Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Essays - 463 Words

Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness presents two main themes, which are relevant to the story. The first of which is imperialism and the second is racism. This novel takes place in the late 1800s on the Congo River in Africa, which Conrad uses to help illustrate these two themes. Charlie Marlow, the main character, is a sea captain whose exploration leads him to Africa on a freshwater navigation. Marlows journey from the continent of Europe to the continent of Africa was quite a difference. The well-developed land of Belgium compared to the primitive society along the Congo played a big part in Marlows view of racism. The one main goal that Marlow tries to accomplish in this novel is his search for Kurtz, who is a successful ivory†¦show more content†¦Marlow also uses the word nigger a great deal in this novel, which certainly is a clear indication of his racism. The other main theme which is expressed a great deal is the idea of imperialism. Europeans have always been use d to conquering other countries that are less industrialized or less advanced. Marlow saw this in his journey to Africa, which also triggered his racist attitudes. The ivory trade in Africa was a major part of the imperialism by Europe. Europe would do whatever it took to seize what they most desired, even conquering many of the Africans, and making them slaves. Between the years of 1880 and 1900 Britain, France, Germany and Italy all had some sort of African possession, as the whole continent was basically placed under European rule (McKay, 880-881). The biggest factor that was considered to be the cause of the rapid imperialism by Europe was mostly economic reasons. However, others believe that the imperialism which took place during this time was simply an outgrowth of capitalism (Sherman, 195). The effects of imperialism were felt mostly from the native populations that were subject to imperial control. This has led to a better understanding of imperialism that helped explain some of the continuous problems between the west and many underdeveloped or third world countries (Sherman, 198). Another major reason for the imperialism by many European countries was the social tensions andShow MoreRelatedHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad1471 Words   |  6 PagesIn the story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad a sailor decides to travel to Africa on a whim, using family connections he enlists as the captain of a ship travelling up the Congo River. The novella provides many themes, however is the text in itself racist? One of the main concepts portrayed in Heart of Darkness is the treatment of the natives of Africa and their image. This is most commonly shown through the disparity of the image between what is said in the novel and what can be read throughRead MoreHeart Of Darkne ss By Joseph Conrad Essay1371 Words   |  6 Pagesevery human and everything created by humans has two sides to it: the form and the substance. Joseph Conrad’s novella â€Å"Heart of Darkness† shows precisely how dangerous it is to put our trust in a concept, for example: colonization, without realizing that most of the time one only gets to see the form and not the substance. In this essay, my purpose is to demonstrate that â€Å"Heart of Darkness† by Joseph Conrad is mainly a novella about the discrepancy between substance and form. In order to prove my pointRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad1378 Words   |  6 PagesWoytassek AP English 12 Heart of Darkness Reading Log Author: Joseph Conrad Title: Heart of Darkness Original Publication Date: 1899 Kind of Writing: Heart of Darkness is a colonial novella of an expository narrative. Writer’s Purpose and Intended Audience Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness because he wanted to expose human temptation to experiment with darkness when one’s own desires overcome one’s morals. By writing from his own experience of exploring the Congo, Conrad draws conclusions thatRead MoreThe Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad983 Words   |  4 PagesThe Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story that takes place in the early 1890s and presents us with an odyssey of a traveler known as Marlow who confronts the dangers of the Congo jungle while also witnessing the wicked, inhumane treatment of the African natives. In the story, Marlow represents Joseph Conrad who had actually traveled up the Congo in 1890 and witnessed the European exploitation of the African natives firsthand. In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad exposes the inhumanityRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad1350 Words   |  6 Pagesyears, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was a treasured classic, with many honourable themes and messages, as the author reveals the true nature of humanity by following an European sailor’s journey through the dark jungles of Africa and down the river Congo, all while watching as his own humanity changes. As society has evolved, however, Heart of Darkness has come under scrutiny, as the language is quite racist. Chinua Achebe, writer of An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of DarknessRead MoreHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad1329 Words   |  5 Pages Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad. The setting of the book is in Belgian Congo, which was the most infamous European colony in Africa. This is a story about the protagonist Marlow’s journey to self discovery, and his experiences in Congo. Conrad’s story explores the colonialism period in Africa to demonstrate Marlow’s struggles. Along the way, he faces insanity, death, his fear of failure, and cultural contamination as he makes his was to the inner station. Conrad through theRead MoreThe Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad968 Words   |  4 PagesJoseph Conrad’s novella The Heart of Darkness has been under controversy because of racial interpretations. The race factor in this novel has made some scholars and professors question the function the novella has in the classroom. However, Joseph Conrad had another view when writing the novel; to demonstrate how prejudice and dehumanizing the European culture is towards African Americans and their culture during this time period. European’s superior authority over African Americans is portrayedRead MoreHeart Of Darkness, By Joseph Conrad1306 Words   |  6 PagesWhat is the â€Å"horror† in Heart of Darkness, and what particular literary images develop that idea of horror in the novel? In Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, there can be many literary images found within that develop the idea of horror. Heart of Darkness is noted for its horror within the Congo between the Africans and the Europeans. The horror in Heart of Darkness is a contribution of many ideas that are formed and contributed from the European colonists. The purpose of this essay aims to argueRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad1076 Words   |  5 PagesWritten in the late 1800’s, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a novella about one man’s travel into the Congo Free State by way of the Congo River. The title â€Å"Heart of Darkness† actually holds two different meanings. Heart of Darkness is both a metaphor for a psychological â€Å"dark side† of man, and an allusion to Africa. The title suggests both a physical and mental reference. During the time the novel takes place, Africa was nick-named the dark continent because of how little the Europeans knewRead MoreHeart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Essay1483 Words   |  6 PagesJoseph Conrad, author of Heart of Darkness, intriguingly uses an unnamed narrator in his novel that clearly becomes of importance right away in the introduction. Conrad’s narrator chooses to speak of the historical period in which Roman colonization took over what we now know as Great Britain. By connecting a Roman colonization story to one almost 2000 years later talking about the Belgians in Africa, Conrad reveals one of his own themes in the novel. He proposes that the Romans and Belgians

Any work Free Essays

I donot know how the blackboard-cleaning is related to â€Å"Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran YoJana†? If automatic cleaner needs electricity,then it will be more proolematic to implement throughout India. My data related to blackboards includes all schools(private and govt. )in rural and urban India. We will write a custom essay sample on Any work or any similar topic only for you Order Now ‘ can substantiate my conclusion with different surveys and datas prepared by govt. and non-govt. agencies that still in rural area more than half of the schools have negligible basic infrastructure. As far s Mid-day meal scheme is concerned I have worked on this in 23 blocks. ‘ know what type of food-grain comes for the food and how officials and department of education works on this? My NGO has also done survey regarding basic infrastructural facilities in government primary schools in seven districts. MOre than 40% of the schools showing different infrastructural facilities on the goverment-paper is false. Few government schools are even running on the paper only. I am not sayiing that Blackboard cleaner would not improve the situation. But,it can be used only if there will be a blackboard. If you will allow me,then I will present the datas of Planning Commission,Department of HRD(Govt. of India) and different state governments. You are lucky that you found Blackboard in the village during field- work. And,also please keep onething in mind that we were sent to those villages,where we can reach by easy transportation mode. But,there are thousands of villages in India,where even district administration and police cannot access in any extraordinary situations. hools,blackboards and other infrastuctural facilities are remote things for those villages. I appreciate your imagination for planning to adopt one BPL family by one tax-payer and Blackboard cleaner†¦ but,these poetic imagination has extreme limitations†¦.. There are other basic needs of the infrastructure which should be addressed before thinking of automatic blackboard. May be there could be alternates like running the school in shifts if the class st rength is large in number. People of village can be encouraged to get together and ask the Panchayat to talk at higher level to run the school in shifts in their village. As mentioned before, electricity and maintenance problem of automatic blackboard will be an issue in villages where electricity is not there. we may need automatic blackboards in schools in rural areas but before that dont you think that their are more critical and important issues like teacher students ratio,poor quality of education and reducing high dropout rates to be addressed†¦.. Anshul sood p30003 any work By dhageas How to cite Any work, Papers

Monetary As Financial Stability Regulation -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Monetary As Financial Stability Regulation? Answer: Introduction The study reflects that how change in cash rate impeoves the conditions of the economy of Australia. The objectives of monetary policy and the functions of RBA is illustrated in relation to this change in cash rate. The importance of global macroeconomic indicators in making decision for change in cash rate set by RBA is also highlighted in this study. Global macroeconomic indicators in China and USA has been considered before setting the cash rate as the financial market of Australia is largely dependent in these two economies. Moreover, the reasons behind keeping the cash rate unchanged by RBA are also discussed in this paper. The relation between cash rate and inflation is also discussed in this study. The effect on the consumption, GDP , inflation rate and housing marketing are also explained in this study. Objectives of monetary policy and functions of Reserve Bank of Australia The monetary policy refers to the discretionary action that has been taken by respective policymakers for influencing money supply, value of money and availability of money (Crdia, and Woodford, 2014). The monetary policy adopted by the central bank of the respective countries helps in stabilizing as well as maintaining equilibrium in the system of the economy. The basic purpose of monetary policy differs from nation to nation , which includes: Neutrality of money- Monetary change is the main reason behind fluctuations in the economy. It has been stated by Fiore and Tristani, (2013), monetary variation creates distortion as well as disturbances of nation economic system operation. Thus, stability in money helps in stopping fluctuations in the economy. Exchange rate stability- Exchange rate stability plays a crucial role in trade. The policymakers tend to bring stability in exchange rate of a country in order to avoid violent fluctuations that results in speculative market activities (Kiyotaki and Moore, 2012). Stability in price-Price stabilization repose confidence of the individual and promotes activities in business. It also helps in distributing income as well as wealth equally. Moreover, it depresses exports but encourages imports of the nation. Full employment- The main aim of the Australian government is to achieve full employment with the help of increased investment. The accomplishment of full employment mainly involves exchange stability as well as prices. The beneficial effects of full employment includes- It is a vital instrument in providing economic as well as social welfare. It also aids in solving the business fluctuations problem. It facilitates government of the respective nation in solving acute unemployment problem. Economic growth- Monetary policy helps to promote sustained economic growth through attainment of equilibrium between total demand for production capacity and money. Therefore, it means proper utilization of human as well as capital resources for ensuring increase in per capita income and national income. Balance of Payment (BOP) equilibrium- Another objective of monetary policy is to attain equilibrium in BOP owing to the issue of international liquidity with respect to world trade growth at higher speed as compared to the world liquidity. The functions of RBA includes- Adopting monetary policy RBA implements monetary policy for stabilizing the economic growth of Australia. The decisions of monetary policy adopted by RBA involve setting rate of interest on overnight loans. Promote financial stability- The RBA works in promoting stabilization of financial system that seeks in mitigating risk associated with financial disturbances. The central bank of Australian mainly works on this with agencies that include Council of Financial Regulators (CFR). They work together in order to increase the efficiency of regulation. Managing foreign reserves - The RBA manages foreign currency reserves of Australia by operating in market of foreign exchange for meeting the needs of foreign exchange and assist with liquidity management. Offering banking services RBA also offers services of banking to the Australian government as well as foreign official organizations. These services include payments, collections, maintenance of current account and reporting. It offers facility to the government of Australia that has been used in managing bank account group that is well known as Official Public Account (OPA) group. The arrangements of banking involves provision of term deposit for investing of funds and access in limiting overdraft facility. Issuing banknotes The main function of RBA is designing, producing and issuing the banknotes of Australia with the objective of providing confidence to the Australians in terms of banknotes. However, it provides effective mechanism in payment and helps the government in securing wealth of the nation. Setting policy for payment system-RBA also functions in providing stability, competitiveness as well as efficiency of payment system with the help of the Payment System Board. It has been stated by Fiore and Tristani, (2013), the responsibility of RBA has widened the banks focus on the system of providing high value payments that underpins stability in order to encompass commercial system in which volumes of transaction offers scope for gains. Significance of global macroeconomic indicators in deciding cash rate It has been opined by Rios (2013), one nations spillovers can affect the financial markets of another nation that might occur the upcoming years. The main reason behind this is that the prices of financial market highlights on the expectations of the market participants about the economic development in future. However, these expectations should be revised by the other nations immediately upon getting new information (Taussig, 2013). These spillover effects may be either direct or indirect. Direct economic channel refers to exposure of trade where one export or import of one nation influences other nations. Trade has been considered as the global macroeconomic indicators that influences the economic performance of the nation. On the other hand, indirect channel by which other nations gets affected for the spillover of another economy is through global price level that measures inflation rate. In addition, change in inflation rate of one economy affects the financial markets of anothe r economy. Global macroeconomic indicators in some of the major economies includes GDP growth rate, rate of unemployment, inflation rate, rate of interest ,balance of trade and government debt to nations GDP. The central bank of Australia takes into account these indicators including their domestic indicators for making economic decision relating to the change in cash rate. This is because the cash rate affects the rate of interest of Australia that in turn affect the lenders as well as the borrowers, business activities and ultimately inflation rate in the economy. The cash rate refers to lower rate of interest at which other banks borrow and hence is considered as the benchmark rate in the nation. The term official cash rate (OCR) is used by Australia for the bank rate and is considered as the interest rate at which the RBA indicts on overnight loans to the commercial banks of this nation. Variation in official cash rate mainly influences the housing rate as well as other loans of this nation (Stein, 2012). As it influences economic activity level of the nation, RBA uses OCR as the main tool for influencing the inflation rate, money supply and monetary conditions to financial markets of Australia. As the development or growth of the large economies affect the financial market of other nations, RBA considers global macroeconomic indicators of China and USA for making decision regarding the setting of Official Cash Rate. The financial market of Australia with that of China and USA are directly linked to each other. Now, these global macroeconomic indicators of China and USA mainly include inflation rate, trade and GDP growth rate. Therefore, these economic indicators reflect the economic development of these two nations that in turn hugely affects the commodities prices. However, the price level of Australian economy is mainly influenced by China and USAs economic developments. For this reason, RBA changes the OCR by focusing on these global macroeconomic indicators in order to meet inflation target of Australia. Hence, this helps the Australian government in improving the economic condition of the country from the previous year. Reasons behind keeping cash rate unchanged by RBA in 2017 The governor of RBA, Dr. Philip Lowe has decided to keep OCR unchanged at 1.50% in order to maintain stability in economic growth and achieving inflation target throughout this year. The economic conditions of this nation have shown improvement due to this low cash rate 1.50%. Moreover, economic growth in China has improved and is supported by rise in infrastructure spending as well as property construction with increase in debt level (Gal, 2015). Prices of the commodities have increased although the terms of trade in Australia has been predicted to decrease over the recent period. On the other hand, the federal reserve in US have increased rate of interest and there is no expectation that monetary easing will continue in this major economies. In addition, the financial markets functions effectively with low volatility. Recent statistics reflects that inflation rate of Australia remains within the target rate, which is 2-3%. Economist predicts that inflation rate will increase gradually as the economic growth enhances. In addition, rise in tobacco and electricity are predicted to stimulate consumer price index (CPI) inflation (Fiore and Tristani, 2013) . Therefore, implementation of this monetary policy will help the Australian government in stabilizing the inflation rate within the economy. It has been stated by Hamilton and Wu (2012), high exchange rate contributes to price pressure within the nation. The recent data on exchange rate value reflects that there has been appreciation of Australian dollar that partly reflects lower US dollar. This also weighs on the nations output as well as employment. The economist has forecasted appreciating exchange rate would be slower the activities of the economy as well as inflation rate. Even the housing market conditions have shown huge variation within the economy. In order to stabilize the housing market price and mitigate the risk associated with increasing housing indebtedness level, RBA has decided to keep OCR unchanged at 1.5% Money market equilibrium model for increasing cash rate Official cash rate influences the interest rate in short run of the economy. Decrease in interest rate translates into huge availability of money for borrowing, which makes the consumers increase their expenditures. It has been noted that as consumers increase their spending, the economy grows at higher rate resulting in flow of demand for product with no variation in its supply. Therefore, rise in demand for commodities that cannot meet with its supply leads to inflation. On the contrary, higher interest rate motivates the consumers to save in huge amount and borrow in fewer amounts (Sloman et al., 2013). However, the total money that is being circulated in market decreases. Moreover, the consumer face hurdles in purchasing goods owing to less money. Therefore, as demand becomes less than supply, increase in prices of goods stabilize or might decrease. This reflects that cash rate influences the rate of inflation in the economy. Money market equilibrium model reflects that the deman d for as well as supply of money in the economy. This framework illustrates that the demand and supply curve in respect of money reflects quantity demanded of money and quantity supplied for it at a particular interest rate. Furthermore, it has been stated by Eichhorn (2013), lower interest rate aids the people in borrowing more money and this results in increase in expenditure of the consumers. This causes the nation in higher growth that leads to increase in inflation rate. On the contrary, rising rate of interest results in decrease in expenditure of consumer that leads to increase in saving. This leads to decline in economic growth of the nation and thus creating lower inflation rate. Over the last five years, it has been seen that GDP of Australia has been stable though it has slight fluctuations. On addition, the inflation rate also remained within the target rate while the unemployment reflects stable change with slightly higher than target rate. Even the housing market data highlights that the prices has been stable owing to lower cash rate set by RBA. Over the years, the main objective of the RBA is to lower the official cash rate in order to improve the economic performance of the economy. In few circumstances, they have raise the raised or lowered the cash rate in order to meet the objectives and continue sustained growth in the nation. Effect of change in cash rate on the economy The RBS tightens the cash rate that affects the GDP, household consumption, investment and growth in wage rate. AS RBA lowered the cash rate, growth in overall consumption of the economy remained moderate mainly in line with the nations income. In addition, non mining investment remained low as accounted by GDP share while high levels of debt of households showed a huge variation (Davis, 2013). It has noted that from the data released by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that growth in the dent if housing has outpaced slower growth rate in incomes of the households. In order to improve the state of the Australian economy , the RBA announced supervisory measures that helped the government in mitigating the risk that are associated with high as well as increase in indebtedness levels. Therefore, it has been forecasted by RBA that economic growth of Australia will gradually rise to above 3 % over the next few years. It has opined by Bs ( 2014), low rate of interest will help the nation in accelerating its economic growth. But of RBA sets the cash rate too low, then the economy might slow down. If the rate becomes close to zero, then the problems arises as the profit margins of the banks gets compressed. Therefore, the rate at which the banks earns huge on the loans lowers by this action taken by RBA. In addition, if the rate of interest is ultralow, then the profit margins on lonas are so small that it does not have real incentive in accepting the lending risk (Borio and Zhu , 2012). In that case, they keeps the money in safe assets that includes Treasury Bills that yield in higher loans. As a result, this suppresses the loan volumes in few cases in which the banks of this nation retains on books that includes commercial as well as industrial loans. As rise or fall in cash rate influences consumption demand, GDP, price level, inflation and housing market, the main aim of RBA is to set the cash rate through monetary policy. The official cash rate (OCR) is kept on hold by the RBA when inflation rate lies within the target and hence the nation is growing at sustainable rate. In addition, as RBA motivates Australian in spending more money, they tries to keep the cash rate lower for increasing consumption demand. For example, if the confidence of consumer is low and the savings rate if taxpayers are higher, then business might suffer owing to lack of expenditure. As the cash rate becomes low, people try to buy homes and this improves the real estate market in Australia. Low interest rate cannot help in achieving long run growth in the economy. It may enhance nations growth during the recovery phase of economy but holding this rate for long will adversely affect economic growth. Though low interest rate boosts consumption as well as i nvestment, it mainly reduces consumer spending by huge amount than investment. in addition, this benefits the housing market in small amount as low rate of mortgage fails to recover housing market. Conclusion From the above assignment, it can be concluded that cash rate that is being set by the RBA influences the economic growth of the nation. It mainly influences the inflation rate which in turn affects the economic growth. It has been seen from the data of ABS that RBA has maintained stability in inflation and GDP by keeping the cash rate moderate. Therefore, they have kept the cash rate within 1-2%. In order to stabilize the economy, they uses OCR as a tool for implementing monetary policy and keeping inflation rate low. Hence, it can been stated that RBA plays a crucial role in improving the conditions of the Australian economy. References Borio, C., Zhu, H. (2012). Capital regulation, risk-taking and monetary policy: a missing link in the transmission mechanism?.Journal of Financial Stability,8(4), 236-251. Bs, D. (2014).Public enterprise economics: theory and application(Vol. 23). business. Crdia, V., Woodford, M. (2016). Credit frictions and optimal monetary policy.Journal of Monetary Economics,84, 30-65. Davis, J. B. (2013).The theory of the individual in economics: Identity and value. Routledge. Eichhorn, W. (Ed.). (2013).Measurement in Economics: Theory and Applications of Economics Indices. Springer Science Business Media. Fiore, F. D., Tristani, O. (2013). Optimal monetary policy in a model of the credit channel.The Economic Journal,123(571), 906-931. Frank, R. H., Bernanke, B. S., LUI, H. K. (2015).Principles of economics. McGraw-Hill Asia. Gal, J. (2015).Monetary policy, inflation, and the business cycle: an introduction to the new Keynesian framework and its applications. Princeton University Press. Hamilton, J. D., Wu, J. C. (2012). The effectiveness of alternative monetary policy tools in a zero lower bound management.Journal of Money, Credit and Banking,44(s1), 3-46. Kiyotaki, N., Moore, J. (2012).Liquidity, business cycles, and monetary policy(No. w17934). National Bureau of Economic Research. Mahadeva, L., Sterne, G. (Eds.). (2012).Monetary policy frameworks in a global context. Routledge. Rios, M. C., McConnell, C. R., Brue, S. L. (2013).Economics: Principles, problems, and policies. McGraw-Hill. Sloman, J., Norris, K., Garrett, D. (2013).Principles of economics. Pearson Higher Education AU. Stein, J. C. (2012). Monetary policy as financial stability regulation.The Quarterly Journal of Economics,127(1), 57-95. Taussig, F. W. (2013).Principles of economics(Vol. 2). Cosimo, Inc..

The Lottery Point of View Paper free essay sample

â€Å"The Lottery† is that of being told in the third person. The story is told more by an observer’s point of view rather than that of a participant. In â€Å"The Lottery† she illustrates how what is being done to the family members, of people in the village, is an act of pointless bloodshed. It isn’t clear as to why they carry on with the ancient rite but what is clear is that the people in the village are obedient to the past law and are unwilling to see the whole thing for what it is, senseless killing. Jackson’s third person view is crucial to the plot of the story because it allows the illumination of the fact that the villagers, led by Mr. Summers who had assumed the civic duty of conducting the lottery, are carrying on with a tradition of the lottery because â€Å"there’s always been a lottery† (239). We will write a custom essay sample on The Lottery Point of View Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When I first began reading the story I had no idea what Jackson was leading up to. As the community members come together they are portrayed as just people assembling for a quick affair that will only disrupt their lives for a short time. The anxiousness begins to build in the crowd as she writes of their nervous laughter and their quietness as the lottery is about to take place. Once the lottery is underway the readers can begin to get a sense from the villagers’ hesitation and uneasiness that the lottery may not be something that one wants to win and the pending outcome will not bring joy. Jackson’s point of view makes the story so powerful because she paints a picture of the lottery as being an ordinary part of life. The people don’t seem to see the evil in what they are doing. It’s a cruel and calculated act but they have just accepted as the norm because that’s the way they’ve always done it. In â€Å"The Lottery† Jackson writes about a point in the story, during the drawing of slips, where a man mentions that there are villages to the north where they are talking about ending the lottery and that there are in fact places where they have already stopped doing them. He’s dismissed by an elder who says they are a â€Å"Pack of crazy fools. Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them† (239). He goes on to say that they may as well return to such primate ways as living in caves. He describes the end of lotteries as being a step back in their progression of a civilized society such that it is. The title of this story is deceiving because when most people think of the lottery they are quick to assume you are going to gain something favorable. This is not the case in this short story by Jackson. It is anything but a victory and there is no elation when you are drawn in this lottery. This lottery is a strangely anticipated if not celebrated by the villagers. We look at what people did in the past and judge them by their actions. There are atrocities in our history that seem absurd. We look at what people are capable and it’s appalling. For some reason it seems as though people are willing to do unthinkable things simply because they’re tradition or that it’s just the way things are. Their moral alarm fails to go off and pointless violence is accepted. In â€Å"The Lottery† the people grew knowing nothing else, like the young boys in the village who collect the stones for the killing, it’s the only thing they know. For those reasons, they don’t see what is so wrong with what is going on. From the third person’s view we can watch the villagers move through the events of the morning as the lottery goes on. Shirley Jackson’s choice of point of view in this short story, â€Å"The Lottery† was essential to its success because without it, the whole story would have been interpreted differently and you would not have understood what she is trying to say. We as human beings need to be compassionate and stand up for what is morally right. Just because someone says that we need to do something because it is what has always been done doesn’t mean that it’s right. Taking a stand and creating change can be a scary and sometimes dangerous but if it’s the right thing to do we need to do it. Jackson illustrates what happens when we as human beings stand by and do nothing. She shows this point when she writes about Tessie at the end of the story. Tessie Hutchinson was dead-on when she held up her hands desperately to the crowd and said â€Å"This isn’t fair, it isn’t right! † (241). Even though this is only a story it strikes true to our hearts because we have all seen the inhumanity in the world.

Bravery in To Kill a Mockingbird essays

Bravery in To Kill a Mockingbird essays Charles Baker Harris, the boy with the name longer than he is, is more commonly known as Dill. Dill is an adventurous person. He shows this attribute various times in the throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird but a few times in particular really stuck out. The main ways that he shows this off is by the mischief he causes. Another way is how he is always trying to take a peak at the infamous Boo Radley. Also a way that really stuck out to me was when he stole money from his parents and ran away. Boo Radley is a deranged psychotic individual-or so people think. People from all over Maycomb know of him and try to keep their distance from the house in fear that they may have an encounter with Boo-not Dill. He is always scheming a something to make him come out so he, Jem and Scout can witness first hand that he really does exist. He one time talked Jem and Scout to sneak around the Radley House to peak in the back window in hopes of viewing him. Their plan failed quickly when the brother of Boo, Nathan, came around the house with a shotgun to scare them away. The stunt brought the whole town to the scene to see what the commotion was. It took a good excuse to get them out of this jam. In addition to the failed plan of sneaking around the house, there were times when the bravery was not supplied by him but was brought out by him. One time in particular, Dill thought it would be fun to see Jem go in through the front gate and touch the Radley House. Jem took some serious time thinking about the situation and if it was worth it. About three days later Dill got Jem to give in and do it with the company of Dill all the way to the front gate. Dill went along with Jem to the fence but no further and left Jem to go in the yard alone. Not only did he touch the house, he gave it a good hard slap and was instantly freaked out and the three of them ran home as fast as they could. The plan was almost successf ...

Aqueous Solution Definition

Aqueous Solution Definition Aqueous Definition Aqueous is a term used to describe a system which involves water. The word aqueous is also applied to describe a solution or mixture in which water is the solvent. When a chemical species has been dissolved in water, this is denoted by writing (aq) after the chemical name. Hydrophilic (waters of nonelectrolytes include sugar, glycerol, urea, and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). Properties of Aqueous Solutions Aqueous solutions often conduct electricity. Solutions that contain strong electrolytes tend to be good electrical conductors (e.g., seawater), while solutions that contain weak electrolytes tend to be poor conductors (e.g., tap water). The reason is that strong electrolytes completely dissociate into ions in water, while weak electrolytes incompletely dissociate. When chemical reactions occur between species in an aqueous solution, the reactions are usually double displacement (also called metathesis or double replacement) reactions. In this type of reaction, the cation from one reactant takes the place for the cation in the other reactant, typically forming an ionic bond. Another way to think of it is that the reactant ions switch partners. Reactions in aqueous solution may result in products that are soluble in water or they may produce a precipitate. A precipitate is a compound with a low solubility that often falls out of solution as a solid. The terms acid, base, and pH only apply to aqueous solutions. For example, you can measure the pH of lemon juice or vinegar (two aqueous solutions) and they are weak acids, but you cant obtain any meaningful information from testing vegetable oil with pH paper. Will It Dissolve? Whether or not a substance forms an aqueous solution depends on the nature of its chemical bonds and how attracted the parts of the molecule are to the hydrogen or oxygen atoms in water. Most organic molecules wont dissolve, but there are solubility rules that can help identify whether or not an inorganic compound will produce an aqueous solution. In order for a compound to dissolve, the attractive force between a part of the molecule and hydrogen or oxygen has to be greater than the attractive force between water molecules. In other words, dissolution requires forces greater than those of hydrogen bonding. By applying the solubility rules, its possible to write a chemical equation for a reaction in aqueous solution. Soluble compounds are denoted using the (aq), while insoluble compounds form precipitates. Precipitates are indicated using (s) for solid. Remember, a precipitate does not always form! Also, keep in mind precipitation is not 100%. Small amounts of compounds with low solubility (considered insoluble) actually do dissolve in water.

Answers to Exam Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Answers to Exam Questions - Essay Example First, the model is simple and easy to understand as well as to implement. It should be noted that the variables in the formula can be easily accessed from public sources except the beta-coefficient which is not usually available for small and non-publicly traded business organizations. Secondly, it can be seen that the CAPM does not rely on dividends or have any assumptions on the growth of dividend which makes it applicable to companies that do not pay dividend or are not expected to experience a constant growth rate for dividends (Keown , et al. 2004). However, the CAPM is also widely criticized because it does not adequately explain the variation in stock returns. Empirical studies including the work of Black, Jensen, and Scholes reveals that low beta stocks may offer higher returns than the model would predict. CAPM will not also work for individuals which are risk averse as it assumes that investors will generally favor a stock with higher returns even if holding it entails more risks. Also, it can be seen that CAPM doesn't take into account the associated transaction costs and taxes (Capital Asset Pricing Model 2006). It should be noted that in using CAPM, companies with different debt leverage will generate different cost of capital even if they belong to the same industry. Debt leverage is reflected in the CAPM formula as the company's beta coefficient. Accordingly, higher debt leverage will yield to a higher as debt is seen a riskier source of financing. References: Capital Asset Pricing Model 2006, Retrieved 14 October 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_asset_pricing_model Keown, A., Martin, J., Petty, W., & Scott, D. 2004, Foundations of Finance, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey McCracken, M. E. 2005, CAPM, Retrieved 14 October 2006, from http://teachmefinance.com/capm.html 2. Debt leverage is the amplification of the return earned on equity when an investment or firm is financed partially through borrowed money (Walker n.d.). In order to illustrate how debt leverage works, let's look at a company who wants to buy a building as an investment which costs $1,000,000. In turn, it wishes to find customers who would want to rent the spaces. It expects to generate $15,000 per month. If the company has enough cash, it can immediately buy the building find tenants and can sell it at $1,200,000 after one year. Thus, the company will have a total gain of $380,000 from the sum of the rents and appreciation in the building's market value. This represents a 38% return on investment. However, if the company has only paid $200,000 and opted to borrow the remaining $800,000 with a mortgage rate of 12%, then the company will be paying $8,000 per month. Since interest payments are tax deductible, the company's monthly rent income of $15,000 will be more than enough to co ver the expenses. Even taking only the $200,000 appreciation of the building, the company is already able to recoup 100% of its initial investment. In the illustration above, we can see that debt leverage helps the company to maximize the gains of its

Answer the questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Answer the questions - Essay Example Total Quality Management refers to an effort that involves each organization in the industry in a bid to improve the overall performance of a firm. The feedback loop plays a fundamental role in quality control. It works on the principle that products are the upshot of the process, consequently concentrates on the process and authenticates its consistency through a sensor, which regularly measures the process and provides a feedback to the mechanism known as umpire. The Umpire’s work is to compare the standard objectives of performance (Bill, 21) 4. Imagine you just completed your undergraduate or graduate degree at ISU and you landed your dream job. Your immediate superior indicates that a needs analysis reveals employees are not using recently acquired competencies taught in expensive training programs. Approximately 4,500 employees were trained at six company locations throughout America. Your superior asks you to investigate the problem using research methodology you said you acquired in your HRD 468/568 Continuous Performance Improvement class. Describe how you would gather data, that is what method or methodology would you employ to determine the facts, and perhaps, analyze data and design a successful intervention. NOTE: Correct answers are valued at 10 points. An exploratory research will be the most appropriate in this situation. It will involve conducting a focus group interviews on the reasons that makes the employees avoid embracing the recently acquired competencies. Well-structured questionnaires should be used to get the employees’ views. The employees will be subdivided into focus groups, which will be based on the departmental levels. This research methodology will help in identifying the primary issues and variables and provide a foundation for more extensive subsequent researches. Upon gathering the data, a qualitative approach of analysis will be used to investigate the data. Then appropriate conclusions

Narcissistic Leaders Essay Example for Free

Narcissistic Leaders Essay Big business today can be largely attributed to CEOs and leaders that are narcissistic. These leaders tend to be the center of attention more so now days then they used to be which is something a narcissistic person enjoys. Narcissists have been in business for a long time and have made great strides. People such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford were narcissists that were very successful business men. Narcissism may have been a good trait to achieve a high status in business but it can also make the person dangerous or not very likable. Heinz Kohut and Freud looked deeper into the theory and found that it could be treated by properly trained clinicians. Jack Welch and George Soros are prime examples of people who are what is called a productive narcissist; they strive to make a difference in the world and make a name for themselves. But narcissism can be bad enough that you believe that things are out to stand in your way of achievement and therefore you trust no one. Narcissists can sometimes become overly ambitious and shoot to high which can cause them to end up losing everything. Gyllenhammar is a prime example, he chose to not listen to anyone and found himself in court being forced to resign. Freud narrowed the main personality types down to erotic, obsessive, and narcissistic. Those with an erotic personality need to be loved by others that is the most important element of life to them. These types of people tend to be teachers, nurses or social workers. At their best, they help better the young and are a big help when working. They have a positive effect on those around them in the workplace. Freud referred to them as outer directed people. Freud referred to obsessives as inner directed. They are very in tune with what is going on and look to themselves to resolve conflicts. They are obsessed with improvement when working because by nature they value moral improvement over everything else. They tend to go into a field of work that spurs their interest but they don’t have what it takes to go from slightly above average to amazing. At their best they shoot high, and do what is necessary for the business to succeed. When productive they work well with others but when unproductive they usually don’t succeed. Narcissists are very self-indulged and don’t care much for others. When it comes to business they know their field inside and out and go above and beyond. Narcissists are extremely hungry for knowledge about their business. They desire to be admired by others but not necessarily loved. Maccoby (2000) states that unlike obsessives, they are not troubled by a punishing superego, so they are able to be very aggressive in pursuit of their goals. Maccoby (2000) goes on to say of all the personality types, narcissists run the greatest risk of isolating themselves at the moment of success. And because of their independence and aggressiveness, they are constantly looking out for enemies, sometimes degenerating into paranoia when they are under extreme stress. Obsessives as leaders tend to try and expand on a safe level that is practical and likely to benefit the company. Narcissists want more, they go all out and take big risks that if they work as planned will greatly benefit the business; but it is not as likely to work. Narcissists may hide it well but they feed of f of praise and recognition of followers. Without that admiration narcissists become overwhelmed, but too much admiration can cause them to feel too superior this can lead to dangerous acts that may be detrimental to the business. Narcissists can’t handle criticism; they remain out of tune with their emotions as much as possible. Due to the fact that narcissists can’t deal with being criticized they tend to completely ignore negative comments toward them. Narcissists also have no compassion what so ever. They can perform acts that may anger or sadden someone without any remorse. They are so independent that they don’t like to mentor anyone or be mentored. Competition is a narcissist’s forte; they get so into it that they would do almost anything to be the best. A trust-worthy sidekick has to be someone they can relate to and keeps him down to earth. They believe that everyone around them should think the same thing that they do even if it involves brainwashing. They are control-freaks, and want to know everything that’s going on at all times. These productive narcissists make good leaders by nature but the rest of them sometimes can’t see their limitations and will end up in trouble. Maccoby (2000) sums this altogether with for companies whose narcissistic leaders recognize their limitations, these will be the best of times. For others, these could turn out to be the worst.

One of the Greatest Concerts Ever :: Music Bands Essays

One of the Greatest Concerts Ever It was a cold windy day in late November. The sky was blue, but the air had a chill to it. It was a typical Colorado fall day. My friends and I stood in a circle lightly bouncing trying to keep ourselves warm. It has always been our tradition to get to an arena at least an hour before a concert starts and wait for the doors to open. This day was no different we refused to let the weather break our tradition. We ended up paying for it because our nose and cheeks began to turn rosy red and our fingers and toes were going numb. When the doors to the arena finally opened we all breathed a sigh of relief and rushed inside to warm up. Inside the arena, the excitement of all the fans could be felt. People were talking about how much they liked the bands that would be performing, and many were amazed to be there because it was their first concert. Many other people also seemed to be doing the â€Å"pre-concert ritual† which is seen at many concerts, and that is getting as much beer in them as possible. Everyone seemed to be having a good time preparing for the concert ahead. The arena was separated into two different sections; the reserved seating section which goes all along the arena and then the general admission section which is all along the floor of the arena closest to the stage. My friends and I were on the floor; this is our traditional spot and seems to be where all of the action takes place. This is where people mosh in the mosh pits and fans can try and get as close to the stage as possible. Not only is being on the floor the liveliest and most fun spot to be, it is also the most dangerous. People will begin moshing and run into the rest of the crowd, and many fights will break out because people want to get as close to the stage as possible. Being a smaller girl is a huge disadvantage at a concert like this. It is really easy to get pushed and sometimes it is hard to see over other people because they are taller. My friends and I were as close to the stage as we could get and we were having a great time listening to the band Trust Company.

Use of the Website and Social Media of Woolworths

USE OF WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA OF WOOLWORTHS LTD Woolworths Ltd is retailer so main goal is to sell. Scale of online shopping increased manifold in last two decades. In present time in developed countries, such as Australia customers can buy online almost everything. On this base arose the need to create a new field of marketing – internet marketing and e-commerce. THE BASIC UTILITY AND USER-FRIENDLINESS OF THE FIRM’S WEBSITES From all 32 divisions of Woolworths Ltd, 16 have websites. Also there is one website which belongs to Woolworths Limited and describes enterprise as a whole.All websites fulfil different roles. DIVISIONS| CHARACTERISTICS| Woolworths Limited| Customers can find reports, media releases, announcements, board of directors and management, information for investors, characteristics of strategies and actions adopted by company. http://www. woolworthslimited. com. au/phoenix. zhtml? c=144044&p=homepage| AUSTRALIA| Woolworths | Woolworths is main division of Woolworths Ltd. Now, there are over 700 stores in Australia which serve over 13mln customers every week. Its website is the most developed from all divisions.Customers can buy online goods via site, get information about performances, use interactive options, store locator or leave feedback. http://www. woolworths. com. au/wps/wcm/connect/website/woolworths| Thomas Dux Grocery| Website provides only information about new coming products, promotions, recipes and store locator. http://www. thomasdux. com. au/| BWS Beer Wine Spirits| Via this website customers might only find information about types of alcohol sold in stores, current offers in stores. Except from wines and beers in this sores there is possibility to buy hard liquor. ttp://www. beerwinespirits. com. au/| Dan Murphy’s| This is online shop where customers can buy all types of alcohol. Additionally, customers get knowledge about offers and events. http://danmurphys. com. au/dm/home. jsp| Cellarmasters| Online sh op – selling wines only (white, red and sparkling). Also provides information about hot deals and gifts. http://www. cellarmasters. com. au/| ALH Group| Website of Woolworths’ hotels. Customers may find information about company, media releases, venues, social responsibilities. http://www. alhgroup. com. u/| Caltex Woolworths/ Safeway Petrol | Website has information about products, offers, rewards, gift cards, safety issues, petrol station locator. http://www. woolworthspetrol. com. au/home| Big W| Online shop (home & garden, beauty & health, baby, electronics, entertainment, toys, sports & leisure) store locator, online catalogue, and big sale in stores. Has link to Facebook account. http://www. bigw. com. au/bigw/home. jsp| Dick Smith| Electronics online shop – TV & Video, Audio & Mp3, photography, computers, printers and office, mobiles & wireless, car & GPS, gaming, home & security, kids technology.Customers can take advantages of online deals, store locato r and links to social media websites (Facebook Twitter, YouTube). http://dicksmith. com. au/dsau/home. jsp| Masters Home Improvements| Website provides only information about new coming products, promotions, store locator and tips about decoration – Ideas & Inspirations. http://masters. com. au/| NEW ZEALAND| Countdown| Countdown fulfils the same role as Woolworths in Australia – main supermarket in New Zealand. Online shop, offers, stores, community, overview of company. http://www. countdown. co. z/| Super Value| Website provides information about current promotions, new releases, overview of company, tips about food and nutrition. http://www. supervalue. co. nz/| Fresh Choice| Website has the same layout as Super Value site – only colours are different. Store differs from Super Value by wider range of products (SV – convenience store, FC – full-service store). http://freshchoice. co. nz/| Dick Smith Electronics| Its website has the same layout a nd content as Australian Dick Smith’ website. Online shop. http://www. dicksmith. co. nz/dsnz/home. jsp| INDIA|Croma| Website provides information about electronics products available in stores, special offers and news and media. http://www. cromaretail. com/| Table shows there are two main purposes of running website in case of Woolworth’s divisions. One of them is to provide information about products, current special offers, and overview of company, media releases and news, recipes and tips which can be useful to customers. It is used so the client can get the information he needs before leaving home. Customers focus on saving time and money and comparing offers to choose the best one which would fit their needs.Companies realise that they must become competitive in its sector to ensure marketing success. Seven divisions have online retailers. It is a very dynamically developing branch in retailer world. Online shopping statistics give full view on this subject. * 8 8% internet users undertake one or more e-commerce activity * 69% have purchased one good or service in last six months * 1 in 5 Australians do most of their shopping online * Australian traffic to online retail sites: * eBay – 5,576,000 unique visitors * Amazon – 2,191,000 unique visitors Woolworths – 1,488,000 unique visitors * Average 15% growth of internet shopping every year since 2005 * Market share of internet shopping of 7% of all retail sales (14% growth from last year) * Australian-based ecommerce sales – A$16. 9bln in 2009, A$33. 3bln in 2015 These facts bring about that online shopping has dormant potential which most companies need to utilise to acquire new customers. To be successful a company must develop its website so that it will be attractive to customers. This attractiveness is defined as user-friendliness of the website.There are some common characteristics features which determine user-friendliness: access to site map, logical naviga tion structure, low frequency of errors occurrence, consistent design and layout, access site search tool, access to contact details, easy language, search engine friendly, easy access to main navigational links in the page heading and footer and access to links to social media. There are also many more criteria which makes websites user-friendliness. Following table shows application of these elements on companies’ websites. – has feature and is user-friendlyX/+ – has feature but is not user-friendly X – doesn’t have feature | Site map| Navigational structure| Low errors occurrence| Design and layout| Site search tool| Woolworths| X| +| +| +The best design| +| Thomas Dux Grocery| +/XBad visibility| X/+| +| X/+Poor design| +| BWS Beer Wine Spirits| +| +| +| X/+Poor design| X| Dan Murphy’s| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| X/+Only for products| Cellarmasters| X| +| +| +| +| ALH Group| X/+Bad visible| +| +| X/+Old fashion style| X| Caltex Woolworths/ Safeway Petrol| X/+Bad visible| +| +| X/+Old fashion style| +| Big W| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +|Dick Smith (AUS and NZ division)| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +| Masters Home Improvements| X| +| +| +| +| Countdown| X| +| +| +| X/+Not on home page| Super Value| X| +| +| +| X| Croma| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +| | Contact details| Easy language| Search engine friendliness| Navigational links| Social media links| Woolworths| +| +| +| +| +Facebook| Thomas Dux Grocery| +| +| +| +| X| BWS Beer Wine Spirits| +| +| +| +| X| Dan Murphy’s| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| X| Cellarmasters| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| X| ALH Group| +| +| +| +| X|Caltex Woolworths/ Safeway Petrol| +prominent| +| +| +| X| Big W| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +Facebook| Dick Smith| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +Facebook, Twitter, YouTube| Masters Home Improvements| +| +| +| +| +Facebook, Twitter, YouTube| Countdown| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| +Facebook, YouTube| Super Value| +| +| +| +| X| Croma| X/+Bad visible| +| +| +| X| The tab le shows that generally websites are user-friendly. Weak points are repeated in some sites. The most common weakness is placing site map and contact details in bad visible location – usually in page footer.Second thing is poor and old fashion design – computer graphic is well developed and websites should adapt new solution to increase attractiveness and relevance of website. Smaller retailers do not engage in internet marketing and e-commerce. They use only information function in relation to their customers. Other elements work out smoothly and internet users should not have problems with navigation on the websites. Simplification for young people is the use of social media links. User-friendliness of the websites should be assessed positively. WEBSITES AND THE CUSTOMERSInternet sources announce various rankings and list of top online retailers. On the list of 60 most popular listing retailers there are 3 retailers belong to Woolworths Ltd: #7 – Dick Smiths El ectronics, #8 – Dan Murphy’s and #18 – Woolworths. List of Australia’s top 10 online retailers from February 2011 contains 2 retailers: again Dick Smiths and Big W. Dick Smiths were on the list three years in the row so it shows how well running is the website. Design, updates and layout of website encourage customers to shopping online. Success of Big W is spectacular because it started its activity on the Internet at 10th May 2010.The easiest way to check what costumers think about company is to follow forums where they express their opinions. There are massive numbers of people who buy online and most of them do not complain about the quality of shopping on the Internet via its websites but complain about time they have to wait for delivery. Is it website fault? Delivery is next stage of internet purchase so probably people who organise work in warehouses bear responsibility for delay time. References Communications report 2010–11 series Report 1 – E-commerce marketplace in Australia: Online shopping [Online] Available from http://www. cma. gov. au/webwr/_assets/main/lib410148/CR_comp_report1-E-commerce_Marketplace_in_Australia. pdf [Accessed on 01st January 2012] Most Popular Listings [Online] Available from http://www. aussie-shopping. com/directory/popular-listing. html? limitstart=20 [Accessed on 01st January 2012] Walsh, J. , 50 Tips to a User Friendly Website [Online] Available from http://www. designinginteractive. com/design/50-tips-to-a-user-friendly-website/ [Accessed on 01st January 2012] Online shopping: Woolies or Coles? [Online]

Case Study. Champion Essay

CASE: Rebhan v. Pop Warner Little Scholars, INC FACTS: Gator Rebhan is the former head coach of Suniland Sundevils. They were two time National Champions, including a victoy of 56-6 in the championship game. That following week, Pop Warner suspended Rebhan indefinitely alleging he intentionally ran up the score, which is a violation of Pop Warner rules. Rebhan filed a suit claiming that Pop Warner did not follow their own rules, in two instances. First, the referees failed to reward the ball to the opponents after each score until the deficit was less than 36. Rebhan was also never contacted or interviewed by Pop Warner to get his side of the story. ISSUE: Was Pop Warner within its rights to suspend Rebhan for running up the score, without hearing from him first? HOLDING: According to â€Å"We Own This Game†, Gator Rebhan dropped his lawsuit against Pop Warner in the following year. RATIONALE: Although the suit was dropped, Rebhan did hold a very strong case to be reinstated. Pop Warner broke its own league rules by not interviewing him prior to his suspension. Had they done so, they might have come to a different conclusion after he argued that he was trying to protect his own players after the opposing team stacked the box with 11 men. They might also realize that had the officials done their part correctly, Rebhan’s team would never have been rewarded the ball after the deficit reached greater than 36. According to â€Å"We Own This Game†, Rebhan’s suspension expired, and there was no reason for him to follow through with the case. Gator Rebhan was allowed to coach the Suniland Sundevils for the following season.

7 Steps to Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire

7 Steps to Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire So you want to be a millionaire, but you don’t come from money and you don’t have much to build on. It is possible, but it will take an awful lot of work. The first question you want to ask yourself is why this is important to you. The correct answer usually isn’t â€Å"I just want to be rich.† Think about what matters to you and what your dreams are, and focus on those instead of the dollar amount in your bank account.Here are a few ways you could give it a try.1. Work HarderIf you want to be a self-made miracle success story, you’re going to have to work and study a lot harder than everybody else. You’re going to have to constantly push yourself- never let yourself get complacent, stop learning, or cease seeking out new challenges. Make to-do lists and complete them. Then make new ones.2. ReadReading is the number one thing you can do to boost your chances of success. You’ll get new ideas, stay on the cutting edge of every conversati on, and generally just stay smart and sharp. Which, if you want to be a millionaire, is what you’ll need to do. Grow your knowledge and skill base as widely as possible. Develop interests and pursue those interests doggedly. Be the best at something.3. Find a MentorYou should already be surrounding yourself with successful, like-minded people. It’s great to shift your own outlook and build some momentum. But take care to single out a mentor. Yours could be a parent, teacher, career mentor, yourself, or even a character in a book. The point is to choose someone you admire, whom you can emulate and become more successful in the process.4. Don’t Waste TimeFrom now on, your time is money. Don’t invest your time in anything not worth the effort. And cut back on your television and social media intake. If you keep your YouTube video watching habits and other screen time down to an hour a day, imagine how much more you could get done.5. Be a Good PersonDonâ€⠄¢t just aim to be rich in money; aim to be rich in spirit. Tip well. Listen attentively. Give to those less fortunate than you and be sure to take time to care for your loved ones. The pursuit of success can often be a lonely one- don’t leave your family and friends behind. And be sure to give back wherever possible. Your soul is as important as your bank account.6. See the Big PictureDon’t just focus on your short-term success and set lofty goals for the year’s end. Focus on the bigger picture of how you want your life to be shaped. Keep your eye on the biggest, most motivating prize and let yourself be continually driven and inspired.7. Live FrugallyYou sometimes have to spend money to make money. But that doesn’t mean you should spend whatever you make. Try to live as humbly as possible while you amass the cash you’ll need to take yourself to the next level.

A Biography of Notorious Auschwitz Doctor Josef Mengele

A Biography of Notorious Auschwitz Doctor Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (March 16, 1911 - February 7, 1979) was a Nazi SS doctor who experimented on twins, dwarves, and others at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Holocaust. Although Mengele looked kind and handsome, his heinous, pseudoscientific medical experiments, often performed on young children, has placed Mengele as one of the most villainous and notorious Nazis. At the end of World War II, Mengele escaped capture and is believed to have died in Brazil 34 years later. Early Life Born March 16, 1911, in Gà ¼nzburg, GermanyParents were Karl (1881-1959) and Walburga (d. 1946), MengeleTwo younger brothers: Karl (1912-1949) and Alois (1914-1974)Nickname was Beppo1926 diagnosed with osteomyelitis Education and Beginning of WWII 1930 graduated from the GymnasiumMarch 1931 joined the Steel Helmuts (Stahlhelm)January 1934 SA absorbed StahlhelmOctober 1934 left SA because of kidney trouble1935 awarded Ph.D. from the University of MunichJanuary 1, 1937, appointed a research assistant at the Third Reich Institute for Heredity, Biology, and Racial Purity at the University of Frankfurt; worked with Professor Otmar Freiherr von VershuerMay 1937 joined the NSDAP (member #5574974)May 1938 admitted to the SSJuly 1938 awarded medical degree by University of FrankfurtOctober 1938 began basic training with the Wehrmacht (lasted three months)July 1939 married Irene SchoenbeinJune 1940 joined the medical corps (Sanittsinspektion) of the Waffen SSAugust 1940 appointed an Untersturmfà ¼hrerAttached to Genealogical Section of the Race and Resettlement Office in occupied PolandJune 1941, sent to Ukraine as part of the Waffen SS; received the Iron Cross, Second ClassJanuary 1942 joined the Waffen SSs Viking Division medical cor ps; earned the Iron Cross, First Class by pulling two soldiers out of a burning tank while under enemy fire; also awarded the Black Badge for the Wounded and the Medal for the Care of the German People; wounded End of 1942 reposted to the Race and Resettlement Office, this time in its headquarters in Berlinappointed to Haupsturmfà ¼hrer (captain) Auschwitz May 30, 1943, arrived at AuschwitzConducted medical experiments on  twins, dwarfs, giants, and many othersSeemingly constant presence and participation in the selections at the rampResponsible for selections in the womens campcalled Angele of DeathMarch 11, 1944, his son, Rolf, was bornSometime middle of January 1945, he fled Auschwitz On the Run Arrived at Gross-Rosen camp; then left before Russians liberated it on February 11, 1945Spotted at MauthausenCaptured as a prisoner of war and held in a POW camp near MunichReceived papers from fellow prisoner, Dr. Fritz Ulmann; for vanity reasons had not gotten blood type tattooed beneath arm, American Army did not realize he was a member of the SS and released himAliases include: Fritz Ullmann, Fritz Hollmann, Helmut Gregor, G. Helmuth, Jose Mengele, Ludwig Gregor, Wolfgang GerhardRemained on George Fischers farm for three years1949 escaped to Argentina1954 his father came to visit him1954 divorced from Irene1956 had his name officially changed to Josef Mengele1958 married his brother, Karls, widow - Martha MengeleJune 7, 1959, West Germany issued its first arrest warrant for Mengele1959 moved to Paraguay1964 the Universities of Frankfurt and Munich withdrew his academic degreesAssumed that his remains were buried in Embu, Brazil in a grave marked Wolfgang GerhardBelieved to have d ied on February 7, 1979, on the beach at Bertioga in Embu, Brazil while suffering a stroke while swimming in the ocean. February 1985 a public trial, in absentia, was held at Yad VashemIn June 1985, the body in the grave was exhumed for forensic identification.

Cooperate Social Responsibility Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cooperate Social Responsibility - Assignment Example Still, on social responsibility in regards to human resource, it is important to highlight that Etisalat Company has created a department within the company that helps in the provision of solutions to various persons in the company either internally or externally. In this, it can solve external problems that could possibly involve the company with the customers, another company or organization at the same time the department can help in the giving of solutions to the employee's problems themselves and with the management for example on the salaries and wages. This is a very crucial department in the Company as the relationship between Etisalat Company, government, customers and other organizations are very key to the success of the company and like it is always said that the customer is always the king, good relationship with the customers is the key to success and this is because the customers feel that their problems and concerns are catered for by the company (Mark, 2011). Â  Environmental conservation is a very delicate matter in every nation and even to the whole world due to the fact that there are several environment conservation and protection bodies that push for the protection of the environment. Etisalat Company is not left out in the protection of the environment as well. The company employs the reusing of substances especially plastic.

Building and constructions Communication systems Essay

Building and constructions Communication systems - Essay Example In the building, over 550 fibre optic data cables are running from the MDF which provides the ability to virtually access any room in the building. The fibre optic cable used in the building is half lucent laser-speed multimode fibre and half lucent single-mode fibre. In the building more than 45,000 meters of fibre optic cable used. This cabling enables each computer to have a 10,000 megabit per second (10Gigabit) connection speed. In the building, there are approximately 450 telephone lines that end into the MDF telephone cubes, with about 60 kilometres of lucent Giga-speed cables.Telstra, the main telephone service provider in Australia also handles the telephone services for the interpro building and the VOIP is not implemented yet. The computer network in the interpro building is based on 540 desktop computers. The network also gives wireless access to interpro network via three wireless routers distributed in each floor of the building. These wireless routers give access to more than 800 wireless devices such as PDAs, laptops or cell phones. Computers are originally in the network but they can also be unplugged if necessary. Wireless routers have an adapter which allows a cable from the LAN to be plugged in. There are also several output ports for cables which can be connected to the rest of the LAN. Each of these wireless routers support 255 wireless devices and has a unique security setting to prevent the damage to the whole building network if a hacker entered the LAN through a wireless router. All access points are equipped with firewall software that controls the flow of data. There is also a monitoring system that shows the status of the network for each floor. The interpro company's building has three floors and each floor uses a separate LAN for security issues. These LANS are connected to each other and they form a small WAN. The whole network is based on cable LAN and wireless LAN. The building has three servers which all the data for each floor is passed by. There are 400 hub-switch provided links in the LANs and as stated before, there are three wireless routers which provide the wireless access for wireless devices both to the building network and the Internet. At the first floor, there is a main server room which has a cavity for cable runs. Each floor at the company has a star topology and all the devices are connected to the main server. Each server on each floor has a bus topology to access two other servers at other floors and the main DSL cable which enters to the building connects to the bus network after the data enters through a firewall. References Interpro, company overview, viewed on November 22, 2007.

History of Measurment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History of Measurment - Essay Example The Egyptians were not able to monopolize the measuring system. The Babylonians also devised measures stemming from a cubit, though 6 mm longer than that of the Egyptians. This cubit was then divided into 30 kus, roughly equal to a digit. The earliest known decimal system is the Harappan system; from 2500 B.C. to 1700 B.C. Evidence suggests that they had two different series of weights. One system was based on a measurement of the Indus inch (1.32 modern inches). Since their system was based on base-10, ten Indus inches equaled 13.2 inches, the measure of a foot. The other scale was discovered in the form of a bronze rod with markings of 0.367 in. 100 units of that would be 36.7 inches, approximately the length of a stride. Measurements of the Harappan ruins show that they used these measurements extremely accurately. European systems of measurement were based on the Roman system. The Romans, in turn, borrowed their measurements from the Greeks, who had based it on the Babylonians and the Egyptians. Their base unit was the breadth of a finger. Unlike the other cultures, they only had three widely used units of measurement: the finger, the foot and the Greek cubit. The Greeks also standardized weight by stabilizing the size of containers to weigh goods and by creating a standard set of measures. The Romans changed the Greek system slightly, by creating the pace, equal to five feet. Thousand paces was a Roman mile, extraordinarily close to the modern British mile. It was in 1672, that Sir Isaac Newton actually made a vital discovery about the "Newton Rings" which actually used light to measure distances. Neither he nor the world at large understood the great implications of it, and today "interferometry" as it is called helps measure precise distances to within millionths of an inch or a millimeter. The French, on the other hand, used a bewildering array of measures. Standardization was a big problem since no one could come to an agreement. As late as 1788 Arthur Young wrote in "Travels during the years 1787, 1788, 1789" published in 1793, "In France the infinite perplexity of the measures exceeds all comprehension. They differ not only in every province, but also in every district and almost every town". The English though tried to standardize as early as in the 13th century, by England issuing a royal ordinance "Assize of Weights and Measures" to bring some unity. Wren had proposed a new system based on the yard defined as the length of a pendulum beating at the rate of one second in the Tower of London. Britain and Scotland uniting ensured a better prevalence for the system but it was hard when each province wanted its own system followed. In 1824, the English Parliament legalized the yard that was first proposed in 1760. In 1870 the French in Paris convened an International Conference with the aim of improving international scientific cooperation by having the metric system as the worldwide standard. This resulted in seventeen nations signing up and later a few more nations joining in and kind of standardized the metric system. US though were influenced by the colonists who brought with various measurements from their places of origin and for a long time it was an array of measurements. In 1821 John Quincy Adam for the first person to propose to the

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation Abstract Since the mid-1970s onward, the vast majority of Western countries have experienced a significant plus continual rise in their incarceration rates, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. We examine the extent to which the ‘incarceration boom’ of many modern societies can be attributed to the phenomenon of penal populism. Specifically, we argue that some short-lived actual crime waves during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially generated a small amount of rational penal populist sentiment among the public, it is the strong divisions within the increasingly heterogeneous public (both politically and ethnically), the central government, and the popular media industry of many democratic developed nations which have ultimately sustained the growth of both penal populism and prison population numbers. Furthermore, we focus on the types of crime that are most commonly targeted by strong penal populist sentiments in the public and criminal justice system, and suggest that all such categories of crime can be fundamentally linked to the cultural ‘purification’ of children which has taken place in virtually all Western societies during the latter half of the twentieth century. Finally, we consider the limitations of penal populism, referring to those few post-industrial states where such populist punitiveness has been largely resisted, and postulate what the end-stage consequences of a penal populist movement spanning over the past three decades are likely to be. 1. Introduction The term ‘penal populism’ denotes a punitive phenomenon that has become characteristic of many modern industrial societies, especially within Western liberal democracies since the late twentieth century onward, whereby anti-crime political pressure groups, talk-back radio hosts, victim’s rights activists or lobbyists, and others who claim to represent the ‘ordinary public’ have increasingly demanded of their governments that harsher policies and punishments be enforced by the relevant organs of the criminal justice system (e.g. law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, legislators, etc.) in order to combat the perceived rise in serious crime rates (Pratt, 2006). One direct consequence of the increasingly severe ‘tough on crime’ measures – such as ‘Life means Life’, ‘Three Strikes’, and ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies – exercised in many economically advanced countries from the mid-1970s onward has been an unprecedented rapid rise in the incarceration rates of these respective nations, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. The United States epitomises the tempo of the modern change in national imprisonment rates, and currently has the worst problem of prison overcrowding on a global scale. Indeed, ‘American incarceration numbers [have] increased fivefold between 1973 and 1997’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p63). More recently, ‘in 2004 the United States surpassed Russia in incarceration rates to become the world leader. With 2.2 million individuals inside (assuming a U.S. population of 290 million in 2004, that is an incarceration rate of approximately 759 adults in prison per 100,000 residents of the United States) and upwards of 7 million individuals either on parole, probation or awaiting trial, 1 in every 33 people in the U.S. is currently under state control and the number is growing’(State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Clearly, an interpretation of the widespread incarceration rise must be able to accurately explain its rapidity, extent, and endurance on a global scale. There are two principal explanations for why such a large number of developed countries have experienced an ‘incarceration boom’ over the past three decades. Both theoretical models assert that it is changes in penal policies plus sentencing practices, rather than simply significant increases in crime rates alone, which are the primary factor responsible for driving prison population growth, but there is considerable disparity between the two theories about the causes of penal policy changes. One ‘crime wave’ hypothesis posits that actual rising crime rates in many Western countries, including the vast expansion of drug crime during the late twentieth century, have resulted in a greater rational public demand for the criminal justice system to take more severe punitive measures against convicted dangerous criminals (i.e. those offenders who pose the highest threat to public safety and social order; the criminal offenders most commonly targeted by penal populism in modern societies shall be considered in detail below), such as a more frequent use of incarceration with longer custodial sentences. In contrast, the second ‘political opportunism’ hypothesis suggests that many majority government parties have intentionally overstated the size and severity of the national crime problem in order to heighten public fears or instil ‘moral panic’ over perceived (as opposed to actual) rising crime rates, which are merely a political artefact, and subsequently utilise harsher crime control policies to win electoral favour (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Importantly, irrespective of which mechanism has in actual fact been operating across numerous advanced industrial states, and has led to the observed excessive growth in prison population sizes, both explanatory models can clearly be regarded as strongly related to the presence of penal populism. The critical difference between the two theories is whether the main original source of those penal populist sentiments can be accurately considered to be the public or the state, or both. According to the first model, which may be described as the public-induced penal populism hypothesis, it has been the persistent public demand for the government to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals which has primarily caused the fast-paced escalation of incarceration numbers in many modern nations. In other words, the criminal justice systems in these countries have largely been exercising a regime of penal excess because constant pressure from a large sector of the public (in response to an actual rise in crime rates) has compelled them to do so. In comparison, the second model, which we may refer to as the state-induced penal populism hypothesis, postulates that within many Western countries the government parties in power have often created and sustained an artificial appearance of rising crime rates in order to instil widespread public anxiety. Subsequently, the majority government (and individual politicians) can be observed by the public to be apparently controlling the perceived illusory crime problem, such as through adopting and enforcing ‘tough on crime’ measures, and thereby attain public popularity to secure their party’s (or their own) success in the next general election. The second model further suggests that the government is not the only state institution in developed nations which benefits from overstating the scale of the dangerous crime threat, but that there are also large rewards for popular media outlets or news companies willing to do so. It is argued by many criminologists that within almost all democratic Western countries, the central government and the popular media, which are both fragmented into multiple competing party’s or companies, are highly dependent on addressing and reporting criminal activity that specifically victimises ‘ordinary people’ in order to retain electoral votes and public ratings, respectively. Hence, the state-induced penal populism hypothesis proposes that politicians and media outlets lead rather than merely follow or passively represent the public opinion: the public only supports or appears to ‘demand’ the government’s harsher punitive policy strategies because the same national government and popular media industry (as two powerful state institutions) have manufactured a compelling false image of prevalent serious crime which has instilled strong penal populist sentiments in a large proportion of that public. The central aim of the following examination is to determine which of these two distinctive theoretical positions is most likely to be correct. It is of course possible that the public-induced penal populism mechanism primarily operates in one developed nation, while in another Western country it may be the state-driven penal populism process that is predominant. However, to the extent that the relatively recent phenomenon of globalisation has resulted in many common economic, social, political, and cultural practices being widely adopted by a number of modern industrial states, one may plausibly expect a similar (if not identical) mechanism of generating penal populism to be present in the developed nations affected by prison population growth, especially with regard to the United States and Western Europe. At the outset, we may hypothesise that although some short-lived real increases in Western crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered some rational penal populist sentiments among the public of these modern societies, it has been the combined interaction of both political opportunism and media opportunism which has acted as a powerful vehicle in numerous modern societies for distorting the public’s common view of the national crime problem, and ultimately for sustaining the growth of both penal populism plus prison populations, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed (and in most developed countries they have steadily declined). One fundamental feature of the modern incarceration surge over the past three decades that is observed in virtually all countries affected by rapid prison growth is the significant proportion of these prison populations that has become comprised of racial minorities, including both of resident ethnic groups and of non-citizen illegal immigrants. As one study (O’Donnell, 2004, p262) remarks, ‘one factor that accounts for rising prison populations across Europe is the incarceration of ‘foreigners’. It is likely that prison accommodation in the Republic of Ireland will be used to hold growing numbers of failed asylum seekers, at least pending deportation. It is also inevitable that the composition of the prison population will change as members of minority groups begin to appear before the courts on criminal charges’. In terms of the racial minorities imprisonment trend in the United States, Caplow and Simon (1999, p66) assert that ‘it is undeniable that the incarcerated population is disproportionately composed of minorities (especially African Americans and Hispanics), and that the disproportion has increased during the period of rising imprisonmentThe period of rapid growth in incarceration rates has seen a significant increase in the proportion of minorities in the inmate population, especially among drug offenders, the fastest growing segment of that [prison] population’. As is the case with most Western European countries, the United States prison sector has also experienced a mass round up of illegal immigrants or non-citizens during the last three decades, who in 2003 made up 40% of federal prisoners (State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Ultimately, therefore, it is apparent that the incarceration boom in many developed countries has primarily affected various racial minority populations present within these nations. It is the cumulative incarceration of racial minorities that is significantly responsible for the prison overcrowding problem commonly observed. Thus, one crucial question that we must address in the following study is what has caused (and continues to cause) the increased imprisonment of racial minority populations, relative to the incarceration rate of the racial majority host population (typically white), within the modern industrial societies affected by prison overcrowding? Specifically, we shall seek to determine whether pervasive ‘penal racism’, indicated by a greater tendency in developed nations for both the law enforcement system to arrest and subsequently for the criminal justice system to imprison ethnic or non-white defendants compared with white ones who have committed the same offence, is sufficient to explain the large racial differentials observed in incarceration rates, or not. The methodology of the following study consists entirely of literature-based research and analysis. 2. The Origins of Penal Populism: Real Crime Waves versus Political and Media Opportunism It is widely acknowledged that the prevalent public sentiment in many developed countries to ‘get tough’ with criminals has played a central role in catalysing the incarceration surge which has occurred in these nations since the mid-1970s onward, an influential social movement that is referred to as penal populism. Furthermore, whether one regards the source of that penal populism as stemming from a rational public response to actual rising crime rates or, conversely, as triggered by public exposure to political and media manipulation, the measured strength of the public’s demand on their respective democratic governments to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals has remained consistently high over the thirty year period of vast growth in incarceration numbers. For example, with regard to the United States, one study notes that the time series of public responses to the survey question of whether courts are too lenient has remained highly stable since 1972 (Caplow and Simon, 1999). The significant temporal correlation in many modern industrial states between the onset of strong public desire since around the mid-1970s for more stringent crime policies and the period of rapid prison population growth is a clear indication of the vital part that penal populist sentiments have played in causing prison overcrowding. One may plausibly argue that the strong growth of penal populist sentiments in most advanced industrial societies over the past three decades has been initially generated by temporary real increases in crime (including the rapid expansion of a drug-crime economy during the 1980s) and sustained by an increased reliance of governments on implementing harsher crime control measures (rather than more effective social welfare policies) to gain public support plus secure electoral favour. Accordingly, we intend to demonstrate that penal populism in developed nations is a product of both short-lived actual crime waves and manipulative political opportunism. Indeed, one would theoretically expect the two factors operating in conjunction to result in a significantly larger escalation in incarceration rates (as is in fact observed) than would occur if only one of these forces was present in isolation. As one study has observed, ‘tough on crime’ policies produce prison population increases only to the degree that offenders are available to be imprisoned (Zimring and Hawkins, 1991). Conversely, an increase in crime rates would also not produce a corresponding increase in imprisonment rates unless some suitably punitive crime control measures were in place. During the last thirty years there has also certainly occurred in many Western countries a greater dependence of competing popular media companies, both television and the press, on selectively reporting dangerous (i.e. worse than normal) crime on an almost daily basis, simply in order to maintain or increase viewer and reader ratings. By portraying the national crime problem as more severe and more prevalent than in reality, individual popular media outlets (e.g. tabloid newspapers) in developed nations have become more appealing to public viewers than their quality media counterparts (e.g. broadsheet newspapers) who often object to distorting or manipulating the reporting of crime news. Since the late twentieth century onward, crime news has become a fundamental component of the public’s staple diet. As Pratt (2007, p68) suggests, ‘the reporting of crime is inherently able to shock [and] entertain, sustaining public appeal and interest, selling newspapers and increasing television audiences. Furthermore, the way in which crime is used to achieve these ends is by selective rather than comprehensive reportingHowever, it is not only that crime reporting has quantitatively increased; there have also been qualitative changes in its reporting: it is prone to focus more extensively on violent and sexual crime than in the pastThese qualitative and quantitative changes in crime reporting can be attributed to the growing diversity of news sources and media outletsAs a consequence, both television and the press have to be much more competitive than used to be the case. Their programmes have to be packaged in such a way that they become more attractive to viewers than those of their rivals and competitors’. Evidently, given that it is typically the most popular newspapers (such as the tabloid press in Britain) which feature the greatest number and severity of crime stories, it means that the most common representations of crime, portrayed in ‘the form of randomised, unpredictable and violent attacks inevitably committed by strangers on ‘ordinary people’, reach the greatest audience’(Pratt, 2007, p70). Thus, it is clear that within modern society the potential benefits to popular media outlets from inaccurately amplifying the danger plus scale of national crime in the public’s perception are equally as large as the rewards for politicians willing to do so. With regard to addressing the (largely fabricated) immediacy of the criminal activity problem, therefore, media opportunism and political opportunism are proximately linked in virtually all post-industrial countries where penal populist currents are strongly established. As well as magnifying the size of the dangerous crime problem, the popular media in many Western countries further continually seeks to undermine the current sentencing practices of the criminal justice system, regardless of how harsh they have become over the past three decades. In the same way that the crime stories reported by the popular media are scarcely representative of the actual nature of everyday crime within developed nations, the court stories followed are rarely illustrative of everyday sentencing practices. According to Pratt (2007), that media misrepresentation then reinforces the common public opinion that courts are too lenient, even though they have become significantly more punitive, in addition to fuelling the widely held public sentiment that the crime rate is constantly escalating when recent statistics indicate that crime is in fact steadily declining in most modern societies. Thus, in its reporting style, crime analysis by the Western popular media has become ‘personalised’ rather than ‘statisticalised’, since: 1) it prioritises the experiences of ordinary people (especially crime victims) over expert opinions 2) News reports are more prone to focus on the occasional failings of criminal justice officials as opposed to their many successes. Indeed, in the vast majority of modern societies, the ‘citation of criminal statistics has become a code for softness on crime and callousness towards its victims’(Pratt, 2007, p88), which simply provides the popular media with further scope to legitimately overstate the scale and severity of everyday crime in developed states. For these reasons, the media outlets in many Western countries have played a significant role in facilitating the continual growth of penal populist sentiments among the public. 3. The Transient Growth of a Drug-Crime Economy in Developed Countries It is highly pertinent that the vast expansion in drug crime within many Western nations during the late 1970s and 1980s coincided precisely with the onset of rapidly escalating incarceration rates in these same countries. As is asserted, ‘the growth in nondrug crime has simply not been sufficient to sustain the rapid growth of imprisonment. By the 1970s there was already an active culture of drug use and networks of drug importation/sales in the United States, but their economic importance increased in the 1980s due to new products and distribution strategies, especially for ‘crack’ cocaine. That transformation in the marketing of illegal drugs coincided with political decisions to intensify the punishments for drug crimes. The result was an enlargement of the population available for criminal justice processing’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p71). It is crucial to acknowledge, therefore, that in any modern industrial society there is not a rudimentary causal link between a greater public desire for severity in criminal sanctions and a sustained growth in incarceration numbers; other conditions must be present. Specifically, ‘a key condition is a large pool of offenders available to be imprisoned’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p93). Although there had also been documented transient increases in the number of offenders committing nondrug crimes such as violent crime, property crime (larceny), and sex crime in modern societies during the 1980s, these numbers tended to fluctuate in cycles over time, and could not account for the continual rise in incarceration rates observed. In contrast, the number of drug crime offences had remained consistently high throughout the 1980s in virtually all developed countries that have experienced an incarceration boom. However, in most Western nations the total drug crime rate then started to steadily decline during the 1990s largely due to the much harsher punishments being imposed on drug crime offenders (both petty and serious) by the criminal justice systems in these states. One valid explanation for the persistently high rate of drug crime during the 1980s is the ‘economic base’ principle. Specifically, while the average monetary yield of larceny, violence and sex offences is very low, drug crime represents one of the only categories of felony where the potential financial returns are extremely high, and that provides a strong economic incentive for individuals living in poverty. Hence, drug smuggling and trafficking are the only illegal activities capable of providing a solid economic base for a large criminal population in modern society. The initial cost of goods is low and law enforcement efforts sustain high retail prices, thereby ensuring large profit margins (Reuter and Kleiman, 1986). Since the 1980s, drug crime has certainly been targeted by penal populist sentiments in many Western countries affected by a public expectation for greater punitiveness, largely irrespective of how the drug crime rate has subsequently changed in these developed nations, but it is evidently not the only category of felony that has become a common target of penal populism. Sex offences (especially against children), violent or abusive crimes (once again, even more so when the victims are children), and youth crime are three other important types of crime that in late modern capitalist states have characteristically become subjected to a public desire for penal excess. We shall examine in detail at a later stage below what these specific four categories of crime have in common and why they are such typical targets of penal populist sentiments in developed liberal societies. 4. The Increased Dependence of Governments on Crime Control as a Source of Popular Credibility The rapid proliferation of drug crime in many Western countries during the late 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by a great loss of public confidence in the social welfare programs implemented in these same nations. As Pratt (2007, p95) asserts, ‘the visible presence of drug addicts in these countries had become a symbol of misplaced welfarism and tolerance, now believed to be corroding their economic and social fabrics’. Furthermore, the short-lived growth of general crime waves in many modern societies during the late twentieth century led to a significant decline of public assurance in the competence of their respective governments to control the state. As one study remarks, ‘the international crime waves of the 1960s and 1970s helped diminish the prestige of national governments all over the industrial world, by calling into question their capacity to maintain social order. The increase of crime rates at a time of increasing government efforts to help the poor undermined many of the traditional arguments for welfare, and helped confirm the view of many conservatives that efforts to help the poor only made circumstances worse by eliminating incentives for self improvement’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p88). It is difficult to determine whether the crime wave was caused by expansions in welfare programs or merely coincided with them. The main point is that in addition to the direct relationship between high rates of crime and demands for punitive governmental responses, the crime wave may have indirectly diminished the prestige of and public demand for welfare-oriented government (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Thus, it is argued that during the 1980s many Western governments shifted the priority of their domestic agendas away from welfare policies toward crime control policies. Initially, it was most often right wing conservative politicians that promoted ‘tough on crime’ punitive measures, making crime a political issue and gaining public support. However, Lappi-Seppà ¤là ¤ (2002, p92) suggests that mainstream opposition (i.e. left wing) parties are then forced into advocating punitive policies as well, because although these left wing parties want to ‘distance themselves from the populist programmes of the right wing movements, there is one area where they do not like to disagree – the requirement of being ‘tough on crime’. No party seems to be willing to accuse another of exaggeration when it comes to measures against criminality. Being ‘soft on crime’ is an accusation that no [governmental party] wants to accept. And it is that fear of being softer than one’s political opponents which tends to drive politicians, in the end, to the extremes of penal excess’. It is plausible to argue, therefore, that constant competition between opposing governmental factions for public favour in liberal democracies has created an ‘punitive arms race’ of political opportunism, whereby each party is compelled to promote plus (when in power) implement increasingly more radical punitive policies – irrespective of the actual level of crime that the country is experiencing – in order to avoid appearing weak on crime and consequently losing valuable electoral votes to their political opponents who are prepared to be more severe on criminals. Clearly, such an opportunistic punitive arms race occurring within the governments of developed nations would lead to an exponential increase in the prison population numbers of these countries, and ultimately to prison overcrowding. That political mechanism may at least partly explain why so many Western countries which have experienced a large decrease in crime rates since the mid-1990s and into the early twenty-first century have still reported a rising prison population. For example, Pratt (2006, p1) observes that since 1999 Labour led coalition governments in New Zealand have strongly adhered to Britain’s New Labour ‘approach to crime and punishment, even using the famous phrase ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ in its election manifestoes of 2002 and 2005. As a consequence, while [New Zealand’s] recorded crime rate has dropped by 25% in the last ten years, its imprisonment rate has increased to 189 per 100,000, one of the highest of Western countries’. Yet it is not only the divisions (i.e. in terms of competing parties) within Western democratic governments that have catalysed the increased political focus on crime control, but also the growing number of divisions among the public itself. Indeed, modern society in many developed nations (such as the United Kingdom and the United States) has become increasingly heterogeneous since the late twentieth century, and consequently the number of bases of division within these societies has expanded. For example, the members of a diverse post-industrial society are not only partitioned along the traditional parameter of social class, but are also strongly divided by a number of dichotomous value-based issues that are characteristic of ‘post-materialist’ politics such as abortion, gay rights, animal rights (e.g. fox hunting), mass immigration, school prayer, and capital punishment where it still exists (Caplow and Simon, 1999). These value- or identity-based issues are intensely contested over in modern societies by well-organised pressure groups on either side of the bipolar political spectrum. These issues are bipolar or dichotomous in the sense that they are non-negotiable with no ‘middle ground’; one either supports abortion rights or one opposes them. Hence, public division on these post-materialist issues is inevitable. One important consequence of the heterogeneous publics of Western countries becoming divided by such a multitude of value conflicts during the 1970s onward is that government parties had difficulty finding any issues to build successful election campaigns on that would appeal to a vast majority of the public. Harsher crime control appeared to be a clear choice as a singular issue that large sections of the modern public are united in consensus on. As is stated, ‘Unlike most values issues on the left or right, crime control seems to cut across the political spectrumPoliticians seeking to build viable majorities inevitably turn to the few issues that can bring people together in the new political landscapeThat is why election campaigns continue to focus on crime and punishment issues even when opposing candidates agree in their support of punitive anticrime measures. Faced with voters who split on so many issues and who are profoundly sceptical about the ability of government to improve their lives through welfare-oriented interventions, the mode of governing that commands the broadest support – punitiveness toward criminal offenders – is understandably [valued by governments]’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p83). Ultimately, therefore, while short-lived actual increases in crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered the rise in imprisonment rates in a number of developed countries, political opportunism (in the sense of governments capitalising on populist punitiveness) has arguably sustained the incarceration boom in virtually all Western nations affected by prison overcrowding, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed. 5. The Target Crimes of Penal Populism There is a high degree of uniformity across all Western nations that have experienced an incarceration surge over the past three decades in the types of crime that are most commonly subjected to strong public demand for harsh punitive sanctions. Generally, the four most frequent felony targets of penal populism are: Drug crime; Sex offences, especially when the victims are children; Child abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological), and; Youth crime. Correspondingly, these have also been some of the fastest growing segments of prison and boot camp populations in many developed countries during recent years. One fundamental property that the above four categories of crime have in common is that children are extremely vulnerable to the effects of all of them. We may validly question why children have come to occupy such a central place in the penal populist sentiments of modern industrial societies. Pratt (2007, p96) remarks that ‘crime control policy driven by penal populism targets ‘others’, not ordinary, ‘normal’ peopleGiven the nature of populism, we should expect that crime control policy will gravitate towards easy and familiar targets, for whom there is likely to be the least public sympathy, the most social distance and the fewest authoritative voices (if any) to speak on their behalf: tho