Ethnicity Problems in United States

Introduction The United States is a host to many varied cultures and is considered the world’s super power with developments that are envied all over the globe. The country’s democracy has undergone various changes over the years. It has also made several steps towards peace, and equity, among other principles of its foundation. However, this was not achieved in a day; in fact, it took several decades of civil wars and conflicts, among other problems to realize the American dream.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnicity Problems in United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The country boasts of varied culture that arises from immigration. Every year, it receives people from other countries as immigrants. This has improved its credibility in the world. Some of the ethnicities that live in the United States include, Native Americans, African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans, among others. T hese ethnicities did not find it easy settling in the country. They went through various obstacles such as discrimination, among others. This led to conflicts that spurred acts of atrocities. The strategies employed to fight against racial discrimination included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. This paper will therefore explore each of these ethnicities, their most effective along with the least effective strategies employed in fighting against racial discrimination, as well as the evidence (Baugh 133-146). Native Americans These were indigenous people found in North America by the European colonialists. They lived in areas such as Alaska, Hawaii, among others parts. The community was composed of various tribes, ethnic groups and States. In most cases, these communities are referred to as Indians or American Indians. The largest of these tribes included Apache, Iroquois, Navajo, Sioux, Cherokee, among others. In the last 500 years, the community encountered discrimination and wars with European populations. These were mainly because they had encroached on their Native lands and also tried to displace them. In the process, most were killed; some assimilated, and others removed. In the 19th century, the communities were granted citizenship after several treaties and wars. During United States’ fight, for independence against British, Native Americans sided with the latter hoping that they would help them avoid land seizure. This later backfired as the British handed over their land to Europeans. They also sided with Southern States during the civil war. George Washington later helped in restoring them as citizens with rights to vote even though they were not given the opportunity to govern themselves (Colin 34). African American These are black Americans who were largely from the African continent during slavery. They were also known as American Negroes. It is quite important to note that this term is usually employed when refereeing to people with African ancestry (sub Saharan Africa). The majority of these communities were descendants of victims and survivors of slavery era.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They faced several problems as they fought for freedom, these included slavery, racial segregation, reconstruction and civil rights movement, among others. This community forms the second largest racial community in United States, only second to Whites. They formed part of the American military conflicts during civil wars. In addition, the community has been active in politics ranging from Martin Luther to Rice and the country’s current president Obama, among others (Baugh 133-146). Chicanos These are United States citizens of Mexican descent. This term was used widely during Mexican movements and was aimed at fighting against racism in the 1960s. Th e community is said to have lived in the United States as early as 1848, even though they are sometimes considered as the latest of immigrants, to arrive. This is mainly because some of them crossed over and joined with indigenous American Mexicans. The war against mainstream whites between 1846 and1848 in New Mexico among other parts, left many casualties on Mexicans and attributed to their bitterness towards federal government. Their movement was also formed to help fight for affirmative action, immigration rights, globalization, among other issues (Toro 1). Asian Americans These are American citizens with origins from peoples of Asia. They were first referred to as Orientals and this displeased them as they considered it a colonialist term. In this regard, they adopted the term Asian Americans, as a way of identification. They benefited from elimination of the Hart-Celler Act, which had restricted them from moving into the United States. This development led to increased influx f rom Asia. Asian Americans are now estimated to have the highest attainment of education in United States. Moreover, they also form some of the best-paid employees in the country. Their fight against racial discrimination was also difficult as they fought against acts instituted to exclude them. These included among others, Asian as well as Chinese exclusion acts (History World International 1). Areas in which they have been most effective when fighting against racial discrimination These communities faced several challenges in their quest for equality and citizenship as well as acceptance in the American society by mainstream whites. This was achieved through many ways that included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. Native Americans Native Americans fought for their rights to own ancestral land in the United States. However, this failed as they lost the battle to retain that land. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnicity Problems in United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More African Americans African Americans have had a long history of civil rights activists, conflicts as well as politics. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation. Chicanos The Chicanos fought to govern themselves but lost to the federal government. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation. Asian Americans Most Asian communities immigrated for jobs in the 19th century. This helped empower them economically. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through economic participation. Areas in which they have been least effective when fighting against racial discrimination These communities used various means to fight against racial discrimination, some of which caused many casualties and was least effective. These were: Native Americans Native Americans had their own culture, which was anti-western. Therefore, in their quest for recognition, they fought against mainstream whites and lost. This was therefore the least effective method of fighting against racial discrimination. African Americans African American used several means to fight for freedom and racial discrimination. The least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through legal system. Chicanos Chicanos believed that they had the right to govern themselves; the least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through armed resistance.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Asian Americans Asian Americans came as laborers at the coast. The least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through the legal system. Evidence Throughout the history of fight against racial discrimination, various occurrences ranging from conflicts to political participation proved to be either the least or most effective way of fighting racism. These were as follows: Native Americans These were the indigenous people found in North America by the European colonialists. They suffered from racial discrimination in the 1700s when slavery was a racial caste. This led to various wars in response to this, as they tried to protect their land and culture. Infightings also led to their downfall as some groups were assimilated. This proves why use of armed resistance was the least effective. On the other hand, their ways of governing was widely adopted by United States Presidents like Benjamin Franklin, among others. In addition, wider political participation allowed them to reduce racial discrimination through George Washington. Political participation was therefore the most effective (Colin 34). African Americans These black Americans were largely from the African continent during slavery. They faced several problems as they fought for freedom, these included slavery, racial segregation, reconstruction and civil rights movement, among others. Like Native Americans, the law was against freedom to African Americans who were racial castes. The least effective method was through legal system since their position as slaves was in law until reconstruction period and civil right s movements. The most effective way was through political participation, which has enabled them to improve in leadership (Baugh 133-146). Chicanos This community lived in the United States as early as 1848, even though they are sometimes considered as the latest immigrants. This is mainly because some of them crossed over and joined with indigenous American Mexicans. Their le ast effective method of fighting racism was through armed resistance as they were excluded and displaced from their land. This was also witnessed in Texas. On the other hand, their most effective method was through political participation in the Chicano movement that kept pushing for equality since 1960s (Toro 1). Asian Americans The Asian community benefited from the elimination of Hart-Celler Act, which had restricted immigrations from Asia. This led to more influx of Asians. Currently they are estimated to have the highest attainment of education in United States. Their attempts to mitigate racism through legal system were least effective as the acts defended Asian and Chinese exclusion (Wong 25). The most effective method of mitigating racial discrimination was through economic participation, which made them superior in education and pay (History World International 1). Conclusion United States is a home to various cultures of the world. This is due to influx of different commun ities, which started over 500 years ago. Among the communities that live in United States include, Native Americans, African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans, among others. These communities did not find it easy settling in the country. They went through various racial subjections in the hands of mainstream whites. This led to several conflicts that caused high numbers of casualties. The strategies employed in fighting against racial discrimination included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. Most of these communities realized their dreams through political and economic participation, while those that opted for armed resistance lost in many occasions as was seen in Native Americans and Chicanos, as well as African Americans (Toro 1). Works Cited Baugh, John. â€Å"The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference among American Slave Descendants†. American Speech. Vol. 66, No. 2, 1991, pp. 133-146. Colin, Calloway. â€Å"Native Americans First View Whites from the Shore†. American Heritage. Spring 2009. History World International. â€Å"ASIAN AMERICANS†. World History center. 19.07.2011. Web. Toro, Luis. â€Å"Chicanos as a Racialized Minority†. The University of Dayton School of Law. 31.12.2010. Web. Wong, Sau-ling. â€Å"Asian America.Net: Essays in Ethnicity.† Nationalism and Cyberspace. Routledge University Press. This essay on Ethnicity Problems in United States was written and submitted by user Maeve Hodge to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc

Introduction The beginning of the twentieth century brought about major changes in the world. One of these changes began at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina witht the Wright brother’s historic first flight. The rest of the century brought gigantic leaps in the aviation industry. Charles Lindberg’s solo Atlantic crossing showed the world the growth avation was capable of. By the end of the Second World War, the jet age had been born, and Radio Detection and Ranging (radar) was tracking aircraft as it crossed the sky. The Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite brought humanity into the space age. As mankind passed through the 1960s, Neal Armstrong made his walk on the moon. From these fledgling first steps, aviation has moved to routine space flights, a constellation of manmade satellites currently circle the earth, and everyday thousands of people board non-stop international flights. Through the use of new satellite based technology, the safety and efficiency of av iation will continue to grow. Current Airspace Systems The United States current National Airspace System (NAS) is arranged around ground based equipment. Navigation is based systems such as Very High Frequency Omni directional Range (VOR), and Non-directional Beacons (NDB). Aircraft surveillance is maintained through the use of radar. Radar is broken down into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary radar is the signal that is returned as the radar waves bounce off an aircraft and is shown displayed on the controller’s screen. This is supplemented by secondary radar, which is a signal sent from the aircraft giving its current altitude. Both the navigational and surveillance systems currently in place rely in ground-based equipment and airborne receivers. These systems are costly to maintain, as the ground transmitters must continually be serviced. They are also susceptible to errors such as the slant range error and are limited to line ... Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc Introduction The beginning of the twentieth century brought about major changes in the world. One of these changes began at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina witht the Wright brother’s historic first flight. The rest of the century brought gigantic leaps in the aviation industry. Charles Lindberg’s solo Atlantic crossing showed the world the growth avation was capable of. By the end of the Second World War, the jet age had been born, and Radio Detection and Ranging (radar) was tracking aircraft as it crossed the sky. The Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite brought humanity into the space age. As mankind passed through the 1960s, Neal Armstrong made his walk on the moon. From these fledgling first steps, aviation has moved to routine space flights, a constellation of manmade satellites currently circle the earth, and everyday thousands of people board non-stop international flights. Through the use of new satellite based technology, the safety and efficiency of av iation will continue to grow. Current Airspace Systems The United States current National Airspace System (NAS) is arranged around ground based equipment. Navigation is based systems such as Very High Frequency Omni directional Range (VOR), and Non-directional Beacons (NDB). Aircraft surveillance is maintained through the use of radar. Radar is broken down into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary radar is the signal that is returned as the radar waves bounce off an aircraft and is shown displayed on the controller’s screen. This is supplemented by secondary radar, which is a signal sent from the aircraft giving its current altitude. Both the navigational and surveillance systems currently in place rely in ground-based equipment and airborne receivers. These systems are costly to maintain, as the ground transmitters must continually be serviced. They are also susceptible to errors such as the slant range error and are limited to line ...

Mass Extinction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mass Extinction - Essay Example I think that this is the possible reason why Douglas Erwin said it is quite difficult to identify which is the real cause of the mass extinction in the past. There are these many factors that contribute; they are all giving different degrees of impact to the environment, which the scientists need to delve into each to know the actual influencing degree. The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole's glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people's interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 per cent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keep on changing (Kirby, 2004). The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert... The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit the virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole’s glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people’s interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 percent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keeps on changing. The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and the ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by-products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert the carbon dioxide gases back to oxygen. The increase of methane gave the similar effect to the environment, methane plays an important role in the previous mass extinction.

Palm oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Palm oil - Essay Example The UK is the wealthy nation which dominates the poor nation of Indonesia which has an abundance of cheap labour and land on which palm oil can be grown successfully. Instead of development, the production of palm oil in Indonesia takes place at a cost to the indigenous people and to the environment. The benefits derived from the production of palm oil also accrue mainly to the developed country at the expense of the relatively undeveloped Indonesia where land which should be preserved for the protection of the environment and biodiversity is being burnt in order to supply palm oil cheaply to Tesda’s supermarket chain and other company’s. Instead of development Indonesia is faced with displacement of its people and depletion of its resources. The soot from burning has affected the operations of the airline industry and will therefore have a negative effect on the economic development of the country. The preservation of the environment is important in the development of any country. The burning of the forests will have dire environmental consequences for the people of Indonesia. With the increasing and negative effects of climate change countries around the world are taking the necessary steps to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere while this is taken place in Indonesia. These events indicate that Tesda has not adopted a model for corporate social responsibility with all the negative events including corruption, lack of dialogue between groups affected by the production of palm oil and poor labour standards employed. These along with the death of persons who speak for their rights are unacceptable. The stakeholders that have legitimate claims on Tesda are the indigenous people of Indonesia whose lives have been negatively affected by plantations in which Tesda has a stake, the people who work on these plantations, suppliers to its processing plant in the Netherlands and

History of the Collapse of the Soviet Union

History of the Collapse of the Soviet Union How can one explain the disintegration and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence? The disintegration and collapse of the Soviet Union was the result of a complex combination of internal and external pressures which had been building for decades. Economic decline, strong currents of indigenous nationalism, corruption and the systematic deligitimization of the central authority and Communist ideology all contributed to an environment of internal pressure, doubt and cynicism. Externally, the Soviet Union’s foreign policy had led it into a tense and costly confrontation with the West, both socially and militarily. The combination of these internal and external pressures forced the Soviet Union into an untenable position, no longer able to maintain control through a sense of legitimacy and lacking the will to exact it through force. Many were surprised not only at the speed with which the USSR unraveled, but also at how quickly nationalist movements and organizations were able to move forward with popular support and structure in such a short amount of time. The pressures that had been building show the collapse of the Soviet Union to have been more akin to a dam breaking, releasing pent up pressure and momentum that had been merely held back. What made the disintegration and collapse of the Soviet Union so remarkable was not just the convergence of so many complex factors to necessitate its failure, but the means and manner in which its broken parts responded. It must be remembered that the Soviet Union was an empire. As Gerhard Simon Points out in Aussenpolitik, it was the first of its kind, held together by a party and a committment to ideology. As a result â€Å"The Soviet Union was not perceived in the context of the other empires which had fallen apart in Europe The USSR, on the other hand, ranked in the West as a ‘normal’ state The Soviet Union, however, was simply not a normal state.† (Simon, 2000) It was based upon the legitimacy of its party and its ideology. The systematic deterioration of this legitimacy served as one of the main factors in its disintegration and collapse. It was the weakening of the dam itself, so to speak. The actions of its satellite states represent the impulses of newly freed captives, not the heartless abandonment of their mother-state. The pressures against the dam, however, reach back into the early 20th century. Simon identifies the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 as an effective reassertion of the Russian empire following the First World War. Furthermore, he argues that it arrested the nationalistic movements taking shape among the recently freed peoples’ of post-imperial Russia. These nationalist movements, of major ethnic and cultural signficance for many, were not stamped out under the Soviet system of control and oppression. They were merely pushed underground. They spent the better part of the 20th century building momentum from within the Soviet system until the internal pressures, exerted in so many directions and ways, could no longer be contained. (Simon, 2000) This explains how quickly and eagerly the different sattelite states declared independence and moved toward Western models of government and economy. â€Å"The causes for the downfall are rooted, on the one hand, in the design errors of the Soviet system and, on the other hand, in the process of degeneration which had been undermining stability for decades.† (Simin, 2000) The currents of nationalism within the Soviet Union were intensified and gained strength as Stalin’s controls were gradually loosened and the legitimacy of the Communist Party began to suffer in public view as information began to flow more freely. Nationalist sentiment coincided with social events in the 50’s and 60’s where labororers from the Soviet Gulag returned home and began to talk with long-lost friends and relatives about what had happened to them. (Hosking, 1991) This began to affect public perceptions and attitudes for the first time. People of like mind began meeting privately in their homes to talk and listen to Western radio. Eventually, the dissemination of unofficial literature, known as Samizdat, began. A culture of covert associations and hidden groups emerged. They began to grow covertly in response to the systematic persecution of intellectuals and dissidents. These groups and associations eventually began operating openly in the late 80â€⠄¢s, only to add to the tremendously diverse pressures pulling at the Soviet Union. (Hosking, 1991) As nationalist sentiments began to gain strength from such a ‘social awakening’, they quickly learned that their energies were best spent organizing within the Soviet system. Different national movements had gained strength and led to uprisings in Hungaria in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Soviets put them down quickly and brutally. (Fowkes, 1993) â€Å"[The] party leadership had no qualms about forcibly helping their ideological presumptions become reality† (Simon, 2000) Combined with the ‘social awakening’, and the currents of nationalism running through the USSR, was the systematic deligitimisation of its sytem. â€Å"During the 1950’s the Soviet middle class became increasingly optimistic about the performance of the Soviet system and about its own prospects for material betterment In the 1970’s it has given way to pessimism. The rise and decline of middle-class optimism can be linked in part to political developments, but the crucial determinant has been the changing perception of Soviet economic performance.† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) Ruled by ideology, the failure to meet economic goals and expectations constituted a signigicant crisis of confidence for many and a serious blow to the legitimacy of collectivist economic philoophy. The political developments that contributed to the deterioration of Soviet legitimacy had to do with a dissonance between ideology and practice. The conflicts of Krushchev’s ‘de-Stalinisation’ gave way to political rifts which exposed key divisions in government. This dis-unity was damaging to public confidence and to Soviet political legitimacy. It became a habit for the new Soviet leader to deal with his problems by casting blame and criticism upon his predecessor. â€Å"All successors have dissociated themselves along similar lines from their respective predecessors, declared them to be unpersons, and thus contributed considerably to the delegitimation of the Soviet system.† (Simon, 2000) The establishment of this practice had an extremely detrimental effect upon the public perception, resulting in a more entrenched cynicism toward politics in general and political leadership. Furthermore, this cynicism became even more deeply rooted in the social and political culture as Brezhnev’s Soviet Union saw the spread of corruption invade almost every corner of Soviet life. â€Å"The Soviet Union is infected from top to bottom with corruption – from the worker who gives the storeman a bottle of vodka to get the best job, to the politburo candidate Mzhavanadze who takes hundreds of thousands of rubles for protecting underground millionaires; from the street prostitute, who pays the policeman ten rubles so that he won’t prevent her from soliciting clients, to the former member of the Politburo Ekaterina Furtseva, who built a luxurious suburban villa at the government’s expense – each and everyone is afflicted with corruption.† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) The lack of legitimacy by itself was not enough to dissolve the Soviet Union, as no single issue probably could have been, but it was enough to make everyone look to themselves. Public cynicism combined with deep graft and corruption at all levels made for a political system held together simply by control. Within this system the communal ideal was effectively dead. Everyone looked to cut corners, everyone looked for a bigger piece of a zero-sum pie. The Soviet Union saw the development of competing interests within itself rooted in a system of corruption. Combined with the currents of nationalism, who were cut short in their bid for self-determination, and the social underground harboring forbidden ideas and conversations and publications, this in-fighting proved to be the final element of a political picture which had lost its fundamental integrity. From a foreign policy point of view, this is also when the Soviet Union came to be known as the ‘Evil Empire’. With the gradual relaxation of Stalin’s controls came an increased flow of uncontrolled information between the Soviet Union and the West. The turning of international sentiment against the Soviet Union in the late 70’s and early 80’s, as the truths of their social and political system made their way into the international mainstream, only served to heighten the moral legitimacy of the West in confronting Soviet Ambitions abroad. Before that, the American political spectrum remained solidly divided over how best to engage the USSR. After the moral clarity issued by the facts of such an indictment, the West was far less sympathetic and much more aggressive in applying all the external pressure it could. The socialist/communist intelligentsia in the West lost credibility and standing, while the political mainstream in both America and Europe b oth saw thwarting Soviet ambitions as a strategic, and more importantly, a moral imperative. With a moral mandate to challenge Soviet interests across the globe, the Americans committed fully to maintaining their military and technological advantage, and dealt with little opposition from within their own political system. At the height of the arms race, it is estimated that the Soviet Union allocated anywhere from â€Å"at least 15 percent† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) to 25 percent (Simon, 2000) of their budget to defense spending. This represented huge external pressure to an already struggling Soviet economy beign outperformed by its Western counterparts. The economic difficulties of the Soviet system were masked initially as steady growth in the 1950’s led to a sense of optimism. From that point onward, Soviet growth continued to decline. â€Å"One reason was that earlier on, inputs-capital, labor, energy-had been ample and cheap. By the 1970’s this was no longer so† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) Furthermore, Dallin and Laepidus note that â€Å"productivity was low, and the system failed to provide adequate incentives for harder work of for technological innovation.† So in addition to the economic circumstances of declining growth, the Soviet system had no way of increasing the productivity of its workers or the creativity of its technology industry. â€Å"Above all, the motivating effect of the market, competition and profit could not be replaced by any system of allocation and control, regardless of how sophisticated it may have been. Initiative, creativity and the striving for profit maximisation drifted in to the shadow economy and corruption after the disciplining and deterrent effects of Stalinist terror had ceased to be effective.† (Simon, 2000) And so while the economy declined, the quality of goods and services continued to decline as well. (Notice the conspicuous absence of hsitorical market demand for Soviet goods) The Soviet system had killed off or driven away the very tools it needed to recover. Or from the point of view of Hillel Ticktin, who famously predicted the failure of perestroika and accurately described the long denied economic realities of the then-current Soviet system, they had put themselves in a position (according to Communist ideology) where they needed to â€Å"defeat the working class† and return them to the conditions under which they had been exploited before. (Ticktin, 1992) It is a cruel irony, indeed, that the very pronouncements of the ideology that sustained their political order walked hand in hand with their economic doom. In the late 80’s the sum of all the factors discussed here proved too great. The nationalist movements the Bolshevik revolution had arrested in mid-development were driven underground but ultimately endured within the Soviet system, waiting to release a momentum held back by years of Soviet control. These sentiments found friendly ears in the social underground that developed as information began to flow more freely after the gradual relaxation of Stalin’s controls. This underground only continued to grow as the oppressed and free-thinking individuals of the Soviet Union continually sought refuge in association with one another. These two elements only reinforced the sense of lost legitimacy following the economic setbacks of the mid-20th century and the political divisions that showed the first cracks in the Soviet political system. The the general sense of a loss of legitimacy was a critical blow that aided the widespread proliferation of a deep and contagious corrupt ion which came to partially define and become engrained in the culture. This corruption struck at the heart of all the mechanisms the Soviet Union needed to right itself, but it was at the same time a consequence of the system itself. They had, in the course of their committment to their ideology, abandoned the necesssary tools to successfully recover and advance their economy. The social forces of discontent, the nationalist sentiments and social underground, combined with economic factors to present significant internal difficulties. And as Soviet foreign policy demanded a share of defense spending four times larger than that of the United States (as a percentage of GNP), external pressures combined with internal pressures to literally put the Soviet system in a pressure cooker. By the time Gorbechev’s came through with perestroika, the myriad social and political interests at odds with one another, combined with the deep cynicism and scorn for the Soviet system rooted in the social underground, proved too much. There was no social consensus or any real momentum for support. â€Å"The political and social contiguity of the Soviet political system had been broken long ago. â€Å"For the first time since the revolution of 1917, society, rather than the state, was driving the process of change in Soviet life. But that society was increasingly fragmented, fractious, and polarized, pitting radical democrats against die-hard communists and nationalists of all kinds against Soviet patriots. In this setting Gorbachev found himself reacting to multiple and conflicting pressures in an effort, growing ever more desperate, to hold the country together.† (Strayer, 1998) The final years of the Soviet system were spent with the political leadership desperately trying to hold it together. But it could never survive the collapse of its political order because it was under the very pretext of that political order that the Soviet Union came to power. â€Å"[The] Communist party had reconstituted the empire and developed the instruments of rule, which meant that, following the party’s loss of power, there was no other force to hold the empire together.† (Simin, 2000) Meanwhile, the political alternatives that had been developing and taking shape within the Soviet system itself, the national movements which never came to fruition, provided the impetus to break free from the Soviet system. As new declarations of independence were proclaimed, one after the other, â€Å"the consequence of decades of pent-up energy† (Simon, 2000) ensured that the strugle for nationhood which began after the fall of the first Russian Empire, would continue a fter the second. Bibliography Dallin, A., (1992) â€Å"Causes of the Collapse of the USSR†, Post-Soviet Affairs. Vol. 8, No. 4 Dallin, A., Lapidus, G., (1994), The Soviet System From Crisis to Collapse Westview Press:Cambridge, MA Glenny, M., (1990) The Rebirth of History Penguin:London Fowkes, B., (1993) The Rise and Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. MacMillan: Chicago Hosking, G., (1991) The Awakening of the Soviet Union. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA Hosking, G., Et Al., (1992) The Road to Post Communism: independent political movements in the USSR, 1985-91, London/New York Kotz,D., Weir, F., (1997) Revolution from Above. The Demise of the Soviet System. Routledge:New York Miliband, R., Panitch, L., (1991) â€Å"Communist Regimes. The Aftermath† Socialist Register Simon, G., (2000) The End of the Soviet Union: Causes and Relational Contexts Aussenpolitik German Foreign Affairs Review, Vol. 47, No.1 Strayer,R., (1998) Why did the Soviet Union Collapse? M.E Sharpe: Armonk, NY Ticktin, H., (1992) Origins of the Crisis in the USSR. M.E. Sharpe Ltd.:New York

The Ethical Continuum :: Essays Papers

The Ethical Continuum An April 2002 ethics survey conducted by Zogby International included the question, â€Å"which of the following statements about ethics was most often transmitted by †¦ your professors,† but it provided only two answer choices: a general definition of absolutism and a specific definition of relativism.1 The pollsters, along with many who contemplate the issue, commit a false dichotomy and blind themselves by seeing relativism and absolutism as black and white. Contrary to the beliefs of moral nihilists and Kantians, ethics need not be ruled by extreme definitions of relativism or absolutism. If, instead, the two theories are juxtaposed as opposite ends of a continuum, then a more moderate approach to ethics becomes visible which represents a true compromise between relativism and absolutism. For purposes of this essay, the ‘most â€Å"enlightened† approach to ethics’ must be intellectually sound and promise positive moral progress. Deontological theories, â€Å"which take right and wrong as primary,† stand at the extreme end of the absolutist side of the moral continuum, and the most well known of the ultimate principles embraced by moral objectivism is Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative.2 In his Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kant undertakes the absolutist’s quest for a â€Å"supreme principle of morality,† and after meticulous consideration of human will and rational decision making, he declares that people should only commit acts â€Å"that [they] could also will that [their] maxim should become a universal law†.3 The categorical imperative is one of philosophy’s best attempts to provide an absolute principle, but when scrutinized, this famous dictum is not universal or logical. As one of the Enlightenment’s greatest proponents, Kant heralds the presence of equivalent rational thought in all men and develops his theories with an optimistic assessment of â€Å"the moral knowledge of common human reason†.4 This proposed parity creates problems with the categorical imperative because Kant believes that common reason produces common decision making, void of emotional considerations. However, the categorical imperative requires people to will certain actions, and what people will is unquestionably determined by desire, a purely emotional thought. Although Kant attempts to ensure the universality of his principle by removing â€Å"all subjective motives,† such as emotion, he incorrectly associates the human will with rational thought instead of desire.

Noise pollution: Physical effects of noise pollution and governmental restrictions on it Essay

Running head: NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 1 Noise pollution: Physical effects of noise pollution and governmental restrictions on it NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 2 Physical effects of noise pollution and governmental restrictions on it. â€Å"Pollution being the most dangerous problem Likes cancer in which death is sure but slow.† Deepak Miglani. Who would think that moving to the one of the nicest areas of central Prague could make your life a waking and a sleeping nightmare? Concerts, combined with the sounds of rock drills, chain saws, helicopters, cars and horses, tourists and loud music could drive everyone crazy. Could loud noise lead not only to mental, but also physical, health problems? Does the government do anything to protect citizens? To answer this question, I decided to go deeper into this problem and describe it in my research paper. Noise, a prototypical environmental stressor, has clear health effects in causing hearing problems, ringing in the ears, sleep disturbance and poor work performance. But physical health effects are less evident and much more dangerous. (Health Hearing, 2010) Disastrously, these undesirable sounds can seriously damage one’s health in a number of ways including hard illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, breathing difficulties, deafness, ulcers needless, neurosensory and motor impairment. (Agarwal, 2009) Many governments are now trying to control noise through passing noise pollution laws and regulations. For example, to protect citizens from motorcycle noise, Canadian government adopt special noise regulation according to which â€Å"anyone with a two-wheeler that emits more than 92 dB while idling and 96 dB while running can get a $250 fine.† (Health Hearing, 2010) But let’s look at the noise pollution problem in more detail. According to The Oxford English Dictionary (1989), noise is derived from the Latin word â€Å"nausea† meaning unwanted sound or sound that is loud, unpleasant or unexpected. Noise pollution refers to sounds in the environment that are produced by human activities and which disturbs the human being and cause an adverse effect on mental and psychological wellbeing. Decibel is the NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 3 standard unit for measurement of sound. (Pollution articles, 2009) Usually 80 db is the level at which sound becomes physically painful. (Health Hearing, 2010) In order to better understand noise pollution, it is first important to understand where it comes from. Sources of noise are almost everywhere around us. Basically, there are two types of sources: stationary and mobile. Stationary sources could be festivals, elections, mining operations and household equipment. Mobile sources can be divided in 4 major categories, such as traffic noise, industrial noise, noise from constriction work and neighborhood noise. (Kakada, 2010) Traffic noise is one of the major problems, which is difficult to avoid. In fact, noise from cars, buses, and motorcycles impacts more people than any other environmental noise source. It is the main source of noise (73%), according to survey conducted several years ago. (Health Hearing, 2010) In addition, aircraft noise is really unbearable for human ears. Supersonic jet planes produce noise which can shake buildings, crack plaster or break windows, so we can imagine what would be the effects of such noise on human body. Noise from railroads comes not only from locomotive engines, but also horns and whistles, switching and shunting operation in rail yards. (Agarwal, 2009) Industries also cause a lot of noise with their fans, motors and compressors. In result among industrial workers deafness is unfortunately a common consequence. (Boateng, C.A., & Amedofu, G.K., 2004) Another source of undesirable sound is from the construction of buildings, city streets and highways, which include pneumatic hammers, air compressors, bulldozers, loaders and dump trucks. (Barton, 1970) Sometimes even noises in your building can be very irritable. If house is not well constructed and walls and ceilings improperly insulated, dwellers are often annoyed noise from  plumbing, boilers, generators, air conditioners, fans and voices, footfalls and noisy activities from neighbors. In addition, noisemakers of the house could be household equipment, such as vacuum cleaners, mixers and some kitchen appliances. Though they do not cause too much problem, their effect cannot be neglected, but it is still have influence on health. (eSchooltoday, 2010) Noise pollution can affect human health in the long run. What is health, anyway? According NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 4 to Robert Alex Barton, Health is â€Å"freedom from disease†. (Barton, 1970, p. 53) It will not become visible immediately, but could appear later. Research has proved the fact that human efficiency in working decreases with noise and increases with noise reduction. Due to lack of concentration and sleep disturbance, people need to spend more time to complete their task, which leads to tiredness, stress and problems with cognitive function. (Lifestyle Lounge, 2013) But much more dangerous are physical responses to noise exposure. Sometimes, being surrounded by too much noise, people can be victims of certain diseases like blood pressure, heart problems, temporary or permanent deafness. (Stansfeld & Matheson, 2003) Temporary or permanent hearing loss is the most immediate and acute effect of noise. When exposed to very loud and sudden noise, acute damage occurs to t he eardrum and can damage some part of auditory system. (Macalester College, 2012) According to the U.S. Public Health Service in year 1991, 10 million from 21 million Americans have hearing impairments and the main reason for that is noise exposure (Suter, 1991). In 2010 there were already 28 million Americans with hearing impairments from noise. (Kakada, 2010) Besides, our noisy environments are one of the main sources for cardiovascular problems, especially high blood pressure. (Suter, 1991) Researchers have revealed that high level of sounds can give a dramatic raise to the blood pressure. It also increases the heart beat rate. Dr. Samuel Rosen of CQC warns, â€Å"We now have millions with heart disease, high blood pressure†¦ who need protection from additional stress of noise.† (Barton, 1970, p. 55) Researchers found that even during the night time noise can increase a person’s blood pressure without waking him up. The louder the noise, the higher the rise in blood pressure. (Song,  2008) Basically, this process of body’s reaction to noise can make a circle: noise rise the blood pressure, on its turn, blood pressure contribute to heart disease, and that is a cause of high blood pressure. (Barton, 1970) It has b een said, â€Å"You may forgive noise, but your arteries never will† (Agarwal, 2009, p. 104). Investigators discovered that noise can cause complex hormonal changes such as increase of adrenal hormones and decrease of ovarian hormones, which can actually influence fertility, growth and other essential NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 5 functions of body. When the noise is too loud, the defense reaction turns to be harmful, and can lead to bleeding uncles in stomach and intestines, shrink of lymph tissues and enlargement of glands. (Barton, 1970) Another health issue caused by noise pollution is problems with cognitive function. A person, constantly surrounded by some loud noise, can lose his ability to read, solve, understand and learn. In addition, this person can suffer from short term memory loss and poor productivity, together with high level of errors. (Stansfeld & Matheson, 2003) Another effect of noise is Fatigue, caused by lack of concentration and higher amount of time people spending to complete their task. (Lifestyle Lounge, 2013) To reduce level of noise, governments are creating noise pollution laws, regulations or ordinance. (Health Hearing, 2010) According to Kinetics Noise Control, noise ordinance is a special laws developed by state governments to limit noise level at different arias and different time of the days. During the daytime, the maximum available noise level is higher than during the night time. Some small cites still don’t have noise ordinance, but in a big cities this already becomes an â€Å"important part of the community’s health.† (Kinetics Noise Control, 2013) The question, which I will now is how to recognize noise disturbance? According to my own research, many people don’t complain about noise because they are not sure what is the level of noise which you have a right to contact a law enforcement agency. Gainesville Police Department defines noise ordinance as follows: 1. Disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities 2. Exceeds the sound level limit set forth in the ordinance, as measured by a  sound level meter 3. Is plainly audible, which is defined as noise that can be heard a minimum of 200 feet from the property line of the source of the noise – This type of noise includes amplified music, musical instruments, televisions, radios and non-amplified human voices (â€Å"yelling, shouting, whistling, hooting or generally creating a racket†) ( Gainesville Police Department, 2013) The most common urban noise disturbance nowadays are loud parties, barking dogs, construction works, domestic power tools, apartments’ noise and loud car stereos. (Gainesville Police Department, 2013) If you want to report noise disturbance, you NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 6 should call communication center and provide them with information about location of the source of the noise disturbance or an address, description of type of the noise and how long it has been going on. You may stay anonymous, but your name, address and phone number will be really helpful for successful enforcement based on disturbing reasonable person of normal sensibilities. (Gainesville Police Department, 2013) In case if noise ordinance is violated, you can also report it to the police or to law enforcement agency. After that, police officer will visit and record noise level at the place of the complaint and, according to result, the agency may force owner to take corrective actions or to pay fines. (Kinetics Noise Control, 2013) According to the Florida legal system, if an officer found that there is noise disturbance and if it is the first incident, the person who is responsible for it will receive warning remains in effect for 365 days,. If there is more noise during this 365 days, the violator is issued a Civil Citation, which will be recorded at the Police Department. In this case the violator will have to pay a $250 fine. If there is another noise complaint, he will be pun ished by $500 and if it happens again, he will receive Civil Citation with a mandatory court appearance and fine up to $500. (Gainesville Police Department, 2013) In Hong Kong rules are stricter. For neighborhood noise you can get maximum $10,000 penalty; noise from construction sites, industrial type of noise and noise from products could lead you to $100,000 fine on first conviction, $200,000 penalty on second conviction, plus $20,000 a day; noise from intruder alarm system installed in any vehicle will cost you maximum $10,000 and the same amount for an intruder alarm system installed in any premises, plus possible imprisonment for three months. (Environmental Protection Environment, 2013) In New York  City fines started from $70 for such noise sources as radio, noise from animals, etc and it goes up to $16,000 for music from commercial establishment on second conviction. (NYCDEP, 1998) In Europe the adoption of noise ordinance, such as determining exposure to environmental noise through noise mapping and action planning is still developing. On 25 June 2002, Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parlia ment and the Council, relating to the assessment and management of environment noise (hereinafter Environmental Noise Directive, NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 7 END), was adopted. First implementation brought good results, but there are still some difficulties such as need for indicators and strengthened enforcement mechanisms and there are still some areas which need improvement. (EUR -Lex, 2011) Besides governmental protection, each person should take some simple steps to protect himself or herself from noise pollution. You should keep the volume of your musical player at a comfortable noise level and take breaks from listening. If you are involved in loud work, don’t forget to wear earplugs, earmuffs or any other hearing protective devices, which are required by law to protect you from hearing loss. (Health Hearing, 2010) Be alert to loud noise in your environment and inform your friends and family about harm of noise pollution. Nowadays, when noise pollution becomes an overall global problem and is taken as seriously as other forms of pollution, as it is similarly damaging to human health, governments are taking steps to protect their population against noise disturbance by creating federal standards and state laws. But citizens should also take individual steps to reducing noise pollution for themselves and for others. I agree with Robert Alex Barton: â€Å"A quieter world is possible, if †¦ we don’t take noise for an answer.† (Barton, 1970, p. 276) NOISE POLLUTION PAGE 8 Selected Bibliography 1. Health Hearing.(2010). Reasons for Hearing Loss: Noise Pollution Levels. Retrieved from http://www.healthyhearing.com/content/articles/Hearing-loss/Causes/47496-Nois