Unfair trade between developed and undeveloped countries

Unfair trade between developed and undeveloped countries I come from Burma, where market economy has not developed much yet. So the country is in pristine beauty. The country is poor but it has a charm with which nothing can compete because it still possesses wide area of forests, the water in the rivers is pure and it smells very much like nature. This situation cannot be described to one hearts content; one has to see for oneself. When I came to Thailand, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the whole economy was fully open and people can go shopping for every product one can possibly want (not-need). The Bangkok city is vibrant and skyscrapers are everywhere. For one instant, it is very impressive. Looking into the deep scene will present another story. Thailand has integrated itself into the world economy. In another world, it has been assimilated into the international trade system. Thailand imports a lot of products from different countries and exports varieties of products back. Trading is an important aspect of this developing country. When someone goes shopping, sometimes it is hard to distinguish which product is from which country. Not long ago, the phrase made in a country is an important part of a product. For example, made in Thailand, or made in India matters. However, it does not matter anymore with the advance of globalization trade network. The whole economic system is netted so confusingly. An American product will come from China and Japan product from Malaysia. Some people argue that this is the result of free trade. Anti-globalization protesters argued that the volume of world trade has increased significantly since 1950 from $320 billion to $6.8 trillion. The amount of money invested in the trade has surged to the extent that the real money cannot be implied in the financial transactions. Digital numbers are represented as money instead of conventional one. Some people assert that trade lifted peoples lives from poverty. People usually point to China where millions of people rose out of poverty line, even though Chinese government is still criticized for the stark contrast that exists in China between rich and poor. Some people still hope that trade will lift peoples lives out of poverty. However, when we talk about trade, we have to observe the bigger picture, which means international trade. Looking at one country will not give us a clear picture of actual happenings. The whole world is trading among nations under the concept of free trade. So what actually is free trade? Britannica Online Encyclopedia defines free trade as a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or interferes with exports by applying tariffs (to imports) or subsidies (to exports). (Free trade, BOE) It also explicitly emphasized that a free-trade policy does not necessarily imply that a country abandons all control and taxation of imports and exports. However, no matter how much people argue that the economic system established by the United States by the end of Second World War brings the concept of free trade and prosperity, there is a serious setback that affects the majority of the people in the world. International trade may bring about prosperity for the people in the rich countries but deepen the poverty in the poor nations. As Global Ministries Organization argues Most free trade agreements are not equal and result in unfair trade practices by giving some countries, such as large industrial countries like the United States, Canada and some countries in the European Union, more opportunities than others and putting some countries, such as ones in Latin America, Africa and Asia, at risk.   Free trade is trade without restrictions while fair trade is an equitable and fair partnership between trading countries. (Global ministries organization, fair trade vs. free trade)   In the past, the British established unfair trade treaties with the countries across the globe. One of them would be the famous Bowring treaty that was forcefully established between Britain and Thailand in 1855. Nowadays there were various forms trade agreements.   These include bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) between two countries and larger multilateral agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is an agreement among 135 nations.   There are also regional trade agreements which encompass the establishment of a free trade zone among many countries in the same region.   Countries across the globe establish several different kinds of trade agreements to support their economies. However, the rich countries are the ones that pursued aggressive trade negotiations with the other poor countries. Office of the United States Representative states on its homepage that Trade Agreements can create opportunities for Americans and help to grow the U.S. economy. At this moment one might want to stop for a while and think. U.S. economy is the biggest economy in the world and it is also three or four times bigger than the second economy in the world now China, formerly Japan. Still, the U.S. is seeking to grow its economy which is a bit irony, because if this phenomenon is not affecting others, it is deemed to be appropriate; however, as we will see in the later part of this paper, a lot of trade activities are not fair in relation to poor nations. The gap between developed countries and developing countries is very big and some scholars conclude that this gap exists due to the unfair practices that are inherent in the system. For example, the U.S. controls their tariff system very high for other countries while forcing other peoples economies to open up so that American goods can be imported. In one mockery of US unfair trade practices, one analyst from Newsweek magazine outlines Fair (unfair) trade often consists of some politician or bureaucrat picking a number out of thin air and imposing it on foreign businesses and American consumers. Fair (unfair) trade means that Jamaica is allowed to sell the United States only 950 gallons of ice cream a year, that Mexico may sell Americans only 35,292 bras a year, that Poland may ship us only 350 tons of alloy tool steel a year and that Haiti is allowed to sell the United States only 7,730 tons of sugar. Fair (unfair) trade means permitting each American citizen to consume the equiva lent of only one teaspoon of foreign ice cream per year, two foreign peanuts per year and one pound of imported cheese per year. Fair (unfair) trade means that the U.S. Congress can dictate more than 8,000 different taxes on imports, with tariffs as high as 458 percent. As we can see here, many developing countries are finding themselves unhelpful amid the American economic imposition. Most developing countries produce agricultural products and these products do not find any way out of their country to sell in other countries. In fact, they face hardship to sell them in the developing countries because of high tariffs walls of the developed countries on the agricultural and manufactured goods they seek to sell.   Worst of all, developed countries practice subsidizing game on their agriculture at a rate of $1 billion a day, which is a whole lot of money while developing countries spend very little money for agriculture even if it is their main economic sector. Therefore because of this money, agricultural producers in the developed countries can produce their goods below production cost and with access to the markets of developing countries they are able to sell their produce at extremely low prices.  This selling and exporting is ensured through trade agreements and trade negotiations. This unfair competition forces international prices to drop in an artificial manner and causes rural farmers in developing countries to collapse.  This was how the U.S. defeated Burma in the rice market while Burma in 1960 was the biggest rice exporter in the world. U.S. now is still one of the biggest rice exporters in the world along with Thailand and Vietnam. At some point U.S. gave out free rice to people in Asia as development aid. This is a major blow to rice exporting countries. How can these countries negotiate with U.S. if they are this aggressive? Moreover, the US exports wheat at 46% below the production cost and corn at 20% below production.  In May 2003, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn stated that the average European cow receives more subsidies than the entire average income of a person in Africa.   This means that local producers can not compete in their own domestic markets and the result is major losses in income. Another major agricultural product is Coffee and again U.S is involved in this issue. It is stated that coffee is the worlds second most valuable traded commodity.   There are about 25 million farmers and coffee workers in over 50 countries that produce coffee.   The United States largest food import and second most valuable commodity is coffee.   The U.S. imported 2.72 billion pounds of coffee from September 2001 to September 2002.   The U.S. imports coffee mainly from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Vietnam. Unfortunately, many coffee farmers receive less money for their harvest than the cost of its production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt.   Why is that? The reason lies behind the corporations that sell and buy coffee from local people. In Guatemala for example, coffee pickers have to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than $3/day. A recent study of plantations in Guatemala showed that over half of all coffee pickers dont receive the minimum wage, in violation of Guatemalan labor laws. Who is responsible for all these unfair practices? The root causes will lie in the trade and the concept of comparative advantage. Why do not these people farm paddy or wheat in the first place? It is because the idea of cash crop forces them to seek out dollars instead of survival crops. One major area against free trade and multinational companies is the issue of HIV medicines. Patent law in the international trade system is affecting dying people in the developing world. Pharmaceutical companies are producing HIV medicines with a high price so that people in the developing countries cannot afford it. Oxfam, a British NGO is trying to combat this issue. At an international level, they continue to challenge trade organizations, governments, drug companies, and others to make decisions that will help to improve the health of millions of poor people by providing access to affordable generic medicines. The patent issue is a major problem in the trading system. I am going to mention one specific story about US patent on the use of turmeric in wound healing. Graham Dutfield (2002) argued that the US Mississippi medical center received the above mentioned patent on the method of using turmeric in wound healing. As people would imagine, this patent laws have gone a bit too far. One point they did not know is that Indians have used this method to heal wounds since time immemorial. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India had to request the US patent and Trademark Office to revoke the patent on the basis that turmeric powder is widely known about and used in India for its wound-healing properties, and that a great deal of scientific research has been carried out by Indian scientists that confirms the existence of these properties. Finally, the patent was revoked. (p-65) As mentioned above, there are varieties of unfair trade practices in the international trading system. To address these issues require someone to have a look at the underlying philosophy of the whole economic system. The concept of comparative advantage has pushed a lot of countries to produce things which they do not actually need and afterwards trading has to be done. A case in point would be the coffee production, cotton production and tobacco production. In some instances, a lot of countries trade their produce at the expense of local population. Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins (1988) argues that Brazil produced and exported soybeans to feed Japanese and European livestock at the cost of Brazilians hunger. (p-77). Likewise, Thailand traded cassava, frozen fruit and poultry products with the west and the rest of the world while Thai preschools are undernourished. (Lappe and Collins 1988: 76-77) Most of the times, the national governments are involved in the exploiting the poor while engaging in the international trade. They exported food while people were hungry at home. It seems to me that these governments are orchestrating with the international economic system while ignoring the poor people. Encouraging the fair trade needs reconsidering a number of factors such as scrutinizing the trade treaties, pressuring the governments through civil networks groups and resisting the American hegemony when it comes to unfair trade.

Individual Choice In A Clockwork Orange English Literature Essay

Individual Choice In A Clockwork Orange English Literature Essay A Clockwork Orange is a novel that shocks with its explicit violent images, its savage protagonist, difficult language and a cruel prophesy of the future. It is a novel which, with a help of Stanley Kubricks film adaptation, became the main work associated with the name of Anthony Burgess. Burgess, however, was a very prolific artist. He wrote thirty-four works of fiction, fifteen nonfiction books including reviews and criticism, two biographies, plays, screenplays, translations and a great deal of music (Keen 10). Burgess never considered A Clockwork Orange his best novel and have always stayed disappointed that only this one brought him such a huge public attention. He believed he wrote far better, mature books and worried that he would become something of a shadow behind Kubricks film adaptation (Clockwork vii). The authors anxieties came true, in a way, but the truth remains that although it is Stanley Kubrick who made A Clockwork Orange famous, it is Anthony Burgess who created a rare masterpiece that very few readers could stay indifferent to. As Burgess himself admitted, A Clockwork Orange is a rather didactic novel. At one point of his life he became aware of the growing aggression and violence among the youth. In A thousand words before breakfast interview Burgess admitted, that however he despised teenage gangs, he strongly opposed to the proposals of using Pavlovian techniques to deal with violent citizens. He always believed in free will and freedom of choice. Burgess, as a Catholic, was sure, that only by choosing to do good ones soul can be saved. A Clockwork Orange condemns human conditioning and intends to promote the notion of individual choice (Clockwork ix). According to Burgess, it is better for human being to choose evil than not to have a freedom of choice at all. Free will is humans greatest gift that should never be taken away. Burgess admitted, that promoting mens freedom is what he have always been trying to do in his work. What distinguishes A Clockwork Orange from other of his works, is also the speci al language he created for the novel and the fact, that for the first time he made such an explicit use of violence. As an author of a book such full of cruel and sexual images, Burgess was exposed to much criticism and accusation of promoting violence. The novel became to be read as a pure controversy and the intended didactic role was by many readers overlooked. Have the book became famous for its moral values, and not been read as a shocker, it would bring Burgess a completely different fame. Unfortunately for the author, for most people he would always be the one who dared to describe most abhorrent acts of violence and young people with a taste for hatred, blood and rape. But Burgess, in fact, does not like violence and presenting sex in his books. During the interview in Italy in 1974, Burgess said that he also included a biographic element in the book. His first wife have been attacked by a group of soldiers and despite it has not been a sexual attack but the act of robbery, it resulted in her having a miscarriage and supposedly, her eventual death. Burgess wrote a novel that seems to be pornographic but at the same time tries to preach, because such combination had a great chance to make A Clockwork Orange popular. In the same, Italian interview, Burgess stated: Pornography and violence, and the teachy, preachy quality; and when you get these two together you normally produce a book that can become a bestseller. A Clockwork Orange is a very controversial novel. Some call it pornographic, for others its violent imagery is almost impossible to stand. But Anthony Burgess surely did not mean to write a shocker. He aimed the novel to preach, even more than any of his previous works did before. Burgess meant to promote freedom of individual choice and to criticize anyone who would ever dare to take this precious gift away from the human being. Man is not to be conditioned and manipulated, since when a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man (Clockwork 63). 2. Pelagian and Augustinian points of view on Original Sin and Free Will and their reflection in Anthony Burgesss A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess frequently returned in his works to the conflict of authoritarian and libertarian ideas, which he called Pelagian and Augustinian points of view. Pelagianism is named after a monk who argued against the notion of Original Sin, Pelagius. According to G.F. Wiggerss Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagianism from the Original Sources, Pelagius stated, that each infant is born in the same state as Adam has been before he sinned. Adams sin injured only him and not his posterity, so there is no propagation of sin on the following generations. What follows, bodily death is not a punishment, but a necessity of nature. Pelagius believed that man was given free will and salvation is in humans hands, so he is able to do both good and evil. Man is even able, through repentance, to become good again after he has sinned. Consequently, there is an abstract possibility that all man can be perfect. Pelagius, thus, appears as an advocate of libertarian views. The doctrine of Augustinism was quite the contrary. First of all, Adams sin was propagated among all men, so each child is born with the Original Sin. The sin will always be propagated by the sensual lust in the act of procreation and all men are under the power of the devil from the very first moment they are born. As a consequence of the first sin, people suffer the punishment of physical death, pains of parturition and toil of labourers. Augustinism denied the notion of free will, and stated that the only freedom that man has is to sin. Freedom to resists sin has been lost also as a punishment. According to Augustinians, the nature of man is entirely corrupted. Man is always more likely to choose evil rather than good and the only help for a human being is Gods grace (Wiggers 83-115). Burgess often presents history as a cyclical shifts of Pelagian (libertarian) and Augustinian (authoritarian) parties. With authoritarians in power, stability is achieved by strict rules, laws and societal control. The faith in human perfectibility is growing, strict control of authoritarians seems unnecessary and finally, libertarian government gains control. This brings more freedom to the society, but with the contentment comes anarchy and the social stability is lost. There again, society cries for law and order and the new authoritarian party comes to rule. Such a change of governments in power is visible in A Clockwork Orange. The novel begins clearly with a portrayal of an anarchic society and Pelagians in power. After Alex, the protagonist, is released from jail, he realizes that new laws were established and the police forces grown bigger, which indicates that the country is run by Augustinians (Rabinovitz 43-46). The conflict of Pelagianism and Augustinism is also visible in the novels characters. The writer F. Alexander is a libertarian. He believes in human perfectibility. F. Alexander is an author of a book, A Clockwork Orange (a fair gloopy title (Clockwork 18), according to Alex) which presents its authors strongest libertarian views. For F. Alexander, human being is a creature of growth and capable of sweetness (Clockwork 18). Later in the novel, however, his hypocrisy comes to light, and when F. Alexander learns that Alex is the one who raped his wife, he agrees to the plan of driving the young criminal to suicide. Burgess here, by the inability of F. Alexander to stick to his faith, seems to slightly criticize Pelagianism. Young Alex, in opposition to F. Alexander, has many Augustinian characteristics. He is brutal, enjoys crime, holds power (at least at the beginning of the novel) among his droogs and does not believe in the goodness of the human being. 3. Radical behaviourism limiting the freedom of individual choice Burgess strongly opposed to politicians who openly discussed possibilities of introducing conditioning as a way of eliminating criminal instincts. Very popular at that time became the doctrine of B.F. Skinner (1904- 1990) called radical behaviourism. According to Skinner, human behaviour can always be explained in purely physical terms and it can be shaped by operant conditioning through reinforcement and punishment (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Burgess was very much frightened by these new ideas of people-control, conditioning techniques and behaviourists methods of reforming criminals. After the attack on a cat-lady, Alex is deceived by his gang who no longer wants him as a leader and is caught by the police. This is a significant moment in the novel, since for the first time, Alex would be charged with a real punishment. He is taken away to Staja (State Jail) and becomes 6655321 and not your little droog Alex not no longer (Clockwork 57). But however hard is life in prison for the young protagonist, Alex manages to adapt to the conditions rather well. He becomes a help to the prison chaplain and is allowed to listen to his beloved classical music of J.S. Bach or G.F. Handel. What is more, Alex finds a way to enjoy violence by reading the Bible: I would read of these starry yahoodies tolchocking each other and then peeting their Hebrew vino and getting on to the bed with their wives like hand-maidens, real horrorshow. That kept me going, brothers. (Clockwork 60) Alex also, while listening to the classical music, imagines himself helping in the crucifixion of Christ and he generally concludes that being in Staja 84F was not all that wasted (Clockwork 60). Despite everything, however, Alex wanted to be free and saw his chance in Ludovicos Technique. He hears about this new treatment in prison and volunteers to take part in the experiment. Alex is sure that the technique would get him out of prison, he thinks it would be the beginning of his freedom. Ludovicos Technique turns out to be a cruel conditioning method, turning Alex into a mindless and weak machine. The Ludovicos Technique rests on Alex being strapped to a chair and forced to watch movies that consists of cruel and disgusting scenes of violence. He has both his hands and legs chained to the chair, and clips on his forehead so that he could not close his eyes. The movies scenes include the beating of an old man by the young boys, with lots of blood all around, or a multiple rape on a young girl. He is also presented with a film about a Japanese torture during the World War II, where the soldiers are fixed to trees with nails, with fire set under them. The soldiers have their tongues cut off and there is also a scene of one soldiers head being sliced off with a sword. One of such movies is accompanied by the music of Ludwig van Beethoven so from then on, Alex is no longer able to listen to it, which means he is being bereaved of the one and only passion he has got apart from violence in his life, his love for classical music. Watching all the movies is a great torture for Alex, he screams, cries and feels really sick. But the reason of it is not his aversion to blood and violence, it is only the effect of the injections he gets. His personal, psychological attitude toward violence does not change at all. When the Discharge Officer asks him whether he want to hit him, he does, when asked about a job he might get after being set free, his first thought goes to theft. Day by day, however, Alexs organism begins to associate the sight of violence with the feeling of nausea. One time, he begins to crash his head against the wall out of desperation, but has to stop as soon as he realizes that this kind of violence is just like the violence from the films he sees every day. Alex feels sick at the very thought of violence but the treatment still goes on: Every day, my brothers, these films were like the same, all kicking and tolchocking and red red krovvy dripping off of litsos and plots and spattering all over the camera lenses. It was usually grinning and smecking malchicks in the height of nadsat fashion or else teeheeheeing Jap tortures or brutal Nazi kickers and shooters. And each day the feeling of wanting to die with sickness and Gulliver pains and aches in the zoobies and horrible horrible thirst grew really worse. (Clockwork 87-88) The Ludovicos Technique succeeds in making Alex a good boy. He cannot commit any act of violence any longer as gets sick even when thinking about crime. But the state of Alexs consciousness does not change, he does not understand that his violent ways were evil. He is now simply conditioned not to raise his fists against anyone, to the point that he is not even able to defend himself. Anthony Burgess creates a portrait of a human being deprived of his freedom and the right to choose, stripped out of his humanity. The Ludovicos Technique creates a clockwork- machine, which without understanding how and why, never again would dare to think about any acts of force. 4. The concepts of liberty What is liberty has been discussed by philosophers from the beginning of our times. Generally, two kinds of liberty can be distinguished: the abstract one in our minds, the inner feeling of being free and freedom that we achieve by not being restrained by external circumstances. One can lack freedom to achieve goals because he/she has not got enough courage, power or abilities. The amount of freedom can also depend on laws, political order and other external forces. The two basic notions of liberty has been thoroughly discussed by Isaiah Berlin, the British liberal philosopher. In Berlins Two Concepts of Liberty he established the notions of positive and negative liberty. The negative liberty defines to what degree one has, or should have control over his/her actions without the interference of other people, whereas the need of a person to be the master of ones own will and not to feel restrained by others is described as the positive liberty. Restricting ones freedom by others is usually considered a negative phenomenon. However, the individual freedom cannot stay entirely unrestricted as it would lead to a complete social chaos. Philosophers such as Locke and Mill in England, or Constant and Tocqueville from France agreed, that there should exist a minimum amount of personal freedom that cannot be violated under any circumstances. The violation of such freedom makes the moral growth impossible, it prevents one from setting and pursuing goals. The line between the private life of the individual and the public authority should be drawn very clearly (Berlin 117). Philosophers which were optimistic about human nature believed that it is possible to have a wide area of personal freedom and maintain the social order at the same time. Others, such as Hobbes, argued that humans need strict control of authorities to avoid their mutual destruction (121). Mill also agreed that coercion is to be justified whenever we want to prevent depriving people of each others freedom. 4.1. The concepts of positive and negative liberty in A Clockwork Orange before the operation of the Ludovicos technique At the beginning of the novel, Alex is completely free, meaning that he does whatever he wants and whenever he wants it. The police and the authorities are unable to control the young criminalist and he is fully aware of that. Alex breaks the law constantly but until the incident at the cat-ladys house, he has not suffered any consequences of his violent activities. Referring to the terminology of Berlin, the novels protagonist enjoyed a total positive freedom, as he was self- confident and convinced of his impunity. The government, at least at the beginning of the novel seems powerless and unable to control the society, so Alexs negative freedom also stayed unrestricted. The reader may get the idea of how carefree is Alex about the violence and crime just in the very first paragraphs of the novel: Our pockets were full of deng, so there was no real need from the point of view of crasting any more pretty polly to tolchock some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood while we counted the takings divided by four, not to do the ultra- violent on some shivering starry grey-haired ptitsa in shop and go smecking off with the tills guts. (Clockwork 3) Alex talks about the horrid violent activities as if they were simple childlike games. Neither does he care about his victims, nor he fears being punished. It seems like for him, other human beings are just puppets which can be used whenever he needs to steal money or have a little fun over the sight of their blood. Alex and his friends spends their time in a Korova Milk Bar, drinking milk laced with drugs, waiting for the drugs to start to kick, so they could go out and enjoy themselves in stealing and assaulting other citizens. When they attack an innocent man, rip his clothes, books and beats him very hard, Alex refers to it as of the nice beginning of the evening: We hadnt done much, I know, but that was only like the start of the evening and I make no appy polly loggies to thee or thine for that. The knives in the milk plus were stabbing away nice and horrorshow now. (Clockwork 8) Later that evening they attack a nearby shop. The boys are then sure to provide themselves with the alibi by buying drinks to some old women sitting at the bar but that does not mean they are afraid of being caught by the police. Indeed, when two young police officers come and ask questions, they are unable to arrest the young criminals although they seem to know they are guilty of the assault. The authorities appear as having no control at all over the gang and Alex comments on the whole situation: But myself, I couldnt help a bit of disappointment at things as they were those days. Nothing to fight against really. Everything as easy as kiss-my-sharries. (Clockwork 12) The society in the first chapters of A Clockwork Orange is given too much of a negative liberty, there is chaos and nearly anarchy. Another Alexs victim, the old drunkard singing on the side of the road complains bitterly about the current state of the world. He doesnt want to live in a stinking world like this (Clockwork 12). When men are flying to the moon and spinning around the earth, there is no attention paid to earthly law nor order no more (Clockwork 13). Again, after the bloody fight with the rival gang (this would be real, this would be proper, this would be the nosh, the oozy, the britva, not just fisties and boots (Clockwork 13)) the police comes but the boys manage to run away and the police officers does not even make an attempt to chase them. As Alexs Post-Corrective Adviser, P.R. Deltoid comments, nobody can prove anything about anybody (Clockwork 30). Out of the two groups, the authorities and the young criminals, it is the latter who appears much smarter, while the police is slow and clearly powerless. Still during the same night, Alex and his gang arrives (with the stolen car) at the cottage outside the town borders. The place is called HOME and to Alex, it is a gloomy sort of a name (Clockwork 17). The passages that follows here are filled with a horrible descriptions of violence and hatred. Ironically, the resident of the house, F. Alexander, is an author of a book, A Clockwork Orange, which preaches about the belief in human goodness and praises liberal values. Alex manages to read an excerpt from it: The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, the attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation, against this I rise my sword-pen. (Clockwork 18) What happens to the person who believes in the human race, is that he is being cruelly beaten up and is made to watch his wife being raped by all of the young criminals in turns. In Stanley Kubricks movie the scene was made even more revolting, as the gang members, while raping the innocent woman, were humming the joyful song- Singin in the Rain. To many readers, the violence in the novel is so horrifying that it is hard to stand and the protagonist seems to be a psychopath. But Alex is fully aware of his actions. He knows what is right and what is wrong and he consciously chooses to be bad. He finds evil a natural part of human nature and is irritated with all the discussions about the causes of it: But brothers, this biting of their toe-nails over what is the cause of badness is what turns me into a fine laughing malchick. They dont go into the cause of goodness, so why the other shop? If lewdies are good thats because they like it, and I wouldnt ever interfere with their pleasures, and so of the other shop. And I was patronizing the other shop. More, badness is of the self, the one, the you or me on our oddy knockies, and that self is made by old Bog or God and is his great pride and radosty. But the not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self. And is not our modern history, my brothers, the story of brave malenky selves fighting these big machines? I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do. (Clockwork 31) Alex is surely a very bright boy. His thoughts very often struck the reader with quite an intelligence as for a teenager. He is right about the natural existence of both good and evil in the world and very accurately notices a general tendency to discuss the causes of human bad and not good behavior. Alex also argues for the human right of individual choice and opposes all the attempts to restrict his personal freedom. What Alex does not realize, is that he already has a great amount of freedom. No authorities hold any power over him, neither the police, nor school or his parents. He lives in nearly a lawless world in which came true the most pessimistic ideas of philosophers: human beings, when given too much freedom, turn against one another and create a dark and chaotic kind of world. Another aspect of which Alex seems to be completely unaware of is the fact, that while enjoying his freedom to act as he pleases, he infringes the rights of others. The freedom of an individual should end when it starts to violate the liberty of another human being. 4.2. The end of Alexs limitless freedom At the beginning of the novel Alex is presented as an unquestionable leader of his gang. But the other boys slowly grow tired of the dictatorship and decide to rebel. During the attack on the house of the rich old lady, Alex is tricked by his friends and is left behind to be caught by the police. This is the first time that the young criminal would meet the consequences of his actions. The police treats him badly. He is being beaten and offended, just as he used to treat his own victims. Nevertheless, Alex seems to be rather shocked that he can actually become a victim of violence too and the thought that he is being fairly punished does not ever cross his mind, not even after his victims death. After his imprisonment, Alexs moods switches from feeling pity for himself (I was not your handsome young Narrator any longer but a real strack of a sight (Clockwork 51)), humiliating himself (like some real bezoomny veck, I even said: Sorry, brothers, that was not the right thing at all. Sor ry sorry sorry. (Clockwork 52)), to real anger and the feeling of injustice (I thought to myself, Hell and blast you all, if all you bastards are on the side of the Good then Im glad I belong to the other shop (Clockwork 53)). The last of Alexs thought carries a very important message for the whole novel. It underlines the hypocrisy of those, who called themselves good people. The ones who are supposed to be the epitomes of goodness and defend the law, come out as capable of the same vulgarity and violence as Alex and his gang. Anthony Burgess manages to show how difficult and risky it is to classify the world in terms of goodness and evil. On the one hand, Alex only gets what he deserves, but on the other, how can the good be distinguished from the evil, if both turn out to be capable of committing a great wrong? While doing his time in prison, one day, Alex hears about the new like treatment that gets you out of prison in no time at all and makes sure that you never get back in again (Clockwork 62). Alex becomes excited about the new technique but is not aware that what seems as an easy way to regain his freedom, would actually be a brutal end of it. From the very beginning, the prison chaplain warns Alex, that not only is the treatment still in its experimental stage, but it is also an extremely drastic technique. It seems that Anthony Burgess expresses here his deepest concern, the one about the necessity for the human being to have a freedom of individual choice. The very fundamental doubt, for the prison chaplain, is whether a man can be artificially made good: The question is whether such technique can really make a man good. Goodness comes from within, 6655321. Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man. (Clockwork 63) The chaplain also thinks, that perhaps the one who chooses to be bad is in some way better than a person who has goodness imposed upon him (Clockwork 70). Also the Governor is against the Ludovicos Technique, as he sees a desire to get ones revenge as a natural part of human nature. Despite everything, however, after Alex beats another prisoner to death, he gets a chance to become a volunteer for the new treatment. He sees the event as the new beginning of his freedom. Now his criminal instinct will be killed. The evil will be turned into good. At the beginning, Alex feels wonderful and very lucky. He is taken to a new white building, has a whole cell with a bed for himself, he gets a new clean pajamas, and is told that the whole treatment consists only in watching movies and getting an injection of vitamins after every meal. Ludovicos Technique however, turns out to be a cruel form of medical conditioning. Alex is stripped to a chair and forced to watch very drastic and abhorrent movies. The scenes he watches do not disgust him, as Alex himself used to take part in many awful acts of violence, but the injections he gets causes illness. His organism begins to associate the sight of the movies and nausea, so that he begins to feel sick even at the very thought of violence. After the treatment Alex is no longer violent, he is not even able to fight back or defend himself. A day before Alex is to be set free, he goes through a trial. He is given his clothes, boots and razor back and is put in the middle of the big room with a full audience of important figures watching him. After the lights goes down and the spotlight comes on Alex, he sees a man coming up to him. The man welcomes Alex, referring to him as a heap of dirt (Clockwork 92. He stamps of Alexs feet, scratches his face with a fingernail and goes on with offending him. When Alex attempts to get his razor out of his pocket, he immediately feels very sick. Knowing that to stop nausea he has to change his way of thinking, he becomes over-polite and even gets on his knees and licks the mans shoes. Later, on the scene appears a young and very beautiful girl. Alex comment on the impression that she made on him is very point-blank: She came up towards me with the light like it was the like light of heavenly grace and all that cal coming with her, and the first thing that flashed into my gulliver was that I would like to have her right down there on the floor with the old in-out real savage (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) (Clockwork 95) But again he is quickly overtaken by the feeling of nausea and headaches and he has to think of some other way to get close to the girl. Alex assumes a very courteous tone, let me worship you and be like your helper and protector from the wicked like world, he says, let me be like your true king (Clockwork 96). Everyone except the prison chaplain is impressed by how the new techniques changed Alex. The chaplain although alcoholic and a slightly pathetic figure in the novel, is the only person who realizes the great wrong that has been done to the boy and he is certainly a spokesman for Burgesss views in a book: Choice. He has no real choice, has he? Self-interest, fear of physical pain, drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature of moral choice. (Clockwork 94) What Burgess presents is not the success of the behavioural conditioning, but a man stripped out of his freedom of choice and what follows, of his humanity. Even Alex, at first so excited about the Ludovicos Technique, suddenly realizes what have been done to him: Am I just to be like a clock-work orange? (Clockwork 94), he screams at one point. Alex is turned into a true, but clockwork Christian. He is now always ready to turn the other cheek, ready to be crucified rather than crucify. He feels sick even at the thought of killing a fly: And that was right, brothers, because when he said that I thought of killing a fly and felt just that tiny bit sick, but I pushed the sickness and pain back by thinking of the fly being fed with bits of sugar and looked after like a bleeding pet and all that cal. (Clockwork 96) Burgesss message is very clear. An ideal citizen should always decide for himself and not only be artificially made to be good. To have a chance for salvation, man has to choose good over evil. Either conditioned by Pavlovian, Skinners or invented by Burgess Ludovicos technique, human being becomes not only weak but is also deprived of his dignity. What makes the man is his freedom, pride and ability to choose. Without them, he becomes nothing more but a machine, powerless creature in the hands of overwhelming science. 4.3. A clockwork orange set free When Alex is set free again and out in the world, from the local newspaper he gets to know that the world he knew has changed dramatically. The streets are now clean, there is no anarchy anymore and the police is much tougher with the local crime. The freedom of citizens, especially their negative freedom has been restricted. The peace-loving ladies and gentlemen can stroll through the streets again, without the fear of being attacked by any young hooligans. Alex no longer feels like he rules the world, what surrounds him is all unknown to him, he feels sick all the time and do not have a place to go. He is no longer welcome to his home, his possessions have been sold and the new guy called Joy has taken his place and acts like a son to Alexs parents. People look different, fashion has changed and the music shop is now filled with pop music. But Alex in no longer able to enjoy his beloved classical music: It was that these doctor bratchnies had so fix things that any music that was like for the emotions would make me sick just like viddying or wanting to do violence. It was because all those violence films had music with them. And I remembered especially that horrible Nazi film with the Beethoven Fifth, last movement. And now here was lovely Mozart made horrible. (Clockwork 104) Feeling horrible all the time, Alex thinks of committing suicide and goes to the public library to find how to do it without pain, but again he gets nauseous at the sight of illustrations in medical books and the attempt to read the Bible fails him too. He is hopeless and cannot find himself in the new world. When he begins to cry and a very old man tells him he is far too young to die and still has everything in front of him, Alex replies bitterly: Yes. Like a pair of false groodies (Clockwork 107). Alexs situations goes from bad to worse, when

Charles Yale Harrison’s Generals Die in Bed vs Colin McDougall’s Execut

Charles Yale Harrison’s Generals Die in Bed vs Colin McDougall’s Execution As with any genre, all novels termed ‘war stories’ share certain elements in common. The place and time settings of the novels, obviously, take in at least some aspect of at least one war or conflict. The characters tend to either be soldiers or are at least immediately affected by the military. An ever present sense of doom with punctuated moments of peace is almost a standard of the war novel. Beyond the basic similarities, however, each of these battle books stands apart as an individual. Charles Yale Harrison’s World War I novel, Generals Die in Bed is, in essence, quite different than Colin McDougall’s Execution. Coming years earlier, Generals can almost be seen to hold the wisdom one would expect see in an older sibling, while Execution suffers the growing pains that the younger child inevitably feels. Most war novels center on themes of valor and heroism. Some concentrate on the opposites of these virtues in an attempt to display raw realism. Harrison, right from the beginning of his novel, shows us both. The narrator of this first-person narrative paints a picture of a totally un-heroic bunch of soldiers preparing for debarkation. The drinking and debauchery are followed the next morning by a parade that the suffering soldiers must march through, while the people watch their ‘heroes’ leaving to bravely fight the good fight. While this clearly demarcates the innocent civilians from the savvy soldiers, it also shows the reader that the narrator is going to try to tell the real story. Execution starts with what is seemingly a journal entry, implying that it will be a first person narrative much the same as Ge... ... enough contrasts between them that allow them to stand out as completely individual from one another. Each of these novels, then, is able to both expand upon the other, while being free in its own expression at the same time. Works Cited Harrison, Charles Yale. Generals Die in Bed. Waterdown: Potlatch Publications, 1999. Lenoski, Daniel S. â€Å"Morning Glory: Execution and Romance.† American Review of Canadian Studies. Volume 23 (1993): 387 – 406. Mason, Michael A. â€Å"Execution: Heroism in a Modern War-Novel.† English Studies in Canada. Volume 5 (1979): 94 - 104. McDougall, Colin. Execution. Toronto: Macmillan, 1958. Thompson, Eric. â€Å"Canadian Fiction of the Great War.† Canadian Literature. Volume 91 (1981): 81 – 96. Vance, Jonathan. Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997.

Luxuries Even For the Environmentalist :: Essays Papers

Luxuries Even For the Environmentalist Imagine, instead ofbeing stuck in morning rush hour because you drive by yourself, youget to go in the HOV lanes simply because of the car you drive. This occurs within some states for those who own hybrids. Hybrids are the most practical vehicle for the majority of America ’s population because not only are they better for the environment but they also have almost all the features of luxury cars. Few individuals think of hybrid vehicles as a practical option when car shopping. With the combinedtechnology of electricity and gasoline, hybrid vehicles are more environmentally friendly then the standard gasoline driven car. However, most consumers worry more about their comforts than their effects on the environment, leading to disagreements on the best vehicle for the consumer’s needs. They argue that many luxuries are lost in the hybrids because hybrids are more expensive to manufacture, and are not as large as some conventional gas cars. This has changed though. Since hybridsbecame available there has been an increase in efficiencies, moreluxuriesand increased driver benefits. When first designed, hybrid vehicles aimed toreduce fuel consumption by half ofalready high gas mileage vehicles. The hybrid’s historystarted off rocky because the electric batteries, generators, and motorshad losses of 15-25 percent in energy, causing it to be more desirable toroute as much of the engine power directly to the wheels (Cheng 114). Doing so, however, was not sufficient for power. Since 1975, five improvements were made that rendered itmore available to the public. These included decrease in electrical losses down to 2-4%, improved shapes to produce far higher energiesand powers, magnetic bearings, new turbines from other materials to increasethermal efficiencies, and small turbochargers for piston engines (Cheng 114). Together these improvements made the hybrid more aerodynamic,efficient and lower in cost to manufacture. In a recentstudy by W. Chenget al, the hybrid was compared to gas turbine-engine vehicles. Their results showed that the hybrid engi ne would producevirtually no vehicle pollution during trips less than 30 minutes, and lessthan normal cars when trips were longer. The strongestcharacteristic of the hybrids is the higher gas mileage which allows it tobe more environmentally friendly and cost effective.

My Favourite Place

MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN MY CITY I am in love with a place in my origin city. It is a special spot for me. It is called El Cejo. My father discovered it to me. He is keen on walking and I have inherited his hobby. Since I have been a child he has taken me to spend the afternoon hiking. This place is located quite near my house but with some steps you have the feeling you are not in Lorca. My region is extremely dry but this place is like an oasis in the desert. To gain access to El Cejo you need to go up a sandy hill. Arriving to the hill the first thing you can find is an imposing castle.Its two towers have been policing the city for many centuries. It dates from the Muslim period when the city played a significant role. It was in the frontier of two important kingdoms in medieval times. In one side of the castle there is a hidden path. This narrow path takes you to my paradise. The ground is red limestone with tiny pebbles. At the start you can glimpse the chain of mountains of the va lley, several reservoirs and farmers working in the countryside. The range of colours of the crops spread over the landscape. Sometimes you can even smell distant bonfires.There are abrupt slopes with cliffs joint by stone cement bridges. The bridges are secured with steel banisters, seeing as the height is considerable. You can find caves carved by the nature and decorated by prehistoric inhabitants with red and ochre drawings. Lizards and birds singing form the inhabitants of this wood. Nobody escapes the eye of the eagles that fly over their home. The pines stand in line like schoolchildren and drop their needles leaves when they are not green any more. The bushes accompany the trees, leaving pleasant fragrances like the rosemary.At the same time, the silence fills the place; sometimes it is interrupted by the barking of the dogs accompanying their owners in a relaxing walking. The paths are sculpted by the footprints of bicycles and hikers. Moreover, there are streams of fresh w ater where you can drink. Steep stairs and uneven ground can be found in some parts of the path. In some parts the way is narrow because of enormous rocks. The vegetation breaks into them. The ground is plastered with roots of trees that quietly have seen the time passing. The sun is always smiling.In winter days the wind whistles around the trunks. In summer days it can be hot as hell. All the plants are resistant to long periods of droughts. The rain is hardly ever present. Halfway there are several viewpoints where hikers sit on rotten wood benches eating snacks to recover from the walking and admiring the turquoise blue sky with clouds like sponges. They can see the valley with its empty river. However, sometimes this river cause fear when it wakes up in rainy periods threatening the city with floods. At the end of the path you can find the reason of the name of the place.Cejo in Spanish is a vertical deep cut in the mountain. At the bottom of it there is a fountain with water a s cold as ice. A legend says that a Muslim princess and a Christian soldier fell in love and as their love was impossible, they committed suicide throwing themselves over the cliff. After that, a source appeared and the people named it after the lovers (enamorados). The people who know this place are like a family. Maybe they have never seen you before but they greet everybody who enjoys the wonders of the place.Walking through this forest it is a pleasure for your senses. You can smell pure air from the nature. Nevertheless, everything is not perfect. You can find rubbish and dogs’ faeces thanks to thoughtless people. People jogging leave the sweat aroma. Normally there are not many people but in September the city holds a sport festival and there is an organized walking to this forest from city centre. Every year the wood meets new people that feel surprised by this heaven. Children walk holding their parents’ hands and adults chat while they enjoy the scenery.I like to take my dogs with me and leave them loose. Therefore, for them El Cejo has a special meaning. It is where they can run freely. Their big ears move like ears of rabbits. They love to speed and stop to smell the scented wildflowers. The path boasts being well-known among nature lovers who can use signs to avoid getting lost during its eight kilometres. It is by far one of my favourite places in my city. Maybe this place is not great thing but for me it is unique. I can relax and forget all my problems.

Joseph Stalin Essay

Stalin: Evaluation of His Leadership At the time, Stalin seemed like he was the greatest person on Earth. He made himself seem as if he was above everybody, both physically and mentally. After all of the revolts that were occurring in Russia, he just took over. He went into power right after Lenin had died and took his place, over Trotsky who also wanted to rule over Russia. Well he didn’t and we can’t change that. All we can do is remember Stalin and remember all of the things he did to make people support him and his cause to industrialize Russia. Let’s talk a little but about how Russia was before Stalin came into power and changed up the whole game for Russia. As soon as the Czar of Russia (Nicholas II) was kicked off his throne, Russia’s peasant population came strong and in numbers. These peasants all set up something that was called the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd, and was led first by Prince Georgy L'vov and then by socialist Alexander Kerensky, a prominent member of the Duma and a leader of the movement to unseat the Tsar. This government had really good intentions but they just couldn’t make it happen. And the fact that they made some not so smart choices doesn’t help too much either. The people of Russia wanted this government gone which launched the November Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks. What they wanted to do was to gain freedom, land and political strength. And so they did; they overthrew the fragmented government and finally had accomplished what they set out to do. But just like the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik government was sure to fail too. This is where Stalin comes in; this is where he takes over. Joseph Stalin took over right after Lenin had died and in December 1924, Stalin declared himself the new Leader of the USSR and became the Dictator of Russia. Now at first, Stalin didn’t seem like such a bad guy. He actually seemed like someone who was going to bring Russia to their prime. Just look at Document One. He’s explaining to his people how far behind they really are compared to the rest of the world and that if they don’t do something soon, they’re done. All he wanted to do was fix Russia, to bring them out of their â€Å"hundred year lag† and to make them more powerful. That was the goal of his 5 Year Plan. Stalin had extremely high expectations for Russia now that he was in power, and he would do anything to achieve them. If you look at Document Two, you can see how high he set his expectations. And then again, if you look at Document Three, you could see the amount of success he had with both of his Five Year Plans. Production in some areas were increasing at a very rapid pace. He wanted to more than double the production that Russia was putting out. You can see how much better he wanted to make his country, but he would do anything for it. Joseph Stalin was a very determined man and he would do anything to get what he wanted. This is where his use of propaganda came in. What is propaganda? You can think of it as information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause. If you look at Document Ten, you can see how he was portrayed by many different artists. Well, the artists really didn’t have a choice but to portray him in a positive way. This is where you can finally see the â€Å"evil† side of Joseph Stalin. He used force to get what he wanted and many people didn’t see it. Eventually, his Five Year Plans backfired and really sent the peasants into an even deeper level of poverty. Not only did he send some of the peasants into even more poverty that they were already in, he even killed some of them or put them in work camps and starved them to death. (Document Seven). He wasn’t going to let anybody stand in his way and if they tried, he would kill them off just like that. So as you can see, once Stalin came into power, he really didn’t want to lose his command over the Russian country. He did anything he had do to keep power and although all his intentions seemed good, he was really a dictator who made things a lot worse for the lower class of Russia. It’s too bad that many people couldn’t do anything about it because he would kill off anybody that revolted against him. So although he was one of the most terrorizing rulers of Russia, nobody ever really knew because of all the things he did to hide his truly evil side. To the people, he remained pure and an amazing leader; but we all know about things he did to make himself seem that way. Sure, his intentions were good (industrialize Russia and catch up to the rest of the world), but all we can do is remember all of the methods he used to make people support him and his cause.

Police Administration Essay

The role of police in the safety of the community has long been recognized.   It is thus of great importance that the operations behind the police system be well understood in order to identify points that are considered to be exemplary, as well as areas which are in need of further evaluation and reorganization.   This research paper will discuss areas of police administration that are related to the recruitment and hiring process.   A brief review of other related areas of police administration will also be presented in order to provide a holistic overview of the topic. POLICE WORK AND RELATED PROBLEMS The area of police work is an occupation that is strongly associated with misconduct and criminal acts.   The act of performing police work is highly discretionary because it entails a combination of both standard police principles and personal ideologies that influence a police officers values and morale.   Police work also involves coercive activity that regularly occurs in the most private situations which are often not in the presence of their immediate supervisors but in the vicinity of witnesses who, unfortunately, often distort the details of the criminal event when interviewed or asked to testify.   Police work is also strongly associated with corruption through the extreme abuse of police authority for the wrong benefits of other individuals (Klockars, 2000). Corruption is a form of misconduct that has long been a concern of every society.   Several attempts has been made to control the application and use of corruption in police work yet there are several factors that decrease the likelihood of success in controlling this social problem.   One of the factors that hinder the control of corruption is that police officers refuse to report activities that are deemed corrupt to their fellow officers.   Also known as The Code or The Code of Silence, this secret has been with the police force for decades. Another factor that prevents the control of corruption in police work is that police administrators are hesitant in acknowledging that corrupt events do exist in their respective police agencies.   The idea that corrupt activities may benefit the police officers in terms of extra financial income also influences police officers to continue performing or acknowledging corrupt acts.   Another factor that prevents the success in controlling corrupt activities within the police force involves the scarcity of victims of these shameful acts who are willing to report the corrupt incident to federal investigators. For some time, corruption has been viewed by police administrators as a sign of the insufficiency of moral standards among police officers.   To date, the officials of police administration has actively fought the problem of corruption in the police force by meticulously and cautiously screening the new applicants for positions in the police force in order to lessen the probability that newly hired police officers will not succumb to the perennial problem of corruption in their field of work.   In addition, police administrators have also aggressively followed and hunted down any members of the police force that are known to deal with corrupt activities during their line of duty with the police force.   Once these morally delinquent police officers are tracked, they are dismissed from their positions so that any additional cases of corruption will surely be prevented. The removal of these corrupt police officers also assure that the negative influences of these police officers will not spread to the rest of the members of the police force.   The concept of removal of a corrupt police officer from the police force is similar to the bad apple theory in agriculture and this approach has been strongly criticized in the past years.   In order to better understand the problems associated with police work, it is essential that the field of police work first be presented. THE ROLE OF A POLICE OFFICER   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A police officer pertains to a working employee of the police force who has been trained in special responsibilities such as counterterrorism and surveillance.   A police officer is also equipped with the capabilities for child protection as well as protection of diplomatic individuals.   Police officers are experienced in investigating crimes such as murder, burglary, rape and drug trafficking. It should be understood that the duties of a police officer encompass a wide range of functions.   These officers are expected to be capable of responding to any type of situation that may occur during their time of duty.   Police officers are considered as government officials during investigatory events of crimes.   In specific cities and communities, it is the responsibility of a police officer to maintain peace and conduct in the area, even if they are not on duty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Society perceives a police officer as a person who is responsible for instilling peace and order in his particular area of duty.   Peace and order can be attained through the enforcement of rules or prohibitions in terms of social interactions.   Police officers are also responsible in discouraging attempts to commit crimes, aside from investigating a crime that has already occurred in a particular area.   In addition, police officers carry the legal role and authority to arrest any suspected individuals that may have played a role in a crime.   They also have the authority to interrogate and detain the suspect, as well as report the incident and the associated suspects to the proper authorities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Police officers may also help in instilling the safety of the public during large gatherings.   Such role may be similar to an emergency service wherein they could be called on to facilitate in public operations such as town or city programs and parades.   These individuals also serve as a source of immediate response during times of emergency and disasters because they serve as the first person at the scene of an incident. Once a police officer arrives at the particular site and makes a quick survey of the area, he then quickly informs the fire and emergency medical units of the city to respond to the situation.   Depending on the state or country, police officers and firemen have the same line of call, wherein these two groups of government employees may respond to the scene of a disaster at the same time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Minor offenses are also reported by police officers in the form of citations which generally results in the implementation of fine.   One good example of a minor offense includes the violation in the laws of driving and traffic such as illegal parking or over-speeding.   Other traffic violations may include accosting a driver who has consumed more than the allowable amounts of alcohol drinks.   The detention of drivers that manipulate a vehicle under the influence of alcohol prevents car accidents as well as deaths.   Police officers are also trained in assisting individuals that are caught in the middle of an accident or even a simple car breakdown.   It is interesting to know that police officers are trained in techniques in first aid as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Park rangers are also considered as police officers who man the national parks and other open recreational locations.   These individuals also enforce specific laws in order to instill peace and order in these specific areas.   Police officers are also visible in areas where rallies and political activities are frequently held.   These law enforcers are responsible in suppress overly active protests that hinders the rest of the public from performing their daily functions such as going to work. Police officers make sure that rallies and other kinds of protests are held within the allowable parts of the public area such as sidewalks and the rest of the people and vehicles are not hindered from moving through their usual activities.   There are some cases wherein protesters may be extremely upset regarding a particular political or ethical issue and these individual may start screaming and acting in more violent behavior.   Should this be the case, the police officers are authorized to control such actions to an acceptable level of protest. QUALIFICATION OF A POLICE OFFICER   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The credentials of a police officer often vary in each country, mainly depending on the expectations and roles of the police officer in that part of the world.   However, it is a general requirement that a candidate for a position of police officer must show proof that he has completed some kind of formal education.   Several decades earlier, police officers were not required to finish a college degree yet currently this has changed. Mostly due also to the changing times and the evolution of the society in terms of values and morals, candidates for positions of police officers are now required to carry a tertiary degree.   In addition, the candidate for police officer is required to undergo two to three years of training as a police constable prior to promotion to a position of higher rank such as inspector or sergeant.   It is a common path that a police officer originates from a military or security position.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to carrying a college degree, a candidate for police officer is also required to undergo a physical fitness examination.   In the United States, there are currently laws that vary by state that describe the requirements for candidates for the position of police officer.   The requirements include specific information regarding the applicant’s age and educational level, as well as the criminal records and training.   A police agency is generally similar to that of a semi-military organization that requires particular training and experience before applicants are admitted to the police force.   There are also specific qualifications before a particular police officer can be promoted to a higher position in the police force.   It should be noted that promotion to a higher rank in the police force is not an automatic operation that occurs once a police officer has served for three years. Promotion to a higher rank entails taking additional examinations that serve as tools that will help assess the police officer if he is ready and competent enough to hold a higher ranking position.   An interview is also conducted by the review board that serves as a personal questioning session for the candidate police officer for promotion.   The stringent requirements for promotion of a police officer to a higher rank are commensurate to the responsibilities that this police officer will hold once he is awarded the higher police rank. It is actually normal for a police officer to remain in the same position ranking for some time and it is usually the highly competent officers that are often deserve a higher rank in the police force.   There are some instances when a specific police officer stays at the same position rank for a decade or more because it has been observed through their performance that the particular police officer is not competent to serve from a higher position.   Police officers who have served in the police force for a particular duration may also apply for the position of police specialist.   The specialist positions include the detective, firearms officer or motorcycle officer. TRAINING AT THE POLICE ACADEMY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A police academy is a training facility that is generally managed by the police department in order to serve as a venue for the education and development of the new recruits.   These individual recruits were previously hired by the police department yet they are first required to undergo training at the police academy before they are allowed to work with the police force.   The trainees at the police academy are taught essential skills that are expected of a police officer.   The training involves both classroom and actual action training that runs for several months. Full-time training requires that the candidates are present for the entire day at the police academy, with provisions for letting them stay in for several months.   In private police academies, training is conducted during the evenings so that the trainees are able to work during the day time to earn their wages to support themselves.   In police academies that are run by the police department, stipends are given to the trainees because they are already considered as employees of the police force.   Training at the police academy includes the principles of arrest and booking of individuals.   The use of firearms is also taught at the academy. Special driving skills are also taught at the police academy because this is essential is chasing suspects and criminals.   The trainees are also educated in terms of CPR and first aid skills because these capabilities are expected of a competent police officer.   Trainees are also taught skills in writing police reports as well as ethical measures in interacting with individuals that they would likely deal with on a daily basis as a police officer.   Theories of investigation and criminality will also be undertaken during the training of police officers.   Methods in interacting with the community will also be taught at the police academy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After several months of training at the police academy, the trainees are required to take written and practical examination to gauge the comprehension of the lessons that have been given to them.   Upon passing the requirements of the written and practical examinations, the trainee is awarded a certification of police academy training and will then be assigned as a member of the police department.   It has been observed that there has been an increase in recruitment of police officers in the past decade and it has been predicted that the number of newly recruited police officers will increase in the coming years.   This is mostly due to the change in the society and politics of the country, as well as the increase in urbanization of cities. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 AND EQUALITY AMONG MEN   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The hiring and recruitment of police officers has been influenced by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.   Years ago, Martin Luther King had a dream that all men and women would be equal.   The laws and progression of civil rights and immigration has changed the United States.   Racial inequality and color prejudice has damaged the United States; affecting the government system through legislation. The differences in culture background and heritage are being traversed. Borders are supposedly being crossed. Educational theories and classroom practices are taking up new forms in order to conform and meet the educational needs of the global societies. Educators and teachers are being expected to share views and recognize values from different cultures, races, societies and ethnic groups. They are expected to move outside the system and custom of the dominant society and incorporate beliefs other than those they are accustomed with. Our laws and progression of Civil Rights and immigration has changed the United States (AARP, 2004). The challenges that face our nation’s children relates to the civil right movements and immigration laws. The 1800’s industrialization expansion and slave trade increased immigration to the United States, bringing around twenty-five million people between 1866 and 1915.   In 1917, the United States began placing and enforcing restrictions on immigration.   The government did have provisions before, however most statutes were requirements for naturalization, government powers, reporting of aliens or items allowed to import. Amid 1875 to 1888, the government wanted to exclude people from coming into the United States that were criminals (whether convicted of crime or misdemeanor), prostitutes, paid or slave laborers, people with contagious diseases, polygamist, anarchist, or any person who wanted or thought it was okay to overthrow a government through forceful violence or assassination of public officials.   On February 5, 1917, a commission set forth by the President Woodrow Wilson, proposed and passed a law that enacted previous exclusions and added to exclude illiterate aliens. The excludable people were â€Å"imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, persons with physical or mental defects which may affect their ability to earn a living, persons afflicted with tuberculosis, children unaccompanied by their parents, persons who admitted the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude, and women coming to the United States for immoral purposes†. The 1920 U.S. census showed that the heaviest immigration prior to that time were from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and other countries in northern Europe. In the course of the ending of World War II in 1945, the number of aliens both legal and illegal increased dramatically. Immigrants were trying to escape poverty and oppression from all over the world. Citizens of the United States began feeling the pressure of immigrants taking their jobs and using expensive social services provided by the U.S. government with American tax dollars. The media began to portray evidence of racial inequality and color prejudice, damaging the image of the United States. Therefore, immigration and racial equality became debated hot topics. In 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) was formed to benefit teachers and students, and work to bring attention to educational issues, such as low teacher’s salaries, teacher retirement benefits, student testing and other bureaucratic demands. The NEA became an advocate for students and teachers through curriculum enhancements to both English language arts and history to benefit Immigrants, African Americans, and Indians (Holcomb 2006). The NEA lobbied to encourage laws like The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and The Immigration Nationality Act of 1964, which still affects our laws today, encouraging the idea of multiculturalism, thus expanding subjects such as history and language arts to include viewpoints of historically powerless and oppressed groups. During the civil rights movement, there were two America’s, a black America and a white America. The school, bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, bus seats, libraries, movie theaters, hospital floors, and even the line to see Santa Clause were all segregated based on the color of skin.   African Americans went to school four months out of the year because they needed to help earn incomes the rest of the months. Their schools had no cafeteria, most with outside bathrooms; and their books were passed down from the white schools so they were all out of date. The school building that contained African American students were falling apart.    The classes were overcrowded with too many students, and not enough room for all the needed classes and materials. For the most part, these students had teachers that were substitutes who didn’t know what they were doing.   The teachers that were in these schools had fixed values for these students and did not provide curriculum that was interesting or pertained to the students who were learning. The assumption of teachers was that these African American students did not deserve â€Å"a great deal in life and that a little, even a very little, (a very little) for a Negro child is a great deal more than he or she has earned†. Complaints were being vocalized with the school districts letting white students ride the bus to attend white schools, and black students had to walk to their school when they lived right next to an â€Å"all white† school. In 1951, the Supreme Court finally had to face and rule on the subject of civil rights. A group called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), created in 1909 to work towards eliminating segregation and discrimination, came together in a court case Brown versus Board of Education. African Americans had started filing suits against the educational systems as early as 1845, but the Supreme Court combined five cases to hear in 1951. The issues brought before the court was because of school conditions, segregation, deficient curriculum, pupil to teacher ratio, teacher training, extracurricular activity programs offered, transportation deficiencies, and of course teacher salaries. The discriminatory environment derived from civil rights and immigration issues unlocked, and then caused the world to see that human tendencies are to prejudge, discriminate against, and stereotype people based on their ethnic, religious, physical, or cultural characteristics. In 1954, Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, also called Brown I ruled by Chief Justice Warren, acknowledged learning to be the most significant task of state and local government and repudiated the separate but equal doctrine, deciding that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal (Brown Foundation, 1996). The decision had great impact and important to the civil rights movement. The Supreme Court ruled that school had no place for separate but equal status. A year later the Supreme Court decision in Brown II defined how and when school desegregation would be achieved because there was no standard or deadline set in Brown I.   The legal precedence of this time caused far reaching social and ideological implications that brought about changes in the 1960’s and beyond. On the other hand, the legal wrangling did not make immigration and civil right issues disappear because of the ambiguity of the legal decisions. The 1960’s brought about race riots all over the U.S., deaths because of race, and more laws that declared discrimination illegal. On January 20, 1964, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into the Presidency, after the sudden death of President John F. Kennedy. As America mourned the death of JFK, President Lyndon B. Johnson placed his hand on the Holy Bible that was being held by his wife and took the oath of office. On that particular day, Lyndon B. Johnson launched his new program called the Great Society. The agenda was intended to produce a better quality of life for all Americans.   Reporters knew the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson as a legislative miracle.   In fact, Dick West of the Dallas Morning News expressed that Mr. Truman could not get started on a civil rights bill because a rebellious congress passed an immigration law over a veto.   Jack Kennedy took one whirl at federal aid to education, and then backed off. Then he tried to get Congress to set up a Department of Housing and Urban Development with Cabinet Status and was turned down in the House 264 to 150.   On the other hand, West writes that President Johnson was able to get these laws passed exactly the way he wanted them, thus being named The Congressional Magician.   President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964, during a luncheon honoring late President Abraham Lincoln in the East room of the White House. The bill was about discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.   The President sat at a small table in the center with racks holding 72 pens, which was an insufficient amount.   He actually used over 100 pens to sign this triumphant bill into law.   Robert F. Kennedy sat in the front row, Martin Luther King sat in the second row, and other senators and cabinet members attended.   President Johnson’s speech was swift but had great emphasis as he called on all Americans to close the springs of racial poison and eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved America. The President spoke of the challenge that Lincoln bestowed upon America asking for preservation of the union, enlargement of liberties for America and for being true to the Declaration of Independence which gives liberty to all.   The speech was a direct challenge for all Americans to ensure that all people including Black American’s will be a part of a complete and equal society. Immigrants thus have an equal opportunity to apply as police officers.   However, it has been observed that most immigrants do not perform well in the written examination for police officers because the links between illiteracy and illegal immigration is astounding.   Hispanic immigrants come to the United States without having the basic literacy skills needed (Garraty and Carnes, 2001).   Teachers in Texas are finding that their classes are mostly English language learners. Bilingual assistants are there to translate to students and teacher regarding teaching information and notes; they are also there to translate during parent teacher conferences. Each state requires that each police officer candidate establish a language proficiency assessment to show that he passed the proficiency and achievement-level this is required for those individuals whose primary language is not English.   The examining committee classifies the applicant and recommends placement and help to benefit the applicant.  Ã‚   There are now reports that the translator and the English Language Learning programs are now improving.   Most immigrants are visual learners hence English or Spanish languages are no barriers to learning.   The problem is when the Hispanic people take the summers off to return to Mexico. Jackie stated that it seems like they lose the English proficiency learned previously.   While some teachers see the problem improving there are immigrants who have voiced their concern. There are certain citizens who are concerned that teachers are spending more time because of English Language Learners and have even dealt with hearing the American-born individuals in a special class because of observation as a slow reader. Upon further investigation, it was realized the teacher was teaching and reading to the children in Spanish, which English-speaking students did not understand. Because education focus has become multi-cultural teachers use literature to teach about other cultures. Multi-cultural literature develops values and self-concept for students. On the other hand, some say American-born students reading and writing scores are declining and achievement gaps are closing.   Some believe that many linguists and educators focus on the multicultural aspect, degrading the English Language. As of 1992, many states require teachers to have a certification to teach English as a Second Language, also called ESL in order to assist immigrants who are in training.   Teachers must have the appropriate academic background is ESL theory and methodology. While there are some educators who back bilingual education, which is where students learn basic skills in their own language while they are learning to speak English.   English-speaking students will have a chance to learn Spanish. However, we are facing political efforts to make English the United States official language.   Senator Pete Domenci of New Mexico expressed that the inherent shallowness behind ‘English Only’ would deny the United States the opportunity to meet is full market potential. Therefore, he introduced an approach called English Plus.   English-plus, adopted in New Mexico’s constitution requiring those public school teachers must be trained in both English and Spanish so that Spanish-speaking students will be taught English properly.   On the other hand, many believe there is no need to make English the official language of the United States because it limits us from having a world–view.     The English Language is the most multi-cultural language and it celebrates diversity because of the multi-cultural influences from the French, Germans, and African’s, which continually make it powerful and diverse. There is an increase in the need for police officers to establish peace and order in the country.   At the same time, the country is experiencing a rapid immigration increase of Hispanics and African American students. The appeal of the current level and police administration in terms of the hiring and recruitment process is an interesting area to cover. The costs of raising education potential for both African Americans and Latino students in order to provide equal opportunity for hiring immigrants would be high, yet there would be benefits by savings in public peace and order expenditures and increased tax revenues based on higher incomes.   Holding onto our legacy of the past, we are now teaching with a cultural approach attempt to raise the academic and professional achievement of all trainees and students through culturally relevant lessons.    Reference AARP, LCCR, & Library of Congress (2004). Save Our History: Voices of Civil Rights. The History Channel: The Hearst Corporation. Brown Foundation (1996). Brown VS Board of Education: About the Case. Retrieved March 9, 2006 from http://brownvboard.org/summary/. Garraty, J.A. & Carnes, M.C. (2001). A Short History of the American Nation. (P. 450). New York: Longman Klockars CB (2000):   The measurement of police integrity.   U.S. Department of Justice Research Briefs.   May 2000.