Role of Greed and Grievance in Civil War

Role of Greed and Grievance in Civil War The role that greed and grievance play in civil war is its emergence. Their role is a crucial and controversial one in the creation of civil wars. There have been various arguments concerning their role in its emergence, with most for greed as the key factor as the backbone of all conflict including civil war while a few others also consider grieves role. However, it is my opinion that both work hand in hand to create the violence that is civil war. Some could even see how one begets the other, legitimizing the creation of one through the existence of the other. Either way the role both greed and grieve play is one of an instigator. This paper will illustrates how both factors have intertwining roles in the occurrence of civil war; the aim is to show how one factors role influences the other and how one factors role can overlap and blur the other out. This will be done by looking at various explanations for civil war attributed to greed and grieve individually. To discuss these terms and their role in the emergence of civil war it is crucial to understand what they mean and why they are considered active role players in the creation of civil war. Civil War is conflict that arises when militant groups of people attack a government and or civilians persistently (Collier, 2003:54).What exactly is greed and how does it come into play in the occurrence of civil war? Greed according to the English dictionary (dictionary.com) is ‘excessive or rapacious desire especially for wealth or possessions. It is the need to acquire more than you need taking or having more of what you already have. So who is the greedy in civil war? Based on the definition, do the greedy exist in the sense of the word? If they do, then it is crucial to ‘investigate how the greed generates grievance and rebellion, legitimizing further greed (Keen,2000:32) as part of its role in the occurrence of civil war through, the actions of the greedy. Various economic and political factors contribute to the emergence and creation of civil war starting from inequality in terms of resource allocation to participation in the decision making process. There have been various arguments as to what really causes civil war; the prominent answer is economic inequality. The general idea is that people want more access to resources and because they cannot get it, they take it by force. In this sense, then yes the greedy exist and play a major role in the occurrence of civil war. On the other hand, those who do not have access to recourses at all and just want to enjoy the benefits and access to it in the first place (not more access) are not greedy but needy. The actual participants(people doing the actual fighting, and protesting) of civil war are not acting according to greed, for greed as earlier defined is wanting more of what you already have. They on the other hand just want access to resources denied of them, denoting previous lack. It is easy to link economic need and lack of resources to greed even more so as the focus is often on how the elite manipulate the situations to create civil unrest and strife, and how they and a few others benefit from it. The error is in considering these groups of people to be the only actors of civil war. The aim here is not to diminish the role of greed, for it plays just as important a role as grieve does as will be later discussed. The aim is to point out that it is important to consider those acting from greed and those from grieve, and the role of grievance in causing civil war before giving all the credit to greeds role as the dominant player in the creation of civil conflict. It is impossible for one factor (grieve or greed) to stir up conflict without the presence of the other factor. The greedy, often times are some entrepreneurs, rebel lords and their gangs, and a few elites (including some governments) that have something to gain from civil unrest are motivated by their greed, their desire to hoard more resources, their access to it, and the benefits gained from said resources (in form of employment, education, wealth etc). Their interest is vested in the continuation of war and so they manipulate the grieve that exists in the society which more often than not is a result of their greed. These are the few Collier talks about when he says, ‘civil war creates economic opportunities for a minority of actors even as they destroy it for the majority (Collier, 2000:91). This brings me to the point that the greedy are few but their impact and influence on the occurrence of civil war is big. Greed plays a minor yet visible role in civil war. The greedy few use the genuine grieve of the majority to advance their own economic agenda. According to Collier (2000), gr ieve is used to recruit actors in civil war. To understand the role of grieve; it is important to define it and consider what constitutes the sentiment. Grieve refers to pain over injustice or unfortunate circumstances as used in the English dictionary ‘grieve is to feel great sorrow, be mentally distressed or oppressed and wronged (Dictionary.com). This attribute is evident when considering factors that contribute to civil war. Looking at the case of Rwanda (Caplan, 2007) where the Tutsi had previously oppressed the Hutus during colonialism. The Hutu ethnic group embarked on an ethnic cleansing mission of the Tutsi ethnic group when they gained political power. This example illustrates how grieve came into play for Rwandas civil war. Ethnic differences, which resulted in oppression of one group by the other, created tension and grieve that erupted into violence. The role of Grieve and greed as creators of civil war is evident in that they are the foundations for each explanatory factor given for the occurrence of civil war. They are the driving forces behind factors contributing to civil war like ethnic differences, manipulative leaders and so forth. For each factor attributed to greed, there is grieve working with it making it possible for greed to be pursued, and for each grieve backed reason for civil war, greed is presently active. Both factors work together, greed creates grieve and it is also possible for greed to emerge from that grieve (Cramer, 2002) without one, the other really does not exist in civil war. Thus far, the contribution and role of greed and grieve as individual factors in the occurrence of civil war in a country has been show, now focus is directed to illustrate how their individual roles intertwine and work hand in hand. This aspect of the essay is going to examine the roles both grieve and greed play in different gr eed or grieve specific explanations offered for the cause of civil war. The most prominent explanation or contributing factor to civil war in literature and media seems to be economic agenda (Collier 2003) (greed explanation) and inequality (grieve explanation) between groups and people in the society as previously noted. The idea behind this is that people engage in conflict in order to advance their own economic agenda, be it access to previously denied resources or to gain more access to said resources. Collier (2000:93-95) uses a number of proxies to explain how greed motivates conflict. For instance, the availability of primary loot-able resources(also discussed in Collier, 2008) in a country creates an avenue for conflict to develop out of greed because of what is to be gained from looting (be it profit from actual sale of good or use of it). Another proxy used was the number of young men without job prospects whose income earning potentials and educational levels are low (Collier, 2000:95). According to this analogy jobless young men with no prospects living in a country with an abundance or somewhat large number of â€Å"primary resources† is a recipe for conflict in said society because of idleness and availability of loot-able resources and of course greed. These young jobless men without prospects do not have jobs or proper paying jobs because they have been denied access to proper and good or any form of education(also a factor that contributes to grieve). They may even have one but cannot get any or good employment because of inequality in the society. A country with large â€Å"commodity exports† obviously has the resources to make things better for these people or at least the means (sale of said commodity resources) to make things better. The availability of young men and primary export commodities shows how greeds role as a generator of civil war works. The explanation also illustrates how grieve (also an instigator of civil war) plays its role i n this dominantly greed backed explanation. Grieve experienced over the unfavorable conditions and employment status or lack thereof of these â€Å"young men† led them to resort to conflict to acquire some of the economic resources not made accessible to them. Colliers argument is that countries with â€Å"large primary resources† are prone to more civil war. The logic of his argument is that ‘resource-rich countries have a higher probability for conflict than resource-poor ones (Soya, 2000:120). Well certainly, there is some credit to this logic because resource poor countries have little or no resources. The difference between these two types of countries is that resource rich countries have resources. The scarcity of said resources within the country where the benefits of such resources are not visible or made equally available to its citizens are bound to experience rebellion from the majority of the population considering how only a minority benefits. The sense of injustice and feeling of unfairness likely to arise from the knowledge that certain resources are available but to only a few elite is enough to bring about grieve. This is also likely to motivate rebels and cause an uprising, and not only the idea that there is excess to acquire and more to be made from black market so let us loot and make our own profits like Collier and Soya would have us believe. The greed proxies (available young men, primary resource and education level) and explanations show greeds role at work, and shows that of grieve in civil war, illustrating how one cannot work without the other. The grievance factors of civil war and some of the grieve backed explanations for civil war like differences and animosity existing between groups in the society, and how they contribute to the emergence of civil war also illustrate the role of greed. The first of many is ‘raw ethnic or religious hatred (Collier, 2000:95). The logic behind this is that people are afraid of what they do not know or understand. Therefore, a society that is deeply separated based on different ethnicities and religious views will experience civil unrest at some point or the other because the society is invested in the differences that exist. Take for instance the Biafra war of Nigeria. The Biafra civil war broke out because of the three major ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo) in the country, out of which the Igbo were not represented in government. They no longer were actively included in politics after years of being at the forefront of Nigerian politics, and running the country with the las t president (removed through a coup dà ©tat) being from the Igbo ethnic group (Ralph, 2004). Their lack of representation meant their access to certain resources were limited. The ethnic groups in power based on solidarity-favored members of their own ethnic group, their regions had better systems of education, and employment opportunity was regularly based on whom you knew and what ethnic group you belonged to. They only cared about and helped â€Å"their own people† while members of other ethnic groups were being slaughtered and maltreated. This goes to show how deeply rooted the society was in ethnic identities and differences. So much so, that the Igbo felt oppressed and resentment grew. The situation escalated because of problems surrounding the presence of crude oil in the region of the country occupied by the Igbo. The profits made from the resources found in their regions or â€Å"their lands† was not distributed equally around the regions of the nation and es pecially not in the regions, they were found in. In addition, the Igbo leaders decided to keep the profits to themselves to improve the standard of living of maltreated ethnic group members (Global Security.org). Out of grieve over the extent of inequality in the nation the Igbo felt the need to secede. The Nigeria Biafra war illustration of ethnic identities and differences creating civil strife supports the idea that ‘societies that are highly fractionalized by both ethnicity and religion (Collier, 2000:95) will have more incidence of civil war. Furthermore, the illustration not only shows grieve playing its role as a creator of civil war by supporting the grieve backed explanation for causes of civil, in this case ethnic differences and inequality, it also shows greeds role in the occurrence of the Nigerian Biafra civil war. The Igbo were oppressed, agreed but they did not threaten to secede up until they lost their position of power in government (an Igbo was in the presidential office) and found an excuse (Using the proceeds to help the oppressed) to keep the benefits and profits from the valuable natural resource found in the southeast region of Nigeria, where the Igbo reside to themselves. The presence of such a valuable resource like crude oil turned the Igbo greedy an d their state of oppression created an avenue for that greed to show. They wanted to keep the benefits from crude oil to themselves and break from the country. With the already existing situation of the ruling ethnic groups (Hausa and Yoruba), isolating resources based on ethnicity, and their greed in taking and keeping the benefits of the resources without any of it trickling down to the Igbo added to the existing rage and grieve over inequalities that abound in the society and oppression. More importantly, it legitimized the greed of the Igbo group; if it was all right for the ruling groups to hoard resources, it was all right for them to take their resource and keep it for themselves. The ruling groups out of greed kept resources for themselves, this resulted in the neglected groups (Igbo) grieve. Because of their greed, the ruling ethnic groups (Hausa and Yoruba) desired to keep the resource within their grasps and power so they can benefit more from it. This greed possibly led them to resist the secession of the Igbo group away from the nation. The Igbo on the other hand out of grieve over limited access to resources grew greedy and wanted to break from the country at the discovery of a valuable resource (crude oil) they wanted to keep to for themselves. This just goes to show how greed causes grieve and how both factors work together to manipulate situations in a way that results into violence. Another grieve backed factor for civil war that shows the role of both grieve and greed as creators of civil war is the idea of economic inequality again. This factor shows the perfect relationship between the roles of greed and grieve. The latter stemming from the unavailability of certain things like land for instance which Collier (2000) uses as proxy for inequality to others because the elite of the society have access to it. The greed of some in accumulation of resources for themselves and in the process causing grieve for those who do not have access to or are unable enjoy certain benefits derived from it. Ultimately greed from one side coupled with grieve from another equals civil war or at least leads to some form of conflict and even more so in a country with weak governance. A weak government implies ‘government economic incompetence (Collier, 2000:96) and an inability to control or prevent an outbreak of conflict in case one arises from said incompetence. Where there is an incompetent government, greed and grieve have an avenue to breed and reinforce each other in the creation of civil war. An incompetent government is to some extent responsible for economic inequality. The government is tasked with the duty of making resources available to its citizens equally or at the very least provides social safety nets when and where needed. If the government fails to provide these resources in an equal manner and create an equal atmosphere, inequalities are bound to be more apparent in the society and grieve from such inequalities as explained earlier may erupt into civil war. In addition, having a government that supports greed and is itself greedy and corrupt is another aspect in which a weak governance can and often adds to the incidence of civil war an d reinforce the role of greed and grieve as its creators. Through its greedy activities like accepting bribes from elites to maybe get more electricity in certain parts of the country or a government that fails to maintain public amenities such as the public school system because funds for such maintenance out of greed are diverted into their personal accounts creates grieve. Those that cannot afford private school for their kids or those that cannot afford to bribe them are ultimately denied the use of and access to basic resources. This type of behavior creates the foundation for inequality starting from basic education, which would later reflect in other areas of life like employment and income amongst other things. Government incompetence enhances the role of grieve and greed and creates a breeding ground for them to fester. A government with no desire to end conflict because of how they benefit from it be it through bribes from those that want to keep the situation the way it i s or based on their own interest legitimizes greed which goes on to create grieve which may or may not turn into greed and the cycle continues. Ultimately the role of greed and grieve in civil war is the creation of civil war. Factors that explain why civil wars occur are based on greed or grieve and are generally categorized as grieve based or greed based showing how important their role is in civil war. Without the presence of these factors (Greed and Grieve) civil war does not exist, it does not escalate and it does not continue. They are the fuel to the fire that is civil war. In conclusion, greed and grieve as creators of civil war reinforce each. One does not exist without the other and so to ignore the role of one in causing civil war is to leave the glass half-empty. To understand how various explanations of civil war factors work, it is important to recognize that both grieve and greed work together to effectively create the situation. For without greed, grieve cannot effectively play its role and create civil war, and neither can greed without grieve. Bibliography Amartya Sen. (2008). Violence, Identity, and Poverty. Journal of Peace Research. 45 (1), p Caplan, Gerald. (2007). Rwanda:Walking the Road to Genocide. In: Allan Thompson The media and the Rwanda genocide. London: Pluto Press. p20-40. Collier, Paul. (2008). The Conflict Trap. In: Collier The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. New York: Oxford University Press. p17-37. Collier, Hoeffler, and Sambanis. (2005). The Collier-Hoeffler Model of Civil War Onset and the Case Study Project Research Design. In: Paul Collier, and Nicholas Smbanis Understandying Civil War. 2nd ed. Washington DC: World Bank. p1-35. Collier, Paul. (2003). What makes a country Prone to Civil War. In: Paul Collier,World Bank Breaking the conflict trap: civil war and development policy. Washington, DC: Oxford university press and World Bank. p53-91. Collier, Paul. (2000). Doing Well out of War: An economic Perspective. In: Mats Berdal and David M. Malone Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars. London: Lynne Rienner. p91-112. Cramer, C. (2002). Homo Economicus Goes to War: Methodological Individualism, Rational Choice and the Political Economy of War. World Development. 30 (11), p1845-1860. David Keen. (2008). Greed: Economic Agendas. In: Keen Complex emergencies. Cambridge: Polity Press. p25-50. David Keen. (2008). Combatants and their Grievances. In: Keen Complex emergencies. Cambridge: Polity Press. p50-62. David Keen. (2000). Incentives and Disincentives for Violence. In: Mats Berdal and David M. Malone Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars. London: Lynne Rienner. p19-42. Global Security. (nd). Biafra War. Available: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/biafra.htm. Last accessed 5 January 2010. Indra de Soya. (2000). The Resource Curse: Are Civil Wars Driven by Rapacity or Paucity. In: Mats Berdal and David M. Malone Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars. London: Lynne Rienner. p113-136. Jacoby, Tim. (2008). Grievance. In: Jacoby Understanding Conflict and Violence: Theoretical and Interdisciplinary Approaches. London: Routledge. 103-123. Raph Uwechue. (2004). The Revolution of January 1966- Mismanaged and Misunderstood. In: Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War: Facing the Future. Victoria: Trafford. p23-33.

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1.0 Introduction The brain is composed of billions of tiny neurons all combined to create a hierarchy of complex networks. Much is unknown about intelligence and our understanding and perception of intelligence is shaping the way in which we in the 21st century are creating computer based intelligent neural networks. An intelligent system is able to retract information from its environment and comprehend without prior knowledge of the information the process, reason about the relationships between variables contained in the information and learn about the process and its operating conditions without human input. A computational approach to network dynamics focuses on the networks ability to think logically, process data and react to changes in the data which can lead to future evolution of the network. Traditional rule based computational techniques failed to meet the requirements of search, optimisation and machine learning in large biological and industrial systems and therefore had to evolve which shaped the route in which computational intelligence had taken in the 21st century. A network is said to be computationally intelligent if it can deal with low level data analysis such as small numerical data has pattern recognition components. The main emphasis on neural networks and computationally based network systems was to come up with a learning algorithm that could be used to increase the intelligence of any given system. Fuzzy Logic was first proposed by Professor Lotfi Zadeh in1969 in the University of California Berkley. He created Fuzzy Logic to define between data by using partial set membership rather than crisp set membership or non-membership. Professor Zadeh explained that people do not need precise numerical inform... ...dimension of the prototype memories where the network stores all memories within a stable state. 3.0 Fuzzy Logic Systems: Fuzzy Neural Network 3.1 What Is Fuzzy Logic? Fuzzy Logic is a problem solving methodology that lends itself to implementation in a range of systems and can be implemented into networks. It allows an accurate outcome based on vague, ambiguous, imprecise input information. Fuzzy Logic is mainly used for control situations although it can be used over a variety of scenarios in situation based computing making it ideal for use within Neural Networks and they require a wide range of input variations. Fuzzy Logic processes user defined rules and therefore it can be readily modified to improve network performance, it can be used to model and control nonlinear data that would beforehand be impossible model mathematically. 3.2 Crisp Sets and Fuzzy Sets

Influence of Shyness on Personal Development and Happiness Essay

â€Å"I have severe difficulty socializing to others†; â€Å"They think I’m unfriendly but in reality, I do want to connect to them but I don’t really know how†; â€Å"My anxiety always gets in the way, that’s why I’m painfully conscious around people†. These are some of the thoughts shared by people who are shy or those who feel uncomfortable when attention is on them because they are afraid of falling short of the standard of the superficial authority or of their perfectionist expectations on how things are supposed to be. Shyness, regarded as a personal attribute for a person, is also considered to be a psychiatric disease (Lane, 2008). This condition may vary in different degrees to what extent a person would display its symptoms, such as uneasiness and avoiding the things he fears to deal with. It could also be experienced inwardly without showing its complications to others but the one who suffers, when hiding his difficulties, could probably add worries and problems to his psychological self. Unusual situations are the common circumstances that trigger shyness. Also, the person’s environment may contribute to his shyness. If he is psychologically maltreated, there is a high risk that degree of shyness and avoidance to others would increase. But, the deeper root of shyness can be explained by genetics. There has been progress in determining suspected genes involved in personality but only a little development in confirming relationships between these. A gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) is examined and identified to be related with shyness (Ebstein et al. , 2003). According to WHO, embarrassment, excessive shyness, timidity, self consciousness and, social-phobia and lack of self-confidence are also symptoms of a disease called erethism. Erethism is a clinical condition in which appears in cases of mercury poisoning. Moreover, shyness is sometimes inappropriately interchanged with introversion, high sensitivity, social phobia and social anxiety disorder but is much related to the said terms in certain cases. According to Whitten (2001), introversion is not similar to shyness because introverts prefer being alone and are energized with that but they are not anxious in social situations. Unlike with them, the shy, because they fear social encounters, thinks that he has no choice but to avoid socializing which sometimes is not really where his heart at. But, there can be cases that a person would be an introvert and shy at the same time, it is when they are very sensitive to the social environment but it doesn’t matter because they get their energy within their selves not on others. Another term, in which shyness is related, is the social anxiety disorder. Its difference with shyness is, its scope is wider and it includes panic attacks. In relation to shyness, it also brings fear, apprehension or worrying about being evaluated by others in social situations that causes depression to the sufferer. Varying degrees of shyness and as to how the shy handles his trait contributes a lot on what can be the impact of shyness on the person. It is considered harmful when it has been controlling people’s lives because it brings incessant negative evaluation of the self, excessive self-consciousness and negative self-preoccupation that inhibit social confidence. In cases like that, the shyness is needed to be cured or if not, lessened because it hinders the disposition in life of some individuals. Shy people may tend to be unfriendly because they believe they lack social skills and may resort to withdrawal from people. But essentially, they desperately wanted to connect to others and wished to have as many friends as those people who are not shy have. The problem is they appear to be antisocial at times which they do not intend to be. Their socializing attitude might be the root of this one. Carducci (2000) observed that they expect others to get in touch with them and drag them out of isolation. But their efforts are also needed for starting and maintaining relationship to others. Also, being fear of negative judgement and rejection, people who are shy are likely to be afraid of socializing. From this arrangement, it could only lead to individual’s avoidance which causes isolation. Aside from emotional pain brought about by separation from others, this situation may hinder personal development which can be benefited through relation from other people. In social situations, people who are shy are driven to be self-conscious and inhibited in their actions. Perfectionist standards on social performances were set and followed by these people. For example, they tend to feel responsible of the awkwardness sometimes experienced which is not their fault at all. These worries leave room for low self-esteem and shape a negative view of the self. According to Howard (1958), self-esteem contributes a lot to a person’s ability in handling difficult situations because it helps in dealing with problems. It also gives confidence to a person which he will need in achieving his goals. But for shy people who has a high tendency of having insecurity, instead of focusing on their strengths, their weaknesses are given more attention. Acceptance of imperfections is very hard for them, not realizing that all people have vulnerability on their own such as failures, weaknesses and anxieties. Their true capabilities were just left confined and full potentials were not maximized because they were already intimidated by anticipation of failure. Moreover, shy people blame themselves for having no sense of self-efficacy due to low self-esteem. Howard (1958) defined self-efficacy as the belief in self that they can achieve their desired goals. Shy people tend to criticize and evaluate themselves inferior to others. Self-doubts are then established which promotes poor decision-making, weak judgement of things that severely affects one’s life and his disposition. Zimbardo and Radl (1982) described shy people as those who tend to behave in an inhibited manner, such as speaking less of the usual, in the presence of others. They usually hold back their feelings and opinions on certain things preventing them to express themselves. Because of nothingness to say, the shy would then tolerate silence. McMahon and McMahon (1986) told that, â€Å"†¦silence may be perceived as an indicator you do not approve of what’s going on or that you would rather be someplace else†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 225) As a result, many people do no not understand them well and may cost them to miss out of opportunities for social relations. Shy people struggle and find it hard to initiate and maintain conversations. Starting a chat with somebody is usually feared and avoided by a shy person because it is either he is anxious that he has nothing to say or the topic that he will put up would disinterest the other person and that the other would badly evaluate him personally. There is a tendency for the shy to choose topic of conversations that would impress the other. And in the process of overthinking only about the topic, he would forget to be attentive to the actual thing discussed by the two of them because his mind was already drifted away. Also, a shy person is scared to have conversations that suddenly drop like a dead balloon. When this would happen, he would resort to leaving the person he talks to, because he has nothing to say, thus, leaving a bad impression to the other. Shyness can be a serious threat to communication because it brings about distractibility and may interfere thinking processing which were caused by irrelevant thinking reactions which arise from being conscious from social evaluation. Merill (1965) stated that frustration can arise in cases where there is a failure in comprehending someone’s temporary disinterest due to certain circumstances. Also, this can hinder development of essential relationship to others. Self- doubts will be triggered because of depressing situations like this. As a result, a person may tend to avoid this sort of encounter that will only lead to further alienation and despair. Sociability is a human affiliative need that is needed to be nourished. Socializing includes people skills which needs understanding the self and controlling our responses, communicating effectively and empathizing accurately, and most importantly, it provides respect, trust to relationships (Rifkin, 2009). The different benefits of social relations contribute to a healthy well-being of a person. Heider (1958, quoted in Weiss) notes that there are six basic â€Å"provisions of social relations† –the things that are given when in a relationship (p. 232). First is the attachment, the sense of being secured and comfortable which we experience through our closest relationships. Shy people do not have an issue with this one because they reveal their true self in front of people they know and know them very well such as family. Another is social integration which is the sense of having shared interests and attitudes and offers companionship and sense of belongingness to society. For this, shy people find it hard or it takes time to fit into the society due to draw backs. Next is the guidance that we grasp from friends or authorities which we lean on at times when we need an advice that most of shy people are deficient to because they lack certain relations such as relation to some authorities. Sense of reliable alliance, knowing that there are people who will offer their help when emergency arises, and opportunity for nurturance, when our sense of importance and needed is shown while taking care of others, are nurtured through closest relationships. Last is reassurance of worth, it is when others let us feel being valued and looked up to as a competent person which shyness hinders a lot. Concern for others and love we feel from them are the necessities for a person to grow and to have worthy and productive life. Without these, a person may suffer emotional depression. (Corey, 1986) Most of shy people were likely to suffer social inhibition. One reason could be the lack of social skills at the beginning of interaction: According to Merill (1965), lonely people who would like to make new friends fail because they do the wrong things during the initial and critical moments. They avoid the other’s person gaze, they do not smile and they seem tense or preoccupied with other things. All of these discourage any comment from the other person, who does not realize that this apparent unfriendliness is due to a considerable discomfort and an inability to cope with it. (p. 104) People respond negatively to others who have undesirable anxieties and depressing behaviors which turn people away. As a result, social support needed by people with negative attitudes is inadequately given. (Plotnik, 1996) Anxiety is clearly seen on the outside. The shy, having his face registered blankly or anxious, or avoiding eye contact to others, can be interpreted by others as a sign of being aloof so the shy appears to be unapproachable. Plotnik (1996) says that high self-esteem, confidence and self-worth are the benefits of social support. These things promote our physical and psychological well-being. So if social support is lacked, it results to poor mental, physical and emotional health and the shy people have a disadvantage to this. Popenoe (1977) claims that the self-identity provided by social interaction helps people learn new roles in life. It also enhances our self-image which prevents loss of self-identity that may cause emotional stress. When people discover their new roles, they tend to develop their selves and aim for the best changes to make in oneself. But, due to shyness, social interaction experienced by some is very limited that the benefits like the desired change reduced also. Shy people do not want to stay disturbed by problems related to shyness forever. That is why they discover or think of ways resolving the problems that are crippling them. The usual effect of the harmful shyness is mental distress in form of loneliness. According to Heider (1958), loneliness is a personal anxiety which is a result of certain lack in either social integration or attachment in relationship. In order to free themselves from these bothersome issues, certain strategies were reinforced by shy people. Unfortunately, for some, they employ ineffective and irresponsible strategies to overcome shyness. Examples of these are alcoholism and drug addiction. Reason of this undertaking is that they feel energized because they thought that it would be better to detach themselves from their true selves and be more outgoing which they thought most people prefer. According to James, lack of support from social connections and poor stress management contribute a lot to psychosocial deficit (2009). Disadvantages and problems associated from shyness are disturbing and bothersome. Shyness should not greatly affect one’s life and disposition in a negative way. These should have been prevented only if shyness will be cured or if not, learn its ways and have the control of it, not the other way around. However, this is a self-inflicted issue which is just within the self. Treatment for this is easy only if handled accordingly and the shy individual is properly counselled and guided by an expert.

Othello Coursework Essay

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies but also a love story of two lovers. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes always had at least one main flaw, which contributed to their downfall. In Othello’s case it was jealousy; when he was told Desdemona was having an affair. Other themes the play deals with includes hatred, racism, betrayal and discrimination. Although Othello is the main protagonist in the play, however, in many ways Iago seems to be the dominant character. Iago is presented in complete contrast to Othello, and is the villain of the play. Othello is a respected high-ranking general whereas Iago is a lower status and referred to as in his ‘ancient’ or his ‘ensign’. Many critics often describe Iago as the narrator of ‘Othello’; a fascinating character who is the main focus of the play. Many critics also see Iago as an intriguing character as he can be unpredictable. At the beginning of the play, it is Iago and Roderigo who are the first on stage, not Othello. If one were to form an opinion of Othello from this discussion, it would not be a favourable one. The audience is made aware of Iago’s hatred of Othello because Othello promoted Cassio instead of him and his belief that Othello slept with his wife. Furthermore Roderigo is jealous of the fact that Othello has taken Desdemona as his wife. In Act 2 Scene 3 of Othello, Iago is presented as the puppeteer, constantly manipulating everyone around him. Critics have argued about Iago’s motives for wanting to hurt others but in this scene he comes across as cruel and malicious. The scene is set in a castle and opens with Iago trying to get Cassio drunk. Iago motivated by his lust for power is attempting to dispose Cassio of his position as a lieutenant. Knowing that Cassio cannot handle his liquor it would be more likely he would fight if he’s drunk and that would make him look bad in Othello’s eyes. The opening scene presents us with a brief exchange of Cassio and Iago controversial analysis on Desdemona. In the dialogue, Cassio remarks are polite and complimentary to Desdemona stating she is ‘exquisite lady’, ‘fresh’, ‘delicate creature’, ‘modest’ and ‘perfection’. Iago on the other hand has a contrasting view compared to Cassio. Iago suggests that Desdemona is ‘full of game’ and ‘sport’ and that there is ‘provocation’ in her eye suggests both characters have different views on women. Iago’s low opinion of Desdemona only deepens his misogynist view and his hate for women because of the control Desdemona has over Othello. This can portrays his jealousy because Desdemona is an extremely attractive character with a higher noble status than his wife, giving him a reason to hate Othello. Iago has the opportunity to consider his plans in his soliloquy when Cassio leaves to invite some friends for a drink. One way we can tell the presentation of Iago as a character in Act 2 Scene 3 is through his soliloquies. It reveals Iago’s true character and intention to get Cassio drunk so that he loses control and becomes quarrelsome to get into a fight with Roderigo, ‘Am I to put our Cassio in some action’. His skills of persuasions show his power to manipulate people into trusting him to cover his act of being an ‘honest’ friend that adds to the presentation of his character. Iago’s clever perspective to observer this from a person allows the audience insight into various schemes or secrets to his motives that other characters are blind to. Furthermore, Iago’s understanding and manipulating the weakness of those around him make him a powerful and compelling figure that Shakespeare have portray in this scene. Cassio who has been left in a position of responsibility by Othello will shame himself as a lieutenant and loose his position as part of Iago’s plan that will gain him power for his talent of understanding and manipulating people’s weaknesses, ‘If consequences do but approve my dream’. Iago states he is willing to take on revenge on anyone that gets in his way of achieving Othello’s downfall. The end result would make up for what he lost on his way and enjoys the pain and damage he causes which he ‘approves’. The first soliloquy in this act shows us how narrow-minded Iago is and lacks emotions or feelings towards the people around him or himself. W. H Auden describes Iago as a â€Å"Practical joker of a peculiar appalling kind. † W. H attempts to portray Iago as a more humane character than he really is. Loyalty, love, friendship and guilt are all emotions that make us human. Iago misunderstands this concept of feelings, which leads him to his downfall. Shakespeare presents Iago with loss of emotional connections in his character show the tragedy of how isolated Iago is. Shortly after Roderigo raises the alarm under Iago’s instructions, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to present Iago’s actions as he pretends to be the peacemaker. Othello aroused from his sleep ask ‘honest Iago’ for an explanation of the disturbance. Without being disloyal to Othello or to Cassio, he ironically follows Montano’s advice upon his honour as a solider to tell the truth of his version of the night’s events. While trying to save Cassio by making excuses for him, Iago endures that Othello will have no other option than to remove him as his position for causing a shameful public display. The irony of Iago’s account, we known that Iago constantly tries to underplay Cassio’s part in the fight, ‘I had rather ha’ this tongue cut from my mouth, Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio. ’ With subtle additions such as, ‘And Cassio high in oaths, which till tonight / I ne’er might see before’ and ‘ but men are men, the best sometimes forget’ reveals that Cassio has disgraced himself to befit a high ranking officer. Cassio sacked from his lieutenant position, Iago pretends to be a true friend by advising Cassio to seek help from Desdemona to gain his position back. ‘This broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to splinter’. Shakespeare cleverly portrays Iago as an evil mastermind who appears to aid Cassio, instead manipulating the situation in order to make it appear to Othello that Desdemona has emotions for Cassio when she pleads for his job. This sequence allows us to see Iago’s manipulative nature in a continuous flow; from the way he has made others see him to the revelation of his true self. The way he’s portrayed, we are amazed by his mastery of switching facades or identities without a trace of guilt. Iago when speaking with Montano, questions Cassio integrity and his position as a Lieutenant. Iago manages to suggest his support and concern for his comrade while at the same time, destroying his credibility and honour. He mentions to Montano that Cassio is a ‘solider fit to stand by Caesar’ as 2nd in command but his drinking habits matches his ‘virtue’ and implies he drinks every night. Iago’s apparent concerns furthers as he criticises Othello’s judgement for trusting Cassio to be his lieutenant shows his jealousy to be overshadowed and therefore lost his ‘social class’’ that he lacks of. His hatred dominates him just like he dominates all the other characters. Iago seems to master all the emotions that might affect his facade and never shows a trace of nervousness that intensify the power he has over the characters in the play and his ability to control the situation to his will. Furthermore when Iago protests to Montano that he is reluctant to highlight Cassio’s problems to Othello, as he ‘loves’ Cassio and would not wish him any harm. The irony of this situation is the fact that once Montano suggest it would be an ‘honest action’ to inform Othello, Iago declines. This is the only time we see Iago is speechless and to make him look more trustworthy, he implies that his allegiance is to a higher kind of ‘honesty’.

Reaction Paper on the Movie “Fireproof” Essay

The movie, Fireproof, has a very sensitive theme because it focuses on relationships on husband and wife. On the early scene, it is shown that Capt. Caleb Holt of the Albany’s Fire Department Station One’s chief. He has the motto of â€Å"Never leave your partner behind†. He has earned many respect in his career and in his community except in his household were he and his wife, Catherine Holt, always fight because they’re fighting over, mostly about financial problems and Caleb’s addiction to internet pornography. After the argument, Catherine decided to have a divorce. This is very striking because this happens not only in this movie, it is also happening in reality were married couples gone separate because of individual’s differences and negative attitude or problems. When Caleb told his father about what happened, his father asked for the reason for their marriage and he can’t answer. Then, his father challenged Caleb for a â€Å" Love Dare†. The â€Å"Love Dare† is written on a notebook by his father and it was mailed to Caleb. The contents of that notebook are all about the experience of his father when they have the same matter on with Caleb’s mother. He read all the contents expect for the bible verses on the last paragraph. The challenged lasts for 40 days. Initially Catherine doubts Caleb’s sincerity in his attempts to win her back, because of his half-hearted attempts at completing the Love Dare, but Caleb continues with encouragement from his father and his close friend Michael who also encourages him to become a born-again Christian. In the meantime, at the hospital where she works, Catherine begins flirting with Dr. Gavin Keller , who does not know that she is married, since she is no longer wearing her wedding ring. She informs him of her mother’s medical situation. Around this time, Caleb injures his arm when rescuing a girl from a house fire and is brought to Catherine’s hospital, where a nurse inadvertently says in front of Dr. Keller that Caleb is Catherine’s husband. As he continues his 40-day challenge, Caleb begins doing more household chores and running more errands for Catherine, and le aves her roses. He also smashes his computer to pieces with a baseball bat in order to remove the temptation of viewing internet pornography. Regardless, Catherine, who is led by some colleagues to think that Caleb did all these things with an ulterior motive in mind, is still intent on divorce. When she later finds out that the equipment needed for her mother’s medical care has been paid for in full, she arranges a lunch date with Dr.  Keller, thinking that he was the benefactor. Caleb discovers Dr. Keller’s relationship with Catherine and immediately informs him that he won’t let him have Catherine without a fight. Dr. Keller, who does not want to be an obstacle in their marital squabbles and is already married anyway, quietly breaks off his relationship with Catherine. Caleb later finds Catherine at home sick, and decides to take care of her. At this point she asks Caleb why he has changed his behavior, and he mentions the Love Dare. Caleb then fully apologizes to Catherine for his past selfishness. Days later, Catherine learns that of the $24,300 cost of her mother’s medical equipment, Dr. Keller gave only $300 and Caleb gave $24,000, exhausting his boat savings. At this point she becomes convinced that his desire to change was sincere. Ashamed at her inability to think that Caleb’s change in behavior was genuine, Catherine digs out her ring, dresses herself up nicely and puts on make-up, and rushes to her husband’s fire station. There, she embraces her husband with all the respect and admiration he craved before. Caleb’s parents are relieved to know that their son’s marriage has been saved and Caleb expresses his thanks to his dad for the Love Dare. At that point, Caleb’s dad explains that his mother was the one who did the Love Dare on him instead of the other way around. Immediately after hearing this, Caleb rushes home and apologizes to his mother for criticizing her all those years. The couple then renews their wedding vows in an outdoor ceremony, this time as a covenant with God. As we look over the film, the theme is really forgiveness and acceptance. Not only acceptance to the person you loved but also acceptance to the will of God. If you really love the person, you really do things that you don’t normally do.

Healthcare Consultancy description. Formal Report Essay

Healthcare Consultancy description. Formal Report - Essay Example After a thorough exercise, the consultant pinpoints the grey areas and suggests remedial measures to the management for improvement. The educational requirement for choosing this profession is a bachelor’s degree or a master's degree from a certified pharmacy school or college. The health care institution hires qualified consultants either on a full time basis or a part time basis as the case may be to seek their assistance to address the problematic areas to improve organizational efficiency and to re-organize existing structure in the light of the consultant’s recommendations. Corporate entities usually acquire the services of healthcare consultant to identify the loopholes in their system and its rectifications. However, companies that are small in size hire them when they feel it necessary or when they feel that one of the segment of the business is not performing to the desirable level. In order to streamline the things at their end, the health care business entity, hire the services of consultant to identify grey areas in their business and its possible solutions. The whole exercise requires initial research and to examine the data relating to the specific problem. The exercise in question comprised head counts, revenue generation capacity besides interviewing the existing employees of low and high profile to understand the on going problem. After completion of research, consultant has to submit his/her comprehensive report in black and white. In addition to that, an oral meeting between the client and the healthcare consultant could be fruitful provided that the findings are openly discussed in an appropriate forum. Requirements What sort of education is needed by the healthcare consultant? In general, aspirant applicant for the employment should be a bachelor or a master degree holder in his/her profession. However, the academic requirement may vary in accordance with the need of the employer. The employer prefers those degree holders (bachelor or master) who have majors like economics, marketing, human resource and business. Specialization in healthcare would be an added qualification (Education-portal.com, 2013). It is interesting to note that certification is not a mandatory requirement for the chosen career. The apex Institute offers designation to healthcare consultants who have good references and the required education. In order to keep the designation intact, healthcare consultant re-validates the certificate after every three years (Education-portal.com, 2013). There are number of educational institutions in the United States of America, which are providing online quality education. One such example is

Investment Analysis of BHP Billiton Company Case Study

Investment Analysis of BHP Billiton Company - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a company that is based on Sydney Australia, it as founded in 1911 and its main line of business is provision of various banking and financial products and services to retail, small businesses corporate customers as well as institutional customers in Australia, New Zealand, the Asia pacific region, United Kingdom and the United States. An event study was carried out to determine the impact of the announcement of the 25 basis points decrease in cash rate by the Reserve Bank of Australia on 6th December 2011. The event window used to carry out this event study is the 10 days before the event announcement date, the event announcement date and the 10 days after the event announcement date denoted as day -10 to day +10 and the event announcement date is day zero. The estimation period on the other hand is period between day -510 and day -11. The closing adjusted weekly prices for the Commonwealth Bank of Au stralia and the all ordinaries index were obtained from yahoo finance for the estimation period and the closing adjusted daily prices were also obtained from yahoo finance for the event window. The all ordinaries index represents the market returns. The weekly returns of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the weekly logarithmic returns of the All Ordinaries Index were calculated using the formula ln (Pt/Pt-1) where Pt is the adjusted closing price of the security at time t and Pt-1 is the adjusted closing price of the security at time t-1.... indicating that regressing the returns of the CBA on those of the All Ordinaries index would yield a better result that will incorporate the effect of the outliers (Uliana Flynn & Correia, 2007). The regression result is as shown in table below. As shown in the table above, the value of alpha as represented by the intercept is equivalent to 0.00094 while the value of beta is equivalent to 1.00742. This indicates that the regression equation representing the relationship between the CBA returns and the Market returns as represented by the All Ordinaries Index is equal to Y = 1.00742x + 0.00094. This is the market model where Y is the dependent variable which is the expected returns of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia during the event window while x is the independent variable which is the market returns during the event window and alpha is the constant which is otherwise referred to as the intercept (Uliana, Flynn and Correia, 2007). Market model adjusted abnormal returns The market model adjusted abnormal returns is equivalent to the difference between the expected returns and the actual returns of Commonwealth Bank of Australia during the event window. The abnormal returns are the accumulated to arrive at the cumulative abnormal returns of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia during the event window as shown in the table below; As shown in the table above, the abnormal returns are given by the actual returns minus the expected returns of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia during the event window. The expected returns are calculated using the market model shown above. Findings As shown in the market model above, the beta of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is equivalent to 1.0074 indicating that it is a growth stock because it has a beta that is more than one. In