Thursday, January 30, 2020

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Essay Example for Free

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Essay In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act establishing gaming on Indian reservations as a means of helping tribes become self-sufficient and less dependent on government dole-outs. Donald Bartlett and James B. Steele co-wrote an article which appeared in Time magazine on December 16, 2002 entitled â€Å"Wheel of Misfortune† negatively criticizing the consequences of instituting the said Act. A day later, the Native American Times published an editorial which contains dissenting arguments against the first article. According to Bartlett and Steele, the major defect of the Act is the unequal redistribution of profits derived from gaming in the reserves: â€Å"It gives billions of dollars to the white backers of Indian businesses and nothing to hundred of Native Americans living in poverty†¦hundreds of millions of dollars to one Indian tribe with a few dozen numbers—and not a penny to a tribe with hundreds of thousands of members†¦(78)† The bulk of the essay expounds and provides evidence to these assertions. It also points to the fact that while these tribes earn tax-free revenues, they continue to collect millions in government aid. The Native American Times editorial, meanwhile, accuses the Time magazine article as simply a piece that â€Å"fan the flames of racism with lies (â€Å"Indian Gaming† 84)† and proceeds to either refute or justify the points raised of the latter. Bartlett and Steele claim that only a few Indians are benefiting financially from the Native-American gaming industry thus defeating the purpose of the act, which is to raise the average Native American out of poverty. At the same time, a high percentage of the profits from these lucrative casinos go to the wealthy leaders of tribes. The editorial counters this argument by stating that there are varied reasons why some tribes do well than others. It cites the case of Oklahoma, home to more Native Americans than any other state. The state prohibits Class III gambling thus preventing an opportunity for the Native Americans in Oklahoma from realizing the Congressional Act. Today tribes continue to â€Å"fight with every resource available to them to hold off those who would send them back to the metaphoric reservation (â€Å"Indian Gaming 85). † The editorial also praises the success story of the Shakopee tribe which the Time magazine article derides. The success is well-deserved, according to the editorial, since this group has experienced one of the most harrowing histories of violence inflicted against Native Americans. For all its passionate defense and criticism of the Time magazine article, the editorial of the Native American Times does not touch on the other issues raised by the former like cronyism among the tribal leaders, the involvement of white Americans behind the casino operations, and the applications for recognition by extinct tribes that suddenly resurrects because of the business opportunity. Then again, the former is a lengthier and more detailed presentation complete with figures and facts, in keeping also with its being an investigative article. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the editorial does not need to refute the Time magazine article point by point and that its entire argument is summed up when the editorial writer states that the reason why people like Bartlett and Steele are being too critical about the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is because â€Å"the thought of rich Indians is against nature we can only assume (85). Inequality, anomalies, and other issues about the Native American and their casinos may exist but they are no different to those in regular gaming industries. Despite some wealthy members, Native Americans are still the poorest and most victimized people in America.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Beats as a counterculture Essay -- essays research papers

The Beats As A Counterculture Many of the Beat writers wrote in a style known as spontaneous prose. Allen Ginsberg often writes in this style. He does so in the poem â€Å"Howl† in which he rants and raves about society via his friends – Jack Kerouac, Willaim S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlingetti, and Neil Cassidy to name a few, live. He discusses their poverty, civil disobedience, the ways that they fight society, and his personal fight against industrialization; he uses many images in order to allow the reader to understand his lifestyle, the lifestyle of his friends and points of view, specifically their rejection of society. Ginsberg depicts the deprived environment in which he chooses to live in through imagery. For instance the speaker proclaims: â€Å"†¦Dragging themselves through the Negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.†(Ginsberg 62) This is a scene depicting an average morning after a night of partying. His friends are trying to make their way back to reality. They search the streets where they have been in Jazz clubs for more drugs so they do not have to â€Å"suffer[ing] Eastern sweats and Tangerian bone grindings and migraines of China under junk-withdrawal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Ginsberg 63) Ginsberg is telling of his friend’s addiction and fear of withdrawal. The speaker states: â€Å"†¦Yakketyyakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ginsberg 63) In this passage the speaker of â€Å"Howl† depicts an insane asylum because his mother, himself and many of his friends; specifically Carl Solomon, who the poem is dedicated to, had been admitted or admitted themselves into hospitals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Beats were all connected to the reality of poverty. Ginsberg states: â€Å"Who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz.†(Ginsberg 62) The obvious image of poverty is when he clearly states â€Å"poverty† but along with this image Ginsberg says â€Å"cold-water flats,† meaning that there was not enough money to have hot water. Another image of poverty is â€Å"who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg.† They were so desperate for food that they jumped under trucks in search of a single egg. The Beats chose this poverty stricken lifestyle in order to further rej... ...e of a world that no one wants to come. He is using his own version of propaganda to persuade the reader not to support industrialization.. Ginsberg reinforces the second section with the first and third sections. He prepares the reader for a dramatic change from the first to the second section by showing the reader that he is anti-society. By showing that he and his friends are anti-society it is a logical step to say that he is against what society is planning and creating. They are planning and moving toward industrialization. Ginsberg is against industrialization partially for the reason that it is the societal norm to support it. Howl is a poem in which Allen Ginsberg complains about his life and about society. The speaker of the poem describes that he/she and his/her friends reject society and therefore are prone to act in a manner counter to common culture. He explains his points using amazing imagery that allows the reader to see exactly what he/she is writing about. In section two Ginsberg states his complains about industrialization, which was beginning at the time. These ideas are reinforced throughout the poem. I will forever enjoy these rantings and ravings.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

How Influential Is Macbeth’s Ambition? Essay

In ‘Macbeth’, a play set in Scotland, William Shakespeare wrote a tragedy of one man’s ambition. It is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and has a very fast pace. It tells the story of Macbeth’s ambition to be king, and the chain of damage he causes by pursuing this ambition. This ambition is the fatal flaw that causes his ultimate downfall. Once Macbeth’s lifelong ambition seems to be fulfilled, it causes consequences that his mind cannot handle. The play shows that one may get easily influenced by other people when he/she is over- ambitious. Ambition is something that everyone can identify with, and ‘Macbeth’ is a compelling study of how ambition can destroy you, so the audience are automatically interested in Macbeth’s character. When we are first introduced to Macbeth, he is already ambitious. But by being tempted to the extremes by two sources of external evil – the witches and his wife, his ambitions are only increased by making them seem like they could be a reality. The witches and Lady Macbeth, whom are both truly evil figures, influence Macbeth heavily throughout the play, and both exploit his ambition to become king. Their influence is the reason Macbeth’s ambition spirals so out of control and ends in tragedy. Our first impression of Macbeth is of a heroic, famous, popular man who is well liked by the king – In Act 1 Scene 2 Duncan refers to Macbeth as â€Å"noble Macbeth†. We first meet Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 3, when he and Banquo have arrived to meet the witches. Macbeth’s first words; â€Å"So foul and fair a day I have not seen† immediately associate him with the witches, because they say in Act 1 Scene 1; â€Å"Fair is foul and foul is fair†, so evil is brought to mind. Macbeth is connected with the supernatural in the audience’s mind from the onset. This is the first thing that is not consistent with Macbeth’s image of a war hero. In this scene, the witches declare that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and also king of Scotland. Macbeth strongly believes the witches words, especially after the first part of the prophecy comes true, he begins to think the second part may also come true. Their prophecies influence his ambition as seen in an aside, when he begins to consider murdering Duncan, the current king of Scotland. The aside follows closely Macbeth’s desires and doubts – he does not know whether these prophecies are good or bad, but he dearly wants to be king. â€Å"If good, why do I yield to that suggestion/ whose horrid image doth unfix my hair/ and make my seated heart knock at my ribs,/ against the use of nature?†. However, we can sense that Macbeth doesn’t actually want to murder Duncan, as he is horrified by these murderous thoughts. But Macbeth cannot stop thinking about what the witches have said, showing that he is considering the idea and is drawn to it, and that he has ambitions to be king within him already. In Act 1 Scene 5, Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, also influences Macbeth’s ambition. She is revealed to be very driven and ruthless, and she clearly wants Macbeth to be king. She says; â€Å"Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it†, meaning that Macbeth is not without ambition, but lack of ruthlessness that is needed to become king. She influences him to kill Duncan. She also encourages him to conceal his feelings, telling him to; â€Å"Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t†. Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to look respectful and welcoming and happy on the outside, but to hide his plotting and scheming and evils inside. Lady Macbeth’s ability to influence her husband leads us to believe that she is the primary cause for the destruction of Macbeth. She is the biggest encouragement to his ambition, since she uses her husbands trust to change her own future. In Act 1 Scene 7, evidence that Macbeth has a human side and is very worried is found in a long soliloquy – a speech where Macbeth is alone on stage so we can again see what Macbeth is thinking. He is worried about his eternal soul, and what his punishment will be in heaven if he kills Duncan. He thinks of reasons why he should not kill Duncan, and comes to the conclusion that the only reason he is doing it is because of his strong ambition. When Macbeth decides not to continue with their plan to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth urges him to act on his desires and ambition or he will think of himself as a coward. She exploits his ambition by questioning it when she says; â€Å"Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire?† She manipulates him further, calling him a coward and insulting his manhood, knowing that Macbeth will want to prove himself. This shows that Lady Macbeth is somewhat responsible for Macbeth’s downfall because, she drives him to go through with the murder and makes up the details of the plan to kill Duncan, while Macbeth was considering not even going through with the it. Although Macbeth had the thought of killing Duncan, he would not have acted on that thought unless Lady Macbeth persuaded him. Lady Macbeth is a sly person, able to manipulate her husband, and this ability to manipulate Macbeth makes her partially responsible for the destruction of Macbeth. She makes sure he will perform the deed by taking an active role in preparing for the murder: framing the two chamberlains and cleaning up afterwards. As Macbeth worries about failing to carry out the plan, Lady Macbeth tells him to screw up his courage and they wouldnt fail. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan who stays as a guest in his castle. Macbeth then becomes king of Scotland. Although Macbeth becomes king, he cannot have peace. His endless ambitions lead him into misery. Being obsessed by the witches’s prophecies, he even tries to control his future. He remembers the witches’s predictions that his friend Banquo’s sons will be kings of Scotland. Macbeth considers Banquo and his son Fleance as threats to his security as King. Although outwardly friendly to Banquo, Macbeth is jealous and fearful of him. Plagued by worry and to prevent this from happening, Macbeth orders three men to kill Banquo and his son. Macbeth’s desire to gain wealth and status completely overpowers him. He becomes more ambitious than his wife, and finds himself drained and drained of emotion, as we see in Act 3 Scene 1. â€Å"He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour to act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear; and under him My genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antonys was by Caesar. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, And put a barren scepter in my gripe, Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding †. Throughout the play Macbeth is undermined by his insatiable ambition. Macbeth was at first reasonable enough to keep his ambition in check, however it eventually became too strong for even Macbeth and therefore over-powered him. Reasoning was abandoned after the decision to kill Duncan was made. At that point we see no serious questioning of the motives of the three witches when he is told of their cunning and misleading predictions. The decision to kill Duncan also signified the last serious attempt at moral contemplation on the part of Macbeth. Throughout the novel we see that the Macbeth’s ambition completely subverted their reasoning abilities and eventually lead to his downfall. Macbeth, whom initially was a very reasonable and moral man, could not hold off the lure of ambition. Macbeth’s excessive ambition motivates him to murder Duncan, and once the evil act is accomplished, he sets into motion a series of sinister events that ultimately lead to his downfall. We see this when he says; â€Å"I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er†. Macbeth is saying that he is so accustomed to the idea of murder that he will now be able to wade through a sea of blood. This is very ironic, as previously in the play, Macbeth had feared that he would never be able to wash the blood from Dunca’s murder off his hands. During the course of the play, Macbeth changes from a person with some moral sense to a man who will stop at nothing to get and keep what he wants. Although we are presented with his deterioration from good to evil, we can see his human side throughout the play, which makes it a tragedy. Once Macbeth’s ambition has ‘set the ball rolling’, events happen quickly in the play as it gathers momentum. This intense ambition leads to his downfall.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

10 Animal Sounds in Japanese Words

In different languages, there is little consensus about what sounds animals make. This holds true in  Japanese as well as other tongues. In English, for example, a cow says moo, but in French, its closer to meu or meuh. In Japanese, the bovine says moo moo. American dogs say woof, but in Italy, mans best friend makes a sound more like bau. In Japanese, they say wan wan. Below are the sounds various animals say in Japanese. Japanese Animal Sounds The table displays the name of the animal in the left column, with the transliteration of the animals name in bold and its depiction in Japanese letters below. The English name for the animal is listed in the second column. The third column lists the sound the animal makes in bold with the Japanese letters for the sound below that. The sound an animal makes in English is included below the Japanese spelling in the third column, allowing for easy comparison to the animal sound in Japanese. karasu㠁‹ã‚‰ã â„¢ crow kaa kaaã‚ «Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£â€š «Ã£Æ' ¼ niwatorié ¶  rooster kokekokkoã‚ ³Ã£â€š ±Ã£â€š ³Ã£Æ'Æ'ã‚ ³Ã£Æ' ¼(Cock-a-doodle-doo) nezumi㠁 ­Ã£ Å¡Ã£  ¿ mouse chuu chuuãÆ' Ã£Æ' ¥Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ' Ã£Æ' ¥Ã£Æ' ¼ nekoçÅ' « cat nyaa nyaaãÆ'‹ãÆ' £Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ'‹ãÆ' £Ã£Æ' ¼(meow) umaé ¦ ¬ horse hihiinãÆ'’ãÆ'’ãÆ' ¼Ã£Æ' ³ butaè ±Å¡ pig buu buuãÆ'â€"ãÆ' ¼Ã£Æ'â€"ãÆ' ¼(oink) hitsujiç ¾Å  sheep mee meeãÆ' ¡Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ' ¡Ã£Æ' ¼(baa baa) ushi牛 cow moo mooãÆ' ¢Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ' ¢Ã£Æ' ¼(moo) inuçŠ ¬ dog wan wanãÆ' ¯Ã£Æ' ³Ã£Æ' ¯Ã£Æ' ³(woof, bark) kaeruã‚ «Ã£â€š ¨Ã£Æ' « frog kero keroã‚ ±Ã£Æ' ­Ã£â€š ±Ã£Æ' ­(ribbit) These animal sounds are usually written in the katakana script, rather than kanji or hiragana. The Bowwow Theory The bowwow theory  posits that language began when human ancestors started imitating  the natural sounds around them. The first speech was onomatopoeic and included words such as moo, meow, splash, cuckoo, and bang. Of course, in English especially, very few words are onomatopoeic. And around the world, a dog might say au au in Portuguese, wang wang in Chinese, and as noted, wan wan in Japanese. Some researchers have suggested that the animals a culture is most closely aligned with will have more versions of the sounds they make in their respective languages. In American English, for example, a dog might say bowwow, woof, or ruff. Since dogs are beloved pets in the U.S., it makes sense that American-English speakers would want to have a menu of sound words for this pet. The Dog in Japan Dogs are also quite popular as pets in Japan, where they were domesticated during the Jomon period in 10,000 B.C. Though katakana script is most common, you can write the Japanese word for dog,  inu,  in either  hiragana  or  kanji — but since the kanji character for dog is quite simple, try learning how to write it in kanji. Phrases referring to dogs are as common in Japan as they are in the West. Inujini  means to die like dog, and to call someone a dog in Japenese is to accuse him of being a spy or dupe. The sentence  Inu mo  arukeba  bou  ni  ataru  (when the dog walks, it runs across a stick) is a common Japanese saying, meaning that when you walk outside, you could possibly meet with an unexpected fortune.