Journal 3-1 Max Bardowell 1-27-08

The Golden Rule

Answer to Last Week Question: There are several organizations that are considered “ethical authorities” in the US. These organizations issue ethical doctrines and statements on relevant issues. They also fund parties in certain legal cases involving relevant issues, as well as operating charities and fundraising organizations. Often they have political affiliations. The two that come to mind are Amnesty International and the Heritage Foundation. Others include the Better Business Bureau, Goodwill Industries, and the United Way.

This week we discussed the various rules society uses to define the differing methods its individuals employ to govern moral and immoral behaviors. The first and most obvious is the Golden Rule, which simply stated is do onto others as you would have them do onto you. We spent the majority of our time focused on this rule. Despite its natural reflection of a perfect Utopian society, there was something that just didn’t sit quite right with us as a class, some flaw that we could not name, and for that reason we put the rule through our intellectual meat grinders to determine whether or not it would be copacetic in human society. What we found surprised us.

Though in theory the Golden Rule seems infallible, there are several fundamental flaws in its wording and practice that make several revisions necessary. First, the rule does not address differing standards of treatment. If one party in the Golden Rule relationship has lower standards of treatment than the other party, should the second party recognize those standards? Second, many can interpret the basic kindness expressed by someone’s devotion to the Golden Rule as a weakness, and exploit that kindness for their own means. Humanity can be too wicked to embrace the elegant idealism within the rule. Our own self-absorption and self-interest conflict with the selflessness laced within the rule. This leads to the third flaw; the rule is simply cannot be practically implemented in human society. Not due to its philosophical and ethical implications, but due to several fundamental flaws within the way humanity reacts and relates with itself.

Perhaps society can embrace a refined form of the Golden Rule, such as the Brazen Rule or the Silver Rule, but even these have flaws. Ultimately we will find that we cannot live by one simple rule. We cannot sum up the breadth of our moral conscious in a single line of text. We must combine rules and create hybrids of rules if we are to forge a lasting ethical guide. Humanity is far too complex to be governed by a single rule, or any rule for that matter.

Question: What is the actual text of the Golden Rule, as stated in the New Testament?

Journal 2-9 Max Bardowell 1-20-08

Principles of Ethics and You

Answer to Last Week’s Question: These results are from the Poll of Pollsters website, a ranking of national newspaper polls based on the accuracy of their past predictions. The top ten are:

1. Des Moines Register
2. ABC News/ Washington Post
3. Pew Research Center/ Associated Press
4. CBS News/ New York Times
5. Mason- Dixon Polling Firm/ MSNBC/ The McClatchy Company

Greatest Good

The greatest good is the notion that a single action that results in some negative consequences can be justified because it impacts more people in a positive manner than it does in a negative manner. It a much debated idea and the justification for the decision largely depends on the circumstances surrounding the decision itself.

Equal Respect and the Golden Rule

This ideal is a fluid concept and has been translated through many cultural and geographic boundaries. It is the belief that everyone deserves to be treated in the manner in which they themselves would wish to be treated, assuming that they would wish to be treated in a positive manner.

Relationships

A relationship is any interaction, small or large, between two individuals. Enduring or potent relationships between two individuals tend to have more of an impact on the two parties than more fleeting interactions.

Community

A community is a grouping of individuals, whether defined by a geographic location or shared relationships or values, who live and work within a certain proximity. Sometimes they work together for a common goal, but most of the time the individuals simply coexist within their environment, pursuing unilateral goals isolated or independent from the rest of the community.

Character Growth

Character Growth is the maturing of an individual’s ethics or values over a defined period of time. Often these morals become concentrated, reflecting the individuals upbringing, education, or group membership.

Question: What national organizations are considered “ethical authorities?”

Journal 2-8 Max Bardowell 1-13-08

Answer to Last Week’s Question: The Top Five Film Schools in the World (in no particular order):

University of California
University of Southern California
California Institute of Technology
New York University
American Film Institute

One major difference I noted between the two youtube debates this campaign season was the bitterness between the Republican candidates and the seemingly united front the Democrats have shown. While each candidate competes with each other individually, the democratic campaign collectively can be compared to an insurrection of sorts, with the party out of power “rebelling” against the party in power. There is a certain loyalty that comes with being a member of the party out of power. There is a unity of cause and spirit that allows them a distinct camaraderie, separating them from the republican candidates they oppose. They are a loose alliance of sorts. A band of competing individuals united under a common ideal. Thus, they can campaign against each other while still remaining focused in their ultimate goal; the deposition of the Republican Party’s control over the presidency. Each is loyal to their cause. It is a noble aspect of American politics

However, the republicans show a less honorable side of the political spectrum. They bicker and brawl, and attack the character of the men around them, not the ideologies they follow. They scramble for any scrap of a lead they can maintain, desperate to hold onto their party’s claim to the presidential office. Like the threatened monarchies of Victorian era, recoiling from the spread of democracy, the republicans squabble amongst themselves as they try to maintain power. To the public though, they only seem weak. Divided. Unsure. But, they are not to fault. If the democrats were the former office holders they would be behaving in the same manner. But they are not, and thus give the impression that they are the stronger party, resolved in their quest to assume power. That is why I will make a prediction today that it will be a democratic candidate that will win this election, for better or worse, and the republicans will not maintain power in the oval office. But who knows? In the end, you will decide.

Question: What is the most respected national campaign poll?

Journal 2-7 Max Bardowell 1-7-08

Midterm Documentary

Answer to last week’s question: Here are some popular editing software programs used by smaller film production companies. Michael Moore would probable use more advanced software, but I had trouble locating the titles to the software:

• · Mac OS X
• o iMovie
• o Final Cut Express
• o Final Cut Pro
• o Avid Xpress Pro
• o Adobe Premiere Pro
• o Final Cut Studio
• o Effects Lab Pro
• · Windows
• o Windows Movie Maker
• o Avid Xpress Pro
• o Avid FreeDV
• o Sony Vegas
• o Adobe Premiere Pro
• o Effects Lab Pro
• · Linux
• o Cinelerra
• o Kino

I had not realized the varied skills one needed to properly make a documentary until I was required to film one myself. They are extremely diverse and encompass a broad range of training and experiences, from a background in creative writing to a proficiency in film technology. Fortunately, our group dynamics catered to the style of documentary in which we wished to film, that of a serious film that focused on comparing opposing viewpoints on a common topic. The composition of our group enabled us to have a solid breadth of experience in writing, technology, on camera techniques, and editing and composition. Without the oftentimes differing opinions of our group members, I have no doubt that our documentary would have had a very one dimensional feel to it. Having said that, it seemed at times that the editing process could have gone smother if we had only two people in our group, simply due to fact that two people can reach a conclusion much more quickly than four can.

I thoroughly enjoyed the assignment, despite its size and time demands, and it was a break from the predictable monotony of established written exams, even though it required a bit more work. It was a challenge, but it made me that much more proud of its success.

Question: What is the best documentary film or film school in the US?

Journal 2-6 Max Bardowell 1-3-08

Michael Moore Hates America Answers

1. He uses phantom questioning and splicing of certain interview clips. He uses the “leading interview” tactic to walk interviewee’s toward the right answer. He uses the montage technique.

2. He uses heavy voice over, like Moore, to help the viewer familiarize themselves with the narrator, thus creating predetermined biases that influence the viewer later on. He uses a montage technique, displaying images of his life to achieve the same result.

3. He must decide how to make a compelling an interesting documentary without using the same tactics that Michael Moore has perfected. He must remain unbiased, and impartial, to maintain a certain level of journalistic integrity if he wants to successfully denounce Michael Moore without seeming to be a hypocrite.

4. No, not really. It would be better to say that he shifts the truth. He uses certain editing tricks and viewer biases to create filters that will obscure the truth, thus creating the illusion of a lie, but not an actual lie. It seems to me to be an even more devious way of filmmaking. Slimy.

5. Not unless it protects them from immediate and physical harm. No, it is not ok to lie in the media.

6. She means that by creating a documentary you are taking reality and forcing it through the lens of a camera, which is not conducive to the truth. That lens is also your lens, she implies, and is thus tainted with the inherent biases you posses. I disagree. While a documentary is a creative product, it can be subject to the same journalistic principles that ensure we maintain a free and balanced press. It becomes, therefore, a product of quality reporting, and as close to relating the truth as humanly possible within the format of human expression.

7. When they take unaltered footage or images and edit them to deceive the viewer, for whatever purpose, noble or misguided. That is the line. You cannot alter the truth of your material.

8. She means that we must be conscious of the fact that when we fervently voice a cause, we may soon find ourselves stooping to the levels of our enemies to convey our messages to the masses.

9. It could be the town you grew up in or the town you were born in.

10. It is one of optimism, not despair and sorrow. Wilson presents us with a view of Flit that is hopeful and progressive, unlike Moore’s view which highlights only the negative.

11. That Michel Moore’s cynical view of America’s people and politics is flawed, and America does in fact have a heart: its people.