Themes of Antigone - 2022 Words

The Themes of Antigone Antigone is credited as one of the best works of Sophocles, ranked by most modern critics above Oedipus the King. There are many aspects of Antigone that make it the play critics love to decipher and rave about. Antigone must be received as the canon of ancient tragedy: no tragedy of antiquity that we possess approaches it in pure idealism, or in harmony of artistic development hails critic Berhardy (Theatre History). He goes on to rave It is the first poem produced by the union of the whole strength of the resources of which tragedy was capable: of all the extant works of Sophocles it is the most perfect: no other exhibits such a striking combination of subject, language and technique. There are a variety†¦show more content†¦Her relentless in pursuit of what she, a woman, thought was right. Another theme contained in the play is the threat of Tyranny or absolute power. Athenians were sensitive to the idea of tyranny and the fine line between a strong leader and a brutal ty rant. Creon was a sympathetic character but abused his power. His fault does not necessarily lie in his lust for power as he had noble intentions and was loyal to the state. His weakness was that he was human and susceptible to poor judgment (Classic Notes: Themes). He didn t consider public opinion until it was too late. One of the purposes of the Chorus is to illustrate the sway of public opinion. At first sight the chorus in the Antigone may seem weak, accommodating itself, as it does, without contradiction, to the tyrannous commands of Creon, and not once attempting a favorable representation in behalf of the young heroine. But it is necessary that she should stand alone in her resolution and its accomplishment, that she may appear in all her dignity: she must find no stay, no hold. The submissiveness of the chorus also increases the impression of the irresistible nature of the king s commands. So even in their last address to Antigone, there must be a mixture of painful recollections, that she may drain the full cup of earthly sorrows (Theatre History). In the end of the play, Creon is ruler over an orderly city,Show MoreRelatedTheme Of Antigone 964 Words   |  4 PagesProfessor: Kennedy ENC 1102 April 12, 2016 Theme In Antigone Sweeping dramas of rival families and of rival family members seeking control of a kingdom are very popular now. One obvious example is Game of Thrones, which continues to break viewership records and also engender controversy. Such sagas, however, are nothing new. Antigone, a play by Sophocles and the sequel to Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, provides an ancient Greek perspective on the themes of power, duty, and law while providingRead MoreMain Theme Of Antigone942 Words   |  4 PagesThemes are important to any story; they give the reader a sense of background and understanding when it comes to the events unfolding in the story. Many literary works include multiple themes, all of which convey  important ideas about humanity and the way that society functions. In  Antigone  by Sophocles, themes exist such as determination, the conflict between conscience and law, the conflict between divine and human law, and familial loyalty.  One key and central theme of Ant igone is the importanceRead MoreTheme Of Conflict In Antigone973 Words   |  4 PagesElizabeth Heeb Doctor Pratt Intellectual Heritage I (IH 851) 28 September 2017 Moral Conflict and Internal Change in Antigone Beliefs are not always based on facts that you would find in a textbook-they are something that one believes is true. When I first read Sophocles’ play Antigone, my initial impression of Creon was that his beliefs of the law and the state were rational because of his role as a ruler. But as the play progressed, I began to disagree with his behavior and his values becauseRead MoreAntigone Theme Essay941 Words   |  4 PagesIn the story Antigone by Sophocles, the theme guilt and innocence, as wells as morals play a huge role between characters, specifically the female character Antigone, the ruler of the city, Creon, Antigone’s sister, Ismene, and Antigone’s husband, Haimon. Antigone and Haimon represent innocence for many reasons. Their morals lead the two in a direction to honor Antigone’s brother, Antigone protects her sister from certain death, and the lovers commits suicide for the sake of innocence itself. CreonRead MoreAntigone- Theme of Family Loy alty1484 Words   |  6 PagesBetrayal of Family Loyalty In the play Antigone, written by Greek playwright Sophocles, loyalty to family seems to be a recurring theme. We first see it when Antigone defies King Creons order to keep her brother, Polynices, unburied as a punishment for his betrayal of their country Thebes. We also see how Antigones sister, Ismene, accepts partial blame for the burial (even though she refused to actually do it) in an affectionate, loyal act. Creon is also family (their fathers brother), butRead MoreAntigone : The Theme Of Violence In Literature707 Words   |  3 Pagesliterature, violence was used for a purpose. Antigone is filled with many violent imagery, countless arguments causing conflict between characters, and the violence of many murders and suicides. Pride, myth, and gender inequality are also major themes throughout the play. In the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster helps the reader get a better understanding on how to thoroughly analyze its context. It can help reading tough writing, like Antigone, a little bit easier by breaking the textRead MoreThe Theme of Fatalism in Antigone1032 Words   |  4 Pagesrole in doing so as one is not a free agent because future(in tragedies, reversal of fortune) is predetermined - even if one knows and attempts to avoid it. Antigone is the daughter of the Oedipus and the sister of Polyneices and Eteocles. King Creon passed a royal edict banning anyone from burying disgraced Polyneices dead body. Antigone is portrayed as a heroine rebel who does not fear forces from governments, has a different mindset to that of Ismene, her submissive sister. She made the choiceRead MoreTheme Of Conflict In Antigone983 Words   |  4 PagesThe Greek tragedy, Antigone, explores a dramatic conflict between the individual and the state. The epicenter of this tragedy revolves around the juxtaposition of Antigone and Creon—symbols of the moral law and the human law. They embody moral arguments that converge in opposition to one another, but since both parties failed to accept each other’s opinion, both were defeated at the end. This ensures no explicit answer on which side should take precedence over the other, making the play ambiguousRead MoreTheme Of Love In Antigone1033 Words   |  5 Pages In Antigone there are many examples of love and war throughout the play. The chorus plays a big role in explaining how love and war both take place. Love and war can not only be seen by th e plot of the story, but can also be observed within many of the characters. Love is shown for the dead and other family members, war is shown by suicide, and people standing up for themselves and what they believe in. The are many examples of the characters showing the love that they have for one another, butRead MoreThe Themes And Summary Of Antigone By Sophocles1318 Words   |  6 PagesSummary of Antigone â€Å"Antigone† is a tragedy made by the author Sophocles. Antigone starts out in Thebes in a post-war atmosphere. There was a war between two brothers for the crown of Thebes. The two brothers kill each other on the battle field resulting in one of the brothers receiving the people’s love and the other being labeled as a traitor to Thebes â€Å"Both brothers were killed in Battle.† Creon, the new king of Thebes, has decided because of Polyneices betrayal he shall not receive a soldier’s

Cause Effect Essay Final Free Essays

Your mind doesn’t work as sharp as it does when you’re rested, and you just don’t feel like doing anything at the time. Another cal_SSE Of procrastination is laziness. This has no actually reasoning, its just a person’s lack of motivation to get anything done. We will write a custom essay sample on Cause Effect Essay Final or any similar topic only for you Order Now Fear of failure can also cause someone to put things off. When you feel like whatever you do will not be good enough, it can really make a person not want to do what they need to. What’s the point in doing it now, when it’s just going to fail navy’s? Another cause of procrastination is lack of enjoyment. When someone doesn’t enjoy what they are doing, it can be really hard to actually do it. Over-confidence can also be a cause of procrastination. Thinking that you can get everything done at the last minute is something a lot of students think, and it can have some serious effects in the end. When it comes to the effects of procrastinating the list gets very long as well. One effect is stress. Putting things off until the last minute can really stress a person out, and that just adds on more issues for someone. Possible failure is another effect of procrastination. When someone puts it off, and puts it off, the chances of actually getting it done and having it be done correctly are very slim. Most people also feel very guilty when they procrastinate. Eventually the idea of doing it at all sounds terrifying, because you don’t want to face the guilt associated with it. Another effect of procrastination is possibly not accomplishing your dreams. Things keep getting put off and put off and eventually that weight you wanted to get down to never came; or that room you wanted to get cleaned never got cleaned; or hat degree you wanted to earn never happened. The effects of procrastination are staggering, and can possibly destroy a person’s life. It’s never a good idea to constantly put things off until the last minute. Procrastination is a big deal, but its something that can easily be avoided. The causes are lengthy and so are the effects. If you have the time available, and you have something to get done, it’s a good idea to get it done right away instead of putting it off until later. Some people say â€Å"Why do it now when you can do it later†. I say â€Å"why do it later when you can do it now†. How to cite Cause Effect Essay Final, Essays

Four Shadow - Where Have You Been free essay sample

I bet youve never heard of Four Shadow, huh? FourShadow is a group of male a cappella singers unlike any other. Karl, Andrew,Stacy and Kevin live in Minnesota, are in their early 20s and are all quitecute. On their first CD, Where Have You Been, you can findany kind of music, from pop to rap and even country. The band beautifully singswell-known songs of yesterday and today, as well as many songs of theirown. Theres no doubt Four Shadow will win your heart the momentyou pop their CD into your player or, even better, see them live. All four areamazing performers and will leave you in awe. You know how some CDs changeyour whole mood, maybe even your life? Where Have You Been is one ofthe very few that can do that, and Four Shadow is better than any boy band. FourShadow takes everyday things and puts them in cool songs that always seem tosneak into your head so you end up singing them all day. We will write a custom essay sample on Four Shadow Where Have You Been or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Its awesome howa group like Four Shadow can work a little magic with their music. I hope you goout and buy their CD!

Lala free essay sample

Even though the same themes are brought up, the poets take a different approach to them by giving the parents and children emotions and actions which are poles apart. Due to this contrast and varying approaches, the reader gains two separate views on these two themes. In the two poems, the pace plays a significant role in portraying the two themes. Morris makes use of monosyllables and short sentences making the scolding sound choppy and chaotic. The phrase, â€Å"quick slap struck† indicates the disobedience of the child due to the severe and painful punishment he has been forced to endure. The monosyllables make the words sound short and detached, increasing the pace and showing the quickness of the hit. Moreover, the word â€Å"struck† implies the strong impact of the hit, used to punish the defiant child. In addition, the pace plays a part in conveying the feelings felt by the parent. We will write a custom essay sample on Lala or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The frequent use of commas and full stops make the poem very rigid and implies the firm, forced and hurtful restriction the parent is instilling on himself in order to teach the child a valuable lesson without giving in to the tears. In contrast, only four long and extended sentences are used by Patmore in â€Å"The Toys† which decrease the pace and a sense of sorrow is felt for the dead mother. The extensive sentences suggest the continuous thoughts of guilt and sorrow which are profusely flowing into the guilty parent’s mind. In the phrase, â€Å"To god, I wept, and said:† the parent sadly pours out his sorrows for being harsh to his son, begging for forgiveness from god who he takes as his father. The slow pace makes the overall mood much more calm and emotional compared to â€Å"Little Boy Crying† where a somewhat mild farce breaks out. Furthermore, the poets vary the personalities of the two children making the disobedience of one more overpowering than the other. In â€Å"Little Boy Crying†, a sly child is introduced, â€Å"plotting deeper pits to trap him†. This phrase suggests that the child isn’t naive and is clearly hungry for revenge over his strict father who he sees as a â€Å"grim giant†. Moreover, he stands there, â€Å"angling for a moment’s hint of guilt or sorrow. † This suggests that the young child isn’t innocent as he knows the hurt your easy tears can scald him with. This phrase shows that the child is well aware of the discomfort and burning sensation he is able to make his heartless father tolerate. Furthermore, his emotions seem to be that of resentment, anger, sadness and frustration. On the other hand, a more mature and thoughtful boy is portrayed by Patmore in â€Å"The Toys†. We are told that he â€Å"spoke in quiet grown-up wise†, confirming that he is of quite a mature age. The phrase â€Å"having my law the seventh time disobey’d† indicates that the child is not an angel as disobedience is revisited here by the poet. The idea that the rules stated by the father have several times been broken suggests that strict parenting should come into play. The use of â€Å"seventh time† makes the job of parenting appear tedious and never ending. However, a sense of sympathy is created where the poet writes, â€Å"with darken’d eyelids†¦from his late sobbing wet†. A contrast is created here from the disobedient young boy to an innocent one who miserably cries himself to sleep. Moreover, the almost worthless toys lying beside his bed make his father feel guilty as they perform the task which he should have done which was â€Å"to comfort his sad heart†. The readers get the idea that stricter parenting should be enforced on the child in â€Å"Little boy crying† as a mischievous young toddler is portrayed. In contrast, due to the humble behaviour seen in the more mature child in â€Å"The Toys† his disobedience is slowly forgotten as the poem gains a more emotional mood. In both poems â€Å"Little Boy Crying† and â€Å"The Toys†, there is a change of mood as they start with strict parenting and unforgivable disobedience but as the poem progresses, the emotions of the parents start to falter creating a more sensitive sensation. Effective language and techniques used by the poets allows these different views on the poems to be understood. In â€Å"Little Boy Crying†, Morris uses lots of sibilance and alliteration including, â€Å"recently relaxed†, â€Å"swimming tears splashing† and â€Å"slap struck†. The continued use of these techniques frequently creates emphasis on the distressed state the disobedient child is in and enhances the emotions of hate, anger and revenge. In the 4th stanza the emotions change from hate to the sensitive and sentimental issues of parenting. This stanza brings out the fact that both father and son are suffering from ordeal punishment. Parenting is referred to as being extremely tormenting as the poet conveys the hurt the parent feels for seeing the child crying but struggles to hold back his comforting in order to instill some discipline in the child. Language generally used is not simple however, there is some contrast in the 2nd stanza where a reference is made to fairytales, including jack and the beanstalk. Here more immature language is used to relate to he child, â€Å"ogre†, â€Å"grim giant†, â€Å"colossal cruel†. Fantastical ideas are used to convey the thoughts running in the infant’s mind. This variation in language is used to imbue the idea that the child’s mind is complex but the emotions are immature. Single line at the end aims to emphasise the stress on the lesson the child must learn. Also for the parent who musn’t give in, in order not to spoil the lesson on discilpline. Acts as a dual purpose to cover both the troubles felt in parenting and disobedience.

Biography of Bletchley Park

Biography of Bletchley Park Free Online Research Papers The influence Bletchley Park had on ‘World war two’ is a point that has long been debated, as there are many factors and arguments that can prove or disprove any point. The one undisputable fact remains, that the work done at Bletchley, certainly altered the course of the war, one way or another As I have mentioned, there are many points that argue that Bletchley were very limited in how much they could affect the course of the war. The greatest of these arguments, is probably the idea that Bletchley Park could only give the military information. After that, the military leaders had to decide on whether or not to use the information, the way in which they would use it and the people to whom they gave passed the information and battle to. And even after the military had decided all this, it was up to the soldiers to actually fight the battle, and win. So, in this way, Bletchley Park seems to have little influence regarding the war. And because of this lack of direct contact with the war, very little of Bletchley Parks information was acted upon and so went to waste, or the battle was fought badly or inappropriate tactics where used which meant that that particular battle was lost. This bad leadership is seen particularly in the battle of Crete, when Bletchley Park decoded ful l details on battle strategies and other key details that allowed the military to make moves against the Germans. Unfortunately, the ally troops were outnumbered, and so lost the battle. However, it wasn’t a total defeat as Hitler never tried this style of fighting again in the entire course of the war. But it wasn’t just because of Bletchley’s lack of contact, it was also often due to Bletchley’s failure in breaking the codes and achieving the Enigma settings for that day. This failure meant that no actions could be taken against the enemy, and so losses were inevitable. Again, due to bad code breaking, there were often inaccurate messages passed on and so moves were made that were detrimental to the war effort, and so affected the allies badly. However, it has been worked out that the information provided by Bletchley Park meant that the war was shortened by two years, saving millions of lives. Most notable of these triumphs was the ‘Battle of Britain’. The information provided by Bletchley meant that the allies could make moves to counter the invasion, and prevented Hitler landing in Britain. Because of such heavy losses to the enemy, Hitler never tried this form of fighting again. Another of the great triumphs for the allies, directly caused by Bletchley Park, was the sinking of the flagship, and pride of the German Navy, ‘The Bismarck’. After the Bismarck was damaged, Bletchley decoded a message that finally convinced the Navy that they were a reliable source, and as such this led to the destruction of the Bismarck, which was a great blow to the Germans, partly economically, but mostly morally. Perhaps the defining moment in the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ was the breaking of ‘Dolphin’. Up until the breaking of Dolphin, 282000 tonnes worth of supplies were lost due to German U-Boats attacking the shipping convoys, and destroying many of the British fleet’s best ships. After Dolphin had been broken, the allies were able to prevent the Germans destroying so many of their ships, and breaking Dolphin also meant that the Battle of the Medanine could be finished leaving the allies triumphant. On the whole, Bletchley Park affected the war in a huge positive way, and as was previously mentioned above, shortened the war by two years saving millions of lives. Research Papers on Biography of Bletchley ParkAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Standardized TestingOpen Architechture a white paperGenetic EngineeringPETSTEL analysis of India19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraQuebec and CanadaComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoThe Spring and AutumnRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and

Kickstart Your Writing with Nanowrimo

Kickstart Your Writing with Nanowrimo Kickstart Your Writing with Nanowrimo Kickstart Your Writing with Nanowrimo By Brittiany Cahoon If you find your writing suffering latelyperhaps due to the shifting weather and gray skiesNanowrimo may be just what you need. Founded nine years ago, the yearly write a novel in a month event will have more than 100,000 participants from across the globe trying to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Thats over 1500 words a day, or just over four pages of typed text. It sounds crazy and probably is, but Nanowrimo teaches important writing habits that no fiction writer can afford to ignore: 1. Discipline: Assuming full-time novelists write one or two books a year, that writer probably writes somewhere between 500-1000 words a day. Forcing yourself to write more is like the old story of the marathon runner training with weighted shoes. Once the handicap comes off, youre even faster. 2. Ignoring the internal editor: With a quota of four pages a day, you cant afford to be a perfectionist. Your writing will be full of typos, spelling errors, and idiotic dialogue. Here is a sample from a participant of previous years: I think I am going to go to lunch now. Lunch? Now? Yes, I think this would be a good time. A good time? Why do you think it is a good time? Because I am hungry, and I am bored. But by allowing yourself to write crap you also allow yourself to write, which is more important. 3. Losing control: Many new authors try to control the plots of their stories and novels, resulting in deus ex machina situations, wooden characters, or unbelievable twists. Writing this fast forces you to give up control and simply write what comeswhich can later be edited into something readable without losing the spontaneity and realism in your rough draft. Nanowrimo novels often stink, but participating is a wonderful way to practice the writing habits you need every day of the year. To learn more or to sign up, visit http://nanowrimo.org. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" The Possessive ApostropheEducational vs. Educative

Jane and her husband, Ian, own a sheep farm. Their business is Essay

Jane and her husband, Ian, own a sheep farm. Their business is struggling financially. Jane and Ian are receiving a number of final demands for bills that they - Essay Example This situation is very difficult as it can lead to legal suit against them by the creditors, inability to meet the basic needs, and even embarrassment. Therefore, it is critical that the affected parties have legal alternatives to the situation, as well as fundamental approach to it. The most realistic legal approach to Jane and Ian is to file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding that allows people who cannot meet their financial obligations to have alternatives to meet these obligations (Keay and Walton, 2008, p. 14). Basically, it is one of the ways of dealing with debts that an individual is unable to pay. An individual who has been declared bankrupt is subject to certain restrictions and is freed from his or her debts after a given period of time. Under the UK laws, bankruptcy is governed by the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Insolvency Rules 1986 (Keay and Walton, 2008, p. 17). An individual can be made bankrupt through a court order after presenting a bankruptcy petition. This petition may be presented by an individual on the ground that he or she cannot afford to pay debts or by a creditor against the debtor. Considering Jane and Ian’s situation, applying for bankruptcy would be the most preferred option of overcoming their problem. As noted in the case of Re Cheyne Finance plc [2007], bankruptcy encompasses the consideration that an individual cannot afford to pay debts as they fall due and also the consideration that this individual may not be able to pay future bills (Keay and Walton, 2008, p. 101). This interpretation shows that if Jane and Ian file for insolvency, they will be covered against current and future debts. Before applying for bankruptcy, they should be aware of the restrictions that they will be subjected to: they cannot raise credit without informing the creditor that they are bankrupt; and they have to give information to their trustee and cooperate with

Deserving graduating senior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deserving graduating senior - Essay Example This is the major reason as to why I am applying for this particular scholarship program. Throughout my high school education I have worked hard and put all my efforts towards achieving excellent performance. I may not have been naturally smart when it comes to the book but my efforts and encouragement from parents and teachers were influential in the attainment of what I have so far achieved. My hard work, dedication and commitment towards excelling in my studies made me create a very special bond with my teachers which prove extremely beneficial. I am an inquisitive, proactive, and flexible learner; these qualities coupled with my great effort and cordial relations with my tutors perform well. I was thus able to post high GPA results and take college classes as a junior during my senior year of high school. In my college classes at the Pen State-Beaver Campus I posted above average grades as a junior student. I therefore intend to join the Kent University on graduation from college and pursue Aviation Science. It’s my intention to participate in the United State s Air Force ROTC program at college and enlist in the Air Force after graduating from college. Apart from my academic life at school and college, I am also am outgoing person; I actively participate in extracurricular activities. I have served as President for the Ski club, and Treasurer of the Freedom Fortune 500 club. Am an active of the Spanish club, Homecoming Court 2014 and Tech Team. When it comes to track and field events I have always committed myself to athletics and soccer serving as soccer captain for the high school team while at the same time maintaining a high GPA standing in my academics. These I believe are very important for physical, mental and psychological needs of my body which translate into good health as well as performance of the brain. I extend the same to my community where I voluntarily serve as Head Coach for the

Save the Earth from Its Near Destruction Essay Example for Free

Save the Earth from Its Near Destruction Essay Human and environment are interconnected. What we do to the earth will return to us also humans. Because of taking things for granted, our environment is undergoing to destruction. This movie, The 11th Hour, serves us an eye-opener to its audience. The root of earth destruction began when trees in forest were cut down. Tree is our main supplier of oxygen and they lessen the carbon dioxide in the environment that makes the earth cool. We are experiencing global warming because we are not a good steward of this earth. Cutting down trees irresponsibly and overfishing are some of the evidence that we abuse the earth. As a result, landslides, strong typhoons and abnormal weather condition are happening to us today. One of the evidence also of earth is the pollutants in the air and water that makes people sick of hard to heal disease such as cancer. We could see this abuse on earth but ironically we are not doing something about it. Yet the worst, we are focusing on economic growth to the point that we disregard the nature. It’s not yet too late to act. Save the earth from its destruction. If not now, when? How will be the life of future generation if we didn’t take the first step to prevent the earth from its future destruction? There are many ways to save the earth like, plant trees and have a self discipline. It’s not yet too late. The clock is not yet striking 12, it’s only the 11th hour.

The False Equality of Americans :: Economics Social History Essays

The False Equality of Americans In economic, social and political terms, equality is more of an idea than a reality for many people in America; the majority of money and power has been in the control of White men since colonial times. Ideologies like racism and sexism perpetuate the status quo by isolating under- privileged groups. Problems arise from divisions that are created between two under- privileged groups. For example, the cry for equality loses much of its power when it is fractured into several segmented cries. The book Outside the Magic Circle, addresses this issue. Organizations which successfully fought for equality, like the NCAPT, were destroyed by forces (such as anti communism) which essentially divide the groups’ members and the groups, themselves. Thus, any given group becomes ineffective. This book demonstrates that unity is the best way to fight for equality. The red scare was brought upon by men like Joseph McCarthy, who were eager to exploit people’s fear of Russia for personal benefit and power. Anyone who was associated with communism was highly scrutinized to be a Russian spy. Instead of fighting for the rights of the accused individuals, many social action groups ridded themselves of these very people. Durr realized that red baiting would destroy liberal groups which were fighting for justice. The NCAPT refused to dismiss people who were believed to be communist, but other groups were driven by fear and fired large numbers of people. â€Å"Everybody began to purge. The NAACP purged, the unions purged, everybody purged† (191). Instead of fighting stereotypes many groups fell prey to them, and in doing so lost their ability to challenge the status quo. Therefore â€Å"the whole liberal movement of the United States died...(because) it became exclusively anti communistic† (186). Equally effective at seperating people as anti-communism was the upper class which manipulated and abused the lower class for profit. â€Å"Every Southern state, every chamber of commerce, and every corporation thought the way to make the South prosperous was cheap labor† (179). Thus, members of the Southern upper class employed methods to keep people in lower classes. â€Å"The Southern oligarchy was ruining all the unions by keeping them from organizing† (156). At a time when labor unions were beginning to cross racial lines, the manner in which their empowering rise was quelled made alleviated race relations impossible. The False Equality of Americans :: Economics Social History Essays The False Equality of Americans In economic, social and political terms, equality is more of an idea than a reality for many people in America; the majority of money and power has been in the control of White men since colonial times. Ideologies like racism and sexism perpetuate the status quo by isolating under- privileged groups. Problems arise from divisions that are created between two under- privileged groups. For example, the cry for equality loses much of its power when it is fractured into several segmented cries. The book Outside the Magic Circle, addresses this issue. Organizations which successfully fought for equality, like the NCAPT, were destroyed by forces (such as anti communism) which essentially divide the groups’ members and the groups, themselves. Thus, any given group becomes ineffective. This book demonstrates that unity is the best way to fight for equality. The red scare was brought upon by men like Joseph McCarthy, who were eager to exploit people’s fear of Russia for personal benefit and power. Anyone who was associated with communism was highly scrutinized to be a Russian spy. Instead of fighting for the rights of the accused individuals, many social action groups ridded themselves of these very people. Durr realized that red baiting would destroy liberal groups which were fighting for justice. The NCAPT refused to dismiss people who were believed to be communist, but other groups were driven by fear and fired large numbers of people. â€Å"Everybody began to purge. The NAACP purged, the unions purged, everybody purged† (191). Instead of fighting stereotypes many groups fell prey to them, and in doing so lost their ability to challenge the status quo. Therefore â€Å"the whole liberal movement of the United States died...(because) it became exclusively anti communistic† (186). Equally effective at seperating people as anti-communism was the upper class which manipulated and abused the lower class for profit. â€Å"Every Southern state, every chamber of commerce, and every corporation thought the way to make the South prosperous was cheap labor† (179). Thus, members of the Southern upper class employed methods to keep people in lower classes. â€Å"The Southern oligarchy was ruining all the unions by keeping them from organizing† (156). At a time when labor unions were beginning to cross racial lines, the manner in which their empowering rise was quelled made alleviated race relations impossible.

Perception of Depression amongst North American and African Cultures Essay

Depression or â€Å"Unipolar depression is another name for Major Depressive disorder. It is a mood disorder characterized by depressed mood, it often manifests in lack of interest in family, school and social life, changes in eating and sleeping habits, emotional and medical disregard for the self, difficulty in concentrating, and loss of interest in life† (Rush, 2007).   Just like any other pathological disease, it has risk factors, signs and symptoms, and a natural course. Like any other disease it can be treated with proper medical and psychological therapy. Yet it is not perceived as such by the community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is remarkable lack of awareness about depression in the communities, in spite of the staggering statistics about the disorder. Unipolar depression affects 7-18% of the American population at least once before the age of 40 (Kassler, McGonagle & Zhao, 1994). In the United States alone, the number of females are reported to be suffering from clinical depression (Murray, 1997). It has also been observed that 2.5 percent of children and 8.3 percent of adolescents are depressed at any given time. These rates are considerably higher than the figure of the past decades (Depression Statistics Information, Internet). Yet, it has been found that only 20 percent of depressed people undergo medical treatment (Depression Statistics Information). This is caused by numerous reasons with ignorance or lack of concern and awareness about the disorder considered as the biggest suspect.   In fact, a United States surgeon general report   in the Hispanic community states that less than 10 percent of the mentally ill people will ever approach a mental clinic (U.S. Department of Health, 2000). This is possibly the result of lack of concern on their part, or due to the fact that in the Hispanic community’s, non-medical methods of   treatment for the depressed. It is imperative that we find out whether other communities also show a similar of lack of awareness and concern about depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social Science & medicine attempts to find cultural differences in the conceptual models of depression by an interviewed with North American immigrants and African Americans (Karasz, 2005) . His study demonstrated that Americans were more of the view that depression was a pathological disease of the body just like any other disease and required medical therapy. According to the author, the people from the African community were more likely to explain depression in terms of a social and moral problems and conformed to the belief that self management was the right way to deal with the issue of depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Different communities have different perceptions about the disease, people of certain cultures prefer going to spiritual healers rather than seek medical attention (Nayem, 2005). Some cultures prefer to treat this ailment with alternative therapies to allopathic ones.   Depression, though a serious and debilitating disease, does not command the same attention as other medical disorders like heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, or even obesity. According to Pasacreta (2008) there has been little attention given to depression and its consequences when we compare it with other diseases. For example obesity has been associated with diabetes many times. Even though depression also has a similar association with type II diabetes, not many people are aware of this fact.   Since public concern is lacking in communities, many depressed people fail to come forward, and receive proper treatment. If this trend continues prevalence of depression will continue to rise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though the attitudes of different cultures may vary toward the disease, it does not change the fact that â€Å"depression poses enormous costs for individual, family, and the society† (Nayem F, 2005). Depression is a severe disease with far reaching effects, starting from the patient, who may inflict self harm, leading to a family life, which cannot function in the same way as before (Scott, 2003). There has been research demonstrating depression as a burrden to people, communities, and health services as the treatment is long term and the patient has little or no productivity to society (Nayem, 2005). This research further highlights the need to conduct a survey to assess the perception of depression across various cultures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People are unaware of the magnitude of the problem and its economic implications. In certain cultures, inability to diagnose the disease or disregard of its seriousness lead to delayed medical opinion and treatment. Through this study, we will try to substantiate the various levels of awareness that different cultures have about the disease. The severity of depression usually gets aggravated if it is not treated promptly after diagnosis. This leads to a greater burden on the country. Scott (2003) echoed this sentiment when he stated â€Å"In the National Health Service the cost of treating depression ( £887 million) exceeds the cost of treating both hypertension ( £439 million) and diabetes ( £300 million). However, here, the direct health care costs are dwarfed by the indirect costs (i.e. days lost from work owing to depression exceed all other disorders and the economic burden on family members and society is considerable).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     North American and African cultures both differ in there perceptions about depression as a disease. Different cultures may feel that depression is a problem but western cultures are more likely to view it as a disease which needs medical therapy just like any other, whereas the people from the non western culture will perceive depression as more of a social and moral problem which requires self-management. There will generally be a lack of knowledge about depression as a disease in the non western community.   The false beliefs and stigmas will be more present in non western cultures as compared to their western counterparts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How widespread is serious depression? According to Dr. Nathan S. Kline of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, â€Å"it has been estimated that 15 per cent of the adult population of the United States has some degree of depression which is serious enough to be in need of treatment. This amounts to about 20 million people, which makes it not only the most frequent psychological disorder but also one of the most common of all serious medical conditions.† Depression is so widespread that it has been called â€Å"the common cold of mental disturbances.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Studies report that women outstrip men in suffering from depression by a ratio of about 2 to 1, though some claim that this is because women are more willing to admit that they are depressed. Depression afflicts all races and every social and economic level. While the malady is most common between the ages of sixty and seventy, it strikes all age groups and has been rising among persons in their twenties. Why do so many millions of persons suffer from depression?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Much study has gone into uncovering the root causes of mental depression. Flaws in human society constitute one main source of the problem. Illustrating an aspect of this are comments by Dr. John Schwab, of the University of Florida College of Medicine: â€Å"We’re in an era of change right now. Old values such as the old work ethic are being rejected and people are caught in an ideological vacuum. Kids see that the fruits of four hundred years of scientific progress may be more bitter than sweet—but they don’t know what to put in its place, and consequently there is a sense of futility.† Because of this, many disillusioned youngsters seek â€Å"escape† through drugs and other means. â€Å"The search for highs among the young,† observes Dr. Schwab, â€Å"is often only a flight from the lows.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also contributing to the rise in depression is â€Å"supermobility.† Families that keep changing their places of residence, hopping about from house to house and city to city, do not stay in one place long enough to build solid relationships with other people. A psychiatrist at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center wrote: â€Å"Psychiatrists around Boston have been aware for some time of what is called ‘the Route 128 syndrome’ or in Florida ‘the Cape Kennedy syndrome.’ It is found in young families who have moved too much, and its components are a husband too centered in his career, a depressed wife and troubled children.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sometimes depression results when a person reaches a â€Å"plateau† in his life after many years of painstaking labor. A hard-driving business executive may finally achieve the top position in his company, only to realize that he no longer has a goal in life. Housewives in their forties and fifties often suffer from what psychiatrists call â€Å"empty nest syndrome.† By this time their children usually have grown up, their husbands are at work for most of each day and they must face lonely hours in houses devoid of people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What about the feelings of inferiority that often accompany depression? Here too the responsibility may rest with human society. How so? Because it is often at a tender age that children are made to feel unattractive. Their peers may ridicule them if they are unable to do what the majority consider the â€Å"in† thing. If a youngster tends to be clumsy and uncoordinated, schoolmates and playmates can influence the child to believe that he â€Å"can’t do anything right.† Children of this type often combine the generalization: â€Å"I am weak,† with the value judgment: â€Å"It’s disgusting to be weak.† Such youths are likely candidates for depression. Method    Participants   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Approximately 40 students (20 western, 20 international) students from a Midwest liberal arts college will participate in this study. All of them would be selected using randomized sampling. Participants will be offered candy for the completion of the survey. Materials    The survey questionnaire will consist of questions related to assessment of knowledge and attitudes towards depression and a demographic data form. The survey forms will contain closed ended questions only. It will consist of 3 parts.   The first section will consist of demographic questions to gather information about the participants: How long have they lived here. Have they adopted the western culture of living or not. The second part will consist of closed questions. The participants will have to choose from the given options in the questionnaires. There will be questions that ask whether they consider depression to be a serious disease. Whether they believe it is a disease of the mind, body, or mind and body. Questions related to stigma would also be included for example do they believe mentally ill people are more aggressive than others? Do they believe mental illnesses are not as severe as physical ones? Do they believe depressed people can be cured with drugs only, or do they require social and community help? Moreover, to support the validation of the results of the survey, the review of literature to be utilized within the research shall show a specific scale of measure that is used by psychologists to identify the behavior of humans with regards to depression from different cultures all over the world. Procedure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is imperative to find out exactly how different cultures perceive depression as a disease. The researcher plans on conducting this research. This research will deal with the perception of depression as a disease amongst western and non western cultures. The research will also look into the level of awareness in different cultures about the prevalence of disease in their societies. This research will try to substantiate if the perception of depression varies with different cultures.   To complete the said aim, the research will be conducted on campus.   Participants will be debriefed on the study being researched. The researcher would then have the participants sign a consent form before they participate in the study. After which, a survey kit would then be handed out to them and they would be given three days to return them back. Data analysis A one way ANOVA would be conducted to analyze the data. Since we have two independent sample populations and more than two variables. This will allow for the comparison of attitudes about depression for members of Western and non-Western cultures. Using the ANOVA we can calculate whether the stated answers have associations with either the western or non western societies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   References Depression Information and Fact Statistics (2008), Depression statistics and information, retrieved on February 13, 2008, from http://www.add-adhd-help-center.com/Depression/statistics.htm Haasen C, Levit O, Gelbert A, Foroutan N, Norovjav A, Sinaa M, et.al, (2007), Relationship between mental distress and acculturation among migrants, psychrische praxis,    retrieved on February 13, 2008, from the NCBI database on   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez Karasz, A. (2005), Cultural differences in conceptual models of depression, Social Science & medicine, 60, 1625-35, retrieved on February 13, 2008, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15652693?dopt=Abstract&holding=f1000,f1000m,isrctn Kessler, R., McGonagle K,, & Zhao S, et al. (1994) Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States: results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry;51:8-19. Murray, C., Lopez, A.D. (1997). â€Å"Alternative projections of mortality and disability by cause 1990-2020: Global Burden of Disease Study†. Lancet 349 Neem F, Ayub M., Izhar N, Javed Z, et al (2005). Stigma and knowledge of depression, Pakistan journal of medical sciences, 21(2) 155-158. Pasacreta. J, (2008), Depression: Is society taking the wrong approach? , retrieved on February 13, 2008, from http://www.helium.com/tm/646939/novel-approach-managing-depression Scott, J. (2003), Global burden of depression: the intersection of culture and medicine, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 183: 92-94, retrieved on February 13, 2008, from http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/183/2/92 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. Mental Health: Culture, Race, Ethnicity – Supplement, A Report of the Surgeon General 1999.from: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cre/default.asp.

Are Filipinos Ready for Globalization? Essay

Globalization deeply affects the values and structure of Philippine society. The State has a responsibility of protecting its citizenry and environment to the possible effects of it. Globalization is not the cure-all answer for our economic woes. There are more things to life than a competitive market or liberalization. It does automatically lead to economic growth, much less societal development and progress. There are other dimensions and considerations in the development of a nation. There needs to be a societal framework and a set of institutions to ensure the appropriate and justified working of an open market economy. Economic performance is heavily dependent on the vitality of institutions outside the economy – the institutions of political, cultural, and social life as well as institutions that ensure the integrity of nature. The economy dies if society around it dies. Markets are important but they need the support of the appropriate institutions to function properly and effectively. A vibrant culture and a just polity are essential for an efficient economy. The Philippine Agenda 21 is the unique response of the country to global challenges. It embarked on a threefolding stakeholdership as a means to achieve a more compassionate economy within the context of sustainable development. This participatory activity involves the civil society representing culture, government representing polity and business representing the economy. This development approaches have more chances of working since the development perspective encompasses all dimension of society. In order to fully participate in globalization without sacrificing national interest and patrimony, the State must address the five goal elements of PA 21 namely, poverty reduction, social equity, empowerment and good governance, peace and solidarity and ecological integrity. Globalization brings fears to the Filipino workers. The fall of protectionism and other barriers to trade contribute much to the uncertainties that workers face today. The State has a vital role in developing the skills and improving the welfare of the Filipino workers for them to face globalization squarely. He must have the necessary training and equipment to protect him against the dislocations and uncertainties emerging from globalization. Meanwhile, rather than toe the line of rich nations pursuing globalization as a way out of their economic crisis or stagnation, the government can curb landlessness, joblessness and homelessness instead. Protecting national patrimony, pursuing genuine land reform and developing basic industries are among the best alternatives to take for now. The greatest challenge posed against the country in this whole globalization phenomena is keeping the solid of identity of Filipinos. More than the basic needs, it is primary that the Philippines be wary of the whole system of globalization which seems bent on eating up what is left of the country. In these times when the trend is outward looking, it is important for us to keep our eyes on what is here and what must be done here now. The interest of the Filipinos above all must be our priority. When we have done our duty to each and every Filipino, then we are ready and capable to face global challenges. The key to a competitive future lies in working for and engaging in an integrated community and working aggressively to make ourselves a dynamic and productive economy in our own right. We must band together and integrate our efforts to prove our worth to our neighboring countries. We, as a country must prove itself equal to the challenge of global competition. Perhaps, I am quite pessimistic about this whole globalization thing as I feel we have burned many times over by the domination of the Western world. A part of me could sense that globalization is another form of Western conquer in disguise. But then, I also know that globalization is inevitable and our country escaping the trend of globalization is even more inevitable. I am amazed by the fact that today, a whole realm of information is right at every person’s fingertips. If we look through history, power and authority took many forms. At first, power lies with he who has the land. Eventually, he who has the political position has the authority. He who manages most of the resources was regarded as the most powerful. Today, it is a battle of who holds the most and right information at the right time. And the battle for information takes on many dimensions. I guess this is one phase of globalization that continues to enthrall me. And in this world of information, I see Filipinos positioning themselves as brilliant instruments of technology. It is undeniable that in every country is a Filipino community. It is my pride that in the ICT industry, Filipinos are one of the premiere service providers. With this as our strength, maybe capitalizing on our human resources can be the answer to addressing the negative travails of globalization. With a Filipino in every corner of the world, who really knows how we can go in changing the world? The Chinese have done it. Every Chinese community in every country is regarded as a thriving community. Maybe we can do the same. As globalization is inevitable, Filipinos must find ways on how to adapt to the new system and still make a mark, not leaving behind the Filipino identity.

Ethical Dilemma Essay Sample

Ethical Dilemma Essay Sample Essay on Ethical Dilemma If You Saw Your Best Friends Cheat on a Test, What Would You Do? Always remember that when you cheat or planning to cheat, then you always lose. This is especially when you are going to cheat on your exams because you are attempting to outsmart your professor or teacher by means of violating the rules. If you happen to see your best friend cheating, it is important to remind them that what they are doing is inappropriate. Cheating is not acceptable and therefore anyone who is caught cheating will face punishments from the teacher. The teacher is not the only one who will provide punishments because the school is expected to apply the same. This is because cheating is the most unacceptable form of offense at school because it can generate a public scandal to the community. As the best solution, it is important to approach your best friend and inform that their recent action is unacceptable. Getting caught could risk their academic status, especially if there is a proof to show to the school administration such as the principal. Promoting awareness regarding the consequences of cheating is implied because the best friend will soon realize that the value of honesty. As a best friend, acting as a guide is important because it shows how concerned you are to your friend who is drawn into an action that is not acceptable. This is instead of reporting your best friend to the teacher or school administration that he cheated on a certain activity such as exams. In this way, your best friend will feel that you seriously care for them and are now willing to follow your advice not to repeat the same mistake for the next school assignment process. The only concern is to know what is going on inside the head of that particular best friend. This is because they think that they are offended by the situation. Some best friends argue when their action is seen by them as the rightful thing. There are numerous reasons to consider because there are factors that influence a person to commit such behaviors, which forces them to commit such actions. Criticisms are sometimes not the rightful way to approach your best friend to take such actions. In this case, the relationship between friends is at risk for being strained. Telling your best friend that his act was wrong during the exam should be treated with a proper approach to ensure that you are going to tell them using the right approach as well as using the right word. Cheating is the mortal sin of education because it is an act of taking advantage of the subject matter against the practices of any academic institution. When a person cheats, they violate the policies of the school where they are currently learning. Students who commit such acts are usually suspended from school because it negatively affects the performance of the school. Disciplining the student in a right manner ensures that the response becomes subjective, relevant, and appropriate to prevent similar offenses in the future. Always remember that there were students who were expelled from the school because they were caught cheating in their previous classes by their teachers and school administration. Every offender offends the moral and ethical values of learning because they are taking advantage against the law’s implementation that could lead them to a humiliating consequence after committing an unacceptable action (Blumenthal, 2013). Reference Blumenthal, William (2013). Models for merging the US antitrust agencies.  Journal of Antitrust Enforcement. Oxford Journals.  1  (1): 24–51.

Bebop Jazz and its Influence

Bebop was a revolutionary sound that captivated the audience due largely to the new found creative freedom of musical expression allowed by extensive improvisation. According to John Andrews (1998), Bop marked the point at which both the musicians and their audience came widely conscious that Jazz was an art form. Andrews also goes on to mention that bebops mall focus was for people to seriously listen, instead of dancing. After bebop other styles of Jazz developed, such as progressive Jazz, cool jazz, and hard bop. These three styles of Jazz, In the pollen of many people, imparted a substantial influence on current jazz, and will likely impact future generations as well. Bebop is a style of Jazz developed in the early sass as a means to revolt against big band music. Big band music required large groups of players. As a consequence, the musicians were required to follow simpler, highly structured, written arrangements. At the time, many musicians resented the lack of freedom to improvise and the reliance upon written arrangements, so they created bebop, a new style of Jazz. Bebop was vastly deferent than swing band music. It had faster tempos, complex harmonies, elaborate melodies and a rhythm section. According to _Americas Musical Landscape-? a typical bebop combo consisted of a trumpet, saxophone, double bass, piano, and percussion. Due in part to the smaller number of performing Caucasians, bebop music allowed for more freedom of expression and imagination than in big band music.Improvisation was a key feature. While much of big band music was designed to indulge the audiences desire to dance, bebop Jazz is for people who want to sit down and listen to the music. At first, many people enjoyed listening to bebop simply because it was something new and exciting. However, many people, particularly musicians, prefer bebop because of its sophistication and complexity. Some Jazz musicians felt they needed something different and preferred to play bebop Instead of swing Jazz to demonstrate their improvisational skills.Musicians such as saxophonist, Dizzy Gillespie; trumpeter, Charlie Parker; and plants, Theologies Monk; stand out as examples of creative giants who through their virtuosity, were able to achieve an innovative sound that wound into their musical presentations, more important than dancing or chatting ove r simple background music. In a way, bebop was a new genre unto itself, more akin to Jazz than big band music. Because it is essentially the basis for most contemporary Jazz styles, listeners will hear the enduring influence of bebop in most Jazz forms that have followed it.Progressive Jazz, cool Jazz, and hard bop are three styles to have evolved from bebop jazz. It is likely that these three Jazz styles, as well as others, embedded with the underlying roots of bebop will have an ongoing influence on future Jazz musicians. No one can speak for all musicians, many may prefer to play older well-established, classic Jazz, but certainly there are a substantial number of musicians that prefer playing the avian-garden styles, who will carry the flag of bebop for future generations.Bebop was a revolutionary and exciting sound that changed the world of Jazz in the asss and continues to influence Jazz styles today. At its advent, bebop was a way for jazz musicians to break away from the confines of big band music, wh ich did not allow for much improvisation or freedom of musical expression. Bebop pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Theologies Monk helped pave the way for other jazz musicians, allowing them to shed their restrictive chains of structured big band music and to elevate the level of improvisational genius that bebop allows.

The Connections Between Consumption, Identity, Taste And Style Essay

The Connections Between Consumption, Identity, Taste And Style - Essay Example Products are classified according to their utility nature. While some are consumable products, others are fixed products that cannot be consumed by the purchaser. Various reasons prompt people to acquire products. Some people purchase goods and services for basic use, others purchase as a means having fun while others simply purchase for show off. The various reasons why people buy what they buy are determined by different factors. Their level of income, the purpose in which the product will be put into, their social status and class as well as the economic conditions affecting them are all factors affecting people’s buying patterns. Evidently, there is a connection between consumption, identity, taste and style as portrayed by people’s purchasing patterns in the society. However, there are inherent factors in play that influence these phenomena in the society. These include consumers’ ability to buy as determined by their level of wealth, social status and econo mic status of the people as well as the prevailing status of the economy. This paper will look at the connection between people’s consumption habits in reference to the three habits. Additionally, the various factors influencing the people’s purchasing power will be discussed in the paper. The conclusion will prove that identity, taste and style come along with increased levels of consumption among the people. Economists point out that there is a connection between consumption, identity, taste and style among people, which determine reasons why people purchase different goods and services. Abraham Maslow designed the hierarchy of needs in which he proposed that people’s consumption behaviors are affected by the needs they want to satisfy. In his hierarchy, five stages determined the needs to be satisfied and the reasons for their satisfaction. According to him, the most important needs people satisfy are the basic needs. People need food, shelter and clothing in order to survive. However, as the needs keep being satisfied, consumers move up the stages to incorporate other needs in the hierarchy. The top most stage is self-actualization achieved after people successfully satisfy esteem needs that are geared at instilling confidence and earns respect from other people. Esteem needs and self-actualization needs influence the consumer behavior of people in the society. In this category of needs, people’s desire to have an identity among other people in the society, a change of taste for the type of products they purchase and shopping for style all influence the consumption behaviors of the people. Availability of disposable income to spend by people is the biggest determinant of the kind of commodities and services purchased. Additionally, the social status of people too determines their reasons for settling to purchase different goods. Extravagant lifestyles characterize identity as a consumption behavior among the people in the societ y. Logically, people purchasing for show off rarely need the goods purchased. With the main intention of showing their self-worth and level of their wealth, identity consumers generally make purchases for goods that they do not require in their lives (Bauman 2001, p. 25). People generally want to be identified with what they can afford as a measure of their financial ability. Therefore, wealthy people show their level of wealth through the types of goods they buy or the services that they can pay for (Zukin and Maguire 2004, p. 177). Subsequently, their shopping places and residential areas define their class. Socially respected people opt to show their class through their methods of consumption. Identity has created

Chapter 11 Review Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Chapter 11 Review Questions - Essay Example An organization needs to understand both internal and external environment. Thereafter, find the best strategy that suits the specific environment, implement the strategy and afterwards evaluate the outcome, as Henry Mintzberg, (1988) explains. Strategic vision of an association according to Bain and Company provides a an optimal state desires of a company over time. It provides the guidelines on what the company is planning to achieve in five to ten years. On the other hand, the mission statement provides the current focus and reason for existence of a company,. Strategic management process provides a platform for managing organizational change. Each day, through research and development, companies makes new changes in performance, staffing etc. and its therefore relevant to have the strategic management process which will help in understanding the workforce, evaluation the right strategies to put across and how to implement. This monitoring therefore helps to adapt to various changes that come across. Leaders plays important role in any organizational change implementation. To have a successful change implementation, leadership ensure that every needed tool for the implementation is availed at the right time, Philips et al.(1983).. Leadership plays an oversight role in ensuring every department tasked performs their tasks accordingly. According to Kotter’s eight stage model of planned change, the company has to create urgency of what it needs to perform. Through formation of a coalition, the company needs to convince people on the need for change. Having a bigger vision over the planned change is important for the change to be effected since people will know the need for doing something. After identifying the change, the company has to communicate the vision and remove any obstacle that may prevent change implementation. Furthermore, the company needs to have a build-up of the change while short

Alpen bank. SWOT Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Alpen bank. SWOT Analysis - Case Study Example The organization has hesitated to launch its credit card services because of poor infrastructure, population inexperience and low per capita income level of the Romanians. However, they have launched this credit card service and able to win the trust of customers. In the year 2000, the organization has entered in the European market. The objective of the study is to form an effective marketing strategy in order to clear cut the positioning strategy considering the credit card industry. A strategic SWOT analysis has been implemented below for Alpen. Strengths Alpen bank is one of the leading banking organizations in Romania. The bank is popular within the country due to the effective customer service and several differentiated customer service. Due to its quality customer service the organization has able to create positive brand awareness in Romania. As it is discussed earlier, premium banking services have increased the core competencies and reputation of the brand name in the Roman ian market. Weaknesses Lower customer base is the biggest weakness of this brand. The organization has implemented credit card service facilities for its clients in Romania. The concept of the credit card was not familiar with the people of Romania. The organization has hesitated to enter in this credit card service business due to the effect of recession, low per capita income of people and inexperience of the people about the credit card services. Lack of awareness and low customer base is the significant weakness of the organization. Opportunities Now the potential opportunities for the credit card service of Alpen bank can be determined by evaluating the effects of following six important environmental factors to the company. Political: The organization has tried to enter in the European Union market to increase its international client base. The credit card industry is comprised of four key parties, such as Merchant acquirers, Merchants, Card Issuers and Network & Associations. However, the banking sector in Romania is least affected comparing to the other developed countries. Strict governmental regulations and ethical policy implementation has helped the organization to win the trust of the consumers. The support of several political parties and government can increase the core competency of the organization. Economical: The organization is overcoming the challenges of previous recession. The economy of Romania has able to overcome some effects of recession. The disposable income of middle class people is increasing significantly. Initially in the year 2006, the organization was trying to enter in the EU region due to the economic advantages of these areas. However, the organization had tried to target the premium customers due to the unfavorable economic condition. The high disposable income of the people of high income level will help the organization to generate high revenue. Social: The people of Romania were not that much aware about the credit car d services. Therefore, it is necessary for the organization to create social awareness about the credit card service. It is a potential opportunity for the organization to increase its market share in Romania. The organization should concentrate on the untapped market. Moreover, changing life style and improved literacy rate will help the organization to create a huge customer base within the country. Technological: Technology is a necessary aspect for the growth of this industry. This credit card facility will encourage the people of modern society. Effective and advanced telecommunication facility, computer technology and developed terminals will help the customers to operate the credit cards comfortably. Environmental: The service sector has able to hold high growth rate comparing to the

A Web Based Meeting Scheduler Information Technology Essay

A Web Based Meeting Scheduler Information Technology Essay The web based meeting scheduler (WMS) is a user friendly tool developed to assists humans in office environments to schedule meetings efficiently. The algorithm used in the distributed meeting scheduler paves way for negotiation of various processes on behalf of their users and comes up with an agreement on a common meeting time that is acceptable to all the users and abides by all the constraints set by the hosts and attendees. The motive of the algorithm is to obtain a solution based on the knowledge it acquires during the process. In summary the Web-based Meeting Scheduler follows a decision oriented methodology that depends on knowledge based approach. The purpose of WMS is to support the organization of meetings and to determine for each meeting request, a meeting date and location so that most of the intended participants shall effectively participate. The principal users of this system are the Meeting Initiator and Meeting Attendees/Participants. Each user is going to have their own login IDs and passwords. It is the responsibility of the meeting initiator to schedule the meeting based on the availability of the attendees along with the constraints expressed by the attendees/participants. The meeting scheduler system shall have the ability to handler several meeting requests in parallel and resolve conflicts. The key functionalities of this system are: Schedule or plan meetings, re-planning of meetings to support changing user constraints, support conflict resolution, keep participants informed of the meeting schedules and any changes, and to cancel meetings. Problem Context Despite the advances in technology, scheduling a meeting is not as simple as it looks. There is a lot of judgment involved. Anytime you bring together a group of people, there are many factors to consider. You have to consider pecking order. Some members of the group are more important, so others must change their schedules to accommodate. But with the right system, meeting scheduling can be quick, easy and super efficient. Therefore, a web-based system meeting scheduler system will be developed to allow individuals or organizations to easily, efficiently, and precisely schedule meetings in accordance with practical limitations of virtual and real-world meetings. This project does on how the software system will try to achieve what it is intended to do, by describing requirements such as security, reliability, maintainability, usability and performance. Rationale Now that the problem has been identified, once implemented, the system could bring about significant tangible and intangible benefits. It is anticipated that the system could be the best solution to the existing problems that meeting planners or organizers encounter when running meetings. The following are the tangible and intangible benefits of the system: Meetings are vital for communication and management. Properly run meetings save time, increase motivation, productivity, and solve problems. Plan, run and follow up meetings properly, and they will repay the cost many times over because there is still no substitute for physical face-to-face meetings Description of Problem Area Holding meetings is an increasingly expensive activity, hence the need to run meetings well. Badly run meetings waste time, money, resources and are worse than having no meetings at all. The following are common problems that occur when scheduling a meeting: The meeting is scheduled and after everyone had been invited you discover that some important participants cant attend. Another date has to be found. This can lead to a cycle of invitations and revisions. A meeting is confirmed but then needs to be changed. A meeting location is specified and then later changed in a subsequent meeting notice. Some of the attendees follow the original meeting notice and end up in a wring room. Repeated meeting notices and revisions are sent out, so everyone is confused about the meeting. You use an internet based meeting scheduling system, but outside participants dont have the same software. A meeting is scheduled and confirmed, but the location is already booked. No one sends a meeting reminder, and several attendees forget about the meeting. People are invited to a meeting but the meeting organizer did not say what it is about, so they show up unprepared Nature of Challenge The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build. No other part of the conceptual work is as difficult as establishing the detail technical requirements, including the entire interface to people, to machines, and to other software systems. No part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong. No other part is more difficult to rectify later.[Brooks, 1987] We consider the problem of determining suitable meeting times and locations for a group of participants wishing to schedule a meeting subject to already scheduled meetings possibly held at a number of different locations. Each participant must be able to reach the new meeting location, attend for the entire duration, and reach the next meeting on time. Major problem will be in deriving efficient algorithms for solving general meeting scheduling problems, to find approximate solutions, where appropriate implement the solutions and to integrate them into applications that allow users who are connected over a network to schedule meetings. Currently meeting scheduling systems take into consideration only time and not location or geometry. C. Brief description of project objectives. (i.e. scope of proposal and deliverables) Scope The scope of the project shall include scheduling meetings in an efficient way, gathering the feedback from attendees, cancelling the meeting, changing the schedule and/or location, scheduling concurrent meetings in timely manner, conducting virtual meeting, confirming the location and time of the meeting and last but not the least minimize users effort in coordinating and scheduling meetings. Core Modules This is the main functionality of my project. It has to do the following: Automate the meeting schedule process to enable efficient use of the time and efforts of meeting organizer. Select a date and time according to the availability of the participants. Allocate the location that is convenient to all the participants. Send reminders to the participants about the meeting and any schedule changes. Re-organize and modify the meeting schedule if required. Enhanced Features This are the additional features I plan to include in my project: Adding members of the meeting Administrator has privilege to edit users profile. Search for members of the meeting and see who is free and who is not, and who is coming for the meeting Generation of appropriate reports to show meeting attendees and the meeting agendas Attendees photos for verification incase of same information. Participants option for denying the invitation. User need to register. Special Features Based on my research and if I have the time and ability, these are the features I am going to attempt to implement: Make the system work on diverse platforms (Windows, Blackberry, iPhone and other Smartphone compatibility). Participants choice of getting reminder in pop-up window or mail. Facility to book conference bridge (conference bridge is a phone) and editing reserved bridge. Assumptions and Dependencies The following will be major assumptions of this project: Will ensure that I am available as needed to complete project tasks and objectives. Will abide by the guidelines identified within this plan. Project plan might change on new information revealed or issues encountered. Availability of participants for meetings and training. Constraints The project has the below three constraints: Time: time frame within which the project should be completed. Cost: cost of developing the system within the estimated budget. Quality: level of quality to be met as per the requirements of the users. D. Brief description of the resources needed by the proposal. (i.e. hardware, software, access to information / expertise, user involvement etc.) Hardware requirements A standard PC with minimum 40gig hard disk and 256MB RAM. A Smartphone. Software requirements The system shall be developed using n-tier architecture consisting of the presentation (web layer), business layer and Data Access layer. Integrated Development Environment : Netbeans IDE Development using Java 1.6, J2ee, Ajax, JavaScript Database Management : SQL server 2005 The web-based interface for the WMS shall run in the below internet browsers Internet Explorer 64.x and above Firefox Access to information or Expertise Mostly books are used as a source of information for this project. However websites and research paper also play a major role as a source of reference. User Involvement Knowledge and experience of people who have used the existing Web-based Meeting Schedulers is respected, valued and drawn upon to influence and shape the work of the proposed system. They would help to understand the requirements hence building a better system. These information can be gathered by using some research methods such as interviews, questionnaires or even case studies. E. Academic research being carried out and other information, techniques being learnt. (i.e. what are the names of books you are going to read / data sets you are going to use) The following are some of the books I am going to read in conjuction with the information gathered online as I will be doing this project: Dawson, C.W. (2009) Projects in Computing and Information Systems : A Student Guide Tudor, D.J. and Tudor I.J. (1999)Â  System Analysis and Design: A Comparison of Structured Methods, New Edition. Palgrave Macmillan Software Hughes, B. Cotterell, M. (3rd Ed)(2009) Software Project Management Sommerville, I. (6th Ed) (2000) Software Engineering by Ian Sommerville Philips, J. Project (3rd Ed) Management Professional Study Guide Hall, E. Johnson, J. (2002)Integrated Project Management Prentice Hall F. Brief description of the development plan for the proposed project. (i.e. which software methodology and why, the major areas of functions to be developed and the order in which developed) After reading and making researches, I strong-willed to do this project using Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It is a conceptual model used in project management that unlike other methodologies describes the stages involved in an information system development project, from an initial feasibility study through maintenance of the completed application. Although SDLC has different forms and models, it follows certain steps. These steps could have the same meaning in one methodology but they are treated in a different manner or could lead to something different. It is chosen because of its ability to cater for the project as a whole and part of it that involves an application that is going to be developed on the web. These following steps are for the project: Planning- Everything starts with a concept or with a question such as what do you want? being asked to certain people so as to know what they want and decide to create an answer. Design- Once planning is done; one can now design or create a rough plan regarding the software. Will decide on the initial specifics of the software to be created, decide what platform or programming language to use. Implementation- When the design and all the things that I need have been laid out, it is time to work on the plan and present it for approval. Testing- Two types of testing are going to be performed, one which will be the actual testing by users. Once the stage is completed the WMS will be tested by professionals in the field. Acceptance- When the software is released to be used by a certain company, acceptance means the software is implemented. Maintenance- When the software is implemented, it does not mean that the software is good as it is. Maintenance is included since there is absolutely no way that the software will be working perfectly. Disposal- When a software is outmoded, it is not just all deletion of files, affected files should be looked at and determine which file to protect and dispose. And the following are web development stages: Analysis, Initial design, Design approval, Web development, Prototype, Launching, and Maintenance. G. Brief description of the evaluation and test plan for the proposed project. (i.e. what is the success criteria and how will be evaluated implementation will be tested, indicate the estimated size of the demonstration/test database) Testing Testing refers to the process of exercising a product to identify differences between expected and actual behavior. It is the means by which the presence, quality or genuineness of anything is determined; a means of trial. The project will be successful it if manages to perform all the key functionalities. It will be tested by me and as I will be developing the system with both black-box and white-box testing methodologies while my supervisor will use White-box testing which provides a degree of sophistication that is not available with black-box testing as the tester is able to refer to and interact with the objects that comprise an application rather than only having access to the user interface to check if all the functionalities, deliverables and objectives are met. Evaluation Evaluation is a systematic determination of merit, worth and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards. Without an evaluation process a product reaching consumers would be untried. It would reflect the intentions of its designer but there would be no study of the relationship between design and use. The two main types of evaluation, Formative and Summative evaluation are going to be used to evaluate Web based meeting scheduler that is going to be developed in this project. The Web-based Meeting Scheduler will have approximately 20 people in its database. They will be used for testing some of the functionalities of the system. For example if one person is invited to a meeting that clashes with another meeting that he or she has already been invited to, and the person showed that they will be attending it, an error message should be displayed to show that the person will not manage to attend that one. Or if meetings that should have the same attendees clash, an error message should be displayed also.

The Privatization of Social Security Essay -- Social Security Privacy

The Privatization of Social Security Many people don’t understand how the Social Security system really works. There are no separate Social Security "accounts" set up for each taxpayer to which he contributes his Social Security "tax" each year. Many people believe these accounts exist, that the money they pay into their accounts grows each year until retirement, and when they retire they get back what they paid in with interest. This is not true. Most people are unaware of the fact that our current Social Security system is a "pay-as-you-go" program, which means that the revenue the federal government raises each tax year for Social Security benefits is paid out that same year to beneficiaries. Many economists believe that our Social Security system is in need of a major overhaul if today's workers are to receive future benefits. Thomas R. Saving, Director of the Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M University says, "What is wrong is that the Social Security system was never set up to be a sound investment-based retirement system." Karl Borden, professor of financial economics at the University of Nebraska recently wrote, "Social Security is an unfunded pay-as-you-go system, fundamentally flawed and analogous in design to illegal pyramid schemes. Government accounting creates the illusion of a trust fund, but, in fact, excess receipts are spent immediately." Robert M. Ball, former commissioner of Social Security said, "Some of the trust fund money should be put into the stock market. I want to do it to get a better return for the Social Security system. Historically, long-term government bonds have had a real return, after inflation, of 2.3 percent a year, compared with 6.3 percent for stocks." Paul W. Boltz, economist for the T. Rowe Price mutual fund said, "When we examine the pending financial crisis of our Social Security system, we find, in effect, the characteristics of a government sponsored Ponzi-type scheme." Michael H. Cosgrove, of the Dallas-based newsletter, The Econoclast says, "People need to take the responsibility of investing their own funds for their retirement. The Social Security system assumes people can't make that decision and government can do it better. The result is a bankrupt Social Security System." These economists believe that by investing ... ...oss would have to be made up either by hiking taxes, increasing borrowing or drastically cutting benefits to current retirees. The present Social Security system faces a long-term shortfall of between 1 percent and 4 percent of total payroll, depending on your projections of future economic growth. But the existing pay-as-you-go system could be rendered solvent by a judicious combination of increasing the retirement age by two or three years and slightly raising taxes. Also there is the question of whether to privatize the whole system, or whether to add a second tier. We might keep the basic system but supplement it with self-directed IRA-like funds. The basic tier would be redistributive and pay-as-you-go. The supplementary layer would be private and based on individual contributions. A further question is who bears the risk when investments go sour. There is no such risk under the current system. The stock market looks like a great retirement vehicle in the 1990’s, but it wasn't so reliable in the 1970s and 1930s. The program was deliberately designed as a social guarantee of retirement income, not a system of government-mandated private savings.

Disconnection in the Midst of Connectivity

The revolutions in the area of information and communications technology have brought the world closer. Literally, the world has shrunk because people from Europe can readily communicate with people from Asia; a daughter in the United States can easily contact her parents in South America. The mobile phone networks, the chat rooms and instant messengers in the internet, together with e-mail have significantly lowered the cost of inter-continental communications and have literally transcended space and time.In addition to this revolution, there is also a great deal of developments in the technologies available to humans in doing their chores and conducting their businesses. Even the simplest task can be automated and would require only a touch of a button for it to function. Washing machines, refrigerators and all sorts of electronic gadgets and equipments have indeed made life easier. This is especially true in the case of developed countries where these technologies are readily avai lable.Life has no hassles and lifestyles have become as easy as pushing another button on the remote control of the television. In less developed countries, however, this is not the case. The tendency is for them to rely on traditional means of doing things and conducting their business. Most of these countries in Asia, Africa, and South America doe not have access to most of these new technologies. As a result, they still tend to use their own bodily strength in conducting their businesses and going about their daily lives.For example, in farming, people from less developed countries use their own muscles and animals to till the soil and harvest their agricultural products later on. On the other hand, those in the developed countries tend to use heavy machinery to conduct the same set of activities. Has the use of technology led people and society to become lazy, apathetic and disconnected to the rest of the world? What about individuality? Has it been enhanced or is it being chall enged by these new technologies? As the world is shaped by these technologies, will individualism be melted into a smorgasbord of collectivity?Connectivity, Individuality, and the â€Å"Global Village† Marshall Mcluhan (41a) declared that the world has become a â€Å"Global Village†. He said this statement back when the use of the internet is not yet as widespread as it is now. This global village will come about as humans become increasingly dependent on electronic media and other forms of electronic technologies. Through this â€Å"electronic interdependence, the visual culture created by the coming of the printing press and the publication of books, humans will come to use electronic media more and more.Through the increasing popularity and acceptance of electronic media and the culture it develops, a new age will come in which humans will develop a collective consciousness and identity and individualism will be integrated into this collective consciousness. McLuha n declared his thesis in the early 1960s, back when the Internet revolution has not yet started climbing its ascent. This is due to the utilization and because of the message propagated by media since according to him â€Å"the medium is the message† (McLuhan, 20b).He also gave warnings that this global village, if its citizens were not aware of the impact of media and its effects on them as persons, then terror, totalitarianism or anarchy will reign in this village. Technology is, in itself, free of normative standards. When it is used towards certain ends, then it becomes an important tool in shaping the concept of the individual about himself, the relationship of other people to him, and how he stands in relation to the society that he lives in.McLuhan assumed that print technology is the bastion of individualism and that if it were rendered in electronic format, its effects on individualism would also change. (McLuhan, 158a). How do these new technologies increase the con nectivity of people around the world? According to Alstyne and Brynjolfsson (4), the speed of the transmission of data and communications has become very quick. In addition, millions of people have access to them, thus increasing the connectivity between and among people all over the world.Although this is the case, the capacity of individuals in absorbing and interacting with so much information is limited. The creation of a more or less uniform social consciousness based on connectivity is simply impossible. There are around 33 million articles and web pages in the Internet in May 1996 according to AlaVista (Alstyne & Brynjolfsson, 4). Transcending the Nation: Emergence of New Imagined Communities Benedict Anderson (6) in his book that sought to describe the nation and why people were so attached to it described the nation as an imagined community.This community was conceived in the minds of people with powerful bonds and relationships that are usually defined by religion, race, o r language. Anderson traced the development of the nation as an imagined community and pointed out that the printing of books in the people’s vernacular and the industry of publication or â€Å"print-capitalism† is instrumental in the emergence of this imagined community. The result of the diffusion of this medium of communication is that people across geographical areas bound by common languages started to drew together and conceptualize themselves as members of a community, albeit an imagined one.It should also be remembered that during the period of the rise of nationalism, the divine right of monarchs to their thrones were being challenged. Later, colonized people were also revolting against their colonial masters in a bid for independence and autonomy. As such, the common struggles, common language, and other commonalities brought these people together through the print media (Anderson, 7). Although it could be surmised that the people in the nations described by Anderson were still individuals, they were bound by a collective consciousness that led to the development of the nation.From the explanation of Anderson regarding the role of print media in developing imagined communities; as well as the discourse of McLuhan regarding the effects of the changes in the print media, it can be concluded that print media and more recently, electronic media have a huge impact in creating a collective consciousness. The problem of today’s electronic media, especially the internet, is that the message is diverse and there is no single coherent message that is being promoted.Rather there is a hodgepodge of messages and millions of files, most of them are unrelated (Alstyne & Brynjolfsson, 5). Given the bulk and diversity of topics in the World Wide Web, Alstyne & Brynjolfsson (5) have argued that what is happening is that there is a â€Å"cyber-balkanization† and fragmentation of internet and technology users according to their interest. As s uch, there are various cliques and groupings of individuals that keep out others who do not share the same interest with them.On the other hand, Pack (16) conjectured that the television is very powerful in shaping the perceptions and understanding of people about the world. Since most of the people of the world are exposed to the television, the advertisements, the shows and even the news reports among others are instrumental in the development of new imagined communities based on interest. Communication and Disconnection As people learn to communicate better in the setting of information and other communication technologies, there is a tendency for people to lose their non-verbal and non-linguistic communication skills.Because of the large amount of time spent by individuals in communicating online or using various information and communication technologies, they spend less time interacting with others, and thus might lose other non-verbal communication skills. This will be a sign ificant loss for society if information and communication technologies hamper the traditional means of communication of individuals in the society. Conclusion Information and communication technologies, as most products of science and innovation, have contributed to an easier lifestyle.However, there are tradeoffs to this. The traditional means of communication are being undermined by the excessive use of these technologies. In addition, the internet, the television and similar technologies are giving rise to new kinds of imagined communities based on common interest and pursuit. These imagined communities, however, lack a single coherent message in comparison to the â€Å"print-capitalism† discourse of Anderson (7) that gave rise to nations as imagined communities.Instead, what is present are a lot of several seemingly disconnected messages that bind certain groups of people across geographies through the process of â€Å"cyber-balkanization† as described by Alstyne & Brynjolfsson (4). In certain aspects, there is also an empowerment of individuality in information technology, especially in the Web 2. 0 technologies that seek to give more preference to the way that individuals conduct their computing and extend their presence online (O’Reilly, n. p. ).In the ending of Big Brother (Orwell, n.p. ) the characters in the novel were subjected to extensive brainwashing through the media—visual, print and even coercion. The novel also showed the potent power of media in propagating a message, even a wrong one at that. Such a scenario, however, is unlikely to happen with the current information technologies available since there is no centralized group or person controlling these technologies. Technologies may have had negative effects on the communication skills of people yet individualism is here to stay.