Monday, December 30, 2019

Utilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill And Utilitarianism

Moral theories are sometimes hard to define, but with John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism it is a little bit easier. Utilitarianism is an easy one, for the reason that it is defined by the greatest happiness for everyone involved. Sometimes it does not always make everyone content, but if you look at it as a whole it makes sense. Mill says that we have to look at the bigger picture. One person’s happiness affects another’s and so on. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that John Stuart Mill, the philosopher, formulated to be one of the most influential moral theories and I will put it to the test with a thought experiment, critique it, and find if it is adequate. John S. Mill’s Moral Theory Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is what is paramount for the for the greatest number of people. Utilitarian’s say that acts are good when they have achieved the desired result of happiness. The result should be intrinsically good for all those involved. (Wilkens, 2011) Utilitarianism is a way for people to evaluate major decisions that people may face throughout life. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism because the results determine the difference between morally right and wrong or good and bad. According to Ben Sanders, â€Å"I take utilitarianism to be that form of consequentialism that aims to promote (usually, but not necessarily, to maximize) happiness.† John Stuart Mill Mill has a replacement for authoritarians, as well as rationalist approaches to ethics. Mill believed thatShow MoreRelatedUtilitarianism By John Stuart Mill1805 Words   |  8 PagesIn his book Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill presents his exposition and his major defenses of the philosophy of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism, a theory in ethics developed by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, focuses on a concept of utility that focuses on deciding if actions are morally right or wrong by analyzing the pleasure and pain they cause. In other words, if an action causes primarily pleasure for all parties, then it must be good and right; however, if it causes pain for the parties involvedRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill1365 Words   |  6 Pages In John Stuart Mill’s book Utilitarianism, he argues for the defense of utilitarianism, an age old theory originally developed by Jeremy Bentham that states the proper course of action is the one that maximizes happiness. The cour se of action that maximizes general happiness is also the only true standard for moral assessment. Mill also introduces the idea of ‘first principle’ which states that it is not acceptable for individuals to characterize actions as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’, because it isRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill1372 Words   |  6 PagesAct Utilitarianism is a long standing and well supported philosophical argument that when boiled down to its most basic elements, can be described as creating â€Å"the greatest good for the greatest number† (122). Such was the sentiment of John Stuart Mill, one of act utilitarianism’s (also known as just utilitarianism) greatest pioneers, and promoters. Mills believed that his theory of always acting in a way that achieved the greatest net happiness was both superior to other philosophical theories andRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill1599 Words   |  7 PagesUtilitarianism is a doctr ine in normative ethics that is outlined and defended by many philosophers, including the English philosopher John Stuart Mill as a standard to determine what are right and wrong actions. At its most basic claim, the right course of action one must take should be in the interest of maximizing what is known as utility. The right course of action is determined as being right if it maximizes the total benefit and happiness gained, while at the same time reducing the greatestRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill854 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Stuart Mill, among other things, was an English philosopher and economist who lived from 1806 to 1873. Mill grew up being immersed in the principles of utilitarianism. Mill’s essay on utilitarianism, titled Utilitarianism, was written to debunk misconceptions of and to provide support for the ideology. Mill’s essay and argument span five chapters, where his discussions range from definitions, misconceptions, rewards, methods, an d validity. Utilitarianism is generally held to be the view thatRead MoreThe Utilitarianism By John Stuart Mill984 Words   |  4 PagesDecriminalize Drug use Utilitarianism as an example of consequentialism is a moral theory generally considered to have started in the late eighteenth century. In the book Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill he defined the ethical theory stating that â€Å"†¦actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness†(7). The idea behind the theory is that people seek happiness, and that the ultimate goal of all human beings is to be happy.Read MoreJohn Stuart Mill And Utilitarianism983 Words   |  4 PagesIn Utilitarianism actions are judged right and wrong solely on their consequence, and in order to assess this consequences, the only thing that matters is the amount of happiness and unhappiness caused and by calculating happiness and unhappiness caused, nobody’s happiness counts any more than anybody else’s. Utilitarian ethics is the most common form of ethics used today, it has thrived because two needs have been met by it. Firstly, end-based thinking is common and people have sought to improveRead MoreJohn Stuart Mill And Utilitarianism1202 Words   |  5 Pages I contend that the philosophy of John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism can be used to show that society should will that genetic enhancement be morally acceptable if the adverse cognitive or emotional effects are outweighed by the benefits. Glannon argues that gene enhancement is morally objectionable because â€Å"there would be the unacceptable social cost of some people suffering from adverse cognitive or emotional effects of the enhancement.† Under Utilitarianism, society would likely deem that geneticRead MoreUtilitarianism By John Stuart Mill930 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis Paper 2 In the essay â€Å"Utilitarianism† by John Stuart Mill, he explains his support for utilitarianism and argues any misconceptions of it. In his essay he talks about the difference between higher and lower pleasures and what significance they have in his utilitarian moral theory. His theory is based on the rule that â€Å"actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.† Many people experience different kinds of pleasureRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill2436 Words   |  10 PagesUtilitarianism is an ethical speculation that communicates that the best movement is the one that expands utility. Utility is portrayed in various courses, frequently to the extent the success of mindful substances, for instance, people and diverse animals. Jeremy Bentham, the coordinator of utilitarianism, delineated utility as the entire of all bliss that results from a movement, short the burden of anyone req uired in the action. Utilitarianism is a variation of consequentialism, which communicates

Sunday, December 22, 2019

It Is Clear That Abortion Is An Extremely Controversial

It is clear that Abortion is an extremely controversial and often emotional topic. People all have different views and are passionate when expressing those views, not always in the best ways. In order to have an educational argument rather than just fighting on the topic, we need to be educated on all factors and information regarding this topic and we need to listen to take in other opinions rather than listening to reply. I knew that choosing this topic would get me emotionally invested, and these are my opinions while trying to keep an open mind to other viewpoints. Let’s begin with were the legal issue started with abortion. An article titled â€Å"Abortion Law in the United States: An overview†, by John E.Schwemker, provided me with†¦show more content†¦I can understand that some people would still see that being against the woman’s will, but it is not the fault of the embryo that they were created, and they cannot help but depend on the mother for nutrients and a good developmental environment. This leads me into Manninen’s second point. She believes that, although people who are sexually active know that what they are engaging in has risks, the fact that they have responsibilities with doing that action does not mean as much as a woman’s right to her body. While I agree that women should have I right to their body, I also feel that if they conceive a child that their body is no longer just theirs. If a woman should have a right to their body, then I believe a baby should have a right to theirs as well; it’s not their fault that they were conceived and they should not have to suffer for that. I feel that the main argument with abortion is more moral than legal, although they both can go hand in hand for this topic. Morally, I feel abortion is murder. All of an embryo’s DNA is determined as soon as the sperm meets the egg. To me, this means that, even though these cells are not fully developed, the will be with time and they are still a human being that deserves to live even when they cannot fight for themselves. I read a post online once that had an interesting take on this and helped to form my opinion to what it is today. It was about a woman who went to the doctor with her 1 year old son. She found out that sheShow MoreRelatedAbortion And The Second Presidential Debate Essay1334 Words   |  6 PagesI have chosen to write about abortion and its role in the third presidential debate of 2016. To begin, we need to understand abortion and how it is received in the United States before we try to understand how the current candidates addressed abortion. Abortion has been a hot button topic in the United States since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 when criminalizing abortion was considered unconstitutional under the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment. This trial created a nationwide debate on not onlyRead MoreAbortion, Pro Choice And Abortion1617 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion includes ending a pregnancy by the removing of a baby or incipient organism from the uterus. This is once in a while because of the demise of the hatchling; be that as it may, it can likewise bring about the death of it. Premature birth is an extremely controversial topic since its recurrence of event, lawful, social and religious status changes broadly in various areas of the world. There are some prominent gatherings that champion either pro-choice or pro-life, and such associations raiseRead MoreShould Abortion Be Legal?963 Words   |  4 Pagesdiscuss such a gut wrenching topic, but this needs to be addressed. It is a very controversial topic with having to do with women rights and activists. Since there are two sides to every argument, there is one side such as to make abortion legal and the opposing side to keep abortions illegal. In my opinion making abortion illegal can regulate the amount of women who do get pregnant. I believe that making abortions legal will let women receive the right treatment and action that needs to be doneRead MoreThe Controversial Issue Of Abortion1584 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion. The subject of abortion has become one of the most controversial issues in health care; deciding whether to abort a life or keep it. There are many ethical issues surrounding the topic. When does the fetus become a person? Is it when they grow arms and legs? Is it when there is a heartbeat? Is there an exact point, where ethically, having an abortion is wrong? There are many reasons people opt to have an abortion. Perhaps the child is bared through non consensual sex or from the failureRead MoreThe Pendulum Between Liberalism And Conservat ism1238 Words   |  5 Pageshailed for its extremely tolerant and liberal mindset, are slowly moving in the other direction. With the growing power of the Christian Union in the Netherlands, marijuana, prostitution, and now abortion are once again causes for concern. One woman, ten years ago, had a vision. Her vision was to spread what she calls a â€Å"basic human right† to parts of the world where this right is denied to millions of women every year. Rebecca Gomperts has devoted her life to providing abortions and abortion pills, asRead MoreThe Death Of An Unborn Fetus Should Be Viewed Through The Same Moral Standards1523 Words   |  7 Pagesdestructor of peace was â€Å"abortion, because it is a war against the child- a direct killing of the innocent child- murdered by the mother herself.† In the United States, four in ten of unintended pregnancies result in abortion culminating in approximately 1.21 million abortions each year.1 Abortion, defined as the removal of a fertilized egg from the uterus, has been a controversial issue in our society. On January 1973 the Supreme Court of the U.S gave the right to abortion on Roe vs Wade. This monumentalRead MoreThe Issue Of Pro Life1398 Words   |  6 PagesLife is extremely precious and is something that should not be taken for granted. The trials each new day brings are exhilarating and capable of bringing one to tears, whether they be out of happiness or sadness. One of the greatest gifts presented to a couple is a child when a woman becomes pregnant. Far too many times, this gift is taken for granted because two people are not married or they do not want the child. In America, there is an on-going argument as to whether or not a pregnant woman,Read MoreShould Abortion Be Legal?1135 Words   |  5 PagesKelsi Hodgkin Composition 1 Professor Chipps 19 October 2015 Should Abortion Be Legal A common debate in the world today involves abortion, the deliberate end of human pregnancy, and whether or not it should be legalized. â€Å"Every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day† (â€Å"Abortions Worldwide this Year†). On one side of the argument, people are not disturbed by this grotesque number, and on theRead MoreParenthood : A Non Profit Organization That Does A World Of Good?966 Words   |  4 Pagesservices, the rates of unintended pregnancy, they say, unplanned birth and abortion would be 60% higher.†(Strickland and Goldschmidt, online) Without Planned Parenthood providing contraception, abortion rates would sky-rocket. One of the main reasons people would like to defund Planned Parenthood would be because they offer abortion services. â€Å"†¦Planned Parenthood cannot use the money it receives from the federal government for abortions anyway. Accordi ng to the Department of Health and Human Service’s websiteRead MoreHuman Rights And Reproductive Rights Essay1222 Words   |  5 Pagesas, what it means to have ‘rights’, who deserves these suggested rights and to what extent can a person exercise these rights. These types of discussions can be controversial despite most of us, especially in a liberal democracy, where we tend to view human rights in a similar manner. When examining human rights even further, there are clear ties to equality, another issue that affects nearly everyone through means of privilege or prejudice. A crucial aspect of achieving equality between the sexes

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Bite Me A Love Story Chapter 6~7 Free Essays

string(90) " because he helped me take care of the Countess and Lord Flood when they were in trouble\." 6. The Vampire Parrots of Telegraph Hill A flock of wild parrots lives in the city of San Francisco. They are South American cherry-headed conures-bright green with a red head, a little smaller than a typical pigeon. We will write a custom essay sample on Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 6~7 or any similar topic only for you Order Now No one is quite sure how they came to the City. It’s likely that they are the descendants of animals caught in the jungle, then released to the city skies when they proved too wild to be kept as pets. They fly over the northern waterfront of San Francisco, foraging for fruit, berries, and blossoms, from the Presidio at the entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge, over Pacific Heights, the Marina, Russian Hill, North Beach, and all the way to the Ferry Building near the Oakland Bay Bridge. They are social, squawky, silly birds that mate for life and advertise their presence with a cacophony of beeps and cheeps that inspire smiles from residents, bewilderment from tourists, and hunger in predators, mostly red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons. The parrots spend their nights high in the trees of Telegraph Hill, beneath the great concrete phallus of Coit Tower, sheltered from attack from hawks by the evergreen canopy overhead, and from all but the most ambitious cats, by the sheer altitude. But still, they are sometimes attacked, and although gentle creatures, they will fight back, biting with their thick, built-for-seed-crushing beaks. Which is what happened. The next morning after he witnessed the cat attack in the SOMA, the Emperor of San Francisco was awakened from a nest he’d made in one of the little stair gardens on Telegraph Hill, to hear parrots squawking in the trees. The sun was just breaking the horizon behind the Bay Bridge, turning the water red-gold under a blue morning mist. The Emperor crawled out from under a pile of carpet padding, stood, and stretched, his great joints creaking in the cold like ancient church doors. The men, Bummer and Lazarus, poked their noses out of the gray cloak, snuffled the dawn, then, with the call of the parrots, resolved themselves to morning and emerged like urgent butterflies to search for the perfect spot for the first wee of the day. The three watched as fifty or so squawking parrots circled Coit Tower and headed out toward the Embarcadero, where, suddenly, they all stopped flying, burst into flames, and fell like a smoldering storm of dying comets into Levi’s Plaza. â€Å"Well, you don’t see that every day,† said the Emperor, scratching Lazarus’s ears through the bandages. The retriever was a doggy version of The Mummy, wrapped ears to tail in bandages after his last encounter with the vampire cats. The vet in the Mission wanted to keep him overnight, but the retriever had never spent a night away from the Emperor since they had found each other, and the vet had no accommodations for a large and burly monarch, let alone a feisty Boston terrier, so the three had bunked together under the carpet pad. Bummer chuffed, which translated from dog to: â€Å"I don’t like it.† As the famous frog sang, it’s not easy being green. 7. The Fog Comes on Little Cat Feet and Whatnot FOO Stephen â€Å"Foo Dog† Wong’s fully bombed Honda drift machine was full of rats. Not completely full, the passenger seat was filled by Jared Whitewolf, Abby’s backup BFF. (BBFF, really.) â€Å"Did you have to get all white ones?† Jared asked. He was six foot two, very thin, and paler than Death shagging a snowman. The sides of his head were shaved and in the middle he sported an unlaquered Mohawk, which hung in his eyes unless he was lying on his back or looking up. In addition to a floor-length black PVC cenobite coat, he was currently wearing Abby’s thigh-high red platform Skankenstein ® boots, which was completely within his rights, as her current BFF. What bothered Foo was not that Jared had on girl’s boots, but that he had on the boots of a girl with distinctly small feet. â€Å"Don’t those hurt?† Jared tossed his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Well, it’s like Morrissey said, ‘Life is suffering.'† â€Å"I think the Buddha said that.† â€Å"I’m pretty sure Morrissey said it first-like, back in the eighties.† â€Å"No, it was the Buddha.† â€Å"Have you ever even seen a picture of the Buddha with shoes on?† Jared asked. Foo couldn’t believe he was having this argument. What’s more, he couldn’t believe he was losing this argument. â€Å"Well, I have some Nikes upstairs that might fit you if you need to change shoes. Let’s get the rats unloaded. I have to get to work.† Jared already had four plastic cages with two white rats in each stacked on his lap, so he unfolded himself out of the Honda and wobbled on the red platforms to the fire door of the loft. â€Å"Don’t try to paint them black,† Jared said, peering into the Plexiglas boxes as Foo opened the door for him. â€Å"I tried that with my first rat, Lucifer. It was tragic.† â€Å"Tragic?† said Foo. â€Å"I’d have never guessed. Put them on the floor in the living room. I’ll borrow the truck from work tomorrow and pick up some folding tables to put them on.† In addition to pursuing his degree in molecular biology, and variously rescuing Abby, formulating vampire serum, and tricking out his Honda, Foo still worked part-time at Stereo City, where he specialized in telling people that they needed a bigger TV. â€Å"You still have that job?† Jared said as he stumbled up the stairs. â€Å"Abby said you guys have total fuck-you money.† Why did she tell him? She wasn’t supposed to tell him. Did she tell him everything? Why did she have to have friends at all? She’d given Jared five thousand dollars of Jody and Tommy’s money for Hanukkah-despite the fact that neither one of them was Jewish. â€Å"Because I will not let mainstream society make me into the Christmas bitch of the zombie baby-Jebus, that’s why,† she’d said. â€Å"And because he helped me take care of the Countess and Lord Flood when they were in trouble. You read "Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 6~7" in category "Essay examples"† â€Å"I need to keep my cover,† Foo said. â€Å"For tax purposes.† That was partially true. He did need to keep up his cover, because, like Abby, he hadn’t actually told his parents that he’d moved out. They were so used to him being at school, in the lab, or at work, that they hadn’t really noticed that he hadn’t been sleeping at home. It helped that he had four younger brothers and sisters, who were all carrying insane work and course loads. His parents were all about toil. As long as you were toiling, you were okay. They could smell toil from miles away, or the lack of it. He might be able to get away with living in his own loft with his spooky-sexy girlfriend, and doing bizarre genetic experiments on the undead, but if he quit his job they’d sense it in a second. It took Foo and Jared twenty minutes to get all the rats up the steps and lined up around the living room. â€Å"We’re not going to hurt them, are we?† said Jared, holding up one of the plastic cages so he was eye to eye with its occupants. â€Å"We’re going to turn them into vampires.† â€Å"Oh, cool. Now?† â€Å"No, not now. For now, you’re going to need to feed them and make sure there’s a water bottle in each of their cages,† Foo said. â€Å"Then what?† Jared asked, tossing his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Then you can go home,† said Foo. â€Å"You don’t need to observe them full-time until the experiment starts.† â€Å"I can’t go home. I told my parents I was staying over at Abby’s.† Foo was suddenly horrified at the thought of having to spend the night in the loft with a hundred rats, two bronzed vampires, and Jared. Especially Jared. Maybe he’d go home and leave Jared to watch the rats-make an appearance at home for the parents, so as to throw them off the trail of his non-toiling, loft-living, Anglo-girlfriend lifestyle. â€Å"You can stay here, then,† Foo said. â€Å"I’ll be back in the morning.† â€Å"What about them?† Jared nodded toward the bronzed figures of Jody and Tommy. â€Å"What about them?† â€Å"Can I talk to them? I didn’t get to finish telling Jody my novel.† Jared had spent a very long night telling Jody the first part of the novel he was going to write, an erotic horror story that starred himself and his pet rat, Lucifer 2. â€Å"Okay,† said Foo. He didn’t really like thinking about the two people, well, vampires, but they seemed a lot like people, that he’d helped imprison in a bronze shell. It sort of gave him the willies, and that was highly unscientific. â€Å"But no touching,† he added. Jared pouted and sat down on the futon, about the only spot in the entire living-room-kitchen area not covered with plastic rat cages. â€Å"Okay, but will you help me get these boots off before you go?† Foo shuddered. It had been less than an hour since the cops led Abby away and already he missed her like a severed limb. It was embarrassing. How could hormones and hydrostatic pressure make you feel like this? Love was very unscientific. â€Å"Sorry,† Foo said. â€Å"Gotta jet.† A true hero, the kind Abby accused him of being, he knew, would have helped Jared. JARED Abby Normal had once offered to pay for a tattoo for Jared that read: Danger. Do not administer caffeine without adult supervision. Jared asked, â€Å"Can it be in red? Does it have to be on the forehead? Maybe on the side so I can grow my hair over it if I don’t like it. Am I being emo? Do you want to play Blood-feast on Xbox? They have green fur iPod cases at Urban Outfitters. I love white chocolate mochas. Marilyn Manson needs to be dragged to death behind a clown car. Oh fuck, I’m so allergic to this eyeliner I could cry.† Abby said, â€Å"Oh my God, you’re like Obnoxious and Annoying had an ass baby!† â€Å"What are you trying to say?† asked Jared. What she had been trying to say, although she didn’t know it at the time, was that under no circumstances should Jared be left alone in an apartment with an abundance of time and espresso, which is what Foo had just done. So after feeding, watering, and naming all the rats (most given French names from Abby’s copy of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal), Jared began brewing espressos and was nine demitasse cups into the afternoon when he decided to act out the remainder of his unwritten vampire adventure novel, The Dark of Darkness, for a hundred rats caged in plastic and two vampires encased in bronze. â€Å"So the evil Blood Queen dons her chrome strap-on of death and goes after Lucifer 2. But Jared Whitewolf is on her like a fat kid on a cupcake, parrying her blows with his dagger of death, or Dee Dee, as it is known.† Jared pirouetted, a move he’d learned in ballet class at age six, and slashed the air, low and fast, with the double-edged dagger held backhand so as to sever his imaginary enemy’s femoral artery, a move he’d learned in Soul Assassin Five on the Xbox (although it was harder to do while wearing platform boots than it was in the video game). The dagger was real enough, twelve inches of double-edged high-carbon stainless steel with a dragon hilt. Jared carried it because he thought it made him look badass when doormen took it away from him at clubs. â€Å"And he strikes her weapon in half!† he said, leaping and bringing the blade around a little too fast. He turned his ankle, lost his balance, and as he fell, the dagger put a deep nick in the bronze statue. â€Å"Ow!† He sat on the floor holding his ankle and rocking back and forth in the yoga position known as the â€Å"freaked-out half-lotus.† Then he noticed the gash he’d put in the bronze, directly over Jody’s right clavicle. â€Å"I’m sorry, Countess,† Jared said, still a little breathless from his battle. â€Å"I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that I had to save Lucifer 2. You’d do the same thing for Lord Flood if he was in the story.† Jared buffed at the bronze with his sleeve, but the gash was deep and wasn’t going to go away with polishing. â€Å"Abby’s going to kill me. I’ll patch you, Countess. Just hang on. Toothpaste. We used it on the wall that time we drank Abby’s mom’s vodka and played cross-country darts in her living room. Hang on a minute.† Jared let the heavy dagger drop to the floor, climbed to his feet, winced, then limped off to the bathroom to look for toothpaste. He located a tube of all natural tartar control with baking soda just as the sun dropped under the horizon in the west. Out in the living room, a needle-thin stream of mist began leaking out of the gash he’d made in the bronze statue. Toothpaste probably wouldn’t have fixed it. THE ANIMALS In the last two months, the Animals, the night stock crew at the Marina Safeway, had hunted an ancient vampire, blown up his yacht, stolen millions of dollars’ worth of art, sold it for pennies on the dollar, spent the remaining hundreds of thousands on gambling and a blue hooker, got turned into vampires, were torn apart by zoo animals, then burned up by sunlamps when they attacked Abby Normal, then turned, by Foo, back into seven guys who stocked shelves at the Safeway and smoked a little too much weed. And as it often is with adventurers, after the adventure, they were feeling a little bored, and a little worried that nothing exciting would ever happen to them again. After you’ve battled the darkness, then become the darkness, then shagged the darkness, frozen turkey bowling and skiing behind the floor-scrubbing machine just doesn’t hold the same thrill. After you’ve shared a blue prostitute with your buddies to the tune of a half a million dollars, only to have her kill and resurrect you before disappearing into the night, swapping stories of banging babes was a bit of an anticlimax. After all, they worked nights and the oldest of them, Clint, was only twenty-three, so most of their stories were gross exaggerations, wishful thinking, or outright lies anyway. Even crucifying Clint with zip ties on the potato chip rack every other Friday didn’t seem fun anymore, and last week they had just left him hanging, thrashing in the Doritos, and went off to stock their aisles before he could even forgive them for knowing not what they did. Tragic, really, to be young, free, and mind-numbingly bored. So when the Emperor of San Francisco came screaming out of the parking lot and slammed, face-first, into the big Plexiglas front window, rattling the Tic Tacs on every register, each of them dropped what he was working on and headed to the front of the store, hoping in their hearts that something outstanding was coming down. The seven, the Animals, stood on one side of the big window, while the Emperor pounded on the other, the royal hounds leaping and barking at his side. â€Å"Maybe we should let him in,† said Clint, curly-haired, born-again, ex-heroin addict who worked cereal, coffee, and juices. â€Å"He seems troubled.† â€Å"S,† said Gustavo, the porter, leaning on his mop. â€Å"Troubled.† â€Å"Seems fucking freaked,† said Drew, the Ichabod-Crane-gaunt master of the frozen food aisle and chief medical officer. â€Å"Totally fucking freaked.† â€Å"What’s wrong?† asked Lash, the lean black guy who had become their leader when Tommy was turned into a vampire, largely because he almost had an MBA, but also because he was a black guy and inherently cooler than everyone else. â€Å"Murder, destruction, ravenous creatures of the night, a storm of them,† shouted the Emperor. â€Å"Hurry, please.† â€Å"He always says that,† said Barry, the balding fireplug of a scuba diver who also stocked soap and dog food. â€Å"Well, every time he says it, it’s kind of true,† said Jeff, the tall blond ex-power forward with the blown-out knee (baking supplies and international foods). â€Å"I say let him in.† â€Å"Look, the retriever is all bandaged up. Poor guy,† said Troy Lee, their resident martial arts expert who worked the glass aisle. â€Å"Let them in.† â€Å"You just want to roll the little one up in a burrito,† said Lash. â€Å"Yeah, that’s right, Lash. Because I’m Chinese, I have a deep-seated need to nosh house pets. Now why don’t you let him in before my inner Chinaman forces me to kung-fu your bitch ass.† Because he understood that he was the leader only so long as he told everyone to do what they wanted to do anyway, and because he had had his bitch ass kung-fued in the past and hadn’t cared for it, Lash unlocked the door and let the Emperor in. The old man fell into the store when Lash opened the door. Bummer and Lazarus stopped barking and bolted by them, and on toward the back of the store. Jeff and Drew got the Emperor seated on one of the registers and Troy Lee handed him a bottle of water. â€Å"Chill, Your Majesty, we’ve done this before.† â€Å"Not like this. Not like this,† said the Emperor. â€Å"It’s a storm of evil. Lock the door.† Lash rolled his eyes. They really had done this before, and the door being locked or unlocked wasn’t going to make much difference if a vampire was following the old man. â€Å"We got your back, Highness,† Lash said. â€Å"Lock the door,† the Emperor moaned, pointing through the window. A fog bank was moving across the parking lot, with rather more intent than one usually expects from a fog bank. A high, yowling screech seemed to come out of the fog in a stream, as if it had been sampled, amplified, and duplicated a thousand times. The Animals moved to the glass. â€Å"Lock the door, Lash,† Clint said. Clint never gave orders. The edge of the fog bank was boiling with shapes, claws, ears, eyes, teeth, tails-cats formed of fog, rolling in a wave over one another, some materializing partially, only to evaporate and roll back into the cloud, their red eyes moving through the cloud like embers out of a firestorm. â€Å"Whoa,† said Drew. â€Å"Whoa,† repeated the others. â€Å"Okay, that is different,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"My friends all over the City are missing,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Street people. They’re gone. Just their clothes and gray dust,† the Emperor said. â€Å"The cats are killing everything in their way.† â€Å"That is fucked up,† said Jeff. â€Å"Deeply, deeply fucked up,† said Barry, dragging one of the heavy wooden order dividers off the register and brandishing it like a club. â€Å"Lock the fucking door, Lash!† Clint screamed. â€Å"Jesus hates it when you use the f-word,† said Gustavo, the Mexican porter, who was Catholic and liked to remind Clint when his Jesus was slipping. The fog washed against the window and claw marks etched the Plexiglas instantly to frost, as if it had all been sanded. The noise was like, well, it was like a thousand vampire cats clawing on Plexiglas-it made their teeth hurt. â€Å"Did anyone bring weapons?† Troy Lee asked. â€Å"I brought some weed,† Drew said. A cat’s claw of fog crept under the door and raked the toe of Lash’s sneaker. He snapped the lock shut, pulled out the key, and backed away. â€Å"Okay, break time,† he said. â€Å"Crew meeting in the walk-in.† JARED Across town, in the bedroom of a fashionable loft, in the fashionable SOMA neighborhood, aspiring rat-shagger, Jared Whitewolf, looked up from rubbing his sore ankle to see a completely naked redhead walk into the room. Her hair hung to her waist in a great curling cape, framing her figure, which was perfect and as white as a marble statue. She held Jared’s double-edged dagger in her right hand. Jared backed up onto the bed in a reverse crab walk. â€Å"I, I, I, it, it, it-Abby made me-â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Scissorhands,† Jody said. â€Å"You’d better find some of those blood bags of Steve’s fast, unless you’d like to finish high school as a pile of greasy dust. Countess is thirsty.† How to cite Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 6~7, Essay examples

Friday, December 6, 2019

Postmodernism free essay sample

Different material, methods and media’s have been used in postmodern art, such as painting fine art, technology, architecture and fashion. A study of various types of powerful societal changes through time is tackled through art. These changes comprise of gender identity, globalisation growth, political power etc. Introduction The expression of Art has always been influential; many artists use it as a tactic to exploit political truths and ideas. Postmodernism is a â€Å"movement reacting against modernism, especially by drawing attention to former conventions† (pg821). This form of art allowed a new way of looking at reality in a society that is constantly reassessing its culture and values. Postmodern art focuses on a mixture of high and low cultures and dominant ideas; it went against repression, sexism, racism, political power, and violence. Deconstructing truths criticises and analyses contemporary issues. These deconstructionist feed on controversy, artists such as Alessandro Mendini, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer create colourful and ruinous, luxurious and outrageous artwork. The art allowed radical freedom to design, funny gestures confrontation and occasionally absurd. It was a style that has new self-awareness. Postmodernism rebelled against modernism; it was an attack on what had come before as it explored and disparaged any unspoken leading concepts and social customs. The disillusionment from World War II heavily influenced postmodern art. The style doesn’t have a clear central hierarchy or organising principle; it uses melancholy, extreme complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, diversity and interconnectedness. Loud colours, bold patterns, historical quotation and whit are used. During the 60s, critical practices of postmodernism were applied mainly in Italy. The idea of ‘Function follows form’ is abandoned. Exaggerated proportion and outrageous texture for the sake of decoration. Designers such as Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini who challenged social norms and the traditional taste of design. Italian born designer and architect, Alessandro Mendini played a part in postmodern design. He creates graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architectures. His work of ‘Destruction of the Monumento da Casa (Household Monument) is an enlarged photograph of a modernist chair. This literally displays the destroying of the past, the end of modernism and the beginning of postmodernism. It was an attack on what had come before, Mendini brought the chair to a stone quarry and set the chair on fire, photos were captured during the process in 1974. Popular culture, irony, historicism, eclecticism and pluralism are embraced by postmodernism. The artist believed that something new design would grow from the burning remains. One of the most iconic post-modern designs is the Proust armchair by Alessandro Mendini. He chose to add Signac painting as the pattern on a ready-made replica of an 18th century armchair. American language conceptual artist, Jenny Holzer is famous for her short statements. The postmodern fashion in the 80’s was a time when women were in power and this was mirrored in physicality and clothes. The artist uses modern information to expose and address the politics of discourse. The ‘Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise’ by Hozler is one of her many controversial artworks. Jenny Hozler worked outside the regular conventions, as she believed that simplified phrases are the quickest way for everyone to comprehend. A lot of Jenny Hozler’s work victimises the woman, this method allows the audience to basically read the violence male dominance against women. Words such as ‘Crack the Pelvis so she lies right, this a mistake. When she dies you cannot repeat the act†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ the brutal yet vivid words suggest male power over women. In order to communicate to foreign countries, her work was translated multiple times. Hozler’s techniques include a range of multimedia, posters, hats, T-shirts and L. E. D signs on large architecture. She received many negative feedbacks by the public, therefore, withdrew from her career until 1993. The postmodern artist came back with a new approach to immaterial; she is still driven against murder plus sexual pleasure, hence initiated a new series named ‘Lustmord’. Fine Art is also found in post modernism. Techniques found in painting were super-realism, mannered, academic, neoclassical, decorative, and self-conscious stylization. Originality had ended and there is a lot past styles referencing. Postmodern artist, David Ligare paintings looked extremely realistic. He focused on still life painting, Ligare believes that there is no limit and virtually anything now could be considered art, hence makes him a postmodern artist. David Ligare does narrative paintings based on Greco/Toman culture. Marcel Duchamp’s artwork incorporated jokes to add humour to his visual. Duchamp has made numerous pastiche works; his most famous is the ‘L. H. O. O. Q’, which stands for ‘Elle a chaud au cul’. It was a rebel against traditional art was the dominant idea of the time. Duchamp’s added moustache and beard to the postcard with the Mona Lisa, which contradicts regular conventions of the time. He wanted to take artistry lightly; it was an act of rebel against convention. This technique became known as ‘appropriation’, it is the idea of manipulating famous historical art pieces. This practice has become common in today’s art. Andy Warhol works exemplifies the final stage of postmodernism. Warhol’s paintings had always had something controversial, as theorist Fredric Jameson states, ‘they ought to be powerful and critical political statements’ Andy Warhol is a contemporary artist, which expresses the postmodernism of society though his artistry. Through his artwork, his expression seems to be very anarchy and chaotic, especially the major use of the primary and bold colours whereas in the mainstream artistry it is very subtle due to the dark or complimentary colours which can often be seen as conservative. Warhol’s ‘Dollar Sign’ from 1981 deconstructs the truth about money. The painting suggest money’s strength, its addiction and tactic for conspiracy, His artwork were powerful and held critical political statements because they were billboard-like images. One of his pieces was of the North Korean leader, Kim John IL. Normally in society Kim John IL would not be even spoken of due to the high political power he has over North Korea. And the fragility between other nations that Kim John IL has. Andy Warhol has done a piece of this leader using contrasting and chaotic colours that seemed random and unusual. Warhol used appropriation, taking and creating pastiche references. As Andy Warhol states, â€Å"Art is what you can get away with†. Yasumasa Morimura uses humour with referencing to historical art. His postmodernist artworks have the idea of rejecting a single fixed meaning in an image or artwork. He is a controversial Japanese artist who displaces societal currents in Japanese culture. Western assimilation, capitalism and gender values are shown in his designs. Yasumasa is an illusive creator with no boundaries; this sets his work off to a guttural response. He is best known for mimicking great subjects, in particular western art. One of his works uses historical art as reference is the ‘Blinded by the Light’ 1991, which was inspired by the ‘ Parable for the Blind’ by Pieter Brueghel in 1568. Morimura symbolises a satirical message on Western invasion. Yasumasa Morimura caused controversy by highlighting historical influences and transforming into the postmodern art world with eastern and western culture, sexuality and gender identity. His background influenced Morimura’s, he was an outsider dominated by western culture and art. Technology advancement such as digital editing allowed his work to become flawless. In the racist imagination of western culture, they perceive Asian men with weak physically, equivalent to a little white girl. Morimura embraces his influences and mixes his sexual influence with modern culture. This is reflected in his series of self-portraits, e. g. Morimura as Monroe. Throughout the postmodern period, globalisation had become widespread, the artist felt as if he was invaded by foreign ideas and culture. In response, he invaded western culture through their art, by slapping his face on the Mona Lisa or the Infanta Margarita. Famous artist, Barbara Kruger exploited truths through her works of being a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor. Rather than creating her own images, she uses images and juxtaposes them. She used her techniques and skills of being a graphic designer and worked on political, social feminist provocations, religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes, consumerism, corporate greed, and power. Her techniques consist of using media sources and words and directly collaging them over each other. Her signature look comprises of cropped, large-scale, black and white photographic pictures against black, white and red sans serif letterform. They hold raucous, pithy, ironic sayings. The poster, ‘Your Body is a battleground’ proposes the idea of re-conditioning gender stereotypes. Originally, the image was used in Washington DC to advocate a pro-choice position and reproductive rights for women. This raises the issue of power, patriarchy, stereotyping and consumption. The poster has a black and white image of a woman’s face that is split symmetrically with direct eye contact. The positive and negative space could highlight ‘good vs. bad’. Judging from the woman’s hair and makeup, she appears to be a housewife. The image represents that women cannot be sold, it illustrated a political setting and subsequently their identities are favourably polished.