Political Culture Essay Example for Free

Political Culture Essay The single greatest contributor to the way American Politics plays out both within and outside of our borders today is in our rich and long-lasting political culture that defines they way we look as the world and how to respond to it. Shaped by values, history, current events, and emotional commitments that our populace collectively shares, political culture in the United States determines the way government functions and reveals the intricacies of our collective way of life in a way nothing else can. Throughout our nations history there have been three different types of political culture proposed by three different authors as stated below. The first model of conceptualized liberty is a tradition of longstanding liberalism maintained by Myrdal in Wilsons American Politics. Claiming that Americans naturally crave their individual rights and want their liberty to constitute freedom within the law to do whatever they want as their own person, he states we are a self concerning people with central regard for our own lives independent of the rest of the nation. This style of political culture emerged the greatest during the 60s when individualists like hippies and protestors came out against the large Model II type government that strove to provide and manage the people in the overbearing sense it did. Todays culture draws strong parallels to liberalism as well, with most Americans concerned for their own rights first. An example of this is the dog laws imposed in New York where dogs cannot be off a leash or make excessive noise in Central Park that distracts other people. Some people feel they are having their right to quiet and safety violated by these dogs and the laws behind them, while others maintain it is their right to have dogs and be able to run them freely. The second claim is of political culture is the one that was created in the grand scheme by the founding fathers and proposed by Hartz. This perception of liberty claims that there is a collectivist notion of unity among the people that promotes the general welfare of the nation as a whole and not just based on individual rights. First established by puritan settlers who wanted to build a city on a hill with a strong central purpose and unity among its citizens, the concept of a strong government that united the people in one common goal to achieve the greater good became known as republicanism. This concept of liberty is alive today as the populace stands united against the global threat of terrorism that threatens all Americans equally. To protect each other and nation as a whole Americans look to the greater good beyond their personal rights to sustain the nations security. An example is in peoples ability to forego some of their individual rights in the patriot act or at airports to give up some privacy to keep them safe from terrorists in order to maintain the greater good of the nation. The third perception of liberty is proposed by Roger M. Smith who states that America is traditionally hierarchical and is driven by social and economic classes that preside over others. This concept has been prevalent for hundreds of years in times of slavery and civil unrest when African Americans and other surges of immigrants were oppressed and looked upon as outsiders by the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants that formed the backbone of the nation. While civil rights have been passed to make the nation equal for all, Smith argues an underlying factor of racism and inequality among minorities still lingers in the heart of America. An example of this is the Duke Lacrosse Scandal where three elite white males were charged in the rape of a black woman and media frenzy that ensued around it. Claiming that the white males thought themselves superior and able to escape consequences for crimes against minorities, African American leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson came out in force to lead rallies for their prosecution. Another parallel is Hurricane Katrina and the thousand of black residents displaced by it in 2005. Most of the 9th district of New Orleans was destroyed by the storm because it sat unprotected and vulnerable and to this day it remains in shambles with little done to improve the area. Smith would argue this is because of the racial and economic hierarchy that differentiates the poor African American residents of the area from the white controlling politians with the power to do anything about it. While all these three conceptions of liberty are prevalent and present in todays political culture, the structure of our government and the speed with which the world changes does not allow any one style to dominate the rest. Americans live off and pride themselves on their civil individual rights while at the same time unifying collectively to stand as one against outside threats like terrorism. There is some hierarchical dissonance that remains in the actions of many government officials and elite pockets of society separated from citizens of different economic standing and ethnicity, but after the civil rights laws were passed the vast majority of these problems have been removed. This leaves the United States with a balanced and ever changing political culture that hinges back and forth between the three conceptions of liberty.

Effects of the World War on the Cold War

Effects of the World War on the Cold War This essay will firstly consider the major events of the inter-World War period: the creation of the League of Nations, the role of American isolationism, and the Great Depression and its consequences for Europe. Secondly, it will consider how these events influenced American foreign policy and shaped the American response to the perceived threat of Soviet expansion in Europe in the early post-World War Two period. In the aftermath of World War One, Woodrow Wilson asserted that the best way to ensure world peace was the creation of the League of Nations, a forum where grievances could be heard and debated so that war could be avoided. The main reason for its failure was the subsequent American return to its tradition of isolationism, which was caused by the shock of the war’s brutality as well as indifference to the plight of Europeans. The Great Depression began in 1929 and its effects were felt worldwide. It encouraged extremist and nationalist views among many populations and gave Hitler his opportunity to take power in Germany and reduced the ability of Great Britain and France to maintain security in Europe.[1] Orthodox historians hold that after World War Two the desire of the United States for a new world order based on the rules of the United Nations Charter and Soviet attempts to take control in Europe caused the onset of the Cold War. However, revisionist historians argue that United States policy makers caused the Cold War by failing to differentiate between peripheral and vital interests and unreasonably not allowing a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. As the Soviets had destroyed two thirds of the German army to bring this area under their control the US position can easily be seen as unfair.[2] After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia, US troops were sent to Russian cities and despite being ordered not to interfere in the ensuing civil war, they did help anti-Communist forces indirectly. This shows that America was apprehensive at best about the Communist takeover in Russia and this combined with the Soviet policy of encouraging the spread of Communism worldwide ensured that Washington refused to establish diplomatic relations with Moscow. This could be seen as the start of the Cold War.[3] In the aftermath of the Second World War it was left to the Soviet Union and the United States to decide how the new world order would be shaped. Americans recalled that they had not taken seriously the threat posed by Hitler during the 1930s and were encouraged to see Stalin as a new Hitler and as a man that must be stopped. American leaders may have been less willing to reason with Soviet demands because they feared that this would be seen as appeasement in America and in Moscow and would only embolden the Soviets. Therefore rather than a return to isolationism and the policy of appeasement that had devastating consequences in relation to Hitler’s Germany the United States resolved to tackling the Soviets in a confrontational manner.[4] George F. Kennan said that for totalitarianism â€Å"there are at least no better examples that Germany and Russia.†[5] The view that the Soviets presented a threat to America was enhanced by the widespread view in America that Soviet military victories in Eastern Europe were acts of aggression rather than a mission of liberation. Soviet security concerns caused by a history of constant invasion from the West were not recognised and the prevailing view was that after conquering the whole of Europe the Soviet Union would challenge the rest of the world.[6] The failure of the League of Nations was attributed mainly to the lack of American commitment to playing a major role in world affairs. Therefore when the United Nations was set-up the United States committed to playing a major role in world affairs. This meant confronting any perceived threat of aggression directly with the hope of stamping out any threat to world peace quickly and put the US on course for a collision with the Soviet Union. This led to the Soviet defensive policy of creating buffer zones defend against possible invasion being misinterpreted in Washington as aggressive behaviour that posed a threat to world peace. The problem with the United Nations was that whilst it was endorsed by all sides, key differences between each side’s respective positions were concealed. Thus many in America believed that the United Nations would be able to ensure world peace but controversial issues such as Eastern Europe were not resolved. This caused a tide of disillusionment with the UN to follow as it failed to live up to its expectations when these controversial issues became crises between the wartime allies.[7] American refusal to grant the Soviet Union a meaningful loan after World War Two, like that given to Great Britain, rejuvenated old Soviet fears and contributed to its uncooperativeness. To grant a loan would have helped heal Soviet economic wounds and dispel fears of another Great Depression therefore reducing the insecurities that lead to aggression. It also would have given a strong base for continued cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union after the wars end.[8] In 1944 United States Secretary of State Hull announced â€Å"A world in economic chaos would be forever a breading ground for trouble and war.†[9] Hull believed that lower barriers to world trade would help sow the seeds of world peace because as classical liberals had long argued commerce is the ‘main bond between nations.’ Americans saw the key to avoiding another depression as guaranteeing markets abroad for their goods and the improvement in the standard of living worldwide that would follow as a way to reduce the likelihood of future war. Soviet refusal to play a role in the Bretton Woods monetary system should have been anticipated and posed a threat to the American belief that war could be prevented through economics.[10] The Cold War was partly caused by the lack of a common enemy that posed a greater threat to the Soviet Union and the United States than they posed to each other. This is because World War Two bankrupted Britain and left Germany and Japan in ruins. This can be seen throughout history that fragile alliances breakdown almost as soon as the common enemy is defeated. In this case the cracks began to appear long before Germany was fully defeated.[11] It could be argued that because of the inherent differences in Soviet and American ideology, the Cold War was inevitable regardless of the actions of statesmen on both sides. This is because the US was determined to see the spread of capitalist democracy as it saw this as the best way to prevent war and the Soviet Union believed that worldwide adoption of Communism was inevitable and that inter state war would be replaced by class war.[12] World War Two caused a shift in United States foreign policy. Previously, most Americans believed that a minimal amount of overseas commitments and alliances as the key to security. However, after World War Two involvement in world affairs rather than isolationism was seen as the key to preventing new wars. The Soviets, however, saw the key to world peace as staying strong themselves and keeping Germany weak rather than Washington’s collective security and increased world trade.[13] The American vision for the post war world was strongly influenced by a preoccupation with the past. Roosevelt was determined to avoid repeating the mistakes that had led to World War Two and so pursued the policies of self-determination, increased world trade, creation of international institutions and unconditional surrender of belligerents. However, he failed to realise the effect that these policies would have on his other main aim of ensuring continued cooperation with the Soviet Union after the end of the war.[14] References Bagby, W. Americas International Relations Since World War I. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Barston, R, ed. International Politics since 1945. Hampshire: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1991. Cole, W. An Interpretive History of American Foreign Relations, Homewood, Illinois: The Dorsey Press, 1968. Gaddis, J. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941-1947. London and New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. Paterson, T. Meeting the Communist Threat : Truman to Reagan. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. 1 Footnotes [1] Cole, W. An Interpretive History of American Foreign Relations, Homewood, Illinois: The Dorsey Press, 1968, pp. 373-380. [2] Bresler, R. ‘The Origins and Development of the Cold War, 1945-58’ in Barston, R, ed. International Politics since 1945. Hampshire: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1991, pg 1. [3] Bagby, W. Americas International Relations Since World War I. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pg 56. [4] Paterson, T. Meeting the Communist Threat : Truman to Reagan. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, pp. 4-12. [5] Ibid, pg 4. [6] Ibid, pg 11. [7] Gaddis, J. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941-1947. London and New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, pp. 30-31. [8] Paterson, T. Meeting the Communist Threat : Truman to Reagan. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, pp 107-108. [9] Gaddis, J. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941-1947. London and New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, pg 18. [10] Ibid., pp. 18-23. [11] Bagby, W. Americas International Relations Since World War I. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pg 56, pp. 141-142. [12] Cole, W. An Interpretive History of American Foreign Relations, Homewood, Illinois: The Dorsey Press, 1968, pg 473. [13] Gaddis, J. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941-1947. London and New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, pp. 353-354. [14] Ibid., pg 31.

management paper -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Raising the Bar† Cingular, one of the nation’s largest wireless phone providers recently announced its forty-one billion dollar purchase of AT&T wireless. The deal took place on October 26, 2004. The merge of these two major corporations opened the doors for change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  AT&T encountered some difficulties within the past year that brought up the question to sell the company. AT&T struggled to add new subscribers because of a glitch in their new software system. The system was designed to improve customer service but instead it caused more problems for the company as well as its customers. The company also faced problems losing more customers than they were gaining due to new federal rules and regulations that took place in November of 2003. These rules allowed phone users to change service providers without losing their current phone numbers. Cingular, at the same time was looking to cut costs, fill cellular service gaps and expand their coverage area. Since AT&T faced numerous problems and Cingular was on the lookout to expand, the merge was seen as beneficial to both companies. The merge brought about many advantages. One of the major advantages for the merge was not only was Cingular now the largest wireless company in the industry having the most coverage area, but it removed one of the major competitors in the wireless industry. This removal would stabilize the industry so that carriers could more easily invest in new services. Another advantage for purchasing a company like AT&T was that both companies ran off of the same network technology making the integration of both companies easy. The merge more than doubled the customer base for Cingular. Going from a mere 23.4 million customers to 46.7 million customers. The management at Cingular would have a lot of work on their hands. To deal with these changes Cingular management will have to lay off employees from both companies. Many positions are a duplicate of what Cingular all ready has. The top management teams from both companies will have to come together and make some huge decisions about who is goi ng to hold what positions and what goals will need to be set for the success of the company. Teamwork and communication are going to be the keywords during this time of change. If each member of the company goes in their own direction the company will conti... ...highlighted upon through this essay I thoroughly agree with the merge of Cingular and AT&T. The merge has allowed Cingular to increase its customer base and grow to become the largest wireless company in the industry. The combining of these two forces has given Cingular the opportunity to compete against their biggest competitor Verizon, whereas before it was struggling to remain one of the top wireless service providers. The merge also gave AT&T a chance to remain in the wireless industry. They were falling further and further as a company before Cingular bought them out. The merge has had more advantages than disadvantages for the two companies including better coverage, increase in customer base, improved reliability within the company as well as the wireless service, and enhanced call quality. With good leadership, teamwork, and communication throughout the company Cingular can prove to other companies who doubted the merge that it really was a success. Works Cited  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Daft, Richard. Management. 6th ed. Ohio: South-Western, 2003.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kharif, Olga. â€Å"For Cingular, Now Comes the Hard Part.† Business Week 1 Oct. 2004. management paper -- essays research papers fc â€Å"Raising the Bar† Cingular, one of the nation’s largest wireless phone providers recently announced its forty-one billion dollar purchase of AT&T wireless. The deal took place on October 26, 2004. The merge of these two major corporations opened the doors for change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  AT&T encountered some difficulties within the past year that brought up the question to sell the company. AT&T struggled to add new subscribers because of a glitch in their new software system. The system was designed to improve customer service but instead it caused more problems for the company as well as its customers. The company also faced problems losing more customers than they were gaining due to new federal rules and regulations that took place in November of 2003. These rules allowed phone users to change service providers without losing their current phone numbers. Cingular, at the same time was looking to cut costs, fill cellular service gaps and expand their coverage area. Since AT&T faced numerous problems and Cingular was on the lookout to expand, the merge was seen as beneficial to both companies. The merge brought about many advantages. One of the major advantages for the merge was not only was Cingular now the largest wireless company in the industry having the most coverage area, but it removed one of the major competitors in the wireless industry. This removal would stabilize the industry so that carriers could more easily invest in new services. Another advantage for purchasing a company like AT&T was that both companies ran off of the same network technology making the integration of both companies easy. The merge more than doubled the customer base for Cingular. Going from a mere 23.4 million customers to 46.7 million customers. The management at Cingular would have a lot of work on their hands. To deal with these changes Cingular management will have to lay off employees from both companies. Many positions are a duplicate of what Cingular all ready has. The top management teams from both companies will have to come together and make some huge decisions about who is goi ng to hold what positions and what goals will need to be set for the success of the company. Teamwork and communication are going to be the keywords during this time of change. If each member of the company goes in their own direction the company will conti... ...highlighted upon through this essay I thoroughly agree with the merge of Cingular and AT&T. The merge has allowed Cingular to increase its customer base and grow to become the largest wireless company in the industry. The combining of these two forces has given Cingular the opportunity to compete against their biggest competitor Verizon, whereas before it was struggling to remain one of the top wireless service providers. The merge also gave AT&T a chance to remain in the wireless industry. They were falling further and further as a company before Cingular bought them out. The merge has had more advantages than disadvantages for the two companies including better coverage, increase in customer base, improved reliability within the company as well as the wireless service, and enhanced call quality. With good leadership, teamwork, and communication throughout the company Cingular can prove to other companies who doubted the merge that it really was a success. Works Cited  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Daft, Richard. Management. 6th ed. Ohio: South-Western, 2003.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kharif, Olga. â€Å"For Cingular, Now Comes the Hard Part.† Business Week 1 Oct. 2004.

Foreshadowing in A Tale of Two Cities Essay -- Tale Two Cities Essays

Foreshadowing in A Tale of Two Cities    How does diabolically spilt blood and mysterious footsteps become important in a historical fiction novel? What makes these murder-mystery traits relevant? Charles Dickens, author of A Tale of Two Cities, creatively foreshadows future events using suspenseful topics: A forbidden declaration of love, a tragically beautiful sunset streaked with crimson, echoing footsteps of a past that will not be forgotten, and wine stained streets soon to be smeared with blood. The aforementioned events are pulled together in this story of love and sacrifice. Collectively, they are an example of successful use of foreshadowing to create an atmosphere of foreboding and intrigue.    Dickens dedicated many of his long-winded paragraphs to the scene where the Defarge's wine was spilt. He describes in detail how eager and needy the French peasants were... drinking wine from muddy streets, feeding the drink to the youngest and oldest of their ranks. Such a scene may seem unimportant, but, since it was thoroughly described, Dickens m...

Joseph Stalin vs. Maximilien Robespierre Essay -- essays research pape

Robespierre is known as possibly the greatest leader of the French Revolution. Stalin is known as one of Russia’s greatest leaders. There are many differences and similarities in each of their reigns as leaders. Both used economic plans and total war effort as a campaign to further there revolution. Stalin and Robespierre used their revolutions, however, through terror Stalin remained true to his revolution but Robespierre betrayed his.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stalin had an ingenious plan to help his country’s economy get back on track. He called this plan the Five Year Plan which consisted of four parts. First was a plan to increase industrial output in five years because Russia was far behind the Great Powers of Europe. Second was the end of NEP, New Economic Plan, in Russia. NEP was another way of saying collectivization. Third was more focused to the increase of steel production, which they were able to do by five hundred percent. And lastly was his commitment of investing one-third of the government’s income to industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robespierre had a similar economic takeover tied in with his total war effort. Robespierre’s â€Å"total war† effort helped both to better the economy and unite France. His effort included a draft of all able bodied, single men, fixed prices on goods, and the â€Å"bread of equality†; bread that was made from regular wheat and not the wheat used in pastries which were often viewed as â€Å"rich people† food. The total war effort al...

History of The Mackinac Bridge

Since Nov. 1, 1957, when the Mackinac Bridge opened to public traffic, the iconic symbol has stood as solemn testimony to mankind's engineering abilities. The Mackinac Bridge is made up of more than one million tons of concrete and steel. Its towers rise 552 feet above the Straits of Mackinac and reach 210 feet below the waves. From May 7, 1954, until late fall of 1957, about 3,500 laborers worked in and over the Straits of Mackinac constructing the bridge. The project cost the lives of 5 men. In addition, 7,500 people labored in offsite job shops and quarries from Duluth, Minn., to Pittsburgh, welding, forging and assembling steel, mining rock and mixing concrete. There was a total of 85,000 blueprints printed for the construction of the Mackinac Bridge.Construction began on the bridge on May 7, 1954, following years of debate on how to best cross the Straits of Mackinac. Everything from a tunnel to a series of causeways, tunnels and bridges going from Cheboygan to Bois Blanc Island to Round Island to Mackinac Island finally ending in St. Ignace- before a single suspension bridge with two towers was ultimately chosen. This was made possible because of Steinman's experience with other bridge projects, with it prompted him to encourage private financing for the Mackinac Bridge. The bridge was financed through a unique bond sale that covered its $100 million cost without using state or public funding. The bonds sold to pay for the Mackinac Bridge were retired July 1, 1986. To anchor the 100 million gross tons of the Mackinac Bridge, man-made mountains were required to be built in 88 feet of water. The anchor blocks- piers 17 and 22-were to become the beginning and end of the world's longest suspended span to date. The harbor at St. Ignace became the home base for Merritt-Chapman and Scott's marine construction equipment, regarded in 1954 as the largest gathering of its type ever assembled for a civilian project. St. Ignace was the location for land-based construction of the giant steel foundations and bridge support pieces. Decompression sickness, or â€Å"the bends,† was a constant threat to the safety of the divers who worked in the extremely cold, deep water of the straits. Commonly told among school children an ironworker who lost his footing fell to his death. It's said he landed in newly poured concrete, where his body lies today, preserved beneath the bride connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan. While historians say no iron, worker is encased in concrete, five people did die in accidents related to construction of the bridge. One died when he surfaced too quickly, a welder died when he fell into an underwater retaining structure, a worker fell from a short distance into the water and drowned, and two others fell 550 feet from a catwalk near the North tower, according to the authorities. Of the two workers who fell from the catwalk, one body was recovers immediately and the other was never found. Mackinac Bridge workers, like many workers involved in an intense high-stakes project, enjoyed a special camaraderie that they still speak of today. There was a feeling of togetherness, of them all being in the same situation, and of beating the odds. There was also a concern for each-others safety and welfare, with many of the men becoming lifelong friends. A new record for underwater consolidation of concrete was set in the spring of 1955, when work resumed after a long winter of ice and snow. During the 31 days of May that year, 103,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured into foundations of the Mackinac Bridge. A final step before the cables were encased in a protective piping was a coat the wire in a corrosive-resistant, â€Å"red-lead† paste. This was done to protect against rust and corrosion, two factors which could seriously compromise the integrity of the suspension system. The coating was a terrific success, as annual inspections done by removing the piping reveal little to no damage done by the forces of nature. Besides the main suspension span, the Mackinac Bridge is really constructed of a series of smaller, conventional bridges that would span many wide, formidable rivers and gorges. The building of these linked spans took place for the most part on land. All the work was done within sight of ferryboat passengers, crossing for the last 35-minute trips before they would be able to drive across the new route in less than 10 minutes. Michigan's miracle Bridge was becoming a reality. Workers were issued a safety helmet complete with miner's light and a life jacket for the boat trip out to the job site. Beyond that, all they took along was their lunch. The men would then leave the lifejackets on board for the next crew, disregarding the fact that they were working around very deep water that could be extremely cold. The general highway approach to the bridge was being formed at Mackinaw City, where a viaduct took the highway over the villages main street, Central Avenue. The date was July 22, 1957, and inclement weather delayed the raising of the final piece of Dr. David B. Steinman's geometric puzzle to conquer the Straits of Mackinac. That evening, the last section was raised and bolted into place, connecting the steel of a bridge that would tie Michigan together as a state. All suspension bridges are designed to move to accommodate wind, temperature change, and weight. Thanks to the open grating installed on the middle two lanes of the Mackinac Bridge, the design flexes easily when necessary. Wind water and snow easily passes through the grates surface. The completed tollbooth and administration building were readied just in time for occupancy before the Mackinac Bridge opened for business. The last job to get the Mackinac Bridge ready for traffic was to coat the concrete traffic lanes with a layer of bituminous asphalt, completed only days before the official opening. Tolls have always been a staple of the bridge to offset the costs of construction and maintenance. Opened on Nov. 1, 1957, tolls were set at $3.25 per passenger vehicle. In 1961, tolls rose to 3.50 and again to $3.75, where they stayed until 1969, when the Legislature passed funding for the authority and tolls were lowered to $1.50 for a passenger vehicle. The cost for traversing the bridge remained at $1.50 until 2005, when it was raised to $2.50, because of increased maintenance costs, Sweeney said. The Mackinac bridge is the third-longest suspension bridge in the world behind the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan at 12,826 feet between suspensions and the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark at 8,921 feet. Both bridges opened in 1998. At 8,614 feet between suspensions, the Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere. The total length of the Bridge 28,372 feet. It links Mackinac City in the Lower Peninsula. At just over five miles, the bridge is long enough to cause some trouble for crossing motorists who fail to fill up their gas tanks before crossing. To keep the bridge looking pristine, workers spend countless hours and use myriad gallons of paint. â€Å"Every year we use around 50,000 gallons for spot painting,† said Sweeney. Of the paint used each year, 45,000 gallons of green is used on the lower sections and cables, while 5,000 of ivory is used on the structures. Because of an $80 million maintenance plan, the 50-year-old structure is expected to have an infinite lifespan. Overhead highway lighting was installed to make nighttime crossings of the bridge safe and enjoyable. The bridge lighting could be seen for miles from either the Mackinaw City or St. Ignace shores, and cable lighting provided a further distinctive accent. One thing that bridge workers did not do before the bridge opened was paint it. The construction schedule dictated a November opening, and painters needed warmer temperatures before they could begin the big job of painting such a large structure.On November 1, 1957, traffic officially opened on the Mackinac Bridge. A huge story, the event attracted 150 newspaper men from throughout Michigan and neighboring states that included Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Ontario. Only a comparative few of the thousands of people attending the celebration were able to watch the dedication of the Mackinac Bridge, held at pier 22, the north anchor block of the bridge, on June 28, 1958. It was there that a five-mile length of ribbon was stretched from Mackinaw City at the south end and from the St. Ignace shore to the north. The Mackinac Bridge began celebrating the first year it was open by offering the public a chance to walk across the span. The event started as a race-walking activity, but soon became popular with thousands who wanted to return the following year and bring their friends with them. On May 9, 2003, the highest wind speed ever recorded on the bridge occurred at 4:08 p.m. The anemometer read 124 miles per hour.Area: Bridge sparks questions, myths. Keywords used to find article: News paper articles on Mackinac Bridge. Found at the local library. Published in Lansing. Authors are Michael Carney and Capital News Service. It was published Monday, February 26th, 2007. The purpose this source serves for my topic. Gives important dates such as when construction started on the bridge, also goes into detail about the tolls and amounts for crossing the bridge. Michael Carney writes about the work of the Mackinac Bridge. The structure of the document would be an informative news paper article. Works Cited: Carney, Michael. â€Å"Area Bridge Sparks Questions, Myths.† The Mining Journal [Lansing] 26 Feb. 2007: 3A. Print. Images of America Mackinac Bridge. Keywords used to find book: History of the Mackinac Bridge. Found at Public Library. Published by Arcadia Publishing Charleston SC, Chicago IL; Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA. Author Mike Fornes. Published in 2007. The purpose this source serves me is it gives me the history for both the bridge and everyone who helped to build it. Works Cited: Fornes, Mike. Mackinac Bridge. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2007. Print. Area: Model Marks ‘Big Mac's' 50th year. Looked up News paper articles on the Mackinac Bridge at the local library. Published in Farwell. I could not find an Author. Published in 2007. The information I pulled from this source help make my introduction to my essay with just enough to get the reader to question what all I was going to go into detail about. Works Cited: â€Å"Area Model Marks ‘Big Mac's' 50th year.† The Mining Journal [Farwell] 28 May. 2007: 3A. Print.

Islamic scholars Essay

Western philosophy of religion, as the basic ancestor of modern religious studies, is differentiated from theology and the many Eastern philosophical traditions by generally being written from a third party perspective. â€Å"Islamicization of the West†, is the diffusion and assimilation of Islamic culture in the West. This is distinct from Islamization that means the conscious acceptance and implementation of the ideal Islamic cultural patterns by non-Muslims and nominal Muslims. Islamicization is sociologically similar to, though not identical with, Westernization subject to the limits and conditions of imitative- innovative social change. The Islamicization of the Medieval West, occurred, first, during the period ending around the middle of the eleventh century before systematic translations from Arabic into Western languages began; secondly during the age of Arabic translations coinciding with the little Renaissance of the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries; and third, during the Catholic-Protestant Reformation and Renaissance of the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The transformation of the West during these centuries until the sixteenth, passed through several stages of contact and conflict with Islamic culture. The West resorted to various strategies. Until about the end of the eleventh century, the Western views of ideal Islam and its cultural and military triumphant civilization were fostered by sheer ignorance, fanaticism, hatred toward Islam and the Muslims, Biblical exegesis, and relative intellectual and physical isolation. This led to the expected apogee of Western Zealot type response: the Crusades of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The extensive contacts with the superior Islamic culture and Muslims during the Crusades ushered in a new era in Western self-consciousness, and awakened responses to Islamic culture. The highest intellectual achievements of the West during these two centuries, twelfth and thirteenth comprised the imitation of Islamic science and learning. Universities were found in the West patterned on the Muslim universities to assimilate the new knowledge made available by translations of the works in Arabic and, to a lesser extent, of Greek classics, which have been superseded by the Muslims. The main philosophical influence on the Christian thought at this period was Avicenna and Averroes, the two Muslim philosophers commenting Aristotle and building their philosophical systems on or against the Greek philosopher. Aristotle presented to the Christian scholars the opportunity to escape from the Muslim thought as such. Aristotle belonging to the classical past (Greek and Roman) of Europe was a positive complement to the Muslim sciences towards which the Christian scholars had turned to acquire their knowledge. He began a new era by pointing inwards at Christians and their own deficiencies as an explanation for their lack of success compared to the Muslims’ one. He believed the cause of Muslims’ success was their religion, which sanctioned worldly pursuits, self-will and secular dominion. How Islamic scholars first translated Aristotle and then how Western Christians came into possession of them. Muslim philosophy influenced Western thought in several ways, it initiated in the West the humanistic movement; introduced the historical sciences and the scientific method; helped the Western scholastics in harmonizing philosophy with faith; stimulated Western mysticism; laid the foundations of Italian Renaissance and, to a degree, moulded the modem European . The Muslims were the first humanists and they gave a humanist bend to the Western mind. They were the first to reveal to the West that outside the prevailing Catholic Church it was not all darkness and barbarism but untold wealth of knowledge. They captured and further developed all the intellectual achievements of Greece and transmitted them to the West before any direct contact between the Greek intellect and the Western mind was established. It was through their influence that ancient and contemporary men outside the Christian West also began to be looked upon as human and even possessed of higher civilizations. To the Arabians, Aristotle represented and summed up Greek philosophy. They adopted the doctrine and system, which the progress of human affairs had made the intellectual aliment of their Syrian guides. It was a matter of historical necessity, and not an act of deliberate choice. When the need of scientific culture awoke amongst them, they accepted Aristotle. From first to last Arabian philosophers made no claim to originally, their aim was merely to propagate the truth of Peripateticism as it had been delivered to them. In medicine and astronomy, as well as in philosophy, they entertained an almost superstitious reverence for their Greek teachers. It was with them that the deification of Aristotle began. And from them the belief that in him human intelligence had reached its limit passed. Abul Walid Mohammad Ibn Rushd was the ultimate rationalist, the Aristotelian heretic of the medieval Islam and Christianity. His singular influence in stimulating the Western Renaissance is acknowledged as the landmark in the history of Western civilization. Along with Ibn Sina, he is the greatest name in Arabian philosophy whose influence spread, in many directions, through the duration of the Middle Ages, then in the epoch of the Renaissance up to the very threshold of modern times. Indeed, he was the greatest Muslim philosophers of the West, and one of the greatest of medieval times. Ibn Rushd came from a family of Cordoban scholars and was a trained lawyer and a physician; his role initiated him into philosophy. He wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle, and others. His philosophy was in the tradition of prevailing Islamic scholasticism, with attempts to synthesize Islamic faith and reason in light of the available Greek heritage. His Commentaries on Aristotle were translated into Latin and Hebrew. The works of Aristotle and Ibn Rushd in their Latin translations were used not only in the curriculum at Naples, but were also sent to the Universities of Paris and Bologna. Once the rediscovery of Aristotle through Ibn Rushd’s writings was complete, the philosophers and theologians alike found themselves in possession of the greatest intellectual reservoir ever developed up to that time. Ibn Rushd â€Å"the Great Commentator. Influenced by his writings, philosophers and theologians split into two major groups; the liberal, with Siger of Brabant at their head, and the conservative, with St. Thomas Aquinas of the Dominician Monks at their head. The issues for the split where metaphysical, philosophical, and practical. However his critics, did not escape his influence, and their understanding of Aristotle was conditioned. When Ibn Rushd died in 1198, he bequeathed to his successors the ideal of a purely rational philosophy, an ideal whose influence was to be such that, by it, even the evolution of Christian philosophy was to be deeply modified. Gilson attributes to Ibn Rushd the recognition, which became pivotal to St. Thomas’ own philosophy, that nothing should enter the texture of metaphysical knowledge save only rational and necessary demonstrations. However, unlike some of his adversarial Latin Averroists, St. Thomas was not willing to concede that either Aristotle or Ibn Rushd were infallible. The enthusiasm in Paris during the thirteenth century for Ibn Rushd’s Aristotelian Commentaries brought serious questions as to the compatibility of Ibn Rushd’s Aristotelianism with the Christian doctrine. In the thirteenth century, Papal Inquisition against the Christian heretics came under condemnations with the focus mainly on Latin Averroists, led by Siger of Brabant, who was suspected of subscribing to the double-truth doctrine. Ibn Rushd himself did not subscribe to such a thesis, it is doubtful, according to Gilson, and other medievalists that even Siger himself did so. This doctrine, however, was a godsend for the scientifically minded people in the West, who were condemned and persecuted by the Church and the State. They found their best support in this and other â€Å"Averroisms†. The Ibn Rushd’s Aristotelian commentaries and his own contributions rapidly became the ruling mode of social thought in the West. Scholars of medieval Europe were provoked and inspired by Ibn Rushd’s writings. Whereas some Muslim scholastics and their Latin successors tried to â€Å"Islamise† and â€Å"Christianise† Hellenism, Ibn Rushd’s commentaries and rationalism seemed to excessively â€Å"Hellenise† Islam and Christianity. Thus, his Muslim contemporaries persecuted him while Muslim posterity almost ignored him, allowing his works to be lost. However, Jews preserved many of them. In Latin Christianity, the commentaries were translated into Latin from the Hebrew, fed the heresies of Siger of Brabant and the rationalism of the Italian school of Padua, and threatened the foundations of Christianity. St. Thomas recognized that some parts of religion were beyond reason and must be accepted by faith alone. The aim of his life was to reconcile Aristotelianism and Muslim knowledge with Christian theology and Thomas Aquinas was led to write his document to halt the threatened liquidation of Christian theology by Arabic interpretations of Aristotle. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Latin orientated-Averroism had far-reaching consequences for medieval and modern social thought, hardly foreseeable by the medieval scholastics. It established a tradition in which it became possible to question the status of religion and from the end of the twelfth century to the end of the sixteenth century Averroism remained the dominant school of thought, in spite of the orthodox reaction it created first among the Muslims in Spain and then among the Talmudists, and finally, among the Christian clergy. These centuries witnessed revolutions in the evolution of social thought, with medieval Islamic sources always providing the background. As the Greek heritage â€Å"had aroused the great age of Arabic science and philosophy, so now it would excite the European mind and inquiry and speculation would crack stone after stone of that majestic edifice to bring this collapse of the medieval system in the fourteenth century, and the beginnings of modern philosophy in the ardor of the Renaissance . The results were monumental in Western history. It is suggested that Harold Nebelsick puts it well. He discusses the achievements of the Arab-Islamic scholars and how they appropriated, appreciated and preserved Greek classical learning and built upon it and thus, laid the foundations for a quite unprecedented revival of learning in Europe, and the results were the Renaissance in the thirteenth century, the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, and eventually the rise of modern science in the seventeenth. Even in our own time the contributions of those scholars, in the world of Islam and in the Christian West, represent the source of the most beneficent form of intellectual enlightenment. For Ibn Rushd, the primacy of reason is unquestioned but compatible with faith, and for this Gilson regards him as the herald of rationalism long before the Renaissance. In his Harmony of Philosophy and Religion, which was not available to St. Thomas, Siger of Brabant or their contemporaries in Latin, Ibn Rushd maintains a position which may be called the harmony of truth, philosophical and theological. Thus, philosophical truth, although superior to religious truth, is not really incompatible with, or even different, from it. The only difference is the path to truth philosophical and the theological. The Islamicisation of intellectual culture in Spain as early as the ninth century was described by Alvaro, a contemporary Cordovian bishop, the Christians loved to read the poems and romances of the Arabs, theologians and philosophers. Young Christians read and studied with enthusiasm the Arab books, and gathered immense libraries at great expense and despised the Christian literature as unworthy of attention. This refinement of life gradually spread northwards from Spain and Sicily. The experiences of the Crusaders in Islamic lands doubtless contributed something to the spread of Arab culture in Western Europe. The notion of â€Å"the miracle of Arabic science† circulated most unfortunately by Sarton, the Historian of medieval science, is false. The explanation of the â€Å"phenomenon† of the sudden birth of Islamic science lays down in the living Islamic ethos of those times; its dogmas and its gamut of culture; the all- pervading Islamic law which forged strong bonds of social co-operation among the Muslims, and between the Muslims and non-Muslims, citizens and resident aliens of the vast Islamic society of bewildering religious, ideological, national, racial and linguistic diversity. This Islamic ethos in action rekindled the dying members of the pre-Quranic ancient sciences and worldwide civilization. These mechanisms operate only in a cultural and political milieu of propitious dogmas, laws, values, cosmological doctrines, attitudes and efforts, all of which existed in the progressive period of medieval Islamic civilization. Conclusion Muslims gave a humanist bend to the Western mind. They revealed to the West that outside the prevailing catholic church it was not all darkness and barbarism but immense wealth of knowledge. Before any direct contact between the Greek intellect and the Western mind was established, Arabs had captured and further developed all the intellectual achievements of Greece. It was also due to their influence that men outside the Christian West began to be considered as human and even possessors of higher civilizations. The Muslims absorbed the best in the existing sciences and civilizations consistent with Islam and developed them, thanks to the intensely developed Islamic consciousness and conditioning, based on a remarkable Islamic system of education. There was great flexibility in horizontal and vertical mobility of people as nationalistic and hedonistic evils were held in check. Prerequisites for science and civilization were there: invention and innovation based on original thought; social mindedness and utilitarianism of individual efforts as well as in the organization of state and its educational and other programs; political stability, the rule of law and constitutionalism. All these mechanisms and conditions are necessary for the genesis, development, diffusion and application of science and technology. This fact of medieval Islamicization of the West needs to be fully researched, accepted and incorporated in specialized works and in the teaching materials of schools and colleges around the world. The consequences of this will be far reaching in understanding the socio-cultural rejuvenation and modernization of the developing nations, in building up a genuine and universally acceptable theory of social action, and in ridding sociology of ethnocentrism; in removing the burdens of historical romanticism and apologetics imposed upon the underdeveloped nations and suppressed minorities as a reaction to the cultural arrogance of nations and ethnic groups which are highly developed today but had their own dark ages at some other time and in promoting international understanding and co-operation for development and world peace. As a whole, various possible relationships between ideas of Muslim scholars, Greek philosophy and Christianity hence scholastics’ stand towards borrowing without acknowledgement or rejection Muslim scholars tried to interpret Greek ideas to establish a synthesis if possible. Otherwise, they criticized and refuted them. Since Christianity also faced the same problems, scholastic scholars borrowed those arguments, if they found them favorable in their case also, without acknowledgement. In this category generally come philosophical and metaphysical ideas Thomas Aquinas was led to write his Summa to halt the threatened liquidation of Christian theology by Arabic interpretations of Aristotle’ ‘Indeed the industry of Aquinas was due not to love of Aristotle but to fear of Averroes’. . It was an acknowledgement but with ill intention. Such references are not uncommon even in the contemporary texts that fully ignore Muslim scholars’ contributions to economic thought; scholastics borrowed without hesitation and preferred to refer to Greek scholars if they felt such a need. There was a spontaneous and determined general agreement about what to take and what to reject; what was taken was always either culturally common, or culturally neutral. The body of scientific knowledge was culturally neutral. Its cultural bearings were easily absorbed, because they were part of the common inheritance of the Arab world and of Europe. In times that are more recent a large number of Western scholars, together with Muslim scholars writing in Western languages, have been bringing out the diffusion of Islamic science, philosophy, and other aspects of Islamic culture in medieval West. However, such researches have not been incorporated in the Western education system and culture, in the manner and to the extent necessary for fostering the proper appreciation of the ideal and historical patterns of Islamic culture. Therefore, the West portends and strives for Westernization of the Muslim world because of what is considered to be the backwardness of contemporary Muslim behavioral culture pattern and the denial of the existence and validity of ideal Islamic culture pattern. Therefore, we can see the reactionary Muslim responses through polemics, xenophobia, historical romanticism, zealotism, fanaticism, extremism, even terrorism. This is in fact very different from the creative adaptation indispensable for contemporary rejuvenation. The consequences of the denial, falsification and neglect of this historical fact have been extremely serious: the denigration of Islam in the eyes of Muslims and non-Muslims; the identification of Islam and its culture with ignorance and backwardness and of â€Å"modernity† and progress with Western civilization; the creation of xenophobia and arrogance in Western mind, and the perpetration of ideological and politico- economic. Western imperialism against Muslim people; the imposition of an inferiority complex among Western educated â€Å"modern† Muslims, and the bitter social and political cleavages between the â€Å"modern† and the â€Å"traditional† Muslim elites. 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