The reality is that America is a nation of the world and it is our duty to consider the entire planet when we make certain decisions. We have most of the world’s wealth, an over-abundance of resources, many of the most intelligent and powerful people on the planet, and a military complex unlike any in history. Our behavior affects almost every corner of the world. As the self-proclaimed greatest nation on Earth, it’s our duty to act like it.
Having personally gone through theism and agnosticism, I fully understand why people would want to call themselves agnostic atheists. It has a (slightly) better connotation to it than atheism, it sounds more open-minded, and it appears to be more scientific. But the truth is that claiming agnosticism gives credence to the idea of theism, and that is the polar opposite of what a true atheist believes.
The next time you hear Cheney say that America wasn’t attacked after 9/11, ask an Iraq War veteran about roadside bombs.
The problem here is that we (as a society) tend to confuse opinions and beliefs. Everyone has the right to their opinions and no one can have a wrong opinion. But anyone can have beliefs that are simply wrong.
What really matters in an election is what the voters think, not the candidates themselves. Voting is a barometer for our hopes, fears, wants, needs, dreams, and nightmares. And in 2004 we forgot our about our hopes, wants, and dreams and cowered to our fears, needs, and nightmares.
Or, lets say that we are NOT the cause of global warming. Then that frees us of the burden of having to correct it, right? Wrong. Even if we’re not the cause of it, it’s happening anyway. So, doesn’t it seem like a good idea to plan for the future?
Rainfall has historically been something to look forward to, but India recently has learned firsthand the lesson about having too much of a good thing. As the death toll continues to rise, the rain continues to fall, and the pressures it puts on the people of the region create several social problems. This natural disaster [ Read More ]
The Texas Education Agency is going to release its findings on the academic performance of Texas public schools today, and the labels that they assign to each school could greatly influence many districts. The ratings given to each school affect the students, the faculty, the funding, and even the property value of the area around [ Read More ]
It is interesting to find two political systems that are so distinctly different from one another while certain aspects of these systems are so incredibly alike. The tonowi of the Kapauku from western New Guinea is the title given to a political leader. He has considerable power and influence over the people, and though it [ Read More ]
Perhaps not surprisingly, our male-dominated world has often marginalized women when it came to positions of power. The reasons for this are almost always based in our cultural expectations of women, which has been tolerant at best and despicable more often than not. Women have been forced to be resourceful, and it has been proven [ Read More ]
A recently published study by the American Medical Association has pointed out serious concerns about the poisoning of schoolchildren from local pesticides (5). Some people are quick to point out that, of the incidences reported, most of the cases were mild. But many of these chemicals created serious illnesses for some children and employees of [ Read More ]
For the past half century or more, the United States’ ideal of a family was the nuclear family. Though the definition has changed somewhat to be more inclusive, it has not changed the fundamental nature of it. Ideal though it may seem, there are drawbacks to this type of family, which has likely led to [ Read More ]
The issue of same-sex marriages has been a hot topic for many years, but not nearly as hot as it has been the past few. The most recent nation to legalize same-sex marriage is one that is very close to us, both physically and politically. On the 20th of July, Canada became the fourth nation [ Read More ]
1. Write a five-sentence summary about the whole paper, and try to make it mimic what your paper will look like when you’re done. The first sentence, like the first paragraph, is your introduction. The next three (or two, or four, or thirty, or whatever) sentences should be your “body†sentences, like the body paragraphs [ Read More ]
Since we are very young we are bombarded with images and ideas of romance. It is an important factor in our society and one that affects and reciprocates specific ideas about how relationships are supposed to form. There are problems inherent in this method of choosing mates, however, and they go beyond the purely superficial. [ Read More ]
Racial inequality has plagued our nation so long that even in today’s relatively enlightened culture we find various forms of prejudice and discrimination. In a predominantly white nation, the darker ones skin tone, the more likely you are to suffer from racial inequality. This separation creates less opportunity for social advancements such as political influence, [ Read More ]
It was generally held for a long time that hunting, the act of stalking live prey and then killing it, contributed a great deal to our natural aggressive tendencies. After all, it seems perfectly natural to imagine how this ruthless ability to assault another living creature would serve our ancestors capture much-needed food. The problem [ Read More ]
The G-8 was created out of the eight richest countries in the world in order to fight poverty in Africa. Poverty affects more people throughout the world than all of the citizens represented by their leaders in the G-8 conference. But poverty happens even in these countries, including the United States. It is not a [ Read More ]
There are three pervading hypotheses about the emergence of modern humans. While I was reading the summaries of the three hypotheses, I began to I favor the so-called multiregional hypothesis, which states that our species evolved relatively simultaneously in several parts of the Old World. I understood the logic behind the “Eve†hypothesis, which supports [ Read More ]
China has made an unsolicited offer to acquire one of the largest United States-based oil company, which would essentially double its oil and gas output (2). The organization that is making the offer, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company, is a state-run organization of the Chinese government. Because of the cultural differences between the capitalist [ Read More ]
Evolution is a product of the scientific process. It is often touted by critics as being “only a theory.†The irony is that if they truly understood the word theory, they would not be so quick to call it that. Our text describes the word as “an explanation of natural phenomena, supported by a reliable [ Read More ]
The recent terrorist attacks in London remind us that people are still willing to use the most extreme measures to make their voices heard. It seems now that more people condemn terrorism than ever before, and yet it continues even in one of the world’s safest nations. It is a difficult task to overcome terrorism, [ Read More ]
This is an old paper I wrote for a religion class, and I’m only leaving it here for posterity. I may replace it more concise version (because this one is too “college paperish”) once I feel the motivation. This version does not fully represent what I believe now. Agnosticism is the belief that it is [ Read More ]
There is a scene in the movie “The Matrix†(1999) where the main character, Neo, is visiting a so-called oracle. As he waits to see her, he looks at the other “potentials†that stay with her. These potentials, all children, are able to manipulate objects using what appears to be telekinesis. At one point, Neo [ Read More ]
We may not have been the first species to invent language, but we have honed our own language to extend beyond grunts and yells. We started with sticks and clay then moved to scrolls, then to codices, then parchment and paper, then fixed-type, then type writers, then computers, and now the Internet. The tools of [ Read More ]
Initially, I took my first poetry class because I thought that poetry and prose were two completely different things, and I needed to explore my poetic side. But, as the semester progressed, I quickly discovered that they are imperatively inseparable. Poetry keeps prose fresh, healthy, and beautiful. I have compared some of my prose from [ Read More ]
I grew up in this area, so I was around when KTXT became “Lubbock’s only alternative.†And, I’m old enough to remember the “this is your brain on drugs†commercials on TV. I agree that there are bad drugs out there that can harm people, but I also believe there are good drugs that can [ Read More ]
To make it perfectly clear, this is an analogy, as I do not have enough evidence to prove otherwise. We are born, and according to our DNA, in there is how we would respond to every question that could ever be asked or every event that could come before us. Whether or not it is [ Read More ]
10. Cracking down on Terrorism With the horrors of terrorism reaching so vast an audience, the world’s new focus on defeating terrorism may one day save us from each other and ourselves. 9. The Odds Are in Our Favor The chance of anyone dying today (or any other day) is always the same. The people [ Read More ]
I am not sure whom it is you are to complain to about these things, but I thought I would start here. I attend Texas Tech University, and I really enjoy having the opportunity to walk to class among the manicured landscape, relaxing fountains, attractive architecture and (fairly) diverse population, especially now that it is [ Read More ]
There was a computer class that I took in high school that was absolutely terrible. The school year was 1993-1994, and I was a sophomore. The teacher, Mrs. S——–, was snobby and spoke with a fake lisp. She taught us how to use a simple word processing program (that was already outdated), and that was [ Read More ]
Whether you like it or not, human cloning is on it’s way. In fact, it is so much on it’s way that it is quite possible that at the time of this writing, a human being may now be growing up as a direct result of being cloned. These ethical implications and moral questions are [ Read More ]