Reflection on "The Lottery" and various stuffs

           Throughout history, no matter how it was substantiated, the concept of human sacrifice has been present. In the past, it appeared as forms like human in an altar or witch-hunt. When it comes to modern, the form of human sacrifice has become more “diluted” and less conspicuous, but more severe. The “gossiping” about the celebrities can be a human sacrifice done nowadays.

           The justification for this savage tendency has been issued throughout the time. Like people in the story “The lottery”, some try to justify this act as “a tradition”. Without any apparent reason for doing that certain act, people just follow the ill-conceited path given to them.

           While some simply follow the path, others try to justify the act as “public good”. People who support this act (maybe some politicians who want to maintain their system) think that by “giving” up the victim’s freedom or rights, public can “take” what they want, common happiness or entertainment. This justification appears in the movie “Hunger Game”, which is about a despotic state which makes twelve youths participate in a deadly (literally) game in order to provide the public an entertainment, and to maintain its dictatorship successfully.

           Both of the reasons might seem plausible, but whatever the justification is, it is evident that the cruel “human sacrifice” has been committed for centuries, and it still exists nowadays. Even if the tendency of sacrificing an individual is innate to human, people should definitely restrain that tendency, in order to achieve a real “progress”.
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Yeji Park: The last sentence of your introductory paragraph informed about "gossips", so I thought that you'd write someting about the video about Britney Spears we say today but it was not :( "The lottery" or "Hunger Game" as far as I know, is not relted to gossiping, if you want to write about gossip. I think you can delete that last sentence from intro and make a whole new paragraph about gossip after you finish explaining "The lottery" and "Hunger Game". Anyway, good job :)

Inhee Ho: I totally agree with you of the sacrifice being less conspicuous but more severe! I really thought your analysis was impressive :) I see your effort to put numerous sources into your essay (ex) the Britney video we watched) but all htese sources seem to just appear and disappear soon. I think it would be great if you elaborate more on each sources you use and make your point more solid. Anyway, I enjoyed yours :)

Hyejoon Lee: I also thought about justification! And I also believe that the existence of a justification or a reason should not be the excuse for killing or hurting one another so harshly. Because then, it is no longer a justification but merely an excuse.

Yoonju Chung: I agree with a point that "gossiping" is an another way of stoning one person to death. There had been so many celebrities in Korea who were stifled by so many rumors :( Also, your analysis of "justification" was very impressive. We habitually attempted to justify our "gossiping" by calling it as "a trend". In the modern society, "gossiping" is embedded in our daily lives so deeply that it is possible to call it as a tradition: a tradition that must be abolished. Overall, I really liked your idea but it could be better if you create more firm relationships between examples (such as video we watched during the class and Hunger Game) and your main idea!

Jane Park: I agree with you on the point that people are basically making justifications for this wrong tendency. Also I agree with the fact that some are supressing others to maintain their dictatorship. However, I hope you think of more profound motivations for people to follow the illegal traditions.

Chonghyun Ahn: I think that in order for there to be a concrete support on the concept of human sacrifice, there has to be a higher entity that needs sacrifice. Maybe you could explain what it is.