Tuesday, August 6, 2019
How WW1 Led To WW2 Essay Example for Free
How WW1 Led To WW2 Essay WW1 was the most gruesome war up until that time. With the central powers fighting the allied powers, germany was defeated and forced to take all blame for WW1 which led to WW2. They were forced to admit the war was their fault, pay all damages, and lose their military. After the war, all powers met in France and discussed the treaty of versailles and all allied powers except the U.S. made Germany sign the document and admit that the war was entirely their fault. They hoped it would keep Germany from starting another war but in reality it sparked them to get revenge. Also in the treaty, the allied powers forced them to pay for all expenses in the war. The total cost was well over a billion dollars. This hurt the economic system of Germany and they couldnt pay for it all. It sparked the Germans to once again get revenge on the allied powers and gain control of their country again. IN the treaty, the military power was ceased from Germany. They were now left defenseless. When Adolf Hitler comes to power the first thing he does is restore the army and navy so Germany isnt completely defenselss and he wants the strongest army in the world to go back out and defeat the allied powers. Even though all the allied powers wanted was full revenge on Germany for their many expenses and casualities, it led to another war full of more expenses and casualities. Hitler stepped into power and didnt think it was fair for the Germans to be treated this way. WW2 then begins and it the most destructive war ever.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Should America Issue A Domestic Moratorium?
Should America Issue A Domestic Moratorium? Matthew Evan McElwain Thesis It is a well-known fact that America is the most militarily powerful nation on the planet Earth, and though some may argue it, our ability to intervene globally is the ultimate proof of this, as well as our ceaseless victories throughout wars in history, including the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the War in Iraq, the War in Afghanistan, and the current ongoing War on Terror. However, it brings into question the morality and sensibility of maintaining such a massive offensive force, which is what shall be analyzed in this paper. Introductory Information First and foremost, it is imperative that the definition of moratorium is defined. A moratorium is said to mean aà suspension of activity (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). With this in mind, it calls into perspective the entirety of this papers concept. A complete cease upon militant interventionism and expenditure within the United States of America. As it currently stands, the budget of the United States Armed Forces stands at $585.2 billion for the fiscal year of 2016 (United States Department of Defense Budget Request Fiscal Year 2016), which is the most recent recording of it. This points towards the fact that the United States of America spends more money upon its armed forces than the 6 nations beneath us combined, with 5 of them acting as our allies and the other a nation with which we commence trade, who combined spend only $572.6 billion. (John U. Nef, War and Human Progress). Military Budget According to the United States Department of Defense, America spends $100,000 on each newly trained soldier per year, including their equipment, feeding them, and deploying them to their stations within the continental United States and overseas military bases owned and operated by the United States of America (John U. Nef, War and Human Progress). Since entering just Iraq, America now spends $4.3 billion per month in Iraq, and each soldier deployed overseas costs anywhere between $850,000 to $1.4 million per year (Larry Shaughnessy, One Soldier, One Year), and this doesnt include the maintenance of artillery, vehicles, and armaments within the country and across the world. The maintenance of all cruise missiles is $830,000, for Abrams tanks, the military standard, $6,210,000, and F-22 Raptor, the most common stealth plane in the United States Armed Forces, $150,000, each B-2 Stealth Bomber, $1.01 billion, Virginia Class Submarines, $2.3 billion, and for each individual of the 10 aircraft carriers owned by America, $13.5 billion (J. William Harbard, MilitaryEducation.org). This is a direct confirmation of the military-industrial complex that Former President of the United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower, forewarned about in his speech to the American people in 1961, suggesting that America, while free, when faced with the Cold War, would proceed to develop into a nation whose entire economy is meant to support the military, rather than the military develop to protect the citizens of the United States (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Public Papers of the Presidents). With this all in mind, it becomes extremely apparent that slashing of the military budget is an inevitably solid concept, rooted in the beliefs of former presidents and the modern citizens of the United States of America that America must make strides towards generalized demilitarization. Imperialism America has a long-standing history of Imperialism, although, not of the colonial form, militant imperialism. America is, for all intents and purposes, in the business of building itself up to step upon any and all who oppose it, with members of the United States Armed Forces being some of the most patriotic in the world, a particular famous quote being, I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country. (Captain Nathan Hale) The United States became an empire in 1945. It is true that in the Spanish-American War, the United States intentionallytook control of the Philippines andCuba. It is also true that it began thinking of itself as an empire, but it really was not. Cuba and the Philippines were the fantasy of empire, and this illusion dissolved during World War I, the subsequent period of isolationism and the Great Depression. The genuine American empire that emerged thereafter was a byproduct of other events. There was no great conspiracy. In some ways, the circumstances of its creation made it more powerful. The dynamic of World War II led to the collapse of the European Peninsula and its occupation by the Soviets and the Americans. The same dynamic led to theoccupation of Japan and its direct governance by the United States as a de facto colony, with Gen. Douglas MacArthur as viceroy (George Freidman, Coming to Terms With the American Empire). With the occupation of Japan following wartime efforts, America truly crossed the boundary, having annihilated the chance of the continuation of the Empire of Japan via the force of nuclear fire and subsequent eradication of their hierarchal culture, America finally moved on to the status of an empire, founded on unbridled economic strength and military power following World War II, the America of the 19th Century was lost during these two World Wars. Our culture was, for the most part, shifted towards the right, with conservativism and strength of nation the most important value to the United States of America as we as a nation entered the Cold War against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the Soviet Union). Franklin Roosevelts vision of a neocolonial world system with US hegemony and cooperation among the global powers, including the Soviet Union, was cast aside by the ideological construction of the Cold War, which defined communism as evil and expansionist, requiring the defense of democracy through a permanent military preparedness. A liberal-conservative consensus emerged. There was wide agreement on the militarist application of Keynesian economic principles, facilitating the growth of the economy and the capacity for military intervention anywhere in the world. Conservatives as well as liberals ended up supporting this approach, which reduced the differences between the two to the dimension and the quality of the intervention of the state in the economy, with neither side rejecting its tax collector-investor function in the production of arms (Arboleya 2008:133). And there was consensus based on Cold War ideological premises. In foreign policy, the distance between liberals and conservatives was reduced to the point of converting Roosevelt into the last traditional liberal that occupied the White House. As liberalism moved toward militant anti-communism in the context of the Cold War, liberalism ceased to be an alternative ideological current for foreign policy, expressed on the basis of a different political agenda. Militarism united both currents, and although differences persisted between conservatives and liberals in regard to the procedures to be utilized, nearly no one questioned the strategic importance of US expansionism. Isolationism became obsolete during the Second World War. The United States no longer was separated from the rest of the world by the ocean or by anything. Like the dollar, its soldiers appeared everywhere (Arboleya 2008:138) (Charles McKelvey, The Cold War and Imperialism). Militant Globalism At the height of the Cold War, the threat of Soviet invasion lurked constantly in the minds of Western Europeans. Their fears were not unfounded: a majority of the land that lay to the east of the Iron Curtain had become subjected to the direct influence of the Kremlin. The Kremlins coercive arm, the Red Army, stood at the ready along multiple European borders. It was in this context that the governments of the Western world sought to pool their collective military forces in order to better withstand any potential Soviet aggression. Thus, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (or NATO) was born. Unified in their solidarity against the communist menace, the member states of NATO shared common purpose. The eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, however, deprived them of this common purpose: no longer was there an imminent, existential threat to the capitalist countries of Western Europe. Many would argue that NATO, with its original rationale for existence made inapplicable years ago, is irrelevant in the modern era. Yet this could not be further from the truth. NATO is still a highly relevant organization within the framework of contemporary international affairs due to the active role it plays in collective security,humanitarian intervention, and international politics, and therefore will become all the more prominent in the future. In the post-Cold War era, NATO is becoming increasingly indispensable to its member states as the West transitions from a security landscape defined by a single, dominant threat, to one defined by a diverse range of credible threats. As previously explained, NATO was originally established to respond to the possibility of a Soviet offensive against Western Europe. Its sole objective was to protect the borders of its constituent states from unwelcome intrusion by the Eastern bloc. In these circumstances, few additional issues were of particular concern to NATO. This alliance against a mutual Soviet nemesis would persist throughout the duration of the Cold War, right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. However, once the U.S.S.R. withered away into the pages of global history, NATO suffered from what some characterize as an identity crisis, (Friedan, Lake, and Schultz 187). Stripped of its source of strategic unity, NATO had no inherent reason to exist (Neil Misra, The Relevance of NATO in the Modern World). Neil Misra argues that NATO was born of mutual defense, and to dissuade communistic rhetoric in the Western Hemisphere, that the world most needed somebody to stand against communism, as the ideology couldnt work in all countries. Arguable, it seems he is correct, as in a planned economy (and a communist society is a planned economy, there is some sort of central bureau that has to make decisions about what to produce), its left to bureaucrats and planners. Worse, there are no prices in a pure Communist society, no indicators bringing together the information of thousands or even millions of people on the subject. How do you know how many cars, how much bread, how many wrenches and pens and notebooks to produce? How do you decide how many of any of thousands of goods and services to produce? You dont. The economy fails to function, stuck in a layer of juxtaposition that it cannot remove itself from due to the nature of the established bureaucracy. And herein lies the problem. We find with significant obviousness that America has not only consistently and in a manner that is completely unchecked flexed its metaphorical muscles for the sake of military and political gain, but has determined with great affluence that it deserves the right to maintain its place as the strongest sovereign entity within the United States. Recently, with the increase by President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, of the military budget by $52.6 billion, America has continued towards this path of imperialistic doctrine, and has shown that it does not plan for there to be a cease in such military action across the globe, especially considering the new conflagration of events with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. It is, without a doubt, apparent that America take action and begin to make strides towards stricter regulation of our Armed Forces. Proposed Solutions It is apparent that a moratorium must go into effect, as that would halt our expansionist policies and put a limit upon how much we grow militarily, this means that enlistment would be put on halt, and funding to the military cut, to a respectable 54%, and current service members moved into other government jobs or cut and given extremely well thoughtout benefits so that they may work on pursuing a better, more fulfilling life, post service. Another possible solution to this issue would be the disarmament of the United States of America, including, but not limited to, decommissioning old vessels, giving our old armaments to our allies, and removing funding for newer technology. The United States could also recommission the militarys purpose and put it towards funding and aiding humanitarian causes, and fulfilling global treaties, as well as move the United States into a state of armed neutrality. The United States of Americas military and military budget are both so massive that they could easily be used for the purpose of nation-building and gentrification in countries that are less developed than the United States of America. Ultimately, the fact of the matter is that the United States Armed Forces needs a mass downsizing, either in the form of budget cuts, disarmament, the removal of our military bases in foreign nations, a refocus on Humanitarian Effort, or the decommissioning of our forces so that the military can be put into a smaller, more justifiable size. Conclusion From the written and spoken testaments of several sources, as well as the general opinion of our allied countries, citizens, and politicians, it is apparent that America must slow or cease military expenditure and military operations and divert funding from the military towards more useful sources, such as domestic gentrification, education, space exploration programs, healthcare, or civil affairs. America must lead the world as a true show of democracy, freedom and liberty, without succumbing to globalist imperialism, international rhetoric or the whims of our politicians. It is absolutely imperative that America begin to make a change, lest we begin to sacrifice the survival of the citizen, for the survival of our Armed Forces. Ultimately, funding must be cut and a moratorium put upon military-based operations, as well as a cut to supporting our allies militaries. America must demilitarize. Bibliography à Freidman, George. Coming to Terms With the American Empire. Stratfor.com. N.p., 04 Apr. 2015. Web. 07 Feb. 2017. Misra, Neil. The Relevance of NATO in the Modern World. SIR Journal. N.p., 4 Dec. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. Webster, Noah. New Collegiate Dictionary. A Merriam-Webster. Springfield, MA: G. C. Merriam, 1963. Print. McKelvey, Charles. The Cold War and Imperialism. Global Learning. N.p., 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. Frieden, Jeffry A., David A. Lake, and Kenneth A. Schultz. World Politics: Interests, Interactions, Institutions. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. Print. Nef, John Ulric. War and Human Progress: An Essay on the Rise of Industrial Civilization. New York: Norton, 1978. Print. Eisenhower, Dwight D. The Cumulated Indexes to the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-1961. Millwood, NY: KTO, 1978. Print. Shaughnessy, Larry. One Soldier, One Year. CNN. N.p., 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 3 Mar. 2017.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Baseball and American Popular Culture :: Baseball Sports Athletics American Culture Essays
Baseball is an integral part of American pop culture. Many Americans grow up with baseball, playing it before they can even count all the bases. It is glorified, taught, and fed to us. When we play baseball, we find a respect for the game. The respect we gain from playing it has turned the game into a tradition of American culture. It has formed itself into the business of professional baseball, namely major league baseball. Professional players have become recognized all over the world. They are sought out and admired by fans. Because of their popularity, these players have written books, endorsed commercial products, and found successful and rewarding careers by playing a game. According to Wallup, author of Baseball: An Informal History, baseball has been apart of our culture since the mid to late nineteenth century(Wallup, p16). Our great grandparents, grandparents, and parents have been brought up with it and our parents teach the sport to us. When the notion of baseball comes to mind, a feeling of nostalgia and tradition come to me. Many of my feelings and memories originate from my childhood. I remember a beautiful summer day. My dad and I arrived at the baseball stadium to watch the game. We walked up the concrete walkway inside the stadium. The concrete walls and floors made my surroundings drab and grey. Finally, we made it to entrance into the stadium. I came out of the dark tunnels into the bright sunlight. The first thing to catch my eye was the vivid rush of color. Underneath the fluffy white clouds and their deep blue canvas, I could look down and see players in vibrant red and blue uniforms warming up for the game. The well-watered grass on the field was a brighter green than any other grass I had seen. The outfield seemed to be so perfect. It appeared that each blade had been cut by hand. The edge of the infield, where the dark, watered-down dirt met the intensely green grass was a precise and well-defined cont rast. We sat down and I took in my surroundings. There were men walking up and down the stairs selling various concessions. They had peanuts, beer, soda, ice cream, popcorn, and many other tempting treats. The players soon finished their warm-ups and the crowd became frenzied with excitement. The game was about to start. Baseball has its own traditions in America and playing the national anthem is one of them.
Saturday, August 3, 2019
The Future of Education Essay -- Teaching Education Essays
The Future of Education In about thirty years, I will probably be sending off a child of my own to a university. There will be many changes in the way a public university will operate in three decades. These changes will be similar to the ones that occurred from the time my parents attended college to the time that I am now furthering my education at college. The same basic format of living on campus, going to classes, and partying will be followed, but getting the instruction and getting to college will go on in a different manner. The main areas of change that I foresee will be in the process of how students get to college, on-campus living, and the most, in use of technology. More and more students are now pursuing a post-high school education. This is going to be a continuing trend that will be made possible by increasing efforts from high schools, federal, state, and local governments, and the universities themselves. High schools will create more college preparatory curricula that will reach all students so that they will have the opportunities to apply and be accepted to a university. With an increased number of applicants, universities will have to build more residency halls, and create more classrooms and resources to accommodate the larger amounts of students. Universities will offer a wider scope of types of scholarships and financial aid to make sure they can reach every prospective student in need. The governments will also have a larger quantity of revenues that will be used for educational purposes including various kinds of grants, scholarships, and loans to meet all studentsââ¬â¢ needs. There will be larger push on the whole from the public to assist students further their education instead of goin... ...rking out of problems. Technology will never replace the university wholly either. There is an additional education to just academics and athletics that takes place on a college campus. Many lessons and experiences that are crucial to life are found in the university. These changes are the same that my parents are seeing now as they watch me attend the same university from which they graduated. I imagine similar changes will be seen by my children sixty years from now, when they possibly send off their own children to a public university. In general, public universities will always be in a campus setting, with old buildings and large classes, but the campus and classes will change in the same ways they have already been changing. Works Cited Hanck, J. Andrew. ââ¬Å"Future of the Universityâ⬠Carroll, J. Ryan. ââ¬Å"How My Children Will Get Their Educationââ¬
Crusades :: essays research papers
Crusades à à à à à The Crusades began in 1088 when Urban II preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. The reason for such a mass following of people to leave their homes and travel to the Holy Land to fight is unknown. There are numerous plausible causes, which will be discussed in this paper. à à à à à The reason the Pope preached the Crusades originally was the supposed threat of Muslim rule. In truth the Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land had lived peacefully for years, but the Pope was also a politician. Many believe that his motive was to gain political power by gaining control of all of the Muslim territories. This feat was accomplished by the and of 1099 and four new states were set up after the first crusade had ended. à à à à à It is fairly easy to see why the Pope would want to incite the crusades, but why would normal people leave all they had to carry out this Holy War? Many people believed (because this is what the Pope told them) that all of their sins would be forgiven if they carried out this momentous task. They were practically guaranteed a place in heaven. Other crusaders went in search of gold and riches that they would take after plundering the Jewish and Muslim villages. Many younger sons of aristocrats went in search of land because their older brother had inherited the family’s land. An additional reason for men and women to go fight may have been pride. “Keeping up with the Jones’s'; is not a new concept. Many people may have felt pressured to join the crusades along with their neighbors and after committing to go one could not turn back with the penalty of excommunication. The crusades also created business for maritime cities.
Friday, August 2, 2019
Advertising and Sales Promotions In The Internet Essay
Marketing has been one of the most significant gainers from the Internet revolution. Internet has been applied by marketers both as a medium as well as a product. Marketing has deployed it for communication of information, distribution of some of its products and for receiving payments from the customers. Internet based marketing plays a vital role in the exchange process. Internet marketing term became popular when computers started getting used in marketing extensively. Earlier, computers were used more for storing, processing and reporting of various marketing related information. But, with the entry of Internet the online data handling possibilities have virtually exploded the use of computer. This application has multiplied the use of computers faster among communities. Internet marketing profitably reinforces the concepts of marketing with the power of internet. It strengthens the existing delivery of marketing outputs and also opens newer avenues of marketing which were not possible to achieve before the arrival of internet. A marketer today can keep track of millions of customers simultaneously, segment them online, offer customized products to individual customers, fix different prices, provide varying contents and styles of information and deliver the products through appropriate modes of distribution to each of these customers. The details of such transactions and the characteristics of each of these customers can be stored for their dynamic utilization in future marketing opportunities with the customers. Estee Lauderââ¬â¢s anti ageing product ââ¬ËAdvanced Night Repair Concentrateââ¬â¢ à is able to make inroads in the customers mind. Internet will function as the medium for promoting the product. à Advertising and Sales Promotions: Like products and prices, customization of advertising and promotion are very much possible in internet marketing. Besides customization, the customer is contacted when he is giving, full attention to the computer screen. In fact, when a customer views any site he has done so after deliberate and conscious effort and choice. This increases his commitment to the message that he is viewing on the internet. Advertising generates a hierarchy of impacts like creation of awareness, interest, desire and action on the consumer. Different media are found to be better suited for certain kinds of impacts out of this hierarchy. Internet has been found to be amenable to finer tuning for most of these impacts. As a result, it is possible to better transport the customer from one level of impact to the next higher one and do so more quickly. The combination of this factor with the feature of individualization makes the output very powerful one. Besides this, the measurement of each of these impacts are also possible more easily and online. The promotions on internet can also be customized in a similar way. The internet marketing model suggests that commerce follows content and community. Since the internet phenomenon has occurred like an explosion there had been quite a rush to build up communities in the competitive environment. In this rush, many of the marketers tried to buy prospective customers into their communities net by offering a variety of incentives. This has caused internet marketing effort to be seen as overloaded with freebies in the form of consumer promotions. Personal Selling: The advantage of mass personal selling is made possible through internet for both customers and the marketers. Anti aging is a consumer product so Estee Lauders can get the maximum benefit by penetrating in this stream. The customers can identify the optimum provider for his unique sets of needs. Customer can also arrange for updating himself in the precise area of his interest although from the most extensive sources of information possible. The marketer can also store the historical data of individual persons and their behavior. These data can be then processed with the help of data mining and marketing decision tools. These data are utilized to provide solutions to the customers needs on an online and individual basis. The product can be configured exacting to the individual customerââ¬â¢s needs at the price and with a payment mechanism most convenient to him. The information and the persuasive appeals can also be tailor made for the individual customer. He can be reminded or provided with additional services as per his specific requests and all these information can be utilized in the design of next round of offering to him. This kind of individual personal service when offered on continuous basis becomes service to the customer of significant commercial value. Publicity:à Internet marketing has the capability of viewing existing customers through a wide variety of angles and compares the efficacy of each of these views. Various data mining tools available today are employed to do this job. They mainly utilize the processes of sorting, clustering and association seeking among the consumer characteristics. The history of the customer behavior in terms of past transactions and internet viewing generate rich data for this purpose of publicity automatically. Such data are often supplemented with the offline data collected through alternative sources. The customer segments created with such methodologies can have the advantage of being more dynamic because they can be created through online databases, more insightful because of the use of more powerful clustering and association seeking techniques and customers themselves selecting into a segment of mass market. On the other hand, the customers become empowered to scan much larger canvas of market and bargain for their purchasing power with a larger base of marketers. The customers can also create a large pool of knowledge by online sharing knowledge of their experience based knowledge among their peer customers. The interactivities gained by both marketers and customers have .the potential of unleashing very high levels of energy in the marketplace restricted only by the creative limits of the market players. Public Relation: The advantage of mass customization is made possible through Internet for both customers and the marketers. The customers can identify the optimum provider for his unique sets of needs. Customer can also arrange for updating himself in the precise area of his interest although from the most extensive sources of information possible. The marketer can also store the historical data of customers and their behavior. These data can be then processed with the help of data mining and marketing decision tools. These data are utilized to provide solutions to the customers needs on an online and individual basis. The product can be configured exacting to the individual customerââ¬â¢s needs at the price and with a payment mechanism most convenient to him. The information and the persuasive appeals can also be tailor made for the individual customer. He can be reminded or provided with additional services as per his specific requests and all these information can be utilized in the design of next round of offering to him. This kind of customization when offered on continuous basis becomes service to the customer of significant commercial value. Placement Of Product: Internet marketing is seen as attacking on the length of the distribution chain particularly the information flow related ones, much more efficiently and instantaneously. As a result it is often possible to reorganize the distribution chain at the cost of its length. The span of control can also increase considerably as many of the control related processes can be transferred to the computer. The saving in costs due to these effects is often considered as the most important contributions of internet marketing. The increased availability of distribution related information also causes information overload to the consumers. A new category of channel members, called infomediaries, have also emerged. These infomediaries primarily consolidate the relevant information about the availability of the products and pass them on to the consumers after suitably repackaging them. Besides pure infomediaries, the existing distributors do also rebundle their services after integrating the online and offline elements of their services. Internet also enables online distribution of digitized products. This helps in extending pinpointed reach to a large number of customers, eliminating the lead time between ordering and delivery, reducing the inventory requirements and smooth organization of transaction related data processing. Conclusion In the era of globalization, with marked technological strides hasà revolutionized the exchange process of buying and selling of products on the Internet.à Internet marketing is a worldwide phenomenon.à Internet marketing has made inroads as the emerging mode of buying and selling of products to specific target groups with fast changing needs, preferences and life styles. Estee Lauders has the huge potential of promoting the anti aging product through internet. References Philip Kotler (2002) Marketing Management , Prentice Hall New York Charles F.,(2002) Internet Marketing, Wiley Publication Flippo Edwin B., (2001) Marketing Channels, McGraw-Hill. J Taylor Sims, J. Robert Foster, Arch G. Woodside.(1998) Marketing Channels: Systems and Strategies Harper and Row: New York
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Do Stop and Searches Breach Our Privacy?
Since it was first introduced, the ââ¬Ëstop and search' method of countering crime has sparked a fierce debate as to whether these searches are morally right. Happening almost daily, the practice continues to be very controversial, with many claiming that ââ¬Ëstop and searches' breach our right to privacy. In the next couple of paragraphs, I shall attempt to answer the question ââ¬Å"do stop and searches breach our privacy?â⬠and learn a little more about the controversial topic. Depending on where in the UK one lives, one is likely to be stopped and searched at least once in their life by a police officer ââ¬â it has become an inevitable fact. When told by an officer that they are going to be searched in public, a person is given a number of key rights and responsibilities. Both the former and the latter are obvious: the right to be told the officer's name and police station, the right to receive a ââ¬Ëreceipt' from the officer about the search, the right to not be strip searched in public, and the right to be searched by an officer of the same sex, as well as the responsibility to comply with the police, to not resist or abuse the officers, to take off all garments when asked to (only up to a jacket; never trousers or a shirt), and the responsibility to tell them your name and address. This fairly ordinary occurrence happens all the time, and is, for many, a regular procedure. It may seem like a harmless, if slightly annoying, chore. Unfortunately, when one looks a little deeper into the facts and statistics, there seems to be a racially-motivated reason why some social groups are more searched than others; black people are six times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, and Asians are twice as likely. Most people are searched under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, which gives police officers the permission to perform the act randomly with anybody they suspect of carrying drugs or concealed weapons. The stubbornly high levels are shocking as it would seem that, according to members of the police force, people from ethnic minority groups are more likely to carry illegal drugs or items. This prejudice has led to more fierce debate and is, quite simply, unfair. Many people attack ââ¬Ëstop and searches' due to this fact, claiming that this racially-motivated trend is ridiculously cruel, and out-dated for modern western society. Another argument against the ââ¬Ëstop and search' procedure is one that criticises the lack of evidence that proves that ethnic minorities are more likely to be involved in crime; it is simply not justifiable for officers to base their ââ¬Ëreasonable suspicion' on personal beliefs. A final argument is the low reduction of crime caused by the search, with crime rates dropping by only 0.2%. On the other hand, many claim that it is a necessary way to prevent crime, and is justifiable as an officer should know who is more likely to commit offenses. Some also believe that due to the large amount of crime possibly prevented by ââ¬Ëstop and searches' (in 2009 14,700 people were arrested and 7,500 knives were recovered) the whole thing has helped to make society a safer place. In conclusion, it seems clear that the ââ¬Ëstop and search' method is wrong and has little impact on criminals, and despite the amount of crime prevented, the whole procedure is unnecessary, unfair, bullying, and inefficient.
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