Civic Mirror: A Look
At The Outside World From Inside a Classroom
By: Nicholas Pavanel
For
the past two weeks my grade ten Civics class has been participating in the
interactive game Civic Mirror. Civic Mirror is supposed to mirror the real
world and allow students to become citizens of a country they create. While in
this country students experience a taste of what the outside world might be
like. In our own Civic Mirror game, the judicial branch of government greatly
impacted the nation, our own country of Gillamore is not unlike the Cedar
Revolution of 2005 in Lebanon and we learn the very important lesson of being
aware of your actions.
In the first “year” of Civic Mirror,
the judicial branch of our government had to deal with two very influential
prosecutions. One specific case, between the holder of the only energy plant
and a colleague whom she took money from, greatly affected the nation as a
whole and demonstrated that
you need to be aware of your actions in the real world. The case was started
because the accuser believed that the energy plant owner took her money and
bought the energy plant without giving her anything in return. The plant owner
believed that because the accuser didn’t sign a contract she basically gave her
money for free and she could use it how she liked. In the end the accuser won
the prosecution. This event influenced the whole nation in a number of ways.
One such way was that it transferred half of the energy monopoly to the
accuser. This will affect the nation so much because now, since the monopoly is
shared between two people with different views the price of energy will lower
and more people will be able to afford it. This can be related to real life
because sometimes in a real prosecution, money or business percentages can
change hands. Also this can be related to the real world because before the
prosecution even started the accuser made the first mistake, she forgot to sign
a contract and assumed that the other party would act nicely. This gives me
insight to the real world because it is showing that you can’t assume things
about people you don’t know. Another way this influenced the nation was that it
showed people that they have to be more cautious of who they deal with and to
be more cautious about their actions.
Now it is going to be much tougher to trick someone into a bad deal
because they have seen what can happen if you are not aware of your actions. Also
this will mean that many business deals that have been proceeding so far will
stop until both parties sign a contract. This gives me insight into the real
world because it shows me that if you are unaware of the rules people will take
advantage of you. In this situation particularly the accuser had no idea that
she needed a contract and almost lost all of her money. This teaches me that I
need to be aware of what I’m doing and whom I’m dealing with for my sake and
for others. A citizen forgot to sign a contract and almost lost all of her
money. Now, people will be more careful of who they deal with and more people
will try and understand the game.
Just eight years ago Randy “Duke”
Cunningham, a decorated Navy fighter pilot and US congressman, admitted to
taking bribes of at least $2.4million dollars from at least three defense
contractors in exchange for government business. Corruption, it can reach any
level of order, it can reach any man and it will always take place in
government. Our civic mirror judicial branch of government was no different. Our
nation found out our first government appointed judge could not take action in
the second prosecution because he was corrupt. The people of Gillamore thought
our supreme judge was corrupt because he was a close friend to the prime
minister and was overheard saying how he was going to fix the prosecution. This
influenced our nation more than many thought. This affected our nation because
if the government judge can become corrupt anyone can. This will end up making
people more cautious, and the crime rate will go down in our country. This
could also make the schemes more elaborate and dangerous. I think the general
security of our nation will rise and everyone will be watching his or her own
backs for betrayal. This gives me insight into the real world because it shows
me that even though we might think that some people are impenetrable, they may
be corrupt and are really working for someone else’s interests. Also this gives
me insight in the real by showing that some people may be acting the way they
do just be to get the best of you. Another way this influenced our nation was
that it might create distrust in the current government and change the tides in
the next election. The elected judge could not be able to participate in the
prosecution because he was corrupt. If the government appointed a corrupt judge
that could be won over by money and power then how are we to trust the rest of
the government? Since the judge is representing the government it puts a large
shadow the whole party. Usually people want a government that follows the laws
they create and that is respectful of other peoples trust. This scenario gives
me insight into the real world because I don’t know any of the party members
well enough to know that they aren’t corrupt. Before the first time I will be
able to vote I’m going to make sure that the party I am voting for isn’t
corrupt. The government judge of the existing government was corrupt and due to
this surprising discovery the party in power may lose next election and general
awareness will increase. Only time will tell.
The English dictionary states that
revolution “Is an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an
established government or political system by the people governed.” Revolution
usually happens when a corrupt government is disliked by the people enough that
they stand up and go against the government in either violent of non-violent
manners. The peaceful Cedar Revolution that happened back in 2005 in Lebanon is
very alike to our own government’s situation in Civic Mirror. The government in
both countries does not represent the interests of their people as much as they
should. Syrian interests, not the ideas of the people heavily influenced
Lebanon’s government. In our Civic Mirror country the current government also
does not represent the peoples interest enough as it should. The problem in
Lebanon was resolved by a peaceful revolution with lots of protests. The Cedar
Revolution can be thought of as a change of government. Our Civic mirror
government problem can be resolved in a similar way. At the next election the
people of Gillamore need to elect a new government to power that more
represents their interests. Another way that both problems are similar is that
both of the governments were very corrupt. Syrian’s who wanted the power for
personal reasons consumed the Lebanon government. Our Civic Mirror government
had a judge that was only there so he could gain in game status, power and
wealth. The Lebanon’s resolved their problem by electing a new government and
making sure that every member had a fair mind and cared about the people. In
our game we can do the exact same thing, elect a new government and appoint a
fair judge. I think the Lebanon people resolved their problem exactly as it
should be done anywhere possible. Using strong protests and peaceful measures
the people reclaimed their government with the right procedures; I hope that my
Civic Mirror country can do the same.
The Cedar Revolution of Lebanon in
2005 was very successful and should be viewed on by the world so everyone knows
how a revolution should be handled. The country of Lebanon and our Civic Mirror
country of Gillamore defiantly have different situations to deal with and will
use some different methods to achieve the same goal. The Lebanon problem had a
different government structure than Gillamore. The former Syrian-Lebanese
government was full of Syrians trying to run the country with their own interests
in mind and almost all of the Lebanese wanted a change of government. In
Gillamore only a couple of corrupt politicians sit with the ruling party and
some of the citizens would not mind the current government staying. The
Lebanese did what was right when they took out all of the corrupt people in
government because that’s what the majority of the population wanted. In
Gillamore it may be a better idea to banish corrupt politicians from the
current parliament if they get re-elected because if they get re-elected, in
means the people still want that party leading their country; but nobody wants
a corrupt politician. Another way that the two situations are different is that
the Lebanese had a whole country wanting change for their government and it was
easier for them to gain a large majority. In our small classroom it will be
tough to gain a majority of the people to vote against the government because
we have many different people with different views. It was easy for the
Lebanese people to uproot the parliament because they had a different nation’s
people controlling their own government so many Lebanese felt that they needed
their own nations people controlling their own country. In the Civic Mirror
country we have many people with different views and some of the people believe
that the party in government at the moment should stay. To fix this problem we
should raise awareness about other parties more suited to our country and try
to get as many people to vote as possible.
The online real world simulation
Civic Mirror has a main goal of getting students to realize what the world
outside of their little town is like. Civic Mirror shows some citizens what it
is like to have complete power and others to have completely nothing. In every
scenario you will always learn something new and will always be able to look at
the world with a new perspective. An important lesson I’ve learned from Civic
Mirror is that you need to be more aware of your actions. Being more aware of
your actions could improve the quality of living in many places, in many
different ways. One way that being more aware of your actions could improve
living quality is that if everyone were more aware, everything would be done
safer. When you are more aware of what you’re doing you have a much better
chance of keeping yourself and everyone else safe. If you are driving your car
and are not aware of what you are doing you could cause an accident or lose
control. Also if everyone were to constantly pay attention to their actions you
could rely on many more things. Another way that being aware of your actions
could improve living quality is that you would have less legal mix-ups. If more
people were aware of what they were signing or doing with a business there
would be less chance of doing something that you don’t want to do. If everyone
were aware of what they were doing with businesses then there would hardly ever
be a scenario where somebody wants to go to court. The last way that being
aware of your actions could improve your community is that everything would be
more stable. With everyone being more aware of what they are doing things will
be done safer and more controlled. This means that everything will be done with
more care and people will be able to put more trust in each other. If people
trust each other more than there will be less problems and commotion. Civic Mirror has allowed me to see that if we
are more aware of our everyday actions, our past actions and think about our
future ones we can create a better life for everyone around us.
Civic Mirror, an online game that
engages students and creates a simulation that exposes people to things that
they had no knowledge about. In my particular game of Civic Mirror, the
judicial branch of government is playing a large role. I also gained insight
that being more aware of you actions can improve general life around you and
others. Civic Mirror is an influential game that will forever help teenagers
get a glance at the outside world.
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