Scientology Another Science of Conning Essay Example

Scientology: Another Science of Conning Essay Since its inception, scientology is marked by controversy and allegations, though apparently it looks innocuous with its idea that it intends to promote or market. It has earned different identities in different countries; in US it is a legal organization who is free to practice its religion and enables tax exemption for the buyers of its commodities, while in Germany or Russia they are registered only as institutions. This obviously speaks about their inability to established them as an organization whose activities are accepted in the same light across the globe.There are many questions still unanswered, as to why its founder, after being named as one of the co-conspirator, had to go into hiding till he died in 1986. Mysterious deaths of the scientologists with defamations issued against them by the church of scientology, document stealing operations like Snow White etc. has definitely gone against the image of this organization, as these events have become known globally.It claims to be a stand-alone solution against billion-dollar psychiatry trade of medicine and treatment. They claim that only a proper dose of scientology would be sufficient to handle the problem, and it is because of such a simple solution threatening the conventional psychology and psychiatry fields, there is opposition against it in many form; in fact a concerted opposition from those who could lose their profession based on vague ideas. This over simplification of the affairs might have helped to spread over 25 countries with churches and around 40 countries with centers since the second half of the 20th Century; but this is 21st and people are raising pertinent questions relating to their intention.The Church of Scientology is accused of exploiting on misfortune and hypocrisy, let alone remaining indifferent with the deaths of scientologists who are thought to do so in failing to comply with the dictums of it, be it inability to pay the high fees or be it disagreement with the proceed ings. There are many instances published with proof, which can easily be accessible even through web. This made them to buy a battle with medias newest format: The World Wide Web. Paradoxically, their campaigns center around the word trust, which, going by the allegations of many people, they never tried to earn. In turn, to a many distant observer, they are seen as a money-spinning, power-mongering empire that intends to expand itself under the veil of scientific religion or humanitarian institution. This essay casts an independent look on this organization and the controversy shrouded around it, before arriving at a conclusion.What is Scientology?Going by its bottom line, scientology claims to purify a person by clearing the negative influences they assume as residents in a human mind and soul. It has stemmed from Dianetics (first appeared as a 40-page article in Campbells science fiction magazine Astounding, in May, 1950), a set of self-help theories, which brought both name and fame to its writer L. Ron Hubbard, earlier known as a science fiction writer. Hubbard addressed it as a technology, which addresses and handles the effects of the spirit on the body and can alleviate such things as unwanted sensations and emotions, accidents, injuries and psychosomatic illnesses (ones that are caused or aggravated by mental stress). Dianetics is a compound word, meaning through the soul (taken from Greek dia, through, and nous, soul). It is further defined as what the soul is doing to the body (Hubbard, 1997, pp. 130).In 1952, Hubbard introduced Scientology as a complete package of a philosophy which studies and handles the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life. Greek word scio (knowing in the fullest sense of the word) conjoins logos (study) to form the word scientology – aiming to mean, knowing how to know. According to Hubbard, Scientology is a route, a way, rather than a dissertation or an assertive body of knowledge. Through its dril ls and studies one may find the truth for himself. The technology is therefore not expounded as something to believe, but something to do. (Hubbard, 1997, pp 133-134).Dianetics starts from dividing human mind into two segments, naming them as analytical and reactive minds, then it goes on to   identify a persons mind as a reservoir of clutters that according to them, is accumulated by series of past events, even the events happened when the person is in womb, and they call them engrams (the etching events in ones memory, according to scientology parlance). Now dianetics aims to clear those engrams by transferring them to the analytical mind with proper indexation for future utilization. While Dianetics focuses on mind, scientology focuses on soul, naming it as thetan, which is embodied into our physical being, called body thetan. Scientology aims to clear thetan from the clutch of body thetan! The process starts with Auditing therapy, which comprises of sessions between the aspiri ng scientologist (termed as preclear) and an Auditor, who asks questions to the preclear to bring out the engrams from the reactive mind and pack them off to conscious mind.And what is there in that clear package?A Clear person will:Never have colds or accidents;Have a soaring IQ;Be able to totally recall of his/her entire life, from conception onwards;Be able to repair cancer and other physical deficiencies;Be able to compute in seconds what otherwise would take 30 minutes.Be able to leave the body at willBe able to communicate with other forms of life, and more, and more..!The Good Bad and the UglyThe theme behind Scientology   doesnt answer many pertinent questions about the evolution of thetans (souls), and itself based on the idea that resembles a science fiction story. However, in its doctrines, it encompasses a good many ideas covered by other religions, like Hinduisms rebirth concept, or purification concepts, which is also present in some other religions.There is another pertinent point lies in the fact that it goes on to claim that its ideas and practices are based on proven scientific principles, but it doesnt give explanations in any tangible manner, like explaining the chemical changes in a body or so. Similarly it failed to provide the instances of a clear person, though it produced various persons from time to time, who failed to justify their title.At best, scientology has made people curious about the ways of helping themselves without using chemical supplements and also brought the practices of the psychologists and psychiatrists   under scanner. It is a known fact that unfair practice in these professions is not uncommon, such as falsely claiming the advancement in treatment when it is not or prescribing series of treatment sessions when there is no need for that.The idea that adorns the facade of scientology is no doubt sounds good and positive to the ears of the unsuspecting people, but the complaints regarding their practice pushes th at idea behind, if the media reactions and personal experiences of people are anything to go by.Formation and establishing of a cult nevertheless goes against the principles of   maintaining a conglomerate society, and the modern media is blaming scientology on that ground too – the Church of Scientology   is now accused of forming a cult of infiltration, which is posing a threat to democracy.Overt propaganda with morphed pictures and tall claims about their success have also added fuel to the minds of their critics, and in no time they have come out with the proof of such forged photographs.These incidents obviously raise valuable questions to an independent mind – why an organization claiming itself as haven of purification would have to resort to lies for the sake of raising its image? Isnt it an antithesis of practice and preaching? This question even gets stronger with other evidences lying in its founders words, where he talks about attacking whoever pose as attacker to the philosophy of scientology, while prescribing meanest ways to counter its critics.Todays world is fast becoming a virtual community, where people have easy access to the information and knowledge. Under this state, the accountability factor looms large over any claim that is related to the benevolence of the society. Scientology also cannot escape this and here they are receiving more jolts, which cannot be managed even with the induction of the Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Ketty Holmes or John Travolta to its rank and file; people today are more conscious about what they can gain out of any idea, and not what is being whetted by celebrities as something good. This is corroborated by the million-dollar challenge thrown by a website, who asks any clear scientologist to prove his super power.The much-guarded secrets, however, could not be protected, as now it is in the public knowledge that scientology, after taking its students through various layers of operation, ultimately presents a peculiar and absurd science fiction to substantiate their effort for clearing the souls from the body.ControversiesThe latest controversy with scientologist has evolved out of their charity campaign against drug, named Narconon, where they are accused of promoting scientology under the cover of charity to more than 500 schools across Britain. According to the report appeared on The Sunday Times, dated January 7, 2007,   Narconon is treating the drug victims according to the methods prescribed in Hubbards works, which are not substantiated by scientific proof. As an after effect, Californias State Department of Education has advised the schools not to use the charity. Incidentally Narconons headquarter is in California.This incident is just a drop in the ocean of allegations against the Church of Scientology. They range from L. Ron Hubbards credentials to his motive behind forming the Church. It also points to the statement allegedly made by Hubbard himself th at the best way to make money is to start a religionAllegations also have a long trail of incidents, ranging from suicide or mysterious deaths to cheating and forgery, which led the Church to the court and its executives to jail time and again.The history of civilization contains numerous evidences where an individual or a group emerged with the desire to rule the greater part of land and enjoy the most of the resources. They used various formats for that – provincialism, racism or religion. As for scientology, a considerable portion of the media is citing it as its newest avatar in a newer format.In other words, the rise of scientology could perhaps be seen as the extension of the imagination of a science fiction writer, who dreamt of building an empire under the cover of scientology, and in the process, applied the layers of mystery to its origin and coined new words to stamp its identity, which hooked many people worldwide, before the bubble burst!There are various steps o f purification, and there is money involved to get promoted in each of them; then comes a stage which is closer to the top, when the aspiring scientologist gets access to the story which forms the basis of the scientology, of which s/he could not ask anything concerning logic or explanation.The story   goes like this – 75 million years ago from now there was a ruler named Xenu, who ruled altogether 76 planets including earth. The over population in the planets (178 billion people in an average) bothers Xenu and so he hatches a plan, in which he would paralyze and pack billions of people under the pretext of income tax inspections and send them to earth through planes resembling modern DC8..He does that and more, by stacking the paralyzed lot of people over the volcanoes on earth and then detonating the volcanoes with H-bombs, killing all of them, and then destroying some of their thetans (souls) with nuclear wind and capturing the rest with electronic beams. And he does eve n more. He packs those captured souls into boxes and sends them to huge movie halls to implant his ideas in them through a 3D movie a process called implanting.Consequently, the movie-struck souls considers one another as same and starts living in clusters within the few available bodies of earth. Now they are the body thetans and scientology aims to remove them to make our souls free from them. In the end of the story, bad ruler Xenu is punished in a unique wayHowever impossible or shocking it may seem to be, this is the story that is fed to the persons who reach to the secret level of scientology, known as OT III. Now there could be valid points in believing Hubbards genius for making people pay heavily to read such a story, but there is no denying the fact that there is a section of the society that is growing each day to campaign against scientology – the proof of which lies in the growing number of websites ridiculing or opposing it, labeling the process of scientology as a unique con-game – where spending a huge sum one gets to read a cock-and-bull story with a random timeline, where Christ exists even 75 million years ago, the souls (thetans) are taken to a movie or the conspirator-cum-ruler Xenu is put into a mountain-cum-jail that is powered by a forever powerful battery etc., etc. And how much one has to dish out to read this story? No less than $365,000 ! Yes,   that is the estimated amount which is collected step by step from the gullible, wannabe purified people!To make the proceedings look coveted, Hubbard had embarked heavily on a set of new parlance, like havingness or thinkingness – so that such jargons establish the myth in the minds of the innocents. It works the same way as it works in multilevel marketing which has in its parlance the words like diamond leg etc.; it makes people curious and drives their emotion to know what is there behind the veil. Scientology has so far cashed on in this human trait with a careful ly laid-out trap.It is also common in a person who paid a hefty sum for something absurd and yet emphatically   told that   he actually paid for something precious, s/he would at least try to believe that what s/he has done is right, and this has to have some value. The artistry of conning lies in the ability to convince people that they are getting real return against the value of their money; and this is done with such a clever manner that even if one realizes that one is conned, s/he would not tell it others to save the face.From this perspective, scientology is serving the society in a unique way – it is helping some people to the open their eyes as how systematic conning can work on the minds of the credulous and innocents lining up for salvation. Subsequently, scientologys approach is fairly simple; it doesnt have a manifesto of nationalism or racism to hold aloft; it only focuses on the money of the gullible, who, it is known would either run away dejected and stan d against it, or be a face saver with a sheepish smile. Thus this church in reality doesnt have any agenda other than raising money for it.CONCLUSIONThere is no scientific evidence backed Hubbards theories, nor they intend to go that line like every other scientific work would go: Assumption, Research, Finding and Inference.Altogether, this alluring invitation of a utopian journey and stay in a make-believe world is bound to throw a person into the hard ground of reality sooner or later. This is also evident from numerous ex-scientologists statements, who have managed to shrug off their prejudice and described the process of scientology as something like praising a naked emperor for his beautiful robe –   a matching metaphor indeed for those who are siphoned off   thousands of dollars to read a science fiction as the basis of their salvation program and now want to save their faces by praising scientology as the agent of ultimate freedom.

Free Essays on Commedia Del Arte And Shakesperes Much Ado About Nothing

Just about everything in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing can be compared to the form of comedy called â€Å"Commedia dell Arte,† which is a form of comedy that was performed by traveling groups in the 17th century. â€Å"Commedia,† which is also called the Italian Comedy, featured stock characters which later became known as â€Å"masks,† because all the characters wore masks. There were characters like Arlechino, who was the clever clown and there were the young lovers, who must face difficulties before they can be together. The characters in â€Å"Much Ado† fall well into the descriptions of all the stock characters. Even the plot falls into this form of comedy. In â€Å"Much Ado† there are two pairs of young lovers; one set the typical pair and the other, the reluctant lovers. Hero and Claudio, must overcome betrayal and deceit before they come together, much like ‘Inamorata and Inamorato’ from ‘Commedia.† The second set of lovers, Beatrice and Benedict, fall into many stock roles. Both qualify as the second set of lovers, but they seem to be more then that. Beatrice falls into the stock character named ‘Columbina,’ who is not Hero’s servant like in ‘Commedia,’ but she is very close to Hero and is never serious, like Columbina. Benedict, is much like the ‘Arlechino’ character. He is funny, smart, and cunning. He is not a servant like Arlechino, but he is a soldier, who serves his Prince. Hero’s father and his brother can be compared to the ‘Vecchi’ characters, which are the old men of ‘Commedia.’ They are both variations of the ‘Pantalone’ and â€Å"Il Doctore’ characters. Senor Antonio is the dirty old man, ‘Pantalone,’ who is always chasing younger women. And Hero’s father can be compared to the ‘Brighella’ character as well, because he offers advice to the young couple and he is better off then everyone as the ‘Brighella’ character is. There are two other s... Free Essays on Commedia Del Arte And Shakespere's Much Ado About Nothing Free Essays on Commedia Del Arte And Shakespere's Much Ado About Nothing Just about everything in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing can be compared to the form of comedy called â€Å"Commedia dell Arte,† which is a form of comedy that was performed by traveling groups in the 17th century. â€Å"Commedia,† which is also called the Italian Comedy, featured stock characters which later became known as â€Å"masks,† because all the characters wore masks. There were characters like Arlechino, who was the clever clown and there were the young lovers, who must face difficulties before they can be together. The characters in â€Å"Much Ado† fall well into the descriptions of all the stock characters. Even the plot falls into this form of comedy. In â€Å"Much Ado† there are two pairs of young lovers; one set the typical pair and the other, the reluctant lovers. Hero and Claudio, must overcome betrayal and deceit before they come together, much like ‘Inamorata and Inamorato’ from ‘Commedia.† The second set of lovers, Beatrice and Benedict, fall into many stock roles. Both qualify as the second set of lovers, but they seem to be more then that. Beatrice falls into the stock character named ‘Columbina,’ who is not Hero’s servant like in ‘Commedia,’ but she is very close to Hero and is never serious, like Columbina. Benedict, is much like the ‘Arlechino’ character. He is funny, smart, and cunning. He is not a servant like Arlechino, but he is a soldier, who serves his Prince. Hero’s father and his brother can be compared to the ‘Vecchi’ characters, which are the old men of ‘Commedia.’ They are both variations of the ‘Pantalone’ and â€Å"Il Doctore’ characters. Senor Antonio is the dirty old man, ‘Pantalone,’ who is always chasing younger women. And Hero’s father can be compared to the ‘Brighella’ character as well, because he offers advice to the young couple and he is better off then everyone as the ‘Brighella’ character is. There are two other s...

Preamble to the Constitution Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Preamble to the Constitution - Term Paper Example The term â€Å"We the people† (Morris) was a revolutionary move for the time-frame; it went against all former precedents of naming each state that ratified a document, it cut out the possibility of developing ruling factions from within. (Cullop) Patrick Henry asserted that the wording meant an intention to â€Å"create a consolidated national government-not a system as planned by James Madison which was neither nationalist nor federalist-but a combination of both.†3 If the term â€Å"we are a collection†, had been used, it would have taken longer for the people of America to have a defined sense of identity-one that brought them together as a new nation. Collections of people are always in the process of self-definition, whereas immediately aligning American citizens as one people, the writers of the preamble gave Americans a sense of identity. ... (Hamilton) In writing the Preamble, the authors tried to address the major concerns of the nationalists. One of those concerns was justice: â€Å"In the 18th century, - law enforcement depended on active community support and participation, popular resistance was informal and extralegal—consisting of everything from polite petitions for repeal to outright obstruction of the law in the form of jury nullification and violent mob action. The creation of a national republic led to efforts to domesticate these sorts of activities.†5 By including â€Å"establish justice† in the Preamble as one of the main reasons for writing the Constitution, they were declaring that all men would receive fair treatment under the law if accused of a crime, and ensure all men had equality within the law. The Constitution did not always establish justice; after all, with each of the amendments to the Constitution established laws have been struck down, amended or adopted in favor of citi zens’ rights. The symbol of the Supreme Court is-â€Å"Equal Justice Under Law†6, yet, for many years now the Supreme Court has seemed to ‘make constitutional law’ instead of using it as a guideline. As far back as 1976, this was seen to be a major issue in this country, when this question was asked by Professor Lusky; â€Å"the question whether the United States Supreme Court is still the law's servant or has become its master.†7 The final topic relates to â€Å"provide for the general welfare†, which appears twice in the Constitution; once in the Preamble and again in Article 1, Section 8. It was placed in the Preamble as a result of ongoing concern for economic stability. The framers of the constitution therefore authorized Congress to be able to

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 46

Assignment Example Compared to average gross earnings, the cost of Russian labor continues to grow at a very high rate, it has been the strongest at 20% and over, due to which industrial production and exports had declined significantly towards the end of 2008. (Rapid increase of labour costs in Central and Eastern Europe in 2008) According to the Pew Research Center poll, many Russians believe that they were better off in terms of their economic well being under the communism because even though democracy promised them an equal distribution of poverty, that has not been the case. Ordinary citizens believes that democracy has been beneficent for elites, educated and the political leaders and it has had little or adverse affect on ordinary people. Hence, the negative perception that prevails among is that those who belong to the rural, old and the average citizens are behind the privileged, educated elite, which was not the case in a communist regime. (End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations) "End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations." 2 November 2009. Pew Global Attitudes Project. 7 October 2010 . Lazzaro, Joseph. "Russia cuts off all natural gas to Ukraine; Europe shortages may spread." 7 January 2009. Blogging Stocks. 7 October 2010

The Face of American Poverty Essay Example for Free

The Face of American Poverty Essay Poverty is a social ill that is affecting most developing countries in the world, if not all. This is evidenced by the peoples lack of access to basic commodities such as food, clothing and shelter due to insufficiency of foods to purchase these needs. More often than not, this kind of situation is associated to third world countries like the Philippines and Vietnam and less identified with industrialized countries because people in the latter have more access to a better life and an abundance of job opportunities. United States is a country that could be least likely identified with poverty, however, statistics revealed there are millions of people in America who are living a poor life. This hidden problem of America was magnified to the whole world when hurricane Katrina destroyed properties in southern United States, specially New Orleans. A BusinessWeek article (Farell 2005) reported that the disaster reminded every American of the big class divide in the country. The whites who had more means were able to find a safer place to stay as the disaster hit their homes while the blakcs who have just enough or not even, were left on their rooftops crying for help. They barely had enough to save themselves from the brutal effects of the hurricane. Based on the latest statistics that the bureau released (Current Population Report 20), America, an industrialized country and one of the most powerful countries in the world houses 36. 5 million people, 24. 3 percent of which are Blacks, 10. 3 percent are Asians and 8. percent are non-Hispanic whites. Poverty in the United States is measured by the Bureau of Census using the money income earned by the family members. If the total income of the family is below the familys threshold, every individual in the family is considered as among those people suffering in poverty. There are 48 possible poverty thresholds that may be assigned to each family. These thresholds vary according to family size and ages of th e members of the family. The thresholds are annually updated in consideration of the inflation and other factors. These thresholds in a way reflect the family needs and serve as statistical yardsticks; however, these statistics alone do not provide a comprehensive description of what a family needs to live decently. The measurement, which the bureau uses, was derived from the Office of Management and Budgets Statistical Policy Directive 14. The thresholds that are being utilized to measure poverty were formulated in 1963 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture food budgets initially for families who are under economic stress (U. S. Bureau of Census 20) According to the Current Population Report of the U. S.  Bureau of Census (20), Table 3, People and Families in Poverty by Selected Characteristics: 2005 and 2006, South America has the highest number of people who are living in poverty, it reaches about 14 million and constitutes almost 14 percent of poor Americans. The other regions only registered an average of 11 percent each of the table listing the American people who are living in poverty. Aside from this, the statistics also show that majority of the Americans who are poor are native born. Those who are foreign born and naturalized citizens only comprised a small percentage of Americans living poverty. The bulk of these poor people range from the age bracket of 18 to 64 years oldthe working age. However, the poverty that America defines is a lot different from the definition of poverty in developing countries. As indicated in the research, Understanding Poverty in America, by Robert Rector and Johnson Johnson (n. pag. ), the poor in America are better off compared to those who are considered poor in developing countries. The research revealed that a poor American has a car, a house in good repair and has air-conditioning, clothes washer and cable television among others. According to Results. org (n. pag. ), the face of a poor person in America is a single parent working full time but still has no sufficient funds to pay for their food needs, rent, medical bills and car costs for travel. Results. org (n. pag. ) also revealed that an American who experiences hunger is in a better state than those who are in really poor countries because unlike the latter who really have nothing, Americans still have food to eat the only problem is that the food that they eat is not sufficient to meet a nutritious diet. According to the organization report (n. pag. ), the face of hunger in America is a malnourished child whose parents are not earning enough to purchase healthy and nutritious food and sometimes has to skip meals. The research conducted by Rector and Johnson (n. pag. ) showed that one of the problems of poor Americans is malnutrition, however, this malnourishment that poor Americans face is not under nutrition but obesity. Their findings show that most of the adult Americans are obese because their diets compose mostly of foods that are high in fat. They consume this kind of food more often due to lack of money to purchase food that could provide a better diet. Based on the findings of Rector and Johnson (n. pag. ), poverty is caused by two main factors: the absence of the father in the house and the fact that parents only spend less time at work. The research show that poor families are only supported by 800 work hours per year or 16 hours per week on the average. If the parents spend longer hours at work, then they could earn more and there is a greater possibility that the family would not fall among the list of poor families. In addition to this, the researchers also found out that the absence of a father in the house is also a great factor in the rise of poverty in the United States. Out-of-wedlock pregnancies are becoming more prevalent in the American society and this causes a surge in the number of single parents that are supporting their children. More often than not, the income that these single parents are generating is not enough to sustain their family’s needs thus; they fall within the poverty line. If there were two parents that are earning for the family then there would be more funds to buy the family the needs. Aside from these factors, Isabel Sawhill (n. pag. ) also cited other reasons for the emergence of poverty in the United States. One the reasons that she gave is the lack of employment opportunities among the poor people. This unemployment is actually caused by several reasons such as the mismatch between the required skills of employers and those that are offered by employees. Another reason is the fact that American workers need to compete with cheaper foreign labor. Their competition forces the need for Americans to accept lower wages in order to earn a living and supply the needs of their family. If they do not lower their salary expectations then it is more likely that foreign labor will prevail and complete the job. Another factor that affects unemployment in the United States is racial discrimination. There are employers who prefer to accept white Americans for better paying jobs as compared to the Blacks, Hispanics or Asians. Some American corporations continue to underestimate the capabilities of colored Americans and perceive that the whites are still superior and perform better than any other race. This type of discrimination is one of the reasons why America remains to be a divided nation. Moreover, the geographical location also plays as a factor because there are states that offer more job opportunities compared to other states which only offer a few. More often than not, those states which have more resources geographically and industrially offer more job opportunities as compared to those states which only have a few resources to develop and few corporations to run. Based on the data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (n. pag. ), the region which has the highest unemployment rate are Midwest and West regions registering 5. percent each while the region which has the lowest unemployment rate is Southern United States at 4. 7 percent. Among the states, Texas has the highest employment rate followed by Nevada and Minnesota. In addition to the causes of poverty, researchers (Sawhill n. pag. ) are also blaming the income policy transfers of the government such as the food stamps, Medicaid, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for the prevalence of poverty in the United States. The food stamp program aims to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in the country by providing qualified low-income families with food stamps that can be utilized to purchase food items to complete a nutritious diet. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the average benefit that can be derived from the program per individual is $1 per meal. In order to qualify, a household should have a gross income that falls below 130 percent of the poverty line and do not own assets that are more than $2,000 in value (results. org n. pag. ). The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children aims to provide pregnant women who have low incomes, new mothers, infants and children that are facing nutritional risks with healthy food, education on nutrition and health care access. Unlike the food stamp program, which provides monetary assistance to families, this government program gives food packages to the concerned individuals to meet their dietary needs (results. org n. pag. ). The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families is the welfare program replacement of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children. This program was created to fight the dependency of the recipient families to the welfare programs of the government. Unlike the other welfare programs which only require that the family’s income fall within the poverty line, this type of government program requires the recipients to work before receiving any assistance and limits the period wherein they can receive assistance from the welfare program. This policy of the government somehow lessens the sense of dependency to welfare programs by the recipients and gives them motivation to work and lift their families out of the poverty line. It has been observed by researchers (Sawhill n. pag. ) that recipients of welfare assistance from the government become so dependent that they no longer have the drive to work harder or worse, no dot exert any effort to support their needs. This kind of dependency was staged in the movie, Million Dollar Baby. In this movie, the mother of Maggie Fitzgerald, the female boxer played by Hillary Swank, got mad when Maggie bought her a house because this would drive them out of the welfare system. Owning the property will force them to find a job that will support their daily needs and take them out of their comfort zone. The family does not want this to happen because they have become so dependent with the welfare system that they cannot seem to live without it anymore. This is the kind of dependency that the government is trying to avoid because not only does this foster indolence it also takes away from the government funds that could be used for other projects that would better benefit the community. It would be better to teach a person how to fish and find provision for his personal needs rather than simply providing the fish to a person who never dare to exert an effort. Having too many children is also a factor in the surge of poverty in the United States because the more children there are, the more dependents the parents have and the more mouths to feed. If a family has fewer children then it would be easier for the family to get by because there are only a few needs to provide for and compete over the family income. There are various ways wherein sociologists try to explain poverty and one of them is using the structural approach which is influenced by Marxists and Functionalists perspectives (School-Portal n. pag. ). In the Marxist perspective, it can be gleaned that poverty is the direct result of the capitalist system. Through capitalism, people are forced to enter into a competition to survive and this competition is affected primarily by education and skills that an individual possesses. People try to attain higher education and learn new skills to have a better standing in a capitalistic world and a better fare at the competition. Employers prefer to hire an applicant who attained a higher level of learning and who has better skills compared to ordinary individuals, as this will foster better company performance and more earnings. Employees work hard to receive higher and more promising salaries. The discrepancy in earnings, ownership of properties and the creation of the social strata causes poverty exist. If people are not driven by competition and the dire to strive for more as compared to the others, there would be no discrepancy and all will just be equal—no rich and no poor. However, this will also advocate laziness among the people and lack of improvement in ones way of living. With regard to the functionalist perspective, everything is seen to be working for the whole and everything has a purpose. In consideration of this ideology, poverty is seen both in the positive and negative light. In its negative aspect, poverty is seen as a warning, something that people should avoid due to its adverse effects such as lack of sufficient food to eat, absence of enough funds to purchase basic needs and wants. On the contrary, poverty is also seen in the positive side, a feel good factor. When one sees he is faring better than the others, it creates a sense of thinking that all the efforts that he has exerted are all worth it. It somehow creates an appreciation of the hardships that he had to go through to achieve the position he is occupying. Another approach that sociologists utilize to explain poverty is the cultural approach. This type of explanation was elaborated by sociologist, Oscar Lewis. According to Lewis, poverty is transferred from generation to generation because the values of the parents toward poverty are passed on to their children. Lewis explained that people experience poverty because of the different cultural values that they have developed through time. These values include resignation and fatalism. People who are resigned feel that there is nothing much that they can do about their situation so they no longer bother to change it or even exert the slightest effort to lift their families out of the impoverished state their they are in. People, who adhere to fatalism, perceive that they are meant to be poor so there is no reason of fighting it. They believe that suffering an impecunious life is their purpose in this world and no matter what they do they will not be able to escape it. Trying to pull ones self out of the hole of poverty will only be a futile undertaking. These kinds of ideologies of the parents foster somehow affects how their children see poverty. Without even realizing it, these principles that they adhere to, is already burying their children to the pit of poverty even at a tender age. Once the minds of their children are shaped with these principles, they will carry this one as they age and like their parents, will be left suffering an impoverished life. The cultural explanation of poverty explains why there are many who continue to depend on the welfare system even if they have the capacity to get out of it. They have been so used to thinking that they are poor and cannot do anything about it that is why they no longer strive to make their lives more bearable. What these people fail to realize are the benefits that can be gained from getting out of the cage of the government welfare system. They has lost their sense of achievement and being able to contribute something fruitful to the country rather than just waiting for the assistance that the government will provide.

Macbeth, King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing :: English Literature Essays

Macbeth, King Lear and Much Ado About No Shakespeare writes his plays to teach a moral story, of behavior and love. The three plays, King Lear, Much Ado About nothing, and Macbeth, the parents are very stubborn and their views are very narrow toward their children. The children know that they are treated poorly but love their parents although they have many faults in trust and love. Each play ends with a loving relationship because thoughts about one another is cleared up and they live happily ever after. King Lear, has many valuable points. Shakespeare emphasizes the importance of love between family members by showing how much harm disloyal or unloving family members can cause. King Lear cruelly abuses his most loving daughter, Cordelia, simply because she admits that her love for her father is limited: "Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty/ According to my bond, no more nor less." This truthful declaration by Cordelia leads to her disinheritance. However, despite this rejection, Cordelia continues to stand by her father's side and defend him in his time of need against Regan and Goneril. Now that they have their land and power, these disloyal sisters won't care for or even support their father. In fact, the two are now so greedy and disloyal that they wish to have Lear murdered. In effect, Lear, Goneril and Regan are very much alike: their failure to love family members causes great pain, first for themselves and then for others. Lear treats Cordelia poorly because he does not realize that he has mistrusted his only true daughter. This mistrust comes from the fact that Lear believed Regan and Goneril when both professed their love for him. However, neither is honest. Toward the end of the play, Lear realizes that he has been very unfair to Cordelia, and that the other two sisters have misled him. Cordelia, however, remains true to Lear, as she respects the relationship between them although he does not. Shakespeare expects family members to be true to one another and have a solid trust in each other. Lear doesn't do what Shakespeare expects: he no longer loves Cordelia after she confesses she loves him only to the extent a daughter should. All of his love is for Regan and Goneril because both of them tell their father what he wants to hear: that they love him more than anyone in the world. Macbeth, King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing :: English Literature Essays Macbeth, King Lear and Much Ado About No Shakespeare writes his plays to teach a moral story, of behavior and love. The three plays, King Lear, Much Ado About nothing, and Macbeth, the parents are very stubborn and their views are very narrow toward their children. The children know that they are treated poorly but love their parents although they have many faults in trust and love. Each play ends with a loving relationship because thoughts about one another is cleared up and they live happily ever after. King Lear, has many valuable points. Shakespeare emphasizes the importance of love between family members by showing how much harm disloyal or unloving family members can cause. King Lear cruelly abuses his most loving daughter, Cordelia, simply because she admits that her love for her father is limited: "Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty/ According to my bond, no more nor less." This truthful declaration by Cordelia leads to her disinheritance. However, despite this rejection, Cordelia continues to stand by her father's side and defend him in his time of need against Regan and Goneril. Now that they have their land and power, these disloyal sisters won't care for or even support their father. In fact, the two are now so greedy and disloyal that they wish to have Lear murdered. In effect, Lear, Goneril and Regan are very much alike: their failure to love family members causes great pain, first for themselves and then for others. Lear treats Cordelia poorly because he does not realize that he has mistrusted his only true daughter. This mistrust comes from the fact that Lear believed Regan and Goneril when both professed their love for him. However, neither is honest. Toward the end of the play, Lear realizes that he has been very unfair to Cordelia, and that the other two sisters have misled him. Cordelia, however, remains true to Lear, as she respects the relationship between them although he does not. Shakespeare expects family members to be true to one another and have a solid trust in each other. Lear doesn't do what Shakespeare expects: he no longer loves Cordelia after she confesses she loves him only to the extent a daughter should. All of his love is for Regan and Goneril because both of them tell their father what he wants to hear: that they love him more than anyone in the world.

About the Patients’ Vital Informations

The male patients being dealt with in the case is a 35 year old male who is married. He has been reported to have been involved in drinking since he was 16 years of age.It could be noted that during those years, he developed a certain level of tolerance with the effect of alcohol upon his physical system. Within those years of tolerance, alcohol became medicine-like source of his calmness.He claims in his narration of his experiences that he has normally been alcoholically dependent to the liquor that he drinks until his tolerance grew even weaker that he became much involved with drinking during parties. He admitted having to drink three rounds during parties then later on in the morning, he would still need to have another drink upon waking up to keep his sense back to normal for his job. At first, the seriousness of his tolerance towards the matter has not been recognized at once.However, although he denied telling the physicians with regards his passing out at times, several memo ry problems every now and then, having hepatitis illness, and also having a diminished sexual drive, it cannot be denied that as the years of tolerance prolonged, his ability to perform his responsibilities to his family and his wife as well as his responsibilities in the job accurately diminished as well.Although he continued denying the fact that there are already changes happening within his personal behavior, the symptoms became more and more obvious that it already affected his personal relationships and his reputation as an individual, most likely in terms of his professional life as he continues as an officer in an engineering company.It is undeniable that his personal adjustments needed to be given attention to. Hence, he attended a 28-day in-patient alcohol rehabilitation process and later on continued a three month AA therapy. He was also given a tranquilizer by a physician; however, because of fear of being depended in the medicine, he refused to take the prescription giv en to him.It could be noted through his narration of his past experiences and the progression that he particularly shows with regards his situation proves that he is quite in denial of the fact that he is already having a great tolerance with liquor intake. This effect upon his personal behavior could be noted to have detrimental effects with his personal dealings.This is the reason why it is very important that the said individual be given assistance through professional help. It may be true that he is indeed in denial, but through careful assistance, it is undeniable that the process could still be successful for both the therapist and the patient himself.