2
Jan
2011
Ninjas and Drug dealers!
WBNS-TV is reporting that Clifton, NJ police have arrested two men claiming to be Ninjas!
Calling themselves ”Shinobi Warriors,” the 19 and 20 year old men were carrying knives, throwing stars, swords, nunchucks and a bow and arrows. The ‘Ninja’s’ were attempting to fight drug dealers in order to clean the streets of crime.
According to WBNS the two men accused drug dealers and users of having “committed sin of passing impurity” to others and that the “wind guides us to those of impure heart and intent.”
The bigger questions to answer here are:
- What is morally wrong (if anything) about these dorky Batman type figures to try to beat up some drug dealers, the scum of society?
- In an ordered society (one with a social contract), is it okay for ‘Ninjas’ to administer justice? (rather than the police)
- What would Hobbes or Locke think of the Shinobi Warriors?
- What are some other examples in Current Events of ‘vigilante-like’ people? Are these ‘Ninja’s’ different?
7
Oct
2008
War of the Worlds: The Mass Media Creates PANIC!
On Monday we talked a lot about the Mass media and how it affects politics and politicians.
From WNYC:
An examination of the power of mass media to create panic. In Radio Lab’s very first live hour, we take a deep dive into one of the most controversial moments in broadcasting history – Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play about Martians invading New Jersey. And we ask: Why did it fool people then? And why has it continued to fool people since?
This radio story is GREAT to listen to. What do you think about the radio story? Is it possible for the mass media to create panic? Does this relate to the panic that we’re having now about the state of the economy?
