assingment 4

What kinds of questions do you think lead to inquiry? (If you are stuck, take a look at Bryson’s “Introduction” and your notes from our discussions). What types of questions seem to close down inquiry? Give examples, if you can.
Questions I believe lead to inquiry are not necessarily questions in general, but questions that have no defined answer.  Who, what, when, where, why, or how are too general in the idea of asking an inquiring question. I feel as if I was asked these questions, it would feel as if I was being interrogated. Maybe if I were to mix it up a little bit like who/why or what/how; that would be more original.  For example, say John kicked someone: obviously the what would be that John kicked someone, but the how would be because he used he leverage and force of the muscles in his leg elevated towards someone he was aiming for, then I would rationalize by saying, well since we know that he kicked someone, the who would be John, but the why is a mystery.  I am only using this as an example because its very simple to get the main idea across in theory.  Who really knows why John kicked whomever.. Maybe it was because he was angry or maybe it was self defense, it could have been just because he has a twitch in his leg or a doctor hit the place on his knee where the reflex interacts causing his leg to accelerate at a rate causing him to kick whomever wherever he kicked the person.  Obviously this example is very vague and does not explain much, but the question causes mystery.  The inquiry is completely oblivious:  No one could really answer this question, well to an extent if oneself were to dismiss the facts leading up to the kick to whomever.  Besides all this nonsense of John kicking whomever (I'll just say this person is Doe) the mystery behind it is, in fact, a mystery.  An example would be like a cop trying to solve a case.  Who murdered who. Well first the cop would look at the evidence, then analyze.  Questions I think lead to inquiry are questions that cannot be answered instantly.  I wouldn't just write an essay about the legalization of marijuana because (for instance if I was pro-legislation) I would go on and on about how marijuana can be used as an alternative to fuel, paper, fibers, medicine, ect.. But instead, I would look at both sides.. Marijuana causes lack of memory, marijuana is a great pain reliever for cancer patience, marijuana impairs driving, no deaths have been reported from marijauana, or whatever facts and information I research about it is all vague already answered questions; facts that are already all over the internet.  If I were to write a paper about the legalization of marijuana, I would ask questions like: Is marijuana a substance?
  To my defense, the question 'Is marijuana a substance' could be answered millions of ways depending on, basically, one's personal opinion.  I could argue that yeah, it is bad for the brain because it clogs up general areas needed for short-term and long-term memory and impairs driving, but it also helps cancer patience ease pain.  BUT my opinion on the legalization of marijuana is not my main point for this blog.  My point is that a broad question like "should marijuana be legalized" could be paraphrased into many different defenses and offenses about the topic.  I could go on and on about supporting the topic, then I would eventually develop a paragraph or two about my actual research into the topic.  I could also argue as well by saying no no blah blah blah.. so for everything I have discussed in this blog about the topic of marijuana is very repetitive and already boring.  We have all heard all the sides about marijuana legalization and prohibition.  Why not go further, or ask more non-biased questions?


Topics I would like to research:
Today, I read into the effects of marijuana just to kind of get an idea about this blog post .. There are numerous cases about employers firing marijuana-card holding- smoking-prescription-tumor-cancer patients getting fired because they had THC present in a drug screening at their work.  These employees lived and worked in states that granted the use of marijuana as medical use, but their job did not allow the smoking of marijuana. when an employee was asked to take a urinalysis, don't forget that he employee had a marijuana smoking card for medical use, the employee was still fired for having THC present in the urinalysis.  The employee went to court to fight against the employer, but yet lost the case. Why should the employer have the right to fire the employee??
Im sure that in every class, there is at least one student who has a research paper about marijuana.  Like I said earlier, we all know the facts about it.  Why not go deeper into the subject and discover why it should be legalized and why it should stay criminalized? Is it because the government can't control the growth of it?? 
A different example of a topic I would like to research into would be a subject like "Who will America go to war with next?" Iran, Venezuala, ect.  I believe that that is a topic that would be a mystery in the making. 
Or why do schools have a no fire-arm/weapon policy? Obviously someone would think the answer is because its for the safety of our students and faculty, the people of the community, but would oneself feel more secure if oneself had a form of protection? Yes, mace is a form of protection, but would oneself want to bring mace to a gun fight? what if the opponent had a baseball bat.. Personally, if I were maced and i had a more powerful weapon than mace, the mace would just piss me off even more and if would be swinging recklessly.  On the other hand, yes, it is a great law to keep campuses safe from firearms/weapons, but doesn't the amendment say that we have the right to bear arms?? I could go on and on about how this topic could be discussed extremely deep; maybe even to the point where an uprising could develop.  An uprising developing in the middle east over a single Tweet which resulted in national news.  I suppose the idea of pursuing a topic like weapon control on a campus could also be very  vague, but if the research and correct questions are asked and possible answered, maybe never answered, could be a very great research assignment. 
Another topic that I may be interested in researching, like the example given in the assignment guidelines, is "why do we wear what we wear?"  Since this was an example, I think that this must have been someone's prior research project, but really, why do we wear what we wear?  Is it a psychological thing? Is it to present ourself to the public? Are we embarrassed of our past so we wear newer clothes so someone else gets a different impression of oneself?
I personally believe that almost anything can be a great research opportunity if one would actually ask the correct questions; creating a mystery until the end when oneself actually examines all what has been learned throughout the research process and comes to a possible conclusion, if possible at all.