A Threat in Title IX

I read "A Threat in Title IX" by Christina Hoff. It can be found on http://www.washingtonpost.com/.

The main argument is that Title IX is detrimental to male athletics and will have a negative affect on the sciences.

She explained that Howard University tried to close the gap between male and female student athletes. The school ended up cutting men's wrestling and baseball and adding a women's bowling team. 

Hoff addresses the opposing viewpoint that Title IX is necessary for math and science because of sexism. She rebuffs this by saying that men and women generally have different academic interests and abilities.

She uses argument by analogy because she is comparing Title IX in sports and in academics. She also uses argument by example when she says why Title IX was bad for men's sports.

I don't know if Title IX is bad or good. I also don't know why there is a gender gap in math and science. Maybe it is because of sexism, maybe it is partially to do with sexism, or maybe it has nothing to do with sexism. I just think that it's stupid that there has to be a Title IX in the first place. If there weren't so many sexist people, then this wouldn't even be an issue. I don't understand why men and women still can't be viewed as equals. In the end, we're all just people.

After reading this, I could construct the argument that while affirmative action and programs like Title IX are meant to be good, they can have unintended consequences.

Ken Buck Articles

I read the articles about Ken Buck. Ken Buck is the Weld County District Attorney is Colorado. He would not prosecute a rape case because the he thought the victim had had an abortion. She didn't actually have an abortion, though. She had a miscarriage. The baby's father was the victim's rapist, but the pregnancy occurred before he raped her. Buck didn't prosecute because he believed that the victim was lying about the rape to get back at her accuser for the supposed abortion.

The first one is called "CO-Sen: Ken Buck didn't prosecute rape case because he believed victim had an abortion" by Jed Lewison. It was published in the Daily Kos.The main argument is that Ken Buck was wrong in his idea that a rape victim's case should not be prosecuted because the victim had previously had an abortion.The author backs up his ideas by arguing that Buck's logic is flawed because if anyone has a motive for revenge it's the rapist, not the victim. He also said that Buck's facts were wrong because the victim never had an abortion; she had a miscarriage. The author uses argument by example.

The next article is called "CO-Sen: Buck's Growing Problem with Women." It's by Joan McCarter and is from dailykos.com. The main argument is that Buck's opinion on the rape case indicates that he is a sexist. He would not take the victim seriously and said that because she invited the offender over the night of the rape, she was asking for sex.

The next article is called "Ken Buck Accused Alleged Rape Victim of "Buyer's Remorse." It is by Yashwanth Manjunath and is from alan.com. The main argument is that Ken Buck should not be elected Senator in Colorado. The author uses Buck's refusal to prosecute a rape case to support his argument. The suspect confessed to raping the victim, but Buck still would not prosecute because he is very pro-life. The author argued that this shows that Buck is too incompetent to be a senator.

The next article is called "the Ken Buck Rape Case." It's by Nick Baumann and is from motherjones.com. The main argument is to inform the reader about the Ken Buck rape case. The author does not take a side; he just gives the information.

The last article is "Victim in Ken Buck Rape Case Speaks." It's by Nick Baumann and was published on motherjones.com. The purpose of this article is to get the victim's point of view. It is an interview with the victim.

After reading these articles, I am very upset. When I found out Buck was running for Senate, I looked up the Colorado election results and was relieved to find out that Buck was losing. I was then disheartened to see that he was only losing by 1% as of 2:43 AM. I can't understand why people would still vote for him after his blatant sexism. Not prosecuting a rape case because he believes abortion is wrong shows how unprofessional he is. He's stupid, too, because the girl had a miscarriage, not an abortion. Why would anyone want this man in the Senate? He's obviously not qualified.

That girl was raped. Her rapist even admitted to doing it. Why would someone just ignore that?

Bullying in Schools

I read "Bullying in Schools" by Ron Banks from npin.org.

The main argument is that bullying is a serious problem in schools that needs to be addressed and eliminated using intervention programs.. The author gives characteristics of bullies and victims, lists the consequences of bullying, and argues that intervention programs should be used to help get rid of bullying in schools.

The author backs up this argument by listing the consequences of bullying. When they enter adulthood, many bullies have trouble with the law and with having positive relationships. Bullying victims tend to become afraid of school, even missing class so they do not have to deal with bullies. They also can become isolated from their schoolmates. Victims can also suffer from depression and low self-esteem, even as adults. The author gets his information from professional studies done on bullying and includes many statistics from these studies. He also writes about an intervention plan by D. Olweus. The plan includes making parents aware of bullying and using student workshops to help children learn how to deal with bullies and how to help bullying victims. The author says that schools that used Olweus's intervention program had a decrease in bullying by 50%.

The author addresses a contrary argument. He said that many students in one survey felt that victims deserved to be bullied and that bullying helps people learn better social skills and toughen up. He counters this by saying that 43% of students surveyed try to help the victim and 33% want to help but don't. This shows that even though many students may think victims deserve to get bullied, they still don't agree with it and want to help the victims. He also says that many school officials may not think bullying is a big deal unless someone is assaulted.

The author uses argument by example and argument by cause. He gives examples of how bullying negatively affects students and says that bullying causes many children to become depressed and afraid to go to school.

I agree that bullying is a serious problem. I think it's good that schools are trying to stop it, but I don't think it will ever go away. I think everyone has to deal with bullying at some point in their lives. Some people have it worse than others, though. I think it's sad that kids have to deal with this stuff, but it's something they will have to learn to deal with for the rest of their lives. There will always be bullies, and people have to learn how to handle them. Understanding how to deal with a bully generally comes from experience. I remember learning about bullies in elementary school, but none of the advice they gave for getting rid of bullies ever worked. I still think schools should teach students about standing up to bullies and stuff, but they should do it in a more effective way.

Using this article, I could argue that bullying victims all share certain characteristics. I would support this by writing about the types of people typically picked on using the statistics from the article.

Aggression and Violent Behavior

The article I read was called "Aggression and Violent Behavior" by Lavina Pinto, Eric Sullivan, Alan Rosenbaum, Nicole Wyngarden, John Umhau, Mark Miller, and Casey Taft. It is available at www.sciencedirect.com.

The main argument of this paper is to explain how biological factors can cause a person to abuse his/her partner. This type of abuse is known as intimate partner violence (IPV). The article reviews these different factors: head injury and neuropsychological factors, psychophysiological factors, neurochemical, metabolic, and endocrine factors, and genetic factors.

The authors back up their argument by citing evidence from other journal articles. They provided evidence that head injuries are seen more in abusers than the rest of the population, but clarified that that does not mean that abusers are more likely to have suffered from head injuries. Abusers also have a lower intellectual ability than non-abusers, indicating frontal lobe dysfunction, which is not necessarily caused by head injuries.

Physiological reactivity is a change in the body caused by a stimulus. The studies shown in the article could not give evidence to support a link between physiological reactivity and IPV. The authors of the article said that this is because physiological reactivity is best measured over long periods of time using different tests, and the studies they cited were done at one time point with only one type of test.

Another study involving twins showed that both environment and genetics can cause IPV.

The authors used argument by example.

While the authors were trying to prove that different biological factors can cause a person to engage in IPV, they understood that environmental factors can also play a role.

This article made me think of the nature versus nurture debate. The authors seemed to lean to the nature side. I think both genetics and environment affect how people act. I think the authors did a good job providing information from many different studies and were able to back up their argument well.

Based on this article, I could construct the argument that biological factors beyond our control are responsible for people abusing their significant others.

The Three Most Common Uses of Irony

I read "the Three Most Common Uses of Irony" by Matthew Inman. The article is from theoatmeal.com.

The main argument is to inform people about irony. The author backs this up by explaining the different types of irony. They are verbal, dramatic, and situational. He includes "inspiring annoying arguments" as a joke. He gives examples for each different type of irony. He uses cartoons to make the reading more interesting and easy to understand.

There aren't really any contrary arguments to address. The author does say that some people might not consider the examples he gave to be ironic. He brushes this off by saying that irony "depends on the storyteller, the characters, and how obnoxious the listener feels like being that day." Then he includes a comic of some people disagreeing on what is ironic.

The author uses argument by example.

I liked reading this article. It was funny. I liked how the author used verbal irony in his description of what verbal irony was. I think this is a good article to read if you need some general knowledge of what irony is or if you enjoy this type of humor.

After reading this article, I could make an argument about the effectiveness of irony.

Walt Whitman Poem

I read “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Grim” by Walt Whitman.  It is about a soldier in a war.  The soldier wakes up in the early morning and walks to the hospital tent.  He sees three dead bodies.  One is an old man, one is a boy, and one is a young, probably middle-age man.  He compares the middle-aged man to Christ.  He compares the deaths of these soldiers to the death of Christ.  The main argument is that war is bad and causes death and destruction. He proves it by equating the death of Christ to the death of a soldier.

Whitman uses lots of imagery to help further his point.  The reader gets the sense that everything is cold, gray, and bleak.

He uses inverted syntax. An example is “As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless.”

It is interesting that he has it take place in the morning. Morning is when everything is waking and the sun is rising; it’s usually associated with life, not death.

Weekly Blog 2

I read "Morning Conference: the Meaning of 'Gay'" by Murray Armstrong. It was posted on Guardian UK Online.

The main argument is to provide facts about the issue of whether using the word "gay" in place of "stupid" or "lame" is an indication of an increase in hostility toward homosexuals or just a semantic change.

The author backs up this argument by providing information from both sides of the issue. He uses the Oxford English Dictionary to explain how the word "gay" has changed in meaning over time. He also writes that some people believe that the use of the word "gay" in a negative fashion is a sign that hostility towards homosexuals is rising.  He gives evidence to support this. A teachers' union survey reported a rise in hostility toward gay people in schools, and the Dutch government reported an increase in opposition to homosexuals in Dutch schools.

The author does not give his opinion on the issue, so he can't acknowledge an opposing viewpoint. He gives evidence to support both sides of the issue, but does not try to make the reader agree with one over the other.

The author uses argument by example.

I don't think that negative connotations of the word "gay" mean that people are more hostile to homosexuals. Many people use the word as an insult without thinking that it could be offensive to homosexuals or promote hatred of the gay community.

After reading this article, I could construct the argument that a word's meaning is likely to change over time. I would use the information the author provided from the Oxford English Dictionary to show the different ways the word "gay" has been used.