What is the relationship between counselling and education In what Essay

What is the relationship between counselling and education In what ways might counselling be of value in schools Are there any dangers in teachers acting as counsellors - Essay Example However, recognizing the gap in contemporary education system, applying the concept of counselling to education in order to help students become mentally strong and independent individuals will help, not only in making them mentally strong but also in adding value to the education they receive. In this regard, educational psychotherapy would require specialized skills modeled on specific experiential concepts. This paper outlines the contemporary psychotherapeutic models and need for counselling in modern times. It further elaborates on the role educationalists/teachers can play in counseling students along with advantages and issues/challenges encountered in this setup. Children, from the age of 5, enter their first developmental transition stage of growth during which their physical, behavioural, social, and emotional personalities experience significant developmental challenges. Post this, adolescence is also a transitional stage of physical and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood; it involves biological, social, and psychological changes (Moshman, 1999). Children’s social development is strongly characterized by peer experiences and friendships during this phase; it is the most active phase of their life and involves a myriad of activities such as learning, socializing, understanding, formation of an identity of self etc, thereby constantly in rigorous mental and physical activity. Buddhist psychology and cognitive theories postulate mind and body get stressed due to inappropriate thoughts, inaccurate beliefs, unrealistic expectations and insatiable desires (Semple & Lee, 2008), and children’s minds tend to juggle between all of these newly formed feelings and experiences. After much argument, Lazarus (1982) concluded that human cognition works by serially receiving, registering, encoding, storing for the short or long run, and retrieving meaningless bits of information

Aesthetic Education Essay Example for Free

Aesthetic Education Essay Friedrich Schiller wrote Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man in 1793 for his friend the Danish Prince Friedrich Christian who had provided him with a stipend to help him through an illness. In 1795 the letters were published and the provide a worthwhile consideration of the nature of Aesthetics for us still today. The collection of twenty seven letters is not an easy read but it is worth persevereing to gain the insights of this great poet and playwright, friend of Goethe and inspiration for Beethoven and many artists, particularly in the Romantic era. The book touches upon a broad range of topics, some of which you do not normally associate with aesthetics. However the letters do consider the nature of Beauty and its relationship to art and man. For Schiller beauty seems to arise as a synthesis between opposing principles whose highest ideal is to be sought in the most perfect possible union and equilibrium of reality and form(Letter XVI, p 81). Schiller also discusses the nature of the ideal man and how the impulse for play interacts with mans nature, especially his rational and sensuous aspects which form a juxtaposition within him. This juxtaposition is discussed at length with a synthesis described in terms that suggest a transcendance that culminates in our very humanity (Letters 18-20). Man and his nature is important to Schiller as his reason, but The first appearance of reason in Man is not yet the beginning of his humanity. The latter is not decided until he is free, (Letter XXIV, p 115). Through discussion of the work of art and the fine arts Schiller brings us closer to a conception of what art means to man and how important Homo Ludens is as a conception of man. Schiller admired classical Greece and its art and saw the role of history and freedom important in the discussion of the nature of art. Above all both as a poet and a thinker Schiller held the ideal of freedom to be sacrosanct. According to Schiller, freedom is attained when the sensual and rational in man are fully integrated but his aesthetic disposition is seen as coming from Nature. These letters provide a rich vein of ideas from which the thoughtful and attentive reader may find inspiration in consideration of the aesthetics and the nature of the work of art. Friedrich Schiller menulis Surat Pendidikan Estetika Manusia pada tahun 1793 untuk rakan Christian Friedrich Putera Denmark yang telah disediakan dengan wang saku untuk membantu beliau sakit. Pada tahun 1795 surat telah diterbitkan dan memberi pertimbangan berbaloi sifat Estetika untuk kita masih hari ini. Koleksi 27 surat tidak read mudah tetapi ia adalah bernilai persevereing untuk mendapatkan pandangan penyair dan pengarang drama hebat ini, rakan Goethe dan inspirasi untuk Beethoven dan ramai artis, terutamanya di era Romantik. Buku ini menyentuh kepada pelbagai topik, ada yang anda tidak lakukan biasanya bersekutu dengan estetika. Walau bagaimanapun, surat mempertimbangkan sifat Kecantikan dan hubungannya dengan seni dan manusia. Untuk kecantikan Schiller nampaknya timbul sebagai sintesis antara prinsip lawan yang tertinggi sesuai perlu dicari dalam kesatuan mungkin yang paling sempurna dan keseimbangan realiti dan bentuk (Surat XVI, p 81). Schiller juga membincangkan sifat manusia yang ideal dan bagaimana dorongan untuk permainan berinteraksi dengan alam semula jadi, manusia terutamanya aspek rasional dan sensasi yang membentuk saling bertindih dalam dirinya. Saling bertindih ini dibincangkan dengan panjang lebar dengan sintesis diterangkan dari segi yang mencadangkan transcendance yang memuncak dalam kemanusiaan kita (Huruf 18-20). Manusia dan alam adalah penting untuk Schiller sebagai alasan beliau, tetapi Kemunculan pertama sebab dalam Man tidak lagi permulaan kemanusiaan. Terakhir ini tidak memutuskan sehingga dia adalah percuma, (Surat XXIV, ms 115). Melalui perbincangan kerja seni dan seni halus Schiller membawa kita lebih dekat kepada konsep apa yang seni ertinya kepada manusia dan betapa pentingnya Ludens Homo adalah seperti konsep manusia. Schiller dikagumi klasik Greece dan seni dan melihat peranan sejarah dan kebebasan penting dalam perbincangan yang bersifat seni. Atas semua kedua-dua sebagai penyair dan pemikir Schiller diadakan ideal kebebasan untuk menjadi boleh dipertikaikan. Menurut Schiller, kebebasan dicapai apabila sensual dan rasional dalam manusia bersepadu sepenuhnya tetapi pelupusan estetik beliau dilihat sebagai datang dari Alam. Surat ini menyediakan darah yang kaya dengan idea-idea dari mana pembaca yang bernas dan penuh perhatian boleh mencari inspirasi dalam pertimbangan estetik dan sifat kerja seni. PENDAPAT NO 2: Although this type of reading can be challenging for the modern reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this thought-provoking book. If you enjoy philosophy and subscribe to a personal philosophy that an appreciation of beauty and learning through play are valuable, Schiller will appeal to you. Walaupun ini jenis membaca boleh mencabar bagi pembaca moden, saya telitimenikmati buku ini memprovokasi pemikiran. Jika kita menikmati falsafah dan melanggan kepada falsafah peribadi bahawa menghargai kecantikan dan pembelajaranmelalui permainan adalah berharga, Schiller akan merayu kepada kita. PENDAPAT NO 3:SUMMARY A generic summary of the argument in Friedrich Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man would be: in order for a person to become a moral and rational being she must pass through an aesthetic education in which she harmonizes with herself and thus becomes Free to exercise her rational will univocally. The passage often quoted as a summation of Schiller’s major theme in this work is: â€Å"It is through Beauty that we arrive at Freedom. † This passage, since I first encountered it, has been one of the few essential thoughts I carry with me through life. My superficial knowledge of Schiller, through only this famous quote and the above general argument, has had a disproportionate effect on me. When Conor Heaton, a friend from Chicago, recommended Schiller’s Letters to me, I was thrilled for the opportunity to read the entirety of the work and to test my own personalized version of the idea against Schiller’s initial conception. Schiller, a German Romantic dramatist, poet, and essayist, wrote his Letters during the height of France’s Reign of Terror. Like so many other Romantic thinkers across the globe, Schiller cried for joy at the French Revolution’s liberation of the human spirit. But, like artists and thinkers generations before and after him, Schiller suffered great disappointment in the aftermath of the revolution when power and fear destroyed the ideals of Justice and Freedom that had sparked the revolution. In some ways his argument stems from the idea that if the revolutionaries were perfectly educated in the ideas of aesthetics they would have been able to escape their own power struggles and thus have been able to create a Just and Free French State. Instead, the French Revolutionaries, whose only education on and exposure to government came from the monarch they so despised, exponentially replicated the atrocities of the very kind they dethroned. In doing so they turned the country into an irrational, immoral mess. It is a theme not isolated to 1790’s France, and though Schiller was influenced by the events of his time, he is also picking up an ambitious argument first articulated in the Western tradition two thousand years before his time. The idea of an aesthetic education as essential to a moral and rational life was originally Plato’s. In setting out to create the ideal civilization in his Republic, Plato’s characters conclude that banning books and particular artists (including Homer) will be necessary to ensure that young men are properly trained to appreciate Beauty. Plato’s characters felt that scenes from The Iliad about conniving and jealous gods were bad influences on young men, who may look to the gods as examples. And works that espoused ideas or styles that did not create the harmony in the soul essential to becoming a fully realized Moral man were not worthy of being taught. While laying the groundwork for regarding Beauty as essential to the human experience, Plato also put forward the first argument for censorship. (If one finds themselves scoffing at this idea or comparing Plato to Hitler, it may be wise to remember that a major component of America’s current education system assumes that those being educated cannot decipher the language and tone of Huckleberry Finn without intolerable harm, or read of Holden Caulfield’s rampant moral downfall and sexual escapades without falling into decadence, and that 12 year olds cannot be closer than 100 yards from a condom without instigating rampant uncontrolled sexual orgies. Plato’s excuse is that he didn’t have the benefit of thousands of years of education research proving his instincts incorrect.) Schiller never grounds his ideas by discussing or suggesting particular texts that may be suitable for an aesthetic education. His tendency to speak in shifting abstractions has cost him a more prominent position in the greater philosophical tradition. But if The Aesthetic Education of Man is read as it was written – as an artist trying to convince the world that Art and Beauty are essential to a Free and Moral civilization – then it is a wonderful and essential work whose philosophical consistency is far less important than its general spirit. Schiller’s argument itself is also only a small component of why this text is so engaging. He never stops reaching. His every sentence embodies the Romantic belief that truth, pure Truth, is at our fingertips, and with persistence It can be held in our palms. His style fluctuates between art and philosophy. Schiller has no fear of spreading his ideas, and his grandiose style represents perfectly the abundance of thought that was flowing out of Romantic Germany during his lifetime. He makes grand and provocative historical claims: â€Å"The Romans, we know, had first to exhaust their strength in civil wars . . . before we see Greek art triumphing over the rigidity of their character . . . And among the Arabs too the light of culture never dawned until the vigor of their warlike spirit had relaxed (58). † He states complex ideas in beautiful little statements: â€Å"We know that Man is neither exclusively matter nor exclusively spirit. Beauty, therefore, [is:] the consummation of this humanity (77). † And there is much more beyond this in Schiller’s Letters. He propounds a theory of Beauty and just how it can harmonize mankind and allow moral and rational men to flourish, and so on.

Politics Of Far Right Movements In Global Politics

Politics Of Far Right Movements In Global Politics Far right, which also be known as the extreme right or radical right, has been defined by various scholars and authors in various ways. Despite argument over the exact definition, far right is generally defined as an extremism of right-wing politics. According to Muddes work, the ideology of far right (2002 10-11), Hartmann defines far right as a collective term for all progress-hostile forces. However, there are objections to this restricted definition since this definition illustrates far right parties as single-issue movements, and conceals other important features of far right ideology. Most scholars and authors define far right as a political ideology which based on a combination of prominent features, consisting of Supremacism, Authoritarianism, Racism, and extreme-Nationalism. For examples, Macridis defines far-right as an ideology that revolves around the same old staples, such as, racism, xenophobia, and nationalism. Backes and Jesse defines far right as a collective term for anti-democratic dispositions and attempts, that are traditionally positioned at the extreme right of the left-right spectre (Mudde 2002: 10-11)Whereas, Falter and Schumann prescribes a set of core ideas of far-right ideology including, extreme nationalism, ethnocentrism, anti-communism, anti-parliamentarianism, anti-pluralism, militarism, law-and-order thinking, a demand for a strong political leader and/or executive, anti-Americanism and cultural pessimism'(Falter 1988: 101)Obviously, these definitions of far right reflect the existence of sharing of some core ideas among far-right, tradi tionalism, andconservatism through historical and ideological connection. Old Radical Right had been constituted in France after the French Revolution in 1789 as the main ideology among those supporters for counter-revolution who refused to accept the new republic regime and aimed for restoration of the French monarchy and aristocracy. The rise of radical right parties in Europe such as Nazi Party in Germany and Fascist Party in Italy before 1945 could be seen as the prosperity of old radical right. The old radical right commonly based on various hostile ideas towards Liberalism, Parliamentarism, Sentimism, Communism, Capitalism, and Bourgeois. All of these ideas had been resisted and insulted by radical right parties in the past. Together with the outbreak of Nationalism since the 1930s, far right parties could gained outgrowth from this nationalism and gained more popularity which had given compatibility for these parties to challenge existing states and accounted for much of the aggressive expansionist policy of some fascist regimes (Guibernau 2010: 9) especially, in the period since 1930s until the end of World War II. New Radical Right Mainstream political parties consider the new radical right as fascist parties that have no legitimacy. If we contemplate the fascist regimes of the 1922 1945, we will see a movement. According to Linzs perspective, traditional fascist can be defined as anti-liberalism, anti-parliamentarism, anti-Semitism, anticommunism. In contrast, despite their standpoint is strongly anti-establishment, the new radical right accepts the rules of parliamentary democracy. New Radical Rights oppose the corporatist and state-controlled economies defined by a strongly hierarchical political leadership but the radical right support a small government. The new radical right accepts market capitalism; however, one of its main ideological weaknesses are the inadequacy of an alternative economic programme like the mainstream political parties. New Radical Rights has their standpoint as anti-globalisation stand but the new radical right uses the means and new technological advances at the core of globalisat ion in order to promote its movement not only within but also across national boundaries. The main pillars of the new radical rights discourse New radical rights discourse consists of a high resistance to the existing establishment and a commitment to democratic reform, an explicit anti-immigrant narrative, and high emphasis on protecting western values and the national preference principle. Anti-establishment and democratic reform Although its extremely critical view of the functioning of liberal democratic systems, the new radical right does not support their replacement of liberal democratic system by some kind of fascist style political system. In contrary, the new radical right stands advocating a radical regeneration of democracy. In this perspective it is referred to as a promoter of hyper democracy. The new radical rights doctrine concern with a claim for genuinely popular participation and representation by means of radical reform of the established political institutions and the whole political process. In the same line, it defends the use of referendums and open lists in elections. According to Margaret Canovan perspective, the new radical right seeks to undermine and degenerate issues that associated with the political establishment, for example immigration policies, multiculturalism, affirmative action and political correctness. Anti-immigration There are fear and resentment towards immigrants and refugees that have been growing within western societies. The large influx of refugees from Eastern Europe and Africa into European countries in the 1990s gave the rise of issue invasion of the poor and it was expressed as the storming of Europe. There are a number of economic, social, political and cultural arguments which have been developed to create the legitimacy as a negative attitude towards immigrants. These come from the downward pressure that migrants push on wages and rising unemployment among the native population, to their comparatively high birth rates with potential detrimental implications for the existing welfare system, demographic developments, and national identity. Anti-immigrant sentiment open hostility towards immigrants. It can extend to describe radical right-wing parties do not have their standpoint against all migration but extremely against those immigrants who will pose a cultural threat to western valu es and national identity and culture. In present, there are the wave of Islamophobia generated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Muslims are recognized as posing the most serious threat to western civilization and are often portrayed as the most alien and difficult to assimilate. The radical right regards the growing number of Muslims settling in Europe as a severe danger to western culture and values. In European countries, mainstream political parties are enthusiastic to deserve electoral support from ethnic communities of immigrant origin entitled to vote, in particular where such communities are of sizeable dimensions. This is a factor which is also regarded with suspicion and resented by the new radical right, which expresses skepticism at the idea that immigrants and refugees could make any valuable contribution to their society. The rise of the new radical right cannot be described by looking exclusively at economic factors, it seems safe to say that the global economic downturn has stresse d the economic as well as the political and cultural concerns that drive people toward the new radical right. In times of crisis minorities receive a severe treatment. They are criticized for the misfortunes affecting the overall society. They are considered guilty because of their supposed inefficiency, laziness, and lack of culture, susceptibility to crime, arrogance or economic success. Western values and the national preference principle The new radical right advocates the preservation of western values, a principle that is often turned into a call for national preferences; that is, citizens should enjoy priority access to social welfare and to the protection of their own culture and language, compared to foreigners. Citizenship should determine a sharp boundary between those who belong and those who do not, and the latter should be excluded from the social, economic and political rights associated with it. The principle of national preference mingled with hostility toward those considered too different in terms of values, culture, and often skin-colour should be considered as part and parcel of a project of white resistance or cultural nativism destined to protect what is described as an endangered European identity. The new radical right exhibits a cultural nativism tinted with populist overtones that connects with the dream of a white Europe. It is very important to highlight the transnational character of this populist nativism that reaches beyond nationalism by defending the cultural preservation o f the European culture. The new radical right presents itself as an alternative to traditional political parties and founds its discourse on a critique of democracy, a protest against elites and a concern about the cultural preservation and integrity of national identity comprehend as part and parcel of European identity. Integration and ethnopluralism New radical rights concerns about the preservation of national identity and the nation. It leads to the new radical right to oppose multiculturalism, which, in their view, promotes the destruction of individual cultures. In Western Europe, the new radical right has reacted to this by promoting an organic conception of the nation, which regards foreign bodies as a threat to a nations life and health. The term ethnopluralism has been coined by the new right to advocate respect for cultural and ethnic differences while maintaining that the best strategy to protect them is to avoid their mixing with each other. Ethnopluralism, as defined by the new radical right, stands for the protection of national culture and identity while arguing that the national culture and identities of immigrants should also be preserved. In pragmatically, different cultures and identities should not be mixed because it is in the mixing that culture and identity are weakened, levelled down and eventually destroy ed. Rise of far right in Europe It has been noted (Knigge, 1998: 255) that Generally, extremist movements are movements of disaffection (Lipset Raab 1978: 428). They appeal to people who are dissatis ¬Ã‚ ed with the status quo and who feel threatened by ongoing changes in society. These changes however, are complex and related to economic, political and social developments alike (Stà ¶ss 1991). Therefore, the rise of far right in Europe especially since 1980s can considered to be the result of the dissatisfaction of the changes which cause by Globalization. The Evolution of Extreme right-wing parties in Western Europe The rise of right-wing extremist parties in Europe have come in the wave. According to Widfeldts interpretation of research conducted by Klaus von Beyne, the German political scientist, far-right can be divided into three phases (Widefeldt, 2010). The first phase started from the end of Second World War to the mid 1950s. During the first phase, the support for extreme right-wing parties had marginal because people still feared the influence of Fascism and Nazism. Therefore, the political parties which supported on far-right was excluded outside the political area even the German Sozialistische Reichsoartei, the successor of Nazi. At that time, there were only the Italian Movimento Sociale Italiano, the successor of Mussolini fascists, which continually took a seat in national parliament. After the mid 1950s, the second phase started. Far right political parties gradually represent in parliament with the new pattern in the past far right political parties had an ideology on Nazism an d Fascism but after mid 1950s they changed to against Post-war economic and modernization process, for example. Since the 1980s, the third phase have begun. Due to the process of globalization, many European countries have experienced the overwhelming of immigration. Simultaneously with the economic recession of those countries, some citizens not only have seen foreign workers as the cause of unemployment and the status decline of Native Europe but also the cause of disappearance of homogeneous culture. Therefore, several political parties in Europe have perceived this weakness and support anti-immigration as new form of ideology and campaign. As a result, several far right political parties have been increased in their electoral supports and can gain political participation in Parliament. The Evolution of Extreme right-wing parties in Eastern Europe Regarding to Eastern Europe, the extreme right wing parties has been established after the end of Cold war. Even though the characters of social and politics in the former Communist regime like Eastern Europe suit with nationalist extremist, the increase of right-wing political parties are still low in Eastern Europe. A recent study (Mudde, 2012) has described that there are only four political parties which have largest share of support in parliament includes Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Greater Romania Party, Serbian Radical Party and finally Hungarian Movement for a Better Hungary. Besides these four political parties, other political parties in Eastern Europe seems too small, no electoral support from citizens to be the representative in parliament. Even though extreme-right parties in Eastern Europe are unsuccessful, most operations from extreme right-wing are outside of the political arena. For example, In Eastern Europe, especially Russia and Serbia, the extreme right s kin head gang and neo-Nazi group spread across Eastern Europe. The rise of electoral vote of far-right parties after financial crisis The global financial crisis in 2008 bring up the far-right parties across Europe in terms of citizens expressing their dissatisfaction of mainstream government. In other words, European citizens has perceived the mismanagement of the economic crisis by their own government which leads to decrease in GDP growth and increase in unemployment rate. Therefore, citizens have lost confident in their own governments and show more preference in far-right parties which in that time far-right parties try to exploit the situation by accusing a scapegoating such as foreign workers or immigrant for the cause of unemployment and the status decline of Native Europe. Even though the ideology and campaign of far right parties are various in different states depending on national histories and traditions, all of these political parties have mainly focused on anti-immigration, anti- multiculturalism and Islamophobia. Since 2008 global financial crisis, far-right political parties have gained a share of support in national parliaments across Europe especially in Norway, France, Hungary, Netherlands, England, Austria, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and finally Switzerland. Besides the national parliament, it was reported (BBC NEWS, 2009) that far-right political parties gained more seat in the 2009 European Parliament Election compared to the 2004 European Election and central-right political parties slightly drop in gaining the seat from 282 seats in 2004 to 264 seats in 2009. However, the central right political parties, namely European Peoples Party, still be the largest group in European Parliament. In other words, they gained 264 out of the 736 seats and prevailed over European Socialists Parties and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe which both two parties gained 183 and 84 seats, respectively. Regarding to the far-right parties, called Union for Europe of the Nations, the groups members believe in national sovereignty and opponents of European integration. This gr oup gained more seats from 23 in 2004 to 28 in 2009. The result of European Election in 2009 is meaningful to the rise of far right in Europe because its winning in election implies that far-right parties achieve in build mass organizations on the ground resulting to the power in broadcast their ideologies and the effective implementation of their own policies. The eletoral impacts of globalisation The emergence and notable growth of the new far right has occurred with significant increases in international integration, post-industrialisation and the rise of post-materialist values and policy orientations. There is a relationship between a major feature of contemporary structural change, globalisation, and electoral success of new far-right parties. Elections have served as important markers of far-right success and failure. Often, landmark breakthroughs by far-right parties have put them on the map for wider audiences. Direct elections to the European Parliament, too, have provided useful occasions for far-right parties to make their mark. Economics Theory and research on the economic impacts of globalisation stress that transnationally mobile manufacturing and financial enterprises as well as highly skilled professionals, technical personnel and managers are the winners of internationalisation (Rodrik, 1997). Globalisation of markets, however, generates losses and new economic insecurities for some occupational strata and sectors. Specifically, Heckscher-Ohlin/Stolper-Samuelson models predict that semi- and unskilled workers bear significant costs of the globalisation of developed economies. That is, models of factor-price convergence suggest that the relative prices commanded by comparatively scarce factors in the developed economies (semi- and unskilled workers) decline with internationalisation as the relative demand for comparatively abundant factors (highly skilled workers) increases. Together, trade, capital mobility and immigration of workers may contribute to the decline in the relative wages and employment of increasin g numbers of lower-skilled workers. In addition, the traditional middle class may be economically disadvantaged as well as facing threats to traditional institutions, values and status. Overall, the evidence suggests that internationalisation is associated with modest declines in demand for lower-skilled workers and some increase in economic uncertainties as well as attendant threats to the social status, values and institutions of affected groups. Nevertheless, despite the absence of a dominant role for globalisation, international integration should contribute to the inclination of some voters to support parties that oppose international liberalisation and offer clear programmatic solutions to associated problems; this seems particularly likely if perceptions of burdens exceed actual costs of globalisation. Perceptions and Politics A.M.Mayda and D.Rodrik draw conclusions for the developed democracies as a whole from their analysis of International Social Survey Program and World Values Survey data. They conclude that a majority of citizens in the typical developed democracy supports restricting trade and that these protectionist attitudes vary systematically with education and occupational levels. Mayda and Rodrik find that in developed democracies where human capital is abundant, workers with higher education and occupational attainments are more likely to support free trade. Generally, the tangible effects of international integration on significant socio-economic groups, the likely tendency of citizens to weigh costs of globalisation more heavily than benefits and the widespread support among mainstream parties have offered an electoral opportunity for Radical Right Wing parties. These parties have commonly targeted electoral appeals to those who face economic uncertainties if not losses in the wake of globa lisation and domestic change and to those who possess diffuse anxieties, fears and resentments in the wake of structural changes. Specifically, right-wing parties, while supporting free markets and liberalisation domestically, have systematically criticized international openness. As the national economy moves towards global concerns in seeking foreign investments, invariably other aspects of domestic policy are affected. Capital moves to where it finds the most attractive home, thus seeking low-tax economies which places pressure on national macro-economic policy as the states tax-raising capacity is reduced by the tendency towards attracting investment. This weakens the states capacity to provide public services, fostering dissatisfaction among the citizen and reducing national cohesion (Day Thompson, 2004: 175). Furthermore, a general shift in focus of national policy to cultural and identity issues could serve to favour the far right. While politics at elite level concerns transnational and international matter, for the citizen, local and domestic affairs are still to the fore. Moreover, mass publics in all likelihood tend to weigh the costs of globalisation more heavily than benefits. In sum, theory and evidence suggest that globalisation modestly affects the demand for lower-skilled workers and may contribute to insecurities of employment and income for many wage earners. Duane Swank and Hans-Georg Betz conclude that international integration, or the notable increases in transnational flows of trade, capital and people in recent decades, has contributed to the electoral success of new far-right parties in Western Europe. The magnitude and nature of globalisations effects, however, are significantly shaped by national welfare state structures. Where national systems of social protection are comprehensive, generous and employment-orientated, rises in trade openness and capital mobility do not contribute to support for right-wing parties; where welfare programmatic structure is occupationally based or liberal in character, increases in transnational market flows are associated with moderate shifts in support to the new far right. The role of the media The far right discourses resonance depends on the intermediating role played by the media (including social media). Far-right parties and spokespeople have a particular media attraction because they can successfully represent themselves as new political kids on the block and can press their core issues of immigration and Islam, all too readily reported and sensationalised as alien to the host society. In addition, popular media places the spotlight on the charismatic party leader with a populist message, rather than on more unassuming and collegiate figures. That is because the media lower the barriers of entry into the electoral market by giving new parties the means to disseminate their message across a wider audience than their organisational or financial resources would allow. The far right has also sought to bypass the conventional media by using the internet to that effect. Through online behavior, Bartlett, Birdwell and Littler (2011) suggest that the emergence of populist parties and movements which often described as far right comes from 3 different sets of grievances that motivate citizens: economic grievances, disillusionment grievances and immigration grievances. The economic explanation of populism contends that economic frustration is the prime motivator of populists. This view has two components: first, that most supporters of parties and movements are blue-collar workers or the victims of globalisation and outsourcing, and second, that these workers are motivated to join by financial concerns. The second set of grievances concerns voters disillusionment with prevailing political parties and institutions. One argument advanced by scholars is that this disenchantment has led citizens to vote for populist political parties or join street groups out of protest. According to this protest vote model, supporters of populist parties are not necessarily ideologically committed but support them to vent frustration. The final category of grievances concerns immigration. Some studies have demonstrated that concern, worry or antipathy toward immigrants is the feature that unifies populist groups. Much of the academic literature suggested that a large degree of concern relating to immigration was economic in nature, however, more recent research suggests that immigration is seen as a threat to cultural identity. As highlighted by Matthew Goodwins recent report, Right Response, which is an increasingly favoured view. Since the end of World War II, immigration has become one of the most divisive issues on the political agendas of Western democracies. Many individuals in European democracies express unease or out-right concern with the potential effects of migration on their countries, while others in these same countries are less uneasy or even welcoming toward newcomers. Left-right self-placement is likely to capture the potential ideological confluence between political dissatisfaction and hostility to immigration, with those on the far right expected to be more negative about political institutions and politicians and about immigration. Those who actually voted for the far right are, of course, very likely to be hostile to immigration and to politics because of ideas stoked by far-right party rhetoric. In the past ten years, and particularly since 2007 with the worldwide financial crisis, the sense of Europeanness has seemed to lessen (see Checkel and Katzenstein 2009). Immigration, the so-call ed war on terror, slow economic growth, and finally the financial crisis have caused citizens across Europe to view their national governments as the main focus of their identities and political activity (Checkel and Katzenstein 2009). The rise of anti-immigrant, nationalist parties has been pronounced in Scandinavian countries, typically seen as bastions of leftwing and liberal social policy. Indeed, the terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011 have led to a good deal of introspection about the rise of far right anti-immigrant groups, largely as Anders Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist, was a member of the Norwegian Progress Party before becoming disillusioned with their moderate approach. A Case Study of Oslos Massacre The most recent well known Far Right movement that caused a horrible shock to people of the entire world is The Oslos Massacre in 2011 which killed 77 people. A massive blast shook the centre of Oslo in the afternoon on Friday 22 July 2011, blowing out the windows of the prime ministers offices and damaging the finance and oil ministries.Rubble and glass littered the streets and smoke from the fires drifted across the city from the devastated area the heart of the Labour Party government. Witnesses described the scene as like a war zone. Police set up cordons and evacuated buildings while ambulances took dozens of injured people to hospital. Police confirmed the next day that the blast was caused by a car bomb, and that undetonated explosives remained in the area. The bomb contained an estimated 950kg (2,090lbs) of explosives made of fertilizer, 8 people were killed in this incident. In the late afternoon, a ferryman was asked to transport a policeman to the island of Utoeya, located in a lake about 35km (20 miles) north-west of Oslo. The uniformed man was said to have been armed with a pistol and an automatic rifle. He had described how he was there to do research in connection with the bomb blasts But the policeman turned out to be a gunman, and he went on to shoot and kill many of young people staying at the island camp. About 30 minutes later, a specialist police SWAT team was despatched from Oslo to Utoeya. Meanwhile, the gunman continued his killing spree undisturbed, randomly shooting victims, according to eyewitness reports. Survivors described chaotic scenes as teenagers fled from the gunman, some plunging into the water to swim to safety. He shot at those who tried to swim away. Others hid in the undergrowth, cowering in fear. The gunman was described as tall, blond and Nordic-looking had called campers to him as if to offer help, only to open fire on them. Officers eventually arrived on the island, Haarvard Gaasbakk, the leader of the first police squad to arrive on the island, said a group of youngsters directed them towards the gunman.We then spotted the gunman shooting on the southern part of the island and we hear a lot of shooting the gunshots are coming fast and thick, he said. As the officers ran into a clearing in the forest, they suddenly came face to face with the gunman, hands above his head and his weapons 15m away on the ground. Mr. Gaasbakk said the gunman was arrested and one officer took charge of him while the others ran to give the victims first aid. The shooting spree had lasted more than an hour. Officers have said he still had a considerable amount of ammunition for both his guns a pistol and an automatic rifle when he surrendered. Hospital sources said the gunman had used dum-dum bullets, designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage. A Norwegian court has found that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and sentenced him to 21 years in jail. Breivik, who admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp, told the court he would not appeal. He insisted he was sane and refused to plead guilty, saying last years attacks were necessary to stop the Islamisation of Norway. Afterwards Breivik said he did not recognise the court, which he contended had sided with the multicultural majority in parliament, but said he would not appeal as this would legitimise the proceedings. He accused the governing Labour Party of promoting multiculturalism and endangering Norways identity. In the pre-trial hearing, February 2012, Breivik read a prepared statement demanding to be released and treated as a hero for his pre-emptive attack against traitors accused of planning cultural genocide. He said, They are committing, or planning to commit, cultural destruction, of which deconstru ction of the Norwegian ethnic group and deconstruction of Norwegian culture. This is the same as ethnic cleansing. Experts in far-right ideology told the trial Breiviks ideas should not be seen as the ramblings of a madman and Breiviks attacks ignited a debate about the nature of tolerance and democracy in Norway. Anders Behring Breivik is a right-wing extremist and now regarded by many as a Christian fundamentalist, extremist, and terrorist. He claims he has a mentor and refers to him as Richard the Lionheart. He claims that he is a member of an international Christian military order based on the Knights Templar which was established in London in 2002 by nine individuals with a large number of knights and even bigger number of civilians including a number of cells in Europe. He was a member of a local Masonic lodge and was a proud freemason and he also claims he has contacts with the EDL and as his mentors codename is Richard the Lionheart it seems to suggest the EDL is very influential on him and his political views. His main political goal was to stop as he refers to it, the Islamification of Western Europeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸. He claims he killed nearly eight people, who were in the majority non-Muslims, in order to save Europe from a Muslim takeover. Mario Borghezio, for instance who belongs to the anti-immigration Northern League party in Italy, which is a partner in Italys government coalition, condemned Breiviks attacks, but supported his position against Muslim immigration to Europe. He was reported to have said, Some of the ideas he expressed are good, barring the violence. Some of them are great. Following his apprehension, Breivik was characterised by analysts as being a right-wing extremist with anti-Muslim views and a hatred of Islam, who considered himself a knight dedicated to stemming the tide of Muslim immigration into Europe. He was at first described by many in the media as a Christian fundamentalist, Christian terrorist, nationalist and right-wing extremist. Conclusion The rise of new far-right ideology in Europe both as in politics and as movements could be considered a

Military and Societal Values :: Military Philosophy Society Essays

Military and Societal Values Colonel Malham M. Wakin, in his evening address, asks whether Plato's claim that "knowledge is virtue" is true. Much contemporary experience suggests otherwise. To some extent, such an observation could apply to the military as well. Col Wakin argues that we do have some basic knowledge about human conduct, but that we live in a highly pluralistic society in which some practices reject that basic knowledge. Nonetheless, even though we draw members of the military from that pluralistic society, the uniqueness of the military function will always keep its leading practitioners apart from the mainstream of civilian society. The military profession swears to defend the values, the lifestyle that incorporates the minimal conditions for human dignity. After examining the convergence of the values that are functionally necessary for the military and those that we know are fundamental to social existence, he concludes that a competent military profession can serve as a moral anchor for its p arent society. I Many years ago when I learned I was going to have the opportunity to study philosophy at the graduate level, I was tremendously excited. What a wonderful opportunity this would be, I thought, to sit at the feet of Socrates and be enlightened by those who studied the crucial problems of human existence. I expected that senior philosophy professors would be marvelous role models in their personal lives and I looked forward with great anticipation to associating with those who had solved the problems of the universe. Indeed, these senior professors seemed very wise. They were dazzling in their abilities to rattle off the names and theories of great thinkers from every era. They knew the views of those whose names I couldn't even pronounce and I said to myself: "I'll never be able to grasp all of these ideas nor remember them well enough to teach them to others." But as time went on, I was slightly devastated to observe that these senior professors were not, as a group, the congenial masters of everyday living I expected them to be. They were not all basically kind persons--not even to each other. In fact, some would occasionally cross the street to avoid meeting and speaking with a colleague. And some had difficulties in their most important personal relationships--divorce, legal squabbles, envy, character assassination, narcissism--hardly what I had hoped for in the most knowledgeable, most studious persons in our society.

Dante’s Inferno Essay

Dante’s Inferno is the most well-known and influential work of the thirteenth century. Dante’s Inferno is not a simple story of his journey through Hell. He depicts Hell with a very vivid picture and description. Dante’s Inferno is one part of the Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy contains very realistic and frank concepts of the politics, religion and culture of Italy in the late thirteenth and early the fourteenth centuries. This paper develops the most salient political, cultural, and theological elements of Dante’s Inferno, what he wants to tell about his values through his book, and how the book represents western European Mediterranean culture around 1300. In this time period, Italy was in political chaos. It lacked a stable and secure government. Furthermore, there were competing political factions and turmoil. In these troubled circumstances, Dante’s represents the political thought of the European nations in his book Inferno. The most salient political element of Inferno is the competing political factions in Italy. During his journey in the book Inferno, he criticizes the political factions in Italy many times. As he says, â€Å"From there downward he is all of chosen iron, save that his right foot is of baked clay, and he stands erect on that more than on the other.†(Canto XIV) The right foot of baked clay represents the corruption of the church by political factions. Moreover, Dante also thinks that the cause of rebellion was political factions, too. According to the book, he states, â€Å"But that ungrateful populace malign which descended from Fiesole of old, and smacks yet of the mountain and the rock, will hate thee because of thy good deeds; and this is right, for among the bitter sorb trees it is not fitting the sweet fig should bear fruit.† (Canto XV) This phrase, â€Å"Ungrateful populace malign which descended from Fiesole of old†, represents the Fiesole people who settled down in Florence (Firenze). Dante thought that the Fiesole was the cause of political factions in Firenze. In addition, â€Å"the bitter sorb trees† means the political faction in Firenze and ‘the sweet fig’ represents Dante himself. Dante thinks all of the political corruption came from the political factions. According to his thought, political factions are regarded as a sin in Hell. For example, Dante’s political enemy placed in the fifth level, the wrathful level. He is very  excited to see his political enemy being punished and moreover Dante wants him to be punished more harshly. As he says, â€Å"Master, it certainly would make me happy to see him dunked deep in the slop just once before we leave the lake – it truly would†(Dante 140, Canto VIII). He was a member of the political faction opposite Dante, the Black Guelphs. As you see, Dante hates political factions in Florence. He frankly criticizes political factions in his book. The most salient cultural elements in Dante’s Inferno are Roman-Greco traditions, beliefs, and culture. Roman-Greco culture is the key element in Dante’s Inferno. He borrows many stories from Roman-Greco mythology. In Inferno, Roman-Greco traditions and beliefs are very significant for leading the story. For example, the idea of evil and the order of sinners are all from Roman-Greco culture. Furthermore, Zeus’s mythology is in Inferno, too. The most major theological element in Dante’s Inferno is the concept of the belief in the Holy Trinity. Firstly, the existence of Hell is an element of th e Christian tradition. The belief in the Holy Trinity concept informs the structure of Hell. There are nine circles in Inferno. ‘9’ is the Holy number in Christianity. In the Inferno, 9 Concentric Circles are the fundamental structure of Hell. Dante uses numbers 1,3,9(3), 10,(31), 100(10). There are three animals, 100 Canti Jesus. Among the numbers ‘10’ is the perfect number in Christianity. Dante may want to express the heaven after the nine circles, thus heaven will be the tenth circle. In addition, there are many references to the Bible and Christian theology. For example, in the First Circle of Hell, there are spirits of those who lived virtuously but without Christianity. Dante thinks that the lack of Christianity is also a sin. â€Å"The good Master to me, â€Å"Thou dost not ask what spirits are these that thou seest. Now I would have thee know, before thou goest farther, that they sinned out; and if they have merits it sufficeth not, because they had not baptism, which i s part of the faith that thou believest; and if they were before Christianity, they did not duly worship God: and of such as these am I myself.† (Canto IV). Through Dante’s Inferno, there are Nine Circles in Hell. According to the Nine Circles in Hell, we can study the culture and society aspects in the thirteenth century through the gravity of the offence. The Nine Circles are divided by the gravity of the offence. The First Circle is for people who placed in Limbo such as virtuous pagans, the Second Circle to the Fifth  Circle: Lust, gluttony, greed, and anger. The Sixth Circle is for heretics, the seventh represents violence, the eighth circle exists for people who commit sin of fraud and the Last Ninth Circle is for people who commit malice or treachery. According to the each circle of sins in Hell, we assume that heretics, violence and fraud treated heavily in the thirteenth century. Not only the gravity of the offence in the thirteenth century, but also we can see the society aspects from Dante’s Inferno. Through the book, we can guess that the simony prevailed in the thirteenth century. For instance, there were spirits in Hell who perpetrate simony. Furthermore, the pope’s status raised and it became very powerful in Europe compare to before the thirteenth century. As he says, â€Å"†¦but already the time is longer that I have cooked my feet, and that I have been thu s upside down, than he will stay planted with red feet; for after him will come, of uglier deed, from westward, a shepherd without law†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Canto XVIII) This phrases represent of the Clement V who will come from Avignon. Avignonese Captivity is an incident that Clement V moved the Vatican to the Southern part of France. This incident signifies that the pope’s status raised and it was really powerful as much as he could move the Vatican. Lastly, the most important thing to Dante through the book is an act of treachery. Through Dante’s Inferno, he made the last circle of Hell for people who commit treachery. It is because he was afraid of the temptation of treachery. He dearly wanted to go back to his town at that time. However, if he goes back to his town, he had to take a opposite political party who exiled Dante from his hometown. It means that he commits treachery to people who followed him. He would not want to commit treachery to people who supported him. Thus, through the book, he articulates his value that he would not commit treachery to people who followed him. Not only the determination of the act of treachery to Dante, but also he completes the definition of the God in Hell an d understands about the structure of Hell through the book, Inferno. In conclusion, the most salient political element of Dante’s Inferno is competing political factions. Because of troubled circumstances in Italy in the thirteenth century, Dante hates about the competing political factions and he thinks that all causes of political chaos in Italy is competing political factions. The cultural element in Inferno is Roman-Greco tradition, beliefs culture. Through the book, Dante borrowed many stories  from Roman-Greco tradition culture. For example, the order of sinner and the concept of evil were borrowed from Roman-Greco tradition culture. Furthermore, a mythology about the Zeus is one of the examples of Roman-Greco beliefs. Theological element of Dante’s Inferno is the belief of the Holy Trinity by using numbers such as 1,3,9,10,100. Also, he borrowed and used references to the Bible and Christian theology. We also can guess the culture and social aspect in 1300. At that time period, simony prevailed all over Europe and the popeâ€⠄¢s status was very powerful. Through the book, Inferno, Dante wants to articulate his thought of treachery. He determines that he would not commit treachery because of temptation by his own desire. Dante’s Inferno was the most experimental work in the thirteenth century. His book implies political, religious and cultural elements in the thirteenth century.

Crime and Dye Lab Essay

Light is usually viewed as a result of the heating of a substance. The higher the temperature at which the substance is heated, the greater the vibrations that lead to certain light intensity given off by the molecule. It is this same theory that suggests why steel glows red hot when heated to high enough temperatures. The process of light emissions can also be induces through other means. 1 One of such means termed fluorescence occurs when a substance can be induced into giving off light is through absorption of a photon through light or other means of radiations. During this process, electrons are excited from their standard state. The electrons jump from their highest unoccupied orbital (HUMO) into a certain level of the unoccupied orbital (LUMO). As the electrons loose energy, they fall back to a lower orbital, thus emitting light. 1, 2 During the process leading to fluorescence, a certain change could occur during the excitation of the electron, changing the spin of the electron as it gets excited. This change has to be undone as the electron goes back to its standard state. The emitting of light in this process is known as phosphorescence. The process of fluorescence is much faster than phosphorescence. This is due to the fact that in phosphorescence, the electron has to undergo an extra step of undoing its current spin. This process is thermodynamically unfavorable compared to fluorescence. 1, 2 The last means by which light could be generated is through chemiluminescence. In such a case a chemical reaction occurs, causing an excitation of the product. As this product decays into its standard state, light is emitted. This form of luminescent is different from the previous two in the sense that no absorption of light is required to induce the glow. The glow results from the product of the chemical reaction having to be in an exited state or of higher energy. 1 The process of photon absorption and emission is certain a phenomenon that plays a vital role in our society. Such importance is expressed during rescue operations, where victims can be easily found due to waving of a fluorescent material at night. It is evident that fluorescence becomes important when a thermally induced light emission is deemed impossible. 1, 2 Separation techniques were concepts that were important in the course of this experiment. One of such is through the means of UV Vis Spectrophotometer. The constituents of ink dyes can be determined using a spectrophotometer. By placing the dyes in the spec, various wavelength peaks will be obtained. These peaks can be used to find out the constituent colors making up the dye. Another important form of separation used during this experiment is chromatography. Chromatography utilizes the differences in polarity of substances as means of separation. Such is the case of a crime lab involving the finding of a pen used in writing on a piece of paper. If a pen out of four is used to write a note, the particular pen can be detected using chromatography. The dyes of all four inks and the unknown ink can be obtained. This ink can be run through a chromatograph column, allowing a solvent to run above the ink dyes, carrying them along. After a certain point the RF values of all the inks can be used to detect the particular ink. The RF value is the distance the ink travels divided by the distance travelled by the solvent. The ink with the same RF value as the unknown is the same ink used. Chromatography has a wide range of use. It use can be stretched from this as it can also be used to indicate the component amino acids found in various proteins. The protein can be run through the column, resulting in the various amino acids that make the protein, to be separated. 1, 2 Materials and Methods (Summarized from Lab Manual) 1 Procedure * Phosphorescence Two different polyaromatic acids, 1- naphthoic acid and 4-biphenylcarboxylic acid, were obtained and drops were added unto two filter paper. The solvents heated to dryness for 11 minutes using a hot plate on low heat. The filter papers were then placed under long and short wavelength ultraviolet lamps. Observation of the intensity and duration of glow were recorded. * Fluorescence Tonic water was poured into a beaker. Long and short wavelength UV lamp was shined above the beaker. Observations were recorded. Now, a beaker of water was taking to the UV lamp and was shined at the beaker. Observations were recorded. After, 3 drops of concentrated fluorescein solution was added into the beaker. The UV lamp was shined above the beaker and observations were recorded. * Chemiluminescence 2 mL of Tekrakis-(dimethylaminoethylene) was added into a small test tube. This test tube was taken to the UV lamp and shined at. Observations about the intensity and duration of glow were recorded. After, 1 mL of luminol in DMSO was added into five test tubes. Now, in each test tube fluorescein, rhodamine, rubrene and perylene solutions were added in 4 four of the five test tubes. Observation of the color of each solution was recorded. At this point, 1M NaOH was added into each test tube and was then shined with a UV lamp. Further observations were recorded. Finally 1 g of Al2O3 was added into four 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask. This was mixed with 1 mL of 3% H2O2. In each flask, perylene, tetracene (2,3-benanthracene), 9,10-Dipehenylanthracene, and rubrene were added respectively. Now, 1 mL of oxalic chloride was added in each flask and swirled. Observations were then recorded. * Crime Lab A water bath was heated and maintained at 650C. Now, scribbles were made on papers from each of the four pens. The paper with each scribble was cut into small pieces and placed into a marked test tube. Also, a scribble of an unknown pen was obtained. The paper was also cut into small pieces and placed in a test tube. 2 mL of methanol was added into each test tube and was placed in the hot bath for 5 minutes. The test tubes were allowed to cool, the color of the inks were recorded and poured into five cuvettes. Using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, the wavelength peaks and absorbance of each ink solution were recorded. Four of the five dyes were then poured into new marked test tubes. The solutions were then boiled for 14 minutes until the there were less than 1 mL. The solutions were allowed to cool. Now, a 250 mL beaker was obtained. In it was added a small amount of methanol (less than half a centimeter in height). A filter paper was then obtained and cut towards the end (B.1). This was placed at the side of the beaker. Finally, an alumna plate was cut in the dimension of 8 x 4 cm. A line was drawn at a 1 cm height using a pencil. In this line, drops of the four inks were spotted. This plate was then leaned inside the end of the beaker (B.2). The plate was left in the solvent until it reached  ¾ of the way up. The height the inks and solvent reached up the plate was recorded.