Blog #2

During my second reading of Southan’s essay, it allowed me to grasp the concepts of what he was describing much more. It cleared up some of the questions I had in the end because I seemed to miss some things. Reading the context again helped me understand Southan’s views on Effective Altruism, and what the EA movement really is. For example, I realized that Southan doubted himself many times throughout the passage because of the ideas that the EA have. He seemed discouraged and disappointed as he states, “It would be great if the arts and humanities were hugely beneficial to the world, because they tend to be personally satisfying….” Even though Southan himself is an artist, he isn’t sure that it actually helps the world in any way. However, he concludes his essay by saying that for now he will continue to be an artist and isn’t willing to give up what he loves. After reading this essay a second time, I came to find that I agree with Southan’s views and I support his decision of continuing to do what he enjoys.

Glossing the text allowed me to further my understanding of the text. If there was some word, phrase, or reference I did not know, then I would look up what it meant. Doing so let me comprehend the passage much better than when I read it the first time. Some words that I were unfamiliar with were egalitarianism, Anti-Apartheid, and Übermensch. Egalitarianism is the belief in the equality of all people either politically, socially or economically. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/egalitarian). I found that Anti-Apartheid was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement which opposed South Africa’s system of apartheid and supported South Africa’s non-whites. (http://africanactivist.msu.edu/organization.php?name=Anti-Apartheid+Movement). Übermensch is German for “Superman” or “Beyond-man”.( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Übermensch).