ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
It will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that there is a certain trend in how Hollywood movies portray the representatives of every particular ethnicity, even though the principle of racial stereotyping has been officially declared as being inappropriate. Yet, it appears that the majority of ordinary citizens could not care less about the fact that they should be more “open-minded” while assessing multicultural reality, which is why they strongly relate an individual’s behavioral traits to his or her racial affiliation. The validity of this statement becomes particularly evident when we focus on the analysis of Hollywood movies where characters of Asian descent play an important role in the plot. One of the striking features of these movies is that, even though they portray Asian characters as being entitled with strong willpower, courageousness, and quick mindedness, after having watched these movies, viewers come to the conclusion that Asian immigrants can never easily integrate into American society, simply because of their existential mode being strikingly different from the existential mode of Whites or African-Americans. Apparently, despite the fact that the majority of Hollywood movies officially promote the idea that race does not matter; viewers are being instilled with an entirely opposite idea – “race does matter”, as a result of watching these movies. In this paper, we will analyze 1997 “Red Corner”, 1998 “Lethal Weapon 4”, and 1991 “Showdown in Little Tokyo” as movies that strengthen racial stereotyping of Asian-Americans and Asians, in general, as people spiritually alien to the metaphysical essence of Western civilization, as we know it. The movie “Red Corner” tells the story of American businessman Jack Moore (Richard Gere), who has been framed for the murder of one of China’s influential politicians’ daughters, while he was trying to conduct business in China. After having been arrested by Chinese police and accused of murder, Moore begins to realize that only a miracle could result in him being acquitted of all charges in the Chinese Court of Law because it is not only that all the circumstantial evidence was pointing out at him as a murderer, but there were just too many people interested in seeing him executed. During the course of criminal investigation, Moore has even been denied his right to contact the American embassy: “I have the right to contact my embassy – You have no rights – I have a right to contact the embassy – Your case will be tried according to the Laws of the People’s Republic of China – I want to talk to the American Embassy! – First the investigation” (Drew’s Script-O-Rama 2002). Nevertheless, Moore is stil
The USA is widely known for its military interventions in various countries across the globe, invading them either to protect its national interests, defeat a dictator, acquire oil basins, or put up a puppet government reverent to the US agenda. These aggressive actions throughout the 20th century have established the USA as a superpower. One of the reasons for the USA’s rise to power is the adoption and avid interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine, developed in 1823 by John Quincy, initially suggested opposition to European colonialism in South America (Livingstone, 2013). It stated that any attempt to establish control over a sovereign nation in North or South America by a European power would be treated as an unfriendly move against the USA. Over time, the Monroe Doctrine underwent extensive changes. Through the Roosevelt Corollary, which later evolved into the Clark Memorandum, it became an instrument for the USA to establish economic dominance in South America and other countries across the globe through military and political means. The modern interpretation of the doctrine allows the USA to treat any country whose actions threaten its political, territorial, or economic interests in any way as an enemy (Livingstone, 2013). The Monroe Doctrine helped the USA to transform from an isolationist country into a superpower by allowing it to project its power far across the borders and achieve political and economic victories by destabilizing the opposition, directly or indirectly. The signs of the Monroe Doctrine could be perceived in many conflicts in the middle of the 20th century which the USA had participated in. The most famous wars in that time period are the Korean War, the Vietnam war, and the Lebanon crisis (Livingstone, 2013). Reference Livingstone, G. (2013). America’s backyard. The United States & Latin America from Monroe doctrine to the war on terror. New York, NY: Zed Books.
1. Mary Buchotlz (2001) dedicated the article to the marked language in multiracial youth culture. In the article, the author bases on anthropological and linguistic research on youth subcultures. The author follows the idea that nerds have an ambiguous racial position. They resist current trends, reject the norm of coolness, and signal their distance from other representatives of American youth. Also, Bucholtz shows the tendency: ideologically, nerds separate themselves from African and European American students. The coexistence of standard and superstandard English among the multiracial American youth is characterized by the presence of certain phonology, grammar, lexis and slang that make youth subcultures different. 2. The central problem of the article is racial markedness of the American youth subcultures. Bucholtz is focused on whiteness of nerds, their distance from African and European American culture, and explains their peculiarity within the context of standard and nonstandard English. 3. The article raises topical questions concerning youth subcultures and peculiarities of their language. As the phenomenon of racial markedness is peculiar to American youth language, the role of Bucholtz’s article grows. 4. Moreover, the author’s ideas and findings presented in the research, widen scholarly literature, and provide people with anthropological understanding of a language among students. 5. Bucholtz states that unmarked position of whiteness in the United States is conditioned by American history and culture. As the phenomenon of markedness roots in linguistic theory, the author’s problem is based on racial and cultural ideologies. The anthropological view on modern American youth gives an opportunity to believe that interracial distinctions dictate certain tendencies among students. For example, “hillbillies”, being “degraded form of whiteness” are separated from “the middle-class white norm” (Bucholtz 2001:85). Howe
Introduction In the recent past in the US, people have switched from one career to another due to the economy the environment demands nature. Bill Robinson, a physician, and his wife Joy were not an exception, as the circumstances led them to adopt different survival strategies. Richard had to terminate his career since the insurance agencies spoilt the party for him, while Joy who was an administrator with a home health agency ventured into marketing. She had to diversify the risks through the direct marketing of some products that were likely to increase the taxpayers’ taxation burden by $5,000. She expected to gain a certain percentage of her recruits’ sales and, fortunately, her retained position as an administrator from the commissions on sales. Given the nature of the tasks undertaken daily, she came up with a working plan to minimize risks, as well as maintain business efficiency. Unfortunately, the planned time schedule did not bear profits as she expected but instead $20,000 loss incurred annually from her direct sale a scenario that was hard to consume. This paper seeks to determine the way forward in minimizing the losses, as well as application of law in her business for taxpayer exemptions provisions. Research Problem and Research Questions   * Were the tax deductions legitimate according to the federal courts on taxation?   * Is there business misinterpretation or misunderstanding by the taxation law enforcers?   * What actions should Joy take to ensure the settlement of the dilemma on her deductions? Justification There is a need to carry out this study since the law is very clear on taxation and the rights of the taxpayers. Taxpayers have a say in the process of an audit by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and addressing their grievances on improper audits through overtaxing in the court or internally with IRS is vital. Provisions for all the rights of a taxpayer are in publication 1 that elaborates examination, appeal, collection, as well as refunding process (“IRC § 183: Activities Not Engaged in For Profit (ATG)” 1). Discussion There must have been a misconception on the role played by Joy since though she was carrying business, it did not qualify for taxation given that she worked on commission. Much legislation on healthcare has attracted the state’s attention where institutions that participate in Medicaid & Medicare that share savin
Abstract The use of intravenous drugs without doctors’ prescription has been on the rise in the United States. Drug addicts are currently injecting the drug into their blood stream in order to get instant effect. The research focused on some of the demographic factors that show prevalence in the usage of hard drugs. The research used both the primary and secondary sources of data. Both sources of data were very clear on the fact that adolescents are more likely to engage in the usage of drugs. It was also clear from the two sources of data that race and gender are factors that can be used to determine prevalence of the usage of hard drugs. Introduction The use of intravenous drugs has been very common for medical purposes because it is the fastest way of introducing a drug into the body. Swartz (2012) defines intravenous drugs as, “Drugs that are injected directly into a blood vessel.” These drugs have been effective medically, but there has been a trend where people use such drug for purposes other than medication. Abuse of intravenous drugs is increasingly becoming common in this country. Drug abusers are no longer finding it attractive to smoke hard drugs as was the case before. The more they get addicted to the drug, the more they realize that they need more of the substance into their body system. Direct injection of the drug into their blood has been considered as the most appropriate way of achieving the desired effect within their body. These people use syringes to inject the hard drugs into their blood system. Research has confirmed that the use of intravenous drugs have massive negative effect on the users in various ways. According to Freeman (2002), abuse of intravenous drugs has been attributed to the rise of some of the most dreaded diseases such as HIV/AIDs. Users of such drugs would share syringe when injecting the substance into the body, and this makes it possible for the virus to spread to other users. Attempts by the government to help this population avoid such diseases has been met with controversy. The government’s decision to distribute syringes to these addicts has been criticized as a sign that demonstrates the government supports the use of such drugs. Stakeholders have been struggling to come up with the most appropriate ways of addressing this issue. This research paper seeks to investigate the use of intravenous drugs based on gender, age and race within the United States. Literature review Drug abuse ha
Introduction Philosophy is a tenet accepted by a cluster which involves judicious questioning of subjects upsetting the public and gaining knowledge on them. This rationale is tracked by the adoration that one has in critically thinking out certain assumptions in life. Different studies are made to appreciate the liaison of the environment and truth, the foundations of facts, and how to apply moral conclusions. It is an unrestrained ground which creates a structure of concepts that an individual stands for. Early theorists, including Socrates, Pythagoras, and Aristotle dynamically participated in these studies and attempted to explain realities, thus coming up with diverse and extremely fascinating presumptions. Socrates Socrates was a Greek logician who provided thoughts on morals through breaking down the topic into questions and seeking views from his associates. The followers would then reveal their beliefs and knowledge on the topic, and slowly eliminate those which have some contradictions. The remedies to the questions would then be synthesized to come up with a strong conclusion. This method is still used in the present society, for example, in using suggestions at the onset of the methodical study. It is mainly used to coerce an individual to display beliefs in a topic and later validate the reality of the faiths. It is fascinating to note the notoriety of Socrates in asking questions which he never gave answers for, claiming that he had no comprehension of the topic. Socrates argued that moral principles must come before anything else in life including family and employment, hence the moral, political and intellectual disagreements that he had with his fellow citizens. He claimed that those ideas were his teacher’s ideologies, mentioning several scientists as his mentors. Many of his ideas characteristically contradicted with familiar knowledge. For example, he states in his earlier work that the only thing he comprehends is that he recognizes that he knows nothing. This points out that his wisdom was based on his
Introduction Baseball, as a sport, continues being a favorite sport among Americans. There has been a gradual increase in average salaries paid to baseball players in Major Baseball League (MBL). Data of three selected teams (NY Yankees, LA Dodgers, and NY Mets) provides an analysis of team performance during the years (2002-2010) in relation to salaries offered. Descriptive Statistics To understand clearly the relationship between variables that are prerequisites for team performance, a measure of central tendency (mean) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation) and Skew are used in the discussion of results. Skew Skew in a frequency distribution shows to which side a variable under study occurs. A positive skewed value shows that distribution is rightly tailed and verse versus. Left skewed value shows that the variable under investigation is closer to its maximum value than a right-skewed value, which shows closeness to the minimum variable value. Descriptive statistics can quickly give the overall trend of a variable within specified intervals. Standard deviation The use of standard deviation as a measure of disparity among salaries paid to players provides an effective variable than average salary as it gives a direct insight on performance attributed to a specific team (Sato, 1997). Results discussion Annual Salaries offered to players NY Yankees had the highest average salary paid to players at $ 6,710,945 in a season. This is 1.8 and 1.6 times higher than average salary paid to players in LA Dodgers and NY Mets, respectively, figure 1. Standard deviation values in salaries stood highest in New York Mets at $1,252,571 per annum, translating to be factors of 3 and 1.9 higher to that attributed to LA Dodgers and NY Yankees, respectively. Table 1 does show that, indeed, the most successful team, NY Yankees. Over the period have offered a significantly average salary to their players, almost six times compared to the industry value of $ 1,850,000 (Depken,2000) as such being successful NY Yankees have kept low standard deviation in salaries offered to their players relative to their own average salary. Large discrepancies, as expected in NY Mets, had a negative effect on the overall team performance as some players feel more appreciated than others. Skew values to average salaries of LA Dodgers players stood at -1.01 with NY Yankees at -0.68 and NY Mets at 0.99. This implied that mean salaries offered to LA Dodgers were less than the median salary
Total Quality Management In the age of intense competition, scholars, researchers, professors, and governmental authorities are taking a genuine interest in finding strategies that aim at improving the quality of education. One of the strategies that have gained traction throughout the last forty years is Total Quality Management or TQM. It is a proactive approach that helps see a company as an interrelated structure and facilitates continuous improvement with employees and materials that a business already has. At its core, it encompasses the conscious efforts of every member of an organization towards long-term goals. Thus, employees’ empowerment and involvement constitute one of the basic principles of TQM. The question arises as to whether TQM is appropriate for use in universities and how it can improve the education quality. I base my proposal on the assumption that TQM principles are highly relevant in the educational field. One of the institutions that could put TQM to good use is Zayed University. Zayed University controversies Zayed University is one of three state-funded higher education establishments in the United Arab Emirates. The university has become the first federal university to get accredited by the Middle States Association in the USA in 2013 and has proven to be serious about its mission to uphold international standards. Despite the university’s good formal rankings, the recent history of the organization hasn’t been devoid of troubles and controversies. Time after time, the competency of the ever-changing top management raised concerns. First and foremost, academic integrity and transparency have been questioned. It has also been pointed out that the top management may lack international work experience. It is an issue for a university with culturally diverse teaching staff and a considerable percentage of international students. All in all, many of the current policies caused criticism. Employees’ unhappiness It is evident that the issues that Zayed University is confronted with are negatively impacting its employees. Employees’ satisfaction and happiness are paramount to improving performance and attaining desired results. Unfortunately, there is solid evidence that the university’s employees do not find their work experience as gratifying as it could be. A recent survey showed that the majority of the organization’s staff did not fee
The individual needs a career transition in the next ten years. The research focuses on the effects of career transitions in the next ten years. The research includes the importance of theory and concepts to manage the changes. The individual is likely to face the fast food transition in the next ten years. First, the one has to prepare for a smooth transition to the service industry. The service industry includes the engaging in the fast food business. The fast food business is one of the most profitable businesses. Patrick Montana (2008) emphasised Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs dictate that a person is has three basic needs. Basic needs include necessary needs. Necessary needs means a person cannot go without such needs. According to Maslow, the first group of man’s needs is the physiological needs. Maslow’s hierarch of needs influences a person’s job transition decision. The first group of needs called the physiological needs. The physiological needs include food, breathing, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and excretion. In addition, the second group of needs is the safety needs. The safety needs include the security of the persons’ body, resources, morality, employments, family, property, and personal health. The third group of human needs is the love and belonging needs. The needs include the friendship, sexual intimacy, and family needs. The fourth group of needs is the esteem needs. The esteem needs include the self –esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of other persons, and respect from others. The last group of human need is the self- actualization need. The self-actualization needs include the morality, creativity, spontaneity, acceptance of data, problem solving, and lack of lack of prejudice need. The transition to the service business caters to the first group of human needs. Setting a fast food store would cater to the people’s need to fill their stomachs. The store cannot sell to a prospective client who has just eaten a full meal. The fast food chain cannot sell to a prospect client who is allergic to the fast food chain’s food choices. For example, the diabetics must watch for sugar-based products. The hypertensive fast food chain customer must avoid foods that trigger a hypertension attack. The person having a rheumatic disease must avoid foods that trigger one’s rheumatism attacks. There are different types of fast food stores. Stephanie Watson (2008) insists one type of fast food store caters to the hamburger market segment. McDonald’s continues to offer different hamburger types. The hamburger types include the hamburger, cheeseburger, Big Mac and one pounder. The McDonald’s chain of stores also offers breakfast meals to the busy
A prison system is meant to be a holding place for antisocial elements so that law and order are maintained in a society. Prisons are supposed to have a deterrent effect on society to prevent other ‘would–be’ criminals from committing offenses. However, the facts on the ground belie these beliefs. Today, the American ‘Correctional’ system has the largest population of prisoners in the world. According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics, as of 30 June 2007,” 2,299,116 prisoners were held in federal or state prisons or local jails” (Bureau Of Justice Statistics para 1). Amidst, the operational and administrative challenges, prison officials also have to find countermeasures against the growing menace of prison gangs. Prison gangs inside U.S. prisons have always existed in varying degrees of sophistication. Today, however, the nature and range of activities of prison gangs have extended beyond the normal ‘law and order’ offenses and are a direct threat to the internal security of the United States. This essay aims to cover the reasons for the metamorphosis of prison gangs into more virulent strains and suggest a few recommendations to counter the problem. The Reasons Why Prison Gangs Exists A prison society has its unique dynamics. Within a prison, the societal prejudices based on ethnicity, race, and class get more accentuated on account of greater proximity, lesser ‘space’, and of course clubbing together of mostly the more violent sections of a society in a restricted area. Belonging to a gang gives more security to the weaker inmates who take refuge in the ‘safety of numbers’. This defensive action is necessitated out of the fact that the number of prison officials is too less and the means to carry out foolproof surveillance of the prison premises, too limited to afford protection to the weaker prisoners. Belonging to a prison gang also gives the members a sense of identity, purpose, and self-esteem. Fleisher believes that “The proximal cause of prison gangs stands outside the prison in the economic neglect of inner cities” (5). Thus a prison gang member also bu