Gun Control Essay -- Gun Control, 2015

Firearms are dangerous weapons used to intentionally and unintentionally kill people, which lead to one of Americaï ¿ ½s most heated debates: gun control. With increasing crime and violence, many people look to gun control laws as a way to slow these trends down. On the other hand, others believe that owning a gun is a constitutional right that should never be taken away. James Q. Wilsonï ¿ ½s essay ï ¿ ½Just Take Away Their Gunsï ¿ ½ is an attempt to offer a solution to both sides of this argument. He claims that illegal possession of firearms is the problem and that frisking suspicious characters would be a good solution to the debate of gun control. However, random frisking to end illegal gun possession is a violation of privacy and an overbearing task that would be impossible to take on. First of all, Wilson states that ï ¿ ½legal restraints on the lawful purchase of guns will have little effect on the illegal use of gunsï ¿ ½ (106). However, Wilson fails to neglect that lawbreakers have to get their guns from somewhere. Of course some criminals will steal their firearms, but others look to breaking a different law. Buying guns from an unlicensed dealer gives criminals a feeling of safety. The criminal does not have to worry about being caught with breaking and entering and can also feel safe knowing that there is not a file containing records that says he owns a gun. Federal law limits who can purchase a gun on the basis of age, criminal status, and mental health (Zimring 37), but it does not put a limit on the amount of firearms a person can purchase. Enabling people to buy as many guns as they would like supports the black market. Without any restrictions on gun laws a criminal can buy firearms freely from whoever wants to sell one to him. Forgetting these facts weakens Wilsonï ¿ ½s stance that gun control will not be able to help solve the issue of illegal gun possession. A large setback with Wilsonï ¿ ½s plan is the potential for racial profiling. He even recognizes this and says that ï ¿ ½young black and Hispanic men will probably be stopped more often than older white Anlgo males or women of any raceï ¿ ½ (109). Some say that, to cut down on gun violence, it is necessary to target groups, neighborhoods, and races that are more likely to commit these crimes; however it is demeaning and backwards. A good example of how the stop-and-frisk can lead to racial profiling is a case filed... ... but to go about it in the way Wilson suggests will only hurt the nation. Instilling a random frisk would cause more problems than it would solve. First and most important, Americansï ¿ ½ privacy would be at risk. Another point to look at is the large possibility of racial profiling. To come so far in the area of civil rights and adopt Wilsonï ¿ ½s plan would be taking a step backward. Also, it would be a travesty for the police to waste their time frisking possible suspects when there is already so much crime for them to be putting a stop to. Wilson fails to realize the problems his plan will cause America. Forgoing the end of illegal gun possession as Wilson proposes is not worth it when one looks at the harms it will create. Works Cited Boyd, Herb. ï ¿ ½Cops Must Pay.ï ¿ ½ New York New Amsterdam News. 25 September 2003. 1. Wilson, James Q. ï ¿ ½Just Take Away Their Guns.ï ¿ ½ The New York Times Magazine March 24, 1994. Rpt in Current Issues and Enduring Questions 7th ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston; Bedford/St. Martinï ¿ ½s . 2005. 106-109. Zimring, Franklin E. ï ¿ ½Firearms, Violence, and the Potential Impact of Firearms Control.ï ¿ ½ Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 32.1(2004): 34-37.

The Power of Discourse in a Political Sex Scandal :: Politics Political Sex Gender Essays

The Power of Discourse in a Political Sex Scandal On August 12th, 2004 New Jersey Governor James McGreevey became this nation's first openly gay state governor. Several moments after he stated, "I am a gay American", he succumbed to intense political and public pressure by announcing his resignation from New Jersey's most powerful position. This announcement and resignation came after a week of intense allegations that McGreevey sexually harassed a male colleague whom he had appointed. While American politics are not foreign to sexual scandal, the political destruction and individual defeat which McGreevey currently faces is poignantly unique. Throughout his career, McGreevey has been formally investigated for unethical political practices on at least 4 occasions. One of the current investigations includes allegations of fraudulent campaign finance practices and nepotism within upper end political appointments. Despite the severity of these allegations, it was the charge of sexual assault from a male employee that forced his resigna tion and retirement from politics. In order to understand the severity of the sexual harassment allegations against McGreevey, it is necessary to look at the situation through the eyes of Rubin and Foucault. Not only did McGreevey's actions reflect the social sexual hierarchy described by Rubin, but through his secrecy and discretion McGreevey disrupted the powerful discourse of his position with political and public realms. In her essay "Thinking Sex", Gayle Rubin strictly outlines the rules of sexual conduct which currently exist in Western society. These rules have created a sexual hierarchy which places heterosexual, monogamous, married, reproductive sex at the top. Anything deterring from this position, is placed below in varying degrees. The allegations of sexual assault made against McGreevey not only announce publicly his sexual preference, but according to Rubin, place him at the very bottom of the sexual hierarchy. First and foremost, McGreevey is a married man. Any act of sexual advance towards anyone besides his wife can be seen as adulterous. Second, these sexual advances were made toward a male colleague while McGreevey remained in a heterosexual marriage. Thus, in the eyes of a bystander, he is eliciting homosexual behavior without claiming full affiliation with the gay community. Most importantly, the allegations of sexual harassment bring into question the consensual nature of his advances. As Rubin explains "A democratic morality should judge sexual acts by the way partners treat one another, the level of mutual consideration, the presence or absence of coercion, and the quantity and quality of the pleasures which they provide.

I Love to Travel Essay

I’ve decided I want to travel. I mean I’ve always wanted to, but now I’m going to start planning it. I think once I finish University I’m going to take a year off, and travel the world. Visit different countries, move from town to town, live and experience different cultures. I’m not going to go straight into work after Uni.. I want to live my life. I mean I’m ready to leave this country right now, get away from everyone and just learn to be independant and travel†¦ but I have priorites at the moment, and for the next few years. And while it seems like a while away, a few years will pass quickly and I will be on my way to living in Paris for a while in a cute little apartment with the Eiffel Tower at your windows view, the busy streets of New York.. the sunshine of LA.. I’ll be dancing with the Spanish, learning the local life of Greece, seeing beautiful places and monuments in Italy and learning the life of Tuscany.. When you live in one country your entire life, you learn to think it’s all that’s out there.. his little world of yours. But it’s not. Once you come to realise there’s a whole world out there left to explore, something inside of you just craves it.. craves knowing and understanding and learning and seeing.. I want to see the world, before I work and settle down and do whatever.. And I don’t care if I’m on my own. The years of my 20s will be finding myself. Establishing myself. Making the most of discovering who I am and the world out there.

Is Humanity Suicidal? Essay

I do not think that humanity is suicidal, we just sometimes fail to realize the long-term effects that certain actions have on our environment. I completely agree with E.O. Wilson when he said, â€Å"We are smart enough and have time enough to avoid all environmental catastrophes of civilization-threatening dimensions.† Basically what he is saying is that we have the time and capability to prevent an environmental catastrophe, but the time to act is now. We as a society need to change our thought process in which â€Å"the mind works comfortably backward and forward for a few years, spanning a period not exceeding one or two generations† (Smith 3). We need to start thinking ahead and consider four to five generations ahead of us rather than two or three. The only way to achieve this is by spreading awareness. We need to start convincing people that changes must be made now in order to sustain our environment. People may not listen at first, but they will if enough people start to discuss it and it gains momentum. For instance, I can remember when the topic of electric cars first came up in the media about ten years or so ago. Back then, people laughed at the idea of an electric car, but now hybrids and non-gasoline powered vehicles have become a norm in today’s eco-friendly society. That is just one example, but there are many others in which society doesn’t take things seriously at first, but then comes to realize that maybe there is a problem and we should do something about it. All we can hope for is that we as a society address these problems sooner rather than later.

Comparative study between commencement addresses

By analyzing texture of speech and choice of content, we will observe that though the speakers are early Identical In age, choice of career and professional status; there Is disparity In the personae projected and ultimately the message delivered by them. The message in Jobs' speech (Stanford university News, 2005) was to encourage the students to not be afraid to do what they love, and he arrived at this point by lugubriously narrating three stories of adversity from his life.Gates' speech (Harvard gazette, 2007) In contrast was aimed to inspire the students to strive to reduce Inequity In the world, which he achieved by humorously recounting his exploits at Harvard and his thoughts on inequity. We notice here that despite similar situational influences, the two men try to present antithetic images of themselves by the tone of their speech and also by carefully filtering which aspects of their life they disclose (Leary, M. R. , & Allen, A. B. , 2011, p. 1199).The first major differe nce is the tone of the speech; Jobs opts for a very solemn approach with few humorous departures while Gates Is very liberal in his use of humor which In fact forms a very Integral part of the first half of his speech. The second difference Is the kind of content In the speeches; Gates shares his thoughts on inequity, the journey of his arrival at this epiphany and his thoughts on how the problem could be tackled while Jobs divulges very personal stories about his adoption, getting fired from Apple and being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.Due to the fact that Jobs' speech contains more elements personal to himself, we see a very clear congruence of animator, author and principle and as a result his speech seems more authentic as compared to Gates' speech (Montgomery, 2001 , p. 00). We discern this from the sense of passion and honesty which permeates throughout Jobs' address, and the fact that he divulges stories of some of the lowest points in his life.This is a clear attempt to break free of the impression of himself as an ultra-successful businessman in the audience eyes, and instead replace that image with a more human one so that the audience can fully appreciate the struggles of his life and the truth about his success. As such we see that Gates seems more open to audience Interaction while Jobs seems to be In a ore pensive and distant mood which is apparent in both his vocalic and gestures.We can observe this distant mood of Jobs speech most clearly in his gestures, more specifically in his gaze and pause, because sentences are rarely uttered in a behavioral vacuum (Tim Wharton, 2009, p. 1). During Gates' speech we see that he is very responsive to audience reaction, in that he always and looks up at the audience to accommodate for their applause.By contrast Jobs does not take this approach, he feature of the speech ties into the previous two we have discussed, and contributes o the personae that they are trying to project; Jobs' being that of a solem n successful tech-enthusiast while Gates' is that of a humorous successful philanthropist. These personae that they have constructed over the course of the speech are not superficial to the speech, but in fact play an important role in fulfilling the respective purposes of their speeches. The main aim of any commencement address is to inspire the audience in some way, be it to bring about a change in their lives or a change in the oral.Both Jobs and Gates have achieved the objective of inspiring the audience, but we have seen that they went about it very differently. Since Gates' message is one of global proportions, he uses his fame and background as a philanthropist to convey his message and this is why the content of his message is structured around humor, but in contrast Jobs' message is personal to each individual and so we see that in his speech he tries to be more personal himself to elicit the kind of response he wants.

Martha Peer Review of MS Draft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Martha Peer Review of MS Draft - Essay Example Following are some of your weaknesses. There are many typographical errors which I am sure if you go through and revise again you will see, for example, â€Å"training andpassed the post- training† and â€Å"during the interview withthe assistant director†. I felt the repetition of some words made reading quite monotonous e.g.â€Å"I knew I was a compassionate, sensitive, caring person and was often told by friends that I was easy to talk to†(pg 1) could be rewritten as â€Å"I knew I was compassionate, sensitive, caring and am often considered by friends as someone who is easy to talk to†. Or even on page four â€Å"Often these parents have been abused and neglected themselves and need†¦. can establish trust in another person. The primary goal was to support abusive and neglectful parents,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦healthy, functioning family unit†. Here synonyms of abuse and neglect could have been used such as â€Å"Often these parents have been mistrea ted and ignored themselves and need to.†¦can establish trust in another person .The primary goal was to support abusive and neglectful parents... healthy, functioning family unit†. Also on pg 11 â€Å"learned† has been repeated a few times. Words like acquired or gathered could have replaced it. There are some very long sentences which could have been cut down into two to avoid confusion .e.g. on pg 1 last line â€Å"I will discuss how this role helped†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.its effects on children.† Lastly here are some suggestions. I would have liked if you had shown more of your six years experience. Since you have worked with people of diverse culture and even with single, gay and mixed race parents, some more examples would have helped in my better understanding of what challenges you had to face then. Also a brief description on the welfare system could have been provided. There were issues with grammar, where you could have been clearer, for example on page two â€Å"It’s important to make the distinction between being a volunteer and paid

Close Reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Close Reading - Essay Example r breath at the ‘avant-garde style†¦ snazzy visuals†¦ snappy stories to the enthusiastic, upbeat score.†(Tasha Robinson) Anime, made in Japan is well-suited to global audiences because of its adherence to using traditional storylines but with a western flavor, and it makes it even more adaptable for â€Å"Global Web-based communities.†(Nicholas, Kyle) Western audiences are lured to the world of anime because of its unique identifying feature which is according to Horn â€Å"colorful, exciting, strange and Japanese.† (Horn 1999, p.13-31) Dating back to the 1920’s musical and film- noir style, Cowboy Bebop, O.S.T draws heavily from its musical themes. The majority of the soundtrack that was created mostly by the ‘Seatbelts’ contained a variety of elements such as pulsating techno beats, morose jazz, ofjump blues and yes, Bebop indeed without a doubt. The majority of the tracks on O.S.T 1 was a mixture of Jazz and blues. Songs such as ‘Digging My Potato’ and â€Å"Spokey Dokey† which is perhaps the most vivid song, though sounding seemingly ridiculous actually had maturity of the use of pause and space between the lyrics that is rarely found in the recordings of modern or contemporary jazz. (Sean McCarthy, 1998) Speaking of the band â€Å"Seatbelts† who were the primary musicians for almost the whole of the Bebop series are greatly hyped as one of the most progressive and futuristic bands who had gained wide popularity during 2048. The Seatbelts prided themselves in taking a whole lot of creative liberties in making use of contradictory themes such as ‘hard and soft’ and ‘peace and anarchy.’ The soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop also has two other discs titled ‘No Disc’ and the other called ‘Blue O.S.T-1 which is considered to be the prime of the lot that helped a great deal in introducing both Blues and Jazz to its audience who otherwise would not have been attracted to this particular genre. The sound created by the ‘Seatbelts’ are as