Psychology and Theology Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Theology Essay 1. My personal experience involves a combination of secular and religious study in the area of counseling.   This experience and education has led to a conclusion that although there are a number of opposing factors in the beliefs and theories used in both, the two are neither completely oppositional to each other nor mutually exclusive.   In many ways the views and methods of both can be combined to make a very effective counseling technique and a well rounded counselor (McMinn, 1996). Secular counseling has numerous theories on how people learn and that the ways they learn affect the methods needed to modify negative behaviors.    These techniques can work to some degree, such as offering a dollar for getting an A on a paper.   Children then become more motivated to get A’s.   These techniques often fail to create long term results however, as people often get tired and the excitement of the reward fades.   They then go back to old ways.   When the eternal rewards of spiritual counseling are added, however, the motivation for long term behavior change becomes much more long term. The two methods of counseling differ most greatly in life’s focus.   Secular counseling teaches that a strong sense of self will solve all problems, where as religious counseling teaches to focus everything around God and the problems will diminish (Kajer, 2006).   These can however be combined with the focus on God, while still encouraging the person to forgive himself and be comfortable with himself as the person God created.   This keeps the focus where it belongs while helping the person recognize himself as a creation from God. I have learned to find a combination of these views by realizing why secular counseling often fails, and realizing that although a person needs to be humble he still needs to respect what is God’s creation and take care of it. 2. All human beings have sinned, but not all of psychology is sinful or thinking  about humans as sinful.   Psychology is about the study of human behavior and because much of human behavior especially that requiring counseling is sinful, there is a degree of sin involved.   This does not make psychology sinful.   There are many psychologists and secular counselors with spiritual views and backgrounds.   Most of them are bound by legalities and job guidelines to keep the spiritual aspect of counseling out of the job, but not only because they are sinful humans or because they are thinking about sinful humans. Many of the theorists in psychology have developed theories that contradict many Biblical teachings, the most notable one being self actualization.   In this theory, the person’s main goal is to reach the perfect self at which time he has reached the ultimate existence. This additionally is based on the theory that human beings are inherently good and not evil and can naturally distinguish between right and wrong (Management, 2005). Obviously this kind of thinking is sinful as spiritual people are supposed to strive to be closer to God and to live according to his will in order to reach the ultimate existence. If a counselor can balance the basic idea of psychology (the study of human behavior) and the theological values, there is no reason psychology should be considered a sinful study or practice.   It does focus on the behavior of humans and how to change deviant behavior to make it more positive.   It is based on discovering how people learn and then taking that knowledge to help modify behavior.   It only becomes a sinful practice when those studying or teaching it contradict God’s teachings. 3. My goal as a counselor should be to help minimize the pain and negative  effects of suffering and to help prevent as many future problems as possible.   In order for a counselor to continue to function and perform the job successfully, it is important to remember and understand that there is no way to prevent every cause of pain and heal all suffering.   There is no way to completely take away the pain a child feels after losing a parent or prevent an accident from happening.   It would not be realistic for any counselor to think it is possible or even ideal to keep all pain from happening. People are allowed to suffer disappointments, set backs and losses in order for them to learn from them (Gress, 2007).   If   everything worked out exactly as people wanted them to and there were never any disappointments the world would be filled with a bunch of spoiled adults, who were unable to appreciate anything. Counselors who go into the profession with the belief they can solve every problem and make everyone’s pain completely go away are setting themselves up for failure and disappointment, because they are expecting to accomplish the impossible.   Those who set the realistic goals of providing comfort, minimizing grieving, speeding emotional healing, and modifying behavior when needed are the counselors most likely to stay in the field long term.   The ones who hope to solve everyone’s problems have a tendency to take the problems upon themselves and â€Å"burn out† relatively soon.   Counselors need to focus on the most significant problem for each person and work on one thing at a time. 4. The subject of a healthy sense of self is one major difference between  psychology and theology.   Both views involve people who are happy, and focused on a goal, but the views differ greatly in the center of the focus. Many psychological theories focus on making people feel good about themselves and then everything else in the world will fall into place.   In this case a healthy sense of self is essentially a â€Å"puffed up self†, or a person who thinks of himself as the most important person in the world and can do no wrong.   This involves making the person become the center of his Universe. The Biblical view of a healthy sense of self places God in the proper place as the center of man’s universe and when the focus is on God, everything else falls into place.   This requires the person to learn humility and to give God his proper credit for the role he plays in a person’s life.   The view here is that when a person is focused on living life for God, he will be happy and comforted in the knowledge that he is putting forth his best effort for God. A person with a true healthy sense of self would be a person who values himself as a creation of God and a worker for him.   This is a person who knows his place in the world, yet places the focus of the world on God.   As the person strives to be more like God, he appreciates what God has provided him and uses the talents God has given him.   This person is happy and well adjusted to the world around him.   He knows his talents and his mission and uses them to grow closer to God. This description of a healthy sense of self tends to lean more towards the Biblical view, but does place value on the person and God’s creation and teaches the person to have respect for himself.   This is consistent with God’s teaching that the body is his temple and that people need to care for their bodies and respect them. 5. Scripture can provide answers to essentially any problem that is faced by  people.   Verses that say â€Å"through God all things are possible† or â€Å"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me† (NIV) provide people with the knowledge that they do not have to face problems alone and that there is hope.  Ã‚   When a counselor is allowed to use scripture and the hope it provides, the counselor has a great deal more comforting hope to provide the person who is suffering. The instruction and guidance provided by scripture can provide the counselor with a great deal of information and guidance to help the counselee though most of life’s situations.   It additionally provides more appropriate alternatives to deviant behavior and provides people with ways to resist the temptation of falling back into old unhealthy habits.   In more extreme cases the Bible can show examples of what has happened to people who could not change behavior or are unable to turn problems over to God. In addition to providing the counselor with the most powerful tool available, it can provide a source of comfort and hope for the counselor as well.   When a counselor begins to feel overwhelmed or helpless, the same verses that provide comfort to the counselees facing crisis can provide renewed strength and hope for the counselor. Scripture provides the hope, answers, and promises to help people overcome the greatest obstacles, but they need to follow the directions and examples the Bible provides. 6. Most secular counseling jobs do not allow counselors to use scripture or express their personal religious beliefs to counselees.   The purpose of this is to avoid pressuring people into complying with beliefs that go against their religious beliefs.   In the United States people do have the right of religious freedom.   The rights of others have to be respected by the counselor.   Using prayer in these settings could cause the counselor to lose his job, or the counselee could lose respect for the professionalism of the counselor. Religious counselors have more freedom in this area due to the fact that they are counseling in a spiritual based setting.   When people seek the help of these counselors, they know they are going to a person who uses the Bible as a reference and a basis for the counseling.   Payer is more accepted and sometimes expected in these counseling settings and can be very helpful with counselees who need the hope and guidance of God (Goliath, 2007). A counselor with a new counselee should ask the person if they would like to pray,   this provides the counselee the option of being prayed for if they would like it.   For those who do not feel comfortable with prayer or would not take the prayer seriously additionally have the option of passing on it. The counselor can pray for those who choose against prayer when the session is over.   During the private times of prayer the counselor can ask for guidance to help the person not only overcome the crisis, but to grow more comfortable with prayer and asking God for his help.   Everyone needs prayer, but if a person prefers private prayer or has different beliefs than the counselor, it can either cause the counselee to not return or can cause a setback in the counseling process.   Counselees need to feel comfortable during counseling sessions in order for progress to be made. 6. Sin is often the source of the problems for which people seek counseling.   In  order for the situation to be resolved and the person to get past it, the sin has to at some point be confronted.   The problem is how a counselor should go about confronting the sin.   If the sin is confronted before the counselee is willing to admit that sin is the cause of the problem, there is a chance he will leave and the problem will not get resolved.   If the counselor however spends too much time making the counselee comfortable and avoiding the issue, the sin will not be likely to be confronted and the situation still stands the chance of not getting resolved. In the very first session, the counselor needs to get a back ground of why the counselee has either sought or been referred for counseling.   One of the best ways to do this is to ask him.   Along with this is a good time to ask if there was any sin involved that needs to be forgiven.   If he is able to state the sin and talk about it then the sin should be confronted and resolved very early in the counseling.   Then healing can begin quickly. If the person denies sin as playing a part in the situation, then the instigating situation needs to be discussed in greater detail and possible reasons behind that including sin pointed out.   Once the person is able to understand there is sin in his life, then is the best time to talk about ways to have the sins forgiven both by God and anyone who was sinned against. The best way to confront sin is to ask questions and to provide guidance as  needed.   Direct confrontation often leads people to be offended and shut down, but  questions can lead them to discover the problem on their own.   Although it is never easy to confront someone on sin, a counselor or church leader must do it in order to help those in need overcome the sin (Adams, 1980)

Gay As A Deviant Culture Sociology Essay

Gay As A Deviant Culture Sociology Essay Homosexuality is considered as an emerging issue all over the world. Gay people believe that they are not physically different or incapacitated in any way. They believe that they have every right to be offered the same opportunities, just like everyone else. A while ago this issue could not be spoken out aloud in public. It is unethical and uncouth to think that homosexuality is right. In todays Age much of what cultural values entail has changed over time due exposure to a new understanding, inter relation of beliefs, morals, mind-set, connotations, chain of command, religious conviction, concept of time, responsibilities, perceptions of the universe, and material entity s and possessions acquired. Communities and societies have always had their way of doing things. Most people have at one time or another found that they dont fit in the societies known culturally and social norms (Cook, 28). Occasionally this happens due to ones understanding, mind-set, connotations, chain of command, religious conviction, responsibilities, and in every community and society homosexuality has affected the social ethics. A persons sexuality and preference according to psychologists will normally be easily altered at puberty. Adolescent at times find themselves in a dilemma where they do not actually know to what sex they prefer. Some find themselves in the antagonism of the puberty unpredicted effects like same sex attraction. Somehow when looked at a critical view this kind of preference is not actually a persons fault, it is the stage in life. With this in mind gay people believe that it is actually not their fault that they are the way they are. Most people in the society will not actually put this into consideration due to so many factors and consequences that are associated when this fact is accepted. In turn, the gay people in the community feel that the only way they can be heard out is by coming together and creating one voice. This has been seen over the past years. Gay people have organized rallies, peaceful demonstrations in different places all over the world in order to have their voices heard (Phelan, 25). Years down the line this has become one large community with its own cultural standards, values and rights. In every society, there is the agreeable set of rules and norms that guide the people in day to day living. Eighty three to eighty to five percent of people in every other community will always abide to these norms (Burke, 9), but a small percentage becomes deviant to these norms. It is probably a bit difficult to determine whether a deviant person in the community is always wrong, because what determines whether they are wrong or right is what they are deviant to. Homosexuality is not accepted in so many places around the world (Bamforth, 33), and this has made the gay culture deviant (Stephen, 1). The classical justification of this fact is that a deviant culture will always push the moral boundaries of a society giving alternatives and new options to the status quo and promoting change. Most cultures usually may not always agree on what to do with people who push beyond its acceptable ways in doing things. In fact, norms and accepted social ethics violation that gain enough support may at times become acceptable, a good example being the gay people (Sharon, 1). Thus, the gay culture is deviant because in some places it has made the societies, government constitutions to rethink and redefine the moral boundaries in place. The culture as it is going against so many know defined social ethics rules. Religious and social liberals point out that being gay is against written work of most inspired men like John the Baptist from the Christian bible. Islam does not allow these acts of relationships at all so does the Hindu (Bamforth, 13). It is a bit different for the catholic dominion because today gay marriages have been joined catholic churches. The gay culture deviant as it is faced so many threats about its publicity. Gay people have lost jobs, disowned by families and at other times even their lives have been threatened. It is a definite conviction to the gay culture that there is nothing much more significant than any issues that would make any one guilty and endanger their lives or families just because of their opinion, knowledge and preference about their sexual nature. The gay culture attests that the good of humankind is tied up together by the common pursuit through shared experience toward the likelihood of the same gender relationship (Harry, 43). In the past decades talented artists and poets, musicians openly described their sexuality to the public in their writing, art and songs. The gay community associates itself with the past legends and their exceptional work. They have motivated people who have felt demoralized. Gay people are introverts. And psychologists have backed up the fact that hidden desires of se xuality due to their unaccepted nature feed the possibility of sexual lusts which leads to violations of social ethics, desires to fulfill empty cravings. Gay as a deviant culture suffers from the dominant competitive ethos. This leads to the rise of struggle in interests to gain recognition or control (Harry, 31), and defies the recognition of the accepted social ethical norms and interest which all people have in common. So many factors have led to the rise of this deviant culture. Some of this factors when looked in to, are quite justifiable to those who consider respecting human rights. For instance, a factor that leads to the gay culture becoming so publicized and famous was that some large corporations and organization simply fired and never employed people with this kind of sexual preference i.e. gay. The authorities left no room for gay people. In the United States of America, gay people have come together from so many states and joined hands in so many ways in order to be heard. The 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution which is a protection clause necessitate states and governments to treat people in an equal manner but the fact that the equal protection clause, in the United States Constitution is not absolute and that a government has gotten the right to treat people differently and discriminate against one group if it sees that as a requirement to the interest of the majority. This fact makes the gay culture even more deviant because if it does not publicize its ways well enough then it is just a period of time and it might be considered wrong (Harry, 11). Living requires that each and everyone makes the right moral choices in order to prevent a culture from dissolving into chaos (Harry, 11). Everyone must have a stand over certain behaviors and attitudes over others. In most communities having a stand that does not violate the accepted norms is quite acceptable. In this context violation means that which goes against. Gay preference will have so many views from different people in a society and because of the huge gap in the point of agreement whether it should be accepted or not it leaves a particularly large room for those directly affected to justify why this topic should be considered acceptable just like any other. Some theories that might try to give more details in this topic have ruled out that sometimes being deviant is not wrong, and sometimes it just happens due to one perspective in regard to what information they are exposed to. When it comes to explaining deviance, there are a couple theories try to explain one of them is Mertons strain theory. He was one of the first sociologists in America and his theory generally assumes that societies give both culturally-valued goals and culturally-valued means (Peter, 21)? Theoretically the gay culture argues that this culturally valued goals and cultural valued means do not at all address issues and matters pertaining to the same gender relationship. These have led to the idea of creating a suitable environment by gay people whereby they will be able to associate with the community without any stigmatization. Gay people share so many things in common, they relate to one another than straight people in an exceedingly significant way. If we consider gay to be a community of people with common social interests and sexual preference and behavior then this becomes a culture. Gay people are considered to be more conservative with refined talent compared to straight people, and while this is just an observation by few psychologists they further explain that because gay people will probably have an associative feminine behavior, they tend to be keener in what they do, like what they dress and the way they talk. A good example would be the comparison of two magnificent artists who have different gender preference i.e. a straight artist and a gay artist; studies have shown that gay artists will want to capture every detail in their work compared to the latter. While this does not suggest that gay people are better than straight people it just gives a stronger base of argument as to why the gay cult ure is deviant. Gay theorists and activists have tried through vigorous efforts, to seek public support community in formal civil rights . The legal status of the gay community largely remains unequal and unprotected. In most governments there are no courts of appeal that look closely into hearing sexual; preference based equal protection claims. High courts have avoided in coming to a decision (Sharon, 1) as to whether this kind of cases should be looked in to in a much closer scrutiny. But due to the deviant nature of this culture it has somehow managed to be heard in some states, and these states have enacted laws prohibiting government and private discrimination on the pedestal of sexual orientation. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the fact that gay people are deviant is not entirely wrong because if they do not stand in what they know and believe in, then they will have no place in the society and as earlier mentioned, gay people are people that are not physically incapacitated due to their sexual orientation. They cannot be considered as criminals due to the fact that they are gay. Arguably the failure or success of the attempts to achieve legal equality for gays will in a tremendous way depend on how activists in this field address this deviant unprotected gay cultures needs (Peter, 55). Gay as a deviant culture is an issue that is being addressed to day all over the world today. Religion and denominations are against gay practices. Activists and scholars will have to address churches and different denominations if at all they want to be heard. Every society and community must accept that we are all equal. Discrimination is immoral and no one should be subjected to it. If s society wants to have a healthy and peaceful living, it must accept everybody regardless of their sexual orientation. It this does not happen, gay people will continue to be deviant. Gay people are said to be deviant but there is nothing wrong in that (Peter, 17). On the other hand gay people should be patient with the society every time they come out publicly to push for their rights; they should not have an ego. The gay culture has been observed to stick together because this allows them to be heard as one voice (Peter, 22). The ruling of this issue of gay as a deviant culture will entirely fall on a host of ideological, political and legal variables and at some time when the request has been fully addressed by law, the society and religion than gay culture will probably change from being deviant to a positive mindset accepted community. Scholarly Articles cited Anderson, Rob. THE WEEKLY STANDARDS ABSURD CASE AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE. The New Republic, (2005). Print Harris, Daniel. The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture. New York: Hyperion, 1997. Print. McCreery, Patrick. Out Front: Lesbians, Gays, and the Struggle for Workplace Rights Beyond Gay: deviant Sex and the Politics of the Enda Workplace. Social Text. 17.4 (1999): 39. Print. Cook, Matt. London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print. Phelan, Jo. Geneticization of Deviant Behavior and Consequences for Stigma: the Case of Mental Illness17. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 46.4 (2005): 307-322. Print. Bamforth, Nicholas. Sexuality, Morals and Justice: A Theory of Lesbian and Gay Rights Law. London: Cassell, 1997. Internet resource. Peter, Marshall B, and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of Deviant Behavior. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Peter . Nardi, Beth E. Schneider. Social perspectives in lesbian and gay studies: a reader. 1998. print Shah, Bijal, GAY AMERICAN DEVIANCE: Using International Comparative Analysis to Argue for a Free Speech and Establishment Clause Approach to Furthering Gay Marriage in the United States. (2007). Student Scholarship Papers. Paper 52. http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/student_papers/52 Sharon Hughes. The gay culture. March 9 2004 Web. 10 Nov. 2013 http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/hughes/040309 Joe Kort, Ph.D. Making Gay and Lesbian Relationships and Marriage Simple through Ten Truths 04/09/2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013 Stephen Milioti. Why I Reject Popular Gay Culture (Or: What to Know Before Setting Me Up With Your Other Gay Friend) 4/8/2002. Web. 10 Nov. 2013 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cjas/may_reject.html

Rudolph Guilianis ÂLeadership :: Leader Leadership Management

Rudolph Guiliani's ‘Leadership Leadership style and behaviour are key determinants of effective organisational management. The leaders are "The people who co-ordinate and balance the interests of all who have a stake in the organisation, including- the executive team, all other managers and those in team leadership positions or with a subject leadership role" Witcher (2007) argues that POSIES gives us an impression of a sequence of tasks, top-down strategic planning idea. Leadership style depends on how strategic management is managed by top managers. There are different leadership styles and therefore there are different ways that leaders review strategic priorities. In Rudolph Guiliani's book ‘Leadership', his philosophy is to identify the core purpose of an organisation and align the resources and focus along with that purpose. He also believes strongly in organizing around a purpose. In order to develop an organisation structure Giuliani's first question is always "What's your mission?"- not a day to day but on a long term basis. Therefore he proposes to analyse the Purpose, Objective and Strategy of an organisation before setting the structure. Weber (1924) classifies types of leadership in relation to types of authority. These vary from a commanding leadership, where people must have obedience to orders, to an inspiring type. This inspiring type may also be related to John Seddon's ‘systems thinking'. He argues that leaders should work the work. They should manage how people do things, not what they do. Chester Barnard (1938) argues that Executives primary job was to facilitate co-operation and that authority should not be imposed. Leadership is sometimes associated with visionary and a personalised form of management. Witcher gives us the example of Ford who had a clear idea of his vision for his car company. His vision was creating simple model cars at low cost and this vision produced the Model-T car, the modern mass production assembly line that made it possible. However, Witcher argued that this form of leadership may encourage short term, individually based goal setting, rather than team work. Senge (1990) advocates a dispersed leadership for the learning organisation where progress is achieved through small steady changes. A great leader in his view is one who encourages others to say, "We did it ourselves". Collins (2002) mentions that the difference between good to great performers is a consistent system with clear constraints. Discipline is a very important aspect with vision and faith. Strategic understanding is necessary and he stresses on the idea of getting disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who then take disciplined action.

Essay --

â€Å"Awaking on Friday morning, 20 June 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth† (Gish 18). Desmond Tutu is one of the greatest rabble-rousers for peace that there ever was. He maintains huge political and religious influences even to this day. Most people in South Africa and many more countries hear his voice. His impact on fixing the apartheid system in South Africa was a major one. This apartheid system was very segregated towards whites and blacks in South Africa. Blacks were being forced to move to so-called â€Å"homelands.† The blacks had very little land to live with such many people. These people were being oppressed only because they had a different skin color then white people. Despite growing up in the poverty of South Arica, Desmond Tutu used his religious and political influences to help black South Africans that were being segregated by the government of South Africa. Born is Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa, Desmond Tutu was born under the name Desmond Mpilo Tutu. He attended multiple schools throughout his life, including Johannesburg Bantu High School. Tutu’s father was a schoolteacher while his mother was a domestic worker. Nowadays, Tutu rarely discusses his ethnic roots. While Tutu was in his early years, the government passed the Natives Land Act. Less than eight percent of the country was dedicated as â€Å"reserves† for blacks. The black peoples only had this land to live off of. On top of this, Desmond caught polio as a young kid. Polio is a very deadly disease, so hid life hung by a thread. Luckily, he survived but with long-lasting effects. To this day, his hands still shake due to having polio as a kid. â€Å"Life was actually quite full. It was fun†¦al... ... and degrees in his lifetime, and the Nobel Peace Prize was one of them. This among many other medals shows his influence on the world. Desmond Tutu grew up in the poverty communities of South Africa. He overcame this to become on of the most influential man through both religion and politics. He can make his voice louder than many others, and he can voice his opinions throughout the world. He holds a major role in the religious community, having been archbishop in many places. Many strong and powerful government officials believe what Tutu has to say, and they voice his opinion through politics. Desmond Tutu is still alive today. He still strives to help the world become a better place. He was a major key in fixing the South African apartheid system. Maybe even without him, that system would still be present today. Desmond Tutu is a very influential and great man.

Legislation and Prostitution: Do They Coincide? :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

'Legislation and Prostitution: Do They Coincide? Throughout research the question: 'What exactly is the definition of pornography?,' has been asked several times. This is the answer to this very common question, "according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1973), pornography is 'Written, graphic, or other forms of communication intended to excite lascivious feelings.'" Pornography being such a broad topic as it is has been reduced and in this reading the basis of pornography, will be centered around, Legislation in part with Prostitution. Prostitution. What comes to mind when one hears this word? Cheap, degrading, trashy, offensive,...any other adjectives come to mind? What about accepted? Shocking as it may seem, but research has shown that in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, prostitution was accepted. Prostitution is defined as "a socially identifiable group of women (who) earn their living principally or exclusively from the commerce of their bodies." There were certain rules however, a prostitute was not allowed to be with good men and could not be near the church. Prostitution became institutionalized by the Fifteenth Century and if a prostitute lived on a public street she was punished. Their punishment for their first offense was only a fine, but by their third offense they had to pay a fine and were also punished by "running the town, beating, and banishment from the town." These were the laws and if disobeyed, that was the punishment. At the time this book, Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures, was written there were no laws against pornographic material in any form. In fact, 'The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution' states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This right is either absolute or it does not exist." Anywhere in the First Amendment was there any violation of what pornography stands for? There was not any laws that prove the violation of pornography. These are laws against things that are considered obscene or too explicit. If there were no laws, movies would not be rated and magazines of any sort, would be available anywhere and to all age groups. Some

Christopher Columbus Hero or Villan

Aysha Imtiaz Should a man whose actions created a wave of genocide and killed thousands of innocent natives be considered a hero? Christopher Columbus found the Americas, but today he takes credit for discovering a new world. Native Americans had been living in civilizations across North and South America long before Columbus had â€Å"discovered† it. This journey has now ruined many of those cultivations as well as the citizens. With his expedition, he exposed countries to new disease and violence. His greed led him to deprive America of its natives and its resources.Thirdly, he also introduced Native Americans to slavery. These horrible monstrosities should be added to Columbus's reputation, which shows him to be a villain in American history. Christopher Columbus had evil intentions from the start of his voyage when he promised to repay Ferdinand, Spanish monarch and founder of Columbus's travels, with gold, spice, and other resources. When he first arrived in what he thoug ht was Asia, he quickly gathered the natives and introduced them to slavery. What he did was wrong and he shouldn’t be celebrated.Firstly, with his expedition he exposed countries to new disease and violence. Christopher Columbus brought explorers who had disease. This caused the Native Americans to get diseases as well. He was very violent and treated them in a cruel way. The poor Native Americans were trying to share their land and Columbus didn’t want to share even though it wasn’t his land. Whatever he did was wrong, and I feel ashamed that we celebrate a person who did nothing but torture people. We should be thankful to the Native Americans for finding America and proving to be very good people unlike Christopher Columbus.Secondly, Christopher Columbus‘s greed led him to deprive America of its natives and resources. Columbus deprived the Native Americans of everything they had. He took away their land and their crops. The Native Americans showed ever ything they knew about their advice. But Christopher Columbus uses them and took away their land. He killed them and literally kicked them out of their land. The Native Americans tried to retrieve what was rightfully theirs but Columbus had too much power. He was impossible to defeat.This left them no choice but to give away their land to Christopher Columbus. Thirdly, he also introduced slavery to the Native Americans. The Native Americans worked for nobody. But ever since Christopher Columbus came to their land they knew the feeling of working with no pay. They were treated unfairly and were beaten up if they did their work incorrectly. The Native Americans had to go through so much. They were punished unnecessarily and treated like humans. We all see Christopher Columbus as a hero but he is no one other than a villain.This information has taught me that Christopher Columbus was a horrible person people like him take credit for things they haven’t done. He brought disease a nd violence to the new land. Secondly, his greed left Native Americans with nothing. He even introduced slavery to them. In my eyes Christopher is nothing but a villain, because jealousy, greed and envy won’t get you very far in life, because you’ll always discontent and unhappy about yourself, your life and the people around you. If Columbus thought about that in 1492. Maybe the Native Americans wouldn’t have gone through all that torture.

Ebay’s Strategy in China: Alliance or Acquisition Essay

In December 2006, eBay Inc., a US company that offered e-commerce, e-payments and internet communication services globally, announced its plan to form a joint venture with China-based online portal and wireless operator, TOM Online, in which eBay would have 49% ownership.1 The move reflected the increasing difficulties foreign internet companies were facing in their attempts to snatch a share of the Chinese market amid fierce competition and a changing market environment. eBay first set foot in China in 2002 by acquiring 33% interest in EachNet—a domestic online auction company, followed by a full acquisition in 2003.2,3 In 2005, eBay acquired Skype4 to expand into the online communication sector. While Skype was a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay globally, it operated indirectly in China via a joint venture with TOM Online. Due to this existing relationship between the two companies,5 TOM Online seemed to be a natural choice of partner for eBay’s subsequent decision with regards to its online marketplace business. Recognising TOM Online’s local knowledge and political connections, eBay believed that a joint venture would benefit its failing business in China and help the company further develop its Chinese market.6 Some analysts questioned whether political connections alone were the answer and suggested that eBay focus on its product and service offerings.7 1 Vara, V. and Chao, L. (20 December 2006) â€Å"EBay’s China retreat highlights a tough market†, Wall Street Journal. eBay (Date Unknown) â€Å"eBay and EachNet Team Up in China†, Press Release, http://investor.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=74802 (accessed 27 April 2007). 3 After the full acquisition in 2003, eBay operated under the name of eBay EachNet. 4 Skype is a peer-to-peer software program that allows people to make free calls over the internet to anyone who also subscribes to this service. Skype provided peer-to-peer internet telephony service—ie, instant messaging and online telephone service. In 2005, eBay acquired 49% stake in Skype China, with TOM Online owning the rest. Source: Schwankert, S. (20 December 2006) â€Å"EBay to replace Chinese auction site with JV†, ITworld.com, http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2403/061220ebay/ (accessed 27 April 2007). 6 Bradsher, K. (22 December 2006) â€Å"With TOM Online, eBay gains Chinese clout†, International Herald Tribute. 7 Rein, S. (24 December 2006) â€Å"TOM Online Must Focus on Products: Connections Don’t Ensure Success†, SeekingAlpha, http://china.seekingalpha.com/article/22946 (accessed 20 June 2007). 2 Isabella Chan prepared this case under the supervision of Prof. Zhigang Tao and Dr Jiangyong Lu for class discussion. This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes. This research was partially supported by a grant from the University Grants Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. AoE/H-05/99).