Irving Kristol's Pornograpy, Obscenity, and hte Case for Censorship
After reading Irving Kristol’s essay called Pornography, Obscenity, and the Case for Censorship, we found positive and negative examples concluding his research. Kristol makes major claims throughout the course of his essay. A few examples of these major claims are in paragraphs [7-9] when he uses a story about an old man in a hospital ward, dying an agonizing death. The old man loses control of his bowels, and they empty themselves on him. Kristol states that this is a private moment that should be kept private. Kristol asks the reader to think about this sad scenario and what it would be like to see this on television. Kristol relates the claim to sex, saying that it is a private moment and shouldn’t be viewed by the public. He says viewers wouldn’t want to watch the old man losing his bodily fluids on himself because it’s a personal matter and it just needs to stay private and unseen by the public. In paragraph [8], Kristol again rebuts his major claim when he relates humans to animals. He claims sex is like death, it is found both within humans and animals. As Kristol (1971) says, “When sex is a public spectacle, a human relationship has been debased into a mere animal connection.”
In paragraph [11] Kristol makes a major shift change from his claims in the previous paragraphs. The placement of this paragraph was poorly chosen because it steps outside of Kristol’s main argument, which states that humans and animals are the same.
In paragraphs [5 and 7], Kristol uses the rebuttal method, which means to repeat the same point in different words. In paragraph five Kristol talks about public nudity and how it is so improper to have in our soci...
... middle of paper ...
...ure condition has not improved as a result of the new freedom.”
Kristol shows his major claims to the reader and makes a connection through rebuttal that gives his essay meaning. Kristol also uses very dramatic statements, which help his argument claims. Despite having these major claims he fails to show support to the reader that his facts are true. He has no hard-core evidence that supports his research. Even further he fails to connect with the opposing side about his argument about pornography, obscenity, and the case for censorship.
References
Faigley, L.& Selzer, J. (2000). Good reasons with contemporary arguments. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Kristol, I. (1971). Pornography, obscenity, and the case for censorship. In L. Faigley & J. Selzer (Eds.), “Good reasons with contemporary arguments.” (pp. 535-538). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Most black Americans are under the control of the criminal justice today whether in parole or probation or whether in jail or prison. Accomplishments of the civil rights association have been challenged by mass incarceration of the African Americans in fighting drugs in the country. Although the Jim Crow laws are not so common, many African Americans are still arrested for very minor crimes. They remain disfranchised and marginalized and trapped by criminal justice that has named them felons and refuted them their rights to be free of lawful employment and discrimination and also education and other public benefits that other citizens enjoy. There is exists discernment in voting rights, employment, education and housing when it comes to privileges. In the, ‘the new Jim crow’ mass incarceration has been described to serve the same function as the post civil war Jim crow laws and pre civil war slavery. (Michelle 16) This essay would defend Michelle Alexander’s argument that mass incarcerations represent the ‘new Jim crow.’
With the interest of the reader piqued, she uses the rest of her essay to attempt persuade readers to accept her argument, primarily through appeals to logos, and language targeted for a conservative audience.
...ty and their survival as a group in society because of restraint from the federal government in the ability to litigate their plight in Court. The Author transitions the past and present signatures of Jim Crow and the New Jim Crow with the suggestion that the New Jim Crow, by mass incarceration and racism as a whole, is marginalizes and relegates Blacks to residential, educational and constitutionally endowed service to Country.
The work by Victor M. Rios entitled Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness depict ways in which policing and incarceration affect inequalities that exist in society. In this body of work I will draw on specific examples from the works of Victor M. Rios and Michelle Alexander to fulfill the tasks of this project. Over the course of the semester and by means of supplemental readings, a few key points are highlighted: how race and gender inequalities correlate to policing and incarceration, how laws marginalize specific groups, and lastly how policing and incarceration perpetuate the very inequalities that exist within American society.
...dibility by mentioning that journalists and television producers defer to her as an authority, but she does not make a case for being an expert. Moreover, she maintains a detached tone for a majority of the editorial, as an appeal to her authority on the matter, but switches to and involved perspective when giving illustration. This would otherwise be acceptable, except that the illustration is given in place of supporting theory or fully supported argument. To that end, Tannen’s argument would be much more persuasive if she had articulated her position with an even tone, and avoided sensationalism when giving examples.
Today, more African American adults are under correctional control than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began (Alexander 180). Throughout history, there have been multiple racial caste systems in the United States. In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander defines a “racial caste” as “a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom” (12). Alexander argues that both Jim Crow and slavery functioned as racial caste systems, and that our current system of mass incarceration functions as a similar caste system, which she labels “The New Jim Crow”. There is now a silent Jim Crow in our nation. Mass incarceration today serves the same function as did slavery before the Civil War and Jim Crow laws after the Civil War - to uphold a racial caste system.
In her critically acclaimed book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander explores this topic in-depth and delivers it in a very parsimonious, yet powerful way. She explores the history of mass incarceration, argues how this phenomenon came to be, and attempts to discern possible ways to diffuse this troublesome situation. In this paper, I will explore some of the topics delivered in Alexander’s book in conjunction with theories, peer-reviewed studies, and statistical reports to try to piece together some topics presented with conflict. First, I will explore the history of mass incarceration here America to attempt to see why there are racial discrepancies and where their origins lie. Second, I will look at Michelle Alexander’s book and review its chapters examining its evidence, in addition to its possible limitations. Lastly, I will examine mass incarceration’s effect on families in the United States, more specifically the effects that mass incarceration has on those related to the offender, and also the effects on the offender himself. To complete the last part of my analysis, I will look at contemporary criminological and sociological theories and how incarceration and families
Edith Wharton was the author of The Age of Innocence, a novel published in 1920. In the book, many topics were considered, such as divorce, the empowerment of women, and the lifestyle of the wealthy. The inspiration for these motifs occurred throughout her life. Although Edith Wharton’s work was not well-received, the topics included in her writings held many truths about upper-class society in the late 1800s; therefore, Edith Wharton was influenced by her past and societal experiences.
Michelle Alexander asserts that mass incarceration in contemporary American society is the result of targeting African Americans in the “War on Drugs” and serves to maintain a racial caste system similar to the system that existed during pre-Civil War slavery and has been propelled by what Michael Cohen calls “Jim Crow political logic” of Southern
Crusius, Timothy W., and Carolyn E. Channell. The Aims of Argument: A Text and Reader. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.
In this paper, I will attempt to review the debate on pornography in Chapter 4 - State and Society - of Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, Seventh Edition by John R. Burr and Milton Goldinger.
In addition, she contradicts her own stance on the position when she mentions that previous literature containing sexually explicit content should not be censored (Brownmiller 59). Brownmiller paints a very strong, emotional, and offensive picture when she claims that women are, “being stripped, bound, raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered in the name of commercial entertainment” (59). However, this statement is fallacious and does not provide any factual evidence. Furthermore, she makes the hasty generalization that pornography can make people think that certain things, such as rape, are acceptable (Brownmiller 59). Once again, her claim lacks support and relies solely on a faulty pathos appeal.
Alexander (2010) suggests mass incarceration as a system of racialized social control that functions in the same way Jim Crow did. She describes how people that have been incarcer...
Constitution, there are more slaves than at any time in human history -- 27 million”. The African American Community is still “enslaved” to an idea that some of their lives can be bought and worth so very little. “Today’s slavery focuses on big profits and cheap lives. It is not about owning people like before, but about using them as completely disposable tools for making money” (McNally). Along with exploitation through the workforce and big business, this population continues on with day to day struggles such as profiling and misjudgment of their character based on their physical appearance and stature in certain areas of the country. Our criminal justice system exploits the minority by jailing their generations. Government systems fund for “fundamental testing” to the younger crowd of African Americans as well as the poorer minorities and neighborhoods for future projections of increased incarceration to come. Juvenile justice systems serve as a barrier between teen and adult criminality but make it possible for a widespread of ages in the black community to be held captive. Children and teens are impressionable in both negative and positive ways. More often than not, kids and teens alike stay in the system after being exposed to the condemning life of “crime” and soar through the system even in the days of adulthood after early exposure to the unequal way things work in the criminal justice
She also found that pornography leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering, and sexual dissatisfaction. http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/porno.html) Hence, censorship is essential in order to maintain peace and stability in the society. It will decrease the crime rate. Children can be exposed to sexual matters in school in a different manner than in education. Excessive amounts of sexually explicit material would surely be harmful.