Last week we were to read chapter one in our textbook, From Critical Thinking to Argument, and this week we were assigned to read chapter two. I enjoyed reading the text; I found it much more interesting and readable than the typical college textbook.
Chapter one was dealing with critical thinking and writing. My favorite essay within this chapter was the op-ed piece by Alan Dershowitz in favor of having a national ID card. I found this essay very interesting because I know Mr. Dershowitz is a Libertarian politically, and usually Libertarians are against national ID cards because they fear they are too broad and will infringe on our civil liberties. I, personally, am torn about national ID cards. I believe it's true that there are too many holes in the state ID system, or else the 9/11 terrorists wouldn't have been able to get driver's licenses here in Virginia so easily. However, I fear that having a national ID card has the potential to infringe on our liberties (even though I am not a Libertarian), and I fear it will make life more difficult for immigrants, even those here legally.
Chapter two dealt with critical reading, and discussed ways in which the reader can skim, summarize and paraphrase the text to better understand it. It explicitly went over the difference between summarizing, paraphrasing and accidentally plagarizing works, which I found helpful. I can see how it would be very easy to be intending to paraphrase in an essay and instead plagarize by accident, so I will be dilligent to avoid that.
One of the most interesting passages in chapter two was an essay by Susan Jacoby dealing with pornography, feminism and the First Amendment. As a feminist, I personally believe that while porn can be degrading and demoralizing, it's still protected by the First Amendment. If we try to censor porn magazines, they will also try to censor great works such as paintings by Georgia O'Keefe, which would be tragic.
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4 comments:
I think your statement about if pornography was censored then it would be just as possible to censor tons a fine art that COULD, by some, be considered obscene is a good point. Also, being able to step back and look at other possible effects of censoring porn is something that more people should learn to do when trying to formulate opinions.
I agree with your statement about if porn was censored, then so would fine art. Obviously, we can't relate pornography to fine art because for some women it is degrading, and art is feelings and details on paper. If some one doesn't like how people are being used in movies or magazines, they just shouldn't buy it then.
I think your opinion on national ID cards is similar to mine. I also believe that security is needed. However, there are other ways to feel more secure rather than just ID cards. This system has failed previously. It would create more problems instead of fixing them. Technology is also the problem because a lot of information is leaked via internet. Our dependence on it keeps growing. We should keep confidental information carefully.
Sounds like you gave it a lot of thought, and you addressed both sides of your opinion, as well as the opinions of Derschewhatever AND conflicting thoughts regarding him. It was a great job of covering all dimensions of the physical argument.
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