Free Essays on The Culture Of Fear

Barry Glassner’s The Culture of Fear is a critique of pre-nine/eleven American culture. Published in 1999 by Basic Books, The Culture of Fear exposed Americans to their own misplaced fears. This book offers a new perspective of the American media machine and its effective fear mongering techniques. Barry Glassner is Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. The Culture of Fear was written over the course of five years and is Glassner’s seventh book. His writings regularly appear newspapers and newsmagazines including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The most impressive feature of this book is its methodical use of statistics and research. Every point Glassner makes is supported by thoroughly researched evidence. Over forty-five pages of footnotes are included in this 210-page book. Glassner use these statistics to systematically disprove the most common misplaced fears. Glassner’s first topic is road-rage. In the late ‘90s the Los Angeles Times, ABC, USA Today, Time, and even Oprah Winfrey ran huge stories depicting the horrors of road-rage. In the Los Angeles Times page one story on road-rage, it was â€Å"Only after wading through twenty two paragraphs of alarming first-person accounts†¦did the reader learn that a grand total of five drivers and passengers had died in road rage incidents in the region over the previous five years† (p. 4). This is the same article that declared, â€Å"Road-rage has become an exploding phenomenon.† Similar instances of overbearing journalists occur in the Political Correctness (or P.C.) wave that swept the American College campuses during the early 1990s. Another example of this is the murder of Anthony Riggs. After just returning to his suburban Detroit apartment from the Gulf war, Army Spec. Anthony Riggs was apparently killed in a car jacking outside his home. Journalists saw a perfect story and Mrs. Toni Riggs was soon seen sobbing on na... Free Essays on The Culture Of Fear Free Essays on The Culture Of Fear Barry Glassner’s The Culture of Fear is a critique of pre-nine/eleven American culture. Published in 1999 by Basic Books, The Culture of Fear exposed Americans to their own misplaced fears. This book offers a new perspective of the American media machine and its effective fear mongering techniques. Barry Glassner is Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. The Culture of Fear was written over the course of five years and is Glassner’s seventh book. His writings regularly appear newspapers and newsmagazines including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The most impressive feature of this book is its methodical use of statistics and research. Every point Glassner makes is supported by thoroughly researched evidence. Over forty-five pages of footnotes are included in this 210-page book. Glassner use these statistics to systematically disprove the most common misplaced fears. Glassner’s first topic is road-rage. In the late ‘90s the Los Angeles Times, ABC, USA Today, Time, and even Oprah Winfrey ran huge stories depicting the horrors of road-rage. In the Los Angeles Times page one story on road-rage, it was â€Å"Only after wading through twenty two paragraphs of alarming first-person accounts†¦did the reader learn that a grand total of five drivers and passengers had died in road rage incidents in the region over the previous five years† (p. 4). This is the same article that declared, â€Å"Road-rage has become an exploding phenomenon.† Similar instances of overbearing journalists occur in the Political Correctness (or P.C.) wave that swept the American College campuses during the early 1990s. Another example of this is the murder of Anthony Riggs. After just returning to his suburban Detroit apartment from the Gulf war, Army Spec. Anthony Riggs was apparently killed in a car jacking outside his home. Journalists saw a perfect story and Mrs. Toni Riggs was soon seen sobbing on na...

Aileen Hernandez - Feminist Civil Rights Activist

Aileen Hernandez - Feminist Civil Rights Activist Aileen Hernandez was a lifelong activist for civil rights and women’s rights. She was one of the founding officers of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. Dates:  May 23, 1926 – February 13, 2017 Personal Roots Aileen Clarke Hernandez, whose parents were Jamaican, was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Ethel Louise Hall Clarke, was a homemaker who worked as a seamstress and traded domestic work for physicians services. Her father, Charles Henry Clarke Sr., was a brushmaker. School experiences taught her that she was supposed to be nice and submissive, and she early determined not to submit. Aileen Clarke studied political science and sociology at Howard University in Washington D.C., graduating in 1947. It was there she began to work as an activist to fight against racism and sexism, working with the NAACP and in politics. She later moved to California and received a master’s degree from California State University at Los Angeles. She has traveled widely in the course of her work for human rights and liberty. Equal Opportunities During the 1960s, Aileen Hernandez was the only woman appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She resigned from the EEOC because of frustration with the agency’s inability or refusal to actually enforce laws against sex discrimination. She started her own consulting firm, which works with government, corporate, and nonprofit organizations. Working with NOW While womens equality was getting more government attention, activists discussed the need for a private women’s rights organization. In 1966, a group of pioneering feminists founded NOW. Aileen Hernandez was elected NOW’s first Executive Vice-President. In 1970, she became the second national president of NOW, after Betty Friedan. While Aileen Hernandez led the organization, NOW worked on behalf of women in the workplace to gain equal pay and better handling of discrimination complaints. NOW activists demonstrated in several states, threatened to sue the U.S. Secretary of Labor and organized the Women’s Strike for Equality. When the president of NOW endorsed a candidate slate in 1979 which did not include any people of color in major positions, Hernandez broke with the organization, writing an open letter to feminists to express her critique of the organization for putting such priority on issues like the Equal Rights Amendment that issues of race and class were ignored. I have become increasingly distressed by the growing alienation of minority women who have joined feminist organizations like NOW. They are truly the women in the middle, isolated within their minority communities because of their espousal of the feminist cause and isolated in the feminist movement because they insist on attention to issues which impact heavily on minorities. Other Organizations Aileen Hernandez was  a leader on multiple political issues, including housing, the environment, labor, education and  health care. She co-founded Black Women Organized for Action in 1973. She has also worked with Black Women Stirring the Waters,  the California Women’s Agenda, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the California Division of Fair Employment Practices.  Ã‚   Aileen Hernandez won multiple awards for her humanitarian efforts. In 2005, she was part of a group of 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Hernandez died in February 2017.

The General Systems Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The General Systems Theory - Essay Example But in reality complexities exist, thus Jordan’s taxonomy had many implied drawbacks (Skyttner, 2005). Beer and the Viable System’s Model: The viable system’s Model provides us with a more complex model of a system as compared to the one provided by Jordan. In this theory the author Stafford Beer related the performance of an organizational system with that of a human brain, in his book ‘Brain of the Firm’. According to him, a viable business has the abilities to self-repair, of self-awareness, recursion and the ability to maintain identity. Beer designed principles which must be followed by the organizations in order to be viable. These principles provided guidelines for the information flow in the organization through various channels, their cost effectiveness and their capacity to convert data relating to the need of every level of organization that suits their needs and how these activities should be coordinated without any loss or trouble. The f ive sub managerial systems that were described by Beer translated the flow of information through the organization and how they interrelate. Through these systems he showed how each level is dependent on the other level for the flow of information and as the levels increase, so does the responsibility and the sensitivity of the information. Thus, in his model System One is the lowest level of the organization and is the one that needs to be controlled, it includes the operational departments or subsidiaries with lowest level of information that is provided by higher levels, whereas System Five completes the system by monitoring the balance between the systems, it mainly constitutes of the shareholders and board of directors of the organization. Beer also devised... The computer designed on the basis of the concepts of Klir’s GSPS has the ability to solve issues for the user. His theory was based on various mathematical algorithms which correspond with engineering techniques to solve an issue. It has four functional units: the control unit, meta methodological support unit, a knowledge base and a set of methodological tools. The algorithms used are specified in order for problems dealt through these tools. Metamethodological support unit arranges the problems on the basis of their generality. Knowledge base unit stores the information related issues which can not be solved through the system. The user interface will work either through the conceptual framework or through a direct connection to the main unit. Klir's problem-solving approach and system design can be sufficient for well-structured situations. Through history teams of experts in both technological and no technical aspects of the problem assembled and processed the necessary d ata and came up with alternative approaches which defined the benefits and shortcomings of every aspect. These researchers defined the relations between the theories where it was possible by producing quantitative analyses and predictions, where they were appropriate to give content to the most general aspects of the environment. Through these procedures, a gap was tried to be filled between the technical and non-technical theorists, so that a form could be given to every general theory wherever possible.

Guillermo Furniture Store Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Guillermo Furniture Store Concepts - Essay Example The labor component in furniture manufacturing, in case of Guillermo, is substantial because all its products are hand-crafted and the company has no way to control its labor cost. On the contrary, it is on increase due to influx of other businesses for the favorable conditions in the region. Financial Concepts Involved Guillermo has to view the whole business scenario from a different perspective. If the company decides to be high-tech just like its competitor to replace its costly labor, then the company needs to estimate the risk-return trade-offs as making the company automated will require huge capital investment. In this process, Guillermo will need to apply numerous financial concepts to arrive at the conclusion whether it is worth investing huge capital to thwart the challenge posed by the competitor. First of all, the company needs to undertake a detailed budgeting exercise to evaluate the viability of high-tech model of manufacturing in its case. The company would need to e stimate the total fund requirement for going high-tech in this business. The company will have option of financing this capital expenditure either through equity or through mix of debt and equity. In the case of later, important thing will be to find appropriate debt-equity ratio for financing the project. Guillermo being a running and profitable company can certainly attract banks and other financial institutions to lend them for this project but leveraging should be within the prevailing norms as applicable for these kinds of businesses. High leveraging (high debt) creates higher business risk and that must be avoided as often occurs during economic slowdown. In a bid to ascertain financial viability of the investment, the company will need to estimate the break-even point in terms of volume (no. of pieces of each product variety) and value both. Break-even volumes will mean all revenue earnings meet all expenses of the company including fixed and variable ones. The break-even cal culations (Break-even analysis, 2012) will also force them to chalk its marketing and sales strategy – the distribution channels, number of retail shops and the geographical reach necessary to achieve those sales. The financial budget formation, capital required, capital structure deciding about equity-debt ratio, break-even volume analysis, cost of capital including weighted average cost of capital (Weighted Average Cost of Capital – WACC, 2012) present value of all expected future streams of revenue (Present value, 2012) until the useful life of machines, internal rate of return (Internal Rate of Return, 2012) will finally decide whether it is worth investing in the automation process so as to compete with the overseas firm effectively. Conclusion It is certain that Guillermo has gone through above mentioned detailed financial viability analysis to ascertain whether the company should go for this new business model or not. Having found the return on investment not lu crative, the company thought of outsourcing entire supply from a second competitor who has similar business model of manufacturing process

Love Poetries Essay Example for Free

Love Poetries Essay Personal Advertisement I am currently in the most enjoyable stage of my life where I wish to find the best person to share it with me. I am passionate with everything I do and I wish to share that passion with someone who knows how to live a passionate life too. I am the Man in the â€Å"Love Poem† I consider myself to be the narrator in John Frederick Nims’ Love Poem because it immensely reflects my current feelings for a particular person. Nims refers to his lover as his â€Å"clumsiest dear,† (Nims, 2003, p. 67) which quite bears a resemblance on the nature of my own special someone. His subject’s palms are compared to the â€Å"bulls in china, burs in linen, / And have no cunning with any soft thing† (Nims, 2003, p. 67). This metaphor that insinuates roughness and clumsiness also reflects some of the characteristics of my lover. Being a â€Å"Misfit in any space. And never on time. † (Nims, 2003, p. 67) surely creates an image of a person entirely different than other people. He or she does not always fit in any common group of people and is expected to break most rules. However, like the narrator’s last two lines in the fourth stanza, â€Å"In traffic of wit expertly manoeuvre / And keep us, all devotion, at your knees. † (Nims, 2003, p. 67), I still find myself adoring him for his remarkable wisdom. Simply put, despite all the imperfections of this particular person, I still love him or her without any doubt. Stage of Love in â€Å"The Lover Not Taken† In Blanche Farley’s parody of Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, the woman and the blonde guy are obviously in a â€Å"getting to know† stage as suggested by the last line on the first stanza where the blond is initially referred to as â€Å"the new guy† (Farley, 1937. n. p. ). However, it is also important to consider that the relationship in this poem does not only include the woman and the blonde but also Jack whom the woman has been with for a long time. This is validated on the 3rd and 4th line of the second stanza where the narrator introduces him as, â€Å"the other, jack, had a claim / On her already . . . / He understood her. His long, lithe frame† (Farley, 1937. n. p. ). Hence, it is clear that there are two stages of love in this poem in dependence to whose relationship in the love triangle we are speaking about. Two Figurative Languages that Compares the Love in â€Å"The Lover Not Taken† The first figurative language is a metaphor that speaks of the new guy’s physical description as â€Å"smooth as a yellow wood† (Farley, 1937. n. p. ). His physical beauty is compared to that of the yellow wood which can mean several things like the end of summer or the beginning of fall which can also be considered to be nice to look at. Perhaps, it can be a literal comparison of the man’s smoothness to a smooth yellow tree. The second comparison is on the first line of the second stanza. The narrator’s statement â€Å"She liked his hair,† (Farley, 1937. n. p. ) obviously compares the superficial relationship of the woman and the blonde. If one would deeply analyze, the attraction of the woman to the blonde is too superficial or simply physical. Liking his hair and smile obviously just symbolizes her extreme lust for the blonde guy that she is actually willing to risk her long-term relationship with a complete stranger who has a beautiful smile and hair. The Lover Not Taken is Most Likely Doomed to Misery As for my opinion, guilt leads a person to misery. In this poem’s case, it is most likely for the woman’s relationship with Jack to be miserable if guilt would consume the woman’s relationship with him. Honesty and loyalty to a partner are two of the most important elements that determine the stability of a relationship. However, since this poem consists of two relationships of a particular woman; the answer would still depend on whom she would end up with. If she ends her relationship with Jack and start a new one with the blonde, there is a possible occurrence of a â€Å"happily ever after story†. On the other hand, if she stays with Jack and continues her affair with the blonde guy, it is most likely to end up in misery. The Tone of â€Å"The Lover Not Taken† By analyzing the atmosphere being suggested on the first stanza of the poem, â€Å"And, mulling it over, long she stood, / Alone on the road, loath / To leave, wanting to hide in the undergrowth. † (Farley, 1937. n. p. ), the initial seriousness of the narrator’s tone is evident. There is too much concentration on the woman’s part as she mulls over her future decision whether to have an affair with another man or not. However, the tone changed abruptly on the last two lines where she suddenly stopped contemplating on which decision to make by taking the fast way home and phoning the blonde. Setting of â€Å"The Lover Not Taken† Obviously, this poem is inspired by Robert Frost’s famous poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† which tackles the difficulty of deciding what path to choose in life. However, Farley similarly illustrates the difficulty of making decisions by pointing out a particular situation such as being torn between two lovers. Like Frost’s original piece, a person is facing a certain road pondering about a situation he or she needs to handle. By basing the setting and theme on Frost’s poem, Farley has further emphasized the central message of Frost’s poem. Since, it is inspired by Frost’s â€Å"Road Not Taken†, it is important to consider not only why it is set in that particular setting but more importantly why Farley chose Frost’s poem to communicate her own message. References Farley, B. (1937). The Lover Not Taken. Geocities. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from http://www. geocities. com/cailinliet/lover. html Nims, F. (2002). The Love Poem. Master the GED language arts, reading 2003. New Jersey: Petersons.

Students Metacognitive Abilities Essay -- Education, Researchers and T

Literature Review Research on the Problem Researchers and theorists have sought the key behind getting students to learn for decades. For every theory placed on the table, there is another waiting to clear it off and replace it. This dichotomy can be challenging for teachers who are searching for the answers to help them reach their students especially when these students are asked to do mundane tasks like memorize. In addition, many teachers struggle to identify the root cause of their student’s struggles with material, and once pin pointed, they often find it difficult to address these causes. What are the exact challenges the students are struggling with? In her research, Nancy Joseph, believes the answer to this question lies in a lack of metacognitive ability in the students. â€Å"Your ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate your performance reveals sophisticated cognitive activity.† (Joseph, 2006) If the students are not capable of reaching this level of cognitive ability, they will not be able to grow with the difficulty of the class material. Each student learns best in his or her own way, and by understanding this â€Å"learners are able to use their academic strengths to develop additional skills and understanding, moving toward greater intellectual maturity.† (Joseph, 2006) Students cannot develop critical thinking skills as it relates to content if they do not possess the skill to think critically at all. The pathway to metacognitive ability begins with self-reflection. At the junior high level, students are unaware that the ability to be reflective is a skill that will carry them through life; not just in their current Language Arts Classroom (Joseph, 2006). Teachers are told almost daily about how important ... ...is difficult, and that they must be creative in finding ways to make easier for the students to understand. If they do not, then they will keep doing what they have always done, and continue getting the same results. I hope to examine parts of the studies that have already been conducted on these issues. I will be looking at the result of connecting games, social interaction, practice, direct instruction, indirect instruction, and to what extent a student’s metacognitive level has on their ability to memorize material such as prepositions. As Ellis noted, â€Å"the results of the research do not afford conclusions that can be readily applied to language pedagogy.† (Ellis, 2011) My attempts will be focused on a more general scope of application in the classroom, and I will try to bridge the gap between the research, theorists, and practical application.

Was Public Health Better in the Roman Era or the Middle Ages?

In my opinion, the Romans had superior public health, as they had much better sanitation and plumbing systems, which were in the Middle Ages available solely in monasteries, rather than entire towns. This was due to the fact that the Romans' infrastructure and methods of treatment were more developed than Medieval ones, as well as the fact that the Roman government were far more involved in the health of their citizens than later rulers, who found war and developing trade far more important, and viewed civilians' health as their own responsibility.The Roman towns were also much better planned and built than those in the Middle Ages, which often placed wells and sources of drinking and bathing water in close proximity to cesspits and sewers, which led to infected water and cholera and typhoid outbreaks. Furthermore, many Medieval streets were filled with filth, such as animal carcasses, human and animal excrement, waste from butchers and tanners, and many more sources of disease, as b acteria could grow freely and infect people very easily.As well as this, there were also very poor food standards, and it was not unusual for dishonest meat sellers to sell low-quality meat which could have caused disease, although a law was instated, decreeing that distributors of bad meat would be locked in the pillory. The Romans also had better waste disposal and water transportation systems, which allowed people to obtain clean drinking water, although there may still have been a risk of illness, as most pipes were made of lead, which is toxic.Their medical skills were also slightly better than those of Medieval doctors, as most Roman doctors were much better trained and taught about natural causes of disease, which gave them a considerable advantage over the mostly Church-educated doctors of the Middle Ages, who believed more extensively in supernatural ideas and religion-based methods of prevention and treatment of disease.An example of this is the Black Death, which killed 5 0 000 people in Europe, and was spread very quickly due to poor sanitation, ineffective cures, which would in many cases have made the patient worse, such as ingesting bile or faeces, or relying solely on prayers or religious ideas, rather than actively seeking a reliable cure, which was impossible without a knowledge of the true cause of diseases, although they did attempt to limit its spread by locking up houses which were infected with the disease. However, the Roman Empire was also poorly quipped to deal with plagues, such as the one which occurred in AD 80, and claimed hundreds of lives. However, public health in the Middle Ages did have some benefits: the towns often employed people such as gong farmers and muck rakers to survey and clean the streets to prevent disease, and remove sewage, although it was not possible to employ enough to maintain the cleanliness. The Romans had a similar system which worked to much greater advantage. Medieval towns also developed regulations an d fines for littering and dirtying the streets, although these could not be easily enforced.As well as this, the rich were happy to pay the fines and continue to deposit refuse in the streets. Moreover, near the end of the Dark Ages, butchers were banned from working in the inner city, which prevented pollution and assisted in keeping the streets clean. In conclusion, I believe that public health was much better under Roman rule, although the Medieval government did endeavour to improve the situation (albeit without much success. ) This is further evidenced by the average life expectancy in each era: it fell from 42 in the Roman era to 35, proving that standards had dropped dramatically since the Roman period.