Emancipation of slavery Essay Example for Free

Emancipation of slavery Essay The writer reflects the emancipation of slavery and how it influenced the American women. For many Americans (the slave owners), it was not possible to think that what will happen if they no longer owe slaves. It was natural for people who were used to the cheap and easy labour found themselves in the middle of nowhere. The demise of slavery gave rise to a new kind of slavery where woman could sell their body. For writer this idea of selling women seems new, but in many tribal societies around the world, women are still sold and bought. The idea of selling body was loathsome in society that was still Victorian in thinking. The moralist advocated ban on streetwalkers and prostitution; while state sought to legalize the body trade, it was this tussle that continued for decades. For many the idea of selling body was a reminiscent of slavery; but even the law itself was dubious about the prostitution. According to the idealist the prostitution stood as a† social system in which all was for sale†. It was this thinking that made prostitution or women at the edge a social issue. For Southerners slavery and marriage was one and the same thing; while for Northerner slavery and prostitution were one and the same thing. The Southerners were used to slavery and bondage, prostitution for them seemed a kind of outlet where they could vent out their frustration along with economic benefits. For Northerners marriage was a sacred idea hijacked by streetwalkers to lure loyal husbands and sons. The Southerners argued that by recruiting black women as slave prostitutes they are limiting the white prostitution again shows double standard. The Northerners argued that prostitution continued because the lusty men of South wanted it. For abolitionists it was unthinkable to mix market economy and family values together in one place. Ironically both of them used prostitution as deformation, but the reality was far different. The author failed to address the core issue of the North and South. The basic reason of differences between the North and South has been economics. In broader sense the North was rapidly modernizing and South felt threatened by it. Being more viable economically means more powerful, the South was still stuck up to agrarian economy. It was under these circumstances in the South slaves were more important compared to North. Being less modern and less developed the slave prostitutes were a source of income for Jones in the South and they could not give it away easily. For North it became ideological because they were already reaping the benefits of industrlized economy. Even in the modern world, prostitution is done by the poorest of the poor in the society. In present day American society, despite all freedom no one considers prostitution a respectable and honourable way of life. In simple words, the women who practice this profession are doing it out of economic necessity. In modern day America, government is willing to accept the porn industry legally regardless of how women are exploited for sake of huge tax that reaches US$50 billion per year. Thus we can say it’s the market economics that is still ruling American society. Reference Stanely, Amy Dru. From Bondage to Contract.

Vegetarian Diet Is It Good Or Bad Philosophy Essay

Vegetarian Diet Is It Good Or Bad Philosophy Essay God has created food in different varieties and there are different ways to obtain it, so it was clearly easy to anyone to differentiate in the way theyre obtaining there food and how they want to cook it and how they want to eat it. For instance we can say that some people might like to have their meat meal from a choose of different categories like well done, medium or rare, but rare makes up for the minority number of people. In other words its just as some people have got the privilege to eat meat some choose not to have a small amount of meat or even any meat at all, these people undergoes the title vegetarians, vegetarians can also be called veggies or vegans but both of the names both lead to a same meaning. Some vegetarians choose to be so in order to avoid the slaughtering and vigorous killing of living organisms and some of them are veggies just because they dont like the taste of a meat itself, also some may be forced to avoid eating meat and thats because of a medical iss ue or any motherly forced environment .Vegetarians and being one of them has its own pros and cons, like for instance its claimed by some people that vegetarian diet is considered to be healthier than a meat including diet but fights and rumors keeps subjecting this case mainly, as for example we can use as a start that a vegetarian diet lacks the mighty highly needed component the vita D12 which is essentially needed by the body and needs to be taken in diet in a way or another and on the other hand being a vegetarian effects the current personnel social life and these people are mostly left singled and alone in our now daily community and are often more criticized than meat eating ones. Another name could be given to non meat eaters (vegetarians) is to be the people who practice not to eat meat, fish and any milk products or even eggs. a commercial name that is currently used by vegetarians is veggies. According to the vegetarian union , the word vegetarian has never been there before 1840 i.e its not an ancient tradition its just 150 years old and the word itself was considered an official word that can be used world widely at the 1847 at a meeting of a society of vegeterians at the UK. Vegetarians are found throughout the whole global world, and they are categorized by different areas,relegions,cultures,and race. For example vegetarians can also be differentiated into two different subsidiaries lacto vegeterians and ovo lacto vegetarians also we have got the Islamic type of vegeterians which are given the name Halal vegeterians.To start with the difference between lacto and ovo lacto its a slight one though but it makes up two complete different communities so lacto vegetarians type are the traditional vegetarians that doesnt come close or eat anything that contains meat nor any dairy products unlike the ovo lacto in which this category of vegans can easily drink dairy products and can still follow the title vegetarians and these are mainly in the western countries so its not like all vegetarians never eat anything living, so coming back to the halal vegetarian which is currently and mainly followed by the middle eastern community (The Islamic community) and this b ranch of vegetarians forces its people to eat meat under certain Islamic laws and the meat or any living thing eaten must follow a certain Islamic procedures without having the free privilege to eat that meat. Some other people are forced ot become vegetarians because of their religion, like jews,Judaism, Jews follow some guidelines that they are forced to follow same as how we mention halal vegan diet in Islam. But in case Jews follow the guidelines in which its mentioned there the types of diet they are allowed to have and which is prohibited to them, this sort of food diet is given the name Kosher. Its also divided into several divisions in which some have meat and some dont and some just have dairy products and some dairy products are not allowed and some are just allowed in small amounts so their aint a single type of kosher diet. A huge step like turning to a vegetarian takes place under a series of vital reasons, it can be because of sympathizing with animals and them being slaughtered, well after all this is not considered the only reason that might make people turn from a normal diet to a vegetarian diet, some just tunr to being a vegan due to health problem or digestion problems like stomach pain or ulcers and the fact that eating less meat doesnt affect the body negatively as much as eating excessive meat can cause to a human personnel. And as discussed by the professor doctor Yasser ashour the dean of physiology that excessive meat and some people stomach sensitive to meat may suffer sleeping disorders,nausea,headache,even diarrhea. So being a vegetarian might also have a positive effect to some people around us excluding the fact of that are they forced to be a diet are they choose to be on their own. However some doctors and therapists may order the human personnel to immediately stop eating meat due to a disease or a tumor. Also meat eating can be limited when a person notice3s that hes suffering from high cholesterol level or high fat level as if he continues on consuming meat and being a meat eater, fat and cholesterol deposition may occur in the main arteries and may cause atherosclerosis and blood clot. Not eating meats stops many important life factors from being in a human life, as the vegetarian diet lacks a lot of meat important contents which is important for normal human growth and normal body functions. Its just like god created goats to eat green food, lions to feed on meat, trees to feed on soil contents and humans to feed on both meat and vegetables ,this must happen to maintain a stable life cycle. Back to meat important components is the vita B12, which is important for cell replication and movment,formation of white and red blood cells, it also plays a vital rule in pregnancy and to maintain the optimum growth of the fetus inside his mum umbilical region. The international vegetarian union stated that vita b12 is needed for optimum growth of a human being and that vitab12 can never be obtained from plants unless these plants are infected, they also stated that the human body doesnt require huge amounts of vita b12 in fact a 1 microgram a day is more than enough to maint ain a constant body fluidity. Which in fact shows the vital importance of vita b12 and that a deficiency in it is considered a huge problem and mainly effects the life of the personnel lacking it by causing sever nerve damages and neurogenic disorders which may lead to serious shocks for ex: Hypovelmic shock in which the body keeps internally draining blood. Although some vegetarians excluded all the above facts and stated that vita b12 can be actually maintained and compensated with a mixture of a nutritional yeast, although in the other hand vegetarians also claimed that the deficiency of vita b12 can be replaced by vitamin pills at which they actually excluded that the vitamin pills itself is made from an organic living content as we mentioned above vita b12 cant be obtained from any diet except a meat containing diet. On the other hand excluding the vita b12 importance vegetarians are also supplemented to a deficiency of an important fatty acid which can only be obtained by havi ng a diet containing fish. It was also proved by the anthropology researchers that humans who were found thousands of years ago who used to eat meat are identified with their large brains than those who didnt eat meat,it was explained in an article Human evolutionary anatomy by Aiello ,leslie christpher dean, It was explained that the main reason to proper growth of body and brain was known by our ancestors by eating meat which was considered the most high source of energy ,power, and calories and in fact was a main meal so as a result of people nowadays claiming to be vegetarians they are the reasons of them having smaller brains and also occupying a smaller mass than our old ancestor due to a decrease in body figure which is caused by a decrease in the main energy source which is meat. Some people turn into vegetarians to avoid the killing of animals. On the contrary, to serve the vegetarian diet, deforestation is needed to provide land for crops. As a result many animals will be homeless; being vegetarian has nothing to do with saving animals. Vegetarian diet kills animals too. Some of these animals are rabbits and mice. Also deforestation may cause soil erosion and water floods which may lead to severe extinction in some animal species and gives room for natural selection and may also lead to the death of water creatures. Another misconception about being vegetarian is that vegetarians live more than non-vegetarians. However, according to oxford vegetarians may live one to three years more than non vegeterians according to scientific researches. Vegetarians diet has decreased cholesterol and fatty acids level and the decrease in diet of meat and fish needs to be compensated by taking nutritional pills, which might be harmful and might negatively affect the personnel health. Socially, vegetarians are afraid of peoples sarcasm since some people see that as an awkward situation. Its only enclosed to adults, but also children are sometimes forced to eat meat by their colleagues or by just some sort of school bully. When a vegetarian is around people may act differently either being so nice and supporting or being really sarcastic. There are several ways in which animals are being killed before being supplied as food for use to easily buy and eat. these ways are divided into 2 main ways Mainstream way in which the animals are firstly stunned mechanically or by gas or even by electricity and then they are left unconscious and moved to another place where their throat is being cut off and then they are sent to the butchers to cut the meat into small pieces or left as a whole to be sold to meat companies or a other butcher shops, this was is commonly used in the uk following the prescribed Eu community of the Uk. This method of killing is considered inhumanly as for some cases the animals may wake up from the unconsciousness stage a might be fully conscious and feel the pain. this method is used with most animals even rabbits and other farmed animals. the other method is the ritual method in which the animal is being strangely hit till it looses consciousness but the darks side of that is that the animal may also gain back conscious before their throats are being cut off and may also suffer which is against the animal rights agencies. At last, it is agreed on that vegetarians are healthier than the non vegetarians due to their highly decreased percentage of fat and cholesterol usage level in the blood but as it is below normal, vegetarians should compensate this deficiency by taking some pills which is extracted from a non animal source. Nevertheless, it doesnt cause increasing their life spam as people may think. On the other hand, the pleasure of having a meat containing diet is being missed by vegans and that there is no religion forbidden eating meat unless it is done under each religions certain laws of eating it. In relation to the above, if animals should or must be killed then not by those painful means mentioned, instead by merciful means that doesnt put them through pain, and for people who are planning to turn to vegetarians take care of the deficiencies and dont let saving animals and caring for them lead u to miscarriage of yourself and ending yourself up in a poorer situation than an animal itself.

The Cultural Imperialism Thesis

The Cultural Imperialism Thesis In contemporary society, globalization has become an inevitable trend of the development. In 1985, Theodre Levitt first proposes the concept of globalization; it is used to describe the changes and development in the global economy. Since then, the concept of globalization gradually blends into other scientific areas and it rapidly becomes a popular topic in academia. Compared to the disputes on economic and political level, the conflicts of culture are more subtle and more profound. Tomlison (1997) points out that due to the imbalance of economic strength, accordingly, in cultural domain it is divided into dominant and vulnerable, that is the reason why cultural imperialism has been proposed. Therefore, maintaining the independence of their own culture in the exchanges of globalization has become the reason people questioned the cultural globalization. As Lechner (2012, p. 340) confirms that Modern media are carriers of globalization, global cultures are spreading through the media, such as the Internet and satellite television, it is the media which can turn the planet into a global village and make people feel closer than ever before. With the advancement of media and cultural globalization process, recent developments in this field have led to a renewed interest in whether the cultural imperialism thesis can be regarded as a way to understand media globalization, and it has been a controversial and much disputed subject in present society. This essay begins by tracing back some debates and the history about media globalization and then it will go on to demonstrate an understanding of the cultural imperialism and the key elements of it. After explaining some main critiques of the cultural imperialism thesis, this paper seeks to prove that as an increasing number of countries gradually recognize that it is important to protect and develop their local culture, the cultural imperialism thesis seems to be an unsuitable way to understand media globalization in the current international environment. Media Globalization Most scholars believe that globalization must be associated with media and communications, the definition of globalization indirectly acknowledged this point. Giddens (1990, p. 64 cited in Sreberny-Mohammadi, 2000, p. 118) defines globalization as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. What exactly links the distant localities? The answer will be the media. Due to the progress of media technology, the contact and communication between people from different places becomes more convenient, as Jameson (1998, p. 55) points out that globalization is a communicational concept, which alternately masks and transmits cultural or economic meanings. It is McLuhan (1964) who first recognise the role of media, although he proposes the term global village which seems to be a negative way to understand globalization. His merit is to illustrate the effect of com munication technologies in our social life. Referring to media globalization, it seems that the development of it can be grouped into different historical periods by three significant forms of mediums. To begin with, distances are no longer barriers to transnational communication because of the emergence of the telegraph. According to Thompson (1995), it was cable networks which connect Europe with China, Australia and South America, making mega mass audiences get information around the world. In the second place, Tomlinson (2004) states that the industrialized countries had been linked by satellite television. It had broken through the time and space limitations so that worldwide audiences can sit in front of televisions and watch the same events or soap operas at the same time. More exactly, that is the reason why teleplays like Dallas can be widely spread. Finally, as modern technology is advancing at a rapid speed, as a media carrier the internet has completely changed the way p eople get information. It brings information from different nations and diverse areas of the world to the individual computers or laptops. The performances of media globalization can be partitioned into three aspects. Firstly, as an important representation of the diverse national economy and culture, media products are spreading across the globe. People just need to press some buttons on the remote control or keyboard and then they will be able to access the media products they want from almost any country via satellite television or online media, such as news, TV programs and soap operas. As for many Chinese young people, they concern about Western technology news to learn about the latest electronic products, their mp3 players are playing the popular songs of Lady Gaga and Adele; American TV series are their favourites, such as Vampire Diaries and The Big Bang Theory. Media globalization means not only the dissemination of media products, but also the promotion of media commercialization which is becoming the universal media form. That is to say besides the media productions themselves; the proliferation of Western m edia form includes the type and form of programs and professional points and convention. Take Chinese TV program as an example, media studio buys overseas manufacture model and then transform the program to fit the viewing habits of Chinese audiences. Chinas Got Talent is the most successful case which comes from Britains Got Talent; it has recorded audience rating for three times. The second aspect of media globalization is the dominant position of transnational media company and market. The merger and acquisition of media companies have produced the large-scale media group; for instance, the seven main global media giants which are Disney, AOL Time Warner, Sony, News Corporation, Viacom, Vivendi and Bertelsmann (McChesney, 2000). Assisted by the supranational strength and nation-state strength, these media groups sweep across the globe through various technologies and agencies. Since the nation is no longer the provider of media service, the restrictions are released in media ownership and broadcast communications domain. Globalization embodied in terms of ownership structure, production, distribution and consumption of new transnational media systems. Through mergers and acquisitions, the media system which used to have distinctive national characteristics is becoming related to multinational media groups. Similarly, the production and consumption of media, such as film and advertising production and consumption has been globalized as well. Take Thomson Reuters as an example, since Canadian media giant Thomson Corporation merged with the British Reuters Group; it has become the biggest global financial information provider and the new company surpasses the majority of other competitors (BBC, 2007). Lastly, transnational media are dominated by global and regional production centres, and the information, productions and representations created by it are flowing through digital communication networks. In the meantime, the counter-flow exist restrictedly, the ruling media assimilates the contents and patterns of media from other countries selectively. Such as film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a story from China, but it is made by Hollywood. Similarly, the story of animation film Mulan which created by Disney is based on Chinese history. Although the culture and resources are taken from Chinese, the expression is global, and the producer remains a company of the United States. The essence of cultural imperialism Before discussing on the essence of cultural imperialism thesis, I attempt to explore some key elements primarily. Media: McQuail (1994) claims that the media is a window for people to see the outside world, a guide to help the public understand mass experiences, a platform or a truck to transfer information. However, McLuhan (1964) did not agree with the idea that the media is only regarded as a tool for carrying materials or information, in his view, the medium is the message. Every emergence of new media, no matter what the specific contents spread, the media form itself brings some information to human society and it may make some kinds of social changes. McLuhan (1964, p. 7) further explains that the personal and social consequences of any medium-that is, of any extension of ourselves-result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. The aim he raises the proposition the medium is the message is to remind people that the impacts caused by any media are more remarkable than their specific contents. In other words, what medi a can transmit is far more than the specific content; he tries to draw peoples attention off from the content to the media itself. McLuhan (1964) also highlights that media are the extension of man, users of media also are the contents of media because they are creating contents, in particular the users of the Internet. In his view, Internet users differ from other media consumers; no matter what they do on the Internet they always create contents. People are owners who can actively manage media and give orders. In the cultural imperialism thesis, the media establish connections between developed countries and developing countries, it can be separated into two categories, one is the productions of print media, television, radio and film; the other is consumer goods such as Coca Cola, McDonald. Through these approaches, Western countries can spread the information which they want to convey around the world. Media culture: Since the media play an increasingly important role in peoples daily lives, contemporary society is integrally entering into the media society, media and cultural communication has become a normal and major landscape for general public. In the concept of cultural imperialism, media culture is a culture of consumerism; the centre of it is capitalist values. Sklair (2012) proposes that there is a definite link between consumerism and global capitalist system which controlled by the capitalist multinational corporation in the 20th century. The special mission for global capitalist system in the third world is to promote consumerism and to allow consumers indirectly considering their consumption ability with overlooking their own productive capacity. For instance, developing countries import commercial television and programs from developed countries, transmitting western TV series, horror films, detective stories and cowboy movies, making people face a world which may hav e passed for years or did not exist in their real lives. Such media productions have a detrimental influence upon people in developing countries, eroding the national identities, restraining peoples creativity and spirit of participation.   Imperialist countries: Western developed countries, especially the United States. Nonetheless there are merely few numbers of these countries. After years of capitalist operations, they possess the majority of the worlds resources and accumulate enormous wealth which results in the unbalanced development of the world. Schiller (1991) confirms that they own not only hard power in political, economic and military domains but also cultural soft power which is preponderant as well. Developing countries: most of these countries had been independent after World War II; they fell behind the western developed countries in political, economic, military and cultural fields. It can be said that they are still depending based on the economy of developed countries. In terms of developed countries, the developing countries are huge consumer markets which they can instil Western culture and values and get benefits from. Control: Western countries heavily impact developing countries by making use of cultural imperialism; it is best characterized by settling differences with other nations and preserving from violation or infraction. Essentially, the core of cultural imperialism is Western countries, the circulation of global media productions shows an obvious imbalance-they circulate in one-way flow from western countries to the rest of the world (Varis, 1974). Due to the fact that Western countries control media systems and products, cultural imperialism enables third world countries make their economic, social, and political policies and public values similar to western standards. As a result, it seems that the five elements of the cultural imperialism thesis can be integrated in a structure chart: Transmitter à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ Imperialist countries à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ Communicating content à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ Media culture (culture of consumerism) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ Channels of communication à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ media à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ Audiences à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ Developing countries à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ Communicating effect à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ Cultural globalization Schiller (1976) stresses that cultural imperialism is not an isolated phenomenon; it is a part of the modern imperialism process. It has several practical characteristics in three aspects. First of all, the powerful countries in the economic domain, based on their powerful economic and capital strength, expand their economic, political and cultural influences to the rest of the world through the market. It results in a dominated and dependent relationship between the developed capitalist countries (especially the United States and Western European countries) and the developing countries (the Third World countries, such as countries in South America, Asia, and Africa). The products and fashion styles of developed countries propagate to other countries through the market, it may lead to specific patterns of demand and consumption, so that cultural values, attitudes and behaviours of developed countries can be consolidated and supported. Furthermore, cultural imperialism is an expansion of cultural values, that is to say dominating global culture through products or commodities which contain cultural values. In recent years, the Western national export cultural products to developing countries and make them accept their values, this causes the invasions in cultural survival and development areas in developing countries. For example, although China is one of the net exporters of films besides the United States (Morley, 2006), in the film market of Chinese mainland, the domestic films are heavily impacted by Hollywood films. Whenever Hollywood blockbusters like Transformers: Dark of the Moon is showing at major cinemas, the box offices of the Chinese domestic films in the same period are always poor. Since Chinese has been aware of the cultural soft power stands for a countrys overall image, one of the departments of authority called State Administration of Radio, Film and Television take several measures to support do mestic movies, such as the month of home-made films protection. That means each year, in a relatively settled time, there is only few import films, almost all of the films shown in cinema are domestic. Although this is done to protect the domestic films, this approach still causes controversy. While confronting these impacts, developing countries not only face the threat of industrial colonization form, but also face a lack of creativity of the cultural industry. Finally, cultural imperialism achieves cultural expansion through the dissemination of information products. In contemporary society, the strong cultures of western countries come to pervade peoples daily lives by means of mass media and popular cultural products such as radio, television, advertising, pop music, popular culture. Take the United States culture as an example; it permeates almost every aspect of our daily lives. A new Hollywood blockbuster could always start a watching boom around us; The pop music of American superstars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna is playing among most Chinese pubs and shopping malls; an increasing number of young people become fans of the US TV series; and the NBA show is an eternal topic for basketball enthusiasts. Main critiques of the cultural imperialism With the continuous development of the globalization process and rise of audience studies, as the person who first proposes the cultural imperialism thesis, Schiller meets enormous challenges from other scholars. Especially after the end of the Cold War, the cultural imperialism thesis has caused more controversies. To begin with, there are increasing numbers of theorists recognizing that the international communication process is a complex structure, the one-way flow explains of cultural imperialism oversimplifies this complex process of information flow. According to Cunningham (1996), media globalization is no longer a one-way flow of media and cultural products from the western countries to the rest of the world. In recent years, India has become to a major out-sourcing exporter, movies made by Bollywood have aroused extensive concerns. For instance, as one of the most popular movies, 3 idiots has evoked worldwide repercussions. BBC (2010) reports that it has broken records for Indian films in the US, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Fiji and Kenya. In the American well-known film website IMDB, this film wins a score as high as 8.2 points; in Rotten tomatoes, there are 92% of the audiences thinking that it is worth watching. In addition, the rise of Korean popular culture has aroused the w idespread interest not only in the Asian countries, but also in the Western countries. In a lecture of the University of Leicester, the professor takes Girls Generation which created by S.M. Entertainment as an example to illustrate popular culture. These examples showed that global media and cultural propagation is a multi-directional flow process. Secondly, the communication process is a complex structure, there is no definite uniformity between encoding and decoding, and the similar information can be decoded by the different audiences in different ways. That means audiences in the Third World may selectively accept information and values which made by western media corporations. Tomlinson (1997) criticizes that using media imperialism expresses the cultural imperialism thesis is not proven. He believes that the media is neutral; and it is just an intermediary of the communication process, it is neither a kind of ideology nor the core of modern culture. He also notes that audiences should not be regarded as passive receptacles of media productions; they cannot be dominated by media. Schiller (1991) concurs and further explains that there are a part of active audiences, they understand the information in their own ways, by their own judgment, most importantly, their understanding considered to have significance in cultural heg emony resisting. Above all, it seems that each audience has a different understanding of the same media products, and their attitudes are based on their own cultural background and experiences. They accept information which they identify with and in the meanwhile, excluding those they dislike and disagree with. To some extent, the decoding activities of active, critical and resistant audiences weaken the effect of cultural imperialism gradually. Lastly, the cultural imperialism thesis seems to overlook the continuing significance of national media systems and protectionism. Because of the fact that films of the US occupy 80 per cent of the European film market, While European movies only gets 2 per cent of the American market (Morley, 2006). In order to protect domestic films and television programs from the impact of the U.S. like products, some European countries (Canada and France) announce to restrict American imported media products (Tomlinson, 1997). With mention to the Middle East countries, as a representative of the Saudi Arabian national media system, Orbit thinks that a BBC program about criticizing the Saudi Arabian human rights has violated the law and culture of Muslims, then it banned the import and use of satellite dishes in 1994 (Sakr, 2001). To sum up, in the contemporary global environment, since an increasing number of countries realize to defend their cultural security, the force-feed type of the Western media productions spreading is becoming useless. The national media systems and protectionism play an increasingly important role in resisting the instillation of western cultures and values. Conclusion As a central topic of the political and academic debate in the present age, different scholars have diverse views and opinions about globalization. Held (1999) provides an overview of various perspectives on globalization, he states that all the views can be divided into three classes: Hyperglobalizers, Scepyics and Transformationalists. Differing from other two perspectives, transformationalists highlight that firstly there is no single reason resulting in globalization; moreover, as Giddens (1990 cited in Sreberny-Mohammadi, 2000) states that the outcome of the globalization process is uncertain. I agree with this viewpoint and in my opinion globalization is a complicated process, it cannot be easily defined as positive or negative, it must be understood in more complex ways. Above all, I argue that globalization is a process which is open and full of conflicts, its essence is to establish a system for culture of exchanging and communicating, consequently, it may create a new media pattern. Media globalization is an objective reality which caused by the development of economic globalization, and the emergence of it is an objective historical process of media development. The cultural imperialism thesis is a negative way to understand media globalization, and it oversimplifies this complex process of information flow. In this process, exchange, collision and convergence between different cultures are overall based on maintaining their own independence, it is a two-way process instead of a one-way course which makes majority of countries become similar to the Western style. In the process of media globalization, communication and integration of various cultures will not lead to cultural assimilation; in contrast, diversification which emphasizes the differe nces and diversity is the expected trend of human culture. Multicultural, not only refers to the cultural diversity, but also means the differences in deep-seated level of culture and these differences can be recognized on a global scale. It is a kind of cultural imperforation when it only assimilates or controls cultures of other nations but does not accept and absorb outstanding achievements from other national cultures. The real media exchange is accepting and absorbing the outstanding and advanced cultural elements, it is not only from basic structure but also the inherent quality and spirit.

Charles Dickens :: essays research papers fc

INTRODUCTION This report will talk about the life of a famous author, Charles Dickens. It will tell you about his early, middle, and later years of his life. It will also talk about one of his great works of literature. In conclusion, this report will show a comparison of his work to his life. EARLY LIFE Charles Dickens was born at Landport, in Portsea, on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office, and was temporarily on duty in the neighborhood when Charles was born. His name was John Dickens. He spent time in prison for debts. But, even when he was free he lacked the money to support his family. Then, when Charles was two they moved to London.1 Just before he started to toddle, he stepped into the glare of footlights. He never stepped out of it until he died. He was a good man, as men go in the bewildering world of ours, brave, transparent, tender-hearted, and honorable. Dickens was always a little too irritable because he was a little too happy. Like the over-wrought child in society, he was splendidly sociable, and in and yet sometimes quarrelsome. In all the practical relations of his life he was what the child is at a party, genuinely delighted, delightful, affectionate and happy, and in some strange way fundamentally sad and dangerously close to tears. 2 At the age of 12 Charles worked in a London factory pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish. He held the job only for a few months, but the misery of the experience remain with him all his life. 3 Dickens attended school off and on until he was 15, and then left for good. He enjoyed reading and was especially fond of adventure stories, fairy tales, and novels. He was influenced by such earlier English writers as William Shakespeare, Tobias Smollet, and Henry Fielding. However, most of the knowledge he later used as an author came from his environment around him. 4 MIDDLE LIFE Dickens became a newspaper writer and reporter in the late 1820's. He specialized in covering debates in Parliament, and also wrote feature articles. His work as a reporter sharpened his naturally keen ear for conversation and helped develop his skill in portraying his characters speach realistically. It also increased his ability to observe and to write swiftly and clearly. Dickens' first book, Sketches by Boz (1836) consisted of articles he wrote for the Monthly Magazine and the London Evening Chronicles.

Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience :: Civil Disobedience Essays

In Thoreau’s essay â€Å"Resistance to Civil Government†, Henry David Thoreau outlines a utopian society in which each individual would be responsible for governing himself. His opposition to a centralized government is an effort to disassociate with the American government, which at the time was supporting slavery and unjustly invading Mexico. While the individual rule would work well for Thoreau who is a man of conscience, it does not account for the immoral, dishonest or overly ambitious people in the nation. â€Å"Resistance to Civil Government† is a work of political philosophy where Thoreau lays out a plan for the way he believes the American government and society should be structured. The essay discusses the relation between the individual and society. This essay acts as a plea for individuals to follow their conscience when civil law causes a conflict. Thoreau calls for a conscious rebellion to bring about a radical change in the American constitution; a revolution against the American government. This notion of peaceable revolution is the moral center of this essay.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By refusing to pay taxes he is not objecting the taxes specific use, he is refusing allegiance to the state as a whole. Thoreau does not advocate complete defiance of democracy with his protest as he willingly accepts the consequences of breaking the law. Because Thoreau chooses his integrity over compliance he feels freer in jail than the people outside who follow the law like sheep rather than thinking and acting for themselves. He accepts the consequence of imprisonment for not paying his lawful tax, believing that by being imprisoned he is forcing the government to consider whether he is in the right by practicing civil disobedience. Thoreau wishes to be separate from the American government because it supports slavery. Thoreau chastises the government.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thoreau pictures a utopian society where a person’s conscience is a higher rule than that of the law.

Pastor

Often many times within a church family such as Grace with over thirty five hundred partners there are bound to be conflict. Any environment whether large or small we are all people, with personalities that some time come together in a manner that does not always show the church family in the best of light. I find people look at livers as we are designed to be different and we are in a way.We as believers are called to be different, yet we are people. This transformation comes not from our doing but through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. This paper will outline a situation at which such an instance was brought to light. The manner in which the situation was handled by the pastoral staff, and finally, the outcome from the situation as well as the change that took place due to the situation. In order to understand the situation we must talk about the background behind the situation. A few years back Grace Covenant Church had a pastor by the name of Karri.Pastor Karri and my mother got along quite well. As far back as I could remember Pastor Karri and my mother hit it off like sisters. Pastor Karri daughter would come over to my mother's house unannounced and stay for the day Just to sit and talk. Quite often Pastor Carrie's daughter would find herself at my mother's house to take a load off in between classes. Pastor Carrie's daughter Jollied was going to college located in Statistical located about five minutes away from the campus. Jollied would stay hours at a time after she was done with school. I found this to be quite out of the ordinary.Sometime my wife Jessica and I would go up there to see my mom Alba and stay for some time. We would arrive there to find Jollied already there; she would end up staying as long as I did. I remember one time she stayed there until the sun went down. I often asked myself â€Å"why would she stay here this long†? It would seem that Jollied did not want to go home. My mother kept her promise never to bring u p situations that were talked about, and I know it was the hardest thing for my mother to do because she loves to talk. My mother is a talker. She can keep a person on the phone until you fall asleep and she will not even know you fell asleep.One day my mother did break the bond of silence and confided in me on a particular situation. My mother began to unfold the situation that struck her in the heart and she did not know how to handle it. I told her that I would never speak of it, so I will honor my promise to her. Needless to say the situation came out within the pastoral staff and LEAD team in the church. It was brought to our attention due to the pastoral staffs need for us to come together in prayer. The conflict that arose was a preference in the way things should be handled within her family by a pastor within the Grace Covenant family.A situation had broken out with Pastor's Carrie's daughter. The denominational hierarchy as well as the pastoral staff wanted the situation t o be handled in a manner that would not bring to light a situation that could be looked upon by the church partners and the denomination as a pastor that did not know how to maintain control of their family. Here is where I have the problem with the situation and the handling of it within the denomination. People fall short all the mime, that is what missing the mark is.When people in the church family miss the mark those people are not shunned or set aside as outcasts? Those people choose to confess the sin that brought them down, repent of their sin, are forgiven because God is a merciful God and they are led on a Journey which leads them back to the fold of God's arms. My question is very simple, given this circumstance. If the daughter of a pastor was the causing the situation would it not be in the best interest of the church to bring all parties in the situation in and try to come too place where leaning can happen in the pastor's family as well as the church family?The pastor al staff was being told by the denominational board to handle the situation one way, and the pastoral staff its self wanted to handle the situation anther way. Here is where the conflict resided for about six months within the church. Pastor Peripheral and the church staff wanted the healing process to be held within the family before it became worse. The church had come together the way a family should in times of trouble. There was conflict between the denomination and the pastoral staff, coupled gather by the conflict between the pastor Carrie's feelings and her daughter.This tension and conflict brought much division into the church for some months. While the pressure continued to escalate within pastor Carrie's family, as well as the church for the situation, there were grumblings of tension being felt with other staff and volunteers. As I look back at the situation I saw things happening that should not have been happening. John 17:1 1 states Jesus prayed that all believers wo uld be one. Jesus did not want conflict to arise within His people. I could not understand why the research was pushing so hard to have resolve in this issue, in the manner they choose.The back and forth went on for a few and finally Pastor Karri put in her resignation. I firmly believe this was not the right way to handle what had gone yet, this is what took place. I think what really bothered me about the whole situation looking at it in hindsight is all the secrecy that took place. I guess I would have understood if the conflict was interpersonal, that is one thing. This conflict seemed to rest along the sides of organizational views. Could I have less than all the information I believe this could be true.I also look back at the way the pastoral staff handled the issue with Pastor Derrick and I see the staffs willingness to invite the body of Grace Covenant into the sorrow that had taken place. On the other hand Grace Covenant pastoral staff went in front of the church one Sunday and told the body effective immediately Pastor Karri will no longer be on staff at Grace. The reason that was provided was a â€Å"difference of views†. I do not know about you but that was not enough for me. Especially that pastor Karri was overseeing the entire woman's spieling group.This did not settle easy with me nor did it settle with many partners either. As with any conflict within the body of Christ, many women left the church over the decision that took place. My mother and many others stayed due to a trust which developed over time for the pastoral staff to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes God's glory not their own. I can see the growth throughout the pastoral staff from one incident to the next. In regards to Pastor Carrie's incident the staff was very tight lipped about what the reasons for her leaving the church.The pastoral Taft noticed the disruption this kind of activity had upon the cohesiveness of the body at Grace. This type of discord and unk nown within the body would spread like a poison within the body. The pastoral staff did not want this at all. We fast forward months later and the situation with Pastor Derrick arises and not to have a lingering cloud over the body at Grace the truth in all its ugliness was brought out into the open. There is growth and one would say conflict prevention within the body through the two examples. Personally I cannot think of a way to prevent conflict.As I mentioned in my peeing statement. We are all people with different personalities. I do however believe the way to which we conduct ourselves in the midst of conflict is a direct reflection of Christ in our lives. Our example of this is our Lord and Savior Jesus. When the soldiers came to take Him away in the garden of Statement He did not put up a fight. Even as Peter cut Off soldier's ear, Jesus told him â€Å"those who live by the sword die by the sword†. At the center of conflict Jesus remained in peace. He is our example o f living amongst personalities that are different from ours yet living in as one.

Punished by Rewards Essay

The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993), contends that rewards and punishments are â€Å"two sides of the same coin† (p. 50). Although rewards are certainly more pleasurable, they are â€Å"every bit as controlling as punishments, even if they control by seduction† (p. 51). According to Kohn, if we want youngsters to become self-regulating, responsible, caring individuals, we must abandon attempts at external control and provide students with opportunities to develop competence, connection, and autonomy in caring classroom communities† One of the most important parts of being an effective teacher is motivation of the children you are teaching. When I was learning have to be an effective teacher in my methods classes, many of the techniques that I was taught included extrinsic motivation. When I began my student teaching I watched techniques my cooperating teacher used to motivation and noticed she did not use any of the techniques I had learned in my classes. I found myself confused about how I would handle the matter of motivation when it came time for me to take control of the class on my own. I used candy and a treasure chest for rewards, but found that I only received motivation for a short time in return for these rewards. I knew that I would have to do more research and construct a new plan to motivate my student’s long term. I did some research and found that, extrinsic motivation refers to an individual’s involvement in an activity because an incentive or reward external to the activity has been offered. An extrinsically motivated child will choose to read a book or complete homework because they will get stickers when they have finished or not be allowed to watch TV if they do not finish. Another frequently used tactic to motivate children is threating to call the parent or some other authority figure if they do not get their work done. Another form of motivation is intrinsic motivation, this involves knowing that a person does what they do, not because someone else wants them to do it, or because I believe someone will respect or like me for doing it. What they do satisfies them regardless of what others may think. This true form of motivation reflects the genuine inclinations and feelings of the child, not the values or expectations of teachers or parents (Dr. Gabor Mate, 1999). Although the motivation literatures point out that intrinsic motivation is critical to student learning, the U. S. education system is organized and ran in a way that supports and promotes extrinsic motivation. Many parents and teachers believe that the external rewards such as money for good grades and bribes are the best way to motivate children. These well-intentioned, quick fix approaches to motivate send the message that there should be a tangible reward for doing schoolwork or behaving correctly. These techniques may work short-term, but long-term they will weaken the development of intrinsic motivation. Internal and external motivation does not necessarily reinforce one another. Extrinsic rewards can interfere with intrinsic motivation by turning an intrinsically attractive activity, such as reading for pleasure, into a means to an external goal, such as getting a pizza (Deci, 1995). Researchers studying motivation (Deci 1990; Ryan 1985; Nicholls 1983) generally agree on three points. First, motivation is an inherent natural capacity to learn that need to be elicited from within an individual rather than established form outside an individual. Second, teachers and parents must become aware that the long-term earning is to promote the development of motivation that arises for the child’s own nature and inclinations. Third, children must be intrinsically motivated to become self-regulated, independent, lifelong learners. One hypothesis that tested internal and external modification is the overjustofocation effect. The overjustification effect states that how individuals will feel toward performing certain tasks is determined by whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to perform the task (Deci, 1971). Using the self-perception theory’s prediction that when extrinsic motivations are present they will take precedent over intrinsic motivations, the overjustification effect reveals the importance of motivation on performance (Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett). In 1971, Deci suggested that in a situation where an individual was to receive a reward for an activity, and knew about the reward prior to participating in said activity, then the individual would attribute his or her behavior to the reward instead of the activity itself. Deci’s theory led to the hypothesis that once an activity is associated with the external reward; a person will be less inclined to participate in the activity in the future without a reward present. Two years after Deci’s study, a group of researchers again tested the overjustification hypothesis in a field experiment. Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett (1973) went to a nursery school and observed children’s intrinsic interest in various activities to confirm Deci’s theory. The children were then put into one of three conditions for the experiment. In the first condition, known as the â€Å"expected-award condition,† children were told they would receive a reward (a certificate with a seal and a ribbon) for partaking in the activity that they were previously doing out of pure intrinsic interest. †¢ In the second condition, the â€Å"unexpected-award condition,† the children were not told of the reward until after they finished the activity. †¢ In the third condition, also called the â€Å"no-reward condition,† the researchers did not tell or give the children any reward. This group thus served as the control group, since extrinsic rewards were not involved either before or after performance. The extrinsic reward phase ended with the researchers giving the children the certificates based on their condition group. In the following phase, the researchers let the children go about their activities, but this time without offering or giving any rewards. In accordance with the overjustification hypothesis, the children in the â€Å"expected-reward condition† had become less interested in their activities since the introduction of the extrinsic motivation. However, there was no change in the interest of the group who received the reward unexpectedly. This is because the children in this condition did not know about the reward until after the activity, and therefore attributed their behavior to an enjoyment of the activity. Similarly, those who did not expect or receive a reward had no extrinsic motivation, and showed no decline in interest as a result. Based off of the research I did and examples I found, I plan to base the motivation I provide to my students on intrinsic techniques and rewards. I will do everything I can to help to develop the children’s intrinsic motivation, so they can gain the tools needed to motivate themselves internally. This will be a skill, once mastered that will continue to benefit them and assist them to become successful in all aspects of their lives.