W233- Intermediate Expository Writing

Spring Semester, 2006

Instructor:  Jeb Waldschmidt  

Email:  waldschg@ipfw.edu   

Assignment 2:  an expository paper with the following title: 

The Culture of Terror:  

how much is “enough?”  

Develop your own interpretation of the title to “expose” your RESEARCHED perspective on the“narrative of actual life.”   

Due: 

Section 12: 2/15

Section 30W: 2/18

Length:  1250 words: (5 pages or so) 

Format:  hard copy (print it), MLA format- NO LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED. 

Sources:  Cite at least 5 GOOD sources.  At least one of them must be from a “scholarly” or “peer reviewed” journal.  Tie your research in with the text you’ve read. 

Some thoughts that may help: 

Are we “consuming” Terror  like some kind of “product?"  How can we have a “war” on an abstract noun?  Is this part of our Mental Ecology? (Lasn, p.12)  What is the relationship with Islam?  What is Wahabi and how does it relate to what Pressfield says about “Fundamentalism?”  Is there a connection with Lasn’s “Global Economic Pyramid Scheme” and “Ecological Economics?”  Can you compare Hurricane Katrina's media coverage with that of “9-11?.” 

You don’t have to address all of these questions (or any of them).  You DO have to develop the theme of the title… and offer your own INFORMED and RESEARCHED speculation on the interaction between “culture” and “terror.” 

Our idea is moving the world, it is forcing humanity to choose for us or against us.

---Robert Ley, "Wir oder die Juden...," Die Hoheitstrager 3 (May 1939), pp. 4-6.

More than anything else, it is our mediated, consumption-driven culture that is making us sick.

---Lasn, p. 11

Where is the source of "Terror?"  Review the following links: 

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 is perfidious, perhaps, but it doesn't stop there. Begin with a working Wikipedia definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act

Follow it up with your own research and cite your (scholarly) sources. Now you're ready for the sequel, The Domestic Security Enhancement Act, or "Patriot Act II." The story first broke on Bill Moyers' "Now:"

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/lewis.html

Surprised? Now ponder the ins and outs of this strange little piece of legislation:

The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3799::

Who are the "Dominionists?" What is the story BEHIND the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act? Demonstrate what you have learned from your reading and research.

You will be graded on the following criteria:

--presentation and structure;

--clarity, rigor, and persuasiveness of your argument;

--your use and knowledge of the assigned material; and

--your own originality.