Civilization Collapse and Environmental History Essay

Civilization Collapse and Environmental History - Essay Example The rebels were suppressed and their leaders executed in 1788. Pierre-Etienne further elaborates that also in the 1780s, in Gansu province, there were two major revolts of the Muslim communities, sparked by adherents of a fundamentalist "new sect" who opposed the local Muslim officials appointed by the Qing. Both Muslim uprisings were suppressed after heavy fighting, as were a series of revolts by Miao tribesmen in southwest China. But the fighting was costly to the Qing, who despite their victories did not eradicate the underlying causes of religious, economic, and ethnic resentments. In 1799, as Qianlong's reign ended, rebels claiming the same White Lotus affiliation that had animated the followers' of Wang Lun were rising up all across central China and were actively fighting Qing troops in many areas of Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Henan. Can one link these outbreaks to Specific Manchu policies that alienated the people The evidence is not clear on this, but it is certain that in the late eighteenth century many Qing government institutions began to falter: the emergency granaries were often empty, sections of the Grand Canal silted up, regular banner troops behaved with incompetence or brutality, efforts to stop ecologically dangerous land-reclamation projects were abandoned, the bureaucracy was faction-ridden, and corruption ran deep. It is also possible that Qing reluctance to create new county governments in areas of new settlement or dense population put impossible stresses on officials in the bureaucracy. Moreover, the intense pressure for jobs meant that those who had finally obtained office sought a swift return' for all their waiting and anxiety, pressing local peasants in their jurisdictions for speedy tax payments and for supplementary charges. The White Lotus insurgents of the 1790s, for instance, stated categorically that "the officials have forced the people to rebel." It is also true that in the conduct of the border campaigns, as in the suppression of local rebellions, Qing officials indulged in an unusually high level of graft. This was made possible by collusion between high figures in military and civil government, who often hid the real situation from Emperor Qianlong. And Qianlong, having allowed the secret palace memorial system of his father Yongzheng to become impersonal and routine, now had no reliable, confidential sources from which to learn of his officials' malfeasance. There is no doubt that this pattern of corruption grew worse after 1775, when a young Manchu guards officer named Heshen became entrenched as the elderly emperor's court favorite,although Heshen was not responsible for everything that was going awry. At that time Heshen was twenty-five and the emperor sixty-five, and the following year the favorite received an extraordinary series of promotions: Qian long named Heshen a deputy lieutenant general of the Manchu plain blue banner, a minister of the imperial household, vice-minister of revenue, and a grand councilor. There were no parallels in Qing history for giving so many powerful appointments to a young man, and Qianlong later piled honor on honor. Heshen was made minister of revenue (and, for a time, minister' of civil

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 20

Philosophy - Essay Example Propositions are most securely knowable and most vulnerable to doubt are based on the idea that doubting, understanding, asserting, denying, willing, refusing, imagining, and seeming to perceive. That proof for body does not involve the inspection of entities in an inner arena, although it is a reflective exercise laying out various possibilities and probabilities, arriving slowly at the conclusion that bodies exist even though they may not be as they seem. Descartes argues that any of the three main truths in the Meditations â€Å"I exist, God exists, bodies exist† is reached by the inspection of entities; certainly they are not modeled on retinal images. These truths are the result of careful analysis of ideas and, in the case of the cogito, of the activity of trying to doubt that a person exists. There really is no account in the Meditations of perception of bodies, no analysis of knowledge of physical objects, of scientific knowledge. When Descartes wanted to discover the nature of some object, event, or activity, such as light, vision, or the mechanism of the body, he resorted to observation and experiment--at least, to what he took to be observation, as with the examination of the eyes of buffs. By his doubt, Descartes does not mean to reject permanently all of his former beliefs. Some of them may well be true. Descartes wants to rediscover them, in the sense of showing that they follow logically from basic, indubitable propositions. The main purpose of the doubt is to find these indubitable propositions, so that Descartes can use them as "foundations" upon which to rebuild his knowledge. The doubt is a way of rethinking everything from the beginning, so as to achieve the certainty that Descartes is seeking. One standard interpretation of Descartess notion of clarity and distinctness sees it as being inspired by mathematics. The truth of the substance theory is based on the correctness of a particular

Farm Size and Productivity Research

Farm Size and Productivity Research 1.0 Introduction The relationship between the size of Farm in hectares and the productivity in Yield/hectares is hotly debated issues in Indian agriculture economics. This issue was first raised by AK Sen in 1960s with respect to Indian economy. The major objective of this paper would be to analyze the relationship and the major factors influencing this relationship along with its implication. The size of holding depends on certain factors and the productivity also depends on certain economic factors. These factors such as irrigation, fertility, labor and capital input have an influence on the relationship between the size of land holding and productivity. Most of the economist like AK Sen and Saini have done their analysis and considered this relationship to be inverse. Countries like USA and Australia have very large holdings and the relationship between size of farm and productivity is not inverse in such cases. The application of Green revolution has been believed to change the inverse relationsh ip to a directly proportional relationship, but still it has been not very clear. Some analysis has been done in the paper related to aggregated data with regard to present status of this relationship by comparing the factors of productivity with the size of holding. Moreover the average size of holding has been decreasing with time due to increase in population and some other factors. At the same time the government has tried to implement policies like land ceiling and consolidation of land in some relatively developed states to solve the problem of excessively large holdings (in Indian average) and small and fragmented land respectively. 2.0 Farm land Holdings, Productivity and the factors influencing them independently Agricultural holding indicates the average size of agricultural land held by the farmers in India.. An economic family land holding can be defined as one which could provide a reasonable standard of living to the cultivator and give full employment for a family of a normal size. There are five categories of farmers in India according to their holdings. A)Marginal farmers (≠¤1 hectare), b)Small farmer (1 to 2 hecteres), c)Semi medium farmers (2 to 4 hectors),d) Medium farmers (4 to 10 hectores), e) Large farmers (>10 hectors). The size of holding would ideally depend on method of cultivation and nature of the crop. Productivity here refers to the productivity of crop output so productivity in agriculture is measured as the output of the crop per unit area. Its unit is yield/hectares. At a national level the demand for agricultural product will keep rising due to increasing population of India and high GDP growth rate so the supply of agricultural products has to match up the increasing demand to keep the prices reasonable. Hence agricultural farm land productivity becomes an important parameter for the economy. India being a huge country, these factors vary a lot from region to region but artificial means can be used to enhance the factors of fertility and irrigation. The following list gives us the factors of productivity Fertility of land Natural fertility cannot be changed but input of fertilizers, farm yard manure and nutrients can improve the fertility but all these will increase the cost. Irrigation facility Any irrigation project requires heavy investment and it depends on the level of underground water and nearest source of fresh water supply. Labor supply and quality of labor Labor supply will depend on the presence of any other scope of employment and quality will depend on traditional work culture and climatic conditions and both the factors vary a lot in India. Climatic condition Floods and drought due to unpredictable nature of monsoon affect the productivity. Since last three decades economists have been debating over issue of relationship between the size of farms and agricultural productivity in India. The debate was initiated by Prof. Amartya Sen in 1962. According to him with increase in size of farm holding, productivity declines and thus the productivity is more on small farms as compared to large farms. India has a labor surplus economy. The opportunity cost of labor is low. Small farms use much of family labor to the extent that marginal productivity of labor approaches zero. In case of small farms, output per acre is maximized while in the case of large farms using hired labor, output per unit of labor is maximized. The intensity of cultivation in case of small farm is greater than that of the large farm. Moreover, heavy input of labor on small farm is not on one crop only but in two or more crops produced in the same piece of land during a given production year. It is more so in case of irrigated land. Self-employment in the fam ily farm equalizes the opportunity cost which is not different from market wage. Statistical validity of the inverse relationship between farm size and productivity is a confirmed phenomenon in Indian agriculture prior to Green Revolution. Green revolution is a capital intensive programme which was implemented in 1960s for growth of agricultural production. This capital was invested in the form of important factors of production like irrigation, fertilizer, Mechanization, Manure, pesticides, nutrients. The objective of the following analysis would be to determine all the factors like irrigation, fertilizers, Farm Yard Manure and nutrients vary with the size of farm for the present set of data 3.0 Aggregated data analysis For all the graphs below in X-axis, 1 = Marginal holding, 2 = Small Holding, 3 = Semi-Medium holding, 4 = Medium Holding, 5 = Large holding. In Y-axis, graph A), B), C),E),F) are values of percentage and D) is ratio value. The calculations of these percentage value from been mentioned in tables in appendix Graph A) and B) have been taken from table 1.C), D), F) from table 2 As per the graph A) above we can find that the marginal holding has the larger area of farm wholly irrigated about 46% and we can also observe that the percentage of the wholly irrigated land decreases with increase in the size of the holding with large holdings showing the lowest percentage of wholly irrigated area that is about 21%. The second graph B) shows us the percentage of area of different size of holding for wholly unirrigated farm land and it show us, a lot of gap between the marginal holding(44%) and large holdings(55%) in terms of percentage change. As observed from the graph C) the application of fertilizers decreases with the increase in the size of holding with the marginal holding having an area of 77% and large holdings having an area of 52% under the application of fertilizers. The graph D) related to nutrients does not show us the % of area but it shows us the quantity to area ratio. In this case the slope of the graph is steeper and it shows us trend that the intake of nutrients reduces with the increase in the size of holding. The marginal holding has a ratio of 126 and the large holding has a ratio of 56. In case of farm yard manure graph E) there is a slight increase in the percentage application from marginal holding to small holding but after that the fall continues. Here the small holdings has the highest percentage of application that is 34% and the large holding has the lowest percentage that is 18%. Application of pesticides in a in farmland is an important preventive measure to prevent pests. The graph F) does not show a negative trend completely in relation to percentage of area with relation to holding size but the large farm land shows a dip in 4%. The data above is for 2001 agriculture census which is the latest. In post green revolution period the application additional inputs i.e. factors of production like irrigation, fertilizers, farm yard manure, nutrients, pesticides shows that their intensities of application is inversely proportional to size of land.(As studied above with various data and corresponding graphs.). In other words the application of additional factors of production is more in case of small farms compared to large farms. The resultant output which is directly proportional to application of input to a reasonable extent must increase yield proportionately. Thus logically it follows that after green revolution also the inverse relationship between size of farm and productivity should hold good. Its not a direct cause and effect relationship between all the factors of productivity and farm size but there might be some common factors which might be affecting these relationship. On the other hand there can be an alternative hypothesis to this, stating large farm land are in naturally fertile and irrigated regions of this country so they do not need artificial irrigation or fertilizers to enhance their productivity. Therefore a direct inverse relationship cannot be established between Farm size and productivity by only using aggregated data related to factors of productivity. If we observe the distribution of various size of holding throughout India in table 3 of appendix larger and medium size holdings are mostly found in bigger states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra which are not densely populated but have a larger area. The more densely populated states like West Bengal and Kerala have more number of marginal and small holdings. The natural factors of productivity are distributed among these states so the main hypothesis cannot be rejected. The alternative hypothesis can be true in some regions but not true everywhere because the different sizes of holding have been di stributed as per density of population and not as per natural factors of production. Although it can be said that inverse relationship between productivity and farms size is present in some areas of India but it is not a general law for the whole country. 4.0 Methodology for analyzing disaggregated data The analysis above shows us the analysis done for aggregated data but this same analysis can also be done using disaggregated sample data taken from various villages. If the sample data is taken from nearby villages then the conditions like Fertility , Irrigation, climatic condition and labor can be assumed to be constant. Y1,Y2,Y3,Y100 can be the data set for productivity in yields/hectares X1,X2,X3,X100 can be the data set for size of holding hectares The data above can only be obtained by doing a doing a direct survey in a particular area having common factors of productivity. Then we can do a regression analysis for the dataset having Y = Productivity and X = Size of farm land. The relationship thus obtained either positive or negative can be used to find out the relationship between productivity and size of farm for a particular area at a micro level. And this method can be used in various areas of the country having same factors of productivity . And then the trends can be observed whether its positive or negative or has no affect. This kind of analysis using disaggregated data can be done by also taking the same crop . 5.0 Labor as a factor As discussed before labor input is an important criteria for better productivity in farm land and becomes more important if the process in more manual .In Indian agriculture the Farm land labor can be divided into two type, family member workers and the other is hired workers. Generally in case of smaller size of holding the family members are mostly involved in the cultivation process and in larger farms it is a mix of both. In case of a marginal and small holding where in most of the cases only the family members are involved in farm cultivation the marginal productivity is not a factor. If required all the family members can be involved in the agriculture productivity process because the situation is more desperate and as result the intensity of cultivation is also more. The owner of smaller farm land does not have to employee hired peasants but in case of larger farms the situation changes. In case of larger farm land the owner has to take the marginal productivity of hired labor into consideration. As the intensity of cultivation for the small farm is more, the application of fertilizers, farm yard manure and nutrients might be affected as per the aggregated data analysis done before. As the small farm owner is more desperate even he can use manual means of irrigation to irrigate his land and its not possible in large farms due to its large size. It can be argued that the large farm owner would have more access to mechanized methods and capital for investment so his productivity can be higher at least after green revolution. Here the problem looks more like management of farm input resources rather than their availability. The better management of resources for small farm owner with more intensive cultivation has a bigger impact on productivity than the impact of advantage the large farm owner has in terms of more mechanization and capital availability. But the characteristics of land size holdings that is reduction in the average size of holding with time . Even the relationship between irrigation and fertilizers is also very direct. If one wants for apply more fertilizers then the irrigation facilities have to be very good so as per the irrigation data and fertilizers data both seem to follow the same pattern even if we consider labor not be a major factor here. This is clearly evident in Table 2 where more fertilizers are always applied when irrigation is high. 6.0 Changing pattern of Size of Farm land holding with time The tables 4 and 5 in appendix shows us the distribution of holdings in various states of India but there is one more important factors to this analysis that is the average size of holdings have been decreasing with time. The number of marginal holdings and small holdings have increased and the also area under marginal holdings and small holdings have increased. At the same time the number of Medium and Large holdings have decreased and also has the area under them decreased. There are two major reason for such a trend, they are as follows Increasing population With the rapid increase in population the same area of cultivable land is getting divided among more people. As a result of this the size of the holdings is reducing and area under marginal and small farms increase. To control the growth of rural population is even tougher in rural India due to lack of awareness of people due to limited education. Law of inheritance Under Hindu as well as Muslim Law of inheritance the landed property of a person has to be equally divided among all his sons and daughters which has led to more and more division of land and hence increase in marginal and small farms. Even if the land size is large now, it will get sub-divided when it goes to the next generation. Decline in the joint family system Earlier lot of families used to be joint families but this has declined over time and people generally prefer to stay with only single families. As a result the farm land is also divided more. Slow growth in handicraft industry In the villages the handicraft industry used to a source of employment for the village labor. But it has not grown sustainably with increase in rural labor so the rural population have had to depend more on agriculture as a source of employment. 7.0 Problems related to subdivision of land holdings If the fragmentation and subdivision of land continues at this rate then average size of the holdings will become even smaller and there will be more marginal holdings. Application of new technology becomes more difficult. A lot of cultivable land will be lost in making boundaries. One may argue that as in case of India the productivity of farm land will be more due to more intensive cultivation. But the per capita income of the owning family of the farm reduces with reduced farm land. Moreover if the whole family is involved to increase the intensity of cultivation the labor might be under employed for the same return. If the labor is flexible then he can move to a bigger farm as peasant if there is a demand. As seen from the statics the number of large holdings is reducing in the country and hence is the employment opportunity for hired peasants. Another factor which limits the labor flexibility is when labor tries to move from one region to another language is a big barrier. Altho ugh Hindi is Indias national language and English is the official one still lot of rural population speaks only the local languages and to be more specific only the local dialect. Skill becomes a barrier when the labor wants to move to industry in urban sector. As per our analysis till now the inverse relationship between the productivity and size of farm does hold good at least in some areas of the country if not throughout the country. At the same time if the farm land gets more divided and sub-divided the holding no longer remains economic for a single family. The ideal holding size has to be somewhere between the smaller and large holdings of around 4-5 hectares. The farm size are large and they are well managed and supervised by using modern methodology like it is done in USA and Australia they achieve high productivity. But the same thing is not easy to achieve in India as discussed beforehand. The government has introduce land ceiling in some developed states. This means that family owning excessively large farm land have to give up their excessive land to public authorities and it will be distributed among families having uneconomic holdings. This process is not at all easy because if the land is fertile than none of the owning fami lies would like to give up their land and also have to think about their future generations. Moreover any kind of ceiling will go against the market forces of demand and supply and affect the prices of land. When we talk about division and fragmentation then in many cases the farm land of a single owner is scattered throughout the village. In that case all the land in the village can be converted into a compact block and then the same land can be proportionately distributed among all the families which is called consolidation of Farm land. In states like Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh this process has been taken up seriously but in some other states like Assam and West Bengal the process has not even started. There are few reasons for which consolidation process is not easy. People in India are more attached to their piece of land, if someone has a better piece of land he would not like to sacrifice them. Both land ceiling and consolidation of farm land are policies to reach tha t optimal size of holding but they have not been easily to implement for the factors as mentioned before. 8.0 Final remark The inverse relationship between size of holding and productivity was considered to be very strong when it came for the first time under observation of AK Sen. But after the green revolution this relationship should have change to a directly proportional one as per expectation. This might be happening in some areas of India but still there are areas where the inverse relationship between size of farm and productivity still exists. As per the aggregated data analysis the factors of productivity are being affected by some common factors which helps to maintain the inverse relationship between productivity and size of farm in some areas. As mentioned before these common factors are intensity of labor and problems of management and supervision in large farms. At the same time the size of the land holding have been reducing which is leading to more uneconomic holdings for small farm owners. At this point the government should implement the policy of land ceiling and consolidation of holdi ngs judiciously in order to increase the number of semi-medium and medium size holding where optimal productivity can be achieved along with economic holding. In long term consolidation of holdings and cooperative farming should be encouraged in an organized way. The proper management of labor along with other factors of productivity and usage of mechanized technology in large farms would go a long way to improve productivity in larger consolidated farms. This would be made easier if lesser population is dependent on agriculture only if more employment opportunities are created in other sectors and the rural population upgrades to new skill requirements of the market.

Political Rap and Boogie Down Productions :: Rap Music B-D-P Essays

Political Rap and Boogie Down Productions In the fall of 1987, Scott la Rock, the DJ of the rap group Boogie Down Productions (B-D-P) was shot in a car after trying to break up a fight (Small 77). In light of B-D-P's role in reforming rap in the succeeding years, his biography is significant; he was college educated and was employed--in addition to his musical activity--as a social worker. He had released a groundbreaking record that year, and had already worked on a follow-up, which would defy older categories of rap music. His violent death seemed a cause for pause to reflect on rap music's new direction. The effect on the other member of B-D-P, the rapper K-R-S One (Chris Parker), was devastating but quickened his mission. Nearly two years after the murder, he preached against black-on-black crime, promoting education, spirituality and vegetarianism. Rap had to be political and it required self-denial, even asceticism; he had made rap music an extremely serious endeavor. Enlightened rap seemed poised to enjoy mainstream popularity. But something about its message did not capture the popular imagination, and it has remained a sub-genre. Conversely, the highly materialistic rap that was popular when B-D-P appeared in 1987, glorifying jewelry, cars and brand names, is in vogue again. However, B-D-P--vintage B-D-P--enjoys a paradoxically respected position. This is strange because in some respects B-D-P's version of political rap was stricter than the other groups that comprised the so-called New School, the consciousness-raised groups that followed in his path. Something about B-D-P's asceticism had an edge that made it strangely attractive. I wish to explore this ambiguity. K-R-S One was the guiding force of B-D-P, writing its lyrics and producing its albums. He is generally regarded as the popular artist who, along with Chuck D of Public Enemy, politicized rap in the middle 'eighties. It is well known that popular rap was capable of political content from its earliest beginnings. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released both "The Message" (1982) and "White Lines" (Don't Do It) (1983), the first a lament about ghetto life and the second a powerful indictment of cocaine (then called "freebase"), well before crack became a mainstream epidemic. Run-DMC rapped in "Hard Times" about the early 'eighties inflation economy. Of course, the political discourse of rap music has been pointed out before, but almost always in exalted form.

Merchant of Venice (Anti- Semitism)

Questioning Humanity The Merchant Of Venice In the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, Shylock is portrayed as a manipulative, greedy, and money hungry man who, throughout the book, is consumed with the deterioration of his enemies. Because of the prevailing anti- Semitic sentiment in Shakespeare's time, you would naturally assume that the Merchant of Venice is an anti- Semitic play. However, as you continue to examine the text, Shakespeare portrays Shylock in a much more human way than was generally done in those days and he shows that Shylock is, in fact, a part of humanity.Shakespeare challenges anti-Semitism by showing that Jews are just like Christians. He does this by proving how the imperfections that people have are what make us human. Even today, Shakespeare shows the world how hypocritical people can be, no matter their religion, race, or personal beliefs. Shakespeare uses irony in this play to illustrate that the bad things that Shylock (the Jew) has done are no wor se than what Antonio (the Christian) has done in his lifetime.Therefore, this creates the effect of humanizing the characters and demonstrates that regardless of religion or race, people have both good and bad sides. Although Shylock’s Jewishness is made apparent from the very moment he is introduced, and thus seems to reinforce Shakespeare’s work as being anti-Semitic, it is in fact Shylock’s wit and humanity that reveal how Shakespeare challenges such bias. Before Shylock even enters the play, the scene introduction mentions that he is a Jew ­Ã‚ ­ and immediately sets your mind against him, especially in Elizabethan England when Jews were alienated.Shylock quoted, â€Å"[Antonio] hath disgraced me [Shylock] and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—and what’s his reason? I [Shylock] am a Jew. (3:1:52). † While Jews were scorned because of their religious beliefs, Shakespeare made it clear that each religious group hated each other. For example, Shylock says, â€Å"I hate him for he is a Christian (1:3:40). † Therefore, although Shylock is made the â€Å"bad guy† in this play, he isn’t the only one guilty of religious discrimination.Shakespeare makes it clear that both Antonio and Shylock have no religious tolerance for each other and are prejudicial toward each other’s religion. Although William Shakespeare leads you to believe that Shylock is prejudiced toward Christians, the reason for his hatred becomes clear when you learn that he is a man who is abused by the Christians surrounding him. Shylock has a reason for his hatred, â€Å"You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine. 1:3:121)† Shylock defends his hatred when he says, â€Å" Hath not a Jew Eyes? Hath not a Jew Hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! (3:1: 52)† Therefore, it is Shylock’s human nature that leads him to despise Christians, not because of their religious beliefs directly, but because of their hatred of him simply because of his religious beliefs. Shylock defends his humanity by showing the Christians that they are no different from the Jews they treat with such disrespect.Shylock has a desire for revenge, which further humanizes him and connects him with Antonio. Because of Shakespeareâ€℠¢s choice of words, he leads you to believe that he is an anti-Semitic. However, a closer look at how Shakespeare shapes the play illustrates a deeper theme—that people are people, no matter their religion, race, or beliefs. Shylock doesn’t preform his actions because he is a Jew, he is simply mean because of the way the other characters treat him. Shylock says, â€Å"I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause, But since I am a dog, beware my fangs. † Shylock's actions are justified because of the way the other characters treat him. . Christian revenge is typical; therefore, Jewish revenge can’t be faulted. While Shylock is mean because of the cruel treatment he has received throughout his life, Antonio has no excuse. Shylock makes you realize that while Shakespeare may give the appearance that he is an anti-Semitist, he really believes that all people are equal and hatred is universal.At the end of the day, Shakespeare proves that it is Shylock’s humanity that makes him just like everyone else. He shows that the conflicts in The Merchant of Venice may start out because of religious differences; however, the actual message is more how the desire for revenge is something all people have in common, despite any other differences in their lives. Shylock challenges the stereotypes given to him in the beginning of the book and creates a complex character whose behavior is justified because of the way the other characters treat him.The Merchant of Venice demonstrates that no writers have to be bound by the prejudices of their time. While Shakespeare probably never met a Jew in his lifetime, he showed that religion doesn’t define who a person is. Some people may argue that because Shakespeare gives Shylock the stereotypical Jewish characteristics, he is obviously anti-Semitic. However, Shakespeare proves through Shylock that his intention wasn’t to emphasize anti- Semitism, but to show that all people have both good and bad sides to them.

Police Operations Essay

There are different levels of law enforcement which include local, state and federal levels. We are told by The National District Attorneys Association that (NDAA, p. 1) â€Å"As federal authorities are obliged to investigate all incidents that may be federal civil rights crimes, and local and state authorities have independent jurisdiction over such cases under their own criminal statutes, this MOU also should improve the reporting of all such violations to local, state and federal authorities. We are also educated from the same source that this will â€Å"increase public confidence in this critical law enforcement areas. † This demonstrates that all levels of law enforcement can work more effectively together in their efforts at maintaining peace but many times these different levels work alone when the situation falls under one category that is controlled by a specific are of law enforcement. The local law enforcement agency is a level which involves city and county sheriff departments which include domestic violence situations, traffic stops and basically all citizen laws within city or county limits. State law enforcement agencies is a level of law enforcement where state troopers usually enforce interstate commerce traffic and they also have a division within the state detective agencies that investigate crimes as well as respond to local and county calls when local law enforcement agencies are backed up and aren’t able to take care of the calls received. Federal law enforcement agencies handle a wide variety of felony crimes which usually take over the local and state jurisdiction boundaries when federal crimes are committed. They also investigate counterfeit currency and bank robberies. Any time there is a kidnapping crime to be handled, the federal law enforcement level will investigate where local and state agencies have fulfilled their duties. All levels of law enforcement will generally work together for one cause in solving cases where the law has been broken. Each level of law enforcement is extremely important where the local level handles lesser crimes and federal handle major offenses where federal offenses such as bank robberies, illegal felony possession of firearms, distribution of drugs over state lines and cases where federal laws are offended. August Vollmer was a pioneer in law enforcement who contributed to the development of criminal investigative techniques. We are told by Jim Fisher (Fisher, p. 1) that â€Å"In 1905, the citizens of Berkeley, California, banded together to rid themselves of the prostitutes, gambling houses, and opium dens operating openly in their town. The man they elected to do the job was a 29-year-old uneducated mail carrier who promised to clean things up. † Vollmer dedicated much of his time to making changes in law enforcement by changing the way officers were trained, thought and acted as law enforcement officials. He was well-known for using good judgment skills and his own common sense. Another pioneer in law enforcement was Officer James Foreman. We are told that (Lieberman, 2002) Foreman was our first African-American police officer. â€Å"Senator Joe Lieberman today paid tribute to Stamford, Connecticut’s first African-American police officer, James Foreman. † He is one of the many who were pioneers in law enforcement who made a huge difference is our country through their dedication.