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April 26, 2005
Presentation #10: Gun Control
Billy and Tim were playing around the house when Billy stumbled upon a magnum in his parent's bedroom. Thinking it was toy, Billy and Tim proceeded to play with the gun. A few minutes later Billy was pretending to shoot Tim and the gun went off accidentally. Tim falls to the ground - he is dead.
So now it is up to you to decide. What could have been done to prevent this tragedy? Should stricter laws be enforced for gun ownership? Should certain types of guns be banned altogether? What could be done to prevent situations like this from occurring?
Posted by seschmid at 09:42 AM | Comments (21)
April 19, 2005
Presentation #9: Abortion
Thus far, the position of the gay rights movement has been pro-choice. However, in recent news, the gay rights movement in Massachusetts has been lobbying the state legislature to pass a bill that would make it illegal for a woman to abort a fetus if it was found to be carrying the gay gene (in the event that a gay gene is ever found to exist). In other words, this legislation would protect an unborn fetus with a gay gene.
Is it right for a fetus to be protected under the law while another is aborted? Is it right to abort any fetus? If it is right that a certain fetus be protected under the law, then should every unborn child be protected under the law?
Posted by seschmid at 11:40 AM | Comments (26)
April 17, 2005
Held and Ethics of Care
Held argues that the forefathers of moral discourse have mistakeningly focused talk about morality only on those activities that occur in the public realm.
In "The Public and the Private" section, Held argues that one activity is perhaps the most important issue of morality. What is this activity? Why does she think it is so imporant? What might society look like if morality were to reflect this activity?
Posted by seschmid at 01:39 PM | Comments (2)
April 14, 2005
Presentation #8: Violence in the Media
The recent shool shooting in Minnesota was a blatent act of violence. It, like other acts of violence at schools, was extensively covered by the media.
To what extent do you think that the media influences acts of violence like this? Do people commit acts of violence in order to gain media attention? Or, are there other factors involved in these acts of violence?
In addition, does the news media have a responsibility to report on such events? Are there limits to what the media should report on?
Posted by seschmid at 09:34 AM | Comments (29)