TRUTH

Truth is one of the foremost basic human values of life. It is wholesome sublime and everlasting. All of us understand the term truth. But it is difficult to define it.

Truth is sometimes said to be self evident i.e. a person has the capacity for distinguishing truth from falsehood. When our beliefs agree with the nature of facts they are stamped with the label of truth.

As a value, truth can be a guide for human behavior only if it is experienced as a conviction. Thus a person has to rely upon his own conscience about what truth is. In present times journalists have to make the decision over and over again.

The Noble Laureate Amatya Sen quotes the example of Daniel Pearl as a practitioner of truth. Sen admires Pearls firm dedication to the ethics of journalism – a commitment to practice truth.

EXCELLENCE

Excellence is the highest of all human values. It has no barriers. Anyone can aspire to attain excellence. The desire for excellence is not a desire to possess, it is a desire to do the best one can.

As a student, one may attempt to excel others in one or more subjects of study especially in examinations. An industrialist, businessman or a trader works hard and does everything according to his or her ability, capacity and resources to excel in a particular field by dominating the line of his/her activities.

Excellence can be achieved in any field of life. This value can be pursued by a scientist, sportsman, student, carpenter, etc.

To attain excellence a person has merely to do the best he is capable of.

Psychologists are of the opinion that individuals who attempt to achieve excellence are self actualizing people. Self actualization can be realized only by rare individuals. Read more about self actualization by clicking the link https://sstuffsimplified.blogspot.com/2020/03/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html

Thus we must strive to achieve the goal of excellence in our own capacity by putting our best foot forward.

TERRORISM

Terrorism is the use or threat of violence to create fear and alarm. Terrorists murder and kidnap people, set off bombs, hijack airplanes, set fires and commit other serious crimes. But the goals of terrorists differ from those of ordinary criminals. Most criminals want money or some other form of personal gain. But most terrorists commit crimes to support political causes.

The word terrorism first appeared during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Some of the revolutionaries who seized power in France adopted a policy of violence against their enemies. The period of their rule was known as the ‘Reign of Terror’.

Features of terrorism

Terrorist acts are committed for various reasons. Some terrorist groups support a particular political philosophy. Other terrorist organizations represent ethnic groups seeking liberation from governments in power. Dictators use violence to frighten or eliminate their opponents. Most terrorist groups have a small number of members. They believe that threat or use of violence to create fear is the best way to gain publicity.

Generally terrorists attack people who oppose their cause or objects that symbolize such opposition. Common victims of terrorist kidnappings and assassinations include diplomats, business executives, political leaders, judges and police. Terrorists also attack churches and synagogues, oil refineries, and government offices. At other times, terrorists simply choose any target certain to attract newspaper or TV coverage. Some terrorists hijack airplanes or seize public buildings. Then they hold the passengers or occupants hostage and make demands to further their cause. They often threaten to kill the hostages if their demands are not met. Bombings make up about half of all terrorist acts.

Terrorism may cross national boundaries. A quarrel in one nation may produce terrorist attacks in several other countries. Some governments secretly support certain terrorist groups by providing weapons, training and money for attacks in other countries.

Most terrorist groups fail to achieve their long-range political goals. Governments fight terrorism by refusing to accept terrorist demands and by increasing security at airports and other likely targets. Some countries train special military units to rescue hostages.

With developments in communication and technology, terrorism has expanded to not just the use of arms and ammunitions, but to weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons and bio weapons which are far more dangerous and have far reaching consequences that will affect the planet.

HIPPO EFFECT - AN OVERVIEW

 Evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson has coined the acronym HIPPO to describe the multiple assaults on biodiversity.

H – Habitat destruction

I – Invasive species 

P – Pollution

P – Population increase

O – Overharvesting

Virtually every ecosystem on the planet is degraded and some are in a state of near collapse. Species abundance is declining across large categories of animals and plants.

FISHERIES

Fisheries populations are prone to sudden drops once the level of exploitation reaches a certain tipping point.

e.g. North Atlantic cod fishery in the early 1990’s

CORALS

Coral reefs are under multiple assaults and pervasive threats because of rising sea surface temperatures. There is also physical destruction of reefs because of tourism, fishing, boating and other hazards like ocean pollution and large scale harvesting of corals for ornamental purposes.

AMPHIBIANS

The world is currently suffering from a crash of amphibian populations including many species of frogs and toads. Habitat destruction, fragmentation of wetlands and forests, invasive species like fish that eat tadpoles, use of pesticides and herbicides, destructive fungi, exposure to ultraviolet rays etc.

POLLINATORS

Many fruits, vegetables and flowering trees depend on pollinators such as honey bees for reproduction. There is now a vast decline in the wild populations of many pollinators by unsuitable invasive species. This results in declining crop productive and rising food costs.

GREAT APES

There is an acute threat to the great ape populations, including gorillas, bonobos, and  chimpanzees. Many of the dangers revolve around growing encroachment of human population on the forest habitats of the great apes.

In order to protect biodiversity the United Nations Convention on Bilogical Diversity (CBD) treaty was signed in 1992. Accordingly the objectives of the treaty are described as “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”

The treaty calls on countries to take appropriate actions to conserve biological diversity.

The following wide range of conservation actions were envisaged:

-          reduce the rate of biodiversity loss – habitats and ecosystems, species and populations, genetic diversity

-          promote sustainable use of biodiversity

-          address the major threats to biodiversity, including those arising from invasive alien species, climate change, pollution and habitat change.

-          Maintain ecosystem integrity and the provision of goods and services provided by biodiversity in ecosystems in support of human well being

-          Protect traditional knowledge, innovations and practices

-          Ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of use of genetic resources

-          Mobilize financial and technical resources for Implementing the convention and the strategic plan, especially for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing states among them, and countries with economies in transition.

SILENT SPRING – RACHEL CARSON

Rachel Carson single handedly launched the American and global environmental movements.

The story of Silent Spring reveals:

How a courageous woman took on the chemical industry and raised important questions about humankind’s impact on nature.

Silent Spring was named the most influential book in the last fifty years.

Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring challenged the widely accepted notion that man was destined to control nature. Though experts accused Carson of being hysterical, challenged her credibility as a scientist, and launched a negative propaganda campaign against the book. Silent Spring remained on the bestseller list for almost a year, and the world began to take notice.

DDT, the most powerful pesticide in the world had ever known, was capable of killing hundreds of different kinds of insects at once.

A spray as indiscriminate as DDT can upset the economy of nature as much as a revolution upsets social economy. The large bird kills which had occurred on Cape Cod was the result of DDT sprayings.

Silent spring described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and caused cancer and genetic damage. It remained toxic in the environment even after it was diluted by rainwater.

Carson concluded that DDT and other pesticides had irrevocably harmed birds and animals and had contaminated the entire world food supply.

As a result of the book and its reception, the Environment Protection Agency was established in 1970. DDT and PCB’s have been almost completely outlawed in the US. Most at risk from those pesticides, such as eagles and peregrine falcons, are no longer facing extinction.

DDT and PCB’s while not used in the US are still routinely produced here and sold to other countries. In the US they have been replaced by narrow spectrum pesticides of even higher toxicity. Pesticide use on farms alone has doubled (to 1.1 billion tons a year) and USA has increased pesticide production by 400%.

Rachel Carson remarked: ‘Man’s attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitable a war against himself…(We are) challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves’.

SIGNIFICANCE/ IMPACT OF THE SILENT SPRING

·   Exposed corporate and government indifference to the issue of pesticide poisoning.

·       Led to banning DDT and PCBs in America.

·   Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 and Pesticide Regulation and Food Safety Inspection was moved to its auspices

·  Endangered species like eagles and peregrine falcons no more face extinction.

·  Signaled the beginning of the American and global environmental movement.

·       New way of thinking about earth-to see ourselves as connected to the earth

BIAS OF COMMUNICATION - HAROLD INNIS

‘Bias of communication’ – Innis’ idea that communication technology makes centralization of power inevitable.

Harold Innis was one of the first scholars to systematically analyze the possible linkages between communication media and the various forms of social structure found at certain points in history.

Innis maintained that before elite discovery of the written word, dialogue was the dominant mode of public discourse and political authority was much more diffused. Gradually the written word became the dominant mode of elite communication.

By the intervention of new writing material like paper, pen, the elite were able to gain control over and govern mass regions. Thus, new communications media make it possible to create empires.

Similarly, the structure of the later social order also depended on media technology available at that point of time.

e.g. The telephone and telegraph permitted even more effective control over larger geographic areas.

Thus, the development of media technology has gradually given centralized elite increased power over space and time.

As political economist he believed that newer forms of communication technology would make even greater centralization inevitable. He referred to this as the inherent bias of communication

Ref: Mass Communication Theory by Stanley J. Baran and Dennis K. Davis

GENEROSITY

Generosity involves willingly giving or sharing what one has. A generous person is unselfish. The most obvious examples of generosity are acts of philanthropy. 

A generous person need not be a Philanthropist. A Philanthropist has a desire to help mankind by his acts of charity. A generous person may give or share what he has with an individual or organisation. But what he can give may not be in terms of money. A person who helps others by devoting time or efforts is as generous as one who shares his wealth. e.g. Mahatma Gandhi devoted his energy to the national cause. 

Volunteers / Social workers are generous as they devote their time  and efforts to the disadvantaged section of society. 

A person can be generous to his friends and enemies. If a friend desires to have a valued possession, a generous person may willingly give it. He may also overlook injury and insult by an enemy.

Significance of Generosity:

Role of generosity in national calamities: In a multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi caste society, the ideal of generosity is the need of the hour. Generosity presupposes commitment of all sections of society to give up our differences and come forward to generously donate our physical, material, mental and intellectual power whenever the country is facing any natural calamities, war etc. to overcome such situation. An e.g. of Generosity is seen as people have helped each other during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Benefits of generoisty:

Generosity benefits the receiver as well as the generous person. Productivity rises when workers help each other. Generous employees are well regarded by their coworkers. 

However, some acts of giving away or helping cannot be designated as involving generosity. Charity to beggars is in no way a generous act. Most often one does so to escape nuisance. Donations to political parties do not involve generosity as businessmen do so either to avoid harassment or to gain some favor in the future.

Generosity is a value. It involves noble behavior. But whether an act involves generosity or not has to be determined by considering the motive behind giving or sharing. When an individual gives something without expecting anything in return, generosity evolves. 

Generosity contributes to the all round development of the individuals personality as well as the welfare of the society and the stability of the nation.