Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Failure of the Pony Express Communication System in America :: American America History

The Failure of the Pony Express Communication System in America A race from the start, a rider jumped to the back of his fresh pony and bolted from the station, sweating and tired, but always knowing the mail must go through, the young boy spurred the pony on as the station keepers watched the dust rise under the feet of the United States fastest mail transport†¦ Genghis Khan is often credited with the idea of a Pony Express, more however a relay then a mail service. He began the horse relay for provisions, using a station every 40 miles, then there was William â€Å"Lightfoot† Visscher, who’s credited with working the mail into the idea. He was a rider from a Boston paper, and used ponies to run for news (Bloss 13). And all the while the United States was growing, with it grew the demand for communication between east and west. Having received assurances that fast communication from the Missouri River to California would be well patronized, three early stagecoach men, Senator W.M. Gwin, Alexander Majors, and Daniel E. Phelps, made preparations for the inauguration of the new service. Six hundred broncos, especially chosen for fleetness, toughness, and endurance, were purchased. Seventy-five men, none of them weighing over one hundred and ten pounds, were engaged as riders, being selected on account of their bravery, their capacity for deprivation and their horsemanship, as well as for their shooting abilities and their knowledge of the craft and the manner of attack of the Indians (When 1). While the pony express founded the postal system and played a significant role in communication, it was doomed for failure, due to Indian warfare; hazards on the trail; and the economics, politics, and corruption within the system. Indian warfare presented a large amount of turmoil for the Pony Express. Wars often broke out between settlements, and tribes, causing hardships to the riders. Some Indian tribes believed there was â€Å"magic† in the mochillas (leather pouches carrying the mail), which explained why the ponies they chose were so fast (Adams 86). More often then not, the wagon trains traveling west, would open fire on defenseless Indians, killing and wounding them, and creating more havoc for the express riders traveling from east to west and vice versa (Adams 88). More havoc and turmoil between the two groups was created when cases of slave labor were brought to light.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Bone Diseases :: essays research papers fc

Bone diseases most directly influence the ability to walk or to move any part of the body--hands, limbs, neck, and spine. They are related to joint disorders--ARTHRITIS, COLLAGEN DISEASE, DISLOCATION of joints, and RHEUMATISM. The medical specialty pertaining to bone disorders is ORTHOPEDICS. Fractures are the most common bone disorders. They can occur as the result of an accident or be secondary to metabolic diseases. Fractures are life-threatening to aged people having the metabolic bone disease OSTEOPOROSIS, in which bones become porous and brittle. A person, mostly women, having osteoporosis may break a hip during a fall and possibly die from complications. Birth Defects Congenital bone diseases constitute a wide spectrum, ranging from the unimportant--for instance, mild bow legs--to severe lesions, such as spina bifida, in which the lower end of the spine fails to develop properly and the baby is born with paralysis and misshapen vertebrae. Congenital diseases may have hormonal bases: for example, fibrous DYSPLASIA, in which fibrous tissue replaces that of some bones, often results in bone deformity; in addition, some girls with this disease physically mature so early that they are capable of pregnancy and childbirth at the age of seven. Congenital defects also may have genetic bases, as in families who have extra fingers or toes or in the disease osteogenesis imperfecta, in which children have such brittle bones that many are fractured. Disorders of growth and development include several kinds of dwarfism and gigantism. Bones or limbs may develop deformity as the result of known causes, such as the infection poliomyelitis, or unknown or variable causes, such as curvature of the spine (SCOLIOSIS) or CLUBFOOT. Infections Infections of bone, called osteomyelitis, are usually caused by pus-producing bacteria, especially Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Before the development of antibiotics, children frequently contracted this disease. Today bone infections are introduced primarily through fractures and during surgical operations. People infected with syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, or yaws are susceptible to bone damage. Metabolic Disorders Metabolic abnormalities often involve defects in the storage of minerals, particularly calcium and phosphate ions, in the skeleton. Diseases of the kidney can cause a metabolic imbalance of phosphate and calcium so that weakening of the bone occurs. Other metabolic bone diseases are osteoporosis, gout, OSTEOARTHRITIS, and PAGET'S DISEASE. Nutritional Disorders Nutritional deficiencies that result in bone damage include RICKETS in children and osteomalacia in adults, caused by a lack of vitamin D. In children, calcium and phosphate are poorly distributed on bones during development, resulting especially in deformity of the legs and arms. In adults, bones of the spine, pelvis, and legs become demineralized and the bones weaken. SCURVY--caused by a lack of vitamin C--also affects bone tissues. A study in the late 1980s indicated that the mineral boron is nutritionally important, as well. Apparently, it reduces loss of the bone minerals

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Media usage

I have attached a copy of my media log for the week of May 14-21, 2007. Over the last week, I spent: 3 hours and 25 minutes online, 90 minutes watching a DVD, 15 hours and 33 minutes watching television, 4 hours and 45 minutes reading, 1 hour and 13 minutes reading magazines, 17 minutes reading the local paper, and 1 hour and 21 minutes using Blackberry.   The log shows a marked preference for foreign media, with the possible exception of my Blackberry and the Toronto Star, which I use to keep up with friends and local events respectively.   Even though the Internet is used to accomplish everything from communications to entertainment, it is still strange that television places first in my personal â€Å"Most Popular Medium† contest. It is such an old form, first distributed widely in the 1950s.   Yet, I spend more time watching it, than e-mailing, checking on friends at Facebook, or watching news clips on CNN.   Perhaps it retains its popularity because of its versatility.   In Television Culture, we learn that â€Å"social change does occur, and television is a part of this movement†(Fiske, 45).  Ã‚   Because it keeps changing to keep up with the important issues of a particular time, television ensures its relevance and future existence. Up until now, I have not realized how much time I spent watching television—not unusual since many people from all walks of life lament the amount of time people spend on television.   I notice that I haven’t recorded any time listening to the radio, iPod, or a CD.   Maybe music has been pushed into the unconscious or we have come to the point where radio is no longer a medium of note.   With the advent of satellite radio, the mp3 player, podcasting, and Russian sites selling music at a fraction of the price, there would be little reason to maintain a radio, with the possible exception of warning the population if disaster strikes. The newspaper is also becoming more overlooked as people switch to CNN Online and her sister sites.   In order for newspapers to remain competitive, they need to take the focus off of world events and concentrate on covering the local area extensively.   Such close area coverage will never be found on an international news site such as BBC or CNN. While I spend a moderate amount of time on social sites like Facebook, it has not replaced telephone and in-person conversations.   While my weekly telephone/text conversations seem to pale in comparison to my online time, face-to-face interaction is preferred. The second most used medium in this study is the book—one of the earliest mediums for disseminating information in the world.   However, book sales today are the direct result of successful multi-media campaigns.   I’ve started reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne—an Australian author with the grand ambition to change the world. She proposes to do this by putting together a panel of successful people to educate people about the power of thought; that one can make his dreams come true provided he avoids thinking about what he does not want.   Because more people favor television and Internet sources over books, the writers of The Secret produced a DVD, advertised on the Internet, magazines, and appeared on Oprah.   Because of this successful multi-media campaign, it had reached #1 on Amazon’s bestseller’s list.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Harry Potter Novels and other Law of Attraction clones are taking this approach to boost sales. It is important to keep up with the world at large and Canadian television imports many American shows such as the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Dr. Phil Show, The View, Girlfriends, and The Bachelor. With such wide exposure to American media, it is little wonder why Western Canadian and US culture are so similar. Works Cited Fiske, John. Television Culture. NY: Routledge,1987

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 4

The Worst Ending Imaginable Knowing that Nikki does a big unit on Hemingway every year, I ask for one of Hemingway's better novels. â€Å"One with a love story if possible, because I really need to study love – so I can be a better husband when Nikki comes back,† I tell Mom. When Mom returns from the library, she says that the librarian claims A Farewell to Arms is Hemingway's best love story. So I eagerly crack open the book and can feel myself getting smarter as I turn the first few pages. As I read, I look for quotable lines so I can â€Å"drop knowledge† the next time Nikki and I are out with her literary friends – so I can say to that glasses-wearing Phillip, â€Å"Would an illiterate buffoon know this line?† And then I will drop some Hemingway, real suave. But the novel is nothing but a trick. The whole time, you root for the narrator to survive the war and then for him to have a nice life with Catherine Barkley. He does survive all sorts of dangers – even getting blown up – and finally escapes to Switzerland with the pregnant Catherine, whom he loves so much. They live in the mountains for a time, in love and living a good life. Hemingway should have ended there, because that was the silver lining these people deserved after struggling to survive the gloomy war. But no. Instead he thinks up the worst ending imaginable: Hemingway has Catherine die from hemorrhaging after their child is stillborn. It is the most torturous ending I have ever experienced and probably will ever experience in literature, movies, or even television. I am crying so hard at the end, partly for the characters, yes, but also because Nikki actually teaches this book to children. I cannot imagine why anyone would want to expose impressionable teenagers to such a horrible ending. Why not just tell high school students that their struggle to improve themselves is all for nothing? I have to admit that for the first time since apart time began, I am mad at Nikki for teaching such pessimism in her classroom. I will not be quoting Hemingway anytime soon, nor will I ever read another one of his books. And if he were still alive, I would write him a letter right now and threaten to strangle him dead with my bare hands just for being so glum. No wonder he put a gun to his head, like it says in the introductory essay.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Translation of image in metaphor

The present study Is an attempt to Investigate the translation of image In metaphors. In translation of metaphor, It Is necessary to start with Investigating the concept of metaphor. So the definition of metaphor and different kinds of metaphor are presented. Imagery is a key concept in metaphor that helps the reader to visualize and experience the author's writing. Different type of imagery also presented. Then translation of metaphors ,including cognitive approach, is considered. At last the translation of metaphor in Persian poetry is investigated.Introduction Translation plays an essential role in transferring message from one culture to another (Batavia,2008). Deference between SSL and TTL can sometimes pose challenges in the process of translation. One of these challenges is the translation of metaphor. Metaphors can become a translation problem, since transferring from one language and culture to another Is difficult. â€Å"Translation of metaphor will be always seen as probl ematic, no matter which approach to metaphor Is chosen† (Olivier, 1998:5).Literature review There are no Instructions for devising metaphors; there Is no manual for determining hat a metaphor â€Å"means† or â€Å"says†; there is no test for metaphor that does not call for taste. A metaphor implies a kind and degree of artistic success; there are no unsuccessful metaphors There are tasteless metaphors, but these are turns that nevertheless have brought something off, even if it were not worth bringing off or could have been brought off better. (Davidson 29) According to Adage(1987:77) â€Å"metaphor presents a particularly searching tests of the translator's ability'.Furthers Olivier (1998:5) claims: â€Å"the translation of metaphor (†¦ ) Is problematic no matter which approach to metaphor is chosen†. Degrees of translatability of metaphor are classified as follows: 1 . Metaphors are untranslatable: the advocates of this are Nadia, Avian and Darlene , and Adage. They believe that translation creates a different metaphor In the target language. 2. Metaphors are fully translatable: Sloppier, Reels and Mason claim that there is no problem in metaphor translation. Metaphor is translated as a new metaphor in target language. 3.Metaphors are translatable but pose a degree of interlinguas in equivalence: Van Den Broke, Arabian Olivarez, Tour and Newark have this view. 4. Conciliatory approach: Snell Horny said that he text type determine the range of rendering. Mandible(1 995) focus on the translator's reaction time to show differences in the translation of SCM ( similar mapping condition) and the DIM ( different mapping condition). The work of other theorists like Coves(2005), AH Hosannas(2007), Male(2008) and Rainmakers and Gaur(2010) are all product-oriented, show that translation products depend on SCM and DIM.The common basis between all of these studies Is that â€Å"the more the two languages conceptualize metaphors In a salar y way. The easier the task of translation will be. Also some research have been done In relevance to the effect of translation on metaphor by Schaeffer(2004) and Starriest(1993). Towboats (1993: has to be culture specific, thus presenting what amounts to often insurmountable problems for translation, which is by definition a transactional process. Schaeffer (2004): Discussed some implications for a cognitive theory of metaphor to translating metaphor without trying to draw a theory or a model. Dickens (2005): Simplified Model, Full Model, a reworking of Newark in terms of legalized and non- legalized metaphors, where Arabic-English translation of metaphor is reduced to exuberance and congruence. First, it is claimed that if two languages have radically different conceptual systems, then translation from one language to the other is impossible.Second, it is often claimed that if translation is impossible, then speakers of one language cannot understand the other language. Third, it i s often claimed that if the languages have different conceptual systems, then someone who speaks one language will be unable to learn the other language because he lacks the right conceptual system. Fourth, to confuse matters further, it is sometimes claimed that since people â€Å"can† learn idiotically different languages, those languages couldn't have different conceptual systems (Alaska, 1987: 311). What is metaphor? According to Newark metaphor is † any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word, the personification of an abstraction, the application of a word or collocation to what is doesn't literally denote, to describe one thing in terms of another. † He also introduces the polygamous words and English phrasal verb as metaphor. Most people think that metaphor is used only in the literature and is a feature of language. They introduce metaphor as â€Å"matter of words instead of thought r action†. But metaphors are used in every day conversation, in language, in thought and in action.George Alaska claims that â€Å"our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical nature. † Tall metaphor is described in two senses: in narrow sense, metaphor is figure of speech, one thing is described in terms of another. So metaphor is the combination of three components: tenor(object), vehicle(image), ground(sense) and is described as a resemblance between image and object. To explain more, we can say that the tenor and vehicle are connected by a verb that creates resemblance. The verb â€Å"to be† is often used to say the tenor is the vehicle.In broad sense metaphor is explained as what Newark define metaphor. In this broad sense metaphor is the relation between mind and cognition. From historical point of view, metaphor is a Greek word for transport and is defined as a transportation of concepts from its normal location to a new location. In the past, me taphor was figure of speech or form of figurative language that defined in terms of aesthetic and rhetorical points. It has been analyzed in term of components (image, object, sense) and types (dead, click, recent†¦ ). But nowadays, metaphor is seen in perspective of conceptualization and idealization.So the cognitive conceptual stylistic approaches are chosen. Metaphor is similar to simile. In simile A is like B, but in metaphor â€Å"like† or â€Å"as† are not used. It means that in simile the comparison stated explicitly, while in metaphor and simile depends on this point of similarity between topic and image. This implicit similarity may be understood from context. Different type of metaphor Newark expresses six types of metaphor. 1 . Dead metaphor: â€Å"Dead metaphors are metaphors where one is hardly conscious of he image, frequently relate to universal terms of space and time, the main part of body and main human activity. In translation of dead metaphor the same image is transferred. â€Å"An example of a dead metaphor would be the ‘body of an essay. ‘ In this example, ‘body' was initially an expression that drew on the metaphorical image of human anatomy applied to the subject matter in question. 2. Click metaphor: â€Å"Click metaphors are metaphors that have outlived their usefulness , that are used as substitute for clear thought , often emotively , but without corresponding to the facts of matter. Different image is made from SSL to TTL. Absence makes the heart grow fonder is a proverb click.Achilles heel is an allusion click. Acid test is an idiom click. Age before beauty is a catchphrase click. Alive and kicking is a doublet click. Avoid like the plague is a simile click 3. Stock or standard metaphor: Stock or standard metaphor is an â€Å"established metaphor which in an informal context is an efficient and conscious method of covering a physical or mental situation both referentially and pragmatically and which is not deadened by overuse. † In translation of standard metaphor the same image must be constructed n TTL. 4.Adapted metaphor: This type of metaphor â€Å"is actually a stock metaphor that has been adapted into a new context by its speaker or writer(fleetness' of a stock metaphor has been adapted or personalized in some way)† It can be translated by an equivalent adapted metaphor. 5. Recent metaphor: â€Å"This type of metaphor is produced through coining; they are often ‘anonymously' coined†. Recent metaphors should be translated using continental analysis. 6. Original metaphor: â€Å"Original metaphors, are created or quoted by the SSL writer or speaker usually to make discourse more interesting and often used to highlight particular points. Translator has some choices: literal translation, reduction to sense or modification of the metaphor. Alaska and Johnson determine 3 type of metaphor under the title of conceptual metaphor: 1 . Orientation metaphor: spatial orientation (up-down, in-out) is the concern. For example: happy is up. Sad is down: I'm feeling up today. He's really low these days. 2. Ontological metaphor: an abstraction such as emotion and ideas is replaced by a concrete thing such as object, substance or entity. In this definition some words need some explanation.Entity is made when an abstraction is replaced by concrete physical object. For example, the mind is represented as a machine: my mind Just isn't operating today. When abstraction is represented as material, substance is made. For example: there was a lot of good sprinting in the race. Container is one ontological metaphor: when one concept is shown as something that has outside and inside, and holds something else. For instance: get the most out of life. 3. Structural metaphor: this is a conventional metaphor in which one basic domain of experience is transferred to another basic domain.This is the most complex metaphor. For example: argument is w ar, so we can say: your claims are indefensible. The conventional metaphor in this definition is a metaphor that is used in everyday example: if life is a Journey so we can say: it's time to get on with your life. George Alaska represents another type of metaphor that is called image metaphor. According to Alaska â€Å"image metaphor maps conventional mental image onto other conventional mental image by virtue of their internal structure. † Image metaphor is different from conceptual metaphor.Some metaphors are used in advertising slogans, so they are o common and convert to something that is used in every day conversations. For example consider the metaphor of â€Å"life is a Journey' â€Å"Life is a Journey, travel it Airlines) â€Å"Life is a Journey. Enjoy the Ride. â€Å"(Ionians) â€Å"Life is a Journey. Enjoy the ride with a GM reward card. â€Å"(General Motors) â€Å"Life's a Journey–travel light†(Hugo Boss Perfume) Some metaphors used in the lyri cs. For example: Life's a Journey not a destination And I Just can't tell Just what tomorrow brings. From the album A Little South of Sanity) Poets use metaphor in poems. A common poem by the use of â€Å"life is a Journey† is The Road Not Taken† from Robert Frost: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth. Then took the other, as Just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all t he difference. Function of metaphor description of entities more comprehensively than in literal language (referential purpose). The second purpose is to delight, to please (pragmatic purpose). The third purpose is to show similarity between two comparable things that have one characteristic in common.Metaphors are also used to suggest the reader to think positively and beautifully to their life and world. â€Å"Love is a homeless guy searching or treasure in the middle of the rain and finding a bag of gold coins and slowly finding out they're all filled with chocolate and even though he's heart broken, he can't complain because he was hungry in the first place. â€Å"(Boo Burnham, â€Å"Love Is†) â€Å"Time, you thief†(Leigh Hunt, â€Å"Rounded†) â€Å"Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food. â€Å"(Austin Maloney) â€Å"Life is a zoo in a Jungle. (Peter De Varies) â€Å"Life is a game played on us while we are playing other games. â€Å"(Even Sear) The application of metaphor Metaphor is an important device for communication. The work of Alaska and Johnson wows the application of metaphors in cognitive linguistics, as well as cognitive anthropology, computer science, and philosophy of language also in psychology. In psychology, the work of Alaska and Johnson shows interest in study of metaphor in cognitive and clinical psychology. In a cognitive perspective, metaphor is example of mental model as well as analogical reasoning and problem solving.Analogies and metaphors make sense f the word. Gentler (1983) argues that metaphors help to understanding, decision- making, and action. Duke (1994) shows the effect of metaphor in applied field of software ergonomics. Tahiti, Photos and Grasses (1999) represent the effect of metaphor in communication process. Clinical psychology, concentrate on the role of metaphor in communication processes in psychotherapy. Imagery Imagery is not only the representation of v isual image in our mind. Imagery is more complex. And can be categorize in five types, each relevant to one of our sense.Newark claims that language refers to visual image and metaphor is the language reference to other senses. Hearing and touch are more powerful than taste and smell. Different type of imagery Visual images are mental pictures that are constructed in your mind. It means that in order to compare two things use picture rather than word. For example: the Tavern was worn down with age, the wooden bar chipping away, the floors looking black from the dirt, and the ceiling carrying dark brown stains from water damage. Auditory images relate to sound. It is a form of mental imagery that is used to organize sound.This image divided to two auditory modalities; verbal imagery and vividness and detail of auditory imagery depend on the background and condition of brain. As an example of auditory imagery we can express from an ode: â€Å"Or sinking as the light wind lives or die s; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. † Kinesthesia images: where the reader can imagine the movements and action of a person or an object.For example: his body moved fluidly throughout the obstacle course, dodging every object thrown at him with agility and grace while speeding down the path. Olfactory images which refers to smell of the odors and scents. Example: the perfume she sprayed reminded her of the sweet and calming scent of mangos and vanilla, a wave of relaxation soon overcoming her. Gustatory images refer to the words in your mind that make you think of taste. For example: the artificial cherry taste of the cough medicine was overly flowery and sweet. Tactile image: allow reader to imagine a feel or texture of certain things.As an example: the blanket was as soft as cotton and as smooth as silk. Organic imagery which is the imagination of feeling what the character feels, such as thirst, hunger. As an example: he was completely drained of energy, his knees buckling from carrying his own weight and eyes drooping from exhaustion. Imagery used in three senses in literary eroticism: in the broad sense, the image need not be mental pictures. In narrow sense, imagery is description of visual objects and senses. The third, imagery means figurative language. Function of imagery Imagery is used in poetry and literature.In poetry is as a backbone of poem because imagery used in poem to evoke a response in reader. Imagery has different connotation and meaning, but for the poet they convey a complete human experience in every few words. Imagery in literature is a collection of techniques that appeal to the senses. There are two main types of language used in literature: secretive and figurative: in the descriptive language we can refer to the senses directly, while in the figurative language we should use some description and invoke other meaning. To create imagery in literature, both types of languages are used.The descriptive language use imagery directly to create a vivid, realistic description of the sense. This describes the appearance and setting, the different senses. Comprehension of metaphor There are some theories related to metaphor comprehension: 1 . Interaction theory: (proposed by Richards (1965), black (1962)), in this view the interaction between tenor and vehicle creates metaphor. . Mapping theory: (proposed by Alaska(1987)), this view use the terms of â€Å"source domain† and â€Å"target domain† to show the directionality of relation between these domains that called mapping. 3.Blending theory: in metaphor there are two psychological spaces: source psychological space and target psychological space. These two spaces make a new space. The sense of metaphor called generic space. If the source, target and generic spaces create a new space metaphor is mad e. Metaphor translation According to Newark, â€Å"whilst the central problem of translation is the overall choice translation of metaphor†. Unremarkable; 104) In order to interpretation of metaphors, translator can choose among some possibilities: 1 . Exact equivalence of original metaphor, 2. A metaphorical phrase which express a similar sense, 3.Untranslatable metaphor replaced with approximate literal paraphrase Problems relating to metaphor translation Adage points out â€Å"since a metaphor in SSL is, by definition, a semantic novelty, it can clearly have no existing equivalence in the TTL†. Another problem relates to what Limier claims † most words in a language have absorbed cultural aspects and historical experiences†. Metaphors often are culture-bound, and the best way for translation is direct translation. Metaphor as an issue in translation study Prescription versus description These two polarities (prescription and description) are one aspect o f translation problem.The advocates of prescriptive approach are Nadia, Van den Broke, Newark and the advocates of descriptive approach are Tour, Snell Horny, Baker. (Fernando et al 2003:61) These approaches seeking SST faithfulness have been increasingly disregarded in favor of target oriented studies, which had an impact on the concept of equivalence. Transgenic equivalence thus doesn't pursue ‘perfect' but rather ‘acceptable' rendering (Arabian-Lavaliere's) Classical versus conceptual perspective Another classification in study of metaphor is the polarities of classical and conceptual approach.While the principal of these two approaches are different, in recent decades some attempts have been done to combine these two approaches. In the classical view, metaphor was a rhetorical figure or a device to add interest to the text. At the same time, metaphor has been seen as something interesting, peripheral, as an object in realm of poetic rather than empirical analysis. Tr aditional understanding of metaphor as a figure of speech has been recently replaced with a more complex conceptual, cognitive approach(Schaeffer 2004).The publication of ‘Metaphors we live by (1980) by Alaska and Johnson change the whole world of study. In recent years the new conceptual view of metaphor is the most important view. Alaska and Johnson argues that marathons are nothing less than demonstration of the whole system of experience and thought of human society- in other words, â€Å"metaphor permeate and pervade both languages and thought†( Fernando 2003:65). So metaphor is an expression of conceptual mapping, while this view is the same of lassie view but it is said that mapping is a surface demonstration of the relation in a deeper level.Descriptive: _cultural Horny(1988-95), Towboats(1993) _(UN)translatability and cultural overlap(Adage(1976-1987) _(UN)translatability and structure of cultural information(Van Den Broke(1981) Prescriptive keeping the same me taphorical image _changing it into a simile _substituting by equivalent metaphor in the TTL _keeping the same metaphorical image and adding explanation _paraphrase Horny(1988-1995) claims that some abstract rule cannot describe metaphor, and the unction of metaphor within a context should be considered.Newark never said anything about the choice from among the procedure. Alaska and Johnson argue that â€Å"the metaphors that are most alive and most deeply entrenched, efficient and powerful are those that are so automatic as to be unconscious and effortless†. In recent work related to metaphor translation, the cognitive approach is adopted by different theorists and statisticians. They look at the metaphor not as stereotyped types, but as a process of mapping between two different domains that called the source domain and target domain.For example in the statement â€Å"this room is an oven† the target domain is our understanding of the concept of heat for it is the con cept we wish to express through the metaphor. The source domain is conceptualized as â€Å"an enclosed heated compartment_ an extremely hot place, which is vehicle for the metaphorical transfer. The whole metaphor can be expressed as â€Å"heat is an enclosed heated compartment. † The selection of translation method In order to preserve the image of metaphor 1 . Literal translation: the image in the target text is the same image transferred from source text. 2.The image in source text is replaced by another form in 3. Image is transferred but annotation is added. This is used when target text. There are cultural differences. So by the use of annotation the reader with different cultural background can understand metaphor. Mapping In this view instead of terms tenor and vehicle, two other terms are used that called source domain and target domain. In this theory, metaphor is the projection from source domain to target domain. Mapping between these two domains helps the reader to understand conceptual metaphor and the translator to translate effectively. Translation of metaphor: 1 .There isn't the same metaphor In the target text 2. The metaphor existing in target text, but the mapping doesn't follow directly. There are three possible reasons for this. -in target text another meaning is created. -the mapping doesn't occur in target language -the mapping has restriction. Now the choice of translator depends on the existence of conceptual metaphor. If the conceptual metaphor doesn't exist in target language, the translator has two choices: whether translate literally and add an explanation or without any consideration to mage-schematic mapping, translate the meaning of metaphor.But if conceptual metaphors are the same in source or target language the translation is as follow: if mapped instance is the same, an exact translation is used. And if different mapping is created in target language there are two choices: Use an explanatory simile or an instance wi th the same meaning is replaced. Finally if there isn't image-schema mapping in two languages, an explanatory simile is used or explanation added to direct translation. Cognitive approach Mandible In this model the cultural beliefs and values between two culturally different faculty is added when cultural differences are existed.If cultural background of two language readers is the same so we can say mapping conditions in the SSL and TTL are similar, and cultural gap create different mapping condition. These two conditions are basic terms used in mandible's Cognitive Translation Hypothesis. Mandible(1995) argues that translation of metaphor with a similar mapping condition(SCM) is simple and less time-consuming. When translator face with different mapping condition(DIM), has some choices: rendering the metaphor to simile, paraphrasing, footnote, explanation and omission.Mandible intended to show the translator needs to make a shift between mapping condition of source and target lang uage. Coves Coves (2005) expresses the regularities of the ways conceptual metaphors are expressed linguistically in different languages. In this model the translation of sixteen English metaphorical linguistic expression of â€Å"Time is money' metaphor as described in Alaska and Johnson is examined. Coves characterized each example by one or several patterns to show whether the form, literal meaning, figurative meaning, conceptual metaphor are similar or different.He compares the linguistic expression of conceptual metaphor in two languages of English and Hungarian. He explain that different kind of possibilities or patterns are as follows: a. Metaphors of similar mapping conditions and similar lexical implementations. B. Metaphors of similar mapping conditions but different lexical implementations. C. Metaphors of different mapping conditions but similar lexical implementations. D. Metaphors of different mapping conditions and different lexical implementations.AH Hosanna In the criticism of Mandible approach, AH Hosanna(2007) added one scheme, and present three schemas for metaphor translation. . Metaphors with similar mapping condition ( these are cultural universal SSL metaphors) 2. Metaphors have similar mapping condition but lexically implemented in different way( in this category, the ethical system in the TTL and SSL make metaphors different in lexical aspect) 3. Metaphors have different mapping condition( include culture-bound SSL metaphors) AH Hosanna also criticizes the Naiad's equivalents.Nadia believes that the translation should create the same response in TTL reader as in the SSL reader. AH Hosanna claims that this equivalence is impossible practically and can be applied only under two notations: the translator knows the experience and world view of TTL readership or translator knows the best way to adapt text with experience of TTL readership. Alaska and Johnson(1980) believe that metaphor is not only a linguistic things, but also is perceive d in thought and action.So in the cognitive view of metaphor, the psychological, coloratura and linguistic aspects are considered. Another model for metaphor translation is the model of Schaeffer(2004) and Strainers(1993). Their approach is descriptive. The political texts in English and German are compared. Schaffer express five type of metaphor translation. . Manifestation having been accounted for at the micro-level 2. Structural components of the base conceptual schema in the SST are replaced by expression that make entailment's explicit. 3. Metaphor is more elaborate in TTT. . SST and TTT employ different metaphorical expressions which can be combined under a more abstract conceptual metaphor. 5. The expression in teeth reflects a They criticize the models of Mandible(1995), Coves(2005), and AH Hosannas(2007). They noted that translation of metaphors in this model is different from mapping condition and lexical implementation. In this model there are six logically possible sche mes on a cog native basis. Some English metaphors and their Persian subtitles in 3 American movies (Face off, Con Air, Speed) are considered.These six schemes are as follows: 1. Metaphors of similar mapping conditions and similar lexical implementation For example: I'd like to stand on my own two feet Definition: to become independent Translation in Persian: The word for word translation: I'd like to stand on my own feet 2. Metaphors of similar mapping conditions but different lexical implementations. For example: she is real 10. Definition: talented and knowledgeable Translation in Persian: The word for word translation: she is 20. 3.Metaphors of different mapping conditions but similar lexical implementations. For example: he calls his teacher by his first name. Definition: to have a friendly relation with Translation in Persian: ss Is-a The word for word translation: he calls his teacher by his first name. 4. Metaphors of different mapping conditions and different lexical impleme ntations. For example: somebody gets the gasohol out here Definition: annoying person Translation in Persian: The word for word translation: somebody get the stick out of here. The SSL metaphor doesn't exist in TTL For example: he is a late bloomer There isn't any equivalent in TTL So the TTL speaker use literal language to explain 6. The TTL metaphor doesn't exist in the SSL (the SSL speaker use literal language, TTL speaker conceptualize an identity in metaphorical structure. Metaphor in Persian poems In Persian poetry, especially the lyric (odes), feeling, thought and situation or even the persons are described by metaphor. There are two reasons for this; first of all are the poetic aspects of metaphor; the other reason is that it is politically incorrect to express feeling explicitly.Different aspects of love and characteristics of beloved, nature, wine are described by metaphor. Hafiz employs metaphor to mask his real meaning. He uses code words which do not represent their ord inary meaning. Metaphoric wine Wine is used in Persian poetry either in actual sense or in metaphoric sense. Hafiz sometimes use wine to refer to beloved, friend, teacher or master or God. Attar also refers to wine metaphorically as follow: 15 Metaphor in describing beloved: The beloved often is image of an idealized abstract entity rather than a physical

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Government Functions Essay

In the economic system of any country, the government is the authority governing the day to day transactions and dealings between individuals whether private or public. Other functions are enforcement of rules and regulations, overseeing the making and execution of contracts and setting of standards to be followed. To do this, resources are required hence collection of taxes. The functions aside, the government itself owns firms within the economy hence a player. The role played by the state/government has been under close support and criticism simultaneously. In some countries, the government’s role is welcome whilst in others it detested. The main object of government in both scenarios though is the allocation of scarce resources and creating an environment suitable for such resources to be exploited. This is achieved through ensuring that law and order is maintained. External costs incurred by businesses that are not factored in the business transactions are also taken into account by the government. This is in order to protect them from exploitation which may otherwise lead to bankruptcy and collapse. The government’s role shouldn’t be solely that of creation of a good environment for business via maintenance of law and order. Rather, it should go beyond this by being a key player in the economy. Law and order though facilitates stability as well as reduces corruption hence encouraging investment. Using the opportunity cost principle, the uses to which scarce resources can be put are many and the real costs are those which are forgone. These are incurred in cases where corruption is existent. Examples of such costs according to Sowell include delay in performance of certain economic activities given an unviable corrupt economic environment this results to non-development of basic infrastructure that would have been used to carry out the economic activity. In turn, planned investments do not occur hence existing output levels are not increased due to lack of expansion. The final results are normally unemployment accompanied by brain drain as the environment is similarly not viable to work in. Simply put, higher corruption levels are accompanied by low economic growths and low per capita incomes. Other effects of corruption are discrimination in the employment sector and profiling of workers. Contributing to slow economic growth are also long bureaucratic processes. All these contribute to driving away investors. Corruption doesn’t necessarily come in the form of direct bribes. It may also be in the form of nepotism and tribalism which is currently prevalent in most countries. The law being a set of rules and principles that are used in the day to day running of a country ought to have the following characteristics;- reliability; uniformity in application i. e. they must portray a sense of fairness and equality; rigidity i. e. they should not change from time to time. Rigidity brings about stability. Countries with laws that have these characteristics are prone to boost investor confidence as well as encouraging skilled labor to immigrate into the country in search of job opportunities. Such skilled labor may not have been available locally. This set of rules and principles should be impartial but discriminatory at the same time. The discriminatory aspect of some laws has at times proven to boost economic growth. However the statement holds only when the discriminating facet is known by the parties involved well in advance. If the discriminating nature of the law is known, the economic environment will be more stable as compared to where the justice system is discriminatory in interpretation and application of the law. The law may be discriminatory on the basis of aspects such as religion and race. However, if the economy grows, the growth will be felt across the board and not just by those for whom the law discriminates. Even though some laws have discriminatory aspects, they should not in any way allow for the exploitation of one by another nor allow for the interference of one’s activities by another with malicious intentions. A country’s economy is majorly dependent on the existence of a government. Nonetheless, this dependability also takes into consideration the government’s effectiveness in law enforcement. Geographically, some regions within the same country will have laws being more enforced than others. However, extra costs incurred by businesses in ensuring that goods and services reach the consumers are always transferred to the same consumers. This reduces demand due to high prices. Property Rights On property rights, focus should be placed not just on the owners of such but more so on the general effect the existence and exercise of such rights has on the economy. The exercise of property rights may result to economic effects which impact negatively on the populace as there maybe no single individual to blame. As a result, property rights should be closely monitored but even more emphasis ought to be placed on automatic self-monitoring by individuals as a solution. The mere fact that the property rights do exist creates a sense of self-monitoring on the individual which is more effective and less costly as compared to government monitoring. This self-productivity results to increased productivity and lower commodity prices as there is less wastage. However, negligence may also result on the part of the property owners and class stratification. However, given that property rights do have a greater economic efficiency, the general population will have higher living standards when the economic growth that results trickles down. However, restrictions such as setting of minimum standards and creation of Boards to oversee the use of certain property should be put in place. These will help prevent exploitation. Stringent laws need also be put into place by governments and respective authorities. In creation and application of restrictions to property rights, one has to have in mind that property rights do have intentions and effects. Economic incentives by the government do play a big role and such rights need to be looked at from the economic angle i. e. the incentives that are brought about by them. One should also ask what the effects of changing them or completely doing without them are. Social order is a function of existence of laws, government institutions to ensure the maintenance of law and order and acknowledgement of such by the citizens. The degree of social order differs from one country to another as well as from one individual to another. It is the existence or inexistence of a social order and its level that determines how business dealings are conducted between individuals. Social order should be upheld in all aspects of government. This may in turn extend to the rest of the community hence doing away with corruption thus bringing down transaction costs. If the social order is inexistent or at a low level, enterprises tend to be small scale. This translates to lower production and by the economies of scale, the end user experiences higher prices. A good social order thus attracts investment. The government can boost this by encouraging honesty within its administration, indirectly supporting or detesting cultures that are pro-honesty. The same can also be achieved via school curricula. Another factor that can either undermine or develop the social order are the nature of a country’s law. However, the market has a way of creating its own social order. External costs and benefits do exist in business and they occur outside the parties that are part to an actual transaction. These are however not accounted for in the market place and it is for this reason that the government has to come in to make decisions regarding external costs and benefits via legislation and regulations. Some benefits are indivisible. They are either a whole or nothing at all. To decide any aspect about them is thus better left to government. External costs on their part are felt either directly or indirectly by individuals. The individuals thus decide basing on how the external costs impact them and their activities. In countries with popularly elected governments, most of the decisions made by are not put into much economic consideration. Focus is actually mainly placed on making the people happy and not necessarily on economic improvement. Most of such decisions are political and not economically beneficial to the country. CHAPTER 18: GOVERNMENT FINANCE Like any other enterprise whether profit making or non-profit making, resources are needed to enable a business e a continuing venture. On the part of the government, its spending aspect if a factor of revenue collection. Revenue is raised via tax collection. How this tax is collected greatly affects how much will in effect be collected as it impacts on the citizen’s view on taxation policies. Any change in taxation policy by the government will automatically result in behavioral change by the tax payer in terms of expenditure and savings. This change is however in no scale predictable and may go at length to affect the performance of the economy at large. No rule can be said to be applied by government to predict this change. The net tax paid by an individual is a factor of the number of taxes that are applicable on a said person and their position economically. Value Added Tax (VAT) takes a bigger share from the poor than it does from the rich as spending on consumer goods makes up a greater percentage of the poor person’s budget whilst saving or re-investment makes up a greater percentage of the rich’s budget. However, tax paid by individuals is a mixture of both regressive and progressive taxes. However, the official legal indicator of incidence of tax does not necessarily show who bears the incidence of tax. Before a government makes decisions on whether or not to increase a particular tax, factors to be considered are how the tax is collected. This determines whether the tax is being felt by the individual or not. Increasing or decreasing the tax may thus not necessarily result to behavioral change by the consumer. One way through which government raises income is through sale of bonds. It is this level of sale of government bonds that determines the national debt. The impact the national debt will have on the economy is a dependent on what percentage it is of the country’s GDP. However, both GDP and national debt increase over time as a result of increased population size. The vice versa is also true. Sale of bonds is considered a future investment by the government and who bears the cost of the national debt is worth considering i. e. whether it is the government or the tax payer. To the government, accrued interest over time is one cost. This interest may affect investor confidence both in the short and long term. As bonds are sold and re-sold over time, their interest rate has to be increased lest they lose their value. This however lowers investor confidence in the long run. The rise in government interest rates may bring about a ripple effect increase on other interest rates as investors look for money with which to purchase the bonds. Influence of government may however make product prices independent of their costs despite the above ripple effect they may have at the same time. In an economy, there always are unmet needs which the government must satisfy. However resource distribution by government takes into account not the maximization of their use but rather merely re-distribution. It is this that explains why government may undertake projects that are not economically profitable or necessary as well as why some public utilities are offered at prices which are way below their actual market value or at no value at all. Spending by the government is mainly a factor of whether or not there is the need to spend whilst the principles behind such spending are outlined by the law. Through its expenditure, the government is able to influence the economy’s net purchasing power. Increased government spending implies more money will be in the economy thus leaving more at the hands of households for spending on other commodities other than those for which the government has already paid for. Costs as a result of government spending can either be to the government or the economy. It should be clear who is bearing the cost and the nature of the cost. As utility varies from individual to individual, the desire to purchase due to price disparity can thus be controlled via price controls or subsidies. The latter have however proven more fruitful than the former since subsidies transfer the total cost of an item to the entire population rather than letting a single individual to incur it. Here the cost is thus on the economy, not the government. From this, one can deduce that government finance comes in to bring a solution to the price-utility problem by creating an even bigger problem or rather shifting the cost from the government to the economy. The pattern of government expenditure is majorly a political function. Projects that prove politically building are more likely to be undertaken. Any government has got its obligations and current and future expenditure make up the government’s obligations regarding expenditure. Future obligations may seem not that costly until it reaches a point where they must be incurred. Their costs are accounted for but not incurred until the need arises. Incentives can be either political or economical. Incentives such as government pensions are majorly dependent on the size of the working and the retired population. A good balance enables pension payment. On the private side however, payment of insurance benefits is dependent on the currently existing subscribers to the insurance. CHAPTER 20: INTERNATIONAL TRADE Some have argued that in international trade, while one country gains, another loses. But both parties should be gaining in a way otherwise there wouldn’t be a reason to trade. A country may gain via for example economic growth. This has been the general effect of international trade. However, terms used in international trade such as trade deficit and surplus do not necessarily reflect a country’s economic wellness. To determine this, one has to look past the figures involved in international trade. A country may have quite a number of reasons why it should or should not engage itself in international trade. Reasons for however outweigh those against. Those for include absolute advantage, comparative advantage and economies of scale. In terms of absolute advantage, one country can produce particular commodities at prices cheaper than those of another or products of a higher quality. This may encourage it to pursue international trade. As for comparative advantage, the opportunity cost of one country A to produce a certain commodity at the expense of another is much lower than that of country B. Comparative advantage is thus all about efficiency of one country as compared to another. The costs forgone in producing a product should be lower and income generated from the production line opted for ought to be higher hence making them economically viable. The returns should also be in surplus enough for the country to purchase the commodity it forgo to produce. In terms of economies of scale, some ventures are viable only if there is enough market to consume the output. Such markets can be created through exports of commodities hence maximizing advantages brought about due to economies of scale or large scale production. Apart from enabling countries to achieve economies of scale, international trade also facilitates countries to fully utilize their comparative and absolute advantages. However, economies of scale have also resulted in the downfall of some infant industries where protectionist policies are inexistent. In as much as many countries may engage in international trade, some succeed whilst others do not. Reasons for the downfall of others may be the restrictions that exist in International Trade. These include emphasis that has been placed on efficiency of the production process. Another effect of such restrictions are collapse of domestic industries where protectionism does not exist. However international trade itself brings about government interference with trade due to policies such as protectionism while it may result to creation of monopolistic markets and unfair competition finally. Arguments for International Trade restrictions Different arguments have been put forward for international trade to have restrictions. The high wage fallacy argues that commodities produced by highly paid workers cannot compete with those produced by low paid ones. This does not hold since the argument does not distinguish between wage rates and labor costs and between labor costs and total costs. Wage rates may therefore be higher yet the total costs are lower due to economies of scale hence higher profits. Restrictions may also exist so as to save jobs domestically. However, just as free trade results to growth in the economies of all countries engaged simultaneously so do trade restrictions result to reduced economic growth or even reversed economic growth. Restricting trade thus does not result in increased employment. Rather, there will be less spending in the economy. The infant industry argument posits that local developing industries ought to be given time to grow to a level at which they can compete with other industries. However, survival of an industry is not a factor of its growth in terms of production and sales. Political muscle plays a key role in determining the fate of an industry. The National defense argument tries to explain why countries opt to have suppliers of things that are essential for their own national survival lest the external supplier turn enemy. Examples of such commodities are ammunition. Last on the list of reasons for protectionism is the dumping argument which is however restricted given the uncertainties of determining production costs. Here economies of scale may come into play and a supplier selling his/her commodities at lower prices abroad may actually be mistaken for dumping. These restrictions to trade may come in the form of tariffs which are taxes on imports and aim to raise their prices. The restrictions may also be in the form of import quotas which bring about uneven competition beside achieving the same objective of raising import prices. CHAPTER 21: INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF WEALTH International wealth transfers may take the forms of either direct or indirect foreign investments or remittances from citizens whose domicile is abroad. Rich countries always tend to invest in fellow rich counties due to fear of not getting a return on their investment if done in a poor country. Political and economic stability, corruption levels, level of honesty amongst the country’s populace as well as movement of capital within a said country’s economy are factors affecting the decision of whether to or not to invest. International trade takes into account only goods exchanged between countries leaving behind service output. It is for this that International trade has to be at a balance despite the fact that measures used in international trade may not be true reflectors of the trade. An economy that has concentrated in service production rather than goods will tend to export more services and import more commodities. The decision of whether a trade deficit is harmful or not is best done by comparing the deficit with the performance of the whole economy. As a result, the Balance of Payment measure is a better reflector of international trade than the Balance of Payments. Economic transactions are not zero-sum activities where only the buyer and the seller gain, rather it is a wealth creator to both the parties directly involved and to the â€Å"spectators. † Immigration and emigration which are key factors in international trade result to knowledge transfer, new ideas and businesses being created, job creation amongst others. However, on the dark side of the same are diseases, brain drain, increase in crime, collapsing economies and terrorism. Imperialism which implies the domination and exploitation of one country by another is also a means of wealth transfer. However, international investments have been argued to be equal to imperial looting as the subject country loses more than it gains. This explains the class strata of first, second and third world countries. Ceteris paribus, imperialism is more of a moral than an economic argument. Foreign aid, which entails wealth transfer from richer to poorer countries or from one government to another, may or may not be used for intended purposes. The use of foreign aid in government investments has more often than not resulted to mismanagement due to corruption. Some foreign aid comes with strings attached in the form of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). Such aid has proven to deter rather than encourage development. World over, the inexistence of a body to oversee the giving of aid to poorer countries has resulted to exploitation of the recipient. Aid may be in the form of cash grants or goods and services to the recipient country. However, the under-utilization of most of the resources in the recipient country is what leads it to have a need for foreign aid. CHAPTER 23: MYTHS ABOUT MARKETS The name â€Å"market† in itself is a myth as a market is viewed as a thing rather than the people in the market themselves who are engaging in business activity. This has led to rigidity of the market. In a market, variation of prices from one seller to another is always notable. This, economists would say defy the laws of supply and demand but in actual sense they do not. Rather, supply and demand should be looked at from the point of view of different consumers. Each consumer will have a different of demand and supply curve intersections due to utility. Prices in the market ought to be ‘affordable’ and ‘reasonable’ is a notion that is not realistic. It implies that prices should be independent of the market forces of demand and supply as well as production cost but should instead favor the purchasing power of the consumer. The third myth about markets is that some firms may tend to sell their products at below normal prices so as to drive away competition. This myth has not been proven though hence is not that realistic. Fourth is the issue of branding. Despite its advantages of making suppliers and manufacturers to emphasize on quality, the products being sold are more or less the same. What will actually be different is the pricing products or services with brand names that are widely known will definitely cost or charge more. A business, no matter how small is linked to the economy as a whole. Te role different enterprises play in the economy is a factor of whether they are classified as profit and loss or as non-profit making enterprises. However, there exist differences between the two in that profit and loss organizations will always tend to emphasize on quality in order to maximize profits whilst in non-profit making organizations, the customers themselves will not be in a position to emphasize on quality since they are already paying far less than the true value of the commodity or service they are getting. It is the nature of the organization that finally determines what name will be given to the extra amounts remaining after costs as well as how it will be used. In some its called profit whilst in others it is revenue. The ‘Trickle down theory|; is more of a political than an economic theory. The theory posits that those opposed to equality in resource distribution tend to believe that resources should be bestowed on the rich so that it may in effect trickle down to the rest of the populace. The theory is a myth since economically one has to spend first so as to make an income. This spending comes in the form of say purchase of goods and services for sale as well as payments made for their delivery. The economic reality is thus exactly the opposite of the ‘Trickle Down effect. † CHAPTER 24: NON-ECONOMIC VALUES Economics is not a value in itself. Rather it compares values. The market on its part is a reflector of the people’s attitudes and actions as well as beliefs. The issue of the market with respect to moral and social values arises when the market is looked at from the angle of the impact it has on such issues. The society’s moral standards will determine how transactions are conducted in the market. Non-economic values in the market tend to introduce morality into business by defining words such as greed alongside maximization of profit for example and others. These non-economic values however put aside economic concepts like the laws of demand and supply that are used in price determination. These non-economic values are also one-sided since they tend to lean on the consumer’s side mostly whilst forgoing the seller’s side. However, greed cannot be termed to be a product of any particular economic system. Rather it is an intricate trait in all humans and which all have to cope with. The difference however comes with regard to how this greed manifests itself in the different economic systems and how it is controlled. The term greed is however neither adequate or fair in explaining the desire of the seller to make as much profit as possible out of the buyer nor the wish of the buyer to purchase the product with the highest quality at the lowest price. Greed is thus a two way concept which only looks at who is on the gaining end. Exploitation is another term that crops up whenever non-market values are mentioned. It can simply be said to be that which is beyond the acceptable as per the society’s moral standards. Exploitation is thus based on emotion and not the facts existing on the real world. The disparity between greed and exploitation comes in that whilst the former occurs in almost all types of economic systems, exploitation mostly occurs in monopolistic markets where no free competition exists and the buyer has no wide choice of commodities given the factor of the sole supplier. To regulate the above, the government may put in place regulations such as trade barriers, tariffs and quotas as well as value added tax or corporate taxes. Taxation by the government may however be considered as both greed and exploitation. Greed since even the poorest of persons in the economy pays taxes whether in the form of VAT or income tax and exploitation as the government enjoys a monopoly of taxing the people yet one may argue that the quality of services is not guaranteed. The market however takes into consideration many factors before pricing decisions are made. At times the employer for instance may be at the receiving end when the employee has a greater bargaining power or where the demand for services he/she can render is higher than what the market can supply. Here, both greed and exploitation come into play. In as much as governments try to control or maintain at a low the levels of exploitation and greed, the measures put in place might actually serve to make even worse the life of the consumers in cases where exploitation and greed did not exist before. The principle of fairness when looked at from the non-market values point of view carries with it two assumptions. First is that all individuals are playing by the same rules and secondly that all players have the same potential. However, these two may not hold as different individuals have different desires, priorities and thus derive different levels of utility from the same activity, commodity or service. Fairness doe not have a specific definition hence it is majorly those in power who are left to define what is and what is not fair. However, vested interests may underlie the making of such decision. Some groups may also be completely ignored in deciding what fairness is. Economics being majorly concerned with the distribution of resources and values tends to critic â€Å"unmet needs† of the society. Here, the decision of whether a government should carry out a project or not is a function of what has to be sacrificed in order to satisfy the unmet need. However, the existence or identification of an unmet need is not a justification of it to be met. CHAPTER 25: PARTING THOUGHTS The economic concepts and principles cannot all be listed given the imaginative nature of the human mind. However, in as much as new concepts and principles are being developed whilst older ones continue to be refined and refuted, the bottom line should be that they all ought to divorce from emotions which vary from human being to human being. Rather there ought to be basic concepts and principles that are followed by both new and old economic ideas. The above fallacies ought to carry precision in the use of words as well as clarity in order to ensure their true or intended ideology is achieved. A common feature of most economic fallacies is that they focus on the initial consequences of particular policies and not the long term effects of the same. Confusion thus results as focus is placed not on the benefits or effects of policies but rather on the objectives of such policies. The importance of economic principles supersedes their use in only economic factors. If keenly looked at, most things do have economic aspects in which economic principles ca be applied. Instead of focusing on the objectives of goals, of main concern should be the activities that will be pursued t achieve such goals, what the particular legislation or goal encourages and discourages, the regulations that will follow the attainment of the goal, the long term effects of activities aimed towards attaining the goal. Last but not least, we ought to look at similar goals that were attained in the past and the impact they had. In as much as economics carries many fallacies, a distinction should be made between what is practical and what is indeed a fallacy.

Friday, September 13, 2019

The Cultural Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Cultural Anthropology - Essay Example It is partly due to the very reality that physical anthropology studies physical changes humans have experienced with the passage of time, while cultural anthropology examines the alterations humans have observed in their social life by adopting different changes according to their needs in order to survive under the always transforming conditions and circumstances all around them for the future years to come. Although sharing several commonalities with biology, physics, and environmental sciences, cultural anthropology also seeks close proximity with history, sociology and political science in nature, scope, and approach. Somehow, approach to analyze historical events focuses upon estimating the life patterns of the ruling class, including the kings and queens, their rise and fall, involvement in wars and expeditions and causes, incidents, effects and impacts of their rule and ultimate downfall at the hands of their fate or opponents. Historical events are estimated with the help of the available records including the coins, written documents, chronicles, biographies and the literature of the era under analysis. Somehow, it does not mean that the historians neglect the activities of the masses and common people altogether. On the contrary, these cultural aspects are also taken into account by the historians, though the particular focus remains in the examination of the activities attributed to the royalty and elite stratum of that society. Cultural anthropological approach concentrates upon fossil remains and archaeological records in order to estimate the nature and magnitude of transformations humans have witnessed during the course of time. It is of the opinion that human societies have reached the present state of affairs after making a long and continuous struggle for their survival by adopting imperative alterations in almost all parts of their present physical form. They witnessed tremendous growth and remarkable advancements in all fields including mod es of expressions and communication i.e. language, as well as in religious practices, economic developments, technological revolution, socio-political advancements and much more. It also discusses the cultural traits and patterns of collective behavioral life including folklore, dance, music, faith, marriage and sex and much more. It is by dint of the astonishing advancements made by man that humans are leading comparatively more comfortable and luxurious life in comparison with their ancestors. Another major divergence while studying both history and cultural anthropology, it becomes evident that the former evaluates the politics, legal framework, conspiracies and intrigues, and internal conflicts and revolts and external threats as well faced by the rulers; on the contrary, the latter draws out social norms, cultural values, religious cults, traditions, customs, conventions, taboo, folklore and belief system observed by the people. Hence, cultural anthropology lays stress upon lan guage and dresses, sexual behavior and gender identity, magic and marriage systems, economic activities and means of earning, and collective behavior of the individuals in their social, economic, political and cultural activities.