this is taken from this website, but i'm quoting it below just in case the original link goes down.

This is James McCabe's essay on Spotted Owls. He actually submitted this for a grade.

Background Information:

James McCabe is Travis's roommate from last year.


James hasn't been to classes in 6 weeks or so. One night, while intoxicated, James decided to check out his teachers website and see what the class was up to. He learned that an essay on the topic of Spotted Owls was due the following day. In his drunken state James created probably one of the funniest papers I have ever read.

The professor to whom the paper was given has since then asked James for permission to post the essay on the course website. The professor is using the essay as an example of what NOT to do



Here is the paper (with spelling errors and all):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James McCabe

jmccabe@vt.edu

Assignment # 8: Owl vs. Owl



I did not give nor receive any unauthorized help on this assignment, and all work contained herein is, unfortunately, my own: _____________________.



Spotted owls are stupid. They can’t live anywhere that isn’t hundreds of years old and untouched by human hands and they breed themselves into extinction by mating with a natural enemy and potential predator, the barred owl. They are simply stupid, and out of all animals, they are quite possibly the ones most deserved of an untimely death.

If we as humans want to preserve animals, we need to do so with animals that actually serve some purpose to us. The spotted owl does nothing for our progression as a species. By saving and preserving the spotted owl, we must save and preserve its habit, which keeps us from logging those forests and puts premium timber at a greater risk for fire and other natural disasters. To me that is a waste just to save a species that, if even observed by humans, it is disturbed by their noise and subsequently dies.

If an animal is going to be naturally extinct, why should humans step in and try to save that animal? The barred owl is not an exotic, it is domestic to the Pacific Northwest just like the Spotted owl. The only difference being that the barred owl is not so picky about what it eats and the surroundings that it lives in. My point? The barred owl is not a little bitch like the spotted owl, and it can take a few loggers walking around here and there without keeling over and dying. Adaptivity is the key to survival: we as humans must constantly adapt to a changing environment in order to survive. Maladaption, in a human sense, is a sign of mental disorder. Therefore, spotted owls are characteriscally mentally retarded and should be seperated from other owls and properly taunted by their peers.

Through all this, one name springs to mind: Darwin. The barred owl is obviously the “fittest” of the two species. So why then are we trying to save an animal that is naturally being killed by a stronger, more adept species? That is like promoting the death of humans to save prehistoric globs of amphibious sludge because in this harsh world those globs just aren’t up to the task. Spotted owls, take note. You serve no purpose, I have a gun, and your feathers make a pretty neat hat.

I think it's A+ material. It has a clear thesis and backs up the thesis with solid arguments.

hahahahaahha
Posted by roy on August 29, 2003 at 02:06 PM | 3 Comments

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Comment posted on August 31st, 2003 at 06:26 AM
Bwahahahaha! That's so funny! I thought my essay on "Bob the Glucose Molecule" for my AP Bio was bad, but this one takes the cake!

OnceUponAsmiLe (guest)

Comment posted on August 30th, 2003 at 06:59 PM
that was hilarious that he even had the guts to submit it >_!
Comment posted on August 29th, 2003 at 07:42 PM
oh my gawd that was the best esssay ever!!!!!!! i shoudl write my personal stmt when i'm drunk