The Study Of Paranormal Phenomena Psychology Essay

The Study Of Paranormal Phenomena Psychology Essay The study of paranormal phenomena or paranormal belief is a component of parapsychology. According to Kennedy (2005), paranormal belief is still a poorly understood aspect in humanity. Some people believe in it but some are strongly opposed to the idea of paranormal phenomena; both parties are standing firmly in their own viewpoint to an extreme. According to Cline (n.d.), parapsychology is a field that engages the study of psychological phenomena which are unexplainable by means of science or can say that it has against the principles and theories of science. The term parapsychology was invented in year 1889 by a psychologist, Max Dessoir. Paranormal phenomena can be divided into three types which are clairvoyance or precognition, telepathy, and telekinesis. Telepathy is the capacity to sense and exchange information across the spaces through mind power. Telekinesis is the using of mind power to move objects. Clairvoyance or precognition is the capability to predict future events. Y et Tobacyk (2004) has divided the belief in paranormal phenomena into seven dimensions namely traditional religious belief, psi, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, extraordinary life forms, and precognition. Paranormal beliefs have been found in many cultures for more than a thousand years (Jahoda, 1969 as cited in Wiseman Watt, 2004) and the recent surveys showed that these paranormal beliefs are continuing to flourish nowadays (Newport Strausberg, 2001 as cited in Wiseman Watt, 2004). Paranormal phenomenon was experienced and believed by people of all cultures. This means that people from different cultures will have different belief systems toward paranormal phenomena. According to Irwin (2009), people will normally reckon all these paranormal phenomena as realities or truths instead of just a belief system that should be adopted by them in term of their own cultures. Besides, the paranormal belief within a society also consists of its cultural and chronological contexts. In the cultural context, a particular paranormal belief is largely endorsed by a culture setting but it is not necessary to have endorsed by people from other places who practiced different cultures. On the other hand, in the context of chronological setting, the paranormal belief that is mostly adopted in one time might be abandoned in another time within the same community. This may be due to that particular community has become skeptical and is being more emphasized on scientific evidences in viewing events or maybe the belief is just no longer adopted within that community. Why are there so many people believing in the paranormal phenomena? According to Hood (2009), paranormal beliefs are not simply spreading by people and making others what to think. However, he claimed that human brain has a mind design that guides them naturally to form and understand the world schema and to make sense of it by constructing the intuitive theories. These intuitive theories produce a paranormal sense and feeling. He declares that all these can take place early in the development before culture emerges to lead peoples thinking styles. The influences of culture may happen later during childs development stages. Children will construct information about the world through their own intuitive reasoning which directs them to both normal and paranormal beliefs. Nevertheless, there is something in the human mind that guides people to belief. The sense of paranormal experiences or beliefs is a part of our mind design and thus it is deeply implanted in the ways of how we explain all these paranormal phenomena. On the other hand, according to Fritscher (2012), paranormal belief is a possible sign of  disordered thinking in the field of psychology. There may have some lesions in the brain of the paranormal believers which cause them to have hallucinations. However, it is undeniable that the paranormal phenomenon has formed a crucial part of many belief systems and world views of the people which affected their interpretation of the world throughout their life. Problem Statement A lot of researches have been carried out in order to test the paranormal beliefs based on the demographic variables such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, races and culture. However, the hypothesis of social marginality had been used to predict the paranormal belief in these demographics (Irwin, 1993). Bainbridge (1978) and Wuthnow (1976) as cited in Irwin (1993) had declared that the socially marginal groups such as the people from low society status, jobless or having the low education level were prone to believe in paranormal phenomena. This may because they believe that these can lead them to a better life. On the other hand, a research which examines the social marginality hypothesis in paranormal belief has been conducted by Emmons and Sobal (1981). The finding of their research shows that females and unmarried people will normally associate with paranormal belief. The factors such as age, low education level and jobless usually do not have any correlations with paranormal belief. Therefore, it can be concluded that in terms of education level and employment, the social marginality hypothesis has a contradictory finding which failed to obtain the consistent results in all situations. Many researches such as the study of Irwin (1985), Mc-Garry and Newberry (1981), Randall (1990), Randall and Desrosiers(1980), and Tobacyk and Milford (1983) as cited in Irwin (1993) have showed that there are more female than male paranormal believers. However, according to Gray (1990), there was an absence of gender differences for the students from science or non-science courses. The male students of non-science courses showed the same level of strong paranormal belief as female students. Besides, the female science students showed low level of paranormal belief as male students. Thus we cannot generalize that females have stronger paranormal belief than males. Some researchers have claimed that the belief in traditional religions is same as the belief in paranormal phenomena, but this still remains questionable whether paranormal belief is related to religious belief (Irwin 1993). Some of the researches stated that religious belief was correlated with paranormal belief, for example, the research of Buhrmann and Zaugg (1983), Orenstein (2002), Thalbourne and Hensley (2001) as cited in Tam and Shiah (2004). On the other hand, the study of Ellis (1988) and Rice (2003) as cited in Tam and Shiah (2004) declared that religious belief is not related with paranormal belief. However, according to Rice (2003), in the relationship between religious belief and paranormal belief, there was a lack of confirmation whether their correlation is significant or not. This is because the relationship between them is much more multifaceted and diverse among the theories proposed. Besides the researches stated above, there are also many other researches about paranormal beliefs. There are some psychological inquiries which are very important and needed to be investigated and known by everyone. Why do people believe in paranormal phenomena? Which group of people will tend to believe in these phenomena? In this modern era, most people tend to be more logically and scientifically in forming their ways of thinking which are evidence-based yet it still has many people who believe in these paranormal phenomena. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know what kind of people and what are the reasons that lead them to believe in paranormal phenomena. On top of that, the identification of the effects or consequences of paranormal belief that may have for human life are very important because it may have a great impact on the development of human civilization. Significant of Study The research and career that related with parapsychology or transpersonal psychology are not popular in Malaysia. There is no research done on this topic by Malaysian as their dissertations or theses temporarily. Therefore, there is a need to carry out a research on this topic in Malaysia. People from different parts of the world will have their own unique type of paranormal beliefs regardless of their cultures. These paranormal beliefs will have some influences in different aspects of human life. For example, it can influence the critical thinking or cognitive ability, socioeconomic status and creativity of an individual. Thus, it is necessary to carry out a project at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) based on the students in Perak campus in order to examine their paranormal belief level and to identify the effects of strong paranormal belief in their life. It is important to know whether Asian females are stronger in paranormal belief compared with males, since almost all the western researches showed the consistent results that females will have a stronger paranormal belief compared to males. Moreover, it is interesting to know if religion(s) will make their followers to have strong belief in paranormal phenomena and how they achieved that. Lastly, it is interesting to know whether students from Arts and Science stream will have different paranormal belief level in Asian countries like Malaysia as most of the Western researches showed that Science stream students tend to have less paranormal belief compared to Arts stream students. All these researches carried out to examine gender differences, different religions and Arts and Science streams in level of paranormal belief are aimed to investigate whether the findings have cross-cultural consistency. Objectives To determine whether females are stronger in paranormal belief compared to males as shown in most of the researches carried out by psychologists from western countries. To identify whether Science stream students will have less paranormal belief compared to Arts stream students as they have more scientific knowledge and more scientifically ways of thinking. To find out whether the different religious beliefs will influence the belief of paranormal phenomena. Research Question Is there any difference in paranormal belief between males and females? Is there any difference in paranormal belief between Arts and Science stream students? Is there any difference in paranormal belief among different religious beliefs? Hypothesis Females will have stronger paranormal belief than males. Students from Arts stream will have stronger paranormal belief than Science stream students. There is a difference in paranormal belief among different kinds of religious beliefs. Operational Definition Sex According to American Psychological Association (APA) (2011), the term of sex is referred to the biological category of an individual, which is being classified as male and female. The term of gender was not suitable to use in this study as gender is referred to the behavior or attitude given by culture or society that is linked with the individuals biological sex according to APA (2011). Religion It still remains undefined under the international law (Gunn, 2003). However, according to Yinger (1970), religion is a system of beliefs and practices in which a group of people are struggling with the ultimate questions of life. There are many different religions in Malaysia, such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Sikhism. However, this study is mainly focused on Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Christianity as most of the UTARs students are Chinese and Indian. Nevertheless, other religions like Islam and Sikhism are very rare. Arts stream The faculties of Arts stream in UTAR Perak campus are Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF), Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS), Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT). The courses offered by FBF are Banking and Finance, Business Administration, Communication and Network, Accounting, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Financial Economics, and Finance. In FAS, it consists of the courses such as Languages and Linguistics, Psychology and Counseling, Journalism, Public Relation and Advertising. For FICT, the courses offered are Computer Science, Business Information Systems, Information Systems Engineering and Computer Engineering. Science stream The Science stream departments in UTAR Perak campus are Faculty of Science (FSc) and Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT). The courses of FSc included Logistics and International Shipping, Agricultural Science, Biological Science, Biomedical Science, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Statistical Computing and Operations Research and Microbiology. While FEGT offered the courses of Electronic Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Petrochemical Engineering, Construction Management and Industrial Engineering. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Numerous journals, dissertations and theses about paranormal beliefs have been published by Western researchers. Almost all findings are consistent with the hypotheses stated. Below is the review of some journals, dissertations and theses about the concept and history of paranormal beliefs, its theoretical framework and paranormal beliefs based on the demographic variables of sex differences, religions and different areas of study (arts and science stream). Paranormal Beliefs Besides the term of paranormal, there are also other words which have the same meaning such as superstitious, magical and supernatural. According to Lindeman and Svedholm (2012), psychologists have raised the awareness and interest in the issues of paranormal, superstitious, magical and supernatural (PSMS) since the year of 1800. The term PSMS belief is defined as category mistakes which confuse the basic knowledge of material objects, mental phenomena, living organisms, and the development as a whole. This term has been applied inconsistently in many research literatures. PSMS came out with the conceptual definitions which are classified into domain-general and domain-specific since last two decades. The definition of domain-general consists of five sets, namely belief in scientifically impossible phenomena, false beliefs, and associative biases (irrational acts, co variation bias and laws of sympathetic magic). Nevertheless, this definition failed to differentiate other unfounded b eliefs from PSMS beliefs as they covered a wide range of beliefs. The domain-specific definition can be further divided into two groups which are intuitive and counterintuitive beliefs about the phenomena of biological, physical and psychological. This definition is more appropriate to classify the PSMS beliefs because it can explain some of the types and dissimilarities among them. Overall, there is no significant difference among the operation of PSMS beliefs. (pp. 1-11) Richman and Bell (2012) found that the levels of paranormal belief dropped over the years. This can be seen from two experiments by Richman and Bell (2012) with the university student latest sample (2010) as well as Tobacyk and Milford (1983), which were both carried out in Southeastern US state university. Even though there were similar levels of belief in a variety of phenomena for two samples, there were still some aspects of the paranormal beliefs which decreased dramatically over the period of 27 years. The paranormal belief subscales of precognition and traditional religious belief showed less significant differences for the two samples. Precognition will be endured due to the reality that more people had experienced the predictive dream compared to other paranormal phenomena. In this case, the study of Royalty (1995) showed a significant relationship between the paranormal belief levels and the self-reported history of paranormal experience (as cited in Richman Bell, 2012). F or the subscales of traditional religious belief in paranormal belief, it has been a human continuous lifestyle regardless of cultures and age groups. Furthermore, there were some researches, including Richman and Bell (2012), proposed that traditional religious beliefs have little or no relation with paranormal beliefs, for example, Randall and Desrosiers (1980) and Rice (2003) as cited in Richman and Bell (2012). There are various personalities and factors which cause people to belief in paranormal phenomena, for instance, high fantasy proneness, sensation seeking and high openness, external locus of control and neuroticism may also contribute to paranormal beliefs. (pp. 197-206) Moreover, Oh, Kim and Oh (2011) had done a cross-cultural study and revealed that Korean students have higher paranormal beliefs compared with United States (US) students in general. Nevertheless, the paranormal beliefs, in both religious and non-religious people, have decreased in Korea and US throughout the ten year period whereby it can be seen from the two testing periods which are 1999 and 2009. A dramatically decrease can be seen in Korea. Korean students have higher paranormal beliefs in all subscales besides traditional religious belief compared with US students at the year of 1999. In 2009, Korean students still have stronger paranormal beliefs than US students apart from spiritualism and religiosity although there is more decrease in Korean students compared to US students. Therefore, the differences in paranormal beliefs between Korean and US students were not significant in 2009. This result obtained is most likely due to the advance in scientific knowledge which may affe ct their thinking. The findings showed that people who possess and understand scientific knowledge will have lower paranormal beliefs and this idea is consistent with the study of Lim (1983) as cited in Oh, Kim and Oh (2011). (pp. 35-51) Sex and Paranormal Beliefs There are many researches that have been done to examine the relationship between sex and paranormal beliefs. Many researches reported that females have higher level of paranormal beliefs than males. The review of Irwin (1993) pointed out some of the studies which proved that females will have higher global paranormal beliefs than males, such as Randall and Desrosiers (1980), McGarry and Newberry (1981), Tobacyk and Milford (1983), Irwin (1985), and Randall (1990). There are lots of studies stated in the review of Irwin (1993) illustrated that females will normally has higher belief in ESP than males in terms of precognition and telepathy, for example, Kennedy (1939), Emmons and Sobal (1981), Thalbourne (1981), Haraldsson (1981, 1985a), Tobacyk and Milford (1983), Irwin (1985), Gray (1990b), and Clarke (1991). According to Irwin (1993), females also portray higher paranormal belief in the subscales of psychic healing (Gray, 1990b), superstitions (Emme, 1940; Scheidt, 1973; Blum Blum , 1974; Blum, 1976), traditional religious concept (Hay Morisy, 1978; Emmons Sobal, 1981; Tobacyk Milford, 1983; Black, 1990), reincarnation (Gray, 1990b), astrology (Salter Routledge, 1971; Zarour, 1972; Wuthnow, 1976; Emmons Sobal, 1981; Fichten Sunerton, 1983; Grey, 1988; Gray, 1990b; Clarke, 1991), and hauntings (Haraldsson, 1985a). On the other hand, males have showed higher belief in extraordinary life forms like Loch Ness monster (Tobacyk Milford, 1983; Tobacyk Pirttila-Backman, 1992), and in UFOs (Gray, 1990b; Clarke, 1991). (pp. 8-9) The research of Wolfradt (1997, pp. 15-19) revealed that females have higher level of paranormal belief compared to males because they scored higher on some subscales of the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) such as superstition, psi belief, spiritualism, witchcraft and precognition. Nevertheless, there were no sex differences at the RPBS subscales of belief in extraordinary life forms and religious belief. On the other hand, Eder, Turic, Milasowszky, Adzin and Hergovich (2010, p. 521) declared that females will generally portray higher paranormal beliefs in the subscales of spirituality and traditional religious belief, but it was less significant to the subscales of witchcraft and psi. Besides, males showed higher paranormal belief in subscale of extraordinary life forms. However, there was no sex difference in the subscales of precognition and superstition. On the contrary, the study of Blackmore and Moore (1994) stated that there were no significant gender differences in par anormal beliefs in term of Paranormal Belief Scale (PBS) score (p. 95). Gray (1990) revealed that females are prone to adopt the paranormal beliefs like psychic, reincarnation, astrology and ESP, while males tend to believe in extraterrestrial life forms like aliens compared to females (p. 181). This is because males will take the initiative to think and learn while females put more emphasis on their feelings or sentiments (Abele, 2003, pp. 768-776). Thus, females are more likely to believe in verbal phenomena such as psychic readings and males tend to believe in physical paranormal phenomena or science phenomena like UFO or aliens (Hauser, 2008, p. 1). Simultaneously, Houran and Lange (2007) concluded this as the cognitive differences between males and females in which males are more headed to naturally related phenomena while females are prone to humanly related paranormal phenomena (as cited in Hauser, 2008, p. 1). Therefore, these researches indicate that there are sex differences in the type of paranormal beliefs, but not the quantity of paranormal beliefs. Furthermore, the study of Preece and Baxter (2000) drew a conclusion that sex differences were basically being discovered at each year group with females are normally less skeptical than males in term of paranormal beliefs such as ESP and psychic ability. This is because according to Preece and Baxter (2000), females have been influenced by the popular media such as newspaper articles or magazines. On the other hand, males are usually less skeptical than females about the UFO belief. Males tend to belief that aliens from other planets had visited Earth in the past. This may due to the particular interests of males in space traveling and universe which are always being portrayed in the films or novels according to Preece and Baxter (2000). Nevertheless, the critical reasons for both males and females to adopt different types of paranormal beliefs might be the combination of biological aspects like genetic and cultural aspects like social norms whereby different roles were being instil led to them based on their gender. (pp. 1147-1156) Kennedy (2003, pp. 27-39) claimed that males will always be extreme skepticism toward paranormal belief because they tend to put a significant assessment on manipulation and rational thinking. Therefore, they may frequently imagine that they are threatened by all these paranormal beliefs and thus showing aggressiveness toward different belief systems. National Canadian survey also obtained a consistent finding which claimed that males are prone to be the extreme skeptics of paranormal beliefs and think that spirituality was insignificant, while females will have the higher paranormal beliefs and think that spirituality was significant. According to Blackmore (1994b), most of the males were not concerned or attracted by the paranormal phenomena in terms of examining the atypical declaration or trying out the psychic experiences by themselves, they just uphold their own belief systems (as cited in Kennedy, 2003). The fact contributed to these phenomena which has been stated by Kennedy (2003) is that males possess the genetic predispositions for analytical thinking and social authority. On the other hand, the findings of Lindeman and Aarnio (2006, pp. 597-599) stated that females possess higher intuitive and lower logical thinking and thus it seems to be the generative mechanisms for females to have adopted more paranormal beliefs compared with males. Art and Science Stream text in Paranormal Beliefs The research of Gray and Mill (1990, pp. 162-172) showed that English graduate students tend to adopt more paranormal beliefs such as ESP, UFO, astrology, psychic healing and reincarnation compared to Biology graduate students who have stronger belief in non-paranormal phenomena like evolution. The Biology graduate students needed fewer signs compared to English graduate students for the analysis of the information in the text they read. Even though less signs are needed by Biology graduate students on the scientific contents, their performances were not significant different with English graduate students. However, there was a significant positive relationship between the number of signs required and paranormal belief in which the more signs required in order for completing a scientific context, the stronger the belief in paranormal phenomena. This is because they do not approach the scientific evidences with a proper critical standpoint. Therefore, this study pointed out that there were more English graduate students who have the higher paranormal beliefs compared to Biology students. Besides, the study of Craig (1991) demonstrated that the students from music-art and English-foreign language majors have stronger paranormal beliefs than the students from social studies and mathematics-science majors (p. 64). Morier and Keeports (1994, pp. 443-453) stated that students from science and pseudoscience class (treatment group) were generally having lower level of paranormal belief compared with the students in psychology and law class (control group). Initially, both groups did not show any differences before the course started. However, the participants from treatment group revealed a significant decrease in paranormal belief than control group in which the standard score units for control group only dropped with an average of 0.17 while treatment group was dropped with an average of 1.08. The ultimate cause that science and pseudoscience course has successfully changed the level of paranormal beliefs may be due to the dealing with such beliefs obviously and clearly during the class. In addition, Jones (1980) also proposed that paranormal beliefs can only be eliminated through the direct confrontation with the paranormal phenomena (as cited in Morier Keeports, 1994). This is because the sci ence and pseudoscience course has provided students with more scientific knowledge which lead them to acknowledge science as a way to investigate and evaluate the paranormal events or misconceptions. Overall, the findings for this study discovered that skeptical behavior can be achieved by scientific teaching or critical thinking abilities. These results support the study of Grimmer and White (1992) whereby it claimed that science education may add to the better skeptical attitude as science students will normally have a lower level of paranormal beliefs compared to arts students (as cited in Preece Baxter, 2000, p.1154). We can see that when an individual has more scientific knowledge or is interested in science, then he or she will tend to have lower paranormal beliefs compared to others who know little or nothing about science. Prichard (2011) had done a research to investigate paranormal beliefs and science motivation among the biology and psychology students. The participants consist of the students from advanced biology, introductory psychology, and advanced psychology. The findings showed that introductory psychology students have more paranormal beliefs compared to the students from advanced biology and advanced psychology. Although science motivation is assumed to have an effect in reducing the paranormal beliefs, there was no significant difference between advanced biology and advanced psychology students in paranormal beliefs, albeit Biology students have higher level of science motivation compared to both introductory and advanced psychology students. Thus, Prichard (2011) had found that s tudy through psychology course may become the greater predictor for reducing the paranormal beliefs compared to science motivation. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that science motivation will lead to a more rational thinking about paranormal beliefs as it is not the only factor for skepticism. (pp. 2-20) Religious Belief and Paranormal Beliefs There are a lot of researches that have been carried out to investigate the relationship between paranormal beliefs and religiosity. In the review of Irwin (1993), Irwin (1985) reported that global paranormal beliefs such as psychic healing, precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis (PK), and astral projection have a positive relationship with religiosity; however there is no relation between the global paranormal beliefs and religiosity reported by Alcock (1975). Besides, Tobacyk and Milford (1983) declared that there is a positive correlation between belief in precognition and religiosity (as cited in Irwin, 1993). Both researches of Haraldsson (1981) and Thalbourne (1984) claimed that belief in ESP was associated with religiosity in which ESP belief is positive correlated with praying, reading the religious materials and attending religious gathering (as cited in Irwin, 1993); but according to Irwin (1993), this was not proved by Irwin (1985) and Clarke (1991). Nevertheless, Jones et al. (1977) claimed that church involvement do not have significant relationship with global paranormal belief and belief in various paranormal phenomena (Alcock, 1975; Sheils Berg, 1977), but Wuthnow (1976) reported that there is a negative correlation between church involvement and astrology belief (as cited in Irwin, 1993). On the other hand, according to Irwin (1993), religious affiliation has been declared that there is no significant relationship with either ESP belief (Murphy Lester, 1976) or global paranormal belief (Jones et al., 1977). Although Sheils and Berg (1977) reported a correlation between religious and paranormal beliefs, Thalbournes (1981) had reexamined the data and pointed out that the result was not significantly different (as cited in Irwin, 1993). Tobacyk and Milford (1983) had examined the religiosity in which it has a positive relationship with witchcraft belief, a negative relation with spiritualism, and do not have significant relationship with superst itions and extraordinary life forms belief (as cited in Irwin, 1993). The study of Clarke (1991) revealed that religiosity have a positive relationship with psychic healing belief and negative relation with belief in UFO or aliens (as cited in Irwin, 1993). (pp. 13-14) The research of Shiah, Tam, Wu and Chang (2010, pp. 367-382) had been conducted in Chinese population to find out the relationship between paranormal beliefs and religiosity. They reported that the believers of traditional Chinese religious will generally have stronger paranormal belief compared to Christian believers and atheists. Therefore, the greater participation of traditional Chinese religious believers in the activities which focus on paranormal experiences might contribute to greater paranormal belief, especially when it was compared to Christianity. The findings are consistent with the connotation that Christianity might have less paranormal belief compare with other religions. According to Hergovich, Schott and Arendasy (2005, pp. 293-303), the findings showed that there was a low but significant relationship between paranormal belief and religiosity. People who are self-reported religiosity and intrinsic religiosity have stronger relation with paranormal belief compared to people who held extrinsic religiosity. Yet, the relation of Catholics and Protestants to paranormal belief is little or even portrayed a negative relationship between intrinsic religiosity and paranormal belief. Besides, there was a stronger paranormal belief with the participants who do not have the religious attachment. However, all these findings proposed that paranormal belief can be a substitute for the traditional religious belief. The main idea of this research is that there was a slightly positive relationship between paranormal belief and religiosity. Aarnio and Lindeman (2007) had conducted a research showing that the different results have been found for the correlations of religious

The Importance of Ending Consumerism :: Environment Capitalism Essays Papers

The Importance of Ending Consumerism America is the world’s biggest and most earnest consumer. Within the national culture, there is a tremendous emphasis placed on the acquisition of goods, and subsequently, the cultivation of luxury. The American dream itself implies material gain, the pot of gold at the end (or top) of the socioeconomic ladder. Collectively and personally, Americans identify themselves through consumerist attitudes and practices. Ironically, the price of such consumerism is far greater than the simple cost of any given product; though not necessarily in terms of currency, but that of planetary expense. The harm done to Mother Earth is substantial both in its scope and rate of growth. Luckily, though, it is also avoidable. Clearly, one of the best ways to aid the environment is to eliminate excess. By excess, I mean the needless proliferation of products, elaborate packaging and the waste that such extravagances necessitate. The overuse of fossil fuels in production, waste products created by industry and the damage rendered to the landscape, all direct outgrowths of consumerist practices, contribute to the destruction of our most valuable resources, such as clean water, and air. Still, American society continues to heedlessly grow more and more materialistic each year. As a wealthy and powerful nation, we Americans seem to give credence to the philosophy that if we have the economic means, we should acquire all that we can. This ideology is merely the reflection of another: might makes right. Yet, our government is often intervening in foreign affairs which do not concern our country in an immediate sense; cases in which a weaker nation or group is being victimized by a stronger party, for example, U.S. intervention in the Bosnian conflict in the late 1990s. Thus the contradiction is established between our military or foreign policy and that of our economic patterns and practices. Truly, should not the environment be defended in the same fashion as the weaker nations to whose defense we rush as a matter of custom? The present state of the environment in America demonstrates an acute lack of foresight and an abundance of greed. Depressing though it may be, it is time that we, as nation, came together to truly evaluate the problem. Additionally, it is time that we eliminated the wheat from the chaff of our lives, the harmful luxury from the necessity.

sunday too far away :: essays research papers

Sunday Too Far Away is set on an Australian sheep station in 1955. It shows the life of a shearer, Foley (played by Jack Thompson), In the hardships of living through the union action of that year and the consequences of age in the demanding and competitive world of the shearers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the film traces the actions of Foley . Foley is a long time gun shearer who has returned from retirement for one last season to make the most of a pay rise to shearers. Though out shawn by a new comer Foley is the uncontested leader of the shearing gang. Through him and scenes like the unmotivated break down in front of the owner's daughter, the only feminine aspect of the film, the audience receives the emotion of the film. His predicament and the feel of the film are emphasized with the parellelism of the older alchoholic Garth and his young clumsy counter part. Foley is the most active character initiating brawls and jeering the arriving scabs. Director Ken Hannam uses the eclectic character range of the film to demonstrate the masculinity and mateship of Australian culture in the era. The competitiveness, alchoholism, gambling and distain for the daughter reak â€Å"Aussie† maleness and provide a bleak but relative humour to the film. Through out the film speech is kept to a minimum and the feel of the film is replaced by actions such as the scene where Foley and his â€Å"mate† compete in washing clothes while naked. Through similar scenes it seems that Ken Hannam is showing the nessecity and pain of masculine culture through the characters and situations presented. sunday too far away :: essays research papers Sunday Too Far Away is set on an Australian sheep station in 1955. It shows the life of a shearer, Foley (played by Jack Thompson), In the hardships of living through the union action of that year and the consequences of age in the demanding and competitive world of the shearers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the film traces the actions of Foley . Foley is a long time gun shearer who has returned from retirement for one last season to make the most of a pay rise to shearers. Though out shawn by a new comer Foley is the uncontested leader of the shearing gang. Through him and scenes like the unmotivated break down in front of the owner's daughter, the only feminine aspect of the film, the audience receives the emotion of the film. His predicament and the feel of the film are emphasized with the parellelism of the older alchoholic Garth and his young clumsy counter part. Foley is the most active character initiating brawls and jeering the arriving scabs. Director Ken Hannam uses the eclectic character range of the film to demonstrate the masculinity and mateship of Australian culture in the era. The competitiveness, alchoholism, gambling and distain for the daughter reak â€Å"Aussie† maleness and provide a bleak but relative humour to the film. Through out the film speech is kept to a minimum and the feel of the film is replaced by actions such as the scene where Foley and his â€Å"mate† compete in washing clothes while naked. Through similar scenes it seems that Ken Hannam is showing the nessecity and pain of masculine culture through the characters and situations presented.

Putting a Stop to Film Piracy Essay

Film piracy is one of the most lucrative forms of intellectual property theft in the United States and in the rest of the world. Movies are illegally copied, reproduced, and mass distributed in different ways such as in replicated DVDs or through the Internet for financial gains. Piracy is an act of stealing and it â€Å"includes the unauthorized copying, distribution, performance or other use of copyrighted materials† such as movies and television shows (Motion Picture Association of America). These practices result to negative impacts on consumers, the film industry, and to the whole economy. No matter how enticing are the reasons why people support pirated movies, film piracy remains to be a punishable crime for it is equal to stealing the properties and hard work of other people. Therefore, people who produce and distribute pirated movies for illegal purposes should face the consequences of their actions. Reasons Why People Engage in this Crime There are several ways how to pirate films. These movies are produced either by recording inside the theater, post-production leaks or leaks from an awards screener, stealing film print, stealing legitimate DVD prior to official date of release, or by ripping a legitimate DVD of any protective code (Treverton 37). These stolen copies of the movies are then burned or replicated in more DVDs or uploaded in the Internet without the consent of their original owners and then sold at cheaper prices or distributed for free. Despite being prohibited by law, film piracy is hard to control because many people instantly benefit from it. The people behind the business earn a lot from pirated movies because they do not have to buy the copyrights of the movies or pay royalties. Despite having lower qualities at times, buying pirated movies appeals to consumers because they can get films for free or for a very cheap price. â€Å"The low prices of pirated films compared with the legal ones make the former very attractive to buyers† (Treverton 31). Consumers who have limited budgets would prefer to buy pirated movies or download illegally from the Internet than to spend the money in cinemas. But these are only temporary benefits and in the bigger picture, film piracy causes more harm than good results. How Film Piracy Harms Pirated movies gain support from those who see them as answers to financial burdens. But many people remain unaware of the how movie piracy actually contributes to the sufferings of the whole country’s economy and film industry. These people do not recognize the importance of not supporting the products of piracy. The economy loses a lot of money annually because of the organized crime of intellectual property theft. Each year, â€Å"motion picture piracy costs the U. S. economy more than $20 billion† and because of the illegal reproduction of films, lesser income is earned by the movies and lesser money is contributed by the movie industry to the country’s economy (Grover and Shields). Piracy is also one of the biggest threats to film and music industry. The whole entertainment industry suffers from this crime. â€Å"The global film industry creates more jobs, more entertainment choices and more opportunities for the creative professions† and because of piracy, lesser opportunities are given to film production because budgets for discovering new talents, artists, directors, and production staffs are limited and restrained by the lack of budget (MPAA). There is a big possibility for the value of film making to decline and maybe even completely crash. Consumers will also suffer then because, aside from getting little for the money they invest in illegal products, they are also contributing to the wealth of people who have not really worked hard for the film. When the movie industry loses money to piracy, the costs produce quality and meaningful films and shows also become more expensive. Punishments and Consequences Piracy equals theft. Therefore, it is important to have laws created to protect the copyrights of films and television shows. â€Å"These laws help safeguard the creative works that support the livelihoods of the 2. 4 million Americans who work† together to create quality films for the entertainment of consumers (MPAA). The enforcement of laws makes copyrighted movies valuable and pirating these products makes them known as stolen properties. Many critics of the anti-piracy law and other laws related to copyright violations believe that the anti-piracy bill has harsh repercussions. Critics of anti-piracy laws believe that the punishments for acts related to piracy are too severe at times because lengthy prison terms and huge fines await those who will be caught involved in movie piracy. â€Å"First-time violators can be sentenced to up to five years in prison if the camcording was committed for financial gain or commercial advantage and fined up to $250,000† (MPAA). Critics say that there should be a limitation for the consequences of reproducing materials such as films. But for the industries that are affected by this crime, they need greater enforcement of laws because their lost sales continue increasing as consumers retain access to free music and movies on the Internet (Grover and Shields). Conclusion Reproducing copyrighted materials such as films are prohibited by laws. Piracy is a form of theft and many people profit a lot from stolen works. It has become a problematic dent in the film industry because movie outfits are hurt by this illegal act. Apprehenders are not easily caught and are not always given their rightful punishments. Purchasing pirated movies or getting them illegally from the Internet may seem like a mild offense for an ordinary person. But if this crime is done in volume, the negative consequences of movie piracy are proven to be detrimental to those who are part of the industry of film making because the act already translates into theft and a violation of another person’s rights. Works Cited Grover, Ronald and Shields, Todd. â€Å"Movie-Piracy Websites Shut Down by Raids. † 30 June 2010. Web. 23. Aug. 2010. Retrieved from < http://www. bloomberg. com/news/2010-06-30/movie-piracy-web-sites-shut-down-in-coordinated-raids-by-u-s-officials. html>. Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Frequently Asked Questions. 2010. Web. 23 Aug. 2010. Retrieved from < http://www. mpaa. org/contentprotection/faq>. Treverton, Gregory F. â€Å"Chapter Three: The Shape of Counterfeiting and the Example of Film Piracy. † Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism. California: RAND Corporation, 2009. Print. Pp. 27- 38.

Why Move to Austin, Texas

Why move to Austin, Texas? Goodbye high school, and welcome to the real world. You may have been spending a couple of years wondering what you’re going to do after high school. Were you going to go to college, or take a year off and work? We all know how teenagers think, their ready to move out and be on their own, do things that they want to do. Well why not try that somewhere else, New York? California? Why not Austin, Texas? Young adults around the ages 18 and 21 should move to Austin, live life on their own, and experience a place they have never seen before.Austin isn’t like any other place; these austinite’s do things their own unique way. Living on your own, and moving to a place you’ve never been before, is probably the hardest thing. You have to worry about getting a job, a place to live, school if that’s what you’re choosing to go there for, and meeting new people. Well I can tell you that Austin has all of that. Yes the saying â₠¬Å"Keep Austin Weird† might have you wondering, but trust me austinites know how to have a good time. The best fit for this age group on finding a place to live would be an apartment. Austin apartments are unique, and have different styles for different people.For the young I believe downtown apartments are more home fitting, walking distance to places, and you get to know Austin more. But if you’re not into the city living, Austin does have some great apartments outside the city. You will still be close to the city, but also see more of Austin besides downtown. All of Austin’s apartments are very reasonable; I believe they are way cheaper then any other state. Compared to a $3,000 apartment in California, apartments in Austin will the battle. With finding places to live you have to have money to pay for it. The next best thing is finding the perfect job.Some people may say Austin is the worst place to find a job, but it really isn’t. At this age youâ€⠄¢re not yet titled to have that office job, or be a business person just yet. So a small simple job will work, I know young adults don’t want to work at a fast food restaurant, so I can help give you ideas of jobs in better places. If you’re choosing to live downtown, there are a lot of stores and restaurants on what Austin calls â€Å"The Drag. † There is the University Co-op, where all the austinites get their Texas Longhorn gear. Tyler’s is also a famous place in Austin.But if you’re looking for work outside the city, there are always basic stores like Best Buy, Whole Foods, stores in the mall etc. If you’re trying to get the Austin vibe, I recommend working down at the drag, you get to see all the â€Å"weird Austin people,† and each day you could learn something knew from someone in Austin. â€Å"If you're ever in Austin and want to see something pretty cool, check out the side of Sound Exchange on the corner of Guadalupe (â₠¬Å"the Drag†) and 21th street. There's a picture of the frog of innocence (â€Å"Hi, how are you? â€Å") and a flying eyeball. † (Johnston. P1) That is one thing Austin is known for.Austin has a unique way of introducing its self to people around the world. Just like the â€Å"Keep Austin Weird† saying, the people are what make Austin a great place to live. You can walk down â€Å"The Drag† and see ten people with Tyler’s shirts on, with Nike shorts, and Tom shoes and people that aren’t from Austin say â€Å"What are they wearing? † Or hearing â€Å"OU Sucks! † when were not even playing them that game. You can’t forget about â€Å"The Music Capital,† Stevie Ray Vaughan made music here. Austin City Limits is one of the most popular events, people around the world come and play for this three day event.Also Marley Fest is another great event. The people in Austin make it fun to live here. You can go to California or New York and you can’t compare austinites to them, they have their own since of style and â€Å"weirdness. † â€Å"This one of a kind place is known to be a laid back city that lives off of life, live music, and Longhorn football! The people of this city take great pride in who they are and where they live, that is one fact that’s stands above all the others. † (Lu. P1) Austin is a great place for young adults, trying to live on their own. It’s friend and family caring, and it’s like your living at your own home.

Premarital sex Essay Essay

Our fathers understood that sex was a blessed experience made only for married couples as a way to express their love and desire for each other. However, our youths today think of sex as a fun-thing; they have the belief that it is okay to have sex with who ever one is having a relationship with, and youths engage in several relationships before deciding to settle down. Yet, our fathers were right with their opinion about sex; sex should be a blessed ordeal and not a fun thing. Youths should try and preserve themselves for marriage, but in a situation where a person cannot hold himself he should then try and protect himself by using a condom because of the effect that unprotected sex would have on him. One of the major effects of unprotected sex is the risk of the female getting pregnant. In some situation the youths involved might not be ready to raise a child yet, and with the female getting pregnant they have problems deciding on what to do. The man might decide to deny being the father of the baby and puts down the woman. This leaves her with the decision of either aborting the child, raising the child as a single mother or dumping the child off anywhere. Each of these three choices is not to the best interest of the child. If the mother aborts the child that means she has taken the life of a human being, and it doesn’t matter if the child is unborn yet or not the child has the right to his life. Even if the mother succeeds in aborting the child she may encounter some complications in the process, and this may affect her later life when she will finally decide to get married and have kids. Another dire option is to dump the child. Some mums dump their kids off in trash, in front of people front doors or at the motherless baby centers. There was even this case of a woman trying to flush down her baby down the toilet; the neighbors heard the baby crying as if it was drowning they called the police, but when the police arrived the child was already dead and the mother too because she killed herself. The best of the three options is the mother raising the child as a single parent, but this is also not a very good idea knowing that no child would want to grow up without his father, at least I know I don’t. Also some of  the kids who turn out to be a menace to the society fall in the group of kids raised by a single parent. This is because the parent may not have enough time to spend with the child since she has to work a great amount of time so as to provide both of their necessities and to pay bills; the child therefore spends more time with friends and on the streets since he is not being monitored by his parent. All these are caused because of one small mistake; having sex unprotected. In many American Universities college students engage in unprotected sex, but most of them are not conscious of the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Among college students who live away from home, 56 percent had been sexually active while attending college, and 73 percent of that group reported having unprotected sex while in college, says the survey by the Society for Adolescent Medicine. (http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=514693). From the above survey it means that youths in colleges who engage in sex have high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. These students are very well exposed to these diseases because they would have the tendency of having intercourse with several people due to the fact that they converge in an enclosed environment, and also peer pressure. The female involved may also get pregnant and would have to drop out of school and get a job so as to earn some money to take care of her and her kid. Unprotected sex can also result to early marriage. When a female conceives after having sexual intercourse, the couple involved may decide to get married and raise the baby together, but things don’t always turn out well after the marriage; these couples may not know themselves too well. In the event of the marriage they might find out different sides of the opposite person that they don’t like, and they may finally break up. This doesn’t go to the betterment of the child either because he may end up being raised by a single parent and deprived of the other. All these dreadful things can be avoided by merely abstaining from sex till one is married, but when the urge to have sex cannot be overcome then the person involved should use a condom to protect himself.

Sonny's blues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sonny's blues - Essay Example People of the club are generally referred to as being friendly with Sonny; serving to depict the contrast that exists between the inner and the outside world. At the same time, the author takes on a defensive tone when he tries to justify Sonny's drug addiction; "In order to keep from shaking to pieces" (Baldwin, 40). However, the author holds his sympathy in one hand and his honesty in the other; he criticizes the addiction of drugs in bitter words, blaming it to be the cause of pain and misery for Sonny. Baldwin's creation of characters is interesting in the sense that almost all characters have markedly contrasting personalities. Moreover, the characters are not merely characters; they are in fact representations of the classes of our society. Sonny, for example represents the drug affected population of the society. The prominent features associated with this character include the aspects of poverty, being black, various limitations imposed by the society, willingness to escape f rom his prevailing circumstances, suffering imprisonment and being a prisoner even after being released from the jail which is depicted by words like "caged animal". Likewise, the character of mother not only represents the mothers as an institution but also serves the purpose of explaining the role of all those in the society who actively engage in helping others. Baldwin associates a number of roles that he expects a mother to play; prophetic, saint-like and protector of the family. The writer has used a number of symbols to assist his understanding and to convey a clearer message to the reader. His use of jazz music appears to be associated with negative aspects of life like addiction and drugs. Later in the story, this symbol takes on an entirely new form and serves to establish a connection between the brothers. Another imagery that the writer uses often is ice. This is used to convey negative feelings and emotions that arise in response to unfavorable conditions. The discomfor t felt during such circumstances is especially troublesome for the author, which is expressed by the author in words like "it was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less" (Baldwin, 17). It also contains an element of longevity that is felt during conditions of stress. The writer has also utilized 'light' as a symbol for revelation. On various occasions during the different phases of story, light is used to point to a fact that was previously unrevealed to the readers as well as the characters of the story. Overall, the story revolves around the idea of sufferings and misery that mankind undergoes as a result of ghastly deeds. The author appears to be of the idea that although some elements in the society promote evils, the person who commits a crime is left alone to suffer in the end and this suffering continues till the end of life. The story sharpens our understanding of the human nature by providing clu es to the human nature in the form of various symbols and incidents which are relatable to our real lives. A number of facts are hidden from the readers in the start, which are revealed later on in the story; this serves as a means of understanding how life unfolds it secrets with the passage of time. The story also has a religious touch, which perhaps is a