Timothy Treadwell by Josh

Psycho?

Timothy Treadwell deceived himself into believing that he had a purpose in life. He lived within his convoluted mind, pretending that he belonged with man eating grizzly bears. He was a delusional man because he thought that he was doing good, he truly believed that he was helping to protect the bears and the country simply by living around them. Throughout the film, Timothy constantly talks about how he keeps the bears safe, and how he protects them. How does he do so though? Is

there any evidence of this shown in this film whatsoever? The answer is no. In fact, the only time that poachers do indeed show up, Timothy hides away in a bush and talk trash. He intentionally stays completely hidden. He does nothing to "protect" his animals like he always boasts he does. So why is he there? What is the purpose of Timothy's constant trips into the wilderness to live with these ferocious animals? He travels there to give himself meaning. He hates the world of humans, he hates civilization, he does not fit in, and he wants to give himself a purpose in life. Treadwell wants to belong somewhere. He constantly complains about people and his lack of luck with women. He must not have felt very loved in his life, so he needed to create for himself a world in which his existence was absolutely critical. What he does not realize however, is that in actuality he is doing more harm than good. He is numbing the bears to human presence, which could in the future cause much more danger to both humans and bears. Bears could become so used to his presence that they would not avoid other people, thus putting either them or the people in possibly fatal situations. I believe Treadwell's self delusion and goodwill were actually more harmful than they were helpful, and he should have listened to what many people were saying and forgotten his adventure, thereby saving both himself and his girlfriend from becoming a bear snack.

After class I thought it may be a good idea to look for some more neutral points of view on Treadwell in order to escape the confines of Herzog's opinions. Here is what I found to be quite a fair article: Night of the Grizzly

Reform Education by Josh

The life and future of our children should not rely on a number written on a ball, they should not rely on the drawing of a name, and they should not be determined by adults who are only thinking for themselves. Changes to our education system must be made, not on the small private scale, but nationally. We live in a nation which was on the top of the world in education a mere forty years ago, and has now dropped to the bottom of the scale in every category except students' false confidence. We live in a nation that has over two thousand schools with a dropout rate of at least forty percent. We live in a nation where teachers have been videotaped reading the newspaper, and kids have been videotaped doing lines of crack, in class. And the solution is known. But for some reason, we choose not to use it. Kipp schools, as well as Jeffrey Canada's schools, have discovered ways of skyrocketing the performance of poor kids in the worst scoring parts of the country. They simply apply accountability and expected high standards to their kids, and they hire and fire the teachers that they want. I know from personal experience that these two tricks are indeed effective. Coming from a school in which every single graduating student has been accepted into a four year college, I know that these strategies work. We were expected to do our homework, we were expected to perform above average, and we did. But when we fell behind there was always help. We were never left behind, never pushed aside, and never forgotten by a teacher. And our teacher's' jobs were in jeopardy should we not perform well, or in other words, should they not teach well. Now if this system works, why is it not practiced in every part of our nation? Why has the system not been changed? If everyone knows that our schools are failing, and that our nation is on a steepening downward slope, where is the reform? This system is not being practiced in every part of our nation because it is illegal in public schools. Nothing is being changed because those who have the power to change something are not doing so. The reform is not here because we are doing nothing to call for it. We must push for change if we want it. We must force the reform. We must call for better education at the top of our lungs, because as it says in Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for Superman, "Great schools come from great people."

An interesting mini documentary about public schools: John Stossel ABC 20/20 - STUPID IN AMERICA 1/3, John Stossel ABC 20/20 - STUPID IN AMERICA 2/3, John Stossel ABC 20/20 - STUPID IN AMERICA 3/3