American Government Essay Example for Free

American Government Essay The Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia (1967) resulted in the striking down of state laws that prohibited whites and African Americans from marrying. Mildred Loving, one of the parties in the case, issued a statement on the fortieth-anniversary of her case in which she urged that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. Q. Are the two issues—laws prohibiting interracial marriage and laws prohibiting same-sex marriage—similar? Why or why not? I believe laws prohibiting interracial marriage and laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are similar. Marriage is a unique bond between a man and a woman, who agree to live together and fulfill each others moral and physical demands. However, such a bondage between a woman and a woman or a man and a man would be against nature. This is a widely accepted notion. In the Loving v. Virginia case, the judge believed when God created different races and placed them on separate continents. Men should not interfere with His arrangements and should not pursue interracial relationships. However, the ACLU filed a motion on behalf of the Lovings that Racial Integrity Act 1924 and Statutes preventing marriages solely on the basis of classification violates The Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th amendment. This case holds its significance as it redefined what constituted a marriage. Some proponents of gay rights have cited this case in support of a right to marriage. Although opponents argue that this is not viable as the Loving marriage was still between a man and a woman. In the United States, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Americans considered the freedom to choose a marriage partner a fundamental right. The idea that government could interfere with that choice is unthinkable. The case is also significant because it is about how the United States defined marriage. Before 1967, a legal marriage could not be contracted in states with anti-miscegenation laws if the partners were of different races. Thus the case redefined what constituted a marriage. Some proponents of gay rights have cited this case in support of a right to marriage, although opponents argue that this is not viable as the Loving marriage was still between a man and a woman. Randall Kennedy’s Interracial Intimacies, saw that opponents’ arguments against interracial relationships mirrored those of gay  rights opponents. In Loving, Virginia’s Supreme Court justified a ban on interracial marriages by citing religious beliefs. Others argued against it on the grounds that it violated natural order, same is the case with same-sex marriages. the American Psychiatric Association considered homosexuality a psychological disorder until 1973. Marriages are sought majorly as a foundation for having children, the relation to procreation is different in gay relationships. The live-and-let-live phenomenon practiced by most Americans doesn’t apply to this spectrum, as it didn’t apply to interracial marriages before 1967. Majority of the Americans are against it from both the political spheres. President Clinton, during his reign signed the defense of marriage act, which refuses to recognize gay marriages, despite his election platform for gay rights. Also, the lynching of Matthew Shepard in 1998 revealed that homosexuality triggered the same kind of violence and fear that was generated in the past by black-white sexual relations. Plus, a similar inversion of family values appears in opponents arguments against gay marriage and in the historical argument against interracial sex. Casual sex is more tolerable than sex that involved meaning, this stood true for interracial non-marriage relationships and again the same holds true for gays today. However, according to Colin Powell, the analogy of gays to race is wrong, explaining that race is a status and sexual orientation is a behavior. Similar arguments against same-sex and interracial relationships appear in regards to children. There was once total opposition to couples adopting children of different races, and there is still weight placed against allowing a white couple to adopt a black child, he said, because of societal pressures. The National Association for Black Social Workers has said such cases may result in black children having â€Å"white minds.† Similarly, fears abound that adopted children whose parents are gay will be more subject to prejudice, or the child will â€Å"have confusion over their sexual orientation†¦or worse, they’ll end up being gay.†

The House of Bernarda Alba and A Dolls House Essay -- Feminism

Federico Garcia Lorca's â€Å"The House of Bernarda Alba† and Henrik Ibsen's â€Å"A Doll's House† both protest against the confinement of women of their days. Although the Houses are set differently in Spain of 20th century and Norway of 19th century respectively, both the plays relate in illuminating their respective female protagonists, Adela and Nora, as they eventually develop a sense of individuality and self-expression, emerging as free individuals from repression. The authors’ attempts to do so allow the audience to gain an insight into the social norms that each protagonist was pitted against. This heightens the tension as the action develops. Both Adela and Nora are inherently individualistic, and their innate nature is shown especially when they covertly display defiance in occasions of high social expectations. Despite Bernarda’s declaration of a long period of mourning and her orders to stay within the walls of her house and to wear only black, Adela cheerfully wears a colourful dress of zealous green and goes out of the house, disobeying Bernarda, â€Å"to look for what is [hers], what belongs to [her]† – Pepe el Romano. In ‘A Doll’s House’, while Mrs Linde asserts that â€Å"a wife can’t borrow without her husband’s permission† , Nora, whom her husband Torvald calls â€Å"[his] independent little creature,† leaks out her insubordinate action of borrowing. She even dares to forge her father’s signature, but more importantly, she individually decides for herself why she has to forge – to save â€Å"her husband’s life† on her own. The pressure to comply with the traditional societal conventions induces the central characters of both the plays to masquerade. Appearing as an innocent â€Å"poor little thing† to Magdalena, Adela confidently thinks of... ...e whole town against me, branding me with their fiery fingers, persecuted by people who claim to be decent, and right in front of them I will put on a crown of thorns, like a mistress of a married man!† The free flow of words from Nora’s and Adela’s hearts triggers the audience to think about the power of transformation. Despite their initial confinement and dishonesty, both Nora and Adela are courageous and passionate, possessing the strength to pursue freedom; they are risk-takers who challenge circumstances notwithstanding the uncertainties of future. Their choices of self-expression and freedom – through abandonment and death respectively – and the characters themselves representationally express the potential energy of women and endlessly protest for independence of women of every era and culture. Works Cited The House of Bernarda Alba A Doll's House

Crisis Blown over

November 30, 1997 goes down in the history of a Bangalore-based electric company as the day nobody wanting it to recur but everyone recollecting it with sense of pride. It was a festive day for all the 700-plus employees. Festoons were strung all over, banners were put up; banana trunks and leaves adorned the factory gate, instead of the usual red flags; and loud speakers were blaring Kannada songs. It was day the employees chose to celebrate Kannada Rajyothsava, annual feature of all Karnataka-based organisations. The function was to start at 4 p. m. and everybody was eagerly waiting for the big event to take place. But the event, budgeted at Rs 1,00,000 did not take place. At around 2 p. m. , there was a ghastly accident in the machine shop. Murthy was caught in the vertical turret lathe and was wounded fatally. His end came in the ambulance on the way to hospital. The management sought union help, and the union leaders did respond with a positive attitude. They did not want to fish in troubled waters. Series of meetings were held between the union leaders and the management. The discussions centred around two major issues—(i) restoring normalcy, and (ii) determining the amount of compensation to be paid to the dependants of Murthy. Luckily for the management, the accident took place on a Saturday. The next day was a weekly holiday and this helped the tension to diffuse to a large extent. The funeral of the deceased took place on Sunday without any hitch. The management hoped that things would be normal on Monday morning. But the hope was belied. The workers refused to resume work. Again the management approached the union for help. Union leaders advised the workers to resume work in al departments except in the machine shop, and the suggestions was accepted by all. Two weeks went by, nobody entered the machine shop, though work in other places resumed. Union leaders came with a new idea to the management—to perform a pooja to ward off any evil that had befallen on the lathe. The management accepted the idea and homa was performed in the machine shop for about five hours commencing early in the morning. This helped to some extent. The workers started operations on all other machines in the machine shop except on the fateful lathe. It took two full months and a lot of persuasion from the union leaders for the workers to switch on the lathe. The crisis was blown over, thanks to the responsible role played by the union leaders and their fellow workers. Neither the management nor the workers wish that such an incident should recur. As the wages of the deceased grossed Rs 6,500 per month, Murthy was not covered under the ESI Act. Management had to pay compensation. Age and experience of the victim were taken into account to arrive at Rs 1,87,000 which was the amount to be payable to the wife of the deceased. To this was added Rs 2,50,000 at the intervention of the union leaders. In addition, the widow was paid a gratuity and a monthly pension of Rs 4,300. And nobody’s wages were cut for the days not worked. Murthy’s death witnessed an unusual behavior on the part of the workers and their leaders, and magnanimous gesture from the management. It is a pride moment in the life of the factory. Question: 1. Do you think that the Bangalore-based company had practised participative management? 2. If your answer is yes, with what method of participation (you have read in this chapter) do you relate the above case? 3. If you were the union leader, would your behaviour have been different? If yes, what would it be?

Communication Effective Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communications The work of the health care professional is improved by effective interpersonal communication. Through this 800 word essay I aim to evaluate, explain and analyse effective interpersonal communication in the health care profession, how it can be improved and the positives of communication on a personal level. Communication is used as a way of interaction, passing information or even influencing other s thoughts and feelings into communication and prompting feeding back with verbal and non verbal communication between people. We interact with people on a daily basis in ways we may not be conscious of. We communicate in ways we are sometimes not even aware of, this could be with body language, body language is our emotional state and should not be shown in a negative way as this could be misinterpreted, hand or sign language, personal contact, facial jesters and in writing. Only 7% of communication is verbal. Most communication cannot be reversed this means it involves ethical choices, we must think of what we say, or jesters we do and its impact on others. In class we discussed how a thumbs up means ‘I am good’ or ‘I am O.K’. However in other cultures its translation means death. Something as simple as a thumbs up jester could be a huge insult and impact on how you would rebuild the trust and respect to continue communication with the patient. Communication in the health care setting must be very diverse and open to change with the possibilityShow MoreRelatedEffectiveness Of Effective Interpersonal Communication1037 Words   |  5 Pagesuse of effective interpersonal communication is the numer one compliance tool and resource for law enforcement officers. According to a survey, law enforcement officers spend 80 percent of the time using their interpersonal communications, whether its verbal, face-to -face, on the two way radio, writing reports, notebooks, computers, etc. It can be basically categorized into communicating within the law enforcement environment and communication within the community. Interpersonal communication can beRead MoreEffective Interpersonal Communications Essay2806 Words   |  12 Pagesï » ¿ Effective Interpersonal Communications Christopher Travers COM 200: Interpersonal Communication Instructor: Cassandra Daniel September 30, 2013 Dear Lensie and Christopher, I was thrilled to no end to hear of your engagement. You must be very excited to know that you are going to spend the restRead MoreEffective Communication And Interpersonal Communication Essay1995 Words   |  8 PagesSole). Effective communication can be measured by the ability to transfer a message from a sender to receiver and successfully have it decoded as intended. Interpersonal communications include many factors, elements and strategies. This paper will address five learning outcomes and demonstrate how these ideas can be utilized to help people increase their communication competence and improve personal and professional relationships in the work place. Principles of and barriers to effective interpersonalRead MoreEffective Interpersonal Communication1002 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Effective interpersonal communication requires three fundamental skills: being assertive, listening mindfully, and checking perceptions versus reality. Using each of these three skills can help avoid miscommunication and concurrent conflict. Moreover, assertiveness, mindful listening, and checking perceptions all go hand-in-hand. For example, being assertive means speaking mindfully and truthfully which makes it more possible to listen mindfully and truthfully too. Listening mindfully, and communicatingRead MoreThe Role Of Effective Communication And Interpersonal Communication1608 Words   |  7 PagesCommunication in Health and Social  Ã‚   Introduction  Ã‚   In this assignment the tasks given are to explain the role of effective communication and interpersonal, then a discussion on theories of communication and lastly an assessment of the roles of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care with reference to theories of communication.  Ã‚   Communication is the transfer of information using verbal, nonverbal or written, effective communication is important because withoutRead MoreInterpersonal Communication Is An Effective Communicator1624 Words   |  7 PagesVerderber, K, Verderber, R and Berryman-Fink, C. (2010), stated that interpersonal communication is, â€Å"The process through which people create and manage their relationships, exercising mutual responsibility in creating meaning.† (p. 5). To be an effective communicator, it is vital that the person possesses and practices effective interpersonal skills. Over this semester, important interpersonal skills have been developed through a series of six workshops and assessed in two pieces of assessmentRead MoreInterpersonal Communication Is An Effective Communicator1574 Words   |  7 PagesVerderber, K, Verderber, R and Berryman-Fink, C. 2010, stated that interpersonal communication is, â€Å"The process through which people create and manage their relati onships, exercising mutual responsibility in creating meaning.† (Pg. 5) To be an effective communicator, it is vital that the person possesses and practices effective interpersonal/communicational skills. Over this semester, important interpersonal skills have been developed through a series of six workshops and assessed in two piecesRead MoreEffective Communication And Interpersonal Skills942 Words   |  4 Pagesability to influence others, through effective communication and interpersonal skills† (American Sentinel University). Commonly, directors and senior nurse managers are confined to a different schedule than bedside nurses; working outside of clinical practice and patient interaction and focusing primarily on addressing organizational issues, increasing morale and productivity among staff all while increasing the quality of patient care. Effective communication and the ability to influence is realisticallyRead MoreEffective Interpersonal Relations : Effective Communication1908 Words   |  8 PagesEffective Interpersonal Relations Interaction with people in the workplace can be challenging and frustrating. Technology has changed the way we communicate with one another; for instance, email is a preferred method of communication compared to an in person meeting. This way of communication can create problems and tension among employees. One’s perception of the message becomes reality, causing lack of communication and for the message to be lost in translation. It is crucial to develop listeningRead MoreThe Importance Of Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills1264 Words   |  6 PagesInterpersonal communication is a fundamental skill that nurses use every day to interact and communicate. These skills include clinical empathy towards patients, diverse cultural understanding, non-verbal communication and skills used to communicate with deaf patients. This paper will discuss why it is important for nurses to use effective interpersonal communication skills and tips to overcome elderspeak to help minimiz e patient complains within the healthcare practice. To create a healthy nurse