Explore Mood Altering Drugs:Consider this quotation from Brave New World: "Christianity without the tears - that's what soma is." In Brave New World Aldous Huxley warns of the dangers of mood-altering drugs, but our society in recent decades has failed to heed the warning because antidepressants and similar mood-altering drugs are being used today, much like Soma, to make people less of a "burden" on society. Research some of the commonly prescribed mood-altering drugs of the day, e.g., Prozac, Xanax, etc. and read the article “Forced Smiles” Note the positive effects as well as the negative side effects and other unintended consequences of using various prescription mood-altering drugs. Then answer this question in a well developed essay: Do you support the prescription and use of mood-altering drugs? (Feel free to “qualify” your answer; it does not have to be a black-and-white “yes” or “no” response.) In general, are these soma-style drugs good for the individual? For society? Explain your response with facts, details, and examples from your research. Explore Overpopulation:One issue dealt with by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World is strict control of world population. The one world government of Huxley’s dystopia has complete control over every “birth” and every “death.” Huxley, more or less, predicted the Nazi eugenics campaign, forced sterilizations, government-funded contraception, and China’s one child policy as ways of limiting population growth. Moreover, a mainstream contemporary mindset supports many of these measures, assuming that surging human population is the real root of the world’s evils, from global warming to poverty, from starvation to habitat loss. “Not so fast. Three recent books by renowned experts on the subject paint a far more complex portrait of the world’s population and what it portends” (Salon.com, Sept. 17, 2008). Read S. Michael Craven’s “The Myth of Overpopulation” and watch the five POP101 animations episodes at overpopulationisamyth.com, and then respond to the following questions: Is population control a solution to global human poverty in a well developed 1 page essay. Does a higher population increase poverty levels? Explain why or why not. Who are Thomas Malthus and Charles Darwin? What do they have to do with the “myth of overpopulation”? What, in your educated opinion, is the solution to ending global human poverty? Explore Nazi Eugenics Research the Nazi T4 program and then respond to the following prompts in a well developed essay. What is euthanasia as defined by the Nazis? What was the purpose of the T4 program? What were the results? What role did propaganda play in carrying out the goals of the T4 program? And finally, what similarities do you see in our 21st century culture? You may find the links above helpful in completing this response:
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