The Story of Daniel Pearl Essay Example for Free

The Story of Daniel Pearl Essay The Story of Daniel Pearl as a journalist in Dubai was very tragic. Daniel Pearl was very brave of facing those people for a interview seeking and asking information into unknown territory that leads him to a very tragic death. In the movie narrated by Mariane his wife, it has been said that his body was cut into seven pcs. though that the video of Daniel Pearl being killed by the people who kidnapped him was not shown in the movie I can imagine how hard his experience being tortured and killed of the reason of probing information to a person who is on his own territory, the Muslims knows that he is part of the CIA or some spy of USA, besides of being a Jew I suppose that’s one of the unlucky part of his short journey in Dubai. With my own opinion, I think that Daniel Pearl should not pursue that interview, because in the first place he knows that the person he wanted to interview was a dangerous person and doesn’t want a person like him or a journalist like him that leads him to be kidnapped by supporters of Omar Sheikh, though I know that Daniel Pearl only wants to seek information about Omar Sheikh but he should think first about his safety of performing that interview. I believe that a journalist should not put his/her self or life into danger when he/she already knows that it is not safe to interview a specific group or person because it may lead to a misunderstanding and may cause a problem between the journalist and the interviewee. For me it is important to a journalist to make sure that the interviewee is harmful and knows what a journalist are capable of and especially their task that they just want to know and to write information to a specific matter, also for me a journalist should seek first or observe some of the information about the person or group he/she needs to communicate with regarding the issues about the interviewee. The goal of a journalist is to â€Å"tell the truth and nothing but the truth† but in the situation of Daniel Pearl he told that he is a Jew that is not pleasant to the Muslims that’s why he got kidnapped and murdered by them, but on the other side of being a journalist they should always state information that are real and complete but also they need to remember that they have to keep secret the sources of confidential information not only for the safety of the source but also their safety. In order for a journalist to be a reliable source of information a journalist should do his/her best to obtain information from all possible sources, to make sure it is complete, truthful and unbiased just like what Daniel Pearl did, he interviewed different people to gather information about the certain person before he undergo an interview to avoid future conflicts. I think Daniel Pearl should introduce himself in a different way that is appropriate to the interviewee and also he should approach the interviewee well in that way I think the murdering of him will be prevented. It doesnt matter that he was a Jew. The race that he was born doesnt dictate who you are, it’s the content of your character and who you are inside. He was a journalist because he wanted to put an end to this kind of foolishness, killing someone based on race can never be justified, Muslims should not be so cruel to the people that if they don’t like that person they will already kill the person. Its not because he was a Jew that many place some of the blame for his death on him. Its because he was a prominent Jew in the territory of the enemy looking for glory at the knowing risk of his own life. He should have been thinking of his wife and child, it is understood that he will be killed like that because of his being prominent that he is a Jew. Daniel was working for CIA and eventhough the athourities have warn him several times, he ignored. He was looking for glory. I think he is responsible for his death because he did not think of his safety of going there and not thinking of what might happen if the Muslims will kill him and that’s the most unfortunate thing that happened to him because he become careless about his identity he is very vogue about it, just like what Mariane told in the movie he doesn’t hide that he is Jew though he doesn’t also speak about it, but if someone ask him he will not hesitate to tell the truth about identity or religion. This movie does tell us something. It’s telling us about the dangers that a jounalists face in their line of duties. Not alot of people realize how dangerous it really is sometimes to go report some news stories. The Pakistanis didn’t kill Daniel Pearl for fun, they did it to pay Americans back for the suffering of their people, but did the Pakistani’s take off the suffering of their people by killing lots of people who’s trying to end their conflicts and issues? for me the answer is NO their just making it more complicated and worsen the problem, the Muslims should stop this horrifying killing of people just for their own beliefs, and to avoid this kind of situation a journalist should always know what is their limitations of probing information to avoid incidence like what happened to Daniel Pearl and to the other journalist they should always think first about their safety. Also a journalist should not take part in activities or organizations which could limit the independence of his/her thinking and endanger his/her professional integrity.

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay BMW is the multinational company that I choose for the assignment. BMW is a company that operating in more than 1 country. They are not only operating in their home country (Germany) but they also operate in many countries like: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and etc. Beside that BMW also have manufacture in country like UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa and etc. So BMW is proving as a multinational company. BMW Group is one of the worlds largest premium carmakers and BMW is also the parent of the company of BMW MINI and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover. BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany. The company slogans in English are The Ultimate Driving Machine and Sheer Driving Pleasure. BMW was founded by Karl Friedrich Rapp in October 1913. Automobiles, motorcycles and financial services are three segments that operate by BMW and they manufactured the first passenger car running by hydrogen. BMW manufacturing is plant in Germany, Austria, UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and also Vietnam. BMWs main competitors include Acura, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all of this are consider luxury brands of the car products. Nowadays, BMW is support by 11different types of series which is: BMW C1, BMW 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 series, BMW X3, 5, 6, BMW Z4, BMW M5, BMW M6, and BMW Z4 M. According to the research, shown that there are 2 new divisions for BMW been introduce in October 1, 2007. Which are corporate and brand development will be lead by the director of corporate planning this is focus on the vital for brand management, corporate planning, and strategic implementation BMW. Second, purchasing and supplier network that headed by Dr.Herbert.Diess. The purpose is to reduce the material cost and expenses factor. These are few of the new management strategy that BMW Company is using to operate the c ompany. 15 Sentence of credit crunch in general are stand for credit crunch make it almost impossible to the lender like bank and investor to borrow the money because they become very chary of lending the money to the corporation. They scared of bankruptcies and defaults, which they drive up the price of debt products for borrowers which result in higher rates. The consequence is drag on of recession, which the shrinking of the credit supply wills happens as a result. 2 Credit crunch overall background is starting with the lender like bank are suffering loss because of their previous lending loans, and this make them normally unable and averse to lend the money again to the borrowers. This happen when the borrower in arrears and the properties underlying a defaulted loan and drop in the value. As in this case the borrowers default, the bank can only foreclose on hypothecate and trying to sell this property to compensate the funds they loaned out. Thereby, if the pricing of the house is decreasing, the bank is considered left selling at the cost. The banker capital position is reducing; when they suffer losses which are reduce the amount that they are able to lend out. The lending institutions are requiring keeping down the minimum levels of capital. 3 The reasons that cause to the credit crunch are first: speculation. Many people go to obtain additional loans with very easy terms for instance no initial down payment because it is too easy to gain the credit from the banks so that all of the peoples and investors think that the price will going to increase also. The rapidity increase in property value make investors to jump into the investment with low and no fundamentals. This situation will make the investors to feel that they are missing out and left behind, in case as many investors going to heap up it will cause increasingly unsustainable to the price of property. Next is lack of the regulatory oversight, the distrustful of loans are make by mortgage brokers and bankers, the underwriters who working in the bank are determine whether the ability of the borrowers is there for them to repay the loans and turn a blind eye to what is going on so that the increasing of the profit can see by the loans that they have written. In addit ional, there are others reasons like Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and subprime loans, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, Historically low interest rates, and as well as politics which happen because many of the politicians going to say that the higher of the rate of the home ownership for Americans is better, but what would happen to the economy from the perspective of those that cant afford their homes when an inevitable slowdown occurred.4 The occurring of the credit crunch will actually affect the economy of a country and company in few ways. First, the banker will actually tighten up the credit for all types of loans and become more caution to lending the loans. So that this directly affects the small businesses peoples that who are depend on the loans and the credit to fund their day to day operation and become illiquid. Next, unemployment rises is one of the ways that will affect a company and country where the businesses are unable to pay for all the immediate bills and so that they also facing the problem that they cannot pay for the employees salary and so that caused the situation like unemployment increasing in nationwide. The bankers and the brokerage firms are hit by this credit crunch. Apart of that a spiraling domino effect occurs, above these two economies effects of the economies crisis can make the economy of a country going down and than affect the whole country economy and if the economy of a country continues to going downward, it will lead to the difficult to stop the cycle. 5 On year 2008, America was affected by the serious economy crisis, and their economy is actually hit really hard by this economy crisis. We can see through the secondary data that done by research show that BMW also hit by 2008 economy crisis. According to (Chris Reiter 2010) BMW and Mercedes this two world largest luxury car makers was only sold a combine 31,000 fewer vehicles last month because of the occurring of economy crisis and cause credit crunch that discourage the power purchasing of consumers. The percentage of sales are also falling down 8.3% to 113.005 cars and sport- utility vehicles from 123,300 vehicles a year earlier by BMW Company whose are also owns the Mini and Rolls-Royce auto brands. Next, Auto sales in US BMW as a biggest market also decrease 32 percent in October of 2008 to the lowest monthly total since January 1991. They look back to their 2008 profile target on November BMW plans to cut production by 65,000 cars and SUVs according to (Chris Reiter 2010). Chris Reiter (2010) states that BMW is involved in the extremely changeling market and the vehicles sales are decreasing for the whole year because of this. As what Ian Robertson who are the Munich-based carmakers sales chief said: in a statement today, reiterating a forecast released Nov. 4. The retail gains made in our growth markets were unable to fully offset declines in Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. Chris Reiter (2010) also states that BMW posted 12% drop in Western Europe, 5% drop in US and the worst is Japan drop 34%. Furthermore, David Gow (2010) states that credit crunch put brakes on BMW 2008 also when US economy goes down turn and BMW reported that a step fall down in first quarter earnings. The son company of BMW Mini and Rolls Royce said that the pre-tax profits spilled 25% to ( £505m), dragged down by increased risk provisions, tighter credit and the strong euro. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010)[case study 4.2 BMW after Rover], show Rover in Britain worsened and hopeless in early of March 2010 due to the strong pound damaging the exports of Rover. Finally Rover sells to Alchemy. This happened and uproar Britain press and politicians because scaring big number of unemployment in Rover and few supplier are located around the region. Alchemy withdrew from bidding process and sell to Phoenix consortium for  £10. Previous 6 years BMW spent total  £34billion to save Rover but posted big losses. The disposal provoked a political storm in Britain, and BMW bosses were someone parliamentary before this. Britain government furious, Milberg (who took over CEO of BMW in 1999) retorted government slow to get the signals he sent in a phone call before the situation worsened. This criticism infuriated the government again. This shows that government and political mess will also cause a problem to a company. Apart from that, the case stud y also stated that the decreasing and increasing of a currency will also give a huge impact to a company. The pounds became stronger and then give a direct effect to the company and destroy their exports businesses are one of the problem that we can see from the case and this may indirectly lead to the occur of credit crunch as well. 14 David Gow (2010) states BMW a 5.6% rise across its three brands to a record 351,787 despite a 9.1% drop in their biggest market, US. The international financial crisis deteriorates the climate for consumer spending became gloomier, it said, pointing to March 2008 as the peak of the crisis. Before this BMW still expect to beat the last year sales record to 1.5m but the USs economy getting worst and lead to the dropping of the profits. The world largest luxury carmaker BMW have became the victims of the credit crunch on 2008. It took a 236 million euro (S$500 million) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the United States. The move is the provision made of the divinable losses in business area. This move could cause to increased nervousness about the impact of the financial crisis on the economy in Europe, even as most companies report robust first-quarter results. This is what reported by The Financial Times. The Click here to find out more!Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche says that in 2008 may that month the general car sales of US is fall down this year but the growth in emerging in market can expiation it. 6 In addition, research shows that 2008 BMW sons company MINI has declared that axes 800 redundancies in Cowley, Oxford hire prompting protests from unions over a perceived lack of sensitivity towards the rights of agency workers. The redundancy pay will not received by many of the staffs that who have been made the contract through the agency Manpower. At the same time the sales of the luxury cars are drop very ruggedness, so because of that supermini segment has experienced a less severe downturn driven by a consumer shift to smaller and more economical vehicles. Seen from secondary data, clearly we can see the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) January figure, the trend towards the smallest segment the mini or city car segment is growing stronger as the recession deepens, with new car registrations up 40.8% on 2008 figures. At British, Mini was one of the last of the car manufacturers that are continue working through these suffering times, but they are not produce an y cars on that relevant week because of to the significant fall in global demand. Around 20% of these 800 axes redundancies are going to tha manufacture like: Jaguar, Nissan and etc. 7 BMW became the first victim of the credit crunch on 24 of April, that who are the world largest luxury carmaker. BMW took a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬236m ($369m) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the US are showing through the research. But however the pre-tax level is slightly increased compare with last year. 8 The strategy that BMW use to overcome credit crunch are first: that are one of the reason why BMW and Mercedes are teaming up. There are fewer options for OEM (original equipment makers), consolidations of period have gone through by automobile suppliers and this trend is expected to speedup for the next few years. It becomes difficult for the investment capital because credit crunch makes suppliers harder to fund their business. 9 Many organizations are affected by the credit crunch in UK industry and so BMW. But BMW consider one of the successful from them and six awards are goes to BMW and German manufacturer sales rise and new models bring in new customers. Although BMW also affected but they get the award for best small car with the MINI, best small premium car for the 1 Series and best large premium car for the 3 Series. In addition, The 5 Series took the gong for best executive car and the X5 won best SUV and BMW was presented with the Fleet News environmental award for the EfficientDynamics package. 10 Next, BMW also trying to protect himself from credit crunch by helping some of the suppliers. The stronger suppliers are encouraging by BMW to take over weaker supplier in this case and BMW will pay more for the parts, speedup the payment and as well as they will temporary pay higher price for the parts. 11 Apart from that, in UK, during credit crunch the governments are actually asking to help the car manufacture and government helping a litter bit where we just seem it banking sector. According to the research, on that time if the government is still not aware of this problem and the unemployment will become worst and the number of import export within UK and other country will be reduce and shown that UK government will loss  £110 billion revenue and UK  £146.2 billion tax next couple of year if the government despise this case. 12 However, in Malaysia it will still have at least a litter bit effects because of credit crunch but the god strategy need to be prepared to face the credit crunch. According to Briscoe, he believes that the luxury car like BMW needs to have a better positioned for it to growth in the industry when facing difficulty at the economic side. He also said that: There would be an impact but we feel that the volume-based car segment would be more affected than the premium segment. According to him as well in Malaysia market in 2009, was to provide the right car at the right market at the right time. Extra key are they are now focusing on their credit crunch strategy are introduce more diesel powered cars. 13 This are few strategy that BMW done or the place government done to solve the various problem during credit crunch. But actually they are pro and con for every strategy they used and pro and con as well for the helping from the government, it is just depend on each of us to criticize either each of this strategy are falls into pro or con. In my opinion, as the first point I listed above BMW are teaming up with Mercedes, to invest in the suppliers and the next point that BMW are encourage strong supplier to take over weaker suppliers. It is just a good decision I think because it is not a good decision if we just leave our cars part supplier to facing and suffering alone with the credit crunch without any assisting. In the tough time during credit crunch, if we are not helping each other among supplier even competitor we might just die together because of the wrong decision. We can actually helping each other according to our capability like what BMW and the rest done. Next, the ethical issues are very vital for a company. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010), an organization must make sure that every decision they make, have a conscious ethical content. If it is an internal problem, it maybe about the labour working hours, or their wages problem. When come to the BMW do à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬international business with other country, company must ensure they does not apply their own ethical norms to the foreign country but is conforms to the local customs, and ethical as well as morality enough when making any of the business decision and also during economy crisis. Although the company situation is worse and worried but any decision making by BMW will be ethical enough; example during credit crunch any methods using to solve the credit crunch problem, it must be with ethical.

Identity Theft and the Internet Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research P

Identity Theft and the Internet You come home and find two mysterious UPS packages at your doorstep. Funny; they're addressed to you, but you didn't order anything. You open one of them to find a cell phone with the latest accessories. The enclosed invoice shows that it was shipped to you but billed to someone with your name at another address a few miles away. Same name? Same city? Stranger things can happen. There's a phone number, so your husband tries to call to let your namesake know that UPS delivered her packages to the wrong address. When you hear the woman on the line say, "Yes, this is [insert your full name here]," you get a sinking feeling in your stomach. Your husband quickly hangs up on her. Another review of the invoice reveals payment was made by MasterCard. You have a MasterCard but haven't used it in a while, so--what the hell--you call the toll-free customer service line. After being transferred here and there, answering this question and that one, it hits you: you're just another victim. This is the way I discovered last year that I had become a victim of identity theft. Weeks and months later, I learned that, in addition to making fraudulent charges to my credit card, the criminals opened several cell phone accounts using my name, address, date of birth, and social security number. They even had the audacity to have two phones purchased illegally added to my existing, legitimate cell phone account. At times, I loathed opening my mailbox for fear of finding yet another invoice asking me to pay hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for these lowlifes to buy and talk on cell phones. Should you ever find yourself in a similar, unfortunate situation, know that the Internet contains web sites that can he... ...en made, my case is still pending. With the help of the Internet, I am an informed victim who was able to more than fully cooperate in the criminal investigation into the crime committed against me. Web sites don't have to be directly related to identity theft for them to be helpful. Each of the sites I visited during the course of my personal investigation, productive for the criminal investigation or not, contributed to the peace of mind and confidence I now feel. Fraudulent bills and collection notices continue to arrive in the mail but no longer intimidate me. I am empowered with knowledge, and I look forward to the day that my case is solved and the perpetrators are brought to justice. Because my case is still pending, I choose not to explicitly describe its specific details so that the eventual prosecution of the perpetrators is not jeopardized in any way.

Martin Luther Reformation Essay -- essays research papers

Martin Luther: Reformer Martin Luther was born in Eisieben, Germany, on November 10,1483, St. Martin’s Day. He was the son of Has Luther, a coal miner, and Margarethe. Martin’s parents were of the middle class and were unbending in their disciplinary acts. He attended the best schools in his region but all of them held to the barbaric discipline system of the times. This had a big impact on Martin’s personality. But he did receive some positive influence from his home environment. His parents were very pious people and brought him up to be one too. His parents also gave him a strong sense of superstition. At the age of 14 Luther went to grammar school at Magdeburg. There he got attracted to the Church and particularly the Lollards. Then in 1498 he moved to Eisenach and came in contact with a warmer church life than he was use too. He also made some important friends here including Fran Ursula Cotta. He really started going into the Church works when he attended the University at Erfurt. He was a very diligent student and quickly rose through the academic ranks. Meanwhile his father upon hearing of his son’s achievements had great hopes for him. Luther was preparing to be a lawyer to some prince or town after he received his degree in philosophy. But halfway through his training he decided to quit and take up life permanently in an Augustine monastery.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Historians speculate on why such a successful young man would want to join the monastery. Historians believe a string of events led Luther to choose the path of the Church. Being superstitious, Luther might have thought that this was god trying to get him to join the monastery. Luther made hid decision to go into the monastery during a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightening hit just a few feet away from him and threw him up into the air. He saw this as an act of god and joined the monastery. Later he and his father would look back and wonder whether it was God or the devil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His methods of teaching were a bit unorthodox but had a natural talent for speaking to the masses that listen to him. He often used vulgar language in his classes and had liberal ideas that he preached. His vulgarity came from a few things. First of all he was constipated and often talked about it in class. He rel... ...ed that Catholic services be followed. It also outlawed the practice of Lutheran services in all the Catholic States. The angered many of the Lutheran princes and nobles and said they would Protest this unfair decree. From this Protest came the term Protestant, or a person who protests against the Catholic Church. Charles V never seriously enforced the edict and allowed the Lutheran countries to continue their reforms. A group of Protestant Princes and Cities came together and formed the Schmalkaldic League named after they city in which the first meeting of their league was held. Also in 1530 another diet was called and the Lutheran princes decided to put their complaints in writing so they sent a scholar named Philipp Melanchuthon to what was called the Augsburg Confession. The Augsberg Confession was the systematic statement of the Lutheran belief. The Confession was written as uncontroversial as possible. Charles handed the Confession to a team of theologians to analyze and t heir report stated that the Church did indeed have some problems. Charles said that he would help correct the problems of the Church and that he hoped the Protestants would rejoin the Church. They did not.

Ehrlichs Population Bomb :: essays research papers

Ehrlich's Population Bomb "People are realizing that we cannot forever continue to multiply and subdue the earth without losing our standard of life and the natural beauty that must be part of it. these are the years of decision- the decision of men to stay the flood of man." Ehrlich here explains the one of the most pressing problems facing man in the 20th century. In Population Bomb, Ehrlich explains that pollution, shortages, and an overall deterioation of the standard of living is all due to overpopulation. In chapter one Ehrlich explains the pressing problems facing modern civilization and how these problems are directly or indirectly linked to overpopulation. Ehrlich explains situation using various examples of how mass starvation is inevitable if population continues to increase the way it is currently. In third world countries their food supplies are becoming increasingly scarce because of their increasing populations. In these third world countries the rich-poor gap is increasing creating the potential for large parts of the population to starve. Paraphrasing Ehrlich's ideas in chapter can be explained as; there is only so many resources and as population increases those resources will soon be depleted. Ehrlich uses historical population research to lead to the conclusion that in 90 years the population could be well over the earths carrying capacity. In third world countries where population control is rarely used population, pollution, and scarcity are becoming ever increasing problems. Roughly 40% of the population in third world countries are children 15 years or older. Ehrlich explains that if population growth continues at this rate older generations will find themselves without adequate food and medicine. Near the end of the chapter Ehrlich explains the cause of the massive increase in population growth; as he explains that science and medicine have decreased the death rate exponentially while the birth rate has not decreased. In "Too Little Food" Ehrlich starts off with the assumption that about 50% of the people in the world are in some degree malnourished. He uses statistics from "New Republic" and the Population Crisis Committee to put the number of deaths to around four million people dying each year of starvation alone, not disease caused by starvation. Ehrlich explains that sometime around 1958 population growth exceeded the available food supply. When this happened the laws of supply and demand took over and caused massive inflation in food costs and causes marginal farm land to be put into production. All of these signs caused a period of time with severe shortages in food. In 1966 alone the world population increased by 70 million while food production remained

Carrie Chapter Six

‘Ewen, four years,' Grayle overrode him. ‘Graduation slated June seventy-nine; next month. Tested I.Q. of a hundred and forty. Eighty-three average. Nonetheless, I see she's been accepted at Oberlin. I'd guess someone – probably you, Mr Hargensen – has been yanking some pretty long strings. Seventy-four assigned detentions. Twenty of those have been for harassment of misfit pupils, I might add. Fifth wheels, I understand that Chris's clique calls them Mortimer Snurds. They find it all quite hilarious. She skipped out on fifty-one of those assigned detentions. At Chamberlain Junior High, one suspension for putting a firecracker in a girl's shoe †¦ the note on the card says that little prank almost cost a little girl named Irma Swope two toes. The Swope girl has a harelip, I understand. I'm talking about your daughter, Mr Hargensen. Does that tell you anything?' ‘Yes,' Hargensen said, rising. A thin flush had suffused his features, ‘It tells me I'll see you in court. And when I'm done with you, you'll be lucky to get a job selling encyclopedias door to door.' Grayle also rose, angrily, and the two men faced each other across the desk ‘Let it be court, then,' Grayle said. He noted a faint flick of surprise on Hargensen's face, crossed his fingers, and went in for what he hoped would be a knockout – or at least a TKO that would save Desjardin's job and take this silk-ass son of a bitch down a notch. ‘You apparently haven't realized all the implications of in loco parentis in this matter, Mr Hargensen. The same umbrella that covers your daughter also covers Carrie White. And the minute you file for damages on the grounds of physical and verbal abuse, we will cross-file against your daughter on those same grounds for Carrie White.' Hargensen's mouth dropped open, then closed, ‘You can't get away with a cheap gimmick like that, you-‘ ‘Shyster lawyer? Is that the phrase you were looking for?' Grayle smiled grimly. ‘I believe you know your way out, Mr Hargensen. The sanctions against your daughter stand. If you care to take the matter further, that is your right.' Hargensen crossed the room stiffly, paused as if to add something, then left, barely restraining himself from the satisfaction of a hard doorslam. Grayle blew out breath. It wasn't hard to see where Chris Hargensen came by her self-willed stubbornness. A. P. Morton entered a minute later. ‘How did it go?' ‘Time'll tell, Morty,' Grayle said. Grimacing, he looked at the twisted pile of paper clips. ‘He was good for seven clips, anyway. That's some kind of record.' ‘Is he going to make it a civil matter?' ‘Don't know. It rocked him when I said we'd counter sue. ‘I bet it did.' Morton glanced at the phone on Grayle's desk. ‘It's time we let the superintendent in on this bag of garbage, isn't it?' ‘Yes,' Grayle said, picking up the phone. ‘Thank God my unemployment insurance is paid up.' ‘Me too,' Morton said loyally. From The Shadow Exploded (appendix Ill): Carrie White passed in the following short verse as a poetry assignment in the seventh grade. Mr Edwin King, who had Carrie for grade seven English, says: ‘I don't know why I saved it. She certainly doesn't stick out in my mind as a superior pupil, and this isn't a superior verse. She was very quiet and I can't remember her ever raising her hand even once in class. But something in this seemed to cry out.' Jesus watches from the wall. But his face is cold as stone. And if he loves me – As she tells me Why do I feel so all alone? The border of the paper on which this little verse is written is decorated with a great many cruciform figures which almost seem to dance †¦ Tommy was at baseball practice Monday afternoon, and Sue went down to the Kelly Fruit Company in The Centre to wait for him. Kelly's was the closest thing to a high school hangout the loosely sprawled community of Chamberlain could boast since Sheriff Doyle had closed the rec centre following a large drug bust. It was run by a morose fat man named Hubert Kelly who dyed his hair black and complained constantly that his electronic pacemaker was on the verge of electrocuting him. The place was a combination grocery, soda fountain and gas station-there Was a rusted Jenny pump out front that Hubie had never bothered to change when the company merged. He also sold beer, cheap wine, dirty books, and a wide selection of obscure cigarettes such as Mirads, King Sano, and Marvel Straights. The soda fountain was a slab of real marble, and there were four or five booths for kids unlucky enough or friendless enough to have no place to go and get drunk or stoned. An ancient pinball machine that always tilted on the third ball stuttered lights on and off in the back beside the rack of dirty books. When Sue walked in she saw Chris Hargensen immediately. She was sitting in one of the back booths. Her current amour, Billy Nolan, was looking through the latest issue of Popular Mechanix at the magazine rack. Sue didn't know what a rich, Popular girl like Chris saw in Nolan, who was like some strange time traveller from the 1950s with his greased hair, zipper-bejewelled leather jacket, and manifold-bubbling Chevrolet road machine. ‘Sue!' Chris hailed, ‘come on over!' Sue nodded and raised a hand, although dislike rose in her throat like a paper snake. Looking at Chris was like looking through a slanted doorway to a place where Carrie White crouched with hands over her head. Predictably she found her own hypocrisy (inherent in the wave and the nod) incomprehensible and sickening. Why couldn't she just cut her dead? ‘A dime root beer,' she told Hubie. Hubie had genuine draft root beer, and he served it in huge, frosted 1890s mugs. She had been looking forward to tipping a long one while she read a paper novel and waited for Tommy – in spite of the havoc the root beers raised with her complexion, she was hooked. But she wasn't surprised to find she'd lost her taste for this one. ‘How's your heart, Hubie?' she asked. ‘You kids,' Hubie said, scraping the head off Sue's beer with a table knife and filling the mug the rest of the way. ‘You don't understand nothing. I plugged in my electric razor this morning and got a hundred a ten volts right through this pacemaker. You kids don't know what that's like, am I right?' ‘I guess not.' ‘No, Christ Jesus forbid you should ever have to find out. How long can my old ticket take it? You kids'll all find out when I buy the farm and those urban renewal poops turn this place into a parking lot. That's a dime.' She pushed her dime across the marble. ‘Fifty million volts right up the old tubes,' Hubie said darkly, and stared down at the small bulge in his breast pocket. Sue went over and slid carefully into the vacant side of Chris's booth. She was looking exceptionally pretty, her black hair held by a shamrock-green band and a tight basque blouse that accentuated her firm, upthrust breasts. ‘How are you, Chris?' ‘Bitchin' good,' Chris said a little too blithely. ‘You heard the latest? I'm out of the prom. I bet that cocksucker Grayle loses his job, though.' Sue had heard the latest. Along with everyone at Ewen. ‘Daddy's suing them,' Chris went on. Over her shoulder; ‘Billeee! Come over here and say hi to Sue.' He dropped his magazine and sauntered over, thumbs booked into his side-hitched garrison belt, fingers dangling limply toward the stuffed crotch of his pegged levis. Sue felt a wave of unreality surge over her and fought an urge to put her hands to her face and giggle madly. ‘Hi, Suze,' Billy said. He slid in beside Chris and immediately began to massage her shoulder. His face was utterly blank. He might have been testing a cut of beef. ‘I think we're going to crash the prom anyway,' Chris said. ‘As a protest or something.' ‘Is that right?' Sue was frankly startled. ‘No,' Chris replied, dismissing it, ‘I don't know.' Her face suddenly twisted into in expression of fury, as abrupt and surprising as a tornado funnel. ‘That goddamned Carrie White! I wish she'd taken her goddam holy joe routine and stuff it straight up her ass!' ‘You'll get over it,' Sue said. ‘If only the rest of you had walked out with me †¦ Jesus Sue, why didn't you? We could have had them by the balls. I never figured you for an establishment pawn.' Sue felt her face grow hot. ‘I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't being anybody's pawn. I took the punishment because I thought I earned it. We did a suck-off thing. End of statement.' ‘Bullshit. That fucking Carrie runs around saying everyone but her and her gilt-edged momma are going to bell and you can stick up for her? We should have taken those rags and stuffed them down her throat.' ‘Sure. Yeah. See you around, Chris.' She pushed out of the booth. This time it was Chris who coloured the blood slammed to her face in a sudden rush, as if a red cloud had passed over some inner sun. ‘Aren't you getting to be the Joan of Arc around here! I seem to remember you were in there pitching with the rest of us.' ‘Yes,' Sue said trembling. ‘But I stopped.' ‘Oh, aren't you just it?' Chris marvelled. ‘Oh my yes. Take your root beer with you. I'm afraid I might touch it and turn to gold.' She didn't take her root beer. She turned and half-walked, half-stumbled out. The upset inside her was very great, too great yet for either tears or anger. She was a getalong girl, and it was the first fight she had been in, physical or verbal, since grade-school pigtail pulling. And it was the first time in her life that she had actively espoused a Principle. And of course Chris had hit her in just the right place, had hit her exactly where she was most vulnerable: She way being a hypocrite, there seemed no way to avoid that, and deeply, sheathed within her and hateful, was the knowledge that one of the reasons she had gone to Miss Desjardin's hour of calisthenics and sweating runs around the gym Floor had nothing to do with nobility. She wasn't going to miss her last Spring Ball for anything. Not for anything. Tommy was nowhere in sight. She began to walk back toward the school, her stomach churning unhappily, Little Miss Sorority, Suzy Creemcheese, The Nice Girl who only does It with the boy she plans to marry – with the proper Sunday supplement coverage, of course. Two kids. Beat the living shit out of them if they show any signs of honesty; screwing, fighting, or refusing to grin each time some mythic honcho yelled frog. Spring Ball. Blue gown. Corsage kept all the afternoon in the fridge. Tommy in a white dinner jacket, cummerbund, black pants, black shoes. Parents taking photos posed by the living-room sofa with Kodak Starflashes and Polaroid Big-Shots. Crepe masking the stark gymnasium girders. Two bands: one rock, one mellow. No fifth wheels need apply. Mortimer Snurd, please keep out. Aspiring country club members and future residents of Kleen Korners only. The tears finally came and she began to run. From The Shadow Exploded (p. 60): The following excerpt is from a letter to Donna Kellogg from Christine Hargensen. The Kellogg girl moved from Chamberlain to Providence, Rhode Island, in the fall of 1978. She was apparently one of Chris Hargensen's few close friends and a confidante. The letter is postmarked May 17,1979: ‘So I'm out of the Prom and my yellow-guts father says he won't give them what they deserve. But they're not going to get away with it. I don't know what exactly I'm going to do yet but I guarantee you everyone is going to get a big fucking surprise . . .' It was the seventeenth. May seventeenth. She crossed the, day off the calendar in her room as soon as she slipped into her long white nightgown. She crossed off each day as it passed with a heavy black felt pen, and she supposed it expressed a very bad attitude toward life. She didn't really care. The only thing she really cared about was knowing that Momma was going to make her go back to school tomorrow and she would have to face all of Them. She sat down in the small Boston rocker (bought and paid for with her own money) beside the window, closed her eyes, and swept Them and all the clutter of her conscious thoughts from her mind. It was like sweeping a floor. Lift the rug of your subconscious mind and sweep all the dirt under. Good-bye. She opened her eyes. She looked at the hairbrush on her bureau. Flex. She was lifting the hairbrush. It was heavy. It was like lifting a barbell with very weak arms. Oh. Grunt. The hairbrush slid to the edge of the bureau, slid out past the point where gravity should have toppled it, and then dangled, as if on an invisible string. Carrie's eyes had closed to slits. Veins pulsed in her temples. A doctor might have been interested in what her body was doing at that instant; it made no rational sence. Respiration had fallen to sixteen breaths per minute. Blood pressure up to 190/100. Heartbeat up to 140 – higher than astronauts under the heavy g-load of lift-off. Temperature down to 94.3. Her body was burning energy that seemed to be coming from nowhere and seemed to be going nowhere. An electroencephalogram would have shown alpha waves that were no longer waves at all, but great, jagged spikes. She let the hairbrush down carefully. Good. Last night she had dropped it. Lose all your points, go to jail. She closed her eyes again and rocked. Physical functions began to revert to the norm; her respiration speeded until she was nearly panting. The rocker had a slight squeak. Wasn't annoying, though. Was soothing. Rock, rock. Clear your mind. ‘Carrie?' Her mother's voice, slightly disturbed, floated up. (she's getting interference like the radio when you turn on the blender good good) ‘Have you said your prayers, Carrie?' ‘I'm saying them,' she called back. Yes. She was saying them, all right. She looked at her small studio bed. Flex. Tremendous weight. Huge. Unbearable. The bed trembled and then the end came up perhaps three inches. It dropped with a crash. She waited, a small smile playing about her lips, for Momma to call upstairs angrily. She didn't. So Carrie got up, went to her bed. and slid between the cool sheets. Her head ached and she felt giddy, as she always did after these exercise sessions. Her heart was pounding in a fierce, scary way. She reached over, turned off the light, and lay back. No pillow. Momma didn't allow her a pillow. She thought of imps and families and witches. (am i a witch momma the devil's whore) riding through the night, souring milk, overturning butter chums, blighting crops while They huddled inside their houses with hex signs scrawled on Their doors. She closed her eyes, slept, and dreamed of huge, living stones crashing through the night, seeking out Momma, seeking out Them. They were trying to run, trying to hide. But the rock would not hide them; the dead tree gave no shelter. From My Name is Susan Snell, by Susan Snell (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986), pp. i-iv: There's one thing no one has understood about what happened in Chamberlain on Prom Night. The press hasn't understood it, the scientists at Duke University haven't understood it, David Congress hasn't understood it – although his The Shadow Exploded is probably the only half-decent book written on the subject – and certainly The White Commission, which used me as a handy scapegoat, did not understand it. This one thing is the most fundamental fact: We were kids. Carrie was seventeen, Chris Hargensen was seventeen, I was seventeen, Tommy Ross was eighteen, Billy Nolan (who spent a year repeating the ninth grade, presumably before he learned how to shoot his cuffs during examinations) was nineteen †¦ Older kids react in more socially acceptable ways than younger kids, but they still have a way of making bad decisions, of over-reacting, or underestimating. In the first section which follows this introduction I must show these tendencies in myself as well as I am able. Yet the matter which I am going to discuss is at the root of my involvement in Prom Night, and if I am to clear my name, I must begin by recalling scenes which I find particularly painful †¦ I have told this story before, most notoriously before The White Commission, which received it with incredulity. In the wake of two hundred deaths and the destruction of an entire town, it is so easy to forget one thing. We were kids. We were kids. We were kids trying to do our best †¦ ‘You must be crazy.' He blinked at her, not willing to believe that he had actually heard it. They were at his house, and the television was on but forgotten. His mother had gone over to visit Mrs Klein across the street His father was in the cellar workroom making a bird-house. Sue looked uncomfortable but determined. ‘Ifs the way I want it, Tommy.' ‘Well, it's not the way I want it. I think ifs the craziest goddam thing I ever heard. Like something you might do on a bet.' Her face tightened. ‘Oh? I thought you were the one doing the big speeches the other night. But when it comes to putting your money where your big fat mouth ‘Wait, whoa.' He was unoffended, grinning. I didn't say no, did I? Not yet, anyway.' ‘YOU ?C'

Concerning Globalisation Essay

In arguments concerning globalisation, controversy is quite evident. Discuss the positive and negative outcomes connected with this issue. In today’s life we often encounter terms such as â€Å"living in a global village† and â€Å"we all live in the same world†. Even simply switching on the television brings us face to face with events occurring on the other side of the globe. News broadcasts transmit not only the local news or the latest political propaganda being fed to the people, but also incidents taking place all over Europe, Asia, the Americas and even Africa. We all witness this everyday, yet we rarely stop to truly think of the implications. What is the significance of virtually being a spectator in events across the world? What difference does this make to an individual? More importantly, what changes does this bring upon a society? Many people consider globalisation a recent, modern phenomenon and associate it with today’s highly technological age. After all, the world must be globalized if humanity is capable of breaching the frontier and sending man into space. However, the truth is that globalisation had much more humble beginnings. Ever since Christopher Columbus set foot in what is now America, and ever since the Roman Empire began conquering land to incorporate into its glorious empire, globalisation has been a vital social process. The fact that this has been taking place for so long has ensured that no country is capable of surviving on its own because nobody is self-sufficient. People today are becoming more interdependent because a global mentality is being encouraged and taught. However, true globalisation was slowed until 1990, the end of the Cold War, because until then the world was divided in two. Nonetheless, many colonised countries (including Malta) still display strong influences, especially in language and culture, adopted from their colonisers. Therefore, globalisation inflicts social change upon a country or area. People are being socialised into other cultures. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a country is losing its own culture – it is simply updating it. Technology and communications have had a strong impact on speeding up globalisation. What were first considered luxuries, such as television and Internet, soon became important factors leading to social change. This is because they led to an increase in information accessibility, product accessibility and education. Another aspect of globalisation is the fact that regionalism is decreasing. For example, organisations such as NAFTA started out as regional organisations but have expanded their horizon. The EU has agreements with over 100 countries outside Europe. Transnational corporations also open the doors to globalisation since they have many branches all over the world and have no borders. There are 3 main outlooks on globalisation, which vary drastically from each other. Some argue in favour of this phenomenon whilst others try to prevent it from occurring. The Sceptics believe that the whole argument regarding globalisation is being exaggerated. They say that this sudden debate about this topic is simply over-hyped. Globalisation has not emerged recently – it has just intensified in its interactions and scale. By stating this, the sceptics admit that nowadays there is more interaction and communication between countries than ever before. Sceptics also criticize economy because they believe that it is not truly globalise. They try to prove this by arguing that certain countries are much more developed than others, and if the world were truly globalise countries would be equal. Sceptics are criticized fiercely for what seems to be an old-fashioned and ethnocentric approach. An argument placed against them says that simply because some countries are not yet part of it, it doesn’t mean that globalisation doesn’t exist. They are also accused of discouraging globalisation because they fear that it will make people more interactive and interdependent, thus forcing their governments to share their power and money with others. On the flip side of the coin, one can find the Hyperglobalizers. These believe that the world is one and globalisation covers the whole world and is a very real phenomenon that is felt almost everywhere. This process does not respect national borders or ideas of sovereignty. Hyperglobalizers base their arguments on aspects of commerce, trade and production. Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese hyperglobalizer, stated that globalisation leads to a â€Å"borderless world†. His argument presents an interesting association with the Marxist ideology, but from an opposite point of view. In fact, Ohmae says that money makes the world go round since it is invested all around the world, under on name. Therefore (like in Marxism) everyone works towards a single goal – the same world. Hyperglobalizers base their arguments on the changing role of each nation within the whole world, not simply within a region. Like the Sceptics, Hyperglobalizers have been criticized for being overly biased towards a particular viewpoint. In fact, they consider globalisation to be indispensable and flawless and reject any negative influences it may bring about. Transformationalists provide an alternative view on the subject. They believe globalisation is the central force in a broad spectrum of changes taking place throughout the world, which is not yet hyper-globalized. In fact, some countries are highly globalized (for example U.S.A., Japan and Europe) whilst others (such as African nations) are still very far behind in this process. Many of these countries are still uncertain on the benefits of globalisation and of what they want. However, countries that are globalised do not lose their independence or sovereignty. For example, although England are a member of the EU, they do not use the Euro as their currency, but the English Sterling (although some say that they may soon succumb to pressure and introduce the Euro). This transformation brought about by globalisation requires people to adjust to the new situation and learn to live with each other and with people from other cultures and backgrounds. Transformationalists also say that globalisation is a two-way flow of images, not simply a one-way process. The No Global movement is another notorious organization fighting against the occurrence of globalisation. They argue that it causes inequality between first and third world countries. They criticize rich countries for not helping poor countries and for not trying to bridge the financial and social gaps between them. However, help must not simply be acts of charity, where money is given to their governments, but more practical help at the root of the problem. There are other NGO’s discouraging globalisation, such as the Campaign for Global Justice, who see it as a completely negative process. These try to inform people that it must be slowed and, if possible, stopped. An argument brought up concerns the aspect of free trade. Whilst some people say that it solves problems of poverty and inequality, they state that this only flows in one direction – the rich produce and the poor consume, thus forcing them to depend on rich countries. If it were truly free trade both would produce and consume, thus creating an equal situation. Globalisation involves certain risks, such as environmental degradation due to development, shifting employment patterns leading to stress and anxiety, heightened job insecurity and de-skilling (such as the infamous 7-Up case in Malta last year), decline in traditional influences and loss of self-identity, erosion of family patterns, and democratization of personal relationships. These are all problems one must consider when trying to evaluate the impact of globalisation, especially in light of the forthcoming referendum on whether Malta is to enter the EU or not. This is a subjective argument, however one cannot deny that without globalisation, the world would not be the same.