Population Control Essay Example for Free

Population Control Essay INTRODUCTION The myth of overpopulation is one of the most pervasive myths in Western society, so deeply ingrained in the culture that it profoundly shapes the cultures world view. The myth is compelling because of its simplicity. More people equal fewer resources and more hunger, poverty, environmental degradation, and political instability. This equation helps explain away the troubling human suffering in that ‘other’ world beyond the neat borders of affluence. By procreating, the poor create their own poverty. We are absolved of responsibility and freed from complexity. The population issue is complex. Hartmann (1995) asserts that to put it into proper perspective requires exploring many realms of human experience and addressing difficult philosophical and ethical questions. It entails making connections between fields of thought that have become disconnected as the result of narrow academic specialization. It demands the sharpening of critical facilities and clearing the mind of received orthodoxies. And above all, it involves transcending the alienation embodied in the very terms ‘population bomb’ and ‘population explosion’. Such metaphors suggest destructive technological processes outside human control. But the population issue is about living people, not abstract statistics. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH POPULATION CONTROL The myth of overpopulation is destructive because it prevents constructive thinking and action on reproductive issues. Instead of clarifying our understanding of these issues, it obfuscates our vision and limits-our ability to see the real problems and find workable solutions. Worst of all, it breeds racism and turns womens bodies into a political battlefield. It is a philosophy based on fear, not understanding. Now this picture both the population predictions and the social predictions are challenged by those who argue especially against compulsory population controls. It is argued that we do not have accurate figures showing the number of people now existing in the world, that we have no reliable way of forecasting future population growth, that there is no acceptable standard prescribing optimum population size, and that although the pressures of population may contribute to some social ills, they are not the primary cause of them. Those who respond to the population problem in this way point the finger in other causal directions to account for environmental decay to our economic system, which encourages environmental destruction, to our technology which is responsible for high-polluting individualized transportation, and to our minimal emphasis on public or mass transit and so on. They also point to the fact that some nutrition experts give us assurance that food resources exist which would permit the feeding of the worlds population even if it doubled. ALLEVIATING SOCIAL ILLS THROUGH POPULATION CONTROL The point is, this argument continues, that a number of voluntary moves can be undertaken to mitigate whatever causal influences population growth has on our social ills. We can produce more food, redistribute people, provide meaningful jobs for women outside the home, provide family planning programs, contraceptive information and services, early abortions, voluntary sterilization, and so on. Anything short of government coercion. Anything short of violating or overriding what is taken to be a fundamental moral and constitutional right the right to procreate and to have as many children as one wants. Gordon (2002) relates in her book that population control measures would alleviate certain local pockets of poverty, as population excess was relative, not just to the means of subsistence, but also to the system of control over the means of subsistence. In the same light, population control has always been closely associated with economic, moral and feminist issues in the United States. Many had also become aware that development by itself was not a magical solution to rapid population growth. The idea of social reform in early twentieth-century America was embedded in the larger understanding that scientific principles could and should be applied in an effort to alleviate social ills. The great social ills we face today: poverty, war, hunger, disease and ecological degradation are clearly rooted from the sheer effects of population excess to the global situation, which is why the direct solution to the problem, which is population control, is the first and most potent step to take towards lessening the evil impacts of said social ills to the global community. Although many critics claim that overpopulation has been the famous scapegoat for society’s ills, the fact that population could be controlled to a manageable degree could and would facilitate a general ease in the social inequalities being experienced by the world over due to the scarcity of resources available to the privileged few who has the means and the power to be in charge of the distribution or even the consumption of such scant resources. The growth of population very rapid in the less-developed countries, but not negligible in most developed countries, either will continue to compound the predicament by increasing pressure on resources, on the environment, and on human institutions. Rapid expansion of old technologies and the hasty deployment of new ones, stimulated by the pressure of more people wanting more goods and services per person, will surely lead to some major mistakes actions whose environmental or social impacts erode well-being far more than their economic results enhance it. This gloomy prognosis, to which a growing number of scholars and other observers reluctantly subscribes, has motivated a host of proposals for organized evasive action: population control, limitation of material consumption, redistribution of wealth, transitions to technologies that are environmentally and socially less disruptive than todays, and movement toward some kind of world government, among others. Implementation of such action would itself have some significant economic and social costs, and it would require an unprecedented international consensus and exercise of public will to succeed. Throughout its history, the emphasis and primary concern of the population control movement has been the welfare of the family; it has stressed the economic, educational, and health advantages of well-spaced, limited numbers of children. Population control cannot be achieved in a social or economic vacuum, of course. To formulate effective population control measures, much greater understanding is needed about all peoples attitudes toward reproduction, and how these attitudes are affected by various living conditions, including some that seem virtually intolerable to people in developed countries. Even more, it is essential to know what influences and conditions will lead to changes in attitudes in favor of smaller families. OUTLINE INTRODUCTION PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH POPULATION CONTROL ALLEVIATING SOCIAL ILLS THROUGH POPULATION CONTROL WORKS CITED Hartmann, B. (1995). Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press. Gordon, L. (2002). The Moral Property of Women: The History of Birth Control Politics in America. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Mutations in Nature and Culture Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research P

Mutations in Nature and Culture Many other words, both positive and negative, spring to mind when one hears the word "mutation." In a scientific sense, one might think of the random variations that lead to evolution in species. In a sci-fi/ horror flick sense, one might think of a vicious monster that after contact with some radioactive substance became terribly disfigured. But rarely do we associate mutations with ideas pervasive to our culture. Daniel Dennett suggests that memes undergo a certain kind of mutation that is inherent to the creative evolution of culture. The most important distinction to be made between mutation as it applies to biological evolution, and how it applies to creative evolution is the function of randomness. In nature, random variation is the cause of mutation, and therefore the appearance of different traits. In the generation of ideas, the role of randomness is not so easy to pinpoint. On the one hand, it seems that creative ideas are generated through patterns of association: "During creative thought, memes potentially relevant to a solution would evoke or activate one another, altering or strategically (though not necessarily consciously) manipulating them..." (Gabora 1) Yet, there is no predictability to these associations, and furthermore, "The very creativity and activity of human minds as temporary homes for memes seems to guarantee that lines of descent are hopelessly muddled, and that phenotypes (the "body designs" of memes) change so fast that there's no keeping track..." (Dennett 355) So perhaps what we would call "randomness" as it plays out in the evolution of species is really taken over by an element of disorganization in creative forces. Dennett cites Stephen J... ...sually fatal or detrimental to the organism in which it occurs. However, mutations are creativity's greatest asset: at one time, the great removal from more traditional realist art that impressionism posed seemed detrimental to the world of painting. The result was the beautiful addition of artists like Monet and Degas to the sphere of art. Whether one chooses to include impressionism in his or her organization of art history is dependent upon the thinker, but one cannot deny that creative mutation is ultimately beneficial to culture. Works Cited Dennett, Daniel C. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. New York: Touchstone, 1996. Gabora, Liane. The Origin and Evolution of Culture and Creativity. Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1. 1997. Available http://jom-emit.cfpm.org/1997/vol1/gabora_l.html

Biological Theories and Criminal Behavior Essay

Biological theories address deviant behavior as a relationship between biological factors, and social norms in respect to crime. The theories address behavior of an individual based upon his or her biological impact. Schmalleger, (2008) points out a connection to social environments and the impact upon human behavior. The connection has validity because of human thoughts and activities are constantly flowing through the brain providing an impact relating to behavior. Researchers base biological theories on flaws relating to heredity, dysfunction of the brain’s neurotransmitters, injuries, trauma, or abnormalities involving the brain affecting behavior (Raine, 2002). Brain development is a biological theory providing information connecting damage of the frontal lobes located in the brain’s cerebrum to criminal behavior. The brain is similar to a computer sending messages to the body and when the messages cannot be delivered it is because of a dysfunction that has occurre d in the brain. The frontal lobes and the limbic system are two of the major areas of the brain involving behavior. The frontal lobes are responsible for reasoning, problem solving, and emotions (Allen & Harper, 2010). The limbic system contains electrical circuitry controlling emotions and motivation (Allen & Harper, 2010). The amygdala when stimulated produces behavior related to emotions, memory and fear. When the amygdala is functioning properly it produces the proper behavioral reaction or response to the event that is happening (Allen & Harper, 2010) When damage occurs to the frontal lobes the ability to reason or censor thoughts, and actions will become impaired leading to maladaptive behavior, aggression, or anti-social behavior (Allen, & Harper, 2010). A study by Antonio Damasio provided information relating to injuries of the frontal lobes may be responsible for anti- social behavior (Crime Times, 2007). The study revealed that damage to the frontal lobes was evident when monitoring the individuals who were injured when he or she exhibited social skills and behavior (Phillips, 2012). Patients who were able to handle and deal with decisions previously in his or her personal life were no longer able to do so (Phillips, 2012). Intellectually there was no change but when he or she had to make a decision involving emotions and feelings the abnormalities in behavior were exhibited (P hillips, 2012). Phineas Gage is the major example relating to the damage to the frontal lobes and change in  behavior. He worked as a foreman on the railroad engaged in construction work. There was an explosion when the tampering rod he was using ignited the blasting powder and the tampering rod entered his head just below the jaw traveling through the frontal lobe of his brain exiting the top of his head. After the initial recovery he began to exhibit violent, aggressive, and anti-social behavior (Crime Times, 2007). Phineas Gage was a mild mannered individual prior to his accident but after the injury to the frontal lobe he became just the opposite a man exhibiting aggression and anti-social behavior. The inability to make rational decisions, control aggression, and emotions has a possible connection to criminal thoughts and behavior. Ongoing research relating to the connection of crime and brain dysfunction will perhaps provide a more solid explanation in the near future. Neuropsychological factors may interfere with the ability to make important functional and executive decisions on a daily basis (Bartol & Bartol, 2011). Abnormalities in the brain may increase the aggression while preventing the ability to control aggressive behavior (Bartol & Bartol, 2011). The central nervous system provides a route for electrical impulses relating to thought, behavior, and emotions traveling to and from the brain. Synapses are the gaps between the cells of the nervous system and chemicals known as neurotransmitters provide the impulses the means of connecting to the synapses (Allen & Harper, 2010). When electrical impulses are interrupted researchers believe it is the result of low levels of neurotransmitters that interfere with emotions and produce aggressive behavior. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and when the levels drop there is a proven relationship between violence and behavior (Allen & Harper, 2010). The anti-social behavior and chemical imbalances are prevalent in alcoholics. Malnutrition in children also inhibits the growth and development of the brain. Cognitive deficiencies and underdeveloped brains place children and adolescents at risk for anti-social behavior (Bartol & Bartol, 2011). Dysfunctions in the brain relating to growth, chemical imbalance and injuries prevent the ability to address issues, exhibit proper emotions and solving problems inhibit behavior acceptable in society. The brain controls the entire body and mental capacity to make proper, logical, and informed choices when dealing with risk factors influencing criminal behavior. References Allen, C. & Harper, V. (2010). Laboratory Manual for Anatomy and Physiology, Fourth Edition / Edition 4 Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated Hoboken, NJ ISBN-13: 9781118135662 Crime Times, (2007) A lesson from history†¦ Phineas Gage and frontal lobe damage. Retrieved from http://www.crimetimes.org/98d/w98dp5.htm Phillips, J. (2012). The Brain and Crime: What is the relationship here? Retrieved from http://drjezphillips.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/the-brain-and-crime-what-is-the-relationship-here/ Raine, A. (2002). The biological basis of crime. In J.Q Wilson & J. Petrsilia (Eds.) Crime: Public policies for crime control. Oakland: ICS Press.

Contrasting Friendship Essays - 853 Words

Contrasting Friendship â€Å"The two ladies, who had been intimate since childhood, reflected how little they knew each other†. This is how, author, Edith Wharton shows the relationship of two characters, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, in the short story â€Å"Roman Fever.† These two women who are supposed to be friends, led envious lives of each other, and because of the way they lived they were very contrasting and conflicting characters. In the end, I believe Mrs. Slade was guiltier for her actions and in fact the whole incident would have never happened if it weren’t for her. Before there widowhood these two ladies led very envious and superficial lives. In describing her friend Mrs. Slade says, â€Å"Mrs. Horace Ansley, twenty-five years†¦show more content†¦Nothing seems to be going on in this opening of the story, yet nothing could be farther from the truth. The two women have been involved in a battle for the past twenty years, whether they were aware of it or not. I believe the only thing that got these two women back together was them running into each other after their husband’s deaths, back in Rome. If it weren’t for that coincidence there never would have been any more animosity towards each other. While discussing the beauty of the landscape in Rome, Mrs. Ansley states, â€Å"After all, it’s still the most beautiful view in the world. It always will be, to me† (255). It is then, after Mrs. Ansley stresses the â€Å"me† in her statement, that Mrs. Slade finally, after all these years unravels the w hole incident pertaining to Mrs. Ansley’s case of roman fever. Mrs. Slade tells her life-long friend that it was she that sent her the note from Mr. Slade, asking her to meet him at the Colosseum. Mrs. Slade was jealous and wanted to keep Mr. Slade no matter what the cost, so she sent the letter to get her friend out of the way for a few weeks. It was like a shot to the heart for Mrs. Ansley that a friend would do that. According to Mrs. Slade, â€Å"I did it as a sort of joke—at the idea that you were waiting around there in the dark†. But, the joke was on Mrs. Slade because it was then that Mrs. Ansley revealed her that indeed she did not wait, she had responded to the note and Mr. SladeShow MoreRelatedThe Facade of Friendship in Edith Wharton’s Short Story, Roman Fever1595 Words   |  7 Pagesenemies? Women, more so than men, have a tendency to hide their true feelings, creating tension and resentment that damage their friendships. From an early age, girls feel unspoken rivalries that only escalate throughout their lives. Envying another girl’s new pair of shoes eventually turns into coveting her career or fiancà ©. Once the delicate balance between friendship and rivalry is disturbed, feelings of jealousy and hatred will emerge to destroy the relationship. 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