...promoting racial tolerance and respect; and 4) making consumer decisions based on a company’s ethics. Our personal and professional lives present multiple opportunities to practice Social-Awareness. Like our personal lives, one must avoid creating barriers in their professional lives that prevent them from achieving personal goals and aspirations. In this example, as a direct result of the tragedy that occurred in New York City, September 11, 2001, Arab Americans or those perceived to be Arabian have been unfairly treated by unenlightened Americans. They have been and continue to be targeted as if they themselves flew those planes into the trade center or were the masterminds behind it. The hundreds of news reports chronicling the beatings, killings, harassments and threats made towards Arab Americans are reminiscent of the horrible injustices committed towards African Americans during the Civil Rights movement in the South during the fifties and sixties. This treatment has got to stop because as author Neuliep states, “The Arab American Institute believes that in 2003 at least 3.5 million people in America have...
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...The Arab American community has experienced much change in recent American political history. With the American foreign policy in the Middle East and the recent events impacting the image of Arab americans, it has significantly suppressed their political involvement in the US. Due to the racism and anti Arab bigotry Arabs faces over the century, Arab americans feel that the American political system restricts them. There is a misconception in the Arab American community that they are exclusively excluded from the American political system. Many believe that anti-Arab racism is inhibiting their political growth and the racism is too powerful to combat. There has been a lack of understanding in the Arab community of how the political system inherently...
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...Discussing notions of cultural borderlands in relation to Anzalùa’s own experience within the Mexican American context serves as a first step towards the negotiation of the experience of other ethnic groups interacting with mainstream American culture. Exploring the aesthetics of border narratives in the way Anzaldùa constructs it together with the mechanisms of stereotyping and the politics of ethnic identity representations she opts for urges a new conception of the literary creation situated in-between multiple ideological and symbolic borders. The hybrid construct around which the rhetoric of boder is built becomes dialogic: it witnesses the presence of mainstream culture and marginal- ethnic culture .The latter is endowed by the power...
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...cleansing" to describe the atrocities committed in the region. A text signed by the United States House of Representatives in July 2004 has even used the term "genocide". However, in Darfur, three factors seem to explain the situation: First, it is to keep in mind the underlying causes of the conflict, among which, the lack of meaningful participation of local and national authorities, and the feelings of social, political and economic marginalization of some ethnics, and regional development which, based on structural inequalities felt by many other communities across the country has deteriorated the tension in...
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...their followers will have disagreements. And even though it might seem like those feelings are diminishing people still feel a sense of insecurity when it comes to this issue even if they tend to hide it or refuse to admit it. Religious segregation is pretty much still alive in many parts of the world, even in countries that claim the right of freedom of religion. It has led many people to be treated unfairly and wrongfully judged just because they are the minority who practice a religion which is different from the public orthodoxy. In modern day, Arabs and Muslims in exact suffer from being labeled as extremists or terrorists especially in Western cultures. five out of ten Americans believe Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence, despite the fact that seven out ten admit they know very little about Islam. And yet Americans rank Muslims second only to atheists as group that does not share their vision of American society (Ghazal, 2008). Intolerance and discrimination against Muslims, or if you like Islamophobia, is not a new phenomenon. There are historical, cultural/religious and psychological reasons behind it.....
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...Darfur, Sudan Since early 2003, Darfur, an arid desert region the size of France, has been gripped by a civil war since 2003 that has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million, according to UN figures. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, says 10,000 people have died. (AFP) The conflict in Darfur began in the spring of 2003 when two Darfuri rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), launched attacks against Khartoum government military installations in response to government neglect and marginalization of the people of Darfur. Sudanese officials answered back by unleashing atrocious acts of violence on any Darfur villages who they determined had ostensibly harbored members of the SLM and JEM. Bombing villages from the air and with the hired help of a government armed nomadic Arab militia called the Janjaweed, over four hundred villages were burnt down, sending the few survivors to seek out refugee camps spread throughout the region and into neighboring Chad. All of this occurred within the span of 29 months. In 2004 George W. Bush declared the crisis in Darfur a “genocide”. Genocide, as defined by Merriam Webster, is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group”. It is within the power of the United States government to end the brutalities in Darfur. A more assertive action needs to be taken in order free the Darfur people from the atrocities they suffer on a day...
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...The subject of social problems is one discipline of ever- increasing need for social inquiry. Conventional theories have just but only justified the existence of these conditions and have remained in their normative school. Critical theories have tried to push their historical materialist approach but could not bring any formidable solutions to avert social problems. By definition a social problem is an elusive concept to define and it takes forms that are the subjective and objective understanding. Eitzen et al. (2009:8) argue that some social conditions are detrimental in any situation. In this sense, they have an objective character. There are conditions in society such as poverty, racism, sexism that cause material or psycho logical suffering for parts of the population. Those conditions are, therefore, social problems in any social setting. Social problems are those conditions which are universally agreed upon by society to have adverse effects many people and those conditions which causes material and psychic suffering of the body or society such as HIV/AIDS, terrorism, war, poverty, conflict, corruption and crime (Eitzen and Bacca- Zinn, 2009). Thus, social problems have their roots form the social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and geographical contexts, thus they are socially constructed. This essay assesses the Marxist explanation and its applicability to the study of social problems and on the whole what solutions it suggests to address them. The conflict...
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...The subject of social problems is one discipline of ever-increasing need for social inquiry. Conventional theories have just but only justified the existence of these conditions and have remained in their normative school. Critical theories have tried to push their historical materialist approach but could not bring any formidable solutions to avert social problems. By definition a social problem is an elusive concept to define and it takes forms that are the subjective and objective understanding. Eitzen et al. (2009:8) argue that some social conditions are detrimental in any situation. In this sense, they have an objective character. There are conditions in society such as poverty, racism, sexism that cause material or psychological suffering for parts of the population. Those conditions are, therefore, social problems in any social setting. Social problems are those conditions which are universally agreed upon by society to have adverse effects many people and those conditions which causes material and psychic suffering of the body or society such as HIV/AIDS, terrorism, war, poverty, conflict, corruption and crime (Eitzen and Bacca-Zinn, 2009). Thus, social problems have their roots form the social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and geographical contexts, thus they are socially constructed. This essay assesses the Marxist explanation and its applicability to the study of social problems and on the whole what solutions it suggests to address them. The conflict...
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...sociological, religious or otherwise. An example in this regard can be of a straight white Polish American Catholic Northwestern Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate male or, an African American United Methodist lesbian female ordained woman. In the United States, the gender identity and sexual orientation are quite important to one’s identity and life as a person. For students of theology and seminarians here in the U.S., the conversation about one’s gender identity,...
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...secularization theories, these studies find support for their claims (although these claims have not been without challenge—e.g., Olson 1999, Voas et al. 2002). One can find other, smaller voices to the challenge of understanding the global rise of fundamentalism. But as Riesebrodt (2000) outlines, all these explanations, dominant or not, are lacking in that they do not adequately answer three vital questions: (a) why these movements emerged, (b) why they emerged at this point in history (largely since the 1970s), and (c) what their future significance may be. Much work must yet be done to answer these questions. CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM to date, the most comprehensive study of fundamentalisms around the world was sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and directed by religion historians Martin Marty and Scott Appleby. After a decade of exhaustive case study research with contributions from dozens of scholars (including sociologists) studying fundamentalist groups and movements across five continents and within seven world religious traditions, and after five volumes of reporting and analysis, the chapter “Fundamentalisms: Genus and Species” by Almond et al. (1995) identified nine interrelated characteristics of fundamentalist groups, five ideological and four organizational According to Almond and colleagues, the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, having clearly defined sacred texts, dualistic worldviews, and “end times” theologies,...
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...Final Essay Don J . Brinning ETH-125 September 2, 2012 Monica Hahn Final Essay Since taking this class, I not had any access to any previously unknown life altering revelations of information; in reality, what I have learned is exactly how badly the dominant group has treated all of the minority groups over the years. I know that the United States was founded on a long tradition of violence, slavery, and genocide toward any group that they could get away with subjugating; what I was surprised by was how groups that I had always thought were part of the majority (French, Irish, Italian, and so forth) were initially discriminated against early on and had to ‘pay their dues’ in order to be awarded membership in the dominant culture. This information does not change my understanding or relation of others, as I have always prided myself on treating people as people and ignoring things like race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The main thing that the material in this course has taught me is that I should be even more embarrassed by the cretins further up in my family tree when I look at myself in the mirror in the morning, and more dedicated to making up for the (assumed) transgressions of my ancestors by not allowing any prejudice or discrimination enter my own thought process or actions. Immigration trends are currently increasing the amount of minority residents in the United States, in particular those from Latin America or those with Hispanic backgrounds...
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...Should the U.S. take Military Action in Syria? Syria, a country in the Middle East bordering Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon has experienced growing civil unrest since 2011. The current government, led by Bashar al-Assad, has responded with violence and human rights abuses. In September 2013 the United Nations (UN) (United Nations, 2013) confirmed chemical weapons were used against civilians in Damascus on August 21st. These actions have generated an outcry for intervention. Arguments Some believe taking action is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and end human rights abuses perpetrated by the military. These pro-interventionists conclude Assad continues his oppressive actions because he doesn’t believe anyone will take action to stop him. Assaults on Syrian civilians are documented by many sources. Since January 2011 it is estimated over 100,000 citizens protesting against the Assad regime have been killed by military forces (Table, 2013). A report commissioned by the UN in June 2013 estimated 5,000 were killed each month since July 2012. This number exceeds reported deaths in Iraq at the height of war in 2007. In a September 2011 report many atrocities against children were documented. Over a hundred children were killed in connection with protests, many others reported injured. A group of children in the town of Dara’a, as young as 8, were taken into custody in connection with anti-government graffiti on a schoolhouse wall. These children...
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...respective nations or states. Such affliction cannot be matched to that which is based on racial and/or religious discrimination. Some have even utilized the crisis surrounding Muslim immigration in their ambitious ascent to powerful positions (Laurence and Goodliffe 2013). This presents the worst form of prejudice and is manifested in illegalities such as denial of access to health services, food, housing, education and other fundamental necessities. Muslims and immigrants in France are fraught with issues pertaining to policy on these fundamental necessities as they are discriminate against on ethnic basis (Fredette 2014). Fredette argues that black and Arab Muslim immigrants and their children are subjected to hostility, discriminative hiring and illegal surveillance. The tension with the police even aggravates Muslim marginalization so that they don’t feel welcome in their neighborhoods. According to this author, this group experiences exclusion, separation and hierarchies in housing, education and employment due to an elite discourse that portrays the group as suspicious non-integrated citizens. On the contrary, French Muslims do not experience similar discrimination as that leveled against Muslims who are not originally French citizens. The aim of this paper is to recount the discriminatory immigration policies targeting North African Muslim immigrants during the 20th century and the religious roots from which these policies stemmed by analyzing Muslim immigrants in France and...
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...Lauren Speranza The Imminent Threat While nuclear terrorism has been a significant concern of government officials over the last decade, the threat is continually burgeoning, more alarmingly now than ever before. Amidst tumultuous global conditions—with the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Syria, among others—the US has begun losing some of its prestige, stamina, and amicable relations with other international actors. Though the US is still arguably the most powerful nation in the world, its recent actions and reputation have made it more vulnerable to an outside attack. Several policy makers and scholars, including Graham Allison, Charles Ferguson, and William Potter, have asserted the imminent threat of nuclear terrorism, highlighting the availability of nuclear weapons and materials to non-state actors (2004; 2004). These scholars also point out the feasibility of orchestrating an attack, due to the US government’s failure to pursue effective prevention strategies. Since the conditions seem to be so favorable, some have questioned why no such incident has occurred yet. However, considering the risks, the results of a nuclear attack would not most efficiently accomplish the goals of many terrorist organizations, which often strive for a large number of witnesses as opposed to deaths (Hoffman, 2006; Jenkins, 2006). Additionally, many terrorists fear that conducting a nuclear attack on the US would create backlash and warrant a nuclear response that...
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...Let’s all pity Netanyahu and the GOP: Israel, Iran, irrational thinking — and Thomas Friedman’s usual muddled nonsense A reactionary leader addressing a reactionary legislature will expose the creeping irrelevance of them both PATRICK L. SMITH Share 100 168 109 TOPICS: BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, NEW YORK TIMES, THOMAS FRIEDMAN, JOHN KERRY, ISRAEL, IRAN, EDITOR'S PICKS, NEWS, POLITICS NEWS Let's all pity Netanyahu and the GOP: Israel, Iran, irrational thinking -- and Thomas Friedman's usual muddled nonsense Thomas Friedman, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Kerry (Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson/AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Michel Euler/Photo montage by Salon) Many readers will have seen Benjamin Netanyahu’s sentimentally charged but otherwise empty speech to Congress on Tuesday. If you missed it, you can watch it here or read the transcript here. There is a lot to consider in this presentation, even if—or partly because—it was a celebration of the nothing-new. To me, the key to the occasion lies in one especially revealing trick the Israeli leader tried. This was the staged presence of Elie Wiesel in the gallery. The novelist, Nobel-winner and concentration camp survivor was strategically placed in the speaker’s box next to Netanyahu’s wife, Sara. After a reference to “a nuclear-armed Iran whose unbridled aggression will inevitably lead to war,” Netanyahu played his card. “My friend, standing up to Iran is not easy,” he began this passage. “Standing up to dark and murderous...
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