Monday, September 30, 2019

Antigone vs. Creon

In the tragedy of Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone, the main protagonist, is conflicted whether or not to bury her dead brother and go against Creon's law or follow Creon's law. Creon is the main antagonist in this story and punishes Antigone for breaking his law and burying Polynieces. Though they are two different characters, Creon and Antigone could both qualify as the tragic hero because they are both responsible for their own fate, endowed with a tragic flaw and falls from high esteem.In the story, Antigone and Creon are responsible for their own fate, seeing as it's their actions that cause them to be a tragic hero. Antigone knows about Creon's law not bury Polynieces, yet she'd rather go against Creon than the Gods. She did what she thinks is correct but Creon is furious and sends her to a stone grave. Antigone knows what the consequences would be, â€Å"[her] death is the doing of [her] own conscious hand† (‘v. 46). She wouldn't be dead if she didn't bury Polyniec es and follow Creon's law.She chooses to go against him and that seals her fate. Creon, on the other hand, hooses to be stubborn and punish Antigone for breaking his crime. He couldn't bear to seem weak to the citizens of Thebes. It was Antigone's punishment, â€Å"if she lives or dies/That's her affair† (‘v. 55-56). Even if it means sending his own, soon to be daughter in law, to her death. Creon let his pride control his actions and that causes him to lose his wife and his last son. Both, Antigone and Creon could avoid their tragic endings but their flaws cause their ultimate downfall.The tragic flaw endowed in both these characters is pride, one refusing to admit what she did was wrong and another refusing to listen to others. Antigone not only goes against Creon's law but she boasts about it. She refuses to admit she is wrong, saying that Creon's law â€Å"[is] not God's proclamation. That final Justice/ That rules the world below makes no such laws† 57-58). She stands for what she believes in and that makes Creon angry. Though Antigone did follow the law of the Gods, it did not stop Creon from punishing her for breaking his laws.Similarly, Creon's hubris causes him to lose everything too. Haemon had come to him saying that a good king listens to other people's opinions and â€Å"[Doesn't] believe that [he] alone can be right† (iii. 74) ut he doesn't listen. Then Teiresias comes and tries to convince Creon to fix everything, for the Gods are angry and it's his fault. He finally comes to his senses and tries to right his wrongs by mimicking a proper burial for Polynieces and freeing Antigone from her grave, but he is too late.Creon loses his entire family for Haemon kills himself in grief for Antigone and Eurydice takes her life in grief for the loss of both her sons. Everything was going well in their lives until pride gets in the way and ruins the life they once had. Antigone and Creon had a pretty good life in the beginning, se eing as Antigone is etting married and Creon is ruling as king of Thebes, but all that deteriorates once they are forced to face the consequences of their actions. Antigone is already that Polynieces isn't going to be buried and Eteocles is, makes it worse.She chooses to get involved and ends up with her â€Å"[making] a noose of her fine linen veil/And [hanging] herself† because she'd rather die for what she believes in than what someone tells her to believe in (Exo. 59-60). She couldVe left it alone and let Polynieces rot in the field and go about her life to marry Haemon, yet she chooses to risk her life and when the time comes, accepts her death with honor. At the same time, Creon has also let his life go to waste because he already lost one son in the war, he saw another take his life in front of him and comes back home to find his wife had taken her life as well.All Creon wants to do is to die because â€Å"[his] comfort lies here dead. mhatever [his] hands have touche d has come to nothing† (Exo. 136-137). Creon went from being King of Thebes, with a family at home, to Just Creon, who became a victim of the Gods and fate. Although he didn't die, he accepts the fact that he was too late to fix everything and asks to be led away, for his entire family is dead because of him. Most readers would immediately argue that Sophocles chose Antigone as the tragic hero since the story is called Tragedy of Antigone.Although this is true, according to Greek terms of a tragic hero, Creon, to an extent, could also qualify as the tragic hero. Antigone and Creon had two different roles in this story, but in the end they are both the tragic hero because theyre responsible for their own fate, possess a tragic flaw and they fall from high esteem. Antigone vs. Creon In the tragedy of Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone, the main protagonist, is conflicted whether or not to bury her dead brother and go against Creon's law or follow Creon's law. Creon is the main antagonist in this story and punishes Antigone for breaking his law and burying Polynieces. Though they are two different characters, Creon and Antigone could both qualify as the tragic hero because they are both responsible for their own fate, endowed with a tragic flaw and falls from high esteem.In the story, Antigone and Creon are responsible for their own fate, seeing as it's their actions that cause them to be a tragic hero. Antigone knows about Creon's law not bury Polynieces, yet she'd rather go against Creon than the Gods. She did what she thinks is correct but Creon is furious and sends her to a stone grave. Antigone knows what the consequences would be, â€Å"[her] death is the doing of [her] own conscious hand† (‘v. 46). She wouldn't be dead if she didn't bury Polyniec es and follow Creon's law.She chooses to go against him and that seals her fate. Creon, on the other hand, hooses to be stubborn and punish Antigone for breaking his crime. He couldn't bear to seem weak to the citizens of Thebes. It was Antigone's punishment, â€Å"if she lives or dies/That's her affair† (‘v. 55-56). Even if it means sending his own, soon to be daughter in law, to her death. Creon let his pride control his actions and that causes him to lose his wife and his last son. Both, Antigone and Creon could avoid their tragic endings but their flaws cause their ultimate downfall.The tragic flaw endowed in both these characters is pride, one refusing to admit what she did was wrong and another refusing to listen to others. Antigone not only goes against Creon's law but she boasts about it. She refuses to admit she is wrong, saying that Creon's law â€Å"[is] not God's proclamation. That final Justice/ That rules the world below makes no such laws† 57-58). She stands for what she believes in and that makes Creon angry. Though Antigone did follow the law of the Gods, it did not stop Creon from punishing her for breaking his laws.Similarly, Creon's hubris causes him to lose everything too. Haemon had come to him saying that a good king listens to other people's opinions and â€Å"[Doesn't] believe that [he] alone can be right† (iii. 74) ut he doesn't listen. Then Teiresias comes and tries to convince Creon to fix everything, for the Gods are angry and it's his fault. He finally comes to his senses and tries to right his wrongs by mimicking a proper burial for Polynieces and freeing Antigone from her grave, but he is too late.Creon loses his entire family for Haemon kills himself in grief for Antigone and Eurydice takes her life in grief for the loss of both her sons. Everything was going well in their lives until pride gets in the way and ruins the life they once had. Antigone and Creon had a pretty good life in the beginning, se eing as Antigone is etting married and Creon is ruling as king of Thebes, but all that deteriorates once they are forced to face the consequences of their actions. Antigone is already that Polynieces isn't going to be buried and Eteocles is, makes it worse.She chooses to get involved and ends up with her â€Å"[making] a noose of her fine linen veil/And [hanging] herself† because she'd rather die for what she believes in than what someone tells her to believe in (Exo. 59-60). She couldVe left it alone and let Polynieces rot in the field and go about her life to marry Haemon, yet she chooses to risk her life and when the time comes, accepts her death with honor. At the same time, Creon has also let his life go to waste because he already lost one son in the war, he saw another take his life in front of him and comes back home to find his wife had taken her life as well.All Creon wants to do is to die because â€Å"[his] comfort lies here dead. mhatever [his] hands have touche d has come to nothing† (Exo. 136-137). Creon went from being King of Thebes, with a family at home, to Just Creon, who became a victim of the Gods and fate. Although he didn't die, he accepts the fact that he was too late to fix everything and asks to be led away, for his entire family is dead because of him. Most readers would immediately argue that Sophocles chose Antigone as the tragic hero since the story is called Tragedy of Antigone.Although this is true, according to Greek terms of a tragic hero, Creon, to an extent, could also qualify as the tragic hero. Antigone and Creon had two different roles in this story, but in the end they are both the tragic hero because theyre responsible for their own fate, possess a tragic flaw and they fall from high esteem.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Difference of girls and boys in school Essay

How do boys and girls experience school? Somewhat differently it seems, because their learning styles tend to differ somewhat. Although individual differences always trump gender-related differences, here are some differences between the ways boys and girls in K12 grades classrooms behave that have implications for teaching and learning. Girls are more likely to Boys are more likely to 1. be good listeners -a trait that serves them well in today’s language-rich classrooms. 1. do well when using mathematical-logical thinking. 2. print neatly and follow directions carefully. 2. settle for messy handwriting and disorganized work. 3. sit calmly in their seats. 3. need space to spread out their materials; move around in that space. 4. gather facts before they draw conclusions. 4. deduce conclusions from general statements. 5. need concrete examples when learning abstract principles. 5. be comfortable with mathematical symbols and general ideas in math. 6. need to talk about their subject before beginning a writing project. 6. lose focus on a writing task and spend little time talking about what they plan to write. 7. work well in cooperative groups. 7. Prefer to work alone; argue over who will lead when working in a group 8. entertain themselves during boring parts of the school day. 8. act out and disrupt the class when bored. 9. pay attention to more than one activity at a time. 9. find it hard to concentrate on learning when they are upset. 10. discuss problems with a teacher. 10. act as if they don’t care about learning when they are confused or frustrated. At a primary school Manning, a small town 65 miles east of Columbia, South Carolina, second grade teachers Holly Garneau and Anna Lynne Gamble are convinced that segregating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement—in both genders. Eager to capitalize on their past progress, the two created a teaching plan for the upcoming semester. The kids will be in a coed environment for homeroom, lunch, and recess, then  divide up for four hours each day to learn their math, science, reading and social studies. But first, Garneau and Gamble need the parents’ approval. That’s where David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education, comes in. He doesn’t argue the politics of the issue. He emphasizes the science â€Å"These (learning) differences are tendencies, not absolutes. That is important,† he tells the group. â€Å"However, we can teach boys and girls based on what we now know because of medical technology.† Just as he’s explained to hundreds of parents and teachers across the state, Chadwell patiently walks the Manning crowd through how boys and girls perceive the world. â€Å"They see differently. Literally,† he begins. Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, he explains. The composition of the male eye makes it attuned to motion and direction. â€Å"Boys interpret the world as objects moving through space,† he says. â€Å"The teacher should move around the room constantly and be that object.† The male eye is also drawn to cooler colors like silver, blue, black, grey, and brown. It’s no accident boys tend to create pictures of moving objects like spaceships, cars, and trucks in dark colors instead of drawing the happy colorful family, like girls in their class. The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to textures and colors. It’s also oriented toward warmer colors—reds, yellow, oranges—and visuals with more details, like faces. To engage girls, Chadwell says, the teacher doesn’t need to move as much, if at all. Girls work well in circles, facing each other. Using descriptive phrases and lots of color in overhead presentations or on the chalkboard gets their attention. Parents tilt their heads, curious to hear more. Boys and girls also hear differently. â€Å"When someone speaks in a loud tone, girls interpret it as yelling,† Chadwell says. â€Å"They think you’re mad and can shut down.† Girls have a more finely tuned aural structure; they can hear higher frequencies than boys and are more sensitive to sounds. He advises girls’ teachers to watch the tone of their voices. Boys’ teachers should sound matter of fact, even excited. Chadwell’s voice sounds much more forceful as he explains. Chadwell continues. A boy’s autonomic nervous system causes them to be more alert when they’re standing, moving, and the room temperature is around 69 degrees. Stress in boys, he says, tends to increase blood flow to their brains, a process that helps them stay focused. This won’t work for girls, who are more focused seated in a warmer room around 75 degrees. Girls also respond to stress differently. When exposed to threat and confrontation, blood goes to their guts, leaving them feeling nervous or anxious. â€Å"Boys will rise to a risk and tend to overestimate their abilities,† he says. Teachers can help them by getting them to be more realistic about results,† he says. â€Å"Girls at this age shy away from risk, which is exactly why lots of girls’ programs began in the private sector. Teachers can help them learn to take risks in an atmosphere where they feel confident about doing so.† It’s an aha! moment for many of the parents, who seem to understand. These differences can be accommodated in the classroom, Chadwell adds. â€Å"Single gender programs are about maximizing the learning.† Mar. 5, 2008 — Although researchers have long agreed that girls have superior language abilities than boys, until now no one has clearly provided a biological basis that may account for their differences. Share This: 811 For the first time — and in unambiguous findings — researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Haifa show both that areas of the brain associated with language work harder in girls than in boys during language tasks, and that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing these tasks. â€Å"Our findings — which suggest that language processing is more sensory in boys and more abstract in girls — could have major implications for teaching children and even provide support for advocates of single sex classrooms,† said Douglas D. Burman, research associate in Northwestern’s Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers measured brain activity in 31 boys and in 31 girls aged 9 to 15 as they performed spelling and writing language tasks. The tasks were delivered in two sensory modalities — visual and a uditory. When visually presented, the children read certain words without hearing them. Presented in an auditory mode, they heard words aloud but did not see them. Using a complex statistical model, the researchers accounted for differences associated with age, gender, type of linguistic judgment, performance accuracy and the method — written or spoken — in which words  were presented. The researchers found that girls still showed significantly greater activation in language areas of the brain than boys. The information in the tasks got through to girls’ language areas of the brain — areas associated with abstract thinking through language. And their performance accuracy correlated with the degree of activation in some of these language areas. To their astonishment, however, this was not at all the case for boys. In boys, accurate performance depended — when reading words — on how hard visual areas of the brain worked. In hearing words, boys’ performance depended on how hard auditory areas of the brain worked. If that pattern extends to language processing that occurs in the classroom, it could inform teaching and testing methods. Given boys’ sensory approach, boys might be more effectively evaluated on knowledge gained from lectures via oral tests and on knowledge gained by reading via written tests. For girls, whose language processing appears more abstract in approach, these different testing methods would appear unnecessary. â€Å"One possibility is that boys have some kind of bottleneck in their sensory processes that can hold up visual or auditory information and keep it from being fed into the language areas of the brain,† Burman said. This could result simply from girls developing faster than boys, in which case the differences between the sexes migh t disappear by adulthood. Or, an alternative explanation is that boys create visual and auditory associations such that meanings associated with a word are brought to mind simply from seeing or hearing the word. While the second explanation puts males at a disadvantage in more abstract language function, those kinds of sensory associations may have provided an evolutionary advantage for primitive men whose survival required them to quickly recognize danger-associated sights and sounds. If the pattern of females relying on an abstract language network and of males relying on sensory areas of the brain extends into adulthood — a still unresolved question — it could explain why women often provide more context and abstract representation than men. Ask a woman for directions and you may hear something like: â€Å"Turn left on Main Street, go one block past the drug store, and then turn right, where there’s a flower shop on one corner and a cafe across the street.† Such information-laden directions may be helpful for women because all information is relevant to the abstract concept of where to turn; however, men may require only one cue and be distracted by  additional information. Boy and girl babies differ from the time they are in the crib. Richard Restak studied these differences in babies from birth to twelve months and published his findings in the now classic book The Brain: The Last Frontier (Grand Central Publishing, 1988). He found that boy babies demonstrate early superiority in visual acuity and possess better spatial abilities in dealing with three-dimensional space. Boy babies also perform better in gross motor body movements. He found girl babies to be more sensitive to sounds (especially their mother’s voice) and more attuned to the social contexts of situations (faces, speech patterns and tones of voice). Girl babies speak sooner and develop larger vocabularies. Inborn Learning Styles Dr. Rita Dunn, Director of the Center for Study of Learning and Teaching Styles at St. John’s University in New York, and Dr. Kenneth Dunn of Queens College, have spent nearly 25 years in the study of learning styles. They identify the most common learning styles as Auditory, Visual and Tactile. From their studies, the Dunns have observed that learning styles are inborn and run in families, and can be observed as early as the first year of life. Of the children I have evaluated in my own practice, over 80 percent demonstrates a learning style that is either identical to that of one parent or a blend of both parents’ styles. Ten percent demonstrate the learning style of a close relative, such as a grandparent or uncle. Listeners, Lookers and Movers Listeners, Lookers and Movers are the terms I use for Auditory, Visual and Tactilelearners, respectively. Listeners are attuned to sounds and words. They talk early, have large vocabularies and learn to read with ease. From the first year of life,Lookers are drawn to color, shape and motion. They display excellent eye-hand coordination, and can be expected to excel at math and computers. As babies,Movers often crawl, stand and walk ahead of schedule. They are well-coordinated and confident in their bodies, but their affinity for moving poses problems for them in structured classroom settings. Male vs. Female Learning Styles While external circumstances can have an impact on a child’s preferred  learning style, some generalizations are possible. Girls tend to be auditory learners, more attuned to sounds, and as a result talk earlier than boys. From the time they begin formal schooling, girls excel in auditory subjects, such as reading, which require the ability to break words into individual sound units, and then blend them back into a whole. As auditory learners, they perform well in classroom settings that demand attention to teacher instructions. As adults, they often lean toward careers in communications. Male broadcasters, courtroom attorneys and speech-language pathologists prove that there are exceptions to this rule. Beginning at birth, boys tend to be visually alert and take a whole body stance to learning. As visual learners, boys tend to excel in visual subjects, such as spelling and math. Spelling requires accurate visual recall of the patterns of words, and success in math hinges on the ability to mentally visualize and manipulate quantities. As adults, males tend to favor visually precise fields, or favor fields where they can be physically active. However, female airline pilots, accountants and landscape designers prove exceptions to this rule. Learning and Teaching Strategies Left to their own devices, children, over time, tend to settle into a preferred way of learning to the point of screening out less favored types of information. Whenever a child gets set in a particular way of learning and begins to screen out auditory, visual or tactile information, he or she is at risk of being labeled learning disabled. Children do not â€Å"outgrow† their preferences for learning in a particular way. In fact, without help, as they progress through the grades, they tend to become more set in their learning style ways. Children can, however, become more flexible in their approach to learning when adults encourage them as early as possible to welcome auditory, visual and tactile information.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

International Art Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Art Market - Essay Example National and local governments have also acknowledged the significance of culture and art in the promotion of policies, as reinforcement to the linkages between the two and in spheres of local development (Galloway and Dunlop 17). Culture and art have taken a center stage in the agendas covered by policy-making, and this is evident from the economic regeneration models adopted by Netherlands, Scotland, Singapore, New Zealand and South Korea among other countries (Galloway and Dunlop 18). Irrespective of the growing interest in cities and their histories, the museums of different cities have received less attention as sources of valid information about the places of multiple eras and shapes. City museums have continued to be viewed as extraneous and unresponsive to the changes taking place within the societies around them, therefore not beneficial to the residents of the city (Filene 14). Taking into account the centrality of contemporary city life, city museums among other art centers, should not only act as tourist and historical centers in the city, but should assume a more central role in contemporary city life (Butler-Bowdon and Hunt 76-77). In the case of Rotterdam, the Museum of Rotterdam has played a key role, over a number of years, towards increasing the role and the importance of the present city. In response to post-modern trends, the museum has done more than positioning the modern city as the central point of its work (Marstine 28). The transnational na ture of the city has become the focal point of the policies developed by the museum, and the workers of the museum have taken up the responsibility of mediating between the works of the museum, the ways in which it presents art and the life of the people in the city. Towards realizing the goal of regenerating the city, the museum trains its curators, enabling them to develop the ability to use fashionable heritage as an important ingredient in creating the future of the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Consumption and Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Consumption and Environment - Essay Example Human habitats are being plundered of their natural resources base. Air and water pollution is rampant in all industrialized cities of the world. PPM (particulate matter per cubic meter of air) is alarmingly high, and is no more fit for human breathing. The COD, BOD levels in fresh water streams are quite low for survival of plant and animal life in waters. The soils are being badly damaged by excessive cropping. The precious animal and plants species are endangered. The CO2 level in the atmosphere is alarmingly high. Results are the global warming and climate change. Therefore unnecessary lust of a few people for consumption of food, clothes, fuel, energy and other scarcest resources has been resulting into poverty disease and death for many other fellow human beings. The rivers are gutted with filth, the air is laden with poisonous gases and soils are boiling with toxic materials. This situation is only due to greedily exploitation of forest, fossil fuels and food-based resources. The solution lies in finding the alternate resources that are cleaner in production, cheaper and efficient. Recycling projects are one of the solutions. Recycling Project: The sea beaches are always littered with different foodstuffs and their containers. This is called garbage or solid waste. This waste can be collected, separated and recycled for further use. The recycling project includes three main activities. Collection of organic wastes like wood, paper, food remains, plastic bottles, metal cans, glass, and bones. The collection needs proper gloves and storage containers. The separation includes, segregation of metal, glass, bones and food/paper stuff in separate containers. In this way you separate organic from inorganic waste. The organic waste is put in an airtight container and mixed with yeast. After 90 days the stuff converts into manure (natural fertilizer) and the liquid part of this can be used as a pesticide. The organic wastes are crushed and used in the factories for recycling.How is it connected to me I live an oil rich economy of a gulf state. Oil has become scarce fossil sources for exploitation. War on terror imposed by America on Iraq is in fact a desperate war for the oil resources in the gulf. This war has been doing more harm to the environment than any other factor. A lot of fossil oil has been burnt. Seas are filled with the oil spillage and fish have been dead. This is very cruel. I feel sorry to see the vast exploitation of these resources. A recycling project can save the environment. Vast beaches on the red sea are suitable for the recycling project. How is it connected to my culture Bahrain is an oil rich economy, a small gulf state surrounded by red sea. People per capita income are quite high. Therefore their consumption patterns are also quite unreasonable People do not care about wastage of energy. The use cars and fuel base appliances excessively. This situation irks me a lot. I want to give the better shape to mother earth. Since child hood I see that people are spendthrift. This is causing degeneration to our water resources. This situation must be reversed. Recycling project can help this situation. This alternate solution of energy production is strange to my people. They can become used to it as they experience these windmills by themselves. What specific

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Tesla Motors (TSLA) case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tesla Motors (TSLA) - Case Study Example However, it had an upper hand over the other machines owing to the fact that the car did not emit gaseous waste products to the atmosphere, as it relied solely on electricity for power up and performance (Gregersen, 2014). One major reason for the invention of the electric cars is that oil is a commodity, whose availability may be limited by the year 2020. Oil is slowly but drastically becoming a depleting source of renewable energy (El Deeb et al, 2014). As at today, Tesla Motors has grown to produce two models of these electric vehicles namely, The Tesla Roadster and Models S. There are plans however, that are underway to produce a third model, Model X by around 2015 (Ggrabianowski). In addition to these electric cars, Tesla has gone an extra mile of creating charging points at strategic locations especially in North America, Europe and Asia. In those areas, owners of such vehicles could charge these Tesla vehicles for free. Despite the fact that the company enjoys a great name for their innovations, economic analysts have on the contrary predicted that the company will contradictorily witness a decrease by 297.06% in total earnings this year. â€Å"Tesla motors design and sells high- performance; highly efficient electric sports cars which do not compromise the customers in any way. Tesla motor cars combine style, acceleration and handling with advanced technologies, which make them among the quickest and the most energy- efficient cars on the road† (El Deeb et al, 2014, pg 3). The management has close to twenty senior employees that run the whole company with Elon Musk as the CEO. He is an experienced CEO with strong managerial background, and he is believed to be recruiting only the best employees around into the firm. The sports cars manufacture takes place in California, where less than  ¼ of the company factory is used to produce just but a single model. Hence, the managing team boasts of enough space to allow for newer models of Tesla motors.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Solar enrgy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Solar enrgy - Research Paper Example This paper looks at the alternative sources of energy in general, and focuses on the Solar Energy as one of the most effective, affordable, and cheap alternative source of energy. The paper also looks at the use and development of solar energy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), especially, by the company called MASDAR, based in the UAE. As we have just seen, alternative source of energy is any energy source that does not use fossil fuel in generating energy (Alternative Energy, Web). There are a number of advantages of using alternative source of energy in comparison to using the fossil fuel source of energy. One of the advantages of using the alternative source of energy is that the alternative source of energy reduces the usage of fossil fuel source of energy and therefore preserves and prevents the fossil fuels from being depleted. With the emergence of many and powerful industries in the modern world, coupled with the increase of the number and usage of vehicles, aeroplanes, and ships, which all depend on fossil based fuels, the fossil fuel source of energy is indeed at the danger of being depleted. ... many alternative sources of energy do not release toxic chemicals to our environment. Fossil based sources of energy are well known for releasing greenhouse gases, Carbon Dioxide gas, in the environment, thus leading to the global warming (Alternative Energy, Web). Global warming threatens to make our world inhabitable and so there is an urgent need to develop alternative sources of energy that do not cause any threat to our very own existence. Many alternative sources of energy therefore help us to get the energy that we need in our various activities without causing any harm to our environment. The third major advantage of using alternative source of energy is that, the alternative source of energy is quite cheap and affordable in comparison to the fossil fuel based sources of energy (Alternative Energy, Web). The cost of the fossil based fuels is increasing each year in many countries around the world that do not produce the fossil fuels. Different governments are using a lot of m oney on fossil fuels as source of energy. Also, many poor people are not able to afford the fossil fuels because of the astronomical costs associated with them. On the other hand, alternative sources of energy like the solar energy and the biogas are quite cheap and affordable to almost everybody. The alternative sources of energy, therefore, are quite cheap and affordable; alternative sources of energy ensure that almost everybody has access to power. The alternative sources of energy therefore spurs economic growth of a country through making cheap power available to all people, including the poor people. Having looked at the main advantages of alternative sources of energy, let us now look at some of the common alternative sources of

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Principles of Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Principles of Marketing - Essay Example ace’ component of the marketing mix this paper will discuss what distribution strategies are used in the industry, with an analysis of how much information is given during the adverts. Lastly this paper will discuss whether or not the adverts tell us anything about distribution and if the product utilizes a push or pull strategy. According to National Geographic (2010) the annual expenditures on cosmetics globally is approximately U.S. $18 billion annually. According to a study conducted by the UK based cosmetic store ‘Superdrug’ it is the case that 70% of women in the UK do not leave the house without makeup (Oneindia.com, 2010). Given the size of this industry and the demand for product there is little question that there are a number of different players have carved out a niche in the mascara industry. While the history of mascara may go back over a century, in the modern context some of the largest players in this market are L’Oreal, Revlon and Maybelline. Moreover, there are a number of smaller independent cosmetics makers that create niche products in the market such as Mary Kay. As it is the case there are different firms with different strategies it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what strategy is employed for each individual company. With aggressive strategies In terms of the promotion mix, advertising plays a very important role with the utilization of most media outlets such as television and radio adverts, billboards, in-store displays, direct marketing campaigns, web-content and even product placement. According to Peachey (2002) Revlon spent  £5m to play a pivotal part in the storyline of the American soap opera, ‘All My Children’ which frequently references the Mascara product offerings of the company. In the example of Mary Kay the company utilizes an aggressive ‘personal selling’ strategy so that an element of expert advice can be provided to help educate consumers of what product offerings can best meet the needs of the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Writing Sample to be submitted with graduate faculty employment Essay

Writing Sample to be submitted with graduate faculty employment application - Essay Example There are several instances where brain scans are brought as court-room evidences to present that the suspect is somehow mentally challenged and thus cannot, for some reason, be charged with death sentence, and so be given lifetime imprisonment instead. Because of this modernity, criminal justice is challenged, and the issue remains unresolved. Immature Brain Neurolaw is creating a scene in providing judgments, leading experts from different fields in constant debate whether when to consider a brain as normal or abnormal, or when to consider the evidence as a legal mitigating circumstance or as an alibi. One contention raised by neuroscientists is that â€Å"adolescents are not as capable of controlling their impulses as adults because the development of neurons in the prefrontal cortex isn’t complete until the early 20s† (Rosen 3). The American Psychiatric Association backed-up this â€Å"anatomically-based† claim that there are differences between juveniles and adults, emphasizing that immature regions of the brain are those related with regulation of emotions, impulse control, risk assessment, and moral reasoning (Fagan 14). These are shown with the aid of modern technology which â€Å"rationalizes† the deviant behavior of juvenile offenders, and the brain is said to function maturely as the individual transitions into adulthood. This argument was essential in the Supreme Court’s decision for offenders below 18 years old not to be sentenced with death penalty. In addition, this neuroscientific evidence has been recently used several times in juvenile cases to influence the decisions of the judge and the jury. However, the complications neurolaw give our courts do not just end there. Law and Technology It is implied that a bigger concern in integrating neuroscience into the criminal justice system concerns cases where juvenile delinquency is not necessarily involved. There seems to be no clear delineation as to when brain sc ans may be considered adequate evidences, and how members of the prosecution committee would weigh the gravity of these proofs. However, the influence of neuroscience in the courts does not seem to cease. The law generally regards individuals responsible for their actions, but accommodations are sometimes granted to explain misconduct, and in this course neuroscience enters, arguing that differences in brain activity may influence behavior (Society of Neuroscience 38). High technology has made it possible for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans to link who we are and how we behave, as asserted by neuroscientists. Kent Kiehl is a prominent neuroscientist who has added psychopathy to the list of conditions that can be observed in fMRI scans, other than those telltale signs established for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Haederle). Highly interested in why psychopaths behave the way they do, Kiehl is involved in a research that scanned the brains of prison inmates and conducted interviews. Kiehl is delving on a possibility that â€Å"there are developmental differences associated with psychopathic traits,† where â€Å"the more severe the traits, the more severe the impairment in the paralimbic system† (qtd. in Haederle). Along with his other assertions based on neuroscience, he believes that it is not a good idea to punish convicted offenders who possess malfunctioning brains. Neuroscience and Criminal Responsibility Another aspect, however, concerns the relevance of neuroscience

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The use of power and persuasion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The use of power and persuasion - Essay Example Similarly, others stress on how the power must transcend by virtue of leadership, implying that people relate to larger groups and thus, the art of leadership must be paralleled with the art of gauging the deep rooted insights of human responses (Harvard University 2005). However, in order to apply this strategy, it is imperative to build trusts and a dynamic interpersonal relationship with the people. Similarly, commenting on the need of innovative leaders, the academia also tends to differentiate between an ordinary leader and the one which tends to innovate, since innovative leadership doesn’t solely rely of a vision and leadership qualities; instead it tends to seek inspiration and drive these innovators towards positive direction to deem outputs (Yolderwise 2010). Therefore, a leader offer inspiration, motivation and even a dynamic personality for others to relate to and follow, with an innovation leader carrying even more elaborate responsibilities. Thus, there is need t o explore various dimensions on the nature and functioning of innovative leadership. As mentioned above as well, there are distinct leadership styles and leadership qualities which can be undertaken by a leader, and therefore may be understood from various lens. However, question arises on which approach may be accurate and appropriate for an innovation leader. In this context, various researchers have commented that such a leader may borrow concepts from various leadership styles to create a distinct style of his own to instill innovation and direction in the intended audience. Therefore, an innovative leader will employ distinct strategies to carve out a leadership style which then contributes towards producing creative and original ideas, services, products or solution Thus concept of innovation leadership was first put forth by Dr, Gliddon

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Impacts of Fast Food Essay Example for Free

The Impacts of Fast Food Essay The Impacts of Fast Food Fast food can be a cheap, quick meal, but most people do not realize what they are actually getting into. While some may say that the fast food industry has helped the world because it allows people with low incomes or not a lot of time on their hands to be able to get a fast meal, there are plenty of side effects to go along with it. The fast food industry has been developing quickly and has successfully roped in the human race. These restaurants are widely accepted because of their inexpensive food that is extremely addicting. Most people fail to see the other part of the story. In today’s society, fast food seems to be at the top of everyone’s meal list, but at the bottom of his or her concerns. Fast food impacts the economic, agricultural, and health fields. Some people believe that the fast food industry has no bad affects. Even though there are some positive points of it, people should start to also take notice of the negative points. The fast food industry provides jobs for lots of people throughout the world. There are more than 3. 5 million Americans who have been employed with a job in the fast food business (Peterson). This job appeals to lots of people because the employees do not have to be skilled to flip a burger or work a cash register. However, having a job at a fast food restaurant is not always a good thing. With low salaries, the economy cannot improve (Peterson). When there are so many people who have low salaries, nobody is going to be able to afford anything. Susan Peterson, a Ph. D in text theory from the University of Texas, says, â€Å"People work to make money, but what if they are not making enough to get by without help from the government? Susan has a very valid point. If people are not making enough money in their fast food job, how are they going to buy material needs for them or their family? It is great that they have a job and are working to earn some money, but that is not going to solve everything. Robby Kukler, a partner at Atlanta-based 5th-group-restaurants, says, â€Å"We live in a very cost-sensitive industry† (Bowman). Human dependency has played a large role in fast food. When there are so many people who consume fast food regularly, by logic, the industry is going to grow. A survey taken in the beginning of 2013 states that there are about 184, 200 fast food restaurants in America (Burks). Fast food restaurants are meant to be convenient, but when there are so many, too many people eat it too often. In the past forty years, the whole fast food industry has grown from a $6 billion revenue to a $170 billion revenue (Fast Food). Even though that seems like a large amount of time for a small growth, it is not. That is more than $4 billion per year. In 1968, there were only one thousand McDonalds in the United States. Now, there are more than thirty thousand (Cohen). With the rapid growth rate of fast food restaurants, it is just going to get easier and easier for humans to depend on fast food. While fast food affects the economy very heavily, it also impacts thousands of farms all around the country and even the world. Most people do not even know what they are eating when they are consuming fast food. In many places, there are vast amounts of corn and soybeans that become animal feed or ingredients in processed foods (Boyd). As a matter of fact, about 20 percent of the world’s petroleum production goes into the production and transportation of our food (Boyd). Because of this, the food we eat does not come from around the state anymore, but from all around the country or even the world. What people now call â€Å"fresh foods† can come from anywhere. It can be shipped as close as right around the corner, but as far as 1,500 miles away (Garrison). Why would a person want to eat something in which he or she does not know the ingredients or process involved in making it? A typical hamburger contains meat from dozens or even hundreds of different cattle from all around the world (Schlosser). The meat in hamburgers and even chicken nuggets used to come from a few or ever just one cattle (Schlosser). Therefore, if only one cattle is infected with a disease or sickness, there is a good chance that the person who consumes this meat will encounter some of the disease (Schlosser). People should really start to watch what is in the food that they are eating. Most people do not know that in a typical fast food strawberry milkshake, there is a substance used to clean oil rigs (Cohen). This is just one example of people not knowing what is in their food or drink before they consume it. Farms used to be very diverse, growing corn, oats, wheat, hay, fruits, and vegetables (Boyd). To feed a population as large as this one, farming is needed. In America, McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef, pork, and also potatoes (Cohen). McDonald’s is also the second largest purchaser of chicken in the United States (Cohen). Without agriculture, the human race would go nowhere in their everyday lives. It is only because of agricultural surpluses that we, as humans, were able to develop science, literature, and all of the other things we like so much (Cohen). We also do not have to fight for survival because farming and agriculture makes it so easy to put dinner on the table and feed people so easily (Cohen). Without agriculture we would not have such an advanced world today.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Transnational corporations in developing world

Transnational corporations in developing world Introduction Transnational corporations have spread their operations around the entire world and are frequently violating the most basic human rights. This paper will discuss the negative impact of transnational corporations (hereinafter: TNCs) on the natural environment in host countries. It will focus on corporations operating in developing countries. Environmental degradation is closely interlinked to health, but due to restrictions, the paper will only focus on the environmental aspect. As a result of the global impact of TNCs operations and the negative effect on the environment they may cause, environmental protection is a very relevant topic. It is very concerning that there are only a few international legal documents which lay down TNCs responsibilities regarding this matter. Due to the voluntary nature of those, TNCs can very often operate in their own way, without any regard to the environment and what is more, in many cases the host states are reluctant to take any measures to prevent pollution done by TNCs. The working hypothesis of this paper is as follows: TNCs and host countries have certain responsibilities regarding environmental protection. However, they are reluctant to take measures to prevent environmental pollution, the former because they are driven by profit and the latter because of a lack of will or means. Developing countries where TNCs operate frequently lack sufficient funds for environmental management or are unwilling to put pressure on TNCs because they do not want to lose TNCs investment. The paper will be divided into three sections. In the first one, the recognition of the right to a healthy environment will be examined. This section will include some global and regional documents which recognize that right and it will briefly present how the right to environment is recognized at the national level of states. The second part will contain an overview of TNCs impact on the environment and research their legal and moral obligations with regard to environmental protection. In the third part, responsibility of states to protect peoples right to the environment from being violated by TNCs will be examined. Throughout the paper, cases of environmental pollution by TNCs will be presented. Good practices will be mentioned as well. The paper will among others, look into the following documents: UDHR, ICESCR, Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights. Furthermore, constitutions of some countries regarding the environment will be mentioned. As examples of certain claims, cases will be presented and statistical data used to support some statements. The Right to a Healthy Environment Consequences of environmental degradation have increasingly started to attract international attention in the second part of the 20th century. Many attempts to develop regulations for environmental protection were made, but at first, environmental protection was not directly linked to human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights for example recognizes the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family[1] which emphasizes more the social care. The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, adopted in 1972 in Stockholm (hereinafter: Stockholm Declaration) made a significant step towards environmental protection by stating: Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and he bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations.[2] Fr om this formulation it can be understood that environmental protection is a precondition to the enjoyment of human rights. In other words, human rights are seen as a goal and environmental protection as means to achieve it. The Stockholm Declaration influenced the development of a number of documents and organizations concerned with the environmental protection. Important to mention is the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development which proclaims the right of human beings to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature[3] and states further that the environmental requirement of future generations is a basic human right: The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.[4] There exist a number of international and regional documents, principles and norms relating to the concept of the environment[5]. However, no global human rights treaty which includes the right to environment has been adopted so far. There are several regional documents which explicitly recognize the human right to a healthy environment, for instance African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights[6] and American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights[7]. It is worth mentioning that the European Convention on Human Rights does not include the right to a healthy environment but this might change in October 2009 the Parliamentary Assembly issued a recommendation that this right be included in an additional protocol to the convention. On the national level, the right to a healthy environment is today codified in numerous constitutions[8] and national laws. The formulations of the right vary but in general they include the principle that the human right to a healthy/clean/secure/safe environment provides each individual a right to an environment that enables him/her well-being and development.[9] Environmental degradation is closely linked to some other human rights. Pollution of resources such as water, air or soil is violating the right to health and can have an impact on the right to life. Forced evictions caused by consequences of corporations projects for example are connected to the violation of the right to the property, just to name a few. As stated above, this paper will only focus on the environmental aspect. Transnational Corporations The impact of TNCs on the environment In the past century, transnational corporations have expanded their activities throughout the entire world. They operate in many sectors such as extractive industries, footwear and textile production, manufacturing, electronics, construction etc. Most TNCs are registered in developed countries[10] but usually move their operations to developing countries. They are attracted by less stringent environmental regulations and bigger tolerance to the pollution they cause, which is closely connected to tolerance to other human rights violations arising from the environmental degradation.[11] Corporations are capable of contributing to better local living conditions by increasing the standard of living and some surely do. They stimulate development by for example providing jobs, training or modern technical equipment. There are cases where corporations operating in a host country which has lower environmental standards compared to those in their home country, operate under stricter standards. This, however, is not a universal practice. TNCs often move their operations to developing countries precisely because they can get away with the bad conduct prohibited elsewhere. In developing countries corporations frequently use potentially dangerous technologies and outdated machinery which are highly pollutant. In 1985 for instance the Westinghouse Electric Corporation from U.S. sold a nuclear reactor to Philippines which did not meet U.S. safety standards.[12] What is more, examples can be found of TNCs which do not meet neither the standards of the home nor the host country. Such was the outdated equipment in the pesticide plant in Bhopal which was the reason for the worst industrial accident in history. Mining and oil industries are contributing to large-scale environmental pollution. Those, along with other industries cause soil degradation, deforestation, pollution of the atmosphere, contaminate water supplies and have a heavy impact on biodiversity as well. Such degradation is long-term and heavily impacts health. Among other diseases it causes respiratory and lung problems, skin rashes, allergies, tumors and can even result in death. Environmental damage is often irreversible or it takes long time for the nature to renew. As it has been recognized in the Rio Declaration, it has an impact on future generations as well. Legal obligations of TNCs The international system for protection of human rights is a state-based system. That means that states are primary duty-holders of human rights obligations but they are not exclusive duty-holders. A question arises if TNCs have any obligations[13] to comply with these laws. The International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights[14] for example refers to any State, group or person[15] as having duties so from this statement it can be deducted that TNCs have duties as well and should therefore refrain from violating human rights through their activities. The problem arises with the accountability. Under current international law namely, states are the ones which are required to impose standards that TNCs must adhere to and states are the ones which will be held liable for human rights violations by corporations.[16] In the 1970s several codes of conduct concerning the duties of TNCs have been developed, such as OECD-Declaration on International Investments and Multinational Enterprises (1976), which includes Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In regard to environmental protection, the guidelines state that enterprises should take due account of the need to protect the environment and avoid creating environmentally related health problems. They should furthermore provide timely information regarding the potential impacts on the environment and health, take measures to minimize the risk of accidents and damage to health and environment and cooperate in mitigating adverse effects of their operations.[17] The guidelines can be used as recommendation to TNCs but they are not legally binding. Today there are 42 countries which have signed the document.[18] A more recent voluntary standard developed for promotion of human rights by corporations is the United Nations Global Compact, an initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.[19] The abovementioned initiatives are both voluntary and it is true that they are a step into the right direction but due to the fact that they are voluntary and not legally binding they have proven not to be effective, which can be seen in cases mentioned throughout the paper. In 2003 a significant document was adopted: the UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights (hereinafter: the Norms). The Norms are the first international legal instrument to recognize the obligations of TNCs regarding the protection of human rights. With regard to the environmental protection, it is clearly stated that TNCs shall carry out their activities in accordance with national laws, regulations, administrative practices and policies relating to the preservation of the environment of the countries in which they operate.[20] The commentary of that clause states that corporations shall respect the right to a clean and healthy environment in the light of the relationship between the environment and human rights.[21] The Norms impose obligations on TNCs to assess the impact of their activities and deliver reports to competent bodies.[22] TNCs are furthermore to adopt internal rules of operation which ar e in compliance with the Norms[23] and respect and protect human rights within their spheres of their activity. Nevertheless, as it is stated in the text, the primary responsibility still lies within the states.[24] As can be seen from the way the Norms are formed, they are not purely voluntary. They namely foresee a monitoring and reporting mechanism to determine if TNCs comply with the obligations they have under the Norms. What is more, according to the text TNCs shall provide adequate reparation to communities which have been affected by TNCs failures to comply with the Norms.[25] In April 2004 though, the Commission on Human Rights affirmed that Norms have no legal standing and that Sub-Commission should not perform any monitoring.[26] That means that Norms are only a consultative document. The same as the abovementioned regulations, the Norms are of voluntary nature and therefore its provisions cannot be enforced upon TNCs. It can be concluded that just as any other voluntary document, they will only be observed by a few corporations and these tend to be the ones which are already operating in a positive manner. The international community has so far been unable to reach an agreement on a legally binding document recognizing the right to environment which is strictly directed at TNCs. That, however, does not mean that there are no environmental standards TNCs must adhere to while conducting their practices. TNCs must respect national laws of host countries regarding those standards. Moral obligations of TNCs There is an increasingly strong view that TNCs have ethical or moral duties to respect fundamental human rights in the countries in which they do business. The NGO sector expects TNCs to engage more in their environmental responsibility and that they act to ensure that their impact is positive, not negative.[27] If companies are observed from the perspective that they are created to make profit and that profit maximization is the only force that drives them, then it is contradictory for them to have any additional expenses which are not strictly necessary. Milton Friedman in his article on social responsibility of businesses argues that the responsibility is to conduct business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money possible.[28] He points out that a company engages in certain activities which are good for the community just for its own purposes and profit.[29] Can it be deduced that ethical conduct is only in the economic interest of a corporation? From that perspective it would mean that TNCs invest money into something that is not strictly necessary for business, but they do it only because they believe they will have some economic benefits from the investment. And if ethical conduct would not be beneficial, would TNCs still consider it? Not all corporations can be blamed for polluting the environment. Many are operating in positive manners but as already mentioned above, due to the restrictions, this paper is only focusing on those which have a negative impact on the environment. From the latter group, there is a number of TNCs which have improved their policies. The question that arises in this respect is if they do that because they realized that due to new practices they would have a greater economic benefit. Is the change genuine or are the efforts being made just for the sake of gaining competitive advantage? In times of globalization, companies cannot escape the scrutiny of media for their misconduct even if it is taking place at the other side of the world. There are many campaigns calling for consumers attention to irresponsible operations of TNCs which give them bad publicity that may consequently reduce the sales.[30] Organizations like Corporate Watch, Global Exchange or CorpWatch are constantly exposing TNCs for the environmental damage they cause. TNCs do not want consumers to think of their brand as a bad brand because of their negative practices and may change their conduct for that reason. The importance of public scrutiny is growing. What is more, this might be the main tool for forcing TNCs to become more responsible towards the environment since they may want to avoid negative publicity which can affect their sales. On the other hand, what they might do is to advertise their good practices when in fact they continue to work in environmentally destructive practices. Unilever for example portrays itself as a business which exercises the same concern for the environment wherever it operates and whose policy is to ensure safety of its operations for the environment.[31] Greenpeace on the other hand has accused Unilever of double standards because the company had allowed its Indian subsidiary to dump several tones of highly toxic mercury waste in a surrounding protected nature reserve.[32] Another case worth mentioning is Royal-Dutch Shell which now portrays itself as a good corporate citizen by announcing it operates in environmentally and socially responsible ways.[33] According to Corporate Watch however, the corporation continues, behind the greenwash, with many of its old ways.[34] States As already mentioned above, states are primary duty-bearers of human rights and have obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of their citizens in accordance with their national laws and with international documents they are parties to. States are the ones who establish treaties, they are the ones who sign them and must play the central regulatory role over activities within their territory.[35] With regard to the subject of this paper that means that states should have an overview of TNCs operations on their territory and make sure that corporations respect national environmental regulations. The implementation of environmental laws largely depends on each countrys efforts to enforce them. Frequently when dealing with TNCs, host countries on one hand lack the capacity or on the other hand, the political will to enforce the laws and consequently fail to respond to threats of TNCs to the environment. As mentioned above, many TNCs operate in Third World countries and these often do not have sufficient means for environmental management. There might be a lack of funding and lack of mechanisms needed to monitor compliance with laws. Therefore states are frequently unable to pressurize TNCs into adhering to their environmental laws. Operations of the U.S. corporation Newmont Mining and Peruvian firm Buenaventura in Yanacocha in Peru can be given as an example. Mining activities have resulted in depletion and pollution of water supplies, which led the local community to organize numerous protests. In 2006, with the change of government, an agreement between the TNC, communitys representatives and the government was concluded. The three parties agreed that the TNC would build a water purification plant and carry out studies of the local water supply. Upon that, a local NGO insisted that the government must act to stop the environmental pollution and got a response of the Minister of Energy who claimed that government would take steps to ensure that the rights are respected, but he pointed to the lack of funds for setting up an autonomous oversight body.[36] Some truth definitely lies behind the fact that developing countries are restricted in their funds and thus may not be able to perform certain activities. Stil l it has to be taken into account that the country profits from TNC activities as well so the lack of capacities can in many cases be connected to the lack of will. The second aspect of non-enforcement of environmental laws is, as mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, that states might be unwilling to put pressure on TNCs. One of the reasons is because of the fear that corporations might transfer their investments to other countries. Less stringent environmental laws or failure of states to enforce the laws might be more attractive to TNCs. States namely have economic benefits from TNCs investments and some put priority on those over environmental issues and consequently over their citizens rights. It is not rare that countries give out concessions to TNCs even though they are aware of the environmental pollution the TNCs cause. What is more, governments frequently even actively help TNCs, sometimes with use of violence against their own citizens. This has been the case in the example that follows. Freeport Indonesia has been operating a gold and copper mine in West Papua since 1970s and polluting irresponsibly almost without any liability. At the time when Freeport started its mining operation this was the cornerstone of the countrys economy. In order to lead the country towards economic stability, the government had given the corporation generous concessions. In exchange, the company provided employment, infrastructure and technology. The mining company, operating in the way it chose, with little regard for environmental consequences, and the government have therefore both benefited from the activities. While operating, Freeport has been disposing hazardous waste into the nea rby rivers, polluting the water and the surrounding environment which has caused severe health problems of the local population. When opposition to the TNC started gaining power, Freeport relied on the state military for security. It was claimed that Freeport financed Indonesian military to violently repress protests against its environmental crimes.[37] This case is very complex and it is evident that Freeport is involved in the political issues as well. Both parties profit from the situation to the detriment of the environment and local communities. The government with its power is able to repress any opposition and it seems that it has no intention to stop the environmental degradation because the profits it has from Freeports operations are too significant. The environmental harm caused does not seem to be of much importance and the same holds true for the health of the population. As can be seen from the cases mentioned throughout the paper, implementation of laws on the sate level in many cases proves to be insufficient. Some governments take the exact opposite role to what they are supposed to be doing instead of preventing TNCs environmental pollution and protecting their citizens they take an active role and support TNCs misconducts. Laws are too often not enforced and TNCs can continue exploiting the resources and polluting the environment without any limitations. Conclusion In the past few decades the initiative to recognize the right to a healthy environment has become stronger. The progress can be seen from the increasing number of documents recognizing the importance of environmental protection. At the regional level, there are a few treaties recognizing the right to a healthy environment, however no global treaty exists yet which recognizes this right. The international law is in this perspective lagging behind some national laws many states have namely recognized the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions. Activities of transnational corporations around the world have become unavoidable. TNCs are mostly registered in developed countries and often operate with harmful business practices in the Third World. There is no global binding treaty directed at TNCs regarding their conduct towards the environment and this proves to be a weakness of current international law. TNCs can therefore often get away with the pollution they cause. Many voluntary regulations exist but these cannot be legally enforced. They can only be seen as guidelines which TNCs are not obliged to follow. Only corporations that want to adhere to them will do so and it can be expected that those will probably be the ones which already operate in ethical ways. Voluntary guidelines will therefore not impact corporations which are responsible for the worst abuses. The importance of media in this regard is growing. Criticism of TNCs behavior might be the main weapon against their misconduct since they may want to avoid negati ve publicity which can affect their sales. It remains the fundamental role of each government to enforce environmental laws. It is up to each state to ensure that TNCs operating under its jurisdiction do not operate in an environmentally harmful manner. In the case of developing countries these often lack sufficient funds for environmental regulation or mechanisms to monitor TNCs performance. At the same time, they are often reluctant to act because of the fear of losing TNCs investment. Countries frequently place priority on economic benefits over environmental protection and it is not rare that they even help TNCs in their environmental exploitation by violently repressing resistance of their citizens. It can therefore be concluded that national governments of developing countries can in many cases not be relied upon to play their role in environmental protection. Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Buttefield, Fox: Philippines Expected to File Suit Against Westinghouse New York Times, 1 Dec., 1988. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/01/business/philippines-expected-to-file-suit-against-westinghouse.html?pagewanted=1 (accessed 5 Dec. 2009). Business and Human Rights Resource Center. Freeport Indonesia. 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Business Week, 15 August 2005. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_33/b3947115_mz017.htm (accessed 10 Dec. 2009). International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (New York, 16 Dec. 1966) 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force 3 Jan. 1976. International Law Programme Discussion Group. Norms on the Human Rights Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations: where next? 17 June 2004. http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/3244_ilp170604.pdf (accessed 10 Dec. 2009). Jà ¤gers, Nicola The Legal Status of the Multinational Corporation Under International Law. In Linking Human Rights and the Environment, ed. Romina Picolotti and Jorge Daniel Taillant, 31-56. Tuscon, The University of Arizona Press, 2003. Kiss, Alexandre The Right to the Conservation of the Environment. In Linking Human Rights and the Environment, ed. Romina Picolotti and Jorge Daniel Taillant, 31-56. Tuscon, The University of Arizona Press, 2003. Maggio, Greg and Owen J. Lynch Human Rights, Environment, and Economic Development. Existing and Emerging Standards in International Law and Global Society. CIEL Home Page, 15 Nov. 1997. http://www.ciel.org/Publications/olpaper3.html (accessed 11 Dec. 2009). Marsden, Chris In Defence of Corporate Responsibility. URL (accessed 8 Dec. 2009). OECD-Declaration on International Investments and Multinational Enterprises (21 June 1976) OECD Press Release A (76), 20. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/56/36/1922428.pdf (accessed 9 Dec. 2009). OReilly, Paddy and Sophia Tickell TNCs and Social Issues in the Developing World. In Human Rights Standards and the Responsibility of Transnational Corporations, ed. Michael K. Addo, 273-287. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (14 June 1992) UN Doc. A/Conf.151/5/Rev.1, reprinted in 31 ILM 874 (1992). http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=78ArticleID=1163 (accessed 9 Dec. 2009). Salazar, Milagros  »PERU: Leaching Out the Water with the Gold «. Inter Press Service. CorpWatch webpage. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14157 (accessed 14 Dec. 2009). Sende, Analia Marcella The Responsibilities of States for Actions of Transnational Corporations Affecting Social and Economic Rights: A Comparative Analysis of the Duty to Protect. 15 Colum. J. Eur. L. Online 33 (2009) http://www.cjel.net/online/15_2-marsella-sende/ (accessed 14 Dec. 2009). Shell. Webpage. http://www.shell.com/ (accessed 12 Dec. 2009). Tonkin, David. The Complex Story of Freeport. Inside Indonesia. Dec. 2004 http://www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/219/29/ (accessed 13 Dec. 2009). UN Commission on Human Rights, Round-up of 60th Session, U.N. Doc. HR/CN/1099 (26 April 2004). http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/hrcn1099.html (accessed 10 Dec. 2009). UN Human Rights Commission Resolution 2004/11, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2004/L.73/Rev.1 (20 April 2004). URL UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights (13 Aug. 2003) U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/Rev.2 (2003) http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/norms-Aug2003.html (accessed 10 Dec. 2009). Unilever. Unilever Environment Policy. http://www.unilever.com/images/sd_Environment-Policy_tcm13-173498.pdf (accessed 12 Dec. 2009). United Nations Organization. UN Global Compact, The Ten Principles. 2000. http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html (accessed 9 Dec. 2009). Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 Dec. 1948), U.N.G.A. Res. 217 A (III) (10 Dec. 1948). http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html (accessed 13 Dec. 2009). University of Michigan. The Curse of Oil in Ogoniland. http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/cases_03-04/Ogoni/Ogoni_case_study.htm (accessed 20 Dec. 2009). Zarsky, Lyuba (1997): Stuck In the Mud? Nation-States, Globalization and the Environment. The Hague. OECD. Woodroffe, Jessica Regulating Multinational Corporations. In Human Rights Standards and the Responsibility of Transnational Corporations, ed. Michael K. Addo, 131-142. The Hague: Kluwer Law Inter

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - Insanity in Hamlet Essay

Insanity in Hamlet  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   A consideration of the madness of the hero Hamlet within the Shakespearean drama of the same name, shows that his feigned madness sometimes borders on real madness, but probably only coincidentally.    Hamlet’s conversation with Claudius is insane to the latter. Lawrence Danson in â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† describes how Hamlet’s use of the syllogism is pure madness to the king:    What Hamlet shows by his use of the syllogism is that nothing secure can rest on the falsehood that masquerades as the royal order of Denmark. From Claudius’s point of view, however, the syllogism is simply mad: its logic is part of Hamlet’s â€Å"antic disposition.† Sane men know, after all, that â€Å"man and wife is one flesh† only in a metaphoric or symbolic sense; they know that only a madman would look for literal truth in linguistic conventions. And Claudius is right that such â€Å"madness in great ones must not unwatched go† (III.i.end). For the madman, precisely because he does not accept society’s compromises and because he explores its conventions for meanings they cannot bear, exposes the flaws which â€Å"normal† society keeps hidden (70).    Phyllis Abrahms and Alan Brody in â€Å"Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Formula† consider the madness of the hero to be completely feigned and not real:    Hamlet is a masterpiece not because it conforms to a set of conventions but because it takes those conventions and transmutes them into the pure gold of vital, relevant meaning. Hamlet’s feigned madness, for instance, becomes the touchstone for an illumination of the mysterious nature of sanity itself (44-45).    Hamlet’s first words in the play say that Claudius is "A little more than kin and less ... ...y Martin). On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters. 6th ed. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899.    Felperin, Howard. â€Å"O’erdoing Termagant.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt. of â€Å"O’erdoing Termagant: An Approach to Shakespearean Mimesis.† The Yale Review 63, no.3 (Spring 1974).    Foakes, R.A.. â€Å"The Play’s Courtly Setting.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of â€Å"Hamlet and the Court of Elsinore.† Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study and Production. No. 9. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1956.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.      

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Ballad Of Birmingham :: essays research papers

Dudley Randall's Ballad of Birmingham Dudley Randall's Ballad of Birmingham gives a poetic account of the bombing of a Birmingham church in 1963. The poem was written in ballad form to convey the mood of the mother to her daughter. The author also gives a graphic account of what the 1960's were like. Irony played a part also in the ballad showing the church as the warzone and the freedom march as the safer place to be. Writing the poem in ballad form gave a sense of mood to each paragraph. The poem starts out with an eager little girl wanting to march for freedom. The mother explains how treacherous the march could become showing her fear for her daughters life. The mood swings back and forth until finally the mother's fear overcomes the child's desire and the child is sent to church where it will be safe. The tempo seems to pick up in the last couple of paragraphs to emphasize the mothers distraught on hearing the explosion and finding her child's shoe. The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter. Going to church in the ghetto in Birmingham was probably the safest place a mother could send her child. But this is where the irony takes place. The irony makes the church the warzone and place of destruction while the march was the safest place to be. The child was depicted as combed hair, freshly bathed, with white gloves, and white shoes, which is also ironic. The mother had sent an angel dressed in white to a firestorm from hell called church. The mother was completely sure that her daughter was safe until she

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Amimal Farm :: essays research papers

ANIMAL FARM Political satire is not an uncommon literary genre. George Orwell is known for having written two of the most famous political satires in English literature. In Animal Farm, Orwell satirizes the show trials, the propaganda, and the cult of personality of Stalinist Russia. First, there are the show trials. For example, the book states, â€Å"In the following days, the dogs become his (Napoleon’s) bodyguard and killing machine.† Napoleon orders the dogs to kill the farm animals because they don’t believe that Snowball is the cause of all bad. Once again, one of the seven commandments, â€Å"no animal shall kill another,† is changed to fit Napoleon’s way of doing things. Squealer, with his quick and smooth talk is always right there to explain for Napoleon’s actions. In addition, when the hens fail to â€Å"meet the egg productions,† the pigs become violent and slaughter them. The slaughter of animals continues when a sheep dies after it confesses to having urinated in the drinking pool. As more animals come and confess their wrong doings, the pigs kill them, so it becomes necessary to alter the sixth commandment in order to show that they are faithful followers of the set commandments. The new commandment now says, â€Å"No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.† Second, there is the propaganda. For instance, Squealer uses propaganda more then any other animal on the farm, and he prospers from it. He becomes Napoleon’s second hand man by making everyone believe they remember wrongly about the commandments by asking, â€Å"Are you certain that this is not something that you have dreamed, comrades? Have you any record of such a resolution? Is it written down anywhere?† and makes sure everyone always believes Napoleon is a good leader. Furthermore, when Boxer is taken away in the knacker truck, Squealer tells all the animals that â€Å"the truck has been bought by the hospital, but they haven’t painted the old name out.† Squealer also brainwashes many of the animals into believing that they do not like apples and milk, which they were given to eat, while he, Napoleon, and other pigs are stealing food for themselves. Many things happen to Napoleon and the pigs because of propaganda. Finally, there is the cult of personality. For example, Minimus expresses his feelings for Napoleon by writing a poem which, runs as the following: Friend of fatherless! Fountain of happiness! Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Bully – Original Writing

Susan stood sobbing quietly in a toilet cubicle. She waited for the pounding footsteps to die away before emerging. Cautiously she gazed out of the entrance and then turned to face the dirty mirrors in front of her. She gently prodded the skin below her swelling left eye and flinched with pain. On examining her face she saw that as well as the blotchy redness that appears on your face after crying the beginnings of bruising were also emerging. She heard footsteps approaching and ran quickly back into the cubicle and locked the door. â€Å"Susan! Susan are you in here?† called a voice softly, â€Å"It's me, Nadine.† The door to the cubicle opened slowly and Susan emerged. â€Å"Oh my God!† exclaimed Nadine, â€Å"I heard them laughing and talking but I didn't think they'd actually done anything! Are you ok? Does it hurt?† â€Å"I'm fine!† snapped Susan â€Å"It doesn't matter now anyway. Do you have any foundation? I can't let Mom and Dad see this.† â€Å"Yeah, yeah of course I do† murmured Nadine; she had given up trying to persuade Susan to tell her parents about the bullies a long time ago. Nadine delved into her bag and pulled out a stick of foundation. The two girls went over the afternoons happenings as Susan carefully applied foundation to cover the bruising which was now a shade of red on her pale face. By the time she was finished the bell had rung and it was lunchtime. Susan and Nadine said goodbye and Susan left for home. â€Å"Susan? Is that you?† she heard her mother's voice sing from the sitting room. â€Å"Yeah, I wasn't feeling too good so I came home.† Susan mumbled. You should have called and asked me to pick you up† her mother replied sharply, † We bought you that mobile phone for a reason.† Susan, who was still standing in the hallway, hadn't told her parents about the gang of girls who tormented her. Therefore they did not know that her new Nokia phone had been stolen from her bag last week and by now had probably been sold on to someone for half the price Susan's parents had paid for it. â€Å"Susan? Come sit in here with me and I'll make you a nice cup of camomile tea.† â€Å"No it's ok mom,† Susan wondered why camomile tea was her mother's answer for everything, â€Å"I think I'll just go lie in my room for a while I've got a really bad headache.† And with that Susan trudged upstairs. â€Å"Susan! Nadine's on the phone!† her mother called upstairs sometime later. Susan padded across the hallway and picked up the extension in her parent's room she spoke to Nadine and assured her that she was all right, whilst going over the day's events in her head. She had not gone down for dinner that evening but had called hello to her father from the top of the stairs when he arrived home from work so that he would not get suspicious. Half an hour later Susan had hung up the phone and was trying to do a little revision for the GCSE's she had coming up later that year but her thoughts continued to return to the bullies. She wondered what would happen if she told her parents of the suffering she had endured due to her persecutors. She could imagine her mothers reaction, a completely over the top drama queen act during which she would insist on going directly to talk to the headmaster in whose office she would continually sob about her daughter's anguish and demand justice as though it were a court room. Her father on the other hand would tell her to stand up for herself and fight back. â€Å"You're a big girl now.† He would tell her in that patronising tone of voice she knew so well, â€Å"You can't continue to rely upon your mother and I to fight your battles for you. You have simply got to stand up for yourself.† Yeah, a fat lot of good telling them would do she told herself before falling in a fitful sleep. The next morning she heard her mother come bustling into the bedroom, â€Å"How are feeling today dear?† she asked in that singsong tone of voice that got on Susan's nerves. Remembering what had happened the previous day Susan quickly drew her head under her covers and told her mother in a muffled voice that she was feeling no better but agreed to have some breakfast and asked for a head ache tablet. As soon as her mom left the room Susan clambered out of her bed and looked into the mirror that hung above her dressing table. The bruising was not as bad as it had looked like it was going to be yesterday although, it was dark under her eye and along the left side of her face. Susan scurried into the bathroom, foundation in hand. By the time she went downstairs for breakfast it was impossible to see the bruising. Susan took that Friday off and by the time Monday morning arrived the violent wave of purple bruising was almost gone. Nadine arrived at Susan's house at 8-30am on Monday morning so that the two friends could walk to school together. â€Å"I thought I was never gonna get out of there!† exclaimed Susan as she locked the front gate on her way out. â€Å"Did they not notice the bruising at all?† Nadine asked looking at Susan's face, Susan had covered it with foundation and you couldn't tell there were any marks on her face whatsoever. â€Å"Nope. And even if they did they didn't say anything to me.† The girls walked in silence until they reached the school. Susan froze outside. â€Å"It'll be fine. They won't say anything.† Nadine assured her. † Yeah, it'll be fine.† Echoed Susan, speaking more to herself then Nadine. Susan walked into her registration class and immediately she saw them, Lauren and Sophie glared at her as she marched purposefully to her teacher's desk, taking out the note her mother had written Susan handed it to Mrs. Fraeser and sat down at her seat beside Nadine. Susan felt that the next few weeks were fairly manageable, the two bullies did not go out of their way to intimidate her. Instead they stuck to small things, tripping her in hallways and throwing Polo's at her, but she was able to cope with all the little things that Sophie and Lauren did to put her down. Soon, Susan found that she was feeling better than she had done in a long while, the bruising had completely vanished and she and Nadine were getting along fine. One Friday morning about four weeks after returning to school Susan and Nadine arranged to go shopping in town. â€Å"I'll pick you up at about 10am tomorrow morning!† called Nadine as the bell signalling the end of the lunch break rang. â€Å"Ok!† was Susan's reply as she gathered her bag and made her way out of the toilets. She felt someone bump into her and glanced up to apologise when she saw Sophie and Lauren standing in front of the door. Susan straightened up and looked about her, the three of them were alone except for a girl who was applying make-up at the sink. Hastily Susan grabbed her things and headed for the door but before she got there she felt someone grab her roughly by the arm, spinning round she saw Sophie's leering face. â€Å"You!† Lauren called to the little girl at the sink, â€Å"Get out!† The girl looked up questioningly but left the bathroom anyway. â€Å"Long time, no see. Wouldn't you say so?† muttered Sophie, tightening her grip. â€Å"Let me go!† said Susan through gritted teeth. â€Å"Now, now.† Lauren chided sarcastically â€Å"That's no way to talk is it? Not very nice at all.† â€Å"Let me go! I'll scream if I have to.† Susan's voice was becoming high-pitched and her eyes were filling with tears. â€Å"Ooh! Poor ickle baby gonna have a cry. Here, I'll give you something to cry about.† Muttered Sophie letting go of Susan's arm and punching her. Susan tried to hit back but the two bullies wouldn't back off, Susan felt the punches and kicks rain down on her body. She sank to the ground but Lauren pulled her back to her feet. â€Å"No, we're going to do it properly this time!† she yelled banging Susan's head on the tiled walls. After that Susan could not tell how many times she was punched and she felt as if there were more than two people hitting her, suddenly she felt someone grab her throat and felt her head bang off something solid. She slumped to the ground and felt warm, sticky blood running down the back of her neck and the last thing she heard before slipping out of consciousness was the sound of laughter and running footsteps. It was a few hours later when she woke up in a hospital room and heard her father's voice, â€Å"Susan? How do you feel?† he asked. â€Å"I've got a headache.† Susan answered groggily, looking around her. Immediately a nurse bustled into the room and began fluffing pillows and checking Susan's pupils and pulse. After the nurse left Susan saw her mother sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. â€Å"We're so sorry that we let this happen to you. But you've got a very good friend who told us what has been going on.† Said her mother with tears in her eyes. At that Nadine stepped in from behind the curtains and smiled at Susan. â€Å"They're going to be expelled, They're never gong to be able to get at you again.† Nadine said approaching Susan's bed and squeezing her hand. Susan nodded before finally falling into a much yearned for peaceful slumber.

Brief Summary

In Bernhard analysis, she starts off her essay strong by stating how important Frederick Douglass speech was. In her first paragraph, Bernhard shows readers that Frederick Douglass was credible by stating how he himself was part of the slave trade. Bernhard thesis in her first paragraph that drives the rest of her essay is how she states that, â€Å"Frederick was a huge part of the abolitionist movement,† and that, â€Å"Frederick wanted to show his aversion to slavery and his passionate dedication to see it end. As Bernhard continues with her analysis, she states how Frederick not only talks o abolitionist alike, but to proud Americans. As she continues with her analysis, Bernhard always refers back to her thesis in her first paragraph. She states facts on how Frederick became such a huge part of the abolitionist movement. She shows readers how Frederick had the skill to gain the audiences sympathy and how he made his speeches more important to listeners.In Bernhard fourth p aragraph, she refers back to her thesis on how Frederick wanted to show his aversion to slavery and his passion to see it end. In this paragraph, she continues to show how Frederick appealed to his audience's sense and ride by comparing Americans history of revolt against repression and wrongdoing to slavery.In conclusion, Bernhard whole analysis was to show how Frederick was Important to abolitionist movement; and to show how Frederick wanted to show his aversion to slavery and his passionate dedication to see It end. She backed up her thesis many times In her body paragraphs by showing how Frederick, showed his readers how corrupt American culture really Is. Then Bernhard ends her analysis by showing readers how Fredrick's effort Is now slowly Impacting the movement and caused many to reconsider the state and direction

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Similarities Between Men and Women

Sociology of Women October 18th, 2012 Are men and women more similar or different from each other? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each position? If not a gender dichotomy (male/female), then what? Can we unlearn, as a culture, the ins and outs of gender? Is gender a question of exclusion or is it a question of difference? Women and Men are more similar than people believe them to be. People focus on the evident physical differences we see on a daily basis in men and women.Women are commonly described to have breasts, a vagina, and are considered more â€Å"voluptuous† or curvy than men, Whereas men are known for their manly tools, their penis, and all the preconceived social and cultural notions that go along with that. However, aside from these minor physical differences men and women are innately the same. Although most people do not realize this, the only legitimate difference that is scientifically proven between men and women is that a woman’s body contai ns two X chromosomes and a man’s contains an X and Y chromosome (Connell, 2012, pg. 1). This biological difference then allows a woman’s body to develop slightly differently to enable reproduction, such as a womb, breasts, and wider pelvis. A man then develops testes but surprisingly both men and women’s genitals come from the same embryonic tissue. In other words biologically a penis and clitoris, scrotum and labia, come from the exact same starting place, and until people age these physical characteristics aren’t drastically visibly different (Connell, 2012, pg. 52).One of the most ridiculous arguments about the differences between men and women comes back to our hormones. Many people are taught the differences between men and women throughout popular culture and education but not similarities. We are taught that our gendered bodies do not share any of the same physical characteristics. Men should be buff, taller, and able to do more in terms of strengt h while women should be graceful, dainty, caregivers that are objects to look at. Most people are unaware of all the commonalities that men and women share.In fact our hormones function in the same ways, and there are not â€Å"male† or â€Å"female† hormones. The difference is the levels and patterns our hormones take on. Men generally have higher levels of androgens such as testosterone whereas women have higher levels of reproductive organs at certain points. What most people are unaware of is that the same reproductive hormones present in women also work in men to enable the process of sperm production (Women's Studies Collective, 2005, pg. 87). There is a huge overlap in the levels and process our bodies take on.As explained in the text, â€Å"Even in early adulthood the physical characteristics of males and females as a group overlap extensively† (Connell, 2009, pg. 52). Height is used as an example, because adult men are generally slightly taller than adu lt women, but the variety of heights within each biological group is large, in relation to the average difference. Many argue that the build of a man and a woman are completely different. It is true that men on average grow about 10 to 15 percent larger than females and tend to have more upper body strength, but in comparison to other mammals the margin is slim.Universities across the United States are providing new research that suggests it was similarities among men and women of our early ancestors, not differences which helped early humans evolve to become the dominant species that we are. To understand the similarities of men and women you must understand that sex is a biological categorization based primarily on reproductive potential, whereas gender is the social elaboration of biological sex. Not surprisingly, social norms for heterosexual coupling and care of any resulting children are closely intertwined with gender.But that is far from the full story. Gender builds on biol ogical sex, but it exaggerates biological difference, and it carries biological difference into domains in the world which it is completely irrelevant. There is no biological reason, for example, why women should take more delicate roles in the world and men should dominate in society, or why women should have red toenails and men should not, but as we consider sex as biological and gender as social, this difference is not clear-cut.Men and women require the same types of emotional and physical care from the time of birth to adulthood, in order to remain healthy and functioning members of society. Both male and female brains are exactly the same. An argument that is commonly seen about the male and female brain is that on average a man’s brains grows for a bit longer and are a bit larger than females, but aside from the slight size difference both a male and females brain can function the same way. Size does not relate to function. Both men and women go through life trying to fulfill a desire to have emotional connections with others.Whether these are positive or negative emotional connections based on the persons experiences, men and women still try to fulfill the same voids. Men and women also require the same physical care from birth to adulthood. Both men and women need to be physically cared for in order to survive. Men and women both require the basic needs to have food, water, shelter, and personal hygiene in order to maintain their health. Without one of these things either sex could die. This is explained clearly is Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which explains that you satisfy your biological needs before your personal and social needs.According to Maslow, when it comes to satisfying your needs, you begin at the bottom of the needs hierarchy, with physiological needs, and then work your way toward the top. Every level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains needs that both men and women require such as Level 1-Physiological needs: Food, water, sex, and sleep, Level 2-Safety needs: Protection from harm, Level 3- Love and belonging needs: Affiliation with others and acceptance by others, Level 4-Esteem needs: Achievement, competency, gaining approval and recognition, Level 5- Self-actualization: Fulfillment of one’s unique potential (Plotnik ; Kouyoumdjian, 2011, pg. 33). Another huge argument regarding the differences between men and women is sexual behaviors and urges. However, it is becoming more obvious that both men and women have the same sexual desires and urges and it’s becoming more socially acceptable for both man and woman to engage in these behaviors in Western Society. In previous times men were described to have more sexual urges and behaviors than women which excused them from any promiscuous behavior they engaged in. However, if a woman chose to do similar things she ould be shunned and looked down upon because she was being â€Å"too promiscuous† or a â€Å"whore. à ¢â‚¬  Reality is that both men and women have very complex sexual lives, with few major differences. Often time’s differences are seen across sexes because of societal and cultural beliefs within that community. If a woman having sex with more than one partner is considered a sin and dirty in many cultures these instances are kept quiet to keep order. The same goes with a man, but often only men’s sexual tales are spoken of as less sinful.Society proves time and time again to be sexual biased on what is acceptable for men and women. Men and women are both simply results of societal and cultural upbringing. A woman in a Western society versus a Middle-Eastern society would behave differently due to family, beliefs, values, and Religion. Strengths for a man versus a woman are based on personal beliefs. I think that both men and women have too many similarities to not be considered equal, but there are not enough strong-willed women such as myself with the same thought p rocess.Western culture presents men as stronger physically, and ultimately the bread winner, where a woman is considered a caregiver, and delicate. It’s very hard to explain the strengths and weaknesses of two different sexes that are innately the same. A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning a gender dichotomy is a procedure in which biological sex is divided into two parts, male and female. Societies around the world use a gender dichotomy to keep order and help better organize and understand sex and gender.Although with how much evidence there is on both man and woman overlapping we have no use for a gender dichotomy, and yet society remains the same to keep gender in order. With the elimination of a gender dichotomy society may eventually be able to see both man and woman as equal, but truth is we are still so far from that. In order to eliminate the separation of biological sex into two parts people would need to unlearn wh at they know about gender, which is far from happening. As a culture to unlearn something mass groups of people need to step forward with new information proving the previous to be wrong.However, feminism is still a growing movement with small numbers, and in order to make social change, sadly enough, we need large numbers of people to explain the facts. If people understood the real depths of feminism and what it entails in a positive way, The Feminist movement could help move forward how people view men and women as more similar than different. Human beings are like sponges for knowledge, and are able to obtain new information to help remove the old, so I am not saying that it is impossible to unlearn the ins and outs of gender, I am simply saying that as most progression does, it will take time.References Connell, R. (2012). Short introductions gender. (2nd ed. , pg. 50-71). Massachusetts, USA: Polity Press. Women's Studies Collective, H. C. (2005). Women's Realities, Women's Cho ices- An Introduction to Women's Studies. (3rd ed. , pg. 85-87). New York, New York: Oxford University Press. Plotnik, R. , ; Kouyoumdjian, H. (2011). Introduction to Psychology. (9th ed. , p. 333). Belmont, CA, USA: Wadsworth- Cengage Learning.