Capitalism Kills

Firstly, capitalism is all about making money, and does so at the expense of individuals, and their labour and human rights.  Worldwide, employees are injured and dying on oilrigs, in coal mines and large factories because their regulation-hating employers want to maximise profits.  The capitalist system emphasises the maximisation of profits and the accumulation of wealth with little regard for the minimal wages paid to those who produce the surplus value applied to their products.  The state is focused on company objectives and numerical targets, rather than the well-being, health and safety of their workers. The creation of laws serves to operate the ideology of the bourgeoisie as a consequence of exploitation.  The majority of the population are exploited by the government and owners of big businesses, hence, exploitation from capitalism leads to the creation of laws which appear to benefit the proletariat, but truly benefit the ruling class by increasing profit margins, regardless of the potential for fatal outcomes.

The Propagandised Nature of the Media

The media is the most powerful organisation which has a big impact on the social construction of news topics. The importance of the news media in framing the public understanding of social problems is widely recognised and has been greatly documented.  It has been suggested that there is a broad correspondence between the images of news stories and articulated in the news media and the interpretation of this.  As a result, the media presentation of information reinforces the social construction of fear and anxiety within the general population.

However, this is not a positive thing for society. 

The Importance of Foreign Languages

http://www.savagechickens.com/ 

In schools you will find that the Head of Modern Foreign Languages is always blathering on about the importance of studying languages.  And quite frankly, they are right to do so.

However, for many in compulsory education, the opportunity to study either French, German or Spanish is challenging and often daunting.  I must agree.  Having studied French from Year 7 to AS Level, and German from Year 8 to A2, I can say with absolute certainty that learning a foreign language certainly presents its difficulties.  It is not helped by the fact that many students have a negative view of the department as a whole and deem language learning unnecessary and a deeply dissatisfactory experience. 

Environmental Protection

Without a doubt, pollution is one of the biggest threats to our ecosystem today.  Environmental pollution releases unwanted pollutants into the two most important aspects of our Earth: air and water.  This problem is primarily caused by people and our engineering.  Whether we like it or not, pollution is an issue, and ignoring it (as it has been by many thus far) shall not make it disappear.

War is Not The Solution

The crisis in Russia and Ukraine, and the war between Israel and Palestine are arguably the biggest conflicts in the world today.  However, the killing of rebels, those deemed troublesome, and the innocent civilians caught up in these battles is intolerable.

When will nations learn that killing people is not the solution to their problems?

Social Exploitation

Equal Society?

We live in a Western-modern paradigm that places great importance on a form of individuality that exploits fellow humans and nature for its own gain.  The current culture of the UK and USA encourages exploitation for personal gain, mistrust, spying on each other and every type of parasitic behaviour imaginable. 

The cause?  Money.

There will always be people who will simply choose to exploit others or allow evil to fester out of simple indifference.  It's not inherently evil.  It is people coveting money over the betterment of their fellow man that is wrong, but no matter what system we seek to set up, there will always be greed and those looking to get one over on others.  However, one system breeds such behaviours more than any other.

Rape Culture

Rape culture can be defined as, ‘a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women.  It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent.  In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself.  A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm’. 

Rape culture can be seen in many, if not all, areas of social life, including the media, education, the workplace, and the law, as well as amongst peers, colleagues, family members and people in positions of authority.  Rather than seeing the culture of rape as a problem that can be changed, people within rape culture continue to view the persistent existence of rape as the way things are and as something that cannot be altered.  Therefore, by continuing to allow society to portray sexual violence, harassment, abuse and rape as acceptable, we, as logical and intellectual individuals, are casting a vote for the type of society we wish to live in.  Unfortunately, this leads to the perpetuation of rape culture and rape myths / misconceptions.

China's Oppression of Tibet

Two years ago, China elected a new leader.  With 8 years remaining on their contract, it will be interesting to see how life in Tibet may or may not change for the better.

Since 1951, Tibet has been under the control of the Communist Party of China.  Mao Zedong (elected leader of the Communist Party 1949) sought to ‘liberate’ Tibet from the rule of the Dalai Lama and bring the country into the People’s Republic of China.  Within a matter of weeks, Tibet’s very small army had been defeated.  Beijing then implemented the Seventeen Point Plan (which Tibetan officials were forced to sign, or faced death.  They later renounced). 

The Radical Notion That Women and Ethnic Minorities are People

Anybody would think that with the profound influence of feminism and equal rights campaigns, women and ethnic minorities would be on an equal par with white middle class men.  It is true that the rights of these groups in Western societies have evolved thanks to the rise of various movements, but there is still a long way to go until racist-patriarchal values are overthrown and equality for all is achieved, not just in contemporary societies.

Unfortunately, it is still a commonly held view that women and ethnic minorities are inferior to men and white ethnic groups, particularly those from the upper-middle classes.  It is claimed by some communities that ethnic groups and women should not have rights until they can ‘prove’ that they are deserving.

But when did white middle class men prove that they were deserving of their rights and supremacist privilege?

Colour-blindness and Racist Ideology

Recently there was an interesting news item which discussed the high proportion of young Muslim men in prison. It was noted that the degree of overt institutional racism within the Met Police had reduced and other factors were to blame. This sparked my writing on this topic, as I believe that our definition and understanding of institutional racism within society has shifted and colour-blindness now appears to be a prevailing ideological perspective.

Colour-blindness, in sociological terms, is defined as ‘the disregard of racial characteristics; making no classifications, categorisations, or distinctions upon race’. This is no new phenomenon, but the existence of such attitudes has become more prominent in our society today as political correctness has extended its control over our freedom of speech. Advocates of colour-blind practices believe that treating people with no acknowledgement of race would lead to a more equal and tolerant society, whereby racial privilege would no longer exert the power it once did. However, those in opposition to such practices believe that racism and white privilege still remain defining features of many Western societies.