Reading Suggestion-1
Article Name: Can Security Measures Really Stop School Shootings?
Author Name: Bryan Warnick, Benjamin A. Johnson, Sam Rocha,
Source: Scientific American
Category: Current Affairs
Summary for this article:
The article titled ‘Can Security Measures Really Stop School Shootings?’ the author makes the point that an educational approach would work better than “target hardening”.
He explains that the “target-hardening” approach to school shootings attempts to fortify schools against gun violence through increased security measures. These measures may include metal detectors, lock-down policies, “run, hide, fight” training and surveillance cameras.such security measures decrease the likelihood of school shootings.
This approach is wrong as gun-wielding teachers tell students that schools are scary, dangerous and violent places – places where violence is expected to occur.
By analysing the various aspects of school life, the author concludes that it is time to think about school shootings not as a problem of security, but also as a problem of education.The fundamental question of why so many mass shootings take place in schools needs to be answered.
Words to learn from this article:
Stringent: strict
Dubious: hesitating or doubting.
Carnage: the killing of a large number of people.
Lurk: be or remain hidden.
Alienation: Isolation or detachment
Thwarted: prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
Intertwined: twist or twine together.
Reading Suggestion-1: Click to read the full article
Reading Suggestion-2
Article Name: The Social Media Threat to Society and Security
Author Name: George Soros
Source: Project Syndicate
Category: Technology
Summary for this article:
This article analyses in detail the Social Media Threat to Society and Security. It starts with mentioning that open societies are in crisis as Facebook and Google have grown ever more powerful. These companies influence how people think and behave without them even being aware of it. This interferes with the functioning of democracy and the integrity of elections.
The article highlights the problems these companies create by citing that Facebook and Google effectively control over half of all digital advertising revenue. It also states that Social media companies deceive their users by manipulating their attention, directing it toward their own commercial purposes, and deliberately engineering addiction to the services they provide.
The ugly side of technology will be seen when authoritarian states and large, data-rich IT monopolies will bring together systems of corporate surveillance. The author believes the first countries to do this will be Russia and China. The article details various other ill effects brought about due to the functioning of these companies but ends the article on a positive note by highlighting the case the EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestage filed against Google after seven years of working on the case and says that it is only a matter of time before the global dominance of the US Internet companies is broken. Regulation and taxation, spearheaded by Vestager, will be their undoing.
Words to learn from this article:
Impotence: inability to take effective action; helplessness.
Monopolistic: relating to a person or business that has exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
Nefarious: wicked or criminal.
Unprecedented: never done or known before.
Nascent: just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.
Doctrine: a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other groups.
Reading Suggestion-2: Click to read the full article
Reading Suggestion-3
Article Name: Bangladesh grows tired of the Battling Begums
Author Name: Justin Rowlatt
Source: BBC News
Category: Politics
Summary for this article:
The informative article titled ‘Bangladesh grows tired of the Battling Begums’ gives us the input on the decades-long battle between the country’s two formidable leading ladies: the current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina and her great rival, Khaleda Zia which has as dragged the country into a spiral of violence with bus bombs, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
The article starts by giving us the background that both women are political royalty, daughters of leading figures in the independence movement and tragedy prompted both to enter politics. They turned against each other in the early 1990s.
Sheikh Hasina won the general election in January 2014 because Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted to protest against the charges of misusing orphanage funds which saw Khaleda Zia jailed this week. And the five-year sentence handed down by the court this week could see Khaleda Zia excluded from another general election, due in December, thereby potentially handing Sheikh Hasina a fourth consecutive victory.
Khaleda Zia has been accused of everything from corruption to sedition. Her supporters insist this is all part of Sheikh Hasina’s attempts to undermine her and her party. The crux of the article is that many Bangladeshis have grown tired of the begums and their endless battles but that doesn’t stop the two women at the heart of Bangladeshi politics. Both are now in their 70s, but neither is ready to throw in the towel.”I will be back, there is no need to cry,” Khaleda Zia told her weeping supporters and relatives as she left the court on Thursday.
Words to learn from this article:
Gambit: Strategy, a tactic
Vicious: Violent, dangerous
Scions: (pronounced as sion) a descendant of a notable family.
Audaciously: extremely bold or daring
Outmanoeuvred: use skill and cunning to gain an advantage over.
Entrenched: ingrained
Hounded: pursue relentlessly.
Teetering: fluctuate
Disillusioned: disappointed
Reading Suggestion-3: Click to read the full article
