The Brutality of Capital Punishment
The use of capital punishment has been a permanent fixture
in society since the earliest civilizations and continues to be used as a form
of punishment today. It has been used for various crimes ranging from the desertion
of soldiers during wartime to the more heinous crimes of serial killers.
However, the mere fact that this brutal form of punishment and revenge has been
the policy of many nations in the past does not subsequently warrant its
implementation in today's society. The death penalty is morally and socially
unethical, should be construed as cruel and unusual punishment since it is both
discriminatory and arbitrary, has no proof of acting as a deterrent, and risks
the atrocious and unacceptable injustice of executing innocent people. As long
as capital punishment exists in our society it will continue to spark the
injustice which it has failed to curb.
Capital punishment is immoral and unethical. It does not matter who
does the killing because when a life is taken by another it is always wrong. By
killing a human being the state lessens the value of life and actually
contributes to the growing sentiment in today's society that certain individuals
are worth more than others. When the value of life is lessened under certain
circumstances such as the life of a murderer, what is stopping others from
creating their own circumstances for the value of one's life such as race, class,
religion, and economics. Immanual Kant, a great philosopher of ethics, came up
with the Categorical Imperative, which is a universal command or rule that
states that society and individuals "must act in such a way that you can will
that your actions become a universal law for all to follow" (Palmer 265). There
must be some set of moral and ethical standards that even the government can not
supersede, otherwise how can the state expect its citizens not to follow its own
example.
Those who support the death penalty believe, or claim to believe, that
capital punishment is morally and ethically acceptable. The bulk of their
evidence comes from the Old Testament which actually recommends the use of
capital punishment for a number of crimes. Others also quote the Sixth
Commandment which, in the original Hebrew reads, "Thou Shall Not Commit Murder."
However, these literal interpretations of selected passages from the Bible which
are often quoted out of context corrupt the compassionate attitude of Judaism
and Christianity, which clearly focuses on redemption and forgiveness, and urges
humane and effective ways of dealing with crime and violence.
Each of us has innate desire to understand the purpose of our existence. As Hermann Hesse illustrates in his novel Siddhartha, the journey to wisdom may be difficult. Organized religion helps many to find meaning in life but it does not substitute careful introspection. An important message of Siddhartha is that to achieve enlightenment one must unite the experiences of mind, body, and spirit.
While it seems as if Siddhartha’s early stages of following the teachings of others and immersing himself in material goods did not help Siddhartha on his quest, Siddhartha views these stages in a positive way. “I experienced by observing my own body and my own soul that I sorely needed sin, sorely needed concupiscence, needed greed, vanity… and to love it and be happy to belong to it.” (120). Siddhartha states how he needed sin, vanity, and all of these feelings to realize how corrupt his view of enlightenment was. Siddhartha understands, through viewing his own body and soul, that he needs to accept the world he lives in for what it is, and learn to love it. This flaw that Siddhartha has throughout much of the novel is crucial, as Hesse is able to display how wisdom can only be achieved by looking within the self, not through the words or doctrines of others.
Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
In his novel Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse used the story of a young Indian Brahmin searching for insight to explore different means of achieving inner peace. Siddhartha attempted to use both asceticism and the life of the wealthy to experience illumination. He fluctuated from rich to poor multiple times before he reached enlightenment. However, Hesse did not always accurately portray the most essential piece of Indian culture—the Caste System—perhaps because he wanted to appeal to a western audience that had little knowledge of the system. Siddhartha, who lived in the Indian Caste of priests, would not have been able to move between social ranks in the manner Hesse portrayed.
Middle Passage’s protagonist , Rutherford Calhoun, shows that identity is a dangerous “middle” experience for the African American offspring that endured the middle passage. As a survivor of a unknown place and subject to total isolation of his own personal experiences we find Rutherford searching for meaning. The novel questions the structure of human and literary identity by testing the power of duel oppositions and abstraction to portray the meaning of experience: "Our faith in fiction comes from an ancient belief that language and literary art all speaking and showing-clarify our experience" (Being 3). By questioning the African-American experience, Johnson radicalizes faith and is able to show the complexities of experience and change. Johnson’s examination into identity, which we can see as both human and textual, depends mainly on the appropriation for its literal and pensive methods. This contradictory space of ...
certainly do not make a right. You do not show society anything, by killing the
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Huang, Quanyu, Richard S. Andrulis, and Tong Chen. A Guide to Successful Business Relations with the Chinese: Opening the Great Wall's Gate. Binghamton, NY: International Business, 1994. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
This includes the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws, based on the principle by Thoreau that we men should be first, and subjects afterwards. People have an important duty to refuse a government that is corrupt, and distance themselves from these unjust institutions.
The Great Wall has come to signify archetypal Chinese attributes in modern-day society and is central to how China characterizes itself. However, it is not a single ‘Great Wall’ rather it is a set of walls, built intermittently over thousands of years by different dynasties for varying purposes. The idea of a singular Great Wall is a misnomer which developed after centuries of different cultural elucidations. The history of the Great Wall is a history of cultural encounters that have shaped modern ideas about China within the country itself as well as outside. (Huang, 2006)
Unlike most other families mine had decided to live with the Chinese rather than in the isolated compound away from them. I and my parents, we saw no need for separation, after all, what bad could it be? The culture and language of China had begun to grab my attention from the moment I started to learn them. I went to
The role of teachers in Hesse’s exceptional work of fiction is to aid in the achievement of the ultimate knowledge, while not taking the pupil directly there, instead giving him the skill set necessary to achieve what the student, in this case Siddhartha, feels is that ultimate knowledge.
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
China is a country full of ancient customs and traditions. The native people are very proud of these customs and traditions. To many of us hearing the word ‘China’ we conjure up thoughts of origami, dragons, pandas, and their distinctive script’ all of which are traditional to china, but it goes a lot deeper than that.