The American Civil War Essay - 2428 Words

The American Civil War emanated feelings of joy, exuberance, and glory, yet it substantiated loneliness, destruction, and death. In the antebellum South, nationalism and pride forged a new path, and society saw soldiers as heroic actors and war as their stage. While these actors played out their roles, the audience, the world, could see that their stage did not make them heroes, but war deprived them of body and soul. In Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier develops this excitement and progression to hardship in both Ada and Inman’s journeys. The progression, corroborated by historical evidence, shows that while the antebellum South held a Romantic ideal of war, war itself negated the romantic opinion and became destructive, monstrous,†¦show more content†¦Southern gentility may have held excitement for the Romantic war because they did not have to partake in battle; however, Cold Mountain shows that poor Southern soldiers did not quake in the coming of war but celebrated. As war begins, an excitement is spread to all the soldiers. War is not seen as imminent death, but it is seen as a quintessential example of bravery and honor. As soon as men join the army they pay to have their pictures taken so they can send a memento, a war souvenir back to their families and lovers. The men stand up for their pictures as â€Å"farm boys more bright in their moods than on hog- killing days† (247). War was not destruction for these men, it was an exhilarating experience of manhood. They not only celebrated war through their photographs, but they received new uniforms and â€Å"shiny new bowie knives† (247). Cold Mountain shows that war did not symbolize death to the South, but it in a sense was a Romantic celebration in which society and soldiers could look towards future glory and success. War in Cold Mountain is seen as Romantic, and historical references prove, that in truth, the South did not look upon war as a harbinger of death, but as a symbol of glory and honor. Validating Frazier’s idea that war was not feared but celebrated, historical references show that there was an â€Å"excitement of the first few months of war† (Eaton 203), and everyone â€Å"talks, thinks, and dreams ofShow MoreRelatedAmerican War And The American Civil War1551 Words   |  7 Pageswhich then caused the Southern states of America to decide to leave the American Union and create their own Southern Confederacy. This tore our nation apart. The American Civil War had begun and the very people that were once neighbors had each other’s blood on their hands. Many American lives had been lost. The American lives lost in the Civil War even exceeded the number of American lives lost during World War I and World War II. We were divided. The North wanted to reunite with the southern statesRead MoreThe War Of The American Civil War1376 Words   |  6 PagesThe American Civil War was arguably the most important war in the history of the country. The War of Independence may have allowed American to become its’ own country, but the Civil War resulted in something even more important than that, the end of slavery in the so uthern states. All of the issues that caused the Civil war were based around slavery, such as states’ rights that involved how slavery would be handled in each state, and trying to preserve the Union since the south seceded from the northRead MoreThe American Civil War1296 Words   |  6 Pages The American Civil War, also known as the State’s War, was a conflict that arose mostly from the issue of slavery, but deep down was due to economic differences between the North and the South. The South seceded from the North and created their own self-government due to their belief in the lack of state’s rights versus the federal government and what they saw as a weakness in the Articles of Confederation. While the Confederacy of the United States depended on slave labor for their economy in regardsRead MoreThe American Civil War1418 Words   |  6 PagesGuns fired, smoke lingering in the air, people dying. The American Civil War had a huge impact on the United States . Two compromises took place before the start of the Civil War. These compromises include the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The Missouri Compromise dealt with the crisis in 1819 over Missouri entering the Union as a slave state. The compromise was â€Å"the first major crisis over slavery, and it shattered a tacit agreement between the two regions that had been in placeRead MoreThe War Of The American Civil War1618 Words   |  7 Pages A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include elevenRead MoreThe War Of The American Civil War1324 Words   |  6 PagesThere were many events that led to the cause of one of America’s most devastating war, the American Civil War. The American Civil War was an unfortunate war that cost more than the lives of six hundred thousand people. Events such as the Missouri Compromise, Kansas Nebraska Act, Dred Scott Decision, and the Election of Abraham Lincoln resulted in the four yearlong battles between the Northern and Southern states due to social and economic differences on the idea of slavery. In the 19th century,Read MoreThe War Of The American Civil War Essay1472 Words   |  6 PagesThe American Civil War lasted from April 12, 1861 to May 9, 1865. It was the bloodiest war in American history, killing approximately 620,000 soldiers in total. The War was fought and won by the North, ensuring that all the United States would stay united and slavery would be illegal in The United States. However, history is one of the most complicated things in the world. It’s also one of the most important things in the world because history is what made the present possible. Historians have debatedRead MoreThe War Of The American Civil War856 Words   |  4 PagesSlavery may have been established as the catalyst of the American Civil War, but the beginning of the dispute began in the time of the Revolution with a weak decentralized government under the Articles of Confederation. Later gained momentum as territorial expansion set Americans against each other on debating whether th e new states should be slave states or free states, it questioned the power of the Federal government regarding state rights, and brought about instability in the unity of the UnitedRead MoreThe War Of The American Civil War960 Words   |  4 Pagesslavery even if it meant war caused peace in this nation. Slavery was the vital cause of the American Civil War. The north and the south both had their differences on how to run the country. People in the North believed in unity and that slavery should not exist because â€Å"all men are created equally.† On the other hand, the South believed in continuing slavery. People tried to talk it out and come to a middle ground after both sides compromising, however that didn’t work and caused war. Ideological differencesRead MoreThe American Civil War878 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction A civil war is a prolonged high-intensity conflict between people, countries, or parties, which is usually barefaced and armed. Every war has its causes either acceptable or not and some are inevitable. Commonly, civil wars are between countries within a state. It results from one country aiming to make implementations on their governing policies or take control of certain areas within the state. 1Civil War refers to the American Civil War, which took place in the year 1861 to 1865

‘Lord of the flies’ †take it out of the classroom Free Essays

string(47) " by the Allies who had struggled against them\." The arrival of Y2K brought none of the social, environmental, or technological catastrophes predicted by the tabloids, but neither did the new millennium bring relief from the persistent impediments to free expression that characterized the twentieth century. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., reminds us that throughout most of human history, authority, â€Å"fortified by the highest religious and philosophical texts, has righteously invoked censorship to stifle expression. We will write a custom essay sample on ‘Lord of the flies’ – take it out of the classroom or any similar topic only for you Order Now † He cites the Old Testament proscription: â€Å"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.† Schlesinger also offers the injunction of Plato: â€Å"The poet shall compose nothing contrary to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or beautiful, or good, which are allowed in the state; nor shall he be permitted to show his compositions to any private individual until he shall have shown them to the appointed censors and the guardians of the law, and they are satisfied with them.† Introduction Lord of the Flies has been the center of controversy over the years having been resurrected from its status as a cult classic. However, in my opinion this novel represents a lot of possible socially wrong viewpoints and could be the cause for seeding violent, vulgar and anti-social thoughts in school children. It is because of this reason that I propose to restrict it from classrooms in the school system. The issue of banned books has been escalating since Guttenberg introduced the printing press in 1455. Once speech could be printed, it became a commodity, to be controlled and manipulated on the basis of religion, politics, or profit. After Pope Leo X condemned Martin Luther’s Ninety Five Theses in 1517, both Catholics and Protestants began censoring materials that they found dangerous or subversive. Religious censorship quickly led to political censorship when Luther defied the Pope, bringing an immediate response from Emperor Charles V. On May 26, 1521, the emperor issued the Edict of Worms, containing a â€Å"Law of Printing,† which prohibited the printing, sale, possession, reading, or copying of Luther’s works. However, in the United States and England, a social consensus on censorship was emerging that would be far more repressive than overt state or church power. By the 1830s, this new ideology was proclaiming the necessity for propriety, prudence, and sexual restraint. During the remainder of the nineteenth century, private virtue became public virtue, and American and British editors, publishers, writers, and librarians felt obliged to examine every book for crude language or unduly explicit or realistic portrayals of life. In her introduction to the 1984 New York Public Library exhibition on censorship, Ann Ilan Alter said that there may have been more censorship, self-imposed or otherwise, during the nineteenth century in England and the United States than during all the preceding centuries of printed literature. The twentieth century in America has seen the emergence of pressure groups that maintain an uneasy balance in the struggle to interpret our First Amendment rights. The federal government tips that balance in whatever direction the winds blow, and since 1980, those winds have been chilling. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. notes: â€Å"[T]he struggle between expression and authority is unending. The instinct to suppress discomforting ideas is rooted deep in human nature. It is rooted above all in profound human propensities to faith and fear.† Lord of the Flies – In the Spotlight Lord of the Flies focused attention on the concept of cult literature as a campus phenomenon. Time magazine called it â€Å"Lord of the Campus† and identified it as one in a series of underground literary favorites that were challenging the required reading lists of the traditional humanities curriculum. Up until William Golding’s surprise bestseller, it had been common knowledge that students were reading â€Å"unauthorized books,† especially J. D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye, in spite of (and frequently because of) their condemnation by â€Å"the establishment.† But the existence of a serious sub-literature with an intelligent, dedicated readership flourishing in the midst of the conventional curriculum was something unprecedented on college campuses. During the twenties and thirties, the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe had quickly been welcomed into the ranks of mainstream, respectable writers and labeled literature. While a few critics might choose to ignore these newcomers, there was nothing particularly subversive about what they wrote. Following the success of The Catcher in the Rye, however, no literary observer could be quite sure that the tastes of young readers could be trusted. After all, there were certain attitudes in Salinger that threatened the established order, and when Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, there was apprehension afoot that young readers might find Jack more interesting than Ralph-as indeed many of them did. Analysis What nervous detractors overlooked was the obvious lesson in this Golding classic: that traits like naked aggression and gratuitous cruelty, selfishness, idolatry, superstition, and a taste for violence are not restricted to any particular nationality or race but are inherent in human nature and inhabit the mentality of every human being. If there was anything subversive about this idea, it was that no longer could evil be considered peculiar to the Japanese or the German character. In fact, those who had recently fought against them had waged war with equal relish. When Golding saw the ecstasy on the faces of his fellow sailors in the North Atlantic as they returned the fire of the enemy or launched an attack he felt the shock of recognition that the beast was within us all, just waiting to break through that fragile veneer we call civilization. What he clearly intended as a reminder to his readers (after all, man’s aggressive nature was not a new philosophical position by any means) became for cult readers another weapon to use against those who argued that atrocities such as those committed by the Germans and the Japanese could never be committed by the Allies who had struggled against them. You read "‘Lord of the flies’ – take it out of the classroom" in category "Essay examples" â€Å"We† were good people who treated others with kindness and generosity and fought those who attacked us with the greatest reluctance and the utmost disdain. Even to suggest that we might enjoy the slaughter was to malign the honor and integrity of the Allied forces. Regardless of how his theme was interpreted, however, Golding’s thesis had firm mythological precedents. There are many myths underlying Lord of the Flies, but the basic description of reality is of a world inhabited by men of an evil nature restrained only by voluntary adherence to a pragmatic pact of nonaggression. Such a pact passes for civilization, but because it is maintained only through fear, it is constantly threatened by that fear. The defensive fear that keeps one man from his neighbor’s throat can also incite him to cut that throat before his own gets cut. Lord of the Flies is a case study in alienation. Gradually, with horrifying inevitability, against a backdrop of paradise, the numbers of those who remember their humanity and still cling to the threads of civilization are reduced until there is but one solitary figure left, and just before the ironic rescue, we see him–become him–as he flees his savage pursuers, the backdrop itself reflecting the degradation of those pursuers as the island of paradise burns and smokes and is reduced to char and ashes. Storyline First we see the whole group splitting and taking sides, but the balance, at least for a while, remains on the side of Ralph. Then slowly but irresistibly, Ralph’s supporters are drawn toward the charismatic Jack and his choir, until finally there are only four holding out against them: the twins, Piggy, and Ralph himself. Then the twins are captured and Piggy is killed. Ralph is alone, civilized man alone against the powers of darkness. But we are left with the awful suspicion that he remains â€Å"civilized† only because Jack must have an enemy and Ralph must be that enemy. Excluded forever from Jack’s group, Ralph encourages exaggerated sympathy because he is so terribly alone. A victim always seems somehow more civilized than his tormentors. Nevertheless, much of the power of this book derives from the fact that our sympathies can only be with Ralph and that we, therefore, can feel the vulnerability, the awful weakness, of flimsy rationality at the mercy of a world gone mad. There is no place to run, no place to hide, no exit. And rescue is only temporary and perhaps ultimately more horrible than quick and early death. Media treatment of issues about children relies heavily on such simplistic generalizations with children represented as objects of concern or as threats to adult order. The former relies on an idealized view of children as pure, innocent and vulnerable, needing protection or salvation from dangers they can neither identify nor comprehend. The latter, of children drawn innately (unless prevented) towards evil and anarchy, also has deep historical roots (Miller, 1983). It is a portrayal powerfully evoked by William Golding’s (1959) novel, Lord of the Flies. The power of this fictional work is evident in the frequency with which it is given respect and credibility in press accounts of ‘deviant’ children. It evokes an apocalyptic vision of anarchy as being inevitable should children lose the discipline and order of the adult presence. The portrayals of children as ‘innocent victims’ or ‘culpable delinquents’ are no more than alternative placements that the adult world creates into which children are located at different times, in different circumstances. The idea that children are products of nature or nurture leads to media concern as to whether child ‘deviance’ is rooted in a biological predisposition or in an environmental determinism. Children’s meanings and motivations are persistently ignored, as is the position of adults, both familial and professional, as powerful definers of deviant behavior. Consequently, much of the physical and psychological harm inflicted on children by adults is disregarded, while transgressions by children of their set role are the subject of furious condemnation. Original sin is what Golding was writing about a religious concept, we suspect more relevant to the mayhem that occurred at this C of E school in Liverpool than any glib sociological generalization. Children will run wild, viciously wild, unless they are properly supervised. They need parents to give them a stable and ordered home. They need teachers who know how to keep order as well as how to impart knowledge. They need, God help them, practical instruction in the difference between right and wrong. Here was a rhetoric established and developed which was to re-emerge throughout the next decade, particularly following the murder of James Bulger. It invoked Golding’s construct of anarchy inherent in children left to themselves. Thesis – Fallacies and Immoralities Golding seems in many ways to simplify Lord of the Flies in order to make his point as clearly as possible. For example, all developments in the book are entirely predictable, suggesting not only that the course taken by Golding’s boys is inevitable, but that violence and brutality are inevitable in all interactions among human beings. Moreover, though Golding’s carefully constructed book includes a fairly complex network of literary symbols and devices, all of them tend directly to support the central message. For example, the apparent deus ex machina ending of the book is undercut by the facts that the British are still at war and the adults who arrive to restore order are themselves engaged in a mission of destruction the motivation of which is not fundamentally different from that of the savage hunting frenzies of Jack and his tribe of boys. This parallel presumably suggests that the supposedly â€Å"civilized† adults are really as savage as the primitivized boys, though it could also be taken as a suggestion that the training received by Jack and his â€Å"choir† in military school had already been sufficient to inculcate them with the kind of militaristic values that have led civilization to a cataclysmic war. Indeed, despite the apparent clarity of its message, Golding’s fable is flawed on several accounts. For one thing, this island society could never really represent a new start for humanity because it is all male and therefore incapable of perpetuating itself. For another, the boys on the island are not really innocent; they have already been thoroughly socialized by the same society that seems to be destroying itself through warfare. Still, in some ways Lord of the Flies is an exemplary dystopian fiction. In it Golding creates a fictional society distant from the â€Å"real† world, then utilizes the defamiliarizing perspective of that distance to comment upon the shortcomings of our own social reality. However, whereas most dystopian fictions are designed to function as cautionary tales that warn against the development of specific social and political problems, Golding suggests that all human societies are inevitably doomed by the darkness at the heart of humanity itself. Golding’s book thus lacks the drive toward positive social and political change that informs the best dystopian fictions. If there is a cautionary element in the book, it would seem to involve a hope that were humans aware of their natural tendencies toward violence they might stand a better chance of keeping those tendencies in check. In this respect, it is important to note that Lord of the Flies really makes two major points. First, and more obvious, is the suggestion that human nature lies at the root of most of the ills that plague society. But the book also suggests that society itself is based on an attempt to deny this fact, thus making matters even worse. Although many critics have complained about the gimmick at the end of the novel — the boys are saved; the officer doesn’t â€Å"understand† the violence which has occurred — it is justified because it is another â€Å"appearance.† The officer allows his â€Å"eyes to rest on the trim cruiser in the distance,† but we doubt that he can see it or the water with full knowledge. Lord of the Flies is therefore a novel of faulty vision. Can the boys ever see the elements? Are the elements really there? Is a marriage between elements and consciousness possible? The novel is not about Evil, Innocence, or Free Will; it goes beyond (or under) these abstractions by questioning the very ability to formulate them. Look at any crucial scene. There is an abundance of descriptive details — the elements are â€Å"exaggerated† because they are all that the boys possess — but these details are blurred in one way or another. The result is, paradoxically, a confusing clarity. (Even the â€Å"solid† words the boys use are illusive: Piggy says â€Å"ass-mar† for asthma; Sam and Eric call themselves one name, â€Å"Sam ‘n Eric.†) Here is the first vision of the dead man in the tree: In front of them, only three or four yards away, was a rock-like hump where no rock should be. Ralph could hear a tiny chattering noise coming from somewhere–perhaps from his own mouth. He bound himself together with his will, fused his fear and loathing into a hatred, and stood up. He took two leaden steps forward. Behind them the sliver of moon had drawn clear of the horizon. Before them, something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees. Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness and the creature lifted its head, holding towards them the ruin of a face. Conclusion Golding gives us the short distance, the hulking object. Ralph (and the others) should be able to see. But he cannot. Although he â€Å"binds† himself — becoming more stable — he does not know where the noise comes from or what the â€Å"no-rock† is. His senses cannot rule the elements. He, like the lifted face, is a ruin. V. S. Pritchett claims that Lord of the Flies indicates â€Å"Golding’s desire to catch the sensation of things coming into us.† On the contrary, it indicates his need to tell us that â€Å"out there† and â€Å"in here† never marry — not even on an enchanted island. We should not forget that the Lord of the Flies may be only a skull — an object given miraculous life because of faulty vision. It is precisely because of this misguided literary piece and its possibility to lead school children astray with its vague philosophies. Works Cited Carey John, ed. William Golding: the Man and His Books. New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1987. Devkota Padma Prasad. â€Å"The Darkness Motif in the ‘Primitive’ Novels of William Golding.† DAI 51 ( 1990): 860A. Monteith Charles. â€Å"Strangers from Within into ‘Lord of the Flies.'† ( London) Times Literary Supplement ( September 19, 1986): 1030. Tanzman Leo. â€Å"The Murder of Simon in Golding’s Lord of the Flies.† Notes on Contemporary Literature ( Nov. 1987): 2-3. Watson George. â€Å"The Coronation of Realism.† The Georgia Review (Spring 1987): 5-16. Golding William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. How to cite ‘Lord of the flies’ – take it out of the classroom, Essay examples

Ideologies Essay Example For Students

Ideologies Essay IdeologiesAn ideology is a set of ideas connected together that explain how government and society should be organized and what set of values the society should embrace. The concept of an ideology is a very slippery topic in that people range in the level or degree of their feelings. Ideologies are simplistic and not concerned about logic and consistency. This means that if they are either conservatives or liberal their ideas may vary slightly. Conservatives may have slight differences in the way they think about society. Their ideas are not clear cut or precise. Ideologies contain a view of human nature. In other words, they tell what people are like. There are not clear-cut answers to who is right with their ideas. They are people’s opinions. There are no right answers, but some seem to work better than others do. Nazism is an ideology where a dictator rules all and runs the country himself. The people who join the party believe that there needs to be a single person in charge of the government in order for the country to be run correctly. A communist thinks everybody should be the same. Everybody gets paid the same for doing different degrees of work. No matter how disgusted people may feel about their views, they are ideologies and they are practiced none the less. Liberals are very progressive and optimistic about people. They think that people are good when given a chance. They believe in lighter prison sentences for convicted criminals and blame crime on environmental factors like poverty. A big emphasis is on better education and job training for people who are being rehabilitated. Liberals think that all people can become â€Å"better† with rehabilitation and think prisons should emphasize on rehab. I believe that liberals would rather have freedom over order. Conservatives on the other hand have a more pessimistic outlook on people. They believe that there will always be crime and poverty so why not increase jail time. Conservatives would also like to see harsher penalties given to convicted felons. Forget about the rehabilitation and start paying for the crime that was done. Build more prisons and send more people to them. Conservatives would rather have order over rights. Public order is more important to uphold so that there are fewer crimes. With this you lose a little more freedom as well. In order to find out what our personal ideology was we took a small quiz with questions about different ideas. Once all of the questions were completed you had to add up the number of total points. That would give you a rough idea of what you believed in. Many of the questions had to do with human nature or at least aspects of human nature. Myself looking at the world sort of pessimistically was considered to be more conservative than liberal. The only problem with my results was that some of the questions did not pertain to me. Also I did not understand a few of them. Some of the questions I answered could have gone either way so there is a thin line in between being a liberal and conservative. Political Issues

Jorge Alfonso Ramos Ortega Essays - Fiction, Culture, Jedi, Jediism

Jorge Alfonso Ramos Ortega Professor Jose Julian Celada Ruiz Upper English 02 November 2016 Jediism as a new religion in our current society Nowadays in our current society there is an assortment of religions that, have been established for years , the religions with more followers are; Christianism with two thousand million follower s , Islam with one thousand three hundred million followers and Hinduism with eight hundred fifty one million. With 19 major religions already established, people think that creating a new religion could be difficult, nevertheless the number of followers of many religions is decreasing, young people are conflicted by too many theories that have been revealed, this group people are favoring party to be atheists, agnostics, freethinkers , as non-religious organizations, it does not mean that religious people does not think freely. H owever there are appearing new religions like scientology, the church of euthanasia and Jediism. Knowing about a new religion which adapt to the mentality and way of life of our current society is usele ss in order to open the panorama of it. Focusing on Jediism as new recognized religion that people could take as a game or without the seriousness that deserves , due to the bases of it; the Star Wars franchise in which the main characters are fictional Jedis who believe in the Force, for that people think Jediism is not a serious religion . For that people who believe in this as a religion and not a game make churches around the world, like in Texas where the Temple Of The Jedi Order was created, as it said Jedis believe in the Force and the Temple Of The Jedi Order define the Force as "a ubiquitous and metaphysical power that aJedi(a follower of Jediism) believes to be the underlying, fundamental nature of the universe.", Temple Of The Jedi Order is the First International Church Of Jediism; it is located in Texas, United States it could be abbreviated as TotJO. The Jedis (follow ers of Jediism) believe that r eligion is more than that; they believe that Jediism is a way of life based on the Jedi Code, The Three Tenets, Sixteen Teachings and Twenty One Maxims. The beliefs will be explained further into the essay . They apply their beliefs in a practical way in their lifes. They do not deny they relationship with the mythical Jedis of the movie Star Wars, nevertheless they do not worship the creator or the movie itself, they "accept myth as a sometimes more practical mean of conveying philosophies applicable to real life." (TotJO 2016), TotJO also has its own emblem. The emblem is conformed by the five star representation of the Jedi Code , the Sixteen Teachings; as a sixteen star and the interdependence of light and dark. Jediism as any other religion has it owns Days of Significance; most of these days match with other special days of other religions like Christianism such as Christmas Day which in Jediism is the Anniversary Day . Jediism also have specific reflections on each month, they believe "The Reflections are dichotomies of, for lack of better terms, v ices and virtues of human nature. One cannot reduce all the variables of the human experience into 12 dichotomies of vice/virtue, nor insist that these are the most important." The Days of Significance such as the Monthly reflections will be exposed further in the essay . Everyone ca n join Jediism, in TotJO website request the guest to register so he can participate in forums or Sermons which members published and give their opinion about it, before you register they ask the guest to read the rules so the relationship between Jedis could be as healthy as possible, taking care of the integrity of each member. TotJO allow people to register even if they do not believe in Jediism as a religion. The Jedi code which is part of their Doctrine, the code is the set of rules that Jedi has to follow . The Jedi code says; "There is no Emotion, there is Peace. There is no Ignorance, there is Knowledge. There is no Passion, there is Serenity. There is no Chaos, There is Harmony. There is no

Caroline Young Murdered Her Grandchildren for Revenge

Caroline Young Murdered Her Grandchildren for Revenge Carolina Young was a 51-year-old grandmother who was  convicted of murdering her two grandchildren. She received the death penalty. Young stabbed the children to death after learning that she had lost a custody battle with her grandsons father.   Young received custody of her two grandchildren because their mother, Vanessa Torres, was deemed unfit and was sent  to jail after she was convicted of being involved in drugs and prostitution. Torres testified that on June 18, 1993, the day of the murders, she saw blood on her mothers clothing and then found her son,  6-year-old son, Darrin Torres, lying on the bed dead with his throat cut. Carolina Young had stabbed herself in the abdomen at least a dozen times. When Torres picked up Darrin and then placed a call to the police department, Young took 4-year-old Dai-Zshia Torres into another room and stabbed and slashed at her until her to death. With the child dead beside her, Young repeatedly told her daughter that she no longer wanted to live. According to Torres, her mother Carolina Young, killed the children because she was angry that she had lost custody of the boy to his father. The father, Barrington Bruce,  a Marine recruiter from Virginia, did not know that he had a son until he was contacted by the state and told that he owed $12,000 in back child support. He then petitioned the court for custody of Darrin and received it. Bruce had arrived in the Bay Area on the same day as the murders. He was scheduled to pick up Darrin and bring him on a permanent basis to his home in Virginia. Young wrote a letter to her grandchildren and to their father on the day that she murdered them, saying in part,  I am a very unhappy spirit now on a rampage to get even with all that hurt me and mine, Young wrote to the boys father. Ill be back to show you how it feels to lose someone you really love . . . your daughter. Im coming back for her. Every baby your wife has I will come back and get.   Prosecutor Ken Burr said that before the children were murdered, Young told a friend,  I will kill the kids and take them with me to hell. Youngs lawyers argued that she should not be found guilty by reason of insanity and at the very most should be convicted of second-degree murder because the murders were not premeditated. The jury deliberated for just two and a half hours  before deciding that Young was guilty of first-degree murder and should receive the death penalty. Penalty Phase During the penalty phase of the trial,  Barrington Bruce  testified that when he learned that he had been granted custody of his son Darrin, that he felt like Christmas magnified by 10 but added that a dark cloud came over me when he found out that his son had been murdered. Youngs lawyer, Michael Berger, said that she committed the murders because she was mentally ill.   Berger told the judge, What sits before you is a sick woman and we have reached the point in the late 20th century where we dont execute sick people,   Vanessa Torres made a last-minute appeal for mercy in an effort to save her mothers life. Verdict Superior Court Judge Stanley Golde did not agree with Bergers assessment of Young, saying that her emotional problems had no effect on her ability to know what she was doing.  The judge then sentenced Young to death. In issuing the death sentence, the judge said Youngs conduct was totally repulsive to society and the killing of children is in effect the death of all society. Carolyn Young was the first woman ever given the death penalty in Alameda County, or so it is believed. On September 6, 2005, Young died of kidney failure at Central California Womens Facility in Chowchilla, California. Natural death is the most common way that death row inmates die in California. Since 1976, 13 men convicted of murder have been executed in California. The last woman executed in California was  Elizabeth Ann Duncan who was convicted of planning the murder of her daughter-in-law. Duncan was executed by the gas chamber in 1962.

A View of Views In Favor Of Making 18 the Legal Age Of Alcohol Consumption

A View of Views In Favor Of Making 18 the Legal Age Of Alcohol Consumption The United States’ current minimum drinking age is 21. This age is unrealistic due to the fact that the legal age of adulthood is 18. Drinking under the age of 21 is permitted by law in certain states under some exceptions, such as for religious practices, educational purposes, and on private property with parental consent. Many important life decisions can be made at the age of 18, therefore drinking is no different from the rest of those decisions. Introducing alcohol at an age younger than 21 gives teens the opportunity to learn moderation from their parents and other adults. So is keeping the minimum drinking age at 21 protecting young adults, or is it driving them to binge drinking in unsafe environments without supervision? The law against drinking under the age of 21 gives no chance of exposure for younger kids.Children are taught in school to stay as far away from alcohol as possible. This, in effect, leads to a â€Å"forbidden fruit† syndrome. Drinking alcohol is made out to be a taboo instead of being portrayed as an enjoyable, social activity. The problem with having the legal drinking age so high is that during the time leading up to that age, people are not given proper education on alcohol. Instead of learning how to drink in moderation and in safe environments, the education received on it is often a negative one that aims towards prohibition rather than safe drinking. Young adolescents emerging into adulthood go out and drink with their friends regardless of the law. There is no supervision or guidance, and the lack of education of it can lead to binge drinking and addiction. Today, the U.S. is one of the few developed countries that enforce a minimum drinking age of 21. Many countries in Europe such as Denmark, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland allow their youth to consume alcohol in public places at the age of 16 or 17. Keeping the minimum drinking age at 21 is not effective in stopping people under the age of 21 from consuming it. It is only driving the consummation further and further underground. Our federal government is overextending its reach into state affairs by withholding ten percent of funding for highways for any state that doesn’t keep the minimum drinking age at 21. This results in many states leaving the age at 21 as to avoid being exempt from receiving billions of dollars from the government for their highways. Is it right for the government to withhold the benefits entitled to these states to force their own opinion in laws that should be under state authority? The federal government is overstepping its bounds in this situation. On the other hand, the legal age of adulthood is 18, but is it adulthood? Adulthood is defined by three things: taking responsibility, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. If a young adult is displaying all these qualities, shouldn’t he be granted all the rights and privileges of being an adult? Lowering the drinking age would decrease alcohol-related injuries because young people would no longer be hesitant to seek medical attention due to the illegality of their consummation. Many unnecessary deaths occur every year because 18-20 year olds are too afraid of the consequences of getting caught with possession of alcohol rather than to assure the well-being of their peers. So this sparks the question, are emerging adults mature enough to handle the allowance of alcohol consumption? Will they make the right choices? Decreasing the legal drinking age could result in more vehicle accidents related to driving under the influence. But giving a legal adult the freedom to drink may also give them the power to make more mature decisions. At the age of 18, one is able to get married, vote, serve in the U.S. military, and is legally considered an adult. If one is old enough to take part in deciding who the next president of the United States of America will be, sign legal documents, purchase a home, then a mature decision to drink is a definite capability. When a boy turns 18, he is considered a man in the eyes of his father, his family, and even the law, yet he is still considered too immature and too much of a safety hazard to consume alcohol. How can this be justified? If a man can die for his country at the age of 18, can he not drink a beer? Young adults are restricted and told not to drink until they are old enough. Who gets to say how old is old enough? Children and young adults are offered little to no exposure to alcohol. Education on alcohol consumption is aimed towards prohibition rather than safe drinking. At the age of 18, a person is considered an adult and is granted all the rights and privileges of adulthood except for consuming alcohol. The federal government indirectly keeps states from lowering the age to 18. Lowering the age would decrease under-age drinking accidents and fatalities. The law keeping the age of alcohol consumption at 21 is doing more harm to society rather than letting society benefit from this law. The legal age for alcohol consumption should be the same age as the legal age of adulthood.

Deforestation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Deforestation - Essay Example Also, the reasons for deforestation are largely economic. Softwoods from areas under boreal forest are used in the paper and construction industries, while tropical hardwoods are used in the manufacture of furniture and for construction purposes. In South American countries, forest and woodland areas are also heavily exploited for wood-fuel, which is the main source of energy. Following Ehrhardt-Martinez (1998): "Deforestation in developed countries has reached very low levels, it accounts for the loss of 16.3 million hectares of forest per year in developing countries -- an area approximately twice the size of Portugal. An estimated 15.4 million hectares of forest loss occurs each year in tropical regions, with the worst losses occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean (7.4 million ha) (568) Clearly, the exploitative decline in forest and woodland resources is not sustainable in the long term and a number of environmental problems, including soil erosion and biodiversity losses, have developed as a result. Improved road access into deforested areas is likely to encourage population influx and increased shifting cultivation (Margulis 39). Farmers are then encouraged to trans... These strategies are very successful helping to establish a special culture of forest management and land use (Ehrhardt-Martinez, 569). For the highlands, this meant more emphasis on cattle-ranching, generating meat and dairy products for the growing urban markets, and less importance for traditional subsistence crops like corn, wheat and barley. The establishment of all-weather routes meant that areas which had only been accessible during the dry season could now be used for continuous product extraction, promoting permanent settlement which in turn also increased the demand for local food products. it should be noted that forests, while not the only, are still the main source of 'reserve land areas' to be gradually included in the pool of cultivated areas (WRM 1998). Due to the low commercial scale of remaining valuable timber species, it is usually not worthwhile to open a new road in a mountainous region just for the sake of timber extraction; this thus eliminates any prospective 'indirect' impact. The extraction of logs here may rather be a by-product of forest-clearing implemented for general purposes of colonization (Margulis 89). According to road distance and market requirements, either all types of firewood are cut and used across the board for conversion, or hard species with a high energy content are selected. In the case of across-the-board utilization, charcoal-burning would indeed be a candidate as a cause of deforestation, provided that the once-and-for-all rent from clearing and charcoal conversion is in fact the decisive motivation within the landowner's resource-use strategy. The problem of deforestation needs complex solutions and