Saturday, March 21, 2020
The First Amendment Essays (909 words) - , Term Papers
The First Amendment Persuasive speech The First Amendment I. Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? II. This is an example of what American citizens said when exercising their right of free speech during the era of the Vietnam War. III. The issue I've decided to speak about is the importance of our First Amendment rights. IV. There are three areas of the First Amendment that I am going to discuss. Namely: A. The right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for change. B. The right of the press to print whatever they want. C. And of course the right to practice the religion of your choice. Transition: Loosely translated, the First Amendment states that any citizen is guaranteed the right to believe what they want to believe, practice any religion they choose, and speak out about what they agree or disagree with. It is our right to assemble peaceably in protest (or support) and, when all else fails, petition the government for change when the system is not working. I. The fact that we can assemble peaceably and petition for a redress of grievances, is a privilege that guarantees unto us the right to be heard. Whether or not any progress is made is a different story, but we are allowed in any case to bring our discontentment to light. A. What if we were not allowed to gather together and speak our minds? 1. Such public displays of discontent are met with deadly force in other regions of the world. 2. In June of 1989, in the People's Republic of China, Tiananmen Square was the site of such a demonstration by university students. a. They were peacefully protesting for greater democracy and less corruption. b. The uprising was quelled by the military, and the press was conveniently blacked-out so that everything was cleaned up by the time foreign press could investigate. c. The true body count will never be known for certain. B. What if the United States was run in the same manner? What if we were not allowed to openly criticize the government and the way they run things? 1. In the 40's, the Nazis rounded up those that didn't conform, labeled them political enemies, and sent them to the same concentration camps that they sent to murder the gypsies and Jews of Europe. 2. This practice was also not uncommon to the North Vietnamese who frequently engaged in political re-education, which was simply another term for killing during the late 60's. Transition: I've just talked about the freedom to assemble and to talk about the government, what about the press? II. In light of events such as the recent Clinton/Lewinsky scandal in reference to the Ken Starr report, and the tragic death of Princess Diana, some might say that sometimes the freedom of the press is taken too far. A. Arguably, the Ken Starr report is one of the longest and most lurid wastes of taxpayer money ever put into print. 1. Some feel that it isn't necessary to include every little detail of the President's sexual indiscretions in a media circus for the entire world to see. 2. Do we really need to know what exactly transpired? We are not his judge or his jury. B. Also unnecessary is the need to engage in a high-speed chase in order to maintain one's privacy. 1. On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana was killed in an automobile accident while trying to escape paparazzi photographers-was this really necessary? 2. Does the freedom of the press outweigh the freedom of the individual? III. Also included in this Amendment is the freedom to establish any religion and free practice thereof (so long as it doesn't interfere with another citizen's life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness.) A. This does not hold true in all countries. 1. Recently, Cuba has celebrated Christmas for the first time since the communists took power in the 60's. 2. The government, having declared itself atheist in nature, decided that such a holiday would interfere with productivity and was, consequently banned. a. Industries such as sugar, which depended heavily on human labor, were no longer private corporations, but rather, they had been seized and their profits went to the now more demanding communist government. b. Mass absences for a religious holiday would not be tolerated and, likewise, be seen as an attempt to undermine the security of the nation's economy. B. That seems pretty harsh...skipping a day of work to celebrate the holiday with one's family is suddenly an act of treason? I. We must be aware of our rights, and we must fight to uphold them. A. We need
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Heather Ale by Robert Louis Stevenson
Heather Ale by Robert Louis Stevenson The poem Heather Ale by Robert Louis Stevenson is a ballad about the legendary Pict precursors to modern era Scots. In mythology, they may also be identified with pech, who were pixie-like creatures. They brewed heather ale and battled the Scots. Certainly, it would be convenient to be able to turn the abundant heather into an alcoholic beverage. Among the curiosities of human nature, this legend claims a high place. The historical Picts were a confederation of tribes in eastern and northern Scotland in the late Iron Age through the early medieval periods. The Picts were never exterminated. Today, they form a large proportion of the folk of Scotland: occupying the eastern and the central parts, from the Firth of Forth, or perhaps the Lammermoors, upon the south, to the Ord of Caithness on the north. Archaeological studies dont find the Picts to be much shorter than current-day Scots.  It may be a case of the victors writing the history. The last nominal king of Picts reigned in the early 900s AD. In fiction and motion pictures they are often depicted as tattooed, blue-painted woodland warriors. Did the elements of this legend stem from some ancestors who were small of stature, black of hue, dwelling underground and possibly also the distillers of some forgotten spirit? See Joseph Campbell’s Tales of the West Highlands. Heather Ale: A Galloway LegendRobert Louis Stevenson (1890) From the bonny bells of heather   They brewed a drink long-syne,Was sweeter far than honey,   Was stronger far than wine.They brewed it and they drank it,   And lay in a blessed swoundFor days and days together   In their dwellings underground.There rose a king in Scotland,   A fell man to his foes,He smote the Picts in battle,   He hunted them like roes.Over miles of the red mountain   He hunted as they fled,And strewed the dwarfish bodies   Of the dying and the dead.Summer came in the country,   Red was the heather bell;But the manner of the brewing   Was none alive to tell.In graves that were like children’s   On many a mountain head,The Brewsters of the Heather   Lay numbered with the dead.The king in the red moorland   Rode on a summer’s day;And the bees hummed, and the curlews   Cried beside the way.The king rode, and was angry,   Black was his brow and pale,To rule in a land of heather   And lack the Heather Ale.It fortuned that his vassals,   Riding free on the heath,Came on a stone that was fallen   And vermin hid beneath. Rudely plucked from their hiding,   Never a word they spoke:A son and his aged father-    Last of the dwarfish folk.The king sat high on his charger,   He looked on the little men;And the dwarfish and swarthy couple   Looked at the king again.Down by the shore he had them;   And there on the giddy brink- â€Å"I will give you life, ye vermin,   For the secret of the drink.†There stood the son and father   And they looked high and low;The heather was red around them,   The sea rumbled below.And up and spoke the father,   Shrill was his voice to hear:â€Å"I have a word in private,   A word for the royal ear.â€Å"Life is dear to the aged,   And honour a little thing;I would gladly sell the secret,†   Quoth the Pict to the King.His voice was small as a sparrow’s,   And shrill and wonderful clear:â€Å"I would gladly sell my secret,   Only my son I fear.â€Å"For life is a little matter,   And death is nought to the young;And I dare not sell my honour   Under the eye of my son.Take him, O king, and bind him,   And cast him far in the deep;And it’s I will tell the secret   That I have sworn to keep.†They took the son and bound him,   Neck and heels in a thong,And a lad took him and swung him,   And flung him far and strong,And the sea swallowed his body,   Like that of a child of ten;- And there on the cliff stood the father,   Last of the dwarfish men. â€Å"True was the word I told you:   Only my son I feared;For I doubt the sapling courage   That goes without the beard.But now in vain is the torture,   Fire shall never avail:Here dies in my bosom   The secret of Heather Ale.â€
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