Leadership Book Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership Book Review - Essay Example Divided into three parts and eleven chapters, the book is not mere an expression of speculation or supposition; on the contrary, it is based on the in-depth analyses the authors found out after conducting a comprehensive research on the most dynamic leaders of the world. The researchers personally entered into conversation with these self-motivated and energetic personalities, and discussed various aspects of the nature and style of performing their duties and activities. The authors concentrate upon leadership success program and encourage the readers develop their own leadership development plan on the basis of the points highlighted by them. George & Sims (2003) describe their explored five points, on the basis of which, personal leadership development plan could be created in a successful manner. These five points include exploring of one’s authentic self, determining of one’s core values as well as leadership principles, comprehension of one’s impetus and motivation, preparation of an active and trustworthy team for the achievement of determined goals and incorporating of all strengths of one’s life on the concrete foundations of will power and unabated fortitude. In simple words, exploration of one’s self is the first and the most formidable step in the way to success on the one hand and climbing the steps of leadership plan on the other. Knowledge of self is extremely supportive in respect of deciding oneâ₠¬â„¢s way and in establishing and achieving the objectives of life as well. The genuine success stories of the tycoons including Donna Dubinsky, John Brennan, Carol Tome, Ann Moore and others infuse new spirit of knowing oneself in readers and they look ready for utilizing their gifted abilities in one way or the other. Consists of three chapters, the first part of the book declares leadership as a long journey towards success, where lack of passion and unawareness with one’s purpose serve as the hurdles on the way to success. If one

CHANGING CLOTHES IN CHINA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CHANGING CLOTHES IN CHINA - Essay Example Considerably, the understanding of the different clothes of the said country gives a clear presentation as to how the people within the region developed from being traditional towards becoming liberated and more expressive until the present times of modernity. How did the revolution affect the recognition of culture on the part of the Chinese people Truthfully, the changes in the people's clothes also denoted the changes that were happening within the Chinese community. As the years pass, the classical understanding of China with regards their culture and traditional being has been replaced by the trends of the west and the undeniable fact that globalization has already entered the classical years of the Chinese life thus suggesting a much more different approach to clothing on the part of the natives. As the foreigners started coming in and out of China for tourism and other businesses in concern, it could be observed that the clothing of the Chinese people also began to develop. It is considerably undeniable that the clothes of the Chinese society began to take new shape and has begun to flood the international market. Apparently, the Chinese clothing line is considered to be one of the major products that bring in profit to the national economy.

Light in August Essay Example for Free

Light in August Essay William Faulkner’s celebrated novel Light in August says the tale of an orphan Joe Christmas, who has an unknown or doubtful ancestry who considers himself to be part-black. The novel includes excellent themes that involve issues of gender, race, community and religion. The capture of the racist identity and the portrayal of Calvinistic religion are the main features of the novel. Light in August is one of the best works of William Faulkner. The story starts with Lena Grove, a helpless pregnant girl (from Alabama) who set out of her house in search of her unborn baby’s father Lucas Burch. Lucas Burch had actually escaped from Lena so that he need not bear the burden of fatherhood. Lena’s hunting for Lucas Burch make her reach another man with the same name Byron Bunch. He was a simple man who makes friendship with Lena and later falls in love with her. Byron was kindhearted and provided Lena with home and security that the actual Byron Bunch (the child’s father) could not provide. After that we can see Byron narrating his feelings for Lena to the former Presbyterian minister Rev. Gail Hightower who was pushed to withdraw from his ministry as his wife committed suicide. In the middle of this strange story between Lena Grove and Lucas Burch, there appears Joe Christmas the roommate of Lucas Burch. He was an orphan working in the planing mill like Byron Bunch. The word ‘Christmas’ was added to his name as it was on the day of Christmas that he reached the orphanage. Christmas was also not sure about his ancestry as he wandered across in search of his lineage; a voyage for self-discovery. Christmas’ journey led him to Jefferson, Mississippi where he falls in a dangerous relation with Joanna Burden spinsterish civil rights activist. This affair led him to grave destruction. The most interesting theme of Light in August is the Southern issue with racial identity. Joe is mistreated and humiliated as people suspect that he has a black ancestry. They never him the way they treat white people (Dondlinger, 98-125). We can find in Light in August that majority of the characters are influenced by the notion of race disparity. For example, Joanna Burden, Joe Christmas, Doc Hines, Nathaniel Burde and lastly Percy Grimm are some or the other way influenced by the concept of race (Towner, 45-65). Some of the characters become victims of the senseless racial classification and suffer. Others who are out of this threat believe that there is nothing wrong in treating blacks inhumanly on the basis of racial difference. Racial discrimination is quite acceptable for them (Dondlinger, 98-125). For example The Jefferson sheriff, Watt Kennedy appears to be a decent man. However we can see him punishing a randomly chosen black person in an unwanted investigation (appeared unwanted at first). Similarly several other characters are found to be under the grip of the notion of race. Gender also plays a crucial role in the novel Light in August. Male-female identity and relations is an important topic. For example, we can find Joe being hostile to women. Lena’s baby’s father Lucas Burch also ran away from his pregnant wife; he was also fleeing away from women. Byron Bunch also did not have any plans to marry and was living a lonely life till Lena comes. He was adjusting his life in such a way that he could continue living alone. Rev. Gail Hightower also do not have a good fellowship with women as he led his wife to suicide. Another character Joanna Burden does not even marry. However we can find that the author never attempts to contrast the lonely life of these unfortunate characters with any happy or satisfied normal family or love relationships until the novel reaches the last chapter. We can see that the marriage of Hines and McEachern was also not a happy one. Moreover the Armstids also do not appear to have any love among them. Finally it appears to come to a happy end when Byron Bunch moves away with Lena Grove. But disappointment suddenly comes in she refuses him to share her bed. That relation also seems to be failure. The only relationship that appears to be happy is the relationship of the furniture dealer and his wife. They only had a relationship that had any trace of happiness or satisfaction.

Orientalism And The Depiction Of Arabs Through Media Media Essay

Orientalism And The Depiction Of Arabs Through Media Media Essay I am half Egyptian, but was raised in a non-Arab society; therefore I can relate personal experiences into the concept of Orientalism. I connect to the Arab culture, in this case the other, but since I grew up in a Western society, I also express outlooks molded by this environment. Upon visiting Egypt for three weeks in 2001, I was able to contrast the two portrayals and create my own image of Arabs through direct observations. My paper will approach orientalism, specifically dealing with Middle Eastern people, and how the media has altered the Western image of the orient to exaggerate Arabs as a villainous race. Through political speeches, movies, cartoons, video games and news reports in the media, orientalism in the Western world, primarily being the Americas along with Europe, falsifies the Arab image and validates the barbarically threatening notions seen within Western societies. When asked to define an Arab person, people immediately bring forth a specific sketch. It is where these specific images come from that anti-Arab racism and, in this case, orientalism exist. Orientalism is defined as a framework that includes symbols, signs, language, and images to depict the East, and determine how they act differently than the West (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). In othering the Arab population, Orientalists [have] created a stereotype image of the [Middle] East in order to better manage it (Salaita 2006: 248). This categorizes the Western culture as normal, above the abnormal Arab culture which, according to the orient, is habitually in need of being helped. Orientalism unreasonably brings millions of individuals together in one simplified image to which it is wrongly assumed applies to all people of the Arab race. Although I was able to visit an Arab country and note characteristics first hand, orientalism first began through images which were in no way based off of immediate observation, but through the fabricated representations told by others. Without various media sources widely available in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the portrayal of the Arab race developed through European artists and travel writers who conjured ideas and fabricated art with their thoughts of what the people represented (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). Many never witnessed the culture first-hand and worked predominantly off imagination and exaggeration of learned details (Sut 1998). Embellished characteristics that have been inherited in the West through time to represent Arabs include seeing them as: highly sexualized, mysterious, evil spirited, thieving, terroristic, exotic, needy and untrustworthy (Earp and Jhally 2006). This distorted image has been growing in peoples perception ever since the early paintings , and has only strengthened with new forms of media being introduced in the world. Images and media now reach the Western people with increased frequency and efficiency, thus allowing no chance for the dated depictions to dissolve. Edward Said, who is famous for his studies with orientalism, claims the barbaric Arab image is timeless as it was created outside of history. It is eternal as the images created within the colonial era are those same portraits we see today (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). Presently, these colonial images are constantly reinforced through numerous media sources, whilst viewers in society subconsciously take in the commercialized image without question. Moving into the media, the government in the West is an institution that holds the highest power to directly influence the lives of individuals, controlling and deciding what the ideas and images of Arabs their citizens are accustomed to believe in and trust. Political elites thus hold the responsibility in transmitting international issues so that the public may stand informed about what is happening half way across the world. As demonstrated with the Bush-Era and his view on Arabs post September 11th, the United States took to their presidents speeches on the entire Arab race and allowed the media to form their ideas for them. In 2006 George Bush stated, We face an enemy that has an ideology. They believe things. The best way to describe their ideology is to relate to you the fact that they think the opposite of what we think(Kumar 2010: 259). He then later said: Since the horror of 9/11, weve learned a great deal about the enemy. And we have learned that their [the Arabs] goal is to build a radical Islamic empire where women are prisoners in their homes, men are beaten for missing prayer meetings, and terrorists have a safe haven to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilized nations. (Kumar 2010: 260). Bushs remarks are only one example of how a political speech can falsely characterize Arabs and cause countless societies to use the skewed form of media as their source for learning about the other. The media is controlled by the most influential people who can successfully impose specific ideas on those willing to accept them as truth (Sut 1998). In stating the Arab race as a whole to be the enemy, millions of ordinary Arab individuals have their lives, which do resemble Western lives in many senses, being distorted within the Western image. Pinning every single Arab as the enemy is unrealistic and robs the larger part of the race, which is trusting and simply living an average life with no intent of harming the West, of ever being respected. Furthermore, politics is connected to Hollywood as the two rely on one another to formulate images pushed into societies. Therefore Hollywood cinema incorporates Arabs into productions where they are not needed and of no help to the stories. As American producers are the power holders in the movie industry, it is in their authority to determine how the Arab image is intentionally warped and presented (Earp and Jhally 2006). Over three hundred movies today, or 25% of the film industry, demean Arabs with racial slurs and static characters, usually added solely for comic relief or to bring a barbaric presence (ibid). The seemingly innocent Disney shows through the classic Aladdin, stereotypes of those with Arabic decent. With a song in the film it is said that the Middle East is a place where they cut off your ears, if they dont like your face, its barbaric, but hey its home. The video influences young children to grow up with preset images of an Arab who is purely violent and malicious , based off the Arab characters numerous evil actions. Another example of the distorted image is in the Gladiator, where slave traders were, for no reason, Arabs (ibid); In True Lies Arabs were made out as incompetent (ibid); Never Say Never and Jewel of the Nile both show Arabs as prominently imprisoning and oppressing women (Shaheen 2000); Navy Seals justifies the tang and bang of Arabs; and 24 justifies the torture of innocent people because of the idea that Arabs are suspicious and dangerous despite the fact they live in an American community (Earp and Jhally 2006). Film after film, Arabs are robbed of their humanity, yet the repetition in these Western created films recycles the images to the point where the stereotype is transparent and the depictions are expected. In reality, however, many Arab women work outside the home, men are in trusted occupations, families are not secretive and violence is not tolerated (Salaita 2006). The consistent images in the media refuse to show Arabs in the previously mentioned positive light, and thus with never seeing favourable images in the media, the public is hesitant to believe such characteristics are true. Falling in close line with the original European portraits of the other, cartoons today are a form of media where the Arab origin is vastly exaggerated and exploited through harmful humour. One controversial cartoon was published in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September 2005 which caricatured Islam and presented the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in twelve intended satirical affairs (Kumar 2010). One of the images shows him with a lit bomb on his head instead of a turban, while another has him with a sword ready to fight, accompanied by two women dressed with only their eyes visible (ibid). The comic was drawn with humour as the objective, however, offended many and caused much debate due to the obvious attached portrayals. Looking once again to Disney, even in the well-known show Looney Tunes, Daffy shoots at three winsome Mexican mice. The mice call Daffy, among other things, Arab Duck!' (Shaheen 2000). The children watching Daffy Duck would have otherwise associated the shoot er with any bad person, but with the comment they learn to connect people who shoot others as Arab (ibid). Because cartoons are colorful images with few words, it is easier for them to slide by as a joke or pun, when in reality the oppressed woman, terrorist men and villainous personas are brought into orientalism as real tags to the Arab nations. Cartoons bring direct ideas, which are simply put, causing readers to instantly absorb the offered stereotype, as they are easier to bring forth when characterizing others than ones own ideas. As children get older they tend to switch from cartoons to video games for immediate amusement, and once again, orientalism is found within the media form. Game makers have the power to create games in any manner they desire, thus in distorting portrayals of the Middle East to suit existing Western ideas, they reel in their desired capital whilst leaving audiences with self-satisfying yet incorrect images. Research done on 90 European and 15 Arab made video games with Arab people holding a key role in game-play have shown that the identities of the Islamic world have been flattened out and reconstructed into a serious of social typologies operating within a broader framework of terrorism and hostility through video games (Sisler 2008:203). Games such as prince of Persia (Broberbunst, 1989), Arabian nights (Krigalis, 1993) and Al-Qadim: The Genies Curse (SSI 1994) are all examples of video games which solidify the image of the orient where Arabs are dangerous, aggressive, untrustworth y and live only in the desert (Sisler 2008). As the video games above have quests, many require the player of the game to save a girl or princess who has been kidnapped by an Arab man (ibid). As well the Arab tend to raise their guns above their heads after a kill and mockingly laugh while adding nothing to the games purpose (Sisler 2008: 209). The idea that the Western player has to save the girl from the Arab and be the hero up against the villain character reinforces the stereotypical image of the Middle East as barbaric. As stereotypes can lower self-esteem, injure innocents, impact policies and encourage divisiveness the images of orientalism need to be removed from society so that people of the Arab race are not faced with deeply rooted prejudices which lack valid ideas about who they are as people individually (Sisler 2008: 204). Additionally videogames based in Arab settings are one-dimensional with little to no variety in scenery. Even though each Middle Eastern nation is unique, the in-game surroundings and setting are rendered frequently by iteration of a limited number of textures and schemes, most often the desert, so that an idea is assumed that no other landscapes or appearances of the nation exist (Sisler 2008: 206). Although video games are often a neglected source of media, the problem behind video games is that most of them are foreign made [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] and bear enormous false understandings that habituate teenagers to violence, hatred and grudges which add to the racist issues within the world (Sisler 2008: 211). With the youth of today absorbing one sided false perceptions of a race at such a young age, the individuals reach adulthood with the ideas often so heavily embedded that one becomes blind to accepting the true image and allows the orientalism depictions to influence actions and jud gments towards the other. Not aimed for purpose of comedy or entertainment, still photography acts similarly to cartoons in creating an imaginative geography [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] which unambiguously divides the world into two unequal parts the known world of the Occident and the larger, different part called the Orient (Trivundza 2004: 489-490). Images used in the media are strategic in that certain absences are intentional to the pictures. This refers to three main factors that ensure that stereotypes remain. First is the absence of diversity, which deals with showing coverage of only specific events and ignoring others (Trivundza 2004). The second fact is the absence of unveiled women, which leaves spectators believing all women of the Arab race are oppressed and forced to cover (ibid). As an Arab myself, I am one of the thousand underrepresented women to prove this image wrong, yet only one in ten photographs in Western Media shows an unveiled Arab (ibid). Third, and finally, is the absence of active subject who are working. Images show them as passive, grieving, and incapable of creating value (ibid). All three absences add to the idea that Arab women are oppressed, the race is lazy and that what applies to one individual applies to all. The absences collectively provide the audience with portrayals that only stand true to a certain extent, and ignore the other realities of the race. In short the media pushes to produce photographs completed with images of backwardness and irrationality (Trivundza 2004: 489-490). Although Orientalism has existed since colonization, it is upon the September 11th bombings of 2001, where many argue the image of the Arab other exploded in news reports, and the characteristics of Arabs as terrorist and savage were highlighted. Since the bombings took place in the United States, the West felt that the attacks [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] provided an ostensibly empirical pretext to legitimize anti-Arab racism, but in no way did 9/11 actually create anti-Arab racism (Salaita 2006: 251). This means that 9/11 did not create anti-Arab racism but instead validated it (Salaita 2006). Upon watching the news on television, the most barbaric images with high violence and extremists are shown to evoke emotions within the audience, and solidify the images orientalism generates. Even when it had been proven Saddam Hussein was in no way linked to the actions of Al-Qaeda, the public continued to rely on embedded conceptions through the news to believe Iraq posed as an immediate threat to th e US (Glyn, Meth and Wilis 2009). As well, in certain cases voiceovers are done so that the English Western viewers can make sense of situations, yet, the translations are at times improper and edited by Western stations to only present specific words (Sut 1998). The news adjusts story details because they have the control to do so, and because they know that communities are powerless as to what they are shown. In maintaining their own Western image, news of how the US has killed innocent Arabs, or how their soldiers abused those held captive by leaving them naked in compromising positions to the entertainment of soldiers, rarely, if ever, hit TV screens (Sut 1998). The news is presented so that harm on the Arab communities is deserved and justified, while harm to the Wests is for no apparent reason. Additionally, videos on the news are specially selected to include mass amounts of people to appear as though the evil and negative emanation gives off a frightening and threatening imp ression that can be applied to the race as a whole (ibid). The images of rallys and swarms are not representative of the entire race, but as it primarily what is shown in the West, it is clear why the image is believed. Between Arab countries vast differences exist, for example Egypt compared to Algeria shows immense lifestyle differences and culture, but with Western news, Arab unites all the Arabian countries as identical. One specific example of where orientalism wrongly accused Arabs through the news was in 1995 with the Oklahoma City bombings (Sut 1998). Immediately after the attack, countless news reports aired which forcedly claimed the Arabs were behind the attack and that it was linked to a Muslim plan. The bombing, unlike any media claims, was actually performed by a Caucasian male within the state itself (ibid). Audiences were told to be aware of Arab citizens who looked suspicious, and even Edward Said had been contacted personally, when he had no personal connection to anything of the matter (ibid). After the white male had been convicted, he was in no sense labeled a terrorist, where as the Arabs had attracted the allegation without one piece of actual proof. The bombing revealed that the portrayal of Arabs within Western news jumps to conclusions based on the stereotypical images that the Global North has been bred to believe. With such generalized depictions of the Arab peoples, many struggle to understand how the images have remained in the media. Unfortunately almost all Arab countries have no democracy and therefore require Western patronage to function (Sut 1998). The Arabs have given way to the power of money and allow the images to be presented because if they were to stand up and protest or enforce policies, the West would be quick to threaten dropping all assistance (ibid). Money sadly pays off the the other to allow the images to continue, and the West, as capitalists, continues to do just that. As James Baerg, Director of Program Practices for CBS-TV in New York City said [Arab stereotyping] is the same thing as throwing in sex and violence when an episode is slow, implying that insulting humour it is a quick fix to boost sales (Shaheen 2000: 22). Middle Eastern countries are aware of how they are seen by the West, but are currently faced with too many other issues to focus on changing the image . In imagining speeches, news, movies, or cartoons without the exaggeration or unnecessary use of Arab characters, it is possible to conceptualize a true image, which would not distort how the majority of Arab individuals live. Through my paper it is evident that media has the power in displaying images they know most Western citizens will be unable to experience themselves, and therefore impose Orientalism. As it is easier to carry on the false image from history to the present than recreate and adjust how people see Arabs, few have found success in changing the representations. So will the image of the orient ever dissolve? And if so will it be in the medias hands? Or will Arabs stand as a race to change the image of the orient? Only the future will answer the questions, but it is still unusual how many people today believe in the phrase seeing is believing, but when seeing is done through anothers eyes (the media) before our own, the phrase seems to lose no value.

Street racing: On The Inside :: essays research papers

For 19-year-old Jeff, weekends begin on a long strip of highway near Atlanta. rather than browsing the mall or going to the movies like others his age. Jeff joins a group of his comrades and spectators to witness a spectacular show of speed. As we pulled up to the meeting spot he looks over at me and says, â€Å"Welcome to the world of illegal street racing.† "We have a cruising area where all the cars go and just chill. If someone wants to race," says Jeff, "they just ask...most of our races are with people you know pretty well...we don't have the major race nights like they have in other areas." The other areas Jeff refers to are about as common as can be and can probably be found on a straightaway near you. "Motorsports has made incredible progress as a legitimate sporting event in the last decade," says Editorial Director of NHRA Publications Phil Burgess. "Corporate America has taken a keen interest in motorsports, which has led to the proliferation of not just racing teams, but racing venues, where racers and fans can go to enjoy the fast-paced excitement that the varied forms of racing have to offer. Many sanctioning bodies offer grassroots-level racing, often where families can enter a race car literally off the street and compete against similar entries." Contrary to popular belief, street racing isn't only found on the fast moving streets of the major cities, its going on all over the country. Recent articles published on MSNBC.com report on street drag racing as an increasing problems in such out of the way places as Spokane, Washington and Forth Worth, Texas; other articles found on www.abc.com report on accidents and coverage of events in Washington D.C., Boston and New York City. Los Angeles County is a big street racing scene however, was recently given a $200,000 state grant to crack down on the illegal street racing activity. Penalties for racing vary from state to state and offense to offense, but can range from a slap on the wrist ticket to arrest and impounding of the vehicle as was the case last January when police in Sylmar-Sun Valley arrested 32 people and impounded 72 vehicles after a sweep. With such heavy impending penalties why would anyone set themselves up for what seems imminent trouble? "Everyone's got a hobby," says Jeff. "And this just happens to be mine.

El Nino and its Impact on Coral Reefs :: Geology

El Nino and its Impact on Coral Reefs Introduction When individuals think of El Nino, they think of heavy wind, heavy rain, and the hot and cold temperatures in the wrong seasons. However, El Nino impacts are more than on humans and their surroundings. El Nino impacts the sea as well. The changes El Nino brings to our weather brings changes to ocean temperature. Changes in the ocean impact all forms of life in the ocean. It brings changes to fishes (affecting migration patterns), changes to aquatic vegetation growth, changes in the rest of the food chain , and most importantly changes (even death) to coral reefs. Coral reefs are more than collectable items, but they are a source of food, shelter and protection for most fishes and other forms of life in the ocean. During El Nino, coral reefs are damaged by the change of temperature. This leaves fishes homeless and in danger. What is El Nino El Nino is a disruption of the ocean off the coast of South America. El Nino starts when all the cold water on the bottom of the ocean does not come up to the surface because the trade winds blow differently during El Nino years. Instead, the warm water stays on top and becomes overheated. Then the water warms the jet streams, as well as sending more moisture into the air. El Nino has many important consequences for all the weather around the globe. For example, Illinois might be warm during its winter, and Brazil might be cold during its summer. Rainfall follows the warm water eastward. This is associated with flooding in Peru and droughts occurring in Australia. This kind of weather change is caused by El Nino. An El Nino may occur every three to seven years . It begins with a change in the trade winds. El Nino can last from a few months up to two years . It can be predicted a year before it happens. The warming of the ocean water begins in the Pacific and moves towards the coas t of South America. During a period of time that may last a year. A full blown El Nino starts in early December. El Nino effects continue for many months. (El Nino Theme Page, 1996). History No one knows exactly when the El Nino occurred, but ice core records from the Andes in Peru suggest these climate fluctuations have been part of Earth's weather cycle for El Nino and its Impact on Coral Reefs :: Geology El Nino and its Impact on Coral Reefs Introduction When individuals think of El Nino, they think of heavy wind, heavy rain, and the hot and cold temperatures in the wrong seasons. However, El Nino impacts are more than on humans and their surroundings. El Nino impacts the sea as well. The changes El Nino brings to our weather brings changes to ocean temperature. Changes in the ocean impact all forms of life in the ocean. It brings changes to fishes (affecting migration patterns), changes to aquatic vegetation growth, changes in the rest of the food chain , and most importantly changes (even death) to coral reefs. Coral reefs are more than collectable items, but they are a source of food, shelter and protection for most fishes and other forms of life in the ocean. During El Nino, coral reefs are damaged by the change of temperature. This leaves fishes homeless and in danger. What is El Nino El Nino is a disruption of the ocean off the coast of South America. El Nino starts when all the cold water on the bottom of the ocean does not come up to the surface because the trade winds blow differently during El Nino years. Instead, the warm water stays on top and becomes overheated. Then the water warms the jet streams, as well as sending more moisture into the air. El Nino has many important consequences for all the weather around the globe. For example, Illinois might be warm during its winter, and Brazil might be cold during its summer. Rainfall follows the warm water eastward. This is associated with flooding in Peru and droughts occurring in Australia. This kind of weather change is caused by El Nino. An El Nino may occur every three to seven years . It begins with a change in the trade winds. El Nino can last from a few months up to two years . It can be predicted a year before it happens. The warming of the ocean water begins in the Pacific and moves towards the coas t of South America. During a period of time that may last a year. A full blown El Nino starts in early December. El Nino effects continue for many months. (El Nino Theme Page, 1996). History No one knows exactly when the El Nino occurred, but ice core records from the Andes in Peru suggest these climate fluctuations have been part of Earth's weather cycle for

Effects of the Vietnam War

Abstract While it takes societies to start wars, war changes societies. Whether it be the loss of life, wealth or influence, war determines what a society becomes. This paper will look at some of the effects on U. S. society following the war in Viet Nam. The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Society The Conflict in Southeast Asia had lasting effects on the United States society. It was sold to the American people as necessary to stop the spread of Communism and quickly become one of the longest and costliest wars in U. S. history.Looking at the war strictly from the point-of-view of society, the after effects of the war were staggering. There was weakened public faith in the government and a change in the public image of the American soldier. The loss of national pride was deep. America had effectively lost a war to what Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had called â€Å"a fourth-rate power. † The U. S. was no longer looked at as an invincible giant. Because President J ohnson wanted to fund the war without raising taxes, the government deficit skyrocketed. Additionally, troops returning home could not find jobs in the private sector.These factors together caused double digit inflation and unemployment rates. The people felt that the government was not taking care of them like it used to. These factors led to a change in the country's role around the world. Congress was worried that the world was viewing the U. S. as the planet's policeman, ready to jump in anytime another country seemed ready to fall victim to Communism. In 1973, the mostly Democratic Congress enacted the War Powers Resolution, which limited the president's powers. The Commander-in-Chief could only send U. S. troops into combat for less than ninety days without congressional approval.Besides the lack of jobs, returning soldiers were not given parades and hailed by the people as conquering heroes as they were following previous conflicts. Instead, they were viewed with disdain, bot h for losing the war and for the vicious actions taken by a few soldiers. The hero gave way to the villain, the soldier became the baby-killer. The American sensibilities had changed as well. While soldiers were fighting and dying in Viet Nam, the United States had a few other conflicts within its own borders. Race riots and anti-war protests were shown side by side with battlefield reports on the nightly news.National Guard intervention and the shooting of students at Kent State and Jackson State universities did little to gain support for the government. According to Sen. Frank Church, Viet Nam â€Å"has already stretched the generation gap so wide that it threatens to pull the country apart. † (â€Å"Vietnam War Quotations†, para. 13) Whether the outcome of the war was beneficial or detrimental depends entirely on your point of view. On one hand, the more liberal attitude of government towards foreign intervention, the redefining of the right to protest and the skep ticism toward the government can be looked at as positive effects of an unpopular war.On the other hand, the image of the country in the eyes of the world, the loss of traditional values and the blow to the economy can be viewed as negative. No matter what personal stance one has on the Viet Nam Conflict, there is one truth; The War in Southeast Asia definitely changed the United States as a world power, as a country and as a people. References Frey-Wouters, E. , & Laufer, R. S. (1986). The Vietnam Generation's Views of the Combatants. In Legacy of a war: the American soldier in Vietnam. (pp. 108-109). M. E. Sharpe. Sitikoff, H. (n. d. ). The Postwar Impact of Vietnam.Universtiy of Illinois. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from http://www. english. illinois. edu/maps/vietnam/postwar. htm The Vietnam War: An Overview. (n. d. ). The Wars for Viet Nam: 1945 to 1975. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from http://vietnam. vassar. edu/overview/index. html Vietnam War and the American Economy. (n. d. ). History Central. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from http://www. historycentral. com/sixty/Economics/Vietnam. html Vietnam War Quotations. (n. d. ). VietnamWar. net. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from http://www. vietnamwar. net/quotations/quotations. htm