- Spend at least 20 minutes brainstorming your answer to the question; don't be satisfied with the first answer(s) that come(s) to mind, but continue to think more deeply about the problem for the entire 20 minute period. Think about your answer for a while, and then walk away and come back to the question. Try to really ponder the issues.
- Write your answer in a text-editing or word processing program - don't write it directly in the comment box!
- The, spend another 10 minutes editing your answer - challenge yourself about your answer, ask yourself why you think the way you do, and develop your answer more completely.
- Finally, copy and paste your answer in the comment box, below.
- A good answer will be at least 3/4-page long as you're writing it in your processing program.
- Answers are due by Friday at midnight.
- Respond to one of your colleagues. You can (respectfully) challenge the person's reasoning, expand on what someone else has said, use a colleague’s idea as a jumping off point to develop something else, or ask a colleague (in detail, and showing why and how you’re confused or unsure of their reasoning) to expand on what they’ve said. But be sure you’re demonstrating serious engagement with the ideas. Your response to a colleague is due by Sunday at midnight.
Question
Do you think that the way the aliens were treated was just?
(Justice is a broad ethical term that takes several important ideas about
rightness into account: fairness, individual and group rights, following the rule of law, and
security of persons). Be very specific about your reasons for thinking so. As
you think about this question, there are several things to consider:
·
There were several levels at which we might
think of the aliens as being treated justly or unjustly:
o By the state
o By the private corporation MSU, operating under the authority of the state
o By individuals
· Although the aliens have very different DNA and a very different phenotype (observable characteristics), they appear to share many if not all of the essential features we identified as human. Does that mean that they have rights? If so, what are they? How far are we obligated to go to ensure those rights are upheld? Do rights disappear when others have reason to be scared of you (I mean ethically – in practice they often do)?
o By the state
o By the private corporation MSU, operating under the authority of the state
o By individuals
· Although the aliens have very different DNA and a very different phenotype (observable characteristics), they appear to share many if not all of the essential features we identified as human. Does that mean that they have rights? If so, what are they? How far are we obligated to go to ensure those rights are upheld? Do rights disappear when others have reason to be scared of you (I mean ethically – in practice they often do)?
The aliens may have been treated justly when they first arrived, however, it is hard for any society, individual, or corporation to be just for long periods of time and after twenty years the treatment of the aliens became unjust by all parties. Even the ones that may have been well-intentioned in the beginning. MNU was given authority by the state to handle relocating the aliens to the new District 10 which in essence is a concentration camp for the aliens. MNU uses this as a cover to kill, abduct (ironic right?), and abuse the aliens for cruel, inhuman scientific experimentation. The only actions that were done to the aliens that could be considered just are the actions taken right after the aliens were just freed from the their ship and relief efforts tried to help nurture them back to health. Aside from the very beginning of the incident, the aliens have had both individual and group rights incinerated in from of them, the law specifically separates them from being able to move around freely and very little is done to help integrate them into human society. The humans essentially erect a massive barrier between themselves and the aliens with no intentions of sustaining any kind of aid effort. Despite how badly the humans treated the aliens I believe it is foolish to believe that the human race would be able to treat any type of intelligent or unintelligent alien life with any kind of justness or fairness for an extended period of time. We can barely treat those within our own race with justice and fairness. I believe that as human beings with reason and virtues we should be able to treat them fairly and assist the aliens in getting back on their feet however, as a race, we are still incapable of practicing what we preach. There is no denying that the aliens were treated unjustly in more than one way, however, is it to be expected that the human race was going to treat them justly? The human race can barely treat everyone within its own race equal; how are we, as a race, supposed to treat a completely different race of intelligent beings equally?
ReplyDeleteMiguel P.
DeleteJessica F.
DeleteI agree with you that MNU did make District 10 based on concentration camps. District 10 looked similar to concentration camps because of the little tents and because of the fences that surrounded the camp site. I also agree with you that the experiments performed on the aliens by MNU were very harsh. I think that by MNU performing experiments that were very inhumane on the aliens they violated all of the rights the aliens should have had. I also agree with you that the effort to have the aliens live together with humans was never attempted. I think that if the humans would have tried to live with the aliens maybe they would have been able to live with each other since they were so similar. I do not agree with you that humans cannot live in peace with aliens. I think that yes some humans may object to living with aliens but maybe other would give it a try. Some humans like somethings while other like something else. I just do not think that all humans are the same and they do not all feel the same way about things. For example some humans like cats while other humans hate cats. I just think all humans are have different ways of thinking and feeling.
David B
DeleteI coulda likened this to how the Japanese had done secret experiments on POW's (Prisoners of War) during WW2. MNU was doing this the same with the aliens for pretty much the same reasons. This movie was supposed to show how humans can be cruel to each other and other species, even if they weren't alien. Alot of the laws that humans have enacted are aimed towards one group or another.
MNU was charged with keeping a form of legal apartheid. Actually, apartheid was the legal system in south africa for a while before Nelson Mandela broke it down.
Humans have this superiority complex that I can't understand myself and that has been the reason why wars happen. Now if this world were to become like star trek, where everyone in the galaxy were united by a common goal, and they did get along with alien races, the humans in district 9 showed no sort of compassion to the aliens ... actually they did at the start, but it fell off and MNU became responsible for handling it and they did it, quite brutally.
Especially Koobus.
Francisco A.
ReplyDeleteWhen the alien mother ship first arrived onto Earth and the alien species was found within the center of the ship, there was no question that humans wanted to help the aliens and treat them with fairness and kindness. However, like all things in life, especially after twenty years of the aliens being discovered, any efforts to help and treat the aliens with just(ice) vanished into thin air, as humans began to see the aliens as a burden to them. The State (which was South Africa in this case) did not pursue any further attempts to help the aliens, nor did the private corporation of MNU, who was tasked at relocating the aliens from District 9 to District 10, and used this privilege to abuse and torture the aliens (either for scientific purposes or for the benefit of themselves). Even the local people were aggravated of them, for there were many protests near District 9 to get rid of aliens and have them be someone else’s problem. The fact that the aliens were to be moved from District 9 to District 10 (in which both districts were essentially concentration camps and District 10 was far from the cities) proved that no one wanted the aliens with or around them. However, just because a group (size varies) doesn’t want to deal with aliens or have fear of them to the point of wanting them to “go away” doesn’t mean that the aliens do not have rights themselves. Although they aren’t humans, they’re still living creatures and as such they should be treated fairly like everyone else; animals aren’t humans but they’re living organisms and have rights just like humans do, as there are many animal rights advocates who believe the same thing and this belief has become universal among humans. In addition, even if this weren’t the case, if people are scared, this shouldn’t deter the loss of rights to these aliens (who were insultingly referred to as “Prawns”). Think of it like the Executive Order 9066 during WWII, when many Japanese-Americans were interned into “internment” camps because of widespread American fear that were Japanese spies and might help the Japanese into invading the U.S., so the government took their rights away on the basis of fear and not facts, for many Japanese –Americans didn’t do anything to cause any provocations. The same is true for the aliens in this case, for many have had their rights taken away due to fear and experimentation, not facts, and the aliens didn’t create any provocations against humans to say otherwise, for it was the complete opposite. On a side note, if humans were to integrate aliens into our society, it isn’t the responsibility of any nation to helping one-another into re-teaching the aliens to fit into human society but rather a will to do so, for it’s important to help those in need of help. Now, that doesn’t mean the aliens are helpless at all, but in terms of them fitting in to human society, they might as well be (helpless), so it’s crucial that nations come together to helping the aliens fit into our society, much like how nations would help each other during times of economic, political, or international stress (like wars). The bottom line is that humans mistreated the aliens and that the only “justice” served was toward the (benefit of ) humans for the sake of removing the aliens from human society to better the life of human beings.
Nayeli MC
DeleteGreat analogy with comparing the right of animals which are a different species from humans, However, yes although animals and aliens should have rights, humans decide the rights for animals because animals cannot. The aliens did have the capacity to say what rights they should have. Because of their capacity to think and create their rights along with their far more advanced technological advances, the humans feared the aliens as you said. Honestly, I would be scared meeting aliens for the first time how it occurred for the meeting. I think most humans would be frightened also, yet you are right that fear should not close the doors to our open minds. Fear cannot take away the aliens’ rights because they did not have rights to begin with. Throughout the whole movie I was thinking about the Japanese internment camps and Jewish concentration camps. Humans in the film were just treating the aliens like they have treated other humans in the past (currently also). Integrating the aliens into our “human” society would mean that the aliens would have to abandon their culture like most immigrant groups who enter the U.S. and assimilate. It is very tough, like the UN is fairly new, and this case there was nothing for out of earth species coordination. Although this was just a film, the government should have a plan of action just in case aliens come to earth to establish some rights as new visitors, and go on from there. However, I do not think the government would ever tell us anything about extra terrestrial affairs…
Sandra G
ReplyDeleteAlthough the aliens had a different DNA and different characteristics, they appear to share many of the essential features we identified as humans. The apperance of the aliens forces you to relate to them on an equal level (thought the humans in the move don’t) as being of thought and feelings.However, I believe that in the movie the aliens were treated unjustly because from the beginning of the movie there were enforced boundaries separating humans form the non humans from having sings with symbols of aliens crossed out designating their exclusion from society. In the movie, the humans cannot ignore the fact that the intelligence of the aliens (although they did not fit into society) was the key to how they can all be better people and for the salvation of their world. The message was clearly given that the aliens were not treaded justly because according to the humans those aliens deserved no rights, mercy or hope, even if the aliens posed no threat to humans. I believe that everyone should support non human rights because everyone deserves to be treated equally. Eventhough we live in a society where this is not the case. If one were to think over how we would like to be treated by others, one would evolve the human virtues and would treat other people with respect and with just.
Siriphone R.
DeleteSandra, I agree with you completely. I mean, did you notice how horrible their living conditions were? Did you notice that the aliens were capable of feeling emotions? The alien cared a lot about his son and the feelings from the son to the father was mutual. You are right. I think throughout the entire movie, they cared mostly about experimenting. Instead, they should have been trying to figure out a way to live together and bring together their intelligence. They ended up wasting twenty years trying to figure out ways to separate each other and use the aliens as experiments. Their obligations were all messed up! Do you think it is because they were afraid that if they allowed the aliens back into their mother ship then the aliens would attack them? I think I remember them wondering at the end if the aliens were going to come back and attack. Even though I know it is horrible to treat the aliens the way the humans did, it is kind of hard not to be able to relate them. I would honestly be scared myself so I would probably have to be put in that situation. Would you agree?
Sandra g
DeleteSiriphone,
By no means as human beings we are able to relate to the aliens physically and I agree with you on that. We live in a society where looks matter the most and if you dint fit into society in certain ways then you are treaded differently. I don't know if I would be scared of the aliens because as humans we are creatures of "adopting" to new situations and I would probably adopt to how they look and act. If you recall in the movie, the aliens where seen in the sidewalks and in different parts of the city. I think that if the aliens prove to be like humans in morally relevant respects, then they should be treated the same as humans.
If being human and looking "taller" , "skinnier" "good socioeconomic status" determines a better fit into society. Why cant being " shorter" , "low socioeconomic status" or even better " looking like an " alien" fit into society?
I think that the humans in the movie should had showed the aliens some respect and given them some rights, or at least their "alien rights". This meant leaving the aliens to do whatever they choose to do as long as they did not harm others in certain specified ways.
Evelin P.
ReplyDeleteThe Aliens in the movie I believe were treated unfairly/unjust. Many people don’t accept anything that are different form them. Yea some people in the beginning tried to help but they still turned their backs on them. Like many government institutions they “try” to help people but later leave them to survive on their own by any way they can. They discriminate against them because they don’t look human but they portray many human characteristics why wouldn’t they be treated the same as humans. They should be treated and given the rights as humans because they feel the same as any human they care for their people and look out for them just as any human would. People have fought hard and long for everyone to have rights the same should have been done for the aliens. People judge without knowing and many were scared of them so they didn’t believe they should be given them rights, and instead they segregated them. Many corporations along with the government don’t know how to handle people who are different so they make them less and segregate them this has been seen throughout the years for example the native Americans segregating them to some piece of land and making them less and given them no rights. It has been seen as well with native Americans treated them like animals and making them slaves, and it can be seen now with Latinos whose nickname happens to be “Illegal Aliens”. The truth of the matter is if the people or thing doesn’t conform to what the standard look or ethnicity is they are seen as outsiders as something less and stripped from any rights. To integrate the alien may have cost a lot of money but it seems that countries have enough money to supply endless wars killing other people instead of helping them. It’s a corrupted world and anything that involves money to help others it’s out of the question. The movie showed how the aliens were being treated unjust as a metaphor of how people who are different are treated by the government and other individuals.
Yes, Evelin, it was fear along with the desire to maintain control and security that lead to the aliens being stripped of their rights and confined to the district. The people around the district exercised ostracization by withholding services and access to certain areas. We have examples of this kind of treatment to refugees all over the global landscape, like the Sudanese refugees in Israel that are being treated so poorly. The Israelis have been trying to negotiate with neighboring countries, even offering to pay those countries to take on the whole of the refugee population. I feel that for the same reason the South African's government in the film was excited about MNU's offer to take on the task of evicting the refugee aliens. Like you said, Evelin, self-interest and fear of the unknown drive this kind of rigid and selfish decision/policy making.
DeleteTheron R. ^
Delete- The way the aliens were treated was not just. Human beings in present-day life, treat animals better than the way they treated the aliens. The aliens were forced to live in poor living conditions, which obviously showed the human’s lack of fairness in treatment. The aliens we’re clearly discriminated against because by the state, the private corporation MSU, and by individuals. I think that the state, MSU, and individuals discriminated against the because of their difference in DNA and difference in phenotype. I also believe that the aliens could have intimidated them all as well. Aliens are usually often associated with having such a greater understanding on sciences, mathematics, and especially technology. The state could have felt that if they did not conqueror the aliens first, then then the aliens may have conquered them. It actually reminds me of the struggle of discrimination shared between blacks and whites. The aliens did exhibit essential features that humans also exhibited. And in my opinion, they should have then been treated with the same respect that we as humans give to one another. Whether they were human or not. The aliens deserved some sort of universal rights, in which moral principles should have been established so certain standards could have possibly been enforced. They were entitled to fundamental freedoms, equality and non-discriminatory rights, interdependent and indivisible rights, and rights to life. I’m not sure if the human’s actions of ill treatment were because they truly feared the aliens or because they did not care about the aliens. Applied ethics would have been appropriate to use as a tool for the humans with the aliens. As humans, they were obligated to uphold these rights in the same regard towards the aliens as if they were humans as well. Rights do not disappear because fear is present. If one could uphold these laws even though they are truly fearful then that states a lot about their character. I do believe all the nations of earth did have an obligation to help, due to the simple fact that there was a demand for necessity. The aliens were stranded on earth, and because of that the countries should have come together and developed a plan to handle the situation in a better way all together, for aliens and also for the humans.
ReplyDeleteLetonya D.
Cassandra D.
DeleteYes, I completely agree that the aliens were treated unjustly.
But I have one complaint about a statement you mentioned and that is I don't think humans today treat animals better. If anything they are treated similarly to the aliens. Cattle are kept in poorly kept, manure infested, cramped pens in factory farms, raising them to be slaughtered and fed to American households.
But, other than that, I really, really like how you said (and coherently put the ideas) that upholding human rights doesn't "disappear because fear is present" and that you also implied that humans should have a well established notion about universal (human) rights that entitles anyone to fundamental freedoms. It almost begs the question, why can't we all just get along?
Justice is a tough term to define, especially since it is so contingent on other things. Justice also happens to be subjective; laws and individual rights vary not only across countries, but within them as well. Nothing is more subjective, however, than dealing with aliens. When the aliens arrived in South Africa, it was apparent that they weren’t there to cause mass destruction and chaos; they came there clearly in need of help as they were malnourished. In terms of them being treated as just, I think they were, since the human race came together to help with relief efforts. Though that didn’t last very long at all; as the aliens became healthier, there was no longer a need to help them and as they started growing in numbers, they weren’t seen as visitors anymore, but rather a problem and more specifically a threat to neighboring humans. So they were sectioned off and striped of rights (though they weren’t truly given rights us humans possess from the beginning). The decisions made by the state and MSU were irrational, they were quick to judge the aliens even though they possess same human characteristics. Though the aliens were making weapons, they hadn’t used them on humans and when it comes down to it, all the aliens wanted were to go home. If the people in the movie could communicate to the prawns without any translation device, why didn’t anyone just ask them? The only rational part of the decision was based on the protection of the human race. Often times when people are faced with situations that are unknown and foreign to them, the first choice is to protect themselves, and in this case, it was the state trying to protect its citizens. However, the way the aliens were treated was nothing short of cruel. They were put into slums that consisted of terrible living conditions, they were treated with aggression by the people of the state and MSU even when they weren’t exhibiting aggression back, and they were being tortured and mutilated in the laboratory of MSU against their will. Though a counterargument that these tactics were needed in order to ensure safety and calm within the society, it doesn’t change the fact that it was unjust and unethical.
ReplyDeleteSavanah F.
Dave K.
ReplyDeleteOn a government level the aliens were treated the way they were out of fear and not out of fairness or respect. The people didn’t know what their intentions were when they parked their ship over the city of Jo’burg. It wasn’t till the MNU broke in and took a look around that they even saw what form these alien beings were. They could have been intelligent balls of slime for all they knew. Although the aliens weren’t welcomed with open arms, the government didn’t nuke them out of the sky either.
The detainment camps were set up to give the government time to figure out what to do with them. If the government truly felt they were a threat to the country or the world, they would have destroyed the aliens. Did the government try to integrate them into society? Nope. Did they offer them jobs? Nope. Did they give them access to food? Nope. Could they have flown to New York to see the Statue of Liberty? Not likely. So what did we do for them? We locked them down, made them fight for survival, and gave them one of the best derogatory names ever, “prawns”. Hey they look like one. :)
Were they treated justly? Not even close but here is the kicker. If at any point of the movie you substituted the word, Chinese, Mexican, or any other nationality you can think of, you could be talking about the US in 2014. We as humans have rights and so should the aliens. It is obvious they are here to stay now their space ship took off for a few years so let’s open our arms wide and take them to Disneyland.
On a personal level, it was nice to see Wikus start to have sympathy for the aliens even if it took him turning into one before he did. Deep down I think he didn’t want to treat them unjustly he would have been happy being neutral on the subject but when your father-in-law is your boss and says jump, you say how high. Wikus was just a pawn (prawn?) in the game of life. I think that by the time he and Christopher became friends he had turned the corner and could really see all the injustices that the aliens had to live with. Hopefully Christopher will return and make him human again. Wikus may turn out to be the hero after all.
Letonya D. replying to Dave K. :
DeleteI absolutely agree with you concerning the way the humans acted in fear towards the aliens. However, don’t you think that once the humans figured out that aliens were not an immediate threat, that they should of used applied ethics to handle the situation? The humans reasons for breaking into the space ship were valid so I agree with that decision for the safety of the country. I also agree with your statement concerning how the humans didn’t try to integrate the aliens into their society. After 20 years, I thought they would, but the humans had isolated themselves to the city, in which the aliens seem to be absolutely segregated from entering. Integration in which the aliens and humans could cohabitate in all aspects of life would have been very influential to see. It was actually an ignorant decision on the humans’ part. It would have been a smarter decision to become allies with aliens and to build a relationship with them and possibly learn from the aliens. Learn mathematics unfound, science, and technology that was not known already by the humans. But the humans reaction to the aliens were exactly how they have treated illegal immigrants, blacks, etc. This movie was disturbingly true, and made me think about how this is already taking place in America today. I agree that Wikus could have been a neutral party. When he began to transform into an alien himself and saw the other side, he became sympathetic, but that doesn’t make him courageous. Just as in the Mission and Captain Mendoza. Wikus was a human of weak character and just because his father-in-law pressured him he reacted with cowardly and prejudice behaviors, which states so much about who he truly was internally.
Maria I.
DeleteI completely agree with you Dave. I in a way it is how society behaves in general. Humans are treated unfair and unjust on the daily and we are living in 2014. Different races and skin color or religion act… get treated unfair and with no type of consideration. The movie just showed us a different way to view how life today is like. It showed us how humans would react to a completely unknown species although they contained a lot of the same characteristics as humans do. I wasn't very surprise to see how after a little time the excitement and curiosity faded away, you can say the aliens got played out. Nobody was interested in them and got tired of having to deal with them. It's not surprising how the people had zero consideration for them after all society now in days doesn't have much consideration for their own kind. We today live in a very sad and cruel place.We are living in a place were racism still exist were kids are killing themselves because they are tired of being picked on, were people don't feel save walking in their own neighborhoods. I can honestly say I was glad to see what happened toward the end of the movie. When Wikus turn in to one of the aliens and you see him change he's whole perspective on the aliens. How he was able to see what it was to be them. He had not choice but to step out of he's comfort zone. Maybe if we all would take a step back and put ourselves in other peoples shoes we wouldn't be living the way we are. Maybe our world would be a better place and we wouldn't treat people based on what we think of them but by what we know about them.
Lorena P.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the aliens were not being treated justly. I mean, just by seeing the conditions they were living in we're horrible. I am sure that if their intensions were not to stay on planet Earth. Since mothership was broken they were not able to go back home. They should have been treated equal, human or not. Their advance in technology was incredible and I think the humans felt threatened. By them feeling threatened is what made them take action before the aliens did. MSU was wrong for what they were doing to the aliens. Using them as an experiment. The aliens were being discriminated and they were even living in a separate place away from the humans which was District 9. MSU was given authority by the state to go in and get the aliens to sign an eviction notice which was to transfer then to another place which was District 10. With that authority from the state MSU went in and used it as a benefit to go in and basically kidnap and torture the aliens and use them as an experiment. I believe the aliens should have been understood and had rights after being here for two decades. They were in need of help and as a society humans should have. They should have used virtue and put theirselves in the position the aliens were in. They would have understood each other and maybe even helped one another and the aliens would have never been stranded here for so long. Even if the aliens were making weapons they were not using them against the humans. It ended Up being the other way around and the humans wanted to use the alien weapons against them. The aliens did no harm to humans all they ever wanted was to go home.
Evelin P.
DeleteI agree with you the aliens weren’t doing harm to anyone they were just minding their own business trying to get back to their planet. The humans should have never treated them in the wrong way if they weren’t causing any harm to them. If the humans should have put themselves in the place of the aliens they would have known how horrible it feels to be looked down upon. Discrimination has happened to most races so it would have seen fair not to discriminate against the aliens. Yea they might have looked differently but that’s not a reason to treat them like animals if they have human qualities. Everyone even the government should have come together and helps them repair their mother ship if they didn’t want the aliens on earth instead of using as them as experiments as if they had no feelings at all. Throughout out the movie no one acted in favor in helping the aliens find a way out, some humans might have in the beginning but soon gave their backs on them. The aliens were treated very unfairly and unjust.
-Lorena P. Yes Evelin, very true. The aliens were treated very unfairly. The humans could have helped the aliens out instead of treating them in such a horrible matter. If they were so concerned about them right? The way MSU used that authority by the state to go in and give them the eviction notice and do the opposite was the worst part. I believe the alien only lived in such horrible conditions was because of their immense population and it might have been to much for the humans to maybe help them out. Either way they had no right to mistreat them. The aliens were stranded there so what more could they have done. I am glad our opinions resembled, it was just so obvious that they were being discriminated because they were not humans. They should have rights, being that they were on planet earth for two decades. If the humans would have helped them they maybe would have been back home way sooner that they were here for.
DeleteI also agree with you Lorena, I sense that MSU felt they had no other choice but to send the aliens far away for the sake of the community. Never did they once think if it would benefit the aliens. That is where they went wrong, because the aliens never betrayed the humans. They should have never been treated the way they did. They minded their own business, trying to survive with the crappy environment MSU provided for them. The only thing the aliens wanted was to go home. So why didn't MSU help them? Like you said they felt threaten and most likely feared the aliens. But that does not give them the right to treat the aliens such a horrendous way..
Delete-Amiri M
Janet S.
ReplyDeleteWhen the aliens first arrived on Earth the humans wanted to help them return to their planet. The treatment changed after the aliens had been there for twenty years. The humans treated the aliens unjustly because they wanted to get the aliens out and have them go back home. The aliens from the beginning had been fenced off into a separate area putting them isolated. The aliens lived in areas that were trashed and it was like a junkyard making the aliens seem like they were nothing but animals and unwanted guests. The state, MNU, and the Nigerian thugs were taking advantage of the aliens. They were stripping the aliens of their weapons because they were powerful and nothing like they had seen before. The whole mission of the state and MNU was to get weapons not to really help the aliens get back home. These aliens were just like humans they had many of the same features that identify humans as humans and they too have rights they are living beings and should be treated with respect. The aliens were not there to create any harm and they had no control of where they would have landed. The aliens should have been left alone and should have been asked nicely and should have gotten some sort of explanation why MNU was forcing them to leave their shacks in District 9. Just because humans started to get worried and thought that the aliens would take over was no real means for treating them so unfairly. Those working with MNU and the state should have at least tried to help the aliens collect the fluid needed for them to return to their planet. These aliens were put into situations that no one should ever be put in because they were killed for trying to stand their ground and because the Nigerian thugs thought that they could posses the powers that the aliens had by eating them. If MNU and the state and government really wanted the aliens out they would have tried to team up with other states or something to try to get the aliens to leave sooner. With the efforts of more people the aliens could have been treated better rather than living in trashed conditions and being killed off for experiments.
Jacob T.
DeleteI do agree with you Janet on terms of how the aliens were treated under unethical guidelines. Many of the prawns were punished, tormented, and killed within District 9. District 9’s sole purpose was to aid the aliens, communicate, understand, and eventually try to send them home but it ended up being a war zone between prawns and humans. Instead they build a fence, set up guards, and established military weapons around the land, turning the home of the prawns into a slum. Not only were they forced into a prison- like camp, they were exposed to diseases and violence which eventually made them turn made. Like I said in my own personal response, the aliens had a reason for why they conveyed aggressive, rebellious behavior, which was due to unethical and inhumane doings in the establishment of District 9. If we were stuck on a foreign planet, treated like animals, my children slaughtered, and shot down for no apparent reason, we would be sure to express the same violent behavior. I agree with you when you say all of this only had to deal with understanding their weaponry. In fact MNU and the state were ready to kill their own kind, a human being, due to the fact that he could use alien weaponry. District 9 was a concentration camp for aliens, like the holocaust were to the Jews, with the sole purpose of using alien weapons for our own use no matter what unethical procedure that had to take place. The aliens obviously had some kind of emotions and feelings, and to some extent knew the plans that MNU intended. I think the government did not want to send the aliens back but instead keep them there in that horrendous environment solely out of fear. If the aliens were to leave on bad terms with the way they were treated, and come back, Earth would be facing a battle that we would not be able to win. No doubt the aliens were treated inhumane and unjust, but it was also able to reveal that we are inhumane and unjust to our own kind.
Oluwatomi A.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that through the course of the movie the aliens were mistreated individually by humans, by the MSU Corporation, and even by the State. Different individuals extorted the cravings of the aliens to plunder their technology. The MSU cooperation was also interested in their technology and violated dozens of human rights in order to obtain the alien technology. To the contrary, the aliens exhibited human traits of emotion, awareness, higher thinking, etc. At some points the aliens did seem irrational because of their ill regard of destruction, but with proper training such behavior could have been changed. As a result I do feel that the way the aliens were treated was unjust and unethical.
I feel that if something does exhibit human traits and features that the life form in question deserves the same rights as all other humans. Furthermore I feel that it was the obligation of the whole world in order to help the aliens in a humane and not just the country it landed in. What happens with the aliens also affects the human race, so regardless of nationality everyone else should help.
Regardless of the outcome, I do however; understand why the humans in the movie responded how they did. It is always hard to be able to objectively deal with something you do not understand and fear. To be honest with myself, if I were to be in the same situation I would probably be in favor of killing the whole alien race that landed. Moreover, I think that when confronted with a new intelligible entity regardless of human or alien race, that the natural human response is combative. Also the alien technology seemed to be far more advanced than human technology in the movie. This fact alone would make one to come to the conclusion that we must conquer them first before they conquer us. Overall I do not agree with the human response to the aliens, however, I do understand why they were treated inhumanely.
I agree with you about the aliens not being treated fairly but what I find interesting is your explanation for why the humans acted they way they did. Looking through the comments on this blog and reading people's answers, I see how most of us agree that the aliens were treated unfairly, but you mentioned also that you understand the humans behavior and how you would have agreed with killing of the whole race. It's natural for humans to respond defensively when facing something unknown and potentially dangerous, I guess, which explains how they automatically jumped into the role of wanting to take control of these aliens in anyway they could. I find it a little harsh though when speaking about extinguishing the entire race though, but then again how am I to know I wouldn't feel the same way if we were actually put into this situation and became faced with an alien and having them respond aggressively? It would definitely scare me. But anyway your response made me think about the humans actions in the movie in a different way, so thanks!
Delete^^ Stephanie G.
DeleteSiriphone R.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the aliens are treated justly. Honestly, it reminded me so much of our history. Segregations between blacks and whites because they thought blacks were “different”. The aliens were treated differently as well because were not humans. The aliens were only allowed in certain areas and their living condition was horrible. They were treated differently by everyone (state, MSU, civilians)! The aliens did not have a real home and wanted to go home but they were being used as experiments. Even though they have different DNA and a very different phenotype they still share emotions. Just like humans, the alien knew what it means to love and care about each other (Poppa alien and his son). They should not be treated differently just because people were afraid of them. Instead, they should try to understand them and let them go back to their home. The humans were the ones who went into their ship and took them out so it is their responsibility to take care of them. They were not obligated to help the aliens because they wanted to send the aliens into a small camp where they would be used to experiment. Do the humans really think that they are going to be able to find the funds to provide for the aliens forever? I don’t think they realize that the alien’s population was growing. The humans should either teach the aliens so they can live together by combining their knowledge or the humans should allow them to fix their ship and go home. Forcing them to live on planet earth and regulating was obviously not working for the humans or the aliens. Especially after twenty years.
Troy W.
DeleteI totally agree about what you said on how it wasn’t the human’s obligation until they made it their obligation. It always happens that way with the government. I also believe that the Nigerians living with them was treating them worse than the government and WNU.
Oluwatomi, Aji
DeleteI understand your point of view, but i think the humans did have an obligation to open that ship up and check what was going on. The Ship was literally in the earths air space. I wouldn't be wise just too leave the ship alone and not take any action. for the sake of argument, what if the aliens were planning some type of world domination and they needed to wait a few days to charge a super weapon. That may sound crazy, but they are aliens! Everything is already crazy. Also would be inclined to control the population of aliens first in order to see what they are capable of. As we saw in the movie they were extremely violent and caused explosions for fun. On that basis alone they were not yet fit to live among humans. However, the law enforcement took it to a level that was inhumane and terrible. Overall i feel like their solution was to harsh and yours would be too soft. I would look for a happy middle ground.
Marina F.
ReplyDeleteIn the film we are introduced to a rare situation of aliens coming to earth uninvited of course but still a forced part of the city of Johannesburg. The aliens were shown to have some similarities with the humans such as being able to communicate with them and also having feelings to some extent. With one of the main alien characters we figure out that these aliens all want nothing but to go home, avoid trouble, and want to live in peace. I believe that naturally, humans will not be comfortable with someone or something that seems to have something as intimidating as a huge spaceship hovering over the planet. Not only do they look much different from humans but they brought weapons, and these weapons are dramatically advanced and no math for human ammunition and have no way of using the alien weaponry even if they wanted to. The first mistake that was made was letting the aliens live so close, practically with the humans in the small town. Letting humans interact with aliens at a everyday pace makes it really easy for humans to really distant themselves with the aliens and eventually, completely segregating themselves from them. With segregation comes the obvious desire of disassociating with the unwanted. Although the aliens wanted nothing but peace, it was a mandatory for the humans to make sure that they had complete control over them and made sure none of the aliens were breaking any laws. It was always be a human principle to have a heart but another principle just as important is to be careful. The way that MNU handled the situation was over the top. The way that this organization demanded control was to kill the aliens in cold blood which is backwards because that seems to be a great plan to provoke the aliens to fight back for being killed for nothing and disobeying petty directions. With the mother ship lingering in the air makes the time the aliens plan to stay on earth questionable and also some kind of threat that there could be more and they could be coming down at any moment. As we learn what is really going on with the aliens and how much they actually want to go home changes the entire situation and somewhat requires human cooperation to get both species what they want and speeding up the process by being civilized. I believe fear played a huge part in how the humans and especially MNU reacted.
I think that the aliens have been treated
ReplyDeleteunjustly by the humans. they were forced by
the MNU to relocate them to district 10 which
is a set up concentration camp for the
aliens. believe that the only part the aliens
were treated just was at the beginning. After
that they were treated like a useless thing,
unwanted and want to get experimented.
Some human beings does not value and
consider what is a humam.essence. Despite
the fact that this are aliens and do not have
the same DNA we share from one another
they deserve to be treated just. And to be
treated just mean with all due respect with
the aliens. It does not mean that even though
they have great intelligence in terms of the
massive weaponry they make, we take
advantage as humans to use the aliens for
an extensive scientfic experimentation. We
have no right to use other people or the
aliens in some kind of experimentation to
advance our technology. This also means
that the state have the advantage to take
over the aliens. These are aliens and they are
different from humans but they do have the
essence of being a human. We should treat
them equally despite of all the differences we
have.
Gerald M.
Angad S.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, District 9 is a great movie. In the movie aliens come down from outer space and land in Johannesburg South Africa. The ship sat closed and sealed off for a while, but our own human curiosity lead us to open Pandora’s box; cut through the ship and open it to see who our visitors were and what they came for. The Aliens were mal nutritioned and in need of help so human kind helped them. They were contained to one section of the city and it looked like the slums. Much like how our country was in the 1950’s or 60’s everything in the movie looked segregated. Instead of white verses black, it was human verses alien. I feel like the aliens were treated unfairly much like African American people before the Civil Rights Movement or even the Native American people that owned this land before anyone else. Humans wanted to relocate the aliens out of the city of Johannesburg and into a camp or shelter made special to house our new visitors. The new camps were not lavish or any type of nice, they reminded me of concentration camps. Multi National United (MNU) was a company in the movie that was hired to evacuate the aliens out of their nitch in Johannesburg and move them into new concentration camps; they were also the second largest weapons manufactures in the world. I feel like the people of MNU had no respect for the aliens and treated them with extreme prejudice. They did not ask the aliens to relocate or give any warning. They simply issued the evacuation and marched into alien territory and started moving them out with an iron fist. The MNU had a shoot first and talk later attitude with all aliens. Many innocent aliens were killed and harmed during the process. Much like the early settlers of this country moved the American Indians and told them were they could and could not stay. MNU had alterior motives, they wanted to learn how to make and use the superior alien weaponry. They violated many laws pertaining to human rights, but then again the aliens were not human so maybe they felt as if the laws did not pertain to our new visitors. In the movie there was a special section in MNU headquarters that was dedicated to cutting open aliens, doing all kinds of crazy experiments on aliens and killing aliens, all for the name of science. I do not think that it was right the way humans treated aliens because they killed many innocent aliens all in the name of science. Even though they are a totally new species, they still had many factors that resemble humans like feelings and family ties. I feel that if we weren’t able to take care of the aliens and help them and treat them like any other living being then we should have never opened there ship. I feel like humans did nothing but show the aliens hatred and evil, it was unjust and not the right thing to do. I am glad that in the end, the aliens found a way to go home.
Jaewoo K
ReplyDeleteAliens in our movie, “District 9”, were not treated rightly, or justly at all. At the beginning of the movie, Wikus were checking everywhere in the town to get the signature of aliens for forcing them get out of their town and move away. While he performed as a local director, he found a bunch of alien eggs and surprised. He did not hesitate to burn up everything, even with making some jokes during killing them. It seemed that aliens were considered even less important than any other animal in the Earth, and seemed that humans have all rights to control their birth and death. Are we deserve to act like gods and stand above the aliens, just because that we were living in this world from way long time ago?
The gangs in the movie sold cat foods for unreasonable price to make money, and tried to use the alien’s weapons to build their own power. The weapons were incredibly strong, absolutely stronger than what humans have. For me, it seemed that aliens did not want any conflict or fight; otherwise humans were going to be in serious problem having war against alien army with highly developed weapon system. Unless humans attack them, aliens stayed calm and tried to have positive relationship with humans.
The part which made me really upset was that MNU headquarter was doing biological experiments on captured aliens. What is the difference between Nazi of WWII and MNU? Was it equally brutal and merciless to do such experiments to living alien’s body? Nothing can be an excuse for such a behavior of anybody or organization.
As we studied in our class, human essence is the value that makes us how we are. For the case of the aliens, even they have very different phenotype from us; they showed all these essence to be “Human”. They had sentience, as they felt pain when Christopher found a result of MNU’s biological experiments, consciousness, complex emotions, and language. Of course, they are not “Human”; however, they are something that must be considered equally valuable and important as we are. They are visitors from somewhere in the universe, who came to the earth to open our eyes and mind to accept the fact that we are not the only living social animals in the universe. They deserve our respectful treatment.
In the same point of view, all the nations of Earth had obligation to help them. We do not have clear reason why they came to the Earth, but we still need to take care of them as an important visitor or partner of entire human beings. By developing positive and healthy relationship with them, I believe we have more broad way to thrive and develop our human culture and civilization.
Lucia C.
DeleteI agree with you in all the facts that you have thrown into the table. The aliens were treated very unjustly and were think less than anything in this world. The aliens were smart enough not to start any ruckus because they knew they were outnumbered. They did have their weapons that would have probably won the war if there ever began one. But there were a million of them and they were all tired and hungry and didn’t have the strength to do anything to the humans. Besides humans tried helping them in the beginning, how were the aliens suppose to know it was going to tae a turn for the worst. Once it did they had no power, and if they tried anything they knew they were going to be destroyed. They just wanted to live in peace. But then you think about all the alien encounters that has happen in the past and people get scared, they want power over what they think the aliens really are. Maybe the aliens knew what they were doing all along. What if there was no reason for the aliens landing on earth. They were probably just passing by and got stuck. Or maybe they were the rejects of their own planet and were planned to be thrown away here on earth. There are more questions than answers. All we know is that they had human essence and we humans didn’t think about it for a second. We let our pride take over what could have been a wonderful relationship with them. We, as in the entire world, could have helped them to fix whatever needed to be fixed with their mother ship and District 9 and 10 would of never gotten the way it did.
Cassandra D.
ReplyDeleteIt is glaringly clear that the aliens were treated unjustly as the years of their stay prolonged. Perhaps, when the aliens were first discovered in such poor conditions, there was a collective identification with these creatures. The whole world, supposedly, saw these malnourished and weak aliens and immediately felt the need or thought that the right thing to do was to help them. The aliens’ poor state of health is not necessarily the human characteristic that made people identify with them, but, perhaps, their behaviors in dealing or reacting with a commonly known situation did the trick. This supports Aristotle’s idea that because we are humans, we behave in a way that exhibits one or more virtues, in this case kindness or benevolence. However, we could also infer that the state or the government saw an opportunity in this situation; it was easy to subdue a whole colony of aliens in their current state in order to take advantage of alien technology. Under the guise of a federal aid effort, the government was able to hold the aliens for a long period of time. It is evident that they were kept in a holding area solely for that reason since it doesn’t seem that the government had made any efforts to relieve their slum-like conditions from then on (until MNU came into operation albeit still with hidden motives). And for this reason, not to mention the internal issues the state faced at the time, the people of Johannesburg seemed to see no more reason to continue helping and protecting the aliens. Some individuals explained that they were competing with the aliens for resources and even reasoned that it would’ve been understandable if they were from another country but they were from a totally different planet. So, despite upholding humanitarian rights when dealing with the aliens, apparently those rights do disappear once their presence threatened, essentially, human existence. And, ethically speaking, this shouldn’t be the case, especially since it doesn’t seem that the aliens started any riots against their host country. Then comes the intervention of MNU and their brutal tactics, which reinforced the state’s intent of imprisoning the aliens for research purposes.
Being used as lab rats and great research finds and being kept in slum-like conditions, the injustice against and maltreatment of the aliens is evident. If they were better assimilated into society with the help of all the nations, perhaps, they wouldn’t go through such an ordeal. A huge international cooperative effort could be the right (and just) thing to do, however, this may not have worked either. Drawing from one historical event, this is almost similar to the European colonists forcing Native Americans to assimilate to their ways, which many have clearly established by now was not right, not ethical, not just. So does this mean that by helping the aliens and with the events that followed, the humans were setting the aliens up for injustice? Of course not. I suppose what I’m really trying to say (as it seems I have gone off-topic) is that assimilation may not have worked with the aliens of District 9, if we drew from the example.
Nayeli MC
ReplyDeleteThe way the aliens were being treated was unjust for many reasons. Taking into account what justice is, the aliens were not treated fairly. They were not treated fairly because that would have meant that they would be treated like the humans. The aliens individual and group rights were inexistent because to have rights on this earth, technically means human rights. They were not humans, but had human characteristics like thinking, creating, caring for others, etc. As for following the rule of law, the aliens’ law was a gun threatening their lives; thus, no security at all. By the state, the aliens were allowed to be in earth. The state did not attack them on site and at least reserved an area for them. The state treated the aliens as justly as they could without treating their human citizens less just than the aliens. The humans complained that the state was already spending too much money in the slums the aliens were provided by the state. MSU treated the aliens unjustly because although they were under the state, there are always secrets in organizations. The MSU’s ultimate goal was to find the way to operate the alien weapons (since it said it was the 2nd seller in weaponry in the world from what I recall from the film). Because MSU’s concern was about operating weapons, they did not care about how they were going to do. They were ruthless, and that is unjust. The individuals, the humans, well at many points do not even treat fellow humans justly. It was not surprising to see some humans being kind to the aliens while other humans were ruthless towards the aliens.
Humans being different colors fought for human rights. Now are those same rights transferred to nonhumans? I say yes because we must give them a chance. If it was the other way around, and we were in their planet, I sure hope the aliens would grant us the rights they have. Also, if a human and an alien reproduced, that creature could not just have half of human rights. Rights usually disappear when the ones in power take them away, and the people or “nonofficial” have to fight back ruthlessly, leaving no democracy to uphold anything.
All the nations of earth had an obligation to help (and given the large population, that would probably have involved agreeing to take some of the alien population into each country). However, it is very difficult to help another species, I believe, when we can barely accept our fellow humans at times. The human history shows how far we have come from unjust behavior towards one another and how far we have to go for justice. Having the entire earth of humans feeling equally united and responsible for helping aliens is wishful thinking, yet I know this was a science fiction movie. But still, humans cannot stand human, let alone nonhumans.
Giovanni Prado
ReplyDeleteThe aliens that they had in the film District 9 were treated beyond unfairly. They were striped of any rites that we would have and that people would say were gone given. They were treated badly, I mean they were given areas where they could live at, but at the majority of times they were monitored, moved and demanded to give up anything they had in possession thought our military did not like. That’s not even talking about the ones that they had experimented on after they found out that the humans could not use the alien’s weapons. Once they found out that they could not use these foreign weapons they had taken whichever ones they claimed were criminals and used them until they died, and they dissected their bodies, and they had not showed it, but it would not surprise me if they dissected living ones too. Their discrimination showed how bad it truly was when the protagonist (sorry I’m not good with names) had begin to get infected and became one of them. He no longer was treated as a human he was treated as bad as cattle. They used a cow prod to make him fire the foreign guns even when he begged them to stop and agreed to shoot the gun without the cow prod. This treatment is beyond worse than people that they would have in jail.
Nhu Tran
DeleteI agreed with you that the aliens were treated unjustly. You had a good idea about the aliens were treated terribly because the government discovered that the aliens needed help very much, but they didn’t show any support for the aliens to survive. They didn’t provide food and housing; otherwise, the government isolated and confined the aliens in the camping side to let them survive themselves. I believed that this is extremely bad. Also, I like your idea about pointing out Wikus’s case in your work. He was discriminated and tortured in horribly way by the MSU’s company and the military when they were chasing him even though he was the one of them. This action obviously shows inhumane behavior. However, It’d be better if you could say more about how the government ignored their obligation when they wanted to relocate these aliens to District 10 because the conflict between the aliens and the population who lived near by. Didn’t you think the aliens were treated unfairly in the way the government ignored their responsible with them and people who discriminated and wanted the government to get rid of them? Didn’t the MSU organization shown their unjustly treatment with the aliens by torture and killing them? Didn’t these behaviors against the rule of law and moral in the sense of humanistic in our society?
I think the aliens were treated very unjustly. The government at first wanted to help the aliens, because they were in bad health. Then they formed a concentration camp around them. The M,N,U wanted to steal all their weapons technology, so they could use the technology to advance their on weapons. Inside the camp a band of Nigerian thugs took over the compound also taking weapons technology from them. Their living condition's were very poor, they were stuck on a planet that they never encountered before. I believe they should have been treated with the same respect that humans give each other. When they arrived in South Africa, they didn't attack they city,. They set their until we contacted them. We should have all came together to help the aliens return to their own planet, which would have been the just thing to do. But the the way they treated the aliens was unethical. I liked how wikus came around a gained compassion for the aliens, and decided to help them return home, so they could come and retrieve their people.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why the government reacted to the aliens, because they didn't know why the aliens were their in the first place. The government just wanted to have control just in case something went wrong, and a war broke out, we would have the upper hand. Regardless if your human or alien you should be able to present justly unless something unjustly happens.
Hi Antwan, I agree with what you have said. I felt that individuals, the MNU, and the state should have treated them with respect because they the aliens did not go out to the city to attack human beings. If anything they stayed in at the camp. They also ate whatever they found in the camp. I feel like Wikus and the MNU should not have even tried to attempt to evict them from District 9. What for? Aliens weren't doing anything. Maybe if the humans and aliens tried to talk before they got "evicted," they probably would have actually helped them gain materials to do the liquid to go home. I also agree that the nations should have came together to try to help them. However, if you were in that same situation that the humans were, would you have helped? We did see a movie. It's a completely different perspective if we were there than if were just watching it.
Delete-Michelle Padilla Lopez
Jessica Ferman
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the way the Aliens were treated was just. I also do not think that they were treated fairly because they were forced to live in small shacks. The aliens were also not allowed to go where people went. The aliens were discriminated because they were not humans. They were put into a kind of concentration camp and were segregated. The aliens experienced the same life the African Americans, Japanese Americans, and any other race that were discriminated against experienced. They were disliked and treated unfairly. They were also forced to live in places separate from what was considered normal at the time. The state did not treat the aliens fairly or just because they did not allow them to have any rights. The state forced them to live in houses that were unfit for anyone to live in, they also made the street signs say that aliens were not allowed in certain areas making the aliens look as outcasts. The state also did not allow the aliens to mix with humans at all. They were not allowed to be in the same places humans people were. This reminds me of when African American people were not allowed to be in the same places as Caucasians, and that was also unjust. If the action of not allowing people to be with other people of another race is unfair than it is also unfair not to allow the aliens to be where the humans were. The MSU corporation also did not treat the aliens fairly. The MSU would take the aliens into custody and perform harsh experiments on them. This has also been seen before and it was also unjust when Hitler performed harsh experiments on Jewish people. If it was unjust for Hitler to perform unethical experiments on Jewish people it is also unjust for the MSU to perform unethical experiments on the aliens. The MSU also did not give the aliens the right to live because they would kill the aliens eggs and not allow their offspring to be born. I think that it is also unjust to perform any experiment on any animal or human if you are hurting them or doing anything to them to harm them in any way. The aliens were also treated unjustly by individuals because individuals did not respect the aliens. The individuals treated the aliens unfair because they would tell them to go back to where they came from and they never respected them at all. The individuals would also pressure the government to have the aliens removed from where they were and have them placed far away from them. I do think that the aliens have rights, they have the right to life and respectful treatment. If animals have rights than why should the aliens not have rights? I think we are obligated to protect the aliens lives and not let them be killed just for the enjoyment of people. I think that like with animals, we are also obligated to see that the aliens are treated justly and that no harm is being done to them. I do not think that rights should disappear when people are afraid of you. I think that even when some people may fear you, you still have the right to live a safe life, and like in the case of the people in jail you might just lose your right to liberty. Also like the people in jail if someone has done something wrong they still have the right to live, be treated respectfully and be protected. I do not think that all of the nations on earth had an obligation to help the aliens, but I do think that some of the countries should have offered their help to the aliens. I think that if no country wanted to take the aliens into their country then they should have at least helped them fix their ship so that they could return to their planet. I think that it would be cheaper to fix the ship so that the aliens could return to their planet than it would to have the aliens live in all of the countries all over the world. I also think that some of the nations do not have the money to pay for the aliens to be relocated into their countries.
I totally agree with you. The government could have played a better part in supporting the aliens. They started off with good intentions, but figured out they could take advantage of the aliens for their weapons technology. Why would they give the aliens a name but didn't want them to have equal rights The aliens even understood english and the understanding of our government laws. I think if the country and the government didn't want the aliens their, they should have helped them fix their ship so that they cold return back to their homeland.Treating something unjustly because you don't understand it or your afraid of it is wrong. I believe you should treat everything and everyone with respect know matter what the situation is. I never understood why the aliens actually encountered our world in the first place. Was their a higher reason for why the aliens landed were they did.
DeleteAntwan j
J Hornesby
ReplyDeleteI think the aliens were treated fairly in the beginning but like most government projects it became corrupt and completely unjust. I don't think aliens should be considered human or have human rights, they have adapted and learned how to coexist but once they feel threatened they result to rioting, showing little to no respect for laws, or law enforcement. The aliens have secret weapon rooms and underground laboratories, they are extremely intelligent using human technology to create a toxin that changes human DNA to alien DNA ultimately mutating human to alien. The government has been treating them like a science experiment for the past 20 years only coming to the conclusion that they can't operate the alien weapons. The people of Johannesburg don't want the aliens there because they pose a threat on the human race and some people are afraid of them. Although they are in a concentration camp and under government controlled they show a little respect which leads me to believe placing them around the world could be disastrous because they are able to adapt to their environment, they have military skills and weapons that are more advanced and powerful then human weapons, and they are physically stronger so keeping them in Johannesburg and contained in one country is a better idea then having all over the world. Other country's can send aid.
Hey JH,
DeleteI totally agree with your statement that the aliens shouldn’t have human rights. They are not human in any way. It is true that they have learned to survive and have adapted to their environment but they are far from being human. I know this may be a bit of a stretch but here goes. Because they aren’t human, they do deserve rights but not human rights. Just because they show some degree of intelligence doesn’t make them any more intelligent or human than my dog. My dog listens and will come when I call her. She will get the mail from the mailman without being asked. She loves the cat and protects her like a child. She gives comfort to the family members but she is not human in any way. Our dog lives outside, eats grass, and will pee on a fire hydrant every chance she gets, she is not human. Does she have rights? Absolutely. She is well loved, groomed often, and treated with the fullest respect. We give her plenty of opportunity to play with other dogs and she will live a long full life.
Now back to the aliens. You mentioned that the government has been doing experiments on them for a long time. Well, I hate to say it but people of science have been doing experiment on animals and humans for way longer than that. How do you think we know so much about the living beings on this planet? One of the factors that was brought up was about the alien DNA. Do aliens have DNA? Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the way our genes are expressed and replicated is a very earthly thing (as far as we know). Because no scientists have found life on any other planets we have visited, DNA may not be part of their makeup. If by doing experiment on them means we can better understand them, it would be worth the sacrifice. Should the aliens have rights? Sure, but human rights are out of the question. All that being said, they should still be respected, as any other animal should be.
Oops. This was posted by Dave Katz
DeleteAlec M.
DeleteWith all due respect to JH and DK for their opinions and reasoning, I would just like to expand on a few of the statements given. Firstly, like DK, I fully understand that the aliens are not biologically human. But, with all due respect, I have a little confusion on the ideas presented by JH. I am unsure of JH’s reasoning because some are too general (a logical fallacy), and do not account for the deeper observable attributes of the aliens’ behavior. First, the usage of “most” in the claim that “most government projects become corrupt and completely unjust” is a hasty generalization.
Next, JH says that the aliens should not spread “over the world” because they cannot negotiate and “once [the aliens] feel threatened, they result to rioting, showing little to no respect for the laws or law enforcement”; however, JH says “they are extremely intelligent using human technology, able to adapt to their environment, have learned to coexist [with humans], and have military skills and weapons that are more advanced and powerful than human weapons.” My question is: How are the aliens unable to negotiate when they exhibit this human essence list, if you will, to reason and create these highly complex technologies that humans cannot even tap into themselves? Perhaps, they chose not to negotiate, but if the humans can reason with them more effectively, then a solution may exist. And acknowledging the aliens’ strengths, or human essence attributes, what is this “threat” the aliens “pose to the human race?” Perhaps, they may threaten to retaliate against the humans or annihilate them. But this may be because some humans are very derogatory to this alien race. This reasoning is similar to the Nazis essentially exterminating the Jews: How could a Jew not be entitled to not forgive a Nazi? On the other hand, if the aliens can obviously reason—their extreme intelligence, adaptive ability to the environment, and military skills ensures they are able to reason—then they have human essence. If one has human essence, then that being has human rights. Is this not the definition of what it means to have human rights? Animals do not have human rights because they cannot reason sophisticatedly as humans. But wait, dolphins and wolves have a few human essences: Both can hunt together in groups through communication, and dolphins can even communicate to humans in some way. Yet, frankly, those animals cannot reason fully: analyze, create categories, and generalize. But wait again, the aliens can do this. They exhibit sentience (awareness, or the ability to feel pleasure and pain; consciousness, or self-awareness; complex emotions; language; being a social animal; and reason. The essential idea I am trying to expand is that one should be cautious to make assertions and claims about another living race. This argument is similar to when Christopher Columbus and the Europeans encountered the Native Americans (a living race that were thought to not have entitlement to human rights even when they exhibited human essence).
JH
DeleteWoW...thanks for the reply You both express really valid feelings toward my answer, and I admit I agree with you both to some degree or another. You both gave some insightful viewpoints, in reference to the dog I had a dog that was treated like the rest of the humans around him and he was also reminded daily that he's not. I'm aware of the "research" the government conducts on the helpless and unfortunate, this "research" has provided loads of valuable info to help preserve the human race. I know the importance of it I still don't agree with it. I'm not sure if they have DNA that is the info provided by the movie either way they had something that when mixed with DNA can and will cause a mutation. I have to disagree with the aliens being able to use reason with sophistication and negotiate as human. They seem to be reactive as seen when handed an eviction notice, and when under fire the alien would have stood there and got shot if the human didn't apply human essence to the situation. Time and time again he showed his human essences of non-malevolence teaching the alien to have these virtues, true the example of how to treat others has not been that of a gentlemen and a scholar also indicating that they are not as sophisticated enough to know the difference between right and wrong. That is not to say they shouldn't be treated just. As far as Columbus dude was dumb, *quick, funny, reenactment* Columbus was looking for India he stumbled on "American" and thought he found it. When he came across some Natives he started calling then Indians. They tried telling him they are the Natives of this land, him and didn't find anything this isn't India. Columbus insisted on calling them Indians no matter how much they said they weren't, he soon got upset and asked do you have a flag? The Natives looked at each other then back at Chris and said No. Columbus replies no flag no country and took over. Not cool! In no way do I agree with this type of treatment. I make fun of the silly make believe stories that are created to hide the truth about the inhuman things human do it's like the comedic release to the drama that is allowed to go on. With that being said I'm not arguing that the alien shouldn't be treated fairly, I don't think they should be considered human.
Carla P.
ReplyDeleteThe emotional-inspiring movie District 9 was a representation of how the U.S. excluded minorities in the past. In the movie, the exclusion was towards the extra-terrestrials whose ship crashed in South Africa. The South African Government immediately puts these aliens in government camp, where they are given a place to live while their ship is still down. The government begins to start doing experiments on the aliens and start treating the District 9 area as the slumps. The aliens don’t have rights and are secluded from the rest of the population; they’re also treated less than the average person. All living organisms have rights in the system our society has. The Aliens should have the same amendments that are enforced on our population, such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion and the fourteenth amendment; which states equal protection of the laws. Many things can be done to make sure that these rights are ensured, people have taken cases to the Supreme Court, people have protested, and people have tried getting others to sign petitions. In most situations rights usually disappear and instincts kick in when threatened although people should be brave enough to stick with their morals. . Reasonably it is no one’s obligation, but the way we created our society it is as put that we should give a hand in need to all non-lethal and in some cases even lethal individuals.
I agree with your statement that this movie also represents the United States responsibility of excluding the minorities especially the indeginous people like the cherokees in the past. I am not sure if you do know or remember how the so called manifest destiny of the United States government ,under the administration of 7th President Andrew Jackson, the Indian Removal act of 1830. Which is basically an act the eliminate all the indeginous people, more especially the Cherokee Indians, in the south and move all of them to the New Indian Territory (the State of Oklahoma). This removal is to free the land for the white people which is a part of the manifest destiny. This act also caused violent, horrible force of removal of the Cherokees and walked for about 1,500 miles to the New Indian Territory. Many have died from this force removal along the way. I think the aliens have the right to be treated just because like the Cherokees they have human essence. Just because the government or the state have the power to do what they want for the sake of ALL, they should not exclude others that is not their kind. I agree with you that we should help others that is in need whether they caused you harm or not. That is how humanity should be.
DeleteGerald M
Troy W.
ReplyDeleteThe Aliens within District 9 were definitely treated unjustly. The rule of law was not upheld by any or all parties that were accountable to uphold them, such as the Government, MNU and the people of Johannesburg. Knowing that when the mother-ship landed they obviously came in piece, being way more advanced in weapons of arms as they were they meant no harm? Once the government recognized how advanced they were they started to experiment and abuse the aliens to get the advancement they had. Feeling threatened and callable would make any country feel backed in a corner and go beyond their means of just. Any living breathing creature deserves to be treated equally and with dignity and not under cruel and unusual punishment. Not only that but they also tracked and experimented on their own kind, a man that worked alongside them for years. Everybody gets treated unjust until someone makes a stand or the truth of it comes to light.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDavid B
ReplyDeleteI believe that this question of “rights” has many possible answers and each person will have their own beliefs of what they believe is right for the aliens.
From my perspective on the movie, the aliens were being treated fairly from the get go, because the humans were warm and caring towards them because they fit the role of your typical refugee. The aliens were brought to earth by what seems to be mechanical failure of their mother ship and it did take them some time to get it running again.
The aliens were very similar to humans in many ways. They were able to have free thought and their own language and culture. I would say that yes, these aliens have rights too. They should be free to express themselves, but also must adhere to societies norms (rules and regulations). Even things that are non-humans in this day and age have rights, ranging from animals – dogs and cats, to the belief that being able to arm yourself and own guns is something that people do fight for and any attempt to take those rights away is often met with the most extreme resistance. People may have their own opinion of how long that their rights should be protected, but for me personally, it would have to be just like any other refugee scenario, and people have no right to fear something (in this case the aliens) simply because they are unknown. Usually people begin to freak when something new emerges and threatens their spot as the dominant culture/species/etc. Which is what I think went on here. Even though Johannesburg is a big city, the population on the alien ship was bigger than the city, so they reacted in such a way that was similar to apartheid and the Jim Crow laws. These laws were very restrictive in what people could do, when they could do it, and the punishments were severe if they were disobeyed. I believe that normal policing and law enforcement would probably have been the best method to dealing with the aliens. Nothing too crazy like paramilitary forces hired by the state (MNU). Rights are rights no matter what species you belong to. That’s why people see different rights so vaguely and changing things around to often serve their purpose.
As with all other humanitarian crises, the countries in the immediate area of the disaster would probably bear the brunt of the refugees, and those that are unaffected should share the responsibility of it. This would be eventually be followed up by international aid to help bolster the resources. Every country involved would have to contribute equally in order to prevent any one country being overwhelmed and resources exhausted. It isn’t possible simply for one country to do everything for the refugees and its own people at the same time.
Francisco A.
DeleteDavid, based on your opinion on the criteria, I agree with what you have to say on the basis of your responses on the topic. First off, the fact that you believe (or imply) that the aliens have just as much rights to live and express themselves freely without any interference is something I believe in too and see eye to eye with. Also, the fact that you believe they were treated fairly at the start of their discovery by the humans and then transitioned into being neglected and abused by the (same) humans is also something I believe in as well, and therefore agree with you. The way you compare the Jim Crow Laws with that of the situation with the aliens was a pretty good move to say on your part, although I do believe you could have elaborated a little bit more on comparing the two concepts. In addition, your take on the idea that the surrounding countries near the country that is the prime care-taker of the aliens should help that country so as to create an international relief effort in helping the alien refugees was an appealing thought process for you, and I do agree on that basis (of each nation contributing to the host nation in some way), but again, I feel like you could have went more into detail on the specifics of how this relief effort can go about. I also find it fascinating on how you imply the concept of rights as being something that is based on one’s own perspective, but I believe that you could have come up with a more concrete definition of what “rights” are. Aside from that, your response, in my opinion, was eminent and impressive. Again, I believe your response could use a little bit more work in terms of specific, but it’s good as it stands, and I did enjoy reading your response, especially considering the fact that I agree with you 100% of the way.
Alec M.
ReplyDeleteThis entire argument is fundamentally based on whether or not the aliens “are” human—whether they have “full” human essence. Human essence is a set of characteristics that define human behavior, and differentiate a human from a nonhuman: sentience (awareness, or the ability to feel pleasure and pain; consciousness, or self-awareness; complex emotions; language; being a social animal; and more importantly, reason, or the ability to analyze, create categories, and generalize). Surprisingly, the aliens in the film seem to exhibit this entire set of attributes. So, is it reasonable to put these aliens into the discussion of being treated just or unjust? Arguably, one may assert aliens are not human, therefore, they do not have human rights; however, animals are not human, but they do have rights called animal rights, respective to perhaps animal essence. Therefore, I hold that the aliens are treated unjustly. This unjust treatment emulates history’s genocide, or even anti-Semitism (extreme hostility and discrimination of the mere human essence of Jews during World War II). Would one disregard the perhaps extreme eradication of Jews the same way with the aliens? Meanwhile, in particular to these alien individuals and groups, being treated just or unjustly is categorized into discrete levels: by state, by private corporation (the MNU in this case) operating under the authority of the state, and by individuals. By “state,” the aliens were treated justly because of the established and strict laws enacted over the aliens’ interim residence on earth. By the “private sector” of the MNU, the aliens were still treated justly because of the laws; however, under certain circumstances by “individuals,” they were not. These “individuals,” under personal autonomy, treated them unjustly—they disobeyed the MNU laws of keeping the aliens alive unless attacked upon. They disobeyed their obligation to follow the “rule of law,” as stated by our own World Justice Project, and disrupted the occurrence of a “fair and functioning society.” Now comes into question: Who or what is entitled to have rights? Obviously, ensuring these secured rights are fully upheld depends on the severity of the group, individual, or thing that has these rights. A rock, or the environment/nature, does not have greater rights than humans. This is because humans have a greater potential to impact; however, the aliens seem to have the same potential because they able to reason just as well as humans—not to mention, they are able to build and engineer their spaceships. So, the aliens definitely have rights because they possess human essence. If a group has rights, that group is entitled to them. They have the prerogative to expect their rights are upheld, whether a higher authority evokes fear on the individual or not. Lastly, to answer this question, all the nations on earth in the film “do” have an obligation to help a large (human essence) population. Our own NATO was established after the malicious World War II because humans have rights that need to be upheld. As a species of life—aliens are living too—we have an obligation to protect human potential. This human potential, and thus human essence, is ours to protect, nourish, and enforce because fulfilling one’s human potential (whether an alien or not; humans and aliens both have human essence) yields happiness, a fundamental potential that leads to creativity, inventions (perhaps advanced spaceships from aliens), and learning. If we do not protect the human essence (the human potential to activate our human flourishing), then we are essentially impeding our existence (life).
Jacob T.
ReplyDeleteI felt district nine did a fantastic job in portraying the cruelty and brutality that human forces have on the surroundings around them. The aliens were absolutely treated monstrous and savagely, even though they did follow some type of ethical code. As humans we have the tendencies to judge and inferiorize anything different. Right away the aliens were given a derrogative name called "prawns" like African Americans labeled as "colored" or "wetbacks" to Mexicans. The aliens were setup in a third world like enviroment exposed to diseases, violence, and essentially corrupted the alien society. They created this addiction to cat food in which they were able to basically control the prawns as pets. Of course rebellions and protests will occur with conditions of their enviorment, and I believe the prawns were pushed to their limits. Human history and the establishment of the United States made life how it is today by not putting up with the bullshit and inhumane actions brought upon by the European nations, so it's understandable why the aliens were turning to violence and distruction. Their life's were basically ripped from their hands(or tentacles ): stripped from their homeland , malnourished , and basically imprisoned within district 9. I would understand if all prawns were distructive, but the prawn who fixed the ship and the relationship with his son , and the saddness expressed when his good friend was shot down right it front of him , proved that the aliens did have emotions , feelings , and intelligence. The aliens faced an immense amount of torture and pain as humans tried to understand them but mostly how to use their weapons. The movie showed graphic scenes of the aliens being shot for no reason, treated unjustly, tormented , and even eaten. I believe district 9 is like a scene from the holocaust filled with mass murders and unthinkable torments. If we think of it as the aliens point of view , humans would be considered an inhumane non friendly society.If my babies were burned alive and my best friend shot in front of me, all hell would break loose. I believe the government took the absolute worse path to follow. Instead of keeping the aliens on the planet trying to figure them out physically and psychologically, I believe we should have focused on fixing the ship and sending them on their way home. Instead we kept them, killed them , and manipulated their bodies to understand their weaponry. It's ironic because they have a statue symbolizing peace between humans and prawns, as if they were equal with one another. But in reality they were treated viscously and unjust even though we have regulations and legal guidelines to follow. Many scenes showed that laws of our own government were not even enforced, and many illegal actions took place in district 9. The government also allowed illegal activity and gangs to develop into their society and the unethical list can go on and on. As humans we are naturally self distructive and controlling; even till this day we are unjust towards each other and I believe we are not quite ready to understand and essentially live with this new intelligent species. How can we understand an entirely new biological being when it took thousands of years to get a slight grasp on our own.
Stephanie G.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that the aliens were not getting treated all that fairly. In the beginning of the movie when they speak about their first encounter with the aliens, they talk about how they were sick and starving and they set up an area for them to be able to adapt and live in and everyone donated money to help the aliens. After a few years pass, we noticed that these aliens start to lose this sympathy people had for them and people seem to start to react negatively towards them, calling them degrading things and putting up signs that say they're not allowed. I mean there are parts that do show how the aliens can get aggressive which explains some people's tendencies to shut them out. But at the same time, I think it's unjust to throw these aliens in a giant camp with nothing. We can't really say that they're animals because they have human-like qualities; they can understand and think like us and they have they're own language. Later in the movie we also see that they're actually really intelligent when we see how Christopher uses the advanced looking technology in their aircrafts. So although they do seem like feisty violent creatures, they still have advanced mindsets like us humans, compared to animals. I don't think it's right to treat the aliens like a bunch of animals and throw them in a fenced camp and then expect them to be obedient, well-behaved beings. Maybe someone in the state should of tried gathering a group of people to try to communicate directly with them and try to understand one another and maybe there wouldn't be so much chaos between the two species? I don't know.
In terms of being fair and having their own rights, there isn't a lot of those qualities being shown to the aliens. The MSU treat them like lower class beings which can easily influence the rest of society to do the same which is what I think might of happened over the years. I know there are people, individuals, who do believe the aliens deserve to be treated equally and maybe the media sometimes tries to portray that too, but it's not enough because most of the people don't want to accept that. It seems that society has made anything unfamiliar and different to be a bad and scary thing which can explain the peoples' indifference towards the aliens. I also understand how difficult it is to be able to help the aliens live better because of financial reasons, but there must be some other way to help like trying to help the aliens go back home for example. Did they try that maybe? Like communicating with them and trying to understand how they got there in the first place and how they could go back? Because it seems like the state just said "oh look, a helpless new species we don't know about and who seem stuck here in our planet, let's just throw them in a box expecting them to fend for themselves in a foreign planet and pretend like we care about their well being." I don't know, maybe I'm just rambling now but this is just what I see. The aliens should have been treated better since the state decided to take them in and "help" them in the first place.
Nhu Tran
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that the aliens are treated unjustly. First of all, the inhumane treatment can be seen obviously at the beginning of the film. When the spacecraft arrives in Johannesburg, the biggest city in South Africa, the government sends their people to this place to discover what inside the spacecraft is. They see many aliens who are in poor conditions of health, sickness, malnutrition, and struggling with the atmosphere in the Earth, but there is no evidence to show that the government spends time to give them treatment or food. They all know that the aliens are living things, not just monsters or objects, but they neither give them a better condition to live, nor even show willing to help them. Otherwise, the state sends these aliens to a camping side on District 9, where is located outside the city, to confine and isolate them with the surrounding population. No housing, no provisions, and no supporting from the state can be seen through over two decades in the movie, and the aliens have to survive themselves in the camping side. I think this is extremely unjust for the aliens because, at first, the aliens have the rights to be treated very well to survive when they are humanistic and need help from human. Another reason, when they arrive to this planet, they don’t do anything threatening or harmful for people in this place. Also, they don’t try to kill people to take the place or destroy lives and the city in this nation. Thus, they do not deserve to be treated, isolated, and ignored as dangerous or monstrous from the state. Furthermore, there is a conflict between the aliens and people who live around. I believe the reason of this action comes from the state because they don’t help the aliens to survive, especially about food. The aliens don’t have anything to eat, so they attack people who come around them. This is a need for them; otherwise they will die. Therefore, the more the aliens starving, the more people get killed, and the more conflict can happen. People fear of the aliens, so they attack the aliens. People see the alien outlook and their behavior about killing people, but not think about the reason of it. They take a right from the aliens who should not be treated like animals by protesting and wanting the government to relocate the aliens far from the city. In this situation, I ask myself, why people don’t protest and force the government to supports the aliens so they will not be starving and kill people lives, but they want to get rid of them? Is this also a kind of racism and inhuman behavior from people who is individual and is a group of the society? I think it is. The way people treat the aliens can be seen as unfair treatment and they don’t want to help the aliens either. They just experience the alien actions and determine they are monster, dangerous and need to go away to other place. Then, the private corporation MSU, operating under the authority of the state, who are hired and take their responsibility to relocate the aliens to District 10 because the conflict between people who live near District 9 with the aliens.
Nhu T. Continued
ReplyDeleteThis company takes abuse of their power to experience the alien intelligences; they use violence, shooting and kill the aliens. They take alien bodies to their lab and use them for their purpose of science and profits. I believe this is inhumane action which against ethical and rule of laws in the society. Even though aliens have different DNA, and distinct in scary, barbaric feature, and people call them “prawn”, which presents for animal names, they still have human sense of emotional and characteristic similar to our society of human life. They appear intelligent and humanistic creatures. They should be treated as a humane feature. The state make laws for them to not against their society’s standard, so they should treat the aliens as fair as others instead of torture them and abandon them. I think that all the nations of the Earth have an obligation to help this country because this also affect the societies in the world about ethical, discrimination issues and the way people treat others. It can lead to many mistaken if people see how they treat others. I strongly believe if other nations willing to help, there will be enough money to help, train, provide foods and housing, and support them to fit in with society. Instead of using their money on war to kill people, they can use them to help the aliens survive.
Jessica F
DeleteI agree with that MNU does take advantage of their power and treat the aliens unjustly. I also do not think that it is right for people to treat other species unethically and only want to harm them. I also do not like how the MNU took the bodies of the aliens to their laboratories and did all kinds of experiments that were never meant to help the aliens in the first place. I also do agree with you that the aliens do have some sense of emotions because we saw it when the alien father was being taken away from his alien son that the father did care a lot about his son. The alien father also showed emotions when he went to MNU laboratory and said he would not allow other aliens to be used as experiments because that was not right. I also agree with you that the state should have helped the aliens instead of hurting them and not caring about them.
Theron R.
ReplyDeleteOur friends, the "prawns", as they were callously labeled in reference to their external appearance were undoubtedly human in every way except physically. They processed all the faculties and qualities that make us human and yet were treated like beast and vermin to be feared and hated. Of course when they first arrived the world was in an excited awe over their presence, but as the years went on and having no resources of their own they were eventually forgotten and neglected by the global community and then mistreated by Johannesburg. As living conditions worsened for these refugees, crime and violence in the area around the camp/slums rose sharply, thus the people of the region began to resent and fear the refugees. Though the ethical responsibility and commitment to social democracy of the people of Johannesburg, the state and the global community were initially given comfortably and honestly, the situation and treatment became that of containment, confinement, oppression and neglect for the rights of the refugees. Something had to be done, but unfortunately action was entrusted to MNU, an arms developer and manufacturer, who inevitably sought out to exploit the refugees for their weapons technology and DNA. This led to a front of "relocating" the people of District 9 to an internment camp 200 miles outside of Johannesburg with few resources and worse living conditions. Were the refugees not successful in returning to their homeland in time, we would have witnessed the absolute genocide of their people. Unfortunately, we have examples of these kinds of refugee camps all around the world, and not everyone of them is lucky enough to eventually return home, and as am I sure most of us would want them given land and resources that are suitable for humane conditions, typical they are not. As a global community there should be more dialogue about such refugee camps and populations the world over and collaborative international efforts to house and rehabilitate these groups so that they can enjoy humane and just living conditions that we all expect for ourselves.
Jaewoo K
DeleteI always like to read your responses for our movies, Theron. Of course, when aliens arrived at first, humans must have been excited so much. However, as humans got used to aliens’ existence, they probably lost the interest for the new neighbors. Some of humans might started having hostility against somebody who has very special appearance which can be considered unusual, or maybe, ugly. By the way, we should not judge the aliens’ appearance by our standard. We never know under what kind of condition and environment they were living in their mother planet. Their look could be ideal for somewhere in the universe. Since aliens did not have any concept of human economic system, probably they just took all goods and resources from other human communities. This might agitate people toward negative way as many people go against immigrants these days. So humans needed a special agent or organization to take care of the alien issues in normally acceptable ways for human beings, even the ways can be violent for aliens. Then we have MNU, the special organization that every human wanted. However, I kept thinking that the organization rather acted like NAZI, the one of the most notorious organizations in our history. They have no ethnics or philosophy, when they operate a mission assigned. MNU just consider benefits for human beings, and it is the only value they pursue.
Michelle Padilla Lopez
ReplyDeleteWhen aliens first arrived on Earth it must have been an amazing moment because humans usually never see anything like this that often. Human beings wanted to help the aliens to get back home. However, after twenty years, human beings started to treat them differently. I think the aliens were treated unjust. First, they were isolated from the city into trashed land that was fenced all around. Human beings were also trying to figure out how to use the aliens’ weapons. They also used the aliens as an experiment. The state, the MSU corps, and humans mistreated them and violated many rights. Aliens are obviously different creatures from what we are used to seeing.
Despite the fact that they are aliens, they still had some human characteristics such as emotion and a conscious as well. They maybe do have rights. They shouldn’t be evicted from shacks that individuals do not use anymore. The aliens knew who the human beings were and they did no harm to them until “war” began. They did not go into the city to try and destroy the humans, nor did they go out of their way to get food. All they were trying to do is work on the fluid to be able to get the mother ship to start once again so they can fly to their planet.
However, I think that integrating the aliens into society would have been a difficult task and I think that all nations would have had to be obligated to help. Earth doesn’t belong to just one country, it belongs to more. So, obligating all nations would’ve been a good help. I’m not sure how it would’ve worked to have aliens and human beings on the same planet though. Even so, I still would think that aliens would get separated and mistreated because they are not human beings. Personally, even if this is what I saw in the movie and this is my view. I don’t know how my perspective would change if it happened to us in reality. Maybe I’d be scared too and would try to kill them as well.
Angad S.
DeleteMichelle i agree with everything you said in your post. I also think that the aliens were treated unfairly. Isolating them to the slums wasn't a good faith gesture. I also think that the State and the MNU violated many rights while evacuating the aliens. I think that because they were the second leading weapons manufacturer all MNU wanted was to learn how to use and manufacture there superior weaponry. After all when it all comes down to it, whoever has the bigest gun is usually the boss. The science experiments conducted in the MNU basement were unethical, unlawful, and out right wrong, I wouldnt wish that upon any living being. I also do agree and believe that if all of the nations came together and helped, alien integraion would have been better and gone smoother.
Lucia C.
ReplyDeleteWhen the aliens were first discovered, the entire world was watching them. The province of Gauteng gave MNU fool responsibility of the aliens when they arrived. At first everyone treated them justly. By sheltering them, nourishing them, keeping them close to their mother ship. But as the years past by, people started getting tired of them. Little by little, District 9 started to turn into a slum. There were more than one million of them, which made it very difficult to keep order. All individuals were tired of the aliens taking over their home and because MNU couldn’t keep order, so they screamed and yelled and protested, they wanted them out of there. MNU was tired of them because of all the complaint they received on a daily basis from all individuals. The state was even more finished with them because MNU couldn’t keep order plus all the rioting that was going on. Everyone was against the aliens and didn’t care what happened to them. The aliens were then treated very unjustly from everyone. Individuals saw them as garbage. Nothing good would ever come from a prawn. The state basically didn’t care for them anymore. They didn’t help, other than still having MNU take charge. MNU were conducting experiments on them. They would shoot who ever they wanted, whenever they pleased. All three parties took the aliens rights away. The aliens had rights, and they knew it, but what were they going to do. They weren’t home and couldn’t do anything on earth so they took all the baloney that was thrown at them. The aliens knew they weren’t treated justly anymore. They weren’t treated with fairness, there were signs all overt the city with keeping prawns away, and every time MNU came around and accused them of something, they never gave the aliens time to redeem them selves. And when it came to securing them, it was only to keep them in their place, the bottom of everything. Although they had some essential features as humans do, the aliens did not have the same rights as us. But just because they do doesn’t mean they should have the same rights. They’re not part of this world, they might be part of this universe, but if only the rights spread that far. Now if we decide to give them rights and then take it away from them, that’s a different story. We cant just take rights away once they have been given. But that’s what happened to the aliens, their rights were taken away. People were tired of having them around over 20 years, but that was no reason to do what they did. I believe that if the aliens came to earth, it becomes every ones responsibility, they arrived in our planet, so we should work as one planet to help the outsiders. Not keep doors closed from them.
Veronica P.
ReplyDeleteIn a world where people of different skin colors can't even be treated fairly, I thought it impossible for the state to ever treat completely different creatures differently. However in the beginning it seemed like they could make that possible. Of course everyone was amazed by the aliens, and the fact that they showed they were harmless from the start made it more amazing. At first it will seem like a good idea to have these creatures live with you, but is it to be friends with them? I don't think so. I think that MNU's only interest was to get on their good side so that eventually they can take them and do experiments on them. That of giving them homes and protecting them was all an act to me, and eventually that plan went wrong. The aliens multiplied to millions and the people didn't like the idea of having alien neighbors. MNU was very cruel to them towards the end. I wasn't surprised though because I didn't expect them to treat aliens like royalty...they were ALIENS! Obviously MNU was automatically going to feel superior to them and treat them how they wanted. Which is what made it unjust. The aliens never meant any harm. The fact that they had families and showed care to them showed that they were careful. Yes, they were treated unjust, but it was no surprise. I didn't expect them to treat them otherwise from the beginning.
These are good points, I too agree that the aliens were never fully treated equally with full rights that humans possess. In the movie, Wikkus is one in the same with people who were treating the aliens unjustly, however, as the movie progresses and Wikkus starts turning into an alien himself, a sort of ethical change occurs in him and we see him start helping the aliens. Though his beginning intentions were merely selfish, could his actions be seen as just towards the end of the movie, when he helps Christopher and his son get back to the mothership? Wikkus's actions could arguably be the only just actions we see anyone exhibit throughout the entire movie.
DeleteSavanah F.
Maria I.
ReplyDeleteI personally think they were treated unfairly and unjust. They weren't treated with any type of fairness. As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including the right to equal treatment and the absence of discrimination; the right to life and security of the person; the right to the due process of the law; the freedom of opinion and expression; the freedom of belief and religion; the absence of any arbitrary interference of privacy; the freedom of assembly and association; and the protection of fundamental labor rights. I do understand that they were not human beings but at the same time they did carry a lot of the traits humans do. I am not saying treat them like humans because at the same time they are a different phenotype and we do not know what they are capable of doing. Just as humans have right we also have animal rights if the MSU decided to take them in to the land of the state they should of stablished rights for the aliens and they do for any living ting on their state. They were the ones who entered their ship and took them out to care and help them but yet they place them in a dumb and expect them to survive without bothering the humans. I do understand that to help and educate and train them to be like humans could take time and money but why keep them for over 13 years and not do anything to help them leave or move somewhere that would have been more suitable for the aliens to live. If the MSU didn't have what it took to help the aliens they should of never took it upon them to remove them from their ship and place them in their state. They should of asked for assistance from a more suitable country or from a world leaders team. Instead they take them in to use them as an experiment with zero consideration. It was clear the aliens didn't want to stay there they just needed help on getting their ship working again. When they entered the ship they should of communicated what was going on with other world leaders to establish a better plan. A plan that would state whether they plan to keep the aliens on earth or help them leave. It seemed as though the MSU and the state were just trying to see if the aliens would benefit them if they can use them instead of help. The aliens showed they were smart and capable to continue living on a planet that wasn't theirs and manage to survive under the circumstances they were in. they saw that and they used them as test monkeys. The citizens of the state weren't aware of what they MSU was doing with the aliens they thought they were helping them but in reality they weren't and they used the peoples land to “accommodate” the aliens. In conclusion I do feel the aliens were treated unfairly and with no just or consideration to the fact that yes they might be different phenotype they are still living things, as human beings we have an obligation to treat any living thing with care and some kind of consideration. Just because they looked different than us they weren't to different, they ate, breathed, walked had two feet thought, ect... They had a lot of similarities as humans and they should have been treated with some type of consideration and not as a test monkey.
MSU was wrong by using the aliens as an experiment. I felt that MSU felt threatened by the aliens and that is why they did what they did. The aliens had advanced weapons but they did not use them against the humans. It came out to be the opposite and the humans wanted to use the alien weapons against them. The aliens did in fact stay on planet earth for two decades so they had no other choice but to settle in. I believe they did their best because they in fact were away from the humans which was in District 9. With such an immense population of aliens it was going it was going to be difficult to move them to another District. The conditions they were living in was horrible but that is all they were given and they had to work with it, I mean what else were they going to do since they were stranded here on planet Earth. If their mothership wasn’t broken I am sure they wouldn’t of been here on planet Earth living in such horrible condition, they had their own home. The only thing they ever wanted was to go home they were not planning on staying here on Earth. –Lorena P.
DeleteI agree 100%, although the aliens are of a different species they did share alot of things that we consider valuable. More specifically they valued family, and had some sort of compassion towards each other, in the scene where christopher johnson and wickus enter the msu building to find the oil christopher finds his wife and is clearly heart broken. They also came to wickus' aid when they saw he was now half alien. They were forced to stay here on earth because their ship had shut down. I feel they should have been treated fairly and justly, the fact that they arent human does not merit the way they were treated. We uphold rights for animals of different species on tis planet and we protect and respect their natural rights because theyre living creatures, the aliens are no different. -John S
DeleteVeronica P.
ReplyDeleteYou made really good points about the alien's position in the movie. They weren't there to harm, and definitely never intended to arrive to earth. If the mothership was fixed sooner, they would have been left. I feel like MSU should have done a better job at working with the aliens and help them get what they wanted to fix their ship to go home. Instead they kept them there and eventually fought against them. The alien's technology was really advanced and I think the humans could have learned a lot from this rather than experimenting on the aliens. I also agree when you say that the aliens had a lot of similarities to humans. The main one I found was that they had feelings. They had families and only wanted to get home where they knew they would be safe. MSU failed to realize this, however, and were ignorant and treated the aliens how they wanted. This is what made everything unjust. MSU ignored the alien's feelings because they looked different, and never looked into what they really felt. Everyone also became upset because in the end there were many more aliens than in the beginning. But in 20 years, reproduction is inevitable(yet another similarity to humans). If the humans didn't want this, then they should've done a better job at helping them. They didn't though because of their selfishness and desire to experiment on these poor creatures.
Amiri M.
ReplyDeleteJust like my fellow classmates I believe the aliens were treated unjust! MSU was completely wrong for treating them the way that they did. Using them as science experiments instead of figuring out how to help them return to their home. Trying to figure out how to use their weapons so they can use them against the aliens. Not giving them a proper home or teaching them how to be apart of the society. I feel the aliens should have the same rights just like the humans do. The fact Wikus was slowly turning into an alien , the MSU could of helped him instead they wanted to dissect him basically murdering him as if he was no longer relevant since he wasn't human anymore. Which was an inhumane choice, since Wikus was married to the daughter of one of the MSU leaders.
They found the container that could help fix Wikus so there was hope..but it was gone once the corrupted MSU leaders made the decision to dissect Wikus. I honestly think MSU completely feared the aliens. Being the reason why they segregated the aliens from the human population, and treated them so horrible. When the aliens never came out and destroyed properties or attacked the community. MSU just like other country governments and leaders are corrupted and only think about whats best for them to make money.