Reflective Paper

One country in The Middle East (Egypt) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

One nation in The Middle East (Egypt) - Essay Example Moreover, Oman and Saudi Arabia are the neighboring countries. Dresch (2000) clarifies that â€Å"The Yemen is enclosed via ocean structure the west, south and east† (p.43). One can see that Yemen’s proximity to the African mainland and as the leave purpose of the Middle East Asia are critical in universal connections. The ethnic cosmetics of Yemen incorporates Arabs and inborn individuals like Zaydis and Al-Akhdams. Also, Islam is the most significant religion in Yemen. Inside Islam, there are two strict gatherings in Yemen: Sunnis and Shiites. In this way, this can be viewed as the essential strict division in Yemen. In contrast to other Arabian countries, Yemen is certainly not a strict republic, yet a unitary parliamentary republic (presidential republic). Prior, inside clash because of the division of Yemen into North and South alliances was a significant issue. Be that as it may, unification of both the coalitions into the Republic of Yemen diminished the further extent of inside issues. In the current condition, the inner clash identified with the Yemeni uprising (2011â€2012) is a consuming issue. Additionally, infringement of human rights and defilement are different issues looked by Yemen. In contrast to different countries in the Middle East, Yemen is an immature country. Blashfield (2012) states that, â€Å"It is presently the least fortunate nation in the Arab world† (p.4). To be explicit, absence of framework advancement and the fast consumption of the current oil stores are the serious issues which influences the financial improvement of Yemen. The Yemenis are propelled by the Arab Spring and the equivalent brought about the deposing of Ali Abdullah Saleh. One can see that the Yemeni uprising brought about the activity to re-draft the constitution of Yemen. As brought up, Yemen isn't wealthy in oil stores. Plus, the oil stores in Yemen are demonstrating fast diminishing underway. On the opposite side, absence of framework advancement is impeding the extension

IB Extended Essay Writing Service

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Characteristics of Personal Mastery and Effective Team Learning Free Essay Example, 2500 words

Salonen (2004) sums up that personal mastery may be characterized by personal vision and action, a commitment to the truth, contact with one’s subconsciousness, a conscious reflection on mental models created through experience and perception, and an ability as well as consciousness to see the big picture. To begin from the last feature, ability to see big picture will help individuals to take appropriate decisions to achieve intended outcomes in short term as well as sustain the results for longer term. For example, to enhance productivity of a team, if a manager opts to incentivize good performance within a team with rewards and/or bonuses without attempting to understand motivational needs of his team members, the results would definitely show an increased productivity; however, the results’ sustenance cannot be promised. Before deciding on incentives/bonuses, if the manager puts an effort to understand team members’ behaviours, connections with each other, s pecific areas of improvement, situations/issues/challenges faced by each member in relation with and out of work that directly or indirectly impacts work, then the approach to enhance productivity of the team would be different. We will write a custom essay sample on Characteristics of Personal Mastery and Effective Team Learning or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page

Muted Group Theory ( Mgt ) - 1593 Words

Muted Group Theory (MGT) is a critical theory because it is focuses on the power structure and how it is used against certain people and groups. At times, critical theories can divide the powerful and the powerless into a number of different ways. MGT chooses to split the power spectrum into two main categories, men and women. This MGT helps us to understand any groups that are silenced by the lack of power in their language. In dominate groups or activity groups, there are members who have less power that tend to fall silenced. One idea of MGT is that members of stifled groups may, at least at times, experience a doubtfulness of existence, seeing reality both as it is experienced from a dominant perspective and also from their own, muted, perspective. For example, when there is a â€Å"dominant† language or activity in a group, there are members who have â€Å"lower-power† and could feel silenced because of their lack of knowledge in that language or activity. â€Å"The two main components within MGT are dominant and subordinate groups.†(Wall) These are categorized into relationships between men and women.Edwin Shirley Ardener, two social anthropologists, came up with the idea of MGT in the 1960s.They â€Å"focused on the ways that the communication practices of dominant groups suppress, mute, or devalue the words, ideas, and discourses of subordinate groups†. (Kramarae) Cheris Kramarae took MGT a step further when she brought it into the field of communication studies. In every groupShow MoreRelatedMuted Group Theory ( Mgt )1737 Words   |  7 Pages Muted Group Theory (MGT) is a critical theory because it is focuses on the power structure and how it is used against certain people and groups. At times, critical theories can divide the powerful and the powerless into a number of different ways. MGT chooses to split the power spectrum into two main categories, men and women. This MGT helps us to understand any groups that are silenced by the lack of power in their language. In dominate groups or activity groups, there are members who have lessRead MoreAbolition of Universal Banking in Nigeria - Implication for Nigerian Banks10849 Words   |  44 Pagesminimum paid up requirement of N10billion, N25billion and N50billion respectively. There will be specialized banks under which Primary Mortgage Institutions, Discount Houses, Development Banks and Micro-Finance Banks are grouped. New comers to this group are the Non-interest banks, which may opt to be either regional or national. According to Uzor (2010) an important innovation in the new model is the return from shareholders fund to paid-up share capital in defining minimum capitalization benchmarks

Miracles Possible of Not Free Essays

It was not till the Enlightenment that the question began to be seriously asked, as to whether miracles are possible or not. Prior to this miracle was the substance of life in all strata of society, not only the unlettered. Belief in miracles emboldened belief per se. We will write a custom essay sample on Miracles: Possible of Not or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the age of faith religion was the foundation of life, and belief in miracles indispensable to it. But with the rise of science and rationalism, and the corresponding demise of religion, the aspect of miracle too lost standing in the concerns of people. Where science was poised and eager to explain all observed phenomena, belief in miracles was an obvious casualty. According to David Hume’s definition, a miracle is â€Å"a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent† (1993, p. 77). The mere suggestion of a transgression of natural law was beginning to sound like a heresy to scientifically accustomed ears, even though attributed to the Deity. This paper examines the eighteenth century responses to the question of whether miracles or possible or not, and then broadens the scope to include modern and ancient perspectives. Hume was the first to tackle the question squarely, in the chapter titled â€Å"Of Miracles† in the 1948 publication An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. From purely metaphysical considerations the conclusion is that miracles are indeed possible. We must remember that the core of Hume’s philosophy is empirical skepticism. The materialists, weaned on the mechanics of Newton, were pronouncing outright miracles impossible. The laws of motion and gravity were successfully explaining the heavenly bodies, and hardly anyone suspected that they were not universal in scope. Newtonian mechanics has no place for miracles. This was almost a proof of the invalidity of miracles. But the proud determinism that they espoused had no philosophical foundation to it. Descartes, and the Cartesians, tried desperately for a metaphysics of materialism, but to know avail. Finally Hume overthrew all the strained Cartesian designs, and advanced a devastating critique of reason, as applied to empirical sense data, to deliver objective knowledge. It turned Enlightenment thinking on its head. Knowledge is not possible, and yet miracles are. The philosophers of materialism were stuck on the question as to how it is at all possible that mind interacts with matter. This is indeed a miracle of the highest order, and Hume cannot help but paint the wonder that is inherent in such an idea: For first: Is there any principle in all nature more mysterious than the union of soul with body; by which a supposed spiritual substance acquires such an influence over a material one, that the most refined thought is able to actuate the grossest matter? (Ibid 43) Hume draws the conclusion that it is quite impossible to describe or explain such a thing. So we cannot talk about interaction at all, not even in the parallel case where one inanimate object imparts momentum to another. We talk about the first body causing motion in the second, but we cannot describe an interaction having taken place between cause and effect. We can only observe that the effect has followed the cause, as if two separated events conjoined in time. There is no necessity that the effect must always follow the cause. If we do come to such a conclusion it can only be due to the fact that we have become accustomed to expect such. He then probes into the situation where the effect is unexpected. It seems that the laws of nature has been violated, and we begin to pronounce that a miracle has occurred. But we are hasty to do so, Hume points out. Just because we expect a certain outcome doesn’t imply that natural law dictates the same. He offers the example of the Indian who has never known snow hails miracle when he sees it falling, because nothing in his experience has prepared him for it. Sometimes our science makes us feel that we know the sum extent of natural law. The essence of Hume’s philosophy is that we do not know natural law, and the extent of out ability, regards knowledge, is to infer from experience. He thus leaves room for divine intervention, for natural law is in the hands of the Almighty, only that Hume is not prone to listen to the tall tales of the coarse and the gullible regarding miracles: Though the Being to whom the miracle is ascribed, be Almighty, it [the miracle] does not, upon that account, become a whit more probable, since it is impossible for us to know the attributes or actions of such a Being, otherwise than from the experience of his productions, in the usual course of nature. This still reduces us to past observations†¦ (Ibid 89) Hume is virulent and protracted in his attack against the popular report of miracles, which he thinks has more to do with base psychology than with proper faith. The common lot is so eager to see miracles that it latches on to any hoax and fraud that comes its way, and this is what Hume finds despicable. Such an attitude is understandable coming from a philosopher of the Enlightenment. However, if he had shown a little more empathy towards the gullible he would have recognized that the yearning for miracle is but a testimony of its preciousness. A Chinese proverb reads: â€Å"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth† (qtd. in Moore, 2006, p. 69). However, it does not feel like a partaking in a miracle while walking the earth in one’s daily odyssey of toil and tears. People need to see explicit miracles only to keep them in touch with the miracle of life itself. Prayer itself, as the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev puts it, is prayer but for a miracle: â€Å"Every prayer reduces itself to this: ‘Great God grant that twice two be not four’† (qtd. in Andrews, 1987, p. 207). Some scientists are finally coming to accept that miracles are indeed possible. Not in the sense in which Hume described it, who defined a miracle as a violation of natural law. He too insists that natural law cannot be violated, and miracle in that sense is impossible. When we come across a miracle we recognize it as such because it violates natural law, only as far as our limited understanding of natural law is concerned. Experience has taught us to expect nature to behave in certain ways, and for all intents and purposes this is natural law for us, the observer. When we observe the unexpected we feel that natural law has been violated, but it may only a new experience for us, like the Indian that Hume describes as coming across the miracle of snow. Polkinghorne therefore suggests an alternative description of miracle, which is not a violation of nature, but instead â€Å"exploration of a new regime of physical experience† (2001, p. 59). All our expectations derive from custom, says Hume, and therefore our worldview is indeed a science of probabilities. That which we expect to happen is probable, but no one can vouchsafe it as certain. Therefore the door is always left open to the improbable. All miracles must find berth in the bracket of improbability. If Hume put it so before the advent of modern science, at the very frontiers of that same science the verdict came back the same. Scientists are by and large determinists, as regards their philosophy. Indeed, the must be so necessarily, for the method of science, as outlined by Francis Bacon in the seventeenth century, induces from empirical evidence the fixed laws of nature. As he asserts in the New Organon, â€Å"I open and lay out a new and certain path for the mind to proceed in, starting directly from the simple sensuous perception† [italics my own] (7). The entire rationale behind such a method is the promise of certainty, as regards knowledge. All scientists necessarily have this object in view, as followers of the method of Bacon. It is agreed among them that the apex of this science is quantum physics. According to this discipline, there is no certain knowledge, not of an atomic particle’s position, nor of its velocity. The rule is codified in Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty. It lays out a science of probabilities, with the aid of the highest mathematics and the most advanced principles of physics. Yet the essence of it is exactly the same as what Hume put forward as â€Å"custom†. In conclusion, we declare miracles possible or not depending on how we define a miracle. If we insist that it is a violation of natural law, then we must declare it impossible. On the other hand, if it is a highly improbable event, then it is by definition possible. We must remember that the realm of the improbable contains things beyond our wildest expectations, and therefore if we come across such we may mistake it for a violation of nature. References Andrews, R. (1987). The Routledge Dictionary of Quotations. New York: Routledge. Bacon, F. (2000). The New Organon. L. Jardine, M. Silverthorne (Eds.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hume, D. (1993). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. E. Steinberg (Ed.) Boston: Hackett Publishing. Moore, D. (2006). Zen Wisdom: Magnetic Quotes and Proverbs. Kennebunkport, ME: Cider Mill Press Book Publishers. Polkinghorne, J. C. (2001). Faith, Science and Understanding. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. How to cite Miracles: Possible of Not, Essay examples

Jacob Banks Essays (1984 words) - The Holocaust, Racism, Europe

Jacob Banks Jackson U.S 2 5/22/17 The Holocaust and it's effects The discovery of these atrocities scarred the entire world for years to come , and even to this day we still talk about these horrors. The holocaust was known as Hitler's "final solution", his solution being to blame and kill all the European Jews for Germany's problems. And a vast number of the German population followed Hitler because he pulled the German economy out of the dirt , he brought the German army back to its former glory after the defeat of the World War, and he had someone to point at for all the problems the German people faced. Hitler's disgusting round up and slighter of the Jewish populous appalled all those who heard it to the point of disbelief and dismay, the soldiers who discovered the camps couldn't believe what they were looking at when they first discovered the camps. The holocaust was one of, if not the most tragic event to happen in the history of wars. Never has a single population of people been rounded up an d slaughtered for absolutely no reason until Hitler's final solution. From the discovery of the camps to even modern day America the outlook of the Germans has been much less than favorable , and the holocaust is the blame for the Germans demise. The holocaust is said to have killed some 6 million Jews, and that's only the rough estimate of the bodies they were able to count. The holocaust was a brutal endeavor where a man by the name of Adolf Hitler attempted to massacre the entire European Jewish populous because they were supposedly the reason for Germany's demise. The way the Germans would execute their prisoners was inhumane, they would lure them in with the simple promise of something like a shower and slaughter them all in an instant without warning, "You are going to take a nice hot shower. Remove all your clothes, and leave them where you are. You will find them when you return. The unsuspecting prisoners, eager to cleanse themselves after their long cattle car journey, obeyed. They did not know they were going to their deaths. For once they were locked in the "shower" rooms, the Nazis released poison gas, not water, into the chambers. Immediately after the gassing, the dead bodies were hauled to nearby ovens call ed crematoriums. There, they were burned as fast as possible"(Leitner Isabella). All the fire and heat to cremate the piles of bodies left a wretched smell of death and black clouds all over the Jewish concentration camps, "The skies darkened with thick black smoke for miles around, and the smell was awful" (Leitner Isabella). Not only were the prisoners tortured by the smell of their dead, burned, or rotting fellow Jews; but they were also starved, beaten, forced to work, experimented on, and overall just dirty and sick living conditions "The prisoners in my Block had no true beds. Instead, we slept on triple-deck wood shelves called Pritsches . I slept on a top shelf, with my three sisters and ten other girls. The shelf under us also held fourteen girls, and the bottom shelf another fourteen. The shelves often broke, and those on top came tumbling down on the girls below. Screams and shouts filled the night when the Pritsches broke. And nobody slept" (Leitner Isabella). The German s would hold roll calls every single night, those who did not show up or could not stand perfectly still were beaten by the kapos, Jews chosen to police the ghettos, "Counting us took hours, and during this time, we had to stand without moving. The Kapos , who were prisoners themselves, helped the Germans. They beat us if we moved out of line" (Leitner Isabella). The concentration camps were overall a horrid sight to see, and just overly cruel to the Jewish population. They had no clean water, food, or clothes. The weaker were killed off while the strong were beaten into submission until they'd do any work the Germans or the Kapos would ask of them. To this day no one has forgotten the holocaust. It has even been made illegal in the country of Germany

Discrimination and David Batty People Essay

Discrimination and David Batty People Essay Discrimination and David Batty People Essay In today’s society equality and the art of â€Å"being fair† is ever so popular, as it should be. The amount of opportunities in front of any American is mind blowing, and everything seems to be a competition with someone else. Discrimination is a harsh to the point word with a much more extraordinary definition than the one given by the dictionary. â€Å" The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things.† The art of judging someone by how the look or how you perceive him or her to be has been around since the beginning of man. There are ways to eliminate discrimination and do without it. Over the years the way people are judged or looked at has changed and will always continue to over time. Discrimination is todays society is far different than discrimination in the 1930’s or 1950’s. Women’s rights are something that is still present in today’s society as well as back in the early 1900’s. Men have always seen themselves smarter or above women just in general. This is not the case at all, all men and women are equal and no man should be looked at as â€Å"better† or â€Å"more suited† than any woman. Women were discriminated against because they were not said to have been as smart as the man so they were given lesser duties. Ever since man and woman were made equal women have risen to the occasion and not let any personal judgments by people hold them back. Even though two things are said to be equal under law, that can never change anyone’s beliefs or what they believe should be happening. â€Å"We run from things that we don’t understand and when we can’t run, we demonize the people who are differen t from ourselves.† (Scott Benner) This leads me to the discrimination of African Americans and how to this day people are still racist toward someone of another skin color. This is probably the most used example of â€Å"discrimination† and it is very serious. Since the civil war and the so-called â€Å"end to slavery† there have been people who do not agree. It is human nature almost to stand for what you believe in. Racism and discrimination towards people of the opposite race can be a very touchy subject and can be sensitive to a lot of people. Although it is a sensitive topic it really is a huge problem in the world we live in. And not just Whites and Blacks but other races that have prejudices assumed about them as well. â€Å"The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.† (-Eric Berne) When man is not seen as one whole, there is no more harmony for one is seen as dif ferent. Our society right now is so contradictive with any news that is put out. All black colleges are allowed but if there was an all white college? Wouldn’t that be labeled racist? When in the end it is just fair? This is just one example of how discrimination and racism have affected everyone growing up in this world and how it will continue to with the help from our parents. There really is no way to completely put an end to racism and discrimination because it is a part of our American history and no one will ever forget what happened and erase their own beliefs. Parents are a large contributing factor because they are the ones that ultimately instill beliefs upon their kids, which every parent does. Discrimination of the mentally handicapped is something else that is not only a big problem but something that is just so rude and mean. All because someone is different than you, you exploit him or her. Some challenged people I have met

Deferred Compensation

Deferred Compensation Deferred compensation plans are arrangements by which a part of an employee’s compensation is paid at a later date, or put into investment instruments that the employee can only access at some point in the future Benefits and Hazards of Deferred Compensation There is a large variety of deferred compensation plans, arrangements by which a part of an employee’s compensation is paid at a later date, or put into investment instruments that the employee can only access at some point in the future. There are two basic reasons for deferred compensation. From the employee’s point of view, it reduces  or at least postpones his income tax liability. For employers, deferred compensation helps to manage payroll costs and can be used as an incentive for better employee performance. Types of Deferred Compensation The most common type of deferred compensation plan is the â€Å"defined contribution plan†: A  portion of the employee’s pay is deducted and invested on his behalf, usually in some form of mutual fund.   These are familiar to workers in the US as the â€Å"401(k)†, named after the section of Internal Revenue Code that pertains to them. The deferment from the employee’s salary is made before income taxes are withheld, which is a benefit to both employees and the employer. Employees do not pay taxes on their investments until they withdraw them sometime in the future, and employers are able to reduce the amount of withheld taxes they must remit to the government. Many employers also match all or part of the employee’s contribution, providing an extra incentive for employees to participate in the program; this helps to reduce the company’s transactions costs for maintaining the investment package. In the US, 401(k) programs have the added security of being protected by law from creditors in case of the company’s bankruptcy, although the value of the employees’ investments can fluctuate; in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, millions of US workers saw the value of their 401(k) savings drop as stock markets plummeted. Other kinds of deferred compensation packages not covered by the same regulations as 401(k) programs are more risky, although they generally offer higher returns. Non-401(k) programs are generally only offered to the highest-earning employees who also pay the highest rates of income tax. The main reason for these kinds of programs is that there are legal limits on the amount of money that can be deferred into a 401(k). The main risk is that there is much less regulation of non-401(k) programs, and they are not protected from bankruptcy. Many workers in the US discovered they had lost their investments in the wake of the financial crisis when their employers declared bankruptcy. Read also:  Financial Rewards  |  Money Makes the World Go Around Stock purchase plans and stock option plans are also common forms of deferred compensation: In a stock purchase plan, the company establishes a trust to receive employee contributions, which are converted to shares of the company’s stock.   Stock purchase plans are regulated in much the same manner as 401(k) programs, the only real difference being that instead of contributions being invested in an array of mutual funds, they are only reinvested in the company. The plan is popular with employers and employees alike; for employers, the stock purchase program is reflected in better cash flow and tax savings and is seen as a useful tool to increase employee productivity. Employees benefit by gaining an ownership stake in the company, and some small degree of control over the growth in value of their investments. Stock option plans differ in that the employee is not actually compensated in the form of stock, but â€Å"earns† options to purchase the company’s stock at a low fixed price in the future.   A stock option plan has most of the same benefits as a stock purchase plan  but allows the company to keep control over its shares for a longer period. Employees in rapidly-growing companies benefit the most from stock option plans; a well-known recent example is Facebook, which launched a highly-publicized – and unintentionally controversial – IPO in 2012. Facebook employees who had exercised their options prior to the IPO were able to profit handsomely from the high price Facebook shares fetched in the market, but their returns were reduced somewhat by a condition that they hold their shares for a time before selling them; Facebook’s share price dropped rapidly after the IPO, so employees who waited too long to sell shares saw very little profit, or even lost money in some cases. Another less well-known version of a stock-based deferred compensation plan is called the â€Å"phantom† stock plan: It provides employees benefits similar to those they would receive from owning company stock, without actually giving stock to the employees.   For example, employees might be compensated in â€Å"stock credits† equivalent to shares of stock, from which they can receive bonus payments based on the stock’s performance or dividends paid. Because phantom stock plans are hard to regulate and do not provide many benefits to employers as conventional purchase or option plans. What Should  Employees Look for in Deferred Compensation Plans? Because deferred compensation programs are based on investments that can lose as well as gain value, employees considering a compensation offer should make sure they understand the details of the deferred compensation package. 401(k) programs are the most highly-regulated and most secure  but vary in the specific funds or investment instruments they contain. In the 2008 financial crisis, many 401(k) holders watched their investments vanish  because a large number of 401(k) funds were heavily invested in popular but ultimately worthless mortgage-backed securities. For stock-based deferred compensation plans, the biggest issue is what part of the employee’s compensation the plan is supposed to represent since it is very difficult to quantify the future value of stock. Employees should ask for details about whether a certain level of returns or other incentives is guaranteed, and what limits are imposed on stock purchases or sales. Compensation is compensation, whether deferred or not, and it is up to an  employee  to decide whether or not what he can expect to earn, in whatever form he will receive it, is a fair exchange for his work.

The event that has change my life span Research Paper

The event that has change my life span - Research Paper Example Prior to the birth of my son I took my job for granted. The birth of my son was the greatest day in my life. Being a parent has matured me a lot. I now have a greater focus in life. I plan on studying for a career at a local university. Education can help humans develop their skills and capabilities in order to succeed in the workplace. In the United States approximately 33% of the population has a college degree (Abel). I want to study in order to become more educated so I can help my kid with his school work as he continues to grow. I want to be the best parent I can for my kid. My parents were always there for me and I want to do the same for my kid. â€Å"In order to fully enjoy effective parenting you will have to follow your rectified heart† (Yuan). Work Cited Page Abel, D. 17 May 2000. â€Å"Going Backwards: US Falls Behind in College Graduate Rate† 22 March 2011. Census.gov. 23 March 2011. â€Å"U.S. and World Population Clock.† U.S. Census Bureau. 23 Mar ch 2011. Tradingeconomics.com. 2011. â€Å"United States Unemployment Rate† 22 March 2011. Yuen, S. 2011. â€Å"The Three Virtues of Effective Parenting.† 22 March 2011.

Religious Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Religious Identity - Essay Example Religious identity thus refers to â€Å"a people’s ways of relating to their religion, including their association with a certain religious community, the strength of their belief in the preferred religion, and their ways of demonstrating those beliefs in their day to day lives.† It can be equated to membership to a religious grouping or community, this being regardless of the person’s religious activity or participation. It may be referred to as a specific type of Identity formation focusing mainly on group membership and the importance of the membership as pertaining to self-conception of the individual. Similar to either cultural or ethnic identities, the religious context provides generally a perception from which to view the world, a set of principles of guiding one’s lifestyle and the myriad of opportunities available of socialization with different people, generational differences regarded. As a whole, religious identity is affected by factors such as a person’s gender, generational status and ethnicity.... Religion is intricately intertwined with various aspects in the socio-cultural arena, that the above three factors are always present in the shaping of an individual’s religious identity. Ethnic differences; according to the Social Identity Theory, emerge when individuals of ethnic minority groups feel threatened in terms of identity, thus reasons for their emphasis on their social identities as a means of maintaining positive self-conception. Gender differences may impact on one’s religious identity; this being exemplified through the characteristic participation of the female gender in religious activities and in their expression of religion as being an important aspect of their lives, this being in relation to their male counterparts (Bryan Chosley Shepherd; The University of Texas at Austin. Sociology 32). Generational differences, categorized as either being first, second and third, where the first and second-generation individuals may have higher levels of religio us identity as compared to their third generation counterparts. Immigrants, in efforts of readjustments to the often-stressful changes associated with immigration, highly seek an environment provided by a place of worship that encompasses a community of emotional, financial and social support. Focus is placed on the stages of Adolescence and early Adulthood since adolescence is a developmental period that is crucial to an individual’s identity development. At this stage, there are various opportunities for the exploration of the ethnic, cultural and religious traditions present in the individual’s society, but within constraints erected by their parents or guardians. Influences can be both internal and external; depending on extent/exposure of socialization

A Violent Message in the Art of Popular Culture Essay -- Pop Culture R

A â€Å"Violent† Message in the Art of Popular Culture Many people believe that present-day music cause division, tension, and sometimes violence. However, it is acknowledged as art in popular culture. Art in popular culture revolves around action movies, television sitcoms, and provocative song lyrics, which have themes centered on explicit sexuality. Art in popular culture is embodied in music, dance, photography, and other artwork that embraces the ills of the world and acknowledges that they are appealing to the senses of people who live in a not so perfect world. Many critics say that popular culture is a product of generation X. A messed up group of people. What is wrong with popular culture? Why do the baby boomers regale this era of popular culture an era of madness? The answer is blatantly clear. Popular culture accepts the flaws of all its admirers and participants. For example, music in popular culture is generally deemed as negative. However, a positive consequence is that it has an international language and every one around the world can relate to what it communicates. Art in popular culture encompasses a common language, especially the art of music. This language rejects the sophisticated, civilized, intellectuals. For instance, popular culture inhibits the old, boring, classical music that operated out of the same musical dictionary and responded to the same chords. Whereas, music in popular culture rejects harmony as being important and values improvisation that breathes life-giving rhythm in non-structural chords. Music in popular culture is a genre distinct from both folk and classical music genres. According to The New Harvard Dictionary, it differed from the former being composed and notat... ...lent in this country. Some examples of Manson’s music, which can influence youth of today or could have taken the life of the young teenager previously mentioned are Dried Up, Tied Up and Dead to the World; Get Your Gun; Cake and Sodomy; Organ Grinder; Snake Eyes and Sissies; and etc. It is funny how rap and hip hop is essentially the only thing deemed violent, but popular culture stems from chaotic and violent factors. The two examples above can vouch for the previous statement. When looking at other outcomes of popular culture such as slasher movies with explicit sex scenes; talk shows that depicts American women as housewives or whores; or people like Monica Lewinsky who shows her bloomers to married men, popular culture music genres are just artistic expressions that mirror societal values in popular culture. Sometimes people do not like the reflection.

Bibliography of Famous Authors Essay

In this article by Robert Scholes, it talks about the hope and memory in My Antonia. He says the characters find themselves by looking back at the past. He said â€Å"we are reminded of this past constantly: by the Bohemian customs and culinary practices of the Shimerdas; by the observations of Otto Fuch on the relationship of Austrians and Bohemians I the old country; and especially by the Catholic religion of the Bohemians, which is their strongest link with the past, and which serves to bind them together and to separate them from the protestant society of their adopted and†¦Antonia cherishes her connection with the past† it talks about the characters and their past and how it has impacted their lives. I will use this to tie back into my thesis because this is basically what my whole paper is about. My paper based on the character’s past and how it impacts them later in life. The article talks a lot of the past memories that I can use in my research paper. Lucenti, Lisa Marie. â€Å"Willa Cathers My Antonia: Haunting the Houses of Memory.† Twentieth Century   Literature 46 (2000): Literary Reference Center, Galileo. MPHS Library, 18 April 2011 (#33 a work from an online service to which your library subscribes) This article analyzes My Antonia and it’s theme of memory and how it haunts some of the characters. It talks about the story of the wolves and how its haunted Peter and Pavel and how that brings gothic to the story. It also tells why Cather included some of the memories that she did in the novel. It tells the importance of those memories to the characters. I will talk about the memories it mentions and how they are important to the story and to the characters lives. Their past is what makes them who they are and it is important to mention why they are so important to them. This article analyzes the theme and I can use some of that information to help with my argument. Meeker, Joseph W. â€Å"Willa Cather: The Plow and The Pen† Willa Cather’s Ecological Imagination. Ed. Susan Rosowski. Volume 5. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1986. (#18 a selection from an anthropology) In this article, Meeker talks about the symbols mentioned in Cather’s novels. It talks about the plow and the landscape in My Antonia. It also talks about how some of the symbols represent the past. The article mentioned imagery throughout the novel and how the Nebraska plains had an impact on Jim. It also mentioned some of the imagery in O Pioneers! and other novels by Cather. I will use the information to help support my thesis on the symbols and theme and how it impacts the characters in the novel. In the article when it talks about the land and how it ties back to the past, I will use that to help my thesis. It has very good detail on everything represented in the novel and it will help me develop my paragraphs on symbolism. Gross, Jonathan D. â€Å"Recollecting Emotion in Tranquility: Wordsworth and Byron in Cather’s My à ntonia   and Lucy Gayheart† Cather Studies 7 (2007): Literary Reference Center, Galileo. MPHS Library 18 April 2011 (#33 a work from an online service to which your library subscribes) This article compares My Antonia with novels from Wordsworth and Byron. They all share similar qualities in their writings. In this article it talks about theme and symbols in My Antonia. In both My Antonia and in â€Å"Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey†, they talk about the theme of nature and how it impacts the characters. This whole article compares My Antonia to other works by Cather, Wordsworth, and Byron. I will use the information about the theme of nature and symbols mentioned in the article. There’s not a whole lot I can use on My Antonia but it has good information about theme and symbols throughout out the novel. It talks about how Cather focused on landscape and sensitivity of the reader to relate the past. Hallgarth, Susan A. â€Å"Archetypal Patterns in Shadows on the Rock†. Colby Quarterly 24 (1988): 2-4. (#22 An article in a journal with continuous pagination throughout the annual volume) In this article, it talks about symbols and how they represent something in the novel. It talks about how shadows are a repeated pattern in My Antonia and how Antonia breaking away from her mother is a symbol of her going through a new beginning. It compared symbols in My Antonia to some in Death Comes for the Archbishop and how they relate to one another. In the article it says â€Å" Burden’s discovery of pastness in the present allows him to see Antonia as all the ‘image’ which do not fade and herself, a ‘battered woman’ (MA, 352, 353). So I will use that in the paragraph I will have talking about how the past still reminds him of Antonia because his childhood is basically Antonia. All of his memories remind Jim of her because she is a big part in his past.

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 Henry Garnet and the Jesuits

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was an attempt by Catholic rebels to kill Protestant King James I of England, his eldest son and much of the English court and government by exploding gunpowder beneath a session of the Houses of Parliament. The plotters would then have seized the king’s younger children and formed a new, Catholic, government around which they hoped England’s Catholic minority would rise and rally. In many ways the plot was to have been a climax of Henry VIIIs attempt to take control of the English church, and its final failure, and Catholicism was heavily persecuted in England at the time, hence the desperation of plotters to rescue their faith and freedoms. The plot was dreamed up by a handful of plotters, who didnt initially involve Guy Fawkes, and then the plotters expanded as more and more were needed. Only now was Guy Fawkes included, because of his knowledge of explosions. He was very much the hired hand. The plotters might have tried to dig a tunnel underneath the Houses of Parliament, this is unclear, but then they moved on to hiring a room beneath the building and filling it with barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was to detonate it, while the rest put their coup into effect. The plot failed when the government were tipped off (we still dont know by who) and the plotters were discovered, tracked, arrested and executed. The lucky were killed in a shoot out (which involved the plotters partly blowing themselves up by drying their gunpowder near a fire), the unlucky were hanged, drawn and quartered.   The Jesuits are Blamed The conspirators feared that a violent anti-Catholic backlash would happen if the Plot failed, but this didnt occur; the King even acknowledged that the plot was due to a few fanatics. Instead, the persecution was limited to one very specific group, Jesuit priests, which the government decided to portray as the fanatics. Although the Jesuits were already illegal in England because they were a form of Catholic priest, they were especially hated by the government for encouraging people to remain true to Catholicism despite the legal onslaught aimed at turning them Protestant. For the Jesuits, suffering was an integral part of Catholicism, and not-compromising was a Catholic duty. By portraying the Jesuits, not just as members of the Gunpowder Plotters, but as their leaders, the post-plot government of England hoped to alienate the priests from the mass of horrified Catholics. Unfortunately for two Jesuits, Fathers Garnet and Greenway, they did have a connection to the plot thanks to the machinations of leading conspirator Robert Catesby and would suffer as a result. Catesby and Henry Garnet Catesbys servant, Thomas Bates, reacted to news of the plot with horror and was only convinced once Catesby had sent him to give confession to Jesuit, and active rebel, Father Greenway. This incident convinced Catesby he needed a religious judgement to use as proof, and he approached the head of the English Jesuits, Father Garnet, who at this point was also a friend. Over dinner in London on June 8th Catesby led a discussion which enabled him to ask whether for the good and promotion of the Catholic cause, the necessity of time and occasion so requiring, it be lawful or not, amongst many Nocents, to destroy and take away some innocents also. Garnet, apparently thinking that Catesby was just pursuing an idle discussion, answered: That if the advantages were greater on the side of the Catholics, by the destruction of innocents with the nocents, than by the preservation of both, it was doubtless lawful. (both cited from Haynes, The Gunpowder Plot, Sutton 1994, p. 62-63) Catesby now had the resolution of the case, his official religious justification, which he used to convince, among others, Everard Digby. Garnet and Greenway Garnet soon realized that Catesby meant, not only to kill someone important, but to do it in a particularly indiscriminate way and, although he had supported treasonous plots before, he was far from happy with Catesbys intent. Shortly after, Garnet actually found out exactly what this intent was: a distraught Father Greenway, the confessor to Catesby and other plotters, approached Garnet and begged the Superior to listen to his confession. Garnet at first refused, guessing correctly that Greenway knew of Catesby’s plot, but he eventually relented and was told all. Garnet Resolves to Stop Catesby Despite having lived, effectively on the run, in England for years, having heard of many plots and treasons, the Gunpowder Plot still deeply shocked Garnet, who believed it would lead to the ruin of him and all other English Catholics. He and Greenway resolved upon two methods of stopping Catesby: firstly Garnet sent Greenway back with a message expressively forbidding Catesby from acting; Catesby ignored it. Secondly, Garnet wrote to the Pope, appealing for a judgement on whether English Catholics could act violently. Unfortunately for Garnet, he felt bound by confession and could just give vague hints in his letters to the pope, and he received equally vague comments back which Catesby also ignored. Furthermore, Catesby actively delayed several of Garnets messages, stranding them in Brussels. Garnet Fails On July 24th 1605 Garnet and Catesby met face to face at White Webbs in Enfield, a Catholic safehouse and meeting place rented by Garnets ally Anne Vaux. Here, Garnet and Vaux tried again to forbid Catesby from acting; they failed, and they knew it. The plot  went ahead. Garnet is Implicated, Arrested and Executed Despite Guy Fawkes and Thomas Wintour stressing in their confessions that neither Greenway, Garnet nor other Jesuits had any direct involvement in the plot, the prosecution at the trials presented an official government, and largely fictional, story of how the Jesuits had dreamt up, organised, recruited and supplied the plot, aided by statements from Tresham, who later admitted the truth, and Bates, who tried to implicate the Jesuits in return for his own survival. Several priests, including Greenway, fled to Europe, but when Father Garnet was arrested on March 28th his fate was already sealed and he was executed on May 3rd. It only slightly helped the prosecutors that Garnet was overheard admitting in prison hed known what Catesby was planning. The Gunpowder Plot cant be blamed exclusively for Garnets death. Just being in England was enough to get him executed and the government had searched for him for years. Indeed, much of his trial was concerned with his views on equivocation – a concept many people found strange and dishonest - rather than gunpowder. Even so, government lists of the plotters had Garnets name at the top. The Question of Guilt For decades, much of the general public believed the Jesuits had led the plot. Thanks to the rigours of modern historical writing, this is no longer the case; Alice Hogges statement ...perhaps the time has come to re-open the case against the English Jesuits...and restore their reputation  is noble, but already redundant. However, some historians have gone far the other way, calling the Jesuits innocent victims of persecution. While Garnet and Greenway were persecuted, and while they didnt take an active part in the plot, they werent innocent. Both knew what Catesby was planning, both knew their attempts to stop him had failed, and neither did anything else to stop it. This meant both were guilty of concealing treason, a criminal offense then as now. Faith Versus Saving Lives Father Garnet claimed he was bound by the seal of confession, making it sacrilege to inform on Catesby. But, in theory, Greenway had been bound by the seal of confession himself and shouldnt have been able to tell Garnet details of the plot unless he was himself involved, when he could mention it through his own confession. The question of whether Garnet learnt of the plot through Greenways confession, or whether Greenway simply told him has affected commentators views of Garnet ever since. For some, Garnet was trapped by his faith; for others, the chance the plot might succeed sapped his resolve to stop it; for others going further still, he was a moral coward who weighed up breaking the confessional or letting hundreds of people die and chosen to let them die. Whichever you accept, Garnet was the superior of the English Jesuits and could have done more if hed wished to.