Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Cloning morality essays

Cloning morality essays Currently with technology advancing rapidly in every aspect of life, is it possible that humans can recreate themselves. This big ethical and moral question is on the minds of almost every person in the world. Should we as a human race make duplicates of ourselves? There are several things to look at and to consider when making decisions based on God like proportions. There are health risks from mutation of genes. An abnormal baby would be a nightmare come true. The emotional risks could have a deep impact. For instance, the child grows up knowing her mother is her sister, her grandmother is her mother. Every time her mother looks at her, she is seeing herself growing up. There would be unbearable emotional pressures on a teenager trying to establish his or her own identity. What happens to a marriage when the "father" sees his wife's clone grow up into the exact replica (by appearance) of the beautiful 18 year old he fell in love with 35 years ago? A sexual relationship would of cou rse be with his wife's twin, no incest involved technically. There are always the risks of abuse of technology. With a God like technology like cloning, the risks could be less as risky as why someone would want a clone of someone else or of themselves. Reasons why people want human cloning may be rational or irrational. That is not the point. The fact is that a recent US survey conducted by CNN found that 6% of US citizens think human cloning could be quite a good idea. Just a few of the reasons people may want to clone could include bizarre ideas. A person may want to recover someone who was lost as a twin or just a reminder. Someone else may have infertility issues and rather than use donated sperm and eggs, why not use a cell of ones own self to give birth to "yourself", ones own twin? Other reasons would include: Eugenics - an attempt to improve the human race, Megalomania - a desire to reproduce one's own qualities, Assisting medical ...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Famous People and Privacy Essays

Famous People and Privacy Essays Famous People and Privacy Essay Famous People and Privacy Essay Do you agree news are sensationalized in tabloids? I dont agree that news are sensationalized in tabloids for two reasons. A. Journalists are breaking the ethical values and the mission of their profession. 1. The size of the audience is relevant. 2. Lack of objectivity in allegations B. Besides, sensationalism affects everyone involved. 1. Speculations about you and your relatives lives. 2. Hounded by media in every action.In conclussion, its evident that sensationalism has become deeply entrenched in the media and journalists are paying by sacrificing their ethics exposing people and relatives lives. Do you agree news is sensationalized in tabloids? Tabloids can be defined as a type of newspaper with a simple style, many photographs and emphasis on sensational stories. To increase the attraction of newspapers headlines, publishers allow showing sensationalist news. For them, the effects of it seem to be positive, however, these are producing a negative impact on society.So I don? t agree that news are sensationalized for two reasons. In first place, journalists are breaking the ethical values and the mission of their profession. For them, the size of the audience is relevant, because the in tabloids are very competitive. In fact, it’s part of journalists’ strategy for catching the attention of most readers. Unfortunately, to achieve they is a lack of objectivity in the allegations that not bring correct information. For instance, when the new of RNH1 flu appeared, tabloids published exaggerate number of deaths.Obviously, parents were too worried about that they didn’t send their children to school for many days. Besides, sensationalism affects everyone involved in, even your relatives. This is the case of Jean Paul Santamaria and Angie Jibaja. They were a famous couple, but since he was besieged by paparazzi when they go out with another woman, this love story turned into a storm for them. Jibaja felt mortified, because of sensationalism her grandfather got involved in, too. So Jean Paul had a public discussion with him and obviously Jibaja’s family was full of shame about it.Even due they broke up, everybody is still speculating about their lives and hounded by the media in every action. In conclusion, in today’s society is under scrutiny and is losing its credibility. It is evident that sensationalism has become deeply entrenched in the media. In turn, readers are paying a high price through their loss of credible sources of information. Furthermore, journalists are paying by sacrificing their ethics in order to earn money. A-07W GROUP WORK 03 OUTLINEAugust 2013 Numbers and names:19 Ingrid Serrano 20 Richard SiapoLaughing helps people who suffer from depression or sadness? Laugher helps people to cure depression and sadness in many ways. A. Laugher cheers up people. 1) Liberate a substance called dopamine that makes you happier. 2) Produce a welfare sensation. B. Laugher makes people forget their pro blems. 1) Makes people come back to their past emotional states C. Laughter raises self-esteem 1) Makes you see the positive not the negative 2) Gives more receptivity. In conclusion, laughter offers multiple contributions to deal with depression or sadness.Laughing helps people who suffer from depression or sadness? Laugher helps people to cure depression and sadness in many ways. California University has recently discovered about a small zone in the brain which is capable of making the most serious man laugh and also, that 5 minutes laughing equals 45 minutes exercising slowly. Discoveries like this lead us to reckon about the fact that laughter can actually be more relevant than it is thought. In fact, the humor therapy, as it is called, offers many psychological and even physical benefits to the body.This therapy has been developed with more emphasis over the past years. Simply as it sounds: Laughter helps people to get over depression and sadness in many ways. For instance, it cheers people up, it makes people forget their problems even just for a while, and last and arguably more important, laughter raises self-esteem. Actually, its obvious that laughter cheers up people, since the big smile in the face of someone laughing can tell us that, however, thats only what we can see.How about what cant see? It should be known that a real laugh liberates a substance called dopamine which makes people happier. Happiness is a relative concept, what is enough for some, is not for others, nevertheless, this happiness created by dopamine produces a welfare sensation which contributes to getting over bad moods. As laughter makes people happier, it lets people hide problems from their mind for a moment. As people come back, while laughing, to some emotional states felt in the past.Problems carries stress, and by forgetting about it, its easier to cure depression. The author of Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton, said, Jolly company should not separate from music, bo th are necessary: happiness makes life larger, gives youth and life to the body. Going crazy isnt bad. So go party often and have happy friends whose jokes can make you happier. This kind of things would take people to live better and happy, to see the positive things in life, why would anybody choose negativity over them?This occurs mainly because laughter raises self-esteem. Its not surprise that it gives more receptivity too, since more self-esteem would makes people more comfortable with themselves. In conclusion, laughter offers many contributions to deal with depression and sadness. There are lots of ways to get to them and their results, some of them are happiness, confidence and self-esteem, here isnt even mentioned the physicals advantages, but as studies show, there is room to grow in the humor therapy.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

To what degree was the American war an independence war Essay

To what degree was the American war an independence war - Essay Example Many colonists migrated from Great Britain to gain independence and to seek their own personal freedoms that the King George III clearly neglected. The desire to colonize the new world generally meant more liberation and strong urgency of independence (â€Å"Boston Tea Party†). Another root cause of the American Revolutionary War was the colonial legislatures that were enacted by the King The enactment of these laws meant that that the colonies continued to be pass laws and pay taxes to atone the sins of the Great Britain. Tom Paine’s in his literary work the â€Å"common sense† described King George as a â€Å"royal brute.† King George III can be considered an â€Å"unfit leader† in many aspects. First and foremost is the fact that he used the colonist’s tax money to fund his poor decisions as a King but also to pay for his son’s misfortunes (Meyer 12). Hence, the colonist fought the revolutionary war to ooze the ideals of Democracy a nd to break away from the traditional suppression of the king. What political tasks did Mao assign the red army? Mao as a leader was very disciplined and organized. Hence, he assigned many political tasks for his army to conduct in an efficient manner. One of the primary focus of Mao was to incorporate superior strategies to defeat the Nationalists in civil war. Thus, propaganda became a crucial factor. Moreover, he wanted to create a strong sense of discipline in the army that can incorporate his agenda from higher lever to a lower level. His intention was to concentrate on the ills of the country itself and use himself as a positive and confident leader. Moreover, Mao wanted the red army to be extremely organized and collaborative. His idea of network branched beyond the traditional methodology (Abbott 19). Mao also wanted to speed up the economic growth as the industrial development and agriculture was launched. Since Mao and Stalin did not trust each other, China became under th e strong control of Mao himself. The Red Army of China became his face of power throughout most of his military career. What was worse was the fact that the Red army excelled in blackmail tactics under his supreme command. If any individual was to protest against Mao’s rule, he or she would be indefinitely executed. These type of tactics were adapted from Stalin and Hitler that Mao utilized to implement in his red army. Although later in career, Mao’s leverage over the army was lost, his army continued to have a strong alliance with Russia. His intention was not to rebuild China but utilize his power to compile an efficient army that can assist him during his need (Abbott 13). In essence, Mao’s power manifested itself into the red army and became the embodiment of power, confidence, control and leverage for him. What were the key organizational and strategic problems of the US Army in the years immediately after the Vietnam War? The aftermath of the key organiza tional and strategic problems of the US Army were numerous. One of the key organization problems that Americans had was to establish themselves in the international sphere. Another strategic problem that posed for the Americans was the fact that they lost key position in the spheres of containing communism. The mere idea that communism will continue to thrive in Asia served as a huge threat to United States. Without a doubt, the Vietnam was an ideological

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The British Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

The British Economy - Essay Example A fixed exchange rate system as the name suggests, is a system in which the country in question is striving to prevent the exchange rate of the currency to change with the change is balance payments of deficits. This is a system which needs other accompanying systems to make it work (Pitt, 2001). When this system is to be implemented, the government uses certain measures and implements some specific rules. Usually, these rules include the fact that when interventions in the foreign markets are made, there should be macro-economic adjustments so that the income which is spent on imports is reduced. Along with that, protective tariffs are imposed so that the number of imports can be reduced to a desirable level. This system also includes some rules in which there is a restriction on the amount of foreign currencies that can be bought (Barro, 2008). The reason why a fixed exchange rate is used is that it provides certain benefits for the exporters. The basic reason why the exporters benefit from a fixed exchange rate is that there is greater certainty of the rates and the income which would be ultimately received from the export. The exporters have to take lesser risks and can guarantee results that would be more or less near to the things which are predicted (Pitt, 2001). The fixed exchange rate also enables the domestic firms and their workers to make them more disciplined. They enforce the idea that the costs of the company should be kept under a strict balance because that is the only way in which the company is able to compete in the international market. When the domestic firms are watching their costs, the government is able to control inflation and that in turn would control the interest rates (Barro, 2008). The years 1876 to 1913, were the ones in which the rate of a currency was established on the basis of that currency’s comparative conversion into an ounce of gold. This

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Imaginative landscape Essay Example for Free

Imaginative landscape Essay Melbourne is the united nations of Australia, the ethnic mosaic that acts as a terminal between multiple worlds. Sprouting from the heart of the city, Russel Street boasts Greek taverns adjacent to Italian pizzerias sandwiched between sushi bars. Turning left from Russel Street we reach a new gate at the terminal, little burke street- as if a slice of China had been uprooted and planted right in the middle of Melbourne city. We have cultural music festivals where the drums of Africa and the didgeridoos of the indigenous filter into the streets, a musical harmony that proudly demonstrates our ethnic diversity Visiting Federation Square during the Indian food and wine gala, the orange, green and white flag was raised high while the smell of coriander and cardamom filled the air. Emerging from the shadows of the streets a wrinkled and deprived elderly man wearing a bindii on his forehead approached a young teenage girl sipping on a big bowl of yellow curry. Pleading for any spare change, the teenage girl simply turns around and mutters under her breath, â€Å"dirty taxi drivers†. The incongruity of that picture will always be etched into my mind. This teenage girl holds insight into the daunting truth of our generation. Our recreational interest in cultures acts only as a mask to hide behind when accused of racial injustice. This food and wine mentality has evolved the infamous â€Å"I’m not racist I have a black best friend† to the now more common â€Å"I’m not racist I love Japanese hand rolls†. We are beginning to consume cultures just as we consume products. With a selfish and egotistical agenda, we dive into multiculturalism on a superficial level. If we are ever going to tackle this racial divide, we must dig deeper than music festivals and miso soups and generate a genuine respect for their people’s interests. This year we have had a quite a confronting and raw insight into Australia’s racial intolerance verifying you don’t have to dig deep to uncover the underbelly of racism in this country. In March, a young 13-year-old girl was scrutinized and castigated for calling aboriginal player Adam Goodes an â€Å"ape† at not just any game, but the dreamtime aboriginal reconciliation game- the irony is tragicomical. No matter how much try to make this girl culpable for her actions; she is sadly just a by-product of generations of hidden racism in this country†¦and it’s time we point the finger of blame to  the mirror. We hear it all the time- On the streets, with our friends and it occasionally slips out while we are with our families. The â€Å"joke† as we try and cover it up , the â€Å"joke† that was harmless fun and was not meaning to offend. However, in Cronulla 2005, these jokes quickly became the vehicle for 26 injuries and 42 arrests in what would be known as one of Australia’s worst racial driven riots. Over 5000 locals joined together to protest against recent attacks by Lebanese gangs. These protests soon become a purge for locals to unleash their inner racism. SMSs such as Just a reminder that Cronullas 1st wog bashing day is still on this Sunday† circulated around the town, believing to have instigated the crowds. Our cultural music festivals and ethnic celebrations will sadly no longer conceal this ugly blemish with which Australia seems to have broken out. Last November respected Aboriginal leader and former Labour candidate Tauto Sansbury resigned from the ALP because he lost faith in the party, which he says is dismissive of indigenous affairs and has in it a big element of racism. Continually side tracking aboriginal projects Sansbury contests that the â€Å"ALP only provide lip service to the Aboriginal community†. We can no longer audaciously showcase our cultural events without simultaneously supporting them behind closed doors. However with every new problem, no matter how difficult, comes a solution. Maybe Rachel Perkins had it right with her musical drama that depicts aboriginal tracker, Albert attempting to help a reluctant white family in finding their daughter, Emily. Perkins uses Emily as the symbol for purity, running through the flowers and innocently waving at Albert’s family. However, with a family like the Ryan’s there is no doubt Emily would have grown up to be just like the 13 year old girl at the dreamtime match. Perkins emphasizes the love and youthfulness of children, proving to our generation that they are our only hope if we are to nourish a truly tolerant country. We can no longer rely on our festivals and worldly terminals to carry us through racial equality. We must actively have tolerance and a general interest in the needs of our Australian community. We have thirteen year old’s calling Adam Goodes an ape, and national celebrities making racist jokes on air. And no matter how many times McGuire pleads it was a â€Å"slip of  the tongue† I’m afraid to say that this ‘slip’ has become an endemic in Australian society.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Irritable Bowel Syndrome :: essays research papers fc

Irritable Bowel Syndrome Introduction to IBS Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of the intestines that leads to crampy pain, gassiness, Bloating, and changes in bowel habits. Some people with IBS have constipation. Others have diarrhea or frequent loose stools, often with an urgent need to move the bowels and some people experience both. Sometimes the person with IBS has a crampy urge to move the bowels but cannot do so. As much as 20% of the US population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common digestive disorders disorders in North America. Over three millions doctor visits are made each year due to IBS. Almost 50% of referrals to a gastroemterologist are for irritable bowel syndrome. Twice as many women suffer from irritable bowel syndrome than do men. Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome usually start early in life. Half the patients have symptoms before they reach the age of 30. Through the years, IBS has been called by many names -- colitis, mucous colitis, spastic colon, spastic bowel, and functional bowel disease. Most of these terms are inaccurate. Colitis, for instance, means inflammation of the large intestine (colon). IBS, however, does not cause inflammation and should not be confused with ulcerative colitis, which is a more serious disorder. The cause of IBS is not known, and as yet there is no cure. Doctors call it a functional disorder because there is no sign of disease when the colon is examined. IBS causes a great deal of discomfort and distress, but it does not cause permanent harm to the intestines and does not lead to intestinal bleeding of the bowel or to a serious disease such as cancer. Often IBS is just a mild annoyance, but for some people it can be disabling. They may be afraid to go to social events, to go out to a job, or to travel even short distances. Most people with IBS, however, are able to control their symptoms through diet, stress management, and sometimes with medications prescribed by their physicians. Causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome The colon, which is about 6 feet long, connects the small intestine with the rectum and anus. The major function of the colon is to absorb water and salts from digestive products that enter from the small intestine. Two quarts of liquid matter enter the colon from the small intestine each day.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Internet Censorship in China

FYC Ruoxuan (Catherine) Yuan Internet Censorship has negative effects on China Censorship in China has gained much attention recently because of the conflict between Google and the Chinese government’s self-censorship policies. In fact, censorship has been practiced since ancient China and the intensity only increases by the years. Nowadays, the most notable measure of censorship is being done on the Internet. More and more restrictions have been put into actions by the Chinese government, which make the life of Chinese Internet users, the Chinese netizens, very inconvenient. With the intensity of censorship increasing and the censoring technology improving, Internet censorship has mainly negative effects on Chinese society. To start off, the current censorship situation needs to be described. In China, censorship is determined by the ruling party, the Communist Party of China, so Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, special administrative regions that are mostly self-governing, are not fully affected by it. But in mainland China, Internet censorship has great impacts on the society. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which people use everyday around the world, are banned in mainland China. Every time a Chinese netizen tries to open these sites, a blank page with bold words â€Å"404 not found† appears. This is very inconvenient for Chinese netizens. Moreover, the number of websites that are inaccessible is increasing. Also, Chinese government has forced search engines to adopt the self-censorship policies that force them to filter the search results for certain words. This triggered the withdrawal of Google from the mainland Chinese market. Attempting to search those â€Å"sensitive† terms not only results in little or no information being displayed but also in the shutdown of one’s Internet connection for a short period of time. Some people even suspect that doing so may lead to being spied on and arrested by the government. With so many coercive protocols, Internet censorship affects China in many different aspects, especially in economy, politics and culture. First of all, to boost the national economy, the Chinese government believes that using Internet censorship for economic protectionism is a good method. However, Internet censorship actually hinders the development of economy inside China. No matter in which nation, the best way to improve its economy is to utilize the most updated technologies and to focus on scientific innovations. China has always emphasized the development of science and technology and on learning the latest innovations from foreign countries, and the ex-leader of China Xiaoping Deng famously claimed that science and technology constitute the primary productive forces. However the new technology and innovations need a market of free competition in order to expand their influence and earn more benefits. Without good management ideas and marketing theories, these technologies cannot be applied properly in order to produce qualified commodities. This is exactly what the Chinese Internet censorship has caused. According to the national condition of China, a market combining socialism and capitalism is needed to rejuvenate the economy. However, the Chinese government proclaims its socialist ideology and promotes local businesses in a socialist manner and refuses the influx of some constructive theories, which may contain capitalist ideas in order to â€Å"maintain the stability of the Communist Party and to create a harmonious society. The restricted and narrow-minded economy strategy of the Chinese government, resulted from the Internet censorship, has undermines the development of the Chinese economy. The Chinese Internet censorship not only blocks useful information, but also interrupts communication between companies, therefore negatively affecting the Chinese economy. Nowadays the re is growing cooperation among companies from different countries, which is an important way to promote economic growth in a nation. However, the partial blocking of popular email services and the shutdown of multiple chat rooms has created many problems for local business contact with foreign ones. A famous example took place in May 2006, when Chinese netizens encountered difficulty connecting to Hotmail, which is an important method to communicate with foreign partners, since it is used all around the world. Also, soon after this event, Chinese netizens again reported that the access to POP mailboxes in many mail providers was difficult. Although Chinese netizens have tried to use blogs and forums to maintain communication, many blogs have been blocked ever since then, including Xanga and the LiveJournal. This makes international cooperation difficult. From this, the efficiency of producing commodities and the quality of the products in China cannot catch up with international standards, thus the Chinese economy suffers. Internet censorship and the requirement of self-censorship not only harm the economy inside China, but also are negatively affecting China in aspects of international commercial trade, even as globalization becomes the trend of today’s world. Chinese Internet censorship is applied to both directions; not only blocks Chinese Internet users’ access to certain foreign websites, but also prevents foreigners from knowing the truth about China through refusal of releasing reliable information. So when foreign companies want to enter the Chinese market, they face a serious question: â€Å"How do you assess an investment opportunity if no reliable information about social tensions, corruption or local trade unions is available? † It is impossible. All this information is necessary for a company to make wise decisions, to figure out a general plan and to find strategies that suit this market. Since most companies do not dare to enter a new market without analyzing and planning ahead, in this way, China lost the potential influx of many investments, technologies, and new management ideas. Even though some corporations were brave enough to challenge the Chinese market due to the lack of information and the restricted policies, most of them have failed. Examples are many, especially when concerning the Internet companies. â€Å"Many Internet giants have retreated from the country†¦ In fact, no major American Internet company has dominated its field in China. These companies, who are â€Å"armed with cash, intellectual property and an ability to manage complex networks and introverted workers,† have failed in the Chinese market. Therefore, it is natural for those companies who are less equipped and less experienced to presume that they will fail as well. Although some scholars assume that China’s restriction may decrease in the future, the block in Februar y 2007 of the French organization Observatoire International des Crises’ website after it posted an article on the risks of trading with China, makes the claim less convincing. This case of censorship, affecting a very specialized site with solely French-language content, shows the government attaches as much importance to the censorship of economic data as political content,† Reporters Without Borders quoted the organization’s comment. Hence, Internet censorship has discouraged foreign business to invest in the Chinese market, and it may keep doing so. Internet censorship has also been used as an efficient tool for economic protectionism in recent years, but the effect may hurt both sides. Renren, (original name is Xiaonei) the Chinese version of Facebook, was founded in 2005, and then in 2009 Facebook was banned in mainland China. Tudou, founded in 2005, and Youku, founded in 2006, both are Chinese versions of YouTube. Their shares of the market greatly increased after YouTube had been banned in 2007. The most notable example occurred when Google decided to quit the Chinese market. After warning in January that it might pull out of China, Google shut its mainland Chinese-language portal and began rerouting searches to its Hong Kong site in late March to avoid self-censorship demands from Beijing. Because China recognized that losing ties to the world's largest global search engine would dampen its innovation and business expansion efforts, and Google certainly wasn't happy at the prospect of losing China's online advertizing market, both sides reached a compromise when China renewed Google’s operating license in July 2010. Yet the damage had been done. Baidu, the Chinese version of Google and China’s top Internet search company, profited greatly and gained a much larger share of the market after Google exited. However, Baidu’s gain is China’s loss. â€Å"The whole industry will become worse. Without competition with Google, Baidu has no motivation to innovate. † said Yu Yang, chief executive of Analysys International, a Beijing research firm. Baidu is known for providing illegal music downloads, although it defended the practice, (Google vs China 2010)saying it simply provides the links. Also, Baidu faced criticism after the local media published reports saying Baidu gave high search rankings to companies selling illegal drugs. Soon after, Baidu signed a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with China Central Television, which had broadcast a fake investigative piece on Baidu to â€Å"clear its name†. Furthermore, Baidu is very cooperative with the government’s censorship efforts. So with Google’s absence from China, Chinese citizens are forced to use Baidu, whose ethics are questioned and which will increase the intensity of censorship by following every government order. â€Å"Chinese netizens are the biggest loser in this accident. † Additionally, the lacking of information and the coercive use of native providers caused by Internet censorship affects citizens not only economically, but politically as well. As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, censorship does not only apply to one direction; it affects both Chinese and foreign websites. So the Chinese press cannot post any reports on certain issues online, and they cannot report on those issues in any publications, because the Chinese government has always considered these issues â€Å"sensitive† and capable of â€Å"inciting subversion of the national regime or overthrow of the socialist system. Therefore, when the Internet was first introduced to China, many Chinese netizens discovered that the Internet can be a great way to gain access to foreign press. In this way, they were able to listen to opinions and comments, even critics, from all areas, which is an important step in learning about the government’s advantages and disadvantages and to participate in political lives. However, the Chinese Internet censorship has a focus on neutralizing critical online opinions, especially those that come from foreign press, and the most common way to execute this is to simply make whole websites completely unavailable in mainland China. By doing so, Chinese netizens are unable to know what the international reaction is about a new Chinese policy, or to see the evaluation of China in an international scope and to view the same issue from different sides. For example, the website of BBC, a relatively objective British TV channel, has been banned in mainland China since 2007. Before it was banned, BBC had provided many Chinese citizens access to the latest review on China from an international point of view. CNN, another TV channel, was banned for some time and now is accessible only partially. Chinese censorship policies are applied on Chinese websites as well. Many big Internet companies have to cooperate with the Chinese government, assisting and reinforcing the system of censorship, because they do not want to lose the Chinese Internet market. Therefore, these companies allow the Internet policies to examine their contents and remove anything inappropriate ones right after polices disapprove them. Even worse is that the number of the Internet polices is rumored at more than 50,000. With such an intense level of Internet censorship, critical comments appearing on Internet forums, blogs, and major portals usually are erased within minutes. In this way, Chinese netizens can never gain a full understanding of their own politics and their own government, because all they are exposed to is the government’s propaganda. The function of censorship is focused on preventing Chinese citizens from learning more about past and current failures of the Communist Party and about alternative systems of governance. However, as time passes by, the censored subjects are not limited to the Communist Party any more. Anything about politics can be termed â€Å"sensitive,† and reports on political contents are censored carefully since censorship about news reports is always a focus in the censorship systems. Although censorship does not follow any specific laws or regulations, the censorship system is vigorously implanted and the apparatus of Internet repression has become the most advanced and most extensive in the world. Moreover, Amnesty International notes that China â€Å"has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world. The offences of which these people are accused include communicating with groups abroad, opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong, signing online petitions, and calling for reforms and an end to corruption. Under such circumstances, the Chinese netizens can only read reports from the Chinese press which are untruthful and biased; on the other hand, the relatively objective reports from the foreign press are inaccessible. The lack of truthful reports harms the political consciousness of Chinese citizens. If one cannot even know about the truth, he or she cannot be aware of the real situation he or she is facing. For example, the Chinese news report website about the earthquake in Sichuan mainly contains the Communist Party’s propaganda, and lacks useful data or updates of the process on this event. When probing this website, people are more focused on emotions, and they cannot acquire many statistics or real information on the earthquake itself. But when looking at the Japanese news site about the same event, it is clear that its major contents are plain descriptions about the earthquake and the reconstruction process. There are abundant amounts of data, and the reports are largely based on facts and very objective. The American website of the earthquake, although it may not appear to be as objective as its Japanese counterpart, is still very truthful. People can find useful information about the earthquake, and the press also provides some comments and analysis on it. Chinese netizens desperately need the information provided by the foreign press to be politically conscious, but in reality, they cannot gain access to any of these websites, as they are banned by censorship. The government claims that their censorship practices can â€Å"harmonize† society, but in fact, they are only intensifying social conflicts and slowing down the progress of political development. In today’s world, as cultural exchange, which is as important as political communication, becomes more and more frequent, Internet censorship harms China from the perspective of cultural development and cultural communication. A culture is always in a continuous state of change. By communicating and acquiring knowledge from another culture, it is able to learn about the trends of the world’s cultures and update itself. Thus, such a culture will be greatly changed towards a more modern mode. An important compartment of cultural exchange is the exchange of popular culture. With the gradual spread of globalization, popular culture becomes similar across nations and cultures, and the entire world contributes to its further development. In a manner of speaking, popular culture in the world today is a combination of many cultures, each providing its own features and advantages to make the combination attractive to all kinds of people. By contributing to and learning from this popular culture, a nation can improve its own cultural features, thus providing better contents and even leading the trend in the world. However, Chinese Internet censorship inhibits the flow of foreign popular culture into China. A noticeable case is YouTube, an icon for fashion, freedom, individuality and novelty, which has beens inaccessible in mainland China since March 2008, right â€Å"after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared. The issue about Tibet has long been a â€Å"sensitive† topic in China and the Chinese government has used many ways to keep the media out, even if this act is considered violation of the freedom of press. However, in this case denying the access of YouTube not only prevents people from knowing about the issue but also eliminates the communication and interaction between American popular culture and Chinese popular culture. Now it is hard for Chinese netizens to acquire the latest information on fashions in America, and they lose a good chance to be inspired by ideas presented through video clips and to develop their own cultural innovations. In conclusion, Chinese Internet censorship undermines economy improvement, hinders political development, and slows down cultural innovations. Although the Chinese government never admits their censorship policies in public, and although there are no specific laws or regulations addressing the censorship policies, the negative effects caused by Internet censorship are obvious. The president of China, Jintao Hu, vowed to purify the Internet, saying China needed to â€Å"strengthen administration and development of our country’s Internet culture. However, censorship is not the solution, even though the Chinese government does not want to face the reality. It is trying its best to stop people from discovering the truth and to feign a perfect society. Nevertheless, the public cannot be fooled and Chinese citizens are waking from the mirage. A group of former senior Communist party officials in China have criticized the Internet censorship, stating that strict censorship may †Å"sow the seeds of disaster† for China's political transition. Although a government spokesman responded that the government’s rules are â€Å"fully in line† with the rest of the world and that â€Å"no one had been arrested just for writing online content,† reports from the international society opposed this announcement, and Chinese citizens, who are experiencing Internet censorship every day, know the announcement to be a lie. The Chinese people can sense the deep sorrow under the superficial harmony. The nation seems to be prosperous and progressive, but no one knows what unpredictable crisis may happen if the government still insist on the censorship policy so arbitrarily. Although ordinary people may be powerless and vulnerable individually, the strength of the mass cannot be ignored. Chinese netizens have developed some Internet memes to ridicule Internet censorship. Some of them, for example the famous â€Å"Grass Mud Horse,† have become icons of resistance against Internet censorship and have gained media attention globally. These images and slangs cannot change the difficult reality, but they show the citizens’ increasing awareness of problems brought up by censorship. Hence, there is hope that by the effort of the mass, the increasingly pervasive and draconian censorship would end one day, and the government could become as democratic as it always claims to be. Works Cited Barboza, David. â€Å"Baidu’s Gain from Departure Could Be China’s Loss. † New York Times, January 13, 2010. Blum, Suan Debra. Happy news: censorship, nationlism, and language ideology in China. Notre Dame: Ind: The Helen Kellogg Institue for International Studies, 2010. Cheung, Anne S. Y. Self-censorship and the struggle for press freedom in Hong Kong. The Hague, the Netherlands; New York N. Y. Kluwer Law International; Norwell, MA Distributed in North, Central, and South America: Kluwer Law International, 2003. â€Å"China Blocks YouTube After Videos of Tibet Protests Are Posted. † New York Times. March 17, 2008. http://www. nytimes. com/2008/03/17/business/media/17youtube. html? scp=5&sq=youtube%20china&st=cse (accessed November 19, 2010). China. C riminal legislation in the People's Republic of China. Springfield,VA: National Technical Information Service, 1958. China, United States Congressional-Executive Commission on. â€Å"Google and Internet control in China a nexus between human rights and trade? the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, second session. Washington, March 24, 2010. â€Å"China, Where U. S. Internet Companies Often Fail. † New York Times. January 15, 2010. http://www. nytimes. com/2010/01/16/technology/16failure. html? ref=baiducom-inc (accessed November 13, 2010). China's Hu vows to â€Å"purify† Internet. Reuters, January 14, 2006. Chovanec, Patrick. â€Å"Al Jazeera: Internet Censorship in China. † January 2, 2010. http://chovanec. wordpress. com/2010/01/02/al-jazeera-internet-censorship-in-china/ (accessed November 14, 2010). CPC, The Central Committee of. . † the annual meeting, the 6th convention for the 16th Central Committee of CPC. Beijing: China, October 11, 2006. Deng, Xiaoping. Science and technology constitute the primary productive force. ex-president of China, 1988. â€Å"French website blocked for warning of risks of investing in China. † Reporters Without Borders. May 30, 2007. http://www. rsf. org/article. php3? id_article=21492 (accessed November 13, 2010). â€Å"French website blocked for warning of risks of investing in China. † Reporters Without Borders. March 30, 2007. http://www. rsf. org/article. php3? d_article=21492 (accessed November 13, 2010). Geoff Dyer, Mure Dickie. â€Å"Chinese Hotmail users suffer disruptions. † Financial Times, May 12, 2006. Human Rights Watch. â€Å"China: ‘race to the bottom’: corporate complicity in Chinese Internet censorship. † 2006: 141. â€Å"Internet freedom. † Background Global Internet Freedom Consortium. http://www. internetfreedom. org/Background (accessed November 20, 2010). Linnee, Susan. Freedom of Expres sion. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. News, BBC. China defends internet regulation. Feburary 15, 2006. http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4715044. stm (accessed May 4, 2010). . Party elders attack China censors. Feburary 14, 2006. http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4712134. stm (accessed May 4, 2010). Red Hearing. â€Å"Google vs China. † 2010: 1. Reuters. â€Å"Google Exit Appears to Benefit Top China Rival, Baidu,. † New York Times. January 15, 2010. www. nytimes. com/2010/04/30/technology/30baidu. html (accessed November 15, 2010). Richardson, Sophie. â€Å"China’s forbidden zones: shutting the media out of Tibet and other ‘sensitive’ stories. † Human Rights Watch, 2008: 67. Sichuan earthquake. http://topics. nytimes. com/top/news/science/topics/earthquakes/sichuan_province_china/index. tml? scp=1-spot;sq=china%20earthquake;st=cse (accessed November 20, 2010). Watts, Jonathan. â€Å"China's secret Internet pol ice target critics with web of propaganda. † London: The Guardian. June 14, 2005. http://technology. guardian. co. uk/online/news/0,12597,1505988,00. html#article_continue (accessed November 20, 2010). Wines, Michael. â€Å"A Dirty Pun Tweaks China’s Online Censors. † New York Times. March 11, 2009. http://www. nytimes. com/2009/03/12/world/asia/12beast. html? em. . August 8, 2010. http://baike. baidu. com/view/50946. htm (accessed November 14, 2010). . September 26, 2010. http://baike. baidu. om/view/2421360. htm (accessed November 14, 2010). â€Å". † October 15, 2010. http://baike. baidu. com/view/102023. htm (accessed November 20, 2010). . http://www. asahi. com/special/08004/ (accessed November 20, 2010). . http://www. xinhuanet. com/xhwenchuan/ (accessed November 20, 2010). . October 15, 2010. http://baike. baidu. com/view/620774. htm (accessed November 15, 2010). —————————— Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. Susan Debra Blum, Happy news: censorship, nationalism, and language ideology in China (Notre Dame, Ind: The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, 2010). 2 ]. Cheung, Anne S. Y. , Self-censorship and the struggle for press freedom in Hong Kong, (The Hague, the Netherlands; New York N. Y. : Kluwer Law International; Norwell, MA Distributed in North, Central, and South America by Kluwer Law International, 2003). [ 3 ]. United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China, â€Å"Google and Internet control in China a nexus between human rights and trade? †, (paper presented at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, One Hundred Eleventh

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman: Positive Attributes of a Black Woman

â€Å"Now you understand just why my head’s not bowed, I don’t shout or jump about or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing it ought to make you proud I say it’s the click of my heels, the bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, the need for my care cause I’m a woman phenomenally, phenomenal woman, that’s me† (Angelou 1). Phenomenal Woman, a poem written by Maya Angelou about the positive attributes of a black woman. Maya Angelou is a black actor writer and civil rights activist. Growing up during the time black people were fighting for civility, Maya Angelou has come from a generation of black people who were criticized for their skin color; a generation where becoming an actor was as far-fetched as an black woman going to the moon. Even though now there are more black women in the entertainment world the portrayal of the black woman is still pretty much the same. Today the media’s portrayal of black women is a loud foul mouthed hot headed ghetto du-rag wearing hood-rat on welfare who don’t take care of her kids because she chasing after a man. In the 18 to 1900s black women were known as â€Å"sassy mammies who ran their own homes with iron fists including berating black husbands and children† (Abagond 1). Another name that was used towards black women was a â€Å"sapphire†, which was described as bitchy stubborn and hateful. During the early 1900s every role of a black woman was that of a spiteful angry vindictive black woman who demeans and beats her husband. Continuing through the 70s with the show Good Times, Esther Rolle played Florida Evans a house wife who lives in the projects of Chicago, the media once again portrayed the black woman as just that, angry. During the Jim Crow period, when real blacks were often beaten, jailed, or killed for arguing with whites, fictional Mammies were allowed to pretend-chastise whites, including men. Their sassiness was supposed to indicate that they were accepted as members of the white family, and acceptance of that sassiness implied that slavery and segregation were not overly oppressive. Another example of a Sapphire was the character Pamela (Pam) James played by Tichina Arnold, who appeared on Martin, a situational comedy that aired from 1992 to 1997 on the Fox network. Pam, Martin’s girlfriend Gina’s best friend and neighbor was a badmouthed, wisecracking friend/foe of the lead character, Martin. Tichina Arnold, the actress who played Pam, also plays Rochelle, a dominating, aggressive matriarch in the situational comedy, Everybody Hates Chris, which ran from 2005 to 2009, and is still aired on cable television. Although most of the sitcoms are used for entertainment people tend to believe that this is how every black woman is. Using derogatory jargon such Shaniqua and Aunt Jemima to describe African American women, many whites believe that what the media puts out is not a stereotype but the truth. Arnold has mastered the role of the angry, black woman. â€Å"Although the numerical representation of African-Americans in contemporary television advertising has improved in recent years, the authors' analysis illustrates how the potentially positive effects of including more African-Americans in advertisements are often mitigated by subtle racist elements that suggest African-American inferiority. Even in earlier cartoons when blacks were drawn into character, they were drawn to look similar to monkeys with dark skin big pink lips and ears and not very intelligent. Cartoonists went as far as to even put a monkey in the cartoon and make the monkey smarter than the black people featured in the cartoon. This was done for the amusement of white people. From the first cartoons to the first black president black people not just women have been the center of ridicule, calling them coons and monkeys, even going as far as photo shopping Michelle Obama’s face to that of a monkey’s keeping her hair and clothing the same. Cal Thomas a commentator of Fox network stated that black women are â€Å"usually angry about something; they’ve lost a son in a drive by shooting or angry at Bush. So you don’t have a profile of non angry black women† (â€Å"Transcrpit: Fox†, 2008).Works Cited EDu paper Jatau, Mary. (2009). Western Media’s Commodification and Consumption of African Women: A Review of Three News Channels. UC Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gs2q469 1. Bristor, Julia M., Michlle R. Hunt, and Re'nee G. Lee. â€Å"Race and Ideology: African-American Images in Television Advertising.† Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 14.1 (1995): 48-59. Print. 2.Rucker, C. E. and Cash, T. F. (1992), Body images, body-size perceptions, and eating behaviors among African-American and white college women. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 12: 291–299 none 3.Schooler, D., Monique Ward, L., Merriwether, A. and Caruthers, A. (2004), Who's That Girl: Television's Role In The Body Image Development Of Young White And Black Women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28: 38–47. None Jatau, Mary. (2009). 4. Western Media’s Commodification and Consumption of African Women: A Review of Three News Channels . UC Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gs2q469. 5. Abagond (2008, March 7). The Sapphire Stereotype. Abagond. Retrieved from http://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/03/07/the-sapphire-stereotype/. 6. Bad times on the Good times set. (1975 September). Ebony.

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Battle of Germantown in the American Revolution

The Battle of Germantown in the American Revolution The Battle of Germantown took place during the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Fought less than a month after the British victory at the Battle of the Brandywine (September 11), the Battle of Germantown took place on October 4, 1777, outside the city of Philadelphia. Armies Commanders Americans General George Washington11,000 men British General Sir William Howe9,000 men The Philadelphia Campaign In the spring of 1777, Major General John Burgoyne set forth a plan for defeating the Americans. Convinced that New England was the heart of the rebellion, he intended to cut the region off from the other colonies by advancing down the Lake Champlain-Hudson River corridor while a second force, led by Colonel Barry St. Leger, moved east from Lake Ontario and down the Mohawk River. Meeting at Albany, Burgoyne and St. Leger would press down the Hudson towards New York City. It was his hope that General Sir William Howe, the British commander-in-chief in North America, would move up the river to aid his advance. Though given approval by Colonial Secretary Lord George Germain, Howes role in the scheme was never clearly defined and issues of his seniority precluded Burgoyne from issuing him orders. While Germain had given his consent for Burgoynes operation, he had also approved a plan submitted by Howe which called for the capture of the American capital at Philadelphia. Giving his own operation preference, Howe commenced preparations for striking southwest.   Ruling out marching overland, he coordinated with the Royal Navy and made plans to move against Philadelphia by sea. Leaving a small force under Major General Henry Clinton at New York, he embarked 13,000 men on transports and sailed south. Entering the Chesapeake Bay, the fleet sailed north and the army came ashore at Head of Elk, MD on August 25, 1777. In position with 8,000 Continentals and 3,000 militia to defend the capital, American commander General George Washington dispatched units to track and harass Howes army. After initial skirmishing at Coochs Bridge near Newark, DE on September 3, Washington formed a defensive line behind the Brandywine River. Moving against the Americans, Howe opened the the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. As the fighting progressed, he employed similar flanking tactics to those used at Long Island the previous year and was able to drive the Americans from the field. Following their victory at Brandywine, British forces under Howe captured the colonial capital of Philadelphia. Unable to prevent this, Washington moved the Continental Army to a position along Perkiomen Creek between Pennypackers Mills and Trappe, PA, approximately 30 miles northwest of the city. Concerned about the American army, Howe left a garrison of 3,000 men in Philadelphia and moved with 9,000 to Germantown. Five miles from the city, Germantown provided the British with a position to block the approaches to the city. Washingtons Plan Alerted to Howes movement, Washington saw an opportunity to strike a blow against the British while he had numerical superiority. Meeting with his officers, Washington developed a complicated attack plan which called for four columns to hit the British simultaneously. If the assault proceeded as planned, it would lead to the British being caught in a double envelopment. At Germantown, Howe formed his main defensive line along the Schoolhouse and Church Lanes with Hessian Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanding the left and Major General James Grant leading the right. On the evening of October 3, Washingtons four columns moved out. The plan called for Major General Nathanael Greene to lead a strong column against the British right, while Washington led a force down the main Germantown Road. These attacks were to be supported by columns of militia which were to strike the British flanks. All of the American forces were to be in position â€Å"precisely at 5 o’clock with charged bayonets and without firing.† As at Trenton the previous December, it was Washingtons goal to take the British by surprise. Problems Arise Marching through the darkness, communications quickly broke down between the American columns and two were behind schedule. In the center, Washingtons men arrived as scheduled, but hesitated as there was no word from the other columns. This was largely due to the fact that Greenes men and the militia, led by General William Smallwood, had become lost in the darkness and heavy morning fog. Believing that Greene was in position, Washington ordered the attack to commence. Led by Major General John Sullivans division, Washingtons men moved to engage British pickets in the hamlet of Mount Airy. American Advance In heavy fighting, Sullivans men forced the British to retreat back towards Germantown. Falling back, six companies (120 men) of the 40th Foot, under Colonel Thomas Musgrave, fortified the stone home of Benjamin Chew, Cliveden, and prepared to make a stand. Fully deploying his men, with Sullivans division on the right and Brigadier General Anthony Waynes on the left, Washington bypassed Cliveden and pushed on through the fog towards Germantown. Around this time, the militia column assigned to attack the British left arrived and briefly engaged von Knyphausens men before withdrawing. Reaching the Cliveden with his staff, Washington was convinced by Brigadier General Henry Knox that such a strongpoint could not be left in their rear. As a result, Brigadier General William Maxwells reserve brigade was brought up to storm the house. Supported by Knoxs artillery, Maxwells men made several futile assaults against Musgraves position. At the front, Sullivan and Waynes men were exerting heavy pressure on the British center when Greenes men finally arrived on the field. The British Recover After pushing British pickets out of Lukens Mill, Greene advanced with Major General Adam Stephens division on the right, his own division in the center, and Brigadier General Alexander McDougalls brigade on the left. Moving through the fog, Greenes men began to roll up the British right. In the fog, and perhaps because he was intoxicated, Stephen and his men erred and veered right, encountering Waynes flank and rear. Confused in the fog, and thinking that they had found the British, Stephens men opened fire. Waynes men, who were in the midst of an attack, turned and returned fire. Having been attacked from the rear and hearing the sound of Maxwells assault on Cliveden, Waynes men began to fall back believing they were about to be cut off. With Waynes men retreating, Sullivan was forced to withdraw as well. Along with Greenes line of advance, his men were making good progress but soon became unsupported as McDougalls men wandered away to the left. This opened Greenes flank to attacks from the Queens Rangers. Despite this, the 9th Virginia managed to make it to Market Square in the center of Germantown. Hearing the cheers of the Virginians through the fog, the British quickly counterattacked and captured most of the regiment. This success, coupled with the arrival of reinforcements from Philadelphia led by Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis led to a general counterattack all along the line. Learning that Sullivan had retreated, Greene ordered his men to disengage retreat ending the battle. The Aftermath of the Battle The defeat at Germantown cost Washington 1,073 killed, wounded, and captured. British losses were lighter and numbered 521 killed and wounded. The loss ended American hopes of recapturing Philadelphia and forced Washington to fall back and regroup. In the wake of the Philadelphia Campaign, Washington and the army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Though beaten at Germantown, American fortunes changed later that month with the key victory at the Battle of Saratoga when Burgoynes thrust south was defeated and his army captured.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Definition and Examples of Linguistic Americanization

Definition and Examples of Linguistic Americanization In linguistics, Americanization is the influence of the distinctive lexical and grammatical forms of American English on other varieties of the English language. Also called linguistic Americanization. As Leech and Smith* observe below, If the term Americanization is taken to imply direct influence of AmE on BrE, it should be treated with caution (2009).See Examples and Observations below. Examples and Observations Globalization in the current era is associated, for better or for worse, with Americanization. This is particularly true of its cultural dimension. For it is the United States, as the worlds hyper-power, that has the economic, military, and political power to projects its culture and values globally. Yet, as many commentators have noted, Americans appear parochial and unworldly, hardly the cosmopolitan sophisticates needed to proffer a truly global vision.The ambiguity of the United States representing globality is perhaps no more apparent than in the projection of its language globally. On the one hand, Americans are particularly notorious for their linguistic insularity, rarely exhibiting the foreign language proficiency so common elsewhere in the world. Yet, as well known, the American language, English, is a global import, inherited from an earlier global power, England. Hence American ownership of global English is more tenuous than its ownership of other global cultural icons, such as McDonalds or Disney.(Selma K. Sonntag, The Local Politics of Global English: Case Studies in Linguistic Globalization. Lexington Books, 2003) Grammatical and Lexical ChangesThe evidence provided by the Brown family of corporaespecially the comparison between the British corpora (1961, 1991) and the American corpora (1961, 1992)often shows AmE to be in the lead or to show a more extreme tendency, and BrE to be following in its wake. Thus, must, in our data, has declined more in AmE than in BrE, and has become much rarer than have to and (have) got to in AmE conversational speech. Users of British English are familiar with lexical changes due to American influence, such as increasing use of movie(s) and guy(s), but grammatical changes from the same source are less noticeable. . . . [A] finding that AmE is ahead of BrE in a given frequency change does not necessarily imply direct transatlantic influenceit could simply be an ongoing change in both varieties where AmE is more advanced. If the term Americanization is taken to imply direct influence of AmE on BrE, it should be treated with caution.(*Geoffrey Leech and Nicholas Sm ith, Change and Constancy in Linguistic Change: How Grammatical Usage in Written English Evolved in the Period 1931-1991. Corpus Linguistics: Refinements and Reassessments, ed. by Antoinette Renouf and Andrew Kehoe. Rodopi, 2009) Be going to[B]e going to was more than twice as frequent in the American corpus as in the Australian or British corpora, suggesting that Americanization may be a factor in its growing popularity. That colloquialization may be another relevant factor is suggested by the finding that be going to is greatly preferred in speech over writing (by a ratio of 9.9:1), further confirmation for the applicability of this suggestion to AmE and BrE being provided by Leechs (2003) finding that between 1961 and 1991/2 be going to enjoyed a strong increase in popularity in American writing (51.6%) and in British writing (18.5%).(Peter Collins, The English Modals and Semi-Modals: Regional and Stylistic Variation. The Dynamics of Linguistic Variation: Corpus Evidence on English Past and Present, ed. by Terttu Nevalainen. John Benjamins, 2008)The Americanization of EuropeBecause of the advent of linguistic Americanization, . . . one can no longer claim that Europes lingua franca is unequivocally a Briti sh commodity. English is emerging in Europe, not only as a universal language, but also as a potential norm-generating variety. . . .Basically, what we have is a traditional basis for ELT [English Language Teaching], one centered in BrE, on the teacher as model, on British and American social studies, and on the goal of mimicking the idealized native speaker, evolving into a platform for ELT which constitutes a radical departure from such beliefs and practices. Instead, linguistic Americanization, the mixing of BrE and AmE which suggests a kind of mid-Atlantic accent and a rich blend of lexical usage, the idea of a variety of Euro-English, the use of postcolonial texts in cultural studies modules, and the desire to develop cross-cultural communicative skills, is on the upswing, while BrE, prescriptivism, and traditionalist positioning are declining.(Marko Modiano, EIL, Native-Speakerism and the Failure of European ELT. English as an International Language: Perspectives and Pedagogic al Issues, ed. by Farzad Sharifian. Multilingual Matters, 2009) Yiddish and American English: A Two-Way ProcessThroughout Yekl [1896] and his early stories, [Abraham] Cahan translates the Yiddish of characters into correct (albeit ornate) English while leaving incorporated English words in their misspelled, italicized forms: feller (fellow), for example, or preticly (perhaps particular). Speech thus represents the cultural intermixture arising from contact between the immigrant and American society, an intermixture captured in remarkably hybrid sentencesDont you always say you like to dansh with me becush I am a good dansher? (Yekl, 41)and even in individual words like oyshgreen: A verb coined from the Yiddish oys, out, and the English green, and signifying to cease being green (95n).This narrative technique also represents a reversal of perspective, whereby English becomes the contaminating element within another language. The Americanization of Yiddish is given from a Yiddish perspective. English words are thrown backrulesh (rules), deshepoitn (disappoint), saresfied (satisfied)transformed and defamiliarized by their inclusion in another linguistic system. Just as Yiddish becomes Americanized in Yekl, American English becomes Yiddishized: transformative linguistic contact is shown as a two-way process.(Gavin Roger Jones, Strange Talk: The Politics of Dialect Literature in Gilded Age America. University of California Press, 1999) Alternate Spellings: Americanisation

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Is it Ethical to Leak Information From the Dressing Room Essay

Is it Ethical to Leak Information From the Dressing Room - Essay Example According to the management team, what Iker did was unethical and therefore it made him sit on the bench for almost half of the season as the result of which the performance of â€Å"Real Madrid† suffered. This paper discusses the question of, is it really ethical for the media to reveal such conflict about a team which could easily be misused by the competitors? The paper also discusses the details of the case, analyzing the ethical side of it and putting light on that how the parties associated with the case have actually been affected by it.The Media in this situation played a very critical role. Sara Carbonero and Iker Casillas were accused several times for leaking the information of team’s locker room to the channel but the media made the situation worse by broadcasting it and making it available for the competitors of the â€Å"Spain’s Football Team† and â€Å"Real Madrid†. The media on several occasions exposed some controversial information such as the weakened relationships of players or the views of management on the poor performance of any specific team player. Every time the Channel Sara worked for broadcasted any such news it created an atmosphere of distrust in the team’s dressing room, affecting the relationships of the players to some extent. There have been many times when there has been a clash between the players because of the media issue. There have also been occasions when Iker thought about leaving the club that has been the most important part of his live.

Friday, November 1, 2019

What dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western Essay

What dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers - Essay Example the worlds that are endowed with a lot of natural resources wealth, especially the oil deposits, which then make it one of the strategic sources of petroleum globally. In this respect, the resource question dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers, since despite the fact that the two ends of the world have major differences regarding the political, social and economic orientations, the Western powers must keep cooperating with the Middle East as a major source of raw material for their economy (Bew, n.p.). Thus, despite the fact that there is a high degree of violation of the human rights and other democratic principles that are held in high esteem by the Western powers, they still find it necessary to keep a cordial relationship with the Middle East, for the sake of continued benefit from the oil resource. It is even difficult to imagine what would happen should the Middle East severe its relationship with the West, since there would be a dire shortage o f the oil resource to the West, which is a major driving force for the Western powers’ economies. Market is yet another major factor that dominates the relationship between the Mideast and the Western powers. The Middle East offers a huge market for the Western Powers products on top of producing essential raw materials for those economies, such that trade with the Middle East is a fundamental determinant of the Western Powers dominance in global economy (Hourani, 45). During the World War II, the USA stationed its troops in Iran so that the troops would protect the Iranian oil deposits from being exploited for the advantage of the USSR (Fawcett, 102). Since then, the interest in the Middle East oil resource has informed the relationship between the western powers and the Middle East. In this respect, the Western powers have formulated their foreign policies such that they still reflect a cordial relationship with the Middle East, even when the middle East countries are advancing