Thursday, October 31, 2019

Life science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Life science - Essay Example In the virtual education, mentors and students are not required to collaborate personally in a room (Christensen). Virtual education is particularly a blessing for individuals who can not make it to the institution. For example, young mothers with infants can often not manage to find time for attending the educational institution regularly. Likewise, working people often spare their academic progress because of work. With the facility of distance education at hand, people have been able to manage studies with work. They do not have to spare work in order to continue with their studies. Instead, they can maneuver their schedule to study after or before work as appropriate. The virtual world has diminished the significance of physical limitations and boundaries, while the quality of education has been maintained, rather enhanced in the virtual world as students can repeatedly attend the same lectures until concepts are clear. â€Å"While the lectures and assignments are preplanned and may be viewed multiple times, the student still has access to the instructor† (Tatum). I feel connected to the science through virtual education. Works cited: Christensen, Tricia E. â€Å"What is virtual education?† 2011. Web. 4 Feb. 2011. .

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

American lifestyle Essay Example for Free

American lifestyle Essay In your opinion what are the two most significant characteristics of modernist literature? Use any TWO texts from the course to substantiate and illustrate your argument. In my opinion, the two most significant characteristics of modernist literature are the pessimistic view of modern society or modern doubt, expressed through alienation and fragmentation, and the technique of stream of consciousness. In this essay I will discuss these characteristics and several important texts to illustrate my argument. Gertrude Steins work is a perfect example of fragmentation, or rather in her case, literary cubism. In art, cubism means showing multiple perspectives, taking a form and breaking it down to rebuild it on canvas (analytical cubism) or taking materials to create a sort of collage (synthetic cubism). In modernist literature the same process occurs: people, feelings, locations are fragmented, only bits and pieces are described instead of the whole picture. As Picasso said: I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. Stein was inspired by modernist artists such as Picasso, and wrote a series of literary portraits, including one on Picasso. She defended the representational nature of Cubism and believed that through the distortion, repetition and altering of a subject one could get a resemblance of human perception. The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a good example of both alienation and fragmentation. Both Prufrock and his world are fragmented. He cannot really connect with the women he sees, the conversations he hears, the city he walks through, or the mermaids he hears. The descriptions of the women he meets are not realistic, but fragmented, the poem never visualizes the woman with whom Prufrock imagines an encounter except in fragments: Arms that are braceleted and white and bare Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl. But not only the women and his environment are described in fragments, Prufrock himself is growing old, fading in a fragmented way: I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. / Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? Even his voice is a fragmentation of voices past and present ( Dante, Shakespeare) that somehow harmonize. The fragmentation in the poem the worries, the interruptions, the repetitions all sum up his relation to the world. The images are used to convey meaning, coherence can be established from the ruins of fragments. Prufrocks thoughts may perhaps move from one to another, but they do so in a way that mimics our thought process. He moves from one doubt to another, and his seemingly random observations are rooted in his past and his insecurities, just like ours are. This poems fragmentation to some extent serves to display Prufrocks indecisive, second-guessing, and pessimistic nature, but it more importantly reflects the fears and uncertainties we all posses. Moreover, Prufrocks question Do I dare//Disturb the universe? mirrors his insecurity and anxiety about his social standing. From the fragmented images provided by Eliot we come away with a coherent analysis of Prufrocks character. He is the typical modern man, and his fragmented and often unsure voice is proof of it. The other issue raised by this poem is the modernist feeling of alienation. Prufrock alienates his emotions from those around him. He is scared to show the real him for fear of being rejected or alone. He cannot connect with people on an emotional level. There will be time, there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. In this particular quote Prufrock tells us how he is not himself, but someone people want him to be. Prufrock experiences feelings of exclusion and alienation from the modern world and industrialised society, which becomes clear in his low self-esteem and his inability to form relationships, and makes him worry about what people think of him. He even claims he should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas and feels pinned and wriggling on the wall when people scrutinise him. With the lack of self-confidence, his alienation grows stronger. The quote: Do I dare? is repeated often throughout the poem. He asks himself time after time whether he should be himself or the person other expect him to be. Because of his alienation Prufrock feels unable to act on his desires, since he feels that people will automatically reject him. This can be seen as a reflection of the fast-paced modern American lifestyle, with people feeling trapped and unable to connect with other people and to society. Another example of the alienation evident in modernist literature is Heart of Darkness. Modernist writers often present the world as desolate, and Conrads Heart of Darkness is no exception. As Marlow describes: My isolation amongst all these men with whom I had no point of contact, the oily and languid sea, the uniform sombreness of the coast, seemed to keep me away from the truth of things, within the toil of a mournful and senseless delusion (p.30)

Saturday, October 26, 2019

7 Ps Of Rural Marketing In India Marketing Essay

7 Ps Of Rural Marketing In India Marketing Essay Indias rural market holds high potential for increased consumer buying, as per the reports prepared by the NCAER. This paper explains the potential of the rural market and the issues of concern with regard to rural marketing. Rural markets are becoming important for reasons of economic growth in these areas and increasing interfirm rivalry in urban market. The rural buyer is less educated, price sensitive, more traditional and is keen viewer of T.V and video programmes. Products for rural markets have to be simpler, easy to use, visually identifiable, affordable, communicated in an interesting style and available at the customers door step. Rural consumer behaviour is a very complex phenomenon, which needs more efforts to understand, explain predict. In order to get a clear understanding of the same, every marketer should realize that consumer behaviour is, in fact, an assumption every marketing manager must make, if he plans to hit the rural market. The marketing program consists of numerous decisions on the mix of marketing tools to use. These tools consist of 4Ps of marketing i.e. product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix is considered as the sole vehicle for creating and delivering customer value. 7 Ps of Rural Marketing in India ABSTRACT Indias rural market holds high potential for increased consumer buying, as per the reports prepared by the NCAER. This paper explains the potential of the rural market and the issues of concern with regard to rural marketing. Rural markets are becoming important for reasons of economic growth in these areas and increasing interfirm rivalry in urban market. The rural buyer is less educated, price sensitive, more traditional and is keen viewer of T.V and video programmes. Products for rural markets have to be simpler, easy to use, visually identifiable, affordable, communicated in an interesting style and available at the customers door step. Rural consumer behaviour is a very complex phenomenon, which needs more efforts to understand, explain predict. In order to get a clear understanding of the same, every marketer should realize that consumer behaviour is, in fact, an assumption every marketing manager must make, if he plans to hit the rural market. The marketing program consists of numerous decisions on the mix of marketing tools to use. These tools consist of 4Ps of marketing i.e. product, price, place and promotion. The marketing mix is considered as the sole vehicle for creating and delivering customer value. Intoduction What Rural Means Typically, from an Indian census point of view, rural has been defined with a deprivation orientation, rural being a landmass without access to continuous electricity, water, the stock market. There has been a correction in this view, however. Marketers today define rural as people living a different lifestyle as opposed to that of those who have settled in the bigger cities and towns. Rural is defined as pastoral in nature and as a mass of people who relate their income closely to the lands they till or use to raise their cattle and livestock. The Census of India defines urban India, says Gupta of TSMG. Urban India constitutes places with a population of more than 5,000, a population density above 400 per square kilometer, all statutory towns, that is, all places with a municipal corporation, municipal board, cantonment board, notified area council, etc. and with 75% of the male working population engaged in non-agricultural employment. All non-urban is rural. In simple words, we can say that rural India is a less developed countryside where the infrastructure is primitive, houses are of mud or brick but rarely painted well, the primary source of livelihood is agriculture, employment opportunities in the organized sector are negligible, eating choices are restricted to home-cooked, simple food, schools are far away, health facilities are rudimentary. Marketing Mix It refers to a set of actions, tactics, tools or variables that a company uses to promote and sells its brand and product in the markets. The 4Ps of marketing mix are: Product: refers to anything that is capable of or can be offered to satisfy need or want? Price: refers to the amount customers have to pay in order to acquire a product or services. 3 Cs of pricing Customer Values Competitor Prices Cost of Company Place: refers to point of sale Promotion: This refers to all the activities undertaken to make the product or services known to and preferred among the consumers. The Rural Market Environment in India The marketing man is a decider and an artist- a mixer of ingredients, who sometimes follow a recipe, developed by others and sometimes prepares his own recipe. And, sometimes he adapts his recipe to the ingredients that are readily available and sometimes invents some new ingredients, or experiments with ingredients as no one else have tired before. This paper is emphasized on understanding the marketing environment as it is the success key to effective marketing management for rural marketing. The rural market environment needs a separate examination as it varies significantly from that of the urban market. The rural customer shows distinctive characteristics which makes him/her different from urban buyers. 1. The Rural Consumer: Size of Rural Consumer Group: We all know that the heart of India lives in its villages and the Indian rural market with its vast size and demand base offers great opportunities to marketers. 12.2% of the world lives in Rural India and to successfully tap this growing market is every marketers dream. Characteristics of Rural Consumer Group Location pattern:-Though the aggregate size is very large, individual subsets of this market tend to be rather small and disparate. Geographical, demographical, statistical, logistical differences are very apparent. Each of these market segments differs and requires different strategies to be formed. The face of Indian agriculture is changing from dry land and irrigated agriculture into high-tech and low-tech agriculture. Farmers in states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have reaped the benefits of adopting new age farming practices. This has radically changed the economics of farming, with the investment in these systems lowering the cost of cultivation, increasing yields due to integrated crop management practices and reducing the dependence on rainfall. As a result, disposable income has grown sharply. The aspirants are becoming climbers showing a sustained economic upturn as purchasing power is increasing in the rural markets. Further, due to the diversity of this market, mar keters need to think, plan and act locally. It is therefore essential to develop an accurate Marketing Mix for selling to rural India. Socio-economic position: The sudden lure of rural India can be attributed to the socio-economic changes sweeping rural areas today. Increased productivity meant more income in the hands of the farmer who now wanted to buy the same products as his/her urban counterpart did.The process of income generation creating hope for better standards of living was also accelerated by companies and banks adopting villages for an integrated rural development. So, while fertilizers companies interest in adopting villages lay in increasing consumption of their products, companies like TISCO, TELCO ITG made it a part of their social commitment. The Integrated Rural Development Programme encompasses education, health, modern farming practices, land development co-operative marketing of produce. Culturally a Diverse and Heterogenous Market:-The rural market is not only a scattered market, but is also diverse heterogenous. Rural consumers are diverse in terms of religious, social, cultural linguistic factors. Various tiers are present, depending on the incomes like those of Big Landlords, Trades, Small Farmers, Marginal Farmers, Laborers Artisans. State to State Variation in Extent of Development:-There is also great deal of difference between different states in extent of development. The study provided by IMRB shows that each sate have different various parameters such as availability of health education facilities, availability of public transport ,electricity, TV transmission, post offices and water supply so on. Literacy Level:-It has been estimated that rural India has a literacy rate of 28% compared with 55% for the whole country. The picture has been changing over the years. For e.g. a decade ago, the literacy rate in rural India was only 20%. The adult literacy programmes launched in the rural areas are bound to enhance the rural literacy rate in the years to come. Lifestyle:-The rural consumers are marked by a conservative and traditional bound lifestyle. But the fact is that the lifestyle is undergoing a significant change. The change can be attributed to several factors such as: Growth of income change in income distribution Growth in education Enlarged media reach Growing interaction with urban communities Marketers efforts to reach out the rural market. Buying Behaviour Undergoes Major Change In recent years, some convergence in aspirations seems to be taking place between the urban and rural markets. The trend seems to be stronger among the younger generations. It is been found that aspirations of youth are same in both urban rural market, the only difference is that rural youth are still not in a position to follow their aspirations as that of urban youth. No stereotype Rural Consumer: The low purchasing power/ low per capita income low literacy level are the common traits of rural consumers. Rural consumers are traditional-bound, with religion, culture tradition strongly influencing their consumption habits. But still, the rural consumers do not share a common buying behavior. There are consumers who can afford high-priced brands and are also willing to buy. There is thus great scope and need for segmenting the rural market on the basis of buying behavior. 2. The Rural Demands Steady Growth: The recent NCAER publication The Great Indian Middle Class further reveals that the Indian middle class consisted on 10.7 million households or 57 million individuals of which 36 per cent lived in rural areas. No wonder, the rural markets have been a vital source of growth for most companies. For a number of FMCG companies in the country, more than half their annual sales come from the rural market. Although with the substantial improvement in purchasing power, increasing brand consciousness, changing consumption pattern and rapid spread of communication network rural india offers a plethora of opportunities for marketer. Composition of Rural Demand:- Many new products have entered the consumption basket of the rural consumer, they have started buying and using a number of modern products, which were unknown in the rural market. There are several products which have already well established in the rural market such as packaged tea, bath soaps, washing soaps, detergents, safety razor blades, scooters, motorcycles etc. On the other side there are many products, the rural market has overtaken the urban as the demand of motorcycles is also more in the rural market than the urban market. Rural Marketing Mix Product: Product for the rural market must be built or modified to suit the lifestyle needs of the rural customers. The rural market is not a homogenous set of customers with preferences frozen in time. The company should keep in mind that before developing the products for rural market, marketers must identify the typical rural specific needs. Urban products cannot be dumped onto rural markets without modifications. For instance, shampoos or soaps with distinctive, strong rose or jasmine perfumes are very popular with the rural women in South India. The urban women do not identify as strongly with these perfumes. Sachetization is also a distinctly rural-driven phenomenon. As demand in several categories is being created, intensity of use is quite low. On average, rural folk would use a shampoo only once a week. Habits take time to change and making unit sachet packs affordable is the key to inducing trial and purchase. Systematic, in-depth research that can help understand the depths of the mind of the villagers, their buying criteria, purchase patterns and purchasing power are an essential input while developing rural specific products or services. In the rural market product developers should aim at eliminating all the cost-adding features, i.e., features which a rural consumer is unwilling to pay for as he sees no obvious utility. This would redefine value in the minds of the consumer and tremendously increase product acceptability. The product strategies to be followed in rural market: Newly/ Modified product Utility Oriented product Avoiding sophisticated packaging Application of Value Engineering Small unit packaging Example: Induce rural customers to buy and try the new product i.e trial by low unit packs, Sachets(HLL),Cavin Care -Chik, PG-Vicks Vaporub, Godrej with 6ml sachet , One Rasna sachet can make six glasses Social Cultural variations Combi- Packs Colgate offers toothbrush with small toothpaste Family Packs-Britannia , Priyagold Price: The villagers due to their price sensitivity are very cost sensitive.This does not mean that a rural consumer is a miser. He is not simply looking for the cheapest product rather he understands and demands value for money in every purchase that he makes. Pricing therefore is a direct function of factors including cost-benefit advantage and opportunity cost. Pricing offered to consumers should be for value offerings that are affordable. The consumer is looking for tangible price advantages today. It is believed that rural consumers believe in smart buying. A study revealed that the average rural consumer takes approximately 2 years to decide on buying a watch! He will not do so unless he is totally convinced that he is getting value for money. Impulse buys and purchases are very rare when considering the value for money factor that reigns supreme in most rural purchase decisions. It must be remembered that the rural consumer does not have a budget problem. He has a cash flow problem. This is because the village folk receive funds only twice a year. At these times, he is capable of making high volume purchases. So, when there is a cash flow crunch, marketers need to provide financial products, schemes or solutions that suit the needs of the rural population. The Pricing Strategies to be followed in rural market Large volume- low emerging Overall efficiencies and passing on benefits to the consumers Low cost/value for money products Low volume-low price Example: Low cost products i.e Clinic-plus in 50 paisa, one rupee, two rupee pack, Colgate at Rs. 50 /- HLL derives 50% of its revenue from rural areas, sells Lux shampoo in a four milliliter sachet priced at 50 Paisa and six-milliliter sachet priced at one rupee Place: A village as a pace of promotion, distribution and consumption is very different from town and city. The most crucial link in ensuring the success of rural marketing efforts is distribution. In Rural India, the selection and use of distribution channels is a nightmare. As in Rural Indias 3 million outlets are located in 6.3 lakh villages. Thus, marketers are faced with the problem of feeding 3 million shops located in vastly diverse areas each of which records an average sale of only Rs.5,000 per outlet. Further problem is that even this sale is mostly on credit. The diversity in the distribution of shops is the self-limiting factor in terms of servicing the rural distribution network. Rural distribution has a rigid hierarchy of markets that make channel decisions relatively structured. It is essential for rural marketing companies to understand this hierarchy. Rural folk are habituated to traveling once a week for their weekly purchases to a satellite town. For durables where the outlay involved is typically large, the purchase would be made in an assembly market for reasons of choice and availability of adequate cash flow. It is therefore not necessary for a marketer of TV sets to take their distribution channel all the way down to the village shop. A TV will not be sold there as the cash flow does not exist at that point in the hierarchy of markets. A television distributor must be present at assembly markets which are much smaller in number, more controllable, easier to reach and service. Keeping the hierarchy in mind will help decide the optimum level of penetration required to reach a critical mass of rural consumers. Haats are the nerve centre of Rural India. They are a readymade distribution network embedded in the fabric of rural society for over 1000 years. Right from the time of Chandragupta Maurya, Haats are seen as a place for social, cultural and economic interchange.One in every five villages with a population of over 2000 has a haat. A lot of re-distribution also occurs through haats. This is because, a large number of retailers and sub-wholesalers buy from haats for their village stores. What is most attractive to marketers is that 90% + of sales in haats are on cash basis. Traditionally, in village shops a lot of credit sales occur due to the fact that in a small geographic area of a village, everybody knows everybody. Apart from the 90% cash sale, 5 to 7% is conducted on barter system and the rest 3 to 5% is on credit. Also attractive to companies wishing to use the system is the low selling overheads. Participation fees at haats are a flat Re.1 to Rs.5 per stall and this rate is comm on to a giant like Hindustan Lever and the smallest local seller. Distribution costs must be reduced through optimum utilization of the network. Thus, incorporating haats in the distribution strategy of a rural marketing organization selling consumer goods and FMCG products (typically once a week purchase items) is a tremendous opportunity. Perhaps the other most important factor to consider while developing rural distribution strategy is that the move from transactional marketing to relationship marketing is most evident in the village market. A strong bond needs to be created with every consumer even in the remotest villages and smallest town. The distribution strategies to be followed in rural market: Segmentation Covering of villages having population above 2,000 Distribution to feeder market or mandi town Direct contact with rural retail. Example: Samsung van displays all the products, the company has tied up with local distributors to showcase the Samsung range in local melas. Promotion: Promotion aspects always create a challenge in rural areas as they have a very thin population density but are spreaded in the large remote area. There are a lot of barriers that militate against homogenous media and message delivery. The rural consumer likes to touch and feel a product before making a choice. Demonstrations are undoubtedly the most effective promotional tool that shapes purchase decisions of the rural population. In todays information era, it is very important for companies to wise-up on emerging technologies. It has in fact become a medium to attract larger audiences for a product demonstration. Technology must be used to prepare a database of customers and their requirements. The use of video using mobile vans and even large screen video walls at events should be arranged. Several visual communication and non-verbal communication are used by the companies to reach the rural audience as large proportion of the rural population cannot read or write. More importantly, in rural India, the word of mouth is the key influencer. Intermediaries are the foundation to rural distribution. If the intermediary understand s and is constantly reminded about your product, then the end user will not be allowed to forget. The re-use capacity and colour of the container in which the product is packed is also a crucial factor. Infact, reusable packaging is considered a major aid in promoting sales for products in the rural market. Consumer and Trade schemes such as discount coupons, off season discounts, free samples, etc. encourage spending. Lucky draws and gift schemes are a major hit in most states. The use of local idioms and colloquial expressions are an excellent way to strike a rapport with the rural consumer and must be borne in mind when developing media plans and public relations programmes. The rural consumer is very down to earth but equally discerning and marketers need to step into the shoes of the rural folk while creating product promotion campaigns. Another unique feature of rural markets is that the Decision making process is collective. The persons involved in the purchase process influ encer, decider, buyer, one who pays can all be different. So marketers must address brand messages in their campaigns at several levels. Apart from regular household goods, several agribusiness companies have also started providing gift schemes with offers for free jewellery that influences the ladies to pressure the farmers to purchase agricultural inputs from select companies. This promotion strategy thus makes women influence purchase decisions that they would ordinarily not be involved in. Youth power is becoming increasingly evident in villages. Rural youth bring brand knowledge to the households. This has forced several companies to change the focus and positioning of their products and services towards this segment that is growing in absolute number and relative influence. The promotional strategies to be followed for promotion in rural market TV Radio Print media Cinema Hoarding Example: 1. Films on products like Vicks, Lifebuoy, Colgate and Shampoos are shown in rural cinemas halls. 2. LIC and Private insurance companies have been showing short movies in rural theatres to create awareness about life insurance People:-An essential ingredient to any service provision is the use of appropriate staff and people. Consumers make judgments and deliver perceptions of the service based on the employees they interact with, therefore it is necessary for the companies to provide proper training to their staff. Staff should have the appropriate interpersonal skills, aptititude, and service knowledge to provide the service that consumers are paying for. Process:- It refers to the systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service. Banks that send out Credit Cards automatically when their customers old one has expired again require an efficient process to identify expiry dates and renewal. An efficient service that replaces old credit cards will foster consumer loyalty and confidence in the company. Physical Evidence:- Physical Evidence is the element of the service mix which allows the consumer again to make judgments on the organisation. If you walk into a restaurant your expectations are of a clean, friendly environment. Physical evidence is an essential ingredient of the service mix, consumers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service provision which will have an impact on the organisations perceptual plan of the service. Cases of Rural marketing mix in India 1.Coca Cola When Coca -Cola re-entered the Indian Market in the mid-1990s , it took the high road to marketing and got nowhere. More recently it re-invented itself and its TV commercial showed Bollywood star Amir Khan first as a Punjabi Farmer and also in other rustic roles in different parts of India .Coca -Cola available at Rs. 5 a bottle Result was within months Coke was able to reach out to rural audiences in large numbers all over India . 2.Arvind Mills When Arvind Mills discovered even the cheapest brand could not make dent in the rural markets .It introduced ready-to-stitch RufTuf Jeans with price as low as 195 a Piece The Jeans were distributed using local retail outlets in villages with population up to 5,000 .Tailors were trained and given Machine accessories needed to stitch heavy denim In about year and a half Arvind sold 50 Lakh Rug Tuf kits because it had beaten the lowest-priced organized sector jeans around Rs. 300 at that time Conclusion Today, the rural market is blooming with the increase in the disposable incomes of the households. By nature, rural marketing is complex and studying the perception of rural consumers is always a difficult task unlike that of urban consumers. An effective communication not only provides information about products, but also educates the consumers regarding the use of products. Therfore, it is necessary that rural consumers have to be thoroughly studied so as to have better knowledge of rural marketing and work out appropriate marketing strategies. The essence of modern marketing concept is to satisfy the customer, and naturally all the marketing activities should revolve around the customers and their buying behaviour. The consumers need to be guided in the proper direction in order to make a decision. Theres a necessity to raise the emotional involvement of consumers in order to prevent brand defection. The marketers must recognize that rural marketing is primarily developmental marketing must be willing to take an approach of market seeding in the initial stages. It is often said that markets are made, not found. This is particularly true of the rural market of India. It is a market meant for the truly creative marketer.

Friday, October 25, 2019

It’s Time to Stop Corporate Downsizing Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

It’s Time to Stop Corporate Downsizing Michael Moore is very opinionated. He can be very blunt and sarcastic, but he gets his point across. In his documentaries Roger and Me, Pets or Meat, the return to Flint and The Big One he is not speaking out for what someone has done to him, but for what they have done to the people of Flint, Michigan. In Roger and Me, Michael focuses on how Roger Smith, the CEO of General Motors (GM), closed his factory in Flint to open factories in Mexico. The closing of the plant left more than 30,000 people unemployed. Michael was determined to talk to Roger and get him to come to Flint to see what kind of effect his greed caused. In Pets or Meat, the return to Flint Michael returns to Flint to see that people are still struggling. One bright side though is Roger Smith’s pension has been cut by $100,000. In The Big One, Michael Moore has written a book titled, Down Size This, Random Threats From an Unarmed American. On his book tour he helps a bookstore establish a union and he gets Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike, to match his donation of $10,000 for the...

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Native Americans vs. African Americans Essay

In today’s society there are many people living in poverty. All across America there are different projects and reservations where the less fortunate reside. Statistics show that mostly minorities live in these different locations. Native Americans and African Americans are two of the more popular races living in these places. The group suffering the most in these situations is the youth. Although both Native American and African American children living on a reservation or in the projects experience a terrible community, have little to no faith, and a broken family structure, African American youth living in the projects have it worse than Native American children living on a reservation. First, one of the most common living situations for less fortunate African Americans is in the projects. A project is a public living environment that is government owned. Although these buildings are government owned they are far from nice looking. Most of the buildings have no windows, are run down, dirty, and old. The government’s main goal is to maintain affordable housing not to make them the best looking homes in town. The projects aren’t a good environment for a child to be raised. Throughout these neighborhoods different gangs can be found. These gangs are built to defend the different areas in the projects. The gangs bring major violence to the area and are one of the main causes of death. At a young age children join these gangs and are raised to be violent. Many of them decorate the buildings they are living in with graffiti expressing their gang colors, symbols, or motto. In contrast, while Native American youth also live in poor housing, the environment is safer than the projects. A reservation is an area set aside for a specific type of land use or activity, or for use by a particular group of people, mostly Native Americans. Similar to the projects, houses on a reservation are old, beat down, and dirty. The houses on a reservation are government owned as well. Although these two locations are very similar they also differ. The reservation is a safer place then the projects. On the reservation there is a couple cases of mild violence but they aren’t as severe as the violence in the projects. Therefore, the reservations environment is a better environment than the projects. Secondly, many of the young people have no faith growing up in the projects. A lot of them believe their only way out of the projects is to become a basketball or football player or to become a top selling rap artist. At as young as sixteen years of age most African American males end up in jail, deceased, or selling drugs. A lot of them are also lead to believe that if they don’t do what every other man on the streets is doing, then they won’t make it anywhere in life. On the reservation the kids believe their only way out is to become NBA players or â€Å"powwowers†. Powwower’s are traditional Native American cheerleaders or dancers. Much like the African Americans growing up in the projects, the life expectancy rate for those living on a reservation is in the mid forties. Considering that both of these locations are in the United States mid forties is very young of age. Many of these people don’t live very long because they don’t have enough money to take care of themselves as well as their families. They also aren’t able to live a healthy lifestyle which shortens their days. Death is common in the two locations which leaves these two young groups wondering what’s beyond the age forty. Lastly, family structure is very important in a household. In the projects many of the homes lack a very strong family structure. Children growing up in the projects nine times out of ten don’t have both parents in the home. Most of them are drug dealers, alcoholics, prostitutes, or doing any and everything to try and provide for the child. Although these parents are trying to provide for their children a lot of the time they are also on welfare. Moreover, these children’s parents aren’t ever around, they sometimes go days without having anything to eat. Many of the young men follow after the footsteps of their father, older brother, or uncles which is why this cycle has continued for so long. Native Americans typically stick together as a unit. According to Sherman Alexie, an award winning author who grew up on a reservation, â€Å"Native American children are taught to be suspicious of Caucasian people. † Native Americans teach this to their children because there are many people in America that are against minorities and believe that just because they are the majority they’re better. A lot of the parents on a reservation go from job to job not being able to keep one job for a long period of time. Many of these parents are also alcoholics. On the other hand, some of these families on these reservations are very family oriented unlike the African American families in the projects. These Native American families have up to seventeen family members living in one house. They keep their families very close and are very supportive of one another rather then being against each other like African Americans. The parents watch over their children to make sure they don’t go down the wrong path in life. Although these families are experiencing hard times they cheer each other up and manage to smile every once in a while. Therefore, the Native Americans family structure is stronger then African Americans. In conclusion, Native American youth living on a reservation have it better then African American youth living in the projects. Both of these minorities are going through some hardships. From alcoholic parents to not having anything to eat they both are suffering as young children. Native American families provide a safer living environment, work harder, and look after one another, where as African Americans are against one another, on the streets all day, and are strongly associated with violence. As the years go on these families are hoping that the government will separate people in the projects and those living on reservations and provide them both with a better living situation. If these environments are separated the United States will be one step closer to eliminating violence in America.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

albert ellis and william glasser essays

albert ellis and william glasser essays Running head: ALBERT ELLIS AND WILLIAM GLASSER Albert Ellis and William Glasser Webster University - Kelly Air Force Base Albert Ellis and William Glasser have been in the mainstream of psychological society for over four decades. Both have contributed greatly to modern psychotherapy. The Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) of Albert Ellis and the Reality therapy of William Glasser have endured the trendy world of psychology and in fact as they are based in ancient philosophy (Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius), they also remain the foundation for brief therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and ecclectisism. Their strength is in the flexibility and simplicity inherent in each. They go directly to the problem and focus energy there without lengthy psychotherapy. Both prolific writers and dedicated therapists have expanded their views and adapted with the times. They are true humanists in that through non-profit organizations they have been able to alleviate much human suffering by providing sources for personal and professional growth. In 1955, Albert Ellis used the fundamental concept of truth and logic to help people overcome the obstacles in their lives. By using mans' high power of rationality Ellis has allowed us to use our cognitive abilities to overcome environmental or social situations. By 1975 Ellis combined Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) with Rational Behavior Training (RBT) and with the collaboration of many other noted therapists, created Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Ellis tells us in a new Guide to Rational Living (1975): I (A.E.) originated the system around the early part of 1955 and gave a first paper on it at the 1956 meeting of the American Psychological Association in Chicago Since that time, RET has gone through many minor and some major changes, originated by myself and some of my main collaborators-especially Dr. Robert A. Harper, Dr. H.Jon Geis, Edward Garcia...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Cognitive Dissonance Definition and Examples

Cognitive Dissonance Definition and Examples Psychologist Leon Festinger first described the theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957. According to Festinger,  cognitive dissonance  occurs when people’s thoughts and feelings are inconsistent with their behavior, which results in an uncomfortable, disharmonious feeling. Examples of such inconsistencies or dissonance could include someone who litters despite caring about the environment, someone who tells a lie despite valuing honesty, or someone who makes an extravagant purchase, but believes in frugality. Experiencing cognitive dissonance can lead people to try to reduce their feelings of discomfort - sometimes in surprising or unexpected ways. Because the experience of dissonance is so uncomfortable, people are highly motivated to try to reduce their dissonance. Festinger goes as far as to propose  that reducing dissonance is a fundamental need: a person who experiences dissonance will try to reduce this feeling in much the same way that a person who feels hungry is compelled to eat. According to psychologists, our actions are likely to produce a higher amount of dissonance if they involve the  way that we see ourselves and we subsequently have trouble justifying why our actions didn’t match our beliefs. For example, since individuals typically want to see themselves as ethical people, acting unethically would produce higher levels of dissonance. Imagine someone paid you $500 to tell a small lie to someone. The average person probably wouldn’t fault you for telling the lie- $500 is a lot of money and for most people would probably be enough to justify a relatively inconsequential lie. However, if you were paid only a couple of dollars, you might have more trouble justifying your lie, and feel less comfortable about doing so. How Cognitive Dissonance Affects Behavior In 1959, Festinger and his colleague James Carlsmith published an influential study showing that cognitive dissonance can affect behavior in unexpected ways. In this study, research participants were asked to spend an hour completing boring tasks (for example, repeatedly loading spools onto a tray). After the tasks were over, some of the participants were told that there were two versions of the study: in one (the version the participant had been in), the participant was not told anything about the study beforehand; in the other, the participant was told that the study was interesting and enjoyable. The researcher told the participant that the next study session was about to start, and that they needed someone to tell the next participant that the study would be enjoyable. They then asked the participant to tell the next participant that the study was interesting (which would have meant lying to the next participant, since the study had been designed to be boring). Some participants were offered $1 to do this, while others were offered $20 (since this study was conducted over 50 years ago, this would have been a lot of money to participants). In actuality, there was no â€Å"other version† of the study in which participants were led to believe the tasks were fun and interesting- when participants told the â€Å"other participant† that the study was fun, they were actually (unknown to them) speaking to a member of the research staff. Festinger and Carlsmith wanted to create a feeling of dissonance in participants- in this case, their belief (that lying should be avoided) is at odds with their action (they just lied to someone). After telling the lie, the crucial part of the study began. Another person (who appeared to not be part of the original study) then asked participants to report on how interesting the study actually was. Results of Festinger and Carlsmiths Study For participants who were not asked to lie, and for participants who lied in exchange for $20, they tended to report that the study indeed wasn’t very interesting. After all, participants who had told a lie for $20 felt that they could justify the lie because they were paid relatively well (in other words, receiving the large sum of money reduced their feelings of dissonance). However, participants who were only paid $1 had more trouble justifying their actions to themselves- they didn’t want to admit to themselves that they told a lie over such a small amount of money. Consequently, participants in this group ended up reducing the dissonance they felt another way- by reporting that the study had indeed been interesting. In other words, it appears that participants reduced the dissonance they felt by deciding that they hadn’t lied when they said the study was enjoyable and that they really had liked the study. Festinger and Carlsmith’s study has an important legacy: it suggests that, sometimes, when people are asked to act in a certain way, they may change their attitude to match the behavior they just engaged in. While we often think that our actions stem from our beliefs, Festinger and Carlsmith suggest that it can be the other way around: our actions can influence what we believe. Culture and Cognitive Dissonance In recent years, psychologists have pointed out that many psychology studies recruit participants from Western countries (North America and Europe) and that doing so neglects the experience of people who live in non-Western cultures. In fact, psychologists who study  cultural psychology  have found that many phenomena that were once assumed to be universal may actually be unique to Western countries. What about cognitive dissonance? Do people from non-Western cultures experience cognitive dissonance as well? Research seems to suggest that people from non-Western cultures do experience cognitive dissonance, but that the  contexts  that lead to feelings of dissonance might differ depending on cultural norms and values. For example, in a  study  conducted by Etsuko Hoshino-Browne and her colleagues, the researchers found that European Canadian participants experienced greater levels of dissonance when they made a decision for themselves, while Japanese participants were more likely to experience dissonance when they were responsible for making a decision for a friend. In other words, it seems that everyone does experience dissonance from time to time- but what causes dissonance for one person might not for someone else. Reducing Cognitive Dissonance According to  Festinger, we can work to reduce the dissonance we feel in several different ways. Changing Behavior One of the simplest ways to address dissonance is to change one’s behavior. For example,  Festinger explains  that a smoker might cope with the discrepancy between their knowledge (that smoking is bad) and their behavior (that they smoke) by quitting. Changing the Environment Sometimes people can reduce dissonance by changing things in their environment- in particular, in their social environment. For example, someone who smokes might surround themselves with other people who smoke instead of with people who have disapproving attitudes about cigarettes. In others words, people sometimes cope with feelings of dissonance by surrounding themselves in â€Å"echo chambers† where their opinions are supported and validated by others. Seeking Out New Information People can also address feelings of dissonance by processing information in a  biased way: they may look for new information that supports their current actions, and they might limit their exposure to information that would make them feel greater levels of dissonance. For example, a coffee drinker might look for research on the benefits of coffee drinking, and avoid reading studies that suggest coffee might have negative effects. Sources Festinger, Leon.  A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance.  Stanford University Press, 1957.  https://books.google.com/books?isbn0804709114Festinger, Leon, and James M. Carlsmith. â€Å"Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance.†Ã‚  The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology  58.2 (1959): 203-210.  http://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Motivation/Festinger_Carlsmith_1959_Cognitive_consequences_of_forced_compliance.pdfFiske, Susan T., and Shelley E. Taylor.  Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture. McGraw-Hill, 2008.  https://books.google.com/books?id7qPUDAAAQBAJdqfisketaylorsocialcognitionlrGilovich, Thomas, Dacher Keltner, and Richard E. Nisbett.  Social Psychology. 1st edition, W.W. Norton Company, 2006.  https://books.google.com/books?isbn0393913236Hoshino-Browne, Etsuko, et al. â€Å"On the Cultural Guises of Cognitive Dissonance: The Case of Easterners and Westerners.†Ã‚  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  89.3 (2 005): 294-310.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7517343_On_the_Cultural_Guises_of_Cognitive_Dissonance_The_Case_of_Easterners_and_Westerners White, Lawrence. â€Å"Is Cognitive Dissonance Universal?†.  Psychology Today Blog  (2013, Jun. 28).  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-conscious/201306/is-cognitive-dissonance-universal

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Free Essays on Superpowers

It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world’s largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ‘five year plans’ to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt’s isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry’s capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to th... Free Essays on Superpowers Free Essays on Superpowers It is often wondered how the superpowers achieved their position of dominance. It seems that the maturing of the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, can be traced to World War II. To be a superpower, a nation needs to have a strong economy, an overpowering military, immense international political power and, related to this, a strong national ideology. It was this war, and its results, that caused each of these superpowers to experience such a preponderance of power. Before the war, both nations were fit to be described as great powers, but it would be erroneous to say that they were superpowers at that point. To understand how the second World War impacted these nations so greatly, we must examine the causes of the war. The United States gained its strength in world affairs from its status as an economic power. In the years before the war, America was the world’s largest producer. In the USSR at the same time, Stalin was implementing his ‘five year plans’ to modernise the Soviet economy. From these situations, similar foreign policies resulted from widely divergent origins. Roosevelt’s isolationism emerged from the wide and prevalent domestic desire to remain neutral in any international conflicts. It commonly widely believed that Americans entered the first World War simply in order to save industry’s capitalist investments in Europe. Whether this is the case or not, Roosevelt was forced to work with an inherently isolationist Congress, only expanding its horizons after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He signed the Neutrality Act of 1935, making it illegal for the United States to ship arms to the belligerents of any conflict. The act also stated that belligerents could buy only non-armaments from the US, and even these were only to be bought with cash. In contrast, Stalin was by necessity interested in European affairs, but only to th...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Nazis and Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nazis and Art - Essay Example Movies played a very important role in the spread of racial anti-Semitism as Jews were defined as the enemies of nation. The films created by Nazi depicted Nazi as inhuman beings, which penetrated German society. Classical music also was an important tool of propaganda during World War II. Now it is difficult to imagine that classical music played a key role during national crisis. Nevertheless, music was very noticeable background for different World War II events. According to Hitler’s order, overture from opera â€Å"Die Meistersinger von Nà ¼rnberg† should have accompanied every mass-meeting in Nà ¼rnberg. Nazi encouraged the performing the works of Wagner, because Hiller was his fan (Waite, 1977). The works of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn were forbidden due to the Jewish origin of these composers. German orchestras were not allowed to perform the music by Paul Hindemith, the leading national composer, who was recognized all over the world (Heinsohn, 2000). Many chor uses and orchestras had to leave Germany. The culture of many countries was enriched as a result, because many outstanding Jewish Musicians were afraid to be killed and chose to leave Nazi

Friday, October 18, 2019

Semantics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Semantics - Essay Example The conversive relations are distinguished by primary, or sole, derivatives of the conclusive aspect. Conversive relations, in general, describe actions that result in the creation of a single discrete end product. Converses are at some point called relational opposites for example buy whose opposite is sell, borrow whose opposite is lend, and precede whose opposite is follow. Converseness is binary but each member expresses same relationship from different participants’ perspectives. Converseness also one presupposes the other (Cruse, 2004). On the other hand reversiveness is binary and each member denotes change of state that is reversible. For example enter whose opposite is leave, ascend whose opposite is descend, and tie whose opposite is untie. Reversive opposites comprise those adjectives or adverbs that signify a quality or verbs that mean an act or situation that reverse or undo the eminence, action, or state of the other (Riemer, 2010). Although they are neither conflicting nor opposing provisions, they present a comprehensible opposition. Since they all describe activities that result in an object undergoing a change from one state to another the tow members of the reversive pair involve the same two states, but the direction of change is different in each

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Tourism-Related Hospitality Dissertation

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Tourism-Related Hospitality Establishments in Beijing, China - Dissertation Example ignificance of the Study 9 1.4 Purpose and Research Questions 9 Chapter 2 – Review of Relevant Literature and Research 12 2.1 Reasons Why Customer Relationship Management is Important for Tourism-Related Hospitality Establishments 13 2.2 Information and Computer Technologies and Customer Relationship Management Systems 15 2.3 Forces that Influence Customer Relationship Management Implementation Efforts in Organisations 17 2.4 Customer Relationship Management in Restaurants 18 2.5 Customer Relationship Management in Airlines 20 Chapter 3 – Methodology / Methods Used 23 3.1 Research Approach for the Dissertation Project 24 3.2 Preparation of a Literature Review 25 3.3 Design and Administration of the Survey Questionnaire 26 3.4 Analysis of the Survey Data 27 Chapter 4 – Data Analysis and Discussion 31 Chapter 5 –Conclusions, Recommendations and Suggestion for Further Work 122 Appendix A – Survey Questionnaire 125 Appendix B – Raw Data for the S urvey 135 Bibliography/ References 146 List of Figures Figure 4.1: Histogram depicting location of Tourism-Related Hospitality Establishments from Beijing Included in the Survey 34 Figure 4.2: Histogram depicting Annual Turnover of Hospitality Establishments in Beijing 36 Figure 4.3: Pie Chart depicting Number of Employees at Hospitality Establishments in Beijing Included in the Survey 37 Figure 4.4: Histogram depicting Designation of those responding to Survey Questionnaire from Hospitality Establishments in Beijing 38 Figure 4.5: Pie Chart depicting Departmental Affiliation of those responding to Survey Questionnaire from Hospitality Establishments in Beijing 39 Figure 4.6: Pie Chart depicting Satisfaction with Efforts made for Implementation of CRM Initiatives at Hospitality Establishments in Beijing 40 Figure 4.7:... From the research it can be comprehended that it is now important for hospitality establishments from around the world to understand how best to effectively manage relationships with customers. Times are difficult, and the rapidly changing business environment is highly competitive. Thus, it makes sense to try to retain customers and to make the right impression on all those who have had a first experience with a hospitality establishment, especially for establishments serving clients combining business with pleasure who may return. It is far more expensive to try to attract new customers than to try to retain the existing and during tough and competitive times, it is best for hotels to try to ensure that its clientele remain loyal. Thus, although academic literature and practical implementations of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) do not present a clear indication about what CRM is, it is clear that to know the customers and to serve them better it is important for a hospitali ty establishment to present superior interactions and knowledge about the customer. The use of information and communications technologies with data mining for knowledge gathering is now apparent in many hospitality establishments for supporting Customer Relationship Management and formulation of management strategy. Because CRM is about getting to know customers and their needs better, it is about implementing specific Information and Communication technology projects within an organisation to process organisational data to deliver knowledge about customers and their needs.

Commercial Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Commercial Law - Essay Example Consequently, it is not impossible, theoretically, for a bank to have a charge over the cash deposited by one of its customers and which functions as the security with regard to a loan provided to the customer. This effectively discounted the Court of Appeal’s conceptual impossibility contention that had been supported by it (McCormack, 2002, p. 7). Such reciprocity in indebtedness is common to several commercial transactions and this decision by the House of Lords has provided immense relief to the commercial community. This is due to its capacity to do away with ambiguity and promoting transactions that are of immense benefit. The fact that there are legally valid and effective alternate transactions does not reduce the importance of the aforementioned category of transactions (Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International S.A. (No. 8), 1998). These alternatives cover the contractual rights of set off and rendering the deposit a flawed asset, which the third party in the position of the depositor or depositor cannot withdraw. The court ruled with great insight that the device of a charge back ensured powerful protection to a bank. This was by means of the flawed asset techniques and the contractual set off, and not due to the charge over the asset (Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International S.A.... 187). Commercial transactions are always exposed to the risk of insolvency or default. This is mitigated by employing credit derivatives, which create exposure to or hedge the credit risk inherent in debt instruments, like bonds and loans. There is nothing novel about this function, which had been undertaken by debt syndication, cash securitisations, and loan participations. These initiatives had been utilised to control the credit risk of debt instruments. Such credit risk had been managed by the practice of sell – down of the investor of lender’s risk in the debt instrument (Ali, 2004, p. 326). All the same there is a crucial difference between the previous credit risk management strategies and credit derivatives. The latter separate the credit risk of a debt instrument from itself and this risk is transferred to a third party. In addition, the debt instrument is retained or disposed of to another party. This renders credit derivatives, tools of credit risk management that have much greater precision. Lenders and investors are protected against credit risk, due to credit derivatives; and the economic benefit of the debt instrument is not transferred (Ali, 2004, p. 326). Moreover, insurance and reinsurance companies, banks, bond insurers and hedge funds are the chief sellers of credit protection. Credit risk protection is provided by these financial institutions, first, by the sale of protection under credit default swaps to investors or lenders. Second, by the making investment of funds in securities issued under a programme of synthetic securitisation (Ali, 2004, p. 326). Companies of Scotland were not permitted to create a floating charge with regard to the whole or part of their undertakings and

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Vodafone's sale of ownership of joint venture to Verizon Assignment

Vodafone's sale of ownership of joint venture to Verizon - Assignment Example It is expected that if the deal goes through successfully then it will be one of the biggest in the history of Merger and Acquisition (Financial Times, 2013). History of Joint Venture In 2004, Vodafone was close to sell their shares to Verizon Wireless but their initiative did not materialize then primarily due to Vodafone’s failure to bid for AT&T Wireless. The Chief Executive officer of Vodafone at that time, Arun Sarin, stated that both Verizon and Vodafone were interested in bigger stakes in their joint venture and both were unwilling to forego majority ownership (Yahoo, 2013). Vodafone entered the United States market in the year 1999 through a series of deals that ultimately resulted in the formation of Verizon Wireless in the year 2000, with Verizon Communications holding majority 55% stake and Vodafone the rest. ... Arun Sarin, who led Vodafone from 2003 to 2008, and the current CEO of Vodafone Vittorio Colao, has resisted the move by Verizon. The resistance of Vodafone was often made in the face of investor that demands for sale. Verizon Wireless became the largest telecom operator in the United States, a growing market that boasts higher prices and margins compared to Europe (BBC, 2013). The subsequent CEO of Vodafone Plc, Vittorio Colao, clearly stated that the company was still interested to sell the stake of Vodafone and dilute ownership but only when they get the right price in the sense that odds seeming favourable to owners of Vodafone Plc. Since then five years have gone by and it seems that Vodafone’s definition of the right time appears to be at present as evident from the official announcement made on the 29th of August 2013. The company has publicly announced that Vodafone Group Plc was officially negotiating with Verizon Communications to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless. In the past when Verizon initially offered to buyout Vodafone through Joint Venture, the company was valued at $ 100 billion. But the deal failed since Vodafone’s offer to sale its stake was valuing the entity at approximately a little over $130 billion. A popular article in The Wall Street Journal stated that Verizon Communications Inc. had lost a golden chance to get full control of one of the most active telecom companies in the world and its wireless joint venture. The company agreed to shell out billions more than it had to if the company had decided to buyout its partner in the past. As Verizon Wireless resumed dividend payouts, Vodafone has received $ 11.5 billion (? 7.34 billion) from the

Quantitative Methods and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Quantitative Methods and Analysis - Essay Example Entertainment Survey The survey being analyzed in this section was conducted by Olswang to determine the proportion of people who would chose to pay for entertainment content (New Media Age, 2005). The survey conducted displays results in for m of percentages, and from the results, the following factors can be deduced. According to the survey, 28% percent of American people have no problem downloading and watching content without paying for the content, yet the same proportion would pay to stream long length content on the PCs. The validity of the results of this survey is not conclusive because the number of participants in the survey is not given. The results from this survey can be used to tell a story by determining the feelings of the population towards piracy and related copyright matters. Political Survey The political poll analyzed in this section was authored by Jones (2011), and is a description of the approval ratings for President Obama in his 11th quarter in office. The poll indicates that the popularity for the president is at its lowest point of 41%, down from 46.8% in the previous quarter. The poll also analyzes the differences in President Obama’s ratings since his first quarter in office, which indicates that the ratings were highest in the 1st quarter and have been steadily decreasing. The poll was conducted random telephone interviews to 45,989 adults in all the States in the country and other districts. This validates the results of the poll since the sample size used is big enough to eliminate errors in the survey process. This poll can be used by any company to support a political candidate or support the incumbent in a forthcoming election. General Survey The poll being analyzed in this section is a general survey that analyses the life evaluation reports of various American individuals (Gallup Daily, 2011). This poll asks the respondents to imagine their life in terms of a scale and decide whether they are suffering, thriving, or struggling. The scale used in the survey is called the Cantril ladder, and is a representation of the life of an average individual. The poll used a sample of approximately 1500 individuals, and determined the results of the survey on a quantitative basis. This kind of survey can be sued by a media group or company to promote any kind of product, if the individual are reassured that the use of the product will increase satisfaction or life happiness. Overview An analysis of the three surveys presented above shows the effects of sample sizes on the validity of the results that are presented by a survey. This means that the higher the sample size in a survey, the more reliable the results of the survey. For example, the first survey analyzed, the entertainment survey, did not present the sample size used. Therefore, it can be concluded that the survey is unreliable or can be a misrepresentation. Conversely, the general survey used a sample of 1000 people, therefore, it can be conclud ed that the results are viable, to some extent. However, the most reliable survey is the political survey, since the sample size is large and diversified; therefore, the errors that affect small sample size surveys are eliminated. Application: Copy of Survey The sample survey conducted is an analysis of the reactions of people to the effects of the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Commercial Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Commercial Law - Essay Example Consequently, it is not impossible, theoretically, for a bank to have a charge over the cash deposited by one of its customers and which functions as the security with regard to a loan provided to the customer. This effectively discounted the Court of Appeal’s conceptual impossibility contention that had been supported by it (McCormack, 2002, p. 7). Such reciprocity in indebtedness is common to several commercial transactions and this decision by the House of Lords has provided immense relief to the commercial community. This is due to its capacity to do away with ambiguity and promoting transactions that are of immense benefit. The fact that there are legally valid and effective alternate transactions does not reduce the importance of the aforementioned category of transactions (Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International S.A. (No. 8), 1998). These alternatives cover the contractual rights of set off and rendering the deposit a flawed asset, which the third party in the position of the depositor or depositor cannot withdraw. The court ruled with great insight that the device of a charge back ensured powerful protection to a bank. This was by means of the flawed asset techniques and the contractual set off, and not due to the charge over the asset (Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International S.A.... 187). Commercial transactions are always exposed to the risk of insolvency or default. This is mitigated by employing credit derivatives, which create exposure to or hedge the credit risk inherent in debt instruments, like bonds and loans. There is nothing novel about this function, which had been undertaken by debt syndication, cash securitisations, and loan participations. These initiatives had been utilised to control the credit risk of debt instruments. Such credit risk had been managed by the practice of sell – down of the investor of lender’s risk in the debt instrument (Ali, 2004, p. 326). All the same there is a crucial difference between the previous credit risk management strategies and credit derivatives. The latter separate the credit risk of a debt instrument from itself and this risk is transferred to a third party. In addition, the debt instrument is retained or disposed of to another party. This renders credit derivatives, tools of credit risk management that have much greater precision. Lenders and investors are protected against credit risk, due to credit derivatives; and the economic benefit of the debt instrument is not transferred (Ali, 2004, p. 326). Moreover, insurance and reinsurance companies, banks, bond insurers and hedge funds are the chief sellers of credit protection. Credit risk protection is provided by these financial institutions, first, by the sale of protection under credit default swaps to investors or lenders. Second, by the making investment of funds in securities issued under a programme of synthetic securitisation (Ali, 2004, p. 326). Companies of Scotland were not permitted to create a floating charge with regard to the whole or part of their undertakings and

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Quantitative Methods and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Quantitative Methods and Analysis - Essay Example Entertainment Survey The survey being analyzed in this section was conducted by Olswang to determine the proportion of people who would chose to pay for entertainment content (New Media Age, 2005). The survey conducted displays results in for m of percentages, and from the results, the following factors can be deduced. According to the survey, 28% percent of American people have no problem downloading and watching content without paying for the content, yet the same proportion would pay to stream long length content on the PCs. The validity of the results of this survey is not conclusive because the number of participants in the survey is not given. The results from this survey can be used to tell a story by determining the feelings of the population towards piracy and related copyright matters. Political Survey The political poll analyzed in this section was authored by Jones (2011), and is a description of the approval ratings for President Obama in his 11th quarter in office. The poll indicates that the popularity for the president is at its lowest point of 41%, down from 46.8% in the previous quarter. The poll also analyzes the differences in President Obama’s ratings since his first quarter in office, which indicates that the ratings were highest in the 1st quarter and have been steadily decreasing. The poll was conducted random telephone interviews to 45,989 adults in all the States in the country and other districts. This validates the results of the poll since the sample size used is big enough to eliminate errors in the survey process. This poll can be used by any company to support a political candidate or support the incumbent in a forthcoming election. General Survey The poll being analyzed in this section is a general survey that analyses the life evaluation reports of various American individuals (Gallup Daily, 2011). This poll asks the respondents to imagine their life in terms of a scale and decide whether they are suffering, thriving, or struggling. The scale used in the survey is called the Cantril ladder, and is a representation of the life of an average individual. The poll used a sample of approximately 1500 individuals, and determined the results of the survey on a quantitative basis. This kind of survey can be sued by a media group or company to promote any kind of product, if the individual are reassured that the use of the product will increase satisfaction or life happiness. Overview An analysis of the three surveys presented above shows the effects of sample sizes on the validity of the results that are presented by a survey. This means that the higher the sample size in a survey, the more reliable the results of the survey. For example, the first survey analyzed, the entertainment survey, did not present the sample size used. Therefore, it can be concluded that the survey is unreliable or can be a misrepresentation. Conversely, the general survey used a sample of 1000 people, therefore, it can be conclud ed that the results are viable, to some extent. However, the most reliable survey is the political survey, since the sample size is large and diversified; therefore, the errors that affect small sample size surveys are eliminated. Application: Copy of Survey The sample survey conducted is an analysis of the reactions of people to the effects of the

The Elements of Drama Essay Example for Free

The Elements of Drama Essay I am now going to talk about our piece of drama. We have being studying the topic anorexia for a couple of weeks now. In this piece of drama we have looked at and developed ideas and done some study about Nervous Conditions. In this extract a teenage girl has been living in England for a good amount of time and when she comes back to Africa she is finding it very difficult to adapt back to the life she had back in England. We decided to develop some of ideas based on the fact that we are working with people in Africa now. So the idea we have done is when the girl has come back to Africa and wont eat anything. She is becoming anorexic because in England the people eat and dieted differently. So when she returns back to Africa she has developed this idea that she cant eat anything because she is putting on too much weight. As she has this idea stuck in her head, it begins to affect the rest of the family by making the father very angry at her mood swings and this leads into a massive argument. In our development we used the storyline from our booklet and developed it much more. We started by using the storyline that Nyasha (Lily) comes home and wont eat any food and begins to lie about what she dies with her lunch money. It all starts to kick off when the family is sitting down and enjoying their dinners and Nyasha (Lily) comes into the room. The father (me) asks her to eat her dinner because she just sites there and acts as though she doesnt care. So the father (me) has a little go at her and her mother (Polly) tries to defend her. Then the brother (Umar) starts to back up his father by saying that she never eats at lunch. We done this so it shows that the brother and sister have not had such a decent relationship because he always tries to get his sister in trouble. We tried to make this piece as realistic as possible by showing the everyday relationship that some families have to put up with. Then this argument over Nyasha (Lily) not eating starts to carry on to our nex t scene. The next scene is when the mother (Polly) is cleaning up the dishes and has a little thought about what is going on with her daughter and hopes that she will pull her act together. Then we switched straight away to the father (me) in bed and has his own little thought about how angry he is with the whole situation and approaches the incident with a different matter. He decides to show no sympathy (unlike the mother (Polly)) and come down hard on his daughter. I think this is very well followed through and it is realistic how we put the scenes together. Then our next scene follows through to the next morning when the children are about to leave for school. Nyasha (Lily) refuses to have breakfast and decides to act hardcore by bringing in that English attitude by giving cheek back to her father (me). He is having none of this and decides to lay the line down. There is then a massive argument about how Nyasha (Lily) should respect her father (Me). We made this very realistic and tried to make it as violent as we possible could to show our audience that people have to put up with this in real life, not just in theater. So Nyasha decides to take her breakfast and eat it on the way to school. We show a different way of how our story is told because we tell it as we go along. We dont have a narrator because it would be to complicate so we made it easy to follow for our audience. We used monologues to show what our characters are thinking about. This gives a great deal of information to what will happen next. I.e. when the father is having is monologue about how he is going to approach the not eating situation showed it to the audience as to what he was going to do.

Monday, October 14, 2019

The Hippie Movement, a Counterculture

The Hippie Movement, a Counterculture Carlee Campuzano A counterculture, as described by sociologists across the world, consists of a group that does not follow and/or rejects the simplest norms, values, and practices of the larger society and replaces them with their own. Countercultures can be controversial or just plain weird to members of society, but they have individual purposes that gave them significance at that time and even today. In the 1960s, the prominent Hippie Movement arose and sparked interest all over the United States through their rejection of cultural norms and values concerning dress, hairstyle, work, and raising children (Thomas). Make love not war, the hippies emphasized. This saying along with others summarizes the beliefs and motives of the Hippie Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Influencing law, politics, and everyday life, hippies did not care what others thought of them in the slightest (The Hippie Movement). They lived happily while supporting political causes that they found best for the happiness and health of the people of our nation. Outside of political thinking, hippies had views of sex, drugs, and rock n roll that countered the popular cultural influences during the 60s. No hippie was the same as another, and their individualism contributed to the way they felt vibes or energies, and focused on liberty and self-expression (Issitt). Flowers, peace signs, bright colors, tie-dye, ripped jeans, and long hair and facial hair for men became the perceptible fashion for hippies as they wandered outside of the social norm (The Hippie Movement). Culture began to change in America during the post-World War II era, and once the Vietnam War began, hippies spoke out and became famous through their peaceful protests to bring the troops home. Historians pinpoint their locations of origin as mainly the Haight-Ashbury part of San Francisco, California, and the East Village of New York City (The Hippie Movement). Eventually the hippies gathered in small villages or areas of their own, and in 1965, the first hippie commune was established in the outskirts of Trinidad, Colorado entitled Drop City (Issitt). Among the first hippies, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters in California and Oregon contributed to the counterculture, taking long road trips in colorful school buses, growing their hair long, wearing bizarre fashions, and taking the drug LSD, which was legal at this time (Cogswell). Smoking marijuana was also an important part of hippie culture, for they sought a life free of stress. Because of the youthful age of the hippies durin g their derivation, parents feared that their children would want to drop out of school and join the movement, desiring to take their own path of self-discovery (The Hippie Movement). The hippies reached their peak in historical significance during the summer of 1967, which history refers to as the Summer of Love. During this summer in San Francisco and numerous other cities across America, Canada, and Europe, hundreds of thousands of hippies gathered to express their value of free love. Here, their well-known nickname of the flower children surfaced. In 1969, the Woodstock Festival in New York marked another milestone for hippies, where they embraced music and peace. Jimi Hendrixs distinguished performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at this festival signified the political aspirations of the Hippie Movement: to reconsider general society and its impact on the people (Cogswell). Coverage of these events by the press led to a growth in the movement, but not for long. After the exultant time for hippies of the 60s, and after the Vietnam War concluded, their counterculture slowly declined due to crime, drug addiction, and maturing (Perera). The Hippie Movements ideo logy did not completely diminish because of the middle school and high school students during the 60s, who in the 70s and later decades continued aspects of hippie culture (Issitt). Elements of the Hippie Movement do still appear today in the 2000s, however, they are just not as controversial or odd as they were during their time of emergence. Developing a sociological perspective allows one to view the behavior of groups in a systematic way, and a sociological imagination gives one the ability to see the connection between the larger world and personal lives (Thomas). The hippie counterculture caught the eye of people all over the country as their cause spread, and soon enough philosophers, writers, musicians, activists, politicians, and the nations youth gathered inspiration from them. Hippies nearly invented the political stance of liberal, socially supporting a sexual revolution and feminism. During the decades of the counterculture, immense social conflict occurred within the United States; although political activism was not the main focus of the hippies, they brought attention to the wrongs of some conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, the civil rights struggle, the Cold War, and the nuclear disarmament movement. They also stood against government laws that banned recreational drugs. The peace symbol, which many Ameri cans know and love today, made its first appearance during the hippie era to symbolize nonviolence. Overall, the Hippie Movement impacted the entire world in the way that it strived for things uncommon in the American culture at the time, causing America to increase its introduction of international culture (Issitt). Ethnocentrism, or the tendency to view ones own culture as superior to all other cultures, definitely surfaced during the decades of the Hippie Movement (Thomas). Americans, especially those who were most patriotic, looked at hippies as inferior, weirdos, and a definite counterculture. Hippies celebrated any activity that brings pleasure, such as drugs, music, and sex, and the larger society viewed this aspect of their movement as provocative. The liberal hippies were living inside of a larger culture that they felt was dominated by conservative values and materialism. During the 60s, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement angered some members of society, and the way in which hippies supported individual rights and freedoms arose similar feelings. Focusing on a pleasant society and cooperation as the peaceful pursuit of ones happiness, hippies were viewed as chaotic. The group is specifically depicted as a counterculture because of their emphasis on changes in major cu ltural stereotypes. Sex, for example, was looked at as a form of self-expression, passion, and love rather than something that should remain within marriages, a norm of this time period. Additionally, few Americans had concern for the environment in the early 60s, so the hippies environmentalism shed new light on a rising movement (Issitt). The hippies did not possess ethnocentrism as Americans did, for they viewed everyone as equal. Cultural relativism defines as the belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards (Thomas). Average Americans completely judged and criticized the hippies, looking at their movement as indiscriminate, unhygienic, and irresponsible. In a society where equality for women was not generally accepted, the hippie women leaving their homes to join the movement brought them the risk of severe judgement of others. Americans must have understood that the hippies acted the way that they did for a reason; they desired to express themselves and to rid their lives of negative energy. Sociologists refer to the behavior of the hippies as deviant behavior, which means they surely act opposite of the norm (Issitt). They did so because of their desire to alternate the demanding, negative aspects of American society. The Hippie Movement, although controversial at that time, appeals to me in the way that hippies supported peace and individualism, as do I. Apart from the drugs and crime, I admire the outlook on life in which the hippies braced; they sought stress-free lives where negativity is marginalized. They mainly focused on love, and I believe everyone should incorporate aspects of hippie ideology into their lives. They envisioned a world of cooperation and sharing where everyone spreads love to one another, and their pure love for the world inspires me to do the same. Their spirituality was the opposite of self-centered, which a majority of Americans had at the time and still do. Hippies were the ultimate model for the term counterculture, as a majority of sociologists would agree, and their movement overall served significantly to the world and sociology all together. References Cogswell, Ned. The History of the Hippie Cultural Movement. 16 November 2016. Culture Trip. Web. 7 March 2017. Issitt, Micah L. Hippies: A Guide to and American Subculture. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Press, 2009. Text. Perera, Thivanka . Why the Hippie Movement Declined . 29 September 2016. Culture Trip. Web. 7 March 2017. The Hippie Movement. n.d. Web. 2 March 2017. Thomas, W. LaVerne. Sociology. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston , 2003. Text.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

evilhod Uncovering Evil in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay exa

Uncovering Evil in Heart of Darkness In Heart of Darkness, a novel written by Joseph Conrad, the literary characters are forced into a web of darkness and evil as they enter the heart of the African Congo. However, the Congo itself is not the true evil, but the darkness instead lies within the dimming hearts of mankind. Conrad uses the literal darkness of the African jungle as a contrast to societies "supposed" enlightenment to show how the morals of civilized man are broken down when exposed to what they claim to be "savagery." This contrast is most evident in the different settings, the changes in civilized individuals as they venture deeper into Africa, and the final collapse of white man under the darkness of the innermost Congo. The setting of Heart of Darkness has a profound role in depicting the evil that radiates from the African Congo. Marlow, the protagonist and assumed narrator, presents his story on a boat in the dark of night, as if attempting to create a sense of internal darkness or evil from the black night. This setting serves to foreshadow eve... evilhod Uncovering Evil in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay exa Uncovering Evil in Heart of Darkness In Heart of Darkness, a novel written by Joseph Conrad, the literary characters are forced into a web of darkness and evil as they enter the heart of the African Congo. However, the Congo itself is not the true evil, but the darkness instead lies within the dimming hearts of mankind. Conrad uses the literal darkness of the African jungle as a contrast to societies "supposed" enlightenment to show how the morals of civilized man are broken down when exposed to what they claim to be "savagery." This contrast is most evident in the different settings, the changes in civilized individuals as they venture deeper into Africa, and the final collapse of white man under the darkness of the innermost Congo. The setting of Heart of Darkness has a profound role in depicting the evil that radiates from the African Congo. Marlow, the protagonist and assumed narrator, presents his story on a boat in the dark of night, as if attempting to create a sense of internal darkness or evil from the black night. This setting serves to foreshadow eve...

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Essay --

Love and Romance in Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra William Shakespeare, the most famous of all English writers, has written many works. One such work is Much Ado about nothing, a comedy that includes humor, love, and deceit. Several incidents in the life of the author influenced him to write this play in the fashion that he did. These events come from his life and the point in history in which he lived, thus producing Much Ado About nothing. Shakespeare's misfortune in love is shown in Much Ado about Nothing when it is said, "Speak low if you speak love." (Shakespeare). Contrary to this, the positive side of love is apparent: "Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love: Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues; Let every eye negotiate itself And trust no agent." (Shakespeare) So let it be known, Shakespeare obviously learned a great deal about love throughout the course of his life. He learned not only the good, but also the bad, and in this, love plays a major role in Much Ado about Nothing. (Alexander, Peter. Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964.) Another element used in Much Ado about nothing is deceit. This deceit involves a conflict between two brothers in which one wants to keep the other unhappy and unwed. This conflict is present as it is said, "There's a skirmish of wit between them." (Shakespeare). Shakespeare, in his life, had some deceitful things forced upon him where he was cheated out of something. He was forced out of school at an early age of fifteen to help his father financially. Furthermore, he was forced into marrying women that were eight years older than him because she was three months pregnant. In result ... ...iscovery and claiming of "new heaven, new earth," the couple links private emotions to affairs of state. Love, in other words, becomes an extension of politics, with the annexing of another's heart analogous to the conquering of a foreign land. (Rackin, Phillis. 1978) Shakespeare's life has very much to do with the style of his writing as his stories are from his past experiences. Shakespeare had a life that involved both the good and bad aspects of love. He was married for a short while, however, the marriage was suspected to be an unhappy one because he spent much of his later life away from his family. References Bloom, Nasold. Modern critical views. William Shakespeare the Love Stories.1985 Rackin, Phillis. Shakespeare's Love stories. 1978 Oxford school Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet. 1982 Alexander, Peter. Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964

Friday, October 11, 2019

Mission readiness

Proper gear accountability can range from the most important pieces of gear such as my rifle all the way to my Several. The units and individual soldier to whom this gear Is Issued are held accountable for maintaining them. Losing a piece of gear could have repercussions ranging from payment for lost property to legal action. Losing or not keeping up with your gear and equipment results to you not being mission ready.That is the last thing you want to happen to you or your unit. Especially, when you are a part of something important as GRAFF. The purpose of the GRAFF is to have units who are able to quickly deploy and execute decisive-action operations in support of combat operations and in some cases provide humanitarian assistance. If my unit was miraculously called up to deploy anywhere I would've been the one to hold the whole operation up. Most likely I would stay behind and have someone who has their tuff together take my spot.I have to stay in that mindset that we can be anywh ere at a moment notice. That was bad on my part that I let myself get so careless when it come to my equipment. Before I went home that day I should've checked for all of my PIP because that's exactly what I would do down range. I have to start getting Into the battle rhythm now of checking my equipment every time I take It out Into the field, range, or for something simply as a detail.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

What Is Philosophy

There are many different kinds of philosophy and almost anything and everything has its own philosophy. Philosophy is the inquiring of existence, to find out what it s meaning is. It is the search for truth and understanding. Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, not only in oneself but also in others. When asking for a philosophy on something it is mainly picking at one s brain to figure out the most inner thoughts and beliefs that one has on a subject. The idea of philosophy and the way that it works is mainly dependant on a person’s interpretive skill; it is a person’s thoughts on a certain subject in an analytical and exploratory manner. It is different levels of meaning. It is a search for some kind of general understanding of values and reality by a primarily speculative way rather than a merely observational way. Extensively speaking the purpose of philosophy is to study and find a reflective view of certainties, genuine concerns and general beliefs. Philosophy is like a classification of different theories on the disposition of things and what they are about. The branch of philosophy concerned with identifying the ultimate reality of nature of the universe is known as metaphysics. It is like a system of principles underlying a particular subject or study. Metaphysics was originally used to refer to the writings done by Aristotle on Physics. Now, it is better known for its attempt to understand the fundamental nature of all reality, if something is visible or not visible at all. Metaphysics seeks an explanation so basic and simple to everything that is, from what is human to what is spiritual and religious to what anything else really is. It is an argument that tries to figure out the things that actually exist and are truly real against the things that just seem to be real. There is a primary component of metaphysics and that component is ontology. Ontology is the theory of existence and being. It is pretty much concerned with identifying the things of the universe that are basic. Also. It takes a look at if something is composed of many diverse elements or if it plainly consists of only one fundamental compound. Ontology is usually compared with metaphysics proper. Metaphysics proper is more concerned with the general principles and traits of the world. It assumes that the general principles and traits of reality are simple and general and that because they are so general that they will apply to any kind of universe. Another way that metaphysics is divided is by a theoretical way and an applied way. Each describe a different way, one way just simply describes while the other way applies the description to practical problems. It puts knowledge to work and then gathers the knowledge for further examination. The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge is epistemology. Epistemology is a study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity. It seeks to define knowledge, identify its sources and establish its limits. Epistemology is derived from the Greek words Episteme and Theoria. According to the Greek language Episteme means knowledge and Theoria means theory. It addresses the philosophical problems surrounding the theory of knowledge. It attempts to answer the basic question of whether or not knowledge is true or false. What distinguishes true knowledge? What distinguishes false knowledge? These questions translates into issues of scientific methodology, it also forms one of the pillars of the new sciences of cognition. Epistemology is known for being the central area pf philosophy because philosophy is the quest for wisdom and truth. If you take a look at the history of epistemology, you see a clear trend, even though there is much confusion of many seemingly contradictory positions. The first theories of knowledge stressed its absolute, permanent character, while later theories put the emphasis on its relativity, its continuous development or evolution, and its active interference with the world and its subjects and objects. The whole trend seemingly moves from a static, passive view of knowledge towards a more and more adaptive and active one. What Is Philosophy Most definitions of philosophy have been fairly controversial partly because what has been called philosophy has changed drastically in the course of history. What used to be a part of the philosophical inquiries detached themselves from it. This is why most academic subject began as some aspect as philosophy and branched off into knowledge and became specialized. The word philosophy originated from Greek words philia (love) and sophia (wisdom) carrying the meaning love of wisdom. The essential part of being a good philosopher is the faculty of wonder. Philosophy searches for the truth and questioning the unquestionable. Intrinsically it satisfies, or seeks to satisfy, the intellectual desire for comprehensive knowledge and understanding. Philosophers need to be open-minded and never closing door. They have to be accepting and be able to accept changes. A philosopher is curious, reflective and critical. Big philosophical questions like Who is god? , Where does the world come from? , What is life? has remained unanswered. Questions of this genre are asked in every culture, every religion and through every period of time. The quest of philosophy is to answer these questions. Philosophy makes people doubt their beliefs. They make people query their cultural norms and what they have been putting faith into and brought up believing. People who are easily influence might think twice about their beliefs and those who hold true faith in what they already belief think philosophy is a load of rubbish and immature. They ignore the big questions and are too occupied searching for material things. They ignore the fact that these questions are yet to be answered but opt to remaine oblivious to it. By philosophizing, people reflect and criticize their most deeply held conceptions and beliefs. Essentially, the sole purpose of a normal life is to perpetuate and thrive to expand and fill the world galaxy with it. When we humans have gotten past a certain level or mark and into higher sentience. Then comes the aesthetic values, that we currently enjoy. however, the modern day society prevents most from doing so because the earth is overcrowded, and there’s the fight for resources. Philosophy attempts to search the evidence of all beliefs. It takes a second look at cultural norms. They attempt to think through a variety of life problems. It leads the mind to a critical evaluation of things, but critical evaluations often differ from person to person for their personal expierences, cultural background may vary widely. In this changing universe, some people are responsive to it and some are not. Some cling on to old tradtions passed down decads ago and declare that they are final. Often those who are unresponsive to it are old, narrow minded, stubborn people. Philosophy tries to relate reality to belief. It tries to find evidence and speculates the truth behind our daily assumptions. Due to this, some people think philosophy is dangerous. Socrates was accused for corrupting the mind of the youth in Athens. In this epoch, people think philosophy is nonsense and too corrupts the youth. It deters the youth from their original beliefs and confuses them even more that they already are. By philosophizing, people ask questions. They ask questions to get closer to the truth. But in fact, most of the time, they do not get closer to the truth but end up with even more unanswerable questions. Babies and young kids have this faculty of wonder. They ask adults a lot of questions Why is the sky so high? and many adults cannot answer that question because they themselves can t answer those questions. Shallowness, incompleteness, poor reasoning, and assertions with flimsy foundations prevent a truly enlightened person. When a person comes up with a philosophy or theory of his own, he persuades other people and influences them. Orators sways minds and hearts and thereby wage wars, gain control and seduce an unsuspecting public. To illustrate this point, lets say a nobody comes out and questions the government and influences the rest of the public to do so, with enough questioning citizens the government will be overpowered by the overwhelming demand of inquiries and thus cause chaos in a country†¦ Those who advocate total control or even economists philosophy like Carl Marx and his views on social reform can change the whole values of society, which means every single unit of society (us) will be affected even if we resist the next generation will grow up already brainwashed and in their minds that this is good, that is bad. This is why some people say philosophy is dangerous Philosophy can also change a way a person thinks. It can change peoples mind set especially those who are fickle and are not sure about their own true identities. These people change as they get influenced and cannot decide which is right and which is wrong. In our age of confusion and uncertainty, we need a sense of identity. Unaware of the complexities of an issue, unfamiliarity of certain issues, and unable to distinguish valid and invalid reasoning, these disoriented people might give in to authoritarian approaches to sacrifice their lives for certain values and ideas. And if people start philosopizing about things that are dangerous, it might baffle a person of their till then perception of things. People then turn to religion for a sense of direction. But once they start questioning the veracity of the religion, they are then deterred away again from their search of identity. Leaving them profound and doubtful. Philosophy is dangerous because it threatens to change or lives. But then again, because philosophy precedes the faculty of wonder, many things that were assumed have been justified. The world is not all sleight of hand and deception. A lot of old age enigmas have now been explained by science. What the dark side of the moon look likes was once shrouded in mystery but now we know exactly how it looks like. Philosophy leads to evolution. Because of that people improve. If it weren t because of the curiousness of scientists, we wouldn t have new inventions of machinery, of mathematical formulae, and wouldn t have the technology we now have in our lives. We would still be living in the dark, not knowing where to turn to. With this use, we cannot entirely say that philosophy is dangerous since it brings us so many advantages. Humanity has acquired a great new power in science and technology. We obtain numerous techniques for gaining greater security and comforts have been developed. Philosophy, in conjunction with other disciplines, plays a central in guiding us toward new desires and aspirations. It guides us to a clearer more assuring road into life. Philosophizing leads us to seek more knowledge and thus making a person wiser. It guides us to make more knowledgeable and wiser choices in life. The exploration of the possible, reasonable solution clarifies the options open to thoughtful persons. The usefulness of choosing from the reasoned, researched alternatives rather than from bigoted, impulsive, and unclear claims is apparent inn all dimension of our lives. Ideally, the study of philosophy nurtures our capacity for making informed choices. Ultimately, there isn t really a definite answer to the question whether philosophy is dangerous. This is due to the fact that philosophy brought humanity to evolve and improve yet making people feel anxious and insecure because they are uncertain about the meaning of life and which direction they should take life in. What Is Philosophy Most definitions of philosophy have been fairly controversial partly because what has been called philosophy has changed drastically in the course of history. What used to be a part of the philosophical inquiries detached themselves from it. This is why most academic subject began as some aspect as philosophy and branched off into knowledge and became specialized. The word philosophy originated from Greek words philia (love) and sophia (wisdom) carrying the meaning love of wisdom. The essential part of being a good philosopher is the faculty of wonder. Philosophy searches for the truth and questioning the unquestionable. Intrinsically it satisfies, or seeks to satisfy, the intellectual desire for comprehensive knowledge and understanding. Philosophers need to be open-minded and never closing door. They have to be accepting and be able to accept changes. A philosopher is curious, reflective and critical. Big philosophical questions like Who is god? , Where does the world come from? , What is life? has remained unanswered. Questions of this genre are asked in every culture, every religion and through every period of time. The quest of philosophy is to answer these questions. Philosophy makes people doubt their beliefs. They make people query their cultural norms and what they have been putting faith into and brought up believing. People who are easily influence might think twice about their beliefs and those who hold true faith in what they already belief think philosophy is a load of rubbish and immature. They ignore the big questions and are too occupied searching for material things. They ignore the fact that these questions are yet to be answered but opt to remaine oblivious to it. By philosophizing, people reflect and criticize their most deeply held conceptions and beliefs. Essentially, the sole purpose of a normal life is to perpetuate and thrive to expand and fill the world galaxy with it. When we humans have gotten past a certain level or mark and into higher sentience. Then comes the aesthetic values, that we currently enjoy. however, the modern day society prevents most from doing so because the earth is overcrowded, and there’s the fight for resources. Philosophy attempts to search the evidence of all beliefs. It takes a second look at cultural norms. They attempt to think through a variety of life problems. It leads the mind to a critical evaluation of things, but critical evaluations often differ from person to person for their personal expierences, cultural background may vary widely. In this changing universe, some people are responsive to it and some are not. Some cling on to old tradtions passed down decads ago and declare that they are final. Often those who are unresponsive to it are old, narrow minded, stubborn people. Philosophy tries to relate reality to belief. It tries to find evidence and speculates the truth behind our daily assumptions. Due to this, some people think philosophy is dangerous. Socrates was accused for corrupting the mind of the youth in Athens. In this epoch, people think philosophy is nonsense and too corrupts the youth. It deters the youth from their original beliefs and confuses them even more that they already are. By philosophizing, people ask questions. They ask questions to get closer to the truth. But in fact, most of the time, they do not get closer to the truth but end up with even more unanswerable questions. Babies and young kids have this faculty of wonder. They ask adults a lot of questions Why is the sky so high? and many adults cannot answer that question because they themselves can t answer those questions. Shallowness, incompleteness, poor reasoning, and assertions with flimsy foundations prevent a truly enlightened person. When a person comes up with a philosophy or theory of his own, he persuades other people and influences them. Orators sways minds and hearts and thereby wage wars, gain control and seduce an unsuspecting public. To illustrate this point, lets say a nobody comes out and questions the government and influences the rest of the public to do so, with enough questioning citizens the government will be overpowered by the overwhelming demand of inquiries and thus cause chaos in a country†¦ Those who advocate total control or even economists philosophy like Carl Marx and his views on social reform can change the whole values of society, which means every single unit of society (us) will be affected even if we resist the next generation will grow up already brainwashed and in their minds that this is good, that is bad. This is why some people say philosophy is dangerous Philosophy can also change a way a person thinks. It can change peoples mind set especially those who are fickle and are not sure about their own true identities. These people change as they get influenced and cannot decide which is right and which is wrong. In our age of confusion and uncertainty, we need a sense of identity. Unaware of the complexities of an issue, unfamiliarity of certain issues, and unable to distinguish valid and invalid reasoning, these disoriented people might give in to authoritarian approaches to sacrifice their lives for certain values and ideas. And if people start philosopizing about things that are dangerous, it might baffle a person of their till then perception of things. People then turn to religion for a sense of direction. But once they start questioning the veracity of the religion, they are then deterred away again from their search of identity. Leaving them profound and doubtful. Philosophy is dangerous because it threatens to change or lives. But then again, because philosophy precedes the faculty of wonder, many things that were assumed have been justified. The world is not all sleight of hand and deception. A lot of old age enigmas have now been explained by science. What the dark side of the moon look likes was once shrouded in mystery but now we know exactly how it looks like. Philosophy leads to evolution. Because of that people improve. If it weren t because of the curiousness of scientists, we wouldn t have new inventions of machinery, of mathematical formulae, and wouldn t have the technology we now have in our lives. We would still be living in the dark, not knowing where to turn to. With this use, we cannot entirely say that philosophy is dangerous since it brings us so many advantages. Humanity has acquired a great new power in science and technology. We obtain numerous techniques for gaining greater security and comforts have been developed. Philosophy, in conjunction with other disciplines, plays a central in guiding us toward new desires and aspirations. It guides us to a clearer more assuring road into life. Philosophizing leads us to seek more knowledge and thus making a person wiser. It guides us to make more knowledgeable and wiser choices in life. The exploration of the possible, reasonable solution clarifies the options open to thoughtful persons. The usefulness of choosing from the reasoned, researched alternatives rather than from bigoted, impulsive, and unclear claims is apparent inn all dimension of our lives. Ideally, the study of philosophy nurtures our capacity for making informed choices. Ultimately, there isn t really a definite answer to the question whether philosophy is dangerous. This is due to the fact that philosophy brought humanity to evolve and improve yet making people feel anxious and insecure because they are uncertain about the meaning of life and which direction they should take life in.