The orgin of Gypsies have been argued and debated since their arrival in the Middle East around 1000AD. From reasearch into their language the best bet is that Gypsies orginanted in Northern India, yet the reason why they left their home remains a mystery.
The Romani (Gypsies) moved into North Africa and Europe shortly after their arrival in the Middle East. They were a rather intelligent group, using their intellect to impress the uneducated locals by giving themselves false titles. They claimed they were ejected from their homeland "Little Egypt" and even gained succor from the Pope.
After having about 400 years of having protection from the Church, the European countries grew fearful of the Romani. The first country to do so was Spain in 1490, many Gypsies were accused of false crimes and no longer allowed to roam around Spanish territory. This created a dominio effect that spread throughout Europe. Rumors continued to spread of child theft, and cannibalism which gave the word "Gypsie" its bad reputation.
The peak of this Romani hatred was in Nazi Germany in World War 2. The Nazi's decieded to attempt to exterminate the Gypsies all together. Over two million Romani perished, 500,000 of the deaths were directly from Nazi death camps.
Fortunately, the outlook for the Romani is good. The U.N., European Commission, and other international organizations are putting pressure on countries to accept the resilient Romani into society. In addition European Romani have formed the Roma National Congress to represent their interests, and their hope for change.
Here's a link to a 2 minitue quick animated video of Romani History:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6wSLfGBVGY
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/american-gypsies/articles/a-history-of-the-romani-people/
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/gypsies-roma-travellers-animated-history
http://www.scottishgypsies.co.uk/early.html
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Is Unneeded Cosmetic Surgery Just?
In our world today we are convinced that you need to look a certain way. There has been so much pressure that 14.6 million plastic surgeries were completed in the United States in 2012. Only 2% of that was needed reconstructive surgery. The 14.3 million operations were done by people who are not happy with their body image. Women accounted for 9.1 million of these procedures, and the men accounted for the other 5.2 million of the operations that were not reconstructive. Clearly by these numbers women feel more pressure to look "beautiful" in the eyes of society. Men also have this pressure, but even though unrealistic doesn't take plastic surgery to obtain good results.
Body image plays a huge roll in the decision of a cosmetic surgery. Many men can feel inadequate if they aren't a mass of toned muscle. The men you see in magazines that are shirtless are toned, but not as much as you would think. Usually really good lighting can make almost any man look appealing. Especially if the man is already somewhat fit. Men have it a lot easier because men can get the results that they want from some discipline and making time to work out frequently.
With women they can feel inadequate with not only how toned they are but also with their breasts. 3 million breast augmentations were done in 2012. That's more than any other single cosmetic surgery that has been performed. It is a lot easier to say that girls just need to learn to accept their body, when it's clear that society looks for certain traits.
I don't think personally I would ever get plastic surgery and it saddens me that people put so much emphasis on looks. Plastic surgery is an escape for people who struggle to accept themselves and who God made them to be. I do not think plastic surgery is just for many reasons but one that I will bring up is the fact it only makes one person better. By that I mean when you get plastic surgery that doesn't mean that your DNA changes. Your kids can still have your old big nose, small breasts, or a lot of stomach fat. With having plastic surgery you mess with natural selection by an illusion of you having traits you may not actually have.
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890136/
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news-and-resources/press-release-archives/2013/14-million-cosmetic-plastic-surgery-procedures-performed-in-2012.html
http://www.surgery.org/media/news-releases/cosmetic-procedures-increase-in-2012
Body image plays a huge roll in the decision of a cosmetic surgery. Many men can feel inadequate if they aren't a mass of toned muscle. The men you see in magazines that are shirtless are toned, but not as much as you would think. Usually really good lighting can make almost any man look appealing. Especially if the man is already somewhat fit. Men have it a lot easier because men can get the results that they want from some discipline and making time to work out frequently.
With women they can feel inadequate with not only how toned they are but also with their breasts. 3 million breast augmentations were done in 2012. That's more than any other single cosmetic surgery that has been performed. It is a lot easier to say that girls just need to learn to accept their body, when it's clear that society looks for certain traits.
I don't think personally I would ever get plastic surgery and it saddens me that people put so much emphasis on looks. Plastic surgery is an escape for people who struggle to accept themselves and who God made them to be. I do not think plastic surgery is just for many reasons but one that I will bring up is the fact it only makes one person better. By that I mean when you get plastic surgery that doesn't mean that your DNA changes. Your kids can still have your old big nose, small breasts, or a lot of stomach fat. With having plastic surgery you mess with natural selection by an illusion of you having traits you may not actually have.
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890136/
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news-and-resources/press-release-archives/2013/14-million-cosmetic-plastic-surgery-procedures-performed-in-2012.html
http://www.surgery.org/media/news-releases/cosmetic-procedures-increase-in-2012
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
How difficult is it to gain asylum in the United States?
As our discussion on Monday lead to asylum more particularly asylum to the United States; it was brought up how difficult it must be to gain asylum to the U.S. In this blog I would like to address the facts of asylum to the United States.
According the the Department of Homeland Security the 2010 facts for asylum go like this:
According the the Department of Homeland Security the 2010 facts for asylum go like this:
- Total number of refugee arrivals were 73,293. 71.8% of those refugees were from Asia.
- The US granted 21,113 of refugees were granted asylum in 2010
- US can grant travel loans to asylum seekers and their families
- Must complete the Assurance process handled by the U.S. Government
- The refugee must be medically screened by a health care professional working for the U.S. government
- A security clearance is also needed to gain access to the U.S.
- The average time it takes the U.S. to process all the forms and clearances is 180 days.
With those facts a refugee only has a 29% chance of being granted asylum from the U.S. If a person who needs asylum doesn't have access to the proper forms, a health care professional working for the U.S., or is in risk of dying with in 6 months they are out of luck. As anyone can tell this is ridiculous, but sadly the U.S. grants the 2nd most out of all other countries. This means all of our regulations are actually easier to deal with than most.
The system needs to be reformed and that is going to take years; but as reference of a Chinese proverb "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today."
Sources:
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