Asians and Kill Bill Essay -- Stereotyping Asia Asian Movie Film Essay

Asians and Kill Bill Sitting in the movie theater, I was baffled to see so many stereotypes touched on in one single film. These stereotypes were not just any kind of stereotype – they were those pertaining to Asians in particular. The obviousness and sheer transparency of the stereotypes made the movie look like a complete joke. The film? Kill Bill. The majority of today’s films starring Asian actors and actresses often contain numerous stereotypes. They cater to the biased views that most non-Asians have of Asian ethnicity and culture. What they do not know they make up for in ignorance and ridicule in one of today’s top forms of mass media. By using a widespread style of media in today’s pop culture, more and more people are being displayed the fabricated stereotypes of Asians. In one of the more commonly portrayed stereotypes in film, Asians are often portrayed as great martial artists. Martial arts seem to come less as a skill and more a natural ability to someone who is Asian. Somehow, it’s right in our blood. Actors who have contributed to t... Asians and Kill Bill Essay -- Stereotyping Asia Asian Movie Film Essay Asians and Kill Bill Sitting in the movie theater, I was baffled to see so many stereotypes touched on in one single film. These stereotypes were not just any kind of stereotype – they were those pertaining to Asians in particular. The obviousness and sheer transparency of the stereotypes made the movie look like a complete joke. The film? Kill Bill. The majority of today’s films starring Asian actors and actresses often contain numerous stereotypes. They cater to the biased views that most non-Asians have of Asian ethnicity and culture. What they do not know they make up for in ignorance and ridicule in one of today’s top forms of mass media. By using a widespread style of media in today’s pop culture, more and more people are being displayed the fabricated stereotypes of Asians. In one of the more commonly portrayed stereotypes in film, Asians are often portrayed as great martial artists. Martial arts seem to come less as a skill and more a natural ability to someone who is Asian. Somehow, it’s right in our blood. Actors who have contributed to t...

Eleanor of Aquitaine :: essays research papers fc

Eleanor of Aquitaine There have been many historic women have had a great impact on modern day society. We have come to recognize them as key parts of our past, and without them the world would not be as it is. One of these women whom we recognize is Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor of Aquitaine is known as one of the most successful women in history because of her valiant efforts to reform medieval England.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eleanor of Aquitaine was born in 1122 . She grew up in Poiters, France, where she was always surrounded by poets, artists, and other educated peoples . Numerous suitors attempted to woo her . Her childhood was rich and full of exquisite fortunes . However, all lives must eventually come to an end. In 1204 she died at the age of eighty-two, which was an extraordinary age at the time . Her corpse may still be in Fontervrault Abbey, her cherished rest and recuperation abode .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eleanor’s first taste of great power was as the Queen of France. At the youthful age of fifteen she was whisked away to become the Queen of Louis VII . After several years the marriage crumbled . The two talked about divorce . Eleanor asked the Church for an annulment on grounds that they were fourth cousins, and Louis did not attempt to argue . Louis and Eleanor were granted the annulment in 1152 .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry Plantagenet, heir to the throne of England, had already stolen Eleanor’s heart, despite the fact that she was twelve years older than he was . A mere six weeks after the annulment, she and Henry got married at Bordeaux . In 1154 they were crown King and Queen of England in Westminster Abbey . After she was crowned, she was addressed as â€Å"Eleanor, by the grace of God, Queen of England.† The occupancy of the throne is what gave her the power to complete her goals, though she most likely would have somehow risen to impose her ideas anyhow.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of Eleanor’s life was devoted to child- bearing . Her first son by Henry was William . William was born in Normandy, but died at a young age in 1183 . She had eight children after William . In order from eldest to youngest they were Matilda, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Eleanor, and Joanna . Richard was Queen Eleanor’s favorite child . King Henry’s favorite child was John .

Essay over One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest Essay

Through Ken Kesey’s exploration of a power discourse within ‘one flew over the cuckoo’s nest’, he visibly highlights that every text has a purpose. The author comes up with a discourse of power, where it is shown throughout the characters, and through how society used to treat the ‘mental illnesses’ at the time. In this book, society ideologies are challenged by the revolutionary mind of Ken Kesey, where within the influence of the beats, had ‘different’ beliefs from everyone else at the socio-cultural context of the time. The characterisation in this plot is carefully made by the author, where each character is built to represent a different thing for the audience and to challenge society’s beliefs in the early 60’s. For example, The characters of the Chief and McMurphy were placed to reinforce the beat beliefs and to show that ‘illness’ for society at the time, wasn’t really to be crazy, it was just to be a bit different from everyone else, challenging society’s view of the insane. However, the character of nurse Ratched, represents society where it is the figure of power and control of the patients. Where, again it shows the power discourse within this book throughout nurse’s attitudes and beliefs. Chief Bromden is one of the main characters and also the narrator of this book; he is a Native American that has been in the ward for many years, he’s always been marginalized and disempowered and due this, he ‘lost’ his voice and pretended to be deaf for the others. However, when McMurphy joined the ward, they became really close friends and slowly, the chief was getting his confidence and power back, he was being able to speak again, he was getting his strength back on and being himself again after years, â€Å"He’d done what he said, my arms were big again, big as they were in high school† said chief about McMurphy. This reinforces Ken keysey’s beliefs that if everyone was treated equally, there wouldn’t be any mental illness, there would only be different people in certain ways. McMurphy is also one of the main characters in the plot, he is represented as an alpha male â€Å"a bull goose lony†, he is an antihero. As soon as he joins the ward, he gets the sympathize of most of the people, he helped people to get confidence back, he took place of a leader, and empowered people again (mainly the chief). He is seen as a Christ figure, he suffers for his friends and at the end he is sacrificed to ‘open the gates’ for his friends. Ken kesey through this man explored the figure of power giver, where all men in the microcosm ward were disempowered due the nurse, and this man came in and changed it to the other way around, where reinforces the idea of power being the controller of people. â€Å"One flew over the cuckoo’s nest† represented society very well at the socio cultural context at the time, where it successfully shows the game of empowerment and disempowerment of a macrocosm ambient (society) in a microcosm environment (the ward). Ken kesey through this book was able to show that society can be wrong and you have to stick up for your beliefs, because at the end of the day, the insane stopped being marginalized and changed society’s view on the insane, which was the author’s main objective.

Nostradamus and his Quatrains

Michel Nostradamus was a 16th century French physician and astrologer who had the figure of a prophet as perceived by his disciples. However, Nostradamus’ predictions were usually muddled and obscure before so-called predicted event but crystal-clear after the event had occurred. He wrote four-line verses that were particularly meaningless until an event had occurred; hence, the verse of prediction was considered as â€Å"shoehorned† into a prophecy, which can be sometimes classified as retroprophecy of his quatrains or four verses predictions. Hence, within this study, the discussion aims to link the concepts of quatrains with Nostradamus’ predictions. Michel de Nostredame, born in December 14, 1503 and died in July 2, 1566, had been considered as one of the mythical seers of prophetic fields. Nostradamus had been his popular name throughout ages, and with this, the subject of prophecies links with his name. The French so-called â€Å"prophet† by his disciples was significantly known for his poetic quatrains that depict some sort of indirect and unclear predictions. However, the magic of his statement only occurs right after its occurrence. Most of his prophecies revolved in world state issues but try to conceal their meanings with the literary way in Nostradamus writings. Discussion Overview on the Concept of Quatrains From the historical perspective, Nostradamus’ quatrains had been published in 1555, which he entitled Centuries. His book contained his visions and all his predictions about the future of the world. Nostradamus was able to conceptualize 10 chapters of the book with 100 quatrains present each except for chapter 7, which only contained 42 quatrains. In addition, the quatrains of Nostradamus did not indicate any signs of time or date; hence, the actual interpretations of these predictions became vague and somehow literary severed. The quatrains in his book had this jumbled characters and the arrangements of its meaning took a long time before being organized. Most evidently, Nostradamus used the literary poetic style of four-lines in a verse or known as Quatrains. The most evident characteristic of his statements was the absolute use of figure of speech that made it hard for the reader to interpret the predictions initially; however, these statements somehow magically revealed their meaning right after the event had passed. The quatrains of Nostradamus, according to the book of Cannon (1992), contained obscure and foreign words wherein beneath possessed severely unexplainable interpretations (4). Although some can be interpreted, most of Nostradamus quatrains had used the vague identities of the statements in order to conceal their true meaning for a while. Cannon (1992) added that most of Nostradamus’ statements had not been interpreted in satisfactory manner so far (4). Nostradamus’ quatrains were so vague that they could have applied to many possible events, or symbolisms that could be convoluted with many possible interpretations. Nostradamus was able to cleverly disguise the meaning behind his quatrains in order to confuse those attempting to interpret the prophecies before their fulfillment. As supported by Oliver (2004), Nostradamus’ quatrains were hand-written in Old French, which could be very difficult to translate (11). Through these clever literary disguises, Nostradamus was able to veil the predictions prior to its occurrence; hence, saving the world from preparing prior to tragic events or future world disasters. Out of more than 900 prophecies of Nostradamus, none of them comprised of date, which further complicated the interpretations of these quatrains. However, despite of the vague identities and thoughts of Nostradamus’ quatrains, he had used some patterns that could be used as guides in understanding his quatrains. Although, most of the modern observers and readers did not considered the applications of Nostradamus’ predictions towards the globally occurring events.   As for the explorers of Nostradamus’ predictions, they had considered the quatrains of Nostradamus’ as predictions of the future; however, from the term itself, a prediction should fist be relayed and interpreted prior to the occurrence of the events. With the proposed argument of Diamond (2004), after the President Kennedy was shot, everyone jumped on the Nostradamus quatrain bandwagon and said that through his quatrain, he had clearly predicted the Kennedy shooting. However, this is not predicting since predicting means successfully calling a circumstance prior to its occurrence rather than using post-hoc reasoning to explain something (161). From his supporting statement, the predictions of Nostradamus and the vagueness of his quatrains had somehow initiated the concept of retroprophecy or the revealing of truth to his prophecy only after its occurrence. Despite of diverse critics on Nostradamus’ quatrains and predictions it conceived, some of these were extraordinarily and undeniably accurate. According to Goldberg (1999), the style of predictions made by Nostradamus may or may not be intentionally being veiled for future assumptions of interpreters (218). The retrograde characteristics of Nostradamus’ prophecy cannot be entirely considered as due to his intention of hiding it to the readers, since he had conceptualized this during his time and possibly without the knowledge of the changing French language. However, arguments would rise from this reason, since Nostradamus did not only use Old French language to veil his prophecy but also his figurative way of expressing his predictions. Arguments on whether or not to consider the validity of Nostradamus’ predictions aroused because of the retrograde characteristics of his predictions. On the other hand, the mystery of these quatrains was more understood in relation with American society and, as against to the early translations, the European society. As the twentieth century entered in, some of the predictions of Nostradamus regained its clarity and application not with the European society, but most often to the United States (e.g. September 11, 2001 bombing, etc.). As supported by McClaine (2000), Nostradamus had mentioned the birth of different personages who were born after his death and the rise of nations that were unknown or unthinkably despicably in his day (20). Nostradamus’ predictions may even faced this character of revealing itself right after the scenario occurred; however, his quatrains had somehow considerably predicted most of the events occurring within the global context, most especially with the American society; hence, the quatrains of Nostradamus did provide significant means of hiding its meaning and further exposing it right after fulfillment. Nostradamus and his Predictions Many of Nostradamus’ readers had long attempted to translate the prophecies in his statements. Unfortunately, even the original translations were not as accurate as it seems, and so far, no significant changes in the translations had been made. Adding into the complexities of Nostradamus’ quatrains, the Old French meanings had been modified by time for the last 400 years; hence, most of the words can no longer be applied to the translations of modern French.   Two points were common to his predictions, which were the presence of allegory and deep literary disguise. According to Ned (1999), the predictions of Nostradamus utilized codes, patterns and oracles that had been camouflaged in references to the past and molded in to rhyme of verses (8). Nostradamus simply wrote down the prophesies that arrived to his thinking; however, he was able to document it properly without further giving patterns via place, time, or events. From the complex meaning and diverse possible interpretations from Nostradamus’ predictions, it should have been easier if Nostradamus’ indicated the dates of his predictions; however, as supported by Halley (1999), Nostradamus himself did not consider placing it for good reasons (8). Overall, the vocabularies that Nostradamus used within his predictions were approximately 8,000 words; however, some of these, despite of similar means, were used in differently in a poetical form. As supported by Thurston (2004), some of the predictions in his quatrains seem unarguable accurate, and particularly fulfilled in his own society and time (39). However, only few of Nostradamus quatrains would possess significant linkage to historical events. The sense of ambiguity and enigma still governed the multiplicity of meanings in his predicting quatrains. Some of the skeptics would consider the predictions of Nostradamus by either problematic or significantly true. In the sense of being problematic, Thurston (2004) argued that some of the articles in Nostradamus’ predictions were impossible to have been conceptualized or even grasped (e.g. aircraft vessels, guns, sky-scrape buildings, etc.) four hundred years before its actual occurrence (39). On the other hand, the same reason could be applied to justify Nostradamus’ realistic predictions since there were no possible means to grasp these ideas except for truthfully seeing them through predictions (Desrosiers 46). For the sake of interpretations, some critiques in this study would defend the presence of pattern in Nostradamus’ predictions; however, Welch (2000), argued that Nostradamus’ punctuations were wildly erratic, apparently following no particular rule or pattern (7). There were no patterns employed in any of Nostradamus predictions in order to facilitate the revealing of his quatrains message only after the occurrence of the incident. In some perspective, Popkin (1992) provided the statement that even Nostradamus claimed that his capacity to predict came as a divine providence from God, which allowed him to predict the coming future (182). According to his argument, Nostradamus had to ensure that the revelations of his quatrains will only occur after the events had already pass in order to avoid the change of predictions and the future. If human civilization can to obtain control over these predictions, the chances of its failed occurrence will be likely since humans will eventually prepare prior to the event’s occurrence (Frank 204). Somehow, Nostradamus had to ensure the retrograde character of his quatrains in order to protect predictions stored with it, and further prevent warnings from ever arriving to human thinking. An Analysis to Nostradamus Four-Line Verses The disguises of Nostradamus’ quatrains involved various confusing parts because of some sort of punch lines that he had incorporated, which, if interpreted correctly, could provide a new picture of interpretation. In one example, Nostradamus’ Quatrain 87 from Chapter 1 says (cited in Oliver 12): Great symbols on fire in the center of the mainland Will cause trembling in the towers of New York City Two great skyscrapers will be continuously attacked, This is when Arethuse turn-around to a new course. This has been one of the famous quatrains from Nostradamus’ prediction, which gained its popularity during the bombing of 1993. Civilians and believers of Nostradamus’ predictions had thought that this was the fulfillment of his statements; however, things went clearer during the September 11, 2001 attack in the World Trade Center twin towers. According to Oliver (2004), quatrain 87 refers to the World Trade Center as the French Old English suggest, â€Å"Enno-sigee†, which connoted enno as great one and sigee as standing silent; hence, depicting the great ensigns of the New York skyline (12). After the event had occurred, the statements from media repeatedly reported the downfall or incident of the symbols of American capitalism or in translation, the great ensigns or symbolisms (Ward 117). Lastly, the Arethuse in the last statements of Nostradamus’ prophecy did not actually appeared in the modern context of French language, but rather considered to be the Old French language. From etymological analysis, Arethus could be translated to Aerthuse and if interpreted right, â€Å"Are† should mean air, while â€Å"thuse† should mean tubes. If these words were translated, it could somehow mean â€Å"air-tubes† or â€Å"air-vessels†, which if interpreted with the statements, â€Å"this is when Arethuse turn-around to a new course†, could mean the aircraft that changed its course to hit the twin towers during the September 11, 2001 disaster  Ã‚   (Oliver 12-13). Hence, as for the thesis of this study and with this statement analysis, the predictions of Nostradamus could be composed of vague and unclear statements; however, upon the fulfillment of events, these prophecies revealed their meaning to the readers with correct interpretations. This was only one of the many prophecies of Nostradamus that provided a significant character of being â€Å"retroprophecy† or revealing of predictions after its fulfillment. Ironically, Nostradamus distributed his Centuries of 1955 in order for men to possess basis that these significant global events were destined and already plotted, but clearly not to warn or save humanity from the impending disasters and conflicts that future had in store for human civilization. Conclusion In response to the thesis of the study, Nostradamus had indeed utilized a retrograde feature for his quatrains or four-line verses in order to hide the predictions from humans preventing them to possess warnings and prepare for the upcoming future. Evidently, Nostradamus purposively disguised and used Old French in order to conceal the meanings, provide multiple interpretations, and hide the actual predictions of his quatrains. However, after the fulfillment of the given statement had been fulfilled, the events were being revealed to human minds. Scholars had suggested possible patterns in his quatrains that may hold access to deciphering his predictions; however, so far, little portions of success had been made due to the complexities his quatrains. Works Cited Cannon, Dolores. Conversations with Nostradamus: His Prophecies Explained. Ozark Mountain Publishing, 1992. Desrosiers, Gilbert. An Introduction to Revelation: A Pathway to Interpretation. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000. Diamond, Leonard. Alien Conscious: Sixty Years of Abduction Experiences. Gate Way Publishers, 2004. Frank, Joseph. The Atlantis Encyclopedia. Career Press, 2005. Goldberg, Bruce. Astral Voyages: Mastering the Art of Soul Travel. Llewellyn Worldwide, 1999. Halley, Ned. Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus. Wordsworth Editions, 1999. McClaine, Lee. Across Centuries: Nostradamus, Apocalypse, Destiny and the Great Millennium. Universal Publishers, 2000. Oliver, Edward. Trail Of Prophecy. Virtualbookworm Publisher, 2004. Popkin, Richard. The Third Force in Seventeenth-century Thought. BRILL, 1992. Thurston, Mark. Edgar Cayce's Predictions for the 21st Century. Star Enterprises International Inc., 2004. Ward, Charles A. Oracles of Nostradamus. NuVision Publications, 2007. Welch, R W. Comet of Nostradamus: August 2004-Impact!. Llewellyn Worldwide, 2000.   

Best Mom

Best mom essay Hello my name is Cassandra and I Will Be talking about my mom and why she should become one of the best moms in San Diego. I believe that my mom has done many things to receive this kind of award and I think that she is one of the greatest moms. There are many reasons that I say why she should become on of the best moms in SanDiego. Some of the reasons that she should become one of the greatest moms in San Diego are because she has volunteered at my school and she has sacrificed many things for me and my siblings and she is also a good role model.These are only some traits if my mom and in the rest of this essay I will be elaborating on these 3 traits of my mother. My mom should be one of the greatest moms in San Diego because she did volunteer at our school and help out. My school has a mandatory of 15 hours that the parents of a student have to volunteer at the school in a year. My mom has volunteered at the school for not only 15 hours. She was done with her volunte er hours around the 3rd moth of school and yet she still volunteers even though it isn’t mandatory after that.At a school program called Acess we do a lot of community services like helping g in beach clean up, doing volunteer at the Ronald MacDonald house and helping kids with autism. Over all we have done more that 20 community services within my years there and my mom has volunteered in almost all of them and helped manage the kids. That is one of the reasons that I believe that my mom should be one of the greatest moms in San Diego. The second reason that my mom should be nominated as one of the greatest is because she has taught me many lessons and many things that will help me in life.Some of the things that my mom has taught me are Responsibility, Organization, respect, Honor, and honesty. All these things are lessons that will help me in school middle school, high school, college, and even after I get out of school just in life. I believe that because I learned many t hings from my mother that she should be named one of the greatest moms in San Diego. Another reason that I think my mom should be named best mom would be because she is a great role model. My mother is a very good role model to me and my siblings.My mother is a person who puts all her effort to raising us good and she is a hard worker and that motivates us to do a good job and work hard in school and that is one reason I think my mom is a great mother. In conclusion I believe that my mom is a great mother and she should be named one of the greatest moms in San Diego. t as told above the reason I think this is because she volunteers at our school even after finishing the mandatory hours and she has taught me some of the important lesson that help me in the future and she is a great role model.

Ex Post Facto Laws Essay

Ex post facto laws refer to laws that apply to acts committed before the enactment of such laws and are, therefore, disadvantageous to the affected persons. The United States constitution in article I, section 10 prohibits the state from enacting such retroactive laws. This prohibition protects individuals from unjust legislative acts. However, the ban on ex post facto laws applies only with regard to criminal and not civil laws (Zollar, 2002). I believe that the US constitution is reasonable and consistent by containing provisions that limit the enactment of ex post facto laws since this help in safeguarding the rights of individuals under existing laws. If the constitution did not contain the ex post facto clause, individuals would be unfairly subjected to laws that act retrogressively and deny them justice. For instance, an adult should not be prosecuted for crimes he committed when he was a minor if such crimes could not be instituted against him at that time due to limitation on juvenile court jurisdiction. I concur with the authors of the ex post facto clause that laws should not be applied retroactively. However, where the rule cannot be reasonably applied, various exceptions should be incorporated to make the rule workable. Like every other rule, I believe that it is important for the ex post facto clause to have various exceptions that would ensure its enforceability. While I agree that laws should not be enacted retrogressively, I feel that the biggest challenge facing the ex post facto clause is the obscure differentiation of criminal laws from civil laws. The clause that prohibits ex post facto laws bans several acts. First, it prohibits the creation of criminal laws and making them retroactive. Such retroactive laws have the effect of criminalizing acts committed before their enactments. The clause also prohibits laws that are made in order to retroactively aggravate a crime, for instance, by retroactively changing a misdemeanor to a felony. Retroactively increasing the punishment for a crime is also prohibited under US laws. Furthermore, the Ex post facto clause also bans the creation of laws that alter the rules of evidence and instead allow conviction based on different or lesser evidence than what the law proscribed at the time of the crime’s commission (Gardner & Anderson, 2011). There are several exceptions to the limitation of retroactive laws in the ex post facto clause. The rule is limited to penal law and is not applicable to cases where the new laws favor the accused. Moreover, the rule is not applicable to customary laws and precedent laws that are retrospective with regard to previous cases. Another exception to the ex post facto rule is a retroactive law that provides for retribution for certain acts that were illegal but not criminal when they were committed. An example of such a law is the London Agreement, which is retroactive to the extent of acts that constituted violations of international laws when they were committed (Bassiouni, 2011) One of the most important current aspects of ex post facto laws is taxation. Prohibition of retroactive laws is limited to criminal acts. Therefore, there is no ex post facto law prohibition in taxation since it is a civil act. In the case of Fernandez vs. Fernandez, it was ruled that prohibition on ex post facto laws was limited to criminal laws and that tax laws were civic. In September 2012, the U.S Commerce Department imposed an ex post facto tax of $ 100 million as an anti-dumping measure (Foldvary, 2012). I feel that there is need to address the lack of prohibition of ex post facto laws in taxation. It would be unjust if entrepreneurs would lose property through confiscation by the government in an effort to recover retroactive taxes. References Bassiouni, M. C. (2011). Crimes against humanity: Historical and contemporary application. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Foldvary, F. E. (2012). The Progress Report: Ex post Facto Taxation. Retrieved October 27, 2012 from: http://www.progress.org/2012/fold784.htm Gardner, T. J. and Anderson, T. M. (2011). Criminal Law. Belomont, CA: Cengage Learning. Zollar, J. (2002). Prohibition against Ex Post Facto laws. House Research. Retrieved October 7, 2012 from: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/ss/clssexpost.pdf

Arming Police Officers

There can be a lot of benefits and disadvantages of ‘arming’ police officers in this country which I will be discussing along with the main issues raised in the article. One of the key issues raised in the article is that the two officers of this attack may have been victims of an ‘image boosting’ crime. This is where criminals specifically target police officers to be known as ‘folk heroes’ among the criminals. SIR PETER, F. 2012. ‘This case tells us something about the nature of organised crime, the level of intimidation that it creates and the fact people sometimes see others as folk heroes for being involved in this sort of activity. The Telegraph. 18 October. This suggests that officers in this country need to have more protection for themselves when facing criminals because they just don’t know what they are going to come up against. The two police officers who died weren’t expecting any trouble and thought they could e asily handle it. There has been a number of incidents where police officers have been attacked and they had no protection for themselves such as when Raoul Moat threatened to kill police officers, including shooting one in the face and leaving him blind for the rest of his life. DARREN, R. 2012. ‘How many officers need to die before the powers realise that it is the 21st century and you cannot fight crime with an outdated piece of plastic and a bit of spray. ’ The Telegraph. 18 October. Another key issue raised in the article is that a lot of other countries are armed to fight crime whereas here in the UK, there are only specific armed response units that go to specific incidents. In the article, the two police officers were going to a regular burglary allegation, unarmed and had no protection for themselves. The arguments over whether the police should be routinely armed go back to the creation of the capital’s first force by Robert Peel in 1829. Officers in the 19th century would very often carry a gun but British policing took a different direction from Europe and America by declining to issue weapons on a routine basis. This is because he wanted the police to be members of the public, in uniform who could be easily approached by the public without them being intimidated. PHILIP, J. 2012. The reason for this was set out in Peel’s principles of policing: he regarded the police as the public in uniform. Not for us the military-style continental carabinieri of whom the general populace walk in fear and distrust. Our police, said Peel, are civilians, members of the public â€Å"who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence†. The Telegraph. 19 September. Without the use of guns, it has made our country a less violent place than those where the police are armed. On the other hand, it leaves our police more vulnerable to the hardened criminals who are prepared to use weapons such as guns and knives on civilians and our police officers as we have seen over the recent years. There is also another main issue that comes up in the article which is many people; including police officers are passionate about the British style of policing which is remaining unarmed despite the increasing numbers of attacks on innocent police officers. A 2006 survey showed that officers were very much against the idea of being armed. JON, K. 2012. A 2006 survey of 47,328 Police Federation members found 82% did not want officers to be routinely armed on duty, despite almost half saying their lives had been â€Å"in serious jeopardy† during the previous three years. BBC news magazine. 19 September. We have to remember that incidents such as the one that happened in Greater Manchester are extremely rare as gun crime remains low. As you can see from the diagram below, there has been a rise in firearm offences in England and Wales over the years but since 2008 it has been gradually decreasing from 10,000 offences in 2008, down to 7,000 in 2010. (BBC NEWS MAGAZINE) There are many advantages and disadvantages of regularly arming police officers in this country. It allows the officers to feel protected at all times, even when they’re not expecting anything to happen. There have been many incidents where police officers have been attacked and had nothing to protect them. Giving them the right to carry firearms would not only protect them but to let criminals know that they’re not afraid to use them. Fewer officers may die on duty if they were better protected. However, arming the police can lead to a spiral of violence. In places where the police are not routinely armed, a portion of criminals will not arm themselves. For example, armed robbery carries a higher sentence than robbery. Once the police are armed, criminals who do not match their capability have a disadvantage, therefore, when the police become routinely armed, the criminal world fully arms itself in response. This would potentially lead into an increase in weapon possession and use. Giving police officers the right to carry firearms could also make communities feel safer. The sight of armed police officers patrolling the streets will not only scare ‘gangs’ from harassing the public but will restore communities with confidence that they are being properly protected. This could also backfire because the public may feel intimidated by the firearms and feel that they couldn’t approach a police officer. Guns could potentially place a distance between the community and the police and have a negative effect. Day to day police checks such as spot checks on cars could seem a threat to the public. Also if police officers carry a firearm, they face the likely risk of having that weapon turned on them by a criminal. This could put police officers in greater risk. In conclusion to the question of ‘arming police officers’ there are a lot of benefits which would greatly help our police officers and our community but also a lot of threats which it may cause. As we can see, there are a lot of big issues that rise from the article such as the increase of ‘image boosting’ crime which unarmed police officers are being targeted and why there are only a handful of countries including the UK whose police forces are not routinely armed. The question that still remains is should our police officers be armed? My opinion is that there are too many high risks that arming our officers may cause. I think that gun crime in England and Wales is extremely low comparing to other countries where the police are routinely armed, gun crime is higher. Arming Police Officers There can be a lot of benefits and disadvantages of ‘arming’ police officers in this country which I will be discussing along with the main issues raised in the article. One of the key issues raised in the article is that the two officers of this attack may have been victims of an ‘image boosting’ crime. This is where criminals specifically target police officers to be known as ‘folk heroes’ among the criminals. SIR PETER, F. 2012. ‘This case tells us something about the nature of organised crime, the level of intimidation that it creates and the fact people sometimes see others as folk heroes for being involved in this sort of activity. The Telegraph. 18 October. This suggests that officers in this country need to have more protection for themselves when facing criminals because they just don’t know what they are going to come up against. The two police officers who died weren’t expecting any trouble and thought they could e asily handle it. There has been a number of incidents where police officers have been attacked and they had no protection for themselves such as when Raoul Moat threatened to kill police officers, including shooting one in the face and leaving him blind for the rest of his life. DARREN, R. 2012. ‘How many officers need to die before the powers realise that it is the 21st century and you cannot fight crime with an outdated piece of plastic and a bit of spray. ’ The Telegraph. 18 October. Another key issue raised in the article is that a lot of other countries are armed to fight crime whereas here in the UK, there are only specific armed response units that go to specific incidents. In the article, the two police officers were going to a regular burglary allegation, unarmed and had no protection for themselves. The arguments over whether the police should be routinely armed go back to the creation of the capital’s first force by Robert Peel in 1829. Officers in the 19th century would very often carry a gun but British policing took a different direction from Europe and America by declining to issue weapons on a routine basis. This is because he wanted the police to be members of the public, in uniform who could be easily approached by the public without them being intimidated. PHILIP, J. 2012. The reason for this was set out in Peel’s principles of policing: he regarded the police as the public in uniform. Not for us the military-style continental carabinieri of whom the general populace walk in fear and distrust. Our police, said Peel, are civilians, members of the public â€Å"who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence†. The Telegraph. 19 September. Without the use of guns, it has made our country a less violent place than those where the police are armed. On the other hand, it leaves our police more vulnerable to the hardened criminals who are prepared to use weapons such as guns and knives on civilians and our police officers as we have seen over the recent years. There is also another main issue that comes up in the article which is many people; including police officers are passionate about the British style of policing which is remaining unarmed despite the increasing numbers of attacks on innocent police officers. A 2006 survey showed that officers were very much against the idea of being armed. JON, K. 2012. A 2006 survey of 47,328 Police Federation members found 82% did not want officers to be routinely armed on duty, despite almost half saying their lives had been â€Å"in serious jeopardy† during the previous three years. BBC news magazine. 19 September. We have to remember that incidents such as the one that happened in Greater Manchester are extremely rare as gun crime remains low. As you can see from the diagram below, there has been a rise in firearm offences in England and Wales over the years but since 2008 it has been gradually decreasing from 10,000 offences in 2008, down to 7,000 in 2010. (BBC NEWS MAGAZINE) There are many advantages and disadvantages of regularly arming police officers in this country. It allows the officers to feel protected at all times, even when they’re not expecting anything to happen. There have been many incidents where police officers have been attacked and had nothing to protect them. Giving them the right to carry firearms would not only protect them but to let criminals know that they’re not afraid to use them. Fewer officers may die on duty if they were better protected. However, arming the police can lead to a spiral of violence. In places where the police are not routinely armed, a portion of criminals will not arm themselves. For example, armed robbery carries a higher sentence than robbery. Once the police are armed, criminals who do not match their capability have a disadvantage, therefore, when the police become routinely armed, the criminal world fully arms itself in response. This would potentially lead into an increase in weapon possession and use. Giving police officers the right to carry firearms could also make communities feel safer. The sight of armed police officers patrolling the streets will not only scare ‘gangs’ from harassing the public but will restore communities with confidence that they are being properly protected. This could also backfire because the public may feel intimidated by the firearms and feel that they couldn’t approach a police officer. Guns could potentially place a distance between the community and the police and have a negative effect. Day to day police checks such as spot checks on cars could seem a threat to the public. Also if police officers carry a firearm, they face the likely risk of having that weapon turned on them by a criminal. This could put police officers in greater risk. In conclusion to the question of ‘arming police officers’ there are a lot of benefits which would greatly help our police officers and our community but also a lot of threats which it may cause. As we can see, there are a lot of big issues that rise from the article such as the increase of ‘image boosting’ crime which unarmed police officers are being targeted and why there are only a handful of countries including the UK whose police forces are not routinely armed. The question that still remains is should our police officers be armed? My opinion is that there are too many high risks that arming our officers may cause. I think that gun crime in England and Wales is extremely low comparing to other countries where the police are routinely armed, gun crime is higher.