Political Bias Based on Demographic Region

â€Å"The biases the media has are bigger than conservative or liberal. They’re about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover. † This may seem like a trite saying but it holds an enormous amount of truth. As Americans, we trust what reporters write in the newspaper and say on television and radio stations. We expect them to report the truth. However, current media outlets distort stories and certain news reports are getting too much attention.The most important stories are never seen on television, or read in the newspaper, or heard on the radio stations, while minor and trivial stories get the most news coverage. Hence celebrity engagements, divorce, entrance in rehabilitation centers and DUI cases are sold to the media. American people are then left without valuable information contrary to what story is getting 24-hour news coverage.Media bias is a â€Å"term used to describe prejudice in news and media reports, in which it is perceived as an imbalance or unfair presentation of facts or selective reporting of which events or facts are reported. † The main point here is when biases in media distorts certain stories, and other stories are spoken about entirely too much, it hurts democracy in America. The media, in that case, fails to focus on real issues that underlie the American culture, it has one-sided opinions, favoring a liberal’s point of view, and it caters to the majority, favoring the wealthy.Media biases causes the America people to become misinformed or too well informed, often due to the tendency of the media covering unimportant stories about celebrities, while overlooking issues like war, poverty, disease, violence, and education. The media content and news coverage rarely display the underlying issues that the American people face. Rather, it only acknowledges news that may appeal to the audience â€Å"because of its dramatic or entertainment value. Senator Barack Obama recogni zes the failure of the American media in updating America with real issues at Southern New Hampshire University Commencement: â€Å"We see it in a media culture that sensationalizes the trivial and trivializes the profound – in a 24-hour news network bonanza that never fails to keep us posted on how many days Paris Hilton will spend in jail but often fails to update us on the continuing genocide in Darfur or the recovery effort in New Orleans or the poverty that lagues too many American streets† The media bonanza on Paris Hilton’s 14 day jail sentence was among one of most overplayed (unimportant) stories recently because TV news ran hundreds of hours of news coverage, while only showing 60-second sound bites of yet another death of an American soldier in combat in Iraq. Paris Hilton, a hotel heiress and the star in the media spotlight, was sentenced to a 14 day jail sentence at Century Regional Detention Centre in Lynwood, California on a traffic violation. The news media made the story seem so valuable and significant to report for so many hours.Some reporters believed that she deserved to be placed in jail because too many celebrities don’t receive the justifiable punishment they deserve like ordinary citizen because they are wealthy. Others believed that her jail sentence was too cruel just for a DUI charge, it was unfair and that she became the victim because of her prestige and as a famous figure in America. While Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and ABC were breaking in the entertainment news, debating whether her punishment was too cruel or justifiable, they failed to inform the American people about.When Hurricane Katrina unfolded in New Orleans, the media placed a lot of dramatic biases on the issue and missed the underlying point, misinforming the public. On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck down in New Orleans becoming one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States. The media unfolded the events that those most effected in the black community, remained in New Orleans looting stores in search of food and water that weren’t available by any other means. On the other hand of the issue, white Americans were â€Å"wading through chest-deep waters finding soda and bread floating in the water from a grocery store†.But while Paris Hilton was hogging the headlines the media failed to report that during that week the Washington Post reported â€Å"that about $854 million offered by allied countries worldwide after Hurricane Katrina. To date, the Post reports, only $40 million in foreign aid has been funneled to the Gulf Coast. The story goes this way: Apparently the Bush administration was stymied on what to do when offered this aid, since the U. S. is not usually in a position to need or accept such assistance. How, and from whom the $40 million was accepted is unclear, but what is eminently clear is that $800 million could have put the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast into f ast forward mode). † This goes to show that the media is filled with close-mindedness in which entertainment news surpasses â€Å"hard news every time. †5 Instead of bringing American people together to work in effort to make children lives better, the economy better, the living welfare of families better, the media devours our interest to support a difference by resembling soap operas and commercial television shows. Dateline is the same as ER or Friends.They all have to compete for prime time audiences. CBS and 48 Hours is the same as Everybody Loves Raymond. Notice how importance never enters into the equation. Notice how there isn't even a pretense to public interest. TV †news† has become celebrity trials and runaway brides, and sex — while foreign bureaus are closing and news budgets are shrinking and we become a people ever more thoroughly entertained than informed, even as we live through the most dangerous and portentous days in recent history . The media also has the tendency to uphold one-sided opinions, favoring liberals, whereas the mainstream media holds liberal biases.Liberals in a political sense relate to ideas and theories of government in which they advocate individual liberty, for example, race, abortion, affirmative action, homelessness, and gay rights. They use liberal principles and ideas that influence their news coverage and or selection of stories. Liberal biases undermine the American value. In the controversial book, â€Å"Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News,† Bernard Goldberg said â€Å"journalist doesn’t see their views as liberal but merely reasonable and civilized. † In contrast, the media, for the most part, is helpful in feeding the mass with stories that reflect America.In fact, America has never been provided with a broad arrangement and providers of news. However, government cannot solve the problems of media bias because part of the media bias is in part of political [government] decadence. The government embraces liberal views! The media only identifies problems for the government to solve, such as poverty, disease, and violence. To solve the problem of media bias, educational groups are needed to educate people about wanting to understand the truth and demand a balance in media coverage through advocacy and petitioning.

Feminism in the Late 20th Century

Chapter 4: A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist- Feminism in the Late 20th Century* DONNA HARAWAY History of Consciousness Program, University of California, at Santa Cruz 1. AN IRONIC DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE FOR WOMEN IN THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT This chapter is an effort to build an ironic political myth faithful to feminism, socialism, and materialism. Perhaps more faithful as blasphemy is faithful, than as reverent worship and identification. Blasphemy has always seemed to require taking things very seriously.I know no better stance to adopt from within the secular-religious, evangelical traditions of United States politics, including the politics of socialist-feminism. Blasphemy protects one from the moral majority within, while still insisting on the need for community. Blas- phemy is not apostasy. Irony is about contradictions that do not resolve into larger wholes, even dialectically, about the tension of holding incompatible things together because both or all are necessary and true. Irony is about hu- mor and serious play.It is also a rhetorical strategy and a political method, one I would like to see more honoured within socialist-feminism. At the center of my ironic faith, my blasphemy, is the image of the cyborg. A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction. Social reality is lived social relations, our most important political construction, a world-changing fiction. The international women’s movements have constructed â€Å"women’s experience†, as well as uncovered or discovered this crucial collective ob- ject.This experience is a fiction and fact of the most crucial, political kind. Liberation rests on the construction of the consciousness, the imaginative ap- prehension, of oppression, and so of possibility. The cyborg is a matter of fiction and lived experience that changes what counts as women’s experience in the late 20th century. This is a struggle over life and death, but the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion. Contemporary science fiction is full of cyborgs—creatures simultaneously animal and machine, who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted.Modern medicine is also full of cyborgs, of couplings between organism and machine, each conceived as coded devices, in an intimacy and with a power that was not generated in the history of sexuality. Cyborg â€Å"sex† restores some of the lovely replicative baroque of ferns and invertebrates (such nice * Originally published as Manifesto for cyborgs: science, technology, and socialist feminism in the 1980s. Socialist Review, no. 80 (1985): 65–108. Reprinted with permission of the author. 117 J. Weiss et al. eds. ), The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, 117–158. o C 2006 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands. organic prophylactics against heterosexis m). Cyborg replication is uncou- pled from organic reproduction. Modern production seems like a dream of cyborg colonization work, a dream that makes the nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic. And modern war is a cyborg orgy, coded by C3I, command- control-communication-intelligence, an $84 billion item in 1984s US defence budget.I am making an argument for the cyborg as a fiction mapping our so- cial and bodily reality and as an imaginative resource suggesting some very fruitful couplings. Michael Foucault’s biopolitics is a flaccid pre-monition of cyborg politics, a very open field. By the late 20th century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorized, and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs. This cyborg is our ontology; it gives us our politics.The cyborg is a condensed image of both imagination and material reality, the two joined cen- ters structuring any possibility of historical transformation. In the traditions of â€Å"West ern† science and politics—the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as resource for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflections of the other— the relation between organism and machine has been a border war.The stakes in the border war have been the territories of production, reproduction, and imagination. This chapter is an argument for pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction. It is also an effort to contribute to socialist-feminist culture and theory in a post-modernist, nonnaturalist mode and in the utopian tradi- tion of imagining a world without gender, which is perhaps a world without genesis, but maybe also a world without end. The cyborg incarnation is outside salvation history. Nor does it mark time on an oral symbiotic utopia or post- oedipal apocalypse.As Zoe Sofoulis argues in her u npublished manuscript on Jacques Lacan, Melanie Klein, and nuclear culture, Lacklein, the most terrible and perhaps the most promising monsters in cyborg worlds are embodied in non-oedipal narratives with a different logic of repression, which we need to understand for our survival. The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexu- ality, preoedipal symbiosis, unalienated labor, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity.In a sense, the cyborg has no origin story in the Western sense—a â€Å"final† irony since the cyborg is also the awful apocalyptictelosof the â€Å"West’s† escalating dominations of abstract individuation, an ultimate self untied at last from all dependency, a man in space. An origin story in the â€Å"Western†, hu- manist sense depends on the myth of original unity, fullness, bliss, and terror, represented by the phallic mot her from whom all humans must separate, the task of individual development and of history, the twin potent myths inscribed most powerfully for us in psychoanalysis and Marxism.Hilary Klein (1989) has argued that both Marxism and psychoanalysis, in their concepts of labor and of individuation and gender formation, depend on the plot of original 118 unity out of which difference must be produced and enlisted in a drama of escalating domination of woman/nature. The cyborg skips the step of original unity, of identification with nature in the Western sense. This is an illegitimate promise that might lead to subversion of its teleology as star wars. The cyborg is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and per- versity.It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence. No longer structured by the polarity of public and private, the cyborg defines a technologicalpolisbased partly on a revolution of social relations in theoikos, the household. Nature and culture ar e reworked; the one can no longer be the resource for appropriation or incorporation by the other. The relationships for forming wholes from parts, including those of polarity and hierarchical dom- ination, are at issue in the cyborg world.Unlike the hopes of Frankenstein’s monster, the cyborg does not expect its father to save it through a restoration of the garden; that is, through the fabrication of a heterosexual mate, through its completion in a finished whole, a city and cosmos. The cyborg does not dream of community on the model of the organic family, this time without the oedipal project. The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust. Perhaps that is why I want to see if cyborgs can subvert the apocalypse of returning to nuclear dust in the manic compulsion to name the Enemy.Cyborgs are not reverent; they do not remember the cosmos. They are wary of holism, but needy for connection—they seem to ha ve a natural feel for united front politics, but without the vanguard party. The main trouble with cyborgs, of course, is that they are the illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism, not to mention state socialism. But illegitimate offspring are often exceedingly unfaithful to their origins. Their fathers, after all, are inessential. I want to signal three crucial boundary breakdowns that make the following politicalfictional (political-scientific) analysis possible.By the late 20th cen- tury in United States scientific culture, the boundary between human and ani- mal is thoroughly breached. The last beachheads of uniqueness have been pol- luted if not turned into amusement parks—language, tool use, social behavior, mental events, nothing really convincingly settles the separation of human and animal. And many people no longer feel the need for such a separation; indeed, many branches of feminist culture affirm the pleasure of connection of human and oth er living creatures.Movements for animal rights are not irrational de- nials of human uniqueness; they are a clear-sighted recognition of connection across the discredited breach of nature and culture. Biology and evolutionary theory over the last two centuries have simultaneously produced modern or- ganisms as objects of knowledge and reduced the line between humans and animals to a faint trace re-etched in ideological struggle or professional dis- putes between life and social science. Within this framework, teaching modern Christian creationism should be fought as a form of child abuse.Biological-determinist ideology is only one position opened up in scien- tific culture for arguing the meanings of human animality. There is much 119 room for radical political people to contest the meanings of the breached boundary. 1 The cyborg appears in myth precisely where the boundary be- tween human and animal is transgressed. Far from signaling a walling off of people from other living bein gs, cyborgs signal disturbingly and plea- surably tight coupling. Bestiality has a new status in this cycle of marriage exchange.The second leaky distinction is between animal-human (organism) and machine. Precybernetic machines could be haunted; there was always the spectre of the ghost in the machine. This dualism structured the dialogue between materialism and idealism that was settled by a dialectical progeny, called spirit or history, according to taste. But basically machines were not self- moving, self-designing, autonomous. They could not achieve man’s dream, only mock it. They were not man, an author himself, but only a caricature of that masculinist reproductive dream.To think they were otherwise was paranoid. Now we are not so sure. Late 20th-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. O ur machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert. Technological determination is only one ideological space opened up by the reconceptions of machine and organism as coded texts through which we engage in the play of writing and reading the world. â€Å"Textualization† of everything in post-structuralist, post-modernist theory has been damned by Marxists and socialist-feminists for its utopian disregard for the lived relations of domination that ground the â€Å"play† of arbitrary reading. 3 It is certainly true that post-modernist strategies, like my cyborg myth, subvert myriad organic wholes (for example, the poem, the primitive culture, the biological organ- ism). In short, the certainty of what counts as nature— a source of insight and promise of innocence—is undermined, probably fatally.The transcendent authorization of interpretation is lost, and with it the ontology grounding â€Å"Western† epistemology. But the alte rnative is not cynicism or faithlessness, that is, some version of abstract existence, like the accounts of technologi- cal determinism destroying â€Å"man† by the â€Å"machine† or â€Å"meaningful political action† by the â€Å"text†. Who cyborgs will be is a radical question; the answers are a matter of survival. Both chimpanzees and artifacts have politics, so why shouldn’t we? (de Waal, 1982; Winner, 1980).The third distinction is a subset of the second: The boundary between physical and nonphysical is very imprecise for us. Pop physics books on the consequences of quantum theory and the indeterminacy principle are a kind of popular scientific equivalent to Harlequin romances as a marker of radical change in American white heterosexuality: They get it wrong, but they are on the right subject. Modern machines are quintessentially microelectronic devices: They are everywhere and they are invisible.Modern machinery is an irreverent upstart god, mocking the Father’s ubiquity and spirituality. The 120 silicon chip is a surface for writing; it is etched in molecular scales disturbed only by atomic noise, the ultimate interference for nuclear scores. Writing, power, and technology are old partners in Western stories of the origin of civilization, but miniaturization has changed our experience of mechanism. Miniaturization has turned out to be about power; small is not so much beau- tiful as pre-eminently dangerous, as in cruise missiles.Contrast the TV sets of the 1950s or the news cameras of the 1970s with the TV wrist bands or hand-sized video cameras now advertised. Our best machines are made of sunshine; they are all light and clean because they are nothing but sig- nals, electromagnetic waves, a section of a spectrum, and these machines are eminently portable, mobile—a matter of immense human pain in Detroit and Singapore. People are nowhere near so fluid, being both material and opaque. Cyborgs are ether, q uintessence.The ubiquity and invisibility of cyborgs is precisely why these sunshine- belt machines are so deadly. They are as hard to see politically as materially. They are about consciousness— or its simulation. 4 They are floating signifiers moving in pickup trucks across Europe, blocked more effectively by the witch- weavings of the displaced and so unnatural Greenham women, who read the cyborg webs of power so very well, than by the militant labor of older mas- culinist politics, whose natural constituency needs defence jobs.Ultimately the â€Å"hardest† science is about the realm of greatest boundary confusion, the realm of pure number, pure spirit, C3I, cryptography, and the preservation of potent secrets. The new machines are so clean and light. Their engineers are sun-worshippers mediating a new scientific revolution associated with the night dream of post-industrial society. The diseases evoked by these clean machines are â€Å"no more† than the minus cule coding changes of an antigen in the immune system, â€Å"no more† than the experience of stress.The nimble fin- gers of â€Å"Oriental† women, the old fascination of little Anglo-Saxon Victorian girls with doll’s houses, women’s enforced attention to the small take on quite new dimensions in this world. There might be a cyborg Alice taking account of these new dimensions. Ironically, it might be the unnatural cyborg women making chips in Asia and spiral dancing in Santa Rita jail5 whose constructed unities will guide effective oppositional strategies. So my cyborg myth is about transgressed boundaries, potent fusions, and dangerous possibilities which progressive people might explore as one part of needed political work.One of my premises is that most American so- cialists and feminists see deepened dualisms of mind and body, animal and machine, idealism and materialism in the social practices, symbolic formula- tions, and physical artifacts associat ed with â€Å"high technology† and scientific culture. FromOne-Dimensional Man(Marcuse, 1964) toThe Death of Nature (Merchant, 1980), the analytic resources developed by progressives have in- sisted on the necessary domination of technics and recalled us to an imag- ined organic body to integrate our resistance.Another of my premises is that the need for unity of people trying to resist worldwide intensification of 121 domination has never been more acute. But a slightly perverse shift of per- spective might better enable us to contest for meanings, as well as for other forms of power and pleasure in technologically mediated societies. From one perspective, a cyborg world is about the final imposition of a grid of control on the planet, about the final abstraction embodied in a Star Wars apocalypse waged in the name of defence, about the final appropri- ation of women’s bodies in a masculinist orgy of war (Sofia, 1984).From another perspective, a cyborg world might be about lived social and bodily realities in which people are not afraid of their joint kinship with animals and machines, not afraid of permanently partial identities and contradictory stand- points. The political struggle is to see from both perspectives at once because each reveals both dominations and possibilities unimaginable from the other vantage point. Single vision produces worse illusions than double vision or many-headed monsters.Cyborg unities are monstrous and illegitimate; in our present political circumstances, we could hardly hope for more potent myths for resistance and recoupling. I like to imagine LAG, the Livermore Action Group, as a kind of cyborg society, dedicated to realistically converting the laboratories that most fiercely embody and spew out the tools of technological apocalypse, and committed to building a political form that actually manages to hold together witches, engineers, elders, perverts, Christians, mothers, and Leninists long enough to disarm th e state.Fission Impossible is the name of the affinity group in my town. (Affinity: Related not by blood but by choice, the appeal of one chemical nuclear group for another, avidity. )6 2. FRACTURED IDENTITIES It has become difficult to name one’s feminism by a single adjective—or even to insist in every circumstance upon the noun. Consciousness of exclusion through naming is acute. Identities seem contradictory, partial, and strategic. With the hard-won recognition of their social and historical constitution, gen- der, race, and class cannot provide the basis for belief in â€Å"essential† unity.There is nothing about being â€Å"female† that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as â€Å"being† female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested sexual scientific discourses and other social prac- tices. Gender, race, or class-consciousness is an achievement forced on us by the terrible historical experience of the co ntradictory social realities of patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism. And who counts as â€Å"us† in my own rhetoric? Which identities are available to ground such a potent political myth called â€Å"us†, and what could motivate enlistment in this collectivity?Painful fragmentation among feminists (not to mention among women) along every possible fault line has made the concept of woman elusive, an excuse for the matrix of women’s dominations of each other. For me—and for many who share a similar historical location in white, professional middle-class, female, 122 radical, North American, mid-adult bodies—the sources of a crisis in political identity are legion. The recent history for much of the US left and US femi- nism has been a response to this kind of crisis by endless splitting and searches for a new essential unity.But there has also been a growing recognition of another response through coalition—affinity, not identity. 7 Chela Sandoval (n. d. , 1984), from a consideration of specific historical mo- ments in the formation of the new political voice called women of color, has theorized a hopeful model of political identity called â€Å"oppositional conscious- ness†, born of the skills for reading webs of power by those refused stable membership in the social categories of race, sex, or class. Women of color†, a name contested at its origins by those whom it would incorporate, as well as a historical consciousness marking systematic breakdown of all the signs of Man in â€Å"Western† traditions, constructs a kind of post-modernist identity out of otherness, difference, and specificity. This post-modernist identity is fully political, whatever might be said abut other possible post-modernisms. Sandoval’s oppositional consciousness is about contradictory locations and heterochronic calendars, not about relativisms and pluralisms.Sandoval emphasizes the lack of any essential criterion for identifying who is a woman of color. She notes that the definition of a group has been by conscious appropriation of negation. For example, a Chicana or US black woman has not been able to speak as a woman or as a black person or as a Chicano. Thus, she was at the bottom of a cascade of negative identities, left out of even the privileged oppressed authorial categories called â€Å"women and blacks†, who claimed to make the important revolutions.The category â€Å"woman† negated all non-white women; â€Å"black† negated all non-black people, as well as all black women. But there was also no â€Å"she†, no singularity, but a sea of differences among US women who have affirmed their historical identity as US women of color. This identity marks out a self-consciously constructed space that cannot affirm the capacity to act on the basis of natural identification, but only on the basis of conscious coalition, of affinity, of political kinship. Unlike the â€Å"woman† of some streams of the white women’s movement in the United States, there is no naturalization of the matrix, or at least this is what Sandoval argues is uniquely available through the power of oppositional consciousness. Sandoval’s argument has to be seen as one potent formulation for feminists out of the worldwide development of anti-colonialist discourse; that is to say, discourse dissolving the â€Å"West† and its highest product—the one who is not animal, barbarian, or woman; man, that is, the author of a cosmos called history.As orientalism is deconstructed politically and semiotically, the identities of the occident destabilize, including those of feminists. 9 Sandoval argues that â€Å"women of colour† have a chance to build an effective unity that does not replicate the imperializing, totalizing revolutionary subjects of previous Marxisms and feminisms which had not faced the consequences of the disorderly polyphony eme rging from decolonization. 123 Katie King has emphasized the limits of identification and the politi- cal/poetic mechanics of identification built into reading â€Å"the poem†, that generative core of cultural feminism.King criticizes the persistent tendency among contemporary feminists from different â€Å"moments† or â€Å"conversations† in feminist practice to taxonomize the women’s movement to make one’s own political tendencies appear to be the telos of the whole. These taxonomies tend to remake feminist history so that it appears to be an ideological strug- gle among coherent types persisting over time, especially those typical units called radical, liberal, and socialist-feminist. Literally, all other feminisms are either incorporated or marginalized, usually by building an explicit ontol- ogy and epistemology. 0 Taxonomies of feminism produce epistemologies to police deviation from official women’s experience. And of course, â€Å"w omen’s culture†, like women of color, is consciously created by mechanisms inducing affinity. The rituals of poetry, music, and certain forms of academic practice have been pre-eminent. The politics of race and culture in the US women’s movements are intimately interwoven. The common achievement of King and Sandoval is learning how to craft a poetic/political unity without relying on a logic of appropriation, incorporation, and taxonomic identification.The theoretical and practical struggle against unity-through-domination or unity-throughincorporation ironically not only undermines the justifications for patriarchy, colonialism, humanism, positivism, essentialism, scientism, and other unlamented -isms, but all claims for an organic or natural stand- point. I think that radical and socialist/Marxist-feminisms have also under- mined their/our own epistemological strategies and that this is a crucially valuable step in imagining possible unities. It remains to be s een whether all â€Å"epistemologies† as Western political people have known them fail us in the task to build effective affinities.It is important to note that the effort to construct revolutionary standpoints, epistemologies as achievements of people committed to changing the world, has been part of the process showing the limits of identification. The acid tools of post-modernist theory and the constructive tools of ontological discourse about revolutionary subjects might be seen as ironic allies in dissolving West- ern selves in the interests of survival. We are excruciatingly conscious of what it means to have a historically constituted body. But with the loss of innocence in our origin, there is no expulsion from the Garden either.Our politics lose the indulgence of guilt with the naivet ? e of innocence. But what would an- other political myth for socialist-feminism look like? What kind of politics could embrace partial, contradictory, permanently unclosed construction s of personal and collective selves and still be faithful, effective—and, ironically, socialist-feminist? I do not know of any other time in history when there was greater need for political unity to confront effectively the dominations of â€Å"race†, â€Å"gender†, â€Å"sexuality†, and â€Å"class†. I also do not know of any other time when the kind of unity we might help build could have been possible.None of â€Å"us† have 124 any longer the symbolic or material capability of dictating the shape of reality to any of â€Å"them†. Or at least â€Å"we† cannot claim innocence from practicing such dominations. White women, including socialist-feminists, discovered the non-innocence of the category â€Å"woman†. That consciousness changes the geography of all previous categories; it denatures them as heat denatures a fragile protein. Cyborg feminists have to argue that â€Å"we† do not want any more natural matrix of unity and that no construction is whole. Innocence, and the corollary insistence on victimhood as the only ground for nsight, has done enough damage. But the constructed revolutionary subject must give late 20th-century people pause as well. In the fraying of identities and in the reflexive strategies for constructing them, the possibility opens up for weaving something other than a shroud for the day after the apocalypse that so prophetically ends salvation history. Both Marxist/socialist-feminisms and radical feminisms have simultane- ously naturalized and denatured the category â€Å"woman† and consciousness of the social lives of â€Å"women†. Perhaps a schematic caricature can highlight both kinds of moves.Marxian-socialism is rooted in an analysis of wage labor which reveals class structure. The consequence of the wage relationship is systematic alienation, as the worker is dissociated from his [sic] product. Ab- straction and illusion rule in knowledge, domi nation rules in practice. Labor is the pre-eminently privileged category enabling the Marxist to overcome illusion and find that point of view which is necessary for changing the world. Labor is the humanizing activity that makes man; labor is an ontological category permitting the knowledge of a subject, and so the knowledge of subjugation and alienation.In faithful filiation, socialist-feminism is advanced by allying itself with the basic analytic strategies of Marxism. The main achievement of both Marxist- feminists and socialist-feminists was to expand the category of labor to ac- commodate what (some) women did, even when the wage relation was subor- dinated to a more comprehensive view of labor under capitalist patriarchy. In particular, women’s labor in the household and women’s activity as mothers generally (that is, reproduction in the socialist-feminist sense), entered theory on the authority of analogy to the Marxian concept of labor.The unity of women here rests on an epistemology based on the ontological structure of â€Å"labor†. Marxist/socialist-feminism does not â€Å"naturalize† unity; it is a pos- sible achievement based on a possible standpoint rooted in social relations. The essentializing move is in the ontological structure of labor or of its ana- logue, women’s activity. 11 The inheritance of Marxian-humanism, with its pre-eminently Western self, is the difficulty for me. The contribution from these formulations has been the emphasis on the daily responsibility of real women o build unities, rather than to naturalize them. Catherine MacKinnon’s (1982, 1987) version of radical feminism is itself a caricature of the appropriating, incorporating, totalizing tendencies of Western theories of identity grounding action. 12 It is factually and politically wrong to 125 assimilate all of the diverse â€Å"moments† or â€Å"conversations† in recent women’s politics named radical femin ism to MacKinnon’s version. But the teleological logic of her theory shows how an epistemology and ontology—including their negations—erase or police difference.Only one of the effects of MacKinnon’s theory is the rewriting of the history of the polymorphous field called radical feminism. The major effect is the production of a theory of experience, of women’s identity, that is a kind of apocalypse for all revolutionary standpoints. That is, the totalization built into this tale of radical feminism achieves its end—the unity of women—by enforcing the experience of and testimony to radical non-being. As for the Marxist/socialist-feminist, consciousness is an achievement, not a natural fact.And MacKinnon’s theory eliminates some of the difficulties built into humanist revolutionary subjects, but at the cost of radical reductionism. MacKinnon argues that feminism necessarily adopted a different analyti- cal strategy from Marxism, looking first not at the structure of class, but at the structure of sex/gender and its generative relationship, men’s constitution and appropriation of women sexually. Ironically, MacKinnon’s â€Å"ontology† constructs a non-subject, a non-being. Another’s desire, not the self’s labor, is the origin of â€Å"woman†.She therefore develops a theory of consciousness that enforces what can count as â€Å"women’s† experience—anything that names sexual violation, indeed, sex itself as far as â€Å"women† can be concerned. Fem- inist practice is the construction of this form of consciousness; that is, the self-knowledge of a self-who-is-not. Perversely, sexual appropriation in this feminism still has the epistemolog- ical status of labor; that is to say, the point from which an analysis able to contribute to changing the world must flow. But sexual objectification, not alienation, is the consequence of the structure of sex/ gender.In the realm of knowledge, the result of sexual objectification is illusion and abstraction. However, a woman is not simply alienated from her product, but in a deep sense does not exist as a subject, or even potential subject, since she owes her existence as a woman to sexual appropriation. To be constituted by another’s desire is not the same thing as to be alienated in the violent separation of the laborer from his product. MacKinnon’s radical theory of experience is totalizing in the extreme; it does not so much marginalize as obliterate the authority of any other women’s political speech and action.It is a totalization producing what West- ern patriarchy itself never succeeded in doing—feminists’ consciousness of the non-existence of women, except as products of men’s desire. I think MacKinnon correctly argues that no Marxian version of identity can firmly ground women’s unity. But in solving the problem of the contra dictions of any Western revolutionary subject for feminist purposes, she develops an even more authoritarian doctrine of experience. If my complaint about social- ist/Marxian standpoints is their unintended erasure of polyvocal, unassimil- able, radical difference made visible in anti-colonial discourse and practice, 126

Culture as an Important Facet of Society

A society without culture is as good as dead. Discuss. A society according to Thomas, L (1995:25) is defined as â€Å"a group of mutually interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of unity†. In other ways society consists of people, and culture consists of products that people create. Culture according to Giddens (2005:45) refers to â€Å"the pattern of human activity and the symbols, which give significance to this activity†. Culture is represented through the art, literature, costumes, customs and traditions of a community.Different cultures exist in different parts of the world. The natural environment greatly affects the lifestyle of the people of that region, thus shaping their culture. The diversity in the cultures around the world is also a result of the mindsets of people inhabiting different regions of the world. There are several components of human culture namely; symbols, language, values and beliefs, nor ms, and technology. Symbols are anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. The simplest most everyday things are symbols for examples a wave of the hand can be a friendly gesture of hello.However, if not done properly with all the fingers in the upright position it can be a rude gesture and a great sign of disrespect. The honking of a car horn is a symbol to grab someone's attention to their surroundings. Even something as common as a kiss is a symbol of love and caring. Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with each other. Language can be words or sounds that are spoken or words that are written. For instance some people believe that dogs communicate with each other through barking, this may be their own language.Values are culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness, and beauty, and that serve as broad guidelines for social living. Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true. There are several examples of both that can be found by looking at the Christian religion. The Ten Commandments are a great source. â€Å"You shall have no other gods before me†, for Christians this statement is both a belief and a value. â€Å"Honor you father and mother† is a statement that Christians hold true and also one that they set their standards of living by.The other example of values and beliefs is â€Å"You shall not murder† a statement they stand by and live their lives by. Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. One example of a norm is not cheating on a test, we all know this is wrong and should not be done at all cost. Technology is knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings, which is reflected by material culture an example of this is Plasma TV's you can simply hang these picture perfect TV's anywhere on the wall.It is true to say that no society exists witho ut culture because of the following facets that culture brings to society which are as follows: The cultural values of a community give it an identity of its own; a community gains a character and a personality of its own, because of the culture of its people. Culture is shared by the members of a community. It is learned and passed from the older generations to the newer ones. For an effective transfer of culture from one generation to another, it has to be translated into symbols. Language, art and religion serve as the symbolic means of transfer of cultural values between generations.Culture is a bond that ties the people of a region or community together; It is that one common bond, which brings the people of a community together. The customs and traditions that the people of a community follow, the festivals they celebrate, the kind of clothing they wear, the food they eat, and most importantly, the cultural values they adhere to, bind them together. Culture is seen as a system of social control, wherein people shape their standards and behavior; the cultural values form the founding principles of one's life. They influence one's principles and philosophies of life.They influence one's way of living and thus impact social life. Culture is the Treasury of Knowledge; culture provides knowledge, which is essential for the physical and intellectual existence of man. Birds and animals behave instinctively with environment. But man has greater intelligence and learning capacity. With the help of these, he has been able to adapt himself with environment or modify it to suit his convenience. Culture has made such an adaptation and modification possible and easier by providing man the necessary skills and knowledge.Culture preserves knowledge and helps its transmission from generation to generation through its means that is language helps not only the transmission of knowledge but also its preservation, accumulation and diffusion. On the contrary, animals do not h ave this advantage because culture does not exist at such human level. Culture Defines Situations; culture defines social situations for us. It not only defines but also conditions and determines what we eat and drink, we wear, when to laugh, weep, sleep, love to like friends with, what work we do, what god we worship, what knowledge we rely upon, what poetry we recite and so on.Culture Defines Attitudes, Values and Goods; attitudes refer to the tendency to feel and work out in certain ways. Values are the measure of goodness or desirability. Goods refer to the attainments, which our values define as worthy. It is the culture, which conditions our attitude towards various issues such as religion, morality, marriage, science, family planning, positions and so on. Our values concernsing private etc. are influenced by our culture. Our goals of winning the race, understanding others, attaining salvation, being obedient to elders and teachers, being loyal to husband, being patriotic etc. re all set forth by our culture. We are being socialized on these models. Culture Decides Our Career; whether we should become a politician or a social worker, a doctor, an engineer, a soldier, a farmer, a professor, an industrialist; a religious leader and so on is decided by our culture. What career we are likely to pursue is largely decided by our culture. Culture sets limitations on our choice to select different careers. Individuals may develop, modify or oppose the trends of their culture but they always live within its framework. Only a few can find outlet on the culture.Culture Provides Behavior Pattern; Culture directs and confines the behavior of an individual. Culture assigns goals and provides means for achieving them. It rewards noble works and punishes the ignoble ones. It assigns him status. We see dream, aspire, work, strive to marry, enjoy according to the cultural expectation. Culture not only contains but also liberates human energy and activities. Man indeed is a prisoner of his culture. Culture Provides Personality; Culture exercises a great influence on the development of personality. No child can get human qualities in the absence of a cultural environment.Culture prepares man for group life and provides him the design of living. It is the culture that provides opportunities for the development of personality and sets limits on its growth. As Ruth Benedict has pointed out every culture will provide its special type or types of personality. Culture Makes Man a Human Being; It is culture that makes the human, a man, regulates his conduct and prepares him for group life. It provides to him a complete design for living. It teaches him what type of food he should take and in what mariner, how he should over himself and behave with his fellows, how he should speak with the people and how he should co-operate or compete with others. An individual abstained from culture is less than human; he is what we call feral, man. The individual to be tru ly human must participate in cultural stream without it he would have been forced to find his own way, which would mean a loss of energy in satisfying his elementary needs. Culture Provides Solution for Complicated Situation; culture provides man with a set of behavior even for complicated situation.It has so thoroughly influenced that often he does not require any external force to keep himself in conformity with the social requirements. His action becomes automatic. Forming queues when there is rush at the booking window or driving left in the busy streets. In the absence of culture, he should have been baffled even at the simplest situations. He need not go through painful trial and error learning to know what food can be taken without poisoning himself and fellow. His culture directs and confines his behavior, limits his goals and measures his reward.His culture gets into his mind and shutters vision so that he sees what is supposed to see in dream what he is expected to dream a nd hunger for what he is trained to hunger. Culture Provides Traditional Interpretations to Certain Situation; through culture men gets traditional interpretation for many situations according to which he determines his behavior. If a cat crosses his way, he postpones his journey. It may however be noted that these traditional interpretation differ from culture to culture. Among some culture owl is regarded as a symbol of wisdom and not a symbol of idiocy.Culture Keeps Social Relationship Intact; culture has importance not only for man but also for the group. Had there been no culture there would have been no group life. Culture is the design and the prescription for guiding values and ideals. By regulating the behavior of the people and satisfying, the primary drives pertaining to hunger and sex it has been able to maintain group life. Culture has provided a number of checks upon irrational conduct and suggestibility culture aids such as in schooling or scientific training. Lessen the chances that a man will behave irrationally or irresponsibility.The members of group characterized though they be by consciousness of kind, at once competing. They are held in line by constraints prescribed by culture. Culture Broadens the Out Looks of the Individual; culture has given a new vision to individual by providing him a set of rules for co-operation of the individuals. He thinks not only his own self but also of the others. Culture teaches him to think himself a part of the larger whole, it provides him with the concept of family, state, nation and class and make responsible the cooperation and division of labor.Culture Creates New Needs; Culture also creates new needs and new drives, for example, thirst for knowledge and arranges for the satisfaction. In conclusion culture and society are co-existent one does not or cannot exist without the other, culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same they are not identical the essential diffe rence is that society is composed of people while culture consists of knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, folkways, mores, skills, institutions, organizations and artifacts.

Emarketing Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emarketing Models - Essay Example There are several models available when we consider the area of e-marketing in a broader perspective. Each model can be more applicable to different business types and are designed to provide a company with the tools to support the essential elements of marketing, price, promotion, product and place.But only few of these models come into the picture when we consider a particular company or organization Two of the models which we are discussing here are Brokerage Model and Advertising Model. Before venturing out the idea of they supporting the 4Ps. Lets give a brief idea about each one of them. Brokerage model main idea revolves around Brokers who are also called as market makers. Their role is to bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions. The major areas where they play a role are business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) markets. Usually a broker charges a fee or commission for each transaction it enables. Some of the areas which are part of brokerage model are Market Place exchange, Buy/Sell Fulfillment, Demand Collection System, Auction Broker, Transaction Broker, Distributor, Search Agent and Virtual Market Place.

Short and Long-Term Career Goals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Short and Long-Term Career Goals - Essay Example Accounting has been my passion since I discovered what it was, and thus, as soon as I finished my Business Administration course and received my degree from Makerere University in 2005, I marched on to Nile Cargo Carrier Inc. to work as a junior accountant. During my tenure at NCCI, I witnessed firsthand its evolution and impact on society as it expanded, first nationally, and eventually internationally. Therefore, when I was leaving it after six years, I felt more than only sad; I felt that I was my attachment with the organization and its goals. I, now, shared its vision. In addition, thus, I took it upon myself to no longer be a mere employee of the company, but instead to establish a greater link and make more productive and active moves in its betterment. Therefore, I did. Moreover, all the while, I also founded Lusse Children’s Foundation and did some community service for my country. By 2013, as director of the organization, I have made it a personal goal to work toward s getting funds for food, shelter, and education project, and I believe to be a successful NGO, one needs to earn the trust of people, and there would be nothing better out there to prepare myself for the trust with a Northeastern degree. Everyone has a selfish side. My perspective is to establish, all the while expanding LCF, a financial consulting firm that aims to give advice to small or lower budgeted businesses. Furthermore, since I have mostly held friendly relationships with my teachers, I have become inspired to propagate MBA specialization courses, such as Financial Management and Business Turnarounds in my country. I believe that spreading knowledge and education will be a step in the positive direction for getting my country, and its slumping economy, out of distress. I realize that these goals are more than just slightly idealistic, but I firmly believe that enrollment in your reputable university will add some reality to my dreams. Describe in detail an accomplishment of yours from a professional or volunteer setting of which you are most proud. What steps were necessary to reach a successful conclusion? What challenges did you have to overcome? I have led a good life and I like to believe that today I am a strong man, both mentally and emotionally. However, I know better than anyone does that every bit of strength I have, I have earned it with hard work. Every challenge I have ever gotten past has been due to relentless determination and uphill struggle. Nothing has come easy to me. My undergraduate degree, especially, took its toll on me. I had to work very hard, but I believe the achievement I am pride myself in most would be the foundation of my non-governmental organization, the Lusse Children’s Foundation, an organization aimed to help children in Uganda, my home country. Starting an organization whose mission statement is to feed, educate, and protect is something everyone should do, but only a few people get the chance to. Starting this organization was not an easy task; I had to invest many of my personal savings to take things off. Furthermore, I had to spend a lot of time travelling overseas to coordinate with other partners and keep a check on the running of the c ompany. In fact, one of the most difficult things to do as a director was to keep a close watch on my colleagues to make sure they were not pocketing the funds and donations we had collected. This organization has been my source of pride for many reasons. Firstly, of course, it appeals to me altruistic side and makes me feel that I am contributing positively to my community and giving back to my home country what it needs most: resources. Having grown up in Uganda, I have seen the fundamental flaws that tarnish the beauty and innocence of that country and I can

Closing the Gap Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Closing the Gap - Article Example Different steps have been laid out to assist in the achievement of organizational performance, which means that they need to be followed and monitored closely to allow organizations better their operations. Practices in the organization need to be in line with the formulated strategy to allow proper flow of operations. The five-step program is aimed at ensuring organizations have a fundamental way of reaching their employees. This is through relaying the ultimate goals which the organization is aiming for, which need better decision making skills and communication channels. A strategic pilot is what the five-step program is identified as and brings to focus the anticipated performance that organizations aim for in their repertoire. Different leadership practices are also addressed in the five-step process, which might allow managers to bring proper cohesion to frontline employees. Managers claim the performance loss between strategy formulation and strategy implementation can be solv ed through communication and strategy execution practices (Knowles, 2011). The article summarizes the five-step program, otherwise known as the strategic pilot. ... Communicating the formulated strategy in a manner in which stakeholders can understand makes it possible for them to examine the correlation between strategy and the organization’s success. Indicating that the strategy is aimed at more than the financial capability and standing of the organization is crucial in helping the implementation of strategies in the organization. The next step involves selecting the right amount of information that may be useful as compared to handling large amounts of data. This step assists in selecting the highest priority in the organization, and dealing with it (Knowles, 2011). The third step involves listing strategic objectives to determine the impact and core of each process. The higher weighted objectives can be placed in higher levels in the listing while the lighter objectives can be placed in lower listings. These listings assist in translating strategy into performance as the highest priorities get the recognition they deserve. In the fou rth step, strategies are placed at the center of the management practices. The reason behind this is that leadership in the organization is engaged, and the strategic governance process grows. The performance results point the organization toward process improvement, which may guarantee organizational success. The approach works to deploy strategies from the top down, and solutions are built only where they can add value to the organization (Knowles, 2011). Finally, the fifth step/approach focuses on assisting businesses become strategy-based organizations. This is through evaluating all the above approaches and properly implementing their use. Simply stating the intentions behind such approaches is not enough to guarantee the organization’s success. This means that all approaches have

Understanding, Explaining, and Eliminating Sexual Harassment by James Essay

Understanding, Explaining, and Eliminating Sexual Harassment by James P. Sterba - Essay Example Sexual harassment can occur between two people of the same gender. Various people have tried explaining sexual harassment. Most people believe that sexual harassment is caused by a wide variety of factors. Cultural factors, social factors and personal psychological factors are believed to be the main causes of sexual harassment. Some cultures believe that women should always be submissive to men. As a result men hailing from such cultures tend to believe that they can have their way with women. Such men will go forcefully touching and grabbing women, which constitutes to sexual harassment. Indecent behavior is also one of the main causes of sexual harassment. Some men and women are guilty of dressing inappropriately in the workplace. This tempts the members of both the opposite sex and same sex. This can lead to the sexual advancement and sexual coercion. Lack of moral values may also cause sexual harassment. Some people are brought up in society where acts of sexual harassment are not condemned. Such people will have a problem in the future adapting to what is considered morally right by the larger society (Boland 78). There are people who also tend to believe that one gender is superior to the other. Such people discriminate against members of the other gender. They end up verbally abusing or forcefully touching the members of the other gender. Research has shown that women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment at the workplace due to the fact that they often lack power. They are afraid of losing their jobs and will not report the incidents of sexual harassment. Most men also use their powerful roles in the organizations to solicit for sexual favors from women for in exchange for work related benefits. Economic and social changes in the recent past have resulted in women taking up powerful positions in many organizations. Some men feel intimidated by this fact and resort to harassing such women in their workplaces. Many

Little Big Man Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Little Big Man - Movie Review Example The movie contains some uncertainty. The character, Younger Bear’s search for success goes to the extent of making him a warrior who is contrary. The Younger Bear is a warrior who does everything in reverse except when he is battling. The contrary warrior dries his body with water after washing himself with dirt. He also rides his horse rearwards. The portrayal of the warrior as a contrarian depicts the need for people to be unique from the rest of the population. This contrarianism depicts the Younger Bear as one of the most fundamental component of the community. This duty makes the warrior perform every action in a different way than what is inevitable. In my opinion, the contrary warrior wishes to be different from other people. The different behavior and the way of acting by the contrast warrior defy the norms in the society. This contradiction makes an observer feel like the Younger Bear’s society traditions are imprudent. Nonetheless, the contrary warrior has a responsibility of teaching others. He depicts the wrongs involved in doing things in a manner that is usual. Additionally, he illustrates how to do ordinary things in a way that is wrong. The contrary warrior also dresses in a different way from other people in the community. This is, time and again, improper or unusually extreme to dressing that is ordinary. For an individual to comprehend the community’s characteristics, he or she has to understand the essential role played by the contrary warrior. The two spirit man, who contains the spirit of a man and a woman, is highly respected by the members of the tribe. The indigenous people have an enlightened view of the two spirit man. The portrayal of the two spirit man depicts him as containing two spirits that occupy his sole body. The two spirit man’s way of dressing that contains a mixture of male and female elements depict the active task he has in the community. In my

647 W3D "identify risks associated with a project " Essay

647 W3D "identify risks associated with a project " - Essay Example If a project fails to attain its short term objectives, risks can be easily detected. In an argument by Hubbard (2009) identifying risks at the early stages of a project life span can be done accurately, easily and effectively. In the case of general motors, early detection of risks was effective. The company had rebranded and required to increase its income. The first step in creating the project required the creation of an IPO. The short-term of the project was to identify how the market valued the stock and how much money the process would generate and its impact to the general outcome of increasing company income. In analyzing the risk, the early stages of the project depicted significant increase in the company income. In an instance where the company failed to identify the risks that may arise, the IPO would have been replaced by a less efficient strategy (Hopkins,

Journal Entry Week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal Entry Week 4 - Essay Example Due to these challenges, shifting their manufacturing base back to the North America seems better option. The most obvious gains would be in the form of savings in labor costs compared to present Chinese trend; savings in transportation, duties, supply chain risks, industrial real estate and other such costs. Automation and other such measures to reduce costs will further depreciate Chinese labor economy. Rising demand markets in the Asian and Chinese regions can be advantageous to the North American manufacturers. Considering the challenges posed by the Chinese labor market, shifting outsourcing base to other developing countries would be beneficial, but these countries lack required resources, skill, capacity, infrastructure, security, government support etc. The US adopted outsourcing culture many decades ago, which caused serious challenges for its citizens; yet, they emerged from these challenges only to be better innovators and, thus, rule the world. During last decade, China dominated the world nations in exports and manufacturing industry owing to its low labor cost and availability of high-end technology. However, the author argues that manufacturing potential in the US still remains higher than visible and its flexibility adds greater potential to its future. Analysts suggest that the cost of production in the US is likely to be same as that in China, or slightly higher. In order to meet profitability from their production industry, China may shift some work to its interior cities that offer lower labor costs; however, differential skill set will be scarce. Many evidences exist to believe about shift of production base from China and other countries back to America; however, large scale production still continues to be undertaken in China. Production competitors to China include other low-cost labor countries: Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Researchers

Calcium Absorption Essay Example for Free

Calcium Absorption Essay In order to determine the content of calcium and magnesium in an unknown sample of limestone, the utilization of atomic absorption spectrophotometry can help in deciphering the unknown concentrations of each molecule in the limestone sample. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry, emits radiation of the correct frequency that is passed through a flame and the intensity of the transmitted radiation is measured?. The calcium concentration or ppm can be measured using the absorbance of the solution and comparing it to a standard curve for calcium?. Whereas magnesium, needs to be determined using the standard addition method. The concentrations of each respective molecule can be presented as CaO and MgO percentages of the unknown limestone sample. Materials and Methods The compound calcium carbonate (CaCO3, CAS: 471-34-1, 204. 89ppm) was utilized to compare its absorbance to the unknown sample of limestone # 8066 on the standard curve. Moreover, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (MgSO4*7H2O, CAS: 10034-99-8, 40. 8ppm) was also utilized to compare its absorbance against that of the unknown. Lab personnel from the CSU Eastbay department of chemistry stockroom performed all calibrations on the Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 300 atomic absorption spectrometer. All chemicals used in this experiment were obtained from the CSU Eastbay department of chemistry stockroom. A Denver Instrument Co. Sargent-Welch analytical balance was used to determine the mass of the unknown, mass of calcium carbonate, and mass of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate. A Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 300 atomic absorption spectrometer equipped with a Lumina Calcium and Magnesium Lamp was used to determine the absorbance. The instrument used Argon and Acetylene as the carrier gas and oxidant gas, respectively.

Carry out an experiment Essay Example for Free

Carry out an experiment Essay

Effects Of Celebrity Endorsements Cultural Studies Essay

Effects Of Celebrity Endorsements Cultural Studies Essay Well known for having a successful modelling career, Kate Moss has appeared in many endorsed advertising campaigns, such as, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Versace, to name only a few. Moss endorsement career has had its ups and downs. In 2005, a drug scandal hit the headlines, with pictures of Moss snorting cocaine. This story put many of her endorsements at risk. When the news story was announced she lost major contracts with Roberto Cavalli, Chanel, Burberry HM. However, Rimmel took advantage of the publicity that she was receiving in the media and decided to incorporate the image in their television advertising. The advert showed her partying all night, then applying their new recovery foundation before arriving to work looking fresh and pretty. According to Bussey sales rocketed (Bussey, 2005) after release of the advert. Coty Beauty, who runs the Rimmel brand, decided to keep Moss because she had made a public apology. They will stand by the model after she apologised and promised to overcome her problems (Sky News, 2005) There is no real evidence to show whether keeping Moss made an impact on the sales of Rimmel products. When the author contacted Coty Beauty and JWT, they were not willing to give any information regarding Rimmels sales from the years 2006/2007. Below is a comment made by Peter Knowland, Director of the Rimmel account at JWT. They (Rimmel- Coty Beauty) have no desire to look backwards. They are very excited about the family of Rimmel faces they have today Coco Rocha, Georgia May Jagger, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Kate Moss. They all have a different but important part to play in the promotion of the Rimmel London brand. Glyn Thompson, who works in consumer affairs for Coty Beauty, stated: Unfortunately, we are unable to be of assistance on this occasion as we are a private company and we do not release annual sales report Twelve months after the scandal hit the headlines, Moss had won back many endorsement contracts Roberto Cavalli (again), Stella McCartney, Virgin Mobile (who used the scandal in their campaign), Burberry (again) and Louis Vuitton to name a few (Bussey, 2006) According to Bussey, Autumn/Winter 2006 season was one of Kate Moss most successful- and profitable (Bussey, 2006) This case study defines the quote any publicity is good publicity. Although Moss was receiving bad publicity when the scandal was released, it worked to her advantage as well as Rimmels for sticking by her. David Golding, Planning Director at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/YR says: You have to think to what extent has her image been tarnished by these stories. The bigger story was how many companies dropped her and then took her back. To me this is proof that she is a great brand icon. (Bussey, 2006) 4.1.3 TIGER WOODS TIGER WOODS SCANDAL COULD COST MEDIA AND SPONSORS $220 MILLION (campaignlive, 2009) Prior to news of the scandal being released in Novemeber 2009, Woods had estimated annual earnings of $100 million in endorsements. Tiger Woods is a good example of how over using a celebrity could jeopardise brands when a scandal breaks. Many advertisers used Woods for his clean-living public image. When the scandal broke about the alleged string of affairs, it was reported that many of Woodss endorsement products would drop him from their advertising. What became evident was that many of his big sponsors did not drop him, instead they suspended any adverts that he appeared in from their campaigns. Procter and Gambles Gillette and Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer, have maintained their relationships but are not featuring him in current advertising (SkyNews, 2010). Gillette was the first major sponsorship to distance themselves from the golfer over his private life, the company stated this in a press release following the scandal, In the midst of a difficult and unfortunate situation, we respect the action Tiger is taking to restore the trust of his family, friends and fans. We fully support him stepping back from his professional career and taking the time he needs to do what matters most. We wish him and his family the best. As Tiger takes a break from the public eye, we will support his desire for privacy by limiting his role in our marketing programs. (Norton, 2009) However, Accenture and ATT dropped Woods as soon as the scandal broke, stating that he is no longer seen as the ideal, clean-cut promotional vehicle (Timesonline, 2010). However, Woods also announced his Indefinite Leave from golf, shareholders of companies that Mr. Woods endorses lost $5-12 billion in wealth (Knittel Stango, 2010:1). Woods decision to leave golf for a while to focus on his personal life also left his endorsements at jeopardy. Since the story broke, there have been certain companies that have made a big loss. Investors in three sports-related companies Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, Gatorade and Nike fared the worst, experiencing a 4.3 percent loss, or about $6 billion. (Talmazan, 2009). This evidence shows that many of his sporting endorsements have suffered the worst. Whether this is because his images in the advertisements are of him as a sportsman- which is what he is famous for, whereas other advertisements are using him because of his nice guy image. Unlike the previous case study, this story is recent, so its difficult to analyse whether these effects will be long term or similarly to the Kate Moss story, the effect on his endorsements may only be short term. A recent poll was created by Sport Business to see what the public believe will happen to Woodss endorsements. The results show that 56% of respondents believe the effects of the scandal will only be short term, 27% believe that there will be no effects at all, whilst 17% believe that the effects will be long term. If these results are correct, then the effects of the scandal will only be short term and, like Moss, Woods may recover some of his lost endorsements. 4.1.4 JAMIE OLIVER- Sainsburys Jamie Oliver is best known as the naked chef, this was the name of a programme that Jamie appeared in, where he went out shopping for ingredients to cook a dinner for friends, the programmes approach was through an informality, friendliness and an easy- going, relaxed format (Byrne, 2003:1). He was announced as the new face of Sainsburys in 2000; it was the first time a celebrity chef has fronted a major supermarket advertising campaign. (PRNewswire, 2000) The credibility of the star was one of the reasons that Oliver was a perfect celebrity for the brand, Abbot Mead Vickers the advertising agency in charge of the campaign, felt that: We wanted to create a brand strategy and develop vision for the brand. Essentially we wanted to re-emphasise the brands focus on quality and position the brand as a leader in the field in terms of quality. Therefore using Jamie Oliver who is renowned for quality would help us reposition on quality and that is what the adverts are conveying to the customer. In essence what we are doing is borrowing his values and transposing them to the brand (Byrne, 2003:6/7) The decision to do this links with the theory that McCracken suggests, the endorsement has to be right, the celebrity has to link with the product, and in order for it to be a success the product needs to attract the consumer. What this evidence does show is that Oliver has a good image through which to portray the brand and what they have to offer, because of his image within the public eye, his success as a chef and the quality of food that he uses. This will allow the public to believe that the products he uses are good, which will be reflected in their purchasing decisions. One concern that the agency had, was they felt that Jamie would not appeal to the 45 plus age group (Byrne, 2003:7) However, due to his informal style, his boy next door and every day image, it has allowed many consumers to relate to him. Since introducing Oliver as the face of Sainsburys, the advertising and sales has gone from strength to strength, According to new research, the  £41m spent by Sainsburys on campaigns using Jamie Oliver generated an extra  £1.12bn of turnover overall turnover was  £17bn. Oliver was single-handedly responsible for  £200m of Sainsburys  £535m profits in the past two years. (Evening Standard, 2002) Kate Nicholson, Head of Sainsburys advertising, made this comment Jamie has far exceeded our expectations. It does sound like an awful lot of money but we know he really has generated these extra sales because we have researched it very carefully Jamie has been a crucial part of our turnaround, I dont think anyone else could have done it (Evening Standard, 2002) Jamie Oliver is a good example of how a celebrity endorsement can work, providing you have the correct celebrity and brand match. 4.1.5 GARY LINEKER- Walkers Before the launch of Lineker as the face of advertising for Walkers, it appeared that the product wasnt at the top of the sales ladder in its market field. The endorsement of the star has been one of the most successful moves Walkers could have made. This type of celebrity endorsed advertising has sought to preserve the emotional bond between product and consumer, as a consumer we believe that the product must be good if celebrities are advertising for them. Figure 4 shows the transformation of Walkers sales since introducing Lineker to the brand. 1996 saw a significant rise in sales after Lineker appeared in the adverts. What is evident is the continuous rise in sales since Lineker joined. At the end of 2004 it was apparent that Walkers had over half of the market share of crisp sales. A spokesman for Walkers mentioned that after two years with Lineker as the face of Walkers Crisps it has helped to sell enough crisps to cover the whole of Holland (Greedystar, 2003) Figure 5 shows the sales that Walkers had in 2002/03. They had a great success, earning more than  £30m worth of sales, Persil were second. What is also obvious is that there are no other crisp brands on the table, clearly outlining the fact that Walkers holds most of the market share for crisp brands in the UK. Since the introduction of Lineker, who has appeared in over 100 adverts, many other celebrities have joined him in advertisements as well, such as The Spice Girls, Charlotte Church, Paul Gascoigne and Girls Aloud. Walkers created a famous campaign that saw Linekers favourite flavour rebranded to Salt n Lineker. This was an advertising ploy that would help the sales increase for a certain flavour. This was a good way to create brand awareness as well as to incorporate the character of the celebrity in the products advertisement. Since the introduction of the campaign, sales had risen from 14.5% to 17.8%. Average sales in grocery stores over the first 12 months of the campaign were 23% up on the previous year (Marketing, 2005) Whats interesting to see with this campaign is that, unlike Jamie Oliver, who has a link with Sainsburys, Lineker has no real link with Walkers Crisps, What they successfully did was to incorporate Lineker within the product, so their advertising had the tag line of No More Mr Nice Guy. Whats also interesting, as Martin mentions, is that young people are a target for snacks.. Which makes football a sensible choice- Regardless of Mr. Linekers nice guy image (Martin,1996:43) 4.1.6 SUMMARY McCracken (1989) believes that providing meanings is a good way to portray a good image with the use of celebrities in advertising campaigns. In relation to this theory it would appear that most of the case studies above have shown evidence of this, Jamie Oliver is an obvious candidate for Sainsburys as he is a chef, therefore the meanings that were portrayed in the advertising proved to be successful and relate to what McCracken believes. The evidence above shows that a celebritys popularity within the media affects the sales of a product, whether in a good or a bad way, Rimmels decision to continue using Moss was a good example of how media attention can be an advantage. The attractiveness and similarity that they portray within the advert by using Moss was apparent to the audience. As Kamins suggests (outlined in the literature review), a celebrity fronting a campaign can lead to the consumer being attracted to the product. QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS 4.2.1 INTRODUCTION The following charts will outline the results of the questionnaires that were conducted to find the consumers opinions of celebrity endorsement advertising. Overall 70 respondents completed the questionnaires, half Female and half Male. In order to gain a fair set of results it was important for the respondents to be a variety of different ages. The results were inputted onto a database giving opportunities for different reports to be created. These results will form an argument that will seek to discern whether the consumers response to celebrity endorsement advertising is the same as that of the practitioners. The results from the questionnaire are a sample as this is a small research project, whilst it is indicative; it is not big enough to show a definite answer. 4.2.2 THE INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING It is important to find out whether consumers are influenced by advertising, this will show evidence of how much of the population are influenced by advertisements, which will then allow us to see what population that are influenced by advertising are also influenced by celebrity endorsed advertising. Figures 6 shows evidence that a majority of respondents purchasing decisions are influenced by advertising. However, Figure 7 shows that not as many people are influenced by celebrity endorsed advertising. This chart is interesting as it shows a slight contradiction; not many respondents have brought a product because a celebrity is in the advertisement. However, a majority of them believe that using celebrities in advertising is successful. It would appear that many of the respondents believe that a celebrity brings awareness to a product, but the consumer doesnt necessarily buy a product because a celebrity uses it. One respondent wrote this statement about how they are not influenced by celebrity endorsed advertising. I think that most adverts have celebrities in them but I wouldnt buy a product just because I like the celebrity, probably more to do with the product However, this respondent, when answering yes to the question, do you think that using celebrities in advertising is successful, stated this; Because you feel a sense of admiration for some of them, and if they are using certain beauty products that make them look so good, then people will want to use them too. In relation to Erdogans theory in the literature review, a disadvantage of using celebrity endorsements is if they over-shadow the brand, however and advantage of using celebritys is increased recognition of the product. These are results from the questions that were asked to the respondents to find out whether they knew what the celebritys names were. It was interesting to see that only one respondent incorrectly answered Tiger Woods name. Kate Moss was the next recognisable celebrity with only 6 people who answered incorrectly. John Terry and Kerry Katona each had 8 people incorrectly answer their names. However, it was interesting to see that 4 people didnt know John Terrys name, but recognised him as a football player. 4.2.3 WHAT RESPONDENTS REMEMBER MOST ABOUT ENDORSED ADVERTISING The next set of charts will show whether the respondents know certain celebritys and what they remember about them. This is important to discover whether they remember positive or negative attributes about the celebritys in order to gain a varied set of results; there were no multiple choice options available. These charts will analyse what consumers think of the adverts that are celebrity endorsed, giving a chance to see whether they remember more about the celebrity or the product that was being advertised. 4.2.3.1 KATE MOSS Overall, most respondents remember Kate Moss for her profession (Modelling). However, it is interesting to see that 21 respondents also mentioned that they remember her for taking drugs. Rimmel, a product that she endorses, was the third most popular thing remembered about her. When asked if the respondents knew of any adverts that Kate Moss had starred in, 51 of them said Rimmel Figure 11 shows what they remember most about the advertising campaigns. Please note, these results are not just for Rimmel. A majority of the respondents remember the tagline of the product, Get the London Look. Whats more interesting to see is that the respondents remember Kate for being in an advert, but cannot remember the name of the product being advertised. 4.2.3.2 JOHN TERRY Figure 12 shows what the respondents thought John Terry was most famous for. It would appear that due to his recent media attention after an alleged affair, many of the respondents recognised him for sleeping around. There were 3 respondents who didnt recognise him at all. A majority of respondents did not know of any adverts that John Terry had starred in. Samsung was the most popular brand that was listed. The next page outlines what they remembered most from the adverts he appeared in. Not all respondents wrote an answer for this question as they could not remember the advert. Figure 13 clearly outlines that many respondents remember the advert because it was football related, whats interesting to see is that they also remember it more because other celebritys also appeared in it. 4.2.3.3 KERRY KATONA These results show that most of the respondents remember Kerry Katona for her singing career; the second most popular thing that people remember about her is her reported drug taking. Unlike previous celebritys, respondents had more to say about Katona, whether this is due to negative media attention in the past or the fact that she is famous for more than one thing. Figure 15 shows that the main reason people remember the advert is because of how annoying it was. Whether this was because they thought Katona was annoying, or that the advert itself was. Whats also interesting is that many respondents also remember her starring alongside other celebritys in the advert. 4.2.3.4 TIGER WOODS All respondents knew what Tiger Woods is famous for. What was interesting is that, similar to John Terry, over half of the respondents had put down that he is also famous for sleeping around. Figure 17 shows what respondents remember most about the adverts that Woods starred in. The most remembered attribute was the tagline of the product that he endorses The best a man can get. This suggests that unlike Terry, they remember more about the product then the celebrity promoting it. 4.2.4 PURCHASING DECISIONS In terms of whether consumers are influenced by celebrity endorsement advertising, relationships between celebrity and product is important, A respondent wrote this statement when the question: What relationship do you think using a celebritys name to sell a product has on sales? Was asked. I think it probably has a positive effect on sales as consumers build relationships with celebrities, see them as role models and idolise them. If a celebrity such as Cheryl Cole promotes a product which she uses herself, as she is known for being a style icon to many, then this will encourage consumers to buy it in the hope of looking like her. (Age bracket14-25) However, a respondent who is in a different age category has a similar opinion; Possibly the younger generation may be more inclined to buy products endorsed by a celebrity because they tend to look up to models or sports stars etc. I dont really take much notice of who is wearing/using what. (Age bracket 36-50) 4.2.5 SUMMARY The questionnaire results are interesting, as many consumers are aware that companies are using celebritys for advertising, many of the respondents have never purchased a product because of a celebrity being in the advertising, yet they still believe that celebritys are successful within advertising. What they did notice was that many companies are using celebrities as brand recognition, a way of appealing to the public. This research has shown that many consumers remember negative attributes about celebritys, rather than remembering what positive things they have achieved, which indicates that consumers are more inclined to be effected by negative characteristics of a celebrity as opposed to the positive things. This research has also proven that younger consumers are influenced more by celebrity culture; they are more inclined to know what outfit Cheryl Cole has been seen in and how to do their hair like hers. This is why more companies are using these types of celebritys within th eir advertising campaigns, to attract the niche market of consumers who are susceptible to that type of advertising. EXPERT OPINION This section of the data analysis will look at the experts opinions. Three interviews were conducted, as well as a recording of a debate on celebrity culture that the author attended. The respondents were interviewed about two different strategies of using celebrities as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using celebrities. These results will build up an argument to see whether the practitioners have similar views of celebrity endorsements as that of the consumers. 4.3.1 INTRODUCTION Using a celebrity in an advertising campaign can be quite a risquà © decision. It would appear that many advertisers get it wrong in the selection process. Ogilvy has written that Celebrities get high recall scores, but I have stopped using them because readers remember the celebrity and forget the product they assume that the celebrity has been bought, which is usually the case (Ogilvy, 1983: pg, 83). 4.3.2 WHY ARE CELEBRITYS USED IN ADVERTISING? Many consumers are aware that the celebrity does not really use the product they advertise, instead they have been bought as the face of the campaign. If this is true, why do advertisers continue to use celebrities in their campaigns? Alan Jarvie, Director of London Advertising, believes that using a celebrity: Gives you some recognition, it gives you some memorability, as long as the personality doesnt overshadow the product. Sometimes you get campaigns where the only thing that you remember is the celebrity, and you cant remember what the product is, we always make sure that the celebrity plays second fiddle to the product that were advertising. (Alan Jarvie, London Advetising- Appendix 5) Jarvie believes that provided that the celebrity does not overshadow the product, then a campaign can be successful since the personality can be an attraction for the product. From previous research, if a celebrity is receiving bad publicity in the media, then the product and brand does suffer. However, Jarvie believes that many products can use the celebrity to their advantage. For example, many marketers have ended their contracts with footballer John Terry due to his recent negative media attention. However, Jarvie believes that some marketers could use this as an advantage in their marketing ploy; I think it all depends on what the product is, I think if your product is all about being, you know good and clean and righteous then obviously that would be a problem, but if youre product is just about being a normal bloke or somebody that makes mistakes, or somebody whos every man, then I dont think that it should hurt them at all. (Alan Jarvie, Giraffe Advertising- Appendix 6) Jim Shannon, Creative Director for Giraffe Advertising, believes that a brand would suffer if a celebrity were to receive negative media attention, If the individual behaves in a way that detracts from the brand (even outside promotional activities), the brand suffers  (Jim Shannon- Appendix 6) However, Jim Shannon does go on to say that marketers could use the media publicity as an advantage Only in a knowing way (i.e., in the promotion of products that might tacitly endorse his/her behaviour). Noreen Jenney, Director of Celebrity Endorsements, believes that marketers should be careful about who they select for their advertising campaigns. Advertisers need to be very careful to do their due diligence when hiring a celebrity.   When a star gets bad publicity, it reflects on the advertisers product and company.  (Noreen Jenney, Appendix 7) Trevor Beattie had an interesting point when he mentioned in a celebrity debate that Gillettes advertising has not influenced his purchasing decisions; I think Gillette has produced probably the worst advertising a man can get and the worst advertising on television, and I use Gillette products at least twice a day. Im not put off by their totally shit advertising and I find that a bit strange. As much as I want to be put off by their advertising, Im not, so I blank it out. Their distribution is brilliant and their product is extremely good. Their advertising sucks. So there is a strange triangle going on, and for all their money and all the worthiness, they then go and hire the three people who they feel are the worthiest celebrities in the world, people who are stars actually, who are very good at their chosen sport. (Trevor Beattie, Appendix 8) Beattie also mentioned how using endorsements can be successful; I think you can get it wrong, if you get it right, like they did with Gary Lineker and, for all his failings, he is a brilliant spokesperson for the brand and he took Walkers from nothing to a major brand and hes earned his money, I think, and hes done a brilliant job. Jamie Oliver, dont like the bloke, think hes a git, but, hes done a brilliant job for Sainsburys, really has, so therefore theyve got it right, it is a gamble. (Trevor Beattie Appendix 8) 4.3.3 HOW DO EXPERTS SELECT CELEBRITYS USING THEORIES? Is it a gamble, or do advertisers believe there is strategy to creating a perfect match between celebrity and product? Bergstrom Skafstad (2004) in their case study of Celebrity Endorsement asked the experts what type of theories they would employ when selecting a celebrity in advertising. I have employed this same technique within this case study to see whether the results from different experts are they same, or whether they have their own opnions on what they believe is a good way of selecting celebrities for endorsement advertising. What will be taken into consideration is the difference between different celebrities for different campaigns. The research approach will be analysed against Shimps TEARS model from the literature review, the Experts were asked what order they believe is the right way of choosing a celebrity for an advert. All practitioners stated that they could not give an accurate decision as it depends on which product they are advertising. The charts below outline what they believe is correct for a general advertising campaign. Its interesting to see that Trustworthiness ranked the highest in making a decision when selecting a celebrity in adverts. Both Shannon and Jenney believed that Expertise was the second aspect that is important when selecting a personality. Jarvie, however, ranked that last in his selection. What is interesting to see is that although McCracken believes in his theory that there needs to be a meaning behind the endorsement, some sort of connection between celebrity and brand, this evidence has show that most of the experts believe that Similarity is not as important in the selection process as the Trustworthiness of the celebrity. 4.3.4 SUMMARY The result from the expert research shows that using a celebrity in advertising is successful providing it works and the celebrity doesnt over shadow the product. Trustworthiness plays an important part in the selection of the celebrity which was interesting, Similarity between the brand and product was not a necessity when approaching a celebrity for the advertising. It is interesting to see that marketers do not really have a specific way of choosing celebrity endorsements; they do not run by any theory, its more about whether the celebrity is right for the brand and vice versa.

Assisted Suicide :: essays research papers

Assisted Suicide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jill Allene, RN, visited Gus, an elderly patient at a hospice clinic. The next day Gus swallowed a lethal mixture of medications that had been prescribed by his physician, and fell into a deep sleep. He died soon after. Because it was his decision to take his own life, doesn’t mean that he wins the battle with his disease, but he did win the war - a war of control. He wished simply to die on his own terms, under circumstances he chose. Like others in Oregon who have opted to use that state’s legalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS). It wasn’t the unrelenting surges of pain or incapacitating waves of nausea that encouraged Gus to call it quits; it was an unquenchable thirst for autonomy. Pulmonary disease didn’t kill Gus – Gus killed himself. (Nursing Spectrum 6)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assisted suicide is a very controversial issue, which always seems to be a topic at hand. Because this topic causes quite the up-roar, there have been very strong opinions form both for and against assisted suicide. Each side having justified reasons of why they believe that it should or should not be allowed. But the fact is, that some patients have respectable reasons for their request in their passing. There are people out there have very little of their life left to live, and like Gus would like to move along based on their own terms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like Gus, a terminally ill person with a sickness, leaves them with no choice but death. On the other hand, why not give these innocent people the right to make the decision themselves. These terminally ill people should be able to keep their dignity of life, and choose terms of their own and not have to live with the ones given to them unwillingly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the other hand the action of assisted suicide is already occurring especially in the United States today. It deals with basically the same thing as assisted suicide, when a doctor consoles the patient’s family, and come to a decision of pulling the plug. The patient cannot help but lay there, helplessly, until total body failure. In this situation here the life of a person is placed in the hands of the family and doctor. In both situations here a life of a person is being place on the line. Which option sounds more just, the option of a person’s life being taken form them based on the decision of someone else, or the option of a terminally ill person choosing to die based on one’s own decision.

The Federal Reserve System :: essays research papers

The Federal Reserve System was founded by Congress in 1913, it began to operate in Nov., 1914. Its setup, although somewhat altered since its establishment, particularly by the Banking Act of 1935, has remained substantially the same. Structure The Federal Reserve Act created 12 regional Federal Reserve banks, supervised by a Federal Reserve Board. Each reserve bank is the central bank for its district. The boundary lines of the districts were drawn in accordance with broad geographic patterns of business, and the banks were placed in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. In addition some of the regional banks have one or more branch banks attached to them. All national banks must belong to the system, and state banks may if they meet certain requirements. Member banks hold the bulk of the deposits of all commercial banks in the country. Each member bank is required to own stock in the Federal Reserve bank of its district and must maintain legal reserves on deposit with the district reserve bank. The required reserves are proportionate to the member bank’s own deposits, the proportion varying according to the location of the member bank and the character of its deposits. Each reserve bank is managed by a board of nine directors (three appointed by the Federal Reserve Board, six by the local member banks). The Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors designates one of the federally appointed directors as chairman and Federal Reserve agent; it is the chairman’s duty to report to the Board. The board of directors appoints the bank’s president and other officers and employees. The operations of the Federal Reserve banks, although not conducted primarily for profit, yield an income that is ordinarily sufficient to cover expenses, to pay a 6% cumulative dividend annually on the stock held by member banks, to make additions to surplus, and to provide the U.S. Treasury with over $1 billion a year in revenue. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System—the national supervisory agency—is composed of seven members appointed for 14-year terms by the President. Its offices are in Washington, D.C. The Federal Open Market Committee, created later (1923) than the system’s other divisions, comprises the seven members of the Board of Governors and five representatives of the Federal Reserve banks; it directs the purchases and sales by the reserve banks of federal government securities and other obligations in the open market.