Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Suspense in The Turn of the Screw Essays

Suspense in The Turn of the Screw Essays Suspense in The Turn of the Screw Essay Suspense in The Turn of the Screw Essay Suspense in The Turn of the Screw 1 . Keep the stakes high: Throughout the novel, the governess is shown to be somewhat in love with her employer. She describes him as a gentleman in the prime of life, such a figure had never risen, save in a dream or an old novel, before a fluttered, anxious girl and goes on to say he struck her, in evitably, as gallant and splendid (4). In her perspective, she lives to please her employer by carrying out her duties successfully. Yet the ghosts pose a crisis thats devastating to the rotagonists world, and she is willing to do anything to prevent the corruption of the children from the ghosts. This mindset creates suspense and allows the readers to empathize with the governess to some point. 2. Apply pressure: As the antagonists of the novel are the ghosts that corrupt the children, the protagonist, the governess, can only be against insurmountable odds; she is fighting against supernatural beings. Yet, another element that adds to the pressure is the fact that she has nowhere to escape. Mrs. Grose points out that the master didnt like tale-bearing†he hated omplaints. He was terribly short with anything of that kind (35). This installs in the protagonist a resolution to never let this ghost troubles be known to her employer, as she admires him and wants to please him in all ways; now she has to deal with the ghosts by herself. This creates suspense in that the screw has been turned even more; she has no escape. 3. Create dilemmas. Suspense loves a dilemma: The most prominent dilemmas that first appear in the novel consist of the governess struggle with the childrens telling the truth about the ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. For example, when the governess sees that Floras little bed was empty, she catches her breath with all the terror that, five minutes before, [she] had been able to resist (55). She continuously believes that Flora and Miles are seeing the ghost but are lying to her. This creates a huge dilemma, as the governess faith towards the children is extinguished and the corruption of the children comes more near. This dilemma creates suspense and doubt at the same time, allowing the readers to ponder about the existence of the ghosts. 4. Complicate matters: The novel poses arious complications to the governess; starting with Miles letter of dismissal, the fact that the ghosts are of her predecessor and her lover, and mostly due to the fact that there are two turning of the screw, two children who are corrupted by the ghosts, heightens the complexity of matters to the governess. Everything crashes to the ground at the end of the novel, as Miles little heart, dispossessed, had stopped (117). 5. Create a really good villain: The villains of this novel are the ghost of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, the governess predecessor. These villains, despite eing apparitions or ghosts, are highly Msible. The governess describes Peter Quints ghost vividly; He has red hair, very red, close-curling, and a pale face, long in shape, with straight rather queer whiskers that are as red as his hair (30). They seem to be rather clever and strongly motivated, and are powerful in the way that they have the ability to corrupt the children and destroy the governess new life. By creating fear in both the readers and the governess, these villains successfully create suspense throughout the novel. *Page numbers are fit to my book, which has a

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Probability Distribution in Statistics

Probability Distribution in Statistics If you spend much time at all dealing with statistics, pretty soon you run into the phrase â€Å"probability distribution.† It is here that we really get to see how much the areas of probability and statistics overlap. Although this may sound like something technical, the phrase probability distribution is really just a way to talk about organizing a list of probabilities. A probability distribution is a function or rule that assigns probabilities to each value of a random variable. The distribution may in some cases be listed. In other cases, it is presented as a graph. Example Suppose that we roll two dice and then record the sum of the dice. Sums anywhere from two to 12 are possible. Each sum has a particular probability of occurring. We can simply list these as follows: The sum of 2 has a probability of 1/36The sum of 3 has a probability of 2/36The sum of 4 has a probability of 3/36The sum of 5 has a probability of 4/36The sum of 6 has a probability of 5/36The sum of 7 has a probability of 6/36The sum of 8 has a probability of 5/36The sum of 9 has a probability of 4/36The sum of 10 has a probability of 3/36The sum of 11 has a probability of 2/36The sum of 12 has a probability of 1/36 This list is a probability distribution for the probability experiment of rolling two dice. We can also consider the above as a probability distribution of the random variable defined by looking at the sum of the two dice. Graph A probability distribution can be graphed, and sometimes this helps to show us features of the distribution that were not apparent from just reading the list of probabilities. The random variable is plotted along the x-axis, and the corresponding probability is plotted along the y-axis. For a discrete random variable, we will have a histogram. For a continuous random variable, we will have the inside of a smooth curve. The rules of probability are still in effect, and they manifest themselves in a few ways. Since probabilities are greater than or equal to zero, the graph of a probability distribution must have y-coordinates that are nonnegative. Another feature of probabilities, namely that one is the maximum that the probability of an event can be, shows up in another way. Area Probability The graph of a probability distribution is constructed in such a way that areas represent probabilities. For a discrete probability distribution, we are really just calculating the areas of rectangles. In the graph above, the areas of the three bars corresponding to four, five and six correspond to the probability that the sum of our dice is four, five or six. The areas of all of the bars add up to a total of one. In the standard normal distribution or bell curve, we have a similar situation. The area under the curve between two z values corresponds to the probability that our variable falls between those two values. For example, the area under the bell curve for -1 z. Important Distributions There are literally infinitely many probability distributions. A list of some of the more important distributions follows: Binomial distribution – Gives the number of successes for a series of independent experiments with two outcomesChi-square distribution – For use of determining how close observed quantities fit a proposed modelF-distribution – Used in the analysis of variance (ANOVA)Normal distribution – Called the bell curve and is found throughout statistics.Student’s t distribution – For use with small sample sizes from a normal distribution

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Sources of Conflict in the Middle East Essay

The Sources of Conflict in the Middle East - Essay Example 142). Other theories such as international relations, religious conflict and civil war theories have been used to explain the sources of conflict in the Middle East. Theories of international relations conceptualize what drives state-to-state relations and state behaviour. There are essentially two main theories of international relations: liberalists and neo-realists theories. Liberalists theorize that the spread of liberal politics will eventually lead to world peace while neo-realists theorize that the forces driving the international system encourages all states to â€Å"look to their own self-interests and to prepare for war† (Linklater 2000, p. 833). Looked at from the liberalist theory of international relations the sources of conflict in the Middle East derive from the fact that the region is comprised of non-liberal or non-democratic regimes. Liberalists argue that â€Å"political systems externalize norms of behviour that characterize their domestic process and inst itutions† (Attar 2009, p. 97). Therefore, democratic political systems focus on â€Å"peace† and â€Å"compromise† (Attar 2009, p. 97). Non-democratic political systems on the other hand, focus on â€Å"the elimination or subjugation of political opponents and the forceful resolution of political conflict† (Attar 2009, p. 97). ... It is conceptualized that liberal states temper conflicts among the citizenry because it not only protects human rights, but encourages citizens to express discontent (Sorli 2001). However, it can be argued that non-liberal states can also temper conflict by suppressing citizens’ rights to express discontent (Sorli 2001). It therefore follows that the liberalist theory of international relations is not a satisfactory explanation for the source of conflict in the Middle East. The non-democratic regimes in the Middle East can just as easily contribute to peace as it can contribute to conflict. According to Maoz, Landau and Malz (2004), the neo-realists theory of international relations finds currency in the modern history of the Middle East. According to the neo-realist theory of international relations, states are driven by self-interests and power politics to such an extent that conflict regionally and/or globally is unavoidable. As Maoz et al (2004) argues, Arab states in the Middle East often express a â€Å"common heritage†, yet they may exhibit conduct and values that are inconsistent with that heritage. Egypt made an attempt to harmonize Arab heritage in the Middle East during the 1950s and 1960s and was frequently in conflict with Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Other attempts to harmonize the Arab Middle East such as the Baghdad Pact sponsored by the UK and the US also resulted in regional conflicts such as the Egyptian-Iraqi conflict during the 1950s (Maoz et al 2004). Power politics as espoused by neo-realist theories is also confirmed by Nasser’s attempt to circumvent and dismantle the monarchies in Arab and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Jordan responded with hostility. As Maoz et al (2004) observed:

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Access to Higher Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Access to Higher Education - Essay Example 33).Accessing the institutions of higher learning has however been a challenge even to the developed countries and this article tries to show why this is so and why in some countries it has been successfully implemented. This paragraph explores cost as a factor for access to higher education. One challenge that makes higher learning hard to achieve for everyone is the cost implication that comes with it. The cost of acquiring a degree is very high that not everyone in the society can be able to match. This poses a challenge to those in those in the lower class in the society (Harmon 2010, p. 75). Very often, you will find needy students that are very bright but cannot afford to further their studies. The only hope for these students is either to find a sponsor or the government loans and grants provided by governments especially in the developing world. To overcome such a challenge, countries like the Scandinavian countries have made tertiary education to be free for all its citizens regardless of their performance in the secondary school (Harmon 2010, p. 79). What this does is that it ensures no one is denied a chance to further his or her studies.Therefore, cost is really an issue. Next let us explore the loan factor in details.How is loan a factor? Loan as a helping factor to access to education involves the government offering to finance the education of its university population and recover the money once the student has graduated and found employment. The prohibitive factor in this case, however, is that not all students who complete their degrees do find jobs immediately or even at all and thus it is common to find a lot of defaulters and thus the government might not be able to offer enough funds to future deserving cases (White 2008, p. 19). What other governments do to avoid this is that they subsidize the cost of education for all students in public institutions of higher learning to a level where it is affordable to almost everyone. In Kenya for exa mple, the cost of degree courses in public universities there is averagely $300 a year. Such subsidies are however putting a strain in the overall running of the universities and most of them have been forced to look for funds from other sources to run the universities (Thomson 2009, p. 22). This brings in another element in the access to higher learning; inequality. How about exclusivity as a factor? Exclusivity definitely denies everyone access to the best tertiary institutions of choice but the good thing is for those who make it to these institution is the demand they will get in the job market. Here is a look at both sides of this discussion. There are some high end universities that are so sought after that they have to put extra requirement to be accessed. The so-called Ivy League Schools like Oxford and Yale are so expensive to the ordinary person that only the well-off do go there. While these universities actually deserve to be there, it is the inequality that exists that is the problem. You will find that there are different registration numbers for different student with one being for the self-sponsored and another for the government sponsored (Rubin 2012, p.35). This brings about favoritism as the self-sponsored tend to be more favored than the other students because of the amount of money that they bring in to the University. Graduates from these

Sunday, November 17, 2019

In Spite Of the Gods the Rise of Modern India Book Review Essay Example for Free

In Spite Of the Gods the Rise of Modern India Book Review Essay In â€Å"Spite of the Gods the Rise of Modern India† was written by author Edward Luce. Edward Luce is a British reporter who reported for the Financial Times from 2001 to 2006 for South Asian countries. He is married to an Indian woman, Priya Basu. Edward Luce went to school in London so he has a British education that is compared to the education received in India. The book â€Å"In Spite of the Gods the Rise of Modern India† is a very elaborate book that shows all the sides of Indian culture and life. The book shows in detail the economic system and status and the caste system that is used in India. He writes about India in great depth exposing corruption in the government system. He also shows that India is a rival to the United States. Edward Luce states that India is the largest democracy and has real elections in the country. Even though India is a democracy and has real elections there is an also a lot of corruption in India. The corruption is a stress that holds India back greatly from becoming a dominant world power. The economy of India still thrives enough to be an economic rival to the United States and china. Even though India is thriving Luce writes that India’s 1.1 billion people only 35 million have formal jobs that are enough to pay taxes. Even with this burden India still has a successful economy and can compete with other large countries. Luce states â€Å"India has a highly complex economy. Its complex steel plants are helping put their Japanese and American counterparts out of business† (pg. 55). In the book Edward Luce discusses the castes systems and explains the differences and conflicts of this system. Edward Luce discusses how the caste systems are separated by the â€Å"dharma† or duty.† But it is the Dharma of caste that perhaps gives us the best insight into how India’s traditional society saw itself† (pg. 105). In India like most other countries the upper classes are the wealthy and educated people. On difference in India than most other countries is the literacy rate all caste have a high literacy rate. Edward Luce covers all of the aspects of life in India in great detail. He has a very neutral view on all issues in his writing and only covers the truth about India. Edward Luce did such a good job by interviewing the people of India all classes from the upper class and the more common people of India. Luce then states that India is a growing country and will become very successful if it overcomes corruption and poverty. I feel like I have such a better understanding of this complex country after reviewing his book.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Marketing Case Study Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing BTEC Coursework

Marketing Case Study Marketing Mix: The term marketing mix is used to describe the all the options available to the marketing manager in order to market a particular good or service. It is often referred to as the 4P’s(i.e Product, Place, Promotion, and Place) The Product Variable: This aspect of the marketing mix deals with researching consumers’ product wants and designing a product with the desired characteristics. This is a very important element of the marketing mix because it directly involves creating products and services that satisfy consumers’ needs and wants. The Place Variable: To satisfy consumers (i.e their needs and wants), products must be available at the right time and in a convenient location. In dealing with the place aspect, a marketing manager seeks to make products available in the quantities desired to as many consumers as possible. The Promotion Variable: This aspect relates to methods used to inform one or more groups of people about an organisation and its products. Promotion can be aimed at increasing public awareness of an organisation and of new or existing products. It can also be used to educate consumers about product features or to urge people to take an interest in that product. The Price Variable: This aspect of the marketing mix relates to the activities associated with establishing pricing policies and determining product prices. Price is a critical component of the marketing mix because consumers are concerned about t...

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Youths Today Are Too Obsessed

Totally agree! Youth today are too easily obsess with all kind of thing, not only material thing but also idol, games, something that may attracted their attention. E. g. â€Å"American idol† A new generation has come of age, shaped by an unprecedented revolution in technology and dramatic events both at home and abroad. They are Generation Next, the cohort of young adults who have grown up with personal computers, cell phones and the Internet and are now taking their place in a world where the only constant is rapid change. Did you think anything about your dream, your health or your family; forget about computers, it’s just material things. WHAT IS OBSESSION? It’s a passionate feeling of fascination that often quickly evolves into domination. One who becomes obsessed does so out of a lack of self worth or self esteem. The person they are obsessed with is their object of self worth. They believe that this person, as their mate, will bring value to their life. Th is person also believes they have very little value, which adds to the need to have a mate with value. Even if it’s imagined. Materialism Many people these days seem to have their priorities out of line. They seem to put way too much emphasis on material things such as money, jewellery, toys, games, and other things that they think will bring happiness. They feel that these things will make them happier in life and will make them live better lives. There sure are a lot of problems with that theory. So why is it that so many people are stuck in the train of thought of materialism and in an obsession with material things? Here are some ideas. Many people are lonely and feel that this will keep them entertained and happy and make them feel better and fill the hole that they feel. They don't understand the importance of people in their lives so they try to fill the emptiness with materials thinking that it will make them happy and fill that gap. Another reason is that they just want to show off to people how much they have and own. They think that this will make them a better person because they own these things and that the more they have the better off they are. They believe that it's a race to see who can have the most things, because whoever has the most, is somehow the best. Something is clearly wrong there. Also, many people are insecure, and are obsessed with what other people think of them. They don't comprehend that they are who they want to be and who they become. They instead, rather believe that they are who other people claim that they are and therefore try to get as many cool things as possible, or beautiful things, to make other people wow at what they have. They feel like if other people think that what they have is awesome, then that must mean that they are an awesome person. It is tough for many people to get out of that train of thought. Finally, a lot of people do it without thinking. They are just caught in the wave of people who are materialistic. If they see something cool, they feel that they have to get it and don't completely think through whether or not they need it. Of course, this isn't the situation for all people. Some people just like the look of jewellery or like certain things or collecting items as a hobby. However, for a lot of people they are becoming lost in materialism and need to find the real things that make them happy and not the fake things. They need to locate the big ideas of life and find what truly makes them happiest. If you liked this article, a great book to read would be: The Gospel According to Larry. It is a book on materialism and a boy who tries to fight for a non-materialistic world movement. Trend toward something In this and other countries we tend to have an obsession with â€Å"youth† – especially for females. We have grown into a truly youth obsessed society, and the cosmetic, food, beverage, and supplement offerings are proof of the incredible market there is for anti-aging beauty products. There's a glut of marketing that targets the beauty consumers, where the same products in many of these campaigns can do so much more for our health. Case in point: years ago there was an herbal product that claimed to treat and prevent gray hair. The product was originally formulated to lower cholesterol. During their research, they found that the product not only lowered cholesterol, but a considerable amount of test subjects lost their gray hair. What angle could they take? Health, vanity, health, vanity, health, vanity†¦ not surprisingly, they focused their marketing campaign on the gray hair aspect, not on the cholesterol treatment. I don’t disagree with their logic. Now that I have a few gray hairs, I want to track down this product. I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last week, yet I can remember a beauty product from well over a decade ago. How’s that for case in point? ***As an example, why if I send a bunch of teenage or youth to a village or a country without taking any entertainment gadget such as computer and even cell phones, they certainly will get bored. I love fashion but I’m not obsess with it Things are like this because people are corrupted by society. For many years, we are geared towards wanting the best things, the hottest spouses, and the shiniest sports cars–all so that we can have the bragging rights. By being able to boast about your wealth gives you power. Ultimately, power is what we all want–being able to tell people what to do so that we get what we want, when we want it, and the way we want it. Material objects that cost a mother lode makes us feel good when have it in our possession–a Louis Vuitton bag or a Lamburgini are so damn expensive that when we do have one to flaunt, we feel like we are at the top of the social hierarchy because vitrually no one else can have what you have. YOU can afford the expensive stuff, not â€Å"other people. In short, it's all about greed, pride, lust, and corruption. Clearly, the world is messed up. Reasons Why youth today tend to obsess with material things. â€Å"How long can you go with out using an electrical device? How long would you go without power? Does your bank account reflex your narcissistic materialism or need for survival. The answers to those questions would be a good gauge of whether â€Å"we† are ob sessed. † Good points nicshack. Our culture seems to be obsessed with the acquiring stuff and things. We have a very consumptive economy and ecology and we need to make some fundamental changes on a wide spread social and philosophical level or we might be in trouble as a species. Here's what it boils down to: because we live on this slightly tilted planet Earth, revolving a certain distance from the star Sol, life as we know it can exist and flourish and grow and change and fill this great big Universe with life and light and hope. We owe it to ourselves as a species, our children, and our ancestors; to nurture and live in harmony with our planet and fellow life. So you have to ask yourself, do you help life continue and grow? Or do you tear things apart and consume for the sake of consumption to try to fill a hole that should be filled with love and empathy? I know it sounds really heavy and pedantic, but we seriously need to wake up and evolve, break the cycles of destruction in all forms, and start building and learning. It all comes from self satisfaction. People live their lives feeling very unsatisfied, there are always desires. These desires are a very unskilful attempt at becoming happy. When people become obsessed with material things, it is out of fear – if they already possess the matter, they don't want to lose it because they feel without it, they will be unhappy. Other people desire and cling to money and what not because they feel that if they have it, they will be happy. But in both cases these people are driven by fear. Fear is heads on the coin, Desire is tails. Both complement each other. When people compare, they do this because they're attempting to please the self-identity that they carry of themselves, the idea they have of themselves, of who I am. If the I is better off than others, they feel happy. And if it isn't, they feel that they have to gain more material goods. The reason, primarily, is because we live in a capitalist society and is ‘taught', from the moment we first enter society that the gaining of material wealth is our reason for being. The acquisition of status in our society comes from the striving for and gaining of wealth and the trappings associated with it. Once acquired, the structure or system we live within tells us that we require more to maintain our status and that, actually, we can never have enough. Karl Marx wrote about it in the Nineteenth Century. How many times a day are you bombarded with advertisements, telling you that you ‘need' this, that or the other product? That if you don't have it, you're somehow missing out? While this may sound very obvious and simplistic, it's the stuff we're surrounded by all the time – constant messages informing us that our lives are in some way lacking or incomplete until/unless we have that house, this car, that phone, this brand, etc. We're so used to it that we don't question it. Zombie-like, we believe we ‘need' these things – and that's what keeps everybody on the same treadmill and all the multi-million dollar companies in business. Ways to solve your â€Å"bad habits†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"It's like I have to buy things to validate myself. † It sounds to me like you get envious of other people's possessions because you feel inferior or inadequate, and something in you believes that if you just had what they have, you wouldn't feel inferior to them anymore. As far as how you can stop obsessing over material possessions, I think the root cause of your coveting other people's things comes from your own feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem. I think that by building up your own self-esteem, you will be able to love yourself more as a person, completely independent of material possessions. Then when you see other people with nice things, you won't feel like you need those nice things to be â€Å"as good as† that person, because you will know that you are a good person regardless of what you have. One of the best ways that a person can build self-esteem is by volunteering. Helping others actually helps you in ways that you would never anticipate until you do it. Try to find an organization that is close to your heart, and ask if they allow teenage volunteers to help out on weekends. Do you love animals? Volunteer at a pet rescue. Do you enjoy spending time with kids? Volunteer at a children's hospital or in a church nursery. Do you feel for the homeless? Volunteer at your local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. There are also national organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, United Way, The Salvation Army, etc. ho helps people in the community and are always looking for volunteers to keep them up and running. By doing something that helps others, you will help build up your own self-esteem. You begin to see yourself as someone who is important to others, who is able to do something that is valuable and helpful to society. I can tell you from experience that even doing something as mundane as cleaning out kennels makes you feel important when you t hink about the reason WHY you're cleaning those kennels – you're helping that rescue save the lives of more animals that would otherwise be put to death. You are saving lives by doing something as simple as cleaning a kennel or taking a dog on a walk, and that makes you a seriously awesome person. When you see yourself in that light – as someone who is important to others, who is helpful to their community, who can give to others in a positive way – you will really begin to internalize those feelings and feel good about yourself as a person. Also, being able to see others who have a lot less than you will really put those materialistic feelings into perspective. When you go out to a rural community and hand out shoes and coats to kids who are walking around barefoot because their family literally cannot afford to put shoes on their feet, it really makes you think twice about what's important in life. It can be a real good eye opener. I hope that helps! I don't think you're a brat, the fact that you said you don't want to be a brat and don't want to be shallow shows just how much you are not those things. Give yourself more credit, you already sound like a good person who is on the right track in life by trying to do the right thing. Other information that can be used It can seem, in the affluent parts of our globe, that to buy is our fortune. It could also be said that, if buying is good, more buying is better. Of course, we’re in the middle of an economic crisis and some folks might think we need moderation in interaction with the human-created marketplace—that we not treat it as some magically powerful entity that must be worshiped with human sacrifice. Are we completely obsessed with material possessions? Do they mean anything?. Here’s a representative sample of the comments: â€Å"An iPhone to match your sneakers? Sneakers to match your vest? † â€Å"I love clothes and dinners out with friends, and new shiny things but understand the completely vapid nature of these things. † â€Å"They only mean something if you let it mean something. If it makes you happy then buy it. † â€Å"Honestly, if you have the CASH to buy this stuff up front, go right ahead. † â€Å"Few people lie on their death bed and talk about that car they should have bought or that purse that they were so close to buying† â€Å"As someone below pointed out it does have a huge impact on making the world as we know it go round† â€Å"†¦yes we are obsessed, and its not a good thing. And yes, these things are important but shouldn’t be occupying our thoughts and efforts to the extent at which it is. † † Its all one big contest and a race to the finish line. Its a shame most people don’t stop and look around them more often. † I was happy to see, at least, a range of responses in the normally affluent participants on the site. I was very sad about a few of them: â€Å"If it makes you happy then buy it. †, â€Å"Honestly, if you have the CASH to buy this stuff up front, go right ahead. † Here’s where the idea of materialism brings up the idea of human sacrifice. Who suffers for the extraction of the raw materials needed to make all the fanciful things people buy? Who receives no help in their daily lives because they happen to live where the marketeers won’t put their markets? Who sweats away their days making the toys of the affluent? Who can any longer ignore that We are One Human Family and what hurts one hurts all ? Spiritual Quote: â€Å"Whether as world-view or simple appetite, materialism’s effect is to leach out of human motivation—and even interest—the spiritual impulses that distinguish the rational soul. For self-love,’ ‘Abdu’l-Baha has said, ‘is kneaded into the very clay of man, and it is not possible that, without any hope of a substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material good. ’ In the absence of conviction about the spiritual nature of reality and the fulfilment it alone offers, it is not surprising to find at the very heart of the current crisis of civilization a cult of individualism that increasingly admits of no restraint and that elevates acquisition and personal advancement to the status of major cultural values. The resulting atomization of society has marked a new stage in the process of disintegration about which the writings of Shoghi Effendi speak so urgently. â€Å"To accept willingly the rupture of one after another strand of the moral fabric that guides and disciplines individual life in any social system, is a self-defeating approach to reality. If leaders of thought were to be candid in their assessment of the evidence readily available, it is here that one would find the root cause of such apparently unrelated problems as the pollution of the environment, economic dislocation, ethnic violence, spreading public apathy, the massive increase in crime, and epidemics that ravage whole populations. However important the application of legal, sociological or technological expertise to such issues undoubtedly is, it would be unrealistic to imagine that efforts of this kind will produce any significant recovery without a fundamental change of moral consciousness and behaviour. †