Asperger's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Asperger's - Essay Example There are three main areas where individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome experience difficulties. These include social interaction, social communication and social imagination. These three areas are usually referred as the impairment triads. Individuals with Asperger’s syndrome experience fewer issues with speaking and their intelligence level ranges from average to above average. In general they do not encounter the associated learning disabilities that are often evident amongst individuals with autism but they may experience particular learning issues such as dyspraxia, dyslexia, epilepsy or ADHD. Though it’s a lifetime problem but its symptoms may improve with the passage of time and growing age as the adults with Asperger’s syndrome may learn to comprehend their personal weaknesses and strengths and in turn may enhance their social ability. Moreover, with proper encouragement and support, individuals with Asperger’s syndrome can be enabled to lead an independent complete life (Frith, 1991). According ADDM findings, the prevalence of ASD is more amongst non-Hispanic whites as compared to other ethnicities but with the passage of time the disparity amongst the Hispanics and non-Hispanics has declined significantly with time (Pal, 2013). A huge research body documents that racial and ethnic disparities exist in the diagnosis and intervention plan of ASDs and this may lead to false results depicting in the prevalence of Asperger’s syndrome and other ASDs more in one ethnicity than others. However, the main reason that may be attributed to the increased incidence of Asperger’s syndrome amongst non-Hispanic whites is the institutional factors like clinician prejudices, accessibility of healthcare, symptoms interpretation by families and clinicians as well as the appliance of logical algorithms by clinicians for the detection of ASD. Exploring the causes of Asperger’s Syndrome is still

A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay

A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay With the coming of year 2010, the definition of â€Å"media† itself has changed the term of media now applies to many new communication technologies and many traditional media format has applied new technology to meet the needs of audiences. Thus technology and innovation have expanded media options for the public and audience, while the audience itself has changed in this new media age. The calling into question their role in democracy since many of these new media are essentially not â€Å"mass† any more (Sunstein, 2001). In light of this, â€Å"media use† should be re-conceptualized to include active and interactive, and not only passive, behavior on the part of the audience. The aim of this essay is to answer the question â€Å"In what ways do changing media formats and technologies present challenges to how audiences have been traditionally conceptualized?† author will answer the question by investigate the recent literatures and find out what resear chers recently consider the new audience and new media environment. The essay will go through the issues include the new media environment which focus on internet/online media; the notion of new audience whether the notion of audience has been changed, a comparison between historical audience and new audience will be conduct in the article; some audience theories will also be addressed in the essay such as reception theory and audience active theory, to take a look into these theory may be useful to analyse whether this theory still match the todays situation; challenge of new audience research will be the last part of the article, in this part, author will take an analysis based on the research work done by Livingstone (2004). It shows the challenges facing by audience and media research before and in the new age. By analyse those issues related with new media and new audience, there may be an answer to meet the question which be raised in the aim of the essay. Changing media environment We are in the midst of a digital revolution that is giving way to a â€Å"new information environment† (Bimber, 2003). We are facing the world with a moving target as once-new media become familiar and eve-never media emerge. The common feature of those new media is internet based. The internet made everything possible and changed peoples behavior after it emerged. Manuel Castells has argued that the flows dominate contemporary life in his book The Information Age, ‘our society is constructed around flows, flows of capital, flows of information, flows of technology, flows of organizational interaction, flows of images, sounds, and symbols (Castells, 2000: 442) the emerging of new media or the new format of media accelerate the liquidity of the world. For media user, you can whether read news on newspaper on the way to work or open the mobile phone and connect to the internet and read the news you are most interested in and check your email box anytime you want. You can also whether check the program schedule on newspaper and waiting for the program broadcast on television or just open your laptop and go to BBC website and watch the favorite drama anytime and any episode. When your tutor suggest s you to purchase a text book, you can whether go the high street book store or just go to Amazon.co.uk to buy a book in relevant cheap price. Those available choices indicate that the media environment has been changed, Producer like government, business, broadcast institution or press industry are taking advantage of internet and new technologies as it can be more globalised and fast disseminate to audiences in every corner of the world. Its different from traditional mass media but a more interactive media, most importantly, converging with new media to create a complex media-rich and liquid environment. Online media environment With no doubt, we are in the internet age now. Even in the media industry, almost every traditional mass media format has a new internet based version, online broadcast, online journal, online TV, online newspaper, online news, online games, online advertising etc. it shows both producer and audience are highly demand on the new technology based media because of the common features of those newly medium have such as convenient, easy to access and of course interactivity. â€Å"Web 2.0† is one of most important technology in newly internet space or cyberspace. Pew gave a definition of Web 2.0 the ability of people to use a range of information and communication technology as a platform to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace is often heralded as the next phase of the information society. (Pew, 2007: 2) Web 2.0 enhanced the interactivity of audience when they use online media and made them more active when they consumption news or other information. The example of famous media website which takes advantage of web 2.0 is www.youtube.com. People can not only watch video clip on it but also they can rating and leave comments on it. The hot video clips on home page usually depend on the rate of click. Moreover, people can upload their own video to the website and share the video with friends or people all over the world. At this time, audiences convert to producers. The chart below presents the result of a survey conducted in 2004 for investigate whether people prefer online or offline media to obtain information. From the chart we may find out the advantages of online media. Sources: Frank Magid Association, Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† 2004. www.online-publisher.org Although the data are gathered in 5 years ago, it dose shows the advantages of online media, people can find what they want easy and quick on internet rather than search on a news paper or television. However people in 2004 feels that use offline media are more enjoyable and satisfying. It indicates that traditional media cannot be replaced by the online media. One thing need to be mentioned is people consider both online and offline media are the same when they consider which is more reliable and trustworthy. It is different in my country, in China; most people prefer trust online media rather than offline media controlled by government. News media Take news consumption as an example. People traditionally obtain news and information from newspaper and TV News broadcast channel. But nowadays, the internet version of newspaper becomes more and more adoptable for audience. JOEY KA-CHING CHAN and LOUIS LEUNG (2005:7) suggested ‘online news media distinguish themselves from traditional media in a number of ways: they are interactive; they offer convenience, which embodies easy access, searchable features and the ability to cross-reference through hyperlinking; and they provide multimedia features. Being interactive is a important feature for new media, audience are not only passive receive messages but engage with the news event and trying to explore what happening behind news by search related news on the internet. Matt Carlson (2007) mentioned the rise of online news search engines allows users to set their own parameters governing the section of news according to personal preference. Matt took Google News as an example in h is article and states that Google news always reports a story from different side of view which may force the authority to be more democracy. ‘I want this to be a force for a democracy. One of the things that makes us objective is we show all points of view. Even if you disagree with one, we give you both the majority and the minority point of view. The ones you dont agree with are education. Its nice to know what the other side is thinking. Youll see left-leaning ones as much as much as you see right-leaning ones. Frankly, the software doesnt know the difference between left and right, which is good. (quoted in Kramer, 2003: n.p.) it just like King (1998: 26) argued that interactivity not only describe the high level of control and interactive with content but also present the increasing interactive with news producer such as feedback availability. Audience nowadays becomes more and more powerful in this new media environment. Audiences in historical perspective Before discuss the challenge of conceptualize new audience, it is necessary to take a look into audiences in history. Marie Gilespie (2005: 14) gives us a brief introduction of this perspective. He suggests in most research about media and communication in twentieth century, the researcher usually focus on todays media and todays audiences with the popular medium like television. However, the idea of the audience can be traced back to ancient times. And Marie think it is important to learn the lesson from history when something can be similar or entirely new ‘In history, audience means a face-to-face audience in the presence of a communicator or entertainer, whether at a political meeting, the theatre or a concert (Marie 2005: 14) Denis McQuail (1997: 3) use classical Graeco-Roman audience definition to identify the audiences feature today: Planning and organization of viewing and listening, as well as of the performances themselves Events with a public and popular character Secular content of performance-for entertainment, education and vicarious emotional experiences Voluntary, individual acts of choice and attention Specialization of roles of authors, performers and spectators Physical locatedness of performances and spectator experience We can find that some of the features of Graeco-Roman audience are similar with todays audience in mass media environment. The only obviously difference is mass media eliminated the limitation of co-location. Even in todays internet media background, some of the features above still match the todays audience, that is, no matter media environment changes, there are some characteristics will not change. This not means there will be no challenge to conceptualized new audience in new environment based on new technology. The aim of discussing the historical media audience is to find the link between history and nowadays society. Although the environment and technology has changed a lot, there are still many common features maintained from ancient time to mass media age and from mass media age to new media age. Changing audiences ‘From a coach potato to cybernauts is the title of Eugenia Siapera(2004)s article. The author analyse the change of television audiences to online audience. The article focuses on the broadcasters website such as BBC Channel to investigate the relationship of audience online and offline (TV broadcast). It is the fact that people gradually adopt into the new media environment. And it begins to change the notion of audience. Siapera (2004: 15) suggested the notion of audience has been expanded by the inter-media. The audience has been hitherto most interactive in the digital media age. (Rob cover 2006: 16) ‘Coach potato usually describe people who always sitting behind television and watch TV program. This image usually presents more passive way of people receive message from producer. However audience becomes more and more active. The new technology offers different platform for audience to interact with other audiences or the producer. Take fandom as example, Audiences no wadays can easily form or find a fan club on website such as blogging and forum, more over the broadcasts website usually design and develop the certain function to allow audience track their favorite star or program (Siapera 2004: 09) For example, ‘EastEnders (the BBCs soap opera and one of the most developed programme sites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/) has regular updates on what is happening in the soap, a chat room, newsletter, message board, and voting on what should happen to characters/storylines. The producer may be influenced by the audience opinions to adjust the storyline or what happened next to gain more audiences support. It is what I mentioned before that audience can interact and influence the producer in the new media age. The channel established by producer on internet made audiences more easily to send their feedback to the producer. The reason why producer take audiences opinions serious is because in todays world, the audience can be seen as consumer , ‘I suggested, is adopted by those who conceptualize the audience as a market (Livingstone 1998a) and the profitability of program is only standard to justify whether it should be continue or stop. Some American drama can continue make and broadcast for many seasons such as ‘Friends but some are not. ‘The ultimate power of internet fandom is in controlling the actual life and death of a series. For fans of a show, that power is usually in the hands of a network executive or, for a syndicated series, a production company. (Victor Costello and Barbara Moore 2007: 16) It depends on whether there are many audiences like it or not. It again, indicates that audience being more and more powerful which can influence both producer and context. Reception under new media environment The phenomena stressed above may challenge the traditional reception theory in mass media age. Reception theory points out that ‘Audience interpretations or decoding have been found to diverge depending on viewers socio-economic position, gender, ethnicity, and so forth, while the possibilities for critical or oppositional reading are anticipated, enabled or restricted by the degree of closure encoded into the text or genre.'(Marie Gillespie 2005: 40) Audience reception research towards television study revealed parallel connections between the conventions of television and viewers decoding strategies like the soap opera viewer builds up an understanding of the characters, puzzles over the secrets, eagerly anticipates the cliff-hanger, guesses the outcome of a subplot, recalls when appropriate the significant events from past episodes, etc., all in accordance with the conventions of the genre (Livingstone, 1998). It just like Cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggested in his theor y of encoding and decoding. He argued that audiences not just passive accept text but people can create their own mean of the text and the communication process should not be linear model such sender-message-receiver model rose by Shannon. The following chart is Halls Encoding and Decoding model, in the model, hall stressed the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader. We may find that even the halls model neglected the relationship between sender and receiver. As I mentioned before, the audience nowadays can influence the producer. So I suggest that todays communication process is a loop which every element in the process can be influenced by other elements. And nowadays, with the internet developed, the relationship between the text and the reader may convert to between the text and reader and other readers. Take times online as example, reader may write comments towards specific news and share the comment with other reader. The interactions within those readers which may influence the result by interpret the meaning of text. The two step flow theory also has been challenged by new media age as the process of decentralized the authority. The internet enhanced the availability of information flow. If people may express their opinion on the public space on the internet, Twitter can be a good example; audiences are more and more interested in tracking what other peoples point of views. At the same time the power of opinion leader becomes more and more declined. It is one of the reason why Twitter and youtube.com being successful. Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the New Media Environment With no doubt, the newer media environment enables audience to be more active, it not only means that audiences have muti-channels on the new cable television but also suggests that audiences nowadays have a wide range of medium choice. Perse (1990: 3) argues there are two dimensions of audience activity. The first one is a qualitative component and describes type of activity. It includes selectivity, evolvement, and utility. Audiences can easily target what they want to receive from the new media such as internet. Take online news as example, www.bbc.co.uk allows audience to customize their own home page. People can choose the type of news or information they may interest in and put them together on the home page of BBC website like the picture below: It has been changed a lot from traditional ‘one to many model to ‘one to one model which means highly customized and personalized design based on the cookie technology and web 2.0. The new media technology can help you to filter what you may not like and try to enhanced personal relevance with their audiences. And audiences become more selective and evolve with the context they received. Livingstone (2004: 6) suggested that the new media environment expended the range of issue and arguments in ‘active audience theory. Audiences or the media user become more active which means they are more selective, self-directed. Can new media environment blurry the boundary of being a producer and receiver. Changing relationship between audiences and producers A growing number of ordinary citizens are actively producing media content, challenging these traditional notions. We have seen an unprecedented level of citizen participation in media content-making, with the prevalence and use of blogs, chat rooms, forums, and citizen journalism (Bowman Willis, 2005). The â€Å"former audience,† a term coined by Dan Gillmor (2006), is now actively participating in content generation for a greater variety of media on a scale we have never seen before. Those large numbers of people are able to be more involved in the news and content making process itself. Typical media use is more active and interactive than it has been in the days when a handful of companies controlled content and dissemination. Consequently, the once distinct roles of â€Å"the elite producers of content and the mass consumers of content† are shifting, and the â€Å"distinction between producers and consumers of content† is blurring (Howard, 2004, p.11). A Pew study found 57% of teens who use the Internet create content online (Pew, 2005). People use digital media to share their favorite news and information with others, by emailing or posting on other sites. Until May of 2008, youtube.com and facebook.com ranked 3rd and 4th most visited website on internet. This information indicates audience keen on produce their own video or context on internet and express themselves which also means there has been a shift in power from large media institution to ordinary people. Challenging of audience study in new media age Livingstone (2004: pointed out three main challenges which audience research facing for recent age. Those challenges include the gap between what people say and what people do in real life and the unclearly relationship between text and reader, for example the reception theory and the debate on the process of encoding and decoding and also the question of media effects which may influence audiences. Furthermore, the demographic factor should be considered in audience research just like other social science diversified audience from different demographic background may interpret the same message differently. Those challenges have been existed in mass media age. The question is dose the challenge will be modified in new media or their will be some new challenge towards internet/online media age? Livingstone (2004) gives us the answer in his article called the ‘challenge of changing audience he suggests that all the old challenges towards mass media research still exist, and in s ome extent the challenges has been magnified in todays internet media background. It is more and more difficult to find out what online audience practices in their private space such as their bedroom. What they said on online chatting room may totally different with their own behavior in real life. This type of real practices or experiences is hard to record compare with to investigate the audience in a public space such as Movie Theater. Even to research family television experiences in audiences living room is more achievable than to investigate the online audience as Livingstone argues that online audience and online experience is more personal and private. It leads to the difficulties when conduct observation and interview research. Despite the issue of privacy, the cookie may be a good tool to track online audiences behavior when they surfing on the internet. It may track what part or type of website are most frequently being click by online user, this technology now being widely used in website design, such as www.amazon.com, the most famous online book ret ailer, customized the home page when people login to the website. There will be some book on the suggestion list which based on you pervious practice like keyword scan or the book you being purchase. The second challenge raised by Livingstone is about the relationship between text and reader. He suggested when this challenge met the online media environment, it brings both practical and theoretical problem. Not like data collected from traditional mass media, new media researcher need to process uncountable data gathered from internet to analyse the relationship between the text and the audiences. In addition, large portion of data are temporary and mean less. More over the notion of text itself has been modified in some extent in online environment. For most of online user (include online media researcher), they have no idea with the hypertext. It is the source of the online content, producer or website designer develop the online world by this hypertext rather than the text we familiar with in real life. Again, the blurring of producer and audience also can be seen as a challenge to research in to the relationship between the text and receiver as the notion of receiver itself has been changed. The last point draw by Livingstone is about moral panic related with online media such as the question about whether internet will result harm to young people or children. This challenge has been inherited from television age. Researchers tried to identify the harm towards young audience caused by the violent movie, TV program, comics or other threatens factors. ‘At present, these moral panic centre on the internet, with anxiety expressed about violent, stereotyped, commercially exploitative or pornographic content and about the reinforcement of individualistic, lazy, prejudice, uncritical or aggressive actions. (Gillespie 2005: 12-13) Compare with traditional media, internet is more accessible for any resource on the virtual world. It is the reason why some researchers prefer to ban the online media rather than to take an in-depth research towards it. Take online game in China as an example. The famous MMORPG World of Warcraft is quite popular within Chinese player. 5 million accounts have been created in this online game in Chinese mainland. Many young people spent much time on playing online game in the virtual world. This phenomena draws socialist attention, they worries about those young people may be affected by the violence game like World of Warcraft, however most of them just want ban this online game in China without doing any research on other related area to investigate why young people addicted to this game. Some so called ‘psychologist even use electric shock to ‘help those young online game addicts. Doubtless, challenges faced by new media research can be trace back to history, however some new problems gradually out and beginning to be addressed (Hine 2000) Conclusions We are now in the liquid world. The new information environment, enabled by digital technology (internet), has changed the relationship between audience and media. Although the new audience still maintain some features from traditional audience, some new features of audience has been addressed by new media researcher. Audiences are becoming less passive and more in control of the use of media platform. They can be more selective and evolved with new media they can decide when, where and what type of the information they need to engages with. Audience now my decoding context better while they share their comments with other audience, also if they want, audience can convert to producer and create their own content on cyberspace. The classical audience theory need to be modified to suit the new environment such as the encoding and decoding process, as the audience becomes more powerful than ever before, they can influence the producer and messages producer created that is the communica tion process in new media age should pay more attention the interactive between producer and audiences. In addition, the two-step flow model has been challenged in online environment as audience nowadays are less influenced by opinion leader but peer review on internet offered by other audience. In the new media environment, the challenges, both old and new problems, which media researcher facing still exist. It is difficult for researcher to record online audiences practice and their experiences since the privacy of online behavior. In addition the new model of text hypertext becomes a challenge for explore the relationship between text and receive in new media environment. Moreover some researchers consider the online media can harm for young people and been a threat to society. It leads them to be more reluctant to do more complex research into this area. The analysis of the issue in this article suggests that even if most features of audience and media which addressed in past r esearch still suit todays situation, the changes in media technology and format do cause the challenges about how we conceptualize audiences. Reference Marie Gillespie (2004) Media Audiences, Open University Press, Chapter 1 pp40 Livingstone, S. (2003) ‘The Changing Nature of Audiences: From the Mass Audience to the Interactive Media User, pp. 337-59 The Blackwell Companion to Media Research. Oxford: Blackwell. Livingstone, S. (1998) Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation, 2nd edn. London: Routledge Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage. Hall,S.(1980) ‘Encoding/Decoding in Hall, S., Hobson, D., Lowe, A. and Willis, P. Culture, Media, Language, London, Hutchinson Bimber, B. (2000). The study of information technology and civic engagement. Political Communication. 17:329-333 Livingstone S. (2004). The Challenge of Changing Audiences: Or, What is the Audience Researcher to Do in the Age of the Internet? European Journal of Communication, Mar 2004; 19: 75 86. Livingstone, S, (1998a) ‘Audience Research at the Crossroads, European Journal of Cultural Studies 1(2): 193-217. Sonia Livingstone (2006) The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2006; 608; 233 ROB COVER (2006) Audience inter/active: Interactive media, narrative control and reconceiving audience history.New Media Society 2006; 8; 139 Joey Ka-Ching Chan, Louis Leung (2005). Lifestyles, reliance on traditional news media and online news adoption. New Media Society, Vol. 7, No. 3, 357-382. Frank Magid Association (2004). Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† www.online-publisher.org Sunstein, C. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Pew Internet American Life Project (2007, May 7). A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users Bowman, S. C. Willis (2005). The future is here, but do news media companies see it? Nieman Reports, 59(4):5-9 Howard, P.N. (2004). Deep democracy, thin citizenship: The impact of digital media in political campaign strategy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 597:1-17. Matt Carlson (2007). BLOGS AND JOURNALISTIC AUTHORITY: The role of blogs in US Election. Journalism Studies, Volume 8, Issue 2 April 2007, pages 264 279 Kramer, S. (2003) ‘Google News Creator Watches Portal Quiet Critics With â€Å"Best News† Webby, Online Journalism Review 25 September, King, E. (1998) ‘Redefining Relationships: Interactivity Between News Producers and Consumers, Convergence 4(4): 26-32. Victor Costello and Barbara Moore (2007) Cultural Outlaws: An Examination of Audience Activity and Online Television Fandom. Television New Media 2007; 8; 124 ELIZABETH M. PERSE. (1990). Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the Newer Media Environment. Communication Research 1990; 17; 675 Eugenia Siapera. (2004). From couch potatoes to cybernauts? The expanding notion of the audience on TV channels websites. New Media Society 2004; 6; 155 Fernando Bermejo (2009) Audience manufacture in historical erspective: from broadcasting to Google.New Media Society 2009; 11; 133 Alexa Traffic Rank for YouTube (three month average). Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com. Retrieved 2009-08-26. Accessed @ 15th Dec 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6900001.ece#comment-have-your-say Accessed @ 1st Nov 2009 http://media-ucn.co.uk/Lecture%20notes/EncodingDecoding%20Lecture.htm Accessed @ 6th Jan 2010

Gawain Has Enough :: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essays

Gawain Has Enough It was a bright and beautiful morn, the perfect weather for embarking on a hunting trip. The majestic King Arthur, illustrious leader of the Knights of the Round Table, could not believe his luck. As he was carried across a grassy knoll (by some beggars he’d chanced to acquire along the way) he contemplated the unbridled feelings of joy brought to him by his loyal knights. When Arthur happened to spot a pot-bellied pig out of the corner of his kingly eye, he quickly reined in the beggars and gracefully dismounted. Following a brief target practice involving the taller beggar and an overripe peach, the king successfully smote the baby boar. â€Å"Aha, I do believe I’ve smote the beast,† the king announced with pride. â€Å"Do thou not agree my fine beggars?† â€Å"We think thou hast it right, sire; t’was most brave and royal of you,† the beggars replied in unison (as they were beggars of the Siamese kind). Most suddenly, the kindly conversation between the king and his beggars was rudely interrupted by a piercing scream. A small green man, wearing a tall hat and carrying a large sum of gold in a black fire-pot began to kick Arthur in the shins. Seeing a fine opportunity for a quick escape from the King, the beggars fled in laughter. â€Å"What have I done to deserve such fierce and foulle behavior?† the king asked. â€Å"You’ve smote mine pot-bellied pig,† the little green man replied. â€Å" T’is a lucky pig that can n’er be replaced.† â€Å"Know you not that I am the most illustrious and royal King Arthur?† The angry little green man introduced himself as Todd and told the king that he did not care how illustrious or royal he was. Todd was most determined to have vengeance for the slaying of his lucky pig. After much lengthy discussion, and Todd’s refusal to accept the beggars (now long gone) as consolation for the slain little beast, King Arthur was in a most precarious position. Todd was getting ready to unleash a second ghastly kick to Arthur’s shins when he came upon an idea. â€Å"Know thee not a Sir Gawain?† Todd asked. â€Å"Yes,† said the king, â€Å"he is one of my most loyal knights.† â€Å"To preserve thine kingly life, I order thee to bring me Sir Gawain.† â€Å"But why?† asked the king. â€Å"Gawain must replace mine lucky pig,† Todd replied. â€Å"Bring him at once with a snout on his face and a most curly tail on his brave behind.

Ethnographic Paper

On November Seventh, 2012 at 1:39 PM I went to Naan Stop to continue my observations from before. I went in and it was the same employee who has been working there all eight times I’ve gone in. As usual I was the only person there, the radio was playing a popular pop song by the band One Direction. The owner of the store was in the back and popped out to say hello to me and ask how I was doing. I got my usual, a small mocha Boba and I waited as the employee, a young Mexican probably in his 20’s made the Boba with the same frown he has on every time I come in.I stayed in Naan stop for twenty minutes and no one came in. On November Sixth 4:50 PM I went to Naan stop with my friend and we got Boba. We were the only ones in there at first but then two Indian men in their late twenties came in and greeted the owner. They spoke in what I assumed was hindi and then switched to english and then back to hindi. I gathered that both the Indian men were graduate students at UCSB at some point and had returned for the weekend to say hello to old friends. I found it odd that they didn’t order anything from Naan Stop, they chatted with the owner and took a picture with him and then left.The music playing during their encounter was again pop culture. If there wasn’t Indian food and a couple of small cultural Indian statues one would never know it was an Indian Restaurant. My friend waited ten minutes after the Indian men left for new people to come in but got frustrated and left. I stayed for 40 minutes and within my 40 minutes two undergrad students came in and got pick up Indian and left, four girls all wearing their Alpha Phi letters came in ordered Boba and left. A middle aged man and his wife came in, I recognized them from two weeks ago when I was doing observations.The wife, similar to last time, was wearing an extremely low cut shirt and her breasts were actually spilling out. The man was in a wife beater, they ordered Indian food and were th e first customers I’d seen in the last two days to actually eat the food at the restaurant. They were very loud and I’d assume that they were lower class or lower middle class. The woman went on and on about her â€Å"fancy† sister going to Mexico. She kept saying fancy with such disdain, the one Mexican employee perked up at the name of Mexico but then got uninterested and went back to staring at his phone as the lady went on and on how her sister had a better life.The man kept staring at me and I felt pretty uncomfortable, I believe he was aware that I was observing them. He whispered something to his wife and they both turned around and stared at me as I was pretending to text someone. They finished their dinner shortly after and as they threw out their trash the woman rolled her eyes at me. They resented being the objects of my observation and I’m pretty sure their anger stemmed from embarrassment. As soon as they left and were out of eye sight I pack ed up my things and left.

Morality, Meet Brave New World Essay

â€Å"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.†1 Concerning Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, Brave New World, readers find themselves thinking the theme of the novel is not of proper conduct and it would not take place in their current world. Brave New World follows a futuristic society, the World State, where citizens are mass-produced and conditioned to suit the ways of the government and the society as a whole. Everyone is born to fit in certain classes and they crave pleasure, order and conformity. John the Savage, the protagonist, is of strict Christian moral codes and is shocked by the government’s control over citizens and their behavior. He rejects their mentality and tries to go against it, with no avail. The citizens’ sexual freedom, conditioning, risky use of drugs, dissolution of families and manipulation of religion to accommodate the society irritates many a moral critic. â€Å"Moral education, which ought never, in any circumstances, to be rational,† is said by a director (Huxley 32). It implies that the leaders do believe in moral education. However, without God or sense, it is they who make the morals. Huxley warns readers of how technology and power in the hands of the government can cause the downfall of man. With the concept of socialist morality in mind, the World State’s power is absolute and citizens follow societal codes and morals whether they like it or not, without a fight. Babies are born and nurtured in the community for the purpose of becoming productive members of the society. Citizens are conditioned to think that everyone is equal and they are made useful for the good of the society and the government. They satisfy themselves through food, sex, clothes, drugs and other entertainment promoting fun and consumption. This ensures the State’s stability. Hypnopaedic (sleep-teaching) messages such as â€Å"Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without anyone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Huxley 66), and â€Å"Ending is better than mending. The more stitches, the less riches†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Huxley 50) promote the part of socialism where every member of the society must work in a way that benefits the community. The second part promotes  consumerism; people must throw away old possessions and buy newer ones. The State’s ability to satisfy these desires of the people promises economic growth and affluence. Humans are just devices in this social and scientific world, manipulated and controlled by the World State for the good of the community. â€Å"Wheels must turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as steady as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment,† reasons Mustapha Mond, the World Controller (Huxley 44). This quote entails that this dictatorial government knows what is best for the society, not individuals, and that is why the leaders have set the moral standards. The State maintains power through technology and medical operations which allows citizens to feel so happy, they do not care about personal freedom, thoughts or choices. At the beginning, the Director says, â€Å"Bokanovsky’s Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!† (Huxley 18) The Bokanovsky’s Process is a biological version of Henry Ford’s assembly line. It is a means of churning out test tube babies, who will live and work in a predetermined society. The populace, the social castes and the mental processes of embryos are easier to control due to this process. There is also a lack of individuality with the concept of the assembly line where everyone is indistinguishable and managed by the government to maximize efficiency and profit. Individuality does not represent community to them and therefore, is not beneficial. With the World State’s control over birth, life and death of its citizens, it is able to achieve community amity. Effective people are needed for an effective society. To accomplish this task, definite stability is needed. Progress and science allows the State to create a happy and a superficial world. World Controllers, the leaders of the society, are careful with the use of science and technology. The use of soma, which clouds present reality and makes people experience happy hallucinations, ‘feelies’, hypnopaedia and conditioning machines are tools to promote social stability. It is to keep citizens busy with work and entertainment. In the novel, citizens must go through different kinds of conditioning. â€Å"All conditioning aims at that; making people like their inescapable social destiny,† (Huxley 24) says the Director of Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, where test tube babies, called â€Å"bottle  babies†, are decanted. Members of the society are taught to never be unsatisfied with their jobs, which eliminates individuals going against their â €˜destinies’. In turn, stability is created. Citizens learn through slogans, rhymes and hynopaedic messages to use soma and have sex with countless members of society. The Director shouts triumphantly, â€Å"Till at last the child’s mind is these suggestions and the sum of the suggestions is the child’s mind. And not the child’s mind only. The adult’s mind too – all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides is made up of these suggestions. But these suggestions are our suggestions†¦suggestions from the State.† (Huxley 34) They do not realize this but individual thoughts are done away with in the novel. Humans are just followers for the governments who can’t think for themselves because they’ve been conditioned to become that way. Elimination of emotion, families, history and literature also plays a significant part in achieving stability. Mond explains to boys touring the Hatchery, â€Å"Mother, monogamy, romance†¦ What with mothers and lovers, what with the prohibitions they were not conditioned to obey, what with the temptations and the lonely remorses, what with all the diseases and the endless isolating pain, what with the uncertainties and the poverty-they were forced to feel strongly. And feeling strongly and strongly, what was more, in solitude, in hopelessly individual isolation, how could they be stable?† (Huxley 43) Mond says by doing away with things such as mother, monogamy, â€Å"feeling strongly† and other things mentioned in the quote is how stability and harmony is gained in a society. This quote also shows the viewpoint of the World State that all humans must conduct themselves in one way. In the system, members must always remain happy for the sake of social stability. A recent report in Psychology Today concluded, â€Å"The most significant predictor of a person’s moral behavior may be religious commitment.†2 Huxley uses Christian morality to further illustrate the socialist morality of the plot. The religious conviction in man has been evident throughout the ages. The World State recognizes this urge and manipulates it toward the relevance of supporting and indulging society. The State in Brave New World creates a single religion for its people based on Henry Ford, his teachings and his representation of an assembly-line society than based on a Christ, his  teachings and a spiritual God with whom people may communicate by themselves. The services are government-funded and are mandatory, such as, the Solidarity Service, which is a parody and a substitution of the Christian Communion Service. The song of the service goes like this, â€Å"Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one, Like, drops within the Social River; Oh, make us now together run†¦Orgy-porgy gives release.† (Huxley 74) This gives readers an idea about of the control the government has on religion and sexual practices. Though trivial, it is an example of a religion the World State forms to keep citizens in line and in accord. The phrase, â€Å"Ford, we are twelve; oh, make us one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Huxley 74) summons Ford and reinforces the lack of individuality where humans are the same as items on the assembly line. Twelve members are the same as one, without any difference. This service gives release of emotions, a human nature the World State had not been able to stop through conditioning. It is advantageous as it does not pose a threat to power and control of the State. Karl Marx is quoted to have said, â€Å"Religion is the opiate of the people.†3 He means to say that religions are organized to relieve people’s anxieties about their personal responsibilities for the unfairness in life. In the novel, it is soma that is substituted for religion. Mond refers soma as, â€Å"Christianity without tears†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Huxley 185) Soma allows the public to feel at ease than the sadness and guilt caused by Christianity. Their act of prayer is taking in soma and they feel fulfilled and happy. In Brave New World Revisited, Huxley states that soma is the religion of the people.4 It can be said that the citizens of the World State are very religious in adhering to moral standards organized by the government for themselves. With the caste system strict and firm, authority in the World State is not questioned nor challenged. As a group, members fear and respect the government and would never go against it. Members may feel dissatisfied with their way of living. When the Director asks Bernard, â€Å"†¦ can you show any reason why I should not now execute the judgment passed upon you?’, Bernard answers with a confident â€Å"Yes, I can.† (Huxley 121) He proceeds to present the Director his son, John. Having a son goes against all the social morals taught by the World State. Although Bernard did not act in an anarchist fashion, he took a small step towards being disrespectful to and humiliating  a man of authority. John the Savage does not like what he sees. With â€Å"O brave new world† resonating in his head, John cries out for people at the Park Lane Hospital of Dying to stop taking the soma rations. He attempts to throw out the soma through the window and asks the people to choose freedom (Huxley 168). John hadn’t been able to go against the government. Although chaos doesn’t fully place take and seeds of confusion have been planted in the society, the government is still in control. The goals of morality, as described by C.S. Lewis, are to ensure fair play and harmony between individuals, help form good people to have a good society and keep them in a good relationship with the power that is responsible for creating them. By their motto of â€Å"Community, Stability, Identity† (Huxley 18), the Brave New World achieves these goals, given through questionable methods. The State’s ability to satisfy needs and wants of the public through entertainment, work and consumption leads to stability and economic growth for society. The government’s different conditioning techniques, intentional drug use, manipulation of religion and view that everyone belongs to and works for everyone else are used to benefit society in creating useful citizens. The consequences are a loss of dignity, values and emotions – in short, a loss of humanity. This is the idea of extreme socialist morality that takes place in the book. This version of society reflects the current society’s economic values – individual happiness is the satisfaction of his or her needs and success of growth and prosperity. The social moral codes of Brave New World create a superior society where people cooperate instead of compete. Although some critics and readers may think this is accomplished through wrong conduct, this may be what our current society strives for. WORKS CITED 1. Oscar Wilde. â€Å"Oscar Wilde Quotes†. Thinkexist.com. 2006. Thinkexist.com. 2. Morality By Design. Allaboutphilosophy.org 3. Religion: An Opaite of People?† www.ancientdays.net 4. Brave New World Revisited 5. atheism.about.com Brave New World by Aldous Huxley â€Å"Moral Criticism of Brave New World.† Associated Content. News, 2007