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  • 268.28


    Description: Discussed the concepts of relative and absolute truth in the context of perspectivism. Delved somewhat into how understanding perspective and bias can help us to better understand our universe and perform well in our position as Jedi.

    Assignment: Read the following passage and answer the cooresponding questions. Post your responses in your Journal.

    “(1) Nothing violates our quality of life more than the threat posed by environmental pollution, and of all the sources of pollution, there is none quite as insidious as the corporation. (2) The trouble with the majority of companies is that they understand the problems we face rather well, but they are deaf to solutions, for they see through obscured lens, most principally concerned with the state of their pocketbooks. (3) They are open to solutions until the factor of credits becomes involved: then, with a smile they promise to adapt their corporate model within their budget to work on problems, only to fail to change anything of worth. (4) They run their advertising schemes showing how much “greener” they have become, how eco-friendly they really are, but meanwhile, they dump their poisons into the very air we breathe. (5) This my friends, is a travesty. (6) The Galactic Alliance recently released a study demonstrating that as many as thirty-eight percent of corporations are in moderate or severe violation of Galactic pollution codes, and only half of those corporations had taken any steps during the last five years to reduce their pollution output. (7) Ika’am Ikbar, the undersecretary to the President of the Galactic Environmental Watch (GEW), put it best in her statement at the Coruscanti Pollution Convention on 263.12: “For every minute we allow this problem, it becomes a little more difficult to solve…a pollution tax is the only way to stop this plague.” (8) And indeed it is, because when we deal with companies in our modern capitalist system, we must first remember that the only language they understand is money. (9) By imposing a small, nominal fee for every time a company violates environmental standards on any Alliance world, we would discourage these corporations from continuing to pollute our air and our land. (10) They would be forced to change their business models overnight. (11) Surely the public must come to see that this is the only way we can move forward, lest the health of our children be put at risk.”


    Quote:
    (1) Nothing violates our quality of life more than the threat posed by environmental pollution, and of all the sources of pollution, there is none quite as insidious as the corporation.

    1) The author’s perspective can be best described as…

    a) Neutral. The passage is unbiased and conveys accurate information.
    X b) Persuasive. The passage is biased and in favor of the idea mentioned.
    c) Persuasive. The passage is biased and against the idea mentioned.
    d) Persuasive. The passage is biased, but it is not clear which idea the author is in favor of.

    Quote:
    (3) They are open to solutions until the factor of credits becomes involved: then, with a smile they promise to adapt their corporate model within their budget to work on problems, only to fail to change anything of worth.

    2) Is sentence 3 an example of bias? Why or why not?

    a) Yes, because some companies do change things of worth.
    X b) Yes, because the author makes generalized statements that cannot be directly supported by facts.
    c) No, because the author does not include his own opinion.
    d) No, because some companies may indeed do what the author described in the sentence.

    Quote:
    (6) The Galactic Alliance recently released a study demonstrating that as many as thirty-eight percent of corporations are in moderate or severe violation of Galactic pollution codes, and only half of those corporations had taken any steps during the last five years to reduce their pollution output.

    3) Is sentence 6 an example of bias? Why or why not?

    a) Yes, because there is no information telling us how many companies are guility of minor violations, only moderate and severe ones.
    X b) Yes, because there is not a corresponding study showing information that supports the opposite side.
    c) No, because the author does not include his own opinion.
    d) No, because the government conducted the study.

    Quote:
    (7) Ika’am Ikbar, the undersecretary to the President of the Galactic Environmental Watch (GEW), put it best in her statement at the Coruscanti Pollution Convention on 263.12: “For every minute we allow this problem, it becomes a little more difficult to solve…a pollution tax is the only way to stop this plague.”

    4) The author used the quote in sentence 7 to:

    a) Show the other side of the story.
    X b) Justify his own opinion.
    c) Add more relevant information to the passage.
    d) Inform the reader about Ikbar’s position in the GEW.

    Quote:
    (11) Surely the public must come to see that this is the only way we can move forward, lest the health of our children be put at risk.”

    5) The author used sentence 11 mostly to invoke…

    a) Surprise
    b) Sadness
    c) Distrust
    X d) Fear

    268.19


    Quote:
    The Yuuzhan Vong

    The Yuuzhan Vong - Species, which are different from anything I’ve read about so far. That is why I decided to do my assignment about them, as they are interesting in some way, even tho they may sound a bit creepy. Yuuzhan Vong are humanoid race, however, they have less hair, next to being heavier and taller build. Another difference from average human would be longer life-span, they usually had two or three times longer life-span than humans. Another rather interesting fact was, that they are ‘absent’ in the Force, or to be more exact, the Force exists within them, but on another level, for lack of better words. A Jedi would be unable to determine their intentions, truthfulness or motives with the Force.

    The Yuuzhan Vong originate from another galaxy and their existence was unknown to us for very long time. Their original homeworld was called Yuuzhan’tar, which means “Créche of the Gods, the planet and name being a ‘template’ for Yuuzhan Vong deities. Althought, the planet was destroyed thousands of years before Yuuzhan Vong even invaded our galaxy.

    Informations onto Yuuzhan Vong’s history are a bit vague, but it seems that they used to live in true symbiosis with their homeworld, and they even were Force-sensitive. Their technology was organic for most part. It is believed that being caught in the middle of war of two droid civilizations kind of made them hostile towards any non-organic technologies, next to becoming very xenophobic against other sentient beings. During conflicts, the Yuuzhan Vong became very war-like.

    Culture

    Yuuzhan Vong were religious zealots. Everything was centered around their deities, their warriors took huge importance of pain and suffering. Apparently, it was not the motive of pain itself, they accepted pain as common state of existence. Then there was importance of sacrifice. Their belief was, that their gods had to sacrifice their bodies in order to create the galaxy, so the Yuuzhan Vong sacrificed their bodies for a greater purpose. It was pretty common that the Yuuzhan Vong were scarred and heavily tattooed. The more elite warrior it was, the more graft organs from other creatures they had. Although, it ocassionally happened, that the body rejected such implants, and these yuuzhan Vongs would either die or become a Shamed One.

    Families held huge importance for Yuuzhan Vongs. These families were called ‘Domains’ and some Domains were more powerful than the others. Additionally, due to Yuuzhan Vongs being rigidly caste-based, relationships between two castes were considered forbidden.

    Society

    The Yuuzhan Vong society worked on caste-system. Each caste has specific tasks, for lack of better words.

    Supreme Overlord

    The highest caste, which would be in control of lower castes. Only one, single individual would have this ‘function’

    Shaper caste

    Shapers would be closest to engineers and technicians in the society of Yuuzhan Vong. They were supervising the biotechnology of the Yuuzhan Vong, with main focus on creation and development of their organic technology.

    Priest caste

    Considering the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong were strictly theocratic society, the Priest caste had huge impact on the society. They contained several sects, each of them worshipping a different Yuuzhan Vong deity. On personal note, I’m slightly curious if they had any rivalry among them, as I didn’t find any informations regarding this.

    Warrior caste

    The main body of the Yuuzhan Vong’s military. Members of Warrior caste would train from early age, in order to be able to fulfill their further duties in combat. It is known that members of this caste were far more agressive than the average Yuuzhan Vong, even tho I personally think that their society, as it worked was quite agressive in itself.

    Intendant caste

    This caste worked to keep the society of Yuuzhan Vong fully functional, economy-wise. They could be seen as traders, bureucratic, and they were in charge of commerce and things related to that. What is interesting, all other castes had their own deity and war-cry, however this one lacked both of those aspects. This caste was one of the smallest ones.

    Worker caste

    This caste was the largest, but also on the bottom of the Yuuzhan Vong caste system. Those contained of workers, slaves and also the Shamed Ones, which I mentioned earlier. It would be those, whose’s bodies rejected implants - as without them, they would be seen as weak and thus worthless in the eyes of average Yuuzhan Vong.

    Technology

    It is interesting to note down, that entire Yuuzhan Vong technology was purely organic. from starships, weapons to even simply, every-day objects, everything was organic. I have to admit it sounds a bit creepy. The Yuuzhan Vong were very hostile against droids, electronics and basically anything manufactured, anything which didn’t have the organic origin.

    I hope that this brief summary will do for the assignment. On personal note, this subject was interesting, and I certainly enjoyed reading about Yuuzhan Vong.

        
    Johauna Darkrider's Datapad is based on fictional RPG character, played on Jedi.Holo