Knowledge Is Power Essay

In all honesty, prior to reading Jake Helpern’s articles and meeting him in person, I thought he was some older white guy with a slightly boring style of writing as well as being even more boring in person, but somehow everyone else finds his work fascinating. But since I needed some extra credit points, I took on the challenge of the assignment. Glad to announce my notions of Jake Helpern were totally wrong. Reading Jake Helpern’s articles were like reading a well written novel. His stories had flare, suspense, character, drama and even a touch of sorrow and empathy. For the most part his articles were not just engaging but also very informative. Content versus Form, Content wins. In person, Jake appeared to be just one of the guys. Nothing fancy about himself, very humble and charismatic. After listening to Jake speak briefly about his life, family and his pursuit of his innate being, you can tell he’s sincere and dedicated to his craft and family. Jake was also instrumental in terms of being relative due to his Western New York origins. He can relate to Buffalonians and our struggle as a city in a financial crisis, where one side of the city’s future is in question while another side of the city’s future looks lucrative. If the question is posed if Jake’s articles are a considered artwork, I would agree and disagree. The two articles we covered in class, I believe Jake wrote them with an artistic style of writing. To me, artwork is anything not ephemeral. Jake’s articles can be preserved, but not on the same scale as the Great Pyramids of Egypt or the Tajmahal in India. However, his articles can also be considered non-fiction. Through this experience, I pondered on becoming a writer. I learned academically as well as personal discovery of myself. If Jake were to return to speak again, I’m there.

Types of Racism

Racism should not be ignored. There are two types of racism in the world. The two types of racism are overt racism and institutional racism. â€Å"Overt racism, especially in its contribution to the racist impact of qualification requirements on blacks. † 1. Overt racism contributes to a social and residential segregation, thereby isolating blacks at every income level from white society. â€Å"As a result of overtly racist â€Å"last-hired, first fired† policies toward blacks and the favoring of whites for on-the-job training, many blacks have been unable to gain work experience, particularly special working skills. 2. Overt racist action is when harm is inflicted or a benefit withheld either because of the perpetrator†s racial bias against the victim or because the perpetuator is prejudice of others. Institutional racism is when a person or firm has a practice that is race-neutral but still has an adverse impact in blacks as a group. Institutional racism also reinforces future racism by contributing to the presence of blacks at the bottom of the employment level. â€Å"The adverse effect on blacks of these neutral practices also contributes to the perpetuation of racist attitudes. 3. Individuals growing up in a society where blacks are visibly predominant in the lowest jobs tend to believe that blacks naturally belong there. â€Å"Recent studies show that less-educated workers can be trained by employers for skilled positions that are frequently reserved for college graduates. † 4. Black academics were initially excluded by racist attitudes from many white departments. Whites who are no more productive than blacks will tend to receive a better payoff. â€Å"Whites have eleven times the wealth of blacks; one-third of all blacks have no major assets what so ver except for the cash that they have on hand. † 5. Blacks wanted to get rid of Jim Crow laws. Jim laws made blacks segregated from the white community. Blacks couldn†t use white facilities to buy products instead, blacks had to buy from their facilities. â€Å"A University of Chicago investigation showed that because of persistent prejudice suburban blacks are more likely to suffer segregation than other minorities of equal income and social status. † 6. There were other signs of racism in the past like the trading of blacks slaves from Africa. Blacks who didn†t want to be a slave either revolted against their masters or committed suicide. Masters were very harsh on the blacks. Masters would punish and beat the slaves for no reason. There were a lot of anti-racist role models that were heroes to the blacks. Rosa Parks was famous role model because she stood up for what she believed in. She sat in the bus seat not letting any white sit in her seat. Rosa Parks was arrested for that reason. Because of her actions that she took after she got out of jail, racial segregation became illegal. Elizabeth Eckford braved the angry white crowds by herself when she was the first black person to get accepted into Little Rock High, which was an all white school. Martin Luther king Jr. was another brave role model. Martin Luther King Jr. always made flights to states to help the community win over racial segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. always brought huge crowds wherever he made a speech. He made very inspiring speeches to the blacks, which gave them more courage to protest against the whites. Martin Luther King Jr. was probably the most inspiring person this century because he led the blacks to freedom. He is so inspiring that he will become a saint. Segregation started in the late 1980s even though slavery existed for more than two hundred years. Segregation laws were rapidly affecting blacks. More laws were made in the early 1900s because of the inspiration of Jim Crow laws. â€Å"During the second half of the 1980s, racial violence against blacks increased nationwide. In 1988, a white supremacist movement of violent skin-headed youths, whose weapons included knives, baseball bats, and their own steel-toed boots, sprang up spontaneously in cities throughout the nation. 7. This lowered the blacks courage to fight against the whites. â€Å"Many blacks are excluded by requirements for work experience because as students they have been barred from white schools where relevant training was available or had been denied work experience and training by prejudice supervisors and employers. â€Å"8. Blacks lack of personal connections to the job market, but it arises in large part from segregation created by overtly racist practices. â€Å"As job losers, blacks tend to move down to unskilled temporary work, or to no work at all. † 9. Since blacks can†t find good jobs, they usually make the community bad by stealing and joining gangs to keep themselves alive. â€Å"It is still true that the more disagreeable the job, the greater the chance of finding a high proportion of blacks doing it. † 10. Cities don†t know that they need to have better working conditions for blacks or they will have as much suffer as blacks do. â€Å"Hiring by personal connections also tends to keep blacks at the bottom of the occupational ladder. † 11. It keeps them down because blacks don†t have many connections to people who own a store. Blacks felt the racist impact of such past hiring discrimination when, as less senior, they were less likely to gain work promotion and more likely to lose their jobs in economic recessions. † 12. Whites have been the first in line for hiring, training, promotion, and desirable job positions because of racism. White people either have been responsible for racism or have passively benefited from it. Since there are firms that don†t hire blacks in very low wages, white people have to either take the jobs and get low payment and bad working conditions, or don†t take the job and don†t get anything to help the community that the job provides. The whites also benefited from racism. Whites tend to get more promotions because there are no black competitions. Whites also benefited from housing discrimination where racism was strong. There have been a lot of cases of mass murders in a county. There was a case where, in one summer, eighty blacks have been beaten, thirty-five shot, five murdered, and more that twenty churches burnt down by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Most KKK members usually got away for the murders and damages they committed. KKK members only started getting accused after segregation became illegal. But still, only blacks who were brutally murdered had a trial against the KKK. KKK groups are very confident about passing through a conviction. The KKK was always there where the black protesters were. They were there to intimidate them. They also wanted to start a fight whenever they had an opportunity too. â€Å"The isolation of blacks from white society is also sustained by widespread racist attitudes that exclude blacks from white clubs and social circles where networks leading to jobs are formed. † 13. Blacks not only suffer from discrimination but being isolated from a white community. Blacks lack personal connections to residents of all-white suburbs where many new jobs have been created. † 14. The adverse effect on blacks is exacerbated when suburban employers rely on walk-in applicants from these neighborhoods. â€Å"According to a 1981 study, black school districts in the black belt states receive less funding and inferior education by comparison with economically similar white districts, in a part as a result of local (white) decision making. † 15. White decision-making affects blacks a lot because the whites want to help their school funding more than the blacks school funding. The racism of government practices encouraged race discrimination by landlords who blocked the escape of blacks from ghettos, and by employers and unions who refused to hire, promote, or train them, as well as widespread communication of an insulting stereotype of blacks, derogatory to their ability and character. † 16. Because racist treatment of blacks in business and professional reduced family income, it hurt their sons and daughters. â€Å"Among these black parents injuries, they suffered discrimination policies of federal agencies in allocation of business loans, low-interest mortgages, agrarian price supporters, and government contracts. 17. There are a lot of different remedies for almost every issue involving racism. One of the reasons for avoiding racism is that blacks willingness to accept lower wages and adverse working conditions reduce labor†s bargaining power generally with management. â€Å"Although long-term black employees have the benefit of high sonority ranking, after the 1964 Civil Rights Act many continued to suffer the racist impact of departmental sonority arrangements. † 18. Under such arrangements, a worker who transfers from one department to another loses all sonority credit.   Because of programs that help families over racism, black children start to have more black role models, which creates more self-confidence. â€Å"Complaints can be lodged in a court or administration under title seven of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits such discrimination, and may be pursued against a firm or a union on behalf of an identifiable individual or group. † 19. Other ways of avoiding racism could be real dangerous. One way is to stand firm where there are firms who practice racism. Doing this would give blacks a chance to end racism in that firm. Blacks could move away if they feel too intimidated by the whites. â€Å"In some situations where blacks are notoriously scarce, the courts have approved â€Å"set-asides,† which unlike goals, reserve a specific number of positions for minorities only. † 20. They could also hold strikes against the government facilities so that they would stop the racism in the community. â€Å"Because blacks are disproportionately represented in the bottom-level positions, their personal recruitment tends to maintain occupational segregation. † 21. There are other things that help blacks like some programs that give shelter, food, clothing, and caring. One more way is to ignore the people who are intimidating you. Almost every remedy has its adverse effects. Complaint remedies could be deficient in a number of ways. â€Å"Since the complaint remedy requires proof of bias, it does not apply to institutional race-neutral policies. Yet qualification standards can be manipulated by prejudiced employers to exclude blacks, especially, as we have seen, vague personality standards.

Assess the View That Traditional Class Identities

These groups are the working class, middle class and upper class. However now some believe there isn’t this social class division within society and that everyone is equal. People that would agree traditional class identities are no longer important are postmodernists. These have the view that class no longer really matters in modern Britain and that now people no longer identify themselves according to their class background. Clarke and Saunders (1991) would agree with the view of postmodernists. They suggest that classes have become fragmented into many different groups and now they have been replaced with other influences such as gender and lifestyles. Although they is some evidence which suggests these ideas are exaggerated. Marshall’s survey into how people view themselves showed people still see social class as a source of identity. The traditional working class was a group of people that was developed after the industrialisation when they were need for large amounts of manual workers. This group formed a strong sense on culture and identity. These were strong moral values, having men as the breadwinner and women as housewives and believing getting a job is more important than having an education. The traditional working class also saw the labour party as the party for the working class as it represented their interests, as pointed out in item B. Although now many people in the working class vote for different parties as they don’t all agree on what is important now in society, supporting the idea that traditional class identities are no longer important. Now also the manufacturing business as changed a lot, this means now they aren’t the same jobs available as they would have been before as they have been replaced with things such as machines that can do a faster and cheaper job. Therefore the working class has had to change the sort of jobs they do over time which may be a reason for the change in characteristics, and therefore making the traditional class identities now no longer important. Diamond and Giddens agree with this as they argue that the working class is no longer important because of the change in the economy that as lead to the decline of manual labour jobs, and that the working class isn’t now the only class which experiences economic and social eprivation. The new working class is now seen to have little loyalty to others within the same class, more emphasis on customer goods, high levels of home ownership, and women likely to be employed. There is also now a larger section of the working class, this may be down to some working class jobs now becoming more skilful therefore getting higher pay, which others become less skilful and get lower pay, meaning people in the same class may identify themselves every differently. However there are sociologists that believe traditional class identities are still very important, for example Marxists. They believe social class is still hugely influential in shaping our identities. They also believe social class is identified by your income, and that leisure wouldn’t define your identity as you would need the disposable income to afford it. The British Attitudes Survey supported this idea, because in 2007 it found still 94% of people still identified themselves with a social class, whereas only 6% didn’t. Overall the importance of traditional class identities are seen every differently by different people. Views which agree and disagree to the importance of traditional class identities still being important have both positives and negatives so it’s hard to just believe one view point is the truth and the other doesn’t matter. Therefore I believe both viewpoints have sufficient evidence and that traditional class identities are still important to an extent, however now there is also other factors that can make up our identity other than just our social class. Assess the View That Traditional Class Identities These groups are the working class, middle class and upper class. However now some believe there isn’t this social class division within society and that everyone is equal. People that would agree traditional class identities are no longer important are postmodernists. These have the view that class no longer really matters in modern Britain and that now people no longer identify themselves according to their class background. Clarke and Saunders (1991) would agree with the view of postmodernists. They suggest that classes have become fragmented into many different groups and now they have been replaced with other influences such as gender and lifestyles. Although they is some evidence which suggests these ideas are exaggerated. Marshall’s survey into how people view themselves showed people still see social class as a source of identity. The traditional working class was a group of people that was developed after the industrialisation when they were need for large amounts of manual workers. This group formed a strong sense on culture and identity. These were strong moral values, having men as the breadwinner and women as housewives and believing getting a job is more important than having an education. The traditional working class also saw the labour party as the party for the working class as it represented their interests, as pointed out in item B. Although now many people in the working class vote for different parties as they don’t all agree on what is important now in society, supporting the idea that traditional class identities are no longer important. Now also the manufacturing business as changed a lot, this means now they aren’t the same jobs available as they would have been before as they have been replaced with things such as machines that can do a faster and cheaper job. Therefore the working class has had to change the sort of jobs they do over time which may be a reason for the change in characteristics, and therefore making the traditional class identities now no longer important. Diamond and Giddens agree with this as they argue that the working class is no longer important because of the change in the economy that as lead to the decline of manual labour jobs, and that the working class isn’t now the only class which experiences economic and social eprivation. The new working class is now seen to have little loyalty to others within the same class, more emphasis on customer goods, high levels of home ownership, and women likely to be employed. There is also now a larger section of the working class, this may be down to some working class jobs now becoming more skilful therefore getting higher pay, which others become less skilful and get lower pay, meaning people in the same class may identify themselves every differently. However there are sociologists that believe traditional class identities are still very important, for example Marxists. They believe social class is still hugely influential in shaping our identities. They also believe social class is identified by your income, and that leisure wouldn’t define your identity as you would need the disposable income to afford it. The British Attitudes Survey supported this idea, because in 2007 it found still 94% of people still identified themselves with a social class, whereas only 6% didn’t. Overall the importance of traditional class identities are seen every differently by different people. Views which agree and disagree to the importance of traditional class identities still being important have both positives and negatives so it’s hard to just believe one view point is the truth and the other doesn’t matter. Therefore I believe both viewpoints have sufficient evidence and that traditional class identities are still important to an extent, however now there is also other factors that can make up our identity other than just our social class.

The various types of pollution, their causes, effects and solutions Essay

The various types of pollution, their causes, effects and solutions - Essay Example The paper tells that the modern world has witnessed an increasing rate of pollution touching all aspects of the environment; for instance, there is air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, and land pollution. Pollution can be defined as the introduction of a contaminant into the environment, caused by human activities; however, pollution can yield disastrous results on vegetation, human beings, and animals (Degobert 21). All kinds of pollution have serious repercussions to the universe, health, and economy. According to the guardian, Kyoto Protocol plays a huge role in reducing pollutions by countries; here, the member countries agree to reduce gas emissions with an aim of protecting the environment. The guardian also adds that the United States has reduced its emission for the past 2 years, while India is ranked the third as the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, and China continues to emit more carbon dioxide. In the United States, 3million tones of harmful chemicals are re leased in the air, land, and water; such waste leads to the loss of 15million acres of land annually. Health-wise, pollution interferes with the human respiratory system, causing complications. The lakes and rivers become too polluted and as a result, not benefiting human beings at all. However, industries are not solely responsible for pollution, instead, agricultural activities and other human activities such as driving contribute to pollution as well. This paper will discuss the various types of pollution, their causes, effects and solutions. Forms of Pollution The common types of pollution are air pollution, water pollution, land pollution and noise pollution. Air Pollution Causes Air pollution is mainly caused by carbon emissions from industrial activities, cars’ fumes, electric generation, domestic heating, and construction among others (Stankovic, Campbell, & Harries 19). Carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming, as it is one of the largest among the green house gasses. The process of

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Research Paper Example Depending on the severity of the problem, professionals choose an appropriate means of treatment of OCD among cognitive-behavioural therapy, pharmacotherapy, and neurosurgery; the latter is regarded as less effective. Overall, obsessive compulsive disorder is often underdiagnosed and undertreated, which means it requires more attention on the part of specialists as well as patients’ families. Obsessive compulsive disorder (abbreviated and usually used as OCD) is an anxiety disorder which is characterized by â€Å"recurrent obsessions and / or compulsions that interfere substantially with daily functioning† (Foa & Franklin, 2001). In this context, obsessions are defined as recurrent and unwanted thoughts, images or impulses which cause great anxiety. Individuals with OCD try to suppress and ignore these thoughts with other actions and / or thoughts, and they recognize the fact that the ideas and thoughts are only products of their mind (Abramowitz, Taylor & McKey, 2009). Among the most wide-spread obsessions are fear to causing harm to other people, fear of contamination, fear of behaving in an inappropriate way, fear of harm coming to self, fear of making a mistake, religious, sexual obsessions etc. (Heyman, Mataix-Cols & Fineberg, 2006). Compulsions are defined as repetitive mental acts or behaviours a person, who suffers from OCD, performs in response to obsessi on with the aim to prevent some daunting event or to reduce distress (Abramowitz, Taylor & McKey, 2009). The most common compulsions as the following ones: cleaning, hoarding, checking, handwashing, ordering and arranging, asking for reassurance (behaviours); ruminations, repeating words silently, counting (mental acts) (Heyman, Mataix-Cols & Fineberg, 2006). In accordance with Yaryura-Tobias and Neziroglu (1997), there are two groups of symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder,

Benchmarking Research Paper for Streamlining the Budgeting and

Benchmarking for Streamlining the Budgeting and Purchasing process of Public Safety Departments - Research Paper Example This aids public sector departments to challenge the way they do things and utilize their finite resources better, which may have significant impacts on public sector outcomes. The paper explores key institutional drivers that may contribute to enhancing public sector efficiency on aspects such as benchmarking (performance information) and its role in the budget process. Benchmarking Research Paper Introduction Benchmarking infers the process of gauging one’s business processes and performance metrics to other industry bests or best practices. The term refers to the incessant process for monitoring and learning from the work processes, products, or services of other organizations appreciated as representing the best practices, in the effort of process improvement. Benchmarking is a tool that aids to enhance the efficiency of business processes or to minimize the output costs. The benchmarking of processes, such as budgeting and purchasing, avails organizations with the necessa ry information regarding how competently the services are provided to the community. Benchmarking avails a prospect to discover the best practices for service delivery within the public sector departments (Zairi, 2001). ... This facilitates learning on how well the targets perform and the business processes that explain why the target firms are successful. Public administration literature prominently cites three general approaches to benchmarking applicable to the public sector. These approaches include process-improvement benchmarking, strategic benchmarking, and target benchmarking. Benchmarking avails a tool for public sector managers to cope with the changing needs of their constituents. Process improvement benchmarking (corporate-style benchmarking) equates to looking at industry best practices and replicating or adapting them to fit one’s own organization (Curristine, Lonti & Journard, 2007). Targeting infers the process of the setting of goals and objectives to be attained via strategic planning actions. In this form of benchmarking, the present conditions are analyzed and then compared to a certain target (vision) or condition in the future that is desired. The Benchmarking Process The be nchmarking process can be conceived as a four-phase process; plan, collect, analyze, and adapt. Benchmarking involves a number of activities, which include discovering the problem, establishing criteria for solutions, searching for promising practices, implementing promising practices and monitoring progress. Prior to engaging in benchmarking, it is crucial for managers to highlight the problem or activities that need to be benchmarked. The core activities identified may be essential to giving the organization a competitive edge (Stapenhurst, 2009). Establishing the criteria for solutions aid the organization to minimize omissions and errors and obtain a boost on its strategic goals, its primary business processes, and critical success

Housing Estate in Cold-Water Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Housing Estate in Cold-Water - Case Study Example This report pertains to the development of Cold waters housing initiative as apparent from the computer-graphed image above which will mean that the current map of the Cold-Water will have a large number of landscape changes made to it with a possible usage of land swaps and remodeling.At the outset it is possible to see from the graphically configured diagram of the Waterside View above it can be seen that it is not only a housing area but the inclusion of the aquatic leisure centre is all set to increase the commercial value of the estate. The plan is to focus upon terraced houses and low rise flats for an increase in the landscape beauty. The housing estate will be complete with a new leisure centre ,a public covered swimming pool, a training pool, and generous opportunities for gymnastic and sports activities. It is also planned that there will be two nearby single storey retail warehouses with expansive surface car parking for them and n restaurants/cafes with outside seating areas for the summer. All vehicle servicing will be underground. As mentioned before the housing plan includes a lot of low rise flats which will be around this commercial property and a liberal amount of landscaping will be provided from the dock area above. This area was formerly a low wage income area before the government too initiatives to bring out the commercial potential of this place. The residential housing is for both commercial and council purposes. There is a total of 55,600 sq m of residential housing available 60% of which is based on the PFI initiative and will be sold or leased back to the Local Government.The problem here is that due to the lack of labour etc there are likely to be delays in building which may cause fines being imposed upon the constructing firms.These delays may also be aggravated by the scientific protests going on. The idea for the commercial accommodation is feasible enough as the plan includes reasonably priced properties along with balconies and roof gardens and secure car-parking underground. The demographics, densities and styles around the locality and styles of local housing developments There are many neighbourhoods surrounding Cold water like as Steel Town, Chemical Town, Coal Town where is there is a rampant issue of economic decline and a change in function. New