Argument Against Video Games

English 102 12 March, 2013 Argue in support of or against the statement that video games have â€Å"a redeeming social value. † Do violent video games have â€Å"a redeeming social value? † You could get many different answers to this question depending on who you ask. Is there any good that can come from video games? What harm can come to people and society from video games? Is modern culture being affected either negatively or positively by today’s video games and those that play them?Are young, impressionable, people affected by playing video games for hours and hours during their impressionable, developmental years? These are a few of the questions I will attempt to answer as I argue that video games are playing a big role in the downfall of modern society. It is now the law of the United States that video games are art. †It is now the law of the United States that video games are a creative, intellectual, emotional form of expression and engagement, as fundamentally human as any other† (Schiesel, NY Times, 2011, p. 1). Like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas – and even social messages – through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world),† Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the Supreme Court, in a case that arose from a California effort to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. â€Å"That suffices to confer First Amendment protection† (Schiesel, NY Times, 2011, p. 2). And now video games – as vulgar, crude, disgusting and thoroughly unredeeming as they often may be – have finally been fully recognized as a worthy element of our culture† (Schiesel, NY Times, 2011, p. 1). â€Å"There is statistically significant evidence from the studies within the fields of psychology and so ciology to indicate that violent video games have a negative impact on a child’s behavioral development as he or she matures into adulthood. These studies approach the issue from a variety of perspectives, some analyzing the effects of video game usage on academic achievement and others that focus on usage’s effects on violent tendencies.Regardless of how these effects are measured, evidence is accumulating in favor of the position that they are not good for childhood development. Short of recommending alternatives or ways of preventing the kind of excessive video game use targeted in these studies as adverse, what is conclusively known is the prevalence and results of violent video games. Nevertheless, there are valid objections and concerns about these conclusions that shall be addressed in turn; none of these counterarguments or critiques of the research literature hold much weight.The arguments from scientific findings can be supplemented with academic philosophy, specifically in the area of ethical philosophy where some argue a non-distinction in moral terms between killing an imaginary character and killing an actual person. From this broad base of studies and research into the effects of violent video games on maturing children, it is conclusive that the negative effects of violent video game usage far outweigh any alleged positive effects† (Meyer, Yahoo! Voices, 2011, p. 1).Modern culture is being affected negatively by today’s violent video games and those that play them. The people that have played these games and then gone out to commit violent acts have affected society in a very negative way. The impressionable, mentally disturbed, people that cannot distinguish between killing an imaginary character and killing an actual person have committed terrible acts of violence more often in recent years. When these young people are in their maturing years their minds are conditioned in a very negative way by playing violent vide o games.One cannot help but think that these people may not have done these violent things if they had never played the violent video games. â€Å"Whether you play video games on a portable unit, a television or the internet, excessive gaming can affect your personal and profession life. Video game addiction can be as problematic as gambling and affects players as young as eight years old, notes Kevin Baker, director of Smith and Jones Addiction Consultants, in an article for Brigham Young University’s NewsNet. Be aware of the effects of a video game compulsion to keep the hobby in check† (Drea, Livestrong. com, 2013. p. 1).If you spend all of your free time playing video games and skip meals or lose sleep because of your excessive game play, a video game addiction can negatively impact your health. â€Å"The Mayo Clinic notes that children who spend more than two hours a day in front of a television or video games in lieu of participating in physical activity may suf fer from childhood obesity. In addition, the University of Texas at Dallas notes that the addiction can lead to such medical issues as backaches, headaches, eyestrain and carpal tunnel syndrome – pain and numbness that you may feel in your wrist, hands, shoulders and elbows† (Drea, Livestrong. om, 2013. p. 1). Relationships with friends and family members may suffer if you’re spending more time gaming than you are talking to or going out with loved ones. â€Å"The On-Line Gamers Anonymous website notes that gaming may be negatively affecting your life if you only want to talk about video games, lie to cover up the amount of time you spend playing, forgo intimacy with your spouse in lieu of gaming or argue with loved ones over your excessive gaming† (Drea, Livestrong. com, 2013. p. 1).Video games that feature violent actions and scenarios may lead addicted players to be desensitized to the violence. â€Å"Richard Gallagher, director of the NYU Child Study Center’s Parenting Institute, states that players who become engrossed in first-person shooter-style video games, for example, may adopt a detached view of society or develop aggressive thoughts and tendencies† (Drea, Livestrong. com, 2013. p. 1). There are a few positive video games. Educational video games and video games that help to keep the mind or memory sharp are certainly excellent tools.Using video games as flight simulators for our pilots and soldiers are also very helpful and educational. The people that use educational video games are not the people that are going out and shooting up schools full of little children. There is no way that a young person, whose brain is still developing, can become a better member of society by playing violent video games for hours and hours every day. The negatives far outweigh the positives when these violent video games are played. The impressionable young people are fooled into thinking that these video games are, in some w ay, real life.The weak minded, young, impressionable, people that play these games can be very easily conditioned to become more violent members of society. No one ever played an educational video game and then went out and shot up a school. There have been people that played violent video games in excess and went out and did just that afterward. Nothing good can come from playing violent video games for hours and hours every day. Violent video games are a big part of the downfall of modern society. Violent video games have no redeeming social value.

Psychologists & prejudice Essay

According to Dollards et al (1939) frustration-aggression hypothesis aggression that cannot be expressed directly at the source of frustration can be displaced unto a ‘representation’ of the source (scapegoat), leading to bias and prejudice. Unlike the previous cases which have their origins in social learning or social identity this form of prejudice is borne out of the frictional component of social interaction. A ‘solution’ is therefore to reduce this friction as much as possible. The apartheid era in South Africa did recognise the problem of ‘cultural friction’ and sought to address it by separating black from white. However, the separation was not fair favouring white (supremacy) over black. This in effect only amounted to replacing one source of friction and frustration with another. Typically, social frustrations are linked to exogenous economic conditions where the contrast between the rich and poor is clearly sharpened. The challenge for any government to implement a solution to such frustrations may be simply be too difficult, or not at all practical. Germany in the late 1930’s and early forties provides a good example of national frustration followed by an explosion of national prejudice and aggression. The application of the ‘solution’ shaped the history of the 20th century. By understanding the origin and causes of prejudice, psychologists are able to propose methods and conditions that can lead to a reduction of prejudice. However, economic factors, social learning, and identity beliefs based on religion or culture may mean that any attempt to remove prejudice from ‘free’ society will be met with limited success.

Minimally Processed Fruits and Vegetables

Minimal processing is defined to include all unit operations such as washing, sorting, trimming, puling, slicing, coring etc. The purpose of minimal processing is to deliver to the consumer a like fresh with an extended self life whilst ensuring food safety and maintaining sound nutritional and sensory quality i. e. at least 7 days domestic consumption and 7-15 days for overseas consumption. Minimally processed products are also called fresh cuts, semi-processed, ready cut and fresh processed.This increasing popularity of minimally processed fruits and vegetables has been attributed to the health benefits associated with fresh produce, combining with the opening consumer trend towards eating out and consuming ready to eat foods. The minimally processing industries was initially developed to supply hotels, restaurants, catering services and other institutions more recently it was expanded to include foods retailers for home consumption. Most popular in USA. In 1998 the sale volume is near about $ 6 billion.Consumer trends are changing and high quality foods with fresh like attribute are demanded. Consequently less extreme treatment and for additives are being required. Within a wider and modern concept of minimal processing some food characteristics are identified that must be attained in response to consumer demands. These are less heat and chilled damaged, fresh appearance and less acid, solt, sugar and fat. To satisfy this demands some changes or reduction in the traditionally used preservation techniques must be achieved.For this reason we are concerned to talk about this topic. ? SOME MINIMALLY PROCESSED PRODUCTS [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] ? PYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES Minimally processed fruits and vegetables are more perishable than fresh as a consequence of tissue damage resulting from processing operation.Wounding, in fact, leads to an increase in respiration activity and ethylene production rate, alters metabolic activity, reduces shelf-life, increases the rate of nutritional and sensory attributes breakdown and leads to browning of tissues. The greater the degree of processing, the wounding response. Mechanical damages, in addition may enhance susceptibility to decay and contamination by spoilage micro-organisms and microbes pathogenic to consumers. The impact of bruising and wounding can be reduced by cooling the product before processing.Strict temperature control after processing is also critical in reducing wound induced metabolic activity. Other techniques that substantially reduce damage include use of sharp knives, maintenance, of stringent sanitary conditions and efficient washing and drying of cut surface. ? MICROBIAL RESPONSES The increasing demand of these minimally processed products represents for a challenge for researches and processors to make them stable and safe. The increased time and distance between processing and consumption may contribute to higher risks of food born e illnesses.Although chemical and physical hazards specific to minimally processed and ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables beside mainly with microbial contaminants. Some of the microbial pathogens associated with fresh produced include Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp. , enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, hepatitis A virus, etc. Intact fruits and vegetables are safe to eat partly because the surface of peel is an effective physical and chemical barrier to most organisms. In addition, if the peel is damaged, the acidity of the pulp prevents the growth of organisms (except acid tolerant fungi and acteria). On vegetables, in microflora is dominated by soil organisms. Erwinia and Pseudomonos usually have competitive advantage over other organisms that could potentially be harmful to humans. Changes in environmental conditions surrounding a product can result in significant changes in micro flora. Risk of pathogenic bacteria increases †¢ With film packaging (high rel ative humidity and low oxygen conditions). †¢ With packaging of products of low salt content and high cellular pH †¢ Storage of packaged products at too high temperature.Microbial growth on minimally processed products can be controlled by †¢ Sanitation of all equipment and use of chlorinated water are standard approach †¢ Low temperature during and after processing generally retards microbial growth. †¢ Moisture increases microbial growth. Removal of wash or cleaning water by centrifugation or other methods are critical. †¢ Low pH †¢ Low oxygen and elevated carbon-di-oxide levels, often retards microbial growth. [pic] ———————– CELERY STICKS PINEAPPLE SHREDDED LETTUCE BROCCOLI FLORETS CARROT STICKS PELLED POTTATO DICED ONION MANGOES CHILLED PEACHES MELONS TRIMMED SPINACH JACKFRUITS

Discussion question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion question - Essay Example Assuming there are 1 billion writers, is it not possible that there are exactly two the same sentences There have been some records indicating exactly look alike in images, what more with written lines when writing has been here since time immemorial Is not plagiarism a simple commerce hiding behind the facade of protecting the rights of others, while prejudicing the rights of some 3. Excellent grammar is every tyro's dream. And, precisely, perfect grammar is crucial to every written document. However, some schools under-emphasized the study of grammar especially in vocational, technical, or mechanical areas, but, some also over-emphasized the same because of the need to be precise and accurate. For example, in the Law school or in journalism schools where accuracy is necessary. Consistently, to be articulate is also my aspiration and the challenge that drives me on. 4. I am very thorough with my work in life and in school. But, I am not necessarily the first to finish and turn a very accurate work. Nonetheless, I take my time and usually turn in a polished final product. I have done editing which is also called revising. It is centered on surface quality. Some would call it technicality of the written piece. Others would say it is more of corrections on the presentation rather than the content. It is commonly known as enhancement.

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example Managing cultural diversity in workplace is one of the key objectives of the organization among other concern areas of sustaining productivity as well as quality, total quality management and customer satisfaction. The diversity in the workforce is mainly due to presence of people coming from varying set of backgrounds. They differ in their value systems, culture, beliefs, attitude and behaviour, habits and customs (Henderson, 1994). Thus to bring the entire workforce together on the same platform is extremely significant in terms of bringing them to a common tune of work. The integration of a workforce which is culturally diversified lies at the beneath of the long term success of the organization. The issues to be considered for managing people from an environment of cross-culture are training and development of the employees, organizational dynamics aimed at optimizing the performance of the global managers. The building of confidence to bring out the professionalism of manager ar riving from an international scenario is important. The adaptability to the home environment is required to work in harmony with the organization policies which could be achieved through managing the cultural diversity of the workforce. ... The strategies adopted by organizations are solely based on the data collected by the organizations on the personal trends, labour segments and customer segments. The analysis of the collected data helps the management to understand about the thought process of the diversified set of employees on the developments and progress of the organization. The attitude of the workforce towards their business opportunities and growth could be analyzed from the information collected by the organizations. For international operations, a diversified set of employees in the workforce could prove to be advantageous. The alignment to the different set of cultures, understanding the needs of customers from varying cultural backgrounds and addressing those needs with the help of employees from specific cultural backgrounds help the organizations to attain expansion in the world markets and also to get a competitive advantage. The strategies for managing cultural diversity of the workforce in an organiz ation vary with respect to the ethno-centric, region centric as well as geocentric approaches (Walton, 1994). The ethnocentric approach considers people from different ethnic backgrounds. The region-centric approach considers the members of the workforce from different regional backgrounds. The geocentric approach takes the people from all over the world into consideration for managing the diversity of people from cross-cultural backgrounds. In the present scenario of business expansions, the integration of the host with the international markets and culture is extremely important for the good interest of the organization. The attainment of cultural diversity in business operations is obvious under such situations. Thus the management of cultural diversity is also

Written assignment 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Written assignment 3 - Essay Example b. Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, is 14,259 feet in elevation. Can you see Cheyenne, Wyoming (about 74 miles away at an elevation of 6,062 feet, so youll have to subtract to get the height to use in the equation) from its summit? Use part a! Explain your answer. (I—your facilitator—used to live pretty close to Longs Peak; I could see it out my office window, and my brother lives in Wyoming. Ive been able to test this by looking for Longs Peak from Cheyenne since being able to see Longs Peak from Cheyenne is equivalent to being able to see Cheyenne from Longs Peak. Ive also climbed Longs Peak, but I didnt look for Cheyenne when I was there. If you do the algebra correctly, you do in fact get the same answer that Ive observed. So, D = 1.32 * = 119.51 miles ïÆ'   this is the distance from the summit that an observer can view to the horizon and 74 miles is within this range, therefore, I would be able to see Cheyenne, Wyoming from the top of Longs

Do Socially-Responsible Mutual Funds Perform better than Conventional Research Paper

Do Socially-Responsible Mutual Funds Perform better than Conventional Mutual Funds - Research Paper Example In addition, it includes incorporation of local communities in order to further its aim to achieve its goals (Schepers, 2009). Socially responsible investment has for years been viewed as the practice for individuals who are interested in social change and who aim to yield much profit at the end. There was a time when it was hard or difficult to establish a socially responsible portfolio that was competitive on market because the socially responsible investing universe was not large. But that is the past since time have changed in that in modern day there are more than 100 mutual funds that incorporate social screens in their management decisions which aim to improve their profits. Investors are in a position to create portfolio that is competitive and real to their social concerns. In addition, there exist more direct investment opportunities such as buying certificates of deposits with local or community banks (Vogel, 2006). Mutual funds Mutual funds are said to be investment capit al of distinct type. In this regard, investment fund refers to the variety of investments such as stocks, bonds and other types of funds. Mutual funds are different from most of distinct types of funds present. In this sense, mutual funds are referred to as open-ended meaning that as the number of people investing in the funds rises, the funds also increases its units in the market. Mutual funds concentrate on specific category of investment such as large firms stocks and government bonds of certain Nations. In addition, few of the mutual funds might slightly invest in combination of stocks and bonds in distinct mutual funds. For many years, investing in mutual funds has been viewed as safe mode of investment as it incorporates both individual capitals with many different investors, which makes investors to invest in different types of investment at less cost (Renneboog et al 2008). There are two different types of mutual funds investment namely; socially responsible mutual funds an d conventional mutual funds. The socially responsible mutual funds involve certain factors to consider while making decision concerning the firm to invest in. Socially responsible funds perform better because the funds apply their ownership rights to manipulate management via policy alteration or change suggestions. They ensure that this advocacy is attained through attending shareholders meetings, exercising voting rights in companies, writing letters to top management, and filing proposals. In most scenarios, it is very hard for shareholders to hold and exercise their voting rights. Therefore voting are attained via proxy. Many investors advocate socially responsible funds because they have strict policy that aim to maintain transparency in decisions and disclose all proxy voting procedures, policies and conducting voting rights of its shareholders (Schepers, 2009). On the other hand, the conventional mutual funds is concerned with the prospects and financial performance of firms combined with significant factors while investing. Discussion Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of socially responsible mutual funds. The issue of social investment has been subject of debate for many years. However, the modern manner of investment has been because of financial crisis that began in 1930s. At that time, there were many issues available