Response to Hooked on a Myth

In Victoria Braithwaite’s article “Hooked on a Myth,” she brings up the age old question on whether or not fish can feel pain. We treat them as a lower class of beings since they can’t exactly show pain; they don’t look sad or cry out in response when pain is evident. However it is shown that fish can feel pain as they have the necessary wiring to detect pain. What does this change, though? Are we going to simply to change the way we fish? Or maybe we could adopt an “utilitarian” society? She brings up a valid point that makes you think about all these questions; but there’s one question that she fails to bring up, does anyone actually care about whether or not fish can feel. As the human race is at the top of the food chain we often feel that all other life forms are below us. The answer that fish can feel has always been out there, it’s just that no one took the time to acknowledge it. We treat fish in a significantly different way than we treat dogs simply because we see them as unintelligent and unfeeling. The line is drawn at a point where if you aren't proven to have a qualitative awareness of feelings then they aren't considered an individual. Braithwaite brings up a point that makes us question our morals, bu tit seems to be that she is making a big deal out of nothing. In a world with an us vs. them mindset this sort of information just isn't relevant enough to make a big change at the moment. She even says herself that we should “adopt an ethical approach and assume that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, fish suffer.” There is not really a solution on what to do with this information at this point in time. Are we going to start offering welfare for slugs and crustaceans? What about the other animals? Where is the line drawn?

My Op-Ed

My Op-Ed is called "How to make it easier for health workers to volunteer in crises" by Helen Ouyang.  This article is about the things that experts in the medical field need to be able to go support and help with this Ebola breakout that has been going on since October of the present year. To be able to volunteer for this cause there are certain restrictions and requirements. One of the requirements on this trip to volunteer is to leave their job, family and daily routines for an eight-week period, which is the commitment term given.  Another requirement for this program is to go through a screening process. Finally, the ones that attended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s safety training course could be utilized and will be able to participate.
Op-Ed How to make it easier for health workers to volunteer in crises

Life as a student athlete.

Being a student athlete and keeping a cool personality is probably one of the hardest things you can do in high school. Maintaining grades, talking to college coaches, and keeping a high social class at school can cause a major head ache. You have to be able to block out a lot f people around school and still be able to make other people happy. Coaches will be in your head during practice but you can't let your anger on the playing field show at school. You also can't let what anger you have during your sport transfer into school. Then it all turns into a bunch of people asking you a bunch of questions. Me personally that's something I do not like to do. That's why my whole career I decided to stay away from the media and the camera. It will be to much of a stress for me to have a bunch of cameras on me while I need to focus in something totally different. It's just something that some kids can handle and others can't. 

View on this unit

As last unit came to a close We were introduced to a new unit in which we would learn abut new things and work on prior knowledge. Coming into this unit I wasn't quite sure how to feel, not because of the workload but because of the amount of areas that I was not familiar with. Before this unit started I had no idea what a rhetorical precis was, but now I have a full understanding and can even write them with great ease. The grammar lessons that we completed also brought forth new writing skills that I was able to use in my essay that we completed in class. The essay was a different story within itself. When I got to class earlier today I felt that I had all of the right information and knowledge to produce a great essay, but it was quite the opposite. I froze. I don't know what  it was, but I couldn't seem to put down on paper exactly what I was trying to say, so I began to just rant, or that's what it felt like. The end result of my essay felt to me to be terrible, and I am unhappy. Other than that, this unit helped a lot, and showed me that even with a larger workload I can produce my work on time and in great quality.

I hope all of you got as much out of this unit as I did and are happy with the results an progress you are making to both your regular work and writing pieces.    

D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R

I wasn't really excited about this new section were in. I think that probably because I really like animals a lot and I feel theyy deserve more rights than they have. Everytime there are school things related to animals being abused i get two different types of feels.I either get really sad and depressed and do not want to talk about the topic or I get really angry and just go off and say random facts abput how animals deserve rights. I feel like some things shouldn't be talked about in class and this maybe being one of them. After reading the articles by Victoria Braithwraite and Jeremy Rifkin it opened up my eyes more to the suffering of the animals. They really did a great job of convincing me to be more on the side of the animals. I felt for the animals when they used examples of how the animals were human like. I flet like they were one of us and i felt great empathy for them. The thing that mad me super mad though was the "Letter to the editor in responses to "A Change of Heart about Animals." This guy Lois Frazier really pissed me off. It seemed as if he pulling pulling random stuff out of his rear end. Especially me being on the side of the animals and him totally contradicting it with non facts was really irritating. On a good note it was a very interesting section that I appreciated learning more about. It's nice to read something that I have a great opinion on.

Empathy

We tend to think of empathy as a uniquely human trait. With empathy being an attribute we exclusively thought to humans, you'd think that we'd empathize with each other before we did with any other species. This however is not true.

Last year there was a study done involving 240 men and women, most between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. Each participant was given a fictional news story involving the beating of a 1-year old baby, an adult in his 30's, a puppy or a 6-year old dog. After reading the story the participant was to rate how much empathy they had for the victim of the attack.

More empathy was shown for the child, the puppy and the adult dog than the adult human. Surprisingly, the study showed that the same amount of empathy was shown for the baby as the puppy.

Why? Why is it that more empathy was shown for an animal than for someone of our own species?

After giving this some thought I came to the conclusion that because the puppy and baby are helpless and unable to defend themselves, they derive more empathy from us than an adult who has is bigger, stronger and therefore more capable of defending himself.

I'm not sure how I feel about this study. I feel like a part of me agrees with the results. That the amount of empathy I feel would also be greater for the baby and puppy than for the human adult. The other part of me is mostly confused and I can't quite figure out what it is I'm confused about.

Empathy, weather it's a human trait just a human trait or not, is something that I think should be universal and should not be limited to race, religion, or species.

My Op-Ed Article

The piece I chose was an article about Eric Garner.  If you do not know who he is or know his story I suggest you look into it.  This story was painful and angering to read; the video which has gone viral is even worse.  It happened months ago and I believe I watched the video on twitter but I came across it again and this time I looked more into it.  Eric Garner did nothing wrong; however, his life was taken.  He was choked to death by a police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, who was later found not guilty.  I find it so crazy how there is video evidence of it all going down and the guy still got away with it.  The police officer was questioning Garner and claimed he was selling cigarettes individually on the street.  Which is illegal I guess, but to be taken down and choked to death for it? I didn't even have to state that Eric Garner was African American; it is obvious.  Incidents like this happen way too often  to innocent black males and something needs to be done.  You never see these things happen to innocent white people, why do cops have the need to treat one race different than the other? It is not right at all and I'm not sure what there is to do besides what is going on now, protest.

My Experience with the Unit

I was really nervous to start this unit because of the amount of work it seemed to be. For example, when we first starting writing rhetorical précises I didn’t like them and I was profoundly irritated and confused by them, even though they are very simple. I have grown to enjoy writing rhetorical précises. I think it was one of those things that you have to get a hang of before it becomes comfortable and enjoyable. The articles that we read for this unit were quite intriguing to me because last year, in Anatomy, we talked about animals’ rights and our views on using them for testing. Reading these articles opened my mind to something I hadn’t really thought of in a serious way. I didn’t know that fish could feel until we started the unit and I am happy that I do now because it is one more thing that I am aware of.  Braithwaite’s article was my favorite one and I wrote my on demand essay on her article, I agreed with her on the topic. Rifkin’s article and video were very insightful, he brought things into light that I wouldn’t have ever thought of or realized for years. I thoroughly enjoyed his video and what he had to say about empathy and our “empathic civilization” because the information he provided was great. I love learning things like this because they cause me to wonder, think and research more. I think I like researching more because of this class and I now like reading articles and learning about things happening in the news. The Op-Ed piece was probably my favorite assignment of the unit because it was on whatever topic I chose. I didn’t realize it until we started this unit but I like reading opinionated work because I love to disagree, agree and agree to disagree, but I just enjoy seeing what others think about certain topics. Overall, I liked this unit, I didn’t think I would but I did. The amount of work seemed like an immense amount because of the way it was given out but once I started it I realized it wasn’t much to do.

Frustration towards my op-Ed topic

To begin with my op-Ed article is about Spanish speakers needing to learn English if they want to be an American citizen. In my opinion I do agree with the fact that they should know some English but the article they talk about how gov., wants to make English the national language in which I totally disagree because were supposed to be living this free country yet they want to obligate them having to know a lot of english. As I had read along the main question was what were they going to do about the immigrants having to know English. However the answer would not be changing the language of English into our national language because it would give the immigrants a type of dull feeling that they want to live in this free country yet, they are obligated to know English. However I do believe that they should know a least a little bit because majority of America speaks. So back to the question the correct answer would have to be having classes for Spanish speaking and have them in a class that teaches some English so that later in life they know what is going on , also they would have to take a test to become a full legal citizen of America such as, know the amendments and the constitution. Having the oppurtunity for the Spanish speakers or for any non English speaker is such a great idea because it will help with them having jobs to have money for their families.

Empathy & Belonging

The definition of empathy according to Google is "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another," and this is what makes humans so much more unique than animals. In Jeremy Rifkins's video that we watched in class he gave a brief overview on empathy and other aspects of human behavior. One of the most interesting topics that he discusses is that humans have a "drive to actually belong."

In high school we always want to belong to a group or clique because that's what we are most comfortable with. Our groups of friends gives us a sense of belonging that every person needs. If we didn't have the drive to belong our society would be very difficult to navigate around because everyone would be too afraid to be apart of something. 

Fortunately for my self I pick a great group to belong with because I surrounded myself with positive people that want to have a prosperous and healthy life. The group of people that I associate myself with the most are my friends: Faizon, Earl, and Adam. Those three young men will have my back until the day I die and I'm very thankful to call those gentlemen my brothers. 

Op-Ed on Technology

My Op-Ed article is called "Technology: How much is too much?" by Zegan Zema. Zema talks about how important it is to stay away from laptop computers, Mac books, Androids, iPhones etc. and instead maybe go outside, enjoy the beautiful day or read a book without tweeting about it as it is happening. This generation has been consumed by the social media world and I feel that we should consider how valuable the information online truly is important in the big picture. I find it accurate when the author says "blogs and tweets offer a way to see celebrities and artists in a unique and personal way, but do these methods actually bring you closer to know them in real life?". I feel that in order to improve our way of thinking we have to be willing to create an engaging environment with our peers, away from social media. I consider social media and instant communication as obstacles of such reflection and serious thinking because it only distracts people from reality, and I believe creates one huge bubble around those who would rather spend their time liking pictures on Instagram or re tweeting tweets on Twitter than having precious quality time bonding with family and friends. There may be some pros involving the social media world like how it allows fast and instant communication, but I feel that that creates a barrier between the delicacy of expression and the reality of the world. I also feel that it is just a waste of time and simply a distraction and creates such fragile connections. Like say for example, Facebook. You have all these friends, but are they really your friends? Your connections are being defined by how often you've been in contact with these people. They are defined in my opinion by liked pictures. How fragile you would say are these connections? They are easy to form connections ( adding a friend), but just as easy as getting rid of them.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

     The strongest pieces of writing contains these three rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, think about it. Every great piece of writing that you have read has contained at least one of these appeals. In my opinion, when a writing appeals to pathos, that is the strongest way to get their point across and get people to follow whatever it may be that the writer is trying to get the audience to think or do.
     Emotion is the force that will make people make a change, as John Edlund wrote in his article "Three Ways to Persuade" he says "logical arguments for banning or not banning assault rifles had not changed at all, but people were emotionally engaged with the issue after [the] event and wanted to do something". Emotion brings more change than anyone's image or logic would.
     A writers character/credibility is the first thing that a reader looks for in a piece of writing, it's like the first step on stairs. If I were reading a article about the universe and it was talking about aliens and things like that, and if it was coming from some regular citizen, I wouldn't want to read it because it's most likely not credible. I rather read the article from an astronomer, someone who's an expert in the field. That's just the way things go.
     Appealing to logic is another to get your point across in an argument, for the sole reason that it's reasonable. Nine times out of ten if an argument sounds reasonable, you're going to listen in on it more because it sounds right, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is right though. It just makes sense.
     For a solid argument, at least one of these three rhetorical strategies should be used to build a more solid argument. We all know how essential these elements are to an argument because we have seen these appeals used correctly and incorrectly, they're needed to persuade.

My Op-Ed Topic: Abortion

Abortion is one of those perpetual controversies that seem to never come to an end. Those who support it and those who oppose it are constantly fighting for the “right choice”. But is there really a “right” choice?

I believe that women should have a legitimate reason for deciding not to have the child. There are several things to consider when deciding whether to have an abortion or not. It must be understood that what is being done is taking the life of unborn child. That’s a pretty big deal. It’s a big deal. For this reason, there are many cases in which women who have had abortions are constantly dealing with emotions such as regret, guilt or disappointment. Emotional impact is likely and I don’t think it ever completely goes away. Most situations of abortions occur when teenage girls become pregnant. Why? Well, who wants to raise a child at 16? While I do believe that taking the life of a child is wrong, I could understand why young girls would make the decision to have an abortion. Knowing that you will not be capable of providing a sufficient lifestyle for your child could be difficult to accept. Most teenagers in high school do not have stable jobs to get through on their own, much less while raising a child. Many times the child end ups suffering the most. Through this point of view, I agree that I would much rather raise a child knowing that I am capable of giving him or her a life worth living. I don’t want to have to struggle to give my child the simplest things. Then again, the life of an unborn baby is on the line. I wouldn’t be able to make the decision to end it before they even got a chance to live it. Of course there are other options such as giving the child up for adoption and in my opinion, I would suggest this instead. However, much like deciding to have an abortion, there will always be that lifetime emotional connection.

So, what is the right choice? Maybe there isn’t one. It’s one of those situations where it’s hard to draw a finite line, there is not right or wrong. It’s hard to say when it’s okay and when it’s not. Ultimately, I strongly believe that every woman should have the ability to decide whether they want to have an abortion or not.