The Choice between A Pro-Life and A Pro-Choice Essays

The Choice between A Pro-Life and A Pro-Choice Essays The Choice between A Pro-Life and A Pro-Choice Paper The Choice between A Pro-Life and A Pro-Choice Paper Abortion has long been a controversial topic. Many Americans feel strongly about this subject because it involves such important issues as life and death, ones religious beliefs, the health of women and who controls women’s bodies. Can anything new be said about abortion? After more than a quarter of a century of an insane consideration one might think not. But there is at least one point of view that is hardly ever heard the screams of â€Å"Murder! † and â€Å"keep your prayers off my ovaries! † It deserves a full and reasoned explanation, but it might even give off some light on the controversies about the truth of Dr.  Henry Foster as Surgeon General and about disturbances of abortion clinics. It is that abortion is excusable only in extreme cases, however the state must respect the right to get and perform abortions. In other words, it is possible to be both a pro-life and a pro-choice. PRO-LIFE AND PRO-CHOICE: As many people of both sexes instinctively recognize, abortion has to be looked at as a question not of law, but of right and moral conduct. Begin then with the position, common to most religions and many naturalistic systems of morality, of respect for life-all life, but especially human. It seems impossible to deny that the developing fetus is a possible human being. The fetus from the very beginning is provided with all the genetic information that will enable its development into a full human person. Which is to say never. An abortion is not exactly a murder and in most legal codes and systems of morality there is such a thing as excusable homicide. It might be helpful to look at the case from a perspective other than the Orthodox Christian one. Any act that increases the total of human suffering is immoral, and any act that reduces suffering is moral. Some births that result from rape or threaten the mother’s life could increase suffering, and the abortions that prevent them are sadly excusable. But those are the easy cases. What of the pregnant 16-year-old, seduced and abandoned by an older man who refuses to take responsibility, disowned by her parents, with no prospects for anything but a life of poverty and welfare dependency? Does the suffering she and the child would undergo if it was born outweigh the horror of sniffing out a possible human personality? It is a close call and exactly the kind of tortured moral judgment that the government has no business making. A non-totalitarian state must leave such judgments to its citizens to make for themselves, according to their individual ideas of religion and justice. Murders meet both conditions; it is sentenced by nearly every known system of morality, and civilized life would be impossible in a community that allowed citizens to kill one another without punishment. Prohibition might perhaps be excused on public safety grounds, given the fights, violence and fatal accidents resulting largely from alcohol abuse. But it fails unmistakably because too many citizens refuse to regard the drinking of alcohol as immoral to make its prohibition excusable or enforceable. Sometimes an unwanted pregnancy can interrupt a woman’s life. Having children can interrupt women’s life. Having children can effect the women mentally and emotionally because raising children is not so easy to do. A mother has to be there every time, every second of her life for her baby to take care and to help get through his/her lifetime experience. That is why some women think that their pregnancy can interfere with their education. employment and their health. The Pro-life believer’s believe that an unwanted child is more than likely to live a bad life and to have nobody to depend on when they are growing up and going through a bad time in their life. They also believe that an unwanted child can become a major criminal and might also suffer abuse. But some Pro-choice believers believe that women who want to abort her baby should instead give her baby up for an adoption. They feel that some women who cannot have children can have a child from another women who was about to abort her child. When does a fetus become a baby? What happens when the choice is between the life of a mother and the life of the unborn? Is an embryo or a fetus the same as a person? Does it enjoy full moral rights, the same to those of a seven-year-old of a seventeen-year-old pregnant woman? You either believe that is so or you don’t. But women who carry their fetus do no keep it hidden, like keeping something in trunk of the car for nine months and then remembering it. So, in order to complete the picture, the Pro-choice believers described the women as cold, selfish, silly baby-haters, who are the enemies. Calling women murderers does the job easy because it is the most common abuse that is used against women outside the abortion clinics. Partial abortion is the final point of an abortion division because it involves the killing of the child during birth. There are a number of different methods for performing partial-birth abortions. Ohio described one method in detail abortionist Dr. Martin Hasdell. He said that this method would involve the controlment of a living baby in the womb with an instrument. Delivering all of the baby feet-first except for the head, making a small hole in the baby’s skull and then putting a suction tube into the babies skull in order for the brain and the skull to collapse. Then finishing the delivery of a dead baby. The described method is commonly used at or on the twentieth week of pregnancy. MYTH AND FACTS ABOUT ABORTION At the time the Constitution was accepted, abortion was commonly performed. Abortion was something the founding fathers would have been aware of, and by reasoning statement, they would not have remained silent about it if they had intended for the government to involve itself in the private lives of its citizens. During this time in history, all surgical procedures, including abortion, were extremely risky. Hospitals were not common; antiseptics were unknown, and even the most respected doctors had only natural medical education’s. Without the technology that we take for granted today, maternal and infant death rates during childbirth were extremely high. The dangers from abortion were similar to the dangers from other surgeries that were not outlawed. Today, their understanding of the consequences of unsafe abortion influences pro-choice advocates who fight for continued access to safe, legal abortion for all women often. We know from history that whenever abortion has been illegal, women have still attempted and succeeded in ending unwanted pregnancies. Unfortunately, they have often suffered serious health problems or died in the process. While the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was an important turning point in protecting women from unsafe abortion, an understanding of pre-Roe v. Wade years is important for making intelligent public policy decisions regarding reproduction health care in the future. In 1973, the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal for the first time in American history. In the 1800’s, abortion was outlawed because it was so dangerous. Abortion was outlawed because it is immoral. During the period when abortion was illegal, abortion was effectively outlawed and the safety of pregnant women was ensured. Partial-birth abortions are only done in extreme cases involving serious baby deformities or threat to the life of the mother. The pro-choice believers argued partial-birth abortions are not common and are only done at or after the twentieth week of pregnancy. A fetus is not capable of feeling the pain due to the need of development. Pro-Life believers showed that a fetus was not enough developed to experience pain from the procedure. MEDICAL ARGUMENT AGAINST ABORTION The medical arguments against abortion are compelling. For example, at the beginning of the pregnancy the embryo is genetically separated from the mother. To say that the developing baby is no different from the mother’s appendix is scientifically inaccurate. A developing embryo is genetically different from the sperm and the egg that created it. Another set of medical arguments against abortion surround the definition of life and death. If one say of decision may have been used to define death, could they also be used to define life? Death used to be defined by the final heartbeat. A stopped heart was a clear sign of death. If the final heartbeat could define death, could the onset of a heartbeat define life? The heart is formed by the 18th day in the womb. If heartbeat were used to define life, then nearly all abortions would be illegal. A conflict to an abortion also can raise the controversial issue of a fetus pain. Does the fetus feel pain during abortion? The evidence seems fairly clear and agreeable. Consider this statement made in a British medical journal: â€Å"Try sticking an infant with a pin and you know hat happens. She opens her mouth to cry and also pulls away. Try sticking an 8-week-old human fetus in the palm of his hand. He opens his mouth and pulls his hand away. A more technical description would add that changes in heart rate and in fetus movement also suggest that intrauterine manipulations are painful to the fetus. † Obviously, other medical decisions may be used. For example, the developing fetus has a special set of fingerprints as well as genetic patterns that make it special. The development of ultrasound has provided us with a â€Å"window to the womb† showing us that a person is growing and developing in the mother’s womb. We can recognize clearly the eyes, the ears, the fingers, the nose and the mouth. Our visual senses tell us this is a baby growing and maturing inside the womb. The point is simple. Medical science leads to a pro-life point of view rather than a pro-choice point of view. Medical arguments provide a strong case against abortion and for life. LEGAL ARGUMENTS AGAINST ABORTION A second set of arguments would be legal arguments against abortion. The best legal argument against abortion can be seen in the case of Roe v. Wade. It violated standard reasoning. The Supreme Court decided when life begins and then turned around and turned over the laws of 50 different states. The duty of a proof should lie with the life-taker, and the benefit of the doubt should be with the lifesaver. Put in another way: A hunter who hears rustling in the bushes shouldn’t fire until he knows what it is in the bushes. In addition, a Court which doesn’t know when life begins shouldn’t declare-open season on the unborn. The duty of a proof in a law is on the prosecution. The advantage of uncertainty is with the defense. This is also known as taking something for granted of the harmless. The Supreme Court clearly stated that it does not know when life begins and then it braked a promise of the very spirit of this legal principle by acting as if just proved that no life existed in the womb. Just as there are solid medical arguments against abortion, so also there are legal arguments against abortion. Roe vs. Wade was a bad decision that needs to be overturned. PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENTS AGAINST ABORTION A third set of arguments against abortion would be philosophical arguments. A key philosophical question is where do you draw the line? Put another way, when does a human being become a person? The Roe case arose out of a Texas law that prohibited legal abortion except to save a woman’s life. At that time, many other states had laws similar to the one in Texas. The effect of those laws was that women turned to someone for help in large numbers to illegal abortions that were dangerous because of poorly trained unsanitary conditions. Jane Roe, a 21-yea-old pregnant woman, represented all women who wanted abortions but could not get them legally and safely because of these laws. Henry Wade was the Texas Attorney General defended the law that made abortions illegal. After hearing the case, the Supreme Court ruled that American’s right to privacy included the right of a woman to decide whether to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference, at least in the first trimester of pregnancy. The Supreme Courts decision of Roe vs. Wade separated personhood from humanity. In other words, the judges argued that a developing fetus was a human but not a person. Since only persons are given the 14th Amendment protection under the Constitution, the Court argued that abortion could be legal at certain times. This left to doctors; parents of even other judges the responsibility of ones judgment of deciding when personhood should be awarded to human beings. Ethicist Paul Ramsey often warned that any arguments for abortion could logically be also used as an argument for the murder of a baby. As if to explain this, Dr. Francis Crick, of DNA specialist, proved that he was less concerned about the ethics of such correct reasoning extensions and offered a more acceptable definition of personhood. He suggested in the British journal Nature that if â€Å"a child were considered to be legally born when two days old, it could be examined to see whether it was an acceptable member of human society. † Obviously this is not only an argument for abortion but it’s an argument for the murder of a baby. Other line-drawers have suggested a cultural decision for personhood. Ashley Montagu, for example, stated, â€Å"a newborn baby is not truly a human until he or she is molded by cultural influences later. † Again, this is more than just an argument for abortion. It is also an argument for the murder of a baby. In conclusion, we can see that there are many good arguments against abortion. Obviously there are a number of medical, legal, and philosophical arguments against abortion. The bible and logic are on the side of the Christian who want’s to stand for the holiness of human life. Despite this lack of difference, we’re always surprised by the murder of a baby. We don’t blink an eye when we’re told that a million and half children were killed by abortion last year; yet whenever we hear of a born baby that was hit killed, drowned or choked, we stare at the newspaper in disbelief, our head swimming with questions. We wonder, â€Å"Why did that woman kill her baby? Was there something in the harsh cries of her child that drove her insane? † In search of answers, we reassured ourselves that although mothers may get tired and irritated with their children, maternal instinct usually kicks in and helps protect the life of the child. Yet some women just seem unable or unwilling to meet with the commonplace responsibilities of motherhood. There are people every year that get an abortion. I do no believe in this kind of thing, but no one has the right to blow up an abortion clinic. In search of my own answers, I’ve come up with a theory. I believe the current atmosphere of acceptance of legalized child murder leads women to conclude that it’s okay to kill their children. By ignoring the death crimes of million’s of innocent children, society tells women who kill that â€Å"No one will care and that one more child’s premature death is meaningless. I also believe that abortion should be illegal because I believe abortion kills a person who should have legal rights. Many people feel very strongly about not letting people get away with having an abortion and some people are either completely for it or just don’t care. Still, if you bomb a clinic someone who might not have anything to do with the clinic could get killed and what did he or she do to you? Nothing, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were two abortion clinic bombings recently where people were killed because they either work at an abortion clinic or they have made a decision to get an abortion. People who blow these buildings up are more than likely a member of a religious group, connected with them in some way is, and they themselves think abortion is wrong. These are very hypocritical people. They act innocent and then they go and blow a building up and hurt innocent people while the are at it. In conclusion, no one needs to be doing something so wrong, so illegal, as killing people. Abortions are now legal and what some anti-abortion people are doing is not legal. So, seeing how they are doing the not so legal thing, violent protesting abortion should be stopped. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Issues in law and medicine Bopp. Gr. , James; Cook, Curtisr Partial-Birth Abortion: the final frontier of abortion jurisprudence Dilatation and extraction abortion-Law and legislation-United States Summer 1998 Vol. 14 Issue 1, 3 2. Frost-Knappman, Elizabeth Womens Right On Trial: 101 Historic American trials from Anne Huchinson to the Virginial Military Institute Cadets. 1997 New England Publishing Associates, INC. 164-165, 167-169 3. The New Internationalist Hadley, Janet A Moral Question Abortion-Social Aspects July 1, 1998 Issue 303, 20 4. Herda, D. J. Raw vs. Wade: the abortion question 1994, Enslow Publishing, Inc. 36-42, 47-49, 78-80. 5. Noonan G. R. , John T. The Morality of Abortion: legal and historical perspectives 1970, Harvard University Press 134-135, 185-186, 236-237 6. Terkel, Susan Neiburn Abortion: Facing the Issues Raw vs. Wade-Moral and Ethics of Abortion 1998 13-16, 29-32, 38, 121-125, 127-129 7. Tride, Laurence, H. Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes Pro-choice and Pro-life movement 1990 52,115, 228

The Work and the Sadness - Freewrite Store

The Work and the Sadness - Freewrite Store This is a guest post by  Lancelot Schaubert. Schaubert is the author of the forthcoming novelFaceless, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and attack spaniel.The City of Joplin, Missouri commissioned him to write and direct a photonovel that fictionalized and enchanted the history of their town. He has sold articles to Writer's Digest (one forthcoming and one in the 2016 Poet's Market), the World Series Edition of Poker Pro, McSweeney's, Bernie Sanders' campaign site, and others. His fiction or poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Misty Review, Carnival, Encounter (who has purchased a dozen or more) and many others. He loves soup. Send him soup. You can learn more about him athttp://lanceschaubert.org/ orlet him directly send you his best work. ________________________________ Do you believe in writer's block? I don't. But perhaps not for the reason you think. The fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss has said ten thousand times that plumbers don't get plumbers block. I like that, especially since my plumber was also my sensei for shoto jitsu the man was brilliant at both and invested time heavily in both, both black belt of the year and your local handy man. Ed Daniels. Ed Daniels never got â€Å"blocked.† Rothfuss elaborated on this during one of his Worldbuilders Twitch streams last fall. He believes what some people attribute to writer's block is clinical depression. You could say further that plumbers don’t get plumbers block unless, as a human, they’re clinically depressed. Let’s break that down. Writer's block, in my estimation, comes down to one of two things: laziness or depression. We'll talk about depression first. Rothfuss was right to bring up the number of writers who have committed suicide, passively or actively, in history. A deep sadness runs parallel to the writing gene because we spend so much time in our headspace. Some believe that depression is an evolutionary trait that helps us reevaluate our situation: we go into a quiet place to reassess, to come to a better understanding of our current predicament, and then move forward stronger and more agile. The monks? They might have called it silence and solitude the prayerful posture of one who uses meditation to remain present in â€Å"this, my Father's world.† Wherever you sit on that spectrum, you can't deny that spending so much time imagining other worlds can leave you drained of your happy-happy joy-joy juices. And you get stuck. You're stuck not because you're a writer. You're stuck because you're a human. My buddy T. A. Giltner who teaches religion at St. Louis University says to all of his freshman on the first day of class, â€Å"Raise your hand if you want to be a good doctor. A good lawyer. A good scientist.† They raise their hands. â€Å"Keep your hands up if you think this class is pointless as a means to that end.† They lower their hands. â€Å"This class is not about religion. It's about becoming a decent human being. You want to be doctors and lawyers and scientists but you don't want to be good human beings? Good luck with that.† The phrase â€Å"good doctor† has the assumption of a â€Å"good human† built in. Writers too. Without a healthy, patient, joyful, kind humanity there ain't a one of us who's going to become a good writer. Let alone a great one. And that includes this awful disease that hit even me as a high school student and sometimes hits me even now: depression. To tackle this form of writer's block, you must do what all humans do. You must become whole by seeking help. I have a counselor who has helped me dig my way out of the hellhole that was my 2015 and my writing has improved. But again, that’s not specific to writers. As for laziness, I'm convinced that those who minimize their own depression by glorifying it with labels like â€Å"writer's block† make it easier for sluggards to scoot along. I know, I was one. I was a lazy teenager who had little reason to be lazy, considering the poverty of some of my early years. For one reason or another, perhaps because they follow the exact opposite trajectory of those professional football careers that blossom early and fade as fast, the careers of writers take a long time to marinate, cure, and hibernate. Coupled with wealth and privilege whether you're a trust fund kid or simply whiter than your neighbor writers have invented the most absurd methods of procrastination on the market all the way down to writing about not writing about not writing on social media. And then they hijack this term that has been used to minimize the clinical depression found in the pros or the greats and they say, â€Å"I have writers block.† Are you depressed? If that's the case, seek help and support, but it has nothing to do with being a writer.   If you're not depressed, then you're lazy. I am convinced that most writers need spend their time learning how to write at first. I'm convinced most writers must begin by learning how to work their asses off to survive and then thrive. That probably means some low-wage job or finding a way of generating passive income yourself rather than inheriting it or shoving it off to some future generation through debt. It might mean finding simple joy in trimming the verge or taking out the trash. If this is you, you don't have writer's block, sorry. You have an aversion to hard work. And only through learning how to work, how to enjoy your work, how to thrive even in an environment that's cursed and stacked against you, will you be able to write well. Stephen King has a high output precisely because he worked his ass off in a laundromat, as a teacher, and as a chimney sweep and then applied those skills to writing. Once you’ve learned to work, then apply that work to your study and practice. Then you read the "On Writings" and the "Elements of Style" of the world. Then you literally re-write your drafts over from scratch. Then you tap into the thing you've always wanted to do and bring it to bear upon the Earth. But let's not call it block anymore. If you're depressed, seek help. And if you're lazy, shut up and get to work. I should mention that I wrote the first draft of this on a Freewrite I'm testing it today because I've followed this team from the day they started taking contributions. I've been known to jack out of the matrix more than my peers and head to upstate New York or to Northwest Arkansas to duck into some hobbit hole and type away on my Smith Corona or scribble on whatever scraps I find. Perhaps the Freewrite will help me with that.   But the typing itself? Hell it took thirty minutes hunched over this metal coffee table in the lobby of their offices here in the Flatiron district. My back hurts, I have a headache, and I'll have to revise this before they post it. And yet somehow it wasn’t as bad this time around because for once I wasn’t focused on the machine, the sound, the internet, or the reloading of paper and ribbon. Me and the words, baby, me and the words. Was it worth it? The sky was grey when I began, but the sun's reflecting off of the windows of this high rise next door. And I've taken pleasure in my work. I am not worried about future awards. I have no delusions of grandeur in this moment. In my mind right now, there hides no phantom of any high school sweetheart or bully or hardass teacher I must now impress. There is only the work and the pleasure I take in it.   Lancelot took pleasure not in winning tournaments. Not in the wreath or the prize. It was the virtue he sought, virtue as an end in itself. He took pleasure in drawing back the bow and shooting the arrow, in dehorsing other knights, and in running the gauntlet faster and with fewer bruises than the time before. The discipline itself brings the joy.

Discuss the implications for managers that work with different Essay

Discuss the implications for managers that work with different national cultures - Essay Example There are both negative and positive repercussions on the management and managers brought out in the course of interacting with different national cultures, which end up causing changes in the corporate management functions and control. Companies need to hire employees from the local regions; meaning management could find face several challenges in their managerial roles, due to barriers arising from differences in national cultures, which come with their distinguished values that the managers or the organization struggles to identify with. Development of Effectual Cross Cultural Communication Skills As businesses are set up across the globe, and the companies intend to capture the market attention, managers have to be equipped enough to overcome the communication barrier that exists when they are taken into different regions, the cultures and languages of which are different from their local settings or previous organization environment. It is definitely very difficult for manger to work with colleagues who speak a different language, since the communication is interfered with. Miscommunication happens to be a common problem that human resource managers deal with while working with teams from different national cultures. ... At times, managers may be in foreign nations or could be working with team members who have been allocated to the managers or organizations local settings. Some ways which managers can facilitate effective cross cultural communication entail practicing active listening, reading out the signs or symbols and watching out for cultural assumptions, accessing brief teachings or using language guides, understanding language of space, time and context (HCareers n. p.). Of late, dealing with such challenges has enabled management to use technology in order to facilitate standard communication; this could include groupware and websites for sharing of information and to improve communication (Jones and George n. p.). The implications for managers that work with different national cultures include: 1. Creativity and innovation Working in different national cultures provides opportunities for managers to think critically, first of all on how the organization’s operations and objectives co uld be accomplished, and how to motivate employees’ performance in the different cultures. The existing components and architecture of the organization may not always work best at all situations and cultures. Similarly, even the products produced by a company in a certain region may not perform well in different markets, due to different cultures the organization’s branches may be operating in. Sometimes managers prefer to have a specific brand for their products across the globe, but this only proves to be successful if the market perceives a good image of the brand and its quality of products. Therefore, managers need to assess the culture they operate in, study the consumption behavior, preference, and limitations to success of the existing products or

Edward Said article-- States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edward Said article-- States - Essay Example It is very difficult to ascertain one’s identity and most people attach it to their ancestors and their homeland. Said on the other hand, left Palestine as a young child without having developed a rational sense of thinking and scientific temper and thus finds it tough to form a connection with Palestine in the present day – something that has been consistently talked about in his article. An identity crisis takes place when an individual becomes unsure of the role that he has to play in his life; many a time this may be attributed to travelling during one’s fledgling years and or not knowing the family to which one may be affiliated to. Erik Erikson, the theorist that coined the very term, has linked this crisis to the childhood of an individual. In the present case, the same can be understood by reading about Said’s departure from Palestine when he was a young boy. (Cherry, K) He studied abroad and developed American ideals as he grew older. The images and impressions that he has of Arabs and Muslims residing in Palestine are very different from the reality situation and this puts him in a tough spot when he begins to talk about his childhood. He has no memories of the country to reminisce and he feels inadequate in this regard. He has tried very excellently to explain the mechanism of Arabs and Muslims in the current scenario however finds that he can only do so with the help of Western ideals and imagery. He feels betrayed by his own ideas of a melting pot. (Visual Memoir: Edward Saids "States") Another issue that has been touched upon greatly is the idea of race and ethnicity. America today contains a hybrid mixture of people belonging to various cultures and ethnic groups as opposed to places like Palestine where it is difficult for even a single group of people to survive. One’s race and ethnicity also

Chernobyl, Ukraine - Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown :: essays research papers

Chernobyl, Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukrainian produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western USSR, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. The accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, was the worst nuclear power accident in history. Large areas of the Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Russian republics of the USSR were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation of roughly 200,000 people. The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chernobyl’ Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in the USSR. It was located just outside of the town of Pripyat’, about 18 km northwest of the town of Chernobyl’. The plant was only 16 km from the border between the Ukrainian and Belorussian republics and roughly 110 km north of Kiev, the capital and largest city of Ukraine. Construction of the plant began in the 1970s, with reactor No. 1 commissioned in 1977, followed by No. 2 (1978), No. 3 (1981), and No. 4 (1983). Each reactor had an electricity-generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts, and the four together produced about 10 percent of Ukraine's electricity at the time of the accident. Two more reactors (No. 5 and No. 6, also capable of producing 1,000 megawatts each) were under construction at the time of the accident. On the morning of April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 was operating at very low capacity (6 to 7 percent) during a planned shutdown. Plant personnel intended to monitor t he performance of turbine generators, which supplied electric power for the plant’s own operation, during a changeover from standard to a backup source of power. The reactor’s design made it unstable at low power, and the operators were careless about safety precautions during the test. After a sudden power surge, two explosions destroyed the reactor core and blasted a large hole in the roof of the reactor building. Radioactive debris moved up through this hole to heights of 1 km.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An estimated 100 to 150 million curies of radiation (primarily radioactive isotopes of iodine and cesium) escaped into the atmosphere before cleanup crews were able to bring the fires under control and stabilize the situation two weeks later. Prevailing winds carried the radioactivity northwest from the plant across Belorussia and into Poland and Sweden, where heightened radiation levels detected on April 28 first brought the accident to the world's attention.

Effects of Mercury Contaminated Fish on Consumer’s Health Essay

Mercury is an element that comes naturally in nature, or manufactured by humans.   It comes in different forms.   According to the New Jersey Department of Health, mercury may be found as metallic mercury, a kind of silver-gray liquid that is harmful when exposed into the air and breathed in; methylmercury, which may be ingested by eating fish; inorganic mercury which can be found in over-the-counter drugs, batteries, and other pharmaceuticals, and is harmful when breathed in or swallowed; and phenylmercury in household products like paints, cosmetics   and toiletries and is harmful when breathed in, swallowed or passed through the skin (Kapsch, et. al, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This paper delves into the mercury and its harmful effects on the fish population and ultimately, adverse effects on   human health. Mercury in the Environment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As noted above, mercury is found naturally in the environment.  Ã‚   Paul Kapsch, Matt Landi and Sarah Scwartz writes that natural incidents and accidents like forest fires and volcanic eruptions spew mercury into the air (1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Natural Resource Defense Council adds that   power plants and certain chemicals manufacturers, as well as other industrial facilities release mercury into the air through their daily operations.   The released mercury eventually ends up in the waterways and oceans.   Fish in these ecosystems ingest the mercury, which people, in turn ingest by eating the fish. (NRDC, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mercury is also present in many things that one has at home like fluorescent and neon lamps, mercury switches in chest freezes, thermostat probes, thermometers, barometers and other gauges, laboratory solutions and even dental amalgam (Kapsch, et. al, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Paul Kapsch and his partners outlined the environmental impact of mercury.   Citing ExtoxNet (1999), Kapsch, et. al, stated that while mercury enters the environment, concentrations in the air and atmosphere is generally very low.   Mercury, however, is deposited into forest ecosystems where it accumulates in highly toxic forms.   Eventually it leads up to aquatic ecosystems, which in some cases contribute to human health problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Natural Resource Defense Council added that when mercury enters into the various water systems, bacteria take it in and convert it into a type of methyl mercury, which is easily absorbed by humans (1999).   The NRDC also explained that the mercury then â€Å"works it way up the food chain† as larger fish eat smaller contaminated fish.   Mercury, however, does not break down.   Instead it accumulates in fish (1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To illustrate the point, the NRDC stated that predatory fishes like sharks and mackerel have been found to have 10,000 times higher mercury concentration (1999). How Mercury Enters the Body   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mercury can enter the body by breathing it in, swallowing or eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water , or through the skin (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumption of contaminated fish, however, is one of the most dangerous way of getting mercury in the body since it involves methylmercury, which is easily absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract into a person’s bloodstream (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In 2003, Dr. Jane Hightower, doctor of internal medicine at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, found that 89% of participating patients had high mercury levels.   Most of these participants had as much as four times the safe level of mercury in their blood stream.   Participants in Dr. Hightower’s study were chosen precisely because of their fish-heavy diets. (NRDC, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once in the bloodstream, the mercury goes into various parts of the body.   Methylmercury in pregnant women gets passed on into the child’s blood stream and then into the child’s brain.   A nursing mother may pass the methylmercury through breast milk. (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008). Health Risks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The NRDC says that mercury exposure can be particularly hazardous for pregnant women and small children.  Ã‚   The NRDC adds that mercury exposure can lead to cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness and deafness in infants and fetuses.   Even with a minimal exposure, the child may be delayed in learning how to walk and talk, have low attention span and may later on develop learning disabilities   (NRDC, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And the numbers are alarming.   In July 2005, researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 17 women of childbearing age have more than 5.8 micrograms of mercury per liter of blood.   The CDC stated that this level may pose a risk to the developing child (NRDC, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mercury-contaminated fish is not just dangerous for children and pregnant women but it is also dangerous for adults (Mercola.Com, 2003).   Mercola.Com related that mercury destroys the nerve tissues, the visual cortex and the cerebellum.   It affects complex movements and balance.   It also leads to problems in attention span and language.   It also decreases concentration, deftness and verbal memory in adults.   (Mercola.Com, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For some adults, mercury poisoning can lead to fertility problems and blood pressure regulation problems.   It also causes memory loss, vision loss, numbness in the fingers and toes, and tremors.   It is suspected that mercury exposure also leads to heart disease (NRDC, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry warned that the nervous system is prone to mercury contamination.   The Agency said that in this type of mercury poisoning, some people who consumed seed grains and fish contaminated with large amounts of methyl mercury developed severe brain and kidneys damage.  Ã‚   The Agency explains that mercury accumulates in the kidneys, so it damages it more.   (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2008).   * * *   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The above discussion shows that consumption of mercury contaminated fish is very dangerous for consumer’s health, and is a source of different diseases especially in   (but not limited to) children and pregnant women. Studies have concluded that mercury poisoning have caused several conditions and diseases from simple memory loss, loss of concentration, fertility problems to something as grave and irreparable as mental retardation and kidney ailments.   And studies on the relationship between mercury and other, more life-threatening diseases like heart ailments are currently underway.   The growing body of evidence all points to some disease that can be traced to mercury poisoning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumers have to actively control their fish diets.   If they are fond of eating fish, they might find it useful to regularly check and look for advisories regarding mercury contamination in their area.   It is also recommended that they regularly check their own mercury levels and if they found their mercury levels higher they have to consult with their doctors immediately.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since mercury poisoning is more dangerous to pregnant women and small children, it might be best to veer away from eating fish altogether, and take up healthier choices such as vegetables and dairy products.   Being more vigilant with regards to one’s diet can reap long-term prevention that would help ensure optimum health.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Authorities need to take much stronger steps to protect a far greater portion of people.   Authorities must examine their antiquated safeguards designed to protect an average person   from an average amount of methyl mercury in fish and take more protective and realistic actions against exposure to methyl mercury through food. Authorities need to constantly update themselves, as â€Å"safe levels† of mercury in the diet are constantly changing.   In fact, the trend is that the required safe levels are getting higher with each new research that goes out of the pipeline.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Public health authorities, as well as community leaders, or any health-related organization, must come together to inform, educate and empower the public about the dangers of fish consumption, mercury contamination, and adverse health effects.   Information is the best weapon against mercury contamination, without it, no amount of public policy will be sufficient or effective.   The public needs to be aware of what mercury does to the body, the diseases associated with it, where mercury could be found, how it gets into your body, what measures are to be done.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   More than anything, it is high time to look at more efficient ways of disposing all types of mercury.   Since mercury could be found in nature, it will be next to impossible to eradicate it.   What one could hope for is to reduce environmental damage from the mercury that we can control.   If people could somehow take care and reduce the amount of mercury that goes into the environment as waste, people would be protecting not only the oceans and the fish, but also themselves.   Taking care of the environment would ensure sustainability in the future and would drastically decrease mercury–and in fact and principle–all types of contamination.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In effect, stopping or greatly reducing mercury contamination and all the ill effects associated with it takes the effort of everybody in the community, but it starts mainly with your self.          References Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (Content source); Sidney Draggan and Emily Monosson (Topic Editors). 2008. â€Å"Public Health Statement for Mercury.† In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth November 13, 2007; Last revised January 24, 2008; Retrieved April 2, 2008]. Jeremy Laurence, (8 March, 2007) Fish Contaminated With Mercury ‘Pose Worldwide Threat to Health. The Independent.   Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Kapsch, Paul, Landi, Matt and Schwartz Sarah. (1999). Mercury. University of Vermont. Retrieved on 3 April 2008. Learn About Mercury and Its Effects, (2006) Natural Resource Defense Council. Retrieved on 23rd March 2008. Mercury-Contaminated Fish Poses Health Risks to Adults, (2003) Mercola.com. Retrieved on 25th March, 2008.      

Representation of the Other in Charlotte Brontes Jane...

Representation of the ‘Other’ in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Abstract This study aims at examining the representation of the’ other’ as portrayed in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre (1847). It attempts to inspect how the ‘Other’ is viewed in Nineteenth century England and the cultural ideology behind such specific representation. It poses crucial questions as to why the ‘Other’ is always represented negatively in main-stream western narrative as in the case of Bertha Mason who is portrayed as a madwoman and a voiceless monster that deserves a ten-year- rigorous confinement in the Attic. I will attempt to focus on the cultural and historical context of ‘Jane Eyre’ and its impact on the representation of the’ Other’. I will also draw on†¦show more content†¦Therefore, there is a great importance to focus on the ways in which meaning is produced and reproduced as the result of a particular discourse. According to Donnelly, Discourses are sets of experiences that are displayed through language, they are ways of referring to or constructing knowledge about a particular topic of practice. (2002:57). We come to know that representation is a form of discourse and it involves social conventions and unequal power relationships and that some people have more power to speak than others. Edward Said observes that the contemporary Western View of the Orient as an outsider and an inferior part of the West is manifested in the academic sphere. Western scholars use Oriental images and ideologies to consolidate the intellectual awkwardness of the Other .In other words, these views of the Orient are attempts to portray the superiority and intellectuality of the western status. (Said,1979). For Spivak, representation is not only a matter of ‘speaking about’ but also ‘speaking for and the role of literature in the production of cultural representation shouldn’t be ignored. (Spivak, 1988). She argues that many western writings ,for example Jane Eyre ,have not adequately portrayed the reality of the colonized Other and tend to exclude the voices of the Other where she concludes that theShow MoreRelated What aspects of Charlotte Brontes Essay876 Words   |  4 Pagesaspects of Charlotte Brontes What aspects of Charlotte Brontes depiction and use of the character of Bertha Mason are most clearly illuminated by Jean Rhys depiction and use of her parallel character of Antoinette? In Wide Sargasso Sea, written by Jean Rhys in the 1960’s, is a radical critique of the context of English Imperialism and male dominated society within which Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre. In order to both expose and oppose the parallels inherent in Jane Eyre, Rhys intertwinesRead More The Oppressed Female in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre886 Words   |  4 PagesThe Oppressed Female in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « clearly demonstrates the relationship between sexuality and morality in Victorian society through the character of Bertha Mason, the daughter of a West Indian planter and Rochesters first wife. Rochester recklessly married Bertha in his youth, and when it was discovered shortly after the marriage that Bertha was sexually promiscuous, Rochester locked her away. Bertha is called a maniac and isRead MoreEssay Jane Eyre As A Modern Woman778 Words   |  4 Pages Jane Eyre as a Modern Woman nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Throughout the course of Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane is used as a representation of a modern woman. Jane does many things which women of her time didn’t do. She started reading as a little girl. This was a talent that most women at the time didn’t acquire throughout their entire lives. She learned how to write, also. This, too, was a skill most women of that time did not possess. Perhaps the biggest reason why Jane is a modernRead More Sexism Exposed in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay1457 Words   |  6 PagesSexism Exposed in Brontà «s Jane Eyre       The Victorian era in England marked a period of unprecedented technological, scientific, political, and economic advancement.   By the 1840s, the English had witnessed remarkable industrial achievements including the advent of the railways and the photographic negative.   They had witnessed the expansion of the Empire, and, as a result, were living in a time of great economic stability.   Yet they had also seen thousands of people starving-and dying-dueRead MoreThe Upbringing Of Orphans By Charles Dickens And Jane Eyre1714 Words   |  7 Pagesmany, and leads readers to wonder about the injustices of the conditions of the orphans. The novels Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 1838 and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 1847 depicted much of the 19th century working class and illustrated the treatment of orphans with different socio-economic perspectives. The role of the two orphans in the novels (Oliver and Jane) leads the reader through a maze of experiences, encountering life s threats and grasping its opportunities. The novels show an insightRead MoreJane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte1601 Words   |  7 Pagesfeminist’s beliefs would likely shock her, so to interpret this novel as feminist, one must see it through the lens of the time and place Brontà « wrote it. Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre was a feminist work in that Bronte expressed disdain for oppressive gender structures through the voice of Jane Eyre, and the actions of Bertha Mason. Jane Eyre was a steamy novel for its time, with imagery as blatantly concealed as Jane’s description of Rochester’s hand as being â€Å"rounded, muscular; and vigorous†¦longRead MoreFire and Water Imagery in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre1671 Words   |  7 PagesFire and Water Imagery in Jane Eyre   Ã‚  Ã‚   In Jane Eyre, the use of water and fire imagery is very much related to the character and/or mood of the protagonists (i.e. Jane and Rochester, and to a certain extent St. John Rivers) -- and it also serves to show Jane in a sort of intermediate position between the two men. However, it should also be noted that the characteristics attributed to fire and water have alternately positive and negative implications -- to cite an example among many, nearRead MoreEssay on Jane Eyre - Challenging Victorian Beliefs1028 Words   |  5 PagesJane Eyre - Challenging Victorian Beliefs Charlotte Brontà « challenges the view that men are emotionally, socially and intellectually superior to women. Just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at Gods feet, equal - as we are! The 19th century was a period of oppression for women. The patriarchal system that dominated the Victorian period in Englands history, was one during which Charlotte Brontà « wrote and set the novel, Jane Eyre. Brontà « denounces the persecutionRead MoreFunhouse Mirrors: Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason Essay1717 Words   |  7 PagesTim Bartlett ENG 396 March 23, 2011 Funhouse Mirrors: Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason â€Å"Jane Eyre† is a book centred around female duality. In a time when females were still expected to fulfill their â€Å"womanly duties,† Charlotte Bronte wrote a novel dealing with a woman’s view on morality sexuality, passion sensibility, and conformity insanity, among other themes. This motif of duality plays a strong part in the dynamism that makes up the book, and is not limited to the themes, but is also usedRead MoreExplore How the Theme of Isolation Is Used in of Jane Eyre with Particular Focus on the Opening Chapters3688 Words   |  15 Pagesexploring how the theme of isolation is used throughout the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte, with particular focus on the opening chapters. When Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847, it became an immediate bestseller. It contained themes of which were previously rarely brought to light and of which many believed to be controversial, such as womens place in the Victorian society, of which Bronte lived in. Jane Eyre was written in first person narrative. This technique immediately