In the early years of the twenty first century, with so much evolution in sociological thought having already taken place, no scholar can dismiss theories concerning health inequalities in society. All societies of past and present exhibited fissures in terms of class, gender, age groups, etc. Sociologists have discovered valid correlations between these social parameters…
How did George Washington’s understanding of military tactics and geography helped defeat the British?
George Washington is one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. He played a key role in the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and also in the military confrontation that followed. Washington did not have any formal training in military and his experience in running military campaigns was also…
Film review: Blow (2001) by Ted Demme
Blow (2001) is a biographical motion picture about the notorious American cocaine smuggler George Jung. The movie is an adaptation from the book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All authored by Bruce Porter in 1993. The writing team of David McKenna and Nick…
Film Review: The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
The film The Story of G.I. Joe is an American war film starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was directed by William Wellman and is portrayed as a tribute to infantrymen of American military that operated during the Second World War, G.I. Joe being a typical characterization of the class of soldiers. The…
Toyota: Origins, Evolution and Prospects
The story of Japanese car manufacturing company Toyota is one of the enduring successes in the history of manufacturing industry. From a small, obscure entity in 1947, it has now risen to the second spot in terms of global sales. Over the past 30 years, Toyota Motor Corp. has not only been the envy of…
Opinion on the use of fur in fashion and use of traps for wildlife population
The use of fur in fashion has always been an ethically dubious practice. The fashion industry has been growing at a scorching pace across economies, and so has the controversial practice of using animal products in dresses and accessories. When it comes to making a moral assessment of this practice, one has to give fair…
Buddhist approach to education
There appears to be some fundamental differences between Western and Buddhist approaches to education. The Western philosophy of education, as is prevalent today, is more systematic and scientifically grounded in terms of its objectives and outcomes. But the Buddhist view of education is a lot more open-ended and fluid. Also, while there are fundamental tenets…
A response to ‘Ending an Epidemic’ by Sadie F. Dingfelder
The article titled ‘Ending an Epidemic’ by Sadie F. Dingfelder first appeared in the March 2010 (Vol 41, No.3) edition of Monitor. It talks about the phenomenon of teen violence, especially carried out by their boyfriends or dates. Upon reading it, I felt appalled by what is happening to teenage girls across the country. The…
America and the Great War
There are many causes that led to the First World War, but the assassination of the monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Archduke Franz Ferdinand) acted as a trigger in destabilizing what was then a delicate state of European political balance. A combination of unfortunate timing of the assassination alongside the growing internal tension among European…
Should Product Placement in films and other media be controlled?
Abstract: While a mutually beneficial relationship between the advertiser and the producer is achieved via product placement, the best interests of the audience are neglected. Another concern this phenomenon has raised is the compromising of artistic merit for commercial gain. Conventional wisdom instructs us that high profits and elevated ethics don’t go together. Given the…