The Life of Mind

Riza Abilova Id: 20120438 ARW I, Section 4 Date: March 29, 2013 Discussion essay Second draft Does is living with less have a beneficial influence on people’s life in U. S? A person’s lifestyle is like a mirror. It shows who and what a person is, what he or she does, how he or she dress and what conditions he or she prefers. Some people are happy with a small amount of money with comfortable living while others want to earn large amounts of money and become rich. However, living with less is like having minimalist lifestyle which involves material limitations, less consumption, more space, less unnecessary possessions and so on.Furthermore, as Graham Hill (2013) entrepreneur and founder of LifeEduited. com and TreeHugger. com reports, â€Å"I sleep better knowing I’m not using more resources than I need. I have less and enjoy more† (n. p) (as cited on www. nytimes. com). Living with less brings appreciably more satisfaction, relaxation and enjoyment. Moreo ver, people will not get attached to things. For one thing, people who depend on their possessions and luxury life, in many cases lose part of life that is really important. The minimalist lifestyle in U.S is a beneficial way to allow pleasure and better health and spending less time on new technologies but on the other hand people get losing this knowledge of modern society of this country. One of the advantages of living with less in U. S is that people can take more joy and time. Living with fewer possessions is not only having joy but also is very closely related to the times and technology. The fewer possessions you have to worry about, the more time you have to spend with friends, family or in nature or beautiful places in life. Technology is incredible and infinitely developing, but occupies most of our time.For example: social technology provides the ability to connect, communicate and also play games and others. As Albert Einstein who theoretical physicist and one of the fo unders of modern theoretical physics (1921) demonstrated, â€Å"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity†. (n. p) However, one should note here that technologies can take away a large part of the time of your life. If on the one hand it can be said that it is beneficial having enjoyment and more time, the same is true for better health.Another beneficial advantage of living with reducing possessions in the United States is that people feel less stress. Living with less material stuff allows people the ability to not worry about their obligations. Therefore, living with fewer possessions allows less worrying about obligations which includes cleaning, repairing, breaking, and obsolete of these materials. Material objects not only lead to physical fatigue but disorders like depression too. As American Psychiatric Association (2011) shows, â€Å"depression is a common and highly treatable disorder affection over 17 million American adults a nnually† (n. ). It is generally agreed that stress and nervous feelings brings a negative effect on disorders. With living with less stuff, you can avoid depression and aggression by obligations of items. Another way of looking to this lifestyle, it is about surplus of knowledge of new technologies. One of the unbeneficial ways of living with less is that using less modern technologies. For instance, if people stick to this way of life, and they prefer not to use the new technologies, gadgets and other things, it will be bad influence on the formation of person as a modern one.Many people will consider as a primitive man who is absolutely nothing know, it is difficult to have a dialogue with someone who cannot understand what others mean. Likewise, as Jonas Salk who was an American medical researcher and virologist (1979) shows, â€Å"This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of creative possibilities made possible by scien ce and technology which now constitute the slave of man – if man is not enslaved by it†(n. p) . In reality, all technologies are developing that is why future without him nothing would do.The most importantly is that being a successful person makes a big influence on the skill of modern technology not only for work but also for self-improvement. One should, however, not forget that if people have lack of knowledge of new technologies, in many cases, they can’t find perspective job to successful career. Our modern world is difficult to imagine with lack of knowledge of computer technology, and successful professional worker without this knowledge. The United States is one of the most highly developed states in the world that is why new technological hings have an important part of their life. A minimalist lifestyle offers the enormous benefits and if Americans want to take more joy and time and feel less stress, they need to start living with less. As Julie Schor who is a professor of Sociology at Boston College (2002) shows, â€Å"we need to invest more meaning into material objects to slow down the buy-use-discard cycle of U. S. consumer goods†(p45-60). This means, society of this country should really think about material possessions, whether want to buy it, whether it is beneficial or useful etc.

The Lost Symbol Chapter 86-89

CHAPTER 86 In the cerulean glow of his basement lights, Mal'akh stood at the stone table and continued his preparations. As he worked, his empty stomach growled. He paid no heed. His days of servitude to the whims of his flesh were behind him. Transformation requires sacrifice. Like many of history's most spiritually evolved men, Mal'akh had committed to his path by making the noblest of flesh sacrifices. Castration had been less painful than he had imagined. And, he had learned, far more common. Every year, thousands of men underwent surgical gelding–orchiectomy, as the process was known–their motivations ranging from transgender issues, to curbing sexual addictions, to deep-seated spiritual beliefs. For Mal'akh, the reasons were of the highest nature. Like the mythological self-castrated Attis, Mal'akh knew that achieving immortality required a clean break with the material world of male and female. The androgyne is one. Nowadays, eunuchs were shunned, although the ancients understood the inherent power of this transmutational sacrifice. Even the early Christians had heard Jesus Himself extol its virtues in Matthew 19:12: â€Å"There are those who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.† Peter Solomon had made a flesh sacrifice, although a single hand was a small price in the grand scheme. By night's end, however, Solomon would be sacrificing much, much more. In order to create, I must destroy. Such was the nature of polarity. Peter Solomon, of course, deserved the fate that awaited him tonight. It would be a fitting end. Long ago, he had played the pivotal role in Mal'akh's mortal life path. For this reason, Peter had been chosen to play the pivotal role in Mal'akh's great transformation. This man had earned all the horror and pain he was about to endure. Peter Solomon was not the man the world believed he was. He sacrificed his own son. Peter Solomon had once presented his son, Zachary, with an impossible choice–wealth or wisdom. Zachary chose poorly. The boy's decision had begun a chain of events that eventually dragged the young man into the depths of hell. Soganlik Prison. Zachary Solomon had died in that Turkish prison. The whole world knew the story . . . but what they didn't know was that Peter Solomon could have saved his son. I was there, Mal'akh thought. I heard it all. Mal'akh had never forgotten that night. Solomon's brutal decision had meant the end of his son, Zach, but it had been the birth of Mal'akh. Some must die that others may live. As the light over Mal'akh's head began changing color again, he realized the hour was late. He completed his preparations and headed back up the ramp. It was time to attend to matters of the mortal world. CHAPTER 87 All is revealed at the thirty-third degree, Katherine thought as she ran. I know how to transform the pyramid! The answer had been right in front of them all night. Katherine and Langdon were alone now, dashing through the cathedral's annex, following signs for â€Å"The Garth.† Now, exactly as the dean had promised, they burst out of the cathedral into a massive, walled-in courtyard. The cathedral garth was a cloistered, pentagonal garden with a bronze postmodern fountain. Katherine was amazed how loudly the fountain's flowing water seemed to be reverberating in the courtyard. Then she realized it was not the fountain she was hearing. â€Å"Helicopter!† she shouted as a beam of light pierced the night sky above them. â€Å"Get under that portico!† The dazzling glare of a searchlight flooded the garth just as Langdon and Katherine reached the other side, slipping beneath a Gothic arch into a tunnel that led to the outside lawn. They waited, huddled in the tunnel, as the helicopter passed overhead and began circling the cathedral in wide arcs. â€Å"I guess Galloway was right about hearing visitors,† Katherine said, impressed. Bad eyes make for great ears. Her own ears now pounded rhythmically with her racing pulse. â€Å"This way,† Langdon said, clutching his daybag and moving through the passage. Dean Galloway had given them a single key and a clear set of directions. Unfortunately, when they reached the end of the short tunnel, they found themselves separated from their destination by a wide-open expanse of lawn, currently flooded with light from the helicopter overhead. â€Å"We can't get across,† Katherine said. â€Å"Hold on . . . look.† Langdon pointed to a black shadow that was materializing on the lawn to their left. The shadow began as an amorphous blob, but it was growing quickly, moving in their direction, becoming more defined, rushing at them faster and faster, stretching, and finally transforming itself into a massive black rectangle crowned by two impossibly tall spires. â€Å"The cathedral facade is blocking the searchlight,† Langdon said. â€Å"They're landing out in front!† Langdon grabbed Katherine's hand. â€Å"Run! Now!† Inside the cathedral, Dean Galloway felt a lightness in his step that he had not felt in years. He moved through the Great Crossing, down the nave toward the narthex and the front doors. He could hear the helicopter hovering in front of the cathedral now, and he imagined its lights coming through the rose window in front of him, throwing spectacular colors all over the sanctuary. He recalled the days when he could see color. Ironically, the lightless void that had become his world had illuminated many things for him. I see more clearly now than ever. Galloway had been called to God as a young man and over his lifetime had loved the church as much as any man could. Like many of his colleagues who had given their lives in earnest to God, Galloway was weary. He had spent his life straining to be heard above the din of ignorance. What did I expect? From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to American politics–the name Jesus had been hijacked as an ally in all kinds of power struggles. Since the beginning of time, the ignorant had always screamed the loudest, herding the unsuspecting masses and forcing them to do their bidding. They defended their worldly desires by citing Scripture they did not understand. They celebrated their intolerance as proof of their convictions. Now, after all these years, mankind had finally managed to utterly erode everything that had once been so beautiful about Jesus. Tonight, encountering the symbol of the Rose Cross had fueled him with great hope, reminding him of the prophecies written in the Rosicrucian manifestos, which Galloway had read countless times in the past and could still recall. Chapter One: Jehova will redeem humanity by revealing those secrets which he previously reserved only for the elect. Chapter Four: The whole world shall become as one book and all the contradictions of science and theology shall be reconciled. Chapter Seven: Before the end of the world, God shall create a great flood of spiritual light to alleviate the suffering of humankind. Chapter Eight: Before this revelation is possible, the world must sleep away the intoxication of her poisoned chalice, which was filled with the false life of the theological vine. Galloway knew the church had long ago lost her way, and he had dedicated his life to righting her course. Now, he realized, the moment was fast approaching. It is always darkest before the dawn. CIA field agent Turner Simkins was perched on the strut of the Sikorsky helicopter as it touched down on the frosty grass. He leaped off, joined by his men, and immediately waved the chopper back up into the air to keep an eye on all the exits. Nobody leaves this building. As the chopper rose back into the night sky, Simkins and his team ran up the stairs to the cathedral's main entrance. Before he could decide which of the six doors to pound on, one of them swung open. â€Å"Yes?† a calm voice said from the shadows. Simkins could barely make out the hunched figure in priest's robes. â€Å"Are you Dean Colin Galloway?† â€Å"I am,† the old man replied. â€Å"I'm looking for Robert Langdon. Have you seen him?† The old man stepped forward now, staring past Simkins with eerie blank eyes. â€Å"Now, wouldn't that be a miracle.† CHAPTER 88 Time is running out. Security analyst Nola Kaye was already on edge, and the third mug of coffee she was now drinking had begun coursing through her like an electric current. No word yet from Sato. Finally, her phone rang, and Nola leaped on it. â€Å"OS,† she answered. â€Å"Nola here.† â€Å"Nola, it's Rick Parrish in systems security.† Nola slumped. No Sato. â€Å"Hi, Rick. What can I do for you?† â€Å"I wanted to give you a heads-up–our department may have information relevant to what you're working on tonight.† Nola set down her coffee. How the hell do you know what I'm working on tonight? â€Å"I beg your pardon?† â€Å"Sorry, it's the new CI program we're beta-testing,† Parrish said. â€Å"It keeps flagging your workstation number.† Nola now realized what he was talking about. The Agency was currently running a new piece of â€Å"collaborative integration† software designed to provide real-time alerts to disparate CIA departments when they happened to be processing related data fields. In an era of time-sensitive terrorist threats, the key to thwarting disaster was often as simple as a heads-up telling you that the guy down the hall was analyzing the very data you needed. As far as Nola was concerned, this CI software had proven more of a distraction than any real help–constant interruption software, she called it. â€Å"Right, I forgot,† Nola said. â€Å"What have you got?† She was positive that nobody else in the building knew about this crisis, much less could be working on it. The only computer work Nola had done tonight was historical research for Sato on esoteric Masonic topics. Nonetheless, she was obliged to play the game. â€Å"Well, it's probably nothing,† Parrish said, â€Å"but we stopped a hacker tonight, and the CI program keeps suggesting I share the information with you.† A hacker? Nola sipped her coffee. â€Å"I'm listening.† â€Å"About an hour ago,† Parrish said, â€Å"we snagged a guy named Zoubianis trying to access a file on one of our internal databases. This guy claims it was a job for hire and that he has no idea why he was being paid to access this particular file or even that it was on a CIA server.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"We finished questioning him, and he's clean. But here's the weird thing–the same file he was targeting had been flagged earlier tonight by an internal search engine. It looks like someone piggybacked into our system, ran a specific keyword search, and generated a redaction. The thing is, the keywords they used are really strange. And there's one in particular that the CI flagged as a high-priority match–one that's unique to both of our data sets.† He paused. â€Å"Do you know the word . . . symbolon?† Nola jolted upright, spilling coffee on her desk. â€Å"The other keywords are just as unusual,† Parrish continued. â€Å"Pyramid, portal–â€Å" â€Å"Get down here,† Nola commanded, mopping up her desk. â€Å"And bring everything you've got!† â€Å"These words actually mean something to you?† â€Å"NOW!† CHAPTER 89 Cathedral College is an elegant, castlelike edifice located adjacent to the National Cathedral. The College of Preachers, as it was originally envisioned by the first Episcopal bishop of Washington, was founded to provide ongoing education for clergy after their ordination. Today, the college offers a wide variety of programs on theology, global justice, healing, and spirituality. Langdon and Katherine had made the dash across the lawn and used Galloway's key to slip inside just as the helicopter rose back over the cathedral, its floodlights turning night back into day. Now, standing breathless inside the foyer, they surveyed their surroundings. The windows provided sufficient illumination, and Langdon saw no reason to turn the lights on and take a chance of broadcasting their whereabouts to the helicopter overhead. As they moved down the central hallway, they passed a series of conference halls, classrooms, and sitting areas. The interior reminded Langdon of the neo-Gothic buildings of Yale University–breathtaking on the outside, and yet surprisingly utilitarian on the inside, their period elegance having been retrofitted to endure heavy foot traffic. â€Å"Down here,† Katherine said, motioning toward the far end of the hall. Katherine had yet to share with Langdon her new revelation regarding the pyramid, but apparently the reference to Isaacus Neutonuus had sparked it. All she had said as they crossed the lawn was that the pyramid could be transformed using simple science. Everything she needed, she believed, could probably be found in this building. Langdon had no idea what she needed or how Katherine intended to transform a solid piece of granite or gold, but considering he had just witnessed a cube metamorphose into a Rosicrucian cross, he was willing to have faith. They reached the end of the hall and Katherine frowned, apparently not seeing what she wanted. â€Å"You said this building has dormitory facilities?† â€Å"Yes, for residential conferences.† â€Å"So they must have a kitchen in here somewhere, right?† â€Å"You're hungry?† She frowned back at him. â€Å"No, I need a lab.† Of course you do. Langdon spotted a descending staircase that bore a promising symbol. America's favorite pictogram. The basement kitchen was industrial looking–lots of stainless steel and big bowls–clearly designed to cook for large groups. The kitchen had no windows. Katherine closed the door and flipped on the lights. The exhaust fans came on automatically. She began rooting around in the cupboards for whatever it was she needed. â€Å"Robert,† she directed, â€Å"put the pyramid out on the island, if you would.† Feeling like the novice sous chef taking orders from Daniel Boulud, Langdon did as he was told, removing the pyramid from his bag and placing the gold capstone on top of it. When he finished, Katherine was busy filling an enormous pot with hot tap water. â€Å"Would you please lift this to the stove for me?† Langdon heaved the sloshing pot onto the stove as Katherine turned on the gas burner and cranked up the flame. â€Å"Are we doing lobsters?† he asked hopefully. â€Å"Very funny. No, we're doing alchemy. And for the record, this is a pasta pot, not a lobster pot.† She pointed to the perforated strainer insert that she had removed from the pot and placed on the island beside the pyramid. Silly me. â€Å"And boiling pasta is going to help us decipher the pyramid?† Katherine ignored the comment, her tone turning serious. â€Å"As I'm sure you know, there is a historical and symbolic reason the Masons chose thirty-three as their highest degree.† â€Å"Of course,† Langdon said. In the days of Pythagoras, six centuries before Christ, the tradition of numerology hailed the number 33 as the highest of all the Master Numbers. It was the most sacred figure, symbolizing Divine Truth. The tradition lived on within the Masons . . . and elsewhere. It was no coincidence that Christians were taught that Jesus was crucified at age thirty-three, despite no real historical evidence to that effect. Nor was it coincidence that Joseph was said to have been thirty-three when he married the Virgin Mary, or that Jesus accomplished thirty-three miracles, or that God's name was mentioned thirty-three times in Genesis, or that, in Islam, all the dwellers of heaven were permanently thirty-three years old. â€Å"Thirty-three,† Katherine said, â€Å"is a sacred number in many mystical traditions.† â€Å"Correct.† Langdon still had no idea what this had to do with a pasta pot. â€Å"So it should come as no surprise to you that an early alchemist, Rosicrucian, and mystic like Isaac Newton also considered the number thirty-three special.† â€Å"I'm sure he did,† Langdon replied. â€Å"Newton was deep into numerology, prophecy, and astrology, but what does–â€Å" â€Å"All is revealed at the thirty-third degree.† Langdon pulled Peter's ring from his pocket and read the inscription. Then he glanced back at the pot of water. â€Å"Sorry, you lost me.† â€Å"Robert, earlier tonight, we all assumed `thirty-third degree' referred to the Masonic degree, and yet when we rotated that ring thirty-three degrees, the cube transformed and revealed a cross. At that moment, we realized the word degree was being used in another sense.† â€Å"Yes. Degrees of arc.† â€Å"Exactly. But degree has a third meaning as well.† Langdon eyed the pot of water on the stove. â€Å"Temperature.† â€Å"Exactly!† she said. â€Å"It was right in front of us all night. `All is revealed at the thirty-third degree.' If we bring this pyramid's temperature to thirty-three degrees . . . it may just reveal something.† Langdon knew Katherine Solomon was exceptionally bright, and yet she seemed to be missing a rather obvious point. â€Å"If I'm not mistaken, thirty-three degrees is almost freezing. Shouldn't we be putting the pyramid in the freezer?† Katherine smiled. â€Å"Not if we want to follow the recipe written by the great alchemist and Rosicrucian mystic who signed his papers Jeova Sanctus Unus.† Isaacus Neutonuus wrote recipes? â€Å"Robert, temperature is the fundamental alchemical catalyst, and it was not always measured in Fahrenheit and Celsius. There are far older temperature scales, one of them invented by Isaac–â€Å" â€Å"The Newton Scale!† Langdon said, realizing she was right. â€Å"Yes! Isaac Newton invented an entire system of quantifying temperature based entirely on natural phenomena. The temperature of melting ice was Newton's base point, and he called it `the zeroth degree.' † She paused. â€Å"I suppose you can guess what degree he assigned the temperature of boiling water–the king of all alchemical processes?† â€Å"Thirty-three.† â€Å"Yes, thirty-three! The thirty-third degree. On the Newton Scale, the temperature of boiling water is thirty-three degrees. I remember asking my brother once why Newton chose that number. I mean, it seemed so random. Boiling water is the most fundamental alchemical process, and he chose thirty-three? Why not a hundred? Why not something more elegant? Peter explained that, to a mystic like Isaac Newton, there was no number more elegant than thirty- three.† All is revealed at the thirty-third degree. Langdon glanced at the pot of water and then over at the pyramid. â€Å"Katherine, the pyramid is made out of solid granite and solid gold. Do you really think boiling water is hot enough to transform it?† The smile on her face told Langdon that Katherine knew something he did not know. Confidently, she walked over to the island, lifted the gold-capped, granite pyramid, and set it in the strainer. Then she carefully lowered it into the bubbling water. â€Å"Let's find out, shall we?† High above the National Cathedral, the CIA pilot locked the helicopter in auto-hover mode and surveyed the perimeter of the building and the grounds. No movement. His thermal imaging couldn't penetrate the cathedral stone, and so he couldn't tell what the team was doing inside, but if anyone tried to slip out, the thermal would pick it up. It was sixty seconds later that a thermal sensor pinged. Working on the same principle as home- security systems, the detector had identified a strong temperature differential. Usually this meant a human form moving through a cool space, but what appeared on the monitor was more of a thermal cloud, a patch of hot air drifting across the lawn. The pilot found the source, an active vent on the side of Cathedral College. Probably nothing, he thought. He saw these kinds of gradients all the time. Someone cooking or doing laundry. As he was about to turn away, though, he realized something odd. There were no cars in the parking lot and no lights on anywhere in the building. He studied the UH-60's imaging system for a long moment. Then he radioed down to his team leader. â€Å"Simkins, it's probably nothing, but . . .† â€Å"Incandescent temperature indicator!† Langdon had to admit, it was clever. â€Å"It's simple science,† Katherine said. â€Å"Different substances incandesce at different temperatures. We call them thermal markers. Science uses these markers all the time.† Langdon gazed down at the submerged pyramid and capstone. Wisps of steam were beginning to curl over the bubbling water, although he was not feeling hopeful. He glanced at his watch, and his heart rate accelerated: 11:45 P.M. â€Å"You believe something here will luminesce as it heats up?† â€Å"Not luminesce, Robert. Incandesce. There's a big difference. Incandescence is caused by heat, and it occurs at a specific temperature. For example, when steel manufacturers temper beams, they spray a grid on them with a transparent coating that incandesces at a specific target temperature so they know when the beams are done. Think of a mood ring. Just put it on your finger, and it changes color from body heat.† â€Å"Katherine, this pyramid was built in the 1800s! I can understand a craftsman making hidden release hinges in a stone box, but applying some kind of transparent thermal coating?† â€Å"Perfectly feasible,† she said, glancing hopefully at the submerged pyramid. â€Å"The early alchemists used organic phosphors all the time as thermal markers. The Chinese made colored fireworks, and even the Egyptians–† Katherine stopped midsentence, staring intently into the roiling water. â€Å"What?† Langdon followed her gaze into the turbulent water but saw nothing at all. Katherine leaned in, staring more intently into the water. Suddenly she turned and ran across the kitchen toward the door. â€Å"Where are you going?† Langdon shouted. She slid to a stop at the kitchen light switch, flipped it off. The lights and exhaust fan went off, plunging the room into total darkness and silence. Langdon turned back to the pyramid and peered through the steam at the capstone beneath the water. By the time Katherine made it back to his side, his mouth had fallen open in disbelief. Exactly as Katherine had predicted, a small section of the metal capstone was starting to glow beneath the water. Letters were starting to appear, and they were getting brighter as the water heated up. â€Å"Text!† Katherine whispered. Langdon nodded, dumbstruck. The glowing words were materializing just beneath the engraved inscription on the capstone. It looked like only three words, and although Langdon could not yet read what the words said, he wondered if they would unveil everything they had been looking for tonight. The pyramid is a real map, Galloway had told them, and it points to a real location. As the letters shone brighter, Katherine turned off the gas, and the water slowly stopped churning. The capstone now came into focus beneath the water's calm surface. Three shining words were clearly legible.

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Discuss the impact of the global financial recession on our lives - Essay Example Most of the countries today are still under the influence of the global financial recession that occurred. Apart from affecting a nation as a whole, the global financial crisis had an impact on people at the individual level. Today, most individuals still suffer under the effects of the global financial recession that have persisted. Therefore, the global financial recession continues to have an impact on the lives of people today. A major impact of the recession is that many people lost their jobs. The economic recession had a negative impact on companies, including small and big companies. These companies were a major source of employment for many people. When the companies became bankrupt and others broke down as a result of the economic recession, they were forced to lay off their employees (McKibbin W. and Stoeckel 2009). Therefore, many people were faced with the problem of joblessness. Today, most companies still struggle to improve their financial health after the recession. For this reason, these employ few or no new employees, and they have reduced benefits for existing employees. Therefore, most employees continue to feel the pinch of the recession today. The global financial crisis also led to reduced access to credit. During the recession, many people were unable to access credit, including loans for their personal and commercial uses. This was mainly because the recession had a negative impact on the banking and financial institutions that provide credit. This therefore, put a limit on how fast individuals could grow their business and personal lives using credit. The recession forced financial institutions to raise their interest rates, and this discouraged borrowing. Today, since the effects of the global financial recession have persisted, the interest rates on borrowing in financial institutions have remained relatively high. Therefore, most people still feel discouraged to borrow, in order to expand their businesses or build homes, among

English - Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English - - Essay Example Both papers agree that addictions are â€Å"rooted in unhappiness†, though Dr. Mate in his essay states this from the onset and Mr. Alexander takes two pages through various information in history to bring this point across. Nevertheless, they are agreed that one does not become addicted simply because one â€Å"wants† to be addicted to something; there must be some underlying cause within a person’s life to quite literally â€Å"force† them into addiction, whether it be drugs, alcohol, or anything else. Both essays state clearly that there must be some unhappiness or something on the whole that the person is lacking, that is then filled when the addiction is discovered. However, in reading both papers, while they present differing viewpoints on the issue of addiction, it is my belief that the more fair, just, and realistic attitude is expressed by Dr. Gabor Mate in his essay, â€Å"Embraced by the Needle†, because unlike Mr. Alexander, Dr. Mate end eavors to approach the issue of addiction by individual example with firsthand information, and not blaming society as a whole. The issue of addiction is thoroughly and repeatedly discussed from different viewpoints in both papers. Mr. Alexander tries to make the point that free-market societies are to blame for society’s ills and addictions, by treating them badly and displacing them, while Dr. Mate takes a more firsthand approach to the issue. Though Mr. Alexander cites many case histories throughout his essay, â€Å"Addiction in Free Markets†, they are always in the third person, and not one is backed by data or facts outside of his observations of the early 21st century and the historical nature of his work. Specifically discussed in â€Å"Addictions in Free Markets† are the plights of Native Americans to become easily addicted to alcohol, citing that society is to blame because it ‘dislocated’ them by making them leave their original tribal lan d. Mr. Alexander also states that before this â€Å"forced dislocation† had occurred, alcohol was rarely used or consumed by Native Americans, sometimes only in ceremonial purposes; therefore, the blame is on the free-market society that pushed the Native Americans from their land. In presenting this issue, Mr. Alexander does not quote one Native American, nor does he use scientific studies to back up his claims, thereby only presenting one issue and only one side of that issue. Though history sometimes speaks for itself, the voices of those living with the dislocation (even generations later) would have presented a more fair, and just, approach to the topic, as Dr. Mate presents in his paper by using firsthand quotes and case studies with his patients. Mr. Alexander also makes the point that â€Å"free-market societies universally dislocate their members, leading to mass addiction.† Can one action really doom a set of people? The answer is no. Each and every person is an individual, and therefore it is up to them how they deal with a set of circumstances. No two people are alike, and therefore cannot be expected to react or deal with a situation the same way. Much of Mr. Alexander’s essay focuses on the fact that because a certain group of people were dislocated or displaced, they were doomed from the outset, no matter what happened. While Dr. Mate agrees that there must be some underlying cause or issue in addiction, he prefers to present each person as a unique individual. While it is true that Dr. Mate uses group

What dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western Essay

What dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers - Essay Example the worlds that are endowed with a lot of natural resources wealth, especially the oil deposits, which then make it one of the strategic sources of petroleum globally. In this respect, the resource question dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers, since despite the fact that the two ends of the world have major differences regarding the political, social and economic orientations, the Western powers must keep cooperating with the Middle East as a major source of raw material for their economy (Bew, n.p.). Thus, despite the fact that there is a high degree of violation of the human rights and other democratic principles that are held in high esteem by the Western powers, they still find it necessary to keep a cordial relationship with the Middle East, for the sake of continued benefit from the oil resource. It is even difficult to imagine what would happen should the Middle East severe its relationship with the West, since there would be a dire shortage o f the oil resource to the West, which is a major driving force for the Western powers’ economies. Market is yet another major factor that dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers. The Middle East offers a huge market for the Western Powers products on top of producing essential raw materials for those economies, such that trade with the Middle East is a fundamental determinant of the Western Powers dominance in global economy (Hourani, 45). During the World War II, the USA stationed its troops in Iran so that the troops would protect the Iranian oil deposits from being exploited for the advantage of the USSR (Fawcett, 102). Since then, the interest in the Middle East oil resource has informed the relationship between the western powers and the Middle East. In this respect, the Western powers have formulated their foreign policies such that they still reflect a cordial relationship with the Middle East, even when the middle East countries are advancing

Journal 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal 8 - Essay Example metaphor, irony, and oxymoron, that the political is also poetic, wherein the poetic confirms the death-denying ideologies of people through the oxymoron of a silent poet. â€Å"What He Thought† uses enjambment to depict that political actions are poetic, in the sense that they reflect the innermost emotions, which are present in Flight from Death: death anxiety and the need to safeguard death-denying ideologies. The studies in the film, which aim to prove the influence of death anxiety on human attitudes and behaviors, establish that, when reminded of their death, people tend to support more those who are similar to them. One of the enjambments in â€Å"What He Thought† helps American poets connect to Italian poets: â€Å"†¦Among Italian writers we/could recognize our counterparts: the academic,/the apologist, the arrogant, the amorous,/the brazen and the glib† (McHugh 11-14). The American poets are not comfortable with differences because they will fear the Italians as potential reminders of death, so they seek to find similarities between them as much as possible. Furthermore, identifying similarities should go beyond havi ng the same interest in literature, but also in politics, because politics is an important way of affirming life. McHugh’s inclusion of the German suggests historical differences between American and German politics: â€Å"where it must have been abandoned by/the German visitor (was there a bus of them?)†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (27-28). The enjambment suggests a tone of superiority against the Germans, as if a bus of them is an affront to a bus of Americans. These enjambments emphasize the need of poets to be related to fellow poets, or else they will feel conscious of linguistic, political, and cultural differences, differences that remind them of their deaths. Aside from enjambment, McHugh uses metaphors and irony to illustrate the clashes that arise from the interaction between different death-denying beliefs. The metaphor of God as something that is

Examine the Internet and social media use in a foreign country Essay

Examine the Internet and social media use in a foreign country (report) - Essay Example This shows that internet is a household service that is quite popular in United Arab Emirates. There are, however, some forms internet censorship and restrictions put by the UAE government. The government does not allow any person to use internet to gather people for demonstrations that are not authorized by the government and also defaming the ruler of UAE and state in general is not allowed (BBC, 1). Promotion of prostitution and pornography is also not allowed using the internet (BBC, 1). Gambling is also not allowed in UAE, like most other Muslim countries. All these restrictions of internet use come under internet censorship. Use of social media is also very popular in the country and many users are active on social media. The most popular social media by far is Facebook because more than half of internet users of the country are active on Facebook (Scaria, 1). This is why it can be safely argued that Facebook is highly preferred by internet user of UAE. Mainly the youth is more interested in using Facebook as it provides them with the opportunity to communicate with each other and make new friends. The use of internet in the country is quite common and, therefore, users have developed great trust in internet. Internet is used in UAE for online transactions by many people (MVF Global, 1). Also, there is great potential in the e-commerce industry in UAE as many people want to shop online for services and products (MVF Global, 1). This highlights the fact that internet users in UAE are developed and they do not use internet for general communication and entertainment purposes only. Online transactions happen in UAE showing that the country has sophisticated internet users. All in all, United Arab Emirates is an internet loving nation as majority of the residents of the country use internet regularly. Social media is also very popular and among social networking sites, Facebook is the most popular. There are, however, many

Cultural Reflection Paper. African American culture Term Paper

Cultural Reflection . African American culture - Term Paper Example He believes that the biasness of the people around him is uncalled for as he has to face quite a lot of problems at the hands of the other American citizens. Socio-economically speaking, the Black American is not having a good time at having links with the people who live within the country. He is usually stereotyped for all the wrong reasons (Day, 1998). He is often seen as someone who might be involved in a crime that happens within the country. It does not matter if this Black American is a male or a female. The fact that he is Black American would lead to a typecast of sorts and thus disrupt his behavior within the American society (Carson, 2010). The Black American is therefore being distinguished and differentiated on a number of facets like language, religion, occupation, gender and just about any other factor. His cultural ramifications are such that he is unable to come to terms with the other Americans for obvious reasons.

International Outsourcing Essay Example for Free

International Outsourcing Essay There has been a rise in consumerism due to the emergence of globalization brought about by rapid advancement in information technology. Consequently, a demand for skilful human resources to perform various duties at global manufacturing sites and branch offices has motivated the multinational corporations to outsource their work internationally. Since this outsourcing of work occurs off the shore, it is also called offshore outsourcing. What is the objective of international outsourcing? Who benefits from outsourcing the work to people in other countries that have different time zones, contrasting cultures, and different languages? What are the barriers to international outsourcing? These are some of the questions that come into the minds of entrepreneurs who want to collaborate to successfully execute international outsourcing. This exploratory essay delves into the concept of international outsourcing by using an unbiased approach that would further broaden its understanding. Like any innovative process, international outsourcing has been appreciated by its opponents and condemned by its critics. The multinational corporations, such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sony, General Motors, Ford, Boeing, Hewlett Packard, etc. have been expanding their market share by opening outlets in countries across the world. To maximize their profits, they have established manufacturing plants in the remote areas of developing countries like India, China, Brazil, etc. where the cost of production is comparatively lower than in the developed countries like the USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, etc. Read Also:  Topics for Exploratory Essay Since the developing countries like India have a large population that is highly educated and can communicate effectively in English language, the corporations in the developed countries continue to outsource the work to individuals, small business firms, and large companies in India. â€Å"American and other western nations can have their technical business needs and services provided for them at a discount, while workers in India can reach a global market and improve their economic status† (Arun, 2007). The companies in rich nations like the USA also save their operational costs and maximize profits by outsourcing to developing economies like India. There is no doubt that international outsourcing creates more job opportunities for people in the developing countries. However, there are critics who argue that international outsourcing also creates unemployment in the rich nations as the work is snatched from the existing employees based in the developed countries. It was reported that â€Å"3. 3 million U. S. jobs and $136 billion in wages could be moved to such countries as India, China, and Russia by 2015† (Cyber Futuristics, n. . ). But how about the jobs created in information technology, shipping and handling, and management sectors of the companies in developed nations, which continue to expand their business operations globally? For instance, if Hewlett Packard expands its business by opening manufacturing plants in India, China, Russia, and other countries, it creates jobs in the manufacturing sector in these developing countries, but it also creates jobs in other sectors, such as information technology, shipping and handling, and management in the country of origin i. e. the USA. As these multinational corporations make more profits through international outsourcing activity, they get more financial resources to hire more workers in the USA. â€Å"Savings from outsourcing allowed companies to create 90,000 new jobs in 2003, with more than one in 10 of them in Silicon Valley or elsewhere in California† (MSN, 2004). There have been advantages as well as disadvantages of international outsourcing, but its advantages outweigh the disadvantages. One of the advantages is that it has created more jobs in both the developed nations and the developing nations. Secondly, it has enabled the multinational corporations to make more profit and expand their business operations globally, which has provided the consumers different brands of the products that can be manufactured locally at a reduced cost. This has led to an increase in consumerism as the price of finished products has also declined considerably due to the availability of cheaper raw material as well as human resources, and the elimination of massive import duty that the consumers paid before the advent of international outsourcing. For instance, it can be seen that the price of cellular phones has reduced drastically that has allowed people from different income groups to buy the handset, which they could not afford earlier. Moreover, the governments in both the developed nations and the developing nations also get more taxes due to an increase in the sales volume of the products. One of the disadvantages of international outsourcing is that it disturbs the normal routine of a worker based in a developing country because of difference in the time zones. However, the diligent workers are ready to work hard to give better standard of living to their family members. Considering the existing success of international outsourcing, it has a promising future as more and more business corporations want to outsource to India, China, Mexico, Ukraine, Philippines, and other developing nations. Besides achieving a reduction in the operational costs, the multinational corporations claim that they get better efficiency and customer service (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2006). If international outsourcing is changing the lives of the people globally, the governments should make the process smoother by removing the obstacles, such as unnecessary paper work, delay in issuing visas, long bureaucratic channels that cause hassles in clearing payments done in different currencies, etc. In spite of these hurdles, the hard working professionals in the developing countries shall find the solution to deliver the best services to their business clients located in the developed countries. International outsourcing has also brought the hearts and souls of people with different cultures together even though there may be difference in languages and time zones.

The Romantic Periods Trends English Literature Essay

The Romantic Periods Trends English Literature Essay The Romantic Period 1798-1830 refers to a number of different groups of artists, poets, writers and musicians as well as political, theoretical and societal theorists and trends of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. Whilst the Enlightenment put emphasis on the pre-eminence of rationale, Romanticism accentuated imagination and sensation. Romanticism rarely has anything to do with things generally considered to be romantic, even though it is possible that love could sometimes be the topic of Romantic art. To a larger extent it is a Western creative and philosophical revolution that redefined the principal ways in which people examined themselves and the world in which they lived. It was during this time that imagination was believed to be the most significant element of the mind; that the imagination is the single most powerful instrument of mankind and that through its use there was no difficulty in life that could not be overcome. This was in direct contradiction with the per-eminence for reason and differentiates the Romantic Period from that which went before. It was a dramatic shift in human understanding one that would eventually lead to the Modernist and Post-Modernist periods and inspire the thinking of later writers such as Williams and Ginsberg. However this fundamental shift in personal values and beliefs may have in part been sculpted by the industrial revolution itself. It could be argued that people who had previously left the countryside to work in the cities had essentially created a living space in the countryside that enabled Romantic style poets and artists to re-evaluate the importance and beauty of the natural landscape that surrounded th em. Wordsworth in his preface to Lyrical Ballads attempts to explain to his readers the techniques he employs when writing his poetry. Wordsworths principal objective was to choose incidents and situations from common life to write about. He wanted to use language that was used ordinarily by men and; at the same time throw over them a certain colouring of imagination. (Wordsworth 1800 p. 2). He believed that by surrounding himself with the countryside he was better able to bring his poems to completion as they; find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity. (Wordsworth 1800 p. 2). He defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. However he developed an ethos for writing not normally not associated with the word spontaneous. Wordsworth believed that powerful emotions recalled after the event which inspired them are in fact a truer representation of the feelings that were experienced at the time. That is; a period of speculative thought and reflection is nec essary after the time in which the emotions were experienced, coupled with continuing influxes of feeling, modified by our thoughts within that speculative time frame, thus enables the poet to present a more accurate description of the experience as it actually occurred. Nature itself became an expression of art for the romantics, they believed in the divine beauty of the countryside and marked a step away form forms of industrialisation, including industrialised civilisation, mechanical language and a return to nature as a naturally combined spiritual and organic pursuit. Percy Bysshe Shelly described a poem as; the image of life expressed in its eternal truth. (Shelly English Essays 1909). When we examine this statement there would appear to be two factors that must be acknowledged, firstly the image of life that Shelly refers to is not the image of life appertained to by for instance neoclassical painters whose rigidity and unemotional form of art was not intended to include symbolism, inventiveness, self-expression or personal inspiration. Conversely Shellys aim was to portray an image of life that was based solely on the; Unchangeable forms of human nature as existing in the mind of the creator. Another factor of Shellys poetry was his idea that to truly express an image of life it must be done so in its eternal truth. He believed that to describe an image solely as it exists in the mind of the observer was to describe it in such a way that it was automatically recognisable in its truest form in the mind of the reader. Shelly inevitably suggests t hat there is a universal truth to poetry that recognises a familiarity between what is being described by the poet and the personal day to day experiences of the reader. This proverbial connection between reader and poet is achieved according to Shelly because poetry acts in a divine and unapprehended manner beyond and above consciousness. (Shelly English Essays 1909). When writing to his brothers George and Tom, the poet John Keats discussed his theory of Negative Capability. It is described in his letter; I mean Negative Capability that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries [and] doubts without any irritable reaching after fact reason. (Keats 1818). Although Keats does not in any great depth discuss instances in which negative capability exists other than referencing Shakespeare, we are able to establish from this statement an interpretation of what he was talking about. Firstly if we look at the idea; that a man is capable of being even in uncertainties, it is revealed to us that the state of being in which a man exists does not have to rely on fact or reason, rather that it exists within a reality that responds to events and forces that are unseen and indeterminable. With this in mind Keats believed that poetry and all art was devoid of rationality. He believed that poets and great artists were directly relaying the voice of God to the world and that this could be seen in their work. Therefore any attempt to interpret reason and significance from poetry and thus life, was impossible. This idea can be likened to A Priory thinking, whereby one does not need to experience something or look for scientific evidence to ascertain if something, whether in poetry of real life is true, but simply to accept that it is true and leave it at that. This technique was also employed by the poet William Carlos Williams a century later to great effect in the poem The Red Wheelbarrow. The idea of Negative Capability can also be likened to those of the philosopher Immanuel Kant who believed that the larger questions of exploratory metaphysics cannot be understood nor answered by the human mind, because the laws and scientific reasoning used to raise these questions rest within the metaphysical boundaries of human consciousness. Keats believed that the truths that were to be found within the human imagination had access to divine knowledge. Such knowledge, he believed could not be interpreted or understood by the human mind and thus he writes of the existence of uncertainties within poetry and thus reality. Therefore being in uncertainty is in fact being in a place that lies between the ordinary day to day reality of the world as we experience it and the multiple potential realities that exist outside our physical understanding of how things are; As to the poetical character itself(à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦)it has no self, it is everything and nothing, it has no character, it enjoys light and shade, it lives in gusto be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated, it has as much delight in perceiving an Iago as an Imogen. (Keats 1818 Letter to Richard Woodhouse). Keats J. 1818 Letter to Richard Woodhouse: EN125: Literary Periods Literary History, Dr. Riana ODwyer. Keats J. 1818 Letter to George and Tom Keats: EN125: Literary Periods Literary History, Dr. Riana ODwyer. Shelly P.B. 1909 English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay: The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier Son, 1909-14; Bartleby.com, 2001. Wordsworth W. 1800 Preface to Lyrical Ballads 2nd Edition: The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier Son, 1909-14; Bartleby.com, 2001.

Key success Factors for Lenevo Core Competence of Lenovo

Key success Factors for Lenevo Core Competence of Lenovo Lenovo has its own unique core competence generating Competitive advantages. If we carefully review the unique business development history of Lenovo, it is not hard to track that what are the sources of Lenovos competitive advantages, and how these core competence have been built up, and to estimate if its competitive advantages are sustainable for its ongoing global expansion. In Lenovos early stage, it has some advantages from its parent. ICT supported Lenovo by providing ICTs facilities free of charge; Legend used ICTs name for doing business and then gained the strong support of government. These can be seen as supportive elements for building core competence. (Liu, 2005) The Ability of Learning Lenovo presents a significant ability of learning for capability development can be regarded as one of its core competence. An important source of learning was its customers. Lenovo learned from its customers through its direct contact with customers and its extensive PC distribution network. Apart from carefully observing customer purchasing habits, Lenovo actively sought out customer help to guide its product and service development. (Xie White, 2004). Another source of learning was from those multinationals. As mentioned earlier, even while it produces its own brand, Lenovo learned a lot from HP, IBM and Compaq such as marketing and management skills, personnel training, product design and customer services. (Xie White, 2004). The third source of learning is its internal RD activities. They attained the awareness of that proper RD activities should be combined with the engineering, and manufacturing, instead of purely pursuing cutting-edge technologies such as large-scale integrated circuits and digital switches (Xie White, 2004). A related view in terms of learning is that developing countries MNCs develop their advantages through the accumulation of technology and skills. Tolentino (1993) claims the importance of the accumulation of technological competence in the expansion of firms from developing countries. The Capability of Competing on Price Another core competence is Lenovos super capability of competing on the basis of product price. An article in Wall Street Journal (1997) points out that the prices of Lenovos products are only roughly two-thirds of those of foreign brands. Lenovo successfully maintained a lower cost structure than multinationals, (Liu, 2005) Firstly, the management costs of Lenovo are lower than those of its competitors especially foreign firms doing business in China. (Liu, 2005) .Second, owning to more foreign component producers such as Seagate (the no.1 hard driver producer in the world) have established manufacturing operations in China, Lenovo and other Chinese PC makers benefited from cost savings of cheaper components purchasing. Apart from these above, Lenovo constantly concentrated on the cost reduction in all activities including manufacturing, RD, marketing, distribution etc. and accumulated great experience in this field. (Liu, 2005) The Ability to Establish and Manage Effective and Efficient Distribution Network Among domestic and foreign IT companies, in Chinese market, Lenovo can be awarded as the no. 1 company with the best distribution network management. Lenovo have approximately 50 authorized distributors in each of the seven regions in China, and each distributor has its own reseller network. There are over 2, 000 resellers in Lenovos distribution network. Additionally, it has 130 1+1 PC specialty shops in major cities. (Liu, 2005) To be compared, IBM has no more than ten main distributors in some major cities. It could be imaged t hat how hard to manage and control such a huge network. But Lenovo has cultivated a positive relationship with its distributors by implementing a win-win strategy. Many distributors had grown with Lenovo over years. (Liu, 2005) Even when Lenovo constantly increased the depth and breadth of its distribution network, it never encountered any big conflicts among its distributors. The huge and effective network gives Lenovo much greater geographic coverage than either domestic or foreign companies in Chinese IT market. (Liu, 2005) Therefore, the ability of building and managing such huge distribution network and constantly exploring the potential of the network can be seen as another source of Lenovos core competence. (Liu, 2005) To be concluded, the abilities of learning, cost reduction and building and managing sophisticated distribution network are supposed to be the core competence of Lenovo. Additionally, in Chinese market, the brand name-Lenovo is also an important core competence of Lenovo. But in the context of global scale, the brand of Lenovo is still waiting for customers recognition. (Liu, 2005) These core competences sustain Lenovos success in domestic market. However, Lenovo is undertaking its new globalization strategy. The question is that if they can generate sustainable competitive advantages for global competition and what are the challenges of existing in its globalization process. The next section is the case study of Lenovo acquiring IBM PCD (Personal Computer Division) and the objective is to challenge its international expansion strategy and its core competence in the context of global competition. (Liu, 2005) Giant Step of Globalization: The Acquisition of IBM PCD Lenovo group ltd. has completed its $1.75 billion purchase of IBMs PC Division, creating the third-largest PC vendor in the world and giving IBM greater entree into the rapidly growing Chinese market. According to the agreement of the acquisition, Lenovo will gain control of IBMs Think desktop and ThinkPad laptop brands, as well as the thousands of IBM PC customers. Lenovo is allowed to use the IBM name for five years. However, the new Lenovo will have a strong IBM presence. Many of the top executives have moved over from IBM, including Stephen Ward, the former vice president and general manager of IBMs PC Division and now CEO of Lenovo. Yang Yuanqing, president and CEO of Lenovo Group Ltd, will become chairman. In addition, 10,000 of Lenovos 19,000 employees are former IBMs employees, and IBM will continue to provide service and support for the IBM products. Lenovos headquarters will move to Armonk, New York, and IBM also holds an 18.9 percent stake in the new company. (Burt, 2005; Daniels, 2005; Khanna, 2005; Dowling, 2005) The Lenovos Strategy for Global Expansion Apparently, Lenovo realized that there are not so much potential of Chinese PC market after becoming the leading PC maker in China. And becoming a real global player is the Urgent mission for Lenovo. A common view of firms internationalization process is that the internationalization is the process of accumulating experiential knowledge and market commitment in foreign markets (e.g. Bilkey Tesar, 1977; Johanson Vahlne, 1977; Chang, 1995). Firms tend to start their internationalization process by exporting to countries with similar culture. (Sharma Blomstermo, 2003). Lenovo chose the most efficient way (the acquisition) for its global expansion and foreign market entry. The founder Liu Chuanzhi has such a comment on the acquisition in an interview (Chandler, 2004): We have a $3 billion business with 27% market share in China. Theres not much room to expand. The global PC market is $200 billion, so theres still a lot of potential. IBM has all the things we need. This deal brings us market share, Management know-how, technology, and international reach. The strategy decision to acquire IBM PCD has been given careful considerations in Lenovo. In 2002, Lenovo almost refused the suggestion of the acquisition approached firstly by IBM since the top managers of Lenovo thought it was too risky. (Chandler, 2004) But they also saw this as a great opportunity to become a global PC maker. After one years consideration, analysis and learning from big multinationals, they understood the opportunities and challenges related to this deal and decided to implement this acquisition. (Chandler, 2004) As Liu Chuanzhi said in the same interview as above: As discussions progressed, we gained confidence that many of the risks wed feared could be distributed or controlled. For example, we worried about losing customers. So we worked out an agreement that would allow us to continue using the IBM brand, to keep the IBM salespeople, and even to keep the top IBM executive as CEO. That gave us confidence we could give customers the same level of service and quality after the acquisition. (Chandler, 2004) The main advantage of acquisition is that it provides the fastest way to enter foreign markets and rapidly build the firms presence in these new national markets. Through the acquisition, Lenovo becomes the third biggest PC multinational of the world from a little-known Chinese PC maker and then makes a giant step forward of internationalization. (Chandler, 2004) Furthermore, acquisition provides the great opportunity to acquire valuable resources of the acquired company. Through the acquisition, Lenovo attains the IBMs global market share, global management skills, top PC technologies and the outstanding ability of RD, experienced managers and other personnel, and as Liu Chuanzhi mentioned, the International reach. (Chandler, 2004) Lenovo appears great confidence on their ability of learning for absorbing these merits from IBM PCD. (Chandler, 2004) For example, IBM PCD was commonly regarded as the sophisticated expert in serving corporate customers, while Lenovo was significantly good at selling PCs in consumer market. Such a successful combination of these advantages of both sides will definitely result in great performance. Additionally, Lenovo hopes that combining Lenovos price advantage with IBMs engineering will deal with Dells formidable threat (Forelle, 2005). The Necessity to Form the Strategic Alliance Lenovo was known as one of Chinas most promising companies in the early 1990s, with its sales more than tripled between the year 1994 and 1998, and Asias leading PC vendor outside Japan at the end of the 1990s (Lau, 2004a). However, before the declaration of the alliance with IBM, the company had encountered with obstacles for its further expansion and development. (Lau, 2004a). Though Lenovo is the largest PC maker in China with more than a quarter of the market share, it does little business outside the country. The increasing fierce competition from aggressive foreign rivals such as Dell and HP in the past few years in Chinese market has put further pressures on Lenovos margins. (Lau, 2004a). - Rather than just continue to concentrate on the domestic Chinese market, the decision to go global is a necessity for Lenovo at that critical time. Under these circumstances, Lenovo decided to form the deal with IBM to acquire its low profitability PC business with US$1.75bn. According to the terms of the agreement, Lenovo pays US$650m in cash and up to US$600m in shares (which later changed to US$800m and US$450m share value), giving IBM an 18.9 per cent stake as well as shouldering US$500m in debt; and IBM will become the Chinese PC makers preferred supplier of support services and customer financing. For Lenovos part, the acquisition quadruples its sales to more than US$12bn and expands its sales market globally; besides being given the ownership of the Think family trademarks, Lenovo also gains the right to produce IBM-branded PCs under a five-year licensing agreement (FT reporters, 2004; Simon, 2004). Motives toward Lenovo IBMs Strategic Alliance Lenovos takeover of IBMs PC division has been described as snake ate the elephant, and the deal pulls Lenovo from the eighth-largest PC maker in the world to the third-largest just behind Dell and HP (Buetow, 2005; Ling, 2006; London, 2004). The motivations that drive the formation of the strategic alliance between Lenovo and IBM can be analyzed from two perspectives. For Lenovos aspect, though Lenovo is the largest IT Company in China, its products are mainly within China. Michele Mak, an analyst at ABN Omro, once commented that Lenovos distribution network is its biggest problem, and it is not well adapted to serving the small and medium-sized companies who usually buy directly (Lau, 2004a). Thus, in the first place, with an intention to expand its business globally, the firm needs a well-developed worldwide distribution network, which happens to be the advantage of IBM. As what has been announced by Lenovo, the agreement between the two firms includes broad-based strategic alliance under which Lenovos products will be integrated into IBMs global service offerings, which also became the impetus to the deal. - Secondly, as a world-leading company like IBM, it has specialized and advanced skills in sales and marketing functions, for Lenovo, the sales and marketing support, as well as the RD support are significant and of a necessity in its way to a multinational enterprise, which is also part of the agreement (Lenovo.com, 2007c). - Thirdly, the use of IBMs globally recognized brand is an impetus to accelerate the alliance, and also perceived as a sweet victory for Lenovo. The local brand Lenovo, formerly known as Legend, will become more valuable in the market after its association with the ThinkPad series of laptops. And also, Lenovos right to use the IBM brand on the computers for five years adds more value and trustworthiness to the brand, as despite the fact that Lenovo is the largest PC maker in China and Asia, it is little known elsewhere in the world, even with the ownership of ThinkPad family trademarks, it can hardly divert the loyal customers from IBM to Lenovo (London, 2004). Furthermore, analysts said that the deal could enable Lenovo to cut procurement costs (Guerrera and Dickie, 2004). The Performance after Acquisition The fiscal report combining two months after the completion of the acquisition truly shows a magic turnaround of PCD (Ramstad, 2005) with a profit of $33 million, while the PCD recorded a pre-tax loss of $149 million before joining Lenovo. (Liu, 2005) Further, the latest fiscal report (The First Fiscal Quarter Report 2005/2006, Lenovo) reported on 11th Aug 2005 illustrates a great performance of Lenovo Group Ltd., with revenue up 234% from organic growth in emerging markets and PC business acquisition, EBITDA up 135% to HK$829 million, pre-tax profit increased 54% to HK$515 million, and profit attributable to shareholders up 6% to HK$357 million. (Liu, 2005) However, this turnaround remains some strong arguments. Ramstad (2005) argues that Lenovo gives no evidence of the sustainability of the turnaround and there are some accounting differences. Nevertheless, the fact is that Lenovo has achieved the first step of Success. (Liu, 2005) The time will answer such questions such as whether the acquisition is successful or not, how Lenovo efficiently and effectively manage the global business, and What is the final result of this acquisition? (Liu, 2005) From the reports in Lenovos archive, the following critical success factors were identified in planning stage: 1) Top management support: Believed to be critically important in the early stage to engender commitment, provide direction and resources. CEO of Lenovo and senior managers decided to implement ERP project in 1998 and invested 30 millions RMB in the project. (Tang, 2007) 2.) External expertise: In the planning stage, technology support and management consultancy was received from 38 vendors and consultants. Regarding to implementation plan and SAP process. Deloitte and SAP Corporation were participated in planning Lenovos ERP system. (Tang, 2007) 3.) Project management: Detailed project plan was developed with the help from ERP vendor and consultants. Before the implementation, Deloitte supplied with FastTrack solution, business process re-engineering and module designing for Lenovos ERP project. (Tang, 2007) 4.) Clear Goals: Project objectives and staged implementation developed. From senor managers statement presented earlier, the goals of ERP implementation are support rapid business growth, address data sharing issues, and obtain a competitive advantage and new management techniques. (Tang, 2007) 5.) Balanced project team: Mix of IT professions and senior management. Project team consist consultants from SAP Corporation and Deloitte, IT professionals in Lenovo and heads of other departments (SCM, finance, sales and productions). (Tang, 2007) Organizational System-Knowledge management Lenovo Group puts priority on knowledge management, and established specific knowledge management department in 2003 to conduct planning and implementation of knowledge management of the whole group. Cultivation and introduction of knowledge-type workers also achieve notable effect, and recruited a lot of talents acquainted with knowledge management knowledge and software.(Ming,_ _ _ _) At the beginning of 2004, Lenovo integrated knowledge management, information management and flow management to the flow management department. This integration makes knowledge management more executable not only more authoritative, but also practicable with feasible means, because the flow management department takes charge of deciding posts, deciding flow and deciding organization, and enjoy authoritativeness within the company. (Ming,_ _ _ _) When knowledge management and information system are integrated, knowledge management becomes more practical and feasible, and this orientation has made knowledge management play a more important role in the company. Because knowledge management and business execution are combined together, i.e. knowledge comes from business and should feedback to business, the flow requires that knowledge be turned over, then the authoritativeness is represented. As index management of the flow, including deciding posts, deciding responsibility and review, knowledge management is closely related with unfolding of various items of work of the company, not confined to simple knowledge management. (Ming,_ _ _ _) System Design Lenovo carries out knowledge management in four steps. The first step is the definition of knowledge. Lenovo has many business flow links or activities, the first step is to tidy up the business flow of the company, identify activities in the flow, find knowledge hidden behind various activities to form a knowledge map and expose the hidden knowledge(Ming,_ _ _ _) The second step is to conduct efficient classification over knowledge. Behind each post there contains corresponding contents of organizational management, once posts are set, the flow has been decided and it is hard to modify. Of course, this is based on alignment of knowledge. (Ming,_ _ _ _) - The third step is to encourage staff contribute knowledge. In order to establish a knowledge management incentive system of vigorously promoting staff passing on knowledge, Lenovo Group sets knowledge management as an index of assessing staff performance. Lenovos knowledge management system includes assessment tools, using every piece of information of knowledge, the user shall have to give a score of appraisal. (Ming,_ _ _ _) To a certain stage, Lenovo will conduct statistics to form a statement. In this way, according to the latest and most valuable knowledge ranking of every month or every week, staff members with most knowledge contribution will be awarded corresponding material incentive. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Process of Implementation In the concrete process of implementation, Lenovo divides the whole process into four stages as follows: pilot demonstration stage, knowledge integration summarization stage, optimization sharing stage and business audit stage. (Ming,_ _ _ _) First stage: pilot demonstration. Select pilot units and implement knowledge management. Explore problems and resistance arising out of the process of implementation of knowledge management and seek corresponding solutions, endeavor to pose a demonstrative effect on whole group upon knowledge management in pilot units. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Second stage: knowledge integration. Based on experience from pilot stage, divide the group into many teams and many project teams to swiftly promote various departments set up their own knowledge system. The main work is concentrated on effective classification, integration and issuing of current knowledge. This stage is not intended to pursue optimization of knowledge system, and the key is to establish the primary knowledge system of the whole group as soon as possible. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Third stage: dynamic sharing. Operate knowledge management flow, realize dynamic running of knowledge database, and optimize incessantly the established knowledge system in the dynamic updating process. Promote learning sharing and help others solve problems, conduct knowledge quality assessment in the process of sharing and application, and implement knowledge contribution incentive measures. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Fourth stage: knowledge audit. Carry out audit over validity of each link of activities of the whole flow, and provide programs of improvement and promote management improvement. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Lenovo recruits expertise of two types as map retrieving operation and flow management to conduct appraisal and testing over the system, and arrange quite a lot of human resources to update and maintain knowledge database. Each piece of knowledge has a valid period, and the system will retrieve automatically after the valid period to ensure constant updating of knowledge. (Ming,_ _ _ _) Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Lenovo Lenovo, a prestigious IT company in China, is a shining example of entrepreneurship in China. It has achieved sustainable development in the highly competitive high-tech industry in the past decades. However, the development of Lenovo is zigzag but forward moving.(Bao, 2 _ _ _) - Lenovo developed the software and the Chinese character card, which helped the company to accumulate the necessary capital for its further development. In its eveloping period (1987-1988), Lenovo took up the most market share of the product through further research and development. Meanwhile, it began to act as the agent for the other international famous PC brands. In so doing, it learnt advanced international technology, and established its sales network. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) Then the company entered the third period (1989-1996). Both its software business and agency business achieved steady growth. Meanwhile, it started to develop the overseas market. Thus the company has become a company with technical industry, manufacturing industry and trade industry. But soon, it faced the worldwide IT restructuring, its overseas sales declined, but Lenovo made a quick change. It started to manufacture the PC with its own brand instead of other international famous brands. This innovation brought rebirth to the company. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) In 1996, the company took up 10% of the market share and ranked the first place in China. The company smoothly entered the forth developed period (1997-2000), during which its PC business continue to enjoy steady growth. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) According to the IPC market survey in August, 1998, Lenovo ranked one of the top three in Asia pacific area and its sales volume of household computers ranked the first place in the area. In 1999, its total sales volume reached RMB 9,000 millions. All this indicates that Lenovo has developed into a large international IT company. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) - The forth developed period laid a good foundation for the fifth period-the renovation period (2001-2007). With the competition of PC market becoming more and more fierce, the profit is getting smaller. Accordingly, Lenovo made some adjustment of the company structure. On one hand, it continued to do the PC business to achieve its scale merit; on the other hand, it developed the business in the fields of servers, mobile phone, IT service and e-commerce to seek new profit growth. Thus, Lenovo achieved phenomenal growth in this period. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) - Mr. Liu Chuan Zhi, the president of the company, made different innovations in different periods of the development of the company. In the starting period, he adopted a layer structure, a flat organization through which the company can enjoy rapid development. In the developing period, he changed the structure into a ship structure to adapt to the increasing scale of the enterprise. In the developed period, he adopted the united fleet structure for the company. And accordingly, he changed his leading style from centralization to cooperation, decentralization and coaching to meet the needs of the different periods of development of the enterprise. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) Mr. Liu projects his vision of the future and adopts both steady forward moving strategies, through which Lenovo has won a lot of market chances. Besides, he shows his upbeat attitude at critical moments. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) In 1992, the business of the company was not satisfactory in overseas market. Mr. Liu Changed his strategy and focused on the market in China so that the company still achieved growth in difficult times. In 1999, the company failed temporarily in its transformation into an internet company. At the critical moment, Mr. Liu made a quick change and entered e-commerce field with the existence of former software business, which has proved to be a success. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) Whats more, he is very strong in coaching, for he has successfully left his managing position to his successor. All this indicates that it is the entrepreneurship that led the company to one success and another. .(Bao, 2 _ _ _) Strong lure of Brand opportunity Lenovo is a good illustration of the strong lure of brand, opportunity, and purpose. Its acquisition of IBMs personal computer operations, in 2005, made it the third-largest personal computer company in the world. (Ready,Hill Conger) The IBM acquisition produced something of a halo effect for Lenovo, and Chinese workers felt pride that China had been able to buy part of an American business icon. Lenovos brand was and is attractive to ambitious young workers with dreams of their own-people who are building careers and not simply looking for jobs. (Ready,Hill Conger) Lenovo was an early standout for these rising stars. Lenovo also built a global perspective into its brand promise; to become a great company it would have to expand beyond its home market. That meant opportunity. (Ready,Hill Conger) - President and CEO Bill Amelio describes his company as a stage without a ceiling for every employee- worldwide. In a truly global spirit, Lenovos top-team meetings rotate among Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Raleigh, North Carolina. (Ready,Hill Conger) - Lenovos brand promise credibly communicates that nationality doesnt matter; if an employee demonstrates capability and vision, there are no limits. The playing field is level. (Ready,Hill Conger) - Lenovos brand promise credibly communicates that nationality doesnt matter; if an employee demonstrates capability and vision, there are no limits. The playing field is level. (Ready,Hill Conger) What makes Lenovos talent-tracking process work, however, is that the career maps are linked to key slots across the globe and accountability for the entire process rests squarely with line leadership, not with HR. Its employees are ambitious, and Lenovo needs to demonstrate that it is serious about developing their careers. (Ready,Hill Conger) 6) Lenovos PCs can be priced competitively to those of Dell and HP without sacrificing quality or any features. Lenovos low cost advantage is never based on cutting RD and low quality. (Ready,Hill Conger) Lenovo have improved its manufacturing efficiency by centralizing production in China where most of the components are made which will eliminate shipping cost before assembly. Further, as mentioned earlier, Lenovo can maintain a low cost of overhead. For example, before the deal, IBM PCD can achieve 24% of gross margin, but the net profit was negative owning to its high cost of overhead. Meanwhile, Lenovo only has gross margin of 14% but with a net profit of 5%.(Ready,Hill Conger)

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau :: essays research papers

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both born in Massachusetts. Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. Thoreau was born in Concord in 1817. Emerson attended Harvard and then became a Unitarian minister just like his father had been. Thoreau also attended Harvard but upon graduating, became a teacher and opened up a school. Both Emerson and Thoreau gave up their careers to pursue Transcendentalist philosophy. Emerson was one of the first to start the Transcendental Club. Thoreau became Emerson's student after he had moved into his house. Thoreau simplified his needs and began to experiment with Transcendentalism through experience. Although Emerson's writings achieved national recognition during his lifetime, Thoreau did not see such fame during his own life. They were both active Transcendentalists, but their philosophies and methods differed slightly. Emerson believed one should live in harmony with nature. One of his essays, appropriately titled, "Nature," was the first published essay on Transcendentalist philosophy. Emerson theorized that man was one and the same with nature and he wrote about his experiences with nature. In "Nature," Emerson wrote that, "In the woods, we return to reason and faith. "Although he was the one to write this, it was Thoreau who went to extremes and took this literally. Though Emerson and Thoreau both believed in living in harmony with something, they differed on what it was they were to live in harmony with. While Emerson lectured about Transcendetalist philosophy, Thoreau thoroughly practiced it. Emerson believed in living in harmony with nature. Thoreau believed in living in peace and harmony with ourselves. Thoreau took Transcendentalism to the extremes. He simplified every aspect of his live and went" back to nature" to test the experiences of Transcendentalism. He focused on how he could live in peace and harmony with himself in nature while Emerson lectured about living in harmony with nature. Thoreau took Emerson's teachings and expanded on them. Emerson played his role as teacher and Thoreau played his role as student. They did this both whle living in the same household and throughout their lives. Emerson taught Transcendentalist philosophy and Thoreau not only expanded on those teachings, he used them for experimenting with Transcednetalism.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay -- essays research papers

Three primary problems â€Å"cage† Maya Angelou in her autobiographical book I Know why the Caged Bird Sings. The most pressing of these issues was probably the fact that Maya lived in the highly segregated south. Another factor of her imprisonment was because Maya, also known as Marguerite, was a social outcast, with very few friends other then relatives. Finally, the main character was entrapped because of her unusual sexual exposure. Over all, the highly segregated life she led, her exclusion socially, and her sexual experience caught Ms. Angelou. At the time, racism was predominate amongst southern citizens, this caused Maya’s displacement because she was a young black girl. Throughout the book Maya faces prejudice, and is constantly fighting this outrage, yet is not always winning. When Marguerite Johnson, nicknamed Ritie, was sixteen she became the first black streetcar operator in San Francisco, yet she had to fight incredibly hard to get her job. Even after she did her work schedule was impossible, and the free feeling she got from her job was turned against her at school, when she realized that her and her fellow classmates were, â€Å"on paths moving diametrically away from each other,† so even though Ritie had gotten the job she wanted, which she could have gotten easier had she been white, she was still an outcast. Furthermore, Marguerite, being Black, was denied certain necessities, such as not getting her toothache treated by the nearest dentist because he’d â€Å"rather sti... I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay -- essays research papers Three primary problems â€Å"cage† Maya Angelou in her autobiographical book I Know why the Caged Bird Sings. The most pressing of these issues was probably the fact that Maya lived in the highly segregated south. Another factor of her imprisonment was because Maya, also known as Marguerite, was a social outcast, with very few friends other then relatives. Finally, the main character was entrapped because of her unusual sexual exposure. Over all, the highly segregated life she led, her exclusion socially, and her sexual experience caught Ms. Angelou. At the time, racism was predominate amongst southern citizens, this caused Maya’s displacement because she was a young black girl. Throughout the book Maya faces prejudice, and is constantly fighting this outrage, yet is not always winning. When Marguerite Johnson, nicknamed Ritie, was sixteen she became the first black streetcar operator in San Francisco, yet she had to fight incredibly hard to get her job. Even after she did her work schedule was impossible, and the free feeling she got from her job was turned against her at school, when she realized that her and her fellow classmates were, â€Å"on paths moving diametrically away from each other,† so even though Ritie had gotten the job she wanted, which she could have gotten easier had she been white, she was still an outcast. Furthermore, Marguerite, being Black, was denied certain necessities, such as not getting her toothache treated by the nearest dentist because he’d â€Å"rather sti...

The Economy Essay -- Economics

The Economy Economic Factors: Interest Rates: An interest rate is the rate of increase over time of a bank deposit Inflation: Inflation is persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or persistent decline in the purchasing power of money. Exchange Rates: The exchange rate is the price of one currency when traded with another. For Example, Â £1 will approximately buy the following at a given point in time: 1.50 Euros 2.70 Australian Dollars 1.60 US Dollars Impact of changes on WFP: Rising interest rates: Rising Interest Rates will work to the disadvantage of West Ferry Printers. They will have to pay more amount of money on loans and, as a result, their expenditures will increase. Falling interest rates: Falling Interest Rates will benefit West Ferry Printers. It can adopt an aggressive market strategy by reducing the prices of its products and enhance its market share In a situation involving a high rate of inflation, West Ferry Printers will not be able to plan its finances accurately. If the company is left with less money it will not be able to pay its staff decent remuneration for their services. Disputes may occur if workers are unable to secure wage increases to sustain their standard of living. Like any other business, West Ferry printers will be better off if rate of inflation stays within the normal range. West Ferry Printers will have ample time to devise their costing and other plans carefully. Low in...

A Closer Look into the Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion was one of the many periods of history that has almost been forgotten by Western historians despite its importance and impact in Chinese history. Eventually, information regarding this rebellion had resurfaced which some historians have considered to be mythical in the sense that some historians have concentrated the information regarding the Boxer Rebellion only on certain portions that they have deemed to be beneficial to the current society of the country.In line with this, this paper aims to provide an analytical report justifying that the Boxer Rebellion, although may have begun as a political and economical uprising, most of the efforts done during the Boxer Rebellion was to prevent Western culture and tradition from tainting Chinese culture, particularly in terms of religion. This paper will also provide evidence to justify as to why many historians have considered the current image of the Boxer Rebellion to be a myth.In order to present the analysis report with regards to the Boxer Rebellion movement comprehensively, a brief overview of Chinese society during the period when the Boxer Rebellion arose should be first discussed. The Boxer Rebellion first gained attention in the year 1898 (Ch'en 290). During this time, China was currently under the governance of the Qing dynasty. Unlike the Ming dynasty before it, the Qing dynasty was not comprised of Manchus, foreigners from Manchuria who obtained governance on China as a result of conquest.The Manchus, as how the Chinese called them, were viewed as both privileged and idlers, with majority of the Manchus consuming one-third of the total revenue of the country (Purcell i-ii). It was also during this period a shift on the basis of the country's economy from land acquisition to credit acquisition. In fact, Mark Elvin, author of â€Å"The Pattern of the Chinese Past† that was published in 1973 stated that usury, which was the term given to the act of controlling economic resources, became a â€Å"a more important source of social and economic power in the countryside than ownership of land† (as cited in Wakeman, Jr.202). Apart from this, international trade and commerce that were previously banned during the Ming dynasty were re-established (Van de Van 230). Despite the shift in economic power, many members of the lower class in Chinese society still did not enjoy the independence enjoyed by the richer farmers and land owners because the practices of the moneylenders did not provide those the peasants with what they had considered to be essential to their way of life.Instead, they viewed this change in the economic power in Chinese society as a fragile and false link between the Manchu rulers and the Chinese subordinates. As such, most of the uprisings that had occurred during this period of time have been linked to peasantry revolts whose goals centered on the quest to equalize the land and resources (Wakeman Jr. 202-03). The above stated situation th e China during the period of the Boxer Rebellion may have been the reason why many have associated this movement to be another peasantry revolt against the Manchu government.This was also supported by the fact that majority of the Boxers, as how they were called, were young male peasants, and that their revolt actions included stampeding into the cities and burning down blocks of the finest stores and offices of moneylenders (Liu 102). Furthermore, there have been only limited accounts on the Boxer Rebellion movement with these limited resources depicting the members of the Boxer Revolt as being hostile (Ch'en 290). While the characteristics of the Boxers were similar to that of other peasant revolts against the Manchu government, the aims and objectives of the Boxers Revolution was nothing similar.In fact, for a brief period in time, the Manchu monarchy – headed by Empress Dowager Cixi – supported the Boxers Movement (Liu 102). This is primarily due to the aims and ob jectives of the Boxers Movement. Because of the re-opening of international trade routes, many of the Chinese began to develop as sense of Xenophobia, which is, the fear of foreign rule. As international foreign trade blossomed, foreigners began to come in not just with raw items and other commodities, but also their own beliefs, particularly Christianity (Ch'en 290-91).Unlike the Westerners, the Chinese have patronized and supported their current government despite themselves being foreigners as well. This was because when the Chinese were brought under the rule of the Manchus, it was the Manchus and not the Chinese who assimilated themselves to the culture and society of Chinese to the point that if one would compare a Manchu and a Chinese side-by-side, only subtle differences can be viewed between them (Purcell 2). This is not the case with the Westerners who have been known to subtly invade other countries through the process of â€Å"cultural imperialism.† Cultural imper ialism has been defined as the process of a foreign country to impose in a coercive manner, usually through political and economical methods, their beliefs, customs and traditions to another country, usually one that they have deemed to be more inferior than they were (Dunch 302). In the case of China, through its trade activities with European countries, has been viewed to be a country that was static, as compared to the European countries where advancements in technology was at its peak (Purcell 3).As a result, missionaries began to flock into China and began to establish schools in the Shandong province (Liu 103-04). Eventually, many of the Chinese have slowly begun to view these foreign missionaries as a threat to their cultural identity, especially after the missionaries were slowly being granted diplomatic and military support from the Qing dynasty monarchy. The Manchu monarchy increased the ranks and privileges of the foreign missionaries. One example of this was the bishop s ituated in the Shandong province was given the rank by the Empress Dowager Cixi similar to that of the Chinese governor of the province.On top of that, the monsignors and the priests situated in various parts of China were regarded to have the same political power as the Chinese prefects and magistrates. Because of the political power that was granted to the foreign missionaries, they were able to handle their missionary work in a more convenient manner. Not only could they not be touched by members of the local government within the area that they are ministering, but also they had the authority to protect those who have been converted into Christendom against any actions made by local authorities that they consider as harassment on the part of their converts (Liu 104).The members of the Boxers have viewed the actions of the Catholic missionaries as a way not just to make their mark in their culture, but also as a slow, but steady method of overthrowing their monarchy and their gov ernment and invading them. The Boxers viewed Christianity as a form of heresy and against the teachings of both Confucianism and Taoism, which are the prominent religions in China during this period (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 8). It was for this reason that the Boxers launched a propaganda movement against foreign missionaries.As far as the Boxers were concerned, their propaganda movement was justified by the literary pieces that were centered in both Confucianism and Taoism. Perhaps the most influential of these lyric pieces was a lyric poem which they have believed was composed by the god Chi-Kung, who shared it to the Boxers through the medium. The poem referred to the Chinese Christian converts as people â€Å"who have lost all their senses† and whose â€Å"aim was to engulf the whole country† and to â€Å"deceive our Emperor† (Ch'en 292).The propaganda literature distributed by the Boxers echoed the message of the poem of Chi-Kung. These literatur e included notices that they boldly advocated, such as the message that â€Å"The heresy [heresy referring to the missionaries and their converts] has no respect for either gods or Buddhas† (Ch'en 293). Based on these propaganda, it is clear that the Boxer Rebellion Movement's aim was to wipe out foreign missionaries by any means possible in order to protect their beloved emperor and his family as well as the common people of China (Ch'en 293).Sadly, the government that they were trying to protect did not share in their vision. In the end, the Qing dynasty suppressed the Boxer movement and all forms of literature associated with the movement (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 15). There were a number of reasons as to why history presented the Boxer Rebellion more as a political revolution as opposed to a movement to protect the culture, government and people of China during the 19th century.One reason for this was that, as mentioned, all documents pertaining to the Boxer Mo vement, especially those that supported the Boxer Movement were destroyed. What were left were official documents and other forms of literature that were written by those who opposed the Boxer Revolution Movement. These documents depicted the Boxers as a group of illiterate individuals who were afraid of advancement and progress (â€Å"History in Three Keys† 15).But the primary reason for the difference of the viewpoint regarding the Boxer Rebellion Movement was on the historians themselves. While it is true that majority of historians document events that had occurred in a particular area during a particular period based on facts in order to provide the readers an objective viewpoint that is as accurate as the facts and evidences may allow them to, there remains some historians who have been considered by their colleagues as â€Å"mythologizers† (â€Å"The Contested Past† 82).These kinds of historians have been described as those who have a clear understanding of the past events and have access to the same evidences and facts that are available to historians, sociologists, anthropologists and the like. The difference lies in the manner on how they utilize these facts and evidences in their writings. Instead of providing the reader an objective, play-by-play account of the events that had occurred during a particular point in time, mythologizers have been known to utilize the facts and evidences to create an account of a historical event to serve another purpose.These purposes include political reform and psychological formation of the reader (â€Å"The Contested Past 82-83). Examples of this can be found with regards to the manner on how various authors whose works have long been considered as historical accounts on the Boxer Revolution. In one account which was entitled â€Å"The Boxers' Conquest of the Westerners,† the Boxers were described as a group of individuals who were superstitious and irrational.In fact, not much attenti on was actually given to this over the more noble reason for the revolt, which was the protection and preservation of Chinese culture from the changes being imposed by foreign missionaries. As a result, this historical account presented the Chinese as a people who, in a period when everyone else were trying to advance themselves, remained superstitious by believing that gods and deities still correspond through mediums in order for the people to do their bidding as well as a country whose people remained ignorant and even barbaric (â€Å"The Contested Past† 84).Chen's Duxiu's essay is another example of mythologization of the Boxer Revolution. In his essay, he firmly addressed and justified that the Boxer Revolution was brought about by the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and other religions present in China during that period of time has led to the Boxer Uprising. Duxiu further stated that since these religions are still prevalent in China to this very day, it would not be long before another Boxer Revolution will take place (â€Å"The Contested Past† 85).While this does have some truth in it, it is also not entirely accurate because Duxiu failed to take into consideration that one of the main reasons why the Boxer Revolution erupted was because of the imminent overthrow of the current monarchy ruling China brought about by the government itself by providing political power to a certain extent to the foreign missionaries. This allowed them to be in a position to choose on whether they would follow the rulings of the local government where they were ministering.In fact, the term â€Å"Boxer† Revolution by itself may be considered to be a form of mythologization. In his article, Lu Xun had presented it as a metaphor to present the ignorance of the Chinese during the 19th century in his statement â€Å"[†¦] if the Chinese don't learn the military art of using rattan shields, how can they protect themselves against firearms[†¦]â €  (as cited in â€Å"The Contested Past† 86). To summarize, the Boxer Revolution that occurred during the Qing dynasty was brought about by a number of historical events.The first was the experience of the Chinese towards foreign invasion. Although they were currently being ruled by foreigners from Manchuria, they did not fear that this would bring about a loss of their cultural identity and heritage. This was because the foreign rulers assimilated themselves into the Chinese culture and traditions to a point wherein Manchus living in China were not that different from the Chinese. The second historical event was the re-opening of international trade routes by the Manchus during the Qing dynasty that have been closed during the Ming dynasty.While this benefited the country economically with traders bringing in rare commodities in exchange for Chinese goods, it had also paved the way for European missionaries to enter the country, bringing in Christianity into China. This event has caused many of the converts to turn their backs from local customs and traditions, hence, their own cultural identity. The third was the decision made by the Manchu government through Empress Dowager Cixi to grant the foreign missionaries some form of political power. This proved to be the biggest threat viewed by the Boxer Revolt.The decision made by the Empress Dowager has not only provided the foreign missionaries some form of leniency which would allow them to practice their faith and to convert Chinese into Christianity more freely, but it also allowed the foreign missionaries not to adhere with the local government in the various provinces where they were ministering. This is because the political power granted by the Empress to the foreign missionaries has caused them to have the same political powers as those in the local government, if not higher.Based on the evidence presented, the preconceived notion that the Boxers were predominantly made out of peasants is ina ccurate. On the contrary, the evidence have suggested that the Boxer Revolution was actually a movement that was composed largely of educated individuals and since education was a privilege that was enjoyed by the elite during this period of time, it can be assumed that the Boxer Revolution was a revolution created by the elite.This conclusion has been based on the development of the aim of the Boxer Revolution which was to wipe out the foreign missionaries in order to preserve and protect the Emperor of China and its people. They had based this on literary pieces that were usually accessible only to the elite. Among these forms of literature were the plays, poetry and teachings of Confucius and Tao.It will be highly illogical to state that the Boxers were mainly comprised of illiterate individuals since the only way for these to become the basis of the Boxers Movement is if and only if these someone who is literate, that is someone who could both read and write, would be able to no t only understand these forms of literature but would have the capacity to disseminate these information to others.Also, the preconception that the Boxer Revolution was a revolt against the Manchu government has been disproved by the information presented in this paper as well. While it may be true that the Boxer Revolution was ultimately suppressed by the Manchu government, among the objectives of the revolution movement was to protect their Emperor and Empress Dowager. They had viewed the actions of the foreign missionaries as a step closer for cultural imperialism to become rampant in the country.Cultural imperialism refers to the act of members from a foreign country to bring in their own customs, beliefs and traditions into another country and would slowly assimilate this to the citizens of that particular country, usually through some form of political force. The most common method used for cultural imperialism is through religion. This was the case in the Boxer movement.