Pursuing Equal Opportunities By Lesley Jacobs - 2087 Words

Lesley Jacobs’ work â€Å"Pursuing Equal Opportunities† first sets out to provide a theoretical model from which to provide normative foundations for proposing social policies that regulate competition for scarce resources, as well as for the purposes of critiquing them. Jacobs advocates for equal opportunities as a regulative ideal, and the model he uses to justify this is three-dimensional and radical in this way as it includes the addition of â€Å"stake-fairness† to â€Å"procedural fairness† and â€Å"background fairness,† which previous models have not fully articulated. The addition of stakes fairness allows for Jacobs to set the foundation for his equal opportunities ideal in opposition to John Rawls who objected to equal opportunities on the basis of natural inequalities. One of the most shocking parts of this book is Jacobs’ claim that natural inequalities are a myth, therefore an argument for equal opportunities in place of the Rawlsian ideas including the difference principle (Inequalities are ok as long as those disadvantaged by them benefit more than if they did not exist) can be revitalized. Personally, I was on the edge of my seat reading this because being persuaded by such a statement would be tantamount to a sort of freedom I could not possibly imagine on my own. Despite these inclinations to want Jacobs to persuade me, I had reservations. Jacobs’ argument rests on a social constructionist perspective that I am actually partly in favour of and reminds me of a quote I holdShow MoreRelatedTeaching At The School Of Public Education Essay2053 Words   |  9 Pagesâ€Å"without alignment, tests reinforce the inequalities that are already present in larger society and reflected in schools.† In our public education system, it is extremely important to provide all students with equal quality education. Your work as a co-chair of the Educational Opportunity and Achievement Gap Committee has intimated you with this struggle to close the gap created by education untailored to students. As you know, tests innately have a cultural bias with the expectation students will

The Four Of Us Are Talking About When We Talk About Love...

â€Å"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love† by Raymond Carver is a story about four friends having drinks and conversing about what love means to them. Terri tells a story of her former partner, Ed, who used to physically abuse her and claims that he did so out of love. Mel, who is a cardiologist, tells a story of this who couple who was in a terrible car accident, and while healing the old man was saddened because he could not turn over and look at his wife due to the casts restricting his movements. Mel also goes on to say that no one truly knows what love is. Carver uses alcohol, conversation, and the Sun to convey the idea that no one truly understands the elusiveness of love. Alcohol is one of the major themes in the story even†¦show more content†¦By the time the alcohol is gone, the Sun has set and so has their definitions of love. After all that talking, still no one knows what love is. Another critical theme in this story is conversation. The entire setting is based on the conversation that these four friends have. Terri starts this conversation when she states that â€Å"the man she was with before Mel loved her so much he tried to kill himself† (4). This is very important to the context of the story because it begins the narrative. She goes on to explain her experiences with Ed. Specifically, the time he beat and dragged her through their home. As delusional as it sounds, Terri believes her idea of love is clear and exact and doesn t budge when Mel suggests that she is wrong. â€Å"My God, don’t be silly. That’s not love and you know it† (6). Nick and Laura also believe they know the meaning of love. Laura states, Well, Nick and I know what love is (43). They demonstrate this not by words but through displays of affection such as holding hands and kissing. Terri disagrees with this. Love takes time to build and Nick and Laura are still in the honeymoon stages of love. Stop that now. You re making me sick. You re still on the honeymoon, for God s sake (46). It is at this point, and the drinking continues and the day passes by, that the conversation and ideas of love become less coherent and precise. MelShow MoreRelatedEssay on Raymond Carvers What We Talk About When We Talk About Love1355 Words   |  6 PagesLove is undoubtedly one of the most frequently explored subjects in the literary world. Whether the focus is a confession of love, criticism of love, tale of love, or simply a tale about what love is, such literary pieces force readers to question the true meaning and value of love. Raymond Carver accomplishes this in his short story â€Å"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.† As the unadorned setting and the personality of each character unfold, the reader realizes that Carver is making a graveRead MoreLove, By Laura Kipnis1753 Words   |  8 Pagesafter†. Love is such a crazy thing, one day is alive and growing and the next is fading until it completely dies. Everyone will have their own view on love, but love is vague, for one knows about today but not about tomorrow. In her critique of love, â€Å"Against Love,† Laura Kipnis offers a judgmental version of what constitutes â€Å"real love†. She questions whether we truly desire love, or rather, are conditioned to. She asserts that social forms accustomed us to pursue a love life so that we are entertainedRead MoreLiterary Criticism of The Namesake8108 Words   |  33 Pagesthe book. Yet few of the reviewers of the novel mentioned Nikolai Gogol at all in their discussions of the novel, except to describe the protagonist Gogols loathing of his name, or to quote without comment or explanation Dostoevskis famous line, We all came out of Gogols Overcoat. So far, no one has looked beyond the surfaces to examine the significance of the allusions to Gogol that are so much a part of the fabric of Lahiri s novel. Without the references to Nikolai Gogol, it is easy to readRead MoreAN ANALYSIS PAPER ON ANTON CHEKHOV’S THE SEAGULL AND THE CHERRY ORCHARD12092 Words   |  49 PagesPassivity 3.3 Comparison to Henry James 3.3.1 Varying Cultural. Political, and Social Standpoints 3.3.2 Ideologem of Loss 3.3.3 Relation of Russian and American Literature 4. Questions for Analysis 4.1 How do the literary works teach about morality? 4.2 What is the prevailing idea shown in the story? How can the readers relate to it? 4.3 If you were to provide an alternative ending to your chosen story, how would you end it? Why? 4.4 How do these literary works adhere

Omnivore Free Essays

After having read part I of Michael Pollen’s book these chapters give us a view of the beginning of the step by step process of food from the farmlands to the dinner table. Instead of the question â€Å"What’s for dinner? â€Å", it would seem more like â€Å"What’s in the dinner? â€Å". Pollen takes us on a Journey through the fields in Iowa and concludes with a trip to analyze meal he shared with his family at a local McDonald’s. We will write a custom essay sample on Omnivore or any similar topic only for you Order Now He allows us to take a look inside of the process by which corn is used in a numbers of ways corn is used other that as a food source. By the end of part l, there is a better understanding of how corn can be used as not only a food source, but as fuel, sweetener, alcohol, as well as a chemical for explosive devices. Pollen visits a farm in Iowa and gives a very detailed view on the process by which corn is farm through the fields, processed through the grain elevator plant not far from the corn fields. He also explains the introduction to the topic of industrial corn and its origins some hundreds of thousands of years ago. Pollen goes on to explain how farmers must increase the amount of corn that is planted in order survive money loss in the process, guaranteeing a harvest for the following year. In addition to his view of the process by which corn is harvested and processed for use other that food, Pollen pays a visit to Pokey Feeders cattle farm in Kansas where the cows are feed processed corn to help them become larger. The fiestas of these animals is cut short because they are now being feed a food that naturally is not a part of their nature (grass). To prevent them from getting sick, the cows are being given antibiotics that are eventually passed onto the meat that is consumed by the buyer. The increased demand for the meats of these animals has led farmers to mass breed cows at an alarming rate, placing consumers at risk for the threat of disease ( E. Coli 01 57:HE). Pollen’s description of fast food was definitely a shocker. He talks about all the synthetic food additives that put into fast food the give hem their color, texture and taste. It is scary to imagine that so many chemicals (Ex. TPTB) can be used to make something that so many people find tasty. When a McDonald meal is broken down, it seems almost unheard of that anyone would eat this separate on its own. Pollen voices his concern on how so much energy is wasted on creating these meals, the tens of thousands of corn calories being consumed that could have been used for other food purposes to feed so many hungry people. The first part of this book was definitely an eye-opener. Pollen’s book allows us to take a second look at the way a lot of people get their food. We are given a better idea on how food is grown in its natural state, the industrial process by which food is treated with chemicals, how these chemicals may become a part of the product itself to stimulate growth, and how this chemicals may eventually find their way to our dinner plates. After reading this first part, this book can make anyone want to diversify their diet by eating more game meat, growing their own food and living off of the land. Wouldn’t that be great? How to cite Omnivore, Papers

Managing Employee Relations Zukauskas & Vveinhardt

Question: Discuss about theManaging Employee Relations for Zukauskas Vveinhardt. Answer: Introduction Workplace conflict is an inevitable fact to any organization life. The organization, which accept this truism they have done so for many reasons. The conflict can reduce the hidden costs that are associated with the conflict by building on the processes and the systems in order to remove underlying causes of those conflicts (Dozier, Grunig Grunig, 2013). If these factors are to remain unaddressed, conflict can lead to destruction. The conflict that are not resolved destruct the employees from doing their important tasks. Individual conflict do not contribute the wellbeing of the mission and the strategy of the organization (Zukauskas Vveinhardt, 2015). Employees may resist from taking actions, which bring the conflict to the surface, thus eroding on the performance and creating unintended consequences. The essay will explain on the roles of the governments, the employers and the trade unions in the management of the conflict in Australia. Role of Government The government of Australia has a role in the management of conflict. An example of how this has been formulated has been the Rudd government in 2007. The election that was held in 2007 was aimed to fight the right at work from all the work choice. Kevin Rudd who turned into the Head administrator of Australia he presented the work administrations for the mechanical relations that was alluded to as forward with decency. The main issue with respect to this administration was that the Rudd government began instantly on destroying on the work decisions by the presentation of two enactment (Zukauskas Vveinhardt, 2015). One of the enactment was the work relations Correction Demonstration of 2008. The bad mark of the enactment was the expulsion of the choice of making AWA. The second depended on the presentation of the no disservice test that was against the understandings that could be judged. In Australia, several elements were characterized on the industrial relations system of the Aus tralia. One of them was fair work bill 2008. After the new government came to power, they promised to pass legislation that were into phases (Shields, Brown, Kaine, Dolle-Samuel, North-Samardzic, McLean Plimmer, 2015). One there should be introduction of AWA that replaces the Benjamin Mehran that was the comparative Human Resource Management. Another role of the government was refer on the national industrial relation system. The state is required to allude to their modern relations energy to the common wealth. The national system should be applied to the employees of the private sector and the employer within the state and local government. In resolving the workplace conflict the government advocate for the use of the national system that are applied in the workplace (Purce, 2014). Role of Employers The effective dispute resolution in an organization can help the employers to be able to maintain a relationship with the employees on dealing to the workplace issues from an early stage. The workers are likely to be cooperative and productive if the employer takes all their grievances seriously. A good resolution for the conflict in the workplace focusses on an effective resolution at the workplace that may help to avoid the cost of resolving the claims externally. There has been introduction of the ten national employment standards (Need, 2006). The full time employment should work only 38 hours where there is presence of personal leave, public holidays and flexible work arrangement. Moreover, in regards to this legislation the employer is required to provide the minimum wages to the employees, should specify on the type of the work that ought to be undertaken and the provision of the annualized salaries (McDonald Thompson, 2016). In the legislation there has been regarded as pro flexibility visions for the awards and the collective agreements. In every agreement, contain flexibility clauses, which provides the flexible agreements on matters in regards to the number of work hours, benefits or the arrangements of family. Trade Unions Trade unions are important organizations, which helps in the management of conflict in the workplace. The industrial action will need to be protected especially when it occurs during the bargaining period. There are actions that are usually taken when supporting the industry agreement example the pattern bargaining (Fossum, 2014). In case the employers have been subjected to the unprotected industrial action they are entitled to go to the court. The unions have the right for maintenance of the workplace conflict. The officials of the unions have the right to investigate on the breaches of agreements, awards, and of both the arrangements and occupational health with the members of the unions or the potential members. The unions also have the right to protect the employees from the unfair dismissal. An example in Australia was in2009 when there was introduction of a new fair dismissal framework that out the means which a business need to experience before the representative has been re leased (Fossum, 2014). It is not reasonable for the business to reject the specialists without notice or even maybe a notice when the business accept on the sensible grounds that the representative lead was exceptionally adequate to legitimize on the release (Purce, 2014). There are not kidding unfortunate behavior that one can be released on burglary, misrepresentation brutality or the breaks of the word related wellbeing methods. There are also collective agreements which that the unions have implemented in order to resolve the management conflict in the workplace. Conclusion The re-introduction of the disadvantages test that was formulated in the division 5A of the workplace relation act of 1996 where there were inadequacies in the previous fairness test. The Fair work has been entitled with the objective of checking on the agreement in order to ensure all the workers are better treated since most of the conflict occurs when the grievances of the employees are not taken into consideration. Moreover, the individuals who are involved in the bargaining power are entitled to bargain the good faith. A good faith agreement must meet the following reasonable time, attending and participating in the meeting, and responding to the proposals that are formulated. The introduction of the new Rudd Administration has help in the changing of the industrial relations in Australia. According to ACTU, they are appreciated on the new procedures that were implemented and they even named them the turning tide towards the industrial relations and the right of the workers. The major success for this new legislation was due to the consultative arrangements by the stakeholders example the employers and the trade unions. Based on Hall (2008) he believed that the new labor industrial relations represented on the excess of the workers choices. Nonetheless, this is not the case in that the new system that are designed is to ensure that fears and the critism are not in the business lobby. References Dozier, D. M., Grunig, L. A., Grunig, J. E. (2013). Manager's guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge. Fossum, J. A. (2014). Labor relations. Mcgraw Hill Higher Educat. Kersley, B., Alpin, C., Forth, J., Bryson, A., Bewley, H., Dix, G., Oxenbridge, S. (2013). Inside the workplace: findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Routledge. McDonald, P., Thompson, P. (2016). Social media (tion) and the reshaping of public/private boundaries in employment relations. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18(1), 69-84. Need, W. C. D. H. P. (2006). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67. Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing Employee Performance Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press. Zukauskas, P., Vveinhardt, J. (2015). Diagnosis of mobbing as discrimination in employee relations. Engineering Economics, 64(4).

Modern News Programs as the Embodiment of Infotainment Principle

Information is power: those who possess actual knowledge of current events can easier find themselves in the complicated stream of everyday life, as well as classify their understanding of what is going on, make appropriate conclusions, and undertake corresponding action.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Modern News Programs as the Embodiment of Infotainment Principle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Curiosity for information lies deep in human nature, and for centuries on end people have involved in the process of information sharing. Nowadays, the task of rendering the most actual and up-to-date information lies on the institute of mass media, and one of the key genres of information delivery is TV news programs. Originally designed for the purposes of mere informing of key current events, news programs are observed to have evolved into more entertaining events. A special notion of ‘infotainmentâ €™ appeared, that designates the deviation of news from their informative function into the sphere of entertainment. Pursuing the objective of commercial profit, modern news programs embody the principle of infotainment in both their contents and presentation style. Debate on television news programs losing their professional quality and rolling down into the sphere of popular entertainment events dates back to the late 1980s, when the term ‘infotainment’ was first coined reflecting the genre mix of information and entertainment in news and programs on current affairs. The word turned out to be so catchy and appropriate for what was happening in the contemporary media, that by 1992 it had already been included into Roget’s Thesaurus (Thussu 7). Consequently, infotainment entered still more dictionaries and is now defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as â€Å"broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform†, and in Key Concepts in Political Communication as â€Å"the combination of the words information and entertainment, suggesting a practice of blending together of their presentation within the broadcasting of news and current affairs† (as cited in Thussu 8). Therefore, infotainment reflects a trend in contemporary mass media to place more importance on the presentation form rather than content of their news product. As such, the tendency towards infotainment is not totally new. Providing an in-depth excursion in the historical development of the press, Harrison remarks that although criticism of the popular mass media tendency to entertain rather than educate has risen relatively recently, ‘commercialization of news’ was already observed as early as in the eighteenth century (55).Advertising Looking for research paper on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The trend to make news more thrilling for the general public by introducing exciting stories led to the situation that â€Å"then, as now, blood and sex reigned supreme in the pages of the popular press† (Cranfield, as cited in Harrison 55). As the costs of publishing soared, press agencies had to compete fiercely for the reading audiences. Political news was moved aside and reduced to very small items that were reported in a way attractive to popular interest. Aiming at large circulations, reporters developed the style of their story presentation to increasingly dramatic and catchy, with headlines enlarged and more attention given to interviews, sports, and descriptions of personalities. Thus developed the ‘new journalism’ style (Harrison 56–57). How does this ‘new’ presentation style look today? On the one hand, the representatives of news to public are of major importance: those often are either expert ‘personality’ correspondents who possess enough charisma and acting skills to keep the attention of the audience in an entertaining way, or celebrity presenters who attract the public simply by being generally acknowledged celebrities. On the other hand, not only the presenters but also the news studios have been fit to the demands of the entertainment principle: the wall screens have been added that allow reporters to operate videos in support of the news presented, so that the story can be told by walking from one side of the studio to the other. This dramatization of news allows presenting events to the public as an exciting â€Å"walk into the story of the day† and thus attracting interest and retaining a larger audience (Harrison 168). The modern situation in the world of news programs has been brilliantly summed up by Daya Kishan Thussu, who accentuates that the source for modern concept of infotainment lies in the vision of American media companies: â€Å"This news cannibalizes visual forms and styles borrowed from contemporary TV commercials a nd a MTV-style visual aesthetics, including fast-paced visual action, in a post-modern studio, computer-animated logos, eye-catching visuals and rhetorical headlines from an, often glamorous, anchor person. Such news, particularly on the rolling 24/7 channels, appears to be the answer to attracting the ‘me’ generation of media users, prone to channel hopping and zapping as well as more inclined towards on-line and mobile news. This style of presentation, with its origins in the ratings-driven commercial television news culture of the US, is becoming increasingly global, as news channels attempt to reach more viewers and keep their target audiences from switching over.â€Å" (8)Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Modern News Programs as the Embodiment of Infotainment Principle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In addition to the aforementioned external factors of news ‘entertainisationâ⠂¬â„¢, one can observe the entertaining principles in the programs content as well. As Hamilton comments on the situation which was observed already in the early 1990s, â€Å"the popularity of entertainment programming also affected the news product† as more attention was placed on soft news, crimes, scandals, and celebrity stories that would secure the channels’ popularity among the viewers (175). Reflecting Thussu’s comment on infotainment as oriented at â€Å"media users, prone to channel hopping and zapping†, news programs involve short, disconnected episodes on a whole variety of topics that are changing each other fast enough not to bore the audience (8). The information is presented in a ragged scrappy style that corresponds to the general trend in modern perception. Nowadays people are getting so much information from the environment that in order to protect themselves from this information tsunami, they try to scan and skim the information resour ces to get only the key facts and not the details. In its turn, such ‘express’ approach to presenting and receiving news bears the jeopardy of superficiality and shallowness of perceiving the world. The over-informed audiences are satiated with information and do not have the time or wish for serious consideration of whatever they are informed of. Struggling to catch their ever-eluding attention, TV channels represent information in such amounts and manner that can be compared to the motley kaleidoscope of a carnival. Instead of instigating the audiences to ponder over the information they receive, modern news programs rather present â€Å"electronic media spectacles where narration or the simple accumulation of anecdotes prevails over reasoned solutions to the problems† (Garcia Canclini, as cited in Thussu 9). Critical assessment and reflection on the presented content is hampered by both the presentation style and pace. The superficiality of modern news program s has been widely criticized as degrading. Researching human communication in the light of the means involved in it, Neil Postman refers to the idea formulated by Marshall McLuhan, â€Å"the medium is the message† (as cited in Erion 193). Based on this idea, Postman develops a theory that it is impossible to preserve the serious and fundamental character of information presented by means of modern television. By its nature, television simply has to be entertaining since it involves exciting and moving imagery that distracts the audiences from thoughtful contemplation of the information they obtain: â€Å"On television thoughtful conversation about serious issues are reserved only for the lowest-rated niche programs†.Advertising Looking for research paper on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Even when interlocutors meet in a discussion format, the discussion as such does not occur, since the show happens according to an a priori devised scenario which does not consider any personal input, reaction, or contribution from the participants. The moderator of the discussion program keeps an eye on the conversation to go exactly the way it has been pre-planned, and restrains any digression, which makes the logical flow of discussion impossible. As Postman observes, the typical roundtables which seem to follow the purpose of discussing and finding a solution to an issue, actually have â€Å"no arguments or counterarguments, no scrutiny of assumptions, no explanations, no elaborations, no definitions† (as cited in Erion 198). Otherwise, a thoughtful conversation would not be entertaining; it would simply bore the audience and make them switch over to a more exciting program. In order to break away from the sticky web of entertainment that impoverishes human intelligence o riginally designed to analyze and seek answers to problems, it is essential to understand what lies in the basis of the infotainment trend. Tracing the possible results of such media policy, Alex S. Jones anxiously predicts that if the nation’s press is â€Å"mostly tabloid, advocacy, or entertainment† primarily aiming at sole â€Å"profit rather than the public good combined with profit†, there is little hope for the nation preserving its rational core (51). The ultimate aim of mass media is also in the center of concern of modern journalists who assemble to discuss the way out of the situation during the Sixth Forum of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. Among them, a Los Angeles correspondent for CBS News, Bill Whittaker, expressed concern not just for the entertainment trend in the news, but in the fact that â€Å"bottom line is everything†: â€Å"†¦ one of the bad things that 60 Minutes did was that it made money, and that for the first tim e, news producers and news divisions came to see that news could make a profit. Before then it wasn’t expected to. Those pressures were taken off of news. It was supposed to be a loss leader and you did it because it was a good thing to do and your anchor was your prestige person up in front. Now all news operations and broadcasts are expected to make money.† (as cited in Mueller n.p.) The solution of the problem is seen by journalists not in rejecting the entertaining nature of news, but in choosing the right items to cover and transforming the news from mere brief nomination of superficial pseudo-entertaining facts to an exciting coverage that would provoke thinking audiences to assess and analyze the information they get (Mueller n.p.). In this sense, the comedy shows that parody ‘real’ news turn out to be much more successful in presenting the public with a more realistic picture of the world than the ‘real’ news programs (J. Jones 219). Mo dern news industry seems to be experiencing a crisis since the trend towards infotainment that bases on desire for profit makes news degrade to superficial statement of irrelevant facts. In order to protect their audience from intellectual degrading, mass media need to rethink the coverage items and volume and thus spur the audience to think, assess, analyze, and act. Works Cited Erion, Gerald J. â€Å"Amusing Ourselves to Death with Television News: Jon Stewart, Neil Postman, and the Huxleyan Warning.† Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. 6th ed. Eds. Michael Petracca and Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2009. 191–200. Print. Hamilton, James T. All the News that’s Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. Print. Harrisson, Jackie. News. Oxon: Routlege, 2006. Print. Jones, Alex S. Losing the News: The Future of the News that Feeds Democracy. N ew York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Jones, Jeffrey P. â€Å"’Fake’ News versus ‘Real News as Sources of Political Information: The Daily Show and Postmodern Political Reality†. Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. 6th ed. Eds. Michael Petracca and Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2009. 201–222. Print. Mueller, Bret. â€Å"Has News Been Abdicated for Entertainment?† Sixth Forum of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, Session 1. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, 4 March 1998. Web. Thussu, Daya Kishan. News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2007. Print. This research paper on Modern News Programs as the Embodiment of Infotainment Principle was written and submitted by user Sons of the Tiger to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Consequences of World War I

The Consequences of World War I World War I was fought on battlefields throughout Europe between 1914 and 1918. It involved human slaughter on a previously unprecedented scale- and its consequences were enormous. The human and structural devastation left Europe and the world greatly changed in almost all facets of life, setting the stage for political convulsions throughout the remainder of the century. A New Great Power Before its entry into World War I, the United States of America was a nation of untapped military potential and growing economic might. But the war changed the United States in two important ways: the countrys military was turned into a large-scale fighting force with the intense experience of modern war, a force that was clearly equal to that of the old Great Powers; and the balance of economic power began to shift from the drained nations of Europe to America. However, the dreadful toll taken by the war led U.S. politicians to retreat from the world and return to a policy of isolationism. That isolation initially limited the impact of Americas growth, which would only truly come to fruition in the aftermath of World War II. This retreat also undermined the League of Nations and the emerging new political order. Socialism Rises to the World Stage The collapse of Russia under the pressure of total warfare allowed socialist revolutionaries to seize power  and turn communism, one of the world’s growing ideologies, into a major European force. While the global socialist revolution that Vladimir Lenin believed was coming never happened, the presence of a huge and potentially powerful communist nation in Europe and Asia changed the balance of world politics. Germanys politics initially tottered toward  joining Russia, but eventually pulled back from experiencing a full Leninist change and formed a new social democracy. This would come under great pressure and fail from the challenge of Germanys right, whereas Russias authoritarian regime after the tsarists lasted for decades. The Collapse of Central and Eastern European Empires The German, Russian, Turkish, and Austro-Hungarian Empires all fought in World War I, and all were swept away by defeat and revolution, although not necessarily in that order. The fall of Turkey in 1922 from a revolution stemming directly from the war, as well as that of Austria-Hungary, was probably not that much of a surprise: Turkey had long been regarded as the sick man of Europe, and vultures had circled its territory for decades. Austria-Hungary appeared close behind. But the fall of the young, powerful, and growing German Empire, after the people revolted and the Kaiser was forced to abdicate, came as a great shock. In their place came a rapidly changing series of new governments, ranging in structure from democratic republics to socialist dictatorships. Nationalism Transforms and Complicates Europe Nationalism had been growing in Europe for decades before World War I began, but the wars aftermath saw a major rise in new nations and independence movements. Part of this was a result of Woodrow Wilson’s isolationist commitment to what he called self-determination. But part of it was also a response to the destabilization of old empires, which nationalists viewed as an opportunity to declare new nations. The key region for European nationalism was Eastern Europe and the Balkans, where Poland, the three Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and others emerged. But nationalism conflicted hugely with the ethnic makeup of this region of Europe, where many different nationalities and ethnicities sometimes lived in tension with one another. Eventually, internal conflicts stemming from new self-determination by national majorities arose from disaffected minorities who preferred the rule of neighbors. The Myths of Victory and Failure German commander Erich Ludendorff suffered a mental collapse before he called for an armistice to end the war, and when he recovered and discovered the terms he had signed onto, he insisted Germany refuse them, claiming the army could fight on. But the new civilian government overruled him, as once peace had been established there was no way to keep the army fighting. The civilian leaders who overruled Ludendorff became scapegoats for both the army and Ludendorff himself. Thus began, at the very close of the war, the myth of the undefeated German army being stabbed in the back by liberals, socialists, and Jews who had damaged the Weimar Republic and fueled the rise of Hitler. That myth came directly from Ludendorff setting up the civilians for the fall. Italy didn’t receive as much land as it had been promised in secret agreements, and Italian right-wingers exploited this to complain of a mutilated peace. In contrast, in Britain, the successes of 1918 which had been won partly by their soldiers were increasingly ignored, in favor of viewing the war and all war as a bloody catastrophe. This affected their response to international events in the 1920s and 1930s; arguably, the policy of appeasement was born from the ashes of World War I. The Largest Loss: A Lost Generation While it is not strictly true that a whole generation was lost- and some historians have complained about the term- eight million people died during World War I, which was perhaps one in eight of the combatants. In most of the Great Powers, it was hard to find anyone who had not lost someone to the war. Many other people had been wounded or shell-shocked so badly they killed themselves, and these casualties are not reflected in the figures.

Outline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Outline - Essay Example This statement to a great extent brings out the basic idea of the service learning and also highlights the basic foundation of service learning. Hence this will be the attention getting statement of the speech. The main aim of the research is to identify companies in the local area of Denver Colorado which support service learning. The research will focus on the companies that support and implement service learning. The statement for preview will be the explanation by Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction: â€Å"Service-learning is a teaching and learning methodology which fosters civic responsibility and applies classroom learning through meaningful service to the community. The strongest service-learning experiences occur when the service is meaningfully immersed in ongoing learning and is a natural part of the curriculum that extends into the community† (Public Instruction). The main reason this has been chosen is that it provides an excellent foundation and explanation of the concept of service learning. In conclusion, it is essential to note that there are a number of companies that adopt and support service learning to a great extent. It is also essential to understand that service learning helps in better interaction with others and also helps in spreading the knowledge in a more effective manner. Denver, Colorado has in fact become a hub of service learning and more companies each day adapt service learning or also support it. The success rate of service learning within this area is high and effective. Thank you, now my friend XXXXXX will continue with the