Marx in the news!

Marx is the topic for the NY Times Room for Debate feature this week.  For those of you who aren't familiar with this column (i.e. everyone but Ethan), the Room for Debate series asks leading experts to weigh in on controversial topics related to recent headlines.  The question for this week's is "Was Marx Right?"

You can read the expert opinions here; after you read, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Luck

I realize that this one is pretty broad...it's more of a philosophical question but I am very interested what everyone has to say. Is our entire world's existence, from the earth itself to every little event in life, based solely upon luck?

China's Economics

In our latest reading and class discussions we talk about Chinas values and progress. Do you think that the Chinese use their values and morals as an excuse of why they didn't surpass Europe in economic success?

Reaction to Lin Zixu's letter to Queen Victoria

How was Lin Zixu persuasive in his letter to Queen Victoria? If you where Queen Victoria, would you be convinced? How would you react to this letter?

Would The Ships Have Mattered?

During our discussions of the Ming voyages, we discussed why the Chinese decided to destroy there gigantic navy and numerous ships when the voyages came to an end. In the Opium War now, it was mostly a naval battle and the British dominated. Do you think China would have been the one dominating/won the war if they still had there ships?

Who was worse?

Both the British and Rebels caused a lot of harm to each other. There was a lot of murder and killing between both sides. But the question is which side was worse?

Kipling Giving a Positive or Negative Message of Imperialism

After discussing both sides in class, do you believe Kipling was giving a positive or negative message of Imperialism in his poem "The White Man's Burden" and why?

John Locke in the News

This article from today's New York Times discusses how John Locke would view Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law (if you don't know what that is--where have you been living? under a rock?  Look it up).  It actually quotes several passages from Locke that YOU have read!  (Don't you feel smart?)

I'm curious what you all think about the argument being made here...

Jane Eyre

Now that we've finished Jane Eyre, what do you think of the ending? Do you believe everyone ended up happy?

Byronic Characters

In the THO reading we did a while ago, there was a section on Byronic characters. (There's also a list of common Byronic characteristics on Wikipedia.) Are any of the characters in Jane Eyre Byronic?

1689 Bill of Rights

In class we discussed and marked the Rights that benefited the parliament and the people. Do you think that is it better that the rights mostly affected the parliament and not the people? Or that is justifiable that the parliament was getting more power than the king and people?

National Convention vs. Napoleon

We discussed how there is a lot of controversy as to whether the violence used during the Reign of Terror  was necessary/ justifiable. If that violence puts a blemish in the National Convention, why is Napoleon  viewed as a hero when he was very violent as well?