...Devin Brumfield Maldonado/Period5 English 2 5 November 2013 Adam and Eve…or Adam and Steve? The following is a persuasive essay that argues two points: whether same-sex marriage is wrong and whether it is not. Before this essay is started out, here are a few interesting facts on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The Netherlands was the first nation to legalize same sex marriage (in 2001). Same sex marriage is outlawed in 76 countries as of 2013. These are just a few out of the ma ny facts about homosexuality/same-sex marriage. This essay has several key points to why same-sex marriage is okay. Same sex marriage/attraction is not a sin and the Bible and history is wrong about the definition of ‘traditional marriage’, it does not affect heterosexual values/attraction, it increases the number of adopted orphans, I) Traditional marriage (same sex marriage isn’t considered a traditional marriage because its same sex) isn’t historically/culturally accurate a. The Random House Dictionary (circa 1970) defines marriage as “the state of being married”. Today, many Americans like to define marriage as “a bond between a man and a woman only”. Traditionally, Christians (who make up America’s religion census) oppose the concept of same-sex marriage because in the Bible it is viewed as a “sin”. Protest and posters that read “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” and “God hates fags” all because same sex marriage isn’t “traditional” marriage. The shocking thing is that it isn’t...
Words: 952 - Pages: 4
...The Killernet? In Nick Carr’s book; The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr talks about instrumentalism and how the world views technology. According to both David Sarnoff and James Carey “technology is technology”. This is the most widely held view of technology today that I also agree with. Both Sarnoff and Carey downplay technology and argue compelling arguments against the over exaggerated power people give to it. In Carr’s book, instrumentalists are described as “the people who, like David Sarnoff, downplay the power of technology, believing tools to be neutral artifacts, entirely subservient to the conscious wishes of their users.” The name instrumentalist itself describes their view; that technology is just an instrument used to help one exceed in their abilities. There is also historic evidence that points to the instrumentalist’s outlook. For example; the Japanese preserved their traditional samurai culture by banning the use of firearms in their country for two centuries and this proved to be affective! Another example used in Carr’s book is North America. The religious community for the Amish rejected the use of motor cars and other modern technologies. It seems all throughout history many different cultures have shied away or put some kind of restrictions on the use of certain tools. It all is not a foreign concept and has proved successful. So why should it be any different in this case, we are not any better than our ancestors or our history...
Words: 879 - Pages: 4
...Sample Final Exam Essay: Legalize Gay Marriage English—Mr. Fichter (This sample essay is based upon a student-written essay from last year. The student author is anonymous.) Homosexuality is everywhere. You can see it in books, on television, in the media; it is rapidly becoming a social norm. Given this trend of greater acceptance of gay marriage, the issue of whether to legalize same-sex marriage naturally arises. Massachusetts has led the way by legalizing gay marriage. Responding to this example, some states have taken steps towards accepting gay marriage while others are considering laws and constitutional amendments banning gay marriage within state borders. President George Bush has recently proposed a ban on gay marriage in the U.S. Constitution (Hulse). If Americans carefully examine the situation, however, they should all be able to understand the importance of making same-sex marriage legal in the United States. Those opposing same-sex marriage claim that by allowing this act, marriages everywhere will lose their honor and validity (Kurtz). Marriages between a man and a woman would lose their special importance, these opponents argue, if the definition of marriage is expanded to include same-sex couples as well. The test of time has proven this fear pointless. For several years, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands have allowed gay marriage without any signs of damage to heterosexual couples. Social life in these countries continues unchanged, and...
Words: 1626 - Pages: 7
...Regina Dodson Student ID AC1400470 SP180.1.1 Principles of Public Speaking Assignment 06_06 02-07-2014 I Believe and Persuaded the Use of Cell Phones Should Be Mandatorily Banned Nationwide To Prevent Unnecessary Distractive Driving Banning the use of cell phones should be made mandatory nationwide while driving because it is a one of the nations’ top killers in America. Driving while being distracted kills thousands of people every year. Yet many drivers think they are good at managing both tasks so they continue to text behind the wheel. A car travels approximately 100 yards in less than the 5 seconds it takes to read a text. Texting distracts people from driving properly by diverting their attention to their cell phone, instead of focusing on the road. Furthermore, studies show that texting is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. Subjects are found to be mentally impaired while driving and chatting on a mobile device as when they are under the influence. These are the top reasons why I believe and am convinced that driving while on a cell phone should be banned in America. Cell Phone Usage as Top Killer in America National statistics show that cell phone usage while driving has become one of the nation’s top killers on our roadways today. According to the Texting and Driving Safety Statistics an average of 1,600,000 accidents are reported each year due to texting while driving. Nearly 25 percent of all accidents nationwide, 11 percent of which are teenagers...
Words: 1305 - Pages: 6
...scrutiny for years now: with its rules of engagment towards the misconduct of players, but none more than ever with what we are seeing in the news and media today with the N.F.L. Ben Shpigel a sports journalist for the New York Times, has covered the New York Jets since 2011, the Yankees since 2010 and the Mets since 2005. Shpigel was born in Philadelphia on Sept. 23, 1980. Shpigel has since received a bachelors degree for English and Journalism at Emory University and a Masters degree for Journalism at Columbia University. Shpigel was also the first student to receive the Dave Marr Scholarship by Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. Shpigel begins his article by pointing out how this trend started in sports: when cyclists started banning together to protect not only themselves from the doping rumors spreading through the media...
Words: 1156 - Pages: 5
...The Industrial Revolution was a worldwide transition which led to quick industrialisation starting off in Britain in the late 1700s and early 1800s, before expanding to other areas such as Asia and the Americas. This essay aims to explore how the Industrial Revolution affected the textile industry in India and Iran as a result of the amalgamation of the webs into a single cosmopolitan web, where communication, new inventions and technology were easily shared within different aspects of the world. During the course of this essay, the focus will be on the emergence of the Industrial Revolution and the discovery of fossil fuels as a cheap energy source, and how this affected the British position in the textile industry. Furthermore, factors affecting...
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
...Short Essay on Race and Racism Racism occurs when one ethnic group or people as a whole controls, excludes, or tries to exclude another on the idea of the differences that it believes are genetic and cannot be changed. A belief base for racism came to a realization in the Americas during the modern period. No clear and explicit evidence of racism has been found in other cultures or in Europe before the modern period. The identification of the Jews with the devil and witchcraft in the general public of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was perhaps the first sign of a racist view of the world. Real support for such attitudes came in sixteenth century Spain when Jews who had converted to Christianity and their descendants became the victims of a regular pattern of discrimination and segregation. The period of the Renaissance and Reformation was also the time when Europeans were coming into increasing contact with people of darker skin-color in Africa, Asia, and the Americas and were making conclusions about them. The reasoning for enslaving Africans was that they were unconverted and unbelievers of God, associated between darkness and evil but slave traders and slave owners sometimes took a passage from the book of Genesis as their justification. Ham, derives from the Hebrew Ch’m, associated with being black and burnt. The story was subsequently used to underpin theories of the origin of Africans and to justify their enslavement. (Rattansi p.17) When the state...
Words: 1485 - Pages: 6
...Geoffrey Vasquez April 17, 2012 English 1101 Corporal Punishment In America Although many are not in favor with corporal punishment, it has not fallen out of practice in many of the United States. There are some positive aspects in corporal punishment, but since this has never been apart of my childhood this is the reason why I am against the practice. There are many pros and cons that come with corporal punishment, but it is now only legal in 20 states. Americans deem this type of punishment technique as either intrinsically evil or very essential. Times have changed drastically, and the generation today does not agree with such physical punishment at school especially when it has led to child abuse in the past. Punishments should always have a reason behind them, but the society has the power to measure to what extent that punishment can and should be reached. What really is corporal punishment? “Corporal punishment is the use of physical force with intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or control of the child’s behavior.”(Murray A. Straus 4) The practice of Corporal Punishment has been recorded as early as 10th century B.C, where the “Book of Proverbs 13:29” says, “ He who spareth the rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him correcteth him betimes. Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.”...
Words: 1619 - Pages: 7
...these two realms internal and external. He believes that one of the biggest problems in todays society is that we have allowed for the internal to be lost in the external. The internal realm is more about the spirit and the soul, and the external is more about material things and possessions. There are three major problems in our world that grow out of main problem, which is ethical infantilism. The first of the problems is racial injustice, this problem has plagued many nations and communities across the word for many, many years. The normal structure of modern society is being redone, it is being reviewed and is going through dramatic changes. There are many laws and rules that are being changed to help remove racial injustice from america, for instance, in 1954 the separation of whites and colored folk in the school system become a thing of the far past. The change in the school systems rocked the doctrine separate but equal. Furthermore, Dr. King strongly believes that people will one way or another, work for their freedom no matter what, that one day a person’s need for freedom will develop consciously or subconsciously. Another event that showed that the american people where making progress in removing racial segregation from the states was...
Words: 1605 - Pages: 7
...claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version of this essay at the College of William & Mary, and also thanks ProfessorsPaul Boyer and John D. Ibson for their assistance. 1AdamMoss, "Catcher Comes of Age," Esquire, December 1981, p. 57; Jack Salzman, ed., intro. to New Essays on "The Catcher in the Rye" (New York:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1991), pp. 6, 7. 567 568 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY its appeal is astonishing. The...
Words: 12326 - Pages: 50
...Atheism In America Glenn Watkins Park University Abstract This essay may be offensive to some of you, but that is not the intentions of the author. The author realizes that most of the audience holds deep spiritual and religious beliefs. It is not the aim to cause insult, but if the audience feels insulted, understand that it is not the objective of this paper. The author disclaims all responsibility for any harm caused by the paper. Please take this essay with an analytical and introspective approach. Atheism is one of the least understood philosophies of all time, but has been around for as long as religion has. There is always been someone to question the validity of gods or goddesses; someone who does not believe the world was created by a supreme being in 7 days. This paper outlines some of the contrasting points between religion and Atheism. It talks about deities and the history of Atheism and its migration to America. Many believe a Supreme Being, king, or lord created the Constitution of the United States, but it is clear that people wrote the constitution for the people. Many Atheists believe that a belief in God is based on irrational immature needs and wishes, but atheism or skepticism is derived from a rational, no-nonsense appraisal of the way things really are. "I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." -President George Bush Whether god exists is a question...
Words: 3419 - Pages: 14
...was not even in my dictionary previously until Hollywood introduced it to me in the most dramatic ways I could possibly imagine, and ever since my speculation of the Apocalypse never stopped evolving. From more unrealistic predictions involving in zombies, Godzilla, and DNA-modified prehistoric killer dinosaurs, to more practical speculations like nuclear war and ozone depletion, I was constantly updating my Apocalypse view. With my increasing understanding of the mechanism of how the world functions as a whole, I realized that a global hot war is imminently possible since politics can exert a strong influence on the global situation. In a sense, the transformation China experienced was a direct result from the power of politics. In this essay, I will establish the following hypothesis: The world is going to end with a global political meltdown resulting from a dramatic chain reaction initiated by a single country’s misplay. I would like to start my augment with pointing out that politics can also serve a powerful tool of massive brainwashing, and a hypnotized county is able to unleash the most dreadful power. Here, I will support my point...
Words: 3109 - Pages: 13
...Gun Control: Effects on Crime and Violence QBT1 - Task 4: Document Revisions Western Governor’s University Gun Control: Effects on Crime and Violence The topic of gun control in the U.S becomes more popular in the wake of horrific gun crimes and mass shootings. , but tHowever, the public might be surprised to find that the intended results of gun control laws might prove to be historically ineffective in preventing future gun violence from occurring in America and that there is perhaps a more suitable solution for the problem.. In order to properly understand the breadth of the gun control topic, it would be wise to also properly understand the history of gun controls in the U.S. as well as what gun control actually is. Gun Control seems to have a slightly differing definition depending on which source is defining the term. For the purposes of this essay, the following sources will be used: dictionary.com defines the term “gun control” as the “government regulation of the sale and ownership of firearms”, while Merriam-webster’s website defines gun control as “regulation of the selling, owning, and use of guns” (Gun control, n.d.). Each of the definitions states that the regulation of guns by the unspecified government would seek to control the sale, ownership, and/or use of a gun. In relationship to the United States, there have been several famous and infamous laws written to target gun control in one way or the other. To some, the history...
Words: 2383 - Pages: 10
...Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Argumentative Essay on the Use of Mobile Phones in Schools The use of mobile or cell phones in learning institutions, specifically schools, has elicited debate and bitter arguments, not only in the United States of America, but in the world as a whole. While part of society has supported the use of cell phones in schools, the other part has opposed their use bitterly. Mobile phone manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, have targeted students as their main market and thus they have designed various models with lots of features(what features mention it?)in order to attract them. Despite the fact that the use of mobile phones by students in schools can be used positively and constructively in order to enhance their learning, the same technological devices can be utilized negatively, which distracts them and their teachers and in turn disrupts the learning process. For instance, whilst the students can use mobile phones positively by accessing or downloading important academic materials from the worldwide web, the same can also be used to get access towards destructive pornographic(Change the pornographic to something else like distraction: talking to friends all the time- playing games- youtube-twitter-facebook… ) contents from online sources thus destroying students’ morals. There are various reasons as to why mobile phones should not be used by students in schools and other learning institutions through giving...
Words: 1952 - Pages: 8
...Biography of Nick Joaquín (1917-2004) Posted on September 15, 2010 by Pepe Nicomedes "Nick" Joaquín This is the best biography of Nick that I’ve encountered so far… The 1996 Ramón Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts BIOGRAPHY of Nick Joaquín Resil B. Mojares He was the greatest Filipino writer of his generation. Over six decades and a half, he produced a body of work unmatched in richness and range by any of his contemporaries. Living a life wholly devoted to the craft of conjuring a world through words, he was the writer’s writer. In the passion with which he embraced his country’s manifold being, he was his people’s writer as well. Nick Joaquín was born in the old district of Pacò in Manila, Philippines, on September 15, 1917, the feast day of Saint Nicomedes, a protomartyr of Rome, after whom he took his baptismal name. He was born to a home deeply Catholic, educated, and prosperous. His father, Leocadio Joaquín, was a person of some prominence. Leocadio was a procurador (attorney) in the Court of First Instance of Laguna, where he met and married his first wife, at the time of the Philippine Revolution. He shortly joined the insurrection, had the rank of colonel, and was wounded in action. When the hostilities ceased and the country came under American rule, he built a successful practice in law. Around 1906, after the death of his first wife, he married Salomé Márquez, Nick’s mother. A friend of General Emilio Aguinaldo, Leocadio...
Words: 8246 - Pages: 33
