3. Throughout the movie, it was apparent that Dr. Francis and Dr. Gallo, displayed the same objective of wanting to discover the cause of AIDS; however, in terms of critical thinking, it’s obvious that they utilize different styles of critical thinking. To further explain, in one segment of the movie, Francis compares and correlates already known viruses that cause cancer, damage t-cells, and exhibit the same symptoms with what he thinks might be the cause of AIDS. However, Francis is comparing his fields of expertise in which he already knows and thinks might be true, not with what has been scientifically proven; therefore, he is using wishful thinking, a speed bump of critical thinking. There are also times in the movie, where Francis thinks …show more content…
Gallo displays more negative habits of critical thinking. For instance, at first, he didn’t even display interest in finding the cause of AIDS because it didn’t concern him, which is weak sense thinking. Also, when the results from his studies aren’t what he wants, he thinks there was a mistake in the study and has researchers re-perform the test. Furthermore, although Gallo ended up agreeing with the French as being co-discoverers for discovering HIV as the cause of AIDS, at first he was very reluctant and wanted all the credit for himself, being injudicious. The movie clearly shows how there was a controversy concerning who discovered the AIDS retrovirus. In addition, an investigation found Gallo’s laboratory guilty for misconduct during the scientific process of discovering AIDS. Nonetheless, when comparing Francis versus Gallo, Francis comes out on top as my choice of the best critical …show more content…
My favorite character in the movie is Dr. Francis; the reason being that he had the public’s best interest at heart and cared for those suffering from the virus. He could care less about the fame of discovering the virus, he just wanted to what was right for society, prevent the virus from killing hundreds of people, and educate society. Furthermore, one of my favorite moments of the movie was when the CDC stated that the virus wasn’t a political issue, nor a gay issue, it was a health and human issue, because from that moment on society began to work as a group to help find the cause of the unknown virus. On the other hand, my least favorite moment was seeing how so many people were affected and died from the virus. Additionally, my least favorite character was Gallo because he didn’t have the publics best interest at heart. He was more concerned with the fame and taking all the credit than putting an end to the outbreak. For instance, during a scene in the movie, Francis told Gallo that it should be them against the virus not them against each other. Moreover, I thought the patient that was case zero was selfish and wasn’t taking the virus seriously. He didn’t care to tell the people that he was having sexual intercourse with that he might have been infected. In fact, he continued with his sexual practices, knowing that he could be putting others at risk. During a segment of the movie, Bill, from the CDC, shows how up to forty-five cases of infected patients had been
By showing the historical struggle of Mexican immigrants to be equal members of American society, portraying the humble and unique characteristics of Fernando Valenzuela, and by emphasizing his incredible rise to fame, the film Fernando Nation introduces a new type of American dream. Fernando Valenzuela became the embodiment of the Mexican-American dream to many people. By understanding his story we can understand the hopes and dreams of many Mexican immigrants in America today.
“The Terrifying Normalcy of AIDS” is an essay written by Stephen Jay Gould, in which he talks about a dangerous disease that is spreading and becoming an issue to mankind, and that it is more of a mechanism than an irregular occurrence which I agree with. Stephen Jay Gould also shares his thoughts on our capabilities with the utilization of technology are boundless; especially when it comes to these types of ailments that threaten our kind, which is something I do not side with. Also, Stephen Jay Gould goes on to say that most people are misinformed about the disease and do not fully understand it.
shoulders, this could be viewed as a sign that he has forgiven Bleeker. The father
If the name Serpico sounds familiar, it may be remembered from a movie. Frank Serpico is portrayed in the 1973 movie, “Serpico” starring Al Pacino. This movie may be loved by many but it’s important to realize that its characters are real men and the story line is very real. Although most police officers work very hard to do their jobs within ethical standards of the law, it is often not hard to find some type of corruption within a department.
On the class discussion board, I gave a little background of the “120 Days” film. Miguel Cortez was treated unfairly by a policeman who stopped them for being the people they are. The policeman assumed that Miguel was a criminal and simply didn’t do anything wrong. He was ordered to leave within 120 days. If he didn’t leave then he would receive a fine and jail time. Miguel is fully focused and more worried about his family before himself. This man was determined to do all it took to be able to stay in the US. His goal was to make enough money before he had to leave. The family felt accepted when they went to St. Francis Church because it was more community focused. The family still tried to keep high spirits even though they had a lot going on. The reason why he wouldn’t want to go back to Mexico because they didn’t have much over there. I thought it was good how they still wanted the girls to know their roots. Some people would want to forget about their roots and fit in with everyone else. I thought that the rules were harsh. This family was about doing good deeds within the community and
2) Moore, J. (2004). The puzzling origins of AIDS: Although no one explanation has been universally accepted, four rival theories provide some important lesson. American Scientist, 92(6), 540-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/stable/27858482
Before reading or watching the film, I knew little about Cesar Chavez. I only knew that he fought for the rights of farm workers, but had no idea of how he achieved it. I was surprised to learn about some of his innovations that later lead to his success. Especially since some were already used by other strong leaders previously from him. The two innovations that stood out to me the most were the use of nonviolence and boycotting. Both innovations helped Cesar Chavez in achieving fair rights for other farm workers. These innovations are still used and seen today since they have been effective in accomplishing change.
...y, it is a disease where friends have to stand by and watch their friends die. The death toll of AIDS could have been reduced, many people believe, if it had been handle correctly. Although, when one thinks about it from Mayor Koch’s seat there was only so much he could have done. Koch never wrote or said anything that was malicious toward the AIDS community. Like many, it seemed he wanted to help but did not know exactly how to do it properly. Every move someone made when it came to AIDS was brutally scrutinized by both sides of the t so many politicians didn’t know what they could possibly do. The nature of this disease and the political ramifications drive home the overarching idea that the sexual is political because without the sexual nature of this plague it would not have been as difficult to deal with politically and millions of lives could have been saved.
The CDC published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on June 5, 1981 describing cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), accompanied by other unusual infections, in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. By the time the report was published, two of the men had died. This marked the first official reporting of what is now known as the AIDS epidemic. It wasn’t until September 24, 1982, however, when the CDC used the term AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) for the first time. The San Francisco Chronicle covered the story the very next day; just days later, Doctors around the nation swarmed the CDC with reports of similar cases. It wasn’t until November of 1985, after the epidemic had claimed
The book and movie is a detective story, this must read/ must see movie covers all aspects of the disease, from history, to journalism, to politics, to people. Randy Shilts, in his thorough investigative report, highlights the many blunders along the way, blunders that are unbelievable in retrospect. It is not an anti-Republican rant, rather it is a very fair assessment of the collective failure of all entities involved. Because the individuals initially infected were mostly gay or drug users, the public was extremely apathetic. Due to the transmission methods (sodomy, IV drugs, etc.), AIDS was seen as an "embarrassing" disease and was ignored by the media and government officials (federal AND local, Dems AND Reps, Feinstein, Reagan, and many more). Gay activists considered calls for safe sex to be homophobic slurs, scientists were uncooperative and only interested in earning the Nobel Prize, and blood banks were only concerned with the bottom line, refusing to admit that their supplies were contaminated. The "Patient Zero" theory, in which, one extremely promiscuous man knowingly spread the disease to many men in several regions, is touched upon. In addition to the disasters, the director also mentions many heroes, including Rock Hudson (the first celebrity who went public, making the cause more relevant to the general population) and C. Everett Koop (Reagan 's surgeon general who published the first realistic and understandable report on the insidious disease, disregarding common "pc-isms"). Shilts himself was infected with the virus while writing the book, but he did not want to bias the book by getting tested before he was finished. This movie is extremely interesting, well researched, and worth the time
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Before the civil rights movement could begin, a few courageous individuals had to guide the way. Dr. Vernon Johns was one of those individuals. Dr. Vernon Johns was a pastor and civil rights activist in the 1920s. Johns became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1940s. During his time as a pastor, Johns preached many sermons on how African American people were being treated not only in the community but in society. Johns on multiple occasions upset his community through his ideas on social change. Through a sociologist perspective, many sociological concepts were displayed in The Vernon Johns Story. Some of those concepts included: ascribed status, conflict theory, deviant behavior, alienation, and
Dr. Donald Francis, in the movie And the Band Played On, was portrayed as an easily angered man whose communication style was ineffective in persuading. An important example was during the CDC and blood agency workshop, with the CDC trying to convince the agencies to spend money to screen for hepatitis B as a proxy for AIDS (Pillsbury, Sanford, & Spottiswoode, 1993). After hearing reasons to why the agencies are hesitant to do this, Dr. Francis begins to angrily yell about cost efficiency required to save lives. In the eyes of these agencies, transfusion complications occur, and AIDS may not even be relevant. Screaming closes the door to discussion, as seen when the blood agencies representatives turn their head and refuse to
A League of Their Own (Marshall, 1992) explicitly characterizes an American era when a woman’s place was in the home. Even our modern perspective implicitly follows suit. Although women have gained rights and freedoms since the 1930’s, sexism remains prevalent in America. This film offers an illustration when men went to war and big business men utilized women as temporary replacements in factories, sports, and so on. Here, course concepts, such as gender socialization, gender expressions, role stereotypes, emotion expressions, and language, correspond to the film’s characters and themes.
There are four letters, that when put together can spell out a lifetime of agony, despair, prejudice and constant indignation; AIDS. Over the years the disease has been called GRID, Gay Cancer and finally came the name that is commonly accepted today, AIDS. Multiple theories are present as to the origin of this deadly virus, all of them are unique but no matter what the origin or name, AIDS is a terrible epidemic that needs to come to an end. People have suffered long enough, and too many people have been discriminated against something that’s not entirely their fault. The medicine for AIDS only prolongs the inevitable, and suffering of the poor people cursed with the disease. AIDS as of now is a death sentence and it currently has no cure; it targets people of every race, age, and gender from all walks of life but despite AIDS only being been around for less than a century, it has managed to leave an immense impact on American history, individuals, society and culture.