A Day in the Life of Deaf Culture Essay Example for Free

A Day in the Life of Deaf Culture Essay After watching the videos about how deaf people go along with their daily life, I realized there isn’t very much that is different than how someone who can hear lives there daily life. When watching all of the 5 people, I noticed that every single one of them used a video phone or cell phone, computers, and other gadgets. I didn’t know how much technology they actually used, and I was quite surprised, and interested in more, or other technology that is out there for the deaf community. Detoine, who was in the second video mentioned how he goes along with his day starting with school, followed by going to work, and then hanging out with his hearing friends. Even though he can’t hear, he still does everything that someone who can hear does. This goes for all of the others except Ashley, but only because she cannot see well. Ashley has a disease that has left her deaf and partially blind. It’s scary that the disease she has can still worsen and leave her completely blind. See more:  Capital budgeting essay Being blind and deaf combined would be terrifying and how someone could live with it; I don’t know. Even though she cant drive, she still does everything else a parent does. She takes care of her son and she even works. They may be deaf, but all of them live their lives and want to make something of themselves just like anyone else in this world does. Every one of them shares a common thing and that is that they like to communicate with the hearing weather it’s from signing or texting (technology) or writing notes. And they encourage us hearing people to try and communicate with them. Like they said they are just like anyone else that you’ll meet. Martha reminds me of my two younger sisters. All they do is go to school come home, do homework, play around, listen to music, write, and draw. And there is nothing wrong with that; what else can a kid do? She’s just like any kid out there. I think it is really cool that there are schools for the deaf. Not only are there deaf schools for kids like elementary through high school, there are also deaf colleges or normal collages that are mixed with deaf and hearing. Julian, who works at a camp as a counselor, seems very nice and he talks about how he loves sports. He is the only one in his family who is deaf. The only problem he has with being deaf is that he can’t hear people knocking at the door, and his parents have to let him know if there is someone at the door. He also talks about getting food at a fast food restaurant; he has to order inside, and not the through the drive through. I heard that problem a lot throughout this video. Julian talks about how he and the deaf community are different; they have their own culture, standard language (ASL) and history. During this video there was some that someone had said that really stuck out to me. â€Å"I am deaf, I am different. We are all different. † Julian said that, and I really agree with him. But even though everyone is different, I believe that the deaf and hearing communities are very much alike. Watching these videos made me appreciate this class more because there’s so much that I can learn from ASL, and the Deaf Community.

Movie Analysis Of The Others Film Studies Essay

Movie Analysis Of The Others Film Studies Essay The Others is a film written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar. This supernatural thriller was produced in 2002, and like most films of its genre, it combines suspense, shock and unexplainable events into a truly spine tingling production. There are many aspects of fear, and the techniques used to set a chilling moment vary largely. However Amenabar believes that, leaving something to the imagination is the essence of real horror. This is achieved in the film The Others by using many presentational devices. During the opening sequence a very peculiar atmosphere is produced, slightly nervy images are shown of people looking distraught; however this contrasts with the soft cheerful melody in the background. This contrast makes the music very eerie, due to the natural feeling of something isnt right, which builds suspense because you dont understand whats wrong. The first image shown in this sequence depicts the creation of the world; the image is very open due to it being the start of life and freedom, the image is also well lit. The other images are very different, there images shown are; two children huddled on a stairway, somebody locking a door, a scared girl pointing into the dark, a dark figure reaching out to a petrified boy, a broken toy angel and a secluded house. These images create unease, the poor lighting mainly focuses on the people making them looked trapped by the unknowing dark, and this is also achieved by the picture of the secluded house also seemingly trapped by the f og. The people also look like their looking at something and coupled with the moving light which seems almost to search the images, gives the impression theres more in the images then we can see. This and also the title, The Others, gives us the impression that the people in this film are trapped with other unknown supernatural beings, giving the viewer a feeling of insecurity. Right from the beginning of the film tension is built, the opening sequence finishes and the music stops. The silence lacks any atmosphere, giving us the impression nothing is going to happen, and then suddenly it jumps to a shot of grace screaming. This shock makes the audience jump, also making them suspect more shocks. However the first three scenes lack these, making the tension increase, and as the pace of the music increases, the audience are on the edge of the seats suspecting the worst. They start to imagine what they believe is going to happen, fearing it. But they are dealt with continuous anti climaxes, but the tension builds as they all know something is going to happen soon, then when the music stops and all seems calm they are dealt with a shock when they least aspect it. The first scene also gives our first look of the outside of the house. Its looks very isolated, and with the additional fog surrounding all, the large house almost seems like a prison. This feeling is completed in scene two when the servants meet the children. Grace starts to lock all the doors, Amenabar also adds to the feeling of imprisonment by reducing the light significantly by making the servants shut the curtains. This creates anxiety and due to the strong character of grace the audience may start to fear for the unmet children. We start to feel anxious to meet the children, Amenabar uses this to create unease. The music stops and unexpectedly an eerie chanting starts, at this point we dont know what to expect and the camera pans around to behind the servants so we cant see what the servant can, this creates even more tension. Furthermore, a major way Amenabar creates tension and suspense is via the use of lighting. The setting of the film is encaged in darkness; this is due to the children being photosensitive. However this darkness creates uncertainty for the characters and the audience inhibiting what they can see happening. This senses of unease increases as the characters become more suspicious of the others in their house. The use of light is especially apparent in a scene I will refer to for the purpose of this essay, the bedroom scene. In this scene both Anne and Nicholas are in bed, suddenly Anne wakes up Nicholas complaining that Victor had been messing with the curtains. However during this scene, due to the lighting, only the childrens faces are visible. This makes the audience ponder the question if there really is someone by the curtains. In this scene, Amenabar deliberately makes the scene uncertain allowing it to be interoperated in two different ways; this is particularly evident when Anne is talking to Victor. This is achieved by the use of camera angles, both the audience and Nicholas can hear a strange voice, but due to the camera showing only the back of Anne, we cant tell if she is putting it on her not. Additionally when Nicholas believes Anne is just trying to scare him, she tells Victor to touch his cheek. As this is happening, the director uses background music to build up tension. Furthermore the camera zooms into Nicholas face so the audience is unaware of what is happening in the room. Suddenly there are numerous unsettling sounds such as banging footsteps; this combined with the climaxing music increases the tension. As the tension is at a peak silence echoes, and a mysterious hand reaches out for Nicholass face. Nicholas erupts into hysteric screams, this stuns the audience. In addition, sound is also used to create suspense. This is especially effective in the scene I will refer to as the piano scene. The scene starts with grace sat on the stairs, crying in the darkness of a candle. However faint music suddenly becomes audible, so grace goes to investigate. Tension is built for the audience as they can see the apprehension and fear Grace has of what she will find as she creeps down the stairs clutching a shotgun. The music leads her to the piano room, and as she reaches for the door handle the door creaks open and the music suddenly stops. However every door in her house is usually locked, this strange change gives the audience a feeling that there is something wrong. As Grace inspects the room, the director again plays music giving the audience the impression something is there. However as the music dies, the audience are dealt with an anticlimax. Grace leaves the room, and as the camera starts to zoom in on the door it suddenly slams shut while an eer ie scream can be heard. Due to the audiences tension being released as grace realises there is nothing in the room, this creates an expected shock. Grace, who fell to the floor, stands up and tries to open the door in fright, however it is now locked. When the summoned house keeper unlocks the door, the room is scanned by the camera, but there is nothing to be seen but a previously closed piano gleaming in the moon light. Grace is physically shocked; this can be seen as she brings her hands to her chest. Another notable effect regarding lighting in this scene is that, at the beginning Graces face is extremely orange. This saturated look looks remarkably like old photos, which is relevant as the audience will later find out that she is in fact deceased. Lastly, these effects are also apparent in the Grave Scene. In this scene, camera techniques are used very efficiently. The main method used is a technique called crosscutting; this is where the camera shot switches between scenes, it is used to show things happening at the same time. This technique creates suspense because it allows the audience to gather information the characters dont know. This technique can also increase the urgency of a scene. This is applied to this scene as, Nicholas and Anne go looking for their father. Lost within the fog, often used in horror films to present something being hidden, they find some gravestones. As she reads their inscriptions, her facial expressions clearly show the feeling of shocked and fear. However the scene suddenly cuts to Grace, who also goes through the same emotions as she discovers a picture of her servants, sat dead. The scene then cuts back to the children, as Anne stands speechless the servants miraculously appear. As Anne shou ts at Nicholas to run the camera pans onto him. Here the director uses another technique; he switches the focus between the foreground and the background. At first Nicholas can be seen clearly with the servants not in focus in the distance, however these switch so the servants can be seen clearly and Nicholas instead is not in focus. This creates a great amount of suspense, this because this effect gives the impression that the servants are getting considerably closer, where as Nicholas is yet to move. As Anne and Nicholas finally run away, the scene once again cuts to Grace who is distraughtly looking for her children, here the two split scenes merge as the kids run into her. The climaxing music also adds to the tension in the scene. In conclusion Alejandro Amenabar uses various presentational devices to create suspense during the film. These include the use of lighting, camera angles and sound. However unlike most modern films of this genre special effects arent really used, but this does not affect the overall apprehension created during the film. Tension is created in every scene using a wide variety of techniques, therefore I believe that Alejandro Amenabar creates suspense effectively, making The Others a great film to watch.

Accounting Essay -- essays paper

Accounting There are many different types of accounting. I haven’t made the choice of which particular part of the profession I am going to go into. I am going to focus on financial accountant. The decision to become an accountant is usually not made until college. However general accounting and bookkeeping classes can be taken in high school. In college, the student needs to decide on a more specific field of accounting. An accountant has many choices regarding what particular field of accounting to specialize in, depending on the financial information he or she wants to analyze and how it is done. Financial accountants, tax accountants and internal auditors are all accountants in general but require different training and work methods. A financial accountant records economic data and periodically prepares reports that show profit and other financial information of a company using the generally accepted accounting principles. The reports prepared by the accountant are useful for managers, and also for owners, creditors and the public. Based on information in the reports, the public can use the reports to choose a company to invest in. Because a financial accountant is employed by an individual company, he or she is considered a private accountant. Accountants have career choices to make based on more specialized interests in a field, and, as with other careers, a different specialization will have different educational requirements. Different classes will... Accounting Essay -- essays paper Accounting There are many different types of accounting. I haven’t made the choice of which particular part of the profession I am going to go into. I am going to focus on financial accountant. The decision to become an accountant is usually not made until college. However general accounting and bookkeeping classes can be taken in high school. In college, the student needs to decide on a more specific field of accounting. An accountant has many choices regarding what particular field of accounting to specialize in, depending on the financial information he or she wants to analyze and how it is done. Financial accountants, tax accountants and internal auditors are all accountants in general but require different training and work methods. A financial accountant records economic data and periodically prepares reports that show profit and other financial information of a company using the generally accepted accounting principles. The reports prepared by the accountant are useful for managers, and also for owners, creditors and the public. Based on information in the reports, the public can use the reports to choose a company to invest in. Because a financial accountant is employed by an individual company, he or she is considered a private accountant. Accountants have career choices to make based on more specialized interests in a field, and, as with other careers, a different specialization will have different educational requirements. Different classes will...

Phoenix Suns :: essays research papers

The History Of The Phoenix Suns   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I chose to write about the Phoenix Suns basketball History mainly because they have gave me, â€Å"the fan† great memories. The Suns introduced me to a whole new world of sports. When I watch their Basketball games it’s probably different from any other fan’s viewpoint. I tend to analyze their games and try to think what their next move is going to be. Other fans just cheer which is alright. Throughout the Phoenix Suns existence, they have had many great years as well as many down years. When I was introduced to the sport of Basketball, the first team I watched was the Chicago Bulls; I was completely intrigued by this sport. Each member of the team on the court always seemed to be giving it their all. It was only for a year that I was a Chicago Bull fan; this was because I had not yet found out that Arizona had, and â€Å"The Team† of course, is the Phoenix Suns. I was quickly converted to a Suns fan (now I now what you’re thinking; you think I’m one of those people who just moves around cheering the team that wins†¦. well I’m not I was just a little kid who just found out that there was a professional basketball team in the state he lived in, and I just started cheering for them.) This team is great they are always playing their hearts out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Well before the beginning of the 1968 draft two Teams (the expansion teams) Milwaukee and Phoenix got select players from other teams this is known as the Expansion draft. The other teams were basically giving away low quality players . Before the team was even created there was a contest to see what the teams name was going to be. There were names like: The Moon Shooters, The Nitros, The Hoopsters, The Dudes, The Gransuns, Desert Rats, Desert Cats, The Sun Dials, And how about The Phoenix White Wing Doves?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The eventual winner was Selinda King she acquired $1,000 dollars plus season tickets to the suns first inaugural season. In the expansion draft the Suns selected Dick Van Arsdale, which turned out to be a great pick because he ended up averaging 17.6 points a game for Phoenix. Other players selected by Phoenix were: Gail Goodrich, Neil Johnson, David Latin, Stan McKenzie, McCoy McLemore, Dick Snyder, and George Wilson.

Development of Anthropology as a Discipline in the United States Essays

Development of Anthropology as a Discipline in the United States I. Early History of Anthropology in the United States 1870-1900 â€Å"The roots of anthropology lie in the eye-witness accounts of travelers who have journeyed to lands on the margins of state-based societies and described their cultures and in the efforts of individuals who have analyzed the information collected. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, a number of anthropologists recognized that the practice of anthropology was intimately linked to commerce and colonial expansion.† (Patterson 1) There were essentially three â€Å"schools† of anthropological thinking by the First World War and after. The first, cultural determinism, maintained by Franz Boas and his students, stressed the interrelation of â€Å"ethnology, linguistics, folklore, archaeology as an autonomous academic discipline† (Patterson 55). The second was physical anthropology, whose major proponent was Ales Hrdlicka of the National Museum; it stressed biology and wanted physical anthropology to be a distinct academic discipline. The third was the eugenics movement, propagated by Charles B Davenport, it maintained that the status of eugenics, or racial hierarchization, was a legitimate science and asserted the supremacy of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Because of page constraints we will not examine closely physical anthropology, as it is not absolutely vital in a treatment of the development of anthropology as a discipline, but briefly it is the application of biological data and principles t o the study man in society. Anthropology in the United States in the period immediately following the Revolution and the drafting of the constitution was used to fulfill three purposes: (1) forge a national iden... ...f Columbia’s first instructors in anthropology; he used his positions at the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University to train a generation of anthropologists. Boas, by 1932, had instructed a sizeable number of people from these marginalized groups, who were lumped together as savages or inferior races. We must remember however, as Dr. Paterson points out, that, â€Å"Anthropology was professionalized during a period characterized by intense discrimination against people of color, immigrants, women, and poor folks† (65). Works Cited Boas, Franz. â€Å"Report on the Academic Teaching of Anthropology.† In American Anthropologist, 21:41-48, 1919. Kroeber, A.L. â€Å"The Place of Anthropology in Universities.† In American Anthropologist, 56: 754-767, 1954. Patterson, Thomas C. A Social History of Anthropology in the United States. Oxford: Berg, 2001.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 20

Part IV Spirit He who sees in me all things, and all things in me, is never far from me, and I am never far from him. THE BHAGAVAD GITA Chapter 20 The road was just wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side. The grass on either side was as high as an elephant's eye. We could see blue sky above us, and exactly as far along the path as the next curve, which could have been any distance away, because there's no perspective in an unbroken green trench. We'd been traveling on this road most of the day, and passed only one old man and a couple of cows, but now we could hear what sounded like a large party approaching us, not far off, perhaps two hundred yards away. There were men's voices, a lot of them, footsteps, some dissonant metal drums, and most disturbing, the continuous screams of a woman either in pain, or terrified, or both. â€Å"Young masters!† came a voice from somewhere near us. I jumped in the air and came down in a defensive stance, my black glass knife drawn and ready. Josh looked around for the source of the voice. The screaming was getting closer. There was a rustling in the grass a few feet away from the road, then again the voice, â€Å"Young masters, you must hide.† An impossibly thin male face with eyes that seemed a size and a half too large for his skull popped out of the wall of grass beside us. â€Å"You must come. Kali comes to choose her victims! Come now or die.† The face disappeared, replaced by a craggy brown hand that motioned for us to follow into the grass. The woman's scream hit crescendo and failed, as if the voice had broken like an overtightened lute string. â€Å"Go,† said Joshua, pushing me into the grass. As soon as I was off of the road someone caught my wrist and started dragging me through the sea of grass. Joshua latched onto the tail of my shirt and allowed himself to be dragged along. As we ran the grass whipped and slashed at us. I could feel blood welling up on my face and arms, even as the brown wraith pulled me deeper into the sea of green. Above the rasping of my breath I heard men shouting from behind us, then a thrashing of the grass being trampled. â€Å"They follow,† said the brown wraith over his shoulder. â€Å"Run unless you want your heads to decorate Kali's altar. Run.† Over my shoulder to Josh, I said, â€Å"He says run or it will be bad.† Behind Josh, outlined against the sky, I saw long, swordlike spear tips, the sort of thing one might use for beheading someone. â€Å"Okey-dokey,† said Josh. It had taken us over a month to get to India, most of the journey through hundreds of miles of the highest, most rugged country we had ever seen. Amazingly enough, there were villages scattered all through the mountains, and when the villagers saw our orange robes doors were flung wide and larders opened. We were always fed, given a warm place to sleep, and welcomed to stay as long as we wished. We offered obtuse parables and irritating chants in return, as was the tradition. It wasn't until we came out of the mountains onto a brutally hot and humid grassland that we found our mode of dress was drawing more disdain than welcome. One man, of obvious wealth (he rode a horse and wore silk robes) cursed us as we passed and spit at us. Other people on foot began to take notice of us as well, and we hurried off into some high grass and changed out of our robes. I tucked the glass dagger that Joy had given me into my sash. â€Å"What was he going on about?† I asked Joshua. â€Å"He said something about tellers of false prophecies. Pretenders. Enemies of the Brahman, whatever that is. I'm not sure what else.† â€Å"Well, it looks like we're more welcome here as Jews than as Buddhists.† â€Å"For now,† said Joshua. â€Å"All the people have those marks on their foreheads like Gaspar had. I think without one of those we're going to have to be careful.† As we traveled into the lowlands the air felt as thick as warm cream, and we could feel the weight of it in our lungs after so many years in the mountains. We passed into the valley of a wide, muddy river, and the road became choked with people passing in and out of a city of wooden shacks and stone altars. There were humped-back cattle everywhere, even grazing in the gardens, but no one seemed to bear them any mind. â€Å"The last meat I ate was what was left of our camels,† I said. â€Å"Let's find a booth and buy some beef.† There were merchants along the road selling various wares, clay pots, powders, herbs, spices, copper and bronze blades (iron seemed to be in short supply), and tiny carvings of what seemed to be a thousand different gods, most of them having more limbs than seemed necessary and none of them looking particularly friendly. We found grain, breads, fruits, vegetables, and bean pastes for sale, but nowhere did we see any meat. We settled on some bread and spicy bean paste, paid the woman with Roman copper coin, then found a place under a large banyan tree where we could sit and look at the river while we ate. I'd forgotten the smell of a city, the fetid mlange of people, and waste, and smoke and animals, and I began to long for the clean air of the mountains. â€Å"I don't want to sleep here, Joshua. Let's see if we can find a place in the country.† â€Å"We are supposed to follow this river to the sea to reach Tamil. Where the river goes, so go the people.† The river – wider than any in Israel, but shallow, yellow with clay, and still against the heavy air – seemed more like a huge stagnant puddle than a living, moving thing. In this season, anyway. Dotting the surface, a half-dozen skinny, naked men with wild white hair and not three teeth apiece shouted angry poetry at the top of their lungs and tossed water into glittering crests over their heads. â€Å"I wonder how my cousin John is doing,† said Josh. All along the muddy riverbank women washed clothes and babies only steps from where cattle waded and shat, men fished or pushed long shallow boats along with poles, and children swam or played in the mud. Here and there the corpse of a dog bobbed flyblown in the gentle current. â€Å"Maybe there's a road inland a little, away from the stench.† Joshua nodded and climbed to his feet. â€Å"There,† he said, pointing to a narrow path that began on the opposite bank of the river and disappeared into some tall grass. â€Å"We'll have to cross,† I said. â€Å"Be nice if we could find a boat to take us,† said Josh. â€Å"You don't think we should ask where the path leads?† â€Å"No,† said Joshua, looking at a crowd of people who were gathering nearby and staring at us. â€Å"These people all look hostile.† â€Å"What was that you told Gaspar about love was a state you dwell in or something?† â€Å"Yeah, but not with these people. These people are creepy. Let's go.† The creepy little brown guy who was dragging me through the elephant grass was named Rumi, and much to his credit, amid the chaos and tumble of a headlong dash through a leviathan marshland, pursued by a muderous band of clanging, shouting, spear-waving decapitation enthusiasts, Rumi had managed to find a tiger – no small task when you have a kung fu master and the savior of the world in tow. â€Å"Eek, a tiger,† Rumi said, as we stumbled into a small clearing, a mere depression really, where a cat the size of Jerusalem was gleefully gnawing away on the skull of a deer. Rumi had expressed my sentiments exactly, but I would be damned if I was going to let my last words be â€Å"Eek, a tiger,† so I listened quietly as urine filled my shoes. â€Å"You'd think all the noise would have frightened him,† Josh said, just as the tiger looked up from his deer. I noticed that our pursuers seemed to be closing on us by the second. â€Å"That is the way it is usually done,† said Rumi. â€Å"The noise drives the tiger to the hunter.† â€Å"Maybe he knows that,† I said, â€Å"so he's not going anywhere. You know, they're bigger than I imagined. Tigers, I mean.† â€Å"Sit down,† said Joshua. â€Å"Pardon me?† I said. â€Å"Trust me,† Joshua said. â€Å"Remember the cobra when we were kids?† I nodded to Rumi and coaxed him down as the tiger crouched and tensed his hind legs as if preparing to leap, which is exactly what he was doing. As the first of our pursuers broke into the clearing from behind us the tiger leapt, sailing over our heads by half again the height of a man. The tiger landed on the first two men coming out of the grass, crushing them under his enormous forepaws, then raking their backs as he leapt again. After that all I could see was spear points scattering against the sky as the hunters became, well, you know. Men screamed, the woman screamed, the tiger screamed, and the two men who had fallen under the tiger crawled to their feet and limped back toward the road, screaming. Rumi looked from the dead deer, to Joshua, to me, to the dead deer, to Joshua, and his eyes seemed to grow even larger than before. â€Å"I am deeply moved and eternally grateful for your affinity with the tiger, but that is his deer, and it appears that he has not finished with it, perhaps†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joshua stood up. â€Å"Lead on.† â€Å"I don't know which way.† â€Å"Not that way,† I said, pointing in the direction of the screaming bad guys. Rumi led us through the grass to another road, which we followed to where he lived. â€Å"It's a pit,† I said. â€Å"It's not that bad,† said Joshua, looking around. There were other pits nearby. People were living in them. â€Å"You live in a pit,† I said. â€Å"Hey, ease up,† Joshua said. â€Å"He saved our lives.† â€Å"It is a humble pit, but it is home,† said Rumi. â€Å"Please make yourself comfortable.† I looked around. The pit had been chipped out of sandstone and was about shoulder deep and just wide enough to turn a cow around in, which I would find out was a crucial dimension. The pit was empty except for a single rock about knee high. â€Å"Have a seat. You may have the rock,† said Rumi. Joshua smiled and sat on the rock. Rumi sat on the floor of the pit, which was covered with a thick layer of black slime. â€Å"Please. Sit,† said Rumi, gesturing to the floor beside him. â€Å"I'm sorry, we can only afford one rock.† I didn't sit. â€Å"Rumi, you live in a pit!† I pointed out. â€Å"Well, yes, that is true. Where do Untouchables live in your land?† â€Å"Untouchable?† â€Å"Yes, the lowest of the low. The scum of the earth. None of the higher caste may acknowledge my existence. I am Untouchable.† â€Å"Well, no wonder, you live in a fucking pit.† â€Å"No,† Joshua said, â€Å"he lives in a pit because he's Untouchable, he's not Untouchable because he lives in a pit. He'd be Untouchable if he lived in a palace, isn't that right, Rumi?† â€Å"Oh, like that's going to happen,† I said. I'm sorry, the guy lived in a pit. â€Å"There's more room since my wife and most of my children died,† said Rumi. â€Å"Until this morning it was only Vitra, my youngest daughter and me, but now she is gone too. There is plenty of room for you if you wish to stay.† Joshua put his hand on Rumi's narrow shoulder and I could see the effect it had, the pain evaporating from the Untouchable's face like dew under a hot sun. I stood by being wretched. â€Å"What happened to Vitra?† Joshua asked. â€Å"They came and took her, the Brahmans, as a sacrifice on the feast of Kali. I was looking for her when I saw you two. They gather children and men, criminals, Untouchables, and strangers. They would have taken you and day after tomorrow they would have offered your head to Kali.† â€Å"So your daughter is not dead?† I asked. â€Å"They will hold her until midnight on the night of the feast, then slaughter her with the other children on the wooden elephants of Kali.† â€Å"I will go to these Brahmans and ask for your daughter back,† Joshua said. â€Å"They'll kill you,† Rumi said. â€Å"Vitra is lost, even your tiger cannot save you from Kali's destruction.† â€Å"Rumi,† I said. â€Å"Look at me, please. Explain, Brahmans, Kali, elephants, everything. Go slow, act as if I know nothing.† â€Å"Like that takes imagination,† Joshua said, clearly violating my implied, if not expressed, copyright on sarcasm. (Yeah, we have Court TV in the hotel room, why?) â€Å"There are four castes,† said Rumi, â€Å"the Brahmans, or priests; Kshatriyas, or warriors; Vaisyas, who are farmers or merchants; and the Sudras, who are laborers. There are many subcastes, but those are the main ones. Each man is born to a caste and he remains in that caste until he dies and is reborn as a higher caste or lower caste, which is determined by his karma, or actions during his last life.† â€Å"We know from karma,† I said. â€Å"We're Buddhist monks.† â€Å"Heretics!† Rumi hissed. â€Å"Bite me, you bug-eyed scrawny brown guy,† I said. â€Å"You are a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"No, you're a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"No, you are a scrawny brown guy!† â€Å"We are all scrawny brown guys,† Joshua said, making peace. â€Å"Yeah, but he's bug-eyed.† â€Å"And you are a heretic.† â€Å"You're a heretic!† â€Å"No, you are a heretic.† â€Å"We're all scrawny brown heretics,† said Joshua, calming things down again. â€Å"Well, of course I'm scrawny,† I said. â€Å"Six years of cold rice and tea, and not a scrap of beef for sale in the whole country.† â€Å"You would eat beef? You heretic!† shouted Rumi. â€Å"Enough!† shouted Joshua. â€Å"No one may eat a cow. Cows are the reincarnations of souls on their way to the next life.† â€Å"Holy cow,† Josh said. â€Å"That is what I am saying.† Joshua shook his head as if trying to straighten jumbled thoughts. â€Å"You said that there were four castes, but you didn't mention Untouchables.† â€Å"Harijans, Untouchables, have no caste, we are the lowest of the low. We may have to live many lifetimes before we even ascend to the level of a cow, and then we may become higher caste. Then, if we follow our dharma, our duty, as a higher caste, we may become one with Brahma, the universal spirit of all. I can't believe you don't know this, have you been living in a cave?† I was going to point out that Rumi was in no position to criticize where we had been living, but Joshua signaled me to let it go. Instead I said, â€Å"So you are lower on the caste system than a cow?† I asked. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So these Brahmans won't eat a cow, but they will take your daughter and kill her for their goddess?† â€Å"And eat her,† said Rumi, hanging his head. â€Å"At midnight on the night of the feast they will take her and the other children and tie them to the wooden elephants. They will cut off the children's fingers and give one to the head of each Brahman household. Then they will catch her blood in a cup and everyone in the household will taste it. They may eat the finger or bury it for good luck. After that the children are hacked to death on the wooden elephants.† â€Å"They can't do that,† Joshua said. â€Å"Oh yes, the cult of Kali may do anything they wish. It is her city, Kalighat.† [â€Å"Calcutta† on the Friendly Flyer map.] â€Å"My little Vitra is lost. We can only pray that she is reincarnated to a higher level.† Joshua patted the Untouchable's hand. â€Å"Why did you call Biff a heretic when he told you that we were Buddhist monks?† â€Å"That Gautama said that a man may go directly from any level to join Brahma, without fulfilling his dharma, that is heresy.† â€Å"That would be better for you, wouldn't it? Since you're on the bottom of the ladder?† â€Å"You cannot believe what you do not believe,† Rumi said. â€Å"I am an Untouchable because my karma dictates it.† â€Å"Oh yeah,† I said. â€Å"No sense sitting under a bodhi tree for a few hours when you can get the same thing through thousands of lifetimes of misery.† â€Å"Of course, that's ignoring the fact that you're a gentile and going to suffer eternal damnation either way,† said Josh. â€Å"Yeah, leaving that out altogether.† â€Å"But we'll get your daughter back,† Joshua said. Joshua wanted to rush into Kalighat and demand the return of Rumi's daughter and the release of all the other victims in the name of what was good and right. Joshua's solution to everything was to lead with righteous indignation, and there is a time and a place unto that, but there is also a time for cunning and guile (Ecclesiastes 9 or something). I was able to talk him into an alternate plan by using flawless logic: â€Å"Josh, did the Vegemites smite the Marmites by charging in and demanding justice at the end of a sword? I think not. These Brahmans cut off and eat the fingers of children. I know there's no finger-cutting commandment, Josh, but still, I'm guessing that these people think differently than we do. They call the Buddha a heretic, and he was one of their princes. How do you think they'll receive a scrawny brown kid claiming to be the son of a god who doesn't even live in their area?† â€Å"Good point. But we still have to save the child.† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"Extreme sneakiness.† â€Å"You'll have to be in charge then.† â€Å"First we need to see this city and this temple where the sacrifices will be held.† Joshua scratched his head. His hair had mostly grown back, but was still short. â€Å"The Vegemites smote the Marmites?† â€Å"Yeah, Excretions three-six.† â€Å"I don't remember that. I guess I need to brush up on my Torah.† The statue of Kali over her altar was carved from black stone and stood as tall as ten men. She wore a necklace of human skulls around her neck and a girdle made of severed human hands at her hips. Her open maw was lined with a saw blade of teeth over which a stream of fresh blood had been poured. Even her toenails curved into vicious blades which dug into the pile of twisted, graven corpses on which she stood. She had four arms, one holding a cruel, serpentine sword, another a severed head by the hair; the third hand she held crooked, as if beckoning her victims to the place of dark destruction to which all are destined, and the fourth was posed downward, in a manner presenting the goddess's hand-girded hips, as if asking the eternal question, â€Å"Does this outfit make me look fat?† The raised altar lay in the middle of an open garden that was surrounded by trees. The altar was wide enough that five hundred people could have stood in the shadow of the black goddess. Deep grooves had been cut in the stone to channel the blood of sacrifices into vessels, so it could be poured through the goddess's jaws. Leading to the altar was a wide stone-paved boulevard, which was lined on either side by great elephants carved from wood and set on turntables so they could be rotated. The trunks and front feet of the elephants were stained rusty brown, and here and there the trunks exhibited deep gouges from blades that had hewn through a child into the mahogany. â€Å"Vitra isn't being kept here,† Joshua said. We were hiding behind a tree near the temple garden, dressed as natives, fake caste marks and all. Having lost when we drew lots, I was the one dressed as a woman. â€Å"I think this is a bodhi tree,† I said, â€Å"just like Buddha sat under! It's so exciting. I'm feeling sort of enlightened just standing here. Really, I can feel ripe bodhies squishing between my toes.† Joshua looked at my feet. â€Å"I don't think those are bodhies. There was a cow here before us.† I lifted my foot out of the mess. â€Å"Cows are overrated in this country. Under the Buddha's tree too. Is nothing sacred?† â€Å"There's no temple to this temple,† Joshua said. â€Å"We have to ask Rumi where the sacrifices are kept until the festival.† â€Å"He won't know. He's Untouchable. These guys are Brahmans – priests – they wouldn't tell him anything. That would be like a Sadducee telling a Samaritan what the Holy of Holies looked like.† â€Å"Then we have to find them ourselves,† Joshua said. â€Å"We know where they're going to be at midnight, we'll get them then.† â€Å"I say we find these Brahmans and force them to stop the whole festival.† â€Å"We'll just storm up to their temple and tell them to stop it?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And they will.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"That's cute, Josh. Let's go find Rumi. I have a plan.†

Terrorism And Society

Although ‘terrorism† originally referred to acts committed by a gwernment, currently It usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes In such a way as to reate a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a â€Å"terrorist†. Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group ‘People's Retribution† in 1869. In November 2004. a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act ‘†intended to cause death or serious ph population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act†.Pejorative Use The terms â€Å"terrorism† and â€Å"terrorist† (someone who engages in terrorism) carry strong negative connotations. These terms are often used as political labels, to condemn violence or the threat of violence by certain actors as immoral, indiscriminate, unjustified or to condemn an entire segment of a population. Those labeled â€Å"terrorists† by their opponents rarely identify themselves as such, and typically use other terms or terms specific to their situation, such as separatist, freedom fighter.On the question of whether particular terrorist acts, such as killing civilians, can be Justified as the lesser evil in a particular circumstance, philosophers have expressed different views: while, according to David Rodin, utilitarian philosophers can (in theory) conceive of cases in which the evil of terrorism is outweighed by the good which could not be achieved in a less morally costly way, in practice the â€Å"harmful effects of undermining the convention of non- combatant immunity is thought to outweigh the goods that may be achieved by particular acts of terrorism†.Among the non-utilitarian philosophers, Michael Walzer argued that terrorism can be morally Justified in only one specific case: when â€Å"a nation or community faces the extreme threat of co mplete destruction and the nly way it can preserve itself is by intentionally targeting non-combatants, then it is morally entitled to do so. Motivation Of Terrorism Attacks on ‘collaborators' are used to intimidate people from cooperating with the state in order to undermine state control.This strategy was used in the USA in its War of Independence and in Ireland, in Kenya, in Algeria and in Cyprus during their independence struggles. Attacks on high profile symbolic targets are used to incite counter-terrorism by the state to polarise the population. This strategy was used by A1 Qaeda in its attacks on the USA in September 2001. These attacks are also used to draw international attention to struggles which are otherwise unreported such as the Palestinian airplane hijackings in 1970 and the South Moluccan hostage crises in the Netherlands in 1975.Abraham suggests that terrorist organizations do not select terrorism for its political effectiveness. Individual terrorists tend t o be motivated more by a desire for social solidarity with other members of their organization than by political platforms or strategic objectives, which are often murky and undefined. Religious Terrorism Religious terrorism is terrorism performed by groups or individuals, the motivation of which is typically rooted in faith-based tenets.Terrorist acts throughout the centuries have been performed on religious grounds with the hope to either spread or enforce a system of belief, viewpoint or opinion. Religious terrorism does not in itself necessarily define a specific religious standpoint or view, but instead usually defines Terrorism in India A common definition of terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, r ideological change.Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the state. Terrorism in India are basically two types external and internal, external terrorism emerge from neighbouring countries and internal terrorism emulates from religious or communal violence and Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. Terror activities involve either Indian or foreign citizens. The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and the Seven Sister States(independence and autonomy movements).