Galactosemia Essay -- Genetics Disorders Essays

Galactosemia missing works cited Galactosemia is a potentially fatal genetic defect that prevents the body from metabolizing milk. It is fatal because an infant's early diet consists mostly of milk. The disease does not usually hinder the development of children in North America or Europe; it is a not-uncommon cause of death, however, in third-world nations, where lactose-free milk is not readily available. So, what impacts people afflicted with galactosemia more, the fact that they have the disease, or the question of whether or not it can be treated? A child who is not lactose intolerant would not die from shock, whether or not treatment was available, and so nature determined the fate of the child. A child with galactosemia would only survive where treatment was available, so the environment determined the child's fate. The notion of nature versus nurture is one of the most debated topics of modern sociology, and is very apparent in the theories presented by Laura Mulvey and Mimi White. They contend that mass media perpetuates sexism because media is ubiquitous, and the environment impacts human development. There is another side to this: that our environment does not completely define us. Just like a lactose-intolerant baby that would die in the absence of an environment that treated the natural disease, the media helps shape who we are, but does not completely define us. Mulvey says matter-of-factly "the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations that have moulded him" (Mulvey 519). She goes on to say that those pre-existing patterns boil down to the "phallocentric order" that is present in society. The fasci... ... responded to the situation because it was brought to them by mass media. People did not watch the Simpson trial because Simpson murdered two people, people watched the trial because it was simulcast to every home, twenty-four by seven, for almost a year. Just like there is middle ground in the nature versus nurture argument, there is middle ground between Mulvey and White's positions and Gramsci, Foucault and Butler. We should keep in mind that the goal of television stations, production studios, newspapers and books is to make money, and not to uphold the legacy of Edward R. Murrow. Unfortunately, in a capitalist society, there is no pure media, only infotainment. This obstacle is going to occupy the minds of communication-theorists for as long as there are commercials on network television, ads in newspapers, and for as long as authors need to earn a living.