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Ok, I have to write a paper in my sociology class. My professor gave us the topic. I have already written my paper but I have to have the opinion of other people for one of the closing paragraphs, so please help me out here.
Here it is:
A small yacht carrying twelve passengers and a captain suddenly began to sink for from the shore of an uninhabited island. When it was discovered that the radio was dead, the captain decided to have passengers man the lifeboat for the distant island. A problem arose when it was discovered that the one lifeboat would hold only eight people; it would sink with nine.
There was only enough gas for the lifeboat to make one trip to this island. Therefore, four passengers, plus the captain have to remain behind for the sake of the survival of the others.
Of the passengers listed, which four would you leave behind and why? Assume that the eight you choose to go to the island will be the nucleus of a new culture or civilization. Justify their moving on to the island. NOTE: For all we know, these survivors may never be rescued.
PASSENGERS:
1. a teenage girl (13-18) 7. an acknowledged homosexual
2. a policeman 8. a ballerina
3. a 65 year old male college professor 9. a botanist
4. a 55 year old female nurse 10. a female communist party member
5. a hysterical pregnant woman 11. a professional athlete
6. her husband (pregnant woman) 12. a famous playwright
I'm sorry to ask this but i have to have other peoples opinions. Thank you so much.
Well number 8 (The ballerina) could stay on the boat... That would be the last thing I would want, some happy dancing chick to help start a new culture..
10. A female communist party member... Uhhh that's promising?
11. A professional athlete... Sure being an athlete's great.. But really... Would you want one of them to start a new kind of world?
12. A famous playwright... Yeah that person can stay behind too.. Anyone could write..
In a new world, you will want someone young (#1) You would want someone that knows how to kind of keep the peace (#2) you would want someone smart (#3) you would definately want a nurse (#4) a pregnant woman.. shes got a child.. her husband.. yeah why would you wish someone to grow up without a father? (#5-6) a homosexual well that could create an interesting lifestyle (#7) I dont really care much for the botanist but oh well. Ta dah, Im sorry if you get confused by that lol.
[CENTER]Man I wish you just left me alone.... Cause I was almost home.......
1. The professional athlete. I've found that most athetes are cocky bastards/bitches that think themselves higher than the rest of the population because they can pick up a damn ball. It's disgusting.
2. The policeman. Who the hell cares. He's not doing anything spetacular in his field of expertese. The other people could be doing far more fruitful things than him. Like finding a cure for disease. Any moron with a GED can become a policeman.
3. The botanist. You can find other botanists out there. Plants aren't THAT important.
4. The ballerina. I don't care for interpretive dance. I just find it fascinating that they can walk on their toes. How is THAT a profession?
This sounds so mean of me. I'm sorry.
Long live the acknowledged homosexual, lmao.
Cheers,
Jenna
xMOSHx xHELLA HARDCOREx xBREAKDOWNx
The tragedy is the ignorance behind the clean casket
On the outside, they look so good
They're walking to Wallstreet in a straightjacket...
10. a female communist party member [*** stay ***]
11. a professional athlete [*** stay *** ]
12. a famous playwright
10) becuase communism isn't what we want. These people would know about democracy and would for the most part know how to stay civilized until help could be reached.
11) becuase they really wouldn't need one. The ballerina could provide entertainment
6) Pregnant womans husband. he already supplied to the new generation and he really doesn't contribute any known traits to help.
Hmm...thouse 3 were pretty easy to decide...i can't relaly think of the 4th one to stay but if i had to choose i would choose:
4) the nurse. Though the mother-to-be i said to save, the police man has to know how to deliver a baby (its part of their training)...
Ok there's gonna be some fairly crass language here.
PASSENGERS:
1. a teenage girl (13-18): GO. She can breed the longest. Simple as that.
2. a policeman
3. a 65 year old male college professor: STAY. He's too old to breed. His knowledge may be useful, but that would depend on his field of expertise. Based on what I know, stay. We already have one non breeder around.
4. a 55 year old female nurse: GO. She may not be able to breed, but her ability as a medical professional will help keep people alive. ESPECIALLY at child birth.
5. a hysterical pregnant woman: GO. She's already got the beginnings of the new civilization on the way.
6. her husband (pregnant woman): GO. He'll be breeding with his wife until they get too old to do it.
7. an acknowledged homosexual: STAY. I'm betraying myself here, but someone who would not enter the gene pool? The nurse already won't be breeding, and if we add in another that'll be a very small gene pool.
8. a ballerina: GO. She would just be used as another breeder. She'd also with her athletic nature help with strenuous activities.
9. a botanist: GO. Well, assuming the botanist is male. His knowledge of plants will allow him to find edible food sources in the crucial first few days. His skill will become not as useful as the civilization becomes more established, but he can also be used as a breeder.
10. a female communist party member: GO. Just because we really need another woman to breed with. Ideas can be changed. Besides, for the beginning at least communism would be the best system of government. It is small enough for it to work, and similar to a monastary (the only other place communism has worked), everyone would share. Solidarity from the beginning with promote a sense of kinship among the young.
11. a professional athlete: GO. His athletic skills will probably be useful for food gathering, building, ect. He'll be strong and he'll also be a male to breed.
12. a famous playwright: STAY. Male or female, a playwright has no usable skills. He could keep the history of the civilization from the beginning, but there are more important things than that.
So yes, I know, my choices were based essentially off of who could breed, although the nurse was a glaring exception to that rule. However, her skills as a healer will help to prolong the survivial of the civilization, and the knowledge she has will be passed on to future generations. If a leader was needed, I would suggest her, because for the generation to come she would not be related to any of them; she'd be looked upon as a wise elder, and a healer. A very shamanistic role. She would be perfectly suited for the role of grandmother/shaman. The 8 people at the beginning need to realize that they are 8 now, within two generations there's a good possibility that the population will have tripled in size at least. The 5 female-3 male model gives 15 different possibilities for breeding pairs, and if you take out the sterile nurse, that's still 12. That's a healthy gene pool that will allow for enough diversity to prevent inbreeding. Now, this first generation (I use generation as the first 8 on the boat, though the teenage girl would be another one normally) will essentially have to breed with everyone until they can't breed no more. It's crude, but lots of different genes are needed. The second generation will grow up and come to the realization that their parents were very poligamous. I think that this is where the role of the nurse could come in VERY helpful. Drawing on the old tribal position of the shaman, the nurse could be imbued with the powers of marriage, and by decree of this woman that is a very liminal and awesome figure (remember, in the new civilization, she'll be the only one able to heal. The kids will view her as magical.), marriage will be instated. She will take the role of the priestess and sanction marriages so that mass polygamy is quashed. Going back to the Communism bit, perhaps communism will work as a system in this new civilization. There's no economy or foreign policy to trip it up, and as yet the civilization is so small that communism will work (it's been shown that communism as a microcosm will work, for example as in monastaries), and as future generations grow up with it, perhaps the communism will be ingrained into them. As the need for a government grows, they will sit down and share with everyone. This would be an interesting expirament in nature vs. nurture. I think if you grow up with the thoughts of equality for everyone, and there is no basis for defining who is richer than another, and the civilization starts out communal, communism may work. When I say communism, I mean the sharing of material goods. As of right now the only material goods they will have will be a communal shelter and food. As the civilation grows I believe the sense of communism will grow too. Ideas will be shared for the common good of all as a moral duty to survive on the island, not for self glorification. That's how it starts out at first and that idea needs to be enforced. Again, I think the role of the nurse will be crucial here.
Ok I need to stop now. But wow, that was me just thinking off the top of my head. Imagine if I put some thought into it. Scary.
TJ
"What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?" --OSB
"Be who you are and be that well" --St Francis de Sales.
1. a teenage girl (13-18) 7. an acknowledged homosexual
2. a policeman 8. a ballerina
3. a 65 year old male college professor 9. a botanist
4. a 55 year old female nurse 10. a female communist party member
5. a hysterical pregnant woman 11. a professional athlete
6. her husband (pregnant woman) 12. a famous playwright
The 4 that I would choose to stay behind are:
1. a famous playwright- no useful skills in my mind...
2. 65 year old male college professor-depends his area of expertise but I'll say no because of the reproduction thing...although I guess it would depend how healthy he is...anyways he still stays...
3.the acknowledged homosexual- If there willing to have sex with somone of the opposite sex...just for reproduction purposes... then they can come. lol. But since I don't know if they are...there staying...
4. the ballerina- doesn't really provide any skills...
I tried to pick mine based on reproductiveness...
[center] "Hot glassware looks just like cold glassware."
First one to go is the professional athlete. He's had his glory days and he's overpaid and we need more teachers in the world.
And while I respect differing opinions, the communist party member dies too. Our world needs to move on to democracy.
I'm sorry, but we're also going to lose the policeman. The last thing we need is a gun on our peaceful island. The people I'm bringing don't need to be protected from anything.
Also, I see no practical use for the ballerina - sorry.
NOW, the ones that get to LIVE
The homosexual - someone needs to have taste on the island.
Teenage girl - The homosexual needs a friend.
The nurse - she can save lives if people are in need
The botanist - can contribute to their survival by knowing what foods can be cultivated etc.
The college professor - a higher sense of thinking and reason needs to be present
The pregnant woman - will be having a baby who deserves a life
The woman's husband - can reproduce further with the pregnant woman, plus the homosexual needs someone to dress up
Originally posted by Starbucks@Nov 18 2004, 10:35 AM
Also, I see no practical use for the ballerina - sorry.
NOW, the ones that get to LIVE
The playwright - someone needs to entertain us.
yeah i see your point about the policeman...
but i think that the ballerina will entertain us more then the playwrite...were on an island, we don't have time to read but we do have time to watch dancing
I guess Jeff that I could see switching the playwright with the ballerina. In fact, I'd do that... the ballerina lives - we need strong women who have built muscle and aren't afraid to stand up to men. I am fully for equality of men and women.
Jenna, I dont think she meant it in a discriminitory way- I just think she was implying that the homosexual can't reproduce, and could therefore have very little use on the island. If we were told that it was a homosexual DOCTOR, im sure we'd all agree that he should get on the lifeboat, but since were not informed about any of his skills, only his sexual orientation, he has to be left behind. Simple.
My keeping vs leaving choices are the exact same as Jaegermeister's. If these people are never being rescued, they need to reproduce as many times as possible, with as many different people as possible, so thats theres a variety of people for the next generation to reproduce with.
I mean like, okay, SAY that you were to take all the people that could reproduce. IF you were able to have a child, the birthing would probably kill the mother. You wouldn't be able to raise the child with the proper medical attention needed...
So like...isn't like, choosing people who can reproduce pointless? There a one in bajillion chance that the kid, much less the mother, would even survive.
Cheers,
Jenna
xMOSHx xHELLA HARDCOREx xBREAKDOWNx
The tragedy is the ignorance behind the clean casket
On the outside, they look so good
They're walking to Wallstreet in a straightjacket...
(#7) I dont really care much for the botanist but oh well. Ta dah, Im sorry if you get confused by that lol.
im joking. they need to keep the teacher though to educate the people
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