Pornography - Its Place In Our Society Essays -

Pornography - Its Place in Our Society As the debate over pornography and its place in society grows hotter every day, several authors in particular shed a new light on the subject. Both their intuition and insight involving their beliefs can help the reader a great deal in seeing aspects of this debate that might have otherwise gone without the consideration that they so deserve. I believe that pornography is not only okay, but is allowing our country to take a step back and ask ourselves how far we are willing to go and what we are willing to sacrifice in order to preserve free speech and our rights to personal choice. The argument over pornography is not merely the debate over right or wrong, but also involves the theory that its existence requires, or possibly even causes, an inequality between men and women. I ask you, how could something like pornography cause an in-equality between men and women when women are the major contributors to the industry? Who is going to watch a porn without women in it? Therefore, at least at first glance, it would seem that since women are actively contributing to the business of pornography maybe they should be criticized at least equally if not more so than the men who watch it. According to author J.M. Coetzee and his article "The Harms of Pornography", the real questions here are, "what is the difference between obscenity and pornography", and even more importantly, "where do we draw the line between the two"? Coetzee brings up a good point here. A point on which the entire debate over pornography hinges. What is the defenition of "obscenity"? An excerpt from a speech by Mike Godwin, Online Counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, gives a good definition of obscenity in his on-line article: "Fear of Freedom: The Backlash Against Free Speech on the 'Net'". Everybody more or less knows something about what qualifies as obscene. You know it has something to do with "community standards," right? And with appealing to the "prurient interest." A work has to be a patently offensive depiction of materials banned by state statute and appeal to the prurient interest to be obscene and it also has to meet one other requirement. It also has to lack serious literary, artistic, social, political or scientific value. That's how something is classified as "obscene." Godwin states that one of the criteria for decency or absence of obscenity is that something must contain social political or scientific value. Is it possible that pornography is an outlet for people that prevents ideas that start out as fantasies or desires from becoming real? If so, then it's possible that the porn industry is doing us a bigger favor than we know.In an article written by Donna A. Demac, the history of censorship, obscenity, pornography and the rights of "the people" are conveyed with a decidedly liberal attitude. Demac's article gives an intelligent overview as to the actions of various political parties, groups and activists that have fought either for or against some of the issues regarding pornography, and his article can be effectively used to defend free speech. The most opinionated and conservative of the authors included is Catherine MacKinnon, who touches on the thought that there is a great deal of similarity between pornography and black slavery. In her article "Pornography, Civil Rights and Speech" she states that "the harm of pornography does not lie in the fact that it is offensive but that, at least in developed societies, it is an industry that mass produces sexual intrusion, access to, possession and use of women by men for profit". MacKinnon approaches pornography not from a "moral" standpoint, but strictly from the "political" point of view that says pornography is a threat to the gender equality of our nation. I say she is wrong and that not only is pornography okay, but in many cases could contribute to the health of our society. I will quickly agree that pornography should be kept away from the eyes of our children, and that there is a proper time and place for it, but consider some of the acts that, providing that pornogrpahy was made illegal,

Onomatopoeia - Definition and Examples in English

Onomatopoeia s in English Onomatopoeia is the use of words (such as hiss or murmur) that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Adjective: onomatopoeic or onomatopoetic. An onomatope is a particular word that imitates the sound it denotes. Onomatopoeia is sometimes called a figure of sound rather than a figure of speech. As  Malcolm Peet and David Robinson point out,  Onomatopoeia is a fortunate by-product of meaning; few words and relatively few arrangements of words have sounds which are meaningful in themselves(Leading Questions, 1992). Etymology From the Latin, make names Examples and Observations Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled over the tracks.(Watty Piper [Arnold Munk], The Little Engine That Could, 1930)Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng! An alarm clock clanged in the dark and silent room.(Richard Wright, Native Son, 1940)Im getting married in the morning!Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime.(Lerner and Loewe, Get Me to the Church on Time. My Fair Lady, 1956)Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.(slogan of Alka Seltzer, U.S.)Plink, plink, fizz, fizz(slogan of Alka Seltzer, U.K.)Two steps down, I heard that pressure-equalizing pop deep in my ears. Warmth hit my skin; sunlight shone through my closed eyelids; I heard the shat-HOOSH, shat-HOOSH of the weaving flats.(Stephen King, 11/22/63. Scribner, 2011)Woop! Woop! Thats the sound of da police, KRS-One famously chants on the hook of Sound of da Police from 1993s Return of the Boombap. The unmistakable sound he makes in place of the police siren is an example of onomatopo eia, the trope that works by exchanging the thing itself for a linguistic representation of the sound it makes.(Adam Bradley, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop. BasicCivitas, 2009) Flora left Franklin’s side and went to the one-armed bandits spread along one whole side of the room. From where she stood it looked like a forest of arms yanking down levers. There was a continuous clack, clack, clack of levers, then a click, click, click of tumblers coming up. Following this was a metallic poof sometimes followed by the clatter of silver dollars coming down through the funnel to land with a happy smash in the coin receptacle at the bottom of the machine.(Rod Serling, The Fever. Stories from the Twilight Zone, 2013)Hark, hark!Bow-wow.The watch-dogs bark!Bow-wow.Hark, hark! I hearThe strain of strutting chanticleerCry, Cock-a-diddle-dow!(Ariel in William Shakespeares The Tempest, Act One, scene 2)Onomatopoeia every time I see yaMy senses tell me hubbaAnd I just cant disagree.I get a feeling in my heart that I cant describe. . . .Its sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whineSputter, splat, squirt, scrapeClink, clank, clunk, clatterCrash, bang, beep, buzzRing, rip, roa r, retchTwang, toot, tinkle, thudPop, plop, plunk, powSnort, snuck, sniff, smackScreech, splash, squish, squeakJingle, rattle, squeal, boingHonk, hoot, hack, belch.(Todd Rundgren, Onomatopoeia. Hermit of Mink Hollow, 1978) Klunk! Klick! Every trip(U.K. promotion for seatbelts)[Aredelia] found Starling in the warm laundry room, dozing against the slow rump-rump of a washing machine.(Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs, 1988)Jemimah: Its called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.Truly Scrumptious: Thats a curious name for a motorcar.Jemimah: But thats the sound it makes. Listen.Its saying chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, chitty chitty, bang bang! chitty chitty . . ..(Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968)Bang! went the pistol,Crash! went the windowOuch! went the son of a gun.OnomatopoeiaI dont want to see yaSpeaking in a foreign tongue.(John Prine, Onomatopoeia. Sweet Revenge, 1973)He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling.(Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940)It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped,And whirr when it stood still.I never knew just what it w as and I guess I never will.(Tom Paxton, The Marvelous Toy. The Marvelous Toy and Other Gallimaufry, 1984) I like the word geezer, a descriptive sound, almost onomatopoeia, and also coot, codger, biddy, battleax, and most of the other words for old farts.(Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion, January 10, 2007) Creating Sound Effects in Prose A sound theory underlies the onomahtthat we read not only with our eyes but also with our ears. The smallest child, learning to read by reading about bees, needs no translation for buzz. Subconsciously we hear the words on a printed page.Like every other device of the writing art, onomatopoeia can be overdone, but it is effective in creating mood or pace. If we skip through the alphabet we find plenty of words to slow the pace: balk, crawl, dawdle, meander, trudge and so on.The writer who wants to write fast has many choices. Her hero can bolt, dash, hurry or hustle.(James Kilpatrick, Listening to What We Write. The Columbus Dispatch, August 1, 2007) Linguists on Onomatopoeia Linguists almost always begin discussions about onomatopoeia with observations like the following: the snip of a pair of scissors is su-su in Chinese, cri-cri in Italian, riqui-riqui in Spanish, terre-terre in Portuguese, krits-krits in modern Greek. . . . Some linguists gleefully expose the conventional nature of these words, as if revealing a fraud.(Earl Anderson, A Grammar of Iconism. Fairleigh Dickinson, 1999) A Writer's Word My favorite word is onomatopoeia, which defines the use of words whose sound communicates or suggests their meanings. Babble, hiss, tickle, and buzz are examples of onomatopoeic usage.The word onomatopoeia charms me because of its pleasing sound and symbolic precision. I love its lilting alternation of consonant and vowel, its tongue-twisting syllabic complexity, its playfulness. Those who do not know its meaning might guess it to be the name of a creeping ivy, or a bacterial infection, or maybe a small village in Sicily. But those acquainted with the word understand that it, too, in some quirky way, embodies its meaning.Onomatopoeia is a writers word and a readers nightmare but the language would be poorer without it.(Letty Cottin Pogrebin, quoted by Lewis Burke Frumkes in Favorite Words of Famous People. Marion Street Press, 2011) The Lighter Side of Onomatopoeia Russian Negotiator: Why must every American president bound out of an automobile like as at a yacht club while in comparison our leader looks like . . . I dont even know what word is.Sam Seaborn: Frumpy?Russian Negotiator: I dont know what frumpy is but onomatopoetically sounds right.Sam Seaborn: Its hard not to like a guy who doesnt know frumpy but knows onomatopoeia.(Ian McShane and Rob Lowe in Enemies Foreign and Domestic. The West Wing, 2002)I have a new book, Batman: Cacophony. Batman faces off against a character called Onomatopoeia. His shtick is that he doesnt speak; he just mimics the noises you can print in comic books.(Kevin Smith, Newsweek, Oct. 27, 2008) Pronunciation: ON-a-MAT-a-PEE-a Also Known As: echo word, echoism

The Food Safety Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Food Safety - Personal Statement Example In addition, some time should be set aside during orientation to present and briefly review the pamphlet, and its importance, with the incoming students. The letter to the Dean would take a direct and professional tone. I understand that he is a busy man and I would go directly to the issues of magnitude, importance, and ease of reducing the risk. I would use statistics from the Center for Disease Control and a short quote from the US Department of Agriculture that shows students have unique needs. I would impress upon the Dean that by following a few common sense rules we can greatly reduce the cases of food borne illness on campus. Though the letter will be addressed to the Dean, it would be reasonable to assume that other senior staff and faculty members will read it. As the Dean of the College of Agriculture he is probably aware of the many pamphlets that already exist on this subject and may view it as a redundant effort. However, I have reviewed several of these and they are written for professionals, homemakers, and commercial use. I was unable to locate one aimed at students. The reason that a new pamphlet is needed is to target the students who have a unique lifestyle and do not have a health or science background. As well as giving students something to read, it would highlight the issue and put it in the forefront of the students' minds. This program would benefit the University as well as the students. It would remove some burden from the overtaxed health care system and result in a healthier student body. More importantly, it would reduce student absence, which directly affects student performance. I plan to appeal to his sense of responsibility to the school and the student body, and will approach him as the one person who is in a position to have the imagination to do something about this problem. I expect the Dean to raise the important issues of cost and school resources. The savings to the health care system would offset the minimal cost of the pamphlets and the orientation time. Since the pamphlet is an informational tool, it could be designed and written by a student in the Department of Food Safety and approved by the staff. There would be almost no cost in getting the pamphlet to the printer. Printing costs would be minimal and the information could also be included in an e-mail. The goal is to present information to the students that they can use and heighten student awareness of the issue. I expect the Dean, as overseer of the Food Safety Department, will immediately recognize the importance of the topic and the need for action. The first paragraph should get his interest by the statistics and explaining the students' elevated risk. However, he may disagree on the practicality of my approach. I will need to spend some portion of the letter persuading him that the students would read the information and make use of it. I would point out similar successful programs that have dealt with safe sex and dorm safety. As a way of offering an emotional appeal, I would show my commitment by concluding the letter with an offer to volunteer my services to the program in any way that I was able to contribute. Food Safety Proposal Materials