Rhetoric Rants - Daily Musings and Social Commentary

Rhetoric Rants

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

New Blog

Wow!  It's been nearly a year since I started this blog.  I created a new blog, and hopefully I will actually stick to this one.  For the few of you that still visit this site, feel free to visit my new blog at http://snafud.blogspot.com/

Snuggs

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Update

I will be postponing putting up new posts for now.  It has been a while since I've had any new content, and I am sorry to my readers.  I will be posting things if I have the time or inspiration, but both are fairly low at the moment.  Sorry, and thank you for all your support thus far.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Pink...

I am getting sick and tired of seeing all these pink items for breast cancer.  Why does it have to be breast cancer?  I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with focusing on a cancer that is more susceptible to affect women than men, but why can't we just support curing cancer in general?  I'm pretty sure cancer is cancer regardless of where it forms.  What are your feelings?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Prostitution Part 3

While watching Taboo, I pondered about something.  What is the difference between pornography and prostitution?  Obviously, one is legal and the other is mostly illegal, but why?  Prostitution involves one party, usually the male, to pay the other party a certain amount of funds in order to receive sexual favors or other erotic stimulation.  In pornography, both parties, or all parties involved, are paid to preform sexual acts upon each other.  Are the only differences who's getting paid and who's purchasing, or is there something more to it?  Pornography is made to be recorded and distributed.  Prostitution on the other hand is not, but there are cases where it was recorded for ones own personal pleasure.  It seems to me that there really isn't a truly distinguishable characteristic between the two, and that both should either be legal or illegal.  Any argument against prostitution can be used against pornography.  Is the decision literally just a proverbial line in the sand based on some sort of social moral or stigma, or is there more to it?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Prostitution Part 2

I stated in my previous post about the lady who was completely against prostitution.  Besides always being violent, she claimed that prostitution allows people to objectify women.  Well, according to her logic, then everyone that you pay money for that is willing to do a service for you can be objectified.  If I were to hire a dog walker to solely walk my dog, I would be objectifying that dog walker as I would be using them to my benefit.  Essentially, they would be an object, and not a person because I was "using" them.  So, the service industry should be renamed the objectify industry, since these people offer service which we use so in essence, they are a tool or object.  By this point, you are probably realizing how ridiculous this all sounds.  Objectification does happen, but not for a majority of cases.  What makes prostitutes so special that they can be objectified, but not other service related professions?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Prostitution

I was watching Taboo today on National Geographic Channel, and an interesting topic came up.  A lady against prostitution was saying that prostitution, either illegal or legal, was violent in all cases.  Well, if prostitution truly was violent in every single case, then why is prostitution so rampant across the globe?  I understand that some people turn to prostitution as a last resort, but not all people.  Also, if prostitution was violent in all cases, then why does it flourish in the few places around the world where it is legal?  Truly, if such conditions were as violent as it is claimed to be, no one would ever choose to be in this profession.  Violence occurs in every aspect of life, but what makes violence prominent in prostitution?  It is the same things with drugs, it is because it is deemed an illegal act and therefore individuals are more willing to engage in violence because they won't get turned in.  Think about it, if you were to get beat up while selling some illegal substances, would you be willing to go to the authorities and say "I got mugged while I was selling dope"?  Of course not, and people know this.  I'm not saying that I'm for or against prostitution, all I am saying is that there is violence innately built into "illegal" acts and through legalization, it is easier to monitor and control all parties involved.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Justice

According to the dictionary, justice is "the upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law".  When people think of justice, they think of "bad guys" getting what they deserve.  So if someone where to kill another person, then that person should either be locked up for an inordinate amount of time or themselves be killed.  I don't know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like revenge to me.  Even though there is no real person extracting the revenge, the entities know as society and government are the ones extracting revenge on these individuals.  Does justice really exist?  If someone where to murder your entire family, would putting them in jail get your family back?  Absolutely not!  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that people who break the rules of society should get off scotch free.  People who break the law are making a decision, a decision that some governing body has deemed dangerous for whatever reason they see fit.  If you look at legal systems across the globe, it seems that justice can be equated to punishment.  Is justice really just a connotation of punishment, or does justice actually exist beyond legality?

P.S.  If there is anything that you guys would like me to discuss, please feel free to make suggestions.  Although I have plenty of things I could divulge on, I'd like to hear some input on what interests you.