Thursday, October 3, 2019

Online Politeness Strategies Used By Malaysians Cultural Studies Essay

Online Politeness Strategies Used By Malaysians Cultural Studies Essay This study aims to investigate the politeness and the related strategies used by Malaysian chatters in the conversations of online setting. Chat room messages are spontaneous and instantly visible, making it similar to the daily natural-occurring discourse. For this study, Yahoo chat rooms have been chosen to evaluate the pattern of politeness strategies used by most Malaysians. This study examines 20 written conversations or messages in Yahoo chat rooms. The data were collected by logging in into Yahoo Messenger, and into one of the many chat rooms that has been featured. The conversation or messages written by the Malaysian chatters in the chat rooms were then copied and saved. The data were then analyzed by referring to Brown and Levinsons theory of politeness strategy (1987). Based on Brown and Levinsons model of politeness strategy (1987), the politeness strategies used in daily conversations to reduce Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) are grouped into four main strategies which are Bald on Record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, and Off-the-Record. The results of the analysis show that positive politeness strategy is most widely used by Malaysian chatters in the Yahoo chat rooms. It may happen because the conversation is in the form of sharing where chatters reveal stories about themselves or state their opinion about something. Most chatter interacts with each other to share their experiences or stories among themselves. In this case, S satisfies Hs positive face by giving gift, not only in the form of thing, but human-relation that wants to be liked, admired, care about, understood, listened to, etc. Therefore, it is proved that even in this faceless community, people still want to be liked and admired. They also want to share and be able to understand each others feelings and thoughts even when they are not communicating face-to-face. 1.0. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A chat room is part of a Web site, or part of the online services such as the Yahoo chat rooms, that provides a venue for communities of users around the world with a common interest to communicate in real time. It is indeed a common fact that each human has the need to communicate with others. Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meanings in an attempt to create shared understanding, considering that both the speaker and hearer should hold to general rules or principles and thereby use certain strategies. An often used strategy to achieve this is known as politeness (Renkema, 1993).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leech (1983) defines politeness as a form of behavior that establishes and maintains comity, that is, the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in an atmosphere of relative harmony. Brown and Levinson (1987) suggest politeness as a compensation action taken to counter-balance the disruptive effect of face-threatening acts (FTAs). In addition, they also describe Face Threatening Acts as acts that infringe on the hearers need to maintain his/her self-esteem and be respected (Brown and Levinson, 1987).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Brown and Levinson, politeness strategies are developed in order to save the hearers face. Face refers to a speakers sense of linguistic and social identity, which is defined as the public self-image that every member (of the society) wants to claim for himself (Brown and Levinson, 1987).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     However, this linguistic aspect occurs in the verbal communication of the real conversation not only in the real world but also in the cyber world. Nowadays, since technology has developed rapidly, people can communicate with others using many kinds of media. One of the technologies used widely by the society of the world is the internet. The internet is a system that has revolutionized visual, oral, written communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. Therefore, it is now possible for people to communicate visually, orally, and in written form by using their Personal Computer and Internet modem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To communicate in the written form via the internet, people can use the facilities which are called e-mail and chat. Chat or chatting via the internet is a real-time communication between two or more users via computer and the users are popularly-known as chatters. Most networks and online services offer a chat feature. One of the common and popular internet facilities for chatting is the Yahoo Messenger chat room. Yahoo Messenger is one of the internet free facilities which can be accessed by many internet users that have a Yahoo account. On-line chat-channels or rooms in Yahoo Messenger have become a popular environment for meeting new people and for general conversations. These chat-channels are comparable to real-life situations where participants interact at the same time spontaneously and often in the same spatial environment. The same conversational rules are adhered to both in chat-channel conversations and in face-to-face interaction. However, some specific features of chat-channel conversation, such as the politeness strategies, might be different from those we meet outside the cyberspace, where a face-to-face interaction would occur. Thus, this study aims to explain the politeness strategies used by Malaysian chatters in Yahoo Messenger chat rooms through observation and analysis. 2.0. Literature Review. At the same time as supporting renewed interest in Grices Cooperative Principles (1975), the issue of politeness has become one of the most active areas of research in language use (Chen, 2001). Studies from Brown Levinson (1978, 1987) and Scollon and Scollon (1995) have aroused increased attention in the study of politeness. The face theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987) serves as the most influential theory on politeness. It plays a leading role in the study of speech acts (Ji, 2000; Hobbs, 2003). Brown Levinsons face theory contains three basic notions: face, face threatening acts (FTAs) and politeness strategies. 2.1. Politeness Politeness is an aspect of pragmatics in that its use in language is determined by an external context. This external context is the context of communication, which is determined by the social status of the participants. Politeness is a system used by the speaker in order to keep up to the addressees expectations. According to Grundy (1995: 135) the determiners of the need to use politeness strategies are distance, power and imposition. Imposition covers every action (including speech acts) which threatens the addressees autonomy and freedom of action and usually is conveyed in the form of an order. On the other hand, power is evaluated in terms of numerous factors such as position in society and age whereas distance implies the evaluation of the others place in the world, degree of familiarity and/or solidarity towards the addressee. The politeness systems theory advocated by Scollon and Scollon (1995) is also noteworthy in this field. They observe three politeness systems which are the deference politeness system, the solidarity politeness system and the hierarchical politeness system. The distinction of the three systems is mainly based on whether there exists power difference (+P or -P) and on the social distance between the interlocutors (+D or -D). The deference politeness system is one in which participants are considered to be equals or near equals but treat each other at a distance (e.g. classmates). In a solidarity politeness system, the speakers may feel neither power difference (-P) nor social distance (-D) between them (e.g. friends). The hierarchical politeness system may be widely recognized among companies, government and educational organizations, in which the speakers resort to different politeness strategies. 2.3. Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) Every utterance is potentially a face threatening act (FTA), either to the negative face or to the positive face. Therefore, people need to employ politeness strategies to redress the FTA. According to Brown and Levinson, Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) are acts that infringe on the hearers need to maintain his/her self esteem. If we do or are about to threaten someones positive or negative face, but do not mean it, we need to minimize it by applying politeness strategies. There are four polite strategies; Bald on Record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, and Off-the-Record (as suggested by Brown and Levinson, 1987). 2.4. Politeness Strategy According to Brown and Levinson (1987), politeness strategies are developed to save the hearers face. Face refers to the respect that an individual has for him or herself, and maintaining that self-esteem in public or in private situations. Their notions of face is derived from that of Goffman (1967, as cited in Brown and Levinson 1987) and from the English folk term, which is related to notions of being embarrassed or humiliated, or losing face. Brown and Levinson stated that there are two types of face in an interaction which are positive and negative face. A persons positive face is the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated by members of the same group, and to know that his or her wants are shared by others. Whereas a persons negative face is the need to be independent, to have freedom of action and not to be imposed on by others (Yule, 1996).  Ã‚   In the bald on record strategy, the speaker provides no effort to minimize threats to the other persons face. The prime reason for its usage is that whenever a speaker (S) wants to do the FTA with maximum efficiency more than he wants to satisfy the hearers (Hs) face, even to any degree, he will chose bald on record strategy (Brown and Levinson, 1987: 95). There are, however, different kinds of bald on record usage in different circumstances, because S can have different motives for his or her wanting to do the FTA with maximum efficiency. It is divided into two classes which are cases of non-minimization of FTA and cases of FTA-oriented bald on record usage. On the other hand, in cases of FTA-oriented bald on record, the use of this strategy is more oriented to the face. In other words, it is used where face involves mutual orientation, so that each participant attempts to predict what the other participant is attempting to foresee. For in certain circumstances it is reasonable for S to assume that H will be especially worried with Hs potential violation or Ss maintaining. There are three functional categories or areas where we expect the pre-emptive invitations to occur in all languages (which are potential to FTA): The positive politeness strategy is usually seen in groups of friends, or where people in the given social situation know each other fairly well. It usually tries to minimize the distance between them by expressing friendliness and solid interest in the hearers need to be respected. The only feature that distinguishes positive politeness compensation from normal everyday intimate language behavior is an element of exaggeration. There are fifteen sub-strategies that are used in positive politeness strategies: Negative politeness is defined as a redressive action addressed to the addressees negative face: his want to have his freedom of action unobstructed and his attention unrestricted (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Negative politeness strategy recognizes the hearers face, but it also recognizes that the speaker is in some way forcing on them. Some of the sub-strategies of negative politeness are: According to Brown and Levinson (1987), a communicative act is done off-record if it is done in such a way that it is not possible to attribute only one clear communicative intention to the act. Thus, if a speaker wants to do an FTA, but wants to avoid the responsibility for doing it, he can do it off-record and leave it up the addressee to decide how to interpret it. Some sub-strategies of off-record: The research design of this study was descriptive qualitative. The data or the information were reported and described as the way they were, therefore any content of the information were not changed for the sake of the originality of the data required. The technique used, as in most descriptive research, was the observation technique, since it could exactly describe how the chatters responded directly to other chatters in the chat room. After being connected to the internet, a yahoo messenger window was opened. After approximately two hours of chatting with friends and strangers, all the written conversations were then copied and saved. Next, the data were printed out and analyzed. A document analysis was used because the data were in the form of written or visual material. While collecting the data, interpreting and analyzing them also took place. The data were classified according to the FTA contained in it. In this case, it was about what kind of politeness strategy used by the chatters, whether they were bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, or off-record based on Brown and Levinsons theory. After that, the data were described more specifically according to the chosen strategy. From table 2, it can be seen that in the chatting conversation, Malaysian chatters used many variations of Positive Politeness strategy. Based on the results of this study, it is clear that Give gifts to H is frequently used by the chatters (23.6%). It may happen because the conversation is in the form of sharing where chatters reveal stories about themselves or state their opinion about something. Most chatter interacts with each other to share their experiences or stories among themselves. In this case, S satisfies Hs positive face by giving gift, not only in the form of thing, but human-relation that wants to be liked, admired, care about, understood, listened to, etc. Therefore, it is proved that even in this faceless community, people still want to be liked and admired. They also want to share and be able to understand each others feelings and thoughts even when they are not communicating face-to-face. As shown in Table 1, Bald on Record politeness strategy is the second most applied strategy by Malaysian chatters in Yahoo chat room. Malaysian chatters used this strategy mostly by giving sympathetic advice or warning (48.3%) (Table 3). In line with Positive Politeness strategy, it may happen due to the form of the conversation that is sharing problems and ideas. It is common fact that chatters logged into the cyberworld to release their tense whilst sharing what they felt about certain things with others. Bald on record strategy also is usually used among speakers that have close/intimate relation with each other (i.e. siblings, friends). Apart from this result, the current study also has found that among two group of people (strangers and friends), friends tend to use more bald on record when communicating among themselves (among all 40 chatters,26 friends used bald on record compared to only 3 strangers using bald on record). This is because they do not feel the need to minimize the threat to the Hs face believing that both S and H understand that they do not mean to embarrass each other purposely. According to the result by the current study, it is clear that the negative politeness strategy is not much used by the Malaysian chatters in their interaction with each other. The negative politeness strategy is only been used for a total 13 times by the chatters. The negative strategy mostly used by Malaysian chatters is by impersonalizing S and H (38.4%). It is rather common to impersonalize when the social distance between S and H is vast. In Malaysian it is considered polite when we use the negative politeness strategy, which explains why we apologize a dozen times to our lecturer before asking them a question. We Malaysian tend to address our superior with their title (i.e. maam, Dr, Professor, etc). In the chat room context, when we are communicating with a stranger or someone who is at a higher level in the social hierarchy (or a higher level status, language proficiency) we will mostly resort to this strategy in order to be polite because it is the norm in Malaysia. A speaker uses off-record strategy when he/she wants to avoid the responsibility of doing an FTA. When a speaker uses off-record strategy, he/she leaves the FTA up to the addressee to decide how to interpret it since here the speaker must say something in general (less information) or different from what he means (Brown and Levinson 1987: 211) Off the Record Frequency Percentage (%) Give Association Clues 1 50 Be vague 1 50 Over -generalize Use saying total 2 100 Table 5: distribution of the variation of Off the Record Strategy No. Chatters and dialogues Chosen strategy 1. YT: Im about to explode. All this whle I tot shes comin!!!! Wtff HF: ooooooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Someones really mad. KP: I noeeee,,,y did she canceled her concert? =( Off the Record (be vague) Examples of Off the record strategy in a conversation As shown in Table 5, off-record strategy is very rarely used by Malaysian chatters. Based on the results of the current study, Malaysian chatters only used off the record strategy for a total of 2 times only. Malaysian used this strategy by giving association clues and being vague towards the topic of conversation. 5.0. Conclusions From the findings, it is discovered that politeness strategies are also applied in computer-mediated communication, as presented by Malaysian chatters in Yahoo chat room. Politeness is used to maintain the social value of the community, including in virtual-community. The chatters used the strategy of politeness when they communicate in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) to reduce the FTA in saying something. The findings show that positive politeness strategy is the most frequently used strategy by Malaysian chatters in Yahoo chat room. Most chatters use this strategy while considering other chatters feeling or face. It is also used to gain and show respect towards each other. It may happen due to the setting of the conversation and the social distance between the chatters which clearly is very close. Thus, this result is parallel with if the chatters were to have a face-to-face conversation with each other. Because of their closeness with each other, they tend to use polite strategy in order to be liked, understand and accepted among themselves. Thus, this result supports Brown and Levinsons theory which says that polite strategy contains statements of friendship, compliments and etc.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bald on record is also quite widely used by Malaysian chatters in the CMC because most of the chatters know each other mutually; hence they have a very close relation with each other. According to Brown and Levinsons theory, people that used this strategy are likely to be friends or having any intimate relation with one another. This explains the phenomena where mutual friends interact through chat rooms in order to share their thoughts and feelings when they are not able to meet each other in person (due to time and other constraints). It also the belief that people sound less polite in CMC can be attributed to production costs: It takes more time to type hedges and indirect requests in fast-paced CMC, and so people use balder, shorter forms (Brennan and Ohaeri, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Negative politeness strategy is generally used by Malaysian chatters when they want to ask other chatters to do something and to show that the interlocutor recognizes the addressees want to have his freedom of action unobstructed. A rather different phenomenon from what happen in the real world is that sometimes Malaysian chatters minimize the imposition of the FTA by writing smiley sign (e.g. 🙂 or =), 😉 etc.) or grinning expression (e.g. hehehe). It happens since the chatters in the CMC cannot see each others face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Off-the-record strategy of politeness is the least used by Malaysian chatters in Yahoo chat room. This might happen considering the social distance between the chatters. As explained earlier, Malaysians tend to vague when communicating with strangers or those who are of a higher ranking in social hierarchy. This is because the speaker wants to remove the potential to be imposing. 5.1. Limitations of study This study shows its limitations in several ways. Firstly, the study only investigates the chat room discourse between interlocutors of college-going ages. Thus the language used by chatters might be influenced by their age. Therefore, this finding may not apply to situations where interlocutors are of different (older) age and unequal social status (lecturers, parents, etc). Furthermore, the subjects are limited to a relatively small group of college students (the chat room was joined by only 40 people). So the result can only reflect the speech of a small group of people in a limited region. More research can be conducted on more subjects to test and complement the findings of this present study. 5.2. Future study It may be very interesting to investigate the politeness phenomenon of the subjects having different ages, unequal social status and different social relationships A future research can be done to analyze the politeness strategy used by people in e-mails. Furthermore, a study of the politeness strategy used by men and women can be compared in terms of the writing styles for both men and women and relate it with the effect of the strategy used. This is possible since gender difference is also one of the factors in the politeness applied.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Future research can also be done by conducting a similar research studying the private messages in Yahoo chat rooms. Here, the politeness strategies used by the chatters can be observed when they communicate privately (e.g. what kind of politeness strategy will they choose to answer a personal question). A cross-cultural study which compares the politeness strategy used by Malaysian and English chatters in the private messages may also be done in the future. It is since in each culture, people have different values in communicating; thus it will influence the politeness employed in the same context.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Brecht and Dudow Essay -- Film Analysis

Kuhle Wampe (Brecht and Dudow, 1931) is often noted as the first communist film produced in Weimar Germany and was produced by a collective of men, heavily involved in the formation and success of Weimar cinema. The collaborative team consisted of Hanns Eisler, who composed the musical score for Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttmann, 1927), Ernst Ottwald, a distinguished novelist and screen writer, primary director Slatan Dudow who participated heavily in the production of Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) and finally Bertolt Brecht. The aforementioned trio heavily influenced the industrialised surrounding that encompass’ the location and narrative of Kuhle Wampe, however, fellow script writer and co-director Bertolt Brecht had very little experience in film production –aside from aiding the preparation for Karl Valentin’s The Mysteries of a Hairdresser’s Shop (1923). Brecht’s influence upon Kuhle Wampe came much more in the form of philosop hical grounding, with himself, at the time developing his ‘materialist aesthetics’ in trying to conceptualise the answer to the question: ‘what is political art?’ Bringing together politics and art formulae, in this case montage, we can assess the messages that were conveyed through the use of montage and how it was used as a tool of political suggestion. From the opening sequence, Kuhle Wampe’s stylisation appropriates itself with that of Soviet Montage, of which is Sergei Eisenstein’s theories are based on the idea that montage originates in the "collision" between different shots in an illustration of the idea of thesis and antithesis. This basis allowed him to argue that montage is inherently dialectical, thus it should be considered a demonstration of Marxism and Hegelian philos... ...h the montage sequences in Kuhle Wampe. Works Cited Brooker, Peter (2004) â€Å"Key words in Brecht’s theory and practice of theatre† in Brecht. Eds. Peter Thomson and Glendyr Sacks. Cambridge University Press, Pp. 185-200. Eisenstein, Sergei; Jay Leyda (translator) (1947). The Film Sense. Hardcourt Brace and Company Eisenstein, Sergei; Jay Leyda (translator) (1977) The Film Form: essays in film theory. Hardcourt Brace and Company Kracauer, Siegfried (2004) â€Å"Montage† [from From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947)] in German Essays on Film. Eds. Richard W. McCormack and Alison Guenther-Pal. New York & London: Continuum, Pp. 181-189. Silbermann, Marc (1995) â€Å"The Rhetoric of Image: Slatan Dudow and Bertolt Brecht’s Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World† in German Cinema: Texts in Context. Detroit: Wayne State University Pp. 34-48.

Terry Tempest Williams Journey Into Self Spirituality Essay -- Litera

Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist, a feminist, a writer who brings such power into everything she touches. Herself driven passion with her positive outlook and drive for change has brought so much goodness into this world. She has overcome many obstacles, including her own struggle within herself, but has last realized that the fight with nature is the same fight we have with ourselves, and ultimately accepting the outcome; whatever that may be unnatural, or natural, is the secret to life. Terry is a Mormon who grew up in Utah, loving nature and striving to keep it natural. She never understood why there were so many people that didn’t care. She found peace in serenity in a bird refuge. She came to the bird refuge many, many times. This was her sanctuary, where things made sense. The bird refuge in the Great Salt Lake is home to her, and her family before her. Her grandmother taught her so much of the ways of the lake, the animals, and how it was to be conserved. She often went back to her child memories where she spent most of her days there with the birds, just watching how they live their life in so much peace, unaware of all of the hurtful pieces of life outside of their home. â€Å"This is another paradox of mine, wanting to be a bird when I am human.† (Williams,R 266) There was one particular place that was her favorite; she would come to watch owls nest. They would nest in the same spot year after year. On one occasion she had come to see them, watching their heads pop up, and they were gone. A truck full of construction workers were making fun of her as they thought the owls were no big deal. She was polite, as a good Mormon girl should be, she smiled and stuck out her middle finger at them and walked awa... ...lear testing in the Nevada Desert, and again later, she has written many books of her own struggles in life along with her spirituality, she has abandoned that confinement of being a good Mormon girl to make changes in this world. Her faith is strong, she has adapted. â€Å"Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find.† (Williams, B 385). Works Cited Riley, Jeannette E. "Finding One's Place in the "Family of Things":Terry Tempest Williams and a Geography of Self.." Womens Studies. 32.5 (2003): 585-602. Print. Williams, Terry T. Finding Beauty in a Broken World. 1st. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008. Williams, Terry T. Leap. Vintage, 2001. Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge, An Unnatural History Of Family And Place. Vintage, 1991. Williams, Terry T."The Moment I Became a Feminist ." progressive. (2011): n. page. Print.

Spiers Travel Agency Essay -- Organizational Structure

Abstract An organization functions from the mission statement and the organizational structure. These functions helps to make a company move smoother within departments, which is assigned to individuals that are responsible for overseeing that part of the organization. The organization is responsible with living out the purpose of their mission statement. The organizational structure reflects from the operative goals to help the organization function accordingly. Operative goals according to Daft, â€Å"are performance goals, resource goals, marketing goals, employee development goals, productivity goals, and goals for innovation and change† (p. 63-4), in which the Spier’s Travel Agency follows by in operating the company. The Organizational Structure: An Understanding of the Complexities of the Environment within an Organization The mission of Spier’s Travel Agency is designed to have an outstanding quality of professionalism and the utmost customer service. Also, to provide the magical experience of traveling of the desired customers. We are dedicated in helping our customers to have the best experience at their dream location at a low-cost. At Spier’s Travel Agency, we are confident that we can provide outstanding customer service to all costumers at all levels. The Spier’s Travel Agency reflects on five important task within the company. Those task are as follow, outstanding customer service, great relationships with our clients and employees, the quality of time management to provide the clients with their dreamed vacations, to provide low-cost rates, and overall happiness and satisfaction. All these goals are acted upon to provide the needed services and to accomplish the facts that are stated within the company’s mi... ...ws. With this company there is a great need to have a form set structure in order to continue with a success growth progress. The models of the organizational charts that were examined shows that there is room for growth as the company lives up to the goal, purpose, and mission of the agency. Spier’s Travel Agency has its structures where there should be little to no room for mistake, but there is no structure where mistakes would not happen within the company. Reference: Daft, R. L. (2008). Organization and Organization Theory. Organization theory and design 10(16). Mason,OH : Joe Sabatino. Daft, R. L. (2008). Organization and Organization Theory. Strategy, organization design, and effectiveness 10(62-4). Mason,OH : Joe Sabatino. Daft, R. L. (2008). Organization and Organization Theory. Fundamentals of organization structure 10(91).

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Media Propaganda and Stereotypes Essay -- Media Stereotypes Stereotypi

Our society consists of consumers that buy into stereotypes and the propaganda that is being fed by the government and the media. Stereotypes steer individual's perceptions of a group of people in a certain way, usually negative, and generalize that opinion to all members of the group. Aware of the influence stereotypes have on people's views, governments use stereotypes already imbedded in society as a propaganda tactic to persuade people's thoughts, opinions and beliefs in order to benefit their cause. The media was used for disseminating stereotypes the effect violent music has on teenager's behaviours such as in the shootings at Columbine. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government used the media as an outlet to emphasize Muslim stereotypes to influence people to support the invasion of Iraq. Stereotypes and other propaganda techniques such as "name-calling, manicheanism, and censorship" are powerful instruments used in propaganda, because it tactfully influences the pop ulation to think in the way that the government and media want them to think (Shah, 2003). However, its success depends on how strong the stereotypes are instilled in society, how well they are maintained within propaganda and if the public is unaware of the propaganda techniques used. Propaganda is most often used during times of conflict, such as the most recent example regarding the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. When news broke out all over the media that the terrorists responsible for the atrocity were of Muslim origin, many racist individuals probably thought 'it figures.' Ever since the fact that Saddam Hussein "used chemical weapons to poison tens of thousands Kurds in 1988" was exposed to the public via the media, t... ...1402>, consulted on March 30, 2004. Mediascope (2000). "Youth and Violent Music." Online at: http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/yvm.htm, consulted on March 29, 2004. Poiesis.org (1997). "The Peace Journalist Option." Online at: http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Propaganda/Iraq.asp, consulted on March 28. SCHECHTER, Danny (2001). "Covering Violence: How Should Media Handle Conflict?" mediachannel.org. Online at: http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/coveringviolence.shtml, consulted on March 27, 2004. SHAH, Anup (2003). "War, Propaganda and the Media." Global Issues. Online at: http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Military.asp, consulted on March 27, 2004. The Disaster Center (2000). "Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Stop the Violence, Remember Littleton." Online at: http://www.cnn.com/video, consulted on April 1, 2004.

Arkansas Expedition of de Soto and de La Salle

The respective expeditions of Renà © Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de La Salle and Hernando de Soto have grown interests both from archeologists and historians. Their expeditions in Arkansas region have found significance in the history of the region and the people, and the possible influences and the impacts to the locals and their countries alike. The succeeding two paragraphs will deal with their expeditions.Hernando de Soto, with the hope of finding gold, silver and other valuable treasures, led an expedition of 600 to 700 men, 24 priests, 9 ships and 220 horses. On May of 1539, the group landed on the western coast of Florida. The place was named Espiritu Santo that is now Bradenton, Florida. The exact route of the expedition is still under discussion. It was agreed by many that the expedition ran west-northwest crossing Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma until Texas. Though others suggested a northern route crossing Kentucky and Indiana to the Great Lakes.In sp ite the uncertainty, the most accepted study of the route of the de Soto expedition was from the year 1939 from an anthropologist John R. Swanton (Wikipedia). Swanton’s theory â€Å"relied largely on the four surviving accounts of the expedition, on study of the terrain over which the army marched, and on the meager archeological information that was available at that time† (Mitchem 2000). As a prà ©cis, from Espiritu Santo the de Soto expedition progressed to Florida and Southern U. S. where they brutally ran sacked the villages.Joined by the interpreters Juan Ortiz and Perico they reached Anhaica, capital of Apalachee, which presently located near downtown of Tallahassee, Florida, The expedition continued to the Eastern Appalachian Mountains and crossed what were now Georgia, South and North Carolina and Tenesse. In search for the famous treasure of the tribe Cofitachequi and accompanied by the rival tribe Ocute, they reached what is now Columbia, South Carolina. Th e said famous treasure of gold turned out to be copper. In dismay, they took everything and destroyed the village. They then crossed Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama.In the city of Mauvila (or Mabila), the Choctaw tribe ambushed the group where they were wounded and lose some men and possessions. On May 8, 1541, they reached the Mississippi River and traveled westward to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. They fought with Tula tribe in Caddo River and lose everything. On May 21, 1542, de Soto died in Guachoya (near present McArthur, Arkansas). The expedition was then aborted (Wikipedia). Robert de La Salle’s expedition was separated into two parts. First, when he led only 23 Frenchmen and 18 Native Americans on Mississippi River on 1682. He marked and claimed what is now Venice, Lousiana as a France territory.De La Salle returned to France and prepared for a return expedition to establish a French colony. He led 300 colonists and 4 ships. On the way, they lost 2 ships and 1 ship ran aground. They reached Fort Saint Louis of Texas and headed eastward to locate the Mississippi. It was in 1687 that de La Salle was murdered near the site of now Navasota, Texas by uprising followers. His colony lasted only until 1687 when Indians took it over (Wikipedia). The de Soto and de La Salle expeditions were made with different purposes. Though both their expeditions failed, the events that took place that led to their failure differed significantly.â€Å"The records of the expedition contributed in large part to geographic, biological, and ethnologic knowledge in Europe. The de Soto expedition's descriptions of the North American natives are the earliest known source of knowledge on the societies in the southeastern North Americas† (Wikipedia). While â€Å"The encroachment of La Salle and other representatives of French interests into the Spanish claimed territory of Texas, led Spain to establish a fort, Presidio La Bahia (Goliad, Texas), in 1721, at the site of th e remains of Fort Saint Louis† (Wikipedia).

Play Macbeth by WIlliam Shakespeare Essay

The play Macbeth was written by WIlliam Shakespeare in the 1600’s. The whole play revolves around the theme of power. The theme of power is shown through ambition, betrayal and revenge using the symbolisms of sleep and blood. William Shakespeare used the issue of ambition to portray power in Macbeth. Macbeth was driven by his ambition of gaining power. Macbeth’s hunger for power made him blond to the atrocities and iniquitous deeds he was performing. In Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth is stating that ambition was his only motivation to kill Duncan. â€Å"I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent,but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other.† Shakespeare used a horse metaphor to show the conflict of emotions in Macbeth’s mind.Macbeth thinks of his purpose to kill Duncan as a cavalry horse:but he has no motive to urge it into action so it stands still. Macbeth’s ambition is pictured as a rider springing into his saddle who overleaps himself and falls on the other side of his steed.Macbeth means that his ambition to be king would inevitably lead him too far. The quote is effective in defining Macbeth’s drive to ambition. Ambition is used by Macbeth to take the power from Duncan. William Shakespeare used the issue of betrayal to portray power in Macbeth. The issue of betrayal is shown throughout the play from the start when the Thane of Cawdor betrayed Duncan. Macbeth betrayed Duncan,his guest,king and relative by killing him to take the crown of Scotland. Macbeth betrayed his friend and colleague Banquo who stayed by his side when they were fighting against the Norwegians. Macbeth also betrayed Lady Macbeth his wife by dismissing her from formal duties. In Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth is telling lady macbeth to hide their knowings of duncan’s murder under an innocent face. â€Å"Away,and mock the time with the fairest show, False face must hide what the false heart doth know.† Shakespeare used an iambic Pentameter to lend dignity and presence to Macbeth after his devious plans to kill Duncan. The quote is effective in showing that Macbeth would betray his king and guest and act innocent with the devious plan in his mind and stoop low just to gain what he wanted. Betrayal is the weapon that Macbeth used to gain power. The issue of revenge was used by William Shakespeare to show power in Macbeth. Revenge was shown from the start of the play when the witches got revenge on the sailors wife who didn’t give the witches any chestnuts. Banquo got his revenge on Macbeth when he came back as a ghost and frightened Macbeth as well as embarrassing him in front of other thanes. Macduff got his revenge by killing Macbeth who slaughtered his family. In act 4 scene 3 malcolm comforts macduff who heard that his family was slaughtered by Macbeth by telling him to make revenge his medicine to cure his grief. â€Å"let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge To cure this deadly grief† Malcolm is telling Macduff to make the revenge on Macbeth, a medicine that would cure his grief. Malcolm is implying that revenge is sweet. The quote is effective in showing that macduff’s revenge on Macbeth was to cure his own grief caused by Macbeth. Revenge was the issue which made one person to rise up or fall down. Blood was a symbolism which helped to symbolize the issues that shows power in Macbeth. The word ‘blood’ occurs frequently throughout the play. In act 1 scene 2, the wounded captain told a report which described the bloody war. Blood was also related to guilt after after macbeth had murdered Duncan. Once Macbeth and lady Macbeth embark upon their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolize their guilt, and they begin to feel like their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be washed clean. Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves. The enormity of Macbeth’s crime has awakened in him a powerful sense of guilt that will hound him throughout the play.