Reflective- Johnwick66

Posted on April 17, 2021 by johnwick66

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

To be honest out of all the core values this was likely the trickiest one for me, because when I work I tend to be very linear in how I produced my work. It would always be research topic , plot points to cover, and then write. I’d rarely ever back tracked in my work to make it better. But fortunately for me through this class I’ve slowly, but surely come to realize the importance of this. This development can be seen quite well in the White Paper assignment. At the beginning of working on it I did my usual of being linear in my process, but by doing that I reached a problem. While trying to find sources for my Whitepaper I couldn’t find sources that agreed with my specific hypothesis. It wasn’t until my first conference with him that he showed me how my sources shouldn’t necessarily bend to the will of my hypothesis, especially if it lacks the sources to back it. But instead to use those very sources to help better shape my hypothesis.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

During the creation of my essays, especially on a topic as controversial as the one I’m doing, where people take , it is important that I understand the arguments made in these texts. If I overlook or misinterpret the substance I’m reading then I’d put my arguments into a hole that I wouldn’t be able to recover from. So to read critically is an essential part of my essays. The use of Critical reading in my writings is especially clear in my Causal argument. When researching the creation of Gypsy Crusader( a independent journalist turned white supremist). It was initially difficult to read into his creation due to the very few legitimate sources discussing him. But it was by reading/viewing critically of the material given that I was able to create a idea on how to approach his story. Prior to looking into him the idea was to paint him as a straight up victim to cancel culture. But as I continued to read about him(and his actions) it became clear that I couldn’t chalk him up as a black and white scenario but rather a gray situation . The creation of his persona is sad but at the same time you find it hard to sympathize with the man solely on his current actions. So through reading his material I was able to come up with the idea to tell his story and so how cancel culture pushed him to his breaking point, then from their the rest was him.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

While I believe that my work in general demonstrates that I analyze the audience that are reading either my work or others. My best example of being able to analyze the purpose/ contexts of my writing and others can be seen in my Safer Saws assignment. The assignment helped me demonstrate being able to recognize the the purpose of the the of each of the writings used for the different constituents as well as understanding the context of their claims. For example for the article relating to the Consumer safety advocate the speaker was explaining that despite Mr. Gass’s invention capability to save peoples fingers big companies refused to sell it do to the potential loss of profit. That they would much rather put money in front of their customers safety. This idea was even further highlighted in the article that I used for the Personal injury lawyers were it was quoted that “They worried that if a way to prevent severe injuries got traction in the market, they would face liability for accidents with conventional saws.”

This project also exposed me to view different points of the same argument, further helping me develop the ability to understand the purpose of the writers. In this particular case viewing all sides of the same argument gave me the chance to observe and understand the different plausible ways to present ideas like through videos, articles, personal accounts, even details from lawsuits.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

At the time of creating my initial thesis, I didn’t realize that it was going to be tricky to find credible sources for the negative side effects of cancel culture. Based off what I was initially searching for in regards the negative effects of cancel culture I was stuck on the same 3 sources that frankly didn’t even give me much to work with. It wasn’t until having my first meeting with Professor Hodges that I was given some insight on good tactics for locating good sources to include in my work. By far the best advice he gave me was trying to find that one word that could open the flood gates in terms of good credible sources. As he explained to me that all it takes sometimes is to find a word that explains a term or process that related to your thesis(in my case cancel culture, but the example he used was related to celebrity sponsorship) . From their it would be easy to find the necessary sources. Shortly after that meeting it hit me what the word for my thesis was, shaming, or more accurately public shaming. Following that realization it was incredibly easy to discover sources that not only related to my thesis but could be used to support it. But my best use in my opinion of incorporating a source to my thesis could be found in my Rebuttal essay. In that essay I was trying to find a way to explain how by cancelling people for being racist( whether they were actually or not) would only produce an opposite effect since it would force them into that behavior. At the time I couldn’t find much for in in terms of cancel culture(although I did find one in regards to how shaming is losing its effects for rights groups) , but using the information given to me by the professor I was able to make a connection. Eventually I found an document that discussed how shaming smokers would only result in them smoking more due to a phycological effect called stereotype threat. This effect is when people are so anxious of being identified in a certain way that they end up confirming the behavior they are trying to disprove. Through this phenomenon I was able to make the connection back to my thesis.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

In this day and age with internet and social media, skewed information is unfortunately a common thing to see. Whether its in sports, entertainment, law, or politics. While such pieces are made in order to either push an agenda or to simply mislead people it is none the less ridiculous to see. False information blatantly put out as the truth about a topic not only damages how people view the topic, but also anything associated with it. While working I try my best to avoid such fallacies. While working on my papers(particularly my essays) I made sure to collect and cite the sources that I either use in quotations or read for A better understanding of my topic. This can be best seen in my White Paper for my essay where I made sure to properly cite and mention all sources I used in my research for my essays. While I try my best to avoid making mistakes, it is important to note that I am human and mistakes are going to happen. This can be seen in my Causal original draft where I forget to cite my sources, a mistake which will be fixed in the rewrite.

Posted in johnwick66, Portfolio JohnWick66, Reflective | 1 Comment

Bibliography- person345

Posted on April 14, 2021 by person345

Annotated Bibliography

  • Bianchi, R. (2006). Tourism and the globalization of fear: Analyzing the politics of risk AND (IN)SECURITY in global travel – RAOUL Bianchi, 2006. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1057/palgrave.thr.6050028

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.952.5798&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Background: There are always risks when travelling anywhere. In the last couple of years, we have witnessed many terror attacks around the world on tourists. For example, the Paris Attacks in 2015 and the Las Vegas shootings a few years ago. The negative effect of traveling is the fear of being killed in an attack. The article provides useful information on tourism and the risk of terrorism.

How I used it: This source is a conflicting viewpoint to my thesis (Being Deprived of the right to travel results in many damaging effects. I used this in my Rebuttal Argument to explain that we cannot live in fear. We must live our lives for us to thrive.

Background: Since the Coronavirus outbreak started in December 2019, there has been evidence showing that it can have negative psychological effects on people. These included signs of PTSD and confusion all coming from boredom, uncertainty, and financial loss. Studies have been conducted to prove this. One study showed that hospital staff had signs of acute stress after nine days of quarantine. Also, the hospital staff reported signs of loneliness, anxiety, insomnia, and irritability following their time in quarantine. This proves that being socially separated is dangerous to the human mind as it can bring upon signs of mental disorders. Us, as humans are heavily reliant on social activity to thrive. With our social lives taken away from us, it is evident that being quarantined is unhealthy for the human mind.

How I used It: I used this source to explain the negative effects of staying quarantined for a long period of time. This again is damaging to the human psyche because with limited human interaction, we are depressed and that is an awful way to live life. We are so dependent on having a social life that without it, we are in danger as a species.

Background: Traveling has many health and wellness benefits. When someone goes on a vacation for pleasure, they are satisfied because it gives people a chance to escape the stresses of their lives. Going on a vacation can also improve mental health and a chance at a better lifestyle because of the time to yourself. A study conducted proves this. When someone goes on a vacation, they go through four stages of satisfaction: The Anticipation Stage (Before Vacation), Experience Stage (During Vacation), The Beneficial Stage (During and After Vacation), and the Fade Out Stage. When a person is anticipating a getaway, their satisfaction starts to improve because of the excitement. In the Beneficial Stage, one’s satisfaction is at its highest point because that is the point where they are most happy. Following this, satisfaction starts to go down at the Fade Out Stage because their happiness derived from their vacation is starting to decrease. Therefore, going on vacations for just a few days improves one’s lifestyle.

How I used It: I used the Stages of Travel from this source to describe how people feel when they are on a vacation and to show the positive effects of travel in general because of the great memories that will gain.

Background: This article examines how travel time and schedules can increase costs of travel. This is the case because of the uncertainty of arrival.

How I used It: While I did use this source to further my understand on the rebuttal to my topic, I did not fully use this source in my paper.

Background: Since people are much more prone to feeling anxiety and depressed from isolating due to Covid-19, we tend to shift the blame to a group of people who we may think are responsible. This article discusses how isolating during the Pandemic has increased violence towards Asian Americans. Because the virus originated from Wuhan, China, people are becoming xenophobic towards Asians and thus hate crimes towards them increase.

How I used it: I used this source to expand the idea that being isolated and away from other people triggers more violence. Since the shootings of Asian Americans in Atlanta last month, I explored and implemented it into my paper.

Background: It seems that the Coronavirus Pandemic is causing people such as employees to have anxiety about contracting the virus. COVID-19 Health Anxiety or otherwise known as CovH is this fear of contracting COVID-19. A study conducted about CovH yields results about the effects of staying quarantined and isolated. When someone has anxiety, it triggers what is known as the fight or flight response in which the brain can either face the cause of anxiety head on, or it can stimulate a flight response. This makes someone feel that they cannot escape the situation that they are in. In this instance, it is the Coronavirus. The fear of contracting COVID-19 is triggering a flight response due to the uncertainties of how long the virus will last. Emotion Suppression is a way that people can cope with the anxiety. This makes a seemingly never-ending situation more manageable.

How I used it: I used this source to explain people’s fear of contracting Covid-19. CovH is real and is the reason that mental health is declining. People are much more on edge and it is an unhealthy result of this Pandemic. Always having anxiety about one thing is dangerous to one’s mental health. Therefore, it is important to not have travel restrictions.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastic effects on travel. In March of 2020 alone, 90% of the population faced lock downs from the stay-at-home orders and travel bans that were being issued. Also, international flights in 2020 are estimated to fall by 20% to 30% because of the pandemic. A study was conducted on the impacts of the Chinese tourism Industry which stated that foreigners that anticipating on traveling to China cancelled their reservations. Airlines also stopped most international flights to stop the spread of the virus. Many countries are also in the same situation as China. Their tourism industries are failing because people are not able to fly internationally. As a result, flying and tourism in general are collapsing.

How I used It: I used this research to get an understanding on the trends of the travel industry because of the mandatory lockdowns due to Covid-19. The lockdowns are causing the industry to lose millions and that airlines and travel in general are at risk of failure and negative effects of being deprived the right to travel.

Background: Violence in general has increased during the Covid lockdowns. In Tunisia, it is shown that violence towards women has increased during the time of isolation. Signs of distress are also being proved to increase.

How I used It: This article helps support the idea that being locked down and isolated from people is very dangerous. Depriving people of their freedom to go out and live their lives is extremely dangerous and helps fuel more violence and hate and, in this case, hate towards women. I used this article to explain the trend of the increase of violence during the Pandemic.

Background: Any form of travel or a vacation has effects on the human mind. People see traveling as a reward and or an escape from their daily living routines. Going on a vacation is an Intrinsic Activity meaning that it is motivated by internal feelings and satisfaction.

How I used It: I used this source to show that people see going on a vacation as a reward. Taking a reward and satisfaction away from someone is a dangerous thing because it can lead to the dangerous effects described in earlier sources.

Background:  This source explains the negative effects of travelling constantly and how it stresses the body. Traveling long distances such as travelling across the United States for instance. When travelling these long distances, you cross into different time zones which affects people’s sleep schedules. The authors call this “Travel Fatigue” which causes sleep loss and anxiety.

How I used it: I used this source to refute the rebuttal to my thesis by explaining that constant travel can wear down the body. This source made me understand how constant travel can effect sleep and the mind.

Posted in Bibliography, person345, Portfolio Person345 | 1 Comment

Rebuttal Rewrite-Christianity19

Posted on April 12, 2021 by christianity19

Getting skin diseases from wrestling


As many people may know that this year wrestling has been very different when it comes to COVID-19 because their has been outbreaks of COVID-19 when wrestling this season. COVID-19 testing should be a priority for wrestlers before wrestling practice and after wrestling practice to make sure they didn’t catch COVID-19. Even this year when wrestling the face masks have been a problem because a lot of the kids don’t like wrestling with face masks because they get fatigued much more when wrestling.

Each wrestler can be affected differently about the spreading of herpes while wrestling because each wrestler might get it a different way. Wrestling in this day in age isn’t very safe because girls and boys aren’t having safe sex and then they wrestle against other boys that give other wrestlers herpes. If a wrestler doesn’t take care of your body you have a higher chance of getting herpes if the wrestler isn’t that careful. The wrestlers need to take a step and make sure they reducing the spread of skin disease to other wrestlers. Herpes is one of the diseases that is included with skin diseases from wrestling and close skin contact. This is seen throughout wrestlers who don’t take care of their bodies and make sure that they are periodically checked for any signs of herpes or to see if they have any other form of skin disease.

The studies that have been done so far on skin diseases in the sport of wrestling is that most importantly in wrestling have shown how not checking your skin effects other wrestlers as well. The flaw in their studies is showing how skin diseases truly affects a person because a wrestler could be living in incorrect way and not checking their skin before wrestling and after wrestling. They could be using the excuse of not checking their skin before wrestling or after wrestling because some kids want to look cool. The studies are inconclusive on their research of skin diseases in the sport of wrestling. This brings into question the effect the study as a whole is truthful on the finding that they have found. The study down in the New England Journal of Medicine was looking at the amount of wrestling camps that has outbreaks of herpes within the wrestlers. The studies state “findings about outbreaks in a wrestling camp for high schoolers.”

Each wrestler has their own experiences with dealing with getting skin diseases from wrestling. Wrestling has always been viewed as a sport that you need to check your skin before and after wrestling. On the the other hand other wrestlers need to know that they have to do whatever it takes to be skin disease free. The extra push that they need to reach the next level of their wrestling. Wrestlers that have a great way of checking their skin before a wrestling match then they will radically reduce other wrestlers from getting skin diseases. The more you wrestle the more you may need to take a shower if you can do that you can reduce the spread of skin diseases. A wrestler who checks their skin will help other wrestlers from getting skin diseases in the future. In a study done by , Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report the study takes a look into how wrestling has high transmission when the wrestler is infected with COVID-19. According to the results of the study, they state, “Wrestlers who have COVID-19 , can increase the ability for other wrestlers to get COVID-19 and maybe it might start an outbreak.” When wrestlers can compete with a high level of self-confidence in their wrestling, their self-esteem will rise due to the wrestler being confident. Even teaching kids about the way to take care of your skin after your wrestling match. There are too many conclusions that a wrestler can reduce getting skin diseases by checking their skin. Lastly, the wrestlers have help out other wrestlers by educating them on skin diseases in the sport of wrestling.

In conclusion wrestling during this pandemic was really rough to wrestle during this pandemic because especially last spring there was virtual wrestling classes to stay in the groove. Even kids who wanted to get back on the wrestling mat they couldn’t make it happen because of restrictions in the state in which they live in. On the other hand wrestling from home was different but we needed to make sure we were six feet away from our other wrestlers that we were practicing with.

References

Atherstone, C., Siegel, M., Schmitt-Matzen, E., Sjoblom, S., Jackson, J., Blackmore, C., & Neatherlin, J. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 transmission associated with high school wrestling tournaments—Florida, December 2020–January 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(4), 141

Belongia, E. A., Goodman, J. L., Holland, E. J., Andres, C. W., Homann, S. R., Mahanti, R. L., … & Osterholm, M. T. (1991). An outbreak of herpes gladiatorum at a high-school wrestling camp. New England Journal of Medicine, 325(13), 906-910

Watson, A., Haraldsdottir, K., Biese, K., Goodavish, L., Stevens, B., & McGuine, T. (2021). The Association of COVID-19 Incidence with Sport and Face Mask Use in United States High School Athletes. medRxiv

Posted in christianity, Rebuttal Rewrite | 1 Comment

Rebuttal-Christianity19

Posted on April 12, 2021 by christianity19

Getting skin diseases from wrestling


As many people may know that this year wrestling has been very different when it comes to COVID-19 because their has been outbreaks of COVID-19 when wrestling this season. COVID-19 testing should be a priority for wrestlers before wrestling practice and after wrestling practice to make sure they didn’t catch COVID-19. Even this year when wrestling the face masks have been a problem because a lot of the kids don’t like wrestling with face masks because they get fatigued much more when wrestling.

 Each wrestler can be affected differently about the spreading of herpes while wrestling because each wrestler might get it a different way. Wrestling in this day in age isn’t very safe because girls and boys aren’t having safe sex and then they wrestle against other boys that give other wrestlers herpes. If a wrestler doesn’t take care of your body you have a higher chance of getting herpes if the wrestler isn’t that careful. The wrestlers need to take a step and make sure they reducing the spread of skin disease to other wrestlers. Herpes is one of the diseases that is included with skin diseases from wrestling and close skin contact. This is seen throughout wrestlers who don’t take care of their bodies and make sure that they are periodically checked for any signs of herpes or to see if they have any other form of skin disease.

The studies that have been done so far on skin diseases in the sport of wrestling is that most importantly in wrestling have shown how not checking your skin effects other wrestlers as well. The flaw in their studies is showing how skin diseases truly affects a person because a wrestler could be living in incorrect way and not checking their skin before wrestling and after wrestling. They could be using the excuse of not checking their skin before wrestling or after wrestling because some kids want to look cool. The studies are inconclusive on their research of skin diseases in the sport of wrestling. This brings into question the effect the study as a whole is truthful on the finding that they have found. The study down in the New England Journal of Medicine was looking at the amount of wrestling camps that has outbreaks of herpes within the wrestlers. The studies state “ findings about outbreaks in a wrestling camp for high schoolers.”

Each wrestler has their own experiences with dealing with getting skin diseases from wrestling. Wrestling has always been viewed as a sport that you need to check your skin before and after wrestling. On the the other hand other wrestlers need to know that they have to do whatever it takes to be skin disease free. The extra push that they need to reach the next level of their wrestling. Wrestlers that have a great way of checking their skin before a wrestling match then they will radically reduce other wrestlers from getting skin diseases. The more you wrestle the more you may need to take a shower if you can do that you can reduce the spread of skin diseases. A wrestler who checks their skin will help other wrestlers from getting skin diseases in the future. In a study done by , Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report the study takes a look into how wrestling has high transmission when the wrestler is infected with COVID-19. According to the results of the study, they state, “Wrestlers who have COVID-19 , can increase the ability for other wrestlers to get COVID-19 and maybe it might start an outbreak.” When wrestlers can compete with a high level of self-confidence in their wrestling, their self-esteem will rise due to the wrestler being confident. Even teaching kids about the way to take care of your skin after your wrestling match. There are too many conclusions that a wrestler can reduce getting skin diseases by checking their skin. Lastly, the wrestlers have help out other wrestlers by educating them on skin diseases in the sport of wrestling.

In conclusion wrestling during this pandemic was really rough to wrestle during this pandemic because especially last spring there was virtual wrestling classes to stay in the groove. In conclusion wrestling during this pandemic was really rough to wrestle during this pandemic because especially last spring there was virtual wrestling classes to stay in the groove. Even kids who wanted to get back on the wrestling mat they couldn’t make it happen because of restrictions in the state in which they live in. On the other hand wrestling from home was different but we needed to make sure we were six feet away from our other wrestlers that we were practicing with.

References

Atherstone, C., Siegel, M., Schmitt-Matzen, E., Sjoblom, S., Jackson, J., Blackmore, C., & Neatherlin, J. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 transmission associated with high school wrestling tournaments—Florida, December 2020–January 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(4), 141

Belongia, E. A., Goodman, J. L., Holland, E. J., Andres, C. W., Homann, S. R., Mahanti, R. L., … & Osterholm, M. T. (1991). An outbreak of herpes gladiatorum at a high-school wrestling camp. New England Journal of Medicine, 325(13), 906-910

Watson, A., Haraldsdottir, K., Biese, K., Goodavish, L., Stevens, B., & McGuine, T. (2021). The Association of COVID-19 Incidence with Sport and Face Mask Use in United States High School Athletes. medRxiv

Posted in christianity, Rebuttal Essay | Leave a comment

Causal Rewrite- compIIstudent

Posted on April 12, 2021 by compiistudent

The Causes and Effects of Media Distrust

Over the past decade, it seems like people have lost faith in either all general media, or most of it. The political divide in our country has reached a point that has not been seen in decades. There are several reasons for this, but a big part of it is peoples perception of the media and the news reported. Many seem to think that the media is pushing an agenda on them and just giving out biased information to harm a certain group of people. Because of this, people then don’t know who or what to trust and just lose faith in the media all together. It is a really big issue, and the current state of distrust in the media can only further harm the country.

There are a few reasons that caused this distrust. One of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest, is the role of Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump used public perception of both social media and the news to gain a following. Pablo Boczkowski writes, “From the apparent disconnect of the agenda setting media with a vast segment of the American voters to the deluge of fake news circulating on social media, and from the intensity of the confrontation between President Trump and these media to his constant use of Twitter to promote (the) alternative- and often unsupported by facts.” Essentially, Trump’s campaign focus was to target people that maybe felt disenfrancized by the Obama administration. He was able to convince them that the media had basically been lying to them for eight years, but he would be someone that they could trust. They all flocked to him and his promises, and he was elected President. He used Twitter to get his messages directly to the American people, so his words and actions wouldn’t get, in his view, mis-interpreted by the media. This seems like a really good idea on paper. In fact, today the majority of politicians use Twitter and other forms of social media. But as time went on, Trump would tweet things out that had no factual evidence to support the claims he was making. With all of his followers supporting every word he said, it only added to the hysteria, nd the attack on big media.

Despite all of this, these big media outlets really did not do much of anything to help themselves out. With Trump attacking their credibility every chance he got, they just attacked him back in other ways, not helping to build their own image and trust of the public. Victor Prickard wrote, “Media outlets help set discursive parameters around political debates during elections. This was abundantly evident during the 2016 elections when typical coverage depicted a false equivalence between Trump and Clinton while empacizing specatcle over long standing policy issues.” The media really did not seem to take Trump seriously all throughout the 2016 campaigns, and made Hillary Clinton appear to be the more worthy candidate. On the other hand, Trump was such a fascinating candidate that he got more media coverage than usual. According to Prickard, One study calculated that in 2015, Trump recieved 327 minutes of nightly broadcast network news coverage, compared with Hillary Clintons 121 minutes and Bernie Sanders 20 minutes (Tyndal report, 2016).” This only gave Trump more popularity and gave the public more exposure to him.

On the flip side of big media coverage, there is also social media, which played a huge role in the 2016 elections and Trumps four years in office. The two correlated to benefit Trump, as “results demonstrate that social media activity , in the form of retweets of candidate posts, provided a significant boost to news media coverage of Trump, but no comparable boosts of other candidates. Furthermore, Trump tweeted more times when he had recently garnered less of a relative advantage in news attention, suggesting he strategically used Twitter to trigger coverage,” according to Chris Wells. After maybe some negative attention, Trump would tweet something or other in his defense, and that usually immediately bolstered his media coverage in general. The biggest thing is that regardless if the coverage surrounding him was positive or negative, it still got his name out there, and that way he was reaching more and more people.

With all of this in mind, it should have been expected that Trump’s time as President of the United States was under the national media spotlight every second of every day for 4 years. It was the same deal as his campaign, all coverage was good coverage, regardless of whether or not it was positive. The big difference was that Trump attacked the media even more while he was in office. Douglas Kellner wrote, “When he makes questionable or demonstrably false statements and is confronted with contrary evidence, Trump and his handlers dismiss any critical claims against Trump as ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts.'”It became a huge problems as this as an occurance more than af few times per week over the course of what became a long 4 years. This was one of the biggest driving forces behind the political divide that has become so evident. Whenever somone cries “fake news” at something, the other side then immediatly goes to call them inferior and stupid and other things that might put people down, thus furthering the divide. While it is clear that the Trump supporters are the biggest reason behind this issue, the mainly left group has not done much to help fix it.

When it comes to the people who push the narratives of fake news, it will not be very easy to get them to trust big media, whether or not they even did before Trump. Because the media did not do itself any favors in this case, as well as Trump continuously bashing the media seemingly every chance he got, the country seems to be in a much worse place than it was four years ago, and it will take a lot to heal the divide, however long that may take.

If you look at the other side of things however, it is important to see how the media arguably belittling one side of the aisle led to serious changes for a whole presidential term. You can see that the right was already unhappy with the media, and felt that they were continuously degraded by the media. Whether this is is proven true or not, is really not too important, as it pushed the country in a certain way. The people should trust the media, but that should start with the media having faith it its consumers.

References

The Trump Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uchHDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT16&dq=trump attacking media&ots=lTIFpmAvFh&sig=uUEDi7G74S5W5KYko71sceirLVY#v=onepage&q=trump attacking media&f=false

Pickard, V. (2016). Media failues in the age of Trump. Retrieved from http://polecom.org/index.php/polecom/article/viewFile/74/264

Additional informationNotes on contributorsJulia R. AzariJulia R. Azari is Associate Professor. (n.d.). How the News Media Helped to Nominate Trump. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10584609.2016.1224417?journalCode=upcp20

Chris Wells, D. S. (2020, April 2). Trump, Twitter, and news media responsiveness: A media systems approach – Chris Wells, Dhavan Shah, Josephine Lukito, Ayellet Pelled, Jon CW Pevehouse, JungHwan Yang, 2020. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444819893987

Posted in Causal Rewrite, compiistudent, Portfolio CompIIStudent, Regrade Please | 2 Comments

causal argument- compiistudent

Posted on April 12, 2021 by compiistudent

The Causes and Effects of Media Distrust

Over the past decade, it seems like people have lost faith in either all general media, or most of it. The political divide in our country has reached a point that has not been seen in decades. There are several reasons for this, but a big part of it is peoples perception of the media and the news reported. Many seem to think that the media is pushing an agenda on them and just giving out biased information to harm a certain group of people. Because of this, people then don’t know who or what to trust and just lose faith in the media all together. It is a really big issue, and the current state of distrust in the media can only further harm the country.

There are a few reasons that caused this distrust. One of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest, is the role of Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump used public perception of both social media and the news to gain a following. Pablo Boczkowski writes, “From the apparent disconnect of the agenda setting media with a vast segment of the American voters to the deluge of fake news circulating on social media, and from the intensity of the confrontation between President Trump and these media to his constant use of Twitter to promote (the) alternative- and often unsupported by facts.” Essentially, Trump’s campaign focus was to target people that maybe felt disenfrancized by the Obama administration. He was able to convince them that the media had basically been lying to them for eight years, but he would be someone that they could trust. They all flocked to him and his promises, and he was elected President. He used Twitter to get his messages directly to the American people, so his words and actions wouldn’t get, in his view, mis-interpreted by the media. This seems like a really good idea on paper. In fact, today the majority of politicians use Twitter and other forms of social media. But as time went on, Trump would tweet things out that had no factual evidence to support the claims he was making. With all of his followers supporting every word he said, it only added to the hysteria, nd the attack on big media.

Despite all of this, these big media outlets really did not do much of anything to help themselves out. With Trump attacking their credibility every chance he got, they just attacked him back in other ways, not helping to build their own image and trust of the public. Victor Prickard wrote, “Media outlets help set discursive parameters around political debates during elections. This was abundantly evident during the 2016 elections when typical coverage depicted a false equivalence between Trump and Clinton while empacizing specatcle over long standing policy issues.” The media really did not seem to take Trump seriously all throughout the 2016 campaigns, and made Hillary Clinton appear to be the more worthy candidate. On the other hand, Trump was such a fascinating candidate that he got more media coverage than usual. According to Prickard, One study calculated that in 2015, Trump recieved 327 minutes of nightly broadcast network news coverage, compared with Hillary Clintons 121 minutes and Bernie Sanders 20 minutes (Tyndal report, 2016).” This only gave Trump more popularity and gave the public more exposure to him.

On the flip side of big media coverage, there is also social media, which played a huge role in the 2016 elections and Trumps four years in office. The two correlated to benefit Trump, as “results demonstrate that social media activity , in the form of retweets of candidate posts, provided a significant boost to news media coverage of Trump, but no comparable boosts of other candidates. Furthermore, Trump tweeted more times when he had recently garnered less of a relative advantage in news attention, suggesting he strategically used Twitter to trigger coverage,” according to Chris Wells. After maybe some negative attention, Trump would tweet something or other in his defense, and that usually immediately bolstered his media coverage in general. The biggest thing is that regardless if the coverage surrounding him was positive or negative, it still got his name out there, and that way he was reaching more and more people.

With all of this in mind, it should have been expected that Trump’s time as President of the United States was under the national media spotlight every second of every day for 4 years. It was the same deal as his campaign, all coverage was good coverage, regardless of whether or not it was positive. The big difference was that Trump attacked the media even more while he was in office. Douglas Kellner wrote, “When he makes questionable or demonstrably false statements and is confronted with contrary evidence, Trump and his handlers dismiss any critical claims against Trump as ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts.'”It became a huge problems as this as an occurance more than af few times per week over the course of what became a long 4 years. This was one of the biggest driving forces behind the political divide that has become so evident. Whenever somone cries “fake news” at something, the other side then immediatly goes to call them inferior and stupid and other things that might put people down, thus furthering the divide. While it is clear that the Trump supporters are the biggest reason behind this issue, the mainly left group has not done much to help fix it.

When it comes to the people who push the narratives of fake news, it will not be very easy to get them to trust big media, whether or not they even did before Trump. Because the media did not do itself any favors in this case, as well as Trump continuously bashing the media seemingly every chance he got, the country seems to be in a much worse place than it was four years ago, and it will take a lot to heal the divide, however long that may take.

References

The Trump Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uchHDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT16&dq=trump attacking media&ots=lTIFpmAvFh&sig=uUEDi7G74S5W5KYko71sceirLVY#v=onepage&q=trump attacking media&f=false

Pickard, V. (2016). Media failues in the age of Trump. Retrieved from http://polecom.org/index.php/polecom/article/viewFile/74/264

Additional informationNotes on contributorsJulia R. AzariJulia R. Azari is Associate Professor. (n.d.). How the News Media Helped to Nominate Trump. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10584609.2016.1224417?journalCode=upcp20

Chris Wells, D. S. (2020, April 2). Trump, Twitter, and news media responsiveness: A media systems approach – Chris Wells, Dhavan Shah, Josephine Lukito, Ayellet Pelled, Jon CW Pevehouse, JungHwan Yang, 2020. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444819893987

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Rebuttal Rewrite – carsonwentz1186

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Chris McGee

What are Quarterbacks Actually Worth?

In football, there is a common misconception that paying a certain player more than half of the salary cap or very close to it is the best way to build a championship roster. The idea that a vastly overpaid quarterback will guarantee a Super Bowl is easily disproved by comparing the number of underpaid QBs to the number of overpaid QBs who go to or win championship games. This belief, however, is flawed in many ways as history has shown it has actually done more damage to sports franchises than actually assisting them in achieving their goal of winning a championship.

In the NFL, there has been a growing belief that if you heavily pay the Quarterback of your team, he will lead you to the promised land. Contrary to this increasingly popular belief, there have been more situations where the teams who either get to or wins the Super Bowl actually do it with a Quarterback on a rookie deal or one on a cheap deal as a veteran backup. There has been one instance within the past 4 years where a verteran Quarterback on a cheap contract has won the Super Bowl for his team.

In 2017, the Philadelphia Eagles lost their young franchise Quarterback in Carson Wentz due to a complete ACL and PCL tear. The offseason prior, they brought back a familiar face in Quarterback Nick Foles who was originally drafted by the Eagles but had become a journeyman and bounced around to a few teams before being brought back to Philadelphia. After Wentz went down with his injury, Nick Foles was able to come in and lead the Eagles on an incredible 6 and half game stretch which culminated in a 41-33 win vs the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52.

Laura Albansese, a reporter from newsday.com, wrote an article how back in 1986, the New York Giants drafted Quarterback Jeff Hostettler in the third round. After their starting Quarterback Phil Simms got hurt in 1991, Hostettler was also able to come into the starting lineup and lead the Giants to a Super Bowl victory over the Buffalo Bills and their Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly. Jon Renne of sbnation.com wrote an article describing how in 2003, the Carolina Panthers signed Jake Delhomme, an undrafted free agent, to a short term and low money contract and led the Panthers to their first Super Bowl in franchise history later that season. They ended up losing that game to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Two of the situations above involved the signing of cheap free agent Quarterbacks in Jake Delhomme and Nick Foles, and both of them played against Tom Brady who is known for restructuring his contracts and taking less money for his team to build around him and give him the help he needs to win. Jeff Hostettler, a third round pick in a draft three years prior to the 1991 season, beating Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly in the Super Bowl is also a great example of why you don’t need to commit close to 50% of your salary cap just to win a championship. Many of the franchises today who are falling victim to this flawed concept, are either in a deep hole financially in regards to the salary cap and are setting themselves up for failure for years to come.

For example, JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington wrote an article detailing how the Philadelphia Eagles crippled their entire team by signing Carson Wentz to a 4-year $128M contract that amounted to nearly 50% of their entire payroll for the years the contract covered. Fully $100M was guaranteed whether Wentz played well for them—or played AT ALL for them—over the life of the deal. Not surprisingly, they were unable to build a solid team of difference-makers around him with so little money left to pay for quality skill players. Two years later, with a woeful roster around their franchise $30M/year Quarterback, Carson Wentz has been deported to Indianapolis, and the Eagles still have to pay him $34.7M to play for the only team they could find to take him.

The Los Angeles Rams are currently in a similar situation to the Eagles with their now former Quarterback, Jared Goff. Also in summer of 2019, the Rams signed Jared Goff to a 4-year $134M contract worth an astounding $110M in guaranteed money per Cameron Desilva of USA Today. Not even two years after that ink dried, the Rams traded him away in February of 2021 to the Detroit Lions. The contract given to Goff was so financially crippling for the Rams, that they had to give up extra compensation to Detroit just for them to take on more of Goff’s contract.

Between both the Rams and the Eagles now incurring both $20M+ and $30M+ in dead money against their cap to pay their former Quarterbacks to play against them for different teams, the flaws of this belief as well as the alternatives are starting to come in to light more and more as the years go on while Quarterback contracts continue to become increasingly crippling to a team’s financial outlook.

As you can see, there are many more alternatives to paying Quarterbacks big money to have success. Between the signing of veteran free agent Quarterbacks to cheap deals, successful drafting of mid-low round Quarterbacks, and Quarterbacks being willing to financially cooperate with the team, offers plenty of alternatives to paying ONE player close to half of their salary cap and allow them to build an entire team of talented players to help the Quarterback rather than overpaying for him and sending him out under equipped to succeed. There are several contractual situations currently unfolding in the NFL as we have yet to see if Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes contract and Texans Quarterback Deshaun Watson’s contract will have the same result as so many crippling Quarterback contracts that have been doled out in recent years.

References

Albanese, L. (2020, December 05). Members of Super Bowl champion GIANTS Remember 1990 fondly. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.newsday.com/sports/football/giants/giants-super-bowl-xxv-bills-1.50083050#:~:text=It%20was%20the%20second%20quarter,in%20his%20seven%2Dyear%20career.

Benne, J. (2016, February 07). A look back at THE Panthers’ first Super Bowl appearance. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/2/7/10902996/carolina-panthers-2003-new-england-patriots-super-bowl-XXXVIII

DaSilva, C. (2021, February 02). Rams paid the (BIG) price for extending Jared GOFF two years early. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/02/02/rams-jared-goff-extension-early-cost/

Finlay, J. (2020, December 07). Wentz’s contract GIVES Eagles WORST QB situation in NFC East. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/carson-wentz-and-his-contract-gives-eagles-worst-qb-situation-nfc-east

Posted in carsonwentz1186, Rebuttal Rewrite | 4 Comments

Rebuttal Argument – carsonwentz1186

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Chris McGee

What are Quarterbacks Actually Worth?

In football and any other professional sport, there is a common misconception that paying a certain player more than half of the salary cap or very close to it is the best way to build a championship roster. This belief, however, is flawed in many ways as history has shown it has actually done more damage to sports franchises than actually assisting them in achieving their goal of winning a championship. The most popular examples of this generally occur in the NFL where there is a set amount of money a team can pay its players without having to pay a hefty fine for going over it. Each year, there is seemingly a new case of this scenario playing out against the hopes of the organization taking a gamble on something they see as the end all be all of team success.

In the NFL, there has been a growing belief that if you heavily pay the Quarterback of your team, he will lead you to the promised land. Contrary to this increasingly popular belief, there have been more situations where the teams who either get to or wins the Super Bowl actually do it with a Quarterback on a rookie deal or one on a cheap deal as a veteran backup. There has been one instance within the past 4 years where a verteran Quarterback on a cheap contract has won the Super Bowl for his team. In 2017, the Philadelphia Eagles lost their young franchise Quarterback in Carson Wentz due to a complete ACL and PCL tear. The offseason prior, they brought back a familiar face in Quarterback Nick Foles who was originally drafted by the Eagles but had become a journeyman and bounced around to a few teams before being brought back to Philadelphia. After Wentz went down with his injury, Nick Foles was able to come in and lead the Eagles on an incredible 6 and half game stretch which culminated in a 41-33 win vs the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52.

Back in 1986, the New York Giants drafted Quarterback Jeff Hostettler in the third round. After their starting Quarterback Phil Simms got hurt in 1991, Hostettler was also able to come into the starting lineup and lead the Giants to a Super Bowl victory over the Buffalo Bills and their Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly. In 2003, the Carolina Panthers signed Jake Delhomme, an undrafted free agent, to a short term and low money contract and led the Panthers to their first Super Bowl in franchise history later that season. They ended up losing that game to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Two of the situations above involved the signing of cheap free agent Quarterbacks in Jake Delhomme and Nick Foles, and both of them played against Tom Brady who is known for restructuring his contracts and taking less money for his team to build around him and give him the help he needs to win. Jeff Hostettler, a third round pick in a draft three years prior to the 1991 season, beating Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly in the Super Bowl is also a great example of why you don’t need to commit close to 50% of your salary cap just to win a championship. Many of the franchises today who are falling victim to this flawed concept, are either in a deep hole financially in regards to the salary cap and are setting themselves up for failure for years to come.

For example, the Philadelphia Eagles signed Carson Wentz to a 4-year $128M contract with over $100M in guaranteed money over that time span in the summer of 2019. Sitting here two years later, after some poor roster construction around their franchise Quarterback and lack of money to do so due to Wentz’s contract taking up $30M+ per season, the team quickly deteriorated and fell apart. Carson Wentz as of February in 2021, currently resides in Indianapolis while the Eagles are going to have to pay him $34.7M to play in Indianapolis which currently stands as the largest dead cap hit in the history of the National Football League. With the financial debacle the Eagles currently face with Wentz along with the other bad investments they made in certain players, the Eagles are in a never ending string of contract restructures and being double digit millions above the salary cap for years to come as it stands today.

The Los Angeles Rams are currently in a similar situation to the Eagles with their now former Quarterback, Jared Goff. Also in summer of 2019, the Rams signed Jared Goff to a 4-year $134M contract worth an astounding $110M in guaranteed money per Cameron Desilva of USA Today. Not even two years after that ink dried, the Rams traded him away in February of 2021 to the Detroit Lions. The contract given to Goff was so financially crippling for the Rams, that they had to give up extra compensation to Detroit just for them to take on more of Goff’s contract.

Between both the Rams and the Eagles now incurring both $20M+ and $30M+ in dead money against their cap to pay their former Quarterbacks to play against them for different teams, the flaws of this belief as well as the alternatives are starting to come in to light more and more as the years go on while Quarterback contracts continue to become increasingly crippling to a team’s financial outlook.

As you can see, there are many more alternatives to paying Quarterbacks big money to have success. Between the signing of veteran free agent Quarterbacks to cheap deals, successful drafting of mid-low round Quarterbacks, and Quarterbacks being willing to financially cooperate with the team, offers plenty of alternatives to paying ONE player close to half of their salary cap and allow them to build an entire team of talented players to help the Quarterback rather than overpaying for him and sending him out under equipped to succeed. 

References

Albanese, L. (2020, December 05). Members of Super Bowl champion GIANTS Remember 1990 fondly. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.newsday.com/sports/football/giants/giants-super-bowl-xxv-bills-1.50083050#:~:text=It%20was%20the%20second%20quarter,in%20his%20seven%2Dyear%20career.

Benne, J. (2016, February 07). A look back at THE Panthers’ first Super Bowl appearance. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/2/7/10902996/carolina-panthers-2003-new-england-patriots-super-bowl-XXXVIII

DaSilva, C. (2021, February 02). Rams paid the (BIG) price for extending Jared GOFF two years early. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/02/02/rams-jared-goff-extension-early-cost/

Davis, Scott. “Tom Brady Sacrificed at Least $60 Million in His Career Helping the Patriots Build Super Bowl-Winning Rosters.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 17 Mar. 2020, http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-brady-contract-discounts-patriots-bargain-2018-7. 

Finlay, J. (2020, December 07). Wentz’s contract GIVES Eagles WORST QB situation in NFC East. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/carson-wentz-and-his-contract-gives-eagles-worst-qb-situation-nfc-east

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Rebuttal Rewrite- Thecommoncase

Posted on April 11, 2021 by thecommoncase

Alternatives to Opioids can be Achieved

The human species has been using opium as medical treatment for thousands of years, almost as far back as human existence itself. Countless medical practices and treatments have been discarded once better methods are discovered, yet very little has changed with opioid therapy in the thousands of years it has been used. Opioids are used in modern medical practice everyday and it is impossible to deny that their effectiveness in treating pain and the elated feeling people experience when taking opioids are what make this drug so valuable and dangerous. Regardless of the potential dangers, there are still many opioid advocates who claim that opioid use is too important to the treatment of certain medical conditions for it to be prohibited due to its lethal side effects. If opioids suddenly disappeared with no alternative, millions of people would die from withdrawal or overdose from another deadly drug. It is important to understand that opioids are a vital part of the medicinal world, and that they will never go away. But it is also important to realize that, though opioids prolong the absence of pain, they also shorten lifetimes. With so many advancements in medicine, there has never been a better time to start searching for an alternative. Opioids’ ability to withstand the test of time is impressive, but it is time to evolve from outdated and dangerous opioids.

In The Clinical Journal of Pain’s article titled, The Opioid Debate-Pro: Opioids Have an Important Role in Pain Management in Children, Dr. Elliot Krane suggests that the current guidelines to opioid prescribing are too strict, which means that some people who may need opioids are not getting them. He argues that those on the anti-opioid side believe that “all society must do is to restrict and curtail the availability of opioids to patients, beef up law enforcement, incarcerate over-prescribers and users, and the fire will be extinguished.” In a perfect world, this is all we would have to do, but experts know that this issue is too complicated for such a simple plan of action. It is extremely unreasonable to believe that the opioid crisis can be solved by prohibiting it, since it would be detrimental to those who are currently prescribed opioids. In the article, There’s Never Just One Side to the Story, Bioethicist Travis Rieder believes that the solution to the opioid epidemic is inevitably going to come to a compromise, though it won’t be easy. Rieder talks about how “the pendulum swing toward radical permissiveness was, undeniably, incredibly harmful—it helped launch today’s drug overdose crisis, and even as that crisis moves away from prescription opioids and toward illicit drugs, it continues to feed it. But a full-on swing back toward the prohibitionist attitude that led us to withhold opioids from desperate patients would also be a tragedy.” Those on the anti-opioid side are aware that, if opioids were abolished with no alternative, it would likely lead thousands of desperate people to use illegal and more dangerous drugs, which is the opposite of the goal both sides want to achieve. If people can no longer receive their treatment from a doctor, they will find another way to treat their pain. Both sides of the opioid argument want to see patients struggling with pain get the treatment they need, and both sides also wish to put an end to the opioid epidemic. But the anti-opioid side wants to take it a step further by advocating for pain relief options that do not have extreme risks.

 In cases where no other therapy or medication is able to soothe a patient’s pain, opioids have proven to be 100% effective. Opioids have played a large role in helping professionals make breakthroughs in medicine, and Dr. Elliot Krane is quick to point out that “opiates have brought relief to the suffering, made surgical procedures possible and routine, and have salvaged countless lives that otherwise would have been lost.” Opioids are especially helpful in surgeries, and without opioids to help patients handle their pain, none of them would not be able to withstand any surgery. Many patients who have struggled with their pain and have exhausted every other type of therapy have found that opioid medication will change their lives for the better.

In 2018, a randomized clinical trial launched by Dr. Erin Kreb et al to test the effectiveness of opioid vs. non-opioid pain treatment in patients with chronic back or hip pain. This trial lasted a year and had 240 participants, with one group receiving either an “immediate-release morphine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone/acetaminophen” and the second group receiving “acetaminophen (paracetamol) or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.” The results of their study found that “adverse medication-related symptoms were significantly more common in the opioid group over 12 months,” and concluded that opioid treatment “was not superior to treatment with nonopioid medications for improving pain-related function over 12 months.” This clinical trial shows that opioid use is not a reasonable treatment option for those with chronic pain, and that it is possible to tolerate pain with over the counter medication. The “adverse” side effects of opioids are life ruining, and opioids are only a temporary life saver. Opioids make the pain manageable, but daily use builds a tolerance that knows no limit. Eventually, even opioids will not be enough to tolerate the pain. 

A key difference between opioids and nonopioid treatments is that opioids bind to opioid receptors in the brain, releasing endorphins. Opioids not only make people feel great physically, but it also gives them a feeling of euphoria. This combination is what makes opioids a valuable pain reliever. The euphoric feeling is also the reason thousands of people end up addicted to opioids. The National Institute on Drug Abuse advises that “the best way to avoid opioid addiction is to take opioid pain medications only as prescribed by a doctor, and only for as long as you need them.” Those in favor of opioids fail to mention the effects of opioid euphoria in pain management. There are safer alternatives that can have similar effects as opioids, but without the deadly consequences.

References

Krane, E. J. (2019). The Opioid Debate—PRO. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 35(6), 468–472. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000700.

Krebs EE, Gravely A, Nugent S, et al. Effect of Opioid vs Nonopioid Medications on Pain-Related Function in Patients With Chronic Back Pain or Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: The SPACE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2018;319(9):872–882. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.0899

Rieder, T. N. (2018). There’s never just one side to the story: Why america must stop swinging the opioid pendulum. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 8(3), 225-231. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1353/nib.2018.0071

What is an opioid? (2016, May 25). Retrieved from https://archives.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/what-opioid

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Rebuttal- Thecommoncase

Posted on April 11, 2021 by thecommoncase

Opioid Use in Those With Chronic and Acute Pain: It is Time for a Change

The human species has been using opium as medical treatment for thousands of years, almost as far back as human existence itself. Countless medical practices and treatments have been discarded once better methods are discovered, yet very little has changed with opioid therapy in the thousands of years it has been used. Opioids are used in modern medical practice everyday and it is impossible to deny that there are valid reasons as to why they have stayed relevant for so long. Their effectiveness in treating pain and the elated feeling people experience when taking opioids are what make this drug so powerful, and dangerous. Regardless of the potential dangers, there are still many opioid advocates who claim that opioid use is too important to the treatment of certain medical conditions for it to be prohibited due to its lethal side effects. If opioids suddenly disappeared from pharmacies and doctor’s offices, millions of people would die from pain or withdrawal. It is important to understand that opioids are a vital part of the medicinal world, and that they will never go away. But it is also important to realize that, though opioids prolong the absence of pain, they also shorten lifetimes. Opioids’ ability to withstand the test of time is impressive, but the idea that a long history of using something means that it is a valid practice is pseudoscientific and causes serious harm to people.

Dr. Elliot Krane discusses the importance of opioids in The Clinical Journal of Pain’s article titled, The Opioid Debate-Pro: Opioids Have an Important Role in Pain Management in Children where he argues that those on the anti-opioid side believe that “all society must do is to restrict and curtail the availability of opioids to patients, beef up law enforcement, incarcerate over-prescribers and users, and the fire will be extinguished.” In a perfect world, this is all we would have to do, but experts know that this issue is too complicated for such a simple plan of action. It is extremely unreasonable to believe that opioids help people with certain medical conditions, and it would be detrimental to their health if opioid medications are prohibited. In the article, There’s Never Just One Side to the Story: Why America Must Stop Swinging the Opioid Pendulum, Bioethicist Travis Rieder discusses the two sides of the opioid argument, and how he believes that the solution to the opioid epidemic is inevitably going to come to a compromise, though it won’t be easy. Rieder talks about how “the pendulum swing toward radical permissiveness was, undeniably, incredibly harmful—it helped launch today’s drug overdose crisis, and even as that crisis moves away from prescription opioids and toward illicit drugs, it continues to feed it. But a full-on swing back toward the prohibitionist attitude that led us to withhold opioids from desperate patients would also be a tragedy.” Those on the anti-opioid side are aware that, if opioids were abolished, it would likely lead to a spike in illegal opioid use, which is the opposite of the goal both sides want to achieve. If people can no longer receive their treatment from a doctor, they will find another way to treat their pain. Both sides of the opioid argument want to see patients struggling with pain get the treatment they need, and both sides also wish to put an end to the opioid epidemic. But the anti-opioid side wants to take it a step further by advocating for pain relief options that do not have extreme risks.

 In cases where no other therapy or medication is able to soothe a patient’s pain, opioids have proven to be 100% effective. Opioids have played a large role in helping professionals make breakthroughs in medicine, and Dr. Elliot Krane claims that “opiates have brought relief to the suffering, made surgical procedures possible and routine, and have salvaged countless lives that otherwise would have been lost.” Opioids are especially helpful in surgeries, and without opioids to help patients handle their pain, none of them would not be able to withstand any surgery. Many patients who have struggled with their pain and have exhausted every other type of therapy have found that opioid medication will change their lives for the better.

In 2018, a randomized clinical trial launched by Dr. Erin Kreb, Dr. Agnes Jensen, Dr. Beth DeRonne and other researchers to test the effectiveness of opioid vs. non-opioid pain treatment in patients with chronic back or hip pain. This trial lasted a year and had 240 participants, with one group receiving either an “immediate-release morphine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone/acetaminophen” and the second group receiving “acetaminophen (paracetamol) or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.” The results of their study found that “adverse medication-related symptoms were significantly more common in the opioid group over 12 months” and concluded that opioid treatment “was not superior to treatment with nonopioid medications for improving pain-related function over 12 months.” This clinical trial shows that opioid use is not a reasonable treatment option for those with chronic pain, and that it is possible to tolerate pain with over the counter medication. The “adverse” side effects of opioids are life ruining, and opioids are only a temporary life saver. Opioids make the pain manageable, but daily use builds a tolerance that knows no limit. Eventually, even opioids will not be enough to tolerate the pain. 

A key difference between opioids and nonopioid treatments is that opioids bind to opioid receptors in the brain, releasing endorphins. Opioids not only make people feel great physically, but it also gives them a feeling of euphoria. This combination is what makes opioids a valuable pain reliever. The euphoric feeling is also the reason thousands of people end up addicted to opioids. The National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that “the best way to avoid opioid addiction is to take opioid pain medications only as prescribed by a doctor, and only for as long as you need them.” Those in favor of opioids fail to mention the effects of opioid euphoria in pain management. There are safer alternatives that can have similar effects as opioids, but without the deadly consequences.

Sources

Krane, E. J. (2019). The Opioid Debate—PRO. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 35(6), 468–472. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000700.

Krebs EE, Gravely A, Nugent S, et al. Effect of Opioid vs Nonopioid Medications on Pain-Related Function in Patients With Chronic Back Pain or Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis Pain: The SPACE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2018;319(9):872–882. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.0899

Rieder, T. N. (2018). There’s never just one side to the story: Why america must stop swinging the opioid pendulum. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 8(3), 225-231. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1353/nib.2018.0071

What is an opioid? (2016, May 25). Retrieved from https://archives.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/what-opioid

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