Owen`S Dulce Et Decorum Est Essays - Dulce Et Decorum Est

Owen`S Dulce Et Decorum Est Owen's poem serves to uncover the lie that it is sweet and becoming to die for one's country. Owen's use of diction, vivid language, and graphic imagery emphasizes his point. The poem describes the fatigue, blindness, evil, obscenity, death, sufferings, and disgust of war. It shows the true life of a soldier, lying low, ill, endlessly trudging through mud with bloody feet, away from and into the pain of gas poisoning of comrades, and away from the injured and dead, but never away from the memories. It ends with a bitter attack on those who see glory in the death of others. The only beauty in this poem is an idea that rest will come. Unfortunately, it is pointed out that the only rest is an undignified death; for those who sleep, sleep restlessly. The ugliness of war is described as low like old beggars under sacks, diseased coughing like hags, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind, exhausting drunk with fatigue, pointless flound'ring . . . Dim . . As under a green sea . . . drowning, careless of living or dead flung aside, evil like a devil's sick of sin, disgusting like eyes writhing . . . blood gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs. . . vile, incurable sores, bitter as the cud, and merciless on innocent tongues. The comparisons of lines 1, 14, 20, and 23 through 24, describe the soldier as someone the reader can see and war as the disease Owen wants the inexperienced to understand. 1 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 14 As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. 20 His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; This places the reader in the soldier's place?drowning, stumbling, and fumbling--and shows the lack of glory in war. These lines tell the reader what a man becomes once he has been to war?less than an admirable human, drowned in evil deeds, and emotionless. Lines 23 and 24 give war a character. 23 Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud 24 Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-- They create a tangible entity for the reader. They show the truth of the creature of war?cancerous, bitter, incurable?and its eternal, undignified effect on the innocent. Owen uses plural pronouns and the past tense to describe what cannot be undone. He uses we and our to include the reader as part of the ill-equipped troops?as tired marchers and witnesses to death and pain. Owen changes to the present tense and singular pronouns to prove he was there and speaks specifically to those who could not know without experience. He relates urgency through his personal experiences to those who might believe that to die in war is a glorious and heroic act. He points a very strong finger at those who would influence the innocent. The thought of killing, watching comrades be killed, and of constantly trying to survive is horrific. Owen's precise details of the emotions, thoughts and sights of the soldier, succeed to drive the full horror home. The scene witnessed by Owen is detailed enough to seem familiar. All the senses are used by Owen; the constant inputs of sound, smell, touch as well as sight increase the dimensions of his images. He attempts to connect war with other aspects of human suffering. Owen makes images and actions recognizable, even to those who have never experienced war. Poetry Essays

Everything You Need to Know The Great Gatsby Era

Everything You Need to Know The Great Gatsby Era SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The Great Gatsby takes place during a time that's now known as the Jazz Age or the Roaring 20s. Wondering what the world was like when Jay Gatsby struck it rich in bootlegging? Curious to see how much Daisy and Myrtle's struggle for more echoes the lives of real women? Interested in the other ways that The Great Gatsbyera matters to the plot of the novel? This article will guide you through the historical, economic, and social movements of the 1920's as they relate to events, themes, and characters in The Great Gatsby. Why DoesThe Great Gatsby EraMatter? Understanding what the world was like during the time the novel is sethelps you in all sorts of ways: Figuring out an author's assumptions. Writers are products of their time, so knowing what they would have assumed to be true makes reading their work richer. For instance, inThe Great Gatsby, it's taken for granted that the Jewish gangster Meyer Wolfshiem would need the WASP-y face of Jay Gatsby to make some of his deals, since Wolfshiem wouldn't have been allowed to join or participate important political and business networks. Getting a deeper grasp of character. To get a really good sense of why characters in the novel do what they do, it's useful to know the specific historical circumstances they are dealing with. For example, it's all well and good to assume that Daisy should leave the boorish Tom, but divorce would have been way more complicated for a woman in the 1920s than it is today. Developing a richer interpretation of symbols, motifs, and themes. Knowing the hot-button issues of the novel's day gives you a good second way to support arguments about the importance of a particular theme, or your reading of the meaning of a symbol. (Of course, the primary support for these arguments should come from the text itself!) Suppose you wanted to analyze the importance of cars in The Great Gatsby. It would help your argument to talk about the sudden skyrocketing prevalence of cars on the road in the 1920s, connecting them to increased danger, status symbol consumerism, and modern life. Historical context: the giant arm propping up the baby that is your argument. When DoesThe Great GatsbyTake Place? The Great Gatsby was published in 1925 and is set in 1922, near the beginning of the decade. (See our article on this novel's publication and reception history for more.) As such, theGreat Gatsby era is theperiod in 20th century U.S. history nicknamed both the â€Å"Roaring 20s† and the "Jazz Age." The first nickname points toAmerica's post-WWIeconomic prosperity and the country's greater influence abroad. The second nickname refers to this period'schanging social norms and daring artistic movements. Gatsbyis now seen as both a product of and a record of the 1920s. What does this mean? Let's explore. Before The Great Gatsby: WWI and Modernism Although many previous events eventually influenced the 1920s, there are two crucialpieces of background history that you have to know. World War I World War I dramatically affected the United States in the 1920s (and, of course, shaped much of the 20th century all over the world as well). On the one hand, it elevatedthe U.S. into a world super power and ushered in a decade-long economic boom.On the other hand, its horrific death toll and seeming meaninglessness forever dispelled the idea of war as noble and glorious. Abrief recap of what happened. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, Austro-Hungary and its ally Germany declared waragainst Russia. Russian allies France and England were pulled in to defend Russia. The smaller European powers were forced into the war as well, based on whatever alliances they had made in the past.For the first three years, the U.S. remained neutral, instead profiteering from the war by selling supplies toboth sides of the conflict. But, in 1917, the U.S. was pulled into the fighting, fearing an alliance between Germany and Mexico. WWI was a war of trench warfare, chemical weapons, shrapnel artillery, and other gruesome technologies that had never been seen before. When you combine this level of mass destruction with the fact that most of the war was a territorial stalemate (no army advanced, no army withdrew - they were just locked in a horrible tie), it's easy to see how unaccountable the 40 million deaths the war caused were. The survivors of the war - both the veterans and those who came of age during the fighting - were called the Lost Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald, though he didn't actually see any fighting during his time in the army, was a member of this generation. (See our brief biography of Fitzgerald to learn more.) You should know about WWI (and its aftermath) because: Both Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby have military backgrounds. Gatsby's early romance with Daisy is heightened by the initial idealism that he was about to go fight in a noble and glorious endeavor. Some of the rumors swirling around Gatsby point to how fresh the war was in everyone's mind (that he was a German spy during the war, or that he is related to Kaiser Wilhelm, who ruled Germany during the war). Modernism and the Lost Generation The war and its devastating after-effects, particularly in Europe, fed into the creation of a new artistic movement: modernism. Modernism was all about breaking with the past. In contrast to 19th century writing that tended to reinforce the status quo, modernism rejected old-fashioned ideas like heroism and moral certitude. Similarly, modernism writers experimented with form and style rather than sticking with traditional forms of prose and poetry. Inspired by the devastation of WWI, writers in The Lost Generationembraced a cynical view of human nature. Fitzgerald himself waspart of a circle of modernists who regularly met inParis (others included Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Sinclair Lewis, and the painters Picasso and Matisse). Fitzgerald wroteThe Great Gatsby while in Paris, surroundedby this group. You can connect modernism withthe novel's descriptions of East Egg and West Egg extravagance. Like his fellow modernists, Fitzgerald was deeply critical of the wealth and capitalist success ushered in by the post-war boom, considering the new obsession with money and status shallow. What trench warfare looked like. Imagine spending weeks in this hole in the ground. The Great Gatsby Era:The Roaring 20s At the time when the novel takes place, the U.S. was in the middle of a tremendous economic boom and a soaring stock market that seemed to be on a permanent upward swing. At the same time, many of the social restrictions of the early 20th century were being rejected, and progressive movements of all kinds were flourishing. Prohibition, Bootlegging,and the Speakeasy Socially progressive activists in both the Democratic and Republican parties united to pressure the government to ban alcohol, which was blamed for all kinds of other social ills like gambling and drug abuse. In 1920, the U.S. passed the 18th Amendment, outlawing the production and sale of alcohol. Of course, this did little to actually stem the desire for alcoholic beverages, so a vast underground criminal empire was born to supply this demand. The production and distributionof alcohol became the province ofbootleggers - the original organized crime syndicates. Selling alcohol was accomplished in many ways, including throughâ€Å"speakeasies† - basically, underground social clubs. Since speakeasies were already side-stepping the law, they also became places where people of different races and genders could mix and mingle in a way they hadn’t previously while enjoying new music like jazz.This marked a shift both in how black culture was understood and appreciated by the rest of the country and in how women’s rights were progressing, as we’ll discuss in the next sections. If you understand the history of Prohibition, you'll make better sense of some plot and character details inThe Great Gatsby: Gatsby makes his fortune through bootlegging and other criminal activities. Gatsby's business partner Meyer Wolfshiem is a gangster who is affiliated with organized crime and is based on the real-life crime boss Arnold Rothstein, who was indeed responsible for fixing the World Series in 1919. Any time someone isdrinking alcohol in the novel, they are doing something illegal, and are clearly in the know about how to get this banned substance. Gatsby’s parties have a speakeasy feel in that people from different backgrounds and genders freely mix and mingle. One of the rumors about Gatsby is that he is involved in a bootlegging pipeline of alcohol from Canada - this is a reference to a real-life scandal about one of the places where illegal alcohol was coming from! Police emptying out confiscated barrels of beer into the sewer. Women’s Rights The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919, officially gave women the right to vote in the United States. Suffrage had been a huge goal of the women’s movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so this victory caused women to continue to push boundaries and fight for more rights during the 1920s. The ramifications of this were political, economic, and social. Politically, the women's rights movement next took up the cause of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee equal legal rights for women. The amendment came close to eventually being ratifiedin the 1970s, but was defeated by conservatives. Economically, there was an increase in working women. This began during WWI as more women began to work to make up for the men fighting abroad, and as more professions opened up to them in the men's absence. Societally, divorce became more common. Nevertheless, it was still very much frowned on, and being a housewife and having fewer rights than man was still the norm in the 1920s. Another social development wasthe new â€Å"flapper† style. This term described women who would wear much less restricting clothing and go out drinking and dancing, which at the time was a huge violation of typical social norms. If you understand this combination of progress and traditionalism for women's roles, you'll find it on display in The GreatGatsby: Daisycontemplates leaving Tom but ultimately decides to stay. Jordan parties and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to settle down. Myrtle flouts traditional rules by cheating on her husband but is killed by the end of the book, suggesting women are safest when they toe the line. Women's suffrage parade in New York City. Racial and Religious Minority History The post-war boom also had a positive effect on minorities in the U.S. One of the effects was thatJewish Americanswere atthe forefront of promoting such issues as workers rights, civil rights, woman's rights, and other progressive causes. Jews also served in the American military during World War I in very high numbers. At the same time, their prominence gave rise to an anti-Semitic backlash, and the revival of the KKK began with the lynching of a Jewish man in 1915. Another post-WWI developmentwas the Harlem Renaissance, acultural, social, and artistic flowering among African Americans that took place in Harlem, NY, during the 1920s. Artists from that time include W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. You can see the effects of these historical development several places in the novel: jazz music is a fixture of Gatsby’s parties, and almost every song that Fitzgerald describes is a real life piece of music. Nick's love of Manhattan as a diverse melting pot is illustrated by the appearance in Chapter 4 of a car with wealthy black passengers and a white driver. Tom Buchanan's racist rant in Chapter 1 and his fears that the white race will be "overrun" by minorities is based on the backlash that African American advancement occasioned. The novel includes Nick's anti-Semitic description of a Jewish character - Meyer Wolfshiem. There are modern theoriesthatJay Gatsby is may be half blackand that Daisy may actually be Jewish. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes Automobiles The 1920s saw huge increases in the production and use of automobiles. Almost 1 in 4 people now had a car! This happened because of advances in mass production due to the assembly line, and because of rising incomes due to the economic boom. Car ownership increased mobility between cities and outer suburban areas, which enabled the wealthy to work in one place but live in another. Cars also now created a totally new danger, particularly in combination with alcohol consumption. If you're aware of the newness and attraction of cars, you'll notice that inThe Great Gatsby: The wealthiest characters own cars and use them to commute between Manhattanand Long Island. Cars are clearly used to display wealth and status - even Tom, normally secure in his superiority, wants to brag to George Wilson aboutthesuper-fancy Rolls Royce heborrows from Gatsby. Cars are tools of recklessness, danger, and violence - there are several car accidents in the novel, the most notable of which is when Daisy runs Myrtle over and kills her in Chapter 7. Death machine, or no, you have to admit that's a pretty cool-looking car. The Bottom Line Understanding historical context helps you in all sorts of ways: Figuring out an author's assumptions. Getting a deeper grasp of character. Having a richer interpretation of symbols, motifs, and themes. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925 and is set in 1922, a time nicknamedboth the â€Å"Roaring 20s† and the "Jazz Age." There are two crucialpieces of background history that you have to know to understand the novel: World War I.Its horrific death toll and seeming meaninglessness forever dispelled the idea of war as noble and glorious.The survivors of the war - both the veterans and those who came of age during the fighting - were called the Lost Generation. Modernism and the Lost Generation.Modernism was all about breaking with the past, experimenting with form and style, andembracing a cynical view of human nature. The Great Gatsbyera was distinguised byan economic boom, the rejection of oldsocial restrictions, and progressive movements of all kinds: Prohibition, Bootlegging,and the Speakeasy.The U.S. bannedalcohol, ushering ina vast underground criminal empire, including speakeasies -underground social clubs. Women’s Rights.The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.Politically, the women's rights movement next took up the cause of the Equal Rights Amendment.Economically, there was an increase in working women.Societally, divorce became more common, and the "flapper" style was born. Racial and Religious Minority History.Jewish Americanswere atthe forefront of promoting progressive causes.Another post-WWI developmentwas the Harlem Renaissance, acultural, social, and artistic flowering among African Americans. Automobiles.Car ownership increased mobility between cities and outer suburban areas, andcreated a totally new danger, particularly in combination with alcohol consumption. What’s Next? Learn more about how The Great Gatsby was received when it first came out, and also read about the life ofits author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Excited to dive in? Check out our articles onGatsby’s title, its opening pages and epigraph, and itsfirst chapter. Or, zoom out toa summary of The Great Gatsby, along with links to all ourgreat articles analyzing this novel! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Dornbusch Overshooting Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Dornbusch Overshooting Hypothesis - Essay Example Indeed, this result is derived in a model of perfect capital mobility and sticky prices. The overshooting paper not only was a great piece of research, but also had important policy implications. In the context of flexible exchange rates, not only among major currencies, but also increasingly with emerging market currencies, the excessive volatility is usually mentioned as the main disadvantage of free floating. A policy sequel is that overshooting is often used to justify intervening in foreign exchange markets. This is also a strong reason why policymakers suffer from "fear of floating" (Calvo and Reinhart, 2002). From the empirical point of view, the evidence has been mixed and there are several dimensions in which the model performs poorly.1 Starting from the "exchange rate disconnect puzzle" from Meese and Rogoff (1983), which shows that no structural model can predict exchange rates, not even monetary ones, there have been many attempts to explain exchange rate fluctuations. Faust and Rogers (2003) and, more recently, Bjjournland (2006) propose new identification restrictions that reduce this delayed overshooting. Although the researcher does not intend to address empirically the overshooting hypothesis, it is useful to review analytically the robustness of overshooting and which type of conditions are required to generate a different behavior of exchange rates. The researcher plans to examine the conditions under which the exchange rate undershoots instead of overshoots as in the original model. This could help to reconcile the evidence with Dornbush's model (Rogoff, 2002). However, in the basic theoretical framework, the conditions to generate undershooting are rather contrived, namely, that the interest rate rises as a result of a monetary expansion. Therefore, under perfect capital mobility, with the consequent uncovered interest rate parity, overshooting should be a natural outcome. I also show that dropping perfect capital mobility as suggested by Frenkel and Rodriguez (1982) also requires special conditions. In such case it would be necessary for the current account deficit to narrow after a monetary expansion. Empirical Analysis: Exchange rate shooting during Financial Crises of 1990s This part of the papers documents main characteristics of the exchange rate movement in the countries that experienced currency crises in the 1990s. First, the researcher introduces the data set that we use and then analyze the exchange rate movements in these countries to examine the existence of any systematic regularity that derives the exchange rate overshooting. Data The sample includes currency crises in the 1990s. First, the researcher collects all episodes of speculative attacks in the 1990s based on Glick and Rose (1999). The researcher excludes unsuccessful speculative attacks where countries maintained stable exchange rates even under the pressure of speculative attacks. the researcher also excludes a few recent cases in which the exchange rate is still unstable and the complete exchange rate dynamics during currency crises are not revealed. This selection process reduces the available data set to 24 episodes, which consist of 10 cases in the 1992-3 European crisis, 4 cases in the 1994-5 Mexican crisis, and 10 cases in the 1997-8 Asian crisis and related others. List of countries is reported

How true is that the United States have a responsibility to protect Essay

How true is that the United States have a responsibility to protect human rights in other countries - Essay Example The United Nations A number of culturally diverse countries make up the world. To ensure that these countries will be protected against any unjust and unfair treatment by each other, there is a need for a global or international community that will stand as a world government. The United Nation is one of the major organizations that make up the international community. It is an â€Å"international organization designed to make the enforcement of international law, security, economic development, social progress, and human rights easier for countries around the world† (Briney, 2011). According to Briney (2011), this international organization is composed of 193 member countries and its head office can be found in New York. The fundamental purpose of United Nations includes saving future generations from war, protect human rights and establish equality for all persons (Briney, 2011). In Briney’s (2011) article entitled The United Nations, other principles of this international organization include upholding justice, freedom and social progress for all the citizens of all the member states. Thus it can be said that this international organization is one of the best that created or established in the world community. With the goals or purposes that the United Nations aim to do, the world is protected against any harm or threat from any countries. ... Thus economic progress can also be achieved by ensuring that all member states comply with the rules and regulations especially about fair competition and trade responsibilities. Aside from this, each person is granted the protection of his rights in the national and international level. Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights or UNDHR is described as the â€Å"foundation of international human rights law, the first universal statement on the basic principles of inalienable human rights, and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations† (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: a Living Document, 2007). The Preamble of the UNDHR includes the following: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which h ave outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger

Character notebook Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Character notebook - Essay Example Joe and Louis then get closer to each other more often, to the extent of engaging in a sexual affair outside their marriages. At the same time, Harper and Prior meet at an odd circumstance, whereby both of them are hallucinating. Through the hallucination, they find themselves revealing the truth about each other and seem to understand each other’s woes in a special manner. They seem to understand each other through their hallucinations, which act as a tool for revealing their inner beings. They also make jokes about each other’s problems but seem to understand and agree with each other perfectly. b) The central idea of the play is the aspect of cheating and problems of hallucinations among couples. Joe and Louis are cheating on their couples while Prior and Harper have problems with their inner beings, hence find themselves in hallucinating situations. There is also a concept of transmission of AIDS disease within the play. It is evident that Prior is sick, creating the possibility that Louis is sick too. Similarly, Roy Cohn also has AIDS, creating a possibility that Joe also has the disease. Despite these circumstances, Joe and Louis engage in a sexual affair, paying little attention to their health status. The play thus brings the idea that people tend to make decisions and choices basing on their love and sexual feelings, rather than on their friendships and professionalism. This explains why Joe rejects a job offer to Roy Cohn’s justice department while they engage in a sexual affair with Louis in order to satisfy their desires. Similarly, Harper has a problem wit h facing reality, thus engages in taking excessive Valium that eventually puts her into hallucinations. Therefore, the whole play brings the central idea of weak familial relations that shy away from solving issues that face them, hence seek refuge from outside their families and marriages. Section 2: All the scenes in the play occur due to given

Are Genocidal Perpetrators Ordinary Men or Ideological Monsters

Are Genocidal Perpetrators Ordinary Men or Ideological Monsters The term genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin as a response to the mass murder of Jews, Jehovahs Witnesses, Romani, homosexuals and other minority demographics discriminated against and ultimately murdered on a mass scale in Nazi occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Prior to Lemkins definition, the Holocaust was, as Churchill described it, a crime without a name (Jones, 2006:8). Lemkins definition described the crime as the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group (Jones, 2006:10) and was later adopted by the newly formed United Nations in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) which in Article 2 defined the crime as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group including murder; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children from the group to another. The question arises however, as to how individual perpetrators of genocide could be considered normal or ordinary and not the evil of their actions; a debate summarised by Matthà ¤us as ordinary men vs. natural born killers (1996:134). We label the perpetrators of crimes we deem particularly heinous because, as Waller argues a world in which ordinary people would be capable of extraordinary evil is simply too psychologically threatening (1996:12) and incomprehensible because we fail to comprehend something about them (Dudai 2006:699). Following the Holocaust, much academic research was conducted across multiple disciplines in an attempt to explain how an otherwise outwardly normal person could be, or become, a perpetrator of genocide. Goldhagen explained the actions of perpetrators of the Holocaust as based entirely on the entrenched historical anti-Semitism within Germany and such a monocausal explanation is sufficient (1997:416); however his thesis assumes that the majority of German citizens believed in this ideology and focuses only on the genocide of European Jews. Conversely, Browning (2001), Bauman (2009) and others have argued that the actions of individuals are a response to their immediate social surroundings and that their role in the social structure of hierarchy has a far greater impact on complicity. Mann, however, bridges these two central reasons as to why perpetrators commit their crimes. Firstly, the individuals were peculiar people, either ideologically motivated or disturbed perhaps by mental ill-health or as a result of their upbringing, career path or marginalised lifestyle. Secondly, the individuals were largely ordinary but bigoted, trapped in a coercive and comradely organization, trapped within a bureaucracy or pursuing material goals (2000:232-3). Utilising social-psychological studies, sociological and historical research, it will be shown that where genocide occurs, the individual perpetrators who actively participate in acts of violence or murder are largely normal, healthy human beings who respond to the micro social situations and organizations in which they find themselves. Although the research focuses primarily on the Jewish Holocaust of Nazi Europe, other twentieth century genocides will be considered to assess whether ideology was the primary factor across the spectrum. A critique of Goldhagens thesis of eliminationist anti-Semitism will be presented to discuss that this was the wider, macro social environment of genocide but was not the sole reason why individuals were complicit. The Macro, Ideological Approach Dudai argued that the ideology of genocide is the macro social environment in which perpetrators act (2006). Accordingly, ideology was central to genocidal policies of the twentieth century; racial as in the case of the Turkish genocide in Armenia or the Serbian genocide of Muslims; against a class for example in the Communist genocides in Russia, Cambodia and during Maos Great Leap Forward in China; or an intertwining of both as with the Holocaust (2003:176-177). Societies in which violence is idealised and an acceptable form of achieving goals are more likely to utilise violence by the state as a means of social control (Staub, 2002: 55) for example, Germany had a strong use of violence to manage the unruly during the Weimar republic (Rafter, 2008) and Russian Communists found violence to be valuable and necessary (Staub, 2002:54) and were therefore more likely to be violent and aggressive in order to achieve their ideological goals. William Gladstone claimed The very worst things that men have ever done, have been done when they were performing acts of violence in the name of religion (Jones, 2006:400). Staub argues that pluralistic societies are less likely to be susceptible to narrow ideology as individuals are offered a more independent perspective without fear of ostracism or physical danger (2002:235) therefore suggesting that without the rigorous hierarchy and oppression of genocidal states, individuals may have the ability to choose not to participate. Where genocide takes place, a process of othering takes place whereby the persecutors believe themselves to be superior and their enemies, the others, inferior. Howard Becker defined the outsider as the individual or group who fail to abide by the rules of his wider social group, imposed by the insiders. To be an outsider does not require a specific act but is a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions (Becker, 1968:11). Anti-Semitism had existed for centuries in Germany and across Europe prior to the Holocaust however, the concept that eliminationist anti-Semitism (Goldhagen, 1997:71) was a standard belief is highly discredited. Goldhagen infamously argued that the Germans had for centuries harboured homicidal animosity towards Jews which lead to 80-90 percent of the German population under Nazi rule wanting to murder them (1997:541) although he presents no evidence for this assumption. European anti-Semitism was partly a result of Christian dogma regarding Jews as the killers of Christ and unbelievers early in the middle ages, perpetuated by the education of Christian children in the criminality and inferiority of Jews (Staub, 2002:101). Although the Christian Church had never outwardly called for the destruction of the Jewish faith, the Church had made the Jewish people a symbol of unredeemed humanity; it painted a picture of the Jews as a blind, stubborn, carnal, and perverse people (Blass, 1993: 44). Mann studied fifteen hundred biographies of perpetrators of the Holocaust in an attempt to explain who these people were, finding an unexpected correlation between Christianity and Nazism whereby those who identified with the Catholic Church were disproportionately represented as perpetrators (2000:347). Similarly, the Christian Armenians had, for centuries lived under oppressive Ottoman rule and under aspects of Islamic law. Under Islamic civil law, Muslims enjoyed the full rights and duties of citizenship whereas dhimmà ®, non-Muslims, were to be endured with great inequality between the two groups (Akcam, 2007:7). Edicts dating back to the sixteenth century declared that the dhimmà ® were unable to testify against Muslims in court or marry Muslims and they were unable to observe their religious practices if it would disturb Muslims, therefore building new churches or ringing bells was forbidden and repairs to existing churches required official permission from the state. P hysical othering also took place to identify non-Muslims as socially lower than their Muslim counterparts where houses were not to be built higher than Muslims, valuable materials such as silk were not to be worn and head and footwear were to be coloured red (Akcam, 2007:9).In Rwanda, Jones argues that the high rates of conversion in religion to Islam from Catholicism was a result of Islamic rejection of participation in the genocide and the rescuing of Tutsi (2006:400). However, secular ideology can be as destructive as fundamentalist, extremist religious ideology in the instigation of genocide (Jones, 2006:400). Indeed, secular ideologies have underpinned twentieth century genocides (Jones, 2006:400). If Goldhagen is considered to be incorrect in his assertion that traditional and historical eliminationist anti-Semitism was the sole reason behind the Holocaust, new ideologies must also be considered as to the macro social background behind genocides in the twentieth century. Stalins Russia, Maos China and the Khmer Rouges Cambodia were based on Marxist Communist theory which, although written decades prior to the genocide, caused new political revolutions in which individuals fought for a new role in society. Maslow identified cultural differences in synergy, the extent to which individuals forfeit their own gains and fulfil themselves by contributing to a common good (Staub, 2002:51). As one Stalinist perpetrator argued, with the rest of my genera tion I firmly believed that the ends justified the means. Our great goal was the universal triumph of Communism, and for the sake of that goal everything was permissible to lie, to steal, to destroy hundreds of thousands and even millions of people (Jones, 2006:401). However, universality of acceptance of the new regimes was not the case. Davis argues that Stalins terror famine and the famine of Maos Great Leap Forward were the culmination of violence and killing of the peasantry, designed to break independent spirits and force subordination (Shaw, 2003:39). Furthermore, resistance to the movements became common with some families choosing suicide over living under Communist rule and subsequent starvation, by choosing to kill livestock rather than hand it over to the Communist party or being part of violent uprisings (Shaw, 2003:55). If one considers the role of capitalist, democratic ideology in recent warfare, enforcing this ideology in other countries has, in some instances been very unpopular. The anti-Vietnam movement, for example, demonstrated against the United States bombing of Cambodia as part of the war on Communism in Vietnam (Shaw, 2003:202) and there were similar demonstrations against the early twenty-first centurys war in Iraq which held the intention of restoring democracy to the Iraqi people but was highly unpopular with British citizens. Goldhagen argues, with no supporting evidence, that the bystanders of Kristallnacht, the infamous pogrom in 1938, believed this would serve the Jews right because the absence of evidence is evidence itself (Augstein, 1998:157) however if anti-Semitic ideology was as traditional and prolific in other European countries as Goldhagen argues, the thesis neglects to reason why for the majority of Europe, it took Nazi invasion or annexation to give rise to such eliminationist attitudes. In Italy where anti-Semitism was rife, it was only when the country attempted to further their allegiance to Germany that anti-Semitic policy increased (Rafter, 2008:302). Conversely, Czechoslovakia for example had a long history of anti-Semitism with pogroms and the forced removal of Jews into a ghetto in the Josefov district of Prague dating back to the thirteenth century but had made no outward attempts to deliberately exterminate the Jewish population. Moreover, if the eliminationist anti-Semitic ideolo gy was so powerful in Germany, Goldhagen, in acknowledging that without the economic depression the Nazis would have never come to power, fails to consider why the overwhelming desire to eliminate the Jews was not acted upon sooner (Finkelstein, 1997:42). Responses to Nazi occupation varied greatly both within occupied areas and globally for example, Jan Karski infiltrated the Warsaw ghetto and Belzec concentration camp, escaping to London with hundreds of documents detailing the genocide taking place but many, Jews included, found the actions unbelievable (Jones, 2006:399) and early reports following the liberation of Auschwitz were disbelieved by the British media who only reported their findings after other global media had verified and reported. Furthermore, if the ideology was so entrenched in society and traditionally perceived as a threat, Goldhagen fails to acknowledge why many Jewish citizens of occupied Europe did not attempt to emigrate sooner, believed the Nazi propagand a detailing their resettlement at work camps and that the gas chambers in extermination camps were shower facilities as testimony from those survived the concentration camps and particularly those who worked in the Sonderkommando (special units of concentration camp prisoners who worked in the gas chambers and crematoria) describes (for example Venezia, 2009; Mà ¼ller, 1999; Haas, 1984). Moreover, Goldhagen fails to explain why the eliminationist ideology rapidly dissipated (Goldhagen, 1997:593-4) following the fall of Berlin and Nazi rule. Propaganda and indoctrination are highly used in genocide to spread the state ideology across the masses. For example, propaganda in Nazi Europe and indoctrination of Argentinean soldiers to promote character, honour and pride (Staub 2002:214). Coupled with the perceived threat of Communism, propaganda was highly used against the Jews, portraying them as not only racial inferiors but as assisting in Bolshevism (Jones, 2006:267). Indeed, perpetrators were more likely to have originated from the threatened borders of the Reich where anti-Bolshevism and anti-Semitism were great (Mann, 2000:348). Similarly, the Hutu portrayed the Tutsi as bloodthirsty foreigners intent on exterminating the Hutu (Valentino, 2005:35) by means such as the radio and the extremist Hutu newspaper, the Radio-Tà ©là ©vision Libre des Mille Collines and Kangura respectively, and calling on Hutu to follow the infamous Hutu Ten Commandments calling for vigilance against the Tutsi enemy (Jones, 2006:237). The 1972 genocide in Burundi of Hutus was a theme of Hutu political discourse and used in an attempt to invoke fear in the Hutu population, that if the Tutsi were not destroyed, the Tutsi would destroy the Hutu (Valentino, 2005:183) for although there was little evidence of fear and hostility between the two groups prior to the 1994 genocide, the conflict was engineered (Valentino, 2005:57). Ideological propaganda can be received by individuals differently however. Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka believed propaganda was used by the Nazis to condition those who actually had to carry out these policies to make it possible for them to do what they did, further arguing that the primary motive for genocide was for Nazi control of Jewish money and property (Semelin, 2003:270). Self-concept is a large factor in the ideology of genocide. Germany had lost a large proportion of their territory following their defeat in World War I, a war fought to gain the power and advantages Germany felt were owed to them, and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles. Hitler subsequently blamed the Jews for the loss of the war and, owing to the Sonderweg (special status of the country) (Elias, 1996:438) declared that Germany needed more Lebensraum (living space) resulting in the invasion of many countries across Europe to regain land which was seen as belonging to Germany. Moreover, individuals may have a strong sense of belonging to a group, identified for or against by visible symbols, education and other means (Staub, 2002:253). Self image is reinforced by the relationship to the others, the outsiders who have been deemed a threat by the social group. For example we may consider the attitude of the British in their war efforts in World War II or the social responses to terrori sm in comparison with genocidal action; where a threat (whether real or imaginary) is posed by one social group against another a unity of identity forms. Racially unclean social groups in Nazi occupied Europe, including the mentally and physically ill, were deemed inferior and inherently criminal based on biological criminology and alterations to Lombrosos Born Criminal thesis (Rafter, 2008). Where the Weimar Republic had been a series of turbulent governments and viewed as soft on crime, a more authoritarian policy on crime and criminals was called for by conservatives. Hitler was, Goldhagen argues, not seen as a madman but a politician to be taken seriously (Augstein 1998:157). With biological evidence collected by the Criminal-Biological Service in Bavaria that these groups were the cause of crime within the state, the ideological policies became incorporated into the criminal justice system, further perpetuating the image of the Jew as inferior and a potential threat to the German way of life. The Micro, Bureaucratic and Hierarchical Approach An acknowledgement of ideology must therefore be considered to underpin the rationale of genocide. Browning, in arguing a multi-causal rationale of the Holocaust acknowledges the deluge of racist and anti-Semitic propaganda (Jones, 2006:270), however he also questions the role of obedience, peer pressure and obligation. Arendts Report on the Banality of Evil impacted greatly on the impression we have of perpetrators of genocide, drawing focus away from the pathological and towards more social explanations of their actions (Dudai, 2006:700), followed by Bauman who argued that cruelty is social in its origin much more than it is characterological (Bauman, 1989:116). Prior to multi-disciplined research into the psychology of perpetrators, individual participants were believed to be mentally ill. Goldhagen reinstates this claim, arguing that the anti-Semitic ideology made the Germans pathologically ill, struck with illness of sadism diseased, tyrannical and sadistic (Goldhagen, 1997:397). Blass discusses a dispositional approach to the individual pathologies of the perpetrators in that they may be in some way mentally unhealthy (Blass, 1993:37). Rorschach ink-blot tests were conducted on Nazi leaders prior to the Nuremberg trials in 1945 to conclude that they were of a distinct group and were not psychologically normal or healthy individuals (Blass, 1993:37). However, the findings have largely been discredited with Kelley arguing that the personalities displayed were not unique or insane and could be duplicated in any country of the world today; the tests were not blind and the researchers could therefore have been biased in their analyses and whe re blind analyses were conducted there was individuality of results that contradicted the conclusion of a uniform distinction setting apart the perpetrators (Blass, 1993:37). Where Eichmann had been perceived by Arendt and Wiesenthal to be normal and acting under orders, blind analyses of personality tests revealed him to be sadistic and violent in his hostility, quite paranoid and a criminal with an insatiable killing intention (Blass, 1993:37). Finkelstein rebuts this claim, arguing that a homogeneously sick society would act as an alibi for the perpetrators for who can condemn a crazy people (Finkelstein, 1997:44). Arendt, who was present at the trial of Eichmann found him to be normal and there to be potentially an Eichmann in every one of us (2005:113). Nazi ideology and German culture in the 1930s and 1940s were strongly affiliated with the concept of obedience, indeed as Berger notes, the first commandment in indoctrinating Nazi youth was the leader is always right (Blass, 1993:33).The Holocaust in Nazi Europe took place under a strict bureaucratic regime with a meticulous division of labour and linear graduation of power (Bauman, 2009:98). Those faced with the task of directly murdering enemies were the subordinates at the end of a long bureaucratic chain leading to Himmler, the head of the SS and Heydrich, the head of the Einsatzgruppen. The practical and mental distance afforded to those at higher levels of the bureaucracy who may have had little experience or knowledge of the true nature of the delegated orders was not the case for those whose responsibility it was to shoot at point-blank range in the Einsatzgruppen or pour in the poison Zyklon B pellets into the gas chambers (Bauman, 2009:99). The obedience that allows the subordinates of a hierarchy to commit murder is therefore of critical importance. A psychological explanation offered by Blass is that of a situational perspective, whereby forces outside of the individual, largely from the social environment such as the position in a hierarchy and subordination can explain seemingly deviant or counter normative behaviour as a result of the immediate situation (Blass, 1993:31). Blass argues that the results of Milgrams obedience experiments are representative of the causal relationship between the immediate situation and the reactions of individuals. Milgrams experiment consisted of asking the subject to apply increasing voltages of electric shock to the learner should they answer a question incorrectly in 15 volt increments up to 450 volts, ominously marked XXX. 65% of subjects subjected the learner to the highest levels of voltage and he concluded that individuals could become agents in a terrible destructive process o ut of a sense of obligation, through the course of their jobs and without any hostility towards their victim (Blass, 1993:33). Responsibility for any harm caused was relinquished to the legitimate authority, the examiner, and the subordinate subject was no longer guided by conscience but the extent to which they obey the orders of authority (Blass, 1993:33). Similar experiments were carried out throughout the 1970s including that of Ring, Wallston and Corey who found a 91% obedience rate in applying painful sound to a learner, even when the experiment appeared to go awry and surprise even the experimenter (Blass, 1993:34). In the well-documented experiments conducted by Zimbardo, individuals were randomly labelled as prisoner or guard and were to carry out these roles in a controlled environment for a period of time. Those labelled as guards, knowing they were overseeing individuals who were had in no way been labelled as inferior prior to the experiment, became overly zealous in their positions and when physical violence and humiliation was utilised against the prisoners, the experiment was halted on ethical grounds. Zimbardo concluded that the dominant positioning within the hierarchy allowed sadistic behaviour to be elicited from non-sadistic, normal people who would exert violence on their equals because their social positioning allowed them to (Valentino, 2005:44-46) Two social-psychological theories attempt to explain the actions of genocide perpetrators whilst obediently following orders. The concept of the divided-self considers that the self, our personality and behaviour remains intact but a second self is created or activated in a new situation. Conversely, unitary-self theories argue that there is a single self which becomes altered as a result of the societal forces, situations and organisations (Waller, 1996:12). Lifton uses examples of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or the comic, Superman in his analogy of the divided self in that when presented with a situation of distress, a character such as Clark Kent changes into his alter-ego of Superman to save the world (Waller, 1996:13). Clark Kent remains the primary self but Superman, the secondary self, becomes activated and controls the behaviour of the body and mind. A variation of this dissociation may be doubling where the two selves are separate with no conflicts and where mo ral standards are annulled (Waller, 1996:14-15). Auschwitz survivors have described some of the doctors as two different people (Waller, 1996:26) For example, The Nazi doctor, Mengele who performed pseudo-medical experiments on Auschwitz inmates asked children to call him uncle and would appear to behave with kindness, playing with them and giving them luxuries of sweets and chocolate only to continue to perform his experiments and murder (Nomberg-Przytyk, 1985:104). Steiner also noted differing psychosocial types which only present under certain conditions for example the sleeper will not be apparent until an environment allows for or causes the release (Blass, 1993:43). Bauman similarly notes a difference in personalities dependent upon the extraordinary situations in which one finds oneself. Recounting the studies of Le Monde, survivors of a hijacking had a high incidence of divorce owing to individuals seeing their partners in a different light; good husband were selfish, the br ave business man displayed cowardice and the resourceful fell to pieces'(Bauman, 2009:6). The journalist questioned which face of the survivors was their true self; the original or their selves during the hijacking and concluded that neither was more true than the other. The normal good face was apparent in ordinary settings and, but for the extraordinary circumstance of the hijacking, the other self would have remained dormant (Bauman, 2009:6). Milgram contended that in conforming to the orders of a superior, an agentic state is created where the individual operates on the behalf of their superior and thus becomes an agent of their will. Similar to Steiners psychosocial types and Baumans analogy of the hijack victims, Milgram argues that this state lies dormant until it is required that one will act under orders. However, unlike Liftons doubling, the agentic state avoids an inner moral conflict by toggling between the autonomous and agentic states (Waller, 1996:16). More contemporary social psychology has adopted a strategy of the unitary self. When an individual is faced with actions which are inconsistent with their morality, they must either alter their behaviour or their personality as inconsistencies between the two cause individuals to feel troubled (Waller, 1996:16). In certain situations, including the rigid hierarchy of the SS where each individual was accountable to an immediate supervisor (Bauman, 2009:100), changing ones behaviour may not be possible or desired as individuals who hid or aided a Jew were punishable by death (Staub, 2002:165) as were moderate-Hutu in Rwanda (Jones, 2006:238). Fear is arguably a motivation for compliance. As Augstein criticised Goldhagen, he had grown up in an American democracy and could not imaging the conformist pressure and moral cowardice which took place under Hitlers dictatorship (Augstein, 1998:153). In Cambodia, one survivor talked of his complicity in the violence saying Collaborate? Everyone do what Khmer Rouge say no one want to be killed (Baum, 2008:158). Therefore in order to remain consistent, the manifest conformity to rules and orders may lead to a change in the self (Waller 1996:16). Waller furthers this argument by stating that there are three catalysts to the internal changes in the selves of direct perpetrators of genocide; devaluing and dehumanising the victim and blaming them for their own suffering; the escalating of commitments to a cause; and learning by doing. The process of dehumanization was raised in the Rwandan context by Hatzfeld as one perpetrator felt they no longer regarded the Tutsi as people as the killing escalated (2005:47). While Goldhagens answer to the Germans murder of the Jews was because they wanted to, Foster, Haupt and de Beers answer to the political violence in South Africa was because they felt entitled to (Dudai, 2005:703). Entitlement would imply an option of redeeming behaviour by the victims however victims of genocide are not persecuted because of what they do rather, who they are. Routinisation of actions are argued to facilitate genocide, for example Hatzfeld quotes one Rwandan informant who claimed I struck a first blow. When I saw the blood bubble up, I jumped back a step later on we go used to killing without so much dodging around (Hatzfeld,2005:23)and repetition caused the perpetrators to become more and more cruel, more and more calm, more and more bloody (2005:50). Furthermore, Waller argues that coerced behaviour is rarely internalised however when our initial attitudes are weak, the initial act may result in a change of attitude (1996:22). The attitude of ones superiors could directly influence the behaviour of the subordinates. For example the police sergeant, Hein, was never seen to hit or humiliate a Jew, participate in mass-killings of Jews, or be unfair in his treatment of Jews. Furthermore, those under his command could abstain from the mass-shootings. However, self presentation theorists seek to explain Heins following of official requirements for Jews to stand whilst he was sitting as an attempt to maintain an appearance of conforming whilst inwardly rejecting the ideology (Matthaus, 1996:141). Goldhagen argued that the cruelty of the perpetrators of the Holocaust was nearly universal (Valentino, 2005:52) however a surprising number of the Einsazgruppen refused to participate, perhaps twenty to thirty percent in comparison to the less than thirty percent who presented themselves as enthusiastic and the remaining members who dutifully adopted their roles within the system (Valentino, 2005:54). During their first mass killing in Lithuania, the Schutzpolizei (urban police) members of one Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing unit) dropped out of the act because they knew some of the victims or could not stand the mental pressure. Furthermore, doubts were raised regarding the legality of the killings and justifications were made amongst themselves that one generation has to go through this so that our children will have a better life (Matthaus 1996:136). However, obedience need not be in a downward, linear direction but obedience to ones peers. Browning argues that for some members of a police battalion faced with the mass-shooting of Jews, comrades not participating would be seen to leave the dirty work to their comrades, risking isolation, rejection and ostracism which, in the tightly knit regiments, would have been an uncomfortable prospect (Valentino, 2005:46). Similarly, a unity existed between the Hutu, using lexis as comrades and patriotic brothers (Hatzfeld, 2005:12). Where Browning argued members of the Einsatzgruppen existed in a reverse morality; where those who avoided killings were regarded, by themselves included, as cowards, in Rwanda, a supportive comrade would assist when one perpetrator felt unable to participate that day whilst the individual would contribute with other useful tasks (Hatzfeld, 2005:74). Hilberg argued that the methods for genocide of European Jews in the 1930s and 1940s were not suggested entirely by those further up the hierarchy; major ideas could be produced by those at a lower level of responsibility and approved by superiors to become policy (Blass, 1993:37). Manns biographical study of perpetrators included an examination of the previous job positions held by individuals prior to Nazi rule and found correlations between Nazi policy, related institutions and individuals within them. For example, a key Nazi policy was racial purity, ensuring the Aryan race was free of those considered undesirable, beginning early in the rule with the T4 experiments to euthanize those with mental or physical health problems. Correlating with this policy, Mann found 13.53% of his sample to have been previously employed as healthcare workers. Rafters assertions of Nazi racial policy impacting on German criminology and policy within the Criminal Justice System correlate with 22.29% of Manns sampled perpetrators holding previous employment in the military, police or prison system, 12.92% having held employment in civil administration and 3.38% having worked in the legal field (2000:350). Individuals may therefore have acted in an agentic state towards the Nazi ideology because this was their profession and they were caught up in the hierarchy and bureaucracy. In instances of revolution and rapid-paced political change, however, an anomic theory where a lack of social position and role in a hierarchy, as a

Foucault Panopticism Essay -- Panopticism Michel Focault Essays Papers

Panopticism by Michel Focault Works Cited Not Included â€Å"Our society is not one of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous concrete training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a centralization of knowledge; the play of signs defines the anchorages of power; it is not that the beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies. (pp.333-34)† In the essay, Panopticism, by Michel Focault, he makes the argument that we live in a society of â€Å"surveillance†. Meaning that our society is based on amalgamation of â€Å"forces and bodies† all of which act to create the individual. It is principally this surveillance which forms the basis of power that draws the individual to believe that the world he lives in is one that is continually watching over him. This constant friction of mental forces (those who fear or have a certain curiosity) shapes who the individual becomes within the society. According to this passage, Focault gives support to the basic argument concerning the panopticon, that communication is key to knowledge. Within the panopticon, there is no communication among the prisoners or those who view them. This becomes another aspect of power; it underlies the main idea of separation and communication as a form of shaping forces in the panopticon. The first phrase in the passage testifies to the basic structure of our society. The goal for our society is â€Å"to procure for a small number, or even for a single individual, the instantaneous view of a great multitude† (333, Focault). The purpose of such a society is so that relations between the individual and the state can be better controlled. That the â€Å"infinitely small of political power†(331, Focault) who run the state can watch the many citizens. It must be acknowledged that to view each citizen is not simply to watch them, but to exercise the power that surveillance entails. â€Å"And unlike the methods of judicial or administrative writing, what was registered was in this way were forms of behavior, attitudes, possibilities, suspicions – a permanent account of individuals behavio... ...pticon where in the center of every cell stands a guard. Whenever we walk into a store for purchasing purposes, we are always under observation. There is a circular glass piece on the top of the ceiling with a rotating camera looking down upon each of our movements. We think someone is watching us. How do we react to the surveillance? It is an act of societal conditioning and discipline. It has proven to be a form of behavior to give us a guilty conscious or the simple fear of being caught.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Our society is not one of spectacle, but of great surveillance; it is rather that the individual is carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies† (pp.333-34). Foucault’s argument may not be understood with his difficulty of writing, but with the examples and proof of such a mind-game that we live in our society today is a good way to understand his point of judgement. We live in a society that watches over one’s movement to arbiter if their behavior or movement is wrong. We have many secret services in our world today that know more about us than we know ourselves. It is an ultimate fear, anxiety, and affliction that we live-out our lives everyday.

Digital Fortress Chapter 49

Becker dragged himself off the floor of the bus and collapsed in an empty seat. â€Å"Nice move, dipshit.† The kid with the three spikes sneered. Becker squinted in the stark lighting. It was the kid he'd chased onto the bus. He glumly surveyed the sea of red, white, and blue coiffures. â€Å"What's with the hair?† Becker moaned, motioning to the others. â€Å"It's all†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Red, white, and blue?† the kid offered. Becker nodded, trying not to stare at the infected perforation in the kid's upper lip. â€Å"Judas Taboo,† the kid said matter-of-factly. Becker looked bewildered. The punk spit in the aisle, obviously disgusted with Becker's ignorance. â€Å"Judas Taboo? Greatest punk since Sid Vicious? Blew his head off here a year ago today. It's his anniversary.† Becker nodded vaguely, obviously missing the connection. â€Å"Taboo did his hair this way the day he signed off.† The kid spit again. â€Å"Every fan worth his weight in piss has got red, white, and blue hair today.† For a long moment, Becker said nothing. Slowly, as if he had been shot with a tranquilizer, he turned and faced front. Becker surveyed the group on the bus. Every last one was a punk. Most were staring at him. Every fan has red, white, and blue hair today. Becker reached up and pulled the driver-alert cord on the wall. It was time to get off. He pulled again. Nothing happened. He pulled a third time, more frantically. Nothing. â€Å"They disconnect 'em on bus 27.† The kid spat again. â€Å"So we don't fuck with 'em.† Becker turned. â€Å"You mean, I can't get off?† The kid laughed. â€Å"Not till the end of the line.† Five minutes later, the bus was barreling along an unlit Spanish country road. Becker turned to the kid behind him. â€Å"Is this thing ever going to stop?† The kid nodded. â€Å"Few more miles.† â€Å"Where are we going?† He broke into a sudden wide grin. â€Å"You mean you don't know?† Becker shrugged. The kid started laughing hysterically. â€Å"Oh, shit. You're gonna love it.†

About Robert A.M. Stern, Classically Postmodern

About Robert A.M. Stern, Classically Postmodern Hes been called a Postmodernist and also a New Urbanist. He may be a Modern Traditionalist and a New Classicist.   Robert A.M. Stern, certainly a Master Planner and architect/teacher of the 21st century, designs seemingly simple buildings that express affection for the past. Background: Born: May 23, 1939, New York City Full Name: Robert Arthur Morton Stern Education: 1960: Columbia, Bachelors degree1965: Yale, Masters degree in architecture Selected Buildings: 1990: Disney Beach Club Resort, Florida1990: Disney Yacht Club Resort, Florida1993: Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts1996: Disney Boardwalk Resort, Florida1998: Celebration Health, a healthcare facility for Celebration, Florida2003: The Museum Center, The Mark Twain House2004: Miami Beach Library, Miami Beach, Florida2005: Jacksonville Public Library, Florida2006: Federal Courthouse for Richmond, Virginia2008: 15 Central Park West, residential, NYC2008: International Quilt Study Center and Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln2010: One Museum Mile at 1280 Fifth Avenue atop the Museum for African Art, New York City2013: George W. Bush Presidential Center and Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas2016: 30 Park Place (formerly known as 99 Church Street), residential, Tribeca, NYC Product Design: The firm of Robert A.M. Stern Architects employs hundreds of architects, interior designers, and support staff. Product designs include furniture, lighting, fabrics, and other decorative household items. Visit Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP for information on product furnishings as well as an extensive display of architectural projects. Urban Planning: Although well-known for his house designs, Robert A.M. Stern has been involved in vast urban planning projects such as the 1992 renovation of 42nd Street theater block in New York City. Along with architect Jaquelin Robertson, Robert A.M. Stern was the master planner for Celebration, Florida. Other Works: Robert A.M. Stern has served as dean for the Yale School of Architecture since 1998. Stern has written or edited dozens of books about design, including the PBS television series and companion book Pride of Place: Building the American Dream. Books by Stern and Partners at Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA): Robert A. M. Stern: Houses and Gardens, Monacelli Press, 2005Robert A. M. Stern: Buildings Projects 2004-2009, Monacelli Press, 2009Robert A. M. Stern: Buildings and Projects 1999-2003, Monacelli Press, 2004Robert A. M. Stern Architects: Buildings and Projects 2010-2014, Monacelli Press, 2015Robert A. M. Stern: On Campus, Monacelli Press, 2010Designs for Living: Houses by Robert A. M. Stern Architects, Monacelli Press, 2014 Related People: After graduating from Yale, Stern briefly worked as a designer in the office of architect Richard Meier.Architect and urban designer Andres Duany once worked for Stern.Tom Piper of the Checkerboard Film Foundation made a documentary film in 2011 entitled Robert A.M Stern: 15 Central Park West and the History of the New York Apartment HouseBuy on Amazon Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP: RAMSA460 West 34th StreetNew York, NY 10001 Web Site:Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP About Robert A. M. Stern: New York architect Robert A. M. Stern takes history to heart. A postmodernist, he creates buildings that express affection for the past. Stern served on The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors from 1992 to 2003 and has designed many buildings for The Walt Disney Company. Robert A.M. Sterns Boardwalk at Disney World suggests an American seaside village from the early 20th century. The buildings illustrate the evolution of architectural styles from the Victorian to the Vienna Secessionist movement. The mini-village is not intended to be historically exact rather, it presents a dream-like walk past artifacts from several eras. There is an ice cream parlor, a piano bar, a 1930s dance hall, a vintage roller-coaster, and an authentic 1920s carousel. Across Crescent Lake from Boardwalk, the Yacht and Beach Club hotels were also designed by Robert A.M. Stern. The Yacht Club is modeled after Victorian Shingle architecture, a rustic yet elegant fashion on Americas Atlantic coast at the turn of the century. The Beach Club is an informal, sprawling wood structure which also reflects 19th century American resort architecture. When Stern envisioned the Casting Center, an employee training area on Route I-4 near Orlando, Florida, he wanted to express the spirit of Disney, and also to reflect the Florida locale. The result is a building that resembles a Venetian Palazzo, yet contains whimsical Disneyesque details. Hence, classical columns are topped with gold leaf Disney characters.

A List of Radioactive Elements

A List of Radioactive Elements This is a list or table of elements that are radioactive. Keep in mind, all elements can have radioactive isotopes. If enough neutrons are added to an atom, it becomes unstable and decays. A good example of this is tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen naturally present at extremely low levels. This table contains the elements that have no stable isotopes. Each element is followed by the most stable known isotope and its half-life. Note increasing atomic number doesnt necessarily make an atom more unstable. Scientists predict there may be islands of stability in the periodic table, where superheavy transuranium elements may be more stable (although still radioactive) than some lighter elements.This list is sorted by increasing atomic number. Radioactive Elements Element Most Stable Isotope Half-lifeof Most Stable Istope Technetium Tc-91 4.21 x 106 years Promethium Pm-145 17.4 years Polonium Po-209 102 years Astatine At-210 8.1 hours Radon Rn-222 3.82 days Francium Fr-223 22 minutes Radium Ra-226 1600 years Actinium Ac-227 21.77 years Thorium Th-229 7.54 x 104 years Protactinium Pa-231 3.28 x 104 years Uranium U-236 2.34 x 107 years Neptunium Np-237 2.14 x 106 years Plutonium Pu-244 8.00 x 107 years Americium Am-243 7370 years Curium Cm-247 1.56 x 107 years Berkelium Bk-247 1380 years Californium Cf-251 898 years Einsteinium Es-252 471.7 days Fermium Fm-257 100.5 days Mendelevium Md-258 51.5 days Nobelium No-259 58 minutes Lawrencium Lr-262 4 hours Rutherfordium Rf-265 13 hours Dubnium Db-268 32 hours Seaborgium Sg-271 2.4 minutes Bohrium Bh-267 17 seconds Hassium Hs-269 9.7 seconds Meitnerium Mt-276 0.72 seconds Darmstadtium Ds-281 11.1 seconds Roentgenium Rg-281 26 seconds Copernicium Cn-285 29 seconds Nihonium Nh-284 0.48 seconds Flerovium Fl-289 2.65 seconds Moscovium Mc-289 87 milliseconds Livermorium Lv-293 61 milliseconds Tennessine Unknown Oganesson Og-294 1.8 milliseconds Where Do Radionuclides Come From? Radioactive elements form naturally, as a result of nuclear fission, and via intentional synthesis in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators. Natural Natural radioisotopes may remain from nucleosynthesis in stars and supernova explosions. Typically these primordial radioisotopes have half-lives so long they are stable for all practical purposes, but when they decay they form what are called secondary radionuclides. For example, primordial isotopes thorium-232, uranium-238, and uranium-235 can decay to form secondary radionuclides of radium and polonium. Carbon-14 is an example of a cosmogenic isotope. This radioactive element is continually formed in the atmosphere due to cosmic radiation. Nuclear Fission Nuclear fission from nuclear power plants and thermonuclear weapons produces radioactive isotopes called fission products. In addition, irradiation of surrounding structures and the nuclear fuel produces isotopes called activation products. A wide range of radioactive elements may result, which is part of why nuclear fallout and nuclear waste are so difficult to deal with. Synthetic The latest element on the periodic table have not been found in nature. These radioactive elements are produced in nuclear reactors and accelerators. There are different strategies used to form new elements. Sometimes elements are placed within a nuclear reactor, where the neutrons from the reaction react with the specimen to form desired products. Iridium-192 is an example of a radioisotope prepared in this manner. In other cases, particle accelerators bombard a target with energetic particles. An example of a radionuclide produced in an accelerator is fluorine-18. Sometimes a specific isotope is prepared in order to gather its decay product. For example, molybdenum-99 is used to produce technetium-99m. Commercially Available Radionuclides Sometimes the longest-lived half-life of a radionuclide is not the most useful or affordable. Certain common isotopes are available even to the general public in small quantities in most countries. Others on this list are available by regulation to professionals in industry, medicine, and science: Gamma Emitters Barium-133Cadmium-109Cobalt-57Cobalt-60Europium-152Manganese-54Sodium-22Zinc-65Technetium-99m Beta Emitters Strontium-90Thallium-204Carbon-14Tritium Alpha Emitters Polonium-210Uranium-238 Multiple Radiation Emitters Cesium-137Americium-241 Effects of Radionuclides on Organisms Radioactivity exists in nature, but radionuclides can cause radioactive contamination and radiation poisonin if find their way into the environment or an organism is over-exposed. The type of potential damage depends on the type and energy of the emitted radiation. Typically, radiation exposure causes burns and cell damage. Radiation can cause cancer, but it might not appear for many years following exposure. Sources International Atomic Energy Agency ENSDF database (2010).Loveland, W.; Morrissey, D.; Seaborg, G.T. (2006). Modern Nuclear Chemistry. Wiley-Interscience. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-471-11532-8.Luig, H.; Kellerer, A. M.; Griebel, J. R. (2011). Radionuclides, 1. Introduction. Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a22_499.pub2 ISBN 978-3527306732.Martin, James (2006). Physics for Radiation Protection: A Handbook. ISBN 978-3527406111.Petrucci, R.H.; Harwood, W.S.; Herring, F.G. (2002). General Chemistry (8th ed.). Prentice-Hall. p.1025–26.

Discussion 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion 1 - Assignment Example Personally, I find it amusing how people then had to use art as a way of communication, while not everybody has the talent of drawing. Some people cannot even draw a tree leave alone a smiling face. Although the discovery of art must have made life easy and simpler, the fact that most of the people could not take part in the emotional communication, as they did not have the skills to draw and express themselves just like their counterparts. Culture, as I would define it in relation to the world cultures cyber journeys is the differences in the way of people’s lives, and their believes on the various things that they practice in their daily lives. Through the daily practices and people’s interactions, a group of people unknowingly expresses their cultural practices. Thus, the normal things people either express subconsciously or consciously in writing or in other ways such as define the culture of that particular group. Cultures can either differ or compare with one another. Despite people having different cultural background, they exhibit some of similarities in their cultural practices. The differences and similarities of the western and eastern culture revel this. Both the western and the eastern people share in a number of ways. Their religious beliefs, share a common direction. Both the western and the eastern people believe in a supernatural figure. The two cultures believe in the existence of some form of power beyond their ability. However, the dwelling places of their supernatural powers differ. On the other hand, they believe in leaders, chosen among them. The main difference however is that while in the west the leader has an equal status with the people, in east, the leader is supreme and has overwhelming power. Culture regards the west as more advanced than the east. Especially in the manner through which

Assessing HRD need is important in developing strategic HRD process Essay

Assessing HRD need is important in developing strategic HRD process - Essay Example The role of HRD in modern organizations has been extensively emphasized in the literature; emphasis is given though on the potential complexity and the increased needs of HRD plans, a fact that has led to the assumption that the development of effective HRD policies requires the active support of both the employer and the employees. Current paper focuses on the examination of a particular aspect of HRD: the development of strategic HRD process. Reference is made specifically to the relationship between this process and the assessment of HRD need. The examination of the literature published in the particular field has revealed that indeed the accurate and appropriate assessment of HRD need can increase the chances for the successful development of strategic HRD process; however, the terms under which the interaction between the above two activities/ processes can be developed are not always clear. It seems that the conditions in the internal and the external organizational environment can affect the level at which the assessment of HR need affects the development of strategic HRD process. All the potential aspects of the above relationship are examined and critically analyzed in this paper using examples – as possible – from relevant organizational practices. ... terprises of all sizes; however, the forms of HRD that each of these enterprises decide to implement is differentiated – usually being depended on the organizational needs, the resources available and the benefits expected. Indicative forms of HRD are the following ones: ‘the training sessions for employees in various departments, the career planning projects and the participation in a wide change effort of the organization’ (Werner et al 2008, p.4). It is also noted that the development of effective HRD policies is depended on the existence of the relevant resources; for this reason, before proceeding to the establishment of a particular HRD plan, the managers involved need to ensure that the resources required for the execution of the plan are available – or, at least, that they will be available in the short term (Werner et al. 2008). Through a similar point of view, Reid et al. (2004) noted that HRD is a key process for enterprises of all sizes; however , it is explained that not all employers manage to understand the needs or the value of the specific process. Moreover, the ability of managers to respond to the needs of the HRD policies is often limited – under the influence of personal perceptions on organizational priorities and values (Reid et al 2004). At the next level, Reid et al (2004) state that the responsibility of managers involved in HRD policies can be differentiated – more specifically, differences have been identified in ‘managerial responsibility for learning, development and training’ (Reid et al. 2004, p.118) – a fact that it is negatively criticized by the above researchers. It is suggested that the responsibility of HR managers for the various phases of the HRD process should be equal securing their high level of engagement to