From Hunger to Greed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

From Hunger to Greed - Essay Example Having excess optimism and over ambitions in life usually makes someone to try to achieve more than one can handle at that moment and this habit at times make someone to lose his or her target. The rock song you cannot always get what you want gives a good example of a person wanted a woman but he did not succeed to woe her although he ended up getting someone else. The song ‘you can’t always get what you want’ was about the Mick encounter in life when he was drinking with a group of his friends in a pub in 1960’s. He saw a beautiful woman and he immediately fell for her and he just pondered on how he could get her because the woman had a relationship with another man. After realizing that, the woman was someone else’s Mick decided to woo her away from the other man and luckily he succeeded in getting her. It lingered in Mick’s minds that he wanted the woman when she was with another male and after getting her, he ended up in jail. Mick finall y thought that he did not get what he wanted and blamed the girl for the failure but he ended up in getting what he needed and the experience made him realize where his life was heading (Song Meaning.com). During my school life, I had purposed myself to focus on education in order to achieve a great life in the future. When I finished my education, my point of focus shifted to the women and one time when I was taking a walk with my friends I spotted a girl whom I thought could be the woman of my dreams. I gathered enough courage and I approached the girl and luckily I exchanged contacts with her and I thought that all was going well. We dated for a while and to my surprise, the woman loved another man and the two were already having an affair. I decided to ask about our relationship but she really broke my heart when she told me that she did not have any feelings for me and I had to respect her decision. I quitted dating her and I accepted the defeat, moved on with my life, and sett led on another girl where I succeeded in wooing her although she was not my target. Although I did not get the woman I wanted in life, I ended up getting another woman because I needed one in life even if she was not my target. Many people in life never get satisfied with their achievements even if everything seems to be flow good with them. No matter how great the things appear to them, people find them not enough for them because of over ambitions. The main reason is that, most of them are after fame and this leads them to greed in life. The competition of wealth in the current world has led to lack of satisfaction since everybody wants to be a hero in his or her society. This kind of competition has led to the current trends of criminal activities in order for the people to amass wealth as much as possible within a small period. This character of greed and selfishness creates a rift between the people in the society. There are many literature materials that have explained the cha racter of greed, how and why it arises in the societies. Thomas Aquinas wrote an article that stated that, greed is a sin against God because most people are not satisfied with what God has provided to them and as a result, they end up forsaking God for earthly materials. According to Keltner and Piff (Para. 2-4), greed inspires people to carry out several criminal actions such as robbery with violence, manipulating the authority to evade tax and hoarding of goods among

Earning Management Essay Example for Free

Earning Management Essay â€Å"Earning Management† refers to those accounting practices that may follow the letter of the rules of fundamental rules of accounting practices but unethically misrepresented to the users of accounting information. For the personal interest managers often try to show outstanding performance of the business and use the strategic way to falsify Income, Assets or Liabilities. Earning Management as generally understood refers to systematic misrepresentation of the true income and assets of corporations or other organizations. Creative accounting is at the root of a number of accounting scandals, and many proposals for accounting reform – usually centering on an updated analysis of capital and factors of production that would correctly reflect how value is added. Quality of accounting information is one of the Fundamental Concepts of Accounting Framework. Where it’s mentioned that, accounting information must be Relevant, Reliable, Comparable, and Consistent Comparable (Intermediate Accounting by Keiso, Weygandt, Warfield, 12th edition). Unless having these qualities a report cannot be treated as qualified. Managers that always promise to make the numbers will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers. – Warren Buffet Definition of Earning Management * Managing earnings is â€Å"the process of taking deliberate steps within the constraints of generally accepted accounting principles to bring about a desired level of reported earnings.† (Davidson, Stickney and Weil (1987), cited in Schipper (1989) p. 92) * Managing earnings is â€Å"a purposeful intervention in the external financial reporting process, with the intent of obtaining some private gain (as opposed to say, merely facilitating the neutral operation of the process).†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"A minor extension of this definition would encompass â€Å"real† earnings management, accomplished by timing investment or financing decisions to alter reported earnings or some subset of it.† (Schipper (1989) p. 92). * â€Å"Earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performanc e of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reported accounting numbers.† (Healy and Wahlen, 1999, p. 368) Motivators Earning Management * Meet financial analysts estimates of earnings that leads to performance-based compensation * Raise the stock price thereby enhancing the value of stock options * Smooth net income making it appear that the earnings are increasing at a steady rate * Make it look as though future earnings are higher than they really are by establishing cookie jar reserves (inflated expenses) in the current year that can be drawn on in future years. (Dr. Steven Mintz, Professor and Area Chair, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting From this figure we’ve indicated that in the level – 2, where bridge between 13 creates should be the concerning point of maintaining the qualities of Accounting Information. Qualities are not only help to detect falsification, but also helps users to take decisions. Primary Qualities: * Relevance – It helps users to predict the ultimate outcome of past, present, and future events. It also helps users to predict that, how much loss/profit company can made. * Timeline – Specific timeline of accounting period helps users to trace out the business performance over the years. * Reliability – To assure that the information is verifiable, faithful and reasonably free of error and bias. Secondary Qualities: * Comparability – The reported information should be measured such a way that it can be compared with other company’s reports. * Consistency – Treatment of similar events from period to period must be used by same accounting standards. Standards cannot be changed suddenly, unless it’s proved that new method is better than previous. Perspective of Earning Management There are two perspectives on earnings management. (1) the Opportunistic perspective, states that managers seek to mislead investors by showing attractive predetermined accounting information, (2) the Information perspective, first enunciated by Holthausen and Leftwich (1983), under which managerial carefulness is a means for managers to reveal to investors their private expectations about the firms future cash flows. (Earnings Management: A Perspective by Messod D. Beneish) Accrual vs. Earning Management Plenty of research report shows managers try to use Accrual in financial engineering. Accruals are the difference between net income and cash flows. For example, when companies sell items to others on credit during a growth period, the sale creates an accrual of revenue. When companies engage in earnings management, they can increase or decrease income by creating accruals; these are often referred to as non – discretionary (flexible) accruals. Reasons behind using accrual as the engineering tool are – * Accruals are the principle product of GAAP, so it’s easy to do falsification with camouflage. * Accruals resolve some problems related with the effects choosing various accounting methods. * It will be hard for investors to see effect of unobservable components of accrual. Types of earnings management Theoretically there are two types of earnings management. They are income increasing and income decreasing earnings management (Messod, 2001). a) Income Increasing earnings management: As the name suggests, income increasing earnings management is the process to boost up net income of the company intentionally (to hide the poor performance) so that investors get some wrong signal about the firm’s financial position and performance and make the decision of investing in to company (Messod, 2001). Management are motivated towards increasing earnings management because of getting more debt and equity Financing. b) Income decreasing earnings Management: This process of earnings management is done by decreasing the amount of net earnings. Management is more involved in income decreasing earnings management is to get future compensation like: reducing this month’s earnings by increasing expenses, they ensure the profit from the next month. Also tax avoidance, import tariff rel ief, union negotiations etc. are other reasons for manager’s motivation towards income decreasing earnings management (Messod, 2001). In corporate world these are the types of earning management mostly done by the management: a) Revenue and Expense Recognition Under standard accounting rules, a company must record revenue in its books when it earns that revenue not when it actually receives payment. Similarly, it must record expenses when it incurs them not when it actually pays money. These rules leave room for companies to manipulate their numbers for earnings management (www.budgeting.thenest.com). For example, say a company signs a deal on December 1 to buy $1 million worth advertising time on TV over the next two months. The company could recognize the entire expense in December, recognize the whole thing in January or split the difference. If it records it all in December, then that years profit will be lower by $1 million but the company will get a head start on the next years profit by not having any advertising expenses in January. Profits have been shifted from one year to the next with an accounting t rick. b) Cookie Jar Reserves Companies shift earnings around by creating overly large reserve accounts in good years, then drawing them down in bad years. For example, when a company sells a product with a warranty, it must recognize the estimated expense of honoring that warranty at the same time it books the revenue (www.budgeting.thenest.com). A company might conclude that it incurs warranty costs of $10,000 for every $1 million in sales. If its having a particularly profitable year, it might decide to take a $30,000 warranty expense per $1 million in sales. That builds up a big warranty reserve now so that the company doesnt have to record warranty expenses in the future, thus shifting profits from one period to the other. This tactic goes by the name cookie jar accounting, because it essentially stashes excess profits away to be used when needed. c) The Big Bath There will be times when a company simply cant avoid a bad year. No matter what it does, its going to post a loss because of a sour economy, unfavorable market conditions, and legal trouble, whatever. Some companies, though, deliberately make a bad year even worse by shifting all kinds of expenses, one-time charges and write-offs into that year and shifting revenue out of it. This allows it to inflate profits in future years (www.budgeting.thenest.com). The reasoning behind this strategy is that if the company is going to take a bath, it might as well take a big bath. The companys stock price was going to suffer anyway, the thinking goes, and the damage probably wont be that much worse if the company inflates the loss. Indicators of Earnings Management We have find out five factors which can be important indicators of earnings management: a) Political connection and earnings management: Firms with political connection (large number of stockholder, or CEO or board of directors of the company is a parliament member) are more involved in earnings management (Paul, Mara and David, 2010). Mainly the reasons are- political leaders help the particular firm involved in earnings management to avoid penalization by SEC and also political leaders use these companies’ financial performance and position to increase their public image. b) Internal Audit and earnings management: This one is another major indicator of earnings management. If the quality of internal quality is low there are some possibilities of earnings management. According to the research, if a company is having high quality internal audit, they might be less motivated towards earnings management (Douglas, Jason and David, 2008). Main reasons are: these internal auditors are more professional, responsible towards their job and they barely miss the expert’s expectations. c) Financial transparency and earnings management: Many studies have shown that financial transparency and earnings management are related. If a particular financial report is more transparent then the manager are less interested toward earnings management (James, Robert and Cheri, 2004) The main reason behind this situation is detail information about the accounts including: change in depreciation methods, details about each and every account will help investors to find out any manipulation done by the manager.

Feminist Thinking Essay -- Feminsim Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Feminist Thinking It has been said that not everything worth reading is a philosophical argument., and I agree. A glance through the shelves of bookstores, news stands, and libraries will incline one away from the idea that all valuable reading is philosophy. Thoughts back upon experiences that have touched one’s life undoubtedly will include an important novel or story and confirm the original statement. It is also fair to say that people approach literature and philosophy with different expectations. It seems fair to expect one’s philosophical reading to impart knowledge, while not necessarily demanding this of poetry or a short story. Likewise, there are different settings, goals, and different relations that exist between reader and writer, and reader and recommender. Some reading may be for enjoyment, escapism, or metaphor while other is for personal knowledge acquisition and/or a class assignment. While this is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed much of the reading required o f me in the pursuit of my degree, I approached it all with an expectation that it should fit nicely within my preconceived notion of ‘Philosophy’. In this class I was presented with reading that broke out of that mold. I want to step back a little and work my way back into the literature from some distance. This is, I hope, a fair way of coming to an understanding of the field of feminist thinking. Assigning reading for a class, and reading the assignment that the instructor has assigned involves two parties and relations of power, overt or hidden. An assigned reading for a class by an instructor carries a stamp of approval- a legitimization. Presumably, the professor has read this piece and thinks it is cogent, readable, fits with the development... ..., ‘Caring,’ and is the obvious place to start. From this starting point it is quickly evident that some feminists will disagree with the characterization of women as care-givers. However this divergence is not altogether unexpected, and a host of possible places exist within the discursive space created by Noddings, and others, to vocalize. That the discursive space has been opened up in this new way is important. Annette C. Baier offers an historical development of traditional (Kantian) ethics and its shortcomings. With this and Noddings article the relevance of care-ethics becomes established. And although I do not share the optimism that care-ethics alone can offer a complete system of ethics, it is well argued that future systems need to account for its concerns. Care-ethics is feminist philosophy, while much of the other literature falls short of this title.

Why We Should Fight the War on Terrorism

â€Å"Common Sense† A Rationale for the War on Terrorism Preface On September 11, 2001, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. On this day, our nation united, determined to obliterate the evil force of terrorism from the planet Earth. Now, just eight years later, these same people wish to pardon the acts of evil, disregarding the 2,995 deaths that they united to avenge just a few years before. So the question lies before us; do we hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts, or do we ignorantly allow terrorist to revenge the freedoms our founding fathers worked so hard for? Because of the threat caused by terrorist on the United States of America, her citizens should continue to thwart the terrorists’ threats both at home and abroad. Some may wonder why the United States should continue fighting the War on Terror. It must be fought for the safety for our citizens, insurance of our posterity, and preservation of liberty. The ignorance of the American public must not destroy the future of a country that was founded on freedom. The America we live in is a country that has endured much. Ever since the Revolutionary War, our ancestors have defended this country with all their might, so that their descendants may reach the dream we like to call â€Å"The American Dream†. Now it is our turn. The veterans of World War Two fought to defend our country after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Are their sacrifices not made for the same reasons as troops’ today- defending the United States of America? It will take America united to win the war, not just the republicans or democrats. Public Perception of the War In the past century, the American public has become more increasingly active in their government than ever before. In some cases, such as the Watergate Scandal, this is a good thing. In some cases, it isn’t. People never want to admit they are wrong, so therefore they give their opinions on topics they haven’t the slightest knowledge about. The founding fathers foresaw this, and created the Electoral College in attempt to prevent it. The founding fathers did overlook the fact that the peoples’ ignorance could span further than presidential elections. The people of America will never abstain from making a decision, uninformed or not. The people show a lack of understanding of the War on Terror, yet still protest it. They see it as a conspiracy, or an attempt to rejuvenate American Imperialism. They are blind to the fact that every war this country has fought was caused by aggravation of another state. They fail to realize terrorism as the state that can destroy our way of life if not dealt with. The War on Terror is in no way, shape, or form a takeover; it is liberation. It is a liberation years in the making, but starting only now. Foreshadowing the War One thing people tend unable to grasp is that the United States has faced multiple terrorist acts carried out by al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda became active in 1992 with the coordinated bombings of two hotels in Aden, Yemen. Since then it has expanded greatly. It was responsible for the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center and attacks on U. S. troops in Mogadishu. It was also responsible for the 1995 bombing of the National Guard Training Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda was directly involved in coordinating the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, along with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and the September 11 attacks. Actions were taken to search for Osama bin Laden (the leader of al-Qaeda) during the Clinton presidency, but were never a priority. So why attack the U. S.? Al-Qaeda’s ideology includes â€Å"ridding the Muslim world of any non-Muslim influences. † On February 23, 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with three other Islamist leaders, co-signed and issued a fatwa (binding religious edict) calling on Muslims to kill Americans and their allies where they can, when they can. Neither bin Laden nor al-Zawahiri met the traditional qualifications to issue a fatwa of any kind, but their hatred of the United States led them to do so anyway. Before the launch of the War on Terror, al-Qaeda had already killed 3,036 Americans, injured 11,870+ Americans, and cost the United States over $32. 1 billion. The attacks foreshadowing the War on Terror were clearly costly to the United States, and are motifs for fighting the al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations today. The War Begins The War on Terror began on October 7, 2001. In the words of former president George W. Bush, â€Å"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. President Bush outlined the following as objectives for the War on Terror: ? Defeat terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations ? Identify, locate and destroy terrorists along with their organizations ? Deny sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists ? End the state sponsorship of terrorism ? Establish and maintain an international stand ard of accountability with regard to combating terrorism ? Strengthen and sustain the international effort to fight terrorism ? Work with willing and able states ? Enable weak states ? Persuade reluctant states ? Compel unwilling states ? Interdict and disrupt material support for terrorists ? Eliminate terrorist sanctuaries and havens ? Diminish the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit ? Partner with the international community to strengthen weak states and prevent (re)emergence of terrorism ? Win the war of ideals ? Defend US citizens and interests at home and abroad ? Implement the National Strategy for Homeland Security ? Attain domain awareness Enhance measures to ensure the integrity, reliability, and availability of critical physical and information-based infrastructures at home and abroad ? Integrate measures to protect US citizens abroad ? Ensure an integrated incident management capability Campaigns of the War on Terror A common misconception the American public makes is that the War on Terror is only in Iraq. Former President Bush clearly defined that the War on Terror does not end until we destroy all terrorist groups of global reach and prevent their re-emergence. The War on Terror is currently being fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, The Philippines, The Horn of Africa, The Mediterranean, Maghreb, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, Somalia, Israel, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Nigeria, and North Caucasus (among others). Every campaign of the War on Terror is vital to achieve the war’s objectives. Operation Enduring Freedom The term â€Å"OEF† typically refers to the war in Afghanistan. Some operations are only loosely or nominally connected to OEF. All the operations, however, have a focus on counterterrorism activities. The operations included in OEF are all crucial to the global uproot of terrorist. These operations also are vital to the accomplishment of the objectives outlined for the War on Terror. OEF comprises several subordinate operations: ? Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan & Iraq (OEF-A) ? The Goals of OEF-A are simply to remove the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and destroy al-Qaeda’s presence their. On October 7, 2001, American and British forces began aerial bombings campaigns targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban force. After the last Taliban-held city in the north was captured, most of the Taliban of the north retreated to Pakistan. The Taliban regime of Afghanistan was removed on November, 2001. In December, 2001, U. S. , British, and Northern Alliance forces united to further destroy Taliban and al-Qaeda in The Battle of Tora Bora. On March 1, 2002, Operation Anaconda, an operation intended to destroy Taliban and al-Qaeda in the area, began and lasted until March 18th. It was largely successful, with American troops killing over half of the 1,000 fighters. Since then, operations to removing the growing Taliban insurgency have occurred. The Taliban still holds influence in many regions, and needs to be destroyed in order to prevent another regime. OEF-A is probably the most active subordinate operation contained in OEF. People tend to take for granted that without more troops operating here, the insurgency could grow faster than it can be removed. The problem with this is once the insurgency is la rge enough, the Taliban could regain control. Afterwards, the Taliban, angry at the United States, would sponsor al-Qaeda more than ever. Catastrophic events, such as a larger magnitude duplicate of the September 11th attacks, could result. Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines (OEF-P) ? In January, 2002, 1,200 members of United States Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) were deployed to the Philippines to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in removing the al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf terrorist organizations from the islands. The operations were successful, and OEF-P is expected to end in 2010. ? To some, the correlation between OEF-P and the War on Terror are unclear. This, like OEF-A, helps accomplish several of the objectives for the war. Even if we destroy al-Qaeda in every other part of the world, if we don’t remove it from the Philippines it could reform. Al-Qaeda can be compared to a cancer. If not completely removed, it can regenerate worse than ever. ? Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) ? Anti piracy operations were undertaken by the coalition throughout 2006 through a battle fought in March that was caused by U. S. ships being attacked by pirates. In January 2007, during the war in Somalia, an airstrike was conducted against al-Qaeda members embedded with forces of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) operating in southern Somalia. US naval forces were positioned off the coast of Somalia to provide support and to prevent any al-Qaeda forces escaping by sea. Actions against pirates also occurred in June and October 2007 with varying amounts of success. ? OEF-HOA may not be as important as the other subordinate operations, but it is still important. Piracy has plagued the world long before the formation of the United States. Following the 2006 piracy events, the United States felt it necessary to fight piracy as a form of terrorism. This was reinforced after the recent Somali piracy attacks. ? Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara (OEF-TS) OEF-TS is an operation conducted by the United States and partner nations in the Sahara/Sahel region of Africa, consisting of counterterrorism efforts and policing of arms and drug trafficking across central Africa. Congress approved $500 million for the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI) over six years to support countries involved in counterterrorism against alleged threats of Al Qaeda operating in African countries, primarily Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, and Morocco. ? OEF-TS is fought for all the same reasons as OEF-P. If al-Qaeda reforms after its destruction, the United States would face catastrophic events. ? Operation Enduring Freedom – Kyrgyzstan (completed in 2004) ? Kyrgyzstan was basically an operation to clear out al-Qaeda forces so that Operation Enduring Freedom Allies could use Kyrgyzstan as a base in central Asia. Operation Active Endeavor Operation Active Endeavour is a naval operation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It operates in the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction as well as to enhance the security of shipping in general. Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a coalition, led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom. Prior to the operation, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat to their security and that of their coalition allies. The invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of President Hussein, who was later executed by the new Iraqi government. Violence against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to the Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq. In late February 2009, President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat forces, leaving behind 30,000 to 50,000 troops to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance. General Ray Odierno, the top US military commander in Iraq, said he believes all US troops will be out of the country by the end of 2012, while British forces ended combat operations on April 30, 2009. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he supports the accelerated pullout of US forces. Arguments for Fighting the War on Terror After being briefed on the War on Terror, one could assume that the majority of the American public would support the war. Americans, out of ignorance, choose to protest that in which they know nothing about. There are several benefits for continuation of the War on Terror, and many consequences for a sudden withdraw. Homeland Security Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, protection of the country from further attacks was among the highest priorities. Acts, such as creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security and USA PATRIOT Act, strengthened the nation greatly. To date, no attacks by Islamic terrorists on the US homeland have been successful since September 11, 2001 (although several were attempted). At times we take for granted the fact that our actions against terrorism since September 11th have decreased the likeliness of another attack. If the United States withdraws its armed forces from the War on Terror, organizations such as al-Qaeda can rebuild and prepare a counter-attack. You pose a very important question that will impact future American generations. Sarcastically, I could say that we shouldn't open any new battle fronts against terrorism or terrorists. We should, as the Democrats, appear to invite, tuck our tails and withdraw from every foreign soil where America is trying to thwart terrorism. Then, let's wait until they conduct suicide bombing attacks on our soil killing innocent men, women and babi es, as they attend a movie. But if we wait, it'll be too late to do what we are doing now — take the fight to them, and have it in their backyard, not ours. — DeWane (a FOX News Fan) International Influence The United States of America has only lost two of the nineteen wars/invasions it has fought. This means the U. S. A. ’s military success rate is at 90%. With this high success rate, it can use military force as a threat towards nations/organizations that oppose it. If the United States decides to withdraw from the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, then its success rate will fall to 81%. This leads to other countries thinking that our threats of military action aren’t serious. Conclusion The War on Terrorism is a war needing fought. People, regardless of ethnicity, political party, or even nationality, need to unite once more. The people of the United States of America, nay the people of the planet Earth, need to unite to destroy these terrorist groups that plague the world in which we inhabit. In the words of the current president of the United States, Barrack Obama, â€Å"We are in the early stages of a long struggle. Yet since 9/11, we've heard a lot about what America can't do or shouldn't do or won't even try. We can't reach out to the hundreds of millions of Muslims who reject terror because we worry they hate us. We can't protect the homeland because there are too many targets, or secure our people while staying true to our values. We can't get past the America of Red and Blue, the politics of who's up and who's down. That is not the America that I know. The America I know is the last, best hope for that child looking up at a helicopter. It's the country that put a man on the moon; that defeated fascism and helped rebuild Europe. It's a country whose strength abroad is measured not just by armies, but rather by the power of our ideals, and by our purpose to forge an ever more perfect union at home. That's the America I know. We just have to act like it again to write that next chapter in the American story. If we do, we can keep America safe while extending security and opportunity around the world. We can hold true to our values, and in doing so advance those values abroad. And we can be what that child looking up at a helicopter needs us to be: the relentless opponent of terror and tyranny, and the light of hope to the world. To make this story reality, it's going to take Americans coming together and changing the fundamental direction of this country. It's going to take the service of a new generation of young people. It's going to take facing tragedy head-on and turning it into the next generation's triumph. That is a challenge that I welcome. Because when we do make that change, we'll do more than win a war — we'll live up to that calling to make America, and the world, safer, freer, and more hopeful than we found it. † â€Å"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. †-Harry S. Truman

Bend It Like Beckham

Field Experience A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication : : :201120327 :2011? 10? 11? A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication Abstract: Based on the English movie â€Å"Bend It like Beckham†, this paper is going to reveal the cultural phenomenon hidden in this story. Divided into three parts, this paper mainly makes an analysis on two aspects, one is religion, and another is family culture.Finally, the author points out: it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other. Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! 1. Introduction and analysis of the movie: Before the 1980s, African culture and Asian culture got terrible restriction in UK, however, after the 1980s; a large number of movies that describe immigrants’ life have emerged in f ilm industry in England. Bend It like Beckham† is such a movie, which borrows cultural and racial difference between England and India, reflects how the two cultures co-exist and accept each other in a hard procedure As the immigrant of the second generation, Jess, a girl with talent to be a football player, shows her great admiration to Beckham,hoping, one day, she can play for England with Beckham shoulder by shoulder, while her mother believes that Jess has two great duties in life: to learn to prepare a complete Indian meal, and to marry a nice Indian boy.However, Jess never wants to be a housewife who can only cook. Jess’ love of soccer crosses over into a love of life. She runs onto the field as if simply at play, in her eyes’, football is not one part of aboard culture,but a natural thing in her living environment,however, it was not included in her clan and family culture,therefore, what she has to confront is the strait of the cultural conflicts caused b y two co-existing culture. In fact, â€Å"Bend It like Beckham† is a product of cultural clash.One day, Jess was playing soccer with boys in the park; Of course, an Indian girl should not play soccer at all, since in her mother's mind the game consists of â€Å"displaying your bare legs to complete strangers. † Jess is seen in the park by Juliette, who plays for the Hounslow Harriers, a woman's team, and is recruited to join them. The coach is a young Irishman named Joe. Although she deceives her parents about her join into the football team, she loves them and understands their point of view.The cultural conflict is still upgrading when Jess falls in love with her coach,, which is undoubtedly an earthquake for Indian family, but, at the end of this movie, we can feel hope, the two family members shake their hands together, and Jess’s boyfriend begin to play cricket together. It seems that, English people are being accepted by Indian family. And the old Indian p eople get out from the dark shadow in their heart. Historically speaking, India was the colony of England for a long time, English people usually were gentlemen, but they look down upon Indian people.Jess’s father was a excellent cricket player, owing to cultural diffusion,he lost the chance to play cricket , fortunately, Jess got her family’s support and realized her father’s dream. Then, in the following part, I will give a detailed analysis about cultural differences under the influence of two different tradition and religion, 2. Cultural analysis 2. 1. Culture and family Although, a culture’s core values and world view derive primarily from its predominant religious view and cultural history, the family is the primary caretaker of these views and values and transmits them to new members of the culture.In this story, there are two families, the representatives of the two cultures, one is the ordinary England family, observed from the surface, and it is an open, modern, and fashioned family. However, In this story, Juliette’s mother misreads Jess and Juliette’s friendship as lesbian, so painful that she cried secretly, according to her attitude toward lesbian, we will realize English people is conservative in soul. The other one is an emigrate family from India, Indian parents are strict and traditional, they have strong religious belief. Which indicate what kind of Jess’s family is.As expected, it is incredible and unsupportable for a girl playing football. Family gives children knowledge about their historical background, information regarding the permanent nature of their culture, and specific behaviors, customs, traditions, and language associated with their ethnic or cultural group. In short, the family tells us, and others, who we are and what groups we are part of. ( K. A. Ocampo, 1993, 106). So next, I will render the different interaction pattern in English family and Indian family from two aspects: g ender role and individualism- collectivism 2. . 1. gender role In India, males are usually considered the superior sex, as Samovar points out, men make most of the important decisions, inheriantance is through the male line, and a woman lives in her husband’s village after she marries. (Samovar, 2000,). Therefore, in India, boys give much freedom of expression than the girls, and girls are asked to help with the chores that keep the family functioning. However, in British, women usually have the equal right as man does in family life, even in social activity. 2. 1. 2. ndividualism and collectivism Individualism and collectivism are learned through the family, which teaches children whom they must obey and who the dominant figures are in their life. In this movie, the Juliette from English nuclear family is much more self-reliant and self-responsible than Jess who from Indian Family, because, India is a typical country of extended family, people in India, share property, all m aterial possession, food, work and love, perform religious rituals together, and often live under the same roof.There is a scene in this movie: when her sister’s would-be parents-in-law discovered her intimate behavior with Juliette whom was mistaken for a English boy,. Just because of Jess’s so-called â€Å"shameful behavior†, they break off her son’s engagement with Jess’s family according this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that India family is a typical collectivism; one people’s thing is the thing of the whole family. 2. 2. Culture and Religion: In this movie, you will find lots of religious elements in the story, to some extent, cross-religious communication is the cross-cultural communication. When religion jumps to life it displays a startling quality. It takes over. All else, while not silenced, becomes subdued and thrown into a supporting role†¦It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit (H. Smith, 1991, P9). So, from different religions, we can understand different people’s spiritual and psychological needs or their behavior and habits, here, taking the Sikhism as example, we will have a better understanding of Jess’s family, Sikhs, followers of the Sikh religion, centered in Punjab State, in northwestern India.Sikhism is an ethical monotheism fusing elements of Hinduism and Islam. It was founded around 1950s, In Jess’s family's living room is a large portrait of a Sikh spiritual leader, called Nanak, but above Jess's bed is her own inspiration–the British soccer superstar David Beckham, and there is a distinctive contrast between Indian traditional belief and modern British cultural shock.According this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that it is incredible for Indian people to get married with a pagan or people without same belief, but, in Bri tish, Christianity is the dominant world view. In this land, it is not a easy job to infuse with the native Indian Sikh religion, and vice versa. Conclusion England is the birthplace of modern football game, English people’s enthusiasm to football caused football culture’s coming into being, which exactly stands for the national culture. While India is a country of dances and songs.The scene of Indian jolly wedding with dance and song in this movie is just the epitome of Indian culture. Young people always can accept new things easily, in this movie; it is the two girls who play the role of fusion of two cultures. There indeed are some cultural shocks during people’s communication around the world, no matter which aspect it is, religion, ethnic, family or something else. Now that we live in the same earth, it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other.Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! Reference s [1]. K. A. Ocampo, M. Bernal, G. P. Knight, (1993) â€Å"Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: The Sequencing of Social Constrancies,† New York: New York Press. [2]. Samovar, A. l. , Porter, R. E. ,& Stefani, A. L. (2000) Communication Between Cultures(Third Edition). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press [3]. H. Smith, (1991)The World’s Religions. New York: HarperCollins. Bend It Like Beckham Field Experience A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication : : :201120327 :2011? 10? 11? A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication Abstract: Based on the English movie â€Å"Bend It like Beckham†, this paper is going to reveal the cultural phenomenon hidden in this story. Divided into three parts, this paper mainly makes an analysis on two aspects, one is religion, and another is family culture.Finally, the author points out: it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other. Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! 1. Introduction and analysis of the movie: Before the 1980s, African culture and Asian culture got terrible restriction in UK, however, after the 1980s; a large number of movies that describe immigrants’ life have emerged in f ilm industry in England. Bend It like Beckham† is such a movie, which borrows cultural and racial difference between England and India, reflects how the two cultures co-exist and accept each other in a hard procedure As the immigrant of the second generation, Jess, a girl with talent to be a football player, shows her great admiration to Beckham,hoping, one day, she can play for England with Beckham shoulder by shoulder, while her mother believes that Jess has two great duties in life: to learn to prepare a complete Indian meal, and to marry a nice Indian boy.However, Jess never wants to be a housewife who can only cook. Jess’ love of soccer crosses over into a love of life. She runs onto the field as if simply at play, in her eyes’, football is not one part of aboard culture,but a natural thing in her living environment,however, it was not included in her clan and family culture,therefore, what she has to confront is the strait of the cultural conflicts caused b y two co-existing culture. In fact, â€Å"Bend It like Beckham† is a product of cultural clash.One day, Jess was playing soccer with boys in the park; Of course, an Indian girl should not play soccer at all, since in her mother's mind the game consists of â€Å"displaying your bare legs to complete strangers. † Jess is seen in the park by Juliette, who plays for the Hounslow Harriers, a woman's team, and is recruited to join them. The coach is a young Irishman named Joe. Although she deceives her parents about her join into the football team, she loves them and understands their point of view.The cultural conflict is still upgrading when Jess falls in love with her coach,, which is undoubtedly an earthquake for Indian family, but, at the end of this movie, we can feel hope, the two family members shake their hands together, and Jess’s boyfriend begin to play cricket together. It seems that, English people are being accepted by Indian family. And the old Indian p eople get out from the dark shadow in their heart. Historically speaking, India was the colony of England for a long time, English people usually were gentlemen, but they look down upon Indian people.Jess’s father was a excellent cricket player, owing to cultural diffusion,he lost the chance to play cricket , fortunately, Jess got her family’s support and realized her father’s dream. Then, in the following part, I will give a detailed analysis about cultural differences under the influence of two different tradition and religion, 2. Cultural analysis 2. 1. Culture and family Although, a culture’s core values and world view derive primarily from its predominant religious view and cultural history, the family is the primary caretaker of these views and values and transmits them to new members of the culture.In this story, there are two families, the representatives of the two cultures, one is the ordinary England family, observed from the surface, and it is an open, modern, and fashioned family. However, In this story, Juliette’s mother misreads Jess and Juliette’s friendship as lesbian, so painful that she cried secretly, according to her attitude toward lesbian, we will realize English people is conservative in soul. The other one is an emigrate family from India, Indian parents are strict and traditional, they have strong religious belief. Which indicate what kind of Jess’s family is.As expected, it is incredible and unsupportable for a girl playing football. Family gives children knowledge about their historical background, information regarding the permanent nature of their culture, and specific behaviors, customs, traditions, and language associated with their ethnic or cultural group. In short, the family tells us, and others, who we are and what groups we are part of. ( K. A. Ocampo, 1993, 106). So next, I will render the different interaction pattern in English family and Indian family from two aspects: g ender role and individualism- collectivism 2. . 1. gender role In India, males are usually considered the superior sex, as Samovar points out, men make most of the important decisions, inheriantance is through the male line, and a woman lives in her husband’s village after she marries. (Samovar, 2000,). Therefore, in India, boys give much freedom of expression than the girls, and girls are asked to help with the chores that keep the family functioning. However, in British, women usually have the equal right as man does in family life, even in social activity. 2. 1. 2. ndividualism and collectivism Individualism and collectivism are learned through the family, which teaches children whom they must obey and who the dominant figures are in their life. In this movie, the Juliette from English nuclear family is much more self-reliant and self-responsible than Jess who from Indian Family, because, India is a typical country of extended family, people in India, share property, all m aterial possession, food, work and love, perform religious rituals together, and often live under the same roof.There is a scene in this movie: when her sister’s would-be parents-in-law discovered her intimate behavior with Juliette whom was mistaken for a English boy,. Just because of Jess’s so-called â€Å"shameful behavior†, they break off her son’s engagement with Jess’s family according this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that India family is a typical collectivism; one people’s thing is the thing of the whole family. 2. 2. Culture and Religion: In this movie, you will find lots of religious elements in the story, to some extent, cross-religious communication is the cross-cultural communication. When religion jumps to life it displays a startling quality. It takes over. All else, while not silenced, becomes subdued and thrown into a supporting role†¦It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit (H. Smith, 1991, P9). So, from different religions, we can understand different people’s spiritual and psychological needs or their behavior and habits, here, taking the Sikhism as example, we will have a better understanding of Jess’s family, Sikhs, followers of the Sikh religion, centered in Punjab State, in northwestern India.Sikhism is an ethical monotheism fusing elements of Hinduism and Islam. It was founded around 1950s, In Jess’s family's living room is a large portrait of a Sikh spiritual leader, called Nanak, but above Jess's bed is her own inspiration–the British soccer superstar David Beckham, and there is a distinctive contrast between Indian traditional belief and modern British cultural shock.According this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that it is incredible for Indian people to get married with a pagan or people without same belief, but, in Bri tish, Christianity is the dominant world view. In this land, it is not a easy job to infuse with the native Indian Sikh religion, and vice versa. Conclusion England is the birthplace of modern football game, English people’s enthusiasm to football caused football culture’s coming into being, which exactly stands for the national culture. While India is a country of dances and songs.The scene of Indian jolly wedding with dance and song in this movie is just the epitome of Indian culture. Young people always can accept new things easily, in this movie; it is the two girls who play the role of fusion of two cultures. There indeed are some cultural shocks during people’s communication around the world, no matter which aspect it is, religion, ethnic, family or something else. Now that we live in the same earth, it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other.Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! Reference s [1]. K. A. Ocampo, M. Bernal, G. P. Knight, (1993) â€Å"Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: The Sequencing of Social Constrancies,† New York: New York Press. [2]. Samovar, A. l. , Porter, R. E. ,& Stefani, A. L. (2000) Communication Between Cultures(Third Edition). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press [3]. H. Smith, (1991)The World’s Religions. New York: HarperCollins. Bend It Like Beckham Field Experience A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication : : :201120327 :2011? 10? 11? A feedback on the movie â€Å"Bend it like Beckham† ——-From the perspective of Cross-cultural communication Abstract: Based on the English movie â€Å"Bend It like Beckham†, this paper is going to reveal the cultural phenomenon hidden in this story. Divided into three parts, this paper mainly makes an analysis on two aspects, one is religion, and another is family culture.Finally, the author points out: it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other. Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! 1. Introduction and analysis of the movie: Before the 1980s, African culture and Asian culture got terrible restriction in UK, however, after the 1980s; a large number of movies that describe immigrants’ life have emerged in f ilm industry in England. Bend It like Beckham† is such a movie, which borrows cultural and racial difference between England and India, reflects how the two cultures co-exist and accept each other in a hard procedure As the immigrant of the second generation, Jess, a girl with talent to be a football player, shows her great admiration to Beckham,hoping, one day, she can play for England with Beckham shoulder by shoulder, while her mother believes that Jess has two great duties in life: to learn to prepare a complete Indian meal, and to marry a nice Indian boy.However, Jess never wants to be a housewife who can only cook. Jess’ love of soccer crosses over into a love of life. She runs onto the field as if simply at play, in her eyes’, football is not one part of aboard culture,but a natural thing in her living environment,however, it was not included in her clan and family culture,therefore, what she has to confront is the strait of the cultural conflicts caused b y two co-existing culture. In fact, â€Å"Bend It like Beckham† is a product of cultural clash.One day, Jess was playing soccer with boys in the park; Of course, an Indian girl should not play soccer at all, since in her mother's mind the game consists of â€Å"displaying your bare legs to complete strangers. † Jess is seen in the park by Juliette, who plays for the Hounslow Harriers, a woman's team, and is recruited to join them. The coach is a young Irishman named Joe. Although she deceives her parents about her join into the football team, she loves them and understands their point of view.The cultural conflict is still upgrading when Jess falls in love with her coach,, which is undoubtedly an earthquake for Indian family, but, at the end of this movie, we can feel hope, the two family members shake their hands together, and Jess’s boyfriend begin to play cricket together. It seems that, English people are being accepted by Indian family. And the old Indian p eople get out from the dark shadow in their heart. Historically speaking, India was the colony of England for a long time, English people usually were gentlemen, but they look down upon Indian people.Jess’s father was a excellent cricket player, owing to cultural diffusion,he lost the chance to play cricket , fortunately, Jess got her family’s support and realized her father’s dream. Then, in the following part, I will give a detailed analysis about cultural differences under the influence of two different tradition and religion, 2. Cultural analysis 2. 1. Culture and family Although, a culture’s core values and world view derive primarily from its predominant religious view and cultural history, the family is the primary caretaker of these views and values and transmits them to new members of the culture.In this story, there are two families, the representatives of the two cultures, one is the ordinary England family, observed from the surface, and it is an open, modern, and fashioned family. However, In this story, Juliette’s mother misreads Jess and Juliette’s friendship as lesbian, so painful that she cried secretly, according to her attitude toward lesbian, we will realize English people is conservative in soul. The other one is an emigrate family from India, Indian parents are strict and traditional, they have strong religious belief. Which indicate what kind of Jess’s family is.As expected, it is incredible and unsupportable for a girl playing football. Family gives children knowledge about their historical background, information regarding the permanent nature of their culture, and specific behaviors, customs, traditions, and language associated with their ethnic or cultural group. In short, the family tells us, and others, who we are and what groups we are part of. ( K. A. Ocampo, 1993, 106). So next, I will render the different interaction pattern in English family and Indian family from two aspects: g ender role and individualism- collectivism 2. . 1. gender role In India, males are usually considered the superior sex, as Samovar points out, men make most of the important decisions, inheriantance is through the male line, and a woman lives in her husband’s village after she marries. (Samovar, 2000,). Therefore, in India, boys give much freedom of expression than the girls, and girls are asked to help with the chores that keep the family functioning. However, in British, women usually have the equal right as man does in family life, even in social activity. 2. 1. 2. ndividualism and collectivism Individualism and collectivism are learned through the family, which teaches children whom they must obey and who the dominant figures are in their life. In this movie, the Juliette from English nuclear family is much more self-reliant and self-responsible than Jess who from Indian Family, because, India is a typical country of extended family, people in India, share property, all m aterial possession, food, work and love, perform religious rituals together, and often live under the same roof.There is a scene in this movie: when her sister’s would-be parents-in-law discovered her intimate behavior with Juliette whom was mistaken for a English boy,. Just because of Jess’s so-called â€Å"shameful behavior†, they break off her son’s engagement with Jess’s family according this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that India family is a typical collectivism; one people’s thing is the thing of the whole family. 2. 2. Culture and Religion: In this movie, you will find lots of religious elements in the story, to some extent, cross-religious communication is the cross-cultural communication. When religion jumps to life it displays a startling quality. It takes over. All else, while not silenced, becomes subdued and thrown into a supporting role†¦It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit (H. Smith, 1991, P9). So, from different religions, we can understand different people’s spiritual and psychological needs or their behavior and habits, here, taking the Sikhism as example, we will have a better understanding of Jess’s family, Sikhs, followers of the Sikh religion, centered in Punjab State, in northwestern India.Sikhism is an ethical monotheism fusing elements of Hinduism and Islam. It was founded around 1950s, In Jess’s family's living room is a large portrait of a Sikh spiritual leader, called Nanak, but above Jess's bed is her own inspiration–the British soccer superstar David Beckham, and there is a distinctive contrast between Indian traditional belief and modern British cultural shock.According this story, it’s not difficult to get conclusion that it is incredible for Indian people to get married with a pagan or people without same belief, but, in Bri tish, Christianity is the dominant world view. In this land, it is not a easy job to infuse with the native Indian Sikh religion, and vice versa. Conclusion England is the birthplace of modern football game, English people’s enthusiasm to football caused football culture’s coming into being, which exactly stands for the national culture. While India is a country of dances and songs.The scene of Indian jolly wedding with dance and song in this movie is just the epitome of Indian culture. Young people always can accept new things easily, in this movie; it is the two girls who play the role of fusion of two cultures. There indeed are some cultural shocks during people’s communication around the world, no matter which aspect it is, religion, ethnic, family or something else. Now that we live in the same earth, it is very important for people of different cultures to understand and respect each other.Thus, a peaceful and harmonious world would be around us! Reference s [1]. K. A. Ocampo, M. Bernal, G. P. Knight, (1993) â€Å"Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: The Sequencing of Social Constrancies,† New York: New York Press. [2]. Samovar, A. l. , Porter, R. E. ,& Stefani, A. L. (2000) Communication Between Cultures(Third Edition). Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press [3]. H. Smith, (1991)The World’s Religions. New York: HarperCollins.