Culture of Armenia - history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs Essay Example for Free

Culture of Armenia history, people, women, beliefs, food, customs Essay (I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of humankind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism. Judy Chicago, 1990) Armenian traditions and culture made an Armenian woman unable to work outside of their homes for several decades. As women were supposed to marry at very young ages there was no need for personal and professional growth except being excellent households. In the first stage (0-19 years) of their lives, they were dependent financially on their families, especially fathers, after that they were depended on their husbands. As lives of many of Armenian girls were already decided before they were born, there was no room for education and career. However, even in that kind of situation, there were several motives for pushing women to education and workforce. Industrialization and technology development were some of those reasons. So, we may think that women were not utilized entirely by the society, that’s way with the development the role of women in the family decreased hence increased in the society. And as women started to enter the workforce and get out of their â€Å"home† comfort zone, the need for secure rights and respect increased by them. So, why it was not important to have rights within the family? Here come tradition and culture. Armenian women were always thought from their young ages, that family is the most valuable thing that can happen in their lives and family wife, the mother must always sacrifice their happiness, dreams and overall lives to build a strong and â€Å"ch ild-friendly† environment within their families. As families were big (6 10 members) there was no time left for the women to think about their long-term goals and dreams. They were entirely taken by day-to-day household activities and child’s upbringing, however, I personally think that if girls were taught about other values from younger ages, the society would change itself even with very little steps. It is a cyclical system and all starts from the childhood. There is another argument, that we may also consider: women were accepted as the â€Å"tool† of continuing the nation with next generation. Women were blamed when they were not married because they will not be able to give a birth to a child, especially a boy. And those women who decided not to marry were forced to wear old, black clothes and they needed to cover their faces. There is another crucial fact, as many towns and villages couldn’t provide a primary education mothers were supposed to teach their children as well. So, the way that child’s brain and imagination will be shaped was in the hand of their mothers. At the first glance, we may think that women in poverty or girls who were married by force were the main engine of driving the society into feminist ideas. Because they were the ones who had no voice in the family and society, most of their husbands migrated to other towns to make money. In villages especially, women were publicly harassed for their speech in front of another man. However, the history showed us that feminists were from the elite class of the society, we can see lots of cases both in Armenia and worldwide. So, why were feminists from the highest social class, if they could have anything that they needed? There are several reasons for that, but in this paper, I will consider just two of them: being able to afford higher education; free time. A good education has always been an expansive experience. Even now, when almost every city has its own school and at least one university, for graduating you need to have money. What about 19th centuries? When people started to value the education and wealthy families were seeking to give their children the best education, both for their status and for their next generation’s welfare. Graduates from all institutions that provided higher education were from wealthy families. And only the most wealthy families will spend money for their daughter’s education. From that institutions, girls got only knowledge but a dream of getting more than just having husbands and children. They wanted to use their talents and knowledge to change something in this world. Education â€Å"educate† people to move forward and always take into account one’s individual ways of thinking, sometimes feelings and even just intuition when making decisions. However, all these cannot be i ntegrated into typical Armenian Family\s daily routine. Most of the decision was made by the man and sometimes never advised with the women. Even if the issue is really crucial and important for family’s future. So, the women are a subordinate, just an active resource that can be used based on man’s decision. Some people argue that while the feminist movement certainly opened up jobs and opportunities available to women, it ultimately harmed women, children, and family because it devalued motherhood. I would agree with some part of this statement, however, I will change a word in it: As the feminist movement certainly opened up jobs and opportunities available to women, it ultimately changed women, children, and family because it devalued patriarchal families. With the increase of women in the workforce the birth rate decreased. And women got less time to provide to their personal lives and more importantly number of children born by a single woman decrease.When women Ð °cquired greÐ °ter clÐ °ss stÐ °tus and power without conducting themselves differently from mÐ °les, feminist politics were undermined. Middle- Ð °nd lower-middle clÐ °ss women who were suddenly compelled by the ethos of feminism to enter the workforce did not feel liberated once they fÐ °ced the hard truth that working outside the home did not mean work in the home would be equally shÐ °red with mÐ °le partners. So, what is the reason? Is there any solution that could combine a working mother and more children in one family? Yes, in my point of view, there is one. If the life of a woman changes during decades, a routine of man was stable. They haven’t met any crucial changes in their daily routines and plans with this development. And here is the problem. If the father took some of the women’s activities and concerns within the family, everything would be balanced. Because the woman changes entirely after having a child, and in the workplaces, it is not always guaranteed that women could get her job back after maternity leave. Some countries found the solution: paternity leave. Fathers have equal rights to get leave for the newborn baby, and the problem is somehow solved. So, how is this connected to social status? Women from higher social classes have the opportunity of choosing. It can be just an ability to choose a dress or choose a life partner. Along with this, they have more time available (they have servants) for their own interests, so instead of doing household activities they are building their personalities and constructing their own lives. There are lots of examples of wealthy feminists from the history both worldwide and in Armenia. One of the most famous Armenian feminists was Serbouhi Dussab. She was a good example of well-educated, self-confident Armenian women. She was well-known in her time because she had a social status, and it made her voice to be heard. In the traditional Armenian society, it was not always easy to express your opinion as an individual, especially in novels. In her second novel (Siranush, published in 1884) she talked about family life, marriage and women’s right in Armenian families. She stepped into the sphere that was never touched deeply by women. Every question, especially regarding genders, have at least two viewpoints, and it is not always to be in the â€Å"middle†. Women should look into the question of gender equality with a cold heart and sharp mind, or else feelings will make a decision instead of them. This is what we can see in writings of Ms. Srbouhie Dussab. However, in Armenian society women were not only making a difference in literature but also found several charitable funds and organizations, which changed the society’s way of thinking step by step. Some of those organizations were: The School-Loving Ladies Society, founded in 1979 by Ms. Nurik Simanian, Ms. Taguhie Paltazarian, and Mrs. Armaveni Minassian. The goal of the society to promote education of Armenian girls and train teacher for provinces, set private free schools for Armenian girls ; â€Å"Education-loving Ladies†, founded in 1880 and society’s goal was to take care of poo rs, orphans, widows ; â€Å"Union of girls and young men† founded in 1919, an example of joint man and woman organization and â€Å"Armenian Women’s Association† founded in 1919, aimed to contribute to Armenian women’s moral intellectual, material and physical development, establish cooperation between all Armenian women, use Armenian potential to promote the Armenian Cause. The Armenian women’s charitable society of Tiflis Was the largest and long-lived women’s organization. On 4th of December, 1879 114 ladies gathered in the conference hall of the Mariamian-Hovnanian girls’ school, organized fundraising, raised 407 rubles for sending to Constantinople. On 31st of December, 1881 Society’s Charter was adopted. According to the Charter, the goal of the Society was to promote the education of women: a. by opening and maintaining a private school for females at its own cost b. by supporting parochial schools for females with its own funds as well as by assisting those women that wish to become teachers in parochial schools\. The society also granted scholarships for unmarried women to study education or medicine. Within first 10 years, Society organized 11 balls, 6 performances, 3 concerts, 2 public lectures, all of which proved quite successful as fund-raisers. One of the most memorable organizations was Armenian Society â€Å"Meghu† in Tiflis â€Å"Meghu† decided to stop poverty by waging war against women\s unemployment. First, there was the issue of cheap labor. The number of job-seekers is constantly on the rise and fear of starvation forces workers to accept lower wages. Second, there was a danger of the flaw of living at the expense of someone else\s labor. The founders of the Society divided those living at someone else\s labor into two groups, evil-doers or robbers, and beggars. \A beggar with his rags and nakedness does the same thing as a robber: beggary, too, is a trade and a mask, which can be used to peacefully rob someone without running any risk.\ A power was needed that would help them at the time of despair and would encourage them. The class came to the conclusion that the existing charities were powerless to fight against a huge force of economic crisis. Those women came up with an idea of establishing a purely democratic association that would be able without hurting people\s self-respect to provide the unfortunate victims of our materialistic age, especially women. Armenian female workers are the most oppressed, ill-used and exploited social class because, on the one hand, of their shyness and, on the other hand, of the overall economic situation. Women earned their living with home-craft (ex. sewing, and they would make kopecks).The Society set a goal of establishing the \House of Work\ (workshops) and of assisting in promoting the cause of eliminating illiteracy of poor women. Workshops, such as dress-making, dry-cleaning, cardboard, artificial flowers, basketry, cooking. For 13-17 years old-sold girls society opened a school. The final decision was that only girls that have a level of knowledge equal to the graduates of the parochial elementary school shall be admitted to the school at the Meghu House of Work. As mentioned before, a good education and self-confidence can have a cyclical effect and attract more women to take their lives in their hands. Maybe the engines of feminism revolution were a wealthy woman, but they helped the society to understand the importance of equality in every sphere of life. They changed the world by writing novels, founding organizations, societies, and schools. Importance of a good education is rising day-by-day and feminists have a huge role in it by their activities. They brought the problems of women from top to the lives of people and made middle- and low- social class women to think about their futures by themselves.

The World Phone Hacking Scandal Media Essay

The World Phone Hacking Scandal Media Essay The phone hacking scandal and the subsequent public inquiries exposed how journalists from News of the World (NoW) had been employing illegal reporting techniques to gather information for news with no regards to journalism ethics. The implications of the scandal and the inquiries on public relations and media relations is more on the ethical part. Similar to the media industry, ethical behavior is also important in the public relations profession that includes media relations. Public relations can be explained as the ethical and strategic management of communications and relationships to build and develop coalitions and policy, identify and manage issues and to create and direct messages to achieve sound outcomes within a responsible framework with media relations being more specific. Media relations is a part of public relations that deals mostly with the relationships of an organization with the media. Media relations also determine how the organization gets its messages across to the target audience. Media relations what message the organization wants to send, who to send it to, where to send it and when to send it and if possible without paying directly for it through advertising. In most countries, public relations practiotioners are members of professional public relations institutes and/or associations such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) of the United Kingdom, the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). These institues and/or associations all have established a set of code of ethics which not only provide an ethical framework for the activities of the profession but is also central in maintaining the professional standards in the public relations profession. Membership of these institutes are given after the applicants pass the assestment tests and members of these public relations institutes are required to follow the set of code of ethics. Members who have breached the code of ethics can be reported to the institues and they will be investigated and pinalized. In the wake of the NoW phone hacking scandal, there are concerns in the United Kingdom (UK) about ethics and privacy arising especially from the flow of information between the government and the press. According to the report from Elizabeth Filkins inquiry, the main concern being improper disclosure of information to the media. The government and the media interacts with each other on many levels. These unregulated interactions causes information to flow outside of the government causing problems. Improper disclosure can be broken down into a few kinds. They are improper disclosure for personal advantage, improper disclosure for trading and improper disclosure cause of bribery or financial rewards. Improper disclosure for personal advantage is where civil servants deliberately leak information for various kinds of improper personal benefits such as a sense of power and control, professional advantage during employment with the government or to gain future employment elsewere by providing exclusive information. According to a statement by Kit Malthouse who is a British assembly member, there is an odd kind of fascination with knowing its them that put the information on the newspapers, this knowledge gives them a sense of power. Trading is another kind of improper disclosure of information where inappropriate information is given to the media in order to dilute or prevent the publication of other information which might be damaging to some civil servants or those with senior positions in the government. Although there are proper and ethical negotiations with the media to prevent the publishing of information which might obstruct an ongoing investigation, cause harm to members of the public or civil servants or to ensure accuracy in reporting but these negotiations often have to include unethical placing of materials or offering of exclusive information to the media in return to bury the harmful information. Quoting Nick Davies, a freelance journalist, you get the Press Officer who says, well, if I give Reporter A a particular story exclusively, then next week Reporter A will do me a favour. These kinds of behaviours conflict between what the public needs and what the Press Officer wants causing information t hat are not supposed to be known to the media to be leaked out. Bribery and financial rewards is the most common and prevalent cause of information leak. From her questioning, Filkin found out that NoW journalists have been paying civil servants especially the Metropolitan Police Service for information. The demand for exclusive government information is high especially information on police work. Police information is a commodity that is very valuable to journalists and much of it is of interest and enjoyment of the public. This demand coupled with no proper guidelines in place in regards to what is acceptable in dealing with the media leads to the unstoppable and untracable leakage of information to the media. Disaffected staffs is also another cause for improper information disclosure. Staffs that are disaffected or in dispute with the organization can become a source of improper and damaging disclosures to the media. Quoting from Filkins report, a Thomas Lund-Lack has leaked a highly confidential Counter Terrorism report to the Sunday Times. Lund-Lack has served with the British police force ethically for 34 years before being given a role in the Special Branch as a member of police staff. When integorated Lund-Lack cited that the reasons leaking the information as being annoyed by his workplace, and becoming more and more angry about the ineffectiveness of the Counter Terrorism Command. He felt that what he has done was legally wrong but was morally justified in bringing his concerns into the publics attention. Another main concern of the flow of information between the government and the press lies in the relationships the government have with the press. It is known that the government has not given equal access to all parts of the media for a number of years and that relationships between press members have been developed selectively. Journalists develop close relationships with senior government members because if you are nice to them chances are you are going to get more stories than youre not. This often leads to private news briefings during drinking sessions in clubs. This has lead to a culture where media contacts are close aquaintaces and their hospitality is a norm. It is also not uncommon for civil servants to have friends or family members working with the media. There friends and family members that when they acquired some exculsive information, they pass the information on to the media. With regards to the concerns expressed in the UK about the flow of information between the government and the press in the light of the ongoing News Limited controversy, practice and ethics of media relations are being questioned due to the similar nature of the public relations industry with the media industry. As a part of public relations, media relations is also bound to the code of ethics of the public relations profession. There is a set of common ethical practice that is generally adopted and followed by media relations practitioners in dealing with information. Before using any information, media relations practitioners must first make sure that whether the information acquired is confidential. If the information is not confidential then the practitioner can proceed with the information. If confidential information is given on the record then the practitioner is also allowed to used the information. However if the confidential information is obtained off the records, the practitioner is discouraged from using the information based on the ethical obligations of the public relations profession. Media relations practitioners are required to exercise caution when talking and/or writing about a person or an organization. This is not only to maintain the accuracy of the subject but also to avoid inadvertently defaming someone or an organization. Practitioners are also required to not dissiminate false and misleading information and/or claims. Media relations pratitioners must obtain permission for any materials that they use to acknowledge the owners of the materials and to avoid copyright infringement. Practitioners are also required to get permission to use personal information and/or images in public. Practitioners must also immediately correct any errors that occur in the course of carrying out their duty such as media using the material you provided wrongly. Ethics is a standard of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues. Who determines these ethical obigations? Ethical obligations are determined not only by a persons own values but it is also influenced by the organization a person is working with and the client the person is dealing with. Each organization has its own set of ethics that it enforces and every client has a different ethics expectation. When faced with ethical problems, the practitioner is encouraged to discuss with the employer and/or the client to reach an agreeable ethics standpoint. Ethical obligations are also determined by the industry a person is working in such as the code of ethics of the public relations industry. The code of ethics is to safeguard the credibility and legitimacy of the profession. Another factor that influences ethical obligations is the society. An ethical media relations practitioner should alwaysput the public interests before his/her owns or the clients. Besides code of conducts, public relations and media relations practitioners also acknowledge the existence of a set of universal values and embracing them in carrying out their duties to uphold the standards of practice and professional conduct on the part of public relations practitioners. The set universal values are: honesty, integrity, fidelity, fairness, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, and accuracy and most if not all of them can be found in the code of ethics of the many public relations institutions. The ethics pyramid is a structural approach to checking ethics by Tilley. It is used to examine the ethicality of behaviours and actions. It is divided into four stages: ethical baseline, ethical intent, ethical means and ethical end. Media relations practitioners are encouraged to usethis pyramid to examinie ethics. The the first stage at the bottom part of the pyramid is the ethical baseline. This stage is where the media relations practitioner carries out research on the ethics and expectations of the stakeholders. The second stage is the ethical intent stage where the practitioner plans and choose ethical principles for virtues, rules and outcomes. This is also the stage where the practitioner create measurable objectives and discuss and agree the shared ethical objectives with the client. The third stage, ethical means is assessing the tactical objectives and choosing ethical tactics to employ and deciding the means to use to communicate with others. The final stage, the ethical ends is where the practitioner assess strategic ethics objectives for evaluation and check and report ethics outcomes.

The Cold War: Effect on Political Discourse

The Cold War: Effect on Political Discourse With the end of the Cold war in 1989, has there been more openness in the discourse of deterrence or in warring words? Introduction The Cold War has been described as a nearly fifty-year war of words and wills, (Maus, 2003: 13). It was a period during which most individuals lived in constant fear that the bomb would be dropped, effectively obliterating life as we know it. Direct combat itself was a very small part of this war: The Cold War, fought with national ideologies, economic posturing and infinite defense budgets, festered without any combat or mass casualties (at least among the superpowers) throughout the latter half of the 20th century before finally coming to a head in the mid-80s (Hooten n.d.). When the Cold War finally came to its ultimate end, the words of war shifted in meaning. Warring words continued to be part of the popular vocabulary, but their connotations had changed, and their definitions shifted. The discourse of deterrence faded away, as there was no longer a need for it. This paper will discuss the ways in which the Cold War has affected not only the history of the world, but also the hi story of the words that changed along with it. The Words of War The language we use to describe the things we do is a significant reflection of who we are at a given time in the culture. Communication is an essential tool for human beings, as we are highly social creatures by nature. The need to communicate is an integral part of our composition. However, in the course of transferring information to one another, there is always a margin of error. This means that miscommunication is bound to occur. According to Coupland, Wiemann, and Giles, language use and communication are in fact pervasively and even intrinsically flawed, partial and problematic (1991: 3). Because communication is so important to humans as a species, it is only natural that miscommunication brings with it some sort of consequence. This is a universal concept, and it affects all of us on a very basic level. As Banks, Ge, and Baker assert, ones theoretical orientation is of no importance in this respect: A key sense of miscommunication, however, regardless of ones theoretical orientation, is something gone awry communicatively that has social consequences for the interactants; without social consequences, the phenomenon would be of trivial interest (1991: 105). As a result, conflict is inevitable in society, and a worst-case scenario of conflict is, of course war. War is more than a militaristic action that is played out with bullets and bombs as tools. Words, too, are very much a part of any war effort, and they can be very powerful as weapons. The Cold War has been described as a nearly fifty-year war of words and wills, as both sides aggressively tried to promote and protect their respective ideologies at home and abroad while always remaining aware of the repercussions of pushing the limits too far (Maus, 2003: 13). How did this war of words manage to continue for so long without reaching the stage of physical combat? One perspective on this is offered by Grimshaw, who asserts that so long as conflict talk is sustained (i.e., if participants do not withdraw) it does not seem to be the case that hostility (‘ugliness’) will increase without some concomitant increase in intensity (1990: 295). During the nearly fifty years duration of the Cold War, neither opponent was willing to back down, yet neither one was willing to plunge into what might turn into a major war with dire, irreversible consequences. It was primarily a war fought with words and bravado, a dramatic opus played on an international stage. In fact, the Cold War was fought with national ideologies, economic posturing and infinite defense budgets, festered without any combat or mass casualties (Hooten, n.d.). This is in keeping with Grimshaws assertion that, although disagreements can reach high levels of emotional upheaval, they do not necessarily have to result in physical interaction. Friendly disputes can get quite ‘hot’; at least to some point they can apparently increase in intensity without the occurrence of hostility’ (Grimshaw, 1990: 295). The ever-present fear of nuclear obliteration may have had a great deal to do with this abeyance of action. Much of the world was still numbed by the disastrous tragedy that this power had wrought in the past, and there was great consternation at the thought of reaching a level of conflict that would require use of it again. Therefore, the Cold War remained a war of words. Words, of course, are more than mere utterances. We communicate a great about ourselves when we use them—more than the actual message we are seeking to convey at any given time. As Halliday explains, ‘in all languages, words, sounds and structures tend to become charged with social value (1978: 166). In states of conflict, Halliday asserts that individuals tend to develop a code of words that not only reflects that conflict, but also helps the individual to come to terms with it on some level. He refers to this code of words as an antilanguage, and he asserts that it is to be expected that, in the antilanguage, the social values will be more clearly foregrounded’ (Halliday, 1978: 166). Since the purpose of an antilanguage is to give individuals an alternative reality that is acceptable to them, the theory may be applied to the language of the Cold War. Living with the constant threat of nuclear war is an unbearable state of mind for most individuals; therefore, they must create a world that is more livable to them. This concept is echoed in the writings of Lemert and Branaman, who assert that: ‘Whatever his position in society, the person insulates himself by blindnesses, half-truths, illusions, and rationalizations. He makes an â€Å"adjustment† by convincing himself, with the tactful support of his intimate circle, that he is what he wants to be and that he would not do to gain his ends what the others have done to gain theirs’ (1997: 109). Hence, the development of this different worldview is basically a survival mechanism during a time of great uncertainty and turmoil. The widely respected historian Hobsbawm has explained that generations grew up under the shadow of global nuclear battles which, it was widely believed, could break out any moment, and devastate humanity (1996: 194). The fear that this knowledge brought to individuals naturally affected them on a very deep level. Through the use of an antilanguage, they were able to go on with the activities of daily life by designing a safe cocoon of illusory safety in which they could feel—or pretend to feel—safe. As Halliday puts it, a social dialect is the embodiment of a mildly but distinctly different worldview—one which is therefore potentially threatening, if it does not coincide with one’s own’ (1978: 179). Post-Cold War Language When the five decades of decades of this war came to an end in 1989, the attitudes in place in society necessarily underwent a change, and that change was reflected in the language used as well. The fall of communism in Europe, combined with the end of the Cold War, were enough to bring new hope to the people of the United States. According to Mason, the vicious circle of threats and distrust was replaced by a new spiral of trust and reassurance (1992: 187). In this mostly positive atmosphere, the constant threat of nuclear attack abated, and people were able to breathe more easily. The words of war lost the impact they once had. As Hooten has explained, the words of war were tinged with fear, helplessness, and frustration throughout the years of the Cold War. After it ended, the words did not disappear from the language, but began to take on new connotations The words of war were once the moral and emotional defense of the nation, corresponding with the real memories and motivations of an embattled citizenry, asserts Hooten. After 1989, as images of war receded from the American psyche, the language of war invaded the common lexicon of America (Hooten, n.d.). Examples of this are ubiquitous, and have become so common that we are often barely conscious of it. For example, words such as defend and bomb, which were once tainted by the association with war, have taken on new and less menacing uses. During the second half of the twentieth century, people may have felt a constant need to be ready to defend themselves in case of nuclear attack. Post-Cold War use of this word became something different: a politician may defend his platform. The constant concern and ever-present worry about dropping the bomb during the Cold War era has resulted in a transformation of this word as well: Consider again the numerous, non-militant ways in which the word bomb is used: â€Å"Frat brothers get bombed on a Saturday night.† â€Å"Your new car is ‘da bomb.† â€Å"Did you see that comedian bomb on Letterman last night?† â€Å"The quarterback threw a long bomb to win the game (Hooten, n.d.). Conclusion Language has changed since the nearly fifty years of the Cold War era. Notice, for example, the language of Reagans Star Wars Speech, which was delivered on March 23, 1983: Deterrence means simply this: making sure any adversary who thinks about attacking the United States, or our allies, or our vital interests, concludes that the risks to him outweigh any potential gains (1983: 250). In contemporary times, deterrence can mean many things, most of which do not pertain to war at all. In a similar vein, many of the violent definitions associated with warring words have fallen out of use. These words have become part of the common lexicon, used to describe the quotidian events of daily life without any sense of impending doom. Words such as battle, bomb, defend, and massacre, have lost the potency they held during the years of the Cold War. They have taken on new, less menacing definitions and uses. Language is an integral part of the human experience. The language we use to describe the things we do is a significant reflection of who we are at a given time in the culture. Because we are highly social by nature, communication is vitally important as a tool for human beings. The need to communicate is an integral part of our composition. However, as noted earlier, in the course of transferring information to one another, there is always a margin of error. This means that miscommunication is bound to occur. Consequently, for miscommunication to have impact, it is not likely to be a perturbation of smooth performance that is repaired in the current interaction (Banks, Ge and Baker 1991: 105). References Coupland, N., Giles, H., and Wiemann, J.M. (Eds.). 1991. Miscommunication and Problematic Talk London: Sage. Banks, Stephen P., Ge, Gao, Baker, Joyce. 1991. Intercultural Encounters and Miscommunication. In: Coupland, N., Giles, H., and Wiemann, J.M. (Eds.) Miscommunication and Problematic Talk. London: Sage, 103–120. Grimshaw, Allen. 1990. ‘Research on conflict talk: antecedents, resources, findings, directions’. A. Grimshaw (ed.), Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic investigations of arguments in conversations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 280–324. Gumperz, John and Jenny Cook-Gumperz. 1982. ‘Introduction: language and the communication of social identity. Pp. 1–21 in Gumperz, John, ed. 1982. Language and social identity. London: Cambridge University Press. Halliday, M.A.K. 1978. Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold Publishers. Hobsbawm, Eric. 1996. The Cold War Was a Relatively Stable Peace. Pp. 193–198 in  191 in Maus, Derek, ed. 2003, The Cold War. London: Greenhaven Press. Hooten, Jon. n.d. Fighting Words: The War Over Language.  Retrieved January 13, 2006, from  http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/printerfriendly/2002-09-10-warlanguage.shtml Lemert, Charles and Branaman, Ann, eds. 1997. The Goffman Reader. Oxford: Blackwell. Mason, David. 1992. The Last Years of the Soviet Union. Pp. 179–191 in Maus, Derek, ed. 2003, The Cold War. London: Greenhaven Press. Maus, Derek, ed. 2003. The Cold War. London: Greenhaven Press. Reagan, Ronald, 1983. The Star Wars Speech. Document 22 in Maus, Derek, ed. 2003, The Cold War. London: Greenhaven Press.

Ecstasy :: essays papers

Ecstasy MDMA, or Ecstasy, was first made in a lab in Germany in 1912. The German pharmaceutical company E. Merck patented it in 1914, not as a medicine, but as a chemical for making more useful drugs later on. MDMA was forgotten until 1953, when the United States Army funded a secret University of Michigan study to develop chemical weapons. After learning that MDMA was non-toxic, the government put it back on the shelf. Rumor says that the drug was tested for mind control purposes, or as a â€Å"truth drug†, but there is not actual evidence of that. In 1978, Alexander Shulgin wrote a book detailing the MDMA experience called Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved: A Chemical Love Story. Many psychiatrists took Shulgin's findings seriously enough to combine MDMA with sessions with their patients' normal therapy. In the early '80s, MDMA made its way from the doctor's office to the dance floor from a Texas entrepreneur who synthesized the drug in a lab. He re-named it "Ecstasy" and sold it for $20 a hit—legally—in Dallas-Fort Worth clubs. But, the Drug Enforcement Agency worked quickly to outlaw MDMA, and Ecstasy officially became an illegal drug in 1985. What Ecstasy does is simple. It combines two opposite effects, stimulation and relaxation, but in also provides a small quality of empathy. Psychotherapist RD Laing took MDMA in Esalen, California, in 1984 when it was still legal. He said, "It made me feel how all of us would like to feel we are anyway . . . smooth and open hearted, not soggy, sentimental or stupid.† Another psychologist described it as providing a "brief, fleeting moment of sanity". Most people describe the feeling like being in love. The most common feelings experienced are empathy, openness, peace and caring. However, there have been cases in which the user has a decrease in defensiveness, fear or paranoia, sense of separation from others, aggression, and obsessive behavior. Side effects of Ecstasy can range from mildly uncomfortable to life threatening physical and emotional reactions. Your temperature goes up when you take Ecstasy, like a fever. Dancing in a hot warehouse doesn't help your body cool off, so it's no surprise that one of the most common Ecstasy-related injuries is heatstroke. Along with high body temperature, you sweat and urinate a lot if you take Ecstasy.

The Curse of the Hemingways Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Paper

The Curse of the Hemingways â€Å"Can someone be predisposed to be suicidal?† That is the question that plagues many Hemingway scholars, and indeed it seems that it exists in the Hemingway lineage. Ernest Hemingway’s family tree is dotted with suicides and sudden tragic deaths, too many occurrences for one to merely disregard such tragedies as coincidence. Some believe that there exists the so- called â€Å"curse of the Hemingways,† a way to explain the many deaths within the Hemingway family due to drug overdose or self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Ernest’s case is the most well known, but suicide also struck his father, sister, brother, son, and granddaughter. The suicides among Ernest’s parents and siblings family are numerous. Clarence Hemingway, Ernest's father, killed himself in 1928. Clarence was fervently religious, providing much of Ernest’s moral education in his younger years. However, Clarence battled depression and diabetes, and in the end shot himself in the head on December 6, 1928. Ernest’s closest younger sister, Ursula, suffered from cancer and bouts of depression, and killed herself in a drug overdose on October 30, 1966. Ernest’s brother Leicester was the youngest in the family, the only other male after Clarence’s sudden death. He was a writer like Ernest, but depression and diabetes gripped him and Leicester shot himself on September 15, 1982, after finding out he needed to amputate his legs. The rest of Ernest Hemingway’s family also has had a share of sudden deaths and suicides. Ernest’s second wife, Pauline Pffeifer Hemingway, died suddenly of abdominal pain and internal bleeding. He had lived with her for 13 years and had two children together, Gregory and Patrick. Gregory Hemingway lived a tragic, wretch... ...9/hemingway/stories/biography/index.html - I took from this site the date and causes of death for Leicester, Ursula, and Pauline Hemingway. http://www.timelesshemingway.com/familytree.shtml This site contained the family tree of the Hemingways. http://www.cvc3.org/modelcourses/mrogoff/Macomber.html#SUICIDE%20IN%20THE%20HEMINGWAY%20FAMILY: This site listed the members of the Hemingway family that committed suicide. http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/851/851_hemingway.asp -This site had information concerning Gregory Hemingway’s life and death. http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9608/20/hemingway.suicide/ This site had information on Margaux Hemingway. http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/Aficionado/people/fa899.html This site contained the most information on Ernest of any other website, where I gleaned the history of his accidents and his alcoholism.

An Unforgettable Memory

The silence was so dense and heavy I could almost feel it but it was always like that between me and dad. He had told me to go grocery shopping with him because we had come back after the summer vacation and there was no proper and edible grocery at home, so we were headed to the local store. Dad was really sick and weak after the flight back from our homeland so I made myself do all the shopping quickly so that he wouldn’t have to tire himself. And whenever I am in a rush, I become embarrassingly clumsy, bumping into this and that, and you see things flying here and there but of course it’s unintentional! But I,surprisingly, managed to get all the things that were on the shopping list so after I filled the shopping trolley I pushed it to the counter and as I was emptying the contents of the trolley I pushed it to the counter and as I was emptying the contents of the trolley and oh just my luck, that’s exactly when the cream cheese glass jar decided to take a roll down the trolley and smash itself into pieces onto the floor. I wasn’t scared of anything like if the cashier would add some fine or anything. My dad naturally possesses a loud voice but it was further enhanced because he is diabetic, which gives a sympathetic high tone. So he started screaming impulsively and loudly in front of everyone at me how I was always in a hurry, how I can never get things right, how I always made a mess, how I am never careful enough and it went on and on. I was so ashamed and humiliated at myself for not being more careful and I was filled with disgust for myself as I bent down to pick up the broken pieces of glass on the floor and hand it to the cashier who put it in a grocery bag. While I was giving it to him, my fingers were painted with blood which had bled out as I picked the pieces but I didn’t notice the physical pain for it was nothing compared to my emotional tornado. Yes, you have every right to think that I’m over-sensitive, emotional, and a hormone-crazed teenager with extreme mood swings. But when the cashier asked me, â€Å"Did it hurt? † I was so deeply touched and moved by this simple act that it made me swallow my tears and tell him a feeble â€Å"no†. This cashier whom I have probably never talked to in my life before could make such a big difference with such a simple but kind and touching deed. I had no idea that sometimes kindness strangers are the garnishing in life we need so that we can digest the main course. And as for the main course, he didn’t even bother turning and looking back at me and continued walking to the car and I took all the grocery bags to the car and we continued in our silence.

Newell Company Corporate Strategy Essay

1. In assessing Newell Company’s corporate-level strategy and whether the company adds value to the businesses within its portfolio, it is necessary to identify its overarching strategy and then explain it with context to how it affects the various businesses within the larger corporate body. Newell Company’s main corporate-level strategy as defined by Dan Fergurson was â€Å"build on what we do best†. The company focused on growth through strategic acquisitions of firms that sold low cost and high volume products to large retailers, but that were underperforming due to high operating cost. After an acquisition, Newell would then change the existing operational systems of the firm to align it with its corporate structure. The aim was to increase operational efficiency and profitability and to focus it on a key product. In 1990, Newell also recognized the importance of internal growth and included it in its corporate-level strategy. Newell’s corporate-level strategy had a high level of positive impact because it was internally consistent. The corporate office maintained control over legal, administrative and financial functions while allowing individual divisions to control marketing, manufacturing and sales. It also retained strict control over each division’s product lines as it disallowed any deviation from the key product focus defined by Newell. This ensured that the decisions made by various divisions remained in line with the Newell corporate office strategies. Overarching company goals were also aligned with its business strategies and acquisitions, and this was beneficial for the various companies it acquired over time. One of Newell’s corporate strategies was selling products across different price points. This remained in accordance with its goal of being a provider of low cost and high volume goods to large retailers and helped to keep the company competitive against new entrants to the different price categories. This was advantageous to businesses under Newell as its respective product lines were able to retain important shelf space, ensuring better sales of products. Focused growth via streamlining strategic acquisitions was enabled by Newell’s appropriate use of available resources. One of Newell’s core competencies was its operational efficiency and its system of bringing acquired companies to its high standards of efficiency and profitability. Its success in the streamlining process can be seen from the rapidity with which changes were made and the results of the process. As stated in the case study,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Newellization† typically took â€Å"less than 6 months† to implement. After acquiring Anchor Hocking, the management from Newell achieved cost savings by letting go of unnecessary resources within the company such as its glass factory and its retail stores and introduced new systems which helped to bring about improved efficiency such as reducing its cust omer lead order period from â€Å"18 to 7 days†. While the businesses within Newell may have encountered issues due to the restrictions on innovative growth, they ultimately benefited from the focus on operational efficiency and cost savings resulting in higher operating margins. Newell’s corporate-level strategy was reasonably dynamic relative to the environment. While it maintained a strict focus on certain goals, the corporate strategy was also modified to include new ideas that would ensure sustainable growth. This can be seen from the case where Newell’s growth strategy was expanded to include the international market, widening their acquisition target field to include companies based overseas. This was due to the fact that Newell’s target market, retailers like Walmart, was expanding into foreign markets. In 1989, corporate management recognized the importance of internal growth within the respective divisions instead of simply focusing on each division generating higher levels of profit, and the growth of the company being driven by acquisitions. They reflected this change in attitude by changing the corporate bonus structure to encourage executives to pursue internal growth in addition to its existing goals. Newell’s corporate-level strategy was effective for many years as can be seen from the fact that it had higher returns to investors compared to the S&P 500. This was due to a number of factors such as maintaining internal consistency, efficient use of resources and keeping corporate strategy dynamic relative to the changing environment. Businesses acquired were in synergy and this was beneficial to individual businesses in ensuring less wastage and improved levels of service and efficacy. In addition, businesses were also able to take advantage of Newell’s economies of scale and economies of scope. However, despite its positive financial returns, as financial returns are indicative of past policies being effective, it would not be symptomatic of future success. Newell’s strict enforcement of focus on key product lines without allowing for more innovative expansion of those product lines could lead to much slower levels of growth after initial operational synergie s were realized.  This would in turn be detrimental in maintaining its competitive advantage in the long run. 4. While the acquisition of Calphalon could pose some problems in the integration process, it was aligned to Newell’s overall corporate strategy and would be beneficial to Newell in the long run if Calphalon was incorporated without eroding its premium product offering. Calphalon’s acquisition was beneficial to Newell in two ways. It allowed Newell to branch out into new markets that had not reached saturation without cannibalizing its existing product lines. While Newell focused on mass market retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot, Calphalon’s products were sold to high end retailers such as Williams Sonoma and Macy’s. Calphalon’s product offering and strong brand recognition would enable Newell to reach out to the premium market and diversify its product portfolio further. At the same time, Newell’s strong focus on customer relationships and Calphalon’s attitude of building partnerships with its retailers are similar and would eas e its assimilation into the firm. Calphalon’s pull strategies could also be leveraged by Newell to differentiate its product portfolio from other low cost competitors, enabling it to maintain its existing market share. Newell’s core competencies would be useful in reducing Calphalon’s rising costs while concentrating on its strength as a premium product. As can be seen from the financial statements, cost of goods sold increased significantly from 1996 to 1997 without a correspondingly large increase in revenue. The problems faced by Calphalon in terms of operations would be easily manageable for Newell given its strong background in operational efficiency and its experience with assimilating acquisitions to its corporate system. However, as Newell’s product offerings were primarily utilitarian while Calphalon’s products focused on an emotional connection between the product and the premium end user, Calphalon’s integration into Newell would be more delicate than other acquisi tions. As the â€Å"Newellization† process typically removes the acquired company’s systems to replace it with Newell’s system, its stringency could erode Calphalon’s brand equity as a premium cookware producer. While this would be difficult, it would still make sense in the long run given the potential benefits to Newell and the relatively low amount of risk present in the acquisition.  The acquisition of Rubbermaid would seem beneficial given the numerous advantages that Newell would gain, but the many complications associated with the process as well as the fundamental differences between Newell and Rubbermaid make the acquisition too risky to undertake, and thus strategically unsound. The advantages associated with the Rubbermaid acquisition are obvious. Rubbermaid fit into Newell’s criteria for acquisition. It sold targeted product lines to mass retailers, and had strong brand equity. It also suffered from troubled operations, which â€Å"Newelliza tion† would help to address. In addition, the purchase of Rubbermaid would enable Newell to â€Å"cross the $10 billion threshold† that would in turn lead to an increase in market power against retailers like Walmart who implemented harsh policies which were nonnegotiable. However, these advantages are offset by a number of issues. Newell and Rubbermaid, while pursuing the same product offerings, had fundamentally different bases for competitive advantages. While Newell focused on operational efficiency, Rubbermaid was known for its product innovation. This would mean that the processes that helped to streamline Newell-led companies would probably lead to the erosion Rubbermaid’s core competencies. At the time of the acquisition, Rubbermaid was only slightly smaller than Newell. The integration process would be more complicated and difficult due to the fact that Rubbermaid had many different product lines, all of which would have to changed to fit Newell’s corporate system. At the same time, Rubbermaid’s large size would mean that it would be more challenging for Newell to change corporate strategy without alienating the existing workforce. Both of the factors above combined would mean that in order to pursue the acquisition and realize all the benefits associated with it, it would be necessary for Newell to change its corporate strategy to address the differences between Newell and Rubbermaid. However, this was not mentioned in the case study. Thus, without implementing a large-scale change in Newell, it would be difficult to merge both companies to create synergy and value for the overall firm. The difficulties in integration, the high risks associated with the integration, and the lack of change in Newell’s corporate strategies translate to an illogical acquisition by Newell.