CapitalPpunishment essays

CapitalPpunishment essays Capital Punishment: A needless waste. The death penalty was originally brought to America from Europeans in the 1600s (Laurence, 23). Some states have abolished implement of the pathetic eye for an eye attempt of resolving and decreasing criminal activity, however most still enforce the 100 year-old petty form of torture. When most argue against capital punishment one usually considers the coldness of killing people and the poor treatment of a criminal it creates. Few view if continuing to use capital punishment profits the society. Capital punishment is not beneficial to the society that enforces it. When a civilization to acknowledges murder by the government, it reduces the civilizations value for human life. Retribution for a wrongly accused criminal is impossible, and the death penalty does not reduce crime. To expose a civilization to acknowledged murders by the government reduces the societys value for human life. Watching executions desensitizes these civilizations regard for human life. The society will start to believe that murder is acceptable under the circumstance that the inflicted are criminals. Criminals feel one of their side have been taken and wants to even the ratio (Deacons, 52). This would enhance criminal activity creating a more hostile environment, lowering their respect for human life. The increase in the death rate and exposure to the cold hands of a society composes more deaths for the society to perceive. Capital punishment preaches revenge on the enforced society. Civilians feel if the government can seek and perform revenge then why can its people not. The state uses violence but asks its citizens to embrace nonviolence 0(Father John, 2). This causes tension between ruler and society. The expectation of this is impossible for a mind to comprehend. Yes , they have thinned the gruesomeness from the criminal being hung before the town, ...

Gun Ownership by Country -- Americans Lead

Gun Ownership by Country Americans Lead The United States has the highest level of gun ownership per person of any country. This fact is startling but true. According to data compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and analyzed by  The Guardian, Americans own 42 percent of all civilian guns in the world. This figure is especially startling when you consider that the U.S. makes up just 4.4 percent of the worlds population. Just How Many Guns Do Americans Own? The estimated tally in 2012, according to the UN, was 270 million civilian-owned guns in the U.S., or 88 guns per every 100 hundred people.  Unsurprisingly, given these figures, the U.S.  has the highest number of guns per capita (per person) and the highest rate of gun-related homicides of all developed countries: 29.7 per 1 million people. By comparison, no other developed countries come even close to those rates. Among the thirteen developed countries studied, the average rate of gun-related homicide is 4 per 1 million people. The developed nation with the rate closest to the U.S., Switzerland, has just 7.7 gun-related homicides per 1 million people. (There are other countries with higher rates of gun-related homicide per capita, but not among developed nations.) Gun rights advocates often suggest that the U.S. has high annual numbers of gun-related crime because of the size of our population, but these statistics which examine rates rather than totals prove otherwise. About a Third of American Households Own All Those Guns In terms of ownership, however, the rate of 88 guns per 100 people is rather misleading. In reality, the majority of civilian-owned guns in the U.S. are owned by a minority of gun owners. Just over a third of U.S. households own guns, but according to the 2004 National Firearms Survey, 20 percent of those households own a full 65 percent of the total civilian gun stock. American Gun Ownership Is a Social Problem In a society as saturated in guns as the U.S., its important to recognize that gun violence is a  social, rather than an individual or psychological problem. A 2010 study by professors Paul Appelbaum and Jeffrey Swanson published in  Psychiatric Services  found that just 3–5 percent of violence can be attributed to mental illness, and in most of these cases guns were not used. While those with certain types of serious mental illness are more likely than the general public to commit an act of violence, these individuals only make up a small percentage of people with mental illness: most people with a mental illness don’t engage in violent behavior. Moreover, individuals with mental illness are also at a higher risk of being victims of violence. According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, alcohol is a much more significant contributing factor to the likelihood of whether someone will commit a violent act. Sociologists believe that gun violence is a social problem because it is socially created by support for laws and policies that enable gun ownership on a mass scale. It is justified and perpetuated by social phenomena too, like the widespread ideology that guns represent freedom  and the troubling discursive trope that guns make society safer, though overwhelming evidence points to the contrary. This social problem is also fueled by sensationalist news coverage and dangerous politicking focused on violent crime, leading the American public to believe that gun  crime is more common today than it was two decades ago, despite the fact that it has been on the decline for decades. According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, just 12 percent of U.S. adults know the truth. The connection between the presence of guns in a household and gun-related deaths is undeniable. Countless studies have shown that living in a home where guns are present increases ones risk of dying by homicide, suicide, or by gun-related accident. Studies also show that it is women who are at greater risk than men in this situation, and that guns in the home also increase the risk that a woman suffering domestic abuse will ultimately be killed by her abuser (see the extensive list of publications by Dr. Jacquelyn C. Campbell of Johns Hopkins University). So, the question then is, why do we as a society insist on denying the very clear connection between the presence of guns and gun-related violence? This is a pressing area of sociological inquiry if ever there was one.

Assignment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Assignment 1 - Essay Example One of the key individual who has highlighted the importance of capitalism in his research is Adam Smith who proposed the theory of the invisible hand (Wilber 1998, 7). According to his theory there is a hand that cannot be seen but is guiding a particular economy to achieve the purpose of common good. According to his concept, the government does not have to intervene in the market and the market is regulated itself and this concept is similar to the concept of laissez faire. Strengths Those economists who are considered as liberalist and capitalist in nature are of the idea that the economy under liberalism is ruled by eight basic tenants (Davis 2008, 5). The initial tenant of liberalism and capitalism is that people operate to safeguard their own interest and to achieve their own aims and objectives before considering the interest of others. The second element of liberalism is that market is place where buyers and sellers meet each other in order to exchange goods and services. Th e third element of liberalism is that everyone has a free will to own property and assets should be privatized and not controlled by the government. The fifth element of this kind of economy is that market is governed and guided by the forces of competition. In order to achieve this element of liberalism, the sellers in the market have to operate in such a way that they compete with each other to attract more and more consumers and in order to attract more consumers they compete through the tools of pricing and they try to utilize their resources in the most efficient manner. The sixth basic element of liberalism is that all individuals are free to choose for whom they are going to work and they can even choose the markets they are willing to serve. The seventh element of liberalism is that consumers are the most important part of the market. This principle is in line with Adam Smith’s idea of consumer sovereignty and the consumer is the decider of the number and kind of reso urces that will be used to produce a product and when this production will occur and for whom the production will be conducted. The last element of this form of economy is that government should not intervene in market operations and let the forces of demand and supply dictates the operations of the market. Another major figure who promoted the idea of liberalism and who himself was a believer of liberalism was John Maynard Keynes of the 20th century (Heinberg 2011, 38). According to his believes, the government should not intervene in a particular economy and they have minimum amount of role to play in the market that are created in foreign and local regions. This concept can clearly be witnessed in the BWS (Bretton Woods System) that was witnessed after the era of WWII. A major part of the BWS was the Keynesian Compromise according to which involvement of the state is limited to the operations of their local markets and their involvement is unnecessary in international market oper ations (Bordo 1993, 158). Those economists who are considered as liberals even support the hegemonic stability theory and they assert that market operations that are international in nature are more stabilized if there is presence of hegemon. Hegemon is a term used to refer to the elite or the dominant one who has the power to make

Three Newspaper Eras Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Three Newspaper Eras - Essay Example 27). Innovations in printing, combined with the interest that was generated by current events, created increased readership and a need for more consistent reporting. According to Dietrich (2010), the political events that surrounded the American Revolution changed the nature of the newspaper industry. Until this time, newspapers consisted primarily of notices of events and advertisements. However, with the interest that was generated in the politics of the colonies versus the British government, reporting began to arise in which the political events were related in story form. Stories of the war began to be printed for the public that was greatly interested in what was occurring. The period from the end of the American Revolutionary War until the 1850’s saw a rise in partisan writing as the partisan press era dominated the newspaper industry. They battles between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were fought within the press as positions were declared and sides were taken. However, during the 1850’s the newspaper industry found it could increase its circulation by creating pieces that were more unbiased than within partisan based writings. The objective of increased readership to promote profit provided for newspaper writing that no longer took a political stand, but reported Freedoms Journal was the first African American newspaper. It was first published in 1827 and was followed by as many as forty other African American publications. The North Star, a publication begun by Fredrick Douglas in 1847, was dedicated to the cause of abolition. It was titled The North Star because the slaves who escaped captivity used the north star as a guiding light(LaRose & Straubhaar, 2009, p. 95). The first Native American Press was begun in 1828 with the Cherokee Phoenix which was put out in 1828. However, it was only a year later when the American government, founded on the principles of the Declaration of Independence which

Sports Utility Vehicles Essay Example for Free

Sports Utility Vehicles Essay The paper referred to with this text is the one entitled â€Å"Sports Utility Vehicles: The real cost of power,† and the intention in this document is to endeavor to explain the revision process and what I personally learnt from that process as it applies to this paper. In revising the paper, apart from the obvious spelling, punctuation, grammatical and referencing corrections, I also needed to look at the hypothesis, structure and argument basis. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, revision is necessary to ensure that the research and conclusions reached are in accordance with the main theme of the paper, and that it does not raise additional points, which have been left, unanswered. In the respect of the hypothesis question, upon reviewing my work I found that it was necessary to revise from the original, as this was not concisely presented, nor were the original boundaries of the question defined in a manner that was easy to follow. It therefore needed to be more clearly defined. Similarly, from the structural aspect, there was a need for this to be reorganized. In its initial format, some of the points portrayed in the paper were not organized in a manner that clearly led the reader from one to the next, creating what might have appeared to be a disjointed approach to the subject. Clarity was also one of the reasons for the revision. In parts of the paper, it was found that points were made for which there was no supporting evidence, or the relevance of those points to the hypothesis were not connected properly. During the revision of the work, these points were revisited. In most cases, it was possible to provide further clarification, which addressed the issues. However, it was found in one or two instances that further research was necessary to either support the point raised or re-analyze it. The other aspect of the original paper that did require revision was that of the citations and quotations. In some original cases, these did not provide ease of access for the reader and would have reduced the value of the paper as a credible research document. Some of the references were too vague and in other instances, references and bibliographical connections were missing. I believe that the value that I personally gained from the process of the revision of this paper will benefit future research and other work that I undertake. I learnt the importance of being able review work in an objective manner, questioning the arguments raised in an effort to seek their relevance to the issues being addressed and the hypothesis itself. In addition, I learnt that the style of writing and the structure of the document, in terms of both the sentences and the ordered manner of presenting points raised, make a significant difference to the clarity of the document and impacts upon it knowledge value for the reader or student. As a result, I believe that the revising of the SUV paper will provide me with the ability to produce a better standard of work in the future. It will also enable me to improve my knowledge and development skills. Work Cited Anon (2006). Revising the draft. The Writing Center, University of North Carolina. Retrieved 6 December 2006 from http://www. unc. edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/revision. html

A Critique of Thank You for Smoking? Essay -- Smoking Argumentative Es

A Critique of â€Å"Thank You for Smoking†¦.?† Peter Brimelow’s article â€Å"Thank You for Smoking†¦.?† is an essay that looks at a rather extreme perspective on smoking. Brimelow starts off by describing the many actions that are taken against the tobacco industry; he writes that in some states, the government is trying to make the tobacco industry pay certain health care costs. However, he then goes on to state that smoking may actually be good for one’s health. He uses various sources to show that smoking has positive effects on our bodies; he states the decrease in risk in numerous diseases. Brimelow uses medical journals to show that smoking decreases the risk of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He also talks about some of the ways smoking enhances certain skills, â€Å"A battery of studies show that cigarettes really do stimulate alertness, dexterity and cognitive capacity† (Brimelow 141). Brimelow does pick a tough subject to talk about, but for the most part he does a good job writing his article and distributing information to the reader to support argument. In the beginning of Brimelow’s essay, he lists a number of organizations that are fighting against the tobacco industry, such as the Food & Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Then out of nowhere he throws out his major claim, which is the thesis or the main point of the essay (McFadden 41). Every paper has a major claim; it is the central idea of the paper. The major claim says, â€Å"smoking might be, in some small ways, good for you† (Brimelow 141). This is a rather shocking thesis, due to the fact that generally when we think of smoking, we think of something very negative to a person’s health. Brimelow’s major claim is very difficu... ...own to be bad. However, even though the essay may not be persuasive in most cases, it is, for the most part, well written. Brimelow starts off the essay a little slow, he does not give the reader a sense of direction in the beginning, but the body definitely informs the reader. The body of the essay is filled with information supporting his thesis, and his values are very clear. His essay may not persuade many, but it is definitely informative and well written. Work Cited Brimelow, Peter. â€Å"Thank You for Smoking†¦.?† The Genre of Argument. Ed. Irene L. Clark. Boston: Thomson-Heinle, 1998. 141-142. Clark, Irene L. The Genre of Argument. Ed. Irene L. Clark. Boston: Thomson-Heinle, 1998. McFadden, James. The Toulmin Method: From Classical Logic to Modern Argumentation. [PowerPoint Slide.] 5 February, 2004. Buena Vista University. Storm Lake, IA.

Clarification Theory Essay

â€Å"Aristotle’s statement about the final end of tragedy— Purgation or Catharsis—has been so endlessly misunderstood, so uncritically assumed to be true.† Discuss. ‘Katharsis’ or ‘Catharsis’ is a word of Greek origin. In the Greek language it has three meanings—†Purgation,† â€Å"Purification,† â€Å"Clarifica ¬tion.† Aristotle uses this word in the Poetics only once. While dealing with the function of tragedy, Aristotle says only this much :— ‘’..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.through pity and fear effecting the proper Katharsis or purgation of these emotions.† But he himself does not give any meaning of the term ‘Catharsis.’ These are the later critics who have interpreted this word in various ways. And this has given birth to various theories. Let us, therefore, discuss some major theories of Catharsis. 1. The Pathological or Purgation Theory According to some Renaissance critics and later on critics like Twining and Barney, Catharsis is a medical metaphor, it denotes purgation, a pathological effect on the soul similar to the effect of medicine on the body. Just as the purgatives purge the body of the dirt and dross, similarly tragedy purges the mind of the unpleasant emotions of pity and fear by first exciting them and then providing them an emotional outlet. The result is a pleasurable relief. Milton also had explained this theory of Katharsis in his preface to Samson Agonistes. In the neo-classical era, Catharsis was taken to be an alopathic treatment with the unlike curing unlike. The arousing of pity and fear was supposed to bring about the purgation or evacuation of other emotions like anger, pride, etc. The spectacle of suffering arouses our pity and fear and we are ‘purged’ of the emotions that caused the suffering. If the suffering is caused by emotions like anger, hatred, or impiety towards the gods, we are ‘purged’ of such undesirable emotions, because we realise their evil consequences. â€Å"We learn from the terrible fates of evil men to avoid the vices they manifest.† Thomas Taylor in his introduction to the Poetics (1818) holds this view. Psychological Interpretation F.L. Lucas rejects the idea that Katharsis as used by Aristotle is a medical metaphor, and says : â€Å"theatre is not a hospital.† Both Lucas and Herbert Read regard it as a kind of safety valve. Pity and fear are aroused, we give free play to these emotions as we cannot do in real life, and this safe and free outlet of these emotions is followed by emotional relief. In real life they are repressed, and in the theatre the free indulgence in these emotions, aroused by the suffering of the hero, is safe and brings relief to our pent up souls. LA. Richards also approaches this issue from a psychological angle. Fear is the impulse to withdraw and pity is the impulse to approach. Both these impulses are harmonised and blended in tragedy, and this balance brings relief and repose. Ethical Interpretation The ethical interpretation is that the tragic process is a kind of elevation of the soul, an inner illumination resulting in a more balanced attitude to life and its suffering. Tragedy makes us realise that the divine law operates in the universe, shaping everything for the best. Purification Theory Humphrey House rejects the idea of purgation in the medical sense of the term, and is the most forceful advocate of the ‘purification’ theory, which involves the idea of moral instruction and moral learning. It is a kind of ‘moral conditioning’ which the spectators undergo. So to Humphrey House purgation means ‘cleansing’. This cleansing may be a ‘quantitative evacuation’ or a ‘qualitative change’ in the body brought about by a restoration of proper equilibrium; and a state of health depends on the maintenance of this equilibrium. Tragedy by arousing pity and fear, instead of suppressing them, trains them, and brings back the soul to a balanced state. So Humphrey House regards Katharsis as an educative, and controlling process. Thus according to the purification theory, Katharsis implies that our emotions are purified of excess and defect. Butcher, too, :grees with the advocates of the ‘purification theory1, when he writes, â€Å"the tragic Katharsis involves not only the idea of emotional relief, but the further idea of purifying the emotions so relieved.† Inadequacy of above Theories : Clarification However neither the purgation theory nor purification theory explains the whole thing. The basic defect of these theories is that they are too much occupied with the psychology of the audience, with speculation regarding the effect of tragedy on those who come to the theatre. It is forgotten that Aristotle was writing a treatise, not on psychology, but on the art of poetry. He is more â€Å"concerned with the technique, the way in which an ideal tragedy can be written, and its nature, than’ with its psychological effects. For this reason, eminent modern critics like Leon Golden, O.B. Hardison and G.E. Else advocate the ‘clarification theory.’ According to O.B. Hardison, Aristotle meant pleasure by Katharsis. In his opinion, tragic events are pitiable and fearful. They produce pleasure in the spectator. Hence Catharsis refers to the tragic variety of pleasure. In order to create a tragic pleasure, a tragic poet may begin by select ¬ing a series of incidents that are intrinsically pitiable and fearful. From history or legend, he may borrow material or invent events. â€Å"He then presents them in such a way as to bring out the probable or necessary principles that unite them in a single action and determine their relation to this action ‘Thus catharsis means clarification of the essential and universal significance of the incidents depicted, leading to an enhanced understanding of the universal law which governs human life and des ¬tiny. ‘Catharsis’ is a process of learning, and therefore, pleasurable.’ The Clarification theory has, in this way, various good points in it. (1) It interprets the Catharsis clause as a reference to the technique of the tragedy, and not to the psychology of the audience, and thus recognises the true nature of the Poetics as a technique treatise. (2) It truly interprets Aristotle’s view, contained in his Poetics. (3) It relates catharsis both to the theory of imitation and to the discussion of probability. (4) It is in perfect accordance with current aesthetic theories. Conclusion Purgation and Purification theories are merely incidental. They do not remain authentic and authoritative for long, because the basic tragic emotions are pity and fear. If tragedy is to give pleasure—pleasure that comes from learning—the pity and fear, or atleast the painful element, in them, must be removed. Though there may be purgation in the feelings of pity and fear, but â€Å"it is merely incidental, and secondary.† (O.B. Hardison). Thus Aristotle’s view of Catharsis is mainly intellectual. It is neither didactic nor theological. It is not a moral doctrine requiring the tragic poet to show that bad men come to bed ends, nor is it a kind of theological relief arising from the discovery that God’s laws operate invisibly to make all things work out for the best. POINTS TO REMEMBER 1. â€Å"Catharsis† means purgation, purification, or clarification. 2. Though Aristotle uses the term catharsis only once yet it has given currency to a number of theories. 3. The main theories of Catharsis are—the purgation, the psychological, the ethical, the purification and the clarification. 4. The purgation or pathological theory treats catharsis as something having a pathological effect—on the soul similar to the effect of medicine on the body. Tragedy purges the mind of the unpleasant emotions of pity and fear. 5. The psychological interpretation offered by Lucas, Read and Richards says that tragedy by arousing pity and fear provides emotional outlet to the audience. 6. The ethical interpretation says that the tragic process is a kind of elevation to soul. 7. The Purification Theory presented by Humphrey House says that catharsis means cleansing or purification of emotions of excess and defect. 8. All the above theories are inadequate. Hence the necessit y of Clarification Theory by Golden, Hardison and Else. Aristotle was writing about art and poetry. Hence by Catharsis he meant aesthetic pleasure.