Interview about American Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Interview about American Culture - Essay Example The first opposition was based on the fact that college students are most of the times not responsible individuals and having such a dangerous weapon with them is the worst idea ever. John tells me a brief story of how when he was in his freshman year he attended a fraternity party which he was curious to know what it was about and if he could fit or not. The only thing present other than numerous girls in semi-nude states were the many bottles of beer, cans and jugs of the beer as well as numerous drugs being smoked openly and being passed around. To cut the story short, fight erupted over a girl and beer bottles flew all over but what was vivid was the unmistakable sound of a gun and a body flying into the air and blood sputtering everywhere. Three students had been shot and one died. This was a drunken mistake which is the order of the weekend and sometimes even weekdays for the college students. They drink and their thinking becomes impaired and hence cannot comprehend the magnitude of having such a weapon at hand. According to him fatalities or serious injuries are bound to be the order of the day for the college administration to clean up. They will shoot their opponents or those who anger them in a drunken mistake that cannot be undone when one sobers up. The other reason that makes him oppose such a moral issue in America is the intensity in which aspiring student leaders’ campaign to be elected. These elections are so intense and tension as well as temper rises. It is not uncommon for fights to erupt between supporters of these opponents where minor injuries occur. He explained that if students are allowed to carry concealed weapons no matter what restrictions may be applied, they are bound to appear in such demonstrations and campaign and people are bound to get hurt in the long run. He insists that the states that have already authorized such a

Discuss the legacy of Puritan thought in the work of Cotton Mather Essay

Discuss the legacy of Puritan thought in the work of Cotton Mather - Essay Example Still, he also used the technique of the constant application of religious and biblical ideology to the contemporary world. Mather serves as an icon for conservative, unapologetic Puritanism for social and political change. Mather was an outspoken Puritan thinker and an definitive conservative, lining as a clergyman, writer and sociologist in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. He called for a return to the Puritanical ways of his grandfather and great grandfather if the new world (America) was to be saved and to thrive. Cotton Mather’s views are openly expressed in such works as Pillars of Salt and The Wonders of the Invisible World. Mather wrote personally and definitely not in an unbiased way, drawing on Biblical and figurative language to speak to the audiences of his time. Mather really emphasized the importance of the bible and conservative religious texts for characterizing moments in time and learning valuable lessons. For Mather, what he wrote was deeply personal. His biases can be seen in his writings and his writings are meant to unsettle, to stir the reader. Elements of this unrest lie in the fear that he invokes, and in the imagery and fiery language meant to press his cause. Cotton Mather’s pamphlet Pillars of Salt shows the self-criticality and sensational judgment of Mather’s writing and of the tenets of Puritanism. Pamphlets were a sort of true crime fiction, intended to show accounts of gruesome and sinful deaths. This example of an impious life was something Mather clung to in his own writings. Mather says to the condemned man James Morgan, â€Å"Mark what I say: You were born among the enemies of God, you were born with a soul as full of enmity against God, as a Toad is full of poison† (Mather). Humans are sinful- and the concept of original sin follows everyone, so they should live a holy life. Pillars of Salt included Mathers first sermon about