Animal Rights (Just say NO) Essay Example for Free

Animal Rights (Just say NO) Essay Soon children wont be able to own a pet; their kitty or puppy will be taken away. Animal rights are becoming a big issue in society. There are people who are dense enough to think that animals need rights to be protected. Animal Rights are an idealistic scheme that animals have rights similar, or the same as humans. True animal rights activists believe that humans do not have the right to use animals at all. Animal rights activists wish to ban all use of animals by humans. People need animals to live. We use them for every aspect of life. Think of anything in life and animals have helped to make it possible. Nothing that we have was made without the help of animals. The idea that humans should give animals rights and declare them free is ludicrous. How can anyone be brainless enough to think of that? I can understand that people beat animals and torture them; that is wrong.. That is not the case in every aspect of the animal kingdom. Those people should be punished and face the consequence, but animals are the things that make the world-go-round. Animal rights activists support laws and regulations that would prohibit rodeos, horse racing, circuses, hunting, life-saving medical research using animals, raising of livestock for food, petting zoos, marine parks, breeding of purebred pets and any use of animals for industry, entertainment, sport or recreation. Animal rights activists believe that violence, misinformation and publicity stunts are valid uses of funding donated to their tax-exempt organizations for the purpose of helping animals. Arson, vandalism and assault are common tactics used by underground animal rights groups to further the animal rights cause. Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, which have been classified as terrorist by the FBI, routinely use criminal activities to further their cause. These people are taking their fanatical ideas to the extreme. Some have said things like, babies that are born mentally retarded and old senile people should be put to sleep because they are not needed and only requi re time and money. I believe people that think those kinds of things should be put to sleep. Another event that has taken place to give animals more rights and hopelessly protect them is the spotted owl situation in the northwestern states. Research is beginning to suggest that the spotted owl exists in numbers far greater than was assumed when the extinction alarm sounded. A recent study by the Audubon Society established that roughly 10,000 owls were living in the forests of the northwestern states. In order for the birds to be classified as endangered they need as little as 1,500 left in the United States. With all the commotion over these owls thousands of people are losing their jobs. Animals dont need rights and they dont need people saving them in hopeless situations. How about instead of trying to save and protect all of these animals, why not spend the money and time trying to help out the human race, this would be much wiser and perhaps too smart of an idea for the ignorant environmentalists.

John Locke :: Empiricists, Empiricism

In Chapter five Locke says, that the earth can be used by the people for their survival, protection, or anyway in which they could benefit from it. This is where I got a little confused. So then if everything on the earth belongs to everyone then what is individual property? I read it over and over and I’m not sure if I have the right answer but I’ll try. Everyone owns there own body, and all the work they do they do with their body. When a person works with their body on something that thing becomes their own because they did the work. And he also says that there is some sort of limit that people can’t take more than they can use. He uses acorns or other fruits as an example and says, â€Å"But how far has he given it us? To enjoy. As much as any one can make use of to any advantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a property in: whatever is beyond this, is more than his share, and belongs to others.† (Locke 20-21) He later says that if someone has too many fruits he could trade them for money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I agree that everyone should use the earth to his or her advantage but not when it comes to endangering someone else or taking away something that someone needs more than you do. I agree that if you work with fruit trees that it is your right to eat those apples and that you should only take as many as needed. But that isn’t the case in society today. Let’s face it people are greedy and greed is something that has destroyed the world we live in. If there wasn’t any greed there wouldn’t be any murder cases or any kidnappings or robberies, etc, the list can go on and on. Another example is college acceptance. All students work for the same hope, to get accepted to a good college and hopefully gain a job that will best fulfill their needs. Say we have two identical students both scored a 1500 on their SATs and they where equally involved in their school. The only difference was that one student came from a wealthy family and the other stud ents came from a not so wealthy family. They both applied to Princeton. The outcome is that the student from the wealthy family gets enrolled as a freshman in the fall, and the other student is placed on the waiting list.

Araby †James Joyce Essay

One of the most intriguing works by Irish writer James Joyce is â€Å"Araby† in which a young boy, who is the narrator, leads a carefree life in a Dublin neighborhood before falling in love with his friend’s sister. He is always watching her steps, every single morning. When they finally speak, the girl mentions the existence of an exotic bazaar in town, named â€Å"Araby†. The narrator then becomes obssessed with the idea of going to the bazaar to bring the girl a present. Nevertheless, disappointment is an important theme of the novel. The young boy is ultimately faced with reality when he goes to Araby and realizes that he cannot afford the things that are sold there. In others words, Joyce deals with the dichotomy of fantasy versus reality in â€Å"Araby†, giving it a rather pessimistic approach, where reality and its negativity prevail. In order to better comprehend Joyce’s â€Å"Araby†, it is important to understand the author’s biography and the time in history in which â€Å"Dubliners† was written. Joyce was born in a poor family in February of 1884. His father had several jobs and his mother was a devout Catholic. A young Joyce eventually moved to Paris, where he worked as a teacher and journalist, and later, during World War I, he took refuge in Zurich, Switzerland. Since Joyce spent great part of his adult life outside of Ireland, â€Å"Dubliners† is written through the eyes of a â€Å"refugee†, as a member of Dublin’s society who is also an outsider. Through â€Å"Dubliners† and its short stories, including â€Å"Araby†, Joyce describes life in Dublin, how religion influenced and dominated Irish society and how a national identity came to be. At that time, Ireland, a country that had suffered the horrors of the Great Famine in the past along with the death and emigration of millions of its people was now struggling culturally and politically to create its own identity and breakaway from British political control and cultural influence. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants was at its peak, as the entire island was under United Kingdom’s rule. In other words, Ireland and its society were going through a turbulent period in history, which affected Joyce’s use of language in â€Å"Dubliners† as well as the themes cointained in his works, such as religion, the hardships of reality and Anglo-Irish relations. â€Å"Dubliners† is a unique compilation of stories because it follows a chronological pattern. â€Å"Araby† falls in the category of â€Å"childhood†, because its narrator is a young boy and also due to the fact that one of its central themes is growth and maturity. In order for such growth to take place, â€Å"Araby† follows a clear sequence of events, which is described by William York Tindall in â€Å"A Reader’s Guide to James Joyce† as â€Å"illusion, disillusionment and coming to awareness† (19). These three elements that result in the character’s growth are well defined in the story. Mangan’s sister and the bazaar both represent illusion. Disillusionment is present when the narrator goes to â€Å"Araby† and realizes that it is not what he had expected. Finally, disillusionment is shown in the end, when he comes to the conclusion that he is not able to buy Mangan’s sister a gift, which in turn, leads to the final moment of epiphany, a concept that will be further discussed. Another essential aspect to â€Å"Araby† is the presence of images and symbols throughout the story, in particular those with religious conotations. Since religion and the church played an important role in Irish society and Joyce was Irish himself, religious themes are abundant in some of Joyce’s works, â€Å"Araby† being one of them. Religious imagery is present in the very beginning of the story, when the narrator mentions that the former tenant of the house where he lives was a priest. The house itself also contains religious symbol, in this case, in the garden: † The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a few struggling bushes under one of which I found the late tenant’s rusty bicycle-pump† (373). It is evident that the apple-tree in the story evokes images of the Adam and Eve passage in the Bible, where they were tempted to eat the â€Å"forbidden fruit† which was an apple. Mangan’s sister, the â€Å"object† of the narrator’ affection, is perhaps the most significant religious symbol in the story. The narrator is devoted to her much like a religious person is devoted to God or a Saint. The connection between Mangan’s sister and religious worship is shown in the passage where the narrator goes marketing with his aunt, while passing through the crowded and disorganized streets: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through the throng of foes. Her [Mangan’s sister] name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom (179). The narrator’s feelings to Mangan’s sister are so intense to the point of being compared to a religious experience. When he mentions Mangan’s sister name in â€Å"strange prayers† he is describing the powerful effect that she has on him, like the power of a prayer to a religious person. To the narrator, her name in the strange prayers has the same force as the name of Jesus or Mary in a traditional Catholic prayer. Cleanth Brooks, Jr. and Robert Penn Warren reinforce the link between the narrator’s desire and religion in their work, titled â€Å"The Chalice Bearer† by affirming that â€Å"(†¦ ) when he [the narrator] speaks of his confused adoration, we see that the love of the girls takes on, for him, something of the nature of a mystic, religious experience. The use of the very word confused hints of the fact that romantic love and religious love are mixed up in his mind† (95). The narrator, thus, is yet to discover reality. He is still trapped in a world of illusion where the lines of pure, religious love and physical desire are somewhat blurred. The bazaar, called Araby, furthers the narrator into illusionment. The name of the bazaar evokes images of a far and exotic place: â€Å"The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me† (375). It can be argued that the bazaar also represents a religious symbol in the story. Such view is supported by William York Tindall: â€Å"The Church, after all, is a more or less Oriental foundation, and the ecclesiastical suggestion of Araby (â€Å"not some Freemason affair†) is supported by metaphor† (20). In other words, Araby can be regarded as a religious institution that takes over the life of the narrator. His anticipation of the visit to the bazaar becomes a focal point of his life, interfering with his everyday activities: â€Å"I answered few questions in class. I watched my master’s face pass from amiability to sternness†¦ I could not call my wandering thoughts together† (375). The story ends with dissapointment and frustration when the boy arrives at the bazaar and realizes that most mof the stalls are closed, and even if they were open, he would not be able to buy Mangan’s sister a gift. The narrator finally understands that life is harsh. In other words, â€Å"Araby† presents a moment of epiphany. Nevertheless, Joyce goes against the traditional concept of epiphany in â€Å"Araby. † Epiphany is usually associated with enlightment and positive growth whereas in â€Å"Araby† epiphany is linked with negativity. Such idea is supported by Florence L. Walzl in â€Å"A Companion to Joyces’ Studies. She argues that: † His [the narrator] inability to buy even a trinket for the girl and his perception of the inanity of the flirtation he has just witnessed climax in an epiphanic vison, not of light, but of darkness† (175). With such statement, Walzl acknowledges that the pattern of â€Å"illusion, disillutionment and coming to awareness† in the story comes â€Å"full circle†. Instead of enlightment, the narrator’s epiphany causes him to become bitter: † Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger† (377). Since religious symbols are a constant presence in the story, it has been argued that the narrator’s disappointment is, in reality, disappointment with the Church and the values that it represents. This position is shared by Florence Walzl in her conclusion of her analysis: At the narrative level, â€Å"Araby† manifests disillusionment in young love; at a symbolic level, it represents disillusionment in the theological virtue of charity. Faith, hope and love are diminished in this first triad of tales of childhood (176). In conclusion, â€Å"Araby† is a story of a young love. As such, it presents moments of illusion throughout most of the story. However, illusion is shattered by the narrator’s dark epiphany. A closer analysis of â€Å"Araby† reveals that there is more to the story than a young boy’s first love. The abundance of religious imagery shows the readers that the story is very much about criticism of the Church’s role in the lives of the Irish people and its effect on a nation that was struggling politically to be free from the United Kingdom’s influence and ideologically, with the animosity between Catholics and Protestants.

Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox

A prominent American officer during the American Revolution, Brigadier General Francis Marion played a key role in the wars southern campaigns and earned the moniker The Swamp Fox for his exploits as a guerilla leader. His military career began with the militia in the French and Indian War during which he fought the Cherokees on the frontier. When the war with Britain began, Marion received a commission in the Continental Army and helped defend Charleston, SC. With the citys loss in 1780, he commenced a career as a highly effective guerilla leader that saw him employ hit and run tactics to win numerous victories over the British. Early Life and Career Francis Marion was born around 1732 on his family plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The youngest son of Gabriel and Esther Marion, he was a small and restless child. At age six, his family moved to a plantation in St. George so that the children could attend school in Georgetown, SC. At the age of fifteen, Marion embarked on a career as a sailor. Joining the crew of a schooner bound for the Caribbean, the voyage ended when the ship sank, reportedly due to being struck by a whale. Adrift in a small boat for a week, Marion and the other surviving crew finally reached the shore. French and Indian War Electing to remain on land, Marion began working on his familys plantations. With the French and Indian War raging, Marion joined a militia company in 1757 and marched to defend the frontier. Serving as a lieutenant under Captain William Moultrie, Marion took part in a brutal campaign against the Cherokees. In the course of the fighting, he took note of Cherokee tactics which emphasized concealment, ambush, and utilization of terrain to gain an advantage. Returning home in 1761, he began saving money to purchase his own plantation. American Revolution In 1773, Marion achieved his goal when he bought a plantation on the Santee River about four miles north of Eutaw Springs which he dubbed Pond Bluff. Two years later, he was elected to the South Carolina Provincial Congress which advocated for colonial self-determination. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, this body moved to create three regiments. As these formed, Marion received a commission as a captain in the 2nd South Carolina Regiment. Commanded by Moultrie, the regiment was assigned to the Charleston defenses and worked to build Fort Sullivan. With the completion of the fort, Marion and his men took part in the defense of the city during the Battle of Sullivans Island on June 28, 1776. In the fighting, a British invasion fleet led by Admiral Sir Peter Parker and Major General Henry Clinton attempted to enter the harbor and was repulsed by Fort Sullivans guns. For his part in the fighting, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army. Remaining at the fort for the next three years, Marion worked to train his men before joining the failed Siege of Savannah in the fall of 1779. Going Guerilla Returning to Charleston, he fortuitously broke his ankle in March 1780 after jumping from a second-story window in an effort to escape a bad dinner party. Directed by his doctor to recuperate at his plantation, Marion was not in the city when it fell to the British in May. Following subsequent American defeats at Moncks Corner and Waxhaws, Marion formed a small unit of between 20-70 men to harass the British. Joining Major General Horatio Gates army, Marion and his men were effectively dismissed and ordered scout the Pee Dee area. As a result, he missed Gates stunning defeat at the Battle of Camden on August 16. Operating independently, Marions men scored their first major success shortly after Camden when they ambushed a British camp and liberated 150 American prisoners at Great Savannah. Striking elements of the 63rd Regiment of Foot at dawn, Marion routed the enemy on August 20. Employing hit-and-run tactics and ambushes, Marion quickly became a master of guerilla warfare using Snow Island as a base. As the British moved to occupy South Carolina, Marion relentlessly attacked their supply lines and isolated outposts before escaping back into the regions swamps. Responding to this new threat, the British commander, Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis, directed Loyalist militia to pursue Marion but to no avail. Routing the Enemy Additionally, Cornwallis ordered Major James Wemyss of the 63rd to pursue Marions band. This effort failed and the brutal nature of Wemyss campaign led many in the area to join the Marion. Moving sixty miles east to Ports Ferry on the Peedee River in early September, Marion soundly defeated a superior force of Loyalists at Blue Savannah on September 4. Later that month, he engaged Loyalists led by Colonel John Coming Ball at Black Mingo Creek. Though an attempt at a surprise attack failed, Marion pressed his men forward and in the resulting battle were able to force the Loyalists from the field. In the course of the fighting, he captured Balls horse which he would ride for the rest of the war. Continuing his guerilla operations in October, Marion rode from Ports Ferry with the goal of defeating a body of Loyalist militia led by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Tynes. Finding the enemy at Tearcoat Swamp, he advanced at midnight on October 25/26 after learning that the enemy defenses were lax.  Using similar tactics to Black Mingo Creek, Marion split his command into three forces with one each attacking from the left and right while he led a detachment in the center. Signaling the advance with his pistol, Marion led his men forward and swept the Loyalists from the field. The battle saw the Loyalists suffer six killed, fourteen wounded, and 23 captured. The Swamp Fox With the defeat of Major Patrick Fergusons force at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, Cornwallis became increasingly concerned about Marion. As a result, he dispatched the feared Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton to destroy Marions command. Known for laying waste to the landscape, Tarleton received intelligence regarding Marions location. Closing on Marions camp, Tarleton pursued the American leader for seven hours and across 26 miles before breaking off the pursuit in the swampy territory and stating, As for this damned old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him. Final Campaigns Tarletons moniker quickly stuck and soon Marion was known widely as the Swamp Fox. Promoted to brigadier general in the South Carolina militia, he began working with the new Continental commander in the region, Major General Nathanael Greene. Building a mixed brigade of cavalry and infantry he conducted a failed attack on Georgetown, SC in conjunction with Lieutenant Colonel Henry Light Horse Harry Lee in January 1781. Continuing to defeat the Loyalist and British forces sent after him, Marion won victories at Forts Watson and Motte that spring. The latter was captured in conjunction with Lee after a four-day siege. As 1781 progressed, Marions brigade fell under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter. Working with Sumter, Marion took part in a fight against the British at Quinbys Bridge in July. Forced to withdraw, Marion split from Sumter and won a skirmish at Parkers Ferry the following month. Moving to unite with Greene, Marion commanded the combined North and South Carolina militia at the Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8. Elected to the state senate, Marion left his brigade later that year to take his seat at Jacksonboro. Poor performance from his subordinates required him to return to command in January 1782. Later Life Marion was re-elected to the state senate in 1782 and 1784. In the years after the war, he generally supported a lenient policy toward the remaining Loyalists and opposed laws intended to strip them of their property. As a gesture of recognition for his services during the conflict, the state of South Carolina appointed him to command Fort Johnson. Largely a ceremonial post, it brought with it an annual stipend of $500 which aided Marion in rebuilding his plantation. Retiring to Pond Bluff, Marion married his cousin, Mary Esther Videau, and later served at the 1790 South Carolina constitutional convention. A supporter of the federal union, he died at Pond Bluff on February 27, 1795.