Monday, March 30, 2020

Justice Can Not Be Served Until The Debate On Capital Essays

Justice can not be served until the debate on capital punishment is resolved and all states have come to agree that the death penalty is the best way to stop crime completely. "The bottom line is, one method of execution is just as brutal and as barbaric as the next," says Mr. Breedlove of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This comes straight from the mouth of a member of a national organization against capital punishment. The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition defines execution as The act or an instance of putting to death or being put to death as a lawful penalty. So if Breedloves words hold true, then what he believes is that someone going out and killing someone is barbaric. In a sense isnt that what hes saying, that one way of killing someone is just as bad as any other. So if he finds this so barbaric, why doesnt he do something about it? Many people who are against capital punishment are only thinking of the criminal and how cruel it is for them. But, shouldnt we think of the families that are broken apart now because of the merciless acts of these criminals. Think of Susan Smith, how she knowingly drove her car off into a lake with her two children strapped to the seats. Think of how they must have felt as the cold water started to fill the cabin of the car, and then ultimately drown them. Barbaric is exactly the word I would use to describe her actions. But yet, the jury rejected the death penalty and chose a life sentence instead. Mr. Smith, the father of the two children, broken up from the ruling said "Me and my family are disappointed that the death penalty was not the verdict, but it wasnt our choice. They returned a verdict they thought was justice" (Bragg, pg. 1+). But was it justice that she was not put to death for killing her two children. How could someone possibly let her off the hook of such a crime. They said it would be just as bad for her to be in that cell alone because of her depression, but does it justify her cutting short the lives of the two children who had no idea of their oncoming death. "All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears." Says Joseph de Maistre, a eighteenth century French diplomat. He is right, if we give up our punishing a deadly criminal, then we throw our society into chaos and let the criminals freely do as they please. I would know I was safe if anyone that tried to fatally harm me would be put to death. But in this society when someone can kill someone, get sentenced to life, get paroled and then freed to go about and do the same crime again frankly scares me. Another thing that scares me is the fact that this country has softened up on criminals. Its hard to think that now a days everyone has a right, even though when you go against the law and are put in prison, you are suppose to be stripped of your rights. Not so anymore. Justice in the nineties has slacked up a bit. "In the late 1950s, on any given day there were about two hundred prisoners awaiting execution," says Hugo Bedau of Tufts University, Massachusetts. "Hardly any remained on Death Row for more than a year." Today [November 1995], there are 15 times that number, and many have been there for over a decade. Opponents of the death penalty say this statistic is a moral outrage. Supporters see it as undermining a key advantage of the death penalty over life imprisonment: it saves tax-payers the huge cost of keeping murderers locked up (Matthews, pg.s 38-42). Most of those against capital punishment argue that the forms of execution are gruesome. While some might be seen that way at first, others offer the advantages that both parties can agree on. In 1994 there were two hundred fifty seven executions in the United States. There were five methods of doing so, as follows: --- Lethal Injection: 133 Electrocution: 112 Gas Chamber: 9 Hanging: 2 Firing Squad: 1 --- Electric Chair First used in New York in 1890 and still in use in 13 states, "old sparky" was the horrific outcome of Thomas Edisons attempt to show the dangers

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Drama vs. Melodrama

Drama vs. Melodrama Drama vs. Melodrama Drama vs. Melodrama By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, What is the difference between â€Å"dramatic† and â€Å"melodramatic† in common usage, such as â€Å"Don’t be so dramatic† or â€Å"Don’t be so melodramatic†? In common usage, both words are used interchangeably to mean something like â€Å"don’t make such a fuss.† A similar negative use of the noun drama is seen in the expression â€Å"without the drama.† For example: With Cars.com, you get what you need without the drama. Michael Corleone might not have been able to leave the family, but luckily your friends at Foxtel let you leave without the drama. The tagline â€Å"disinfects without the drama† differentiates Betadine from other brands. Thanks to advertising, â€Å"without the drama† has leaked into general usage as shorthand for â€Å"without difficulty,† â€Å"without complication,† â€Å"without upset,† â€Å"without injured feelings,† â€Å"without tantrums,† etc. Here are examples from various non-advertising contexts: Sort out school fees without the drama 5 Picks to Keep Your Kids Active Without the Drama Merging the Stepfamilies Without the Drama Ever wondered what software development could be like without the drama? The expression â€Å"drama queen† has become popular to describe a self-centered person- man or woman- who makes an issue of trivial matters of comfort and personal indulgence. The conventional meaning of the word drama is â€Å"a composition in prose or verse, adapted to be acted upon a stage, in which a story is related by means of dialogue and action, and is represented with accompanying gesture, costume, and scenery, as in real life. A melodrama is a drama characterized by exaggeration and sensationalism. The acting style appropriate to a drama is realistic, whereas the acting in a melodrama is bombastic or excessively sentimental. Movies known as â€Å"tears are Sophie’s Choice, Kramer vs Kramer, Love Story, Dead Poets Society, Steel Magnolias, and Ghost. Movies with super heroes and super villains, like the Batman films, are also melodramas. The words melodrama and melodramatic are more precise choices than drama and dramatic to describe an excessive display of emotion. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business LetterThe Many Forms of the Verb TO BE50 Tips on How to Write Good