pevergreen
11-01-2008, 12:57
So its finally here. I have to turn up to high school ten more times (7 days of classes, two days for exams, then once for the graduation day). Right now, I'm nearly completed my final assignment of high school, an English argumentative oral. I sit next to a good friend, and have not beaten him in marks for quite a while (read: over a year, he constantly gets one or two higher, I get a B6, he gets a B7. Would have beaten him in that if I quoted at all :furious3:), so I'm enlisting you guys to help out! (don't worry, I get to credit you all!)
The task is to "Arge that an issue present in Arthur Miller's The Crucible and two newsprint items is grounds for a call in change in the action of handling of a crisis, with the issue being "the fear of losing control can dominate/override common sense" You also must take on a persona (I am a modern day marxist)
two articles: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSTRE49E99F20081015?sp=true
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12341996
Without further talking:
My friends, you have been misguided! Nearly two hundred years ago, a great man walked this earth! I come again to show you how he was right. The current global financial crisis affects us all, there is no escaping from it. From the lowliest blue collar worker, to the highest executive manager, everyone has been affected. But the way this has been handled is atrocious! Some of you may ask why the thoughts of Karl Marx would serve as a better course of action, but it is quite clear that he was correct. I can prove through the work of Arthur Miller, The Crucible and two news texts, that there are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense. Even the newspapers agree, saying that “[it] would make Marx smile if he could rise from his grave.”
The global economic crisis has been hyped up so much by the media, it is unbelievable! Allow me to create an analogy to The Crucible, the courts that are set up in Salem to hunt witches just spread the fear of something that is not true. The governments of the world are yet again causing people to overreact to a problem. The very basis of how the witch hunt spread through Salem was the ideas planted by the higher authorities, the need to pass the blame along. Mr. Hale plants ideas in the children’s minds, he gives them the idea of accusing others. Mr. Hale even provides the answers to his own questions! Mr. Hale says “Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you – perhaps a pig, a mouse, or any beast at all. Is there some figure bids you fly.” Mr. Hale has instilled fear into the people of Salem, but also provided a way out into innocence, the by-product of blaming others.
The Economist writes that “Governments have been dealing with it disaster by disaster. They have struggled to gain control not just because of the speed of contagion but also because policymakers, and the public they serve, have failed fully to grasp the breadth and depth of the crisis.” The television and newspaper and internet all spread the doom and gloom. The few that have the keys to solving this crisis, the professionals who know the impact of actions and such in the world market are ignored in the face of the fear of losing control. Governments and the people seek to hold on to what they control. The greedy attempt to discredit and ruin others to gain what they have, as seen by Mr. Putnam in the Crucible. Giles Corey catches him at it, but the judges are too caught up, their common sense is gone with the fear, that they have no choice but to disregard it. Giles put in his deposition that “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property – that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbours for their land!”
There are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense. With the common person only being informed of how everyone is losing their money and that all the banks are seising their assets and holding the cold hard cash to their chests, as it’s the only thing that they can believe in anymore, that it must be the correct course of action, what other choice do the people have? Much like Tituba, who is forced to either confess to witchcraft or be whipped to death, people are choosing what will keep them alive. The fear that is spread only gives people one option. The truth, either from the economic professionals or from John Proctor and Mary Warren is cut down, shut out in the maniacal frenzy that is a world dead set on staying where it is. If people could only calm down and come to their senses, the fact that there is a solution, it might take some hard work, but it will work. Capitalism is dead, much like the sense of the familiar in The Crucible is taken away.
“Capitalism as we used to know it is on its deathbed. And those who predicted that the old brand, the unfettered, American-promoted system, was a danger to the world, are being vindicated. They include Karl Marx, whose thinking on banks seems oddly contemporary these days.” States Reuters, which is not alone in its criticism of America. The Economist also reports that “Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, who rashly declared on September 25th that America was “the source…and the focus of the crisis”” Even a finance minister is looking for someone else to blame, someone to take the rap for maybe their misgivings. Abigail Williams is able to blame her shortcomings on the “work” of Tituba, saying “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body!” and “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!”
Not quite finished, but I would welcome some thoughts on where I can support my argument. I think I've rambled on a bit too much as well.
My thesis is: There are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense.
Bad I know :tongue:
thanks for any help I may/may not receive!
The task is to "Arge that an issue present in Arthur Miller's The Crucible and two newsprint items is grounds for a call in change in the action of handling of a crisis, with the issue being "the fear of losing control can dominate/override common sense" You also must take on a persona (I am a modern day marxist)
two articles: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSTRE49E99F20081015?sp=true
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12341996
Without further talking:
My friends, you have been misguided! Nearly two hundred years ago, a great man walked this earth! I come again to show you how he was right. The current global financial crisis affects us all, there is no escaping from it. From the lowliest blue collar worker, to the highest executive manager, everyone has been affected. But the way this has been handled is atrocious! Some of you may ask why the thoughts of Karl Marx would serve as a better course of action, but it is quite clear that he was correct. I can prove through the work of Arthur Miller, The Crucible and two news texts, that there are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense. Even the newspapers agree, saying that “[it] would make Marx smile if he could rise from his grave.”
The global economic crisis has been hyped up so much by the media, it is unbelievable! Allow me to create an analogy to The Crucible, the courts that are set up in Salem to hunt witches just spread the fear of something that is not true. The governments of the world are yet again causing people to overreact to a problem. The very basis of how the witch hunt spread through Salem was the ideas planted by the higher authorities, the need to pass the blame along. Mr. Hale plants ideas in the children’s minds, he gives them the idea of accusing others. Mr. Hale even provides the answers to his own questions! Mr. Hale says “Does someone afflict you, child? It need not be a woman, mind you, or a man. Perhaps some bird invisible to others comes to you – perhaps a pig, a mouse, or any beast at all. Is there some figure bids you fly.” Mr. Hale has instilled fear into the people of Salem, but also provided a way out into innocence, the by-product of blaming others.
The Economist writes that “Governments have been dealing with it disaster by disaster. They have struggled to gain control not just because of the speed of contagion but also because policymakers, and the public they serve, have failed fully to grasp the breadth and depth of the crisis.” The television and newspaper and internet all spread the doom and gloom. The few that have the keys to solving this crisis, the professionals who know the impact of actions and such in the world market are ignored in the face of the fear of losing control. Governments and the people seek to hold on to what they control. The greedy attempt to discredit and ruin others to gain what they have, as seen by Mr. Putnam in the Crucible. Giles Corey catches him at it, but the judges are too caught up, their common sense is gone with the fear, that they have no choice but to disregard it. Giles put in his deposition that “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property – that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbours for their land!”
There are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense. With the common person only being informed of how everyone is losing their money and that all the banks are seising their assets and holding the cold hard cash to their chests, as it’s the only thing that they can believe in anymore, that it must be the correct course of action, what other choice do the people have? Much like Tituba, who is forced to either confess to witchcraft or be whipped to death, people are choosing what will keep them alive. The fear that is spread only gives people one option. The truth, either from the economic professionals or from John Proctor and Mary Warren is cut down, shut out in the maniacal frenzy that is a world dead set on staying where it is. If people could only calm down and come to their senses, the fact that there is a solution, it might take some hard work, but it will work. Capitalism is dead, much like the sense of the familiar in The Crucible is taken away.
“Capitalism as we used to know it is on its deathbed. And those who predicted that the old brand, the unfettered, American-promoted system, was a danger to the world, are being vindicated. They include Karl Marx, whose thinking on banks seems oddly contemporary these days.” States Reuters, which is not alone in its criticism of America. The Economist also reports that “Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, who rashly declared on September 25th that America was “the source…and the focus of the crisis”” Even a finance minister is looking for someone else to blame, someone to take the rap for maybe their misgivings. Abigail Williams is able to blame her shortcomings on the “work” of Tituba, saying “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body!” and “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!”
Not quite finished, but I would welcome some thoughts on where I can support my argument. I think I've rambled on a bit too much as well.
My thesis is: There are grounds for a change in the handling of a crisis, as the fear of losing control overrides common sense.
Bad I know :tongue:
thanks for any help I may/may not receive!