Sociology

"To criticize the New Deal welfare model that is routinely defended by today's Democratic Party is not to side with today's Republican Party, which has established a troubling record of slashing funds to the neediest and youngest Americans. The Radical Centrist alternative is a true safety net model, under which public benefits would be provided to those who need them the most, while those who can afford to pay their own way would be required to do so."

"The phrase "the radical center" was used to describe disaffected white working-class Democrats by the sociologist Donald I Wallace in The Radical Center: Middle Americans and the Politics of Alienation ... . Replying to Joe Klein's Newsweek cover story "Stalking the Radical Middle," September 25, 1995, John Judis distinguished between the political views of the working-class "radical middle" or "radical center," and the affluent "sensible center" ... we are not using the term Radical Center in this narrow sense, which changes in partisanship and demography already may have rendered obsolete. Rather, we use the term to describe a public philosophy distinct from liberalism and conservatism in the forms in which they have been familiar for the past generation."

"Virtually all ideologues, of any variety, are fearful and insecure, which is why they are drawn to ideologies that promise prefabricated answers for all circumstances."

"Radicals have value, at least; they can move the center. On a scale of 1 to 5, 3 is moderate, 1 and 5 the hardliners. But if a good radical takes it up to 9, then 5 becomes the new center. I already saw it working in the American Muslim community. For years women were neglected in mosques, denied entrance to the main prayer halls and relegated to poorly maintained balconies and basements. It was only after a handful of Muslim feminists raised "lunatic fringe" demands like mixed-gender prayers with men and women standing together and even women imams giving sermons and leading men in prayer that major organizations such as ISNA and CAIR began to recognize the "moderate" concerns and deal with the issue of women in mosques. I've taken part in the woman-led prayer movement, both as a writer and as a man who prays behind women, happy to be the extremist who makes moderate reform seem less threatening. Insha'Allah, what's extreme today will not be extreme tomorrow."

"In redesigning our nation's public, private, and communal institutions once again for the early twenty-first century, we believe that one design criterion above all others should guide us: increasing the amount of choice available to individual citizens. So far, the information era has enabled most Americans to enjoy newfound choices only as consumers in the economic and entertainment spheres. Any new political program worthy of the Information Age must be capable of translating this so far narrow expansion of choices to many other spheres of society: voting choices, educational choices, medical choices, retirement choices, lifestyle choices, and career choices."

"Philosophically as well as politically, Capek was a man of the center, but not in the sense used by hostile critics. The center he was aiming for was not a lukewarm middle ground between extremes. It was a radical center, radical in the original sense of the word: at the root of things. Capek rejected collectivism of any type, but was just as opposed to selfish individualism. He was a passionate democrat and a pluralist. He was often called a relativist because he disliked single vision and preferred to look at everything from many sides … Yet Capek did not believe that truth is relative nor that everyone his or her own truth. Capek is also often described as a pragmatist. But in his belief in the reality of objective truth, he departed from both relativism and from pragmatist thought."

"At a time when politics has become an almost ­minute-by-minute spectacle, political thinkers who try to discern a sweeping interpretive pattern in current events or to predict where those events may be heading are likely to find their work evaluated in terms dismayingly like those applied to candidates and strategists. One wrong guess, or an abrupt change in the political weather, can make even an illuminating political book seem as irrelevant as a bungled campaign. A good example is Ted Halstead and Michael Lind’s book The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics. Published in 2001, it argued that the nation was ready for “political transformations and realignments” as broad in scope as those created by the Civil War and the Great Depression. … if Halstead and Lind’s proposals were questionable, their analysis of the paralyzed condition of American governance was incisive and prescient, particularly their depiction of a substantial base of disenchanted voters who had become profoundly alienated from the “increasingly dogmatic two-party system,” both parties “captured by their extremes,” with the result that a growing slice of the electorate could not “find even a faction within a major party with which they can identify.”"

"A second guiding principle of Radical Centrism is that the citizens of the twenty-first century can and should be held to a higher personal standard. In this new era of big citizenship, greater choice and freedom must go hand in hand with greater responsibility. Formerly, civic duty was identified primarily with military service, jury duty, and the act of voting. But the definition of civic duty now needs to be expanded, especially in a society in which most citizens receive transfer payments or subsidies from their fellow taxpayers. In such a society, self-reliance must become a civic duty as well as a private virtue."

"The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led."

"An important feature of Indian tourism industry is its contribution to national integration and preservation of natural as well as cultural environments and enrichment of the social and cultural lives of people. Over 382 million domestic tourists visiting different parts of the country every year return with a better understanding of the people living in different regions of the country. They have a better appreciation of the cultural diversity of India. It also encourages preservation of monuments and heritage properties and helps the survival of art forms, crafts and culture."

"Tourism has gained importance as the fastest growing industry in the world, particularly because of multifarious benefits, it ensures to the destinations, to the tourists themselves to the global geo-political environment as a whole. During the past a number of studies have been conducted to evaluate the role and performance of tourism."

"The word “Tourism” is derived from the term ‘TOUR’ means “a journey from place to place or time to be spent at a station or rambling excursion."

"The term [Tourism] [used] for all those inter-connected processes, especially economic ones that come in play through influx, temporary residence and dispersal of strangers into within and from a certain district, country or state."

"Tourism is a major social phenomenon motivated by the natural urge of every human being for new experience, adventure, education and entertainment. The motivations for tourism also include social, religious and business interests."

"Tourism is one of the important components of service sector. It considered as a significant and vital instrument for economic development and employment generation, particularly in remote and backward areas. It is the largest service industry globally in terms of gross revenue as well as Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE)"

"Tourism infrastructure development and visitor activity associated with World Heritage properties should contribute to local community empowerment and socio-economic development in an effective and equitable manner."

"The basic materials for tourism industry are culture, heritages, natural vegetation, beaches, parks, monuments and sculptures, etc., which ...can be exploited for the betterment of the Economy."

"Tourism stimulates other economic sectors through its backward and forward linkages and cross-sectoral synergies with other sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, poultry, handicrafts, transport, construction, etc. It leads to additional income, employment generation and poverty alleviation. It enhances the national and state revenues, business receipts, employment, wages and salary income; buoyancy in Central, State and local tax receipts can contribute towards overall socio-economic improvement and accelerated growth in the economy. It is multi-sectoral activity characterized by multiple services provided by a range of suppliers include airlines, surface transport, hotels, basic infrastructure and facilitation systems, etc. Thus, the growth of tourism cannot be attained unless the related sectors are addressed simultaneously."

"At its best tourism can provide an outstanding opportunity to increase the understanding of natural and cultural heritage, as envisaged by the World Cultural Heritage Convention while providing long term financial support to site management, local communities and tourism providers."

"The starting point for any tourism-related planning should always be consistent with the overall management system and the management plan."

"The global growth in tourism is well documented and today tourism is often described as the world's 'largest' industry. An increasing and significant proportion of this industry is centred on nature and associated cultural heritage."

"Contribution to World Heritage objectives, Tourism development and visitor activities associated with World Heritage properties must contribute to and must not damage the protection, conservation, presentation and transmission of their heritage values. Tourism should also generate sustainable socio-economic development and equitably contribute tangible as well as intangible benefits to local and regional communities in ways that are consistent with the conservation of the properties."

"When The Radical Center was published, mere weeks after the trauma of 9/11, its picture of a highly polarized nation seemed instantly outmoded. … Not quite a decade later, things look very different. “Big government” is once again viewed with deep hostility, and much of the public is not merely cynical, but fuming. Many on the left feel betrayed by the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats, while the Tea Party movement has been expressing the same “radical” frustrations Halstead and Lind described. Meanwhile, political observers are recycling, if not always wittingly, the authors’ terminology. In his Times Op-Ed column, Thomas L. Friedman recently called for “political innovation that takes America’s disempowered radical center and enables it to act in proportion to its true size, unconstrained by the two parties, interest groups and orthodoxies that have tied our politics in knots.” And David Ignatius, the Washington Post columnist, has said that officials at Barack Obama’s White House “speak of this president as being a man of the radical center” who seeks to occupy the ideological middle but at the same time aspires to “be the agent of change, to break this system that everybody knows is broken.”"

"However, most tourism [in some national parks] is managed by entrepreneurs based in the regional capital, with few benefits accruing to local people. At the request of park authorities, in the mid-1990s The Mountain Institute (TMI) helped local people to share in tourism benefits sustainably by developing village based, small scale accommodation, guiding and food services adjoining the park."

"Site management capacity Management systems for World Heritage properties should have sufficient skills, capacities and resources available when planning tourism infrastructure and managing visitor activity to ensure the .protection and presentation of their identified heritage values and respect for local communities."

"Some countries have established special laws enhancing the protection afforded to World Heritage. For example, the relationship between managing agency and the tourism sector is often crucial. An defective partnership can bring mutual benefits whereas a poor relationship can result in misunderstanding and negative impact."

"Relevant public agencies and site management should apply a sufficient proportion of the revenue derived from r tourism and visitor activity to ensure the protection, conservation and management of their heritage values."

"The underlying purpose of the Radical Centrist program is to further expand America’s perennial goals of individual liberty, equality of opportunity, and national unity in the new circumstances of the Information Age."

"Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances."

"Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this Nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional—what makes us American—is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they've never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of and by and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed. And for more than 200 years, we have."

"Before abstraction everything is one, but one like chaos; after abstraction everything is united again, but this union is a free binding of autonomous, self-determined beings. Out of a mob a society has developed, chaos has been transformed into a manifold world."

"And what do Democrats stand for, if they are so ready to defame concerned citizens as the 'mob' — a word betraying a Marie Antoinette delusion of superiority to ordinary mortals. I thought my party was populist, attentive to the needs and wishes of those outside the power structure. And as a product of the 1960s, I thought the Democratic party was passionately committed to freedom of thought and speech."

"A hungry mob is an angry mob."

"Once spirit was God, then it became man, and now it is even becoming mob."

"Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand."

"The thing that's really cool for me about Miami Beach is you have this dichotomy between sunlight and family and happiness and innocence and then at night, darker, stranger mob conspiracy stuff sort of comes out. It seems like a storytelling engine. You can just keep writing about how those two worlds smash into each other."

"The mob shouts with one big mouth and eats with a thousand little ones."

"Our country, if you read the 'Federalist Papers,' is about disagreement. It's about pitting faction against faction, divided government, checks and balances. The hero in American political tradition is the man who stands up to the mob — not the mob itself."

"I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak, Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower."

"ZEUS, n. The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog. Some explorers who have touched upon the shores of America, and one who professes to have penetrated a considerable distance into the interior, have though that these four names stand for as many distinct deities, but in his monumental work on Surviving Faiths, Frumpp insists that the natives are monotheists each having no other god than himself, whom he worships under many sacred names."

"The aggressive use of wiretaps is important: It shows that we are targeting white-collar insider-trading rings with the same powerful investigative tools that have worked so successfully against the mob and drug cartels."

"In countries with a properly functioning legal system, the mob continues to exist, but it is rarely called upon to mete out capital punishment. The right to take human life belongs to the state. Not so in societies where weak courts and poor law enforcement are combined with intractable structural injustices."

"But steel bars have never yet kept out a mob; it takes something a good deal stronger: human courage backed up by the consciousness of being right."

"The history of persecution is a history of endeavours to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. It makes no difference whether the actors be many or one, a tyrant or a mob. A mob is a society of bodies voluntarily bereaving themselves of reason, and traversing its work. The mob is man voluntarily descending to the nature of the beast. Its fit hour of activity is night. Its actions are insane like its whole constitution. It persecutes a principle; it would whip a right; it would tar and feather justice, by inflicting fire and outrage upon the houses and persons of those who have these."

"TV in America created the most coherent reality distortion field that I’ve ever seen. Therein is the problem: People who vote watch TV, and they are hallucinating like a sonofabitch. Basically, what we have in this country is government by hallucinating mob."

"At the United Nations, a lynch mob for Israel is always just a moment away."

"Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit."

"National armies fight nations, royal armies fight their like, the first obey a mob, always demented and the second a king, generally sane."

"Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda."

"The Bolshevik policy of terror was more systematic, better organized, and targeted at whole social classes. Moreover, it had been thought out and put into practice before the outbreak of the civil war. The White Terror was never systematized in such a fashion. It was almost invariably the work of detachments that were out of control, and taking measures not officially authorized by the military command that was attempting, without much success, to act as a government. If one discounts the pogroms, which Denikin himself condemned, the White Terror most often was a series of reprisals by the police acting as a sort of military counterespionage force. The Cheka and the Troops for the Internal Defense of the Republic were a structured and powerful instrument of repression of a completely different order, which had support at the highest level from the Bolshevik regime."