Last Words of the Condemned: Christian-Humanist Rhetoric in the American Abolition Debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 174387212110471
Author(s):  
Ari Mattes
Keyword(s):  
The Usa ◽  

Through the interrogation of recent analyses of the last words of people executed in the USA, this article critiques the popular abolitionist rhetoric that interprets last words in terms of evidence of sin and redemption. In reading the execution event in this way, the article suggests, these texts inadvertently celebrate and affirm the act of execution. Drawing on Gil Anidjar’s Blood (2014), the article suggests that this duality is in consonance with the history of modern Christianity as epitomised in the bonding of two events: the Eucharist and the Inquisition.

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 633-643
Author(s):  
William F. Garber

The history of human society is replete with examples of advances in technology overrunning the ability of societal organizations to efficiently handle the resulting massive societal dislocations. The social impacts of the “Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th Centuries” illustrate how profound such effects can be. The automation-computer-robotics revolution now underway also has the potential for serious societal changes. In this regard public works activities are subject to increasing amounts of automation with impacts upon current and net total employment and training needs. To evaluate the present status of automation in the USA, questionnaires were sent to public works authorities in 110 cities or agencies. The current degree of automation, the impact upon employment and the skills now needed by public works employers were queried. It was found that in most cases automation was just starting; but that as complete automation as was possible was inevitable given the increasing complexity of the tasks, the demands of the public and the long term prospects for public works funding. In many cases the candidates now in the work force were not properly trained for automation needs. Retraining and changes in the educational system appeared necessary if the employees now needed were to be continuously available. Public works management as well as several labor organizations appeared to be aware of this need and were organizing to handle the training problem and the changes in employment qualifications now necessary. It appeared to be a consensus that the larger societal effects of automation should be handled by society as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-148
Author(s):  
Michael W. Overton

AbstractBovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a frequent disease concern in dairy cattle and is most commonly diagnosed in young dairy heifers. The impact of BRD is highly variable, depending on the accuracy and completeness of detection, effectiveness of treatment, and on-farm culling practices. Consequences include decreased rate of weight gain, a higher culling risk either as heifers or as cows, delayed age at first service, delayed age at first calving, and in some cases, lower future milk production. In this data set of 104,100 dairy replacement heifers from across the USA, 36.6% had one or more cases diagnosed within the first 120 days of age with the highest risk of new cases occurring prior to weaning. Comparison of the raising cost for heifers with BRD and those without a recorded history of BRD resulted in an estimated cost per incident case occurring in the first 120 days of age of $252 or $282, depending upon whether anticipated future milk production differences were considered or not. Current market conditions contributed to a cost estimate that is significantly higher than previously published estimates, driven in part by the losses associated with selective culling of a subset of heifers that experienced BRD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. e231694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Ross Powers ◽  
Mark Anthony Diaz ◽  
Julio C Mendez

A 25-year-old Filipino woman living in the USA was evaluated for a 5-month history of left eye pain and a subsequent orbital mass. Histopathological analysis of the lacrimal mass showed a mixed inflammatory process with necrotising granulomas and positive cultures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She was treated with antituberculosis therapy, with resolution of symptoms. Tuberculosis dacryoadenitis is extremely rare in the USA and other developed countries. It requires a high degree of clinical suspicion with special attention to the patient’s history to make the correct diagnosis. It can be treated successfully with antituberculosis therapy.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Foley ◽  
J. F. Zachary

A 1-year-old mixed breed heifer was presented to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of Illinois with a 3-day history of abnormal mentation and aggressive behavior. Based on the history and clinical examination, euthanasia and necropsy were recommended. The differential diagnoses included rabies, pseudorabies, and a brain abscess. The brain was removed within 60 minutes of death, and the section submitted for fluorescent antibody testing was positive for rabies virus antigen. Residual brain tissue was immersion fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Histologic examination revealed a marked perivascular and meningeal lymphocytic meningoencephalitis and locally extensive spongiform change of the gray matter affecting the neuropil and neuron cell bodies. The most severely affected regions with spongiform change were the thalamus and cerebral cortex. No Negri bodies were found in any sections. Since the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom, there has been an increased surveillance of bovine neurologic cases in an effort to assess if BSE has occurred in the USA. In areas where rabies virus is endemic, rabies should be included as a possible differential diagnosis in cases of spongiform changes of the central nervous system.


2003 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 909-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Mitchell ◽  
Danny Dorling

This paper presents the results of the first national study of air quality in Britain to consider the implications of its distribution across over ten thousand local communities in terms of potential environmental injustice. We consider the recent history of the environmental justice debate in Britain, Europe, and the USA and, in the light of this, estimate how one aspect of air pollution, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, affects different population groups differentially across Britain. We also estimate the extent to which people living in each community in Britain contribute towards this pollution, with the aid of information on the characteristics of the vehicles they own. We find that, although community NO x emission and ambient NO2 concentration are strongly related, the communities that have access to fewest cars tend to suffer from the highest levels of air pollution, whereas those in which car ownership is greatest enjoy the cleanest air. Pollution is most concentrated in areas where young children and their parents are more likely to live and least concentrated in areas to which the elderly tend to migrate. Those communities that are most polluted and which also emit the least pollution tend to be amongst the poorest in Britain. There is therefore evidence of environmental injustice in the distribution and production of poor air quality in Britain. However, the spatial distribution of those who produce and receive most of that pollution have to be considered simultaneously to see this injustice clearly.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Peacock

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between childhood, consumption and the Cold War in 1950s America and the Soviet Union. The author argues that Soviet and American leaders, businessmen, and politicians worked hard to convince parents that buying things for their children offered the easiest way to raise good American and Soviet kids and to do their part in waging the economic battles of the Cold War. The author explores how consumption became a Cold War battleground in the late 1950s and suggests that the history of childhood and Cold War consumption alters the way we understand the conflict itself. Design/Methodology/Approach – Archival research in the USA and the Russian Federation along with close readings of Soviet and American advertisements offer sources for understanding the global discourse of consumption in the 1950s and 1960s. Findings – Leaders, advertisers, and propagandists in the Soviet Union and the USA used the same images in the same ways to sell the ethos of consumption to their populations. They did this to sell the Cold War, to bolster the status quo, and to make profits. Originality/Value – This paper offers a previously unexplored, transnational perspective on the role that consumption and the image of the child played in shaping the Cold War both domestically and abroad.


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