Cody Courtney
Eng. 102
Michael Benton
9/12/2011
Paper #1 proposal.
The subject that I have chosen to write my first paper on is the “Green Scare”. This is a reference to the “Red Scare” of the 1940’s and 50’s. Instead of the fear of communism it is the fear of terrorism that is being used to push a political and corporate agenda. According to Greenisthenewred.com, Animal rights and environmental advocates are being labeled as “eco-terrorist”. This is a subject that I find very interesting and one that I would enjoy writing about.
This is not a subject that you see a lot about in the media which is one reason I want to write on this subject. I think it would be interesting to learn more about the subject and as I do anything I come across that I find insightful I can add it to my paper. I don’t know much on the subject, in fact I know very little but that is why I am so interested in it.
My ideal audience could be a wide variety of people. Whether it be activist or politicians this is a subject that both has an interest in and because of that interest would be an audience for my paper. An ideal publication would probably be TIME magazine. Time is one of the most popular magazines in the United States so if I wanted to get my argument out into the public eye this would be a great way to do so. Another publication that would be ideal would be the Newspapers in the Major cities the U.S. For example, The LA Times, Los Angeles is one of America’s most populated cities which is why it would be a great place to publish this paper.
This issue is important because in our modern society the act of protesting and activists working for a cause has almost become a business. The idea that our fear of terrorism is being used as a tool to scare us into thinking that these “eco-terrorists” mean harm. I don’t think that these people mean any harm to anybody. If anything they are doing the opposite they’re trying to defend something, whether it is animal rights or an environmental cause.
This issue is also important because it is in some ways a constitutional issue. People are having their names slandered and people are being swayed by fear in order to fit a certain agenda. Our constitutional right protects a person’s rights to protest and free speech. This is where this issue begins to matter to a lot more people. Even if you don’t believe in the cause that is being protested you can still relate to the fact that people are being slandered for doing something that is supposed to be given to them by any means.
I just found this topic as a whole as something that I found interesting and would like to write about. There is enough information on the topic that I could put together a paper that is filled with facts to support the arguments that are made. The paper would be informative and I would learn more on the subject as I look more and more into it.
