War is Ethically Wrong Essay Example for Free

War is Ethically Wrong Essay My thesis is that war is ethically wrong. My main argument goes as follows: Any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong; war kills innocent people without their direct consent. Therefore war is ethically wrong. The first premise of my main argument states that any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong. On average, many people would agree with this statement. To kill an innocent person for whatever reason would hold up as murder in a court of law. Yet, one might object to the part of the premise that states, direct consent. This leaves room to debate the questionable subject of euthanasia. By one giving direct consent to someone else to terminate their life, would, according to the premise be acceptable. Though euthanasia is not the subject of this paper it is important to understand that direct consent of the individual is essential to establish the unethical grounds of war. If direct consent to die was given by all innocent people in times of war then there would be no moral issue to discuss. Accordingly, imposing ones will, though the intentions may be good, is second-rate to the right of the individual to give direct consent in matters concerning their life. My second premise states that war kills innocent people without their direct consent. History has been a great teacher in proving to us that innocent people die in times of war. Yet, one could even argue that the soldiers in the war are considered innocent people and do not necessarily give their direct consent to be killed. This may sound ludicrous since often times a soldier goes into the military on his or her own free will. Yet, when the soldier signs up he or she never sends a letter or calls the enemy and states that the enemy has their direct consent to kill them. This is absolute nonsense. It is only indirectly that death comes about. It is never by choice or desire. When a soldier enlists he or she signs up to fight for the cause of there country, they did not sign up to be voluntarily slaughtered. This is also helpful to show the innocent nature of a soldier. On average most soldiers join the military because they believe that the cause they are defending is right. This is important to understand seeing that war is hardly ever one sided. Upon examining one can see that when nations are battling rarely does one side feel that they are the big, bad evil enemy. Both sides feel justified in their cause and are willing to fight for their beliefs. Even during World War II, Nazi Germany felt justified to rise from their poverty state and lash out against the nations that had oppressed them. This helps set the stage to understand why war is ethically wrong. If both sides feel that they are right in their cause then it is also easy to state that both sides are wrong. One might give the objection, What if a country invades my homeland, dont I have the right to protect myself by killing them? The answer to this question is an unwavering no. Great men such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have proven that one can throw off the shackles of tyranny without the shedding of blood. If you were to oppose your enemy by taking the life of an innocent person then you would be as guilty as your attacker. My first sub-premise is that everyone has the right to life. Simply by breathing you exercise your right to exist on the earth. From the beginning of civilizations there has always been rules or laws established to protect this right. Whether it has been the simple Mosaic law of thou shall not murder to the complex laws that we have today, the right to life has always been recognized as a universal principle for all people. My second sub-premise for my main argument is that killing an innocent person without their direct consent violates the right to life. A drunken husband comes home and savagely beats and kills his wife. With this example it is easy to see how the wifes right to life is being violated. Did the wife give her husband direct consent to beat and kill her, most likely not. Did the husband rationally think to ask his wife if he could brutally beat and kill her, again probably not. The act of killing an innocent person without their direct consent infringes on the right to life because the intrinsic  value of choice has been stolen away form the individual. This understanding leads to the finally sub-premise that it is ethically wrong to violate ones right to life. According to Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy the term ethical comes from the Greek word ethos, which means custom or usage. Plato used this term to mean a custom or usage to designate the right way of behaving. To violate ones right to life very easily falls under the wrong custom or usage of the right way of behaving or more simply put, it would be unethical. Whether a man beats and kills his innocent wife or nations war against each other there is no difference when it comes to the right to life. Without direct consent it is ethical wrong to violate ones right to life. Throughout this paper I have proven my thesis that war is ethically wrong by stating two main arguments, they were: Any action that kills an innocent person without their direct consent is ethically wrong; war kills innocent people without their direct consent. It is through these premises that one can see that the conclusion that war is ethically wrong, is valid and sound reasoning.

Education, Social Class and Self-Interest in Rebecca Rushs Novel Kelroy :: Rebecca Rush Kelroy Essays

Education, Social Class and Self-Interest in Rebecca Rush's Novel Kelroy Kelroy, by Rebecca Rush, was first published in 1812. Early American writers had a rough time writing "gothic" style writings because of the lack of history, which was not a problem faced by European writers. Kelroy is an extremely cynical view of American life and it was not well accepted by Americans, despite the fact that it is seen as "one of the best written [novels] in America before 1820"(231). Three themes from Kelroy, which demonstrate the focus of many early Americans, are Education, Social Class, and Self-Interest. Education was beginning to become extremely important in the early 1800's, especially for women. Reading habits of the characters was often emphasized in literary works of this time period because it was an important issue that was being faced. For example, in Kelroy, Mrs. Hammond "applied herself sedulously to the education of her daughters, and engaged a person to reside with them in quality of governess, who was, in her estimation, fully adequate to the task, since to a variety of accomplishments, she enjoyed an infinity of that species of self-important pride, which teaches its owner instinctively to shun the approaches of the vulgar. She also had masters from the city, to attend them at stated times: thus uniting in her plan, to real benefit, an air of lofty superiority"(4-5). However, Mrs. Hammond's motive behind educating her daughters was not necessarily for their benefit, but her own. The appearance of being able to afford educating her daughters, which would lead oth ers to believe that she was wealthy (and many did believe) was a key motivator for Mrs. Hammond. The ability to read was possessed by many women in the 1800's, but writing was not as common, which meant that Mrs. Hammond's daughters, as well as Mrs. Hammond, would have been considered better educated that most women because they could read and write. In contrast with the Hammond girls, we have Maria, from Royall Tyler's The Contrast, who reads the dreaded romantic novels, which is not considered to be a favored pastime. Speaking of Maria, Letitia says, "Why she read Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa Harlowe, Shenstone, and the Sentimental Journey, and between whiles, as I said, Billy's letters. But as her taste improved, her love declined"(1151).

Al Qaeda Network

Al qaeda the ‘terrorist network’ and Osama bin Laden have carried out a complicated ‘media campaign and ‘public relations’ over the last 10 years (qtd. in Bevy, 2006).As Bevy (2006) excerpted, â€Å"’terrorism-analyst’ think that these communications have been intended to draw out ‘emotional reactions’ and converse intricate ‘political messages’ to a worldwide viewers as well as to explicit populaces in the ‘Islamic world’, the U.S., Asia, and Europe.†A number of analyst and officials consider that ‘Al Qaeda’s messages’ hold signs that notify and educate operatives to get ready for and perform fresh attacks. Bin-Laden has referred to his ‘public-statements’ as significant chief sources for parties in quest to know Al Qaeda’s political demands and ideology.Osama bin Laden’s familiarities as a ‘financier’ and ‘logistical-coordinat or’ for the Arab and Afghan struggle to the ‘Soviet-Invasion’ of Afghanistan throughout the 198os are considered to have supplied backdrop for his principle that ‘Muslims’ can obtain valuable ‘military action’ motivated by ‘Islamic principles’ (Bevy, 2006).According to Bevy (2006), his contact to the philosophies of ‘conservative Islamist-scholars’ in Saudi Arabia and his work with the Arab activist in Afghanistan offered the ideological and theological foundation for his principle in the interest of ‘puritanical Salafist Islamic-reform’ in Muslim societies and the need of ‘armed resistance’ in the countenance of ‘perceived aggression’ – an idea Al-Qaeda has since connected with a commonly-binding ‘Islamic principle’ recognized as â€Å"defensive-jihad† (qtd. in Bevy, 2006).After a few years after he initiated setting up Arab volunteers to dispose of ‘Soviet forces’ from ‘Afghanistan', bin-Laden had a ‘vision’; the instant had come, he informed his friends, to start a ‘global jihad’, or’ Islamic holy-war’, in against to the crooked ‘secular-governments’ of the ‘Muslim Middle East’ and ‘Western-powers’ that maintained them (New York Times, 2001).Bin Laden, the ‘Saudi’ millionaire’, would utilize his campgrounds in Afghanistan to obtain ‘holy-warriors’ from around–the-world – who had at all times followed ‘local goals’ – and figure them into an ‘international-network’ which would wrestle to convey all Muslims under a ‘militant-version’ of ‘Islamic law’. At some stage in the ‘anti Soviet jihad’ Bin-Laden and his combatants have been given American and Saudi funding; a number of ‘analysts’ think Bin-Lad en himself had ‘security-training’ from the C.I.A. (BBC, 2004).Following the ‘Iraqi-invasion’ of Kuwait, Bin Laden articulated these analyses in resistance to the beginning of ‘foreign military-forces’ to Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden illustrated the presence of non-Muslim troops and U.S. in Saudi Arabia following 1991 Gulf-War as reason for transformed commitment to ‘defensive jihad’ and the endorsement of violence against the United States and Saudi government.What is Al Qaeda?Any number of theories has been advanced as to the origins of the name â€Å"Al Qaeda†, from a reference to a computer file revealing the identities of Arab veterans of the Afghanistan conflict (the database), to Osama bin Laden’s alleged high-tech headquarters, deep in the mountains of Afghanistan (the secret base), drawings of which – impressive though entirely fictitious – were produced by the American media when U. S. operations be gan in October 2001 (Chaliand & Blin, 2007).The name Al Qaeda, which instantly became the focus of the media attention following the August 1998 U. S. embassy bombings had long had mythical status. According to Chaliand and Blin (2007) Osama bin Laden himself had contributed to the mystery surrounding the name by never uttering it prior to the events of September 11. The groups’ leaders, in their internal communications, usually referred to it as â€Å"the society†, an internationally neutral appellation.In fact, it was ‘Abdallah Azzam who had named the organization; in 19888, the first signs of a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, ‘Azzam decided that he would not disband the Army of Arab volunteers he had created four years earlier but would use it to undertake a much vaster mission – re-conquest of the Muslim world (Chaliand & Blin, 2007).To that end, he needed a standing vanguard of fighters to serve as leaders of the umma; he coined the term al- qaeda al-sulbah (the solid base) for this, which was also the headline of an editorial he wrote in al-Jihad in 1988.

Oxbow Lakes - Information and Examples

Rivers flow across wide, river valleys and snake across flat plains, creating curves called meanders. When a river carves itself a new channel, some of these meanders get cut off, thus creating oxbow lakes that remain unconnected but adjacent to their parent river. How Does a River Make a Loop? Interestingly, once a river begins to curve, the stream begins to move more rapidly on the outside of the curve and more slowly on the inside of the curve. This then causes the water to cut and erode the outside of the curve and deposit the sediment on the inside of the curve. As the erosion and deposition continue, the curve becomes larger and more circular. The outer bank of the river where erosion takes place is known as the concave bank.   The name for the bank of the river on the inside of the curve, where sediment deposition takes place, is called the convex bank. Cutting off the Loop Eventually, the loop of the meander reaches a diameter of approximately five times the width of the stream and the river begins to cut the loop off by eroding the neck of the loop. Eventually, the river breaks through at a cutoff and forms a new, more efficient path. Sediment is then deposited on the loop side of the stream, cutting off the loop from the stream entirely. This results in a horseshoe-shaped lake that looks exactly like an abandoned river meander. Such lakes are called oxbow lakes because they look like the bow part of the yoke formerly used with teams of oxen. An Oxbow Lake Is Formed Oxbow lakes are still lakes, generally, no water flows in or out of oxbow lakes. They rely on local rainfall and, over time, can turn into swamps. Often, they ultimately evaporate in just a few years after having been cut off from the main river.   In Australia, oxbow lakes are called billabongs. Other names for oxbow lakes include  horseshoe lake, a loop lake, or cutoff lake.   The Meandering Mississippi River The Mississippi River is an excellent example of a meandering river that curves and winds as it flows across the Midwest United States toward the Gulf of Mexico. Take a look at a Google Map of Eagle Lake on the Mississippi-Louisiana border. It was once part of the Mississippi River and was known as Eagle Bend. Eventually, Eagle Bend became Eagle Lake when the oxbow lake was formed. Notice that the border between the two states used to follow the curve of the meander. Once the oxbow lake was formed, the meander in the state line was no longer needed; however, it remains as it was originally created, only now there is a piece of Louisiana on the east side of the Mississippi River. The length of the Mississippi River is actually shorter now than in the early nineteenth century because the U.S. government created their own cutoffs and oxbow lakes in order to improve navigation along the river. Carter Lake, Iowa Theres an interesting meander and oxbow lake situation for the city of Carter Lake, Iowa. This Google Map shows how the city of Carter Lake was cut off from the rest of Iowa when the channel of the Missouri River formed a new channel during a flood in March 1877, creating Carter Lake. Thus, the city of Carter Lake became the only city in Iowa west of the Missouri River. The case of Carter Lake made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Nebraska v. Iowa, 143 U.S. 359. The court ruled  in 1892 that while state boundaries along a river should generally follow the natural gradual changes of the river when a river makes an abrupt change, the original border remains.