Practice Opening 1:

As the years go on the endangered species list continues to grow. SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment contributes to the death of endangered orca whale species. This world known park needs to be shut down. If SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is shut down, then the wild orca popular will discontinue to suffer.

Practice Opening 2:

Imagine being captured from your home, instructed to preform stunts against your will, and constantly stalked by tourists from all around the world. This type of cruelty happens at all the Sea World Parks and Entertainment locations. As humanitarians, we must shut down the multiple parks. If the parks are shut down, then animal cruelty to sea creatures will be eliminated.

Hypothesis 1:
If SeaWorld is shut down, then many sea life species will no longer be endangered.

Hypothesis 2:
If Sea World is shut down, then sea creatures will no longer be treated cruelly and it will start a trend amongst other animal parks.

Topics for Smaller Papers:

-sea world contributes to endangered species in sea life
-how Sea World captures their animals by kidnapping the babies from their families and throw the dead whales back into the sea
-forcing the animals to preform against their will causes them psychotic distress, thus putting performers and trainers in danger while working with the animals in the water
-captive animal attacks verses wild animal attacks

Current State of Paper:

(proving sea world causes endangerment to orcas)
SeaWorld Of Hurt has been working together with PETA for many years trying to liberate the captured mammals held in SeaWorld throughout the country. Sea World shortens the life expectancy of orca whales. According to their website, orca whales have a lifespan of, “…60 to 70 years for males and 80 to more than 100 for females”(Para 5). The average age of a captive whale is about 9 years. This is due to the fact that orcas are not in their natural habitats. Orcas can fend for themselves and supply food for their families; they are not in any danger in the seas.

PETA. “10 Things You Didn’t Know About SeaWorld – SeaWorld of Hurt.” SeaWorld of Hurt. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

(capturing of the orcas)
The process of capturing an orca is almost as disgusting as their lives in captivity. In an interview from the film Blackfish, Harold Garret explains, whale capturers light bombs with acetylene torches from their boats and throw them into the ocean in order to drive the whales into coves for an easier capture. John Crowe, a former diver and whale capturer, says, “…When the whole hunt was over, there were 3 dead whales. So they had us cut the whales open, fill them with rocks, put anchors on their tails and sink them.” SeaWorld’s partners accidentally murdered three innocent baby whales during the capture for their entertainment parks. What most people do not know is that whales are mammals just like humans; they can feel and express their emotions. During the capture, the whale hunters get young ones that they want and drop nets to capture them. The other whales have the option to leave, but they stayed and watch the babies get abducted. Crowe justifies, “it’s like kidnapping a little kid away from their mother”. SeaWorld is responsible for separating orca families and emotionally destroying mothers for lives.

Blackfish. Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Prod. Manny Oteyza. 2013. Documentary.

Peaceful Protests and Police Violence of Ukrainian Revolution

Organized content descriptions

1. President, corruption and hatred
2. Breaking the promises and brutal beating the students
3. Masses’ reaction

Topics for smaller papers

1.Automaidan – protesters “on wheels”

2. Russia’s involvement in Ukrainian problems.

Practice opening 1

Ukraine is a country with a rich history and hard times. It’s located right between the Russia and the Europe, East and West, so it’s been always a battleground between 2 sides. Therefore, it’s important for either one to have improved relationship with a leader of the country, in order to have a better control over the political situations. Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich tended to improve relationship with Russian government, even though most of Ukrainians were looking forward to improving relationships with the European Union. Students  reacted with peaceful protests that were followed police violence against unarmed people and masses gathering for the justice and freedom of choice and speech.

Practice opening 2

Violence has always been one of the most popular ways for governments to end the conflict. Even though, some protests may require using force, it is inadmissible to allow beating up peaceful unarmed people for expressing their beliefs. Ukrainian president’s failure in signing important documents with the EU and brutal “cleaning up” peaceful protests caused into crowd’s union against pro-Russian leader, dictatorship and corruption.

Working Hypothesis 1

Soulless violence against the harmless people that support oppositional ideas is unacceptable in the modern society.

Working Hypothesis 2

People gather together, help each other and stand till the end to follow the idea despite the age, sex, religion and nationality.

Current State of the Research Paper

I feel like I have a lot to write about this topic. I’ve read a lot of articles, watched many videos, heard hundreds of stories and experienced the pressure of the situation myself. I have a lot of information that I’m not sure yet how to organize and what to leave untouched.

Effective Communication is needed to be successful

Organized Content descriptions

1. Communication affects our work
2. Communication affects how we are treated
3. Communications is related to class

Topics for Smaller Papers

1. Culture affects communication of children
2. Advantages rich people have over the poor
3. Healthcare affected by communication

Practice Opening

1. Individually, people may define the American dream differently but the main point is people can move up social classes or change their living standard through sweat and hard work. However, that success is often dependent on what family we are born into. One advantage that prove to be vital in life is the ability to communicate effectively, not to just express ourselves but to corporate with other people well. Whether someone has effective communication skills for success or is affected by his/her culture, parents, and amount of wealth he/she have.

2. Rarely do children exceed the social status of their parents by much. When they do, the common denominator is an enhanced ability to communicate, making it an essential key for success. People often underestimate the power of communication and what it can do for them. For instance, our words can lead to great movements, persuade people, and it can have people support and help us. However, those words can have so much power if people can communicate effectively, which is not the case for everyone. As crucial as communication skills are, our parents, the amount of wealth we have, and the culture we live in may affect the way we speak.

1. Working Hypothesis 1

Ways of communication are better than others depending on situation and people who are able to communicate appropriately to the situation tend to be more successful.

1a. Working Hypothesis 2

 Communication differ in different countries and some are more effective than others.

3. Current State of the Research Paper

I am not confident in this research paper because I feel like the information I have gathered is so repetitive. As a result I am losing interest and I don’t think I can make the topic interesting for the readers either. I am having trouble expanding.

Professors Indoctrinating Students and How It Affects Our Generation.

Content Description:

* Students don’t express how they feel about politics because they are afraid of teachers failing them.

*Graces Story

* Why there are so many Liberal teachers in American Universities?

* How teachers indoctrinating students leaves them unprepared for the real world.

Practice Opening 1:

72 percent of professors teaching at an American university are liberals while only 15 percent are conservatives. Consequently, there is a high likelihood that teachers will bring liberal beliefs into the classroom. But why are most college professors liberals? Ryan Borek’s article,”Why are Professors Liberal,” answers this question with 6 different reasons. Along with that statement, more professors will persuade liberalism which leads to how college professors are indoctrinating students. This affects our generation because teachers fail to adequately challenge undergraduates, which often leaves many of them unprepared for the real world.

Practice Opening 2:

With the greater advantage of having a liberal teacher in an American university poses many problems for students. For starters, Students hide their political views in the classroom with the fear that their professors will penalize them for having a different belief. Leading teachers to indoctrinating students. Many different beliefs are brought into the classroom other than just liberalism. For example teachers could be feminist, Marxism, atheism, anti-Christian and so much more.

Topics:

1. Students don’t express how they feel about politics because they are afraid of teachers failing them. Many students hide their political views with the fear that their professor will disagree with them and penalize them. This leads to how teachers are indoctrinating students with their beliefs of what’s right and wrong.

2. Grace Lewis is a student at Polk State College where her teacher gave her 4 consecutive 0’s on assignments for not conforming to his beliefs. Grace took a chance on this online humanities class and went against what Professor Russums’ beliefs were. He had an anti-Christian perspective with his lectures and homework assignments that Grace didn’t agree with. When Grace confronted the professor on the phone about how she felt, Professor Russum called her “angry because he took his personal time away from his family to speak with her, only to be disrespected by her disagreement with him.” When Grace and her mother tried to seek help from the dean of college, Donald Painter, after Professor Russum wanted Grace to drop the class, they got no help from Painter. Painter reviewed the class and saw nothing wrong with the way Professor Russum was teaching the course but instead blamed Grace for possibly not being mature enough to take the class. “I have reviewed the materials in Professor Russum’s HUM 2020 – 57094 course and believe them to be appropriate based on the course description and learning outcomes. Further, I found nothing derogatory or defamatory toward any group of people.” With nowhere else to go, Grace and her mother contacted Liberty Counsel, an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life and family. The Liberty Counsel captured screenshots of Professor Russum’s now deleted Facebook page showing inappropriate pictures and sayings. As Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel stated, “Russum’s behavior amounts to “abuse of students. This has nothing to do with teaching, the professor is using his position of superiority to abuse students and this has no place in a college.” Grace was punished because she refused to agree with Russum’s anti-Christian perspective and worldviews of Marxism, atheism, feminism, and homosexuality. Liberty Counsel demanded that Professor Russum’s course context and his behavior’s be evaluated, Grace’s papers be graded by another professor, an apology letter to Grace, and assurance that Professor Russum’s future classes be “free from such unlawful discrimination.”

3. why there are so many Liberal teachers in American Universities? Ryan Borek goes into detail about the 6 different reasons to why there are more liberal teachers. The first one being job descriptor characteristics. Being a professor is something that people with certain general traits strive towards. It just happens to be mostly liberal traits. Second, because being different is wrong. As stated before, liberal people just happened to already be Professors due to the simple fact that it calls to the same likes and wants. Also because “liberals were willing to accept, hide, tolerate, etc. socially unacceptable conditions.” Third, professors are biased because their professors were biased. Basically people who were liberals wanted to be around other liberals. This lead to two very distinct issues arising. First, “I am a Liberal, and I see my teacher saying Liberal things. Now, I want to be a teacher too.” Or, “I am not a Liberal. My teacher says Liberal things. Now I am a Liberal, and want to be a teacher too.” Fourth, the job of “professor” is politically typecast as a liberal position. “When you think of a Professor, do you think of them as Liberals? If so, and you are a Liberal, do you want to go be taught by them? Do you want to be them?” Fifth, “Viet NAM.” Students who were not fighting in the war were wearing flowers around the campuses and the teachers began preaching to the choir. Liberalism became popular among students as well as professors which encouraged teachers to teach more liberally. And finally, it’s only humanities anyway. Most liberals are teaching humanities and only in humanities do you see outrageous amounts of liberals.

4. How teachers indoctrinating students leaves them unprepared for the real world. The Common Constitutionalist wrote the article, “Kids Need to be Taught Reality” where kids who are indoctrinated with liberalism are not prepared for the real world. They mention how sports now-a-day give out trophies and ribbons for just showing up instead of honoring top achieving students because it promotes unhealthy competition. This affects us in the long run because students don’t learn from it. If you’re given a trophy for showing up to an event, you’re not learning what you maybe did wrong but instead it’s like you’re being rewarded for not doing anything. If you gave a trophy to only the top achieving students, it would teach others to strive to be better so they can get a trophy next time. If students don’t have competition they are going to think they are the best and that there’s no need to improve themselves. Bronson states in the article “Why competition can be healthy for kids” “If kids don’t learn to lose they’re going to feel entitled to win, they’re also going to make a connection that fear of losing is going to prevent them from taking the risk in the first place. And what kids do need to learn is losing is not that big a deal. They need to learn to lose and go ‘Oh, whatever,’ and move on and keep playing.” Not everything is going to be handed to us in life and we’re not always going to win. Take the loss and work on being better for next time. Kids grow up to not being able to cope with real world situations and essentially look for a scapegoat for everything. For example, if something goes wrong it’s someone else’s fault. This is leaving people unprepared for real world challenges.
Current State of the Research Paper:

I feel as though the white paper defiantly helped me get started. I found more facts to use in my paper and so far to me it seems as though it’s going good. There’s a few facts I still question if there good enough to use in the paper. For example, Graces story. It talks about how she tried to differ from her teacher by going against his beliefs. I used this as an example for how people hide their political views with the fear of teachers failing them which is what happened to Grace when she tried to go against her teacher. I wasn’t sure if it was too long and had not a lot of meaning for the paper. All of the information I have provided in my white paper I still need to figure out an order and how I will make them flow into each other. I like the facts I have but I know I need more. I have 10 different sources as of right now but I need to figure out how to incorporate them all so that this makes sense. I chose the main facts for my white paper as I still figure out how to add in the rest of my proposal +5 sources and facts. I didn’t want to be confusing in this so I opted to not add them yet until I figure out what I’m doing. Another thing I noticed is I have a lot of quotes. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I feel I have so many because the author’s have a better way of explaining things than I do. Overall as stated before, I feel as though I’m doing well.

Contents Description

• Excessive force and its frequent use.
• Improper racial profiling
• Protests on violence against African-American males.
• Statistics on police brutality against unarmed African-American males
• Cases of unarmed African-Americans that involve the use of excessive force

Practice Opening 1:

Excessive force is any force beyond what’s imperative to arrest a suspect, while keeping police and bystanders safe. Not all arrests call out for the use of excessive force but most cases involving an African American male puts it to use. For many decades police brutality has been an ongoing issue in our society that has led to more deaths than arrests of African American males. From the severe beating of Rodney King that took place in 1991 by Los Angeles Police Department to the tragic shooting of Michael Brown and the chokehold that put Eric Garner in his death bed. As a society we not only see this as a controversial issue but a cry for help in the African American community as improper racial profiling leads to more deaths than arrests by police officers.

Practice Opening 2:

The use of excessive force has been a proceeding result of improper racial profiling of African American males. For many decades this has been an ongoing issue in our society that has led to more deaths than arrests in the African American community. From the severe beating of Rodney King that took place in 1991 by Los Angeles Police Department to the tragic shootings of unarmed teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. As a nation that is strongly against unreasonable searches and seizures unless with probable cause, this has become a massive problem as the amount of African American males being beaten or killed by police officers increase because of improper racial profiling.

Working Hypothesis 1:

Unarmed African-American males have been the center of police brutality and always will be because of improper racial profiling.

Working Hypothesis 2:

Every week another African-American man who is often unarmed is dying at the hands of the police due to improper racial profiling and the use of excessive force.

Topics for Smaller Papers

• Police officers who have been/are on trial for the killing of an unarmed black male and their side of the story.
• Results of police brutality towards African-Americans.
• When excessive force SHOULD be used.
• Cities where high-profile shootings mostly take place
• Counterintuitivity of Police Brutality

Current State of Research:

So far I have found a lot of interesting research on my topic. Since I have so much to select from it’s been quite a challenge with organizing all the details into paragraph form while altogether making sense. My biggest fear is that the research paper won’t flow properly because I have found so much information on my topic. Once I get all the information organized I will elaborate more on both of my hypothesis’s. My goal is to address the problem with improper racial profiling and how it is a leading cause in police brutality against African-American men. (Please bare with me. This a lot more difficult to discuss then I thought it would be.)

Pushing American Fast Food Culture on Forgein Cultures is Counter intuitive

CONTENT DESCIPTIONS:

Destruction of Health

Raising health care cost

Obesity Rate statistics

Negative Impact on Culture

Animal Cruelty Fast Food Chains deal

Practice Opening 1

The owners of the fast food establishments need to the need to stop building their establishment’s in other countries. In the United States alone, according to Yahoo Finance, there are about 15,000 McDonalds and increasing. Since the United States has already a vast number of fast food chains, the owners have been building these establishments in other countries. The negative impact of these fast food restaurants on foreign consumers is incontrovertible.

Practice Opening 2

American Culture has always been something the American population has always been proud of. Our culture includes our love for the local sport teams and having BBQ on the 4th of July to celebrate our day of Independence. Although those are good customs to have, there are negative customs and that would be our fast food consumption. Over 25% of Americans consume fast food everyday, and now that establishments are in other countries, it has caused a negative impact on not only the culture, but the health of the consumers, and how we raise our animals.

When one travels to another country, it is safe to assume that during their travels they have aspirations to taste the delicate cuisine of the other country they are visiting, but according to Ramona Stumpe, author of The Impact of McDonald’s the fast industries have taken a toll on everyday life.

Destruction of Health

Since the dawn of fast food chains came into our way of lives, its cultivated something that defies boundaries. While some of the boundaries are good, most of them are bad and outweigh the good. Since they have been introduced the health of everyday citizens has been declining and more rapidly over the years with the introduction of different fast food choices. These chains not only dominant the American food consumption but place a heavy toll on the health of foreign countries. In Mexico alone, the obesity rate is now at a 31.8% and going to continue to rise. With all of these health problems associated with obesity, the average cost of health care is going to rise with the rate.

Negative Impact on Culture

The negative impact on these foreign cultures is hard to miss. When one visits a country it is safe to assume those travelers will be indulging in the local cuisine and not diving into a hamburger that is easily comparable to that of a McDonald’s across the ocean.

Great Pyramids of Giza now have a pizza hut next to them

Local eatieries face financial issues due to fast food chains bringing in people

Animal Cruetly needed to Produce vast amounts of meat.

The manipulation needed to produce enough meat to feed those worldwide that consume fast food.

Working Hypothesis 1

American Culture has pushed its way into foreign countries way too hard. The negative impact is affecting their health, culture, and the way they farm their animals.

Working Hypothesis 2

While the American Culture is always something that should be studied and understood for the great things it has produced, there are some things that are overbearing on foreign countries, such as the decline of health, the negative impact on their culture, and the way aniamals are now being raised in order to suffice enough meat.

Topics for smaller paper

Understanding American Culture

Looking into how the typical American lives their life and their customs

How Fast Food chains swept the world

Understanding the history of these giant chains and how they rose to power and populated the world

Current State

Currently I am okay with how everything is going. I feel very passionate about what I am writing about and while it may seem bias or strongly opinionated I will have to find support strong enough to back me up in this counter intuitive paper.

Contents Description

• Statistics on injuries related to no doctor accountability
• The problem with no accountability
• some of doctors most common mistakes and solutions for accountability
• improvement on healthcare and doctors performance
• Why accountability is important.

Practice Opening 1

The accountability of medical error towards Doctors has been a problem for several decades. Doctors will make mistakes that leaves the patient dead or seriously injured. These mistakes can be prevented, however, there is no accountability towards Doctors. This paves way to many more mistakes in the future; some mistakes are wrong site surgeries and mistaken patient identification. These mistakes could be prevented if the Doctors were monitored on their daily work schedule and check ups.

Practice Opening 2

Medical mistakes can end a patient’s life no matter how small the situation is. The Institute of Medicine estimated that 98,000 people died in hospitals from preventable mistakes. The performance of Medical personnel has been poor throughout the years because Doctors do not put in their full effort in treating a patient. Accountability puts medical personnel in the position where they have to put in a full effort because they are monitored and expected to improve over time. As a result, patients will get full care and the proper surgeries and checkups done to them.

Statistics

44,000 – 98,000 people die in the hospital each year due to medical error. The number of deaths due to medical error exceeds those of disease, cancer, and other medical conditions.

Working Hypothesis 1

Doctors are not accountable for their errors and this creates more errors that can be easily fixed.

Working Hypothesis 2

Medical personnel should be accountable for the mistakes they create because they will not make the same mistake again and no more patients will be seriously ill.

Current State of Research

I have the paragraphs outlined, however, I need to look for more information to elaborate in the paragraphs. I know what I want to write about, I just need to research more. In my paper, I want to use some examples of patient illness related to accountability. Also, I’m going to add why Doctors are not held accountable in today’s society even though they should be.

How Mormons Help Save the Souls of the World

Content Descriptions

Why Mormons Baptize the Dead

Everyone is Welcome

Jewish Outrage and Antics

A Chance for Redemption

Who, How, What, and Why?

Progress So Far

Practice Opening 1

Ask atheists what happens when we die, and they’ll say that it doesn’t matter, because there’s no chance of anyone going to heaven or hell—we simply cease to exist. Ask a Mormon, however, and that person will probably say that it doesn’t matter either. While the answers may ultimately be the same, the rationale behind each answer is vastly different. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that it is never too late for salvation, even after death. Therefore, after a person dies, there’s a very good chance that the Mormon Church will baptize that individual anyway, thus posthumously saving their poor and unfortunate soul for Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom, and providing comfort for those who die without believing that they have earned God’s favor. The notion of nonexistence after death may be highly depressing for many theists, who live their whole lives hoping for a better life after death. However, posthumous baptism eliminates even the slightest shadow of this concept, ensuring salvation and providing comfort for anyone. The most heartwarming part of this practice is that the Church will baptize any person, without even waiting to be asked—the Church casually and graciously disregards faith, or, as we will later explore, whether or not that person is actually dead.

Practice Opening 2

It is impossible for a living individual to know what follows death.  According to atheists, there is no afterlife, and our current life is all that we get.  This seems rather daunting to theists, who live their lives in certain ways, hoping to be rewarded with a better life after death.  This latter group exists in many forms, and have a number of different rituals and practices in which they participate in order to earn the favor of whichever deity or deities they worship.  In many faiths, one such practice is baptism, which normally happens at a young age, with certain sects baptizing their members again during their adult years.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no stranger to the practice of baptism—in fact, Mormons are so enamored with the idea that they continue to baptize people after their death.  Furthermore, the Church has frequently posthumously baptized people who were not even Mormons during their time on Earth.  So baptism-crazed are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that they will even baptize those who are not only not Mormons, but are also, in fact, not dead.  Interestingly, the Church does not actually ask the individual if they would like to be baptized, thus raising a few eyebrows and more than a few arguments.  Here, we will examine the unusual practice of posthumous baptism, the surrounding controversies, and whether the Church is actually harming anyone, or simply trying to be a good spiritual neighbor.

Why Mormons Baptize the Dead

Mormons perform rituals baptism for those who are no longer living.  They do not, however, baptize dead people.  Rather, they task a living person with pretending to be someone else, and then physically baptize the holy imposter.  Fortunately, the remains of a dead person are not disturbed, allowing the process to avoid sacrilege altogether.

According to the New Testament, the practice of posthumous baptism was common in the days of the Apostle Paul.  The practice of baptism is, according to the Church, essential for salvation.  Evidently, it’s not too late for people who have foolishly gone and kicked the bucket without being baptized by Mormons.  Therefore, the Mormon Church continues to baptize people after they die, so that they may be saved for God—regardless of whether or not they wanted anything to do with God while they were alive.  Additionally, the Church keeps records of the people they baptize in order to avoid duplicates, except for the nine times that Anne Frank was baptized. However, one must give the Church credit for not adding the names of the baptized persons to their membership records, as that would simply be disrespectful of their religious beliefs and preferences.

Everyone is Welcome

Although the Mormon Church posthumously baptizes people who were not Mormons in life, these non-Mormons do not automatically become Mormons.  It is up to the soul of the deceased to choose whether or not it wants to be a Mormon, although it has no obligation to inform anyone of its decision, as evidenced by the fact that certain individuals have been posthumously baptized multiple times.  For example, Elvis Presley has been baptized at least seven times, and Anne Frank at least nine.

Some people are inexplicably outraged at the Church’s kindness.  Elie Weisel, a famed Holocaust survivor, discovered his name on a list of people whom the Church intended to baptize.  Rather than being gracious to the church for wishing to baptize a living Jew alongside a dead Mormon, Weisel asked Mitt Romney, a presidential candidate at the time, to urge the church to remove his name from the list.  At the demand of many, the Church reluctantly agreed to cease its practice of posthumous baptism for Holocaust victims in 1995, which goes to show that some people are simply incapable of respecting others’ religions.

Jewish Outrage and Antics

According to Michael Otterson, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the practice of posthumous baptism is done out of love and inclusiveness for everyone, a humanitarian value held very dearly by the Church.  According to Otterson, the baptism of Anne Frank was the result of a violation of Church policy.  The Church claims to believe that baptizing Holocaust victims is unacceptable.  Baptizing other Jews, however—such as Daniel Pearl, a Jewish reporter who was killed by terrorists in 2002—is completely acceptable, and the church eagerly does so, in order to save as many people as possible.

In spite of the Mormon’s message of sharing God’s love with everyone, some still lash out at the Church for trying to save everyone.  Anthony Hecht, a half-Jewish technology officer, started a website that allows individuals to convert Mormons—not to another religion, however, but to homosexuality.  The vitriolic, disrespectful website not only suggests that homosexuality is a choice (remember, the baptized person’s soul must consent to converting to the Mormon religion), but also mocks the poor, tender-hearted Mormons’ attempt to cross inter-faith boundaries by allowing any user of the website to choose a dead Mormon and label them as gay for eternity.  This is a clear example of how misunderstanding of religion can lead to hatred, even when both parties hold faiths that preach love.

A Chance for Redemption

Not unlike many other religions, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that baptism is the key to salvation.  In a gesture of inclusion for all, the Mormon Church frequently baptizes the dead by proxy, thereby giving the soul of the deceased a chance to leave Spirit Prison (the Mormon version of Purgatory, where the souls of the unsaved go after death) and enter the Celestial Kingdom.

During the process of posthumous baptism, a person is physically baptized in a Mormon temple, while a Mormon religious leader calls out names as the proxy is held under water, essentially allowing the Mormons to pretend that they are baptizing people who are not physically there.  In the eyes of the Church, this is good enough in the eyes of Heavenly Father, and the soul of the posthumously baptized individual may choose to convert to Mormonism or not.  However, there is no way to tell if the soul converts or not, leading to certain people being baptized multiple times—the Mormons are evidently firm believers in the principle of quantity over quality.

In a truly heartwarming display of religious tolerance for all and a belief that anyone can be saved, the Mormons do not discriminate when it comes to baptizing the dead.  For example, the Church has baptized individuals that would certainly be labelled as “evil” by those who have not seen the light provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—namely, among others, Adolf Hitler, Vlad the Impaler, and Ted Bundy.  On the flip side, the Church humbly recognizes that even the most holy among us cannot be assured salvation, promptly baptizing Pope John Paul II four times in the year 2006 alone.  Others among the baptized are Richard Feynman, a nonreligious theoretical physicist of Jewish heritage; George Carlin, an avowedly atheist comedian in a family of Irish Catholics; and Eazy-E, a rapper with no apparent religion.

Who, How, What, and Why?

While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does baptize people after their death, the process is done with the utmost respect.  For the most part, it is done so that non-living relatives of living Mormons can be given the chance to await their descendants in the afterlife.  In the case that a non-Mormon is posthumously baptized, the Church maintains that the process only allows the soul of the deceased a chance to convert, which the soul may certainly reject.  The Church extends this opportunity to anyone, regardless of faith, as demonstrated by the fact that they posthumously baptized nearly 400,000 Holocaust victims in the 1990’s.

During the process, a Mormon priest calls out names of the deceased while a Mormon imposter is held under water.  In this elaborate game of pretend, the Church graciously extends the chance of salvation to those who are no longer living on Earth.  In 1995, the Church ordered the desist of baptizing Holocaust victims, although an excommunicated Mormon and whistleblower said that she had seen the names of many Holocaust victims undergo the process since then.

As the Church is interested in salvation for all, they disregard the faith of a baptized individual.  Mormons believe that everyone should be given the chance to join Heavenly Father in the Celestial Kingdom, and therefore baptized, among others, Joan of Arc, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Mahatma Gandhi, and Adolf Hitler—none of whom were Jewish.  In fact, the Church does not even exclude the living from proxy baptism—Elie Weisel was baptized by proxy, despite the fact that he is still living (and Jewish).

Progress so far

At this point, I am feeling quite confident in my research.  I believe that I can certainly find more information on proxy/posthumous baptism, and outline the strange nature of the practice.  Additionally, I am beginning to think that I may begin to elaborate on my second hypothesis, as my research may indicate that the Mormons are not in fact doing any harm; they are simply attempting to include everyone, although in a somewhat misguided fashion.  I am between two opinions at the moment.  One is that this practice is highly unusual and perhaps should stop.  The other is that the Mormons are actually of the mind that this is not a bad thing.  If I can successfully argue that the Mormons are the victims of aggression because of a misunderstanding, I may choose to do so.

Holding Wild Animals in captivity is Unethical

CONTENT DESCRIPTIONS:

• Physical abuse to the animals
• mental abuse to the animals
• in captivity to help hurt animals
• endangered species
• environmental factors

Practice Opening #1

Public exhibits of wild animals have been existed through the history of the world, but have expanded throughout the years.Every day thousands of people visit wildlife in captivity such as zoo’s and aquariums. Although many people believe that zoo’s and aquariums are educational trips, people aren’t aware of the harmful affects captivity has on the animals and their behavior. It is unethical to put wild animals in captivity if the animal is not harmed.

Practice Opening #2:
Today, approximately 5,000 tigers are held in captivity, compared to 3,200 that are in the wild. Many other types of animals such as elephants face captivity and are close to being extinct in the wild. Public exhibits of animals have been around throughout history. As the years pass the public exhibits have developed from personal possession into zoo’s and aquariums around the world. Many people who visit the public displays are not aware of the mental and physical affects being in captivity cause to the animals. Public exhibits of animals for enjoyment are unethical.

Marine Animals in Captivity:

The environment plays a large role in physical harming of wild life in captivity.  Chlorine from the large tanks the marine animals swim in is not normal for their skin or eyes. Marine animal suffer from lack of stimulation from the environment in captivity. Their tanks are too small and too different from their natural environment.

“In an aquarium they [killer whales] will spend up to 50 per cent of their time at the surface, which is probably the reason they sometimes suffer from dorsal fin collapse”.

Zoos: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone

Zoos are a thing of the past. Around the world some places are taking action in saving the wild animals. According to PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) a specific occasion took place, “In August 2013, for example, the Costa Rican government announced that it would close the country’s public zoos and release some animals into the wild and send others to sanctuaries.”

PETA has reported :”A study conducted by the Captive Animals’ Protection Society concluded that 90 percent of public aquariums studied had animals who showed stereotypic (neurotic) behavior, such as repeatedly raising their heads above the surface of the water, spinning around an imaginary object, and frequently turning on one side and rubbing along the floor of the tank.”

It is nearly impossible to function properly in zoo enclosures and tanks. No one zoo would ever be big enough to make their animals have a natural habitat. PETA explains “Given that the average tiger enclosure is about 18,000 times smaller than the animals’ natural roaming range, it is simply impossible for these animals to express instinctive behavior such as staking out territory in dense forests, choosing mates, running, climbing, and hunting”

Keeping Animals in Zoos is unethical

An article that was published for “point counterpoint” showed that many people are against zoos because it is unethical to keep animals locked up in an unnatural habitat.

According to Gaurav Sharma,”animals will show their natural traits only in their natural surroundings.”

Shayan Ghan argues the opposite of most people about zoos “keeping animals in zoos is not unethical. It becomes unethical when the animals are deprived from proper facilities and are not maintained well.

Ghan also argued that “sometimes keeping an animal in zoo becomes necessary to save it from extinction and the animal thrives there comfortably”.

Zoo Chimps’ Mental Health Affected By Captivity

Monkeys are most commonly used for various experiments. Jenifer Viegas from Discovery News shared multiple scientists story of working with wild chimps.

“I have lived and worked in East Africa, following free-living chimpanzees through the forest on a daily basis,” said Newton-Fisher. “With that experience, personally I find it hard seeing chimpanzees in zoos.”

“Over 50 percent of all school children aged between 7 and 14 showed improvements in their knowledge of animals, habitat and conservation after just a single zoo visit.”

Overview of the Law Affecting Zoos

There are not an abundant set of laws for zoos and aquariums. In today’s society most people who fork up the money and sign the papers can have access to a wild animals.

“In the past, animals were kept in small cages and used by rulers to display their wealth and satisfy the curiosity and fascination surrounding wild creatures.”

*may not use this source anymore

Working Hypotheses

1. Keeping wild animals in captivity is unethical because of physical and mental problems that arise.
2. Zoos and aquariums are unethical and have little to no educational value because the animals are in an unnatural habitat.

Topics for smaller papers

• Specifically about just marine life in captivity. How the animals are affected physically and mentally in their tanks.
• rescuers who save animals from the wild who are hurt and bring them into captivity to help them recover. Sometimes it is necessary to capture the animals for their well being in the future.
• mental health of wildlife in zoos. Explore the types of reactions that animals have in their unnatural environment.
• explain how are zoo trips are not educational. Most people spend little to no time actually examining the wild animals.

Current State of research

As of today my current state of research is going well.  I need research my topic further to get more sources. I specifically want to bring up in my paper about how some animals are taken into captivity for health purposes not enjoyment. I’m trying to figure out if my topic is counter intuitive enough. I am in the process of deciding exactly what I want to argue about in my paper. I am stuck between zoos and  aquariums being unethical and the lack of educational value in zoos and aquariums.

Organized Content Descriptions

• There isn’t inherent “meaning” in anything.

We tend to let life pass us by, accrediting everything that happens as part of some “bigger picture,” and we tend to think that if our lives feel empty and without goals, it’s supposed to be that way. But life is more specific than that. “Meaning” is a term in and of itself that’s up for interpretation, and how we create meaning in our lives is how we interpret what meaning means to us. Our specific talents and goals and what we do to work for them create purpose in our lives. We alone give ourselves purpose; that is no one elses’ to give or take away from us.

• Meaning – and therefore happiness and fulfillment – can be created even among the worst situations.

No matter what goes on around us in our lives, whether happy or tragic, we can stick to our personal goals by focusing on what they mean to our lives and our state of existence. By giving ourselves goals, and a bigger personal picture to paint, we can give ourselves focus, priorities, and a purpose. We won’t get dragged down more than necessary, or get blown around to the point where we lose sight of everything we’re doing in our lives, just because something different gets thrown our way.

Working Hypothesis 1

Happiness doesn’t exist in and of itself. It only comes into being in each person’s individual life. No one can give it to us, no one can take it away. We create it for ourselves, and it only comes through finding our meaning and/or true calling in life, and creating goals that thusly help us reach that meaning.

Working Hypothesis 2

It is entirely possible to go through life without ever reaching a state of true happiness. Even with a job, a car, a nice house, a family…everything that can be normal dreams and goals, an individual sense of purpose might not be achieved if one is not willing to put in the work and the effort to create an optimal life.

Topics for Smaller Papers

• Finding Meaning Starts with Loving Yourself

We cannot fully form our goals to find our meaning in life if we don’t fully accept who are. We can’t accurately assess our personal talents, needs, and wants, if we are clouded with self-doubt.

• Our Meaning Should Spread Beyond Ourselves

Once we hopefully accomplish the task of creating a well-balanced, purposeful life, we shouldn’t keep it to ourselves. True happiness will spill out, motivating others to then create their own meaning and happiness.

Current State of the Research

I have my ideas pretty well outlined, I’m in the process of finding more sources to back up my claims as this could be seen as somewhat of a cliche topic. I do believe, however, that it is an important one. I really want to stress that a purposeful life entails hard work, especially in today’s world of instant gratification.