FINAL DRAFT ESSAY #3 BLOG#11

Stacy Ann Welch

Eng101 0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #3

Final draft

Date 12/5/2012

 

If society Finds Ways to Eliminate Or Drastically Reduce Crimes, Terriorism And Other Threats, Should They Do So Regardless Of The Ethical Considerations Of The Means We Will Use?

 

               Living in a society like the one we live in today, it is never okay to go against our moral ethical beliefs. Moral belief comes from what authorities as well as our parents and religious belief comes from.  However, if society finds ways to eliminate or drastically reduce crime, terrorism and other threats they should not do so regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we will use. Human Cloning, Death Penalty and Violations of Privacy should not be the means we use to reduce crimes. These behaviors are immoral and should not even be considered as a solution to any problems in society.  They go against the laws such as the Nuremberg code, and moral and ethical beliefs. These acts also violate human dignity. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The movie “Minority Report” brings up these human rights, and shows how privacy and dignity are being violated by authorities.  These issues teach us that we cannot violate, or take people lives for granted because it may cause them to suffer.

           The practice of human cloning should be banned. It creates and destroys the human life. It also kills the cloned embryonic of human beings, in order to conduct medical research. Cloning only make them feel as if their life was already planned out and that they have no choice. Cloning humans violates the “Nuremberg code” stating that “experiments should not be conducted on human beings when it is known beforehand that death will result”. Research cloning violates this principle because it condones the creation and killing of embryonic human being. According to Kass Leon," Human Cloning Should Be Banned”.” We seek to defend human procreation against degrading reproductive practices –such as cloning or embryo fusing-that would deny children their due descent from one father and one mother and their right not to be manufactured”. This quote stated that humans who are being cloned have the right not to suffer and live freely. More so,   it is not permissible for everything that is wrong in the society be condoned, therefore human nature would no longer commands respect.

            In addition if society decides to reduce crimes it would violate the rules and laws that protects the people for example the “Bill of Right”, which limits the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. If all these right are taken away from you, you will be force to live a life that is controlled by the authorities.   Reading the article by John D. Bessler, "America's Death Penalty: Just another Form of Violence”. I think that because of the terrorists attack people do think that death penalty can solve the problems with crimes in the society. Death penalty doesn’t do anything to fight crimes it brings up the rates of crimes.  Society cannot eliminate crimes and still protect the constitution. This is going against people’s ethical belief; it is written in the bible no human being must take another human being life, but God. According to Bessier, “America’s death Penalty: Just another Form of Violence”. “Using capital punishment only sends the misguided message to members of society that killing already incarcerated criminals can somehow solve the problem of violence in American life”. This quote counters that these criminals are already convicted for crimes whether it’s for the murder of another person or rape. Executing them doesn’t solve the problem because that person is also a victim after they’re executed.  Society today already wants to reduce crimes, but yet still death penalty is their misguided way of solving the problem.
              The movie “Minority Report” is a perfect example how destructive the world would be if we violate civil rights in order to reduce crimes. The loss of privacy is one of the main reasons why reducing crimes would be a terrible thing. The movie shows how the pre-cogs are being treated; and the citizens. They have no privacy; the pre-cogs are being used by the government for their talent.  The government thinks that protecting the people have to do with invading into their personal life. And that it helps reduce crimes. In today’s society we are already dealing with the fact that since 9/11 the government has being spying on our every move on the phones and our emails. According to Daniel Melinger, “Facial Recognition Technology Represents a Threat to Privacy”. Facial recognition technology is a hard drive and software that allows computers to identify people by their faces, which they used in the movie “Minority Report” to identify people. This is going overboard; as it is written in the bill of rights the government should have limited control over the personal privacy. Despite of the pre-cog’s differences they should be treated equally. The pre-cog could determine the future which allows the authority to arrest murderers before they have committed any crime. This is their idea of reducing crimes which is the most immoral thing to do. It is the most immoral thing to do because they are wrongfully convicting innocent people. If there is no evidence then there’s no crime. In the movie “Minority Report” Howard, one of the characters had been arrested for the future murder of his wife and her lover. He has not yet had a chance to commit that murder, but still he was arrested. My thought about this is that it’s insane; no one should be arrested for any murder they didn’t commit. I would have understood if Howard had committed that crime, but he didn’t so Howard is not guilty.

          In conclusion, if society finds ways to eliminate or drastically reduce crime, terrorism and others threats they should not do so regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we use.  As individuals we were taught by our parents our morality about life. We were taught to stick with those morals and to have them taken away from us by anyone including the government would be a crime. We all as humans want to know that we are protected by the government, without violating our dignity and privacy. It is unjust to go against the laws to prove a point, especially if we are living in a fair and free society. Human nature will never be the same if we continue to tolerate these immoral behaviors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Minority Report.Dir. Steven Spielberg.Perf. Tom Cruise. Amblin, 2002.Film.

Bessler John D. "America's Death Penalty: Just Another Form of Violence." Phi Kappa Phi

Forum 82.1 (2002): 13-5. Print.

Kass, Leon R. "Human Cloning Should Be Banned." The Ethics of Cloning. Ed. David M.     

Haugen, Susan Musser, and Kacy Lovelace. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. At Issue.

Rpt. from "Defending Life and Dignity: How, Finally, to Ban Human Cloning." Weekly Standard 13 (25 Feb. 2008). Print.

Melinger, Daniel J. "Facial Recognition Technology Represents a Threat to Privacy." Are

Privacy Rights Being Violated?Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue.Rpt. from "Facial Recognition Technology, Future of the Infrastructure."2002. Print.

Blog #10 ,essay#3

Stacy Ann Welch

Eng101

Draft

Essay #3

                   

               Living in a society like the one we live in today, it is never okay to go against our moral ethical beliefs. Moral belief comes from what authorities as well as our parents and religious belief comes from. Whereas, ethical also comes from inside yourself, it’s your own beliefs on what is necessary, and not what others say. If society finds ways to eliminate or drastically reduce crime, terrorism and others treat they should not do so regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we will use. Human Cloning, Death Penalty and Violations of Privacy should not be the message we use to reduce crimes. These behaviors are immoral and should not even be considered as a solution to any problems in society.  They go against the laws such as the Nuremberg code, and moral and ethical beliefs. These acts also violate human dignity. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The movie “Minority Report” portrays these human rights, and shows how privacy and dignity are being violated by authorities.  These issue teach us that we cannot violate, or take people lives for granted becuase it may cause them to suffer.

         The issue of human cloning should be banned. It creates and destroys the human life. It also kills the embryonic of human beings, which helps to develop the process of growing to maturity. Cloning would only make them feel as if their life was already planned out and that they have no choice. Cloning humans violates the “Nuremberg code” stating that “experiments should not be conducted on human beings when it is known beforehand that death will result”. Research cloning violates this principle because it condones the creation and killing of embryonic human being. According to Kass Leon," Human Cloning Should Be Banned”.” We seek to defend human procreation against degrading reproductive practices –such as cloning or embryo fusing-that would deny children their due descent from one father and one mother and their right not to be manufactured”. This quote stated that humans who are being cloned have the right not to suffer and live freely. Also for these children’s that are being clone they will more likely to live in a single family household. More so,   it is not permissible for everything that is wrong in the society be condone, therefore human nature would no longer commands respect.

         In addition if society decides to reduce crimes it would violate the rules and laws that protects the people for example the “Bill of Right”, it limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. If all these right are taken away from you, you will be force to live a life that is controlled by the authorities.   Reading the article by Bessler John, "America's Death Penalty: Just another Form of Violence”. I think that because of the terrorists attack people do think that death penalty can solve the problems with crimes in the society. Death penalty doesn’t do anything to fight crimes it brings up the rates of crimes to increase.  Society cannot eliminate crimes and still protect the constitution. This is going against people’s ethical belief; it is written in the bible no human being must take another human being life, but God. Based on Bessier, “America’s death Penalty: Just Another Form of Violence”. “Using capital punishment only sends the misguided message to members of society that killing already incarcerated criminals can somehow solve the problem of violence in American life”. This quote counters that these criminals are already convicted for crimes whether it’s for the murder of another person or rape by executing them  doesn’t solve the problem because that person is also a victim after they’re executed.  Society today already wants to reduce crimes, but yet still death penalty is their way of solving the problem.
      The movie “Minority Report” is a perfect example how destructive the world would be if crimes were to be reduced. The loss of privacy is one of the main reasons why reducing crimes would be a terrible thing. The movie shows how the pre-cogs are being treated; and the citizens. They have no privacy; the pre-cogs are being used by the government for their talent.  The government thinks that protecting the people have to do with invading into their personal life. And that it helps reduce crimes. In today’s society we are already dealing with the fact that since 9/11 the government has being spying on our every move on the phones and our emails. In the movie Minority Report, they used facial recognition technology testing for protection. Facial recognition technology is a hard drive and software that allows computers to identify people by their faces. This is going overboard; as it is written in the bill of rights the government should have limited control over the personal privacy. Despite of the pre-cogs differences they should be treated equally. The pre-cogs could determine the future where the pre-crimes are also able to see the future as well and arrest murderers before they have committed any crime. This is their idea of reducing crimes which is the most immoral thing to do. It is the most immoral thing to do because they are wrongfully convicting innocent people. If there is no evidence then there’s no crime. In the movie “Minority Report” Howard, one of the characters had been arrested for the future murder of his wife and her lover. He has not yet had a chance to commit that murder, but still he was arrested. My thought about this is that it’s insane; no one should be arrested for a murder they didn’t commit. I would have understood if Howard had committed that crime, but he didn’t however Howard is not guilty.

        In conclusion, if society finds ways to eliminate or drastically reduce crime, terrorism and others treat they should not do so regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we use.  As individuals we were taught by our parents our morality about life. We were taught to stick with those morals and to have them taken away from us by anyone including the government would be a crime. We all as humans want to know that we are protected by the government, without violating our dignity and privacy when it comes to certain issue. It is unjust to go against the laws to prove a point, especially if we are living in a fair and free society. Human nature will never be the same if we continue to tolerate these immoral behaviors.

 

 

free will and determinism blog#8

       Free will is the freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or divine intervention. Whereas, determinism is the state of believing in predestination. In the movie "Minority Report" and the play Oedipus the King both portrays free will and determinism in which humans have control over their own lives after believing in their own destiny. Free will and determinism in both the movie and the plat shows that people’s lives were predetermined before they were born.

       The “Minority Report” manipulated people’s lives. In the world of minority report” explained that free will is all about possibilities and self-control. In the world "minority report “ authorities used something called the pre-cogs to determine crimes before they happen,the polices would stop those murderers from committing the crimes before it happen. Right then you will be arrested for committing a crime. In my opinion this shows that these people living in the world of minority report do not have free will their lives are predetermined, they have limited control over their lives. Both John and Oedipus lose fate sometime in their life. In the end both John and Oedipus had a choice in their life as well, but before they did not have free will. If the future is determined then there is no free will. The choices you make you are responsible for those choices. In the minority report john loses fate after seeing himself killing something in the pre-cogs, john would be placed in jail for a crime he didn’t do. John made a choice to run and he then believe in changing his destiny. In the play Oedipus his life was also pre-determined before his birth it was said that he would kill his father and be with his mother. Later on he found out about it and seeks help from a oracle; just like John. The choice Oedipus made he could of changed his destiny at that time.

          The difference between the minority report and Oedipus is that soft determinism was argued in minority report , while hard determinism was argued in Oedipus based on a reading " a person is free only if there is more than one future is open to him"( page 104 Huemer). This means that whatever choice they make they are responsible for their own actions in minority they arrest the murderers before they commit the crime which is insane because you have to commit the murder in order to be called a murder. Oedipus had hard determinism because is determinism was true he really did kill his father just like they predicted he didn’t have a choice at that time.

blog #7 Ideology and culture

                        People in denial about their spouses cheating avoid it.  Many women struggle with avoiding the fact that their husbands or wife might be cheating. For example, what if a close friend tells her friend that she saw, her friend’s husband with another woman. That friend is going to deny that her husband is cheating because she refused to believe. Many women over looked the fact that their husband is cheating because it is painful. The women most of the time is so in love with that person they don’t care about what reality thinks, they are stuck in their own world. Sometimes they might think of but ended up saying it could never be true to them.

       Most of the time those women that are so in denial about their spouses cheating are just afraid to leave that person. Women perceive the fact that their husband are cheating and blame it on something else. Without seeing the fact that it’s not reality it’s just their husbands. Women also wants to take one their spouses responsibilities for everything, because they are in denial. Those women are living in a lie. They see what they want to see, and know what they want to know. Basically they believe what they want to believe.

Stacy Ann Welch

Blog#6

Date 10/17/2012

 

           In my opinion, I think that fate does exist and you make your own decisions. Oedipus had a lot of free will because he made a lot of his decisions on his own; he’s the one in control of his life. He is responsible for making his own decisions. The play talks about his past and shows that he controlled his own free will because of the choices he makes ,but he doesn’t  seems to understand it as yet because of the secrets. For example the choice he made to leave his country stated “I ran away from my Corinth. From then on I thought of it just as a place beneath the stars. I went to other lands, so I would abomination my evil fate. In my travelling I came across that place in which you say your king was murdered”. Oedipus made that choice to leave his country. Even though, he was chosen to be king everything else was basically his decision after that. There are something’s that are destined to be, but when Apollo wrote what was destined for them. It was with the knowledge of choices they make Oedipus failed at that.

          Another free will was that he is very determining to find out the truth about who killed Laius. Oedipus made the choice to listen to Teiresias(an old blind man) but at the same time thinks Teiresias speaks nothing but pure lies because of his blindness, what Oedipus can’t seems to understand is that the truth is right in front of him. He’s making the choice to find out the truth but when Teireaias speaks of it, he thinks that Teiresias is insane. “I tell you the man you have been seeking all this time , while proclaiming threats and issuing orders about the one who murdered Laius the man is here… he will be blind, although he now can see, he will be poor, although he now is rich, he will set off for a foreign country. What Teiresias is trying to tell Oedipus is that the killer that he have been searching is right in front of him but he’s too blind to see the truth even though he can see. Oedipus orrgrant and stubborn ways pushed him to impulsively make wrong decisions. For example   Oedipus accused Creon of being the killer of Laius and wanted Creon dead, his wife’s brother  ...” And  If you think you can act to injure a who is relative of yours and escape without a penalty  then you’re not thinking as you should ..Said Oedipus. Oedipus is accusing Creon based on his stubborn ways because he is not listening to the Theresa’s he’s making his own decision to judge someone. Oedipus showed that humans have the capacity to exert free will. The choices the Oedipus made throughout his life ultimately led to his downfall in the end.

Essay #1 Blog #5

Stacy Ann Welch

Eng. 101 (0768)

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

Date 10/15/2012

                                              A Perfect World, Not So Perfect

       

               After reading “Annas”, “The Man on the Moon” and watching the movie “Gattaca”. I believe that they portray a dystopian world characterized by discrimination, oppression and anti-utopian elements. In the movie “Gattaca” a perfect world is described as being free of diseases, free of discriminating against gender, sex, and religion. Genetic engineering is introduced into this world and it promises to make mankind live this perfect life. In “Gattaca” authorities used illegal genetic testing in job interviews and they use blood and urine sample testing to identify people. Vincent’s dream is to be an Astronaut but it is very difficult to fulfill because he has to have a perfect gene in order to get the job. Vincent’s parents wanted to have another baby using genetic engineering because they were manipulated and believe that the baby would have better opportunities. Vincent’s brother was taller and better at anything he did. Even though, authorities no longer discriminate against gender or religion, they still discriminate on ones genes. Eradicating terminal illness will lead to over population which can cause a lack of resources and environment pollution. Genetic engineering is direct manipulation and interfering into people’s personal life.

               All humans have dignity and are entitled to equal rights .The movie “Gattaca” portrays a dystopian world because people were not exactly equal. In the world of “Gattaca” they discriminated against people base on their genes. If you were born with any kind of conditions, you would be categorized as an invalid, whereas those who were born perfect are categorize as valid, which I think is absolutely absurd because in a perfect world everyone should be equal .According to Annas,”The universal declaration of human rights, the recognition that human rights are founded on human dignity is shared by all members of the human race without distinctions based on race, religion, or national origin” (230). This quote clearly stated that regardless of any kind of discrimination such as race, color, sex, language, religion, national origin or any other status you are entitle to equal rights. However, what “Gattaca” portrays is a world that is totally the opposite.

              Genetic engineering is direct manipulation of an organism genome using biotechnology. Genetic engineering is designed to create a perfect society. Not everyone is perfect so there will be negative consequences. There is a risk that it may disrupt the functions of other genes.  With genetic engineering appearing mankind would diminish and destroy the human’s dignity and equal rights. It is insane that you could make a perfect baby just by using genetic engineering. I think God is in control not science. Having a completely perfect child, does not ensure that the child is going to be better? According to Annas:

       This is because of the inherent physical and psychological danger to children (and the overall danger they pose to children of treating them as manufactured products), and because there are existing alternative, less dangerous educational, exercise-based, medical, and surgical ways to achieve these goals. Parents should simply not be able to   dominate their children in this fashion. (239)

                This quotes states that genetic engineering is buying children to put them on special missions, and because they are already perfect and know everything there will be nothing a parent can do to help their children during childhood. It would be hard for a parent to cope with the fact that their kids don’t need them.

              Eradicating illnesses will lead to over population. The increase of the population will cause economic difficulties. There will not be enough resources such as food, water and energy to provide for people. Also, over population can lead to an unhealthy environment because it increases pollution. In “Gattaca” the environment is clean but eradicating illness will cause a disaster. According to a scene in the movie “Gattaca” there was a doctor who also had a son who was genetically inferior but hoped to be an astronaut. He stated “Unfortunately, my son not all that they had promised. But then who knows what he could do”. This shows dystopia in the society and that many people in the society have accepted being discriminated against by their genes because there is nothing really they could do about it. This shows that human rights are being violated.

             In conclusion the movie “Gatttaca” portrays a dystopian world because people are discriminated against in a world that is presented to be a utopia.  However, I think that in the movie genetic engineering existed for all the wrong reasons. It manipulates people and takes away their equal rights. Furthermore, genetic engineering is designed to get rid of diseases which will cause a disaster. The book “The Man on the Moon” by Annas tells us that we cannot use science to determine what the future will be like and I agree.

Stacy Ann Welch

Eng. 101

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

Blog#4

Date 10/10/2012

 

         After reading “Annas”, “The Man on the Moon” and watching the movie “Gattaca”. I believe that they portray a dystopian world characterized by discrimination, oppression and anti-utopian elements. Even though, authorities no longer discriminate against gender or religion but on ones genes. Eradicating terminal illness will lead to over population which can cause a lock of resources and environment pollution. Genetic engineering is direct manipulation and interfering into people’s personal life.

        In the movie “Gattaca” a perfect world is described as being free of diseases, free of discriminating against gender, sex, and religion. Genetic engineering is introduced into this world and it promises to make mankind live this perfect life. In “Gattaca” authorities used illegal genetic testing in job interviews and they use blood and urine sample testing to identify you. The main character Vincent Freeman was born without genetic manipulation in a world where they use DNA samples testing to identify people and  he was discovered to be suffering from a heart conditions and is, due to die at age 30. Vincent’s dream is to be an Astronaut but it is very difficult to fulfill because of the society he live in. Vincent’s parents wanted to have another baby using genetic engineering which they did and they had a normal baby. The fact that his parents made sure his brother would be perfect was very difficult for Vincent’s .Vincent’s brother was taller and better at anything he did.

    All humans have dignity and are entitled to equal rights .The movie “Gattaca” portrays a dystopian world because people were not exactly equal. In the world of “Gattaca” they discriminated against people base on their genes. If you were born with any kind of conditions, you would be categorized as an invalid, whereas those who were born perfect are categorize as valid, which I think is absolutely absurd because in a perfect world everyone should be equal .According to Annas,”The universal declaration of human rights, the recognition that human rights are founded on human dignity is shared by all members of the human race without distinctions based on race, religion, or national origin” (230). This quote clearly stated that regardless of any kind of discrimination such as race, color, sex, language, religion, national origin or any other status you are entitle to equal rights. However, what “Gattaca” portrays is a world that is totally the opposite.

       Genetic engineering is direct manipulation of an organism genome using biotechnology. Genetic engineering is designed to create a perfect society. Not everyone is perfect so there will be negative consequences. There is a risk that it may disrupt the functions of other genes.  With genetic engineering appearing it would diminish and destroy the human’s dignity and equal rights. It is insane that you could make a perfect baby just by using genetic engineering. I think God is in control not science. Having a completely perfect child, how can you be so sure that the child is going to be better? According to Annas, “this is because of the inherent physical and psychological danger to children (and the overall danger they pose to children of treating them as manufactured products), and because there are existing alternative, less dangerous educational, exercise-based, medical, and surgical ways to achieve these goals. Parents should simply not be able to dominate their children in this fashion” (239).This quotes states that genetic engineering is buying children to put them on special missions, and because they are already perfect and know everyone there will be nothing a parent can do to help their children during childhood. It would be hard for a parent to cope with the fact that their kids don’t need them.

    Eradicating illnesses will lead to over population. The increase of the population will cause economic difficulties. There will not be enough resources such as food, water and energy to provide for people. Also, over population can lead to an unhealthy environment because it increases pollution. In “Gattaca” the environment is clean but eradicating illnesses it will cause a disaster. According to a scene in the movie “Gattaca” there was a doctor who also had a son who was genetically inferior but hoped to be an astronaut. He stated “Unfortunately, my son not all that they had promised. But then who knows what he could do”. This to me shows dystopia in the society and that many people in the society have accepted being discriminated against their genes because there is nothing really they could do about it. This shows that human rights are being violated.