Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Unforgiven Essay Example for Free

The Unforgiven Essay For the final essay, the movie I will be writing about is based on the Clint Eastwood’s movie â€Å"Unforgiven.† Clint Eastwood portrays a story of William Munny, a killer and aging outlaw who has taken up one more job after years of external and internal peace. In the movie, the plot begins as to why William does decide to come back for one last rendez-vous with death. Taking place in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a group of prostitutes, led by Strawberry Alice, offer a $1,000 reward to whoever can kill â€Å"Davey-Boy† Bunting and Quick Mike. The reason that these bounties were places is because these two individuals disfigured Delilah Fitgerald, a prostitute who is one of their own. An important factor to keep in mind in this situation is that the prostitutes greatly exaggerated the factual events that transpired, and the story that was sent out to the public â€Å"bounty hunters† was based on a major over exaggeration and so much to that point that it was not factually based. However, the idea of these bounty that was sent out by the prostitutes upsets Little Bill Daggett, the local sheriff, who himself was a former gunfighter but is not a converted keepers of peace who has taken the law upon himself and has dis-allowed guns and criminals in his town. What Little Bill does in this town is take the law into his own hands. While there is some sort of legal system in place in this town, the prostitutes have no rights under the system and according to Little Bill, it is up to him to decide what should be done in this situation. He is always taking the laws in his own hands. In this specific case, Little Bill gives these two men leniency despite the crime that they have committed. Will, hearing the over exaggerated version of the factual events, decides to come to this town and hunt and kill these two men not only for retribution for the prostitutes but to also collect the reward money. Using the reasoning of Kant, Mill, and Aristotle, I will analyze this entire current situation in the movie and using these different thinkers then compare and contrast who would agree with each other and who would disagree with each other. The first thinker I will bring up is Kant. The first issue that comes up in the state situation is justice which then leads into the rest of the problems presented in the beginning of the story. What the prostitutes did  to Will is actually manipulate him because what the factual events was greatly differed that the story that was presented to him. As a result, Mill was manipulated into making his decision to help solve the prostitute’s problem, and by him being manipulated into making this decision the prostitutes took away his free choice. Immanuel Kant is against taking away people’s free choice. There are three imperatives that are used by Kant to determine if a certain deed should be done. The three imperatives include the universal law based on principle, the means end formula (never treat anyone as a means but always as an end), autonomy formula (act in accordance to the maxim of a member that legislates the law)or the people who make the law are moral and thus the laws must be followed. When taking in consideration the universal law, what Kant is saying is that the acts act according only to maxim and thus must be applied to everybody. In this situation, the following maxim could be read as â€Å"if a prostitute is attacked, then it is ok to pay for someone to come in and seek vengeance.† The maxim for the prostitutes is to pay for justice and if applied to everyone this maxim would definitely not work and the world would become more chaotic and dangerous if this were a true maxim. The second part of the imperative deals with the means end formula. This states that one should never treat anyone as a mean but always as an end. In other words, do not use someone just for your benefit at the expense of another person’s but at the same time the other person should be getting something back in return that they need. All information needs to be presented in a factual way to help the person make a decision that they really want. With this being said, the prostitutes are using Will merely as a mean because what they did was lie to him. By exaggerating the truth, the prostitutes manipulated Will and use him as a mean to get justice among themselves. While there was indeed a reward for him, his decision to do this for the money was based on a wrong assumption because he was told a lie. His free will was taken away to make this decision because he was told the truth about what happened and if he did know the actual true events he may not have made the decision that he made. The last part of Kant’s three imperative is the autonomy formula. The autonomy formula talks about how acts should be followed according to the maxim that regulates law because the people that make the law are moral thus they should be followed because moral acts will help build a moral society.  However, the prostitutes would not have to follow the law based from Little Billy because this certain law was made from an immoral person and thus since it comes from an immoral person that only means that the law will be immoral. The next thinker that we will use to examine the following situation is the great mind of Mill. Mill says that a right is an expectation that society will help protect other people’s rights. Just can vary from each person and that the difference that does exist in society means that there is a different kind of equality. Utilitarianism is what brings the ideas all together. This states that if the majority of the people are happy then the act or deed should be done. The idea presented my Mill in utilitarianism is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. In the following situation from Clint Eastwood’s movie, Mill would don’t condone what has occurred because it is unjust to deprive anyone of anything that is legally their liberty or property. It is unjust to kill the two cowboys because he was never convicted of the crime that he did commit. The prostitutes should have had rights, and the two cowboys should have their voice heard in a trial. Mill would say that there is a bad law in place towards these prostitutes and the sheriff has rights in this town that he should not have. According to utilitarianism, it is wrong to harm certain individuals in order to make other people happy. In this instance, Will is killing these two individuals because this will make the prostitutes happy. John Stuart mill would be against this and so for Will to go and kill these two men is wrong in the eyes of the great philosopher Mill. The final thinker that will be used to examine the following situation is the great Greek philosopher Aristotle. To Aristotle, the law should be respected and if you do not respect the law then what you are doing is rejecting the government. The sheriff in town has placed un-just laws to the people. However, if these laws are not followed then what the people are doing is doing un-just to the community. To Aristotle, in order to have properly fixed the problem is that there needs to a mediator, one whom is un-biased and will look at each individual case down the middle and determine whether or not a disciplinarian action needs to occur. There needs  to be the right to a trial for a person to be properly convicted. This directly relates to the two cowboys who were punished without the mediator and â€Å"their day in court.† Aristotle would also say that the prostitutes should have right and the males who committed the crime should be trialed by law and a proper punishment, if any, would be warranted by an un-biased mediator of who would not include Little Bill. He is a very biased individual and Aristotle would be very against him and the actions that he is placing on society. To Aristotle, it will be no surprise to have heard that Will would take this job and to go back to killing. To Aristotle, it is very hard to break a habit that one did for so many years. Aristotle would not say that Will does an evil behavior, but instead Will has bad character traits. The habits he grew up with were not very good with the constant killings he did. As he killed more and more he got into the habit of killing, and for him to break this bad habit of killing is only going to get harder and harder as he not only kills but gets older continuing to kill. Deep down he already knew how to kill, and when the situation presented him his old habits came out and decided to go back and kill again. Aristotle would be against Will’s killing because it is not adding to his own happiness . These acts are immoral and his happiness is not reaching his full potential with the action that Will has done to these two other cowboys. After going over what the three great philosophers have said about the same situation, in my opinion Aristotle and Mill agree with each other the most because they both say how you need the community to be happy. They both correlate with each other. Aristotle is about the action itself and this directly disagrees with as to what Kant believes. This is why Aristotle and Kant both disagree with each other the most. As Aristotle is more about the action itself, Kant is all about the intent of the action. Aristotle and Mill would again agree because he says that the prostitutes should have rights and that the males should have been held on a fair trial. This eliminated the sheriffs and what he feels right according to himself and instead there would be a non-biased individual who will not already be prone to one side or the other like Little Billy was evident by his actions in the movie. In conclusion, Mill, Aristotle, and Kant all have some similar but different points about how the same situation should have been handled. Some were similar, and others were very different. It is my opinion that I agree most with Aristotle. He talks about having a non-biased individual (the judge in today’s society) and how everyone deserves rights including the prostitutes who had no rights in the movie. He is against Will going to kill for vengeance and also agrees with how people who have too much power and make immoral laws should lose that power for the benefit of the community. Ultimately, I agree with all of them because they bring up different but valid point. In the end, I agree the most with Aristotle because what he says is very similar in what steps would be taken in modern society today. With this being said, justice is still very unfair in today’s society. There are still these bounty killings and many of them do get away because of a lack of evidence or some other cause that prevents a judge from getting a conviction. Nevertheless, justice is many times unfair in today’s modern world, but improvements are being made and the judicial systems are doing the absolute best job they can do to bring justice to criminals and to get modern bounty hunters off the streets to make society a better and nicer place to live in.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Carolyn Forche and The Country Between Us :: Country Between Us Essays

Carolyn Forche and The Country Between Us      Ã‚   While reading Carolyn Forche's poetry in her book The Country Between Us, I often wondered what this woman has gone through while spending her time in El Salvador. She lived in El Salvador during an ugly state: a time when this country was in the middle of a civil war and bloodshed. All those acts of cruelty that she faced and so clearly wrote about must have been troublesome on her heart. And now thanks to her we can understand a piece of history and the cruelty of mankind through her poems. These poems that strike interest in our minds, would seem as if they would still strike fear in hers. That is, to overcome those terrible memories would take a lifetime, if that were even conceivable. But in her final poem of this book she suggests that these unforgettable details can possibly be put aside. This poem she dedicates to Terrence Des Pres, someone who also has gone through similar tragedies and titles it "Ourselves Or Nothing." The experiences they had and endu red, Terrence Des Pres and Carolyn Forche, in turn, allowed Forche the stamina and fortitude which she encouraged within Des Pres, and thus dedicated her writing to him.    Terrence Des Pres was a friend of Carolyn Forche's. He too was an author that wrote great contemporary poetry, the most significantly a poetic work called The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps. He had written this literary novel upon witnessing the tragedies occurring during the Holocaust of World War II, an event that we understand to be one of the most inhumane and gruesome events of human recollection. The Holocaust intrigued him and captured his mind and soul. Besides completion of his novel he taught at Colgate University a literature course on the Holocaust. And from his experiences, as summarized of Des Pres in the Triquarterly Fall 1996, he taught students of what he repeatedly called the "dark times" of 20th-century political life. But all these experiences he faced, and the constant reminder of them carried a great price. He drank a lot, especially as his work on the Holocaust grew more harrowing. It is noted, once while writing his book he thought he was having a heart attack, but he was medically fine; instead his memories of the Holocaust had been squeezing at his chest causing psychosomatic symptoms.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Indian Civilization

INDIAN CIVILIZATION Also called Indus Valley Civilization; the earliest in South Asia Contemporary with Bronze Age civilizations in pre-dynastic Egypt, Mesopotamia Compared to the other Bronze Age civilizations, Indus Valley Civilization was unspectacular Early civilizations of the Indian sub-continent were centred on two major river valleys: The Indus River and its tributaries, especially the Saraswati River Valley (2600-1500BCE) – associated with Dravidians. Called Harappan Culture The Ganges River Valley (1500-500BCE) – associated with the Aryans. Called the Vedic Age. Along the Indus & Saraswati, there were two major centres of this civilization: Mohenjodaro and Harappa hence Harappan Culture Other cities of this civilization include Kalibagan, Chanhudaro & Doraji in Gujerat Origins and Development This civilization appears as fully developed & distinctive culture; little is known about the cultures that came before it or the factors that led to its development Recent research indicates that antecedents of this civilization can be found at Mehrgarh on the western edge of the Indus plains Evidence that domestication of plants & animals, pottery production and village life began here Around 3200 – 2600 BCE, several pre-urban cultures existed in Indus Plains and the western hill valleys that show aspects of the Harappan culture HARAPPAN CULTURE: CHARACTERISTICS Built on irrigation-based agriculture. Irrigation based on dikes and drains. Barley and wheat the most important crops; grains stored in granaries in Harappa and Mohenjodaro (as a form of tax? ) Domesticated animals cattle, water buffalo, goats, pigs, donkeys Trade was very important; extensive trade connections with areas around the Arabian Sea & up the Persian Gulf to Mesoptamia Fortified cities; well-planned with straight streets intersecting at right angles; a system of underground drains and sewers Buildings made of baked bricks. At Mohenjodaro, multi-roomed houses have been recorded Thickness of walls and remains of staircases point to the existence of upper floors Skilled artisans including bead makers, metal workers, cotton weavers and potters Potters made painted pots decorated with nimal figures, water jars, cooking & drinking vessels & storage vessels Metal workers produced copper and bronze vessels, silver and gold ornaments Other artisans produced the square and rectangular seals from steatite & other soft rocks Seals had an animal carved in negative relief and a line of script that could be read when the seal was stamped on wet tablet Seals were used to authenticate messages. The script on the seals revealed the name, lineage, social identity or the public office held by seal-owner Seals could also have been worn as talismans or amulets They are the only examples of writing from this period 400 pictographs/characters have been identified so far, but the script is not fully deciphered RELIGION Little is known about the early religions of the Indus River Valley in these early times However, many elements of India’s religious heritage today are evident from some seals from Harappa and Mohenjodaro. A seal from Mohenjodaro has a human-like figure with three heads wearing a headdress and sitting in the Yoga position. He is surrounded by animals: elephants, rhinos, water buffalo, deer etc. Thought to be a Prototype of the popular Hindu god, Shiva (the Lord of Beasts) Seal impressions and clay figurines from Harappa depict a female deity with conspicous sexual organs = thought to represent the goddess of fertility FALL & DECLINE Harappan Culture declined and fell around 1500 BCE; Harappa, Mohenjodaro and other cities were abandoned and their populations dispersed into smaller settlements There was a reversal of achievements: writing was forgotten and much of northern India returned to village life REASONS FOR DECLINE/FALL 1. Possible flooding along the Indus, affecting the densely populated areas and cities 2. Shifts in patterns of long distance trade with Mesopotamia and other regions 3. Changes in subsistence farming; rice cultivation was introduced along the Ganges Basin and had taken root by 1500BCE; millet was introduced in Gujerat. So new environments were opened for farming where conditions were unsuitable for wheat and barley 4. Major geological disturbances near the source of Saraswati river, causing it to dry up, catastrophically disrupting agriculture downstream. 5. Invasion by the Aryans (Arya = noble) who came from the northern steppes of Europe REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE ARYANS A highly developed spoken language that tended to displace other tongues that it encountered Better military organization: horse-drawn war chariots and weapons made from iron which was superior to bronze GANGES RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS Aryans became sedentary landowners along the Ganges; others became traders on the river Crafts became more specialized & increased in complexity; produced iron ploughs, luxury items for trade Urban centres re-emerged with substantial populations of artisans, traders, resident landowners, priests, warriors Major metropolises along the Ganges include Patna, Benares (which is still a holy city for Hindus even today) SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Early Indian societies were matriarchal (i. e. headed by women) and matrilineal (inheritance was through the female side of the family). This changed with the coming of the Aryans who were patriarchal Before the Aryans, husbands lived with the wife’s family; the wife’s family paid dowry. After Aryans, wife’s were required to move to the husband’s family, bring substantial dowries and accept husband’s authority The caste system was introduced at this time. Basis for caste division was social and economic rather than racial Originally there were four castes: 1. Sudras = cultivators of land, manual labourers, domestic servants 2. Vaisyas = landowners, artisans, herdsmen, merchants . Kshatriyas = the warrior nobility 4. Brahmans = priests, scholars The caste system became a dominant factor in shaping Indian society Economic specialization & division of labour played a role in the evolution of the caste e. g. Brahmans engage freely in other occupation, avoiding those considered to be polluting The hierarchy embodied in the caste system also applies to the cosmic order; the ranking order o f the caste (from pure to impure) corresponded to the ascending order of the divinities as well POLITICAL ORGANIZATION Not much is known about the political organization in India before the coming of the Aryans However, we know that Harappans had adopted the city as a means of organizing & controlling their civilization Up to five major Harappan cities are known: Harappa after which the civilization is named; Mohenjodaro, Kalibagan, Chanhudaro & Doraji Aryans were loosely organized into families, clans and tribes. Tribes were headed by chiefs/kings called Rajas, most of whom were elected or chosen by rotation from the leading families Rajas shared political power with councils of elders & assemblies of adult males There were two forms of states in India: Republics and Kingdoms In the Republics, rajas continued to rule in conjunction with powerful councils and the assemblies while in the Kingdoms, the power of the rajas grew at the expense of the councils & the assemblies. Most often, power became hereditary Monarchies developed administrative systems headed by chief priests and military leaders Close alliance between kings & priests; Brahmans were involved in the consecration of new kings; the kings supported the emerging Hindu priesthoods RELIGION Again, little is known about early religion in Harappan India. However, we know that religion in early India was a form of polytheism People of Harappan culture worshipped a goddess whose clay figurines have been recovered in Harappa & Mohenjodaro Aryans introduced new gods including: Indra = the god of war Agni = The spirit of the sacrificial fire Varuna = the lord of the big sky Aryans sacrificed to these divinities by slaughtering dozens, even hundreds of animals & sometimes humans too Sacrifices were accompanied by hymns, prayers & rituals. The hymns were passed on through generations to become core of the Hindu scriptures, the vedas HINDUISM Hinduism emerged from the merging of the gods of the Aryans and those of the conquered Dravidians Early Hindus saw some of their gods in the shape of animals (anthropomorphic divinities) such as snakes, the sacred cow etc However, Hinduism did evolve to engage in philosophical search for the deepest spiritual principle of the universe The most important gods of the Hindu faith are: Brahma = the creator god; also called the Absolute Being or the World/Universal Soul Vishnu = the preserver of the universe Shiva = the dancing divinity with four arms and the destroyer of all things; also the Lord of Beasts The concept of Brahma later subsumed all the three gods (Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva). Brahma personified the concept of a deity that could be worshipped; Brahman (as the title for the priestly class) is a derivative of the same word Brahman can also be described as the universal principle that underlies all that exists, the spiritual essence permeating the entire cosmos & the one hidden in all things; hence reincarnation THE VEDAS Today, Hinduism is based on the vedas, the sacred books of the Hindu religion. Vedas are believed to have been divinely inspired. There are four vedas: 1. Yajurveda: a manual of sacrifice for the officiating priest 2. Atharvaveda: a catalogue of charms & spells supposed to be effective in curing illnesses, arousing passion in the object of one’s desire or in destroying one’s enemies 3. Rig Veda (means â€Å"verses of wisdom† or â€Å"knowledge†): a compilation of more than 1000 poems composed between 1500-900 BCE, addressed to various Aryan gods. For example one of the poems is dedicated to Indra who is described as the god of thunder who pierced the bellies of the mountains to release waters (possibly referring to annual floods caused by the melting of snow in the Himalayas). Another poem appeals for protection of goddess Night whose radiance was believed to drive away darkness Another poem is by a gambler lamenting an unlucky throw of the dice which has caused his wife to repel him and his mother-in-law to hate him. 4. Upanishads (meaning â€Å"sitting down near†): These are philosophical treatises in prose and verse. They are cast in the form of dialogues between teacher and student They examine the nature of reality and the problem of man’s place in the universe. They reveal a genius for conceptual reasoning still admired today. †¢Upanishads teach that evil is the fruit of ignorance; that the pursuit of wisdom is pursuit of the highest possible good and that attainment of wisdom bestows both power and virtue †¢Main Teachings: The Absolute Being/World Soul is the only supreme reality Material world is an illusion (or maya); it is not permanent †¢That individual souls go through a cycle of rebirth; the soul seeks to reach nivarna (spiritual liberation) †¢That the soul can escape the cycle of rebirth by union with the Absolute Being. The individual soul (atman) is actually a fragment of Brahman, the Universal Soul. OTHER ASPECTS OF HINDUISM The concept of brotherhood of all living things embodied in the concepts of reincarnation and transmigration of souls, karma and ahimsa The Hindu faith holds that each human soul is reborn/reincarnated in the body of some other creature – human, animal, plant or even supernatural being over & over again The precise form one takes on reincarnation depends on karma or the actions one takes in the present life Good and pious life – you may be reborn as a Brahman or other high caste; a life of self-indulgence & sin – you may live your next life as a worm, dog or something else Members of lowly castes were encouraged to diligently do their duties to be born to higher status Dharma (faithful performance of one’s assigned role) and Karma (merits and demerits earned as a result of action) cemented loyalty to the prescriptions of caste. Thus doctrine of transmigration of souls reinforced the caste system Ahimsa refers to the doctrine of nonviolence; first emerged among the Jains before adoption by others in Indian society Meditation – Hindus belief that one might escape endless rounds of lives filled in with human suffering through meditation (i. e. the mystical concentration of all psychic forces) The goal of Yogi meditation is the submergence of one’s ego in the supreme unity of Brahman. This is achieved through spiritual enlightenment: that all differences are illusions (or maya) & that all that really exists is the totality of Brahman, the Absolute Being BUDDHISM Has origins in religious reforms in Indian society in the 6th century BCE. These reforms produced the spiritual teachers or gurus The gurus were later described as the naked philosophers (or the gymnosophists) because they walked naked in the rain and the sun to discipline the flesh Also fasted for long periods of time & engaged in exhausting exersices that developed into the sacred discipline of yoga Two leading gurus were Mahavira (540-476 BCE) & Prince Siddartha or Gautama (563-483 BCE) Mahavira founded Jainism & Gautama founded Buddhism Gautama was given the title of Buddha (the Enlightened One) by his followers; was born in the Himalayas, present day Nepal GAUTAMA’S TEACHINGS He denied the existence of a soul; taught that only matter existed (in opposition to teaching of Upanishads) Because matter was always in a state of flux, he recognized no Absolute Being or any fixed universal principle other than constant change Even gods were subject to laws of growth & decay; the universe is forever becoming He retained the concept of karma; he believed that the root of suffering is desire (i. e. he pursuit of unattainable goals because the objects sought are fleeting & unreal) In this sense, he agreed with orthodox Hinduism that worldly things are an illusion or maya To reach Nivarna, one should recognize & reject worldly desires as blind follies; cultivate unselfishness, compassion & honesty; reject injury to others such as murder, theft & adultery; choose a life that does not bring harm to other living things 500 years after Buddhism was founded, it split into two major divisions: Hinayana School ( the Lesser Vehicle) and Mahayana School (the Greater Vehicle) HINAYANA SCHOOL So called because it emphasized individual salvation; claimed that a diligent person could attain nivarna in three lifetimes Bodhisattva – successive incarnations of the Buddha Denied existence of a soul; does not recognize the founder of Buddhism as a god. However, prayers, gifts of flowers & incense may be offered to his image Found in Sri Lanka, Bu rma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia & Laos MAHAYANA SCHOOL Mahayana sets as its goal the redemption of the entire human race; worships Buddha as a god The concept of Bodhisattva – represents the Buddha-elect, an individual who has won enlightenment but chooses to remain in the world for the liberation of others; agreeing to suffer as ransom for all human beings Everyone is potentially a Bodhisattva & may become a Buddha. It embodied as cardinal virtues love, piety, joy & serenity Mahayana Buddhism found in China, Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal & Japan, but it disappeared in India in later centuries JAINISM Founded by Mahavira; it is contemporary with & in many respects parallel to Buddhism. Mahavira broke radically with traditional religions, rejected both their deities and their scriptures Doctrines of Jainism To Mahavira, the material universe is real, but it is filled with an infinite number of souls lodged in living creatures & inanimate things Rejected the concept of an overriding World Soul & taught that individual souls are held in bondage by matter; this bondage is perpetuated through successive births by operation of karma Because every action produces karma and karma adds weight to the chains of bondage, the only route to escape is to avoid action altogether; thus nivarna represents a place of absolute passivity Mahavira prescribed a regime of extreme asceticism, ideally culminating in death through self-starvation. Despite its atheistic tendencies, Jainism did resemble a true religion with prayers, holy scriptures and gods. Today, there are about 2 million Jains in southern and western India Prominent in Jain faith is the doctrine of ahimsa or non-injury to living things; it imposes taboos against slaughter of not only of animals but even insects. Ahimsa contributed ethical suppo rt to the ideal of pacifism Since Jainism ruled out the practice of agriculture, Jains turned to trade & money-lending, becoming some of the wealthiest in Indian society ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE VEDIC AGE Medicine: dissection, delicate surgeries; thorough knowledge of human anatomy; study of embryology Knowledge of astronomy: the first to suggest that the earth revolves on its axis & that the earth rotates around the sun Mathematics: were the first to extract square & cube roots; used the decimal system; invented the principle of zero, eventually adopted by the rest of the world; Arabic numbers in use today originated in India; advances in algebra Literature: Two epic poems: Mahabharata & Ramayana Mahabharata – the longest poem in the world with over 10,000 verses. About the struggle between two powerful Indian clans, but gods were involved also Ramayana – a romantic story of Prince Rama who rescues his lovely wife Sita fromRavana, the demon king of Ceylon Arthasastra a political commentary

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Should Tobacco Cigarettes Be Harmful - 1018 Words

As the world’s population increases and technology progresses, we are constantly creating and discovering substances that can be harmful to our health. It is widely accepted that tobacco cigarettes are linked to cancer and lung disease, which is often a reason why people decide to quit. Due to the addictive nature of nicotine, a component of cigarettes, people have developed products in hopes of combatting this dangerous addiction. Nicotine replacement products come in different forms, such as gum, patches, and electronic cigarettes. While these creations are believed to aid in gaining back independence from cigarette addiction, there is some doubt as to whether the relief they provide outweighs the risks. Schober et al. determined from their data that the emissions from electronic cigarettes can be harmful to users and anyone subject to the secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes. The tests performed by Schober et al. consisted of an aerated room with nine subjects. All subjec ts smoked infrequently and claimed to be healthy at the time of testing. The subjects were asked to use the electronic cigarettes, in the room provided, in order to collect and analyze their expiration contents with several machines. Subjects were also asked to provide urine samples before the test and for 24 hours afterwards. Having collected data, it was found by Schober et al. that â€Å"Nicotine levels were on average 22% above the manufacturers declaration of 18 mg/mL† which shows the current lack ofShow MoreRelatedE Cigarettes, The Next Big Thing1612 Words   |  7 PagesE-Cigarettes, the Next Big Thing The Los Angeles Times states: â€Å"Electronic Cigarettes are either a potent weapon in war against tobacco, or they are insidious menace that threatens to get kids hooked on nicotine and make smoking socially acceptable again† (Morin). E-cigarettes are now becoming more widespread, especially among young people. 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Smoking a cigarette is an acquired behavior and that makes it the most preventable cause of death in our society. Cigarettes contain nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. The main ingredient in cigarettes is tobacco . The nicotine in cigarettes is very addictive and when smoke containingRead MoreTobacco And Its Effect On America987 Words   |  4 PagesA cigarettes main ingredient is tobacco. Tobacco was found in Mayan Indian’s carvings showing tobacco use. The drawings were found somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Tobacco was smoked out of pipes or rolled up into leaves. â€Å"Two main types of tobacco are involved in early history. The tobacco used by North American natives that the English first smoked was a somewhat dreadful variety nicknamed â€Å"shoestring† by colonists. Tobacco is a very adaptable plant that can be grown anywhere and morphs into somethingRead MoreHarmful Effects of Smoking1418 Words   |  6 PagesHarmful effects of smoking Doan Thi Huong Thao BAIU08155 International University HCMC Academic English 2 Bien Thi Thanh Mai Instructor May 17, 2010 Abstract Smoking is known to be a primary cause of harmful effects on health, family, environment and society. However, scientist research in health and environment, that researches show that smoking cause many diseases, even lung cancer. An aim of my study has been to determine that smoking also effect on family and society. Results indicatedRead MoreShould Smoking Be Public Spaces?1721 Words   |  7 PagesWith over 300 million smokers around the globe, it begs the question of how their choice to smoke cigarettes is not only affecting themselves in the short run but also long term. Short term effects include frequent cough, colds, bronchitis, as well as pneumonia. The long-term effects are much grimmer than the short term. Long term effects include but not limited to cancer of the throat, lung, and mouth. Smoking also increases the chances of stomach, kidney, and pancreatic cancer Women who smoke whileRead More Banning Cigarettes Essay800 Words   |  4 Pagesdeaths is the common cigare tte. Death, however, is not the only transgression cigarettes are responsible for. Cigarettes pose a clear threat to the public, to the economy, and to the planet. Without a doubt, the government should ban cigarettes on account of the fact that they are harmful to the economy, to the body, and to the environment. The government should ban cigarettes because they hurt the economy. Essentially, cigarettes rob the economy of wealth. One area where cigarette smoking is costly