Is Torture Ever Ok? Essay

A lot of times in these scenarios there are no other options and torturing someone is the only way to get fast results before it is too late. I am a utilitarian thinker and I believe in the greatest good for the most people. If a lot of people’s lives are at stake in a situation and can be saved because of one criminal’s pain then torturing is the way to go. I believe that torture can be morally justified in many extreme circumstances and by regulating torture by law then it could benefit our society. My first argument will show how torture can be used to help stop a bank robber who has many hostages. Suppose, the authorities arrested one of the conspirators of the bank robber and they weren’t getting anything out of him. The bank robber told the authorities that if they didn’t get him a plane out of the country then he would start killing hostages. The authorities don’t know where the bank robber is or the hostages. The bank robber says they only have fifteen minutes to arrange him a plane before he starts killing the hostages. The authorities could torture the conspirators and get the information they need to save the hostages and arrest the bank robber or they could let the hostages die. This is why in my opinion torture is morally justified in this situation. The first argument I used shows a real example of how torturing can save people lives, arrest a criminal, and prevent more people from dying in the short and long run. A stakeholder from my last paper, Mirko Bagaric, agree with me. Bagaric is a professor of law at Deakin University and according to him, â€Å"torture is justifiable when used as an information gathering technique to avert great risk† (Bagaric, p. 264). In my example, it obviously agrees with Bagaric’s statement. There are many variables that go into whether or not torturing someone in a severe situation is permissible. Bagaric wrote a list of these variables: â€Å"1. the number of lives at risk; 2. the immediacy of the harm; 3. the availability of other means to acquire the information; 4. the level of wrongdoing of the agent; and 5. the likelihood that the agent actually does process the relevant information. † I believe that if these were the five rules in a law that regulated torture so we could set a compromise with people who think torture should never happen. The biggest reason I believe torturing is ok in harm-based situations is because it is our moral duty to save other people’s lives. In my opinion, some moral duties override others. The moral duty to save thousands of people overrides the moral duty to respect someone’s physical body, who is holding information from you because they want all those people to die. Everyone must agree that the most basic and important human right is the right to life. If you have a chance to save thousands of lives and torturing is your only option then the choice is obvious. Torturing must be ok in some circumstances, in order to save lives. I am not saying that people should torture a person to death because that violates their right to live. But, if the torture only causes some physical pain to one person to save many lives then torture should be morally and legally permissible. In Heinz site, whenever torturing someone there should always be a doctor there to make sure the person being tortured isn’t killed. I do not think torturing is always ok and it should always should be the last option, but when worse comes to worse saving thousands of people is worth torturing a person who is ok with those people dying. People who oppose torture at all times are deontologists. Deontologists believe that general rules and values must be respected regardless of the outcome. According to them even a savage terrorist who wants to kill their family and friends should not be harmed because it is immoral to inflict physical pain on someone. They believe that you should never bend the rules even if it causes death. Some of them believe that if you allow torturing that you will start down a slippery slope. For example, this slippery slope could lead up to killing a prisoner to avoid a bomb going off and killing thousands. And, what if, you killed the prisoner and he or she didn’t give up any information. The slippery slope of sinning leads to more sinning according to deontologists. For them, torture promotes violence and sin. Although, I do agree with some of the components from the other side’s argument it doesn’t change the fact the torture is needed in some malicious cases. I agree that you should not cause another person physical harm, but if harming this person can saves lives I believe it is morally ok. People have a greater moral obligation to preserve our species and defend our family and country. If physically harming one person can help us do this then torturing should be acceptable. Opponents to torture also stated that we will go down a slippery road to sin and killing people being tortured, but I disagree. I believe that we are rational enough to be able to torture someone and keep them alive. When torturing someone I think it would only be acceptable if a doctor was present to make sure the person be tortured didn’t die. Also, I believe we have to be one-hundred-percent positive the prisoner has the information we want, otherwise; torturing them would be wrong. I know that torturing is wrong in most cases but in should be acceptable in others. Bagaric states that â€Å"A legal framework should be established to properly accommodate these situations,† (Bagaric 274). If torture were to be regulated instead of prohibited, it would bring out greater good then it would harm. Torture happens whether it is prohibited or not. If we create the idea of a torture warrant at least we are stating what we are doing instead of hiding it. The only way to get a torture warrant would be to meet the five variables Bagaric wrote. Doctors being present when a prisoner is being tortured also insures that his or her life is being watched over carefully. In this example it shows that torture can be regulated to insure we don’t fall down a slippery slope and that it will help save many people in the future. My second argument shows that regulation of torture is better than prohibiting it. In my opinion, admitting what you do is better than lying about it. â€Å"Torture is outlawed in Israel yet they have been criticized all over the world for torturing people,† (Dershowitz). They are being hypocritical. It is a known fact that the United States tortures people secretly to find vital information. Although they try to be secretive about it, they usually get caught. It would be better if everyone knew that torture does happen and has to sometimes. I agree and wish that we never had to do it, but sometimes to save lives you have. By regulating torture, people will not be hypocritical about it and there will be rules pertaining to the issue. An obvious objection to this argument is again, the slippery slope. People against torture believe if you open the door to torture, even if you regulate it, you will lead to more and more torture. They say even if you torture is needed in extreme situations that making it legal will allow torture in less desperate situations. Again, I can rebuttal this objection of the slippery slope for regulating torture. First off, torture is already used even though it is legally prohibited. I believe making regulating torture will actually decrease it. People will have to get torture warrant and we should make very sure those are hard to get. Second, Bagaric and Clarke say, that â€Å"there is no evidence to suggest that the lawful violation of fundamental human interests will necessarily lead to a violation of fundamental rights where the per-conditions for the activity are clearly delineated and controlled. † For example, we use the death penalty in the U. S. , but we still value life and haven’t been putting people to death unless it was for a legitimate reason. Religions such as the Muslim-American religion state, â€Å"It is irreligious, immoral, and unethical†(Rashid 1). They state their religious history is full of stories demanding that we condemn abuse and torture. The Muslim-American’s say that, â€Å"The Prophet Moses sacrificed his royal position to stop an act of torture† (Rashid1). They state, the Prophet Muhammad forbade the mistreatment of prisoners. Torture offends Muslim-Americans because it is immoral nature. They state that the torture of human beings at the behest of the American government must be condemned. They say that, â€Å"Simply because another country allows torture does not mean we should encourage and utilize the moral weakness of others† (Rashid 1). They explain that when we ratified the Convention Against Torture President Ronald Reagan said, â€Å"[We] clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today. † They also applaud President Obama for shining light on these shameful practices. Finally they said, â€Å"We cannot be deaf to the voice of justice, but must establish it. Torture is not just† (Rashid 2). The Muslim Religion has many valid points, but I disagree that torture is always wrong and immoral. Sometimes bad things can be used for the greater good. My father who was a veteran of the Air Force knows how important it is to get vital information out of enemies. My father believes, like Bagaric, â€Å"when many lives are at risk and the only way to save someone is torture them then you should do what is necessary. † My dad has been through torture training. My dad states that, â€Å"if the other side is going to torture us then we have to have to learn the same tactics. † My father said in the interview, â€Å"that torture should always be the last option, but when things are turning for the worst then sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I agree with my father and I think that even torture may be immoral by itself it can be used to help people who are going to be killed which makes it moral. In conclusion, I believe prohibition of torture is wrong and that there needs to be a regulating law that allows torture so we can gather vital information. If there are more instances where thousands of peopleâ₠¬â„¢s lives are at risk and there is no other way of saving their lives then to torture someone then we most allow it. It should be morally acceptable to save people’s lives and I believe a people’s lives are worth more than an evil person’s physical pain.

Characters of the Lord of the Flies

A group of boys have been stranded on an isolated tropical island, after escaping from their shot – down plane. A large disfigurement was created in the untouched jungle, symbolizing the first of man's destruction on the island; it was not going to be the last. The first characters we meet are Ralph and Piggy. Ralph who represents democracy and order, whilst Piggy represents intelligence and social order. They realize that the island is uninhibited and that civilization does not exist, and if it did it would be on their terms. This excites them and so they explore the island, until a conch is found. The Conch is symbolic of common sense and discipline. Its beauty strikes us when Ralph and Piggy find it, but it is forgotten as they put it to use to call the other survivors. Leaders are elected and rules are set but for how long will they be kept? Friendships deteriorate as leadership is questioned. The rules of home dictate their initial behavior, as all the boys respond to how they have been nurtured. Ralph is a twelve-year-old boy archetypal, very British boy, whose father is in the navy. â€Å"You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.† At the beginning, Ralph is insulting and unfriendly to Piggy, to whom he feels superior and so acts like it. Ralph is excited about not having any grown ups around and shows his delight by standing on his head. At this stage, Ralph has no responsibilities and so is free to do as he wishes. He does not seem panicked or worried that they won't be rescued as he has total faith that his father will save them. Ralph is elected leader and is very reasonable. Also, because he attaches no importance to being a chorister or prefect, he can be intolerant of jack. Ralph is very dependent on piggy, however boring he finds him; it's because of his logic and mature thoughts that attract them together. Ralph enjoys having meetings; it reminds him that he is the leader and that he got elected and has responsibilities. Ralph is slowly realising that it is fun to have no grow up's around, but they need to be rescued. Ralph and jack's friendship starts to deteriorate, Ralph is being sensible whilst jack is only thinking about having fun. Ralph starts to feel despondent about ever convincing the boys of the importance of building shelters. He is impatient with the littlun's and sought's help from jack. † You wouldn't care to help with the shelters, I suppose?† But there is no point as Ralph soon realizes. Ralph and jack are really beginning to fight and this foreshadows future conflicts. Ralph is outraged and angry when they miss a ship, which could have rescued them. When Ralph first arrived on the island he had no worries, it suited him being in charge but as time went on he became paranoid and scared. He carries civilized values, which enable him to be strong when he needs to be. Jack is first seen marching the choir, he treats them with authority. He is arrogant and unpleasant, not what his singing uniform suggests. â€Å"Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin and bony: and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.† Jack becomes in charge of the army, which he is content with, as he loves adventure. He is unsympathetic to Simon when he faints because of the heat; he see's him as weak and is unimpressed. When a pig is first spotted, Jack cannot bring himself to kill it and is angry with himself. â€Å"I was choosing a place, Next time.† His desire for violence, his bloodlust is still held in check by the rules of society. At the meetings, rules are set, Jack is excited and thinks the rules do not apply to him as he is a chapter chorister and head boy. Jack shows signs of belligerence when he argues with Ralph about the fire signal, he is becoming power hungry. During the chapter Jack becomes solely concerned with hunting and cannot see the necessity of other things that can keep them alive. â€Å"I'd like to catch a pig first† â€Å"He snatched up his spear and dashed it into the ground. The opaque, mad look came into his eyes again.† Jack has become a hunter, he is slowly losing his human characteristics and becoming a predator. Jack conceals his real identity when he paints his face. The mask enables him to deny who he is and frees him to behave as he wants. At one point he looks at his reflection†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger.† Jack changes friends as well, him and Ralph have totally different ideas and priorities, whilst Piggy just annoys him. Jack becomes friends with Roger and they are evil together. When Jack hears of their chance of rescue, he is not bothered and had to remember what rescue was, instead he is proud as they caught their first pig. Jack starts up a ritual chant, he is very much in control and is bloodthirsty. His personality is overcome by power and he loses his name, this is not the Jack we saw at the start of the book. † I cut the pigs throat,† said jack proudly. † Can I borrow yours Ralph to make a nick in the hilt?† The perfect prefect becomes the perfect savage. † He was a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and course.† Simon is one of the choristers. Although regarded as â€Å"Queer† and † Batty† by the boys, Simon is friendly and helpful. Simon is very aware of his surroundings, which is seen when he goes on the expedition with Ralph and Jack. He describes a certain bush as†¦ â€Å"Candle Buds† Showing his fragility and spiritually. He is patient with the littlun's and would rather pick fruit than kill and pig. Simon's actions present him as an intrinsically good, peaceful and caring character, in contrast with others. Simon is the only one who goes off on his own and does not seem to be afraid of the forest. He is intuitive, introspective and different from the others. The secret place that Simon finds displays the islands vibrancy and life. â€Å"Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the island.† Simon is the outside the hunter mentality and the leader mentality. He exists in terms of his sensitivity to what is outside him. Like a clairvoyant, he repeatedly tells Ralph: † You'll get back to where you came from.† He is positive in that aspect, however he feels the sand is a bad one and is evil. Although Simon is different and unafraid unlike most of the other boy's, his mysterious nature makes him interesting and unusual. During the first four chapters we see him close up and be on his own more than at the beginning when he went exploring and was helping the others. The changes were soul and gradual. † His feet left prints in the soft soil and the creepers shivered throughout their lengths when he bumped them.† † Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him.† The character of Piggy is firmly grounded in reality by his nickname, which immediately conjures up a physical image of him. â€Å"He smeared the sweat from his cheeks and adjusted the spectacles on his nose.† Piggy meets Ralph first, and immediately we see that they are very different people. Both their backgrounds determine this, but still they have to depend on each other. From what we know Piggy is an Orphan who lived with his aunt who owned a sweet shop. That explains his size. † I used to get ever so many sweets. As many as I liked.† However clumsy Piggy seems, he is actually very intelligent and when he found the conch, he engineered it so Ralph got the credit for it. He looks up to Ralph and has a lot of respect for him. He rejoices when Ralph smiles at something he said and misinterprets it as friendliness, whilst Ralph finds him boring and dull. From the beginning, Piggy is seen as an outsider. He is ridiculed, sneered at and continually teased, whether it is his appearance or his asthma. The group holds countless meetings when they arrive and Piggy becomes an interpreter. He is good-natured and is kind to the younger ones, he responds to how his aunt would. â€Å"Acting like a crowd of kids† † I bet it's gone tea time.† Piggy naively believes that if only they were to behave like grown-ups all would be well, and they would be saved. He becomes a mature figure who becomes uneasy and worried when the boy with the birthmark disappears. Piggy is averse to most of the other boys, who he thinks are acting like little children, they are children but piggy see's the responsibilities as the adult figure. When rules are laid down, piggy follows then and expects the others to as well, he always is desperate to hold onto the rules of society which are slowly deteriorating in the others. The rules which Piggy had at home dictate his behavior on the island. In conclusion to my essay, We see how young boys would react to being stranded on a deserted island with no adults, and no rules of society to dictate how they should behave. Through this essay we have seen the obvious changes in the boys characters and the consequences and effect on the other boys. I have studies the main four characters looking how they have influenced eachother and how they reacted to living on an lsland. Jack who's arrogance made him become savage and bloodthirsty for power and meat. Ralph who's care free ways changed when he has elected chief. Piggy who left his naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve ways behind and spoke up for him self. Simon changed but very gradually and sutally. If they had stayed on the Island for much longer I am sure that Jack would have become more powerful as his tribe would fear him and so agree with everything he did. However Ralph would not have survived as Jack would not have allowed it. All these represent individuals and how they changed during the first four chapters of Lord of the flies.

My First Day of School Essay

I have been reading in Beaconhouse Sri Inaigot up early in the morning of 8th July to get myself prepared. With my tutor I started towards my new school. On the way it began to rain. When we reached the school we were completely wet. Secondary School for four years. I still remember my first day at this school. On that fortunate day, I got freedom from the control of my tutor who loaded me with heavy home task. I had no holiday in a week. You can think of my joy when I was told that I would be sent to a new school. The sight of the grand building made me nervous. I was uneasy in mind. I entered the office where I found four people sitting behind the counter. My tutor got a form from one of them. Then we entered the Principal’s Office. My tutor gave the form to him. He looked at it carefully. He stuck a bell. At once a peon rushed in. He ordered him to take us to the staff room. The peon led us to the room where I found the teachers seated round a long table. He gave the form to one of them. The teacher put my knowledge to test my English. He found me up to the mark. Then another teacher gave me five sums to solve. I solved them with great ease. Both the teachers wrote some thing on the form. Again my tutor entered to the office and deposits my dues. I was sent to classroom with a chit. I reached the classroom and took my seat in the last row. In front of me there was a big blackboard on the wall. Near it there were descent chair and a table for the teachers. After a few minutes a teacher entered into the class. I gave the chit to him. He wrote my name in the register. To my good luck the teacher is an interesting fellow. He passed a few funny remarks. He also made some interesting and harmless jokes. As the recess bell rang, we rushed out of the class. It was the recess period. The playground becomes the centre of activity. Finding me alone some boys approached me. They cut jokes. One of them asked me â€Å"from which jungle are you coming†? I was salient. Fortunately three boys ran for my help. They took me round the school building. With them I saw the reading room and library. We also reached the hall. I found it decorated with pictures and paintings. In the meanwhile the bell rang and we were again in the class room. One by one other teacher come but none taught us. t 12:30 the last bell went. The classes were dispersed. When I reached home, my head was full of new ideas. I told my mother how great school was. She was very glad to hear the account of my first day.

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Standard Of Monopolized The Oil Industry - Essay Example Buying Competitors Though most of Standard Oil’s takeovers aimed at gaining competitive advantage, they also benefitted the acquired company too. Rockefeller and his partners gained confidence from the competitors through wide-ranging volunteer association. Standard Oil also offered the former executives, of the acquired companies, high positions in the new company and was assured parity in management and was assimilated into the management because they were experienced and were well acquainted with the oil industry and local markets (Montague 76-81). The Standard Oil trust comprised of different companies in the industry which attained competitive advantage and maintained an even competition among the members. Rockefeller perceived the buyouts of the other refineries in Cleveland as foreseeable. He is quoted noting â€Å"the battle of the new idea of cooperation against competition† (Montague 52). In his mind, huge industrial amalgamations referred to as monopolies wou ld substitute competition and individualism in the oil industry. Rockefeller used hardball tactics to buy out the competitors. In 1874, the company started purchasing new oil pipeline networks. This assisted the company to amputate the flow of oil to the other companies that Rockefeller wanted to acquire. When a competing company made efforts to build a rival pipeline across Pennsylvania, Standard Oil purchased the land along the way to barricade the way. In the end, Standard Oil obtained control of all the pipelines within the nation. Notably, Standard Oil had attained full control of 90 percent of United States refining companies (Montague 176) Discounted Shipping Rates In order to attain a competitive advantage over its competitors, Standard Oil surreptitiously organized for reduced shipping rates from railroads. This aimed at reducing the average costs incurred by the company. Rockefeller had a fascination for efficiency that was unparalleled.

What Factors Influence Gang Behavior Research Paper

What Factors Influence Gang Behavior - Research Paper Example In order to be able to solve this problem, it is important to study the reasons or the root causes of gang behavior with the intention of trying to prevent new gang membership, while at the same time embarking on a mission to dismantle the already existing ones. This paper is a critical evaluation of the factors that influence gang behavior. Factors that Influence.Human beings are born innocent, free of sins and incapable of making any decision. However, as they continue to grow, they are faced with numerous challenges raging from family issues to other environmental factors, which influence their innocent minds either into becoming responsible persons or the worst of criminals in the society. To begin with, parents contribute a significant percentage towards the success or failure of a child in terms of behavior. This is due to the fact that they act as immediate role models and a source of inspiration for their growing children. It is for this reason that Carlie (2002) observes tha t poor parentage is a major contributing factor to gang behavior. For example, if one or both parents are gang members, more often than not, it becomes likely that their children will follow that route. This may be worse in families that are dysfunctional and which are characterized by numerous cases of domestic conflicts and child abuse. The rationale of this assertion is that if a child is subjected to these factors, he will grow up believing that violence is a virtue and unless this mentality is changed through proper guidance and counseling, then, the child would have neither a reason nor the guts to refrain from joining violent organizations. Outside family circles, growing up children and youths are influenced by peer pressure to engage in antisocial behavior, which may include gang membership. Peer pressure refers to the powerful influence that a group of people in the same age group have on each other. In this context, it has been noted that people tend to acquire the behavi ors of other members of their social groups as a way of trying to fit into those groups. This factor has been blamed on other negative behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse, fornication, among others and gang membership cannot be excluded from this list. According to myelsie.org (2010), â€Å"young people are very susceptible to peer pressure.† One reason for this is that young people always want to identify with friends and when it comes to choosing between friendship and conscience, most of them will definitely choose friendship even if it means that they would have to tolerate and involve themselves in criminal activities. In the US, it is a fact that gang membership is highly prevalent in schools and even if a child comes from a family that is opposed to gang membership and activities, he or she may end up joining the gangs so as not to be rejected or harassed by his or her peers (myelsie.org 2010). Poverty is blamed for numerous atrocities and gang behavior is one of such. Everyone wants to lead a comfortable life, to drive beautiful cars, drink high quality beer or wine, to live in a luxurious home among others. Whereas it is difficult for a normal civilian, especially from poor neighborhoods, to acquire these items, it is highly

Human beings Essay Example for Free

Human beings Essay As human beings, we sometimes wonder why some things are the way they are. These questions come as a result of us being curious about what is around us. Man has to be aware of himself and his immediate environment. Generally, one of the basic characteristic of human beings is self-awareness and self-discovery. Man finds himself doing some things and wonders why he is doing such things the way he/she is doing them. Thus, in order for man to function properly in his society, he must understand some things about himself in order to unlock the mystery behind his behavioral pattern. This becomes important because self-discovery is the only way to understand one’s place or position in the universe. Personally, I have sought to know how my life fits into my environment. For one, I believe that things don’t just happen and that man is not just created to fill an empty space. This has made me embark on a quest to understand what the world actually is and how I fit into this mysterious world. I am a proponent of the purposeful universe and I believe, as opposed to the idea of Charles Darwin, that the world is essentially created to fulfill a purpose and that it is part of a â€Å"master plan†. Therefore whatever happens in this life, as I believe, is to fulfill a purpose and come from intent. The question here is who is the purposed the world and who is the master planner? In her book titled, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos†, Brian Swimme maintained that the world is not a series of puzzle but an amazing mystery that shows the presence of God in each passing phase. This essentially deviates from the theory of evolution. For Brian, we as humans are at the center of the universe and our discovery of this fact will determine make us appreciate the world we live in the more. He believes that not only is the universe a work of the divine, it is also supported by the will of the divine. Therefore, we will be making a categorical mistake by conceiving that things or occurrences in the world are merely a product of chance. From my point of view, I think that Brian Swimme has a point. This is because some things can not be explained from the point of Darwinism. For instance, as a child, I have always wondered which came first between the chicken and the egg. If eggs hatches into chickens and chickens lay eggs, then which one will we say came first? Although science can be credited for a lot of things that they have sought real explanations to, there are some things that transcend scientific explanation. This is accounted for in the thought of Huston Smith. In his book titled â€Å"Why Religion Matters; The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief†, he claims that scientism has taken over all spheres of our lives and we will be committing a mistake if we believe that its explanations are the only valid explanations. I believe that the world is a masterpiece and it is sustained by the master planner – the silent onlooker who sees and sustains the universe with his power and in his might. Furthermore, I believe that since the world is created for a specific purpose, then man as an integral part of this universe is also created for a purpose, which is to be the representative of the divine here on earth. Consequently, this should make us pursue some values that will facilitate the purpose of the divine in this world. I believe that the divine has given man the power to make choices but that power should be tailored towards the achievement of the divine purpose. Liberty, as I believe, is not the right to do what we â€Å"want† but we are at liberty so that we can do what we â€Å"have to do†. As a result of these, I live with the consciousness of the fact that I have to fulfill my purpose. Personally, I believe that we as humans should value the equality of humanity and should treat each man as Immanuel Kant said; we should treat each man as an end in themselves and never as a means to an end. I believe that we should strive for whatever will be considered virtuous by the divine. As human beings, we must seek to value each other by being truthful and faithful to one another. This, for me, is the greatest form of respect that we can give one another. Reference: Huston Smith, â€Å"Why Religion Matters; The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief† Harper Collins 2001 ISBN 0-06-067102-5, 14. 95 Brain Swimme â€Å"The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos†, Orbis, 1996 (1999, ISBN 1570752818)

Environmental issues and policies in Madagascar Essay Example for Free

Environmental issues and policies in Madagascar Essay With the world’s population growing constantly and with human needs and desires growing pretty fast, we feel like every year there is less and less room for us to live on and it takes more and more effort for us to calmly and amicably share room and resources with our neighbors. In fact, it is too early to speak about global overpopulation, since there are still vast expanses of yet uninhabited land, to say nothing of the ability of humans, with the help of innovative technological facilities, to promptly acclimatize under extreme conditions. However, in many countries (particularly in third-world countries) some emigrational tendencies that are mostly dictated by economic and social factors, are creating quite a plausible picture of our future world, revealing the most likely and formidable phenomena we may face in future. Some large cities are experiencing serious problems related to rapidly increasing inflow of countrymen who, for various reasons, are forced to leave countryside and look for a better life in cities. Over the past few decades, most economies have been developing in such a way as to provide propitious conditions for rapid urbanization. Industrial development plus numerous revolutionary technological breakthroughs that took place in the twentieth century have resulted in the appearance of large factories. The growing demand for paid workforce has attracted country dwellers, leading to massed withdrawal of human resources from rural areas. In terms of personal affluence, the concentration of social and economic activity in the city has made urban environment more attractive and promising. Although governments of some countries have realized the danger of such economic tilts, most rural lands are still experiencing severe shortage of financial support resulting in persistent skepticism of many people about life in the countryside. It is to say, that it takes a lot of innovative thinking and political will on the part of a government to balance out the local economy, as well as the realization of the fact that harsh mandatory or administrative measures imposed on people to make them stay in rural areas alone will not suffice. It will be not before we manage to create economically healthy and prosperous environment in the village that we shall be able to speak about things in the countryside taking a turn for the better. We have considered the negative of withdrawal of human, financial, industrial and technological resources from the village from the standpoint of rural life. This long-lasting tendency seems to be making it hot for cities too. In many cities, especially in world capitals, unending inflow of immigrants seeking wealthy and prospect, has contributed to rapid and uncontrolled population growth, resulting in tough and fierce competition in the sphere of management and acute contradictions between management and hired staff, entailing collisions of interests, progressive social stratification and environmental deterioration. All this has led to a number of doubtful achievements and hazards, which appear to be making city life far less comfortable than it used to be a short while ago. Today, Mexico city is the world’s largest capital, counting about 22 million people. Mexico is a large industrial city, and it appears to be sharing the fate of most industrial centers of the world, barely coping with the influx of countrymen. The acceptance by the Mexican government of certain trading rules in line with international agreements, a paramount condition of the country’s participation in the WTO, has impacted rural economy, causing a dramatic economic collapse in the agricultural sector, resulting from the imbalance between local prices and those imposed by WTO regulations. This has triggered a new spate of internal migration from the countryside to the city. Unfortunately, problems that the city of Mexico has accumulated by now are not limited to overpopulation. It is not the overpopulation itself that poses most serious difficulties, but also ineffectual measures taken by the city government. To say the least, with the inflow so intensive and so evident, the city’s townplanning committee does not seem to be fully taking into account the migration problem, or they simply fail to keep pace with the time. The city infrastructure fails to keep up with the population increase, so people arriving in Mexico take up residence in shabby makeshift homes on the city’s outskirts or in slum districts. These districts lack water and gas supply, sewage, electricity, services, etc. , and there are no advanced waste disposal systems whatsoever. This has resulted in absolutely unfavorable environmental and epidemiologic conditions. Most of garbage and human wastes remain on or close to the surface of the earth, and large parts of it are carried by winds for miles away and into the city. Unsanctioned dumping may spoil water and cause massed poisonings or outbreaks of infection. This in turn directly affects the quality of the food, increasing the risk of its contamination with harmful substances and bacteria. There is another menacing phenomenon resulting from uncontrolled population growth and topped off by the city’s geographic position. Permanent release of carbodyoxide by factories, coupled with the release of automobile waste gases is putting the city on the brink of suffocation. Statistically, automobile emissions make up about 60% of all emissions, and, considering the increasing vehicle ownership, there seems to be no way to reduce automobile emissions. The realization that internal combustion is the greatest contributor to the accumulation of emission gases in the atmosphere has prompted automobile designers to equip vehicles with catalytic converters, but today there are too few such cars to make the effect palpable. The city is placed on a plateau fenced off with high mountain ranges. The cold air arriving from behind the mountains forms a cap over the whole valley preventing the warm and stuffed city air from getting away. This lack of natural convection contributes to the accumulation of harmful emissions in the area and may turn the whole place into a gigantic gas van. The continuing economic growth, extensive factory development and ever-growing population in Mexico City are aggravating the pollution problem. The accumulation of heavy metals in the air can undermine peoples’ health and result in serious progressive hereditary diseases, increasing the occurrence of cancer, chronic poisoning, high infant mortality, cardiovascular diseases, allergic reactions, innate orthopedic malformations, poor cognition and many other physical and mental abnormalities. Progressive intake of harmful substances directly affects the nation’s genetic makeup, and it is hardly possible now to precisely foresee all consequences of these destructive influences. Active use of depths of the earth, resulting from ever-bulging demand for minerals and oil has triggered rapid and unpredictable underground processes, resulting in unstable aquifers and causing much water to go deeper into the ground, making it less reachable. As long as the city is situated in a seismologically unstable region with an active volcano in its direct proximity, further deterioration of the bed may result in disastrous earthquakes, which, in turn, are likely to wake up the volcano and plunge the whole area into an apocalyptic calamity. Apart from the destruction of the bedrock, destruction of aquifers is fraught with the disappearance of water in some places and appearance of excessive amounts of it in others. This may cause lack of water supply and actual drying out of some areas and lead to unexpected floods elsewhere. The formation of empty spaces in the bed has caused some areas to sink significantly over the past few decades, which increases the possibility of flooding. At the same time, the emptying of the aquifers due to extraneous consumption of water by the growing city has led to a dramatic reduction of natural water resources, threatening to leave the whole city without water in the foreseeable future. According to last estimates, every second the city of Mexico takes 7,250 gallons of water, which amounts to an Olympic-size swimming pool per minute. With the consumption of water so intensive, there is a grave possibility that the amount of water remaining in the aquifers will be insufficient. Needless to say, this is much more serious a threat that inability to afford a car or a TV. In some areas, shortage of water is already tangible, and it has resulted in social upheavals. Changes in bedrock structure and the progressive subsidence of the ground can also result in the destruction of sewer and drainage systems, increasing the risk of contaminating fresh water and thus threatening to impair its quality. As we can see, all the aforementioned threats arise from one major phenomenon – overpopulation. Needless to say, increasingly intensive use of water and resources is attributable to population growth and human thirst for relative prosperity and every individual’s desire to occupy his or her niche in the booming economy. However, this brief outline of most significant problems and dilemmas shows that if we continue to use natural resources in the current fashion, the place we live in will soon become absolutely unlivable. In this respect, the city of Mexico can be presented as a small replica of our entire planet, which, with the same tendencies and phenomena persisting, will soon be confronted with similar problems. There is less and less room for industrial and vehicle emission gases and, like it is with the aquifers under Mexico city, the increasing encroachment upon minerals and oil resources is affecting the earth’s bedrock, creating pre-conditions for unpredictable and destructive earthquakes and massive destruction. With the situation so serious and menacing tendencies so evident, many governmental authorities of Mexico City, as well as state authorities express their concern about the country’s future and come up with lots of ideas, which are likely to prove helpful and effective in overcoming these negative tendencies. Whichever idea is the best, just one thing is evident today, and this is the necessity to create positive incentives and favorable conditions for people to live and work in the countryside in order to stem the growth of city population. As air quality issue appears to be the most evident one, the city government has developed a number of solutions aimed at reduction of industrial and vehicle releases into the atmosphere. By incorporating advanced technological systems and usage of higher quality fuel, it is possible to significantly improve air quality. Recently, a state-of-the-art air quality monitoring system has been implemented, so government officials and specialists have obtained control over air quality. Now every vehicle is required to feature advanced converting devices that are capable to cut down the release of toxic substances. In November 1989, the city Government introduced the so called No Driving Day (NDD), when car owners are supposed not to use their vehicles on certain days. The results of this innovation were a considerable reduction of traffic congestion and gasoline use. The use of refined types of fuel and the installation of waste gas purification and vapor recovery equipment are innovative measures regulated by the Clear Air Act Amendments of 1990. Hypothetically, these measures can be instrumental in reducing the amount of vehicle-related chemicals in the air and thus improve air quality. However, these ideas, though effective theoretically, have proven less feasible in reality. As a rule, advanced technological solutions are something than few people can afford, and most people find it less expensive to bribe authorized inspection employees and use old vehicles than purchasing new automobiles or applying expensive technologies. Not infrequently, the cost of implementing new equipment exceeds the size of fines by far, so people prefer to pay fines rather than spend money on equipment. For this reason, the results of the latest innovations have turned out to be less tangible than expected. The NDD policy has also revealed a number of unexpected actions on people’s side. Instead of increased usage of public transportation, Mexico City dwellers found a way around it by purchasing more vehicles in order to have a reserve automobile to be used on No Driving Days. Actually, this nullified the immediate positive tendencies that showed during initial stages of the NDD policy. Other attempts to limit air pollution include increased vehicle ownership taxation and boosting the price of fuels. The advocates of these measures believed that this would discourage people from using cars and thus reduce the impact on the environment. All these measures have proven less effective than expected, since most Mexico residents simply cannot afford new vehicles, to which the new regulations actually spread, and prefer to use old vehicles without having to purchase new equipment. Now, having discussed a few measures that have been taken over the last several years in an attempt to solve the ecological problem, we can see that they are not always applicable or effective. As there is just one major problem that all these issues stem from – the overpopulation – all efforts to change things for the better must be concentrated on solving overpopulation problem. Although mandatory measures, such as inspections, bans, taxation and can have a temporary effect, there is no way to achieve significant improvement in air and water quality but by using wise economical and political instruments. Once again, in order to encourage city dwellers to move to rural areas, healthy economic environment must be created in agricultural regions. This is only feasible through establishing price standards acceptable for country dwellers and creating an ample ground for agricultural business. In other words, in order to stop the growth of city population, we have to make the village no less livable than the city. Unfortunately, very little is being done to improve life in the country, since it would take a decision by the Mexican government to unilaterally withdraw from the WTO, which can entail a conflict with the USA, the founder of the WTO. Today, the Mexican government still prefers to use doubtful methods of forcing the poor to leave the city – by raiding their encampments, as it did in the late 1990s. 1. Phil Hearse. â€Å"MEXICO CITY Environmental Crisis, Socialist Solutions. Environment and Urbanization, Vil. 11, No 1, 53-78 (1999) 2. Ramiro Tovar Landa, 1995. â€Å"Mobile Source Pollution in Mexico City and Market-Based Alternatives† Published by the Cato Institute. Editorial and business offices are located at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. , Washington, D. C. , 20001

Masculine and Feminine Spaces Within the Home

Masculine and Feminine Spaces Within the Home This essay will analyse the historical relevance of the idea of masculine and feminine spaces within the home and whether these ideas are still apparent in a 21st century South African context. This analysis will be done by using the ideals placed on the Victorian Household and the psychological gender of the spaces, through looking into key spaces within the De Villiers family home and how the design interventions used in their home are relevant or irrelevant to the idea of masculine and feminine spaces. Through looking at both Public and Private Spaces within the house this extent will be analysed. The Victorian era is an era that has held a lot of symbolism to our current culture. It has been the cause of some great debate about the gender roles on men and women for centuries (Forty 1986: 110). The Victorian era held the strongest reasons for questions to be asked about the house and what went on in doors (Forty 1986: 109). Our current society still lives by some of the rules that were placed into the home environment, though a few roles may be reversed or neutralised. When looking at the key culture of the Victorian era the person has to analyse the middle class to upper class households that held more than three rooms and had rooms that were gender orientated (Forty 1986: 106). â€Å"As domestic environments have come to be regarded as signs of the occupants characters, people have gone to great lengths to present a satisfactory account of themselves.† (Forty 1986: 106) As people we base a large amount of what we think of a person or family on their living conditions and therefore we project the desired opinion that we want from others onto our own living spaces, to be perceived in a certain way. This was a mentality that was seen in the Victorian era as well and predicted the future of you and you relatives (Forty 1986: 102). The Home was seen as a class symbol that would project the wealth and status of the family that lived within (Forty 1986: 101). This was an important part of knowing who to socialise with and what their personal worth would be to you. Sexualities can only be adequately evaluated in relation to their broader cultural contexts (Smyth 1992:20). This can determine if one or both partners in a heterosexual relationship tend to be either more feminine or masculine in the relationship. Cavallaro (2001:115) states that: â€Å"Anti-essentialists do not deny that men and women are biologically and anatomically different. However, they argue that masculinity and femininity are not timeless realities grounded in natural laws but actually cultural concepts that change significantly through time and space.† The sex of the person does not affect the gender role that they have. How that will affect the relationship within the home in terms of the interior style according to the gender role that is more predominant. The De Villiers family home is a household that is commonly found in South African, a mix of Afrikaans plaas and English City mentality (De Villiers 2015). The mother was brought up in Johannesburg and the father on a farm in Nelspruit (De Villiers 2015). The household consists of the mother, Debbi and the father, Lewis with their three sons over twenty-one living with them (De Villiers 2015). The family has a love for hosting friends and family in their spaces, this has made some design choices crucial in the house (De Villiers 2015). Debbi Studied to be a grade 5 teacher, but after having her first son chose to raise their children as a stay at home Mother (De Villiers 2015). At this stage the father had a big part in the design choices and certain things like floral patterns and colour were not allowed to play a role in the communal spaces (De Villiers 2015). Debbi decided to do her own curtains for the house and this soon after became a business that was bringing in more money th an the construction Job that Lewis had (De Villiers 2015). They soon started to work together and this is when the change in the house happened and the chance for Debbi to bring Hints of florals into the house (De Villiers 2015). The house is over 85 years old and was renovated eleven years ago to modernise some of the feature and add to some of the spaces in the house (De Villiers 2015). The family hosts a large collection of inherited antiques that have been reupholstered to suit the style of the house (De Villiers 2015). The mix between contemporary and old form a balance in this neutral colour scheme home. The latest room to be redecorated was the television room in February 2015 (De Villiers 2015). The exterior is a common South African face brick exterior. In the Victorian time the men had domain over what the exterior of the house was to be this was because the exterior world was a man’s world (Forty 1986: 104). A masculine exterior was seen as superior as it improved the power status of the family that lived within the house, if the exterior was more feminine the house was seen as bordering on a childish expression (Ehrnberger, Rà ¤sà ¤nen Ilstedt 2012: 89). The exterior of the De Villiers h ouse is masculine but the garden softens the exterior and makes the overall appearance more neutral. As one enter the house you walk onto a raised platform that forms the passage to the private areas of the house and the public areas, this can be seen on the diagrammatic in Figure 1. The entrance looks into the open plan Formal living room (Figure 1 and 2). This room would be the equivalent to the music room and drawing room in a Victorian household. The space is divided into three defined segments: the first a Lounge area that is symmetrical with Colour making the space asymmetrical, seen in figure 2; a seating area of two wingback chairs that has a table with family pictures and other memorabilia, seen in Figure 2; and a Music area that has the piano and a music stand, the piano has memorabilia on top of it, seen in Figure 2. The soft furnishings are in a majority neutral palate with red cushions and pale blues or florals (Figure 2 3) being brought through, this a feminine way of decorating the space (Kinchin 1996: 13). The dark woods of all the hard furniture is a masculine trai t (Kinchin 1996: 13). â€Å"Boundaries between inner psyche and outward aesthetic expression were growing ever more indistinct† (Sidlavskas 1996:70). The overall design of the room is more feminine with the Photographs and displays of plants and embellishments throughout the space, these embellishments of the room can be seen as a nostalgic element of a more feminine nature of remembering things from the past (Morley 2002: 58). The next space is the formal dining room that is off the kitchen and Formal living room, as can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 4 shows the entire space of the dining room. Mainly done in dark furnishings with a few decorative items. The room is more masculine with a strong contrast to the Formal living room. The Fire place has a feminine look to it and has been in the house since it was originally built. The furniture is all repurposed family antiques. The pictures on the walls are prints and painting of men. These elements make the room more masculine and as it is more purpose decorated, therefore it has a more serious feel to it. This space is not a common used space and is kept for special occasions where in the Victorian era it would have been the most used room and the biggest status symbol in the house (Kinchin 1996: 16). This use of the dining room would also allude to the Victorian ideal of the saying ‘man of the House’ and this would therefore need the space to com e across more masculine to show the ownership of the house unit. The outdoor patio space that is off the dining room, seen in Figure 1, is a space used to celebrate family events. Morley (2002: 19) talks about the need of the family to part take in rituals (Birthdays, Easter and Christmas celebrations) in certain areas of the house as a way of showing an â€Å"appearance of proper family relations†. This space in the De Villiers house is the Main patio, which has been designed to be an entertainment area. This area was added to the house ten years ago and has been used to celebrate a wide range of events, as well as a favourite space to spend time with one another. This space is a multi-purpose space that brings in the families love of nature into the space with the garden bordering the space. This natural element is seen as a feminine side and with the curving chandeliers and lighter colours. the overall space has more of a feminine feel to the space. The Family Sitting room that is off the dining room, seen in Figure 1, is the most used space by the entire family. Decorated in a Postmodern style that is emotionally decorated (Figure 6) and not functionally decorated, â€Å"stressing a unique and ‘daring’ combination of heterogeneous furniture elements all favoured for their authentic individual merits† (Cieraad 1999: 9). This space was redesigned in February and therefore the gender role of the room has changed. All the dark wood furnishings have been limited and some painted white to give a softness to the hard furniture. The walls have been repainted in a neutral colour, while the colour blue has been brought in with florals and patterns to balance masculine and feminine in the room (Figure 6). The room that was predominately the son’s haven therefore more masculine, has become a shared neural space for the whole families use. The son’s bedrooms are each different and match each of their personalities. The oldest son’s bedroom (figure 18) is bedroom 3. The colour scheme is very similar to the rest of the house with a more neutral gender role. The middle son’s bedroom (figure 15 and 16) is simply decorated with blues and a few items on his desk. The youngest son (figure 17) has the most items in his bedroom and has a large about of memorabilia in the room. The colour scheme is blue and green. The boys have masculine rooms. â€Å"We must recognise that often home is ‘a contested domain: an arena where differing interests struggle to define their own spaces within which to localise and cultivate their identity’† stated by Ehrnberger (Rà ¤sà ¤nen Ilstedt 2012: 57). Each of the sons are trying to find their own identity in their individual rooms and therefore their rooms are a contrast to the overall style of the house. The main bedroom suit that is off the main passageway next to bedroom 1, seen in Figure 1, is the haven in the house for the husband and wife. Figure 7 to 14 show the entire suit. Each space has a different gender role and this shows who the space was designed more for the people living within it. The bedroom shown in figure 7, 8 and 9, is less ornamentally designed then the public spaces. The furnishings are in mainly neutral colours with very little patterning on them. Each night stand has a different appeal. There is a small patio and seating area for the husband and wife to spend time with each other in their shared space. The wife’s night stand (figure 7) is round with a table cloth making it softer, it has a plant and a small lamp on the table along with a few books and other items. Along with her dressing table it marks her individual space within the room. The husband’s nightstand (figure 8) has a chandelier hanging over it, the stand is made of a dark wood and has piles of books on the stand. The husband’s side of the bed is closest to his study. â€Å"The surface of a room, the shape of an object, its colour, can inspire sympathy or even antipathy†¦ objects become signs of a great number of small actions† Paul Bourget (Sidlauskas 1996:73). The individual spaces within the shared spaces are strongly defied unlike the rest of the house. The rooms off the bedroom each have more masculine traits. The study (Figure 10 and 11) off the main bedroom is overflowing with clutter and books. This space seems messy but is a well-used space and is the husband’s main space for himself in the house. The atrium off the space shows the need for individual space in the garden area for him as well. The bathroom seen in figure 13 and 14, shows a more masculine space with the use of dark woods along the neutral colours. There is very little decoration other than two paintings and a chair that has been placed in the space. The bathroom is more of a place of function then emotion, making the space more masculine (Morley 2002: 57). The De Villiers house was designed in a French style that would lead one to think that the femininity of that style of design would be the most prominent gender role within their house. This house shows that through the people the space is made a home and their personal gender roles, along with the functionality of each space determines the overall gender role of each space. Rothchild (1999: 11) talks about the change in ownership roles of the house due to the workplace becoming more feminine. This allows one to see that the family unit has a more balanced Gender role household due to Debbie and Lewis working together as co-owners of a business, though Debbie now has a more design choice in the house. The private spaces applies to the individual that spends the most amount of time within that space. While the public space tend to be more masculine with feminine touches or elements being brought in to balance the space. The exterior of this house does not have an effect on the overall gender role within the house. From my personal perspective, the De Villiers house tends to hold a more balanced amount of masculine and feminine gender spaces, though feminine elements outweigh the masculine elements in the public spaces. The overall design style of the house stays consistent throughout the space.

Beef Customer Satisfaction :: essays research papers

Executive Director, Issues Management — NCBA Summary The checkoff-funded beef safety tracking survey conducted in November 2004 found that fresh beef steaks/roasts remained the protein with the highest consumer confidence in safety. The survey asks consumers to give grades to foods for being safe to eat and 76 percent of survey respondents gave steak/roast an A or B for safety. Background The beef safety tracking surveys are quarterly telephone surveys of a national, random sample of U.S. adults. Vegetarians do not answer the survey. The margin of error for survey data is plus/minus 3.2 percent. General food safety The percentage of Americans giving U.S. food in general an A or B for safety has remained relatively stable with some small fluctuations in the past year. However, this survey found the percentage of A/B grades (70%) significantly lower than in November 2003 (74%) and at the lowest score since November 2002 (69%). The November 2004 score is much lower than the 77 percent measured during the last survey in May 2004. Safety of specific fresh foods The safety ratings for specific fresh foods remained stable during the past year with no significant differences in the ratings in November 2004. Fresh fruits and vegetables are consistently at the top of the list when it comes to safety grades given to specific fresh foods one might buy in a grocery store. Fresh beef steaks and roasts receive the highest meat product safety grade (76%). Tied for second place with 70 percent of consumers grading A or B were fresh pork chops and microwaveable foods. Foods with lower consumer safety grades were fresh ground beef (64%), fresh chicken (63%), fresh fish (60%), fresh ground pork (56%) and pre-prepared foods from the deli (52%). Specific concerns regarding food safety The safety tracking survey asks consumers to rate their level of concern about specific safety issues on a 5-point scale, with one being not concerned and five being extremely concerned. The percentage of â€Å"top two† scores (4-5 ratings on the scale) indicate the issues of greatest concern. Safety issues tend not to be top of mind with consumers, evidenced by the fact that safety issues barely register when consumers state reasons for eating less beef. However, when asked to think about specific safety concerns, bacteria (62%) and pesticides (62%) top the list. Consumer concerns about chemical additives (58%) and mad cow disease (57%) make up a second tier of safety concerns. Concerns about mad cow disease did not increase significantly as a result of the first U.S. case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in December 2003, and in fact, currently are significantly lower than the 61 percent concern level measured in November 2003.

Pope Pius XIIs Neutrality Essay -- Catholic Church, Holocaust, Hitler

Is it possible for a Pope to be infallible? When one looks at events, such as the Holocaust, the answer of this question becomes twofold. Were Pope Pius XII’s actions an attempt to save the Catholic Church from persecutions or were they a lack of understanding of Hitler’s ethnic cleansing? Nearly six million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust, and when the world became aware of the mass murders that were taking place in Europe, World War II became a moral obligation rather than a fight for power. The Allied powers, Nazi resistance group, and even some Catholic groups invaded Germany to not only save Jews, but also to force the Nazis out of power in Germany. Surprisingly, the Vatican did not assist these resistance groups. Pope Pius XII neglected to help Jewish Holocaust victims and cowardly ignored the moral issue in order to remain neutral, avoid conflict in the war, and avoid the persecution of more Catholics. Since Pope Pius XI was in power, the Church was pro-neutrality. In 1930, Pope Pius XI appointed Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, as Secretary of State of the Holy See. Pacelli assisted Pius XI in writing encyclicals, dealing with diplomatic matters, and handling international affairs (Sanchez 16). In fact, Pius XI even selected Cardinal Pacelli to agree to the Reich Concordat of 1933 — an agreement signed by Cardinal Pacelli and Herr Franz von Papen, the Vice-Chancellor of the German Reich — on his behalf. This agreement allowed the Pope to impose laws on the German clergy and ensure the freedom of German Catholic dioceses, schools, religious Orders, congregations and parishes (Concordat). The German Reich agreed to these terms so long as the papacy encouraged the demolition of the Cathol... ...in his Christmas Message of 1942. In an address to the College of Cardinals in June 1943, Pius XII repeated what he told the Italian ambassador in 1940: â€Å"We would like to utter words of fire against such actions (German atrocities) and the only thing restraining up from speaking is the fear of making the plight of the victims even worse† (Phayer 54). His concern was Nazi retaliation against Catholics in the occupied countries. The silence of the Pope was deafening. If Pope Pius XII had readily shared his knowledge regarding the deportations of Jews and death camps with the rest of the world immediately upon learning this information, it is extremely possible that many lives would have been saved. This silent reaction of the papacy began the controversy of the moral obligations of Pope Pius XII and the omissions of any reactions to the atrocities taking place.

Themes in Sonnys Blues by James Baldwin Essay -- American Literature

Themes in Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin After reading the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, I find there are two major themes that Baldwin is trying to convey, suffering and irony. The first theme that he brings out and tries to get the reader to understand is the theme of suffering. The second theme that the author illustrates is the theme of irony. James Baldwin writes about two African-American brothers growing up in Harlem, a black ghetto in New York, during the 1950's. During this time black people were forced to live in a world of prejudice, discrimination, poverty and suppression. The life of a black person was very difficult; many opportunities afforded to whites were not afforded to blacks. Sonny and his brother lived in the projects and had many obstacles to overcome that white people didn't have to. Sonny chose music to outwardly express his suffering, his brother chose to bottle it up and keep it inside, but this is the common thread they both shared. Suffering is also shown in the story when Baldwin says "it came to me that what we both were seeking through our separate cab windows was that part of ourselves which had been left behind" (P 47). I think this quote means that both Sonny and his older brother want to retrieve some of their past so that it can help them cope with what has happened in their lives. If Sonny and his brother can both cope with what has happened in their lives and get over it, I think t they both can start moving forward and putting this behind them. I feel having Sonny's brother narrate the story in the first person is Baldwin's way of telling us that Sonny's brother is also suffering but inside, unlike Sonny who takes drugs and sings the blues. Sonny's ... ...s and work together to form a loving relationship. In conclusion, the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin brings out two main themes: irony and suffering. You can actually feel the pain that Baldwin's characters experience; and distinguish the two different lifestyles of siblings brought up in the same environment. The older brother remaining nameless is a fabulous touch that really made me want to read on. This really piqued my interest and I feel it can lead to many discussions on why this technique was used. I really enjoyed this story; it was a fast and enjoyable reading. Baldwin keeps his readers thinking and talking long after they have finished reading his stories. His writing technique is an art, which very few, if any, can duplicate. Works Cited: Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues" in Vintage Baldwin. New York: Vintage, 2004.

Holy War Inc Book Review

In Peter Bergen’s Holy War, Inc, the reader is ushered through a head-spinning trip around the globe that serves to highlight the far-reaching effects of Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization that Bergen likens to a Multi-national holding company. While Bergen makes reference to similarities between the management of a Multi-national Corporation and that of al-Qaeda, it is seemingly not the primary focus of the book nor does it serve as a particularly suitable metaphor, especially in light of the events that have transpired since the book was released. Despite the title of the book, Bergen does a fine job setting a backdrop to the organization and illustrating how it operates in an increasingly technologically intertwined world system, as well as outlining factors contributed by the West. It seems there are few people on the planet who are as qualified as Peter Bergen to tackle as complex a task as explaining al-Qaeda to the masses. It is a feat he has clearly accomplished though, evidenced by the fact that the book became a New York Times best seller, was named one of the best non-fiction books of 2001 by The Washington Post, and has been translated into eighteen different languages. Bergen has traveled extensively through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to report on bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. In 1997 Bergen brought the Western world bin Laden's first television interview as a producer for CNN. It was in this interview that Western audiences first heard bin Laden’s declaration of war against the United States (1). Due to his extensive travel and research, Bergen displays an understanding and empathy, if not flat out admiration and sympathy for the Muslim struggle. He spends virtually no effort in further vilifying the terrorists, but concentrates rather on explaining the history and motivation behind the attacks with vocabulary that is, at times, nearly poetic. This ranges from the description of the â€Å"hopelessly brave warriors who†¦suffered so much for their faith† during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, to the moving experience of watching Muslim men at prayer. He reflects on how â€Å"the act of collective worship woven into the fabric of daily life is something we have almost entirely lost in the West (2). My personal favorite however, is his description of Pakistan during Ramadan where the â€Å"mornings were chilly, but by midday the sun had warmed the velvet breezes that blew the turning leaves off the trees† (3). Apart from the eloquence employed in his writing, it is still most surprising the great lengths Bergen went through to assemble a case of innocence for Khaled al-Fawwaz, the man who had first arranged CNN’s meeting with bin Laden and who was incidentally arrested by British authorities while Bergen was in London. Khaled is still being held in Britain fighting extradition to the U. S. for his involvement in the bombings of the two U. S. embassies in East Africa despite Bergen’s construct of innocence (4). Bergen does not excuse the terrorist acts performed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but certainly works to explain to the Western world the factors and policies that have contributed to their justification for violence. He is critical of the U. S. Government from the outset of the book where he examines U. S. ulpability for placing extremists in power and for providing an arsenal of weapons still employed by Afghan extremists today. During the brutal Afghan war, the U. S. provided political and financial support as well as stinger missiles (via the Pakistani government) to the Hizb party headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Islamic extremist who â€Å"consistently placed the long-term goal of Islamic revolution over resistance to the Soviets†(5). Bergen identifies Ahmed Shah Massoud, a moderate Islamic general as having been a better choice of leaders, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20. More importantly, Bergen seeks to establish the ignorance on which the United States’ policies have been formed. An Army Supervisor told Bergen that in his eight years in the Middle East that he had heard daily of how U. S. policy was â€Å"dead wrong†. Though these are not Bergen’s own words, it seems this is the overriding message he seeks to convey. He makes it abundantly clear that the Muslim world has not made war on our culture, but rather on our politics, particularly pertaining to the occupation of Saudi Arabia. He explains the fundamental difference between U. S. and Islamic thought: the concept of the ability to separate the sacred and secular. In a land where the â€Å"separation of church and state† is held as a value, it is difficult to conceive a system where politics and religion are one in the same. As difficult as it is for us to imagine policy being dictated by religion, it is equally as difficult for them to perceive an occupation as anything less than an attack directly on Islam itself. In fact, our policies are rarely grounded on moral principal, much less religion, unless there are first grounded in national interest. In the eyes of al-Qaeda, U. S. occupation of Saudi Arabia, a most holy place in the Islamic faith, is akin to â€Å"sending Jihad to the Vatican† (6). Every military move the West has made in light of the Saudi occupation only furthers the belief that the U. S. seeks to dominate the Muslim world. This includes military activity in Somalia and other predominantly Muslim countries in Africa, to the support of Israel, to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. A little more than a year after this book was released, the U. S. and Saudi Arabia agreed that it was in both nations’ best interest for U. S. forces to leave the area. It does not seem, however, that this is having the effect on bin Laden that Bergen and U. S. policy makers had hoped for. According to the BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi, bin Laden will not be satisfied until all Muslim societies are â€Å"liberated from foreign troops and what they see as ungodly secular rulers† (7). Bergen further discourages American occupation by making note of Afghan history, marked by numerous foreign invasions that have consistently, and brutally been averted by Afghan warriors to the demise of their attackers. Bergen states that the â€Å"British came to realize that to occupy Afghanistan was to invite disaster (8)†, a sentiment echoed last year by Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal in his assessment of the Obama Administration’s goal to extract U. S. troops from Afghanistan. He states, â€Å"Nobody, throughout history, has ever succeeded in [conquering Afghanistan]. Go back to Alexandrian times and more recently to Soviet times. Afghanistan has always been the deathbed of invading armies. â€Å"(9). Support is given to these ideas rather than to the title, which I imagine was cooked up by Bergen’s publisher as a means to sell books to its target market, the capitalist West. There is no doubt that bin Laden and his family have been extraordinarily successful in their business ventures, funneling a great amount of the resulting wealth into terrorist organizations. To say, however, that al-Qaeda acts as a â€Å"multi-national holding company† is a stretch, at best. Bergen himself defines the structure of a holding company as â€Å"controlling partial or complete interests in other companies†(10). Even this limited definition does not seem to apply to al-Qaeda’s methods, but when the definition is extended out further, it seems to become even less applicable. A holding company provides a means of concentrating control of several companies with a minimum of investment and risk to the holding company. This would suggest that the product, which in this case would be varying brands of Jihad, are simply managed and controlled by al-Qaeda, when in fact they are the organization doing the exporting of a particular brand of Jihad. Bergen contradicts his own thesis in his discussion about the nature of the organization in regards to intelligence gathering. He states, â€Å"The bin Laden network is by contrast a loosely affiliated transnational group with a more diffuse organizational structure that makes it hard to penetrate†(11). Bin Laden knows business and has surely employed many of his organizational management skills to al-Quaeda, but that does not a business make. It is true that al-Quaeda is â€Å"as globally minded as any other national company† (12) and has attracted a â€Å"polyglot† of followers (a word Bergen employs multiple times) but what this really speaks to his observation that â€Å"bin Laden’s organization†¦is as much a creation of globalization as a response to it† (13). Bergen acknowledges that umma the world community of Muslims, is a value long held by the Islamic faith. Globalization has simply shored up that value. If al-Quaeda were the top-down corporation that Bergen suggests, it would be a machine whose components could be easily disabled. In 2009, Bergen gave testimony before the U. S. house of representatives that â€Å"Al Qaeda has sustained and can continue to sustain enormous blows that would put other organizations out of business because the members of the group firmly believe that they are doing God's work and tactical setbacks do not matter in the short run. 14)† Perhaps the organization is approaching the point that Bergen predicted in the closing of the book, where our victory in the war on terror is defined by a reversion of terrorist threats similar to the â€Å"status-quo of pre-9/11, where terrorism was an irritant for American Policy Makers, but not the major national security concern†(15). Or perhaps as he suggests it is â€Å"devolving into local franchises† (16), though it seems this metaphor would have be en more fitting from the beginning. In fact, in Bergen’s Senate testimony he says of the organization: Indeed, it is my assessment that the al Qaeda organization today no longer poses a direct national security threat to the United States itself, but rather poses a second-order threat in which the worst case scenario would be an al Qaeda- trained or -inspired terrorist managing to pull off an attack on the scale of something in between the 1993 Trade Center attack, which killed six, and the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, which killed 168. While this, of course, would be tragic, it would not constitute a mass casualty attack sufficiently large in scale to reorient American national security policy completely as the 9/11 attacks did (17). This suggests al-Quaeda as something less of a franchise but rather more of an inspiring business model. While there are still terrorists who have been directly trained by al-Qaeda, or employees if you will, the preeminent threat stems from those who are inspired by the group’s successes. To carry the corporate metaphor out further, these are the people who decide to open their own shoe store after learning about the successes of Nordstrom. I would most certainly suggest this book to others, particularly Americans who tend to be apathetic toward foreign policy. A move toward understanding the collective psychology of the group is infinitely more productive that blind defiance. It is a superbly written book especially in light of the intertwined cast of characters who were often difficult to keep track of, given their travel in and out of regions and with lengthy names consisting of strings of consonants unfamiliar to the English-speaking world. It would be difficult to put these globe-trotting, name-dropping narratives could together in any less complicated manner though, unless one were to rename individuals such as â€Å"Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman† as â€Å"Abe† for instance, but I suppose that would wholly undermine the book’s authenticity. When certain individuals reemerge in the plot, Bergen is often kind enough to remind the reader that of where they had first appeared, such as the case of Ramzi Yousef who was mentioned briefly in two chapters. Bergen reminds that reader that he was the fellow who had an early mishap with some explosives he was experimenting with, resulting in smoke pouring from his Manila apartment (18). Given all the Arab names in the book, the Oh-I-remember-that-guy-now tactic proves rather helpful. Bergen leaves the reader with quite a lot to chew on and digest in regards to foreign policy and trade by expressing a liberally optimistic worldview. Any hope seems to lie in closing the gap of ignorance in the West toward Islam as well as the Islamic world’s blissful denial of the damage done to the West by Islamic radicalism. For instance, the results of the poll of Muslim countries cited by Bergen found that the U. S. attacks on Afghanistan were perceived as unjustified. It was a bit more revealing that the same poll showed that the terror attacks on the U. S. were perceived as equally unjustified and that 61 percent did not even believe that Arab terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks (19). Bergen seems confident though that the Democratic Islamic Movement holds potential stating that, â€Å"any number of political models are possible in an Islamic environment† (20) and that as long as governments are stabilized, extremism will hold less appeal. I don’t know that Bergen would have written this book has he thought the West could not have a positive role in creating that stabilization. He admonishes the U. S. government and Middle Eastern countries for working in cooperation against al-Quaeda and for establishing trade policies that benefit unstable regions. This type of cooperation is paramount in his view. Bergen closes along the real thesis of the book, which has nothing to do with terrorism as a multinational corporation, and everything to do with explaining Muslim sensibilities and how deeply the U. S. continues to offend them. His exhortation is for the U. S. to behave in a manner that looks toward peace rather than ignorantly and haughtily labeling the entire region as an â€Å"axis of evil†. Readers of this book will hopefully walk away with an understanding of the motivation behind al-Quaeda as well as our own national propensity toward the pride that has motivated unthinkable offenses toward the Muslim people. Bibliography (1) â€Å"Biography. † PeterBergen. com. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. . (2) Bergen, Peter. Holy War, Inc. . New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2002. p. 153. (3) Holy War, Inc. p. 150. (4) â€Å"US Most Wanted Terrorist Suspect in New Extradition Fight in Britain – Telegraph. † Telegraph. co. uk: News, Business, Sport, the Daily Telegraph Newspaper, Sunday Telegraph – Telegraph. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. . (5) Holy War, Inc. p. 72. (6) Holy War, Inc. p. 101. (7) â€Å"BBC NEWS | Middle East | US Pulls out of Saudi Arabia. † BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. . (8) Holy War, Inc. p. 53. Bibliography (Cont. ) (9) â€Å"Cornell Chronicle: Saudi Prince on U. S. -Saudi Relations. † Cornell Chronicle Online. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. http://www. news. cornell. edu/stories/April09/PrinceTurkiCover. gl. html (10) Holy War, Inc. p. 32. (11) Holy War, Inc. p. 120. (12) Holy War, Inc. p. 83. (13) Holy War, Inc. p. 200. (14) â€Å"Articles – Congressional Testimony: Reassessing the Evolving Al Qaeda Threat to the Homeland. † PeterBergen. com. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. . (15) Holy War, Inc. p. 245. 16) Holy War, Inc. p. 238. Bibliography (Cont. ) (17) â€Å"Articles – Congressional Testimony: Reassessing the Evolving Al Qaeda Threat to the Homeland. † PeterBergen. com. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. . (18) Holy War, Inc. p. 222. (19) Holy War, Inc. p. 227. (20) Holy War, Inc. p. 238. http://www. peterbergen. com/articles/details. aspx? id=411 Cornell University, Chronicle Online. April 24, 2009. Saudi Prince Hopes Obama Wi ll End Region's conflicts. George Lowery http://www. news. cornell. edu/stories/April09/PrinceTurkiCover. gl. html 2

Flag of the United States and U.s. Car Maker Essay

1. In your opinion, what were the most important design considerations for BMW when redesigning the Mini for the U.S. car market? As for U.S. car maker, the first place that they should redesign the image and the style of the BMW. As to suit the market, BMW should make the car a little larger; add some modern bits inside of the car. As I know, they highlighted the British theme by adding extras like the flag on the roof, therefore, as for the U.S. car maker, they also can add the extras like American flag on the roof, and even they can design the car cover of the American flag. 2. What would be the most important benefits to design into this car for the targeted market segment(s)? The targeted market segments for Mini are people who are 24-32, young white-collar, urban professionals who owned their â€Å"first car†, which is adventurous, extraverted and car for personal users. As we know the Mini’s target market are people who are 24-32 years old, who just graduate from university or have their first job. Therefore, the social media is very important to them. Company can insert the social app like Twitter and Facebook to and Web Radio to the car, which you can receive the status updates and tune into online radio stations via iphone and to listen to them in Mini. Create a Mini website which let car owner customize their own outfits of the car. 3. What would be the key points of discussion between design and other functional areas within BMW in order to deliver a car with the desired benefits? As my point of view, between design and functional areas, the key points of discussion are cost, environmental problems and ethical issues. In order to deliver a car with the desired benefits, company should consider about the cost of product. Even though the design may increase the sales, but reasonable cost will determined by the management of company. In addition, increasingly people pay attention to the environmental problem, except build a designable car with other functions, company also should take care of the environment, such as the emission issue. As for ethical issue, when find out the small pitfall of a BMW, company should recall it immediately, cannot do like Ford Company’s Pinto case, should assume the responsibility. 4. More broadly, when a car such as the Beetle or Thunderbird is redesigned or given a facelift for the modern car buyer, what are the design pitfalls and concerns, and specifically, what kind of market research should be conducted to ensure that the pitfalls are avoided? When a car such as the Beetle or Thunderbird is redesigned for the modern car buyers, the most concerned issue is safety. Some of the redesigns want to satisfy the demands of consumers, however ignore the safety issues. In my opinion, the Primary research is research that design and conduct by ourselves. Several tools are available to the market researcher—e.g., mail questionnaires, phone surveys, observation, and focus groups. Research will often help us reduce risks associated with a new product, but it cannot take the risk away entirely. It is also important to ascertain whether the research has been complete.