Boy Scouts of America V. Dale (Sort of Trashy Outline;)

1. Attention Grabbing Hook: The Boy Scouts of America organization, known as BSA for short, is one of the largest and most prominent youth organizations in the world, with over 100 million total participants. (About BSA)
2. Necessary Background Information: However, in the 1990s, the organization became involved in a controversial case regarding the position of Assistant Scoutmaster James Dale, due to his sexual preferences. In 1992, Dale sued the Boy Scouts of America after they rescinded his membership in the organization after they discovered his presence in LGBT advocacy. Dale’s position was that his public accommodations right was being violated by BSA when they refused him access. (Oyez)
3. Thesis Statement: The final Supreme Court decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale was justified as it allows certain individual groups to establish their own rules and preferences. 
4. Original Analysis of Case relating to First Amendment: Eight years after the initial lawsuit, the Supreme Court supported the notion that BSA has the authority to ban James Dale and other homosexuals from its leadership position because of the violation of the Boys Scouts’ First Amendment right to expressive association.
5. Supreme Court Final Decision: The final decision“[gave] the Boy Scouts of America a constitutional right to bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders”, supporting the BSA’s claims (Oyez).
6. Reason #1: In a 1978 statement from BSA’s executive committee, the position of the organization on homosexuality was made clear, as they “do not believe that homosexuality and leadership in Scouting are appropriate,” and that they “will continue to select only those who in our judgment meet our standards and qualifications for leadership.” (Opinion of the Court...)It was made clear before Dale’s 1992 lawsuit that the Scouting organization strongly disapproves of gay people, and message they support.
7. Reason #2: The Supreme Court ultimately asserted that “having determined that the Boy Scouts is an expressive association and that the forced inclusion of Dale would significantly affect its expression” (Opinion of the Court...). As a private, non-profit organization, the BSA has the right to associate itself with whoever embodies its intents, and to exclude anyone that goes again its message, like homosexuals, as the program “will not promote homosexual conduct as a legitimate form of behavior.” (Opinion of the Court...)

1. Counterclaim: The applying of the New Jersey public accommodations law in order to force the BSA to reinstate Dale was done on the basis that the BSA has a history of accepting members from diverse backgrounds, and can be considered a public group.
   
2. Reasons for counterclaim: Since BSA is a public group, it is not allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation. BSA accepts members from diverse ethnic and religious background, and numerous minor age groups, so in discriminating homosexuals on the program, it violates the public accommodations law, as BSA, a program that is communal, revoked Dale’s leadership position solely “on the basis of [his] sexual orientation.” (Opinion of the Court...)
   
3. Refute counter claim: The ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court wrongly deemed the BSA as a public accommodation “and applied its public accommodations law to a private entity.” (Opinion of the Court...). Therefore, the BSA, as a independent group, reserves the right to exclude members that contradicts with their core values.
   
4. Bibliography
   
5. Source #1: "Boy Scouts of America v. Dale." Oyez. IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.
   
6. Source #2:"Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation Allowed by the Boy Scouts." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Civil Rights Monitor, n.d. Web. 1 Mar.2017.
   
7. Source #3: "Opinion of the Court: Boy Scouts of America v. Dale." Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, 28 June 2000. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
   
8. "About BSA." Prepared. For Life. Boy Scouts of America, n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
   

Let the Punishment Suit the Crime (Outline)

I. For centuries, criminals were executed all over Europe for the most absurd reasons. Whether one was just a hungry boy stealing half a loaf of bread or a brutal highway robber who killed everyone he stole from, the penalties for crime were the same: severe torture or a death sentence. However, that all changed when the implementation of logic and reason during the Age of Reason helped Cesare Beccaria become one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers in criminal justice. His most prominent essay, On Crimes and Punishments, contained logical opinions on developing and sustaining a reasonable criminal justice system. In this work, Beccaria’s main emphasis was on administering realistic and rational punishments proportional to the severity of the crime committed, as well as on the right for all the accused to receive a trial that is just and expeditious. Overall, his philosophy was to use logic and reason to sentence punishments, to give everyone the right to a fair and speedy trial, and to have all examiners of criminal justice be level-headed and unbiased. Basically, Beccaria’s idea of the perfect criminal justice system was one that operated on a logical basis. Enlightenment philosopher Beccaria espoused the core value of administering punishment appropriate to the severity of the crime, as well as shifting the focus on preventing crime from happening in the first place so punishment need not occur; this was important to society because it provided a systematic and simple way to enforce fair criminal justice and defended many human rights. This was exemplified by the words of Haemon, Creon’s son, in Antigone.

II. Born into an aristocratic family in Milan, Italy, Cesare Beccaria was automatically enrolled in a Jesuit educational system and received his degree in law in 1758. After his education, Beccaria formed a society with his two friends, Pietro and Alessandro Verri, that later became known as “the academy of fists” (Cesare Beccaria 1). During his lifetime, the Enlightenment period was at its peak, and Beccaria's thoughts were strongly influenced by the logic and reason that came with it. Beccaria wrote his most renowned piece of literature, On Crimes and Punishments, after his companions in “the academy of fists” continually encouraged him to express his political views on paper. In this work, he strongly supported the right for criminals to be granted a fair and prompt trial, in which they would be “dictated by a cool examiner of human nature, who knew how to collect in one point the actions of a multitude, and had this only end in view, the greatest happiness of the greatest number” (Beccaria). He wanted the verdicts of all trials to please the vast majority of people, and in the case that criminals were found guilty, Beccaria promoted reasonable punishment in proportion with the crime.

 III. Beccaria’s core value revolved around a logical approach to criminal justice. He believed only in punishment that was reasonable to the offense committed by the person, and did not support the idea of a death sentence. Beccaria’s reasoning against the death sentence was that it was “absurd, that laws, which detest and punish homicide, should, in order to prevent murder, publicly commit murder themselves” (Beccaria). His logical approach towards crime was also contradictory to the execution and torture of all lawbreakers, instead requiring cool, levelheaded examiners to try criminals. In doing so, Beccaria was denying the right for anyone with political power to do whatever they wanted with a criminal. This was crucial to societal improvement, as it gave rise to the guaranteed rights of not only the free citizens but for convicts and felons as well. Beccaria’s thinking led to a new, more humane criminal justice system, both in Europe and all over the world. In fact, his thinking was vital in the formation of the United States’ laws on criminal justice, as the 6th and 8th Amendments were based off of his ideas (Beck 198-200).

IV. Even though most of society came to accept Beccaria’s ideas, some philosophers, including Rousseau, differed in their views of the criminal justice system, and might have thought along the lines that harsh punishments being necessary to properly punish the offender and discourage potential future offenders. In his work, Social Contract, Rousseau indirectly disagrees with Beccaria, claiming that “when we put the guilty to death, we’re doing this not so much to a citizen as to an enemy” (Rousseau 17). Basically, he believed that a person lost his status as a citizen, as well as his rights, as soon as he committed a crime. According to Rousseau’s reasoning, people involved with any sort of illegal activity have all broken the social contract, are not part of the state, and therefore should reasonably receive brutal punishment in order to prevent others from breaking the social contract as well. Although it may be true that severe punishments discourage a number of people from committing a crime, it can also be argued that people could also see punishments as overly severe, and take that disdain of the perceived unfair treatment as motivation to continue their unjust ways. What Rousseau’s arguments against Beccaria’s thinking does not account for is the idea that having the same severe punishment for all law offenses will fuel resentment and hatred among the people; basically, people who commit lighter crimes clearly do not deserve the same severity of punishment as those who commit serious offenses. Beccaria’s ideal version of punishments, although not as severe, would be more effective in society, as he believed “all punishments which exceed the necessity of preserving this bond are in their nature unjust!” (Beccaria). In this context, the bond he is referring to keeps the interests of the individuals united rather than conflicted. Beccaria wanted retributions that “make the strongest and most lasting impression on the minds of others, with the least torment to the body of the criminal” (Beccaria). In other words, by leaving a strong impression without afflicting unnecessary pain to the criminal, people would be able to maintain a united front, knowing the government is being fair to them, and will not commit crimes out of hate; this ultimately prevents felonies before they even happen.

 V. The core belief that all criminal justice systems should operate in a systematic and reasonable way connects with Beccaria’s thinking, as that is basically the argument of all of his enlightened thinking, displayed in his famous piece, On Crimes and Punishments. His core belief is shown in the words of Haemon, Creon’s son, in the last play of the Oedipus trilogy, Antigone. As a future and potential leader, Haemon possesses a calm, reasonable side to him; even though he took his own life tragically, he left with an extremely memorable quote that supports Beccaria’s belief almost perfectly. In a conversation with his father, Haemon asks Creon to “hear a city’s sympathy for this girl, because no woman ever faced so unreasonable, so cruel a death, for such a generous cause” (Sophocles 222). Haemon’s statement mirrors the main point of Beccaria’s essay, that the punishment should match the crime. Antigone’s crime was for a righteous cause of providing a loved one with a proper burial, and in return, she is sentenced to starve in a cave, where she eventually hangs herself. Haemon tells his stubborn father of this injustice and even appeals to the fact that the Theban people sympathize with Antigone’s actions. Although Creon believes he was right to punish Antigone, everyone, including the victim herself, knew that the people of Thebes “think as [she], but trim their tongues to [Creon]” (Sophocles 212). The majority of Thebes is against Creon’s decision because it goes against all reason and logic. The people sympathize with Antigone and support Haemon’s reasoning that Antigone has been given such an unfair punishment for a light offense. In this statement, Haemon’s way of thinking is parallel to that of Beccaria, in that no overly cruel punishment should be dished out that is not in proportion with the crime.

VI. After expanding on and analyzing Beccaria’s philosophy, it should be clear what his core value is. Overall, Beccaria believes in an unbiased criminal justice system that revolves entirely around logic and reason. Haemon represents these ideas in Antigone through his dialogue that is filled with rationale and wisdom. As the detailed version of Haemon’s dream judicial branch, Beccaria emphasized a justice system with levelheaded judges, reasonable punishments in proportion to the severity of the crime, and the banishment of capital penalty. Overall, Beccaria’s enlightened ideas were truly revolutionary in the field of punishment reform, influencing not only European nations, but even later becoming a basis of law enforcement and justice systems worldwide as well.

Works Cited

Beccaria, Cesare. "Internet History Sourcebooks." Internet History Sourcebooks. Fordham University, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016. <http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/18beccaria.asp>.                      

Beck, Roger B. Modern World History Patterns of Interaction. California Edition ed. N.p.: McDougal Littell, 2006. Print.                      

"Cesare Beccaria:." Constitution Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. <http://www.constitution.org/cb/beccaria_bio.htm>.                      

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. Ed. Jonathan Bennett, n.d. Early Modern Texts. Web. 29 Oct. 2016. <http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/rousseau1762.pdf>. 

Sophocles, and Paul Roche. The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles; Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. New York: New American Library, 1958. Print.

Pretending to be Formal for Book Love

6 October 2016

Mrs. Pierce

Claremont High School

1601 N Indian Hill Blvd

Claremont, CA 91711

Dear Mrs. Pierce:

After almost an entire triad of Book Love, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In the six weeks in which we have had designated reading times, I have been able to read three incredible novels: Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, and The Alchemyst. 

During the six weeks of book love, not only have I been reading during the twenty minutes allotted to us every Monday and Friday, but also at home. The addition of required reading as part of my homework was a great choice, as it gave me a chance to unwind after a stressful day at school with a good book in my hands. 

Out of the three books I’ve been able to finish this triad, The Alchemyst was the best by far. As the first installment in a series of fantasy novels, The Alchemyst contains just the right mixture of humor, action, magic, and mythology that gets any teen reader hooked in. I would highly recommend this book to any student, as a perfect Book Love choice, or just as a pleasurable read.

Thank you so much, Mrs. Pierce, for this remarkable Book Love program. This gives me such a great opportunity everyday after school to just relax for twenty or thirty minutes. I really hope we continue with this Book Love program exactly as it is for the rest of the school year.

Yours sincerely,

Justin Wei

Book Love Project: The Da Vinci Code

     Everyone loves an exciting conspiracy theory, whether it be the government created HAARP satellite that is actually used to trigger natural disasters and mind-control humans, or of the staging of the Apollo moon landing to cover up some mishap that might have happened during the actual landing. The Da Vinci Code, a worldwide bestseller by author Dan Brown, supports one of the most popular and controversial topics in civilized history, the authenticity of Christianity. I was first introduced to this book when I watched the movie version with my family, and found the story’s clue-hidden-in-plain-sight concept to be very intriguing. In addition, my mom kept telling me about how riveting the Chinese version of The Da Vinci Code was, and I plucked up enough courage to start this dark adult novel. Ten words into the Prologue, and I had already become inseparable from my paperback version of The Da Vinci Code.

     In the beginning, the dead body of Jacques Sauniere, curator of The Louvre Museum, was found, killed by a bullet wound to the stomach. Right after the bullet was shot, Sauniere knew if he died, a secret he had protected all his life would be lost forever. With his life force seeping out, he had fifteen minutes to pass on the secret to the only person he could trust, his granddaughter, Sophie Neveu. Using his own blood, he wrote out seemingly meaningless clues on the floor of the Louvre, left Sophie with the key to the discovering the secret, and also wrote “PS Find Robert Langdon.” It was this last part that got the story’s main character involved, who is a Harvard symbology professor and acts like a fatherly figure to Sophie throughout the story, giving her the necessary guidance in order to find the truth. As the duo tackle clue after clue on the treasure hunt, they meet new people, some of whom help them tremendously, but still betray them in the end. As the story progresses, Langdon and Sophie learn of the truth about Sophie’s grandfather. He was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, a society charged with the guarding of a secret concerning the whereabouts of explosive documents pertaining to the truth behind Christianity. It tells of Jesus as a prophet, and of his relationships as a mortal. The Roman Catholic Church covered all this up, including the relationship of Jesus with one of his apostles, Mary Magdalene, in order to make Jesus the deity of Christianity and gain power. As Langdon and Sophie get nearer to locating these documents, the odds become more and more stacked against them. However, they must push through all adversities to protect this information, and for Sophie to discover the ultimate truth about her family. 

  Although this novel is filled with totally unexpected plot twists, the most interesting elements were the riddles left behind by Jacques Sauniere. The answers were always hidden within the text provided, although many techniques had to be used to derive the correct answer. Anagrams, which rearrange letters of one phrase to form another, were used frequently to prevent authorities from knowing the true message. For example, Sauniere wrote with his own blood, the phrase “O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!” which is the repositioning of the letters of the original message, “Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!” (Brown 128) The symbology aspect was also intriguing, like the placement of Sauniere’s nude corpse in a pentacle form, which was a subtle hint to Da Vinci’s famous sketch, The Vitruvian Man. However, the most stimulating element was Sauniere’s use of Da Vinci’s notoriously illegible mirror writing technique. The mirror writing was shown in the book, leaving an even stronger impression for readers.

  The Da Vinci Code is an extremely engaging book that requires one to ruminate as the plot progresses, and is one that is not appropriate for younger teens. Not only are there many technical terms of traditional architecture and some religious terminology, but also many applicable vocabulary words that require some dictionary surfing. One such word is euphoric (Brown 38), which refers to a feeling of intense happiness or excitement. Another example is doctrine (Brown 37), a unique set of beliefs and rituals supported by certain churches, political groups, or other organizations. One term that can be inferred with some context, but is still a good word to know and understand is mortification (Brown 55), meaning a serious embarrassment, although in The Da Vinci Code, it refers to subduing one’s bodily desires. Ciphers (Brown 101), a big part of how the riddles within the story were solved, refers to an encoded message, or a disguised way of writing. The last high quality term to prove my point that The Da Vinci Code is an intricately written novel that is sometimes difficult to comprehend is trepidation (Brown 26), which is a intuitive fear of some event in the future that may happen.  

Despite the controversy behind The Da Vinci Code and its topic, I would still give it a five-star rating. Since I am not Christian, my point of view analyzed the novel without any bias, and judged the book for its amazing plot twists, detailed character composition and accurate historical context. Based on some of the reviews that I read online, were it not for the controversial topic that is the central point of the novel, there is no reason why anyone would give it anything less than a five-star rating. The Da Vinci Code is truly a work of art unto itself, and I definitely recommend this book to any young adult looking for an exhilarating novel.

*read this out loud to the class.....hehe

In Another World

My last image of action was a leap into enemy fire

Now lying helplessly amidst the bodies of my brothers

I thought back to my peaceful England

Where my loved ones will wait 

For my return forever

My mother, kind and gentle

My beloved, fierce and beautiful

What I could have been,

A father of two children

Vanished in an instance 

To be replaced by my current state

A mutilated, drained body

Lying unknown and uncared for

Torso shredded with shrapnel and bullets

Blood spraying magnificently

Like a fountain of lonesome pain and unfulfilled wishes

I remembered the small German town where I grew up

The pride of my family the day I enlisted 

To serve the wishes of the greatest empire, the Third Reich

My mother’s warm embraces, tender kisses provided comfort

During my brutal training and lonely nights away

My platoon always preparing for that inevitable surprise

A desperate rush up the shoreline

From primitive metal tubs

The unyielding rain of bullets from sky and sea

Forced the river to flow red again

Upon seeing blood 

All my training gave way to an unyielding film of blackness

As I lay on the foreign unwelcoming sand

With my body so distorted I did not feel human

Confusion and fear and the regret of a misguided life

Were the last images my immature mind comprehended.

The two soldiers lying side-by-side

Two boys fighting a war for adults.

In another untroubled universe,

The two could have been friends.

Analysis 

“In Another World” is a first person poem that follows the lives of a young English and German soldier as they enter the brutality of war. As such, it includes perspectivism because it switches from the point of view of soldiers from two different sides. A notable theme of the story is that of narrative authority, paying respect to the various narrator. 

A prominent connection to modernism that is evident in the poem is Dadaism. For example, “...torso shredded with shrapnel and bullets, blood spraying magnificently,” portrays how dangerous war can be when out on the battlefield. Another modernism element that can be seen in “In Another World” is imagism. It is used to help the reader visualize what exactly the author is trying to describe. For instance, “ The unyielding rain of bullets from sky and sea forced the river to run red again.” In this scenario, the reader can see how battles during a war can change the surrounding of the battlefield. A “rain of bullets” really shows the intensity and ferocity of war and how a soldier has to adapt to his/her situation to stay alive in a place like that. 

The main theme that connects this poem to modernism is narrative authority, which is having more than one first person narrator. The poem starts off with the point of view of the British soldier, and moves to that of the German, finally concluding with an omniscient narrator. Soldiers from both sides had a different opinion about the war preceding their fateful battle. However, in the end, both died believing that they fought a pointless war, and had lived up to this single misguided moment in their lives. An anonymous narrator finishes off the poem, leaving a jarring and strange perspective with audience. Furthermore, from a political standpoint, this war was necessary in order to maintain balance in the world. All these different perspectives from various narrators just go to show how there was no universal truth at the time.

Pitfalls of Temptation

     Irish playwright Oscar Wilde once said, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it….I can resist everything but temptation.” In regards to free will, which is a common dilemma that has puzzled humankind, we wonder if we, as homo sapiens, are ever fully in charge of our actions, or if we are submissive to our mental and physical desires, no matter how unwise the urge seems to the logical mind? In the novels Macbeth and The Good Earth, temptation eats away at one’s virtues until nothing is left but unbridled hunger. This is exhibited in two slightly different ways by the main characters of their respective novels, Macbeth and Wang Lung.

     Despite all of his righteous virtues at the beginning of the Shakespearean play, Macbeth quickly becomes consumed by his emotional inclinations the moment he is exposed to the temptation of power when he receives an extra thaneship. Once he feels the pleasure of having authority, his temptation for more grows, and he starts going out of control. After killing Duncan, the good and righteous king, his desires start to snowball, as he begins to act extremely paranoid. His previously courageous, strong, and powerful figure has degraded so much that he has become a cold-blooded, immoral, and uncontrollable monster. The temptations that he has ceded to have made him more of an emotional creature than a logical one. In terms of making decisions, he asserted that “from this moment, the very firstlings of [his] heart shall be the firstling of [his] hand.” (Shakespeare 107) Macbeth promised that whatever his emotions told him, he’d act upon them immediately. This made him into a creature without any restraint, controlled solely by his hunger for the power he has grown so fond of. After making this claim, he was unable to stop himself from ordering unnecessarily brutal murders of his subjects.

     Wang Lung’s experience with temptations is slightly different. His desires lay in the area of women, especially after he became rich and materialistic. In the beginning, he was a hands-on worker who felt the earth every single day, even after he returned to his hometown with a lot of stolen gold. However, the moment that he became idle during the flood, the temptation to stop working and take on the rich man’s lifestyle took hold immediately. He came to realize that his peasant wife, Olan, did not have the appearance to match his new status, and started becoming obsessed with a high-class prostitute named Lotus, who soon had Wang Lung attend to her every whim. He was so enslaved by her that “he would have cut off his life if the girl Lotus had commanded it or desired it, because she had every beauty which had ever come into his mind to desire in a woman.” (Buck 196) However, a lesson can be learned, as Wang Lung was able to catch himself from this temptation-driven lust for material objects, and return to his good earth.

     Based on the course of civilizations, it is obvious that reality really is no different from the worlds of Macbeth and Wang Lung. Leaders of successful and unsuccessful countries all have a history of succumbing to the lure of power and materialistic goods, and have had fates resembling those of Macbeth and Wang Lung. Our lives are influenced by people having too much or too little power, the former often tending to act on their own personal agendas as a result. Can we, as humans, ever truly be satisfied with what we have in our lives, and be in total control against our temptations? 

Works Cited

Buck, Pearl S., and Stephanie Reents. The Good Earth. Ed. Cynthia Johnson. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2009. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Rex Gibson. Cambridge: Cambridge U, 2001. Print.