ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Privilege whether it derives from gender, class or race, is an alien concept to those whom the nature granted it with. However, the ones who feel oppression based on their difference may experience it in nearly every area of their social lives. Those who are born white enjoy the so-called white privilege that is based solely on skin color (Kendall 62). The matter of white privilege is especially acute for the people of other races who experience it in every sphere of life from unskilled work to art and the most complex scientific research. This complicated psychosocial phenomenon may become a matter of interest not only to those who have ever experienced it but also to people who believe in social justice and equality of all people without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, ethnicity or socioeconomic background. History Throughout the course of history, the issues of social interactions between the people of different races and social fairness have never been matters of concern, as the whites were considered to be a ruling class. It was even more aggravated by the historical background of the African Americans who were enslaved. Even though the slavery was abolished, people of color are subconsciously underestimated, so discrimination based on skin color is instinctively excused, as white people never think of themselves as of racists (McIntosh par. 3). Believe it or not, white privilege still affects social interactions between people of races. It can be seen on the level of life of people of color and white people. That said, white people originating from the middle or lower classes are more likely to have access to education, public wealth, healthcare, social protection and justice, and employment in comparison to the African Americans who have the same background (Yancy and Zach par. 8). Conclusion This complex phenomenon was crucial in granting equal rights to people of different races that was a great breakthrough in the development of society. Even though in theory we are all equal, in practice, people of color are oppressed, however not as openly as they used to be, so understanding white privilege is of significant importance, as overcoming it is the only way to reaching genuine social justice and equality. Annotated Bibliography Kendall, Frances E. Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race. London, England: Routledge, 2012. Print. Frances E. Kendall offers an in-depth study of a complex psychosocial phenomenon referred to as the white privilege. The book introduces the evolution of understanding this concept, how it changed with the march of history, and h
Climate change is one of the major concerns of humanity. Thousands of scientists try to find the necessary solutions. However, the issue is not only scientific puzzle any more. Security professionals agree that “climate change is real, and it is a real problem” (Sturm 2009, 1). Reputedly, climate change will lead to energy shortage, food and drinking water shortage, proliferation of numerous diseases, which, in their turn, will lead to mass migrations, increased number of failed states, empowerment of violent non-state actors, and overall instability in the world. Admittedly, climate change has already made many people to leave their homes and move to other countries to obtain better living. The USA has already faced serious issues concerning immigration (GlobalObservatory 2009). Apart from this the USA is also vulnerable to such problems as natural disasters, food and water shortage, energy crisis. For instance, Hurricane Katrina which caused 2,000 deaths and $80 billion losses proves that the country is ready to respond to such catastrophes, but if the number of such disasters increases the government will soon fail to overcome disastrous aftermaths (Sturm 2009, 2). Unfortunately, scientists predict that the number of natural disasters will increase due to climate change. Notably, natural disasters often shape international relations. Thus, a massive tsunami in Indonesia which took place in 2004 is a good example of the influence of climate change on countries’ relations. The USA assisted Indonesia greatly, the aid cost the USA $5 million per day. Noteworthy, “American efforts after the tsunami dramatically improved the image of the US in the eyes of Indonesians, a major accomplishment in the fight against Islamic extremism” (Sturm 2009, 2). Thus, mutual help and co-operation when solving environmental issues may be fruitful for the development of friendly relationship among different countries. Such countries as Mexico and Russia can become strategic partners of the USA. On the contrary, if a state has to overcome natural disasters and respond to environmental problems without any help, this state can become hostile to other countries. Such states can threaten stability in the world by adopting extremist strategies. For instance, the number of disasters which take place in the world each year make it impossible for the USA to respond to each of them. The lack of capacity can be regarded as unwillingness to help, and many countries can turn to terroristic strategies. Admiral Dennis McGinn claims that instability caused by climate change may lead to many governments’ failure and creation of “power vacuum” which can be filled with various violent non-state actors that “use terrorism as their weapon” to achieve their goals (GlobalObservatory 2009). Admittedly, climate change raises numerous questions concerning security. Thus, shortage of food and water has already caused unrest in many countries of the Middle East, Africa, Central and Latin America. Rosie Boycott, former editor of the Independent on Sunday , claims that food
Introduction Both ethics and medical law emphasize patient consent as a basic right and must be respected in end-of-life situations. Literature on health care ethics has a lot to say on consent to treatment and it is in this context that the discussion of end-of-life choices will have significant focus. Most part of this discussion concerns ethics and morality, on what is right and moral and should be observed by society. Laws should be made based on ethics and morality although this is not sometimes the norm in some societies. There are varying opinions on end-of-life issues but the vast literature on this subject cites customs and religious beliefs as influential factors in shaping statutes and laws on end-of-life. Culture and spirituality influence our values and behaviors and influence experience and illness patterns. Culture shapes our sense of security and belongingness and provides a backdrop on how to deal with life and how to accept death (End of Life Nursing Education Consortium as cited in Matzo & Sherman, 2010, p. 3). When should life end or who should decide to pull the plug? The Catholic Church has always been firm in saying that physician-aided suicide and euthanasia are against God’s law. But again, there are many contrasting opinions on this subject. Policymakers sometimes look at it from different perspectives, i.e. without the religious side of it. What is important is culture, they emphasized. The situation in the twenty-first century is changing. Delivery of health care is changing too, more so with dying. Before, it was customary for people to die at home with their grieving families. Now, Americans die in institutions, with machines on their bodies and their famil
Introduction The process of language skills acquisition occurs naturally in children yet becomes quite complicated for adults due to a range of impediments that adult learners have to face, including both external and internal ones. Therefore, the process of learning a second language requires consistent enhancement and encouragement for most adults. Despite the fact that adult learners are affected greatly by the factors such as age, aptitude, etc., active learning and engagement in the process can be promoted among adult learners with the help of the self-directed learning approach and encouragement of independence among learners. Key Factors When it comes to defining the key factors that contribute to the acquisition of the L2 skills by learners, motivation is often mentioned as the most significant one. The specified standpoint on the process of L2 learners has solid reasons to exist; specifically, the fact that motivation is linked directly to the learners’ recognition of their self (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009) deserves to be mentioned. Indeed, according to Dornyei and Ushioda (2009), motivation plays an essential role in defining the identity of the learner, as it links the process of language skills acquisition and the “self” of the learner (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009). In other words, it enables adult L2 learners to locate their identity as the carriers of a specific culture. Moreover, the redefinition of the learners’ selves will allow for drawing a very thick line between the ideal and the actual self. As the authors explain, “Language learning is a sustained and often tedious process, and I felt that that the secret of successful learners was their possession of a superordinate vision that kept them on their track” (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2009, p. 25). To be more exact, it helps learners view the culture and specifics of the target language through the goggles of their own culture, understand the premises for the target language and culture to exist, and accept the language and the culture, thus, labelling the latter two as interesting and, therefore, worth learning. In fact, two types of motivation, i.e., the integrative and the instrumental ones, are traditionally identified (Gass & Salinker, 2001, pp. 454–455). While the latter is usually denoted as the “motivation that comes from the rewards gained from knowing another language” (Gass & Salinker, 2001, p. 454), the former is identified as the one that “comes from the desire to acculturate and become a part of a target language community” (Gass & Salinker, 2001, p. 455). In adult language learning, it is essential to focus on both and pay special attention to the latter, as adults are prone to viewing the process of language learning from a practical perspective and envision it as a tool for carrying out communicatio
In the recent past, several instances of data breaches have happened and successfully led to the compromise of the information systems of various companies resulting into organizational and individual implications (Smyth 2015). For instance, a report by Smyth (2015) shows Medicaid’s information systems were successfully compromised, leading to massive losses of individual data. Other companies in the list include Excellus Blue Cross and Blue Shield that had their information systems compromised in September 09, 2015. Besides, Cancer Care Group reported data breach attacks on September 02, 2015, that caused personal and organizational loss of data. Exploitations of the vulnerabilities of information systems of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Company that has significant operations in the healthcare industry had serious implications on the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of individual and organizational data. Information security incident that happened through a successful cyber-attack of BlueShield’s information systems in May 2015 caused a data loss belonging to 1.1 million customers. Data breaches were noted to have implications at individual and organizational levels because of the loss of personal and organizational data (Nelson, Phillips & Steuart 2015). The discovery of the data breaches was discovered when Mandiant-led conducted a security review of BlueCross BlueShield’s information systems. It was established that hackers had exploited the vulnerability of the information system and gained entry into the database customers used to access the company’s websites for online services. Smyth (2015) notes that the implications include the loss of sensitive personal data that consists of birth dates, subscriber information, names, and email addresses at individual and company levels. That led to the breach of confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy, the core defining elements of computer ethics. Despite that, the social security numbers of the members were not accessed because their passwords were already encrypted, which made it impossible for the hackers to decrypt them. Encrypted passwords made it impossible for the hackers to access data consisting of financial claims, medical claims, employment data, and credit card information. According to Smyth (2015), the consequences related to the loss of data that was in the custody of the organization demonstrate the vulnerability of the organization’s information systems. Besides, various questions arise on the effectiveness of the information security measures, observance and application of existing laws and standards, policies, honesty, integrity, and employee practices to protect the information assets. Issues such as the use of encryption to protect data under the State security breac
Reason for choosing this movie Beautiful Kate is all about redemption and coping up to face the mistakes from the past. It has a sense of history and truthfulness that is heartening and captivating for the audience. Rachel Ward presented a truly Australian movie with native sound track, the local slang, landscapes from the south and a tinge which adapts the story line that could happen in a farmer’s life. Craving for affection, love, intimate connection to others are deeply human needs and this cinema delves into sensitive areas of these family transgression that may not appeal to everyone. After Lantana a couple of years ago, Beautiful Kate has been successful in portraying the beauty of Australian cinema. “ Half the film’s 10 AFI nominations were in acting categories with Ben Mendelsohn, Bryan Brown and Rachel Griffiths also getting nods” (Roach 2009). Story-line “Adapted from Newton Thornburg’s novel of the same name” (Ward n.d.). Beautiful Kate is the story surrounding a dysfunctional family down under. Bruce is a crabby man whose wife died of cancer leaving behind their four young kids. 40 year old the self-loathing, haunted and damaged writer Ned Kendall returns home after 20 years with his fiancée – Toni, an aspiring actress-cum-waitress to see his dying father – Bruce. Toni comes across Ned’s diary which recounts the sexual affairs of the three siblings – Ned, Cliff and Kate. Kate has a longing for affection after the loss of her mother and being raised by an emotionally distant father. Toni is upset and returns to the city. The diary goes this way around – After boozing with friends, Ned goes for swim where Kate seduces him and has sex. Kate instigates a fight between Cliff and Ned as Ned refuses further sex. Ned leaves Kate alone in the Christmas party who returns home with Cliff. Ned sees the corpse of Kate with Cliff’s crashed car. Cliff too commits a suicide. Sally speculates that Kate might also have had a sexual relation with Cliff and his suicide was due to remorse of incest. The truths about the past come to light with Sally’s inputs and Ned frees his thoughts about Kate and tries to patch up with estranged Bruce. He lets Bruce die unknown of the truth. Critics’ Notebook Beautiful Kate is the result of careful preparation and implementation. Ward did a fantastic work on her directorial debut to the big screen by handling precisely a controversial subject at its core with finesse, delicacy and maturity. The beauty of her work is that she keeps the audience guessing with suspense throughout often switching back to the past scenes. She balanced such that she neither did stretch on nudity and in
Introduction Political power can be basically described as the ability of one person to influence another to do something 1 . Many past and present scholars have written theories describing different forms of power. Machiavelli produced political writings in the Roman republic during the 16 th century 2 . In his writings, he adopted the Weber’s definition of politics that describes struggle as being the essence of politics. Machiavelli describes politics in his writing, The Prince, which envisions the United National State in times when there were unending struggles for power 3 . The story elicits a social conflict and the notion of “who is fighting whom” to gain control and the ways being used to maintain the control 4 . According to Machiavelli, love and fear are necessary to maintain the power, with fear playing a greater role. What comes out is that an authority can remain in power when the middle class and the Citizens support and favor their ruling. The preferences of power as expressed in Machiavelli’s theory can be witnessed in contemporary political systems. This paper is interested in identifying how Machiavelli’s theory applies to the political situation in China. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is currently facing inevitable political and economic changes. The country is shifting from strict socialism to socialist-capitalistic market economy. The paper will specifically address the in-depth correlation of Machiavelli’s power theory with China. The analysis will include the steps that should be taken by the Chinese regime to sustain their political power. China political situation The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ruled the country for more than six decades, a longevity that can only be compared to that of the Communist party of the Soviet Union 5 . The CCP came to power in 1949 after defeating the forces of Chiang Kai- shek Nationalists in a civil war. The Chiang Kai-shek moved their republic of China seats to Taiwan, leaving the CCP to rule mainland of China. The CCP later named the country as People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since then, China’s political institutions and political culture have changed significantly 6 . The CCP’s readiness to adapt can be partly used to explain why it has maintained control on power. The various strategies employed by the CCP can be referred to Machiavelli’s political theory. Many analysts consider the Chinese political system to be monolithic or hierarchical, even though the CCP is committed to holding onto power and does not tolerate those who question right to remain in power 7 . C
George Frideric Handel’s piece, “Messiah”, is an oratorio, which he composed in London in 1741. A German by birth, Frideric became a naturalized English citizen later in life, which explains his city of composition. “Messiah” however first premiered in Dublin, Ireland the following year, in 1742. “Messiah” is composed of three parts, each highlighting different aspects of prophesies, glory, acts and ultimately the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Kerman and Tomilson 407). The text of “Messiah” borrows from The King James Version of the Bible; the work of Charles Jennens, a scholar of literature and editor of some of William Shakespeare’s plays. He selected the texts from various Books in the Old and New Testaments of the King James Bible. Handel appointed Jennens as his Librettist (source for the texts) and the two further worked together in other pieces by Handel. The piece begins with the slow and rhythmic introduction by the orchestra band, without any voices from the choir. The orchestra band uses the violins as the primary instruments in this introduction. A soloist then joins at a certain stage after the introduction, a sharp soprano that begins to tell of the prophecy of the coming Messiah (part I), the death and resurrection of the Messiah (Part II), and the ultimate triumph over death by the resurrection of the Messiah (Part III). There are several aspects of “Messiah” that I found captivating. From the very beginning, the piece sets the tone for the blending of the texts in the song with the instrumentation, g
Prior to commencement of this course, I thought drama was disconnected from present day experiences, but I was surprised to find that even some of the oldest plays are still relevant today. I expected to learn about particular components of the social and cultural backgrounds of the plays by simply looking through their scripts. After completion of this course, I found that those expectations were met. It is indeed possible to deduce the social and cultural values of a certain society simply from the plays written at that time. Lastly, I did not expect to become more analytical about my own society as a result of studying drama. However, after doing this course, I have realized that ideologies are prevalent in almost all spheres of life; politics, education and entertainment are just some of the many examples. Through this course, I have learnt how to distinguish between useful and harmful ideas. Since some plays can be rich and meaningful while others can be shallow and unbalanced, it is always best to assess them first. The same analysis can be applied in the above mentioned spheres of life. The Valdez play and US national leaders The aspect I found most convincing about the play was the commoditization of Hispanics and other minority groups in the US. Miss Jimenez came to purchase a brown Mexican who would be used in Governor Reagan’s campaign to appeal to a larger crowd. In other words, ethnic minorities were seen as a platform for advancing Caucasian Americans’ political or social goals. They were treated as nothing more than a means-towards-an-end rather than genuine individuals. In this regard, one can say that the stereotypes prevalent within the country are reducing ethnic minorities to commodities. US national leaders would find this component quite useful as they would refrain from using ethnic minorities for political aims. Instead, they would focus on each and everyone’s strong points. People would get appointed or promoted on the basis of their merits rather than their ethnic identity. Another aspect of the play that would be useful to US administrators that are dealing with immigration is the aspect of seasonal immigrants. In the play, the first model represents the typical farm wo