What do you understand by the term racism Using examples from one of Essay - 1

What do you understand by the term racism Using examples from one of the areas of policy we have covered, explain the existence of racism in contemporary Brit - Essay Example Upon making contact with the natives of these lands, the Westerners had the idea of dominating and subjugating the populace of these lands for providing them cheap labour etc to get benefited from the already existing bountiful resource base. The Renaissance had of course given a fillip to dynamism of ideas in Europe but these ideas were meant only to elevate the immediate environment and such enlightenment was not required for experimentation in the lands which were later to be colonized. It was a deliberate policy devised at the highest levels and its implementation was ensured to keep the status-quo in favour of the would-be colonizers intact. This probably must explain the background in respect of all that we associate racism currently with. And wherever the European colonizers went, they had neither any compulsion to neither extend respect to the way of life under their territories nor incorporate whatever wisdom these lands had to offer in return. Earlier, similar enterprises by powers other than those of Europe and the West also exhibited the same pattern (1). Arabs also under the zeal of their religion became colonial powers and controlled far more territories permitted by their strength in their time. In so far as a comparison is sought to be drawn between Arabs and the West, the former did understand their people and themselves changed in a way that suited their political and social correctness. The Westerns did not learn the same from Arabs despite their same religious and civilizational origins in the Semitic nature of their religion and culture. Racism is generally nourished as a sort of belief that the races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that endows some races with an intrinsic superiority. This belief accordingly involves abuse and aggressive behaviour towards members of another race. Social scientists are of the opinion that ethnic groups have or do create a sense of grouping

Food is culture, culture is food Essay Example for Free

Food is culture, culture is food Essay A majority of people really do care about their health when they choose foods to eat. They always think: The food they eat must gives their bodies the information and materials they need to function properly. If they dont get the right information, their metabolic processes suffer and their health declines. http://www. takingcharge. csh. umn. edu/explore-healing-practices/food-medicine/how-does-food-impact-health Espcially in Vietnam, most of people always use five fundamental taste elements when they’re cooking. For Vietnamese people, salt is used as the connection between the worlds of the living and the dead. Cooking and eating play an extremely important role in Vietnamese culture. The word an (eat) is included in a great number of proverbs and has a large range of semantic extensions. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vietnamese_cuisine#Cultural_importance Vietnamese cuisine is reflective of the Vietnamese lifestyle from the preparation to how the food is served. Going through long phases of war and political conflicts, as well as cultural shifts, the vast majority of the Vietnamese people have been living in poverty. Therefore, the ingredients for Vietnamese food are often very inexpensive but nonetheless, the way they are cooked together to create a yin – yang balance make the food simple in look but rich in flavor. Due to economic condition, maximizing the use of ingredients to save money has become a tradition in Vietnamese cooking. http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_cuisine#Food_in_relation_to_lifestyle. WHAT DOES FOOD IS CULTURE, CULTURE IS FOOD MEAN TO YOU? In every country, there’s always have their icons or foods which is symbolize for their country image. Espcially food, in my opinion, food is one of the thing which can be introduced to foreigners about the country’s culture much easier than the other things such as clothes, souvernirs†¦ And a lot of countries have shown their culture through the way they cook food, through the way they eat and through the way they use ingredient for their cooking.

The concept of national identity

The concept of national identity In recent years, due to the expansion of modernism and modernisation on a global scale, there have been developments at cultural and structural levels, resulting in a change in national identity and making the study of nationalism and national identity an important topic in social science. These studies are often concerned with the complex and contradictory nature of cultural identities and the role of communications media in the development and reconfiguration of those identities. This essay will attempt to define the terms nation and national identity and discuss how far these concepts relate directly to geographical location and/or political boundaries. It will look at the relationship between the media and national identity and explore its extensiveness and what it means for the concept of national identity itself. Additionally, the issue of whether national identities are real or perceived will be addressed as well as whether the concept, or indeed, the experience of national identity is a media-dependent phenomenon. Other issues that will be discusses include the elements that may contribute to an individuals sense of national identity and what an absence of (national) media would mean for the concept of national identity and the sense of belonging to a particular nation. Many scholars would agree that the concepts of nation, nationality and nationalism have all proved difficult to define and analyse. Anderson (1991) notes that while nationalism has had significant influence on the modern world, plausible theory about it is conspicuously meagre (p.54). Seton-Watson (1997) concludes that while no scientific definition of the nation can be devised, the phenomenon has existed and exists (p.5). Even Nairn (1975) remarks that the theory of nationalism represents Marxisms great historical failure. But even this confession is somewhat misleading, in so far as it can be taken to imply the regrettable outcome of a long, self-conscious search for theoretical clarity (p. 3). Although there is little consensus regarding the forces responsible for its manifestation, most theorists on nationalism believe it to be an essentially modern phenomenon, appearing in the late eighteenth century in Europe and North America. Three theorists stand out in the genealogical debate over nationalism. Hobsbawm (1990) defined nationalism as the popular realisation of political rights in a sovereign state. A populace linked itself to a limited national territory and was embodied through a centralised government, an event he believed first occurred during the French Revolution. If nationalism was a modern invention, so were nations: the nation-state was the result, rather than the origin, of a nationalist discourse (Hobsbawm, 1990, p.28). Gellner (1983) adopted an economically reductionist approach, deeming nationalism a necessary function of industrialisation. He argued that because industry required skilled labour, a common vernacular, and high rates of literacy, the need developed for a national high culture promoted by a state run educational system. Simultaneously, the old agrarian order faded away and societal anonymity replaced provincial distinctness, facilitating the creation of a homogeneous national cul ture. Like Hobsbawm, Gellner sought to dispel teleological notions of the nation as eternal and reiterated that national was a modern invention, created in response to the needs of a new economic system, even it represented itself as a natural, historical phenomenon. The theory of the nation as invention was taken further by Anderson (1983), who saw nationalism as a process of imagining communities. Nation-states are imagined because members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each live the image of their communion (Anderson, 1983, p.15). He argued that the decline of universal religious paradigms and the rise in print capitalism allowed for this cultural construction to flourish in eighteenth century. The mass consumption of newspapers and novels enforced a common vernacular, linked a populace to urban centres, and encouraged common participation in a shared imagined culture. Anderson (1983) implied that the reformation of the printing press did more to encourage nationalism than did the advent of industrialisation. Despite their differences, all three of these prominent theoreticians identified nationalism, and by association the nation-state, as a phenomenon of the last few centuries. It has therefore been suggested that time, is not the most useful tool for categorising nationalism or national identity. While nationalism is dependent on a variety of historical factors, it has been noted that national identity cannot be labelled as embryonic nationalism because not all national identities function within nations. Estel (2002) describes national identity as a special case of collective identity: This does not mean an objective, i.e. systemic, connection built by human beings, but its interpretation by the members of that collective hence it must be socially shared, the binding knowledge being the key factor. National identity then means a socially shared and binding knowledge in the form of an officially prevailing conception of itself in a certain nation being imparted through certain institutions (p.108). As many have asserted to, the concept of national identity is complex, and its intensity, character and origins vary with time and place. Smith (1991) argues that identity operates on two levels, the individual and the collective which are often confused in discussions of ethnic and national identity. Collective identities are composed of individual members they are not reducible to an aggregate of individuals sharing a particular cultural trait. Similarly, from a description of the elements one cannot read off the probable actions and dispositions of individual members, only the kinds of contexts and constraints within which they operate (p.130). He adds that the broadest subtype of collective cultural identities is the ethnie or ethnic community. Connor (1993) agrees: If we look at todays countries, many of them seem to build their perceived internal similarity on a premise of shared ethnicity. A subconscious belief in the groups separate origin and evolution is an important ingredient of national psychology. This belief in the groups separate origin and evolution is the basis of ethnic identity, and ethnic identity seems to constitute the core of nations (p.377). Ethnic communities are characterised by a perception of similarity among members, stemming from a perception of kinship (a blood relationship), and a simultaneous perception of difference from other ethnic communities (Eriksen, 1993, p.12). They have a common collective name, a collective historical memory, common cultural traits, a homeland, a myth of common descent, and a strong sense of internal solidarity. This element of fictive kinship, which is at the heart of ethnic affiliation, is also at the heart of feelings of nationhood (Smith, 1991, pp. 21-22). As Connor (1993) suggests, it is not what is but what people perceive as is which determines the extent of national feeling. The nation-as-a-family metaphor is not a rational feeling, but rather an emotive one; it is a bond beyond reason appealing not to the brain but to the blood (Connor, 1993, p.384). Das and Harindranath (2006) suggests that even in the absence of an ethnically homogenous population, nations rely on the idea o f an over arching ethnic bond to emphasise the difference from non-members and to join all members into a national community (p.11). National identity, to whatever degree it exists, is constituted by the interlacing forces of history and collective choice (Parekh, 1994). It is a dynamic structure of affiliation, with strong foundations in the past but susceptible to change in the future. Nations base their claim to statehood on assumptions of a shared cultural heritage, which are in turn most often based on assumptions of shared ethnicity. The latter assumption has less to do with a reality of common ethnicity than with a myth of common ethnicity which is cast over multi-ethnic communities to turn them into politicised national communities (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.12). Most modern nation states are multi-ethic, making it difficult to define one unified conception of national identity among all members. Throughout the early modern period, the character and intensity of national identity varied widely from place to place. The idea of the unity of a nation-state could come either from its cultural or political unity. Sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe was the location of the formation of nation states. In England, France, Spain and Sweden, the dominant ethnic community incorporated outlaying regions and ethnicities into a dominant ethnic culture through the use of bureaucratic, centralised state machinery. Employing fiscal, judicial, military and administrative processes it welded together often disparate populations into a single ethnic community based on the cultural heritage of the dominant core (Smith, 1991, p.68). This is what Smith (1991) identifies the dominant ethnie model which is present in countries like Burma where the dominant Burmese ethnic community has heavily influenced the formation and the nature of the state of Burma (now known as Myanmar), rather than the Ka ren, Shan or Mon ethnic groups. Other cultures continue to flourish but the identity of the emerging political community is shaped by the historic culture of its dominant ethnie. The construction of the nation here becomes a process of reconstructing the ethnic core and integrating the culture with the requirements of the modern state and with the aspirations of minority communities. Non-dominant cultures are then relegated to the position of minority cultures (Smith, 1991, pp.110-111). Smith (1991) also notes that there are some multi-ethnic states where discrepancy in inter-ethnic power is marginal enough to allow for a state along the lines of the supra-ethnic model, where the emphasis is on political rather cultural unity (p. 112). However, Das and Harindranath (2006) states the success of this model is debatable as representative examples are few and far between (p.13). Such cases might include the Nigerian case, where the attempt to build a supra-ethnic state resulted in the concentration of power in the hands of three major ethic groups (out of the existing 250 groups) rather than any one. As Connor (1993, p.375) argues, a people who are politically and culturally pre-eminent in a state (even though other groups are present in significant numbers) tend to equate the entire country with their own ethnic homeland, and to perceive the state as an extension of their particular ethnic group. Oommen (1990) suggests that once a multi-ethnic or poly-ethnic state emer ges it becomes a reality-in-itself. The coexistence and interaction between the different nations or ethnic groups produce certain emergent properties which give a new meaning and a collective self-identification to the constituent units (p.35). This collective self-identification of a people with a nation-state according to Das and Harindranath (2006) is their national identity. Tying a nation together is a deep network of common institutions: a military, a common economy, a common legal system, a common administrative infrastructure, and a variety of shared institutions transport, communications, public utilities and banks among others. At a more visible level are the overt makers of national identity, the political symbols that set one nation-state apart from others: a name, flag, national emblem, national language, common currency (p. 16). These are invented traditions which soon acquire the feel of antiquity but are in fact usually of recent origin (Hobsbawn and Ranger, 1983). The formation of such identification involves dimensions of unity and permanence (Melucci, in Schlesinger, 1991, p.154). The latter suggests that the nation has to be seen as persisting through time, well into the past and future; it has to be seen as beyond time (Connor, 1993, p.382). Such an imagining of the nation as beyond time, according to Das and Harindranath (2006) takes national identity partly into the realm of non-rational, making it an emotional identification rather than an intellectual one. The issue of creating certain uniformity within nation-states and the process of nation-building then comes to the forefront and most nations look to the media to play its part in the construct of a national culture and a national community. Why the media? Das and Harindranath (2006) explains that considering how much of our knowledge of the world comes from mediated communication, either through people or through the mass media, this is likely to be a primary source of influence on our structures of identification since we cannot accomplish very abstract levels of identification (as with a nation-state) by exclusive reliance on our own direct lived experience or face to face communication of others (p.18). Media have typically been institutional products of nations and, as such, play a fundamental role in their maintenance (Anderson, 1983, pp. 24-25). In most countries national broadcasting in the early forms (especially before its commercialisation, when it could not afford the str atification of its audience), has made possible the transformations of individual activities (dramas, performances, etc) into fictions of collective national life for millions of individuals who may never interact with one another. It is a fact that nation-states must have a measure of common culture and civic ideology, a set of common understandings and aspirations, sentiments and ideas that bind the population together in their homeland. The major agencies through which this socialisation is carried out are the mass education system and the mass media (Smith, 1991, p.11). Das and Harindranath (2006) notes: National identity has been an underlying theme in communications research since the 1950s, when new technologies were linking the world with their ever-increasing reach into diverse global populations. At that time, these technologies were held up as a panacea for the ills of underdevelopment researchers such as Schramm and Lerner eagerly endorsed the view that judicious deployment of Western media products in the Third World would help bring to them the benefits of western progress and development (p.18). Sreberny (2008) points out, this idea and model of development was criticised for equating development with the West. The media/cultural imperialism theory, which gained impetus from such criticism, argues that the excessive flow of media products from West to East of from North to South leads to the erosion of national cultures in the non-Western world, resulting eventually in a homogenised world in the image of the west. Melucci (1989) disagreed with this theory as well: To simply be aware of something is not to identify with it; identification comes from the making of an emotional investment, an investment which enables a group of people to recognise themselves in each other, and to feel a similarity with other members of a group. In addition to being aware of the existence of nation-states therefore, I must also be aware that there are many of them, that the one I live in is different from the others, and that I belong to a particular one because of my similarity with others of that nation-state. I can then be said to possess a national identity. My identity is therefore not just Indian but equally not French, not Thai (p.17). Today, national media are participating in the two processes of national identity building. Firstly, as tellers of national myths, (especially in times of crises, rapid social change or external threat), as engravers of national symbols upon the nations memory, and presenters of national rituals (elections, celebrations, etc), they work in the direction of emphasising the similarities among the group members. For media producers, the prominence of national identity in the media content is encouraged by the knowledge that they are constructing news for a national audience with which they share national membership (Entman, 1991; Rivenburgh, 1999). Secondly, as a primary domain of the public sphere, the media produce and reinforce the relational opposition of us and the others. One of the areas of media content to which such nationalist discourse today is very high, is news and especially the coverage of foreign affairs. Comparative international news research shows the significant role of the media in perpetuating a world view that consistently favours the home nation perspective on world affairs (Rivenburgh, 1999). Discrepant perceptions of world affairs largely emanate from different cultural and political values held by groups with different national identities enhanced by national media coverage (Rivenburgh, 1991, p.1). The media play a significant role in collapsing the experience of distance by creating a global simultaneity, rendering events across the world into nightly news broadcast into our living rooms. Media coverage of crisis events may not only affect public opinion but may increasingly provide policy makers with vital information to determine lines of foreign policy and diplomatic initiatives (Sreberny, 2008). Additionally, At the start of the 21st century, more and more people lived in mediatised societies where our understanding of local, national and international political, economic and cultural issues is framed by and through the media and other cultural industries. While we need to be wary of collapsing cultural issues into technological developments, it is nonetheless true that the global spread of media has raised a host of new questions about our identities, about our relations with others and about our understanding of the world (Sreberny, 2008, p.10). One prominent pattern that emerges in the images of nationhood is the definition of national and anti-national by the media, the normal and abnormal, the good and the bad. Such delineation is important especially in nation states characterised by diversity (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.19). Scannell and Cardiff (1991) illustrate such a definition in the British case showing how the BBC treated British music as essentially synonymous with English music while the music of Scotland, Wales and Ireland was marginalised. This case clearly illustrated how the media contribute to the articulation of the identity of the dominant ethnic group in a multi-ethnic nation-state. New forms of communications and media such as the internet have made it possible for those individuals living outside of their respective nations to still maintain a sense of national identity. The internet can be a very important vehicle for the transmission of ideas concerning a national identity, particularly for those people who have lost or left their homeland. The internet provides a special type of community with a very strong common feeling national communities without a nation. People scattered all over the world regardless of they are from still have succeeded in maintaining a national identity without a nation state. While this used to take place in physical places, the internet and other forms of new media offers different possibilities for these communities, for they can now organise worldwide, reach new members and communicate with these members more often. The websites visited and used by these communities form more than a virtual nation. Their aim is to construct a true nation and it is done by presenting users with sites that are as complete and historic as possible as all varieties of news and information can be found on the internet. The mass media thus engender a we-feeling, a feeling of family, among the community, providing continual opportunities for identification with the na tion. The media enable entire populations to participate in the everyday life of a country-wide community, uniting individual members of the national family into a shared political and cultural rubric (Chaney, 1998, p. 249). It is equally important to note that agencies of socialisation such as the media can also be harnessed to divisive purposes which might have the consequence of impeding the construction of a national identity or of undermining the force of one or more elements of the symbolic repertoire of nationalistic ideology (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.19). In some cases, nationalist views and provocative views have provoked some of the worlds worst massacres. One such example is when RTLM (the Hutu radio/television station in Rwanda) played an inciting and aggravating role in the massacre of the Tutsis by repeatedly broadcasting messages in which Tutsis were slandered and ridiculed and depicted as despicable. On another continent, media in former Yugoslavia have played a significant role in creating an environment of ethnic hate and xenophobia that contributed towards the pre-conditions for savage ethnic wars. While these may be extreme cases, the simple fact of establishing the homogenising tendency of national media is not an adequate base from which to conclude that audiences are homogenised and that advocacy does not always med acceptance. In cases where the national image promoted by the media is not accepted it does meet with resistance from sections of the populations. While some resistance is severe as in the cases of Rwanda and Yugoslavia other populations use organised forms of resistance where the groups in a nation state who are not part of mainstream culture find peaceful ways of asserting their own identities. One such example is the Ernabella Video and Television (EVTV) project in Australia. It was established by leaders of the Ernabella aboriginal community in 1983 as a video project intended to record the local culture, which was fading away with the decline of their previously nomadic lifestyle. It was also a reaction to outside media which local leaders saw as a negative influence on their community. EVTV developed into a television channel by which aboriginals recorded and rediscovered their culture, and it simultaneously enabled them to construct a pan-aboriginal identity among the dispersed aboriginal populations of Australia. It was the discovery and assertion of ethnic aboriginal identity which they actively used to reduce the pote ntial homogenisation influence of mainstream Australian culture depicted on national television (Batty, 1993). Another form of resistance is through readings where the argument here is that media audiences interact with media texts in extremely complex ways. Studies have uncovered significant differences in the way audiences from different backgrounds produce diverse readings of an episode of a soap opera, suggesting that social identities affect interpretation of media messages (Ang, 1990). Media texts can therefore no longer be thought of as binding each member of the audience evenly into a particular interpretation; the meaning of the text, rather, is open to negotiation between the text and the viewer. Differences in interpretation are not, however, the result of a failure of communication, but are rather the results of differences in the lived experiences and mental words of audiences. Where cultural realities are different, there is a likelihood of different interpretations (Jensen, 1987, p.31). In conclusion, although the established literature lacks firm evidence of individual level media effects it nevertheless suggests with some confidence that there is a strong, positive tie between media consumption and individual level national belonging. Drawing largely on historical and textual analysis methods, the claim has been established that the media have been foundational over the past three centuries in the shaping, distribution and institutionalisation of identities. The classic texts on nationalism repeatedly argue that the media have played a key role in nation building and that the idea of a one-culture-for-all does not work and attempts at enculturation of diverse people into a mainstream culture are inevitably resisted through social movements at the peripheries of the mainstream (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.21). Martin- Barbero (1993) further suggests that communication is a field in which these battles over identity are fought out. The media is therefore the site where states explore routes to uniformity within their nations and are simultaneously the site which assists non-mainstream groups to explore and announce their distinctiveness.

Good vs. Evil in John Gardners Grendel :: Grendel Essays

Good vs. Evil in John Gardner's Grendel John Gardner's novel Grendel gives the reader a new perspective on the classic "good vs. Evil" plot. From the start of the book the reader can tell that there is something very unique about the narrator. It is evident that the narrator is a very observant being that can express himself in a very poetic manner. The story is one the reader has most likely seen before, the battle between the glorious thanes and the "evil" beast. In this case, however, the "beast" is the eyes and ears of the reader. This, of course, forces the reader to analyze situations in the book in the same way that Grendel does. By using this viewpoint, the author allows his readers to see the other side of the coin. Therefore, throughout the course of the novel the reader is able to understand how important Grendel is in defining the humans. Grendel's first encounter with the human beings that he literally defines is not a pleasant one. After accidentally trapping himself in a tree he is discovered by a group of thanes out on patrol. Grendel expresses absolutely no hostile intentions towards these "ridiculous" (ch.2, pp.24) creatures that "moved by clicks." (ch.2, pp.24) The thanes do not understand what Grendel is and are very uneasy about the whole situation. Like animals they are frightened of anything that is different from what they are used to. When Grendel attempts to communicate they show their ignorance and simple-mindedness. Instead of taking the time to understand the anomaly in their world they panic and decide to destroy it. Without being able to view the story from Grendel's point of view the reader might assume that the humans had every right to attack. Another example of the same type of simple-mindedness is their second premature attack on Grendel. After hearing the shaper's words Grendel weeps, "'Mercy! Peac e!'"(ch.4, pp.50) in the hopes of salvation from the god of these men. The men, in a drunken state, merely misunderstand Grendel's intentions and attack him once again. Instead of killing the men, which would have been an easy task for the giant, Grendel escapes into the night. This action alone defines the men as the "beasts" and Grendel as the victim.

Pretty Babies, Child Beauty Pageants Essay

Many of us first learned about the world of child beauty pageants when a 5  ½ year old beauty queen named JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered the day after Christmas in 1996. The child was murdered in her Boulder Colorado home and found in the basement with her hands tied, her mouth duct taped, and her throat garroted. Her death was ruled strangulation but there was also blunt force trauma to her head as well as vaginal injury (Auge, Karen, par. 13-15). Her death brought these pageants into our minds, conversations and living rooms and many people were shocked to see a child of that age made up like an adult woman, some even said like a prostitute and accused the pageants of sexualizing her and the other children. Images and videos of JonBenet with her hair curled, teased, and sprayed, wearing heavy make-up and glamorous outfits were splattered across the newsstands and she pranced across our televisions winking, flirting and dancing. Any link of her death to the pageants is speculative since the murder remains unsolved, but many people could not help but wonder how safe it was for a child to be made a spectacle of in such a fashion. This past Monday would have been JonBenets 22nd birthday. Perhaps it is time that we as a society take a good look at child beauty pageants and decide what place if any they have in the future for our daughters. JonBenet was the daughter of a wealthy businessman named John Ramsey and his wife, a former Miss West Virginia 1977, Patsy. Patsy has since passed away but John Ramsey has written a book titled â€Å"The Other Side of Suffering† and in an interview with Nightline, John has expressed his regret that JonBenet participated in the pageants. He states in the interview â€Å"Only because- that possibly (the pageants) might have drawn attention to us. † â€Å"I don’t know. But- I think for- for advice to parents is just recognize that- regardless of where you live, there could be evil around you. And don’t be naive about it. And keep your kids protected† (Chang, par. 0). He wonders now about some of the public appearances JonBenet made and if the murderer was maybe in the audience. He says â€Å"Patsy had her sitting atop a friend’s convertible in the Christmas parade waving at people lining the streets. † â€Å"Patsy’s mother later told me that a strange man approached the car during the parade and it made her uncomfortable. I think about these things now and it makes me cringe. We were so naive. I now believe with all my heart that it is not a good idea to put your child on public display. (Chang, par. 7). His words give weight to the issue at hand and initially, it seems, many people felt the same way as child pageants took a financial hit as less people wanted to be associated with the â€Å"publicly tainted industry† (Friedman, par. 5). Fifteen years after the tragic death of JonBenet the pageants have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity (Friedman, par. 6) thanks in large part to the hit show on The Learning Channel, Toddlers & Tiaras. The show is immensely popular and is now in its fourth season (IMDB, 2012). Understanding, of course that this is a television show and not a documentary, that it has been edited for drama and to create what is commonly called â€Å"good television†, the show nonetheless gives a viewer a look inside this somewhat alien world. In his interview John Ramsey stated that he had never watched the show but had caught snippets that he finds disturbing. â€Å"It is very bizarre† he states â€Å"And, it certainly- Patsy and JonBenet didn’t approach it that way. We-they just did it for fun. †(Chang, par. 5). Will the parents or the pageant officials take heed? Or will the allure of glamour and profit make them justify their actions? Watching the television show you are immediately struck by one fact; this is a southern thing. To the people who do this, none of it is strange. In fact many of the parents were overjoyed to learn they were pregnant with girls and began to buy gowns before their babies were even born. One mother who has a boy and a girl stated that she had been very upset when she found out that she was pregnant with the boy until she found out that boys could participate in pageants as well. She even stated, on television, that she had only had children so she could put them in pageants. This would seem very strange to many people, but if you watch the show you will hear statements like this over and over, often in front of the children and always on camera (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012). What is apparent is that this is truly a culture. They call themselves â€Å"Pageant People† (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012) and this encompasses not only the contestants and their families but also the judges, pageant directors and announcers and the many, many service people used by the contestants from dress designers to make-up artists and hairstylists to spray tanners and waxers and many of the girls even get facials before a pageants even though their skin cannot possibly look much younger. The popularity of this television show is evident, anyone using a search engine that types in the name of the show will be directed to literally thousands of articles, opinion pieces and fan based websites as well as many spoofs of the show starring big names like Ashley Tisdale and Tom Hanks and has enjoyed the pinnacle of success in the eyes of many, satire on Saturday Night Live. But what about the tiny stars of the show? How safe are they? Is all of this good for them? Watching the show you will see a few kids and moms that seem almost normal, of course these people never get to be the stars. The stars are the children who are bratty, who throw temper tantrums, hit their parents, try to bite other kids and just generally misbehave. The mothers who get the most airtime are of course the ones who say the meanest and most bizarre things. Who treat their children like performing monkeys and seemingly will do anything to get their small progeny to perform on stage. It is remarkable to watch a child transform in just moments from a sparkling banshee into a sweetly smiling and composed young lady, or gentleman on stage. The majority of the children featured on Toddlers & Tiaras are little girls but there are a few boys featured as well. It seems unfortunate that the more poorly behaved the people on the show are the more they are rewarded with fame. One strange family has even got their own spin-off show called, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo (IMDB, 2012). The children often throw fits because they are being forced to do something they do not want to do. Over and over, in almost every episode the children state that they hate doing the beauty portion of the competition. For those unfamiliar with how things work it important to know that the beauty portion is the most important piece of the pageant where girls are judged on their poise, their attire, hair and make-up, and most of all their facial beauty. They are not really expected to perform at this stage of the pageant but only to walk slowly from mark to mark on the stage stopping briefly at each mark to spin and smile sweetly at the judges and the audience and slowly turn from side to side so that all spectators can take in their appearance. One little girl who was seven was criticized by a female judge for â€Å"having too much personality for beauty† although of the same girl a male judge stated that he â€Å"could not take my eyes off her†( Toddlers & Tiaras, season 4, 2012). The girl went on to win the biggest crown in the pageant and a contract with an agent. The judges of the pageants can often seem harsh and mark the children down for seemingly acceptable things for the contestants to do, given that most of the girls featured on the show are only between the ages of four and nine. A six year old was marked down because her ankle rolled. She was wearing high heels. A four year old was marked down because her fake teeth or â€Å"flipper† fell out during the beauty portion. Another girl was marked down for being too â€Å"fake†(?! ). And in one episode the little girls were competing for ten thousand dollars and some former contestants came out of retirement to compete. They were as old as twenty-one and some were doing very sexy dances; the male judge was obviously captivated and would not stop talking about the older contestants. A 20 year old won. Against little girls. (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012) You will see some moments on the show where the parents are caring and the children seem to be keeping the whole thing in perspective. One of the fathers, who has 3 children in the pageants does not allow his kids to be tanned or wear fake teeth and lashes and says some of it is â€Å"too far†. He also keeps the bills for the pageants a little lower by renting the dresses and says he preferred the natural pageants. Another one of the parents, this one a mother, laughed when her nine year old daughter’s hair fell down during the pageant, she told her she did â€Å"so good† and reassured her when she began to cry that it was okay. Then said she was just glad she got a crown (in many of the pageants every contestant gets some type of crown) and that she did not need to win the ultimate title and the little girl stated after she calmed down â€Å"win graciously, lose humbly†. Another little girl who won a high title stated that the title she had gotten was really good because â€Å"There’s a lot of girls here†¦ and they tried hard too†. One mother who had seemed very extreme during the beginning of the pageant seemed to have an epiphany at some point during the pageant and said that this would be her seven year old daughter’s last pageant and that her daughter was â€Å"beautiful on her own†. (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012). In one touching episode, a mother had only boys and it seemed that her six year old son and her had a very special relationship based on the pageants. The father, in spite of being supportive, was done with his son being in the pageants and wanted this to be his last one. The boy seemed happy to do the pageants and seemed to have a very special relationship with his mother. At the end of the show they were crying and hugging each other and it was actually hard not to be sad for them (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012) Most of the other parents are not like those ones and the majority of the scenes shown depict these women as bitter and jealous. The way they speak of the other children is disgraceful. They say mean things in front of their own kids about the other children, especially if the other children win and their daughter did not, like that the girl who won did not deserve it and often say that the pageant was unfair or rigged. One mom on the sidelines said about a girl on the stage â€Å"If she wins, she better go get some cellulite treatment done†(Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012). The little girls definitely pick up this cattiness from their mothers. Many times over these children say that they are better or prettier than the other girls. One six year old girl knew from her mother that one of the other girls was her biggest competition at the pageant. The other girl was well known for her continuing pacifier dependency and first girl said that she had a secret weapon for her opponent so she could beat her and held up a gag pacifier that had funny looking teeth on the front of it and then snickered. In one sad scene there were sister aged ten and eight who were competing in the same pageant, the eight year old stated that she was going to beat her sister and if her sister started crying she would â€Å"beat her to he ground†. When the older sister started to cry and said that it was because she was being mean the younger one told her to â€Å"Stop crying, you’re embarrassing me! † (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012). If you think the â€Å"tiger moms† would be less cruel to their own offspring you would learn that often that is not the case. Over and over when the children cry because they are hungry, tired, something being done to them hurts or they lost they are told not to cry because they are on camera or that the pageant is not over and their make-up will be ruined. One mom talking about her daughter said that she, the mom, had been better at cheerleading and that her daughter just can’t â€Å"get it† like her. Her daughter was nine. One child was forced to stop doing gymnastics because it was making her muscles too big for her costumes and her mother told her â€Å"that was sucky† when she came off stage. Over and over the children are cruelly disregarded or ignored when they state that they are in pain, feeling sick, hungry or tired. In a heart stopping scene a nine year old girl went missing in full hair and make-up and was no longer in the hotel. In every scene shown by the television show the mom was worried about her being late for her age line up and not concerned for her safety. Luckily, she was found in time, and her standing in the pageant was unaffected. That the girls often cry when they lose is no surprise when you take in that the mothers often cry or state they are going to throw up and berate their daughters for blowing on stage by forgetting to smile at the judges or forgetting part of their routine. The moms let their daughters know that they lost too if their crown is not big enough and does not come with a high title attached to it. The moms will tell their daughters who are smiling and holding a crown that they lost and the crown they have is for losers. One mom while sitting in the audience was â€Å"pissed† and going to cry and listed what the other little girls got and that her daughter didn’t get anything. No wonder the little girl had a tantrum and screamed that she wanted a crown (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012) Many of these mothers are, like Patsy Ramsey, former beauty queens themselves and will stop and nothing to ensure their daughters success in the pageant world. Sometimes it becomes so extreme that it makes the news. In 2011 ABC News did a story on a mom who gave her 8 year old daughter Botox injections because she had wrinkles (Hagan, Kunin and Ghebremedhin, par. 5). The mother was not a doctor but an esthetician, which is basically a beautician for the skin. She claims her daughter wanted to try it herself because her wrinkles bothered her. This is hopefully a rare case but more commonly these young children have their eyebrows waxed, they receive spray tans, even if they are African American or bi-racial. They have acrylic nails put on, they are fitted for fake teeth to go over their own teeth called flippers, they have hair extensions put in because often their baby fine hair either is not thick enough for the large hair-dos or not strong enough to take the heat and styling. Some of the girls have their hair bleached before a pageant. Sometimes these things hurt or are uncomfortable and the children complain. There seems to be a particular hatred amongst the little girls for the false eyelashes. Many of the girls scream and cry and beg to not have to wear them to no avail. These are typically services reserved for very high maintenance women and many adult women would not have the patience for them. The FDA has not done studies on the safety of these chemicals for use on children either. How does it feel to sit in make-up and hair for two hours for a child of say four? On pageant day the real magic begins. The girls are up early in the morning in their hotel rooms. They are fed breakfast and then the beauty regime begins. The pageants last all day and usually include several outfit changes and the performance of practiced routines. The girls, some very young, are not allowed to eat or nap so their hair and make-up do not become ruined. To make up for this, the moms have found some magic. On pageant day the girls have sugar cubes and Pixie Stix poured into their mouths all day long and are fed through a straw high caffeine and sugar drinks like Mountain Dew and some†¦ Red Bull energy drinks. There is some serious concern over the safety of these drinks (Ostrow, 2011). One mother asked her daughter before the pageant if she wanted to quit doing them. The girl nodded yes and the mom said â€Å" Let’s look at your crowns! Doesn’t that make you feel better? † (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012). One of the reasons many of the parents say they do it is often for the prizes, money, bonds and scholarships. Indeed, some of the pageants featured on the television show do boast some large prizes. But most of the parents admit that they have spent many times over what their child has received. Several of the moms admit to lying to their husbands about how much they spend and one single mom has moved in with her parents so they could continue to pay for pageants and it is common for the mothers to take a â€Å"pageant job† (Toddlers & Tiaras, 2009-2012) to cover some of the expenses. Some of the parents spend lavishly on the pageants. Many of the pageants have a top prize of only several hundred dollars yet the girls will show up in 2500$ dresses. In one episode two sisters have their very own trailer for pageant accessories that have their pictures emblazoned on the sides. One very enterprising mother has published a pageant book about her daughter, recorded a song and had a doll made in her daughters image. In an episode where they went to the Tonight Show she was saying how she was planning to get her daughter and agent and a two million dollar contract so she could quit her job and move to Hollywood. It seems as if the parents either have delusions about some pay off that will eventually come if they keep plugging away or they really have just found a very expensive habit that they justify for other reasons.

Diversity of People and Culture in Belize essays

Diversity of People and Culture in Belize essays The diversity found in the people of Belize today act as a link to the countrys history. During the last three thousand years Belize has endured many face lifts that makes Belize what it is today. Rich in several different cultures, languages, and history, Belize is truly a melting pot of culture on the Caribbean. The Mayans was an ancient Native American civilization in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. During the peak of their civilization between 250 B.C. and 900 A.D., the Maya built massive stone pyramids, temples, and sculptures, as well as achievements in mathematics, astronomy, and a complex system of symbols similar to that of Egyptian hieroglyphs. They developed a calendar system similar, but yet more precise than the one we use today. Its actually based on two calendars going simultaneously. One was the astronomical calendar that was comprised of eight-teen months in a year with each month having twenty days, all adding up to 360 days and an additional five days that were thought of being bad luck. The other was a sacred calendar based on twenty named days whose year was only 260 days. Every fifty-two years the two calendars meet at the same exact time, and this would be a very significant holiday for the M aya (Walker, 2004). At around 900 A.D., the Maya civilization suddenly and mysteriously started to decline, leaving only the remnants of the powerhouse they once were. They later reappeared in the north on the Yucatan Peninsula and continued to dominate the area until the Spanish conquest. A number of factors could contribute for the fall of the Maya, among some factors that have been suggested are natural disasters, disease, soil exhaustion due to slash and burn farming, or other agricultural problems. Social factors such as peasant revolts, internal warfare, and foreign invasions have been just a few that have been discussed ...

Advantages and Disadvantages of Networks Essays

Advantages and Disadvantages of Networks Essays Advantages and Disadvantages of Networks Paper Advantages and Disadvantages of Networks Paper Advantages and disadvantages of networks I’ll start by saying that setting up a network is a serious job and should be done only by a person that is already familiar with the process of networking. The variety of options for setting up a home network can influence on a decision regarding the equipment needed to be purchase. Before deciding what hardware to buy you must first find out which type of network technology to use (by type of network technology I mean the way computers connect to the network and communicate with each other). I personally have a home Local Area Network (LAN) connected through a cable modem router to my D-LINK DSL modem. Besides LAN I have two computers (notebook and PC) and they are both connected to a printer and scanner, so that I can print or scan anything in a second just with one click. In my opinion the best thing about having a network is to be able to play multiplayer games with my husband or the fact that I don’t need a separate Internet Connection for every computer (although there is a downside to this, because when I’m downloading something from internet, websites take too long to open if my husband is working on the other computer). I can share the one I have on all of them. There are some disadvantages as well. Sometimes it happens that the network simply gets lost and it takes hours to figure out what the problem is. But, when I sum everything up, I really can`t understand how I lived without network before, because now I am able to do almost everything without leaving my home. What is your opinion on this subject? You can write about some of your experiences that can be useful for showing the advantages and disadvantages of networks or about what is already known on this topic. In this essay we will talk about networks and the various ways in which they can be used. While talking about networks we will also discuss various advantages and disadvantages related to them. There are several ways you can connect your computers: cables through the house or office, wireless – by radio waves or by telephone lines. Each of these methods requires configuration of the connected computers so that they are able to share files, printers and internet connection. Setting up a computer to operate in a network is not difficult. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages and we pay attention to them. Advantage of wireless network is that you have the freedom to use the internet from any room in your house or office and more people can use the internet at the same time. The disadvantages are that sometimes a router can’t cover the area needed and it can become difficult to reach a signal. But the biggest disadvantage of wireless Internet is that your network will be available to everyone who is using a wireless router and can use your network to access the internet at any time. This is why this kind of network needs to be protected with a security password in order to prevent it. Advantages of computer networks are numerous, while disadvantages are almost minimal if the networking is done properly. With a small investment in computer network, a person or organization can get the most of computers and accessories they already own or plan to purchase. Division of all resources in a network is possible (internet connection, printers, scanners, fax modems, plotters, etc. ). This means that from each of the computers in the network, you can print anything on a printer that is connected to the network through one of the computers located in another room or in another table. With implementation of network you do not need to get internet connection for each computer separately. It is enough that one has it in order to share it with others. Any user on network will have access to the Internet. This means that this person can read and send letters and surf Internet (surfing is just an option; the system can be set for every user separately, so that users do not have direct access to the Internet). When you have multiple computers at home or at work, and you want to share among them Internet connection, files or playing games, the best thing is to connect them by network. If a network file server develops a fault on the other hand, then users may not be able to run application programs or a fault on the network can cause users to loose data (if the files aren’t saved). Sometimes it can happen that if the network stops operating, it may not be possible to access various resources. Users become dependent upon network and the skills of the systems manager and it is difficult to make the system secure from hackers. Networks that have grown with little thought can be inefficient in the long term; as traffic increases on a network, the performance degrades unless it is designed properly; resources may be located too far away from some users; the larger the network becomes, the more difficult it is to manage. But still setting up an office network it is actually worth a while because the benefits from the fact that it can save you money to the fact that you can this way improve business as well as the quality of services a firm has to offer. And all of the security issues and costs and staff skills, a person can, with combination of proper training and by setting up a proper security system, reduce all of this issues to minimum and you definitely have more advantages then disadvantages. You can use your network to share files, a printer or another peripheral device and Internet connection. In peer-to-peernetwork you can exchange files or informations directly user to user possible. All clients provide resources, bandwidth, storage space, and computing power to the system. This increases the total capacity of the system and enables faster files sharing in peer to peer network. Disadvantage of P2P network is that with ityou can easily catch viruses, spyware or some other kind of malware andmost files shared this way are in breach of copy right. It also eats up a lot of bandwidth and affects anything else you plan on doing on internet. The thing I appreciate the most when it comes to network is if you have to work on another computer that is sharing a network with your computer and you need to access some data on your computer, you can do it easily, provided that your computer is turned on. I would like to discuss more about office networks too. The advantages and disadvantages of using network in office can influence on our decision whether it is a good or bad for our business. If you, for example have multiple computers in an office and you dont have a network, it can end up being too expensive. With implementation of network you could simply network printer and share it. Response times is the most important thing is the hardware you are running, so you have to be sure to run a server on a good hardware, so you can assure improvement in quality and speed up the amount of daily work. Single points of failure could be reduced with a properly implemented backup system for example. This way the problem with lost data when server crashes will be minimized or completely eliminated. In today’s society, it is practically impossible not to use some kind of network. The great advantages such as shared printers or possibility of computers being managed centrally with the same software installed on each one (although looking from Bill Gates prospective this would probably be a disadvantage)or the fact that communication across the network is cheap and fast are making a lot of jobs easier nowadays. There are unfortunately a few disadvantages too. If the person that is implementing the network is not skilled, compatibility issues with different types of software running on the network could be a threat. Sometimes the maintenance can be expensive, or as you’ve mentioned a fault with the server can prevent the whole network from working. A lot of work must be put into security measures so that we can prevent access to our network, especially from crackers and viruses. I hope to hear soon from our two colleagues and I’m looking forward to hear their point of view.

Harrison Bergeron and real life

Harrison Bergeron and real life Character Similarities Kurt Vonnegut’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† tells a story about a fourteen year old â€Å"child† who is somewhat of a prodigy. In a world where people are held back because of their talents, and their intelligence is marred by the social rules of all people being the same, Harrison refuses to succumb to the pressure and wants to break free (Gelder, 2009).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† and real life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main character can be greatly compared to my cousin who is almost 20 years old. He is also a very talented person and likes music. His ear is very well adjusted to sounds and melodies, so when he hears some song or is creating some of his own, he is able to understand what is needed to fill in the gaps or make the melody more beautiful (Werlock, 2009). Another similarity between Kurt Vonnegut’s character a nd my cousin Phil is that they are both very analytical. Very often, I find Phil sitting behind his desk and writing out his thoughts. He seems to be eager to figure out what the world is, why people have lives and understanding. I find it his talent to have a â€Å"feeling† towards something. When he thinks about a problem, he does not use logic first. He comprehends the situation and listens to himself letting his inner self to tell him how he feels about a subject. It is interesting to note that he is not quite aware how this process takes place, but it is for certain that he is able to distinguish between useless and important information which later becomes key to a the problem at hand. He is also very knowledgeable of people’s psychology and inner desires, so when he thinks about someone he is able to discern the real behavior from fake one. I think that he has a gift of predicting certain things because all the problems that he encounters, he solves. As Harrison felt pushed down by the government, and prevented from reaching his goals and dreams, so does Phil. Sometimes, he engages in conversations with my father where they discuss why the government is so unwilling to allow people to reach their heights and become everything they can be. Often, they talk about conspiracies in educational institutions and work places, citing the fact that the information that is presented is purposefully faulty, and people are â€Å"dumbed down†, so that they show no resistance to the authority of the government. Phil always feels emotional and wants to change something. This is another similarity between Phil and Harrison Bergeron because they are both trying to change the world (Farrell, 2009). Phil is thinking about publishing a book, but it would be extremely difficult because the things that he wants to write are very controversial and challenging. He is sure that his greater purpose in life is to make the world better. His thoughts always revo lve around making people realize that whatever the governments or media say is not what is most valuable in life. He wants to bring people down to a more â€Å"natural† existence where there is greater interaction between people and the world.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The parallel between the two people, one fictional and one real is very obvious because both seem to function on a higher level. Nature is still a very mysterious thing, and it shows its power and secrets through people. References Farrell, S. (2009). Critical Companion to Kurt Vonnegut. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing. Gelder, G. (2009). The Very Best of Fantasy Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology. San Francisco, CA: Tachyon Publications. Werlock, A. (2009). Companion to Literature: Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.

Describe two companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe two companies - Essay Example Some of these competitors include: Metro Inc, Lablaw Brands Limited, Canada Safeway Limited and Ultima Foods Inc (Data Monitor, 2010). Empire Company Limited enjoys a strong industry position in the groceries and food distribution sector. For the financial year ending April 2009, the company was able to record revenue outcme of $256.1 million. This was an increase of approximately 6.8%. The increase was a major feat for the company considering the fact that other companies in the industry were struggling to stay afloat amid the financial crisis that was ongoing at the time. However, the company’s $4.7 million net profit was a dropped of 15.8% compared to the previous year (Newswire, 2010). Despite the fall in profits, the company still managed to beat most of its competitor’s in both net revenue and profit (Data Monitor, 2010). Companies are normally affected by changes which occur from time to time. In the case of Empire Company Limited, the major changes occurred in 2007 when Sobey’s was purchased by Empire Company Limited, making it a private entity. The retail grocery and food distribution industry in Canada is changing to accommodate the needs of the customer. To avoid being left behind, the empire Company Limited has put in place measures that will ensure that its future as a market leader is intact. It has enhanced its liquid investment portfolio to ensure that it achieves maximum yield and growth outcomes (Newswire, 2010). The company’s future goals for its food retail business are to enhance workforce management in a bid to improve store productivity. Based in Montreal, Canada, Metro Inc is one of the major public food retailers in the country. The company operates in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, where it is the second largest food retailer after Loblaw Companies Limited. In Quebec the company operates 243 stores and 135 in Ontario. The company also operates

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 19

Research paper - Essay Example The initial interaction of culture and marketing appears at this level where the language and symbols used must be meaningful to the market in question. It therefore follows that the marketer must use the symbols that are synonymous with the particular culture Bryan, (2013). Marketing does not only involve presenting a product to the consumer, but also entails designing the product to meet the customer’s wants. For a product to satisfy people, its design, style, use and any other marketing activities must be culturally acceptable. Culture features in all marketing activities ranging from promotion, pricing, distribution channels, packaging of products and styling. The interaction between market forces and the culture of the market is responsible for success in marketing. It’s important to note that the way in which human beings satisfy their wants, the amount of a commodity they consume and the way they consume the product is all a function of their culture. Marketers play two roles in a market. They extend all their efforts to satisfying the cultural demands in the market as well as act as agents of change whenever the idea or product marketed is innovative. The usage of a new product in a market is the beginning of change in the people’s traditions making the marketer an agent of change. It’s therefore very crucial for a marketer to study cultural differences between societies and identify the important aspects that he/she should focus on. The influence of culture on a market of commodities can be demonstrated by the examples below, Michael, (2007). According to Brian, culture affects nearly every portion of our lives from birth till death. These effects have very remarkable consequences in the market of products (2013). For example in Chinese culture, it’s considered to be good luck to be born in the â€Å"year of the dragon†. This leads to an increase of birthrates

What Should Be The Policy of The Social Network Based Corporations on Research Paper

What Should Be The Policy of The Social Network Based Corporations on The Use of Internet For Illegal or Criminal Activities - Research Paper Example It can be affirmed that a well-built or a relevant internet policy plays an essential role for an organization to protect credential information from any external threat. Moreover, the intermediaries associated with social media services also incorporate adequate provisions that ensure to prohibit users to practice different illegal activities. In relation to the present day context of rapidly growing vulnerabilities, the social networking service providers are likely to develop effective privacy policies to prevent users from being affected with the conduct of various criminal and unlawful activities.Moreover, the internet service providers in the global domain tend to adopt along with implement highly developed privacy policies concerning easy accessibility of internet usage due to growing vulnerabilities. In this regard, the internet policies of the global marketers highly incorporate strong regulations in order to protect information of the social media users along with their cre dentials from external threats.... ime, it has been witnessed that a growing number of unlawful or criminal activities by the users are performed through different social media and blogging internet sites. In this present day scenario, it can be viewed that the users often face certain threats while performing different activities in the online social media networks. In this regard, the organizations such as Google, Facebook and Twitters among others are highly focused on building strict policies in order to prohibit the conduct of various illegal activities associated with terrorism, sexual abuse and other similar practices through social networks. The security policies of the present social media websites ensure to keep the track of each user, regarding their posts along with comments made by their peers and other suspicious users. The provisions underneath the privacy policy of the aforesaid organizations also incorporate adequate measure concerning age, gender along with other determinant factors for reducing pote ntial hazards from the criminal issues. With respect to the policies associated with privacy of user contents, the organizations also tend to conduct user verification process in order to keep adequate safety of information along with personal contents. Moreover, the process also enables the organizations to prevent the conduct of illegal activities through the usage of internet medium (Vacca, 2012). 4. Government Policy Options With regard to determine the phenomenon of extensively growing number of social media users, the governmental policies along with the regulations can be apparently observed to frequently involve continuous development in protecting the abusive use of internet. The federal law associated with the use of internet comprises numerous policies that ensure effective use

Critical Thinking - Michael Alvarez Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Thinking - Michael Alvarez - Essay Example Students tend not to concentrate on their studies when they feel like aliens in a classroom (MacCorquodale, 1970). Therefore, it is essential for his educators to put him in a class where a majority of the learners are ELLs. This will improve his chances of learning. Students need rewards in order to appreciate what they are learning (MacCorquodale, 1970). Therefore, in order to make Alvarez complete his daily assignments, it is essential for his educators to frequently reward, not only Alvarez, but every student who complete their assignment successfully. Rewards not only refer to material things as, at times, psychological appreciation might help (Skinner, 1957). This will, in reality, gives Alvarez the feeling that he is doing the right thing by taking part in class activities. Michael’s parents, as well as his siblings, are the people who should positively shape Alvarez attitude. They should act in a manner that will enable Alvarez to gain respect of others (Skinner, 1957). Charity begins at home, and the way Alvarez family members behave is how he will behave. They should stress to their son the importance of education and try to support him whenever

Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Error Analysis and English Research Paper

Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Error Analysis and English Language Writing - Research Paper Example Formal class room learning of a second language presents many barriers to the learner because learner had already acquired his first language and uses it most effectively to communicate in the class room. This gives a psychological disadvantage to the learner clinching to and always ready to fall back on first language in case complex scenarios occur (Yule, 1985). Thus Steinberg (1982) argues that it is quite possible that second language learning process is accelerated if the learner is provided with an environment presenting stimuli through socialization with speakers of target language. Yule (1985) and Brown (1994) identified age as another barrier to second language acquisition (SLA), which they referred to as critical period. According to them, there is a certain age limit that allows a learner to demonstrate optimal language acquisition skill, beyond what is very difficult to learn another language. Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Different models and analytical approaches are employed by researchers in second language acquisition. This included the grammar translation method, the direct method, the audio-lingual approach and the communicative approach. Yule (1985) gives more importance to communicative approach due to its error tolerances. ... According to Lennon (1991), an error is "a linguistic form or combination of forms which in the same context and under similar conditions of production would, in all likelihood, not be produced by the speakers' native speakers’ counterparts". In the second language teaching/learning process the error has always been regarded as something negative which must be avoided. As a consequence, teachers have always adopted a repressive attitude towards it. On one hand, it was considered to be a sign of inadequacy of the teaching techniques and on the other hand it was seen as a natural result of the fact that since by nature we cannot avoid making errors we should accept the reality and try to deal with them. Fortunately, little by little the error has been seen from a different point of view being made obvious that we can learn from our mistakes. George (1972) is of the view that learners make errors in both comprehension and production, the first being rather scanty investigated. Ch ildren learning their first language, adult native speakers, and second language learners; they all make errors which have a different name according to the group committing the error. Children's errors have been seen as "transitional forms", the errors by native speaker are called "slips of the tongue" and the second language errors are considered unwanted forms. 2.4 Background of Error Analysis Earlier in 1960’s, behaviorist theory formed the basis of second language acquisition, which weighed language acquisition not more than just acquiring set of new language skills. For a considerable period, linguistic research focused on interference of learner’s first language with acquisition of second language. Thus researchers used contrastive analysis to predict the areas that need attention

Advanced Sport Management 2 (soccer) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advanced Sport Management 2 (soccer) - Essay Example about the specificity of sport (Weatherill, 2003; 2004), despite their repeated claims that EU institutions are failing to fully recognise the specific nature of sport. Specificity of sport was conceptualised when the UEFAs Executive Committee has approved a document in 2006 presented by the European team sport organisations to the French Presidency of the European Union. Here, the European Commission was asked to finally implement the most effectual means of recognising the specificity of sport within a clear lawful basis. It further states that it should be in accordance with the principles set out in the document, and in juxtaposition with team sport federations. During the meeting set in Vienna, the document was given a go signal by the committee. It holds that the European Council should confirm its steadfast obligation to implementing a concrete definition of the specificity of sport. The European Council, the Executive Committee agreed, declared its unanimous support for the principle of dual-career training for young sportspersons and the concept of minimum numbers of home-grown (locally trained) players, or similar policies, in professiona l teams squads (Arnaut, 2006). Because of sport’s specific nature, it should not be regarded less, thus, it should be set apart from the other fields of business activity. This is why the Nice Declaration was signed recognising the important role of sport in the social, educational and cultural functions. In the declaration, such features must be taken into account when European Community law is applied. Furthermore, it recognises that solidarity between amateur or professional levels is a fundamental aspect of sport. With all of its significance, the independent nature of sports bodies should be supported and protected so that there would be autonomy to organise the sports for which they are responsible. The Declaration further confirms that it is the federation that should continue to be the key form of sporting

Critical Thinking - Michael Alvarez Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Thinking - Michael Alvarez - Essay Example Students tend not to concentrate on their studies when they feel like aliens in a classroom (MacCorquodale, 1970). Therefore, it is essential for his educators to put him in a class where a majority of the learners are ELLs. This will improve his chances of learning. Students need rewards in order to appreciate what they are learning (MacCorquodale, 1970). Therefore, in order to make Alvarez complete his daily assignments, it is essential for his educators to frequently reward, not only Alvarez, but every student who complete their assignment successfully. Rewards not only refer to material things as, at times, psychological appreciation might help (Skinner, 1957). This will, in reality, gives Alvarez the feeling that he is doing the right thing by taking part in class activities. Michael’s parents, as well as his siblings, are the people who should positively shape Alvarez attitude. They should act in a manner that will enable Alvarez to gain respect of others (Skinner, 1957). Charity begins at home, and the way Alvarez family members behave is how he will behave. They should stress to their son the importance of education and try to support him whenever

Advanced Sport Management 2 (soccer) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advanced Sport Management 2 (soccer) - Essay Example about the specificity of sport (Weatherill, 2003; 2004), despite their repeated claims that EU institutions are failing to fully recognise the specific nature of sport. Specificity of sport was conceptualised when the UEFAs Executive Committee has approved a document in 2006 presented by the European team sport organisations to the French Presidency of the European Union. Here, the European Commission was asked to finally implement the most effectual means of recognising the specificity of sport within a clear lawful basis. It further states that it should be in accordance with the principles set out in the document, and in juxtaposition with team sport federations. During the meeting set in Vienna, the document was given a go signal by the committee. It holds that the European Council should confirm its steadfast obligation to implementing a concrete definition of the specificity of sport. The European Council, the Executive Committee agreed, declared its unanimous support for the principle of dual-career training for young sportspersons and the concept of minimum numbers of home-grown (locally trained) players, or similar policies, in professiona l teams squads (Arnaut, 2006). Because of sport’s specific nature, it should not be regarded less, thus, it should be set apart from the other fields of business activity. This is why the Nice Declaration was signed recognising the important role of sport in the social, educational and cultural functions. In the declaration, such features must be taken into account when European Community law is applied. Furthermore, it recognises that solidarity between amateur or professional levels is a fundamental aspect of sport. With all of its significance, the independent nature of sports bodies should be supported and protected so that there would be autonomy to organise the sports for which they are responsible. The Declaration further confirms that it is the federation that should continue to be the key form of sporting

The Origin Of Money And Banking Essay Example for Free

The Origin Of Money And Banking Essay Origin of Money. Origin of Banking Money did not develop spontaneously at the same time across the world. It has evolved and developed gradually over the past 5,000 years   till it develops into the various forms in which we now know it today. It has assumed different unfamiliar shapes, structures, recognized in certain objects   in whatever communities where it had been used as a medium of exchange before transforming into the present universally acceptable coins, bank notes, and now the â€Å"cashless society† where credits can be accessed with mere presentation of plastic cards, or use of telephone to obtain money from a bank. Indeed the origin of money and banking had come a long way, and this is exactly what this paper is out to explore. According t, Gly Davies, (2002),   Money originated very largely from non-economic causes: from tribute as well as from trade, from blood-money and bride-money as well as from barter, from ceremonial and religious rites as well as from commerce, from ostentatious ornamentation as well as from acting as the common drudge between economic men.   [1] The barter system is the system that has sustained mankind before the evolution of money. But this was discarded because of its complexities and inconveniences.   So the use of money developed out of deeply rooted needs for a more convinient medium of exchange and to some extent customs; the clumsiness of barter provided an economic impulse but that was not the primary factor. The evolution of money had seen it taken different nature, various forms of tools and objects. For example, various precious metals had been accepted and used as money in primitive communities, Also, cowrie shells obtained in some island in the Indian Ocean. In the words of Davies (2002) quoted above, . So important a role did the cowrie play as money in ancient China that its pictograph was adopted in their written language for money.[2] Even in most communities in West Africa used this medium of currency until the recent times. In Nigeria, the cowrie was in use till even the recent decades. Also in China, disc shaped stones were used, and this is known as yap. In variuos other communities in objects like sheep, goat, cattle, manillas, and whale teeth were once used as money. China and some European countries had also produced metal coins in some other forms of objects like spade, hoe, and knives, and they had long been accepted as currencies in their communities. Most archeologies suggested that coins and metal money evolved at the end of the second millenium. The same time that the European coins evolved too. The ancient Greeks used iron nails as coins. Even Julius Ceasar had to taunt the primitive Britons as backward for using sword blades as coins. The invention and modernization of money makes trading and commerce easier. With money, all prices can be expressed in the same way, in terms of how much money is needed to buy the product. The unit of money becomes the measuring stick of value, or what economists call the standard of value. With money, making choices, becomes easier. ORIGIN OF BANKING. According to the account of   Benjamin Bromberg, (1942), he traced the origin of banking to ancient Babylon, in the city of Mesopotamia, where the royal palaces and temples provided safety and security for keeping grains and other commodities. Receipts were issued for all such goods deposited. Even private houses got involved in such banking operations that laws regulating their activities was included in code of Hammurabi.[3] Also, in Egypt, the centralization of state warehouses also led to a ststem of banking. In the view of morris Jatrow (1911), It is believed that the temple is the first bank in the whole world. It has noble existence for about four thousand years. However, its exact financial record did not date beyound the reign of Sabuis (1884-1831)[4] The kept record of payment of tithes, and every revenue from other cities. [1] Davies, Gly . History of Money. From the Ancient Times to the Present Day. Cardif: University of Wales Press. 2002. Pp. 36. [2] Ibid. Pp 36. [3]Benjamin Bromberg,   The Origin of Banking: Religious Finance in Babylonia. The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (May, 1942), pp. 77 [4] Jastrow Morris, Aspects of Religious Believe and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria. New York: Princeton Publishers. 1911. Pp 277.

Relationship Between Doubt And Knowledge Philosophy Essay

Relationship Between Doubt And Knowledge Philosophy Essay Doubt is the key to knowledge (Persian Proverb). To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge? Some definitions of doubt emphasize the state in which the mind remains suspended between two contradictory propositions and unable to assent to either of them. Doubt makes us aware and allows us to assess the reliability of the source of knowledge we are using. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived reality, and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for mistakes or faults or appropriateness. The concept of doubt covers a range of phenomena: one can characterize both deliberate questioning of uncertainties and an emotional state of indecision as doubt. Doubt could be the key to knowledge but till it doesnt make the person reject everything he discovers. For example, if I doubt that I am going to flunk in IB then it is not a serious key to knowledge. If this motivates you and makes you study like mad then it is. If it discourages you then it is not. So, doubt is only a key to knowledge under certain circumstances. Moreover, there is always the danger of skepticism, that endless tendency to doubt and question. Regarding to skepticism and doubt it should be mentioned that regarding to Cartesian skepticism there is an aim to eliminate every belief that could be doubted and so Descartes keeps only the basic beliefs from which he will gain further knowledge. So doubt is the key to knowledge under certain circumstances. Doubt makes us aware and allows us to assess reliability of the source of knowledge we are using. In Science this means questioning things (attempt to falsify). Every discovery begins with a point for doubt. We see and perceive the world with the help of our senses but we dont know what is real. Natural Sciences are a quite reliable body of human knowledge, exactly because it is based on experiments and proof and has at its base the scientific method. In order to test the doubts and lead to a conclusion we follow a scientific method. First of all we ask a question which is associated with the doubt that we have and want to investigate. Then we evaluate information and so we are led to form a hypothesis. After that, we test our hypothesis with the help of an experiment in order to justify our doubt or not. In the end we observe what happened in the experiment and we draw a conclusion by either justifying our doubt or rejecting it. Avogadro, who was a scientist having studied mathemati cs and science, proposed his now famous hypothesis that equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure, contain equal numbers of molecules   and made the distinction between atoms and molecules, which today seems clear. However, Dalton rejected Avogadros hypothesis because Dalton believed that atoms of the same kind could not combine. Since it was believed that atoms were held together by an electrical force, only unlike atoms would be attracted together, and like atoms should repel. Therefore it seemed impossible for a molecule of oxygen, O2, to exist. Avogadros work, even if it was read appears not to have been understood, and was pushed into the dark recesses of chemistry libraries and ignored. In Science we can never be 100% confident in our results because during investigations many errors can occur and thats why doubting is legitimate in science. There might be some possible errors in the application of the scientific method (errors due to instruments, biases, problems of deduction/induction) which may lead to a weird result of an experiment and this would be confirmed by repeating the experimental procedure. A personal example is that in Chemistry class we had to observe water transport in a celery stalk. Due to a mistake in the method that we followed (we didnt stop the timer in the right time but later) the results came out to be strange and wrong. So, we had to repeat the investigation in order to be more accurate with time and therefore gain the results that we expect. In an IB Biology class the aim of the investigation was to see whether there is an effect of varying concentration of a certain sugar solution on the amount of osmotic activity between the solution and a potato chip of given size or not. So, we followed a certain method and then we proved that our doubt, which was that the lower concentration of the sugar solution in the beaker the larger the mass of the potato will be, was justified. This is a hypothesis not a doubt. It looks like a doubt though. This example makes us understand the fact that we cannot reach a point where everything important in a scientific sense is known because through the doubts we investigate and find everyday new things that provide us knowledge. All the above points are associated with theories that are provisional. Provisional theories are theories that are accepted until we reach a point where we reject them. What leads us to the point of rejection is doubt. Moreover, it should be mentioned that similar to provisional theories is falsification. Falsification is again based on doubt. Falsification includes theories that are provisional and need justifications and evidence in order to prove the doubt or not. At that point it should be mentioned an example of Paradigm shift which means that some established theories that were doubted have been revised. Paradigm shift is a term used by Thomas Kuhn to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. An application of Paradigm shift can be seen in the natural sciences and is the acceptance of Charles Darwins theory of natural selection replaced Lamarckism as the mechanism for evolution. Gregory Mendel, before he demonstrated the whole issue for monohybrid crosses he doubted it and made a falsification. His theory was seen as a provisional explanation but after he gained evidence by crossing varieties of pea plants which had different characteristics, he demonstrated his theory which is left in the history of science as Mendels Monohybrid Crosses. In conclusion for one more time this example shows that doubt is the key to knowledge. In Mathematics like in other subjects, we built on things that we previously learned or proved. We built on axioms which are self-evident statements. We take axioms without question and from these we can use the rules of logic to work out problems. An example of an axiom is that, an odd number is a number which can be written as 2n + 1, where n is a whole number. We could not gain knowledge if we have doubt on a fundamental assumption. On the contrary some theorists believe that having no doubt can lead to error in some cases. They believe that a little sense of doubt can mean that someone is open-minded and can gain further knowledge. But in pure mathematics, everything (logic, axioms, mathematical structureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) is within the laws and conventions. Everything is deductively reasoned, and once something is proved, it is true no matter that space and time. Therefore, doubt in mathematics is not necessarily the key to knowledge. But again sometimes depends on how we define doubt. If we for example doubt that something in mathematics missing and trying to find it, we will certainly bring the development of the knowledge. One such example is Godels Incompleteness Theorem. Kurt Gà ¶del is most famous for his second incompleteness theorem, and many people are unaware that, important as it was and is within the field of mathematical logic and beyond, this result is only the middle movement, so to speak, of a metamathematical symphony of results stretching from 1929 through 1937. These results are: the Completeness Theorem; the First and Second Incompleteness Theorems; and the consistency of the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis (GCH) and the Axiom of Choice (AC) with the other axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. The first incompleteness theorem states that no consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an effective procedure (essentially, a computer program) is capable of proving all facts about the natural numbers. For any such system, there will always be statements about the natural numbers that are true, but that are improvable within the system. The second incompleteness theorem s hows that if such a system is also capable of proving certain basic facts about the natural numbers, then one particular arithmetic truth the system cannot prove is the consistency of the system itself. Pythagoras theorem based on trigonometry was firstly demonstrated by Euclidis, a famous mathematician in Ancient Greece but because of his sudden death another couple doubted about the context of the theorem and therefore they reconstructed his theory centuries after his death. This example shows us that doubt is the key to knowledge since the couple guided by their doubt continued the theory and therefore expanded the mathematical knowledge. Cartesian doubt is methodological. Its purpose is to use doubt as a route to certain knowledge by finding those things which could not be doubted.] The fallibility of sense data in particular is a subject of Cartesian doubt. There is a debate on whether doubt in Ethics can or cannot be a key to knowledge. Critic and doubt in ethics examine our decisions in our everyday life and our actions from private and personal to public and political. Sometimes doubt in ethics tries to provide us with a guide for moral decisions and generally choices. Ethical axioms are tested not very differently to the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of time. As an example, let us suppose that abortion on demand is wrong. We want to collect relevant evidence and information to test whether our belief is reasonable and valid. One way to justify our belief is to say that abortion is wrong because abortion is murder and so murder is wrong too. Of course I should demonstrate the truth of the fact that abortion and murder are wrong and therefore to suggest that abortion which is wrong is true because the baby is alive and murder occurs since the life is taken unnecessarily. The philosopher Kant has worked with Ethics and doubt and has claimed that in order to judge an act, we should first consider what principle governs the act and to imagine what would happen if someone obeyed the principle. Kant also suggests that we judge on whether the act is good not by seeing if it produced good effects but by seeing if a consistent world is produced. Moreover another point that should be mentioned on ethics and doubt is the ethical theories. Philosophers came up with theories that help a person to define morally right behaviors. One such theory is the Deontological theory which says that people have a duty to refrain from actions that this duty will be determined by the nature of the action itself, therefore individuals should perform their duties regardless of the consequences, individuals have a duty to refrain from bad behavior and the bad behavior will be determined by the nature of the action. This theory can be applied to real-life situations where individu als have the option of doing right or wrong. The individuals should refrain from the bad behavior no matter which the consequences are. In both areas of knowledge we justify the fact that doubt is not always the key to knowledge. Actually in the second area of knowledge (mathematics), we observed that doubt can be a key to knowledge regarding to the definition that we give to doubt as a word. Therefore the starting statement of the essay, whether doubt is the key to knowledge is right but it should also be added under certain circumstances. What we would do overall is first of all not to doubt everything around us because on the one hand we gain knowledge from doubt but on the other hand, some things are deductively reasoning and once they have been proved, they are true for all time regardless of space and time. Word Count:2.079

The Future Of Intelligence :: essays research papers

An argument between two scientists ,one of them wanting to alter ageing in humans ,and generating life into a controlled environment: A* well, that was in 2000 wasn’t it? But they could not see this happening †¦it was debated, but legalized in 2004. But this is outrageous. C* I haven’t slept for the last 89 hours†¦and I don’t feel numb†¦ A* But how long will it go on ? Will there be any more children ? Would any one want them? Will it end? People may live but will the earth live as long as them†¦.? C* That is true†¦the people will live as long as they desire. They will die only when they wish to ,by damaging their own organs and not replacing or implanting newly made ones into themselves . Children will come only when anyone wants them. The idea of marriage will be lost as any person will be able to create for himself , what I would call a ‘sex object’ which could be a person of desired characteristics based on the desire of the user. the user will then be able to program his own psyche to develop varied sexual interest after introspective moments where he studies his requirements and selects his mood. He will be able to accelerate the growth of this object to feed his hunger If he does change this desire , his earlier sexual interests will be wiped out of his memory ,thus rejuvenating him and urging him to carry on . this would cause a large portion of people to become anti-social and they will draw into reticence . But then , they will be those who will program their minds to make them want to convince people that they should live in harmony and coexist together. They will form societies preaching the lack of communication amongst each other. These societies will have leaders who will play the same role that the pope did in 2000 ,when dolly was cloned . Thus, at the organisational level , life on eath will be same as what it was in 2000 ,or for that matter in any age you wish to consider . A* But then , what reason will people have to live ? What purpose will they define ? C* You cannot imagine this society with same intent as that which was there in earlier years. People will bear relatively same feeling but will have different forms of expression .

Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product Essay -- Business Manageme

Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product: A massive sports store selling Manchester united. Introduction Marketing Strategic marketing: defined by Stevens, Loudon, Wrenn, and Warren (1997). ‘Consisting of the complete plan for the accomplishments of the organisation’s mission statements and stated objectives’ And by Hiebing and Cooper (1995) ‘Marketing strategy is a statement detailing how an individual marketing objective will be achieved, and describes the method for accomplishing the objective’ Whereas market strategies are a system designed to help make the decisions that will create a fit between your organisations goals and resources and changing market opportunities’ (Gray 1991). Manchester United: A massive and possibly the richest club in world football today, Started off in 1878, as a small town club originally called ‘Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Newton Heath’. Became professional in 1885 and adopted Manchester United in 1905. Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product: * Hugely Successful European football team. * A massive sports store selling Manchester united products (e.g. football’s boots, lunchboxes team kits etc...). * The personal images of being a winning team so making the supporters believe they are winners. * The game experience including, food, drink, entertainment before and at half time and the match). * Images of idols. E.g. idol to kids is Wayne Rooney, older generation Bobby Charlton or Eric Cantona. * M.U.T.V. A television station on sky giving fans an insider’s view to the clubs history, present and future goings on. * M.U. finance. A selection of credit cards, insurances, savings, mortgages and loans. * M.U.... ...n to ensure compatibility of its recommendations with EU law. Strengths †¢ Large Fan base †¢ Large facilitated club stadium †¢ Constant income from tickets to kits to insurance †¢ Have partnerships with major brands such as Nike, Vodaphone and Budweiser. Weaknesses †¢ Many fans live abroad and cannot attend games regularly †¢ Are Manchester’s products such as insurance market orientated? †¢ Losing fans to Chelsea Opportunities †¢ To gain the fan base of USA and parts of Asia †¢ partnerships could lead to bigger market share †¢ Young idols appearing which most kids want to copy. E.g. Wayne Rooney †¢ Wage cap means some clubs can’t afford certain players †¢ Team can attract big name players Threats †¢ Chelsea †¢ Peter Kenyon's move to Chelsea †¢ Real Madrid's control over Asia †¢ No longer having David Beckham †¢ Britain’s economic slow down Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product Essay -- Business Manageme Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product: A massive sports store selling Manchester united. Introduction Marketing Strategic marketing: defined by Stevens, Loudon, Wrenn, and Warren (1997). ‘Consisting of the complete plan for the accomplishments of the organisation’s mission statements and stated objectives’ And by Hiebing and Cooper (1995) ‘Marketing strategy is a statement detailing how an individual marketing objective will be achieved, and describes the method for accomplishing the objective’ Whereas market strategies are a system designed to help make the decisions that will create a fit between your organisations goals and resources and changing market opportunities’ (Gray 1991). Manchester United: A massive and possibly the richest club in world football today, Started off in 1878, as a small town club originally called ‘Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Newton Heath’. Became professional in 1885 and adopted Manchester United in 1905. Marketing Mix for Manchester United Product: * Hugely Successful European football team. * A massive sports store selling Manchester united products (e.g. football’s boots, lunchboxes team kits etc...). * The personal images of being a winning team so making the supporters believe they are winners. * The game experience including, food, drink, entertainment before and at half time and the match). * Images of idols. E.g. idol to kids is Wayne Rooney, older generation Bobby Charlton or Eric Cantona. * M.U.T.V. A television station on sky giving fans an insider’s view to the clubs history, present and future goings on. * M.U. finance. A selection of credit cards, insurances, savings, mortgages and loans. * M.U.... ...n to ensure compatibility of its recommendations with EU law. Strengths †¢ Large Fan base †¢ Large facilitated club stadium †¢ Constant income from tickets to kits to insurance †¢ Have partnerships with major brands such as Nike, Vodaphone and Budweiser. Weaknesses †¢ Many fans live abroad and cannot attend games regularly †¢ Are Manchester’s products such as insurance market orientated? †¢ Losing fans to Chelsea Opportunities †¢ To gain the fan base of USA and parts of Asia †¢ partnerships could lead to bigger market share †¢ Young idols appearing which most kids want to copy. E.g. Wayne Rooney †¢ Wage cap means some clubs can’t afford certain players †¢ Team can attract big name players Threats †¢ Chelsea †¢ Peter Kenyon's move to Chelsea †¢ Real Madrid's control over Asia †¢ No longer having David Beckham †¢ Britain’s economic slow down