Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Final Exam - Essay Example Powerful and rich people in the society force the poor to adhere to social order and the weak to fulfill their own desires. An example to show how this happens may be illustrated in the perspective of crime management. According to conflict theorists, both the law and crime are products of power struggle. A few powerful groups like the police manipulate the legislative procedure, and forbid acts that intimidate their interests. For instance, regulations that forbid theft, trespassing, and vagrancy are believed to protect the rich from being attacked by the poor. Despite the fact that laws against actions like rape and murder seem not to be so obvious in a single social class’ interest, the powerless and the underprivileged are much more probable than the rich to be detained if they commit these kinds of crime. In addition, ethnic and class exploitation are basic roots of most of the crimes in societies. Failure of the powerful class to give legitimate opportunities to the poor is what results in high crime rates among the subject class. The criminal justice system demonstrates classism and racism, thus crime can only be wiped out only if exploitation and inequality are eliminated from the society. How lobbyists and PACS work Lobbyists direct their efforts basically at the national level, that is, to congress committees that regard administrative agencies and legislation that are mandated to write or enforce laws. They depend on individual relations with executive branch and Congress members who keep regular contact. They give evidence at committee hearings, offer data to the staff, and quite frequently, write the laws. On the other hand, Political Action Committees or simply PACs raise and issue money to political aspirants. They may be associated with prevailing interest groups like trade associations, though can exist independently. PACs do not often operate differently from interest groups, but rather finance campaigns of a larger lobby group. The act ivities lobbyists and PACs do not meet the needs of the middle and lower classes. It is not clear how their contributions really alter policies. Since the contributions by PACs go to the top officials, it has no direct impact to the common citizen. On the other hand, Lobbyists have busy schedules with little time assigned to consider the desires of the lower classes. Further, the influences made by these interest groups are mostly in favor of the executives, who belong to the upper class as compared to the interests of the middle and low classes. Most key politicians and corporations hire professional lobbyists with an aim to endorse their personal interests as intermediaries. This is of no benefit to the local citizen, who may have his interests but no one to represent him at the top ((Moen, McClain, & Walker 121). The story of Emmett Till Emmett’s visit to Money, Mississippi was a tragic one. He was a 14-year old African American boy who was brutality killed following the a llegations that he flirted with a white woman some few days earlier. His eyes were scraped out, his head shot, and his body thrown in a river. Till was brought up in a neighborhood full of working class people on the South part of Chicago. His mother had always warned him to be extremely careful wherever he went due to his race, but Till took it lightly. While at his uncle’s place, Till was accused of grapping a white woman and consequently murdered by the woman’

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Essay Example for Free

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Essay The wind made in the trees branches the music olian harps. Ambrose Bierce uses allusions and imagery to create a sense of wonderment and mysteriousness for first-time readers of his historical fiction story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Within this short story, a man named Peyton Farquhar is being hung from Owl Creek Bridge for trespassing into Union territory during the civil war. As he is dropped the rope breaks and he makes his escape after dropping into the river below. After swimming through gunfire and a vortex, traversing through an endless forest, and suffering thirst and weariness, Farquhar finally reaches his home. Just as he is greeted by his wife, Farquhars world ends as his neck breaks and his body is hanging from the bridge. The sudden conclusion reveals the past events, starting from the rope breaking, was all a hallucination. While the ending shocks many first-time readers, second-time readers may recognize numerous instances of foreshadowing implemented into the figurative language used to create emotion. In order to embed this foreshadowing, Bierce creates certain events in the hallucination that correspond with events outside of the hallucination. Furthermore, he adds conspicuous allusions to Greek mythology. Lastly, Bierce formulates a very unnatural and vague setting around Peyton Farquhar as he is hallucinating. Veteran readers will notice these three key components of foreshadowing. Suddenly he felt himself spinning like a top is an example of foreshadowing found in hallucination events. In the hallucination, Farquhar is spinning around in the vortex of water. In the actual events, he is spinning as he is dropping from the plank. Other examples of this style of foreshadowing exist in the story. e could no longer close them [his eyes] Conscious of the ending, veteran readers will view this quote as a sign that his neck is being constricted in real life due to the rope around his neck. Lastly, He could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet. shows that Farquhar is in midair, and close to his death. Readers of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge may at first consider these texts as an emphasis on the weariness of the doo med man. However, these double as premonition for the sudden conclusion. Allusions to a largely known fundament of Greek mythology, Hades, is tilized to further foreshadow the closure of the story. The road was as wide and straight as a city street. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. this quote is a metaphorical reference comparing the scene in the Farquhars mind to the River Styx in Hades. The small instance of the word fields may refer to the Fields of Asphodel, also found in Hades of Greek myth. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. This quote from the story is an allusion to Cerberus, the three-headed dog of the Underworld. These particular citations all refer to Hades, which is broadly used as a symbol for death. Lastly, Bierce makes use of a strange and vague setting to give readers a feeling of mysteriousness and apprehension. This setting, found towards the concluding paragraphs of the story, also heralding Farquhars death. He distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue suggests paranormal entities envisioned around him. In this same setting, the black trees on both sides of the road formed a straight wall, creating a dark and morbid mood with the black trees and the formal configuration of the trees. This bleak setting foreshadows death and instigates a feeling of eeriness. Rereading An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge with familiarity on the story can yield and uncover a myriad of clever and subtle foreshadowing the astounding denouement. Much of the foreshadowing is combined with plot elements, such as setting, suspenseful climax, and figurative language. Ambrose Bierce used the described techniques to contribute to the inconspicuous foreshadowing of the ending, and thus, recreated the meanings of his written words.

The Economic Viability of American Agriculture Essay -- Agricultural E

The Economic Viability of American Agriculture â€Å"Hey mom, what is for supper tonight?† â€Å"Oh I don’t know son, what do you feel like eating?† â€Å"Well, I think I would really like to eat some steak and mashed potatoes and maybe some green beans; but first off we could start with a nice fresh salad and finish up with a rhubarb pie.† â€Å"That all sounds great son, but unfortunately all we have here is the steak; I’ll have to go to the store and see what I can find.† Later that evening the supper the family had was exactly how the son wanted it to be: the steak, potatoes, green beans and the rhubarb pie to top it off. Where do you think all of these products come from? They all can be traced back to the very importance of the world’s agriculture. We sometimes may take for granted that whenever we want a specific product we can just go to the store and purchase it. All we do is buy it and then consume without even thinking of all the hard work and time that went into the making of that specific product. This proves how valuable agriculture is to the American population; it is basically the sole provider as a food source, no matter what size the farm is. Nowadays farming is starting to become harder and harder for the men and women who call it their jobs. They have less land and fewer resources to use and they have more mouths to supply. This poses a major question; is agriculture still economically viable? Through out the rest of this paper there will be certain points that will be able to prove if agriculture really is economically viable. Such points will include the size of the farm and the types of crops that are grown there. Another point that will be touched on is how well agriculture is publicized and how well the surro... ... same time. As an American attitude, agriculture needs to stay economically viable because of its importance to the human race. Bibliograhpy Sonja Brodt, Gail Feenstra, Robin Kozloff, Karen Klonsky, Laura Tourte, â€Å"Farmer-Community Connections and the Future of Ecological Agriculture in California†, Agriculture and Human Values (2006) Vol. 23 Pg. 75-88 Charles A. Francis, â€Å"Greening of Agriculture for Long-Term Sustainability†, Agronomy Journal September-October 2004 Vol. 96 Num. 5 Steven C. Blank, â€Å"Producers Get Squeezed up the Farming Food Chain: A Theory of Crop Portfolio Composition and Land Use†, Review of Agricultural Economics Vol. 23 Num. 2 Pg. 404-422 James W. Richardson, David P. Anderson, Edward G. Smith, â€Å"Can We Save the Traditional Family Farm?† Agricultural and Food Policy Center, Department of Agricultural Economics. February 2001.

What Lay Behind the Horrors of the Slave Trade

What Lay Behind The Horrors Of The Slave Trade? In this essay I would be examining what lay behind the horrors of the slave trade. This essay will include the countries that were involved in the slave trade, how they benefited from it and the power they had over the enslaved Africans. The slave trade worked in a triangle, between four continents: Europe, Africa, South America and North America.Slave ships leave ports like London, Bristol and Liverpool for West Africa carrying manufactured goods like guns, alcohol, iron bars, which are traded for African men, women and children who had been captured by slave traders or bought from African chiefs on the West African coast. From Africa a ship full of slaves leaves to America and the West Indies, where they are sold to the highest bidder and that’s where families are separated. Once they have been bought, after that they belonged to the plantation owner.Some refused to be enslaved and took their live, others run away and pregnant woman preferred to have an abortion than to raise their children into slavery. With the money made from the sale of enslaved Africans, goods such as sugar, coffee and tobacco were bought and taken back to Britain for sale. The ships were loaded with produce from the plantations for the voyage back home. For over 300 years, European countries forced Africans onto slave ships and transported them over the Atlantic Ocean but how did the people back in Britain get involved in the slave trade?As the slave trade grew, numerous of people began to get involved or simply benefited from it. Banks and finance houses in Britain began to grow from the fees and the interest they earned from merchants who borrowed money for their voyages. Bristol and Liverpool became major ports for slave ships, handling cargoes they brought back and between 1700 and 1800, Liverpool’s population dramatically rose from 5,000 to 78,000. Others worked in factories that had been set up with the money from the s lave trade.The slave trade also provided various jobs back in Britain, many worked in factories which sold their goods to West Africa, and these goods will then be traded for slaves. Birmingham also included itself by having 4,000 gun makers with 100,000 guns a year People in Britain weren’t the only one who benefited from the slave trade, West African leaders involved in the trade also benefited by capturing and trading Africans to the Europeans because they are the one who got all the manufactured goods that were traded for slaves. The African chiefs were also benefited themselves with all the money that they got from trading Africans.My view is that because of the benefits they had, it means that they were also involved and I think without them the trade wouldn’t of happened because they are the one who captured slave for the Europeans, therefore they made a path for the slave trade to happen. Lastly, the West Indies and the Americans were obviously involved because they are the ones who bought and owned the slaves for their plantations. Plantation owners who used slave labour to grow their crops and the fact that they didn’t have to pay the slave made them vast profits.Often planters retired to Britain with the profits they made and had grand country houses already built for them. Some planter used their money wisely, to become MPs and others invested their profits in new factories and inventions wish helped to finance the Industrial Revolution. I would like to conclude that for me the biggest horrors that lay behind the slave trade is how other African traded their own kind for manufactured goods, how cruelly the Africans were treated on the slave ships and plantations and the power that the Europeans , the Americans, and some other Africans had over the slaves.I also think that the slave trade was unnecessary, but all those four continents that were involved benefited from it one way or another as they all played important roles beca use without one, let say the West Indies and Americans, who would of bought all those slave? Or which plantations would the slaves have worked on? And the slave trade wouldn’t have been so successful or benefiting without one side of the triangle. Or without the slave we wouldn’t have what we have today but I still think the way they treated black people was out of order and shouldn’t had to happen in order for the countries to have wealth.

Media Impect Essay

Introduction Children and adolescents have access to and consume a variety of different media forms, including television, the Internet, music and music videos, film and video games, many of which contain high levels of violent content. The concern (and the controversy) lies in whether violent content in media affects a young person’s beliefs and behaviors, and more specifically, if frequent exposure contributes to increased aggression and even violence in young people. Much of the research on the relationship between media exposure and aggression supports such a connection. Although critics have challenged the validity of these findings, suggesting that the studies focused only on short-term effects and were conducted in controlled laboratory settings, one study suggests that exposure to violent media in home environments has long-term implications.1 Promising strategies for reducing exposure to media violence are available and include limit setting by parents/guardians, technological innovations such as the v-chip (which blocks inappropriate shows or content from being viewed by children), and media literacy training. Scope of the Problem Most American homes (99%) have a television set, and â€Å"over half of all children have a television set in their bedrooms.† After sleeping, watching television is the most frequent activity of children. The average child spends 28 hours a week watching television. By the time the average child is 18 years old, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence, including 16,000 murders. Up to 20 acts of violence per hour occur in children’s programming.2 Movies, music videos, video games, and the Internet also contain high levels of violent content correlated with youth violence. Internet websites showing violence (killing, shooting, fighting, etc.) correlate with a 50% increase in reports of seriously violent behavior. Violence on the internet is also possibly the most damaging and in need of more research.3 In 2003, about 12.5% of roughly 22 million adolescents (10-14 years old) saw 40 of the most violent movies.4 One recent study showed a physiological connection with desensitization to violent video games.5 There is little research on the effects of music videos and behavior, but there is limited information on rap videos and their effect on aggressive attitudes.6 Media as a Risk Factor The relationship between exposure to violent media and aggression has been researched extensively over the past 30 years. Different types of studies have confirmed a correlation.2 A review of almost 600 studies shows three main results of media violence: aggression, desensitization, and fear.7 Exposure to media violence also has been correlated with changes in youth attitudes about the use of violence in interpersonal relationships.8 While the evidence may be compelling, translation of these findings to the â€Å"real† world has been problematic.6 Findings are criticized on the grounds that most studies were conducted under controlled laboratory conditions and focused on short-term changes in behavior. It is unclear whether violent media has similar effects when viewed in home or community settings and whether such exposure has long-term consequences.8 Research involving the Children in the Community Study addressed these limitations and demonstrated a relationship between consistent consumption of media (3 hours a day) in the home/community and an increased likelihood of aggression toward others. Researchers followed 707 families for a 17-year period and examined the relationship between consumption of media and aggression, using youth self-report, parental report, and criminal arrest data. Forty-two percent of males who viewed television more than 3 hours per day at age 14 were reported to have been involved in aggressive acts that resulted in injury when they were 16 or 22 years old, this compared to 9% of males who viewed less than 1 hour of television per day. This relationship persisted even after controlling for other factors such as prior history of aggressive behavior, child neglect, neighborhood violence, family income, psychiatric disorders, and gender.1 Social learning theory provides an explanation for how violent media may influence childhood aggression. Social learning theory posits that a child learns how to act and forms his or her attitudes from observing important role models in his or her life. Characters portrayed in the media may become models that influence the child’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. He or she may learn to see violence as a part of everyday life and an acceptable way to solve interpersonal problems. Because violence in the media is so frequently presented without negative consequences, youth may fail to accurately assess or even understand the real-life consequences of violent actions against others.8 Children 7 years and younger do not understand the difference between reality and fantasy, according to research.9 Developmentally, they are less able to discern reality from fantasy and are more likely to be emotionally and cognitively affected by the violence they observe.8 Finally, the effects of violent media appear to be race-, class-, and gender-blind. Violent media influences both males and females (although some data suggest that males may be slightly more affected), and while some studies suggest a connection between socioeconomic and community factors and vulnerability to the effects of media violence, most research shows that all groups can experience the effects of media violence on attitudes and behaviors.8 Promising Strategies At present, little research exists on the effectiveness of different interventions for reducing the effects of violent media on children. Some common sense approaches such as limiting children’s access to violent media and teaching them to be informed media consumers have gained support from professional and legislative groups. Despite the lack of research, available interventions have both intuitive and theoretical appeal. Limiting Access To and Consumption of Violent Media Researchers have found that limiting media consumption, including television viewing and video game playing, can reduce short-term aggressiveness in children.10 Since the majority of children’s media exposure occurs in the home, parents/caretakers play a pivotal role in limiting consumption both by monitoring their child’s viewing habits and by regulating what and how much media they consume. Parents/guardians should engage their children in discussion of this issue but realize that they may not share their children’s opinions or interpretations of violent programming and content. 8 In 1996 Congress passed the Telecommunications Act, which was intended to assist parents and caregivers in reducing children’s exposure to violent media.11 The legislation calls for the inclusion of V-Chips in all new televisions and for the development of a rating system to enable parents/caretakers to assess the violence content of specific shows.11,12 The ratings system, however, is voluntary and networks are allowed to rate their own shows.9 To some extent, the industry is responding with devices such as Weemote and TVGuardian, which can filter out certain television channels and even offensive language, thereby providing some level of parental control over children’s viewing preferences.12 Developing Media Literacy in Parents and Youth Another strategy to reduce the effects of violent media is media literacy training. Parents/caregivers and children are taught to critically appraise the media they consume and develop strategies for reducing exposure to violence. They are taught to distinguish between real and fantasy violence, identify the real-life consequences of violent acts that occur in the media, critically assess the motivations of the producers in making the media product, and describe nonviolent alternatives to the violent actions contained in the programming. Despite this training, â€Å"more than half of Americans do not know their television is equipped with a V-Chip and two-thirds have never used it.† 9 Media literacy training resources include the Just Think Foundation, which focuses on children by providing educational programs that can be utilized during or after school and on-line13; the Center for Media Literacy, which offers media literacy training for teachers, parents, and community, civic, and youth leaders through exercises and activities in small group settings14; and the American Academy of Pediatrics Media Matters program, which provides training for health care professionals in media literacy and educational materials for use in the health care setting. 15 References 1. Johnson Jeffrey G., Patricia Cohen, Elizabeth M. Smailes, Stephanie Kasen, and Judith S. Brook. 2002. â€Å"Television viewing and aggressive behavior during adolescence and adulthood.† Science295(5564):2468-2471. 2. Beresin, Eugene V. 2009. â€Å"The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions.† American Academy of Child Adolescents Psychiatry. Retrieved February 16, 2010 (http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/developmentor/the_impact_of_media_violence_on_chi ldren_and_adolescents_opportunities_for_clinical_interventions). 3. See Ybarra, Michele L., Marie Diener-West, Dana Markow, Philip J. Leaf, Merle Hamburger, and Paul Boxer. 2008. â€Å"Linkages between Internet and Other Media Violence with Seriously Violent Behavior by Youth.† Pediatrics 122(5):929-937. Retrieved February 23, 2010 (www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2007-3377). 4. Worth, Keilah A., Jennifer Gibson Chambers, Daniel H. Nassau, Balvinder K. Rakhra, and James D. Sargent. 2008. â€Å"Exposure of U.S. Adolescents to Extremely Violent Movies.† Pediatrics 122(2):306-312. Retrieved February 23, 2010 (www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2007-1096). 5. See Carnagey, Nicholas L., Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman. 2007. â€Å"The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence.† Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43:489-496. Retrieved February 23, 2010 (http://anderson.socialpsychology.org/). 6. US Department of Health and Human Services. 2001. Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services and National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health. 7. Murray, John P. 2008. â€Å"Media Violence: The Effects Are Both Real and Strong.† American Behavioral Scientist 51(8):1212-1230. 8. Bushman, Brad J., and L. Rowell Huesmann. 2001. Effects of Televised Violence on Aggression. In: Singer DG, Singer JL, eds. Handbook of Children and the Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 4 9. Federal Communications Commission. In the matter of violent television programming and its impact on children: statement of Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. MB docket No. 04-261, April 25, 2007. Available at: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-50A5.pdf. Accessed February 23, 2010. 10. Robinson, Thomas N., Marta L. Wilde, Lisa C. Navracruz, K. Farish Haydel, and Ann Varady. 2001. â€Å"Effects of reducing children’s television and video game use on aggressive behavior: a randomized controlled trial.† Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 155:17-23. 11. See http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html 12. See http://www.familysafemedia.com/v-chip.html 13. See http://www.justthink.org 14. See http://www.medialit.org 15. See http://www.aap.org/advocacy/mediamatters.htm Related Publications on Media Violence Anderson CA, Dill KE. Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. J Personality Social Psychol. 2000;78:772-790. Bushman BJ. Effects of television violence on memory of commercialized messages. J Exper Psychol Applied. 1998;4:291-307. Council on Communications and Media. 2009. â€Å"Policy Statement: Media Violence.† Pediatrics 124(5):1495-1503. Retrieved February 23, 2010 (www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/peds.2009-2146). Tangney JP, Feshbach S. Children’s television viewing frequency: individual differences and demographic correlates. Personality Social Psychol Bull. 1998;14:145-158. Willis E, Strasburger VC. Media violence. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1998;45:319-331. Internet Resources American Academy of Pediatrics Media Matters: http://www.aap.org/advocacy/mediamatters.htm The Center for Media Literacy: http://www.medialit.org Center for the Prevention of School Violence: http://www.ncdjjdp.org/cpsv