Domestic monetary systems Essay Example for Free

Domestic monetary systems Essay With a population of 170 million, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is strategically located in South Asia, sharing borders with India to the East, China to the North East, Afghanistan to the North West and Iran to the West. To the south lies the Arabian Sea, this provides close proximity to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The country is predominantly Muslim with a major portion of the population (65%) residing in the rural areas. Although significant progress has been made in recent years, the country still lags behind as far as social infrastructure and human development are concerned. (Bajwa, 1999) Structure of Government and Politics: The constitution of the country, promulgated in 1973, holds out the country as a parliamentary democracy with all powers vested in the parliament. However, for much of the past decade, Pakistan was run along the lines of a military dictatorship, with Parliament subservient to the President and vast powers vested in his self. After the gradual transfer of power to democratic forces following an election on the 18th of February, the resignation of General (Retd) Pervaiz Musharraf, and the election of Asif Ali Zardari as the new President, parliament is reviewing the balance of power between the Presidential Palace and the Parliament House and it is expected that, soon, the country would revert back to the old format of the President being a ceremonial Head of State and the Prime Minister running the country independently with Parliament backing. (Malik, 2001) At present, there is a coalition government in place that comprises the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). It is led by the President of the country, Asif Ali Zardari, who happens to be the widower of famed democratic leader Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by terrorist elements during an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi last year. Other coalition partners include the MQM (Muthaida Quami Movement translated as United National Movement) and the ANP (Awami National Party). The Opposition is deeply divided and primarily consists of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N). The main political issues on the domestic front are, as mentioned above, the repealing of anti democratic laws enacted as part of the constitution by the outgoing military regime and the issue of the deposed judges of the supreme court that were sacked by the former military regime when they refused to remain puppets. Apart from this, there is the dire issue of reconciliation between neglected provinces. However, the inability of the new coalition government to actively address issues of popular appeal and an over indulgence in issues of power sharing and power consolidation lend it ever decreasing credibility in the eyes of the general public. Although the new government has been in power for almost an year, its performance has been dismal. The popular mandate of democracy that has shot the PPP and its coalition partners into power has not been implemented. The Prime Minister, Yousuf Reza Gillani, remains a puppet and the Presidential Palace remains the main power fort. Despite the fact that the opposition is ready to support the government on national issues, such as the reinstatement of deposed judges and the repealing of undemocratic laws, the government has so far shown quiet restraint to address these issues. Foreign Policy: â€Å"Pakistans foreign policy has been marked by a complex balancing processthe result of its history, religious heritage, and geographic position. The primary objective of that policy has been to preserve Pakistans territorial integrity and security, which have been in jeopardy since the states inception. † (US Library of Congress) The aforementioned paragraph adequately describes Pakistan’s foreign policy ever since it came on the map of the world in 1947. Being predominantly Muslim, the country finds itself sentimentally attached to the Islamic World, in particular the Middle East. A developing country, lacking skilled manpower and capital to exploit the wealth of natural resources that its lands have been bestowed with, the country’s foreign policy has had to take in account the economic impact that relations with other countries can have. Moreover, traditional enmity with the giant neighbor on its eastern borders (India) has forced it to make balancing measures with staying in the good books of China and supporting pro Pakistan elements in Afghanistan. (Bajwa, 1999) Pakistans foreign policy is deeply aligned with the United States goal of War on terror. After the September 11 attacks, Pakistan renounced terrorism and became a frontline state in the war against terrorism. The country is the main supply route to NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan and is a major non NATO US ally. Despite this close alignment with the United States, the country often finds itself in a tricky situation when it comes to its tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. These areas are largely unregulated since independence from the British in 1947, operate with full autonomy while pledging allegiance to Islamabad. Pakistan is blamed for â€Å"not doing enough† to quell terrorist incursions from these tribal areas. Tribes here are said to be providing safe havens to terrorist and Taliban elements with the theory that the top brass of Al Qaeda and the Taliban is hiding here. NATO led forces have made several air strikes in the area which Pakistan declares as encroachment on its sovereignty but takes little steps to discipline these tribal belts. Part of this inaction is based on the fact that a stable Afghanistan, aligned with India is not in the best interests of Pakistan. Traditional enmity with India over the Jammu Kashmir disputed territory has led the two countries to fight three full scale wars in 1948, 1965 1971 and one limited war in 1999. Pakistan perceives a pro Pakistan Afghan government or an unstable Afghanistan as a hedge against encirclement by India. It is this threat to its security that leads it to, introvert if not extrovertly, refrain from taking any drastic steps to quell those destabilizing elements in Afghanistan that originally emanate from its terrotiry. (Bajwa, 1999) On the economic front, Pakistan is primarily an exporter of textiles accounting to about 57% of the country’s exports. Prime markets are North America and Europe. Good relations are important with these two blocks of nations as they provide trade facilitation and, at the same time, help with soft loans and aid to help in social and economic development. Remittances also play an important part in the country’s balance of payments and a large amount of Pakistani’s work in the Middle East, Europe and America. The country’s foreign policy also has to take account of these factors. (Malik, 2001) Thus, to sum up, as implied earlier, the country’s foreign policy is driven by its perceived security threat, religious affiliation with the Islamic fraternity of nations and the dependence upon economic aid and facilitation by friendly countries. While the policy has been largely successful in maintaining the country’s territorial (if we exclude the secession of East Pakistan in 1971 due to Indian intervention) integrity and safeguarding its economic interests, continuing on such lines indefinitely is not an option and it is important that the country makes a strategic review of its policy and seek alternative ways of addressing outstanding issues. Domestic Monetary Systems: Speaking In purely political economic terms, the government of technocrats that took power in October 1999 was faced with a huge crisis. Business confidence was low, investors were hesitant and the economy seemed to be heading for a deeper depression. Political legitimacy for the regime was another issue. Quite smartly, the policy makers then decided to lower interest rates. The idea was that low interest rates would encourage private sector borrowing, push up aggregate demand, increase corporate sector profitability, help in the generation of employment and quite importantly provide legitimacy to the regime. The concept to create this artificial boom was not a bad idea at all, but the fact that this approach only stocks problem for the future are alarming. While banking is referred to as â€Å"the refined management of money†, during the last 9 years, the country bore witness to the greatest mismanagement of scarce resources in the history of the country. The rise of consumer banking in an undocumented economy meant that people borrowed cheap and spent it on unproductive activities like buying consumables, investing on a volatile stock market vacationing in Europe. New investment in capital was made, but the bulk of the corporate sector used the low interest rates to either replace existing machinery or reschedule existing loans at cheaper rates. Thus, the economy was inflated by the use of an expansionary monetary policy that increased the dependence on oil and fuel. Worse, the effect is more severe as a high proportion of petroleum consumption is used by private car owners. Had the government tried to balance total economic and social benefit with total economic and social costs, by for example, encouraging public transport as opposed to private car ownership, the economy would have been less affected by the oil price hikes. Switching to Compressed Natural Gas was instead provided as a viable alternative but the result was lower gas supply for domestic and industrial use. Today, the Pakistani economy is representative of an over inflated balloon and attempts to deflate it are having serious repercussions. The state bank of Pakistan has raised interest rates to 15. 5% in attempt to curb inflation running as high as 20%. Measures have been introduced to reduce the money supply. This would help ease inflationary pressures on the demand side. However the argument goes that high interest rates would discourage investment, lead to low business confidence result in excessive saving as people would consume less and save more. This would mean that a â€Å"general glut† would appear in the economy with high inventories and unused capacity. Unless there is adequate demand outside the economy, employment levels may fall and output would decrease, leading to further slow growth, possibly complete stagnation. Given the current world economic scenario, with recession in the US, the sub prime mortgage crisis, competition from low cost producers such as China and India and the overall geo political scenario, monetary contraction is only making matters worse. Another important problem is the fact that unethical business practices like cartelization and hoarding are ever prevalent in this country. Moreover, the country is highly dependent upon imports of fuel and other items to aid its industries. Thus, a major portion of the inflation that the country faces is cost push in nature. However, the aim remains to target aggregate demand. (Janjua, 2008) This policy of the government makes some sense as the economy is artificially inflated. However, by not targeting the cost push factors and solely targeting the demand factors by reducing money supply, the government is not helping consumer and business confidence. The government’s inaction can be explained by two reasons. First, the country has recently obtained a hefty loan of USD 7. 6 billion from the IMF. A condition of this loan is to restrict money supply further. This is typical of many IMF financings which focus on monetary betterment as opposed to the level of unemployment and GDP growth. Secondly, many of the cartels have representation in the government and due to the absence of a strict legal system; any action against them is made impossible. Foreign Trade: A very interesting scenario is presented in the Economic survey of Pakistan 2007-8, which states that exports â€Å"suffer from serious structural issues which need to be addressed primarily by the industry itself, with government playing its role of a facilitator. † It then goes on to tell how textiles are the most important contributor to exports (56. 67%) and the issues that the industry faces as a result of its inability to innovate, become efficient and embrace fashion trends in its primary foreign markets. A new surprise is found in the face of food items (the country is running out of water, by the way) accounting for 13% of total exports, petroleum products (meager resources at best) accounting for 6% of total exports, manufactured leather products 3. 7% and chemicals and pharma products almost 3. 27% of total exports. Aggregate these and you find that the top five exports make up 83% of total exports. (Ministry of Finance, 2008) The point of doing this analysis is to show that as an economy; Pakistan is heavily exposed to, what is called in financial management terminology, unsystematic risk. Its lack of diversity makes it more prone to microeconomic shocks in the prime exports that it makes. Another worrying problem is the terms of trade, (a monetary measure of the price of exports upon the price of imports). Sadly, whereas the terms of trade were highly in favor of Pakistan until 1998-99 (115. 7), they have since then nose dived to stand at 58. 35 (2007-8). What this implies is that although the country has been exporting a lot more in volume, in value terms, international trade is becoming increasingly disadvantageous for Pakistan. Even if you take the effect of rising oil prices out of this analysis, the terms of trade had, never the less had fallen to 73. 6 by 2004-5. This lack of value addition makes us it more suspect to microeconomic level industry shocks that could further damage its standing in the export market. (Ministry of Finance, 2008) The previously mentioned most accurately describes the Pakistani government’s policy towards foreign trade. Although it has been working tirelessly to gain access to markets in Asia, Europe and North America for its export industries, the emphasis has remained towards increasing textile exports. This support of textiles and agricultural items to a certain extent has not fared well for other industries and sectors. Export diversity is low and so is value addition. Moreover, the country has not been able to reposition itself with regard to reliance on imports. So in so, that even though the country is an agricultural country by definition, due to poor harvests and lack of support, in certain years, we see that staple food items are imported by this agricultural country. Although natural consequences favor that Pakistan produces and exports textiles and food items, unfortunately, but both these industries have certainly lost their efficiency at doing the job that is intended of them. The textile industrys inability to change coupled with power shortages and political nightmares and our lack of water resources for agriculture coupled with reluctance from commercial banks to serve this sector means that there should be a policy change at the federal level. The high level of competition that these industries face means that the government has to take steps not only to help these industries blossom and at least maintain their market share, but to ensure that comparative advantage is exploited in other fields as well. The Pakistani government has been providing support to the traditional industries for some time now with mixed results. Therefore, instead of a status quo â€Å"wait and see† policy, a change is warranted. Thus, a policy shift should be made towards growth of value adding, job and export oriented activities. Exchange Rate Policy: Interest rate parity and purchasing power parity holds that changes in exchange rates between currencies can be explained by differences in interest rates and inflation rates respectively between countries. Building on this premise, the Rupee Dollar (PKR:USD) exchange rate remained range bound between PKR 59/USD to PKR 62/ USD for almost 8 years, starting 2000. The reason was that the country followed a managed float, with the central bank intervening in the market whenever the exchange rate would go out of range. This was happening against the backdrop of the fact that interest rates and inflation rates were considerably high in Pakistan and the currency was expected to depreciate. (State Bank of Pakistan) This managed float policy changed in early 2008 when the new government took power and the country reverted to a floating system. The rupee has since lost 33% of its value against the US dollar and currently stands at PKR 80/USD. (State Bank of Pakistan) The current policy is more realistic in its economic nature as the country, lacking substantial foreign currency reserves and a permanent balance of payment deficit could not continue to support an artificially strong exchange rate. Furthermore, this new policy of floating exchange rate systems will benefit the country with regard to its exports becoming cheaper when priced in USD. However, whether demand for the country’s exports picks up is another issue. More over, the effect of the rise in the prices of imports also has to be considered as many inputs in the production process are imported. Conclusion: The analysis of Pakistan’s monetary, foreign trade, exchange rate and foreign policy reveals the tendency in many developing countries to take decisions regarding economy based on politics. The short term benefits include lending credibility to the person in power, but the long term effects are almost always devastating. References: Bajwa Naseem, F. (1999) Pakistan : A Historical and Contemporary Look. Karachi : Oxford University Press. Asif Malik, M. (2001). Ideology and Dynamics of Pakistan. Karachi: Publishers emporium. Lipsey G. , H. Harbury, C. (1992) First Principles of Economics. London: Oxford University Press. Library Of Congress. For Researchers. Retrieved from http://www. loc. gov/rr/ State Bank Of Pakistan. Publications : Financial Stability Review. [Data File] Retrieved from http://www. sbp. org. pk/fsr/2006/index. htm Janjua Ashraf, M. (2008).. Government Borrowing and State Bank’s Authority. The Daily Dawn Economic and Business review Retrieved 12th december 2008 from http://www. dawn. com/2008/11/24/ebr14. htm

The Constant Gardener | Analysis

The Constant Gardener | Analysis Fernando Meirelless adaptation of John le carres 2001 novel The Constant Gardener is a drama film which is sure to thrill the global audience around the world. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, which includes Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Weisz, which she won. The film had a budget of $25 million but it made a huge profit with gross revenue of $82,466,670 proving to be a commercial success among the audience around the world. Story Based on the novel by John Le Carrà ©, The Constant Gardener starts with a murder, as any good mystery film does. British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) assigned to Nairobi sees his world fall apart when his wife, activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), is found brutally maimed in a remote area of Northern Kenya. His colleagues at the British High Commission, especially close friend Sandy (Danny Huston), believe the usually easy going Justin will quietly let them take care of the situation. Up to this point in his life, Justin has done little but quietly does his melodious job, tend to his gardens, and marry an extraordinary woman. Haunted by his past memories, and sceptical that his wife may have been unfaithful and cheating on him, Justin will no longer sit by submissively. He cannot accept what happened to Tessa, especially when he finds out that the government wants to sweep the whole thing under the rug. It seems Tessa was trying to discover somethingand was perhaps even on the verge of exposing a deadly pharmaceutical conspiracy. So, Quayle embarks on his own investigation, risking his life to uncover the truth and whether he succeeds or stopped under his tracks form the chief outline of the film. Acting Fiennes and Weisz are outstanding in this film. The Oscar winning actor Fiennes Playing Justin steals the show. He captures all the sad beauty of a man mourning for a woman he loved very much but who he also realizes he didnt know all that well. Its almost as if in investigating Tessas murder, Justin finally sees what kind of woman his wife truly wasand falls in love with her all over again. You feel his pain and feel sorry for him. For her part, Weisz has certainly proven she is more than just a sweet face alarmed by disturbed mummies. She expertly portrays a determined social activist driven to help these Kenyan people any way she can, even if it means sacrificing her own personal happiness and life. She in the end sacrifices her own life in order to find the truth and find justice for the Kenyan people. Weisz is radiant in every single shotwhich is rather an accomplishment considering that the actress was nine months pregnant, sweaty and without make-up in many scenes. You often w onder how it is these two characters ever fell for each other to begin with, but thats the true tribute to these fine actors. In their capable hands, they make Justin and Tessas opposites-attract-but-modest love story unquestionable. Danny Huston is a peculiar choice to play Sandy, Justins devious colleague. He struggles with his fake British accent and a better choice of cast would have been a better choice for the character. Direction With The Constant Gardener, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles proves his surprise Academy Award nomination for directing the scorching City of God wasnt a stroke of luck. The guy obviously knows what hes doing and he provides energetic direction nailing the audience glued to their seats. Meirelles hands us the horrible, heart wrenching plight of the African people, focusing on the hauntingly beautiful Kenya and lovingly detailing its colourful people. Scenes of Tessa walking through barely liveable shantytowns, as bright, seemingly happy children run around her while singing, leaves a very indelible impression. He zooms in on these two people whose love is put to the test because of the circumstances they find themselves in, while wrapping up the narrative in a compact murder mystery, which may or may also involve a conspiracy of global proportions. The Constant Gardener is much more than just a mystery. Its going to make you thinkand think hard. Trivia .The novel was originally banned in Kenya because it depicts corrupt Kenyan officials. . Ralph Fiennes held and operated the camera for Justins point of view in the film. . The filmmakers installed water tanks, a new bridge and a classroom in Kibera, the slum in which the film was shot. They also built a secondary school in the desert of northern Kenya where the final scenes were photographed. My verdict The Constant Gardener is an elegant, absorbing, and suspenseful mystery with rich performances from the leads. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller 4 broccolis out of 5 COME BACK FOR LATER The Constant gardener is primarily set in Kenya loilangalani and slums on Kibera a section of Nairobi, Kenya. It follows the lives of a shy low-rung British diplomat Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) who is posted in Kenya and his beautiful young humanitarian activist Tessa (Rachel Weitz). Justin is satisfied to represent his country without questioning his boss. when his wife Tessa and an African man (who he suspects Tessa to be cheating with) are found brutally raped and murdered in a remote area in North Kenya, he did not believe the death reports that they were assaulted and harassed by bandits, and he begins to ask penetrating questions against the activities of the government, much to the astonishment of Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston) and his other equals at the British high Commission located in Kenya. But as his inspections quickly lead him to an awry trail of blackmail, dishonesty, exploitation, political scandal and global conspiracy, he revives what he represents and what made h im marry and find love for his wife in the first place forms and whether he avenges the death of his wife forms the chief outline in the film For most of the movie, which is an elegant style of flashbacks and foreshadowings, Tessa is dead, murdered in the Kenyan wilds, where she had travelled with a African doctor named Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Koundà ©), who many in the Nairobi community assumed was her lover. In that gossipy world, Tessa was always something of a scandalous woman, pricking the fake civility of cocktail parties with impolite questions about money, authority, hardships and illness of the poor people in Kenya. She favours to spend her time usually in the company of Dr. Bluhm travelling through slums and communities, during her pregnancy, where she was kind of a good figure among the native villagers. After she gets murdered Justin sets out to find who caused the death of his wife and her companion and whether he finds his solution forms the rest of the story. The actors have done a splendid job in my opinion Fiennes as the literal gardener Justin Quayle the perfect dashing and sensitive heartthrob learns how much he loves his wife and he wants to bring the big pharmacy corporation down and bring dirty secrets out. Rachel Weisz is absolutely joyful as Tessa, a brilliant and determined social activist, unwavering in her pursuit to uncover the immoral research methods practiced at the expense of indigent Kenyan citizens. Weisz is radiant in every single shotwhich is quite an accomplishment considering that the actress was nine months pregnant, sweaty and without make-up in many scenes. Danny Huston is a peculiar choice to play Sandy, Justins devious colleague. He struggles with his fake British accent and a better choice of cast would have been a better choice for the character. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller My verdict The Constant Gardener is an elegant, absorbing, and suspenseful mystery with rich performances from the leads. Despite an unhurried opening, the energetic direction by Fernando Meirelles and admirable lead performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz make this adapted film an exciting and suspenseful thriller 4 broccolis out of 5

Television and Media Essay - Children and TV Violence :: Media Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Children and Television Violence      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The children of America spend their time on many different activities. One of the most time consuming activities is watching television.   Television plays a large role in the social and emotional development of children today. One good quality that television has is that it conveys information and happenings around the world that they may not otherwise know about, but some people have been questioning whether television does more harm than good.   Many have been analyzing what affect violence in adult shows as well as children's shows may have on children.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most parents allow their children to watch so called "kid's shows" without even thinking about what might be contained within them.   How many times has a certain hunter been seen hunting a certain "wascally wabbit"?   Most people would say "how can a cartoon about a man hunting affect a child?"   At first it may seem that it has no effect, but, looking closer, it is easy to see that Bugs Bunny has many human traits. Two of these traits are speaking English and walking upright.   Something else that adds to this is that sometimes children cannot make the distinction between fantasy and reality.   Quickly a cartoon about a man hunting a rabbit can turn into a story of murder.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another cartoon character that may harm children is Yosimite Sam.   When he becomes angry, he begins to fire his pair of guns into the air and at other characters.   This could cause children to act violently to appease their anger.   This includes hitting and throwing things.   This is an extreme view of the situation, but who is to say that at least part of it is not true?      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Children see violence everyday in their cartoons, but what about shows that they watch in which people star.   These shows will more than likely cause more violence than cartoons would.   While watching a show such as "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" a child sees almost 30 minutes of non-stop fighting.   The show also has a fantasy story that appeals to children.   After watching the show, a child may become bored because the reality of the television show is more interesting.   The child then imitates what was seen on television.   This is where the actual violence may begin.   Adult shows and movies that are seen by children could have even worse effects than children's shows.   In one documented case, a Californian boy that was seven years old watched a movie one night.   In the movie, a man put glass into soup that a colleague of his was to eat.

How to Train your Dragon Essay -- Film Review, Vikings

In the film, How to Train Your Dragon, the Vikings are at war, fighting for their institutions and peace from their existential threat, the Dragons. The Vikings are in a society in which the institutions reflect their historical struggles and have shaped them to be close-minded to any peaceful interaction with Dragons. Thus, in How to Train Your Dragon, the institutions that the Vikings had, represented what Rousseau saw as being a society with a self-interest social contract of the majority. This causes estrangement between their civilization and the Dragons. The Vikings eventually form a new social contract, in which the Vikings and Dragons represent Rousseau's general will of equality as rationally as possible given the Dragons are not on the same intellect level. The Vikings formed a society that’s institutions caused a loss in compassion and was focused on self-interest. Institutions being: â€Å"The organizational structure through which political power is exercised† (116). Rousseau believed â€Å"that all of society, not just political society, is corrupt† (58). This moral corruption that exists is caused by the formation of institutions that set the basis for a group identity and beliefs, the Vikings. Group identity is, â€Å"the degree to which members identify with a group† (56). This identity leads to an estrangement among those who are outsiders. The institutions promote the use of collective action: â€Å"A coordinated group activity designed to achieve a common goal that individuals acting on their own could not otherwise attain† (42). This collective action is the Vikings pursue to destroy the Dragon population. The Vikings view the Dragons as â€Å"pest† who steal their food and destroy t heir land (How to Train Your Dragon). So, the i... ...tutions it creates â€Å"makes people focus on their individual desires, robs them of the compassion, and promotes inequality† (58). The estrangement that grew between the Dragons and Vikings is proved to be caused by the formation of the society’s institutions because they destroyed the image of the Dragons, and set the social expectations that one must do to be part of the Viking’s cultural identity. The friendship that grew between Hiccup and Toothless destroyed the beliefs and practices of the Vikings institutions, which believed dragons were only evil and must be destroyed. This destruction of the institutions creditability led to the new social contract between the Dragons and Vikings. This represented what Rousseau believed to be a â€Å"perfect world† of which the general will is the sovereign and is â€Å"a government that rules for everyone at nobody’s expense† (58).

See Father He is Big and Strong :: essays research papers fc

Has anyone ever deliberately left you? Left you alone, feeling deserted, isolated, and by yourself? Imagine you were abandoned by those who were supposed to love you from the day you were born until this present day. How would that make you feel? In Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, she examines the causes, effects, and consequences of abandonment through one character, Cholly Breedlove. As well as the ways he eventually destroys himself and also those around him. Even before his birth, Cholly Breedlove has felt the vicious sting of loneliness. Cholly Breedlove was born to a young mother who, after four days of life, discarded him in "the rim of a tire under a soft black Georgia sky" (133). His father decided to leave his mother even before Cholly was born. Fortunately, he was rescued by his Great Aunt Jimmy, who raised him thereafter. He grew an intense love for his Aunt Jimmy, but her death marked the first of many episodes that began a downward spiral of his adolescent life. At Aunt Jimmy’s funeral, Cholly is placed into a traumatic world of racism when two white hunters interrupt him having clumsy sexual intercourse with a young girl, Darlene. He immediately transfers his angry energy to Darlene because he realizes that hating two white men would not be the smartest thing to do in a segregated racist world. â€Å"Never did he once consider directing his hatred toward the hunters. Such an emotion would have destroyed him†¦--that hating them would have consumed him, burned him up like a piece of soft coal, leaving only flakes of as and a question mark of smoke† (119). The white men are out of his reach, and Cholly grows to hate and kill white men. His masculinity was revoked when those two men forced him to continue having sex while they hilariously watched. Cholly abandoned Darlene when he found out she might be pregnant; most likely because he was abandoned by his father as a child. "He had to get away. Never mind the fact that he was leaving that very day†¦Cholly knew it was wrong to run out on a pregnant girl, and recalled, with sympathy, that his father had done just that to him. Now he understood. He knew then what he must do--find his father. His father would understand" (120). After being â€Å"abandoned in a junk heap by his mother, rejected for a crap game by his father, there was nothing more to lose† with Cholly Breedlove.

A Class Divided: the Effect of Discrimination in One Life Essay

The most interesting part of A Class Divided is when the students were tested on their knowledge on the days of when they had to wear the collar and when they had it off. The test scores were higher when the collars were removed. It is amazing that discrimination can mentally affect someone academically. Discrimination is a powerful weapon that can harm anyone, no matter where you are in the social class. My opinion on the video is that no matter what race or ethnic group you are, there is always a way that discrimination can affect you. I believe that although minority groups are more vulnerable to discrimination, the dominant group has a flaw in which can be discriminated by other races or ethnic groups. The most common discrimination occurs to African American people, just because of skin color. Discrimination among Asian people occurs because most people would think that all Asian people are Chinese. It is also known as a stereotype that Asian people’s eye sizes are small, which is not in every case at all. Another stereotype is that all Asian families own either a restaurant or a convenience store. Although there are a few Asian families that do own a business, most families do not have the benefit of owning one of their own. Japanese people were being harshly discriminated during World War II because of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Asian people, however, did not receive as much discrimination as an African American person or a woman. African Americans were discriminated since the beginning of civilization, starting out as slaves to a more dominant group. In the United States of America, African Americans earned their freedom after the civil war, but were still discriminated harshly. Jim Crow laws were placed to limit the freedom of African Americans. Eventually, civil rights movements occurred with Martin Luther King, Jr. leading the movement. Women were also discriminated harshly in the past. Women were considered as property of their husband. Human rights of women were very few, or none at all. Women were always at home cooking, cleaning, or taking care of the children. Women were not able to fully get their rights until they were able to receive their political rights. Different countries in the world granted women’s suffrage at different times. New Zealand was the first country to grant women their suffrage rights in 1893, while the United States granted women their voting rights in 1920. Right now, illegal immigrants from Mexico are being discriminated because they are working for low wages. Many United States citizens are outraged at the fact that their jobs are being replaced by illegal immigrants. Also, people from the Middle East are being discriminated for the actions of the terrorist group that Osama Bin Laden found, Al Qaeda. Even though most people from the Middle East are innocent, the terrifying horrors of 9/11 scarred their lives in the world. If everyone participated in Jane Elliot’s experiment on discrimination, the world would become many steps closer to world peace.

To Serve and Protect

Each police department believes that integrity and professionalism are the foundations for trust in the community. As trust is a significant element in the overall wellbeing of the society, a working police department must efficiently and effectively manifest integrity and professionalism in its actions so that trust from the community will be earned. The central question, however, is exactly how to achieve such an end. Being a police officer is not an easy task as what others may be inclined to believe.Quite on the contrary, being a police officer is almost synonymous, if not entirely the same, with risking one’s life on the line of duty. It does not take a genius to think that police officers face the risks of â€Å"endangering their lives precisely because of the nature of their work† (Ashenhust, p. 605). Being a police officer, the tasks include almost everyday dealings with dangerous criminals, first time public offenders who pose unpredictable threats to the publi c, or the â€Å"unpredictable public environment† teeming with â€Å"potential hazards to ordinary citizens† (Ashenhust, p. 605).As such, balancing one’s responsibilities and one’s performance in the department is perhaps one of the primary concerns of being a police officer. There are no shortcuts in achieving such a goal. To say the least, the efforts of law enforcing agents to meet their responsibilities is already a given or is already expected that perhaps the primary concern of the officer apart from meeting one’ responsibilities should be the prerogative of establishing good rapport with the public for several good reasons. The credibility of every police officer and of the entire police department is directly affected by the performance of the police agents.As the performance of these agents builds the corresponding image of the police department, it should be the case that the police agents should strive to attain a good performance that w ill consequently raise the image of the whole department. Since the police department is one of the many government institutions built around the directive of serving the people by providing the needed and ample services to the public, it is imperative that the very structure of the police department must be one which is devoid of internal flaws or, at least, has limited flaws (Block, p. 91).In order to do this, requirements for prospective police officers such as those applying for the various police positions must be structured according to the principles under which the department is founded. A careful background check with regard to the personal background of the prospective police officers must be secured first so that no ‘black sheep’ will be included from among the roster of law enforcing agents. Moreover, police departments must see to it that they serve the public with sincerity since an element for building trust is the characteristic of being genuine.In effec t, the mentality of the police officer must be patterned in accordance to the spirit of the principles embodying the government’s law enforcing arm. The police officer must act in accordance to his duties not only because he or she is compelled to do so. Far more importantly, the police officer should act as if the task of being a police officer is not a mere task that must be fulfilled but a task which is treated deeply as if it defines the very existence of the law enforcers. It is not enough to merely act because one is required to do so.Rather, police officers must begin to realize the thought that acting one’s duty not out of necessity but out of one’s personal drive is far more rewarding, if not for the police department at least for the self. To achieve such a feat, moral building activities must be pursued every once in a while in order to maintain the level of sincerity of the police officers. Enrichment activities specifically geared towards refining a nd realigning the sincerity of the police officers must be pursued so that the police officers will not lose track of the morality behind principled law enforcement.By being able to successfully maintain a considerable and observable level of sincerity towards the provision of services to the public, the people will not hesitate to build their trust around the police officers. This is because a legion of police officers being able to sufficiently meet the needs of the community in terms of protection will be able to attract the positive attention of the public. This positive attention on the other hand will expand the good relations between the police officers and the public inasmuch as the police services are sustained.A positive correlation of a form of relationship between the two creates a more sincere atmosphere. As sincerity translates to a heightened sense of integrity and professionalism, police officers will most likely gain the trust of the community. Further, each police officer should be committed to an open and honest relationship with the community. By this we mean to say that every existing police officer and department must be able to create a harmonious coexistence with the community.Although building such an atmosphere is not an easy task, it is nevertheless a possible feat, achievable through the initiative of either the law enforcing agencies or the public, perhaps even both at the same time, or if not, the former case will be more preferred. There are many ways to achieve, and most of these measures are already used in most organizations. For one, every department of the police must have the attitude of establishing rapport with the community as it can benefit both sides in many ways. Establishing rapport with community can be achieved through an open communication with the community.A form of this type is an open dialogue with the individuals of the community every now and then, say at least once a month, so that the police departments ar e able to â€Å"get updated with the recent developments from amongst the members of the community† and the whole community in the long run (Goldstein, p. 1123). Being able to create an open dialogue with the public reconsolidates the relationship between police officers and the public. But that is not to say that the police should abandon the objective of sustaining this relationship after a short period.Quite on the contrary, police officers should take all the chances and efforts of maintaining this rapport. Constant communication with the public—even in simple cases where patrolling police officers can have simple conversation with passing commuters or people attending to their businesses along the streets—aside from open dialogues between the department and the community can be effective means of reinforcing the open communication and harmonious relationship between police officers and the public.Another way of creating a rapport between the law enforcing d epartments and the community is to consistently visit and monitor the vicinity where the individuals in the community live in order to have direct contact with the people. This ensures that the people within the community are able to get a firsthand experience of interacting with the police officers. It amounts to increasing the feeling of security for the people which in turn furnishes an open relationship between the two sides.For the most part, an ‘honest’ police department is a branch of the law enforcing agencies which â€Å"does not hide anything from what the public must essentially know since police departments are still branches of the government† created for the people (Huddleston and Sands, p. 139). Hence, one way of maintaining an ‘honest’ relationship from both sides is to keep track of the police developments, update the public about these developments, and keep a record for police activities so that the public will be guided accordingl y.An ‘open’ relationship, on the other hand, entails the presupposition that the public should not hide things in which the police departments must primarily get a grasp on. Conversely, police authorities must also provide the public the vital information they are presumed to know. This can be achieved through a public information dissemination campaign such as public bulletins were police announcements can be placed. In summary, every institution of the police department firmly believes that integrity and professionalism are the key foundations for building trust with the community.Likewise, every department of the police should be committed to an open and honest relationship with the community. These two codes of ethics make it quite certain that an effective and efficient police body will be maintained while at the same time having a community which responds in accordance to the policies being offered by the police departments. A seamless cooperation between the poli ce department and the community can be achieved when proper codes of ethics are greatly taken into account. Indeed, being a police officer is no easy task as some may believe it to be.The dangers of being a police officer are as real as they get, and the tasks are equally heavy. Being a police officer means to serve and to protect not only in terms of serving and protecting the interest of the public but the very integrity of every police department as well. It is like a two sided responsibility where one is inextricable from the other. The fulfillment of one is never enough as well as with the other. That is, being of true service necessitates a good, if not better, performance for the police department and, more importantly, for the public.Works Cited Ashenhust, P. H. â€Å"Being a Police Officer. † The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 49. 6 (1995): 605. Block, Richard L. â€Å"Fear of Crime and Fear of the Police. † Social Problems 19. 1 (199 1): 91. Goldstein, H. â€Å"Police Policy Formulation: A Proposal for Improving Police Performance. † Michigan Law Review 65. 6 (1997): 1123. Huddleston, M. W. , and J. C. Sands. â€Å"Enforcing Administrative Ethics. † Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 537 (1995): 139.