Examine the Characteristics of Mystical and Conversion Experiences Essay Example for Free

Examine the Characteristics of Mystical and Conversion Experiences Essay wo well-known categories of religious experience are Conversion and Mystical experiences. Throughout history there have been many reports of people having these religious experiences, and not all of the recipients are necessarily Christian in belief. Famous examples of conversion experiences include St Paul on the road to Damascus, and an example of a mystical experience could be the story of Theresa of Avila. Firstly I am going to look at the characteristics of mystical experiences, followed by an example of a mystical experience that I shall analyse before moving on to doing the same for conversion experiences. A philosopher called William James has designed a series of tests to see if a mystical experience conforms to a pattern that has arisen through the history of these experiences. William James said that the receiver of the religious experience should be passive, i.e. does not go out of his or her way to trigger the experience, it happens to them without their provoking it. The experience should be ineffable in that in the aftermath the receiver finds it very difficult to describe what had happened and how they had felt in normal communication, thirdly that there is a noetic quality to these experiences, meaning that some truth or great fact is revealed to the recipient of the experience. Finally the experience should be transient, this means that the actual experience should not take very long at all, perhaps a few hours, but afterwards it has a very long, if not lifelong impact on the person who had the experience. Mystical experiences often have an example of the defying of the laws of nature and physics, for example the hearing of voices or seeing of visions, or receiving of the wounds of Christ, the Stigmata, that came from nowhere and have no rational explanation. An example of a mystical experience, as I mentioned earlier, is the story of Theresa of Avila. Theresa was a Carmelite nun who had been raised as being deeply religious; when her mother died she turned to the Virgin Mary and became a nun. Throughout her life she was often seriously ill and during these bouts of illness she claimed to have experienced religious ecstasy, in which she saw a cherub repeatedly stabbing her in the stomach with a fiery spear, and where he stabbed her she felt bliss and pain equally. In one bout of sickness she lost the use of her legs for three years, and during this time she stopped praying until she was convinced by a priest to start again. Not long after she began praying again she experienced holy delights from God, which were moments when her senses were overwhelmed by the presence of God. Alongside this she experienced the levitation, meaning that she claimed to have had her body raised off of the ground by the Holy Spirit. The levitation is the main mystical experience of Theresa’s life; this is a very clear example of how the laws of nature are defied by the power of God. The experience is passive as she was ill in bed at the time, it wasn’t ineffable however as she could clearly explain what had happened, however the experiences of having her senses overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit that accompany the levitation certainly were ineffable. There was no great truth revealed directly but there is a lesson in her story. And that is that the Lord will watch over and take care of us when we are sick. It is hard to tell whether or not the experience was transient, as while the levitation took place over just a few minutes, we cannot know how deep an impact it had on Theresa, as she was already deeply religious, we cannot easily see how she changed as a person. Now we move onto conversion experiences, the most key characteristic of a conversion experience is that the recipient of the experience has a complete switch around of their religious beliefs, they are converted. This conversion stays in place for the rest of the experiencer’s life, the religious experience is transient. Conversion experiences can be either gradual or sudden, meaning that a person’s beliefs can change over time due to different stimuli or events, or they can change swiftly as a result of an undeniably holy action. An important fact to remember when discussing conversion experiences is that they can occur not just in regards to an individual’s religious beliefs, they can also impact on political and social ideals as well, and these kinds of conversions follow the same pattern as that of religious experiences. The example of a conversion experience I am going to talk about is the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus. Before his conversion Paul, or Saul as he was known, was a Pharisee who harshly persecuted the early Christians and was not in any way inclined to believe in the teachings of Jesus. One day Paul was riding down the road to Damascus, as he drew near to the city a light shone down from heaven and Paul was cast down to the ground, then he heard a voice saying â€Å"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me†? The voice identified itself as Jesus and instructed Paul to go to the city where he will be instructed further. The men accompanying Paul were amazed, as they had heard the voice, but had seen no man or any vision as Paul had. Paul opened his eyes, but found that he had been blinded, perhaps by the brilliant light, his men led him to the city and there he stayed, blind, not eating or drinking for three days. After the three days his sight returned, and he was convinced that he had seen the resurrected Christ. After the experience Paul could be found in the company of the disciples that were in Damascus, which shows a very large turn around in his ideals, because before the experience he would have arrested and persecuted those men. This story is a good example of a conversion experience as it shows a very big contrast in the subject before and after the experience, which is as I said previously, the main characteristic of a religious experience. To conclude the essay I would just like to summarise the characteristics of both mystical and conversion experiences, mystical experiences are most easily identified when evidence of supernatural even ts take place, such as the levitation, while conversion experiences are clearly shown in the change of the recipients religious or political ideals.

Affinity Orientation Discrimination Cases Study Essay Example for Free

Affinity Orientation Discrimination Cases Study Essay Imagine that you are a department manager and you find out that a man you work with has become a woman, or you find out a woman you work with enjoys the private company of woman, would these concepts cause you to discriminate against your employees in the workplace? Analysis of case studies, understanding applicable laws, and recommending clearly defined policies for the workplace will assist with understanding and preventing affinity orientation discrimination. It is important in todays workplace to have an intricate understanding of the difference between affinity orientation and the word sex as it pertains to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). The term sex referred to in Title VII represents the gender of an individual employee. Affinity orientation refers to the intimate relationship that an individual may have with another individual of the same gender, or an individuals desire to become the opposite gender, either temporarily or permanently. There are various types of affinity orientation, none of which are protected by Title VII (Bennett-Alexander, 2001 p.243). One example affinity orientation would be a woman who is a lesbian or a man who is gay. It is becoming increasingly popular for men and women to have a surgical procedure performed to become the opposite gender; this too is a form of affinity orientation. Affinity orientation has become a subject of adversity in the workforce as a result of there being little protection against discrimination for employees participating in the various types of affinity orientation. Case study analysis is a method that management can utilize to better understand affinity orientation in the workplace and preventing discrimination. Case Study #1 Michael is employed at ABC Hospital as an operating nurse. Michael had taken a leave of absence from work to have a gender change operation. Upon Michaels return to work at ABC Hospital Michael wanted to be addressed by  the name Michelle. Since Michelle completed the gender change surgical procedures she felt that she had the right to utilize the womens locker room and shower like all the other women employed at ABC Hospital. The male employees did not want Michelle to use the mens locker room because of her gender change. The women refused to share the womens locker room with Michelle, because the women knew of Michelles original gender. At ABC Hospital it is standard procedure for operating room nurses to wear unisex surgical scrubs. Therefore, I do not see the reason why she want use the men locker and shower room. Michelle is not wearing a uniform dress with a cap as a nurse while at work. I feel that she is still considered as a man. Michelle is hoping to file discrimination against her co-workers since having the sex change because no one is accepting her as a female. If she were hired as a male she should not feel discriminatory. I think that she should be accommodated with a locker room and shower that is for either a man or a woman. Case Study #2 Tracy is a lesbian who alleges that she has been denied an internal company promotion due to the fact that her department manager does not want to support her lesbian lifestyle. Mr. Green, Tracys department manager, is accused of discriminating against Tracy by not writing her a letter of recommendation for a promotion. Tracy feels that the excellent yearly performance reviews that Mr. Green wrote for her entitles her to obtain a letter of recommendation from Mr. Green. There are legitimate reasons for Tracys discrimination claim to be denied. Title VII offers protection against discrimination at the workplace; however, Title VII does not protect against affinity orientation in the workplace. There are no federal laws that prevent a person from being fired or refused a job on the basis of affinity orientation. There are however, the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, that offer freedom of speech, the right to privacy, and equal  protection under law (Bennett-Alexander, 2001, p.243). Tracy does not have a discrimination claim against her department manager Mr. Green as a result of affinity orientation. Tracys supervisor Mr. Green gave her excellent annual performance evaluations that are more than sufficient enough to apply and expect to be eligible any company promotions. Mr. Green is not obligated to give employees letters of recommendation for promotions, transfers, or applications for employment inside or outside of the company where he is employed as a department manager. The company followed all employee performance review procedures correctly. It is standard practice for companies to place the best-suited candidate in vacant positions. The use of employment evaluations ensures that all candidates are given equal opportunity for job advancements. Should Mr. Green have given Tracy poor performance evaluations on a consistent basis, Tracy may have been able to prove a discrimination claim. It is important to have set policies in place to keep employees informed of what criteria must be met for company advancement or promotions. Employment manuals are a suitable method of ensuring that employees are notified of company policies. In an effort to eliminate future claims of discrimination in the workplace relating to company advancement, Mr. Green should have established set policies regarding letters of recommendation. It is recommended that Mr. Green have the employee manual clearly state that department managers are not permitted to write referral letters for employees applying any positions within the company. The policy would be based on the fact that a letter of recommendation made by a department manager could indicate preference in the workplace and unfair advantage for certain employees. Another option Mr. Green could have implemented would be to permit employees to obtain letters of recommendation from sources outside of the company. Outside recommendations could strengthen an employees resume while not creating the opportunity for discrimination in the workplace. An implemented policy that addresses the importance of an employees ability to meet and  satisfy the requirements of the position would lessen the likeliness of a discrimination claim. Regardless of which position the company takes with respect to letters of recommendation, employees would be advised of company policies well in advance of applying for any positions within the company. Taking precautions in the workplace through the use of implemented policies can eliminate potential discrimination claims. Analyzing case studies, reviewing applicable laws, and recommending policies for the workplace are an excellent method of preventing affinity orientation discrimination. References Bennett-Alexander, D. D., Hartman, L. P. (2001). Employment Law for Business (III ed.) Boston, Massachusetts: Mc Graw-Hill Primis.

Broken Windows Theory Analysis

Broken Windows Theory Analysis Assessing the theory of Broken Windows Wicked people exist. Nothing avails except to set them apart from innocent peopleWe have trifled with the wicked, made sport of the innocent, and encouraged the calculators. Justice suffers, and so do we all James Wilson The basic idea for the Broken Windows theory is that any kind of urban blight – a broken window, graffitied walls, rubbish on the streets, etc. – does no harm to a neighbourhood if it is immediately remedied. However, if left untended, it signifies a lack of care in the community, the kind of environment in which it is acceptable for residents to relinquish any notions of concern. And while the initial damage and disrepair is physical, the next stage is psychological. That is, if it becomes acceptable for people to litter and vandalise at will, why not walk around drunk, or beg for money, or mug others for it? Why not even kill for it? Why follow any kind of rules at all? In sum, the Broken Windows theory postulates that the smallest symptoms can lead to the greatest crimes. This paper will examine the effectiveness of this idea. The Broken Windows theory first became widely known in 1982, when James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling published an article in the Atlantic Monthly called Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety. The article articulated the reasons why minor neighbourhood slights should not be ignored: A piece of property is abandoned, weeds grow up, a window is smashed. Adults stop scolding rowdy children; the children, emboldened, become more rowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move in. Teenagers gather in front of the corner store. The merchant asks them to move; they refuse. Fights occur. Litter accumulates. People start drinking in front of the grocery; in time, an inebriate slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it off. Pedestrians are approached by panhandlers (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this idea, that small acts of antisocial behaviour can act as catalysts for others, and that a broken window sends a signal to criminals that it okay to break the law, seems perfectly reasonable and logical. The notion that once people begin disregarding the norms that keep order in a community, both order and community unravel, even follows the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics (systems naturally progress from a state of order to disorder). And almost from its inception, the idea took hold. While the Wilson/Kelling article did the most to publicise the theory, there were some precedents, namely Philip Zimbardos 1969 experiment, in which he left two identical 1959 Oldsmobiles in different neighbourhoods, one near the Bronx campus of New York University and one near the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. The license plates of both cars were removed and the hoods opened to provide the necessary releaser signals (Zimbardo, 1969). In the Bronx, within ten minutes, the car was vandalised, and by the end of the day was stripped bare. In Palo Alto, the car remained untouched for a week, until Zimbardo himself broke one of its windows with a sledgehammer, at which point others joined in. Within a few hours, the car was completely destroyed. (Gladwell, 1996). Zimbardos focus was on the psychological aspects of authority and anonymity, and his experiment aimed to understand what factors and to what extent human behaviour was governed by environmental and physiological stimuli, a process known as deindividuation: a series of antecedent social conditions lead to a change in perception of self and others, and thereby to a lowered threshold of normally restrained behavior (Zimbardo, 1969). Wilson and Kellings article, however, was more prescriptive, and was focused on applying the Broken Windows theory to law enforcement procedures. And it is in this way that politicians and police have regarded the theory over the past twenty-five years, paving the way for a slate of reforms aimed at promoting deterrence through arrests, imprisonment and harsh sentencing, with a heavy reliance on the criminal justice system to impart severe and swift penalties (Conklin, 1992). Within the article, the authors discuss the historical function of police work, which they describe as maintaining public order: From the earliest days of the nation, the police function was seen primarily as that of a night watchman: to maintain order against the chief threats to order – fire, wild animals, and disreputable behavior. Solving crimes was viewed not as a police responsibility but as a private one (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). However, this eventually changed, and detective work (solving crimes) took on a greater role, a shift that the authors feel should be reversed: A great deal was accomplished during this transition, as both police chiefs and outside experts emphasized the crime-fighting function in their plans, in the allocation of resources, and in deployment of personnel. The police may well have become better crime-fighters as a result. And doubtless they remained aware of their responsibility for order. But the link between order-maintenance and crime-prevention, so obvious to earlier generations, was forgotten (ibid). Another criticism felled by Wilson and Kelling was the lack of community policing, or the beat officer on foot, patrolling the neighbourhood. Instead, there had been a steady shift towards keeping the officers in their squad cards, in which case they were isolated, removed from the people of the neighbourhood and the life on the street, whereas what foot-patrol officers did was to elevate, to the extent that they could, the level of public order in these neighborhoods (ibid). In short, the officer on foot was not only more accessible, and thus a part of the community; he was better able to understand it and serve it. The majority of the theory, however, has to do with a new focus on smaller crimes – beggars, drunks, teenagers, litter, etc. – rather than big ones. These so-called gateway crimes are where the real offenses take root; eliminate these, and the major crimes will be stopped before they have a chance to foster and spread: The citizen who fears the ill-smelling drunk, the rowdy teenager, or the importuning beggar is not merely expressing his distaste for unseemly behavior; he is also giving voice to a bit of folk wisdom that happens to be a correct generalization – namely that serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. The unchecked panhandler is, in effect, the first broken window (ibid). But does the theory work? As of yet, there has been no scientific evidence proving it does. Even Wilson himself a few years ago admitted: People have not understood that this was a speculation (Hurley, 2004). It should be noted that on the very first page of the Atlantic Monthly article, where the authors were giving a history of community policing in Newark, NJ, they mentioned a study by the Police Foundation that discovered that while foot patrol had not reduced crime rates, residents seemed to feel more secure than persons in other areas (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). On the surface, this seems pretty straightforward – because foot patrols did not lead to a drop in crime rates, they didnt do anything to make neighbourhoods safer. However, Wilson and Kelling use the residents testimony to argue that, in fact, the community is safer, because disorder itself is something to be feared: We understand what most often frightens people in public places. Many citizens, of course, are primarily frightened by crime, especially crime involving a sudden, violent attack by a stranger. This risk is very real, in Newark as in many large cities. But we tend to overlook another source of fearthe fear of being bothered by disorderly people (ibid). This is all very well and good, that people appreciate not having to deal with aggressive and disorderly people. But how then is safety being measured, if not by crime rates? The authors certainly arent implying that it can be measured by residents feelings of safety? Regardless, the rest of the article makes no mention of this issue, and concentrates primarily on perceived dangers (how to curb a communitys fears of being bothered by disorderly persons), rather than actual ones (curbing crime rates themselves). The theory had its first test in the early 90s, when the Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, implemented his own version of it to target the citys high crime rate. This didnt happen simply by chance; George Kelling was a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, and was one of Giulianis advisors (DePalma, 2002). The term that was used to describe the new initiative was the no tolerance policy. This phrase, along with another that soon followed (quality of life), acted as the cornerstones for Giulianis mayorship. He aimed to aggressively target even minor infractions (no tolerance) in order to clean up the city and make New York a safe place to live (improved quality of life). Police were given powers that they never before had, and were encouraged to hand out tickets and arrests for anything and everything. For the cops, Chief of Police William Bratton commented, they were a bonanza. Every arrest was like opening a box of Cracker Jacks. What kind of toy am I going to get? Got a gun? Got a knife? Got a warrant? Do we have a murderer here? Each cop wanted to be the one who came up with the big collar. It was exhilarating for the cops and demoralizing for the crooks (Bratton, 1998). In addition to the usual list of offenders – drunks, panhandlers, juvenile delinquents – were added jaywalkers and squeegee men, those homeless men and women who aggressively and without asking would clean a cars windshield while the driver was stuck in traffic, and then demand payment. The effect of the new procedures was instant and irrevocable: crime dropped to its lowest figures in four decades, and stayed there. At the present moment, New York City is the safest big city in America. However, whether this decline can solely or even partially be attributed to Broken Windows is up for debate. At the same time the police were implementing harsh no tolerance crackdowns, the crack cocaine market bottomed out, which resulted in less drug deals, fewer addicts on the street and a reduction in violent turf wars, all of which at one time were responsible for numerous muggings and murders (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, over the same time period, there were dramatic improvement s in emergency response capabilities and medical care, which ended up saving the lives of countless people who previously would have died (Lizza, 2002). There were also important changes at the New York Police department during this time that could have explained the drop in crime, including a significant increase in the number of police officers. In 1992, Giulianis predecessor, David Dinkins, hired over two thousand new officers under the Safe Streets, Safe City project, and Giuliani himself hired another four thousand, and merged another six thousand Transit and Housing Authority officers into the ranks of the New York Police Department (Harcourt, 2002). Because of this, the department increased from 26,856 in 1991 to 39,779 in 2000, giving New York the largest police force in the country, with the highest ratio of officers to civilians of any major city (U.S. Department of Justice, 1992). Another argument against the success of Broken Windows is that the 1990s were generally a boom time. The stock market, employment and wages were all at record highs throughout the United States, and crime rates are usually more prevalent when times are hard. For example, crime fell in many large cities – San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston and others – at exactly the same time, and in some cases in an even more dramatic fashion: One study found that New York Citys drop in homicides, though impressive, is neither unparalleled nor unprecedented. Houstons drop in homicides of 59 percent between 1991 and 1996 outpaced New York Citys 51 percent decline over the same period. Another study looked at the rates of decline in homicides in the seventeen largest U.S. cities from 1976 to 1998 and found that New York Citys recent decline, though above average, was the fifth largest, behind San Diego, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and Houston (Joanes, 1999). And many of these cities did not implement the kind of order-maintenance procedures that New York did. For example, the San Diego police department instilled a model based on community-police relations. Their strategy was one of sharing the responsibility of identifying and solving crimes with neighbourhood residents. Because of this, San Diego not saw a marked decrease in crime, but experienced a 15 percent drop in arrests, and an 8 percent drop in complaints of police misconduct (Greene, 1999). In addition, San Francisco made community involvement a priority, and felony incarcerations dropped from 2,136 in 1993 to 703 in 1998, and rape, robbery, aggravated assault and total violent crime decreased more than the rate in New York over the same period (Khaled and Macallair, 2002). Other cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, also experienced significant decreases in crime without adopting as coherent a policing strategy as New York or San Diego. The fact is that there was a remarkable drop in crime in many major cities in the United States during the 1990s, many of which used a variety of different strategies. To attribute New Yorks declining crime rates to merely their implementation of more aggressive initiatives is overly simplistic. However, New Yorks success got the most publicity, and much of the country wanted to learn from Giuliani and to implement their own no tolerance policies. And its popularity in the U.S. was only matched by its appeal abroad. In 1998, representatives from over 150 police departments from around the world visited New York to learn about order-maintenance policing, and in 2000, another 235 police departments, the vast majority from overseas, followed suit (Gootman, 2000). However, even if the Broken Windows theory is correct, it has still never been fully explained as to how it works. It could be argued that those who choose to commit crimes, denied the signals they would normally receive from low-grade disorder, move on to different locales. But where do they go? And if such places existed, couldnt they implement their own Broken Windows initiatives? One possible answer comes from writer and social theorist Malcolm Gladwell, who suggests that crime actually does increase or decrease much like an epidemic, and at certain thresholds will turn, rather than rise and fall in a typical linear fashion (Gladwell, 1996). Wilson and Kelling for their part fail to talk much about the specifics by which public disorder turns into crime. They simply say it does, as do most of the theorys supporters. However, some seem to have taken the idea to illogical extremes, such as a Lancaster, Pennsylvania reporter commenting on the citys new quality of life initiatives: If you put a couch out in a backyard, somebody could get raped on that couch (Van Nguyan, 2001). Bernard Harcourt, who has written extensively on the issue, believes that the aggressive prosecution of disorderly behaviour has had little effect on crime rates dropping. His argument is that the increased number of arrests, searchers, surveillance, and police officers on the streets has had the fairly straightforward effect of bringing more small offenses to light, and that no provable connection has ever made between disorder and crime (Harcourt, 2002). His worry is that this sets a dangerous precedent, and that the unfounded power of the police will only lead to more drastic action against less drastic offenses, especially minorities: Incidents like the NYPDs alleged torture of a Haitian naturally reinforce minority citizens distrust of the police. This mistrust has been boosted of late by numerous television videotapes showing police officers beating up unresisting citizens. In most cases, the cops were white and those on the receiving end of their clubs were black or Latino (McNamara, 1997). However, this is exactly in line with what Wilson and Kelling argue for, this bygone era of policing: The police in this earlier period assisted in that reassertion of authority by acting, sometimes violently, on behalf of the community. Young toughs were roughed up, people were arrested on suspicion or for vagrancy, and prostitutes and petty thieves were routed. Rights were something enjoyed by decent folk, and perhaps also by the serious professional criminal, who avoided violence and could afford a lawyer (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Kelling himself spent some time accompanying an officer (Kelly) on his beat, the experience of which again illustrates a strange tolerance for lawlessness on the part of the police: Sometimes what Kelly did could be described as enforcing the law, but just as often it involved taking informal or extralegal steps to help protect what the neighborhood had decided was the appropriate level of public order. Some of the things he did probably would not withstand a legal challenge (ibid). After all, what can extralegal possibly mean other than illegal? It seems odd that this is the sort of behaviour the authors advocate, one in which officers are allowed to take the law into their own hands, but anyone who commits even the smallest of trespasses – jaywalking, littering, urinating in public – needs to be several punished. It certainly doesnt put much faith in the fairness of the model. And, in fact, the Broken Windows model is far from fair. One of its constant critiques is that the kinds of offenses it targets are primarily those carried out by the poor. There is no mention of embezzlement, crooked accountants, insurance scams, loan sharks or slumlords, crimes typical of the wealthy. And these offenses, certainly, can have just as detrimental effect on a community as a host of unsightly behaviours, if not more so. The broken windows metaphor is interesting in that it is actually up to landlords to fix real-life broken windows, while it is often those who are not in a position to do so, the community, who are held responsible for the damage. Aside from more people being arrested and subsequently incarcerated, the theory doesnt actually do much to aid a neighbourhood. If the aim is improved public order, couldnt that be achieved with homeless shelters, urban renewal projects and social workers? (Harcourt, 2002). In many ways, the philosophy behind it is almost out of sight, out of mind. And, in fact, this seems to be the view expressed by Kelling and his wife Catherine Coles in Fixing Broken Windows, a book-length exploration of the policing strategies first advocated in 1982: Kelling and Coles take a tough-minded view of who the street denizens we frequently label the homeless really are and what they are doing, sidestepping the politically constructed images of claimants like the homeless that little resemble the aggressive, conniving, often drug-crazed schemers that Kelling and Coles see populating the streets (Skogan, 1997). Skogan, in fact, is so skeptical of the motives of the poor that he cannot even use the word homeless without quotation marks, as if they all have houses somewhere. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it leads to a dangerous two worlds model, where people are either decent and respectable or disingenuous and no good. And, naturally, all the problems in neighbourhoods arise from the actions of the latter. This kind of precedent was set down by Wilson as far back as 1968: The teenager hanging out on a street corner late at night, especially one dressed in an eccentric manner, a Negro wearing a conk rag (a piece of cloth tied around the head to hold flat hair being processed – that is, straightened), girls in short skirts and boys in long hair parked in a flashy car talking loudly to friends on the curb, or interracial couples – all of these are seen by many police officers as persons displaying unconventional and improper behavior (Wilson, 1968). If the police are allowed to restore public order according to their own beliefs and judgments, what is to stop them from carrying out whatever action they deem necessary against the unconventional and improper, including using extralegal measures? Unfortunately, cultural hegemony is nothing new, and many neighbourhoods have enforced rules that govern the actions and abodes of its residents. In every community there is a house that doesnt conform to the aesthetic principles of the rest, a lawn that is never tended or strewn with toys or trash, a derelict car that doesnt meet environmental standards, all of which raise resident ire. But should these things be dealt with under the Broken Windows theory? For example, the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, adopted Broken Windows measures in the late 90s, and in 2002, the local newspaper received this letter: This being almost mid-April, shouldnt homeowners have had sufficient time to remove their December holiday decorations? Icicle lights hung year round give the impression of a homeowner with an aversion to work and negatively impacts on neighborhoods (Kelly, 2002). While there are obvious differences between public drunks and icicle lights, in other cases the line is much finer, and the potential for abuse is obvious. Wilson and Kelling, for their part, are aware of the problem, and speak out against it: The concern about equity is more serious. We might agree that certain behavior makes one person more undesirable than another but how do we ensure that age or skin color or national origin or harmless mannerisms will not also become the basis for distinguishing the undesirable from the desirable? How do we ensure, in short, that the police do not become the agents of neighborhood bigotry? We can offer no wholly satisfactory answer to this important question. We are not confident that there is a satisfactory answer except to hope that by their selection, training, and supervision, the police will be inculcated with a clear sense of the outer limit of their discretionary authority. That limit, roughly, is this the police exist to help regulate behavior, not to maintain the racial or ethnic purity of a neighborhood (Wilson and Kelling, 1982). Unfortunately, their only solution is to again have the community put its faith in the integrity and judgment of the law enforcement officer, a notion that does little to quell the doubts of those who might be wrongly typecast as criminal because of their race, age or class. In such a subjective atmosphere, with so much at stake, it seems dubious to give one party the last word, or the ability to render judgment (especially if that party is the one with the gun). By taking the focus off the community, and putting it on the individual, a dangerous precedent is being set. However, not everyone agrees with this line of thinking. In fact, many people, including police officers, understand that the only way for Broken Windows or any other community enforcement project to succeed is by people working together: Without the full cooperation of the community, local government and the courts community policing will not work (police officer Daniel Jenkins, 2002). Unfortunately, the authors themselves dont focus too much on this notion of working together, and, if anything, since the Atlantic Monthly article, have gone even further to highlight the vast differences between people. For example, in 1985, Wilson co-authored with Richard Herrnstein a book called Crime and Human Nature, which describes the various traits by which to classify and identify criminals. The book deals not only with age, class and race but body types, painstakingly sorting and measuring these and other attributes into definable composites of law-abiders and law-breakers. The authors conclusions are fairly predictable, describing those prone to commit crimes as an: Unattached, young, most often racialized other. The youth or young adult, threatening, defiant, suspicious, often black, wearing distinctive designer-label clothes. Or the down-and-out street person in a dirty oversized coat. Or the squeegee man, the panhandler, the homeless person, the turnstile jumper, the public drunk (Harcourt, 2002). In stark opposition to this are the ideas of Felton Earls and his colleagues, who conducted a large-scale study of street crime in Chicago in 1997. The studys main focus was on collective efficacy, which was defined as social cohesion among neighbors and their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls, 1997). The concept, according to the study, is the greatest predictor of street crime, and not Broken Windows or any form of disorder: Testing broken windows was not the point of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the study planned and conducted by Dr. Earls and colleagues to unravel the social, familial, educational and personal threads that weave together into lives of crime and violenceNonetheless the data gathered for it, with a precision rarely seen in social science, directly contradicted Dr. Wilsons notions (Hurley, 2004). Thus, the seemingly obvious and incontestable connection between crime and disorder may, in fact, not exist at all. Community presence and action may actually be what ultimately fells crime. According to Earls: Its not so much that broken glass or disarray in neighborhoods is the source or root of crime, its really in the social relationships that exist among neighbors, among people who work in neighborhoods, among services and so forth, that the social conditions are there to engage or not to engage citizens, neighbors in watching out for crime or crime-related activity in the neighborhoods (Earls, 2004). And in another no less extensive study two years later, Sampson and Raudenbush found that  disorder and predatory crime were moderately related, but that, when antecedent characteristics were added (such as poverty and neighbourhood trust), the connection between the two vanished in four out of five tests – including homicide, arguably our best measure of violence (Sampson and Raudenbush, 1999). In addition, they discovered that while disorder may have indirect effects on crime by influencing migration patterns, investment by businesses, and overall neighborhood viabilityattacking public order through tough police tactics was politically popular but an analytically weak strategy to reduce crime (ibid). In short, the central tenets of Broken Windows – that disorder leads to crime, and that said crimes are generally carried out by individuals belonging to a criminal class – are questionable. This is not to say that the entire theory is at fault; certainly the notion that a safe neighbourhood is one in which the residents feel secure enough to participate in its defense still holds water. In addition, Wilson and Kelling are correct in urging the community to work with police, and for police to become a part of the community. What they seem to have missed is that the focus of this kind of relationship should rest on there being a real and active presence in the community, and not on crime and disorder. One related irony is that, in the use of Broken Windows policing in New York, for all their effectiveness in cracking down on a wide range of antisocial behaviors, the New York City police never repaired a single broken window, fixed up a single house, or cleaned one vacant lot (Grogan and Proscio, 2000). Furthermore, because of the new aggressive tactics, the city experienced illegal strip searches, extensive sums lost to police misconduct charges, clogged courts and countless traumatic encounters for innocent, ordinary individuals (Harcourt, 2002). In addition, the implementation of a policy of arrest may have had unintended consequences: Someone arrested for turnstile jumping may be fired for missing work; and strained police-civilian relations can create friction between the community and the police force that may be detrimental to solving crimes (ibid). However, this has not stopped cities across the world from emulating Broken Windows procedures, or, for that matter, Giuliani and the Manhattan Institute from exporting their policing philosophies to places like Latin America (despite reservations that what worked in an economic boom in the U.S. may not do as well in extremely poor cities undergoing violent crime and corrupt police) (Village Voice, 2002). The truth of the matter is that Broken Windows is not applicable everywhere, and even within the theory itself there are vagaries, namely the categories of disorder and the disorderly. The concepts are not well-defined; while we identify certain acts as disorderly – panhandling, public drunkenness, litter, prostitution – others – police brutality, tax evasion, accounting fraud – we do not. In addition, the acts themselves are sometimes ambiguous. For example, while people loitering on a buildings front steps or the presence graffiti may signify that a community is disorderly, it is only if they are seen as such. In some neighbourhoods, people loitering may represent strong community bonds, and graffiti may be seen as an art form, or as political or social commentary. The darker truth about Broken Windows is that it attempts to enforce an aesthetically sterile and safe environment, in which one community looks like the next looks like the next. While no one can argue that panhandlers, prostitutes and homeless people, along with litter, dirt and broken windows themselves are not eyesores, their removal is not necessarily a sign of progress. And for those subject to countless and unnecessary searches, acts of intimidation, arrests, imprisonments and the like, it is anything but. Bibliography Bratton, William J. Turnaround: How Americas Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. New York: Random House, 1998. Conklin, John E. Criminology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. DePalma, Anthony. The Americas Court: a Group That Changed New York. The New York Times, Nov. 11, 2002. Felton, Earls. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition. Jan. 17, 2004. Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point. The New Yorker, June 3, 1996. Gootman, Elissa. A Police Departments Growing Allure: Crime Fighters From Around World Visit for Tips. The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2000. Greene, Judith A. Zero-Tolerance: A Case Study of Police Policies and Practices in New York City. Crime and Delinquency 45, 1999. Grogan, Paul, and Proscio, Tony. Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival. Boulder: Westview Press, 2000. Harcourt, Bernard. Policing Disorder: Can We Reduce Serious Crime by Punishing Petty Offenses? Boston Review, April/May, 2002. Hurley, Dan. Scientist at Work – Felton Earls: On Crime as Science (A Neighbor at a Time). The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2004. Jenkins, Daniel. Community Policing Problems: Most People Dont Want to Become Involved. The Sunday News, June 30, 2002. Joanes, Ana. Does the New York City Police Department Deserve Credit for the Decline in New York Citys Homicide Rates? A Cross-City Comparison of Policing Strategies and Homicide Rates. Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, 33, 1999. Kelling, George L. and Coles, Catherine M. Fixing Broken Windows. New York: The Free Press, 199

Jane Eltons Identity Conflict in Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New Engl

Jane Elton's Identity Conflict in Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New England Tale In her article â€Å"‘But is it any good?’: Evaluating Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Fiction,† Susan Harris provides methods and criteria for examining Women’s Fiction in what she calls â€Å"process analysis† (45). To apply Harris’ guidelines to Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New England Tale, I must first â€Å"acknowledge the ideological basis of [my] endeavor† (45) as a feminist/equalitist critique of the text. Furthermore, I identify the three-fold approach that Harris describes as historical, in distinguishing early nineteenth-century from mid- to late-century attitudes, rhetorical, in labeling Sedgwick’s communication to readers didactic, and ideological, by understanding my objections stem from twenty-first-century attitudes. Harris also explains, â€Å"If we look at them as both reactive and creative†¦we can understand [texts’] aesthetic, moral, and political values† (45); I consider A New England Tale to have a sentimental aesthetic, a Christian morality, and a support of female subordination. The concern of this paper is the â€Å"happy ending,† typical in Women’s Fiction according to Harris (46), present in A New England Tale, in which Jane Elton sacrifices her autonomous self through marrying Mr. Lloyd. I will critique this ending by applying several of the points Harris makes, including the conflict between theme and structure, the â€Å"extended quest for autonomy† (50), and the issue of the self-willing and â€Å"socially determined self† (54); also, I will discuss the sexual and religious politics Jane faces, as well as the importance of her role as educator. Readers can understand the autonomous self to which I refer in a nineteenth-century context: this do... ...orphaned, to abused, to truly loved. Therefore readers supporting these stances likely align with Sedgwick in viewing Jane’s marrying Mr. Lloyd as better than her marrying Erskine; however, consider that Sedgwick promotes Christian morality/values. Contemporary non-religious feminist/equalitist readers would likely desire for Jane to live independently: while this may not have been historically feasible, we can still prefer that Jane choose loyally to her self, that if she must marry, her choice does not sacrifice her identity. Works Cited and Consulted Foster, Edward Halsey. Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New York: Twayne, 1974. Harris, Susan K.. "'But is it any good?': Evaluating Nineteenth-Century American Women's Fiction." American Literature 63 (March 1991): 42-61. Sedgwick, Catherine Maria. A New England Tale, and Miscellanies. New York: Putnam, 1852.

Physics of Rainbows Essay -- physics rainbow rainbows

When the Sun's light is refracted on passing through tiny rain droplets falling in the air a Rainbow is formed. Rainbows only need light from the sun or the moon and a large amount of spherical raindrops to form in the atmosphere. The rainbows can be compared to mini prisms. The light is refracted ("bending of light as it passes from one medium to another") and it causes different wavelengths (or colors) of the white light to separate. Whether these wavelengths of light will pass through the raindrop or reflect depends on the angle the light strikes the back of the raindrop. If a wavelength of the light strikes the back of the raindrop at an angle less than 48 degree relative to the normal then the light will pass through the raindrop. However, if the light strikes the back of the raindrop at an angle greater than 48 degrees then the light will be reflected. The reflected light is refracted as it exits the raindrop, but the color or the wavelength does not change. This process is repeated for a large number of raindrops, and a rainbow is formed. It's interesting to note, that the observer has his back to the sun and is facing the raindrops when viewing a rainbow. Thus geometry needs to be just right between the observer,the place where it is raining, and the sun. The light from the sun passes over the observer, strikes rain droplets, and comes back to the observer. Yet, the Earth prevents us to see the whole arc of a rainbow. When the sun is higher in the sky, only a small arc of a rainbow cab be seen from land. The reason for that is that the arc cannot be followed below the horizon(the droplets in the air below the horizon cannot be seen). It is possible to see the full arc of rainbow when flying above the clouds in an airp... ...r than than the rainbow produced by direct light. Another type of reflective rainbow can be seen on water surfaces like puddles or ponds. After a heavy rainfall, there are lots of spherical floating on a water surface. Therefore, it ispossible for a rainbow to be formed from indirect light rays. One of the main sources of light is from light, which is reflected back of a water surface, such as a lake or ocean. If we look at two raindrops, the first contributes to the rainbow formed by rays direct from the sun, and the other drop contributes to the rainbow formed by the indirect rays (the one which are reflected off the water surface). The rays leaving both of the drops leave at 42 degrees to the paths at which they entered. Thus, it is clear that a rainbow produced by a reflected light source will appear higher in the sky than one formed by direct sunlight.

The Causes of the Showa Restoration :: Historical Periods Showa Restoration Essays

The Causes of the Showa Restoration Sonno joi, "Restore the Emperor and expel the Barbarians," was the battle cry that ushered in the Showa Restoration in Japan during the 1930's.Footnote1 The Showa Restoration was a combination of Japanese nationalism, Japanese expansionism, and Japanese militarism all carried out in the name of the Showa Emperor, Hirohito. Unlike the Meiji Restoration, the Showa Restoration was not a resurrection of the Emperor's powerFootnote2, instead it was aimed at restoring Japan's prestige. During the 1920's, Japan appeared to be developing a democratic and peaceful government. It had a quasi-democratic governmental body, the Diet,Footnote3 and voting rights were extended to all male citizens.Footnote4 Yet, underneath this seemingly placid surface, lurked momentous problems that lead to the Showa Restoration. The transition that Japan made from its parliamentary government of the 1920's to the Showa Restoration and military dictatorship of the late 1930s was not a sudden transformation. Liberal forces were not toppled by a coup overnight. Instead, it was gradual, feed by a complex combination of internal and external factors. The history that links the constitutional settlement of 1889 to the Showa Restoration in the 1930s is not an easy story to relate. The transformation in Japan's governmental structure involved; the historical period between 1868 and 1912 that preceded the Showa Restoration. This period of democratic reforms was an underlying cause of the militarist reaction that lead to the Showa Restoration. The transformation was also feed by several immediate causes; such as, the downturn in the global economy in 1929Footnote5 and the invasion of Manchuria in 1931.Footnote6 It was the convergence of these external, internal, underlying and immediate causes that lead to the military dictatorship in the 1930's. The historical period before the Showa Restoration, 1868-1912, shaped the political climate in which Japan could transform itself from a democracy to a militaristic state. This period is known as the Meiji Restoration.Footnote7 The Meiji Restoration of 1868 completely dismantled the Tokugawa political order and replaced it with a centralized system of government headed by the Emperor who served as a figure head.Footnote8 However, the Emperor instead of being a source of power for the Meiji Government, became its undoing. The Emperor was placed in the mystic position of demi-god by the leaders of the Meiji Restoration. Parliamentarians justified the new quasi-democratic government of Japan, as being the "Emperor's Will." The ultra-nationalist and militaristic groups took advantage of the Emperor's status and claimed to speak for the Emperor.Footnote9 These then groups turned the tables on the parliamentarians by claiming that they, not the civil government, represented the "Imperial Will." The parliamentarians, confronted with this perversion of their own policy,

Difference Between Critical Analysis and Analytical Thinking

When you really want to reflect and put your points across, it’s said that you have to speak through your mind but from your heart with what you have lived and experienced. In this piece, I am going to use real life issues and experiences to help put forth my genuine reflections on the different ways of thinking analytical, critical and strategic. To start with, I would like to discuss the latest and prominent issue in Mumbai, whether it should be called Mumbai or Bombay. There was this debate going around in the class and one of my peers analyzed that it should be called Bombay because 80% people in Mumbai want to call it by that name. Then he also corroborated this by linking it with one of the newspaper and saying that it has stated that 65% of the public want to call this city Bombay and not Mumbai. He also conducted his survey and collected data of people from various parts of the city, the South Mumbai, the Central Mumbai and the North Mumbai. He later analyzed the question on the data collected and concluded that indeed people of this city want to call it by its colonial name Bombay. He was indeed very right because he had broken down this problem and had made all effort to reach every corner of the city for the survey. His survey number too indicated the same and with the help of analytical thinking, he convinced that people want to call this city Bombay. Thus the beauty of analytical thinking is that with the data and figure well in placed you can possibly prove anything without anyone even questioning it. However I was born in Mumbai knew this city in and out and decided to find the answer to the same problem but critically. More than numbers and figures, I relied more on my knowledge and experiences of this beautiful city. Therefore, I too conducted a similar but asked one more question, Why do they want to call Mumbai as Bombay? And the answer was surprising. They wanted to call it Mumbai but as the name of Mumbai was Bombay in the business circle, they wanted it to named Bombay. Moreover, the survey conducted by my friend was done in commercial areas of the South, central and North Mumbai. Where majority of the people come from other cities and have no knowledge and understanding of the local feelings. So the analytical thinking over here clearly missed out the local feeling of the people as well as the understanding of the complex community. I have mentioned the above experience because I want to bring forth the major difference between analytical and critical thinking. While analytical thinking did prove and gave an answer to the above question and even looked more credible because of the numbers, it failed to include local feeling and knowledge of the local area. This is one of the major differences between analytical and critical thinking. While analytical thinking segregates the problem into many areas and tries to back it up with figures, critical thinking uses the knowledge and experience and put them into logical thinking to formulate an answer. As far as strategic thinking is concern, I am still trying to define the meaning and the closer I am defining it the farther it goes. It’s like debating whether GOD exist or not. GOD is there we believe, but on experiences and intuitions. We cannot see Him but still feel He’s there. Similarly, strategic thinking eludes its definite existence but is always there. You can call it a plan of actions designed to achieve a particular goal. This plan of action is implemented by considering and weighing several facets and views. Your knowledge and most importantly your understanding and application is of uttermost importance for strategic thinking. After these prerequisites comes the analysis and synthesis of these prerequisites keeping the importance of all possible view and possibilities open. Hence, strategic thinking never has a definite answer or solution. Its all about selecting the best possibility. So even If I do manage to come out with a winning strategy other might ridicule it simply because they might look at it from different angle. So more you are ridiculed or castigated the better will be your strategic thinking. Today leadership is like a soul trapped between his internal consciousness and external realities. The soul can choose infinite possibilities but yet have to select a very few. Moreover, whatever he does should be such that it takes the side that benefits the all. In today world, a leadership would be difficult to sustain without keeping all the three things like financial, social and environmental aspects. And to keep this leadership has to inculcate power with ethics for any sort of sustainability. Leadership can be short-lived if one doesn’t compromise on some of the ethics at the same time would be dangerous if he follows none. So it has t o have it only to the point of sustainability. When an enlightened one writes a poem thousands read it. However, each one of them perceives it in a way they want to and this depends on their own life experiences and knowledge. Similarly, I use to perceive the World in a way I have seen it with my eyes and observed. But to really understand you need to perceive it through the eyes of many others and that is one thing that I have learned from this edifying experience of the last two weeks. Today when I am leading, I am open to infinite possibilities and views. I am trying to use the five why technique in my mind to reach out to the possible root cause.. Then the model that I am trying to work is to use critical thinking first and then use analytical thinking to corroborate the findings of the critical thinking. This I feel would help counter the limitations of the analytical thinking and at the same time will help foster the critical thinking results.