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I've got to do an 80 page paper on a "debated public issue." Help choose the topic.

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B

BuddyC

Member
I'm totally lost here gang. I've got to write up a proposal for this thing by Monday, but I have no idea what topic I'm going to cover...whatever it is, I've got to deal with it daily for the next 12 weeks. It has to be a national public issue of the kind Congress would discuss, and I'd (obviously) like to have some sort of basis in gaming.

I'm going to need over 60 sources by the time this is all over, including trade publications, goverment documents and the like. Preliminary research, which is part of my proposal, must include at least two 5-10 page magazine articles, one goverment document, the website of an organization that deals with said issue, among others.

Recommend away. Please.

But don't mention any of the following, as they are banned topics.

THE BANNED LIST
# Abortion.
# Legalization of drugs (excluding medical marijuana).
# Animal testing.
# Human cloning.
# Professional sports franchises.
# Professional sports strikes.
# Eating disorders.
# Television and violence.
# Images of women in advertising.
# UFOs.
# Amber Alert.
# Legal rights of those accused of terrorism
# Cigarette advertising.
# Intercollegiate sports (excluding Title IX)
# File sharing
# Campaign finance
 
R

RevenantKioku

PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
Violence! Its golden! You can find bloated bullshit everywhere!

And what the hell is this 80 page paper for?
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
This might seem kinda obvious, but maybe abortion? There are plenty of views on that.
 
C

Catzgirl

Member
Abortion.

Wait, a basis in gaming? :/ Um.... Censorship laws, the FCC. Aka, Janet Jackson's boobies and how they affect TV, Movies, and Video Games :D
 
F

FnordChan

Member
There should be a gazillion sources out there about violence in the media, including video games, and that's certainly been debated in Congress. Call up ol' Fritz and see if he can give you a hand.

FnordChan
 
B

BuddyC

Member
RevenantKioku said:
Violence! Its golden!
Click to expand...

Forbidden topic. So is Abortion, Cloning, and anything else that would be considered 'easy' or 'fun.' Check it out.

THE BANNED LIST
# Abortion.
# Legalization of drugs (excluding medical marijuana).
# Animal testing.
# Human cloning.
# Professional sports franchises.
# Professional sports strikes.
# Eating disorders.
# Television and violence.
# Images of women in advertising.
# UFOs.
# Amber Alert.
# Legal rights of those accused of terrorism
# Cigarette advertising.
# Intercollegiate sports (excluding Title IX)
# File sharing
# Campaign finance
 
A

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Abortion is banned in almost all college writing projects from what I've experienced. The reasoning given is usually that it causes too heated a debate, but if the teacher is telling you the truth it is because they are damned sick of reading everybody's opinion and just don't give a damn.

And by the way, 80 fucking pages? The longest project I ever did was a group project that was 30 pages.

...


Oh, fuck. Did I even do my part of that project? I certainly don't remember writing that much....
 
F

FnordChan

Member
BuddyChrist83 said:
Forbidden topic. So is Abortion, Cloning, and anything else that would be considered 'easy' or 'fun.' Check it out.
Click to expand...

hollingsfritz.jpg


"Fuck that noise!"

Here's a list of recently debated legislation in the Senate. See if you can find anything of interest in there.

FnordChan

Edit: How about media consolidation? You can entitle your paper: "The FCC: Total Asshats". Radio deregulation, the horror that is Clear Channel, proposed cable deregulation - hell, you could go on for hundreds of pages.
 
R

RevenantKioku

PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
BuddyChrist83 said:
Forbidden topic. So is Abortion, Cloning, and anything else that would be considered 'easy' or 'fun.' Check it out.

THE BANNED LIST
A bunch of bullshit.
Click to expand...

Who the fuck is this person?
Is there anything to gain from this paper?

And how is medicinal marijuana a fair topic if this shit isn't?

Time to get this ass bonging moron out of education.
 
TheQueen'sOwn

TheQueen'sOwn

insert blank space here
Wrtie about how much you hate your prof, reasons they shouldn't live, reasons it's a dumb paper, etc. etc. You could get pretty close to 80 pages after all that :D.

EDIT:
It also doesn't mention Gay marriage.
 
A

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Since you said you wanted to do something based on gaming, and to say 'fuck off, teach' for putting TV violence on there, I say go with violence in videogames and the effects thereof.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
write an 80 page paper on the idea that it should take a sensible person much, much less than 80 pages to get their point across. That should take about 5 pages, just fill the other 75 with:

"I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this I bet you aren't even reading this..."

repeated over and over.
 
I

IJoel

Member
The media as an influence for violent human behavior - You'd need a lot of data for this though, and there has been many publications about it.

Gay rights - hey, you have to earn Suerte's love. Hell, you could interview him as well and see his point of view as well as some other gays from gaf.

Religion within the government as a base for legislation - this is a really big issue that you could start citing tons and tons of examples of legislation that's based on relative religious morals (though morals is somewhat subjective.)

80 pages is way way way overkill. If you want to make it happen, make sure to use tons of pages in historical background (the first 20 pages should deal with the beginnings and evolution of the issue, the introduction perse), while you could then move on to the next 5 pages to deal with what has been occurring that is making the issue a 'debated public issue', and what has changed that has made that happen. Then move onto the body and discuss the root cause of it, or what you believe to be the root cause of it, providing examples, etc.

Good luck!

Edit: Remember that history isn't limited to US history. Go as back in time as you possibly can.
 
C

Catzgirl

Member
A good video game one could be video game addiction and the psychological and social aspects of gaming. From EQ die hards to the casual gamer, you could write about how video games have changed this generation and also the negative and positive effects of the hobby.
 
A

Azih

Member
Fable GMR 8/10: 2 points of controversy.

or

Itagaki Vs Gaming-Age: The C- that shook the world.


Hey these are debated public issues.
 
J

Justin Bailey

------ ------
Aside from violence (which is banned), there isn't really much about gaming that congress would debate about, so you might not find much there. Now the fact that kids play these games habitually and never go outside anymore may be considered a "national public issue," so maybe you could run with that :)
 
B

bjork

Member
emulation

overwork (and reference your own paper within the contents)

professional wrestling (it's not a sport, right)
 
I

IJoel

Member
I'd say if you are really aiming to hit the 80 pages of content, you should cover the "Religion within the US government" deal. Not only it deals with tons of issues (gay rights included) but it forces you to spend some time explaining many parts of it and the effect they have, such as US population composition and background. Those subtopics alone should cover a big number of pages and make your life easier (unless you're going to simplify the issue.)
 
B

BuddyC

Member
My main problem is finding enough sources. I also have to do three interviews with experts, with at least one being face to face. In the paper, I have to present the problem, the pros and cons of the problem, and how to resolve it...among other things. I'm going to class to bury my head now.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
BuddyChrist83 said:
Forbidden topic. So is Abortion, Cloning, and anything else that would be considered 'easy' or 'fun.' Check it out.

THE BANNED LIST
# Abortion.
# Legalization of drugs (excluding medical marijuana).
# Animal testing.
# Human cloning.
# Professional sports franchises.
# Professional sports strikes.
# Eating disorders.
# Television and violence.
# Images of women in advertising.
# UFOs.
# Amber Alert.
# Legal rights of those accused of terrorism
# Cigarette advertising.
# Intercollegiate sports (excluding Title IX)
# File sharing
# Campaign finance
Click to expand...
Technically, I see nothing restricting violence and video games. I'd be all over that technicality like white on rice.
 
I

IJoel

Member
BuddyChrist83 said:
My main problem is finding enough sources. I also have to do three interviews with experts, with at least one being face to face. In the paper, I have to present the problem, the pros and cons of the problem, and how to resolve it...among other things. I'm going to class to bury my head now.
Click to expand...

Well, it's only the proposal that's due for Monday, so that shouldn't be too bad.

Just pick a topic you know is deep enough to delve into it. Break down the subtopics and how you plan to handle them (a plan of attack) and document it in a proposal.
 
F

FnordChan

Member
BuddyChrist83 said:
My main problem is finding enough sources. I also have to do three interviews with experts, with at least one being face to face. In the paper, I have to present the problem, the pros and cons of the problem, and how to resolve it...among other things. I'm going to class to bury my head now.
Click to expand...

I'm telling you, man, media consolidation is golden. I dare you to arrange a face-to-face interview with Michael Powell. Tear him a new asshole for me, will ya?

FnordChan
 
S

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
Do an 80 page paper on political sexual scandal. You have monica, clinton, Chandra Levy, and the new hotness in scandals the "mcgreevy" man on man etc. etc. etc.

Is like trying to get ass on a farm... its plentiful if you like sheep.
 
D

Dilbert

Member
A couple of ideas come to mind:

1) First, I like IJoel's suggestion a lot -- examining the influence of religion on government would be interesting. However, you'd have to be careful to focus your discussion fairly tightly onto a SINGLE topic. For example: Should the word 'God' appear in any official government oath/document/seal, including money, oaths (loyalty, courts of law, swearing in for office, etc.), state and national seals, etc.?

2) Although file sharing is on the "banned" list, you could probably talk your professor into allowing a paper on the larger issue of copyright. There are a LOT of deeply fucked up things in copyright law, and a lot of recent legislation (DMCA, anyone?) has blurred the line between physical and intellectual property even more. How long SHOULD copyright be held, and under what circumstances should it be renewed? Should copyrights be allowed to be bought and sold? (Why does Michael Jackson have the rights to the Beatles catalog, for example?) How DO you reasonably assess damages for copyright infringement? What should constitute "fair use" with today's technologies?

3) Privacy. The "right to privacy" (if memory serves) is not literally in the Bill of Rights. It is based on an interpretation of the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments by lots of case law -- I'm sure someone out there will correct me if I'm wrong. Recently, laws like the Patriot Act have radically recast the nature of privacy rights, under the guise of "security." What rights to privacy ought individuals citizens have? How should those rights be formalized? How do you balance privacy, freedom, and security?

4) Energy policy. This would be much harder to research, but given the price of gas...it might be interesting to examine our energy policy (or lack thereof) to see what could be done to improve it.

I'm sure I'll think of more later...sorry that these aren't gaming-specific, though you could work some gaming discussion into #2.
 
Shouta

Shouta

Member
Religion in Government is a good one, I go with Sith Lord jinx on his focus for that.

I always thought the protrayal of men in Media might be interesting. How we're viewed and etc. Despite being the minority, I bet there's something in there you might be able to tag.
 
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