Monday, July 20, 2009

Lord of the Flies Essay

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys is trapped on an island that seems like paradise. However, when fear spreads through the paradise it takes charge of the boys’ lives and their innate fear destroys. Ralph’s fear destroys his hope of ever being rescued. Jack obliterates what civilization is left on the island when he splits the tribe due to his own fear, but this could also be shown through Piggy’s glasses. Finally, the boys’ fear of someone more powerful than them drives them to kill Simon and Piggy. Golding develops this theme throughout the novel.

On the surface, the novel Lord of the Flies tells a story about a group of English boys stuck on an island after a plane crash. When the boys first realize that the are on a deserted island without any adults, they are ecstatic and treat life as a game. They have feasts, build a large fire, and make rules to govern the island by. To them, it is not survival: it is a game.

In the novel, Golding makes it clear to the reader that Ralph’s innate fear overpowers his hope to be rescued. Throughout the entire novel, Ralph is the one person who insists on having the fire lit so that there is a chance of the boys’ rescue. When the fire goes out because Jack and his tribe won’t help, Ralph’s hope flickers and diminishes as well. To show the reader that Ralph is giving up hope, Golding writes a thought-provoking conversation between Piggy and Ralph where Ralph admits to Piggy that he is scared. “Not of the beast…but nobody understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don’t take it you’ll die-you would, wouldn’t you? Can’t they understand? Without the smoke signal we’ll die here?” (139). Ralph is shown to be afraid of death through this dialogue, and he is afraid that nobody else wants to be rescued. He also says, “And they don’t care. What’s more, I don’t sometimes. Supposing I got like the others-not caring. What ‘ud become of us ?”(139). Ralph’s innate fear is gripping his mind and he is afraid of the island turning from a civilized society into savagery. Ralph’s hope to be rescued diminishes with the smoke signal, and he doesn’t know what to do for the people that won’t listen to his warnings.

Civilization is destroyed when Piggy’s specs are stolen, and when Jack splits away from Ralph and begins to lead a new tribe. It is Jack’s fear that makes him do this. He is afraid of Ralph being more powerful than him, and he doesn’t like to be reprimanded by the younger boy. To feel more powerful than Ralph, Jack defies him and leaves during a meeting, taking his new tribe with him. Golding also demonstrates the crumbling of civilization through symbols like Piggy’s glasses, the conch and the war paint. The glasses represent clear sightedness on the island. Half of the glasses broke when Jack steals them momentarily from Piggy after he and his hunters let the fire go out for the first time (71). The other half of the specs are not broken, but stolen permanently by Jack and his tribe after they break away from Ralph and need something to build a fire with (168). The conch represents order, but that order is demolished with the conch. In the beginning of the boys’ stay on the island, a boy is not allowed to talk during the meetings without the conch. However, meetings progress to shouting out of turn, and disregard for the authority of the conch. The symbol of war paint near the end of the novel demonstrates the actual fear that the boys still have for authority. Jack’s tribe uses the paint to hide themselves from the world’s punishments, and as an excuse to act without thinking. They feel as though they do not have to take responsibility for their actions. Golding shows civilization on the island being demolished through symbols and the splitting of the tribes.

Innate fear finally leads to Jack’s tribe killing Piggy and Simon. Golding shows man’s primitive nature when the boys are dancing around fire after the pig roast. When Simon crawls into the circle, the tribe thinks he is the beast that they have been wanting to kill. The storm combined with their fear of the beast makes them kill it, not knowing that it was Simon (153). Roger also kills Piggy near the end of the story. The storm that rages only heightens his fear and hate of Piggy’s knowledge and intellect. “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (180). After Jack’s tribe realizes that Piggy is dead, they dismiss it as being what would happen to you if you didn’t follow Jack. Golding heightens the boys’ fear throughout the novel by adding tension such as storms that drive men wild.

William Golding wrote a story about English boys trapped on an island, but the real theme is innate fear destroys. Golding develops this theme through Ralph’s fear of savagery, Jack’s fear of being less powerful than someone, and Roger’s fear of intellect and rules. The island paradise is destroyed.
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Postmodernism Essay

Postmodernism cannot be historically pinned to any specific year, however, its ideas crystallized around the mid-1970’s. The concepts of postmodernism affected many disciplines including art, education, literature, film, sociology, and technology. To begin to understand postmodernism, one must first analyze the two movements prior.

Purpose, unity, and totality were all crucial elements to the premodern vision of the world. The vision roots back to the times of myth and rituals. Many believed that the human self was essentially part of a greater and more sacred whole. The body and its senses were thought to be obstacles to the spiritual life. Individuals were overall dominated by tradition and strong solid institutions like the Roman Catholic Church. The Renaissance was also full of superstitious beliefs and mystical powers.

The Enlightenment, during the 17th century, marked a new era. People no longer relied on past obscure traditions. Logic, science, and reason were used to obtain concrete answers about nature and order. Rene Descartes, for example, questioned the blind memorizations imposed on students. He wanted to methodically understand why things were so. People became skeptical about set institutions and old traditions. They understood the overall notion about how the universe functioned and were ready to logically construct the world. Protestants, as well as those involved in the French Revolution, rejected traditional authorities. The modern notion was that each individual was important and each individual had a choice about their position. The beginning of the French Revolution took place in the year 1789. The French questioned their oppression of the crown. People were no longer socially, economically, or politically satisfied with the crown. The modern idea, that one can work to progress, was born. Modernism can be roughly dated from the 1860’s to the 1970’s. Modernism is a movement that explored unbounded possibilities. Although modernist attempted to return to the classical forms, uniqueness and individuality were very much celebrated. There was a great emphasis on determinacy and the expression of emotions. People expressed their feelings and moved away from the established social norms. Nature and symbolism also played a great factor in modernism. Modernists believed in the order, or hierarchy, of things. Depth and creativity in thought, literature, and art were also very important. In literature, for example, there was “a move away from the apparent objectivity provided by omniscient third-person narrators, fixed narrative points of view, and clear-cut moral positions.”( Dr. Mary Klages.) Genres also blurred so that “poetry seems more documentary (as in T.S. Eliot ) and prose seems more poetic (as in Woolf or Joyce.)”( Dr. Mary Klages). Steam of consciousness, introduced by Stein, allowed writers to simply express their emotions through streams of thoughts and words. Although modernism had many positive ideals, it came short to reaching its goal and many lost faith in it.

After some chaotic events, like World War I and World War II, Nazism, and nuclear bomb threats, people did not believe that everything was logical and orderly. Foundations, as well as other definite ideas, were rejected. There was a shift of focus from logic to collective, anonymous, and random experiences. Although somewhat similar, postmodernism had some conflicting differences with modernism. In actuality, there are divisions in theory even within postmodernists. “The seemingly anti-modern stance involves a basic rejection of the tenets of Modernism; that is to say, a rejection of the doctrine of the supremacy of reason, the notion of truth, the belief in the perfectibility of man, and the idea that we could create a better, if not perfect, society. This view has been termed deconstructive postmodernism “(Witcombe,Chris.) Deconstructive postmodernist believe that the world is meaningless and that purpose, truth, and world views are all non-existant. Constructive postmodernists do not entirely reject modernism. The concepts are similar to that of deconstructive postmodernists in that boundaries should not exist. Nonetheless, they reject the idea that only modern natural sciences structure the general worldview. Constructive postmodernists believe in the “unity of scientific, ethical, aesthetic, and religious institutions.”(Witcombe,Chris.)

Although there are some contradictions in ideals within postmodernist, generally they would agree on some key ideas. They would agree on the belief that anybody’s ideas are as good as another’s. Everything is subjective, including “truth.” Truth is subjective to your own individual culture, experiences, and ideas. Who is to say that you are right or wrong? For example, in the phrase:” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, one can derive that beauty is subjective to each individual. Reality is not only perceived by the mind, rather, it is constructed by it. Postmodernists believe that if reality is defined as one certain element, it becomes oppressive. Those that accept a “reality” are conformists. They are anti-foundationalism and anti-worldview because they deny any existence of universal truth. Another idea that Postmodernists agree is that history is subjective because it is not an account of events; rather it is seen as metaphors because it was a person’s subjective interpretation. Postmodernists do not believe in defined standards or symbols. In art, for example, there is no difference between an “original work” and a “copy” because they are both the same. They also have a different outlook on education in comparison to a modernist. Knowledge is not productive and beneficial by itself. It is a functional tool used to produce something else.

Postmodernists celebrate incoherency, anarchy, disorder, and indeterminacy. Unlike modernists who favored “grand narratives” like the Bible and classical stories, postmodernists favor “mini-narratives.” These are small stories in which practices or events are explained with situational elements. They have no claims to universal truth, reason, or stability “Many modernist works try to uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life..”(Dr. Mary Klages.) However, postmodernists celebrate the fact that there is discontinuity and fragmentation in the world and thus reflect it in their work.

Salman Rushdie wrote the Satanic Verses in 1989. Through the work, Rushdie expressed his feelings about Islam and its “religious bigotry.” To a Muslim, Islam is a way of living and not just a faith. For this same reason, Rushdie rejected the structured form of living. There are “..liberal Muslims deplore the fatwa against Rushdie and support his right to publish, or even admire his work..”(Brians,Paul.) Nonetheless, a price was put on his head after he wrote this book and he has not been seen since then.

Judith Butler was another controversial author. She used Freud’s psychoanalysis to support her postmodern views of gender. Butler did not believe it fair to classify a person to a particular group (i.e. male group, or female group) because of a single common element. According to Butler, “women” should be thought of as multiple and discontinuous, not as a category. Judith Butler introduced the queer theory through her book, Gender Trouble, written in 1990. The theory states that it is wrong to collectively identify people with a certain group. There are so many other elements in a person, besides gender, that a fixed identity would be unjust. Madonna is an example of the arguments involved in the queer theory “with her constant image changes, parodies of blonde bombshells such as Marilyn Monroe, her assertion of female power and sexuality, and her appropriation from gay/queer culture..”( Mistry,Reena.)

Postmodernism sets no boundaries. There is no symbol, or worldview that can define what anything is. Reality and truth is subjective. “Hegemony assumes the role of "power" established by the postmodernists, acting as a social construct that promotes the existence of the group.”(Barnhart,Adam.) Although postmodernism is chaotic and many times contradictory, there are those that faithfully believe in its ideals. If one sets aside prejudices and criticism, much can be learned.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Flannery O’Connor Essay

Flannery O’Connor has been hailed as one of the most influential contemporary writers. What makes her stories so unique is her use of grotesque themes and its effect on her mostly Christian themes. O’Connor truly sees her characters as “religious” heroes; even though some come across as evil, they know what they believe and expose their beliefs to others. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, “Good Country People” and “Revelation” show the Christian contrast between Evil and Innocence, which is portrayed through these so-called heroes and their prey.

Critic Dorthy Walters commented that O’Connor deals deeply in the “human Spirits” of her characters, as well as, the worlds in which they surround themselves, either by choice or fault (23). As she reveals the characters and the world in which they live, she seems to project a negative sense of righteousness in them instead of what one would expect from religious characters. Critic Fredrick Hoffman pointed out that “Miss O’Connor writes about intensely religious acts and dilemmas in a time when people are much divided on the question of what actually determines a “religious act”(20).
O’Connor takes her ideas of religion from the Protestant South but also from the point of a Roman Catholic, which gives her characters their differences. The Protestant views inflict the reality of God in the characters and seem to condemn them to be surrounded by Him, whatever their outcome or original position concerning Him.

In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the Grandmother conveys to the reader that she knows what she believes in, but when she encounters the Misfit she is thrown off by his questions and statements, leaving her questioning her original thoughts. In the story “Good Country People”, Hulga states that she believes in nothing and yet when confronted with the Bible Salesman you see a change in her beliefs; it’s almost as if she wants to believe in Christianity. And as for Mrs. Turpin in the story “Revelation”, she is portrayed as seeing herself as a good Christian woman, but through the events of the day she finds herself confronted with her “real self” and realizes her faults in being a so-called good Christian woman.

Flannery O’Connor used grotesque themes and situations to make her stories differentiated from the common story. Many of her works are classified as “Southern Gothic” because of her strong feelings and strong use of moral and physical themes. Critic Dorthy Walters points out that O’Connor uses such grotesque implications so that the reader has the image that the world can and does have hurtful and even shameful alterations (29).

In the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, O’Connor labels the Misfit as a demented man who said and believed “It’s no real pleasure in life”(133). The Misfit was a character, who, while he believed in Jesus, also said “Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with me except He hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I had committed one because they had papers on me”(131). This is why the Misfit was so demented and why he caused others, to rethink God and why He would allow this to happen to someone who believes in Him, and why someone who believes in Him could do such a thing. In “Good Country People”, Hulga is a thirty-two year old woman with a wooden leg and no respect for the common person. O'Connor’s use of grotesque is through Hulga’s deformity. She uses the wooden leg at the end story to show how the leg is not Hulga’s true deformity. Her true deformity is her willingness to believe in “nothing” without really knowing what “nothing” is, which brings her to her ultimate failure and end. As the Bible Salesman leaves Hulga, he tells her “you aint so smart. I’ve been believing in nothing since I was born!(291)” In “Revelation”, O’Connor uses the young girls appearance as her grotesque theme “the poor girls face was blue with acne”(490), and she proceeds to refer to her as “the ugly girl” throughout the story. The girl is shown to have a sour attitude and a great dislike for Mrs. Turpin. Overall the reader is not given a choice to how they might see the girl because O’Connor blatantly shows her to be rude and judgmental by her use of grotesque. After studying O’Connor use of Grotesque, critic Dorthy McFarland commented that “Beneath the grotesquerie of the surface, however, a deeper level of meaning is suggested by tonal shifts and by various significant cues and allusions. For instance, religious allusions and conventional platitudes are present in most of the stories as part of the cultural baggage of the characters, and are apparently no to be taken seriously (117)”.

O’Connor’s so-called Heroes represent the Evil in her stories and the Innocent are their prey. O’Connor sees the Evil as Heroes because even though they go against Christianity, they expose the so-called Christian characters as fake. They are “fake” because they protest to believe in something whether it is religious or atheistic, and are either swayed by Evil or are exposed to not really know the origin of what they believe in.

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the Grandmother and Family representing the innocent and the Misfit is labeled as evil. Unlike most good vs. evil stories, it shows a kind of “senseless” evil and “artful” innocence. For Example, Critic Abigail Hamblen labels the Grandmother as crafty and cunning by lying about the hidden panel, secretly taking the cat, and being rather calm when she tries to conjure some sense of sympathy from the Misfit (270). In “Good Country People”, the Bible Salesman is considered evil and Hulga is innocent. The Bible Salesman is the Hero because he finds that not only does Hulga not understand what “nothing” is but also she seemed to crave for what she thought he believed in. The story’s twist is that the reader believes that the Bible Salesman is the innocent one and Hulga, the Atheist, is evil. When the Bible Salesman’s scheme is revealed, the reader realizes he is the evil hero and the impact of his plan comes into effect, leaving the reader in awe. The ugly girl represents the evil in “Revelation” and Mrs. Turpin represents the innocent. O’Connor uses the girl to make Mrs. Turpin realize who she is and what she is not. She created Mrs. Trupins character as one who thinks herself a good woman and thinks she’s doing good by thanking God for who she is, but she is wrong when she thanks Him for not making her someone else because of their social status. The people in the waiting room represent all the people she could have been. As she judges them, she places herself above them only by their appearance. When the hero tells her “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog”(500), she becomes upset and that makes her think on what she is as a person.

Throughout these short stories Flannery O’Connor shows us how even the common person has a hidden past or a secret identity within themselves that even they might not be aware of. Their identities deal mostly with what they believe and how they respond to how the Heroes condemn them for their lack of knowledge or lack of faith behind their religions. Most of O’Connor’s so-called Heroes have to expose themselves for what they are, before they expose the truth behind others. She combines Heroes and grotesque themes to create a lasting style of writing that can only be heard through the pages of the short stories by Flannery O’Connor.
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Friday, July 17, 2009

Hamlet Essay

There are many things that critics say make Hamlet a "Great Work," one of which is the way that Shakespeare masterfully incorporates so many sub-plots into the story, and ties them all into the main plot of Hamlet's revenge of his father's murder. By the end of Act I, not only is the main plot identified, but many other sub-plots are introduced. Among the sub-plots are trust in the Ghost of King Hamlet, Fortinbras, and the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. These three sub-plots are crucial to making Hamlet the master piece that it is.

In the times that Shakespeare lived ghosts were a readily accepted idea, but one had to be wary of them because it was difficult to decipher a good ghost from a bad one. Horatio, Hamlet's best friend, first brings that question into our mind when the Ghost is asking Hamlet to follow it.

Horatio warned:
What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness' Think of it. (68)

Hamlet disregarded Horatio's warnings, followed the Ghost of his father, and heard of the murder that took place. This is where he learned of his quest to revenge his father, the main plot of the play. But Hamlet still wasn't sure of the validity of the Ghost, so he decided to put the Ghost's accusations to a test. "There is a play tonight before the King: One scene of it comes near the circumstance Which I have told thee of my father's death. . . Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt Does not itself unkennel in one speech, It is a damned ghost that we have seen" (156). By having a group of players reenact his father's murder, he was able to tell from Claudius' (the murderer of King Hamlet) reaction that the Ghost was not of the devil. To take this sub-plot out would have left the reader/audience with many questions, especially in Shakespeare's time. People would wonder if the ghost was of good intent, and if Hamlet was wise in revenging his father.

In many versions of Hamlet, the character of Fortinbras is taken out. Fortinbras is the heir to Norway, but his father lost almost all of his inheritance to King Hamlet. Fortinbras wanted revenge, but he was told he could not take it because the land was lost fairly in an agreed contract. Fortinbras represents Hamlet after he has learned of his father's murder, the only difference is that he does not take revenge because King Fortinbras was not murdered. Although what he contributes can easily be omitted from the play, many feel that it ruins the play at the end. After all of the heirs to the Denmark throne have been killed, Fortinbras comes to Denmark from a victorious conquer of Poland. In his dying breath Hamlet said, "But I do prophesy th'election lights On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice" (308). Because much of the Denmark land once was Fortinbras' inheritance, Fortinbras was enable to claim the kingdom. This ending is needed to make the play a true tragedy. According to Aristotle, a tragedy is a "a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force, . . . reaching a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that excites pity or terror while leaving one with a sense of reconciliation rather than one of horror by presenting a view of life in which the idea of justice is central" (Handout, emphasis added). Knowing that he will make a good king, and having Hamlet's blessing, Fortinbras taking over the kingdom creates the sense of reconciliation that the reader/viewer needs.

There are lines through out the play that make the reader/audience question Hamlet's true feelings for Ophelia, but everyone agrees that they did have a relationship together. The relationship is first brought up in Act I, Scene 3 when Laertes, Ophelia's brother, warns her about it, and later on in the same scene, her father, Polonius warns her again. Laertes seemed to believe that Hamlet had affection for his sister, but he doubted if Hamlet could act on his affections: "But you must fear, His greatness weighed, his will is not his own. For he himself is subject to his birth" (54). On the other hand, Polonius at first doubted Hamlet's feelings. He told Ophelia, "These blazes, daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in both. . . You must not take for fire. . . Believe so much in him that he is young, . . . Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers. . ." (60). He then forbade her ever to speak to Hamlet again. Later on, however, Polonius thought it a good reason for Hamlet's madness, and thought he would use Ophelia to test his idea. This ties the relationship into the main plot of the story because Hamlet is acting mad because of his knowledge of his father's murder. In this time Hamlet both says that he loved her and denies it, but he is acting in such a mad way that Polonius is unsure of Hamlet's true feelings towards his daughter. In the final act Hamlet says again that he loved Ophelia, in front of all those attending her funeral. In Hamlet, Ophelia represents innocence and one without knowledge. She is the image of Hamlet before he discovered the truth of his father's death. If the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia were to be taken out of the play it would ruin the flow, and it would take away other sub-plots that also relate to the main plot, especially Laertes' revenge on Hamlet for Polonius' death.

For many authors, to take so much as a word out of their work it is destroying it. For plays though, it is meant for words to be changed and added, but not for whole plots and sub-plots. To take out such a big section of a play is disastrous because it leaves the reader and audience with unanswered questions. The sub-plots add to the plot complexity, let the audiences become more involved, and let them all leave feeling that they had seen some characteristic of themselves in the play. This is what makes a play great, and makes the audience want to see it over and over again. Even a seemingly needless character can relate to someone. The more sub-plots (ones that are well worked into the play) the more people that can relate, the better the play.
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Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Most people have a basic understanding of obedience; however, many may fail to see the application and the impact of it in their own lives and in our society. Submission into conformity discourages the type of independence that is valued in our supposedly free-thinking world. Censorship is one of the major themes in Fahrenheit 451, and its impact is illustrated through submission in appearance, behavior and thought. This invites us to draw clear relationships between Ray Bradbury‘s novel and our current society.

The association between appearance and social acceptance is already apparent in our lives. In order to achieve societal norm we wish to look and act like our peers, and as a result censorship in appearance has become a common example of submission today. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag realizes that a major part of being socially accepted as a fireman is to conform through appearance. Montag observes this fact while there are countless examples of conformity through appearance in our society. The belief that physical beauty is more valuable than intelligence is a very common habit throughout the world especially in schools and those people make the others feel inferior. And as a result we may often conform to accept standards of appearance rather than focusing on the value of our gifts and talents.

In this way we are able to draw a fundamental relationship from our own society to the troubling world described in Fahrenheit 451, citing conformity in appearance as proof of this connection.

Conformity in behavior is another damaging example of submission found in our culture today. However, in Fahrenheit 451 Beatty describes conformity as a positive aspect of society – he argues that conformity in behavior prevents violence and jealousy by restricting the gifted and talented people from their ability to excel, which is good in a way because then the others won‘t feel bad. However, the real problem in the situation Beatty describes is not the exceptionally bright child (when he is trying to show Montag the uselessness of books) but the group of people of those who submit to it. Unfortunately, this very situation occurs repeatedly in our society today. People who choose not to conform may be persecuted by the groups of people who submit into censorship, and through that act of persecution the people reinforce conformity of behavior.

In this way we see that Bradbury’s portrayal of censorship in behavior is similar to the way we conform in our society, illustrating yet another fundamental connection between Fahrenheit 451 and our world today.

Because of the democracy in which we live, we are free to hold any opinions we wish and we feel pride in ourselves on our right to freely say these opinions by talking and making announcements in the daily news and also on the television.

However, we often find that although we have the right to think freely we often choose instead to take upon the opinions of the others. Thus, one of the most prominent examples of conformity in our society today lies within thought.

In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury sees a futuristic society in which this submission of thought is highly valued. In the novel, the fire captain Beatty strongly believes that every person must think alike; for conflict and unhappiness only arise when differences are perpetuated. There may be some truth to Beatty’s claim that conflicting theory and thought creates unhappiness and discomfort within a society (again when Beatty was saying the uselessness of books). One example of this is the strong pressure from our culture and some factions of government to be “politically correct”. As a somewhat ordinary remedy for the cruel intolerance of minorities, our society has created a system of thought in which we must exhibit ultimate acceptance of persecuted groups. The pressure to be politically correct can be so strong that any opinion that does not suggest an underlying discrimination but which is conveyed to the public in a “politically incorrect” manner is considered socially unacceptable. Those who communicate their non-negotiable thoughts may be viewed as immoral and dishonest. Through the strong pressure to be “politically correct” we see that conformity of thought remains in our society and parallels Bradbury’s portrayal of the theme in Fahrenheit 451.

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way,“ a man said the previous quote and this quote was placed in the beginning of the novel. Obviously selected to create awareness of Bradbury’s principal theme. By choosing this quote, Bradbury reaffirms that the purpose of the novel was to encourage independent thought and create a basic awareness of the submission found in our world. This conformity is illustrated through appearance, behavior and thought both in the novel and in our society today.

Also some people think that with the knowledge of books and other references they are somewhat superior than others and that is why Beatty claims that books should be burned with no restriction. On the other hand if it weren’t for people like Dr. Nash, Einstein and others we wouldn’t have the technology and intelligence we have today.

Why do you think that the books were allowed to be burned in the novel? Because of the ignorance of humanity. We humans wish for everything to be as simple and with the least effort possible, that’s why we don’t like to learn, we want everything to be as simple as it can be among others.

In conclusion, censorship is found in many ways throughout our world and if we keep up our discrimination of people, the censorship in our world, submission into conformity, etc. We will wind up on the world Bradbury portrays in his novel.

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Internet Censorship Essay

The Internet has become a growing source of entertainment and information over the past years. Statistics say, there are "over two million new Internet users per month" (NTIA). More than half of all Americans are "online." "In September 2001, 143 million Americans, or about 54% of the population were using the Internet" (NTIA). As more and more people
Become familiar with the internet, the potential of its contents grows rapidly, at an uncontrollable rate. Why uncontrollable? Because in some cases there are no restriction to what can be put one the internet, what can be viewed on the internet, or who can view what is on the internet. Just about anything and everything can be found on the internet. With something such as the internet, which contains virtually an infinite amount of space, more is being added than taken away. Therefore with the growing amount of users, the contents grows as well. Different people use the internet for different things with no worries, because they have the right to. But should everybody have these privileges? With all these people using the Internet, shouldn't there be a restriction on what can and cannot be seen on the internet? Some answer yes, some answer no. For many reasons there is no determinant of who is right or wrong.

There are numerous reasons why the Internet should be censored. The major argument for censorship that has accumulated the most attention deals with the protection of children. "The issue of morality and children has become a leading factor in the struggle over whether or not to attempt to censor the Internet" (Friedman 25). Statistics say that "75% of children ages 14-17 use the Internet and 65% of children ages 10-13 use the Internet" (NTIA). Children can access the Internet at home, at school, at public libraries or at a friend's house. There is so much indecent material on the Internet, such as pornography that children should not be exposed to. How many children have already been exposed to this type of material on the internet alone? That remains uncertain, however it takes merely curiosity driven from TV programs, or even a friend, for an underage child to go on the internet and view material beyond what is meant for them to see. These sites, while they may come with an X-rated warning to not enter unless over 18, are still accessible to children, or whomever wishes to enter. Given the fact that there are warnings on such sites, there is still no guarantee that the viewer is of legal age. Children who aren’t of age, are most likely not mature enough to be exposed to such material, therefore the potential of permanently affecting a child’s morality remains high. The Communications Decency Act, or CDA was a proposed law on Internet Censorship that was overturned. "Senator Jim Exon (D-NE), co-author of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), are in favor of putting strict laws into place regulating the Internet in order to protect children: "The Decency Act stands for the premise that it is wrong to provide pornography to children on computers just as it is wrong to do it on a street corner or anywhere else" (Landier). Obviously one could go on for days supporting censorship of the internet with more than enough legit arguments, however there always remains two sides to every story. In this case; why not to censor the internet.

"There is no question that it is important to protect America's future and its children. But the issues involved address some of the most cherished precepts in the Constitution. One of the key dilemmas is to find a way of reconciling the protection of children's rights without infringing on the rights of American adults" (Friedman 26). ‘til the day America is no more, people will always fight for their rights, regardless. This makes sense, for these rights are in the constitution which was the foundation of our country. While some may find pornography offensive and repulsive, there are many who indulge in this pastime. And those who wish to have the right to, given to them by the Constitution. We as a people have no choice but to accept this. We as a people have no right, to take another’s away based on an opinion, regardless of how many oppose it. The first amendment gives all the right to "freedom of speech of the press." This includes the Internet, and guarantees each individual the right to express themselves and view what they want on the Internet. When dealing with censorship, another topic that must be kept in mind is personal privacy. Not all material on the internet is meant to be pornography. Some people keep their personal material on the internet and share it with certain individuals. For example, videos or pictures shared by distant friends, my resort to the internet as their only way of sharing, given their geographical location. There should not be any censorship for someone’s personal material because they are the only ones that should be viewing it anyway. If all private material were to be censored at all times, it would most definitely not be considered private, or personal. Total internet censorship is an extremity of what should be done. Although in this case, how or where would one draw the line between censorship, and privacy. It remains subjective. The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition or (CIEC), is working to not censor the Internet. Who are we to take away rights granted to us by our Founding Fathers? They may have not been referring to pornography on the Internet, but it is the same principal. And if we were to take away these rights in any way it might very well be the biggest contradiction of the constitution yet.

Personally, I believe that the Internet should not be censored. Freedom of speech was given to us by the Constitution. The rights have been ours for centuries and should not be taken away today, in modern society. I think that some kind of compromise could be reached between censoring the Internet, and protecting our children. After all, children are our most precious resources and they should be treated like they are. They should be protected, the children of today are very much the future of tomorrow. Eventually there must be a solution to regulate who should be able to view, what should be censored, and an effective way of enforcing it. Otherwise our constitution will hold a lesser value that is has for centuries, and when the rules have been broken once, it most likely will happen again Much of the material accessible on the Internet is offense to some adults, but those adults are not obligated to look at it. It is easily avoidable. And as for children viewing questionable material at home, servers such as America Online allow "Parental Controls" where parents can block their underage children from viewing certain sites. To this day there are numerous parental control programs they help avoid accidental, or deliberate, encountering of explicit material on the internet, none of which are guaranteed. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and is allowed to voice it. This right is granted to us by the same amendment that gives us the right to express ourselves on the Internet.
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Demons of Advertising Essay

Human nature has been easy to figure out throughout the years. This fact could turn out to have more cons attached to it than ever imagined. In the beginning advertising had its place. Advertising pushed patent medicines, filled a few pages of the Sears catalog, sponsored radio detective programs, acted as magazine filler, and eventually made it to television. The thirty second TV spot became the model. Now some advertisements have crossed the ethics line. The line between advertisement and entertainment are becoming nonexistent. Guerilla, stealth marketing, and product placement are the two main unethical agents in advertising.

Stealth by far is the most sneaky and unethical technic in advertising. Stealth marketing is sending actors to interact with real people and casually talk up a product. These actors do not wear a name tag or a logo shirt, they appear as normal people. A great example that would best explain stealth marketing would be the Sony-Ericsson company. They invented a new cellular phone with a built in camera. They hired a group of actors to walk around Times Square in New York City posing as tourist acting as newlywed couples on a honeymoon. They would go up to strangers and ask them to take their picture. After a few minutes the unsuspecting person would ask how to take the picture. Then they receive a live demonstration on the new Sony phone. Of course the actors would explain where the got the phones and how great they are. Consequintly the sale of the phone tripled within one month of this advertising technique. The strangers leave thinking “what a nice couple and that was a cool phone.” Gary Ruskin, the executive director of Consumer Alert, said “it's deceptive, it's absolutely unethical to deceive people like this. In addition, it's taking advantage of the kindness of strangers and that's pretty low.” One man that was told that the two people were actors said “I feel violated, Imean, I had a connection between the two people and then to find out that they are salesmen!”

Another great example of stealth marketing would be the company of Tuwaka. The company came out with a new version of a spiced rum. However the problem was that they were going up against a fierce market, so they turned to stealth marketing. In this scenario a semi-attractive male actor orders a Tuwaka drink in front of other male customers to another attractive female actor. Of course she comes over and they hit it off. He gets her phone number and then she leaves. Just about 90% of the time the other male customers ask “how did you that?“ His response usually includes how women love that drink and that's how he gets dates. How far are these companies going to take this marketing technique? In this instance stealth marketing is using basic human desire. Is that ethical?
The second unethical marketing system is guerilla marketing. Guerrilla is defined by Word Book Online Encyclopedia as “Guerilla warfare, pronounced guh RIHL uh, is warfare by roving bands of fighters who torment the enemy with ambushes, sudden raids, and other small scale attacks. Guerialls may be organized, but usually fight in small bands. They most often operate behind enemy lines and use hit and run tactics and sabotage to surprise and torment the enemy. They take advantage of natural features of the terrain-such as forests, hills, lakes, and rivers-to conceal and launch attacks.” Companies started to realize that conventional marketing was being spotted a mile away. Consumers were becoming numb to conventional advertising. The marketing director decided to put the advertisements behind enemy lines in a sense. They had to disguise their ads so no one would know that in fact they were being sold a product.

A good example of guerrilla marketing would be Jojo's Subs. Jojo of course had a better product and a better value than its competitor Subway. However Jojo did not have the marketing budget of Subway. One technique he used was putting flyers displaying a much better deal than they just purchased up on cars in front of subway. The customer would feel violated in a sense that they just spent more of their hard earned money than they had to. Another technique he used was sending people to subways and making complaints in front of potential customers. In the complaint the person would say he is going to Jojo's for a better sub as well as a better deal. In a sense Jojo put someone behind enemy lines.

That example was on a small scale. A large corporation such as Nike has almost an unlimited budget when it comes to marketing. They have hired behavioral scientist to really get behind enemy lines. Many studies were conducted of many different groups. Now the marketing department were armed with a powerful tool. They knew exactly what group wanted what. Of course the obvious occurred, celebrity endorsements. What kid would not want to slam a basketball like Michael Jordan or hit a baseball like Ken Griffey Jr. On the Nike commercials they have just shots of Jordan and Griffey just performing their sports, but they are wearing Nike shoes. Playing on these emotions of children enabled Nike to sell a shoe for over $100 which only cost on average $2 to make. Playing with such a influential minds is not ethical.

Alltel as used a different form of guerrilla marketing in the sense of setting up mall blitzes. They would set up a booth for free massages or manicures on the walls would be the logo boomerang, but there would not be an actual advertisement. Boomerang was their new pre-paid service geared toward college students. Alltel also hired people to go into public chat rooms on the Internet and ask about the new Alltel product Boomerang. Basicly just using these techniques to infect everyone's curiosity. All these techniques end up on a 85% spike on the number of hits the Boomerange web site. Once again the large corporation used human nature of curiosity to sell the product.

In conclusion, the consumer should very careful when they receive an urge to purchase a new product. A consumer may never know if the had been a victim of guerrilla or stealth marketing. But as long as there are consumers companies will always try to find a new way to sell their products verse their competitors. Many large corporations say that there are no lines being crossed. They obviously haven't been a victim of either one of these techniques.

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Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Essay

This essay will illustrate the extent to which effective marketing must incorporate Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Marketing effectively differs from one organisation to another as each has their own separate goals, which they pursue. To answer how important each of the afore mentioned marketing tools are, one must define what Marketing is and then take into account how each is applied and why if not applied in an organisations approach to selling could mean abrupt failure, or maybe that they do not matter at all.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) defines marketing as: ‘The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements.’ (Lancaster & Reynolds 1998, p.11)

An alternative definition is offered from the American Marketing Association (AMA): ‘The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives.’ (Lancaster & Reynolds 1998, p.11)

The CIM definition perhaps sums up the overall aim of marketing whereas the AMA definition identifies the tools which effective marketing would use when realising the firm’s objectives (Lancaster & Reynolds 1998). Looking at both definitions, they both finished stating that something must be satisfied, customer requirements and organisational objectives. So to market effectively you must be able to reach the organisational goals whilst also meeting your customer requirements.

Market segmentation is defined by Kotler and Armstrong (2001, p.244) as ‘Dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers on the basis of needs, characteristics or behaviour who might require separate marketing mixes.’ These needs, characteristics, and behavioural factors, which signify different demands, come from a multitude of different reasons. The main profilers used to segment the consumer markets are Geographic, Demographic, Behavioural and Psychographic factors. On the other hand organisational market profilers are Industry, Type of Organisation, Size, Geographic, Application, Usage and Purchasing Organisation factors. (Doyle 1994)

It begs the question; why segment the market instead of mass marketing the same product? The best-known example of Mass Marketing or Undifferentiated Marketing is told by Kotler and Armstrong (2001). They go on to use the example of Henry Ford’s marketing strategy of the Model T Ford. When he put the car into production, he told the cumsers, they could have the car “in any colour as long as it is black”. This though was many years ago; Ford has progressed and produces many different models today. An example of a company who still uses the Mass Marketing technique is outlined by Wilson and Gilligan (1997). Black & Decker faced a drop in its worldwide share of the power tool market from 20% to 15% as more Japanese firms began to compete by marketing in a more ‘aggressive’ manner than Black & Decker. As a result of this Black & Decker moved away from a policy of customized products for each market and instead focused making a smaller amount of products that could be sold everywhere which the same basic marketing approach. From this example it can be seen that not breaking down the market in terms of product, works for some companies whilst also satisfying customers, hence the increase in market share for Black & Decker.

Ultimately segmenting the market is the first step to giving the firm the ability to better match the customer needs, enhance profits, enhance opportunities for growth, retain customers and target communications (Doyle 1994). Being able to satisfy more customers with your brand or brands, brings one back to the definition offered by the CIM. More customers satisfied equals marketing more effectively. An example of a company, which uses segmentation within the USA, is Proctor & Gamble. They manufacture many products including washing detergent.

‘To some people, cleaning and bleaching power are most important; to others, fabric softening matters most; still others want mild, fresh-scented detergent’ (Kotler & Armstrong 2001, p.244)

Hence there are different groups or segments of the washing detergent buyers and each of these seek a different combination of benefits. Proctor & Gamble have recognised this and have gone on to produce eight different brands of detergent to satisfy these markets (Kotler & Armstrong 2001). Lesser and Hughes (1986, The Generalizability of Psychographic Market Segments Across Geographic Locations. Journal of Marketing. 50(January) 18-27) study summarises that segmentation plays a vital role in contributing to corporate planning, but there has not enough research into it to make enough generalizations to contribute to the advancement of ‘Segmentation Theory’.

Having segmented the market the strategist is faced with a series of decisions on the amount of and which segments to approach. The Strategists main concern is choosing a target would be profitable (Wilson & Gilligan 1997). Three factors which the strategist will have to consider are ‘the size and growth potential of each segment, their structural attractiveness and the organisation’s objectives and resources’ in coming to a final decision on which segments to target (Wilson & Gilligan 1997, p.297). Referring back to the AMA definition of marketing, they say that marketing involves satisfying organisation objectives. The importance of targeting is so choose the correct segment(s), which fulfil the company objectives. Effective marketing would be achieved if the strategist chose the right segment or segments to target, which would reach the company objectives. However each company has different objectives, and to demonstrate a company objective which each company, excluding non-profit organisations have, one can use Profit.

The strategist would then assess the profit potential of the segments, for instance using Porter’s Five Forces Model (McDonald 1999). The company would now have to decide which and how many segments to serve, which is the problem of target market selection (Kotler & Armstrong 2001). The firm can adopt one of three market coverage strategies, ‘Undifferentiated Marketing, Differentiated Marketing or Concentrated Marketing’ (Kotler & Armstrong 2001, p.266).

Choosing the correct marketing strategy will depend on the type of product you have to supply. Undifferentiated marketing has already been explained. Differentiated marketing is when the company adopts several segments to market to and provides separate offers for each. The example of Proctor & Gamble was used before, another example of a company marketing effectively to many segments is Nike, who supply training shoes to many different market segments including Soccer, Basketball, Aerobics, Martial Arts and many more
(Nike. Available at <: URL: http://www.nike.com>[Accessed 16 November 2002]). By offering these product variations, these companies hope for increased sales and a stronger position within each market segment. For instance ‘Proctor and Gamble obtain a higher market share with eight brands than they would if they only made one. Nevertheless operating differentiated marketing usually increases costs to the business, for example it would cost more to produce 10 units of 10 different products rather than 100 of the same product’ (Kotler & Armstrong 2001, p.266). Thus to market effectively the company must weight the increased costs against increased sales to market effectively. (Kotler & Armstrong 2001)

Concentrated Marketing is when the company focuses on one or a few segments or niches rather than going for a small share of a large segment. This type of marketing is especially appealing when there are limited company resources (Kotler & Armstrong 2001). An example of this is ‘Steve Warrington’s business which sells ‘everything ostrich’ and generated in excess of $4 million revenue in 2000. Today the low cost of setting up an Internet company makes it increasingly possible to serve seemingly minute niches’ (Kotler & Armstrong 2001, p.267). It is important to locate the correct segment for your product and company to move into, it can lead to being able to move in quickly to dominate a niche or that you can dramatically increase your market share by offering many products to many segments. On the other hand you may realise that your product is what everyone wants, for example Petrol, ‘whether your car is a Lada or a Rolls Royce petrol will make it go’ and you don’t need to segment and offer different products (Brassington & Pettitt 2000, p.198).

Finally once the market has been segmented and a segment or segments targeted by the company, they have to identify the positioning concept within each target segment and select and develop the appropriate positioning concepts for each (Wilson & Gilligan 1997). This will relate to task of ensuring the company’s products operate a planned-for place in the chosen segments appropriate to its competition. This notion of positioning is applicable to both consumer and organisation markets and each share the same assumptions which are that all products and brands have subjective and objective attributes and potential customers may think about one of these attributes when deliberating whether to buy the respective brand or product. The potential customers will also have predetermined views on the attributes of the various competing products, which they will assess the new product by (Lancaster & Reynolds 1998).

The company would build a position for itself by following the three steps outlines by Kotler & Armstrong (2001, p.270) and acting upon their results.

‘Identification of a set of possible competitive advantages upon which to build a position, choosing the right competitive advantages, an selecting and overall positioning strategy. The company must then effectively communicate and deliver the chosen position to the market.’

It is important that the company’s positioning plan is not flawed, as this is the final stage before putting the product actually on the ‘market shelf’. Creating a product image not suited to the target segment could mean absolute failure due to the product itself not being properly thought through (Brassington & Pettitt 2000). For example the work of Pring (see Brassington & Pettitt 2000, p.364) gives an example of a failed product from MD Foods. He explained that the results gained from test marketing are not the same as what may happen in the real comsumer environment. The company had to withdraw its cultured dairy product Gaio as consumer groups disputed its claims that to have lower cholesterol levels. Not enough outside factors were taken into consideration prior to the launch of the product, and it led to its failure. The way in which a company positions its product is vital, it must be done correctly or the whole marketing process beforehand, segmenting the market and choosing the target segments can be a waste of time. Doyle (1994) recalls the problem IBM faced when the personal computer prices began to decline in the early 1990’s. Instead of threatening their own high price brand image they instead, created a new company under IBM called Ambra, effectively cloning the IBM machine but selling it at a much lower price to satisfy the booming ‘mass’ and ‘economy’ markets.

To summarise, a well- developed strategy of market segmentation, targeting and positioning together would enable the company to market effectively, in the way in which its customers need’s and wants are satisfied and the organisational goals are realised. A wide variety of processes have developed to segment the market, target the most long-term profit potential customers and to enable the product to be positioned so it will be a success. Although as there is no definite product, which always needs these strategies, one can realise that it is important to use them because it will allow increased potential for the company’s objectives to be realised as well as ensuring your potential customers will be satisfied, thus your marketing will be effective.
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Computers Research Paper

Computers today are used in a way people commonly are doing work on it. There is more to computer typing there’s programming, troubleshooting, communications, and many of more uses from them people and I go through. People and myself has me know that there is more to computers then just typing more of it comes where in how other specific devices are used to convert data. Troubleshooting things such as viruses, networking, data loss, putting computer together, etc. has taught me more in depth about computers today. Having to do all of this has shown me that computers are a source of reflection of how it used and done with. Communications and new software development has made people has there life’s saved is now another things used for computers to talk and send mail/messages. It a new trend for people to have computers and to use them in communicating in a whole new way. So computers are used now are changed today with new things you would like.

Throughout now in computers were hard to describe in-depth in the programming as it was made in what people and myself thought. People use computers in a concept of doing work on it and nothing else that so interesting. It wasn’t an interesting thing back then when it was made. Everybody ignored it as a useless product that never existed in the world. When I used it was hard to use and understanding more in detail the entire major concept of how the programming was. People like myself had a hard time figuring out uses for it. It was like a machine in a hard way to describe in of all the technology/electronics they had made to a computer. Programming it in what to do on it was like typing, printing, and playing was the major thing that was done. It was nothing but just playing and doing working on a computer, which was made to do. Having it programmed for these kinds of uses are having people do these common things. When computers are describes as programming in special uses as work, printing, and playing has the first new beginning of computers.

Now troubleshooting is the next thing that occurs around computers such as viruses and other errors for different reasons. People today are having these encounters to these problems and have been evolving around them. They are a big problem because it destroys all data and makes the computer not load up. It’s like a disease spreading to all around the computers and has never stopped. Another problem is that a person and myself hate to loss data to the program you’re working on for any type of project/work you’re on. It’s a major hassle to loss a big thing on a computer that you save and worked hard on. This is something people go through everyday to have these errors occur overtime. Having to delete important files from your computer to work has made them lose their work and the computer it self. This is why people have trouble thinking that it gets them frustrated. It the common problem everyone goes through everyday in using one. So computers back than were a big hassle to the people who bought them and encountered so many problems.

Today now computers have made a communications and software cure for troubleshooting in the major problem people have in the computer system. In the communications they have a Chat line/E-mail to send about anything between you and your friend through a network computer. This is something people enjoy doing to communicate with anybody they know. It’s a lifesaver now to send anything across a computer network in the world. The next thing is that software that can destroy viruses in detecting and protecting your computer has made a cure for it. People whom have troubleshooting in their computers now have software on the market see it’s a big help. It’s a new generation people now are safe with any software program that can be protected. The different between the reflections of the computers had shown many of what people encounter in their everyday life. Everything from the past has now made a lot of big changes. Now people are starting to get computer in a whole new different way for them to use it. Now new things added to the computer systems today has better communications and new software that helps people not to lose anything.

People from the past had problems with computers in knowing what it is. They would just use it as typing out work and other things. In that people occur with troubleshooting problems like viruses and errors. Now today they made new communication and software to help out people from their problems they have. So the reflection of computers has now shown new things has come to the future.

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Genetic Engineering Essay

Sara just found out her baby will be born with ADA deficiency (bubble-boy syndrome). The baby will be born with no immune system, and be forced to live a short, sheltered life with no “out-siders”. Sara’s baby will only die early if they can’t find a bone marrow donor match, which is rare. What should Sara do? Look into genetic engineering of course! “The idea, simply, is to inject corrective genes into a patient’s body to replace faulty ones”(How Soon is Too Soon?). Genetic engineering can make better food products, help cure and control disease, and has worked on animals.

Scientists study genetic engineering for animals, to make better food and control spread of animal disease. In cattle they slip in extra genes to reduce fat in meat. In chickens they are developing genes that make chickens mature faster and have more meat. They are also working on enhancing disease resistance (Thro 41-42).

Genetic engineering is used to understand the cause of disease, for treatments of disease and for possible cures for disease. Gene therapy is another form of genetic engineering. It is basically the same technology but it puts the genes into an unborn baby (Thro 70, 81). With these technologies, in the near future, if someone were to get a third-degree burn, doctors would just grow some skin cells in a container and then place them on your skin. Or if someone had a heart attack they could replace the bad heart cells with the artificially made “good ones”. What if someone broke his or her back? Scientists could grow nerve cells to place into your back. Scientists in California are working on a gene-based drug that will cut-off the blood flow to cancerous cells in someone’s body. These cells will eventually strangle the cancer cells, curing the cancer. In the future there will be artificial genes that can protect against HIV, diabetes, cancers, and Parkinson’s disease. “This research obviously promises to significantly advance human life”. Now, some people still think this procedure is wrong. Do you think that it is wrong to take some skin cells (that otherwise would have washed down the drain) and put them into an enucleated egg and grown in a petri dish with the intention of curing your grandpa’s Parkinson’s disease? Besides, does your uniqueness really come from your genes? Say that Fred could have a brain transplant with George. So after the procedure is done Fred is still Fred just in George’s body, right? Anyway the point is that brains make you who you are. Not your genes (Petri Dish Politics)! In the 1970’s there was a boy born with no immune system (ADA deficiency). America came to know this boy as “the boy in the plastic bubble” or “bubble boy” because he lived in a large bubble made of plastic. The bubble acted as his immune system; it kept the germs out. He lived into his early teens, but could not see his family or friends. ADA deficiency is a rare disease, and is usually treated with enzyme treatments or bone marrow transplants, but these don’t come close to correcting your immune system. That is until now! In 1990 the first gene engineering on humans was approved. They worked this phenomenon on a four-year-old girl. First they made copies of the normal ADA gene, and then inserted them into a dormant virus. Next they mixed some T cells (part of the immune system) with the ADA gene and the dormant virus. Then that grew into a colony of about a billion. Next they put that into the girls body like a regular, everyday, blood transfusion. Then she returned for a few more. In 1992 the treatment seemed to be working well and her immune system was strong (Thro 81)). Eight years later she is still living a good life, swinging and smiling (How Soon is too Soon). The most studied disease in this field is cystic fibrosis, which is a disease that effects the lungs. A thick, sticky mucus clogs the lungs. This disease makes you vulnerable for fatal infections. People that have this disease usually die before age 30. Scientists have now found the gene that carries cystic fibrosis (Thro 70-72). They can now test adults fore this gene. For example doctors tested Jerry and Emily, a married couple for the gene. They found that Emily has the gene but Jerry doesn’t. If they ever decided to have kids, their kids would not get this disease because the gene is recessive. Bob and Linda had the same test done. It says that they both have the gene. If they ever decided to have kids, their kids would have this disease. Thanks to genetic engineering scientists can see this. “The pace of scientific advance in genetic engineering is sure to increase (How Soon is too soon).

Scientist has done some genetic engineering testing on animals. In September 1999 Joe Tsien made mice smarter by putting in extra copies of a gene into the mice’s brain cells. In a short time they will be able to put these genes in humans. These humans would have an easier time learning and remembering (Petri Dish Politics). Two groups of scientists have been able to treat hemophilia B in mice and dogs (Thro). From Dolly the lamb we learned that doctors might one day take the nucleus of a skin cell and put them with an egg and mix them with the appropriate hormones and proteins. Then they would turn the cell into a heart tissue; for example, your body would not reject this because it’s a match with your immune system (Petri Dish Politics). If genetic engineering has worked on animals well doesn’t that mean it possibly will work on human’s well in the future?

Genetic engineering is a technology that will help us in the future. As far as we know you CAN NOT change your personality with this maneuver. “Genetic engineering as a whole is one of the most promising technologies on the planet”(www.foxbghsuit.com). With genetic engineering we can make better foods, fight disease and has worked on animals.

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