Huxley’s vision

Huxley’s Brave New World  portrays a futuristic society in which everything is governmentally controlled, yet boasts a perfect social order and an efficient operating system.  This new society stems from extreme control of the government, controlling the development of babies into certain caste systems, deciding how and when citizens have fun, and providing drugs to workers as a controlled escape from life.  In reality, the government discreetly assumes control of everything and everyone creating not a utopia as described, but a complete dystopia in which thought, emotion, and nature are destroyed by efficiency, business, and work.  

Today’s society, while still in a somewhat natural state is creeping ever closer to a government controlled dystopian society where technology and organization reign.  The natural state of society is becoming overrun by beaurocratic nonsense forcing everyone to comply and live and act the same way.  Once we are shaped into an unvarying society, government can easily control one operating body and manipulate us to work only for governmental gain.  The true utopia is one in which mankind returns to a natural state of being under no governmental control and living simply in harmony with nature, allowing everyone to flourish as an individual.      

  

Video Game Violence

Video games have become a staple of the American youth’s way of life. Obviously as technology advances, video games and game systems will flourish. But does this stampede of video gaming lead to an increase in violent youths? According to an FBI study in 2000, playing violent video games contributes to the tendency to develop violent behavior and shows strong correlation to school shootings (“Do Violent”). However, critics to this study state that the information collected was greatly biased, the study had several design flaws, and that the magnitud of study was unreliable and extreme. Instead, opponents of video violence suggest that video games do not promote violence, but violent children are drawn to violent video games (“Do Violent”).

Another flaw in the argument of those who say video game promote violence is the number of children who actually play video games.  Those who believe in the correlation between video games and violence state that 60 percent of school shootings are committed by those who play violent video games, but in today’s society, 90% of high school boys play violent video games, so by mathematical statistical coincidences there will always be a greater number of people playing video games that could possibly commit a school shooting, completely making their argument irrelevant.

 

A Hunger Artist

Expressionism originated at the turn of the twentieth century expressing art in a subjective perspective. Expressionism uses strong feelings to produce emotion in art and attempts to express meaning and emotion rather than the physical world through a naturalistic piont of view.
“A Hunger Artist” is clearly a work of expressionism; it does not describe the world from a natural, realistic piont of view, but instead uses the author, Franz Kafka’s, emotions and symbols to express his own ideas of the world in his own style. In the story, the hunger artist’s fasting, caging, and withdrawal from society represent the symbols Kafka uses to express how he feels toward society. His depiction is not realistic, but uses emotion and strong feelings to explain the meaning, not the physical aspects of his work, labeling it as expressionism

De Nager ou ne Pas Nager

John Cheever presents us with different instances of foreshadowing in his story “The Swimmer.”  An obscure example of foreshadowing occurs when Ned, presented with the presence of a de Haviland trainer reminding him of a child swinging, feels a connection with  the moment, as if he can touch it, but suddenly he hears thunder in the distance.  The thunder interrupting a touching moment about children foreshadows how he will be unable to connect with his own children and will eventually lose them and his wife due to his lack of responsibility and alcoholism.  Another example of foreshadowing is his increasing elusiveness from people; Ned, as the story progresses, draws farther from people he knows hinting at his eventual declination from society and complete isolation due to alcohol.

Social class is also effectively used to  deliver John Cheever’s purpose in the story.  “The Swimmer” is set around the somewhat upper class, portraying how people of this class share somewhat similar problems.  Ned and the other people he pass are from the upper class and are all essentially doing similar activities involving alcohol showing the alcoholistic tendencies of the upper class.  The upper class in “The Swimmer” is used to show that, while these people are of money and education, the upper class is a false sense of a paradise in society.  These people suffer from alcohol abuse and other faults in personality and live in a false shangri-las more severely than other classes, showing how richness in money is a false utopia.

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well-armed and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country” -The Constitution of the Untied States of America.  The issue of carrying a firearm is not a topic of debate, but an unalienable right clearly granted to United States citizens by our constitution.  

 I would like to examine this article from the same point of view as the prohibition of alcohol.  First and foremost, while alcohol was illegal, its use proliferated across the nation faster than it ever previously had and created a very large, demanding, dangerous black market.  After re-legalization, consumption and dangerous side effects of its use returned to previously lower levels.  I feel the legality of concealed carry can and should be viewed with the same mindset; dangerous use of firearms will increase during illegalization, but if made legal, the black market demand will disappear and firearm related crimes will decrease as a result of the knowledge that other people will have a gun as well.  To back this ideology, many proponents state in the article that criminal attackers will most likely be deterred if they know citizens can defend themselves and are harder to assault.  Certainly makes sense; I would much rather assault a defenseless citizen than take on an armed individual.

Laws, regardless of their nature, will always be broken by criminals and there will always be criminals due to the individuality and disposition of the human species, thus resulting in the concealed carry of firearms by anyone criminal willing.  Simply banning them does nothing, which can clearly be seen around the United States today.  The murder rate is much higher than it was 100, or only 50 years ago because the general public has become more liberal and controlling of firearms.  Back then, the public supported the use of firearms and everyone was aware of this.  Also, the public itself has increased the crime rate.  It seems as if morals were viewed strongly in previous generations and taught early in life, allowing them to handle the responsibility of  gun ownership.

Guns simply do more good for the public than harm.         

 

Maximum Wage

As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, America has had in effect some form of a minimum wage payment for employees.  In 1938, Franklin Roosevelt set the first national minimum wage at forty cents an hour, which has risen over the years to meet the demands of increased living costs.  Despite efforts to raise minimum wage again in 2010, the current national minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Perhaps one of the most controversial government issues, minimum wage laws are said by some to interfere with the free market.  With minimum wage laws in effect the employer and employee can no longer negotiate wages.  In a free market society without minimum wages, workers would have the opportunity to turn down jobs that pay too little and find one appropriate for their skills level.  Eventually, businesses would have to higher wages in order to attract employees, and from there an agreed upon wage could be set leaving both sides satisfied.  I believe minimum wage laws actually harm our country and our workers more than help them.  Many times, under-skilled workers may not meet demands at a minimum wage job, but can not be paid less, only fired for incompetence.  This leads to more people out of jobs rather than getting paid slightly less and some money is better than none!

Also, employees complaining of insufficient income can improve their skills in order to earn more money.  This would essentially provide for the betterment of our entire country because everyone would have the opportunity to become more skilled workers leading to a more efficient, higher educated nation.  If everyone strove to become more skilled and educated, we would all earn higher wages and all live a higher quality life.

Finally, in order to eliminate separation between classes, such as minimum wage laws try to do, it might be more beneficial to introduce a maximum wage law.  A maximum wage could be set hindering the very wealthy from becoming wealthier and would stop them from forming a high income class of their own.  Very wealthy citizens wall off the poverty stricken citizens and form the largest separation of class.  The largest group of workers in America is not upper but the middle and lower class and by helping them, we can help our country.