SWA 15

Should the drinking age be lowered?
-When searching on Google Scholar I found it difficult to find meaningful articles on this issue. When i used regular Google though I found reliable websites with different opinions of people. I am leaning towards doing my research paper on this topic because I am very interested in what people think and their reasonings behind their opinions.

Should birth control be banned?
-I didn't like the results I found on this issue. The articles I found were involving too much religion and I don't want my paper to involve that whatsoever. I want to stick with a topic that can actually be researched, not based on what the Bible says.

Are teen pregnancy shows convincing other teens to get pregnant?
-When I was researching this issue I wasn't getting enough variety. Many opinions I found seemed to very similar so I don't think this topic would be sufficient to write a well thought out paper on.

SWA 13

Issue One:

1.  The foster care system
2.  Foster parents are abusing the system and not treating the children right
3.  I feel bad for a lot of the children in foster care
4.  I would like to learn more about how foster families are abusing the system just to get the money

Issue Two:

1. Should the drinking age be moved back down to 18?
2. People have different opinions because of how alcohol can physically and mentally hurt your body
3. I think the drinking age should be 18
4. I would like to learn more about each side of the argument and facts each side has to offer

Issue Three:

1. Is the show "Teen Mom" glorifying pregnancy for other young girls?
2. Having a TV show about teenage girls getting pregnant can show how "cool" it is to have your own baby but also shows the struggles of being a young mom as well. Having the show exposes other young teens to the reality of pregnancy
3. I think it actually scares more girls about pregnancy than promotes them to get pregnant
4. I would like to learn more about what other people's views are on this TV show

Issue Four:

1. Should birth control pills be banned?
2. Some people think birth control is bad for women and unnatural while others think it is safe and effective.
3. I think a woman should have the right to be on birth control if she pleases
4. I would like to learn more about why people think it should be banned

SWA 12

Waters, Alice. "A Healthy Constitution." The Carolina Reader: Third Edition. Ed. Lee Kauknight and W. Matthew J. Simmons. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press, 2012. 337-338. Print.


In Alice Waters' article, A Healthy Constitution, she argues how bad processed food is for our bodies. She explains how it is filled with high amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium and how it has almost no nutritional value. Waters then goes on to explain how her program, Edible Education, can reform the school system for the better. She believes that if food is used to teach values it will improve the behavior in school systems and better prepare students to become citizens in the community. Students will learn the importance of responsibility by doing it in a fun way involving food. 


According to Waters, food can be used to teach values that are central in democracy by preparing students for the responsibilities of citizenship. With Edible Education it would combine classroom instruction, school lunch, cooking and gardening with basic school subjects like math and science. Waters makes the link that healthy meals are correlated to a decrease in discipline problems in schools. Also that students are more focused and don't get as sick as much. She also adds three quotes from students who have a positive attitude about the edible education program. I think she could have added a little more evidence to support her argument, but with her article being so short the amount of evidence was sufficient. I have not been able to find any school systems in South Carolina that provide locally grown food.

SWA 11

After doubting true altruism, the author argues that there is a kind of altruism that exists. She convinces her readers to encourage the kind of altruism for those who feel satisfied by practicing it. . People who do help others do so because they feel it is the right thing to do. They don’t feel extraordinary or hero like, but they should just do it. The author states that studies of rescuers do what they do because it is a part of who they are. She also supports this claim by stating that the same goes for more common day acts like working in soup kitchens and volunteering. People do these things because they want to help and doing so affirms who they are as a person. The people who display these actions do it because they want to live in that kind of world. Where people help others because it is important to them and part of their core values. 

SWA 10

Title: What is True Altruism?

Thesis: Judith Lichtenberg argues in her essay, “Is Pure Altruism Possible”, that true altruism within a person may be questioned because of kin selection and the psychological and logical views of egoism, but because helping others is tied in with one’s values, true altruism may actually exist.

I.               Individuals who are more likely to sacrifice themselves in order to help someone who share the same genes support the idea of kin selection

A.     “Selfish gene”

1.     Richard Dawkins says that an individual who behaves altruistically towards others who share its genes will tend to reproduce those genes.

B.     Explains altruism better than reciprocal altruism

1.     Benefiting from helping someone else is not true altruism

II.             The psychological lure of egoism may be explained by skepticism within ones self or others.

A.     Kant and Freud’s observations

1.     A person’s true motive may be hidden, even from themselves

B.     Self interested behavior

1.     Denying the existence of pure altruism

III.           The logical lure of egoism assumes that that altruism is self-interest but in a subtle way.

A.     Getting satisfaction from what appears to be self-sacrifice.

1.     Wesley Autrey would have felt guilty if he had ignored the man who had fallen on the tracks

2.     A doctor who willingly gives up a comfortable live style in order to help people in remote places.

IV.            People who help others do so because they feel as they need to and it is the right thing to do.

A.     This is the type of altruism we, as a society, should encourage.

1.     Being neighborly

2.     Working in soup kitchens

3.     Rescuers

Conclusion:

Lichtenberg leads her audience to believe that pure altruism may not exist. She does this by utilizing the points of kin selection and egoism. The doubts in the reader’s head are demolished when she wraps up her essay by arguing that a person can be altruistic because of ones identity and values. Some acts of “altruism” may be questioned, but in the end it is real.

SWA9

Response to "Why Factory Farms Threaten Your Health" by John Robbins

John Robbins makes his claim clear towards the end of his article. His last paragraph states, "Giving the FDA increased power to over-regulate America's last remaining small-scale farms is not the answer to curbing contamination outbreaks. Ending cash crop subsidies and reverting back to an agricultural system that respects the land, encourages local farming and employs clean and natural methods of growing and raising food is." He is arguing that some groups trying to enhance the government's control on food safety will only make matters worse. Robbins claims that real, safe food comes from a natural agriculture, just like it used to be in the older days. He argues that yes the meat is cheaper now thanks to factory farming, but it is not healthier whatsoever. The risk of disease caused from meat contamination could be reduced tremendously if the creatures were raised in a natural environment, rather than a toxic one.

SWA8

Question 1) Scully supports his claim in saying that cruelty to animals should be a conservative clause in many ways. One technique he uses is by taking religious statements from authors and the Bible that many conservatives would consider their own values. Scully pretty much says that if conservatives believe in these things than they would be hypocrites if they didn't believe cruelty to animals was a serious issue that needed to be dealt with. Being a conservative himself, he opens up the minds of other conservatives to see the situation at hand in a new way that they might not have seen before.

Question 3) Scully believes that animals should be treated like our household pets. He thinks that the leads we could do, as humans, is to give them proper treatment since they are going to die eventually and give us their meat. Scully writes. "...pigs and cows should be able to walk and turn around, fowl to move about  and spread their wings, and all creatures to know the feel of soil and grass and the warmth of the sun." He thinks that the animals being kept in small cages where they can get ulcers, broken legs and other medical issues are not getting a chance to experience life whatsoever. Even if the cage was big enough for a pig to turn around in, that would be better than the current conditions now.

Additional Question) Yes Scully addresses other views in his article. He states, "The problem with moral relativism is that it leads to capriciousness and the despotic use of power". By this he means that many people have different values and it can lead to selfishness. No matter if a person is a liberal or a conservative it is now an issue of obligation to charity versus obligation to justice. He convinces the readers that even though he is conservative he can still share the same feelings about an issue as a liberal.

Essay 1 First Draft Concerns

• I dont feel like I have a strong thesis, is there any way I could make it better?
• Is my analysis developed enough?
• Do I have enough evidence and reasoning to support my claims?
• Does my paper flow okay?

SWA6

Kendall Boothe

English 102-11

February 1, 2012

Paper 1, Draft 1

            For any type of advertisement, a company wants the customer to be attracted to their product. When choosing what audience they are aiming for they use strategies that will draw the customer in whether it is a man or a woman. For instance, when I think of a car advertisement I want to see something fun, efficient or something that makes me feel strong and independent. A man on the other hand, wants to feel powerful, masculine and attractive to the opposite sex. There are two different advertisements that stuck out to me. They are both selling cars, but to two different audiences. One ad is aimed for women and the other men. Even though the car company is selling the same product, the way they sell it to each audience is very different.