Author: Andre

Torture

Many people consider the use of  torture to be immoral and illogical, but I am here to put my opinion forward on why I believe the use of torture is necessary. There is a statement that is ‘The use of torture is necessary to protect lives’, and I think this statement is true. The cliché of a terrorist planting a bomb in the heart of a city is the perfect example why an alternative method of obtaining information is needed. If there are thousands of lives at risk and the only way to prevent pointless deaths is to torture the person responsible, then it is for benefit of the city that this person is tortured. What if one of the people in danger is your mother? What if one is your one and only child, the thing you love most in the world? Are you really going to let them die needlessly when you know you have the power to prevent it? Thousands of lives lost and it’s all your fault.

You could argue that it is immoral to torture someone but surely it is worse to let thousands die because you did not want to torture someone as diabolical as to attempt to brutally murder thousands of innocent people. It is clear that torture is the lesser of two evils, when compared to mass genocide, therefore is the moral and ethical decision to make. I am almost certain if your family were held captive somewhere, with their demise imminent,  you would do everything in your power to get the information you need to save them.

You could try to reason with the terrorist or interrogate them. But what do you do if when your attempts of verbal communication prove futile? Surely to save the lives of many,  physical persuasion is is in order. Are you going to wait for lives to be taken for action to be taken? How many lives? 1000? 2000? 3000? Why wait for innocent people to die before a change is made? The idea of torture strikes fear into the brains of criminals and makes them think twice before doing something like planting a bomb. Torture could also be used as a punishment for certain crimes considered malicious, for example rape and paedophilia, both of which leave people emotionally scarred. If their punishment was extreme pain as oppose to a few years in a cell with 3 meals a day, I am sure this would deter many people from committing crimes with such a punishment.

You could say that hurting people is not right under any circumstances. But torture does not always include hurting people. There is a torture technique called water boarding, that simulates drowning, or sleep deprivation that is depriving someone of sleep. Both techniques torture, without hurting the person it is being done to. So if you disagree with torture because if physically inflicts pain on people,  then there are ways around that.

There are many reasons for and against the use of torture, even if it will only be used under extreme circumstances, and it is always going to be an ethical issue in a modern society. Having said this, it being an issue means there is more than one opinion on it and it has not yet had a unanimous solution.  My solution would  be to try the use of torture in specific situations and if it works it is kept and if not remove it. There’s a solution for everything the only reason there’s an issue is when people are not willing to find a solution.

Dramatic Monologue based on the poem “Futility” by Wilfred Owen

We moved him into the sunlight. The sun usually does it. It usually wakes him up. Without a shadow of a doubt this was the way to make him arise from his slumber. We tried, we failed. Guilt is one of the worst feelings anyone can feel, and on such occasions one regrets their past decisions then wishes they had done something different. I had many regrets on that snowy Tuesday morning in France, one of which was not being  there to protect my fallen comrade. If I was there then maybe things would have gone differently. Perhaps I could  have warned  him about the sniper that ,without a second thought, so precisely assassinated him with a single shot to the left side his neck, causing blood to start gushing out of his throat, leaving a large pool of blood around his corpse.

I also felt severe anger. Why did his life have to end so abruptly, at the age of only 21. He had his whole life ahead  of him. He was ambitious and open to anything. He was a fighter, with a true fire in his heart and deep ocean blue eyes that could brighten a whole room. But his flame had been distinguished. I was unsettled by his death for quite a while and had numerous sleepless nights spent contemplating the reasons for war, and if there is actually someone  up there controlling it all.

If so, why they would allow such events to occur? The realisation that my once closest comrade is no longer with us hit me harder than all, and we may win the war but at what cost? The loss of loved ones all for some land? Dismay spread across the world as people come to grips with not having a well valued family member around, for reasons that seize to amaze me. Initially, I joined the the army for the experience with my friends, and to travel the world. But I was young and unaware of what was in store for me. Reflecting on what it was like inside the freezing cold trenches, eating the same awful food repetitively, seeing  those closest to you killed with no justification, and missing your regular life at home, I rue the day signed up. Someone once said “War, good for some, bad for most”, and that’s a quote I will live by for the rest of my life. 

Dear Isabelle Kerr,

Being part of the generation responsible  for these slang terms, I am happy that the words “Twerking,” “Selfie” and “Unlike” have been added to the Online Oxford Dictionaries. This is because these words are a product of the evolution of society and acceptance of new ideas and concepts.

I disagree with most of the points you have made in your article because I don’t  believe they are a fair refreflection of what is happening at the moment. You said “The future of the English language looks bleak.” I strongly  disagree  with this statement  because I believe the future of the English language is to be filled with many new words, much like selfie and twerking, that show our generation in a new light. The points made in your article are biased and negative  because you didn’t take into consideration any of the positive aspects of this situation. You didn’t  think about our generation  showing  that there is power in numbers and that the dictionary publishers think highly of these words and believe they’re of high enough status to go into their dictionary. It also shows  that our generation  have found new ways to express themselves, and have been able to globalise them. This also proves our generation is as innovative as the previous generations, but is more powerful  and has more authority than the previous generations.

The dictionary publishers themselves  obviously think the status of these words justify their place in the most prestigious dictionary in the country. They believe that a great part of the English  language  comes from the youth  and that the major words produced by the youth deserve to be in the dictionary.You also had an issue with the new additions to the dictionary being  “Mostly related to image, reputation  and sex.” In my opinion these new additions are related  to image but I don’t  see it as a bad thing. A selfie is your image and is an innovative way to express yourself  and clearly people  enjoy it as it’s  become an international trend. In addition, as trends change, technology has to adapt to suit the trends.  For example, the inclusion of a front camera on most smartphones made for selfies. It’s not as if it’s only young people and technology that are adapting to new trends. The older generations are also on social networks and may feel obliged  to join in the taking of selfies and  some do so happily and frequently.

You also said the “wrong impression” is given out and I don’t  think it is. I understand why twerking  can be seen as a negative thing but others, especially  those who do it would disagree. One thing I agree with is that these words are a “fashion trend” but at the same time are more than that. They can be described as a phenomena that are yet to achieve their  full potential. These words won’t  just come and go like other trends because these words  are used internationally used and have greatly affected people’s lives. For example, there  are people  that make a living from twerking and in fact a woman called Jessica Vanessa makes a 6 figure salary from it. I also believe the new additions  make the dictionary more interesting because  there are no other words like them. They give the dictionary  more variation and people a wider range of vocabulary to use.

In conclusion I believe that the inclusion  of the words “Twerking,” “Selfie” and “Unlike” to the Oxford Online  Dictionaries just prove  that our generation are strong and influential and that this is only the beginning  of something bigger. This generation are able to express  themselves in many ways and will continue  to do so and have global effect. The world and the people in it are changing and the English language  has to adapt to the the new trends arising. The future of the English  language looks bright and I hope it continues to grow in the way it has been. 

Yours truthfully Andre.