Latino Gangs in Movies Essay - 745 Words

Latino Gangs in Movies American filmmakers of the late twentieth century portrayed Latinos as merciless pursuers of the American Dream. The Latino immigrants were characterized as Urban Bandidos, seeking the path to ultimate wealth and power in a society dominated by Anglo authority. West Side Story, Fort Apache, and Scarface each portrayed the Latino character differently, but commonly depicted the Urban Bandido as a man in search of money and power in America. Not only do these immigrants fight for the warped American dream, but they often fight without fear, willing to risk almost anything to reach the top. In West Side Story, the Puerto Rican gang known as the Sharks always gets blamed for the conflicts that arise†¦show more content†¦Newmans partner in the film who is engaged to a young Latina woman, pressures his future wife to sleep with him and she eventually gives in to her strong Anglo man against her original beliefs opposing sex before marriage. Fort Apache displays the widespread view that Anglos had more power in a hierarchical society, while Latinos were left weak and without control over their actions and values. Scarface portrays the Latino immigrant from a different perspective, as we can see in the character of Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. He is a Cuban refugee willing to hurt anyone and do anything to gain power and wealth in the United States. He and his friends use guns, drugs, and sex to push to the top of the power chain, while of course pursuing the innocent Anglo woman. Once again we see the portrayal of Latinas as subordinate, weak and submissive to the domineering, overprotective male. We also see the same conflict over loyalty that we viewed earlier in West Side Story, but here the Latino puts family before all and kills his best friend in a rage of jealousy over the friends relationship with his sister. In WSS, the loyalty lies with the lover instead of the family, as we observed when Maria continued to love Tony after he killed her brother in cold blood. Whether snorting cocaine, killing old friends, or selling their bodies, the Latinos in theseShow MoreRelated Portrayal of Latinos in Film Essay529 Words   |  3 PagesJewish girl and Catholic guy. From there on movies shifted from their portrayals of Latino males as Latin lovers to urban banditos. Films changed from problems involving women, sex, and love to delinquency, drugs, and gang fights. Movies such as West Side Story, Scarface, and Fort Apache, the Bronx, all use Latinos as scapegoats to focus the problems of society to the immigration of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. West Side Story shows Latinos as invaders of Anglo-American territory, whichRead MoreMedia s Portrayal Of The Black Age Of Media Essay1393 Words   |  6 Pagesthem in movies along with entertainment? How do films speak to issues of gender, difference, history, and cross-cultural relationships? Let us try and answer some of these questions in detail. American society is made up of immigrants whether the white majority or the colored minority. There are mainly four racial/ethnic minority groups in America, broadly defined as Native American, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans (Zhang). These minorities are underrepresented in the movies relativeRead MoreLatino Community At Risk Youth Focus Group Of Forsyth County1130 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Unidos† Gang Prevention Welcome, to our Latino community at-risk youth focus group of Forsyth County, in North Carolina. Our mission of the â€Å"Unidos† Gang Prevention and Education Program is to lower gang involvement, violence, with providing education, knowledge, community and family involvement. This program will target Latino students from ages 11-17 that show involvement to be at risk of being a member or have affiliations with a street gang. However, all students are welcome. The program willRead MoreThe Movie Crash Film Analysis1473 Words   |  6 Pagesassociated with class. In addition, wealthy individuals were rated as more intelligent, making better grades, and making friends more easily than poor individuals (Woods 2005). Media and Hollywood film continuously perpetuate these image in the majority of movies that are seen. On a daily basis, one has the ability to witness individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each other, there is, although unspoken, levelsRead MoreThroughout The Course, We Have Learned How Race And Discrimination1931 Words   |  8 Pagesmore present than ever thought. When looking at topics, such as, colorism we have to first take a look at the history behind it. In the journal article â€Å"Skin-color Prejudice and Within-Group Racial Discrimination: Historical and current Impact on Latino/a Populations†. We can go all the way back to the conquest of Latin America and look at the massacres and oppression of the people was to civilize the people of the communities that Europeans came across that were different form them. Then duringRead MoreSolutions For The Youth Violence1520 Words   |  7 PagesSolutions to Our Youth Violence Gang and youth violence has become a seemingly unfixable issue in countries around the globe. Zooming in on America, the U.S government has made efforts to keep gang violence under control through the try and failed method of mass imprisonment and also placing more policemen in affected neighborhoods to patrol the streets. Not only did the government help expand gang networks in prisons by using these tactics, but these â€Å"solutions† also made the youth living in harshRead MorePortrayal Of African Americans During The Film The Silent Black And White Movies 2012 Words   |  9 Pagesthat everyone has some sort of prejudice towards an ethnic group. A perfect example is that of the portrayal of races through stereotypes in American films that are being made and sold to the public. Since the beginning of the silent black and white movies there have been stereotypes that misrepresent ethnic groups, such as the negative portrayal of African-Americans in minstrel shows. Althou gh these extreme negative racist portrayals have ended, the film industry still insists on adding stereotypesRead More Discrimination and Misrepresentation of Minority Races in Film2457 Words   |  10 PagesHorsemen of the Apocalypse. Even when films were silent movies, The technology of film entertainment was so powerful†¦ in altering the mindsets and viewpoints of minority racial groups that, †¦one of the side effects of American cinema was often crushingly brutal portrayals of other races and cultures, depictions that spread to larger audiences than ever before possible around the nation and even around the globe(Keller 5). The representation of Latino men, in my opinion, was the most severe and the mostRead MoreWhat is Hip Hop?1057 Words   |  5 Pagesthat marked the beginning of the hip-hop/rap era on a world stage was in 1979, when the Sugar Hill Gang produced the enormously successful song entitled, â€Å"Rappers Delight† (Reese). Rap music continued to b lossom after the release of Rappers Delight. It was revealed to the music industry, the film industry, and the print media (Reese). This was a huge milestone for the hip-hop generation. Movies such as Wild Style, Style Wars, and, later, Beat Street and Breakin allowed international audiencesRead MoreFreedom Writers : Film Review1085 Words   |  5 Pages1992. During this time in America, it all comes down to what a person look like. Latino, Asian, and Black got blasted by those who think they are superior from the rest. Different cultures fight each other for territory and kill each other over race, pride and respect. One of the greatest challenges of a multi-cultural country is dealing with other people from different race. And that is why the teenagers from the movies struggled trusting each other. You have to protect your own and this leads to

The Inaugural Speech By Franklin D. Roosevelt - 1246 Words

Likewise with all speeches, there is a purpose behind it. In the event that it is a decent speech, there will bolster proof for its claims. At the point when contrasting three inaugural speeches given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama, we find that these chronicled moments accompanied a comparable basic purpose, which was to set an agenda for the fate of their presidency. President Roosevelt in his inaugural speech first realized the importance of his presidency, the speech and the US. He mentioned that the thing the US nation needs to fear is the fear itself. He further mentioned it as unreasoning, nameless and unjustified terror which constraints and paralyze the efforts needed to make retreat (Davis, 2014). The general purpose of the speech was to lead the nation to make advance against all the odds. The specific purpose of this speech was to communicate the agenda of presidency as this was the first speech by the president. The first inaugural was important because the US nation was at very difficult point, and this was due to crash of banking and financial markets occurred in 1929. This speech represents numerous excellent use of Rhetoric. His claim was that satisfaction is not reliant on money, and regardless of the financial circumstance that the nation was in they should figure out how to overcome it, as expressed in his speech. He has numerously used the word ‘we’ which patronizing tone to his speech. The assertion on the fears of people isShow MoreRelatedAmeric Essential American Document1356 Words   |  6 PagesThree stand out to me: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, and Susan B Anthony. Franklin D Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech and â€Å"Request for Declaration of War on Japan†, Abraham Lincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address† and â€Å"Second Inaugural Address†, and Susan B Anthony’s â€Å"Women’s Right to the Suffrage†. These five speeches changed America at the time to what we have and live by today. The first, of the five, is Franklin Delano Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech. â€Å"In the future days, which we seek toRead MoreAmerican History : Essential American Documents1353 Words   |  6 PagesThree stand out to me: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, and Susan B Anthony. Franklin D Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech and â€Å"Request for Declaration of War on Japan†, Abraham Lincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address† and â€Å"Second Inaugural Address†, and Susan B Anthony’s â€Å"Women’s Right to the Suffrage†. These five speeches changed America at the time to what we have and live by today. The first, of the five, is Franklin Delano Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech. â€Å"In the future days, which we seekRead MoreAmeric Essential American Document1356 Words   |  6 PagesThree stand out to me: Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, and Susan B Anthony. Franklin D Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech and â€Å"Request for Declaration of War on Japan†, Abraham Lincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address† and â€Å"Second Inaugural Address†, and Susan B Anthony’s â€Å"Women’s Right to the Suffrage†. These five speeches changed America at the time to what we have and live by today. The first, of the five, is Franklin Delano Roosevelt s â€Å"Four Freedoms† speech. â€Å"In the future days, which we seek toRead MoreAnalysis of Franklin D Roosevelts First Inaugural Address Essay771 Words   |  4 PagesThe first inaugural address of Franklin D. Roosevelt was one that strove to lift the American people off their feet as the country entered some of its worst years during the Great Depression. One of Roosevelts strong advantages during his address was his ability to relate to the very real concerns of the everyday American citizens. With pressures of the failing economy facing the President-elect, he delivered this speech, addressing the nation about his plans for a New Deal. Roosevelt made his firstRead MoreFranklin Roosevelt (FDR) Essay850 Words   |  4 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of relief, recovery, and reform that aimed at solving the economic problems created by the Depre ssion of the 1930’s, was referred to as the New Deal. The Great Society was the name given to the domestic program of the U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson. Both programs had similar yet opposing points. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Something had to be done about the banking system disintegration, andRead MoreEffects Of The Great Depression1329 Words   |  6 Pagesfailed over the next two years and nine million bank accounts disappeared. Hunger, unemployment, and poverty was a way of life for most Americans and workers lost their jobs. Almost thirteen million people became unemployed the year before Franklin D. Roosevelt took office. About two ­thirds of the people were living in poverty. A lot of families couldn’t afford things, causing consumer demand to decline. Families could no longer pay their rent and avoided purchasing things such as new clothing, newRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Franklin D. Roosevelt s Inauguration Speech1519 Words   |  7 PagesAnalysis of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Inauguration Speech October 24th 1929, Black Tuesday: The United States underwent the greatest economic downfall in American history. A decade long period in United States history known as the Great Depression. Fifteen million Americans went unemployed, half the country’s banks failed, and Wall Street lost billions of dollars. Devastated and hopeless, Americans searched for a resolution, a savior. In 1933, during the peak of the depression, Franklin Delano RooseveltRead MoreFranklin Roosevelt (FDR) Essay577 Words   |  3 Pagesthan his predecessors won the trust of millions of Americans who at one point had no hopes, and a future seemed unclear. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt, a man whose willingness to build the economy of his country as the most powerful nation, brought admiration not only among his fellow American citizens, but the rest of the world’s. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on 1882 in Hyde Park, NY. Campobello, the Canadian Island which lies between Maine and Nova Scotia in the Bay of Fundy was theRead MorePresident Franklin D. Roosevelt And President Obama Essay1120 Words   |  5 Pagestakes office, it is the inauguration address that marks the beginning of their term. This formal speech marks the first time the President lays out his intentions as the leader of the country. The inaugural addresses often make promises to address the nations concerns and issues. Usually the addresses that have the greatest impact, are the ones most remembered. Consider President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Barrack Obama, both of these Presidents gave strong inauguration addresses, howeverRead Moreap us history dbq1672 Words   |  7 PagesDepression EXCEPT: B.:-) He saw the Depression as akin to an act of nature, about which nothing could be done except to ride it out. 2.Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program attempted or achieved all of the following EXCEPT C.:-) supported the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. 3.The â€Å"New Immigration† was made up primarily of D.:-) persons from Southern and Eastern Europe. 4.By â€Å"normalcy† President Warren G. Harding meant not only peace after the recent war but

The Life of a Pirate by Cady Groves free essay sample

Every day I wake up to the blaring laughter of my alarm clock, smack it, and grab my iPod. See, part of my morning routine is listening to my â€Å"Wake Up† playlist. Some of the music is uplifting, like Group 1 Crew; some is quiet and happy, like Jack Johnson; and some puts the worries out of my head, like Mika. But the one artist who does it all is Cady Groves. This country/pop star started singing when she was 7, and now, at 21, still radiates with musical talent. Her first album, â€Å"A Month of Sundays,† came out in 2009, and listeners raved. Five months later, Cady released â€Å"The Life of a Pirate† on iTunes, and people once again were blown away by her voice and lyrics. Shes been featured in songs by bands like Plug In Stereo, Breathe Electric, and the artist Ethan Gibson. The lyrics of Cadys songs describe both dream-like fantasies and realistic memories of passion that all ages can enjoy, though most of her fans are teenagers. We will write a custom essay sample on The Life of a Pirate by Cady Groves or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Free of vulgar language and adult content, Cady sings of teenage love and loss with a Southern accent. Most of her songs have guitar, piano, clapping, and drums. No  ­computer-generated electronic sounds here; the music is played by her or the band. â€Å"Changin Me† is a moving song about living life to the fullest, while the title track is about escaping the drama and hubbub of the world. â€Å"A Town Like This† has relaxing vocals with her soothing guitar-playing behind it, and the sad but inspiring â€Å"Phoenix† teaches us that we can move on after a break-up. By the time I am ready to head out the door, Im awake. Im not sure whether I have my mint toothpaste to thank or my â€Å"Wake Up† playlist, but one thing is for sure: Cady Groves definitely has something to do with it.

The Concept of Androgyny and Its Benefits in the Society

Introduction Social psychology is the study of the influence of the genuine, obscure, and the anticipated presence of an individual on the emotions, contemplations, and actions of another. This essay highlights the concept of androgyny and its benefits in the society, and describes situations where an androgynous individual might be suited than either a masculine or feminine individual.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Concept of Androgyny and Its Benefits in the Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The term Androgyny is derived from two Greek terms, Andras (man) and Gyne (woman). Therefore, an Androgynous individual is endowed with the female and male characteristic traits. Being an Androgyne in today’s society is difficult because one is viewed as an outcast. If people had a better understanding of what androgyny really is, they might not be so quick to judge. An androgyne is a person who exh ibits traits, which are both masculine and feminine. These traits could be either physical or mental or even both. The society should be blamed for assuming that the male and female groups are the only genders. Some of these beliefs are attributed to the influence of the western culture, which disregards the existence of Androgynous individuals in the society. However, in other cultures, the situation is a little different. Gender is not a choice to be made because it is part of what and who individuals are in various societies. Therefore, there is the need to accept the existence of more than two genders in the society and live with that fact in mind. Society would be functional and better if more people were androgynous rather than being either masculine or feminine because they have a different perspective towards life. They are able to see things from both male and female perspectives. This benefits the society in the sense that they can perform duties from both sides, and this helps to save labor, time that the society cannot afford mainly because their characteristic traits have no gender value (Bem 114). There are no specific situations where an androgynous individual might be better suited than either a masculine or a feminine individual (Bem 115). Bern (115) notes that a person has to be either feminine or masculine but not both. It all depends on the situational appropriateness of various behaviors. Individuals are limited in the range of behaviors available to them as they move from one situation to another. The Bern Sex Inventory theory distinguishes the sex typed person as someone who has internalized society’s sex typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women and these characteristics were selected as masculine or feminine based on sex typed social desirability. Masculine males are thus good in situations that call for instrumental orientation focusing on getting the job done.Advertising Looking for assessment on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Since the BSRI was designed to measure the extent to which a person divorces himself from those characteristics that might be considered appropriate for the opposite sex, masculinity and femininity scales were used to determine situations that someone is only capable of masculine behaviors. A personality characteristic qualified as masculine if both males and females in both samples independently judged it. The masculine sex role represented rejection of female attributes and it is here that masculine behaviors are more appropriate (Bem 116). Feminine females are good in settings where concern for the feelings of others is important. Similarly, a personality characteristic qualified as feminine if both males and females judged it to be significantly more desirable for a woman than for a man. Feminine behaviors were appropriate when the females rejected men attributes. Females are known to be more ex pressive and are more concerned with the welfare of others. In such situations where the community is involved, they tend to be part of it. Females are more concerned with the society as a whole because they believe that it is within their reach (Bem 116). Some images that are shown by the media can make some individuals to appreciate what they see rather than what is real. Research studies indicate that when an individual is obsessed with the attractive images, there is the possibility that one will loose the psychological attachment with others in the society. This is because one tends to think that there is a variety of people out there and this makes one to lack the appreciation of what one has and desire what is attractive in other people. In the case of men, exhibiting visions of beautiful women, this can make them to think that their partners are less physically attractive and this can lead to divorce and separation. The images can make people to imagine that there are numero us attractive people in the world apart from those near them (Levine 157). A pool of alternatives gives the perception that one cannot settle when there are great people out there. Even when it is well known that the women on magazines cover are supermodels, some people still adore them in the sense that they will end up dressing like them. This is one way of not appreciating who one really is and what one really has but instead desire to be like others in the world of dreams.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Concept of Androgyny and Its Benefits in the Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The ultimate implication of the influence of the media on different individuals is that it destabilizes marriage besides making many young men to stay unmarried for long. They prefer staying single blaming the media of their infatuation with the young and beautiful images it displays everywhere. A research carried out by Kanazawa found out that most divorce cases happen because one or the other spouse is dissatisfied with their mate (Levine 159). Conclusion In conclusion, androgynous individuals should be accepted in the society since they are also human beings and the only difference is their characteristic traits. Whether one is gay, transsexual or Androgynous, it is imperative that the society accords them the freedom they deserve whenever and wherever. Works Cited Bem, Sandra L. The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny. Journal of Consulting  and Clinical Psychology, 42(1974): 155-62. Levine, Michael. Why I Hate Beauty. Psychology Today. July 2001. 19 August, 2010 https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/200107/why-i-hate-beauty. This assessment on The Concept of Androgyny and Its Benefits in the Society was written and submitted by user Laila Gilliam to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Charles Perkins Activist and Soccer Player

Charles Perkins Activist and Soccer Player Free Online Research Papers Charles Nelson Perkins, AO, (born c.1936/1937 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory - died October 19, 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales) was an Australian Aboriginal activist, soccer player and administrator. He was known as Kumantjayi Perkins in the period immediately following his death. Kumantjayi is a name used to refer to a deceased person in Arrernte culture. Perkins was born to an Arrernte woman and a Kalkadoon man and had 11 brothers and sisters. Perkins was a cousin of artist and soccer player John Moriarty. He married Eileen Munchenberg on 23 September 1961 and had two daughters (Hetti and Rachel) and one son (Adam). Perkins began playing in 1950 with Adelaide team Port Thistle. In 1951 he was selected for a South Australia under 18 representative team. He went on to play for a number of teams in Adelaide including International United (1954-55), Budapest (1956-57) and Fiorentina (1957). In 1957 he was invited to trial with English first division team Liverpool FC. Perkins ended up trialing and training with Liverpools city rival Everton FC. While at Everton Perkins had a physical confrontation with the Everton reserve grade manager after being called a kangaroo bastard. After this incident Perkins left Liverpool to move to Wigan where he worked as a coal miner at the Mosley Common Colliery alongside Great Britain rugby league player Terry OGrady. Perkins played two seasons for leading English amateur team Bishop Auckland F.C. between 1957 and 1959. Perkins in mid-1959 decided to return to Australia after trialing with Manchester United. On returning to Australia Perkins was appointed captain/coach of Adelaide Croatia. At Croatia he played alongside notable Aboriginal figures Gordon Briscoe and John Moriarty. How he managed to get into University First, he had to get is matriculation, which he didn’t have to get to Sydney University. So he went to a college in Sydney called the Metropolitan Business College. Now out of forty five in a class, he and one other person were the only two to successfully get through. His involvement in the Freedom Rides In 1965 he was one of the key members of the Freedom Ride a bus tour through New South Wales by activists protesting discrimination against Aboriginal people in small town Australia. This action was in emulation of the US Civil Rights Freedom Ride campaign in 1961. The Australian Freedom Ride aimed to expose discrepancies in living, education and health conditions among the Aboriginal population. The tour targeted rural towns such as Walgett, Moree, and Kempsey. They acted to publicise acts of blatant discrimination. This was demonstrated through one of the Freedom Ride activities in Walgett. A local RSL club refused entry to Aborigines, including those who were ex-servicemen who participated in the two World Wars. The bus at one stage was run off the road. On 20 February 1965, Perkins and his party tried to enter the swimming pool at Moree, where the local council had barred Aboriginal people from swimming for 40 years since it had been opened. In response to this action the riders faced physical opposition from several hundred local white Australians, including community leaders, and were pelted with eggs and tomatoes. These events were broadcast across Australia, and under pressure from public opinion, the council eventually reversed the ban on Aboriginal swimmers. The Freedom Ride then moved on, but on the way out they were followed by a line of cars, one of which collided with the rear of their bus forcing them to return to Moree where they found that the council had reneged on their previous decision. The Freedom Riders protested again forcing the council to again remove the ban. His life and career after the Freedom Rides In 1961 when Perkins moved to Sydney to study at university he played with Pan-Hellenic (later known as Sydney Olympic FC) in the New South Wales State League where he became captain/coach. He later played for Bankstown and retired in 1965. He later served as president of former National Soccer League team Canberra City. He was appointed Australian Soccer Federation (a forerunner of the Football Federation Australia) vice-president in 1987 and was the chairman of the Australian Indoor Soccer Federation (later known as the Australian Futsal Federation) for ten years until his death in Sydney in 2000. Research Papers on Charles Perkins Activist and Soccer PlayerHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Hockey GameQuebec and CanadaAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Research Process Part OneMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

Crusades Effects on the Middle East

Crusades Effects on the Middle East Between 1095 and 1291, Christians from western Europe launched a series of eight major invasions against the Middle East. These attacks, called the Crusades, were aimed at liberating the Holy Land and Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The Crusades were sparked by religious fervor in Europe, by exhortations from various Popes, and by the need to rid Europe of excess warriors left over from regional wars. What effect did these attacks, which came from out of the blue from the perspective of Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land, have on the Middle East? Short-Term Effects In an immediate sense, the Crusades had a terrible effect on some of the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants of the Middle East. During the First Crusade, for example, adherents of the two religions joined together to defend the cities of Antioch (1097 CE) and Jerusalem (1099) from European Crusaders who laid siege to them. In both cases, the Christians sacked the cities and massacred the Muslim and Jewish defenders alike. It must have been horrifying to see armed bands of religious zealots approaching to attack a city or castle. However, as bloody as the battles could be, on the whole, the people of the Middle East considered the Crusades more of an irritant than an existential threat. A Global Trade Power During the Middle Ages, the Islamic world was a global center of trade, culture, and learning. Arab Muslim traders dominated the rich trade in spices, silk, porcelain, and jewels that flowed between China, the area that is now Indonesia, India,​ and points west. Muslim scholars had preserved and translated the great works of science and medicine from classical Greece and Rome, combined that with insights from the ancient thinkers of India and China, and went on to invent or improve subjects like algebra and astronomy, and medical innovations such as the hypodermic needle. Europe, on the other hand, was a war-torn region of small, feuding principalities, mired in superstition and illiteracy. One of the primary reasons that Pope Urban II initiated the First Crusade (1096–1099), in fact, was to distract the Christian rulers and nobles of Europe from fighting one another by creating a common enemy for them- the Muslims who controlled the Holy Land. Europes Christians would launch seven additional crusades over the next two hundred years, but none was as successful as the First Crusade. One effect of the Crusades was the creation of a new hero for the Islamic world: Saladin, the Kurdish sultan of Syria and Egypt, who in 1187 freed Jerusalem from the Christians but refused to massacre them as they had done to the citys Muslim and Jewish citizens ninety years previously. On the whole, the Crusades had little immediate effect on the Middle East, in terms of territorial losses or psychological impact. By the 1200s, people in the region were much more concerned about a new threat: the quickly-expanding Mongol Empire, which would bring down the Umayyad Caliphate, sack Baghdad, and push toward Egypt. Had the Mamluks not defeated the Mongols in the Battle of Ayn Jalut (1260), the entire Muslim world might have fallen. Effects on Europe In the centuries that followed, it was actually Europe that was most changed by the Crusades. The Crusaders brought back exotic new spices and fabrics, fueling European demand for products from Asia. They also brought back new ideas- medical knowledge, scientific ideas, and more enlightened attitudes about people of other religious backgrounds. These changes among the nobility and soldiers of the Christian world helped to spark the Renaissance and eventually set Europe, the backwater of the Old World, on a course toward global conquest. Long-Term Effects of the Crusades on the Middle East Eventually, it was Europes rebirth and expansion that finally created a Crusader effect in the Middle East. As Europe asserted itself during the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, it forced the Islamic world into a secondary position, sparking envy and reactionary conservatism in some sectors of the formerly more progressive Middle East. Today, the Crusades constitute a major grievance for some people in the Middle East, when they consider relations with Europe and the West. That attitude is not unreasonable- after all, European Christians launched two hundred years-worth of unprovoked attacks on the Middle East out of religious zealotry and blood-lust. 21st Century Crusade In 2001, United States President George W. Bush reopened the almost thousand-year-old wound in the days following the 9/11 Attacks. On Sunday, September 16, 2001, President Bush said, this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while. The reaction in the Middle East and, interestingly, also in Europe was sharp and immediate: Commentators in both regions decried Bushs use of that term  and vowed that the terrorist attacks and the USs reaction could not turn into a new clash of civilizations like the medieval Crusades. In an odd way, however, the American reaction to 9/11 did echo the Crusades. The Bush administration decided to launch the Iraq War, despite the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Just as the first several crusades had done, this unprovoked attack killed thousands of innocents in the Middle East  and perpetuated the cycle of mistrust that had developed between the Muslim and Christian worlds since Pope Urban urged the European knights to liberate the Holy Land from the Saracens. Sources and Further Reading Claster, Jill N. Sacred Violence: The European Crusades to the Middle East, 1095-1396. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.Kà ¶hler, Michael. Alliances and Treaties between Frankish and Muslim Rulers in the Middle East: Cross-Cultural Diplomacy in the Period of the Crusades. Trans. Holt, Peter M. Leiden: Brill, 2013.  Holt, Peter M. The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. London: Routledge, 2014.

Public defense Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public defense - Essay Example East District of Virginia The East District of Virginia federal, public defender service was established in 2001. This service is organized and governed according to the Criminal Justice Act 18 USC Â § 3006A. The service provides adequate, legal representation for defendants in criminal cases. West District of Virginia The public defender service for the West District of Virginia appoints private attorneys, full time public defender attorneys, and pays for court ordered cases. The Circuit Judge reviews these cases. Public Defenders who are full-time are employees of the Public Defender Corporation. This corporation is organized at the Circuit Court level, a separate legal entity, and funded by the Public Defender Services. Conclusion The Virginia Public Defense System is designed to monitor the needs of indigent individuals and provides adequate, legal counsel for representation. The system that I would implement for the public defense system would ensure the proper legal counsel fo r defendants. I would ensure that the attorneys’ credentials are reviewed before assignment to a given case. Works Cited Virginia Indigent Defense Commission.