Day 34: Monday

Me. And Carmina and Bruno. Not this past weekend, but the one before.

So I know I told you that these would become less frequent, and the last one was only on Saturday, but I just have to write because Monday is a day for ideas and inner workings and frustration and discussion and standing firm in beliefs and being American.....for some.

some sights on my recent walks around town. to prepare you for the blog post that is to follow.

University of Aberdeen. Prettier than Robert Gordon :(

The River Dee. 

Today in Digital Age I was again forced to sit through a lecture where the lecturer and class all seemed to be pretty much in agreement on the topic in discussion while I was vehemently opposed and left squirming in my chair in the back of the classroom.
Today we were discussing privacy, on the internet, in regards to information, and just in everyday life. Of course this has already kind of come up, but not been the focus. We know my views: the government has no business in seeing/hearing/knowing anything/everything I do and say. Not only does this give the government too much control and influence in people's everyday lives, but it also causes people to become too confident in the "security" that is being provided to them and therefore they feel like they don't have to uphold the society's principles as individuals, because Big Brother will just swoop in and do it for them. Also, how safe do cameras actually make the world? Sure it might deter law-abiding citizens from committing some petty crime they might have been tempted to if they didn't know they were being watched, but are those the people we really need to worry about? Or do we need to worry about the real criminals who don't care about the cameras and who will act before a camera can do anything to stop them? Yeah. A video of a crime isn't protection against a crime.

I had a good and long talk on Skype with my bro, Zach, yesterday, discussing these things and further.

To sum up my views I will leave a few quotes.
First, applying this to the fact that the gov't doesn't have to and SHOULDN'T do everything for its citizens:
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." -JFK.
then, the one Zach showed me in our talk:
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Ben Franklin
then:
"Give me Liberty or Give me Death!"- Patrick Henry

These are views that were admitted in the lecture today to not be held by the UK citizens as a whole. It's a different culture, and maybe it does go back to America's history and what we were founded upon, but I think there is a truth existent in a right to liberty that everyone needs to realize. My lecturer was quoted saying that there is "clearly not one right and one wrong," to which I laughed, because I disagree. I think I am right. (But many people will say "When do you not?") 
America is the most free country in the world, and just because other country's citizens don't WANT that freedom doesn't mean they shouldn't have it. 
I felt that my point was proven when the lecturer began discussing the idea of the perfect prison, using an omnipresent observer to observe the prisoners at any time randomly, when they don't know, so they don't misbehave because they can't know when they are or aren't being watched. He related this idea to society. Basically "people will behave and act uprightly if they know they could be being watched." So, great, we've created a society which reflects a prison, and the only reason people are acting well is because they are scared not to. Sounds splendid.

I will also note that when he asked if anyone was uncomfortable with the constant surveillance in CCTV, no one said they did, not even I, but later when the topic arose, I raised my hand and said "I didn't say anything about feeling uncomfortable about CCTV, but I do, the only reason I stayed silent was because this isn't my country, and I only have to deal with it temporarily."
American girl, from day one to my last day.
I love seeing the world and being in Scotland and learning so much and meeting so many people from everywhere, but I will not concede for even a moment that my country is not the greatest. Sorry I'm not sorry.

just some casual doodles that typify a day in the life of Abi in class. the four Cardinal virtues in Latin, of course. 

really pretty fall ivy spotted on my walk home from school today.

Also, I'm listening to Taylor Swift currently and it is provoking all sorts of nostalgic/sentimental feelings. Good times. I just love her.

Song of the Day: Fifteen- Taylor Swift. One, because it's great. Two, because I can't believe 15 was so long ago and I wish it wasn't. Three, because it was just on.