Current concern Essay Example for Free

Current concern Essay Current concern with interdependence is particularly indebted to the earlier attempt of integration theorists to explain political unification among states. Certainly, integration theory has played an important role in the development of liberal international theory in the main, and traces of it echo evidently in neoliberalism and its cognate approaches. As Donald Puchala puts it: â€Å"integration studies were precursors to transnational and transgovernmental relations, to interdependence studies, and to the revitalization of the study of international organization presently so apparent† (Puchala 1981, 150). Once more, however, neoliberalism is a corruption of the functionalist, neofunctionalist and world federalist streams that together constitute integration theory. Neoliberalism holds the integrative convictions and logic of the latter approach however before the recent speeding up of integrative forces in Europe at least, has stressed less theatrical and politically ambitious forms of interstate cooperation. Although neoliberalism, as the term proposes, has become the chief, self-declared authority on interdependence and further matters liberal in contemporary IR theory, in spite of resting on the tenuous conviction that the idealist convictions of both the classical economists as well as the integrationists-that conflicts of interest between states are likely to be reduced by greater levels of interaction-can be gainfully combined with essentially Realist constructs. The feasibility of this project requires to be explored.

Analysis of Forgetfullness, by Billy Collins Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Forgetfullness, by Billy Collins Essay This poem is really easy to identify with. The first 4 stanzas are clearly relating the reader to the poem. Everyone at some point has to learn these general, seemingly useless facts. â€Å"A state flower† â€Å"The capital of Paraguay† so arbitrary, but so true in that this brings back memories of 3rd or 5th grade for almost all of us, it is bound to strike a chord with the reader. This is also coupled with a slightly nostalgic loss of these facts in the first stanza, as slowly the individual sections of a book (that you as the reader once clearly enjoyed) are systematically removed from your memory by time. Then the tone shifts from musing about facts we don’t remember, to our inability to remember them. It begins to get darker. This is useful contrast from the imagery that the reader experiences during the first few stanzas, remembering childhood, and innocence. Juxtaposed is the now darker â€Å"mythological river† described as vague that, dauntingly, is leading to oblivion. The hopeless tone thus has that much more impact as we make our way to our own â€Å"oblivion† or death, where we will join the dead: â€Å"those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.† Then Collins provides a justification for our wanting to remember, wanting to enrich our every moment, as soon memories will be pointless. Really, in the end this is providing a more inherent worth to memories than they ever had before, because of the fleeting nature of life that Collins describes. Not in a fun, youthful â€Å"carpe diem† way, Collins is showing how short we have to live. Only from this presentation can the reader then make the leap that we ought to cherish these good memories, and make good memories, such as the â€Å"moon (out of the) love poem† in the closing lines of the work.

Reality Television Do More Harm Media Essay

Reality Television Do More Harm Media Essay Although reality television may be popular source of entertainment, it is doing more harm to the society by corrupting its thoughts; and therefore the harms of reality television outweigh its positives. What is Reality Television? Reality television is a television-programming genre that presents purportedly unscripted melodramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. Arguments The content aired on reality television programs plays a major role in manipulating the viewers thoughts about certain aspects of the society and help create stereotypes in the minds of the people through false representation of facts. Reality television program participants become victims of the edited material aired on TV and their image is hampered. The competition in the shows is extremely intense and brings out the worst in the participants. Reality television occupies a large amount of precious time of the viewers, thus preventing them from performing much more productive activities. KHATRY III Counter Arguments Reality television helps satisfy the needs of the people for juicy or spiced content on the screen, thus attracting large audiences. It acts as a medium of escape for the viewers from their everyday chores. However, the reality TV shows are becoming boring and pointless. Reality television helps provide a platform to bring the common man in the spotlight. But there are allegations of reality TV shows being rigged. Reality television provides an economical form of entertainment, thus proving to be profitable for the television producers since no major celebrities are usually involved. Nevertheless, the production cost averages between $800,000 and $2,000,000 plus per episode. Conclusion- Summarize and restate the arguments and counter arguments and thus, prove that the harms of reality television outweigh its positives. KHATRY 1 Does Reality Television Do More Harm Than Good? According to the American Time Survey 2011 conducted by the Bureau Of Labor Statistics U.S. Department Of Labor, The average American spends 2.4 hours everyday in front of the television screen, this means he spends 16.8 hours a week and 873.6 hours a year watching television. (American) Seven years of our lifetime in front of the idiot box can surely have a great influence on us, especially a negative one. One of the most prominent genres of modern television is the unscripted reality-based television program or commonly called Reality TV by the viewers. So what is reality television? Annette Hill in her article Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television, describes reality television as a television programming genre that presents purportedly unscripted melodramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. (Reality) Reality TV pro grams like The Bachelor, Fear Factor, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and many more have overtaken the prime television slots and have become an integral part of the American family-couch time. Although reality television may be popular source of entertainment, it is doing more harm to the society by corrupting its thoughts; and therefore the harms of reality television outweigh its positives. First of all the content which is aired on the reality television programs is highly sexual and violent. Social cognitive theory suggests that people can discover meaningful sources of identity in their teens that feel connected to what theyre viewing. (288) According to the reports of attorney of law, Patrick A. Trueman, teens exposed to sexual material on television were more likely to be subject to premature sexual activities. Americas Next Top Model, a model hunt, has been repeatedly criticized for promoting KHATRY 2 poor body image of women resulting in low self-esteem and eating disorders among the young viewers. These shows also play a major role in creating stereotypes in the minds of the audiences. The audiences relate the actions of the participants to the ethnic or regional background they belong to. One such show is Jersey Shore, a reality television series that follows the lives of eight housemates spending their summer in New Jersey; the highly sexual and abusive content aired on the show has created misconceptions in the minds of the people regarding the residents of New Jersey. The show portrays a negative image of the American youth to the world as that of disturbed and unsophisticated. Omarosa Manigault a participant on the show The Apprentice stated, A friend of mine said, The fabric of reality TV is conflict, so make sure that youre either in the fight, breaking the fight up, or starting the fight.' The harms of reality televise are not only subjected to the audience but the participants and the crew in these shows too are pushed to the brink. The crews are made to work under unacceptable working conditions and are paid dimes for it. Three former employees of reality television shows, including American Idol, claim in a lawsuit filed that the producer forced them to work under sweatshop conditions and failed to pay for overtime hours they worked. The employees say the producer, Fremantle North America, forced them, to work up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes without meal and rest periods, and that Fremantle falsified payroll records. (7) The participants in the reality television programs often become a victim of the misleading edited material aired on TV, which can go a long way in hampering their image in the real world. The participants in shows such as Big Brother and The Bachelor are subject to no privacy. The editing KHATRY 3 team crop the video footage in order to make it more entertaining, thus not revealing the whole truths. As a result the audience misinterprets their words and thus misconceptions are created in the minds of the viewers regarding the participants. Diana Eng a contestant on Project Runway stated in an interview, One morning the crew scared me so bad I jumped and screamed. They said that wasnt good, so I had to pretend to wake up again. (The Real) The world of reality television has also revealed the ugly face of racism in the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy. Fellow contestants Jade Goody, Jo OMeara and Danielle Lloyd mocked Shilpa Shettys Indian accent and branded her as The Indian and a dog. (Celebrity) The highly competitive nature of the shows and the hunger to win usually brings out the worst in the participants. Sometimes even a lifetime may seem short enough to earn reputation however a moment of bad judgment is enough to lose it all. In a world where time is money and every single second is precious reality television consumes a large amount of the productive time of the viewers. The viewers spend numerous hours in front of the television watching these shows, time that they can use to perform more productive activities. Also there has been a decline in the outdoor activities of young adults, who would prefer an hour in front of the screen rather than playing ball in the park. Robert Foehr in his article Rideout states, Excessive TV viewing can contribute to poor grades, sleep problems, behavior problems, obesity, and risky behavior. (Rideout) However, we cannot be oblivious to the positive factors of this genre. Despite the numerous harms caused by reality television, the genre has become the most viewed form of television with its television rating soaring higher than ever. KHATRY 4 Realty television is one of the best means of entertainment for the viewers. For the common man it acts as a medium of escape from the arid realities of everyday life since the viewers can relate themselves with the participants on the show. The major reason for the numerous reality television programs being aired nowadays is the audiences thriving appetite for juicy or spiced content on the screen. However, the reality TV shows are soon becoming boring and pointless. Audiences have lost interest in the shows because lack of plot and repetition of themes. The show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has received criticism globally from viewers according to whom the family is nothing but a laughing-stock. Reality television programs like American Idol and Master Chef help provide a platform for the common man to express his talents and achieve his dreams. Reality television programs are a source of instant fame and recognition for the common herd. The sole purpose of these programs is to focus on the life of ordinary people and bring them in the spotlight rather than the major celebrities. These have given the world phenomenal talents in the form of Kelly Clarkson, season one winner of American Idol, and the extraordinaire chef Jennifer Behm, who won the second season of Master Chef USA, and many others. However there are allegations of reality TV shows being rigged. The contract signed by the contestants on the reality TV shows states that the producers posses the right to determine the winners. Hope Solo, a contestant on Dancing With The Stars, pointed in her journal Solo: A Memoir Of Hope a specific incident behind the scenes that led to her elimination. Although the actual number of votes may not be twisted, producers have other illusive means to manipulate the public opinion. Dian Anderson Minshall stated in her article How Authentic Are Your Favorite  Shows? that Tom Poe a contestant on Americas Got Talent, a talent show, who lied about being injured by a grenade and suffering a brain KHATRY 5 injury while serving in Afghanistan insists the show is rigged and audiences are coached to support predetermined favorites. (How) Not only is reality television entreating but is economical as well. Producers nowadays are willing to invest in new reality TV ventures rather than sitcoms because of the huge difference in costs. Reality television programs fall cheaper to produce since no major celebrity is being paid a hefty fee. Advertisers are willing to pay millions for a 30 second commercials during the ad breaks. Nevertheless, the production cost averages between $800,000 and $2,000,000 plus per episode. Large sums of money are awarded to the winners of these shows. The cost for putting up the grand stages and sets for shows like Survivor and American Idol are exorbitant. As we have known it that there are always two sides of a coin, both the merits and demerits of reality television are present. Like it or not reality TV will remain to be one if the most popular television genre as long as the viewers demand it. Reality television has corrupted the thoughts of the viewers and hampered their perceptions about certain aspects of the society. There is hardly any authenticity to the content aired on the reality television programs; the manufactured drama aired on these shows is not reality. These acknowledged negative factors surpass the mere qualities of reality television. As stated in the above augments, although reality television may be popular source of entertainment, it is doing more harm to the society by corrupting its thoughts; and therefore the harms of reality television outweigh its positives. KHATRY 6

Polygyny benefits Society :: Anthropology

Polygyny benefits Society Polygyny, the social arrangement that permits a man to have more than one wife at the same time, exists in all parts of the world. From our present knowledge, there are very few primitive tribes in which a man is not allowed to enter into more than one union. In fact, ethologists now believe that only one to two percent of all species may be monogamous (Tucker). None of the simian species are strictly monogamous; our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, practice a form of group marriage. Among the 849 human societies examined by the anthropologist Murdock (1957), 75% practiced polygyny. Many peoples have been said to be monogamous, but it is difficult to infer from the data at our disposal whether monogamy is the prevalent practice, the moral ideal, or an institution safeguarded by sanctions (Malinowski 1962). Historically, polygyny was a feature of the ancient Hebrews, the traditional Chinese, and the nineteenth-century Mormons in the United States, but the modern practice of polygyn y is concentrated in Africa, the Middle East, India, Thailand, and Indonesia. The extent to which men are able to acquire multiple wives depends on many factors, including the economic prosperity of the man’s family, the prevailing bride price, the differential availability of marriageable females, the need and desire for additional offspring, and the availability of productive roles for subsequent wives. Even in societies that permit polygyny, the conditions of life for the masses make monogamy the most common form of marriage. The two variations of polygyny are sororal (the cowives are sisters) and nonsororal (the cowives are not sisters). Some societies also observe the custom of levirate, making it compulsory for a man to marry his brother’s widow. It must be remembered that any form of polygyny is never practiced throughout the entire community: there cannot exist a community in which every man would have several wives because this would entail a huge surplus of f emales over males (Malinowski 1962). Another important point is that in reality it is not so much a form of marriage fundamentally distinct from monogamy as rather a multiple monogamy. It is always in fact the repetition of marriage contract, entered individually with each wife, establishing an individual relationship between the man and each of his consorts (Benson 1971). Where each wife has her separate household and the husband visits them in turn, polygynous marriage resembles very closely a temporarily interrupted monogamy.

Grandma, Schnitzel and Politics :: Personal Narrative Profile

Grandma, Schnitzel and Politics I strolled the streets of Tel Aviv taking in the smell of fried falafel mixed with the salty ocean breeze. I watched people hurrying, lunging for bus doors before drivers pulled away. Then I realized that if I didn't get to my grandmother's in ten minutes, I'd be late - an offense that could provoke the dreaded silent treatment. I ran from the beach to her apartment on Bet-Lechem street and flew up the stairs two at a time, jumping over the Arab lady who sat scrubbing the floor. I arrived at the fifth story apartment breathless, wondering how the old lady climbed the stairs carrying five kilos of fruits and vegetables in each hand. She opened the door and squeezed me hard reminding me how she managed the stairs. She offered a wrinkled, rubbery cheek to kiss and then immediately ushered me to my place at the table, assuring me that lunch was all ready. I sat down and skimmed through her copy of the Post, vowing not to let her sucker me into a political discussion. She returned with the first course. "I made a chicken soup with canadelach special for you," she said. "Grandma, next time write me a list, and I'll go shopping for you." She snorted, "You know how to pick vegetables." "Then, I'll just carry the bags," I offered. "Darling, when I can't take care of myself, I'll write a big Shalom on the wall," she made a sweeping gesture indicating the whole dining room wall, "and that's this: I'll take all my pills." Then on her feet again, she plunged out of the room with her gray head down. A minute later, she returned with a full tray of salad, tehina, fresh bread, schnitzel, peas, beer and apple compot. The schnitzel itself left little room on my plate for other food. "I also made blintzes for you special, darling because I know you love them," she said. As I sat, she told me stories I'd heard before. She told me how when she was a girl in Poland, they hadn't had cars yet. They rode in horse and carriage. And when she came to Israel, the men stopped and stared at her. She told me for the nine-hundredth time that it was her father who had built the building we were sitting in.

The Protagonist’s Physical and Social Conditioning in Charlotte Perkins :: English Literature

The Protagonist’s Physical and Social Conditioning in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. The wife, protagonist, in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is trapped. Suffering from a â€Å"slight hysterical tendency† (p 676), an affliction no one really understands, her husband, a physician, prescribes a treatment, which offers her little support to be well again. Her condition is further aggravated by limitations of her social role as his wife. She is confined, controlled and devalued by her husband. She is powerless to renegotiate her situation. She is trapped by her treatment, her environment and her social role as a wife, with no hope of change. Given the hopelessness of her situation, she chooses to overpower what she can defeat, a figment of her imagination. The setting is a colonial mansion, which the husband, John, has rented as a place of respite for her recovery. It is run down and neglected, like his wife – run down from her illness and emotionally neglected, as her desires are overruled by his practicality. The mansion has housed children in the past. The nursery serves as the couple’s bedroom, where â€Å"the windows are barred† (p 677), to prevent the children from injuring themselves from a fall. Like the children, she is protected and imprisoned. This â€Å"atrocious nursery† (p 677) is covered with â€Å"a smouldering unclean yellow† (p 677) wallpaper, which becomes her obsession. Surrounding the mansion is plenty of fresh air, an aspect of her treatment. But the wife suspects an air about the house -- an air of an unwanted presence. Being isolated, the mansion is a perfect place for her confinement, another aspect of her treatment. Her husband has prescribed a version of the â€Å"rest cure†[1]. His â€Å"rest cure† amounts to being idle. The wife is a writer with artistic sensibility. She is deeply offended by the yellow wallpaper and its â€Å"sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin† (p 677). She needs an outlet to express herself, through writing, but is prevented from doing so, as part of her â€Å"rest†. However, she still writes, covertly. John is a physician, an expert on physical illness. Being practical, he is not predisposed to be an expert on the artistic temperament. She disagrees with her treatment, but remains silent on that issue, displaying appropriate wifely behaviours. To be appropriate, to exhibit â€Å"proper self-control† (p 676) is required as his wife in the nineteenth century. She is the property of her husband and must appear to submit to his will. John is, by modern standards, a control freak -- a well intentioned control freak. He controls her environment by choosing the mansion and the choice of

Langston Hughes and Robert Frost as Role Models Essay

â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and â€Å"Mother to Son† are both parables meant to teach lessons already learned by the experienced narrators. They are meant to teach the lesson that life is precious and once a decision is made it cannot be taken back. Therefore, make decisions careful because they will steer the course of your life. Also, both poems are narrated by a single person, implying that the choices that they have made and the hardships they have endured have been alone. This implies a strength and individuality from either narrator. â€Å"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.† Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† is a lyrical poem about the decisions that one must make in life. When a man approaches a fork in the road on which he is traveling, he must choose which path to take. The choice that he makes, as with any choices made in life, affects him in a way that â€Å"has made all the difference.† Thematically, the poem argues that no matter how small a decision is, that decision will affect a person’s life forever. Frost uses the images presented in the poem in a very involved and general way. The paths and the fork no longer refer to their definitions, but instead as keywords in a description of life. Through the poem, Frost is defining life as a series of decisions. Some of these decisions may, at the time, be thought of as insignificant, while others could be thought of as very significant. Frost argues that a decision’s significance at the time is not really important, for any choice will change one’s life. Every day, people, including the narrator of the poem, are presented with â€Å"Two roads† that diverge â€Å"in a yellow wood.† These roads are not concrete or physical, but rather represent choices. The fact that one road is â€Å"grassy and wanted wear† while the other was commonly traversed shows the reader that some choices require one to choose something that is not commonly sought or to do something that is not commonly done. The total of these d ecisions leads people, like the reader, down a new path: a path that the narrator himself created. The narrator comes to the realization that every decision affects him when he says: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –  I took the one less traveled by,  And that has made all the difference. The narrator also comes to the realization that once a choice is made, it is almost impossible to change that choice: â€Å"Oh, I kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back.† Frost recognizes something that everyone should realize. The simple picture of a man deciding which path to follow is suddenly changed into a description of life by the mastery of Frost’s poetic hand. No matter how small a decision appears to be at the time that it is made, that decision will affect a person’s life forever, or as Frost puts it, each and every choice will make â€Å"all the difference.† Langston Hughes makes use of an extended metaphor, the staircase, in â€Å"Mother to Son.† There are a multitude of possibilities as to what lies at the top of the staircase. In the context of the timeframe that this poem was written, the top of the staircase may represent the goals of the blacks. This could, for example, be a successful life. The narrator in the poem is a mother. She describes to her son that no matter what obstacles come in her way, she keeps climbing the stairs. â€Å"Tacks,† â€Å"splinters,† and other obstructions impede her ascent, but she refuses to â€Å"set down on the steps.† The nuisances could represent instances of discrimination. To delve deeper into the metaphors used here, a tack on a staircase is an item that must be placed there by another party. The tacks placed in the mother’s path could then be a specific oppressive incident performed by a white person. A splinter in the staircase is a negative by-product of the  staircase itself. Therefore, the mother’s â€Å"splinters† may have been the results of her actions upon her ongoing journey towards success. The mother also makes reference to â€Å"boards torn up.† If part of the staircase were torn up or missing, then that particular step must be skipped. One small step does not comprise an entire staircase, so it is not necessary to actively use each and every step to make it to the top. Some other parts of the stairs may not have carpeting on them. This would mean that if the mother fell, there is nothing to pad her fall, just the hard wood. Not only would it hurt to stumble and fall, knowing there is no kind of â€Å"safety net† degrades one’s sense of security. Despite the hardships that the mother faces, she keeps climbing towards her goal. She turns corners, unknowing of what might lie just beyond each bend. She continues on to where she is â€Å"sometimes goin’ in the dark.† She cannot see what might happen next, but her only two options are to go further or turn back. At this point, the mother advises her son, â€Å"don’t you turn back.† Clearly, the only thing to do is remain on course up the stairs. She insists that he is not to deviate from walking up those steps. If he stops and settles in one spot, he will find out that it is much harder to continue from this point. Near the end of the poem, the mother is stressing to her son that it is imperative that he strives to reach the top of the stairs, regardless of the difficulties. She has done the same and even to this point she continues to climb. The mother is faced with only the choices of succumbing to a difficult life or triumphing in it. The poem is clearly a testament to her perseverance in that she can tell her son what she has done and that she is still trudging up those stairs. In general, both poems show how there really is no such thing as fate and that making decisions will affect a person for the rest of their lives. In fact, these choices will help guide the course of their lives. They tell us that even if one’s choice seems like the less likely one, someone else has  probably already made this decision. They also tell us that every decision, even a small one, is important.