more volatile. This is not due to an increase of violence; in fact the world has certainly seen worse times. Entire continents and cultures have warred for millennia, and every time a border manifests itself regardless of whether it is linguistic, geographical, religious, or cultural, it soon grows red hot with conflict. Unity on a global scale seems impossible, while unity within a smaller social or cultural group is relatively common, thus we have many small groups of devoted followers all thrown in together, and the results are present in every daily international news headline. It seems that human nature dictates that we fight and die for our principles, consequently we find both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. But the world has always operated in this way. So why is the world more dangerous? The world is more volatile, simply because it has grown smaller.

While this carries a certain seed of optimism, humanity does not easily cooperate under the same roof. We will undoubtedly soon find ourselves in situations when we must resort to the justification that it was done for the greater good. A worthy example is the Iran- Contra incident, as Lt. Col. Oliver North was forced to make questionable decisions based on the hope that his actions benefited the grater good, in this case the good being the hostages kept prisoner in Iran. But, is this in fact a truly justifiable founding principle for our culture? Can we hide our morals under the sheen of this generalized statement? What actions are we willing to take in order to protect American lives? These are questions which we will have to answer in the coming years if we are to maintain both our moral conscience and our national security. How far are we willing to go?

Question: How many hostages did North’s actions truly save?