Question

I have an essay due TOMORROW (turned in today actually) on modern day self-improvement vs. Franklin's idea of self-improvement.

To be more specific: Would Franklin agree with the ethics of The Biggest Loser (that's the part of modern self-improvement I'm working with)?

If possible, please proofread/improve this sort-of-rough-draft so that I can present a good essay to the teacher tomorrow. Tips are appreciated (:

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The title is "Benjamin Franklin and the Modern Ideas on Self-Improvement".

Answer 1

In the late 1700’s Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, part of which included a piece called “Arriving at Perfection”. According to Robert DiYanni’s Fifty Great Essays (Penguin Academy Fourth Edition), Franklin described in this article the many flaws in the common human being. As a “conscientious perfectionist”, Franklin “conciev’d the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection” because he “wish’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; [he] would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead [him] into”.
However, because it is nearly impossible to live such a perfect life, Franklin soon came to the conclusion that “[bad] Habits must be broken and good Ones acquired and established, before we can have any Dependance on a steady uniform Rectitude of Conduct”. As there were far too many variations of the “various Enumerations of the moral Virtues” that Franklin researched, Franklin resolved – “for the sake of Clearness” – to use “more Names with fewer Ideas annex’d to each”, instead of tens of thousands of sub-topics under one topic. He then gave precise directions on how to perform each “Virtue” correctly.
Benjamin Franklin had great ideas on how to truly improve one’s self. His set of rules understandable and concise. But now, nearly two-and-a-half centuries later, our views on self-improvement have taken a complete turn for the worse. These days the media is always going on about celebrities and how they improved their looks with things like Lap-Band, Botox, plastic surgery, weird diet weight-loss products and more wacky stuff. To focus on a more specific aspect, people seeking to lose weight have even decided to join public TV shows to broadcast their attempts at doing such.
One such show is The Biggest Loser, a show led by three real-life, authentic trainers. The show functions as a weight-loss contest between grossly overweight people, where one has to lose a gigantic quantity of weight in a small amount of time in order to win. In fact, if a contestant loses too little weight, they end up being booted off the show, amid boos, jeers and catcalls. Oftentimes, former contestants have fallen into depression or gained back their weight even if they actually won the “contest”.
Which begs the question: Is The Biggest Loser ethical? Would Franklin have agreed with this strange way of “self-improvement”?

Answer 2

Outline:

Answer 3

"According to Robert DiYanni’s Fifty Great Essays (Penguin Academy Fourth Edition), Franklin described in this article the many flaws in the common human being"

this statement doesn't make sense. It's not "according" to that book - it doesn't offer an opinion or analysis; just a reprint of the section. Use the book as a foot or end note citation. Or inline parenthetical with a works cited page.

"In the late 1700’s Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, part of which included a piece called “Arriving at Perfection.” Franklin described in this article the many flaws in the common human being. As a “conscientious perfectionist”, Franklin “conciev’d the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection” because he “wish’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; [he] would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead [him] into”. (DiYanni p#)

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/


"These days the media is always going on about celebrities and how they improved their looks with things like Lap-Band, Botox, plastic surgery, weird diet weight-loss products and more wacky stuff." awkward


Don't need [[[To focus on a more specific aspect, ]]]]
"people seeking to lose weight have even decided to join"
public ---> it's not public television
"TV shows to broadcast their attempts at doing such."


"Which begs the question: Is The Biggest Loser ethical? Would Franklin have agreed with this strange way of “self-improvement”?" --- I still don't get why you're going with "ethical"...


like it ^_^

Answer 4

~I like it

Answer 5

It flows nicely

Answer 6

I'm done but I totally over-BS'd most of the rest @AllTehMaffs

Answer 7

can't open docx files :/ save it as .rtx?

Answer 8

In the late 1700’s Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, part of which included a piece called “Arriving at Perfection”. According to Robert DiYanni’s Fifty Great Essays (Penguin Academy Fourth Edition), Franklin described in this article the many flaws in the common human being. As a “conscientious perfectionist”, Franklin “conciev’d the bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection” because he “wish’d to live without committing any Fault at any time; [he] would conquer all that either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company might lead [him] into” (133).
However, because it is nearly impossible to live such a perfect life, Franklin soon came to the conclusion that “[bad] Habits must be broken and good Ones acquired and established, before we can have any Dependance on a steady uniform Rectitude of Conduct” (133-34). As there were far too many variations of the “various Enumerations of the moral Virtues” that Franklin researched, Franklin resolved – “for the sake of Clearness” – to use “more Names with fewer Ideas annex’d to each”, instead of tens of thousands of sub-topics under one topic (134). He then gave precise directions on how to perform each “Virtue” correctly.
Benjamin Franklin had great ideas on how to truly improve one’s self. His set of rules understandable and concise. But now, nearly two-and-a-half centuries later, our views on self-improvement have taken a complete turn for the worse. These days the media is always going on about celebrities and how they improved their looks with things like Lap-Band, Botox, plastic surgery, weird diet weight-loss products and more wacky stuff. To focus on a more specific aspect, people seeking to lose weight have even decided to join public TV shows to broadcast their attempts at doing such.
One such show is The Biggest Loser (TBL), a show led by three real-life, authentic trainers. The show functions as a weight-loss contest between grossly overweight people, where one has to lose a gigantic quantity of weight in a small amount of time in order to win. In fact, if a contestant loses too little weight, they end up being booted off the show, amid boos, jeers and catcalls. Oftentimes, former contestants have fallen into depression or gained back their weight even if they actually won the “contest”.
Which begs the question: Is TBL ethical? Would Franklin have agreed with this strange way of “self-improvement”?
The answer is no. Franklin’s ideas on how to improve one’s self were strictly for private and personal use – to improve one’s self for the good of one’s self, not “I will improve myself for the sake of my image in society”. According to Tom Venuto, who wrote an article on his blog, Burn the Fat Blog – “The Biggest Loser Pros and Cons: An In-Depth Objective Review of Television’s Most Popular Reality Show”: “The Biggest Loser does not teach real-world lifestyle strategies”; he states that “participants and viewers are not learning about nutrition and training as a lifestyle, because the inherent nature of the show only teaches them how to crash diet, crash exercise and achieve short-term weight loss”.
Additionally, “[R]apid weight loss competition encourages physically dangerous practices. The network, the trainers and other supporters of the show say they do not promote or endorse drugs or any unhealthy methods of weight loss”, however “the inherent nature of the show promotes dangerous behavior”. Venuto then goes on to share what TBL first-season-winner Ryan Benson wrote on his myspace blog – “I wanted to win so bad that the last ten days before the final weigh-in I didn’t eat one piece of solid food. If you’ve heard of the ‘Master Cleanse’ that’s what I did. Its basically drinking lemonade made with water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper”. Benson says that while “[T]he rules of the show said [contestants] couldn’t use any weight loss drugs”, he just starved himself of all food and ceased to put any type of liquid or solid in his body for up to 24 hours before the final weigh-in. “I wore a rubber suit while jogging on the treadmill, and then spent a lot of time in the steam room. In the final 24 hours I probably dropped 10-13 lbs in just pure water weight. By the time of the final weigh-in I was peeing blood”. Venuto agrees with this – “The greater the rewards and monetary incentives, the greater the willingness to cheat”. He also observes that “[o]ne thing that’s clear is that even non-drug manipulation of water and electrolyte balance is incredibly dangerous. Would you trade $250,000 for a kidney?”
Arguably, not all contestants may have gone to the absolute limit to lose weight, but either way, Franklin would have cautioned them to have Moderation - #9 on his Virtues list – and “Avoid Extreams” (134), because if you are pushing yourself too hard to reach your goals, then you are not going about achieving them in the right manner.
Lastly, TBL “encourages unrealistic weight loss expectations”; as Venuto says on his blog: “Surely any clear-thinking person realizes The Biggest Loser is a contest and at home they are NOT going to drop 25 pounds their first week and 8-10 pounds every week after that”. Yet, he says, “more and more people are posting on forums online and asking their trainers why they ‘only’ lost 3-5 pounds their first week or why they can’t lose more than 2 pounds per week”.
Franklin wisely said in his third Virtue, Order: “Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your business have its Time” (134). Truly, a person must recognize the “place” for every “thing” that they do/have; to overdo the process is not letting each “part” have its “time”, but trying to rush the whole lot, which in turn messes up your entire course of action. Venuto says likewise: “The Biggest Loser teaches you absolutely nothing about setting realistic goals. It actually encourages the opposite.”
In conclusion, it appears obvious that Franklin would not agree with the supposed “ethics” of TBL; almost all of their procedures go against his “Virtues”. If he were still alive today, Franklin would most likely advise the trainers and contestants of the show to have “Order” and “Moderation”, instead of all this chaos that leads people to try much too hard and end up injuring themselves.

Answer 9

@AllTehMaffs I can't save any docs when I'm at school, so I downloaded & then copypasted if that's fine with you.

Answer 10

completely fine - docx's are just fickle :P

Answer 11

.-. kay

Answer 12

bueno! Turned out pretty good, eh? ^_^

Do *you like it?