COM 100 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Ethics, Topic And Comment, Social Presence Theory
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
COM 100
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Erika Gibbons
OUTLINE
Introduction:
1. Attention Catcher/Listener Relevance: Remember how your parents used to cover you with
sunscreen before you went out in the sun to make sure you didn’t get burned? In the wild,
orcas spend about 95 percent of their time in the deep ocean to protect themselves from the
sun, however, since orcas at SeaWorld live in shallow pools with chemical-filled water they
are not able to hide from the sunlight, resulting in harsh sunburns. SeaWorld workers then
cover up the orca’s burns with black zinc oxide to match the orcas’ skin… and although zinc
oxide could also be used as sunscreen, it is usually put on the orcas once they’re already
burned so the public can not see how hurt they are. This is just one of the many cruelties that
occurs at the SeaWorld Aquarium
2. Speaker credibility: After watching the Blackfish documentary last year, I have become very
interested in the conditions of the orcas at SeaWorld and follow the actions being taken in
response. The film Blackfish is a documentary that elaborates on the unethical treatments of
the orca whales at SeaWorld through interviews with past employees.
3. Thesis/Preview: Orca whales are incredibly large and intelligent animals who should not be
taken and held in captivity. Through various examples, SeaWorld is guilty of animal cruelty
on account of confined cages, separating families and causing them such high levels of
stress.
Body:
1. First Main Point: SeaWorld’s orcas in confined areas
A. Orca whales in the wild are used to swimming up to 100 miles a day.
- According to an anti-SeaWorld website, An orca at SeaWorld would have to
swim the circumference of the main pool 1,900 times in one day to swim that
same distance.’”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
B. “The average size of an orca whale can reach up to 20-26 feet long and can weigh
as much as 22,000 pounds.
- The size of the orca whales in comparison to the tanks they live in at SeaWorld
are said to be in comparison to a “bathtub.”
C. Collapsed dorsal fins are a sign of an unhealthy Orca and is not naturally seen in
nature:
- In captivity, all male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins as adults, which is a
sign of an unhealthy orca. Sea World claims that this condition is common and
natural for all orcas. However, collapsed dorsal fins are caused by the unnatural
environment of captivity and are rarely seen in the wild. According to the
SeaWorld of Hurt website, only 1 to 5 percent of male orcas in some populations
(and none in others) have fully collapsed dorsal fins.
Trans: This is just one of the many cruelties that SeaWorld is guilty of, another main point is how
they separate whale families
2. Second Main Point: SeaWorld separates whale families
A. Whales have an incredible sense of community and family, and for hunting and
tracking purposes this made it quite easy for hunters to snatch them up.
- Once the hunters captured one orca whale the others would hang around for
support, making it simple to capture the rest.
B. Whales are highly matriarchal and taking a mother away from her baby is incredibly
inhumane.
- In the film Blackfish, it shows the live birth of a baby whale, and in this footage
it later shows that hours later the baby calf being taken away from its mother to be
sent out to another SeaWorld location. The mother whale whose baby calf was
removed from her became tremendously depressed and was highly distressed
without her baby.
C. Each individual pod of orca whales communicate in a different language.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Through various examples, seaworld is guilty of animal cruelty on account of confined cages, separating families and causing them such high levels of stress. Body: first main point: seaworld"s orcas in confined areas, orca whales in the wild are used to swimming up to 100 miles a day. In captivity, all male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins as adults, which is a sign of an unhealthy orca. Sea world claims that this condition is common and natural for all orcas. However, collapsed dorsal fins are caused by the unnatural environment of captivity and are rarely seen in the wild. Seaworld of hurt website, only 1 to 5 percent of male orcas in some populations (and none in others) have fully collapsed dorsal fins. Once the hunters captured one orca whale the others would hang around for support, making it simple to capture the rest: whales are highly matriarchal and taking a mother away from her baby is incredibly inhumane.
