One issue that I would really like to research about for the collaborative proposal project is animal abuse. This issue is important to me because I am really interested in animal rights and helping to save them from people who mistreat them. I would say that the people affected by this issue would be those who own pets because pets are a large responsibility and need a lot of care. Abuse is classified in many different types: it is not just physically beating an animal but neglecting one. If you do not take your animal to see a vet if it experiences an injury or a problem, that is considered abuse. Not feeding an animal or giving it clean water to drink is also a form of abuse. People who own pets need to be aware of how to take care of their animals properly because so many abuse cases can stem from them just not knowing what to do with them. Specifically, horses are victims of many abuse cases because they require complicated, extensive care and cannot thrive on food being thrown at them every once in a while. I think that visuals will play a large role in this project because many are shocking and upsetting. If a person actually sees the abuse going on, it will be harder not to do something about it. The type of argument could possibly be an argument of what abuse is really defined as, and advocacy to stop it by sharing knowledge or reporting it to the police.
The other issue that I am interested in is domestic violence. I watched a video done by Kiera Knightly advocating against domestic violence not long after the incident with Rihanna and Chris Brown. I would like to research about it because the whole dynamic of an abusive relationship is very complex. Why would a woman go back to a man that beat her? It doesn’t necessarily make sense but there has to be a reason since many women do stay in an abusive relationship. I think the target audience would be people that possibly know others in these types of relationships or women at risk of being in an abusive relationship. I would definitely show the video that I watched, because it is very compelling and gut wrenching to see Kiera Knightly being beaten by her “boyfriend.” I think that the argument would be more investigative than the first because I want to find out some reasons why the women stay in abusive relationships and why some do not. The argument would not be centered on “abuse is bad” but more about why it happens and why victims stay victims in that kind of situation. It would require a lot of research but I think that if I could come to a conclusion with my group and we could draw a particular argument from it, it would be a really good topic to present.
I think domestic abuse would be an interesting topic to research. There are a lot of studies out there about why women stay in abusive relationships and characteristics of abused women. The topic could go in several directions.