Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Per. 4 Little Brother Fishbowl/Liveblog

Here we go...

143 comments:

  1. I would have done what the severe haircut lady did because, He was a suspect and all he needed to do was clear suspicians of his name but he did not cooperate so The lady did the right thing.

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  2. I think that she really thought that he was a terrorist and treated him that way because she was deeply affected by the bombing.

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  3. I think it is hard to say whether we would act the same way because we don't know what she or her business is all about. Clearly, she successfully interrogated him. They are able to follow him at all times now.

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  4. i feel that they had the right to tell him to unlock his cell phone and what not because he was a suspected terrorist, but i feel that the treatment of him (such as tieing him up, putting a bag over his face, and starving him and such) between the interveiws were completely uncalled for and wrong.

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  5. Shaffer:
    I agree that he really was the prime suspect in the hunt for the terrorist. So she definately did the right thing.

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  6. I agree with Brandon, I think that the people needed to take all necessary precautions to stop something like that from happening again. I also think that they shouldn't take things too far.

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  7. I don't really understand why they have to follow Marcus now. He is clearly not a threat.

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  8. Marcus is a pretty rebelious boy, so I could see where she would do what she did. By intimidating him, the thought was it would make Marcus break down and tell her what she wants to know.

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  9. i thought it was interesting that Marcus' name was w1n5t0n, and they seemed to both be intelligent enough to fufill their rolls but still undermine the goverment at the same time.

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  10. I think that the severe haircut lady is only doing her job. She probably is being watched herself, since she holds a high government job and is interviewing potential terrorists.

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  11. I agree with Molly and Brandon in saying that people should take as much precaution as needed to make sure that something destructive won't occur.

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  12. I think it was right and wrong how 'severe haircut lady' treated him. What she did, did intimidate him and got him to talk, but it was also a little too tough. All of the others were treated normally, they got food and got to go outside and watch t.v.

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  13. What do you think happened to Darryl? Do you think that he is dead because the government didn't help him, therefore trying to make it seem as if he died in the terrorist attack?

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  14. @matt. i think that they said that they found some potentially threatening things. that could be, but maybe weren't. So i think they were keeping watch on him - just in case. plus, i bet they knew he'd be angry with them afterward and maybe try to do something. (which he does..)

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  15. Matt F.
    They still need to follow him because he is inocent now because they have nothing on him but after going through his stuff, they know that he is involved in some questionalble activities online.

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  16. When people say that we should take as much precaution as possible to make sure destruction won't occur, I'm not sure I agree with that. When we had the talk about technology, I feel like part of the point that got across was that we are making hese precautions to feel safe; but we may not actually be.

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  17. They did act a little bit paranoid but the attack affected a lot of people and they went out of control trying to prevent it from happening again.

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  18. I would like to know what mischevious things Marcus does online.

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  19. Some of the safety precautions the school in Little Brother takes are out of control! Like the gait-detector thing is crazy. It doesn't seem like it'd be accurate. I don't think that it would really accomplish anything anyways.

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  20. @madeline:
    I agree that the gait detector is a lottle ridiculous becasue it could falsely acuse many people

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  21. I agree with Matt F. Although it does give us a vague idea of what he does, I think that his hackerish profile will somehow affect the story later on in the book.

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  22. I would say Marcus and Winston have very many similarities, besides Marcus having the same name online. They both seem to want rebellion, and neither of them seem to like what the power over them is doing to control them.

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  23. Like we were talking about last week, bad guys always find ways around things, so higher security measures only work for a little while until someone figures out a way around it.

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  24. I think that the school already has a strong enough security system, and so taken it lightly doesn't mean that much because the school already has a super intense system, so what is the difference between just adding one more level.

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  25. I agree with riley, the are similiar in that they both want a rebeliion.

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  26. I think Winston takes the security to lightly. He is defiantly overly-confident. If he gets caught he could harm his safety and the safety of others.

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  27. I think that the actual bombing has more importance than the book currently implies.

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  28. I wonder if maybe Darryl is. he did kind of dissappear, so he could have had SOMETHING to do with it.

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  29. In general, I believe that most security measures aren't really doing much. Most people will feel better about getting on an airplane after the security measures taken; however, most people who want to get a bomb onto an airplane will figure out how to do so. This is like Marcus because he doesn't really care about the security measures taken, he wants to get around them to get what he wants. Most meaures taken towards security are simply to make people feel better rather than to actually make a difference.

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  30. @malbyn
    Winston? do you mean Marcus?

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  31. @Casey
    That's a good point. However, just like when you charge lots of small stuff on a credit card, it all adds up. If they keep making small adjustments, it will eventually make a huge huge huge increase in security.

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  32. Darryl may have been involved in the bombing because they took him away in the truck so they may have found him guilty.

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  33. These kids defiantly have the ability to bomb something so they could be the bombers.

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  34. I agree with Molly because that is so true. Agencies can create new security things for everything and they will work for a certain amount of time until someone outsmarts the system and then a new system will be made, its just a circle of the same events.

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  35. I think there is a good possibility that a team that plays that game, was involved in the bombing. They could have set it off to get people away from the next clue, but I think that plan might have been a little extreme for anyone just trying to win a game.

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  36. I think that Darryl is an agent for the Homeland security defenses and so I think that is why we havent seen them in a while. So I think that no of them are terrorists.

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  37. I think that there is a definite possibility that a teenager is behind it. As the lady with the hair said, teenagers are Al Keida's favorite targets.

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  38. If someone was going to bomb something, they would try in all their power to hide the fact that they did it. So if he did do the act, why would he act so strangely that he would almost give it away?

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  39. I agree with Shaffer, I feel like the bombing may come to be more important than it is now. Also, if everytime something bad happens we get more tightly knit, and slowly began to lose our freedom, then does that mean eventualy we will be under ridiculous precautious that are helping no one and destroying us as a nation. Just because we are making more security related rules, does that mean no one will ever make a national attack on our country again?

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  40. Doesn't anyone think it's odd how Darryl vanishes??? He may be a terrorist himself, and that gives another reason for Marcus being questioned and watched so severely. They may think he's Darryl's partner or something.

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  41. I don't think its the school's security system that will help as much as getting more detail on the suspect.

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  42. I think Daryl was involved with the bombing because he left the Subway right before the bombing took place. He also was acting suspicously.

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  43. Severe hair cut lady shouldn't have been so harsh on Marcus because she didn't really have any solid evidence that he was involved in the bombing.

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  44. I believe there could have been a chance that any of Marcus' friends could have been involved with the bombing because when a terriost attack occurs people usually don't assume that teens would be the cause of it. Especially people of thier own kind. For the example of 9-11, we didn't assume that it was some random teenager in Wisconsin, no we thought that it was someone in a different country. Not saying I personally would do it,but what if one of Marcus' friends was the cause of this and they are trying to set him up?

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  45. It's hard to say whether Darryl was involved in the bombing or just a witness of it just based off of the information we have as of now.

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  46. @Maddie
    I kinda of agree with the point you make about the security amounting to something eventually. But, just like at airports, even though we have a large amount of security its not doing much to help us yet. Making the reference to the almost disaster over winter break.

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  47. I don't neccesarily think Darryl was involved with the bombing. Was he the one who suggested they leave the BART because it was too packed, or was that someone else? If it was him, I guess I could see the suspicion.

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  48. Daryl could be involved in the bombing because he acted very suspicious. Also it doesn't make sense that he get stabbed, when would that have happened?

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  49. Laura,
    The reason that the hair cut lady was so harsh was to intimindate Marcus. If she gets Marcus to feel that she can do anything to him, then he'll probably talk because he doesnn't want to get hurt.

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  50. I think that a crackhead stabbed him because he was scared from the combo of drugs, loud noises, and small spaces.

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  51. @LauraD

    I think you're right. Teenagers often get targeted just because we're teenagers. She may not have had any solid eveidence, but she could have been trying to pry it out of him.

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  52. @ben.E
    they all left the subway before the bomb went off. plus he was in the head, AND it was Marcus' idea to get out of there anyway. so did he really have an oppertunity to set off a bomb?

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  53. I think that Daryl wasn't really stabbed. I think that he was hit or struck by something or things of that nature. I think they are over reacting because of the bombing.

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  54. I kinda think that Vanessa is involved in the bombing as well. In the book, it says that Darryl likes Van and acts all weird around her. Maybe they are both terrorists, working for the same organization. Darryl could be uncomfortable because he is afraid he might give himself away.

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  55. I think that he'll get back at the HLS starting with the xbox paranoia deal.

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  56. The point of the parnoidxbox is to block out the government but I don't think it is secure enough. I think that it is way to easy of a solution for a three hundred page book so I think they will have to jump through hoops to make paranoid xbox work.

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  57. I agree with Ben. In times of crisis everything looks blown out of proportion. You begin to over exageraqte things because of the feeling of panic. Darryl was probably just overreacting to somthing much less.

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  58. @andy

    i disagree with your point. Based on the way Marcus acted towards his pricipal, I don't think that intimidation would have worked on someone like him. He doesn't seem like he'd be easily intimidated.

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  59. Crimes can be done by the most unlikey of people, so the people in this book have to be suspicious of everyone.

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  60. That one kid that Mr. Mayer told us about hacked into the Secretary of Defense data base at a young age. So i think that marcus is perfectly capable.

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  61. @ben
    No, i was just wondering if there was something i missed...

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  62. Courtney: yes he did have an oppurtunity to set it off. All of those things you described him doing were just good disguises in trying to shy people away from the fact that he might have done it.

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  63. I agree with Linsey, I think that he may use it for random things to make the DHS think he is doing something.

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  64. As Riley and Ben said, when things are bad, we tend ot think that they are lots worse than they actually are. When you think about it, when something is going wrong in your day, little things drive you crazy. That bombing was a perfect example of that.

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  65. One step ahead is one step behind

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  66. I agree with Will, I think he was using the situations against him to make it seem like he didn't set it off.

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  67. I think that Marcus is braver because he actual acts on his ideas, Winston just wrote in his diary.

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  68. I agree with Matt. There was a kid in my grade last year at my old school who would hack on to other people's computers while they were working on something when he was in another room. So obviously teenagers are capable.

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  69. @matt farley
    I happen to agree with you in this case but age often has nothing to do with it. It more often is a case of skill.

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  70. There could be many reasons of why Darryl was stabbed. He could have been involved with the bombing and he had an assignment that went wrong, so they had to eliminate him. Or he could have been a witness of the terriost event, or the process before. Either way the death of Darryl was no coincidence, he has to somehow be involved, and that is why Marcus is now involved.

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  71. We don't know how big Darryl's wound is. It was bleeding quite a bit, which could make you think that it very big and bad, like a stab wound or something. but, because he is working really hard, his blood was pumbing hard and therefore more blood could get out, faster. so it could be a smaller wound but only bleeding so much because of the situation.

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  72. They took his dignity away! Thats the similarity between the torture/interrogation of Marcus and Winston.

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  73. To everbody in the class that thinks that the kids were involved in the Bombing,

    I feel that Cory Doctrow wrote the book to make the reader see the situtation form the govermont's point of view. People say that the govermont is just freaking out but then there are others who are saying that the kids may be terroists because they are acting weird. Maybe the kids are just scaried or are nervious about their own saftey. They may be compleatly innocent and just happend to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

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  74. Breaking him down phisically first helps to break him down mentally.

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  75. I think that they used his pride and dignity against him. thats what got him to finally cave, i think. they dangled his rights infront of him, and took away what he cared about and just rights that every human ought to have.

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  76. I agree with what Tanner just said about if they are able to change your thoughts tney can change you. Because in the book 1984 everyone is pretty much the same in society, as far as thoughts go. While Winston has a completly different view, if they take away the thoughts of rebellion, then he no longer is the character we know.

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  77. Courtney is right, it was bleeding a good amount but any kind of cut can bleed depending on your heart rate.

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  78. I would not tell anyone because I wouldn't want to go through all that again. I would try to go on living a normal life.

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  79. @Matt
    I think that once people start to take someone else's diginity away, the person starts to give in a little because they just want that back. And when they are tortured, that is just pushing them to spill the beans even faster.

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  80. I don't really think that Darryl is dead..maybe he is still in that facility where they were held. Or did I miss something, and he actually died?

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  81. @ Molly
    -Thats a great point Molly. I think that is the only way to mentally break someone down is to start with physical pain and that makes the Mental easier.

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  82. @mollys

    Couldn't it work the other way too? After getting yelled at and abused mentally, would he have the drive to fight back physically?

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  83. @ maddie
    When you say that when bad things happen we tend to think the worst of it. Though it is true that we over exaggerate it, its human nature, but if we didn't care at all then what would happen?

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  84. I agree with Matt, I would stay quiet to, because for most people the only thing they want after a tramatic experience is to go back to normal, and pretend nothing happened.

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  85. He should probably sit back in society because if he told his parents or whoever the government would just come after him and they could make his life miserable and just say that his story is b.s. and make a lie to cover the truth up.

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  86. I agree with Casey, but Emily is right. Could it work the other way as well?

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  87. @Veronica
    Well, if we didn't care at all... we wouldn't try to prevent bad things from happening. I guess what I was trying to say is sometimes it's hard to determine the line when you are being safe or overprotective.

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  88. @Victoria
    They didn't seem to know about him. they seemed to act like he would or is alright but they didn't really know, they only assumed. but they may have just been acting like they didn't really know just to mess with his mind.

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  89. Victoria: We don't know yet if Darryl is dead or not. He could be.

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  90. I agree with Emily either way whether it is matal abuse or physical abuse you are still going to want to fight back in your defense.

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  91. I love the comparison to Iron Jawed Angels Brandon. The movie showed that sometimes the cause is bigger than yourself.

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  92. You have to have a personal experience that puts you against someone or something.

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  93. I think that you have to wonder how you will feel once it happens, if you do nothing. if you don't die or whatnot for your cause, but then later you see that you could have done something and affected something in a positive way, how well could you live with yourself afterward? when you have to say to yourself, "If I had risked myself, they he could still be alive."

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  94. I think this relates very well to Harry Potter. In the last installment Harry realizes that in order to defeat evil he must let go of himself. One must die to save many which Marcus feels in Little Brother.

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  95. So Marcus is trying to have a revolution by peer pressure?

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  96. Matt F-
    I don't think you have a personal experience so much as having to have sympathy or have to have a cause.

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  97. Would it be better for one to die for many, or for many to die for few?

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  98. i think that they are similar because they were both trying to fix something that they beleived in. they just went around it different ways.

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  99. @matt F

    do you always have to have a personal experience? Lots of times people hear about something and they automatically form a biased opinion based on what little they know. Can't media and other influences put you against something?

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  100. I bet that if the Xbox universal was in 1984, it would be banned and destroyed.

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  101. Marcus has friends and Winston didn't really have any friends, it's much easier for Marcus to influence people than it was for Winston.

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  102. @Matt F.
    You dont neccesarily have to have a personal experience, you could have been told of something that had happened and you could want to defend who it happened to and you could just have a personal opinion anyway.

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  103. I agree with Ben. Sometimes the cause that you are fighting is more important than you and you have to make sacrifices

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  104. Maddie: Don't get me wrong, I understand what you mean, sometimes we focus too much on a not so important event, instead of focusing on 1. How to prevent it and 2.How to find a solution to fix the situation.

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  105. @Maddie, I think thats what hes trying to do , because, Like Moritz said, he wants to recruit everyone to the xbox. I think hes oging to use peer pressure to get everyone on his side.

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  106. Madeline: I don't think Marcus is rebellioning because of peer pressure. he wants to protect his country, and is mad because of what happened to Darryl. He wants revenge.

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  107. Mrs. Moritz is right about the peer pressure factor. It can be very strong in helping you deide when you have temptation.

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  108. @rileyw
    I agree. I think that he will use his influence over others to get everyone to do what he wants.

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  109. Every friday, my math teacher, Mrs. Kruck says, "Have a good weekend, but remember, one decision you make could change yours, or someone else's life forever."

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  110. @Anna
    The idea of revenge is a really good one. If something like that happened to me, I know that I would for sure be unhappy and want to do something about it.

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  111. I think that the security is easy to be broken because all you need is a false sense of security to make yourself feel safe.

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  112. I agree with Emily about how he doesn't really think about how his desicion will change his life. He might just tihnk that he is a normal, insignificant teen that has no effect on anything.

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  113. In powell on the announcements every day, the vice principal said, " MAKING IT A GREAT DAY OR NOT, THE CHOICE IS YOURS."

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  114. I think that from the surface, the gov has limited power but when you see the inside, they have a ton of power and security. Everything is about what the average citizen sees. But Marcus has now seen how little privacy he has.

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  115. I agree with Casey.Sometimes feeling safe is better than being safe for some people

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  116. I think that Marcus would not have been as determined to stop the DHS if he was not kidnapped and treated badly and if Darryl did not get hurt. His decision to skip school might end up being a good decision later in the story.

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  117. Many times it's hard to draw the line between safety and rights. It depends on who you are and experiences you've had, this effects your veiw on the situation.

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  118. Matt F is right, it doesnt matter how small your decision or how big it is but either way it coul effect you and anyone else in th biggest or smallest way.

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  119. I agree with Casey. Security is not perfect and probably never will be in our society. A false sense of security is easy to break when something happends to make you feel unsafe.

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  120. I wonder if he can really get away with sabotoshing the goverment? I am positive that the goverment has ways to track and watch him, and will find ways to bring him down if he tries to mess with them like he's planning on doing so. On the same point, I think that there ARE loop holes, so maybe the goverment wont be able to see EVERYTHING that marcus will do. but marcus will probably slip up and do somehting that will lead them to find out all the rest.

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  121. Marcus can influence many people because he has the technology and he knows how to use it, whereas Winston didn't really have any resources to try to influence people.

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  122. I agree, Winston and Marcus are in entirely different situations.

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  123. When it says they've taken everything from him it; I thinkit truly has, starting with just the material things by taking him and now stealing away his privacy, his dignity, his rights. It feels like this is the exact opposite of what we want in a society, and in our own government. This is much different than what I think America was supposed to be. We are not suppose to be stealing peoples freedom, we should be helping people with rights.

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  124. Laura: That's a good comparison. I also think that Marcus has a better motive than Winston for rebelling, which can often times make a big difference.

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  125. It seems like things will go better with Marcus than with Winston because Winston didn't really DO anything about it, but Marcus is trying to make a change. Plus, Marcus has people on his side, whereas Winston didn't.

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  126. Imagine what it would it would be like to not be able to get help. The enimy is the police. You have no where to go. So, what would you do?

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  127. I think this book is explaining how they should not only be looking out for terrorists, but their own government. The government is taking people's rights away and not many people notice because they're too concentrated on being safe from terrorism.

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  128. I agree with Laura, this is a great point. He could be using peer pressure, but he knows how to use the technology for his own personal use.

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  129. I agree with Mrs. Moritz, in the sense of realization of our government, and especially of what happened to him, he feels he has no privacy, no rights and has no one to relate to.

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  130. If you are being watched 24/7 are you free?

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  131. I think that everyone's rights are being taken away at least a little bit, not just Marcus's.

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  132. I think that you are not free because it is no longer doing whatever you want.

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  133. In serious times, is it constitutional for someone's rights to be completely ignored for the good of everyone else's safety?

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  134. @ Matt; I think we are to a certain extent. If your not doing anything illegal and the government doesn't feel need to get involved then yoou have a certain amount of freedom. Even though it may not be ultimate,run-wild freedom.

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  135. @madeline
    we know that Marcus has three people on his side, but do we know if he has anymore? do we know that all of these freinds are to be completely trusted?
    Everyone that marcus has mentioned, besides his parents and friends, don't really like him.
    And we seem to be questioning his friends for helping out with this terrorist attack. And his parents dont even KNOW what has happened and that he wants to take action against them.
    So who DO we know that are actually on his side?

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  136. With the whole rights vs. safety thing, if we have no rights then I don't think we'd be safe. Not from the things that we'd expect, but if we didn't have rights, we wouldn't be protected from the government.

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  137. I think that without your rights you're not safe. It's just a different kind of safety.

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  138. I think you are doing what you want, but people are just watching you constintly. You still do what you want..whether or not someone is watching you.

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  139. I think that safety is sometimes more important than rights but only if we know what is happening and can control it.

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