Advertising Alcohol Essay

Alcohol has appeared in UK as well as around the world for many years. It plays a significant rule in the life of human. As British Medical Association in 2009, people in UK is the most of alcohol users in Europe. However, like other addictive substances, abuse of alcohol will bring a lot of bad consequences for people. Timms (2013) claimed that alcohol is the cause of psychosis, dementia, and physical problem. There are some people who claimed that government is not authorized to control the advertising of alcohol stricter than other products, but some were in the other idea that government should do it because of the bad impact from alcohol advertising to those who watch it, especially young people. This essay is aim to clarify the opinion that alcohol will result negative effect for human heath as well as social life and its advertising need to be restricted by government. Firstly, except useful of alcohol to people life, alcohol is cause of many negative problems. It is a fact that alcohol was used in to many industries such as food, heath service, and research also. Alcohol may good for heath with a limit amount. With reference from NIH (2003), in a great number of male surveyed, those who drank more than three times a week will have fewer heath risk than others who just drank less than once a week. However, according to Kenny (2012), people should not drink alcohol too much everyday. For instance, the limit of alcohol, which accepted by government, is 150–200ml for men and 100-150ml for women. Base on each habitus, drinking more than that unit may lead to sign of headache, dizzy, sickness, loss of control, etc. To reference from Hall’s research last year, 25% of deaths increase in the last ten years was caused by alcohol. It showed that most of people cannot control their drinking, and this number is increasing day by day. Thus, it is important to limit alcohol use. Secondly, alcoholics are threatening to the social life. It may be noted that drinking alcohol is dangerous not only for people but also their family. A lot of social evil and family violence are come from drunken people. When drinking too much wine or beer, the phenomenon of losing control will appear. Then, the drinker may have negative activities to people around. For example, according to Aquarius, 30% of sexual harassments were affected by alcohol. Furthermore, unfortunately, almost alcoholic was the cause of increasing unemployment (Macpherson, 1988). Then it tends to the thievery when alcoholics do not have money to buy alcohol. From those reasons, it is clear to see that alcohol is truly a hazard to people. Turning to the other side, advertising of alcohol will also bring the bad effect to people. Alcohol advertisement, like other product’s advertisement, is aim to approach people and persuade them to buy as much as possible. Actually, most of alcohol advertising content was received great evaluation from people under 23 years old (Jernigan, 2010). On the other hand, although people know the negative of using alcohol, promotion by any way will make them tend to use it naturally. Wilby (2008) claimed that people are strong affected by advertising of alcohol because they are easily to receive information provided by this advertisement. Advertising of alcohol makes people, especially the youth, image that it is the daily product. Moreover, Jernigan (2010) believed that almost alcohol companies tried to insert the combination of unmeasured features relative to cultural, religious and regulatory context on their advertising. Thus, they try using it everyday like the case that they saw on advertising. In British Medical Association (2009), researchers said â€Å"alcohol advertising and promotion increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol and to drink more if they are already using alcohol†. Therefore, if alcohol companies are all free to do advertising by their own way, it will be dangerous for customer insight. Finally, alcohol advertising needs to be limited to protect customer from the wrong perception about wine or beer. In fact, alcohol companies have right to do advertise like other product in market. The more alcohol that they sold, the more money of tax government can earn. Follow HMRC (2013), alcohol products brought a huge number of revenue to UK, which is ? 3,323m from April to July 2013. This number illustrated for the great tax revenue that government earned from alcohol companies. However, the damage to people heath and life are bigger than that. Government had to pay more for the accident and medical insurance that come from effect of drinking too much alcohol. Therefore, limitation to the advertising content of alcohol is really necessary. In practice, government represents for the right of people, so they need to intervene to alcohol advertising for protecting customer. Although government cannot absolutely ban all the advertising of alcohol, they need to control it. For example, Hall (2012) believed that alcohol marketing â€Å"require that ads not link alcohol with sex, social success, youth culture or juvenile behavior†. In conclusion, the essay focused on difference points of whether alcohol advertising should be restricted or not, and the role of government in this situation. Obviously, whether drinking alcohol is good or not depends largely on the awareness of people who use it. Nevertheless, advertising this product widely on media will cause many bad impacts. For that reason, the strict guidelines and regulation for alcohol advertising is really needed. The government should strictly control this kind of product as well as develop propagandize for people about using alcohol in the right way. Apart from that, government also can impose more heavy taxes upon alcohol goods. This can force customer to use less alcohol and increase national income at the same time. References AQUARIUS (n. d. ) Alcohol and Violence [WWW] Aquarius. Available from: http://www. aquarius. org. uk/alcoholandviolence [Accessed 02/09/2013]. BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (2009) Under the influence: the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people [WWW] Available from: http://www.alcohollearningcentre. org. uk/_library/undertheinfluence_tcm41-1900621. pdf [Accessed 24/08/13]. HALL, E. (2012) Sobering up the U. K. proves difficult. Advertising Age, 83 (17), pp. 9. HMRC (2013) Tax and Duty Bulletins [WWW] HM Revenue & Customs. Available from: https://www. uktradeinfo. com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutybulletins. aspx [Accessed 01/09/2013]. JERNIGAN, D. (2010) The extent of global alcohol marketing and its impact on youth. Contemporary Drug Problems, 37 (1), pp. 57-89. MACPHERSON, N (1988) The Effect of Alcoholism on Earning Capacity [WWW] Economica. Available from: http://www. economica. ca/ew03_2p1. htm [Accessed 02/09/2013]. NIH (2003) Frequency of Light-to-Moderate Drinking Reduces Heart Disease Risk in Men [WWW] NIH. Available from: http://www. nih. gov/news/pr/jan2003/niaaa-08. htm [Accessed 31/08/2013]. Timms, P. (2013) Alcohol and depression [WWW] Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Public Education Editorial Board. Available from: http://www. rcpsych. ac. uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/problems/alcoholanddrugs/alcoholdepression. aspx [Accessed 31/08/2013]. WILBY, P. (2008) Under the influence. New Statesman, 137 (4887), pp. 17.

Politeness Strategies Used by Comedian in Stand-Up Comedy Metro Tv Indonesia (Pragmatic Study)

A. 3 Background of the Study From past to present, entertainment stage would never die, because every people always need some kind of refreshment after they work or when they feel bored, for example they can go to the amusement park or recreation on the weekend, and they can also watch a comedy stage. But the writer thinks people will tend to choose to watch the stage of comedy on a television, because they can laugh and forget about thier fatigue easily without going anywhere. In modern era the fulfilment of a comedy spectacle will be very easy, because television makes us closer to anything.Nowadays we can get various types of comedy shows in Indonesian television; there are ketoprak, lenong, opera comedy, ludruk, musical comedy, comedy reality show, etc. In Indonesia, the latest version of comedy and quite dense now is stand-up comedy. Stand-up comedy is the art, initially developed in the United States, of humorous dialogue presented before an audience. The talk itself is memoriz ed and, today, usually expressed in a spontaneous conversational manner, as if the performer were speaking to friends.Although it tends to be one-sided, there may be interaction between performer and audience, which the former does not always want. Often verbal content is augmented with a range of theatrical embellishments such as special costumes and props, grunts, snorts, and howls, bodily movements and facial gestures. The typical act consists of anecdotes, narrative jokes, one-liners, and short descriptive monologues, which may or may not be related. (Stebbins, 1990) In Indonesia, stand-up comedy is considered as a new type of comedy show, and it started to become famous and widely shown on television in 2011.KompasTV is the television station that present and introduce the show of stand-up comedy for the first time, and now popularized by MetroTV. And there are also auditions held in many cafe for the open mic. The open mic is the term for testing the ability to provoke laughte r of the audience, if comedians succeed in making audience laugh in open mic, this automatically lifts their name as a comics. So they can go to stand-up comedy stage and might be shown on television. Because comedians always have any idea to performs joke with their own style and characteristic in language.There are some studies about stand up comedy, for example, Limon (2000) who studied about the existence of Jewish in stand-up comedy in America, Schwarzm (2010) tried to explore linguistic aspects of verbal humour in stand-up Comedy, Falk (2010) explained about the representations of ethnicity in stand-up comedy, and Lockyer (2011) also studied about stand-up comedy, and he focussed on the audience perspective. The several researchers above are interested in stand-up comedy and the language also relation between comics and the audience.However they did not explore about politeness issue in language used by comedian or comics, so that the writer will try to conduct a study about t hat. Hopefully this research can be very useful for any studies about linguistics and also for researchers who focus are interested in this case. The topic of politeness strategies have been utilized by several researchers. One of them is a research conducted by Ika Puspita Wati (2010) entitled â€Å"Politeness strategies used in the ‘Today’s Dialogue’ Talk Show†.This research tried to find out the kind of politeness strategies used in the talk show and the context in which the strategies emerge. But it is still different from the writer’s study in the term of the object of the study, the factors lead to the emergence of politeness strategies as well as the determined contexts. This research focuses on the use of language especially the using of politeness strategy in stand-up comedy show by comedians. The purpose of this study is to discover any existence of the politeness strategies used by comedians in stand-up comedy in Indonesia. B.Statement of The Problem 1. What kinds of politeness strategies used by comedians in stand-up comedy show? C. Literature Review 1. Politeness Strategies According to Brown and Levinson (1987), â€Å"Politeness strategies are strategies that are developed in order to save the hearer’s face†. There are four kinds of politeness strategies introduced by Brown and Levinson; they are Bald On-Record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness and Off-Record. Bald On-Record is a politeness strategy which is used more directly and usually does not attempt to minimize the threat to the hearer’s face.This strategy is most often utilized in situations where the speaker has a close relationship with the hearer. On the contrary, Bald-Off Record strategies is mostly used through indirect language and avoid the speaker to be imposed by the interlocutor. Furthermore, positive politeness strategies seek to minimize the threat to the hearer’s positive face, the desire to be approved. It is used to make the hearer feel good about himself, his interests or possessions. It is mostly used in situations in which the hearer knows each other fairly well.As the opposite of positive politeness, negative politeness strategies are oriented towards the hearer’s negative face, the desire to be unimpeded in one’s action, and emphasize avoidance of imposition on the hearer. Face refers to the â€Å"public self-image that every member [of a society] wants to claim for himself† (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 66). To maintain the other's face means to recognize and respect the claim members of society make with respect to each other in interaction. The act of communicating such an acknowledgment is politeness.Face (Brown and Levinson, 1987) is assumed to be of two types: positive face, or the want to be approved of by others, and negative face, or the want to be unimpeded by others. Acts that run contrary to these wants threaten the face of the speaker (e. g. apolog ies) or the hearer (e. g. requests). Certain acts of politeness, such as orders or requests, are intrinsically face-threatening (FTA) and thus require strategic redress. D. Method of the Study D. 1 Research Approach The aim of this study is to figure out the kind of politeness strategies used in stand-up comedy show in Indonesia by comedians.The writer applies qualitative approach to interpret the data in transcript, because the process to get the data deals with video recording. According Merriam (1999) characterises qualitative research as understanding the meaning people have constructed in which the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. It usually involves fieldwork as primarily employing an inductive research strategy focusing on process, meaning and understanding resulting in a richly descriptive product.D. 2 Population and Sample The population of the data is the videos of stand-up comedy Indonesia in 2011 which are broadcasted by MetroTV and uploaded on YouTube site. There are so many videos on YouTube about stand-up comedy, especially for stand-up comedy which shown in Indonesia. Then the writer will only choose the top five videos which have highest rating and subscriber on YouTube, and the videos of comedians became a sample for this research.The reason of choosing these samples is because the videos become the best in YouTube for stand-up comedy Indonesia which contains of comedian’s speeches and jokes who got the best response from the audience and the subscriber of their videos on YouTube. D. 3 Technique of Data Collection The first thing that the researcher will do is collecting the data by downloading the videos that have been recorded by the official of stand-up comedy organizer from YouTube site. After downloading the videos the researcher will transcribe the speech of the comedians from the videos into text files.After that the writer will observe directly to the aspect of politeness strategies used by comedians from that transcript. And then the data from transcript will be classified based on the theory of politeness strategy. D. 4 Technique of Data Analysis After making the transcription of the data from videos of comedian, the researcher will identify it into several types of data based on the theory of politeness strategy; they are Bald On-Record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness and Off-Record as Brown and Levinson introduced in their theory.And then writer tries to conduct an analysis based on classified data, why some of their speech classified as one of the types of politeness strategies theory. And then after that the writer will interpret why the comedians act like that in stand-up comedy show and why they speech. Eventually, the writer comes to the last step which is making a conclusion. D. 5 Scope and Limitation of the Study This study focuses to observe the politeness strategies used by comedian in stand-up comedy stage, especially stand-up comedy Indonesia that showed up by MetroTv and then become famous in Indonesia.The videos uploaded again by YouTube in internet, so subscriber can watch and give comments or subscribes the videos. This study narrows its discussion to the study of the way comedians use politeness strategy in stand-up comedy Indonesia in which audience expectation about comedy is become the main reason. It does not cover all discussion of politeness strategies occur in all contexts of males and females or every aspect in stand-up comedy. D. 6 Significance of the StudyThe study has the aim to give the contribution to everyone who wants to get the knowledge about the research of politeness strategy, especially how the way a comedian performs to fulfil the audience expectation in comedy stage using politeness strategy, and also the communication between comics as a comedian and the audience in stand-up comedy show which delivered by monologues trough politeness strategies. The research is also enriching the knowledge abo ut the uniqueness of stand-up comedy and some communication aspects of comics when telling a joke that supplies other researchers the reference and literary analysis.References Ardissono, L. , ; Boella, G. (1999). Politeness and speech acts. Torino: http://www. di. unito. it/. Brown, P. , ; Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universal in Language Usage. New York: Cambridge University Press. Falk, O. (2010). Representations of ethnicity in stand-up comedy: A study of the comedy of Dave Chappelle. Gothemburg: University of Gothemburg, Department of languages and literature. Holmes, J. (2008). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Great Britain: Pearson. Jenkins, M. (1985). What's so funny? Joking among women. In S. Bremmer, N. Caskey, & B. moonwomon, Proceedings of the first Berkeley Women and Language Conference (pp. 135-151). California: Berkeley Women and Language Group. Lockyer, S. (2011). ‘It’s about expecting the unexpected’: Live stand-up comedy from th e audiences’ perspective, Participations. Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 165-188. Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study: Applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Schwarz, J. (2010). Linguistic Aspects of Verbal Humor.Saarlandes: der Universitat des Saarlandes. Stebbins, R. A. (1990). The Laugh-Makers: Stand-Up Comedy As Art, Business, and Life-Style. McGill-Queen's University Press. Wati, I. P. (2010). Politeness Strategies used in the ‘Today's Dialogue' Talk Show†. Surabaya: Faculty of Humanities Airlangga University. POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY COMEDIAN IN STAND-UP COMEDY METRO TV INDONESIA (PRAGMATIC STUDY) THESIS WRITING DESIGN ANGGIE BAGUS PURWONO 120710366 ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AIRLANGGA UNIVERSITY SURABAYA 2012

Rite of Passage

â€Å"Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the capacity to do it. † A coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. In most modern societies this transition takes place on an adolescence’s 18th birthday.The celebrations of these transitions vary from culture to culture as well as religious beliefs and hence affect our opinions, views, beliefs and attitudes towards rites of passage and the foreign processes incorporated into rituals and initiations. My name is Kali Collado and I welcome you to â€Å"All the World’s a Stage Festival† where I will share with you why 18th birthdays mean different things to different people. In modern -day Australia most 18th birthday celebrations consist of large-scale consumption of booze, clubbing, strippers and drug-induced parties.When an adolescent turns 18 society recognises them as adults and are therefore given more responsibilities, choice-flexibility, benefits and independence from their parents. Turning 18 here in Australia doesn’t require us to undergo physically and mentally perilous initiations or rituals. In fact these benefits, freedom and responsibilities are handed to us on a silver platter. Unlike Vanuatuan culture, villages build wooden towers reaching heights of 100 feet or more, where boys as young as five are to jump off a certain platform with vine ropes tied to each ankle.Summoning all the courage they have, they dive from the platform headfirst. The goal of the jump is to land close enough to the ground that contact between the divers shoulders and the ground is made. These dives are two-fold; in that it’s performed as sacrifice for their gods to ensure bountiful yam crop or to initiate the tribe boys into manhood preceded by circumcision. The higher a man goes along the platform, the manlier he’s considered amongst the tribe. Vanuatuans believe this ritual necessary because it ensures bountiful crops whereas in Australia food is readily accessible in supermarket isles.This rite of passage isn’t just about initiating tribesmen anymore but for what they believe is the survival of the tribe. As the quote goes â€Å"Initiations aren’t just for mental wellbeing but for the survival of the tribe† Another example of a religious initiation is from South East Asia. There, adolescence’s are initiated into adulthood to become a novice monk or nun by dressing as Princes or Princesses after their Prince Gautama. They take three Jewels and have their heads shaved and then change into saffron robes.They stay with the monks from a night to a few years to practice meditation and prayer, marking a t ime of purity and innocence as well as awareness of the sins in the world. Although this ritual is far from the perilous Vanuatuan initiation it still differs from the rituals of 18thbirthday celebrations in Australia; in that religion implements preservation of innocence, chastity and prayer. 18th birthdays does not signify booze, drugs or partying in these cultures but rather maturity and acceptance of their new roles into their society or tribe.It’s not about leaving the nest and its security to go out and explore the world by themselves. It’s not about swimming into the world of uncalled maturity for the benefit of their culture. It is difficult to judge whether these cultures are right in the way initiations should be incorporated because it’s specific to their beliefs, their culture and their religion. Their culture â€Å"Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up.Th at he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it. † â€Å"Critics who treat ‘adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, includin g the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. † ? C. S. Lewis

The Evolution of Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Evolution of Work - Essay Example This paper will show that the very definition of work has changed as history progressed which, in turn, was due to extensive economic development. As parameters for this essay, it will first detail the general meaning of work then it will focus on the American sense of work ethics. For the following paragraphs, this paper will expound on the historical context of work. It will then relate work to the religion of American Protestantism. Thereafter, the significant changes in American work ethics will be tackled with relations to historical progress and economic development. In the denotative aspect of work, the word means the physical or mental effort and activity directed towards the production or the accomplishment of a particular task. The applications of this word towards everyday life give work a complex meaning due to the ever changing events in human activity. It is in this sense that historical contextualization becomes important in the understanding of the development of the word. One notable event in history which gave work a turning definition was during the 15th to the 16th centuries where the Age of Navigation was at its height and the colonial period took its hold upon history. What was the primary objective of work during such period? Work and its meaning can be defined in two ways: one was in the context of the colonizers, and the other was in the context of the colonized.... The objectives of the colonizers sounded good because they had this promise of a better life for the un-colonized. Education and the introduction of civilization through conquest was the primary way of bringing the good life that they were experiencing at their homelands. This definition was not the same for the colonized. For the natives of the Western colonizers, the definition of work was a form of acculturation and conforming to the demands of their masters (Geddes). Although the promise of a better life through economic development was presented as a compromise of being colonies, the ultimate benefit of this process of colonization was one-sided – it was only beneficial to the colonizers. Exploitation of natural resources and the development of slavery were the major products of this period in history. It was the burden of the Western powers to civilize the natives and to take the economic advantages for themselves as part of development for their motherland (Geddes). Hen ce, work for the colonized natives meant the physical aspect of its denotative definition. They were subjected into forced labour, like that of the corvee of the British Empire in India. Work for the colonized was difficult because they had to endure the dictates of the colonizers accompanied by eventual abuses by their masters (Geddes). As economic development happened with historical progress, the definition of work became complex. Mercantilism was shut down and capitalism took its beginnings through the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It was in this moment that complexity in work entered due to the technological developments of that time. New machinery was introduced;

Market Entry Proposal of Xiaomi in a country you choose Essay

Market Entry Proposal of Xiaomi in a country you choose - Essay Example The growth of Xiaomi in its native China is extraordinary and now strategizes on extending its tentacles into the United Kingdom market. Information provided flurry, a mobile measurement and advertising company, Xiaomi is providing a serious threat to the stability of Apple in both the Asian and Chinese market. Based on this success, the company has ambitious plans to penetrate fully into the United Kingdom market and cut its niche. The quantity of Xiaomi installed base of phones continues to increase tremendously quadrupling from half of the last financial year. Xiaomi is now a serious competitor in both the mobile phone and Smartphone industry. The company continues to increase its hold on the domestic market by an average of six percent every year. To understand the attractiveness of Xiaomi at the national level, a person needs to review the resource-based view that considers the VRIN characteristics. This is a methodology of assessing a business company such as Xiaomi considering its approach strategy. This paper considers the approach strategy applicable to Xiaomi while making entry into the United Kingdom market. Primarily, VRIN describes the company as a bundle of resources (Wilson, 1980, 39). The resources and the mode of combination set the business company apart from the rest in the competition. It takes an inside-outside mechanism of evaluating a business company. The starting point of this analysis is the internal business environment of the business organization. Resources owned by Xiaomi entail all assets, capacities, processes of organization, company attributes, knowledge, and skills. Currently, Xiaomi controls seven percent of the Chinese market considering the fact that this is the largest Smartphone market in t he world. This is a new position after overtaking Lenovo and HTC, which dominated this market in the previous two years. The Smartphone business is only three years old and yet Xiaomi is

PERFORM COMPARISON CONTRAST BETWEEN WORKS BY DFFERENT WRITERS BASED ON Essay

PERFORM COMPARISON CONTRAST BETWEEN WORKS BY DFFERENT WRITERS BASED ON STYLE, SUBJECT MATTER OR THEME - Essay Example The gruesome picture of racism, social discrimination and many other contemporary issues has been depicted by Afro-American authors. Harriet Jacobs, a writer, reformer and abolitionist, was a 19th century Afro-American literary figure (Yale University, 2009) who was also known as the ‘fugitive slave author’ of the American slave narrative Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, Written by Herself. Her active involvement in reform movements before, during and after the Civil War, and her own experience of slavery for 29 years helped her sketch her characters poignantly and realistically. Modern day readers and scholars would have been in the darkness about the life and works of Harriet Jacobs unless the revolutionary work of Professor Jean Fagan Yellin who, by dint of extensive research and studies, authored her biography: Harriet Jacobs: A Life. This book received the 2004 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for its immaculate detailing about how Jacob’s literature was s haped by her turbulent life. (Yale University, 2009) Audre Lorde, born in New York City in 1934, is renowned for her poems, essays and novels. She was brought up in Manhattan and was sent to Catholic school where her first poem was published in ‘Seventeen’ magazine. Lorde got her B. A. from Hunter College and Masters in Library Sciences from Columbia University. Her professional career, which began as a librarian in New York public schools, saw many turn of events as she later on got an employment as a writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. It was here when she discovered an inclination for pedagogy, and at the end of her tenure here in 1968, her first volume of poems ‘The First Cities’ was brought out. She also met her long-term partner Frances Clayton in Tougaloo. (Poets.org, 1997-2009) Born in 1912 to parents one of which was a strict disciplinarian and another

On Religious liberty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On Religious liberty - Essay Example The author argues that the demand for human freedom regards proper human spirit values. It also regards free exercise when it comes to society religion. Murray takes a careful note on these desires that met have put in their minds. He declares them to be in accord with justice and truth. To this point, the article seeks into the church doctrine and sacred traditionof which the current church keeps on bringing forth new aspects that are in accord and harmony with the old ones. There are two key points that the author has chosen to emphasize on. First, the author asserts that all human beings have the right of exercising free religion in their societies in accord with the dictates of their personal conscience. He claims that this is according to the right of nature. Essentially, this right belongs to the human being’s dignity as such. In the second point, the author asserts on the consequences that the judiciary has on this right. He asserts that obligations fall on other people in the society in order to acknowledge these personal rights, promote, and respect its free exercise. Generally, this is the center of all matters in this article. About the structure of the document, the author of the article presents two texts. The first text is Decree on Ecumenism (Chapter Five) â€Å"On Religious Freedom†. The second one is Bishop Emile De Smedt’s relation, of Bruges. This is the most important latter document, because it brings out a length decree rationale. The author therefore undertakes to state a briery the tenor and scope of the decree in relatio’slight. These two texts represent the entire issue and lengthy development concerning theological thought about the issue. The author uses theological concept and terms to support his opinion. For instance, he points out that the quest of man to God and his adhesion to God’s truth, must be free. He further asserts that, this is a divine law itself

Al Baik Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Al Baik Analysis - Essay Example Over the years Al Baik has grown and has opened few outlets in Makkah, Yanbu and Taif but has not gone global. This paper aims to talk about situations where the companies do not tend to go global and the reason behind the decision. Al Baik is one such company which utilises the most of its home ground and feels that it should expand only when the company fits to all the requirements to go global and maintain its brand name at the same time. AL Baik has been the price leader and has applied the strategy of both cost leadership and differentiation through which it has been able to achieve competitive advantage and according to the CEO of AL Baik, Rami Abughazalah the company has been able to flourish in Saudi Arabia and has given a tough competition to its brands such as Mc Donald’s and KFC. A literature review has been provided where the fact of going global has been discussed and also why companies do not go global despite of the buzz globalization, what are the benefits of g oing global and the expansion mode in Saudi Arabia and their culture. The research has been conducted both in primary and secondary method in order to get into the details of the plans of expansion of AL Baik, the famous fast food restaurant. Thus it can be concluded that AL Baik has plans to expand in the future but only when the situation and the conditions are correct and according to the situations favouring AL Baik. ... The restaurant was not franchised but it was an agency from the US from a company which sold fryers and secret mixers. The restaurant stood at Jeddah. But during the first year of its operation the company suffered a huge loss because people at that point of time did not understand the concept of fried chicken. Thus in order to create an awareness of the product Shakkour Abughazalah printed on every bag a statement that explained the meaning and concept of fried chicken. The company reached its first milestone when about 100 people visited Al Baik on a day and thus it continues to serve people in Jeddah and in nearby cities. Today Al Baik is one of the most famous fast food chains of restaurants operating in Jeddah and has opened few outlets in Makkah, Yanbu and Taif. In Jeddah the company has about 40 outlets and has been the market leader. Research Methodology The research methodology includes both primary as well as secondary research. On the basis of the research it has been anal ysed that Al Baik has made its plans for expansion but considering the conditions it would expand. In terms of primary research, interview was conducted with the CEO of AL Baik, Rami Abughazalah and secondary research was based on from the research made on the literature review. This has also helped to come in to conclusion as to why firms do not go global and also the reason for organisation going global. An analysis into the interview of the CEO has made it clear the strategies and the plans of the company to expand. Business Strategies used by Al Baik The business strategies adopted by AL Baik is based on the interview conducted with the CEO of Al Baik, Rami Abughazalah. Therefore assumptions are made on the strategies used by AL

Law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Law and ethics - Essay Example Moreover, a cursory search on the web reveals a litany of legal firms offering assistance with navigating the complex regulations surrounding performing business in Kuwait (Keay, 2013). The effect of such a level of regulatory steps is of course necessary on some level; due to the fact that without regulation many less than honest firms would set up shop and take advantage of the system. However, as has been mentioned by many scholars with regards to this particular topic, the fact of the matter is that many of these business regulations have been made by individuals that do not have a special understanding of the business process; therefore, they are not adequate or efficient in regulating and only serve to provide a net loss of utility and efficiency with regards to doing business in Kuwait. With regards to a positive effect of this level of regulatory constraints, it can and should of course be noted that this allows Kuwait to exhibit a degree of control over the type and scope of business operations that take place within the nation. By ensuring that a high level of business laws and regulations governing business exist, the stakeholders within the government are able to specifically manage the growth of certain key sectors that they believe represent a threat while they are able to cultivate and promote other sectors that they believe offer a net benefit to the system as a whole. Discuss the fact that Kuwait is a renter state and how this is impacting the business environment negatively. One of the biggest threats to the continued viability of the government of Kuwait and other economies that are over-dependent upon the revenue from their natural resources is the fact that the other segments of the economy often atrophy. Due to the fact that such a very high level of profitability is able to be gleaned from oil and gas, nations such as Kuwait have been known to suffer from what is known as â€Å"Dutch disease†. Dutch disease is so termed due to the situation that exhibited itself in Holland during the 1970’s when large fields of natural gas were discovered within Holland. As these resources were tapped, the whole of economic power shifted and the natural gas industry ballooned into the largest sector of the Dutch economy. Ultimately, this served to weaken the economic position of Holland as a whole as the nation became overly dependent upon the revenue from the gas fields and allowed other, formerly profitable, aspects of their economies to wither and atrophy. In much the same way, the fact that Kuwait is so dependent upon the likes of Shell, BP, and Exxon as â€Å"renters† to their natural resources poses a significant threat to the continued viability of the economy. As a means of approaching this unique threat, it will of course be the responsibility of stakeholders within the government and private sector to seek to build key aspects of domestic production in order to offset the threat of becoming dependent u pon the rents that natural resource seeking firms extract from the nation. Due to the fact that just like with the example of Holland which has previously been discussed, these natural resources will eventually run out, it will be the responsibility of these stakeholders to seek to build a solid foundation now so that when this happens, Kuwait will

Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Legal System Essay Example for Free

Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Legal System Essay â€Å"World order† is the term given to the balance of power among the nation states of the world. Differences between these nations can lead to a power imbalance, which affects world order. It can best be achieved through agreements between states and other international instruments that set out the ideal international standards of behavior for states on a number of issues. But conflicts arise between countries due to differences in cultural attitudes and the desire for extra territory. In order to settle such disputes the international community has legal bodies such as the United Nations to cooperate with countries to find solutions and be a leader in settling and spreading ethical standards. Their prime aim is to promote world order. But for society not only the autonomy of nations and the lack of enforcement power but also a range of other factors limit the effectiveness of such an organisations. Each country has its own perspective on world order and not all meets eye to eye. But it can be argued that world order is a necessity in today’s society. There are many conflicts between majorities and minorities or nation against nation that can take many forms such as guerilla, military and nuclear warfare. An example of a military conflict was the Gulf war between Iraq and the UN lead forces concerning the occupation of Kuwait. But not all conflicts fit into the category of direct confrontation; some arise when a group ignores the needs of another or exploits them. For example after a long civil war in 1996 when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Many measures severely restricted women’s rights and alienated other Afghans. Due to an imbalance of economic power further conflicts can arise such as when a third world country cannot compete with developed nations because of the lack of capital they possess. When a dominant group expands its power by taking over territory and increasing its population and its resources, it is called expansion, which affects the international power structure that can possibly threaten world order. Even though it can be achieved through peaceful practices it mainly takes form in a conflict. In a stable global environment, interdependence, this means that nations rely upon others, can have favorable outcomes. But in an unstable world order, it can lead to conflict and the possible subjugation of weaker nations. Throughout history, local communities and indigenous people have suffered dramatically from conflict and expansion as more dominant groups have both directly and indirectly damaged their culture through the loss of customs, social structure and language. International crimes are criminal acts that have international repercussions on people, state, peace, law and enforcement of international law. The ICC has the jurisdiction over some international crimes. Such international crimes include apartheid (South Africa), genocide (Rwanda), Crimes against humanity (Former Yugoslavia), war crimes (Kosovo), piracy and hijacking. In the international sphere, force plays an important role in maintaining law and order which are critical in the success of world order. The use of force is seen as the most obvious way to maintain order and prevent or resolve conflicts. But it comes with such negatives as being highly expensive and costly in terms of the civilians and soldiers lost. Over the last century two world organisations have been established to prevent war and have legal authority to use force in certain circumstances. After World War One in 1920 the League of Nations was created as a place where governments could bring their disputes. But the L of N had no automatic right to intervene and most governments didn’t agree in bringing disputes before it. With limited membership and those that were members weren’t accustomed to working together, it was flawed. It was however able to make progress in the suppression of slavery, world health, the protection and care for refugees and settling minor disputes. But once the 1930’s began it cease to have any political relevance. After the failure of the League of Nations the United Nations formed, which founded a charter that outlined its purpose and methods of achieving it’s goals. The Un charter (1945) enshrined the idea that force or the threat of force should not be the norm in international relations. Although they were realistic enough to realise that force would sometimes be used. The UN was deliberately created as a more ambitious organisation and has six main organs: The Security Council, the General Assembly, Secretariat, the Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice and Trusteeship Council. Membership is based on whether the nation state is â€Å"peace loving† and willing to accept all the obligations of the UN Charter. The Security Council consists of fifteen member states with only five permanent members, which have the power to veto majority decisions. These five permanent members are Britain, France, USA, China and Russian Federation, which reflect the dominance each has in the world order (except Russia). The UN gives the Security Council, which is responsible for international peace and security, two ways of dealing with a threat to world peace. The first involves the use of peaceful methods such as economic sanctions. The second involves the use of armed forces. Peacekeeping is defined by as: The maintenance of international peace using formed troops under UN control to prevent the outbreak or renewal of fighting or by stabilising a situation sufficiently to promote peace. † Butterworths Australian Legal Dictionary. The Un Peacekeepers are an assembly of a very diverse, international group of soldiers and civilians, which assists in settling disputes that restores the peace in an area. However it doesn’t constitute an army as often they are made up of doctors, nurses and pilots. In many situations UN peacekeepers help clear landmines, train civilians and even monitor elections. For example in Namibia, the UN peacekeepers supervised a democratic election, which lead to the county’s sovereignty. The presence of peacekeepers can have positive affects such as the limit in the spread of violence in Haiti and Cyprus, but in other places they have been less successful i. e. the UN peacekeeping in Somalia in 1992. As Somalia fell into clan-based civil war, the country collapsed and the UN was unable to restore peace and eventually departed as Somalia remained in chaos. Originally the five permanent members of the Security Council were meant to coordinate the peacekeeping forces. But in reality they are conducted outside the UN’s regular budget, where national governments deployed troops to the peacekeeping efforts. Much of the peacekeeping is done by Ireland, Sweden and Australia. Australia has contributed either military forces or police to 54 peacekeeping forces and in 1999-2000 Australia played a leading role in reestablishing order in East Timor. Australia has also conducted peacekeeping efforts outside of the UN’s operation in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. On the other hand the UN peacekeepers are limited in their effectiveness as they can only use force in self-defense, therefore they cannot directly intervene unless they are shot at and made themselves targets of conflict. Due to the dominance of some states in the world order, there is no equal treatment between nations states, which are members of the UN. Even though the UN charter states that there must be equality, in practice it does not exist. Due to the nature of certain UN bodies it is inevitable that smaller states are marginalized. However the situating of the United Nations in New York enables every member to sit side by side and have an immediate translation of languages, which breaks down barriers to communication. The UN has successfully raised the conscience of human rights through its conventions and the attention to specific abuses through its resolutions. But its ability to function is hampered by its financial problems as it is expected to govern the country on $8 billion per year, which is less than the amount of money the world spends on defense each week. It is resource ineffective as it ahs gone deeper in to debt as countries are slow to pay. Its enforceability is limited as it lacks the power to sufficient apply equal force to every nation should members ignore UN resolutions. War is not the only means of ending a conflict; a more peaceful method is through international tribunals. The International Court of Justice is an arm of the UN and is therefore one of the worlds main judicial bodies. Established in 1946, it is sometime referred to as the ‘world court. With its jurisdiction applies when it is in accordance with international law. Its primary role is to decide matters submitted by countries and to advise on the matters. It can also apply its authority when there is a special agreement about a dispute in which the parties to a treaty nominate the ICJ as the mechanism for resolution. The ICJ is a permanent court where 15 judges are elected by the UN Security Council and the General assembly. Not only can the ICJ resolve disputes by making a ruling, it can also generate political pressure to persuade countries to alter their behavior. In theory, the courts decisions are binding and without appeal. However in practice the losing party unwilling to abide by the ruling and the Security Council often limits its effectiveness is restricted to enforce the ruling. For example in the case of the US versus Nicaragua (1984), the decision stated that the US had to cease unlawful terrorist activities against Nicaragua and ordered that the US pay reparation. However they refused to pay and subsequently withdrew from the ICJ. But one of the main limitations the ICJ has is that only states can be parties to cases before the court. No individual, organisation or company can bring forth a matter. Plus both parties need to agree to have the court hear the matter. This is a dilemma in itself as the rulings are final and no country is going to openly dispute the matter where there is a possibility of losing. Its restrictive power reduces its ability to take initiatives and its lack of power to enforce and police its decisions has become a major criticism. The International Criminal Court ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and war crimes. The ICC is a treaty based, legal entity independent from the UN. Despite this autonomy it works closely with the UN to promote the rule of law. The ICC has the power to imprison the offender if found guilty for life but does not offer the death penalty. One of the main objectives to the ICC is that some countries believe that there is little supervision of the court’s apparatuses and the verdicts may become subject to political matters. For the ICC, it has taken four years for the required sixty signatures to be gained and the treaty ratified. The United States of America can undermine the proceedings of the court by refusing to supply evidence and witnesses, like any other country can. During the 1990’s several atrocities where occurring in the Balkans and Africa. This resulted in specialist tribunals developed to deal with the specific investigations. War crimes and crimes against humanity were happening in former Yugoslavia. Thus in 1993 the UN Security Council created a new war crimes tribunal. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had the jurisdiction over breaches of the Geneva Conventions and international customary law. On 12 February 2002, Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia was charged of the planning and implementing, on a widespread and systematic scale and attack on the civilian population of Kosovo. Kosovo, which was a province of Serbia, had a majority population of Muslim Albanians and Slobodan was accused of leading a campaign of â€Å"ethnical cleansing†. This was the first time a former head of state had faced charges of crimes against humanity. Unfortunately Milosevic died in 2006 before his trial concluded. The fact that the ICTY tried Slobodan, illustrate that justice can be achieved when nations cooperate with the international community. In Africa, more specifically Rwanda, genocide was occurring between the two main ethnic groups the Hutu and Tutsis. Based on the ICTY model in 1994 the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was established to prosecute those responsible for genocide in the republic. This tribunal was instated in response to over whelming pressures and has started a series of trials. These Ad Hoc tribunals have one specific purpose and may take time to be established which could mean the loss of thousands of lives. It is not a permanent body and will disband once trials have concluded. Sometimes as in the case with the ICTY where the main target is one person, it can suppress other investigations as most of its resources may be deployed in trailing that one person. The nature of Ad Hoc has proved to be cost ineffective and time consuming. International instruments such as treaties and customary law form the principle source of international law and are some measures of achieving world order. Treaties, which can also be called conventions, statutes or charters, are binding agreements. They formalise the process where by governments through international agencies work together on common problems. The two types of treaties are bilateral and multilateral treaties in where states agree on terms and the parties are therefore bond by it. Since 1945 there has been some significant treaties signed that are an indispensable part of the current world order

Cosmopolitanism Ethics In A World Of Strangers Philosophy Essay

Cosmopolitanism Ethics In A World Of Strangers Philosophy Essay The book, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, is a clear and well-written book which is enjoyable to read. K. A. Appiah is himself a citizen of the world: a professor of philosophy at Princeton, with a Ghanian father and an English mother, he was raised in Ghana and educated in England, and also lived in Africa, Europe and North America. After reading this book, I have to say that Appiah skillfully blends his philosophical ideas with anecdotes about his own life and background. It brings us too many places and we come to know him a little and also his father, mother, and various other kinsfolk and tribe members. He introduces us to many traditions, practices and ideas of his African ancestry to clarify his ideas on human interactions, conversations, and globalisation. It reassesses the case for reviving an ancient stream of thought in a world full of strangers, and finds that Cosmopolitanism is a universal trait of humankind. The overall scheme of the book concerns the p rinciples of the existence of different people bound by a simple nexus of common values and humanity.   1.1 Introduction: Marking Conversation Appiah starts with the fact that our ancestors lived in small tribes where they interacted with a small set of people who they knew. Others were of rival tribes and to be viewed with suspicion. Information about other ways of life didnt really flow into the village. That was in the old days. Nowadays, our human world is getting smaller now, because people have more access to each other than ever before in history. We are getting to know and access each other through migration, international trade, tourism, and the worldwide web of information, which comes from radio, television, telephones, and especially the internet. This mass media and the amazing cyberspace give us plenty of opportunities not only that we can affect the lives of others everywhere but that we can to learn about life anywhere, too'(p xiii). The world is getting smaller and we are living in a new global tribe in the face of the world globalization. How are we to deal with these new circumstances? What ideas and institutions can help us to live together in this global village? Appiah addresses the notion of cosmopolitanism, that is the challenge to take minds and hearts formed over the long millennia of living in local troops and equip them with ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become'(p xiii). The notion actually combines two inter-related strands: One is the idea that we have obligations to others, obligations that stretch beyond those to whom we are related by the ties of kith and kin, or even the more formal ties of shared citizenship'(p xv). The other is that we take seriously the value not just of human life but of particular human lives, which means taking an interest in the practices and beliefs that lend them significance (p xv). Appiah believes that it is an obligation to understand those with whom we share this planet. People are different, and there is much to learn from our differences. Because there are so many human possibilities worth exploring, we neither expect nor desire that every person or every society should converge on a single mode of life. Appiah also stresses that whatever our obligations are to others (or theirs to us) they often have the right to go their own way (p xv), it is respect for difference. According to Appiah, cosmopolitanism is more accommodating of diversity than the current liberal consensus but does not fall into moral relativism. Cosmopolitanism embodies two core values: universal concern for all humanity above family and nation and a respect for legitimate difference. Appiah recognizes that these two values clash, and as such cosmopolitanism is the name not of the solution but of the challenge (p. xv). Appiah takes a step further to summarise the challenges, which are: (1) to avoid falling into moral relativism while respecting difference; (2) to find a middle way between an unrooted abstract universalism and self-interested nationalism; (3) to recognise that cultural difference has been exaggerated by an order of magnitude (p. xix); and (4) to work for conversation, in the sense both of association and exchange of ideas, while realising that humanity will never arrive at an agreed hierarchy of universal values. Cosmopolitanism is a process involving the human co mmunity in habits of co-existence, of conversation in its older meaning, of living together, association (p. xix). The crux of getting along is to recognise that while one might live with integrity in accordance with ones own beliefs, one does not need to share the same rationale with someone else to develop this habit of conservation. In the interpretation of cosmopolitanism, Appiah is sympathetic to the view that local loyalties and allegiances are important because they determine who we are. So he encourages us to embrace both local and universal loyalties and allegiances and denies that they necessarily come into conflict with each other. He holds that we need to take sides neither with the nationalist who abandons all foreigners nor with the hard-core cosmopolitan who regards friends and fellow citizens with icy impartiality. The position worth defending might be called (in both senses) a partial cosmopolitanism. So he stakes out his middle ground of partial cosmopolitanism more by talking about what its not. On the positive side, we get a lot of generalities: its important to talk with people from other cultures, to maintain mutual respect, to learn about other ways of life. We need the curiosity inherent in a partial cosmopolitan outlook so that we can get used to one another and live peacefully together. We do not, he stresses, need to share underlying values or agree on everything. 1.2 The Shattered Mirror Appiah argues that looking at the world clearly shows that there are a variety of ways of life and thought. Human beings are different and that we can learn from each others differences (p4). When we are exposed to the range of human customs and beliefs, a cosmopolitan openness to the world is perfectly consistent with picking and choosing among the options you find in your search (p5). However, such exposure to different human customs and beliefs hardly leaves the traveler unattached from his own. Thus, not all disagreements can be resolved and it urges us to accept differences. (pp.4-7) Appiah holds that a complex truth is like images of the shattered mirroreach shard of which reflects one part of a complex truth from its own particular angle. He supposed the deepest mistake is to think that your little shard of mirror can reflect the whole. Actually, Appiah points out that there is no singular truth. In that case, theres no one shattered mirror; there are lots of mirrors, lots of moral truths, and we can at best agree to differ (p11), therefore, we need to embrace pluralism, and adopt a live-and let-live attitude. Appiah cites works by ethnographers, and draws a number of persuasive parallels to establish universality and shared values (good and bad). He stresses that people in far-flung places are the same in that [they] have gods, food, language, dance music, carvings, medicines, family lives, rituals, jokes and childrens tales.   They smiled, slept, had sex and children, wept, and in the end, died (p.14). Another commonality according to Appiah, is that a lot of what we take to be right or wrong is simply a matter of customs.   His argument about ideas and concepts which are common to most cultures in the world, draws further on acts like good parenting, as well as taboo, which exists in his native Ghana (akywandee), or in Igbo land (nso), but is Polynesian in origin. 1.3 The Escape from Positivism Appiah writes of relativism, positivism, and particular the fact and value distinction in this chapter. Appiah claims that the influence of positivism has led to value relativism by splitting values (or ends) from facts about the world (or means), in other words, what philosophers have called the naturalistic fallacy, or the inability to derive an ought from an is. Appiah avers that relativism and positivism often get in the way of the cosmopolitan project and undermine conversation across boundaries. Because every people finds its own ways (to be) good (p16), this conversation is important. It helps us to know others who are different and to learn from them. Simply put, if when we disagree we are both right, then there is nothing to talk about. if we cannot learn from one another what it is right to think and feel and do, then conversation between us will be pointless (p31). From a positivist slant, Appiah observes that what is custom is linked to values, which in the end, guide our acts, thoughts and our feelings (p 25). It is in this context that he underscores that being kind is an attribute of experience more than any other variable since people learn to be kind by being treated kindly and noticing it.   Appiah also emphasises the way our values are shaped by conversations with others, in which we try to shape each others views and feelings, but relativism of that sort isnt a way to encourage conversation, its just a reason to fall silent (p 31) because of the relativists toleration. 1.4 Facts on the Ground The chapter is an attack on the positivist notion of fact. Appiah argues that facts are not as solid as we may suppose. He tries to show that facts are on no more solid ground than values. He uses the example of trying to persuade a traditional Asante (his kinfolk) that witchcraft cannot harm people, to show that facts largely depend on what you already believe and what ideas you already have. 1.5 Moral Disagreement In this chapter, Appiah goes on to look at the various ways we can come in conflict over values, which are more likely to arise between people from different societies. They are: (1) no shared vocabulary of evaluation. Value terms are essentially contestable and they will always be argued about both across cultures and within them. (2) Even when we share the same moral vocabulary, conflict over values might come in varying interpretations of the same vocabulary and (3) giving the same values different weight. However none of this is insurmountable: we can agree to do things without agreeing on why (p67), but more important is Appiahs point, pace Samuel Huntingdon, that most conflict is not articulated through warring values in the first place. In fact, intense conflict may arise through dispute over the meaning of the same values (p67), e.g. on abortion, American pro-lifers and pro-abortionists both respect the sanctity of life, but differ on why it is precious and on when life begin s. To better understand this point, Appiah gives us other example that, the US and Iraq being at war is not because the people of the two countries have different values. But this is not a point the politicians in Washington would readily accept, certainly, not the ideologues.  Here, Appiah analyses that the Golden Rule-what you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others- requires that we should take other peoples interests seriously, take them into account. Appiah suggests that encouraging cosmopolitan engagement, presupposes the acceptance of disagreement.   Perhaps, this is why cosmopolitans endorse as a key aim, that we learn about other peoples situations and then use our imagination to walk in their Moccasins (p.68). He also exposes the failings of the Golden Rule as a principle to live by. Its just that we cant claim that the way is easy. 1.6 The Primacy of Practice Appiah argues that even though moral disagreements can happen and are real, crosscultural conversations about values do not have to end in disagreement, because it is often possible to agree about what to do even when we do not agree on the reasons behind it. For example, we can live in peace and harmony without agreeing on the underlying values. (pp.69-81) Appiah discourages us from insisting on reaching agreements on values by means of reasoned arguments and persuasion. These very often fail to move people. Moreover, if we make this insistence, then we will lose what is worthwhile about conversations across boundaries. As Appiah avers, conversation is hardly guaranteed to lead to agreement about what to think and feel. Yet we go wrong if we think the point of conversation is to persuade, and imagine it proceeding as a debate, in which points are scored for the Proposition and the Opposition. Often enough, as Faust said, in the beginning is the deed: practices and not principles are what enable us to live together in peace (pp.84-85).When Appiah proposes conversations between people, what he has in mind by conversation is really an engagement with the experience and the ideas of others (p85). In this sense, conversations do not have to lead to consensus about anything, especially not values; its enough that it helps people get used to one another (p85). 1.7 Imaginary Strangers Appiah argues that the points of entry to crosscultural conversations are things that are shared by those who are in the conversation. They do not need to be universal; all they need to be is what these particular people have in common (p97). And human beings everywhere have so much in common. These include everyday activities, such as buying things, eating, reading the paper, laughing, going to movies, parties and funerals. They also include universal values such as kindness and generosity. He argues that these can be entry points to cross cultural conversations, because once we have found enough (things which) we share, there is the further possibility that we will be able to enjoy discovering things we do not yet share'(p97), and we can open up more to other ways of thinking, feeling and acting. That is one of the payoffs of cosmopolitan curiosity. Appiah also notes that the problem of cross-cultural communication can seem immensely difficult in theory, when we are trying to imagine making sense of a stranger in the abstract. But the great lesson of anthropology is that when the stranger is no longer imaginary, but real and present, sharing a human social life, you may like or dislike him, you may agree or disagree; but, if it is what you both want, you can make sense of each other in the end (pp.98-99). 1.8 Cosmopolitan Contamination In the seventh chapter called Cosmopolitan Contamination, Appiah argues against those who criticize globalization for producing homogeneity and getting rid of cultural differences. He claims that globalization is also a threat to homogeneity because it creates new forms of difference (p101-105). He thinks that instead of the talk of preserving diversity and trapping people in conditions they want to escape from, we have got to let people choose for themselves. He mentions that cosmopolitans think human variety matters because people are entitled to the options they need to shape their lives in partnership with others (p104). Appiah also writes of the trouble with cultural imperialism, he believes that people in each place make their own uses even of the most famous global commodities (p113). Such as the fact that Levis are worn on every continent. In some places they are informal wear; in others they are dressy'(p113).They are not blank tablets on which global capitalism can write wh atever it wants, they are not fools but they can resist. That is why something does not ever change, like the identity of a society can survive when cultures are made of continuities and changes. 1.9 Whose Culture Is It, Anyway? Appiah begins by pointing out that some of the museums of the world, particularly in the West, have large collections of objects and artefacts which were looted from poor and developing countries. He then asks: who owns these cultural artefacts and properties? Our first answer may be that since they make up the cultural heritage of a people, they belong to the people and culture from whom they were taken. Appiah disputes this and argues that the right way is to take not a national but a cosmopolitan perspective: to ask what system of international rules about objects of this sort will respect the many legitimate human interests at stake (pp.126-127). If some cultural artefacts are of potential value to all human beings, they should belong to all of humanity. He thinks that when they make a contribution to world culture, they should be protected by being made available to those who would benefit from experiencing them and put into the trusteeship of humanity (pp.130-134). Appiah argue s that rather than focusing on returning stolen art and putting a lot of money and effort into it, it may serve the interest of those whose artefacts were stolen better to be exposed to a decent collection of art from around the world, like people everywhere else. 1.10 The Counter-Cosmopolitanism Appiahs writing on Believers without Borders as in Doctors without Borders is instructive in explaining universalism as well as its driving motives and consequences: They believe in human dignity across nationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ share ideals with people in many countries, speaking many languagesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they would never go to war for (a) country, but they will enlist (in a) campaign against any nation that gets in the way of universal justice.   They are young, global Muslim fundamentalist; they are the recruiting ground of Al Qaeda (pp. 137-138). Appiah goes on to suggest that such fundamentalism exemplifies the universal ethics, which inverts the picture of Cosmopolitanism and in the absence of toleration, turns easily to murder (p141).  For example, Islamic and Christian fundamentalists who seek a community of those who share their faith and reject all national and local allegiances have no tolerance for religious difference. We should be wary of and reject universal community, because they can lead to bloodbaths, which is one lesson we can learn from the sad history of Christian religious warfare in Europe (p141). Then Appiah turns to argue that their universalism is contrary to cosmopolitanism which embraces pluralism and promotes the view that our knowledge is imperfect and provisional and that we might learn something from those we disagree with. As he writes: to say what, in principle, distinguishes the cosmopolitan from the counter-cosmopolitan, we plainly need to go beyond talk of truth and tolerance. One distinctively cosmopolitan commitment is to pluralism. Cosmopolitans think that there are many values worth living by and that you cannot live by all of them. So we hope and expect that different people and different societies will embody different values. (But they have to be values worth living by.) Another aspect of cosmopolitanism is what philosophers call fallibilism the sense that our knowledge is imperfect, provisional, subject to revision in the face of new evidence (p 144). If cosmopolitanism is, in a slogan, universality plus difference, there are the other enemies of cosmopolitanism. They reject universality altogether, and claim that not everyone matters. One such inescapable obligation is this: when you do something that harms someone else, you must be able to justify it. Those we think of are willing to claim that not everyone matters. They tell us why. Such and such people are destroying our nation; they are inferior; It is not actually that they dont matter; its that they have earned our hatred or contempt. They deserve what we are doing to them (pp.150-152). Appiah avers that the real challenge to cosmopolitanism isnt the belief that other people dont matter at all; its the belief that they dont matter very much. Its easy to get agreement that we have some obligations to strangers. We cant do terrible thing to them. (p153) 1.11 Kindness to Strangers Appiah looks at the question of what do we owe strangers? His answer is mainly negative. Appiah begins by referring the viewpoints of Peter Singer and Peter Unger. The Singer principle (from the works of Peter Singer) states: If you can prevent something bad from happening at the cost of something less bad, you ought to do it (p 160). Unger takes it a step further by stating that it would be immoral not to donate all of ones wealth to organizations, such as UNICEF and Oxfam, which benefit less fortunate people. Based on these beliefs, Singer and Unger would likely agree that it would be wrong to spend money on the opera if that money could otherwise be used to save the life of a child (p159-162). Appiah, however, doesnt agree with that decision. He believes that Singer and Unger are missing a key piece of morality and human nature: It is illogical-and just plain wrong- to assume that a person values all lives equally. In reality, a person is likely to value the people around them, su ch as family and friends, and even themselves, over those whom they have never met. Thats not to say that such a person does not care about other, unknown people; it is only to reaffirm the fact that humans prefer familiarity. Cosmopolitanism cannot and does not demand from us to have more sympathy and concern for strangers than those close to us. In addition, Singer and Ungers principles are vague and without exceptions. They dont seem to consider all possible situations and they fail to account for human nature. As Appiah mentions, if everyone spent all of their money to save starving children and none on activities they enjoy, the world would be a flat and dreary place. (p 166) No one would want to live at all if they werent able to do things other than saving other peoples lives. People need entertainment and joy in their lives in order to be happy and successful. These thinkers are mistaken to burden us with incredible obligations which would dramatically reduce the quality of our lives (pp.156-166). It is much more helpful, as Appiah believes, to contribute, in whatever way possible, to a cause that will focus on improving the general living conditions of a location, which, in turn, will eliminate the hunger of the children living there. Providing clean water or a better education system to Third World children will do more for their future than simply feeding them for a day, which, as Appiah points out, may actually be detrimental to the farmers and the economy of the area. And it wouldnt necessarily require all of ones wealth to be donated to the cause in order to make it happen. As Appiah points out, Singer and Unger seem to imply that all values can be measured in a single thin currency of goodness and badness and those decisions should be made based on a comparison of the amounts of this currency for each possible outcome (p 166). That theory is a misguided and an inaccurate one, as it fails to account for outside forces. All decisions must be made by considering the many variables involved; this morality price, as one might call it, is only one such variable. According to Appiah, whatever our obligations are to strangers, they must not be too burdensome because these are not the only obligations that matter. As such, Appiah is correct in his conclusions that neither the Singer principle nor Ungers beliefs should be the sole guiding force in ones decision-making process. While it may be appropriate to assign the morality price a heavy weight when it comes to making a decision, it is impossible to force the human mind to think only of such a value. As Appia h argues, human values and decision making processes should be based on more than just one specific rule-designed by one specific human. The world is too complex for one sentence to handle. Appiah also makes an argument based on the saying that the end justifies the means. Slavery, in and of itself, is wrong; the existence of the pyramids or of the United States, however, is not. Plus, it is unreasonable to assume that giving away all of ones wealth will cause any permanent change. It is more likely that doing so would simply prolong the possibly-dreadful life of a starving child for a set period of time. After that, the living conditions of the child would simply return to their previous state. 2 Evaluations 2.1 The Notion of Cosmopolitanism Appiahs chosen word to describe this task in this book is cosmopolitanism. This term can be traced back to the founding father of the Cynic movement in Ancient Greece,  Diogenes of Sinope  (c. 412 B.C.). Of Diogenes it is said: Asked where he came from, he answered: I am a citizen of the world (kosmopolità ªs)  [1]  . The word of Cosmopolitan derives from Greek  cosmos  (the  Universe) and  polis (city). Appiah picks this term to suggest the possibility of a cosmopolitan community in which individuals from varying locations (physical, economic, etc.) enter relationships of mutual respect despite their differing beliefs (moral, religious, political, etc.). According to the meaning which is intended , he finds cosmopolitan superior to globalization, which is an overused word that can mean everything from a marketing strategy to an economic thesis, or multiculturalism, which he says is another shape shifter, which so often designates the disease it purports to cure. App iah admits that cosmopolitanism can have elitist connotations. But its actually a term rooted more in the idea of cosmos the universe: talk of cosmopolitanism originally signaled a rejection of the conventional view that every civilized person belonged to a community among communities. In order to better understand the notion of Cosmopolitanism in the book, it is necessary to make a brief survey of the differences in meaning among some conceptions, which are: relativism, universalism, nationalism, patriotism and liberalism. Relativism refers to any of several descriptive, meta-ethical, or normative positions  regarding the differences in moral or ethical judgments between different people and cultures. Universalism is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally, that is, for all similarly situated individuals, regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexuality, or other distinguishing feature. Nationalism  involves a strong identification of ones social identity with that of a  nation  or state.  Patriotism  is love and devotion to ones country.  Liberalism is the belief in the importance of  liberty  and  equality. And, Cosmopolitanism is in a slogan, universality plus differen ce (p151). 2.2 Relativism and Cosmopolitanism Relativists claim that not everything is local custom, and they argue that education must be morally neutral, and that all values are situational and negotiable. Appiah thinks it is mercifully fading out. Appiah rejects cultural relativism, he pushes it further toward obsolescence and denies a key tenet of relativism, which he describes as the basic suspicion that moral claims just reflect local preferences rather than universal truths. Before relativisms destruction, its proponents relied on the comfortable certainty that tolerance trumped all other values. For relativists, dealing with multiple cultures was easy: Just tolerate everything. But in the absence of that idea, how do we relate to what Appiah calls a world of strangers? Since there are some values that are, and should be, universal, do we deliberately rinse away all expressions of cultural diversity that dont uphold those universals? If values are universal, how can we maintain them while still respecting cultural distinctness? How can we avoid the pitfall those relativists feared, that of imposing our values on others? Appiah makes it work. He avers that Cosmopolitanism helps us find ways to consider such conceptual complexities. As mentioned before, Appiahs cosmopolitanism intertwines two ideas, obligations to others and value of particular human lives. For the cosmopolitan, then, no local loyalty can ever justify forgetting that each human being has r esponsibilities to every other. Those responsibilities are best played out in conversations across differences where the language of values helps us coordinate our lives with one another. 2.3 Globalization Appiah talks about globalization in chapter 7. He is dismissive of those who are critical of globalization and focuses only on one aspect of their criticisms, namely their worry that globalization wipes out local cultures. So he does not address the worry that the global financial institutions and multinational corporations want to expand the world markets for their own interests and that they undercut and weaken local governments, laws, and decision-making. Western industrial nations promote free trade, but this in fact benefits them and makes them richer and more powerful. The agriculture and export subsidies in the West are one of the main causes of agricultural decline in many developing countries. So globalization per petuates and worsens the unequal balance of power between rich industrial and poor developing countries, rather than addressing it in any way. Appiah casts the critics of globalization as people who are afraid of change, but some of the critics are legitimately con cerned with global justice and local sovereignty. 2.4 Cosmopolitan Justice Cosmopolitan justice is discussed in Chapter10, but it is a little weak. One of the main components of Appiahs cosmopolitanism is ethical commitment to strangers. But his view of what this amounts to is very thin. Instead of speculating about what commitments we incur if we want to make the world a substantially better place, Appiah comes up with a list of constraints. He is very critical of the idea of world government as a vehicle for upholding and guaranteeing peoples basic rights. For Appiah the primary mechanism for ensuring basic rights is the nation-state. Appiah then warns us about those who want to burden us with too much and urge us to overlook our obligations to those close to us and to our own self and projects. It is difficult to see how the concerns which underpin cosmopolitan ethics or justice can be addressed solely in the context of national politics. Those who are passionate about cosmopolitan justice are concerned about extreme poverty, tyranny, oppression, and environmental degradation. Seriously addressing these seems to also require working with international organizations which go beyond national borders and forming connections and associations with others elsewhere who have similar goals. Moreover, despite Appiahs legitimate worries about establishing a world government, it is clear that world governing bodies and institutions, such as United Nations and World Bank, already exist, deal with cosmopolitan justice issues, and have much power. At the least, making the world more just would demand that these institutions become more democratic and fair and do a better job of protecting peoples rights. 2.5 Global Conversation Cosmopolitanism works because values like courtesy, hospitality, generosity and reciprocity are widely shared, alongside other basic concepts and social customs, to enable differences to be explored. Appiah thinks that we share enough to work through human differences. Commonality allows for a global conversation. In the end, attaining a state of peaceful, diverse co-existence is more important to cosmopolitanism than resolving all conflict over human values either philosophically or politically. Appiah calls for a global conversation to make our world suitable for coexistence and living well. But he does not refer to appropriate ways. When we look for some enlightenment in the context of Chinese Confucianism, we can find that Confucian toleration has some characteristics of engagement in such conversations; the characteristics are: openness to t

Examining The Concept Of Physical Security Information Technology Essay

Examining The Concept Of Physical Security Information Technology Essay INTRODUCTION THE concept of physical security has evolved over time from history to the present day, and has impacted on the tactics used in modern day security. This is evidence in the well defined physical security strategies employed in the military defense structures of the ancient empires and colonies in which the soldiers served as a form of intrusion detection and the access into the city walls were made through the city gates, while the city walls served as perimeter protection and access control. This is also evidence in the nineteenth century fortress and royal castles. Throughout recorded history, man has needed to feel safe and secure. The philosophy of physical security remains the same but the technology varies in application over the years. The security of an organizations resources and sensitive information is very vital to its existence and business continuity. The physical and environmental security domain examines the vulnerabilities, threats, risks and countermeasures that can be taken to physically secure the organization and its assets. In other words, physical security mechanism involves the physical measures designed to protect people, data, infrastructures, equipments, system and information pertaining to an organization. Thesis statement In this term paper, one of the commonly used approaches in physical security program development will be examined. The approach to be examined is known as the crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). It should be noted that the level of security required in an organization will vary from facility to facility depending on risk assessment and threat analysis of such organization. In essence, it is important for the organization to conduct a detailed risk analysis by understanding the common threat to the facility, identifying the threats and ultimately ensure proper countermeasures are implemented. Body of the term paper Most professionals in the field of information security do not think so much about physical security as they do about computer and network security and associated viruses, hackers, and technology-orientated countermeasures. Therefore the need arise for a security professional to view security from a broad perspective because danger can come from anywhere, taking any shapes and different formats which can result into different level of severity in terms of damage. Physical security has a different set of vulnerabilities, threats, and countermeasures as compared to computer, network or information security. Physical security focuses on protecting all the personnel and assets of the organization and also the enhancement of productivity, the AIC security triad will enhance the availability of company resources, the integrity of the assets and environment and finally the confidentiality of the data and business processes. The objectives of the physical security program largely depend on the desired level of protection required for different assets of the organization, which is also determined by the organizations acceptable risk level. The threat profile of the organization including the laws and regulations with which the organization must comply dictates the acceptable risk level of the organization. In other words, the objectives of physical security should address crime and disruption prevention through deterrence (e.g. the use of fences, security guards), reduction of damage through the use of delay mechanisms (e.g. physical locks, barriers, security personnel), crime or disruption detection gadget (e.g. smoke detectors, CCTV), incident assessment (e.g. response to detected incidents and determination of level of damage) and finally the response procedures (e.g. the emergency response process in place, the fire suppression mechanism in the advent of fire). These objectives form the basics of the layered defense model on which the physical security is implemented. The layers are implemented at the perimeter of the facility and moving towards the primary assets of the organization. In essence, as much as the organization tries to prevent crimes and disruption from occurring, there should also be necessary plans in place to deal with them when they do happen. The major threats that contend with physical security are theft, physical damage, compromised system and environment integrity, interruption to services and unauthorized access. Threats faced by organizations can be classified under different categories namely (i) Natural environmental threats examples include floods, earthquakes, fire and so on. (ii) Supply system threats such as power distribution outrages, communication interruptions and interruption of other natural energy resources, examples include water, steam, gas and so on. (iii) Manmade threat such as vandalism, theft, fraud, unauthorized access, employee errors and accidents, just to mention a few. (iv) Political motivated threats such as strikes, riots, civil disobedience, terrorist attacks and so on Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) remains one of the commonly used physical security approaches. It is described as a multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior through environmental design [3]. It is also commonly known as proactive crime prevention environmental design strategy utilized by planners, police services, architects and security professionals. The concept used in CPTED is built upon the effect a proper design of a physical environment can have on human behavior in relation to crime rate in such environment. This approach provides guidance in crime prevention by putting in place proper facility construction and well designed environmental components. The CPTED strategies were developed midway into the twentieth century and have evolved and matured along with our environments and crime rates and types. Overtime, this approach was not only used in corporate organizational security programs but also implemented in large scale development projects such as cities, towns and neighborhoods. An effective design or problem solving environmental design begin by evaluating the purpose of the designated space, how the space is defined and considering how well the physical design support the intended function of the space. In effect, the crux of CPTED is that the physical environment can be manipulated to create behavioral changes that will reduce or eliminate crime and the fear of crime and improve quality of life. It places emphasis on physical environment, productive use of space, and behavior of people to create environments that are void of environmental cues that can result into opportunities for crime to occur [4]. It is can be considered as a social engineering tool that can be used for security, which encompasses the physical, social, psychological needs of the users in different types of environments which can be used to predict behaviors of these users and that of the likely offenders [2]. In other words, CPTED strategies rely upon the ability to influence offender decisions that precede carrying out criminal acts. It brings to mind that if a site is well laid out, the likelihood of it being targeted for a crime may be reduced. There are four major strategies used in CPTED to increase the overall protection include natural access control, natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement and maintenance. Natural Access Control The natural access control serve as a guide for the movement of people in and out of a facility such as placements of doors, fences, lighting and in some cases landscaping to deny admission to a crime target and to create awareness among offenders that there is a risk in selecting the intended target. The use of physical and mechanical means of access control locks, bars and alarms can supplement natural access control if need be. Natural Surveillance The natural surveillance is a concept purposely designed at keeping intruder under observation. It entails the use and placement of physical environment features, personnel walkways and design of activity areas in such a way as to maximize visibility. The physical design of the facility and proper placement of windows, lightings and landscaping increases the ability of those within the vicinity to observe intruders as well as regular users, and thus gives the opportunity to challenge any irregularities or inappropriate behavior [5]. The goal of natural surveillance is to eliminate criminal activities by providing an open and well designed environment and thereby making it uncomfortable for potential criminals to operate. It maximizes the potential to deter crime by providing a good visual connection across the facility. Territorial Reinforcement Territorial reinforcement can be accomplished through the use of walls, lighting, flags, clearly marked addresses and fences. The goal of territorial reinforcement is to create physical designs that emphasize the companys area of influence to give legitimate owners a sense of ownership and a dedicated community, which makes the employees have a sense of belonging and a willingness to defend if required to do so. Maintenance Proper care and maintenance is needed for continuous use of the space for its intended purpose. Deterioration indicates less concern and control by the intended owners (organization) of the site and further indicates tolerance of disorder thereby defeating the purpose of the CPTED. It should however be noted that CPTED is not the same as target hardening. The main focus of target hardening is to deny access through physical or artificial barrier, which in most cases lead to restriction in use, enjoyment and aesthetics of the environment. Most corporate organizations use a mix of both CPTED and target hardening approaches. Conclusion The broad nature of CPTED approach and its implementation in any facility setting enables it to adapt to different physical security design which shows it is an effective approach to prevent crime. Therefore including it from the construction stage will make the facility safer from the onset, rather than wait until crime problems occur before implementing the CPTED approach. For future work, I propose that more research be done on individual components and effects in various business settings. Acknowledgment This paper has written under the kind feedback of Mr. Francis Gichohi. I am thankful to him for his support and dedication to his students.

Cultural Evolution :: essays research papers

Cultural evolution began to occur during the most recent Ice Age, or within the last hundred or fifty thousand years. This is when the tools that's are used for sophisticated hunting are found; for example the spear thrower, the fully barbed harpoon, and the flint master tools that were used to make all the hunting tools. Cultural evolution took shape because man had the flexibility of mind to recognize inventions and to turn them into community property. The Ice Ages forced man to depend less on plants and more on animals, also the ice changed the strategy in which man hunted. Instead of stalking single animals, the better alternative was to follow herds and not to lose them, to learn to anticipate and in the end to adopt their habits, including their wandering migrations. This adaption is known as the transhumanance mode of life on the move. It adapts the earliest forms of hunting, because it is pursuit, where the animals go and how fast they go there set the pace of life and the geography which where they lived. Also it has the later qualities of herding, because the animal is tended and stored as a mobile reservoir of food. This change from a vegetarian to an omnivorous diet, gave man more free time to spend in more direct ways. Meat is a more concentrated protein than plant, and eating meat cuts down the bulk and the time spent in eating by two thirds. Man would become totally dependent on the animal that he hunted, not only for food but products that could be made using the animals remains. Hides could be used for clothing or shelter and bones and antlers could be made into tools or utensils. Hunting could not support a growing population in one place so the hunters made the choice to either move with the herds or starve. Inventions of tools played a major role in cultural evolution, inventions may have been rare but they spread fast through a culture. Early inventions not only helped man survive but they helped him in becoming a civilized species that had order and control of his lifestyle. Once an invention was discovered, man never left it at that, instead he studied the invention or tool and learned how to make it better or easier to use. The Magdalenian hunter of southern Europe fifteen thousand years ago invented the harpoon.

Palestine Dispute Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the control of Palestine shifted from Muslim to Western powers. Britain promised Jews and Zionists the land in Palestine in the form of the Balfour Declaration. However, at the same time, there were already Palestinians living in that land. Even today, there is no correct answer as to who should have rightfully acquired the land; however, the Palestinian Arabs should have cooperated when the Jews immigrated to the Palestine. There are plenty of facts which support both sides. The solution can only be determined through one’s opinion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Biblical sources, Arabs and Israelites first met in Palestine about 1500 to 500 B.C. This time period recognized the beginning of the tradition of the two peoples’ common patriarchs and the cousinly ties between the offspring of Isaac and the children of Ishmael, the sons of Abraham.(Cohen 1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before Islam surfaced, the Jews and the Arabs met in the Arabian peninsula. There was actually a very large Jewish population in the Arabian peninsula before the Prophet Muhammed was known. After the Jews were kicked out of Jerusalem by the Romans following the Second Revolt, a large number of Jews went to the northern area of the Arabian peninsula. The settlements of Jews in the Valley of the Villages were important areas for the wandering and nomadic Arabic tribes. The Arabs actually settled near them under their protection, understanding their traditions, customs, and views of religious and social matters. Before Muhammed, some Arabs even accepted the Jewish doctrine of the â€Å"chosen people† and other basic elements of Judaism. (Cohen 2)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However after some time, things started to change. The prophet Muhammed began presenting Islam as a new religion. He even tried converting some Jews into Islam. But when his hopes of winning them over failed, he turned against the Jews. In 626, he attacked the Jewish tribes of Medina and completely destroyed them. This marked the beginning of conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. (Cohen 3) The relationship between the Jews and the Arabs always remained tense. The connection between the two peoples is tense even today. Even with the same enmity, there has been a great deal of change from the beginning of time. An impor... ...o solution to the Arab-Israeli problem. The wars are merely eruptions in the historical encounter that is nothing less than a prolonged war which is doomed to continue until it is resolved in a catastrophic holocaust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, others actually have a standpoint. Some believe that the Jews really deserved the land in Palestine because it was theirs to begin with. They were forced out of Jerusalem by the Romans. On the other hand, others say that the land is rightfully the Arab’s land. There were Palestinian Arabs who were living there before the Jews were rewarded the land by the British. Why should they give up their land? There is no solution. However, the two peoples could have lived peacefully. The two groups could have lived together if the Arabs had cooperated. If the Arabs already living in the land had not initiated the attacks on the Jews, the two peoples could have eventually learned to live together in one nation. Works Cited Barker, A. J. Arab-Israeli Wars. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1980. Cohen, Aharon. Israel and the Arab World. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1970. Levin, Meyer. The Story of Israel. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1966.