Characteristics of tea Essay

The issue of healthy life styles has considerably contributed to marketing and is becoming an important factor of modern lives. Today many companies claim potential health benefits from tea drinking. Consequently, big suppliers concentrated on the health awareness of consumers and have positioned their marketing strategies to maximise this potential. For instance, Tetley has teamed up with St. Ivel and Warburtons to develop a website aimed at healthy living. In 2002 PG Tips’ packaging has been redesigned to emphasise ‘healthy’ characteristics of tea. It informs the consumer that tea is an antioxidant source. Antioxidant in tea, so-called ‘flavonoids’, are supposedly vital for a healthy diet. On the other hand, researchers from the University Dental Hospital of Manchester have found out that certain teas [especially herbal tea] may destroy teeth by dissolving enamel [Published in the Journal of Dentistry and Daily Mail 19/11/2001]. In addition to emphasising health issues, KJM foods will differentiate by tapping into another human need: relaxation and peace. The pace of life is accelerating and nowadays many people complain about very fast and hectic lifestyles. People in today’s world barely have any time to relax or be for themselves. Advertising messages should play upon this lack of time and freedom and emphasize on the ‘relaxing ritual’ of brewing tea and enjoying ‘a cuppa’. According to Mintel, consumers are increasingly willing to pay for products and services which provide them with more free time and which make life easier. There is an overall trend to be noticed: one takes a salary cut back in order to have more time, or moves into suburbs to live quieter, people escape into nature, explore the world of ‘Yoga’, take part in ‘Relaxation classes’, do ‘Aromatherapy’ and so on. ‘SOUL’ tea perfectly fits into this new lifestyle trend and its advertising and packaging will emphasize SOUL’s relaxing character and explain that different infusion times will have different effects. For example, the packaging will instruct to increase infusion time in order to change the usual effects of tea into strongly relaxing and soothing effects. This is a niche the other big brands are not considering at present. The ‘Brand Steering Wheel’ by ‘Icon Brand Navigation Ltd. ‘ as per appendix 4 summarizes the desired perception of SOUL by its target groups. It shows all aspects of the brand’s identity and will be used in this report as a future-oriented positioning platform supporting to drive KJM’s marketing and copy strategy.

Divorce (effects of divorce) Essay

Is marriage no more than the result of voluntary agreements between two private individuals? Is the lack of detail concerning marriage arrangements causing all the divorce debates? Does divorce cause problems or solve them? Why is marriage such a religious experience and divorce such a legal experience? Why do marriages take place under the eyes of God while divorces take place under the eyes of the law? I believe that it was because of my parents’ divorce that I have chosen to tackle such a controversial topic. In many ways, I am in search of my own opinion. My parents divorced through the no-fault system. My dad decided it was time to move on to another life I guess. The no-fault divorce is a form of divorce granted without blame being sought or established. Sometimes, I try to think of how my life would have turned out if they were still together. I wonder if life would be any better. However, there are other days when I thank God for putting me through such troubling times; without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. What troubles me with marriage/divorce issues is that one is dealt with while the other lies on the floor. Today, we discuss marriage, and we discuss divorce, but never both at the same time. Should we push premarital counseling, or should we make divorce harder? Why must we discuss one or the other and not both? There are so many questions concerning marriage and divorce, and that is why I’m writing to you. I hope to answer some questions you may have. Though you may not form an opinion about no-fault divorce, you should finish this article with a little satisfaction, knowing that you’ve seen both sides of the issue. There are many people who have spoken out about no-fault divorce and family relationships, but I will focus on two. In â€Å"The Divorce Debate,† Maggie Gallagher, a scholar at the Institute for American Values, tries to answer the question: â€Å"What, if anything, can we do about the fact that at least half of our marriages fail?† In another article, â€Å"The Making of a Divorce Culture,† Barbara Dafoe Whitehead discusses the idea that, â€Å"Divorce has  become an American way of life only as a result of recent and revolutionary change.† I was very turned-off by Gallagher’s article. First, it starts off with what the author thinks should be a shared assumption; the assumption stated that divorce is harmful for children. Not everyone believes that. She goes on by asking, â€Å"What†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦can we do?† Gallagher continues with her article by putting down other states because of their divorce stipulations. She says that they are not working. Yes, she did back that statement up with information from Judith Wallerstein’s book, Second Chance, and statistics from the Journal of Marriage and Family, but they were buried  between the many instances in which she shared the views of her opposition. The way she recognized the reasoning behind the â€Å"speedy spouse disposal† or â€Å"delayed backlash† was a nice touch. Unfortunately, Gallagher was so involved with trying to show the other side of things, she forgot to give the reasoning behind her own ideas. Through the entire article, she used negative words or phrases to express her feelings on divorce; they include: harmful, delayed backlash, speedy spouse removal, eliminating, marital wrongdoing, dissolve a marriage, bitter conflict, unhappy marriages, bleak times, punishments, messy and irrelevant, and torment. However, she never once suggested a solution for the problem of divorce. How can one argue with the ideas of others, if that person has no argument of their own? After reading the article, I was pretty confident that the author had not personally been through a divorce of her own. This alone, caused me to question her. I felt that a more personal article involving some of her own experiences would have been more convincing. I realized that she was writing with a logical approach, but I believe an emotional one would have been better. Divorce is a topic that touches every person in so many different ways. If the article would have reached to the heart, it would have been more persuasive. Though I am unhappy with the way the topic was approached, I am sure that the  essay was not quickly written. Their was a lot of research involved in this article. Gallagher explained how different states came up with different solutions for divorce. She discussed the no-fault divorce and the waiting period before a divorce. Her statistic was a great bonus. Divorce is certainly a great topic for debate as we head into the new millennium. There are many assumptions made about divorce, both shared and unshared. Some people believe that divorce is always a bad thing, no matter what the situation. Others believe it’s a matter of what is best for the children (if there are any). Gallagher challenges the assumption that â€Å"no-fault [will]†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.remake divorce into a kinder, gentler institution. Whitehead’s article was more impressive. In the second paragraph of the article, Whitehead uses a set of statistics to point out how â€Å"divorce [has] moved from the margins to the mainstream of American life in the space of three decades.† However, statistics are not her only form of support. In her fifth paragraph, she starts to explain the new ideas that have come along with the revolution. She begins to explain how people today believe that there is a â€Å"moral obligation to look after oneself.† She elaborates on the statement through several of the following paragraphs. Whitehead discusses â€Å"divorce as the working out of an inner life experience.† In paragraph sixteen, she writes about no-fault divorce. Around paragraph 22, divorce is looked at as a cause for some the economical changes in society. She ends her article with this statement: â€Å"Divorce in America is not unique, but what we have made of divorce is uniquely American.† The essay made several assumptions. One assumption she expanded on was one that discussed how society is becoming more in-tune with the idea of self-gratification. Though not everyone may agree, I do. More and more people are worrying about themselves and what will happen to them in specific situations, rather than worrying about what will happen to everyone involved. One of the more recognizable assumptions made was one discussing how divorce has hurt children. This seems to be an assumption shared by many. Children of broken homes are deeply affected by divorce. The main question I want to pursue is this: â€Å"Is no-fault divorce an easy way out, or is a healthy way of resolving difficult marriages?† In the article â€Å"Abolish No-Fault Divorce?,† Representative Dalman expresses her position when she states, â€Å"Two people take the vows of marriage, but under no-fault divorce laws, only one can dissolve the commitment. It’s easier to end a marriage than it is to break a contract for buying a household appliance. Disposable marriage cheapens the commitment and degrades our vows of fidelity and lifelong love.† Divorce rates across the nation have soared since the implementation of no-fault divorce standards in the early 1970s. (Ager 1) Dalman continues her argument by following with, â€Å"Prevention is the best solution to any problem. While an educational program can’t prevent all divorce, it does lay the groundwork for stronger unions. Families educated about problem-solving skills have a better chance for successful relationships.† Ager has a different view. She says, â€Å"Human relationships are fragile and prone to disease. Not all marriages deserve to be saved, and I’d argue that divorce has redeemed more human spirits than it has doomed.† She then goes on to ask: â€Å"†¦.what about encouraging women to become financially self-sufficient before they become mothers? What about keeping better track of dead-beat dads? What about government-financed day care? What about training husbands and wives to enter divorce, for the sake of their children, not as a war but as a creative project for change?† These are all very good questions that must be considered when forming opinions on the no-fault divorce debate. One section of Ager’s article really caught my eye. It is as follows: â€Å"Even now, in households were divorce is taboo, children grow up learning the ways of love from moms and dads who never embrace, who rarely laugh together, who fail to demonstrate that arguments can end with compromise and forgiveness. These moms and dads become role models for bitterness, resignation or both. This is good for the kids? This teaches them commitment? No wonder commitment gets a bad rap, promising dullness and ache. Can mandated premarital counseling†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.help keep two people happily together until death? Chances are slim†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Premarital counseling can’t  hurt,  but it won’t train couples for marriage’s surprises any more than a flight attendant’s routine safety speech will prepare passengers for terror in the air. You gotta live it to know it.† Not only do individuals have opinions, but each state has come up with some ideas of their own. In â€Å"States Put Minor Speed Bumps In Divorce Path: No-Fault Backlash,† Ann Tyson discusses the decisions of some states. Several states require mandatory parenting classes and plans. In Iowa, for instance, it is required that parents take classes so that they may better understand the practical and emotional impact of divorce on children. In Michigan, it may be required to submit detailed parenting plans that cover issues such as visitation, discipline, and education. (Tyson 1-2) Delaying divorce is another topic discussed in Tyson’s article. Bills in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Idaho have required that marriage counseling and long waiting periods take place before divorce. In some states it is required to take a series of one-hour counseling sessions before divorce, while in other states, a one-year waiting period has been put into effect. (Tyson 2) Maybe the smart choice is strengthening marriage bonds. Tom McMillen, director of the Rocky Mountain Family Council in Denver, Colorado, said, â€Å"Marriage is not just a lifestyle choice, it’s a critical institution that allows our culture to move forward.† Some states such as Minnesota and Michigan agree with McMillen and have instituted premarital counseling, rather than pre-divorce counseling. We have to decide what is more important to our society. Research shows that divorced women suffer a drop in income ranging on average from 30 percent to 70 percent. More than half of all female-headed households with children live in poverty, compared with only 10 percent of all other families with children. Medical experts say that men who divorce are to experience greater health problems and higher rates of suicide than married men. Are these things devastating to our society, or do we need to look at the other side  of things? Without no-fault divorce, many people may become trapped in abusive relationships. There may be an increase in desertion. One spouse may be lead to use bribes or threats to win the consent of the other to end marriage, thus creating the return of blackmail under the old fault-based system. (Tyson 1-3) Maybe the topic isn’t the narrow one we perceive it to be. Maybe the topic evolves more around family itself. Midge Decter does an excellent job of discussing family in her article, â€Å"The Madness of the American Family.† She explains how a family compares with a rock, and not the Garden of Eden. A rock, can be far from a comfortable place to be. â€Å"But,† she says, â€Å"living on a rock keeps you out of the swamps†¦..The most dangerous of these swamps is a place of limitless and willfully defined individual freedom. The land of limitless freedom, as so many among us are now beginning to discover, turns out to be nothing other than the deep muck and mire of Self.† She continues, â€Å"The only escape from the swamp of Self is the instinctual and lifelong engagement in the fate of others.† Decter discusses how being in a family may not make you happy, but it makes you human. She goes on: â€Å"Together, marriage and parenthood are the rock on which human existence stands†¦.[and] No matter how ardently a young man and woman believe they wish to spend their lives with one another, and no matter how enthusiastically they greet the knowledge that they are to have a baby, they do not undertake either of these things in full knowledge of the commitment they are undertaking†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦they do not know that they are embarked upon a long, long, and sometimes arduous and even unpleasant journey.† (Decter 1-19) Marriage, family, and divorce, are three controversial topics that each person must deal with in their lifetime. The great thing about them is that we are each allowed to have our own opinions about them. Maybe you haven’t picked sides, and maybe you haven’t heard enough to make a stand, but hopefully this article has got you thinking. I myself have not yet chosen a position on the topic. No-fault divorce has such a complicated base. Each marital problem causes rise to newfound solutions concerning divorce. Every person comes up with their own opinions. Each state has its laws, its bills,  and its proposals to solve the problems concerning marriage and divorce. The nation finds such problems floating above its head, waiting for someone, or something, to take hold and decrease its power to control the people within it. Nevertheless, Dector reminds us not to get frustrated about such topics when she says, â€Å"All this should be a very simple matter; God knows, it’s been going on long enough. So why have we fallen into such a state of confusion?†

Latino/a Sexuality and the Heteronormative

Latino/a Sexuality and the Heteronormative In his novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz examines Latino identities and sexuality, and the ways in which both are affected and informed by violence. This violence is enacted through institutions like the state, through representation and misrepresentation, and by the very nature of sex and sexuality. Diaz gives an analysis of identity and sexuality, pointing to the way in which it is not only formed and generated by oneself, but also put on and impressed, through violence or with violent repercussions. Reinaldo Arenas’s autobiography Before Night Falls conveys similar themes as Diaz’s novel about the way in which sexuality is policed through violence from the stateparticularly in the form of dictatorships. Arenas depicts life in Cuba at the time of Castro, discussing how Castro, and the state, presented homosexuality as evidence of being unpatriotic and against nationalism, as well as grounds for torture and imprisonment. Many of the men who engage in homosexual acts are not homosexual themselves, and it is in fact such policing that causes more sex acts to occur. This environment of violence and sexuality, then, also carries over to all other aspects of life. Similarly, Diaz discusses the way sexuality comes into play in the Dominican Republic, during the time of Trujillo. Oscar’s mother Beli falls prey to the violence of the state in the form of an attack sanctioned by Trujillo’s sister, who does not agree with her relationship with her husband, the Ga ngster. In this way Diaz, like Arenas, dismantles the idea of the state as a noble protector and enforcer of just laws, illustrating the ways in which it in fact carries out injustices, and performs its own agenda. Both authors also describe how such violent enforcement does not garner successBeli continues to have an amorous relationship with the Gangster, even after the attack, and Arenas continues to have sex with men, in fact gaining more opportunities for sex acts due to state oppression. Foucault, in his The History of Sexuality, discusses the idea of the repressive hypothesis, talking about how sexuality is thought of as having a history of repression, and discussions of sexuality have been withheld since the Victorian era. Foucault points to the inaccuracy of this claim, stating that silence itself performs a certain kind of discourse, and the repression of discourses on sexuality are instrumental in their formation. Diaz, too, discusses a similar idea regarding the withholding of informationhe relates a story in which Abelard, Oscar’s grandfather, is imprisoned and violently tortured by Trujillo for hiding away his daughter and wife from his rapacious sexual appetite. He then contrasts this narrative with mention of another possible reason for his imprisonment, relaying information about a possible book that Abelard could have written about Trujillo, displaying the supernatural qualities of Trujillo and his regime. In doing so, Diaz gives mentions la pagina blanca, the information that is missing or unknown from such narratives, and the ways in which it can speak louder than any words can. The erasure of violence from public knowledge, as well as the erasure for the reasons for its production, does not remove knowledge of its existence or its effects. In this way, sexuality and violence, even when being given the illusion of being silenced, emerge and are spoken about even through its absence from public discourse. Ricardo L. Ortiz, in his article â€Å"Cultural Erotics of Cuban America† analyses the impact of Arenas’s life and death. As a homosexual, Arenas was placed outside of the context of Cuban nationalism, even being categorized as a terrorist subject in regards to his homosexuality, and through his death, Arenas simultaneously reaffirmed his identity as a Cuban in spite of being outside of Castro’s nationalist project, and attacked him as the cause of his death. Ortiz discusses Arena’s death in a pro-life context of protest through calling attention to the flaws and injustices of the Cuban government, while claiming sexuality as an element necessary for sustaining life. Similarly, Diaz constructs a similar understanding of Oscar’s death in his novel. Oscar essentially commits suicide by choosing to stay with Ybin, in spite of knowing that her violently angry boyfriend will come after him. As Ybin’s boyfriend is employed by the state, he can be s een as a manifestation of its violence, as well as a re-embodying of the violence of state enacted in past times, to Beli. Oscar’s sexuality comes to be the cause of his death, and he comes to fulfill his Dominican identity through its expression. As such, both authors point to the nature of protest through death and beyond life, and Latino sexuality as crucial to understandings of Latino identity. Further, the state can be evidenced as manipulating representations of sexuality for its own aims. In A Queer Mother For a Nation, Licia Fiol-Matta analyzes how the state became encapsulated in the image of Gabriela Mistral, and why she became a symbol for the nation. Mistral’s masculine, gender-queer identity and demeanor allowed her to be taken seriously in spite of being female, and still encompass desired state-sanctioned feminine traits like motherhood. Mistral followed in the state’s racist rhetoric, maintaining an â€Å"othering† gaze against blacks and pushing for racial cleansing through producing more white-mixed offspring. This racist rhetoric provided the state with a language in which to â€Å"other† black populations through the passive violence of exclusion and negative representation. Similarly, Diaz presents the figure of Oscar Wao in an interestingly contradictory light. He does not possess any of the traits of a stereotypical Dominican, and throughout his life finds it extremely difficult to flirt, date, or have sex with any girls because of his extremely nerdy and socially awkward personalityeventually coming to do violence to himself in part because of his inability to perform this aspect of his identity and sexuality. In spite of this, he eventually fulfills the saying that no Dominican man dies a virgin, by having sex with his prostitute girlfriendand in doing so comes to exemplify the idea that even as an exception to the rule, he can perform his â€Å"Dominican-ness† to the fullest. As such, Diaz examines in a tongue-in-cheek manner the way Latino bodies are stereotyped, even inside of the Latino community, and the violence of this type of representation, as well as the affect it can have on identity. In this way, both authors discuss the politics of representation and the contradictory and performative nature of identity and sexuality. Philippe Bourgois, in his anthropological analysis of Puerto Rican street life depicted in In Search of Respect: Selling Crack en El Barrio performs a similar violence through his representation of Latino bodies. As an outsider to this community, Bourgois casts an â€Å"othering† gaze on Puerto Rican crack dealers and creates a culture of difference between readers (as well as himself) and the members of the community he depicts. One of the aspects of this distance comes from an eroticisation of violence in the name of providing unadulterated truth (and of course, for consumer marketability)which brings to mind questions of, when is it okay to reproduce structures of violence, when doing so produces the same violence? Diaz asks a similar question in his reproduction of stereotypes of oversexed, hypersexual Dominicans in the figures of Yunior and Oscarwhat is authorial responsibility, especially in regards to the understandings of readerships? How can this violence be avoided? Diaz himself constructs problematic depictions of females and female sexuality, describing women in a somewhat chauvinistic lightmany of the female figures are represented as objects for the males to conquer through sexual pursuit. For both authors, the replication of such structures supports and reproduces racist and sexist ideas through consumerism. Such ideas then become part of a system of capitalism, providing interesting implications regarding the â€Å"selling† of problematic constructions of identity and sexuality. And as sexuality plays a large part in understandings of the formation of identity, these types of representations can have the effect of creating an environment in which violence becomes normalized in everyday consciousness. In his theoretical work Disidentifications, Jos? Esteban Munoz discusses his theory of disidentification, stating the ways in which categorization through sexuality and race, among other things, allows for a dismissal of or limiting understandings of identity. Disidentification, then, becomes a survival strategy, a way of avoiding the way in which representation can be unrelatable, or reproduced through the systemic violence of rearticulation. Much as Munoz examines the work of Carmelita Tropicana or Marga Gomez, and how they reclaim possibly harmful representations through camp, Diaz reproduces tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of Dominican identity and sexuality, and provides alternative representations of Latino identity and sexuality through his characters. Lola, for example, is represented as having a very present sense of sexuality, but is costumed in the role of a â€Å"goth.† Both writers point to the importance of the multiplicity of identity, and find ways to articulate La tino identity and sexuality that do not conform with the violence of heteronormative ideals. Junot Diaz examines the nature of identity and sexuality in regards to Latino bodies, and the ways in which they are impressed, manipulated, or reproduced through violence. Disidentification, perhaps, provides a necessary step towards providing an alternative consciousness and understanding of identity that does not become enmeshed in the culture of differenceand asks further questions about the way hegemonic society, institutions, and normalized violence enforces and regulates these ideas. How, then, can we use disidentification to further remove ourselves from the violent and harmful heteronormative? And what are the ways we can imagine ourselves in a more broad, inclusive sense of being?

Media audiences and Media geography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Media audiences and Media geography - Essay Example A potential representation of the traditional media is the folk media that projected the communication channels of the ancient societies. Modern media has a very different and advanced mechanism of mass communication. The mass media in the contemporary age is one of the most effective systems of life support that has pronounced effect on the global future and has the widest distribution all over the world. The contemporary age is essentially the age of information, in which the social and environmental issues continue to grow, that imparts the need of transition to a sustainable economy for every nation. â€Å"There has also been a healthful and general realization that the emphasis on â€Å"mass† audience – meaning an audience of individuals in lonely and direct contact with mass communication was never accurate† (Schramm, 1960, p. vii). The distinction between the audience of the past and the audience of the new age is imperative for the media to customize the content according to the every-changing and modifying needs of the audiences in an increasingly culturally diverse and globalized world. Media has a very strong influence on the society. Klapper (1960, p. 5) defined the consideration of the mass media as a compulsory and sufficient cause behind the effects observed in the audiences as short-sightedness, and recommended the consideration of media as just another influential element amidst other influences. â€Å"[I]t is the presumed power of the media to capture and sway the hearts, minds and behavior of the national public that account for both the fear and anxiety, and the hope and excitement, with which the media are regarded† (Fejes, 1984, p. 219). Media has always been both a trend-setter for and influenced by the audiences of a particular point in time. â€Å"The media are crucial in the social circulation of discourse and thus play a formative role in social and political change† (Fiske, 1996, p. 10). Media place s immense emphasis on the likes and dislikes of the audiences because the success of media fundamentally depends upon the approval of the audiences of the content that the media shows. The first and the foremost basic principle that every would-be programmer is taught through every handbook is â€Å"know the audience† (Ang, 1991, p. 19). â€Å"In order for television to achieve its work – that is, to make meaning and produce pleasure – it has to draw upon and operate on the basis of a kind of generalized societal common sense about the terms of the society and people’s social location in it† (Gray, 1995, p. 9). The research culture has evolved greatly over the passage of time. Although research has been a necessary part of the spread of knowledge in all times, yet the research was never as rampant as it is today. In the past, it was easy to advertise a product by just showing the models endorsing them as the audiences understood that the technology was not quite developed to expect every product to be made after a lot of research. Besides, the audiences themselves were too uneducated and far from being the part of a research culture to think on these lines. Over the decades, there has been immense advancement in technology which has played a fundamental role in the development of a research culture all over the world. Today, scientists are equipped enough to

Americans Start to Curb Their Thirst for Gasoline Article

Americans Start to Curb Their Thirst for Gasoline - Article Example Some consumers can also maintain the consumption subject to believe that the prices will stabilize in a short while. Some consumers can resort to other energy sources like wind energy and geothermal energy sources. The automobile industry is engaging in technologically innovative ways of providing an alternative to gasoline consumption. The industry is producing hybrid class of vehicle, which can survive on rechargeable battery energy. The demand for gasoline has not decreased by a great margin given that there is a shift in the demand for gasoline. According to Campoy motor vehicles are considerably cheap and fuel efficient thus people could not stop buying cheap vehicle because of increase in gasoline prices (27). Most of the working class people drive to work .In this regard, they could not avoid work altogether due to gasoline price hike. The demand increase for vehicles during this period of gasoline increase culminated in a considerable increase in the demand for gasoline. This is because gasoline and motor vehicle are complementary goods, which have a positive price correlation. This is the reason for the shift in the demand for gasoline. This explains how the Americans have managed to solve the hike in prices of

Technical description of the Slvador Dali painting metamorphose de Essay

Technical description of the Slvador Dali painting metamorphose de narcisse - Essay Example The essay "Salvador Dali - Metamorphose de Narcisse" explores the painting of Salvador Dali, Metamorphose de Narcisse. He deliberately cultivated delusions similar to those of paranoiacs in the cause of wresting hallucinatory images from his conscious mind. Dali's images - his bent watches, his figures, halfhuman, half chest of drawers – have made him the most famous of all Surrealist painters†. Typically painting images he saw in dreams or nightmares and consistently pushing the envelope in terms of subject matter, Dali had a wide range of interests that became reflected in his artwork. These characteristics can be more fully understood by examining one of his better-known paintings such as â€Å"Metamorphose de Narcisse† which translates to â€Å"Metamorphosis of Narcissus† in English. Created in 1937, this painting falls without question into the Surrealist style. Part of the definition of Surrealism relies upon a heavy fantasy content, typically as it i s revealed through the images of the subconscious, as well as an established connection with the world of which we are all aware. â€Å"The Surrealists tried to create a new art mythology by fusing conscious with unconscious levels of the mind". Through this terminology, it becomes immediately apparent that the work of Sigmund Freud, who had but recently published his ideas regarding the three-tiered nature of the human mind, was tremendously important to the creation of Surrealist art. As the above definition indicates, most artists, including Dali.

Strategic Innovation In Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Innovation In Marketing - Essay Example Following the theory of Pasa and Shugan (1996. pp379), every large and established organization should hire specialist marketing expertise to reduce the risk of mistakes in marketing process thus leading to large damages due to sheer size. The author wishes to discuss some examples of such mistakes that a large & stable organization can commit in absence of specialist marketing expertise. What should be the knowledge & skills, style of working, mentoring and risk-taking attitude of the marketing specialist in order to avoid the risks of mistakes discussed herewith? This is the first set of discussion points proposed by the author. Woodman and Sawyer et al. (1993. pp309-310) presented "enablers" of innovation and creativity in an organization that finally leads to organization-wide creativity. These enablers have been mentioned. The author hereby proposes to discuss how these enablers can be planned and implemented in an organization. Does this require specialist & dedicated skills in an organization – like knowledge managers? This is the second set of discussion points proposed by the author. Connor (1999. pp1157-1158) justified that short-term strategies essentially are customer oriented and long-term strategies are essentially market-oriented. The author proposes a discussion to justify this. Is this classification applicable on retail markets only or else they are applicable in markets requiring long-term project or service engagements? This is the third set of discussion points proposed by the author.... They proved their hypotheses stating that organization can benefit out of individual creative performance if the group norms support open sharing of information, high risk taking behaviours, reward systems, and employment of organic organizational designs like matrix, collateral group structures, etc. The researchers argued that organizations can benefit out of the innovations and creative thinking by establishing "Enhancers" that promote them in the individuals & groups - like culture, strategy, structure, resources, rewards, funds, technology, etc. Professor Stephen Brown advocates for use of creativity techniques within an organization like brainstorming (group level), brain mapping (individual level), visualization, attribute listing, etc. Professor Stephen Brown argues that the innovators should imagine needs of customers that are not yet tapped and imagine new innovative offerings that can fulfill them. Connor (1999. pp1157-1158) argues that the innovations should be a mix of short term strategies as well as long term strategies whereby short term strategies are customer oriented and long term strategies are market oriented. They argued that companies should establish both customer oriented and market oriented strategies. This makes the innovation paradigm more complex as the output need to be an "innovation mix" for the business that can vary with the type of orientation being addressed. Companies with long term planning may be developing more innovative ideas but they cannot survive just by thinking long term as the show will carry on with the help of short term strategies. Professor Stephen Brown was largely criticizing the customer orientation whereby

Postmodernism and Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernism and Theory - Essay Example The essay "Postmodernism and Theory" explores the movement of Postmodernism. To a large degree, postmodernism is focused on an examination of reality versus unreality, discovering in the process that there is more blurred areas between the two than there are clear distinctions. These ideas are discussed through several works including Baudrillard, Mulvey and Nochlin.Introducing the idea of the simulation, Baudrillard says that we have come to a place where the false precedes the real. In addition to discovering that the simulation no longer matches the real, Baudrillard says it has gone farther, reducing everything down to miniature and making it hyperreal, something that exists in and of itself, with little to connect it to the original. The real, in this system, has become little more than a series of signs that stand in its place. The danger with simulacra as opposed to representation is that representation starts with the idea of the real within the representation while simulatio n wraps around the representation and calls everything false. Disneyland is used as an example of how the imaginary happy social world contained within its gates as opposed to the isolation of the parking lot masks how the world we believe to be America is just as falsely envisioned. "It is always a question of proving the real by the imaginary; proving truth by scandal; proving the law by transgression; proving work by the strike; proving the system by crisis and capital by revolution†. This same concept is traced.

Final exam( to answer question) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final exam( to answer question) - Essay Example For example, students need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where they can explore what they want with the assistance of the teacher. 2. Discuss what you take to be the relevance of Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† to our understanding of freedom. In the allegory of the cave, Socrates describes a group of prisoners chained to the walls watching shadows of people walking behind them and making them to be whatever they want them to be. They are not aware of anything else except what they think is their reality. One day one of the prisoners is released and he realizes what he thought was reality was just his own mind ideas which they were made to believe in (Plato). This story is relevant to our understanding of freedom in current society. When we see too much of something we believe that is the reality when it is really not. We believe in what we see and we are being controlled by the government, media and politicians and we th ink what they tell us is true because we don’t know the truth. At times, the caves we are in are controlled by our parents (Plato). They have the power to control where we hang out, what to watch on TV and even what time to go to bed. 3. Discuss the relevance of the Genesis creation story (the first three chapters only) to our understanding of freedom We as humans, too often long to be free of restrictions and limits, free to choose our own way with no consequences. We simply do not like boundaries. The first couples (Adam and eve) were lured by the promise of absolute freedom, as such; they would have no boundaries except those of their own making. The promise was empty and false, a product of human selfishness and a destructive desire for independence and autonomy. We learn still more about ourselves. We all want absolute freedom without restrictions For instance, a child is concerned with nothing else than having its immediate needs met. 4. Explain how the theme of fear fu nctions in J.M. Coetzee’s allegorical novel Waiting for the Barbarians The imprisonment of the barbarians indicates a sense of colonization and discrimination. This renders them to live a worthless life and always full of fear. The example from the story, of a powerful barbarian, exemplifies a scenario where a position of authority cannot deliver from the bondage of slavery. Coetzee’s allegory of empire represents an empire full of poor use and delegation of power (McCarthy 8). Power is useful when it is used to lead and direct people to do the right things in the right way. Power is misused when people get mistreated and they suffer, yet others enjoy power. The scenario of power from barbarian point of view demonstrates how those ruling, although with all the ability to rule itself, can still guide a colonized society, negatively. 5. Explain George Orwell’s argument about the uses and abuses of language in his essay â€Å"Politics and the English Language.â₠¬  Be sure to note Orwell’s critique of political language, what he thinks the consequences of poor language are, and his

Organizational Behavior Concerning Change within the Workplace Term Paper

Organizational Behavior Concerning Change within the Workplace - Term Paper Example ABC Merchandise, a U.S-based manufacturer of sports products, is facing a pronounced downturn in business. Top management has decided to reduce its workforce. This managerial action is expected to improve the efficiency of the firm and, subsequently, to enhance its competitiveness. Their management is facing the question of how to go about downsizing and which downsizing strategy or strategies to adopt? A downsizing strategy directly, or indirectly, impacts stakeholders such as management and non-management employees, communities, suppliers, and customers. At issue is whether the savings from employee reductions may, under certain conditions, be more than offset by rising agency costs and other stakeholder costs. Studies conducted by Amundson, Borgen, Jordan, & Erlebach (2004) and Armstrong-Stassen (2004) have highlighted negative effects of firing and layoffs on surviving employees, which include high degrees of stress due to increased workloads and job insecurity, reduction in orga nizational commitment, and lack of trust in management. Therefore it is important that downsizing process must entail long term thinking and it should b done in the context of coherent plan. Downsizing: Impact on Stakeholders Not all downsizing outcomes are positive. The evidence continues to prove that downsizing is risky business, often leaving a legacy of inhumane management which targets only symptoms and in the long run destroys the future health of the organization. About half of the organizations never see the benefits expected from downsizing. Long-term decreases in labor costs are achieved by fewer than two-thirds of the organizations that downsize and less than half of the organizations realize any lasting improvements in profitability (Hopkins & Weathington, 2006). The simple fact is downsizing doesn't guarantee increased profits. Organization begins internal and external actions to reduce costs. If downsizing is selected, four steps follow: (a) planning for downsizing, ( b) communication of the workforce reduction, (c) implementation of the reduction, and (d) managing the new workforce (Mondy & Noe, 1993). Each of these steps has associated human resource issues. During the planning stage, rumors and unintended organizational messages are a problem, because the anticipation of reductions interferes with communication. During the actual reductions, coping with the reduction activity is the chief concern. Finally, when managing the new workforce, survivor issues emerge. All of these lead to reduced organizational effectiveness indicated by increased turnover and decreased productivity (Mondy & Noe, 1993). Companies often manage to eliminate the right numbers of people in the wrong areas or lose some of the best minds, especially if cost cutting is the driving force (Mondy & Noe, 1993). New employees must be recruited and trained, contractors hired, or ex ­-employees brought back as contractors. All of these situations create problems. Unfortunately, the increased costs for training the workforce, working necessary overtime, contributing to retiree health benefits, and making severance payments catch organizations unprepared for the total expense. Prospective employees are likely to avoid a

Department of Defense Essay Example for Free

Department of Defense Essay Effective organization management is determined by the level and quality of public relations employed by the leadership in it. This has mainly been the case due to the direct demand for organizations to enhance their images to the external world upon which they rely on. Of greater importance are the services industries which directly rely on the consumers perceptions of their services as opposed to direct supply of products. Being considered as a direct intrinsic system to activate their system for external image, most of the leaders have been strongly embarking on it to ensure higher returns for their organizations. Such has been the case with the (DoD) Military Public Affairs system which has greatly tried to integrate itself with the community via offer of different services and direct interlink with them. Community relations objectives Arguably, ethical demands are considered to be intrinsically derived and externally displayed with emphasis on cohesive relations between organizations and the public. Therefore, it originates from the core of the management and effected by the established systems. In the theory of public relation ethics, Albert Sullivan argues that public relations involves a direct internalized system which is expressed externally via direct activities and interlink with the public (Pearson, 1999). Pearson continues to say that ethics begin with the people’s minds that must conceptualize it to become part of their system. Military Public Affairs has internalized the system by inculcating it to the immediate internal network necessary to develop the correct culture for the DoD. The Department emphasizes on its commitment to fostering good relations on mutually acceptable terms with the public, at home, and abroad on which the military depends on. Of greater importance is the emphasis by the DoD on the need for holistic adherence to human dignity and sanctity at all times (Department of Defense (DoD), 2007). Though military specialists have been calling for less involvement of the military with the public issues, the department has defied odds and ensured direct interface upon which the public have increasingly been informed on the roles and duties of the department in relation to their security and that of the international community. Besides, the policies of the Department of Defense have increasingly been taught to the public and opened for direct criticism as well as possible recommendations on improvements for the same. Direct support and integration with the community According to Russel (1966), human actions and desires are direct reflections for the sense of mind which is often used to denote the best possible consideration that would guarantee highest returns for them. However, this has been a major center for conflicts between the people and their systems in the society. Russel ethics indicates that external consideration is of essence for extended benefits. However, scholars have argued that care should be taken to reduce the negative effects that result from the actions perceived to be good. As a result, the Department of defense has been supporting organizations through loans and fund-raising. The head of DOD Component Command may provide a limited basis for equipments and logistical support to needy organizations especially those dealing with humanitarian services (Department of Defense (DoD), 2007). Besides, the Department officers have been offering voluntary support to these charitable organizations during their off duty periods to boost their development and human services capacity. The department also offers selective benefits and preferential treatment to specific organizations especially those in military operation regions. To ensure it commits itself to serving the community, the department dissociates itself from involvement and support to partisan political activities (Center and Jackson, 1995). Therefore, this assists it to be highly impartial and more effective in serving the community. Increased information and coordination with the public By the time Pearson wrote down the Public relations theory, it was clear that vast criticism had strongly risen on the implication of truth and direct impacts that resulted from its revelation. However, Pearson regards to truth as the direct mirror that indicates an individual or an organizations consideration necessary for establishing the correct picture is pasted in the respondent’s minds for making the correct decisions. Joint civilian meetings and instantaneous meetings with the management served as a direct platform for the system where most people were able to change their minds about the military as well as improve the direct interlink with the system (Department of Defense (DoD), 2007. Through this system, most people had benefited from assistance scheme of the department. Recently, strong appraisals have been posted to the department for ensuring increased information to the community as it directly provides the officers to the department. Conclusion Effective organization management is determined by the level and quality of public relations employed by its management and leaders. Arguably, this has been the main premises that the department of defense has embarked on to ensure better and effective disposal of its duties. Previously, there was strong misconception between the people regarding the role of military until the DoD moved in to clear its image. The direct interlink of the department by giving back to the community has not only raised the confidence of the people to the system, but also improved the general utility of the department. Organizations should struggle to establish better interlink with their consumers and public. Reference List Center, A. and Jackson, P. (1995). â€Å"Public relations Practices, Upper Saddle, N. J. Prentice Hall. Department of Defense (DoD), (2007). Department of defense directive: Public Affairs Relation Policy, Washington: DoD. Russel, B. (1966). â€Å"The elements of ethics† Philosophical essays. London: Longmans, Green. Pearson, R. (1989). Sullivan Theory of public relations Ethics. Public relations review. XV(1989):52-62.

Wealth Distribution in the US

Wealth Distribution in the US United States of America consists of 50 states and one federal district, with capital in Washington. Unites States has the largest economy in the world, with a nominal GDP of $ 16.8 trillion by the year 2013.[1] The U.S. is a big producer of oil and largest producer of natural gas. It has the second place in the trade after China.[2] Moreover U.S. is the largest financial center in the world with a center in New York. The unemployment is 7.7% by the year 2013, meaning 12 million people,[3] whereas the population represents 315 million. It is a huge country with a huge territory and due to the differences in living standard of the population; the distribution of income and wealth is extremely unequal. 1.1 Current status on wealth distribution Wealth inequality means the unequal distribution of assets among American inhabitants in the United States. Assets or wealth refers to everything what the family or a person possess minus all debts e.g. the real estate, automobiles, stocks, bonds, businesses, savings, and investments minus all mortgages, vehicles loans, educational loans, financial assets loans etc.[4] According to President Obama (2014) the top wealthiest 1% possesses 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%, which refers to the current state of the wealth distribution. The average employee needs to work more than a month to earn what the CEO earns in one hour.[5] Wealth is not something to spend on the daily expenditures, it should be a contribution to the income in order to achieve and retain the desired status and standard of living.[6] Wealth should support current consumption or should be retained to support the future consumption.[7] Moreover, wealth should be used for short- and long-term financial security, social prestige, and is a tool to get an access to political power, and can be used to produce more wealth.[8] The more wealth one has, the more power one has, and the less restrictions there are to live the life one likes. Generally the working and middle class finance all standard living costs through income and wages, while the rich are aiming on gaining more wealth, and making more profit of it.[9] 1.2 Historical change of wealth distribution in the US Changes in wealth from 1989 to 2001 By observing how the wealth of American households changes with the time, one can notice a general increase in wealthier individuals and a decrease in the number of poor households. Moreover the share of households with more debts than assets (negative net worth) significantly decreased from 9.5% in 1989 to 4.1% in 2001.[10] From 1995 to 2004, one can notice a significant growth among household wealth in the whole U.S., they doubled from $21.9 trillion to $43.6 trillion, which rely not only on the wealthy part of the country but on all residents of America, however the wealthiest of them used that time to make up 89% of this growth.[11] The situation on unequal wealth distribution in the U.S. was always an issue but during this time, wealth became only more unequal, and the wealthiest 25% became even wealthier. The significant role in an increase of housing wealth played life-cycles. Every baby-boom, people who reached the peak of their careers and the middle aged population contributed a lot to the general increase of wealth throw-out of the U.S., by achieving the comfortable levels of wealth.[12] The other explanation of a strong increase of household wealth is that financing the own houses / flats and cars became more accessible for all classes of population by introducing different financial products like mortgage loans, leasing etc and by introducing some social assistance e.g. granting favorable financial conditions for poor families. Table 1: Share of wealth held by the Bottom 99% and Top 1% in the United States, 1922-2010 Source: http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html Changes in wealth after 2007 During the financial crisis the wealth of the households declined from 2007 to 2009 by a total of $17.5 trillion or 25.5%, which is comparable to one year of GDP.[13] However in 2010 the household net worth improved the performance by growing of 1.3 percent only to a total of $56.8 trillion. Still that growth was not enough to reach the value before the crisis and 15.7 percent is needed to recover.[14] According to statistics of 2007 the top 1% own 34.6% of the total U.S. wealth. The next 19% possess 50.5%, which means that the top 20% wealthiest possessed 85% of all financial assets, which is incredibly unequal. While the bottom 80% of the US residents owned only 15% of the total wealth.[15] As was mentioned before, the percentage of wealthy people in 2014 even increased. 1.3 Comparison with other countries The figures of 2013 showed that the wealth inequality in the U.S. was worse than in most developed countries. Moreover according to some figures the United States does not belong in the league of the developed countries due to the unequal wealth distribution. As the U.S. top 10% own 75.4%, comparing with other countries (2014): Australia 50.3%, Canada 57.4%, Denmark 72.2% , Finland 44.9%, France 51.8%, Germany 61.7%, Italy 49.8%, Japan 49.1%, Spain 54%, U.K. 53.3% and Singapore 61.1%, which means that the US has the most unequal wealth distribution among the top 20 developed countries. However there are even some extreme examples like Chile 72.5%, India 73.8%, Indonesia 75%, South Africa 74.8%, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.[16] In case of Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden the percentage of people with their own houses there is quite low as they tend to rent flats but there is no big difference in population classes like in the U.S. 1.4 Wealth vs. Income It is important to distinguish two following definitions: Wealth and Income. Income refers to a flow of money (per hour, per week, or per year) which means wages and salaries, i.e. income which people receive through work, retirements and some social aids; whereas wealth refers to the assets owned, e.g. houses, cars, financial assets (stocks, bonds), investments etc.[17] However income inequality is not adequate enough to describe the economic inequality, as it does not replicate the full picture of individual’s economic situation as some people live from their wealth and not from the income. According to the United States Census Bureau definition income is received on a regular basis before payments for personal income taxes, social security, union dues, medicare deductions, etc†.[18] By considering this definition it’s clear that the wealthiest families have low income however they earn their money through their assets, which enables them to support their lifestyle. As was mentioned before dividends and bond payments are not included in the classification of income but are the primary source of funding. People in retirement have also little income but a higher wealth due to saving of money during their lifetime, which they hand over to their children and children would be wealthier than their parents due to usage of their assets to earn profit.[19] A low-income household with above-average wealth is not necessarily worse off than a medium-income household with no wealth.[20] By taking a look on a table below there is a comparison of top 1% and bottom 40% and it is obvious that by having only debts (like these 40%) it is very hard or impossible to create wealth. There is only little exception of people, who created much wealth in one generation, while most of the wealthiest come already from rich families and were born rich. Who can be this top 1% of the wealthy people in the United States? Most likely these people to be self-employed and they earn most of the income from capital and financial assets.[21] The most common professions are managers, physicians, IT-administrators, lawyers, and teachers.[22] The wealth is not something, which could be gained in a couple of years. There are assets, which are given from parents to the children in order to make more wealth on existing wealth. That’s why top 1% are wealthy U.S. families, which made their business long time ago. 1.5 Mechanism to gain wealth As was mentioned before wealth is assets like real estates, vehicles, stocks and other financial and non-financial property. While some people save their money the whole life to get a house and all other expenditure go for food, clothes, gas and travels, the others make more wealth out of their wealth and with each generation these families become wealthier. There rises a question what is the way for a normal average class man to gain wealth? There are some possibilities or buildings established by the Federal Government. There are 401k plans, 403b plans, and IRAs. These tools (pension funds) are so called tax shelters, which were made for working individuals. They transfer pre-tax contributions of earned income to the tax sheltered savings accounts.[23] Contributed assets in Roth IRAs (individual retirement arrangement) are tax free and all interests, dividends, and capital gains are all excluded from income taxes. However in order to invest in these tools, one need a relative high capital and it’s only available for those individuals and families, who can afford to bind their assets for a long time (typically until the investor reaches age of 60). [1] _ Gross Domestic Product: 4th Quarter and Annual 2013, Bureau of Economic Analysis [2] _ Inman, economics correspondent China overtakes US in world trade [3] _ Federal Reserve Database-FRED [4] _ Hurst, (2007) [5] _ Marsden, (January 26, 2014) [6] _ Grusky,(2001), page 637 [7] _ OECD (2013) Framework for statistics on the distribution of household income, consumption and wealth, page 120 [8] _ Keister, page 64 [9] _ Gilbert, (1998) [10] _ US Federal Reserve on wealth distribution in the United States (2006) [11] _ Zhu Xiao Di. (2007) [12] _ US Federal Reserve on wealth distribution in the United States (2006) [13] _ Broder, (2010) [14] _ U.S. Federal Reserve, (2010) [15] _ Forbes (2011) by Deborah L. Jacobs [16] _ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/us-is-now-the-most-unequa_b_4408647.html (2013) [17] _ Grusky, (2001), page 637 [18] _ U.S. Census Bureau, (2005) [19] _ Keister, (2004), page 65 [20] _ OECD (2013) Framework for statistics on the distribution of household income, consumption and wealth, page 121 [21] _ New York Times (2012) [22] _ New York Times (2012) [23] _ 401(k) Resource Guide – Plan Participants – Limitation on Elective Deferrals

Embracing The Obsession With Reality Television Media Essay

Embracing The Obsession With Reality Television Media Essay Many shows which have gained major popularity in this era are based on reality television. My family is following the television show Bigg Boss hysterically; and this makes me wonder about the obsession with reality television and its origins. When I think about it, I myself am unable to resist these shows, becoming a devout follower of shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef and many others. This makes me want to know, what is it that has even caused me to become obsessed with reality television, like so many others. Obsession is the domination of ones thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc (Obsession) and unlike many consider it, is not necessarily bad. Thus, what I want to do is to completely understand the reasons behind this obsession with reality television, proving that it is good for people to watch these shows rather than ignoring them. To comprehend this obsession, we have to go over why some people relate to reality television, while others watch these shows for enjoyment, fascinating characters and skills, socializing and learning. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed (Reality television). The first reality television show was Candid Camera which came out in 1948 [and] has been called the granddaddy of the reality TV genre (Rowen). Candid camera was a hidden camera show in which pranks were pulled on random people to catch their reactions, but no one at that time would have called it a reality television show or imagine the impact it would have on the future. Since then, reality television has evolved into many sub genres, such as game shows, talk shows, dating shows and many other forms. Even when it came out, reality television gained international popularity, but it was not until MTVs The Real World that it became an obsession; and in this day and age, it can be said that reality television has something for everyone. A reason as to why people watch reality television is that they relate to the participants on it. In reality television shows, many people who are not professional actors get a shot at fame. Survivor is an example of this, where people get an opportunity to win prizes and become famous, even though they do not have a rich or glamorous background. The feeling that anyone can be a contestant is a major reason as to what causes people to watch. Individuals hope that they might get a chance to win the grand prize and apply for a spot on the show given the opportunity; an example of this can be taken by looking at the American Idol auditions and the sheer amount of people that take part in them. Peter van Beneden while writing about viewer identification with television characters says that according to a study by Sonia Livingstone it was found that it was not sociological or demographic factors that influenced the interpretation, but psychological factors. The most important factor was i dentification. Furthermore, people tend to compare their own stories to those about the contestants on the show, like how the participants used to live before the show and how the loss of a loved one occurred and affected them. Also, people also on the basis of their occupations, some have jobs that are the same as the theme of the show, for example chefs watching Master Chef and aspiring models in America watching Americas Next Top Model. Now, a question that might arises from people connecting to characters on reality television shows is whether relating to the characters is good or delusional. Several people believe that it gives individuals unrealistic expectations, thinking their lives will just work out like that on television. It has been said about reality television that [i]ts a classic psychological flight into fantasy (flight as opposed to fight reaction), which, is easier than dealing with anything as real as our own problems (Aazami). However, think of it in this way, if someone is delusional does it really involve reality television; the concept of people relating to someone existed far before the invention of reality television. Dr. John Grohol said something quite interesting about this, if we start diagnosing people based upon how much they identify with a particular movie, wow, well have tens of thousands of new diagnoses tomorrow! In fact, I see so many teenage and young adult men who think theyre Ba tman and really identify with that character. Moreover, is identifying with a person on television really that awful? If someone with a similar background is doing something remarkable on television, is that not something to be inspired from rather than something to disregard. Watching reality television for amusement creates one of the major controversies going on due to the viewing of reality television. There are many fights on these shows and these attract a lot of spectators. The Jerry Springer show got famous due to all the fights that occurred and the sheer stupidity of the people who were on it. The reason for this show getting popular can be considered that the audience just wanted to be entertained. Fights occur on a lot of reality television shows, where people are confined to a house; I think that even a lot of the viewers of Americas Next Top Model watch it for the arguments. Furthermore, in numerous shows people do uncharacteristic things for attention and sometimes this leads to humiliation. Stunts like these tend to make people talk and raise the popularity of the show. Eating weird items to earn money is a concept that has escalated in shows and this is because the creators of the shows realize that most people want to be entertained, not caring about how it happens and what the consequences are. Again, take the American Idol auditions as an example, there are some interviewees that you admire, while others you can not help but laugh at. Using this as an outlet for amusement is not necessarily terrible, because people might use other sources to quell their thirst for satisfaction, which might be much more destructive. Another thing to consider is whether laughing at others is moral and ethical. A large amount of people find the degradation of others demeaning. Reality television can be considered the guilty pleasure for many individuals and extremely addictive as well, because [w]ith a combination of deception, sexual encounters, drunken ramblings and sudden outbursts its no wonder that reality TV keeps viewers glued to their televisions week after week (Rentmeester). However, if the people are willing to show their characters with all the quirks they possess with the risk of being laughed at, then why is laughing at them absurd, if they are doing something which is the embodiment of stupidity. Moreover, this kind of content attracts media attention and is probably not something that will end. Moreover, these situations are often even left to the perception of an individual and are usually not as harmful as they appear. If someone does something amazing, but embarrassing, would it not be better to commend them for their courage for actually attempting the feat rather than laughing at them. Furthermore, tabloids also make fun of people who have a sense of style which is different compared to the consensus. In comparison to reality television, tabloids are almost never accused to be undignified. In addition, how are the activities shown on reality television shows any different from those shown in magazines? According to the Steven Reiss, the Reiss profile is a comprehensive, standardized, objectively validated instrument that assesses 16 basic psychological needs. Everybody embraces all 16 basic needs, but to different extents. One of those 16 basic needs is curiosity, which is the longing for knowledge. This yearning can be highlighted in people watching reality television for incredible people and skills. In the show Stan Lees Superhumans, the host Daniel Browning Smith, whos been dubbed the most flexible man in the world (History.com) travels around the world looking for people that have some extraordinary talents, such as the man who is immune to electricity and the blind man who uses radar to ride his bicycle. My point of view is that humans are fascinated by anything that we ourselves are unable to do. Viewers watch these shows to find out what makes these people different, as most people try to appreciate things which they are not familiar with. In addition, many reality televisi on shows contain disabled people doing amazing things, like the hip-hop dancer who does not have legs [has] found fame after performing on the Indian version of Britains Got Talent (Arnold). These shows are watched; due to the fact that they show acts which we do not see in our daily lives and this curiosity makes us want more of that show. It enlightens people, as to how anything is possible with absolute dedication. People might argue that reality television gives people impracticable expectations and over dramatizes things, but in a way is that not a good thing. Does it not compel people to believe that they can do activities, which they would not even have attempted? Think of reality television as a double edged sword. It gives people a chance to show their special skills and it gives them the opportunity to shine. To someone skilled, it is a weapon that can be used for fame, while to those who are not it might lead to mortification. Think again of American Idol and how the gifted even from small towns have become famous, while those who are less skilled are laughed at and then usually forgotten. Reality television can also be considered as a social catalyst. From Reisss profile, it was noted that Significant but small differences were reported on the motives of social contact, honor, order, and romance (Reiss and Wiltz). Most of the 16 motives in the Reiss profile indicate that the people who watch reality television usually long for some kind of human contact, like the motive of family which is the need to raise children (Reiss). Equally important, vengeance which is one of the motives involves other people, although it is a negative characteristic. Furthermore, it gives some people who find it hard to start a conversation, a new and interesting topic to discuss with colleagues and friends. Steven Reiss and James Wiltz write relating to this point of view that when they conducted a survey of 239 people it was found that Two of the most commonly repeated truths about reality TV viewers are that they watch in order to talk with friends and coworkers about the show, and that they are not as smart as other viewers. But our survey results show that both of these ideas are incorrect. Although some people may watch because it helps them participate in the next days office chat, fans and nonfans score almost equally when tested on their sociability. This indicates that fans of reality television have the same sociability compared to those who do not like reality television, so it can be inferred that reality television does not destroy social contact, but actually helps it; as it provides people a matter to discuss. Some people argue that sitting at home and watching reality television is a waste of time and equivalent to end of ones social life, because the person leaves home less and loses socializing abilities. However, reality television lets communities gather together in support of a fellow member of the society in a show, such as when the hometowns of contestants on American Idol come together and have parties to commemorate the participants success. Likewise, people take their families and friends to sit in the audience of talk shows and game shows, to have fun and watch the show. Hence, if there is so much social contact as a result of these shows, it can be said that reality television is not the killer of social activity that many consider it to be, but rather a tool that can be used for socializing. Furthermore, there are some people that watch reality television to learn. Reality television is not just fun and games mixed with heaps of drama; it does tend to teach a few lessons and skills, every now and then. Such as, there are instructional shows which teach anyone who is willing to watch, about how to cook food, renovate houses and many other activities. Shows like Project Runway help anyone who watches to acquire knowledge about the current fashion trends and informs individuals about clothes and accessories which a person should never wear. Similarly, shows like Who wants to be a Millionaire educates people and raises their general knowledge about the world. On these shows, people make a lot of mistakes and rather than just making fun of these mistakes, people can actually gain knowledge from these mistakes. The reason why some people make sure history is not forgotten is to make sure we do not make the same mistakes as our ancestors; I think reality television can be used the same way in this generation. The problem countless individuals have with these shows is that the information given on these shows is always the same and nothing original ever comes on these shows. Also, one might argue that there are far better methods of learning. However, if people are watching television anyway, should they not do something constructive with their time and watch reality television as a source of information. Also, the knowledge being shown might be something new for some people and it might even educate people on how something common is done properly. Television is appealing. And if you can use that to help teach your child about something, thats pretty powerful, Rivadeneyra says. With reality TV, we can teach our kids to think critically about what theyre watching. Whats real about the shows and whats not. Its important for them to have media literacy (Weinstein). In America, Survivor led the ratings in 2001-02, and Idol has topped the ratings three consecutive years (2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07) (Aazami). This evidence suggests that reality television has dominated the world of the television and it is further stated that The shows Survivor, the Idol series, The Amazing Race, the Americas Next Top Model series, the Dancing With The Stars series, The Apprentice, Fear Factor and Big Brother have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in dozens of countries (Aazami). These statistics are quite compelling, it was noted that Over 15 million people watched the first Survivor that figure rose to 18 million the second week (oregonstate.edu). These numbers keep on escalating, such that 23 million tuned in [to watch] Multi-Millionaire and 51 million watched the finale of Survivor' (Reality TVs Real Survivor 77). Also, in a study it was noted that between the ages of 18-29 around 68% of the people either liked or loved reali ty television (oregonstate.edu). As mentioned before, there are many reasons to watch these shows and thus it attracts such a large audience. In my perspective, people who are against this obsession with reality television do have some good points, such as people spending way too much time watching television and the networks preying on the viewers by showing them non-stop advertisements. Nevertheless, there are ways to cut down the number of hours that are spent watching reality television such as, downloading the episodes and only going over the interesting parts, without any advertisements. Also, by not viewing the shows alone and by not watching the elimination episodes one can save huge amounts of time (Pagliarini). Audiences are often made to vote and many consider it a waste of money. However, I think that the huge amount of people who vote, vote because it gives them a feeling of empowerment. Reality TV has given the audience more and more power over the years. Whether you get to vote for the winner, or vote for something the contestants have to do, or just play a game to win a prize, the audience has more to do other than just watch the show. What other shows are there where you can possibly affect the outcome besides Reality TV? (Suzanne) . As stated, by going over people how people relate, laugh, admire, socialize and learn using reality television it can be said that reality television does have its negatives, but there are far more advantages of watching reality television. Also, reality television has something that appeals to everyone and if viewed properly, can be of great help in different aspects of life for the viewer. Hence, the obsession which comes with reality television is not something that should be ignored, but rather embraced.

Britain And Europe In The Seve :: essays research papers

J.R. Jones, a Professor of English History in the School of English Studies at the University of East Anglia, England, in Britain and Europe in the Seventeenth Century, has written a very informative and interesting book. Britain and Europe in the Seventeenth Century is a relatively short book that deals with the impact that Britain had on European affairs at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The thesis is basically summed up in the title of the book. To expand on the thesis, Dr. Jones emphasizes the close interdependence of Britain and Europe in the seventeenth century, and shows that events at home cannot be fully understood unless they are related to developments and forces abroad. In cultural and intellectual, as well as political and economic matters, the effect on Britain of foreign influences is for most of this period greater than that of Britain on Europe; one of the main questions that Dr. Jones considered when writing this book was why this relation was later reversed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In looking at this period as a whole there is a clear contrast between Britain’s isolation and unimportance in European affairs at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Britain’s full involvement as a major influence after 1688. This involves intellectual and political matters. European intellectual developments during the first part of the century did not significantly affect the main part of English life, and English influences on Europe were negligible. The only groups interested in developments in Europe were minorities who were dissatisfied with the established order in Britain. For most of these “Puritans'; the Calvinist churches of Europe provided the model which they hoped to establish in England. During James I’s reign they were inspired by Dutch divines and encouraged in their opposition to royal policies. In economic and intellectual matters Scotland was basically a colony of Holland. But the partly formed Calvinist inter national, to which English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians belonged, together with German, Czech, Swiss, Magyar, French, and Dutch churches, did not survive the 1620’s. It was shattered in the early disastrous phases of the Thirty Years War, and by the submission of the Huguenots when Louis XIII insisted on the elimination of foreign pastors, so that by the time English Puritanism temporarily triumphed during the English Revolution it held few European connections of any importance, and was dependent of its own intellectual resources.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The connections which bound Catholicism with Europe were more durable.

European Fascism Essay examples -- European Fascist Regimes

Fascism is both an outgrowth of and a reaction against nineteenth-century liberalism. Nineteenth-century liberals argued for laissez-faire economics, the equality of men (and it was, explicitly, men), and the universality of human progress and human reason. Underlying all of these ideals was the sanctity of the individual. By the 1920s, though, these liberal ideals were challenged (Paxton 36-41). Laissez-faire economics led to dingy, heartless industrial towns; anthropological research called into question the equality of all people; economic crises threatened to drop the newly emerging middle-class into the proletariat, arguing against progress; and the mass annihilation of human life in the Great War eroded belief in rationality. Fascist regimes developed in response to the crumbling world view of the West. Fascists offered a â€Å"national revival in which racial purity, mass fervor and authoritarian rule somehow reinforced one another† (Paxton 218). By defining the nation in opposition to other races, fascists promoted a sense of inclusiveness and security. The idealization of the nation as an organic being promoted jingoistic fervor and a sense of worth. Finally, the authoritarian figure (always a man) was reminiscent of older, and therefore more secure, forms of rule—the father figure or the monarch. Fascists offered remedies to what many saw as the disease that was modern culture. These fascist themes—racial purity, mass fervor, and authoritarian rule—are held together by one common principle: the degradation of the individual and concomitant exaltation of the group. This principle is a reaction against liberal ideas that lionize the individual. The mechanism by which fascists degraded the indiv... ...f fascism, can we afford it? These five authors answer a resounding no. Works Cited Blackstone, Bernard. Virginia Woolf: A Commentary. London: Hogarth, 1949. Camus, Albert. The Plague. Trans. Stuart Gilbert. New York: Vintage International, 1991. Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor Adorno. â€Å"The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,† in Dialectics of Enlightenment. New York: Seabury Press, 1972: 120-167. Leser, Esther H. Thomas Mann’s Short Fiction. Cranbury: Associated University Press, 1989. Mann, Thomas. Mario and the Magician. Trans. H. L. Lowe Porter. New York: Knopf, 1931. Parker, Emmet. Albert Camus: The Artist in the Arena. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966. Paxton, Robert O. Europe in the Twentieth Century. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. London: Hogarth, 1977.

The Problems with Human Population Essay -- Carrying Capacity Humans G

The Problems with Human Population In Chapter III of The Origin of Species, Darwin writes: "Even slow-breeding man has doubled in twenty-five years, and at this rate, in a few thousand years, there would literally not be standing room for his progeny.† (Darwin 29) Three hundred years ago, the population was only at about 500 million, and during this time the population was at a slow increase. Another factor during this period of time was the birth and death rates were at much higher levels. Many babies were born, but many also died. â€Å"Living conditions were such that many of the remaining children failed to survive beyond the age of thirty.† (Black 84) The crisis of Over Population should not be a surprise to anyone, currently if you were to look at the world Pop clock, which is a counter supported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census you would find a number that has risen from 6,367,148,920. This is the amount of people on earth May 8, 2004 at 8:39:47 PM; this number is constantly rising at about 8 milli on people per month. At the present rate, the population will rise to a point that it will max out the earth’s carrying capacity leaving humans with a lack of resources and space. Soon people will have to learn to survive off artificial resources to substitute for the inability for agriculture to keep up. â€Å"In 1950 the population of the world was placed at roughly 2,400 million, the rate of growth of the world's population is greater than ever before in history, and the successive net additions, period by period, are breath-taking.† (Hertzler 9) In 1974 the United Nations held the World Population Conference at which it was determined that a solution for the crisis was needed, it was also decided that all countries would create a population policy that would attempt to help the countries deal with social, economic and cultural development. Although the United States has a large population problem to deal with of its own, underdeveloped countries hold 80 percent of the worlds population and are unable to provide methods of birth control, leaving people no choice other than abstinence. A question we are forced to ask ourselves is: Should we help fund family planning in third world countries, or should we leave them to fend for themselves when it comes to the issue of population control. Aside from third world and underdeveloped countries, modernized nations inc... ...ion Explosion and the Natural Environment." Our Crowded Planet, Essays on the Pressures of Population. Ed. Osborn, Fairfield. 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962. 71-79. Darwin, Charles G. "The Law of Population Increase." Our Crowded Planet, Essays on the Pressures of Population. Ed. Osborn, Fairfield. 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962. 29-35. Ehrlich, Paul R., and Anne H. Ehrlich. Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1977. Hardaway, Robert M. Population, Law, and the Environment. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994. Hertzler, J. O. The Crisis in World Population: A Sociological Examination, with Special Reference to the Underdeveloped Areas. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1956. Lee, Philip R. "The Development of Federal Policies Related to Population Problems." The 99th Hour: The Population Crisis in the United States. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967. 84-94. Managing Planet Earth: Perspectives on Population, Ecology, and the Law. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1990. Sadik, Nafis. "World Population Continues to Rise." The Futurist Mar.-Apr. 1991: 9+. Questia. 11 May 2004.

Successful Fashion Marketing Strategy

When I first read that the topic of this creative assignment was to write about a successful fashion marketing campaign only one name came to mind: Marc Jacobs. How do you even begin to put his legacy into a one-page paper? Marc Jacobs is truly a fashion icon and is worshipped by anyone with half of a brain. His ability to make soft-feminine floral into something edgy and new has always been one of a kind. He has repeatedly transformed himself and his brand each year into something different.From his wacky sweaters in his early days at Parson's, to his amazing work at Louis Button, Marc Jacobs has done it all. His own words describe him best: â€Å"a little preppie, a little grungy, a little couture†. He covers every type of man and woman. His brand has grown with its clientele base like no other brand on the market. As a woman I can shop his collections no matter if I'm looking for a funky tee-shirt or a classically beautiful gown. Early on he worked for Perry Ellis with his â€Å"grunge† attire. The world followed his lead and grunge became a worldwide sensation.Marc Jacobs shows are haphazard ND messy, yet glamorous and beautiful all at the same time. He knows the simple elegance of throwing an outfit together that looks half-runway, half-thrift shop. His ads are moody, and draw you in entirely. I cannot think of one product that he has touched that hasn't turned into gold. His outreaches into perfumes and makeup have only solidified him even more. He breathed life back into Louis Button and made them what they are today. Marc Jacobs will continue to be the most inspiring and motivational person in my life. His empire knows no end.

Ballet or Football

Ashley Barnes Allie D. Rogers Engl 1010- 431 October 1, 2012 Ballet or Football? Ballet and football are both difficult sports to master; however, someone once said, â€Å"If ballet were any easier, they’d call it football. † What makes for a good sport? Every sport has rules and regulations that one must follow in order to play. The sport requires specific skills such as strength, coordination, and speed. A good sport has a certain level of safety to keep the participants safe and requires a lot of teamwork so that every is playing together. I personally think ballet is the more technical of the two.Ballet is much more complex than football. Every sport requires you to follow certain guidelines. In football, the player can’t grab the opponent in certain ways or a yellow flag will be thrown on the ground to indicate holding or some penalty that no one has even heard of before. Football has rules that the team must obey. On the other hand, ballet is less restricte d than football. They are no rules in ballet. Ballet is a form of art; there are no limitations on art. Ballet is not about winning or following any rules; it is about expression through movement.Although there is more freedom in ballet, there is a lot of technique required. You must hold your arms a certain way so that they do not droop, and you must always remember the turn out of your thigh when you tendu. Ballet may not have rules, but there are still plenty of little details to remember. Strength is a major component of almost any sport. In football, the quarterback relies on two hundred and fifty pound linemen to block so that he can get the ball in the end zone. The defensive linemen have to use their upper body strength to hold the opposing team and keep them from getting to the ball.They use their lower body to stand strong to hold their ground like grabbing a bull by the horns. Ballet requires a totally different kind of strength than football does. Dancers use their upper bodies to hold their arms above their heads in a perfect beach ball shaped fifth position while still keeping their shoulders down for thirty minutes at a time. They use their lower body strength to push out of a plie to a pique turn and have to maintain the core strength, so they do not wobble too much. Football does not require much coordination.It wasn’t a sport that was meant to be pretty. It was meant to be rough and rugged for the manliest of men. While watching the game, half of the time you don’t even know if they meant to fall down or if they just happen to be clumsy enough to fall over their own two feet. It tends to be one big dog pile play after play. In ballet, coordination is everything. Dancers must make sure they are in the exact spot that they are supposed to be at and be in sync with every other dancer on the stage. Pierce Brosnan said, â€Å"Love is a lot like dancing; you just surrender to the music† (Willcutt).Every beat must be a white fla g waving and show complete dedication to the music. Dancers have to be coordinated enough to do long elaborate pieces of choreography while still maintaining a smile on their faces. Ballerinas must make every single movement appear effortless. In football, speed is very important when a wide receiver is trying to run the ball down the field. It is his speed that helps him to pass by the other players in lightning speed so fast that they do not even know what hit them. I know what you’re thinking†¦. why would you need speed in ballet?However, not one ballerina would ever dream of doing a slow fouette, a move in which you whip your leg around to spin. It would be a disaster. Fouettes are meant to be fast to get your body around faster to make your pirouettes prettier. Speed and extreme focus is what makes a ballerina capable of turning. Although countless football players get hurt yearly, they have equipment that is specifically designed to keep them from serious injury. F ootball players risk injury every time they step foot out on that field, but if they fall down, their equipment is there to take the majority of the impact.Safety is important in any sport you play; that is why in football the players wear pads and helmets for protection. However, dancers must maintain a flawless posture to keep from injuring themselves. There is no special equipment for a dancer to use to keep themselves to safe. A dancer must rely on stretching to warm up his or her muscles. Dancers have to take every good care of their ankles and knees because they are constantly at risk of injury. If a dancer twists her ankle on stage during a performance, she doesn’t call in the second string.She sucks it up, puts on a brave face, and keeps on dancing. Teamwork is important in football because if you don’t read your guards, then you are liable to screw the entire play up. The player must know what the play is and what exact role everyone is going to play. The play ers huddle up before each play to strategize against the other team. They break off and have to rely on their teammates to do what is required of them. Vince Lombardi said, â€Å"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society† (Family of Vince).When you think of the word team, you don’t exactly picture a group of ballerinas dancing on a shiny hardwood stage. You stereotypically think of the Pittsburg Steelers or some other NFL team. However, in ballet, every dancer is part of a team. You have to be so in tune with one another that as soon as the music begins, everyone begins to dance as if a bunch of puppets moving on strings. If one â€Å"teammate† loses rhythm then the whole performance suffers. Dancers rehearse with their fellow dancers for weeks and weeks to perfect their dance so that it will be flawless.In the end, ballet and football require a great amount of passion and determination. If you do not have the heart, you will not be willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to pursue the sport whole-heartedly. Although football may be a little easier, both sports demand a lot of hard work. Works Cited Family of Vince Lombardi c/o Luminary Group LLC. â€Å"Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi. † Vince Lombardi. 2010. Web. October 4, 2012. Willcutt, Sara. â€Å"Dance Quotes 3. † Ascending Star Dance- An Internet Dance Magazine. 2007. Web. October 4, 2012.

Game: Online Games Online Essay

Nowadays, online games are famous. People prefer to play online games during their leisure time. They are attracted by high resolution of graphic, story plots, and accessibility of the games. These features would definitely amuse them. But, there are lots of disadvantages of online games. Playing online games is a waste if time, You may say, â€Å"Playing online games is an entertainment. † Yes, I agree with you, but, most of the online gamers would spend a plenty of time in playing online games. Sometime, they are playing the games while they are working. They are wasting their time, aren’t they? Their productivity would decrease. Some students may skip their class and go to cybercafe to play online games too. They are supposed to go to school, but they don’t do so. They waste their money to play online games. Most online games are free to be played. But, gamers could buy virtual equipments and items that only can be used in the games. Their characters in the games would be stronger with these items. Beside that, if they play online games in cybercafe, they have to pay the charge for internet services. Playing online games may harm your health. According to an investigation, more and more teenagers have short-sightedness. It is the consequence of playing online games for a long time. In addition, it is also very harmful to your backbones. Online games are harmful to brain development, cause children neglect reading, and encourage violent behaviour. Health is wealth. We mustn’t play online games for long time to avoid health problems. Online gamers would have less time to communicate with friends and family members. Even though some online games allow you to chat with other gamers, it is simply not the same as we communicate with others when we are doing sport activities. Gamers may have anti-social behaviour. In conclusion, online games can alter the way people spend their leisure time positively or negatively. The gamers ought to have enough self control. Being fully aware of the benefits and drawbacks of online games, the gamers can maximize their advantages and avoid the addiction. 1. The Disadvantages of Playing Online Games Thanks for the Internet’s help; people can deal with things much more efficiently. For instance, sending E-mail to other countries for business, auctioning off anything which they do not need anymore, and searching for the information, and so on. There are too many functions of the Internet to count clearly at a time. However, there is one of the functions of the Internet—–Playing online games. I believe that most people have played them, especially children or teenagers. They enjoy playing online games very much. Online games offer not only entertainment but also visual effect. Most parents object their children to play online games, because they are afraid that children will be addicted to it. Actually yes, being addicted to online games may cause many terrible things. The first one, it will affect your learning attitude. Once you played overhead, you would have to skip the class or be unable to concentrate on your studies. Second, it may affect your relationship. At this time, the relationship between you and your family or friends must get worse. You do not have the same topics o chat with each other. Third, the most important one, it may harm your health. According to investigation, there are more and more teenagers wearing glasses. It is the consequence of playing online games for a very long time. Besides, it is also very harmful for your backbones. Seriously, it can cause many terrible diseases. As a result, it is important to control the time on playing online games. 2. Disadvantages of Online Games †Online games offer not only entertainment but also visual effect. Most parents object their children to play online games, because they are afraid that children will be addicted to it. Actually yes, being addicted to online games may cause many terrible things. The first one, it will affect your learning attitude. Once you played overhead, you would have to skip the class or be unable to concentrate on your studies. Second, it may affect your relationship. At this time, the relationship between you and your family or friends must get worse. You do not have the same topics o chat with each other. Third, the most important one, it may harm your health. According to investigation, there are more and more teenagers wearing glasses. It is the consequence of playing online games for a very long time. Besides, it is also very harmful for your backbones. Seriously, it can cause many terrible diseases. As a result, it is important to control the time on playing online games. † Source: http://isayenglish. blogspot.com/2010/01/disadvantages-of-playing-online-games. html Disadvantages of online educational games are: Students can become brainwashed, causing severe memory loss and students can become too reliant or addicted to online learning and not seek other sources for learning/study. Disadvantages of recreational online games are: brainwash children with result in severe memory loss and an addiction to these games can cause bad health for children, causing laziness and poor eyesight. They often contain or encourage a lot of violence in their games, especially if they are free online recreational games. 3. http://www. teach-ict. com/gcse_new/entertainment/games/miniweb/pg8. htm 4. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Gaming You don’t need me to tell you that the Internet is expanding all the time, giving users more and more information, resources and entertainment than ever before and it’s only ever going to get bigger. Thanks to this constant development, the gaming industry is able to spread its wings away from the traditional platforms – consoles and handheld computers – even those confined to history like the GameBoy – and reach new audiences around the world via the net. Many of the sites offering the chance to play game over the web require very little input from the user in terms of finance or registration, meaning you could be playing in a matter of moments. Sure, you might have to pay a small sum for access to the more recent releases or for access to gambling sites but there are still plenty of sites that offer free gaming experiences. So we all understand that the Internet offers users a wide variety of opportunities to play games, right? Cool, in that case it makes sense to discuss a few of the advantages and disadvantages of online gaming. You might be set in your ways as a PlayStation fan who loves a shoot-em up, or you might be just finding your feet on the web playing a classic game and looking to broaden your horizons. Here are three of each to help you decide whether or not you make the move online: Advantages The first major advantage to any game that utilizes the Internet – either played on a PC or Mac, or using a tablet or smartphone – is that they are regularly refreshed and updated, with any bugs fixed quickly. As any gamer who uses â€Å"apps† on their phone or tablet will know, there are always new updates being released and this can help you to play more levels or play more smoothly. With a console, however, you can only play the game you’ve bought in whatever condition and once you reach the end, that’s the end! Online the possibilities are endless. Also, PCs and Macs are known for their high quality displays making for a much better gaming experience. Playing any game – no matter how new or how good – on a television hooked up to a console is dependent entirely on the quality of the television. But with computer monitors, you get much higher resolutions than the majority of household or bedroom televisions. You also get the variety of genres online. With a console game that you have to pay for in-store, you never really know what you’re getting until you get it out and play and you may realise it’s not for you. Disaster. Playing online, however, if you don’t like the game you’re on you just close the window and find another game, genre or site until you find one. It also offers you the chance to try new games – especially on free sites – that you may not have considered for the console. Disadvantages Unfortunately some of the most high-end gaming computers are very expensive and out of the price range of many gamers. Unless you have the money to spend, you may have to resort to using a standard PC and upgrade where possible. The size of the processor or your broadband connection may also cause you several issues relating to your gaming experience. If you live in a rural area, for instance, you might find that your Internet speed is very slow meaning that the gameplay isn’t as smooth as it could be; and the size of your processor could also play havoc with the speed causing the game to buffer. As technology advances and your passion for gaming grows, however, you could look into better processors or computers as a whole; or, look into a different Internet package with better connectivity. Finally, games played on a PC are often much more complicated than console alternatives. When you have to use several keys at once, and click the mouse, or tap the screen just to do one job, you start to wish you were playing on a EXAMPLE 1. A tragic story happened in southern Russia, where a 14-year-old boy killed his father with a sledgehammer. This reportedly happened after the boy’s parents had taken away his keyboard as punishment after he spent a week playing computer games. â€Å"At around 1am (local time) on April 12, the suspect dealt his sleeping father at least two blows on the head with a sledgehammer,† the region’s investigative committee said, according to News. com. au. â€Å"The man died on the spot from a head injury. † After killing his father, the boy’s uninjured but frightened mother gave the keyboard back. The boy then continued to play computer games for several more hours before he fell asleep, at which point the mother contacted relatives who called the authorities. Russian law dictates that the 14-year-old boy is eligible to be charged for murder. 2. Chinese online gamer dies after three-day session Online gaming is becoming increasingly popular with young Chinese internet users A Chinese man has died after a three-day online gaming session in which he did not sleep and barely ate, reports say. The man reportedly lost consciousness at an internet cafe on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, Beijing. He was rushed to a clinic but could not be revived, the Beijing Times said. The 30-year-old man, who was not identified, was said to have spent more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500; ?928) on gaming in the month before his death. China has more than 450 million internet users, and online games – which can involve multiple users role-playing in a virtual world – are particularly popular with young men. Researchers say tens of millions of Chinese people – many of them teenagers – are addicted to internet gaming, despite curbs introduced by the authorities aimed at tackling the problem. Similar deaths have occurred in other nations. In 2005 a 28-year-old man died in South Korea after playing online games for 50 hours without a break.