Dystopia Class Simulation 1/5/17 -Soumya Duggirala

Our class party today was fun, with cookies and music, but it had a little twist in it. From the beginning, it was evident something was off. Mr. Rivers emphasized the fact that the whole class had decided that Spock was the best character and that everyone needed to show support. Every student had to write explaining why Spock is better than the character we picked. Then we could draw Spock defeat our character. Then there was a page for poem writing and an article on the board to edit and make more Spock friendly. Then there was the Spock loyalty pledge. It really started getting serious when people dissented, and Mr. Rivers had to put students on patrol.

This classroom dystopia was very similar to that in Fahrenheit 451. Like in that world, everybody in the class was encouraged to conform. Those who did were rewarded with food and privileges. Those who didn't were shunned and told to sit in the corner. Those people often wrote dissenting opinions on the board and the poem paper, or they blatantly refused to follow along with what the class was supposed to do. Others, like myself, rebelled in ways that couldn't put them in trouble, like pretending not to be able to do something, or quietly not participating. In general, everyone who had a different view were silenced, and all writings that were against Spock were censured or changed. This is strikingly similar to the world where books are burned, and dissenters are quietly taken care of. Studying history and simulations like this help us remember, learn, and grow.

Spock Lesson - Ben Schultz

The party we had in honor of the one true greatest science fiction character of all time, Spock, was an allegory for the book Fahrenheit 451 and society during the fifties. Like in the book, those who had different opinions than what was considered acceptable, were shunned and put away. People who dissented or tried to bring Spock down in any manner were placed in "jail" and not allowed to return to the party. In Fahrenheit 451, those who keep books or are different from everyone else have their houses burned down. This relates to society during the 1950s and McCarthyism, when Ray Bradbury wrote the book. Those who openly said that America might not be perfect were shunned for fear of them being communists. Some artists, including Bradbury himself, were blacklisted and prevented from working for showing what were considered "un-American activities." There was no gray area. You either loved America, or were a communist. Mr. Rivers presented the same dilemma, saying that you either accepted Spock as your overlord, or were Anti-Vulcan who didn't deserve o be part of the class.

Maeve McVeigh Spock Lesson

  The Spock party turned out to be used to teach us what life is like in F451. The society in F451 conforms to whatever they are told to do, such as books shouldn't be read only burned. Those who feel differently are looked at with disgust as well as punished without a fair trial. Some even disappear without a trace in order for the leader to easily dispose of the problem. This occurred in our classroom at the party. Anyone who wouldn't accept the fact that Spock was the best and their character was the worst was immediately shut out as an outcast from our party. They were isolated to sit on their own and watch as the ones who embraced Spock's win chow down on their victory food. Many were also unfairly imprisoned as some students snuck around without notice framing their fellow classmates. However, those who were framed were not granted the right to explain themselves and were unjustly sent to isolation without question. Just as in F451 free thought is unacceptable in society and will not be allowed.

Sam Galgano blog post 1/6/17

Today in class we talked more about how Spock was the overall best sci fi character. We talked about how some people got really upset over their sci fi character losing the bracket. Everyone  invested so much time into trying to convince everyone in the class that their character was the best character, so when they got voted out of the bracket, it felt like they had wasted all their energy and time that they put into their argument. We also talked about the results of past sci fi brackets, and it turns out that our class was probably the most civil. In the last bracket that was exercised, there was a lot of controversy over the results. And in the bracket before that, the results were a big joke.

The whole exercise for who was the best sci fi character made a big circle back to the book Fahrenheit 451. The people in the book don’t question the society they live in. They trust the government when they say that reading books is detrimental, which is kinda what happened in the bracket. After we voted and found out that Spock was the best sci fi character, we had to conform to what would only be beneficial towards Spock. We had to explain why Spock was so much better than our original character, we drew Spock defeating our character, and we even had to repeat a pledge that explained  that Spock was the best character. All while doing this, most of the class went along with it, even though we were bashing the character that we had spent months convincing ourselves was the best sci fi character of all time.

Chris Vachris - Is Spock a tool of big brother?

Hello fellow spocktonians, it's Spock number 5, formerly known as Chris Vachris. We have developed a glorious society quite similar to our national book F451. We have all pledged ourselves to a singular idea, that being that spock is our savior. In F451 they conform to the idea that books are terrible (Maybe we should take notes).  Additionally in both our society and the text anyone who goes against said ideas is immediately criminalized without trial. We can't be to sure so it's best to just dispose of them quickly like when dissenting people disappear in F451. And P.s it was Tiernan all along. He was the proprietor of the revolution. Live long and prosper.

. . . .   .-. .   .--.

Sarah Haag January 5th, 2017

Today in class we continued to talk about tragedy especially in Great Gatsby.  We distinguished that Myrtle has experienced the most tragedy because she was ultimately killed by a car. Although we did identify that Tom has experienced tragedy because Myrtle, his mistress had died and now Daisy is with Gatsby. He had lost both of his loves.  Also, Gatsby is holding on to the past saying that daisy needs to act the way she used to but she has changed. We discussed how modernism has complicated the book to show that Gatsby is flawed
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Jacob Sedar-Spock Reaction

I was surprised that Spock won the science-fiction bracket, since I put him as my champion. As I was a supporter till the final round when I left to go with Team Iron Man, thinking that it was a bright idea to choose a side that had a better chance of winning.
Spock definitely is better than the character I put into the bracket along with Spock's competition of Iron Man and Spiderman. Tommy Oliver the Mighty Morphin Green Ranger, can not compare to that of the lead science officer of the U.S.S. Starship Enterprise. Even though this wasn't a brawl, Spock and his team would be able to defeat Tommy and any of his many Rangers teams (Mighty Morphin, Zeo, Turbo. or Dino Thunder). The Enterprise is truly better than the Megazord.
The class exercise done during the party related to F451 as we were  made to think everyone with a marker was anti-Vulcan supporter. This caused us to sabotage one another if we did not like the other person. From isolating people from the class if they did not conform.