The Costs of Racism Essay -- Essays Papers

The Costs of Racism The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines racism as â€Å"a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.† Racism is one of the deepest stains on the pages of American history. What began as feelings among whites of being superior to blacks turned into possibly the worst phenomenon the United States ever dealt with. Even 100 years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, many white people were still treating blacks atrociously. It took many decades before blacks were granted truly equal rights that white Americans were given. In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she discusses growing up in Mississippi. She writes about her memories of childhood, high school, college, and finally her courageous work in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Moody offers readers a startling and remarkable story of he r life. She also gives great insight into the effects of racism on the victims of it, on those who practice it, and the effects on American society. The effects of racism on the victims differed depending on age and whether or not a person would withstand the abuse. Moody makes these connections in her book by realizing that when the civil rights movement picked up in the 1960s, older blacks usually remained dormant and never stood up for themselves by speaking out against the abuse they received. In contrast, younger black Americans, notably teenagers, were more likely to be fearless and take part in the Movement. This theme can be seen throughout the whole book, from when Anne was a young girl and never understood why her mother co... ...any whites could have believed so strongly that blacks were inferior to them, so mediocre that they would treat them like animals and murder them in cold blood. But this is a problem that still occurs today, though in a lesser form, and it is important to study our past in effort to keep from repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. By reading things such as Anne Moody’s autobiography, we can get an inside view into what really took place in the South, and we can be inspired by people like Moody who stood up to it. The negativities of racism against blacks taught us important lessons about ethics and how humans should treat each other because we can see the effects it had on people less than 50 years ago. And if we learn from the mistakes of our ancestors and move away from their supremacist ideals, then as the freedom song in Coming of Age goes, â€Å"we shall overcome.†

The Artist as a Critic

Oscar Wilder's The Artist as Critic revolves around a debate Gilbert and Ernest discuss over art criticism and analysis. Ernest argues â€Å"that in the best days of art there we no art critics. † (Wilder 346). Whereas Gilbert reasons that â€Å"it (art criticism) treats the work of art simply as a starting-point for a new creation† (Wilder 367). Sadly, Ernest's blatant ignorance is unable to comprehend that without art criticism, there would be no art to truly value.Wilde's quote means that in order to hold art of all fields at a high prestige, we need critical structure and recognition of historical/political context to support art in order to admire the pure beauty within its relative expertise. â€Å"To know the principles of the highest art is to know the principles of the arts† (Wilder 354). Therefore, the cruciality of art criticism responds to the interpretation of meaning and focus on the current culture and time period, overall helping viewers perceive and analyze artworks to gain further knowledge and respect for such creations. Without the critical faculty, there is no artistic creation at all, worthy of name†¦ and no one who does not possess this critical faculty can create anything at all in art. † (Wilder 355) Gilbert sais this to Ernest arguing over the use of art criticism from the Greeks. Gilbert means that without a basic structure of skills and fundamental elements relevant to the expertise, there is no precision of craft. What makes fine art beautiful, worth listening and compelling is highly contingent upon the mastery of key skills and artistic components.If an opera singer didn't know how to differentiate their use of breath during lyric or coloratura repertoire, they would not be able to get through any piece or art song. Instead, they would sound breathy and toneless throughout the phrases, who wants to hear that? Likewise, if a writer has no sense of plot flow, character development, or interesting them es within a story, there is no point in wasting your time reading through a painful piece of literature.All art forms are developed under a certain skill which require dedicated competence and applied faculty. Art critics simply keep artists in check by maintaining a certain level expectation to reach for and continue to advance artistic creations. Negative art criticism does not always apply to the lack of faculty skills. In Amiri Baraka's poem Somebody Blew Up America, released a year after the anniversary of 9/11, he executed a highly controversial piece of writing that was a accused of racism and hatred against Jews, Israelis, and American leaders.The bigoted public treated his work as a literal translation of his opinions and beliefs, when his intentions were to create an ultimate allegoric poem to open the eyes of our country that was unaware of political schemes and inhumane manipulation of our government that was thought to have led to the events of 9/11. Despite such a disp ute perhaps liable from governmental course of action, 9/11 was still a fresh wound upon our country that was no where close to recovery due to such loss and tragic deaths.Baraka's poem hit too close to home at the time, people did not want to listen to his radical accusations and unpatriotic rambling about our country getting bombed. â€Å"The public's inability to see the poem for what it really is, a high rhetorical statement expressing the writer's ideological investments, signifies a profound lack of understanding of the nature of poetic art—a lack which can be explained by any number of cultural, historical, and institutional factors. (Gwiazda 16) Baraka's Somebody Blew Up America was a powerful poem that should be praised for its thunderous diction and expertise of faculty. Instead he was removed from the national position as the Poet Laureate of New Jersey because the people of country could not comprehend such controversial context within his poem, they took his wor ds too literally instead of a representation of political activist art. â€Å"The sheer multitude of these questions might indeed produce in the reader the suspicion of a global conspiracy of oppressors against oppressed, privileged against unprivileged, have against have-nots.Through its relentless accumulation of imperialist wrongs â€Å"Somebody Blew up America† achieves a compelling rhetorical effect. † (Gwiazda 10) Such an example of Baraka's failure of a poem provides the essential requirement to utilize analytical techniques within political and cultural contexts to ensure further comprehension and appreciation of a valid work of art. Reading the poems in class by Chrystos instilled an influential awareness I e about how the power of poetry can reach people and activate mindsets through a strategic voice of force. As graphic as her poems are, they do not serve as aesthetic platforms that deliver you to your happy place, her work of art leaves a prominent message that is conducive towards delivering a strong testimony about her cultural and spiritual hardships. She opens the mind of the reader and draws a raw picture of her experiences and torments as a native in this intolerant country we call America.Such art that tears at the soul and depicts unpleasant imagery is a powerful form of activist art by bringing awareness to the people about violence and inequities upon Natives, often been covered up by white supremacist governmental officials. Art does not have to be beautiful to convey an influential message, in fact, art in its most vulnerable and raw form reaches the audience by leaving an relevant feeling emotional, effectively capturing a great amount of attention. The ethical effect of art, its importance to culture, and its place in the formation of character, had been done once for all by Plato; but here we have art treated, not from moral, but from the purely aesthetic point of view. † (Wilder 352) Understanding the elements t hat create such dramatic pieces of art enable the art critic to take in historical and political contexts to further establish an opinionated analysis of the work.Unlike Baraka's hostile reviews of â€Å"Somebody Blew Up America†, Chrystos poems were well received, less radical and primarily focused on revolving themes of oppression and discrimination. In conclusion, critical faculty and fundamental elements are essential to analyzing a work of art. The world needs art criticism in order to truly value a mastery of skills relevant to the field. With the foundation of art criticism we can further the creations of great art to aspire to and behold its greatness.

corruption the international evolution Essay - 1537 Words

CASE N °2  « Corruption: The international evolution of new management challenges â€Å" School year 2013 - 2014 Introduction Since the phenomenon of globalization, companies that decided to broaden their horizons have to face multiple challenges and their management functions need some adaptations. While going abroad, companies may become concerned with the subject of corruption that makes the business with foreign countries even more complicated. Even if there is a willingness to fight and reduce the corruption across the world, companies must be aware that this subject exists and must take it into account while dealing with foreign companies, their efforts to understand and adapt to local corruption influencing their success of†¦show more content†¦In order to draw that line companies should look at three different aspects. First, the international laws about gifts and bribes must be carefully analysed. Second, companies should gather information in regard to what is permitted by the local culture. Last but not least, companies must look carefully at their CSR strategy in order to see which kind of gifts there are ready to accept in order to be in line with their core values. After analysing those three aspects, companies will be able to draw a line between gifts and bribes, using an ethical relativism or an ethical absolutism (Bricoe, Schuler and Tarique, 2012). This list must be integrated to a gift policy (anti-corruption code; see Appendix 2) that must to be well communicated, accepted and used by all members of the company. In top of that, the company should put in place controls system in order to check if the anti-corruption code is respected. The role of the international human resources management function is therefore crucial. The IHRM function needs to understand the different cultures the company is dealing with, to tolerate the cultural diversity while avoiding moral recklessness. This will ask the managers to conduct deep researches about the cultural differences and to train people concerning the anti-corruption code. Are donations to politicians and political parties a form of corruption? Should donations be prohibited? Donations to politicians and political parties appears inShow MoreRelatedCorruption Is A Big Cause Of Corruption856 Words   |  4 PagesThe topic I chose for my research paper is corruption in Africa. Corruption is one of the most deadly, wicked and immoral evil that endures in the society. Corruption is a toxic which has been meal in the mind of erroneous people in the society. 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