Justice and Revenge: What Do They Mean?

As much as we would like to think of ourselves as "just" and "righteous" people, not everyone has a clear definition of what justice and revenge mean. Of course we can refer to a dictionary for the simplest definition, but justice and revenge often have personal meanings that vary from person to person.
As for me, I believe that justice and revenge are not exactly the same. Revenge, first of all, is strictly a personal feeling that makes us want to get back at someone. Revenge implies a desire to set something right: we feel as if an offender owes us money, property, dignity, or any other belonging that they have taken away.
Justice, on the other hand, is not personal. Instead, justice functions as an impartial system that determines an offender's appropriate punishment. Because the judicial process takes place in courts of law, justice is not based on what the victim thinks is fair.

Setting Things Right by Creating Equality

In our money-driven society, money has become the standard with which we determine equality, yet it is very hard to place such an earthly value on, say, a human life. As long as you have money, it is not too difficult to get away with a serious crime. If we look at William Ian Miller's analysis of the talionic societies, we will find that the old "eye for an eye" adage may help to revamp our justice system.
Miller acknowledges the fact that money cannot come close to the value of a human life. Therefore, the only compensation that will truly equate a wrongful act is something equal to the loss, which could very well be a human life. Miller's key argument about the talionic system returns dignity to our modern system. Miller claims that our seemingly sensitive society "confers anxious dignity" to wrongdoers . Why should wrongdoers receive dignity if they took someone else's away in the first place? Doesn't a justice system have to amend wrongdoing? If a criminal receives dignity from the public, then the vicitim will not feel any better and may even feel that they have not been treated equally.
Ultimately, Miller reveals the true purpose of a talionic system. It should not exist to satisfy vengeful feelings, but it should create peace. Establishing a punishment that fits the crime makes the two parties, the wrongdoer and the victim, equals again so that neither party feels as if they have been cheated.

A Museum of Basque Nationalism

Many world events like the 9/11 attack and the Holocaust have raised awareness of many cultures. One culture, however, still remains fairly unnoticed although it continues to experience social problems. Many people do not know who the Basques are, and most people are certainly not very aware of this culture's ongoing problems.
A museum about Basque nationalism will not only teach people who the Basque people are, but the musuem will also inform its audience about the struggle that comes with the Basque's people's efforts to free themselves from Spain. Because the Basques seek to form their own independent country, the gegraphic region between Spain and France constantly faces terrorist attacks and violence. If a museum were to teach people about the causes for the Basque's violent acts, then we may begin to see a broader connection between other world conflicts like the Iraqi civil war. A museum on Basque nationalism would teach people to understand cultural differences so that we may be able t resovle present problems and prevent future violence.

Appreciating LA through the History of Cars

Over the break I visited the Petersen Automotive Museum in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles. I had never been to this museum before, so I did not know what to expect.
The entrance to the museum is hidden from the traffic on Wilshire and Fairfax. All you can see is the museum building and a real racing car that is randomly suspended from the building's side along Fairfax. So imagine a car that looks like it stopped in mid-air right next to a four-story building.
Meanwhile the entrance is only visible from the indoor parking garage. Inside, the museum is organized into three floors. The first and second floors contain exhibits while the third floor has interactive areas for children.
I found several parts of the museum intriguing. The Petersen has a pretty interesting feature that I have never seen before: visitors can access a free audio tour through their cell phones. The first floor exhibits are all labeled with a number that functions like a code. Visitors call the free number, dial the code, and they hear audio that explains a specific part of the exhibit in more detail. So you do not need an actual person to guide you; you can just use your phone.
The aspect that I appreciated most was the fact that I got to see what LA life was like back in the 1920's-1940's. The Petersen Museum actually portrayed the automobile's history as it relates to LA's own. Some exhibits feautured life-size recreations of old markets (which were quite different from today's), insurance offices, and gas stations. All these recreations are of places that really existed in LA.
My suggestion for improving the museum would be to keep the children's interactive exhibits open longer. There is a lot to see, but these exhibits close about two hourse before the rest of the Petersen closes.

A Car Wash as a Public Space

Automobiles occupy lots of space in Los Angeles, a city that does not cater as much to pedestrian traffic as much as it caters to cars. In fact, many Angelenos feel as if they need a car to get around. While some have a car out of necessity, others have one as a luxury. Whatever one's reason may be for owning a car, we all generally like to keep it as clean as possible.
Some car owner's like to clean their vehicles in their driveways; others prefer to use a car wash. The car wash that I visited is the self-service type where you wash your own car without paying someone to do it. The most obvious distinction between a self-service and a full service car wash lies in the people who make it a more public or more private space.
The self-service car wash that I visited serves mostly people who are not necessarily poor but not affluent either. Most people who use this car wash use it because they do not want--or cannot afford--to pay ten or twelve dollars to have their car washed when they can do it themselves for five dollars. Because this is a self service car wash that runs more like a service station and not a business, it is open to anyone. The lot is open and without gates, offices, or service workers to keep "unwanted" homeless people and solicitors out. The people who were using the car wash, including me, did not mind having solicitors and a homeless man nearby. Without any type of restricted entrance, this car wash definitely functions as a public space. But some may feel that this space is too public. Does making a completely open space jeopardize the public's security, or are we responsible for our own security no matter where we are?

Public Space vs. Private Space

As today's world becomes increasingly globalized, we ironically became a more isolated society. Some argue that we should make space more accessible to the general public because boundaries are becoming less and less distinct. International boundaries have certainly become permeable; we need to look only at the United State's southern border to see that many immigrants and "different" people continue to occupy American space. Even colleges are now taking their boundaries down as they allow for more diversity. Students of different racial, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds mingle throughout various universities.
On the other hand, some believe that we should not make more public spaces. Instead, we should make more private spaces because people are willing to pay money to express their own individuality through space. If we think about it, our society has become very self-centered with new technologies like iPods and portable computers. We see more and more people in public who compltelely isolate themselves from the rest by plugging in their headphones or by becoming comsumed by a text message screen. Retailers and companies take advantage of our self-centered state to advertise costly items--and even large-scale items like real estate-- that can potentially become our own and no one else's.

What Should College Accomplish?

After analyzing various aspects of college, I have realized that college should allow people to grow as human beings. I know that typical college students hate to admit this "cheesy" idea, but it makes sense. We attend college for many reasons.
Clearly, we are expected to learn and gain academic skills. We do research, read extensively, write essays, prepare presentations, among many things. We not only learn to be students, but in the process we also learn to think critically and to have a broader and more cultured view of the world.
Then there is more to the academic aspects of what college should teach us. We should also--and do--learn to become social and to deal with people. We not only make new friends and meet new people, but we also learn how to select the people we want to socialize with. By choosing the people who surround us, we essentially choose who we want to be as human beings. College ultimately offers a chance to learn about ourselves.