Monday, September 30, 2019

A Review of the Work and Play poem By Ted Hughes

This poem is about a comparison between a swallow and human beings that are on a day trip. The swallow, is at work in the poem and is feeling content. The humans, however, are supposed to be relaxing and having fun, but they feel miserable instead. With this, there is irony here with the title, as the swallow is working but having fun. The writer, I feel, is being biased in his poem. He tends to be in favour of the swallow. The poem is describing the people as ‘polluting' the environment. The message of the poem is that we shouldn't destroy our environment and our health by ‘baking' ourselves under the sun. The poem talks about the tourists arriving and then leaving unhappily. The writer is also describing the swallow's day, what it does to entertain itself and returning to its home at night. The poem is split into four, unequal stanzas. The first three stanzas, start off with a description of the swallow and then humans. The last stanza, however, starts off with a description of the humans and then the swallow. This makes us stop, think and more eager to finish the poem, as it's a change of pattern. The writer, perhaps wants to leave the reader with a positive and happy image rather than a negative and discomforting image. In the first three stanzas, the end of the two longest lines rhyme, forming a sort of rhyming couplet, e. g. â€Å"†¦ dust† and â€Å"†¦ bust† in the first stanza. In the first stanza, the writer, uses alliteration in the first phrase, â€Å"The swallow of summer, she toils all the summer† the use of ‘s' words. This gives the line a sort of rhythm to it. The metaphor, â€Å"A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage,† gives us this impression of a bright, powerful and energetic image of the swallow. The word, ‘glittering' also gives us an image of the swallow's shiny feathers. A whiplash swimmer†¦ † gives us a sense of the swallow's speed, rapid. Then the poet writes, â€Å"But†¦ † which is used at the beginning of each of the human's description in the first three stanzas, a form of repetition. The poem gives us a happy, positive image, when describing the swallow, at the start of the first three stanzas. Then, he uses ‘But' when starting to describe the humans, which start to give us a miserable and gloomy feel towards the humans. The writer, uses the metaphor ‘Serpent' to describe the long line of cars trying to get through traffic. This is a good metaphor to use because, if you are looking from a birds-eye view, the roof of the cars, looks like the scales of a snake. There is also, how the cars move along the swerving roads, like how a snake moves. â€Å"†¦ that crawls through the dust† this metaphor, gives us an image of the slow moving cars. A serpent, is a venomous creature, a sign of evil, the devil, which is a sign, that the writer is being biased in his poem. The phrases â€Å"shimmering exhaust† and â€Å"its fever in ocean† are telling us that they've already polluted the water before they, the humans, have even arrived there. In the second stanza, the writer uses a metaphor, â€Å"†¦ the barbed harpoon† in the first line, to describe the swallow. This gives us an impression of the swallow's impact and body shape, as she dives in. The writer uses alliteration in the second line, â€Å"†¦ flings from the furnace† and the word ‘flings' creates a sense of movement, it makes the reader read with expression. The metaphor, â€Å"†¦ a rainbow of purples† creates an attractive image for the reader. In the third line, he uses alliteration again, â€Å"†¦ he pond and is perfect† and this is creating a positive image. In the description of the humans, he uses repetition, â€Å"But the serpent of cars†¦ † to make you remember it, so it stays in your head that negative feeling. Another metaphor used is, â€Å"Disgorges its organs† which is referring to the people, making their way out of the cars, like a snake, shedding its skin, this is giving us another unpleasant image. The two similes used, â€Å"Which roll like tomatoes† and â€Å"Nude as tomatoes† gives us a negative image of these large, lazy, sunburnt people, lying on the beach. With sand in their creases† gives us an uncomfortable feeling. The word ‘cringe' in the last line gives this embarrassed feeling, a negative feeling. The writer, is clearly using a lot of negative images to bring out his message. The onomatopoeic word ‘screech' is used to give us an image of the negative sounds on the beach, the people's discomfort. In the third stanza, the writer uses a lot of alliteration in the first two lines. The use of the ‘s' words, ‘swallow', ‘summer' is a bit onomatopoeic, producing a sense of the bird's movement. He uses the word ‘seamstress' to describe the swallow, meaning a dressmaker. This metaphor is used to show how she sews something using the sky and water as her material, which makes it now an extended metaphor. In the third line, it is describing its movement, the twists and swerves. The word ‘draws' provide a long sound and the word ‘knots' provide an abrupt, short sound, perhaps showing the swallow's movement, gliding and then halting abruptly. The writer then uses ‘But' again and brings back the negative image. The humans are described as † †¦ aid out like wounded† the metaphor is showing their pain in sunburn, laid out in rows, endangering themselves, like a line of wounded soldiers. The metaphors, â€Å"Flat as in ovens† and â€Å"Roasting and basting† gives us the impression they are being cooked. They're being compared to cooking meat. The word ‘basting' is describing the humans putting on sun cream and there's a bi t of irony between the way we cook meat. The word ‘torment' shows us their agony and the word ‘blue' gives us an impression of the heat, as hot as a blue flame and the sun's harmful rays. The lack of language in the description of the humans makes the reader read with one breath, leaving them in discomfort, to perhaps experience how the humans are actually feeling. The line â€Å"Their heads are transistors† is describing their heads as being heat damaged and they're like robots, moving a limited amount. â€Å"Their teeth grit on sand grains† is sort of a repetition of the line â€Å"with sand in their creases† in the second stanza, to remind us of the humans agony. The hyperbole and metaphor, â€Å"Man eating flies† shows us their annoyance and pain with the insects. Their ‘electric shock needles' make conditions worse, more pain, the physical horror of it all and it gives us a diseased image, another negative image. In the last stanza, there is use of alliteration, â€Å"They can climb in their cars†¦ † The word ‘climb' is used to describe how the humans get into their cars, showing their tiredness. The repetition with, â€Å"†¦ raw bodies, raw faces† provides us with an image of these sunburnt people, the colour of raw meat, blood red and the repetition ‘hammers' this image into our heads. The line, â€Å"And headache it homeward† gives us an impression of these tired and hot people returning home. The metaphor and hyperbole â€Å"a car full of squabbles† and the line, â€Å"And sobbing and stickiness† shows us this negative image of how the children in the car, are moaning and throwing tantrums. Then, the writer is using repetition again, â€Å"With sand in their crannies† a similar description is used in the previous two stanzas. It shows us that even though they are going home, they still feel uncomfortable. The line â€Å"Inhaling petroleum† brings us back to the message of the poem, with the humans polluting the planet. The writer describes it as pouring out from the ‘foxgloves'. Foxgloves are poisonous flowers. The writer here is perhaps comparing the exhaust to these flowers. The flowers produce a poison, venom, which a serpent produces also, one damages your health and the other damages the environment, they are both dangerous. The poem then moves on to describing how the swallow returns home. Alliteration is used again, â€Å"The swallow of summer, cartwheeling through the crimson,† to give the line a rhythm. The word ‘cartwheeling' gives us this image of the bird flying home with happiness, through ‘crimson', this is describing the wonderful sunset, the orange, yellow and red background. Touches the honey-slow river and turning† the word ‘honey' gives us a sweet image. The river is a honey colour, due to the sun's crimson rays reflecting onto the water. The writer wants to leave us with a pleasant image at the end of the poem. The swallow is described as ‘hand stretched' when returning to its home. The words are showing us that the swallow is welcome d back, it is also perhaps referring to God's hands reaching out to this wonderful creature he has created. The humans, however, â€Å"†¦ headache it homeward† Nobody welcomed them home, their journey home, was destroying the environment. The last line of the poem, † A boomerang of rejoicing shadow. † leaves the reader in content but also thinking about the whole message of the poem. The metaphor used, ‘boomerang' is a good metaphor to use because a boomerang always returns when it's thrown. The writer has used three different, but similar and powerful metaphors to describe the swallow. The three metaphors he has used, has provided us with a powerful image of the swallow. The swallow is rejoicing because, everyone has left, her day is over and now she can relax with happiness. I think, this poem has really made me think, that a day out can really cause so much danger to us and to our planet. The irony of the poem, makes you think that a swallow who works hard can still be so happy with its life and there's us, who laze about and is feeling unhappy, so why do we do it? The writer has used a lot of good descriptive metaphors and similes in his poem. I liked the metaphors he used when describing the humans on the beach, â€Å"Are laid out like wounded†, â€Å"Flat as in ovens† and â€Å"Roasting and Basting†. It really emphasises the whole idea of the humans endangering their lives for some pleasure but they still feel unhappy at the same time. Ted Hughes has really shown his point of view about the situation. He has done this by showing such negative images when describing the humans, making out that the humans have been put on this planet just to destroy it and the animals are living how God would like the humans to live. The way, how the poem is structured to how the writer wants the reader to feel, is a good effect. This brings some realism to the poem and it involves the reader more.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Amadou Diallo Essay

Social cognition is the study of how people form attribution or judgments about themselves and the social world from the social information they received from their environment (Chapter Review, 2010). However, it was discovered often marked by apparent errors and biases. People make quick judgment based on their past experiences, hence at times leading to tragic endings. The Amadou Diallo case study was an example of the tragic error which was made by four New York City Police officers. The police shooting of an unarmed man was an act of automatic inferences which happens when people use mental shortcuts to simplify the amount of information they receive from the environment. Automatic thinking is known as the thinking that is unconscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). While, schemas are mental structure people use to arrange their information regarding the social world around themes or subjects: schemas affect what information we notice, think about, and remember (Chapter Review, 2010). During the incident February 4, 1999, Carroll had made a low-effort automatic thinking with schemas when Diallo reached into his jacket to get his wallet by assuming that Diallo was reaching for a gun in his pocket, and shouted â€Å"Gun! † to alert his colleagues. Officer Carroll’s action was due to his natural instinct or response as most criminal would reach into their pocket for gun during the detection of police officers. He had use schemas to form an expectation of the event in which made him to expect a gun pulling out of Diallo’s jacket rather than his wallet. As he attends to his schema-consistent knowledge: criminals would pull out guns from their jacket when they spotted police officers; his schemas filtered out any inconsistent information: Diallo reached in his jacket to get his wallet; had caused the NYPD officers to fire at Diallo. Besides that, there are also a few theories or concept under automatic thinking with schemas that had shown relevance to the Amadou Diallo case study, such as, accessibility. Accessibility is the ease with which schemas can be brought to one’s mind (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The four police officers had practiced accessibility when they saw Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway at their approach, ignoring their orders to stop and â€Å"show his hands†. When they saw Diallo ran after they claimed to have identified themselves as NYPD officers, they might assume that Diallo was the serial rapist they were searching for, as logically a serial rapist or a criminal would ran when approached by police officers to avoid getting caught. The ease of the thought that criminals would run when they spotted police officers, had made the four police officers to identified Diallo as a criminal, although that was not the truth in Diallo’s case. As a result, a firestorm had unfortunately occurred. Furthermore, the four police officers had practice priming in this case study. Priming is the process which related to recent experience that made schemas or concept to come to one’s mind more readily (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). For example, when Officer MeMellon fell down the steps, appearing to be spot, the other three officers might assume that Diallow had fire a gunshot towards Officer McMellon hence causing him to fell down those steps because they had linked it to their recent experiences of gunshot and thought that Officer McMellon had been spot and that Diallo had shot him with his gun. As one would logically fall back when shot. Perseverance effect was also shown in this case study. Perseverance effect is known as the tendency for people’s beliefs about themselves and their world to persist even when those beliefs are discredited (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When the four NYDP officers thought Diallo matched the description of a (since-captured) serial rapist, it might be due to the fact that Amadou Diallo was an immigrant to the United States and the four police officers could have the belief that immigrants are the major causal crime increment in the Unites States. Hence resulting the police officers to think the worse out of Diallo when he ran and even though he was reaching into his jacket to get his wallet, the police officers had persisted that the square object had been of a firearm although in logical terms both wallet and gun do not share the same shape and size. On the other hand,people also tend to use mental strategies and shortcuts to organize and make sense of their social world, especially when they are lack of full processing time, lack of solid information to use for decision making, information overload, or when the issues are not important to them (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Mental strategies and shortcuts help people to make decisions easier and allow them to get on with their lives and not turn every decision into a major hurdle. Four NYDP officers had practise judgmental heuristics when they made judgments about Diallo. Police officers thought Diallo had matched the description of a (since-captured) serial rapist. This might be because that Diallo was a dark skin immigrant which had logically matched the description of the serial rapist leading officers to made a quick decision so that they do not need analyse in detailed and make a major hold-up over the matter. Furthermore, the four police officers also did performed availability heuristic in this case. Availability heuristic is a mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to their mind (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). During the incident, Diallo had been mistaken that he was reaching into his jacket to get his firearm whereas he was actually reaching to get his wallet. Officer Carroll had shouted â€Å"Gun! † to his colleagues. His judgment might be due to his ease with which he can bring to his mind, which in this case, was automatically thinking that Diallo’s wallet was a gun, hence warned his colleagues about the matter. Attitude heuristic is the determination of what is â€Å"true† based upon an individual’s feelings towards or for a matter (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The four police officers also had carried out attitude heuristic towards Amadou Diallo. For example, these police officers might dislike Diallo because he was an immigrant or ‘black’ person therefore assuming that Diallo’s intention, plan, or doings would also be bad too. This caused Diallo to be misinterpreted to be a criminal trying to escape from police detention rather than his true intention, which was believed to initially intend to show the NYPD officers his identification card in his wallet before he wrongly shot. Besides theories and concept of automatic thinking with schemas, the Amadou Diallo case had also displayed a few relevant theories of social perception. During the incident, the four police officers had displayed the attribution theory. Attribution theory is a description of the way which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). It is because that Diallo had run up the outside steps of his apartment after they claimed to identified themselves as NYPD officers, and that he had reached into his jacket, the police officers have made a cause and effect explanation towards Diallo’s behavior hence assuming that he was a criminal or the serial rapist they were searching for, therefore Diallo had run up in the attempt to escape and when he reached into his jacket for his wallet, they thought that he was reaching for his gun to defend himself. Due to this theory, it made sense of he reason four police officers have assumed that Diallo was a criminal and they had to fire back Diallo. All this might be due to the attachment of meaning they decode from Diallo’s nonverbal behavior. In addition, the fundamental attribution error was also shown in the incident when the four police officers have focus on Diallo’s action to run and reached into his jacket, rather than the situation causes of his action, which was intending to reached into his jacket to get his wallet to show the police officers that he was innocent when he was approached by the police officers and asked to â€Å"show his hands†. Fundamental attribution error is known as the tendency to overestimate the extent to which a person’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors, one reason people make fundamental attribution error is because the observer only put their attention on the actor, while ignoring the situational causes of the actor’s behavior (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Furthermore, Diallo had also displayed the spotlight effect in this case study. The spotlight effect is the tendency to overestimate the extent to which our actions and appearance are salient or clear to others (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When Diallo had reached into his jacket to get his wallet, he might had assumed that the NYPD officers know or understand what he was doing, which in his case, was the probability to take out his wallet and show them he was not the criminal or man they were searching for. However, the four police officers were not aware of his action hence assumed that he has a gun, hence fired at Diallo. Moreover, police officers had also displayed the aggression objects as cues concept during the shooting event. Aggression objects as cue is an aggressive stimulus that act as an object that is associated with aggressive response, and whose mere presence can increase the probability of aggression (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The aggressive stimulus in this Diallo case is the guns that the police officers possessed. When the police officers had encountered a threatening or violent stimulus, they were more likely to â€Å"shoot† regardless of what stimulus actually appeared (Baumann & Desteno, 2010). Due to the possession of firearms, the four police officers had the higher possibilities to response aggressively towards Diallo, hence the gun act as the object that associated with their aggressive response. Without the firearms that the four police officers possessed, the act of aggression towards Diallo would decrease therefore the firestorm would not have happened. According to Correll et al. (2002), it was found that participants’ performance shown difference regarding race of the targeted person. When a decision making process was time limited, participants had made more errors shooting unarmed African American targets than unarmed White targets. Whereas, participants had made more errors not shooting armed White targets than armed African American targets. In other words, participants were more likely made errors evaluating African American targets as threatening compared to White targets. This means that because Diallo was a ‘black’ immigrant, it increases his rate of being shot. This is an act of stereotype as because Diallo was a ‘black’ immigrant, they assumed that he might be a criminal, hence the police officers thereby increasing the likelihoods for certain interpretations and ensuing actions during the crucial moment, resulting them to mistaken Diallo’s wallet as a gun, hence shot him. In another words, it is like the Arabs possess guns, resulting in more frequent mistaken â€Å"shootings† of Arab men within the context of the shooter bias paradigm (Unkelbach, Forgas, & Denson, 2008). There are also group prejudices that had been displayed in the Amadou Diallo case study. The four police officers had shown prejudice against Diallo because he was a dark-skin immigrant, hence they have ordered him to stop and â€Å"show his hands† without confirming whether he was the serial rapist they were searching for. Seeing the suspect holding a small square object, Officer Carroll yelled â€Å"Gun! † to alert his colleagues, believing thatDiallo had aimed a gun at them at close range, the officers opened fire on Diallo. Diallo was a West African immigrant with no criminal record (Cooper, 1999). It was clearly shown the act of prejudice towards Diallo, whom was misunderstood or misinterpreted just because of his race. Furthermore, discrimination was shown in the Amadou Diallo case when the four NYPD officers had opened fire to shoot Diallo without proper investigation on his identity and the square object that he was holding during the incident. The action carried out by the four police officers was unjustified and harmful towards Diallo because he was a West American immigrant in the United States. Finally, illusory correlation was also shown in the Amadou Diallo case. An illusory correlation is the tendency to see relationships, or correlations, between events that are actually unrelated (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When Diallo ran up the outside steps of his apartment and pulled out his wallet, the police officers had correlated his action to a criminal’s doing hence leading them to assume that he was a criminal ready to open fire at them in short range. These two events are distinctive and hardly correlated. Because Diallo was a West African immigrant, therefore the police officers correlated the two events together, causing Diallo his innocent life.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

See instructions Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

See instructions - Personal Statement Example This mutiny has led to a permanent dissolution of civil wars at least in Angola and Sudan. The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing conflict in terms of distribution of wealth which directly goes to those who are more powerful. The unemployed local miners swear to join militias for a living. Bloodshed will continue if the economy of the countries is not sustained. The collapsing economy is the pivotal point in the course of history which leads to an uprising. What is most concerning and at the same time interesting to observe in the article is the analysis made by the author about how the uprising had stirred up a large number of protest movements where the sub-Saharan rulers might have felt threatened to be dethroned. Africa is experiencing a rare moment according to the author quite agreeably that the country is high on prices of food and less in terms of employability. All the benefits from the resources sold go to those in power and this is not at all justified. One considers asking the author as to why he believes that this uprising in North Africa will not allow the past larger-scale conflicts to never return? He does back this with the evidence that the civil wars are ending but it remains questionable. There is no doubt that the north is much more promising as the sub-Saharan Africa. No protest can alter this fact. For the foreign investors, places like Ghana and South Africa have more in store because they have remained comparatively stable in terms of politics and leadership. Overall, the article is a good read since it opens up to the recent and future possibilities of trade in Africa. Agriculturalists and economist must definitely read and criticize it for broader perspectives since this will not only help them gain insight but also allow journalists to pick from their point onward to build on their hypothesis. There is always a better way to look at the political situation. Oliver August has done

Friday, September 27, 2019

Argumentative essay on cigarette advertising Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Argumentative on cigarette advertising - Essay Example Advertising based on Oxford Dictionary is the act of relaying information to potential customers concerning a certain product in the market with the intention of luring them to buy it. This implies the person or Corporation relaying a given products’ information ought to utilize necessary skills meant to appear brief and communicate effectively to the clients (Capella, Webster & Kinard 269). Hence, manage to get their attention within a very short period in order to create an immense impact. This is similar to cigarettes’ advertising though its mode of advertising due to numerous campaigns against it respective corporations have resulted to exaggerated and fantasized advertising. Numerous images used in advertising pose the notion smoking especially to the young is sweet besides making them fit in a class/status of proving their prowess. This is complete false though through the creativity of numerous corporations have managed to attain large pool of clientele â€Å"who not only smoke for fun but also live to smoke†. Since, most of them after the first puff turn out to be addicts thus becoming the brand’s habitual users such that the corporation will not be in need of relaying any further information to him or her but to new people. The notion of â€Å"smoking is sweet† its mode of relaying information to the potential users is by use of youthful models, for instance, women who in turn lure teenage females into the habit. This is because of the ads posing the information as genuine, which is far from the reality but merely a strategy to get future potential clients. In 2004, cigarette corporations emerged with a new strategy citing they h ave devised â€Å"lighter cigarettes† for those people wishing to ensure the safety of their health (â€Å"Quit Victoria†). This is a fallacy because no amount of tar is less dangerous once it finds its way in human body’s system. However, the fallacy may seem true based on the corporations’ information and some confessions emanating from hired smokers. The latter contend â€Å"lighter† cigarettes are smoother and less irritating compared to the ordinary products, which is not true. This is because companies with the aid of numerous flavors in the industry and market only tend to alter their â€Å"taste†. Hence, trying to twist clientele’s mind towards deeming what they are smoking contain less tar that is why it is smoother to their throats. However, in reality, this is not true but only a market niche meant to draw numerous people towards purchasing the â€Å"lighter† cigarette. The only trick in this case besides flavors is the use of additives and introduction of tinny holes in the filter meant to filter ash (â€Å"Quit Victoria†). This is because the later is the core component that causes irritation in smokers’ throats whereas the obnoxious content passes unfiltered or altered to the lungs’ alveoli. Hence, continue to cause varied chronic predicaments on users, for instance, cancer (â€Å"Quit Victoria†). This is because fallacies have already â€Å"hijacked† their minds to the extent they are unable to unveil whether what diverse marketing ads are relaying is true (O’Connor). Another relayed fallacy by cigarettes’ corporations encompasses the safety of the product despite admitting to be harmful to human health. This is evident in the way when advertising corporation despite compelled to state cigarettes’ harmful effects choose to indicate with almost invisible statement on their packaging. This is in such a manner numerous users and potential people especially teenagers who wish to experiment smoking

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Manaement Consulting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Manaement Consulting - Essay Example This differentiating technique is a substantial tool that could transform the nature of products, processes, companies, industries, and even competition itself. Until recently, most managers treated differentiating principals as a support service. Now, however, every company and especially consulting firms must understand the broad effects and implications of the new differentiating principals and how it can create substantial and sustainable competitive advantages. (Wood, W., Lundgren, S., Oullette, J. A., Busceme, S., & Blackstone, T., 341) The principals of differentiating itself from the rest of the industry are in the process of a silent revolution and this revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business. (Williams, J. R. 1) Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and investment capital are absorbed in market evaluation and their effect, executives have a growing awareness that the differentiating principals can no longer be the exclusive territory of the elite panels and theoretical niche departments. As they see their rivals use differentiating principals for competitive advantage, these executives recognize the need to become directly involved in the management of the new theories and principals. In the face of rapid change, however, they dont know how. The goal is now to analyse how the framework of differentiating principals can be combined with behavioural evidence on comparative advantage to understand the differential performance of organizations. First, we describe the emerging role of knowledge as a basis for the competitive advantage of organizations. Then we apply our framework

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Free Market Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Free Market Economy - Essay Example The fact that a free market economy operates automatically is one of its major advantages. Moreover, when firms, consumers and workers pursue their own self interest through buying and selling in competitive markets, it helps in minimizing the central economic problem of scarcity, by encouraging the efficient use of resources (Lipsey 2003). In an actual scenario, however, markets fail to achieve maximum efficiency in the allocation of scarce resources resulting in inequality and unfavorable externalities therefore governments feel it necessary to intervene thus, in practice, perfect free market economies do not exist. Even in countries like USA, Germany and France, which are considered to be practicing free market to a great extent, there are many areas that are in government’s control. For example, in USA, there are laws proposed to verify illegal trade practices. They also have a government department called the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) that ensures all consumer products that are taken in to the body are toxic free. There are number of reasons as to why a free market ascends level of inequality and inefficiency in the economy. Firstly, a perfectly performing price system, as the case in a free market, does not provide for the issue of an ethical income distribution. In such a system, the limited supplies of goods and services are rationed out to those who can afford it. In other words, the scarce resources are usually diverted to the production of luxuries for the rich before an adequate output of commodities for the poor is produced. In addition, essential goods and services that are socially desirable may not be produced in sufficient amount under the price system because they are not profit yielding. These goods and services include health, education, defence, lighting, etc. This is the reason why the state provides, in most countries, for what are considered to be basic needs. Furthermore, a free market economy fails to consider all the costs and benefits associated with the production and c onsumption of commodities. Since they are profit motivated, producers tend to ignore the costs they impose on society as a result of their activities (Begg 1997). In this kind of economy, there is limited competition between firms. A few giant firms may control an industry, in such a case consumer sovereignty is affected; the bargaining position of consumers is weakened considerably while the sellers position is enhances resulting in higher prices and restricted output. Lack of competition and high profits also tend to reduce the incentive for firms to be efficient and resourceful. Due to the imperfection in market mechanism, market economy tends to further increase the disparities between people, that is, those with power and property gain at the expense of those without it. It also, due to its self interested behavior, tends to encourage greed, materialism and the acquisition of power (Sloman 1997). In my opinion, an economy should use the market mechanism to some extent and allow a certain degree of government intervention. Such economies are called mixed economies and all real world economies are a mixture of the two systems. Such a system proves beneficial for all the parties as it gives everyone the freedom to choose and produce while maintaining equality in the economy. 2.1 According to demand and supply analysis, there is an inverse relationship between the price and quantity demanded for a product. When the price for a product is too high, the quantity demanded eventually falls. Likewise, when price is low, quantity demanded increases. The movement along the demand curve is

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now - Essay Example Both the works tend to depict the way civilization finds itself alienated in the wilderness. In broad terms, the main similarity between the works is seen in the way the so-called civilized people have got an uncivilized primitive in them that comes out when they reach the wilderness even for a short period of time. For example, in the Heart of Darkness, Marlow first sees the shores of Africa with a sense of fear and dislike. As Marlow travels into the jungle, he develops the feeling that he was getting savage. Thus, as Kesselring states, one gets the idea that the man still possesses the primordial urge to be the same barbaric humans of the jungle; for example, Marlow describes a Kurtz who is free from any restraints, and who unleashes his primordial urge to kill and to enjoy total freedom. There Marlow sees a large number of heads displayed on posts that shows the kind of primitive life Kurtz lived (24-25). Here, it is worth trying to identify the reason behind the madness of both the Kurtz, and there comes the startling realization that it is the result of their inability to come into terms with the native culture and lifestyle. For example, in the movie, one can see a Kurtz telling Willard about the Special Forces going into the village inoculating the children for polio, followed by the visit of communists who cut children’s inoculated hands off. This basic and barbaric wilderness makes Kurtz insane, and soon, he becomes a savage himself. In total, one can say that in both the cases, there is the tendency to show that the European-African and American-Vietnam conflicts symbolize the conflict between the civilized and the savage. In both the cases, there is the realization that civilization is the result of the complex web of rules, regulations and codes of conduct that the modern societies have developed. In addition is the acceptance that there is a savage in every civilized human being. Thirdly, in

Monday, September 23, 2019

Factors Determining the Information System Strategy for Global Firms Essay

Factors Determining the Information System Strategy for Global Firms - Essay Example ‘Factors determining the information system strategy for global firms’ identifies the strategies and issues that some prominent global enterprises have; classifies which organizational factors affect the decision making process of an organization when it is choosing an is strategy; gains knowledge on the impact of is on global business organizations and their role in tackling the market competition; carefully studies the factors that impact on the failures of is strategies in global business organizations. Numerous factors determine IS strategy, especially organizational characteristics. These are important, especially in terms of attitude, constraints, structure, system characteristics, â€Å"commonality†, size, technology, type, and criticality, IS department characteristics, and IS success factors. Quantitative results show that organizational factors such organizational attitudes and constraints and organizational structure have significant effect on IS strate gy decisions. Similarly, the results show that system characteristics such as â€Å"commonality, size, technology, and criticality† are important and are considered while making IS strategy choice decisions. Moreover, the results of qualitative analysis show that factors such as organizational structure and organizational attitudes and constraints are amongst the important organizational factors that need complete considerations while making IS strategy choices. Furthermore, system characteristics, such as the size of the project and criticality type of technology have been found to be important factors in IS strategy decisions. ... tem characteristics 19 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 21 3.1Research Approach 22 3.2 Positivist Paradigm 22 3.2 Interpretivist Paradigm 23 3.3Quantitative Research 24 3.4 Qualitative Research 25 3.5 Qualitative interview 25 3.6 Data Collection and Analysis 26 3.7 Regression Model 28 3.8 Research Ethics 28 3.9 Case Study Company: Projects System Holding Company 29 3.10 Summary 30 Chapter 4: Results, Analysis, and Discussion 32 4.1 Introduction 33 4.1.2 Regression Analysis 41 4.2 Organizational Characteristics and Is Strategy 46 4.3 System Characteristics and IS Strategy: 47 4.4 Summary of Quantitative Analysis 48 4.5 Qualitative Analysis 48 4.6 Questionnaire Research 50 Chapter 5: Discussion and conclusion 55 5.1 Discussion and Conclusion 56 Many companies are implementing innovative plans while dealing with various challenges that are initiated by globalization, and due to this reason, they started investing in other countries through different plans and strategies by adopting novel systems, tools and techniques for meeting customers’ needs world-wide. But the adoption of information systems (IS) has been one of the main sources to seek help in compensating for and countering the challenges, and thus organizations use various strategies to adopt IS. Previous literature suggests that many factors determine IS strategy such as Organizational characteristics in terms of attitude and constraints and structure, system characteristics, in terms of â€Å"technology, size, type, criticality and commonality, IS department characteristics, and success factors (Akmanligil & Palvia, 2004). However, this study, keeping in view the importance of organizational characteristics and system characteristics and lack of empiricism in the extant literature (Akmanligil & Palvia, 2004), uses

Sunday, September 22, 2019

3800 discuss 2 part 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

3800 discuss 2 part 1 - Assignment Example The body of the victim should then be photographed and each piece of photo placed differently. The photos should depict any physical injury that may be on the body of the victim. Physical medical examination on the body is then carried out. This includes the collection of hair and fiber that may be on the body. Fingernail scrapings and dental floss should be collected. This is done by the use of wooden sticks. The collection of urine and sweat samples on the victim is also done. The medical officer should retrieve any traces of fluid on the victim’s body. Internal fluids are then collected. The collection should be mainly done on the mouth, vaginal or anal cavity (Schiro, 2015). The labeling of each fluid should be accurate. In the instance where the incidence has occurred in the bedroom, any piece bedding should be collected. Spreaders, bed sheets and comforters should be analyzed for any fluid traces. They are then air dried and packaged differently. To ensure that the no traces of evidence are lost during collection and packaging, the collector should use the side lighting technique (Schiro,

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The culture of both stories Essay Example for Free

The culture of both stories Essay Outline with reference to the culture of both stories, how the theme of loss is reflected in Veronica and A Stench Of Kerosene  Veronica is a story which is set in a native village presumably in Africa, it is about a girl called Veronica who grows up from being a little child into a women with her life limited to very few opportunities due to her fatalism. Veronica has a life of pain with her dying many symbolic deaths.  The story Veronica carries many traditions that you would expect from a village lifestyle, the village itself is as you would expect, with stronger beliefs of traditions in the people, than there would be in a city or town. As a child, due to these traditions, education is a loss In Veronicas life this is shown in the fact that Veronica is not allowed to make the choice of going ahead with an education simply because she is a girl and has the burden of looking after her family fallen on her shoulders due to her being the eldest, she knows this because when asked by Okeke to come with him to the city, she replies,  I cant just leave my family  This shows you that she has accepted that she has to listen to her parents and follow their cultural beliefs.  These cultural believes are changed depending on the person being a man or a women as shown in Veronica in the fact that Okeke is aloud to have the choice of an education. This is a sign of the culture in the village in where the story of Veronica is set and how it doesnt differ from traditional African villages in where the man is the one normally the one who gets the chance of an education. When Okeke leaves veronica to go to the city, she loses a friend, who had always cared for her and always tried to persuade her to make something of her self, he said to her  Why dont you get out of this place?  This shows that he cares for her and believes that the village has nothing to offer her if she wants to move forwards in her life, even when she replies to him that she has no education he still shows unwillingness to give up because he wants her to widen her choices in life. This gives you an idea in what she was to lose in Okeke, good friend that she could always talk to despite her troubles. A very big loss in her life is the death of her parents, this is one of her sad lifes low points as she never had much other than her mum and dad that she had cared for, this is one symbolic death that weakens her and she is saddened more because her brothers and sisters that she spent most of her life caring for moved on, getting on with their lifes leaving her lonely.  Veronica as a woman was still bound by the cycle of poverty. This is shown because when finding a man nearly dead he was half dead, she takes care of him showing that she cares for others before herself.  When asked by the man if she would marry him she, Veronica says yes mainly due to the fact that she is lonely,  I was lonely here at the time  This shows she is lonely and gives you a sign of her dream, to have kids and a family, which any respectable women would dream. Veronica marrying a man from another tribe is very unusual, she says  He is not of our people  This is unusual because traditionally in the culture where the story of Veronica is set you it is not allowed that you get married to someone from a different tribe.  When Veronica does finally for fill her dream of having a child she is extremely pleased, she says to Okeke,  God has blessed us with a child  This gives you an idea of how pleased she is because it is a sign of her culture that you as a women have a family and a husband that you could be proud of. Veronica is distraught when her husband and baby die, she says  My husband is dead and so is my child  This is a big loss in her life because they were all she had left that she cared for this is another of symbolic deaths that she dies that weakens her from inside.  So that is the reason when dying she is dying she does not make an attempt to save her self, she says,  I wont live to see tomorrow and nor do I want to  This shows her unwillingness to live because she thinks theres no reason for her because she has no one that cares for her any more.  The death of Veronica is a big loss for Okeke who loved her, which was different from the story Country Lovers in which the two characters were in love rather than love. He could not turn his love into marriage because I believe he knew his parents would not allow him to marry Veronica, as they believed that she was not the right type for him because she was of a lower class this showed a sign of their culture. The story A Stench Of Kerosene is set in an Asian village probably in India because there are places like Chamba and words like dappatta, chaspoy and chillum mentioned. It is about a husband and wife Manak and Guleri. When Guleri leaves her in law house to go home, Manak is forced by his mother to get married again because Guleri after seven years of marriage has not given birth to a child. Manak does get married and has a kid with his new wife as his mother had granted, after hearing of Manaks new wife Guleri soaks her clothes in kerosene and sets her self on fire. The story A Stench Of Kerosene also carries many traditions you would expect in a village lifestyle. Cultural traditions are shown because the man in the family is the on who goes out to do the work, Manak is a farmer and Guleri being the wife stays with her in-law family and is the one who would do most of the work in the house giving her mother in-law some rest.  In A Stench Of Kerosene there is loss shown because Manak loses his wife Guleri, he was  Mute with pain  This suggests how much pain he is feeling after the death of his wife.  He also loses his love because he does not love his new wife as he did Guleri, Manak feels,  His body responded but his heart was dead with in him  This gives you an idea of how much he loved Guleri and how little he feels for his new wife. There is a sign of the culture in A Stench Of Kerosene because of the tradition of arrange marriages in the village lifestyle. The story is also unusual because traditionally the man in the family is the dominant one but in A Stench Of Kerosene, Manaks mother makes the decisions for him or is it just that he is being loyal to his mother. This differs from normal village lifestyles.  The theme of loss is reflected in many ways and is affected by the cultural backgrounds in both Veronica and A Stench Of Kerosene. In the story Veronica, Veronica is limited to very few opportunities because she is held back by cultural reasons. In the story A Stench Of Kerosene Mank because of cultural reasons is forced to remarry and lose the love of his life in Guleri.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Analysis Of Radicalisation And Extremism Criminology Essay

Analysis Of Radicalisation And Extremism Criminology Essay Radicalisation is a complex term which has different meanings and can be used in different contexts. To be radicalised does not necessarily mean that one has to resort to violence or terrorism. It is not a synonym to extreme religious teachings or activities either. Radicalism can be intolerant behaviour or intolerance towards the views of other people. It can be intolerance towards homosexuality, ethnicity, race, colour, religion. Being radical can be intolerance towards the western culture or Asian immigrants living in Britain as well. The US Southern Baptists do not recognise homosexuality as a valid alternative lifestyle (Kahn, 2006). The army of God, a Christian extremist group in the US murders doctors who practice abortion (Gray, 2007). A former Dutch immigration minister sought to deny asylum to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Iranians, threatening to deport them back to Iran which imposes a death penalty on homosexual conduct (Human Rights Watch, 2007). Do the above examples not illustrate radical and extremist behaviour? Therefore Radicalisation can vary from having extreme views about something to intolerant behaviour towards certain people, to violent radicalisation which has severe consequences. For the purpose of this research we shall look into extremist radicalisation or violent radicalisation with religious or political aims. According to Precht (2007), Radicalisation is a process of adopting an extremist belief system and the willingness to use, support, or facilitate violence and fear as a method of effecting changes in society. In this definition we can see that a person is radicalised when they adopt an extremist belief system and perceive society as defective and aim to change it through non-violent or violent ways. There is a very fine line between extremism and radicalisation. According to Archbishop Desmond Tutu extremism is when you do not allow for a different point of view; when you hold your own views as being quite exclusive; when you dont allow for the possibility of difference (Tutu, 2006). One could argue that there is nothing wrong with extremism or radicalisation, as it does not necessarily lead to violence but on the other hand the very fine line can easily be crossed over. However when extremism starts to have a political end, for example to force governments to the table of negotiation or to changes in policy it then converges into radicalisation (Davies, 2008). And when the willingness to use violence for a political or religious change combines with this radicalisation it can lead to terrorism. Radicalisation is a process where an individual adopts extreme political or religious ideas and goals, becoming convinced that the attainment of these goals justifies extreme methods (Ongering, 2007). In the context of this research we shall look into Islamist radicalisation or violent Islamism. Before we look into the literature we should not confuse the terms Islam and Islamist. Islam is a religion and the follower of this religion is known as a Muslim not an Islamist. Islamist or Islamism is a term coined by the West to differentiate between Islam the faith or religion and Islamism as the ideology or political Islam. Islamism refers to a political ideology that strives to create a state and society in conformity with religious doctrine and Shariah (Islamic) law. An Islamist is a person who uses religious arguments to further political goals; in contrast a militant Islamist or violent Islamism is when there is a willingness to use violence to advance their goals (Precht, 2007). Again there is a difference between adopting political Islam in a non-violent way, as many Muslim organisations in the contemporary world do, and adopting political Islam in a violent way portrayed by the violent acts perpetrated in the name of Islam by certain groups and individuals who distort the teachings of Islam in their own extremist ways. It is the latter that leads to terrorism. How do young Muslims become radicalised and resort to violence. There have been numerous studies with respect to the process of radicalization. In the view of the NYPD (New York City Police Department) study, the adoption of the Salafi-Jihadi ideology is a key driver that motivates young men and women to carry out acts of violence and terrorism (Silber and Bhatt, 2007). This study conducted by the NYPD (Silber and Bhatt, 2007) suggests that the radicalisation process is composed of four distinct phases. The first phase is pre- radicalisation, in which an individual has a normal life and this is a period before the journey to extremism and the adoption of Salafi-Jihadi ideology. The second stage is self-identification, where individuals explore Salafi Islam and move away from their old identity towards a new world view and begin to associate themselves with like minded people. The catalyst in this phase usually is a cognitive opening or a crisis like losing a job or international conflicts involving Muslims. The third stage in the process is indoctrination, where the adopted Salafi-Jihadi ideology intensifies. This leads the individual into militant jihad and this phase is usually facilitated and driven by a spiritual sanctioner. While the final and fourth stage is jihadization, where individuals accept their duty to participate in jihad and self designate themselves as holy warriors. Ultimately they begin operational training for jihad or terrorist attacks (Silber and Bhatt, 2007). For Silber and Bhatt (2007) a person is radicalised when they go through these stages in a systematic way as if it were a funnel. Some would go all the way through the funnel and become terrorists and others would exit in any of the early stages. An important point to note in their study is: Entering the process does not mean one will progress through all four stages and become a terrorist. However, it also does not mean that if one does not become a terrorist, he or she is no longer a threat. Individuals who have been radicalized but are not jihadists may serve as mentors and agents of influence to those who might become the terrorists of tomorrow (Silber and Bhatt, 2007:84) I beg to differ with Silber and Bhatt (2007) on the observation quoted above. It is not necessary that if a person does not go through the whole process of radicalisation and exits at some stage, we should still perceive him or her as a threat. There is ample evidence that many individuals who have been radicalised and who do not become terrorists can still continue and live as normal peace loving citizens. They do not always serve as mentors or agents of influence for the terrorists of tomorrow. If we study biographies of former Islamist radicals or extremists, we do come across real life examples of people like Ed Husain, Majid Nawaz, Shiraz Maher and Hassan Bhatt who joined radical Islam in Britain, got radicalized to a great extent and then left it, becoming normal peace loving citizens of their country (Biggar and Hogan, 2009). Ed Hussain, a former Islamist radical tells his story of how he joined radical Islamist groups in Britain, moving from Jamaat Islami to Young Muslims Organisation (YMO) and then to the more radicalised Hizb-ut-Tahrir. After several years of activism in radical Islamist groups he finally realized in the mid 90s that he was disillusioned with these groups and became more interested in traditional Sufi Islam and non political scholars in Islam. Living a normal life with his wife in Britain, he is a devout Muslim and a believer in traditional Islamic teachings and has shunned radical and political Islam (Husain, 2007). Realizing how he misinterpreted Islam initially and fell prey to radical and political Islam; and viewed Islam as an ideology rather than a religion, he states: For me, being a Muslim is not a political identity- Islam does not teach us a monolithic approach to life. The Prophet did not create new systems of government, but adopted existing paradigms from seventh-century Arabia (Husain, 2007:269) This refutes Silber and Bhatts (2007) study because their radicalisation process does not acknowledge that radicalized individuals can revert back to a normal peace loving life. It does not have room for individuals who have been radicalised and then shunned radicalisation, as they are still seen as a threat in their model. Husain furthers his argument and explains how he feels about the non political nature of Islam, In Mecca I met Muslims who were unalike in their background and culture but united in their belief. For me that is the true ummah- a spiritual community, not a political bloc (Husain, 2007: 269-70). Another example is Majid Nawaz, who got involved with radical Islamist groups in Britain and later realized how he had misinterpreted Islam: As I studied various branches of traditional Islamic sciences, however, I grew more and more surprised. The sheer breadth of scholastic disagreement that I found, on issues I had believed were so definitive in Islam, surprised meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It slowly dawned on me that what I had been propagating was far from true Islam. I began to realise that what I had subscribed to was actually Islamism sold to me in the name of Islam (Nawaz, 2007). However, having explicated that, it does not mean that the study carried out by Silber and Bhatt (2007) does not hold any relevance at all regarding the radicalisation process. I concur with their view that extreme religious ideology (Salafi-Jihadi) is a key driver that motivates young people to get radicalised. The spread of Salafi-Jihadi ideology and books by radical ideologues such as Mawdudi and Syed Qutb have proven to have great influence in the radicalisation process of individuals (Husain, 2007; Nawaz, 2007; Change Institute, 2008) I will shed some light on another model of the radicalisation process with similarities to Silber and Bhatts (2007) model. Tomas Prechts (2007) analysis on the radicalisation process is similar with the four stages by Silber and Bhatt (2007). Precht (2007) explains that there is no single cause or catalyst for radicalisation. One of the differences in these models is that in Prechts model, he focuses on the far broader cause of extremism rather than the individuals adoption of the Salafi-Jihadi ideology in his conversion and identification stage. He focuses on three broad sets of causes which are: Background factors: a Muslim identity crisis, experiences of discrimination, alienation and perceived injustices Trigger factors: Western foreign policy and provocative events, the presence of a charismatic leader or adviser and the glorification of jihad Opportunity factors: These are venues or locations where like minded people meet for the purpose of radicalisation by giving inspiration or serving as recruiting grounds. For example the internet, mosques, schools and universities and sports activities (Precht, 2007). For Precht radicalisation or terrorism is: Largely viewed as a sociological phenomenon where issues like belonging, identity, group dynamics, and values are an important element in the transformation process. Religion, as such, play an important role, but for some it probably rather serves as a vehicle for fulfilling other goals (Precht, 2007:71) Criticizing the religious ideology driven radicalisation process, Sageman (2004), emphasises the role of social bonds in the radicalisation process, social bonds play a more important role in the emergence of the global Salafi Jihad than ideology (Sageman, 2004:178). In another research study he concludes that the terrorists studied during trials in Western Europe and North America were not intellectuals or ideologues (Sageman, 2008:156-7). He believes that less focus should be placed on ideology and religion and instead the discourse should focus more on social networking to radicalisation and the jihad movement. Studying the profiles of radical Islamists we can see many inconsistencies. Some are well educated, some are well off, others genuinely poor, some are married, others single, some are western born and educated, others are foreign students, and some had integrated well in western society while others less so (Al-Lami, 2008) On the other hand certain similarities have also been identified in studying radicalised individuals. A key factor is that the majority of Muslim youth in the west who became radicalised or got involved in terrorism were religious novices. They had superficial knowledge of Islam and were easy lured into radical and extremist ideologies, distorting their interpretation of Islam. Since they were novices they could not authenticate this extreme version of Islam taught to them by radical preachers (Sageman, 2004; Choudhury, 2007; Husain, 2007). An interesting concept about radicalisation is offered by Mandel (2008), who says to be radical is to be extreme relative to something that is defined or accepted as normative, traditional, or valued as the status quo. What he means is that its a matter of perspectives. What one group may regard as radical, another may regard that as normal or acceptable. Adversaries may each regard the others act and motivating belief systems as extreme, perhaps overly so. In this sense, the attribution of being a radical or radicalised may be intended by the attributer as a negative characterization of the attributee. More specifically, the attributer may use the term radical to convey that the attributee poses a source of threat to the attributers traditional way of life (Mandel, 2008:9) Keeping this concept of perspectives in mind, it implies that for liberal governments in Britain, Islamists or Jihadists are seen as radicals who threaten their way of life. But for the Islamists the label may be seen as a virtuous characteristic associated with attempts to return to a society in line with their own belief systems and values. But this kind of concept can be a bit problematic in the sense that there is no universal definition of what is right and what is wrong. There are no black and white truths when it comes to belief systems or ways of life. What would be the limit of going radical in either direction, whether liberal or Islamist? Some scholars do not differentiate between the different forms of Islam and see the problem with Islam as a whole rather than with Islamism or radical forms of Islam. In their view Muslims are a different civilization altogether, and are convinced about the superiority of their culture (Huntington, 1996). The problem with this view is that it treats Islam as monolithic and uniform religion. In reality Islam is not like that and has many different faces and interpretations across both historical time and at the present (Murshed and Pavan, 2009:3). Identity politics is another key factor that contributes to radicalisation. Muslim youth in the West feel a need to carve out their own identities, because they cannot relate to their parents ethnic communities and the Western societies they live in simultaneously. Another key catalyst for radicalisation and terrorism is western foreign policy, which has backfired domestically; conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnya come to be seen as crusades against Muslims (Al-Lami, 2008). Socio-economic disadvantage and political factors such as the Wests foreign policy with regard to Muslims and certain historical grievances play a part in the development of radicalisation (Murshed and Pavan, 2009). There have also been instances where opportunistic politicians in Western Europe have created hatred amongst the majority and minority communities, producing a backlash. Racism and anti Muslim immigration has also been seen as a driver for the radicalisation process, All over Western Europe there has been growth in single issue, anti-immigrant, especially anti-Muslim immigrant partiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦racist messages that breed fear of minorities like Muslims, can emanate from attention seeking politicians, who campaign on a single issue that scapegoat a particular group for all of societys ills (crime, unemployment and so on) (Murshed and Pavan, 2009). Socio-economic deprivation, low education and unemployment have been one of the most common explanations for radicalisation. Statistics show that Muslims, compared to other religious groups, have the highest rates of unemployment, high prison population and poor housing facilities (Awan, 2007:211). However Sageman (2004) does not accept this explanation of radicalisation. He mentions that out of the 172 biographies of Salafi-Jihadists he examined, over 60 percent were well educated and a high proportion of them were professionals and most had semi-skilled occupations. Another interesting illustration of the radicalisation process in British Muslims is given by McRoy (2006). He suggests that there has been a systematic radicalisation in British Muslims mainly due to a number of incidents or events starting from 1988 with the controversial and anti-Islamic book, The Satanic Verses. The publication of Salman Rushdies book The Satanic Verses in 1988 was the defining watershed for British Muslim Identity and activism (McRoy, 2006:10). The book was publically burned in Birmingham, giving very strong signs of radical behaviour. The second major event was the Gulf Crisis of 1992-93, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, which was seen as an anti-imperialist action by Iraq. And when Britain supported the war against Iraq whilst rejecting similar action to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, it created more hatred towards the West and Muslims felt that the West had double standards when it came to helping out Muslims. And then came the Bosnian Crisis, when Muslims lost faith in the West and this fuelled radicalisation amongst British Muslims (McRoy, 2006). It is almost impossible to say with certainty what the causes of radicalisation are, as it is difficult to know whether a factor is instrumental or merely present. It is more helpful to think about radicalising agents- factors which are present and appear frequently across different cases, for example, key places, charismatic leaders, relationship links, experiences and assumed grievances (Briggs and Birdwell, 2009). As we have seen in the literature, there are many reasons scholars have stated for the radicalisation process. Religious ideology (Salafi-Jihadi), political ideology, social bonds, perceived injustices against Muslims around the world (Bosnia, Kashmir, and Palestine), Western foreign policy, influence by charismatic leaders, poverty and deprivation, low education, unemployment, identity politics, racism, anti- Muslim immigration and so on. Having understood that the radicalisation process can occur by any of these reasons or factors, for the purpose of this research I shall look into another factor that has not been given the attention and importance it deserves by many Western governments, that is radicalisation and violence caused by state power or by the policies which are developed for countering radicalisation and violence. How the UK counter terrorism policies have impacted on radicalising individuals in the UK. It is surprising why the UK government and the intelligence committees, while assessing the effectiveness of the counter-terrorism policies, did not acknowledge the potentially damaging effect counter-terrorism measures themselves can have in contributing to radicalisation (Blick et al, 2006). When we say counter terrorism policies it implies both domestic and foreign policies for the purpose of this research. Although there has been literature regarding this aspect, but this factor (state-power) has rare ly been treated as an independent factor which added to other factors could also perpetuate or contribute to the radicalisation process. I am undertaking this research to contribute to the growing literature in this area. Chapter 2: Policy Development and UK Counter terrorism strategy: If we look at UKs history in creating coercive counter terrorism laws, which targeted specific communities, it dates back to 1974, when the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced, to deal with the Irish political violence (Hillyard, 1993). These laws were targeting the Irish community as a whole and were seen as a cause of the continuity and increase in the scale of the Irish related violence. The PTA established a dual system of justice, where conventional criminals who committed crimes such as murder, rape, theft were tried in the ordinary criminal justice system while a shadow and more draconian system developed to deal with those suspected of Irish terrorism'(Hillyard:1993). However For the purpose of this research, I shall discuss and analyse the legislation and counter terrorism strategies, post September 11th 2001. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part shall discuss the Counter terrorism strategy (CONTEST) of UK with special reference to the developments after September 11th 2001. The basis of the analysis on the legislation will be drawn from the terrorism act 2000. It will unfold the important components of the anti terror legislation through the analysis of CONTEST. The second part will focus on how this counter terrorist strategy was developed and the sources which have influenced these developments by examining it through a policy transfer model. This chapter will provide a foundation for the remaining part of the research. I. UK Counter terrorism strategy (CONTEST) There are five major pieces of legislation in the UK to combat terrorism, and these legislations and laws are the foundation of the CONTEST. They are Terrorism act 2000; Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001; The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005; The Terrorism Act 2006 and The Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. The UKs Counter-terrorism strategy knows as CONTEST, has been in existence since 2003 but was first published in 2006 and revised in 2009 to acknowledge the changing threat of terrorism (HM Government, 2009). The strategy has four elements- the four Ps: Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare. For the purpose of this research I shall discuss the Pursue and Prevent elements of the CONTEST. Pursue, is the most important priority for the government because it deals with stopping terrorist attacks. The pursue element of CONTEST aims to reduce the terrorist threat to the UK and UK interests overseas through the detection and investigation of terrorist networks and the disruption of their activities (HM Government, 2009:61). The Pursue element of CONTEST is intelligence led and it aims at close coordination and collaboration of domestic police and intelligence agencies as well as international agencies. This intelligence gathering is used to disrupt terrorists, by the use of prosecution as the first option but if that is not possible then other options like, deportation, control orders, freezing and seizing financial assets and proscription of organisations, can be used as alternative means. Successful prosecution in the courts, based on gathering the necessary evidence and apprehending those involved in planning acts of terrorism before they can carry out their intentions is the preferred method of disrupting terrorist activities according to CONTEST (HM Government, 2006:20). In facilitating the prosecution of suspected terrorists, section 44 of the Terrorism act 2000 extended the police powers of stop and search, which were widely and sometimes disproportionately used as a component of the pursue element of CONTEST. According to section 44, a senior police officer may specify or designate areas or places in which an officer may stop and search vehicles, drivers or pedestrians on suspicion of being involved or aiming to carry out terrorist activity (Terrorism Act, 2000 online: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/pdf/ukpga_20000011_en.pdf) These stop and search powers of the police have been very controversial and are disproportionately used against some communities. In 2004-2005 police stopped and searched 35,800 pedestrians, vehicles and occupants under section 44 and arrested only 455 people (just over 1 percent of those stopped). Very few of these 1% arrested, relate to terrorism. This law has been targeting Asians communities and has created a wedge between community relations which has dangerous consequences (Blick, et al 2006). There has always been speculation about the disproportionate use of these stop and search powers on certain communities. On one hand ethnic profiling could be seen as necessary to identify criminals or terrorists, as some people would argue that it is amongst some ethnic groups that terrorists belong. But on the other hand if a terrorist belongs to the Muslim community for example, is it fair to target the whole Muslim community and assume that there are more terrorists amongst them. Or do we need the help of that particular community to identify terrorists. If we target them disproportionately, there is a chance of isolating them and losing that opportunity of winning their support and confidence in order to identify terrorists or criminals. After the September 11th 2001 attacks there was greater collaboration between UK and US police and homeland security departments which led to greater searches. Between 2001 and 2007 there were 205,000 police searches for terrorist related activities in England and Wales. Out of these 205,000 stops and searches there were only 2,571 arrests, just 1 percent of the total (Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009a). Another controversial law is the pre-charge detention. Under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, the police may arrest someone on reasonable suspicion that they are a terrorist and keep them in detention without charge till seven days (Terrorism Act, 2000). Pre-charge detention was further extended to 14 days in 2003 and then to 28 days by the terrorism act 2006, and now it is the highest number of days (pre-charge detention) compared to any democracy in the world (Liberty, 2007). The Joint Committee on Human Rights has noted that preventive detention is not permissible under article 5 (the right to liberty and security of a person) of the European Convention and warned that it could not be introduced without a derogation, which would require the government to claim that the life of the nation is in peril (Blick et al, 2006:48). This 28 day pre-charge detention has been vilified by human rights organisations all over UK. They are of the view that the police dont need 28 days to investigate someone on suspicion of terrorist activities. Between the time the pre-charge detention for 28 days was passed and October 2007, there were 204 arrests under the terrorism act. Out of 204 suspects only 11 were detained for more than 14 days. Eight of these were charged and three were released without charge (Liberty, 2007). This shows how14 days are more than sufficient for investigating suspected terrorists. The Terrorism Act 2000 gives the home secretary the power to proscribe groups involved in terrorism, and membership of a proscribed group is illegal. By 2009, 59 terrorist groups were proscribed by this act, including 14 groups belonging to Northern Ireland (HM Government, 2009). The 2006 terrorism act also makes it a criminal offense to encourage terrorism directly or indirectly inciting or encouraging others to commit acts of terrorism. This includes an offense of the glorification of terror- people who praise or celebrate terrorism in a way that may encourage others to commit a terrorist act. The maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment (Guardian, 2010: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jan/19/terrorism-act-2006). Many political groups and organisations are banned as a result of the pursue element of CONTEST, granted by the terrorism act 2000. A range of activities, including non violent activities of some of these groups, whose aims are geographical and political with regards to internal strife and conflict in their home countries such as Kurdistan, Sri Lanka, and Kashmir are banned and criminalized. These groups have connections to minority ethnic and refugee communities in UK. Supporting and even attending meetings of these groups is banned (Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009a). Some of these groups are not terrorist organisations but aim to over throw their local governments due to oppression and violence against them. Are we not limiting the freedom of expression through the use of these coercive measures? The UK has always been seen as a champion of the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech, but it is not true any more. The 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA), which was introduced as a result of the September 11th attacks, led to new measures on asset freezing, account monitoring and cash seizures (HM Government, 2009). The 2008 Counter-Terrorism Act further strengthens police investigatory powers by introducing post-charge interviews. Other measures have been introduced to deal with suspected terrorists who cannot be prosecuted. There are control orders, created by the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act, for individuals suspected of posing a terrorist risk but for whom a trial or deportation is considered impossible. These place indefinite and severe restrictions on an individuals movement, communication and associations through curfew, tagging and surveillance. They have proven to be among the most controversial of measures because they require no finding of guilt by the courts (Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009b). The Prevent element of CONTEST is concerned with radicalisation of individuals and how to stop them from becoming terrorists. The aim of the prevent element is to stop radicalisation, reducing support for terrorism and discouraging people from becoming terrorists (HM Government, 2009:83). In order to understand how this strategy works I shall look into the definition of terrorism, provided by the terrorism act 2000, around which all these laws and legislations are established. But the Irony is that the definition of terrorism provided by the government is so broad, that it includes a lot of non-violent activity, threats or acts of serious violence against a person, damage to property and serious disruption of an electronic system as well as acts that create a serious risk to the health or safety of persons, whenever such acts or threats are made for the purpose of advancing a political, ideological or religious cause (Terrorism Act 2000, online) This definition gives the police and law enforcement agencies too much discretion. Many legitimate gatherings can be targeted by the use of this definition. For example, for several years cyclists have taken to the streets in cities around the world. The aim of the gatherings has been described as to reclaim the streets. However due to such a huge number of participants these rides can seriously disrupts traffic and can be said to pose danger to the health and safety of cyclists as well as other road users. They can also intimidate a section of the public; they arguably fall within the definition of terrorism (ARTICLE 19, 2006). The important components of the prevent element of CONTEST (HM Government, 2009) involves, challenging the ideology behind violent extremism and supporting moderate Muslim scholars and influential voices in order to defy the extremist ideology. Disrupting those who promote violent extremism and supporting the places where they operate. According to the government, the radicaliser is as important as the radicalised. Therefore using the powers under the 2006 terrorism act, the police will prosecute those who encourage or glorify terrorism and take action against the places where they operate. Supporting ind

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Methodist Church :: essays research papers

The United Methodist Church My home church is United Methodist. I have gone there ever since I was a child because that is where my mother went to church. Through researching this paper I found many interesting things about my church. There are many points and issues I agree with and many I disagree with. Writing this really made me think about my denomination closely and if it’s the right one for me. The United Methodist Church shares a common history and heritage with other Methodist and Wesleyan bodies. The lives and ministries of John Wesley and of his brother, Charles, mark the origin of their common roots. Both John and Charles were Church of England missionaries to the colony of Georgia, arriving in March 1736. It was their only occasion to visit America. Their mission was far from an unqualified success, and both returned to England disillusioned and discouraged, Charles in December 1736, and John in February 1738. Both of the Wesley brothers had transforming religious experiences in May 1738. In the years following, the Wesleys succeeded in leading a lively renewal movement in the Church of England. As the Methodist movement grew, it became apparent that their ministry would spread to the American colonies as some Methodists made the exhausting and hazardous Atlantic voyage to the New World. Organized Methodism in America began as a lay movement. Among its earliest leaders were Robert Strawbridge, an immigrant farmer who organized work about 1760 in Maryland and Virginia, Philip Embury and his cousin, Barbara Heck, who began work in New York in 1766, and Captain Thomas Webb, whose labors were instrumental in Methodist beginnings in Philadelphia in 1767. The American Revolution had a profound impact on Methodism. John Wesley’s Toryism and his writings against the revolutionary cause did not enhance the image of Methodism among many who supported independence. Furthermore, a number of Methodist preachers refused to bear arms to aid the patriots. When independence from England had been won, Wesley recognized that changes were necessary in American Methodism. He sent Thomas Coke to America to superintend the work with Asbury. Coke brought with him a prayer book titled The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America, prepared by Wesley and incorporating his revision of the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. Two other preachers, Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, whom Wesley had ordained, accompanied Coke.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Black & Decker Essay -- essays research papers

Question 1: B&D leads in two product segments, but trails in the third. Why? Answer: It seems from the case that there are several reasons why B&D leads in Professional-Industrial and Consumer product segments, but trails in the Professional-Tradesmen segment. It is also clear from the tests performed by Black & Decker that their products were at comparable, or even better at some cases, quality. Branded as Home Tools: It appears that professional-tradesmen did not want to use the same tools that housewives used at homes (Black & Decker). Tradesmen viewed Black & Decker tools more for home use than being subjected to demands of the job site. This was a perception issue that was hurting Black & Decker big way. Distribution Channel: It is also evident from the data (Exhibit 2) that Black & Decker lacked in capitalizing one of the most profitable distribution channels i.e. Membership Club. On the other hand, Makita who distributed its product through membership clubs, in which Black & Decker did not take part in, proved to be very successful channel (85%) for Makita. Color: I believe that the unremarkable grey color did not help Black & Decker. The color was another factor that was strongly linked to the Black & Decker’s image. The color factor was very clearly demonstrated by lab tests and also by the comments from professional-tradesmen. Multiple Segments: Black & Decker was involved with three different segments Professional-Industrial, Professional-Tradesmen, and Consumer. On the other hand, Makita (who entered the market in 1978) focused on only one segment of the market while B&D focused on three. Question 2: Describe the salient psychological features of the tradesman’s buying behavior (values & need states). Answer: This is Tradesmen seem to believe that Black & Decker’s brand is for Consumer use only. They are well aware of the brand, but regard it as the brand that is more suitable for the tools used at home. As Black & Decker holds about 45% of the consumer market, it has very good brand recognition. In a tradesmen’s mind the association of Black & Decker with consumer segment is so high that they feel that Black & Decker is for home use only and it is not rugged enough to be used professionally. Need: Strong tools, that can be used professionally Value: They ne... ...disassociation from Black & Decker brand  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction of a Black & Decker’s one of the stable brands (DeWalt) that has no negative association  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DeWalt got 70 % awareness rating. This in turn means that Black & Decker will not have to spend money to establish a new brand  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DeWalt also achieved an â€Å"One of the best† agreement percentage of 63%  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also scored 58% on the purchase interest by tradesmen in â€Å"DaWalt-Serviced and Distributed by Black & Decker’ Cons:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It seems that every one at Black & Decker takes a great pride in the #7 â€Å"brand Power† position of the Black & Decker name. It will be a challenge to sell the option at Black & Decker.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Linkage of aggressive objectives of doubling the Black & Decker’s Professional-Tradesmen segment share from 9% to about 20% I strongly suggest that Joseph Galli should drop the Black and Decker name from the Professional-Tradesmen segment, sell the products in this category under the DeWalt brand and build more brand awareness for DeWalt

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Honest Iago Essay

Iago is the most unique villain of Shakespeare There has been a lot of controversy about his motives and he has been considered as an incarnation of the devil. At the same time, Iago is one of the most brilliant Shakespearean characters although Shakespeare uses his cunningness only for diabolical purposes. He has can rightly be called an atheist of human nature and a stealthy corrupter of human piety, a fearless disturber of domestic peace and an unbeliever in and denier of anything spiritual. This is interesting to note that all characters in the play, except for Roderigo (to whom he sometimes shows his real face) have a high opinion of Iago and refer to him as â€Å"honest Iago†. He uses this high oestimation of him by these major characters to befool them. The Mutual relationship between Iago and Othello is of trust and reliance on the part of Othello but it is conniving and devious on the part of Iago. Iago has same relationship with Cassio. Cassio is also deceived by the seeming virtue of Iago and actually believes that ensign is a kind-hearted man. But at the same time is a rival to Iago in the royal court. Another facets of his relationship with Othello and Cassio is that he (Iago) lives the part of a blurt outspoken plain fellow who is always prepared to say what he really thinks without caring for the effect it may have on others. Othello is shown as a trustful and thorough in his trust for Iago. Although when Iago starts working on him, he suspects him and asks for evidence, yet from the beginning of the play, he seems to have put entire confidence in the honesty of Iago, who had not been his companions in arms. This confidence is misplaced but it is no sign of stupidity in Othello. He does not have a distinctive fear of him. We find this even before Iago has set a trap for him. Othello fears the monster â€Å"too hideous to be shown† that he discerns about Iago’s thoughts. This manifests a strange relationship based on paradoxical feelings. It is of confidence, trust and fear. But latter events show that Othello’s trust in Iago overpowers the instinctive fear. This happens due to Othello’s non-meditative nature. He does not contemplate over issues and does not weigh their motive and consequences. And this is the thing that helps Iago to get control over Othello. A. C. Bradley rightly says in this regard; The sources of danger in this character are revealed but too clearly by the story. In the first place, Othello’s mind, for all its poetry, is very simple. He is not observant. His nature tends outward. He is quite free from introspection, and is not given to reflection. Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect. On this side he is the very opposite of Hamlet, with whom, however, he shares a great openness and trustfulness of nature. In addition, he has little experience of the corrupt products of civilised life, and is ignorant of European women. (p. 217) Relationship between Iago and Cassio exists and develops on the same lines as that of Othello’s. Cassio has a high opinion of Iago and considers him an unmatched person in Florence but Iago’s opinion of him is prejudiced and biased. Iago dismisses Cassio as a mere theorist and not a practical warrior. In their mutual relationship Cassio’s genuine honesty is contrasted with Iago’s seeming honesty. We are never certain that we understand why Iago commits his evil deeds. Coleridge calls his evilness as â€Å"motiveless malignity† (315) there is no doubt that he is throughout an artist in villainy. There is no mystery in the psychology of Iago and the key to Iago’s motives may lie in the composition of his character. One of the noticeable traits in his character is keen sense of superiority and contempt for others. There also the annoyance of having always to play a part, the enjoyment of the action and the absence of fear. Iago’s sense of superiority has been thwarted and it needs satisfaction. The fullest satisfaction, it could find would, no doubt, be in the consciousness to take revenge from those who are so successful and popular. In addition to his strong desire to satisfy his sense of power, there are also certain other forces which drive him on. One of these is a pleasure in action very difficult and perilous. This action and pleasure lends him artistry in the art of being spiteful against other. All these characteristics if nature and his disposition play a part in making him a great villain of Shakespeare. These motives appear and disappear in the most extraordinary manner. Resentment as Cassio’s appointment is expressed in the first conversation with Roderigo, and from that moment is never once mentioned again in the whole play. Hatred of Othello is expressed in the first act only. Desire to get Cassio’s place scarcely appears after the first soliloquy, and when it is gratified Iago does not refer to it by a single word. The suspicion’s of Cassio’s intrigues with Emilia emerges suddenly as an afterthought. Iago’s love of Desdemona is alluded to in the second soliloquy; there is not the faintest trace of it in word or deed either before or after. The mention of jealousy of Othello is followed by declarations that Othello is infatuated about Desdemona and is of a constant nature, and during Othello’s suffering Iago never shows a sign of the idea that he is now paying his rival in his own coin. In the second soliloquy he declares that he quite believes Cassio t0o be in love with Desdemona; it is obvious that he believes no such thing, for he never alludes to the idea again, and within a few hours, he describes Cassio as an honest fool. All these motives have strange paradoxical characteristics in them but it could not have been coincidence that Shakespeare has attributed so many motives to Iago. All these motives manifest the intricate nature of Iago’s characters and disposition. In addition to a man of action, Iago also seems to be something of an artist who takes delight in undertaking a complicated task in a meticulous manner. The action he starts and works out is intricate. We get an impression that at some stage, the action Iago initiates remain no longer within his control and power but rather becomes his master. It is as he was fated to do what he does. Works Cited Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1905. Colderidge, Samuel Taylor. Lectures 1808-1819 On Literature. Ed. R. A. Foakes. Volume 2. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987. Shakespeare, William. Othello. New York: Penguin Books. 1993.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Intuitionism

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AN ASSIGNMENT ON: THE THEORY OF INTUITIONISM A SEMINAR PRESENTATION IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF PHIL. 523 (MODERN ETHICAL SYSTEM) BY ABAH, GEORGE . O. (REV. FR. ) PG/MA/12/63875 LECTURER: DR. ENEH FEBRUARY, 2013 INTUITIONISM INTRODUCTION All the ethical theories imply some norm or standard of morality. They not only proclaim the fact that morality exists but also that there is some way of distinguishing the good from the evil, the right from the wrong. Ethical theories do not differ greatly in the actual codes of morality they adopt.The list of approved and disapproved acts, despite some glaring exceptions, is in general much the same. Where they differ most is in their reasons for the approval or disapproval, in the principles on which they base their judgments about morality, that is to say, in the norm or standard by which they judge morality. Intuitionism, which is our concern in this discussion, is one of these ethical theories. The theory, which is in agreement about the facts with other theories, parts ways from them about the reasons and or the routes to getting and judging the facts.Proponents of this theory think that we have a feel, a sense, an instinct, whatever one wants to call it, that immediately manifests to us what is good and what is evil in the moral sphere, and that this is basically the same in all of us. Our discussion below will unravel more on the teachings, history, and the criticisms for and against the theory. We shall as well attempt a summary and an evaluation of the concept before drawing our conclusions. THE CONCEPT OF INTUITIONISM Intuitionism is an ethical theory that teaches that moral knowledge is direct, immediate or intuitive.Making it clearer, Eneh (2001) states that â€Å"Intuitionism in ethics is the view that some moral judgments such as goodness, rightness, are known to be by immediate or uninferred knowledge†. Hence, moral actions of a sort could be known to either be right or wrong by an uninterrupted intuition of either their rightness or wrongness, the value of their consequences regardless. It is therefore the doctrine that there are moral truths discoverable by intuition; the doctrine that there is no single principle by which to resolve conflicts between intuited moral rules; the theory that ethical principles are known to be valid through intuition.Intuitionism is the meta-ethical doctrine claiming that moral principles, rules or judgments are clear and obvious truths that do not need to be supported by argumentation. Apart from this claim, intuitionism postulates a special faculty for the perception of right and wrong. The special faculty is distinct from the intellect. It is possible, the theory posits, to hold some direct, immediate, intuitive knowledge of morality without attributing such knowledge to any special faculty. The theory therefore reasons that any well-meaning person seems to have an immed iate sense of what is right and what is wrong.Many who have had hardly any opportunity for moral instruction do nevertheless have a basic moral awareness. The great value of moral instruction is to settle doubtful details, to supply one with cogent reasons, and to bring consistency into one’s moral convictions, but all this is not necessary for the formation of those convictions. Furthermore, the theory opines that people had moral ideas and convictions long before philosophers developed a formal study of ethics. The pre-philosophical knowledge of right and wrong was not reasoned out and logically criticized.It was therefore a spontaneous knowledge occurring to the mind without consciously directed reasoning, and hence it must come from some intuitive or insightful activity of the mind in recognizing the right and the wrong and discriminating between them. In the same light, our reasoning on moral matters, when we do use it, is subsequent and confirmatory to an initial direct perception of rightness or wrongness. We first see that the cause of action is right or wrong, as the case may be, and then look for reasons.If our reasoning leads to an answer contradictory to our spontaneous moral judgment, we tend to let the reasoning go and stick to our simple moral intuition, which we consider a surer guide than our elaborate arguments, whose very elaborateness can arouse a suspicion of rationalization. To cap it all, the theory of intuitionism teaches that our reasoning can go wrong on moral matters as easily as on other matters. Though invincible ignorance excuses, we cannot allow it to govern so large a share of our lives that our moral responsibility is on the verge of vanishing.We must have some way of deciding basic moral issues. That we cannot do so by reasoning, studying, and philosophizing is evident from the many contradictory schools of ethical thought. Therefore, we have to rely on some kind of moral instinct, insight or intuition, which can act as a sure guide. HISTORY OF THE THEORY OF INTUITIONISM Ethical Intuitionism was popular in the early twentieth century, particularly among British analytic philosophers. H. A. Prichard gave an early defense of the view in his â€Å"Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake? (1912), wherein he contended that moral philosophy rested chiefly on the desire to provide arguments starting from non-normative premises for the principles of obligation that we pre-philosophically accept, such as the principle that one ought to keep one's promises or that one ought not to steal. This is a mistake, Prichard argued, both because it is impossible to derive any statement about what one ought to do from statements not concerning obligation (even statements about what is good), and because there is no need to do so since common sense principles of moral bligation are self-evident. Prichard was influenced by G. E. Moore, whose Principia Ethica (1903) argued famously that goodness was an indefinable, non- natural property of which we had intuitive awareness. Moore originated the term â€Å"the naturalistic fallacy† to refer to the (alleged) error of confusing goodness with some natural property, and he deployed the Open Question Argument to show why this was an error. Unlike Prichard, Moore thought that one could derive principles of obligation from propositions about what is good.Ethical intuitionism suffered a dramatic fall from favor by the middle of the century, probably due in part to the influence of logical positivism, in part to the rising popularity of naturalism in philosophy, and in part to philosophical objections based on the phenomenon of widespread moral disagreement. Some recent work suggests the view may be enjoying a resurgence of interest in academic philosophy. Robert Audi is one of the main supporters of ethical intuitionism in our days. His 2005 book, The Good in the Right, claims to update and strengthen Rossian intuitionism and to develop the epistemolo gy of ethics.Michael Huemer's book Ethical Intuitionism (2005) also provides a recent defense of the view. Furthermore, authors writing on normative ethics often accept methodological intuitionism as they present allegedly obvious or intuitive examples or thought experiments as support for their theories. In all, Intuitionism as an ethical theory and a concept was introduced by George Edward Moore (1873-1958). It was he who projected the above ideas on intuitionism, and believed strongly that moral judgments were non-empirical – they are just â€Å"brute facts†.G. E. Moore was an intuitionist as we can see by his claim that we have the non-natural ability to observe moral properties. Moore believed that moral knowledge about particular values is much like sense knowledge, but this is not necessary to intuitionism. He claims that principles, rules, or judgments appeal to our sense of reasonableness, and that we cannot imagine them to be false. Why because we can’ t understand what it would be like for the statement to be false. Hence general principles are intuitive.CRITICISMS FOR INTUITIONISM The main advantage of intuitionism is that it is a simple philosophy positing simply for instance that â€Å"God is indefinable. † Moore said that â€Å"good† was like â€Å"yellow’, in that it cannot be broken down any further – â€Å"yellow† cannot be described in any other way than to say it is â€Å"yellow†. A â€Å"horse†, on the other hand, could be described as brown, large an animal and so on. The strength of intuitionism is that it appeals to the fact that some moral beliefs stand so firmly that they take on the look of data.That it is wrong to murder or to abuse a child seems truer than any widely accepted theory. The intuitionist labels such judgments as ‘intuitions’. And they certainly appear to be immediate judgments. We do not need to give reasons about them. Judgments about m urder and abuse are supported by basic moral principles and values. They have intuitive appeal, albeit, such judgments may arise because of socialized sympathy with others, or from basic moral education. CRITICISMS AGAINST INTUITIONISM Intuitionism, many observed, has a lot of difficulties and contradictions it show cases.In the first place, â€Å"Intuition† is Latin for â€Å"Insight†, â€Å"a looking in†, and therefore a very appropriate word for the direct activity of the intellect in grasping self-evident truths. But it has become associated with hunches, wild guesses, irrational inspirations, clairvoyance, and other fancies so lacking in scientific respectability as to give utterly the wrong impression. It should be clear that guesses and hunches are of no more value in the ethical sphere than in any other sphere. Also, we have no in-born set of moral rules with which we must compare our acts to see whether they are moral or not.There is no evidence for the existence of any innate ideas in the human mind, including ethical ideas. All our knowledge comes from experience, and our moral ideas are likewise derived from experience. We do not have any faculty, not even conscience that automatically flashes a warning signal as soon as we think of doing something wrong. If conscience seems to act in this way, it is nothing but habit, by which we have become accustomed through training to avoid actions of a certain kind and to judge them to be wrong.Such habitual action is quite different from instinctive action, and such judges need not be intuitive. Furthermore, an appeal to intuition has the disadvantage of being immune to objective criticism. One claims to see it, and no one proves that he or she does not; another claims not to see it, and no one can prove that he or she does. The two claims are not contradictory, for each reports only his or her own experience. Such intuitive knowledge, if it exists, can be of benefit only to the possesso r and cannot be used to convince anyone else.Unless most people testify to having the same intuitive (as does happen, for example, regarding sense experience), this sort of private knowledge lacks the universal character of scientific knowledge. Since there is no common agreement on moral intuitions, an appeal to intuitionism, each following a personal moral code privately discovered by personal insights. Moreover, those who find that they do not experience moral intuitions are either left without any ethics which obliged to live ethically, or are obliged to develop an ethical theory on other grounds.They have to judge both their ethical theory and the intuitionist theory on some basis other than intuition, which by hypothesis they themselves do not posses. The intuitionists, however, must either appeal to intuition to establish the truth of their own theory, thus convincing only themselves, or they must abandon intuition and resort to rational argument when it comes to establishing their theory. Either way shows the weakness of the method. EVALUATION Despite these and similar criticisms of an intuitionist ethics, we can still ask whether it is possible to remove all intuition from ethics.Certainly, we shall remove intuition in the sense of hunches and guesses, in the sense of a special faculty for the perception of morals, and in the sense of a direct apprehension of moral rules immediately applicable to particular actions. These illegitimate uses of intuition have tended to ruin the whole concept. However, there remains a legitimate use. Not all knowledge can be derived from previous knowledge. There must be some original knowledge, some primitive experience, and some immediate apprehension from which derived knowledge can originate. Thus, not all knowledge can be the result of a reasoning process.Premises are proved by previous premises and these by others still more previous, but the process cannot go on forever or nothing will ever be proved. Somewhere, o ne must come to a direct experience (and this is intuition in the original meaning of the term) or to some principle that cannot be proved and needs no proof because it is self-evident. In ethics, there are two particular areas in which we must appeal to such direct and underived knowledge: one is the kind of knowledge of morals people had before developing a scientific ethics, and the other is the first or basic moral principle on which scientific ethics rests.In other words, the development of ethics in history must have been preceded by an era in which people had ethical ideas that were not the result of reasoned proof, and even after they developed a scientific ethics, they still had to trace it back logically to some immediately known and underived principles for instance, connatural knowledge and first moral principles. Finally, if we are to hold on to the teachings of intuitionism, moral norms could be swept under the carpet since no standard rule stands to judge actions but subjective self-evident truths.We know of course by simple logic that â€Å"A† or â€Å"not A† can be true, but both cannot be true at the same time. Intuitionists hold that it is possible to prove â€Å"A† and â€Å"not A† as long as mental constructions can be built which prove each consistently. In this sense, proof in intuitionist reasoning is not concerned with proving whether or not â€Å"A† exists, but is instead defined by whether both â€Å"A† and â€Å"not A† can be coherently and consistently constructed as valid statements in the mind. This is against â€Å"the law of the excluded middle† which states that either â€Å"A† or â€Å"not A† can be true, but both cannot be true at the same time.If a person at one end operates on an intuition that stealing is good, and the other person at the other end stands on an intuition that stealing is bad. Intuitionists judge both actions as true at the same time sin ce their positions result from their self-evident â€Å"truths†. Such a proposition disposes a society to destruction. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Intuitionism in general holds that humans have direct, immediate, or intuitive knowledge of morality, with or without a special faculty. Reasons for intuitionism is that people can tell right from wrong studying ethics, se reasoning to confirm their spontaneous judgments, and reject arguments that contradict their basic moral convictions. Reasons against intuitionism spring from the fact that the word is too vague to be of much use. We have no innate moral ideas or principles; intuition would be a purely subjective experience and scientifically useless, and the intuitionist can convince no one but himself or herself. Nevertheless, there is a legitimate use for intuition in the sense of an intellectual acceptance of self-evident truths. REFERENCES Aristotle; Posterior Analytics, bk. 11, ch. 19; Metaphysics, bk. IV, ch. 4.Butler; Fifteen Sermons upon Human Nature, Sermons 11 and 111. Eneh, J. O. , War & Peace: Aspects of Practical Ethics, (Pub. By AFRANEDOH (Nig. ) LTD, Calabar) 2001. Hutcheson; Inquiry into the original of our ideas of Beauty and virtue, Treatise 11, sec. 1 http://en. wikipedia. org. wiki/intuitionsim http://www. philosophybasics. com/branchintuitionism. html#history Jill Graper Hernandez (ed. ). The New Intuitionism, Continuum 2011. Milton A. Gonsalves (ed. ) Fagothey’s Right and Reason, Ethics in Theory and Practice, (Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1985). St. Thomas; Summa Theologica, 1-11, q. 94, a. 2.