American Government Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

American Government - Personal Statement Example In the United States, according to PLU (n.d.), President Bush has been an advocate of pro-outsourcing policies and supporter of free trade. The President believes that the country benefits from outsourcing in the long run although there are short-run disadvantages in the system. Bush’s administration calls the system as a new way of doing international business. Crisis created by outsourcing. The Heffner’s (2010) study said that over the past years, 3.7 million manufacturing job in the U.S. have been lost because the workers cannot compete with the rate of third world’s wages. For example, he cited the salary of an engineer in US is $100,000, while this amount is already equivalent of 3 engineers in the third world. Hemphil (n.d.) calculated the cost of IT and telecommunication work in US as $100 per hour while same work could be done in India or China at $20 per hour. Rees, 2004, an author of labor policies, said that the effect of outsourcing was felt by employ ees who lost their jobs, and to others who were forced to accept low paying jobs because of changes. There are also social costs and disadvantages caused by painful dislocations and separation of families. On the government side, the government tends to lose income taxes for jobs outsourced in other countries plus the investment and capital transferred elsewhere.

Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism Essay Example for Free

Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism Essay Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, three of the world’s most dynamic and ancient religions developed in India around the same time. Though each borrowed from, evolved because of, or came into conflict with each other: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism are more than religions, but cross-sections of an entire culture and time period. Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism have many a huge impact on eastern life as we know it. The interactions between humans and environment that these religions have had have been phenomenal. Jainism being the oldest of the three has 12-18 million followers(jaindharmonline.com). Jain migrated from India to other countries beginning with them migrating to Britain and British colonies. In the beginning, a number of â€Å"Gujarati† Jains migrated to coastal towns of East Africa and later moved inland, particularly to Kenya, to open businesses. The Jain community in India represents an affluent and influential minority of the population.Jains now mostly reside in north-east Africa. Buddhism, on the other hand, is the sixth largest religion by population. It has about 367 million followers and is7% of the worlds population(cia.gov). Buddhism spread along land routes of the Silk Road, it underwent profound change. There were great overland trade routes in those days and in later centuries too, that joined China even to the Mediterranean. Along these routes Buddhism spread to northwest India and beyond, along the east-west Silk Route. Hinnduisms origin is much more shrouded though, in terms of its religious development there are now two basic theories that attempt to explain how Hinduism first developed within India, and they both draw on the famous â€Å"ekam sat viprah bahudah vandanti verse† for their effectiveness. One suggests that at some time towards the end of the Indus Valley Civilization a group of nomadic people called the Aryans moved into northern India from the steppes of central Europe or even Asia Minor while the other theory suggests that Hinduism emerged out of India itself(Dasa). The beliefs for these three religions are mostly the same in essence, they were all founded on the beliefs of peace and prosperity. They are also known as â€Å"The Paths of Enlightenment†. Hinduism ,though believed by many to be a polytheistic religion, the basis of Hinduism is the belief in the unity of everything. This totality is called Brahman. The purpose of life is to realize that we are part of God and by doing so we can leave this plane of existence and rejoin with God. This enlightenment can only be achieved by going through cycles of birth, life and death known as samsara. Ones progress towards enlightenment is measured by his karma. This is the accumulation of all ones good and bad deeds and this determines the persons next reincarnation. Jainism has many similarities to Hinduism and Buddhism which developed in the same part of the world. They believe in karma and reincarnation as do Hindus, but they believe that enlightenment and liberation from this cycle can only be achieved through asceticism. In Buddhism, nirvana is freedom from the cycle of rebirth, when a being turns into a state of non-being, or Sunya, looses its identity and becomes nothing. These religions were all derived out of India which used the caste system for their government. The buildings made for these religions were all complex and amazing in nature. Buddhists temples were mostly built in natural environments, such as forests and tops of hills. Hindu temples were built in more urban environments and used red paints for most of their buildings and temples. And Jain temples were also built in more urban places and used beige and gold paints for their buildings and temples. These religions expanded in many different ways, they all originated in India, and started spreading throughout the world. The two that are most know today are Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism still has about 16 million followers though. Buddhist temples were built along the Silk Road for prayer for the travelers. Hindu kept most of their temples inside of India unlike the Jainist that moved to northern Africa. It spread outside of Magadha starting in the Buddhas lifetime, and with the reign of the Buddhist Mauryan Emperor Asoka, spread across Nepal straight down to China and all the way to Japan and became one of the dominant religions in these parts of Asia(Chung).Hinduism is a religion] of the Indian subcontinent of India, with 80.5% of the population identifying themselves as Hindus. The vast majority of Hindus in India belong to Vaishnavite and Shaivite denominations(Thompson Patts) As part of the reaction against Hinduism during its early years, Buddhism rejected the caste system and other forms of social stratification and instead set up an essentially egalitarian society. There are only two religiously important social groups: the monks, who have dedicated their lives to full time pursuit of religious goals, and everyone else. The monks, as a group, are called the sangha(uwacadweb.uwyo.edu). When the Aryans moved into northwest India, they imposed a caste system to organize the new society created by their arrival. The Hindus then put together a hierarchy of four varnas, which later was expanded to include a fifth category. The caste system, which the Hindus followed, initially served to maintain rigid social boundaries between the invaders and the previous inhabitants. By 80 A. D. the Jains were divided into two sects. The Svetambara or white clad live mainly in northern India today(Sprunger). They are more liberal in their interpretation of Mahavirals teaching regarding nudity and allow their monks to wear a white garment. Women are also allowed in their religion and monasteries accepting the possibility that they may find salvation(Sprunger).

The Blocking of Viber in Saudi Arabia

The Blocking of Viber in Saudi Arabia Mansour Alaithan Ali alakalifa INTRODUCTION What’s Viber ? Viber  is a app for instant messaging  also for Voice over IP  (VoIP) for smart phones  owned by Viber Media. Not only voice messaging but also users able send and receive images, video and audio media messages, Viber was founded by four  Israeli partners and they are Talmon Marco, Igor Megzinik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha. Viber Mediais registered as a Cyprus company in  Las Vegas  and its development centers located in Belarus  and  Israel. The foundeders of the company are Talmon Marco  and Igor Megzinik, who are friends from the  Israel Defense Forces. The company is running from Israel, with lot of the app’s developments outsourced to Belarus in order to lower labor-costs. It was founded in 2010, with the four Israeli co-owner of the company who have each increased their exploitation by more than 30 times on the startups $900 million sale to  Rakuten. What happened? In March Saudi government have warned encrypted messaging services like Viber and others that would be blocked if they don’t provided a means to be monitored. The head manager Marco had refused to provide the requested data to Saudi officials. It was expected that Vibers free voice calls and text messaging service is no longer working in Saudi Arabia is not entirely unexpected. Telecoms regulator of Saudi Arabia had warned them also warned Skype and WhatsApp .they would be blocked if they did not provide the date requested . Saudis and expatriates that lives in Saudi Arabia were prompted by this warning to protest against this move. Others started to censor their messages, in case they were already being monitored. The head manager told BBC that Saudi IPS and mobile operator begun to asking for information about the internal workings of the service a couple of months ago of that time . Circumventing the problem: Marco said Viber had faced the same problem of blocking the app in other county. There, he said he believed the motive was political, but in Saudi Arabia it was unclear whether commercial interests might also be at stake. Marco ( the head of the messaging application) Viber has said people in Saudi Arabia have had basic freedoms taken away, after his service was blocked there. So we face here a freedom of speech problem . The head manager Marco told the BBC he did not know the reason for the move, but that Viber would be restored soon. So this problem rises couple of question, like what is the meaning of freedom of speech, what are the limits and law in Saudi Arabia, and what the ethical issue did Viber rises by not providing information. what is the meaning of freedom of speech Freedom of speechis the civil right to connect ones opinions and ideas. The word freedom of expressionis occasionally used synonymously, but contains any act of seeking, getting and telling information or ideas, nevertheless the medium used. Rules restrict speech with varying limits. Common limits on speech relate to slander, libel,  obscenity,  sedition,  pornography, incitement,  fighting words,  classified information,  hate speech,  copyright violation,  trade secrets,  non-disclosure agreements,  right to be forgotten,  right to privacy, public security,  public nuisance,  public order, campaign finance reform  and  oppression. Whether these limits can be defensible under the harmbe contingent upon whether manipulating a third partys opinions or activities harmfully to the second party founds such harm or not. The words offense principle is also usedto grow the range of free speech limits to forbid forms of expression where they are measured offensive to people, different interest groups or persons. For example, freedom of speech is limited in many rules to broadly different grades bysystems, religiousor  incitement to ethnic or racial hatredrules. Privacy Privacy is the gift of an individual or group to separate themselves, or information about themselves, and thereby definite themselves selectively. The limits and content of what is measured private vary among cultures and individuals, but share common themes. When something is private to a person, it usually means that something is integrally special or sensitive to them. The domain of privacy partly overlays security, which can include the ideas of appropriate use, as well as defense of information. Privacy may also take the procedure of bodily integrity. The right not to be subjected to illegal invasion of privacy by the government, businesses or individuals is part of many countries privacy laws, and in some cases, compositions. Almost all countries have laws which in some way bound privacy. An example of this would be law concerning assessment, which normally require the distribution of information about personal income or earnings. In some countries individual privacy may clash with freedom of speech laws and some laws may need public expose of information which would be measured private in other countries and cultures. Privacy may be willingly sacrificed, normally in exchange for professed benefits and very often with exact dangers and losses, while this is a very strategic view of human relations. In the business world, a person may agree personal details (frequently for advertising purposes) in order to bet on winning a prize. Private information which is voluntarily shared but then stolen or misused can chief to identity theft. what are the limits and law in Saudi Arabia Human rights in Saudi Arabia are proposed to be created on the Hanbali Islamic religious laws under complete rule of the Saudi royal family. Saudi Arabia has a Counter-Radicalization Program the drive of which is to fight the spread and appeal of intemperate beliefs among the general populous and to impart the true values of the Islamic faith, such as tolerance and moderation. This tolerance and control has been termed into problem by The Baltimore Sun, based on the reports from Amnesty International regarding Raif Badawi. Speech, the press and other methods of communicative media, containing television and radio broadcasting and Internet reception, are actively censored by the government to prevent political opposition and anything deemed, by the government, to be offensive to the Wahhabi culture or Islamic morality. In 2008, a noticeable Saudi blogger and reformist Fouad al-Farhan was caged for posting comments online that were dangerous of Saudi business, religious and media figures, signifying a move by the government to step up its censorship polices of the Internet within its limits. Online social media has progressively come under government search for dealing with the forbidden topics. In 2010 a Saudi man was punished and given jail time for his sexually suggestive YouTube video making. That same year another man was also caged and ordered to pay a fine for arrogant about his sex life on television. And there is a lot of other examples happened with similar problems. It show that the low in Saudi Arabia does not tolerate any action that against the religion or the security of the country in anyway and allowing a free call like Viber and other that share tons of information without being monitor by the government is can cause an infringement of the rules in Saudi Arabia . That’s add a pros to the Saudi Arabia side that they have a right to ask for information. It’s the country rights to track down and search for crimes and protect the religions lows. But still one problem is the privacy of the people and that’s a pros in Viber side. So how this issue is unethical to privacy and what are the limits and the concept of privacy in Saudi Arabia Privacy in Saudi Arabia Data Safety under Shariah Values Shariah ethics protect each individual’s right to privacy and forbid any assaults thereon. In Shariah principles, revelation of secrets is forbidden except inter alia where the owner of the relevant secret agrees to such confession or if the public attention requires so. The Holy Qu’ran and the Sunnah do not specify a consequence for revelation of secrets; however, as clarified above, such release may be punishable by a value that a judge, in his discretion, deems right and fair. Such consequence may include a fine, imprisonment or scarcity of certain rights such as suspension of a practicing license. Data Protection under Saudi Arabian Law In general, there is no exact data protection law in KSA. Therefore, in the absence of specific necessities on data protection, Saudi Arabian courts and adjudicatory bodies will understand data privacy abuses under general Shariah principles, which are, as described above, often sent in general terms and afford courts and adjudicatory bodies huge discretion. We understand, however, that a new individual data protection law is under review by the Shura Council Discussions and Recommendations The Saudi government should have the right to protect its people and the whole system. Meanwhile the Viber wants to give the privacy to its user which is what people needs. Saudi Arabia follows the Shariah which proved the privacy to people , and that why it should and not block it just to monitor the users private message in KSA , and by return it and unblock the service , they’ve done the right thing . Conclusions Saudi Arabia tried to provide the security to people but did not puts in count the other basic fundamental right which is providing privacy to people. References: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-22806848 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viber#Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia#Freedom_of_press_and_communication Data Protection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Primer Noor Al-Fawzan and Omar Elsayed

The Great Gatsby Essay -- Literary Analysis, F. Scott Fitzgerald

In the 1920s the values and morals of the majority of America were changing from very conservative to extremely liberal. People became more interested in what benefited them most, while disregarding what the cost would be. This is what essentially gave this era the title of â€Å"The Roaring Twenties†. The total rebellion of people changing from having a great set of morals and values to being corrupt and materialistic entirely reshaped the start of this era. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Nick Carraway to show the worldly view of what good values and morals should be against the skewed values of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway is portrayed by Fitzgerald as a small town guy from the Middle West that, while purpose-driven, isn’t focused as much on being wealthy as being successful. This is very evident when Nick’s new house is introduced. He describes it by saying, My house was an eye-sore, but it was a small eye-sore and had been overlooked so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor’s lawn and the consoling proximity of millionaires – all for eighty dollars a month (Fitzgerald 9-10). Nick knows he does not have the biggest and best house on the block, and he doesn’t really care. He takes pride in the fact that he is making away for himself and getting to live in a first class neighborhood. Harold Bloom supports this when he says, â€Å"Compared to Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Nick has modest means and modest desires† (1). These quotes both back up the fact that Nick is not a money-craving American. He is content with where he is in his life. Nick was also taught to be non-judgmental and to use his mind to succeed. The readers see this when Nick repeats father’s is advise when he is younger an... ...ay the wide difference between good and right morals and values of the 1920s and corrupt and superficial morals and values of that era. The â€Å"Roaring Twenties† was becoming full of people that are focused solely on satisfying their own wants and desires, instead of what would propel them further in life. The world had just gotten out of a war and was enjoying every minute of its life. It was a total change from people who had been extremely conservative, always living life by the book, to a whole new generation of liberals who would change the way Americans lived their life. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a great example of the diversity of values at that time. He made sure to include every criteria, from old money to new money, humbleness and pride, and true love versus love for money, these are all aspects that help to form a persons morals and values.

Response Journal for “Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro Essay

Alice Munro’s â€Å"Boys and Girls† tries to view a young girl’s rite of passage into womanhood, through a limited feminist perspective. The narrator battles with conformity on a 1940’s Canadian Fox Farm. As this time period was still centred on male dominance, her desire to become a powerful woman wastes away when she finally submits to the rules that society has imposed on her. The story is written in first person narration and is seen through the eyes of a young and free-spirited girl. The themes of this story are self-discovery, stereotypes, and rebellion. To portray these themes, literary devices such as allusion, similes and situational irony were used. Allusion is present in the line â€Å"his favourite book in the world was Robinson Crusoe,† as the author attempts to portray the father’s inventive nature by relating it to a well-known novel. Similes can be seen in the narrator’s descriptions of her environment as she states that the â€Å"snowdrifts curled around the house like sleeping whales,† to bring to attention the howling of the winds. Situational irony is evident throughout the story because the narrator despises her mother for being a woman and working in the house, but in the end, she too develops into a woman and takes on the roles of the title. This story of inequality between the sexes appropriately opens with a detailed account of the narrator’s father. The narrator describes every aspect of her father’s life, including his occupation, and even his friends. Throughout this first part of the story, the narrator’s mother is virtually inexistent, outside her disapproval of her husband’s pelting business. The reader is left uncertain about the mother’s whereabouts, but is aware that the father figure is somewhat of an idol in the narrator’s mind. As a young girl, the narrator, holding on to her carefree spirit and strong sense of individualism, is unaware of the constraints of her gender. Although she is the main character, the narrator is not given a name. This seems to enhance her lack of purpose in society, and stresses that the attitude of the narrator is not that of just one woman, but women in general. Munro’s decision to allow the narrator to remain nameless assists in the progress and significance of the character. The narrator’s brother, however, is given the name of Laird. Synonymous with â€Å"lord,† the boy’s name plays an important role in outlining the rules society has forced upon the narrator. This name symbolizes society’s favouritism towards men, and how the male child was superior in the eyes of the parents. The fact that the narrator remained anonymous, whilst her brother was given the name of Lord, signifies the difference between the sexes at the time. It is quite odd that Munro used the girl to portray the feelings of female stereotyping of this story. Munro captures the attention of her audience through the lines, â€Å"It was an odd thing to see my mother down at the barn. She did not often come out of the house unless it was to do something- hang out the wash or dig potatoes in the garden.† These lines are full of sexism and serve only to relay the common roles that women were forced into. Although aware that the girl would much rather spend time with her father, the family constantly attempts to encourage her to act as a proper girl should. The fact that the narrator idolizes her father, just provides further proof of her strive to gain equality. As the girl grows older, the pressure from her family becomes more intense. The narrator’s grandmother comes off as the perfect example of the how women were thought of at the time. Having been raised in a time where the rules imposed on women were even stricter, the grandmother best voices what the attitude of a girl should be. The narrator, however, refuses to listen to the advice offered to her, and responds with defiance. The girl still seems to believe that if she does not conform to society’s rules, she can hold on to her freedom and will somehow be able to escape with her individuality. It is only through the killing of the horse, Flora, that the narrator finally assumes her appropriate gender roles and enters her rite of passage. To help Flora escape her inevitable fate, the narrator leaves the gate open. It seems as though the narrator believed that it was the gate that held Flora back from the freedom she was entitled to. Flora, however, could never escape her fate and was eventually caught and killed. Through Flora’s death,  the narrator comes to realize that her acts of disobedience will always be in vain because her fate is unavoidable. The gate symbolizes the girl’s hope of liberation outside of the farm. The war against society could not be won, so she gives up and proceeds to help her mother with dinner. By assuming the roles of a woman, she completes her rite of passage into womanhood. The killing of Flora also leads to Laird’s rite of passage, though in his case this is the cause of different reasoning. Whereas the narrator learns that she cannot escape her fate, Laird visualizes a new life for himself. He reaches maturity by priding himself in his kill, symbolized by the horse’s blood. He boasts to his mother about the blood on his arm, and feels as though he is finally man enough to stand beside his dad. This is part of the symbolism behind the name â€Å"Boys and Girls,† as the contrasting natures of the two children are portrayed. In order to advance her feminist viewpoint, Munro touches upon only the minor aspects of the female stereotypes. She focuses on the girl’s newfound interest for fashion, beauty and decor to portray her femininity, rather than the harsher traits that were frequently placed on women. The author uses this limited feminism to stress the fact that this protest and change were the actions of a mere child that had not yet seen the full effects of prejudice. When taking into consideration the time period and setting, it can be clearly understood why the narrator and her brother both conformed to their gender-specific roles. As the world entered into the Second World War, women replaced their husbands in the workforce and started gaining recognition. However, because this story takes place in the rural side of Canada, the war’s social impact does not seem to have yet reached this area. The narrator’s mother being just a simple housewife causes the narrator to have a negative bias towards her, illustrating how women are looked down upon by society. Through her ultimate disapproval of her father’s inhumane occupation, the narrator reveals a side that is driven by emotion. Her concern for the helpless animal’s well-being displays her affectionate and loving character. Alice Munro’s story of â€Å"Boys and Girls† is an enlightening tale of the struggle that each child undergoes in discovering their own identity. The author insists throughout the story that the narrator’s acceptance of her place in society is influenced by her family and setting. Her resistance is useless because she has no choice but to conform into a proper woman. She is forced to hide her yearning for individualism in order to be socially acceptable. Current literature uses the feminist approach to convey the views of oppressed women, but Munro’s use of the limited amount of feminism allows the reader to make up their own opinion on the matter.

Celebrity Culture Sociology Essay Sample

Celebrity Culture Sociology Essay Sample The Celebrity Culture Sociology Essay The Celebrity Culture Sociology Essay The celebrity culture continues to be elevated significantly. The culture, which according to Marshall (2006) involves the elevation of personalities into the public limelight, has become deeply entrenched in societies, which is partly so due to the role played by it in the mass media. In the past, avenues such as TV and radio stations were the most popular channels. However, in the present times, technology has opened its doors for the use of social media to propagate the culture in various ways. The current paper explores para-social interaction, celebrity status and political power, van Krieken’s celebrity society, new social media, celebrities, as well as religion and celebrities. Para-Social Interaction Among the most notable features of the new mass media is the face-to-face illusion created by the performing artists. The circumstances of responses to the celebrities are comparable to those across primary groups (Donald, Wohl 2006). Thus, viewers perceive the illustrious artists as if they are within the same sphere. Hence, the para-social relationship is defined by the personal association that the new mass media creates. For example, if looking at television shows, the image that is presented relies on appearance and gesture nuances which capture attention of ordinary social imaginations. In the above mentioned instances, actors often face spectators and employ directness in addressing or talking. The approach influences the latter into thinking that they are directly engaged, at a personal level. On its part, the audience responds by actively participating in the shows through subtle insinuations. The process goes on, as performers alter their behaviours to suit their audiences , and vice versa. The conversational simulacrum, involving ‘give and take’, constitutes para-social interaction (Donald, Wohl 2006). Such interactions are not subject to sense, effort and responsibility governance on the audience. Spectators are free to withdraw from engagement any moment. However, if the involvement continues, the relationship provides a framework for adding some fantasy. Differences are encountered based on experiences which often demonstrate the lack of reciprocity, although the audience can do nothing about the concern. The audience is also at a disadvantage because it can only withdraw from engagements, if unsatisfied. In the present times, programs full of celebrity rumors keep increasing. In such shows, petty issues form the agenda for discussion. Surprisingly, large numbers of people are addicted to following the programs for entertainment or to catch up on fashion trends. In this regard, the social relationship conveys a message that largely centers on challenging social norms. Thus, individuals who feel that the time has come to escape from the confines of routine are more likely to find the shows attractive. In the case of radio and TV, the persona reflects archetypal indigenous individual of the scene that the media presents (Donald, Wohl 2006). Besides attempting to portray the character as familiar and intimate, pervasiveness and closeness are also thoroughly put into consideration. Surprisingly, such personae claim they have intimacy with crowds, comprising of strangers. Hence, the intimacy is an imitation that is aimed at satisfying the protracted goals. Nevertheless, the high number of recipients seems happy about the association. The fact that the members who form the audience are invited using some informal channels show that celebrities are interested in ‘deceiving’ them into believing that they are relating at a personal level. Thus, through the creation and enhancement of fantasy, celebrities are in a position to generate many followers who ensure that the culture is sustained. The intimacy bond is integral for the development of a personal relationship between the celebrity and audience (Donald, Wohl 2006). The bottom-line lies in the creation of an intimacy illusion, since the relationship between the two parties is definitely one-sided. In creating the illusionary image, the persona duplicates gestures and conversational styles that are visible only in face-to-face encounters. The trend accounts for the high level of casualness that invitations of concerts take. The idea is to create an impression among fans that they are engaged personally. Similarly, spectators maintain small talks that demonstrate that indeed the connection is individual-based. Celebrity Status Political Power Both social and political fields keep changing with time. In the present times, celebrities are using their popularity or elevated images to influence public opinion. Given the high level of fame that such personalities enjoy, their public utterances on various issues normally alter the way the public assesses matters proposed or supported by politicians (Merkel 2013). It is apparent that celebrities have the public attention. Hence, when they raise objections to matters affecting the people, chances of swaying opinions increase significantly. Despite the growing influence of celebrities, it is arguable that their power does not match that of politicians in shaping public opinion on governance issues. On the contrary, celebrities seem to hold more power regarding social matters, such as fashion. Nevertheless, their role in politics continues to rise. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most notable celebrities who have managed to take their influence from the celebrity status to publ ic office. The need for information is central towards the decision whether celebrities should play a role in politics. Given that information is useful in decision-making, the public needs its possession to arrive at sound choices. However, not all the individuals are equally informed. As a result, such persons are likely to make poorly deliberated decisions and celebrities emerge and influence them. However, such occurrences always happen, given the fact that high levels of apathy continue to affect many democracies. The implication is that the influence from celebrities on politics is growing in stature, although it might not inform audiences on what is right. In practice, celebrity figures are more likely to support their friends, instead of important issues or principles. However, in cases where celebrities base their support for issues on principle, they are likely to have a significant influence on politics. Another concern is that celebrity influence might deny a common person of a chan ce to assess issues being addressed by blindly taking the position being supported by the popular stars (Merkel 2013). Taking into consideration that a big percentage of people do not follow political debates, they are highly likely to take similar positions of those taken by celebrity figures. The connection between celebrities and politics lies on the former’s ability to provoke both positive and negative reactions on social and political matters. However, sometimes they exploit their statuses to access certain provisions or privileges, as well as support from political figures in a bid to further their personal political activism. According to Merkel (2013), celebrity power is viewed in terms of the possessions of popular personalities that allow them to form social capital that they use when engaging the public. Owing to the power that celebrities have, they are able to publically tangle in hegemonic negotiations and struggles. Celebrities are constructions that are maintained through a combination of industry promotional activities and subordinates, such as people. In the absence of the two categories, celebrities cannot exist. The author proposes the need to investigate how celebrities influence audiences in creating meaning and understanding issues under discussion. In his observations Merkel (2013) claims that through their social status, politicians have found that star personalities are useful in creating a certain image on voters. The development explains the preference for such figures in political campaigns and other political activities. Van Krieken’s Celebrity Society Van Krieken (2012) has explored the celebrity society. According to van Krieken (2012), celebrity figures attract wide attention from the media (films, internet, books, magazines and television). The above author observes that the emergency of modernity is central to the rise of a new crop of star figures who are dominating social life. van Krieken (2012) also demonstrates that, as a culture, celebritism is beyond the Hollywood activities, given that it is a long-running historical process that started with art, theatre and print press. By looking outside the precincts of the existing accounts of the celebrity culture, van Krieken (2012) focused on the constantly changing social structures and practices. Further, van Krieken (2012) assesses moral grammar, political economy, legal order, and the construction of self-identity based on attention, recognition and distribution of visibility. The author explains that the contemporary celebrity culture is a product of the court society which emerged after the democratization of a number of functions that were carried out by the aristocracy/ruling class. Similarly, van Krieken (2012) observes that the ‘economics of attention’ has risen to play a significant role in the development of the celebrity society. Attention is proving to be critical and valuable in the current information/digital age. In the court society, social associations are structured on the lines of the princely or royal system that was dominant across Europe in the Middle Ages. The court society presented a form of social organization that placed some individuals on top of others. The emergency of alternative leadership to aristocracy placed an emphasis on hard work, rather than ascription. Despite all the attempts to bring rationality to social life, bourgeois which was the alternative leadership failed to accomplish the mission, as anticipated, given some form of irrationality remained as reflected in celebrity worship. With the advancement in information technology and the development in social media, a show-off culture has developed among people all over the world. In particular, the young generations have sunk into the habit of sharing their new possessions on platforms, such as Instagram. Star figures, on such avenues, enjoy massive following. As a result, it is easy to find celebrities positing their activities and items on the sites from time to time. Through acts of this nature, the culture of consumerism is supported and taken to a new level. Van Krieken (2012) argued that although the concept of culture has its virtues, it lacks adeptness unless given a particular and an unusual definition. The author cites the inability to capture aspects that go beyond values, attitudes, behavior, ways of life, and cognitive orientations in order to understand economic, social and political structures and institutional bases of experience, such as what emanates from the celebrity customs. Reasoning alongside celebrity lines tends to demonstrate that a given obsession about a select class of people in the society. Although acknowledging that celebrity is a politically institutionalized phenomenon, van Krieken (2012) argued that social structuring is also critical towards understanding the assigning, distribution and organization of the status. In essence, van Krieken (2012) sees the celebrity culture as an institutionalized social life. New Social Media and Celebrities Without a doubt, social media has emerged as a leading contributor to the glorification of the celebrity culture. The media uses its ability to set and dictate agendas to thrust celebrities into the public domain. As a result, it is not surprising that social media has radically brought the culture into focus. Despite a number of issues taking place at a time, stories on tabloids and magazines gravitate on celebrity life, as observed by North, Bland Ellis (2005). It is fascinating that instead of concentrating on issues affecting tangible issues, media outlets are attentive to the celebrity syndrome. However, celebrity coverage remains trivial, and it also lacks in substance. For example, informing society about the clothes that a musician adorns amounts to pure trivia. In the present times, the celebrity culture has become tied to the new social media. The relationship between the two parties is mutually beneficial and, sometimes, destructive. The celebrity culture is profoundly entrenched in the media, such that in the absence of the latter, the former ceases to exist. By running constant updates about celebrity persons, the media attracts many followers. In the current times, having a big numbers of flowers enhances the ability of an entity to secure sales and marketing contracts. As a result, a lot of followers are beneficial both to celebrities and social media, as the relationship between the parties helps in to generate revenue. Apart from benefits, such as those listed above, some downsides are witnessed as well. In particular, the media always keeps a close check on celebrity figures, such that the individuals in question lack the freedom to go about their daily lives without scrutiny. Moreover, the media seems to be more focused on negativ e stories than productive ones. The media does not worry about criticism, so longer is generates viewer or visitor traffic. Although almost all celebrities can thank the media for the role it plays in elevating them into stardom, such personalities can also raise their concerns about the role of such avenues in bringing them down. Figures, such as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, are examples of the role of both the media in undermining artists. Taking Spears as an example, she was labeled a sensational figure but once her career nosedived, the same media began tearing her apart. In practice, it is commonly remarked that, â€Å"no publicity is bad publicity†. However, negative publicity is only productive if the star in question is viewed as a product. Thus, social media will carry stories to generate traffic on their sites. By sensationalizing stories, the media is able to create content and attract visitors with the intention of elevating its position as a largely visited site. The overall aim is to convince marketers that such a platform is the best tool to reach a high number of existing and potential customers. Such a culture perpetuates commercial imperialism because social media outlets do not pay attention to the feelings of the celebrities. On the contrary, generation of revenue is what matters for the media platforms. It appears that at the personal level, the relationship between the media and celebrities is not necessarily positive, although the association between the two in a commercial sense is largely satisfactorily. Religion and Celebrity The relationship between religion and celebrity culture emerges based on a number of observations. Citing Emily Durkheim, Marshall (2006) observed that religion’s power to unite a community was influential because it provided what he termed as collective effervescence (state of excitement). However, the role of religion dwindles as morality centered on individualism advances. The equilibrium principle sets into operation to counterbalance the changes in order to ensure stability when the place of religion comes under threat in societies. Accordingly, it is a rational development that a decline in the influence of religion results in a new development that is based on celebrity worship. As it was mentioned above, religion generates an effervescence feeling in people. Thus, in the face religion’s declining power, star performers in various fields rise to fill the void left. Academic studies have shown that celebrity culture is assuming the place of religion. Arguing based on research, Arnould and Thompson (2005) found that the DNA structuring of human beings predisposed them to be social beings. As pointed earlier, religion’s primary role is to provide leadership, an aspect that coincides with the human nature of following. Based on the above account, following star performers is a natural process for people, since celebrities are individuals who have excelled in different spheres of life. In the eyes of the audiences/followers, the artists who scale high levels of success in life are worthy emulating. This is the case because they are viewed as role models. Hence, it is arguable that celebrity worship is similar to religion because the two play the same function of providing leadership about life. Ideally, religion should provide leadership regarding what individuals are expected to do (McCutcheon, Scott, Arugate and Parker 2006). Conventionally, religion shaped people’s lives, given that it provided values and norms for people to abide by. Celebrity figures have also taken the role, since a big percentage of their followers focus on matching their lives. Thus, it is arguable that celebrity worship equates to religion. McCutcheon, Scott, Arugate and Parker (2006) observed that historically, societies always collected in crowds to follow those viewed as capable of leadership. As a result, celebrity worship has existed from ancient times, just as religion did. However, nowadays, the media has blown the issue out of proportion. Regardless of such variations, it is apparent that the culture of celebrity worship competes with that of religion, given that both attempt to provide guidelines on leading life. Evolutionary biology is also among the fields that assist in demonstrating the connection between celebrity culture and religion. Referring to evolutionary biology, McCutcheon, Scott, Arugate and Parker (2006) observed that human beings always aspire to emulate people who do excel in a given fields. Such a trend was present even during prehistoric times, as individuals who outperformed others earned respect. For instance, successful hunters were viewed as heroes. However, following the end of the significance of such practice, their prowess lost value. In the current times, people count on top performers whom they rank as role models. Fundamentally, its performance is a major factor in evaluating the contribution of people. In conclusion, it is held that religion and celebrity culture have many similarities, although the latter seems to be on an upward trend while the former is on a decline.

Free Essays on Exploratory Essay

When I first started reading â€Å"Into the Wild,† I thought to myself, â€Å"Why exactly is this boy leaving everything that he knew and loved to go on this journey?† Put himself in complete danger by hitchhiking his way ALONE to Alaska. He gave up all of his possessions and the $25,000 that he had saved up to charity. What was the point? In the end, it shows that the only way that this story could’ve turned out, was him lying dead and decomposing and found by a moose hunter. How else could the story have turned out besides that way? McCandless had nothing. Nothing at all, nothing to support himself in any way whatsoever. In the beginning of this book, there is an author’s note, basically telling everyone the story plot and what will, in the end, happen to this young man on his way to â€Å"living off the wild.† It tells his real name, Christopher Johnson McCandless, also, it tells that he had given $25,000 in saving to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Chris McCandless came from what most people would like to call a â€Å"well-to-do† family on the East Coast. The boy was probably no more than 19 years old, but was on his way to a life of his own by hitchhiking to Alaska into the wilderness. He graduated from Emory University in the summer of 1990, but shortly afterwards; McCandless was not seen for quite some time by his family and peers. He had invented a new life for himself by now wandering across North America in search of himself. His family had no idea where he was or even where to start looking. McCandless was a stubborn young man and did not mesh well with what was considered modern society. He was captivated by the writings of Leo Tolstoy. He admired how the great novelist had a life of wealth and privilege. Chris McCandless was out in the wilderness for sixteen weeks. In the end, he was found by a moose hunter, dead... Free Essays on Exploratory Essay Free Essays on Exploratory Essay When I first started reading â€Å"Into the Wild,† I thought to myself, â€Å"Why exactly is this boy leaving everything that he knew and loved to go on this journey?† Put himself in complete danger by hitchhiking his way ALONE to Alaska. He gave up all of his possessions and the $25,000 that he had saved up to charity. What was the point? In the end, it shows that the only way that this story could’ve turned out, was him lying dead and decomposing and found by a moose hunter. How else could the story have turned out besides that way? McCandless had nothing. Nothing at all, nothing to support himself in any way whatsoever. In the beginning of this book, there is an author’s note, basically telling everyone the story plot and what will, in the end, happen to this young man on his way to â€Å"living off the wild.† It tells his real name, Christopher Johnson McCandless, also, it tells that he had given $25,000 in saving to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Chris McCandless came from what most people would like to call a â€Å"well-to-do† family on the East Coast. The boy was probably no more than 19 years old, but was on his way to a life of his own by hitchhiking to Alaska into the wilderness. He graduated from Emory University in the summer of 1990, but shortly afterwards; McCandless was not seen for quite some time by his family and peers. He had invented a new life for himself by now wandering across North America in search of himself. His family had no idea where he was or even where to start looking. McCandless was a stubborn young man and did not mesh well with what was considered modern society. He was captivated by the writings of Leo Tolstoy. He admired how the great novelist had a life of wealth and privilege. Chris McCandless was out in the wilderness for sixteen weeks. In the end, he was found by a moose hunter, dead...

Virgina and kentucky resolutions; hartford convention essays

Virgina and kentucky resolutions; hartford convention essays During the late 1700's in the United States, there were many concerns over the Constitution, and how America's government should operate. In the federalists papers; which were a series of essays on the constitution, James Madison had arguments on factions and majority tyranny. Madison believed that in order to survive as a country, the government should avoid factions and In Federalists papers number ten, James Madison argued that the United States government should avoid majority tyranny and factions. Factions are a section of a certain political group; or a small group of people who have common view points on specific subjects. Factions usually work against the general public's interest and violate the rights of others. Madison would have preferred that factions would be abolished altogether, but he realized that it was impossible to do so, because as Madison stated there are only two ways to abolish factions; and that is to destroy people's liberties, and give all citizens of the United States the same opinions, interest's and passions. Those two ways are impervious, since there will always be some disagreement between citizens, and if people's liberties are destroyed, then so would our form of government. Therefore Madison concluded that the only way to deal with factions would be to face their effects, and try to protect the people and the government as much as could be done. Madison argued that the best form of government to handle factions the way they should be handled, would be to have a large republican government. With a republican government factions would be weaker, and it would be easier for direct democracies to contain their strength; a republic would have interests checking each other so that the American citizens would not be divided into rich and poor groups. This would guarantee citizens both security and liberty. ...

Mission Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Mission Statements - Essay Example The company feels left out somewhere- it is difficult to pin down exactly where it has missed out. Gradually slipping on share of voice in the market, top of mind recall, may not be slipping yet in terms of volumes. The channels are perfectly fine; the products are superior, and the sales team has consistently performed well as per defined parameters. The company has some of the best talent in the verticals they address through their services, and has forged excellent strategic alliances with the best developers, production houses. A committed team of professionals form the Board of Directors. Keeping in mind the findings of the organizational audit and the dipstick customer audit, we need to realign our strategies for product development and selling through an appropriate marketing strategy which redefines our passion and extends it beyond on the ground activities and convinces our customers of the value differential. While advertising may introduce the product, other forms of communication like below the line activities, direct marketing, viral marketing, network marketing have to be initiated to complement it and create the required

Workplace diversity Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Workplace diversity - Term Paper Example enowned consumer product leader, and its products are widely used by about 4.4 billion consumers around the globe with its portfolio of quality and trusted consumer products and some of its famous products are Pampers, Whispers, Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Gillette and Duracell. P&G has present operations in about 80 nations, and its brands are available in more than 180 nations around the world. Established in the year 1837, its reported revenue in the year 2011 was about $82,559 million and its employee strength was reported as 129,000 in the year 2012. This research essay will analyse the significance given to diversity in the P&G by Alan George Lafley during his tenure as CEO of the company between 2000 and 2010. In his young age, A.G. Lafley earned his graduation from Fenwick High School, which is situated in Oak Park, Illinois and also got his A.B from† Hamilton College in 1969†. He underwent a doctoral program in the 1970 at the University of Virginia and during the Vietnam War, he worked as the supply officer with the U.S Navy. Then, he underwent† M.B.A program at Harvard Business School and received his M.B.A in 1977.† Upon his graduation, he was recruited by Proctor & Gamble (P&G) as trainee, and later he rose to the position of Chairman, President and Chief Executive of P&G in June 2000 and retired from P&G in 2010. As assistant brand manager for Joy dishwashing soap, Alan George Lafley joined the P&G in the year 1977. He was promoted as CEO of P&G in the year 2000, from that of the head of North America operations after many successful years of service in P&G due to the resignation of his predecessor Durk Jager. When Lafley became CEO, P&G has become a reputed company that marketed more than 300 brands in over 140 nations around the globe thereby actively spotlighting on resolving the requirements of its very diverse stakeholder’s demands. Thus, Lafley’s commitment to P&G diversity initiatives has brought credit to the organization both

Threats and Challenges of Walmart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Threats and Challenges of Walmart - Essay Example When Mike Duke took over as Chief Executive Officer in 2009, he faced more challenges from the inside and the outside. In 2009, Lee Scott announced his retirement from the company he had reined for years. During Lee’s stint, he overcame internal and external foes by transforming the company and dragged it â€Å"into the 21st century from its clannish roots† (Kapner, 2009). Under Mike Duke, Wal-Mart has a new strategy of doing business with the public and with its suppliers: it wants to sell and deliver environmentally friendly products and serve the public with the least environmental impact that it could have and do. Moreover, Wal-Mart wants to transport the products from suppliers so that it could cut costs and save more for its stores (Burritt, et al., 2010). Vice-president for corporate transportation, Kelly Abney, says that with lower costs they would have increased sales. The strategy is to take over transportation service from companies that produce the goods – Wal-Mart believes it could do it more efficiently while allowing the companies just to produce the goods for them. In this sense, manufacturers would pay Wal-Mart for the transportation through lower wholesale prices. More savings means more sales for Wal-Mart and low prices for the customers. Wal-Mart had done this before and saved $200 million by packing and scheduling efficiently its fleet of trucks (Burritt, et al., 2010). With the new strategy, Wal-Mart can use contractors and its own vehicles in picking up products directly from manufacturers’ facilities. Wal-Mart can save more time in delivery with this new strategy. The problem in this new strategy is the economies of scale that it will create. According to Randy Huffman, a former Wal-Mart executive, the move will have an adverse reaction on other manufacturers, but this will be beneficial on the part of the customers.

Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues - Assignment Example Nevertheless, there are three things I have learned from the lecture of Nokes. One of these is that the claims to the negative effects of fluoride on the human body – weakening of bones, Down syndrome, Cancer, birth defects, reproductive effects, renal and gastrointestinal effects, lower IQ, and other bone disorders – basically have no scientific bases (Nokes). Moreover, these claims may have only been due to traditional knowledge about the harmful effects of fluoride as a raw material and in large amounts. I have also learned from this that I should not believe advertisements or negative propaganda or any type right away. Furthermore, I believe that the best thing to do with something confusing is to deal with it in a logical way, specifically by using â€Å"What, Why, When, How, Where, Who† (Nokes). Through this logical investigation on fluoridation as explained by Nokes, one can find out that much of the claims that other people have against fluoride are actua lly unsubstantiated by scientific evidence and logic. The second thing I have learned is that the potential harm from fluoride is least likely to happen because although fluoride can be harmful in large amounts, the government has set a limit to this. This limit is actually a standard value at 0.01 g/mL while the actual amount of fluoride added by the city government to water is 0.001 g/mL. This is just a mere 10% of the actual threshold value, which means that it is impossible that the fluoride will ever cause any harm. However, I would still like to think that the harm that fluoride causes may not exactly depend solely on the amount. Sometimes, I would like to think that fluoride is like acid that no matter what the amount, it will cause some damage to the material. The third thing I have learned from Nokes’ lecture is that just a small amount of fluoride is added to the water and that even this amount relative to water is much smaller in concentration. For example, althoug h fluoride is 134,000 mg in 1 kilogram of the HFA compound, this seemingly large amount of fluoride actually only translates as 7.46 x 10-6 kg/L when mixed with water (Nokes). This means that water is a great neutralizer of chemicals as it is the universal solvent. The fluoride in water therefore, if water fluoridation is to be carried out soon, is definitely much lower than what can possibly cause any harm. However, as what I have explained earlier, sometimes some chemical reactions may kill someone regardless of the amount of the reactants involved. This means that a small amount of fluoride may actually still cause some harm which is just as intense as when it is caused by fluoride above safe levels. Moreover, sometimes I would like to think that some damage caused by fluoride may accumulate in the human body as more and more fluoride is being ingested through fluoridated water. Furthermore, there could also be some complications that will take some time before it can take effect as a disease. In fact, although I am convinced by Nokes’ lecture, he did not shed light on all the aspects of the fluoridation of water. I would therefore like to suggest that there should be a more thorough investigation of the case of the fluoridation of water in Hamilton City. All aspects should be answered especially those involved in the

Web-based system Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Web-based system - Research Paper Example First, in a relational table, the rows should always be distinct. Second, the values in the column should not be repeating groups or allays. Examples of relational database systems include MySQL, MS SQL Server, and PostgreSQL(Ticknor and Corcoran, 2011). The traditional way where databases were just one long text files known as tab delimited file was very tedious because the user had to search through the whole file in order to get the required data. However, relational databases make it very easy to find information and sort it according to field and produce reports that have only the required fields. Also, they help the user to compare data quickly due to the arrangement of information in columns, which helps relational database to build new tables from the information available on the existing tables. Moreover, relational databases are flexible since different tables with data can be manipulated easily by operators according to their needs (Ticknor and Corcoran, 2011). The security control, as well authorization can be easily implemented by moving certain attributes in a table into a different relation that has its own authorization controls among others. However, relational databases tend to have low performance especially in if the tables are large and many. They also consume a lot of physical storage and they extract data meaning quite slowly. A non relational database refers to a database that does not integrate the table/key model, which is promoted by the relational databases. They require manipulation of data processes and the applied techniques provide solutions to big data solutions mainly faced by large companies. The main examples of relational database systems include NoSQL and MongoDB. O’Brien and Marakas (2011) point out that non-relational databases are mainly incorporated into websites like Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon. However, although relational databases have

ETHICS (PLATO) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ETHICS (PLATO) - Assignment Example In this sense, Plato believed that circles would still exist even if mathematics did not help us draw them. Plato believes that there is an inherent and unseen world where truth, justice, and beauty are eternal and non-altering. In this view, Plato gives credence to the concept of an ideal world just as Christianity proposes heaven. In the idea of heaven, Christianity asserts that people can perfect their behavior by emulating Christ thereby earning the privilege of staying in heaven. Heaven is an ideal place whereby there is eternal happiness and no injustice to individual. Individuals, therefore, exist in an uninterrupted harmony. Although this ideal contains some deal of similarity with Plato’s ideas, it differs in the sense that it does adequately endorse thinking. Plato believes that the mind is the only way of reaching the ideal world. This theory correlates the theory of forms that postulate a dual word. This suggests two levels of knowledge and two levels of reality. Plato defines a form as an abstract quality or property. For instance, when a person removes the property of an object, such as color, from the object, then the color becomes a form of an object. For instance, when a person separates the red color of a tomato from the tomato, the red color is perceived as a form. The existence of such a quality, the form, is independent of the existence of any object. In turn, objects copy the existence of forms. For example, a tomato copies the form of redness. It is essential to highlight the properties of forms in order to adequately understand their relevance in truth and justice. To begin with, forms are transcendent because they do not occur in space and time. In addition, a form is a pure property, which is separated from other qualities. In this sense, a form has an independent existence that does not rely o n the existence of other forms nor objects. On the other hand, a material and observable object is a combination of forms.

Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fluoridation and Toxicity Issues - Assignment Example Nevertheless, there are three things I have learned from the lecture of Nokes. One of these is that the claims to the negative effects of fluoride on the human body – weakening of bones, Down syndrome, Cancer, birth defects, reproductive effects, renal and gastrointestinal effects, lower IQ, and other bone disorders – basically have no scientific bases (Nokes). Moreover, these claims may have only been due to traditional knowledge about the harmful effects of fluoride as a raw material and in large amounts. I have also learned from this that I should not believe advertisements or negative propaganda or any type right away. Furthermore, I believe that the best thing to do with something confusing is to deal with it in a logical way, specifically by using â€Å"What, Why, When, How, Where, Who† (Nokes). Through this logical investigation on fluoridation as explained by Nokes, one can find out that much of the claims that other people have against fluoride are actua lly unsubstantiated by scientific evidence and logic. The second thing I have learned is that the potential harm from fluoride is least likely to happen because although fluoride can be harmful in large amounts, the government has set a limit to this. This limit is actually a standard value at 0.01 g/mL while the actual amount of fluoride added by the city government to water is 0.001 g/mL. This is just a mere 10% of the actual threshold value, which means that it is impossible that the fluoride will ever cause any harm. However, I would still like to think that the harm that fluoride causes may not exactly depend solely on the amount. Sometimes, I would like to think that fluoride is like acid that no matter what the amount, it will cause some damage to the material. The third thing I have learned from Nokes’ lecture is that just a small amount of fluoride is added to the water and that even this amount relative to water is much smaller in concentration. For example, althoug h fluoride is 134,000 mg in 1 kilogram of the HFA compound, this seemingly large amount of fluoride actually only translates as 7.46 x 10-6 kg/L when mixed with water (Nokes). This means that water is a great neutralizer of chemicals as it is the universal solvent. The fluoride in water therefore, if water fluoridation is to be carried out soon, is definitely much lower than what can possibly cause any harm. However, as what I have explained earlier, sometimes some chemical reactions may kill someone regardless of the amount of the reactants involved. This means that a small amount of fluoride may actually still cause some harm which is just as intense as when it is caused by fluoride above safe levels. Moreover, sometimes I would like to think that some damage caused by fluoride may accumulate in the human body as more and more fluoride is being ingested through fluoridated water. Furthermore, there could also be some complications that will take some time before it can take effect as a disease. In fact, although I am convinced by Nokes’ lecture, he did not shed light on all the aspects of the fluoridation of water. I would therefore like to suggest that there should be a more thorough investigation of the case of the fluoridation of water in Hamilton City. All aspects should be answered especially those involved in the

ETHICS (PLATO) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ETHICS (PLATO) - Assignment Example In this sense, Plato believed that circles would still exist even if mathematics did not help us draw them. Plato believes that there is an inherent and unseen world where truth, justice, and beauty are eternal and non-altering. In this view, Plato gives credence to the concept of an ideal world just as Christianity proposes heaven. In the idea of heaven, Christianity asserts that people can perfect their behavior by emulating Christ thereby earning the privilege of staying in heaven. Heaven is an ideal place whereby there is eternal happiness and no injustice to individual. Individuals, therefore, exist in an uninterrupted harmony. Although this ideal contains some deal of similarity with Plato’s ideas, it differs in the sense that it does adequately endorse thinking. Plato believes that the mind is the only way of reaching the ideal world. This theory correlates the theory of forms that postulate a dual word. This suggests two levels of knowledge and two levels of reality. Plato defines a form as an abstract quality or property. For instance, when a person removes the property of an object, such as color, from the object, then the color becomes a form of an object. For instance, when a person separates the red color of a tomato from the tomato, the red color is perceived as a form. The existence of such a quality, the form, is independent of the existence of any object. In turn, objects copy the existence of forms. For example, a tomato copies the form of redness. It is essential to highlight the properties of forms in order to adequately understand their relevance in truth and justice. To begin with, forms are transcendent because they do not occur in space and time. In addition, a form is a pure property, which is separated from other qualities. In this sense, a form has an independent existence that does not rely o n the existence of other forms nor objects. On the other hand, a material and observable object is a combination of forms.

Physics of Volleyball Essay Example for Free

Physics of Volleyball Essay Physics is the study of energy and how it is transferred from one particle to another. There is certainly a lot of energy transferred between objects and players in the sport of volleyball. A few of the concepts of physics that take place during volleyball include gravity, displacement, velocity, acceleration, projectile motion, and force. These concepts are displayed throughout the different positions on the court. There are three main aspects of volleyball that include physics, the first one being displacement. This happens when a player moves to their position on the court and when the ball moves from side to side. Displacement is relative to all positions on the court of volleyball because all six players should be evenly spaced on their respective side. Each player on the court is assigned one of the six positions. Even though theyre only assigned one position, they move and adjust to the play according to their teammates and the direction of the ball. Secondly, velocity is the speed of the player and ball. Velocity is commonly expressed as the change in displacement in a given time. One of these areas where velocity is found in volleyball would be when a player spikes the ball. With the proper velocity, the ball will hit the floor without a defender being able to react quickly enough to the attack. Thirdly, there is gravity, If there was no gravity the ball would not come down nor would the players. Gravity is essential to volleyball because without gravity the players would not be able to stay on the ground and enjoy the game. Also, the ball would float away from the people participating in the game. There are two major concepts of physics for serving, velocity and acceleration. As the ball’s velocity increases its distance also becomes greater. Since the ball is in constant acceleration, the velocity increases by the same amount of time. With the proper velocity, the ball will hit the floor without a defender being able to react quickly enough to the attack. Acceleration goes hand-in-hand with velocity. Acceleration is defined as the rate at which velocity changes. The ball, along with players on the court, both have acceleration. There are times in a volleyball game when the ball has constant acceleration, when the ball is served. When the ball is hit by a player for a spike, the rate at which it reaches is maximum velocity is the acceleration. In order to determine when to hit the ball, you need to calculate the trajectory, speed, and placement of the set. When approaching the ball, the body has kinetic energy and this energy turns into potential energy. This allows the player to jump higher. Since potential energy is the product of the mass of the player, gravity, and the height of the jump, the height is what determines how much potential energy will be attained. When the player hits the ball, it puts as much momentum into it as possible, the shorter amount of time the hand is in contact with the ball, the greater the momentum. Physics affects every aspect of the sport of volleyball from hitting, defense and serving. Without the concepts of physics that take place during volleyball include gravity, displacement, velocity, acceleration, and force, there would not be the sport. Understanding the physics behind the game can make someone a better player because they can learn how the game works and react to it accordingly.

Understanding culturally responsive teaching and multicultural educ

Understanding culturally responsive teaching and multicultural educ Multicultural education is all about students learning in different modes and about teachers responding effectively to recognize and detect the differences in learning. Culturally responsive teaching always focuses on perceived strengths of students and liaising between mismatch between cultures followed at home and the school. Culturally responsive teaching is a systematic approach to modern day teaching by taking into consideration many aspects of culture and its values. In a classical study, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Gloria Ladson-Billings demonstrated the examples of a culturally relevant teaching module. The main goal of this study was to find out why some teachers were successful with teaching African American children what other teachers could not. The researcher also wanted to pinpoint those specific behaviors that made these teachers successful in teaching. For this study, she chose all parents and principals from four schools that exclusively taught African American children, to pick those teachers, who they considered excellent in terms of teaching. As one could guess, the choices made by principals and parents were entirely different. Principals They chose teachers, who possessed very low numbers of discipline referrals, who had very high attendance rates and top test scores. Parents Parents chose teachers who were helping, enthusiastic, interested in teaching students and those who actually understood that students want to mix with a community that had both white and colored students. The result In all, nine teachers, both white and black, were selected for the experiment. Out of them, eight agreed to participate in the study. The researcher conducted this study for several years; after many years of dedicated research, the researcher could observe many conflicting scenarios. Teachers who participated in the program were all different, each with their own teaching styles, strategies and personalities. The results that were pooled from the exercise were too confusing and the researcher just wanted to abandon the program because of these conflicting results. However, the researcher could suddenly find some remarkable, striking and subtle features that were associated with the experimental module. 1) All the eight teachers, who participated in the exercise voluntarily chose challenging schools, those were complex and difficult to teach. 2) All of them felt that they were responsible for the success of their students 3) Teachers were very sensitive and receptive towards race and class discrimination in society. 4) In fact, they wanted to fight bias and prejudice that were so common in schools 5) Lastly, teachers considered both students home and classroom as inter-related and connected. This perception helped them to learn from different neighborhoods. The methods used by the teacher were very interesting and refreshing. All of them respected other cultures, classes and religions. They also honored the crafts, customs and traditions followed in the community. Teachers also invited parents to share traditional experiences and customs of each community. Teachers cajoled students to learn and master both home and Standard English (home English is the one that students speak in their homes). One of the most striking and interesting aspect of the exercise was that even teachers were willing to learn from students and parents experiences and opinions. Eventually, the researcher, Gloria Ladson-Billings, could summarize the research findings and arrive at a package of principles for meaningful and community teaching. These culturally responsive principles are as follows: 1. Stronger self-esteem and self-image is possible, only when the students experience academic success and satisfaction. Students who do not believe in themselves or in their abilities may have very poor academic achievements. Students always like lessons that are in consonance with their learning styles. Students also like to learn the basic knowledge and skills those are necessary for achieving success in their classrooms. 2. To succeed in classrooms and elsewhere, students must develop and retain core competence. A home is where one can find opportunity for learning. Not many teachers teach about educational experiences that students could gain in a community setting. Many teachers teach just the classroom skills and techniques. The researcher made it a point to include community as a foundation for meaningful teaching. She believed that teaching should look beyond the traditional classroom. She wanted to avoid a perceived conflict or friction between the classroom and home. Teachers can create and set up and meaningful and positive academic environment by teaching beyond traditional classrooms and by integrating learning with the concepts, customs and traditions of local community. 3. It is possible to encounter and challenge social injustice by developing highly critical consciousness and awareness. An intelligent and culturally inclined teacher needs to connect and gel with the needs and of the students as well as the local community. He or he may also need to work hard to enhance and improve the quality of life experienced in the school and community. Stop and Think Just, ask this following simple questions to yourself Can you recall an incidence in your school when you felt a disconnection? Did you see an apparent difference between the life portrayed in the textbooks and the real world where you actually lived? Do you feel that the method used in the case study were effective? If effective, why do you think so? Can you relate students skills and experiences with the skills and experiences of the community from where they come from? Do you feel that culturally responsive principles work in your class? How do you enhance or develop your students core competencies? Schools are just like a sanitized bubble that is entirely insulated from the problems that are faced in the real world. As a culturally enabled teacher, you should try to break open this bubble, so that students can experience the problems of the exterior world. Culturally relevant classroom will try to confront and eliminate real social problems. You should know and learn what it means to be an effective and culturally responsive teacher, so that you can enhance and broaden your feeling of what it needs to become a successful teacher. Collate and accumulate the following viewpoints that help you to be a good teacher. To be a good teacher, you may need to consider Ladson- Billings three points and later imbibe certain skills, attitudes and knowledge. 1. The type of teaching methods and skills that you need to acquire to become a culturally responsive teacher. 2. An ability to diagnose and detect different needs of students and action plans for different learning styles. 3. Developing and harnessing critical thinking and cognitive skills to help students excel in their studies. 4. Acquire a skill known as wait time, where you will remain silent and listen to the answers given by all students. Note: Previous studies have demonstrated that teachers with the noblest intentions often fail to use effective teaching skills. Chapter 11 of this book, Becoming an Effective Teacher, will provide you additional equitable teaching skills that can help you fine-tune your teaching career. Developing Attitudes to become a culturally responsive teacher Attitudes are very important for every teacher. What type of attitudes do you want acquire, so that you can become a culturally responsive teacher? Do you have any meaningful methods that help you teach students, whose cultural background is entirely different from yours? Most of your students may come from similar race, ethnicity and classes. Most of us may share a common set of values and opinions, while the way in which we socialized in the past may also be quite similar. As you get ready to teach, you may work hard to go away from your familiar territory and search for different viewpoints. The more different you become, the more likely you will be capable to welcome diverse life experiences and attitudes that are meaningful and agreeable. To become a culturally responsive teacher of very high caliber, you may need to acquire skills and knowledge about various groups and their experiences. The amount of skills and knowledge sets that you possess may be insufficient enough to teach your students. The skills and methods that you use may be inaccurate as well. To become a successful teacher, you may need to educate about yourself, your students and their requirements. Try to know and understand the educational implications of your students cultural backgrounds. This chapter will assist you traverse this unique path. Just consider this example. A number of African American community members often prefer aural and participatory learning to writing. If you are adamant and bent on using writing activities only, then your students performance may come down. Research findings also suggest us that girls and women have the habit of personalizing knowledge, skills and prefer learning by the way of experiences and first hand observation. Make sure that you create personal connections and events that will definitely enhance the success rates of female students. The big challenge that all teachers face is the ability to acquire beneficial and accurate cultural insights that eventually assist them to connect their classroom with the underlying culture. This needs to be done while preventing the likelihood of falling into the trap of stereotypic thinking. Do you know that difference between a useful cultural insight and a destructive stereotype? If you do not know, the next section will assist you learn the essential difference between them. Knowing Stereotypes The second chapter demonstrated the essential differences between different stereotypes and generalizations. Here, we will attempt to evaluate and analyze them very closely. What are stereotypes? Stereotypes are the firm and absolute beliefs that all members of a particular group possess; stereotypes will have a fixed set of parameters and characteristics. The word stereotype took its birth in a print shop. It is almost like a type. It is also like a one-piece plate that repeats a particular pattern without any individualism. Today, stereotypic thinking relates to cultures that neglect individuality and is applied consistently to every member of a group. Stereotypic thinking is rigid and non-flexible. It is set on a particular form of thinking that is unfair and unjust. Stereotypic people always try to save their time bypassing their normal thinking process. Stereotypes are a set of special characteristics those are attached to a group of individuals, based on their allegiance to a certain group with no qualification of thinking process. People who are stereotypes always use highly simplistic words that border on a sense of rigidity. For example, they may use words like à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. All Blacks are or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..All Hispanics are or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ All Asians are. In fact, these preconceived expressions are applied to certain groups without making any distinction; most of them are pre-conceived ideas and expressions. In fact, stereotypes are the way of thinking in a sloppy and unfair manner that undermines the basic values of a culturally different school. Consider the following examples: A typical stereotypic line of thinking may be: 1) All Hispanics are very poor in studies 2) All Asians are academically very smart and intelligent 3) Jews are very rich 4) African Americans are very good in sports Note: Stereotypes are impermeable to contradictory information. Examples: 1) Go and find a very poor Jew 2) Find me a Hispanic person with a doctorate degree 3) Give me an example of an Asian student who fails in math test 4) Find an African American, who is not an athletic. 5) Find a European American, who is not clean and hygienic Each of these strings of thought process is a perceived anomaly and every one of them is an exception to the set rule. As a result, the stereotypes always endure and persist. A typical stereotype is very dangerous and it can hurt and damage peoples egos. Stereotypic thinking in a school can even more be dangerous, as it can impede learning process. It also inhibits the ability to search for new information, not just ordinary and contradictory ones. Threat posed by Stereotypes Just consider the following example of stereotype and try to assess its damaging nature. Opinion polls published in the recent past inform us that about 50% of white Americans agree and endorse typical stereotypes relating to blacks and Hispanics, like most of them are not intelligent and skilled. Such stereotypic thinking acts like a double-edged sword; they can influence whites, blacks and Hispanics in equal measures. They can adversely influence the expectations, behaviors of whites, while blacks and Hispanics should live in a society that professes such beliefs. Consider the following case study published sometime back: In a study, the researchers asked both the whites and African American students to take somewhat difficult verbal examinations. Two groups took the verbal skill test a control group and an experimental group. In the control group, students took tests in a typically normal manner to measure the intelligence. On the other hand, the experimental groups consisted of students and they did not know that they were taking tests. Here, the psychology of their verbal problems was put to test. The researcher made sure that the two groups were matched to keep variable parameters like abilities of the students, time to test and the quality of tests almost similar. Results In the experimental groups, black test participants were successful in solving twice as many unique problems, as the ones those among the control group. On the other hand, the white test participants could solve almost the same number in both the groups. In another similar experiment, researchers found out that performance level of black test takers was very bad, when the examiners asked them to enter their race and ethnicity type on the test form. The outcome that you see here in this study is very simple. The outcome relates to the stereotypic threat. A number of factors like can influence academic performance: Self image Trust on others A Sense of belonging towards others When you learn that there is stereotype, you are more likely to act like a stereotype than when it does not exist. When you care most about your academic performance, you are more likely to be vulnerable to stereotypic threat. Many research studies demonstrate that why African American and other ethnic students tend to perform very well in college tests than their SAT scores predict. In many cases, the standardized test scores cannot be taken as an indicator and they are more often misleading. Likewise, many other people often fail as victims of stereotype threats especially Latinos in English tests, females in math tests and elderly people on short-term memory tests. Sometimes, even a bright student with very strong test scores may fall a victim to stereotype mentality. In fact, even a bright white student is not immune to stereotype; white students failed to perform to their expected levels, when they heard about their comparison with the Asian students. In fact, no one is immune from stereotype threat. Stereotype can limit a students ability to perform well in academics. Stereotype can convince a student that intellect is a fixed trait, that some ethnic groups are more intelligent than others are, and that his or her future is determined at the birth itself. Mind you, your intellect is just like your brain and it can change and transform over time. Your potential is truly amazing. If you believe that you can teach your brain to become smarter and intelligent, to grow like what you can do to your muscles through exercises, you can easily eradicate stereotypic thinking from your mind. Similarly, you can even enhance your test score, as well as the academic excellence. As a teacher, you are also dealing with ethics, values and characters of your students. When stereotypes exist among your students, they can damage your students and their learning potential beyond repair. When you give proper instruction, your students can overcome any type of stereotype. A good anti-stereotype course curriculum is the one that represents unique diversity across all races, ethnicity, genders, religions and socio-economic status. If you have the ability, you can even confront stereotype directly, head on with full conviction. You may just need to explain what stereotype is and how students can neutralize it. Never ever, ignore the perils of stereotype and its ability to damage your students mind and academic career. Dealing with generalization Generalizations recognize that there are special trends within a wide swath of people. Al members of religious, racial and ethnic groups have something that is common to them. They also share many things together. Generalization has many special characteristics: 1) They can give you some insights 2) They do not signify hard and fast conclusions like stereotypes 3) They do not consider that everyone in a group possess a fixed set of characters. You can never apply this axiom to everyone. You can modify it, as and when you collect fresh and new information. There will be many exceptions to generalizations. It is so common to see people using most common words like many, commonly, often or tend to, as different forms of generalizations. They also recognize that people may belong to different groups almost simultaneously. Example You can find Israeli Jews, Asian Jews, Arab Jews and even Polish Jews. Yet, they are all Jews altogether. Similarly, you can find African Indians, Caribbean Indians, Fiji Indians or even East African Indians. Yet, they are all Indians altogether. You can get a hunch or clue about a group through generalizations. These clues could form very important links, when you are planning to teach your class. When you do not know anything about your students or when you know very little about them, generalizations could be very useful tools to feel the pulse of the classroom. Generalizations provide you an educated guess to learn more about your students. As time passes and when you learn more about your class, you can then reject those generalizations that are vague and false. Using generalizations to create a culturally responsive teaching module Is it possible to develop a culturally responsive classroom by using generalizations in the teaching modules? Assume that you have a number of Native American students in your classroom. Now, let is also assume that you conduct some research on the learning preferences of these students. After conducting that research, you will discover that these students prefer to learn their lessons in a highly cooperative group that cherishes community and family values to individual competition. With available results, you will decide to modify your teaching methods that actually cater to the demands of students. Rather than using the same old model of teacher centric approach, you may start working on several academic topics at the same time. You will design a teaching module that specifically asks open-ended questions that demand answers related to student experiences of life. You may also wish to wait for some time for your students to answer your questions. Usually, Native Americans tend to wait for some time to give their answers. Native American students also tend to respect natural and supernatural forces very much. They also like to see native Indian expressions, words and syllables apart from legends and signs in their course curriculum. When you give them a chance to learn, by the way of sharing rather than competition, your students can learn well and perform better. Generalizations are always flexible. With experiences of teaching a diverse group of students, you can easily acquire better skills and techniques that help you in confronting any type of stereotypes. With valued experiences, you can also become the most productive teacher, who can be culturally responsive and sensitive as well. Let us kick start that process right now in the next section. Journal Activity Why generalizations and stereotypic thinking is dangerous for the society? List some important reasons and find solutions to overcome them. Is it possible to create culturally responsible teaching module by overcoming stereotypes and generalizations? Think of some teaching modules that you feel are good for you and study them in detail. Pause and Reflect Have you come across instances of stereotypes and generalizations, when you were studying in your school? If yes, write them down and analyze them. Do you feel that your present attitude towards a culturally diverse classroom is conducive enough to teach without any inhibitions or limitations? Give reasons why you are capable enough to teach a diverse classroom.

War :: essays papers

war Day after day on the news we see what the damage that violence has caused. Lots of people in this world think that it would be a better place with out violence, but that most assuredly will not happen. Most violence is horrible and unruly and quite unnecessary, however there are types of violence, which, for lack of a better word, needed. For this I mean Wars, self-defense and entertainment, which are completely necessary and have shaped history. Wars are how people defend themselves on a larger more powerful scale the use national power instead of individual to defend their way of life. Wars are the absolute source of violence nowhere else does it get more violent now that we have the use of the atom and smart weapons. Wars have divided countries and made friends were before they were none. Thousands upon thousands of people English and American alike died in the bloodiest war on American soil. This war conveyed violence at its best and as a result won America the independence we have so long been accustomed to. There is no way to try and call this revolutionary act needless or unwanted. No one that is alive today can remember anything about the American Revolution, except of what they read in books and so forth. Many books on the American Revolution give facts in great detail and depth, but they do not convey the brutality and the harshness that accord there. A far cry from the Revolutionary War is the Entertainment Business, particularly wrestling and Action movies. Television stations are littered with advertisements for the up coming wrestling events and new hit action suspense movies, both of which show little blurbs of people getting body slammed or blown up or even killed depending on the source but there is one thing they share, they all use violence in there advertisements. People today like seeing this type of thing, they pay top dollar to go to see their favorite wrestler and or movie star perform. At any wrestling venue you can see thousands of people waving and yelling at people they like and dislike, for them it is a release of emotions and a good time for all. People need shows and things of this nature to help people relax and let loose some of there pent up anger and aggression, plus it feels good to.

linux encryption Essay -- essays research papers

.: Contents :. I. INTRO - About   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   II. ENCRYPTING - Containers - Drives - Files   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   APPENDIX   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   .: I. INTRO :. [-=] About [=-] This is a quick rundown on how to encrypt files, containers, and drives under Linux. The use of loopback encrypted filesystems and openssl is explained and examples are given. This paper should have you encrypting in no time. The following commands were done running kernel 2.6.9. .: ENCRYPTING :. I'll outline how to create encrypted containers and drives using the loopback filesystem support and file encryption via openssl. [-=] Containers [=-] This is essentially creating a filesystem within a file and mounting it as a device. Containers vastly decrease the tedious task of individually encrypting files since you simply move your files into the mount point and then unmount and they nicely encrypted. First, you need to create a blank file using the dd command. dd if=/dev/urandom of=crypto.img bs=1M count=50 - The first parameter uses the /dev/urandom device to create the file with random data to make it more difficult to distinguish between free space and encrypted data. The /dev/zero device can be used but is not advised. - The second parameter of=crypto.img defines the name to be given to the file and this can be changed to suit your preference. - The third parameter bs=1M instructs the dd command to create the file in 1MB blocks. I recommend you leave this value as 1M - The final parameter defines the size of the file in relation to the bs parameter. Since bs=1M and count=50 the file will be 50MB hence changing the count value to 100 would yield a 100MB file and so on. It is worth mentioning that the file can be resized once created this will be explained in the appendix. Second, the file must be associated to a loop device and encrypted. losetup -e aes256 /dev/loop0 crypto.img - The parameter -e aes256 at the beginning instructs losetup on which cipher to use. The cipher type is dependent on what your kernel supports. In this example the AES 256 bit cipher is used but you can use other cipher types such as blowfish interchangeably. - The second parameter /dev/loop0 is the device to which we bind the file too. Binding the file will allow us to format the file with filesystem. - The final pa... ...utputs at password.txt.enc. (This is a rather redundant explanation but oh well) Now to decrypt a file. openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in password.txt.enc -out password.txt - The enc -d -aes-256-cbc part of the command specifies which cipher to use for decryption. - The -in password.txt parameter specifies which file to decrypt. - The final parameter instructs openssl to output the decryption into a file. This parameter can omitted and the file will be decrypted to stdout. .: APPENDIX :. [-=] Resizing containers [=-] If you formatted your container with the ext2 filesystem you can resize it with the ext2resize app. First, increase the size of the container. In this example the file acting as the encrypted container is called crypto.img and its size is incremented by 20MB. dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1M count=20 >> crypto.img - The of= parameter is omitted and instead >> is used at the end of the command to append 20MB to the crypto.img file. Second, bind the file to a loop device. losetup -e aes256 /dev/loop0 crypto.img Third, extend the ext2 filesystem within the container. ext2resize /dev/loop0 That is all thats needed to resize your encrypted container.