Malnutrition of African Students :: Poverty Starvation Africa Essays

Malnutrition of African Students In this paper, I shall discuss the effects of malnutrition of children in Africa and the effect it has on their school performance. I will also examine what has been done to improve the problem of starvation and the long road ahead to solve this issue. I believe this problem is very serious and should not be over looked by other countries. So many children wake up hungry and go to bed famished in Africa. Their days are hard to get through and the idea of going to school and having to concentrate is almost an impossible task. Many children have no energy and lose the ambition to get an education. An example I found while researching was of a young girl named Kede Fatuma, who is a starving child living in Ethiopia who once took pride in her education and her great ability as a runner. â€Å"These days, however, food is scarce in Dere Kiltu. Kede, 10, has neither the time nor the strength to keep up with her running. In fact, she no longer goes to school at all. Instead, she uses her limited energy to help her family collect water, an effort that involves a two-hour walk to the nearest stream (www.washingtonpost.com).† This is an example that is sadly true of many children living in Africa. In recent studies, they have shown that those children who eat a healthy breakfast to start off their day are proven to have higher test scores, stay alert through out the school day, are able to concentrate, and are more likely to attend school. So as a result of having a balanced diet, children are able to retain more information and learn more in the end. In the subjects of math and science which involve a lot of concentration, Africa was shown to have very low scores as compared to other countries that are not stricken by hunger and poverty. In a study done on one school in Zimbabwe, they found that many of the students in the class were continuously falling asleep. The reason they found for this was exhaustion caused by lack of food. The majority of the children only receive one meal a day. Other poorer children beg their neighbors for food and often receive only a small portion of cornmeal. Hunger affects many parts of Africa and it is a growing problem that is the cause of many deaths each year. Malnutrition of African Students :: Poverty Starvation Africa Essays Malnutrition of African Students In this paper, I shall discuss the effects of malnutrition of children in Africa and the effect it has on their school performance. I will also examine what has been done to improve the problem of starvation and the long road ahead to solve this issue. I believe this problem is very serious and should not be over looked by other countries. So many children wake up hungry and go to bed famished in Africa. Their days are hard to get through and the idea of going to school and having to concentrate is almost an impossible task. Many children have no energy and lose the ambition to get an education. An example I found while researching was of a young girl named Kede Fatuma, who is a starving child living in Ethiopia who once took pride in her education and her great ability as a runner. â€Å"These days, however, food is scarce in Dere Kiltu. Kede, 10, has neither the time nor the strength to keep up with her running. In fact, she no longer goes to school at all. Instead, she uses her limited energy to help her family collect water, an effort that involves a two-hour walk to the nearest stream (www.washingtonpost.com).† This is an example that is sadly true of many children living in Africa. In recent studies, they have shown that those children who eat a healthy breakfast to start off their day are proven to have higher test scores, stay alert through out the school day, are able to concentrate, and are more likely to attend school. So as a result of having a balanced diet, children are able to retain more information and learn more in the end. In the subjects of math and science which involve a lot of concentration, Africa was shown to have very low scores as compared to other countries that are not stricken by hunger and poverty. In a study done on one school in Zimbabwe, they found that many of the students in the class were continuously falling asleep. The reason they found for this was exhaustion caused by lack of food. The majority of the children only receive one meal a day. Other poorer children beg their neighbors for food and often receive only a small portion of cornmeal. Hunger affects many parts of Africa and it is a growing problem that is the cause of many deaths each year.

Hope and Saul Bellow :: Biography Biographies Essays

Hope and Saul Bellow      Ã‚  Ã‚   People grow up to respect their elders, their society, and their lifestyle. We learn from the people around us and our own experience. Saul Bellow presents his moral code and the standards that he believes people should follow. His characters experience loneliness and alienation from society. They place blame on the people around them, society, and religion. Each character believes in something; hope is everything to them. They think they can promote change and achieve a moral standard. Bellow believes in the human spirit. His characters show that no matter what we are presented with, or what hand fate deals us, we can conquer.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bellow acknowledges the primitive tendencies latent in human beings. Scratch the surface of human civilization, and you will find the beast lying just below. As Frank D. McConnell states "the shuddering recognition of how little distant we actually are from the savagery of our origins, how fragile a thing is the civilization which makes, we continue to tell ourselves, our life worth living". Bellow's protagonists sense this dark side of the human spirit lurking within society. They struggle to find decency and meaning in the chaos of the world.    In Bellow's novel The Victim, the main character, Asa Leventhal, a resident of Chicago, struggles with his identity in a subtle way. Instead of philosophizing about who he is and what he is doing, he creates conflict with people and society. Allbee lost his job and had a drinking problem, Levanthal could have helped get him a new job or given him assistance. He is insecure about what he is doing, because despite his wish to ignore and turn away his old friend Kirby Allbee, he also feels compelled to help him.   Allbee places all the blame on Levanthal for losing his job. If Levanthal had talked to him and told him it was also due to his drinking problem and relationship difficulties, he would not be blamed for costing Allbee his job. Instead, he takes responsibility he is unwilling to confront Allbee, wanting none of Allbee's problems to invade his life. As Derek Rubin writes in his analysis of Levanthal's faults "Levanthal's being caught between his desire to turn Allbee away and his inability to ignore Allbee's demand for help is related to his insecurity as a marginal man"(1). Kirby tries to reason with Leventhal, but is turned away " 'Watch your talk,' said Leventhal stiffly.

Together We Survive

Life is full of challenges. Each people has their own battle to fight everyday. For every battle, there might be a couple of times that you will fail, but those failures should not be a hindrance for you to not keep going. You are not alone, there are people that surrounds you whom you can seek for help. Survival doesn't have to be done by yourself but instead helping each other would emphasize the purpose of life. An American author named Hellen Keller states that, â€Å"Alone we can do little; together we can do so much.† Working together builds relationship to other people because you are able to connect and support each other in times of ups and downs. In times of hardships, reaching out to others enables smoother movement towards the goal of surviving. When life gets harder, people who can overcome the problems are more likely the ones who builds unity and lend a helping hand to others. 5 years ago, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Bohol in the Philippines. It's a total disaster that devastated thousands of lives due to the severity of damages of infrastructures and the number of affected families. There were many people who were injured and died from the earthquake, including our neighbors who are the Merez family. Both parents died while working inside the building that collapsed during that day and left their 4 children in grieve. The eldest son was only 20 years old. It was indeed difficult for them losing both of their parents and their properties. Though they had experienced such huge casualties, the siblings helped each other and never hesitate to ask somebody for help. Moreover, those people who are willing in giving an aid, gave hope to other underprivileged individuals to start a new chapter of their lives. Not only by financial support but with their presence of showing love to the affected families as well. The Merez siblings went through a process of grieving but with the help of others, they had overcome the depression for quite a time and had realized that it isn't the end of their lives yet. On the other hand, the Belarmino family who's not even related by blood, supported the siblings and gave them a chance to regain their life. They work hard, motivate each other to study well in order to reach their ambitions. Furthermore, the reason behind of their success is that they chose to remain hard as rock despite of the losses and the experiences they went through. They fought mentally, physically, and emotionally. They never lose hope and had face the dilemmas in life. As time passes by, the eldest brother graduated in college and is now working as a teacher. It was indeed a tough journey for him. Nevertheless, he is now sending his siblings to school and he's able to overcome the tremendous challenges he had faced back then. In conclusion, facing the problems alone is all right but, asking somebody for help won't make a person less. Pulling together develop relationships and strategies in order to accomplish your wants. No matter how bad the situation is, no disaster can break your dreams and aspirations in life. Keep moving forward and make those hardships in life as a motivation to strive hard. This is what life is all about, we help each other to grow better and learn from the experiences together.

How Does Literature Affect the Society

There are many kinds of incurable diseases which yet medical scientists with improved instruments and medicine haven’t been able to find any treatment for them and finally it results to the death of the affected person or animal HIV can be one of those diseases that right now in the world with about seven milliard population a numerous number of people are waiting to welcome death because of this fatal disease Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa. Humans probably came in contact with HIV when they hunted and ate infected animals. Recent studies indicate that HIV may have jumped from monkeys to humans as far back as the late 1800s. Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lot like other viruses, including those that cause the â€Å"flu† or the common cold. But there is an important difference – over time, your immune system can clear most viruses out of your body. That isn't the case with HIV – the human immune system can't seem to get rid of it. Scientists are still trying to figure out why. We know that HIV can hide for long periods of time in the cells of your body and that it attacks a key part of your immune system – your T-cells or CD4 cells. Your body has to have these cells to fight infections and disease, but HIV invades them, uses them to make more copies of itself, and then destroys them. Over time, HIV can destroy so many of your CD4 cells that your body can't fight infections and diseases anymore In conclusion it can be said that HIV is the most incurable and fatal disease that can take the lives of millions every year

“Lolita” by Vladymir Nabokov Essay

The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita, is highly undefined. Many readers who have read Lolita find it to be based on â€Å"lust†, while others find Humbert to truly be in â€Å"love† with his Lolita. However, there is evidence that Humbert’s desire for Lolita is based on some obsessive-compulsive behavior which he cannot control, and therefore keeps returning for her. Humbert’s obsessions can be clearly recognized in his behaviors when looked upon in H. R. Beech’s Obsessional States and Andrew Brink’s Obsession and Culture: A Study of Sexual Obsession in Modern Fiction’s perception of what obsession is. Humbert’s obsessional tendencies are displayed in many passages through his descriptive word choices and his over bearing personality, such as when he describes Lolita after returning from camp to be, â€Å"†¦all rose and honey, ressed in her brightest gingham, with a pattern of little red apples,†¦with s cratches like tiny dotted lines of coagulated rubies, and the ribbed cuffs of her white socks were turned down.† Obsession can be a difficult subject because there is not a finite definition of what obsession really is. Who determines what obsession is? When does deep admiration pass and obsession begin? According to S. Jack Rachman â€Å"an obsession is an intrusive, repetitive thought, image, or impulse that is unacceptable or unwanted and gives rise to subjective resistance† (2). Furthermore, Andrew Brink states that â€Å"†¦the popular meaning of the term obsession, including the new verb ‘to obsess,’ which means to be persistently preoccupied about something, usually in an unsatisfactory relationship† (195). These similar definitions are important when looking at Humbert’s actions because his actions are perceived by these qualities. First, Brink argues that most people have an obsessional defense, and this defense is brought out of men due to their fear of women. More specifically, this defense mechanism is explained as the â€Å"internalization of bipolar impulses to both accept and reject the same attachment object†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (195). He further describes it as â€Å"†¦a defense in which the internalized mother is split into accepting and rejecting aspects by which the person gains quasi-independence from her by identifying with her.† (Nabokov, 112) This conception is demonstrated in Humbert’s relationship with Charolette Haze.  By Humbert describing Charlotte upon there first meeting with â€Å"the poor lady in her middle thirties, she had a shiny forehead, plucked eyebrows and quite simple†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Nabokov, 37) Furthermore, Humbert states, â€Å"Had Charlotte been Valaria, I would have known how to handle the situation by merely twisting fat Valechka’s brittle wrist but anything of the sort in regard to Charlotte was unthinkable† (83) as a way of letting the reader understand his sense of fear, his lack of control, and his desperation to regain his feeling of control. In hopes of regaining his lost sense of control Humbert plots to kill Charlotte; with out her in his way Lolita would be his, and he would have full control over her. However, Humbert never went through with his scheme for the mere reason, â€Å"poets never kill† (Nabokov, 88) In accordance to Brink’s definition of obsession, Humbert seems to fall elusively into obsessional defense in the sense that obsessive men’s fear of women also manifests itself as control (196) Humbert’s tendency to be controlling throughout the novel leads the reader to believe he is obsessive. Throughout the novel Humbert remains in control most of the time, not only in control of the characters, but also in control of the readers. For example, Humbert tries to control the reader by making them believe his side of the story to be true: â€Å"Frigid gentlewomen of the jury!†¦I am going to tell you something very strange: it was she who seduced me† (Nabokov, 132). Humbert also tries to influence the therapists, stating, â€Å"I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on; never letting them see that you know all the tricks of the trade; inventing for all them elaborate dreams,†¦teasing them with fake â€Å"primal scenes†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (34). Brink, commenting on this scene stated â€Å"the sadistic, controlling intent of this statement of knowing better than the therapist is typical of obsessional patients†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (102). Humbert has this need to feel he is in complete control. When the control is lost, a desire to retain his sense of dominance can overcome him. This is best presented to the reader as Humbert kills Quilty near the end of the novel. Although previously not taking the opportunity to kill Charlotte, Humbert has already lost his control over Lolita, his love, and therefore finds killing Quilty as a way of having some sort of control recuperated. Walking through Quilty’s house, previous to murdering him,  Humbert locked as many doors as he could, controlling where Quilty could retreat to. (Nabokov, 294) However, after the murder, while swerving back and forth along the road, Humbert is stopped by the police, and at that point gives up full control for insanity. (306-307) And therefore, upon los ing control it is discovered Humbert truly is obsessive. Humbert’s obsessiveness is also conveyed through the words he uses, and the descriptions he gives; his language conveys obsession. For instance, after Humbert’s first sexual encounter with Lolita he describes her as â€Å"brown, naked, frail Lo, her narrow white buttocks to me, her sulky face to a door mirror, stood arms a akimbo, feet (in new slippers with pussy-fur tops) wide apart†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Nabokov, 137-138). By remembering such detail while in jail years after the incident it seems quite clear that Humbert had an obsessive nature. This is also conveyed when he describes Lolita as â€Å"naked, except for one sock and her charm bracelet, a velvet hair ribbon was still clutched in her hand; her honey-brown body, with the white negative image of a rudimentary swimsuit patterned against her tan† (125). Lolita is a very complicated novel to analyze due to the many interpretations made by different individuals. However, it is apparent that Humbert was suffering from some sort of obsessive disorder. It is apparent merely in what Humbert talks about and how he says it. There are few instances in the novel where Humbert is not speaking about Lolita or fascinating about having absolute domination over nymphets.

Popular Culture Media and Society: Culture Jamming Essay

Introduction â€Å"Culture jamming† is a strategy often utilized by the anti-globalization movement in the creation and reappropriation of memes, or memorable and persistent ideas. Traditional culture jamming strategies have included a variety of actions, ranging from billboard liberation, wherein artists reclaim billboards as public space, to media activism, wherein activists attempt to garner news coverage through some form of direct action in order to have their message heard. Additional tactics such as spoof advertisements geared to mock a particular brand or industry and branding removal, wherein activists remove all marks of branding from products, have also been deployed. Culture jammers attempt to expose the norms of western industrial society and call them into question but often their attempts are not popular enough to reach a large audience and encourage a large scale questioning of the status quo. The goals of the culture jamming community are to introduce new norms into societies that effectively turn back the meanings of current social norms. Despite the best intentions of those working within the movement, traditional culture jamming rarely makes it into popular culture and is thus often thwarted in the attempt to successfully challenge the norms perpetuated by globalization. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which culture jamming that permeates the media and crosses the line from subculture to pop culture can challenge hegemonic structures of power while simultaneously reinforcing those challenges by increasing their popularity. Through the study of popular culture artifacts from a variety of genres I hope to determine whether or not popular culture may serve as an effective strategic forum for the introduction of culture jamming artifacts, as opposed to the traditional and more subversive tactics being deployed by culture jammers. Towards an Understanding of Culture Jamming Culture jamming and studies of culture jamming have typically focused on the ability of an activist group or individual to effectively redeploy the signs and symbols of a dominant system in a manner that disrupts their meaning and critiques the overall system from which the symbols originate. In his recently republished 1993 pamphlet on culture jamming, Mark Dery (2001) states that culture jammers: †¦ introduce noise into the signal as it passes from transmitter to receiver, encouraging idiosyncratic, unintended interpretations. Intruding on the intruders, they invest ads, newscasts, and other media artifacts with subversive meanings; simultaneously, they decrypt them, rendering their seductions impotent (para. 36). From Dery’s perspective culture jamming can be seen as actions or artifacts that are politically or subversively charged. Jamming can range from parody to media gags, but always aims to make a statement against a particular target of power or popularity within a culture. Similarly, semiotic theorist Umberto Eco (1984) advocates that one form of media can be utilized to spread criticism pointed at another type of medium in order to â€Å"restore a critical dimension to passive reception† (p. 138). Eco refers to acts and artifacts that have this potential to be part of â€Å"semiotic guerilla warfare.† The signs and symbols of a culture are open to interpretation. While within a culture there may be a common meaning for these signs and symbols within a culture that meaning is not set in stone. A sign or a symbol may be used to contradict its own popular meaning. Thus we can see how semiotics plays an important role in developing tools for the toolbox of the culture jammer. The lack of fixed meaning in the signs we see on a daily basis allow culture jammers to turn back symbols as semiotic weapons against their creators. Kalle Lasn (2000) defines culture jamming as the demarketing of marketing. As the founder of Adbusters magazine, Lasn has pushed for the reclaiming and redeployment of particular brand names, icons, and advertising campaigns through a process known to culture jammers as subvertising. Lasn explains in his book, Culture Jam that culture jammers utilize Debord’s notion of detournement, or turning back specific aspects of a spectacle against itself. In the case of culture jamming, brands and their advertising are turned back upon themselves to reveal questions and inconsistencies about a particular advertiser’s ideals as seen through its campaigns. Lasn (2000) also claims that successful culture jamming can function as a pincer movement utilizing both high profile media campaigns that challenge industry in combination with grass roots campaigns for local action. The challenge to an industry or target combined with encouragement of behavioral change has the potential to change the perception of the target on a broad scale while also reducing support for the target. A well-organized pincer will get millions of people thinking about their lives—about eating better, driving less, jumping off the fashion treadmill, downshifting. Eventually the national mood will evolve (pg136). Lasn’s pincer attack attempts to make that which is currently chic or popular in a society unpopular on a massive scale. As fewer people within the society buy into the imagery of a particular industry or brand the industry loses financial support and must either change its practices or face rejection by the community at large. Lasn has spear headed grass roots campaigns such as â€Å"Buy Nothing Day;† an annual campaign urging consumers to avoid buying anything on the last Friday of November (a date commonly known among retailers as â€Å"Black Friday† as it often marks record profits for retailers as a result of holiday shopping). Lasn combines this grassroots campaign with thirty-second television ad spots on CNN each year as well as more locally oriented promotion such as fliers that activists can print off the Internet and disseminate at will. Christine Harold (2004) claims that the culture jammer â€Å"seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing, corporate sabotage, billboard ‘liberation,’ and trademark infringement† (p. 190). These strategies are used by jammers in an effort to â€Å"glut the system† by supplying audiences with contradictory messages. Their goal is to generate a qualitative change in the minds of the audience about the subject matter targeted. Harold (2004) critiques traditional culture jamming as a rhetorical strategy because it often relies upon revelation of hidden truths and rejection of the systems it attempts to play upon. In her analysis, Harold specifically indicts Lasn’s publications and others who deploy parody or direct negation of corporate logos in their attempts to cause questioning of norms. Reliance on parody as a mechanism for revealing truth requires audiences to deconstruct the common meaning of a sign with little to work with but the sign itself. Additionally, parody causes a commitment to rhetorical binaries that articulate rejection of the targeted idea with little room for the idea to be reframed. Dominant powers within a criticized system can easily utilize these tactics for their own means. The reliance on a recognized symbol helps to maintain its cultural prominence. The rhetorical binary used by culture jammers allows the targeted entity to easily deflect criticism and quash the questioning of norms. While Adbusters and activists of similar ideology may put forth a message of rebellion and rejection corporate targets can use these concepts of rebellion and rejection to sell their products. Recent advertisements for Sprite illustrate this concept well as they focus on rejecting celebrity culture and embracing one’s own character by purchasing the product. Harold (2004) advocates a more appropriative approach to culture jamming seeks to be appropriated by commercial media in order to redirect the focus of dominant media systems. Much of Harold’s argument focuses on the value of media activism via prank, pointing to groups such as the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO) and Biotic Baking Brigade (BBB) as groups that have successfully received positive media coverage through their pranks. Clearly, we can see that culture jamming may be an effective strategy for putting dominant hierarchies, organizations, and systems into question. However, Reinsborough and Harold (2004) both raise interesting points in terms of the effectiveness of the strategy, with Harold illustrating the problems of strategies that are not appropriative and Reinsborough recognizing that subversive media strategies (such as those Harold advocates) are often limited in scope. When considering Reinsborough’s (2003) usage of the word meme the concept that he is referring to is not necessarily identical to that articulated by memetic theorists. Susan Blackmore (1999) has broadly defined memes as â€Å"everything that you have learned by imitation† (pg6). The definition of imitation from a memetic perspective should not be confused with â€Å"copycat† acts. Instead, imitation should be seen as memes passing from one mind to another. In his article on culture jammers and the World Wide Web, Stephen Downes (1999) defines the meme as a â€Å"contagious idea that spreads from one mind to another† (para. 2). He articulates that memes are a way to represent the ideas contained within advertising and explains that in order for ideas to take hold in one’s mind they must appeal to the audience in a way that helps them to be remembered. Similarly, Kalle Lasn (2000) speaks of â€Å"infotoxins,† or â€Å"infoviruses,† that permeate dominant media forums. Lasn claims that disinformation is propagated through media and public relations spin resulting in the establishment of incorrect beliefs about the world. In one example, Lasn refers to the media’s portrayal of anti-automobile activists as limiters of personal freedom as a contributing factor in the failure of activists to popularize their message. The movement becomes unable to stimulate a mindset shift towards a culture that is less dependent upon petroleum products. As the activists are seen as â€Å"anti-freedom† harms they are attempting to solve such as global warming are not taken seriously. Additionally, he argues that while the effects of global warming can be seen on both local and global scales, disinformation that has been spread through dominant media forums has led to a sense of complacency about the issue in the minds of Americans. Lasn believes these â€Å"infoviruses† are untruthful memes that must be challenged through the production of counteractive memes that outperform those that movements wish to question. â€Å"We build our own meme factory, put out a better product and beat the corporations at their own game. We identify the macromemes and the metamemes—the core ideas without which a sustainable future is unthinkable—and deploy them† (pg124). Both Reinsborough (2003) and Lasn (2000) seem to be identifying that memes are memorable and popular concepts that have the ability to be spread in order to transform cultural norms. Blackmore (1999) and Downes (1999) clearly illustrate that memes are made up of ideas that are picked up from popular culture and imitated. The process of culture jamming can be seen as one generating memes that hold a meaning that challenges existing norms. To return to the analogy of the gene, culture jamming can be seen as a form of â€Å"memetic engineering† with a goal of producing a dominant and meaningful meme that causes new â€Å"traits,† or meanings, to become exemplified within a culture. Understanding the Transformative Potential of Popular Culture Communication and mass media scholars have examined the extent to which popular culture may contribute to the formation of cultural norms and social structure. Guy Debord (1977) implicates popular culture in large portion of what he labels â€Å"the society of the spectacle.† Debord’s (1977) view of the world in the era of global capitalism is one in which popular culture serves to provide images or representations of the world that do not represent its historical state, but instead inspire audiences to digest the world around them as commodities as a replacement for the real. Artifacts such as films are not representative of art, but are tools to inspire audiences to strive towards the acquisition of consumer goods and respect the hierarchal structure. Debord (1977) points out that the society of the spectacle is replete with images and representations that drive audiences to become consumers. This consumption leads audiences to respect the structural hierarchies that repress them. In essence, the complacency most audiences have towards the consumption of images and subsequently the world around them drives this structuralism. While Debord (1977) implicates popular culture and the spectacle as paramount in the construction of a social order of consumption, he does offer some hope for those striving to work against the consumptive nature of capitalist hierarchies in the form of â€Å"detournement† By creating contradictions, negations, or parodies of a given work, â€Å"corrections† can be made to the meaning of the work in order to create a meaning that is more representative of the â€Å"true† states of societies. Marshall McLuhan (1964) argued in his groundbreaking work, Understanding Media, that popular culture experienced a drastic shift with the advent of technologies such as film, radio and television. Whereas popular culture had been print dominated in years previous, the shift to new types of media changed the way media was created and the effect was dramatic. McLuhan argues that the introduction of printed texts into cultures undermined the tribal aspect of communities and collective ideas that had once dominated small communities. Cultures became more individualistic and increased the power of logic and rationale of the written word as opposed to commonality among group members. The advent of new media brought about a more collective consciousness as individuals were drawn to its aesthetics. New tribal communities formed that were rooted in both local and global norms. Audience exposure to new and different sights and sounds increased the shared understanding across cultures. McLuhan also illustrates that the spread of media united people as a result of the media’s importance by comparing media to staples of a society’s economy. Television, for example, can be used to construct the cultural norms of a society. Those people who are active audience members of a particular television show or genre are likely to have shared beliefs, forming a tribal community of their own. McLuhan argued that the community building potential of television and the syndication of programming created the potential for these cultures to spread globally. While McLuhan’s work was performed in the 1960s the subsequent popularity of the Internet seems to confirm at the very least that communities of people who make up television audiences extend worldwide as fan sites, bulletin boards, and blogs dedicated to television programs cross multiple borders and cultures. Television, much of McLuhan’s media, is a part of popular culture. Research has also been conducted suggesting that popular culture has the ability to reaffirm existing cultural norms or as a tool in transforming current norms. Lee Artz (2004) has examined the cultural norms that are present in the bulk of the animation produced by the Walt Disney Co. Artz argues that the autocratic production process embraced by Disney executives results in four dominant themes present in nearly every animated film the company has released. These themes include the naturalization of hierarchy, the defense of elite coercion and power, promotion of hyper-individualism and the denigration of democratic solidarity (p. 126). The prevalence of these themes can be identified through study of the narratives contained within Disney films as well as through the stylistic elements of the animation itself. The ease with which animated film can be translated and transported into the languages and cultures of peoples worldwide offers a large audience to Disney in marketing its films and film-related products. The portability of Disney products from one culture to another is a problematic notion for Artz (2004), as he explains the social stratification present and reaffirmed in the films produced is largely representative of the global capital system that allows Disney to thrive as a media giant. Artz suggests that effective resistance against these thematic representations cannot be implemented by rogue Disney artists injecting subversive messages into films. Instead, â€Å"cooperative creations and narratives† and the appropriation and subsequent use of animation technology by artists, writers, and producers committed to the promotion of democracy would be more effective. This conclusion appears to be impirically proven. While not discussed in Artz’s work, subversive strategies have been employed by disgruntled artists involved in the production of Disney films (such as the post-production inclusion of an image of a topless woman in the background artwork of The Rescuers). However these acts did not generate substantial negative publicity for the company. Peter Simonson (2001) has examined the successes the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have experienced as a result of using communication strategies rooted in popular culture. PETA seeks to change predominant cultural norms in the area of animal welfare. Their traditional communicative strategies have relied on the generating news controversy and gaining news coverage. Simonson proposes that social movements and organizations seeking to change popular morals or norms rely upon social noise—a multifaceted concept that can be defined as messages that are compelling or loud enough to be heard amidst the signals of mass-media. Noise disrupts commonly held social meanings and is often discordant or disagreeable to a subset of the audience. Scholars have also focused on what makes a particular artifact or action popular. John Fiske (1989) studied culture as popular culture in terms of texts. By making textual analysis of artifacts in popular culture, Fiske began to make claims about the structure of popular messages. Fiske introduced the concept of the producerly text as a primary characteristic of popular culture. The producerly text is conceptually anchored in the distinctions made by Barthes (1977) between the writerly and readerly texts. Barthes contends that readerly texts are those that we are able to read passively. Interactions between the audience and these texts are receptive; there is no need to question or interpret the text in a different way than it is written. Writerly texts can be seen as those texts that require the reader to constantly evaluate and rewrite the meaning of the text, and writerly texts usually require some specialized knowledge or a toolset to decode (Fiske 1989). Many scholars and activists concur that there is a risk when entering into pop culture that the rhetoric used by those critiquing dominant ideologies and structures may be co-opted. The potential exists for the message to be appropriated by those in power for their own means; the message becomes incorporated by those in power in order to embolden their own claims or profits. The same process that allows activists to change the meaning of texts is available to everyone. Popular culture has the potential to create and transform both societal structure and norms. Additionally, communities of common exposure and belief can be developed using popular culture as a medium. There may be a risk of that subversive ideas can be incorporated by dominant systems of power, but this incorporation does not necessarily limit the transformative potential popular culture holds. When considering the culture jammer’s intent of questioning and changing norms popular culture becomes an interesting point of cultural injection. Conclusion In essence, the popular culture jam seeks to be appropriated into pop culture- it becomes pop culture and helps to redefine that which is popular. The result is a sort of â€Å"subpropriation,† where in the author seeks to have his or her work popularized in order to simultaneously popularize a previously subversive concept or idea. However, this appeal to the popular does not necessarily stop culture jamming from occurring. Entry into popular culture does not dictate that the message will be recuperated by industry. Rather, popular culture jamming takes place at a different point than other types of culture jamming. The â€Å"jam† in popular culture jamming occurs at the point that the artifact, action, or behavior becomes popular. The most obvious effect of moving towards a jamming of popular culture is the increased access to larger audiences. Popular culture does not request to be covered in the same way that news-oriented communication or advertisements often do. Instead, popular culture places demands upon media outlets to not only be covered but also be distributed to the masses. This sense of demand results because the popular is attractive to the media as a potential form of profit. Again, we see Fiske’s (1989) theories on production and incorporation at work. A popular culture jam spreads as a result of its popularity. Often this popularity is created by the irresistible profits that may be yielded from an artifact’s incorporation into the popular. In essence, one aspect of the structures that propagate and allow for globalization (and the subsequent problems that those in anti-globalization movements perceive to be resultant from it) to persist and thrive are turned back to criticize either itself or another portion of the hierarchal structure. Popular culture, despite the criticisms it often faces for lack of sophistication or intelligence, is an important element of our lives. Popular culture may also serve as a tool for those struggling against globalization, rampant consumerism, and capitalist exploitation. Each time we turn on a television or listen to the radio or log on to the Internet we are exposing ourselves to popular culture. Popular culture should not be perceived as an intellectual wasteland. While much of that which makes up popular culture may be perceived as being detrimental to society by any number of people, activists and media scholars cannot ignore or reject it. Popular culture needs to be embraced and transformed through the use of producerly texts in order to improve and transform the genre into another persuasive conduit for activists. Popular culture is not going away. In the age of new media popular culture is becoming even more pervasive in our lives as media formats are combined. If embraced as a rhetorical forum by culture jammers, popular culture can be transformed into a more revelatory and revolutionary space for communicating ideals that activists wish to make popular. References Artz, L., (2004), The Righteousness of Self-centered Royals: The World According to Disney Animation, Critical Arts Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, 116-146. Blackmore, S., (1999). The meme machine, 1st ed., Oxford University Press. Debord, G., (1977), The Society of the Spectacle. Available at http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents. Dery, M., (2004, Oct 10), Culture jamming: hacking, slashing and sniping in the empire of signs. Available at: http://www.markdery.com/archives/2004/10/cultureJamming_l.html. Downes, S., (1999, Oct. 4), Hacking memes. First Monday, 4.10. Available at: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_l 0/downes/index.html. Eco, U., (1984), Semiotics and the philosophy of language, 1st ed., Bloomington, USA: Indiana University Press. Fiske, J., (1989), Understanding popular culture. 1st ed. Boston, USA: Unwin Hyman. Harold, C. (2004). Pranking rhetoric: â€Å"culture jamming† as media activism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol. 21, No. 3, 189-211. Lasn, K., (2000), Culture Jam: How to Reverse America’s Suicidal Consumer Binge—And Why We Must, 1st ed. New York, USA: HarperCollins Publishers. McLuhan, M., (1964), Understanding Media. London, England: Routledge Press. Reinsborough, P., (2003, Aug.), Decolonizing the revolutionary imagination, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, No.1, Available at: http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/l/de_colonizing/index.html. Simonson, P., (2001), Social Noise and Segmented Rhythms: News, Entertainment, and Celebrity in the Crusade for Animal Rights, Communication Review, Vol. 4, No. , 399-420.

What does a Cap Mean Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

What does a Cap Mean - Case Study Example As the paper highlights the children of patient could be giving this statement to avoid heavy medical bills which would result from the operation. Moreover there have been cases when children are interested in will’s money of the deceased rather than their well being. Moreover recent medical back ground of the patient should be analyzed and discovered. This record would shed light on her chances at surviving the operations and conditions after a successful operation. The best method is to contact her previous physician for past medical records. This paper stresses that the feelings of the family and friends are relevant to this decision. The important factor however is to analyze and discover any selfish feelings on part of family and friends. These self interests can motivate the participant involved to negatively influence the decision. The best method is to conduct complete interviews with different members of the family in order to cross check point of views and reach the truth. This cross check would enable us not only to understand the perceptions and feelings of family members involved but also reliability of their accounts and representation. These emotions should be judged and included in the decision making process on the basis of their integrity. Over the years different laws have been established when it comes to euthanasia or mercy killing. The doctor in charge would have to establish the fact that the nature of his actions. The prevention of giving the patients treatment which is available could be considered a crime. If the intention of this prevention of treatment is intended to reduce suffering at a later time it would be considered as euthanasia. There the laws which govern the state of affairs in the state of the hospital would be relevant. If the doctor does not adhere to these laws he could be charged with mal practice or even murder. Therefore it is very important to consult a lawyer who has practiced local law and can identify the dangers in the current situation.