Living in George Orwells 1984-Today Essay example -- George Orwell 19

Living in George Orwell's 1984-Today George Orwell's horrendous yet prophetic vision of the future in his novel, 1984 has come and gone. In this nightmarish novel, Oceania, where the story takes place, is the perfect depiction of "Negative Utopia" in which the government is in total control of their citizens. They control every aspect of their life. From the smallest things as the clothes their citizen wore on a daily basis to the person they were allowed to marry to their thoughts. Freedom of choice and thought was unquestionable and was not allowed and anything or anyone that went against this principle or resisted oppression was completely suppressed themselves. Now, under our current government there are a lot of similarities between the haunting novel of the "Negative Utopia" which George Orwell portrays in 1984 and ours. Many tactics which were used in 1984 by the Party and which are being used today in American by our current government are psychological manipulation of people, physical torture and the shaping o f human thought through language. In reality, democracy or true democracy has never existed in the United States of America. If we look back in time and read the creation of this nation in our history books, our founding fathers were the better off people during their time when talking about money. They were the only few that met the profile, which they created, that allowed a person to run for office; in essence, you had to be a white adult male (at least giving the fact that the youngest "freedom fighter" was 26 years of age) and owned your land (which meant wealth in that era). If the United States was truly established as a democracy, why did only a few white male who were the powerful ones during that... ...t and radio host in Austin, Texas. Barnes, Fred. "A War without Heroes? Only if you're Reading the Mainstream Media." Weekly Standard. 26 December 2005: Volume 011, Issue 15(1) http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/496eeymx.asp">http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/496eeymx.asp "Pat Tillman." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 20:56, 5 May 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman Nichols, John. The "Plane Crash" of Senator Wellstone. 2002. 8 May 2006. http://www.oilempire.us/wellstone.html">http://www.oilempire.us/wellstone.html Guantà ¡namo: Lives torn apart - The impact of indefinite detention on detainees and their families. 2006. 8 May 2006. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510072006">http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510072006

Positive views of the International Monetary Fund Essay

Is there any harder job than regulating all of the international markets money? Probably not, the topic being discussed throughout this essay will be the international monetary fund and its involvement in the international market. Much has been said about the I. M. F whether it is positive or negative, neo-Marxist Che Guevara said â€Å"The interests of the IMF represent the big international interests that seem to be established and concentrated in Wall Street. Here he criticizes how the IMF is considered to be run by the United States which occupies a veto power in the decision making at the IMF, this is important to see because it brings up the other side to the IMF, the side that is not so positive and the one that people feel very critical of. Even though people like Che and Stieglitz bring up the negative characteristics of the IMF it is not the only qualities that the fund has. The IMF has also has many positive qualities, this essay will go over these qualities by looking at the IMF’s debt restructuring cases, looking at how the decisions are made in the fund and finally the long term positive effect that the IMF has on promoting democracy. As mentioned before the IMF has gone through much criticism in past years, yet the work they have done on debt relief has done much to boost up their reputation. Cases like Argentina, the Dominican Republic and much more show that the IMF is very capable of improving conditions within a country by debt restructuring programs. In 2005 the IMF started debt reconstruction in Argentina, the process was held back more that they would have liked due to court proceedings in New York. After this delay the IMF was able to do some real work in debt exchange with Argentina. The country participated 76% in the debt exchange and since then they have seen much improvements in their debt structure and debt-profile. In early may the Argentinean authorities regained market access for the first time since the year 2001. Also as a result of rebalancing of the countries credit rating, spreads of Argentina’s external debt fell tremendously from 6000 basis points to 462 basis points. ( ) The Dominican Republic is another country which was aided by the IMF for debt reconstruction, which ended in success. The Dominican Republic started on an economic recovery route by utilizing stand-by arrangements, which are†¦. The plan of this program was to eliminate the financial needs during 2005-06 through a debt exchange process and more, all of which being supported by IDB and the World Bank. The debt exchange ended on May 15th 2005, and had a very high participation rate by the Dominican Republic and this allowed for a large relief of overall cash flow (576 million US) for the government, an increase in the maturity profile of the debt and a decline in over 130 basis points which clearly outperformed the rest of the market ( ). These are great examples to how the IMF can have a positive influence on the economic conditions of a certain country. Apart from these cases there are many people who still oppose the IMF and its ways of intervening, like Joseph Stieglitz wrote in his book that the IMF set the bar so high for debt relief that few qualified (Stieglitz, 227), yet cases like Argentina and the Dominican do prove their potential for aid. Decisions can be crucial to one’s life, drawing the line between failures or success, same goes for the International monetary fund except their decisions could be the difference between saving a country and having that country’s economic system fail. When a person invests into a company or corporation and holds the majority of shares in it, that person can pretty much make all the decisions he wants. It is very similar in the IMF; the country becoming member attains a certain number of votes and then receives more voting power when that country invests more money. This is stated in further detail in the Funds article XII, section 5 â€Å" Each member shall have two hundred fifty vote plus one additional vote for each part of its quota equivalent to one hundred thousand U.  S dollars† (Gold, 18). The two hundred fifty basic votes were meant to give a chance to the countries who have just became members or were not largely developed, it was also intended so that countries were not entirely able to buy their voting power, as do most people perceive the United States did to gain its so-called Veto power. Gold (1972) brings a quote from an unstated source that brings up the argument of why all countries do not have the same amount of voting power. It is said that it would be unwise to have small countries have the same voting power as the larger ones, since it is for sure that there will be more small country members than there are large. Contrary to that point, he says that it would be unfair to give voting power on the solemn basis of how much money they put in. Although the exact figures of recent years are unavailable, the effect of the basic votes were quite visible in the 70’s, where 37 countries of the 137 members of the fund had basic votes that accounted for half or more of their total voting power (Gold, 19). The counter argument this type of voting formula could be that it resembles to much a private corporation, yet evidence shows that it has help the small countries to at least attain a sufficient amount of votes. People are very likely to pre-judge the outcome of a certain event, even without waiting to see what will happen in the end. This can also be the case for views against the IMF, judging its intervention or programs on the basis of the results produced in the first year. A study was done by Nelson and Wallace to see what type of influence the IMF lending plans had on democracy inside the country obtaining the loan. What they found in their study was that the impact of the IMF loans did not have very much effect on democracy within the given country in the time frame of one year, but the impact of IMF lending only took place between three and five years ( Nelson & Wallace, 24-25). Again this hints to the fact that anti-IMF people may be quick to judge the impact that the Fund has on whatever country being helped. Other results from the Nelson and Wallace research was that the impact of the IMF’s lending could vary from one region to another such as in Eastern Europe where one could see a 3. increase in polity[1] score over a period of 5-years and then in East-Asia there was a negative change of 1. 5 in the polity score (Nelson & Wallace, 27-28). Again these results presented shows that the IMF’s implication can have many different levels of influence depending on the region that is being lent the money. One thing is for sure, it is that there are more cases of improved polity 3:1 and having two regions that were not significant results (Nelson & Wallace, 27-28). Yet, anti-IMF people may say that it is unfair that that one country has a negative outcome and the IMF is unfair and bias towards the other countries. In conclusion, the IMF shows many positive characteristics to their involvement in the world. Their positive ranges from helping developing countries to reconstruct and eliminate their debt by means of a debt exchange with the IMF to the IMF having a positive influence on democracy when loaning money to a country. Also, the way that the IMF voting power is distributed shows a fair way to doing it by awarding all members of the fund with a start up amount of basis points to be able to have some power.

Technology In Fahrenheit 451 Analysis - 1008 Words

Technology has secretly taken over society but no one will realize until it is too late. Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction novel written by author, Ray Bradbury in 1953. The novel takes place in a futuristic, utopian society in which technology is exceptionally advanced and it completes almost all everyday actions for people. Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of the main protagonist, Montag who is a fireman in a society where books are illegal and the main job of firemen is to burn all books. Most people in society are slaves to technology and have become completely disconnected from society especially Montag’s wife, Mildred. In his novel, Bradbury proves through Mildred’s shallow actions that technology, although innovative, holds society†¦show more content†¦But, they have such a negative impact on social and emotional life on Mildred and it shows how technology has put restraints on people. Mildred constantly shows Montag that she doesn’t care about h im or what he does. She has no real connections in life and only cares about herself no matter what it costs other people. Technology rips away any real connections that Mildred has ever had with Montag to a point where she doesn’t even care about him. Mildred has succumb to technology and it has corrupted her life in such a way that her own husband no longer holds any emotional meaning to her anymore. In a horrifically shallow conversation between Mildred and Montag, Mildred says to Montag, â€Å"Its really fun. Itll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a wall-TV put in. Its only two thousand dollars.† (Bradbury 20). The conversation goes on and Montag replies with, â€Å"That’s one-third of my yearly pay. It’s only two thousand dollars, she replied. And I think you should consider me sometimes.† (Bradbury 20). Mildred talks about how she n eeds another parlour wall to improve her life. This conversation inspires the idea that Mildred only cares about herself and how she is oblivious she is to Montag’s emotions. The idea that Mildred, through technology, has become completely detached from her husband and that she doesn’t care about him. She only cares about theShow MoreRelatedAnnotated Bibliography : Ray Bradbury1077 Words   |  5 PagesFahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury An Annotated Bibliography Johnston, Amy E. Boyle. â€Å"Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted.† L.A. Weekly, 4 Apr. 2016, Http://Www.laweekly.com/News/Ray-Bradbury-Fahrenheit-451-Misinterpreted-2149125. 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In Fahrenheit 451, the main character, Guy M ontag is fighting against the technological revolution taking place in the 23rd century. He battles with a society full of censorship, where everyone is too caught up with their newRead MoreCritical Analysis Of Fahrenheit 4511266 Words   |  6 PagesTo begin, in Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury incorporated: a censorship aspect intended for the book, social commentary, and the social critical analysis which relates to conflicts in our world today. To continue, censorship can be considered a â€Å"threat† to society, for example, Bradbury uses the concept of the overuse of media and how it can affect the world and the people around you. Furthermore, Bradbury’s key focus was to satirize the excessive use of television and the media as a news and entertainmentRead MoreKnowledge Is Power, And That s The Problem880 Words   |  4 PagesCelsius 233 º Knowledge is power, and that’s the problem. 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In his novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury describes a distant world in which the idea of censorship was exaggerated to such an extent that it was illegalRead MoreA Comparative Analysis Of Bradbury s Style1974 Words   |  8 Pages28, 2015 A Comparative Analysis of Bradbury’s Style As Seen in Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury was an American author who many argue revolutionized the concept of science fiction writing. Many SF writers commend technology, yet Bradbury is quick to vocalize the danger of it. He is not afraid of conforming to the regular standards of science fiction and is not afraid to voice his thoughts about technology. The story of Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel where