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.

Cold war 1989-1991 under Bush's Administration Essay

Cold war 1989-1991 under Bush's Administration - Essay Example The barometer to consider whether or not to intervene was different in each case. The important characteristics of post-Cold War conflicts were that they did not relate to superpower completion. U.S. interests did not face severe threat, as it was in the Cold War calculus. The strife at far-off places was not of consequence to the national security of U.S. and the vital interests were more or less secure, with no compelling reasons to intervene. There was no confrontation with Soviet Union who was once the dangerous contender for U.S. interests. With the end of the Cold War, trouble fomented at various spots leading to a series of events of inter-state aggression. U.S. had no decisive platform to intervene, either political or legal. Its foreign policy was against, â€Å"interference in the internal affairs of others." U.S. could not pursue a policy of isolationist, it needed active political and economic support from governments and U.S. was averse to set forth precedents which affected their relations with other countries. Another important consideration was a bout adherence to international law governing interventions. Without the correct international legal rationale, any intervention would be termed as an act of self-seeking, with motivated desires and with hidden agenda. Decisions for intervention needed to be taken, explained and defended. The break-up of the Soviet Union was an important development, but no American interests were threatened. Besides, it was an ideological conflict and power-struggle between two factions, both owing allegiance to Communism. Intervention decisions have far-reaching economic implications, besides the need for solid domestic support. In the confusing world scenario, with many set of actions taking place simultaneously in different parts of the world, the decision-making process cannot be expected to be orderly and well-structured. That the issue

Write report of CESIM simulation of Production n R n D department Essay

Write report of CESIM simulation of Production n R n D department - Essay Example The director in charge of production provides support to satisfy the demands of all the three continents. Furthermore, the head of production has additional duties of handling manufacturing contracts to supply enough products for outsourcing. The Research and Development (R&D) department deals with improvements and innovations in new technology (Johnson, Whittington, and Scholes, 2011, 89). The department offers information new techniques of developing and improving products, which facilitates the expansion of company business activities as well as production and demand. Scholars identify that businesses have an essential to play in the manufacturing process within their operations (Johnson, Whittington, and Scholes, 2011, 67-8). Management of the same increases the competitive advantage of the company against rivals in the market. Significant relationships exist between supply and demand management therefore the company ought to undertake thorough analysis based on either supply shifter or demand shifter as environmental factors. It is possible to evaluate the capacity of the company to deal with the manufacturing process of the business in satisfying customer demands. In addition, it demonstrates the ability of the fir m to minimize the cost of production that resonates with the demand management. From the marketing outlook point of view and looking at the demand for mobile phones, it is observed that the demand for handsets has significantly increased since passengers are able to use the mobile phones even in the airplanes. Looking at the cost analysis, the transportation cost expected to fall by about 6% while the production cost is expected to remain unchanged. The competitiveness of the economy of China has resulted in its central bank selling huge amounts of Rmb in the FX market. This has consequently made Rmb fall by approximately 10% against the USD as the Euro also rebounds (Cesim,