Low Cost Strategy Essay

Low cost strategy is one of the three generic marketing strategies. Companies use this strategy to offer low price in its products/services by focusing on various points in its value chain activities. In order to be a successful low-cost competitor in a competitive environment, companies focus on several issues; which all pass from the ways of margin improvement (in terms of increasing revenue and reducing cost) and asset effectiveness (in the sense of minimizing working capital and maximizing winning on asset). In other words, we can say that low-cost competitors focus on efficiency in its all activities by redefining and cutting costs in their value chain. Here are different attributes which low-cost strategy focused companies make or follow in order to be competitive and have sustainable low-cost strategies: †¢ Forming partnership in some activities which is too costly for the company to do by itself and/or outsourcing manufacturing activities to low-cost countries. For example, Huawei Technologies (which is importing and developing PBX telephone products) made partnership with 3Com and Siemens so enter new markets and also by using its some other competitive strengths it outcompetes Cisco (well-known global network manufacturer) within 5-6 years. †¢ Minimizing complex and expensive activities such as, research and development, product design and marketing; and standardizing products and designs. †¢ Having no-extra service but with the best use of asset utilization. For example, Southwest Airlines lowers its costs by no-frill services but also achieve to maximize its profits by returning the plane from the gate to the air within very short time (about 20 minutes). †¢ Combining low-price with product differentiation. For example, Japanese retailer Muji as a competitor to Wal-Mart and IKEA. It is very important for a low-cost strategy focused company to identify and deal with other low-cost competitors as early as possible before they become strong and successful competitor in market. Therefore, companies should consider their external environment especially its competitors in order to be able to become more competitive and gain more market share as a low-cost provider. There are 4 ways of analyzing competitive environment: 1) Identifying company’s low-cost rivals: Possible by detecting and responding potential low-cost competitors on time; based on focusing low-cost strategies against to the company. 2) Performing a total cost analysis: Made by identifying a potential threats from companies which are more efficient in their product and service costs. ) Developing all potential scenarios: Company makes what-if scenarios by clear understanding of the market and competitor’s sustainable capabilities in order to prepare better for future. 4) Determining company’s best strategic moves: In this case company uses its what-if scenario understandings in a way to be able to compete and beat its low-cost rivals. While developing company’s strategic moves to gain higher market share and sustainable competitive edge, managers should develop both short-term tactics and long-term strategies. Short-term tactics allow company to make stronger its strengths and also gain time for the needed analysis to be able to develop long-term strategies while keeping low-cost rivals in a position that does not threats the company. These tactics include offering low-price product/services or providing some other sale incentives, several legal actions such as patent infringement lawsuits, product/service differentiation and lastly focusing more attractive and profitable customers by letting unprofitable ones to rivals. These short-term tactics also, allow company to maintain market share as well as gain sustainability in its actions. Long-term strategies adjust companies to changing market conditions and also allow them to pursue after new market opportunities. These strategies might be riskier than short-terms’ but bring more profits. Long-term strategy includes offering differentiated products, expanding products/services, entering into new geographical areas, becoming low-cost leader or having low-cost subsidiaries, investing in technology and lastly improving customer services. As an example, IBM was selling personal computers as a first mover but then it started to sell differentiated product of software by offering service solutions as well when Dell and Gateway started to sell lower priced personal computers. Overall, in order to be able to successfully compete with other low-cost rivals and have sustainability as a low-cost competitor in the market; Firstly, company must analyze its internal and external environment by defining its own and also competitors’ market positions and potential threats to the company. Secondly, company must be action oriented by using its strengths and competitive advantage to eliminate early detected potential threats for the company in future. Lastly, company must develop a strong plan of action to support its successful competition in the market by entering into the new markets and developing new products on the time and also adapting other necessary tactics as quick as possible.

Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love With jolting word choice and the effective application of imagery, the poem My Papa’s Waltz, written in 1948 by Theodore Roethke (1908 – 1963), presents the speaker as a child who is trapped in a world tragically affected by alcoholism and physical abuse yet who relentlessly attempts to attain love and affection from his drunken and violent father. The whimsical lyrics prompt the reader to recognize that although this poem depicts the essence of a child, the implication of a life of patterned torture is in deep contrast to the reality of a carefree childhood. My Papa’s Waltz is written in quatrain form purposely echoing the sing song sound of idyllic childhood rhymes to contrast the meaning of the poem which illustrates a childhood experience with an alcoholic and abusive father who, despite the ongoing pain inflicted, is still loved unconditionally by his son. The speaker relates this experience in his childhood with his drunken father in an almost affectionate tone, yet with the distain of the alcoholism and violence soundly ringing through. He states, â€Å"The whiskey on your breath, Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy,† (lines 1-4). The speaker’s tone reveals that although his father drinks to the point of his breath being intoxicating and that the situation is confusing to the lad, he still â€Å"hung on like death,† grappling with his hope that if he continued â€Å"the waltz† – the relationship with his father – that he would retain his father’s love. In the last line of the stanza, the speaker’s resolute determination of continuing with the difficult waltz lends credence to the optimism of his youth which is evident in his perseverance to experience the father-son relationship. The word choices throughout the poem, such as â€Å"death,† â€Å"battered,† â€Å"scraped,† and â€Å"beat† imply that the speaker’s childhood is certainly not a functional one and, moreover, is filled daily with the cruel interactions of his hardened father. The speaker reflects, â€Å"We romped until the pans, Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance, Could not unfrown itself,† (5-8). This passage suggests through detailed imagery that although this young boy is being abused by his father, with household items being knocked from their places with the shaking of the violence, his mother shamefully remains a silent but disapproving bystander as she witnesses her child’s horrendous beatings. The brutal scene continues to unfold as â€Å"The hand that held my wrist, Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed, My right ear scraped a buckle,† (9 –12). In a vivid display of terrifying progression, the father grasps the boy’s wrist with his hand in an attempt to land yet another steady blow, battering his knuckles even more. When his drunken state causes him to stagger, the boy’s ear scrapes against his belt buckle, instead. As the father’s tension and fury explodes from the failed strike, the speaker recounts that his father â€Å"beats time on my head†¦ then waltzed me off to bed,† creating a vision of a frenzied rage as he is repeatedly hit until he is thrown violently into his room at the end of the beating (13, 15). Throughout this instance of abuse it is quite clear that this child’s love for his father is steadfast and unwavering. Regardless of the incessant beating, the last line of the poem is the boy’s emphatic plea for love and acceptance as he was â€Å"still clinging to (his) shirt,† (16). While he notes his father’s â€Å"palm caked hard with dirt,† the excusing tone suggests that he recognizes the hard life his father lives and thus pardons his cruelty. As is often the case with an abused person, no matter the depths of the abuse that is endured, a longing and a resilient hope for a functional, loving and nurturing relationship with one’s parent continues, as is displayed in My Papa’s Waltz. Works Cited Roethke, Theodore. My Papa’s Waltz. Literature for Composition, 8th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, William E. Cain. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 807.

The NYU scholarship on public health graduate program

I am pleased to apply for the NYU scholarship on public health graduate program. Since learning is a continuous lifetime process, I always wanted to gain knowledge of something innovative that will make me a better, rational and worthy person.To complement with the dynamic changes of society and provide the high-end demands of daily life, every individual who thirsts for knowledge of information needs further studies in order to sustain such changes and demands. I deem that I will learn about the world’s philosophies and applications in adaptation of its very nature and its elements in connection to International Business and Management geared towards health care.My career objectives in taking up advance study in this field are to become a competent and knowledgeable person when it comes to governance and to learn more for the purpose of service. With the learning experiences that I will acquire in the University, I will be able to materialize all my intentions in serving othe r people especially those who are in need.I believe that my training and experiences have prepared me for this kind of task since I consider myself result-oriented with a strong entrepreneurship background. My passion for healthcare management has led me towards the publication of a self-motivational weight-loss book called, â€Å"Kimchi Diet.†Together with these skills, I have further honed my knowledge in the area of driving business process, qualitative and quantitative market research and customer service improvements. As a Hospital Strategic Planner, I have achieved significant results related to promoting the growth of the group to where I belong, developing innovative curriculum for effective new staff training thereby increasing overall client volume.In the same vein, I have incorporated my skills in designing and implementing E-commerce sites and web portals in HR communication when I worked at The Gillette Company in Boston Massachusetts. While there, I developed Co ntent Management System for various web projects within the company.I am positive that the innate leadership and powerful drive for service within me will be developed while I am in the institution. I bequeath my humblest leadership, dedication and school spirit for the quest of knowledge. With the acquired knowledge I will have, I am certain to elevate and make better changes in human life not only in the campus but in the community where I belong and intend to serve. My optimism will help bring understanding and wisdom to the all people who need my assistance and service.I want to extend my help to other students in integrating their interests in global, regional and current issues. Through my own dealings of life over the years and a handful of experiences in and out of the four-corners of the classroom, I have grown to be a more responsible and mature person.Indeed, acquiring training in Public Heath Graduate Program will be the first step that I need to take to be able to accom plish my goals. I believe this program will help eager and zealous students like me with its curriculum possessing local and international focus and commitment for excellence. The program is what I need to develop a fuller understanding about the dynamic nature of public health.

To what extent is marketing a hindrance or help to democracy in the Essay

To what extent is marketing a hindrance or help to democracy in the 21st century - Essay Example How can we explain the effects of marketing in a democratic political system? This question cannot be addressed without establishing marketing as a concept and its relationship with the dynamic social, technological and economic landscape of the 21st century. The terms, mass-market, consumer culture, commodification, among others, characterize the 21st century societies. This underscored how marketing dominates the public sphere with the advent of technology. Here, the masses are either homogenized and heterogenised by marketing through technologies and media platforms that could deliver messages to a whole population simultaneously and real time. The consumer seduction has been so successful that economic models such as Fordism was able to develop expansionist strategies wherein mass markets have worked against the perpetuation of material class distinctions as economies of scale expanded the size and composition of the consuming population. (Dunn 1998: 119) Schumpeter (1976) talked about this agglomeration of people as some phenomenon that deprives individuals from their capacity to reflect rationally, arguing that when gathered together, people are easily worked into a state of excitement in which primitive impulses, infantilisms and criminal propensities’ replace moral restraints and civilised modes of thinking. (pp. 257) In relating this phenomenon to democracy and politics, we have the fact that leaders compete for votes in the same way that business people compete for customers. Subsequent application of economic theory to politics reached similar, if not identical, conclusions. John Corner and Dick Pels (2003), for instance, drew attention to the impact of imperfect information on political behaviour in a democracy, to quote: In a situation where views of voters are not immediately transparent to parties and party policy is unclear to voters, each has to incur costs in finding out information. Such costs have to be weighed against the benefits of the

Blog Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Blog - Assignment Example On a general level, I am a team player. I love working in groups and experiencing learning together with other people. I like communicating a lot and I tend to always pave the way for group members to share their ideas and knowledge. I like asking a lot of questions because I love details. In working in teams, I like to set a common goal. It is possible that despite being in a common group, members may not have the same ideas regarding the activity and not everyone could be sharing the same goals (Benjamin 25). This is why even at the onset, I know that setting a common objective is essential in setting the foundation for success in any group activity. Everyone should be on the same page, and â€Å"despite the individual differences that exist, the work flow should be towards nothing else but the common and main group objective† (Benjamin 26-7). In the group activity for Solano Canyon Community Garden, aiming for the common goal is one of the things I am still very proud of. My group mates and I were able to establish a solid aim right from the very start. It was a good thing because while each member was given the freedom to decide and work on their own, we were all confident that we will not be straying away from what we really want to achieve as a group. Also, whenever we feel in doubt of a decision we were about to make, we consulted with the other group members to know their ideas about it. In this area, the essence of teamwork was truly at play. I learned that through this, we feel more bonded with each other because we work for a common goal. There were of course some issues with other people, because it is understandable that in every activity, feedback is always sought for. Either through giving or receiving, feedback is a necessary tool in improvement and progress. This was one of the things we lacked in either giving or receiving. Although there were several reasons or causes why this is lacking, I still feel that everyone

Financial Services and Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Services and Markets - Essay Example No doubt MiFID has its own influence on the effectiveness of the functions of FSA in that there may be some overlapping of the initiatives as laid down by both the regulations in achieving the purposes for which they have been introduced. With this background this paper attempts to bring out a detailed report on the legal implications of MiFID on the FSA and the extent of the exposure of its authority on the activities of different organisations, which are supposed to be regulated and controlled by FSA. Financial Services Authority is an independent non-government body, set up under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000. The important role of this authority funded by the industry is to regulate the financial services industry. Under FSMA the FSA has the following statutory objectives: The New Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 provide a framework within which the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will operate as the UK's sole, statutory, financial services regulator. (Lindsey Hemingway 2001) The policy objectives of FSMA 2000 are to create an efficient and effective transparent framework for financial services regulation in the UK which promoted market confidence and protects consumers. According to HM Treasury Note (2005) "these Regulations fulfill these objectives by enabling the FSA, the UK's single regulator of financial services, to operate more effectively by permitting independent actuaries who assist the FSA in its regulatory functions to disclose more information to the FSA in certain circumstances." According to Lindsey Hemingway (2001) the New Act would introduce the following significant changes in the financial services law, although the fundamental principles of the Old Act will be maintained. These will include: the FSA as the sole financial services regulator in place of the various regulatory and professional bodies created under the regime of the Old Act; a revised Financial Promotion scheme; powers to impose penalties for market abuse; regulation, marketing and promotion of collective investment schemes; recognition of investment exchanges and clearing houses; delegation to the London Stock Exchange of the relevant powers to regulate listing activity and to approve all prospectuses; establishment of a single Ombudsman and compensation scheme, replacing the various schemes already in existence, to

Is Sex Education Beneficial or Harmful to Teenagers Essay

Is Sex Education Beneficial or Harmful to Teenagers - Essay Example In addition to all this, there is an impulsive drive within the teenagers to engage in forbidden adequate notwithstanding the absence of wisdom and guidance. As a result more harm than good can be done. Opponents of sex education argue against sex education by claiming that this type of education opens kids to ideas that they had not thought about before. They start fantasizing about instead of letting it go by and let things take its own natural course. They start wondering about it, start thinking about its consequences and start treating it as an exception to the norms of the world. As a result, they can become more vulnerable to poor choices regarding sex, poorer than what they would have taken without being informed. A lot of parents also argue against sex education. They feel that sex education takes away the responsibility from the family. At the end of the day, it is the parent’s job to raise their children and the onus is on them how they want to educate their children about sex education. Educating their kids on sex education triggers a bond between them and their children which is lost if the kids assume that school will teach their kids. By education about sex, ma ny opponents feel that schools try to step into the shoes of the family. Sex education can be very healthy for teens. It offers them guidance and prevents teenage pregnancies.

Answer the following questions at a country of case study (your Essay

Answer the following questions at a country of case study (your choice) questions below,part of Energy and Environmental Security class - Essay Example Oil is their main source of energy. On average, current statistics place china as the largest importer of petroleum as well as other liquid fuels. China consumes its energy through oil production. It has the leading and most stable oil companies hence the efficiency in access. The oil prices keep shifting on the international market depending with China’s oil production. The country has seen to it that its large population consumes more of oil, as they produce it domestically and go further ahead to import more. The main sources of imported oil by china include, production from Russia, Kazakhstan and Myanmar. China has pipeline connection with those countries hence serve as one of their energy sources. Apart from oil, china is known to use coal as another of its primary source of energy. China is also world’s largest coal producer and consumer. Statistics and trends over the years indicate China as the country that consumes half the coal in the world. This is factual considering its large population over the years. Electricity in China is generated using coal as opposed to other countries that use renewable sources of energy for electricity. Among oil and coal as the leading energy producers for China, natural gas and several renewable energy plants are being employed in the country. Following the demand of natural gas, China opts to import it as it produces it in small amounts and has few sites for its production. Some renewable energy plants are underway in their set up using China’s deep waters. The reforms in energy productions are now being fronted by the government of China. China also uses Uranium and nuclear energy as some sources of fuel. The major trading countries of energy with China include India, The US, Europe and many other countries. India happens to be another populous country neighboring China. Being the two most populated countries, they both share trade in energy. On average they are the world’s largest energy

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 26

Human Resource Management - Essay Example This was because in my sociology studies I had learned that culture was something that occurred naturally and not necessarily a HRM practice. In reality, I did not think that organizational culture had anything to do with the success or failure of an organization and to me the insistence on culture was overrated. People from diverse cultures might understand the same situation in various ways. Productivity may rise in a multicultural work environment as each employee brings diverse talents and skills that can be used to solve challenges. One thing that I did not understand was how these differences could bring about conflict in the work place (Schizas, 2009). In order to understand exactly how culture is crucial to the success of an organization, I studied IBM. IBM is a multinational corporation that has over 400,000 employees and in various parts of the world. My major reason for choosing IBM is because the company has a big presence in Asia and this means that the business practices that are applied in the United States are not likely to be applicable in Asia or Africa and this call for a change in the organizational culture. My main reason for undertaking this study is to find out exactly if organizational culture is important to the organization in trying to achieve its financial goals. To achieve my objective, I will look at the existing literature on organizational culture and how it affects businesses. I will however pay close attention to IBM especially on the changes that they have made in their organizational culture with a view to establishing if this has borne any fruits or not. Along the way, I will also be looking at some of the changes that the company has undertaken in order to realign its HR practices and strategies to enable it to move away from its traditional methods and to adopt new approaches. In the research, I will also seek to establish some of the common errors that are

The Charlie Hebdo shooting by Muslim Extremists Essay

The Charlie Hebdo shooting by Muslim Extremists - Essay Example It is common for people to get shaken after such an attack (Là ©vy A11). However, France has shown a lot of unity in dealing with this attack as everyone is concerned and more than ever, they want unity resolved. Some extremists have twisted the entire issue to show that there is war between Europe and the Muslims but this is not the case. Getting the killers may be a difficult task since they can easily cross the borders but reinforcing the wrong ideas will only do more harm than good to the people in France (Dockterman N). I feel that France is vulnerable to more attacks similar to the Charlie Hebdo attack and the root to the problem should be addressed. Before the shooting took place, France was already a fragile state with high unemployment rates, and so many French born individuals who are youths and feel that they do not have any opportunities. Therefore, it is important that the root problems are addressed as a step to finding the solution to the attacks. Making Muslims feel they are wanted will only create fear and enmity between individuals as explained in (â€Å"Why We Are All Charlie Hebdo†

Introduce About Myself Essay Example for Free

Introduce About Myself Essay About Myself, My Hobbies – Interests and My Future Plans My name is Long. I am 25 years old. I just got married about 3 months. Now my wife and I are living with my parent, my young brother, my young sister and my gran in my parent’s house at Tan Binh district. I was born in Ho Chi Minh city, but my hometown is Quang Nam, because my parents were born in there. I have worked as import export assistant in 4 years at an Indian company. Regarding my hobbies, although I’m 25 years old, but I really like reading comics, I read it on the book, on the internet, on the magazine, and I read it anywhere, at home, at office, at coffee shop and at class. Moreover I also like playing games; it likes computer games and video games. I don’t only like playing games but also I like playing toys, some toys likes models kits of mechanics, cars, battle ships, planes†¦ In addition I like traveling also, specially, I very love sea, I like going anywhere, where has sea, and I can swim in there all day. Beside, earning lot of money is my hobbies too. In future, I want to become a successful businessman, I will open a series coffee shop, it like Gloria Jean’s Coffees, but I think I just can make it with small scale, honestly, I also like drinking coffee. Moreover I want to open a flower shop for my wife, she really love flower. In addition, I’m going to live abroad, because my father and mother in law are living in US, and they want my wife and me to live with them.

Rome and Han china Essay Example for Free

Rome and Han china Essay 1. Roman Republic: The period from 507 to 31 B. C. E. , during which Rome was largely governed by the aristocratic Roman Senate. 2. Roman Senate: A council whose members were the heads of wealthy, landowning families. Originally an advisory body to the early kings, in the era of the Roman Republic the Senate effectively governed the Roman state and the growing empire. Under Senate leadership, Rome conquered an empire of unprecedented extent in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In the first century B. C. E.  quarrels among powerful and ambitious senators and failure to address social and economic problems led to civil wars and the emergence of the rule of the emperors. 3. Augustus: (63 B. C. E. -14 c. e. ) Honorific name of Octavian, founder of the Roman Principate, the military dictatorship that replaced the failing rule of the Roman Senate. After defeating all rivals, between 31 B. C. E. and 14 C. E. he laid the groundwork for several centuries of stability and prosperity in the Roman Empire. 4. Roman Principate: A term used to characterize Roman government in the first three centuries C. E. , based on the ambiguous title princeps (first citizen) adopted by Augustus to conceal his military dictatorship. 5. pax romana: Literally, Roman peace, it connoted the stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the lands of the Roman Empire in the first two centuries C. E. The movement of people and trade goods along Roman roads and safe seas allowed for the spread of cultural practices, technologies, and religious ideas. 6. Romanization: The process by which the Latin language and Roman culture became dominant in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. The Roman government did not actively seek to Romanize the subject peoples, but indigenous peoples in the provinces often chose to Romanize because of the political and economic advantages that it brought, as well as the allure of Roman success. 7. Jesus: (ca. 5 B. C. E. -34 C. E. ) A Jew from Galilee in northern Israel who sought to reform Jewish beliefs and practices. He was executed as a revolutionary by the Romans. Hailed as the Messiah and son of God by his followers, he became the central figure in Christianity, a belief system that developed in the centuries after his death. 8. aqueduct: A conduit, either elevated or under ground, using gravity to carry water from a source to a location-usually a city-that needed it. The Romans built many aqueducts in a period of substantial urbanization. 9. third-century crisis of the Roman Empire: Historians term for the political, military, and economic turmoil that beset the Roman Empire during much of the third century C. E. : frequent changes of ruler, civil wars, barbarian invasions, decline of urban centers, and near-destruction of long-distance commerce and the monetary economy. After 284 C. E. Diocletian restored order by making fundamental changes. 10. Nero: debauched Roman emperor (stepson of the emperor Claudius) who for centuries was blamed for the great fire of Rome in 64 CE. 11. Cicero: was an orator and statesman of Rome and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist—was executed after criticizing Marc Anthony and the other two members of the Second Triumverate. 12. Tacitus: Roman historian—greatest works: The Annals (in which he blames Nero for the 64 CE fire in Rome) and The Histories 10. Constantine: (285-337 C. E. ) Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion. 11. Qin: A people and state in the Wei Valley of eastern China that conquered rival states and created the first Chinese empire (221-206 B. C. E. ). The Qin ruler, Shi Huangdi, standardized many features of Chinese society and ruthlessly marshalled subjects for military and construction projects, engendering hostility that led to the fall of his dynasty shortly after his death. The Qin framework was largely taken over by the succeeding Han Empire. 12. Shi Huangdi: Founder of the short-lived Qin dynasty and creator of the Chinese Empire (r. 221-210 B. C. E. ). He is remembered for his ruthless conquests of rival states, standardization of practices, and forcible organization of labor for military and engineering tasks. His tomb, with its army of life-size terracotta soldiers, has been partially excavated. I. Romes Creation of a Mediterranean Empire, 753 B. C. E. -330 C. E. A. Geography and resources 1. Italy and Sicily are at a crossroads of the Mediterranean and serve as a link between Africa and Europe. Rome is at a crossroads of the Italian peninsula. 2. Italys natural resources included navigable rivers, forests, iron, a mild climate, and enough arable land to support a large population of farmers whose surplus product and labor could be exploited by the Roman state. B. A republic of farmers 1. Rome was inhabited at least as early as 1000 B . C. E. According to legend it was ruled by seven kings between 753 B. C. E. and 507 B. C. E. Kingship was eliminated in 507 B. C. E. when representatives of the senatorial class of large landholders overthrew the last king and established a republic. 2. The centers of political power were the two consuls and the Senate. In practice, the Senate made laws and governed. 3. The Roman family consisted of several generations living under the absolute authority of the oldest living male, the paterfamilias. 4. Society was hierarchical. Families and individuals were tied together by patron/client relationships that institutionalized inequality and gave both sides of the relationship reason to cooperate and to support the status quo. 5. Roman women had relatively more freedom than Greek women, but their legal status was still that of a child, subordinate to the paterfamilias or her own or her husbands family. Eventually procedures evolved which made it possible for some women to become independent after the death of their fathers. 6. Romans worshiped a large number of supernatural spirits as well as major gods such as Jupiter and Mars. Proper performance of ritual ensured that the gods continued to favor the Roman state. C. Expansion in Italy and the Mediterranean 1. Rome began to expand, at first slowly and then very rapidly in the third and second centuries B. C. E. until it became a huge Mediterranean empire. Possible explanations for this expansion include greed, aggressiveness, the need for consuls to prove themselves as military commanders during their one year in office, and a constant fear of being attacked. 2. During the first stage of expansion, Rome conquered the rest of Italy (by 290 B. C. E. ). Rome won the support of the people of Italy by granting them Roman citizenship. As citizens, these people then had to provide soldiers for the military. 3. In the next stages of expansion, Rome first defeated Carthage to gain control over the western Mediterranean and Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain (264-202 B. C. E. ). Next, between 200 and 30 B. C. E. Rome defeated the Hellenistic kingdoms to take over the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean. Between 59 and 51 B. C. E. , Gains Julius Caesar conquered the Celts of Gaul. 4. The Romans used local elite groups to administer and tax the various provinces of their rapidly expanding and far-flung empire. A Roman governor, who served a single one- year term in office, supervised the local administrators. This system was inadequate and prone to corruption. D. The failure of the republic 1. As Rome expanded, the social and economic bases of the Roman republic in Italy were undermined by change. While men from independent farming families were forced to devote their time to military service, large landowners bought up their land to create great estates called latifundia. This meant both a decline in Romes source of soldiers and a decline in food production, as latifundia owners preferred to grow cash crops like grapes rather than staple crops such as wheat. 2. Since slave labor was cheap in an expanding empire, Italian peasants, driven off the land and not employed by the latifundia, drifted into the cities where they formed a fractious unemployed underclass. 3. As the independent farming family that had been the traditional source of soldiers disappeared, Roman commanders built their armies from men from the underclass who tended to give their loyalty, not to the Roman state, but to their commander. This led to generals taking control of politics, to civil wars, and finally to the end of the republican system of government. 4. Julius Caesars grandnephew Octavian (also known as Augustus) took power in 31 B. C. E. , reorganized the Roman government, and ruled as a military dictator. After Augustus died, several members of his family succeeded him. However, the position of emperor was not necessarily hereditary: in the end, armies chose emperors. E. An urban empire 1. About 80 percent of the 50 to 60 million people of the Roman Empire were rural farmers, but the empire was administered through and for a network of cities and towns. In this sense, it was an urban empire. Rome had about a million residents, other large cities (Alexandria, Antioch, Carthage) several hundred thousand each, while many Roman towns had populations of several thousand. 2. In Rome, the upper classes lived in elegant, well-built, well-appointed houses; many aristocrats also owned country villas. The poor lived in dark, dank, fire-prone wooden tenements in squalid slums built in the low-lying parts of the city. 3. Provincial towns imitated Rome both in urban planning and in urban administration. The local elite, who served the interests of Rome, dominated town councils. The local elite also served their communities by using their wealth to construct amenities such as aqueducts) baths, theatres, gardens, temples, and other public works and entertainment projects. 4. Rural life in the Roman empire involved lots of hard work and very little entertainment. Rural people had little contact with representatives of the government. By the early centuries C. E. absentee landlords who lived in the cities owned most rural land, while the land was worked by tenant fanners supervised by hired foremen. 5. Manufacture and trade flourished under the pax romana. Grain had to be imported to feed the huge city of Rome. Rome and the Italian towns (and later, provincial centers) exported glass, metalwork, pottery, and other manufactures to the provinces. Romans also imported Chinese silk and Indian and Arabian spices. 6. One of the effects of the Roman Empire was Romanization. In the western part of the Empire, the Latin language, Roman clothing, and the Roman lifestyle were adopted by local people. As time passed, Roman emperors gradually extended Roman citizenship to all free male adult inhabitants of the empire. F. The rise of Christianity 1. Jesus lived in a society marked by resentment against Roman rule, which had inspired the belief that a Messiah would arise to liberate the Jews. When Jesus sought to reform Jewish religious practices, the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem turned him over to the Roman governor for execution. 2. After the execution, Jesus disciples continued to spread his teachings; they also spread their belief that Jesus had been resurrected. At this point, the target of their proselytizing was their fellow Jews. 3. The target of proselytizing changed from Jews to non-Jews in the 40s-70s C. E. First Paul of Tarsus, an Anatolian Jew, discovered that non-Jews (gentiles) were much more receptive to the teachings of Jesus than Jews were. Second, a Jewish revolt in Judaea (66 C. E. ) and the subsequent Roman reconquest destroyed the original Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem. 4. Christianity grew slowly for two centuries, developing a hierarchy of priests and bishops, hammering out a commonly accepted theological doctrine, and resisting the persecution of Roman officials. By the late third century, Christians were a sizeable minority in the Roman Empire. 5. The expansion of Christianity in the Roman empire came at a time when Romans were increasingly dissatisfied with their traditional religion. This dissatisfaction inspired Romans to become interested in a variety of mystery cults and universal creeds that had their origins in the eastern Mediterranean. G. Technology and transformation 1. The Romans were expert military and civil engineers. Among their accomplishments were: bridge-building, ballistic weapons, elevated and underground aqueducts, the use of arches and domes, and the invention of concrete. 2. Following Augustus death, the army was organized primarily for defense. The Rhine-Danube frontier was protected by a string efforts; long walls protected the frontiers of North Africa and Britain. On the eastern frontier, the Romans fought for centuries against the Parthians. Neither side made any significant gains. 3. The state system constructed by Augustus worked well until what historians call Romes third-century crisis. The symptoms of this crisis were frequent change of rulers; raids by German tribesmen from across the Rhine-Danube frontier; and the rise of regional power when Rome seemed unable to guarantee security. 4. Romes economy was undermined by the high cost of defense, debasement of the currency and consequent inflation, a disruption of trade, reversion to a barter economy, disappearance of the municipal aristocracy of the provincial cities, and a movement of population out of the cities and back into the rural areas. 5. The emperor Diocletian (r, 284-305) saved the Roman state by instituting a series of reforms that included price controls and regulations that required certain people to stay in their professions and to train a son to succeed them. Some side effects of these reforms include a flourishing black market and a growing feeling of resentment against the government. 6. Constantine (r. 306-37) converted to Christianity in 337 and patronized the Christian church, thus contributing to the rise of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. Constantine also transferred the capital of the empire from Rome to the eastern city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. II. The Origins of Imperial China, 221 B. C. E. -220 C. E. (We covered very little of this information) A. Resources and population 1. China is a large region marked by significant ecological, topographical, biological, and climatic diversity. 2. The two most important resources that supported the imperial Chinese state were agricultural production and labor. Agricultural production in China was intensive and was taxed by the government. The most productive agricultural region was the Yangzi Valley, which began to be linked to the centers of political power (Changan and Luoyang) by canals. 3. Both the Qin and the Han governments exploited the labor power of rural China by demanding that peasant families supply men for labor and for service in the military. A periodic census and regularly updated records of land and households enabled officials to collect the proper amount of taxes, labor service, and military service. 4. Throughout antiquity, the Han Chinese people expanded at the expense of other ethnic groups. Han expanded into areas that were suitable for settled agriculture. They did not expand into areas that were suitable only for nomadic economies. B. Hierarchy, obedience, and belief 1. The family was the basic unity of society. The family was conceived of as an unbroken chain of generations including the ancestors as well as the current generations. Ancestors were thought to take an active interest in the affairs of the current generation, and they were routinely consulted, appeased, and venerated. 2. The teachings of Confucius were a fundamental source of values for family, social, and political organization. Confucius regarded hierarchy as natural and placed absolute authority in the hands of the father. Family members were thought of as part of the group, not as individuals. Confucius also believed that people would properly fulfill their roles if they were correctly instructed and imitated good role models. 3. According to the ideals of the upper classes, women were to cook, take care of household chores, respect their parents-in-law, and obey their husbands. Lower-class women may have been less constrained. Marriages were arranged, and a new wife had to prove herself to her husband and to her mother-in-law through hard work, obedience, devotion, and by bearing sons. 4. Chinese believed in a number of nature spirits to whom they sacrificed. Unusual natural phenomena were regarded as ill omens. The landscape was thought to channel the flow of evil and good power, and experts in fengshui (geomancy) were employed to identify the most fortunate location and orientation for buildings and graves. C. The first Chinese empire 1. After the Warring States Period (480-221 B. C. E. ), the state of Qin united China. Factors that enabled Qin to accomplish reunification may include: the ability and ruthlessness of the Qin ruler, Shi Huangdi and his prime minister, Li Si; Qins location in the Wei valley with its predominantly rural population of independent farming households; and Qins experience in mobilizing manpower for irrigation and flood-control projects, which had strengthened the central government. 2. Upon uniting China, the Qin established a strong centralized state on the Legalist model. Shi Huangdi and Li Si suppressed Confucianism, eliminated rival centers of authority, abolished primogeniture and slavery, and constructed a rural economy of free land-owning/tax-paying farmers. They standardized weights and measures, knit the empire together with roads and defended it with a long wall. 3. The oppressive nature of the Qin regime and its exorbitant demands for taxes and labor led to a number of popular rebellions that overthrew the dynasty after the death of Shi Huangdi in210 B. C. E. D. The long reign of the Han (206 B. c. s. -220 C. E. ) 1. Liu Bang, a peasant who defeated all other contestants for control of China, established the Han dynasty. The Han established a political system that drew on both Confucian philosophy and Legalist techniques. 2. After a period of consolidation, the Han went through a period of territorial expansion under Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 B. C. E. ). During the Western Han period (202 B. c. E. -8 C. E. ) the capital was at Changan. During the Eastern Han (23-22 C. E. ) the capital was at Luoyang. 3. Changan was an easily defended walled city with easy access to good arable land. The population in 2 C. E. was 246,000. Other cities and towns imitated the urban planning of Changan. 4. The elite ofChangan lived in lived in elegant multistoried houses arranged on broad, well-planned boulevards. They dressed in fine silks, were connoisseurs of art and literature, and indulged in numerous entertainments. The common people lived in closely packed houses in largely unplanned, winding alleys. 5. The emperor was supreme in the state and in society. He was regarded as the Son of Heaven, the link between heaven and the human world. Emperors were the source of law. But anything that went seriously wrong could be interpreted to mean that the emperor was guilty of misrule and that he was losing the Mandate of Heaven. Emperors lived in seclusion, surrounded by a royal retinue that included wives, family, servants, courtiers, and officials. 6. The central government was run by two chief officials and included a number of functionally specialized ministers. Local officials collected taxes, drafted men for corvee labor and military service, and settled local disputes. Most people had no contact with the central government. 7. Local officials were supplied by a class of moderately wealthy, educated local landowners that historians refer to as the gentry. The gentry adopted Confucianism as their ideology and pursued careers in the civil service. E. Technology and trade 1. In the field of metallurgy, China advanced from bronze to iron by about 500 B. C. E. Rather than make wrought-iron goods (as the Romans did), Chinese ironworkers melted the iron and used molds to make harder and more durable cast-iron and steel tools and weapons. 2. Other technological innovations of the Han period include the crossbow, cavalry, the watermill, and the horse collar. New transportation and communications technology included a road system, courier systems for carrying government communications, and canals. 3. The Han period also saw significant growth in the size and number of urban areas. Somewhere from 10 to 30 percent of the population of Han China lived in towns. 4. Long-distance commerce was a significant part of the Han economy. The most important export was silk, and the most important export route was the Silk Road through Central Asia. The Chinese government sought to control this route by sending armies and colonists to Central Asia. F. Decline of the Han Empire 1. The Han Empires major security problem was the nomadic tribes on its northern border. Nomadic groups were usually small, but during the Han, the Chinese faced a confederacy of nomads called the Xiongnu. China attempted to deal with the Xiongnu threat by strengthening its defenses (particularly its cavalry) and by making more compliant nomads into tributaries. 2. The Han Empire was undermined by a number of factors. First, the expense of defending the northern borders was a tremendous financial burden. Second, nobles and merchants built up large landholdings at the expense of the small farmers. These large landholders were able to resist taxation and became independent of government control. Third, the system of military conscription broke down and the central government had to rely on mercenaries whose loyalty was questionable. 3. These factors compounded by factionalism at court, official corruption, peasant uprisings, and nomadic attacks led to the fall of the dynasty in 220 C. E. China entered a period of political fragmentation that lasted until the late sixth century. III. Imperial Parallels A. Similarities Between the Roman and Han Empires 1. The Han and Roman Empires were similar in respect to their family structure and values, their patterns of land tenure, taxation, and administration, and in their empire building and its consequences for the identity of the conquered areas. 2. Both empires faced common problems in terms of defense, and found their domestic economies undermined by their military expenditures. 3. Both empires were overrun by new peoples who were then deeply influenced by the imperial cultures of Rome and of China. B. Differences Between the Roman and Han Empires 1. In China, the imperial model was revived and the territory of the Han empire re-unified. The former Roman empire was never again reconstituted. 2. Historians have tried to explain this difference by pointing to differences between China and the Roman world in respect to the concept of the individual, the greater degree of social mobility in Rome than in Han China, and the different political ideologies and religions of the two empires. Conclusion A. The Qin and the Han were able to unify China and build an empire rapidly because the basis had already been set in the Zhou and Warring States Periods; Rome constructed its empire slowly and without precedents to draw upon. B. The Han and the Roman empires maintained and administered large territories and populations by virtue of their ability to organize large professional armies and professional bureaucracies. C. Both empires provided long periods of peace and prosperity, but they were undermined by the high cost of defense and by the heavy tax burden, which this put on their people. D. The Han dynasty constructed a political system that would be revived and modified by subsequent dynasties; the Roman empire was never restored.

Media Content Analysis of Maria Miller Resignation

Media Content Analysis of Maria Miller Resignation Zina Christofi Critical Evaluation Essay on Maria Miller’s resignation as the Culture Secretary In this essay the author will analyze the story of the resignation of Maria Miller as Culture Secretary in the 9th of April 2014. The author will see in depth the different approach over this story, between online websites and printed newspapers. Also, the essay will investigate how this story has been treated in accordance to various platforms; for example, the use of multimedia, space devoted, updates, etc. One of the most important platform to see is the space devoted to the story. Most of the times the story that is on the front page is a long and highly important story, that not only deserves to be on the front of a newspaper, but also be continued on further pages (Keeble, 2005). In the article of the Culture Secretary resignation, the Daily Telegraph has devoted half of its front page on the 9th of April 2014, on Maria Millers resignation. The story continues on half of the page two and half of page six, where a picture and several quotations have been used. The newspaper has used two different headlines, one on the front page and one on page six. The headlines are bold, big and black, attracting the eye of the reader. Furthermore, the story also covers a part on 19 with letters from readers to the editor. The title on the front page is as big as the logo of the newspaper, in order to attract the attention, but there is no picture. In contrast, the newspaper has published one pictu re on the next part in page six, where a big picture is covering most of the section devoted for the story, while near it there are several boxes with highlighted quotes over the incident. On the Daily Telegraph website, the story is also among the top new, since it is the first one you see. A picture is attracting the attention, while the word ‘live’ near it leads the reader to the assumption of continuous updates. One of the most important strengths of a website story is that it is updated over the day, while a newspaper story is printed, distributed and cannot be edited later on the day. In accordance to Ward (2002:19, 23), â€Å"Online newspapers have faster access to far more information than previously, and can enchase both the research and reporting process.† The Daily Telegraph website has treated the above story with updates on every 90 seconds. They are using a timeline to present the new information they receive and update regularly the story with new facts, information, photographs, videos and also further reactions from British politicians. Their live coverage over the story started at eight o’clock in the morning and continued updating until 7 pm at the same day. Many newspapers chose to print a wide range of correspondence from their readers and use these pages as forums of opinion, dialogue and debate (Richardson, 2007). Through this technique the newspapers allow their readers to feel a sense of importance and as a result they are the most popular features of a newspaper (Gregory and Hutchins, 2004). The Daily Telegraph newspaper has published several articles on page nineteen (‘Letters to the Editor’ section) for Maria Miller’s story. One big letter is analyzing the story in depth, while other smaller have been published under a specific section for this story. In contrast, the newspapers website has a modern section of comments where the reader can argue and discuss about the story, and at the same time debate with other readers. Furthermore, the website also has a live link with their twitter account, in which people retweet their opinion, while the website adds the most important of them as an update under the story. Through modern technology, the website also offers a ‘Share’ bottom for Facebook users who can share the story and in sequence discuss about it with their online friends. The difference between the two stories in this platform is that the editor is choosing which letters to publish on the newspaper; to be interesting and follow th e news agenda of the newspaper (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2002), while online the reader can comment his opinion and publish it immediately under the comments section; unless if it is inappropriate. The use of sources is another important platform for news stories. For many journalists an interview is the basic ingredient for a story (Harcup, 2004), since it covers the news angle and attracts the reader’s attention (Boyd, 2001). In accordance to that, the Daily Telegraph has used several interviews for its article of Maria Miller’s resignation. They have published quotes form Miller herself, British MP’s and gave emphasis to ‘Tories’ quotes. ‘Tories’ quotes were placed near the picture of the woman in page six, and were highlighted inside an italic and bold text. Approximately they have used ten different sources. In contrast, the website of Daily Telegraph also used the same sources. However, the website interviewed more politicians during the day from all the political parties, updating the story’s details and as a result concluded to have approximately forty different sources. The writing and use of language between a website and a published newspaper varies. The newspaper has more length and provides a deeper analysis, in a continuing article. In contrast an article in a website is straighter forward, provides only the most necessary information and gives emphasis on multimedia use, that the essay has analyze above. According to Pape and Featherstone (2005:176), â€Å"Online journalists must keep the language simple and direct.† Online article about Maria Miller in the Daily Telegraph website followed this platform and also used active sentences, avoiding at the same time short forms, like: won’t, don’t, etc., except in the cases of direct quotes. Furthermore, the online article was consisted of short sentences following the guidance of Pape and Featherstone (2005:176) that, â€Å"Online less is more†. In addition, the online story used a standfirst (text under the headline) to emphasize new information added to the story. Furthermore, the online story used bullet-points and subheadings to break up the text. The printed article also avoided to use short forms words. However, in contrast with the online article, the newspaper used lengthy sentences to describe the event and had a big constructed article. Also, the printed article did not break up the text, but instead divided it in short paragraphs to help the reader. In addition, an online article shall not use commas, semi-colons, since they are difficult to be identified on screen (Pape and Featherstone, 2005). The online article of Daily Telegraph avoided to use semi-cons, but used several comas, mainly because of the amount of quotes used. Instead the journalist used a dash, which stands out much better, as Pape and Featherstone (2005) believe. The printed version on the contrary, avoided to use any dashes and preferred to have plenty of commas. Both articles, in the printed version of the Daily Telegraph and the one in the website had a narrative content that followed the sequence of the events as they occurred in the actual story (Richardson, 2007). However, the printed article used the ‘pyramid’ structure for the writing of a hard news story, which places the most important information at the head of the story (Franklin, 2005). Online news is also using the ‘pyramid’ structure, but in this case, the Daily Telegraph website has used a timeline to describe the events. They did start with the most interesting information on the story, but since they created a live blog over the report, it meant that the most basic information of the story stayed at the bottom, because updates were taking place during the day, and had to be placed on the top. Most of the National newspapers are using pictures to emphasize the important stories, while the websites are having a far richer multimedia use. In accordance to Pavlik (2001:217), â€Å"New media technology means content can be presented in a far richer way than possible in the traditional mediums of print and broadcast.† The above belief leads to the creation of contextualized journalism, which uses multimedia, interactivity and customization (Reddick and King, 2001). In its article for the resignation of Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, the Daily Telegraph newspaper has only used one big picture of Miller in page six, where it analyzed the story in more depth. In contrast, the Daily Telegraph website has a wider approach over the story, in accordance to the use of multimedia. They have published a big image on top of the story of Maria Miller, and while scrolling down they have published several different images of the Culture secretary, the Prime Ministers and other politicians who have spoken about the incident. Furthermore, they have used a collage of images from previous newspapers front pages that talk about Maria Miller and her expenses scandal. In addition, the website has used videos with interviews of politicians talking about the incident, and by late at night they created a video that described the facts of the story from the beginning, through images. Furthermore, in their website they published statistics about politician’ s expenses. As it has been stated before, online journalism is using short sentences and publishes only necessary information. In sequence, online newspapers are using more pictures and other multimedia platforms (more than the printed versions) in order to colorize the article and attract the visitor to click on the story and read about it. Pictures add information, animation and emotion to the story (Keeble, 2005). Also, pictures allow the reader to extract information easily. Another important reason on why online newspapers are using more pictures is the lack of space in a printed version of a newspaper. The Daily Telegraph has used only one picture because they had to fit all the information they had in the space provided for the story. Writing is lengthier on a newspaper and the pages are allocated in accordance to contents, while on a website there is unlimited space for images and videos. Stories around the Culture Secretary were concerning the media for weeks, before its resign. The Daily Telegraph website links the previous stories with the one on the 9th of April 2014. In their article they presented photographs from previous headlines of the newspaper that wrote about the Culture Secretary; they link the previous writings with the one that the author analyzed in this essay, presenting that the newspaper considered previous incidents around the person. They presented six old front pages and stated that the Daily Telegraph also covered the incident of Maria Miller on previous publications. On the printed version of the article, the journalist referred to an article of the newspaper the previous day that was talking about Maria Miller’s scandal and its impact over the Tory MPs. Furthermore, the newspaper had a small section over the previous day article and refereed to it as a connection inside the main article about the resignation of the Culture Secretary. A dditionally, the article was linked to previous articles about the woman, which were published by other newspapers. In conclusion, both printing and online version of the above story have used similar platforms on their approach towards the story. However, each one of them used each platform on a different way. Both of versions have used images and devoted enough space for the story. Though, the online version used several multimedia (videos, graphics, etc.) in order to give emphasis to the story. Furthermore, both versions had an opinion section and used a specific presentation of language, but each one of them had used the above platforms on the most suitable way for a website or a newspaper. The only platform that was used just on behalf of the website approach was updating, since the online story had updates through the day, in contrast with the printing version which had updates only until the printing of the newspaper. Bibliography Keeble, R. (2005) Print Journalism: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge. Ward, M. (2002) Journalism Online. Oxford: Focal Press. Richardson, J.E. (2007) Analyzing Newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Gregory, L. and Hutchins, B. (2004) ‘Everyday Editorial Practices and the Public Sphere: Analyzing the Letters to the Editor Page of a Regional Newspaper’, Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, 112, pp.186-200. Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002) ‘Understanding the Conditions of Public Discourse: Four Rules for Selecting Letters to the Editor’, Journalism Studies, 3(1), pp.69-81. Harcup, T. (2004) Journalism: Principles and Practice. London: Sage. Boyd, A. (2001) Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and Television News. 5th edn. Oxford: Focal Press. Pape, S. and Featherstone, S. (2005) Newspaper Journalism: A Practical Introduction. London: Sage Publications. Franklin, B. (2005) ‘McJournalism: The Local Press and the McDonaldization Thesis’, in Allan, S. (edn) Journalism: Critical Issues, pp. 137-150. Maidenhead: OU Press. Pavlik, J.V. (2001) Journalism and New Media. New York: Columbia University Press. Reddick, R. and King, E. (2001) The Online Journalist: Using the Internet and Other Electronic Resources. 3rd edn. Florida: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Man and Nature in The Grapes of Wrath Essay -- Grapes Wrath essays

Man and Nature in The Grapes of Wrath   Ã‚   In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses both obvious references and subtle contrasts to emphasize the main theme of the novel: the sanctity of man's relationship to the natural world and to each other.    Machines have no place in this relationship. They act as a barrier between men and the land. They are dangerous because they perform the function of men with greater efficiency, but they lack the spiritual element that makes the land so valuable. Chapter five uses imagery to detail the evil inherent in the plowing of land by a machine:    "Behind the tractor rolled the shining disks, cutting the earth with blades-not plowing but surgery, pushing the cut earth to the right where the second row of disks cut it and pushed it to the left; slicing blades shining, polished by the cut earth. And pulled behind the disks, the harrows combing with iron teeth so that the little clods broke up and the earth lay smooth. Behind the harrows, the long seeders- twelve curved iron penes erected in the foundry, orgasms set...

Two Points Against Naturalized Epistemology :: Epistemology Research Papers

Two Points Against Naturalized Epistemology ABSTRACT: My aim is to raise two points against naturalizing epistemology. First, against Quine’s version of naturalizing epistemology, I claim that the traditional questions of epistemology are indispensable, in that they impose themselves in every attempt to construct an epistemology. These epistemological questions are pre- and extra-scientific questions; they are beyond the scientific domain of research, thus, for a distinct province of inquiry. Second, I claim that no naturalistic account can be given as an answer to the traditional question of justification. I take Goldman’s and Haack’s accounts as examples to support my claim. The traditional demand of justification is to start from nowhere. Naturalizing justification is to start form somewhere. The two approaches are, thus, necessarily incompatible with each other. So, the accounts given by the naturalists are not answers to the traditional problem of justification. To remain compatible with themselves, t he naturalists should have conceded that the problem of justification is illegitimate or incoherent. The fact that they did not I take as additional evidence to support my claim that the traditional questions of epistemology are indispensable: they impose themselves and are, thus, hard to eliminate. Introduction: When Plato tried to distinguish in "The Theatetus" between mere belief and knowledge, as an attempt to answer the skeptical doubts concerning the possibility of our knowledge of the external world , he has created what has become known throughout the history of philosophy as "epistemology" and what has since then, become a distinct province of inquiry whose main concern is determining the nature, the scope, the sources and limits of human knowledge. These problems, which are known as the traditional problems are to be determined, according to the traditional approach to epistemology, as exemplified throughout the history of epistemology, by using a priori methods such as conceptual analysis, not by any kind of empirical investigation. Such view of epistemology was rejected, partially or wholly in different ways and for various reasons by the recent trend known. as "naturalized epistemology". (1) The aim of this paper is to raise two points against two versions of naturalized epistemology; the first is that epistemology can be restricted to doing science, as held by Quine who is cited to having held the strong version of naturalized epistemology, (2) the second is that justification can be given a naturalistic account, as held by A. Goldman and others, from which I conclude that traditional epistemology survives the attempt to naturalize.

Essay on the Setting of Everyday Use :: Everyday Use essays

  Ã‚   In the short story, "Everyday Use", author Alice Walker uses everyday objects, which are described in the story with some detail, and the reactions of the main characters to these objects, to contrast the simple and practical with the stylish and faddish. The main characters in this story, "Mama" and Maggie on one side, Dee on the other, each have opposing views on the value and worth of the various items in their lives, and the author uses this conflict to make the point that the substance of an object, and of people, is more important than style. The main characters in this story appear to be polar opposites. Mama, the narrator of the story, describes herself as a "large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (paragraph 5). She does not paint an attractive picture of herself, however she goes on to list the many things she can do. Like the items in the setting around her, she seems more interested in practicality, and less interested in aesthetics. Dee, on the other hand, is defined by her sense of style, and does not seem to do anything. When her name was Dee, she hated the objects around her for their lack of beauty and style. When she became a member of the Nation of Islam and changed her name to Wangero, she saw these old items as a part of her heritage and works of art. At no time, however, did she ever have a real use for them. Examples of such items are the butter churn and dasher. The butter churn and dasher are both described in detail by Mama, which highlights their value to her. The butter churn, which had been whittled by Dee's Uncle Buddy, was something that Dee wanted to take back with her, even though she only wanted to use the churn top as a "centerpiece for the alcove table" (paragraph 53). The bottom half, presumably, would be wasted. Dee would also "think of something artistic to do with the dasher" (paragraph 53). Dee never seems to consider that she is taking away her mother's butter churn, a useful item, for a trivial use. The objects that lead to the final confrontation between Dee and Mama are the old quilts. These quilts are described as being made from old material by family members, which enhances their value to Mama, and the detail with which they are described increases the sense of setting. Essay on the Setting of Everyday Use :: Everyday Use essays   Ã‚   In the short story, "Everyday Use", author Alice Walker uses everyday objects, which are described in the story with some detail, and the reactions of the main characters to these objects, to contrast the simple and practical with the stylish and faddish. The main characters in this story, "Mama" and Maggie on one side, Dee on the other, each have opposing views on the value and worth of the various items in their lives, and the author uses this conflict to make the point that the substance of an object, and of people, is more important than style. The main characters in this story appear to be polar opposites. Mama, the narrator of the story, describes herself as a "large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (paragraph 5). She does not paint an attractive picture of herself, however she goes on to list the many things she can do. Like the items in the setting around her, she seems more interested in practicality, and less interested in aesthetics. Dee, on the other hand, is defined by her sense of style, and does not seem to do anything. When her name was Dee, she hated the objects around her for their lack of beauty and style. When she became a member of the Nation of Islam and changed her name to Wangero, she saw these old items as a part of her heritage and works of art. At no time, however, did she ever have a real use for them. Examples of such items are the butter churn and dasher. The butter churn and dasher are both described in detail by Mama, which highlights their value to her. The butter churn, which had been whittled by Dee's Uncle Buddy, was something that Dee wanted to take back with her, even though she only wanted to use the churn top as a "centerpiece for the alcove table" (paragraph 53). The bottom half, presumably, would be wasted. Dee would also "think of something artistic to do with the dasher" (paragraph 53). Dee never seems to consider that she is taking away her mother's butter churn, a useful item, for a trivial use. The objects that lead to the final confrontation between Dee and Mama are the old quilts. These quilts are described as being made from old material by family members, which enhances their value to Mama, and the detail with which they are described increases the sense of setting.

First Date

A first date can tell you a lot about a person. Even though i was just in seventh grade my first date was pretty great. Now I know in seventh grade and dating really back then was oh I will see you at school and that is about it. For me my first date was with Ray Hoover. I felt like the coolest girl in school, I had a â€Å"boyfriend†, we wrote notes everyday, got in trouble for hugging in the hallway. It was great I was a cheerleader he was one of the best football players. I thought we were going to be together for ever.When boys and girls traveled together we where always around each other and it is great. He asked me if I wanted to go to the movies with a bunch of people on friday night. Of course I said yes but then I had to ask my mom. After I asked my mom and she had said yes I could go, but first I had to tell her everyone who is going and bring my best friend at the time Mallorie Mclaughin with me. I asked my mom if she would do my hair and I wanted to get a new outfi t and everything. I was so ready for friday to get her I couldn't wait.Ray and I would talk about it everyday till then. The big day was finally her and school couldn't go by any slower. I was going on my first date and that is all I could think about. As soon as I got back from school mom curled my hair and I put on my outfit and was ready to go. I felt like it was ready for forever. Then mom told me it was time to go and I was so nervous I felt like i was going to be sick. We went and picked up Mallorie and then we were off. We arrive at the movies and mom gives me money, I tell her I love her, then got out of the car.I show up and Ray isn't there yet but is on his way. Holly Bradley, Kyle Orick, John Caswell. Kyle told me that Ray was on his way. While we were waiting all us girls went to the bathroom. When we came out of the bathroom Ray was there. He had on khakis, and a polo. Holly wispers in my hear and says he looks really nice. I just smiled. Us girl all decided we wanted t o watch Spanglish and the boys wanted to watch some other movie. Ray was a good guy and besides to go with me to the other movie.Mallorie sat my me and Ray on the other side. It was the dumbest movie I ever saw in my life. To this day It is still the dumbest movie. We held hands during the whole movie and It it was the best first date. The movie was over and lights went on and then Ray lend in and gave me a kiss on the ceeck. I was so happy I couldn't stop from smiling. We walk out of the theater and my moms car is outside. Mallorie says goodbye to everyone, while me and Ray hug goodbye and say we will see each other monday at school and I will call you tomorrow.After that Mallorie and I left to take her home and then head home ourself. As soon as I got home Mallorie called and we talked for an hour about the date. Even though I thought that my first date with Ray would be my last first date. As everyone know you will usually break up with your 7th grade boyfriend and we did break u p. I still think that it was the best first date the any girl could have went on. The only thing that I would change about that date is the movie. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing. It was just perfect.

Finding Meaning in a Stolen Life Essay

It is said that all life does indeed involve suffering but it is what we make of this suffering that will determine whether or not we find meaning in our life. One must look within and around himself to create meaning in her life; one can finding meaning by creating works or doing deeds, experiencing things or encountering people, and choosing one’s attitude towards the suffering in her life. There will always be obstacles in the way to meaning—the tragic triad of pain, guilt, and death—but one must use this to fuel your drive to find meaning by maintaining tragic optimism—faith, love, and hope. Many people lead difficult lives, however, some find meaning and others choose not to. In the memoir A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, Jaycee Dugard is put through what she describes as an â€Å"intolerable situation,† but manages to make meaning of the suffering in her stolen life. Jaycee Dugard has experienced tragic triad: pain, guilt, and death. She deals with pain throughout the entirety of her early life. The main source of her pain and suffering was Phillip who kidnapped and put her through hell on earth. Jaycee recalls the day Phillip took her—the first painful experience she had with the man that would strip her of her innocence. Jaycee recollects what was running through her mind at the time of her traumatic abduction: â€Å"Someone is dragging me and I am being lifted. My limbs feel like they weigh a ton. I try to resist and try to push away from farther into the bushes. The paralyzing feeling returns accompanied by a strange electrical current zapping sound. I am helpless to resist for some reason. † (9-10). It is not long after her abduction when Jaycee is put through an even greater mental test. She has been scare and alone since she was taken from her world on that faithful day and now Phillip would only make her more scared and alienated. Phillip does to Jaycee what nobody should ever have done onto them. She experiences pain physically and mentally when he rapes her and she remembers him trying to justifying her suffering: â€Å"He says it would be easier on me if I didn’t resist or struggle so much next time. He says it wouldn’t hurt as much. I think to myself, if you didn’t do it in the first place then it wouldn’t hurt at all. But I am too frightened by his act to say a thing in objection to him. † (31-32). Jaycee feels her first sense of guilt in her new life when she is given a kitten. Her kidnappers brought her home a kitten and she was happy but says, â€Å"I have begun to feel guilty for asking for her in the first place. I should have thought about the place we were going to put her. This is no place for a kitty. He says his aunt is an animal lover and will take her. † (41). She does not want the kitten to stay in the little room with her because she knows it is not fair for the kitten to not have a lot of space to run around and be happy. Her giving the kitten away makes her feel better because she knows it is not good for the kitten to be stuck in the room of suffering. She manages to get over this guilt but soon she is faced with a greater obstacle. Jaycee experiences death for the first time. It is not that of her own life but the death of one of her animals that brings her greater suffering she notes, â€Å"Blackjack lived a long life. Toward the end I took primary care of him and I was the one that found him when he died. It was very hard for me. At the time, I had made a cat enclosure which he would go in at night to keep safe, and that’s where I found him one morning†¦ I cried a lot for him. † (160). Jaycee was an animal lover and for her to find the cat she took care of dead was very hard for her. However, all of these experiences made her a stronger person. Jaycee did not allow the tragic triad to keep her from making meaning of her life. She kept searching. Jaycee Dugard was on her way to countering with two of the three parts of tragic optimism–love, and hope. She had children at a very young age and although she did not want them from Phillip or at the ages of fourteen and seventeen she loves her children very much. She loves both of her daughters, she did not want to give either of them up, stating, â€Å"I did it because that was the only thing I could do. I would do it all again. The most precious thing in the world came out of it†¦ my daughters. † (110). Her love for her two daughters fueled her positivity towards her adverse life. She was a very hopeful person all through her young life and her daughters gave her more of a reason to hold fast. Jaycee was constantly hoping that she would one day be emancipated. When she is first placed in the room out back, she hoped someone was looking for her and that they would find her one day to take her from home. Although she had a rough life from the age of eleven until the age of twenty-nine, she kept a very positive attitude by doing work and keeping busy. She found greater meaning in her suffering by creating works. She started a business—a printing company–with Phillip who has put her through endless torture. Over time she learned how to do it on her own and does most of the work for the company: â€Å"I work up a design and he takes it to the costumer and gets it approved when he brings it back to me, I print them on cards. The job turns out great and I am very proud of myself Phillip says that he thinks I should do the workups and he will get the jobs and help with the printing. †(127). Instead of weeping in sorrow for herself that her childhood and beginning of her adult life were taken away from her, she does work to make herself productive. This is good for her because instead of living in the existential vacuum, she feels like she is accomplishing something other than watching television every day like she used to and she feels important. . It takes a very positive person to find meaning in the kind of suffering Jaycee had to endure, and she embodied this person. She chooses to have a positive attitude towards being captured and enslaved. Throughout the time she was taken she kept a journal and instead of always writing about how much she misses her mom and wishes she was not with Phillip and Nancy, she wrote, â€Å"10 things that make me happy; 1. hearing someone laugh; 2. when my cats are near me†¦ 10. knowing someone loves me. †(183-184). Instead of thinking of all the bad in her life, she chose to stay positive and think of things she appreciates about life. Not everyone can do that, but she learned that staying positive is more meaningful. All life involves suffering as the main character Jaycee Dugard would know. She suffered a lot in her life from the time she was kidnapped up until she was saved eighteen years later. She suffers the first day she is taken. â€Å"I want my mommy. I want time to reverse itself and give me a do-over,† she cries about the situation she is in (10). Then it gets worse. Jaycee describes what is going on when she was thrown in the back of the car and taken to Phillips house where her suffering would begin: â€Å"A blanket is thrown on top of me and I feel a lot of weight on my back, I feel as if I can’t breathe. I hear voices but they are muffled. The car is moving. I want to get out of the car. I twist and turn, but something is pinning me down. † (10). She goes through a scarring experience as he puts her through the greatest suffering she will have to endure in her 18 years here. A few days after kidnapping Jaycee, Phillip takes advantage of her, â€Å"he stands back up and takes off all his clothes. I do not want him to do that†¦ I feel so helpless and vulnerable. I feel so alone. He lies on top of me. I can’t stop crying. † (31). She was raped and had to suffer through it because she had no other choice as she was too afraid of what he would do if she did not cooperate. Even after being raped and impregnated, she had to pretend she was not the mother of her children. She says that, â€Å"on the roof I felt like my pulse was going to jump out of my skin. I wanted to grab her and hold her. † (154). Phillip and Nancy wanted Jaycee to pretend that they were the parents of the children she gave birth to and that she was just their sister, but Jaycee did not want that. Jaycee wanted to be able to take care of her children and it killed her that she had to let Nancy do it. However, she did overcome the situation. When she was found and reunited with her real family, she wanted to meet with Nancy, â€Å"I wanted to see her for many different reasons, the biggest being closure. Telling her that what she and Phillip did was not okay in any way. † (243). Although her kidnappers took most of her life away from her, she still stood up to them in the end and wanted them to know she was a stronger person. Although Jaycee suffered a lot she did not let it get the best of her. She has made meaning of her life. However, it did not happen right as she was freed as she said, â€Å"my growth has not been an overnight phenomenon. Nonetheless it has slowly but surely come about. † (261). She is doing well now and both of her kids are in high school. She reunited with one of her friends from her childhood and now they are really close. She knows what they did to her was wrong but she said she got the most precious things out of it and that was her two daughters whom she loves a lot. She stays clear of living a provisional existence while she was captured and even after she was liberated, she didn’t go through moral deformity and bitterness. Sometimes, Jaycee looks at her life and thinks she thinks, â€Å"I don’t deserve it. † (267). Jaycee was a self-determinist and believed she had free will to make of her life what she wanted it to be. She utilized tragic optimism to resolve the tragic triad she had to go through. Jaycee kept a positive attitude towards her life and used this to create work and endure the experiences she had to go through and to find love, the greatest way to make meaning of one’s life, in the children she was forced to bare. She now knows that, â€Å"it’s the simple things that count,† and she has used that mentality to make meaning of all her suffering throughout her whole life (268). Citations 1. A Stolen Life Dugard, Jaycee. A Stolen Life. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 May 2012. 2. Man’s Search for Meaning Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search For Meaning. N. p. : Beacon Press, 2006. Print.

Road Safety

Road safety is increasingly becoming a major killer and a worldwide concern. A child is killed in an accident every three minutes. Everyday more than one hundred people are killed due to lack in road safety. Around six thousand people are injured due to these small mistakes of a driver. Many people look at road safety as non-essential, but this a major topic of accidents occurring every minute nowadays. . Road accident is a global tragedy with ever-raising trend. To avoid these, a driver should be careful not to break the road safety rules and maintain the road safety culture.The main reason for accidents is high speed driving. Many people are killed, left seriously injured in road accidents. Drivers must be well educated regarding road safety & what to do what not to do. Police officers have a key role in encouraging improved road-user behavior. The main causes of the car accidents are driver distractions, drunken drivers, using cellular phones while driving, speeding, aggressive dr iving, mechanical failure, road conditions and weather.Lack of discipline of the driver, refusal to follow traffic rules, lack of experience and licensing older drivers also may be a cause of these accidents. Road accidents involving children has become a major cause for concern around the world. Within recent times, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of road accidents involving children. Accidents are generally classified as single vehicle and multiple vehicle accidents. The increase of road accident is closely linked with the rapid growth of population, economics development, industrialization and motorization encountered by the country.It continues to be a growing concern to all those who use the roads. There are many other causes of accident on the road. One reason is that, nowadays people can obtain license easily. But actually, people who want to get the license must have an experience and know the rules on the road. However, we do not have a big number of experi enced drivers on the road. However, there are traffic laws that may prevent these kinds of accidents to happen, but it is still up to the driver to follow the road safety rules and maintain road safety culture. .† Road Safety Road safety is a major issue affecting the road sector. Road accidents remain a serious impediment to sustainable human development in many of the developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Road accidents continue to be an important social and economic problem in developing countries like India. Growth in the number of motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic safety regulations, poor quality of roads and vehicles, and inadequate public health infrastructures are some of the road safety problems facing in India.The object of this Thesis is to present a status report on the nature of the government policy towards the Activity plans implemented till now and which has to be implemented later for the reduction of road fatalities and for the safe roads, and also giving the guidelines for financing of remedial measures, institutional framework, physical characteristics of the road, traffic control and calming measures, road safety education and enforcement is sues.The aim of the Activity plans is to analyze the present situation of road safety in India and to indicate main problems in individual sector of the Activity implemented by comparing and taking the examples of some of the ASEAN Region who are successed in implementing in the individual sectors. The effect of the programme to real safety situation is estimated, and further plans could be corrected if it is necessary. Implementation of the goals for the coming years to reduce the number of accidents at maximum extent and give people, the safe and the steady flow of traffic in India.The vision of a tremendous change next 5 to 10 years is based on a big potential for improvement and a joint effort of all involved groups on all levels of traffic safety, centrally coordinated by the National Road Safety Authorities. The Action Plan is deliberately divided into 14 key Sectors of activity in broadly the same way as the individual country road safety action plans. The sectors involve man y different disciplines and a very wide range of multi sector activities but all are based on applying scientific, methodical approaches to the problem. At the end the thesis gives the recommendations and conclusion for the safe Roads in India Road Safety Nowadays, the movement of vehicular traffic on road is increasing day by day. Every year thousands of people die in road accidents due to their or others fault. Consequently, there is a growing concern for road safety and thrust upon the knowledge of traffic rules in civic life. Ignorance of traffic rules and their non-observance results into accidents, fatal injuries or permanent physical disabilities, loss of life and damage of properties.To prevent it, there is a need to generate awareness about traffic norms and their observance at mass level. The rules of road are hard and fast and cannot be broken without danger to life or limb. While on road, we must always look ahead and judge the speed of traffic and the timings of traffic lights. Accidents occur if we are unmindful of the other users of the road. We should always keep a close watch on other road users especially pedestrians as they move slowly.We must maintain adequate distance from vehicle ahead of us. We must drive our ve hicles at specified speeds. At higher speed, the stopping distance exceeds the visual distance and therefore, it causes accidents. We should avoid sudden use of breaks, as it is risky. The best way to stop quickly is to drive slowly or to keep speeds under control. We should always keep a safe distance from large and heavy vehicles. In case, our vehicle comes between large vehicles there is a like hood of our vehicle being crushed.Since long vehicles cover more space, we must not be on its either right or left side when it is taking a turn. We must not over take vehicles as it may lead to an accident. We must follow the traffic signals as they assure us safety. There are three signals- red light, yellow light and green light. The red light indicates that we should stop. The yellow light indicates we should wait for green signal and the green signal indicates that we should start going. Road Safety Road Safety is essential in our daily life. Thus to observe the traffic rules is an important activity to ensure road safety. Road safety should first of all begin at home by teaching and instructing children about the traffic rules with some good hints on the do‘s and dont‘s. Children should also be taught the highway code and advised to follow them strictly. Hence safety rules is everybody‘s business. Statistics has time and again shown that a great proportion of the people involved in road accidents are school children.It cannot be denied therefore that improper education is one of the major causes of accidents. There are cases where accident are caused by children running across the road without much attention, crossing behind parked vehicle, cycling two or three abreast carrying pillion riders, alighting from moving buses and cycling without due care. Therefore, they should be thought the important the road safety both at home and in schools. Exhibitions by the schools and demonstrations by the police authorities can do much in instilling in the children in a greater awareness of the dangers on the roads.As for the drivers on the road, they should always concentrate and study the situation ahead. It is very important that they anticipate road movements. They should drive safely showing consideration for others road users. The drives of heavy vehicles especially, should exercise greater consideration for those of smaller vehicles. Motorist and taxi- drivers should not exceed the speed limits and should always think of the safety of the passengers. A good driver should also know how to assess the speed and the distance of the oncoming traffic.Dangerous of overtaking has been cited as one of the major causes of road accidents. Drives in their enthusiasm or impatience overtakes other vehicles and end up in the head-on collision with other oncoming vehicles. Drives should always exercise caution and show more road sense. Motorcyclist should al ways wear safety helmet for their own safety. They should remember that prevention is better than cure. The government on their part should distribute pamphlets which warn and instill fear in road-users who are careless and inconsiderate.Posters in ivid pictorial terms which tell of the dangers and the consequences of careless reckless driving should also be imposed to act as deterrents to negligent driving. Unroadworthy vehicles such as vehicles whish are very old and in state of despair, vehicles which do not be allowed on the road until the defects are corrected. Finally all roads until the defects are reflectors should not be allowed on the roads until the defects are corrected. Finally all road-users should cultivate the virtues of consideration, tolerate, patience, caution and a respect for the highway code for everybody‘s benefit Road Safety Road safety is increasingly becoming a major killer and a worldwide concern. A child is killed in an accident every three minutes. Everyday more than one hundred people are killed due to lack in road safety. Around six thousand people are injured due to these small mistakes of a driver. Many people look at road safety as non-essential, but this a major topic of accidents occurring every minute nowadays. . Road accident is a global tragedy with ever-raising trend. To avoid these, a driver should be careful not to break the road safety rules and maintain the road safety culture.The main reason for accidents is high speed driving. Many people are killed, left seriously injured in road accidents. Drivers must be well educated regarding road safety & what to do what not to do. Police officers have a key role in encouraging improved road-user behavior. The main causes of the car accidents are driver distractions, drunken drivers, using cellular phones while driving, speeding, aggressive dr iving, mechanical failure, road conditions and weather.Lack of discipline of the driver, refusal to follow traffic rules, lack of experience and licensing older drivers also may be a cause of these accidents. Road accidents involving children has become a major cause for concern around the world. Within recent times, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of road accidents involving children. Accidents are generally classified as single vehicle and multiple vehicle accidents. The increase of road accident is closely linked with the rapid growth of population, economics development, industrialization and motorization encountered by the country.It continues to be a growing concern to all those who use the roads. There are many other causes of accident on the road. One reason is that, nowadays people can obtain license easily. But actually, people who want to get the license must have an experience and know the rules on the road. However, we do not have a big number of experi enced drivers on the road. However, there are traffic laws that may prevent these kinds of accidents to happen, but it is still up to the driver to follow the road safety rules and maintain road safety culture. .†

Introduction to Sociology: The Concept of Deviance Essay

Understanding that society has unavoidably primary influences on what is deemed deviant or not significantly reduces the confusion that abound concerning the subject. This paper presents this assumption and emphasizes the pertinent works of several experts in the field. Ahmad and Rosenhan in their separate treatises try to put forth convincing proofs and arguments as to their respective positions. In essence, this paper explains the stand of Ahmad and the discoveries and conclusions drawn by the experiment performed by Rosenhan. Culture, creed or religious persuasions unavoidably are crucial to the behavior of people which may be the benchmarks with which people base their actions, decision making and choices (Navada, 2009). II. CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS The following questions will help the reader and student to make objective judgments on several key issues regarding their outlook on issues. The idea is that deviance according to society’s dictates can and will make or break certain ways of living, probably leading even to the annihilation of a number of people as the perpetrators might perceive their victims. Ahmad appears brilliant as to how he pursued the arguments concerning the validity of the West’s allegations about who are terrorists. The gist of his article was that the problem with society is that it has no permanent definition of a concept in particular. In the issue of terrorism, when it happened that a group of people or a country deemed another one lesser influential in terms of politicking, then the more influential or powerful a person is, the more he or his group sets the tone of morality and ethics: what is moral and ethical hinge on the degree of greed and selfishness of individuals. Rosenhan shows that being insane cannot be actually determined by whatever instrument or tool, or by what is dictated as the â€Å"normal curve. † The kind of study he made was an in-depth one and brings reality check to the people seriously involved in mental illness and restoring health. There were many observations that indeed were valid including the fact that grave responsibility lies with the head of these hospitals or organizations whose modelling or example mean death or life, recovery or real insanity for the individual patient. 1. Ahmad’s Article The point of view of Ahmad (1998) succinctly described in his article Terrorism: Theirs and Ours` must be read with as much as the removal of colored â€Å"glasses† which may be a hindrance as to getting this author’s point of view. It means that filtering his ideas through one’s personal biases and perspective may not be a very good idea at all. Rather, a Jewish person with his own arguments should probably pretend first that he is at the side of the writer and later take on his identity and worldviews (Ahmad, 1998). What is the author’s point in writing the paper? Ahmad simply states that terrorism depends entirely on who’s benefited by the action especially in grand scale (Ahmad, 1998). In the case of Palestine and Israel, and on the world’s stage, terrorism cannot be ascribed as such for as long as the West such as the United States remains in such a lofty position as a superpower. Their might and clout spell dominion and their own definition of what terrorism. Contemporary milieu shows that since the Palestinian people are not on the American side according to Ahmad, then this particular group of people has no say; and whenever they take up arms, it is not termed as a nationalistic campaign. Rather, it is terrorism. Ahmad also meant that America and its relationship to influential nations can be considered farce and the display of concern as charade (Ahmad, 1998). How does the author prove his point? The use of logic and/or deductive reasoning was how the author Ahmad tried to persuade his audience (Ahmad, 1998). What evidence do they use to prove their point? Ahmad saw to it that archival evidence supports his arguments well. He utilized the news and editorial clips and other sources to put forth the allegations that during the times that Israel was not yet a State, Jewish uprisings were acceptably known as terrorism. Evidences from print communications then turned around which made Palestinian revolts as works of terrorists (Ahmad, 1998). What do their findings say about deviance and society in general? Ahmad’s arguments simply posited that deviance is dictated by politics and power (Navada, 2009; Ahmad, 1998). It is the fact that in any given society, the ideology that permeates is one that is held by those in positions of authority, wealth and power. In the case of the existence of the Jewish State or that of the Palestinian identity, he argues that in their respective â€Å"reigns† these two races the emergence of the term terrorism is defined by the point of view of each. When the Palestinians were occupying the place, Jewish reformers or the Jewish desire for a country represented a threat and was described as terrorism; their leaders, called terrorists. Deviance, normality, or abnormality are terms inherently critical to society as the definition of the terms rests on the people governing a particularly society or institution. It is probably correct to think and draw conclusions that Mr. Ahmad is right concerning this point of view (Ahmad, 1998). However, it is entirely another thing when terror continues to be wrought in various places of the world by the vast network established by people of similar persuasions. It would be entirely simplistic to think along strictly along the line of thought that Mr. Ahmad was thinking (Ahmad, 1998). The world of humans is oftentimes unpredictable, changing and wondrously exciting. However, when these attributes become extremely bizarre and painfully detrimental, humans become sick and worried about to what extent can other humans afford to inflict harm against them. Suicide bombing is, if not the most, one of the most gruesome acts anybody can commit. It is outright crazy and stupid. One must be beside the normal to be entertaining such a thought in mind. Ironically, fanatics who have committed and attempted suicide bombings in the past, were deemed normal until the day when the execution of their ultimate plans were made public whether foiled or completed. People who are afflicted with mental disorder may, as other people, travel for the same reasons – vacation, visiting friends or relatives, business, recreation, and sometimes for religious or spiritual focus (Miller & Zarcone, 1968). Others indeed may travel for reasons other than the normal – for reasons triggered by malformed mental state such as the men who carried out the 911 attack of the Twin Towers in New York. Along the 911 attack, suicide bombing through aircraft came to prominence resulting in the stirring of the awareness among the international public of the fact that the regular traveller might not be that â€Å"regular† anyway. It is probable that some of them are driven by excessive anger or motivated by utopic hope as taught in the communities wherein they have pledged their life allegiance (Silke, 2003). 2. Rosenhan research What is the author’s point in writing the paper? Rosenhan’s breakthrough (1973) in mental institutions was a very interesting and inexplicably raw to the minds of figures or people who are in helping profession (Rosenhan, 1973). It is critical and contributes a sensitive fibre to a huge institution that caters to mental illness. There may be loopholes as to how the experiment was carried out including ethical issues to human participation but the results and the procedures were â€Å"loudspeakers† and are considered significant to the idea of labelling and the diagnosis of the mental illness (Rosenhan, 1973). How does the author prove his point? Rosenhan proved his point by direct and firsthand experiences of people who were participants in the study (Rosenhan, 1973). What evidence do they use to prove their point? With the thorough handling of data derived from these individual participant’s observations, he made generalizations and conclusions as to the state or condition of the Mental Institutions, the capabilities and efficiency of Mental Health Professionals were in question. His findings which were consistent to a large extent with many of his volunteers’ observations push the issue of proper diagnosis and labelling, use of diagnostic criteria, the abilities and qualifications and work ethics of people practicing in the mental health field to the fore and pose as challenge to the kind of profession being handled here (Rosenhan, 1973). What do their findings say about deviance and society in general? Specific items observed especially important to making generalizations in the discipline include the length of time that nurses, attendants and most importantly, the psychiatrists and psychologists spend with patients. By empirical evidence criterion alone, the practice drastically falls short on this aspect. In the area of diagnosis and subsequent intervention measures, the initial assessments, description aspect play a major role hence can never be relegated to a minor place in the practice. Mental illness then or deviance for that matter hinges on many issues brought out in the experiment (Rosenhan, 1973; Navada, 2009). III. REFERENCE PAGE Ahmad, Eqbal (1998). `Terrorism:Theirs and Ours. ` Accessed June 13, 2009 online at http://www. sangam. org/ANALYSIS/Ahmad. htm Gordon, Harvey, Mike Kingham, Tony Goodwin (2004).. Air travel by passengers with mental disorder. Psychiatric Bulletin 28:295-297. The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Jourad, Sydney (1963). Personal Adjustment. 2nd Ed. New York: MacMillan Company. Navada, Marianne Ryan-Go (2009). Principles of Sociology; Chapter 8, pp. 1-4. Accessed June 13, 2009 online at http://book. gonavada. com/html/Chapter8. html Rosenhan, David (1973). `On Being Sane in Insane Places. ` Accessed June 13, 2009 online at http://www. walnet. org/llf/ROSENHAN-BEINGSANE. PDF Silke, A. (2003). The psychology of suicide terrorism. In Terrorists, Victims and Society (ed. A. Silke), pp. 93 -108. Chichester: Wiley. Tiffin, Joseph and Ernest McCormick J. (1958). Industrial psychology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.