Racism and ethnicity Essay Example for Free

Racism and ethnicity Essay Joseph Addison once said that, â€Å"If men would consider not so much where they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less of uncharitableness and angry feeling in the world. † This holds true to the sentiments I have when it comes to the numerous injustices people incur due to their skin color, ethnicity, and the like. I have seen and witnessed first hand the harm people can cause to one another due to petty differences between them; and I have also often pondered why such acts occur in our world. I used to think that this may be an isolated case; a freak phenomenon that has occurred solely in the confines of my home land. A social phenomenon that has existed in my home land due to the history our people have gone through. Yet, I have seen that such injustices and anger occur in other lands such as the United States of America and knowing of this makes me wonder if racism can be found in all societies regardless of geographic location and history. To get a better understanding of this social phenomenon I have decided to look into the cases of racism I have seen in my home country of Serbia and compare that to those acts I have seen here in America. Before I do proceed, I think it is necessary to take into consideration what racism really is. Many scholars have given various definitions to this phenomenon and the differences in the definitions can be attributed to the fact that the term covers a broad spectrum of implications of race-based bigotry, prejudice, violence, oppression, stereotyping or discrimination. Since it covers such a wide array of topics and takes into account various social issues we can take into account 2 general definitions of racism; the sociological and the legal. Racism is broadly defined as a form of discrimination based on characteristics of race and existing either as individual racism, which originates in the racist beliefs of a single person, or institutional racism, which occurs when racist ideas and practices are embodied in the folkways, mores and norms (Leeder. 2003). On the other hand, sociologists Noel Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern define racism as â€Å" a highly organized system of race-based group privilege that operates at every level of society and is held together by a sophisticated ideology of color/race supremacy. Racist systems include, but cannot be reduced to, racial bigotry,† (Cazenave and Maddern 1999: 42). Based on these definitions we can see two dominant themes when we speak about racism. The first among the two is the fact that racism takes into account the psyche of an individual. To be more precise, we deal with the construct of beliefs a person or group may hold against others as embodied by the mores and norms they have. The second aspect that we find is the fact that racism is a highly organized group structure as pointed out by Noel Cazenave and Darlene Alvarez Maddern. With regard to the second aspect, we find that racism is a social construct, a privilege of certain groups within a society. Hence, we are led to conclude that the social phenomenon can very well exist in any society. After all, there is no true homogenous society and the fact remain that differences abound between groups. Take the United States of America, though it is a single country the social structure can still clearly delineated between the different races that occupy its geography. As for my home country of Serbia, we also see that racism cuts across groups as I have seen people display acts of racial discrimination on gypsies; a group who since their unexplained appearance in Europe over nine centuries ago, the gypsies have refused to fall in with conventional settled life. They remain a people whose culture and customs are beset with misunderstanding, and who cling to their distinct identity in the teeth of persistent rejection and pressure to conform. This social group has been long been ridiculed and persecuted in Serbia. I have also personally seen people who look like neo-Nazis with their shaved heads launching verbal assaults and beating up gypsies. It is a saddening truth that things like this happen. What’s worse is the fact that gypsies are actually persecuted all around Europe. Other shocking instances of racial acts can also be seen in soccer games in Serbia. An example of this is even cited on a blog/news commentary on the Fox Sports website.

World War II, The Good War

World War II, The Good War World War II marked a key turning point in world history as nations around the world were affected by the outcomes of the war for many years even after the war. Nevertheless, the good war thesis suggests that World War II was a just war. An analysis of the bigger picture comprising of the Great Depression leading up to the war, the war itself, and the postwar American development is crucial to the answer of whether the war was a good war. The United States had been stuck in the Great Depression since 1929 up to the war. This economic collapse took a toll on the society; many faced hunger, homelessness, and nutritional disorders. The biggest problem was unemployment. In 1933, one in three workers was unemployed and the economy was in dire need of government spending. (p. 676). Worse still, the financial collapse had triggered a global depression that affected the worlds economy. President Roosevelt managed to help America survive the financial collapse but it would take more than the New Deal to end the depression. Nevertheless, by the late 1930s, Americas financial system was more stable compared to that of the other industrialized nations. (p. 697) During the global depression, dictators, specifically Adolf Hitler, Emperor Hirohito, and Benito Mussolini, rose to power to spread totalitarianism across the world. The United States was initially divided on its involvement in the war but the attack on Pearl Harbor ended that debate. The United States entered the war against the Axis nations. The United States entered the war to stop the spread of Nazism and expose its horrible scheme of racial superiority to the world. The Allies goals were made clear in General Dwight Eisenhowers message to the troops fighting on D-Day stating that they will bring about the destruction of the German war machine [and] the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe.  [1]  In achieving this goal, the United States played an important role in liberating the Death camps in Europe. At these camps, American GIs witnessed firsthand the horror of Nazi brutalities. A picture taken at a concentration camp at Buchenwald shows Senator Alben Barkley looking sadly at the dead naked bodies staked up. The malnourished bodies and badly bruised heads showed that they had been tortured.  [2]  News and pictures that were taken exposed the evidence of Nazi atrocities to the world. In the end, the United States managed to stop the spread of the super race disease and the Allied v ictory meant that democracy too, had won.  [3]   While the United States fought for democracy across the world, African Americans still faced discrimination. As in the movie Liberators, African Americans had to fight to serve their own country.  [4]  Even when infantrymen were desperately needed, African Americans were only given menial chores. Finally, when they were allowed to serve in combat positions, they served in segregated armies. Nevertheless, the war gave African Americans a chance to show the world, especially Americans, that they were good, loyal fighters. One was Dorie Miller. When the USS West Virginia was attacked on Pearl Harbor, he left his kitchen job, picked up a weapon and fired attacks at the Japanese planes.  [5]  Despite segregation, African American GIs like Dorie Miller proved to be great combat and pilot fighters. However, the analysis of World War II would not be complete without a discussion of the war repercussions. This brutal war took the lives of fifty to sixty million soldiers and civilians.  [6]  Combat morale dropped as the war proceeded because soldiers were tired and hungry from sleepless nights and fighting. To exacerbate the situation, armies lost their comrades and it seemed that death had become a kind of epidemic.  [7]  Apart from that were the bombings of cities. These were hardships that Americans did not have to endure but rather hardships that the United States imposed on its enemies. In each bombing attack in Japan, incendiary bombs destroyed wooden homes and killed tens of thousands of civilians. The physical destruction from the war left major cities in Asia and Europe in ruins, while the United States was left almost untouched. Thus, the United States was in a better position after the war compared to the other nations. On the homefront, the power of the federal government grew immensely to coordinate the war production. Through his fireside chats, President Roosevelt urged Americans to contribute towards the war effort and told them that they could not afford to discriminate against women or African Americans in their employment practices.  [8]  Consequently, many women entered the workplace for the first time. However, the total war also restricted some civil liberties at home, especially for Japanese Americans. As many as 120,000 Japanese Americans were put into internment camps without due process for the fear that they might engage in spying and sabotage in support of the enemy.  [9]  Regardless, admitting that the internment was a national mistake, President Gerald Ford offered a proclamation in 1976 as an official apology including reparations payment to internment survivors.  [10]  Amidst this proclamation, the civil rights movement and act were already underway. The necessity of the total war offered the first real chance for mobility for African Americans and women at home and abroad. However, after the war, women lost their jobs and African Americans still faced segregation. This led to the civil rights movement which began after the war as the majority of [the] Negro soldiers [returned] home convinced that whatever betterment of their lot is achieved must come largely through their own efforts as stated by Walter White.  [11]  Beyond social mobility, the war gave African Americans the chance to serve their country and women the chance to experience working life. Therefore, the war provided African Americans and women a strong foundation for the fight for their civil rights. World War II also brought economic recovery to the United States at home and abroad far beyond what the New Deal could bring. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the unemployment rate fell to 7% and was lower than 4% in the postwar years.  [12]  It was a time of prosperity for the United States. Through the GI bill, returning GIs were able to attend college and purchase homes with low mortgages. Many started their own families, leading to the baby boom era. The American postwar prosperity was also expanded by foreign demand for American exports. As the other nations rebuilt from the destruction of the war, the needs of these nations could only be met by the United States, the nation that was left untouched by war-related destructions.  [13]  Not surprisingly, the United States became the most victorious and ready for economic development in the postwar years. On the political spectrum, however, the United States and the Soviet Union soon entered an arms race known as the Cold War. Americans feared the break out of a nuclear war as the threat of communism around the world intensified. The conflict between the two nations became the precursor to the Korean War in 1950, the Vietnam War in 1965, and the other global revolutions in Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. In conclusion, World War II, assessed in a larger picture, was indeed a just war. It put the American economy back on its feet and gave impetus to the civil rights movement that took place in the postwar years. Most importantly, the spread of Nazism ended while democracy prevailed. The United Nations was created to prevent another world war; although wars still took place, the impact and scale of these wars were in no way as large compared to World War II. In these senses, the United States fought for a good reason and the Allied victory set the United States for years of prosperity.

A Comaprison of the Millers Tale and Merchants Tale Essay -- compari

Comparing Miller's Tale and Merchant's Tale Alison in the Miller's Tale and May of the Merchant's Tale are similar in several ways. Both are young women who have married men much older than themselves. They both become involved with young, manipulative men. They also conspire to and do cuckold their husbands. This is not what marriage is about and it is demonstrated in both tales. What makes the Miller's Tale bawdy comedy and the Merchant's tale bitter satire is in the characterization. In the Miller's tale we are giving stereotyped characters. The principals are cardboard cut-outs sent into farcical motion. The Merchant's Tale gives us much more background and detail of the character's lives. The reader is more involved and can feel their situations. Here we will focus on the two women of each tale and how they demonstrate this difference. Alison is described as young and wild. She is like an animal: " Thereto she koude skippe and make game/ As any kyde or calf folwynge his dame" (I. 3259-60). We know that she would be willing to go along with any idea as long as it is "fun". We can see her childish immaturity in the scenes where she lets Absalom "kiss" her. We do not learn the details of her marriage such as her feeling toward John, her husband. We simply know that it is a mis-matched marriage with a large age gap between them. May is not described in much detail compared to Alison. She is simply young, meek and beautiful. The disgusting details of her marriage though are clearly shown. January makes speeches about his desire to consummate his marriage and loathingly promises to take his time. We are with May when the real horror she feels at having to sleep with January is describe... ...In response she acts impertinent and insulted: "'This thank have I for I have maad yow see/ Allas,' quod she, 'that evere I was so kinde!'" (IV. 2388-89). How ridiculous and awful that January believes her explanation. Therefore we can see while both stories have similar elements, the Miller's Tale is straight comedy. The reader is not shown the emotions of the characters. Alison is not a fully developed character. She is and stays what she was described as in the beginning of the tale: an eighteen year old wild girl. The tale is more a parody on courtly love. In contrast, in the Merchant's Tale the reader is shown the disgusting details of January's motives and subsequent marriage. May's character is more fleshed out, the assaults against her explicitly shown. We may feel sorry for the carpenter but January never gets our sympathy.

Essay Comparing Eliot’s Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra

Comparing Eliot’s  Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra The first major difference between Eliot’s Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra comes with the very first simile. In Shakespeare’s original the barge in which Cleopatra sits is compared to a burnished throne burning on the water, whereas in Eliot’s parody it is only a chair that she fills like a throne, glowing on the marble. Eliot’s character comes across, therefore, as far less ‘enormous’ and larger than life than Shakespeare portrays Cleopatra who seems very great, even in comparison with her barge, which she fills as if it were a throne - her majesty makes the barge seem tiny in comparison; Eliot’s character only makes a chair look like a chair. Again, with the water on which Cleopatra’s barge floats burning, and the marble on which the chair stands glowing, Shakespeare’s image if far greater than the one Eliot creates, being strange and somewhat mystical, as opposed to Eliot’s chair’s ent irely possible glow. Cleopatra, in the same way, has ‘pretty dimpled boys’ fanning her, ‘like smiling cupids’, whereas in the passage from The Wasteland, there are merely golden Cupidons, observing the scene, one peeping out at her, another hiding his eyes behind his wing - instead of serving an immediate, yet subtle purpose, as Cleopatra’s are, fanning her. Other images of Eliot’s, in contrast, are much larger than Shakespeare, but again succeed in making Eliot’s character look small and insignificant in comparison. Eliot describes the enormous amount of adornments around the room, including her ‘vials of ivory and coloured glass’, which contain many perfumes, which are described as ‘drowning the sense in odours’ and again it is the lack of subtlety t... ...speare tends to prefer the use of metaphor to that of simile - whilst Homer often used extended simile to illustrate his point, and often went off on very distinct tangents, Shakespeare tends to prefer the more modern construction of metaphor, rather than having to protect himself as an author with words like ‘like’ or ‘as’. Eliot may well have chosen this passage for its eccentricities, and it succeeds in creating a powerful and provoking parody, as well as being a very good contrast to other parts of The Wasteland, poetically, including the very next part, which is more modern, and simple. It is also interesting that Eliot chose to almost blend the Shakespeare in with other more ordinary bits of literature - the passage begins with only slight changes to the words of Enobarbus’ speech, but soon becomes considerably different to the original Shakespeare.   

THE NEW GENDER GAP Essay -- essays research papers

THE NEW GENDER GAP By This article talks about the educational, environmental, and social gap that has been created because girls are becoming a bigger part of the world today. It starts out by discussing a class of 2003 that had voted in their high school leaders. Everyone had voted in a male as senior class president. But after taking office, he quickly instructed all of the female members that he was the one calling all of the shots. Once the girls realized they out numbered the boys, they quickly impeached him and voted in a girl as class president. From the beginning of time women have been told they need to do their job, which was bearing children, taking care of the house as well as tending to their husband. That became an education base for teachers. Except this all changed when women took the place of their husband at work while they went off to war in World War I. A movement started to take place. Soon you started to slowly see women working. Mothers, caregivers, and educators began to make girls see that the opportunities for growth was great, and all they had to do was grab it. With each achievement a woman made, others praised them. The drive for women to succeed only became so great that more emphasis has been put on females, which leave the male gender lacking. It is shown there are 133 girls getting their BAS for every 100 boys, a number that is expected to grow to 142 women 100 men by the year 2010. While girls have better grades, are more thorough in th...

Agriculture in India Essay Essay

India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 18.6% of the GDP in 2005, employed 60% of the total workforce[7] and despite a steady decline of its share in the GDP, is still the largest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic development of India. Yields per unit area of all crops have grown since 1950, due to the special emphasis placed on agriculture in the five-year plans and steady improvements in irrigation, technology, application of modern agricultural practices and provision of agricultural credit and subsidies since the green revolution.[citation needed] India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper.[8] It also has the world’s largest cattle population (193 million).[9] It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish.[10] It is the third largest producer of tobacco.[10] India accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota.[10] The required level of investment for the development of marketing, storage and cold storage infrastructure is estimated to be huge. The government has implemented various schemes to raise investment in marketing infrastructure. Among these schemes are Construction of Rural Go downs, Market Research and Information Network, and Development / Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization.[11] Main problems in the agricultural sector, as listed by the World Bank, are:[12] * India’s large agricultural subsidies are hampering productivity-enhancing investment. * Overregulation of agriculture has increased costs, price risks and uncertainty. * Government interventions in labour, land, and credit markets. * Inadequate infrastructure and services. Research and development The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), established in 1905, was responsible for the research leading to the â€Å"Indian Green Revolution† of the 1970s. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the apex body in kundiure and related allied fields, including research and education.[13] The Union Minister of Agriculture is the President of the ICAR. The Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute develops new techniques for the design of agricultural experiments, analyses data in agriculture, and specializes in statistical techniques for animal and plant breeding. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan is known as â€Å"Father of the Green Revolution† and heads the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.[14] He is known for his advocacy of environmentally sustainable agriculture and sustainable food security.

Letter of Insanitation

Dear Manager, I came into your restaurant for lunch on Saturday, November 2nd, 2013 at approximately 12:30 p. m. Being that your store location is closest to my home and to my work; I dine at your location very frequently with my co-workers and family. This past Saturday, I realized something that I should have always been observant of; however, I made the assumption that it was something that I didn’t need to be concerned about because of the common sense around the issue. I noticed that the man who was making my sandwich was not wearing gloves or a hair net.I realize that most men have short enough hair so that it is not a major issue; however, this gentleman had hair longer than shoulder length. I understand that I came in during the lunch-time hour and that the store was busy, however, these things are not negotiable because of the risks associated with not wearing a hair net or gloves. While I stood at the counter watching my sandwich being prepared, three employees on th e assembly line sneezed within a two minute increment and two of those used their hands to cover their mouths/noses while sneezing.Neither of the two employees left their station to go wash their hands and to clean themselves. They remained working and continued on with making my sandwich, along with the others who were waiting in line. It was not just me who realized what just happened, the man next to me and I both made eye-contact and mumbled a few words to each other regarding the incident. I am sure, that a person in your position knows the magnitude of viruses and diseases that can easily be spread by unwashed hands.Your employees can spread certain germs/microbes like viruses and bacteria by contaminating the objects or surfaces that they are touching. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instructs that hands be washed before making food AND putting on gloves to make food. The FDA also advices that hands be washed after coughing, sneezing and touching your body, howev er, in the case of your store, this was not taken seriously. I was extremely concerned when watching my food being prepared by your employees and the problem could be solved so simply.I received my sandwich and after watching what I saw, I didn’t even eat the food I purchased because I was not willing to take the risk in getting sick because of poor practices on behalf of your employees and stores location. I have a couple recommendations as to how to fix this problem and any future problems in the future at your location with your employees: 1. ) Take an extra 30-45 seconds and thoroughly wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap. 2.)Advise all working personnel that they are required to wear a hair net if their hair is longer than a certain length. Please remind your staff/employees to take the safety of your customers seriously, especially when it involves personal hygiene. I am sure that even the busiest person on the planet would gladly wait an additional 30-45 seconds so that you can wash your hands and so they do not get an illness and become sick. I hope that this problem gets solved because I do enjoy coming into your stores location for lunch/dinner! Sincerely,