Global study-xxx Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global study-xxx - Essay Example Overall, the issue is really complicated because on the one hand the Confederate flag is the part of the American history, and one the other hand it is not correct to have it on the Capitol due to the latest events. This debate being one of the pages of American history is greatly influenced by western imperial and colonial legacies. In fact, the legacy of western imperialism and colonialism is felt in many of today’s conflicts in regard to ethnic or religious questions, and the issue of the Confederate flag is one of them. The roots of this conflict go deep in history up to the times of slavery, and this is here that western imperialism and colonialism enter the problem. The matter is that the notion of racism, which gave birth to the current debate as well as numerous hate crimes and other issues similar to them, originates from western imperialism and colonialism, and mostly from westerner’s desire to expand the territories they had and to exploit free labor of slaves. In fact, the main reason why the notion of racism does take place in modern America is that it is imperialism and colonialism that set the boundaries between races and established the idea of differences between races and of submission of one race to another. Therefore, it is possible to say that western imperialism has given rise to animosity between people, which resulted in racism and, consequently, the issue under consideration as well. In addition to this, as it follows from Peter Frankopan’s article Go East, Young Knight, western imperialism is seen in the tendency of shifting focus when it comes to historical events. In particular, it appears that very often history is written in the way particular personalities want it to be. This is why the Confederate flag is the issue of discussion which needs clarification as there is no agreement on its meaning and role because of the differences in points of

Deprivation of Land Ownership

Deprivation of Land Ownership The surest way to deprive a peasant of his land is to give him a secure title and make it freely negotiable. R Schickele 1962, cited in Tim Hanstad, Designing Land Registration Systems for Developing Countries Am. U. Intl L. Rev. 13 (1997) 667. Discuss. Some see land dispossession as the cornerstone of the past colonial key economic and political policies that has lead to the capitalism as we see it. Land dispossession is not only established on land grab by use of force but also has been intensified by new innovative types of property and property regulation, confirming some of the Loakean philosophies of property and its relationship to society and its diverse make of ethnicity and race. Furthermore the title also suggests that there is a relationship between dispossession and social and economic standing within society. This article shall examine the broader implication of the above quotation and try to examine the relationship between the powerfuls (those who are economically and or socially superior to the other) ability to deprive the lesser from their land and whether or not there are any obstacles in their way, or has the whole structure been set up been set up as the title suggest to make it easier. To understand the above assertion it may be necessary to understand a capitalist approach to land and dispossession and before that we need to understand registration in context of this question and its historical development. Does this question suggest that dispossession of land is an exclusive relation between the rich and the poor, or is the relation more complex and less sinister than is been suggested. To make sense of this the article will try to first break it down to its component parts and then try to piece it together. Nevertheless ownership of land is a natural phenomenon in our societies, however in the scheme of human history this is a new development. , in the long sweep of human existence, it is a fairly recent invention. Many question arise from this statement, that where did these ideas originate, what is really ownership of land, and how can it be that a line drawn on the land by a sword can denote ownership and control. These assertion in our modern society are alien, as land ownership is so ingrained into our psyche. Surely before you are dispossessed or deprived if something you must have owned it or had rights to it first. Pre-Registration Before title registration there was John Locke. In his writings Two Treaties of Government[1] Locke summarise prehistory on land and ownership as a God (the god of the Abrahamic religions) given inheritance to the Children of Men[2] in common, this is a superstition that in this scenario one can or has a right to own land or a right to own land. However this is not John Lockes view on ownership of land. His starting position is that man has an ownership in himself[3] which is exclusive to him against all others. Then he states that that a mans physical labouring and what he creates from his own hands is also his own exclusive ownership. What Locke then goes on to summarise profoundly that then what he toils on the land and what he produces then becomes his own property too and becomes excluded from common ownership[4]. In summary what Locke can be summed up to say is that if man build a house on the land it is his house and if he works the land because of his labour it is his land, a nd thus the philosophy of Locke can be used to ascribe prehistory ownership of land. Agriculture made the mans connection to the earth more intense. Tilling the soil, making homesteads and communities all contributed to a more direct investment in the land. Nonetheless this was not the ownership of land as we know it. Historical context is incredibly significant, in particularly with concerns to land ownership, this is important and history of land entitlement started in the United Kingdom and was exported to its colonies. This history is important to the context of this article as the histories of many dispossessed people are from the former colonies. While land was owned by the Anglo-Saxon in England prior to the invasion of England in 1066, it was William the First that usurp the land and redistributed it to his loyalist in favour for services rendered and to be rendered[5]. He devised tenures, the kings loyal man provided him with services which might be providing horsemen and other personal who did the kings business, tenure. The ownership of the land thus remained with the crown. This was the preserve of the Common Law. In Pottages writing[6] The Measure of Land, he describes the archaic ways land conveyancing took place in the past (pre-registration documentation of land ownership). He describes the lengths to which potential owners would have to good to try and get good (or better) title to the land they wished to own. This could be by medieval turf cutting[7]with a sword, or to hold fate and events as to instil it into the memory of the local as a symbolic time so that the event could denote the day the land changed owners, this grew to a stage that to have good title would mean that the possessor would have as much historical documentation as trusts in writing to prove if there were a dispute that the possessor had better title, however any possessor could be dispossessed regardless of the quantity of documents at hand if someone put up a document that may show that they had had the better title by whatever means and that that hadnt to date been extinguished. Yes complicated and fraught with pit falls. Possession at that time was the first evidence towards ownership, coin the phrase that possession was nine tenth of the law accurate alluding to the fact that that one tenth could still dispossess you if you had not covered or collected all the information. However the earliest ownership of the land is near enough historically impossible to prove, so long as you had enough retrospective history on the property in your possession you would be unlikely to be dispossessed of it. The prospective buyer would need to be satisfied the chain of ownership could be evidenced to a specific point in time, before 1875 this would have been 60 years[8], in genealogical terms approximately four generations. Long lines of historical record to the ownership of land would cement the ownership of the land and the elite families that owned them. This supposition established the elite classes ownership of estate. The longer these few families kept possession of the land the more it hid in some case highly contested and disputes over land[9]. Registration In an article written by Keenan[10], she says that title registration has become recognised as a modern globalising trend in land law. Keenan say that these measures are being readily and free being accepted by governments in greater numbers across a multitude of jurisdictions globally, and where it is not being done then the world bank and the International Monetary Fund are demanding it as parts of global deals whether the purpose it to unify or make easier land acquisition we can only speculate. With the induction of the industrial revolution, came the need and the demand for more secure ownership of land. During the 1700s law relating to real property stagnated in statutory terms, however doctrine continued to evolve by judges in the courts, for example under judges like Lord Nottingham (from 1673-1682), Lord King (1725-1733), Lord Hardwicke (1737-1756), Lord Henley (1757-1766), and Lord Eldon (1801-1827) . As the industrial revolution took hold globally and trade expanded, the influence of new money of the business and industrial classes was also growing, and the once dominant wealth and political clout of the landed gentry was in decline. Adam Smith discussed in his book The Wealth of Nations that the land owners were able demand and take rent from others for very little cost in monetary term . Through the 1800s there were many attempts at trying to replace the document based ownership to some kind of registration system. The colonialist settlers living in the colonies had a different experience of societal and political experience than those who were back in England. At the time the settlements were being colonised in North America and Australia[11] by the British. As land was being possessed, occupied or settled in the colonies, a form of legal confirmation was needed in order to give the settlers security and title. So in 1857, Robert Torrens the prime minister of South Australia decided that he was going to dedicate his time in land reform and in particular to develop a land registration system for transfer of land in the colonies. He had indentified that on occasions the English system of land conveyance was sometimes more costly than the cost the land itself[12]. The Torrens System In discussing the establishment system of title and the induction of Torrens, it is helpful study the background and direction of what Torrens wanted to establish once he finally established the system in South Australia[13]. There are important difference between what was happening in the past and the Torrens system, crucially the biggest change from the past was to create centralisation registration of the Title. The reason was to combat the past systems failing and in particular the skewed character of the old system and to create a safer alternative on the central system[14]. Torrens was of the opinion that the old system was completely redundant and not fit for purpose[15] and because of this Torrens set up the new and better and principally fair system. The idea Torrens based his system on was originated on the Mirror Principle, Curtain Principle and also the insurance Principle[16]. The words may suggest the Mirror Principle in the reflection of the ground realities and the fa cts around the owners title, the Curtain Principle would hide any defects and therefore the purchaser could rely exclusively on the just having the registration document and finally the Insurance Principle underwriting any possible errors and providing compensation when a mistakes occurs[17], what this gave was provided was assurance of title and ease of use of the system. Torrens system was described as not being a system of registration of title, but being a case of title by registration[18]. One of the cornerstones key to Torrens system was something called indefeasibility, meaning the new title owner would only be liable to interest registered at the time[19]. However at the being deferred indefeasibility, was accepted[20]. What this entailed was that in case of fraud to a bona fide buyer, indefeasibility was not granted until both and blameless owner and an blameless buyer were present. This was however later overturned in court[21]. The success[22] of the system comes down it simplicity. To avoid the difficulties for the buyer when doing legal searches, Torrens Mirror principle was established. This did not give any guarantee of validity but simply provided priority if valid[23]. As Keenan says in her article, on this same subject, that, the Torrenss system made it simpler, cost effective and speedier for investors to re-sale the property for the investors then before the Torrens system was introduced. English Land Registration The first formal land registration system came about in the in England four years after the establishment of Torrens system in 1862. These were followed by two further Acts in 1875 and 1897[24]. Then in 1925, the Law of Property Act 1925 was passed and enacted. The big difference between the two systems was that PLA 1925 allowed for overriding interests, like easements[25], squatters rights[26], and lease with terms of 21 years or less[27], these were similar to some of the indefeasibility expressed in the Torrens system. Dispossession By Torrens Because of Torrens and the Curtain principle any previous historical connections with interest in and any entitlement thereto where hidden behind the curtain once the land was registered. Once registered anything that came before vanished[28], the people how did have the said relationships could effectively become trespassers on the land that they freely roamed or lived in historically. The Torrens system found great favour by other colonialist and spread quickly through the colonies like an epidemic. Dispossession The idea of dispossession has been insidious in the writings of academics and campaigners who want investigate, write detail of and confront ethnic capitalism. The cruelty of dispossession includes and is not restricted to, being dispossessed of property whether it is your land or your home, country, your tools and resources of survival, your historical back ground, language and your own person, your character, can describe in one way or a combination of ways a large number of the global populous at the currents times. The spread of imperialism across the world has not been forgotten. However the aftermath of imperialism or colonialism has left its bitter scars, but also has developed into modern forms too. Modern capitalisms has its own incarnations of reasoning, influence and manifestations (collectively known as Cultures of Dispossession. From what has already described above this article can demonstrate how dispossession has become a common place which is not exclusively to economics, societal or the legal register. The various manifestations of dispossession demonstrates irregular effects of hundreds of years of capitalist accumulation focused around action of the possessive personage and the consequent result of ever ready onto rationally and politically dispossessed of the ability suitably own or to be free. The sexual orientation/ gender and rascality is not merely dependent but are the construct of this article in the sense that these are features that are re-occurring theme in dispossession. Holistically this article is demonstrating that dispassion by title is just ones means by which dispossession happens. By concentrating on means on the ways of dispossession as one of the clear modes of authority of colonial capitalist arrangement, in this article we have already looked at judicial machinery used to dispossess. In the alternative possession has to be in the realms of the judicial belongs ideologically to a spatial sphere, that takes into account current political and economic thinking in a verity of ways. However the focus of the nest section shall be on dispossession by design. Foreclosure K-Sue Park in the article Money Mortgages and Conquest of America, highlights a discussion of foreclosure, the modern phenomena of dispossession. When the colonialist settled in America they developed on the English law that they had inherited by virtue of their origins, to develop and create their own individual and unique model taking into account and adopting to the new ground realities of a conquered land[29]. Furthermore the development of mortgage in America, followed one fundamental constructive change across the settlers kingdom (the colonies) and that was the how simple foreclosure had become (was it by default or design?) on land, bordering on land being dealt with in the same way as chattels, which was a contrast from the difference of land and chattel had be maintained in the old English system[30]. Academics have made it apparent that the everyday threat of repossession (the English word used for the America for dispossession) in the way mortgages are practiced by way of a uniquely American colonial notion[31]. The narrow window from which the American historian view their own historical prospective of property/mortgages dealings, illustrated ho that the transaction by enlarge occurs amongst white European / American during the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. The alterations in mortgage can be described as happening earlier then some historians mention, and the interpretation of that is to assume the acceptance that the relaxed and unimpeded, prevalent repossession first happened on connection with dispossession of the natives. On the onset it has to be understood the originality of the American mortgage, and it is also crucial to realise that extremely lasting practice of protecting individual association to land in English property law before settlers left to colonise. The deeply held principle predilection was mirrored by limitations found uniquely in English mortgages. Before the seventeenth century, at the time the first British settlers setup colonies in America, it was near on impossible to detach someone from his land because of debt dealing through English law.[32] Previously the earliest documented use of land to secure debt was established an instrument known as the gage[33]. From the inception of debts incurring a cost of interest payments as a type of usury at this period, English lenders who are allowed to a gage, were allowed to collect the rents and the fruit of the land[34]. The benefits granted to lenders at that time, is not without difficulty able to connect the right and duties that exi st by law in estate currently, the benefits ordained to those lenders of the past emanate directly from the charged land. A chief justice of the king of England in the twelfth century, explained and identified two types of gages the living gage and the dead gage or the Vif gage and the Mort gage[35]. In the Vif gage the lend and adjoin the fruits and rents towards the debt with the expectation to reduce the debt. By contrast if you had the mort gage the leader is forbidden from collecting the fruit or other reciprocal benefits to reduce the amount of debt but can be accumulated as a profit to the amount of loan.[36] As the mort gage was the system that that avoided the prohibition on interest, it become the chosen gage[37]. At the beginning the right of the lender was surprisingly a feeble, but with the course if time have more likely have been able to possession for the duration of a loan. Scholar of business institute are brought closer to affiliation with the law because of the closeness of the connection actions of the association and the drama intrinsic in the great efforts among and bounded by partners.[38] Conclusion It must firstly be stated that the study of dispossession id fraught with complexities, more difficult it such a complex area is from the myriad of information and the intricate and complex writing out there, it is difficult for the author to stay focus, rather than what is likely to occur of vying off at tangent only to rein oneself back in. The conclusion for this article has to come from the writing of one of the best pieces written work read by this author, and that is from Sarah Keenans Smoke Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of race Through Time and Title Registration[39]. Why? Because Keenan has been able to stay extremely focused on the theme through-out and written a great article. Nevertheless this author has the perilous task to follow that. The main feature of this article has been the development of title registration systems and how they all seem to be linked and woven from the same cloth. Registration was developed by the forced necessity of an overly complex, convoluted system that still left the buyer at risk even after investing huge amounts of time and money. The irony of the old system is that it could dispossess some one of their title by default as the system had no safety net, there should have been a label on the old system that alway read buyer be weary. Secondly we discovered that the landed gentry liked the old system so much that we discovered to this they hold property in the old way, where it is passed down from generation to generation described by Keenan as a multi generational monopoly of estate ownership. We learnt that the same gentry that owned the land also were the politician that had to bring in law reforms. It took nearly eighty years from when the idea was first floated to the inception of the Law of Property Act 1925. The comparable and original practical system was introduced in South Australia by Torrens. While it was in principle and prima facia a good system, the undertones and its net affects were very dark indeed. Torrens system was easy to use, it was quick and it was cost effective. But in its creation was hidden the mechanism by which the aboriginal indigenous people would be dispossesses. Torrens was notably the same man who previously had dispossessed the poor Irish farmers in the Potato famine, and gave t he titles cheaply to the gentry. It may be easy to dispossess a poor man by giving him a title and then freely negotiating his property from him for next to no value. However why go through all the that when it can be done by a doctrine formulated by Torrens, this document was so popular in what it could do that it was adopted very quickly in the colonies and whole nations of indigenous people were dispossessed, whether in Australia, Canada, America, India or Africa. A discussion was tried to be articulated in this article that there were other ways of easily dispossessing poor people, one being older than we might have thought, and that is by debt arrears and repossessions or as the Americans call it foreclosure. Finally it is easy to say but harder to articulate in a limited article the many ways of dispossessing the poor. [1] Page 327 Chapter V, Of Property by John Locke; Two Treaties of Government first published in 1960, from his original book and additional found manuscripts. https://moodle.bbk.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/590998/mod_resource/content/1/Of%20Property.pdf [2] Page 327 Chapter V, Of Property by John Locke; Two Treaties of Government first published in 1960, from his original book and additional found manuscripts. https://moodle.bbk.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/590998/mod_resource/content/1/Of%20Property.pdf [3] Page 328 Chapter V, Of Property by John Locke; Two Treaties of Government first published in 1960, from his original book and additional found manuscripts. https://moodle.bbk.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/590998/mod_resource/content/1/Of%20Property.pdf [4] Page 329 Chapter V, Of Property by John Locke; Two Treaties of Government first published in 1960, from his original book and additional found manuscripts. https://moodle.bbk.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/590998/mod_resource/content/1/Of%20Property.pdf [5] http://www.wwlia.org/LegalResources/UK/ID/258/History-of-Real-Estate-Law-The-Old-English-Landholding-System.aspx [6] The Measure of Land by Alain Pottage, The Modern Law Review 1994, Volume 57, pages 361-385 [7] The Measure of Land by Alain Pottage, The Modern Law Review 1994, Volume 57, page 361 [8] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016, Published 27 October 2016. [9] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016, Published 27 October 2016. [10] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016, Published 27 October 2016. [11] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016, Published 27 October 2016. [12] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016, Published 27 October 2016. [13] Kelvin F K Low, The Nature of Torrens Indefeasibility: Understanding The Limits Of Personal Equities [2009] 33 Melbourne University Law Review 205, 206. [14] Kelvin F K Low, The Nature of Torrens Indefeasibility: Understanding The Limits Of Personal Equities [2009] 33 Melbourne University Law Review 205, 206. [15] Kelvin F K Low, The Nature of Torrens Indefeasibility: Understanding The Limits Of Personal Equities [2009] 33 Melbourne University Law Review 205, 206. [16] Richard Wu and Mohd Yazid Bin Zu Kepli; Expedition of Torrens system in the common law world and its Asian development in Singapore and Hong Kong ;(2012) 2 Property Law Review 99, 102. [17] Richard Wu and Mohd Yazid Bin Zu Kepli; Expedition of Torrens system in the common law world and its Asian development in Singapore and Hong Kong; (2012) 2 Property Law Review 99, 102. [18] Breskvar v Wall (1971) 126 CLR 376, at 385 per Barwick CJ [19] Tang Hang Wu, Beyond The Torrens Mirror: A Framework of The In Personam Exception To Indefeasibility (2008) 32 Melbourne University Law Review 672, 672. [20] Roy A. Woodman, The Torrens System in New South Wales: One Hundred Years of Indefeasibility of Title (1970) 44 The Australian Law Journal 96. [21] Frazer v Walker [1967] 1 AC 569. [22] Lynden Griggs, In Personam, Garcia v NAB and the Torrens System Are they Reconcilable? (2001) 1(1) Queensland University of Technology Law and Justice Journal 76, 86. [23] Kelvin F K Low, The Nature of Torrens Indefeasibility: Understanding The Limits Of Personal Equities [2009] 33 Melbourne University Law Review 206. [24] The Land Transfer Act 1875, 38 39 Vict, c 87; Land Transfer Act 1897, 60 61 Vict, c 65. [25] LRA 1925 s 70(1)(a). [26] LRA 1925 s 70(1)(f). [27] LRA 1925 s 70(1)(k). [28] Smoke, Curtains and Mirrors: The Production of Race Through Time and Title Registration, Sarah Keenan

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Introduction Contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM) is a organizational function that encompasses recruiting, motivating and retaining people. It focuses on the people aspect, in order to ensure that the employees are used in an effective and efficient manner to accomplish organization’s objectives. It is done through a set of well-designed management systems. Traditional personnel, administration, and transactional roles of HRM are being outsourced increasingly. HRM’s main role is to zoom into how employees can be utilized strategically and impact the business with measurable. HRM focuses on strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurable to demonstrate value. Effective HRM enables employees to contribute to the overall company direction, goals and objectives in an effective and productive fashion. In this assignment, we should look into the major changes that HRM had undergone in terms how its functions, objectives and delivery, from Personnel Management (PM) to its current form. â€Æ' Personnel Management (PM) vs Human Resource Management (HRM) HRM derives its origin from the practices of the earlier PM, which assisted in the management of people in an organization setup. It is important to highlight the key differences between PM and HRM. In the nutshell, PM is an operational role, majority on administrative duties and record-keeping tasks. Not only to ensure fairness in the terms and conditions of employment, companies had who adopted PM, need to manage the personnel activities by department level individually. It is believed that by doing the abovementioned will aid the company in achieving its organizational goals successfully. HRM zoom in to the people strategies, integrating it with company’s corporate strategies, an... ...s an important portion in the organization, which is highly integrated with the core strategy. PM is typically held responsible by the company’s personnel/manpower department. In HRM, all managerial level of the organization is involved with a collective aim, where personnel issues are being taken care of by managers of the respective departments, who are trained with the necessary skill set. As motivations, PM offers employees with extrinsic rewards like compensation, bonuses, rewards, and the reduction of work responsibilities. From the PM point of view, by rewarding an employee will motivate him to perform better at work. On the other hand, HRM consider that by performing better will lead to a happier employee instead. With HRM, working in groups, overcoming challenges with effective strategies, and job creativity are considered to be the main motivating factors.

In the lake of the woods Essay

In his novel In the Lake of the Woods Tim O’Brien paints a vivid image of the horrors of the Vietnam War, particular the savagery of the Thuan Yen massacre. While prior to reading the novel readers instinctively blame the soldiers themselves for their immoral actions, as the novel progresses, O’Brien shows that while the soldiers may have physically committed the brutal acts of murder, blame cannot solely be placed on them. O’Brien depicts the Vietnam landscape as one that, due its elusive and chaotic nature, was partially responsible for the horrors that the men committed. Furthermore, the very nature of man and our innate capacity for evil suggests that while the soldiers themselves committed the physical acts of terror, our capability to commit such atrocities when placed within the scenario of war means that any individual would have been taken over by the insanity of the conflict. Ultimately, O’Brien demonstrates that while the horrors of My Lai are unforgivable, there are extenuating circumstances which suggest that blame cannot solely be placed on the soldiers who themselves were at times victims to the nature of war. While O’Brien depicts the nature of war as chaotic, he never denies the individual responsibly that each soldiers had for the evils they committed while at war. Sorcerer comments that â€Å"this was not madness, this was sin. † By differentiating between â€Å"sin† and â€Å"madness† O’Brien shows the immorality of the soldier’s actions, rather than simply blaming the evils they committed on the Vietnam landscape. While â€Å"madness† suggests a lack of control and that the soldiers were unable to make moral decisions, â€Å"sin† is associated with a conscious decision to commit evils and thus an understanding of one’s immoral actions. The fact that in between the savage killing and sexual perversion of the Thuan Yen massacre solders were able to take smoke breaks suggests that the soldiers knew of the â€Å"pure wrongness† of their actions and yet never made the moral decision to stop the killings. If soldiers did in fact understand their actions, O’Brien asks whether they can ever be forgiven. â€Å"Justifications are futile† states O’Brien – the total disregard for the mores of our society means that we cannot justify nor excuse the ultimate acts of savagery that were exhibited in Thuan Yen. Such evils committed by men are unforgivable and thus, the soldiers who partook in the massacre must accept responsibility for their actions, at least to some extent. However, within a landscape as chaotic as that of the Vietnam War, O’Brien asks whether any individuals could have retained his sanity. If not, O’Brien suggests that some blame can be placed on the insanity of the environment of war that warped the moral codes of those who fought in there. Vietnam is depicted as a â€Å"the spirit world†¦ dark and unyielding†; a hellish environment in which the line between good and evil, moral and immoral and right and wrong had been blurred to such an extent that soldiers who had to endure the war landscape were sucked in by the chaos and the amorality. The question of whether any individual, let alone any soldier, would have been able to make moral decisions during war is one that is ever-present in O’Brien’s text. As readers witness the total disregard for human life that was the Thuan Yen massacre, it is hard to believe that any person, no matter how sane and morally upright one may have been before the war, could have retained their sanity within an environment that appears to reach into the soul of every soldiers and dislodge the part that enables us to make moral decisions. Varnado Simpson, a member of the Charlie Company states that â€Å"we simply lost control†¦ we killed all that we could kill. † In his court trial, Simpson defines the very nature of war, with its aimless shooting, elusive enemy and constant paranoia, as a scenario in which any individual would have been taken over by the hysteria that war created. Ultimately, O’Brien graphic depictions of the war landscape allow readers to sympathise with the soldiers and thus allow the blame to shifted, however not excused, from the soldiers themselves. In light of the very nature of war, O’Brien suggests that despite the atrocities of their actions, the inability to make moral and ethical decisions within the world of â€Å"ghosts and graveyards† means that the evils committed by the soldiers must be, at times, viewed with sympathy as well as the scorn that readers naturally thrust upon them. Furthermore, O’Brien demonstrates that it is the very nature of man and our innate capacity for both undying love and unbelievable destruction that ensures that, while their actions are unforgivable, soldiers can be viewed with sympathy. The â€Å"impossible combinations† of the war depicted by O’Brien reflect the ability of man to express both the dichotomies of love and destruction equally and at the same time – a seemingly â€Å"impossible combination† of its own. However, the very fact that these two traits are not mutually exclusive suggests that it is in our very nature to commit acts of evil when placed within a landscape such as that of war. John Wade did not go to war to kill or brutalise or even to â€Å"be a good citizen. † O’Brien ensures through repetition of the statement that â€Å"it was in the nature of love† that Wade went to war. How then, O’Brien asks, can Wade be solely blamed for his actions when his intentions in going to war were pure? While we cannot simply forgive Wade for the massacre in which he partook, O’Brien leads readers to view Wade not â€Å"as a monster, but a man. † Despite the horrors that he committed while at war, it appears as if John Wade was a victim not only of the war landscape, but of ultimately of human nature. In the concluding pages of the novel, as Wade slowly loses himself within the tangle of his own deceit, O’Brien asks if Wade was â€Å"innocent of everything but his own life. † The more poignant question, however, is whether Wade and the rest of the Vietnam veterans are innocent of everything but human nature and our innate ability to commit acts of evil. It is thus that O’Brien suggests that while the actions of the soldiers at Thuan Yen cannot be excused completely, the soldiers themselves cannot solely be blamed. â€Å"Can we believe that he was not a monster, but a man? † It is with this open ended question that Tim O’Brien draws to a conclusion the enigmatic story of Vietnam veteran John Wade. Despite the horrors that he committed throughout his life, most notably the Thuan Yen massacre, O’Brien asks whether humanity can view Wade as a man who was a victim to the chaos of war, to the capacity of human nature to commit evil and ultimately, to his own reality. The actions of soldiers at war cannot be justified – it is with this sentiment that O’Brien writes this antiwar protests – however there are undeniably extenuating circumstances which lead soldiers to commit acts of evil. While culpability should not be lifted from the soldiers completely and their actions should not be excused, O’Brien ensures that we sympathize with the soldiers as many of them were simply swept away in the amorality of the landscape. Ultimately, O’Brien explores human nature and the capacity that man had for destruction. It is this weakness, rather than that of any individual soldiers, that is ultimately responsible for the evils of war.

Research questionnaires Essay

The ways in which the experiments presented above differ is in regard to the setting in which they are conducted. Some are laboratory experiments that take place in a setting created by researchers, and others such as field experiments are conducted in a participants natural setting. Additional ways for communication researchers to conduct there studies would be research questionnaires which ask participants to write their answers to questions researchers pose and panel studies which are surveys in which responses from the same people are obtained to learn how their beliefs, attitudes, and/or behaviors change. There are particular strengths and weaknesses of each type of experiment done. Panel studies for instance allow, â€Å"researchers to be more confident about attributing patterns of cause in effect in survey data,† (Dominick 415) and they are more reliable. Another strength of the panel study is the benefit of, â€Å"longitudinal observation of the individual through time,† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_study), and the compilation of information at a nice pace makes the withdraw inaccuracies condensed. On the weakness side of these studies, panel members cannot be replaced, so panel studies are threatened by participant morality which means that there are potential problems due to the loss of respondents. Such a substantial loss of respondents can compromise the results of the study. Other weaknesses include that, â€Å"panel †¦ {studies} are expensive to conduct, are sensitive to attrition and take a long time to generate useful data,† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_study). Another way communication researcher’s conduct a study is by using a questionnaire. Researchers using questionnaires communicate via written messages and usually do not converse with respondents. There are many strength’s of questionnaires; one would be that they are not very expensive. This type of research reaches large audiences and allows them to respond at their convenience. They require fewer personnel and can be administered consistently by different researchers, since the same written form, asking the same questions, may be used in exactly the same way time after time. Questionnaires minimize potential influence of outside events as all people receive questionnaires at the same time. They also increase respondent’s  anonymity and increase accuracy of data because respondents record their own data. Nevertheless, such unvarying replies might aggravate researchers. Questionnaires are also restricted by the fact that respondents are required to read the que stions and respond to them. Therefore, for some demographic groups, conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be realistic. An additional way for communication researchers to conduct investigating is by laboratory experiments. A laboratory setting allows researchers to, â€Å"Manipulate independent variables,† (Hocking 206-207), easily, randomly assign research participants to conditions, control for the effects of unrelated influences, and measure participant’s behavior cleanly, especially there communication behavior. Laboratory experiments help researchers conduct highly controlled full experiments. Lab experiments â€Å"are useful because they help establish causality,† (Dominick 416). Laboratory experiments allow researchers to exercise high control, but often, â€Å"they can minimize external validity,† (Hocking 204), because participants may respond differently in laboratories than in natural settings. The last communication tool researcher’s use is field experiments. Field experiments cannot randomly assign research participants to conditions or manipulate variables as can a laboratory experiment. But they can conduct full experiments. This means that that communication researchers can conduct there experiment in a natural setting, â€Å"which maximizes external validity,† (Hocking 206). Field experiments can also establish causality as do laboratory experiments. Wrapping up, the quality of experimental research is determined not by where it takes place, but the amount of control researcher’s exercise. Whether laboratory, field, panel or questionnaires, communication researchers, â€Å"exercise high control when they are able to manipulate independent variables,† (Hocking 211), randomly assign participants to create equivalent conditions and control for the effects of extraneous influences. Bibliography Dominick, Joseph R. The Dynamics of Mass Communication. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2005. 393-437. Hocking, John E., John W. Stacks, and Steven T. McDermott. Communication Research. 3rd Ed. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2002. 200-215. â€Å"Panel Study.† Wikipedia.Org. Aug. 2006. 30 Dec. 2006 .