Sociology - PowerElite Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sociology - PowerElite - Essay Example There is a huge gap between the public and the political will as represented by the elected officials. The truth of the matter is that information is so controlled and the political will so organized that the public actually do not have a say in what goes on when it comes to policy matters. As Mills rightly points out, often the information comes to the public after a policy matter has been long decided by those in power – those our public has elected to represent their interests are quite removed from what the public actually needs. This idea is quite strange to us as we believe that it is only in the politically subversive states that policies are made without considering the public opinion. However, upon closer inspection it becomes quite clear that even in a country like ours, which holds high democratic values, public opinion is not only disregarded in a lot of policy matters, but is often influenced and tampered with by a host of ways. We have only to look at the War on Terror that America has waged as an instance of this. Mass hysteria was created using myriads of methods: mass media was constantly being fed stories of constant and ever present threats by the terrorists, and a nationalistic fervor was created by feeding the public the idea that the terrorists were against the American Way of Life. The public, therefore, wholeheartedly supported the invasion of Afghanistan (we were told Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks on the Twin Towers, and Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, operated from Afghanistan). However, what makes the episode take a totalitarian twist is when our own President lied to us about there being Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq – we were told that that the FBI had confirmed this – and the wily dictator of Iraq was just short of using them against us, so we had no choice but to invade Iraq as well. It was much

Jerusalem Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jerusalem - Research Paper Example Israel has been reported to introduce a crisis in the sewerage system and water management (Library Information and Research Service ‘a’ 347). Israel uses about 300 million liters of water daily while Palestine only has access to about 70 million liters of water daily. It has also been reported that to some extent, some Palestinians only have access to 20 liters of water daily. Moreover, West Bank and Gaza Palestinians do not have the authority to dig wells or own water tankers. Israel has also set quotas guiding the Palestinians on the amount of water they are supposed to draw from existing wells. While on the other hand Israel has put up swimming and green garden facilities (Chà ¢tel 38-142). Furthermore, despite the fact that Israel has access to about 3% of river Jordan as per the pre-1967 borders, Israel uses majority of the water. This is because it has blocked Palestine from gaining access to river Jordan by constructing National Water Carriers that divert approximately one quarter of the water Israel consumes. It has also been noted that Mekorot Israel Water Company closes down valves that supply water to Palestinians when the water supplies are low. This prevents Israel from being affected by the decrease in water supply. As if this is not enough Israel also steals water from the Palestinian West Bank water supply and sells it back to the Palestinian at an inflated rate. This is because there is no rule governing water production in Palestine (Shuval & Dwiek 163-197). Palestine also has access to water that is unhygienic as it is mixed with waste water and sewage. This is because Israel only allows about three of the 80 trucks which have spare parts to enter Gaza and West Bank a fact that has greatly contributed to the deteriorating quality of water that Palestinians have access to (Shuval & Dwiek 137). Thus one is left to wonder what rights Israel has to manage water crucially needed by the