Monday, September 30, 2019

Patriotic Sentiment in the Interwar Essay

The creation of the British Empire and its â€Å"contributions† to the welfare of its colonies was used by many English historians as a source of justification for its existence and future. Needless to say, many English historians would naturally put the British Empire as the â€Å"empire† that aspired for assimilation and multiculturalism, which had been absent in previous empires (although this is debatable) (Aldrich 1988:24). Added to that, because of the perceived inferiority of the colonized peoples, many of these historians usually attached to the â€Å"white man† the significant role of guardian (Aldrich 1988:25). In recent years however, this notion of racial superiority was replaced by the principles of equality and self-determinations. This was in lieu of the increasing surge of patriotic sentiments of the colonized peoples and a general compromise of the colonial powers over the future of the former colonies, as mandated by the United Nations. Modern English historians, while continuing to justify the existence and foundation of the British Empire, admitted some of the mistakes and grave errors usually attributed to the British Empire. Nonetheless, they argued that these mistakes were committed out of necessity. Other colonial powers were greedily aspiring to replace Britain in its role as a superpower. Germany for instance, before the onset of the First World War, was building a powerful navy to replace Britain as a sea power. France was busy eyeing British colonies in Central Africa for its own exploitation. In short, the errors committed by Great Britain to its colonies were a result of self-defense. Added to that, in order for the colonies to benefit from British colonial rule, the colonized peoples would have to sacrifice some of their outdated or â€Å"primitive† institutions and adopt institutions that are characterized by efficiency and commitment to public service. These justifications made by English historians on the role and future of the British Empire were imbued in the study of history. History as a Tool for Application of Theoretical Knowledge The use of history to justify the existence and foundation of the British Empire was not born out of prejudice or unsubstantiated truths. In fact, early English historians noted that history should be as scientific as possible in order to represent the true nature of world events. Added to that, these English historians viewed history as an application tool for upgrading the political, social, and economic systems of the world today. Specifically, knowledge of the end of the British Empire would naturally pave to greater solidarity and understanding between former colonies and the mother country (the colonizer); that they have a common history, and to some extent similar social, economic, and political structures. Although for the common viewer this might seem a little idealistic and devoid of historical verification, this was the practical side of the scientific discipline of history, if we accord them to these English historians. Thus, the extensive use of history as a tool for the political understanding of countries with a â€Å"common† history was the result of theoretical justification of English historians on the existence and rule of the British Empire to about a large portion of the Earth’s population. This was though a problem for many local historians in the former colonies. They extensively used history as a tool for demonizing their colonial oppressors: the justification of independence movements and revolutions. This dialectic aspect of history, depending on the one who views it, disoriented historical data, making the discipline of history itself the vantage point of uncertainty (Aldrich, 2000). Herein, we shall examine the various practices that were incorporated in a large, common society. Nonetheless, we shall also examine power relations between the mother country and its colonies as well as the issue of tolerance and cultural differences. Cultural Toleration in the British Empire When England finally defeated France and Spain in a series of colonial wars, it was able to establish colonies in North America and Asia (Africa was not the target of colonization since it was viewed as an inhabitable and inhospitable continent – although commercial bases were established to streamline trade and commerce with other European powers) (Baldwin, 2007). England was able to acquire Malacca from the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century. India and Canada fell into the hands of the British after France’s defeat in the Seven Years War (called French and Indian Wars in North America). The eastern coast of the present United States was colonized by England (the Thirteen Colonies) to foster greater trade between North America and England (it was known as New England). Australia and New Zealand were colonized to provide the British Empire penal colonies for the rouge elements of British society. Rebels and political prisoners were deported to these penal colonies. In the latter half of the 19th century, Britain was able to take possession of several Chinese ports after a series of wars with China, then under the rule of the Manchus (known as Opium Wars). In South America and the Caribbean, some islands were colonized by the British to offset Spanish and French power in the area (although in the early part of the 19th century, Spain controlled at least 2/3 of the land area of North, Central, and South America). In the European partition of Africa, Britain controlled a large portion of North, Central, and Southern Africa. These colonized areas minus the 13 colonies were known as the British Empire. The British fostered a policy of cultural toleration to discourage the native population from revolting. Moslems, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, and other Oriental religions existed side by side with Christianity in matters like trade and commerce. Temples of different religions were treated with respect and dignity by British authorities. Nonetheless, British rulers especially Queen Victoria even traveled to the colonies to inspect and inspire the native populations to support Great Britain in its economic undertakings, for the benefit of the mother country and the colonies, and its colonial wars with other European powers (especially France and Germany). Religious festivals were declared as holidays, with some exceptions, to foster greater solidarity with the native population. English was not an enforced language. This was done to preserve and enrich the culture of the native populations. The â€Å"British† educational system was introduced to stimulate greater economic efficiency in the colonies. The British parliament, in its sessions, declared that education was the only plausible and least risky way of opening the colonies to true development. The British parliament and to some extent the British rulers knew that there were form of British economic exploitation in the colonies, thus the only way for them to recreate the image of the â€Å"British Empire† was to encourage education. English was taught in the universities (other European powers loathed this type of strategy) established outside Britain. Economic and maritime schools were also established to stimulate the natives to increase their productivity yield and to participate in naval undertakings. Nonetheless, the British army was remodeled in order to include natives in the soldier payroll. At a specified rank, a native could rise to a prominent rank in the military. Needless to say, to fit in the global economy, Britain also created institutions that would politically and socially integrate the mother country and the colonies. The old models of exploitation and oppression were replaced by systems of mutual cooperation and commitment to a common economic goal. Thus, these contributions of the Britain to its colonies became the framework of early English historians for justifying the existence of the British Empire. Patriotism and Nationalism: The Beginning of Decline Nationalistic sentiment in the colonies grew in the latter beginning of the 20th century. Because of the relative prosperity of the colonies, some of its natives were able to study in European universities and able to acquire the increasing surge of ultra-nationalism (nationalism in Europe differs from the nationalism of the colonies on one count: nationalism in European countries focused on the acquisition of colonies to bring glory to the country, whereas in the colonies on independence) in Europe. When they returned to their homeland, they established organizations which aimed of attaining independence or self-governance status of their homelands. The British authorities naturally would quell these â€Å"uprisings† since this put into question the status quo, and generally the legitimacy of the British Empire. Power Relations But because of the involvement of Great Britain in the two World Wars, it was forced to grant self-governance status to many of its colonies in exchange for economic and military support (in India, Gandhi urged the Indians to fight on the side of the British). However, because of the changing political atmosphere in Britain at that time, the British authorities once more crushed these independence movements. Many were forced to go underground. Some seek political asylum in America or The Netherlands. Added to that, political theory and political education were deleted in the course curriculum of many universities for fear that the British might close the institutions. The purpose of the British authorities was always to preserve the rule of the British Crown on the colonies. All means were therefore necessary in order to dissipate these independence movements. Thus, while the British were open to cultural toleration, they loathed political development in the colonies. Political development is the measure of citizen participation in the affairs of the government. Political development is largely a relationship between the citizenry and the country to which they owe their citizenship. The British authorities were enforcing a policy of â€Å"mother dependency†, that is, the political, social, and economic future of the colonies should depend on the mother country. Later Vladimir Lenin expanded this concept and renamed it as the â€Å"dependency relations. † The mother country, according to Lenin, when its reaches the height of economic development experiences shortfalls and recessions due to overproduction. The surplus produce of the mother country is â€Å"dumped† to the colonies since colonies are potential markets. In this way, economic recessions in the mother country are kept in check, and the laboring class enjoys relative prosperity, at the expense of the colonies. This is a uni-directional type of development unlike the so-called â€Å"mutual development† that Britain was preaching (as exemplified in Africa, in Ramsay, 2000/1784). Practices and Institutions that Became Part of the Colonies’ Society: The Tragedy British colonies can be classified into two categories: 1) those that fully accepted British practices and institutions, 2) those who only accepted British political and educational institutions. India, Pakistan, former British African colonies, and former British Asian colonies adopted the political and educational institutions of Great Britain because of its efficiency and relative good organization. The parliamentary system became the standard system of government of most of the former colonies of Great Britain. It was noted that this type of government adheres to the principles of public accountability and stability. Most of the former colonies of Great Britain using this type of government experience relative stability and effective governance (Toynbee, 1987:401). The tragedy lies on the second type of former colonies. These colonies fully adopted British practices and institutions at the expense of native practices and customs. In Australia and New Zealand for example, most of the population is classified as of British or European descent. When the British came to New Zealand, they dispossessed the Maori through fraudulent land contracts and generally through war (that severely reduced the Maori population by 1/8. The British authorities encouraged immigration to these places (Australia and New Zealand) to reinvigorate economic activities to these places. The result was that New Zealand and Australia became an extension of British society: mirror images of England. The Maori who were the true owners of the country was exploited and dispossessed by the British. In the case of Canada, because of strong French influence (former French colony), the British authorities had the difficulty of making Canada a cultural sphere of influence of Britain. In fact, cultural differences in Canada serve as the marking definition of power relations in Canada. Conclusion While many English historians talk endlessly of a Commonwealth under the banner of Great Britain, they were not able to pinpoint the opportunity costs of the colonization on the part of the colonies. There is no such thing as a common society, for the British Empire created two types of societies in its sphere of geopolitics. The only intersection of these societies is the institutions bequeathed to them by the British Empire. Socially, these societies differ significantly because the British Empire was not able to fully integrate its customs and practices to most of its colonies due to the onset of nationalism and patriotic sentiments of the native populations (in Australia and New Zealand, there was no such thing as a â€Å"political† native population since they were able to reduce their populations through wars and enforced immigration policies). References Aldrich, Richard. 1988. Imperialism in the study and teaching of history. In Benefits Bestowed? Education and British Imperialism. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, pp. 23-38.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How far is Odysseus’s status Essay

Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a Greek hero. However this can be contradicted. In many events Odysseus can be perceived as un-heroic at times. Therefore the above statement can be argued. Throughout this piece of work I will be discussing this statement and I will gradually draw closer to a conclusion. Odysseus shows leadership as he produces very clever ideas and performs quick-thinking actions. Throughout the narrative he has planned strategies, for example, every time Odysseus and his men reach an island he always sends his men first to investigate the surroundings. This quality can be seen as cunning and therefore he can be seen as a hero. His personality can be seen as caring and scheming. In many periods of the book this can be proved. He stays calm in situations and when his men die he thinks of them, and when in trouble he does his best to help them says quote, â€Å"we travelled with heavy hearts, grieving for the loss of our dear friends†¦.. † (Book 10 Line 133) Odysseus can be seen as resourceful, for example, he tool the undiluted wine with him when going into the Cyclops’s cave, which then later came into use as it saved his men and himself escape to safety. He is seen as shrewd as he uses a false name when speaking with the Cyclops which again later on takes its effect when the men are absconding from the dangers of the Cyclops. Even though Odysseus can be seen as a hero, in some cases he cannot be depicted as cunning. For example, he decided to ignore his crew’s suggestion to escape with the food in the Cyclops’s cave. Even though he was right to do the hospitable and respectable thing to do, by staying in the cave to greet their ‘host’, he made the wrong decision as the by staying he risked the lives of his men. Odysseus can be thought of as violent as he blinded Polyphemus with a stake. This could be looked at as un-heroic and wrong, but it can also be seen as him being vengeful for his killed crew. Therefore these different situations can be looked at from two perspectives. He could be seen as hospitable and vengeful, which are true qualities of a hero, or he can be looked at as a violent person who has bad judgement. It all depends on the reader’s standpoint. Odysseus has a very strong relationship with the Gods, especially with Athenes and Hermes. For example Hermes helped Odysseus by giving him the moly flower. This can be looked at from two angles. Odysseus might seem not so heroic as he needs help from the powers that be, and he might be seen as dependent on the Gods. But this can be argued as only some people would think that only a hero can receive such gifts from the gods and that there has to be something special about him, and also Athene was known for helping heroes which could prove that he was one. Therefore, again, this line of reasoning could be argued. Odysseus and his men have lack trust and confidence in their relationships. This reflects badly upon Odysseus as it shows he is not leadership material. For example When Odysseus and his men sailed away from the Island of Aelia, Odysseus had received the gift of the winds. His crew did not trust Odysseus and opened the bag, thinking it was gold, and released the winds. This shows a lack of trust. Another example that shows a requirement of confidence in their relationship is when one of Odysseus’s men, Eurylochus, says â€Å"You will never come back yourself and won’t rescue a single man of your crew. I am certain of it. Let you get away quickly with those that are left here. â€Å"(Book 10 Line 268). This shows that his men think that their destiny with Odysseus will lead to death. They feel as if his leadership is endangering them which shows that they do not think of him as a hero and influences the reader to think the same, even though Odysseus tries his best and up most to rescue his men In my opinion, I think that Odysseus is a heroic figure. This is because in the book he is proved to be cunning, caring and an important figure. There are many events in the book that contradict this, but they can be argued to whether Odysseus was really in the wrong. For example, he wanted to stay in Polyphemus’s cave because he wanted to be hospitable (which is the right thing to do), and he was not aware of the dangers that were at hand. He can be seen as violent, but revenge was his only motivation, when he blinded the Cyclops. Therefore, I think that Odysseus can be categorised under ‘hero’, and I think that Odysseus’s status throughout the Odyssey all depends on how the reader interprets the events that take place as they always have two aspects to look at.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

BUS305, Competitive Analysis and Business Cycles Mod 3 Case Assignment Essay

BUS305, Competitive Analysis and Business Cycles Mod 3 Case Assignment - Essay Example mage advertising or institutional advertising designed to create public awareness of the citrus industry and to improve its reputation in the marketplace. Because this task is being undertaken by the Department from a tax paid by citrus growers on each box of citrus that moves through commercial channels, there is no need for individual citrus growers and merchants to advertise independently. According to the website, over 80 percent of the Departments annual budget of approximately 58 million dollars is spent on advertising and promotional activities for Florida citrus in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. In this sense, then the Department acts as if it were a single corporate entity with numerous divisions or subsidiaries providing homogeneous products. In terms of demand and supply, the purpose of the Department is to regulate and apply standards of production and quality to meet domestic and international demand for Florida grapefruit. It also serves to promote the product through promotions and advertising, as well as to manage issues that arise. The citrus industry of state acts as if it were one single corporate entity managed by the executives of FDOC. In so doing it will seek to gain the best market share possible and endeavor to improve it over the long haul. By competing in the market for the product with other suppliers, the Florida citrus industry through the FDOC seeks to provide the quantity and quality of the agricultural product in the market at competitive prices. According to the Economics Dictionary, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an organization of about a dozen nations that sell oil to other nations. It was formed in the early 1960s but had little impact until the oil crisis in 1973. The goal or purpose of OPEC, an international cartel, is to control the production of oil and to establish favorable oil prices for the member nations. Most OPEC countries, such as Libya and Saudi Arabia, are in the Middle

Friday, September 27, 2019

Opinionated final paper- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Opinionated final paper- - Essay Example ten read the poem as a representative of the carpe diem theme, the speaker seems to step beyond the seize-the-day theme of â€Å"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May† into darker territory. The speaker of â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† imbues the poem with sexual imagery, tone, and wording that is of a serious nature and that would put any female reader on guard against his advances. The very title and opening of the poem are aggressive in their tone. The speaker refers to the â€Å"coyness† of the Mistress (Marvell 1). Most women are naturally shy and reserved in terms of sexual relationships and pursuit of such relationships. Society places a stigma on those women who are too forward or who pursue sex too much. Because society does this, many women become offended if their suitors do not perceive them as reserved in regards to sex. The speaker of the poem tells the Mistress that the â€Å"coyness . . . were no crime† only â€Å"Had we but world enough and time† (2 and 1). This approach is the equivalent of the modern pick-up artist’s technique of complimenting a woman but combining an insult into the compliment. The speaker compliments his mistress for her shyness but then insults her for putting off his advances for too long. Most women would recognize the insult hidden within the compliment and take offense to the tactics of the s peaker. The speaker continues insulting the Mistress’ shyness and coyness and aggressively attacks another of most women’s insecurities, their beauty. After informing his mistress that he would wait hundreds of years for her to give in to his advances, he revokes that statement by insulting his mistress’ beauty. He builds himself up by detailing how he would wait for her love â€Å"Till the conversion of the Jews† (Marvell 10). But, he informs her that should she wait that long her â€Å"beauty shall no more be found† (25). This fear is one of many women. They fear that time will rob them of their beauty and of the ability to

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Managing Challenging Behaviour in Mental Heath Essay

Managing Challenging Behaviour in Mental Heath - Essay Example The primary information from this program would be supported by previous works by various scholars borrowed from books on mental health nursing and journals on mental health, mental health nursing and intellectual disability. Rationale There are various behaviours that people consider as challenging. Examples among those with learning disabilities include self injury, violence, ambivalence, sexual disinhibition, non-compliance and substance abuse (Callaghan & Waldock 2012). Considering adults with learning disability, Neno, Aveyard and Heath identified repetitive actions, screaming, shouting, running away and resisting care as some common challenging behaviour (2007). According to NHS (2012), challenging behaviour would be mostly observed among people who have conditions affecting the brain and communication like dementia and learning disability. Since communication defines human interaction with one another, its breakdown becomes a problem, leading to frustration which yields challe nging behaviour. If it leads to an outcome desired by the victim, then it could be repeated over and over again. The challenges experienced with these behaviours could be as a result of the support given or denied and problems resulting from inability to understand the things happening in the environment and how to communicate what such persons want. Having seen people with challenging behaviours in almost all the areas I have been working from as nursing student, I feel that learning how to manage such behaviours would be of paramount importance in my future profession as a mental health nurse. 1. Undertake and critically evaluate your transition activity Among the key areas of challenging behaviours that I undertook to train on included an evaluation of some of the common challenging behaviours, risk assessment, risk reduction and incidence prevention and treatment for those exhibiting such behaviours including forceful restraint. In as much as there was some focus on the role of the community, much emphasis was laid on my role as a mental health nurse in managing such situations. Understanding these facts from my perspective as a mental health nurse would be critical in my future role when handling people with learning disabilities. As noted by Emerson and Hatton (2008), these are the people who are likely to exhibit such behaviours. Much of the observed phenomena were from my experience having interacted with people with challenging behaviour in most of my undertakings. However, in this transition program, the observed phenomena were qualified with credible citation of supportive theories and findings from various scholars. I adopted the proposition by Ritter and Lampkin (2012) who categorised the triggers of challenging behaviours into primary, secondary and consequent. According to these scholars, primary causes are a result of the service user’s mental illness such as aggression when such a person hears voices. Secondary triggers result from symp toms of an illness which results in the service user responding negatively against other persons. Finally, consequential triggers would be caused by mental illness which leads to seeking for attention. However, it has always been difficult for me to identify a single cause of challenging behaviours in a person. Perhaps, the argument by the Xeniditis, Russel and Murphy (2012) that there would not be a unitary common cause associated with these behaviours. Having understood the causes of these behaviours, the transition program

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Budget prioritization issues, budget cuts, increases tuitions affect Essay

Budget prioritization issues, budget cuts, increases tuitions affect higher education - Essay Example It can be problematic for a university that does not have the financial means to meet all needs of the students. However, students simply cannot be the sole income resource to help an institute of higher learning to completely operate and maintain the overhead. There may be an issue at some higher educational institutions and universities where the monetary resources are not there to completely provide to a student. This could result in a student not receiving the type of education they anticipate due to budget cuts and priorities made by universities. There then can be a digression at these learning institutions because universities often turn to increasing tuition to help accommodate for the losses. However, if no changes are being made to the university, are students really getting what they are paying for per credit hour in tuition? If students start to compare schools and determine they can receive the same credentials from universities which have more to offer because they have more income to create better learning environments but yet the tuition is higher, it is likely the student will choose a different institution. Therefore, a university finds itself in even more of an economic and budget stretch because of decreased enrollment due to higher tuition rates. Students then cannot afford the university and the university cannot then afford to offer the best technologies, smaller class sizes, more faculty, a variety of class options and also a larger variety of degree programs or certifications. When this happens, what exactly is the draw for a student to attend that college because no matter where a student chooses to go for higher educational needs, tuition is typically not cheap. Before looking at budget cuts and prioritization issues, one might just want to take a look at the common cost of a college class per credit hour to get an idea of how much a student might spend on their higher

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 - Essay Example The event is of tremendous strategic importance for it had great impact on shaping international relation, foreign and economic policies and also affected both countries on a sociological front. The essay will analyze the significance and the magnitude of its impact that on global politics. Cuban Missile Crisis I. Background Cuban Missile Crisis was just another outcome of the Cold War that existed between the two superpowers of that time, Unites States and Soviet Union. However, the crises were mainly after the liberation of Cuba by Fidel Castro. 1The United States were already ambivalent about their involvement in Cuban politics and were particularly happy about the coup held by Castro but soon enough, the Cuban leader fell out of favor with the Americans for his alliance with the Soviet Union and the Americans began to fear the formation of one more communist nation. Cuba’s associations with the communist bloc were feared by then president Richard Nixon in confidential memo randums issued for the CIA. Cuba was declared a socialist nation by Fidel Castro on 1st May, 1961 and its affiliation with the communist bloc was further consolidated. ... Therefore, the tension between Cuba and America intensified ever since and the situation became even worse when the American intelligence began intercepting messages and satellite pictures showed establishments of arm bases around the island nation. In 1962, the United States established military bases in Turkey armed with Nuclear Missiles that were clearly meant to keep Soviet activity at bay. 3This move was defended by the United States as precaution against the military bases in Cuba that were quickly becoming a rising threat for the Americans. One of the biggest turning points preceding the main crises were the alleged training of 1300 Cuban exiles by the CIA in order to stage a coup against the Castro regime. However, this particular move by Americans led to a conflict in the Bay of Pigs that ended up in a major fiasco for the American side and subsequently shamed the entire American intelligence and the president in front of the whole world. Therefore, in 14th October 1962 the Soviets granted full arms support to Cuba against any further threats by the United States and so there were satellite images found by American intelligence that showed missile sites around Cuba that had missiles pointing towards every single major town in the United States. President Kennedy was forced to issue a public announcement acknowledging and admitting to the immediate threat that the entire country was now under and therefore, these small conflicts had now eventually been turned into one major crises situation that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. II. Game Theory and Cuban Missile Crisis Considering the initial premise of the crisis, the entire event has been described by scholars as both sides had completely turned a blind side to

Monday, September 23, 2019

Compare and contrasts the effect of terrorism on global events Dissertation

Compare and contrasts the effect of terrorism on global events - Dissertation Example Secondary research method was more appropriate because it provided sufficient historical data for comparison purposes. The hosting of the global event in these two cities corresponds to two critical periods in the history of terrorism. During the hosting of Olympic Games in Barcelona, there had been no major terror attack on global events for two decades, since 1972 attacks in Munich Olympic Games. However, prior to the hosting of Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, terrorists had bombed similar global event in Atlanta, United States in 1996. One year after Sidney hosted the games, September 11 terror attacks in New York occurred. 5. Discussions and research findings Global events are important components of tourism, an industry that is very vulnerable to terrorism and insecurity. Currently tourism is one of the most important economic activities in the world besides telecommunication and information technology. The importance of hosting global events is evidenced by the stiff competiti on the many countries wishing to host events face to secure the hosting rights. Some of the most popular global events include the Olympics and FIFA world cup among others. The large audience that the global events attract make them susceptible to various threats, including violence from the fans, terrorism and natural disasters. From the 1990s, terrorism has been the one of the major concerns for the events organizers and the sports managers. The 1972 terror attacks that targeted Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and the pipe bomb that exploded in1996 during summer Olympics in Atlanta are just of some of the few attacks targeting global events. Since then, other global events have been targeted by terrorism including International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments in Asia, especially in Pakistan, UEFA champions league matches in Barcelona and the recent attacks in Kampala Uganda that targeted fans watching the finals of 2010 world cup finals in South Africa (Clark and Sophia 2008). Several research studies have been undertaken to investigate terrorism on global events, and one of the common findings is the insufficiency of security personnel training at venues in relation to those guarding against terror attacks. However, Appelbaum, et al (2005), argued that the unpredictable nature of terrorism and the conduct of attending fans present formidable difficulties in ensuring a secure environment at the venues. Therefore, it is imperative to enforce appropriate preparations, response and recovery measures to mitigate the effects of terrorism to the global events. There are various definitions of terrorism and Christopher (2000, p 52) defines it as â€Å"the illegal use of force or violence against people or property to threaten or coerce a government, the civilian population or any targeted sector in advancement of political or social objectives†. Terror attacks targeting global events and other civilian installations are normally well planned and or ganized. According to Christopher (2000), the objectives of terror attacks targeting areas with large number of people such as global events include inflicting the greatest amount of humiliation to the target and securing maximum publicity of the terrorist cause to the largest number of people in the world as possible. Moreover, terrorists who successfully launch attacks on the targeted areas mainly intend to gain credit or respect, compel the targeted population into agreement with

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Addictive behaviors and personality disorders Research Paper

Addictive behaviors and personality disorders - Research Paper Example Similarly, the person’s environment on his or her childhood largely affects the formation of his or her personality. What the child sees in the environment and how this environment treats him or her determine the child’s personality. Childhood experience is considered as the foundation of one’s personality. The gravity of the effect of childhood experience on the child’s personality is not immediately perceptible. It is generally in the adulthood that the totality of the person’s personality manifests. Positive childhood experiences may give a person good behaviour and attitude. On the other hand, negative childhood experiences may create a personality disorder on the person. Between the two, the latter receives more attention from the public because it does not conform to the norm of the society. It is of utmost concern to the experts how a bad childhood experience creates a personality disorder. A very common example of this is the tendency of a person to exhibit an addictive personality and is often associated with childhood experience. Many studies have shown that indeed childhood experiences may create addictive personality. Addiction is defined as the dependency of a person on object, such as drugs and alcohol, or on action like gambling and having sex (Juzwiak 4). Moreover, a person who is prone to be easily addicted is said to have an addictive personality. Understanding addictive personality is a complex task that requires a much deeper analysis on the person’s social behaviour and intellectual well-being. It is believed that one way to understand addictive personality is to study its cause. That is to study the history of the person with addictive personality. Many experts believe that an addictive personality is largely caused by the person’s childhood experience. For instance, the results of the recent study performed by the University of Cambridge shows that people with drug dependence have more troubled childhoods

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Silk route Essay Example for Free

Silk route Essay In recent years, both the maritime and overland Silk Routes are again being used, often closely following the ancient routes. The Silk Routes (collectively known as the Silk Road) were important paths for cultural, commercial and technological exchange between traders, merchants, pilgrims, missionaries, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Tibet, Persia and Mediterranean countries for almost 3,000 ears. Extending 4,000 miles, the routes enabled people to transport goods, especially luxuries such as slaves, silk, satin and other fine fabrics, musk, other perfumes, spices, medicines, Jewels, glassware and even rhubarb, as well as serving as a conduit for the spread of knowledge, ideas, cultures and diseases between different parts of the world (Ancient China, Ancient India, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean). Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor In the development of the great clvlllzatlons of China, India, Egypt, Persia, Arabia and Rome, and In several respects elped lay the foundations for the modern world. Although the term the Silk Road implies a continuous Journey, very few who traveled the route traversed it from end to end. For the most part, goods were transported by a series of agents on varying routes and were traded in the bustling mercantile markets of the oasis towns For More Into, Please see tnese llnKs 1 . http://library. thinkquest. org/13406/sr/ 2. http://www. spongobongo. com/zy9985. htm 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Silk_Road Silk Road The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and he Mediterranean. Because silk comprised a large proportion of trade along this road, in 1877, it was named the Silk Road by Ferdinand von Richthofen, an eminent German geographer. Xian Terracotta Warriors Culture: The road is not only an ancient international trade route, but also a splendid cultural bridge liking the cultures of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greek and Rome. The Four Great Inventions of China and religions of the West were introduced into their counterparts. History: From the time Zhang Qian opened up the world-famous Silk Road during he Han Dynasty, until the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, it enjoyed a history of about 1 ,600 years. Route: This ancient road begins at Changan (now Xian), then by way of the Hexi Corridor, and it reaches Dunhuang, where it divides into three, the Southern Route, Central Route and Northern Route. The three routes spread all over the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and then they extend as far as Pakistan, India and even Rome. Other roads: In fact, besides the Silk Road in the northwest of China, there are another two trade roads in the southwest of China and by sea, which also ontributed greatly to the development of the world. They are called the Southern Silk Road and the Silk Road on the Sea. Crescent Lake, Dunhuang, Gansu Scenery along the Road: The scenery and sights along the Silk Road are spectacular and intriguing. There are well-known Mogao Caves (Mogao Grottoes) in Dunhuang, the bustling Sunday Bazaar in Kashgar and exotic customs in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and more Silk Road Adventure: There are all kinds of tour plans for traveling the world-famous road. TravelChinaGuide provides many tour lines for visitors to experience the adventures of this ancient trade road. Recommenaea lours: Classical Silkroad Tour: 14 Days Beijing Urumqi Kashgar Urumqi Turpan Dunhuang Xian Shanghai In-depth Adventure: 22 Days Beijing Urumqi Korla Kuqa Aksu Kashgar Hettan Minfeng Korla Turpan Dunhuang Xian Shanghai More Silk Road Tours Tips: It is necessary for tourists be aware of some travel essentials when they are on the road, such as weather, food, drink, accommodation, transportation and customs of minorities. Here provides detailed information about them. Pictures: The pictures show the stunning scenery of this time-honored trade route.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Performance related pay

Performance related pay Performance Related Pay The aim of this essay is to identify if performance related pay (PRP) actually work. In this paper analysis of PRP will be discussed. This is going to be accomplished by looking at some researches that was conducted by different authors. An introduction of performance related pay by Inland Revenue will be discussed, whether it really helped the management to accomplish their goals or not. In early days 1990s employer from both the private and the public sectors put a greater emphasis on paying for performance and attempting to incentivise remuneration in order to improve individual and organisational performance based culture. According to Armstrong the schemes base pay on an assessment of individuals job performance. Although such schemes are not identical, they provide individual with financial rewards in the form of increase to basic pay or cash bonuses which are linked to the assessment of performance, usually in relations to agreed objectives. He suggested that pay is linked to performance measured by a number of specific objectives (for example sales targets or customer satisfaction). This reflects a move towards rewarding output rather than input, using qualitative rather than quantitative judgement (Fowler 1998). Performance related pay turn out to be extensively used in the public sector (for example, local government, the NHS and teachers), for which a government of both complexions have supported the idea. There are number of benefits of performance related pay that was identified by Armstrong (1999). He noted that performance related pay can be used to motivate individuals and consequently develop them and the organisational performance. It can persuade managers to examine the progression of objectives settings as part of their advance to supervising the department or branch. It helps the organisation to attract and retain people through financial rewards and competitive pay and reduces ‘golden handcuff effects or poor performer staying with an employer and also meets a basic human need to be rewarded for achievement. Marchington and Wilkinson stated that, it is hard to find ultimate proof to determine the success of performance related pay; even though it has been broadly supported, and practitioners in particular give the impression to retain huge loyalty in its qualities. In recent years there has been an additional vigilant assessment of the ideas behind performance related pay. They are many studies that suggest that performance related pay can strengthen and contribute to the organisational and individual performance than those suggesting it cannot. Lewis (1998, p74) noted that, â€Å"If employers are generally in agreement with both the principle and practise of performance related pay, they will be motivated to better the job performance and beneficial organisational outcomes will follow. On the other hand, if they are not in agreement with either principle or practice of performance related pay then they will not be motivated to perform more effectively in their jobs and such organisatio nal outcomes will not follow†. He argued for more concentration to the softer side of the performance related pay procedure, for instance greater involvement in agreeing objectives, response in a developmental manner, although he observes that in the financial service organisation he examined, managers have a tendency to impose objectives to workers. Marsden and Richardson (1994) analysed the introduction of performance related pay at the Inland Revenue on the grounds that it should act as a motivator. They query over 2000 workers in relation to the impact of PRP on their own behaviour as well on other judgement pertaining to performance was made in the course of staff appraisals. On the research they conducted they found that the majority of Inland Revenue workers were in favour of performance related pay other than minority who felt antagonistic to it. They also discovered that any optimistic motivational effects of performance related pay have been, at most, very modest among workers. To make it worse, there was a comprehensible evidence of some demotivation between workers. The distribution of performance related pay was seen by a lot of workers as to be unjust. Awards were given only to those who had received good ratings, but many respondents felt that the appraisal scheme had been contaminated. The observable demotivation between employees was warring for proponents of performance related pay, 55 percent believed that it had contributed to demoralize workers self-confidence, and 62 percent assumed it had sourced jealousy between them. A number of employees felt that the sum of money involved was not huge enough to give good reason for a change in performance. Lawler (1999) noted that anything less than 10 percent of salary is too little for performance related pay. Many staff felt that they were not capable to improve. Therefore the introduction of performance related pay did not work for Inland Revenue management the reason being most of the workers did not support it. There are many other criticisms directed at performance related pay. The complexity of appraisal, the complexity of planning objectives, the risk of prejudice or perceived bias, the high expenditure of management, the predicament connected with a focus on the individual and the complicatedness of organising and distributing the essential degree of administrative commitment (Torrington et al 2002 p 604-5). In addition performance related pay inspires elevated expectations individuals respond to it because there is a hope of more money and the hope has to be considerably if it is to be attractive. Management therefore frequently introduces the system by indicating how much individual can look forward to. A theme echoed broadly in the performance related pay literature is that people consider it as a good practice in principle, and certainly it is hard to object to the view that hardworking and effective employees should be paid more than those who do the opposite.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

After carefully considering the area of both homes, including the crime rate, median home prices, schools in the area, etc, as well as the improvements needed on property A and the ones already done on Property B, I feel that Property A in Chapel Hill, NC would be, in my opinion, a better investment property. If I had a family, were just starting out and could do some of the work myself, this would be a good investment in my future. Chapel Hill was rated in the top ten best places to live, in Money Magazine. It has beautiful weather, nice neighborhoods and lower population per square foot. It also has six, 5 star rated schools in the area and the crime rate for this neighborhood is very low. The town is centrally located with an international airport within 20 miles as well as bus stations within 30 minutes. There is a local transit system as well as taxi's. I also believe this home would have a higher resale value for the long-term, as the median comparable home values in this area , at this time, are around $350,000. I would purchase all new appliances for the kitchen, purchase a new washer and dryer and add new carpet in the bedrooms with ceramic tile throughout the rest of the home. I would add some fresh paint inside and out, as well. Then, I would add some subtle landscaping. The bushes and trees that are already there, are in good shape and are a good start. However, it looks like the lawn needs to be reseeded and the yard could use some color. I would add a couple of rose bushes and some other flowers around the perimeter of the home to brighten things up. I could do it all for about $20k for a total cost of $145,500, if I did all the work myself. If I wanted to go a few steps further, I would add all new bathroom fix... ...in and clean up, tape off and paint all walls and trim, install new cabinets, lighting and fixtures. Then I would go through and lay carpet and tile I had selected. The next step would be to start on the outside of the home and paint all exterior walls and trim. Then I would start reseeding the lawn, planting flowers and handling any other landscaping, like a sprinkler system to water the yard and plants. Finally, with everything fresh and new, I would place the house for rent, for sale or simply move in. Word Choice Word Choice Suggestions Suggestions for improving word choice appear in the text underlined in blue. Select this text to view the tips. [ Previous | Next ] Analysis complete. Select an item below to view the notes associated with that item. Title Checker Spelling Grammar Word Choice Style Vocabulary Words Grade Facebook printable summary report

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A New Type of Film Essay -- Filmmaking Media Entertainment Movies Essa

A New Type of Film Every day we are one step closer to filmmaking being as easy as taking out the brush and oils for a painting (Veneruso, 1998). The new technologies that have emerged in films have been the latest in a string of inventions, to help make the film industry better. Films have become an important part of our culutre since they started being made and shown regularly around the world. Although new technology in films may be nothing compared with other technology, it does seem that this technology will benefit a lot of people, and help to improve the quality of the entertainment. These new technologies to the film industry all have important roles in the new industry. Computer generated images, subtitle technology, digital theatre systems, three-dimensnal sound, the colour and black & white technology and the new digital media technology are the main and most infulensal of these technologies for the film industry. First though to see how far films are technologically advancing we need to see have far they have come already, by following the history that is filmmaking. The movie business has been adapting to changing technology for more than 80 years. Prior to the 1930’s, movies were not only without colour, but also had no sound or dialouge (Howell, 2001). The 1920’s started films off in black and white, and most had no sound, as they were difficult to make because of the microphones being unable to move. This lead to films being accompanied by live musicans in the theatre. It become easier to make talking films in the early 1930’s and they become very famous quite quickly. The first full-length colour film was â€Å"Becky Sharp† and it was made in 1935. Once TV hit the scenes in 1950 the film industry had to re... ...ry Movies. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june01/movies_tech.html Jardin, Xeni. (2004). MP3 Pioneer Debuts Spatial Sound. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64353,00.html Microsoft Corporation. (2002). Digital Media Distribution Opportunies for the Film Industry. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/disopwhitepaper.aspx Saenger, Diana. (2004). New Black and White/Color Technology for Stooges DVDs. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://classicfilm.about.com/od/dvdnews/a/stoogesnews7210.htm Veneruso, Tara. (1998). A Report from the National Association of Broadcasters Convention Las Vegas, Nevada April 4-9, 1998. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.nextwavefilms.com/ulbp/cutnab98.html A New Type of Film Essay -- Filmmaking Media Entertainment Movies Essa A New Type of Film Every day we are one step closer to filmmaking being as easy as taking out the brush and oils for a painting (Veneruso, 1998). The new technologies that have emerged in films have been the latest in a string of inventions, to help make the film industry better. Films have become an important part of our culutre since they started being made and shown regularly around the world. Although new technology in films may be nothing compared with other technology, it does seem that this technology will benefit a lot of people, and help to improve the quality of the entertainment. These new technologies to the film industry all have important roles in the new industry. Computer generated images, subtitle technology, digital theatre systems, three-dimensnal sound, the colour and black & white technology and the new digital media technology are the main and most infulensal of these technologies for the film industry. First though to see how far films are technologically advancing we need to see have far they have come already, by following the history that is filmmaking. The movie business has been adapting to changing technology for more than 80 years. Prior to the 1930’s, movies were not only without colour, but also had no sound or dialouge (Howell, 2001). The 1920’s started films off in black and white, and most had no sound, as they were difficult to make because of the microphones being unable to move. This lead to films being accompanied by live musicans in the theatre. It become easier to make talking films in the early 1930’s and they become very famous quite quickly. The first full-length colour film was â€Å"Becky Sharp† and it was made in 1935. Once TV hit the scenes in 1950 the film industry had to re... ...ry Movies. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june01/movies_tech.html Jardin, Xeni. (2004). MP3 Pioneer Debuts Spatial Sound. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64353,00.html Microsoft Corporation. (2002). Digital Media Distribution Opportunies for the Film Industry. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/disopwhitepaper.aspx Saenger, Diana. (2004). New Black and White/Color Technology for Stooges DVDs. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://classicfilm.about.com/od/dvdnews/a/stoogesnews7210.htm Veneruso, Tara. (1998). A Report from the National Association of Broadcasters Convention Las Vegas, Nevada April 4-9, 1998. Retrieved September 14, 2004, from http://www.nextwavefilms.com/ulbp/cutnab98.html

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Raising a genderless baby: The Case of Storm Stocker Essay

Raising a family of three children is no easy feat to begin with, and the Stocker family of Toronto, Ontario has made one decision regarding their new baby that will hardly make it any easier. Mrs. Stocker gave birth to her third child on new years day of 2011, and accompanying the proud new parents e-mail to friends and families announcing the baby’s birth, was a rather controversial statement; â€Å"We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? †¦).† (CTV 1) Mr. & Mrs. Stocker had decided to raise their new baby boy or girl, with out the socially constructed pre-text of masculine or feminine gender traits, regardless of what the physical sex of the baby was. It is important to point this baby is neither a hermaphrodite nor born as a transsexual, but is completely anatomically healthy or â⠂¬Ëœnormal’ so to speak. The parents are simply keeping the sex of the baby secrete as to deprive society, and in the future its peers, teachers, coaches etc. of influencing it’s formation of gender and self. This highly controversial decision is however, fulfilling Freud’s notion of removing gender from the realm of biology, thus overcoming biological essentialism, and moving it into society, which he believed was the dominant force influencing how gender develops. In the modern era, however, the decision to keep baby Storms sex a secrete was met with significant controversy from American media, ABC news stating; â€Å"While child development experts applaud the family’s efforts to raise their child free of the constraints of gender stereotypes, they say the parents have embarked on a psychological experiment that could be potentially disastrous.† (ABC 1) while in Canada and internationally, especially in European countries such as Sweden and Finland where this is not unheard of, its been more readily accepted. Finnish people often choose specific diction to speak about themselves and others in a very neutral way which includes gender neutrality; â€Å"This rhetoric is based on a kind of moral code: it is highly valued to be seen and treated without particularities, without bodies, as a  person in your own right, without gender, without class, without ethnicity, without locality† (Lahelma 8) and in Sweden the government has actually updated the national Encyclopedia to account for the rising trend of parents raising their children genderless, adding the genderless pronoun â€Å"hen† to accompany the masculine â€Å"han† and feminine â€Å"hon†. And the trend isn’t just limited to linguistics. Recently â€Å"†¦the World Economic Forum declared Sweden the most gender-neutral country in the world, and gender neutrality is changing Swedish culture in profound ways. A children’s department store has dissolved its â€Å"girls† and â€Å"bo ys† sections†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Tietal 36). Freud would, however, have to agree with ABC news’ declaration that the results could be â€Å"potentially disastrous† as he viewed gender intringently linked to self-identity as well as sexual orientation. It is safe to assume Dr. Freud would view this decision to shelter the child as a psychological experiment destined to end in failure, resulting in a man or women not properly assimilated into society and bound for a miserable existence. However, as Sandra Harding said â€Å"What you see, what you find important, and how you understand the world depends on your ‘standpoint’† and as more recent feminist research has uncovered Freud’s beliefs in a binary set of man or woman is not necessarily true. Feminist Epistemology of society and science exposes how the commonly accept binary couple of male/female or masculine/feminine influences our conception of knowledge and how we come to conclusions, and even in American media it is quite pronounced the male/female roles have began to blend or at least have come to have changed since Freud’s time; â€Å"The stereotypes of boys were that they were self-sufficient, non-empathic, tough and good at war, and Girls were trained to be empathic and caring and more nurturing, are all falling apart. You even see tough football players bawling nowadays† (ABC 1). It would not necessarily be harmful for the baby to grow up in-between or with-out th e masculine/feminine binary because it is socially constructed anyway and growing up with-out it, or perhaps better put, on the outside of it, simply creates a new paradigm for baby Storm. Because men have held such a dominant role influencing research and education it has skewed history and research to man’s own advantage, resulting in a unidimensional view of gender and power almost always at the women’s expense  (Luecke 138). As Kimmel said in our textbooks, the phenomenon of biasing knowledge is always more pronounced when one group homogeneously controls political and ideological systems, which have up until very recent times been controlled strictly by males, giving them the conceptual power over gender, sexual orientation and almost every other field of research known to man. Though in recent decades much progress has been made on this issue, there is still much bias on part of male dominated research resisting the inclusion of minorities and feminist epistemology which needs to change in order for better research methods and more accurate out comes, especially from a constructionists approach to gender. As Sharlene Hesse-Biber put it; â€Å"If present science is distorted by the predominance of male perspectives, would not science become more objective by the deliberate inclusion of views from women, minorities etc.† The Social Constructionist Approach diverges from Freud’s belief in masculine/feminine binaries in that it acknowledges the contextual importance of gender and sexuality. The time, place, power and culture all play a part in defining what is considered masculine and what is feminine, concluding that gender and sexuality are not constants, but variables in a perpetual flux, resulting from the ebb and flow of societal norms and what social groups are in power influencing those norms. Storms identity as he grows up will certainty be influenced by his interactions with media, society and his parents but that influence will be minimized because of his immunity to the power of gender and sex stereotypes, living in, presumably, blissful ambiguity. And in many ways this gives him a certain power over us, or at least a power to change or blur the gender norms as he grows up; â€Å"It is impossible to explain gender without adequately understanding power – not because power is the consequence of gender difference. But rather because power is what produces those gender differences in the first place† (Kimmel 116). The case of Storm Stocker, while highly controversial, cannot be declined the notion of fascinating and perhaps highly influential on this centuries gender and sexual norms – thus society itself. This case as analyzed through intersectionality is perfect to highlight the many ways in which race, class, gender and sexuality all come to act as social forces on us as we develop in our given environment (Kennedy & Hellen 36). As we watch Storm  mature into whatever Storm aspires to be, Storm will be simultaneously turning back millennia of stereotypes, biases, roles and assumptions that have been entrenched in our global society. The potential for real social change stems from the point where other individuals who have been raised and socialized similarly to storm, organize and create social movements to further awareness and understanding of neo-gendered individuals (Madison & Shaw 435). In this way Storm and their contemporaries will show us how the binary concepts of man/women have been one of the most pervasive forces locking us within a certain realm of action and understanding dictated strictly by the reproductive organs we were born with. Who we love, how we love are all subject to change as â€Å"Our identities are a fluid assemblage of the meanings and behaviors that we construct from values, images and prescriptions we find in the world around us† (Kimmel 112). Works Cited â€Å"Baby raised without ‘gender’ sets off debate | CTV News .† CTV News | Top Stories – Breaking News – Top News Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Baby Storm Raised Genderless, or Without a Gender, a Dangerous Experiment, Say Child Development Experts – ABC News.† ABCNews.com – Breaking News, Latest News & Top Video News – ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. . Biber, Sharlene Nagy. Handbook of feminist research: theory and praxis. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2007. Print. Harding, Sandra. â€Å"Feminist Standpoints.† Handbook of feminist research: theory and praxis. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2007. 46-64. Print. Kennedy, Natacha, and Mark Hellen. â€Å"Transgender children: more than a theoretical challenge.† Graduate Journal of Social Science 7 (2010): 25-42. Print. Kimmel, Michael S.. The gendered society. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Lahelma, Elina. â€Å"Female Paths To Adulthood In A Country Of ‘Genderless Gender’.† Gender & Education 24.1 (2012): 1-13. Academic Search Complete. Web. Luecke, Julie. â€Å"Working with Transgender Children and Their Classmates in Pre-Adolescence: Just Be Supportive.†Journal of LGBT Youth 8.2 (2011): 116-156. Print. Maddison, Sarah, and Frances Shaw. â€Å"Feminist Perspectives on Social Movement Research.† Handbook of feminist research: theory and praxis. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2007. 434-454. Print. Teitel, Emma. â€Å"Neither He Nor She.† Maclean’s 125.16 (2012): 36. Academic Search Complete. Web.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Healthy Combination

Seniority plays an indispensable role in the military. Rank is highly important because their efficiency of getting things done depends on fast commands corresponding fast implementation. That is why leadership here is very crucial. One does not easily get promoted or get his own ship to command. Despite the fact that everyone already looks up to you and no matter how worked yourself off, these simply aren’t enough. 1 Like what The Captain said to Lt.Tyler, one has to â€Å"be able to make hard decisions based on imperative information asking men to carry out orders that result to their deaths. † Because the true test of being a soldier-leader is not only willingness to lay his own life on the line for his men, not only his bravery, but his strength to have to lay someone else’s life for the crew, for the mission and then, at the end of the day, having to pay for its consequences. In U-571 (2000), maybe the character that noticeably best depicted being an astound ing leader and, at the same time a follower, is The Chief.Being somewhat a middleman between the new Captain and the crew, during their battle with the Nazis, Chief, in his years in combat, was able to successfully be a good leader and follower whenever the times demanded it of him. Some of the crewmen might have thought that, when The Captain died when the S33 was blown up, The Chief was the one that should take command instead of the much younger Lt. Tyler. Once, a crew member kept saying â€Å"†¦this is crazy, this is crazy†¦ he’s gonna get us killed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  to the idea that Lt. Tyler didn’t want to use the Nazi’s Enigma to radio for help. The Chief said, â€Å"Navy said it’s more important than you, him, me—fine. We’re gonna die trying. That ain’t crazy. That’s our job. † The stubborn crewman responds with â€Å"what I don’t seem to understand Chief, is how come you’re not in-charge. à ¢â‚¬  In the middle of his blabbering on about ____________________ 1. Military Rank. [2004]. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www. militaryspot. com/military-rank. htm 1why Tyler shouldn’t be in command, The Chief suddenly grabbed hold of his shirt and held him by the neck. â€Å"Lt. Tyler is your commanding officer and you will respect that man as such. † In this particular scene, The Chief was a leader in a sense that he recognizes when a crewman needs some straightening up and, also he is a very good follower in a sense that he defended the superior being insulted at the back. At these moments, he displayed glory when he was effortlessly able to go over the praises, and get down to serious business.His principles are unwavering, unconditional. Attitude such as these give a command consistency and action in highly unfavorable situations such as battlefields. Contrary to conventional point of view, being a follower and a leader seems to be much more of a role pla yed in an interrelated way than a role as played in completely opposite ways. Yes, one cannot be a leader without being a follower and following cannot be without leading. To be able to fully understand one, one has to understand the other, or both will not stand.One cannot exist without the other; they complete each other. In the context of this film, or life in general for that matter, it is impossible to discuss leadership without discussing followership, and vice versa. 2 This concept can be seen in the persona of the Chief. The concept of leadership and followership is healthily embedded in The Chief’s heart and mind, and through this, he is able to contribute significantly to the welfare of the crew and the accomplishment of the mission. If too many soldiers were to lack this, it will â€Å"kill a crew.† Doubt is a given when there are high risks involved. Playing with the lives of men is never easy. There are a lot of gray areas, areas where a soldier is confron ted with dilemmas. The Chief experienced this at 160 meters below water surface. Despite the risks involved The _____________________ 2. Lt Col Sharon M. Latour and Lt Col Vicki J. Rast, â€Å"Dynamic Followership,† (2004) Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www. govleaders. org/dynamic_followership. htm. Chief followed Lt. Tyler to dive the extra meters. If Lt.Tyler made a mistake in his calculations or estimations, they all could’ve drowned when the submarine barely held itself together under the pressure of 200 meters underwater. But they were lucky. What seemed to be wrong turned out to be right. In reality, perhaps it is much harder to choose. A young enlisted officer also came to this situation, where his ability to follow was thinning. Lt. Tyler had to order him to swim under the flooded pipes and tighten those that need tightening so that a torpedo can be launched.Obeying might kill him and not obeying might kill the crew. This time though, it wasn’t as happy an ending as The Chief’s was when he followed orders. The kid drowned. They were able to beat the enemy but they sacrificed a life. There are no clear lines as to which extents will a soldier follow or not. There are no set qualifications as to who must go first. Maybe there never will. But one thing is clear, leading or following, the sake of the crew as a whole must be put first before an individual’s, the country’s first before the self. ____________________1. Lt Col Sharon M. Latour and Lt Col Vicki J. Rast, â€Å"Dynamic Followership,† (2004) Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www. govleaders. org/dynamic_followership. htm. 2. Military Rank. [2004]. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www. militaryspot. com/military-rank. htm BIBLIOGRAPHY Lt Col Latour, Sharon M. and Lt Col Rast, Vicki J. Dynamic Followership. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www. govleaders. org/dynamic_followership. htm, 2004. Military Rank. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from h ttp://www. militaryspot. com/military-rank. htm, 2004.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

The dramatic presentation of justice and morality in The Crucible Essay

Sin and Struggle is one of the most common things we can come across in our life. This concept of Sin and Struggle is presented very dramatically in the play of The Crucible. The play describes the fury mass hysteria, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and shows people’s self-centred attitude. The dictionary definition of sin is any serious offence, as against a religious or moral principle. As The Crucible is set in a very strict Puritan community, anything, which is done as an offence will be regarded as a sin against Christianity. In the play, there is verification that there are struggles within the community and within characters themselves. Examples of these characters are John Proctor. Proctor is unable to agree with Danforth or his inner self and is a character that will go to any extent to prove what he says is right. In the other case, Mary Warren is incapable of standing in opposition to Abigail in the courtroom. The other main sources of dispute are also land, money, and religion. For example, Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam have an argument over private land. In the play of The Crucible, the first sin we come across is dancing. The event occurs when Betty, Abigail, and her friends are dancing and conjuring up spirits in the wood with Tituba. According to Puritan Law, neither children nor anyone are admitted to dance. You can see that in the final court scene. DANFORTH: â€Å"What is this dancing? â€Å"(Act 3) You can see from this that dancing is a forbidden sin. The main event from the damnation is the sin of lechery between John Proctor and Abigail. We come to know this from Abigail and Proctor’s secret meeting. This is also the main sparking event for the witchcraft, which took place. You could say that this sin is the catalyst. The sin of lechery then triggers a lot of resentment between Elizabeth and Abigail. Therefore, many events after this are always to get rid of Elizabeth so she could fulfil her dreams with John Proctor. As this spell casting and witchcraft led to more and more dilemma, false accusations were starting to be made. The main cause of this complication is Betty Parris. She is in some sort of coma and that is when Parris calls for Reverend hale who is intellectual in witchcraft. Parris was not popular member in the community and he is a severe man who said that his ministry is much more important than his daughter’s life. Now that Abigail does not want the blame, false accusations were made. This is an advantage for Parris because this meant he was able to defend himself from other reverend’s fallacious talk. E

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Solar Heated Grill

Solar Heated Grill ABSTRACT This study aimed to find out if an old shoebox  and a thick tin foil can be converted to amore useful piece of cooking equipment. The feasibility of reflective solar heated grillthat is built from a cardboard box, tin foil, and  posterboard as an alternative cookingequipment  was studied  in this  research project. The cardboard box  was cut  andshaped. the tin foil is settled in the middle making it looks like a slide. we go outside inthe heat of the sun. the  barbeque sticks were placed in the  spot where reflection of thesunlight focuses  on the hotdog . just like a  real skewer  the hotdog were cooked therefor minutes. asted it. and voila. real hotdogs on stick  just like mom used to cook. General Objective: This study thru physics aims to find out if an old shoe carton box can be useful to makean alternative cooking machine. Materials/Equipment: 1. Two pieces of heavy cardboard (like the side  of a cardboard carton). The fi rst piecemust be at least ten inches squareand the second smaller piece must be  at least four inches by five inches. 2. A piece of light posterboard eight inches wide  and sixteen inches long. 3. Twelve-inch wide aluminum foil. (You will use about 32 inches of the  material. ) 4. Some masking tape. You may experiment with other types of tape. ) 5. Nine inch long sticks about 1/16 inch in diameter. You may also use lengths of heavywire. Procedure Select a long narrow box; the longer the  box the more heat  collection is possible. Choose a focal length between 5†³ and 10†³Ã‚  and design a parabolic curve as seenin the picture. One template could be  used for all the cookers. Trace the curve onthe open end of the  box so that it is centered and straight2. Cut out the curve with a utility knife. Stress the importance of being exact. Measure and cut a piece of posterboard that will fix flush against the opening tothe box.Attach this with tape beginning at the cen ter and working toward toedges. Cover the curve with white glue and apply  aluminum foil shiny side out. Start inthe middle and smooth toward the edges. Try not to wrinkle or fold the foil; youwant it as smooth as possible Use two scraps of cardboard taped to each side as supports. Using the sun or aprojector light, test the focal point. There should be a  bright spot where light isconcentrated; mark this spot and punch  a hole for the skewer. Use a section  of acoat hanger from which the paint has  been removed for a skewer

Arab Spring Complete Research Work

Syed Muhammad Jalal Ud Din Asad Shah SMC Ba 5 (Journalism) Course Instructor Ma’m Rida Sohail International Mass Media and its Impact Mid-term Assignment – Arab Spring 16/11/2012 Introduction The Arab Spring, referring to the chain reaction of revolutions in the Arab world, is considered to have begun in Tunisia when a small produce seller lit himself on fire to protest the government taking away his job.Some say that this event, coupled with enough pressure from outside media sources, sparked the revolution of the younger generation in Tunisia that overthrew their prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi; others argue that the area was ripe for revolution thanks to the infusion of democracy in Iraq. Regardless of the initial cause, this single countries act started a snowball effect of democratic revolution that has rolled its way through Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Lybia, in a few smaller instances in other countries. Detailed Summary of â€Å"Arab Spring†On 17th December 2010 something occurred in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid that should lead to a so-called â€Å"revolution†. On that day, a desperate Tunisian teenager, who tried to support the livelihood of his family with his vegetable stand there, lit himself. Again and again he was bullied and also harassed by the behaviour and conditions of the Tunisian police in this village. His self-immolation happened one year ago and he died of his injuries. This sad act sparked major protests by angry and frustrated young people in Egypt.Some followed Muhammad Buazizi example and also committed suicide after his sad death. The first so-called revolution in the Arab world has been triggered. Whether this â€Å"revolution† has been really triggered all alone from within Egypt by this sad act should be questioned. It wasn’t the first demonstration against the rise of food prices, but those protests were not able to overthrow the dictator. This changed with these protests in spr ing 2011. One should consider that these developments around these demonstrations have been driven from the outside, too.For example, the name of Former U. S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman appears repeatedly in connection with these so-called revolutions in the Middle East. The events in Tunisia spilled over to other states and for example, the Tunisian dictator quickly left his homeland to find asylum in Saudi Arabia. Some say a bit too quickly. Even before the wave of â€Å"revolutions† (â€Å"Arab Spring†) reached Egypt, this interesting wave reached the both states Morocco and Algeria. Again, the people took to the streets in protest against rising food prices and against the corruption within the country.Of course, the people in Algeria and Morocco also protested against the injustice. Finally, the demonstrations in Egypt began on 25th of January. These protests in Egypt were primarily socially motivated demonstrations, in which the people wanted to give vent to their anger. Triggered by the financial crisis (U. S. is mainly to blame for this) the food prices and housing prices also increased in the Arab countries. Where the foreign/western countries did not intervene, the demonstrations disappeared again. Take a look at Algeria.It seems that nowadays hardly anyone reminds about Algeria that there people also protested against the government and that these demonstrations were brutally dispersed or even mowed down. It seems that the Western governments decided secretly that an Algeria under the lead of Bouteflika is safer for Europe than an Algeria, which is ruled by Islamists. Some experts of the Middle East talk about the beginning of these demonstrations and revolutions about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† (even Islamistic revolution) which is masterful ignored by the West till today.The West even ignores these statements about an â€Å"Islamic revolution† gladly. However, the results of the first elections in Tunisia and Egypt spea k for themselves: In both countries the Islamists have gained extremely more power and influence. Not surprising at all. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt supported and still supports the protests against the power of the Egyptian military. It sometimes seems that the Muslim Brotherhood also forces chaos within these protests because it might be useful for their goals.Not to mention that the Muslim Brotherhood offered people money to vote for them at these elections in Egypt. A wonderful example of the democratic sense within the Muslim Brotherhood. Sure a lot of people are able to recall the 11th February. The Egyptian dictator Mubarak resigned at this day and handed â€Å"all† the power to the Western-backed military. At the moment, the Egyptian military clings to the power in Egypt and the Egyptians are not able to reach a break to rest after their â€Å"revolution†. But this revolution in Egypt was not the last revolution of this â€Å"Arab Spring† in 2011.The Yemenis were encouraged by the events in North African countries and started to take to the streets, also to demonstrate against their Yemeni government. Shortly before this outbreak of â€Å"revolution† in Yemen, the people were again humbled by the corrupt government and the proposed constitutional amendment, which would keep the Yemeni leader Saleh for some more years in office. The frustration of the Yemenis erupted finally. As far as we know, the Yemenis always have demonstrated in a peaceful manner against the government and military.The bloodshed started as the clan of Sheikh Ahmar began to act against the Yemeni government to enforce the interests of the clan and this Sheikh. After a longer period of a back and forth and a long stay in Saudi Arabia, Saleh finally agreed to the proposal of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left his post in Yemen. Nobody exactly knows the future of Yemen. What is only certain to say is that the near future won`t be easy for the country and that you are actually able to call Yemen a failed State. Yemen always was a â€Å"forgotten† country and the situation within the country is really getting worse.The Libyan revolution should not necessarily carry this title of a â€Å"revolution†. Viewing at Libya it is indeed clear that foreign countries supported those â€Å"rebels† to overthrow the ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Not to mention the clear statements about the events in Libya by independent journalists like Lizzie Phelan and others. Although both Western countries, France and Italy, extolled the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi until early 2011 and both governments did everything in motion in order to impress the leader in oversee, it was above all France, which quickly forgot about the alliance and any agreements.It seems that the huge fear of an independent and more powerful Africa and a Libya with major projects was behind the intentions of the Europeans and the Americans. Some would al so say that this was behind the intentions of the West to destroy the structure and plans of this country. Not to mention the huge amount of important mineral resources, of course. The armed rioters were celebrated as rebels and supplied with arms and money by the West / NATO. First they helped to pass the Libyan city of Benghazi as a liberated ity to the rebels and afterwards they started a war, based on lies, to determine the fate of the finally murdered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. After Muammar Gaddafi’s assassination and the capture of his son, Saif al-Islam, it suddenly became very silent about the situation in Libya. It seems that they want to prevent, that the Western population learns something about this false revolution in Libya and above all, they want to create time to bury all corpses of innocent. So that there won`t turn up any unpleasant questions. The truth is sometimes very brutal. Libya is now exploited and finally ruled by al-Qaeda and CIA related people .Also people in Bahrain were at the beginning of this year encouraged by the events in other Arab countries and they went on the streets to protest. The majority Shiite population wanted to achieve more equal rights and above all, that the Bahraini opposition will lose their status as mute puppets in the government. In Bahrain, it was a brutal crackdown of the â€Å"peaceful demonstrations† by the government. And all words, which U. S. President Barrack Obama had about these violence by a regime, was a gentle criticism that the Bahraini ruling family should not act brutally against demonstrators. But this was not enough.The Bahraini ruling family asked for help with the crackdown of protesters and the friendly Saudis delivered tanks and their soldiers to â€Å"bring down† the demonstrations in the neighbouring state. After all, no one really outraged about that and no one spoke about a â€Å"humanitarian intervention† in Bahrain or even in Saudi Arabia. It`s a h ypocritically world, isn`t it? The reporting on the brutal events in Bahrain has been suddenly discontinued. They remained silent. The West and others did not want to risk, that the Bahraini ruling house loses its power. After all, the United States of America own an important military base in Bahrain.Furthermore, they couldn`t risk, that the Shiites in Bahrain are really successful in receiving more power and also co-determination in the country, because this would mean that the Iranian influence is increasing in Bahrain. Nothing, what the West really wants. If there will be a resume about the so-called Arab Spring in these days, it seems that nobody is going to mention Bahrain just as Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait The Saudi king tried to bribe his people with money, to buy it finally. But this strategy has not worked especially in the east of Saudi Arabia, on the border to Bahrain, where many Shiites live.Especially in this region a lot of Shiite people were constantly on the s treets to show their protest. By a new fatwa, which declared such demonstrations against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia as un-Islamic, this known ruling family has created an almost free rein in the suppression of the demonstrations. Of course, such a fatwa is used to ban protests against the ruling family in Saudi Arabia and to justify crackdowns of protests. Also such a fatwa does not seem to be very Islamic finally, but that’s nothing new in Saudi Arabia. The fool’s freedom for the Saudi ruling house is intensified by the looking away of the West.Who wants to lose Saudi Arabia as a partner in these days? After all, there are still many sources of oil which can be exploited. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is a good partner of the West in the fight against Iran – though this country is not necessarily a true friend and ally of the West. Saudi Arabia has a very strong interest to keep the power of Iran limited and to take care with every option that the power of I ran doesn`t increase. After all, it is often about the supremacy of Sunnis and Shiites in the Arab-Islamic world. Saudi Arabia isn’t interested in losing its (religious? power/influence to Iran. At the beginning of this year 2011 there were also demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and the police in Jordan. The people protested for a new government. The Jordanian prime minister was replaced. The frustration of the Jordanian people is still palpable and there, but you do not hear anything any longer about Jordan. They do not want to take the risk to overthrow a Sunni ruler – especially not in a country where the majority of the population is actually Palestinian. It would not be foreseeable, which reaction would be triggered.So while the West deliberately keeps silent about some regions, they are running on full speed when it’s about other countries which are not the â€Å"favourite children† of the United States, other countries and organ izations. One of the best examples is Syria. In Syria, the demonstrations began relatively late and were fuelled from outside. Not to mention the financially and other support for the Syrian opposition groups within and abroad by the United States – this support started already by the Bush administration and is still continued under the administration of Peace Nobel Prize-†owner† Barrack Obama.The demonstrations in Syria began peaceful, although foreigners were smuggled into the country to force violent situations within those protests. The peaceful protests were soon stopped because of this. The arming of several bunches of extremists, Islamists and criminals did the rest. The weapons were smuggled in quantities beyond the borders of the country – even before these demonstrations in Syria have started. A not to be underestimated role in the so-called â€Å"uprisings† in Syria may have played the comeback of an U. S. ambassador to the U. S. embassy ( Damascus) in February this year.Of course, this comeback of a questionable U. S. ambassador to Syria was also helpful with the policy against Syria This â€Å"Syrian unrest† is happening since nine months – although it is said that there is a horrible crackdown of protesters by the Syrian army and security forces. Not to mention that a real â€Å"unrest† looks different to the real events within Syria. But in favour of Western policy it is sure useful to sell these events in Syria to the Western population as a â€Å"peaceful unrest† of â€Å"peaceful demonstrators†, who just want freedom and democracy.The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be overthrown, without any foreseeing of the consequences. It is easy to see these attempts of overthrow the Syrian government and President in connection with the â€Å"Foreign Policy† of America, Israel and probably (mainly? ) AIPAC. It is written on the flags of America to protect Israel, which th e U. S. President Barrack Obama again made clear in the last days. Because of this and the powerful AIPAC lobby within the USA, they have on their agenda to destroy the so-called â€Å"Axis of Evil† – despite the probably consequences.An upcoming President of the United States needs a huge financially base to become president and he also needs the support of such Lobbies and positive opinions about his attitude to Israel. Real independence is sure something different. If you destabilize Syria, an important supply line between Iran and Hezbollah is interrupted. But the West has made up its plan without Syria, which still holds well against all sanctions, propaganda and lies of Western countries, organizations as the NATO and questionable media. But it is in the stars how long Syria will survive this.What is sold as â€Å"Arab Spring† is absolutely a huge lie. A lie, what is becoming increasingly obvious, especially after the Islamists won the non-independent & qu estionable elections in Egypt and Tunisia. A lie, which has the end, that the bloody crackdown on Shiite protesters in Bahrain and the situation and events in countries such as Jordan and Algeria are simply not included in the so-called retrospective analysis. A hypocritically sale of the so-called â€Å"Arab Spring† – a recapitulation, which is more than blind in one eye. A lie by which a war was fought in Libya (and there are still clashes, of course).With tens of thousands of casualties – with a big thanks to NATO and Western interests. Whether one can still speak of a â€Å"spring† is more than questionable. The Arab states became puppets of the West, even more than already in the past. The West has tried to use his influence and how this failed â€Å"Arab spring† will going to end will be sure turn out in future. The West still missed to reach all goals yet, because the government in Syria is still not collapsed and the majority of the Syrian population supports the President Bashar al-Assad and the promised reform process.Also the Iran is far too powerful to attack it, without fearing huge consequences. There still other Arab states where dictators are in power. The West just seems to be blind or is this behaviour a confirmation of the imperialistic lies and propaganda? If you want to sell the so-called â€Å"Arab spring† as a real pro-democracy movement of the Arab youth, then you should not keep simultaneously the dictators of the Gulf States, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco in office and power. The Arab Spring is a farce, which has plunged many countries into chaos.These countries will have to fight with the consequences for the next decades. The problems, why the Arab youth mainly protested on the streets, are still there – everywhere. The acts to solve these problems of the Arab youth and societies are not even started yet if you consider Iraq, which is served as an example of democracy in this region; yo u quickly recognize that this supposed democratic government is much more corrupt than the former dictator. How the Arab population and primarily the Arab youth are going to handle this is unclear.Maybe more â€Å"Arab springs†, maybe more victims and wars. Probably. One is clear – the Arab neighbours have been weakened and this is one of the main goals of Western interests, Imperialism and also of Zionism. It is said a picture explains better than 1000 words, but when picture muddle up with words then the following appears The Nature of the Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the name that has been given to the recent wave of protests and political unrest in the Arab region of the world.This phenomenon began with the Jasmine revolution in December 2010 that overthrew the authoritative Tunisian government and has spread to neighbouring countries including Egypt, Syria and Libya. The Arab Spring has exhibited a common demand for democracy and civil rights from the nations in volved and has already lead to revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and has caused political changes across many other Arab Countries. Shifting political attitudes and values regarding democracy amongst the Arabs can be seen in the following graphNote the Democracy preference and Reject strong Leader in the Middle-East column. This survey was taken a year before the Arab Spring. The data it shows predicts remarkably well the opinion of the Arab people and was a sign of things to come. The findings have undoubtedly been correlated with the events of 2011. What is ironic is the high preference for democracy in Middle East compared with Eurasia and the fact that Middle East & North Africa region had the lowest democracy index rating (3. 43, 2010) according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2010).This highlights another great disparity between the desire of the people and the reality. Arab Spring and the youth It's often said revolutions eat their young, but rarely has it been such a feast. On the streets of Tunis and across the Middle East, the young revolutionaries have been taken aback. A movement that spread on Face book, Twitter and YouTube is today being run by a generation that lived without computers most of their lives. Now, if the Arab Spring fails to incorporate the younger generation, it could meet the fate that so many revolutions do – leaving out those who first sparked change TunisiaThe democratic process in Tunisia is very encouraging. Regime change took place almost with no victims compared with Egypt, Libya and Syria. The elections brought to government a moderate, enlightened Muslim party, which raised the fears of secularists but is trying by all means to assure its opponents that it is open to sharing power, accepting peaceful transition of power through the election polls and building a civil state. Morocco and Algeria The king of Morocco went far beyond that of Jordan. He does not have to deal with similar delicate internal elements .As a matter of fact, he started a process of internal conciliation several years ago, and trying to preempt a revolution in his country, he allowed a reformed constitution to be legislated in May 2010, and free democratic elections on Nov. 25 of that year. The Islamic movement won the majority as expected, but the change is taking place peacefully though seriously. The change will have an impact on Morocco’s relations with its neighboring Arab countries. A positive improvement in relations with Algeria is developing.If this continues, it will allow for opening the borders between the two countries, which have been closed for 17 years. The Arab Spring is changing the way of thinking among the new regimes. The political climate between Morocco and Algeria will have an impact on resolving the dispute over the Western Sahara. This may allow for the resurrection of the Maghreb Union, which was created in 1989 but crippled as a result of deteriorating relations between Algeria and Morocco. Elections are scheduled in Algeria for 2012, and the regime promises free and democratic elections.If this happens, and it most probably will, it will add a new dimension to the reform movement in North Africa. Syria The Syrian version over the protests is similar to that of the rest of the world in that the larger, general class of the country, in this case the Sunni Muslims, are protesting the rule of the elite sect, the Alawites in Syria – including the current President Bashar al-Assad, due to the apparent disparity between classes. The protests began in mid-March but have escalated as Assad backed down for original promises of peace-talks and reform and has begun to oppose the protests with force.The situation has since escalated as military members, once members of the elite sect, have begun to defect to the protestor's side, putting the country on the brink of civil war. These latest developments in Syria and the rest of the Arab Spring are important because they prove that international accountability can, in fact, produce large-scale change in a country. When enough people or media outlets that carry enough weight get behind even a single person that is willing to stand up to the injustice, enough momentum can be generated to cause institutional change.The average American must care because we are a part of that momentum. If the average citizen lacks care, the media lacks support over certain topics, and international accountability and pressure loses its power. The Arab Spring reminds us that individual people with the courage to generate change have power if a watching world is willing to respond. By staying up to date and active in the discussion of these events, the average American too can have a part in great change for millions around the world. Egypt What where the students’ goals? The Egyptian revolution began on the 25th of January.Tens of thousands of marchers occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest against Preside nt Hosni Mubarak and his government. Egyptians had been growing angrier over a number of issues including government corruption, rising prices, poverty, and social seclusion. The major point leading to the revolution was the overthrowing of the Tunisian government by fellow Arabs. As the demonstrations in Egypt grew more violent, protestors rallied behind a common goal, the complete overthrow of the President Hosni and his government. How did they communicate? The protestors consisted mostly of young â€Å"tech-savvy† Egyptians.On January 28, in an attempt to prevent the protestors from communicating, the Egyptian government shut down internet access and some mobile phone services were shut down in certain areas. This only fuelled public anger with the government demonstrators begin using non-wireless dependent devices to communicate. Through fax machines, land lines, and radio broadcasts, the protestors have been able to still coordinate their movements and get information o ut of the country. What were their activities? Isolated pockets of protest erupted into country wide demonstration on January 28 as thousands protested the government in Tahrir Square.They were met with repressive opposition by police forces (Asser). The government responded to the protests by shutting down all internet providers in order to cut off communication among the protestors. This only fuelled public anger. Protestors turned to land lines connections, fax machines and in some cases dial up connections through foreign nations such as Sweden and France to spread information (Daily Mail Reporter). Quickly, police forces melted away and the army was called in to keep the peace. On February 1st the demonstrations in Tahrir Square had terminated into the â€Å"March of The Million. Looting soon became rampant through the streets and neighbourhoods set up armed night watch groups to protect their homes. The protestors had been relatively non-violent, but on February 2 pro-governm ent demonstrators marched in Tahrir Square to meet the anti-government forces. The Scene soon erupted into violence as both sides began throwing stones and petrol bombs. Since then, the anti-government Forces erected barricades around Tahrir Square and voiced their refusal to leave until President Hosni Mubarak finally stepped down from power (Asser). Were they successful? The Protestors were successful.Under mounting pressures, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from presidency, finally ending his nearly 30 year rule. Power was then given over to the military which began drafting a new government and constitution. What has happened most recently? Since the resignation of President Mubarak, power has been given to the military which has dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The military said that it would give up control after a parliamentary election in the fall and a referendum was released in March for the public to vote and ratify amendments to a new constitution.Si nce then however, the military has-been blamed for slowing the pace of democratizing the nation and remaining loyal to the core of President Mubarak’s government, leading to fresh protests in the recent months. In august, Hosni Mubarak was brought into court to be tried for the deaths of those who died in the protests. In October, the military released a statement saying that an election would be held for parliament in November followed by a separate election for president. The military also announced they would now retain power even after the elections in order to see the transfer to democracy through.The Parliament will play a subordinate role to the military council for the time being until the new government is fully established and a new constitution is ratified, a process which might last until 2013. At the moment the future of Egypt has promising potential, but is still unclear. What would I have done? I would have joined the protestors in the streets. I love that I li ve in a democracy and if I lived in country like Egypt that limited my rights, I know I would jump at a chance to change things.However, if I heard that looters were out, I think would go home and help be part of a neighbourhood watch to protect my friends and family because I feel that they should come first before government. Libya What were the goals of the students? The major protest credited with starting the revolution was a demonstration held in the city of Benghazi. The protestors were angry over the imprisonment of a human rights activist named Fethi Tarbel. Tarbel openly spoke out against the government, especially in regards to the 1996massacre at Abu Salim prison where more than a 1,000 prisoners were executed.The protestors were met by police forces that used water cannons to break up the crowds and eye witnesses reported that police were driving their cars at high speeds into the crowds. The situation quickly erupted into an anti-Gaddafi protest that spread to neighbou ring towns. Public anger over the nation’s rampant unemployment, poverty, civil rights violations, and lack of free speech fuelled the protests which demanded an end to Gaddafi and his regime. How did they communicate? Revolutionaries had to be careful about communicating online because the government was monitoring sites like face book, twitter and other social networking sites.Some groups adapted and began using Mawada, one of the biggest dating sites in the Middle East, to secretly recruit new members and communicate. They would pose as couples on Mawada and swap coded messages to each other disguised as poetry and love letters. For the most part however, Libyans did not embrace the internet for communication as Egypt and Tunisia did in their revolutions. According to Nasser Wedaddy, a civil rights outreach director for the American Islamic Congress, Libyans were very afraid of the government monitoring the internet.What got information spread around was actually people ou tside of Libya who, free from Libyan jurisdiction, were able to take what photos and videos were uploaded and spread them around the media, creating much of the support for the anti government forces. What were their activities? The protests that began in Benghazi evolved into a revolution and soon rebel forces consisting of civilian recruits and army personal that had defected made the city of Benghazi their base and quickly forced all security forces out of the city.Riots spread to neighbouring cities and rebel forces burned down police stations and seized local radio stations to spread propaganda against the government. Pro Gaddafi forces moved to open war with rebel forces, engaging in ground assaults and bombing raids. Anti-government rebels were forced to retreat from the better armed pro-Gaddafi forces. Due to attacks on civilian targets, the western nations of the world gave their support to the rebel cause and began launching air raids on government strong holds and militar y groups.With military advice and equipment provided by NATO forces, the rebels began slowly advancing on the capital of Tripoli and held the city of Misrata in western Libya which was under heavy siege. After months of little progress, the rebels pushed forward with a new offensive and captured Tripoli. The rebels established the National Transitional Council which was recognized as the new legitimate government of Libya. Rebel forces went on to capture the rest of the loyalist held cities which finally resulted in the death of Gaddafi. Were they successful?The rebel forces were successful. In their last major offensive, which took place from August 13to October 20, they captured the capital city of Tripoli and all other cities still held by loyalist forces and on the 20th of October Gaddafi was finally killed in a rebel attack on his strong hold Role of Women As the world hurries to analyze and understand the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, numerous factors will be considered, most of them highly relevant and perhaps with more of a demonstrable effect on events than the levels of female subordination.It is for this very reason that it is necessary to conduct research into the effects of female subordination. There has been talk of women’s rights in the context of the uprisings of the different Middle Eastern and North African countries, but there needs to be real, in depth analysis of the relationship between the treatment of women and the changes occurring in societies as a whole. In analysis of the events that occurred in 2011, I expect there will be much made of the nature of the previous regime, the personal styles of each of the dictators, and the economic situations of the countries, including the role of resources.I strongly believe that the factors, as well as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the threat of terrorism and the presence of oil, are factors that affect women acutely and intensely, and that we can learn more abo ut these different factors by examining them through the lens of the treatment of women. While it is difficult to establish whether it is a case of causation or not, there is a strong correlation between the treatment of women and the repression of society as a whole. Studying the way women are affected in these situations will provide further insight into societies and prospects for the future.I have proposed analysis of specific events with the aim of developing this line of analysis further. I propose examining the relationship between the subordination of women and the level of protest experienced in varying countries knowing that it is possible that it the relationship I have predicted may not be accurate, but secure in the knowledge that it will lead to a better understanding of the factors shaping the situation in the Muslim world and potential developments in the future.It is my hope that this research would contribute not only to the study of women’s rights and the i mportance of gender equality, but also to the field of democratization studies as we observe countries that uphold the rights of women making successful, peaceful transitions to consolidated democracy. The â€Å"Social media revolutions† We have seen so far what the most important phenomena on the Arab Internet were in the years before the revolutions. But when it comes to gathering people, fast-paced communication, and – ultimately – performing a revolution, both blogs and forums are fundamentally flawed.Here comes the unique role of modern â€Å"actual† social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. , with their widespread and mass usage, free access and equal rights. Through social networking sites, a single message – regardless if it is a manifesto, the date, time and place for a gathering or a video showing defenceless citizens killed by the army – can reach thousands of people within minutes, each and every one of them being abl e to express their opinion on the matter, gives a suggestion or share an idea, everybody being able to become an activist and organizer.As far as it is possible – because they are in many cases very intertwined – I'll try to examine separately the role played by the different channels of the social media online ecosystem. Facebook Facebook is, probably, the biggest site on the Internet now – it is almost as frequently visited as Google’s search engine page; as of September 2011, it is confirmed to have as many as 800million accounts (which is more the 1/10 of the entire human population).Naturally, it is the most popular social networking platform in the Middle East and North Africa as well for example, Egypt alone has more than 7 million Facebook subscribers; in Tunisia they form a rough 1/5 of the population of the country, and that ratio is typical for most of the countries, with the exception of Libya, where there are only around 50,000 accounts (this fact can be attributed to the heavy censorship and restrictions by the country's previous regime).This figures are the main reason why Facebook was the most important communication tool in most of the Arab spring revolutions; even though it is impossible to say that the access to the social network per se has become the reason for the revolution, it is completely impossible to tell the story of events preceding and following the iconic January 25th 2011 without accepting the crucial role that Facebook played in them. The driving force of these events is much older, and it was encoded in the very nature of the Egyptian pre-revolution regime and social structure of the country.However, it is safe to say that the revolution itself was sparkled in, and with some reservations, by Facebook. That revolution revolves two â€Å"pages†, one created in protest to the murder of Khalid Said, tortured and killed by Egyptian police for posting materials exposing corrupt officials – â€Å"We are all Khalid Said†, which is English-speaking and for that reason has drawn to itself not only Arabs, but many western supporters of the Egyptian cause, and â€Å"The April 6 youth movement†, which is in Arabic; the second is far older and originally emerged around a protest action in 2008, but kept its popularity.Combined, at the time of the protest, the two major groups consisted of more than half a million people, which grew literally in a few days after they were founded. Basically, there were no events that directly preceded the protest of the 25th; there was just an idea for a peaceful demonstration that circulated through the community pages; the rally itself was simply the act of moving the anti-government protest from the online world to the physical one.That was the very role played by Facebook – it was where the protest brewed, and when it was ready to move on the streets, it managed to gather some 50,000 people on the very first day, due t o the good organization and widespread information on the social network.The follow-up of that event did not differ from any other people's uprising – more and more attended every next protest, clashes with the police and the army occurred, and, ultimately, the Mubarak government was overthrown. The important and new parts here are the methods of organization and spreading of information, which amplified and facilitated the process of overthrowing the regime.Egypt is the most clear example of the use of Facebook during the Arab Spring, it being the place where the ideas and organization grew; in Tunisia, for example, as the first country to start the chain of revolutions, no such simple and differentiated organization existed; of greater importance there was the online presence of the members of an informal group called â€Å"Takriz†, who have been doing their activist work online for the past 10 years, and just embraced Facebook as a new operational space, very useful when it comes to rapidly sharing information and reaching a broad audience.Members of this group even admit that the organizations of football club supporters were equally important to Facebook groups and â€Å"Facebook activism†. The crucial importance of Facebook is very well expressed in the words of one of the members of Takriz: â€Å"Facebook is pretty much the GPS for this revolution. Without the street there's no revolution, but add Facebook to the street and you get real potential. For that reason, when the drastic event which could be used as a pretext for mass protest activity happened – in this case, the self-inflammation of Muhammad Bouazizi – the organization was already laid, the contacts were already built and the signal for the protest was given, they grew extremely fast. Here, if not on the same scale, it served exactly the same role it did in Egypt – a public sphere in which to discuss new ideas and find followers, n organizational net work to coordinate common actions, as well as a source of inspiration, proof that the activist is not alone in his quest. In the Middle Eastern countries in which anti-government protests are now ongoing organization through Facebook is not such a common phenomenon: the only example is Syria, where the biggest protest group (in Arabic) has no less than 320. 000 members, and it is updated hourly with information, pictures and videos from the protests.In Bahrain and Yemen the groups are negligibly small and not much visited; in these cases the fact must be kept in mind that the revolutions here are more isolated and involve much less people than those in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and the use of Facebook is not so widespread, so the need for an online public sphere is not so acute. Twitter Twitter is a completely different social network; where Facebook has complexity and many different ways to communicate and organize, Twitter has only one – simplified messages shared with the entire world, no preferences given.While Facebook can hold an entire manifesto, Twitter is limited by its 140 characters for a single message (called â€Å"tweet†); it has no pictures or video service by its own but is forced to use third-party applications to achieve that functionality. For these reasons, even though it is the second biggest social network in the world, it has only a fraction of Facebook’s user count. The Arab countries make no exception: there are only 5 million Twitter users, and almost half of them are from the UAE that is the primary reason why it was never used as a primary tool for organizing protests or gathering supporters â€Å"in the field†.Yet, Twitter played an equally important role in the uprisings. Due to its simplicity, this network is extremely well-suited to use through smart phones and mobile devices; usually the content of user profiles is updated on hourly, if not minutely basis. For that reason, while Facebook was used in the long-term planning and announcements, Twitter was the â€Å"in-the-field† tool, which allowed fine coordination between the protesters. Furthermore, an even more important role played by Twitter was bringing information on the protests outside the countries where the uprisings took place.One of the first things the regimes did when the revolutions started was to suppress all possible media channels and prevent the proper covering of the events. For example, the reporters and crew of Al-Jazeera, which is deemed to be the biggest, and actually one of the few truly independent broadcasting media in the Arab World, were forbidden to enter the country the moment when the unrests started, and for that reason the television had to rely entirely on a network of â€Å"credible and reliable† people, who had previously assisted the media, tweeting and updating information from the scene of events on minutely basis.Thus, these â€Å"twitters† turned out to be the key so urce of information for the covering of the protests and the development of the events; in Tunisia, for example, reporters of many media were allowed free passage only after president Bin Ali stepped down. Finally, Twitter was also the place where all the supporters of the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the world were exchanging news, opinions and analyses; #Egypt (with reached over a 1 ? million mentions only in the first three months of 2011) was the most used hash tag for 2011, which denotes the events in Egypt as the most discussed topic worldwide.So, Twitter was also the place where the news was spread, and keeps being spread even today. It also served as platform of the liberation campaigns, which were previously carried mainly by blogs – a fresh example comes from October 2011 when Twitter was the main space where the campaign â€Å"Alaa took place†; it called for the liberation of an Egyptian blogger who was â€Å"held for questioning† by the temporary military rule for more than two weeks, but at the end was released under popular pressure. YouTubeThere is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words; if that is true, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. There is a reason why YouTube's own search engine is second only to Google’s in terms of daily searches, and videos can sometimes reach over a few million views in a few days – the so-called â€Å"viral video† phenomenon. Video materials from the period before and during the Arab Spring period make no exception to this rule: they accumulated a lot of attention. Technically, we can separate the videos from the period into two different categories.One is what I would call â€Å"propagandist† videos: usually very graphic videos, depicting actions of the regimes, like torture, murder of civilians, bribery etc. , which were distributed and uploaded by activists aiming to raise awareness of both the Arab public and the world audience about these issues ; an iconic example here is the story of Khalid Said himself ,who was dragged out by the authorities from an Internet cafe, while he was uploading a video showing a government official taking bribe.Often, such videos were driving force powerful enough to organize mass protests, unite and focus the will of the crowds – a good example of that is Syria, where, in the end of May, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing â€Å"The corpse of a 13-year-old boy who appears to have been sexually and physically tortured by Syrian security officials†. On the very next day, mass protests of women and children broke out in the entire country, ultimately leading to a counterattack by the Syrian army, which took 15victims, and thus escalating the conflict.A similar example comes from Tunisia: a video from the days following the beginning of the revolution, showing â€Å"Kasserine's hospital in chaos, desperate attempts to treat the injured, and a horrifying image of a dead you ng man with his brains spilling out, filmed by a medical student working in the hospital. The footage was so graphic that according to a member of Takriz â€Å"That video made the second half of the revolution† Rallying large number of people shocked both by the state of the patients and care offered in the state hospital and the brutality of the government attempts to suppress the protests.The popular videos from Egypt represent the other case, or what I call â€Å"journalistic â€Å"videos: footage from the protest itself, used as a channel of spreading information about the uprisings outside Egypt itself, which have gained relatively big popularity on YouTube; for example, a hobbyist video of the first day of protest has been watched over 600. 000 times, and even simple political analyses of the current situation made inside the country have reached over 300. 000 views.Such videos were also the main source of footage for many media, since those were prohibited from enter ing the â€Å"hot zones† or the countries whatsoever and taking any recordings of the events. That also worked the other way around – YouTube was the only way protesters could access the news coverage and analyses made by various media, which were otherwise banned in their countries, for example Al-Jazeera or BBC Miscellaneous The three websites discussed above are the channels with the biggest significance for the Arab Spring; it is impossible to enumerate all the various sites and connections used during the revolutions.Photographers, both media-employed and hobbyists, shared photos on sites like Flickr and 500px; discussions were carried out on boards like 4chan, and personal communication was carried out via peer-to-peer online services like Skype etc. Conclusion for Social Media While reviewing the role of social media in the Arab Spring, one fact is obvious – it is an over-exaggeration to state that â€Å"the media is the massage†. Regardless of the amplifying effect that social media gave to all that took place, the events were invariably based on a real-world fact which reverberated in the virtual space.Still, there are at least three main functions which social media performed during the Arab revolutions 1. ) Public sphere – it was the place where ideas were discussed, information was spread and through which public awareness was raised in the first place 2. ) Organizational space – it was where the uprisings were planned and an invaluable organizational tool during the protests; 3. ) Information source – it was the only way information could â€Å"leave† the countries and reach the world publicity and conventional media.The significance of social media consolidated by the fear with which they were treated by the pre-revolution regimes. Each of them, at some point, tried to sever the access to such sites, ultimately blocking the entire Internet access or even stopping cell phone service (in the c ase of Egypt). The regimes were afraid of a medium which they could not control, and, in the end, their fear turned out to be well-grounded: the dictators were ousted by the wrath of their peoples, â€Å"amplified through Facebook†.My personal opinion is that the Arab Spring is not going to be the last â€Å"Social network revolution†. There is a good reason why the leading figure of the unrests now taking place in Russia after the parliamentary elections, Alexei Navalny, is a well-known oppositional blogger, and the organization of the protest took place in Facebook; so did that of the currently popular â€Å"Occupy†¦ † movements happening all over the world. Who knows where the opposition is brewing the next uprising in their twitter personal messages†¦ The Ultimate Conclusion The Arab Spring was not a surprise.The surprise was why it took so long to come. Many reasons came together to produce these drastic developments: the refusal of the regimes to accept the principle of the transition of power through elections and their insistence on a monopoly on power, as well as corruption, poverty, unemployment and the marginalization of youth and ethnic groups. The young generation, which represents 70% of the population, was the common element in leading the revolutions in these countries, whereas the aged ruling leaders of these countries belonged to only 7% of the population.And finally, the collective awareness, as witnessed in Tunisia when a young man protested by setting himself on fire and when a youngster died in a police station in Egypt brought masses to the streets. Arab dictatorships ruled with an iron fist and disgraced their own people to the extent that their arrogance went far enough for them to believe that they could pass their reign by inheritance to their sons. Their countries’ resources were exploited as their own and were shared between their family members, relatives and friends, while their people were l eft in poverty and underdevelopment.The U. S. and Europe knew the reality of these regimes, but for their own interests cooperated with them and turned their eyes from their severe violations of human rights and democratic values. The Arab Spring cannot be compared with the European Spring in Eastern European countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Eastern Europe’s culture, mentality and proximity to Western European countries enabled a smooth change and transition there, while these elements do not exist in the rebelling Arab countries.We all know the results: Arab dictators in Yemen, Libya and Syria declared, â€Å"It’s either me or to hell with them† and launched a war against their own people. The war in Syria is still on; no one can predict its results, but one thing we can be sure of: The people broke the barrier of fear and came out in a massive protest that will not be turned back. Masses went out to the streets and public squares in a peaceful protest and civil disobedience. But the rulers confronted it with excessive power and violence, which led to a violent reaction from protestors, pushing some of them to seek foreign intervention.No one can predict where these revolutions are heading. They all are speaking about democracy, free elections, dignity, justice, human values, etc. But translating this into reality is another issue. So far, Libya, Yemen and Egypt have proven that this will not be an easy task. The U. S. and Western European countries fear a real change in the rebelling Arab countries which may threaten their interests and concerns, and are trying to contain these revolutions.The fact that these Arab countries control the world’s largest oil reserve, located in a central strategic junction between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and that any change may threaten the future existence of Israel can explain this. Many fears are expressed now by Arab intellectual circles about the fate of these revolutions which raised so many hopes in the beginning but soon faded as result of bloodshed, destruction and failure to make the transition to democracy smoothly and within a reasonable amount of time. The Arab Spring may not blossom soon.Good governance, transparency, democracy and rule of law have not been realized yet. Hatred and suspicion of the intentions of Western countries is growing. Conspiracy theories have become a fashion. Past experiences with the West and its relations with the former regimes are not forgotten but instead strengthens the fears that what’s going on is a new return of colonialism with new faces and new regimes. The Arab people have tried Western methods and values, and their bitter memories about their past cooperation with the former regimes are still fresh. The U.S. , the supposed leader of democracy, is losing its credibility due its double standard policy— calling for democracy and human rights for one people and denying it to another, by supporting the Israeli occupation and denying the Palestinians’ right to statehood. The recent position in the Security Council against Palestine’s membership in the UN is used as strong evidence of the U. S. ’ biased position against the Palestinians. The Arab revolutions are inspiring revolutions worldwide — even against the corruption and failure of the Western economic system.The double standard policy of the West, together with the failure of the Western system, discourages Arabs from adopting Western values, and has made them focus on the necessity of change. This change, for many people, could be achieved only by adopting the modern pragmatic Islamic approach. The Islamists seem to be the future. Whatever the U. S. or Europe may try to do to hinder this development, it will not succeed. Replacing the dictators of the past with new ones with the blessings of the West will not survive for long. The masses have learned their lesson and wil l not give up until they achieve their rights. S