Compare and contrast essay Essay

Brown Brothers; How Negative Stereotypes Affect Polynesian And Maori In New Zealand ‘My demographic is: high school cleaning ladies, fast food burger-making, factory boxpacking, rubbish truck drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, sober drivers and living off the pension joy riders — I am a dropout.’ These are all ideas raised and challenged by Joshua Iosefo’s 2011 viral speech, ‘Brown Brother’. ‘Brown Brother’ is one of three texts that will be examined, compared and contrasted in this essay. The second text, ‘Manurewa’, is a short film based on the South Auckland murder of Navtej Singh, a liquor shop owner. The third text is ‘Fish Heads’, a short story written by Aparina Taylor, that focuses on a group of Maori boys who live in the city. The media is a huge culprit for the negative stereotyping that has been brought upon pacifica people. Brown people are more than what they are portrayed to be through media. Films such as ‘Manurewa’ reinforce many of the negative stereotypes that have been brought upon Pacific people. The stereotype of ‘brown’ people is a negative one, one of unemployment, one of crime, one of violence. In ‘Manurewa’ each one of these stereotypes were portrayed. The men in the short film were all unemployed, all committed crime and all showed violence. â€Å"Bro Town, Sione’s Wedding, and do I have to mention the GC? Now I don’t mean to condescend – I mean these shows are great, don’t get me wrong – but can anyone explain: will there ever be a time when our representation goes deeper than putting our own people to shame?† Joshua Iosefo, in his ‘Brown Brother’ speech, spoke about this issue – how the media represents ‘brown’ people in a negative light. He highlights how these types of shows create and enforce the stereotypes that ‘brown’ people now have to live by. While these shows are meant to entertain, this negative reinforcement only show the bad side of Polynesian and Maori people. One of the major themes of the film ‘Manurewa’ is about people being trapped by low expectations and invisible boundaries. People can become trapped from attaining success, trapped from fulfilling their potential, and trapped from being heard. The message in the film ‘Manurewa’ is that not all ‘brown’  people are bad, but the expectations that their stereotypes have created for them along with the people that they are surrounded with often leads to them making horrific mistakes. In this true story, a good person has been surrounded with unemployed, violent people and ultimately ends up committing a murder. In the beginning of the film the boy shows that he does have love and passion in his heart through feeding and nurturing the horse. After the murder the three older men are happy and excited but the boy was completely distressed about what he had done. These two scenes clearly show that the boy is a good person who simply made a bad mistakes because of the people that he was surrounded by. When Joshua Iosefo performed ‘Brown Brother’ at the Tedx conference, he explained how brown people are trapped because of expectations, and surroundings. Meaning that the expectations that have been set from the stereotypes as well as the people that they are surrounded by impact greatly and almost trap brown people from success. He used a box as an example, where he explained that each side of the box needs to be kicked down in order for Maori and Polynesian people to succeed. People need to make the change themselves through their own actions. ‘Brown’ people need to stop being what the stereotypes expects them to be and need to start proving that they are better than the stereotype. In the short story, ‘Fish Heads’ the Maori boys are short of money but they do not let this stop them. All four boys are employed, they all work for the little money that they have and they show that there is no reason to live the way that the stereotype expects them to live. They are not violent, they do not commit crimes and they do not drink alcohol excessively. They respect people and they are happy living a simple wholesome life. Similarly, Joshua Iosefo talks about beating the stereotype, about standing up and showing that you are better than the stereotype. â€Å"You can do all things through Christ, Philippians 4:13. You are more than capable. And I don’t say that just to make you feel better, I say that because I know. Cause your crea tor told me to tell you so. You will go places, you will tell stories, so do not feel afraid or alone for your God and your family and your home will forever be inside the marrow of your bones. So do not fret, do not regret. For where you go, you take us with you. Brown brother, do not be afraid to be the first, the first to graduate, the first to climb, the first prime minister,  or the first good wife — brown brother, do not be afraid to be the change. Not in skin tone or colour, but a change in mindset. From one brown brother, to another†. These are the powerful words that Joshua pointed at people living under the expectations that the stereotype has set for them. This powerful message is aimed st those who have been beaten by the expectations that have been set by the stereotype. The three texts, ‘Manurewa’, ‘Brown Brother’ and ‘Fish Heads’ clearly illustrate that there are negative stereotypes and low expectations for Polynesians and Maori in New Zealand. These stereotypes can lead people to feel that they are stuck and defined by their stereotype. Joshua Iosefo’s speech, talked of the stereotype that was his ‘demographic’ but also said that Polynesians needed to be responsible for overcoming or changing this stereotype. In the film ‘Manurewa’, the inability for Isaac to escape from this cycle of negativity lead the once caring teenager to associate with bad people and ultimately lead to him murdering an innocent man. Whereas in contrast, the text ‘Fish Heads’ showed that if people are removed from negative environments and influences, they are able to live in a non-stereotypical way.

Part Five Chapter III

III To Gavin's disappointment, it seemed that he would have to attend Howard Mollison's birthday party after all. If Mary, a client of the firm and the widow of his best friend, had asked him to stay for dinner, he would have considered himself more than justified in skipping it †¦ but Mary had not asked him to stay. She had family visiting, and she had been oddly flustered when he had turned up. She doesn't want them to know, he thought, taking comfort in her self-consciousness as she ushered him towards the door. He drove back to the Smithy, replaying his conversation with Kay in his mind. I thought he was your best friend. He's only been dead a few weeks! Yeah, and I was looking after her for Barry, he retorted in his head, which is what he'd have wanted. Neither of us expected this to happen. Barry's dead. It can't hurt him now. Alone in the Smithy he looked out a clean suit for the party, because the invitation said ‘formal', and tried to imagine gossipy little Pagford relishing the story of Gavin and Mary. So what? he thought, staggered by his own bravery. Is she supposed to be alone for ever? It happens. I was looking after her. And in spite of his reluctance to attend a party that was sure to be dull and exhausting, he was buoyed inside by a little bubble of excitement and happiness. Up in Hilltop House, Andrew Price was styling his hair with his mother's blow-drier. He had never looked forward to a disco or a party as much as he had longed for tonight. He, Gaia and Sukhvinder were being paid by Howard to serve food and drinks at the party. Howard had hired him a uniform for the occasion: a white shirt, black trousers and a bow tie. He would be working alongside Gaia, not as potboy but as a waiter. But there was more to his anticipation than this. Gaia had split up with the legendary Marco de Luca. He had found her crying about it in the back yard of the Copper Kettle that afternoon, when he had gone outside for a smoke. ‘His loss,' Andrew had said, trying to keep the delight out of his voice. And she had sniffed and said, ‘Cheers, Andy.' ‘You little poofter,' said Simon, when Andrew finally turned off the drier. He had been waiting to say it for several minutes, standing on the dark landing, staring through the gap in the door, which was ajar, watching Andrew preen himself in the mirror. Andrew jumped, then laughed. His good humour discomposed Simon. ‘Look at you,' he jeered, as Andrew passed him on the landing in his shirt and bow tie. ‘With your dicky-bow. You look a twat.' And you're unemployed, and I did it to you, dickhead. Andrew's feelings about what he had done to his father changed almost hourly. Sometimes the guilt would bear down on him, tainting everything, but then it would melt away, leaving him glorying in his secret triumph. Tonight, the thought of it gave extra heat to the excitement burning beneath Andrew's thin white shirt, an additional tingle to the goose-flesh caused by the rush of evening air as he sped, on Simon's racing bike, down the hill into town. He was excited, full of hope. Gaia was available and vulnerable. Her father lived in Reading. Shirley Mollison was standing in a party dress outside the church hall when he cycled up, tying giant gold helium balloons in the shapes of fives and sixes to the railings. ‘Hello, Andrew,' she trilled. ‘Bike away from the entrance, please.' He wheeled it along to the corner, passing a brand-new, racing green BMW convertible parked feet away. He walked around the car on his way inside, taking in the luxurious inner fittings. ‘And here's Andy!' Andrew saw at once that his boss's good humour and excitement were equal to his own. Howard was striding down the hall, wearing an immense velvet dinner jacket; he resembled a conjuror. There were only five or six other people dotted around: the party would not start for twenty minutes. Blue, white and gold balloons had been fastened up everywhere. There was a massive trestle table largely covered in plates draped with tea-towels, and at the top of the hall a middle-aged DJ setting up his equipment. ‘Go help Maureen, Andy, will you?' She was laying out glasses at one end of the long table, caught gaudily in a stream of light from an overhead lamp. ‘Don't you look handsome!' she croaked as he approached. She was wearing a scant, stretchy shiny dress that revealed every contour of the bony body to which unexpected little rolls and pads of flesh still clung, exposed by the unforgiving fabric. From somewhere out of sight came a small ‘hi'; Gaia was crouching over a box of plates on the floor. ‘Glasses out of boxes, please, Andy,' said Maureen, ‘and set them up here, where we're having the bar.' He did as he was told. As he unpacked the box, a woman he had never seen before approached, carrying several bottles of champagne. ‘These should go in the fridge, if there is one.' She had Howard's straight nose, Howard's big blue eyes and Howard's curly fair hair, but whereas his features were womanish, softened by fat, his daughter – she had to be his daughter – was unpretty yet striking, with low brows, big eyes and a cleft chin. She was wearing trousers and an open-necked silk shirt. After dumping the bottles onto the table she turned away. Her demeanour, and something about the quality of her clothing, made Andrew sure that she was the owner of the BMW outside. ‘That's Patricia,' whispered Gaia in his ear, and his skin tingled again as though she carried an electric charge. ‘Howard's daughter.' ‘Yeah, I thought so,' he said, but he was much more interested to see that Gaia was unscrewing the cap of a bottle of vodka and pouring out a measure. As he watched, she drank it straight off with a little shudder. She had barely replaced the top when Maureen reappeared beside them with an ice bucket. ‘Bloody old slapper,' said Gaia, as Maureen walked away, and Andrew smelt the spirits on her breath. ‘Look at the state of her.' He laughed, turned and stopped abruptly, because Shirley was right beside them, smiling her pussycat smile. ‘Has Miss Jawanda not arrived yet?' she asked. ‘She's on her way, she just texted me,' said Gaia. But Shirley did not really care where Sukhvinder was. She had overheard Andrew and Gaia's little exchange about Maureen, and it had completely restored the good mood that had been dented by Maureen's evident delight in her own toilette. It was difficult to satisfactorily puncture self-esteem so obtuse, so deluded, but as Shirley walked away from the teenagers towards the DJ, she planned what she would say to Howard the next time she saw him alone. I'm afraid the young ones were, well, laughing at Maureen †¦ it's such a pity she wore that dress †¦ I hate seeing her make a fool of herself. There was plenty to be pleased about, Shirley reminded herself, for she needed a little bolstering tonight. She and Howard and Miles were all going to be on the council together; it would be marvellous, simply marvellous. She checked that the DJ knew that Howard's favourite song was ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home', Tom Jones' version, and looked around for more little jobs to do: but instead her gaze fell upon the reason that her happiness, tonight, had not quite that perfect quality she had anticipated. Patricia was standing alone, staring up at the Pagford coat of arms on the wall, and making no effort to talk to anybody. Shirley wished that Patricia would wear a skirt sometimes; but at least she had arrived alone. Shirley had been afraid that the BMW might contain another person, and that absence was something gained. You weren't supposed to dislike your own child; you were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted, even if they turned out to be the kind of person that you would have crossed the street to avoid had you not been related. Howard took a large view of the whole matter; he even joked about it, in a mild way, beyond Patricia's hearing. Shirley could not rise to those heights of detachment. She felt compelled to join Patricia, in the vague, unconscious hope that she might dilute the strangeness she was afraid everyone else would smell by her own exemplary dress and behaviour. ‘Do you want a drink, darling?' ‘Not yet,' said Patricia, still staring up at the Pagford arms. ‘I had a heavy night last night. Probably still over the limit. We were out drinking with Melly's office pals.' Shirley smiled vaguely up at the crest above them. ‘Melly's fine, thanks for asking,' said Patricia. ‘Oh, good,' said Shirley. ‘I liked the invitation,' said Patricia. ‘Pat and guest.' ‘I'm sorry, darling, but that's just what you put, you know, when people aren't married – ‘ ‘Ah, that's what it says in Debrett's, does it? Well, Melly didn't want to come if she wasn't even named on the invitation, so we had a massive row, and here I am, alone. Result, eh?' Patricia stalked away towards the drinks, leaving Shirley a little shaken behind her. Patricia's rages had been frightening even as a child. ‘You're late, Miss Jawanda,' she called, recovering her composure as a flustered Sukhvinder came hurrying towards her. In Shirley's opinion, the girl was demonstrating a kind of insolence turning up at all, after what her mother had said to Howard, here, in this very hall. She watched her hurry to join Andrew and Gaia, and thought that she would tell Howard that they ought to let Sukhvinder go. She was tardy, and there was probably a hygiene issue with the eczema she was hiding under the long-sleeved black T-shirt; Shirley made a mental note to check whether it was contagious, on her favourite medical website. Guests began to arrive promptly at eight o'clock. Howard told Gaia to come and stand beside him and collect coats, because he wanted everyone to see him ordering her around by name, in that little black dress and frilly apron. But there were soon too many coats for her to carry alone, so he summoned Andrew to help. ‘Nick a bottle,' Gaia ordered Andrew, as they hung coats three and four deep in the tiny cloakroom, ‘and hide it in the kitchen. We can take it in turns to go and have some.' ‘OK,' said Andrew, elated. ‘Gavin!' cried Howard, as his son's partner came through the door alone at half-past eight. ‘Kay not with you, Gavin?' asked Shirley swiftly (Maureen was changing into sparkly stilettos behind the trestle table, so there was very little time to steal a march on her). ‘No, she couldn't make it, unfortunately,' said Gavin; then, to his horror, he came face to face with Gaia, who was waiting to take his coat. ‘Mum could have made it,' said Gaia, in a clear, carrying voice, as she glared at him. ‘But Gavin's dumped her, haven't you, Gav?' Howard clapped Gavin on the shoulder, pretending he had not heard, and boomed, ‘Great to see you, go get yourself a drink.' Shirley's expression remained impassive, but the thrill of the moment did not subside quickly, and she was a little dazed and dreamy, greeting the next few guests. When Maureen tottered over in her awful dress to join the greeting party, Shirley took immense pleasure in telling her quietly: ‘We've had a very awkward little scene. Very awkward. Gavin and Gaia's mother †¦ oh, dear †¦ if we'd known †¦' ‘What? What's happened?' But Shirley shook her head, savouring the exquisite pleasure of Maureen's frustrated curiosity, and opened her arms wide as Miles, Samantha and Lexie entered the hall. ‘Here he is! Parish Councillor Miles Mollison!' Samantha watched Shirley hugging Miles as though from a great distance. She had moved so abruptly from happiness and anticipation to shock and disappointment that her thoughts had become white noise, against which she had to fight to take in the exterior world. (Miles had said: ‘That's great! You can come to Dad's party, you were only just saying – ‘ ‘Yes,' she had replied, ‘I know. It is great, isn't it?' But when he had seen her dressed in the jeans and band T-shirt she had been visualizing herself in for over a week, he had been perplexed. ‘It's formal.' ‘Miles, it's the church hall in Pagford.' ‘I know, but the invitation – ‘ ‘I'm wearing this.') ‘Hello, Sammy,' said Howard. ‘Look at you. You needn't have dressed up.' But his embrace was as lascivious as ever, and he patted her tightly jeaned backside. Samantha gave Shirley a cold tight smile and walked past her towards the drinks. A nasty voice inside her head was asking: but what did you think was going to happen at the concert, anyway? What was the point? What were you after? Nothing. A bit of fun. The dream of strong young arms and laughter, which was to have had some kind of catharsis tonight; her own thin waist encircled again, and the sharp taste of the new, the unexplored; her fantasy had lost wings, it was plummeting back to earth †¦ I only wanted to look. ‘Looking good, Sammy.' ‘Cheers, Pat.' She had not met her sister-in-law for over a year. I like you more than anyone else in this family, Pat. Miles had caught up with her; he kissed his sister. ‘How are you? How's Mel? Isn't she here?' ‘No, she didn't want to come,' said Patricia. She was drinking champagne, but from her expression, it might have been vinegar. ‘The invitation said Pat and guest are invited †¦ huge bloody row. One up to Mum.' ‘Oh, Pat, come on,' said Miles, smiling. ‘Oh, Pat, fucking come on what, Miles?' A furious delight took hold of Samantha: a pretext to attack. ‘That's a bloody rude way to invite your sister's partner and you know it, Miles. Your mother could do with some lessons in manners, if you ask me.' He was fatter, surely, than he had been a year ago. She could see his neck bulging over the collar of his shirt. His breath went sour quickly. He had a little trick of bouncing on his toes that he had caught from his father. She experienced a surge of physical disgust and walked away to the end of the trestle table, where Andrew and Sukhvinder were busy filling and handing out glasses. ‘Have you got any gin?' Samantha asked. ‘Give me a big one.' She barely recognized Andrew. He poured her a measure, trying not to look at her breasts, boundlessly exposed in the T-shirt, but it was like trying not to squint in direct sunlight. ‘Do you know them?' Samantha asked, after downing half a glass of gin and tonic. A blush had risen before Andrew could marshal his thoughts. To his horror, she gave a reckless cackle, and said, ‘The band. I'm talking about the band.' ‘Yeah, I – yeah, I've heard of them. I don't †¦ not my kind of thing.' ‘Is that right?' she said, throwing back the rest of her drink. ‘I'll have another one of those, please.' She realized who he was: the mousy boy from the delicatessen. His uniform made him look older. Maybe a couple of weeks of lugging pallets up and down the cellar steps had built some muscle. ‘Oh, look,' said Samantha, spotting a figure heading away from her into the growing crowd, ‘there's Gavin. The second most boring man in Pagford. After my husband, obviously.' She strode off, pleased with herself, holding her new drink; the gin had hit her where she most needed it, anaesthetizing and stimulating at the same time, and as she walked she thought: he liked my tits; let's see what he thinks of my arse. Gavin saw Samantha coming and tried to deflect her by joining somebody else's conversation, anybody's; the nearest person was Howard and he insinuated himself hastily into the group around his host. ‘I took a risk,' Howard was saying to three other men; he was waving a cigar, and a little ash had dribbled down the front of his velvet jacket. ‘I took a risk and I put in the graft. Simple as that. No magic formula. Nobody handed me – oh, here's Sammy. Who are those young men, Samantha?' While four elderly men stared at the pop group stretched across her breasts, Samantha turned to Gavin. ‘Hi,' she said, leaning in and forcing him to kiss her. ‘Kay not here?' ‘No,' said Gavin shortly. ‘Talking about business, Sammy,' said Howard happily, and Samantha thought of her shop, failed and finished. ‘I was a self-starter,' he informed the group, reprising what was clearly an established theme. ‘That's all there is to it. That's all you need. I was a self-starter.' Massive and globular, he was like a miniature velvety sun, radiating satisfaction and contentment. His tones were already rounded and mellowed by the brandy in his hand. ‘I was ready to take a risk – could've lost everything.' ‘Well, your mum could have lost everything,' Samantha corrected him. ‘Didn't Hilda mortgage her house to put up half the deposit on the shop?' She saw the tiny flicker in Howard's eyes, but his smile remained constant. ‘All credit to my mother, then,' he said, ‘for working and scrimping and saving, and giving her son a start. I multiply what I was given, and I give back to the family – pay for your girls to go to St Anne's – what goes round, comes round, eh, Sammy?' She expected this from Shirley, but not from Howard. Both of them drained their glasses, and Samantha watched Gavin drift away without trying to stop him. Gavin was wondering whether it would be possible to slip out unnoticed. He was nervous, and the noise was making it worse. A horrible idea had taken possession of him since meeting Gaia at the door. What if Kay had told her daughter everything? What if the girl knew that he was in love with Mary Fairbrother, and told other people? It was the sort of thing that a vengeful sixteen-year-old might do. The very last thing he wanted was for Pagford to know that he was in love with Mary before he had a chance to tell her himself. He had imagined doing it months and months hence, perhaps a year down the line †¦ letting the first anniversary of Barry's death slip by †¦ and, in the mean time, nurturing the tiny shoots of trust and reliance that were already there, so that the reality of her feelings stole gradually upon her, as they had upon him †¦ ‘You haven't got a drink, Gav!' said Miles. ‘That situation must be remedied!' He led his partner firmly to the drinks table and poured him a beer, talking all the while, and, like Howard, giving off an almost visible glow of happiness and pride. ‘You heard I won the seat?' Gavin had not, but he did not feel equal to feigning surprise. ‘Yeah. Congratulations.' ‘How's Mary?' asked Miles expansively; he was a friend to the whole town tonight, because it had elected him. ‘She doing OK?' ‘Yeah, I think – ‘ ‘I heard she might be going to Liverpool. Might be for the best.' ‘What?' said Gavin sharply. ‘Maureen was saying this morning; apparently, Mary's sister's trying to persuade Mary to go home with the kids. She's still got a lot of family in Liver – ‘ ‘This is her home.' ‘I think it was Barry who liked Pagford. I'm not sure Mary will want to stay without him.' Gaia was watching Gavin through a chink in the kitchen door. She was clutching a paper cup containing several fingers of the vodka that Andrew had stolen for her. ‘He's such a bastard,' she said. ‘We'd still be in Hackney if he hadn't led Mum on. She's so bloody stupid. I could have told her he wasn't that interested. He never took her out. He couldn't wait to leave after they'd shagged.' Andrew, who was piling additional sandwiches on an almost empty platter behind her, could hardly believe that she was using words like shagged. The chimeric Gaia who filled his fantasies was a sexually inventive and adventurous virgin. He did not know what the real Gaia had done, or not done, with Marco de Luca. Her judgement on her mother made it sound as if she knew how men behaved after sex, if they were interested †¦ ‘Drink something,' she told Andrew as he approached the door with the platter, and she held up her own polystyrene cup to his lips, and he drank some of her vodka. Giggling a little, she backed away to let him out and called after him: ‘Make Sooks come in here and get some!' The hall was crowded and noisy. Andrew put the pile of fresh sandwiches on the table, but interest in the food seemed to have waned; Sukhvinder was struggling to keep up with demand at the drinks table, and many people had started pouring their own. ‘Gaia wants you in the kitchen,' Andrew told Sukhvinder, and he took over from her. There was no point acting like a bartender; instead, he filled as many glasses as he could find, and left them on the table for people to help themselves. ‘Hi, Peanut!' said Lexie Mollison. ‘Can I have some champagne?' They had been at St Thomas's together, but he had not seen her for a long time. Her accent had changed since she had been at St Anne's. He hated being called Peanut. ‘It's there in front of you,' he said, pointing. ‘Lexie, you're not drinking,' snapped Samantha, appearing out of the crowd. ‘Absolutely not.' ‘Grandad said – ‘ ‘I don't care.' ‘Everyone else – ‘ ‘I said no!' Lexie stomped away. Andrew, glad to see her go, smiled at Samantha, and was surprised when she beamed at him. ‘Do you talk back to your parents?' ‘Yeah,' he said, and she laughed. Her breasts really were enormous. ‘Ladies and gentlemen!' boomed a voice through the microphone, and everyone stopped talking to listen to Howard. ‘Wanted to say a few words †¦ most of you probably know by now that my son Miles has just been elected to the Parish Council!' There was a smattering of applause and Miles raised his drink high above his head to acknowledge it. Andrew was startled to hear Samantha say quite clearly under her breath, ‘Hoo-fucking-ray.' Nobody was coming for drinks now. Andrew slipped back into the kitchen. Gaia and Sukhvinder were alone in there, drinking and laughing, and when they saw Andrew they both shouted, ‘Andy!' He laughed too. ‘Are you both pissed?' ‘Yes,' said Gaia, and ‘no,' said Sukhvinder. ‘She is, though.' ‘I don't care,' said Gaia. ‘Mollison can sack me if he wants. No point saving up for a ticket to Hackney any more.' ‘He won't sack you,' said Andrew, helping himself to some of the vodka. ‘You're his favourite.' ‘Yeah,' said Gaia. ‘Creepy old bastard.' And the three of them laughed again. Through the glass doors, amplified by the microphone, came Maureen's croaky voice. ‘Come on, then, Howard! Come on – a duet for your birthday! Go on – ladies and gentlemen – Howard's favourite song!' The teenagers gazed at each other in tantalized horror. Gaia tripped forward, giggling, and pushed the door open. The first few bars of ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home' blared out, and then, in Howard's bass and Maureen's gravelly alto: The old home town looks the same, As I step down from the train †¦ Gavin was the only one who heard the giggles and snorts, but when he turned around all he saw were the double doors to the kitchen, swinging a little on their hinges. Miles had left to chat with Aubrey and Julia Fawley, who had arrived late, wreathed in polite smiles. Gavin was in the grip of a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety. His brief sunlit haze of freedom and happiness had been overcast by the twin threats of Gaia blabbing what he had said to her mother, and of Mary leaving Pagford for ever. What was he going to do? Down the lane I walk, with my sweet Mary, Hair of gold and lips like cherries †¦ ‘Kay not here?' Samantha had arrived, leaning against the table beside him, smirking. ‘You already asked me that,' said Gavin. ‘No.' ‘Everything OK with you two?' ‘Is that really any of your business?' It slipped out of him before he could stop it; he was sick of her constant probing and jeering. For once, it was just the two of them; Miles was still busy with the Fawleys. She over-acted being taken aback. Her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was deliberate; for the first time, Gavin felt more dislike than intimidation. ‘I'm sorry. I was only – ‘ ‘Asking. Yeah,' he said, as Howard and Maureen swayed, arm in arm. ‘I'd like to see you settled down. You and Kay seemed good together.' ‘Yeah, well, I like my freedom,' said Gavin. ‘I don't know many happily married couples.' Samantha had drunk too much to feel the full force of the dig, but she had the impression that one had been made. ‘Marriages are always a mystery to outsiders,' she said carefully. ‘Nobody can ever really know except the two people involved. So you shouldn't judge, Gavin.' ‘Thanks for the insight,' he said, and irritated past endurance he set down his empty beer can and headed towards the cloakroom. Samantha watched him leave, sure that she had had the best of the encounter, and turned her attention to her mother-in-law, whom she could see through a gap in the crowd, watching Howard and Maureen sing. Samantha relished Shirley's anger, which was expressed in the tightest, coldest smile she had worn all evening. Howard and Maureen had performed together many a time over the years; Howard loved to sing, and Maureen had once performed backing vocals for a local skiffle band. When the song finished, Shirley clapped her hands together once; she might have been summoning a flunkey, and Samantha laughed out loud and moved along to the bar end of the table, which she was disappointed to find unmanned by the boy in the bow tie. Andrew, Gaia and Sukhvinder were still convulsed in the kitchen. They laughed because of Howard and Maureen's duet, and because they had finished two-thirds of the vodka, but mostly they laughed because they laughed, feeding off each other until they could barely stand. The little window over the sink, propped ajar so that the kitchen did not become too steamy, rattled and clattered, and Fats' head appeared through it. ‘Evening,' he said. Evidently he had climbed onto something outside, because, with a noise of scraping and a heavy object falling over, more and more of him emerged through the window until he landed heavily on the draining board, knocking several glasses to the ground, where they shattered. Sukhvinder walked straight out of the kitchen. Andrew knew immediately that he did not want Fats there. Only Gaia seemed unperturbed. Still giggling, she said, ‘There's a door, you know.' ‘No shit?' said Fats. ‘Where's the drink?' ‘This is ours,' said Gaia, cradling the vodka in her arms. ‘Andy nicked it. You'll have to get your own.' ‘Not a problem,' said Fats coolly, and he walked through the doors into the hall. ‘Need the loo †¦' mumbled Gaia, and she stowed the vodka bottle back under the sink, and left the kitchen too. Andrew followed. Sukhvinder had returned to the bar area, Gaia was disappearing into the bathroom, and Fats was leaning against the trestle table with a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other. ‘Didn't think you'd want to come to this,' said Andrew. ‘I was invited, mate,' said Fats. ‘It was on the invitation. Whole Wall family.' ‘Does Cubby know you're here?' ‘Dunno,' said Fats. ‘He's in hiding. Didn't get ol' Barry's seat after all. The whole social fabric'll collapse now Cubby's not holding it together. Fucking hell, that's horrible,' he added, spitting out a mouthful of sandwich. ‘Wanna fag?' The hall was so noisy, and the guests so raucously drunk, that nobody seemed to care where Andrew went any more. When they got outside, they found Patricia Mollison, alone beside her sports car, looking up at the clear starry sky, smoking. ‘You can have one of these,' she said, offering her packet, ‘if you want.' After she had lit their cigarettes, she stood at her ease with one hand balled deep in her pocket. There was something about her that Andrew found intimidating; he could not even bring himself to glance at Fats, to gauge his reaction. ‘I'm Pat,' she told them, after a little while. ‘Howard and Shirley's daughter.' ‘Hi,' said Andrew. †M Andrew.' ‘Stuart,' said Fats. She did not seem to need to prolong conversation. Andrew felt it as a kind of compliment and tried to emulate her indifference. The silence was broken by footsteps and the sound of muffled girls' voices. Gaia was dragging Sukhvinder outside by the hand. She was laughing, and Andrew could tell that the full effect of the vodka was still intensifying inside her. ‘You,' said Gaia, to Fats, ‘are really horrible to Sukhvinder.' ‘Stop it,' said Sukhvinder, tugging against Gaia's hand. ‘I'm serious – let me – ‘ ‘He is!' said Gaia breathlessly. ‘You are! Do you put stuff on her Facebook?' ‘Stop it!' shouted Sukhvinder. She wrenched herself free and plunged back inside the party. ‘You are horrible to her,' said Gaia, grabbing onto the railings for support. ‘Calling her a lesbian and stuff †¦' ‘Nothing wrong with being a lesbian,' said Patricia, her eyes narrowed through the smoke she was inhaling. ‘But then, I would say that.' Andrew saw Fats look at Pat sideways. ‘I never said there was anything wrong with it. It's only jokes,' he said. Gaia slid down the rails to sit on the chilly pavement, her head in her arms. ‘You all right?' Andrew asked. If Fats had not been there, he would have sat down too. ‘Pissed,' she muttered. ‘Might do better to stick your fingers down your throat,' suggested Patricia, looking down at her dispassionately. ‘Nice car,' Fats said, eyeing the BMW. ‘Yeah,' said Patricia. ‘New. I make double what my brother makes,' she said, ‘but Miles is the Christ Child. Miles the Messiah †¦ Parish Councillor Mollison the Second †¦ of Pagford. Do you like Pagford?' she asked Fats, while Andrew watched Gaia breathing deeply, her head between her knees. ‘No,' said Fats. ‘It's a shithole.' ‘Yeah, well †¦ I couldn't wait to leave, personally. Did you know Barry Fairbrother?' ‘A bit,' said Fats. Something in his voice made Andrew worried. ‘He was my reading mentor at St Thomas's,' said Patricia, with her eyes still on the end of the street. ‘Lovely bloke. I would have come back for the funeral, but Melly and I were in Zermatt. What's all this stuff my mother's been gloating about †¦ this Barry's Ghost stuff?' ‘Someone putting stuff on the Parish Council website,' said Andrew hastily, afraid of what Fats might say, if he let him. ‘Rumours and stuff.' ‘Yeah, my mother would love that,' said Patricia. ‘Wonder what the Ghost'll say next?' Fats asked, with a sidelong glance at Andrew. ‘Probably stop now the election's over,' muttered Andrew. ‘Oh, I dunno,' said Fats. ‘If there's stuff old Barry's Ghost is still pissed off about †¦' He knew that he was making Andrew anxious and he was glad of it. Andrew was spending all his time at his poxy job these days, and he would soon be moving. Fats did not owe Andrew anything. True authenticity could not exist alongside guilt and obligation. ‘You all right down there?' Patricia asked Gaia, who nodded, with her face still hidden. ‘What was it, the drink or the duet that made you feel sick?' Andrew laughed a little bit, out of politeness and because he wanted to keep the subject away from the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother. ‘Turned my stomach too,' said Patricia. ‘Old Maureen and my father singing along together. Arm in arm.' Patricia took a final fierce drag on her cigarette and threw the end down, grinding it beneath her heel. ‘I walked in on her blowing him when I was twelve,' she said. ‘And he gave me a fiver not to tell my mother.' Andrew and Fats stood transfixed, scared even to look at each other. Patricia wiped her face on the back of her hand: she was crying. ‘Shouldn't have bloody come,' she said. ‘Knew I shouldn't.' She got into the BMW, and the two boys watched, stunned, as she turned on the engine, reversed out of her parking space and drove away into the night. ‘Fuck me,' said Fats. ‘I think I might be sick,' whispered Gaia. ‘Mr Mollison wants you back inside – for the drinks.' Her message delivered, Sukhvinder darted away again. ‘I can't,' whispered Gaia. Andrew left her there. The din in the hall hit him as he opened the inner doors. The disco was in full swing. He had to move aside to allow Aubrey and Julia Fawley room to leave. Both, with their backs to the party, looked grimly pleased to be going. Samantha Mollison was not dancing, but was leaning up against the trestle table where, so recently, there had been rows and rows of drinks. While Sukhvinder rushed around collecting glasses, Andrew unpacked the last box of clean ones, set them out and filled them. ‘Your bow tie's crooked,' Samantha told him, and she leaned across the table and straightened it for him. Embarrassed, he ducked into the kitchen as soon as she let go. Between each load of glasses he put in the dishwasher, Andrew took another swig of the vodka he had stolen. He wanted to be drunk like Gaia; he wanted to return to that moment when they had been laughing uncontrollably together, before Fats had appeared. After ten minutes, he checked the drinks table again; Samantha was still propped up against it, glassy-eyed, and there were plenty of fresh-poured drinks left for her to enjoy. Howard was bobbing in the middle of the dance floor, sweat pouring down his face, roaring with laughter at something Maureen had said to him. Andrew wound his way through the crowd and back outside. He could not see where she was at first: then he spotted them. Gaia and Fats were locked together ten yards away from the door, leaning up against the railings, bodies pressed tight against each other, tongues working in each other's mouths. ‘Look, I'm sorry, but I can't do it all,' said Sukhvinder desperately from behind him. Then she spotted Fats and Gaia and let out something between a yelp and a sob. Andrew walked back into the hall with her, completely numb. In the kitchen, he poured the remainder of the vodka into a glass and downed it in one. Mechanically he filled the sink and set to washing out the glasses that could not fit in the dishwasher. The alcohol was not like dope. It made him feel empty, but also keen to hit someone: Fats, for instance. After a while, he realized that the plastic clock on the kitchen wall had leapt from midnight to one and that people were leaving. He was supposed to find coats. He tried for a while, but then lurched off to the kitchen again, leaving Sukhvinder in charge. Samantha was leaning up against the fridge, on her own, with a glass in her hand. Andrew's vision was strangely jerky, like a series of stills. Gaia had not come back. She was doubtless long gone with Fats. Samantha was talking to him. She was drunk too. He was not embarrassed by her any more. He suspected that he might be sick quite soon. ‘ †¦ hate bloody Pagford †¦' said Samantha, and, ‘but you're young enough to get out.' ‘Yeah,' he said, unable to feel his lips. ‘An' I will. ‘Nigh will.' She pushed his hair off his forehead and called him sweet. The image of Gaia with her tongue in Fats' mouth threatened to obliterate everything. He could smell Samantha's perfume, coming in waves from her hot skin. ‘That band's shit,' he said, pointing at her chest, but he did not think she heard him. Her mouth was chapped and warm, and her breasts were huge, pressed against his chest; her back was as broad as his – ‘What the fuck?' Andrew was slumped against the draining board and Samantha was being dragged out of the kitchen by a big man with short greying hair. Andrew had a dim idea that something bad had happened, but the strange flickering quality of reality was becoming more and more pronounced, until the only thing to do was to stagger across the room to the bin and throw up again and again and again †¦ ‘Sorry, you can't come in!' he heard Sukhvinder tell someone. ‘Stuff piled up against the door!' He tied the bin bag tightly on his own vomit. Sukhvinder helped him clear the kitchen. He needed to throw up twice more, but both times managed to get to the bathroom. It was nearly two o'clock by the time Howard, sweaty but smiling, thanked them and said goodnight. ‘Very good work,' he said. ‘See you tomorrow, then. Very good †¦ where's Miss Bawden, by the way?' Andrew left Sukhvinder to come up with a lie. Out in the street, he unchained Simon's bicycle and wheeled it away into the darkness. The long cold walk back to Hilltop House cleared his head, but assuaged neither his bitterness nor his misery. Had he ever told Fats that he fancied Gaia? Maybe not, but Fats knew. He knew that Fats knew †¦ were they, perhaps, shagging right now? I'm moving, anyway, Andrew thought, bent over and shivering as he pushed the bicycle up the hill. So fuck them †¦ Then he thought: I'd better be moving †¦ Had he just snogged Lexie Mollison's mother? Had her husband walked in on them? Had that really happened? He was scared of Miles, but he also wanted to tell Fats about it, to see his face †¦ When he let himself into the house, exhausted, Simon's voice came out of the darkness from the kitchen. ‘Have you put my bike in the garage?' He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. It was nearly half-past two in the morning. ‘Couldn't sleep,' said Simon. For once, he was not angry. Ruth was not there, so he did not have to prove himself bigger or smarter than his sons. He seemed weary and small. ‘Think we're gonna have to move to Reading, Pizza Face,' said Simon. It was almost a term of endearment. Shivering slightly, feeling old and shell-shocked, and immensely guilty, Andrew wanted to give his father something to make up for what he had done. It was time to redress balances and claim Simon as an ally. They were a family. They had to move together. Perhaps it could be better, somewhere else. ‘I've got something for you,' he said. ‘Come through here. Found out how to do it at school †¦' And he led the way to the computer.

A Christmas Carol Essay Example for Free (#13)

A Christmas Carol Essay Christ (509) , Charles Dickens (378) , Christmas (159) , A Christmas Carol (87) , Christmas Carol (60) , Bob Cratchit (35) , good extended (7) , Powerful (1) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints ? The Ghost of Christmas Past is the epitome of the contradictions of youth and age as well as winter and spring. The ghost has a beam of light jetting from his head and Scrooge extinguishes the light when he feels that he is unable to bear any of the other memories that the ghost is showing him. By showing Scrooge his past, the ghost has makes him realize that he has changed drastically from who he was when he was young and that his interests have turned from people to money. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a friendly, generous giant who shows Scrooge the homes of Bob Cratchit as well as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred. In both homes, good will is extended toward Scrooge although he has never shown the same good will to either his clerk, or his nephew. As the time passes the ghost, who was young when he first appeared to Scrooge, seems to age in the way that the present changes to the past with the passing of time. Then, just as he is approaching his last moments, the ghost shows Scrooge that want and ignorance are two products of society that will destroy it if not combated against by those who can prevent both social ills. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a dark phantom, and the only part of this ghost that Scrooge sees, beyond his black robe, is a hand with which he points at the things Scrooge is to take notice of. This ghost shows Scrooge how he will die, and it is a sad scene. Scrooge begs the ghost to tell him that this fate can be changed if he changes his ways, but the ghost doesn’t answer him. Scrooge is left only with the knowledge that he must change and become a more charitable person if he is to alter the fate that the ghost revealed to him. Last of the major characters is Tiny Tim who is Bob Cratchit’s youngest son. He is a lame boy with a cheerful nature despite his ailments and symbolises hope. At the Christmas church service, Tim hopes that people will look at his ailment and be reminded of how Christ healed the lame and blind. Tiny Tim’s guileless nature impresses Scrooge, and when he learns from the Ghost of Christmas Present that Tiny Tim will die soon, Scrooge is saddened. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come also shows the Cratchit house without Tiny Tim, and the vision is a sad one. Scrooge is touched by the gentleness of the little boy and wishes to prevent this fate from occurring. There are also some minor characters in ‘A Christmas Carol’ but who also play an important part of the story. Firstly there is Fred, Scrooge’s nephew (his deceased sister’s son), is a pauper, but a cheerful man nonetheless. He comes to the counting house to wish Scrooge a merry Christmas and invite his uncle to dine with himself and his wife on Christmas Day. Scrooge, however, refuses to associate with his nephew. Fred actually pities his miserly uncle because although he has all that money, he is still alone and unhappy. Fred insists that he will visit Scrooge at Christmas every year no matter whether or not Scrooge ever agrees to dine with Fred and his wife. After his visitation by the three ghosts of Christmas, Scrooge attends the Christmas dinner at Fred’s home and enjoys himself immensely. Secondly there is Mr. Fezziwig who was Scrooge’s kind and generous employer. He revisits the memory of his employment with Fezziwig when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him Fezziwig’s great Christmas party. The memory of this kind employer makes Scrooge feel a twinge of regret at how poorly he treats Bob Cratchit, his own employee. Last of the minor but nonetheless important characters is Belle, the young woman who once loved and was loved by Scrooge. Unfortunately, his love for her was replaced by his love for money, and she did not want to be second in favour to gold. She left him and went her own way after that and married. Scrooge remained alone. The Ghost of Christmas Past reminds him of why Belle left him and shows him where his life began going the wrong direction While reciting ‘A Christmas Carol’ I noticed some themes that were entwined within the story, the most important themes of the story are stated more or less clearly by characters in it. The first of these might be Marley’s saying, â€Å"Business†¦ Mankind was my business†. Where Scrooge sees business in the familiar sense of trade and finance, Marley now sees that one’s â€Å"business† is what one should do in life, duty or obligation. Mankind is or was not just Marley’s business of course, but Scrooge’s business, your business and mine, in fact, everyone’s. Secondly, Scrooge’s unkind remark that poor people should die and â€Å"reduce the surplus population† brings us to another theme of the story. When Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will die he is reminded of these words. Why? Because the â€Å"surplus population† is not an abstraction but real individuals. Scrooge is told by the Ghost of Christmas Present to find out â€Å"What the surplus is, and where it is† before making such statements. Another theme is that change is possible however set we are in our ways. Dickens imagines the most miserable and hard-hearted man he can, and shows how he can be reformed if he sees his responsibilities. The message that Dickens is trying to get across is one of happiness. If you live your life in seclusion, only speaking to those who you must and always being nasty, you can never be truly happy. Dickens uses Scrooge as the epitome of selfishness and we are supposed to realise this and contrast it with Tiny Tim’s attitude of caring and sharing. Tiny Tim is the epitome of joy and hope; he is the person in the book with who we are supposed to learn from. The ghosts are the conduit from which we are to understand the past, present, and future of an unhappy man. A Christmas Carol. (2017, Sep 23).

Hospital Budgeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hospital Budgeting - Essay Example Favorable variance implies that the actual result exceeded or just equals the budgeted result in the desired direction. For example, if supplies usage is less than the budgeted the variation is favorable because it results to material savings. On the other hand a variance is said to be unfavorable if the actual result is more than the budgeted result in the wrong direction (adverse). For example, if the total wage rate exceeds the budgeted wage rate the variance is termed unfavorable, since more cash outlay is involved than the planned cost (Drury, 2007). Variance can be used to analyze the performance of different firms in the same industry such as hospitals among themselves through a standard rate. Where, it can either be represented in percentage or discrete values. In health sector variance is used to measure the extent of efficiency in utilizing health facilities. It also reveals areas that need further investigation depending on the level of deviation from the expected and the relevant range that is acceptable in the health sector. Variations within the accepted range imply that projects or operations are running on as expected. It is the managers concern that the departmental salaries were higher than the expected in this scenario. The possible causes of salary variance includes: increase in wage rate this would have resulted in adverse salary variance. Also, hike in wage rate might have resulted from hiring extra health worker due to unexpected epidemic within a given season. If for the past period the hospital has experienced high number of patients beyond the planned capacity thus calling for the need to work for overtime hours and recruiting more health workers. From the general principles employment terms overtime hours are paid at a premium. This are greatly inflated our salary expedition beyond the departmental control. Another possible cause of inflated wage cost is the presence of idle time payment. The total idle time in the current period migh t have doubled as compared to the previous financial year. This will negatively influence our total salaries expenditure thus creating large deviation from the budgeted labor cost. The department also may have suffered from the effect of government regulation raise basic wage rate in health sectors. To comply with such rules the hospital might have been forced to raise it basic wage rate to all staffs thus increasing the total wage cost against the budgeted wage cost (Drury, 2007). The second variance of concern was the supplies, which was adverse on the budgeted cost. Supplies variance rises as a result of total deviation of the actual result from the budgeted material cost. Supplies variance could have resulted from materials such as drugs evaporation resulting to reduction in stock thus falling to cure the expected number of patients. This will imply that cost for the evaporated drugs was the total variation from the budgeted. Another cause for this variation could have resulted from an increase in material price. Following the changes in exchange rate, material price rose from the standard cost thus making it expensive to acquire the required supplies (Drury, 2007). This change in price resulted in a change in the total material cost thus recording a negative material variation. In addition, the material usage on patients might have increased by almost double thus reducing the total no of patients from the planned allocation. Supplies variation may also emerged from the

Different Types of Data in Criminal Justice Assignment

Different Types of Data in Criminal Justice - Assignment Example 2. The age issue could lead to confusing findings in substance abuse research. This is because most countries have laws that prescribe the legal drinking age. For instance the legal drinking age in United States is 21 while in United Kingdom it is 18 (Bamforth, 2009). As a result, youths who are below the drinking age may give wrong age for fear that legal action may be taken against them. Therefore, giving such information may be difficult to the respondents. This is a powerful graph used to show the proportion or relative sizes of data. For this survey the percentage of males and females involved in substance abuse could be better presented using pie chart. Each gender would be represented by each segment of the pie chart. A bar graph consists of vertical and horizontal bars whose lengths indicate the magnitude of the data. In this research, the bar graph would be appropriate in representing the amount of substance abused or the popularity of the substance. The frequency or the amount of substance would be placed on the vertical axis while the type of substance would be on the horizontal axis. The trend of change between the drinking age and the years could be well captured in by line graph. This would be done by plotting the average age against the year. By doing so, the relationship between age the year would be

Listening Journals 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Listening Journals 5 - Essay Example This recording brought together famous and renowned musicians form America and they formed what has over the years been called a super group. The producers behind the song are Quincy jones and Michael Omartian. It has sold well over 20 million copies worldwide since May 7th 1985 (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 25). The song was written in a very unique style. It was meant to accommodate all the artists who would participate in its recording. The song is sung from a first person viewpoint, which gives the audience to comprehend the message of the song, especially behind the singing of the word â€Å"we† in unison (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 67). The first verse is sung by Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina turner and Billy Joel. Michael Jackson and Diana Ross come in to sing out the first chorus as a duo, followed by Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau who bring out the words of the second stanza. The second chorus is sung by Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall. The bridge of the song is done by Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 56). The song concludes with Ray Charles and Bob Dylan singing the chorus, Wonder and Springsteen singing out a duo while Charles and Ingram performs an ad lib. The main reason for giving these artists specific parts in the song is to create a sense of unending surprise and an emotive build up for the listeners. ‘We are the World’ became a hit single within no time after its recording. It was termed as one of the most popular pop songs at that time. It received good air play and very high sales were recorded immediately after its release. In the history of pop music at that time, the song was said to top the American as well as the world charts. Its success was attributed to the contribution of Michael Jackson, an all-time award winning pop artist. The song required many instruments for its recording. This includ es; cymbals, bass drums, electric bass, trumpets, trombone, clarinet, flute, xylophone, snare drum, tuba, vibes and multiple bass drums. All these instruments are synthesized to bring out a melodious flow of the song from the beginning to the end. The producers were able to harmonize these instruments with the voices of all artists to come up with unique sound effects. Listeners of this song have been quoted saying that the song is well harmonized. Even with the use of all these instruments, the words of the song are heard clearly, which of course was the main aim of the producers. The social drive behind the production of this song was to help aid the Africans who were famine driven. In one of the recording sessions one of the artists, Bob Geldof, addressed the rest (Scott, Michael, and Mutombo 23). He said that what was happening in Africa was tragic and it was important that the world got together to help the continent. He described the catastrophic scene in Africa; 15 bags of fl our for 270,000 people, dead bodies piling up one on top of the other and airborne diseases been felt everywhere as the main reason as to why the artists were gathered in the recording studio in the middle of the night. The song gained worldwide recognition, not only because it sounded good but majorly because of the reason for its production. People were happy to buy the album knowing that the money would go to help out the hunger stricken parts of

The Acceptance of the Conspiracy Theories Assignment

The Acceptance of the Conspiracy Theories - Assignment Example The authors open their article by claiming that conspiracy theories are not only common in America, but also Americans highly believe them. The authors then proceed to explain the meaning of conspiracy theory. They define conspiratorial belief as strong conspiratorial belief of an individual in conspiratorial terms. Further, the authors explain two major predispositions, which drive the acceptance and belief of conspiracy theories. These include: Partisan and conspiratorial predispositions. In their finding, the authors conclude that conspiracy information significantly influences the thinking of the information receivers and that predispositions exist as concerns conspiratorial thinking.In the article â€Å"Dead and Alive: Beliefs in Contradictory Conspiracy Theories,† Wood et al. explore the beliefs that surround conspiracy theory. The authors begin by defining conspiracy theory, which they define as the secret collusion of influential people or organization to achieve some objective (1). The authors conduct two different studies to prove that conspiracy theory can result into a monological belief structure. According to the authors, conspiracy theories exhibit correlation with each other. They assert that even mutually incompatible theories of conspiracy exhibit positive correlation. As such, belief in one conspiracy theory relates to the beliefs in other theories. Further, the authors hold that coherence with undoubted worldviews leaves no or little for contradiction in personal beliefs.

Business Environment - Meeting global and local needs Coursework

Business Environment - Meeting global and local needs - Coursework Example The main purpose of this organisation type is to serve the community as a whole and delivering public benefits (Fletcher, 2005). Partnership: It is such an organisation type, which mainly comprise two or more partners in order to conduct a business. In this organisation type, the partners involved utilise the available resources and thereby share profits equally or proportionately (Fletcher, 2005). It is quite obvious that different stakeholders possess diverse needs along with objectives. An organisation mainly works towards meeting its predetermined goals along with the objectives of the stakeholders. It can be apparently observed that organisations mainly create a business plan, which helps in complying with the objectives of diverse stakeholders by a certain degree (Morris & Baddache, 2012). It is strongly believed that the stakeholders can be benefited only when organisations provide value added products to the customers. This will certainly make the stakeholders to obtain substantial profits and help them to obtain high dividends. Apart from these, the aforesaid aspect will also provide the employees with better salary. Furthermore, this will also boost the productivity of the organisations to meet customers’ demand and thereby serve the stakeholders effectively. The organisations can meet the objectives of the stakeholders by satisfying customers’ requirements, enabling such organisations to observe rise in profit margin. Thus, the formulation of an effective business plan will help the organisations to meet stakeholders’ objectives by a certain extent (Boutelle, 2004). One of the imperative roles along with responsibilities of an organisation is to serve customers in accordance with their respective demands and preferences. An organization must work under the boundaries of law. In this regard, the belief as well as the reputation of an organisation frames a vital part (Heslin & Ochoa, 2008). It is worth mentioning that an

The Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Civil War - Essay Example The union was, for all practical purposes, largely deceptive and pretentious. The North pretended to give in to the states laws and policies while the southerners merely tolerated them It is against this background that rising discontent due to the biggest issue that divided the country, the issue of slavery, was brought to the forefront. This laid the ground work for one of the most violent moments in the United States of America that would forever remain etched in their history (Hesseltine 44-45). Central to the civil war was the very thorny question of slavery. The Northern states were against slavery while the southern states still owned slaves. This led to rising discontent as neither side was willing to concede to the other. The admission of Missouri into the union was a clear example to the Southerners of the almost condescending nature of the Northern states. The Northerners did not respect the constitutional equality of the states in the union and insisted on the state of Missouri to abolish slavery, eventually reaching a 'compromise'; acting as though the south had no guaranteed rights in the bond of the union. This seeming lordship of the North over the south served to fuel even more, the underlying discontent (Hesseltine 46). The eventual cessation of the southern states thus marked the beginning of the war that would later unfold. South Carolina was the first state to secede adopting its declaration on 24th December 1860. Mississippi was the second state to withdraw from the union, her ordinance of cessation being adopted on the 9th of January 1861.she was followed by Florida on the 10th , Alabama on the 11th, Georgia on the 18th and Louisiana on the 26th; all in the same month of January (Hesseltine 138). Hesseltine points out that the war did not really come to head until the President Lincoln rose to power. The continued use of slave forces especially against the Union brought this issue for discussion at the thirty seventh Congress. The North attempted various measures to end this issue once and for all and reintegrate the south back to the union but this proved futile as the southern states rebelled at whatever suggestion that was put forward to address this issue. The signing of the emancipation proclamation was the straw that broke the camel's back and the stage for the civil war was set (267- 268). The confederates viewed slavery as the cornerstone of the Confederacy while the Northerners viewed it as morally wrong, as all men were created equal. The slavery issue was of great concern because it had implications on the economy of the states. The southerners were concerned with the economic loss that would come about as a result of the abolition of slavery. The slaves provided them with free labor and ensured huge economic gains. Getting rid of them would mean a need for the hiring of waged labor and this would translate to smaller profit margins for them. The southerners were also gravely concerned by the prospect of racial equality. Indeed in the Texas declaration of causes for the Secession it was asserted that the African race was successfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race and thus the proclamation of the blacks as equal men degraded and demoralized the southerners (Hesseltine 269- 270). On April 12th of 1861, the armies linked to the confederates attacked a U.S military