Week 1- Article 1: T.V.: Good for You?

Central Argument: Watching television is beneficial because it is a way to spread knowledge and education to people, especially women in rural India, who don't have access to any.

He sat in front of the television, without blinking, without speaking, without even breathing, it seemed. He was so engrossed in it that he would even respond to my father's friendly whistle as he returned from work. It was absolutely amazing to watch. What was he watching? Nothing in particular: just a Japanese cartoon dubbed in English, which he didn't even have the fundamentals of. But still, he sat and watched, and later, when I asked him who the characters were, he named them, A to Z. He knew all of it. That moment, I realized how important T.V. is, even for a four-year-old child. T.V. is a revolutionary force that not only taught children about magical creatures that can fly, but, as Joel Waldfogel says, has helped people be more educated and be aware of the things going around in the world.

Watching television can help change a woman's perspective about her place in society. For example. there is an advertisement on Indian television about a English-learning program. A housewife, probably from rural India, is doing laundry as she speaks in broken English. However, as she progresses with her story, her English and her pronunciation ameliorate so that by the end, she speaks like a native English-speaker. Although the woman portrays the role of a typical housewife  in India, the message is somewhat different. Aside from advertising purposes, the commercial is teaching young women that being  housewives does not limit their education. It is telling them that housewives can also be smart and learn English just like their spouses or children. This strong message has a positive impact on women watching this commercial, and ultimately, it can change their point of view and have a positive impact on their behavior as women.

Not only women, but children can also gain knowledge and inspiration watching television. In a novel called Little Prices, Conor Grennan wrote about his experiences as a volunteer worker in an orphanage on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. While he volunteered in the orphanage, he continued working on a book in which he wanted to write about his experiences. There is a chapter in the book where it talks about how one day, when he returns from Thamel, he finds that his computer is missing. When he goes to check on the boys at the orphanage, he finds that they are watching a Bollywood movie on his laptop. Their laughter fills his ears, and the way they mimic the cheesy scenes in the film touches his heart. While I read, I thought about how big a part electronics, computers in this case (but it can also apply to television), play in a kid's life. It can be, at certain times, a source of joy and laughter and knowledge. This shows how even children can make the most out of televisions.

Therefore, I agree with the author when says that watching television can be beneficial. It can inspire and educate women, who don't have education, about the importance of women in society today, and it can also help children gain knowledge and have fun in their everyday lives. Inventing the television was a significant growth in mankind's part.

Week 1- Article 2: Meet My Son

 Central Argument: Emily Rapp defends women’s right to terminate a pregnancy with the knowledge and information deduced from prenatal testing.

 

                 Abortion has always been an issue of great debate and controversy for a few decades. People argue about the cases where abortion should or not. Many believe that in cases where the girl has been a victim of rape or sexual harassment or if she herself has decided to give up the baby, then abortion should be legal. However, others believe that no matter what, aborting a child means taking the life of a human being, which is a crime. In certain cases, like in the one of Emily Rapp, people can understand why abortion is necessary. Rapp highlights the problem of babies being born with physical or mental disabilities and incompetence. In cases like her own, doctors predict that these babies aren’t even going to live till they are two years old. And their lives for the two years comes with great difficulty and hardships: paralysis, low rates of responding to the environment, or being deaf or dumb. I think that Rapp is correct when she states that abortion should be legal, but only in cases like her son’s.  In other cases, legalizing abortion can have a negative effect.

                If the baby is born with severe disabilities, abortion should be legal. For example, a few years back, our English class analyzed a short story about a boy named Christy Brown. This boy, being the youngest of several children, was born paralyzed. The doctors believed that he could never walk or talk or be a “normal kid.” His mother, along with handling all of her others kids, had to pay special attention to Christy due to his disability. She had to dedicate all her strength into raising Christy the right way. Many a times, the story told the reader about the times the mother broke down because it was so overwhelming for her. Even though Christy ends up being able to write an “A” with his left foot, the story highlights the difficulty of being born with a disability. Even if the mother loved her son with all her heart, she still had to face a lot of problems as Christy lived a different lifestyle from his siblings. Therefore, in cases where both the parties are being hurt, abortion can only prove to have a more positive effect than a negative.

                However, legalizing abortions completely can have negative effects, especially in the culture aspects of life. For example, many villages in rural places of Asia have conserved their traditional ways and try to implement their customs and traditions in their daily lives. In places like China, India, and Pakistan especially, the uneducated villagers have the mindset that having a baby girl is a curse in the family. According to them, along with a baby girl comes the burden of raising her well only to give her away with a lot of dowry. Therefore, if abortion in legalized, and if these kinds people find out about the sex of the baby in a mother’s stomach somehow, they will only force the woman to adopt her baby. It is called female infanticide. To many people, legalizing abortions would mean a way to be warned about the “misfortunes” to come and being able to deal with them through abortions.

                All in all, I think that Emily Rapp is right when she says that abortion is a choice of a mother and should be legal when she chooses to take necessary steps. It could save a lot of suffering in the caretaker’s part and the victim’s. However, abortion can also have negative effects when it is used by backward people for female infanticide. What would be best would be to make abortions legal depending on the situation.