Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Wednesday, October 17. 2018

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Criminology - The 2016 GTI (Global Terrorism Index) report reinforces the fact terrorism is a highly concentrated form of violence, mostly committed in a small number of countries and by a small number of groups. The five countries suffering the highest impact from terrorism as measured by the GTI; Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria, accounted for 72 per cent of all deaths from terrorism in 2015. Similarly, only four groups were responsible for 74 per cent of all these deaths; ISIL, Boko Haram, the Taliban and al-Qa’ida. While terrorism as a form of violence has a major psychological impact on the societies it touches, there are other forms of violence which are more devastating. Major armed conflicts resulted in more deaths in 2015 as well as the wholesale destruction of economies. The global homicide rate is 15 times the death rate from terrorism.

Fact-Check: Terrorism from Wolfram Friele on Vimeo.

Global Terrorism Index 2014 from Vision of Humanity on Vimeo.


Statistical analysis of the drivers of terrorist activity show there are two distinct sets of factors associated with terrorism, depending on whether the country is developed or developing.

The first set of factors which are closely linked to terrorist activity are political violence committed by the state and the presence of a conflict. The research finds that 93 per cent of all terrorist attacks between 1989 and 2014 occurred in countries with high levels of state sponsored terror, involving extrajudicial killing, torture, and imprisonment without trial. Similarly, over 90 per cent of all terrorist deaths occurred in countries already engaged in some form of conflict whether internal or international. This means only 0.5 per cent of terrorist attacks occurred in countries that did not suffer from conflict or political terror. This underlines the close link between existing conflicts, grievances and political violence with terrorist activity.

When analyzing the correlates of terrorism there are different factors that are statistically significant depending on the level of development. In the OECD countries, socio-economic factors such as youth unemployment, militarization, levels of criminality, access to weapons and distrust in the electoral process are the most statistically significant factors correlating with terrorism. This reinforces some of the well-known drivers of radicalization and extremism. In developing countries, the history of conflict, levels of corruption, acceptance of the rights of others and group based inequalities are more significantly related to terrorist activity.

I'll have you work on the following questions:
  1. Despite cultural awareness and various initiatives in schools and in the media, hate crimes continue to happen in significant numbers in Canada. Discuss the types of hate crimes most prevalent in Canada and the current responses to them. 
  2. Governments have tried numerous responses to terrorism. Discuss some of these responses. 
  3. It is unlikely that the threat of punishment can deter robbery; most robbers refuse to think about apprehension and punishment. Wright and Decker suggest that eliminating cash and relying on debit and credit cards may be the most productive method to reduce the incidence of robbery. Although this seems far-fetched, society is becoming progressively more cashless; it is now possible to buy both gas and groceries with credit cards. Would a cashless society end the threat of robbery, or would innovative robbers find new targets?
  4. Based on what you know about how robbers target victims, how can you better protect yourself from robbery? 


A & D Blocks Human Geography - Today our Key Question to address is "Where are Folk and Popular Material Culture Distributed?" I'm hoping that you are seeing some consistent themes in Human Geography this year. Remember that folk culture is traditionally practiced primarily by small, homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas while popular culture is found in large, heterogeneous societies. Folk culture is influenced heavily by the environment that it develops in while popular culture depends less on the environment because it diffuses on a larger scale (globalization). With the larger globalized scale of popular culture (becoming more dominant), the survival of unique folk cultures is threatened...This is one of the themes I hope you are starting to see.

So...Customs in folk culture (such as provision of food, clothing, and shelter) are clearly influenced by the prevailing climate, soil, and vegetation (utilizing localized resources). Today we'll look at clothing, food and housing (looking at folk housing vs popular housing). We'll watch the video on Toraja village in Indonesia and then we'll talk about feng shui and popular housing locally...The Comox Box.

During the 1970s, affordability became a major factor in the home buying process. To help make housing more affordable, builders reduced lot sizes and increased the density of developments.To appeal to first-time buyers and stimulate the housing market, CMHC (then Central, now Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) introduced the Assisted Home Ownership Program (AHOP) in 1971, to help low-income people attain home ownership. This meant that the average lot size in "newer" (1970's) Comox and Courtenay developments was reduced to 0.19 acre and the house size was increased to about 1800 square feet. You'll have some questions to work on for me





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