Category: Society

Patriarchal Societies Promote Women’S Rights’ Abuses

reeny asked:

Patriarchal Societies Promote Women’s Rights’ Abuses

Today’s world differentiates a lot from what it was 50 years ago. It has transformed; sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. Places have changed and with them their people have too. In general, today’s people have more acceptance and tolerance towards one and other and are open to experiencing cultures different from their own. The Human Rights have developed and are practiced across the globe, distinguishing what is humane from what is intolerable. Unification is seen amongst countries which are willing to aid each other hence 192 countries are members of the UN with the hope of making the world a safer and healthier place for all. Over the past few decades many countries have been concentrating on maintaining equity within their people whether it’s regarding wealth between the rich and poor or equal rights between both sexes. The notion that men are the superior *** has been long forgotten for many communities. Although many countries no longer have problems between men and women, patriarchal societies still exist and it is these societies that promote women’s rights’ abuses.

Patriarchal societies consist of Third World Countries, some from the Middle East but mostly from South East Asia and Africa. Generally these countries refuse to rid themselves of ancient traditions and culture not realizing that many of these traditions must be discarded since they are unjust. For example in India where the ritual of dowries lives on and continues to cause hassle, to the extent that the largest jail of the capital has a separated quarter for mother-in-laws who murdered or abused their sons’ wives. Presently it is ‘home to roughly 120 women, some of whom are serving 20-year sentences for murdering their daughters-in-law’ (Lavin, 2006). Indians have clasped their dowry tradition for over hundreds of years although The Dowry Prohibition Act was released back in 1961 (Lavin, 2006), it fails to fulfill its purpose and so it is looked upon as a “paper tiger” (Lavin, 2006). It is said that ‘every 77minutes a dowry death is reported’ (Lavin, 2006) and in the year 2005 7,026 reported dowry deaths occurred. It is difficult to believe that a country progressing at the rate of India still stomachs such barbaric behavior that is happening in masses. One of the reasons dowries are considered so important is because of the notion that girls are burdens to their families. Girls are not expected to work in most  patriarchal societies thus when a husband takes the daughter away from a family he is doing a favor for them by releasing them from one of their burdens therefore he should be rewarded with an adequate dowry. The idea of men being the provider of the family is a primeval one since it originated in the times when men were in fact the better option for providing for the family being the physically stronger *** however this is no longer essential to successfully handle a household. A regular job accompanied with a decent wage is enough to make a woman capable of providing for herself and family. If women were encouraged to work they would never be considered a burden nor would they depend on a man for financial security. Other than limiting women from leading their own lives and forcing themselves into marriage, many patriarchal societies’ households further seize the protection and rights of women even after marriage. A sufficient amount of domestic abuse takes place in numerous Indian households, including marital **** and emotional abuse (Lavin, 2006). If women were able to support themselves they would not be forced into staying in abusive relationships. According to the book titled “Women’s Roles and statuses-The World Over” in the year of 2000, ‘the ratio of female to male enrollment in secondary school was 83 women to every 100 men’ however the number of women in post secondary schools drop significantly in comparison with only 37 women to every 100 men (Hepburn & Simon, 2007). Education and work would free many Third World women from physical and emotional abuse, girls would not be looked upon as burdens and this would lead to a decline in cases of abuse and issues such as female infanticide. Female Infanticide is most common in patriarchal societies. It is most prominent in India and China, where the number of deaths of girls shortly after birth, continues to increase (Female Infanticide). Parents prefer to have sons over daughters since daughters weigh down parents and are also more capable of dishonoring a family. Men are believed to be the ones that will ensure the family by earning money whilst women are considered the source of economic drainage for a household. Women are not only loathed due to their incapability of being profitable when it comes to bringing money home, they also become the object of abuse and murder when they fail to carry the honor of a man whether it is their father, brother or husband, lucratively. ‘Honor Killings’ is a crime that most people in developed countries would have never heard of but unfortunately these crimes are still very common in patriarchal societies. ‘Honor killings’ is the name given to the murder of a woman who was killed by family members because she had brought shame to them in some way, (Khalaf Al-Ajely, 2005). In countries such as Iraq, ‘honor killings are an accepted practice’ and usually are not reported, (Khalaf Al-Ajely, 2005). Reasons for ‘honor killings’ differ, from refusing to marry a man of the family’s choice, to marrying someone of her own choice, to being *****. The fact that an innocent woman could be murdered by her own family members for being ***** by a ********* chauvinist is extremely overwhelming. Since the fall of the Saddam regime, ‘more than 400 women have been raped’ and ‘more than half of them have been murdered in honor killings’ (Khalaf Al-Ajely, 2005). Although ‘honor killings’ are equivalent to murder, culprits are treated differently despite of what authorizes say. One of the many women murdered in ‘honor killings’ in Iraq was Shawbo Rauf Ali, a 19 year old who was accused of being involved in an extra marital affair by her husband, who made this assumption based on a sole ‘unknown number that appeared on her cell phone’ (Salih, 2007).  Hawjin Hama Rashid, a Women’s Rights activist in Iraq stated that ‘honor has been a prime motivator of violence against women, because in such a patriarchal society women are considered the honor of their men’, (Salih, 2007).

Some would argue that just because a society is patriarchal it does not mean that it abuses women rights. Many women are content living in their male dominated environment. They believe that their position is below their counterparts. For many the entire purpose of living is to care for their husband and his family. A number of Muslim states are accused by the West of depriving their women of their rights and for a handful of these states, this could be true. The women in these states appear satisfied since they believe that they are truly following their religion.

Many believe that gender equality and Islamic law are two conflicting issues. According to the West, Islam is unjust to women with its attitude towards ‘polygamy, divorce, child custody, inheritance and women as witnesses’ (Mashour, 2005). However, Islam does not support injustice to women at all. It was the first religion to give women the rights to inherit from their fathers and also gives them the right to choose their husbands (Mashour, 2005). A man’s right to keep up to four wives at a time is misused by many Muslim men today, (Mashour, 2005) since there is a specific criteria to when a man could marry more than once in the Holy Qur’an. Many Muslim men find it acceptable to assault a women who dishonored them but nowhere does it say in the Qur’an that it is acceptable to take a life of a girl by the name of ‘honor crimes’, (Mashour, 2005). In the cases of Islamic States, culture is confused with religion to such an extent that people justify ‘honor killings’ by saying it is required in Islam. Women do not hesitate in following ‘Islamic’ ways since they feel that they are sacred, unaware that it is just cultural and not religious at all, ‘deterioration of women’s rights in many Islamic countries has nothing to do with their Islamic nature and that most of the gender inequalities are not based on Islam but are mainly the result of traditional, patriarchal, male dominated societies’, (Mashour, 2005) It’s true that many women do not complain of their situation from these countries but this is because they are functioned to adjust and compromise for their own well being. The girls who’s lives are not snatched from them as infants, are brought up to believe that their purpose of living is to cater and care for their future husbands and families regardless of how they are treated. So when they are abused girls are willing to bare the pain. Women in these countries do not have strong organizations that they could turn to when in need of help. Even the police are not willing to offer any assistance since such abuses are considered ‘normal’ in such societies. Not only is it difficult for women to find help, it is also difficult for them to just free themselves of such relationships. Divorce is unsupported by many families as it is looked down upon on. Divorcee girls have a hard time trying to get remarried plus the fact they   will probably not be able to support themselves financially leaves them less motivated about separation.

Ultimately, the main cause of the women’s rights abuse in patriarchal societies is the lack of education. Educated women will be aware of what is right and what is wrong, they would be aware of the help that is available for them and options other than putting up with abuse and most importantly they would be aware of their rights. They would be able to differentiate religion from culture and tradition. Also women need to realize that their position in society is equal to that of the men in their society not below them. Patriarchal societies which are mostly conservative limit their women of reaching their full potential firstly by limiting their education and secondly by enforcing cultural baggage on them which only holds them down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refrences

Al-Ajely, Z (2005) Killing for Honour. Retrieved Oct 12, 2008

fromhttp://www.peacewomen.org/news/Iraq/May05/honour.html

Female Infanticide. Global Human Rights

Hepburn, S. & Simon, R.J.(2007) Women’s Roles and Statuses-The World Over.

(Lexington Books, pp 226) . Plymouth: Estover Road  

Lavin, A. (2006). Dowry Disgrace, India’s “kitchen incident” epidemic. The Weekly Standard

Mashour, A. (2005). Human Rights Quarterly. (Baltimore May 2005.Vol.27 pp562,36pgs)

Salih, M.A. (2007) Global Information Network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Forex Society Of All Forex Societies

Kristi Ambrose asked:

If you could choose your daily activities, would work really be a part of it? Would you really set alarms, lose sleep, miss out on family events, your daughters dance recital? Would you really sacrifice your sons baseball tournament to finish that last report? You know the one. The report makes everybody money but you. The report keeps you up at night and harried and hassled and altogether disconsolate. The report never ends. And all the while you lose out on time with your family.

Well time is without mercy, and the picture gets bleaker everyday. Salaries are cut and heartless corporations are either laying people off or doubling the workload of those that they keep. Uncertain times is a cliche, but one that fits. As banks in your area and all over the country fail, as your neighbors struggle to survive, as the ever changing and unsteady economy wobbles, you wonder what your future holds.

What if you had the ability to acquire an extended family, the kind of family that would help you make sure that your first family was provided for? There is something unique and special on the horizon, and it is called the Forex Brotherhood and Sisterhood. An elite Forex Society, this is a group made up of the Grand Masters of the foreign currency exchange.

There will only be a lucky few that will opt in to this program, and there is only room for a thousand, but if you join, any and every question you may have about trading in the Forex will be answered. How can I really use Forex automated advisors to my best advantage? Great tools, like anything they take time and mentoring, now you could be one of the fortunate few who have that chance to learn. A Forex Club made up of elite investors calls to you and only 999 others, do you want to miss out?

This is a Forex Club that is launching in mid-August, only a few weeks from now, space is limited and money is running dry across the country. But not in the currency trading markets. The earth is a big place and somewhere in the world people are making money. Due to the fact that an unregulated exchange of international currencies exists, the ability to make money is always there.

The foreign currency exchange is a sort of tug of war where one currency has an advantage over another, monthly, daily and even hourly. This could be you taking advantage of these changes in valuations but you need to learn, and where better to get guidance than the Forex Brotherhood? The Forex Society of all Forex Societies.

This is like the the most amazing money making college, like literally going to school to earn income. What would it be worth to you to have daily webinars? Live reporting? Expert advisors? Even tech support! You are promised a VIP trainer to host it all and you do not even have to sponsor anyone. Every step of the road is paved and you only need to access the highway. So do not wait! Opt-in while you have the chance!

Self And Society – How To Discover Yourself In Society

Abhishek Agarwal asked:

Why does man rebel against norms that have been there for ages and accepted as being reliable for the greater good of all? What stops him from discovering his real worth? How can he contribute to a better society and thus a better individual self? Answers to these and similar questions are found in understanding and applying the knowledge of the self in the social context i.e. self and society, which is possible to gain an insight into when one takes the time to learn and understand how to discover their own identity.

Man being a social animal needs to live in society in a certain way so that he makes his own place (also called carving a niche), can develop worthwhile relations with other human beings while living alongside them in a growing, peaceful and harmonious societal frame-work and for this reason, people need to understand each other as well as their own needs. When they fail to understand either their own needs or that of others and respect ceases to exist between them due to lack of understanding or communications, their real inner selves, purpose of their lives and their identity of self in society undergoes a negative change. This affects man’s perception and handling of his relation with his inner self as well as his relationship with society with regard to his sense of self-identity.

Scientists, sociologists and psychologists believe that each individual has 3 distinctive sides to the personality: an outer self that is projected to the world, an inner self that is hidden deep inside him and a mirror or perceived self (how he believes himself to be). When there is a conflict of realities between these 3 core aspects of a person, there is a sense of loss and confusion in the person and subsequently his dealings with society at large.

What then is most frequently known to happen is that the individual in such cases experiences a sad loss of self-identity as related to his presence in the society, which may or may not be acknowledged the way he hopes it will and thus, his path of self-development may be temporarily blocked! We say temporarily because a person also has the ability within himself to re-invent himself after studying weaknesses and strengths, working towards building a healthy sense of self-esteem through various methods such as self-talk and other higher consciousness practices so that his deceptive public self is overcome with a sense of truth and the inner, scared self, gets a chance to develop into a honest personality that he is not afraid to show – warts and all – to the outside world. With this sense of awareness, the individual can hope to find a better balance within himself and thus, in society as the sense of true energy and motivation to do right will exist in his life, bringing good things to light for him.

This is the desirable end to leading a happy, balanced and harmonious life within society as a contributing member of a value-generating society and ensuring the individual stays in touch with his inner self and his real identity always.

Online Dating Society Its Growth and Influence Can not Certainly be Ignored

FRANCIS K GITHINJI asked:

Online dating society is a new community. It’s not very long ago when everything was decided by the conventional society, ranging from the very basic needs to the self- actualization issues. There was an apparent set of morals, values,. Expectations, standards and norms that every new born was oriented through as he grows up. The conventional society provided formal and informal education at the institutions of learning, sense of direction, belonging and security.

However the forthright truth is that online dating society is here to stay, gone are the days of our forefathers who actually participated in formulation and enforcement of social issues to the society. As the whole world modernizes causing lots of alteration in many, systems and the mode of doing things, this conventional society is slowly loosing its grip. The effect of these drastic changes is globalization that intertwines the world into a global village that can interact socially, economically and even politically.

But then how does the global village do this when literally there are no changes in settlement, distance, cultural heritage and the like? The answer is simple though it’s the rise of online dating society that is gradually taking roots the world over with the advancement of technology, communication across world boundaries have been facilitated unlike before when the majority of the conventional society used mailing, fax, telephone, messengers as the key means of communications.

With the Internet facility people can finally trade easily through the e-commerce unlike before when transactions would take ages to be completed. It has been made possible to study online without necessarily sitting down in the classrooms for a lecture.People obtain online academic qualifications at all levels they wish without having to sacrifice their usual duties. Other advantage of Internet facility includes the online recruitment facility where employers can advertise jobs on their website and recruit interested parties still there when they log in their credentials. In addition it makes it easy to out source labor force from all over r the world a thing that could not be possible before as per standards of conventional society.

The above reasons and many others explain well why no one want to be left out as this online society takes root.

The standards set for online dating society are very clear and not as ambiguous as those of a real society. This kind of a society is providing the same norms, values to those of a conventional one but not implied. Taking for instance on the dating scene the two online friends have to talk explicitly through writing while on a real dating scene they imply their conversation verbally or visually.

With the requirement and expectations of the conventional society dating rules that are thought to be rather undermining and difficult to follow the modern society has been effortlessly searching for an independent and exiting dating scene, and this now embraces the need for changes and in particular the online dating society that portrays a lot of flexibility independence, tolerance, concealment and unanimity. This explains why the single, young and old generation is seeking solace from an online friend in light of modern stressing jobs divorce, difficult relationships, intimacy problems, loneliness and exploration of new ideals, suggestions among others.

In the days to come, the online dating society will have fully strong and deep penetrating roots thus a strong and enduring foundation that will hardly tumble down ever.

Goal of Every Civil Society—- Education for All

Sanjeev Jha asked:

Education is the best gift that a parent can give to his/her child because it will enable the child to carve a future for him/herself. The child will have the power in his/her hands to decide his or her future. In other words, educating the children means empowering them.

Those of us who are lucky enough to complete our education, not only school education but college as well, don’t realize, how lucky we are. How much power do we have in our hands? We choose which professional field to work in or in other words decide our future for ourselves. One can add various arguments like we too fall in the rat race to earn a living, in order to be alive we fulfill the basic need, that’s why we study hard and choose a profession and other arguments. But the question that such people raising such questions need to ask is: what is the difference between a kid going to school and a kid working at food stall or begging?

When one starts analyzing from this point of view then will one understand that the kid going to school is on his/her way to lead a life of dignity as a grown up person whereas the circumstances has not allowed the kid working at footstall or begging other than this. That kid had no choice to choose a living; he/she had to do this to keep on living, to support the family in meeting both the ends meet. That’s the big difference that needs to be filled up.

A civil society must work towards up-liftment of such kids who are denied the gift of education because of cruel circumstances. But that should not be done through gimmick charity works like distributing clothes, free food etc on occasions to commemorate something. Something substantial needs to be done. Charity works like these are kind of providing a blanket to have protection for sometime. Charity organizations need to work for child welfare programs which work towards providing quality education to poor children who will remain uneducated otherwise. Providing the school will not be enough to bring them to school as they won’t be able to bear the other expenses for books stationary, travel. So other facilities like these needs to be provided for free, along with free education.

Envisioning this mission in mind, Baba Amar Singhji opened, Guru Nanak Garib Niwaj Education Society in 2006. This society works towards developing child development programs to provide free education and all other facilities like stationery, medicinal facilities, free bus service etc. to poor children to support them in their education. Make your contributions in this noble work started by this society to provide a life of dignity to the poor children who may not get to enjoy the gift of education otherwise.

A Savage Society

Susanna Kompogiorgas asked:

Nutrition is grossly misunderstood by the masses in my opinion. Most people worldwide view nutrition as the study of diet, and they focus mainly on nutrients, vitamins, fat content, carb content, etc.. Without a doubt, these are very important factors to consider when one is health conscious. People are bombarded with books and articles about caloric intake, whether or not to combine carbs with protein, how much saturated fat is safe to consume, how much sugar to have, and so on….When one goes to the supermarket, one can see people buying “light” products, white meat, canned products, frozen products, sugar and egg substitutes, and reading labels left and right (This behavior is characteristic of the victims of post modern- ” industrial nutrition” brainwashing). Or you see people buying their fixes of sugar laden products, refined and manufactured foods filled with preservatives, colors and artificial ingredients, soda and other junk completely unaware or indifferent to the health risks derived from eating and drinking the junk in their supermarket carraige. Most modern day nutritionists address these people because they are the key groups of consumers. Too many nutritionists are paid to recommend garbage to the people, encouraging them to eat margarines, refined and manufactured products, foods with preservatives and artificial substitutes, sugar, wheat and meat.

Unfortunately the media treats eating whole natural foods, macrobiotics, ayurvedic diets and vegetarianism as an option for health food freaks, hippies and new agers. People who espouse these eating habits in the west are considered fringe. New agers, “hippies” and health food freaks,those very souls who the media has presented as fringe, however, are the ones that have discovered that nutrition interfaces with spirituality.

We are literally what we eat. This needs to be stressed more than RDA values and grams of fat. Everything that we put into our mouth becomes a part of us. When you eat something, you break it apart and assimilate it, absorbing all it has to offer. Aside from fueling us with energy, it literally becomes a part of our body, participating in our body’s functions. Meat is one of the poisons that people consume, allowing it to wreak havoc on the body.

When you eat meat, you are actually consuming rotting animal flesh. Does that make one a cannibal? Yes. Does this meat have an effect on us? Absolutely. A bad effect. Put aside the ethical issue for a moment, which is huge, and look at the physical implications.

At the very least, this animal flesh is full of antibiotics, hormones and other drugs, as well as traces of the questionable feed that many animals are given ( Mad Cow, for example). This meat also serves as a toxin that slows down and eventually blocks the chakras. These blocked chakras render us completely unable to connect with the source of life force energy. But aside from ingesting all of these poisons, meat in our diet also provides us with tons of adrenalin which we dont need.

Animals are sentient, feeling creatures. They reason, understand, feel and think. Just because the average person doesn’t understand them doesn’t mean that they don’t understand us. Studies on sheep, for example, show that sheep actually fall in love, and stay faithful, throughout their lives, to their mate. Animals are also known to grieve and mourn their losses. Animals instinctively know when they are being led to slaughter way before it happens.

Like any other innocent creature of God, they become afraid, anxious and sad when brutally treated. Approaching their slaughter, they know that they are going to be killed. This is evident not only in their behavior, but it is evident also in the amount of adrenalin which they produce in response to their horror and fear. This adrenalin literally saturates their flesh.

Think for a moment. When you buy fruit and vegetables, oil or beans, many producers proudly bear images of their harvest. We see photos and drawings of farms, trees and crops bearing their fruit on package labels, logos and containers. Check out a box of rice, or a bottle of oil. It is not uncommon to find an image of an olive tree, or a rice paddy on the package. Now look at your package of meat that you purchase from the butcher or supermarket. In an honest world, a proud producer would show on the label a picture of a screaming, terrified animal forcefully led to slaughter. That steak on the plate is a result of murder. The hamburger that a teenager buys is created from pain. That act of murder, that pain, is transferred to the person who eats the meat.

Consider the fact that the adrenalin production of the animal saturates their flesh. When people eat this, it literally becomes a part of them. This increased adrenalin surge accounts for an increase in behavioral dysfunction in society. This has turned people into angry, short tempered and savage beings plagued with bio-chemical behavioral disorders.

People rant and rave about increased violence in society and blame it on television, video & computer games, movies and the news. Okay. Yes, these are violence filled stimuli that bombard our lives daily. However, the capability of producing these media productions, and our ability to willingly “consume” them, all stem from the fact that we are a meat eating society.

Companies and individuals do not cringe when they produce violence filled games as long as they are adrenalin soaked individuals. Those are perfect employees for the industry. Journalists and producers put together violence filled news programs that we apathetically watch and zap around, even while eating. A perfect situation for the ratings. Children, swimming in adrenalin and toxins, do not wince, but they laugh and get hooked when they are “entertained” with violence filled games. These children are the perfect consumers for this type of industry. This vicious circle of industry and consumers is fed by society’s tolerance and need for violence, stemming from the toxicity and high adrenalin content of the diet…mainly from meat. Behavioral disorders have become commonplace, socially unacceptable behavior is not unusual. Anger and rage are part of everyday life.

Its all because of the meat. Meat eating has wreaked biochemical havoc on people. That is a major root of society’s problems. Look at how peaceful and serene vegetarians are statistically, lacking the behavioral disorders and anger that meat eaters display as a group.

Once you become a savage, savagery becomes the norm.

What Is The National Autistic Society?

MIKE SELVON asked:

The NAS or The National Autistic Society is an organization/charity in the United Kingdom that is devoted to fighting for the rights of autistic individuals. Many times, families do not know how to handle situations that may arise with their autistic children or may simply need information on how to cope with day to day issues.

It is the goal of the NAS to provide information that will help the families and their children. They have devoted a website to putting out information about both Asperger syndrome and autistic disorders that can be accessed by individuals who need immediate access to information.

In May of 2006, The NAS launched its “Make School Make Sense” campaign in the House of Parliament. The aim of the campaign is to improve the education system for children who are suffering from autism. It was found that many schools within the UK had teachers who were inadequately trained on how to deal with autism and that they were also faced with having inadequate materials to help the children.

This left the children falling even further behind and their families extremely frustrated with their children not being provided with an education to fit their needs. While many schools in the United Kingdom did have adequate teachers and programs in place for autistic individuals, there were several that did not. It was the belief that a program such as “Make School Make Sense” would get all of the schools on the same page and ready to improve the lives of autistic children attending the schools.

Many people believe the work that The National Autistic Society is doing follows too many of the older methods of handling individuals with both Asperger Syndrome and autism. These individuals, mostly within the Asperger community, do not work in favor of the NAS. There are others however, who believe the work that the NAS is doing has caused greater progression in the awareness of autism and Asperger Syndrome and stand behind the work that the NAS is doing.

One of the issues within the United Kingdom and throughout the world is the lack of awareness about autism and autistic spectrum disorders. The National Autistic Society is working hard to provide a greater awareness of these disorders so that more people will join the fight to gain more information and help treat, cure and hopefully one day, end the suffering. To find out what you can do and to learn more about the services and activities the society provides, visit “Nas” website.

Getting Proper Care From An Alzheimers Society

MIKE SELVON asked:

Are you looking for an American Alzheimers society aimed at providing education, emotional support and practical assistance for your Alzheimers patient relative? The importance of seeking Alzheimers help cannot be overstated.

Two-thirds of Alzheimers caregivers suffer from depression. Since public assistance isn’t the greatest, most caregivers are family members who have to reorganize their lives, leave work early or quit their jobs and learn how to adapt to their loved one’s ever changing personality.

As humans, we naturally seek out like-minded individuals and others who we feel connected to in some way. As an Alzheimers caregiver, you will likely feel conflicting emotions and periods of depression, resentment or fear.

It’s recommended that you connect with others who are going through the same experience. You can participate in a “Memory Walk” with your loved one to raise money and awareness for Alzheimers research, which will help you feel like you’re taking control of an otherwise helpless-feeling situation. You can take a six-week course on “powerful tools for caregiving” or join an Alzheimers support group to discuss different techniques and air your emotions to maintain positive mental health.

Another reason to connect with an Alzheimers society is to find out about clinical trials and ways to get actively involved in finding a cure. Right now, Alzheimers is one of the most mysterious diseases affecting us, since little is known about how to halt or reverse the effects.

There aren’t many early screening tests or ways to prevent Alzheimers either. By 2025, 10 million more Americans will have this degenerative disease. While the statistics leave us feeling helpless, you can make a difference by actively lobbying for more funding, more research, more Medicaid benefits and more public awareness.

Whether you and your Alzheimers patient loved one participate in a “Memory Walk,” make a donation or participate in a study, you will feel like you’re taking charge of your life, which is an important component in evading the depression that affects many an Alzheimers caregiver.

“When my father passed away from Alzheimer’s disease, it was logical for me to spend time and money to fight it,” John Osher writes on an Alzheimers Society website. “I could see research was starting to round the corner and felt that my involvement could matter.” Whether donating, participating in clinical trials or raising public awareness, you have the power to make a large difference and place Alzheimers on top of the American agenda. Like with HIV or Cancer, a cure may be just around the corner, but it won’t get there without many voices raising a clamor!

Are We Heading Towards A Cashless Society?

James Woolley asked:

The western world is advancing at such a rate now that it seems almost inevitable that we are slowly heading towards a cashless society. You only have to go outside and go about your daily life to see how fast technology is advancing.

Take London as an example. They’re actively encouraging people not to carry cash around with them with recent initiatives they’ve introduced.

First of all they issued Oyster cards, which people can use to pay for London’s bus and tube networks, and just recently the Evening Standard made it possible for customers to pay for their newspaper via a cashless payment card.

Now I hear that they’re considering making it possible to pay for parking in the city via mobile phone rather than parking meters so this is yet another reason for people not to carry cash around with them.

If this spreads to the rest of the UK, and if other countries adopt similar initiatives, then it’s surely only a matter of time before the whole of the western world uses technology in the form of prepaid payment cards to make cash obsolete.

The only reason we need cash at the moment is to pay for those small items from retail stores, but the technology is clearly there to make payment cards fit for this purpose, and I think pretty soon it will become the norm to pay for everyday goods via some kind of payment card.

Furthermore the fact that more and more people have mobile phones and access to the internet means that people could quite easily make payments to a payment card via these means. Therefore they would just need to transfer money electronically to their card so they can use it on the high street.

Of course the major downside is that we are heading closer towards the Orwellian world of 1984 and Big Brother where the government knows exactly what you are doing as they can track all your activities electronically.

However as long as you’re not engaging in any criminal activity then I don’t think there’s any major cause for concern, although I’m sure the conspiracy theorists won’t agree.

Ultimately you can’t stop advancing technologies and no matter how much you dislike mobile phones, the internet, and the Big Brother world we are becoming, it’s surely now only a matter of years before we become a cashless society where digital money replaces physical money.

Book Review for Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

John Woolf asked:

Coming on strong after the success of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond’s new book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a tome of intriguing insight to the other side of the coin. While Guns, Germs and Steel examined how some societies thrived, due to their respective geographic and environmental endowments, this book examines why ancient societies have collapsed so often in the past, in part for the same reasons. To support this thesis, the book delves into a variety of past civilizations, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Maya and the Viking colonies of Greenland to illustrate that collapse of a society is no respecter of geography. Nor is it a respecter of time. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed also looks at modern-day societies such as Rwanda to explain the catastrophe that recently befell this afflicted nation, as well as it depicts present-day Montana and the fascinating factors rendering this once wealthy state into one of the poorest. Could Montana be a microcosm for the U.S. at large? The book asks how once astute societies that built magnificent monuments testifying of their social and economic prowess, could suddenly vanish or be rendered impotent. Not lost on the reader throughout these case studies is the nagging thought that perhaps this fate might also befall our own wealthy country. In fact, it is the seminal point of this provocative book. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed hopes to stir our collective consciousness to an understanding what lies before us so that we may be saved, as evidenced, from the pitfalls of the past. In essence, we cannot separate the economy from the environment if we hope to avoid devastation.

Perhaps this is best depicted in the book’s treatise of the Anasazi. Their vast ruins in what is now northern New Mexico echo a well-ordered, sophisticated society in a fragile desert environment that lasted over 600 years. To put this into perspective, they lasted longer than any European society in the Americas to date. However, over time the Anasazi of the Chaco Canyon complex became ever more specialized in the tasks of the society. This in turn allowed them to make gains in economies of efficiency while making them equally interdependent as a culture. More and more the main complex at Chaco Canyon depended on outlying communities and outposts for their support, not unlike London or Rome today. These cities served as governmental and religious centers to facilitate the management their respective societies. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed describes how, like many of our cities of today, “Chaco Canyon became a black hole into which goods were imported but from which nothing tangible was exported.” As the population grew so did the demands on the surrounding environment. Fuel and other essential resources became ever more distant; coupled with soil depletion and erosion in the surrounding farmlands. In essence, they became increasingly close to living on the margin of what the environment could reasonably support. The final straw was a prolonged drought. No longer able to support or feed themselves, the society suddenly collapsed into open revolt and total civil warfare, culminating in cannibalism and ultimately total abandonment of the site. The moral lesson is that while they “adopted solutions that were brilliantly successful and understandable in the ‘short term’ (they) created fatal problems in the long run.” The analogy to our present day situation of overextending ourselves is obvious.

While Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed seems to make a strong connection between collapse of a society and it’s environment, this book is not all about eco-meltdowns. He also measures four other critical factors involving the demise of societies as well; including hostile neighbors; loss of trading partners; climate change and perhaps most importantly, a society’s responses to its challenges. In this vein, this book also looks at several past success stories where societies in Japan and the highlands of New Guinea had the insight to change fundamental, traditional values and restore a positive balance with nature, trading partners etc. and thrive.

In its conclusion, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed presents a cautious optimism for our own future. The book concludes that because we are the creators our own problems, we also have the power to amend the quandaries we have made. This, the book maintains, will not be easy and will require profound courage; but necessary if we are to have hope for the future.