Essays

Autisme en de media: water en vuur

“Zie je wel dat ze ons ‘zotten’ noemen?” (Timmerman, 2009). Dit is de reactie van een autistische jongen op de vooraankondiging van de film ‘Mozart and the Whale’. In de televisiegids staat echter een andere titel, namelijk ‘Crazy in love’. De film gaat over autisme. Of over ‘verliefde gekken’? Waarom heeft de televisiezender deze titel dusdanig veranderd? _{^{lees verder}}

Whale hunting must be stopped!

Imagine you swim in the ocean just minding your own business. Then, suddenly, something sharp hits you. It enters your body and explodes. The pain is killing but it does not kill you, not yet. Again a sharp object hits you and explodes. Again and again you are hit. Your enormous body, however, does not give up that easily. It will take more than a half an hour to get unconscious. Maybe, if you are lucky, you will drown. Perhaps you will be dragged on a ship. Although you are still alive, conscious and in great agony you will be cut up in pieces, not able to make any sound to notify that you are still alive. This is what happens to hundreds of whales every year (IFAW, 2011). Therefore whale hunting is completely senseless, immoral and inhumane and it has to stop. _{^{lees verder}}