...force or violence by a person or organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons". (Barnett and Reynolds, 2009, p. 13). There is no official definition of terrorism agreed on throughout the world. Even when the common elements of terrorism are spelled-out for us; "Small units, small weapons, usually don't wear uniforms, targets are state symbols, political opponents and public at large and the action is not recognized as a legal act”. (Barnett and Reynolds, slide-8). It seems that when a bombing, a mass shooting, or a suspected terrorist event happens and American leadership have agreed on the common elements of the terrorist event, a good number of American citizens are more concerned with the ethnic background of the alleged perpetrator and more specifically if they have a Muslim sounding name. So even though we know the general definition of "Terrorism", sometimes those elements are not the immediate focus and the actual definition varies even at the highest levels. Was the Boston marathon a terrorist action? According to the President of the United States it was. However, according to the agreed on definition as outlined by (Barnett and Reynolds, slide-8), the jury is still out. Another publically recognized domestic terrorism event was the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh. He clearly used a bomb that was large enough to decimate a large building...
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...WHAT KINDS OF DEFINITIONS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED OF BRITISH IDENTITY IN THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY? CAN THE CONCEPT BE SEPARATED FROM ENGLISH IDENTITY? National identity can be thought of as a term that cannot be created, but can somehow be shaped depending on the definitions of people and their governments. “Britishness” goes beyond any emotions that are attached to it. British is often used instead of English, foreigners and citizens alike, make little difference between “English” and “British”. This essay will identify what was meant as “British” before the 21st century and how people view it now in contrast with being ‘English’ Like other European societies, the British society was hierarchically divided within a system that involved the hereditary transmission of social status, political affiliations and even occupational ties (Wikipedia.org). However, in recent times being British rather goes beyond social status and covers other areas of multiculturalism. Even though the term seems to be out of vogue among the older folks, diversity has made it a very generous trademark for the younger generation. It was only after the 1707 union between England, Wales and Scotland was the term Britishness spoken of as being be divided into four entities. It is an undoubted fact that previously, Britishness was identified with centralized state institutions such as the Monarch, the Parliament and even the church. In recent times, the term has become associated with the intent of preserving...
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...Good Night, and Good Luck The word “McCarthyism” has entered America’s vocabulary to define the practice to question one’s patriotism while making unsupported accusations of disloyalty without the proper evidence. During the anticommunist crusade that took place throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, the political term became very popular after a Senator from Wisconsin; Joseph R. McCarthy went on an anti-communist witch-hunt. Senator McCarthy made a public accusation that more than 200 communist had infiltrated the U.S. government, “This is glaringly true in the State Department. There the right young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouths are the ones who have been worst… In my opinion the State Department, which is one of the most important government departments, is thoroughly infested with Communist” (VF, p. 238) Many of the tactics McCarthy used were very questionable and usually with very little to no evidence would be provided. Some of the tactics he used varied from forms of intimidation to the threat of sending people to jail, “McCarthy used the Senate subcommittee he chaired to hold hearings and level wild charges against numerous individuals as well as the Defense Department, Voice of America, and other government agencies.” (GML, p. 732) In the film, “Good Night, and Good Luck” directed by George Clooney, many civil liberties issues were portrayed through McCarthyism. The one man who was brave enough to speak publicly against McCarthy was a well-known...
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...countries to sustain there egocentric existence. Others including most Americans think of the classic typical patriot, who has multiple weapons, is constantly looking over their shoulder and drives in an over sized truck with an American flag at the back. Being an American is being a Patriot, loving your country men, and your country but not afraid to challenge either in the pursuit of life liberty and happiness for all. America has sense its creation been a diverse multicultural country making blanket statements about feelings and behaviors of its inhabitants impossible. However I think everyone is in some way a Patriot which I equate to being the one defining trait of an American. The simple definition of patriotism is an emotional attachment to ones country. I think this definition has more to it than meets the eye, when you consider the principles this country was built on. This country was built on hard work and determination; the hardships endured only serve to...
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...which never was present in any other place in the history is a significant and irreversible creation. European Integration – does it really concern also the way in which we perceive or will perceive our culture? Some scholars started to use term of Europeanization as the less inclusive and less biased than European Integration itself. Will next generations and new European perceive themselves as European? We can multiply such a questions. This short essay will attempt to answer the main question stated in the title in prism of cross-cultural aspects. What is national culture? In a scientific sense it means a certain class of objects, phenomena and processes, or definite ways of behavior. However, in the philosophical sense the culture is understood as everything that was not created by nature itself, but was formed by human being, that is the product of deliberate reflection and human activity. Considering the various aspects of social life the most universal definition seems to be the one proposed by S. Czarnowski. This definition is also accurate and applies to both old and contemporary culture. According to...
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...Texts: Rodney G. Peffer, Global Justice, Human Rights, and the Natural Environment (i.e. various published articles and unpublished essays that are components of this work that will either be put on ERES or emailed to you; there’s nothing to buy) David Schweickart, After Capitalism John Rawls, The Law of Peoples Thomas Pogge & Keith Horton (ed.), Global Ethics: Seminal Essays Thomas Pogge & Darrel Moellendorf (ed.), Global Justice: Seminal Essays Will Kymlicka, Politics in the Vernacular (Optional) E-Reserve Essays are in: Phil. 340 E-Reserves: Password = “war” Phil. 338 E-Reserves: Password = “endangered” Phil. 462 E-Reserves: Password = “worldpeace” A. Essays by Rodney G. Peffer (Peffer) B. Marxism, Morality, and Social Justice (MMSJ) I –XXI (Essays) = Essays by other authors divided into Sections All ERES Readings are in my Phil. 462 ERES unless noted otherwise. * = An important component of my next book. Jan. 26 General Introduction to Course Jan. 31 Basics of Political Philosophy/ Peffer’s Theory of Social Justice The following 6 short essays by me are in the “Introductory Materials” sub-folder of the “Essays by Rodney G. Peffer” folder of my Phil. 462 ERES. R.G. Peffer *“On the Nature of Morality” (Peffer – 3) (4th essay from bottom) “ “ “ "Main Types of Moral Theories" (Peffer - 1) " " " "Is Morality Relative?" (Peffer - 3) (or via...
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...World Society in Literature and Film-Japan Asian Studies 0868 Temple University Fall Semester 2015 Dr. P.B. Reagan Class meets Tuesday and Thursday 9:30.A.M.-10:50 P.M. in Ritter Hall 107 Office: 830 Anderson Hall Office Hours: TR 11:00-1:50 P.M. and by appointment E-mail: paul.reagan@temple.edu Course Description and Objective “Learn about a particular national culture-Japanese-by taking a guided tour of its literature and film. Knowledge of Japanese language is not required to take this course. The student will gain the fresh, subtle understanding that comes from integrating across different forms of human expression. Some of the issues that will be illuminated by looking at culture through the lens of literature and film: family structures and how they are changing, national self-perceptions, pivotal moments in history,, economic issues,, social change and diversity…” NOTE: This course fulfills the World Society (GG)requirement for students under GenEd and International Studies (IS)for students under Core. Attributes: Gen ED Global World Society GenEd World Society courses explore societies and cultures outside the United States. These courses take one of two approaches. Some concentrate on a single nation or region, examining in depth its political, social, historical, cultural, artistic, literary, geographic, and economic landscape. Another approach is to investigate globalization and its effects across nations and regions. Goals and Expected...
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...also influenced the religion clause and the first amendment of the United States Constitution . Arguably, the catalyst for ‘modern liberty’ has always been part of the American psyche. Alexis de Tocqueville writes, “Men of religion fight against freedom, and lovers of liberty attack religions; noble and generous spirits praise slavery, while low, servile minds preach independence; honest and enlightened citizens are the enemies of all progress, while men without patriotism or morals make themselves the apostles of civilization and enlightenment” . Tocqueville captures the yearning of the American spirit to be free and to envision a society of liberty and democracy for all people instead of a chosen few that decides and sets the limits of liberty and freedoms. The case for fair governorship is important to protect the rights of its citizens without selectively discriminating against others thus upholding liberty for all. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay published a series of essays making the claim for a stronger federal government as apposed to individual states rights. One can clearly see the influence of the Puritan’s model of community at play here. John Jay writes in Federalist Papers No.2, “ . . . Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people . . . same ancestors, specking the same language . . . the same religion . . . same principles of government . . .” . This was the shaping of our current...
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...IB Diploma Programme Theory of Knowledge Essay Topic: Can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge? Consider history and one other area of knowledge. Candidate Name: Akanksha Vardhan Candidate Number: 002602-064 School Name: BD Somani International School School Number: 002602 Word Count: 1597 Can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge? Consider history and one other area of knowledge. Bertrand Russell, the 20th century British philosopher, once said, “Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” [1]In our daily conquest to acquire “justified true belief”, [2]it is important that we are aware of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ influences that contribute to the experience, the pursuit of knowledge, in a way that we are able to consciously weigh the validity of our knowledge claims. Many romantic writers and poets in the early nineteenth century emphasized the importance of emotion in making sense of the world. John Keats once said, “Axioms in philosophy are not axioms until they are proved upon by our pulses” [3] referring to the superiority of our core emotions (happiness, fear, anger, surprise or even disgust) - the strong feelings deriving from our moods, circumstances or relationships with others[4], in gaining an accurate picture of the truth. However, is it possible that the ‘truth’ itself is more complex and what...
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...was the world’s worst event in human history. Colonisation is one of the reasons as to why World War II was the most horrific. Many Asian nations such as Korea, Vietnam and the part of China and so on were colonised by the European powers and Japan during World War II. And it had been raging for more than four years. Although several Asian nations were decolonised by the European powers and Japan after World War II, the wounds of the war were too serious; millions of people died and women raped and killed. Survived people still have suffered permanent injury from disease, psychological trauma of the war and social ostracism. Now, today’s Asian cinemas have been portrayed as traumatic memories of military terror to remind the history. This essay shed light on the significance of trauma in both films; The Flowers of War and The White Silk Dress in connection with the history of Korea. The Flowers of War In 1937, Nanking (today more commonly called Nanjing) Massacre was enforced for 6 weeks by Japanese troops. Millions of Chinese people cruelly died regardless of age or sex. It is also called as The Rape of Nanking, because the Japanese troops raped and killed a great number of Chinese women (Chambers 2010). The Chinese movie, the Flowers of War shows the bald historical fact of Nanjing Massacre in 1937. It is a remake of the Chinese novella, 13 Flowers of Nanjing. Then China’s Nationalist party developed friendly relations with the Nazi Germany in order to be provided military...
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...truth and experimental knowledge. But can we acquire unforeseen knowledge from pieces of art such as Paintings, Music and Poems? Does art truly give us knowledge or is it the artist’s intention to play with us and influence us by making us think that we have learnt something? When thinking of it, we as viewers of the pieces of art are confused because we cannot record anything we have ever learnt from them. To most people Art is just there to impress us and for us to admire it. Never would we think that the Art’s actually give us some sort of knowledge. Nevertheless, the reason for this might be because we have the wrong definition of knowledge and are therefore not looking for the correct kind. Essentially, there are two types of knowledge that can be found in pieces of Art: Explicit and Tacit (Implicit) knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the average Joe’s definition of knowledge. It is the knowledge that we acquire everywhere, whether it be at school, in books, at home etc. However, Tacit or implicit knowledge is the tricky one. It is the type that is hidden inside a piece of Art, and that we only acquire through our sub consciousness. Pieces of Art are very powerful instruments of knowledge for they have the power evoke emotions in us due to the tacit knowledge we...
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...critical thinking #2 The Impact on Wealth Growth from Globalization There are a lot of concerns for today’s economy. One of them being wealth distribution. There is the poor, middle class, and the rich. It is evident from the graph shown that the poor are getting richer, the rich are getting richer, and the middle class is getting poorer. So, what is the cause of this? The big answer economist will say is “It Depends”. It depends what factor you look at because there are many. The one I want to focus on is globalization. Is globalization a factor in wealth growth? How is it a factor? Is globalization positive or negative for wealth growth? If anything, what should be done? These are all the question I will try my best to answer in this essay. Globalization VS Wealth Growth Back to the previous question, does globalization effect wealth growth? My answer is, yes. It absolutely effects wealth growth for all nations. Globalization effects a lot of economic studies. For an explanation, let me first define globalization. TechTarget.com defines Globalization as the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen. The global economy is sometimes referred to as a globality, characterized as a totally interconnected marketplace, unhampered by time zones or national boundaries. There are probably different ways globalization effects but, I want to look at the business portion of globalization. Every big corporation...
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...|Analysing an Essay Question | 1. Introduction Common criteria of undergraduate essay writing focus on the following requirements: students need to be analytical and critical in their response students need to structure their writing logically students need to be persuasive writers | students need to answer the question | This booklet looks at, how to analyse your essay question. Other Learning Centre booklets in this series deal with the other aspects: • Analytical Writing deals with the difference between analytical and descriptive writing • Planning and Structuring an Essay deals with logical structures • Developing and Supporting an Argument deals with persuasion Expectations of student assignments One of the difficulties experienced by students, particularly in first year, is understanding what standard is expected in essays at tertiary level. As well as this, each subject discipline has its own ways of doing things and its own conventions about essay structure and writing style. For instance, in some subjects it is acceptable to write very personally and put forward your own opinions and feelings on a topic and in others such a personal response would not be appropriate. You need to find out the expectations and conventions...
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...Beso, Luiz Miguel B. BSE EN 2-1 Literature Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to explain their significance. Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader. Allegory - narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to parallel story and theme. William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts District 9- South African Apartheid X Men- the evils of prejudice Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking “racial purity” Character - representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities...
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...but political elites in all European states using nationalism as a vehicle to manipulate their populations. The Balkan Wars deserve study because they show the burgeoning role of nationalism in European politics and set the precedent for events that unfolded later in the twentieth century. Historians often attribute nationalism as one of the major causative factors WWI. This statement cannot be blindly accepted because although nationalism is clearly one of the dominant trends of the twentieth century, it was still in its infancy before WWI. The decision to go to war is decided by rulers, not at least initially by the populace. Therefore, nationalism is worthy of definition, especially with respect to a region as complex as the Balkans, where these issues are still a problem today. Although a myriad of definitions of nationalism could be given, a useful starting point would be to suggest that people who share a common culture, language and ethnicity live together in a state where sovereignty resides in the people. Nationalism often leads to the idea that a nation has a claim to land which is sacred and non-transferable. This is demonstrated in the aggressive policy of French...
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