Effect of Green and Black Teas Essay Example for Free

Effect of Green and Black Teas Essay Determining the efficiency of various types of teas and its components, and the binding of tea with lipoproteins as for prevention of the occurrence of coronary heart diseases, is the primary objective of the study. Based on established scientific researches, one of the components of tea called phenols, are responsible for producing the antioxidant attributes of tea. Further studies prove that both black and green teas have almost the same phenol content. Thus, their antioxidant strength is also the same, as gauged through the use of the phenol antioxidant index (PAOXI). Moreover, the study establishes the idea that a combination of tea catechins and lipoproteins produce stronger antioxidant qualities. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) To accomplish the objective of the study, teas that were used for samples were prepared using the same process. These samples were then compared to other types of antioxidants and other beverages with phenolic content. Moreover, the teas were studied in order to find out the threshold for the production of antioxidant properties, and also the binding of antioxidants with lipoproteins. Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) The results of the study revealed that green tea produces higher antioxidant activity than the black tea, the green tea and black tea were stronger antioxidants than other beverage samples, the PAOXI of both green and black teas do not exhibit significant differences in terms of antioxidant strength, and the lipoprotein binding for both teas remain the same. Moreover, the catechins found in teas were more effective than vit amins C, E and beta-carotene in binding with lipoproteins to complete oxidation. Therefore, teas are more efficient in lowering the risks of coronary heart diseases. Green teas were found to bind efficiently with lipoproteins of high amounts, and on the contrary, black teas were said to bind efficiently with lipoproteins of low amounts. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) Secondary Source The discovery of the connection between oxidation and atherogenesis has incited research studies about the effects of antioxidants found in teas to lipoproteins. Moreover, studies conducted on flavonoids, which is one of the components of tea, and its contributory effects to the prevention of the occurrence of coronary heart disease, has led researchers to speculate that catechins that are found in tea might be instrumental in promoting health and wellness due to the antioxidant attributes produced by teas. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) This particular research study aims to identify the efficiency of teas as a source of antioxidants as compared to other beverages with the same phenolic content, and the maximum threshold of the production of antioxidant mechanisms in teas. Moreover, research was conducted on the effects of binding antioxidant with lipoproteins to an individual with low antioxidant intake. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) The results of the research reveal that catechins that are found in teas are more effective antioxidants as compared to other vitamins that claim to be a good source of antioxidants, such as vitamins E, C and beta-carotene. Moreover, the research also discovered that teas bore the most amount of phenolic content as compared with other beverages that were tested, and that among the tea samples that were tested, green tea bore the most amounts of phenolic content. In addition, antioxidant binding with lipoproteins was most efficient with black teas as compared to other teas, although there was not any significant difference as to the effect when comparing it to the results of other teas. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) In conclusion, the research study reaffirmed the fact that teas are a great source of antioxidant and that they are effective in producing high levels of antioxidants that are needed by the human body. Therefore, an individual’s regular intake of tea prevents the onset of lipoprotein oxidation within the body. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) Personal Opinion about the Topic The results of the study has proved the effectiveness of teas as a source of antioxidant, therefore supporting previous studies conducted about the relationship between catechins and phenolic acid that are found in teas and its binding with lipoproteins as instrumental in the lowering of risks caused by coronary heart diseases. If this is the case, then regular intake of green and black teas should be recommended to people who are at risk for coronary heart disease and should be recommended as part of the average person’s diet in order to avoid the occurrence of the said disease. Although plants where tea comes from are widely grown all over the world, and according to the study, tea is the most popular drink in the world, people still do not realize the importance of its content and the regular intake of tea as a protective instrument against coronary heart disease. Moreover, people are not aware that the beverage that they enjoy the most has health benefits that might save them from suffering heart diseases. Promotion and recommendation of teas that are based on research study results and information dissemination might help in encouraging people to drink tea as part of their diet in order to stay fit and healthy. Aside from advertising and promotional activities, the government should support or fund the horticultural industry in order to produce more sources for green and black teas. Not only will the people benefit from this, but the government will also gain profit for the tea industry and agriculture. Moreover, the government should look into the processes of preparing teas. As the research study suggests, that the amount of phenols within the tea leaves, which are said to be the ones responsible for producing antioxidants, are dependent on the weather and climate, age of the tea leaves that will be used, and the horticultural processes that the leaves underwent. Therefore, the government should further look into the processes from which tea leaves are produced. Desirable and specialized horticultural processes should be employed in growing plants in order to ensure the quality of tea leaves that will be grown from it. In order to accomplish this aim, the government should be able to conduct research studies that would prove to be instrumental in the efficient and productive growth of plants. Moreover, with further studies and in depth research, the government should fund the inclusion of teas in the diet of patients in the public health care system, especially those who are suffering from coronary heart diseases, patients who are at risk, and even all the patients in order to keep strong and healthy. However, further studies should be done independently in order to avoid judgments of researches that are tainted by underlying motives such as advertising. In the research study conducted by Vinson Dabbagh, it was funded by the Lipton Tea Company. Since the Lipton Tea Company is a business organization, which produced tea all over the world, I cannot help but think of the politics between business and advertising that is concealed in the research. Most especially because the results of the research promoted the efficiency of green and black teas among other beverages and its importance as a prevention scheme against coronary heart diseases. In order to invalidate speculations that might arise from the influence of Lipton Tea Company and the research, independent studies should be conducted by professionals and scholars alike from different fields related to the issue such as representatives from the health care industry, agriculture, government, universities, and scientists alike.

The Work Of Labor And Delivery Nurses Nursing Essay

The Work Of Labor And Delivery Nurses Nursing Essay Today, the work of labor and delivery nurses (LD nurses) is extremely important and responsible because the quality of their work affects consistently the quality of health care services delivered to women and newborns. In this regard, it is important to remember that, today, many women have problems with labor and delivery because of their age, health problems and other factors that make the natural process of labor and delivery difficult. In such a context, the role o LD nurses can hardly be underestimated because their qualification and experience may be crucial for the successful delivery. At the same time, in the contemporary health care environment, the job of LD nurses is basically similar to the job of other nurses in terms of qualification, education, skills and wages. In such a situation, human resource managers often face problems with motivation of LD nurses. This is why human resource managers should focus on the use of non-material motivators, which may be very effectiv e. On the other hand, they should pay a lot of attention to training and education of LD nurses because their qualification plays crucial role in the provision of proper and effective health care services to women and newborn in the course of the labor and delivery. Therefore, LD nurses should have a wide range of nursing skills and abilities, high qualification and solid education background, whereas human resource managers should keep them motivated to carry on their professional development and provide nursing care services of the high quality. On analyzing specificities of the job of LD nurses and their workplace environment in terms of human resource management, specialists (Limentani, 1999) argue that education affects consistently the performance of LD nurses and the effectiveness of their work. In this regard, it is possible to dwell upon basic educational requirements LD nurses should meet in the contemporary health care setting. First of all, LD nurses should have the Bachelor degree because the essential education for LD nurses is the Bachelor of Science in Nursing. However, the bachelor degree is a minimal requirement, whereas often a Master of Science in Nursing degree is needed. The high qualification is one of the essential conditions of the successful professional development of LD nurses because they need to have a solid educational background and profound knowledge in labor and delivery nursing. Naturally, the experience of LD nurses is also very important but they acquire their experience as they carry on their education and professional development. The Bachelor and Master degrees are very important because they provide LD nurses not only with certain status but also and mainly they provide them with basic education on the ground of which they can elaborate the strategy of their professional development and keep growing in professional terms. Furthermore, LD nurses should have a registered nurse license from their state board of nursing (Ryan and Ray, 2004). This is another important requirement LD nurses should meet because the registered nurse license is a sort of guarantee of the current professional level and competence of LD nurses. Registered nurses cannot work without license but LD nurses should strive to obtain the license because the license opens new job opportunities for them and, what is more, contributes to their further professional development. In such a context, many specialists (Benoff   Grauman, 1997) place emphasis on the fact that LD nurses should take training and get involved in courses in a LD nursing program. In actuality, a large number of training programs is available to LD nurses and it is one of the major tasks of human resource managers to motivate LD nurses to participate in training programs. They should explain LD nurses positive effects of training programs for their professional development. In fact, training programs increase the professional level of LD nurses and, therefore, increase the quality of nursing care services they deliver to patients. However, sometimes LD nurses have poor motivation and they need the assistance from the part of human resource managers to participate in training programs. This is a case of experienced LD nurses mainly because they feel confident in their professional skills and abilities, they have extensive experience, and they believe they do not need training courses anymore. This is exactly where human resource managers should work closely with LD nurses to motivate them to carry on their professional development and to participate in training courses. At the same time, along with training, job competences for labor and delivery nurses are extremely important for effective performance of LD nurses and the high quality of nursing care services they deliver to patients. Job competences required for LD nurses normally coincide with job competences required for other nurses. Nevertheless, human resource managers should pay a particular attention to the development of basic job competences in LD nurses. In this regard, LD nurses should have well-developed professional skills above all. This means that they should be professionals, who have extensive knowledge and experience and who are capable to implement their knowledge in practice in their regular work in the real health care setting. Along with specific professional skills and knowledge, LD nurses should develop other competences, which are crucial for their regular work. In this regard, specialists (Miller, et al., 2003) point out that LD nurses should be able to make quick decisions at critical times. To put it more precisely, they should be able to respond fast and properly to any challenge they face in their work. In fact, this is one of the fundamental requirements LD nurses should meet because the fast decision is a key toward the delivery of nursing care services of the high quality. The delivery of nursing care in time may be crucial for the life and health of patients of LD nurses. Therefore, they should pay a lot of attention to the decision making process because often LD nurses have to take decisions on their own and they do not have time to ask for assistance of other health care professionals. In such a situation, the promptness of LD nurses decision making may be crucial for the health and life of women and newborns. At the same time, LD nurses should have good physical stamina and general good health. The work of LD nurses needs significant physical forces and physical stamina and general good health are essential for them. Otherwise, LD nurses could not afford physical pressure they are vulnerable to in the course of their work. At this point, specialists (Limentani, 1999) place emphasis on the fact that LD nurses should always stay focused and concentrated on their work, whatever the time they have been already working. Even if they grow tired, they still have to stay focused on their work because there is no margin for error and LD nurses are responsible for outcomes of their work. The attention and concentration on the proper performance of LD nurses comprise an integral part of their training and human resource managers should develop stamina of LD nurses through stressing the importance of their own health for the provision of health care services to patients. Furthermore, LD nurses may face a number of serious problems in the course of their work. This is why many specialists (Ryan and Ray, 2004) insist on the development of problem solving techniques in LD nurses. It proves beyond a doubt that the development of problem solving techniques is very important because, if LD nurses face a problem and are panic-stricken, they cannot work effectively and they cannot deliver essential nurse care services to patients. In stark contrast, LD nurses, who are experienced in problem solving, stay cool even in the most difficult situation. Instead of falling in panic, they start applying a problem solving technique they believe to be the most efficient in the specific situation. On the ground of problem solving techniques, LD nurses can use their professional knowledge, skills and abilities to work effectively in the most extreme environment. At the same time, specialists (Limentani, 1999) argue that LD nurses should come prepared to face conflicts in the course of their work with both colleagues and patients. In this regard, human resource managers should stimulate the development of conflict management to help LD nurses to prevent the emergence of conflicts and minimize their negative impact on patients and health care professionals, in case conflicts have emerged. In the contemporary health care environment, the conflict management is one of the most important competences of LD nurses because conflicts affect not only psychological state of patients as well as nurses but also their physical state. In case of LD nurses and their patients, any significant deterioration of psychological state or physical health may be dangerous for patients. In addition, many specialists (Miller, et al., 2003) recommend developing counseling strategies in LD nurses. Counseling is very effective, when LD nurses deal with patients, who have significant problems with their health. Counseling helps patient to recover in post-operation period as well as in situations, when they have some difficulties and need the assistance of LD nurses. At the same time, specialists (Ryan and Ray, 2004) point out that economic implications of LD nurses work are also very important in the contemporary health care environment. In fact, the median annual wage of LD nurses meets the average wage level of nurses in the US (Limentani, 1999). The following table shows the wage of LD nurses depending on their certification: Skill: Labor Delivery, Birthing Median Hourly Rate by Job Job National Hourly Rate Data  (?) $0 $10 $20 $30 Registered Nurse (RN) $25.64 Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) $10.99 Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) $16.43 Registered Nurse (RN), Emergency Room $25.86 Charge Nurse (RN) $29.12 Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) $17.88 Registered Nurse (RN), Operating Room $28.82 Country: United States | Currency: USD | Updated: 17 Feb 2011 | Individuals Reporting: 6,542 Source: Skill Labor: Delivery, Birthing/Hourly Rate. (2011). http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Skill=Labor_%26_Delivery,_Birthing/Hourly_Rate In such a way, LD nurses basically meet average standards in the industry. Therefore, human resource managers can hardly count for the high level of motivation of LD nurses, if they use material motivators solely. Bonuses and increase of wages may be effective but they will not bring positive effects always. In a long-run perspective, other motivators are needed to stimulate LD nurses to work better. In such a context, specialists (Miller, et al., 2003) suggest different strategies and solutions human resource managers can use to increase the effectiveness of work with LD nurses, minimize the risk of conflicts and stimulate the professional development of LD nurses. First, LD nurses need to stay motivated, regardless of their experience, skills and abilities they have developed in the course of their professional career. Second, LD nurses should be confident of their responsibility for outcomes of their work. Human resource managers should inform LD nurses about consequences of professional negligence from the part of LD nurses and their legal liability. At the same time, human resource managers should motivate LD nurses to improve their professional skills and knowledge through participation in training programs. For instance, human resource managers can promote LD nurses, who are particularly successful in training or who are eager to participate in training programs. In additi on, human resource managers can use the knowledge sharing management strategy, which helps to share knowledge within a health care organization using the experience and knowledge of health care professionals working in the organization. For instance, more experienced LD nurses can share their knowledge with newcomers, whereas physicians can share their knowledge with experienced LD nurses. In such a way, health care professionals working within the health care organization will share knowledge and develop new skills and abilities. In addition, human resource managers should help LD nurses to improve communication with patients and to use effective strategies and techniques of problem solving, conflict management and counseling. Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that LD nurses are responsible for their work and they should provide nursing care services of the high quality because health and life of patients are in their hands. In this regard, the effective human resource management can be an effective tool to improve the quality of nursing care services being delivered by LD nurses to patients.

Comparing Treatment of Death During the Renaissance and in Shakespeare’

Treatment of Death During the Renaissance and in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most well known and well-read play in history. With its passionate and realistic treatment of universal themes of love, fate, war, and death, it’s not difficult to see why. However, most people don’t realize that there are several versions of the play, each with their own unique additions and/or changes to the plot, dialogue, and characters. After thumbing through the texts located here on this website, you can see even at a glance the distinct differences between the versions of Romeo and Juliet. This essay will explore how people dealt with death during the Renaissance in context to Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Lamentable Tragedie.) More specifically, I will show that the added monologue in act 4, scene 5, regarding the convention of death, is consistent to the social and religious beliefs of the time period. Act IV, scene V of the Lamentable Tragedie is perhaps the most insightful scene dealing with the coping of death during the Renaissance. Previous to the scene Romeo has been banished for slaying Tybalt, and Juliet’s father has forced her to marry her betrothed Paris. In a desperate attempt to avoid the marriage and reunite Juliet with her love, the Friar gives Juliet a sleeping elixir to stage her death. Convinced that a marriage to Paris would be worse than death, Juliet takes the deathly potion and falls into a coma-like sleep. At the beginning of the scene the house is stirring with excitement in preparation for the wedding and the nurse is sent to wake the sleeping Juliet. After much calling and shaking, the nurse begins to suspect that something is wrong. Could her mistre... ...ents in such a manner, royalty reigned supreme during Shakespeare’s day and could do and speak as they saw fit. Finally, it is important to understand the historical context for which the characters were written. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was written for an audience that had survived the destructive forces of the Black Death, and shared a different philosophy on death altogether. Works Cited Heitsch, Dorothea. â€Å"Approaching Death by Writing: Montaigne’s Essays and the Literature of Consolation.† Literature and Medicine 19, Jan. 2000: pp 1-6. Huizinga, Johan. The Waning of the Middle Ages. London: Edward Arnold, 1924. Spinrad, Pheobe. The Summons of Death on the Medieval and Renaissance English Stage. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1987. Wilcox, Helen. Women and Literature in Britain 1500-1700. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Two Languages and Two Cultures Essay -- immigration, China, Two Kinds,

Two Languages and Two Cultures United States was built on immigrants and some of the immigrants were pushed from their homeland because of some reasons while other reasons such as America dream pulled them to the United States. Most of these immigrants came from China in 1949, when the communist party took over. These immigrants came with their cultures and languages which are significant in everyone's lives because they play a major role in the development of individual’s characteristics. Many observers believe that these cultures and languages lead to conflict between immigrant parents and their American-born children. This is certainly the case. Interestingly enough, while history and culture contribute to the American way of life, they also create disagreements between the immigrant’s culture and American culture. Perhaps this is why Amy Tan's story, â€Å"Two Kinds,† explores the conflicts and confusions of relationships in the Chinese immigrant communities through the effects of Chinese immigrant’s ethnic heritage, child performance during this time of American culture and, communication divide during this period. First, Amy Tan successfully demonstrate how Chinese immigrant’s ethnic heritage contributed to the conflicts and confusions of relationships in the Chinese immigrant communities during that era. Back in China, the Chinese culture during the narrator's mother's era encouraged social stratification and as such no one can move out of their respective social class. Consequently, this way of thinking remained part of the narrator's mother's life when she arrived into the United States. For example in the story, the narrator's mother believed that she could be anything in America. Consequently, she wanted her daug... ...cessive control is not a forced decision. With the adequate public information and dedication, parents can guide their children to become productive citizens. When a parent confront an obstinate child, all it takes is for her not to take it personally. Works Cited Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2001). Amy Tan. Philadelphia: Chelsea House. Huntley, E.D. (1998). Amy Tan: A Critical Companion. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press. Jottedlines.com. Literature, Critical Analysis of â€Å"Two Kinds.† February 7, 2013. Kazdin, Alan E., Phd. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 8, March 2000. Tan, Amy. â€Å"Two Kinds.† Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 687-695. print. Nelson, E . S. (Ed.). (2000). Asian Amerincan Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

The Townshend Act and Protest of the Colonists :: American America History

The Townshend Act and Protest of the Colonists The Townshend Acts’ repeal of the Stamp Act left Britain's financial problems unresolved. Parliament had not given up the right to tax the colonies and in 1767, at the urging of chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, it passed the Townshend Acts, which imposed taxes on lead, glass, tea, paint, and paper that Americans imported from Britain. In an effort to strengthen its own authority and the power of royal colonial officials, Parliament, at Townshend's request, also created the American Board of Customs Commissioners whose members would strictly enforce the Navigation Acts. Revenue raised by the new tariffs would be used to free royal officials from financial dependence on colonial assemblies, thus further encroaching on colonial autonomy. Once again the colonists protested vigorously. In December 1767, John Dickinson, a Philadelphia lawyer, published 12 popular essays that reiterated the colonists' denial of Parliament's right to tax them and warned of a conspiracy by a corrupt British ministry to enslave Americans. The Sons of Liberty organized protests against customs officials, merchants entered into nonimportation agreements, and the Daughters of Liberty advocated the nonconsumption of products, such as tea, taxed by the Townshend Acts. The Massachusetts legislature sent the other colonies a circular letter condemning the Townshend Acts and calling for a united American resistance. British officials then ordered the dissolution of the Massachusetts General Court if it failed to withdraw its circular letter; the court refused, by a vote of 92 to 17, and was dismissed. The other colonial assemblies, initially reluctant to protest the acts, now defiantly signed the circular letter, outraged at British interference with a colonial legislature.In other ways, British actions again united American protest. The Board of Customs Commissioners extorted money from colonial merchants and usedflimsy excuses to justify seizing American vessels. These actions heightened tensions, which exploded on June 21, 1768, when customs officials seized Boston merchant John Hancock's sloop Liberty. Thousands of Bostonians rioted, threatening the customs commissioners' lives and forcing them to flee the city. When news of the Liberty riot reached London, four regiments of British army troops-some 4,000 soldiers-were ordered to Boston to protect the commissioners. The contempt of British troops for the colonists, combined with the soldiers' moonlighting activities that deprived Boston laborers of jobs, inevitably led to violence. In March 1770 a riot occurred between British troops and Boston citizens, who jeered and taunted the soldiers. The troops fired, killing five people. The so-called Boston Massacre aroused great colonial resentment. This anger was soon increased by further parliamentary legislation. Bowing to colonial economic boycotts, Parliament, guided by the new prime minister, Lord Frederick North, repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770 but retained the

How could the Holocaust have beet prevented Essay

You have probably heard about a period of time, not so long ago, known as ‘The Holocaust.’ A holocaust, according to Webster’s dictionary, is ‘a complete destruction by fire’ (Stadtler, 1). In Europe, during this period, there was a complete destruction by fire – of Jewish homes, Jewish businesses, Jewish neighborhoods, and Jewish people. This destruction was carried out under the direction of Adolf Hitler, during the years 1939-1945, but it actually began earlier, in 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany. In my opinion, the Holocaust, which was caused by ignorance, could very well have been prevented. There were many powerful nations, such as the United Stated, the USSR, and Britain, whose leaders and militaries could have stepped in and helped the Jewish people who were facing extremely brutal persecution. Throughout most of the war, the American government clung to the delusion that the Nazi’s were persecuting the Jews because of their political or religious beliefs. The U.S. closed its gates to emigration from Europe in 1940-1941, when Jews were still allowed to emigrate. ‘Anti-Semitism in America actually increased during the war and started to decline only at the end of it’ (Bauer, 297). A Soviet attitude toward the murder of the Jews simply did not exist. While fighting a desperate battle for its own survival, Britain saved the Jews of Palestine, North Africa, and much of the British Empire from the fate of European Jewry. ‘The British fought only for themselves, but the defense of their own interests coincided with the defense of civilized humanity, including the Jews’ (Bauer, 296). The May 1939 White Paper on immigration to Palestine stated that immigration to Palestine would end after 75,000 had been admitted between 1939 and 1944. When war broke out, the British decreed that no enemy nationals could enter Palestine, which in effect, closed the doors to those who needing rescue most, specifically the European Jews trying to escape the Nazis. At first, the thought of such destruction in Europe was incomprehensible to other Nations. They heard of what was occurring, but did not believe it, and therefore did nothing. ‘The suffering of hundreds of thousands, soon of millions, was evident for consciences to be aroused, for steps to be taken.  Nothing was done’ (Bauer, 297). I feel the ignorance of these Nations was the cause of the loss of 6 million lives. Had these Nations not turned their heads away and ignored what was happening, they could have saved many lives and prevented the Holocaust. By allowing emigration from Europe into their countries, by trying to negotiate with Hitler, or if worse came to worse, assassinating Hitler, things might have been different. By not recognizing the events leading to the Holocaust and of the Holocaust, they also caused the Holocaust along with Adolf Hitler. The Holocaust could only have been prevented by the World Powers, but they failed to do so because they were so ignorant. During the 19th century, European Jewry was being emancipated, and in most European countries, Jews were achieving some equality of status with non-Jews. Nonetheless, at times, Jews were vilified and harassed by anti-Semitic groups. Indeed, some anti-Semites believed that Jewry was an alien ‘race’ not assimilable into a European culture, but they did not formulate any coherent anti-Semitic campaign until Hitler came to power. Germany was defeated in World War I after a four year struggle that left its people exhausted and divided. The harsh peace terms of the Versailles Treaty placed a heavy economic burden on them. Before the war Germany had thought of itself as Europe’s greatest nation. Now it was confused, bitter, and economically crippled, its wealth drained to pay the vast sums demanded by the Versailles Peace Treaty. Rising inflation left many Germans poor and others jobless. Political differences exploded in assassinations and street fighting. The new democratic government of Germany, the Weimar Republic, was unable to prevent disorder and caused people to lose faith in democracy. With Germans of all outlooks desperately seeking solutions for the nation’s problems, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party began their climb to power. ‘Hitler was gifted with effective political talents. He offered an explanation for Germany’s defeat, and a vision of Germany’s future destiny, that played upon the fears, prejudices, and hopes of many Germans. He promised to rebuild  Germany’s power and restore its prosperity’ (Isaacman, 16). This won the support of many Germans. Hitler was such an effective speaker that anything he said was believed even if it was not true. Hitler believed that the German people were part of an ‘Aryan race,’ a superior group that should be kept pure to fulfill their mission of ruling the world. He felt that the Jewish people were ‘sub-human,’ when in actuality they were virtually the same as his ‘Aryan race.’ Not only did Hitler have a personal hatred toward the Jewish people, but he also blamed them for ‘stabbing Germany in the back’ after Germany’s defeat in World War I. Hitler used them as scapegoats because they were a minority and were easy to put the blame on. ‘Historians agree that the Holocaust resulted from a confluence of various factors in a complex historical situation. That anti-Semitism festered throughout the centuries in European culture is centrally important; the Jews were (and are) a minority civilization in a majority environment. In periods of crisis, instead of searching for the solution of such crisis within the majority culture, the majority will tend to project blame for the crisis on a minority which is both familiar and weak. As the originators and bearers of an important part of civilization, the Jews are a father civilization against which pent up aggressions are easily unleashed’ (Bauer, 330). Anti-Semitism had always played a role in Nazi propaganda, for Hitler blamed most of Germany’s problems on the Jews. Anti-Jewish laws of every kind were passed. Jews could no longer be judges, lawyers, teachers, government officials, army officers. Jewish doctors could not treat non-Jewish patients, Jews could not employ non-Jews, and Jews and non-Jews could not have social relationships. Jewish property was taken by the government, Jewish businesses were closed down, Jewish children could not attend public schools. All the media were utilized to spread anti-Jewish messages. On the street, Jews were mocked, tormented, and even beaten for no other reason but being Jewish. Jewish people were forced to wear Star of David armbands and were often attacked by storm troopers. On November 9-10, 1938, known as Kristallnacht (‘Night of the Broken Glass’), hundreds of synagogues throughout Germany were burned by Nazi mobs, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested. Kristallnacht was a signal to Jews in Germany and Austria to leave as soon as possible. Several  hundred thousand people were able to find refuge in other countries, but a similar number, including many who were old or poor, ‘stayed to face an uncertain fate’ (Stadtler, 12). The countries of Europe and the United States too, only admitted a small number of Jews. Had these countries made an exception for these people who were being treated poorly in their home countries there would have been a smaller amount of lives lost in the years to come. Throughout the 1930’s, conditions for the Jews in Germany worsened. Some people in the United States refused to buy German products in an effort to put pressure on Hitler, but it did not help. This was not enough, the United States was a strong world power and could have done more to aid the Jewish people of Germany. What could a small amount of people not buying German products do? Absolutely nothing because Germany was much stronger than these few people; the aid of an entire nation was needed, not the aid of a few people. Since no one was stopping Hitler, he proceeded to enlarge Germany’s territory. Threatening to use force if he did not get his way, he gained control of Austria in 1938 and of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Later in 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, World War II broke out. During the early years of the war, Hitler’s armies conquered most of Europe. Millions of Jews were now under German rule, and Hitler felt he was at last in a position to solve the ‘Jewish Question.’ As Hitler saw it, the ‘Jewish Question’ was simply the fact that the Jews existed. Therefore, the ‘final solution’ emerged as a way to destroy them. Throughout Europe, in all the countries under their control- Poland, Western Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, France, Holland, Denmark, Norway- the Jews were rounded up and confined in concentration camps or ghettos. Stripped of their property, brutalized, terrified, and disoriented, they were forced to work as slave laborers in abominable conditions. Many died of starvation and disease. Others were shot or beaten to death. Before long, rumors of this brutality reached capitals of the world, but nothing was done. As the war against the Jews progressed, however, the Nazi’s turned to large scale centralized killing operations. Jews from all over Europe were loaded into trains and shipped to death camps, among them, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor. LOCATION OF GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS ‘In the death camps, human life was destroyed quickly and efficiently’ (Isaacman, 19). Under the whips of cruel SS guards, the Jewish victims were herded off the trains and into gas chambers, where they were exterminated by a poisonous gas. Millions of non-Jews were also systematically killed- political opponents, Slavic peoples, and other minorities. In the case of the Jews, the Nazi’s were determined to annihilate an entire people. Some Jews fought back at every possible opportunity. Some Christians, too, tried to help. Taking great personal risks, they hid Jewish friends in their homes or cellars. Many of these people were caught and killed by the Nazi’s. People willing to take such risks were few and far between in Europe. Had other nations of the world been as righteous and as brave as these people, and combined their efforts, this attempted annihilation of the Jewish people could have been prevented. To some Nazi’s the ‘final solution’ was more important than anything else. ‘Though Germany was hemmed in by enemies and fighting for its life, they diverted valuable resources to the extermination machine’ (Isaacman, 20). Trains that could have carried ammunition to the front were used to transport Jews to death camps. Soldiers who could have been defending their country were instead sent to round up and guard Jewish civilians. ‘After several years of war, Hitler knew he could not defeat America and the other Allies, but he was determined to win at least one victory by wiping out the Jews’ (Isaacman, 20). The United States and other world powers were too focused on the war to maintain their pride. While in Germany Hitler was trying to wipe an entire people off the face of the Earth. If these other nations of the world were not so ignorant, the lives of six million people  could have been saved. Hitler and his Nazi Party treated the Jewish people so inhumanely. He and his party felt that the Jews were biologically different, when in fact they were and are not. Every human being is equal and should be treated equally. No one is superior to anyone else, even though some may have an egocentric attitude. In 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Rather than correcting his errors, Hitler took the easy way out by committing suicide. The ultraorthodox Jewish theology justifies the Holocaust as an act of God, a punishment for sins committed by the Jewish people against their God. Others feel that the Holocaust was a result of man’s betrayal to God. I feel that the Holocaust is not at all justified. During the Holocaust, six million Jewish people died, that is more than one-third (about 34 percent) of the Jewish population. ‘From the liberated Nazi camps, weeping skeletons of men and women emerged. Among them were 200,000 Jews. These have to be added to the 210,000 that survived in France, about 37,000 in Belgium, 20,000 in the Netherlands, about 1,900,000 in the Polish-Soviet area, 350,000 in Rumania, 130,000 in Hungary, and smaller numbers elsewhere. Including Soviet Jewry, part of whom were never under Nazi rule, about 3 million Jews were left in Europe out of the original 9 million Jews before the war’ (Bauer, 334). As I stated before, there is only one thing and one thing only that caused this horrid event called the Holocaust, ignorance. Not just ignorance of the United States and the other world powers, but the ignorance of Hitler and his Nazi Party as well. Had the U.S. and other nations offered aid to the Jewish refugees, and opened their doors to these refugees, they would have saved many lives. Instead, they were just as guilty as the Nazi’s by helping in the destruction of an entire race. WORKS CITED PAGE Bauer, Yehuda. A History of the Holocaust. New York: Franklin Watts, 1983. Chartock, Roselle, Jack Spencer. The Holocaust Years: Society on Trial. New York: Bantam Books, 1978. Des Pres, Terrence. The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. ‘Holocaust.’ Microsoft Encarta (CD ROM). 1993. Stadtler, Bea. The Holocaust: A History of Courage and Resistance. New York: Behrman House, Inc., 1973. Isaacman, Clara. Pathways Through the Holocaust. New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1988.

My Vision of Future Essay

Reimagining India’s Present most of us have a massive psychological barrier against looking seriously at the future. Many nurture the not unnatural, latent fear that any engagement with the future will turn out to be an acknowledgement of their mortality and the transience of their world. Different cultures handle this fear differently. In India’s middle-class culture, attempts to look at the future often end up as tame, defensive litanies of moral platitudes or as overly dramatic, doomsday ‘propheteering’. Even those who avoid these extremes usually view the future either as the future of the past or as a linear projection of the present. If one is a fatalist, one sees no escape from the past; if not, one often desperately tries to live in the instant present. Those who see the future as growing directly out of the present also often narrow their choices. When optimistic, they try to correct for the ills of the present in the future; when pessimistic, they presume that the future will aggravate the ills. If one views the future from within the framework of the past, one arrives at questions like ‘Can we restore the precolonial village republics of India as part of a Gandhian project?’ or ‘Should we revive Nehruvian nonalignment to better negotiate the turbulent waters of India’s inter- national relations in the post-cold-war world?’ If one views the future from within the framework of the present, one asks questions like ‘Will the present fresh water resources or fossil-fuel stock of the world outlast the twenty-first century?’ Important though some of these questions are, they are not the core of future studies. No environmentalist can claim to be a futurist by only estimating, on the basis of existing data, the pollution levels in India in the coming decades. Exactly as no economist can claim to be a futurist by predicting the exchange value of the Indian rupee in the year 2005. The reason is simple. The future—that is, the future that truly intrigues or worries us—is usually disjunctive with its past. Defying popular faith, the future is mostly that which cannot be directly projected from the present. Actually, we should have learnt this from the relationship  between the past and the present. The present has not grown out of the past in the way the technoeconomic or historical determinists believe. I often give the example of a survey done exactly hundred years ago, at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was done mainly as an exercise in technological forecasting during the Paris exposition. The respondents were the best-known scientists of the world then. In retrospect, the most remarkable result of the survey was the total failure of the scientists to anticipate scientific discoveries and changes the world would see in the twentieth century. Thus, for instance, the scientists thought the highest attainable speed in human transportation during the century was 250 miles an hour and among the innovations that they thought would not be viable or popular were the radio and television. Indeed, novelist Jules Verne’s fantasies often anticipated the future of science and technology more imaginatively and accurately. For a novelist’s imagination is not cramped by the demands of any discipline or the expectations of professionals, not even by hard empiricism. The present too is disjunctive with the past, though we love to believe otherwise. The past nowadays is available to us in packaged forms, mainly through the formal, professional narratives of the discipline of history. We feel that we have a grasp on it. History monopolises memories and offers us a tamed, digestible past, reformulated in contemporary terms. It is thus that 17 History monopolises memories and offers us a tamed, digestible past, reformulated in contemporary terms. No. 123 history fulfils its main social and political role—it gives a shared sense of psychological continuity to those living in a disenchanted world. You cannot do the same with the future, for the future has to be anticipated and it is more difficult to turn it into a manageable portfolio. Ultimately, Benedotte Croce’s aphorism—’all history is contemporary history’— can be applied to all genuine futuristic enterprises, too. All visions of the future are interventions in and reconceptualisation of the present. My quick  peep into the future of India, therefore, can only be a comment on India today. I offer it in the spirit in which my work on India’s pasts, too, has all along been an attempt to ‘work through’ or reimagine India’s present. The future of India in my mind is intertwined with the future of diversity and self-reflection, two values that have been central to the Indian worldview, cutting across social strata , religious boundaries and cultural barriers. I believe that during the last two hundred years, there has been a full-scale onslaught on both these values. Even when some have upheld these values during the period, they have mostly done so instrumentally. Thus, even when they have talked of unity in diversity, the emphasis has been on the former; the latter has been seen as an artefact or a hard, somewhat unpleasant, reality with which we shall have to learn to live. A modern nation-state loves order and predictability and its Indian incarnation is no different. Sankaran Krishna’s brilliant study of Indian intervention in Sri Lanka, Postcolonial Insecurities, shows that, even when the Indian state has gone to war in the name of protecting cultural identities and minority rights, its tacit goal has been to advance the hegemonic ambitions 18 of a conventional, centralised, homogenising nation-state. In response to the demands of such a state, modern Indians too have learnt to fear diversity. That fear cuts across the entire ideological spectrum and is ever increasing. Most Gandhians want an India that would conform fully to their idea of a good society, for they have begun to fear their marginalisation. The late Morarji Desai was a good example of such defensive Gandhism. But even some of the more imaginative Gandhians, the ones who cannot be accused of being associated with the fads and foibles of Desai, have not been different. They have absolutised Gandhi the way only ideologues can absolutise their ideologies. The new globalisers also have one solution for the entire world, though they sometimes lazily mouth buzzwords like ‘multiculturalism’, ‘grassroots’ and ‘alternative development’. The goal of their pluralism is to ensure the transparency and predictability of other cultures and strains of dissent. Likewise, I have found to my surprise that attempts to protect religious diversity in diverse ways is not acceptable to most secularists. They want to fight the monocultures of religious fundamentalism and religionbased nationalism, but feel aggrieved if others  do so in other ways. They suspect the tolerance of those who are believers and trust the coercive apparatus of the state. Secularism for In response to the demands of a centralised, homogenising nation-state, modern Indians too have learnt to fear diversity. such secularists serves the same psychological purposes that fundamentalism does for the fundamentalists; it becomes a means of fighting diversity and giving play to their innate authoritarianism and monoculturalism. Things have come to such a pass that we cannot now stand diversity even in the matter of names. Bombay has always been Mumbai, but it has also been Bombay for a long time and acquired a new set of associations through its new name. Bombay films and Bombay ducks cannot have the same ring as Mumbai films and Mumbai ducks. Nor can Chennai substitute Madras in expressions like bleeding Madras and Madras Regiment. Many great cities like London happily live with more than one name. Indeed, in the Charles De Gaulle Airport at Paris, you may miss a plane to London unless you know that London is also Londres. Until recently, we Calcuttans used to live happily with four names of the city— Kolikata, Kolkata, Kalkatta and Calcutta. Indeed, the first name is never used in conversations, yet you have to know it if you are interested in Bengali literature. In recent years, the city has been flirting with a fifth name, thanks to former cricketer and cricket commentator Geoffrey Boycott—Calcootta. But the Bengalis have disappointed me. Many of them now are trying to ensure that there is only one name for the city, Kolkata. The gifted writer Sunil Gangopadhyay has joined them, because he feels that the Bengali language is under siege from deracinated Bengalis, Anglophiles and Bombay—or is it Mumbaiya?—Hindi. I am afraid the change will not provide any additional protection to the Bengali language. It will only fuel our national passion for sameness. MANUSHI It is my belief that the twenty-first century belongs to those who try to see diversity as a value in itself, not as an instrument for resisting new monocultures of the mind or as a compromise necessary for maintaining communal or ethnic harmony. ‘Little cultures’ are in rebellion everywhere and in every sphere of life. Traditional healing systems, agricultural and  ecological practices—things that we rejected contemptuously as repositories of superstitions and retrogression have staged triumphant returns among the young and the intellectually adventurous and posing radical challenges to set ways of thinking and living. More than a year ago, in the backyard of globalised capitalism, the US citizens for the first time spent more money from their pockets on alternative medicine than on conventional healthcare. The idea of the diverse is not merely expanding but acquiring subversive potentialities. India of the future, I hope, will be central to a world where the idea of diversity will itself be diverse and where diversity will be cherished as an end in itself. By its cultural heritage, India—the civilisation, not the nation-state—is particularly well equipped to play a central role in such a world. However, the Indian elite and much of the country’s middle class seem keener to strut around the world stage as representatives of a hollow, regional super-power. They want their country to play-act as a poor man’s America, armed to the teeth and desperate to repeat the success story of nineteenth-century, European, imperial states in the twenty-first century. India is also supposed to be a culture deeply committed to selfreflection. During colonial times, that No. 123 commitment began to look like a liability. Many critics of Indian culture and civilisation in the nineteenth century lamented that the Indians were too engrossed in their inner life. Others argued that Indian philosophy had marginalised the materialist strain within it and become predominantly idealistic. Their tacit assumption was that the Indians were given to too much of self-reflection and too little to action. ‘We are dreamers, not doers’ came to be a popular, simplified version of the same lament. Whether the formulation is correct or not, it is obvious that we have overcorrected for it. We have now become a country of unthinking doers. Certainly in the Indian middle classes, any action is considered better than doing nothing. As a result, mindless action constitutes an important ingredient of the ruling culture of Indian public life. Even the few knowledgeable, nongovernmental hydrologists who support mega-dams, readily admit that most of the 1,500 large dams built in India are useless and counterproductive. Their main contribution has  been to displace millions of people in the last fifty years. And even these supporters are not fully aware that the millions displaced by dams, often without any compensation, now constitute an excellent pool for those active in various forms of social violence and criminality. Veerappan, son of a dam victim, is only the most infamous symbol of them. Likewise, even in the Indian army, many senior officers now openly say that Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple was worse than doing nothing. The price for that gratuitous intervention was a decade of bloodshed and brutalisation of Punjab. For years, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been ventured as an excuse for every phoney, useless intervention—in nature, society and culture in India. The last time I saw this ploy was when our bomb-mamas justified the nuclearisation of India in the name of Gandhi. The Indian middle 19 classes have always been uncomfortable with the father of the nation and have always believed him to be romantic, retrogressive, and antimodern. They have also probably all along felt slightly guilty about that belief. As a reparative gesture they have now begun to say, given half a chance, that Gandhi was a great doer; he did not merely talk or theorise. This compliment serves two purposes. It allows one to ignore Gandhi’s uncomfortable, subversive thought as less relevant— ‘Bapu, you are far greater than your little books’, Jawaharlal Nehru once said—and it atones for one’s hidden hostility and contempt towards the unconventional Gandhian vision of India’s future. Occasionally, some like philosopher T. K. Mahadevan have tried to puncture this selfcongratulatory strategy. I remember him once saying in a letter to the editor of The Times of India that Gandhi For years, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been ventured as an excuse for every phoney, useless intervention—in nature, society and culture in India. went out on the streets only twice in his life; the rest of the time he was thinking. Such interventions are always explained away as esoterica vended by eccentric intellectuals and professional iconoclasts. The dominant tendency in India today is to discount all self-reflection. It has turned India’s ruling culture into an intellectually sterile summation of slogans borrowed from European public culture in the 1930s. Our culture is now dominated by European ideas of the nation-state and nationalism, even  Europeans ideas of ethnic and 20 religious nationalism (mediated by that moth-eaten Bible of the 1930s, V. D. Savarkar’s Hindutva, modelled on the ideas of Mazzini and Herder). Shadow boxing with them for our benefit and entertainment are European ideas of radicalism and progress, smelling to high heavens of Edwardian England. In such a world, it is almost impossible to sustain a culture of diversity, particularly diversity as an end in itself. You learn to pay occasional h omage to diversity as an instrument that buys religious and ethnic peace, but that is mainly to hide one’s eagerness to deploy such ideas of religious, caste and ethnic peace to further homogenise India. I have now learnt to fear the use of any cultural category in the singular. For years, I wrote about ‘Indian civilisation.’ I thought it would be obvious from the contents of my writings that I saw the civilisation as a confederation of cultures and as an entity that coexisted and overlapped with other civilisations. Af ter all, some other civilisations, such as the Iranian and the European, are now very much part of the Indian civilisation. The Islamic and Buddhist civilisations, too, clearly overlap significantly with the Hindu civilisation. However, even the concept of civilisation, it now seems to me, has been hijacked in India by those committed to unipolarity, unidimensionality and unilinearity. Our official policy has been shaped by a vision of India that is pathetically naà ¯ve, if not farcical. It is that of a second-class European nation-state located in South Asia with a bit of Gita, Bharatanatyam, sitar and Mughal cuisine thrown in for fun or entertainment. Those who do not share that idea of earthly paradise are seen as dangerous romantics, Our culture is now dominated by European ideas of the nation-state and nationalism, even Europeans ideas of ethnic and religious nationalism†¦ MANUSHI continuously jeopardising India’s national security. No wonder that even many erstwhile admirers of India have begun to see it as a nucleararmed, permanently enemy-seeking, garrison state. Edward Said will never know that  few Occidentals can be as Orientalist towards India as educated, urban, modern Indians often are. In Indian public life, the standard response to such criticism is to reconceptualise Indian culture as some sort of a grocery store and to recommend that one should take from it the good and reject the bad. This is absurd and smacks of arrogance. Indian culture represents the assessments and experience of millions, acquired over generations. It has its own organising principles. My ideal India †¦ is a bit like a wildlife programme that cannot afford to protect only cuddly pandas and colourful tigers. transparent, because there cannot but be a touch of mystery in the world of cultures. My ideal India celebrates all forms of diversity, including some that are disreputable, lowbrow and unfashionable. It is a bit like a wildlife programme that cannot afford to protect only cuddly pandas and colourful tigers. It is an India where even the idea of majority is confined to political and economic spheres and is seen as shifting, plural and fuzzy, where each and every culture, however modest or humble, not only has a place under the sun but is also celebrated as a vital component of our collective life. That may not turn out to be an empty dream. I see all around me movements and activists unashamedly rooted in the local and the vernacular. They are less defensive about their cultural roots and are working to empower not merely local communities, but also their diverse systems of knowledge, philosophies, art and crafts. Underlying these efforts is a tacit celebration of everyday life and ordinary citizens. Everything in everyday life and ordinariness is not praiseworthy and many of these efforts seem to me harebrained, pigheaded or plain silly. But they represent a generation that is less burdened by nineteenth-century ideologies masquerading as signposts to a new era and at least some of them show the capacity to look at human suffering directly, without the aid of ornate, newly imported social theories. Ashis Nandy is Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Diversity, to qualify as diversity, must allow those who represent the diversity to be diverse in their own ways, according to their own  categories, not ours. It cannot be used like an array of commodities at the mercy of casual purchasers. Diversity, to qualify as diversity, must allow those who represent the diversity to be diverse in their own ways, according to their own categories, not ours. We shall have to learn to live with the discomfort of seeing people using these categories, even when they are not fully transparent to us. For the true tolerance of diversity is the tolerance of incommensurable multiple worlds of culture and systems of knowledge. In this kind of tolerance, there is always the assumption that all the cultures covered by the idea of plurality are not and need not be entirely No. 123 MANUSHI Handsomely Bound in Maroon Leather in Nine Volumes Price for India, Nepal and Bangladesh : Vol. I Vol. II Vol. III Vol. IV Vol. V Vol. VI Vol. VII Vol. VIII Vol. IX : : : : : : : : : Nos. 1 to 19 (1979 to 1983) Nos. 20 to 37 (1984 to 1986) Nos. 38 to 49 (1987 to 1988) Nos. 50 to 61 (1989 to 1990) Nos. 62 to 73 (1991 to 1992) Nos. 74 to 85 (1993 to 1994) Nos. 86 to 97 (1995 to 1996) Nos. 98 to 109 (1997 to 1998) Nos. 110 to 121 (1999 to 2000) Postage in India : Rs 30 per volume All Other Countries: US$ 60 per volume (including air-mail postage) Send payment by cheque, draft or MO payable to Manushi Trust. : : : : : : : : :