https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/872/modest.pdf
This "proposal" by Jonathan Swift is a satire, where Swift proposes an idea for what should be done to solve the severe economic problem and human suffering caused by overpopulation in Ireland. Swift recommends killing Irish babies at one year of age in order to alleviate these problems. The reason that I think that this essay contains such great writing is because of the way Swift writes in a formal tone and makes his proposal seem valid, when in reality what he is proposing is absolutely ridiculous. Throughout the passage, Swift uses language that dehumanizes the Irish people, making them seem like cattle raised for slaughter, which helps him achieve his underlying purpose of criticizing the way in which the poor were mocked at this time. Swift's proposal is so agreeable and contains so much support that I even found myself somewhat agreeing with the man, until I remembered that it involved something that was morally terrible.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Proposal-Reflection Paper
The question that I would like to
explore in my reflection paper is “Why does the general public decide to treat
other people so poorly?” It did not take me very long to decide on this
question, since it is something that I notice each and every day of my life.
I really began to question the
attitudes of the people once I got my first job. My job was a caddy at a
country club, so my primary objective was to serve the needs of the golfers by
carrying their bags and handing them their clubs. Prior to working here, I had
always seen other employed people (such as my parents or friends) deeply
frustrated at the ways that they were treated by either people who had
authority over them, or just normal individuals. After starting work, it astonished
me how many people looked down upon me and treated me as if I was some sort of
slave. I know I had done nothing wrong to them, so why were they treating me
like this?
After getting my next job at a
grocery store, Wegman’s, I really began to question, and even dislike, much of
the general public. Whether they are telling me to grab a grocery cart on the
other side of the store just because the one they have is wet, or just acting
rude by talking on their phone when I am trying to check them out in line, people
look down upon me, and surely countless others, numerous times a day. I have
even experiences some extreme cases where customers simply walk up to my face,
curse me off, and then leave for no apparent reason. I often become very
frustrated at times like these, even though I know that I should just brush
them off. I have always hoped that my last day of work will consist of me getting
back at a customer with some sort of revenge (this would be my last day of work
since whatever I do would get me instantly fired), which is probably a
byproduct of my built up anger. The bottom line is that working has opened my
eyes to the terrible ways in which people treat others.
In this paper, I really want to
discuss how the ways people decided to downgrade others for numerous and
profoundly meaningless reasons (taking frustration out on someone else, trying to
make themselves feel better about themselves, or the fact that many people
inherently just do not care about strangers) is a fundamental flaw in society. I
will talk about how working opened my eyes to this nasty reality, and how today
I see it everywhere. I will try to find the reasons for why people act so
superior to others by treating them in a condescending manner. I will that, of
course, not everyone is like this, but it is very surprising how many are. My
overall voice in this paper will most likely be very critical and I will try to
point just how meaningless degradation is.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Logical Fallacies
http://www.truthout.org/witnessing-death-republican-party/1330698232
This article, arguing against the Republican Party and its ability to stay relevant in politics, contains a few logical fallacies. The major fallacies used are the hasty generalization and the slippery slope. In using Rick Santorum’s super-conservative agenda to characterize the entire Republican Party as a group of “right-wing nuts”, the author is demonstrating a hasty generalization. One party member does not represent the entire party as a whole. The author also makes a very bold jump from first criticizing the Republican Party candidates today as radicals to then stating that this will inevitably lead to the death of the Republican Party, at least in its ability to win a national election. The ability of the Republican Party to compete for presidential positions in the future really is not dependent on the group of party members running today (and, as was shown with the hasty generalization, it is really not correct to label all of the party members even of today as incapable of contending). Aside from this, the very statement that the Republican Party may be dying is fallacious, since so many of the past elections between the two major parties have been so tight, and since there is such a large base of Republican citizens that it is questionable to state that the party will die with such ease.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Coffee Inhaler
Coffee Inhalers: The New Club Drug?
As I was looking at the Yahoo homepage today, I came across
the word “coffee inhaler”. The picture depicted a small, lipstick-like tube
with a yellow cap. Since I had never before heard or seen anything like this, I
decided to read the article to learn more.
It turns out that the man who invented this inhaler device
is a biomedical engineer, which is the same major that I am interested in. The
main purposes of this article were to explore whether or not this product is
safe to use, in addition to providing some background information on the
device. This product works by spraying a powdered substance containing caffeine
into the customer’s mouth, where the powder instantly dissolves. This product
is designed to increase the energy of the user much faster than through
drinking a typical cup of coffee, and it can come in handy in places where
coffee cannot be consumed (on an airplane).
The potential problem with this device is that teens will
use the product in combination of alcohol, which can cause many problems since
people do not realize how intoxicated they and continue to drink. In response
to this concern, the creator of this product simply argues that this product is
not intended for these situations.
Another concern with this product is that users will
overdose on caffeine with this device, since instead of having to consume large
volumes of coffee, all one has to do is spray a small amount of powder into
their mouth. For this issue, the founder of this product explains how it would
take more than 80 inhalers in a short period of time to potentially cause
death, and that moderate amounts of caffeine are actually good for a person’s
health.
My opinion on this topic is that coffee inhalers are a great
idea, and that they should not be taken off of the market simply because of a
small minority of the population that will decide to abuse it. I understand
that someone who combines this product with alcohol can endanger the lives of
others (if they were to drive under the influence), but I think that the
alcohol would be to blame in this situation, not the coffee inhaler. Besides,
there are so many other products out on the market that contain both alcohol
and caffeine (alcoholic energy drinks). If the FDA is not willing to ban
products that contain pre-mixed alcohol and caffeine, why should they ban
alcohol-free caffeine products? There is a much wider portion of the population
that will benefit from this product.
Another interesting article…
Crazy Laws Governing Pennsylvania Residents
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Universe
Bus-Size Asteroid to Give Earth Close Shave Friday
I found this article very interesting since it is concerned
with something that I think about very often: asteroids that may pose potential
risks of colliding with the Earth. As I was looking through the Yahoo homepage,
I noticed that the subtitle for the article read, “Does it pose any danger”.
This phrase, intended to draw people onto the article’s page, seemed a little
weak for me. If the asteroid posed even the most remote possibility of actually
impacting and endangering our planet, this story would surely not be sequenced
behind other articles such as “John Travolta’s car chopped by crime ring”, or “7-year-old’s
sweet letter to NFL player”. It would be FIRST in line, and not only on Yahoo
news, it would be all over every news station in the world. I just found it
interesting how whoever decided on this subtitle actually believed that it
would work to draw people to read it, but then again, I and countless others
did read the article.
For the actual content of the article, I found it very
interesting how the asteroid is expected to come very close to the Earth in
comparison with most other asteroid’s, and yet, it will pass within 36,750 miles of Earth. This sort of
puts into perspective how large the universe actually is if this is considered
a close call. Also, the asteroid is roughly the size of a bus (36 feet), though
it would cause absolutely no problems to Earth even if it was on a
collision-course, since it would never make it through our atmosphere.
Apparently, the minimum size for an asteroid to cause issues is about 460 feet.
The rest of the article talks about how much we have improved in technology
that can detect these asteroids, which I guess is reassuring although it still
leaves us with no way to prevent one from causing mass destruction.
Overall, I found this article very informing, as well as
very thought-provoking. I cannot help but imagine all of the gigantic rock-like
masses floating out there in the universe that are traveling at upwards of 25
kilometers per second, and not worry
a little bit.
Here’s another article that I found that caught my attention
for obvious reasons…
Man with two hearts survives double heart attack
Friday, January 13, 2012
What this blog is all about...
Probably part of the daily routine for most people, viewing
the top headlines on the Yahoo! homepage is something I do each and every time
I open up a new internet browser. It is a quick and convenient way for me to
get caught up on the day’s most important events, or at least the most
interesting ones.
The
major theme of this upcoming blog will have to do with my responses to the
articles that I decide are most worthy of ongoing discussion. Since this blog
is required for an English class, I will not only write about my reaction to
the topics that the articles consist of, but I will also examine the ways that
the article’s author tries to manipulate the reader through several ways. These
include the catchy (albeit sometimes misleading) titles they place on these
articles, as well as the pictures that they include on the homepage, both
designed to lure the reader to the article’s page.
I will pick at least one intriguing article for
each time I make a post, and I will spend some time discussing my opinions of
them. These opinions may agree with the author’s opinions, but more than likely
I will attack them simply to make the post more enjoyable for me to write, and
for you to read. I also may question the author’s reasoning for bothering to
make articles on such trivial matters, or I will applaud them for dealing with
important issues. If the article is not very opinionated, I will simply write
about the article itself. Finally, I will tell you, the reader of this blog, if
the article is worth your time to read.
For
some background information on me, my name is Tom Dougherty and I am from Doylestown,
Pennsylvania. I went to high school at Central Bucks South from 10th
grade to 12th grade. My interests include playing sports, especially
ice hockey. My major is bioengineering, and my favorite subject in high school
was Physics. I hope to use this major to design artificial organs and limbs.
This
week I will not analyze each article, but here are some interesting ones that I
found,
2.
The man who 'Tebowed' before Tebow http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/news/Sports_Minute/27860188#news/Sports_Minute/27860188
3.
Colbert preps
prez run, transfers PAC to Stewart http://news.yahoo.com/colbert-preps-prez-run-transfers-pac-stewart-020429243.html
I will also include videos, not
just articles.
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