A Comparison Of Harrison Bergeron And By The Waters Of...

People say that money cannot buy happiness, it can not but it can buy unhappiness and bombs. Inâ€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and in â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon† By Stephen Vincent Benà ©t, the main characters struggle with life in the future. Both characters live in a world that is very flawed, the authors of both stories give warnings about the future, with their ideas of how the future will be they create a future that would not be fun to live and are quite unappealing. In â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon,† the world has been scarred by the savagery of a nuclear war. In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† society is absolutely equal and nobody is better than another, everyone has handicaps to make them uglier, less intelligent, and weaker The world of†¦show more content†¦In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† mankind has created a different kind of torture for humans they have created handicaps that create loud noise to stop them from thinking too deeply and weights to slow him down and masks to make people uglier. â€Å". . . had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. . . every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking advantage of their brains† (14-17). This technology made life miserable and dull and caused people to become oblivious to problems in their lives The author makes this story to tell his readers that being equal is not necessarily a good thing. The technology of the future is dangerous if treated without care or given to the wrong people. The authors both give warnings about the future and how we must be careful with technology and how being equal is not always good. Both of the worlds have been ravaged by the decisions of mankind, however the world of â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† seems more appealing to me then the nuclear destroyed world of â€Å"By the Waters of Babylon†. Strong people are given weights in â€Å"Harrison Bergeron,† I do not see myself as strong in my eyes, average at best. Good looking people are given masks to wear, I am not that great of looking, smart people are given ear transmitters, this is the only aspect I would have to worry about,

Breast Feeding Vs. The Bottle - 1326 Words

Breast-feeding vs. The Bottle: The Decision is yours â€Å"Some mothers have to give up breastfeeding even though they want to breastfeed. To give up breastfeeding can be a sensitive issue in a time when breastfeeding is promoted as the healthiest for mother and child† (Larsen Kronborg, 2013, p. 848). The debate over whether breast-feeding is better than bottle-feeding or vice versa has been a debate for many years. With more and more research that is continuously being developed, the option to breast-feed or bottle-feed is ultimately up to the parents of the child. Although the decision could be based on factors such as a physical incapability or financial burdens, the end result should always be what is going to be best for the baby. As research continues to grow, there has been proven evidence of the positive and negative aspects that come with breast-feeding and bottle-feeding. The Benefits of Breast Feeding Starting from infancy, parents have the right to make the decisions in their new child’s life, which includes breast-feeding their child. â€Å"Infant nutrition is important in development and health throughout life† (Klag, McNamara, Geraghty, Keim, 2015, p. 1059) Although the process has been known to bring some complications and many attempts, the end result has been proven to be beneficial to not only the infant during that time but can be tracked in their life down the line. The decision to breast feed is a decision that will not only impact the child, but can alsoShow MoreRelatedBreast Feeding vs Bottle Feeding2073 Words   |  9 PagesBreastfeeding versus Formula Feeding Your family is expecting a newborn baby within the next couple of months. This event in someone’s life will change their lives forever and can be a very exciting and exhausting change. Although you may be excited and impatient for the baby’s arrival, this event can cause a lot of stress on the family. While your lives are completely changing; there are things you need to do to prepare yourself and there are many important decisions that need to be made. DecisionsRead MoreBreast-Feeding Vs. Bottle Feeding Is A Very Important Decision1969 Words   |  8 PagesBreast-feeding vs. bottle feeding is a very important decision for new parents as well as a very hot topic of debate for most heath oriented communities. Most health, family and infant related communities and services such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, etc. support and promote breast-feeding infants. Their suggestion urges mothers to at least breastfeed for the first few days after giving birth even if they decide to bottle feedRead MoreEssay on Compare and Contrast Breast Feeding vs Bottle Feeding964 Words   |  4 Pagesinformation that they can get in order to help choose which method of feeding is more suitable, because every mother wants what is best for their child. Unlike formula feeding, the benefits of breastfeeding are substantial for both mother and baby. Moreover, choosing to breastfeed will lead to brighter, happier, and healthier lives. Infant nutrition is vital for growth and development. According to a Web page posted by KidsHealth, â€Å"Breast milk contains antibodies, lactose, protein, and fat†¦,† which areRead MoreDoe Assignment11278 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Breast Feeding Vs Bottle Feeding Controversy Jane Doe CHFD 308 American Public University Dr. John DoeBreast Feeding Vs Bottle Feeding Controversy This essay is about the breast feeding vs bottle feeding controversy. Are you depriving your infant of nutrients they need if you chose to bottle feed? Will your child be unhealthy if you chose not to breast feed? Some women feel like breast feeding is always better, some women feel like bottle feeding is just the same. Breast feeding is usuallyRead MoreBreast Feding vs. Formula Feeding862 Words   |  4 PagesBreast Feeding vs. Formula Feeding There are advantages and disadvantages to both breastfeeding and formula feeding. Some things to consider when deciding which to choose are: cost, convenience, nutrition, and the health benefits to both the baby and to the mother. In terms of cost, an advantage to breastfeeding is that breast milk is free. Its estimated that breastfeeding can save you thousands of dollars a year, depending on the brand of formula that would have been used instead. AccordingRead MoreThe Health Benefits Of Breast Feeding1451 Words   |  6 Pagesare only two choices, breastfeeding or bottle/formula feeding. Breast feeding is simply the baby sucking milk from the mother’s breasts, while formula feeding is manufactured food fed to the baby with a bottle. There are arguments for and against one or the other, but which is actually better? Below we will examine the pros and cons of both methods, in an effort to understand if one is truly better than the other. First we will look at the pros of Breast-feeding. According to the Office on Women’s HealthRead MoreGuidelines Of Guidelines Regarding Milk Banks Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagesbenefits of providing a time and place to express milk. There is information available from La Leche League that can be given to the employer. There are supporting programs also, like (WIC) Woman Infant and child program is for both breast feeding moms and bottle feeding moms. According to WIC is a federal program designed to provide food to low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children until the age of five. The program provides a combination of nutrition educationRead MoreBreastfeeding VS Formula Bottle-feeding Essay1112 Words   |  5 PagesBreastfeeding vs. Formula Bottle-feeding Every mother of a newborn baby must make a very personal decision when it comes to how they are going to feed their infant. I was faced with that decision 3 years ago when I had my first son who I named Ethen. It was one of the very hardest decisions I had to make. I had to consider all the good benefits of breast feeding as well as the benefits of formula bottle-feeding, but the good benefits of breastfeeding outnumbered the bottle feeding ones. I finallyRead MoreThe Breast Vs. Bottle Debate1718 Words   |  7 Pages The Breast vs. Bottle Debate Deciding whether to formula feed or breastfeed ones baby is one of the biggest and most crucial decisions expectant and new parents will make before giving birth. Organizations such as World Health Organizations (WHO), American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American Dietetic Association recommend breastfeeding as the best option for the newborn. Most of these organizations and other supporters of breastfeeding affirm that it defendsRead MoreThe Effect Of Breastfeeding On Ovarian And Breast Cancer Risks1298 Words   |  6 Pageshas an important consequence both in long and short-term health (Fewtrell 2007). The research that has been done in this area offers strong evidence that human milk feeding decreases the severity and incidence of a vast range of infectious diseases (Garner 1997). There are many benefits of breastfeeding reduces the ovarian and breast cancer risks and a reduction in other types of systemic health such as obesity, overweight, asthma and morbidity. In this way breastfeeding also becomes one of the main

Autobiography The Separation Essay Example For Students

Autobiography The Separation Essay Have you ever wondered if two people in love can stay together for life? In marriage, it is very common for husband and wife to vow to be with each other until one dies. However, there are studies that show that 8 out of 10 couples get divorced after the span of 1 to 20 years. This happened to my parents, they separated, this was when i was in the 8th grade leading to my first year of high school. I remember that day as if it was yesterday, a Wednesday afternoon. My sister Aixa and I had arrived home from school, as we strolled in through the front door we could smell the deliciousness of the ham and cheese sandwiches my grandma had ready for us. Later on, around 6 oclock, I was doing my english homework when my mother got to the house. She was always very drowsy and tired, work left her like that, and so commonly she would sleep as soon as she got home. This would make my mad upset and so they soon enough stopped kissing, stopped hugging, stopped talking. My father had also arrived home around an hour later, he went into his bedroom where my mom was resting and they talked for hours, which was a first in those past few months. They called for us and we all sat in the living room with the big plasma television. Mandy, Aixy ,  he exclaimed, calling us by our nicknames. We have decided to separate, you guys are already aware how much we dispute, it is not that we dont want to, but we dont have that spark anymore.   By that time my sister had broken into tears, screaming. Why? Why? Stay together for me! Please!   My mom put her hand up as a sign for her to be quiet as she replied. I simply do not love him anymore.   Everyone was quiet, the only sound was the couch creaking as I stood up and ran out the door. I thought I heard my parents call out to me, but I dont remember well. It was drizzling, and as I traversed through the cement I felt something cold stain my cheek, a tear, not a raindrop, but a tear. And soon came many ot hers, flooding my face with salty droplets. I hugged my hands to my chest and convinced myself I was going to be okay, I was going to move on and get past this hurtful event. I eventually walked back home where my parents yelled at me, and then hugged me. Months passed and my mother, sister and I finally moved. We moved into a cozy little apartment for three, every night I would remember my dad and how I didnt live with him anymore, I was very disappointed. But a year later i got used to it and I realized that it was okay for people to not love each other anymore, thoughts and ideas come and go, isnt it the same with love?

Grey Teak Technology of Australia

Question: Write a report about the Grey Teak Technology of Australia. Answer: Introduction The report highlights some of the main features of the website of the company Grey Teak Technology of Australia. The head office of the company Grey Teak Technology is situated in city Melbourne of Australia. The company mainly deals with the development of software for its clients. The company has launched a new website for their design studios. The company has created the website in a way that would draw the attention of almost all the people who are interested in the services of the company. The website of the company claims that the company provides secure and robust systems for ground up. The website also draws the attention of the people to the fact that the expert team of the company develops efficient software as per the requirements of their clients. The website also claims that reliability is one of the several reasons why the clients of the company choose them over all other software developing firms (Greyteak.com.au 2016). Some of the salient features of the website include that the website generates a clear idea in the minds of the people about the works that the company Grey Teak Technology does. The homepage of the website of the company contains the list of the services that the company provides. Some of the services include the following: Development of software for the enterprises. Management of systems and applications. Development of the system design. Advance development of websites. Improvement of the business process Services of the maintenance of the websites. Apart from the list of the services that the company provides, the website also gives a brief overview of some of the information about the company. The website acquaints its users to the company profile. Moreover, people can access the contact details of the company through its websites (Hsu et al. 2012). Some of the positive aspects that one can notice about the website of the company are that the company can reach a wider range of its clients through this website. Secondly, anyone can access the website from anywhere of the world and at anytime. The users of the website can easily access all the information related to the business of the company. The company can use the website for the purpose of publicity and for advertising their product or new software (Kim and Lennon 2013). Some of the negative aspects associated with the website are that the clients of the company may consider the information given in the website to be unreliable. This happens when the company does not update the information on the website from time to time. There can be other related issues like the crashing of the website or the problem of spam (Ionescu and Serban 2012). The company has presented the website in a very efficient format. The clients of the company can easily use the companys website. The client s find it very easy to interact with the managers of the company through the website. Hence, this adds to the positive side of this website. The company Grey Teak Technology of Australia has passed through different phases before launching the new website of the company. The website launch has undergone the exposure stage and the interaction stage. The stage of exposure of the website of the company includes the planning of the launch of the new website. At this stage the board of directors hold meetings and discussions regarding the launch of the new website. The interaction stage follows the exposure stage. The website of the company is in the e-commerce stage. The company conducts its trade and business online through the website (Sozinova and Fokina 2015). Looking at the services that the company provides to its customers and to other business organisations, one can conclude that the website of the company is in the e-commerce stage. The website of the company requires hardware and software like all other websites. The estimation of the minimum requirement of hardware of the website for five users using the website at the same time should consist of the following: Minimum space for the database needs to be 10GB. CPU should have Intel Core 2 RAM should be of 2GB. For twenty five concurrent users, the hardware requirements consists of a 4GB RAM with a minimum database of 10GB (Kendall et al. 2014). Similarly the software requirements of the website would include the operating systems, the web browsers, the networks, firewall configuration, prerequisite packages and directory and environment configuration script (Bonarini et al. 2014). E-commerce generally comprises of the selling of the services and products online. The strategy to implement e-commerce contains many elements that are separate and unique from each other. E-commerce demands a sophisticated system of content management. To start with the e-commerce system, one can see that e-commerce requires a dedicated system of payment, purchase and support system. E-commerce also demands strong procedures for managing the relationship with the customers. A sound effort for marketing is also very important with respect to the implementation of e-commerce. The company requires a professional and good quality website that demands careful management and development (Chen et al. 2013). Before implementing the e-commerce, the owner of the website should keep in mind the following points; E-commerce is not always suitable and appropriate for selling every product and services. E-commerce is quite complex. The owner may need to spend a lot of money to get the things right about the e-commerce. It is not very easy to design and manage a e-commerce website efficiently. The clicks and mortar approach seems to be the best in implementing the e-commerce website. The approach combines traditional retail resources with the online options (Gangeshwer 2013). There are some products present in the market that are very well suited for the e-commerce. Digital products such as the information and software are the top ranked e-commerce product. Some other products that are suitable for the e-commerce market are the products with higher values as compared to their cost of fulfilment, products that people do not find easily in stores, products that people find easier to buy online than from stores, products that people do not need to try while buying (Ionescu and Serban 2012). Here are a few strategies that the author of this report wants to suggest to the owner of the website to implement the e-commerce: The owner first needs to understand the scope of his intentions. The owner needs to plan his strategies for implementing e-commerce well in advance. The owner needs to manage the inventory, payment, sales fulfilment and security. The owner needs to be efficient to integrate the e-commerce website with the rest of the ventures of the business. The owner needs to mention on the e-commerce website that the company is ready to sell their software to all the other countries outside their own country Australia. This would fetch the customers from all over the world. To accomplish this, the owner needs to have a clear knowledge of exporting the services and products. The owner of the website should offer the e-commerce services first to the existing customers of the company. This would help the owner to gradually increase the market for the e-commerce website (Perrigot and Pnard 2013). The author of the report feels that following the above mentioned strategies, the owner of the website can successfully implement the e-commerce model to earn more profit. The software requirement for e-commerce website has become more streamlined and developed. The software required for e-commerce is not very cheap, neither it is easy and simple to run everything smoothly. Hence, the degree of difficulty increases with e-commerce websites. Some of the software required by the e-commerce website includes a web server such as Google Chrome, Windows internet explorer, Opera. Some of the home server software includes Apache, FreeNas, and Debian. The computer must have a unique IP address (Kendall et al. 2014). The hardware requirements of high traffic e-commerce sites and low traffic e- commerce depends on different factors. One can run the low traffic e-commerce websites on single machines that depend on the needs of the business. Pentium II or III with Intel server that runs Linux is capable of serving over hundreds of customers of the company in each day (Bonarini et al. 2014). Conclusion The report describes the features of the website that the company Grey Teak Technology in Australia has launched recently. The report highlights both the positive and negative sides and the usability aspect of the companys website. The report also provides a guideline to the owner of the website for implementing the e-commerce model. Hence, with the help of the report, one can get a clear idea about the implementation and launching of an e-commerce website. References: Bonarini, A., Matteucci, M., Migliavacca, M. and Rizzi, D., 2014. R2P: An open source hardware and software modular approach to robot prototyping.Robotics and Autonomous Systems,62(7), pp.1073-1084. Chen, P.W., Lin, W.Y., Huang, T.H. and Pan, W.T., 2013. Using fruit fly optimization algorithm optimized grey model neural network to perform satisfaction analysis for e-business service.Appl. Math,7(2L), pp.459-465. Gangeshwer, D.K., 2013. E-commerce or Internet Marketing: A business Review from Indian context.International Journal of u-and e-Service, Science and Technology,6(6), pp.187-194. Greyteak.com.au. (2016). GreyTeak Technologies - The Best, Professional Logo design, Web design and Systems development company in Melbourne, Australia. Hsu, C.L., Chang, K.C. and Chen, M.C., 2012. The impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intention: perceived playfulness and perceived flow as mediators.Information Systems and e-Business Management,10(4), pp.549-570. Ionescu, A.A. and Serban, R., 2012. Presentation of various types of electronic business available on the Internet, Advantages, Disadvantages, Key Requirements and Security, Implementation Model of an Electronic Business.International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories,2(3), pp.179-196. Kendall, K.E., Kendall, J.E. and Wasson, C.S., 2014.Systems analysis and design(Vol. 19, p. 02). Year Prentice Hall, 2011. Kim, J. and Lennon, S.J., 2013. Effects of reputation and website quality on online consumers' emotion, perceived risk and purchase intention: Based on the stimulus-organism-response model.Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing,7(1), pp.33-56. Perrigot, R. and Pnard, T., 2013. Determinants of e-commerce strategy in franchising: a resource-based view.International Journal of Electronic Commerce,17(3), pp.109-130. Sozinova, A.A. and Fokina, O.V., 2015. Special aspects of studying the internet as a marketing communication channel of the service industry.Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences,6(4), p.139.

The Myth of the Melting Pot Essay Example

The Myth of the Melting Pot Paper Allison Bergonia English 100 20 september 2013 Myths of the Melting Pot Modern America is considered to be a melting pot, in which a variety of races, cultures, or individuals gather into a unified whole. The ideas of being a new American for people who have migrated from their homeland to America are to leave behind all their past cultures and practices and embrace their new American ways. Is that what really happens? If it was, would there be still racism in America? The number of people immigrating to America has risen over the years, but so has the number of active hate groups. The idea of unity in the melting pot of America is a yth because of racism, stereotypes, prejudice, and cultural segregation of its people. Most people would say that racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race. Its more than that. Its the belief that those characteristics of each race determine whether or not the race is superior or inferior to the other races. Racism has dated back to hundreds of years in the past. Even former president Thomas Jefferson said, l advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by ime and circumstances, are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind Oefferson, 502). To Thomas Jefferson emancipated slaves as well as the owned slaves and their physical and mental characteristics were not up to par with their white owners. Not Just because of their status as slaves, but because what race they were. We will write a custom essay sample on The Myth of the Melting Pot specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Myth of the Melting Pot specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Myth of the Melting Pot specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Only because they were a bit different from the white people that owned the land at the time. One of the most interesting, yet unsettling facts was that many of Americas founding fathers practiced the principle of ethnocentrism and did not eem to consider this an act of racism. Ethnocentrism has been defined as a generalized rejection of all out groups on the basis of an in group focus (Parrillo, 505). An example would be how some races have been identified as dirty, violent, or law breaking. This grew even more in the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 1 1 . It is very important to understand that prejudice is rejection of a person or people based on the group or race in which they share similarities. That is not to say that either of these should be acceptable if the intent is to improve the social condition. Another barrier to improving racial and ethnic relations is created by how the media presents situations that have occurred involving people of race and ethnic background. For example, during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina many of the pictures portrayed people of different ethnicities finding food from a grocery store. However from the two pictures the white couple were considered survivalists while the single black male was considered a looter, People complained that the captions accompanying the images were racially suggestive: black people loot and white people find (Harris and Carbado, 525). Its not very fair to say one is looting and the other as having found their supplies by looking at their race, but this is how to do with the reinforcement of prejudice and self-worth by presenting stereotypes that clarify class standings often portraying race and ethnic diversity in a negative way. This is a form where self-justification serves as a source of prejudice is the dominant groups assumption of an attitude of superiority over other groups. In this respect, establishing a prestige hierarchy ranking the status of various ethnic groups results in differential association (Parrillo, 508). This also clarifies how the myth of difference and hierarchy is established since the weaker group will submit to the stronger group and thereby establishing a so called pecking order. Sometimes the pecking order is very subtle, such as the idea that an Africa-America could become president gave hope to the idea that racial and ethnic relations could improve. Many people of all races and ethnic diversity considered this a turning poi nt in history. That hope crashed quickly after the smoke cleared and the illusion faded in the knowledge that the president did not have the power to make this happen. Erin Kaplan makes this very clear when she wrote, Its a schizophrenic attitude: we are encouraged by the black persons potential enough to give him a Job, but are we ever wary of giving him power. This is why as soon as Obama stepped into the White House, he had to be punished. Whites are used to controlling black opportunity, to giving and taking it as they see fit. President Obama in that way was never president-in-waiting, he was an opportunity the bright and capable intern who deserved a shot. But being in charge was not part of the deal (Kaplan, 545). America is known as the land of equal opportunity. Sure there are opportunity in Jobs for all races and even education. The myth of unity is truly the fantasy about this amazing land of opportunity that so many immigrants wanted and expected once they arrived in America. Instead, the citizens and the life style established in local communities rejected them. The cognitive level of prejudice encompasses a persons beliefs and perceptions of a group as threatening or nonthreatening, inferior or equal, seclusive or intrusive, impulse gratifying, acquisitive, or possessing other positive or negative characteristics (Parrillo, 505). We focus on most of the negative racial stereotypes about people that we drive them away from our communities and force them into places like the ghetto or less fortunate places because we dont give them the opportunity that they dream of and that they really deserve. Racial segregation even takes place in schools. Kids found it easier to get along with their own race. When I was in high school kids were first separated into little cliques of the average high school, like football players, band kids, kids who went to certain clubs, and leadership, etc. Then there were the sub-cliques which were by race. All the white cheerleaders would hang out separately from the others, the ghetto football players would hang out together, and Asians in drama would stay together. Even though my high school was known for its diversity, everyone was still segregated. The kids would make stereotypical comments about one another. As one of the Asian kids in high school I had a lot of Asian friends. There was even a place in my high school where all of the Asian kids would hang out after school called Asian avenue. People would always ask me if I was good at math or say that I only get good grades because I was Asian, since the stereotype is that Asians are uper smart. Social norms the norms of ones culture form the generally shared automatically accepting the prevailing prejudices, an individual is simply conforming to those forms (Parrillo, 515). I gave into this social norm of how Asians were smart and got good grades. In conclusion, America is considered a land of opportunity, but for some that was true, while others were Judged by the way they looked and cultural differences. There have been barely any attempts to stop the hate crimes in the media and on the street. With a new president in term people hoped for a change, however many were disappointed by the outcome. The land of equality is a lie to many who are looked down upon Just because of the color of their skin. Each time change might occur the hierarchy manipulates it into submission and causes tension to rise. Works Cited Harris, Cheryl l. and Devon W. Carbado. Loot or Find: Fact or Frame? Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 524-538. Print. Jefferson, Thomas. From Notes on the State of Virginia. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 497-502. Print. Kaplan, Erin Aubry. Barack Obama: Miles Traveled, Miles to Go. Rereading America:Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. By Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 540-552. Print. Parrillo, Vincent. Causes of Prejudice. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cu llen, and Bonnie Lisle. 9th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2013. 504-516. print.

A History of African Slave Traders

A History of African Slave Traders During the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Europeans did not have the power to invade African states or kidnap African slaves at will. For the most part, the 12.5 million slaves transported across the Atlantic Ocean were purchased from African slave traders. It is a piece of the triangle trade about which there are still many critical misperceptions. Motivations for Slavery One question that many Westerners have about African slavers, is why were they willing to sell their own people? Why would they sell Africans to Europeans? The simple answer to this question is that they did not see slaves as their own people. Blackness (as an identity or marker of difference) was a preoccupation of Europeans, not Africans. There was also in this era no sense of being African. (Indeed, to this day, individuals are more likely to identify as being African rather than, say, Kenyan only after leaving Africa.) Some slaves were prisoners of, and many of these may have been seen as enemies or rivals to those who sold them. Others were people who had fallen into debt. They were different by virtue of their status (what we might think of today as their class). Slavers also kidnapped people, but again, there was no reason they would inherently see slaves as their own. Slavery as a Part of Life It might be tempting to think that African slave traders did not know how bad European plantation slavery was, but there was a lot of movement across the Atlantic. Not all traders would have known about the horrors of the Middle Passage or what life awaited slaves, but others at least had an idea. There are always people willing to ruthlessly exploit others in the quest for money and power, but the story of the African slave trade goes much further than a few bad people. Slavery and the sale of slaves, though, were parts of life. The concept of not selling slaves to willing buyers would have seemed strange to many people up until the 1800s. The goal was not to protect slaves, but to ensure that oneself and ones kin were not reduced to slaves. A Self-Replicating Cycle As the slave trade intensified in the 16 and 1700s, it also became harder not to participate in the trade in some regions of West Africa. The enormous demand for African slaves led to the formation of a few states whose economy and politics were centered around slave raiding and trading. States and political factions that participated in the trade gained access to firearms and luxury goods, which could be used to secure political support. States and communities who were not actively participating in the slave trade were increasingly at a disadvantage. The Mossi Kingdom is an example of a state that resisted the slave trade until the 1800s when it began trading in slaves as well. Opposition to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade The Mossi Kingdom was not the only African state or community to resist selling slaves to Europeans. For instance, the king of the Kongo, Afonso I, who had converted to Catholicism, tried to stop the slave of slaves to Portuguese traders. He lacked the power, however, to police the whole of his territory, and traders as well as nobles engaged in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to gain wealth and power. Alfonso tried writing to the Portuguese king and asking him to stop Portuguese traders from engaging in the slave trade, but his plea was ignored. The Benin Empire offers a very different example. Benin sold slaves to Europeans when it was expanding and fighting many wars - which produced prisoners of war. Once the state stabilized, it stopped trading slaves, until it started to decline in the 1700s. During this period of increasing instability, the state resumed participation in the slave trade.

The Natural Disasters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Natural Disasters - Essay Example These two cases were of great significance to the governments of both nations and hence elicited responses as they occurred. The earthquake that took place in Italy provoked the government to declare a state of emergency and it dedicated all its attention towards the earthquake and the effect it had on the general Italian populace e.g. the prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi decided to cancel an official visit to Russia in order to pay a visit to and assess the area that had been hit by the earthquake. Such a declaration was not made in China. Relevant government officials undertook an assessment of the area and immediately got into directing their efforts towards combating the effects of the disaster and looked into disaster preparedness. It has been recorded that Italy had been warned of the earthquake by a seismologist but the government had decided to ignore it and decided not to act on it. China embarked on the mass disposal of the bodies and influenced the DNA tests that were meant to assist with the identification of the bodies yet Italy’s engagement in this is unknown. The governments of the two countries embarked on resettling the survivors and the displaced persons to areas of safety and took measures to ensure the people stayed off the affected areas to avoid the possibility of accidents and to maximize safety. The displaced persons were offered tents, food, and water among others. Both countries also arraigned necessary services e.g. medical, temporary academic and water, at the campsites.