Non-Violence

With the simultaneous proliferation of technology and global-poltical danger in the modern world, strategies for countering both political oppression, and the outbreak of political violence and war are urgently needed.   Although the century which has recently slipped away — the Twentieth Century — may be remembered as â€Å"the bloodiest in history† (Martin 625), with hundreds of millions of people killed in wars and with weapons of mass destruction being â€Å"invented, built, deployed and further refined† (Martin 625) during the same century when state-sponsored genocide and terrorism became commonly known quantities.Against this backdrop of chaos, war, and an increasingly dangerous technological landscape, the philosophy of non-violence, or passive resistance, gained   an historical currency which is still unmatched. The activities of important leaders like Gandhi, King, and Mandela revealed the truly earth-changing, paradigm shifting   potential of non-violence resistance as a method for seizing social initiative and political power.Because of the actions of these three important leaders. plus a host of other lesser-known figures, and the action of millions of ordinary activists, â€Å"it can be argued that the rise of nonviolent action was one of the most important developments of the century†Ã‚   (Martin 625), and one which has tremendous potential for application in today's difficult and complex political world.While it is true enough that Gandhi, King, and Mandela over similar models of non-violent leadership and that key tenants of what might be termed a â€Å"universal† sense of non-violence pervade each leaders' philosophies, distinct differences are also recognizable   when a comparison of the three leaders' ideas, activities, and accomplishments is carried out. Such a study of similarities and differences in the philosophies and actions of these important leaders is crucial to understanding how the philosophy of non-violence may be applied in modern times as an antidote to the dangerous and oppressive climate that threatens much of the world.As noted, â€Å"Nonviolent action — including methods such as rallies, strikes, boycotts and sit-ins — has become increasingly important in the past century as a method for waging conflict and promoting social change† (Martin 625) and due to the urgent pressure caused by modern political and social challenges such as terrorism, global warming, the protection of human rights and religious freedom, adapting past approaches of non-violent action to present-day challenges may be beneficial.Non-violent activism may, in fact, help bring about important social changes: â€Å"Some areas for future expansion of the role of nonviolent action include replacing military defence, technological design, challenging capitalism, bureaucratic politics, information struggles and interpersonal behaviour† (Martin 625); the suggesti on of non-violence as an all-pervading philosophy applicable throughout the full strata of political and social issues may sound grandiose, but as we will see, this idea is actually a core-concept for the three leaders in our study.In this regard, non-violent philosophy takes it roots not in social, political or philosophical idea, but in spiritual convictions or even, spiritual revelation. An abstraction of  Ã‚   â€Å"nonviolence principles, building on the core dynamic of political jiu-jitsu in contexts where the opponent does not use physical force† (Martin 625) may be the best way to intuitively understand that non-violence does not indicate non-action of total passivity in the face of aggression. Such a distinction is difficult to pin down, but it is a crucial part of activism, manifest in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws, and passive resistant behaviors which, if not violent, certainly imply action by the participants.In order to shed light on some of the mo re challenging aspects of non-violent activism, such as the spiritual aspect, as well as investigate the potential application of non-violent philosophy in modern times, the following brief examination of non-violent philosophy according to each leader: Gandhi, King, and Mandela, will attempt to sketch a general idea of the similarities and differences of each leader's approach and attempt to discover if any type of universal vision of non-violent philosophy can be discovered.GANDHIFor Gandhi, non-violence arises out of an organic human impulse or † basic law of our being† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); such a conviction, foe Gandhi, is based not in genetic or biological assumptions or evidence or in logistical philosophical reasoning, but in spiritual ideas. For Gandhi, â€Å"Ahimsa (non-violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23) is the opposite of   â€Å"himsa (violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23), and the attributes of each energy are just as distinct. While Ahimsa â€Å"can be used as the most effective principle for social action, since it is in deep accord with the truth of man's nature and corresponds to his innate desire for peace, justice, order, freedom, and personal dignity† (Gandhi, and Merton 23), its opposite energy, himsa, â€Å"degrades and corrupts man† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); therefore to bring himsa energy against himsa energy would be to fight fire with fire.By contrast, the application of ahimsa or non-violent energy to the problem of himsa energy â€Å"heals and restores man's nature, while giving him a means to restore social order and justice† (Gandhi, and Merton 23). The important thing to remember here is that, for Gandhi, ahimsa and himsa energies are not metaphorical reflections or abstract concepts, they are living, spiritual realities.   Although the capacity for ahimsa resides in each person, modern society has left humanity with a much more desperate and disordered reliance on himsa e nergy.For Gandhi such an alienation of man's true capacities has resulted in a culture where â€Å"violence seems to be the very foundation of social order and is â€Å"enthroned as if it were an eternal law,† so that man is called upon by society to reject love† (Gandhi, and Merton 43) and instead embrace a social reality which is enforced by violence or by the threat of violence.To meet this himsa-driven society with ahimsa energy adn non-violence requires supreme courage on behalf of the activist. This extraordinary courage, according to Gandhi, is derived from God:This courage demands nothing short of the ability to face death with complete   Ã‚   fearlessness and to suffer without retaliation. Such a program is meaningless and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   impossible, Gandhi thinks, without belief in God.  (Gandhi, and Merton 43)The implication in Gandhi's ideas is that the activist or the â€Å"Satyagrahi† is enabled, in fact: bound, by God to break the laws of man when they are unjust. The decision as to how it is determined that a law is unjust is murky and unclear, as we will see: this same ambiguity marks both King and Mandela's own approach to non-violent activism. The historical truth is that Gandhi made clear that each â€Å"Satyagrahi was bound to resist all those laws which he considered to be unjust and which were not of a criminal character, in order to bend the Government to the will of the people† (Gandhi 21) and it is this kind of â€Å"twisting† which comprises the active aspect of non-violent activism.KINGThe expression of non-violent activism by King relied as much on spiritual conviction as that of Gandhi. This conviction brought about a similar adherence to   the concept of breaking â€Å"unjust† laws as a method of civil disobedience. King, like Gandhi, found justification for the breaking of social laws by the invocation of Divine Power. The result was that King experienced some difficulty in ma king his racial and social activism truly universal, although such a desire to do so formed an underlying precept of his overall strategy for social and political change.In a rather unique twist of philosophy, King opted to not only resist unjust laws non-violently, but tor each out to his so-called opponents: white racists with language of reconciliation, good-will, and fellowship. King's invocations of â€Å"the good to be achieved† (Wolf, and Rosen) were powerful   counterparts to his criticisms of the social conditions he sought to transform.Since King's goal was to â€Å"to bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible† (Wolf, and Rosen) his reliance on civil disobedience and the breaking of unjust laws by Divine justification, like Gandhi's, requires a deeper examination. Such revelation is possible due to King's extensive writings; in particular his â€Å"Letter From a Birmingham Jail† a famous document where he addresses t he concern of his fellow clergymen regarding the breaking of laws by civil activists.The letter repeatedly appeals to a shared sense of religion; King also cites Biblical examples to bolster his argument.  Ã‚   Responding to the criticism that his actions and the actions of his followers, even though non-violent in practice, ultimately resulted in violence on the behalf of the white Southerners who beat and jailed the protestor (and sometimes lynched or otherwise killed African Americans), King compared the fight for civil rights with the fight of Jesus to spread the gospel.King's appeal via religion and spirituality was based in a desire for unity and understanding. While he denied accusations of extremity or of inciting violence, he admitted that the impulse for civil rights was, by his reckoning, the will   of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   King advises that the will of all people is toward freedom and equality.   â€Å"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro.† (King)By forwarding the notion that civil rights are an inevitable outgrowth of both God's will and the flow of history, King is, in effect, offering a justification for his tactics and philosophies regarding civil rights.The justification for the elements of passive resistance which had led to violent confrontation is also based in King's ideas of justice. King's idea is that God's law is the highest law and that man's laws may be broken when they obviously disagree with or even insult God's law.With the belief that God's Law is the highest law and that history shows that all people will struggle for freedom and liberty, and by appealing to the rational sense of justice and the emotional and spiritual senses of brotherhood and love, King attains justification for his actions but does not seek to evade or subvert laws outright.MANDELAUnlike King, Mandela called for delib erate confrontation with the forces of apartheid which apposed his view of liberation and freedom. Although he repeatedly expressed his opinion that he was not, in fact, a racist himself, Mandela's rhetoric unlike King and Gandhi's, â€Å"was more polarizing† (Wolf, and Rosen); for example, Mandela never attempted â€Å"to appeal to whites† and he sought by confrontational rhetoric coupled with non-violent activism to † through greater polarization to galvanize the situation to crisis levels, thereby compelling action by the international community† (Wolf, and Rosen) which in itself presents a divergence in thought from Gandhi and King both of whom sough reconciliation with their enemies.However, rhetoric was simply another tool in Mandela's non-violent philosophical approach. When, at key moments, he might have called for violence, in actuality, he strove for non-violent change. he might have â€Å"easily have called for a violent overthrow of the South A frican government upon his release after 27 years in prison† (Pierce 1) but rather than do so, he advocated non-violent resistance.The idea of appealing to the world community adds another dimension to the non-violent approach of activism. For Mandela, â€Å"In this scenario, â€Å"the international community† becomes subrogated to the role of â€Å"broader constituency† that Mandela evoked indirectly†Ã‚   (Wolf, and Rosen) but whose support and intervention proved crucial to his success. Because of his sometimes volatile rhetoric, Mandela took special care to â€Å"emphasize his desire for reconciliation across the divide of colour† and repeatedly â€Å"pledged himself anew to work for a multiracial society in which all would have a secure place† (Pierce 175).Contemporary Impact of Non-Violent StrategiesDespite the contributions of great thinkers and activists like those examined in the preceding, brief discussion, the fact is contemporary s ociety seems no less preoccupied with violence than ever before. By examining the media one has the distinct impression that in the world of media and media-related technology, a great deal of concern has been expressed by both everyday observers and specialists in social-psychology over the possible negative impacts that media, and in particular media portrayals of violence, may have upon small children and adolescent children.One of the most complex facets of the issue is the still-unknown impact that new technologies such as 24 hour a day cable programming, widespread Internet access, and the â€Å"digital age† in general will have on the generation of young people who are presently the first to be so overwhelmed by such widespread media and media technologies.An immersive and nearly all-pervading sense of media exists in modern homes that, in fact, the presence of media can be said to form a basis of â€Å"reality† for many people. It is this exact kind of blurred distinction between perceived reality (based on media models and information) and reality (those aspects of life which stand apart from media and media-based models).The distinction between media-reality and reality is not always clear, particularly to small children and adolescent children: â€Å"The boundaries between reality and unreality are especially permeable for small children. They are unable, through at least the age of three or four, to distinguish fact from fantasy. Even older children rarely manage to keep â€Å"real life† and vicarious experience in watertight compartments† (Bok 1999, 38) as we will see in the following discussion.The main impact repeated viewings of media violence seems to exert over small children and adolescents is the conflation of media-violence with organic psychological processes, many of which exist at such a deep, primitive psychological level in humans that manipulation of these emotions, and psychological dispositions remains, for the most part, beyond the conscious perception of the viewer. In conclusion, although the idea of media-responsibility regarding the impact of violent programming on children and young adults is often cited by critics as a form of censorship, ample scientific evidence and research exists to establish media-violence as a certain source of negative influence on young people.The fact of the matter remains despite the right of free speech that media-reality and actual reality are non-distinct at some deep, organic level in human psychology: † weeks earlier the Los Angeles police officers whose roadside beating of motorist Rodney King had been shown on TV screens the world over had been acquitted by an all-white jury[†¦]In that crisis, the boundaries between movies and reality blurred, not only for the public but also for Hollywood producers, directors, and actors who were seeing smoke rising beneath their hillside residences and hearing sirens echo up and down the canyons ,† (Bok 1999, 36); with such a confusing and agitating impact of adult professionals, what can we expect when we expose our children to the same cultural ambiguities through media?If non-violent philosophy according to Gandhi, king, and Mandela is correct then violence is not   a norm in human society, but a constructed evil. If, as the proponents of non-violent philosophy suggest, â€Å"non-violent settlement of conflict is the human norm as we well know from daily experience. We are not programmed in some genetic way to violence† (Kent) than a radical re-visioning of our self-identity and self-image as human beings must take place not only in our media and in our educational facilities, but in our individual psyches as well.The applications of non-violent strategies in contemporary culture can be thought of as being as unknown as the implications of deep-space travel because even though the contributions of such historical leaders as Gandhi, King, and Mandela reveal s the tremendous power of non-violent activism, the full impact of the philosophy as articulated by these men has far-reaching cultural, global-poltical, and spiritual implications which surpass anything which has yet occurred in history.In other words, the â€Å"pioneers† of the â€Å"modern† incarnation of non-violent strategy which we have examined: Gandhi, King, and Mandela represent not the totality of what the non-violent philosophy can or wants to attain, but the mere beginning of a global transformation which is rooted not inly in the basic moral nature of humanity, but in humanity's spiritual destiny and responsibility.Certainly individual leaders and activists continue to utilize the non-violent approach to attain important results in their areas of influence. Modern technology can also help individual activists to promote change by spreading honest information regarding the repercussions of violence and the militarization of political issues. One recent exam ple is when â€Å"a 1991 massacre in the East Timorese capital Dill was recorded on videotape and subsequently broadcast worldwide, this generated enormous support for the resistance† (Martin 625); such applications of technology by individuals represent one small but important aspect of the many avenues of potential non-violent methods of change.Other methods include educational strategies based in the ideas forwarded by Gandhi, King, and Mandela. The recognition of the historical impact of the immensely influential strategies of non-violent change and civil disobedience will also help to inform and empower individuals who, in turn, may adopt some of the strategies and ideas reflected upon in the above discussion to help bring about social and political change through non-violent means.ConclusionThe examination of three important world-leaders who based their activism in non-violent philosophy reveals certain universal traits among the different incarnations of non-violent a ctivism. Among these universal traits is a belief in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws for the purpose of bringing about social and political change. This belief is often, if not always, accompanied by an ambiguous but firmly articulated that such a braking of laws is based in Divine Will. Another core belief seems to be that non-violence rather than violence is, in fact, more in keeping with humanity's organic nature. This idea often results in a corresponding belief that the violence evident in human society is the result of a kind of perversion of humanity's natural attributes into an unnatural and unhealthy state.Against this backdrop, it is very difficult if not impossible to envision the philosophies of non-violent activism as we know them today as anything short of a religious and spiritual philosophy with extremely pragmatic roots in social and political activism. Not only is the spiritual aspect of non-violent philosophy seemingly universal in the three historical f igures studied in this short discussion, but the attributes of spirituality embraced by non-violent activists are, in themselves, of great and abiding interest to any observer. A discussion of this aspect alone would probably reveal that the philosophy of non-violence has existed as a spiritual conviction at various times in various cultures throughout the entire history of humanity.Works CitedBarker, Martin and Julian Petley, eds. 2001. Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Routledge.Bok, Sissela. 1999. Mayhem Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.Gandhi, M. K. Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha). New York: Schocken Books, 1961.Gandhi, Mahatma, and Thomas Merton. Gandhi on Non-Violence. New York: New Directions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pub, 1965.Kent, Bruce. â€Å"Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea.† History Today Feb. 2007: 62+.Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress The Struggle against Apartheid, 1948-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1990. Ed. Sheridan Johns and R. Hunt Davis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Martin, Brian. â€Å"Nonviolent Futures.† Futures 33.7 (2001): 625.Pierce, Victoria. â€Å"A Tribute to Dr. King Civil Rights Leader's Legacy of Non- Violence Is Alive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   around the World.† Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) 29 Sept. 2006: 1.Wolf, Charles, and Brian Rosen. â€Å"Public Diplomacy: Lessons from King and Mandela.† Policy Review (2005): 63+. Non-Violence With the simultaneous proliferation of technology and global-poltical danger in the modern world, strategies for countering both political oppression, and the outbreak of political violence and war are urgently needed.   Although the century which has recently slipped away — the Twentieth Century — may be remembered as â€Å"the bloodiest in history† (Martin 625), with hundreds of millions of people killed in wars and with weapons of mass destruction being â€Å"invented, built, deployed and further refined† (Martin 625) during the same century when state-sponsored genocide and terrorism became commonly known quantities.Against this backdrop of chaos, war, and an increasingly dangerous technological landscape, the philosophy of non-violence, or passive resistance, gained   an historical currency which is still unmatched. The activities of important leaders like Gandhi, King, and Mandela revealed the truly earth-changing, paradigm shifting   potential of non-violence resistance as a method for seizing social initiative and political power. Because of the actions of these three important leaders. plus a host of other lesser-known figures, and the action of millions of ordinary activists, â€Å"it can be argued that the rise of nonviolent action was one of the most important developments of the century†Ã‚   (Martin 625), and one which has tremendous potential for application in today's difficult and complex political world.While it is true enough that Gandhi, King, and Mandela over similar models of non-violent leadership and that key tenants of what might be termed a â€Å"universal† sense of non-violence pervade each leaders' philosophies, distinct differences are also recognizable   when a comparison of the three leaders' ideas, activities, and accomplishments is carried out. Such a study of similarities and differences in the philosophies and actions of these important leaders is crucial to understanding how th e philosophy of non-violence may be applied in modern times as an antidote to the dangerous and oppressive climate that threatens much of the world. As noted, â€Å"Nonviolent action — including methods such as rallies, strikes, boycotts and sit-ins — has become increasingly important in the past century as a method for waging conflict and promoting social change† (Martin 625) and due to the urgent pressure caused by modern political and social challenges such as terrorism, global warming, the protection of human rights and religious freedom, adapting past approaches of non-violent action to present-day challenges may be beneficial.Non-violent activism may, in fact, help bring about important social changes: â€Å"Some areas for future expansion of the role of nonviolent action include replacing military defence, technological design, challenging capitalism, bureaucratic politics, information struggles and interpersonal behaviour† (Martin 625); the sugges tion of non-violence as an all-pervading philosophy applicable throughout the full strata of political and social issues may sound grandiose, but as we will see, this idea is actually a core-concept for the three leaders in our study.In this regard, non-violent philosophy takes it roots not in social, political or philosophical idea, but in spiritual convictions or even, spiritual revelation. An abstraction of  Ã‚   â€Å"nonviolence principles, building on the core dynamic of political jiu-jitsu in contexts where the opponent does not use physical force† (Martin 625) may be the best way to intuitively understand that non-violence does not indicate non-action of total passivity in the face of aggression. Such a distinction is difficult to pin down, but it is a crucial part of activism, manifest in the breaking of â€Å"unjust† laws, and passive resistant behaviors which, if not violent, certainly imply action by the participants.In order to shed light on some of the more challenging aspects of non-violent activism, such as the spiritual aspect, as well as investigate the potential application of non-violent philosophy in modern times, the following brief examination of non-violent philosophy according to each leader: Gandhi, King, and Mandela, will attempt to sketch a general idea of the similarities and differences of each leader's approach and attempt to discover if any type of universal vision of non-violent philosophy can be discovered.For Gandhi, non-violence arises out of an organic human impulse or † basic law of our being† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); such a conviction, foe Gandhi, is based not in genetic or biological assumptions or evidence or in logistical philosophical reasoning, but in spiritual ideas. For Gandhi, â€Å"Ahimsa (non-violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23) is the opposite of   â€Å"himsa (violence)†Ã‚   (Gandhi, and Merton 23), and the attributes of each energy are just as distinct. While Ahim sa â€Å"can be used as the most effective principle for social action, since it is in deep accord with the truth of man's nature and corresponds to his innate desire for peace, justice, order, freedom, and personal dignity† (Gandhi, and Merton 23), its opposite energy, himsa, â€Å"degrades and corrupts man† (Gandhi, and Merton 23); therefore to bring himsa energy against himsa energy would be to fight fire with fire.By contrast, the application of ahimsa or non-violent energy to the problem of himsa energy â€Å"heals and restores man's nature, while giving him a means to restore social order and justice† (Gandhi, and Merton 23). The important thing to remember here is that, for Gandhi, ahimsa and himsa energies are not metaphorical reflections or abstract concepts, they are living, spiritual realities.   Although the capacity for ahimsa resides in each person, modern society has left humanity with a much more desperate and disordered reliance on himsa energ y. For Gandhi such an alienation of man's true capacities has resulted in a culture where â€Å"violence seems to be the very foundation of social order and is â€Å"enthroned as if it were an eternal law,† so that man is called upon by society to reject love† (Gandhi, and Merton 43) and instead embrace a social reality which is enforced by violence or by the threat of violence.To meet this himsa-driven society with ahimsa energy adn non-violence requires supreme courage on behalf of the activist. This extraordinary courage, according to Gandhi, is derived from God:This courage demands nothing short of the ability to face death with complete fearlessness and to suffer without retaliation. Such a program is meaningless and impossible, Gandhi thinks, without belief in God.The implication in Gandhi's ideas is that the activist or the â€Å"Satyagrahi† is enabled, in fact: bound, by God to break the laws of man when they are unjust. The decision as to how it is dete rmined that a law is unjust is murky and unclear, as we will see: this same ambiguity marks both King and Mandela's own approach to non-violent activism. The historical truth is that Gandhi made clear that each â€Å"Satyagrahi was bound to resist all those laws which he considered to be unjust and which were not of a criminal character, in order to bend the Government to the will of the people† (Gandhi 21) and it is this kind of â€Å"twisting† which comprises the active aspect of non-violent activism.The expression of non-violent activism by King relied as much on spiritual conviction as that of Gandhi. This conviction brought about a similar adherence to   the concept of breaking â€Å"unjust† laws as a method of civil disobedience. King, like Gandhi, found justification for the breaking of social laws by the invocation of Divine Power. The result was that King experienced some difficulty in making his racial and social activism truly universal, although su ch a desire to do so formed an underlying precept of his overall strategy for social and political change. In a rather unique twist of philosophy, King opted to not only resist unjust laws non-violently, but tor each out to his so-called opponents: white racists with language of reconciliation, good-will, and fellowship. King's invocations of â€Å"the good to be achieved† (Wolf, and Rosen) were powerful   counterparts to his criticisms of the social conditions he sought to transform.Since King's goal was to â€Å"to bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible† (Wolf, and Rosen) his reliance on civil disobedience and the breaking of unjust laws by Divine justification, like Gandhi's, requires a deeper examination. Such revelation is possible due to King's extensive writings; in particular his â€Å"Letter From a Birmingham Jail† a famous document where he addresses the concern of his fellow clergymen regarding the breaking of la ws by civil activists. The letter repeatedly appeals to a shared sense of religion; King also cites Biblical examples to bolster his argument.  Ã‚   Responding to the criticism that his actions and the actions of his followers, even though non-violent in practice, ultimately resulted in violence on the behalf of the white Southerners who beat and jailed the protestor (and sometimes lynched or otherwise killed African Americans), King compared the fight for civil rights with the fight of Jesus to spread the gospel.King's appeal via religion and spirituality was based in a desire for unity and understanding. While he denied accusations of extremity or of inciting violence, he admitted that the impulse for civil rights was, by his reckoning, the will   of God.   Ã‚   King advises that the will of all people is toward freedom and equality.   â€Å"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happene d to the American Negro.† (King) By forwarding the notion that civil rights are an inevitable outgrowth of both God's will and the flow of history, King is, in effect, offering a justification for his tactics and philosophies regarding civil rights.The justification for the elements of passive resistance which had led to violent confrontation is also based in King's ideas of justice. King's idea is that God's law is the highest law and that man's laws may be broken when they obviously disagree with or even insult God's law.With the belief that God's Law is the highest law and that history shows that all people will struggle for freedom and liberty, and by appealing to the rational sense of justice and the emotional and spiritual senses of brotherhood and love, King attains justification for his actions but does not seek to evade or subvert laws outright.Unlike King, Mandela called for deliberate confrontation with the forces of apartheid which apposed his view of liberation an d freedom. Although he repeatedly expressed his opinion that he was not, in fact, a racist himself, Mandela's rhetoric unlike King and Gandhi's, â€Å"was more polarizing† (Wolf, and Rosen); for example, Mandela never attempted â€Å"to appeal to whites† and he sought by confrontational rhetoric coupled with non-violent activism to † through greater polarization to galvanize the situation to crisis levels, thereby compelling action by the international community† (Wolf, and Rosen) which in itself presents a divergence in thought from Gandhi and King both of whom sough reconciliation with their enemies.However, rhetoric was simply another tool in Mandela's non-violent philosophical approach. When, at key moments, he might have called for violence, in actuality, he strove for non-violent change. he might have â€Å"easily have called for a violent overthrow of the South African government upon his release after 27 years in prison† (Pierce 1) but rather than do so, he advocated non-violent resistance. The idea of appealing to the world community adds another dimension to the non-violent approach of activism. For Mandela, â€Å"In this scenario, â€Å"the international community† becomes subrogated to the role of â€Å"broader constituency† that Mandela evoked indirectly†Ã‚   (Wolf, and Rosen) but whose support and intervention proved crucial to his success. Because of his sometimes volatile rhetoric, Mandela took special care to â€Å"emphasize his desire for reconciliation across the divide of colour† and repeatedly â€Å"pledged himself anew to work for a multiracial society in which all would have a secure place† (Pierce 175).Contemporary Impact of Non-Violent StrategiesDespite the contributions of great thinkers and activists like those examined in the preceding, brief discussion, the fact is contemporary society seems no less preoccupied with violence than ever before. By examining the media one has the distinct impression that in the world of media and media-related technology, a great deal of concern has been expressed by both everyday observers and specialists in social-psychology over the possible negative impacts that media, and in particular media portrayals of violence, may have upon small children and adolescent children. One of the most complex facets of the issue is the still-unknown impact that new technologies such as 24 hour a day cable programming, widespread Internet access, and the â€Å"digital age† in general will have on the generation of young people who are presently the first to be so overwhelmed by such widespread media and media technologies.An immersive and nearly all-pervading sense of media exists in modern homes that, in fact, the presence of media can be said to form a basis of â€Å"reality† for many people. It is this exact kind of blurred distinction between perceived reality (based on media models and information) and real ity (those aspects of life which stand apart from media and media-based models).   The distinction between media-reality and reality is not always clear, particularly to small children and adolescent children: â€Å"The boundaries between reality and unreality are especially permeable for small children. They are unable, through at least the age of three or four, to distinguish fact from fantasy. Even older children rarely manage to keep â€Å"real life† and vicarious experience in watertight compartments† (Bok 1999, 38) as we will see in the following discussion.The main impact repeated viewings of media violence seems to exert over small children and adolescents is the conflation of media-violence with organic psychological processes, many of which exist at such a deep, primitive psychological level in humans that manipulation of these emotions, and psychological dispositions remains, for the most part, beyond the conscious perception of the viewer. In conclusion, although the idea of media-responsibility regarding the impact of violent programming on children and young adults is often cited by critics as a form of censorship, ample scientific evidence and research exists to establish media-violence as a certain source of negative influence on young people.The fact of the matter remains despite the right of free speech that media-reality and actual reality are non-distinct at some deep, organic level in human psychology: † weeks earlier the Los Angeles police officers whose roadside beating of motorist Rodney King had been shown on TV screens the world over had been acquitted by an all-white jury[†¦]In that crisis, the boundaries between movies and reality blurred, not only for the public but also for Hollywood producers, directors, and actors who were seeing smoke rising beneath their hillside residences and hearing sirens echo up and down the canyons,† (Bok 1999, 36); with such a confusing and agitating impact of adult prof essionals, what can we expect when we expose our children to the same cultural ambiguities through media?If non-violent philosophy according to Gandhi, king, and Mandela is correct then violence is not   a norm in human society, but a constructed evil. If, as the proponents of non-violent philosophy suggest, â€Å"non-violent settlement of conflict is the human norm as we well know from daily experience. We are not programmed in some genetic way to violence† (Kent) than a radical re-visioning of our self-identity and self-image as human beings must take place not only in our media and in our educational facilities, but in our individual psyches as well.The applications of non-violent strategies in contemporary culture can be thought of as being as unknown as the implications of deep-space travel because even though the contributions of such historical leaders as Gandhi, King, and Mandela reveals the tremendous power of non-violent activism, the full impact of the philosophy as articulated by these men has far-reaching cultural, global-poltical, and spiritual implications which surpass anything which has yet occurred in history.   In other words, the â€Å"pioneers† of the â€Å"modern† incarnation of non-violent strategy which we have examined: Gandhi, King, and Mandela represent not the totality of what the non-violent philosophy can or wants to attain, but the mere beginning of a global transformation which is rooted not inly in the basic moral nature of humanity, but in humanity's spiritual destiny and responsibility.Certainly individual leaders and activists continue to utilize the non-violent approach to attain important results in their areas of influence. Modern technology can also help individual activists to promote change by spreading honest information regarding the repercussions of violence and the militarization of political issues. One recent example is when â€Å"a 1991 massacre in the East Timorese capital Dill was rec orded on videotape and subsequently broadcast worldwide, this generated enormous support for the resistance† (Martin 625); such applications of technology by individuals represent one small but important aspect of the many avenues of potential non-violent methods of change.Other methods include educational strategies based in the ideas forwarded by Gandhi, King, and Mandela. The recognition of the historical impact of the immensely influential strategies of non-violent change and civil disobedience will also help to inform and empower individuals who, in turn, may adopt some of the strategies and ideas reflected upon in the above discussion to help bring about social and political change through non-violent means.ConclusionThe examination of three important world-leaders who based their activism in non-violent philosophy reveals certain universal traits among the different incarnations of non-violent activism. Among these universal traits is a belief in the breaking of â€Å" unjust† laws for the purpose of bringing about social and political change. This belief is often, if not always, accompanied by an ambiguous but firmly articulated that such a braking of laws is based in Divine Will. Another core belief seems to be that non-violence rather than violence is, in fact, more in keeping with humanity's organic nature. This idea often results in a corresponding belief that the violence evident in human society is the result of a kind of perversion of humanity's natural attributes into an unnatural and unhealthy state.Against this backdrop, it is very difficult if not impossible to envision the philosophies of non-violent activism as we know them today as anything short of a religious and spiritual philosophy with extremely pragmatic roots in social and political activism. Not only is the spiritual aspect of non-violent philosophy seemingly universal in the three historical figures studied in this short discussion, but the attributes of spirituality embraced by non-violent activists are, in themselves, of great and abiding interest to any observer. A discussion of this aspect alone would probably reveal that the philosophy of non-violence has existed as a spiritual conviction at various times in various cultures throughout the entire history of humanity.Works CitedBarker, Martin and Julian Petley, eds. 2001. Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Routledge.Bok, Sissela. 1999. Mayhem Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.Gandhi, M. K. Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha). New York: Schocken Books, 1961.Gandhi, Mahatma, and Thomas Merton. Gandhi on Non-Violence. New York: New Directions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pub, 1965.Kent, Bruce. â€Å"Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea.† History Today Feb. 2007: 62+.Mandela, Tambo, and the African National Congress The Struggle against Apartheid, 1948-   1990. Ed. Sheridan Johns and R. Hunt Davis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Martin, Brian. â€Å"Nonviolent Futures.† Futures 33.7 (2001): 625.Pierce, Victoria. â€Å"A Tribute to Dr. King Civil Rights Leader's Legacy of Non- Violence Is Alive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   around the World.† Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) 29 Sept. 2006: 1.Wolf, Charles, and Brian Rosen. â€Å"Public Diplomacy: Lessons from King and Mandela.† Policy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Review (2005): 63+.

Is Being Fashionable a Sin?

â€Å"Don't Judge a book from it's cover† is a great phrase, but we do actually Judge appearance first before getting to know people. That first impression helps anywhere, and good knowledge of fashion, and being well groomed really helps. I think it was Marilyn Monroe that said, â€Å"Clothing should be tight enough to show you are a woman, but loose enough to show you are a lady†. Words to live by!! I want to tell them that being modest does NOT mean covering yourself in a shapeless denim bag of a dress that hides any last speck of femininity!It is possible to be beautiful, stylish, and modest. A move toward beautiful clothes that are modest and actually make the person look good is always needed in the fashion world. Remaining fashionable is also a status war in itself, because you can only attain the status at which you can personally afford. I find concept of something being â€Å"fashionable† quite puzzling. Why many people feel obliged to wear â€Å"fashi onable clothes†? They don't wear it because of aesthetic value – or do they?If something was fashionable last season and now it is not, does it mean that the aesthetic Judgment changed or do people recognize value in conforming to the majority? The answer is simpler than you think. â€Å"Fashion† is the effect, not the cause. Combine two separate concepts: First, that pleasure resulting from a certain aesthetic fades over time. So yes to your first question, it is the aesthetic value that changes. You can only eat ice cream so long until you get tired of eating it, even though nothing changed about the ice cream.Similarly, people get tired of seeing the same kind of clothes being worn all the time. There is a certain pleasure in novelty. Second, fashion has a social value, as well as an individual one. Socially, what people ear is a significant part of our environment, so it's more pleasing to see people well- dressed. Individually, to wear clothes that other peo ple find pleasing arouses our vanity, so we have a personal interest in pleasing our society. â€Å"Fashion† refers to this careful equilibrium between social pleasure and individual vanity.It's more of a sign claiming â€Å"I'm up to date† than any aesthetics, but being up to date is very valued by many people, even if it is about something as irrelevant as clothing and even if being up to date about irrelevant things implies an opportunity cost and earns lost opportunities to be up to date about relevant things. Subconscious thoughts are not characterized for being very deep. TOPIC: People nowadays are paying a lot of attention to fashion. Do you think this is a good thing? As a kind of art, fashion has its own values and benefits for people such as making them more beautiful.Nowadays, people are paying a lot of attention to fashion and I think this is a very good thing because of the following reasons. First, fashion makes people become more attractive. On the roads , a girl dressing in fashionable clothes always attracts more attention of people than one in outdated outfit. This is because as human beings, we all want something that is new and appealing rather than boring. And fashion, in this case, contributes a lot to the beauty of people. It makes them more pretty in apparels that are updated to the popular trends, which a number of people are interested in.Secondly, fashion indirectly builds up a healthy lifestyle. People who love fashion always want to be in the most up-to-date dress. However, these clothes are Just suitable for certain body shape, which is usually a thin one. Therefore, fashion and he love for it are encouraging more and more people to follow a healthful diet, to do exercise and to work out in order to have perfect bodies that are fitted in the clothes they like. Last but not least, fashion makes our world an interesting place to live in. If fashion did not exist, the world might be a dull place where all people wore the same things with the same color.We could never see attractive girls in fashionable clothes on the roads or youthful boy in hip hop costumes. Moreover, no fashion meaner no traditional costume, which is a unique part that differentiates each culture. Therefore, with cushion, people can enjoy a colorful world where everyone looks beautiful and attractive in their own fashion style. In short, I believe that the special attention of people to fashion is reasonable and needed to be encouraged. It is because fashion contributes a lot to better people's appearance, to create a healthy lifestyle and a colorful world.Fashion is a sword TTT can heal or destroy. Ultimately in today's age, Fashion Just destroys people's lives. Fashion as healing: As an art, fashion can bring healing and meaning to people's lives especially ones who are gifted in designing and have passion for it. As destructive. Too many to describe. Fashion sprung out from man's perversity to want to dress to impress. To dres s to look good so that who benefits? They benefit and feel better about themselves. Look presentable is the goal for most organizations but that has just set a mindset especially in work cultures where dressing good matters.It does really create stratifications and psychological stress on people to dress a certain way if not be ready to meet the Judgment or isolation in some cases. What do these benefit a person when they reflect back upon the impact of fashion in society? Not forgetting what many people above have indicated on fashion's influence on self esteem and other matters. Fashion like science gives people a reason to have a Job and to feel good about it but it may actually be one of the reasons why people began to sin and erode the societal norms and family unities.Fashion makes people liberal in whatever they want such that they don't have to care anymore bat people around. Making a statement is bold but a great way to make oneself unique and humans crave that because they need to stand out and make a marquee in the community. They want to feel significant and stand out from the crowd. I'm saying good that you stand out but if the assumptive effect of fashion leads to the detrimental destruction on human unity and communion, then fashion shall be no more than a subtle piece of timber waiting to explode in someone's lives in some form of cheat or sick way.It really matters how you dress but many people's lives have been testimonies of the human need to find acceptance and prominence in some way and fashion is really not a good way. Predictability is a fine line between looking good and attention seeking. Conclusion; Fashion destroys pulp's lives very subtly and slowly if no appropriate boundaries are observed. Any since no one can restrict anyone from wearing anything, the trend is that fashion is one factor that harms our society and its a fact that no one can refute.Fashion here refers to the general consensus that dressing encompasses in our curren t day where we dress to show rather than to be presentable. That is the case TTT MAJORITY of brands try to proliferate. Sex sells is the message of the day. Just look at most of the biggest companies and you can be sure TTT is one of their drives in the company. Inner beauty not outer fashion ‘For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone,' is a famous quote by Audrey Hepburn.Thus it is about the inner beauty not the outer fashion. Lol, thank you can't think of anything else Self Respect has officially disappeared Women nowadays no longer dress to impress instead they dress to expose. Even though as women we may think that if we dress in a particular way, it would attract a guy we need to remember that if we respect who we are and how we portray ourselves, men will see this and respect us as well. Children as young as 12 are beginning to dress in clothes with a lot of exposure which is a sign that they are growing up.Children need to be children when they have the time and discovering and understanding grown up stuff should be left for their futures ahead. Makes people feel inadequate. Fashion is greedy and kills individuality. We are told that if you wear this or wear that, men will want you, etc. It is a load of rubbish. You can't Just wear what you want because that isn't ‘in' for that year, or month, or even week. Fashion churns out lines from every high street store in the country. Style and creativity (great things) should not be synonymous with fashion This organized fashion world however is something else.A grotesque facet of humanity and offshoot of capitalism, it commodities and homogeneous almost everything on this planet. Ultimately, in order to reproduce the same shallow, greedy hierarchy behind the the finished/contrived products mediated and presented to us. It DOES damage the planet. It DOES kill animals. It DOES caus e eating disorders. It DOES cause low self esteem. It fuels competitiveness and ignorance, and an irresponsible denial of reality. It causes us to ignore who we really are, who other people really are and values and issues which can't be turned into something sexy and desirable.It causes us to overlook the wonderful non-airbrushed world we already live in, and it also causes us to refuse to acknowledge and solve the problems that are there in it. It causes us to rule out knowing entire groups of people, adopting entire ways of thinking. It also – despite its self-proclaimed image of not doing so – continues racism and tethering. For several years I fell into the fashion trap set for all people. Lured in by the glossiness, the perfection, the sex, glamour, the manipulative language and presentation.I looked at the world through fashion's demeaning gaze and missed out on so much and hurt many people. I hurt my savings! I hurt my development! I wasted time. I hurt myself in developing an eating disorder and not embracing the absolutely wonderful person I already was. I also hurt people close to me, acquaintances, with the inherent Judgment fashion instills. I hurt people all around the world by paying attention to fashion, as fashion is a system relying on the people outside/at the bottom.I also no doubt perpetuated the harsh living standards for those at the bottom of the fashion industry making these clothes. And I damaged the planet. I don't believe that the meaner meet the ends whatsoever and if fashion was really that great it wouldn't need the billions and billions spent on constant PR & advertising. I think our society is seriously lacking in education/seriously over indoctrinated by the media now if a several million dollar ad which taps into your biological/instinctive yearnings to sell you an unrelated and inanimate object is seen s totally normal and an art form.I would also bring into question fashion houses funding of things which maint ain the hierarchy and the concept of ‘cool' and commodities ‘e. Galleries, shows, films, celebrities, buildings and why Italian fashion houses donate millions to the maintenance of crumbling Italian buildings which fuel the rest of the worlds perception of beautiful Italy etc etc I know there are other issues in play. I wrote this very quickly and it may seem reductive but I'm positive my argument is stronger than those trying to reassure themselves fashion is a necessary art form.It deviates youngsters from studies Youngsters who pay more attention to fashion are less attentive to their studies and when it comes to devoting time to their academic career, they seem to be less concerned. This very attitude and the role of fashion Magazines is harming the very basics of the student community and they start feeling that their life would reach a certain height if they involve their selves in the fashion activities. It is making people's minds more dependent on material thing s. It puts this image in your head that its all about how you look and what to wear and tepidity such as that.People are too dependent on what factories and what the government and what industries provide for them, when you can benefit you and your mind set by buying clothes that are for needs, not 50 million shirts to wear because you NEED every dang color. I understand that fashion is a way that people can express themselves, but when you take it too far and make it something you cannot live without, it shows true weakness in you AND society as a whole. Fashion rules the world. How many people do you know that don't care about the way they dress?I could count mine on one hand. People spend money they don't even have on clothes they will only wear once or twice at the most. When you spend money you don't have, your creating a problem for yourself, and others. Once you go broke, you start to have to get help from the government. The government gets it's money from the taxes and stuf f from the people who choose to spend their money the right way. Is it fair either? Fashion is harmful to society It makes you feel not K each season. So in an effort to feel K you pressure yourself to buy.It's not about creating peace or Joy in one's, but rather reinforcing you're not k unless you wear this designer or can afford this fashion. It's a waste of human resources. Displays the â€Å"perfect† image to viewers This causes them to believe in that image and strive to achieve it in order to feed their need to look beautiful. They try to follow the way that they are shown in the fashion industry which will help them to be accepted and look like the perfect beautiful woman so that they can match the society's requirements on beauty.Fashion depresses peoples freedom to be an individual Everyone here seems to be talking about clothes, but following fashion is in my mind, owing something that everyone is supposedly doing at the moment whether it be types of clothes, cars, behavior. Basically copying others Just to fit in or gain supposed social recognition. This can be harmful to a persons individuality, self esteem and general happiness if taken so far to stop people feeling they can freely be themselves. They have to follow the fashion no matter what the cost or think it's k to treat people who don't follow suit as outcasts.People are too bind to realize what fashion can do to person. I know this from experience and have watched people surfer. Fashion is killing naggers and some adults. Fashion is a waste of time. What happened to people expressing themselves? There are too many people wrapped up in what's in or getting the next best thing. Also, the so-called fashion of â€Å"hot bodies†; what the hell is up with that? I watched a friend who is so called â€Å"fat and ugly† struggle with being in style and having a body people want to see. She starved herself and made herself throw up Just to fit in.Honestly, I used to be wrapped up in fashion, but my mom made me realize that I don't need the newest things out there. I don't need make up as I used to think. My mom showed me how to express myself through everything I do. I thank her for that! I may be only 16 but I know what it used to be like. I don't care about fashion because being â€Å"in† is showing how low people can be and labeling them as trash, ugly, poor and worse. Fashion is harmful to a society and there is so much more around us. The sad thing is that most of the world is too blind to see it.People think fashion is so important because they always want to look good. Why do people always think fashion is so important? Well that is my question to you! Why is it so important? Why do you have to ooh good for people to like you? Some people in this world think that life is all about fashion! Well its not! Soot all you losers out there who think fashion is the best things in life.. Well stop thinking that. If you don't stop thinking that then you will grow up to have no friends and will have the worst life ever. So I came here to say fashion is not everything in life and it is harmful to some girls.If girls think that they will be liked if they look good then they will grow up to be lonely and have no friends. So if your one of those people think about al the other important things in life before you go to a party or get dressed up. Young girls are trying to emulate celebrities/models and can't differentiate the celebrity's â€Å"public persona† wardrobe from their everyday â€Å"at-home† wardrobe. Young girls look to celebrities and/or models when trying to figure out fashion. They see what is dished out to them from the media or from in-person events.They don't understand that much of what celebrities wear is worn specifically for the publicity. Some even for shock value Just to get into the forefront of the public eye. They see models with unrealistic body shapes and think that to be beautiful and successful they too have to be unhealthily thin. They don't know how many models are throwing up the only calories their bodies receive on a daily basis. They don't understand that celebrities that are dressing in body-hugging clothes and see-through tops are purposefully dressing that way because sex sells.Girls are so obsessed with being popular and accepted that they are trying to bypass being a girl and instead are trying to rush into being a woman. They aren't even getting the chance to figure out for themselves the stupidity of celebrities who spend a good sum of money walking in 9†³ stilettos or shoes without heels all for the sake of publicity. It is obvious that the celebrity is Just hiding behind the same insecurity that the little girls have about being accepted and loved for who they are. For the record, people with real talent do not need to hide behind the facade of fashion absurdity.At schools, girls have started to rank themselves with fashion. Girls have started to decid ed who's who by what they wear, and if one doesn't have enough money to buy a certain piece of clothing, then see it being worn around schools, than their self-esteems can be lowered to a certain degree, and can be seen as a target to bullies, making the situation worse. I feel that fashion is harmful to society, because it promotes a culture that is based solely on appearance. The fashion industry encourages an unrealistic outlook for men and women in regards to their bodies and their looks.Women and men have gone to great extremes to mold their bodies into what the fashion world has decided is â€Å"perfect†, often disregarding their health and well-being, Just to look like the air-brushed, rail-thin models that the industry has deemed beautiful. Fashion is definitely harmful to society, because it inspires people to make potentially harmful lifestyle choices. Societal problems, such as anorexia and teen violence, are exemplary as to why fashion can actually be harmful. The media pushes the idea of beauty, as it is associated with apparently emaciated super models and punks wearing baggy pants and chains.Our children try to emulate what they are seeing on television. Some restrict their eating to the point that their health suffers, and others steal and even resort to violence to obtain clothes that look like those their television heroes wear. Fashion contributes to excluding certain individuals from society by labeling them as different. Fashion meaner being able to express oneself, but when an individual does not have access to fashionable clothes for financial reasons or cultural ones, this individual is generally excluded from society.Fashion contributes in directing our attention towards appearances, and it impacts in a negative way what people think of each other. It harms the environment, it promotes low paid work, an unhealthy self-image and futility and contributes to the increase of consumerism. Most clothes are made with processes that pol lute the atmosphere and water sources, produce CO and other harmful gas, and a lot of waste. Most of the clothes are made y people who are paid around 12 cents a day and work in very poor conditions. The fashion industry employs models who are too thin and present their bodies as desirable and normal – how your body should be.And because the magazines, ads and whatnot make the clothes – and the whole industry – look so glamorous, people then feel tempted to buy more and more. This way, our society is becoming more image-centered, more futile and consuming. The fashion industry can be harmful to society, due to its unnatural display of weight requirements. In recent years, the alarming trend of fashion models' unnatural weight acquirement has directly affected our society, both as consumers and as individuals dealing with self-esteem issues that turn into dangerous health conditions.Teen and preteen girls are especially susceptible to the trends that the â€Å"h ouses of fashion† determine are â€Å"in†. Fashion is harmful to society for several reasons and it shouldn't be taken as seriously. Fashion is harmful to society because it makes people feel like they have to dress like the models and worst of all have to be the same size as the models. Children get shunned at school because of fashion and not wearing the top labels of clothing. It is unfair to Judge on fashion but that is what we do most of the time. I believe fashion is harmful to society.As the mother of a thirteen year old girl I can tell you that many things that are considered fashionable are ruining society. Whether it be the way they are wearing their clothes or what. There are also other issues that fall into this category television shows and radio. What is acceptable and what isn't? It is all a very thin line but all of it is becoming our undoing. Fashion is not harmful to society as it simply personifies freedom Fashion allows people to express themselves i n an individual way. It provides diversity in society which can only be a healthy thing.It shows that people have freedom and therefore allows them to relax and feel comfortable for who they are. Overall it makes for happier individuals which results in a more prosperous society. Fashion is the reason so many people are up to their neck in credit card debt. How many times do you go to a department store and not get asked by the cashier if you want a charge card for that store. The answer is almost never. Not only will the store charge you $100 for that pair of Sears, they will let you pay more than that if you onto want to pay for it all right now.Fashion is the biggest scam in consumer product because their products are never worth what you have to pay to be fashionable. Fashion beautifies the society There is nothing wrong with the fashion around us. Its Just our perspective that needs to looked upon and changed regarding fashion. Fashion is all around us so we can't imagine a soc iety without fashion. It would Just look like a prehistoric society without fashion. Fashion is the result of the man,s mental development, so there is nothing wrong with it.

Sales Managment Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sales Managment Assignment - Essay Example This paper approves that keeping the current scenario in mind, Total Gas & Power Ltd depends on its people being able to work together and systematically planned induction training will greatly accelerate this. Hence an induction plan is accordingly set which would cover a long checklist. A formal induction will be carried out. In case of formal orientation the program is very much structured and systematic. Everything in program is layed down previously and the flow is very much according to that. In this, the sales executive is made knowledgeable about four aspects which are- the organization, the job, the employees and other aspects. This essay makes a conclusion the sales personnel should be made more knowledgeable about their product’s features and its functions through seminars etc. Finally good performance should be rewarded with monetary incentives. Next, the performance appraisal scheme that had been introduced should be communicated to the employees properly leaving no room for confusion. Then, a senior sales executive should undertake the responsibility of tackling the complaints received from customers, evaluate its causes and then find out their solutions. Finally, the organization is looking forward to introduce another office in the mainland Europe. For this, they s should be highly motivated and informed about the market trends. The risk bearing capacity should be high in the beginning and they should strive towards building good customer relations.

Essay on Government Borrowing Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Government Borrowing - Essay Example The government borrows majorly through issuing treasury bills, Canada Savings Bonds, and marketable bonds in domestic and foreign markets. The Financial Administration Act dictates that Governor in Council has the mandate to authorize the Minister to borrow money on behalf of Her Majesty in the right of Canada. The government borrowing has been too high and the interest is very low. The government Canada reported a net debt of approximately $ 616.9 billion in the fiscal year 2010-11. This was a rise by $ 34.4 billion from 2009-10. Canada’s total government net debt-to-GDP ratio hit 30.4 per cent in the year 2010 (Department of Finance of Canada, 2012). This paper will explore the issue of high government borrowing and low interest rates. It will give economic measures to tackle the problem in Canada. The level of government borrowing is crucial ingredient of fiscal policy and management of aggregate demand in any economy. When an individual government runs a budget deficit, it implies that in that fiscal year, total government spending exceeds total tax revenue. When a government experiences a deficit in its budget estimates, it has to borrow in order to bridge the gap. This forces the government to issue its debt as Treasury Bills and long-term government bonds through central bank. The negative effects of Canadian government’s high borrowing are duplicated in the in the financial statements of the country. In the 31 March 2011, the Department of Finance of Canada announced that interest-bearing debt was $ 801.8 billion. This was an increase by $ 39.0 billion from the year 2010. Similarly, the un-matured debt was higher by 32.0 Canadian dollars. In addition, liabilities for pension and other benefits for employees went higher by 7.3 billion Canadian dollars. Increase in government borrowing through issuing of bonds such as treasury bills and securities to pay interest in fixed period or indefinitely (Department of Finance of Canada, 2012). Canada has not registered positive results fiscal stimulus. The economic stimulus seems it is not effective. The government borrowing has led to low interest rates making government run a budget deficit. In addition, fiscal stimulus has demonstrated inflationary effects that results from high demand. Fiscal stimulus entails the proposition that through borrowing money and spending it, the government can raise the state of economy. This is through raising inputs and lowering the numbers of jobless. Fiscal stimulus can increase aggregate demand. Theoretically, printing money can be a form of fiscal stimulus. This is because money counts as a transfer payment. People will have a lot of money because of increased printing. However, in practice people do not just keep many dollars of their extra cash. People will spend the extra amount of money creating demand for services and goods. The increased aggregate demand leads to inflation. This is the state bedeviling Canada. The high borrowing of g overnment seems to create problems rather than to develop economy in Canada. When the government borrows money from private sector this corresponds to increase in spending on its part. However, government borrowing limits the spending of private sector. This therefore implies that job opportunities, which fiscal stimulus seeks to created are offset through decline in private spending. Canada is grappling with the same situation. Too much borrowing seems to impair the

Gender Stratificaiton in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gender Stratificaiton in the Workplace - Essay Example Gender Stratification is a global phenomenon, which touches almost all countries, though the level of it differs among the countries. All countries being from Asia, Europe, Africa, America and all parts of the world have either suffering from the subject, or find that once had came across it. In Canada, Sociological analysis conducted in the year 1973 and 1984 has shown that there was income inequality between sexes; the analysis further stated that â€Å"The income gaps between males and females are also large. The income gaps between Anglophones and Francophone tend to be much smaller than between class categories and gender groups in 1973, and more so in 1984. The greatest improvement in income disparities seems to come from less discriminatory pay structures and exploitation, not from human capital and individual characteristics†. (Class, Gender and Ethnic Income Inequalities in 1973 and 1984: Findings from the Canadian National Surveys) Canadian Women in recent years were living in poverty, due to low income they received in the working places as a result of Gender Stratification. The result was that, not only the women in that nature suffered from the tragic, it’s also included their families. While for that reason, the Canadian government and the United Nation put hand on deck to curtail poverty among women. The United Nation on its part stated that poverty will never come to end unless women are given opportunity to work and earn like their male counterpart. Another typical example that ought to be sighted as relating to the above subject describes how women were segregated in Canada, especially in the area of Ontario, where analysis made since 1999 shows that there was a disparity. There was a highest gap in earning between males and females, especially in the Pharmacy Industry. Investigation also testifies that women were earning less than their male counterpart in that sector because they are only remaining as employees. Meanwhile, since the primary focus of this essay is to make assessment on how gender stratification changed in Canadian working place in the last few decades, the remaining pages of set aside for this essay should focus on that aspect. The important point that ought to be discuss on this aspect initially, over the changing in Gender stratification in the past few decades, which include that some countries across the globe have changed to recognized the need for equality between males and females, which is in line with the International Convention that took place in the year 1979, which at the end of it, members that participated endorsed the compulsory application of social justice between men and women. During that convention, a bill was passed, which is tagged "international bill of rights for women", is the second most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. Many countries have also enacted legislation and established organizational structures on a domestic level to promote gender equality". (Gender Equality in the Labor Market). The Canadian International Development Agency, (CIDA) has also played vital roles in recent years toward ensuring the Gender Equality in Canada, through its policy on gender equality. The body has vowed to

Video news release Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Video news release - Essay Example Through undertaking a survey of 77 television stations that broadcasts to 50% of the USA population, the CMD found that there were 36 video news release that were aired by these television stations incorporated and disguised as part of their own news, without disclosing to the audience the authentic source of the video news (). However, the major problem associated with the video news release is that the television stations that broadcasts these types of news fails to balance the clients news with their own independently researched footages, so as to present to the clients the actual status of the clients. More than 75% of the USA adult population depended on television news to be informed on what is happening around the world. Therefore, the television news that is aired on a daily basis has a great influence on the ability of the people to evaluate everything, ranging from consumer products to government policies (). The government has also been known for contributing the highest p ercentage of video news release that are aired by the television news, while political parties and other politically-based organizations are keen to broadcast their opinions to the public though the use of the video news release. There has been a recent controversy over the state of the video news release being incorporated within the normal news broadcast by televisions to the public, but the controversial debate has not deterred the television stations from continued airing of the fake news (). The controversy has led the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to investigate the conduct of the television stations that incorporates corporate clients or the government released video news release as their own news. This resulted to the issuance of the FCCs April 2005 Public Notice, which provided that the television stations must always disclose the sources of their news

Concept of beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Concept of beauty - Essay Example According to Winckelmann, Greek painting and sculpture was not too preferred or admired. However, the few who admired had great taste, leading to the endorsement of the works of Correggio in making the windows that covered the royal stables in Stockholm (Winckelmann, 3). There was an endorsement of some foreign artists who introduced foreign designs such as the Saxony. These foreigners had great tastes in their work and incorporated natural beauty, leading to the endorsement of their works that led to their firm establishment in Greek land (Winckelmann, 3). The strategy of gathering and display of great international artworks was used in the perpetuation of art, though it was brought down by the great works of Greek art masters that were imitated by many other artists in their artworks and sculpture (Winckelmann, 5). Winckelmann describes nature as the source of the purest art that was further advanced by many artists to increase tastes and preferences. He termed these types of artis ts as lucky, thereby asserting that good tastes in natural beauty originated from ancient Greek nature and history (Winckelmann, 5). ... This is portrayal of the perfect rules of art. Winckelmann emphasizes that there are clear negligence in any of the works by Greek artists, such as the addition of the dolphin to Medicean Venus combined with the playing children (Winckelmann, 7). Connoisseurs and imitators describe nature beauty as the most beautiful in the Greek masterpieces with some perfect additional forms of beauty (Winckelmann, 7). The ancient artworks are described as made by the mind lone, as per the teachings of an ancient interpreter of Plato. Winckelmann described the most beautiful being resembled of the Greek body as it resembled his/her sibling (Winckelmann, 7). The design of the Greek clothing was in accordance to the formative beauty of nature (Winckelmann, 9). According to Burke, artistic tastes and preferences depend on the reasoning levels in each individual (Burke, 19). He stated that there is diversity in reasoning, on the concept of beauty, though there are standards of reasoning and taste that are similar in all human creatures. On Burke’s argument to contrast beauty ideology to the concept of the sublime, he beauty as taking a hold on reason, passion or taste in order to maintain ordinary or natural correspondents of life (Burke, 19). This meant the definition of the beauty concept as dependent on the truth or falsehood in the terms of natural beauty. According to Burke, there is the settlement of certain maxims of right reasoning in the most ignorant humans, in the terms of beauty tastes and preferences. There must be improvement of the rude science of ignorance by the learned, through a system (Burke, 20). Difference in opinion is considered to have no important consequences due to the logic of taste,

To question to what extent did the dissolution of Parliament in 1629 Essay

To question to what extent did the dissolution of Parliament in 1629 sow the seeds for the English Civil War - Essay Example Moreover, England proceeded towards democracy and adopted it as its government’s policy. The process of democratisation naturally conflicted with the King and his power over the nation. Furthermore, the adoption of democracy and freedom rendered Parliament more powerful, and this in turn challenged the royal rule. These are the most frequently stated reasons for the outbreak of the Civil War (Civil War, English, 2008). Nevertheless, the revisionist historians contended that the Civil War transpired due to the events of November 1641. By that time, Charles had prepared to fulfil the aspirations of his subjects and he had revoked the ship money taxes in 1640. He had also promised to reinstate Parliament in 1641. Moreover, Charles agreed to abstain from levying further taxes without the approval of Parliament, and to dissolve the Star Chamber. At that juncture, William Laud was incarcerated in December 1640 and Charles’s close deputy Strafford was executed on the 12th of May 1641. Meanwhile in October 1641, the Catholic Great Rebellion took place in Ireland. It challenged the supremacy of the King and opposed royal rule in Ireland. In order to suppress that movement, the King required an army and other resources. However, the leaders in Parliament refused to ratify his request, as they feared that the King would use these resources against Parliament. This was tantamount to a direct and abrupt attack on Royal power, and in retaliation, Charles imprisoned five MP’s, who were the prime instigators in the Parliament behind that strategy against the Crown (Civil War, English, 2008). Charles was the second surviving son of King James and the duchess of Denmark, Anne. He impressed many people and was bestowed with good manners, patience, good temperament, and courteous behaviour. These qualities made him much closer to those who met him. Although, his deeds

The first World War Essay Example for Free

The first World War Essay How do Owen and Sassoon shows us that it is not sweet and honourable to die for your country? In the early 1900s it was believed by many people in Britian that it was sweet and honou rable to die for your country this is mainly due to the fact that there had not been a major European conflict in a hundred years. War was believed to be glamorous and soldiers were seen as gallant and were highly respected for fighting for the Great British Empire. But during the First World War many soldiers discovered how tragic and horrific war could really be. Civillians like Jessie Pope created crude war verses to pressure men into enlisting without having any direct experience with the truth of war. Who would much rather come back with the crutch Than lie low and be out of the fun? Some of the soldiers from the First World War wrote poetry to describe the realities of war. Two of the famous poets from the period were Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Siegfried Sassoon was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1886 in which he lived the pastoral life of a young squire. When Sassoon joined the army it was said that he reacted very bitterly and violently to the realities of war. Sassoon earned the name of Mad Jack after a fellow officer died. This was due to the near-suicidal exploits against the german lines. Sassoon was admitted into a military hospital for shell shock where he met Wifred Owen. Wilfred Owen was born in 1893,at the age of sixteen Owen failed to attain entrance to the university of London and started writing poetry. Then he spent a year as a lay assistant to the Revd. In 1915 he joined the army and was placed in the Artists Rifles. In 1917 he was posted in France and saw his first action. Later on in the year he was diagnosed with Shell shock or neurasthenia and was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. Owen and Sasson met in the hospital and discussed their veiws on the War and poetry. Both Owen and Sassoon objected to the social pressure both official and unofficial that were put on young men to join the army. Although it was said that Sassoon mentored and influenced Owen in writing poetry,Owens style is very different to Sassoons. Owen shows us the realties of war by writing detailed long poems about the situations the soldiers were put through during the First World War. Sassoon on the other hand wrote short poems about the after affects on the soldiers and the relatives after the war. This is shown in such poems that Owen wrote as Exposure in which Owen describes the psychological and physical affects soldiers were put through during winter warfare. The soldiers in this poem are waiting for something to happen this is called stale mate. At this point in time the soldiers feel that the cold is more dangerous to them than the war Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us. . . . I think that this goes against most peoples usual idea of warfare because most people imagine warfare as non stop fighting, and they think that the most dangerous things to soldiers are guns and bults. In this poem Owen uses comparisons to connect weather and war like iced winds that knive us. Also Owen uses the personification of the clouds to show us that the freezing winter weather conditions attacked them like the actual enemy would Attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey. In this poem Owen uses para rhymes such as Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles. Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles, . Owen uses para rhymes to keep a rhythm to the poem but so that it still keeps with the saddness of winter warfare. I think these para rhythms work well because as well as them giving the poem a rhythm they give the poem a structure. Later on in the poem the soldiers begin to hullucinate We cringe in holes,back on forgotten dreams ,and stare sundozed, they do this because they are in stalemate and the waiting is almost sending them insane . They hullucinate about a normal spring day Deep into grassier ditches. So we drowse ,sun-dozed ,Littered with trickling where the blackbird fusses,. This shows us that some if not all of the soldiers are having to dream of a happier place to give the situation they are in some sort of hope,hope that they will once again be home. Also in this stanza Owen asks the question Is it that we are dying? when I read this line I get the impression that they were almost hoping for this in some way. Then the soldiers go home and find the doors and windows locked Shutter and doors ,all closed then they return to reality and the daydream ends. Owen ends this stanza with we turn back to our dying this makes you realise that they have no hope of of escaping the realities of war. Owen also describes why the soldiers are fighting. The reasons are they wanted to sustain their way of life for their children and they felt it was their duty which is understandable. But the reason which I thought was strange is that they had no reason not to. That gave me the impression that Owen was almost trying to say that because they had no reason for them to join the army their lives were wasted. The soldiers in this poem that have died from the winter are buried by the burying party, later on in the poem they are described as half known facesand All their eyes are ice,. I think Owen describes them as half known faces because they are dead so they are not really people anymore. They are described as Their eyes are ice, because people say the eyes are the gate way to the soul and because they are dead they have no soul anymore. I think these phrases work well because it give us great imagery and shows us that some of the soldiers didnt die peacefully. Throughout this poem Owen expresses his anger towards the people who died unnecessarily as a result of winter weather conditions in the First World War. Sucide in the trenches was written by Sassoon, it describes what being in the trenches could do to the most positive of people. In this poem Sassoon uses simple rhymes, phrases and adjectives to bluntly describe how a young soldier took his own life. In the first stanza the soldier is described as I knew a simple soldier boy Who grinned at life in empty joy , he may have been described this way because he was uneducated and a very positive person. Then in the second stanza he explains things that contributed to his collapse With crumps and lice and lack of rum crumps are the constant loud noise of the shell bursts with deafened some soldiers. However, the main thing in this stanza was In winter trenches, cowed and glum, in this line Sassoon tells us that the soldier is in winter warfare, we have already seen the effect of winter wafare in Owens poem Exposure . Then in the end of the second stanza Sassoon shocks you by describing the soldiers suicide very bluntly He shot a bullet through his brain. No one spoke of him again. when I read this line it made me sit up and think. Sassoon uses asteristiers to give you a moment to think. Then he attacks you with You smug-faced crowds with kindeling eye . Then he ends this stanza in saddness which I think works very well due to the contrast with the rest of the poem Sneak home and pray youll never know The hell where youth and laughter go. In this last stanza Sassoon is expressing his anger mainly towards the people back in Britian who pressure the soldiers into going to warfare without having any idea of the realities of war.

Committing suicide Essay Example for Free

Committing suicide Essay By the end Sybil denies all to do with Eva committing suicide. The audience has never liked her and this makes things worse.  Mrs Birling is selfish, ignorant and up tight, just like Mr Birling. He starts the same way as his wife when the inspector shows up. Mr Birling is the man of the house and is involved in most of the play. He describes himself as a hard-headed man of business and tells Eric that he should look after himself and his family, he wants Eric to be a hard-headed man of business so he can take over eventually. He likes Gerald and would prefer him as a son rather than Eric because they both think the same way. When Sheila calls off the engagement Gerald understands but Mr Birlings plans are in ruins. He had planned co-operation between Crofts limited and his own company. I dont understand why you should come here, Inspector.  Arthur doesnt like the Inspectors attitude and makes this clear. He is probably the most disliked character in this play. What he did to Eva was considered a very minor thing but she was only asking for a small raise. He dismisses what Sheila and Sybil did. At the end he too looks for ways out. Mr Birling predicts the future occasionally and every time he is wrong. We can look back on what has already happened and we know that he is wrong. The Germans dont want war. Nobody wants war  - the Titanic-she sails next week-forty six thousand eight hundred tons- forty six thousand eight hundred tons- New York in five days-and every luxury-and unsinkable  In both cases he is wrong and the next case he will probably be wrong:  theres a very good chance of a knighthood-so long as we behave ourselves  This leads to scandal, which there is a lot of in this play. This also attracts the audiences as people enjoy things to gossip about especially when there are respectable or rich people involved. Geralds affair, Eric making Eva pregnant and Alderman Meggartys nasty private life. But she became your mistress.  Yes.  And you made love again?  Yes.  Hes notorious womaniser. About Alderman Meggarty.  Mr Birling was never liked and through the course of the play the audience likes him less and less.  I personally never thought about liking or not liking the Inspector, he is just there, putting the questions to the Birlings. He is the most assertive on the scene and the stage directions show he makes his presence felt even though Mr Birling repeats his past achievements. By the time Gerald returns from his walk he is too late to confront Mr Goole, his timing is perfect. Then Gerald tells us:  That man wasnt a police officer.  There is an element of shock and surprise but some of the audience may have guessed this. Who is he then?  That is one of many questions left open and unanswered. Most of them are about the Inspector. His name suggests something supernatural. Goole sounds like Ghoul this means, a person unnaturally interested in death. This is exactly what the Inspector is but it seems he can change the future. But just remember this. One Eva Smith is gone-but here are millions and millions and millions Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, with their suffering and their chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we say and do. We dont live alone. We are members of the body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will soon learn, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Good night. The end is about the wars so he knows about the future and ends up changing it. He knows too much to be human. He already knows what has happened and is just there to make the truth come out and teach the Birlings a lesson, or else. As mentioned before he seems to be able to change the future because of what happens at the end.  The end of the play is not really the end, it is the middle because things are just getting interesting again. The biggest unanswered question is what will happen now, J.B Priestly has left this to us to think about and try to finish. The ending leaves everything wide open and open to debate and argument. It is the talking point of the whole play.  Yes? Mr Birling speaking What? -here-  That was the police. A girl has just died- on her way to the Infirmary- after swallowing some disinfectant. And a police inspector is on his way here- to ask some- questions-

The Truth Of The Ideal Woman

The Truth Of The Ideal Woman This essay goes into a topic that is unaware to the majority of society. It goes to the roots of how society views women and it reveals the secrets of why women act, look, and think a certain way. This essay explains how the media is forcing women of all ages to conform to one image. It explains how stressful this is to a female and that they will go to great lengths, subconsciously or not, to fulfill the image that the media wants each woman to conform to. This essay goes into examples such as propaganda, the work place, raising children, a womans assumed role, womens health and even products a woman may buy to uphold the medias image. The media wants women to fulfill this perfect image, to do this a woman will think of herself differently, treat others differently, and overall this whole perfect image causes a chain reaction to our society and the way society views women, thus greatly affecting how women act, think, and look to fit this perfect image. Behind the Truth of the Ideal Woman Media shapes the way females think and act in society. One study reports that at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen.(National Institute, 2010) Physiologically, these young women wish their bodies were different. This drastically increases between ages thirteen to seventeen when a girl is first judged by their appearance. The media is constantly forcing females of all ages to conform to this perfect woman image. The media depicts females to have a certain body type, attitude, and it determines a womans future life goals. The media forces women to think, act and look a certain way. Women are given specific roles that are determined by the media. A womans first role is to be a caretaker; this idea is thrust upon us by the media. If a female is acting like a tom-boy it is frowned upon by society because of the way media exposes the perfect woman. This has been escalated ever since the end of World War II. The popular media (television, movies, magazines, etc.) have, since World War II, increasingly held up a thinner and thinner body image as the ideal for women.(Teen Health and the Media, 2010) The thin body image for women has been reintroduced into society and makes a womans image all she is and how she will represent her family. At this time physical and social appearances defined who you are and how your family was going to be represented. During WWII women got to have jobs to help their country, but once it ended every woman wanted to be her own provider, which was frowned upon because it was masculine, but, after WWII the perfect woman image was born puttin g pressure on the way society views women and their actions. Society believes that a woman must always be neat, at home, rested, etc. Just the thought of being grungy/dirty or any kind of hard labor was frowned upon and viewed as tom-boy like behavior. In a situation where a woman is successful in the working world we view it as if she cheated to get her way on top. Why, because media influences the way we view woman, even to this day. This causes us to treat men and woman differently because we subconsciously believe what the media is telling us. Subconsciously, we believe that what ever he media says must be true or have some truth to it. We do not care where they got their information we just believe it. It sculpts the way all females think and/or act. Media portrays woman as caretakers. For centuries woman have always trained their daughters to be like them so they can take care of their own families. As Kuperberg and Stone explain; During the past two decades, the media depiction of women in general, while in some ways reflecting the reality of changes in their labor force participation, continues to focus on traditional roles and is increasingly pervaded by an individualistic rhetoric of choice. The media depiction of motherhood remains highly traditional. It is against this backdrop that we explore images about women whose actions signify a return to the traditional family form of male breadwinner-stay-at-home mother. (Kuperberg, Stone, 2008) Society views women to have their family as top priority and if anything else gets in the way is must be put aside until their initial duty is completed. We have these cultural universals that the media forces society to be more sensitive toward woman and to give men tough love. If a girl fell and scraped her knee, one would aid her and talk to her as if she has no idea what to do; where as, if a boy scraped his knee one would give him tough love and tell him to suck it up. This trains a girl to be dependant on a provider and makes her learn that if someone needs help she will need to take care of them. We feel this way because the media wants all females to lean towards the traditional choice, to take care of others and to keep the females role at home. Any other kind of depiction of a females role is frowned upon. Mothers want to be good mothers in as many ways possible; one subconscious standard is to raise their children right. This pushes the stay-at-home or traditional view of a mother. Mothers then give more face time to their daughters to instill the same impression media shows society. By giving daughters more social activity it will stimulate the brain more frequently. If a mother has a baby girl she gives that girl more face-to-face time, if they have a baby boy, subconsciously they get less face-to-face time. This small social action a mother gives their child affects the way the think and act. This affects a girls brain drastically helping them throughout their life with social/group activities, in school and outside of school, with hands on problems. Boys on the other hand, learn to function on their own and be independent and are better at more seldom activities like math. (Money, 1972) Women, they say, learn early in life that female accomplishment brings few rewards. In some cases, women cannot be creative because they are discriminated against. In other instances, a womans creativity may well be blunted by fear of nonconformity, failure or even success itself. Unlike men, Kagan says, women are trained to have strong anxiety about being wrong. (Money, 1972) John Money is quoting Dr. Kagan, in which, Kagan is explaining how females are discouraged to be on their own and to depend on a provider to help them with their problems, thus showing the lack of creativity and showing how females are trained to follow directions or do as they are told, thus instilling the traditional role as a caretaker and to depend on a provider. Many mothers say that they do not favor either sex of their children but subconsciously they do because they are more social and compassionate with their daughters, they sympathize with them and guide them to be good mothers because as media has shown, a womans initial role is to be a caretaker. Studies also find that the messages conveyed in print media aimed at adolescent girls are traditional, emphasizing womens subordination to men, the centrality of heterosexual relationships, and the reinforcement of gender-segregated occupational stereotypes. (Kuperberg, Stone, 2008) The media is expressing how woman need to be at home helping and to do as their provider says. The media is brainwashing our society, especially our youth, to think that this stay-at-home traditional role is the only role for females and that it should be followed as tradition states. The media is convincing our youth to continue this cycle and to carry on in the desired perfect woman fashion. The media instills this idea that women are only to be caretakers and to train their daughters to do the same and to follow tradition. The media has suppressed womens voices all around the world. For decades a womans voice was ignored and never important. The media portrayed the perfect woman as the perfect housewife, nothing more. The medias ideal perfect woman is the 50s-60s domestic housewife, even though the styles have drastically changed over the years the media still stresses how important the stay-at-home mom is and how important a womans image and/or reputation should be. A womans role was to take care of the house and family, their opinions never mattered and if they spoke against their spouse then they were ridiculed and punished for speaking out of term. A perfect housewife would always be neat, organized, nice, thin, and was always cleaning, baking, or perfecting her image to fit the description. A housewife was never sloppy, or overworked. They only spoke when spoken to or if it was appropriate, they never used vulgar or inappropriate language. This why being a tom-boy was frowned upon. Being a tom-boy meant that a girl didnt care about how they looked, acted, and would do reckless and daring things. These tom-boy actions break this perfect image and who ever acted this way would be ridiculed by peers because they did not fit the medias standards. Girls were never allowed to play co-ed sports for a long time or sports that were originally designed for just men, such as basketball, baseball, and flag football. Today it is more widely accepted to be a tom-boy but it is still frowned upon if a girl acts like a boy. Girls are viewed to never roughhouse or to have outbursts because only rough boys do that, and their excuse is boys will be boys. Females then found a way around the physical actions to get what they wanted or to express how they felt. The media has forces females to be manipulative to attack others to get what they wanted to preserve their perfect woman image. This is where females bullying was always overlooked because it was never physical, it was purely emotional and manipulation. They [boys] dont care if they got in trouble, but girls dont want anyone to know they got into trouble, Maura said. Girls worry about how they are going to look.'(Simmons, 2003) These girls know that their image is defined by their actions so they fear that if they do get in trouble then their reputation will be ruined. The media puts pressure on these girls to be perfect and without flaws and if they were caught doing something bad then it would be the end of their perfect image. At this age their perfect image is everything; to lose this would be mortifying. These girls, who are only in middle school, are trapped in a vicious cy cle that the media portrays to our society, especially our youth. The media has shaped different looks and attitudes for certain age groups. For example, these girls that Simmons has interviewed are only in middle school. The media wants every young girl to be sugar spice and everything nice. They must act and dress a certain way. For clothing they only have girly choices and to be completely covered and modest. Any other kind of clothing, such as comfy clothes, is considered tom-boy like and frumpy. At this early age other students pick on who ever this girl may be despite her personality because in middle school image is everything. They are pressured to act this way and anything, such as rough housing/bullying, is frowned upon. These girls feel although they cannot express themselves freely and be themselves because the media wanted them to be perfect angels and to fulfill the single perfect image. They will then resort to manipulating others to channel how they feel. This then c arries on into their futures in high school and their working careers. Media labels women in the working world to be devious, untrustworthy and manipulative. The media makes us feel that having women in the working world is a negative impact and that a womans main job is at home. Support for the traditional male-breadwinner/female-homemaker division of labor declined; however, at no time was a womans career portrayed as more important to her than marriage and family. (Kuperberg, Stone, 2008) A womans working job is never top priority. For a woman to successfully get a promotion before their male competitor, her peers would say that she cheated to get ahead meaning that she most likely slept with or manipulated a superior to get higher up in the working world. This is not always true; media only portrays us to think that. A woman works harder than any man does at a job because it is a male ruling society, women are viewed as less valuable or incapable or doing a good job. This drives women to work harder and to become bullies in the workforce to keep up with the times and to stay on top. Because women, racing to crash the glass ceiling, are still token females around the office, their behavior might be scrutinized far more than a males. If a female has faced difficulties in getting to her position of leadership, she may still face doubts about her staying power in a male-dominated world. So, in a somewhat vicious cycle, such a female may return to that emotional manipulation she picked up at age 4: bullying. (Edmonds, 2010) Women are constantly doing whatever they can to be successful and to continue to be on top, thus resorting to bullying or manipulative actions at times. Media pictures woman to be deceiving or the bad guy in the working world, this is seen in movies and/or T.V. shows which society constantly watches and learns from. A recent movie that depicts the female boss to be an awful person is The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Sandra Bullock plays the pushy cut throat boss that everyone steers clear from and Ryan Reynolds plays her hardworking secretary. This movie is exactly how society views women in the working world. They are viewed as the tough competition. If successful, they are feared by their competitors or employees. In the movie, Bullocks character acts the way she does so that she can stay successful even though the things people say about her are hurtful. She acts like doesnt let it faze her but it truly does. This is what drives her to be so serious, hardwor king, and competitive. Many women in the working world feel as though they should put up this front to be successful. They feel as though they need to manipulate at times and to work twice as hard as men just to stay in the game, let alone trying to be successful. The media makes society view the working woman as a manipulative antagonist in the working world; in reality, the woman is putting up this front to hide her insecurity and to be successful in a working mans world. One may say that the media does not cause women to think and act a certain way but free will and/or choice is a main contributor to the way women think and act. Media sculpts women in a certain image where choices are limited to one category. For example; the ideal image for an eighteen year old woman is to have the following; bust size: 32 inches, waist: 23 inches, hips: 32 inches. This is the portrayed hour glass figure media states for the perfect woman. These women have to pay more money for less clothing. Younger shoppers, ages 18 to 34, are willing to spend more $60 a pair, on average but only one in 10 women say theyve shelled out more than $100 for a pair of jeans.(Kennedy, 2010) Women dont care how much they spend, as long as they fit the image thats all that matters. These women are prepared to spend this kind of money to fit the image the media wants them to fill. The image the media is handing out to our young women, 18 to 34, is skimpy, sexy clothing and a who-cares at titude. The media wants all women of this age group to be sex symbols and to do as they are told, thus preparing them for the new domestic housewife. To get any type of clothing that is comfortable, not revealing, and cheap does not exist. To achieve the respectable desired look they have to spend more money to look appropriately. With the current economy they need to save as much as possible, thus having them to resort to the image the media wants these women to follow. The media wants our youth to become the trophy wives that it has constructed our image to be. These are the only choices they have to choose from, they are still being labeled and sculpted into what ever image the media wants. The media affects each age group differently. For example a young girl in middle school is expected to be nice, sweet, smart, tidy, and above all the perfect child. Any other girl who deviates from this path is seen to be destructive by peers and adults. The adults assume that it is just a phase that a girl is rough housing and hope that she will go back to the perfect angel image. For a high school girl there is more pressure by peers and adults. The young woman is in transition from the perfect angel that the media desires to the promiscuous adult. In high school, every girl wants to be the it girl. The it girl simply means to be perfect in everyway the way the media wants them to be. They want to have that perfect body and the perfect friends and of course the perfect relationship yet, every girl is different physically and emotionally putting even more pressure on these girls to make them into the perfect woman. 90 percent of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25.(Teen Health and the Media, 2010) These girls resort to hurting themselves to fit the medias standards. Can you imagine a twelve year old restricting herself from eating because she is being made fun of because she dresses like a boy because she cant fit into the clothes that are in or shes just a little over weight? These young women resort to eating disorders to fit the medias standards. They feel as though it is the only way to fit in and to be happy. The media is implanting these thoughts and acts into these young women to fit that on perfect image and to do what ever it takes to get there. Bottom line is that the free will that some may say influences the way women think or act means nothing because the choices they are given is determined by the media itself. These women have no choice but to follow in the cookie cutter image that the media wants them to have. Our societys youth is being forced into one generic style to prepare us for the next step, the traditional role of women. Its sad to think that no one seems to notice that the media is brainwashing our youth to conform into these perfect images and to crush any free will that the growing female may want to express. Work Cited Edmonds, M (2010). Are there differences between male and female bullies?. Discorvery Health, 1(1), 2. Kennedy, L (2010). Women Spend Average of Just $34 on a Pair of Jeans Poll Finds. Retrieved Oct. 25 2010., from http://www.stylelist.com/2010/07/13/women-spend-34-jeans-poll/ Kuperberg, A, Stone, P (2008). The Media Depiction of Women Who Opt Out. Gender Society, 22(4), 20. Money, J (1972). Behavior: Male Female: Differences Between Them. Time, 1. Inline Citation (Money, 1972) National Institute one Media and the Family, (2010). Body Image Nutrition- Fun Facts. Retrieved Oc. 25 2010., from http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimagepage=fastfacts Simmons, R (2003). Odd Girl Out. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc..