Category: A08: Definition Argument

Defintion Argument- Yoshi

I can’t breathe. Those were Eric Garner’s last words before he was killed by police officers. Garner was approached by officers, as they accused him of selling a loose cigarette. Garner questioned why he was being arrested, the officers did not answer. Once Garner began to resisted arrest, claiming he did nothing wrong, Officer Pantaleo placed Garner in a chokehold, and officers then began to help wrestle Garner down to the ground, even though he was no longer resisting. Garner was held with his face down against the cement. Garner was not perceived as a threat to the officers, he had no weapons on him, and he wasn’t yelling or screaming. Garner was surrounded by other police officers, and also innocent pedestrians that were recording the officers abuse. Garner yelled, “I can’t breathe” to the officer holding him down; the officer did not stop. Eventually, Garner runs out of breath, and was later approached by street medics. Garner was pronounced dead from compression to the neck, from Officer Pantaleo’s chokehold, and compression of chest, from being restrained against the ground. More recently, police officers have been over reacting to a black man’s behavior as if their behavior were life threatening to the police officer.  

Some police officers react irrationally to a perceived threat. A threat is a declaration of an intention to inflict punishment, injury, etc. Garner was not a threat to police officers. He simply questioned why he was being arrested, and with no answer from the officer, he resisted arrest until the officer had a reason. The officers then overreacted to his decision to ask why he was being arrested, and choked him to death. In Missouri, Michael Brown was gunned down because he was under suspicion of stealing a cigarillo. He had no weapons on him, but he was perceived as a threat to the officer. The officer confront Brown though his car, Brown proceeded to walk away. The officer gets out of his car, and shoots Brown six times, twice hitting Brown in the head. Similarly enough, Tamir Rice, a twelve year old boy was shot and killed at a playground, after playing with a toy gun. Someone called 911 telling the operator, a little boy was playing with a gun, they specified that it had an orange tag on it. The orange tags shows that the gun is a toy gun. The officer shows up to the park, and within two seconds the officer shoots Tamir Rice, leaving him dead at the park.

Police perceptions on threats are directed towards black people. Police usually kill more black people than anyone else, because they claim to feel more threatened by them. Josh Correll, a psychology professor from the University of Colorado, ran test with a video game. His findings showed police officers avoid shooting unarmed targets of all races, but as soon as they were allowed to shoot, they would shoot more quickly against blacks suspects over white ones. This shows that officers do display some racial bias in shooting suspects.  Also, in another study by Correll, research found that the public and police are less likely to view black people as innocent. In the real world, this can lead officers to shoot black people more often than white people. According to Correll’s study, if a cop  is inclined to shoot at a black suspect more quickly this can lead to fault such as, shooting a innocent suspect. Only different sorts of training can diminish this bias, that cops have acquired.

Tragedy sparked across the nation after Eric Garner’s death. His final words, “I can’t breathe” became a national protest movement. The death of Garner is what sparked the questions of correlation between race and killing from law enforcement. He died in July, in November Officer Pantaleo appeared before the grand jury at court. Officer Pantaleo claimed he didn’t intended to choke Eric Garner, even though Garner repeatedly stated he could not breathe. The jury then declared there was not enough evidence to further continue an investigation, and Officer Pantaleo was sent free, case was dismissed. Not only did this happen to Eric Garner, but it also happened to Michael Brown. Brown was shot down due to a suspicion of stealing a cigarello. Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, was dismissed with no charges. These cases were two weeks apart, and protest across the United States broke out.

Victims of the excess abuse and their families deserve an approach towards a resolution to this problem. The justice system is dishonest towards citizens and indefensibly supports law enforcement every time. It is difficult to play the victim when going against someone in law enforcement. A three year $263 millions package for police officers’ use of body cameras and an improvement of law enforcement changes was announced, in order to build public trust and to examine police violence with more evidence. This is a great step to coming to a resolution, but unfortunately it doesn’t help much. Better police training to overcome racial bias would be the best resolution for the families and victims. Humans have stereotypes for every different race. One of the most common is linking blacks to crime and aggression, and to get rid of this stereotype a lot of time and training would be required. The training would consist of shooting stimulations, such as body language, cues, and what it seems like someone is holding in their possession. This would help officers focus more on indications opposed to race. This type of training is not required by law, but it is becoming more common with racial profiling growing in the justice system. Also, another effective training that is becoming more popular is called deescalating. This requires officers to try to calm down the victim and reduce the intensity of the situation, before they result to their guns. There is not a single quick fix to this situation. But with a systematic approach and time the correlation between law enforcement and racial bias will begin to diminish.

 

Works Cited

Al Baker, J. David Goodman And Benjamin Mueller. “Beyond the Chokehold: The Path to Eric Garner’s Death.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 June 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/nyregion/eric-garner-police-chokehold-staten-island.html.

Dianis, Judith Browne. “What Really Killed Eric Garner Was More than Just a Chokehold.”MSNBC, NBCUniversal News Group, 5 Aug. 2014, www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-killed-eric-garner.

Mica Pollock and Tanya Coke. “Race and Overreaction: On the Streets and in Schools.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 2 Feb. 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/race-and-overreaction-on-the-streets-and-in-schools/385076/.

nydailynews. “Eric Garner Video – Unedited Version.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpGxagKOkv8.

Post, The Washington. “492 Died in Police Shootings This Year.” The Denver Post, The Denver Post, 2 July 2017, http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/01/fatal-police-shootings-2017/.

Definition Argument- alaska

Society’s Definition of Depression

Depression is common around the world today. Depression can mean different things for different people. For example, I view depression as having an off balance of chemicals in your brain. If you look up depression on Merriam Webster website, the definition is “a mood disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies.” That definition gives you a list of signs and symptoms to be aware of. I believe there are different levels of depression, for example, depression only and then depression combined with mental illness. To me depression is when you are depressed for no reason like just being sad. While at other times you are depressed for a long time but you are perfectly fine. When you start to spiral out of control, you may suffer from depression with mental illness. Everyone will suffer from depression at some point in their life. But, when a person is depressed all the time, it can be a sign of mental illness as they are frequently intertwined. Depression can make you think that you aren’t good enough or that you did something wrong. Society today makes it seem that mental illness isn’t a real problem. Its view is that people who have mental illness or depression need to get over it and get on with their lives. Sadly, depression sometimes leads people to thoughts of taking their own lives. Many kids, teenagers, young adults and elderly people are committing suicide every day because they feel lonely and depressed and are afraid to ask for help from anyone. There needs to be more awareness and acceptance of depression and depression combined with mental illness.

Personally, I have known some people who have taken their lives from dealing with depression or depression combined with mental illness. At one point they were completely fine and then suddenly they aren’t here anymore. It is a terrible thing to think how they got so sad and depressed that they thought that choosing to take their own life was easier than seeking help. Sadly, they think that’s their only option at that moment in their life. They didn’t realize the devastation, hurt and sadness that will be left behind for family and friends; those people who loved them. It hurts because when you know that person you feel terrible because you didn’t realize they were going through such a hard time. The guilt that family and friends have is hard to deal with as you feel as though you let that person down. My favorite quote is “Sometimes the happiest people are the people who are hurting the most.” The most depressed people could be the ones that always make you laugh or smile and they always try to make you feel happy when they aren’t.

As a society we need to be more accepting and to not shame people who struggle with feelings of depression. Also as a society we need to be more accepting and to not shame people who struggle with mental illness. Society is so hard and judgmental against how people feel. From personal experience I have had my friends say that I could talk to them but I don’t because I don’t want to bother them or get judged for not knowing what is wrong. Our mental health is just as important as our physical health. Doctors and therapists need to know the symptoms of depression and depression with mental illness to be able to help everyone. They need to experiment with different kinds of medicines and alternative medicines. I think maybe there should be study groups of depressed people. Place those people in situations that make them depressed, study what triggers it and find solutions for those triggers. Then the people in those groups can learn how to cope by putting plans of action in place to get them through the hard times.

The bottom line is that depression and depression with mental illness need to be recognized as true illnesses. This will be difficult but my hope is that once we recognize this, the medical profession can begin to find answers and people can begin to get the help they need. Also, it would be great to find ways to prevent depression from happening just as they are trying ways to prevent cancer from happening. Maybe in the future depression will be nonexistent.

At some point in our life everyone is going to deal with depression after all its human nature. There are many different causes for it, such as traumatic events, physical and mental abuse, bullying, etc. The list goes on and on. In a perfect world, we would all be much nicer to each other. But since this isn’t a perfect world, we all need to learn to treat each other better. After all, the golden rule is treat people the way the way you would want to be treated.

There are many ways to prevent depression. For example, if a person has depression in their family they need to be aware of the signs and symptoms and take measures on how to deal with or treat themselves if they feel they might have depression. Also, if young adult or a child shows signs to a teacher or a person in authority, that person needs to help them. It’s okay to ask someone if they are okay or ask them or if something at home is going on. Young kids might not know that what they are feeling is signs of depression. They might not know what depression is or how to deal with these feelings. So, having someone who recognizes signs of it and mentioning depression, it can open up the lines of communication and they can get the help they need. All it takes is for one person to speak up. So, for a person they look up to helps them they will sure get through it.

 

Works Cited

“Depression.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster.

 

Definition Argument- LifeisSublime

“Home of the brave, land of the free.” That’s the motto our country acquired when we broke lose from he British and set up our own society with new laws and morals. The land of the free was a message that spread all over the world, upsetting some countries, but changed the mind of young explores and immigrants to pack everything they owned to come over and share the freedom America advertised. As the story typical goes though, what is advertised isn’t always what you get, and that was a the case of the land of the free. Nothing here is free, not even help.

As a country with a government and people to serve, a healthcare system was put in place to help people obtain medication, doctor visits, and anything else they needed to live a health lifestyle. America installed a healthcare system that they claim is the best, with the most advance technology and the best treatment for clients. The catch with that is, it’s not free. Nothing is really free, but when you can’t afford basic medication to help the cold you have subside just so you can go to work, there tends to be an issue. The healthcare system in America as a logo of helping the people, but the reality of it is the need for wealth. Looking behind the curtain, you can clearly see the corruptness that comes from money, but even worse, exploiting the people that can’t go anywhere else but the bottom of their pockets for the help they desperately need.

When I was about 12 years old I was driving home with my parents and siblings from staying the weekend at my grandparents. We were on the parkway stopped at a red light listening to music, singing along to the lyrics. Right and the light was about to change, a red car sped directly across the intersection T-boning another car. Both of them spinning out of control, went up a curb, and didn’t stop until they hit the trees on the other side. I saw the whole thing, but what I remember from that day is far more chilling then just the sound of metal on metal. My father jumped out of the car and ran over to the lady in the red car. He yanked her car door off, making sure she was okay as a man did the same for the lady in the other car. When he opened the door the woman was crying and repeating the words, “I can’t go to the hospital, please don’t take me to the hospital, I can’t afford health insurance.” Those words stuck with me as the lady cried them out over and over again, making them more meaningful when the ambulance arrived on scene. This woman who was just in a car accident wasn’t concern with her well-being, but more about the fact that she couldn’t afford medical attention, hospitalization, and all the money that gets dished out to recover.

The bottom line is that our freedom isn’t free if that means that everyday people can’t afford to go to the doctor, to get that medication, to get that procedure done. People can’t afford to live because our government thrives on the profit rather than the fact of saving lives. Healthcare shouldn’t be an option but an olive branch the government should be extending to their people that they promised to serve. Make the motto of America not just a motto but a fact, because right now people are dying because of dollar signs and that alone is sickening.

 

 

 

 

Definition Argument—TheAdmiral

On August 26, 2016, the announcer at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, California came over the loudspeaker, as before every game, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and remove your hats for the singing of our national anthem.” At that moment, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick dropped down to one knee and shocked the entire nation. From high school sporting events to the Olympic games, from ballparks around the country, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is a tradition Americans adopted at the commencement of great sporting events that serves as the pride of our great nation. What began as a simple gesture of patriotism grew into one of the greatest traditions at America’s beloved sporting venues. To some Americans, the rendition of the national anthem brings a tear to the eye and a chill to the spine. But, for others, “The Star-Spangled Banner” represents the hypocrisy of a nation divided on the idea all not Americans have equal rights in “the land of the free”. (Key)

After the NFL football game on the August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick released a statement,

“I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder”.

Many Americans may not agree with Kaepernick’s statements, but they still hold some truth. In some parts of the United States, police brutality is still a serious problem, especially with the minorities such as black Americans. Police officers continue to outrage a nation with multiple incidences of unnecessary extreme acts of violence towards individuals of color.

This deep-seeded feud between black Americans and law enforcement roots itself in the race riots during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The Civil Right movement in the 1960s caused America to ponder the question, “Are all Americans treated equally?” Police brutality ravaged the lives of black Americans across the nation which cause race riots in major US cities and on college campuses.  While some Americans resorted to violence, others peacefully attempted to display their distaste for the unequal rights with sit ins. Unfortunately, public demonstrations of racial inequalities resulted in violence and police brutality regardless of how they began (Anderson). As a nation, the United Stated made great strides to protect the rights of all Americans; however, many black Americans feel that police brutality is still thriving in our great nation similar to the race riots of the sixties.

Police brutality during the civil rights movement resulted in violent and public actions toward black Americans by public servants paid to uphold the law. While police officers vowed to serve and protect society, many Americans questioned who exactly the police protected and felt black Americans remained vulnerable in a nation progressing toward equality. Police continued to harass black Americans even while they participated in peaceful protests. On February 1, 1960, the Greensboro 4 staged their first “sit in” at the Woolworth’s because they were permitted to buy merchandise at the store; however, they were not allowed to simply sit and buy a cup of coffee at the lunch counter. Their first meeting ended with a prayer, but after their peaceful protest grew, it turned into violent acts of police brutality toward the black citizens.  (Anderson).

Some cases of violence cause extreme outrage and rioting, like the case of Philando Castile, a black American who was pulled over for a faulty headlight. When the police officer pulled Castile over, Castile explained to the office that he had a firearm in his car and was also licensed to carry. The officer screams “Do not reach for it! Do not reach for it!” The dash camera from the police cruiser shows the officer firing shot into the driver side window of Castile’s vehicle. While the officer shot and killed Castile, he was acquitted of all charges. Castile’s girlfriend, an eye witness to the violent and senseless murder, recorded and broadcasted the incident live on Facebook for the world to see.

Kaepernick’s protest gained major attention, and was the topic of all major sports, and news networks across America. Since then, the protests grew in popularity among NFL players while spreading to the collegiate and high school levels. But, has Kaepernick’s  meaning of the protest been lost along the way? NFL players, like Kaepernick state that they kneel in protest of  police brutality, which is fine if that is their sole purpose. When you see so many players in the NFL just following along in others footsteps and kneeling, it begs the question of do they really know what or why they are protesting? Even future Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy stated in an interview “But just don’t do it (kneel) because other people are doing it. Don’t just do it because you think it’s going to make a statement.”

If Kaepernick was really trying to make a statement about police brutality, though possibly effective, this was the wrong time to do it. Like I previously stated, the National Anthem made its first appearance at the sixth game of the World Series in 1918 to honor all of the service men who fought overseas in the Great War, and that had made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they love so dearly. Military supporters, and military families across America understand the origin of the Anthem, and that is why a many Americans were so outraged.

Lee Greenwood’s song, “Proud to be an American,” is a great example that shows the love most have for this great country.  In the third stanza of his song, Greenwood states “, and I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.”  His is statement is truly what being an American is all about. As an American, I love this great nation, because it is the land of opportunity. Not everyone may always agree with everything that is done, such as police brutality, but that does not mean that I do not love the nation that I call my home, and it does not mean that  Americans should take a knee for the things that we do not stand for.

Works Cited

Anderson, Terry H. Movement and the Sixties. Oxford University Press. 1995

Babwin, Don. “1918 World Series Started the U.S. Love Affair with National Anthem.” Chicagotribune.com, 4 July 2017, http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-wrigley-field-national-anthem-20170703-story.html.

“God Bless the U.S.A. – Lee Greenwood.” Google Play Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2017.
.are.org/files/The%20Groningen%20Sleep%20Quality%20Scale.pdf>.

Little, Becky. “Why the Star-Spangled Banner Is Played At Sporting Events.” Why the Star-
Spangled Banner Is Played At Sporting Events – History in the Headlines. N.p., 25 Sept.
2017. Web. 29 Oct. 2017. .

“Philando Castile Killing: Police Video Sparks Outrage.” Philando Castile Killing: Police Video Sparks Outrage | USA News | Al Jazeera. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2017. .

“Tony Dungy Speaks Out on NFL Players Kneeling During National Anthem.” Intellectual Takeout, www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/tony-dungy-speaks-out-nfl-players-kneeling-during-national-anthem.

“The Lyrics.” NMAH | The Lyrics, amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx.

Definition Argument– todayistheday

It’s a very unnatural occurrence when the prey becomes the predator. The hunter becoming the hunted, the victim stalking the killer. It crams individuals into a category they don’t fit into, they are forced to adjust or else they die. Orcas, also known as killer whales, are considered to be one of the most powerful predators in our ocean. Orcas stick together in pods, consisting of up to 40 killer whales.  They communicate with each other when prey is spotted, detecting the prey with echolocation, determining the size and location. Depending on the prey, they deploy intelligent designs of tactic based on species, their strategy is effective and deadly. With razor sharp teeth and dozens of killer whales, the odds are in the orcas favor.

Predators in an ecological sense are defined as being larger than their prey and killing their prey.  Predators and prey are a part of the same environment and evolve together.  The predator evolves to kill the prey; meanwhile the prey evolves to avoid being killed by the predator. Both are key to each other for survival. The categorizing of predator and prey relationships is defined by consumption, who is eating who.

Predators rise to the top of the food chain because of certain skills or characteristics they maintain.  Most predators are stealthy, they approach an attack with careful precision.  Predators have dominating physical features, their size is typically larger than their prey along with their sense of sight, smell, and taste that must be greater than their prey.

But outside of the animal kingdom, predators are still lurking in the shadows waiting for the right moment to pounce on unsuspecting prey. In society we categorize pedophiles as child predators.  They are larger individuals waiting to feed off a child’s innocence, killing their purity. We can see government as a dangerous predator with all the power.  The citizens are the pawns, individuals are so easy to sweep away and stomp out.  Predators are killers, feeding off the prey.

When a pedophile is arrested and locked away in prison they are no longer a predator.  They are confined behind concrete walls and shackled; they are cast away from their community.  They were caught and imprisoned; the predator then becomes the prey.  The predator than becomes the prison guards or the criminal justice system or their fellow inmates.  The pedophile’s fate is determined by the criminal justice system that sends him to prison.  The pedophile’s fellow inmates could have a distaste for perverts and beat him until he dies; he came the prey.

So, when orcas are captured and locked within concrete enclosures they are no longer the predator.  They’re ripped away from their food chain and placed in an entirely different environment.  Once at the top of the food chain, they plummeted to the bottom.  Their fate lies in the hands of SeaWorld.  They rely on their captures for their survival.

But SeaWorld doesn’t become the predator.  SeaWorld is something different entirely.  SeaWorld wouldn’t benefit from killing their prey. SeaWorld needs to feed off their prey and reap the benefits for as long as possible.  SeaWorld is a parasite.

Parasites leech onto their host, either clinging to the body or digging their way inside. They feed off their host, stealing from them.  Parasites harm their hosts, or prey, but rarely kill them.  And if they do kill them it wasn’t intentional. They can cause sickness in their hosts that can ultimately lead to their death.  Tapeworms, for example, live within the intestines of their host.  They feed off the partially digested food, robbing the host of that nutrients. Ticks dig their heads into their host and stuff themselves full of blood.

The Toxoplasma gondii, also known as the mind control bug, infects, most commonly, rodents.  It infiltrates the brain, erasing the fear of cats from the rodent’s brain.  This then causes the rodent to be captured and killed by the cat.  Toxoplasma godnii can also infect humans.  In severe cases, brain and organ damage occur.

SeaWorld leeches onto the orcas and refuses to let go.  True to parasite nature they cling onto their hosts until they, themselves, are exterminated or until their host dies.  SeaWorld, the ultimate parasite, opts for the latter. They ignore any suggestions of seaside sanctuaries where the orcas can live free.  Because without their host, they wouldn’t survive.

Like Toxoplasma, SeaWorld, slithers into the host’s brain and takes control.  It overrides the hosts natural instincts, instead, they insist on unnatural performances.

Parasites can cause several alarming symptoms in their host.  They can cause abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dysentery and weight loss.   Parasite’s are detrimental in the health of their host.

Orcas suffer from poor dental health from chewing on cement walls and metal gates.  Closed quarters lead to fighting amoung the orcas , which can cause raking (teeth on skin) marks.  They offer suffer from poor eyesight, due to increased light sensitivity. Orcas suffer greatly as the parasite continues to gnaw on their cash “cow”.

SeaWorld digs into the orcas, draining them of any nutrients they can.  The nutrients for SeaWorld would be money.  They push the orcas to perform tricks for audience members. They even force conception so that more baby orcas can be apart of the SeaWorld cult. SeaWorld’s best interest is to keep the orcas alive so that they can benefit from them.  They showcase the orcas and open their parks so that people can witness the blood sucking frenzy disguised as a family friendly marine park.

There is a player we didn’t factor into the game; the audience. The killer whales once predators now the prey. SeaWorld, a monstrous company, is the parasite feeding off the prey.  When factoring in the new addition the roles change slightly.  The orcas, stay prey to SeaWorld, also become bait to us.  We see happy faces on SeaWorld commercials has Shamu swims joyful laps.  We watch as children hug fluffy Shamu’s to their chests, holding it close to their heart.  That is when they we bite down onto the brillantly appealing bait.  We are hooked.  Their lure is embedded into our mouth, pulling us closer toward their open greedy gates, like open arms waiting for an embrace. We, the audience, buy tickets to walk through the gates of the park.  Wonder filled eyes gaze at tanks filled with animals more majestic than we could ever dream of. We clap, cheer and laugh as we watch the orcas flip out of the water and wave their fins.

One thing stays the same, SeaWorld.  SeaWorld continues to be the parasite feeding off any entertainment provided from their hosts and from the audiences gullibleness. They rely off of the orcas helplessness and the audience’s blindness. Without the orcas, there is no audience, and vice versa.  Seaworld chomps down onto any vulnerable flesh, and they suck, until their pockets stuff themselves with crisp dollar bills.

 

 

Sources

“Parasitic Relationships.” NECSI Evolution. 

“Predator-Prey Relationships.” NECSI Evolution.

Morell, Virginia. “How Orcas Work Together to Whip Up a Meal.” National Geographic.

 

Barrie, Nell. “10 Deadly Parasites.” Science Focus, 16 Aug. 2017.
 Holm, Gretchen, and Erica Roth. “Toxoplasmosis.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 10 Feb. 2016.

Schelling, Ameena. “SeaWorld Orcas Have ‘Alarming’ Number Of Injuries, Vet Reveals.” The Dodo, The Dodo, 11 Aug. 2015.

Definition Argument – Princess45

As we know, Donald Trump has noticeably become the talk of the town when it comes to  him saying and doing whatever he wants to and with whatever he wants, especially his twitter rants, but does he truly violate the First Amendment? Under the First Amendment, it protects individual’s rights to free speech, religion, press, assembly,  and the right to petition the government. So, was Donald Trump expressing his First Amendment when he tweeted calling the kneeling NFL player a “Son of a bitch”? Disappointingly the answer is yes. In a case called Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court held that when public employees are not speaking as citizens — but instead in their official public capacities — the First Amendment does not protect anyone from being disciplined for their speech. (Wehle). But, it is important that when Trump tweets, he tweets as president, and he would not get the same first amendment protections as a private citizen would if their constitutionality were ever tested in a court of law. This is because he is not speaking as a private citizen he is speaking as a government official and not releasing “official statements”.

The question now is, should Donald Trump be disciplined for his speech? If I’m the one being asked I would say, yes, he should. He is the President of the United States and he should act as that at all times, which he does not. I, in my 19 years on this earth, despite not being very long, have never seen a President, or someone who is supposed to be the face, and example of our country act as the way Trump has. Now, why has no one stood up for this to be put into action? In fact, someone has and it has been put into action, Trump has actually found himself in a First Amendment violation. (Timm). Trump tweeted that NBC’s broadcasting license “must be challenged” and potentially “revoked,” based on a series of NBC news stories that embarrassed him. He also suggested the NFL’s tax status should be changed and raised if the NFL continues to allow its players to peacefully protest police brutality by kneeling during the National Anthem. (Timm). Trump is threatening NBC and/or the NFL not as a private citizen, but as the President of the United States, from his Twitter account, which the White House has previously acknowledged is a vessel for releasing “official statements”.

Deliberately, Donald Trump is very quick to tweet about all of the “fake news”, “Sons of bitches” and all of the things that could be viewed opposing or negatively affect him, yet he and his defenders simultaneously express outrage when liberal activists oppose speakers they believe publicly disrespect minorities. (Post). Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for example, proclaimed at Georgetown University on Tuesday: “Protesters are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform with their views.” (Post). This is a very accurate representation of what Trump is doing, vise versa, and not with private organizations. These people are expressing their first amendment while acting on others, however the outcomes of these situations will be for sure different, possibly completely opposite.

Continuously, Trump is making it obnoxiously clear that those who oppose him will be publicly punished.  “A recent example is his call for the firing of ESPN anchor Jemele Hill, who had the temerity to call Trump out as a “white supremacist” and a “bigot.” How do the constitutional standards of the First Amendment apply to such behavior on the president’s part?” (Post) The president has also engaged in a verbal campaign designed to suppress speech that offends him. Trumps angered dedication is clearly directed at core political speech protesting law enforcement’s unfair treatment of minorities. Trump’s allies have already begun organizing boycotts (for example, a “Turn off the NFL” campaign) to give teeth to the president’s intemperate attacks. (Post) There is no indication that he is invoking the law enforcement apparatus of the federal government to harass or sanction NFL players who are taking a knee.(Post). He is just making sure to publicly sanction those who are not truly punished in a court of law and anything, and/or anyone who has views other than his own. “Trump’s attacks on the political speech of private citizens are inconsistent with the requirements of his office. It is striking that Trump’s insistent and recurring political instinct is to appeal to his base by constructing enemies—the press, Jemele Hill and now football players who kneel during the national anthem. Enemies are by definition excluded from the American body politic. They are excommunicated from “We the people.” Trump can disagree with his opponents, but he must always convey respect for their right to dissent. By casting them out as enemies, he undermines the hard-earned and necessary integrity of “We the people.”” (Post)

Our president has numerously proved that he is unqualified to be president. He cannot imagine a country where people can agree to disagree, compromise, or freely express the first amendment. Trump may have not actually acted on these, but he is threatening these two organizations for expressing their rights to the first amendment, by trying to sensor their speech, threatening to penalize them for freely expressing what these organizations stand for.  If trump were to actually revoke the licenses of these companies because of freely expressing of the first amendment, a case may still be actionable. Donald Trump does have his own first amendment rights as president to opine about things he does and doesn’t like, but still as a government official, those rights are limited.As stated before, when Trump speaks, the government technically speaks, so he can continue to speak negatively and unprofessionally, yet there may inevitably be judicially enforceable limitations.

 

 

 

“Works Cited”

 

Contributor, Kimberly Wehle opinion. “Trump’s NFL tweets are not constitutionally protected free speech.” TheHill, 28 Sept. 2017, thehill.com/opinion/white-house/352534-trumps-nfl-tweets-are-not-constitutionally-protected-free-speech.

Post, Robert, et al. “Do Trump’s NFL Attacks Violate the First Amendment?” POLITICO Magazine, 27 Sept. 2017, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/27/do-trumps-nfl-attacks-violate-the-first-amendment-215650.

Timm, Trevor.“Trump’s threats amount to a First Amendment violation.” Columbia Journalism             Review, http://www.cjr.org/covering_trump/trump-nbc.php.

 

Definiton Argument- Flyerfan1974

This week on Thursday Night Football,  a sudden play sparked a huge brawl between the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. During the second quarter on third down, Ravens starting quarterback Joe Flacco scrambled out of the pocket and ran for the first down. As many quarterbacks do, Flacco slid feet first into the turf to avoid injury. There is a mutual understanding to avoid hitting the quarterback. As Flacco slid, Miami linebacker Kiko Alonso delivers an unnecessary hit to the sliding QB. After the hit, Flacco’s helmet comes off and he receives a concussion. Ravens players start to push Alonso down, sparking a brawl between each team. Sure this hit was extremely unnecessary and Alonso could have avoided Flacco, but he didn’t. There was nothing to stop the 6’3 233 lb linebacker, no barrier, nothing. The only thing protecting Flacco was his shoulder pads, and his helmet. As soon as the hit was received, Flacco received a concussion and his helmet came right off. How safe really was he? Would it have been better if he was not wearing a helmet?

Flacco’s concussion is just one of the injuries received in the 2017-2018 NFL season. This year has been one filled with injuries to big stars, teams losing vital pieces, and fantasy football team owners losing their minds. You can make a whole team with backups with the injuries that happened this year. This shows that no position is safe from the violence of football. Aaron Rodgers, a future hall of famer has a broken collar bone. Giants star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has a broken ankle. Eagles future hall of famer LT Jason Peters has a torn ACL and MCL. These injuries just prove how violent the game is, it doesn’t matter if you are 5’11 and 170 lbs or 6’5 and 330 lbs, everyone gets injured. It is just the violence of the game.

The injured players all wore helmets and pads, yet still were injured. The pads may have absorbed some of the blow, but again the players were still injured. Helmets do nothing, they may seem like they do, but they really don’t. Many propose to take away tackling or just ban the game, but this is really not a solution. If we can not protect the players from this violent game, then maybe we might have to protect the violent game from the players. Im sure when Walter Camp changed the rules from Rugby into American football he did not want players to become seriously injured. The violent nature comes from the players, they don’t have to make an enormous hit, but they do anyway. These enormous hits, they cause injuries. Why do they do this, a concept called Risk Compensation. Protective equipment, like helmets and pads, may prompt users to act more aggressively and thereby increase the potential for serious injury. Im sure when a football player is on the field with no helmet he is not going to make a risky play, but give him a helmet and he will make that play knowing he is suppose to be protected. In the 1940’s, when there were no plastic helmets, players were taught the initial point of contact should be the shoulder. In the 1960’s when todays helmets made their first appearance, players were taught that the initial point of contact was the head due to it being protected. There was a noted increase in tackling drill fatalities between 1945 to 1954 and 1955 to 1964. The players in the 40s and early 50s had no helmets, but this time period has a significantly less number of tackling drill fatalities than when helmets were invented. Risk compensation is also found in other sports such as, baseball, hockey, skiing, snowboarding, and bicycling. Risk management is even found in rugby.

Rugby is the sport that started American football. Walter Camp changed the rules of rugby to create American football. It is an American tradition that cannot ever be taken away, that is why we need to fix it. Rugby is absolutely a violent sport, players are jumping, running, hitting, being put into giant huddles, and players are even being thrown, and they do this all without any protective equipment. If you ask many Americans, they may not understand the rules about Rugby. Rugby does not have as much injuries as it does in football. It is ironic that the sport with the most protective equipment has more injuries. In the British Journal of Sports Medicine there is a study about Rugby. In this study, scientists wanted to find out if headgear reduces the incidence  of concussions in Rugby. Sixteen under 15 rugby union teams were recruited from three interschool competitions in metropolitan Sydney and the adjacent country region. A prospective study was undertaken over a single competitive season. The study had two arms: a headgear arm and a control arm. Headgear wearing rates and injury data were reported to the investigators and verified using spot checks. “A total of 294 players participated in the study. There were 1179 player exposures with headgear and 357 without headgear. In the study time frame, there were nine incidences of concussion; seven of the players involved wore headgear and two did not. There was no significant difference between concussion rates between the two study arms.” The conclusion was that although there is some controversy about the desirability of wearing protective headgear in football, this pilot study strongly suggests that current headgear does not provide significant protection against concussion in rugby union at a junior level. As you can see risk management was present in this study. Out of the 9 players, 7 were wearing the head gear. Due to having protection, here players must have felt more safe, and make more riskier hits.

Risk management is all around us and is not just on a sports field. When you are driving, are you more likely to drive more risky if you have your seatbelt on than if you didn’t? When boating are you going to drive your boat more risky with your life vest? With the phenomenon of risk management defined, we can now determine how to fix the problem of concussions in football. With the definition of risk management in our minds we can safely say that taking away helmets in football will make it safer and reduce the number on concussions.

Works Cited

Hagel, Brent PhD*; Meeuwisse, Willem MD, PhD “Risk Compensation: A “Side Effect” of Sport Injury Prevention?” Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

A S McIntosh, P McCrory  “Effectiveness of headgear in a pilot study of under 15 rugby union football” British Journal of Sports Medicine http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/35/3/167.short

Brad Gagnon Nov 3, 2017 . “NFL 2017 All-Injured Team Is Loaded with Pro Bowl Players at Halfway Point of Season.” CBSSports.com, 3 Nov. 2017, www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-2017-all-injured-team-is-loaded-with-pro-bowl-players-at-halfway-point-of-season/.

 

Definition Argument – theintern

As the business world prospered and held higher standards, people’s moral ethics also took a turn as well as big well known firms. The world of business is bigger than we think it is; many people think that many businesses get away with fraud or any other kind of wrongdoings. Though I am here to prove that fact wrong, I can add that before the Sarbanes Oxley Act firms were not strictly controlled as they are now. Due to the incident that happened with Enron a huge natural gas company in Houston where they tricked the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) into thinking that all the money they were making were from actual profits. However, all that money was fake and in reality they were in debt and losing money. The only way that Enron was ever getting away with this scandal was paying auditors from Arthur Anderson to make Enron look better to the public; as a growing and upcoming business to consider working for. Arthur Anderson not only helped Enron with a better image to the business world but financially they wrongfully reported their books falsely to cover Enron of getting caught by the SEC. Eventually the SEC caught up with Enron because of their stock shares always rising up so high. The SEC had to do an investigation on Enron and found out that they were committing one of the biggest frauds in the United States. Enron could easily have done fine without lying about their profits and asking for help to improve them company. Though they decided to take the risky route and achieve greater money in the least amount of time by committing fraud, disobeying the rules, and not sticking to their business ethics of following the rules to success without cheating. Cause of cheating Enron shut down in 2001 after being 16 years in service, and these CEO’s whose income were like millions of dollars every year, were fined so much that whatever they had could not cover it plus one of them I know for sure had to serve time in jail and his name was Jeffery Skilling who was sentenced to 24 years in prison but was reduced to only 14 years in prison. He will be released in 2017.

Not only did the SEC investigate Enron they also investigated Arthur Andersen because the auditors job is to find any fraud or errors in books. Once the SEC found dirt on Enron, Enron called the auditors. “The fired partner, David B. Duncan, called a meeting of auditors at the firm’s Houston office and ordered ”an expedited effort to destroy documents” on Oct. 23, the day after Enron disclosed that the S.E.C. had begun its inquiry, the firm said. The destruction apparently did not end until Mr. Duncan’s assistant sent an e-mail message to other secretaries on Nov. 9 that said ”stop the shredding,” the firm said. Andersen had received a subpoena from the S.E.C. the day before.” Now why couldn’t Andersen just give in to the SEC and surrender that they helped Enron instead of trying to shred all the evidence. Andersen could have been given a less painful punishment but since they messed up they paid the consequences. Andersen was one of the big 5 auditing firms in the world next to Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, and KPMG. In 2017 Andersen is no longer in existence because after this great big scandal no other companies wanted to associate with a firm who were disloyal.

People say that business ethics and moral ethics are the same but they aren’t. Moral ethics are what you learn from your parents and every of course not everyone will learn how to behave the same because every parent is different especially the way they teach their children to be. While business ethics is more of a one way streak there we must follow it one way however the rules are of that certain company. There is no other way to follow it because of how your parents taught you differently that does not fall into place within the business world. If an employee does not want to follow the firm’s rules the outcome is being fired. That is when employees start realizing how the world really works and whatever moral ethics they had are gone because of how the business world has changed them to become something they aren’t or become successful.

 

Works Cited

“Moral Ethics Vs. Business Ethics.”

Berenson, Alex. “S.E.C. Opens Investigation Into Enron.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2001.

Richard A. Oppel Jr. With Kurt Eichenwald. “ARTHUR ANDERSEN FIRES AN EXECUTIVE FOR ENRON ORDERS.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Jan. 2002.

 

Definition—amazonite

The American Dream is a vast topic that differs from person to person, and it would be disingenuous to proceed without addressing the many different versions of the American Dream, A New York Times poll found that the three most agreed upon versions of the American Dream are freedom/opportunity at 27%, hard work leads to success at 18% and a secure job at 11%. To look at both opportunity and hard work translating to success, I will look at the US’ social mobility. Social mobility is a person’s ability to overcome their current economic class and move into a higher one. This kind of social mobility is called “relative social mobility.” It’s important to note that it is distinctly different from “absolute social mobility” which measures the wealth of the population as a whole. If a newer generation of a country has higher wages while adjusting for inflation, then that country has a positive absolute social mobility. Relative social mobility takes a look at the individual, absolute mobility looks at the country as a whole.

Definition Argument – thathawkman

The Truth Can Be Skewed

Scientific studies allow science to expand its knowledge, from finding relationships for two seemingly different entities to testing and explaining phenomena that the world doesn’t quite understand. With correct use of scientific studies scientist can achieve feats that would not have been deemed possible without the newly found knowledge. More cures can be found, larger realizations and trends can be identified, and even more knowledge of a field can potentially make grows as even more studies can elaborate. However, the massive influence that scientific studies is a double-edged sword. With the massive influence studies have, these studies can determine what is the truth. However, studies are still fallible and studies that push false claims can skew what the common people believe is the truth.

As expected, scientific studies have a very rigid system that permits what studies have to accomplish to make a claim. In order for a scientific study to prove a claim, scientifically known as a hypothesis, the study must prove that the hypothesis must have an undeniable relationship. In order to prove the hypothesis, the scientists then form what is known as a null hypothesis, which assumes the that there is no correlation between the two. For example, if the hypothesis is that a newly made drug increases dopamine levels, the null hypothesis would be that the drug did not exhibit any change in dopamine levels. The scientists then attempt to prove the actual hypothesis by rejecting the null hypothesis.

The data, which is found by the carefully thought-out tests and conditions that researchers place, is then analyzed to see if the data was statistically significant to see whether the scientists can or cannot reject the null hypothesis. This test to see if something is statistically significant is essentially finding whether the data was gotten due to random chance or if the claim is the reason behind the data. The researchers then use many different methods to calculate the probability of how likely the data that was given could have shown up, also known as the p-value. To say something was statistically significant, the probability must be lower than 5 percent. This magic number of 5 percent is the key part or the bane of scientists, as any study that produces a p value lower than 5 percent is determined to be validated as the probability of the null hypothesis being true statistically improbable and rejected, which therefore makes the actual hypothesis true. Any p-value that is 5 percent or higher cannot reject the null hypothesis and cannot prove the claim that the study was trying to make which causes the scientist to either reattempt the study or change the claim altogether.

This system is not a perfect system by any means. Natural errors can still occur when validating the claim. As the data still have a factor of chance in them, some errors can occur without any influence from the scientists. These errors are known as Type I error and Type II error. A Type I error occurs when you reject the null hypothesis and say that the claim was true even though it was false. For example, a type I error would be stating that someone had a disease even though the person does not have the disease. A type II error is the exact opposite, where you reject the null hypothesis and make the actual claim false even though it was true. For example, in the same scenario a type II error would state that someone did not have a disease even though it the person did have it.  Both errors are bad, but these errors are accounted for by scientists. However, the issue comes when scientists intentionally publish what is supposed to be a type I error.

Intentional errors become a major issue as the scientific studies that people take at face value flood the scientific journals become either misleading or entirely untrue. Studies that affect the percentage of c undergo effects such as publication bias and the file-drawer effect describe parts The author Megan L. Head, in the article “The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science,” defines publication bias as, “the phenomenon in which studies with positive results are more likely to be published than studies with negative results.” The file-drawer effect is the tendency for scientists to refrain from publishing negative studies as due to the lack of money. These effects are very detrimental as there is a noticeable underrepresentation of negative published studies. In “The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results,” Robert Rosenthal describes this effect by saying, “the extreme view of the ‘file drawer problem’  is that journals are filled with the 5% of the studies that show Type I errors, while the file drawers are filled with the 95% of the studies that show nonsignificant results.” This is direct result of scientist attempting to push studies that innately get more attention, as positive-resulting, intriguing studies will be more popular than negative-resulting studies.

However, the bias can even be more direct with something known as p-hacking. Through p-hacking, Scientist can attempt to alter the way they compute the p-value with any given data, since the essential part of a study is primarily based on the comparison of the p-value, in order to find something that is statistically probable.  In the web article “Is Science Broken?” author Christie Aschwanden simulated how easy it is to find something is statistically significant for many different hypothesis with the same data. In his simulation, we are given to choose a category on which political party, Republican or Democratic, we want the hypothesis to support. Aschwanden then demonstrated that, by choosing what choosing to keep and omit some parts of the data such as the type of politicians that we want to consider as politicians and including recessions, the combination of different parts of the data can prove hypothesis for both sides. Even with the same data, the fact that the use of p-hacking can prove completely opposite ideologies shows the massive influence that p-hacking can have.

Works Cited:

Head, M. L. “The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science.” The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science. PLoS Biol, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.

Aschwanden, Christie. “Science Isn’t Broken.” FiveThirtyEight. N.p., 19 Aug. 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Rosenthal, Robert. “The File Drawer Problem And Tolerance For Null Results.” Psychological Bulletin 86.3 (1979): 638-641. PsycARTICLES. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.