Assisted suicide

 

Informal and formal text.

Formal- Assisted suicide is way of helping people to end their suffering. Assistance (Assisted suicide) may mean providing one with drugs or equipment to end one’s life.

It is not equal to euthanasia, which is voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary way of end someone's painful existence .Voluntary euthanasia is legal in some countries and U.S. states. Non-voluntary euthanasia is illegal in all countries. Involuntary euthanasia is usually considered murder. In decades, people had a problem to find a balance between legal and moral conceptions of suicide and personal right to death.

In other words people feel that the concept of assisted suicide conflicts with their values.

Informal-

I think that it’s a good idea to help people end their painful lives in a human way instead of suffering till death. If I would be stuck in a bed for many months without hope of getting better again, I would maybe think about assisted suicide as an option. Of course I don't think anybody is able to put themselves in that kind of situation. Taking someone’s life is a serious thing.

That's why I think that it's a bit stupid that some church people have enough power to decide that it is not allowed to help someone ending their lives. I think doctors should have the last word, because what's the point of having a person in a bed for months suffering till death if we are actually able to help them?

Assisted-suicide is legal in several jurisdictions, including Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and three American states (Oregon, Washington, and Montana).

 

 

 

Book burning

Books were one of the first casualties of the NAZI regime when Hitler seized power in 1933. The NAZIs organized mass burnings of books written by Jews. Virtually all books by Jewish authors were destroyed.  The book burnings were carefully prepared. It wasn’t only books written by Jews but also people from other countries. They also burned books written by people that had different ideologies to be sure that their ideology would be the ``biggest one``. It was such a big lost to Jewish people because so many books were burned.

 

"There where books are burned, in the end people too are burned." -- Heinrich Heine

Comparing three different newspapers, from three different countries

Jamaica Observer, New York Times and the Polish newspaper Wyborcza, are three different newspapers, from three different countries. All three papers are big newspapers in their countries, and they write a lot about foreign news, especially when it comes to the presidential election I the US. Wuborcza writes a lot about Syria, and writes about how the rebels are doing etc. The New York Times also writes about Syria, but they are quite obsessed about themselves in foreign news, and don’t have a neutral point of view.
The Jamaican observer however, doesn’t write anything about Syria or other conflicts. But they do write about more local foreign news, like criminals in New York, and sports. When it comes to local news, the polish newspaper writes a lot about the government, and the prime minister, while the Jamaican newspaper are more obsessed with local criminality and culture. The New York Times are more focused with (as mentioned) the presidential election, school police, the jobless rate, and local “drama” between lawyers and politicians etc.

We found out that the newspapers are quite different, especially when it comes to foreign news. And while Wyborcza looks to be the most neutral, and most informative newspaper. The New York Times are obsessed with US-related news, and Jamaican observer focuses more on Jamaican news, and foreign local news.

 

 

Here are the links to the newpapers we used :

-      The New York times –  www.nytimes.com

-      Jamaica observer   - www.jamaicaobserver.com

-      Polish – www.wyborcza.pl

 

- Have you ever seen these newpapers before?

- What kind of news are most important in your country?

-Ewa

 

Two Kinds - Amy Tan

Today we had to make a presentation about two short stories. The first one was written by Amy Tan and the second was written by Roald Dahl ( Lamb of the Slaughter) We had also to talk about both stories.

 I think I liked the one written by Amy Tan most, because it was really realistic story and since I'm from Poland I can imagine how hard it is to deal these big differences  between two cultures. To live in multicultural family can be really hard because each culture has different values.  The story is about a conflict between mother and daughter. Mother had a really tough past, she lost her house and family in China and she moved to America. She tries to do everything to make a big opportunity to her daughter to have a good future. But the daughter wants to find out it by herself, so they are in big conflict because her mother wants to make her famous and the daughter doesn't want to. In the end the mother dies but the daughter forgives her because she understood that mother wanted her best!

 Comparing of both stories:

( I didn’t read The Lamb of The Slaughter, but my friend www.englishkaroline.blogspot.com has written more about it, so check it out !)

Characters: Chinese family and crazy woman

Setting: In the family

Dialogue: Bad communication between people

Conflict:  As a result of poor communication

Point of view:  Main character Two kinds: Daughter , The Lamb of the Slaughter: Wife

Resolution: Killing and death as the solution

Theme: Love --> mother and daughter, wife and husband

I think it is really nice to read these kinds of stories in English because it's a good exercise without using a lot of time. I am sure I will read more of these, because I liked them really much.

Have you ever written Lamb of the Slaughter, or Two Kinds?

-Ewa