Kantian and Utilitarian Theories and the Nestle Moral Issue Term Paper

Kantian and Utilitarian Theories and the Nestle Moral Issue - Term Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that Nestle is a corporation engaged in home products processing and marketing worldwide. In the mid-1860s, it developed an infant-food formula as a supplement and/or substitute to breastfeeding. It then claimed humanitarian achievement after the formula was used by relief organizations such as the Red Cross to feed starving infants in refugee camps. In third world countries, the Nestle product has also been used as an alternative to less nutritious local infant feeding substitutes. And today, Nestle is the third largest home food company in the world with gross sales of nearly US$39 billion a year. But the Nestle success story is marred by controversy as the company has been charged for gross violations of a World Health Organization Code that affected both first world and third world countries. The controversy first emerged when in 1970, during a UN-sponsored Bogota meeting on infant feeding, a Protein Advisory Group (PAG) expressed concern about a worldwide decline in breastfeeding. PAG also sought examination of undue marketing-and-advertising of infant formula, which may have been the cause of this decline. Taking the cue for a sensational story, media made follow-up reports on unfair, dishonest and deceptive advertising by Nestle (village visits by health care dressed representatives, free samples to new mothers, free or low-cost products, improper labels) allegedly designed for the adoption of bottle-feeding instead of breastfeeding by mothers. Outrage against Nestle came to a high point when a Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute attested that millions of infants suffered ailments or death due to bottle-feeding. The institute, however, did not clarify whether the cause was the infant formula or improper sterilization-and-storage of baby bottles and feed.

Social Media and Social Issues Essay Example for Free

Social Media and Social Issues Essay A study on the role of social media in shaping and publicizing Social issues Mohana Sudhan Mayilsamy, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Dr. G. R. Damodaran College of Science, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore 641014. e-mail:[emailprotected] com, Mobile: 9944223455, Fax: 0422-2591865. Abstract Social media, especially social Networking Sites are turning up as an essential mode of interactive and informing media in the recent past. Especially, it is being considered as a platform for both promotion and publicizing social issues. But, the credibility and the truth of the news travelling in the networks as blogs and posts is a debatable issue. The paper starts with examining the powers enjoyed by the social networking sites and social media in the controlling the mass, uncategorized audience as well the informed citizens. Focus group observation method has been employed and analysis of the media in content handling have been done despite the rules and regulations imposed by the self-regulatory bodies in India and the loopholes present. With the findings the author concludes the need for a regulation of content in social media and a code of conduct for content management in Indian scenario. Key Words: Media, Social Networking Sites, Media effects, Social Media, Opinion seeking Introduction to the study: Do we rule the media or the media rules us? Has always been the question of researchers in media and in common users of media as well. The prophecy â€Å"Medium is the message† by Marshall McLuhan, gives a clear picture of how media has been ruling us and is ruling even now though the communication tools change, and he has emphasised this in many of his works including the Global village concept to technological determinism, where media plays a major role in deciding the content and ideology of users and not the users. But with the advent of advanced technologies and interactive devices, wiz, computer, mobiles and the increasing usage of Internet and other communication technologies, communication has got a radical change. Each and every day, yet another new technology is being diffused into the minds of the people every day and even people keep on getting used to all the technologies. The gratifications approach has been found valid for the day, as people select media in a wide spread manner. Social Networking Sites, an outcome of interactive services offered by social media and communicative tools like Internet and intranet have brought the world too handy, enabling people to interact and discuss virtually. A share in a social networking site can reach hundreds even millions in time depending upon the connectivity of the users. This makes people getting flattered on the networking sites and makes them spend hours and hours hanging over the net. It offers various services like e-mailing, instant messaging, sharing photos and videos, make friends and so on. With the increase in its need and usage, the information flowing in the Social Networking Sites is unpredictable. The content travelling in the social media is very vast and in an uncontrollable way, thereby creating a non-centred authority to control news. The news gets its own form in the media as it delineates to people and gets a different perspective and form as it reaches the end user. This makes Social Networking sites, a threat to harmony in society. Maybe they are perceived as elements of social elevation, but it depends on the audience it reaches. If the audiences are well informed and are able to take a good decision, then the flow of news would not be a problem, but since social networking sites are being used by diversified audience, there should be a control imposed over the content to have a good and healthy environment in the country and make it stable in development. Social Media: The term  Social Media  refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies in communication and making it interactive. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, define social media as a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of  user-generated content†. Social media is rather a media for social interaction, than social communication. Equipped with modern technologies and speedy Internetworking, social media has changed the way of communication between people, groups and organisations too. There are various categories of social media which includes online magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs and Social Networking forums. Further Kaplan and Haenlein categorises Social media into six types, namely, collaborative projects, likewise Wikipedia, blogs and microblogs likewise twitter, content communities like Youtube, social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, virtual game worlds and virtual social worlds. Among them Social Networking sites have become the most popular and highly used media as it provides more chances for Interactivity and presence. It is also being used as a marketing tool to market ideas, products, as well business. Social Networking Sites: Social networking sites, commonly abbreviated as SNS, are the interactive websites and forums that allow users to maintain an account, create a profile, find friends, chat, interact, conduct discussions, ask questions and so on. They act as a platform between users to share ideas of their own to the known and unknown, as per their wish. Social Networking sites, hit India with the increased number of Indian immigrants to the entire globe for employment. It arose as a tool for communicating with their families, and later on with the increased usage of technologies, it became a part and parcel of day to day life. We can easily say that there are hardly 10 out of 100, without at least an account in any of the social networking sites. Facebook – a general introduction: Facebook presents a lot many features and is being listed as the first in social networking sites on usage. It is basically a forum started in a university to keep in track with the friends and alumni and soon the interactive features, that it provided and the regular usage of people made it an eminent site. Soon it fore run social networking giants Orkut and yahoo that where dominant in India and has a membership of more than 800 million active users throughout the world. It allows the users to connect with people they know or do not know, share photos and videos of themselves or general interest, post comments and update any information as stories and comments, and comment and give opinions on others inputs. The ethical concerns noticed are Invasion of Privacy, dissemination of information without consent, unknown affiliation and so on. The status in India: Taking the case of India, the Social Networking sites are taking a new form and are becoming the lobby for people to hang out and discuss on various issues, ranging from personal to public, make posts and opinions on various social concerns and create pages on whatever issues they wish to. But this is going to a level that anyone can write or post any material on an issue without the approval of either the administrator of the networking site or the Government and transport down to any user of the network despite the user is a friend or not, through public postings. This poses a threat to the privacy of the users and also the news that gets transported. It takes a new form at every user’s page depending upon the understanding of the user on the issue. This increases the diversion of the perspective of the news. The most important social Networking sites in India based on their usage are Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and MySpace. A recent study in the UK showed that most Britons have a strong desire for the regulation of social network sites like MySpace and Facebook. In fact, 9 out of 10 people said there should be tighter regulation and, according to  The Guardian, 89% said there should be a set of widely accepted rules to help prevent personal information from being abused. – An article by Bobbie Johnson, Technology correspondent, The Guardian. With Social Media playing a major role in India, and especially Social Networking Sites, acting as monsters in the media arena, and as catalysts in determining the social issues, people who use these media are not mere demographies and rather perspective targets of the messages travelling in Media. So they need to be approached as careful as possible and since each and everyone differ in ideologies and conceptual, utmost attention should be paid in transferring news that help in decision making. Objective of the study: The study aims at understanding the media content that has always been a debatable issue ever since its inception. It is the final output which reaches the audience as the face of media. Various media disseminate the same content at the same point if time in various formats, under various control factors. Here, the aspects various controls and various formats determine the content, controls more on a large and aspects on a lesser part. Because, the amount of control decides what the message should be and what it cannot be. In the context of social media, which has tremendous feathers waving along 360 degrees, content management is a tedious process. That too, in a country like India, with diversified users of media, with a diversified mindset, content can be a dangerous thing, if it is not taken due care of. For example, we can quote the Anna Hazares IAC campaign, which gained the utmost interest of the social media, and has been listed as the best discussed topic of the year in the Facebook. India, as a democratic country has vested its own citizens with the Right to Speech and expression, but on the other hand, those rights are limited to the extent where the harmony and peace of the country is not disturbed. Social Networking Sites, because of the freedom they provide, intuit people to speak on all the news they wish and give chances for opinion by anyone, no matter whether they are aware of the topic or not. This may account to false perception of any News by the society and can bring in confusions and problems to the society. This does not mean that there should be restriction on using the sites, which can account to anti – democratic, but there needs a monitor over the information that flows in the Net, so that there can be a check over what can be discussed and what need not be. Theoretical perspective: The study works on the theory of Media effects finds its impact on the study and in specific, Catharsis effects and Reinforcement theory holds well. The theory goes as follows: Reinforcement theory  is one of the limited effects media model applicable. The theory generally states that people seek out and remember information that provides cognitive support for their pre-existing attitudes and beliefs. The central assumption of the theory stated that people do not like to be wrong and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are challenged. The theory of Catharsis effects also applies to the impact of media on user attitude behaviour. The term â€Å"catharsis† is derived from the Greek word ‘katharsis’ which means cleansing, purging, or purification. In the way, the theory is used in communication research, it implies that the execution of an aggressive action under certain conditions diminishes the aggressive drive and therefore reduces the likelihood of further aggressive actions. Secondly, the theory of Media advocacy also holds good for the study. Media advocacy is a sort of development communication, which involves the strategic use of media in shaping public opinions, mobilising community activities and in influencing decision makers in policy change. It shifts the focus of an issue from persona frame to social frame. Since Media advocacy stresses on policy change, it always confronts interaction with power vested authorities and hence it has the following advantages: i. Since media advocacy is always focused in gaining access to news than advertising it is highly cost effective and the users need not spend more on promotion of ideas and issues. ii. The effects of public policy are long lasting. They set the standards for the expected change, and transform it down to more number of users for a long period of time. Hence , though Media advocacy is involves planning, skill sets, creativity and also long time commitment, it is preferred more in addressing public issues on a major. Sometimes, Media also needs advise where it lags behind and need to be changed. The media academicians stand as the resource providers when media needs an advice and change. Methodology used: Content analysis of the social networking sites, has been done to analyse where some social networking sited go wrong and fail to cater to the needs, security and safety of the data and content of the society. This has been taken as a primary data which is further analysed and some predominant flaws in the dominant Social Networking Sites were exposed. A panel discussion on â€Å"The Need for a National Media Policy† to regulate the content and functioning of all the media including print, electronic and Internet and Social Networking Sites was conducted to analyse the trend prevailing in Media, and the situations that create the need for a National Policy on Media in India were arrived at. This was carried out with an expert panel of five members from various industries of media with around seventy five media students from various colleges as participants and was also allowed to interact and give their inputs wherever needed. Intensive observation method has been applied for analysis of the transmission of news in SNS. A sample size of fifty respondents comprising of teachers and media students who have a base knowledge of news and society is selected and were posted a question and asked to give opinions on that. Then the responses with the comments were again posted in for discussion and the results were analysed based on the parameters set and analysis was done. Outcome of the study: The content analysis of Social Networking Sites arrived at the below mentioned flaws prevalent as well with some earlier cases that were stated as the disadvantages of Social Networking Sites. I. Lack of Identity of users: There is no strict measure in verifying the real identity of the users in all the Social Networking Sites. So, anyone can own any number of accounts in a single SNS, provided they have an additional e-mail id. This in turn also does not look for any identity verifications. This shows the lag of control over the identity of the user and hence cannot execute actions or take action on ignorant people, which may lead to causalities. The case carried by The Times of India, reveals that how a genuine person has been under custody of the court for around 55 days. Lakshman Kailash, employed as software engineer by HCL and a resident of Kodihalli gets arrested in Bangalore on August 31, 2007 under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and spends 50 days at Yerawada Jail in Pune. He is charged with defaming Chatrapathi Shivaji, one of the founders of the Maratha Empire, by allegedly uploading an insulting picture of the latter on Orkut, a social networking site (SNS). This was based on the complaint filed by a Pune resident, Dhiraj Ramchandra Ghate, the Pune Police arrests Kailash apparently based on his IP address through Airtel, his Internet service provider. However, they later learn that one Kiran Reddy, a resident of Bangalore, was the actual culprit. After the intervention of the State Human Rights Commission of Maharashtra, the police set Kailash free. This can show the level of trauma, the convicted would have underwent, when he was in jail, and this is a single incident and if there would have been identity of the members in all SNS, this would have been avoided. II. Invasion of Privacy: Case I Facebook has had a lot many issues regarding Invasion of privacy ever since beginning. You can protect your data to general public users but cannot narrow down to the level of protecting them from being viewed by your friends. Facebook explicitly states their restrictions and user expectations of user content in their terms of use. In particular, Facebook does not allow users to in any way make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable. In January 2006, Facebook shut down a group titled I Hate Jesus after Facebook received complaints from other users about the group. As Facebook explained to the groups creator in an email, Hate groups of any kind are not tolerated on the site, even if they are meant to be comedic. Even then, this has been done after a bombarding of complaints have been filed to the administrator to close the group. Hence, in this way Facebook does not have an automatic control over the management of the content. Case II Also, as per the rules there is no practical way to protect public content so that only trusted friends can view it. Not only does the publisher risk their pers onal information being used for offensive purposes (identity theft or otherwise), but if they change their minds, it is nearly impossible to remove something permanently from the Internet. Search engines can keep copies of web pages long after they have been removed. So, one cannot confine that their privacy is secured even if the user has deleted the account. Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites: Another major issue that raises substantial privacy concerns is the accumulation of private information by social networking services. With more than  800million users, Facebook stores an immense volume of private data that is constantly expanding: 250 million photos  new photos are uploaded to Facebooks servers every day. In addition to private photographs, Facebook stores many other types of personal information that users submit, including relationships, political views, sexual orientations, and credit card numbers. Facebook also keeps track of its users purchasing habits through the Beacon affiliate program: even when users decline to publish stories on Facebook about their purchases, the information is still sent to Facebooks servers. This Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites, has been posing a threat in content management of users. Intensive Observation Method: Intensive observation method of Social Networking sites revealed at the following flaws, which cannot be a major issue to discuss, but can become at a point of time. Dissemination of Information without consent: The Facebook users can comment, share, like and post stories create any blog in Facebook in any of the user’s links, irrespective of privacy. This can be delivered down to all the Facebook users throughout the world, if posted as a public post. In this the content can become inappropriate to some users, which gives a chance for misleading opinions, deviating audience to a wrong perspective, and even leading to mishaps depending on the intensity of the issue. This has been experimented by selecting a sample size of 50 respondents, segmented in two categories: i. General Audience: People who are users of Facebook and members of Social Networking sites, but do not have an in-depth knowledge of Media effects and other terms. 25 people comprising of students and college teachers represented the sample. i. Informed Citizenry: People who are users of Social Networking sites, equipped with the knowledge of effects of Media were selected. 25 people comprising of students and teachers from the Media Department represented as samples. A question was posted into the Facebook profile of the respondents, and responses for the question is analysed. Question for Response: Do you think India is in a need to change its way of governance. Wha t will be your options? Please post your opinion and comments. Options: 1. Military Regime 2. Monarchy ( Again Colonialism) 3. Communism 4. Leave as it is (Democracy). Analysis and Interpretation of data: I. The content analysis of Social Networking Sites revealed up with the following ethical concerns: i. No confirmation of identity of the users is carried out in any of the Social Networking Sites, which can be avoided. ii. Facebook does not have an automatic control over the management of the content. iii. One cannot confine that their privacy is secured even if the user has deleted the account. Hence it raises the possibilities of data being utilised by anyone later on. iv. This Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites, has been posing a threat in content management of users. II. The analysis of collected data of Intensive Observation revealed that a majority of people opining Military regime as the need for the day. If such surveys or opinions can be posted in a site which contains most vulnerable audience likewise, youth and teenagers, that can pose a threat to the harmony of the country. Outcome of the study: †¢ Although these are serious ethical constraints, there are reasons to believe that, for the most part, social networks are counteracting to these challenges. For example, although large centralized repositories of data are necessarily vulnerable to malicious insiders, social networks have had few reported problems of this variety. This may be the result of an organised content management and highly scrutinized employees. †¢ Users post information to social networking services in order to share it with others: a breach of privacy that lets anybody view photos that you only intended for your friends to view may be damaging, but it is likely less damaging than a breach of privacy that reveals your PIN number or your medical history, which you intended for nobody else at all to see. Though these advantages exist, Social Networking sites, on a whole are a threat to the society, unless and otherwise, a content management code is defined to manage the content keyed into Social Networking sites, and also a team to monitor the content in sites, and if possible, the real identity of the members of the sites can also be kept in track, so that any mishaps, demeaning of personality’s images cannot happen. Suggestions of the Panel Discussion Committee: Indian Media is in the stage of its peak at development, though it’s in a learning curve on the part of ethics to be maintained and measures in finding newsworthiness. †¢ There can be a self-regulatory body to reframe the working nature of the Social Networking Sites and on the content they carry. †¢ If media is not ready to go with that, Government can formulate and execute a Media Law, which is still under progress since 2003, that can make the Indian Media come under control. †¢ The policies cannot be called as controls, but regulations on a moderate level, that cannot curb the working nature of media. Some regulations on governing International media clients operating in India, can be arrived at, because it is observed that more than 50% of the Indian media is under the monopoly of Foreign media organisations. I would like to thank the Indian Government, that i was fortunate they have come up with a notion to develop a code of conduct for the content of Social Networking Sites. To conclude with, we can again remember the quote by Marshall McLuhan,† Medium is the message†, which states the deciding authority lies in the hand of media, which should look upon the well being of the society as the first and foremost function. References: Klaus Bruhn Jensen (2003). â€Å"A Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies†. Routledge Publishers. Lelia Green (2001). â€Å"Communication, Technology and Society†. Sage Publications. http://www. communicationencyclopedia. com/public/tocnode? id=g9781405131995_yr2011_chunk_g97814051319958_ss9-1 http://www. facebook. com/press/info. php? statistics http://startups. in/view/asides/software-engineer-sues-airtel-for-20-crore-rupees/

Americanism In Back To The Future Film Studies Essay

Americanism In Back To The Future Film Studies Essay If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything: Constructions of America across the space-time continuum. Robert Zemeckis Back to the Future is a motion picture classic. The time traveling Delorean and the Marty McFly character are imprinted upon the minds of audiences all over the world. The American government recognized the movies significance to American culture by inducting it into the archives of the National Film Registry in 2007. This induction officially made the movie a culturally, historically or aesthetically significant work to be preserved for all time, thus labeling it as an important non-traditional cultural text in the context of American society. In his article Reconfiguring Academic Disciplines Paul Lautner presents the analysis of these kinds of non-traditional cultural texts as being a vital part of the American Studies discipline. He reasons they help construct the frameworks, fashion the metaphors, create the very language by which people comprehend their experiences and think about their world. Using Lautners approach, this essay will examine the significance of the first Back to the Future movie for key aspects of American culture and society. Topics that will be discussed are American exceptionalism, American identity, American myths, American political rhetoric of the 1980s and popular culture. The movie starts off in the year 1985 and focuses on seventeen year old Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), who is part of a lower-middle-class family living in suburbia. His father, called George McFly, is afraid to stand up for himself and his mother, called Lorraine McFly, is an alcoholic. Martys friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has created a time machine which takes Marty across the space-time continuum back to the year 1955, the year that his parents fell in love. At the movies first turning point, he endangers his future existence by accidently preventing his parents meeting. Thus, Marty spends the rest of the movie solving this. He helps his future father stand up for himself and makes his parents fall in love at the high school dance while playing rock and roll music. In the end, Martys actions changed the future, because when he returns to 1985 he sees that his family has transformed into yuppies who live in upper-middle-class suburbia. This is the exact opposite of the family life Marty left at the beginning of the movie. Having explained the movies plot, one can take a more in-depth look at the movies cultural significance. First of all, American exceptionalism, often defined as being the way in which America differs from other nations. The movie shows idealized versions of the typical American way of life in the 1950s and 1980s. These time periods show how Americaness is also deeply rooted within American history itself as it provides a distinct American identity. The 1950s are pictured as being peaceful, conservative and family oriented. Traditional values maintained the importance of community and family life. In 1955, Marty is warmly welcomed by Lorraines family who lives in quaint suburbia. Lorraines mother is a happy housewife, who cooks dinner and takes care of the children, while her father supports the family. As for the town, it looks clean and fresh during Martys exploration accompanied by the upbeat song Mr. Sandman. In contrast, the 1980s at the beginning of the movie look miserable. Mar tys family flaws and failures are expressed and there is no happy family life. The town square is filled with litter, almost to a point where it becomes cartoonish. Martys house stands in a run down neighborhood and its interior looks old and smudgy. However, at the end of the movie, Martys home and family have transformed into the 1980s version of idealized America. His home looks newly build and his family is all smiling faces wearing slick looking clothes and having a BMW standing in the driveway. These developments promote a celebration of Americanness, it is part of the 1980s version of the American Dream. The filmmakers commentary state that European reviews were very critical of this outcome. An internet search was unable to locate these reviews, but according to the filmmakers they did not agree with the fact that the movie equated happiness with material possessions. However, once again according to the filmmakers, not one American critic commented on this. Therefore, exemp lifying how exceptional America is on a cross-cultural level. Moreover, the movie also promotes Americas exceptionalism by focusing on individualism, an important element of Americanness. Martys individual actions changed his future. Related to this is the notion that the movie sees the future as having unlimited possibilities. It treats the future as the new frontier, hence comparing it to Wild West. This frontier is the origin of the strong sense of freedom and individualism deemed essential in American life. Throughout the movie, Marty is constantly reminded of his individual freedom and liberty as demonstrated by the often recurring line If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything. Political rhetoric of the 1980s embraced this mindset. It is no secret that President Ronald Reagan loved this movie, because of this message and the fact that he was the subject of a joke. Reagan even quoted the movie in his 1986 State of Union address: As they said in the film Back to the Future,Where were going, we dont need roads. Once again promo ting Americas access to unlimited possibilities and its exceptionalism in contrast to other nations. However, the movie also expresses the double-edged characteristic of American exceptionalism, an idea put forward by Seymour Martin Lipset in Exceptionalism: A Double Edged Sword. Lipset explains that America is a country of contrasts. High morality is promoted in society, yet Martys morality is constantly being challenged. It starts off high by not willing to seduce his mother, but it declines rapidly when he finds out that it is an essential part in the scheme of making his parents fall in love. This also suggest that Marty is more concerned with the ends rather than with the means. He is willing to seduce his mother if it helps secure his future. This focus on the ends rather than on the means is typical for American identity according to Lipset. He states that Americans put a lot of stress on success which often leads to a decline of morality. Criticism on the movies showing of American exceptionalism is centered on the argument that it mostly focuses on white heterosexual middle class America. The filmmakers included a small subplot on an African-American male, who starts off being a cleaner and ends up being the major of the town, but this storyline feels very forced. Thus, the movie mainly addresses the experience of one specific group in explaining America, at the expense of other groups. This kind of criticism relates to Neil Campbell and Alasdair Kean perspectives on the subject matter. They explain that subordinate groups are not completely ignored, but they are given a certain position within the dominant group. Thus, Back to the Future gives the African-American male an identity within white society. An issue related to this idea is Martys redefinition of the racial history of rock and roll music. Marty plays the song Johnny B Goode at the school dance. Chuck Berrys cousin hears this and calls Chuck Berry to tell him that they found their much needed new sound. It is possible to overanalyze this segment as being part of a white supremacy narrative, but it is better to accept it as a joke made by the filmmakers. The plot is temporarily stopped to demonstrate Michael J. Foxs comedic guitar playing skills. Nevertheless, white hegemony remains the consensus in the movie and this consensus is incorporated into the prevalent power structure with the help of ideologies and cultural myths. These ideologies and myths help construct an American identity. There are three prevalent American myths present in Back to the Future. They are incorporated into the overarching ideology of the American Dream. First, the myth of small town America. Small town life is pictured as being the perfect definition of American society. The localized life excludes Big Corporations and the Big Government which fulfills Americans desire to be free. The second myth deals with the suburban dream. This myth is embodied by the McFly family at the end of the movie. Their happiness sends across the message that every American should pursue such a life, because it is within everyones reach. The third myth concerns the idea of the scientist who in his own garage invents something which can change the world. I.e. Doc Browns DeLorean. Thus, the ideal of living happily without needing any help from big corporations or the government is once again promoted. This also refers back to Americas strong sense of individualism. These three myths are used as discourse for the construction of Martys America and they serve as ideologies. They convey and reinforce an image of both 1950s and 1980s America. In addition, the movie touches upon Americas fascination with the past and its attempt to reconciliate between the past and present. The time traveling aspect addresses this attempt of reconciliation, while the 1950s outlook shows a nostalgia for the past. This nostalgia is much in line with Reagans 1980s political rhetoric. He had a 1950s conservative outlook, as he promoted traditional values and gender roles. However, 1950s Lorraine challenges these values and roles by drinking, smoking and being assertive. The filmmakers specifically state that they rebelled against Reaganite politics by addressing parts of the rebelliousness of 1980s teen movies. Consequently presenting a vision of American youth challenging power and authority. Moreover, youth practices are used as a junction point for various discourses within the story. For example, the school dance being the crucial place where Martys parents fall in love. Overall, the movie prefers to connect to youngness and newness. Two notions which America prefers to associate itself with. Teen culture is put into the spotlight, thus demonstrating America as a place of renewal. Lastly, by being part of popular culture, Back to the Future helps American society understand itself better as M. Thomas Inge reasons in his introduction to American popular culture. The movie analyses American society by giving a sketch of American culture in the 1950s and 1980s. However, the 1950s and 1980s that the movie shows are specifically developed for the story. I.e. Back to the Future provides interpretations of those time periods. Thus, the 1950s images are constructions and fabrications in themselves. The portrayed 1950s cannot be considered to be more real for an audience who experienced the 1950s firsthand than for the 1980s teen target audience. Hence the movie fits within a postmodern perspective, because it creates one cultural memory narrative. This particular approach to filmmaking is probably what made the sequels so successful. The interpretations of the past, present and future make the movies fascinating. To conclude, Martys adventure enabled him to take a step back from his culture to understand his own 1980s reality, consequently learning to see events in their particular form and context. This essay attempted to follow in Martys footsteps. By critically analyzing Back to the Future audiences are able to reconstruct and renegotiate American identity and exceptionalism both from a 1980s and 1950s perspective, even though they are Hollywood fabricated. These perspectives can then be incorporated into a broad overview of American culture which helps form answers to the question: what is America?. This essay cannot provide definite answers to this question, but Marty McFly himself seems to have found his answer to it. He negotiates his identity and constructs his reality through a discourse centered around the motto If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything. This encompasses his America, it is a variable within the grand narrative of American identity construction.

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal Essay -- Jonathan Swift’s A Modest

Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† published in 1729, Swift engages in an extraordinary amount of irony and satire. Swift states that in order to reduce famine in Ireland and to solve the problems that they are having that eating children would be a good solution. This is not the purpose of Swift’s essay. The real intent was to get the people of Britain to notice that the ideas that they were coming up with were not any better than his satirical one, and new ideas and efforts needed to come forth in order to solve the problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Swift stresses that it is hard for mothers to provide for their children and it is not getting any easier. He feels that this is due to an overpopulation and lack of food. It is hard enough for these mothers to... Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal Essay -- Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jonathan Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† published in 1729, Swift engages in an extraordinary amount of irony and satire. Swift states that in order to reduce famine in Ireland and to solve the problems that they are having that eating children would be a good solution. This is not the purpose of Swift’s essay. The real intent was to get the people of Britain to notice that the ideas that they were coming up with were not any better than his satirical one, and new ideas and efforts needed to come forth in order to solve the problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Swift stresses that it is hard for mothers to provide for their children and it is not getting any easier. He feels that this is due to an overpopulation and lack of food. It is hard enough for these mothers to...

California Gold Rush Essay -- American History

The California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush was not all about Americans being happy and rich because of the discovery of gold. Indians, Hispanics, African Americans and Chinese all went through some sort of struggle or problem during the Gold Rush period. Not only did men go through rough times but so did some women. The California Gold Rush was a whole different world within California. Gold turned everyone into people they were not. In 1847, an Indian scout brought Mr. James Marshall to Maidu. Maidu was a village of Koloma. There, the first nugget was discovered where James Marshall built a sawmill. The sawmill was located along the American River. Some people say the first Gold Nugget was found by Indian Jim, whom worked for James Marshall to dig a channel to power the sawmill. However, James Marshall received the credit. Indians were famous for their invention in 1849 of the "Long Tom," also known as a box which caught gold. Although the Indians worked very hard for John Sutter whom was James Marshall's boss, Indians suffered tremendously. Gold Fever was a common disease which Indians died from in Northern California. Indians also died from violence and starvation. When Indians found gold nuggets, they would trade the nuggets for clothes, blankets or food for their families. It wasn't the money they wanted. It was the supplies they needed. For a while the Indians were doing well until the year of 1850 which California was now their jail. Because of the changes the whites were making, there was so much poverty for Indians around this time. Families were so poor Indian women decided to prostitute themselves. I think this is one of the most horrible things anyone can do to degrade themselv... ...erior and controlling about. A lot of people died from trying to survive in a free country because of the way they looked or the color of their skin. Lives were always in danger either way you looked at it. Now days people do have to go through some discrimination, racial problems or struggles such as being poor. We do not fight over land, we fight for each other or for money. Money is probably the only thing everyone will always cherish because money can help you do anything now. References Minorities During the Gold Rush. (2000). Retrieved October 18, 2005 From http://www.LearnCalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=1933@pagetype=content The Story of California From the Earliest Days to the Present. Henry K. Norton. 7th ed. Chicago, A.C. McClure & Co., 1924. Chapter XXIV, pp. 283-296 James J. Rawls, and Walton Bean. California. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002

Looking for God :: Papers

Looking for God Where are you supposed to look for God? How are you to look for God, and does it help to decide what sort of thing you are looking for first? What kind of thing is God? Looking from the perspective of someone with no previous faith, looking for general revelation, I would have to say you have to perceive what you think is God-like first. If you ask the majority of people with a faith what God is like, they would probably say 'all good and all-powerful'. So are you looking for general signs of goodness, beauty, power and awe? If you are then you can rule out finding God in evil, ugliness, weakness and un-impressiveness. Or can you? I know that black isn't white, but people thought Hitler was 'good'; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so an 'ugly' person to me might be stunningly 'beautiful' to someone else; the queen bee is supreme over mere drones, however it looks a bit pathetic in comparison to even simple humans; and David Beckham's match and free kick against Greece last year left thousands of footy fans awe-struck, yet my brother just couldn't see what the fuss was about. God is deeply personal, so will be found in different places for everyone. If you thought that 'The Miracle Of life' was completely un-earthly, and could only be explained with a super-human being, then I bet I could find half a dozen more that just think we are here accidentally. [IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE]If you are solely looking for good, you can still find it in atrocities. In Sept. 11 you could find God in the 'power' and 'awe' of it all, but also in those brave people whose spirit never wavered, in those volunteers determined to help, in those fore-fighters who gave their life to save others, those selfless rescuers, counsellors, vicars, children. Osama tried to devastate American spirit and attitude as well as massacre, but he failed in crushing the love and goodness in people's heats and minds.

Disease Trends and Healthcare Delivery Essay

Statistics make the world go round, literally. A certain population or ethnicity and their disease trends can really have an effect on what can happen in the future for our healthcare systems. Demographics and Disease trends can go hand in hand with one another because disease trends are so constant and unnoticeable that it continues daily, therefore having a particular group being affected by the same disease. Some people do not believe it, but all you have to do is look at the statistics and you will then see how greatly they affect one another. To break things down, demographics are groups of people with a common link, such as; age, gender, race, education level, income level, even marital level, and etc. When in an environment where links are similar or the same, the same trends start to get picked up as well, linking you within the range of your demographics. Environment plays a big role in demographics as well. If you live in the same neighborhood or community as someone, you a re linked to that person no matter how small of importance it is. With everyone doing the same trends which come to them like habits, they may never go away until they know that it is a problem. Environment happens to play a role as well when it comes to demographics. Environment happens to play one of the main roles. Habits become hard to break because of the type of environment you around. Who, what, and the things that you are surrounded by happen to make up part of your environment, and it becomes hard to control when you get used to it and things become normal to you. An example would be; you stop by McDonald’s every day to get a Sunday just as a snack for the day. If that McDonalds was not so close to you, you would probably not have picked up the habit to buy an ice-cream. When you have so much or an environment surrounded by you that comes natural or that you see as being natural, it does not seem like anything to you because you do it in your everyday life. These things can affect your health and can affect the future of healthcare if gone unnoticed for so long. Even people play a big role in your environment. An example would be say you had a significant other. He liked to eat out all the times, but you liked home cooked meals bec ause that is what you were used to, but one day you said you did not feel like cooking and you at out. The one day changed everything and now you eat out just as much as your significant other and have begun to gain weight. It has become a habit for you to eat  out every day even though it seems so easy to stop. Well, that takes us to our next topic, obesity rates have gone up significantly throughout the United States. Of all countries, the United States has the highest rate of obesity. United States obesity rates have gone up from 13 percent in 1962 and estimates have increased to 19.4 percent in 1997, 24.5 percent in 2004, 26.6 percent in 2007 and 33.8 percent for adults and 17 percent for children in 2008. 2010 reports from CDC were said that numbers were still increasing counting 35.7 percent of the total American population for adults were obese and 17 percent of American children. Factors affecting obesity would be none other than environment. The fact that the United States has so many fast food services; people cannot help but to get dragged into being obese. Food is always in their faces or else they see someone else eating and crave it as well. Obesity has accounted for 100,000 to 400,000 deaths in the United States per year. It has increased healthcare use and expenditures. Obesity rates has cost society about 117 billion dollars in direct and indirect costs. It has exceeded the health care cost and will continue if obesity rates continue to go up. Obesity rates happen to be ore that that of the smoking and drinking rate and accounts for 6 percent to 12 percent of national health care expenditures in the United States. To reduce obesity rates, people can try switching up their everyday environments by going to a gym, going to a track, or even by just going to the grocery store and buying more healthy foods to cook and it. If people were to exercise as much as they eat, obesity rates could be lowered. The fact that children see things and grow up eating things they shouldn’t grows with them. Obesity rates could change in the future if children were taught to eat more healthy foods and not just foods that just taste good. There are so many things that people can do to reduce their own obesity rate. They can exercise three times a week and also eat healthier. Overall living a healthier lifestyle would help greatly. Changing the people around you as well can help. Choose to be around people that care about their health a lot or care about their health just as much as you do. You could always have a workout buddy, someone that will encourage you to lose weight. Even the fact of knowing that you could possibly be obese leading to more and more diseases can trigger something in someone to make them want to become a bit healthier. In the future of health care in the United States, there is really no way of  telling whether obesity rates will go down, but they could possibly go down drastically if the government, communities, societies, schools and cities come together annually and create awareness and activities that encourage people to lose weight, stay fit, and become healthy. Age can affect the U.S health care systems just as much obesity can. There are more modern medicines to help with diseases that were in the past. Let’s face it; now that we have more modernized medicines and machinery, people are living longer than they were 200 and 300 years ago. Today 40 million people in the United States are ages 65 and older. The number is to more than double to 89 million by 2050. The United States has a smaller share of older person than many developed countries, and its populations are graying at a slower pace. Environment definitely plays a role. People are aging slower within the United States because of more and more technology being implemented within the health care system. At this rate everyone will live until they are 100. It is not a bad thing to live a long life, but it does get harder when you get older and it often puts a burden on health care systems as well. The reason being is because elderly are more likely to be in high demand of healthcare and, getting help is expensive. The aging trend is likely to increase due to environmental factors. The more and more people that get older, the more and more nursing homes, and assisted living facilities begin to be built in order to help support the elderly. Retirement homes, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, happen to play a huge role in the United States. These homes often need a lot of co-workers as well which is really needed and in demand. Things that could be done to reduce health complications related to aging would be; living a healthy lifestyle no matter how old you are, and possibly make health care a little less expensive. Avoiding disease is the number one way to avoid getting complications in life when aging. Possibly choose a health plan that implements preventive health care and always get monthly and yearly screenings that could be recommended by your doctors. Health care delivery will most likely adapt to the United States environment in the future to provide care for age- related health issues by implementing more preventative care, making sure that everyone has health care coverage or are able to get it. Doctors and nurses need to be good at their jobs as well in order to catch even the hardest complications. There needs to be more  hospitals willing to accept a broad range of health issues and of course the number one thing would be price reduction. Health care will become a bit better than what it is now especially with the HITECH act in which is trying to put good use of information technology within hospitals, and physicians’ offices. As long as technology is always improving, the healthcare system improves as well. Health care delivery for obesity adaptation may get worse before it gets any better in such that people will not realize their issues until it is too late. In doing so this will trigger a movement within the United States that would make people want to change and teach their children as well. Health classes will begin to be implemented into elementary schools very early to teach children what are good foods and what aren’t. Instead of having soda machines and vending machines, machines are just going to be light snack machines and juice. In conclusion, healthcare delivery will change no matter what the case is. People play a big role in the future of health care and vice versa. With that being said, the only way for better adaptations would most probably be people actually wanting to change and more research within the world. With research, there comes, new inventions, with new inventions, there comes better technology to have in order to play roles within our lives. In order for change to occur within the future of health care, there has to be a change within people. When people decide to get up and take preventative measures within their own lives, and then their children life will then be when they decide to help the future of health care. Reference Jacobsen, L. (2009). America’s Aging Population. Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2011/americas-aging-population.aspx (2013). Obesity in the United States. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States â€Å"Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity†. CDC. 2006. Retrieved 2009-01-23 F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2008, Trust For America’s Health, pp. 10–11. Note: Defines â€Å"overweight† as BMI ≠¥25, â€Å"obese† as