Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel History Essay

Summary Of Guns Germs And Steel History Essay The Author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond,  attempts  to  give  an explanation to a question posed by a friend of his from New Guinea. Yali wonders why the whites have been so  successful  compared  to  the rest of the world and why they  have so much cargo. We must remember that  intelligence  is not how much you know but what you are capable of learning. Obviously, other nations are just not exposed to quality education or other  advantageous  resources. White people, who were privileged with such, have been able to  conquer  others because of this reason. The real question is why do some people have advantages over others? and Jared Diamond will answer that question. The  novel  starts off with an  explanation  that our closest living relatives are the gorilla, the common chimpanzee, and the pygmy chimpanzee. Since these animals  are confined  to the continent of Africa and there is a considerable amount of fossil evidence concluding the evolution of  mankind  in that area, Africa is widely accepted as  mankinds birthplace. About 1 or 2 million years after humans originated one of our ancestors had  finally  traveled beyond Africa; Homo  erectus  fossils  had been found  in the Southeast Asian island of Java. About half a million years ago from the present, Homo  erectus  had evolved into Homo  sapiens  with their rounder, larger skulls. At that point in history, boat-building and surviving in  harsh  climates were  unthinkable  and  therefore  made it impossible  for Homo  sapiens  to inhabit the Americas and Australia.   After that, groups of Homo  sapiens  diverged into  separate  groups and eventually evolved into Neanderthals, whom surprisingly had larger brains then we do today.  Subsequently, the Great Leap Forward is where we saw the most  improvement  and  promising  development in human kind with the Cro-Magnons. Humans were then able to travel by boat to Australia and New Guinea, which caused a  major  complication in the environment: a mass extinction of many mammals. Soon enough, the Americas  were colonized, the last Ice Age ended, and we find ourselves here today. A natural example of why one group of people can conquer another could be shown with the situation between the Maoris and the Morioris. The Maoris were able to surmount the Morioris with their greater combat capabilities. Despite their common ancestors, the two groups diverged into different paths of development. The Morioris crops could not survive the climate in which they moved into, so they reverted back to hunter-gatherers. With everybody hunting and gathering food for themselves, they couldnt establish a government or militia; they simply did not have the extra resources. The Maoris, on the other hand, were able to accomplish all of the above. When the two groups met, the Maoris were inevitably victorious albeit they were outnumbered 2:1. With these basic principles in mind, we see that this can be applied to larger conquests. Francisco Pizzaro and his men were able to take down the Inca Empire, for example. As they mounted their horses, and equipped themselves with their far more durable armor, Pizzaro and company set off on a rampage- thrashing their steel weapons about whilst spreading disease. Mr. Diamonds chapter entitled Farmer Power discusses how the ability to domesticate animals and harvest crops increases a population. With stable food production, the population can grow and a government can be set up. The opportunities for development keep adding onto one another. Soon enough, we have specialized workers who can improve tools and weapons which will lead that society to supremacy. The probable origin of agriculture was the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia in 8500 BC. Then we also have major agricultural sites such as New Guinea by 7000 BC, Sub Saharan Africa in 5000 BC, Mesoamerica in 3500 BC, The Andes and Amazonia in 3500 BC, Tropical West Africa in 3000 BC, And the Eastern US in 2500 BC. The Agricultural cores success then spread to nearby civilizations and constituted todays global economy. With successful population growth among nations, hunting subjects decrease in quantity, resulting in the gradual need to convert hunter-gatherers into farmers. With people who can take care of producing food for the rest of the population, this made the act of creating a hierarchy of occupations possible. Also, this resulted in everyone being slightly less nourished than before on account of the thinner distribution of provisions. As agricultural business became more popular, so did the need for plant domestication. For example, wild almonds are actually poisonous so we must harvest the edible mutants and keep growing that specific mutation. We first domesticated seeds due to their ease of growth and storage. Then, we advanced to fruits and nuts. Out of the two-thousand wild plants only two-hundred have been domesticated, wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, soybean, potato, manioc, sweet potato, sugar cane, sugar beet, and banana make up eighty percent of the worlds food cargo. Now, were going to need the help of animals to aid our development. Large animals that were used for military, transportation, and load carrying were all domesticated around 2500 BC. Only fourteen animals have been domesticated. These include the sheep, goat, cow, pig, horse, Arabian camel, Bactrian camel, llama and alpaca, donkey, reindeer, water buffalo, yak, Bali cattle, and Mithun/Gaur. Domesticated animals needed to have traits such as being an omnivore or herbivore, they need to be able to grow rapidly, they need to breed well in captivity, they must have an appropriate temperament, they must accept penning, and they should be able to accept a subordinate role. If all criteria are met, humans are able to domesticate them and use said animals for our own needs. Domesticated Animals have actually adapted to our utilization of them; better milk production and faster wool growth, for example. With the help of enslaved animals, humans are able to progress to higher means of living w ith ease. Even so, animals have also caused harm to humans. Many infectious diseases have derived from livestock. For example, the flu is said to have originated from pigs a ducks, tuberculosis from cattle, and AIDS from monkeys, to name a few. With farmers being around these animals so often, some may develop immunities to such ailments. Also, farmers with similar exposure to these animals had only interacted amongst each other, so there werent any major tribulations. Although, when interactions with foreign farmers occurred, the spread of foreign diseases were sometimes detrimental. In due course, humans were in need of a written form of language for records and eventually communication. The earliest forms of writing are said to have shown up in Southwest Asia, Mesoamerica, and China. The idea of writing diffused from these cores into their peripheries. The alphabet was the idea of the Egyptians, and was copied and altered to fit the needs of other societies. Eventually, the writing process matured and several nations had their own complex written form of communication. Usually, there were only a choice few who actually needed to use written language. Scribes, for example, needed to keep records while hunter-gatherers had no use for it. In regard to the original inquiry posed by Yali, the author explains that New Guinea wasnt a very popular choice to conquer due to its diseases and the low rates of successful livestock and crops. Australia, New Guineas neighbor, had been a lot more welcoming. Yet, Australia also became victim to foreign settlers along with the benefits and drawbacks. The answer to Yalis question is very simple. The first reason would be the availability and ease of crop and animal domestication. The second would be the ease of idea diffusion. Clearly, a small isolated island cant pass on ideas as easy as a country with booming trade markets could. Finally, the favorable environment of an area will attract a larger population in which a stable state may be founded upon.

Assess the postmodernist views of the mass media Essay

PM argue mass media are central to the PM theory, as the decline of traditional communities, time-space compression and flexible production – all derived through the media. PM argue the global society is media-saturated, making it harder to distinguish between reality and hyper-reality, and making culture fragmented and unstable. PM challenge viewing audience as passive and easily manipulated, as they use media images to construct individual identities. The major criticism of PM is that their argument is based on abstract concepts and a lack of empirical evidence. Marxists criticise PM for ignoring inequalities in media access, and that the media messages can mislead the audiences, as the main effort behind them is maintaining profit for capitalists. PM argue the society today is media-saturated. BAUDRILLARD argues the media messages dominate and distort the perception of the world. People live media-led virtual lives, spending time on social networks (eg. Twitter) or playing such video games as Second Life. Media-saturated society had created increasing uncertainty in the world by making it hard to discern reality from fantasy. BAUDRILLARD notes people are bombarded with the mass media daily. As a result, the media define our sense of reality and self-perception. To support, BAUMANN suggests people live in a liquid modernity, where we base our identity around consumption, and pick n mix identities. BAUDRILLARD agrees that identity is driven my media-created pressure to consume. However, Marxists argue capitalism is behind media-created pressure to consume, and the growth of consumerism represents the success of capitalism rather than diverse media messages. Nonetheless, BAUDRILLARD still argues that identity is formed by media images, rather than class and imposed values. PM argue the media actively create reality. BAUDRILLARD argues media images have replaced reality to such an extent that we live in hyper-reality, i. e. reality structured by electronic communication. In turn, the media present simulacra (artificial copies of real events), which is hard to differentiate from reality. There is no longer separate reality for things like TV programmes, highlighted by media stories about fictional characters. TUCKLE notes that the lives of TV characters have become more real to the audience than actual communities. For example, people felt so strongly about TV show Cheers that they created Cheers bars in America, similarly to creating Central Perk coffee shops after popularity of Friends. Moreover, the media can create realities of such major events as wars. BAUDRILLARD argues that the First Gulf War was a simulation created by the media, noting that ‘the war only happened on TV’. While not denying the existence of conflict, he criticised its portrayal in western societies. However, the impact of hyper-reality and simulacra is uneven between social groups. They are only significant to those who can access them. PM are criticised for ignoring that media images can increase perception of inequality. More importantly, PM ignore concerns over concentration of media ownership and ideological function hyper-reality may perform. Marxists suggest the RC may create the hyper-reality to reinforce their ideology, whereas Feminists suggest some aspects of hyper-reality, particularly games like GTA, reinforce patriarchy and misogyny. PM highlight the increasing importance of popular culture promoted by the media. STRINATI notes the mass media have caused a breakdown of distinction between high and popular culture, making popular culture dominate the way people define themselves. Popular culture has more influence on our lifestyles than social structures, as opposed to Marxist view that the media owners influence the media output thus influence our identities. However, PM are criticised for not being able to empirically prove the link between popular culture and creation of identities. PM conducted small scale ethnographic research, as they reject possibility of discovering objective truth about social world. However, it severely undermines their argument. In support of PM, however, neo-functionalist PUTNAM found empirical evidence to highlight the breakdown of the real world social interaction and declining social capital due to the influence of the media, and especially new media. In conclusion, PM view of the media is influential in drawing attention to the impact of the media on creation of identities and how consumption influence people’s ability to create their identities themselves. However, the major limitation of PM theory is reluctance to recognise the significance of the market forces and concentration of media ownership in understanding the media impact on the society. Moreover, PM do not acknowledge the media’s role of promoting and exacerbating inequalities among audiences.

Evils Of Hazing - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 1048 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/09/22 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: School Essay Did you like this example? The Evils Of Hazing You have just moved to a new school, and it is the first day. You thought it was a dream to be on the wrestling team, but in reality it was a nightmare. After practice, you are hog-tied and beaten by your fellow teammates in a ritual known as hazing. For many years, hazing has existed in high schools throughout America without many people knowing; more recently, however, laws are being passed against this potentially deadly ritual as people are becoming educated on the topic. This paper will address what hazing is, how it can be stopped, and my opinion on why it should be stopped. According to the dictionary, hazing is to harass by exacting unnecessary or disagreeable work; to harass by banter, ridicule, or criticism; or to haze by way of initiation. There are three different types of hazing: mental, terror, and physical hazing. Mental hazing is messing with the mind. It is used to make the victim look and feel ridiculous. It can include dressing embar rassingly in public, treating another member as your master, or begging strangers for unusual items (Schleifer 17). Terror hazing is used to terrorize the person. It can include laying in a ditch that you are led to believe is a grave, or drinking from poison bottles, that unknown to you, contain only a soft drink (19). The last type is physical hazing, which may include the person having to binge, starve, or stay awake for an unreasonable amount of time. It also includes just plainly beating a person (20). As stated in Everything You Need to Know About the Dangers of Hazing by Jay Schleifer, No matter how the hazing is carried out, it always sends the same message: we have power over you your mind, your body, your life. If you want to join our group, youll have to accept that. Unfortunately, these three types of hazing continue every year. People who have been hazed before believe that if they had to go through with it, the next person should. The people being hazed on the othe r hand have such a strong desire to be in that group that they will put up with whatever is dealt their way. It is a never ending cycle. So, how can we finally try to break this cycle? Education is the best thing. The more you are aware that there is legislation out there and rules against this, the more prepared you will be to prevent yourself from being in that situation. Find out about your schools policies relating to hazing and who you can report it to. Find the information to tell you if there are anti-hazing laws in your state, in which case you can inform a law enforcement official (Olson 141). As stated by Elizabeth Allan, co-founder of StopHazing. org, Hazing is a part of our culture. That is why it is so important to become educated and redefine these behaviors. Someone who has helped to redefine these behaviors is Eileen Stevens. When her son Chuck died in a college hazing, she wrote to lawmakers, appeared on television, and told her story to magazines. She then f ormed the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings, CHUCK for short. When her son first died, and CHUCK was first formed, less than eighteen states outlawed hazing. Today, however, with the help of anti-hazing groups such as this one, forty-two states have passed laws against hazing (Schleifer 38). By pushing to pass laws like these courageous people have, hopefully one day, hazing will be outlawed throughout the United States. Hopefully, it will be outlawed soon, because in my opinion, hazing is wrong and needs to be stopped. Making people suffer for initiation rights or just for the fun of it is wrong. No one should be forced to go through something painful, emotionally or physically, just to join an organization. Even after the hazing is over, there are still consequences for the hazers and for the victim. Not only do the hazers have to worry about being reported and facing the chance of prosecution, but also about future problems within the group. Often times when hazing is used to develop a true appreciation of initiation, the newcomers feel their work is over once they are initiated. Instead of realizing that this is just the beginning of their work, they feel that they have done their share already. So, in the end, it weakens team effort, feeling, Maybe it is my fault, maybe I should not have let them do it, or maybe I am just a wimp. It is similar to rape cases; people blame the victim (Olson 138). As times change, so does hazing; that is why it is so important to put a stop to hazing as soon as possible. Once thought of as strictly a college ritual, hazing has lately become a high school tradition. The trouble is, todays initiations often look more like assault and battery than harmless pranks. It has been reported every year since 1970 that someone has died from a hazing incident. A recent study done at Alfred University, Alfred, New York found that 79% of college athletes had to go through some kind of initiation ritual. But 42% of those students had also been hazed in high school (135). As stated by Brian Rahill, co-founder of StopHazing. org, When I was hearing about these incidents in 1998, I was shocked. In 1999, I was disturbed. Now there is an outright pattern. If hazing continues at this rate, imagine how it will be when your children are in high school, or even when you’re younger siblings are in high school. Nikki Consentino, a victim of hazing once stated, I have met a lot of parents because their children are not alive to tell about it. Obviously, if laws are not passed against this ritual, more children may die just for trying out for a school team. So do the math yourself. If at least one person has died from a reported hazing every year since 1970, over 30 lives have been taken from what some think of as only a harmless prank, and those are only the reported cases. Through this paper I hope you can see the importance of putting an end to hazing and one day it can and will be done. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Evils Of Hazing" essay for you Create order

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