Environmental Responsibility in Global Capitalism

Environmental Responsibility in Global Capitalism Environmental Responsibility in Global Capitalism Global capitalism refers to an economic system and a method of production in which industries, trade, and means of production are mostly owned by private investors and corporations for profits. In a capitalist economy, capital accumulation, stiff competition for the markets and wage labor are common to the parties to a transaction. Even as capitalism and democracy increase human wealth, leading to an improved lifestyle, nations should regulate their industries and agricultural production so that they become environmentally friendly. This essay will thus seek to clarify how capitalists strive to maximize profits with environmental conservation as a critical issue. In my reading, the stronger governments may be disadvantaged when they implement policies that work towards environmental responsibility. The regulations are in favor of avoiding pollution and encouraging recycling. Their weak counterparts may continue with the whole idea of environmental degradation; hence producing cheaper products. The result is unfair competition in the world market. (Rolston, 2012, p. 2) For fair competition, both the strong and weak governments should enforce regulations that would ensure the industries only carry out production activities that are friendly to the environment. China’s current advancement in its economy shows its willingness to trash its environment for earning profits and exposing its citizens to a lot of health risks. The author of the book â€Å"a new environmental ethics† states that coming out of poverty requires an efficient state to enforce workers rights and environmental health. Without the implementation of such policies, workers may suffer from pollution, especially from air and water. Health problems are not only meant for the poor who, in this case are the workers but also the rich who suffer the consequences of pollution caused by the environment. Trading blocs such as the World Trade Organization have been against the environmental regulations by their member states. Capitalists are also up to the point that environmental concerns do not directly affect international entrepreneurs as capital will flow to the poorer countries. The investors argue that the development in poor countries would make them rich enough to afford environmental protection after some time. The environmental race seems to be moving to the bottom instead of heightening. Capitalists should find ways of maximizing profits for their businesses while keeping in mind the whole concern of environmental conservation. The world Trade Organization has not considered the consumption of genetically modified foods to be of a discussion in the health sector. The trading bloc argues that so long as the food is safe for consumption, there is no need for raising an alarm. The only advice the trading bloc gives is for consumers to boycott the products if they wish. Such misunderstanding brings confusion to the users who do not know which direction to take considering consumption of certain products. Statements that are issued by capitalists regarding their products make consumers have the notion that environmental conservation is a voluntary activity. Ever since, voluntary programs have never been done to the best, and that is the case in voluntary environmental protection. (Rolston, 2012, p. 3) A major problem with globalized capital based development is that the rich grow richer as the poor become poorer. Capitalists have continued to look for cheap labor in order to maximize their production. Such global inequalities created by capitalists have made the attempts to secure the environment unsuccessful. Wealth is inappropriately distributed leading to a gap between the economic statuses of nations. (Rolston, 2012, p. 3) It is unethical to conserve nature but fail to take full measure of the distribution of the benefits of exploiting natural resources. The overconsumption among the rich developed countries and under -consumption among the poor in developing nations is a cause of environmental degradation in both the sets of nations. The escalating consumption patterns with changes in population growth continue to create a difference in the state of the environment. Utilization of natural resources in countries varies, depending on the population and the consumption patterns. The author of the book also explains how both the developed and underdeveloped countries suffer from environmental degradation in different capacities. (Rolston, 2012, p. 5) Social fairness is associated with environmental protection and a more fair distribution of the world’s wealth is needed for the environmental preservation to last. Both the wealthy and the environmental ethicists are faulted for overlooking the poor in their concern to save the elephants. The setting aside of the biodiversity reserves and forest reserves makes the poor more unfortunate as the wild animals cause destruction to plants and crops in the areas inhabited by the poor people. Such damage to crops may be a source of environmental degradation in the areas. The crops and vegetation play an important role in the control and prevention of soil erosion that causes water pollution. The silt deposited in water bodies will not only have an impact to the poor but the wealthy as well. Sediments cause clogging of water pipes that are used globally hence affecting everybody. (Rolston, 2012, p. 6) It the book, it is noted that international markets and religion are the two places where humans learn a sense of global concern and fairness. The dimension of faith is expected in the world religions that compare individual behavior with the act of compassion and respect for human beings. In Christianity and Buddhism, for instance, fairness in markets would be encouraged to show concern for the poor. (Rolston, 2012, p. 8) The dimension of religion in environmental conservation should be given a priority in order to show respect for the gods. Global fairness would ensure that the developed countries carry out activities that do not lead to unfair competition in the world markets. The same would apply to the developing countries who should not take advantage of the opportunity they are given to production. Locally, fair trading can be reinforced by punishing the breakers of the laid rules and regulations. In international markets, the implementation of punishment for law breakers is hard. Thus, it is upon the competitors to promote the peaceful existence and fair competition. For such to exist, religion plays a significant role in guiding those involved in the transactions. The Chinese remarkable economic growth has been among the most histrionic development progress in the universal economy over the past few years. Nevertheless, the evolution of Chinese financial progression has had tremendous ecological effects. In the previous couple of years, the brief ascent in social and in addition budgetary irregularity, natural griminess, amassing rural emergency, predominant focal debasement and fading frequent administrations have developed to unsafe heights that could hypothetically lead to a volatile state (Chun, 2013 ,p. 34). In this part of the essay we emphasis on the conservation influence of Chinese e entrepreneurship improvement. Chinas vast populace and also its developing significance in the universal economy makes the environmental disaster go far beyond China itself. It is a significant portion of the evolution of the international ecological crisis (Lu, 2007, p. 19). Capitalism is focused in the search of profit and the continuous, strong force from the competition makes private industrialists, associations and the conditions to take after revenue accretion on progressively higher scales; this leads to populace intensification. The activities of the entrepreneurial financial scheme tend to result in endless incline in the revenue imbalance and prosperity distribution among nations (Rolston, 2012, p. 21). The inclination concerning slanting the slanting unevenness could, in the long run, lead to finish decays in expectations for everyday comforts for some individuals universally, coming about to a socially untenable state. The developing economic activities results in the exhaustion of materials. Besides, production and manufacture activities lead to material wastes that are a significant adverse effects on the ecology. Limitless economic development outcomes to drain off the resources and lead to environmental squalor. By use of a formula, the impact of capitalist buildup on the ecology can be figured: Ecology effect= Population Ãâ€"AffluenceÃâ€"Technology Hypothetically, if technological advancement can result in less ecological effect per dollar in central the population, then affluence can be immense (Philander, 2012, p. 54-56). As the Chinese drifts to a market entrepreneurial scheme connected to the universal entrepreneurial economy and ethos, resources deplete plus ecology deterioration takes into the course in vast and large levels. During the economy developing years, China was and still is a major producer of industrial wastes. China is a global factory in addition to a dumping site (Lu, 2008, p. 61). The environmental crisis is calamitous not only for China but also for the entire world. Conferring to a World Health Organization report, seven of the ten most inhabited cities in the globe are Chinese. Air contamination results to approximately 300,000 demises annually. In excess of 35 percentage of the aggregate lives claimed by air pollution are Chinese. Acid rain affects approximately more than a quarter of China (Gallagher, 2007, p. 37-39). Large scale air pollution from automobiles has recently worsened the situation. Most of China’s inhabitants who rely on bicycles and public channels of transport suffer from the dirty, polluted air as well as inclining traffic brought by the combustion of fuel in the automobiles. The consumption autos in China is increasing at 18.5 percent annually. Cleaner technology tried to be put in place cannot regulate the pollution if this tendency continues. Water scarceness issue in China is immense (Lu, 2008, p. 16). Upper China mainly experiences water inadequacy. Yellow River flows beneath Loess Plateau where much of vegetation is swept away by erosion; this leads to a decrease in the capability of the plants to hold and reserve water and the water supply from Yellow River has decreased. There is violent rivalry for water amid many farming upstream districts and the industrialized downstream districts. Owing to water scarcity, as well as mass contamination of shallow water, many towns and villages are progressively getting water from subversive reserves. Effluence is deteriorating the aquatic catastrophe. In a preceding report, in Pearl River Deltas besides Yangtze River Delta areas, the water crisis is dominant and the water is considered inconsumable due to heavy effluence (Gallagher, 2007, p. 57). China’s 27.9 percent total land is an expanding desert and more than a quarter of the land suffer from high extents of erosion. More than 35 percent of the total land is tainted due to erosion plus pollution (Chun, 2013, p. 35-39). The high growth of industries and urban centers is demanding more agricultural land. The rest of the agricultural land is affected by pollution from chemicals, mining activities, and effluence from industries. According to an International Energy Agency report, the Chinese are the reason for 7 percent consumption of the global primary energy in 1974 besides 14 percent in 2003. China’s energy consumption is approximately 4 percent and if this trend endures it will double in less than two decades (Chun, 2013, p. 41). Recently, China’s energy demand has risen. Amid the years 2000-2004, China was accountable for 40 percent of the worldwide total increase in energy depletion. The escalation in the use of individual automobiles in the past decade lead to a vigorous increase in oil consumption. China uses its energy much more inefficiently compared to other developed capitalist nations thus China needs to fuel its vigorous economic advancement by upgrading its efficiency instead of inclining energy consumption. In relation to other countries, China’s energy consumption per dollar of GDP is greater than the global average only by a small percent that proposes that China has bounded its potential to increase energy efficiency (Larsen, 2004, p. 68). Chinas developing interest in vitality and hunger for oil happen against the foundation of a creating worldwide vitality emergency. The world right now relies on upon oil and gas for 56 percent and all types of fossil powers for 80 percent of its aggregate essential vitality utilization. There is developing confirmation that worldwide oil and gas creation could achieve a top and begin to decrease in the advancing decade. A developing reliance on coal would quicken the consumption of coal and significantly intensify the effect on an unnatural weather change (Gallagher, 2007, p. 62). Soon it is exceptionally impossible that the different types of renewable energies can supplant the fossil fills to manage the present levels of world vitality utilization and future monetary development. The current Chinese development example could enormously quicken the happening to the worldwide vitality emergency and lead to possibly exceptionally perilous geopolitical circumstances. Climate structures forecast that global warming would result in reduced rainfall in northern China and increased the fuel in southern China. The North China Plain has been experiencing water shortage since thirty years ago. On the other hand, southern China has regularly been covered by floods (Philander, 2012, p. 51-56). Climate alteration in China could cause a decrease in its agricultural yield especially affecting rice, maize as well as wheat. In short, climate change may significantly worsen the Chinese water crisis as well as loom if food security. Recently, environmental awareness amid city inhabitants has advanced. Cities like Beijing is being cleaned up and cleaner, gas-fueled power stations are being constructed. However, polluting firms are moved to rural areas in place of being retrofitted to decrease effluence and waste water should be treated instead of being sent away to the sea. As a result of these actions, the rural inhabitants are affected by environmental squalor unfairly (Philander, 2012, p. 61). For example, the profit- making capitalist firms has a huge role in generating pollution. Farmers endure the consequences of heavy metal pollution without any mode of reimbursement. More than 100 million are affected by this crisis. Farmers may be ignorant of the ecological effects of the polluting firms at early levels in any case, which is evident to that something is not right when the waterway runs dark or when a kid pass away. Nevertheless, complaints from the poor rural farmers are not considered and little is done (Larsen, 2004, p. 73). The central government is contingent on the revenues made by the firms. In other circumstances, the administrators are major shareholders of the contaminating firms; therefore have a direct interest to retain the firms in a production mode and reduce expenditure as much as possible. When the affected have no valid channels to discourse their complaints, social turbulence is inevitable. Finally, Chinese capitalist growth is bearable. In the event that the ebb and flow development example proceeds, in the not extremely inaccessible future, China may need to battle with significant vitality emergencies, intense decreases in sustenance generation, fatigue of usable water assets, wild general wellbeing emergencies and calamitous characteristic debacles (Larsen, 2004, p. 89-93). Not just the Chinese economy would need to develop and the current social structure would fall, the potential outcomes on the populace could be excessively terrible, making it impossible to envision. To forestall such a self-annihilation from happening, it is important to change generally the whole existing social and financial structure. The economy must be arranged towards meeting the populaces essential needs as opposed to the quest for benefit and capital aggregation (Philander, 2012, p. 65). To balance out and enhance China ecological conditions, China needs to most importantly settle its general utilization of vitality, water, and area assets and afterward steadily decrease the utilization of these assets to manageable levels. In conclusion, as capitalism teaches anyone never to be satisfied with their income, and instead promote endless growth, environmental conservation should also be brought to a high gear. The escalating consumption in developed countries and an increasing world population, in general, should be a motivating factor in controlling environmental degradation. We ought to be reminded that the escalating numbers of people, who would if they could, work together in preventing and controlling environmental pollution. It is through the efforts of everybody that the beautiful environment will be preserved even as production activities are growing. References Chun, Lin. China and Global Capitalism. 2013. 19 May 2015. Gallagher, Mary Elizabeth. Contagious capitalism globalization and the politics of labor in China. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007. Larsen, Lene. Responsibility in world business managing harmful side-effects of corporate activity. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2004. Lu, Haitian. The role of China in global dirty industry migration. Oxford: Chandos, 2008. Philander, S. George. Encyclopedia of global warming climate change. 2nd. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2012. Rolston, H. A new environmental ethics. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Uses of DNA Technology

Uses of DNA Technology Introduction DNA typing was first used in Great Britain for law enforcement purposes in the mid- 1980s and has revolutionized forensic science and the ability of law enforcement to match perpetrators with crime scenes. It wasnt employed in the United States until 1987. DNA profiling has changed forensic science. DNA technology has given police and the courts a means of identifying the suspects of rapes and murders. Thousands of cases have been closed and innocent suspects freed with guilty ones punished because of the power of a silent biological witness at the crime scene. Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation performs the bulk of the forensic DNA typing for local and state law enforcement agencies. In criminal investigations, DNA from samples of hair, bodily fluids or skin at a crime scene is compared with those obtained from suspected suspects. (http://faculty.ncwc.edu) ‘DNA fingerprinting, or DNA typing (profiling) as it is now known, was first described in 1985 by an English genet icist named Alec Jeffreys. Dr Jeffreys found that certain regions of DNA contained DNA sequences that were repeated over and over again next to each other. He also discovered that the number of repeated sections present in a sample could differ from individual to individual. By developing a technique to examine the length variation of these DNA repeat sequences, Dr Jeffreys created the ability to perform human identity tests. (John Butler, 2005) Sir Alec John Jeffreys, was born 9 January 1950 at Oxford in Oxfordshire. He is a professor of genetics at theUniversity of Leicester, and he became an honorary freeman of the City of Leicester on 26 November 1992. (Leicester City Council, 1992) In 1994, he was knighted by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, for Services to Science and Technology. Jeffreys had a eureka moment in his lab in Leicester after looking at the X-ray film image of a DNA experiment at 9:05 am on Monday 10 September 1984, which unexpectedly showed both similarities and differences between the DNA of different members of his technicians family. (BBC Radio, December 9, 2007) Within about half an hour, he realized the possible scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the genetic code to identify individuals. The method has become important in forensic science to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes. (BBC Radio, December 9, 2007) The method can also be applied to non-human species, for example in wildlife population genetics studies. Before his methods were commercialized in 1987 his laboratory was the only center carrying out DNA fingerprinting in the world, and during this period of about two or three years it was very busy, receiving inquiries from all over the globe. (Ne ston, Giles February 2, 2004) The technique used by Dr Jeffreys to examine the VNTRs was called restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) because it involved the use of a restriction enzyme to cut the regions of DNA surrounding the VNTRs. This RFLP method was first used to help in an English immigration case and shortly thereafter to solve a double homicide case. Since that time, human identity testing using DNA typing methods has been widespread. The past 25 years have seen tremendous growth in the use of DNA evidence in crime scene investigations as well as paternity testing. Today over 100 public forensic laboratories and several dozen private paternity testing laboratories conduct hundreds of thousands of DNA tests annually in the United States. In addition, most countries in Europe and Asia have forensic DNA programs. The number of laboratories around the world conducting DNA testing will continue to grow as the technique gains in popularity within the law enforcement com munity. (John Butler, 2005) How DNA Typing Is Done Only one-tenth of a single percent of DNA (about 3 million bases) differs from one person to the next. (Internet Source www.ornl.org, 2009) Scientists can use these variable regions to generate a DNA profile of an individual, using samples from blood, bone, hair, and other body tissues and products. In criminal cases, this generally involves obtaining samples from crime-scene evidence and a suspect, extracting the DNA, and analyzing it for the presence of a set of specific DNA regions (markers). Scientists find the markers in a DNA sample by designing small pieces of DNA (probes) that will each seek out and bind to a complementary DNA sequence in the sample. A series of probes bound to a DNA sample creates a distinctive pattern for an individual. Forensic scientists compare these DNA profiles to determine whether the suspects sample matches the evidence sample. A marker by itself usually is not unique to an individual; if, however, two DNA samples are alike at four or five regions, o dds are great that the samples are from the same person. If the sample profiles dont match, the person did not contribute the DNA at the crime scene. If the patterns match, the suspect may have contributed the evidence sample. While there is a chance that someone else has the same DNA profile for a particular probe set, the odds are exceedingly slim. Many judges consider this a matter for a jury to take into consideration along with other evidence in the case. (Internet Source www.nfstc.org, 2009) Experts point out that using DNA forensic technology is far superior to eyewitness accounts, where the odds for correct identification are about 50:50. The more probes used in DNA analysis, the greater the odds for a unique pattern and against a coincidental match, but each additional probe adds greatly to the time and expense of testing. Four to six probes are recommended. Testing with several more probes will become routine, observed John Hicks (Internet Source www.alabany.edu/nerfi, 200 9). He predicted that DNA chip technology will enable much more rapid, inexpensive analyses using many more probes and raising the odds against coincidental matches. Types of DNA Technologies Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism RFLP is a method used by molecular biologists to follow a particular sequence of DNA as it is passed on to other cells. RFLPs can be used in many different settings to accomplish different objectives. RFLPs can be used in paternity cases or criminal cases to determine the source of a DNA sample. RFLPs can be used determine the disease status of an individual. RFLPs can be used to measure recombination rates which can lead to a genetic map with the distance between RFLP loci measured in centiMorgans. (Internet Source www.bio.davidson.edu, 2009) Total DNA is first extracted from the microbial community and the16S rRNA gene  is amplified from samples using fluorescently-labeled forward and reverse primers. Next, the PCR product is purified and subjected to restriction enzyme digestion with enzymes that have 4 base pair recognition sites. This step generates fluorescently-labeled terminal restriction fragments. The digested products are then se parated and detected on an appropriate electrophoresis platform. For a given sample the terminal fragments will contain a fluorescent label at the 5 end and will therefore be detected. The output will be a series of peaks (fragments) of various sizes and heights that represents the profile of that sample. (Osborn, A. M., Moore, R.B. and Timmis, K.N., 2000) Polymerase chain reaction PCR is used to make millions of exact copies of DNA from a biological sample. DNA amplification with PCR allows DNA analysis on biological samples as small as a few skin cells. A polymerase is a naturally occurring enzyme, a biological macromolecule that catalyzes the formation and repair of DNA (and RNA). The technique was made possible by the discovery of Taq polymerase, the DNA polymerase that is used by the bacterium Thermus auquaticus that was discovered in hot springs. This DNA polymerase is stable at the high temperatures need to perform the amplification, whereas other DNA polymerases become denatured. Since this technique involves amplification of DNA, the most obvious application of the method is in the detection of minuscule amounts of specific DNAs. This is important in the detection of low level bacterial infections or rapid changes in transcription at the single cell level, as well as the detection of a specific individuals DNA in forensic sci ence. It can also be used in DNA sequencing, screening for genetic disorders, site specific mutation of DNA, or cloning or subcloning of cDNAs. (Internet Source www.plattsburgh.edu, 2009) Short tandem repeat STR technology is used to evaluate specific regions (loci) within nuclear DNA. Variability in STR regions can be used to distinguish one DNA profile from another. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses a standard set of 13 specific STR regions for CODIS. CODIS is a software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons. The odds that two individuals will have the same 13-loci DNA profile is about one in a billion. (Internet Source www.ornl.org, 2009) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has chosen 13 specific STR loci to serve as the standard for CODIS. The purpose of establishing a core set of STR loci is to ensure that all forensic laboratories can establish uniform DNA databases and, more importantly, share valuable forensic information. If the forensic or convicted offender CODIS index is to be used in the investigative stages of unsolved cas es, DNA profiles must be generated by using STR technology and the specific 13 core STR loci selected by the FBI. (Internet Source www.dna.gov, 2009) Mitochondrial DNA analysis mtDNA can be used to examine the DNA from samples that cannot be analyzed by RFLP or STR. Nuclear DNA must be extracted from samples for use in RFLP, PCR, and STR; however, mtDNA analysis uses DNA extracted from another cellular organelle called a mitochondrion. (Internet Source www.fbi.gov, 2009) While older biological samples that lack nucleated cellular material, such as hair, bones, and teeth, cannot be analyzed with STR and RFLP, they can be analyzed with mtDNA. In the investigation of cases that have gone unsolved for many years, mtDNA is extremely valuable. (Internet Source www.dna.com, 2009) All mothers have the same mitochondrial DNA as their offspring. This is because the mitochondria of each new embryo come from the mothers egg cell. The fathers sperm contributes only nuclear DNA. Comparing the mtDNA profile of unidentified remains with the profile of a potential maternal relative can be an important technique in missing-person investigations. ( Melton, T. et. al., 2001) Y-Chromosome Analysis The Y chromosome is passed directly from father to son, so analysis of genetic markers on the Y chromosome is especially useful for tracing relationships among males or for analyzing biological evidence involving multiple male contributors. Y chromosome analysis is a useful technique for analyzing DNA that can be likened in one sense to studying male surnames. Think about the way that male surnames are passed down from one generation to another and continue on through sons. This mechanism is a simplistic representation of Y chromosomes. A son inherits a Y chromosome from his biological father and he also inherits an X chromosome from his biological mother. Conversely, a female would inherit an X chromosome from her biological mother and an X chromosome from her biological father. (Internet Source www.esploredna.co.uk, 2009) As such, when scientists study Y chromosomes, they are studying these chromosomes as they are inherited over time through males in a famili al line. This type of DNA analysis has important ramifications for scientists wishing to investigate the familial ties between male members. (Internet Source www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2009) Conclusion No field has benefited more from the tools of molecular biology than forensic science. DNA technology affords the forensic scientist the ability to eliminate individuals who have been falsely associated with a biological sample and to reduce the number of potential contributors to a few (if not one) individuals. Inculpations are strong evidence regarding the source of the biological sample. Today, some wrongly convicted people have been exonerated because of DNA evidence. Moreover, in casework, individuals are excluded routinely. Since the inception of forensic DNA profiling, there has been a debate in the legal setting regarding admissibility on the methods and the practices of computing DNA profile frequencies. While the scientific basis of DNA typing were sound, both the methodology and the statistical interpretations were aggressively challenged in court. The methods challenge focused on reliability and validity testing. The statistics debate focused on the reliability of the ass umption of independence for applying the product rule to derive estimates of DNA profile frequencies. References Butler, John â€Å"Forensic DNA Typing: Biology, Technology, and Genetics of STR Markers† 2nd Edition 2005 Elsevier Science Desert Island Discs, â€Å"Desert Island Discs with Alec Jeffreys† BBC Radio 4 December 9, 2007 Leicester City Council â€Å"List of persons upon whom the honorary freedom of the city has been conferred† http://www.leicester.gov.uk/aboutleicester/lordmayorcivic/freeman/honorary-freemen/list-of-freemen Retrieved December 10, 2009 Newton Giles, â€Å"Discovering DNA fingerprinting: Sir Alec Jeffreys describes its development†. Wellcome Trust. http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk.doc Retrieved December 10, 2009 Osborn, A.M., Moore, R.B. and Timmis, K.N. (2000). An evaluation of terminal-restriction fragment lengty polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis for the study of microbial community structure and dynamics. Environmental Microbiology 2(1): 39-50. Journal of Forensic Science â€Å"Diversity and Heterogeneity in Mitochondrial DNA of North American Populations.† January 2001; 46 (1):46-52. Melton T. et al Internet Source www.ornl.org 2009 Internet Source www.plattsburgh.edu 2009 Internet Source www.fbi.gov 2009 Internet Source www.dna.com, 2009

mortal kombat :: essays research papers

Mortal Kombat â€Å"According to Time magazine, September 27, 1993, violence in video games is on the rise especially with the release of Mortal Kombat. Over 50 million children all over the United States brought this violence into their homes. The parents and other adults of these children finally decided that the video games in the U.S. had gone too far.† Mortal Kombat was the first game that brought blood and gore into the video game world. Mortal Kombat started in the arcades it was such a hit, they made it into a game you could buy for personal use. Critics raved over it when it was first introduced, saying it was too violent for kids and it needed to be taken off the shelves. This game appealed to many people because of its real-life graphics, blood and gore. The game was also responsible for the video game rating system used today. The game was an instant hit, they made an endless amount of Mortal Kombat games, for every gaming system imaginable, there was even a movie made based on the game. This essay will illustrate how Mortal Kombat is violent, and take a critical point of view of this popular game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mortal Kombat is a video game based around hand-to-hand combat between two characters in the game. The person playing would control one-character and use combinations of punches, kicks and special moves to cause as much damage to the opponent as possible. This game is fun and very addicting; children would end up playing the game constantly trying to master the moves and techniques of the game. People found it fun because the characters and the worlds that you fight in seem like some fantasy, most people would fight their friends to see who would rein supreme; it was a constant challenge to be the best fighter. With the new game that came out not too, long ago you are able to plug an internet cord in the back of your gaming system and play anyone in the world. This game caught so much criticism that the makers had to take the blood out of the game, and they turned it in to white sweat, but little did the critics know that there were codes you could enter to bring the blood back to the game. There also were codes called â€Å"Fatalities† which were finishing moves where you could decapitate someone’s head, rip their arms off and burn them alive.

Parallelisms and Differences:Rastafarianism and Judaism Essay -- Rasta

Parallelisms and Differences:Rastafarianism and Judaism The two religions of Rastafarianism and Judaism embody many of the same characteristics, as well as their ancestry. Although the Rastafarians, at times, inaccurately explain the bible, their belief in the Old Testament is still prevalent. Many of the customs are almost identical, but the rationale behind the traditions and laws contrast greatly. In 1933, when Leonard P. Howell was arrested for using"seditious and blasphemous language,"to boost the sale of pictures of Haile Selassie, he stated that Selassie was,"King Ras Tafari of Abyssinia, son of king Solomon by the queen of Sheba."1 Howell knew that in later years factual information about Selassie's true origin would be declared. As an Ethiopian constitution of 1955 confirms, Haile Selassie in his position as Emperor,"descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of Jerusalem."2 This constitution, therefore, gives us direct evidence from Ethiopian sources of an existence of a section of the Ethiopian Population practicing the Jewish Religion. According to the bible, King Solomon, King of Israel and the Jews, was paid by a visit from the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian Monarch. The Kebra Negast, the book of the glory of kings, states that by a trick, King Solomon inveigled the queen into sharing his bed with the result of a new born son, Menelik, who in due course became king or negus of Ethiopia.3 The queen was very impressed during her visit to the Holy Land, and adopted the Jewish Religion. But her son Menelik, when he grew up, visited his father, and transferred the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Axum. It is at this point where a new r... ...USA, no publishing given) Sanhedrin 90b 31 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) Berakhot 28b 32 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) 33 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) Genesis 3:18 34 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) Exodus 10:12 35 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) Proverbs 15:17 36 King James, Holy Bible, Song of Solomon, (USA, no publishing given) Psalm 104:14 37 Barret, Leonard E. The Rastafarians (Boston: Beacon Press 1997) p129 38 Kolatch, Alfred J., The Jewish Book of Why (Jonathan David Publisher 1981) 118 39 Barret, Leonard E. The Rastafarians (Boston: Beacon Press 1997) 40 Barrow, Steve and Dalton, Peter, Reggae: The Rough Guide (London: Rough Guides LTD1997)191

Economic Networkingâ€Exploring Alternatives for Promoting Sustainable De

Economic Networking—Exploring Alternatives for Promoting Sustainable Development in Africa INTRODUCTION The history of European aid intervention in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states has traditionally acted to reinforce the hierarchical distinction between the â€Å"developed† and the â€Å"developing† world. The series of Lome Conventions which granted preferential trade agreements between these groups of countries have proved ineffective in encouraging economic sustainability in the ACP states, and although the ACP includes most of the Least Developed Countries (LLDCs) in the world, the agreements have been criticized as being unfair in the global context. Under pressure to negotiate a new ACP-EU agreement that would be consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations, and improve on the limitations of the previous Lome Conventions, the Cotonou Convention was signed in 2000, after arduous negotiations. Despite this agreement, the future of ACP-EU relations is somewhat vague. Particularly with respect to Africa, this uncertainty leaves room for eva luation of the effectiveness of the past agreements and an objective analysis of the motives behind previous economic ties. Furthermore, by analyzing the problematic history of European aid to Africa, there emerges a basis for shifting away from the neo-colonialist relationships that characterized most of the past agreements, and exploring the benefits of creating alternative partnerships. Ultimately, the possibility of forming partnerships amongst individual ACP countries and between other developing countries is an overlooked idea that should be further explored. A Historical Perspective African economic development is a subject of wide interest. Amongst the ... ...2 October 2003 Kwarteng, Charles O. Africa and the European Challenge. Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company. 1997. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development. October 2001. Overseas Development Institute. Reshaping European partnerships: what future for the ACP? Meeting September 2003. http://www.odi.org.uk/speeches/edc_2010/meeting_report_17september.html The World Bank Group. World Development Indicators Database: Country Profile Table. 11 March 2004 . The World Bank Group. 2003 World Development Indicators. 11 March 2004. . Economic Community of West African States. About ECOWAS. 11 March 2004. .

Curriculum Implication

This section firstly examines curriculum as a mediator of dominance and hegemony, exploring ideological issues in the selection and structuring of knowledge and in pedagogic practice. Secondly we focus on the issue of representation of subaltern groups, culture and ideologies. The concept of curriculum is used here to designate the experiences pupils have under the guidance of the school. Most issues in this area are predicated upon the assumption that appropriate school experiences can indeed make a significant difference to learning and lives of SC/ST children. Content of curriculum and internal operations are thus key issues that need to be addressed. Also very important are related areas of pedagogic methods, assessment and evaluation. In India, curriculum and the content of education have been central to the processes of reproduction of caste, class, cultural and patriarchal domination-subordination. In post independence educational policy, modification of content supposedly aimed at indigenization resulted in Brahmanisation as a key defining feature of the curriculum. Brahmanisation has been evident in the emphasis on (1) ‘pure’ language, (2) literature and other â€Å"knowledge† of society, history, polity, religion and culture that is produced by higher castes which reflects Brahmanical world view and experiences and Brahmanical perspectives on Indian society, history and culture, and (3) high caste, cultural and religious symbols, linguistic and social competencies, modes of life and behaviour. Furthermore, the overarching stress has been on eulogizing mental as against manual labour. The heavily gendered nature of school curricular content was evident in that women’s specialised knowledge and skills systems found no place in it or in the general curricular discourse. Rather they were used for devaluation and stereotyping of the female sex in curriculum. Curriculum is thus urban elite male-centric and bereft of the country’s rich cultural diversity. There has been a corresponding devaluation of â€Å"lesser† dialects, cultures, traditions, and folklore of dalits and adivasis as also of peasantry. The second defining feature of the curriculum on the other hand, was its ‘colonial’ character which privileged western modernization. The ideology however was adopted in truncated, superficial ways – the emphasis being on the incorporation of knowledge of Western science and technology, viz. that of the â€Å"hard Western sciences†, the English language and Western styles of life. The pursuance of liberal, democratic socialist values even though enshrined in the Indian constitution was largely notional in the curriculum. Curricular structure and culture of the colonial model has remained unchanged. The defining features of the structure are: full time attendance of age specific groups in teacher supervised classrooms for the study of graded curricula. Full day schools, compulsory attendance, unconducively long time–span of classes and vacations, served as deterrents, being ill suited to educating SC/ST children, especially in the initial years when access was just being opened up and availed. Poor and SC/ST households depended on children for domestic work or other productive work whether or not to supplement household earnings. Today, things have changed substantially and large numbers of parents are prepared to forego children’s labour and send them to school. However school organisation and curricula have not been sensitive as yet to fundamentally different economic situations, life aims and social circumstances of children belonging to poorer strata households or communities in the shaping of the school structure. Culturally, school norms of attendance, discipline, homework, tests and exams, and cognitively ethnocentric demands of concentration on nd memorisation of the content of the text by `rote’, all prove problematic for SC/ST children. Furthermore, the curriculum itself as a tool of cultural dominance and hegemony has an alienating and intimidating impact. Curriculum and the Scheduled Castes: For the Scheduled Castes who have sought education as a mechanism to transform as well as enter â€Å"mainstream† (read dominant) society, the central questions are of representation of their knowledge and culture and the critiquing of dominant knowledge and value systems of their lived reality and of social relationships based on dominance/subordination and exclusion. Dominant forms of inequality and hierarchy are made invisible in the discourse on common nationhood and common and equal citizenship, which the school curriculum propagates. But for the Scheduled Castes the heart of the matter is structural oppression, not cultural difference. Thus understandings of oppressive aspects of our traditional and contemporary structures, the historical construction of groups and communities are made invisible by the curriculum and not subjects of key curricular importance. Krishna Kumar’s studies have focussed attention on how the dominant groups’ ideas about education and the educated get reflected in the curriculum. Following the curriculum, Indian texts uphold symbols of the traditional, male dominated feudal society and its obsolete cultural values and norms. However, that the value content of education is out of tune with the reality of the changing, dynamic India is a matter of choice – a choice consciously or unconsciously made by those selecting textbook material from the available body of literature and by those creating it. Worthwhile knowledge is that which is linked to the values and lifestyles of dominant groups. Ilaiah has vividly described how knowledge and language are rooted in and structured around productive processes of lower castes and around socio-cultural surroundings of their habitat. This knowledge and skill based vocabulary, which is very highly developed, finds no place in the school curriculum. Nor do stories, music and songs, values, skills, knowledge, traditions, cultural and religious practices. Contemporary dalit literature is similarly disregarded. Lives, values and norms of upper caste Hindus which are strange and alienating for the lower castes, continue to be dominantly present. To quote from Ilaiah, â€Å"right from early school Upto College, our Telugu textbooks were packed with these Hindu stories. Kalidasa was as alien to us as the name of Shakespeare. The language of textbooks was not the one that our communities spoke. Even the basic words were different. Textbook Telugu was Brahmin Telugu, whereas we were used to a production-based communicative Telugu. It is not merely a difference of dialect; there is a difference in the very language itself†. The dominance of epistemology and content of the politically powerful intellectual classes makes curricular knowledge ideologically loaded. While Gandhi, Tagore and Krishnamurti – all from the high castes – have received national attention as indigenous educational philosophers, education has not incorporated the anti-caste-patriarchy and anti-hegemonic discourses of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar or Iyotheedas. Curriculum does not reflect upon the historical significance of caste, gender and tribe, nor of the challenges posed to it by dalit epistemology, knowledge and protest. This should have been done through literature and social science curricula. Phule saw education as a potent weapon in the struggle for revolutionary social transformation. For him, the purpose and content of education were radically different from both Brahmanical and colonial models of education. His ideal was an education that would bring an awareness among lower castes of oppressive social relations and their hegemonic moral and belief systems that pervaded their consciousness†¦. an education that would instill western secular values, encourage critical thought and bring about mental emancipation. It would fulfil practical needs but would be broad based enough to inspire a social and cultural revolution from below. During the course of the long struggle of dalit liberation, Ambedkar developed an ideology that incorporated a critique and reinterpretation of India’s cultural heritage, a rich philosophy drawn from a wide range of social thought and an action programme which lay an equal stress on social and cultural revolution as it did on the economic and political one. Like Phule, he defined the purpose of education in terms of mental awakening and reation of a social and moral conscience. Education was also a means of overcoming inferior status and state of mind, of wresting power from the powerful. Thus, the Ambedkarian agenda for education included: (a) creation of capacities for rational and critical thinking, (b) socialization into a new humanistic culture and ideology, (c) development of capacities and qualities necessary for entry and leadership in modern avenues of work and politics, and (d) inculcation of self-respect and aspirations to respectable lifestyles in which demeaning traditional practices would have no place. Clearly Phule-Ambedkarian ideology went way beyond narrow modernization and technocratic impulses. It gave pre-eminence to ideology and values, Western in origin but critically adapted towards emancipation of India’s downtrodden. Ilaiah, in fact, argues that these values are equally indigenous, constitutive of lived-in realities of dalit bahujans. Dalit and non-Brahman leaders drew on western philosophical traditions to build an ideology and praxis of revolutionary transformation of the Hindu social order. It aimed at establishing a socialist social order underpinned by a new morality, based on values of liberty, equality, fraternity and rationality. School curriculum in India failed to reflect these expressions of new moral order. It does not need any great study to show that the national or state school curricula or teacher education curricula were never guided by these radical visions. The Scheduled Castes and their issues and problems have remained peripheral to the curriculum and their representation if at all has been weak and distorted. Curriculum and the Scheduled Tribes: Like the SC, curriculum does not acknowledge cultural rights of the Scheduled Tribes who are denied their own culture and history. School curriculum fails to take account of tribal cultures as autonomous knowledge systems with their own epistemology, transmission, innovation and power. Kundu gives the example of children being set to write essays on the circus, or being trained to write letters through mock missives to the police asking them to take action on disturbance by loudspeakers during exams. While adivasi children may know a great deal about animals, they are unlikely to have ever seen a circus; where the police are usually feared as oppressors and electricity is erratic, if at all available, enlisting police support in keeping noise decibels down is a most unlikely situation Not only are the knowledge and linguistic and /or cognitive abilities that Scheduled Tribe children possess ignored – e. g. the capacity to compose and sing spontaneously, to think in riddles and metaphors and their intimate knowledge of their environment – but schooling also actively encourages a sense of inferiority about Scheduled Tribe cultures. Like the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes rarely feature in textbooks, and when they do, it is usually in positions servile to upper caste characters; or as ‘strange’ and ‘backward’ exotica. The ‘cultural discontinuity’ between school and home draws attention to the rigidity of school organization and the emphasis on discipline and punishment in contrast with socialization practices and the lives of children, as reasons for non-attendance. Sujatha cites the case of community schools in Andhra where there was closer interaction with parents, weekly holiday was in tune with the local weekly bazaar, and school holidays coincided with tribal festivals. The school was observed to show positive results. The Language Question: Despite several policy documents and a constitutional provision (350A) recognizing that linguistic minorities should be educated in their mother tongue at primary level, there is practically no education in Scheduled Tribe languages. This includes even those like Santhali, Bhili, Gondi or Oraon which are spoken by over a million people. Although states in India were organized on linguistic grounds, political powerlessness of Scheduled Tribes prevented the formation of states based on tribal languages. They are confined to minority status within large states and are compelled to learn the state language in school. Primary teachers are predominantly from non-ST communities. And despite the pedagogic significance of initial instruction in the mother tongue, teachers do not bother to learn the tribal language even after several years of posting. The general picture at primary level is often one of mutual incomprehension between ST students and their non-ST teachers. Several studies have pointed to the significance of the language question at the primary levels. Quite apart from the pedagogic problems this creates – such as destroying the child’s self esteem, and reducing the possibilities of successful learning in later years, the denigration of Scheduled Tribe languages amounts to denigration of Scheduled Tribe worldviews and knowledge. The education system with its insistence on a common language as a means of achieving a common nationhood has been instrumental in the destruction of tribal language, culture and identity. Even outside the school, educated youth often speak to each other in the language of the school, perhaps to mark themselves off from their ‘uneducated peers’. Several languages, especially those spoken by small numbers, are dying out. Loss of a language means the loss of a certain way of knowing the world. Experiences of schooling of tribal children in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have revealed the displacement of Bundelkhandi, Gondi and Warli by Sanskritised Hindi, Telugu and Marathi respectively. Depending on levels of cultural absorption and adaptation however, several Scheduled Tribes may not look to schools to teach in their home language. Indeed, for many Scheduled Tribe parents, the main advantage of schooling is that it gives access to the new languages, new occupations and a new life and enables interaction with the non-tribal world. But wherever Scheduled Tribes have been politically mobilised to celebrate Scheduled Tribe identity, they have been more clear and open in their demand for education in indigenous languages. The Alienating Impact of School Regimen: The school regimen of timing, discipline, hierarchy is especially alien to tribal children socialized in a world where individuality is respected from early on, and where parent-child interactions are relatively egalitarian. Kundu points out those testing procedures too are based on urban middle class values – the competitiveness and system of rewards that examinations represent is often culturally anomalous to Scheduled Tribe children who are brought up in an atmosphere of sharing. Furthermore, learning among ST children is usually intimately connected to the work process – children learn the names and medicinal uses of many plants and trees while accompanying their parents on foraging trips in the forest. When children are away at school, especially when they are sent to residential schools, they lose connection with this world of labour and their capacity to learn from it. Several studies have attested the alienating effects of language, school structure and ethos. Implications of Recent Hindu Cultural Nationalist Influences on Curriculum In the recent past a serious concern has been the ‘Hinduisation’ of the curriculum, its adverse implications for all children but most particularly to religious minorities and SC/ST. A deliberate policy move towards Hinduisation of the school which occurred at the behest of neo-right national government’s policy meant its specific framing within Vedic values and thought. However, even prior to that when there was no overt intent of curriculum or text to be grounded in dominant religious culture, the fact that most educational action teachers are Hindu made curriculum Hinduised. It influenced the manner in which annual days or other school events are celebrated. Breaking a coconut and lighting incense at the base of the flag pole on Republic or Independence Day is common practice. Additionally, distinctive Scheduled Tribe names are changed to standard Hindu names.

Compare Contrast Performance Enhancing Drugs

Assignment 4-1-1 Compare and Contrast COMM 120 College Writing Justin Reed Professor Hilton-Ross Performance-Enhancing Drugs: New level of excitement or quick death? We regularly hear of professional athletes being accused of â€Å"doping,† or use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Many do this to be the very best at what they do. This is lucrative for not only the player, but also for the franchises that bring in the crowds. The question that arises is, if these drugs should be the new frontier of sports, or if we should heavily screen the players to prevent death. Looking at this from a neutral standpoint, it can be very easy to see both positives and negatives to taking such drugs. Our society not only demands perfection, but we also expect a level of entertainment that is on par or greater than the ever increasing price tag of the tickets that we buy for these spectacles. Many of the drugs that are banned from sports are due to the side-effects that often occur. The players have psychotic episodes, become increasing hostile, and sometimes even death. Even with the evidence backing this, the drugs are still used. The reason for this is monetary gains. A question comes to mind, would you rather live a long, regular life or a shortened, amazing one? You will be faster, stronger, and heal more quickly than you ever have before. Still, let’s make the assumption that athletes begin to use performance-enhancing drugs, the prices are higher for tickets,and the amount of time a player will actually be capable of playing at such a high level is decreased. Who really wins in this scenario? I believe thefans do. Fansget a very exciting game, more plays, more action, and more impact. Things that were not possible become far more possible. Games are invented or improved to make the spectacle all the better. The athletes can now demandmore money because the crowds are greater. In turn,the crowd draw means the franchise can improve the facilities and impact the surrounding areas. Yes, the athletes have a potential of being hurt, but their sacrifice could ultimately bring happiness to thousands, give them extreme wealth,and help the areas businesses. References Donovan, R. J. , Egger, G. , Kapernick, V. , & Mendoza, J. (2002). A Conceptual Framework for Achieving Performance Enhancing Drug Compliance in Sport. _Sports Medicine_, 32(4), 269-284.