G Fours!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Imelda (2003)

Imelda is a documentary film directed by Ramona S. Diaz about the life of former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos. It was first released in 2003 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. It was also shown during the 2004 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Excellence in Cinematography Award.

The documentary is about the life of Mrs. Marcos, beginning from her childhood, her meeting and marriage to the former President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, her life during the Martial Law, their exile to Hawaii, and her eventual return to the Philippines. The documentary includes actual interviews from Mrs. Marcos herself where she is allowed to tell her story herself. Hence, the documentary can be seen as a retelling of the history of the Philippines in the perspective of Imelda Marcos.

Perhaps the most prominent part of the film is Mrs. Marcos’ constant emphasis on the importance of “beauty”. Here, she stated that all her outfits, shoes and jewelry were for the sake of providing the people a “role model”. Even after an attempted assassination on her where she got a number slashes from a knife she wondered “why such an ugly instrument” were used on her.

It is easy for viewers of the film to see Mrs. Marcos as truly ignorant to the actual state and suffering of the people. With all the wealth and power she held, she became viewed as an arrogant elitist from the higher class. Amusingly, Mrs. Marcos herself might have realized this for she opposed the public showing this film in the Philippines. Perhaps she herself have seen what her true image had been.

Overall, the documentary Imelda was an excellent take on the showing the life of Imelda Marcos. It was a balanced view of Mrs. Marcos, comparing to past media depictions of her during martial law. The documentary had truly shown what Imelda Marcos is as a person.

Nightfall

Nightfall is a science fiction short story written by Isaac Asimov first published in the September 1941 issue of the Astounding Science Fiction magazine. The story is about how the people living in a fictional planet called “Lagash” which has always been illuminated at all sides by its six suns, face a time of darkness which they have never experienced before.

The story tackles various ideas which center mainly on dealing with fear, religion, and the origins of a belief. The way the author depicts each idea in the story is quite interesting. The ideas are matched perfectly to the resulting beliefs due to the ignorance of the people of Lagash.

The main concept is introduced by Emerson’s quote at the beginning of the story. Isaac Asimov’s take on this question is quite believable. If for instance nightfall does arrives in every 2049 year cycle, people who lived near the end of the cycle will have little to no idea of coming darkness, and hence, they will be unable to comprehend the “reality” before them. But due to man’s natural curiosity, they will still find ways, rather invent theories in order to somehow explain it.

This is quite similar to the recent “2012 Phenomena” where people around the world conceived various theories about the end of the Mayan calendar. It is said that the “end of the world” was sure to come that day. Scholars and scientist however disputed this. However the event just passed similar to how our normal calendar ends.

The story can therefore be also seen as a representation of the divergence between religion and science. It implies how the settlement of the difference in beliefs generally results in great conflicts. If the cultists and scientists just somehow tried to cooperate more, a lot more people could have been saved.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Musical and Scientific

How peculiar music is. How it can affect people’s emotions just by being combinations of different sound waves hitting our eardrums. Science can explain the movement of sound waves as we are studying in our Physics class. It can also move stuff and and break glass at certain volumes, frequencies and pitches. It is also scientifically proven that music can help us do specific tasks more efficiently like studying, working out, memorizing, or concentrating. But what cannot be explained scientifically about music is why it can affect us. Why can it enhance our skills and performances? Why do we react to it? Why do we relate it to certain memories? Why can they exemplify emotions? Why? I seriously don’t know. I just know that it does.

And as music can affect us, it can also be affected by everything else. Emotions, religions, situations, and almost everything related to science. Science can affect music. Science can BE music as it is in Gustav Holt’s “The Planets” where each movement of the music represents one of the planets of our solar system. Science is also dominant in the song “Right Here Right Now” by Fatboy Slim where it narrates the timeline of the universe. There’s even a song enumerating the periodic table of elements.

How peculiar music is. How it can be anything and how anything can be it whilst being only combinations of sound waves hitting our eardrums at measured intervals.

Yanna Palo

2013-07181

Imelda More-cost

I, honestly, am one of those people who were gullible enough to judge Imelda Marcos negatively right at the bat. What can I do, she’s so easy to judge! She is so narcissistic. While she talks about her life, her many suitors, her achievements, her lineage and her beauty, she speaks so highly of herself, it’s overwhelming. Heck, she’s even proud of the English word, “imeldific”, that is so ego-centric in meaning and is based on her. “I am simple” she says but her extravagant hand-crafted clothes and her lavish collection of thousands of shoes say otherwise. She also came up with a bunch of symbols for life and such which all seemed to make so much sense to her but looked like doodles to me. And a number of people in the documentary about her seem to agree with my thoughts on her. Some of them despise her and her husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos with a passion.

But others didn’t. And that thoroughly surprised me. So it got me curious as to why they did like Imelda. So, first on the list of why these people admired Imelda was how she endured the grief of losing both her parents and her husband whilst enduring also the verbal abuse she is getting from the masses. I am amazed that she went through that situation so elegantly. Imelda says, "When you reach a certain level of leadership, people cannot be neutral with you. They either love, love, love you, or hate, hate, hate you". Then, the documentary got to the part where she got stabbed. Another positive thing about her was that she was an active First Lady. I think she was the first First Lady of the Philippines to “get her hands dirty” in the political world. And therefore, she has earned some of my respect. Gosh, I really did not know until watching this documentary that she was a victim of attempted assassination. And that softened my heart for her a bit. So did the time she was talking about Ferdinand while she was beside his corpse. You can feel her grief just by the aura she was giving off even though she was so composed. All of these supplement the fact that she was nicknamed the “Steel Butterfly”.

That scene reminded me that she is still a human being, having problems, feeling pain. It’s just that she’s living in a different world from ours and it might look ridiculous and narcissistic to the rest of us, but that is her life. And, now, I opt to let her be. I still dislike most of her actions, don’t get me wrong, but I dislike her a lot less than before. Actually, I shouldn’t dislike her but her actions in the first place, says my Philosophy I teacher. Her actions don’t reflect her entirely. She may still be exemplifying the “Steel Butterfly” image of hers by not showing anyone the pain she may be feeling deep inside. So I shall let her be and I should remember to not judge a book by its summary or the reviews or, in this case, people by the size of their collection of shoes.

Food for Thought

A Look into Instant Food: GFours Productions

No copyright infringement intended

We are always in a hurry, and because of this, our food tries to keep up with our pace. Nowadays, all types of "on the go" food are available to us. We cannot deny the extraordinary convenience and brilliant taste, at the same time, we cannot put aside the preservatives and processing that go with them.

This is an info-graphic video tackles the different kinds of "instant food" available in the market today. It helps you understand where these foods originated from, how they are prepared, and who eats them the most. More importantly, this video shows the effect of these food on our bodies and eventually, our society.

Opinions about the different instant foods from various people are also shared in this video.

References:

BBC News. "Fast Food Factory." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1616_fastfood/>.

Canned Food UK, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cannedfood.co.uk/history-of-food-cans.

Geoghegan, T. (2013). The Story of How the Tin Can Nearly wasn’t. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21689069.

Levitt, A. (2013). A Brief History of Canned Food. River Front Times. Retrieved from http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2013/02/canned_food_history_nicolas_appert.php.

"News." The History Of The Fast Food Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. <http://www.calypso.co.uk/news/the-history-of-the-fast-food-industry>.

Reyes, Senen. "Fast Food Industry: Keeping up with the Changing Lifestyle1." Government of Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Market and Industry Services Branch, International Markets Bureau, Branding Management, Agri-Food Trade Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/ase/5991-eng.htm>.

Wilson, Tracy. "How Fast Food Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, 22 Aug. 2006. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/fast-food3.htm>.

Yates, Jonathan. "3 Reasons the Fast-Food Nation Will Rule the World." 3 Reasons the Fast-Food Nation Will Rule the World. N.p., 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/12/17/3-reasons-the-fast-food-nation-will-rule-the-world.aspx>.

The Bride of Frankenstein

In the book Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein film, Dr. Frankenstein is a scientist that has a scientific breakthrough wherein he as able to reanimate a corpse made of body parts coming from different corpses. Upon reanimation, the creature, who most people call Frankenstein, escapes the lab and roams the streets. Because of this, the townspeople come together in fear that the creature that is beyond their comprehension may kill their friends and family. Due to the circumstances unfolding, Dr. Frankenstein bore the guilt resulting from his work and vowed to never repeat his experiment.

Nightfall

Imelda Marcos - Reaction

When anyone hears the name “Imelda Marcos”, the first thing in mind is negative for most people. We Filipinos all know who she is. We may not know her like how we know other people around us. Yet, we at least know her by her surname. Thus, Imelda Romualdez - Marcos is the wife of our late President Ferdinand Marcos. We all know how they are regarded behind the words of corruption and evil at the worst. We all know her husband declared Martial Law and put many Filipinos’ lives at risk. We may all know many common things about her and her husband. Still, there are many different views that we could assert. In terms of knowing, subjectivity is more used than objectivity since it always involves judgments. In line with subjectivity, Imelda has her many own philosophical thoughts and even teachings that are no longer included in a Filipino citizen’s dictionary about her.

Imelda Marcos became known for her lavish spending. She is known for her very large number of collections of shoes. She is known for expensive fashion and luxury items. She is known for deciding to live a wealthy life despite of the people’s poverty. It is believed that all what she and her family have are gained at the cost of the Filipino people. Yet, she never bowed down to such judgments. She would always tell about her thoughts as I label “her own philosophy”. I used that label because of her mistakes of grasping the moral values when it comes to philosophy. She is somehow mislead by her beliefs. There is nothing wrong in keeping our faiths and beliefs but there are still limits. On the other hand, I admit that she is really intelligent that’s why I already considered her thoughts to be called as philosophy. Well, I do believe her statement that she really wants to be the mother of our country during her time as first lady. I am impressed on her accomplishments. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Cultural Center of the Philippines; Philippine Heart Center; Lung Center of the Philippines; Kidney Institute of the Philippines, Nayong Pilipino; Philippine International Convention Center; Folk Arts Theater; and the infamous Manila Film Center. All of these surely benefit the general public. However, bad things should never cover up good things but when it comes to people’s aspect especially for Filipinos, they could forgive but it is very hard for a person who lived in the worst imaginations to forget her and also her husband.

Imelda Marcos - Reaction

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Imelda Reaction Paper

Imelda Marcos is the former First Lady to Ferdinand E. Marcos during his reign as the President of the Republic of the Philippines. People see her merely as a pretty face but if you actually follow her life and events in our country's history, she is actually a very influential and powerful person. She is even known to be the "Steel Butterfly". Looks can be very deceiving and she's someone you shouldn't trifle with.

In fairness to Imelda, she accomplished some things during her reign as a first lady. She revived the culture of our country which is a big plus for me. Culture is the identity our country can share with around the world. It's what makes us unique and special in the eyes of so many. Promoting this can lead to so many things like increase in tourism, investments and the preservation of culture. Though her philosophy for promoting culture for the sake of "beautification" sounds very silly, I really tip my hat to her because it was a good move.

Imelda seems also somewhat intelligence but very clueless. She thinks that by doing this or by doing that she can help millions. She failed to see the bigger picture of what she was doing. The Filipino people were scared, tortured and terrified and she still tried to make a family out of that. She failed to see the corruption running deep through the veins of the country. She wouldn't be remembered by her shoes or beautification project if she actually did something to help the Filipino people. Instead many will just remember her as the wife of Marcos, or the lady with 1000 pairs of shoes or simply put the "Steel Butterfly".

Music Lessons

Music is a way through which people express themselves. May it be by writing their feelings, or by listening to the lyrics of a song, they are able to let it all out. In this expression through music, we are able to show a part of ourselves to the world. It's a representation of who are and what we've become.

We put in our music the things we think about and the things we care about, and hope that people will fully accept and understand what we're trying to convey. All in all, music is a great way to convey a message or express a stand on something. We write about a lot of things, heartache, relationships, family, parties, love, or even the most random hobby one can think of. Some have even written about the sciences, as it is one of the things that inspire them.

An good example is Gustav Holt, with The Planets, a famous seven-movement orchestral piece, with each movement representing a planet. This great composition is a product of Holt's interest in astrology. He was introduced to the topic by a friend, and from then on became a devotee of the subject.

Other contemporary artists have also used science as their inspiration, such as Frank Sinatra (Fly me to the moon) and Elton John (Rocket man). Who also would have thought that someone like Fatboy Slim would release a video about evolution, with his song "Right Here, Right Now". And who can forget, the famous theme song to the hit TV song, "The Big Bang Theory", composed by the band Barenaked Ladies.

Other than an expression of the artist's interests and passions, songs with such topics are also good for the audience listening to it. It is interesting that nowadays, if you search Youtube or science websites, there is most likely a section for videos and good number of them are music videos, so as to make the topic more interesting. This can be a way for science to be communicated to people, especially the young as it is in a medium that catches their attention. Instead of the typical lessons, teachers should consider making videos such as these when trying to teach a topic, because for sure, the students would be listening and not be bored.

Reaction paper on Music and Science

Monsters of Science

Viktor Frankenstein had two intentions in his creation of the monster. As a man of science, what he wanted to do was create something that could improve human condition. He created a creature that was composed of human elements that we consider to be excellent and beautiful, in order to create a superior species. To add to this, what he was doing was also an advancement in transplant technology and surgery. As soon as he realized that he could create an entire new being out of his own labor, the hunger for power and a god-like nature added to his intentions as well. The disparity between these two intentions cannot be determined however, that which intention was the main one.

This depicts a lesson that Shelley wanted to express in her book, and eventually in the movie adaptation. We sometimes see science and technology as evil, especially those concerning moral dilemmas such as genetic cloning. This is represented in the form of the monster, as a totality of the negative effects that science can cause. This is even more emphasized in the movie adaptation, because instead of being intelligent, the monster was made dumb. Aside from stressing the negative effects that is the monster, the inability of the monster to fully comprehend made his character more erratic and unpredictable, adding to the horror factor of the movie. But the clear difference between Dr. Frankenstein’s intentions shows us that it is not really science that is immoral, but what taints it is the nature of human beings to be selfish and to err. This shows that knowledge and science itself isn’t dangerous, but becomes so through its misuse and abuse by society.

Like the monster, there have been numerous cases in the past and present where science discoveries and inventions have caused such great harm to our society and our world. And this is understood, as no man is truly perfect, but what was lacking in Dr. Frankenstein, and in some scientists, was there lack of responsibility for their actions and the harm that these have caused. This shows us the role that science has in the society, given such a great power to be able to impact the world through inventions and discoveries, they also have the responsibility to use this power for the common good. Morality should always be accompanied in the practice of science, to ensure that it is used only in the best of intentions.

Rferences:

Knipfer, Cody. "Neutral Science, Irresponsible Scientists: Shelley’s Message about Knowledge in “Frankenstein”." A Really Cool Blog. N.p., 26 Apr. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://www.reallycoolblog.com/neutral-science-irresponsible-scientists-shelleys-message-about-knowledge-in-frankenstein/>.
Schuman, Sharon. "Frankenstein frames moral dilemma for science." The Good Life | Frankenstein frames moral dilemma for science. N.p., 18 June 1987. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sschuman/goodlife/frankenstein.shtml>.

Reaction Paper on Frankenstein

Imelda

Imelda Marcos is known for her large collection of shoes, well also jewelries, but mostly, shoes. Well, I would say that she is an intellectual person but she became obsessed with putting the Philippines on top of the list, making it on par with other developed countries, just like her obsession with her shoes. This may be because of her past, she was not really rich during her younger years. Until he met, President Ferdinand Marcos who happened to be her knight in shining armor. I think that she was obsessed with power, wealth, and putting the Philippines on top of the list because of her past.

I can't deny, that the Marcoses have done something good for our country. They improved everything in our country, infrastructures and our economy basically. Imelda became the so called mother of our country during those years and became the face of modernization later on. Many worshipped her and the Marcoses and maybe President Marcos won during the election because of her charm. But then problems started arising, problems that rose from these innovations like debts and monetary problems, basically.

Imelda was an intellectual person, an innovative first lady. But then things started falling apart and with them, she crumbled. She was too obsessed with power, wealth and fame. Which led to our country being beautiful but drowned in large debts because those structures built in the Marcos regime we corrupted.

She can not be too perfect. She can not be the perfect, charming, intellectual, innovative mother of our nation. That was her dark side, her obsession.

Rhetoric of Cancer

Cancer is a type of disease wherein the growth of cells became undesirably massive. It is considered as one of the major causes of death around the globe. Whenever I hear the word cancer, the next thing that comes into my mind is death. Even though some ways of treating cancer already exists, still, your life is in danger since whoever has a cancer has a high risk of dying earlier than how long he should live especially when you had it on the most delicate parts such as brain. It is treated through radiation therapy and most commonly through chemotherapy wherein cancer cells are eliminated by applying toxic on them. Even the medications done to cure the disease have bad effects on the body.

One of my closest friend had brain cancer and we never last a talk about her disease because she would cry hard each time we did. I was not the one who started the topics and she would introduce topics about death, religion and life and would suddenly burst into tears afterwards. She became paranoid and anxious. My friend had a brain cancer and although her cancer has not reached the higher levels yet, she already has gone due to some complications.

It is really hard to describe what really cancer is because it affects not only your physical state by also your emotional and mental state. They become conscious of everything and that had happened and will happen. But how should we treat cancer? How should we live along with it?

Cancer cells unfortunately have become part of the cancer victims. In the podcast, the interviewee kept on saying that he doesn’t want to fight it because he doesn’t want to have a ‘civil war’ within him since cancer cells are now part of his body. He said it is hard to deal with it and that he wanted to kiss it goodbye but the right way of dealing with it is living along it. He said that cancer somehow can be a gift that would enlighten your mind. It will help you realize what life really is and how to treasure time you have to live with your love ones. And since cancer is part of nature, meaning it comes along with life, we have to learn how to deal with it.

Nightfall (by Isaac Asimov)

Science fiction (Sci-Fi) is a wide genre of literature and media arts. The first Sci-Fi novel was published on the eighteenth century. This genre, although, not realistic (fictional) it contains metaphors that show the future, current condition of society and our differences as human beings. It features high technologies and creations of man that are unbelievable and overwhelming.

Nightfall is a radio drama that was played during 1940’s. It tackles about the coming darkness of a planet known as Lagash with six suns around it which has never experienced darkness. All the suns of the said planet will set and the world will become dark for the first time in their experience. The story states that it is due to an eclipse that occurs every 2049 years. The people became afraid of the thought of darkness and the revelation written in the bible came into their minds. The characters became anxious and couldn’t imagine themselves living in the darkness. It made them uneasy and they started to think of what to they have to do before the event come. Some showed their faith while others said they accept their fate. The biases of some media were also pointed out.

The radio drama addresses the divisions made by science and religion. It creates a big difference in the way of responding to what will happen. The story ended up with the nightfall that caused the people to lose their minds and feel tense and muddled and with their civilization destroyed.

Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale)

1. How does Frankenstein the book and the film reflect upon the role of morality and science?

Frankenstein is a creature made of different parts from different humans. If we base on religious beliefs and moral ethics, the creation of Frankenstein seems immoral and as what the old lady in the movie, it’s considered as blasphemy, an act against God. On the other side, Frankenstein’s creation is a great accomplishment in the field of Science. This only proves that Science and religion never intersect each other.

2. The difference between the movie adaptation of the monster and in the book is that the monster was able to carry a decent conversation. Why was the monster made dumb? Did it work?

The effect of the dumbness of the monster on me is that it adds humour and drama to its life. Because of he can’t speak well, his encounter with the blind man seemed so funny. And it also made it more dramatic because the condition put the monster into a more pitiful set up. For me it really a big difference and it made the movie more worth watching.

Blade Runner: Director's Cut

Genetic Engineering has been a great issue since it was discovered. Many people disagree on the application of this technology because it modifies the nature of living things. Although the main purpose of the technology is to cure diseases that are incurable, still, many people say it is wrong to modify God’s creation. Their religion and moral values are their basis of stand against the technology. As of today many genetic engineering has accomplished a lot in the field of medicine and health such as gene therapy that has proven to cure some types of cancer and genetic disorders.

The Blade Runner: Director’s Cut, is about advance science in the field of genetics. They create human-like creatures they called ‘replicants’ and used them as slaves. A blade runner is the assigned to retired these replicants which illegally entered the planet earth. The movie somehow emphasizes that humans should not create creatures in our own design because it may bring us problems we don’t expect. We should not abuse any of our knowledge and technologies. We should know our limitations.

Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos is one woman with high standards. She’s a person with high hopes for herself and for the country where she resides and she is a person willing to do everything just for fortune, fame and love. Before meeting Ferdinand Marcos who happens to be her knight and shining armor, Imelda was just a girl in search for her obsessions in Manila. I can say that after meeting her one true love, Imelda suddenly became an epitome of modernization and many bowed down to her.

She is our former First Lady and she did everything just to let the Philippines be on the top. For me, that was the goal of the Marcos Regime, to let people across the world be familiar of the country “Philippines”, that’s why she and her husband did everything just to seek everyone’s attention about our country.

She was a slave of her obsessions. From a simple provincial woman to an extravagant and elegant lady – Imelda made herself one of those Filipina beauties worth seeing and following. And she amazingly accomplished all of these by herself; through attending parties of known people, befriending many elites of the country and through hosting auctions and events. She clearly paved everything just for herself.

But all of these slowly took away a piece of her. Knowing that and basing from the interview of her failed assassination, she said that she wanted to be stabbed not by someone ugly and not by an old bolo. We can really see how she is corrupted by money and power that she wanted everything even her death to be elegant.

In conclusion, Imelda Marcos is a woman who strived hard to be on top and worked hard to stay there. She is a person that signifies royalties in Europe countries. And she is a person changed by poverty, fame and elegance.

Music and Science

Music is one of our own ways of coping up with the different stress life gives us and on the other hand, science is one thing to be considered from all stress and deprivations that we get. Basically, it's a give and take between the both, a relationship to be noticed and a system to be observed.

Studies show that people who have undergone music training have higher reasoning skills and motor skills. This only is a proof that science is closely related to music. These two areas in particular are quite removed from musical training as we imagine it, so it’s fascinating to see how learning to play an instrument can help kids develop such a wide variety of important skills.

Also one study shows that our preference of music shows what type of person we are. In a study of couples who spent time getting to know each other, looking at each other’s top 10 favorite songs actually provided fairly reliable predictions as to the listener’s personality traits. The study used five personality traits for the test: openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

Interestingly, some traits were more accurately predicted based on the person’s listening habits than others. For instance, openness to experience, extraversion, and emotional stability were the easiest to guess correctly. Conscientiousness, on the other hand, wasn’t obvious based on musical taste.

Basing from the above stated, it is clear that science really does something to music. And on the other hand music really jives in with science.

Imelda

The reign of the Marcos family was a chapter in Philippine history wherein people have mixed feelings because of the events that unfolded. It is no doubt that both Ferdinand and Imelda are both smart and talented people. They would not have been able to assume such a position if this was not the case. But sometimes intellect is not enough to beat the desire and hunger for power once you are put in a position where you are given more than what is needed.

In the documentary, Imelda was portrayed as a beautiful, smart, talented and driven woman. She had this vision of making the country follow in her ideals about inner and outer beauty. Being the first lady of the Philippines and having the power and resources needed for her vision to come to fruition, she had this idea that the country will only be more beautiful by concentrating her efforts on creating structures and buildings concentrating on arts and music. This may not be a bad idea but during those times, it was not the thing that was most needed by the citizens of the country. It may give other countries the idea that our country is on par with their's but it is only a front that hides the true state of our country.

She may have been a smart person, but after watching the documentary, I doubted her capability as a leader. She said at one point that she believes the country is in such a good state and that the people in poverty do not mind the state they are in because they are living through her. It may have been the shock from loss of her husband or the corruption money has brought to her that led her to that state of mind, but in my personal opinion, this is not the way a leader, or even a sane person would think when seeing people in such a state. It is still a mystery to me how people still idolize her. It may be because of her charisma and talent in the past, but it is something that still bothers me until now.