Humanities

Energy and Place

Artist Statement 

Artist Statement

By: Skyler Dobbs

My visual piece shows my perspective and connects to my essay through the symbolism along showing a scene from my story. The scene from my story is when I am home relaxing my body by watching Netflix and just doing my own thing. But I wanted to show the audience that they don’t actually realize it but we us energy all the time and that our lives wouldn’t be the same about it. I also wanted to show that we shouldn’t be complaining about how our energy is dirty but rather we should be finding new and cleaner forms of energy. But I also wanted to show the perspective that nature is still a part of our lives so I faded the tree into the background to symbolize how we are still connected to nature and if we want to prosper we also need to treat nature as a human being, and more specifically it needs to be treated kind of like the president.

To make this picture make sense I implemented everything in black and white except for what us power to try and visually show energy in our lives. I blended nature into the least busy part of picture to try and show nature stilling being a part of my life in everyday life. To get a realistic picture I had my dad take a picture of me when I wasn’t paying attention to try and show a real life experience. I also added question and two perceptions to try and reflect on my essay and challenge people’s perception of energy.

What influenced my work was my dad. He influenced me because he is an incredibly amazing man and he works in the natural gas business. In our humanities class we learned a lot about the plusses and mines with extreme views but looking at what these views where subjecting I found that they didn’t appreciate energy and the advancements that come with it and if they did they didn’t think about the world being connected to us and effecting us. So I wanted to talk about my scenes of place as my habitat both in nature and at home.

Sense of Place Essay
 

The House in Protest

By: Skyler Dobbs

I wake up like a bear wakes to the summer sun. Still engulfed in my sheets, my dad comes down the caverns of stairs with his thundering steps to wake me from my winter sleep. I have been asleep for a long time compared to the rest of the school week. It is Saturday and last night gave me an opportunity to sleep till my body was completely rejuvenated. There is no school today so I have today to my own pleasure and wants. Speaking with my thirsty voice I tell my dad that there is no reason for me to get out of my warm den. With a warm and humorous laugh he tells me its 1 pm and even though there’s no school that doesn’t mean I can sleep all day. I laugh at myself for my great perception of time, while I turn and spin to unwrap myself from my sheets. As I get out of bed, the hot sun tickles my feet warming my body to the sight and feeling of the day. With my body feeling like a twisted piece of metal I crawl on my feet to the cold tile of my bathroom. The tile presses against my bare feet waking me to the unpleasant feeling of the tile sucking the warmth from my body like a kid trying to get his last bit of chocolate milk from the bottom of a cup. I feel like Goldilocks as I for the steam to be spill out of the faucet signifying that its not to cold or to hot but just right. As I step into the moist tube, the hot water beats and kneads at my skin relaxing every muscle of my body with its warm hands. When I finish this ritual, I step onto the warm slippery tiles moving around slowly. I grab my tooth brush scrubbing the filth from my teeth.

By the twist of my wrist I start my monstrous car’s engine. With a slight press on a peddle, my car neighing like a horse as it crawls across town on its tires. It’s breath visible like a cold winter. I reach my rocky destination of a trailhead behind some houses. I grab my bike off the back of my car and begin riding my bike into the rocky trailhead. I look at the map deciding what trail I to ride. Will I take the short route or the long beautiful one? I decided to take the long beautiful one that is also easy. I have nothing to do today so might as well enjoy myself instead of killing my body. I climb with furry and speed up the pimply face of this gorgeous mountain, Today I have decided to ride “Star Wars” today one of my favorite trails. Sweat drips down every part of my body while the giant sun lightly tip toes across my exposed fragile body and the face of this tanning mountain. My body uses an extreme amount of power and energy to move me from one point to the next. It is weird how looking at history and society today we are constantly trying to move forward. I guess that’s just human nature to move from one place to the next almost like a fun game of hopscotch. I reach the top of the mountain and take a break breathing with the trees. I drink the succulent water from my bag like a hamster, letting its sweet nectar fill my stomach and heal the cracks of my mouth. I relax a little as the sun presses on my body telling me to go and giving me heat and light to live. I take a look down the mountain seeing all of human evolution affecting nature but at the same time living in it and around it. I feel lucky to live in a town that you can look down on and see trees branching over houses and buildings. I respect both nature for its power and life and industrialism for its brilliance and scientific enhancements. After looking at the man maid trial like a wolf looks at its prey I prepare myself for my favorite part the descent. I lower my seat post and I position my feet on my peddles I let go of my breaks my tires rip the side of the mountain. My shirt rips at my skin as gravity grabs me with its sharp nails and pulls me to the ground. I do not fight its force and speed because I enjoy the fear and adrenalin that comes from the fight for control. I ride as fast as I can around bends and over the any rough terrain the mountain can throw at me. Branches smack my helmet as I rush down the hill side. I ride for what feels like seconds when I reach the bottom. That wasn’t enough of a ride so I go up and down up and down the mountain trying to find a harder trail, a more exciting one, until I get exhausted. I feel like my legs cannot go any further so I load my bike up and go home.

I walk through the door of my house when I close the slide door I hear the pitter patter of my dog’s feet. They run down the stairs almost tripping over their own feet from excitement. My big dog comes running up to me knocking everything in its path over with its obnoxious tail. Begging for attention by whimpering while he so gently caries my nice shoe in its mouth he nudges my hands and rubs his body against my legs.  My little dog begs for attention with her annoying yelps that pierce my ear drums. After I give them some love and attention, which they constantly want, I rest my tired body in my bean bag. I turn on my lights, computer, TV, and PS3; the ultimate combination for being my lazy self. I fall in and out of sleep. After a day of activity, being lazy rejuvenates by cradling my throbbing and tired muscles

Some time has passed and I wake to the sight of my dog running to the door waging his whole body with his tail. I know that my dad is home because my dog does this every time he comes home. My dad comes in with groceries in his hands along with a jolly old smile and warm voice reminding me of Santa. After all, he is Santa to me. Two other dogs come rushing in behind my dad; one dog is always scared and the other always bugging in, trying to get all of the attention. The hot breath of four dogs burns my face and wrinkles my nose as they all beg for my attention. Julie, my dad’s girlfriend, comes in busting out in laughter because she sees my little dog’s buzz cut for the first time. My dad and girlfriend go upstairs to cook and the dogs disperse and after some time my girlfriend finally comes in, but I don’t notice because of quiet she is. Almost like a ghost she startles me with her unheard footsteps. My dad works hard making a meal for a giant family of 7, which consist of 4 dogs, 3 Dobbs, and 2 girlfriends. My family sights down to eat a homemade meal. We sit down and eat the food that fills our mouth with delightful explosion of taste. The light covers this beautiful scene of a happy family as the room shakes under our thunder laughter. Our loud voices boom across the room as we tell stories and talk about whatever seems to pop up. It’s quite amazing actually never knowing what we are going to say but always talking about something. Even if it is just talk of making fun of me for how much of a messy eater I am. When we finish eating we pitch in to clean by putting things away and cleaning our own plates. My sister has the most to clean because she never eats much in the first place. After Julie says goodbye to everyone she takes her dogs and goes home, while Sally and I go back to my lazy place to relax in each other’s arms. Since my room is apparently so cold Sally has me be as close to her as possible trying to suck up the massive amount of body heat I have. My dad goes off to his office down town to work.

I move like a sloth as I go downstairs to move my thumbs and eyes in an effortless motion to play my games. Switching between “Black ops 1”, “Black ops 2”, “Battlefield 3”, “Dishonored”, and “MW3” effortlessly filling my time. It’s around 11:30 and think about going to sleep but then I decide just for fun I stay up gazing at the glowing box playing Netflix waiting for my dad. 11:00pm still not home, 12:00am still not home, 1:00am still not home, 2:00am still not home, 3:00am my dad finally comes home. My dad comes in surprised to see that I’m still up. I feel tired and sorry for my dad because he works so hard to support my family by constantly going off on business trips and staying up late working; on average my dad works till around 12-2 am.

Now that I look back at this day I see so many things influencing the flow and production of energy. Everything that I dealt with in my daily activity was man maid and needed energy to be built or even to work. But all of these man maid devices still came from nature and all required energy both from a man and nature. In my day to day life I hear propaganda saying to do our part and save the environment. When I hear this I don’t think much of it because like just about everyone ells I say that I’m not polluting a lot. But the reality is that if everyone thinks that then everyone is polluting without thinking twice about it and because of that thought process we are changing the earth’s environment. One species is changing the environment of an entire world.

My dad is a private consultant for natural gas companies but he used to work for a company called Red Willo. Even though it might come as a shock to some people, my dad is an amazing father, a hard worker, and a caring person and he works in the natural gas business. My dad told me a story once about how he was sued by environmentalist because they claimed he was having seismic operation to close to archaeological sites and accused him of damaging crypto biotic soil. My dad won because everything he was accused of was false. When I heard of this I thought it was funny that people constantly complain about the power that energy companies have and the amount of pollution they give off, but the people complaining are also supporting them by using energy. People put so much effort into fighting natural gas companies that if they attacked the real problem they wouldn’t have a need for it. The real problem is supply and demand. People want energy and clean energy but there is no way, with our technology, to go completely green and supply our nation’s demand of power. It is important to conserve both our consumption of energy and the natural life as it is because, whether we except it or not, earth is our natural environment and if we destroy it we destroy ourselves along with it. Nature can be beautiful and amazing but the influence of human race to move forward can create amazing and beautiful ideas that eventually take physical form. I believe that this idea of humanity evolution of industrialism can live in harmony with nature because even though man-made things are formed by man nature is the one that gave us a home and materials to create it. Even though some people may not see it we are still a part of nature we have only developed and created a new environment.

I think that the way environmentalist should solve earth’s pollution is by working in two directions. The first is to not fight companies that supply energy, but rather work with them and set boundaries so that we don’t over-pollute the earth past the point of healing. Until we find an efficient way of sustaining our earth’s consumption we have to us sources such as natural gas coal and other dirty sources of energy. But that does not mean we should abuse our earth. The other direction is to support the research of sustainable resources that will supply our nations demand in an inexpensive way. Nature and industrialism are beautiful in their own way and as I live in a town that has both of them so close in my day to day life I have developed respect for both. I am a manual that environment has been reshaped by my species and even though we can do whatever our minds can imagine it is important to understand that we are still connected to nature and we cannot destroy it and hope that it won’t affect us. A lot of my life I feel like a bear that wonders in the vegetated hill side behind my house because like me he live in an environment that has been affected by man but still lives in nature.

Project Reflection

This assignment consisted of looking at our everyday life and the lives of others through different eyes. In this project we read about peoples sense of place and how energy and nature place against each other to influences and shape our land and lives. In this project we connected chemistry and humanities together in order to form opinions about power both on the perception of environmental justice, economical and scientific stand point. In humanities we looked at environmental ethics and justice by learning about the different stand points of individuals such as listening to geust speakers Eric Wanless and Ty Churchwell.

To find the sense of place I wanted to write about I went to every place/sene of my life I feel like I am having fun and or I am relaxed. I went camping in canyon lands almost with the entire class of 2014. I went to Macklemore concert. I went mountain biking, dirt biking, dancing in the rain, playing video games, and just my day to day life. In this experience I learned a lot of different perspectives but I didn’t learn about how energy is the product that has allowed us to excel in scientific advancements and how it has become a driving force in our world and that it allows our lives to be accessible to a variety of things.

I am most proud of my essay. I like my essay because of the different perspective it took along with the imagery of tying nature and the manmade world together. In my essay I use the imagery of a bear to signify humans living in both nature as well as manmade world. I also am proud of my essay because it is my first refined creative writing essay that also expressed how I feel. My favorite part of my essay is the end when I refer to myself as a bear. This is my favorite part because living in Durango you see bears all the time down town, and just like a bear I do not just live in a town I live in the forest and nature.

I enjoyed this project because it allowed me to incorporate the humanities and science into a topic that is under a lot of debate. This is important to me because when looking at a debate it is important to look at all of the fields. I feel like this project allowed people to see their daily lives and the consumption of energy.

Korematsu v. U.S.




Direct Examination Quetioning of Korematsu

Mock Trial Work

• Where were you born? An: America, Oakland California in 1919
• What was your job? An: Welder at San Francisco shipyards.
• Why were you fired? An: because of all the racist and prejudice that happened after pearl Harbor.
• Why did you move to Nevada? An: I moved to Nevada because I chose to deny the civilian executive order number 34 and stay with my girlfriend.
• What caused you to get plastic surgery and change your identity? An: to not look Japanese so I wasn’t sent to the racetrack assembly center. I wanted to spend my life with my girlfriend and my friends.
• What do you feel more like, a Japanese, or an American? An: I feel like I am more American, because even though my skin color is not white I was born in America and raised as an american.
• What ethnicity was your girl friend? An: Caucasian(Italian American) girl named Ida Boitano
• What happened to you after Japanese waged war in Asia and the Pacific? An: I moved to Nevada, Sold my car, threw away my California license, and changed my name to Clyde Sarah. I felt like it was completely unfair of them to judge me for being Japanese ancestry.
• Please explain the circumstance of your arrest? An: I got stopped by a police officer in San Leandro, California and turned in to the FBI. On june 12, 1942 I got bailed out by the ACLU (American Civil liberties union.) By a lawyer named Ernest Besig.
• Did you break any other laws before the 9066 exclusion order? An: No
• Looking at these facts under amendment 14 which says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” are you legally considered a citizen of america. An: Yes I am, but because i'm Japanese they just judge me on my race.
• Also under amendment 14 it states that. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges.” such as amendment 5 which states that “no citizen shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” looking at the constitution would the exclusion order have treated you under Americas constitution. An: Looking at these facts the exclusion order would have treated me wrongfully and that is why i didn’t turn myself in.

 Project Reflection

During this project many lawyers and judges came in to give us an overview and a quick explanation of how the justice system works and how as students we would be presenting our cases. The lawyers taught us how to show respect to the judges how the different branches of government play out and how to present evidence and ask question both with direct and cross examination. Why researching we also had many different readings that gave us good perspectives and ideas about how to win our court case. For example after reading we found racism in the 9066 civilian exclusion order. I also learned a lot about how complex our justice system is how events are ruled in the Supreme Court, our constitution, and a lot about the events that occurred to Japanese during the events of WWII.

                In our team we were very well balanced because we were able to assign roles that spread out the work evenly but also fit each person’s skill. I was time manager in which I was able to assign due dates for readings research and questions so that we got everything done on time. My group was able to communicate thoroughly with one another to have a deep understanding of what everyone is doing so that we were able to structure our questions under the same ideas so that our points of why the exclusion order was not just were not scattered. There were few challenges in our group that were not easily overcome by researching.

                 In my writing of the direct examination questions of Korematsu I made a lot of revision to the questions and answers. In the begging my entire question and answers consisted of proving that korematsu was not a spy and that he is an American citizen and therefore wrongfully accused and treated by the US. Later I decided that I also needed to add something with the constitution so at the beginning of my Q and A I was proving that Korematsu was an American citizen and that under the constitution if he fallowed the exclusion order it would be taking away his constitutional rights. After meeting with Ashley my Humanities teacher I made revisions to my Q and A so that I did not have unnecessary information that was not helping my point and were more information could be added.

                In this project I had fun learning about our justice system and how event played out in the justice system during WWII. I wish we had more time to be better prepared for unforced events and time to practice direct examining situations. My advice for next year students is to better be prepared for cross examining so that you do not need a sheet to pull your question from but have a strong understanding of the witness so that you can tear them apart and make them seem like a not valid witness.

The Morality and Politics of Justice

 

 











           Artist Statement

My poster is conveying what happens to some of tax payer’s money in a satirical way. My stand point is that recipients of welfare money before receiving the money should pass a drug test because I do not believe that the government and people that pay taxes should not be in the business of funding people that are addicted to drugs. In this poster I used logos by appealing to people’s logic of showing how hard we work and our money goes to people that don’t work and pisses away our money. My poster is also ethos by targeting the working class citizens. The quote on the right of my poster is from John Stuart Mill talking about Utilitarianism. I am proud of my poster because it I refined for the time we had and it uses logic in a humorous way.

Op-Ed Artical

            Is our tax money being used to pay for someone’s illegal drug abuse?  Hardworking citizen’s taxes are given to the poor or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in form of a welfare checks. According to ASPE since welfare checks have been given to the poor in the form cash assistance, substance abuse of these recipients has risen and is now a major concern. Throughout America, states are passing bills that require drug testing welfare recipients to ensure that the money is not being spent on illegal substances. Drug testing should be required of the recipients of Welfare Money to ensure that tax payer’s money is not being wasted and is used to benefits the truly needy.

            Even though drug testing should be required of welfare recipients; there is much controversy of whether the law is just, or if the bill is even cost efficient. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution’s prohibits on illegal searches and seizures in their persons without probable cause. Edwards stated that by drug testing welfare recipients that would be a violation of the Fourth Amendment because being poor is not a crime and therefor is not a probable cause of drug testing.

Florida was able to pass this law, and after four months it was reversed. During these four months 4,086 TANF applicants were tested for drug abuse in which 108 recipients tested positive. Florida required that every person that tested negative for drug abuse was paid for by the state. Because of this Bill, Florida reimbursed 3,938 applicants costing the state of Florida $118,140, which is more than money spent then saved from the Bill. Even though these are compelling reasons to why this Bill should not be passed, I do believe that it is still just bill and that drug testing should be implemented.

Even though during the bill in Florida was not cost beneficial to the state, the bill had positive affects for the people that do use drugs and the people that pay taxes. As State Rep. Kimberly Yee said, “Taxpayers should not be in the business of funding the lifestyles of those who are addicted to drugs. This program confronts addicts with their drug abuse problems so they may quickly receive treatment and become more productive members of society.” This bill benefits the community as hole by confronting the people that are addicted to drugs and prevents the government from supporting their drug addiction. The government shouldn’t be in the business of supporting a druggist life style with our taxes. If people have enough money to pay for drugs then they have enough money to be members of society and do not need money from the government. Also, the drug testing could be a deterrent for people that may want to use drugs.

According to Congressional Research Service in 2010, 58,144 people received welfare money in florida. During 2012 when the bill was in place in Florida, 4,086 TANF recipients were tested for drug abuse before receiving the welfare money. That is a decrease of 93% of people applying for welfare money.  Even though there is no proof that the percent of people that didn’t apply for welfare money in 2012 were not drug abusers the percent difference does not make sense unless something such as Florida’s bill affected the number of people that could receive welfare money. If this is true then the bill did save Florida money and therefore besides being ethically right it is also a cost efficient bill.

Liberty, is one of the founding principles of the United States, and is being abused by not passing this bill. J.S. Mills said, “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” If government can only exercise its power over citizens of a community to prevent harm, why does the government take money from people and then give it to others that are self-inflicting? The government is condoning and influencing their addiction by give them more money to by drugs.  Government should require drug testing because it causes no harm and would benefits the community. If someone tests positive for illegal drugs, the government would have the right to take away some or all of the welfare money.  In addition, is someone tests positive, they could get government help by attending drug rehab.   

People that work hard in the United States pay taxes because taxes are supposed to benefit the state not just an individual. Welfare recipients should be tested for drugs before receiving hard working people’s tax money.  If the government doesn’t take steps to prevent drug use of these recipients of tax payer money, they are condoning their drug use. When this bill is passed and drug abusers need help, the state can provide them with their drug abuse problems so that the state may quickly give the drug abusers the treatment and then help them become more productive members of society. To ensure that tax payer money is not misused on illegal drugs, and used for what it is intended for, the bill requiring people to pass a drug test should be passed.

Citation Page

         Shuler, Marsha. "Subscriber Services." House: Drug Test Welfare Recipients. The Advocate, n.d.      Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://theadvocate.com/news/2841712-123/house-drug-test-welfare-recipients>.

         Bloom, Rachel. "American Civil Liberties Union." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/just-we-suspected-florida-saved-nothing-drug-testing-welfare>.

        Yee, Kimberly. "USA TODAY." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/story/2012-03-18/drug-tests-welfare-Yee/53620412/1>.

        "Drug Testing Welfare Recipients: Recent Proposals and Continuing Controversies." Drug Testing Welfare Recipients:Â Recent Proposals and Continuing Controversies: ASPE Issue Brief. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/11/DrugTesting/ib.shtml>.

        United States of America. Congressional Research Service. The Temporary Assistance for. By Gene Falk. N.p., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32760.pdf.

Moral Develpment Interview Essay

By: Skyler Dobbs

Moral Development Interview Essay

            People have many perceptions of what is just and to understand how people evaluate the relationship between justice and the law you must first be able to identify why they think things are just. The topic of justice within law is in constant flex because everyone is at a different stage of moral development. To understand ones point of view about the law you must first understand their point of view about justice within law. Kohlberg divided moral thinking of the relationship between justice and law into 6 different stages called Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Many people have are at a different stage of Kohlberg's stages of moral development and because of this people approach moral dilemmas differently. People can best be classified in one of the 6 stages of Kohlberg's stages of moral development but can also fluctuate between different stages depending on the moral dilemma. After analysis of a personal interview between Subject J and me she shows multiple stages of moral reasoning throughout the interview, however Subject J would best be classified in stage 4 of Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development; Subject J also justifies moral dilemmas as a Utilitarianist.

          Subject J moral reasoning is based on past experiences and how her parents raised her. Through my interview Subject J referenced the reason for thinking the way she does is to how she was raised. For example, when asked why she decides what is important to spend your money on? Her response was, "Because that’s the way my parents were". Throughout the interview she makes several similar statements. This means she is aware of how her parents influence her moral reasoning and she is aware that because of her background her morals may or will subsequently be different from someone else’s. For example when she says, “As someone who is raised by a doctor I know that you have to prioritize things very differently”. When she says this she acknowledges that upbringing impacts and your stand point in a dilemma, and your decision may be different than that of someone else’s because of a varied upbringing. Based on how she was raised and her responses Subject J has adopted Utilitarianist from her parent’s point of view.

            Throughout the interview Subject J’s responses showed signs Utilitarianist by weighing the results of the actions in her decisions. This is most evident in her response to the question; do you think that 5 lives are more important than that one life? Subject J’s response was, “yah I guess so”. Subject J also shows Utilitarianist point of view when asked, if she were that one person the doctor would let die what would she be thinking about that doctor at that point? Subject J’s response was, “I would be resigned to the fact that that was a necessary decision for that doctor to make”. In these two responses she says the 5 lives are more important than one single person even her own. Making her a Utilitarianist because she makes a decision based on what path will have the greatest positive affect. Subject J adopts these morals into a situation where you may have to break the law saying that no one should break the law because it can hurt the community as a whole.

          Based on the responses throughout the interview, I can best classify Subject J in stage 4 of Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, because Kohlberg’s definition of stage 4 is, “At stage 4, in contrast, the respondent becomes more broadly concerned with society as a whole. Now the emphasis is on obeying laws, respecting authority, and performing one’s duties so that the social order is maintained.” Subject J shows clear signs of stage four moral reasoning because when told about the moral dilemma with Heinz and then asked if Heinz should steal the drug? Subject J's response was, "No because it’s still a crime to do....." and then asked why it is important to obey the law? Subject J's response was "I think that in general it is important to obey laws because they were created to keep the community safe." Subject J’s responses shows stage four thinking because the responses show clearly that you should always obey the law because the laws where created to protect the community as a whole.

           Subject J would best be classified in stage 4 of Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development; Subject J also justifies moral dilemmas as a Utilitarianist. Due to this combination, Subject J is concerned about the majority of the people and sees breaking the law as hurting a system created to protect the community or nation. Because of this standpoint Subject J will pursue her interest as long as it does not have a negative effect on the community. She also will not break the law because she wants to be an example for everyone and if she breaks the law and it is just then that means anyone can break the law and it would be just. Subject J’s sees law as trying to protect the community as a whole and therefore if one person breaks the law for self-interests it is unjust because s/he is thinking of themselves instead of the community.

Morality and Politics of Justice Project Reflection

Leading up to all of the projects we learned about philosophers interpretation and meaning  of Utilitarianism, Right Ethics, Deontology, Liberty, Security, Equality, and Kohlberg's stages of moral development. In my moral development essay I interview a person asking them several questions so that I may analyze their reasoning to place them into one of Kohlberg’s stages and decided if the interviewee is a Utilitarianism, Right Ethics, or Deontology. The Op-Ed article was to research a political issue that is being argued within our society. After researching the political issue we had to give information about both sides then pick a side and back it up and create a poster that uses 1 or 2 of ethos, pathos, or logos about your point of view on the political issue. Researching for my Op-Ed article I learned that hardworking citizen’s taxes are given to the poor or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in form of a welfare checks. According to ASPE since welfare checks have been given to the poor in the form cash assistance, substance abuse of these recipients has risen and is now a major concern. Throughout America, states are passing bills that require drug testing welfare recipients to ensure that the money is not being spent on illegal substances. My stand point of this political issue is that drug testing should be required of the recipients of Welfare Money to ensure that tax payer’s money is not being wasted and is used to benefits the truly needy.

In my project I had to really focus on perspective. I had to really focus on perspective because throughout my research there was a lot of opposing perspectives and what I thought. For example I read that the dill was not cost beneficial and that swayed my perspective for a while but then I thought more about the ethics of it and how even though it may have not been cost beneficial during the bill before and maybe after the bill it would have been cost beneficial. It was also hard for me to think about all the different parts and reasons of why I think my perspective is just and why others think their perspective is and then to think about all the different parts of my political issue that can sway against my perspective.

My article is strongest in organization. This is because I state all point of views but still contradict the point of view that goes against my thesis creating an article that has both information about both sides of the topic but still supports my thesis. My Op-Ed poster was strongest in its perspective because it clearly indicates my perspective and one of the main reasons why I think welfare money should be drug tested.  My article is weakest in proofreading because I did not have enough time to ensure that my paper is error free and is written in a logic way where it makes sense to the reader. My poster is weakest in refinement because I did not have enough time to come up with a more creative way to present my poster/idea and I did not have enough time to take care of or do the small things that make a good refined project. I believe that I deserve A in organization, low A of high B in Development and Evidence, and a B to B- in Sentence craft and proofreading; I balieve that i over all desserve a 88% or 91% on my Op-Ed article.

If I had another week to work on this project I would make a more refined poster. I would also like to have an addition of making the bill word for word so that I have to think about all of the different perspectives of the law and try to create a law that please everyone even in the grey areas. For example with what my topic was should we also be drug testing for alcohol because even though it is legal to consume it is still considered a drug and it can have a negative effect on the community.