Education in Culture Essay

Education in today’s world is far more different from the education it was before. Nowadays, as technologies and industries progress onwards, the need for education becomes more vital. Education is about learning and also teaching skills. As a part of the society, education has played major roles not only on passing culture from one generation to another but also in helping establish a more stable society. Education also denotes on the process of drawing out certain skills or making someone realize the use of some skills that he has on its own. And as the world develops, the entirety of education also has changed. Now, it encompasses different disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, biology, history, sciences, sociology and many others. Education is believed to have started once a person is born and ends until he dies. Each and every person defines education differently from others. Education can be attained even without the presence of proper schooling. It is the experience and the applications of the things learned that counts on what one has attained. Different cultures in the world have a different point of view on the idea of education. Their definition and ideas about education is highly embarked on the way they spend their everyday lives, how they eat their food, how they please their gods or how they rear their young. Basically, perspectives about education and how learning is done in a particular place is based on their culture. The United States is one of the countries that belong to the Western culture. Its culture started even before it became a country. Now, as the world progresses and along with the different factors of culture combination and transfer, the United States is one of the diverse and multi cultural nations. Due to the strong British ties that have happened in the past, the United States’ culture is greatly influenced by the British culture. Other influences also include European countries who once take part in the history of the US such as Poland, Italy, Germany, Ireland and the Natives of America. Due to rampant migration and trade during the past, the western part of Africa has also played important roles in the structure of culture of the United States today. As one of the leading countries in the world today, the culture of the United States requires education as one of the needs of its each and every citizen. In its education system, children ranging from the ages five to six are necessitated to attend school. At the age of five most children starts schooling in kindergarten, then, they attend elementary from ages six to eleven, middle school from eleven to fourteen then high school from fourteen to eighteen. There are two forms of education in the States: public and private. Public education in the United States is funded by the federal government and by each of the individual states. These funds came mainly from the taxes in the city of the states and not as education fund given by the federal government. On the other hand, private education in the United States receives little or no government support at all. And since most of the private schools are governed by religious organizations, these private institutions are disqualified from direct government support. Students who have graduated from the secondary level may still pursue education in universities. There are different Universities in the States. Some are funded both by the local and federal government and some are governed by private institutions. Due to the status of the United States in the world today, it is one of the countries in the world with the most advanced and most extensive educational systems and procedures. Education as a primary requirement in the States is offered in all levels: from the children to the youth and even to the adults. Aside from learning as its main propose, education in the States seeks to promote wisdom, democracy, nationalism, equality and development not only of the state and the country but also the self. References: Greenberg, I. (2007). Vocational education, Work Culture and the Children of Immigrants in 1930’s Bridgeprort. Journal of Social History. Volume 41. No. 1. Reed. T. V. (2007). Popular Culture: Resources for Critical Analysis, Retrieved, November 23, 2005, from http://www. wsu. edu/~amerstu/pop/. USA Study Guide. (2007). American Culture: US Culture Info. Retrieved, November 23, 2007, from http://www. usastudyguide. com/americanculture. htm.

A short History of Maria Montessori

A Short History of DRP. Marl Interiors and her Methods Teaching a two years old child how to be Independent, responsible and confident sounds Impossible, but more than 100 years back an Italian doctor named Marl Interiors made It possible. As she believed â€Å"the study of child psychology In the first years of life opens to our eyes such wonders that no one seeing them with understanding can fail to be deeply stirred. Our work as adults does not consist in teaching, but in helping the infant mind in its work of development. (What is Interiors preschool? By David Khan p. ) Maria Interiors was born on 31st August 1870 in Charitable in Anaconda, Italy. Her father Alexandra was old-fashioned man with military habits; however her mother Reining was an educated woman which was very unusual in those days. They were a middle class family and Maria Interiors was their only child. When Maria Interiors was around five they moved to Rome and a year after she started school there. Interiors wa s an ambitious girl with a strong personality.She was good at mathematics and wanted to be an engineer, but later on she discovered her love for biology and her final decision was to study medicine. Her father was against her Idea of studying medicine since In those days only boys could become doctors. Although she took her flirts degree, she struggled a lot to make her way into the medical university and by that she was the first female medical student in Italy. Maria Interiors thought that this was the end of her struggles but actually it was Just the beginning. She faced difficulties by being the only woman student.The students which were all men were insulting her when she was passing the corridors and they tried very hard to frighten her away but that did not work. She even assisted a dead body in a room by her own, because it was not proper for a girl to dissect a body in front of men. For her that was not a pleasant experience as she said â€Å"there, on the other side, the skeleton – ever more enormous – seemed to move. ‘My God, what have I done to suffer in this way? Why me all alone in the midst of all this death? ‘†¦. A shiver ran through my bones. † (Marl Interiors by Michael Pollard p. 5) On that night she became feverish and her mother told her that she do not have to go back to the university, but the next morning Interiors decided to go back and finish what she started. In 1 896 she graduated and became the first female physician in Italy. After graduation she worked in psychiatric clinic in the university of Rome for â€Å"idiot† children. In the room where the children were there was nothing for them to handle or play with, there were only benches for them to sit on. The children were clean and feed but after meals they throw themselves on the floor to pick up the crumbs of bread.DRP. Interiors thought that this cannot be right, therefore something need to be done to help these children. She went t o Paris and visited the Procurable Institute where she studied a lot of people. The first to study was Jab Marc Gaspers Atari; he was a physician In the Institute of deaf-mutes in Paris. In his late twenties a boy around eleven years was brought to him, he was found In the woods around Everyone. The boy was more Like an animal and scientists from all around the world came to see him. DRP. Philippe Pine an expert in insanity was nothing can be done. Tara disagreed with him and thought that the wild boy needed training, so he took him home and named him victor. His house keeper helped him to train victor, she loved the wild boy and she was helping him to socialize. ‘Tara used trick methods and tried to teach him language, he even isolated his senses. The boy learned only few words Milk and God; therefore ‘Tara gave up on him and took him back to the institute. Interiors was interested in how the wild boy could not learn language even though he was able to hear.She began he r investigation on when children need to learn language and she even took the isolation concept from ‘Tara. The second person she studied was Detoured Segueing a doctor who studied medicine under ‘Tara. Segueing wished to enter the dark world of the â€Å"idiot: children and he accomplished that in a short period. He had an experiment on an â€Å"idiot† boy and he was able to train him by using his senses. After the training the boy was able speak, write and even count. Segueing used gymnastic equipments and tools used in daily life to train the boy.He used beads to thread, pieces of cloth to be buttoned and laced, different sized nails to be inserted in matching sized holes and other tools to help the boy learn the daily life skills. Interiors found what she was looking for after studying Segueing and she decided to study education for the first time in her life. For two years Interiors was training teacher in special methods of observing and educating feeble-mi nded children in Orthopedic School. The children there were sent from elementary schools to asylums as â€Å"idiots†, because they could not function as well as the others.Interiors spent eleven hours during the day observing and teaching the children by using different materials and methods. At night she would write up her notes on what she sees during the day. She worked really hard with these children as she said â€Å"those two years of practice, are my first and indeed my true degree in pedagogy. â€Å"(Maria Interiors, A Biography by Rata Kramer p. 98) Some f the children learned to read and write and they even were able to pass the same exam that was given to normal children in the primary grades. DRP.Interiors thought that the only reason that these children could pass the test is that they were taught in a different way and she wondered why the normal children had these results, as she said â€Å"While everyone was admiring the progress of my â€Å"idiots†, I was searching for the reason which could keep the happy healthy children of the common schools on so low a plane that they could be equaled in test of intelligence by my unfortunate pupils. (Maria Interiors, A Biography by Rata Kramer p. 91) Maria Interiors had an affair with DRP. Montanan, but they never got married and no one knows the reason.Between 1898 and 1901 her son Mario was born and as it was not acceptable for women to have a baby without a marriage Mario was sent to live with a family in the country. Interiors visited him but not often and until he was a teenager he did not know that she was his real mother. After that she gave up work at the psychiatric clinic and went to study philosophy and psychology on her own. She also translated and copied out with her own hand ‘Tara and Segueing works room French to Italian. Few years later in Rome wealthy bankers decided to put money to improve life of people there.They started with a building unit in San Lorenz, the pe ople who were living there were very poor and illiterate. When they went to work their little children were left in the streets and that was the first thing children between two and six years old. Interiors accepted that as she always wanted the opportunity to work with normal children. She was given a room with few furniture, therefore she asks for support from society women to help her collect funds for toys and material. She also found the daughter of the caretaker Candida Enunciate who was untrained and put her in charge of looking after the children.Interiors believed that the women in charge of the children should be someone who lived in the same place. On Jan 6, 1907 the Case die Bambini was officially opened. On the first day the children were scared and they were wearing a thick blue smocks which made them uncomfortable as they could not move freely. Interiors was not there very often, she sometimes visited only once a week to observe the children. One day she brought some materials that were designed by ‘Tara and Segueing and on her next visits she observed some changes in the children. The children preferred the materials she brought in rather than playing with the toys or drawing.There were social changes, their personalities grew and they even showed understanding in the activities they were doing. For months Interiors was observing the changes in the children and discussed that with the teacher. Later on she gradually began creating and modifying the ‘sensory material'. One day when Interiors came for a visit Candida was upset and told Interiors that she forgot to lock the large cupboard that contained all the material and when she entered the mom she saw that the children have opened the cupboard and took the materials out.Candida thought that children were thieves and they had to be punished, but Interiors looked at it as accomplishment. She thought that the children were ready to work; therefore they choose to bring out the materia ls and start working. From here Interiors decided to get rid of the large locked cupboard and replace it with a long low one were the children could take any materials they like to work with and return it back when they are finished. She also changes the tables and chair and got hem in child-size were the children could carry them and move them around easily.Interiors wanted to provide the children with an environment where they can be spontaneous and free. Her aim was to make the children independent and teach them to do thing by their own, as she said â€Å"Education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual and is acquired not by listening to words but by experience in the environment. † (Maria Interiors by Michael Pollard p. 33). She soon opened another Children House in San Lorenz for the privilege children. These years that DRP. Interiors spent in San Lorenz and her experiment there, made her famous in Rome.Couple years after her name travel ed all around the world. In the early sass Interiors was asked to be the government inspector of schools in Italy and she was promised by Mussolini his full support for her method. Interiors liked the idea of being supported be a powerful government, but soon things changed. Mussolini's government was planning for a war and asked Interiors to Join all the Interiors schools in his Fascist organization. She did not agree with him, therefore over a night all Interiors schools were shut down and Maria Interiors went to Spain.She stayed in there for a short time as after two years the civil war broke out and another Fascist took over Spain. By that time Interiors was reunited with her son Mario, but still no one knew that he was her was a separation between him and his first wife. Interiors wanted a place to settle with her son who had become her assistant and with her grandchildren which became close to her. She was offered to live with her friend in Holland, soon she settled there with her family. Two years later she received an invitation to go to India. In the same time a war broke in Europe and Interiors went to India few months eater.At that time in India there were a number of Interiors schools and teachers that were trained by DRP. Interiors. The people there respected her and even built her a special village where she could lecture and train her students. She stayed there for around six years and it was one of the happiest times in her life. When the war was over Interiors returned to Holland, but she still was traveling around the continents to give lectures. On May 6, 1952 Maria Interiors passed ways in her friend's garden in Holland and she was buried in a Catholic church at Narrowing-on- Sea, in Holland.She wanted to be the citizen of the world and to be buried where ever she dies. Interiors struggled to be the first female doctor but gained respect from scientists all over the world and her words about peace and education flew from one country to anot her. Maria Interiors a women that did not have a happy personal life and did not have a chance to take care of her own son, touched the lives of others and changed the children's life. â€Å"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world† (Maria Interiors, homeownership. About. Com) that is what she believed.

Islame Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Islame - Essay Example He was able to mobilize faithful under the Muslim religion and the contemporary objective among religious leaders, to ensure converts and spiritual nourishment of faithful, influences them to draw inspiration from Muhammad’s success as a spiritual leader. Muhammad’s ability to attract people and convert then to his opinion also had political aspects that politicians look regard. Success as a political leader is another feature that has established Muhammad as a religious and political role model. His service to the state was adorable and is what most politicians want to convey, as their potential, to the public. The role of faithful in building the society also establishes Muhammad’s leadership as a trait that religious leaders wish to emulate. Muhammad’s was also a moral personality who ensured just judgements and the role of ethics in attaining and maintaining leadership positions established the prophet as a standard for religious and political leaders to emulate. These features have influence on the Muslim community and they consider Muhammad a religious and political role

Electrically Driven Membrane Processes Research Paper

Electrically Driven Membrane Processes - Research Paper Example used for purification of water that does not necessarily require removal of dissolved organic constituents and waters that only requires removal of 3,000 mg/L dissolved solids. Having limited number of rivers to supply fresh water in United Arabs Emirates (UAE), the large amounts of surface water and brackish ground water need to be purified to boost the nation’s fresh water capacity. The UAE government states that drinking water should meet the basic standards set for drinking water. Electrodialysis facilitates wastewater reuse besides providing other myriad economic benefits. Electrodialysis desalting systems are electrically driven and have the capacity to remove high percentage of dissolved salts. According to Loveless, Aamir and Ghaffour, ED systems use membranes that are derived from ion exchange materials and are reinforced by open weave cloth for physical strength (1355). Subjecting the membrane to electrical current makes the solution on one side of the membrane to be partially desalted while that on the other side gets more concentrated hence moving ions from the region of low concentration to highly concentrated region. The present paper is a survey study on the problem of fresh water in UAE and how electrically driven membrane processes can be useful in boosting water supply. Usually, water is a critical resource for human, animal and plant life. However, the biggest percentage of water available contains substances that make it unfit for not only human and animal consumption, but also to support plant life. This survey report was developed as part of the global efforts seeking to shed more light on water re-use and reclamation. The data used was collected over a decade with most of it having been derived from local agencies that plays a role in water recycling. This survey report is strictly designed for educational use and was complied with a view of providing detailed overview of dissolved organic constituents’ management through application of

The Movie Crash Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Movie Crash - Essay Example The movie avoids conversations leading to the topic on racism the author and journalist Jeff Chang tends to feature the practice as an â€Å"abomination to Hollywood subsequent to 9/11.†When an individual watch the movie for the first time; elements of race and prejudice appears evidently present. In as much as, the movie constantly talks about the issue of shoving racism, it ends up contradicting the message as the movie constantly voices, the advantages and superiority; that the whites enjoys in the film (Haggis et al, 24). The whites in the movie crash tend to enjoy superior positions, both in social class and economic settings. White characters such as; Jean and Rick Cabot, acted by Sandra Bullock with Brendan Fraser correspondingly, appear as prominent individuals in L.A socialites; characters like Rick, works as the District Attorney of Los Angeles (Haggis et al, 124). The society in the film comprises wealthy black producers like Cameron Thayer (Terence Howard), who des pite their wealthy status, experiences social insecurity. Tony Danza, a television chief producer, another white character tells Thayer, who appears black; to ensure that one of his actors brings out a â€Å"more black† personality as the character must appear â€Å"as the dumb one.† Characters like John Ryan, who appears to be played by Matt Dillion, and Tom Hasan Played by Ryan Phillippe appear as police detectives in the Los Angeles Police Department. The film clearly depicts that no white character that is seen struggling with financial discomforts. At this juncture, most of the alternative characters appear as impoverished or defenseless socially in the society (Haggis et al, 110). Michael Pena’s, acts as Daniel, a young Hispanic, family man, who has a young daughter appears as a working class. The daughter appears to sleep under the bed, on hearing the gun shots, the audience, which scared her. Her fears come the incident when a bullet penetrated into her room, in their former old house they had just vacated; Daniel later comments saying that the area’s neighborhood appeared as insecure (Haggis et al, 124). He operates for a 24-hour locksmith who leaves for a call at jean and Rick Cabot’s residence; he bumps into two youthful Black car thieves named Antony (Ludacris) and peter (Latez Tate). Jean demands the change of the locks as she believes that Daniel might give the key to his supposed friends, appearing as members of the gang. Daniel overhears the statement that Jean made as he was in the down Hall way. Daniel is also seen fixing Farhad’s convenience store’s back door. Daniel tells the store owner that the door requires replacement; the idea appears to disturb Farhad, the older Persian man, engages in business, misinterprets Daniel’s quest. Daniel and Fahad end up shouting at each other; at this juncture, Fahad terms Daniel as a fraudulent man (Haggis et al, 111). There exists another Officer na med Ryan; Ryan’s encounters a situation where he must contend with racism. The racism originates from Ryan father’s retrogress in life. Ryan appears underprivileged, in a way that he struggles to get the basic items including food and shelter. These appears as movie demonstration, despite the fact that, they appear slightly exaggerated, displaying how the wealthy individuals resides in the States (Haggis et al, 122). Contrary, the whites enjoy a distinct group comprising of Americans

Fall Protection in Residential Construction Essay

Fall Protection in Residential Construction - Essay Example However, a number of Federal rules have recently been enacted to protect residential construction workers from falls as well as limit the occurrence of such accidents. The OSHA fall protection in residential construction requirements particularly describes a number of methods that can be used by residential construction employers to protect their workers against fall related injuries and deaths during the construction process. Despite providing a number of potential benefits including preventing loss of lives due to fall related accidents, fall protection in residential also comes with a number of challenges and limitations. This paper critically discusses fall protection in residential construction with particular focus to the examples advantages, disadvantages and consequences of the various fall protection regulations for residential construction. Fall Protection Standards and Regulations There are a number of both Federal and state regulations that have been primarily designed to provide technical measures aimed at reducing the number of fall related accidents and fatalities. Prior to the issuance of the new directive, OSHA’s interim fall protection compliance regulations provided most of the fall protection guidelines used in residential construction. ... One of the new compliance directives that were recently issued by OSHA is the requirement that all employees working at heights of six feet or higher must use safety nets, guardrails and fall arrest systems as part of their protection against fall related accidents. According to the new OSHA directive, fall arrest systems include wearing a full body harness, lanyard, deceleration device and an anchor point. The use of scaffold protects the workers from the falling related accidents during construction. The scaffold used in any construction must be unbending and appropriate in the weight it carries to prevent construction materials and workers from falling. The scaffold is advantageous for it is only in rare cases where it usually falls. These scaffolds are on the other hand of a disadvantage nature especially in cases of overload, where it has caused death of workers as a result of the falling materials. Well-fixed ladders and other important personal fall protection systems protect workers from falling while constructing buildings. The use of ladders enhances the workers can move to very high heights of the buildings without falling. The use of ladder is a technical means of construction for it requires a correct ladder for any chosen task. It on the other requires a capable person both visually thus making the ladder use disadvantageous. It is preferred in most cases because it a cheaper protection measure from falling. Additionally, depending of the circumstances, alternatives such as warning lines or restraint systems are often part of OSHA requirements for fall protection in residential construction. Nevertheless, OSHA can exempt construction employees from the full requirements of fall protection regulations if they are able to document and prove

Peace Treaties and Blame for the War__WWI Term Paper

Peace Treaties and Blame for the War__WWI - Term Paper Example try with biggest responsibility over the war was attributable to the belief by other allies that Germany was responsible for the war.3 Countries that participated in the war were exhausted and their economies destroyed. Almost every family was a casualty of the war. In particular, French land was completely in a mess and Germany was held responsible for the damage. France wanted revenge over Germany and wanted her to be punished and crippled for causing her destruction. This was meant to teach Germany a lesson to deter her from instigating another war. With tremendous growth in the Europe in the 20th century, there were tension that this kind of growth could lead to emergence of war to maintain the levels of trade and technologies. The increase of social unrest and political struggle characterized the tension. Before the 1870s, Germany was made up of several minute kingdoms instead of one united nation. In the 1860s the kingdom of Prussia instigated a series of conflicts aimed at uniting German kingdoms. In 1870s, the North German Confederation entered into conflict with France and Bismarck. This led to the Franco-Prussian war that forced German rout the French. In early 1871, the country was united and the treaty of Frankfurt ended the war. Although Germany wanted to unit its kingdoms and become one nation, the events that followed saw the emergence of war that led to destruction of the economies of the allies. Boundaries were a common goal of Germany in the effort to unit its kingdoms. However, the method used led to involvement of other territories such as France, something that led to war and loss of life of territories that were not concerned with the interest of Germany. Therefore, the punishment of Germany could be argued to be justified since she had already caused political differences between countries bordering it. Although the war had a positive impact in that Germany was later united, the means of acquiring the one state was not justified. Besides,

Spoon ringartist statement Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Spoon ringartist - Personal Statement Example The inspiration for this format was the idea of a child tying a balloon to her finger, and watching it bobbing along as she walks. The round head of the spoon represents the balloon, and the twisting silver parts below are designed to wrap around the finger like string. It can be worn as a ring with the spoon part as decoration, or it can be actually used just like an ordinary spoon. There is a small gap between the twists of the silver which allows the spoon ring to be attached to the rim of a teacup or coffee mug. This particular use of the spoon ring turns it into an unusual piece of tableware which creates a striking sculptural outline, rising up from the level of other pieces of china on the table just as a balloon naturally rises in the air. A third functional feature of the spoon ring is that it can be set down on the table with the spoon part up in the air. The twists form a secure cylindrical base, and this ensures that the spoon, with any sticky or wet substances attached to it, will not touch the table cloth. This is practical and hygienic, solving the problem of stains and contamination passing to and from the spoon and the environment. Overall, the piece is intended to be fun. It is a talking point and a demonstration of thinking in unconventional ways about everyday objects. The owner of the spoon ring can slide from one application of the object to another, starting with the conventional appearance of the ring, and moving to a practical use in tea or coffee drinking, and then finally showing two different ways of storing the object after use – on the table or on the cup. This reveals that things are not always what they seem, and that there are multiple ways of enjoying everyday

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Project Management - Essay Example It cannot it should not be understood the project manager is somehow the be all and end-all of mitigating all problems; however, with regards to the firm or entity in question, they do not have purview over the means by which government bureaucracy or other aspects of the international or regional economy function. Ultimately, they are only capable of directing within their own scope and utilizing their own people as a means of effecting noticeable positive change with respect to the overruns which are to be discussed. It is hypothesized by this researcher that adequate project management within the United Arab Emirates with regards to construction projects has a noticeable effect on the means by which time and cost overruns are realized. Of course the difficulty with regards to this particular research is level and extent to which corresponding research questions can effectively be engaged and answered as a means of drawing inference upon the preceding analysis. As a function of thi s, the following research questions will be asked: What percentage of project managers have prior experience in excess of five years What percentage of project managers exhibit specialized project management training beyond mere higher education What percentage of firms operating within the United Arab Emirates utilize the mastic project managers in order to affect time than monetary constraints To what level to project managers in a given firm integrate with one another within the course of their duties? To shareholders within these companies think favorably or not favorably with regards to project management Naturally, this information will not readily available and must require a questionnaire and/or survey in which affect. Moreover, the research objective be to determine the level to which project management integrates with and positively and/or negatively affects the rate at which cost and time overruns are experienced within construction projects within the United Arab Emirate s. Is the hope of this author that through such an analysis, United Arab Emirates construction industry may experience an increase level of efficiency due to being able to understand the best means of utilization that project management can provide. Similarly, with regards the overall feasibility of the study, it must be understood that this it is only constrained by the level and extent to which the researcher is able to go in order to gain the necessary feedback and input from the stakeholders within the process. If the study is performed to a sufficiently small number of firms and/or stakeholders, the level to which inference can be drawn will necessarily be reduced due to the fact that the results will not be able to shed light upon a broad range of issues and will otherwise really focus upon the means by which if you entities without for sponsoring to the survey/questionnaire. Conversely expanding the survey/questionnaire to include a very large number of respondents will mean that the researcher will spend the majority of time gathering tabulating information without having enough time to sufficiently extrapolate based upon the inputs that are thus far been received. Accordingly, it is the

Motivational Theories and Factors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivational Theories and Factors - Essay Example So, it is better to be an active listener of others and we can motivate effectively. Invest more time with the workers and perform as a pure listener to them. Presence of supervisor or manager gives various concepts of motivation like responsibility, confidence, loyalty and commitment to the employer. Stefanie Hoffmann observes; â€Å"These concepts not only provide motivation in the sense of increasing performance but also the loyalty and commitment of the employees to the organization† (Hoffmann, 2007, p. 111). Rewards are essential part of motivation and rewarding the outstanding achievements of workers or employee provides them motivation. Find different methods to appreciate the achievements of people in public. Rewards include gifts, financial supports, and certificates, lunch programs and initiative board. It is important that exact communication is essential for why the employee is being rewarded or appreciated. To understand the strength and weaknesses of the employee is an important responsibility of an efficient manager. Help employees if they need special assistance and coaching .An efficient manager eliminate the weaknesses of his worker and enhance their strength through help and assistance.

How Have Other Peoples Readings Of Translations Helped You Essay Example for Free

How Have Other Peoples Readings Of Translations Helped You Essay How Have Other Peoples Readings Of Translations Helped You To Understand The Contexts Of The Play In Scene 1? The first act of Friels play Translations features many different contexts ranging from the infamous potato famine to hinting at the possible forming of the present day IRA (the Donnelly twins,) and politics. One of the major contexts that also coincide with the title of the play is translation. The translation of Irish name into English name. I only realised this by reading a Canadian writers essay on language and its importance in Translations. Especially in relation to Owen and his take on the Irish language. Where as many Irish people, at the time, saw the English to be taking away Irelands identity by colonizing it and changing names, language etc. Owen seems to be naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and miss this. By changing place names they are not only taking away identity but also something more intimate, a part of their lifestyle. Hence when the English mistake Owens name to be Roland it seems to be Manus who is more frustrated by this whereas Owen says Owen Roland- what the hell. Its only a name. Its the same me, isnt it. The importance (or un-importance, depending how you want to perceive it) of names is brought up firstly at the start of the play when Manus is teaching Sarah to speak. It is important to note that the first thing Manus teaches her to say is her name, also her identity. Owens ignorance for the colonisation is shown again when he says, my job is to translate the quaint, archaic tongue you people persist in speaking into the Kings good English. One quote from the particular essay by the Canadian writer says The Gaelic tongue is becoming obsolete in the wake of colonisation, Owen has boarded the ship of progress disassociating himself from his foundation. Similar, in a sense, is Maires view on the English language and that it should be learnt. Maires view links in with another context shown in the play and that is the focus on dead languages, such as Greek and Latin and soon to be dead, Gaelic. By researching Irish history at the time the play is set, it is easier to gather an understanding for the wanting of Maire to learn English. Dr Leon Litvacks paper on the historical and colonial context of Friels Translations illustrates this. Maires reference to Daniel OConnel, the disillusioned veteran who founded the catholic association, OConnel preached that it was necessary to learn English in order to allow Ireland to progress in a quickly modernising western world. Hence Maire wanting to learn English rather than a dead language such as Greek or Latin as this will be necessary if she is going to immigrate to the United States. One interpretation of the play is the focus on schools. Being set in an illegally run hedge school, a place where Catholics turned to for education after the penal laws were instated. The time the play is set is during a major transition period when the English are trying to get rid of hedge schools and introduce new national schools. It has been shown by statistics that half a million Irish children received illegal tuition through hedge school. This links in with the whole idea of translations, as at the new national schools, where you were forced to go to by law, the language you would be taught in would be English, no longer Gaelic. To some people This was a problem but to others like Maire, English was seen as the language of opportunity. The old language was a barrier to modern progress she quotes from the famous Daniel OConnel. There is an increasing amount of tension being built up in the first act with regards to the devastating potato famine. There is a sense of dramatic irony being shown as well. Seeing as the play is set in the 1830s this is only a short time before the potato blight occurred in 1845.this disaster caused the population of Ireland to drop from eight million down to six million. It is believed that one million people died of starvation while another million were forced to immigrate to start new lives in Canada and America etc. It is obvious to the audience that the famine will occur but the characters in the play are blind to this even though the clues are all there. This is why the audience tend to sympathise for their negligence. Even when Jimmy Jack suggests to Doalty he should plant something other than potatoes, which is the correct thing to do, he just comically shrugs off the remark, Too lazy be Jesus to wash himself and hes lecturing me on agriculture! Bridget also brings up the subject of the blight and its distinctive, ominous sweet smell, only to be aggressively dismissed by Maire. Sweet smell! Sweet smell! Every year at this time somebody comes back with stories of the sweet smell. Sweet God, Did the potatoes ever fail in Baile Beag? Well, did they ever-ever? Never! This is where the audience really begin to sympathise, as they know of the catastrophic effects that will soon occur. Although Friel has not written the play from a biased or political point of view it is still possible to find the idea of the modern day IRA being formed in this play. This becomes more noticeable as the play progresses. Although it is still possible to get an idea of this from Doaltys seemingly harmless antics with the British soldiers and his constant dodging of questions involving the Donnelly twins. Manus arent they at home? Doalty No. Manus Where are they then? Doalty How would I know? Even the stage directions in this particular section lead us to believe something suspicious is going on, Doalty begins whistling through his teeth. Suddenly the atmosphere is silent and alert. To be able to understand that this may be about the IRA, background reading about the times the play is set and when the play was written (the 1970s, a time of great trouble and political unrest in Northern Ireland.) is necessary. The 1970s were a time when tension between Northern Ireland and England was at a peak. This also was around the time of the infamous Bloody Sunday. So it is possible that Friel may have tried to incur some of this in to the play. Although Seamus Deane says Translations is a sequence of events in history which are transformed by his writing into a parable of events in the present day. The play has also been described as an enlightening metaphor for the situation in Northern Ireland. The many contexts featured in the play are extremely important as they add a framework or shell to the play allowing it to go in many directions. Although it features so many different contexts Friel is quoted to say that Translations is to do with language and only language. Therefore not historical contexts. To become more familiar with the play and its many contexts background reading and the reading of other peoples interpretations are essential. By reading theses criticisms I have become more aware at how Friel has made the play so effective by setting it in the specific era. By doing this it makes it easier for the audience to see how the recent condition of Ireland spiralled way out of control originating in the mid 1800s. It also gives greater depth to the tragedy that will eventually befall and that the audience know the tragedy is coming but not on so many levels. Overall it is essential to at least to some form of background reading in order to understand the play to a higher level.

AirAsia Business Case Study: Strategy and Environment

AirAsia Business Case Study: Strategy and Environment AirAsia is one of the leading airlines corporation of Malaysia that performed exceedingly well in terms of its past investments and the profits that it made out of it after its relaunch. It was acquitted by a private entrepreneur Tony Fernandes when it was highly under debt. The sudden changes in the profit graph came to the surface soon when it announced its first profit right in seven months of its re-launch. The innovations in strategy and investments brought immense amount of profit to the company in the following years. It invested amounts on new and effective services and cut shorted various not essentially required expenditure to reduce the overall cost. With the implementation of its successful LCC model, the whole business model of AirAsia was changed and it became first Airline Corporation to have no-cost, no-frill concept to lower the prices by 40-60% than its rivals. The results were quite beneficial as it announced its first profit as US$6 million in December, 2002. The corporation kept on expanding its business with the opening of three other hubs within Malaysia to have more share of market size on domestic air flights in Malaysia. It also invested in to have regional flights to its neighboring countries like Thailand and Indonesia with its collaboration with Thailand Shin Corporation and Awair. This made AirAsia to have cheaper airlines to the neighboring countries. AirAsia soon emerged as the largest domestic airlines in Malaysia with the expectancies of over 18 million passengers in the year 2007. With its partnerships with various LCCs, the corporation performed well enough for its long-haul regional services. Its joint ventures with the LCCs like Australias virgin blue, the corporation got a big share in the expanding market of Australia. Its market kept on expanding over the years with the commencement of its flights to even the far cities like London and also for close countries like India and China with the net income reaching over US$ 44 millions in the year 2008. B] STRATEGIC POSTURE The mission of the corporation is to provide high-quality but low cost flying services to all type of passengers. The corporation being a part of airline industry, it missions to become the leader of the market by implementing its smart strategies and sharp business skills. As quoted by its owner Fernandes, he overtook the corporation during its declining stage as he advocated the correctness of time to enter the market because of charter aircraft price and abundance of skilled aircraft staff. The company has been consistent in following its goals and objectives throughout in its performance in the past decade. The corporate objectives were innovative and highly efficient with its symbolic acquisition of its own by Tony Fernandes, joint venture with Thailand Shin Corporation, Awair, Singapores Tiger Airways, etc to provide a broad destination options for its customers at the right times when it was needed. The business model was reconstructed with no-frills, low cost carriers (LCC) w hich brought immense amount of profits to them. The business objectives were to get not only the quality customers but the quantity customers with its seats available in different schemes and at different prices for all type of class of customers. They were constantly consistent with each other to provide exactly what the customers wants and what actually can be managed. The functionality objectives were always to cut down the economic fair of air travel by either performing to get reduced charge from the passengers or providing effective routes for them reducing their net expenditure on travel. It also added various value-added services like online booking, SMS booking, and bookings through call centers, etc. AirAsia soon became the integrated service provider from being a classic LCC product in its functionality to provide maximum attraction to its customers. The objectives were also consistent with the environment of the corporation. Even during the hikes in the prices of oil in mid-2008, the corporation didnt let the fairs go that high which was quite helpful for the corporation in beating off its competitors. The AirAsia opted for various cost-effective, customer-oriented and highly innovative strategies to shape its business model to reach its ultimate missions and objectives. With its innovative low-fare, no-frills concept it highly reduced the cost of air ticket such as by having just a single standard cabin, paid meals instead of pre-paid free meals, etc. The corporation found efficient ways of reducing the expenditure on travel by the customers while expanding its domestic and international business. Like for example, the short-haul flights took less than four hours for travel which provided it opportunity of having the return of the flights on the same day conserving many of the expenses of the corporation. The company also launched its long-hauled air services at the time when many of the LCCs were reluctant for that. All the strategies or mix of strategies were consistently aiming at gradually achieving the goals and the objectives of the corporation and dynamic with the changing internal and external environment. The corporation adopted bold and dynamic policies to achieve its objectives. The corporation first concentrated only on the domestic market and modified its business model to LCC. Then, gradually and steadily corporation expanded itself to first neighboring countries and then internationally across the continents. The missions, objectives, policies and the strategies clearly reflect the companys goals to achieve success not only at domestic level but also the international level (KO, 2009). EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: A] NATURAL PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: SUSTAINABLE ISSUES Opportunities: The physical environment around the corporations site of business is climatically categorized as equatorial, being hot and humid throughout the year. The climate is favorably well enough to support the flight take-off, landing and flying. The physical location of Malaysia also favors the growth of the organization as it is well connected to the seas and oceans and so for its long-haul regional services, the corporation does not require to manage the permissions to cross the airbase of other countries. In this way the surrounding physical environment of Malaysia provides fair opportunities for AirAsia. Threats: Coming to the threats involved with the natural environment, the well connection of the country to other continents through seas and oceans provides enough opportunities for the journey through ships and Cruzes too which somewhere indirectly can effects the market of AirAsia. The Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia is also a prone area for tsunamis and earthquakes that could affect any industry. The hot and humid climate also affects the working capabilities of the crew. These types of physical environments are also present in few other parts of the world and the same opportunities and threats exist there too. B] SOCIETAL ENVIRONMENT: Economy: The economy of Malaysia is a newly industrialized and state-oriented economy that plays a significant role in the success of AirAsia. The speedily growing economy of the country allows more and more customers to be able afford the airlines travel cost that makes a lot in the growth of a privately owned airlines especially it was relaunched soon after the nation came out of the financial crisis of Asia in 1997. Technological: The technological advancements in the fields of Information technology and Communication have led the value-added services of the corporation to work effectively. Political-legal: The political condition of Malaysia had also been in favor of the corporation as its acquisition was highly welcomed by the Malaysian government and there had been no conflict between the corporation and the governance of the nation till now. Socio-cultural: The hospitality of the people with their own diversity in food, cloth, etc and scenic beauty has always made Malaysia as a tourist spot for the tourists all over the world that has again proved a benefiting factor for the corporation. C] TASK ENVIRONMENT The forces like natural environment, external investments, location of hubs, rivalry with competitors, financial crisis, government policies, etc are the major forces that drive the industrial competitions. These forces vary from country to country as the economy; political, cultural conditions are not the same for every country. The following forces are listed with their ratings: Threats for new entrants- Medium Bargaining power of buyers- Low Threats of substitute products or services- High Bargaining power of supplier- Low Rivalry among the competing firms- High Relative power of unions, governments and special interest groups, etc.- High The key factors in the immediate environment affect a lot to the corporation. The government policies decide the taxes, establishment of hubs, permissions of number flights, etc. The loyalty of the labor unions ensures the smooth functioning of any corporation. The suppliers, providers, creditors always affect the quality of the services provided to the customers. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT A] CORPORATE STRUCTURE Following is the way as the corporate structure of Air Asia at present (Organizational Structure, 2009): The structure is as we can see in a horizontal manner which means hierarchy is horizontal in the company. This is obviously something good for the company as interaction with lower level employees becomes easier for the above level of the employee or vice versa. Structure is comparable with most of airline firms as they also have the same horizontal hierarchy. B] CORPORATE CULTURE Corporate culture of the company is mainly base upon maximizing the value of shareholders. It also mainly believes in giving safety to the customers. It believes in giving maximum satisfaction to the customers with leaders in the cost structure It believes in transparency and development of human capital. Company is very much compatible with the employees and their diversities as it is providing employee satisfaction to all of its employees The company is similar in the cultural values like similar organizations as most of the organizations in the aviation sector have the similar cultural values (Strategy, 2006). C] CORPORATE RESOURCES- 1. MARKETING: The current marketing objectives of the corporation are to get maximum number of customers of all types by making such schemes in which everyone can be accommodated. Its tagline Now Everyone can fly says the basic fundamental concept behind its marketing objectives. The corporation effectively found the ways of getting the most effective routes to suit both its cost and customers satisfaction. The corporation has kept on adding and modifying its features and value added services to provide maximum offerings to increase its sales. The company has also strongly stuck itself to LCC principles. The corporation has also recently announced the commencements of its flights to even far-off places like London. The corporation has not only offered cheap tickets but also the services like travel insurance, etc. The free tickets on the basis of its point to the customer are another such offering. All these have also been dynamic and corresponding with its performance and availability of budgets. The company has very well performed on the basis of its current market position and the position from which it had started during its relaunch. The company has enough promotion and publicity in media through its publicity strategies. The fares of ticket have always been kept as low as possible despite of all sorts of problems coming up like price hikes of oil, etc. The company is even the sponsor of the famous Manchester United Football Club and ATT Williams Formula one team to have its world-wide promotion. The market size of the company is expanding with the launch of its several multinational collaboration and establishment of the joint ventures in Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, etc. Besides, its primary product of airline tickets its several other products include internet check-in services, Xpress boarding services, mileage programs, Citibank-Air Asia Credit Card, etc. The company is able to earn for the same product easily from the developed region in comparison to that in dev eloping region. This shows a trend that the basically the marketing strategy of a company should cover every section of the society in order to have maximum profit. This trend had been a fair impact on the success rate of a company and surely will be in the future too. The marketing of its products gives the company massive advantage over its competitors. The marketing strategies of the corporation have beaten all its major competitors both in terms of profits and customers satisfaction. The marketing managers have accepted these tools and techniques to evaluate the performance of a product. Marketing is highly dependent upon the political and socio-economic conditions prevailing in a country and hence same marketing strategy cannot be applied for adjustments in all the countries. The marketing takes an overall account in every dimension and hence the environmental sustainability has to be a guiding factor in marketing policies. 2. FINANCE: Corporations current financial objectives, strategies, policies and programs have been with high hopes of return. The corporation had to invest much on the purchase of flights, managing the crew of a debt-ridden firm and maximize its scale in a very less time. The finance has been clearly mentioned but under the limitations of its past performance. They have been exactly consistent with the objectives, policies and strategies of the corporation. The corporations finance in the activities of setting up of hubs within and outside Malaysia with the collaboration of other corporations helped them to gain several direct or indirect benefits. Its financial services like holiday products and all, charge for meal as customer desires, online and SMS bookings, medical care, etc did enough cash flow but in return it got enormous level of attachment with the customer who would always like to stick to AirAsia for its services. The smart finance policies of finance showed a trend of financing the long-term goals and objectives without compromising with the immediate ones can be an effective way to earn maximum economic profits. The past effects are already shown by the AirAsia and in future it is expected no less. This analysis strongly supports corporations past and pending strategic decisions. The financial success in terms of returns provides company with a competitive advantage. The financial performance of the corporation can be very well compared to others with the fact that out of many corporations based on LCC, it became number one in 2008. The profits were always high and when the MAS tried to have a price war it had to suffer huge losses. The finance is quite adjustable to the condition operating in various countries. The coping up of finance with global finance issue was also very well proved by the corporation during the period of global recession. Also, the finance managers play a very important role in strategic management as they are the ones who evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of the strategies made and implemented. 3. OPERATIONS AND LOGISTICS The current service objectives, strategies, policies and programs of the corporation are not much different from those meant for the organization as a whole. They are meant for sale but with ensuring of its reputation and sustainability in the market. The services provided by the AirAsia are accurately meant for achieving its mission and objectives. They are clearly stated and structured with the requirement in the market. Also, they have always been revolutionary and innovative in their respective approaches. The cost effective and high quality services have the capabilities of not only bringing the ultimate customer satisfaction but also the favorably high returns of profits. Although the company has now started to focus internationally but still it has not been deviated from its initial aim of becoming the market leader of the domestic market. The purchasing is being handled on the very basis of its requirement. The other points to be highlighted are vulnerable to unexpected natural disasters, local or international strikes, hikes in prices of the materials and the other issues. 4. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT The corporation has also effectively managed its human resource to benefit all. Even during its relaunch it didnt cut short the employees. It even saw the opportunities in hiring the skilled professionals, workers and other employees. Their objectives and strategies were again consistent with the corporations missions and objectives achieving the satisfaction for all even its own employees. There was not even a single considerable instance on clashes between employees and the top managing employers. The policies straight away indicate that they are simple, well stated, less dependent on the performance of the corporation and satisfactory for all of its employees. There have been less grievances, strikes and lay-offs which have been a great cause of success that has been achieved by the corporation till now. The commitment and loyalty of the employees as outcomes of proper HRM can be proved by the instance when Fernandes appreciated the staffs positive work ethic to overcome the finan cial issue of mid-2008. 5. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The role of Information Technology was another important factor involved with the successful AirAsia. The current objectives and strategies of the corporation regarding IT is to advertise its features and services, add the services and products to the catalog and solve various issues regarding the customer care with direct interaction with them. They are clearly defined with no dependence on budget or performance. They have been implemented for the better accomplishment of corporations goals and objectives. Many of the value added services are handled by IT by providing the travelers with the interface for online booking, internet check-in service, cancellations, etc. The Real 5 star rating was another example of this kind. The IT played a very important role in assisting the managers in taking the decisions and decides the immediate strategy. The database of the customer could be easily maintained, the complaints of the customer is speedily managed with the help of Information Technology. This analysis emerges a trend that in this era of boom in IT sector, the appropriate use of IT is a must for any kind of business. This had a positive impact on the business model of AirAsia and surely with the expansion of IT sector the positive impact obviously would be there. STRATEGIC FACTORS Four Important Internal Factors: The marketing innovations and its implementation. The smart finance policies with the fixed priorities which should also be at the correct time. The proper use of available manpower, avoiding confrontation among them for maximizing the proper functioning capability of the corporation. The efficient use of the resources like Information Technology, etc. Four Important external Factors: The government policies and the relationships with the government. The natural environment and the calamities that can unexpectedly occur. The economic, social and cultural factors of a country. Rivalry with other corporations. The current mission and objectives can be justified in the light of available resources, problems and the environment and they are achieved and will be achieved at an appreciating rate in the future looking at the present prospectus. STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES: The corporation can further go ahead with more effective use of IT. The dual seat system can be implemented in domestic level too. The corporation has enough expanded and it can now open its chain to other South-east Asian countries, where such strategies would be highly invited. BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY ADOPTED BY AIRASIA The business model of AirAsia is well established and fairly ideal for other industries as well. With the perfectly set goals, mission and listed strategy ensures the well functioning of the corporation. Foundation of the corporation is based upon low cost, efficiency, stimulation of new markets and strong cash flow. Strategies highlight the concepts of simplicity, quality services at low cost, etc. And the vision is to continue to be lowest cost in the market. The corporation started its business with just three aircraft in 2002 which grew to the number 72 in 2008. The corporation has enough popularity in print and electronic media. With its low cost and high quality services and the customers satisfaction with the products of the corporation, the corporation has emerged out as a market leader in the industry. According to the porters five forces model, absolute cost advantage, government policies, fulfillment of capital requirements, its proprietary products, value added services, and the importance given to the supplier clearly indicates that the strategies opted by the corporation are suitable for it. The buyers inclination to the substitute, switching costs, and corporate stakes are the obvious risks for the corporation. (Porters Five Forces: A MODEL FOR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS)

School trip to the forest

School trip to the forest Introduction I was six years old when we had a school trip to the forest in order to explore the local fauna and flora. When we walked through the forest I started noticing little white circles that were sprayed onto the bark of some old and sick looking trees. One week later, I found myself at a bus stop with my mum. Waiting for the bus was always very boring for me and therefore, I usually started interpreting the advertisement posters with my newly acquired reading abilities. One poster caught my attention immediately. This very poster had a baroque cross on it and it said something in a language which I did not understand. My mum explained me that day, that this was a poster of Scientology. On the bus we had a long conversation about sects and what they do and what they are. I assume that I was a bit too young to understand the whole dimension of the term sect but since that day, for many years, I was convinced that the white circles in the forest must have been some secret mean of communicat ion and that some sect would meet there every now and then to do some of their practices. Looking back at this now, I surely notice that the white circles were simply a mark for probably old or sick trees that needed special attention from the forester. However, being six years old I was sure that I discovered something extremely secret and hidden. In February 1748, Adam Weishaupt was born in Ingolstadt. Through his father and godfather he was taught the ideas of the enlightenment. Furthermore, he was a professor at the University of Ingolstadt for canon law and philosophy. The enlightened thinker Weishaupt struggled with the old and conservative Jesuit order at the university. He started studying the writings of the freemasons and in 1776 he founded the Bavarian Illuminati, an order which was intended to spread the ideas of the enlightenment. In January 1933, the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of the German people. One year later, due to the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler was proclaimed ‘Fà ¼hrer and Reichskanzler which made him the head of state. From this extremely powerful position Hitler started his crusade against Jews, communists, foreigners and other ‘enemies of the German Reich. In April 1994, the lead singer of the grunge and rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his home in Seattle. With three times the lethal amount of heroin in his body, the musician took a shotgun, put it into his mouth and shot himself. In September 2001, terrorists hijacked commercial passenger air planes. Two of these planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City. Apart from the hijackers and the plane passengers also many people working in the towers were killed. Within, two hours both of the buildings collapsed and Ground Zero was erected as a memorial for the victims. All of these events and people are connected through the fact that there are conspiracy theories evolving around them. The illuminati are still often referred to as being the driving force behind global events and there is the popular theory among conspiracy believers â€Å"that the new nation was about to be taken over by the Bavarian Illuminati†. Adolf Hitler developed probably one of the most influential conspiracies which blamed the Jews for the loss of the First World War and the misfortune of the people in Germany. The death of Kurt Cobain and inconsistencies in the crime scene investigation caused the quite well known murder theory of his death. Lastly, the events of September 11th 2001 are probably most discussed in conspiracy theories. Several theories exist in which it is assumed that the US government actually initiated the attacks. Other theories claim, that despite the thousands of eye witnesses there were no planes what so ever. Whereas even other theories argue that shortly before the attacks happened a UFO could be seen and that these attacks were caused by aliens. Conspiracy beliefs have guided the human kind through many centuries of history. When considering the freemasons and the illuminati it becomes visible that conspiracy theories are by no means a contemporary phenomenon. Especially strong superstitious beliefs in the past gave rise to some influential conspiracy theories which led to the prosecution of witches and heretics, for instance. Despite the fact that conspiracy beliefs are rooted in the past, many sources speak of an increase in conspiracy beliefs especially among the population. Michael Barkun, professor at the Syracuse University in the state of New York and author of the book â€Å"A Culture of Conspiracy†, termed the belief in conspiracy theories as an â€Å"emerging cultural phenomenon†. Also the researcher for folklore studies at the Oregon University, Daniel Wojcik, claims: â€Å"Ideas and images about the end of the world permeate American popular culture and folklore, as well as popular religion, and ar e expressed in films, literature, music, poetry, [†¦], and commercial products†. The fact that conspiracy theories seem to gain more hold within the people seems intriguing and should be investigated. Therefore, the thesis for this paper will be: Despite the claim of insanity, conspiracy theories have become an important part of our contemporary thinking and due to popular culture, especially the mass media, they seem to be taken more and more seriously in our contemporary society. One of the main sources for this essay will be the book â€Å"A Culture of Conspiracy† by Michael Barkun, which offers a great approach to the dynamics of conspiracy theories. Furthermore, this essay will discuss the nature, types and functions of conspiracy beliefs and the role of the mass media in the spread of those. Lastly, this paper will analyze if there was actually an increase in people believing in conspiracy theories. The Nature Of Conspiracy Theories The New World Order, millennialism, area 51, black helicopters, UFO sightings – those are terms usually associated with conspiracy theories. But what exactly are conspiracy theories? What functions do they fulfill for the people who believe in them? Is it possible to speak of â€Å"factual† conspiracy theories? These are questions that will be approached in this essay. First of all, a formal definition of the term is needed: â€Å"A conspiracy theory is a belief that a group of people are secretly trying to harm someone or to achieve something. Usually this term is used to suggest something unlikely or even paranoid†. This definition mentions important criteria of conspiracy beliefs. One of the most important is that something is happening in secret. Due to this secrecy the conspiracy believers are convinced that they are the only ones who know the truth and that they need to spread the word to the unknowing population. Another aspect of conspiracy theories is that they connote a degree of paranoia. When speaking of a conspiracy or of someone who believes in conspiratorial theories, we usually incline that this person is mad or paranoid. A good example for this can be found in Friedrich Nietzsches ‘The Gay Science. In section 125, a madman runs around exclaiming the often quoted statement: â€Å"God is dead†. This exclamation can be interpreted as a conspiracy theory which the madman is attempting to spread. However, the viewers of this scene see merely an insane person: â€Å"Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; they too were silent and looked at him disconcertedly†. The madman and his beliefs are not taken seriously. Moreover, a very problematic criterion of conspiracy theories is the fact that they are non-falsifiable. Conspiracy theories are usually termed this way because they lack evidence or logical explanations compared to the official theory. It is most of the times impossible for believers to prove their theory. However, conspiracy believers are convinced that â€Å"information that appears to put a conspiracy theory in doubt must have been planted by the conspirators themselves in order to mislead†. This means that even information or evidence against the conspiracy is seen as a proof in favor of the theory because it must have been brought up by people who try to cover the conspiracy. Therefore, no matter what kind of evidence it will always speak in favor of a conspiracy theory. Types Of Conspiracies Barkun differentiates between three types of conspiracies: event conspiracies, systemic conspiracies and superconspiracies. In an event conspiracy, the conspirators are believed to be responsible for only a limited, discrete event. Systematic conspiracies are characterized by broader goals, such as gaining power over a country, a certain region or even the world. However, only a single group of people or a single organization are believed to take part in this. In a superconspiracy multiple conspiracy theories are linked to more conspiracy theories and global events. Superconspiracies are characterized by the belief that everything is connected. This paper will mainly deal with the identified event conspiracies. Although Barkuns book â€Å"A Culture of Conspiracy† displays an excellent theoretical approach to conspiracy theories it seems slightly narrow when it comes to different kinds and beliefs of conspiracy theories. Barkun generalizes conspiracy theories and theorists as believers in UFOs, alien intervention in global events and the New World Order. However, he does not discuss the possibility that there might be people, who do not believe in supernatural interventions in earthly happenings but who still believe in alternative explanations for national and international events that deviate from the official explanation. For this reason, two different categories have to be integrated into the types of conspiracy theories. This paper will differentiate between supernatural and factual theories. Supernatural conspiracy theories include, among others, beliefs in aliens, UFOs, the New World Order and millennialism. They are irrational and non-falsifiable as nothing supernatural was ever able to be empirically proved and verified. Most certainly, these theories are the reason why the term ‘conspiracy theory has a paranoid or even insane connotation. Furthermore, theories about the freemasons and the illuminati will be included into this category. The main focus of this paper will be the so-called factual theories. Factual conspiracy theories incline the secret involvement of an earthly group, organization or even state in global events and affairs. The murder theory of Kurt Cobains death as well as the theory of US state involvement in the 9/11 attacks constitute examples for this kind. However implausible these theories may sound, they do have a slightly more rational nature. They deal with an issue that could be verified or falsified with access to the right information. Nevertheless, this information is usually impossible to attain which also gives these conspiracy theories a non-falsifiable nature. So eventually, it still comes down to belief or disbelief. However, it is important to mention that these factual theories reduce the paranoid connotation of the term ‘conspiracy theory. The Case Of Anna Politkovskaya The events surrounding the death of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya is now used to explain the plausibility of factual conspiracy theories. On October 7th 2006 Politkovskaya was shot four times in the elevator of her apartment. Politkovskaya dedicated her life to the conflicts in Chechnya caused by the Russian domination. After the Russian troops brutally crashed down the separatist revolts in Chechnya after the first and second Chechen War the Russians reestablished their hegemony. However, the separatist cry for independence still finds proponents among the Chechen population. The Russian government is accused of using torture and other violent means to suppress these movements. This conflict has caused human rights activists such as Politkovskaya to investigate into and demonstrate against the Russian practices in Chechnya. Along with these demonstrations activists and demonstrators were held in custody without a legal basis. The events in Russia and Chechnya have caught the attention of many human rights organizations. In 2007, the human rights watch proclaimed: â€Å"Russia has ignored a series of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights on Chechnya, fueling unchecked violence in the North Caucasus. Following the recent murders of human rights defenders there, the Council of Europes Parliamentary Assembly will decide on September 28, 2009 whether to schedule a debate to focus on the dangerous conditions for human rights defenders in the North Caucasus†. Politkovskaya was only one journalist and Kremlin critic that was murdered in a series of killings. However, Politkovskayas case has drawn global attention to the events in Russia and to the declining freedom of speech: â€Å"Her killing underlined the shrinking freedom allowed dissenters in Russian society, provoked international outrage and cast a shadow over Vladimir V. Putins Russia†. Not only the actual murder of Politkovskaya are a doubtful subject but also her trial was perceived as flawed and manipulated from western media. All of the four convicts were cleared of their charges and evidence such as a video of the assassination as well as photos and a sim card completely disappeared from the trial scene. The newspaper which Anna Politkovskaya was working for, Novaya Gazeta, suggested that the â€Å"conspiracy was planned at a much higher level†. In the case of Politkovskaya the Russian state as well as the Russia-oriented Chechen government disclaimed any involvement in the murders of any of the journalists and human rights activists. This claim can be seen as the official explanations of the journalist killings in Russia. Therefore, the theory that there is state involvement to some degree can be seen as a conspiracy theory. However, especially in the western part of the world it seems as if the state-involvement-theory around Politkovskayas death seems to find more and more acceptance. Due to unlawful arrests of demonstrators, several killings of other human rights journalists as well as the disappearing evidence from Politkovskayas trial it becomes more and more plausible that there is some kind of higher state involvement. In this sense, the events and conspiracy surrounding the death of Anna Politkovskaya can be seen as a factual conspiracy theory which has started to gain more and more proof as well as proponents all o ver the world. The Functions Of Conspiracy Beliefs Why do some people believe that Anna Politkovskaya was shot on order of the Kremlin whereas others do not? How come some people find it plausible that the US government initiated the attacks on the World Trade Centre whereas others think this extremely far-fetched? Conspiracy theories fulfill certain functions in the minds of the people and in the population as a whole. They can show a certain distrust of the people in what is official presented to them. Furthermore, they constitute another kind of choice that we have in a consumer society. Moreover, they can be seen as a new form of scapegoating. The following sections will analyze why people believe in conspiracy theories and what other options those theories offer to them. Conspiracy Theories As A Sign Of Distrust Conspiracy theories can be seen as a general sign of dissatisfaction and distrust that people have with the government, society and the system in general. Jodi Dean, professor for political science at the Hobart and William Smith College in the state of New York, stated: â€Å"[†¦] conspiracy theories, far from a label dismissively attached to the lunatic fringe, may well be an appropriate vehicle for political contestation†. Probably every country experiences every now and then affairs of corruption among politicians or within larger and well-known companies. Furthermore, everyone is familiar with parties or politicians who do not stick to their election promises. Those experiences fuel the feelings of distrust and skepticism. Many people show strong doubts of the trustworthiness of information that they get about the acts and deeds of the governments. Barkun points out: â€Å"[†¦] where political matters are concerned, there is no longer a consensus reality about the causes of events and reliability of evidence†. Furthermore, in our globalised world everything gets more interlinked. Big companies as resources for employment, gain more and more power in the political landscape of the countries. Moreover, the media coverage of events increases which makes it easier for people to hear about events all over the world. It can be argued that the increased media coverage leads to a rise in the imagination of people of what could happen or what could be going on. This development can lead to the described distrust into the governments and to the fact that conspiracy theories seem plausible to the people. However, this does not mean that people completely discard the official explanations. It merely inclines that people believe that the alternative explanations provided by the conspiracy theories seem imaginable. Conspiracy Theories And The Paradigm Of Choice In 2004, the American psychologist Barry Schwartz published the book â€Å"The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less†. In this book he argues that we have reached the height of a consumer society in which it might happen that choice â€Å"no longer liberates, but deliberates†. Schwartz describes the various areas of life in which we can choose these days, such as education, career, friendship and religion. On top of the field of religion one can place the general category of belief. In our society, people can choose what to believe in and what they find believable. Whereas some people believe that the earth and the species were created by god, others find this completely incredible and support Darwins theory of evolution. Choice is a crucial aspect of our lives. Schwartz points out that: â€Å"Choice is essential to autonomy, which is absolutely fundamental to well-being†. Although, not directly implied by Schwartz book, it can be argued that conspiracy theories constitute another choice that we have in our society, namely a choice of truth. The issue of belief and what we believe in is vital to human choice. Schwartz explains that: â€Å"[†¦] we make the most of our freedoms by learning to make good choices about the things that matter, while at the same time unburdening ourselves from too much concern about things that dont†. Continuing in this line of thought, beliefs are essential to a persons existence and personality: â€Å"Existence, at least human existence, is defined by the choices people make†. In order to choose we need to be able to believe and we need to be able to assume that our choice will bring about a desired outcome. When choosing our beliefs we have a choice between religions, political parties, movements of any kind and many more. However, the term belief also inclines that we have a belief in what is going on and how things work. When it comes to our own lives this is quite manageable and even if we feel that we do not know how we work we can go to a specialist who will clarify this for us. Nevertheless, when it comes to a more general truth, something that we cannot check or see for ourselves we need to rely on sources telling us the truth and making us believe. The field of ‘truth however, seemed to be ruled by the monopoly of official explanations. Obviously alien involvements, for instance, in several earthly events often served as useful alternative theories for believers in superconspiracies but there was no real choice for people who did not believe in supernatural happenings. As outlined before, it is important for people to on the one hand have choices and on the other hand to b e able to make choices about things that matter. Due to this, conspiracy theories offer a choice in truth to people or as Schwartz would put it: â€Å"Individual customers are free to ‘purchase whatever bundles of knowledge they want, [†¦]†. A New Form Of Scapegoating Explanations to negative events usually involve something or someone being blamed for having caused a negative outcome. It is a very common psychological phenomenon that in order to handle difficult, sad or even traumatic events people need someone on whom they can produce their anger, fear, frustration, sadness etc. Scapegoating is a special form of blaming in which â€Å"[†¦] a hostile social-psychological discrediting routine by which people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a target person or group† is performed. By blaming the terrorists of Al-Qaida for the 9/11 attacks the US government has found a scapegoat for the public. This does not mean however, that the US government invented a new scapegoat. They merely found a group of people that was called responsible for the attacks. Most definitions of scapegoating involve that the scapegoats feel they are wrongly accused or persecuted. As Al-Qaida did claim responsibility for the events the US government was right in proclaiming this. However, the scapegoating process started in the minds of the people. Through generalizing, a large amount of people started to belief that it is the Muslims as a whole who try to cause damage to the western world. Continuing on this line of thought, conspiracy theories have a similar effect. They are merely alternative explanations for events but also they include the element of blame. So instead of blaming Al-Qaida for the attacks on the World Trade Centre they blamed the US government and instead of only blaming the murderers of Politkovskaya they blame the Russian state. Therefore, it can be concluded that conspiracy theories fulfill the basic functions that official explanations accomplish. The only difference is that the target of their blame is usually dissimilar. However, some articles argue that conspiracist scapegoating has a much larger effects than other kinds of scapegoating: â€Å"When conspiracist scapegoating occurs, the results can devastate a society, disrupting rational political discourse and creating targets who are harassed and even murdered†. The analysis if scapegoats that evolved out of a conspiracy theory are more in danger than those that evolved out of official explanations for events would go beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, the medieval witch hunts as well as Hitlers conspiracy against Jews, Communists and foreigners might argue in favor of the claim that scapegoats made by conspiracy theories are in higher danger. Conspiracy Theories And Play In 1938, the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga published his work â€Å"Homo Ludens† which contains an exceptionally influential theory on contemporary culture. Literally translated from the Latin, homo ludens means something like ‘Man the Player. In Homo Ludens, Huizinga determines the play elements of contemporary culture and claims that culture itself bears the character of a play. Huizingas theory was mainly formed by the approaching fascism and the threats that it brought with it. However, his theory is still extremely influential in cultural studies and is used in order to analyze numerous elements of contemporary culture. Also conspiracy theories can be applied to Huizingas theory. Huizingas general idea of the nature of this play goes as follows: â€Å"Summing up the formal characteristics of play we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary life as being ‘not serious, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means†. This very complex definition can be unravelled into five most important qualities of play. First of all, play is supposed to be a free activity which intentionally stands outside of ordinary life and which is not seen as being serious. In addition to this, it is important to mention that Huizinga differentiated between ordinary life and higher culture. Ordinary life includes the basics of living and is not seen as an element of play. Higher culture however, is what Huizinga refers to in his play theory. Conspiracy theories partly fulfil this criterion. Conspiracy theories are a belief and beliefs and the choice of those, as outlined before, are important elements of our society. Therefore it can be claimed that conspiracy beliefs are a part of higher culture. However, those who believe in conspiracy theories do take this subject very seriously whereas other people might ridicule those beliefs. A second and third criterion for play is that it must absorb the player intensely and utterly and no material gain or profit must be achieved by it. Conspiracy theories complete this criterion. As conspiracy theories can be viewed as beliefs or also as persuasions, they will fully and intensely take in a person. Furthermore, it can be argued that thorough persuasions or beliefs of a person are not connected to material gain or profit. However, it can surely be claimed that some people hold certain views in order to gain material profit. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that those views cannot be considered an accurate persuasion. Therefore, one can assume that people who thoroughly belief in certain conspiracy theories do so without expecting any material profit. The fourth criterion states that this kind of play has to take place in an arranged manner within certain boundaries of time and space. Contemporary conspiracy theories usually evolve around contemporary subjects and events. However, conspiracy theories see history as a plot. Everything is interlinked and connected. Due to this conspiracy theories repeatedly deal with past and maybe even future events. However, the order of past, present and future is usually not confused or changed. The last main criterion includes that play supports the creation and development of social groups which are supposed to act in secrecy and which should differentiate themselves from other groups and people. It is very obvious that this element can be found in conspiracy theories. People who believe in conspiracy theories usually form a group with other people who agree with their event explanation and they communicate with each other. Secrecy is one of the main criteria of conspiracy theories as they incline that an action or event took place in secrecy and is trying to be concealed. Lastly, many psychological theories on group formation claim that groups include but also exclude. People who believe in certain conspiracy theories are therefore included into the group, whereas people who disbelieve are excluded. In this sense, group formation is also a mean of differentiating oneself from another group of people. Therefore, in conclusion it can be said that conspiracy theories can be seen as a play element in our contemporary culture. Conspiracy Theories In Popular Culture So far, this paper has outlined the nature and different types of conspiracy theories as well as their functions in the minds of the people and in the population as a whole. In addition to that, conspiracy theories have become an important part of popular culture: â€Å"The volume and influence of stigmatized knowledge [conspiracy theories] have increased dramatically through the mediation of popular culture. Motifs, theories and truth claims that once existed in hermetically sealed subcultures have begun to be recycled, often with great rapidity, through popular culture†. The main force behind this popularization of conspiracy theories is usually seen in the role of the mass media. However, popular culture also has the function of demystifying conspiracy theories. A common criterion of conspiracy theories is the fact that the believers think they are the only ones who know about this secret plot. By broadcasting the theories to an enormous number of people they lose their sec recy: â€Å"Once hidden, they are now revealed. Once intended only for the knowing few, they are now placed before the ignorant many. Once mysterious, they can now appear banal, the building blocks of not particularly distinguished popular entertainment†. The Mass Media And The Spread Of Conspiracy Theories The most crucial force in the spread of conspiracy theories is the mass media. Alternative explanations for events can be read in literature, internet and newspaper articles, can be seen on television and in the cinema and can be heard on the radio. The mass media is our biggest and maybe even most influential source of information. Conspiracy theories have long made their entrance into popular culture and mass media. Also Barkun describes this development: â€Å"Now, however, the boundary between the stigmatized and the mainstream has clearly become more permeable. Themes that once might have been found only in outsider literature or on the more outrà © Web sites have become the stuff of network television and multimillion-dollar motion picture†. When it comes to television, Barkun especially refers to shows like ‘The X-Files which were extremely popular, not only in the United States. The main focus of this series was to unravel conspiracies planned by the governments and accompanied through the help of extraterrestrial life. Furthermore, Barkun refers to films such as the 1997 Mel Gibson movie ‘Conspiracy Theory. In this movie, a paranoid taxi driver is convinced that many global events are triggered due to a government conspiracy. Barkun points out: â€Å"The appearance of conspiracism in major motion pictures signals a major change in the relation between stigmatized and mainstream knowledge claims†. However, one does not need to look into special conspiratorial films or series to figure out that the topic of conspiracism has been widely adopted by the mass media. Many mainstream films such as ‘Mission Impossible or ‘Three Days of the Condor evolve around conspiracies planted by governments or intelligence agencies. Furthermore, intriguing but admittedly quite propagandistic documentaries such as Michael Moores ‘Fahrenheit 9/11 contribute to manifest conspiracy theories in the mainstream. Many of these mentioned motion pictures serve to stimulate the imagination of the public. As already outlined when analyzing the functions of conspiracy theories, the broad and wide-ranging media coverage of different global events also leads to the fact that different views on events are accumulated. Furthermore, the media does not only show different views on events but also covers a wide range of events that happen all over the world. This together with conspiracy theories that can be found in mass media means of entertainment such as movies and TV programs leads to the increased imagination of people of what could possibly go on in their country or even in the world. Furthermore, it can be said that: â€Å"[†¦] the appearance of conspiracy themes in popular culture at least partially destigmatizes those ideas, by associating them with admired stars and propagating them through the most important forms of mass entertainment†. Considering this, it can be concluded that the media did not only spread popular conspiracy theories but moreover, did it de-condemn conspiracy theories to be only an issue to paranoid or lunatic people. By doing so the mass media made conspiracy theories which used to be considered as stigmatized knowledge available to a wide range of people. Barkun assigns another function to the mass media. Everyone has probably heard of the concept of surreptitious advertisement, when we see protagonists in a movie drinking a certain brand of cola or when they use a very popular new mobile phone

Teenage Themes in The Wave - Morton Rhue Essay -- essays research pape

The Wave by Morton Rhue (Todd Strasser) is a novel from a student’s perspective, as an authoritarian right wing movement called â€Å"The Wave† changes her school. Ben Ross, one of the teachers in the school, created it to try to show his class the reasons for the inexplicable behavior of the Germans when the Nazi movement spread through Germany. Laurie, one of the students, finds out how she is alienated from her classmates when she does not accept their values of conformity through unity. Thus, it demonstrates how easily people can be swept up by a movement not only in Nazi Germany, but also in the modern day classroom, where students are learning about the evil influence of the Nazi movement in World War II. This can be applied to teenagers, as it is a period of their lives where they are easily influenced, and in the book, relevant themes to teens such as bullying, alienation and peer pressure are conveyed. Bullying is the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something. As the Wave spread rapidly through the school, those who refused to participate or join as a member were bullied into doing so. Such was the case according to the article submitted to Laurie â€Å"Join the Wave— or else† where a boy was warned â€Å"he’d (I’d) lose all his (my) friends if he (I) didn’t join† by a senior boy. This is clearly an intimidation tactic to make the boy join, and hence you could class it as bullying. Another case of bullying happened when David tried to intimidate Laurie to discontinue producing the magazine that condemns the Wave movement by showing the bad parts to it. He â€Å"held her arm† and when she â€Å"struggled harder to get out of his grasp†, he â€Å"threw her down on the grass.† Immediately after, he realized he had hurt his friend, ... ... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group. Overall, the themes of bullying, alienation and peer pressure that are shown in The Wave reflect the negative aspects of the lives of teens. It focuses on how they affect people, in general, by showing the consequences for all the scenarios (e.g. someone being bullied). This is done whilst revealing the important history lesson from the Nazi movement as well as from the school –- you have to be vigilant because it can happen to anyone. Even though the students were taught of the evil the Nazi party was committing, they did not think that they would do the same, although they were.

Writings in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw :: Henry James Turn Screw Essays

Writings in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw Leon Edel, in his biography of Henry James, tells of an instance after Alice James’ death when Henry James discovered a collection of letters he had written to her.   James, aware that researchers would be all too interested in the details revealed in the correspondences to his sister, destroyed them.   Writers who gain notoriety within their own lifetime become aware that every written word will be inspected. James knew that documents relating to an author can be important to prove intention in the author’s work, as well as to look at personal relationships, friendships, or simply to acquire the details of a specific event.   He was fully informed that letters can reveal as much or as little as he chose to let them.   This knowledge explains why he used papers, diaries, notes, documents, plans, letters, manuscripts, wills, messages, decrees, telegrams, and other written communications as tools to advance his stories. For ease of reading, I will call these, coll ectively,   "writings." The frequency with which James utilizes these writings is surprising.   A few examples of these in his texts are: the telegrams from In the Cage, the messages and papers in The Aspern Papers, the letters (obviously) from A Bundle of Letters,   and the diary from The Visits.   Evaluation of these writings, within James’s literature has, until now, been ignored.   Within The Turn of the Screw, especially, writings tell a story about their own lives and deaths, about their readers, intended and unintended, and give clues to James’s own intentions and the intentions of the authors of the writings.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Many valid questions about these letters have been left unanswered by previous scholarship on this work.   For example, what do these writings in The Turn of the Screw reveal about the traumas at Bly?   What can they tell us about the past, about the ghosts, and about their unnatural deaths?   How does James use the story as a letter to his readers with other letters inside it, to characters in the text?   What can they reveal about their authors, and ours?   What do they say about their readers?   How do these letters hide each other, and the secret of their own importance?   Ã‚  Ã‚   Turn’s similitude to The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe is explicit.   Poe and James use the same device: they hide secrets, in a letter, by placing that letter in an obvious place.