Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 43

Reflection - Essay Example This is particularly so in the sense that the film lacks formal play and obstacles. On the other hand, the Antichrist clarifies the fact that von Trier is not as renowned as he appears to be. This is majorly because some years back he came up with a film that involved Satan creating the world, but his idea eventually melted away. Definitely, certain elements of the film had characteristic forest-like creatures that made the movie both weird and scary. When it comes to the movie The Ballet Dancer  (1911), Jean seduces Camilla when she comes to sing in soirà ©e. Surprisingly, jean is having another affair with another man’s wife. Fundamentally, the whole scene is commenced by Simon, who is a major character in the film. Since the mirror lies in the upper part of the frame Camilla manages to get out of the frame before coming to the center of the shooting area. After a short while, the hostel leaves the frame before Camilla follows with a song. From a distance in the mirror, one can easily notice Jean extending a kiss to the hostess. It is evident that Lars Von’s desire to create films is unending and he continues to produce even more films including leading the Dogme 95 movement. Currently, he wants to find more about the shooting of his films and the viewership in terms of the level of enjoyment. Perhaps this will help him identify and improve on the imperfections so that his films are unrivalled in the entertainment and film industry. For instance, Lars Von makes great improvement in the movie the Boss of It All. He does this by incorporating a control technique that gives his camera anew dimension. This technique is known as automavision and has worked perfectly well so far. Additionally, Von Trier uses theatrical technique when it comes to engaging with the viewers. This is especially so in that the use of backdrops and transparent scenery is very common in the movie. This

Job - Specific Orientation Plan (Care Giver) Essay

Job - Specific Orientation Plan (Care Giver) - Essay Example The Plan The first step during the orientation shall involve provision of the employees with a handout; this document shall include all the fundamental knowledge that shall guide the new employees during the orientation. The handout shall cover specifically; basic instructions that the new employee shall be required to acquaint her/him with. Additionally, within the handout there shall be information concerning time schedule of the orientation: That is, time allocated for each activity of the orientation process. Consequently, the handout shall provide the employee with the knowledge on who is responsible for provision of guidance during the orientation. Informative notes on a variety of pertinent topics relating to the job shall be included in the handout in order to facilitate the orientation process. The information contained in the handout shall be arranged I respect to each orientation activity and shall be followed strictly. This will ensure that time is not wasted due to confu sions on which program should be covered. In order to ensure that the employees are equipped with all the necessary knowledge concerning the job, they shall be provided with reference documents. This shall act as the employee handbook. It shall contain information concerning the definition as well as description of the employment status of the new job. Additionally, this document shall contain information concerning the employee’s code of conduct: Service and patient’s concerns, how to handle confidential data, integrity of records and reporting mechanisms. The reference document shall also provide the employee with data related to benefits (workers compensation). Further information shall be provided on the reference document concerning hours of work such as; reporting time and leaving time, absenteeism and specific time to conduct a particular duty. Other information that shall be included in the reference document is: Dress code, punctuality,

The Representation Of Black Identity in Films

The Representation Of Black Identity in Films The debates over race and representation of African American in films have been highly contentious for over a century. Blacks have generally been perceived and stigmatized, throughout history, as trouble makers, incapables, intellectually limited, inferior, lazy and irrational, amongst the many other demeaning labels attached to them. These labels are connected not only to the history of colonization but also, importantly, to the exploitation, perpetuation, and careful maintenance of stereotypes through cinematic clichà ©s which have imposed themselves easily and significantly on the popular imagination. As rightly stated by Wijdan Ali, the projection of harmful and negative stereotypes onto marginal or ineffectual groups within a society has always been an easy and useful method for making scapegoats.  [1]  Effectively, films form the ideal platform/space to circularize and preserve the labels which the mainstream audience desires to attach to the black community. Five decades of the Civil Rights Movement have gone by, and the degree of change in the black community, though undeniably real and noticeable, remains perplexingly complex and inadequate. Although the fact that we now live in a time in history where Americans have voted for a black President, where blacks now occupy positions of power and are ostensibly less subject to institutional discrimination than in the past, the black community nevertheless remains inadequately poor, unemployed, undereducated and negatively labeled. Therefore, adopting a writing-back style in Bamboozled (2000), Spike Lee satirically attacks the way in which African Americans have historically been misused and misrepresented on screen. Through Bamboozled (2000), the director attempts both to entertain and to educate his audience about the history of African American representation within popular culture, with the word bamboozled itself indicating the state of having been cheated or conned. Bamboozled (2000) presents American mass entertainments history of discrimination through abasing minstrel stereotypes, which first started to be performed in musical theatres and which were later brought to cinema with films such as The Wooing and Wedding of a Coon (1905), The Sambo Series (1909- 1911) and D.W Griffiths controversial The Birth of a Nation( 1915). Consequently, the purpose of this study is to analyze both the African American evolution in the American film industry and the social construction of black identity through symbolic representation in cinema. These will in turn help to understand why the integration of African Americans is considered as a problematic issue even in a sophisticated era where racism seems to be a thing of the past, and where people are supposedly no longer judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  [2]  This paper will also analyze the effect of stereotypes on black identity using Spike Lees film, and will explore the impact of such a film in the deconstruction of stereotypes and the renegotiation of a stigmatized identity. But before getting to what Bamboozled (2000) actually brings to the table of African American films, it is important to look at the history and evolution of black representation in Hollywood cinema, which the following paragraphs are going to deal with. African American in American Films: A Brief Retrospective African Americans first started to be represented in minstrel shows in the late 1820s and later on television in the early 20th century.  [3]  Through blackface minstrelsy, a performance style where white males parodied the culture, clothing, songs, dances and speech patterns of Southern blacks  [4]  using blackface makeup and exaggerated lips, Americas conceptions of blackness and whiteness were shaped by these mocking caricatures. While whiteness was posited as the norm, every black face was a statement of social imperfection, inferiority, and mimicry that [was] placed in isolation with an absent whiteness as its ideal opposite.  [5]  Consequently, for over a hundred years, the belief that blacks were racially and socially inferior to whites was ingrained and accepted by legions of both white and black minstrel performers and audiences. The caricatures took such a firm hold on the American imagination that audiences naturally came to expect any person with dark skin, ir respective of his/ her background, to conform to one or more of the following stereotypes; Jim Crow, a dull-witted and subservient plantation slave; Zip Coon, a gaudily dressed, lazy man from the city representing the proud newly- freed slave; Mammy, the contended, happy, loyal and ever-smiling female slave (as evidence of the supposed humanity of the institution of slavery,); Uncle Tom, the good Negro; submissive, hearty, faithful no matter what, stoic, selfless, and oh-so-very-kind,  [6]  Buck, the proud and menacing Black man always interested in white women; Wench/ Jezebel, the temptress; the mixed race Mulatto and Pickaninnies, who have bulging eyes, unkempt hair, red lips and wide mouths into which they stuff huge slices of watermelon.  [7]   As time moved on, black appearance in mainstream films became more and more frequent, as well as the increase in the number of independent black directors, from Oscar Micheaux to Daniel Lee and Spike Lee. Since The Birth of a Nation, which marked a change in emphasis from the pretentious but harmless Jim Crow to the threatening savage Nigger, black filmmakers have responded by creating race movies and blaxploitation films which were tailored to black audiences . The 1970s witnessed a resurgence of the blaxploitation genre with films such as Sweet Sweetbacks Baadassss Song (1971), Shaft (1971), Black Caesar (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). Since such films were themselves in turn accused of using the negative to hyperbolize issues pertaining to blacks , this genre saw its end in the late 1970s to give way to a new wave of black directors, such as S. Lee and John Singleton, who focused on black urban life. However, we cannot afford to simply celebrate the achievements of black filmmakers for the so-called ethnic arts. And as Stuart Hall remarks, we have come out of the age of innocence, which says that its good if its there.  [8]  The mere fact that such films have had a considerable increase does not mean that the black self is undergoing a positive change although it may be true that the level of clear-cut racism has known an important decrease, or even a disappearance. This can be backed up by Appiahs statement that changes in the representation of blacks do not ipso facto lead to changes in their treatment.  [9]   In Bamboozled (2000), Spike Lee directly addresses this issue of African American representability as being a discourse of white essentialism. Through Bamboozled (2000) the director invites his audience to realize that although nobody goes around in blackface anymore,  [10]  it does not entail that Hollywood has altogether abandoned/given up essentialist discourse. The name of the blackface show in Bamboozled (2000) is in itself very symbolic; Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show. Here, Lee suggests that minstrelsy has not disappeared in the new millennium. In his own words therefore, it has only gotten more sophisticated. Gangsta rap videos, a lot of the TV shows on UPN and WB- a lot of us are still acting as buffoons and coons.  [11]  Clearly, his aim in this satirical film is to show that even today, the American film industry is still concealing essentialist discourses within contemporary films. Consequently, as essentialism involves ongoing human and social interacti on as well as limitation, identity regulation and enforcement takes place within this kind of racist discourse, whereby blacks have to undergo identity dilemma while trying to seek approval. Appiah, K. A. (1993). No Bad Nigger: Blacks as the Ethical Principle in the Movies. In: Garber, M, Matlock, J and Walcowitz, R, L Media Spectacles. New York: Routledge. 77-90. Bogle, D. (2001). Black Beginnings: From Uncle Toms Cabin to The Birth of a Nation. In: Bogle, D Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films . 4th ed. London: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. p1-18. Crowdus, G. and Georakas, D. (2002). An Interview with Spike Lee. In: Cynthia Fuchs Spike Lee: Interviews. United States of America: University Press of Mississippi. 202-217. Mercer, K. (1994). Diaspora Culture And The Dialogic Imagination: The Aesthetics Of Black Independent Film In Britain. In: Mercer, K Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge. 53-68. Wijdan, A. (2003). Muslim Women: Between Clichà © and Reality. Diogenes. 50 (3), 77-87.

Pollution and Environment Essay - Man Must Dominate Nature and the Envi

Man Must Dominate Nature and the Environment      Ã‚   How shall we deal with the environment? is an ethical question much discussed, but rarely answered with any well-thought-out justifications. Rather, individuals attempting to answer it have often made claims stating that certain things are "obvious." In this paper, I intend to analyze one of these ethical principles which is considered to be inherently obvious. For every culture has regarded certain things as "obvious" and needing no further explanation -- and every culture differs vastly on what it considers to be an "obvious truth." Thus, it seems that these "truths" are not, in themselves, "obvious." Rather, they require further scrutiny to determine their validity. Hence, in this paper I analyze a common environmental claim: "Everything natural has inherent value, and we should respect its right to exist." This paper is not meant to be a complete examination of environmental ethics; that would be beyond its scope. This question, however, lies at the heart of environmenta l ethics, and is certainly worth exploring.    Must we go through life refusing to do harm to any other natural entity, "living in harmony" with it, or "respecting its rights?" Or, if it is not true that we must, is it true that we should? In "Environmental Ethics," Barbara MacKinnon explains that ecocentrists believe "that we ought ... to regard nature with admiration and respect, because of their view that nature and natural beings have intrinsic value." (MacKinnon 327) MacKinnon also states that "ethical questions ... become matters of determining what is in the best interests of these life forms or what furthers or contributes to, or is a satisfactory fit with, some ecosystem." (MacKinnon 326)... ...n as the dominant species on the planet; moreover, it provides another explanation of why the proper concern of humankind is humankind, rather than an ecosystem or "life as a whole." If we are to remain a strong, healthy species, capable of employing the power of becoming everything that we can become, we must continue to see humanity as our own proper study.    Works Cited: MacKinnon, Barbara. "Environmental Ethics" in Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Second Edition. Ed Barbara MacKinnon. Albany: Belmont, 1998. Morris, Desmond. The Naked Ape. New York: Dell, 1967. Nietzsche, Friederich. Beyond Good and Evil. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage, 1966. Nietzsche, Friederich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra in The Portable Nietzsche. Ed. and Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Viking, 1954. Voltaire. Candide. New York: Dover, 1991.   

Looking for Alaska – Miles’ Eulogy

Looking For Alaska Book Report – Eulogy Hello everyone. I would like to thank you all for coming to honor our friend, Alaska Young. I am Miles Halter, known to most as Pudge. I transferred to Culver Creek Boarding School from Florida to ‘seek a Great Perhaps’, to leave behind the insignificant things I was doing, to seek something that was perhaps greater. I collect people’s dying words and â€Å"I go to seek a Great Perhaps†, were the last words of Francois Rabelais, but unlike him, I did not want to wait to die to start seeking it. This school has given me very many of my firsts: first friend, first dose of mischief and the first and last girl. Alaska was the most enigmatic and mysterious person I have ever met. Every element of her being fascinated me, from her smell of cigarettes, vanilla and sweat, her creativity when planning pranks on our headmaster, her surprising ability to succeed in pre–calculus, and her obsession with strawberry wine, which we had to drink in secrecy. The first time I had a real conversation with her she told me the last words of Simon Bolivar, which I had never heard before â€Å"Damn it, how will I ever get out of this labyrinth! When I asked her what the labyrinth was, she told me that that was the mystery. Is the labyrinth living or dying? Are we all trying to escape the world, or the end of it? This quote completely juxtaposes my Great Perhaps, I looked to seek and she looked to escape. After she died I found a note in one of her books in her ‘life long library†™, a collection of books that she had bought from garage sales that she had been accumulating ever since she was young. She had written that the only way out of the labyrinth was straight and fast. Alaska taught me to live in the moment and not to plan ahead. She said â€Å"Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia, you spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining the future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present. † (John Green, Looking For Alaska) I know people have whispered among themselves wondering whether Alaska’s death was a suicide or a pure accident. I have been wondering the same. People who do not know Alaska may see her death as selfish, seeing the people close to her terribly heart broken. I have to clear her name. When Alaska was 8 years old, she watched her mother having a seizure and pass away. Alaska was frozen in fear and did not call 911 and she never forgave herself. The day Alaska died, was the anniversary of her mother’s birthday. Alaska had been drinking and I remember her waking up in the middle of the night cursing and crying, telling us that we had to distract our headmaster so she could drive to her mother’s grave. She crashed into a truck on her way without any attempt to turn the car. I realize now the labyrinth was not life or death, it was suffering, doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering? Alaska chose straight and fast, whether it was on purpose or not. I knew Alaska for one hundred and thirty – six days, but I do not think anyone truly knew her. Her death threw me into the realization that I have always been trapped in a labyrinth of suffering. Before I got to this point, I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend it did not exist, but to build a small, self – sufficient world in the back corner of the endless maze to pretend that I was not lost, but home. I hated Alaska and I hated everything for a while after she was gone. I hated myself for being a coward and not stopping her from leaving that night. It all just felt so terribly unfair, all of it, the inarguable injustice of loving someone who might have loved you back, but can not due to deadness. I loved Alaska because she showed me both my labyrinth and my Great Perhaps – she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave my minor life for grander maybes, and now she is gone and with her my faith in perhaps. Alaska is still teaching me a lesson; the only way out of the labyrinth is to forgive. I wish Alaska had realized this too before it had to end this way. Her mother forgave her; just as I am sure Alaska forgives all of us now. You see â€Å"we are all going, nothing can last, not even the earth itself. (John Green, Looking For Alaska) The Buddha said that suffering was caused by desire, and that the cessation of desire meant the cessation of suffering. So when you stopped wishing things would not fall apart, you would stop suffering when they did. So Alaska, I have some last words for you, Thomas Edison’s, â€Å"It’s very beautiful over there. † I do not know where there is, but I believe it is somewhere and I hope it is beautiful. After all of this I will learn no more last words because I know so many, but I will never know hers.

An Examination of the Power of the Dark Side

Entrepreneurship does have a Dark Side and It Is powerful, Indeed. With rare exceptions, the literature about entrepreneurship Is positive and supportive and implies that uniform benefits accrue to the economy, to businesses, and to individuals as a result of entrepreneurship. This is only half the story. A small number of researchers have examined the dysfunctional aspects of entrepreneurship and pointed out that a Dark Side definitely exists (Sets De Varies, 1985; Solomon & Winslow, 988; Winslow & Solomon, 1987; 1989).This paper will look at those who turned to the Dark Side for their very existence. The authors have surveyed prisoners who have been convicted of a felony and who are serving sentences In a Federal Prison in the Midwest. The participants were enrolled In a continuing education course Involving entrepreneurship and small business startup Ideas and they all espoused a desire to â€Å"go straight† when their sentences had been served. How did they become criminal s? Did they view their criminal satellites as entrepreneurial ventures? Will they become legitimate entrepreneurs in the future?Can entrepreneurship education alleviate the problems faced by these offenders when released and is there a greater or lesser chance of acidifies when these inmates are given the opportunity to study entrepreneurship while still incarcerated? If they exist, are Dark Side Entrepreneurs different from main stream Entrepreneurs? These were the questions which drove our research. A major problem facing society today Is the Impact that the growing number of inmates serving sentences have on the economic vitality of our nation.The problem has been exacerbated because our Jails are not only filled with first time-offenders but with a large population of repeat offenders, those returned to prison because nee were unmade to malting a crime-Tree Testily rater Deluge released. According to the Bureau of Justice (2000), in the United States released prisoners were re-a rrested at an average rate that was greater than 60%. The high percentage of re-arrested former prisoners is a clear indication that Just serving one's sentence is not a deterrent to committing more criminal acts.The economic cost to society and to those directly affected by criminal activity is tremendous. According to the Bureau of Justice (2000), one of every fifteen people in the U. S. Will be incarcerated. That figure is staggering. During the past 25 years, the penal system in the United States has implemented a strategy of â€Å"lock ‘me up and throw away the key. † As a result, there has been an unprecedented growth in the prison population in the number of incarcerated inmates even though the crime rate has been decreasing.Further exacerbating the situation is that incredibly high rate of recidivism. According to the Three State Recidivism Study (Stouter, Smith, and Tracy, 2001) released inmates reported that less than half had a Job awaiting them after they we re freed from prison. While most (about 87% of those who had received training hill in prison and 83% of those who did not participate in training) believed that they had a place to stay after they were released, the remainder were released as homeless, left to roam the streets, mostly in urban areas.The economic cost of incarceration and the cost to society of criminal activity, plus the lost wages due to imprisonment of convicted workers and the cost of providing welfare for their families is creating a substantial burden on local, state and federal budgets. The combination of rising costs multiplied by an ever greater number of incarcerated inmates is putting pressure on the penal system to find an alternative, deter strategy for success after release. Is there a strategy that can lead to a lower prisoner population through a decrease in recidivism?

Independence essays

Independence essays A democracy is a system of government controlled by the people, not by one certain group or individual. In the Declaration of Independence it states that all men are created equal, an idea which leads to the concept that all citizens should have the same rights, responsibilities, and influence in the governing of their country. The philosophy of the Declaration of Independence in writing by Thomas Jefferson was trying to break his ties with the harsh and non-democratic rule of the British and begin a new, equal society and government for America. The Declarations statement of equality and unalienable rights is very closely connected to the idea of democracy. To have a democracy that works well you must have equality between people, and the citizens must feel that the government represents their concerns. By eliminating the control of a monarchy, Jefferson envisioned a country where all men would have the opportunity to control their own destinies. Jefferson foresaw a government where individual rights would be recognized and the new government would represent the interests of all its citizens. In a democracy all these are possible to achieve. By writing this document, Thomas Jefferson was trying to separate himself and the great country he lived in from the unfair and controlling British. He believed that it was time for America to break away from Britains rule and become its own nation, which could govern itself. To do this he had to write powerful statement and it was the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson felt that Britain was doing nothing but hurting America with unfair rules and all sorts of ridiculous taxes. The colonies and colonists had no rights in determining the very laws which dictated the way they led their lives. The Declaration of Independence was a formal document stating that the people of America were breaking away from Britain and that the American colonies were now Free ...

Taft, Roosevelt and Wilson essays

Taft, Roosevelt and Wilson essays Theodore Roosevelt is considered our first Progressive President. What Roosevelt was trying to do when he attempted to break up monopolies, was to show the public and the business world that the government was in charge. Roosevelt used the power of the office. In the Coal Strike of 1902, he threatened to take over the mines with Federal troops unless the two sides reached agreement. Roosevelt was sensitive to public opinion; he knew the people wanted coal as it was used as heat in their homes, and the coal strike started just before the onset of winter. Wilson was a more quiet, intellectual type of person. Wilson shifted his reforms more toward the reforms that Roosevelt had promoted, especially after the elections of 1914. Wilson and the Democrats knew they would have to curry favor with the progressive voters if they were going to win the election of 1916. Wilson did not like laws that favored special interests such as farmers or bankers, but he did agree to support social legislation. Wilson opposed a child labor law on constitutional grounds. He did support the Keating-Owen Act of 1916 that restricted the employment of children in most jobs. He also supported the eight-hour day and women's suffrage, even though he had been against giving women the right to vote. Wilson claimed that he pushed Progressive Reform further than his two predecessors. William H. Taft pursued a cautiously progressive agenda. His victories did not bolster his popularity. He lowered tariffs. One of his biggest mistakes was to defend the tariff. Later on he tried to repair the damage, but only made matters more difficult when he explained that he had dictated the speech hurriedly between two railroad stations without rereading it. I believe that these presidents were good for the country and changed a lot for the better. The Progressive Movements itself was seeking to return control of the government to the people, ...

Adaptation As A Natural Instinct In The Movie Cast Away

Adaptation As A Natural Instinct In The Movie Cast Away Adaptation is a natural instinct that all living beings have, but only to a certain extent. In the movie Cast Away, the protagonist named Chuck Noland, is forced into adapting to an environment, which is nearly impossible to survive on for more than a few weeks. He finds himself stranded on an isolated, tropical island after a disastrous plane crash kills all passengers but him. He remains trapped on the island for four years, and does so with the help of three important things. Initially, it is the picture of his girlfriend Kelly that motivates him to survive to get back to her. Secondly, it is a volleyball named Wilson, which served as a link to society as well as his only friend. Lastly, and the most important aspect which exemplified his adaptation, was his large and crucial character change. A pocket watch Kelly gave him just before his flight tellingly represents his loss and his new understanding. In it he keeps her picture, like a shrine to his hopes for leaving the island. However, the pocket watch no longer keeps the time, because time stands still for Chuck. He has nowhere else to be, no longer a schedule to keep. With Kelly in mind, Chuck strives to survive and adapt to the land in order to get back to Kelly. Although Kelly is rarely seen in the movie, she played a key role in Chucks mind. Her photo was his motivation on the island to survive; it was the last thing he saw before bed, and the first thing he saw when he awoke. Secondly, one of the most notable aspects of the film is the volleyball named Wilson. Wilson was inside a parcel from the plane, and when Chuck discovers it, he immediately connects to it. His lack of human contact causes him to turn to Wilson, the painted with a face as his only friend and he is in constant conversation with it. One of Chucks ways to adapt to his new environment is to allow himself to be comfortable, and regain a sense of recognition. In this case, Wilson plays an important role in keeping Chuck, somewhat, sane during his stay on the island. Taking up conversation with a ball is what many would consider insane, but in Chucks case this is an ideal way to cope with the segregation from the rest of the world. It is Wilson who saves Chuck from insanity by waking up his emotions. Chuck is a man driven by time used to often tell his fellow FedEx employees, Time is our enemy. He didnt even have the time to propose properly to his girlfriend, and its almost as if the movie suggests Chuck has lost a sense of how to put his time to good use. When Chuck lands on the deserted island, he is finally forced to rethink his priorities, and quickly learns that his old value system is inadequate. His main concern is suddenly practical, and his skills in his old life are basically irrelevant to survival in his new one. The isolated setting of the island served as a contrast to the previous hectic world he used to live in. The drastic character change Chuck goes through demonstrates the effect of the island on him. Initially, on the island, he is frustrated when he cannot start a fire, or catch fish. It is clear that he is placed in a world that he is not familiar with, and does not know what to do with himself. As the years pass, he becomes skilled at catching fish, making fires, and even performing dentistry on himself. Basically, Chuck gains the appearance of a cave man, and has dropped half his weight. He has adapted to the island life, although not necessarily content with his new life, he is no longer a blabbering mess. Time was the only thing he had. When he was rescued from the island, he understands he must cherish, and be grateful for his life with Kelly, only to find out she has moved on. Although it took a four-year endurance on a deserted island, Chucks character has gone through a drastic change, and now realizes the importance of life and loved ones. Clearly, there are many factors that lead one to survive such an extraordinary situation as being stranded on an island, and three important things mark Chucks adaptation to his new world. First, Chucks girlfriend helps him through his though ordeal on the island by her presence is his mind and a picture he keeps of her. Another thing that assists in Chucks survival and adaptation is his friend Wilson, the volleyball, by connecting him back to the familiarity of society and his emotions. Finally, through a great change in appearance and character, Chuck shows how adaptation to an unfamiliar world can alter who a person really is. Ultimately, the movie Cast Away is a prime example of human adaptation, and how it can go beyond alls expectations when faced with motivation.Ã ¦

Is Modern Fashion Enslaving or Liberating Dissertation

Is Modern Fashion Enslaving or Liberating - Dissertation Example The paper tells that culture has played a significant role in the creation of fashion across the ages in all parts of the world. Whether it is Victorian body-deforming corsets, Chinese foot-binding, tribal teeth sharpening or neck lengthening or modern leg-breaking stilettos, all these are usually very strongly related to culture but in most cases are accompanied by enormous pain all in the name of fashion or, even more, in the name of beauty. Women suffer from pain, discomfort and health problems to feel beautiful, appreciated or fashionable. In this regard, it has been right said by Jane Ussher that ‘Beauty is a cruel mistress’, despite the fact that a great deal of sacrifice is required to appear fashionable. The world has been characterized with the passing of fashion trends from mother to daughter, sister to sister or friend to friend. It is also evident that all the negative outcomes and side effects of pursuing beauty and fashion present only one side of the great dispute on whether fashion is for women or against them. Fashions are also introduced through campaigns by fashion houses in order to publicize fashion and to make people dependent on it. Publicity and media campaigns directly address people’s aspirations by associating fashion products and apparel with celebrities through fashion programs, advertising campaigns and sponsored programs. In average, there have been icons and celebrities and people look up to them in emulating them. Fashion is introduced through them and wearing trendy and fashionable clothing has always been the hip thing at any given time in any given age. Modern people feel disassociated with the world if they do not display the same involvement with fashion as others are doing, especially in a competitive world where everything matters that can give an edge over others. Models walking along the catwalk showcase new designs and fashions that are adopted by fashion houses for mass production to be consumed by the masses in meeting with the latest fashion trends. It can be said that the world too is just like a fashion show whereby fashion refers to prevailing styles, uses and customs in the larger perspective. In fact, the fashion sector is enslaved in being required to provide people with the latest designs and trends, which in turn lead to people being enslaved because they have to meet up with the competition to look trendy, fashionable and smart. Enslavement in this context implies that people are literally forced to adopt what appears to be in fashion. Chinese culture is characteristic of encouraging young girls to have

Analytical and Critical questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analytical and Critical questions - Essay Example This is circumstantial evidence for a Creator, in this case of the watchmaker. There are numerous similar examples offered by Paley to support his claims. The most important implication is that science is subservient to religion. But the greatest rebuttal to this assertion would come in the form of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection a century after the publication of Natural Theology. The arguments offered by Paley are very eloquent and persuasive, yet not decisive. His assumptions and premises are dubious in many instances. To be fair to Paley, writing as he did a century before the arrival of Charles Darwin in the scientific scene, his arguments were handicapped by the lack of evidences to the contrary that are offered in abundance by Darwin. Yes, many natural phenomena can be explained scientifically without resort to argument from divine intervention. Perhaps, Paley’s passion for religion has biased his views. By virtue of stating a strong thesis, the author is compelled to look and select evidence in support of it. Perhaps a free exposition of the subject would have lead to a balanced rhetoric and findings. Paley’s Natural Theology is relevant today as a specimen of logical rigour and refined styles of argument. Its thesis has steadily lost relevance since the age of the Enlightenment and that trend continues today. Richard Dawkins’ main argument is that the forces of evolution give an illusion of deliberate design, whereas in truth, they were shaped by gradual and random mutations sifted by the filters of natural selection. Drawing on the analogy of the watchmaker by William Paley, Dawkins produces his polemic by systematically dismantling the theory by design as applicable to life forms on earth. Dawkins shows that random mutations at the level of the DNA, when filtered and selected under the process of

Middle-aged and older people observation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Middle-aged and older people observation - Essay Example It is well known that no two persons are alike and I have found the same in almost every body but the most significant and identifiable aspect what I found is that the people within a particular age group tend to behave in almost the same manner. This almost similar behavior might be due to similar socio economic background from which they come from. Some of the middle-aged people coming from somewhat rich background tend to behave in a more dignified manner even though they are older than the people who are from a poor background. With this observation what I really came to know is that older people who lead significantly decent life through ought their life have a deeper understanding towards their life and will try to act accordingly in public. On the other way round poor middle aged and older people do not try to behave accordingly in public and according to the situation. On older people there past life influences their present state of behavior a lot. I have observed six people who are all above fifty-eight years. The first person I have observed is an old man who has retired long back from Military Air force. He has receding hairline and is slender built but very active, red in color, very lively person and pretty intelligent, was very communicative, very popular among the people coming to the library. I was observing this person from almost a week and could gather most of the information related to by simply over hearing the discussion between their old friends in the public library. Since he was worki ng in Air force earlier he is quite informative and communicative too. He has three children and all are working but no one is yet married. Being slender built he is very energetic and his actions are not at all like an old man. He even helps his fellow old men in climbing stairs. He is very popular among women coming to the library. He discusses all issues going in his home and even enquires about others

Threats to Global Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Threats to Global Security - Essay Example The nation-states drafted or enlisted vast segments of the population base to build huge armies, navies, air forces, and nuclear weaponry, and the military command of each nation used this force with unrestrained power, even against civilian populations. The â€Å"old† war pattern led to hundreds of millions of individual deaths across the world during the course of the 20th Century. In a different interpretation focusing on media, Heidi Schaefer writes in â€Å"Old Wars New Wars†: â€Å"The famous photograph of a man being executed by a shot to the head by South Vietnam Lt. Colonel Ngyen Ngoc Loan, Saigon Chief of Police... taken by Eddie Adams, in 1968, on a side street in Saigon and later won him... a Pulitzer prize. In Adams’ obituary, the Washington Post wrote on this defining image of the violence of war in the latter half of the 20th century: ‘It was war in its purest, most personal form.’† (Schaefer, 2009) Thus, in evaluating the defin ition of â€Å"old† wars, it can be stated that on the global or international level, â€Å"old† wars operate on the Clausewitzian model of â€Å"total war† and mass-mobilization of societies that cause immense amounts of social and economic destruction. On the local level, â€Å"old† wars operate as in the Eddie Adam’s photo, the brutality of a man shot in the head, the passion of the scene, the emotions, and desperation are all caught on camera and recorded as a â€Å"total history†. In using this understanding to build a conception of â€Å"new† wars, these can be seen as â€Å"conflicts† that operate on a limited or isolated basis globally, generally in failed States or in surgical military operations led by the hegemonic powers. Where â€Å"total war† characterized the old paradigm, â€Å"contained war† is symbolic of the new. This may also include increased systematization, de-personalization, and abstractio n of violence so as to understand that State violence becomes more â€Å"stylized† in the operation of â€Å"new† war, as in a â€Å"cosmopolitan† police action. Additionally, there is a greater tendency to covert action, marginalized conflicts, lack of media coverage of non-central States, and disappearance of history that suggest in the local operation of â€Å"new† war, there is an inherent secrecy or hidden aspect that relates to containment, and can be seen as contrary to the Eddie Adams model. This means the media may not be centrally present in the â€Å"new† wars; the violence may not be recorded and broadcast in graphic imagery, but rather masked and stylized by the State in Hollywood manner in order to continue status quo operations with violence contained to the destruction of media-driven stereotypes of â€Å"foreign enemies† and â€Å"terror†. In reviewing the academic literature on the definition of â€Å"old† war and â€Å"new† war, there is a consistent theme of scholars writing on the subject to identify the 9/11 attacks as ushering in a new paradigm in the conduct of war. In "Old Laws, New Wars: Jus ad Bellum in an Age of Terrorism," William K. Lietzau writes: "At 8:46 on the morning of 11 September 2001, a handful of terrorists propelled the globe into an era of profound change... Whether or not recognized, acknowledged, or asserted, 9/11 and the response thereto brought forth a nascent legal regime that will alter the way nation states apply the rule of

United States View on the Cold War Research Paper

United States View on the Cold War - Research Paper Example However, the war reflected a competition between two superpowers that were the America and Soviet Union. This paper illustrates various view of the America concerning the occurrence of the cold war. Causes of the Cold War The United States saw the Cold War as a war between itself and the Soviet Union3. Moreover, the American saw the war as a global confrontation between itself and the Soviet Union. According to the Americans, the war occurred because of having different views regarding a number of world issues with the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Americans viewed the cause of the war to be various political differences that existed between the country and the Soviet Union. The other possible factor that contributed to the development of the Cold War was the Americans fear that the communists might attack them. This contributed to the Americas want to show that it could not be defeated by any other nation in the whole world. The other significant issue that led Americans to engage in the war was the bad blood between Truman and Stalin. However, other issues contributed to the development of the Cold War were those from the side of the communists. For example, the Russians feared that the American would cause a great trouble if it managed to release the atomic bomb. Another major factor that contributed to the development of the war was that the Russians disliked the concept of capitalism4. How the Cold War reflected Americans in the world Most of the countries that were involved and those that were not involved in the cold viewed America as one of the biggest enemy of Soviet Union. The rivalry between the two powers existed from as early as 1917. At first, both of the two powers were fighting against the Axis powers. Some of the Axis powers that were great enemies of America during the cold war include Germany and Japan. However, even though the two nations were fighting together, their relationship was tense. This means that they did not believe in one another on various issues concerning the war. This is because the Americans saw the Soviet Union as a major threat regarding to how they wished various issues would go concerning the war. The Americas started to mistrust the Soviet Union when it managed to gain control of the Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union on the other hand, started to view the American as a threat especially when it managed to make a move on the development of the atomic weapon. It is believed that one of presidents who contributed to the occurrence of the strong relationship was Woodrow Wilson. Under the leadership of Wilson, America had dedicated itself to maintain democracy. Wilson also managed to promote the country in enacting the free enterprise system. However, the communists were emphasizing on the issue of the excellent revolution. With the world class, the communists believed that most of the countries under its leadership would bring socialization in f uture. Through the contribution of Wilson in trying to promote democracy, many parts in the world viewed America as peaceful although there were others with different views. However, even with the contribution of Wilson to promote democracy, he did not succeed. Even the Soviet Union did not succeed in its contribution of promoting peace. Damage of America’s Reputation America damaged its reputation after engaging on the war against Vietnam. Most of the countries in the world viewed that America had not made the right decision on engaging

Reflection paper regarding the topic of Compassion, Empathy, as it Essay

Reflection paper regarding the topic of Compassion, Empathy, as it relates to Buddhist Meditation - Essay Example I found it quite excitingly that the teachings of Rinpoche is not only about calming of mind but also about having the emotions of compassion and empathy in the heart. I was excited because I found people, said to be on meditation, cold and indifferent. I began to understand the concept of compassion and empathy, described by Rinpoche as a tool to integrate the society with less expectations and more understanding. The way to reduce differences between people and our selves is to understand them and identify their needs like our own. This can also be called as Empathetic joy and Compassion. Every human being wants to avoid suffering, and his all objectives in life are set to achieve this one primary objective. However, we forget that in reducing our own suffering, we sometimes increase suffering for other people. It happens all around us but he, who tries to forgive it, considered as dumb. We try to hurt others because they hurted us in past, and we want to prove that we are not inferior than them. But in doing so, we dwell more on negative emotion like ego. We are defined by the feelings and emotions we feel most of time. If we dwell more on negative emotions like greed, jealousy and anger, we will become an angry, greedy and jeal ous person. To be a positive and happy person, we need to block negative thoughts in our mind. The barrier in the path of controlling emotions, is being judgemental. Since our childhood, we begin to label things as right or wrong, sometimes, even, without understanding them. The judgements make our negative thoughts just and deserving for the others. It make us think, that we are right in thinking bad for a person because he is a bad person actually. But we never think that what these negative thinkings are doing to ourselves. I have experienced it that the more you think negatively, the suffering gets deeper and deeper in youself, instead of

United States View on the Cold War Research Paper

United States View on the Cold War - Research Paper Example However, the war reflected a competition between two superpowers that were the America and Soviet Union. This paper illustrates various view of the America concerning the occurrence of the cold war. Causes of the Cold War The United States saw the Cold War as a war between itself and the Soviet Union3. Moreover, the American saw the war as a global confrontation between itself and the Soviet Union. According to the Americans, the war occurred because of having different views regarding a number of world issues with the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Americans viewed the cause of the war to be various political differences that existed between the country and the Soviet Union. The other possible factor that contributed to the development of the Cold War was the Americans fear that the communists might attack them. This contributed to the Americas want to show that it could not be defeated by any other nation in the whole world. The other significant issue that led Americans to engage in the war was the bad blood between Truman and Stalin. However, other issues contributed to the development of the Cold War were those from the side of the communists. For example, the Russians feared that the American would cause a great trouble if it managed to release the atomic bomb. Another major factor that contributed to the development of the war was that the Russians disliked the concept of capitalism4. How the Cold War reflected Americans in the world Most of the countries that were involved and those that were not involved in the cold viewed America as one of the biggest enemy of Soviet Union. The rivalry between the two powers existed from as early as 1917. At first, both of the two powers were fighting against the Axis powers. Some of the Axis powers that were great enemies of America during the cold war include Germany and Japan. However, even though the two nations were fighting together, their relationship was tense. This means that they did not believe in one another on various issues concerning the war. This is because the Americans saw the Soviet Union as a major threat regarding to how they wished various issues would go concerning the war. The Americas started to mistrust the Soviet Union when it managed to gain control of the Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union on the other hand, started to view the American as a threat especially when it managed to make a move on the development of the atomic weapon. It is believed that one of presidents who contributed to the occurrence of the strong relationship was Woodrow Wilson. Under the leadership of Wilson, America had dedicated itself to maintain democracy. Wilson also managed to promote the country in enacting the free enterprise system. However, the communists were emphasizing on the issue of the excellent revolution. With the world class, the communists believed that most of the countries under its leadership would bring socialization in f uture. Through the contribution of Wilson in trying to promote democracy, many parts in the world viewed America as peaceful although there were others with different views. However, even with the contribution of Wilson to promote democracy, he did not succeed. Even the Soviet Union did not succeed in its contribution of promoting peace. Damage of America’s Reputation America damaged its reputation after engaging on the war against Vietnam. Most of the countries in the world viewed that America had not made the right decision on engaging

Music and Brain Development Essay Example for Free

Music and Brain Development Essay There are three major perspectives on the positive impact of music education to the core curricula in school. The study on how music shares value to brain development has opened new views for all educators. According to the study of Neurological Research in February 1997, music develops abstract reasoning skills needed for the learning process of children in math and science. It was proven that training in music is more efficient than computer learning for teaching math and science skills (Peretz and Zatorre, 2005).   It was reported that music training could be more effective than computer instruction for teaching these skills. The findings were the result of a two year experiment with preschoolers by Rauscher et. Al. Wriht et al in 1997, compared the effects of musical and non-musical training on intellectual development as a follow-up to their studies on music can enhance spatial-reasoning. They concluded that music enhanced brain functions that were required for learning mathematics, science and engineering (Brust, 2003). Several studies have suggested that beginning music training early corresponds to greater growth in certain areas of the brain (Schlang et al, 2003). For example, researchers in Germany identified the planum temporale, a part of the left hemisphere as the region of the brain responsible for the perfect pitch and speech. This term used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the planun temporale in non-musicians and professional musicians, some with perfect pitch and some without it. They discovered that the planum temporale in those with perfect pitch was twice as large as the other groups. Also with perfect pitch has started a music lesson before age seven. Rauscher et al. (1997) found that musicians had thicker nerve fibers in the corpus callosum, the part of the brain that carries signals between the two hemispheres, if they started keyboard training before the age of seven. Babo (2001) discussed, researchers, work at the University of Konstanz in Germany which focused that exposure to music helped to rewire neural circuits. They concluded that the brains of pianists were more efficient at making skilled movements than the brains of others. These findings suggested that musical training could enhance brain function (Trainor and Schmidt, 2003). Schlaug et al. (1995) used MRI to discover that musicians who started studying music before the age of 7 had regions in their brains (the corpus callosum and the right motor cortex) that were larger than corresponding regions in both non-musicians and musicians whose training began at a later age. However, in response to questions about his study, Schlaug et al preferred not to recommend when music should be taught, since some very skilled musicians began performing in their twenties or thirties. Schlaug et al. also reported that most musicians who have perfect pitch started music lessons before the age of seven. However, according to Diamond and Hopson (1998), early music training is associated with more growth in this one particular brain region. if training starts later or is absent altogether, perfect pitch rarely shows up (p. 4). Zatorre (2003) reported evidence that infants are born with nervous systems devoted exclusively to music. Studies are showing that early and ongoing musical training can help organize and develop children’s brains. In a study to determine the effect of systematic prenatal musical stimulation by observing musical behaviors exhibited between birth and 6, Fujioka et al (2006) found that infants who received systematic prenatal musical stimulation exhibited â€Å"remarkable attention behaviors.   Those infants could imitate accurately sounds made by adults (including non-family members), and appear to structure vocalization much earlier than infants who did not have prenatal musical training (p. 21).   Only quite the researches focused on the prenatal musical training of the fetus. Personal Reflection I believe that musicians have more active contribution to brain development because they are required to perform in more complex sequences of finger movements. Musicians are regularly adapting to decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing and feeling-training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and performing a lot of activities all at the same time. Musicians in my point of view, exercise orchestration that have better payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence and skills in self-knowledge and self-expression. In my own opinion, there is a significant relationship between music and brain development. There is an interrelationship between music and education because of the eight basic intelligences:   linguistic; logical-mathematical; spatial; bodily-kinesthetic; musical; interpersonal; intrapersonal; and naturalist. Although, these intelligences are different from musical intelligences:emotional, spiritual and cultural than the other kinds of intelligences. Most importantly, he assumed that music could help some organize the way they think and work by helping them develop in other areas, such as math, language, and spatial reasoning. Gardner criticized school districts that sacrificed music in children’s education, calling them â€Å"arrogant and ignorant about the value of music education† (p. 142). Essay 2-The Mozart Effect Rauscher et al. (1993) used the term Mozart effect to describe the results of their study on the relationship between music and spatial task performance. It is based on the ears role in the development of movement, balance, language and pre-verbal communication as well as the integration of neurological responses stimulated by music The Mozart effect also refers to the way music is used to enhance the quality of life. For example, music helps children in obtaining good health, education, and creativity (Cjabris, 1999).   Rauscher et al. (1997) gave a group of college students three 10-minute-long sets of standard IQ spatial reasoning tasks: listening to a Mozart sonata for two pianos, listening to a relaxation tape, and sitting through silence. The results showed that the individuals who listened to Mozart had a distinct advantage in spatial task performance. Steele et al (1999) noted that students performed better on the abstract/spatial reasoning tests after listening to Mozart than after listening to either the relaxation tape or to nothing† (p. 2). Although conditions differed significantly between music, silence, and relaxation, Shaw and his colleagues were careful to qualify the study results. Although spatial reasoning test scores rose as a result of listening to Mozarts piano sonata in D major (K488), the effects were temporary. Jenkins (2001) noted that the enhancing effect of the music condition is temporary, and does not extend beyond the 10-15 minute period during which subjects were engaged in each spatial task (Rauscher et al., 1993, p. 2). The authors posed several questions for further research: â€Å"Could varying the amount of listening time optimize the Mozart effect? Could listening to Mozart also enhance other intelligence measures such as short-term memory, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning? Would other kinds of music have an effect on IQ performance† (p. 2)? Though the answers to these questions were unclear, the authors concluded that music lacking in complexity failed to enhance performance. They also concluded that the complexity of Mozarts music was responsible for its enhancing effect. Rauscher et al. replicated and extended these findings in 1995. They used the same tasks used in their first experiment but extended the types of listening examples used. College students were divided into 3 groups: those exposed to silence, the same Mozart music used in the 1993 study, and a piece by Philip Glass. As before, the Mozart group showed a significant increase in spatial IQ scores. Tomatis, a French physician, psychologist, and educator, researched the connection between early childhood development in the 1960s and the music of Mozart (Jenkins, 2001). College students listened to a Mozart sonata, then performed complicated visual tasks involving cutting and folding paper. However, there was no difference in the way these tasks were performed by either the students who listened to the sonata or the control groups who just relaxed before taking the test or listened to other kinds of music. Schellenberg (2006) pointed out that the studies on music instruction insubstantial overall because researchers only tried to repeat and extend their findings. For example, no one knew exactly which kind of musical training produced results and which kinds did not, who benefited most from it, and how long any intellectual gains resulting from music training lasted. In another study, Chabris (1999) reviewed previous studies and compared the effects of the Mozart recordings. Results revealed a statistically insignificant increase in the ability of individuals to complete tasks requiring spatial visualization skills and abstract reasoning. Chabris noted that if listening to Mozart improves cognitive performance at all, its by improving overall cognitive arousal and concentration. It shouldnt be viewed as an intellectual miracle drug (p. 1). Steele (2001) agreed with Chabris, by stating that â€Å"there is a problem with the concept of classical music as Gatorade for the brain† (p. 1). A number of other researchers (Crncec et al, 2006) supported the belief that classical music does not increase basic intelligence. Rauscher, et l (1995) noted that because many researchers only measured the effect on general intelligence instead of on spatial-temporal abilities, they failed when they tried to repeat the original experiment. In 1995, Rauscher et al. replicated this study and again found that spatial-temporal reasoning improved after listening to the Mozart Sonata. Though daily exposure to Mozart’s music produced daily increases in scores, this effect did not apply to all styles of music or to all areas of intelligence. For example, Phillip Glass’ minimalist music did not enhance spatial-temporal reasoning. Further, the students’ scores did not improve when they performed a short-term memory task after listening to Mozart. Rauscher et al. (1999) concluded that â€Å"although the Mozart effect is intriguing and holds great promise for further explorations into the transfer of musical processing to other domains of reasoning, merely listening to music probably does not lead to lasting enhancement of spatial-temporal intelligence. Listening to music is a passive experience for most people, and does not require the involvement that actively creating music does† (p. 2).   This observation led researchers to suspect that actively creating music has greater benefits for spatial temporal intelligence than simply listening to it. Combining separate elements of an object into a whole or arranging them in a specific order are spatial-temporal operations. They require successive steps, which are dependent upon previous steps. Spatial-logical operations also require recognition of similarities or differences among objects and are generally one-step processes. For example, a child who is asked to classify objects according to their color or shape would be performing a spatial-logical operation. The Rauscher et al. (1999) model predicted that music training may increase spatial-temporal task scores, but not necessarily spatial-logical tasks. These studies did suggest casual relationships between music and spatial task performance. The authors concluded that music education was helpful for maximum cognitive development by demonstrating that music could improve the intellectual functioning of children. Personal Reflection In my own opinion, the study in Mozart effect is a new proof of music’s education and its importance. Since it is believed to development a child’s IQ, schools must offer music programs to help their students in a very substantial way. Music educators should work towards the inclusion of music education in the curriculum of public education. Also, the publics perception of music education must be altered so that policymakers in education are forced to provide for conditions where music education may thrive. Many educators and researchers posit that music should be a more central part of   the school curriculum in light of studies that demonstrate a relationship between music and intellectual growth. Also, tentative research findings in support of music education have shown that people believe that there is an essential value to learning about music. Diamond (1998) argued that learning to play an instrument could increase a childs capacity for voluntary attention (p. 7), while Porter (1998) concluded that music can teach â€Å"discipline, care, concentration, and perseverance† (p. 7). Music Learning and Memory for Music When memory for a sequence of visually presented letters is tested, the marked recency effect that characterizes studies of the PAS system is absent. Nonetheless, clear evidence of phonological coding is found in the form of a marked effect of phonological similarity ( Schlkind et al, 2003). auditory input. Further evidence for the interaction between self-generated phonological codes and auditory input is, of course, offered by the irrelevant speech effect. Performance is impaired by unwanted spoken material, with the crucial feature of the material being its phonological rather than its semantic characteristics, again suggesting that the interaction is occurring at a common phonological level ( Dowling, 1994). It should be pointed out at this stage, however, that the nature of the irrelevant sound is crucial. While speech in a foreign language is quite disruptive to performance, white noise is not, even when the intensity of the noise is pulsed so as to resemble the intensity envelope of the speech signal that has been shown to disrupt memory ( Dowling et al, 1995). The fact that memory is more disrupted by vocal than by nonvocal music might seem to suggest that the system is essentially speech based. It is possible, however, that the greater disruption by speech reflects the nature of the primary task, namely remembering digits, a task that is likely to operate principally in terms of the spoken names of the digits. It is entirely conceivable that a different primary task would lead to a different degree of disruption. One possibility then might be to look at studies investigating memory for environmental sounds. Unfortunately, the evidence in this area seems to be relatively sparse. Deutsch (2004) showed that their patient was better at remembering environmental sounds than spoken digits, but, unfortunately, it is possible that the task was done by first identifying the sounds and then remembering them semantically. Personal Reflection . Thinking of music memory as schematic is probably accurate for many of the interactions that both trained and untrained people have with music. However, recently I have become interested in the nature of representation when memory for music is essentially perfect. Whereas it appears that the majority of work in music cognition has examined short-term memory, I would like to examine longterm memory. By this I mean that I am interested in the way well-learned music is represented. People are able to remember a large repertory of music and retain it for many years. What kinds of codes make this retention possible? Clearly, proposing verbal codes in the traditional sense is impractical when trying to understand memory for melody (as opposed to the lyrics in vocal music). Even if we assume that a small minority of musicians can encode tunes in terms of musical structure, motor commands, or musical notation, the successful retention of music by untrained people suggests the existence of other types of durable codes. The explication of those codes has been the goal of my current program of research References    Blood, A., Zatorre, R. (2001). Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,98, 11818-11823. Brust, J. (2003). Music and the neurologist: A historical perspective. In I.Peretz, R. Zatorre (Eds.) The cognitive neuroscience of music (pp. 181-191). New York: Oxford University Press. Chabris, C (1999). Prelude or requiem for the ‘Mozart effect’? Nature, 400, 6747, 826-7. Crncec, R., Wilson, S., Prior, M. (2006). No evidence for the Mozart effect in children. Music Perception, 23(4), 305- 317. Deutsch, D. (2004). The octave illusion revisited again. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30 (2), 355-364. This article can be downloaded from Psych Info and from the author’s web page. Dowling, W. J. (1994). Melodic contour in hearing and remembering melodies. In R. Aiello (Ed.) Musical perceptions, (pp. 173-190 ). New York: Oxford University Press. Dowling, W. J. , Kwak, S., Andrews, M. ( 1995). The time course of recognition of novel melodies. Perception Psychophysics, 57(2), 136-49. Fujioka, T., Ross, B., Kakigi, R., Pantev, C., Trainor, L. (2006). One year of musical training affects development of auditory cortical-evoked fields in young children. Brain, 129, 2593-2608. This article can be downloaded. Jenkins, J.S. (2001). The Mozart effect. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine,   94,170-172. Patel, A. (2003). Language, music, syntax and the brain. Nature Neuroscience, 6(7), 674-681. This article can be downloaded. discuss it from the neuroscientific perspective. Peretz, I., Zatorre, R. (2005). Brain organization for music processing. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 89-114. This article can be downloaded. This is an excellent review. Rauschecker, J. (2003). Functional organization and plasticity of auditory cortex. In Peretz, I., Zatorre, R. (Eds.) The cognitive neuroscience of music (pp. (357-365). New York: Oxford University Press. Rauscher, F. (1999). Reply to Prelude or requiem for the â€Å"Mozart effect’? Nature, 400, 6747, 827-8. Schellenberg, E. G.(2005). Music and cognitive abilities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14 (6), 317-320. This article can be downloaded. Schellenberg, E.G. (2006). Long-term positive association between music lessons and IQ. Journal of Education Psychology, 98 (2), 457-468. This article can be downloaded. Schlaug, G. ( 2003). The brain of musicians. In Peretz, I., Zatorre, R. (Eds.) The cognitive neuroscience of music (pp. (366-381). New York: Oxford University Press. Schulkind, A., Posner, R., Rubin, D. (2003). Musical features that facilitate melody identification: How do you know it’s â€Å"your† song when they finally play it? Music Perception, 21, (2), 217-249. Steele, K., Dalla Bella, S., Peretz, I., Dunlop, T., Dawe, L., Humphrey, K., Shannon, R., Kirby, J. Jr., Olmstead, C. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the ‘Mozart effect’? Nature, 400, 6747,826-7. Trainor, L., Schmidt, L. (2003). Processing emotions induced by music. In I. Peretz, R. Zatorre (Eds.) The cognitive neuroscience of music (pp. 310-324). New York: Oxford University Press. Zatorre, R. (2003). Absolute pitch: A model for understanding the influence of genes and development on neural and cognitive function. Nature Neuroscience, 6 (7), pp. 692-695.

Analysis of Child Feeding and Care Practices in Certain Area

Analysis of Child Feeding and Care Practices in Certain Area INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD FEEDING AND CARE PRACTICES OF CAREGIVERS IN THE PROVINCE OF ALBAY, PHILIPPINES Joyce Louise Cruz Ignacio, RND Registered Nutritionist-Dietitian Summary of the present status of the study Description of the status of the research work The study has two basic objectives: 1) To assess the caregivers’ current Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and care practices; and 2) To assess the nutritional status of the 0-24 month-old children in the province of Albay. As stated in the proposal, the study is composed of two phases. phase executed the process to meet the first objective of the study, whereas the second phase involved a carefully-designed capacity-building program for the community health and nutrition workers. The survey component of Phase 1 was conducted in the province of Albay from March 2014 to June 2014. It covered six of Albay’s municipalities Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Oas, Libon, Malilipot, and Tiwi and three of its component cities Legazpi, Ligao and Tabaco – altogether creating a scope of 24 different barangays. 280 caregivers, all of whom were randomly selected via systematic sampling, participated in a two-day survey that used a pretested questionnaire to obtain the household and caregivers’ socio-economic and demographic information. That information included age, educational attainment, occupation, household income, household size and their hygiene and sanitation practices. Also recorded about infants and young children were their participation in health and nutrition programs, their access to health and medical services (e.g. immunization, deworming, micronutrient supplementation), their two non-consecutive 24-hour food recalls, the frequency and duration of their breastfeeding sessions, and their anthropometric measurements that were taken using a calibrated salter weighing scale and head board. Furthermore, six (6) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), three for disaster-prone areas and three for non-disaster-prone areas in Albay, were conducted using a structured set of questions as a guide. Topics included in the FGDs were generally focused on the IYCF and care practices and their coping mechanisms during emergencies. Phase 1 of the study, now in its final component, is undergoing analysis of the following variables: socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the households and caregivers, hygiene and sanitation practices, participation in health and nutrition programs, access to health services, and dietary intake of children. It also evaluated their relationship with each other, and their impact on both existing IYCF and care practices and the nutritional status of 0-24 month-old children in the community. Respondents who either failed to complete the two-day data collection or have incomplete data and/or answers to the questionnaires administered will be excluded from the analysis of the study. The results of Phase 1 will serve as the empirical basis for the planning and implementation of Phase 2. Phase 2, the capacity-building component of the project, will render substantial inputs for the local government of Albay. This will not only aid in their development of appropriate programs, b ut also, through the advocacy of proper IYCF and care practices of caregivers, facilitate interventions on malnutrition in young children. The National Nutrition Council in the Bicol region (NNC-Bicol) and the local government of Albay have expressed great support and enthusiasm in the study. During the development of the study, they provided substantial insights and suggestions, all of which were incorporated in the final design of the study. They also helped in the planning and implementation of the data collection in the field. They directed me in the proper channels which made the facilitation of the data collection more effective and efficient. NNC-Bicol and the local government of Albay are continuously providing all the necessary assistance that will help in better understanding and analyzing gathered data. They have also been very committed all throughout the project and worked closely with me during the capacity building phase of my study. As originally proposed, the capacity building component of this study will supplement the existing guidelines and recommendations of the local government in Albay. Based on the initial communication with the regional and provincial nutrition office, there were several training sessions for the community health and nutrition workers, all of which focused on IYCF. However, there is a high turnover rate of community health and nutrition workers which can be attributed to several factors: 1) Community health and nutrition workers serve as volunteers so they spend a lot of their time with the community; 2) They have no salaries since the source of funds is unsustainable, and the idea of it destroys the spirit of volunteerism; and 3) Community health and nutrition workers, though mandated by law to be non-partisan, tend to be affiliated to specific political parties, which is why their posts may be filled by other volunteers when there are changes in political leadership in the community. Yet despite their selflessness in service, they are often taken for granted and underappreciated which lead them to leave their posts. High turnover rates of community health and nutrition workers often lead to the disruption of the co-worker’s relationships with the community and each other. When these workers leave their posts, the opportunity to build on their experience and further develop their skills through refresher training is lost. Due to these circumstances, the recommended course of action is to have a consultative meeting with the key persons in Albay in order to address the problem in sustaining said workers. However, realigning the concept and purpose of community health and nutrition workers is necessary before conducting any form of training. A strategic and concrete plan of action is also needed to answer questions hindering the sustainability of community health and nutrition workers. These may include about the most efficient way to monitor these workers, how turnover rates can successfully be reduced, and what incentive system should be used to ensure that community health and nutrition workers are properly motivated. Furthermore, training and retraining are recommended for the health and nutrition workers of the barangays covered in Phase 1. Continuous training has been known to be an essential prerequisite in effective community health and nutrition work, and is an important factor in retaining the motivation of workers. This latter part is crucial, especially in light of the short training periods available and the low levels of education of most workers. Retraining allows them to learn and develop new skills, take on new challenges, and interact with peers, keeping the job interesting as well as promoting personal development. Upon completion of Phase 1, strengths and weaknesses of the current IYCF will be identified, and incorporating findings of the study in the capacity building component can further strengthen the technical capacity of health and nutrition workers in the community. Firsthand knowledge and experience on the field will make them more equipped in planning, service delivery, and monitoring of existing IYCF programs. Publications No publication has been published based from this research study. Upon the completion of the project, I intend to submit a scientific journal article to publishers with international reputation for greater reach. Summary of the expenses during the report period Summary of the financial statement from the Administrative Offices of the University / Institution Enclosed in this first intermediary report is the Financial Statement as of August 22, 2014 from the University of the Philippines Los Banos Foundation, Inc. (UPLBFI, Inc.), which is certified corrected by the Accounting Supervisor Ms. Marilou C. Atanante and signed by Dr. Cecilio R. Arboleda, Director of UPLBFI, Inc. Gross salaries Breakdown of positions and salaries for the report period Breakdown of major equipment for the report period Breakdown of operating expenses during the report period 4.6 Breakdown of travel expenses for the report period Cont. 4.6 Breakdown of travel expenses for the report period Summary of budget for the report period (In the preferred currency and US $ for the total) GRAND TOTAL: PhP 425,658.19 / US $ 10,134.71 Intermediary to the Nestlà © Foundationpage 1

Prison Overcrowding in California Essay -- proliferation, penal codes,

Introduction The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops opportunities for paroles to prevent their return to prison. The following context will examine and discuss the different approaches to reduce the population of state prisons in California in order to avoid prison overcrowding. Defining the Problem The problem is that regardless of different methods and approaches to prevent prison overcrowding, California still have one, if not, the largest prison population when compared to other states in the nation (ALEC, 2010). Prison overcrowding, defined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR, is when the prison housing capacity is exceeded, creating less spatial room to accommodate inmates (CDCR, 2008). California’s 33 state prisons currently accommodate at least 140,000 inmates. California’s 33 state prisons are so crowded that it has put at serious risks the lives of inmates, prison staffs, and employees. Even with several mental and drug treatment rehabilitation facilities available, California state prisons still have t... ...Prison Overcrowding: California." ALEC: American Legislative Exchange Council. American Legislative Exchange Council. Retrieved October 13, 2013 from Organization of CDCR Executive Staff website: http://www.alec.org/initiatives/prisonovercrowding "Realignment AB 109 in California." Realignment (AB 109) in California. Retrieved October 13, 2013 from Shouse Law website: http://www.shouselaw.com/realignment.html Zhang, Sheldon. "Preventing Parolee Crime Program." Program: Preventing Parolee Crime Program (PPCP). National Institute of Justice, 15 June 2007. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=72 "The Cornerstone of California’s Solution to Reduce Overcrowding, Costs, and Recidivism."California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved October 13, 2013 from CDCR website: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/realignment/

The Drinking Age Must not Be Lowered Essay -- Argumentative, Persuasiv

Lawmakers should not consider lowering the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. Despite the deep value this country places on freedom, personal liberties, and personal responsibilities, the data shows that public safety is greatly at risk if the drinking age were to be lowered to twenty-one. A variety of groups believe that the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen deeming that the twenty-one law is unconstitutional. On the opposing side, people agree that the law helps to protect our young people and the communities where they live. Before World War II, the age of majority in America was twenty-one. At this age, men entered into their full rights and obligations, such as the expectation to fight for their country, the freedom to vote, and the right to consume alcohol (Poe, 2). There was no confusion pertaining to what a man was allowed to do. Everything was consistent. When the draft age was lowered to eighteen during the Second World War, the nation went into frenzy. The American people did not think it was fair that at eighteen young men could be forced to go out and fight for their country, but were not permitted vote (Poe, 2). In their minds the only compromise that seemed fair was to give the men the ballot in return for their service to our country (Poe, 2). However, no one argued that men be given the right to drink, because of their service to our country. In fact, Senator Joshua Lee believed that soldiers under twenty-one years of age needed to be protected from drinking by their older fellow se rvice men (Poe, 2). Congress concluded that only the states could change their voting and drinking ages, but surprisingly, the states did not rush to do so (Poe,2). Eventually, the soldiers were demobilized,... ...y safety, and a deterrent for future goals. The only way to insure health and safety for all is to insist that lawmakers not lower the drinking age to eighteen and keep it at twenty-one. Works Cited Dean-Mooney, Laura. "A Lower Age Would Be Unsafe." U.S. News & World Report 15 Sept. 2008: 10. EBSCOhost. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. Engs, Ruth C.. " Why drinking age should be lowered: Dr. Ruth Engs ." Indiana University. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2011. . Hanson, David J., and Ph.D.. "The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984." WWW2 Webserver. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. . Poe, Marshall. "The Drinking Game | Hoover Institution." Hoover Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .

Research Design and Methodology Essay

Method of Research This Study will use the Experimental method of research.The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis. The researchers decided to use experimental method because it is the most suited kind of method of research for our Investigatory Project which is involves creating a new product. Respondents of the study The respondents of our study are the 1st year students of Roosevelt College Rodriguez School Year 2012 – 2013. The researchers decided to use the 1st year students because they are the youngest among the high school students, proving that they are the ones that are most obedient and cooperative students. The researchers used 5 neighbor are chosen as respondens. Locale of the Study The study was conducted at the Roosevelt College Rodriguez, in the high school department. Roosevelt College Rodriguez is a private non-sectarian high school which is located at Manggahan, Rodriguez Rizal. It was established in 1962 and it is one of the branches of Roosevelt College System. It is a three-story building which has 53 well-ventilated and well-lighted rooms. Roosevelt College Rodriguez has facilities like elderly care rooms for the care giver course. It has also fine laboratories namely three computer laboratories, in which each has approximately 25 computer units. One highly maintained speech laboratory which contains 40 cubicles and one equipment and apparatus. The school has its own air conditioned resource learning center (library) with several books that can help the students in doing researches and home works. It has an audio visual room (AVR) to be used for meetings, small sized events and presentation of videos to the students. A function hall was built recently that serves as a venue for different events/programs, seminars conducted inside the campus for the whole year round. Roosevelt College Rodriguez also has facilities like a  canteen, covered walk, basketball court, herbal garden and a wide school ground that were highly maintained and can assure the security of the students. Being managed by our beloved directress, Mrs. Carmencita V. Alcantara, Roosevelt College Rodriguez has passed the PAASCU level 1 status accredited private school and is now undertaking and complementing requirements for the level 1 PAASCU accreditation. Research Instrument The research instrument that the researchers used is a questionnaire which was made by the researchers. The questionnaire consists of 5 different questions all concerning our product, the Spinanggay Cookies. The questionnaire will be answered by checking 1 of the boxes that corresponds to the following Excellent – 5, Very Satisfactory – 4, Satisfactory – 3, Failed – 2, Poor – 1. Procedure: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F/190 °C 2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. To reduce lumpiness, sift through a sifter or sieve. Gently mix these together, then set the bowl aside. 3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together, then beat in eggs and vanilla. The coarseness of the sugar granules will help break the butter down, so be sure to do these first. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix again until completely combined. 4. Slowly add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl to the wet ingredients in the large bowl, and then add spinanggay powder. Pour some of the dry ingredients, stir, and repeat until the dry and wet ingredients are totally combined. 5. Drop spoonful of cookie dough onto a pre-greased or a lined baking sheet. Leave at least an inch of space between the cookies because they’ll spread out when they cook. You can usually fit 12 cookies on a full-sized cookie sheet at a time. 6. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies rest on the pan for 3-4 minutes. Seventh, using a spatula, lift cookies off and place onto wax paper or a cooling rack. Let cool for about 5 more minutes. Last, Eat when hot and steamy or cooled and slightly crisp. Experimental Design In gathering the data for our research, we conducted a survey on the 1st year students of Roosevelt College Rodriguez. The â€Å"table of random numbers† was used to identify the 30% of the 1st year students which was going to be our respondents. Before conducting the survey we passed a copy of our questionnaire to our teacher to validate the questionnaire. To conduct the survey we went to each section of the 1st year and handed out the questionnaires and a piece of the Spinanggay cookies. After answering the questionnaires, the questionnaires were returned to us for the tabulation of results to make a conclusion. Statistical Tools Weighted Mean We will use the weighted mean to rate and get the results of the questionnaire that will be given to our respondents and to make our study accurate. Table 1 represents the tally of the respondents’ answers together with the computed weighted mean and the verbal interpretation. Question 1, earned a weighted mean value of 3.00 interpreted as satisfactory. This suggests that the spinanggay cookies tastes good and the respondents liked the Spinanggay Cookies. Question 2, got a weighted mean value of 3.00 weighted mean value in table 1. It is interpreted as Very Satisfactory, showing that the respondents find it easy to observe the taste of the Malunggay and spinach while eating the cookies. Question 3, obtained a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as   Satisfactory. This shows that the respondents think that the Spinach and Malunggay tastes good when mixed together. Question 4, got a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as satisfactory,implicating that the respondents think that the Spinanggay Cookies is not too good but is good enough to sell in the market. Question 5, earned a weighted mean value of 3.00, and interpreted as Satisfactory,implicating that the Spinanggay Cookies may be as good as the commercially sold cookies.  Based on the table 1, the product is acceptable. The respondents particularly liked the taste of Spinaggay cookies. The taste of spinach and malunggay may be observed easily as it was the one with the highest weighted mean value, with 3.00 weighted mean. The lowest is 3.00 which correspond to number 4 asking if the product is ready to be sold in the market. It acquired the verbal interpretation of Satisfactory showing that the product is ready to be sold but may still be improved to increase sales if it is sold. 1. Does the Spinanggay cookies taste good? 2. Were you able to taste the spinach and Malunggay in the Spinanggay cookies? 3. Do you think that the Malunggay and Spinach in Spinanggay cookies complement each other? 4. Is the spinanggay cookies good enough to sell in the market? 5. Is the Spinanggay cookies comparable to commercially sold cookies?

Little Miss Sunshine Film Analysis

The film Little Miss Sunshine, Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris, explores the lives of a regular American family and how they change their lives in front of us in the ‘Combie’ van on the road to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The film examines the issues of winning and losing, and what it means to be a winner, throughout many sequences in the film as well as exploring the value of family.The directors and the cinematic team use an extreme range of camera techniques, costuming, and sound techniques to reshape our understanding of winning and losing in the world we live in today. Firstly the directors and their team use a variety of different camera techniques to shape our view on the characters, and ultimately change our view in the world. In the opening sequence each character is introduced using different camera shots. For example Olive’s father is first projected to the audience as a success.There is a sequence of close ups and mid ranged shots which show Richard confidently speaking in a spotlight at the front of the room. However the cinematic team then use a cut to a point of view shot of what Richard sees when he has finished talking, which allows us to then see how much of a failure he really is, as there is only five, half asleep, bored people in the room and only one person applauds Richards work. This first sequence allows us to see that Richard acts and feels like a winner to himself, but when he is seen with the rest of the world he is failure and a loser.The directors have used this sequence to shape our understanding of winning and losing as it employs the idea that winning and losing is based on comparing yourself to the rest of the world, instead of being on how you feel and view yourself. Secondly the costuming used in the film has a big effect on shaping our view on the characters and their position in the movie world. The characters in the Hoover family are costumed as a very average family. Through out the movie the Hoover family is suggested to be positioned at the lower end of the economic wealth scale.However this is most obvious when Olive finally reaches the Little Miss Sunshine competition. When all the competitors are introduced on stage we see Olive is far out of place just through her basic average costuming, compared to the other girls who are dressed like little Barbie dolls, with glittery clothes and excessive make up. Even though Olive is out of place and obviously doesn’t belong in the competition, she still reflects Grandpa’s view on classifying winners and losers which was introduced before he died. Grandpa believes that a real loser is someone who is so afraid of not winning they don’t even try.Through the costuming and Olives actions the directors implant that view of winning and losing into the audience, which then reflects on our world today, as we need to show more support, not for the winners of a competition, but the courage people h ave developed to enter a competition. The Final key technique which is employed by the cinematic team of Little Miss Sunshine is the use of sound. Throughout the film there is an evident mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. In the scene were Frank and Dwayne are out on the pier, starts with a non-diegetic voice over from the Little Miss Sunshine pageant saying ‘America, it’s so beautiful’.These words introduce the scene as the diegetic sounds of nature at the beach take over and remind us of nature’s healing presence as we then see the first real bonding between Frank and Dwayne. The directors have chosen to use these sound techniques to help the audience feel the repairing sense of nature as they start to learnt the value of family with frank and Dwayne. The value of family which is also reflected on our world is that no matter how much we try and push them away they will always be there when we need, and that’s the true value of family sho wn throughout the film.The film Little Miss Sunshine, Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris, explores the lives of a regular American family to portray key values which should be inherited by our society. The film analyses the concepts of winning and losing, and what it means to be a winner, throughout many sequences in the film as well as exploring the value of family. The director and the cinematic team use an extreme range of camera techniques, costuming, and sound techniques to help the storyline shape our understanding of winning and losing in the world we live in today. Adrian Pace, Year 11 Word Count- 795

Post Modern Social Theory Essay

In a nutshell, postmodernism rose out of the perceived problems and dangers that were brought by the modern era of the world. With most parts of the world being under the influence of modern theoretical perspective like objectivity and scientific inclination, most of the theories that can be categorized under postmodernism can be defined as an attack and criticism to the perceived problems of philosophers, sociologist and even artists to the reality that was created by modernism (Kellner, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Under the banner of postmodernism, we can see numerous thinkers that had attempted to analyze the modern world using their postmodern spectacles. Among this thinker are French philosopher and sociologist jean Baudrillard and Zygmunt Bauman who manage to provide a rich and fertile discussion on the discourse of postmodernism and the cultural and sociological framework of the modern world. In this paper, two thinkers shall be put in focus. These two thinkers are so vital and important in the postmodern discourse that understanding their thoughts and ideas will enable us to understand more the context of postmodernism. Jean Baudrillard Just like any postmodernist theorists, the ideas presented by Jean Baudrillard can be characterized to be an attempt to analyze the modern sociological and cultural framework. In many cases, he managed to provide a discourse through the comparison of modern practical and theoretical system and pre-modern practical and theoretical system (i. e. frameworks during the industrial revolution). A good example that is very notable is his conception of the value system. For Baudrillard, the modern world had managed to provide numerous ways of characterizing value. He named at least four value systems that can characterize something or someone. The first one is the functional value which is in relation to the functionality and instrumental use of the object. The second one is the exchange value which is the value of the object in relation to the economic condition and economic sense of manufacturing it. The third one is the symbolic value which is in relation to the relationship of the object to some individual or group of individual (e. g. diamond ring for marriage proposal). Lastly is the sign value which is the value of an object in a given set or system of objects due to the idea or values that it may represent (Baudrillard & Levin 132-133). According to Baudrillard, the modern world today with all the products and things that are being developed are enabling the construction of a new world system that is based on the third and fourth kind of value system. This means that most of the objects and products today base their values on a superficial value system. This is in contrast to the value system of eras like the industrial revolution wherein things and objects are manufactured and made out of functionality and essence. This arrangement of the modern world that is based on superficiality of value is ought to be destructed soon due to the empty bubble that it creates that is not based on people’s needs but rather to people’s superficial beliefs and desires. An idea also related to the value system is Baudrillard’s idea on simulacra and simulation. For him, what we have in the modern world is a system wherein we perceive things that are not really real and necessary. We are now living in a world wherein we acknowledge things like holiness, titles, prestige and other categories which do not really exist. It is comparable to a hyper-reality wherein we are living in a world where we acknowledge references without real referents. Much of our activities are contributing to the development of this ‘simulacra’. In many cases, we disregard what is real and just fit to live under the influence of this new and alternative reality. Baudrillard argues that this is indeed a dangerous system wherein we are living our lives in this new reality and we are living what is truly real to rot and be set aside (Baudrillard, 50-51). Indeed, much of Baudrillard’s philosophies and criticisms are ought to make us review and rethink the human condition. With his ideas on superficial value system and simulacrum, we are being forced to open ourselves and think outside what the society taught us to be. We are being taught by Baudrillard to perceive and see things as it is for us learn more in the real world. Zygmunt Bauman Together with Baudrillard, Bauman, a Polish sociologist had also provided a fertile ground in the discourse in modernity, culture and consumerism. Just like other postmodernist thinkers, Bauman had offered a picture of the modern arrangement of the modern world. He argued that what we have now is a society which preferred individual freedom rather than collective security. Prior to this system is an arrangement wherein individuals highly regards its power over nature, efficiency, hierarchy, rules and regulation. This is aimed to make our world safer and more secure. For Bauman, this is the characterization of the solid modernity. However, people had observed that despite these constructive efforts to bring peace, security and stability; there are groups that cannot just be really controlled. This groups or individuals which cannot be controlled shall be referred as ‘strangers’. As a response, this solid form of modernity will later transform to a liquid form of modernity. In this new form of modernity, what are more important are the individual pursuit and the new level of freedom. However, this new sets of characteristics are made possible at the expense of concepts like security (Bauman, Postmodernity and its Discontents, 130). In this new type of modernity, numerous problems are arising. Primarily, the classic institutions like school, government and even laws are now losing its grip to the people. The task of finding one’s individual path is left to the people. People are forced to decide for their own goals and actions which often bring confusion and disarray. The strangers mentioned earlier in the first part of the discussion are also experiencing problems. Bauman for example relates these theoretical strangers to the Jews in the time of the Holocaust. He argued that though societies are being enticed with the spontaneity and actions of the strangers, they are at the same time afraid of them because no one knows what they will do next. In this sense, the Jews are the strangers of Europe. The Holocaust is the result of the fear to these Jews that is made possible with the fertile ground provided by this new kind of modernity (Bauman, Intimations of postmodernity, 94). Conclusion One cannot deny the historical pattern of societal system that exists in our world. As one societal arrangement managed to rise and exist, a new one will come to arise out of its shortcomings and mistakes. As the modern society managed to successfully challenged earlier system such as feudalism, postmodernism is also a response for the shortcomings of modernity. Then again, we can always argue that postmodernism will improve the live that we have. Though we gain much from the modern system, we also lose much. The ideas of postmodernism are an attempt to repair our society and to reestablish or regain those functional characteristics that were dropped or erased because of our shift to modernism. Though some people can and may argue against this, one thing is for sure, the ideas of postmodernism are giving us a shot for a chance to improve our lives. Works Cited Aylesworth, Gary. Postmodernism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005 Baudrillard, Jean & Levin, Charles. For a critique of the political economy of the sign. Telos Press, 1981 Baudrillard, Jean. Symbolic Exchange and Death. London: Sage, 1976/1993 Bauman, Zygmunt. Does Ethics have a Chance in a World of Consumes. Harvard University Press, 2009 Bauman, Zygmunt. Intimations of Postmodernity. London: Routledge, 1992 Bauman, Zygmunt. Post Modernity and its Discontents. New York University Press, 1997 Kellner, Douglas. Jean Baudrillard. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007 Klages, Mary. Postmodernism. University of Colorado, 2003