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In the Moment Essay - 600 Words

Time is an absurdity, an abstraction. The only thing that matters is the moment. (Nolan 12). If this is true, then in the story Memento Mori and the movie Memento, it is ironic how the main character, Leonard, who is suffering from severe memory loss, is constantly trying to figure out the past, even though he knows he will not remember it once he learns what has happened. His wife is dead, and he is searching through a system of notes and Polaroid pictures for her killer. Though the story is unclear at first, through narration, structure, and repetition, the plot of the story becomes clearer. The story is told in reverse order. Since the events in Memento are presented backwards, this allows the viewer to get into the mind frame of†¦show more content†¦Narration in a movie or story is what people rely on to know what is going on in the plot and what is true or false information. Without narration in a movie or story, it would make it difficult to find out who is right and who is wrong. In addition, narration is what sets the tone for a movie or story so the viewer never really questions what the narrator is saying because under normal circumstances wed believe it to be true. Narration is supposed to make things easier for the viewer to understand, in a way it simplifies and breaks down the plot into a persons thoughts which is much easier to catch on to than figuring out the story on ones own. In order to truly enjoy the film Memento and the story Memento Mori, it is necessary to understand the structure and order of the plot. To see how Leonard tracked down his wifes killer, the movie ends with what is, chronologically, the storys beginning. The structure of the film and story is quite unique since the facts are not presented in chronological order, or following the casual relationship. It is hard to provide a logical version of the story, since at the end of the film we realize the unreliability of the main characters recollections. From the beginning of the movie and story, we have to grasp the unusual structure of daily events and the structure ofShow MoreRelatedAha Moment1299 Words   |  6 PagesMaurice Mitchell Jr. November 19, 2012 ALED 340-902 Leadership AHA! Moment I have worked at my job for going on four years. The company has continuously hired and fired people since I have been there, as far as the management go, I call it â€Å"The District Circle of Life†. The staff in which I work and interact with the most with is the Community Assistants (CA). A Community Assistant job combines being a Leasing Agent and a Resident Assistant into one job. The staff consist of twelve studentRead MoreThe Man Of The Moment800 Words   |  4 PagesMan of the Moment Despite the academic squabbling that caused some articles to read as petty personal disagreements, Mungo Man remained a present and prominent figure in these texts of public discussion. This is undoubtedly due to his continued personification by both Jim Bowler and journalists. While the articles were primarily concerned with numbers, dates and the radiocarbon methods that achieved them, they did not make the mistake of displacing the narrative’s characters from public view. ThisRead MoreA Teachable Moment1195 Words   |  5 Pagesmaterial; I must admit this was the most difficult part, due to the fact that I gathered the material, all of them, now the most important question: HOW I’M GOING TO PRESENT MY MATERIAL TO THE CLASS? I was a lucky guy, because, I anticipated this moment and also one of the teachers told me that If you got stuck in this kind of problem just visualize your course goals, that advice saved my entire life! The next step was I organized my time in every single topic in my class and I tried to pick oneRead MoreMoments of Truth1535 Words   |  7 PagesMoments of Truth Mocha – Coffees and Conversations Submitted by – Group 5 â€Æ' Table of Contents About Moments of Truth 3 About Mocha 5 Moments of Truth 6 Decisions as a CEO 9 Moments of Truth Customer Moment of Truth (MOT) can be defined as â€Å"In customer service, instance of contact or interaction between a customer and a firm (through a product, sales force, or visit) that gives the customer an opportunity to formRead MoreMoment of Truth1897 Words   |  8 PagesMoment of truth The crowd was deafening. A few drunken chants, a boo here and there was all I could make out over my asthma-like pants. I didn’t blame them though. For two rounds I’ve been dodging, shifting, and shoving myself around the ring. I didn’t stand still, I couldn’t stand still. I wasn’t going to win this one. He was too big, too bulky, too mean looking. â€Å"There’s no way he’s 76 kg, there must have been some sort of mistake† I kept telling myself. I was a half expecting the referee toRead MoreControlling The Moment1022 Words   |  5 PagesControlling The Moment Have you ever watched a professional athlete make a game winning shot, or make an incredible play that you know couldn’t have been recreated? If so, you’ve just witnessed Kairos. This word, describes â€Å"the right or opportune moment† for something to take place (Fowler 201). In other words, it can be viewed as the perfect opportunity to make something happen whether we seize control of the moment or not. As a matter of fact, we witness Kairos every time we turn on the televisionRead MoreThe Caring Moment1868 Words   |  8 PagesThe Caring Moment Brittany Seawright NUR/403 June 18, 2012 Stephanie Merck The Caring Moment Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring was developed in 1979 (Cherner, 2007). Watson’s nursing theory was developed to bring meaning and focus to nursing as a diverse health profession (Cherner, 2007). Watson believed caring is what heals and help patients to live (Cherner, 2007). She believed patients should be treated as a whole to promote health. Watson’s theory has transformed the way nurses careRead More Caring Moments Essay1110 Words   |  5 Pages CARING MOMENTS The caring project our group chose involved taking a test. We felt test day was an unusually stressful event for everyone. We wanted to come up with a caring way that would help to alleviate some stress on our fellow students, the faculty, and ourselves. We decided to hand out peppermint candy on test day to help stimulate brain function. we felt this might help us all do well. We also talked to everyone and wished them well on the test which was a good way to help relieve stressRead MoreA Defining Moment Essay755 Words   |  4 Pagesand events my reading and writing development throughout my childhood from my mother, my elementary librarian, and Sesame Street, to getting my first pair of glasses. We all have defining moments in our lives where we can look back and say, â€Å"That moment changed my life.† This is the story of the defining moment that changed the way I read and write, and I learned it from a whale! It was the beginning of my seventh grade year. I was about twelve years old and, I guess you could say a nerd. I didRead MoreThe Precious Moments Of Solitude913 Words   |  4 Pagestears. She drifts into her seat, letting her lips hover over the rim of her glass, eyes dark and vacant. A lump forms in her throat and she sips at her wine in attempt to swallow it down, but instead nearly chokes on her own misery. The precious moments of solitude she once craved now turn into an endless stretch of excruciating silence, creating a vast, dismal abyss in its wake. Later, when she returns to an empty bed, she shivers from the chill that sets into her bones and leaves her weeping. She

BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion Free Essays

string(109) " of interests and inadequate information, decisions made under such condition were inconsistent and unclear\." BP originated from a British petroleum company founded in 1909. After experiencing crises during the 1980s-1990s, the company started to have a cost cutting culture. During mid-1990s, with an aggressive growth strategy, BP started to grow and reposition. We will write a custom essay sample on BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion or any similar topic only for you Order Now After BP merged with Amoco in 1998, John Browne started to serve as chief executive until May 2007. Browne repositioned BP as a â€Å"green† oil company after he took over and practiced the model of organizational decision-making strategy, known as â€Å"asset federation. Under this new strategy, onsite asset managers had the authority to make decisions, and employees’ compensation was directly tied to asset performance (Ingersoll et. al, 4). Many decisions made by John Browne were directly related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In 2007, Tony Hayward replaced John Browne and became the new chief executive. Tony Hayward slightly adjusted BP’s organizational structure and decided to pay more attention to BP’s safety issues and risk averse culture. However, the Deepwater Horizon explosion happened when Tony Hayward was in charge. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil explosion occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which is considered as the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused tremendous damages to the surrounding environment and enormous losses to shareholders. BP acquired the right of operating the Macondo Well Project from the U. S. Minerals Management Service in 2009, and then BP leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from Transocean who provides offshore drilling equipment and personnel operation. Both BP and Transocean operated the Deepwater Horizon when the disaster happened. The Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in major damages and losses. When the explosion occurred, workers abandoned ship and jumped into the burning ocean. Among the 126 workers on board the Deepwater Horizon, 17 were injured and 11 died. Additionally, the rig burned down 700,000 gallons of oil within 36 hours, and the smoke trail spread over 30 miles (Ingersoll et. al, 2). BP’s stock price declined dramatically after the explosion. The disaster not only dragged BP into the major scandal but also destroyed many surrounding businesses and families. The consequences of the explosion affected not only organization, shareholders, and employees but also the environment, social issues, and public relations. The Deepwater Horizon disaster had many causes, direct and indirect; it mainly involved people-issues, managers and managing, organizational weaknesses, and external oversight and accountability. â€Å"CAUSES† OF THE EXPLOSION Firstly, individuals in an organization always have decision-making biases, and thus they would have a â€Å"huge capacity to rationalize their behavior† (Crews). Individuals usually make decisions subjectively based on their value set. The former CEO John Browne set up how BP would develop after mid 90’s; he also was the key person who affected the future of Tony Hayward. Browne relied on and promoted Hayward. A metaphor in Elkind’s article said that Hayward was favored prince of Browne, and Browne opened Hayward’s eyes to the world of business (Elkind et. al, 9). It was not clear why Browne relied on Hayward so much, but he made Hayward become the CEO of BP. On the other hand, Browne played an important role in BP’s management strategy. Browne decided to focus on cutting costs and had a desire to make BP become the largest oil producer. He created the big picture of BP’s development, which influenced the future CEO Hayward’s value set of decision-making and employees’ behaviors in BP. Not only managers had bias of decision-making, the engineers who constructed and maintained the rig also had bias. BP chose long string casing for the Macondo well because several individuals overvalued the cost. As a result, the well casing choice created the condition of the rig’s explosion (Ingersoll et. al, 19). Additionally, the drilling engineers decided not to run the â€Å"cement bond log† test, and that test could accurately diagnose a bond failure to improve process safety. Mark Hafle, one of BP’s drilling engineers even claimed the cement job was working fine at court (Ingersoll et. al, 16). The drilling engineers of the Macondo project were warned about potential risks, but they willfully ignored the warnings and insisted everything would work fine. Such bias and rationalized behavior of drilling engineers just added another warning sign to the explosion of Deepwater Horizon. Secondly, BP’s business relationships are complex, and the legitimate priorities often conflict (Crews). BP’s failure to prevent the explosion was due in part to complex partnership. BP held the rights to drill using the rig and operation services leased from Transocean. As a result, â€Å"of the 126 people aboard the Deepwater Horizon, 79 were from Transocean, seven were from BP, and the rest were from other firms† (Ingersoll et. al, 1). People serving on Deepwater Horizon came from different organizations. A decision making process involved many authorities, which decreased the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making. Even though BP maintained main operational authority, only six percent of people aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig were from BP. As an important business partner of BP, Transocean provided the equipment and performed the majority of the work, and thereafter it had some authority over operations and maintenance. The complex business partnership caused serious operational consequence. Upon the day of explosion, the Deepwater Horizon rig had been operating 29 days more than it should had been, and the leasing fee owed to Transocean far exceeded the budget (Ingersoll et. al, 7). It was a problem that both companies had authority of decision making over operation. This led to legitimate conflict of priorities. For example, when closing a well, â€Å"11 companies played a role in the construction of the casing for the Macondo well, and all with different responsibilities for various aspects of setting the well† (Ingersoll et. al, 9). Different companies made decisions based on their own company’s interest of cost, time, and safety. As a result, any decision-making process would be very time-consuming, given that all companies kept competing and were not willing to compromise. Because of the conflict of interests and inadequate information, decisions made under such condition were inconsistent and unclear. You read "BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion" in category "Papers" The inefficient and ineffective decision-making processes slowed the progress of drilling and over-drafted the budget. If the drilling on Deepwater Horizon rig would have been completed within 51 days as expected, BP may have stopped a disaster. Thirdly, the misalignment occurs when managers’ words and action conflict. To prevent corporate scandals, managers’ actions are more powerful than words in shaping employees’ behavior and presenting a positive image to society (Crews). BP faced safety issues in last few decades. Even though each time its CEOs made a commitment to the public about safety, disasters still happened continuously. For instance, â€Å"in 2000, after a string of fires and equipment failures, CEO John Browne announced plans to ‘review the commitment to safety. † In 2005, the explosion of BP’s Texas City refinery killed 15 people; ironically, Browne swore to fix safety problems again like previously. The Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst one in history, happened two years after CEO Tony Hayward took over, and he had promised to focus on safety issue â€Å"like a laser† (Elkind et. al, 4). Empty promises are just like checks without sufficient funds. The conflic t of managers’ words and action caused the corporation lose credibility to the public. BP’s CEO kept vowing to correct safety issues, and the sequential disasters revoked their promises time after time. The U. S. Chemical Safety Board investigated BP’s real safety operation after the Texas City refinery explosion, and they found that BP Group failed to review its refinery operation systematically. Even though the Group Chief Executive claimed, â€Å"BP would learn lessons from Grangemouth and other incidents† (National Commission Chapter 8, 6), BP’s actions were against its public commitment. BP had desires to change, but it never improved in respect to safety weaknesses. BP emphasized personal safety instead of process safety, which led to the serious consequence (Elkind et. l, 5). BP’s board of directors failed to enhance process safety, and this helped BP lose credibility with the public. They needed to create an environment of safety concern to train employees from every level of the organization. Fourthly, BP’s managers were more concerned with seeking profits than with ethics (Crews). Employees’ performance was evaluated by ability of cost cutting and profit generating. For example, in 2008, BP introduced an â€Å"every dollar counts† program that aimed to reduce the costs of their drilling operation (Smith, 1). Another example would be that leaders of BP’s drilling team considered the $2. 2 million of incremental cost benefit over safety when they handled installation problem of lockdown sleeve (Smith, 2). Likewise, many other decisions of construction of the Macondo well were made based on cost and profit instead of safety concerns. BP’s failure was highly related to managers blindly seeking profit and ignoring safety issues. BP used Long-string casing, which made production less costly and shortened the time of return on investment (Deepwater Horizon Study Group, 56). This was one of the main causes of the explosion. Oil drilling is a highly risky industry, and BP was supposed to emphasize safety; however, managers valued profit over ethics, and that hastened up the failure of BP. Fifthly, an organization’s culture, structure, strategy, and resource allocation strongly affect the behaviors of managers and employees (Crews). BP’s organizational culture is cost cutting and risk taking, which directly affected managers’ decision-making. Since 1995 when John Bowne took over, he â€Å"imposed a tough bottom-line mentality† to focus on cutting costs. He also chose to give more operating authority to his managers. Bowne targeted aggressive profit growth by making his managers sign an annual performance contract (Elkind et. al, 8). BP’s organizational culture pushed CEOs to set profit as the primary goal. An organization’s culture is its personality, which implies how managers would operate the organization. With the cost-cutting culture, managers and employees made decisions driven by the organizational culture. Additionally, BP’s unethical management structure and strategy caused the bad competition between employees. BP had a management strategy, â€Å"asset federation. † BP’s onsite asset managers had â€Å"decision-making authority and responsibility for meeting performance targets;† moreover, onsite employees’ compensation was valued by overall performance of the site (Ingersoll et. al, 4). As a result, BP exploration sites had an unethical competition and were less likely to share best practice on risk management; that was a big concern for an oil company whose process safety was a problem. On the other hand, BP also had a weakness of high bureaucracy operating costs. BP had â€Å"a starched, rigidly hierarchical management culture;† for example, headquarter employees and senior employees had preferential treatment in company, which shows BP’s unbalanced and unsound reward system (Elkind et. al, 7). In other words, BP was weak in human resource management. The company rewarded employees by position instead of ethical behavior and good performance. A lack of focus on safety issues directly led to the explosion. BP’s â€Å"creative† management strategy introduced by John Browne made exploration onsite managers keep their best practice to themselves and blindly chase profit. Such management contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion. Finally, external auditing and regulatory weaknesses also indirectly contributed to the explosion (Crews). Offshore oil drilling is a risky industry. Therefore, in some region, the government essentially banned it due to environmental concerns. However, in the Gulf, the environmental protections and safety regulation were relaxed and ineffective because the oil drilling would bring billions of dollars to federal government (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Driven by revenue, the government and regulators id not put forth too many restrictions for oil industry in the Gulf. With this important advantage, BP continually neglected safety issues and took risks, which eventually caused the disaster. According to the national commission report, revenue increases when moving drilling deeper into the water, but the corresponding safety risks also increases; however, such increased risks were not covered by additional regularly over sight (National Commission Chapter 3, 3). Investigators found that Deepwater Horizon extended drilling by 18360 feet below sea level. BP drilled aggressively by ignoring the risks and consequences. However, regulators might be more than happy to accept the huge revenue contributions instead of considering environmental concerns and set restrictions. More importantly, the regulation and auditing office had a culture of revenue maximization. BP acquired the right of exploration from MMS. The national commission report points out that the MMS office had culture of accepting gifts from oil companies. An employee of MMS even negotiated with the oil company when he conducted inspections on this company’s oil platforms (National Commission Chapter 3, 23). Oil companies and public regulation office benefitted each other, and that made improvement of safety issue in entire oil industry became obstructive. The government did not provide strict regulation to an industry that could bring it money because more regulation means less revenue. Along with a long list of safety issues, BP risked drilling down below the sea to seek more oil and profit without additional auditing and regulation; all the factors pushed and forced the disaster happened. First, The Deepwater horizon explosion killed 11 people, and 17 were injured. The ocean was flaming when the rig became a graveyard. To those dead employees, their family had to face the loss of family members. Second, The Deepwater Horizon explosion affected BP’s and Transocean’s financial market. The sharp drop of stock price wiped out $91 million in market value. BP’s working capital that founded by $10 billion in short-term paper was shut out (Elkind et. al, 20). The credit situations of both companies weakened. Moreover, BP and Transocean had to pay for the damages by billions of dollars. Even two years later in 2012, BP still had $8. 3 billion on damage payouts caused by the explosion (Helman, 3). Both companies were required to pay for environmental restoration, damage to surrounding businesses, and cleanup cost. On the other hand, the explosion also destroyed the reputation of BP and Transocean, and scandals were harmful to two companies’ public relationship. After Deepwater Horizon explosion, the financial market for BP securities had a dramatically change. BP’s investors faced a huge loss on investment. BP’s stock price dropped more than 50%, and the stock and option trading volume increased instantly by fifteen to twentyfold. Interest rate of BP bonds increased, and the company announced the suspension of cash dividends to shareholders (Fodor and Stowe, 1). BP’s disaster made shareholders face a tremendous loss. The value of stocks in hand became worthless and the dividend payments might endless delay. Furthermore, the explosion also affected business in the gulf and the coast tourism industry. The disaster dramatically affected the Alabama coast, which depended on tourism: compared to 2009, the number of visitors decreased by 1 million, real estate values dropped by more than 65%, retail sale declined by 50% (Keegen, 2). The most affected business was fishing industry in the gulf. Since the spilling oil, many fishes were killed and many families whose life depended on fishing and tourist service were bankrupt instantly. In addition, the explosion affected the gulf coast ecosystem. After the explosion, the rig burned for 36 hours. Deepwater Horizon rig exploded about 100 miles southwest of Orange Beach,† and â€Å"more than 200 million gallons of crude went into the gulf† before July 15, 2010 (Keegen, 2). As a result, spilling oil â€Å"fouled beaches and shorelines,† and it destroyed gulf coast ecosystem; creatures and species were killed. The Deepwater Horizon explosion â€Å"created one of worst environmental disaster in U. S. history (Keegen, 2). Ba sed on a research of Texas A M’s Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, the real loss of gulf coast ecosystem and fisheries were huge and need decades for recovery (Keegen, 5). PREVENTION One of the reasons for BP’s failure is that top managers did not have ethical concerns. The safety issue is the major problem of BP; however, CEOs and managers were concerned for profit over safety concern. Internally, the Board of Directors should create a clear plan that focuses on addressing particular ethical needs for different situations. Additionally, BP should increase the responsibility of the Board of Directors in overseeing the managing executives. An organization should had ethical oversight, and it should provide employees ethical training to advocate ethical behavior. Management fault also was the main reason contributed to the explosion. BP had problems with management structure and management strategy. Managers who focused on cost cutting and wilfully ignored safety problem made numerous poor decisions. Employees should be rewarded by performance overall instead of the ability to cut cost. Rig managers and engineering leader should regard the warning signs and conduct safety test regularly. The managers should pay attention to â€Å"near misses† and avoid the â€Å"favorable wind direction,† and then they might be able to predict and prevent the crises (Tinsley et. l, 1). Considering all of the factors that contributed to Deepwater Horizon explosion, the root cause was the cost-cutting organizational culture. An organizational culture is the characteristic of a corporation; it affects people’s perspectives and values. Employees use the organizational culture to guide and rationalize their behavior. Therefore, directors of bo ard, executives, and top managers should create and inform employees with a positive organizational culture and build conditions for employees’ learning and appreciating. BP’s explosion had internal and external reason. Internally, BP Deepwater Horizon explosion involved two CEOs’ main decisions; besides, BP had a complex organizational strategy, management structure, and partnership. Externally, the outside weakness of legality and regulation contribute to BP’s ethical scandals. Thereafter, besides corporation internal control, the regulators should provide more specific regulations and auditing that conduct oil industry operating with a safer procedure. How to cite BP Deep Water Horizontal Explosion, Papers

The Six Day War free essay sample

The Six Day War as it became known was the third conflict between Israel and Arab nations. It was essentially a continuation of the first two conflicts as they were never really resolved. As it is the causes of the Six Day war were the same as earlier, Arab disdain for Israel’s existence. The Six Day war would be caused by this general rule and the fact as hostilities heightened, Egypt would cut off Israel’s shipping routes, cutting supply of oil from Iran. More specifically Egypt has expelled United Nations troops from the Sinai Peninsula and blockaded Israel’s port of Eliat, which by international law was an act of war. These events along with misguided Soviet information and calls from Arab leaders to destroy Israel would lead to the Six Day War. In the spring of 1967, tensions amongst the Arab nations and Israel were on high alert, as terrorist raids against Israel coming from Syria. We will write a custom essay sample on The Six Day War or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Israel grew tired of these raids, as they were aimed at its infrastructure, so in response to the raids by Syrian forces it placed armored tractors in the demilitarized zones, which as the plan goes would wait to be fired upon and hit, then they had cause to fire back. The Israeli plan would go into effect and as a result the hostilities would heighten as Israel would shoot down several Syrian planes, while the Palestinian fighters would plant mines along Israel’s border with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon (Oren 2002). As tensions mounted between Israel and the Arab nations, Soviet meddling would come into play. On May 15, Anwar Sadat, the Speaker of the National Assembly would visit Moscow, where he would be told by the Soviets that Israel had planned to invade Syria during the May 16 through May 22 time frame, all of this would prove to be false. Soviet intelligence cited the fact that Israeli troops parading in western Jerusalem, for Israel’s Independence Day, were doing so without heavy weapons, which they said were being amassed along the northern border with Syria. The reason as it turns out they were devoid of weaponry during their parades is to ease Arab tensions in the area. Sadat would pass this information along to Egypt and President Nasser, who would then parade Egypt’s forces through Cairo along its way to the Sinai Peninsula (Cleveland, 2009). On May 14, evidence that disputed Soviet information of an Israeli troop buildup along its Northern border with Syria would be ignored. Gen. Muhammed Fawzi, would tour the area reportedly rife with Israeli troops, only to find none, These findings would be confirmed by the head of Egyptian intelligence, the CIA and U. S. embassy in Cairo, but would be ignored by Nasser and his buildup of troops would continue (www. sixdaywar. org,2010). Israel would put its troops on alert, but sent its diplomats in to service, trying to avert war, or at least showing that they were not interested in a war. But to no avail as Egyptian and Palestinian forces would triple in the days between May 14 and 16th on the Sinai Peninsula (Oren, 2002). After the troop buildup, Egypt would evict UN Forces that been deployed to try and avert a war between Israel and Egypt. On May 16th presented the United Nations Emergency Force a demand to withdraw from key locations, so UN Secretary General U Thant decided to withdraw all UN forces. The final straw would come on May 22, as Egypt blocked the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping, which is an act of war under international law. This decision set of the Arab war, Lebanon, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia would all activate their armies. While the Arab nations were preparing for war, Israel was still trying to appeal for a diplomatic solution and for other nations to become involved (Cleveland, 2009). After the many attempts at diplomacy, most through back channel discussion with the U. S. , Israel voted on June 4, 1967, by a Cabinet vote of 12-2 to go to war, which would begin early the next morning, June, 1967. By its name the war only lasted six days, Israel launched a preemptive strike against the Egyptian army and crippled the Egyptian air force and routed the armies in Gaza and on the Sinai Peninsula. After three days of fierce fighting Israel would also defeat Jordanian forces and would deal a decisive blow to Syria on June 9, Syria had proposed a cease fire on that day but Israel would accept it the next day, as they didn’t want the Syrians remaining in the Golan Heights, where they had attacked Israel for so long and on June 10, 1967 a cease fire was observed by Israel, six days after the war began (Oren, 2002). The immediate aftermath of the war was one of diplomacy, or so Israel would have thought after their resounding defeat of the Arab nations. The rapid defeat of the Arab nations would damage the national pride of the Arab nations and increased the Palestinian refugee problems , as hundreds of thousands would flee the Israeli controlled West Bank area, and would heavily influence the policies of their now new nations. The new borders established by Israel after the war are the reason that the region is still in conflict today.

Negative Music and the Effects on Human Behavior free essay sample

Schoenberg music caused listeners to feel uncomfortable and irritated. However, he became the pivotal composer of the early twentieth century and today he is considered one Of the greatest composers of that century. The music ushered in an era of negative music in Western classical music that lasted for over fifty years. His theory was eventually accepted by composers throughout the Western world and was taught in the finest music schools. The result of all this was the incorporation of negative music into TV programs and movies.Negative music is used to rate emotions of suspense, terror, anxiety, and fear. It is the music that accompanies crime programs and horror films. The same kind of music that concert audiences rejected because of the feelings that the music invoked became standard TV fare, and for the very same reasons (5). I never thought about the idea that scary and suspenseful music was a break from the norm. We will write a custom essay sample on Negative Music and the Effects on Human Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is obvious though that it changes behavior in people. Just watch a horror flick with a friend. You will both know when something horrible is going to happen.The learned behavior from the music stimulus ranges from sliding jack in your seat, to covering and closing your eyes. The music tells you something bad is coming and you know how to respond to it. Western classical music was the first style of music to incorporate negativity. The next step in the evolution of negative music was its introduction into rock music in the late sass. The first hard rock and heavy metal music was produced by the rock group called Blue Cheer somewhere around 1967. Their music was angry and had a noticeably heavy beat..At this time, the music of the Rolling Stones, too, became harder and angry, with a negative accent. Many other groups sprang up during this period. In truth, hard drugs, mixed with psychedelics were having an effect. The world was witnessing a new phenomenon: musical groups of young men opening doors to the psychic world through the use of drugs were using electrified instruments to bring in a new music that was harmful to the human psyche, destructive, and angry (2). The turning point for the new music came when the group Led Zeppelin was formed.As the book Hammer Of the Gods points out, the members Of this group were constantly high on every kind of drug imaginable. When they oared, they vandalized hotel rooms, throwing TV sets and furniture into the streets. Very young girls were tied up and customized, group members taking turns, and a photographer from Life magazine, assigned to photograph Led Zeppelin as they toured, was nearly raped by band members in a hotel room. Yet Led Zeppelin became the most popular group of its time. In fact, a whole generation was raised on its music.Throughout the 1 sass, the music of Led Zeppelin was the anthem of American high school kids. For many people raised during this period, demeaning the music of Led Zeppelin is a desecration oaf most sacred cow (3). The last three decades of the twentieth century saw negative rock music spread and popularized throughout the entire world. Heavy metal music became an accepted culture and is now almost an ancient music when it is compared with the newer forms of negative music that have since emerged.It is unfortunate and sad to say, but the children of the sass have been spoon-fed on the most negative and insolent music imaginable. Please consider what is taking place, and who is being affected. If you listen to the radio carefully and use your powers of discernment to gain a sense of the degree of negativity in the music that you ear On the radio and TV today, you will find a great deal of the music that is lacking in positive influence. Pop music has gone down hill so much since its heyday in 1954 that the difference is shocking. In 1954, the songs of the top forty were positive, reinforcing, and romantic. There are some great singers today, but there is also a lot of really inferior, mediocre singers and music that expresses little in the lyrics, and nothing emotionally except perhaps for anger and hatred. And so many people have gotten used to mediocrity and ugliness in music that it isnt even noticed anymore (2). Hard rock, heavy metal, trash metal, hardcore, death metal, gangs rap, and the like have repeatedly been proven in experiments to have a detrimental effect.David Hearer, a 16 year old at Nanosecond River High School, conducted an experiment that sharpened his theory that hard rock taints the brain. Using 72 male lab mice, he separated the mice into 3 groups of 24: a control, classical, and a hard rock group. After weeks of putting them through the same maze at an original average time of 10 minutes, the control group shaved 5 minutes from the beginning time, the classical group knocked 8 minutes off, but the hard rock averaged 30-minute completion time, a considerable difference. The fact that 72 mice were tested makes his results more valid because of the larger sample size.Most noticeably, the hard rock mice did not sniff the air to find the trails of others that came before them. Herself first experiment failed because the mice were not put in separate containers, and the hard rock mice killed each other (4). Lyrically violent and musically negative songs increase aggression related thoughts and emotions. In a series of five experiments involving over 500 college students, searchers from Iowa State University and the Texas Department Of Human Services examined the effects of seven violent songs by seven artists and eight nonviolent songs by seven artists.The students listened to the songs and were given various psychological tasks to measure aggressive thoughts and feelings. One such task involved participants classifying words that can have both aggressive and nonaggression meanings, such as rock and stick. The study also included songs with humorous lyrics to see how humor interacted with violent song lyrics and aggressive thoughts (1). Results of the vive experiments show that violent songs led to more aggressive interpretations of ambiguously aggressive words, increased the relative speed with which people read aggressive vs.. Nonaggression words, and increased the proportion of word fragments (such as h_t) that were filled in to make aggressive words (such as hit). The violent songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat, according to the authors, and this effect was not the result of differences in musical style, specific performing artist or arousal properties of the songs. Even the humorous violent songs increased aggressive thoughts (1). The violent-song increases in aggressive thoughts and feelings have implications for real world violence, according to lead researcher Craig A. Anderson, Ph. D. Of Iowa State University. Aggressive thoughts can influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, coloring them with an aggressive tint. Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response -verbal or physical than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalators spiral of antisocial exchanges, said Dry. Anderson (1 The study investigated precursors to aggression rather than aggressive behavior itself.

Le Bon and Freud Essays

Le Bon and Freud Essays Le Bon and Freud Essay Le Bon and Freud Essay Essay Topic: Sociology Le Bon was of the opinion that when people joined large, relatively unstructured social groups, they sometimes engaged in spontaneous and atypical collective behaviour. Le Bon suggests that crowds are ruled by a collective mind, and that contagion causes crowd members to experience similar thoughts and emotions. Freud, on the other hand, argues that individuals, by joining crowds, can satisfy some basic needs for membership, hostility, and so on. Both of these theories are still popular today but lacking empirical evidence we strive to find more tangible theories that can be tested. Several theories have been developed since these accounts such as de-individuation, emergent norm theory and social identity theory and this essay will look at these theories and try to assess whether or not they are better than Le Bon and Freuds theories which lack any scientific basis. Le Bon, the author of The Crowd was writing during a time of incipient social progress when the masses were wreaking havoc across France. Being a member of the bourgeoisie this situation worried Le Bon and he wanted to cure the disorders brought about by the masses. He found the answer in psychology and the discovery of a crowd soul. Le Bon, in his work, rejected all three of the popular views of the time that the crowd was mad, criminal or antisocial and mainly inhabited by the people at the lower end of the social spectrum for the idea that a man, irrelevant of his social standing, once in a group would lose his personal characteristics and the personalities in the group would fuse together. The characteristics of the crowd are savagery, primitive and uncivilised because the individual is no longer acting consciously but unconsciously as the people are a collective mass. He described the collective state as being similar to that of a hypnotic state, an idea later harnessed by Freud. To merge into the collective state Le Bon cites the physical presence of the crowd as crucial and has developed from this his Law of the mental unity of crowds. The physical presence of others delivers anonymity giving the individual invincible power and takes away the persons sense of responsibility. His second idea is that, like a virus or bacteria, ideas, feelings and emotions spread rapidly throughout a crowd and individuals are quickly infected with the disease, this is the theory of contagion. Thirdly, theres the concept of suggestibility and happens when the crowd is in the collective state. This is open to exploitation when the person has lost his conscious personality and is open to all the suggestion that the crowd suggests. These three phenomenon release our animal nature and free us from social and moral constraints, what Le Bon calls latent processes. This perceived loss of self has developed into what later thinkers have called de-individuation. Le Bon sees the collective behaviour as primitive and devoid of reason or culture and links it to acting at the level of racial unconscious. Other psychologists have on the other hand proposed the idea that the collective mind is not necessarily as negative as Le Bon portrays believing the crowd to be capable of great acts of altruism and unselfishness. Many of the earlier social psychologists have coined similar ideas to Le Bon. Tarde for example sees physical closeness as crucial as social life of individual is based on imitation, similar to Le Bons anonymity idea. The close proximity of the crowd is therefore the most extreme example of this imitation behaviour. Mc Dougal takes the view that similarity between group members, predominantly constitutional and racial will determine how fast ideas spread through crowds, a theory of contagion. Trotter believed that humans behaved similarly to animals in that they were very open to the opinion of the leader. Freud, whose theory on crowds initiated from Le Bons places great emphasis on the role of the leader. Also writing during a time of political and social turbulence, Freud was hoping to understand the causes of the very real problems of the day namely anti-Semitic feeling and a tendency to follow demagogues who, to Freud, were obviously untrustworthy. Freud felt that suggestibility was still crucial and that it is an irreducible, primitive phenomenon. Freud, similarly to Le Bon, believed that psychic factors are crucial. The unconscious becomes unlocked and members of the crowd become bound by their love for the leader. The leader is usually a charismatic individual who may be perceived as a father figure. The Freudian model of the psyche, the id, ego and superego (sub-conscious, conscious and super-conscious) are all at play in the crowd situation. The superego, which represents moral and civilised aspects of the psyche, is renounced to the leader. This leaves the Id to dominate the mind resulting in primitive and uncivilised behaviour. The leader will provide a group ideal and the crowd will inevitably follow. Freud likens this leadership control to that of a hypnotist. The adoption of the new ideals causes the self to change dramatically and it shifts from individual self to a group self where all members can identify with each other. It would seem, having looked at the theories of Le Bon and Freud that they are very comprehensive nevertheless there are many criticisms that have been made of both of their theories. The most important criticism of both Freud and Le Bon is that they lack empirical evidence to support their proposals. Due to the nature of the theories we are unable to verify them, as access to the unconscious is impossible. Both men also describe the behaviour of the crowd as primitive but neither considers the often-unselfish nature of the crowd, a definite positive aspect. Le Bon has been criticised for cementing together ideas of other theories such as contagion and can be vague and of mediocre quality. A further criticism would be his biased interpretation of crowds. Le Bon sees the crowd as a force for social evil and incorporates his fascist ideology into his work. It is also evident that the social context in which he is writing also affects his objectivity and he talks of the revolution in a crude way. There are many aspects of Freuds work that are also vague. For instance, Freud sees the leader as fundamental to the changing of the individuals psyche to that of the group self but this theory is problematic insofar as not all crowds have leaders. Another loophole is that many people demonstrate the characteristics that Freud describes for being susceptible to crowds but do not, in practice, succumb to the crowd. From the basis of both Freud and Le Bon there have been many psychologists who have attempted to rectify the problems cited above and in doing so have developed theories of their own. The most obvious of these is the theory of de-individuation which has developed from Le Bon blueprint of anonymity. De-individuation means the loss of personal identity and many studies have been carried which support the theory. De-individuation differs from Le Bons theory in the way that the indiviaual isnt seen as losing the mind to the collective but that the loss of individuality leads to a total loss of control. This loss of control culminates in the release of the individual from internal moral restraints and generates behaviour that is impulsive, irrational, emotional, regressive and intense. Research by Festinger, Pepitone andNewcomb (1952) made small groups of subjects discusses their feelings towards their parents. They found that the less individual subjects viewed themselves and each other the more rash and daring were their contributions to the conversation. Singer, Brush and Lublin (1965) conducted a study where subjects had to talk about erotic literature. They found that those wearing lab coats and thus seen as non-identifiable used more obscene language than the more identifiable subjects. Both of these studies demonstrate that people, when de-individuated will behave differently and Singer attributed theses finding to reduced feelings of self-consciousness and distinctiveness. Le Bon (1985) went on to say that people would behave in more extreme ways in crowds because they lose their sense of identity. Zimbardo believes that the crowd provides a cloak of anonymity and diffuses personal responsibility for the consequences of an individuals actions. He details two types of behaviour, individuated, when behaviour is rational, controlled and consistent with personal norms and de-individuated behaviour, which acts on primitive impulses, is anti social, unrestrained. He believes that this behaviour is caused by being a member of a crowd or when wearing a uniform as loss of individual identity and a reduced concern for social evaluation. Zimbardo (1969) has carried out several experiments on de-individuation and anonymity. One experiment showed that de-individuated people (in this case they were dressed in lab coats and hoods) had a stronger tendency towards aggressive behaviour (e. . total duration of shocking was twice as much for the de-individuated group compared to the identifiable condition). Another experiment that Diener (1976) made in the same area was on a group of Belgian soldiers. However, the result was the reverse- the soldiers had a shorter shocking time than the normal people did. It has been said that this is due to the fact that the soldiers were already de-individuated before the test as they are already members of a group, the army. When they put on a lab coat and a hood (and away from their fellow soldiers) they suddenly became more self-aware than they were before. Diener believed that dressing up in these silly costumes might have made them more self-conscious rather then less. He sees the key to de-individuation as losing self-awareness. Further research observed more than a thousand children on Halloween. They found that those whod given their names to the householder or who wore costumes that didnt allow anonymity were less likely to steal sweets from the bowl when briefly left alone. Diener was concerned with how de-individuation came about. Anonymity doesnt directly lead to it because, as Hogg demonstrates, a bank robber is anonymous but yet very conspicuous. This conspicuousness is found more often in small groups or when there are many observers. Instead, Diener focused, as mentioned above, on self-awareness whereas previously focus of studies was on anonymity in the group and this was seen as the most important factor to de-individuation. Self-awareness means a person is the object of ones own attention particularly private self awareness which is reduced awareness of ones private thoughts and feelings. This attention on the self, to things such as ones attitudes and norms, increases the capability for self-regulation. Nonetheless Classical and contemporary views agree on the main thrust of the de-individuation hypothesis being that he psychological state of de-individuation brings about anti-normative and dis-inhibited behaviour. As with most theories de-individuation is also open to criticism. Despite considerable research and development of ideas, it is too simplistic. Many of the studies, which it uses to prop itself-up are lab-based. More naturalistic studies are needed to increase the ecological validity of the theory. The theory can also be criticised for ignoring coherence of crowd behaviour as crowds frequently behave in the same manner. At football matches, for example, component people are not the same yet the behaviour demonstrated is always very similar. Another theory that has developed, In contrast to Le Bons contagion theory, is the convergence theory. As demonstrated, Le Bon thought that crowds were run by a collective mind and the individual thoughts changed radically. According to the convergence theory, the people who join a group often have similar needs and personal characteristics as the group. Instead of changing the self into the group collective the individual is, essentially, already what the group is. A further modern, contradictory theory to that of Le Bons s Tuner and Killians (1972) emergent norm theory. Contrary to Le Bon, who believes an individual loses himself in the crowd, becoming mindless, in emergent norm theory the crowd is another type of a group and the behaviour demonstrated by the crowd is a type of group behaviour, just more extreme. The idea is that group processes creates order and purpose amongst the crowd and norms spread quickly and are adopted by all crowd members but, contrary to contagion theory, the differences are illustrated between individual and group behaviour by looking at the different norms. New norms emerge in collective situations through the observation of the distinctive action of group leaders. Behaviour of the crowd comes from the social norms of a crowd. People are motivated by a desire for social reinforcement and approval, and are scared of being rejected or as being perceived as an outsider. The norm must be specific to the situation to some degree-hence emergent norm. (Turner) A major criticism of this theory is presented by Deiner (1980) is that a crowd that acts normally would have to be self aware but being in a group, as his personal research demonstrates, reduces self awareness, rendering the whole theory void. The theory, as Reicher points out, also fails, similar to de-individu ation theory, there is no account as to why crowd action is unified and doesnt dissolve into sub-groups. Reicher developed his own theory, social identity theory; whereby individuals take on the social identity of the crowd and conform to the normative behaviour of that crowd via referent informational influence. This theory does not remove responsibility of an individuals behaviour in a crowd situation, rather shows that the control of the crowd lies with the individual as they have identified with the crowd norms and taken them on as their own, and consequently their consent in their social identity as a crowd member. There are three key ideas that are central to the theory, categorisation, identification and comparison. Categorisation is the tendency by humans to categorise things, including people, as a means to understanding the world. These categories can be things such as religion, race, occupation and by doing this we can identify with who we are like and find things out about ourselves. What behaviour is appropriate is then defined by reference to the groups we belong to. If someone belongs to a group that we dont belong then we will never identify with them. The second idea of identification has two meanings. Firstly that we identify ourselves as being in an individual or as being a group member and which way we classify our self depends on the situation that we are in. When we consider our self to be a group member we call this social identity. When thinking of our self as a unique individual this is referred to as personal identity. Group membership is not something foreign, which is tacked onto the person; it is a real and vital part of the person. The groups that you identify with are in-groups and those you dont identify with are out groups. The other meaning implied by the concept of identity is the idea that we are the same or identical to the other people. This doesnt mean literally but for identification purposes those who are members of the same groups as us are the same/similar E. g. during a war the enemy are all the same and treated the same way and deemed deserving of death. The third idea in social identity theory is the idea of comparison. This is when we evaluate ourselves in relation to others. By looking to others groups we can higher our self-esteem, which in turn leads to a positive image of the self, which is essential to healthy functioning. By identifying ourselves as being in a group we then learn the norms of that group and can find out what the limits of the group are. In order to test his theory, Reicher conducted some experiments to test how attitudes change when social identity is prevalent. One of his investigations found that social science students were more antivivisection and science students more pro-vivisection when they were divided in their respective subject groups than when they were mixed together. He found that personal identity is replaced in a group situation by social identity. Reicher also analysed data from the St. Pauls riots which occurred in Bristol and found that people identified with one another and because of this they adhered to the norms of the group because they were adopted as their own. In conclusion, it seems that older theories such as Le Bon and Freud are relevant today as they provide a strong theoretical basis from which we can develop our own theories of the crowd. However, the very theoretical nature of them is what makes the more recent theories much viable and realistic as both Freud and Le Bon use concepts that we will never be able to verify such as the unconscious mind. In contrast, more recent studies are supported with empirical evidence that can lead to only one conclusion, they are better theories. The nature of crowds however, means that future research will be difficult to undertake, as studies cannot be recreated in the lab due to the sheer volume of people needed.

Strategic Management Meredith Belbin Research Paper

Strategic Management Meredith Belbin - Research Paper Example The Team Role theory sprung from the research done by Meredith. It sought to understand human behavior, by studying individual’s affinity to behave in a certain manner, and their contribution in relating with others. This defined way, gave the theory a meaning. In addition, it helped understand one’s behavior and the behavior of fellow team members (Larson & LaFasto 2006; Adair 2007). Meredith outlined nine team roles. A completer has an attitude to plan ahead, and ensure that targeted goals are attained. A coordinator is composed even in the face of controversy, whereas an implementer works with the interests of the company and not his own. A monitor evaluates proposals with a detached mind (Parker 2004; Rees 2001). A plant is an intellect that solves difficult problems, whereas, a resource investigator is always in a position to relate to people and explore things associated with outsiders. A shaper considers all possible means, to solve a problem and leaves out the unnecessary ones. A specialist provides rare expertise and skills, whereas a team worker promotes team spirit (Gardenswartz 2003; Belbin 2006). Meredith Belbin is a British researcher, born in the year 1926. He obtained a first and second degree at Clare College, Cambridge, in Classics and later Psychology. He worked as a researcher upon completion of his doctorate at Cranfield College. Later, he became the chairman of the Industrial Training Research Unit (Carr 2001). He and three other scholars, Bill Hartston, Jeanne Fisher and Roger Mottram, began a seven year task. They held three games a year, and each game constituted eight teams. In each meeting, they observed and recorded the contribution of each team. Belbin established Belbin Associates, with an aim to publish and promote his research in the year 1988 (Belbin 2003; Maginn 2007). The theory is of immense importance, because it helps understand individuals own behavior and

Interpersonal Communication Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interpersonal Communication - Assignment Example The script illustrated that there are various ways to understand what people are thinking or feeling at the moment through the interpersonal mode of communication. The components that will be studied in this paper that relates to the script are 1) verbal 2) vocal 3) nonverbal and 4) visual mode of communication 3. Collectivist – collectivist or group think in interpersonal communication where individual members of a group identify with the perspective, opinion, world view and emotional disposition of the dominant member of the group. 5. High-context – the cultural ecosystem of which an individual operates. Language of high context interpersonal communication needs to be interpreted according to the cultural environment or context of the individual. There are several interpersonal communication elements used in the script beginning from the child and the parents to the employees of the store. These interpersonal communication elements in the script fall into the category of culture are; A. High context – context is the lens of how people see and understand the world around them. In messages, it is their filter or vocabulary in understanding people. Interpersonal communication are often high context communication or involving a great deal of understanding about the feelings, thoughts and intent of the sender. It requires a great deal of communication agility on both the sender and receiver to be able to send comprehensible interpersonal messages (on the part of the sender) and to understand such coded messages on the part of the receiver. In the script, the misunderstanding between the parent and the child in the opening of the script was very obvious with how they argue with the music because of differing context of both parties which they are trying to impose on the other. Both party, the child and the parent has different contexts of what is a good music which caused disagreement. For the parents, their idea of a good music is classical

Restorative Justice Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Restorative Justice - Dissertation Example This means there must be a deep respect for both the plaintiff and defendant to encourage a sense of testimony without compromise. It is also important to consider the cost and efficiency of the selected legal system in different contexts. For instance, the individual should ascertain whether the process satisfies the victim and the offender. Alternatively, the person should also find out if the system reduces crime or recidivism in the community. In other words, are the set goals and objectives set for a legal framework met? And if there are attained within a given time frame, then what is the way forward? That is why there is restorative justice and its many processes. This mechanism is preferable because it encourages a lot of neutrality between the warring parties. It also sets high standards of communal justice when dispensed with fairness and equality (Seligram, 2000). The justice system also has varied options of handling cases unlike the natural courts where the law is the sa me. Another technicality is the acrimony of victims against offenders and vice versa that is not common in restorative justice. Instead, there are family group conferences, victim mediation processes and teen courts that achieve a level of neutrality without any compromise. Furthermore, the legal process is cheaper and requires legal expertise to maneuver than the normal system According to Vance (2007), restitution entails the laws of gains-based upturn and is in contrast with the law of compensation. The law of compensation entails the law of low-based revival and is the opposite of restitution. Vance argues that restitution is a legal response that has obligations in the payment of compensation to real world events. Therefore, the author attests that if there is a court order for restitution, it means the surrenders his gains to the claimant. Alternatively, restitution may also mean the receivership by the claimant for his /her loss from the defendant following court orders. On t hat account, there is a restoration of the conferred benefits in the context of non-breaching party who is the plaintiff. This suggests that the plaintiff has the benefit of receiving the value of what is conferred in the contract to the defendant. However, there are two boundaries to the recovery such as the total contravention of the contracted when it is required and the capped damages. In the same view, Vance mentions restitutions for wrongs such as a common law tort, a statutory tort, an equitable wrong and a breach of contract. There are also the criminal offenses in the category of restitutions of wrongs that should reverse unfair enrichment. On the other hand, in Emmer’s ideologies (2002), community service is an activity conducted by a person or a group for the advantage of society or its various institutions. In other words, community service is also donated service because an individual renders his/her services to an entity. Therefore, because such persons always a ct out of free will, it suggests the presence of an authority in the activity. For instance, according to the author, it may be the government because it is a citizenship requirement or as part of the military service. Additionally, the community service may arise from the courts because of sanctions emanating from criminal justice such as a punishment for a conviction. Furthermore, community service sometimes is instituted by the school to attain the conditions of a class that in this case may be service learning or graduation requirements.

The Development Of Characterisation From Everyman

The Development Of Characterisation From Everyman Everyman is a medieval morality play believed to be written late in the fifteenth century (Worthen 2004: 236), while Six Characters in Search of an Author was written in 1920. The vast difference in time periods between the two plays suggests that the development of characterisation could also be vast. In Medieval times civilisation had reverted back to simplicity (Holland 2010), with plays typically involving the personification of moral or psychological abstractions, and single characters to represent society as a whole (Worthen 2004: 236). However, by the writing of Six Characters it was common for plays, like other literature, to penetrate the minds of their characters more deeply (Greer and Lewis 2004: 661), creating more complex and individualised characters. The idea of complexity is significant in comparing the characterisation from Everyman to Six Characters. While Everyman has a simple purpose to instruct morality to the masses, Six Characters has a more complex aim, as Pirandello uses his characters to raise questions that ultimately are left unanswered. Dillon suggests that Medieval theatre aimed to teach and improve its audiences (Rees 2010), therefore the characters in Everyman act as religious metaphors to clearly communicate morals to the spectators. It is apparent that the language of Everyman presents no great difficulties to an audience, and in fact the whole play follows a clear plot where the meaning is rarely in doubt (Allen 1953: ix). The audience see Death, that no man dreadeth (Anonymous 115), order Everyman to make the pilgrimage to death (Anonymous 146), who then struggles to find anyone to accompany him. In contrast to this fairly simple plot and aim, Six Characters questions the ideas of reality and illusion, using the characters to bring these issues to the foreground. The complexity of the play is self-consciously stated when the Producer says, if you can understand them [Pirandellos plays] you must be very clever (Pirandello 1.77-78), as they question the very play the audience are watching. As highlighted in a review of the play by the Manchester Guardian in 1925, the characters pose the question What is real? (Bassnett 1989: 44), trying to create their own vision of humanity (Bassnett 1989: 78). As Worthen suggests, the play makes the audience reflect in depth on reality and illusion, but is inconclusive in that it doesnt provide a final answer on whether it is the actors or characters in the play that depict reality (Worthen 2004: 687). The Son even states, I am a character who has not been fully developed dramatically (Pirandello 1.712-713), which again provokes ambiguity on characters identity. In questioning our identity by discussing how each of us is several different people in diff erent situations (Pirandello 1.642), it would be easy to suggest that the Father would provoke self-reflection in some members of the audience. The contrasting aims of the two plays therefore suggests the reasons behind Pirandellos arguably more developed characters than those presented in Everyman. Development of character could be gauged on a characters purpose in a play. As the purpose of Everyman is to teach morality to the audience, the characters are constructed as merely functional. Rather than acting as well-rounded characters that each have a different personality, many of the characters could easily merge into one. For example Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, Strength, Discretion, and Beauty all come together to help Everyman, but then all leave him to undertake his journey alone. Most of these characters are therefore presented as kind and helpful, and then regress into cowardice at the end of the play, to represent that nothing can be taken with you in death except good deeds. There is no need for the characters to be complex with multifaceted personalities, as this could distract the audience and complicate the simple meaning of the play. Performed amongst other morality plays the audience should understand that the characters function to represent typical Christian lif e and to put across a moral message (Holland 2010). Six Characters could also be seen as using its characters for a functional purpose. The idea that the six protagonists are trapped for all eternity in one moment (Pirandello The Scene.304), and only exist to tell their own story could be intended to provoke thought on character in the audience. It also suggests that they are simply constructions of the play to perform their story, questioning whether they are well-developed. It would be easy to assume that as time goes on the characters that playwrights create become more individual and life-like. While this could be deemed correct in the idea that Everyman features characters that are based on abstract concepts, such as Knowledge and Good Deeds, and Pirandello presents human characters, this argument is a lot more complex than it appears on a superficial level. In both plays, the characters are named by the role they play in life, and act as we would assume them to according to this role; as what Wallis and Shepherd refer to as recognisable social types (Rees 2010). For example, the character of Everyman is presented to act as all humans do, and is therefore restricted to having general characteristic traits of mankind rather than individual ones (Holland 2010). He is simply guilty of the sins that humans generally make, for example when he states, All my life I have loved riches (Anonymous 388), and money maketh all right that is wrong (Anonymous 413). Here, Goods is portrayed as an evil character, representative of how in Christian belief, love of money is the root of all evil (Clarke 1823: 559), as he states, My condition is mans soul to kill (Anonymous 442), and laughs at Everymans misfortune. As well as these allegorical characters that act as metaphors for concepts (Allen 1953: viii), in Six Characters the metatheatrical theatre workers on stage are referred to as the roles they play in the company. Rather than having individual names, they are grouped together with titles such as Leading Actor, Young Actress, and Producer. Like in Everyman, the group of actors also act how actors are stereotypically portrayed to be; Worthen suggests the Leading Actor must always be acting the Leading Actor, whether he is onstage or not (Worthen 2004: 687). This applies especially to the Leading Actor and Actress, for example the Leading Actor is elevated in complaining, If the theatre, ladies and gentlemen, is reduced to thisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Pirandello 1.806-807), and the Leading Actress patronisingly orders, Put him in my dressing-room for me will you (Pirandello 1.36). Interestingly, when questioned about identity, the Producer replies that he is, the Director, the Producer Im in charge (Pirandello 3.107-108); rather than seeing himself as an individual personality he is defined by his job title. Personally, I define role as a character type that obeys stereotypical assumptions, while I see a character as being a created person who has individual characteristics and idiosyncrasies that represent themself. In this way I would class both the characters in Everyman and the actors in Six Characters as undeveloped roles, who behave how an audience would expect them to behave depending on their stereotypical features. While these characters are confined by their stereotypical labels and are therefore unable to develop fully, the six characters highlighted in the title of Pirandellos play are, ironically, the only ones who are portrayed to be individual, rejecting the stereotypes theyve been branded with. Though it is clear that the six characters have actual names, for example Amalia (Pirandello 2.90), on the stage and in the script they are referred to by their family roles, such as Father and Stepdaughter. In addition to the labels they are given in relation to each other, like t he characters in Everyman they are presented wearing masks, which are designed to give the impression of figures constructed by art, each one fixed forever in its own fundamental emotion (Pirandello 1.103). The six characters are therefore intended to be defined by both their family role and the emotion they represent, for example Remorse for the FATHER, Revenge for the STEPDAUGHTER, Scorn for the SON and Sorrow for the MOTHER (Pirandello 1.103). Looking at the characters with this perspective, they could seem as underdeveloped as the theatre workers and the concept characters in Everyman, as they are stuck in one moment and in one emotion (Worthen 2004: 686). However, Pirandello designs these characters with individual traits. While the Stepdaughter is presented as intent on revenge, and at one point resumes her previous position (Pirandello 1.463) as if she is in a fixed state, she is also portrayed as full of a warm tenderness for her younger sister (Pirandello 1.103). In terms o f character development, it seems that even though both plays suggest each character is fixed, or a stereotype, the six family characters in Pirandellos play are the most developed as they are the most individually unique, and they break away from the barriers they are constructed in. In the preface to Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello stated that, Every creature of fantasy and art, in order to exist, must have his drama, that is, a drama in which he may be a character and for which he is a character (Bassnett 1989: 85). The essential drama of the six characters is to allow their secrets to be unfolded on stage, and therefore in doing this they can stand alone as characters. While the characters in Everyman were given no exposition so an audience can focus on the moral, the exposition and back-story for the six characters in Pirandellos play make them appear much more developed, and therefore real. The Father suggests a fact is like a sackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place (Pirandello 1.602-604). Likewise, to understand a character, to make it developed and more life-like, the audience needs to see its exposition. For example the Father reveals how he could nt bear the sight (Pirandello 1.464) of his wife because he felt sorry she was incapable of love (Pirandello 1.296), allowing the audience to understand why he sent the Mother away. These individual and detailed feelings show the development of character as he seems life-like, a life full of his own specific qualities (Pirandello 3.101-102). While the stock characters in Everyman could only be imagined in similar situations, such as giving moral advice, the six main characters of Six Characters seem to be alive in their own right (Bassnett 1989: 79), and the audience would have enough information about them to imagine them in scores of situations (Pirandello 3.157). The characters of Six Characters seem to be more developed and rounded than those in Everyman, but we can also explore which ones develop as the plays go on. The character of Everyman begins as a sinner, and gradually uses more religious language such as, O Gracious God (Anonymous 153) and high Judge, Adonai (Anonymous 245), to his realisation that he is worthy to be blamed (Anonymous 477) where he then confesses his sins. While his character does develop, we dont see any real thought processes that present an individual state of mind, therefore it is difficult to empathise with the character. On the other hand, while in Six Characters the Stepdaughter has been defined as a character searching for revenge, she begins the play a confident, teasing and attention-seeking character, and then becomes increasingly angry and intense, and we see her individual emotions laid open. Adriano Tilgher suggests the characters in Six Characters have souls (Bassnett 1989: 41), and are therefore devel oped and life-like in comparison to the inhuman concepts created in Everyman. How developed a character is can significantly affect the audiences reaction to a performance. A characters expositional background and complexity can make it easier for audience members to engage emotionally and empathise with them. It would therefore probably be easier to empathise with the family characters in Pirandellos play than the concept characters in Everyman. Morality plays often used masks to avoid empathy (Rees 2010), therefore Everyman would be successful in making the audience think about morality rather than be emotionally moved. Contrastingly, the development of characters in Six Characters in Search of an Author could help the audience emotionally engage, allowing them both to think and feel. Character development, therefore, can be subjective. While in Everyman the characters could seem like simple personifications, when interpreted by performers they could become recognizable as individuals on stage (Worthen 2004: 236), and they could be as complex as a performer wants them to be. The lack of stage directions in Everyman can give freedom to a performer, therefore enabling the characters to be made much more complex, while Pirandellos stage directions could restrict a performer to following the predetermined, fixed character traits. While it is straightforward to suggest that characterisation develops significantly from simple to complex from Everyman to Six Characters, it is debatable who the most developed characters are. All are given stereotypical labels, and while the protagonists of Six Characters seem to have more individuality than those in Everyman, if their reality is an illusion (Pirandello 3.72-73), are they actually complex? 2187 words

Too Much Science in Walden Two by B.F. Skinner Essay -- Psychology

Too Much Science? In the 1930s, Europe began to fall under the shadow of socialism with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, the Communist Revolution in Russia, and the Fascist uprising in Italy. Americans tried to ignore this growing crisis in Europe for as long as possible; even some in the United Kingdom were not unduly concerned with this sudden change. Some people, including authors Aldous Huxley, were startled and put their fears down on paper. Huxley’s Brave New World shows an unsettling optimistic front that covers the disturbing reality of a futuristic socialist world. After the war ended, more novels about the socialism appeared, George Orwell’s 1984 and B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two as a few examples, though they are complete opposites on the views of socialism presented. In Walden Two, the tone is very positive. The head of the community, a man named T.E. Frazier, explains every aspect of the thriving communal settlement to a group of curious enquirers. The party includes an old colleague of Frazier’s, a psychology professor named Burris, a philosophy professor named Augustine Castle, and two veteran soldiers from World War Two named Steve Jamnik and Rogers, along with their girlfriends Mary Grove and Barbara Macklin, respectively. Frazier walks them through all the workings of the Walden Two community, from the agricultural processes, sheep herding techniques, and work schedules to the moral code, education system, and personal relationships. He says that one of the problems with the United States government is that it does not use the scientific process to find out what the people of the nation need and want. He claims that everything runs so smoothly in Walden Two because the community is... ...t provider for people of all ages and races, with equality of the sexes and gentle behavioral engineering that encourages art and science. Huxley’s Brave New World, on the other hand, shows how drastically wrong genetic and behavioral sciences could go if allowed to do so. Both novels show how communal living solves numerous social problems, though Walden Two has a much more peaceful setting instead of the mock one created by Huxley. The question both books bring up is how far the human race should allow science to go before we become carbon copies of each other or even completely inhuman. But then, how far is too far? Works Cited Skinner, B.F. Walden Two. United States of America: Prentice Hall, 1976. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. [c1932]; Huxley.com, 1998. 16 September 2004. . Too Much Science in Walden Two by B.F. Skinner Essay -- Psychology Too Much Science? In the 1930s, Europe began to fall under the shadow of socialism with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, the Communist Revolution in Russia, and the Fascist uprising in Italy. Americans tried to ignore this growing crisis in Europe for as long as possible; even some in the United Kingdom were not unduly concerned with this sudden change. Some people, including authors Aldous Huxley, were startled and put their fears down on paper. Huxley’s Brave New World shows an unsettling optimistic front that covers the disturbing reality of a futuristic socialist world. After the war ended, more novels about the socialism appeared, George Orwell’s 1984 and B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two as a few examples, though they are complete opposites on the views of socialism presented. In Walden Two, the tone is very positive. The head of the community, a man named T.E. Frazier, explains every aspect of the thriving communal settlement to a group of curious enquirers. The party includes an old colleague of Frazier’s, a psychology professor named Burris, a philosophy professor named Augustine Castle, and two veteran soldiers from World War Two named Steve Jamnik and Rogers, along with their girlfriends Mary Grove and Barbara Macklin, respectively. Frazier walks them through all the workings of the Walden Two community, from the agricultural processes, sheep herding techniques, and work schedules to the moral code, education system, and personal relationships. He says that one of the problems with the United States government is that it does not use the scientific process to find out what the people of the nation need and want. He claims that everything runs so smoothly in Walden Two because the community is... ...t provider for people of all ages and races, with equality of the sexes and gentle behavioral engineering that encourages art and science. Huxley’s Brave New World, on the other hand, shows how drastically wrong genetic and behavioral sciences could go if allowed to do so. Both novels show how communal living solves numerous social problems, though Walden Two has a much more peaceful setting instead of the mock one created by Huxley. The question both books bring up is how far the human race should allow science to go before we become carbon copies of each other or even completely inhuman. But then, how far is too far? Works Cited Skinner, B.F. Walden Two. United States of America: Prentice Hall, 1976. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. [c1932]; Huxley.com, 1998. 16 September 2004. .

Character Analysis of Iago Essay

Imagine that you are an evil person. Do you have a reason for being evil? Is there always a logical motivation for villainous behavior? Most of us, even if we were to imagine ourselves as evil would probably also imagine a motivation for being so: a lust for power, greed for money, for revenge, or just anger about our painful or disappointing experiences. However, Shakespeare’s perennially favorite love-to-hate bad-guy, Iago, seems to defy simple interpretation when it comes to dramatic motive. In some ways, Iago’s behavior is so despicable it seems unlikely that any single motivation could be reasoned out from the play’s content that would adequately explain the causes of his villainy. He appears rather as what modern-day psychologists might call a sociopath, which is a person who demonstrates no acknowledgment of moral or ethical responsibility for their actions. Although a motive of sorts is ascribed in the play’s dialogue for Iago’s plot to undo Othello, the basis of revenge is slight. in fact, in order to make Iago a completely unsympathetic character, Shakespeare was careful not to ascribe any viable motive for his desiring revenge against Othello. If the audience perceived that Iago was truly â€Å"wronged, and has cause for vengeance, then he must certainly draw warm sympathy† and this would create a digression from the play’s theme of pride as a tragic flaw. (Rosenberg, 1961, p. 168) Also contrary to the idea that Othello gave Iago genuine provocation for revenge is the fact that Othello is consistently portrayed as virtuous, almost single-mindedly so. This fact is made clear by Iago’s own soliloquy when he reasons out that he is superior to the Moor because he is not susceptible to faith in goodness or virtue: â€Å"the Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so†; by contrasting himself with Othello, Iago makes it clear that he, himself, is not given to faith in men or their presumed virtues and he views Othello’s faith as a shortcoming: â€Å"the remark is not a compliment but a contemptuous acknowledgment of Othello’s naivete and foolishness. (Sadowski, 2003, p. 171) Despite Iago’s intentionally devised unsympathetic character, the complexity of Iago is adequate enough to create more than a simple cardboard villain. Though his motives for revenge against Othello may be slight or even ambiguous, the complete realization of Iago as a believable, multifaceted individual is accomplished by Shakespeare in brilliant fashion. An actor playing Iago would have to be careful not to personify Iago as a demonic or outright malicious person, but as a more cleverly masked and complicated person. Instead of acting like a â€Å"thug† or a typical evil-doer, Iago would be more effectively portrayed as a sociopath who is familiar with social mores and laws and moral codes, and in fact uses them to attain his self-interests, but has absolutely no sense of personal ethics or morality whatsoever. If an actor â€Å"tried to portray him purely as a symbol of evil[†¦ ] he would have had to ignore parts of Shakespeare’s complex characterization† because Iago is more than a cardboard villain, he represents Shakespeare’s exploration of a criminally insane personality, a person who is â€Å"all the more sinister for choosing evil rather than simply representing it. Arguably, some of his motives remain unstated, offshoots of a warped and paranoid nature seething with jealousy and envy. † (Hall, 1999, p. 72). Arguing that Iago has chosen to become malicious and evil may sound strange at first, but even the opening of the playsuggests that iago is himself aware of his own dual nature: one side which preceives and udnerstands the laws and moral parameters of the world, what is right and wrong, and another side which is wilfully evil and out to serve only self-interest and revenge. Iago says of himself :†I am not what I am. † This points to a psychologically unstable condition, but a self-aware condition. In this way it is possible to see â€Å"Honest Iago and Villainous Iago are obverse and reverse of the same coin. On the one side, the pure gold of human concern: ‘Sblood, but you’ll not hear me. If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me. (1. 1. 4) (Calderwood, 1989, p. 94) Despite Iago’s complexities of character and the viability of viewing his character as a manifestation of a sociopath , another, less complimentary interpretation for Shakespeare’s complex villain is possible: that Iago functions as â€Å"not much more than a necessary piece of dramatic mechanism;† however, this â€Å"provocative judgment runs counter to most people’s impressions of Iago as a fascinating, multifaceted study in evil. (Hall, 1999, p. 71) That said, it is still a viable criticism of the play that Iago’s multifaceted evil is so dynamic and so all-ecompassing as to go beyond the purely psychological character study nad into actual plot-resolution technical trickery which Shakespeare found necessary to give his play movement and dramatic action. This is a fascinating interpretation, but it seems unlikely in the final analysis because Iago is immediately â€Å"recognizable† to audiences, as though he is somebody we all already know. In fact, he does represent an aspect of ourselves that we all do know and know well, which is the side of us which bases its motives on self-interest and has no feeling for moral obligation or ethical restraint. of course this â€Å"dark side† exists in all of us and must be mastered; when we fail to master our dark side we are sometimes called villains, sometimes â€Å"sociopaths. † Shakespeare’s great genius in the creation of Iago was to produce a character whose immersion in the â€Å"dark side’ was so deep as to create great tragedy, but so realistically rendered that it was universally recognizable as a constant aspect of and threat to human social order. References Calderwood, J. L. (1989). The Properties of Othello. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. Hall, J. L. (1999). Othello A Guide to the Play. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Rosenberg, M. (1961). The Masks of Othello The Search for the Identity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by Three Centuries of Actors and Critics. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Sadowski, P. (2003). Dynamism of Character in Shakespeare’s Mature Tragedies. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press.

Fall Leaf Colors by Tree Species

Fall Leaf Colors by Tree Species Certain broadleaf trees can be uniquely identified by their brilliant fall leaf color. In some cases, a trees common name is derived from its primary autumn leaf color  (such as red maple and yellow poplar). The most common leaf colors of fall are red, yellow, and orange. Some tree species can express several of these colors simultaneously as the season progresses. How Fall Leaf Color Develops All leaves start out in summer as green. This is because of the presence of a group of green pigments known as chlorophyll. When these green pigments are abundant in the leafs cells during the growing season, they mask the color of any other pigments that may be present in the leaf. But with autumn comes the destruction of chlorophyll. This demise of the green pigments allows other, previously masked colors to come forward. Those unmasked fall colors quickly become markers for individual deciduous tree species. Trees With Red Leaves Red is produced by warm, sunny fall days and cool fall nights. Leftover food in the leaf is transformed into the color red through anthocyanin pigments. These red pigments also color cranberries, red apples, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. Some maples,  sweetgum, and oaks have red fall leaves. Dogwoods, black tupelo trees, sourwood trees, persimmons, and some sassafras trees also have red leaves. Trees With Yellow and Orange Shades Chlorophyll is destroyed with the onset of autumnal conditions, which reveals the orange and yellow leaf colors, or carotenoid pigments. Deep orange is a combination of the red and yellow color-making process. These yellow and orange pigments also color carrots, corn, canaries, and daffodils, as well as egg yolks, rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas. Hickory, ash, some maples, the yellow poplar (tulip tree), some oaks (white, chestnut, bear), some sassafras, some sweetgum, beech, birch, and sycamore trees have yellow leaves in the fall.

Free sample - Why Torture Should Not be Legalized. translation missing

Why Torture Should Not be Legalized. Why Torture Should Not be LegalizedThe purpose of this paper is to argue why torture should not be legal to use in prosecution of the War on Terror. Starting point is a definition of torture. The UN Convention Against Torture gave this definition of torture in Article 1: â€Å"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions† (UN Convention Against Tortu re) The torture is a system of measures used in ancient Greek and Roman Law, and it remained valid in Europe until the period of Enlightenment. People were aware of the problems of false testimony caused by the threat of torture, but torture was not meant to make a person confess something, it is used to gather details of the crime, which only the person suspected guilty would know. One of the worldwide known examples of usage of torture in Middle Ages is the Spanish Inquisition, where people were tortured under allegation of heresy. In early modern times, torture was practiced in England, but only in certain circumstances. The abolition of usage of torture in Europe came with French Revolution, and it has spread through other European countries (such as Portugal and Switzerland). In a modern world, torture is unacceptable (Article 5, UN Convention Against Torture). It is regarded to be a violation of human rights. The Geneva Conventions (four of them) were supposed to provide protection to people during the war. The third and fourth Geneva Conventions are most important when it comes to treatment of victims in war circumstances. It is clearly stated that usage of torture and cruel treatment to a person is prohibited and considered as a disgraceful act.   However, what really happens now, in the 21st century? How do we really look at torture? We despised it and thought savages, in foreign countries, did this. And then-the September 11†¦ After September 11, many of people changed the way they looked at torture. Horrible news, fear, panic, smoke, ash rising to the sky, fire and desperate cries of the survivals†¦ In addition, you could see this on a daily basis, on many TV channels. Raising the fear from terrorist attack and insecurity that citizens felt after the September 11 looked like it could be used for other purposes. The September 11 was the trigger for the Government to speak in public about â€Å"things† that are necessary to do in order to keep the World Peace. In some way, the Government needed to make torture a valid way of gathering information, with World Peace as an excuse. Urgency to make this happen could be seen in Government’s attempts to avoid the propositions and declarations of rights stated in Geneva Conventions. Scaring the citizens with new terrorist attack, bringing fear and confusion into our homes through News, made this moment of crisis a fertile soil for attempts of torture legalization. In addition, it was done â€Å"in the name of justice and peace†. Killing in the name of justice, spilling guts and crushing bones... In the name of â€Å"Peace†. Who shall listen to the moral compass and a voice of humanity? Is justifying the usage torture as a necessary mean in a war to â€Å"prevent† terrorists from striking again legal? The September 11 has, in a way, contributed to the justifying this immoral acts as just another â€Å"weapon† in war on terrorism. The thought process probably was â€Å"Well, you can’t kill them. You cannot let them go. You cannot process them legally as a normal person. What should we do?† I do not want to be misinterpreted – the torture existed long before the September 11, but this fact was kept as a secret. Many people ignore the fact that torture exists in a modern day societies. Why should they worry about some people having their fingers broken, when it does not exist in their own country? That is why our citizens trusted the Government to solve these problems. However, one of the things that changed after the September 11 was a view on a usage of torture as a legitimate way of gathering information. The interpretation of a law on torture and violence was under the influence of terrorist attacks, so it can be said that attitudes that are more flexible arose, and the number of torture-supporters started to grow. That meant hundreds and hundreds of people who approved the worst types of humiliation and many broken fingers with bones sticking out and the pain you with you never felt. That meant letting the trained, raged dogs at the prisoners, who are usually standing or sitting in a clothes filled with feces, surrounded by terrible smell of urine and fear from death. Can you imagine craving and begging for your own life, while that same smell burns your nostrils and blackens your vision? Can you imagine the intensity of shaking from fear and weakness, trying to stand up, no matter that you can see parts of your bones striking out from your bloody, dirty skin? â€Å"Bringing terrorists to justice.† Is it a right thing to interrogate humans with such savage interrogation techniques? Can we say that duck taping, boot camps, hidden facilities and prisons a legitimate way of â€Å"knowing the truth†? Is it, maybe, shipping the prisoners to unknown locations through the world and inte rrogating them in smelly, dirty chambers, filled with filth, which you think can crawl upon your skin and darken your soul? â€Å"Oh, you are just being disgusting.† Am I? In addition, the growing thirst and hunger, that look minimal in comparison with interrogation brutality, sadism that was stated not to be authorized, this is not disgusting? Can someone say this is not an act, which provokes the feeling of disgust in our bodies? Is it? Imagine those people naked, lying in cold, overcrowded chambers, being whipped, looking at the â€Å"justice† with bloody eyes and with deformed faces. Imagine what happens when they do not receive the needed medical attention, and the wounds start to develop growing infections. Maybe the delirium they fall in is better than what awaits them in reality†¦ Bags over the heads, thirst, unhealthy conditions... Geneva Convention has a detailed instruction on how to treat war prisoners. You can only be asked questions and you can decide do you want to answer or not. Nothing else. However, the codes of justice and humanity seem easy to forget when it comes to collecting valuable information in war. Just inform yourself what happens in Afghanistan, camp X-ray, camp delta†¦ They are just some examples of what could happen if we forget our humanity. Is the question of innocence ever asked in those situations? Maybe the person standing in front of the interrogator is actually the innocent one, without any information or knowledge about subjects that are interrogators interest. Is the torture of an innocent justified? It looks like it is easier to break bones than to prove someone’s innocence, but doing that in the name of â€Å"honor† and â€Å"freedom† is what worries me. Michael Kinsley wrote this: â€Å"†¦arguments made by Charles Krauthammer in the Weekly Standard: 1)No rational moral calculus could possibly justify sacrificing a million innocent lives in order to spare the would-be mass murderer a few minutes of pain. And 2) once you accept that torture would be justified in one situation, avoiding the use of torture on other situations is no longer a moral imperative. The question becomes where you draw the line† (retrieved from ... ). The dilemma does exist, but who will draw the line? Why are we so eager to legalize the torture, without knowing what the torture really means? Can we really understand the amount of pain, humiliation, fear for own life and lives of a family members when a gun is pointed at a forehead? Can we really understand what is like to be tortured and without any hope that our human rights are going to be respected, and that these people who conduct the torture are doing this â€Å"in the name of Peace and Truth†? Are we really so sure that we want to live in a world where World Peace is standing on the top of the pile of dead, deformed, bloody bodies? Think again.