Ulrich Zwingli - A Religious Reformer Research Paper

Ulrich Zwingli - A Religious Reformer - Research Paper Example Nor was it by the ancient Church of the Swiss, until convents turned missionaries into monks, and monks turned the gospel into fables, and these fables led the people to believe that the pope was the Vicar of Christ, and that Mary should be adored as the Virgin and as the guardian of the Church (REV. WM. M. BLACKBURN 1868, 12-20) It is by this lie, that Ulrich Zwingli stretched his dowel in the direction of reformation of the church. The flagrant corruption, and â€Å"the lie of celibacy† were a constant thorn in the belief that Ulrich held in his conviction to the true cause of Christ; But not without the controversy of expulsion and severing of the ties with Rome. In this period, and in the periods that had passed, there had been Turmoil in the church, of the celebrations and the Book of Christ. Many reformers of the time questioned the role of these celebrations and the controversy of them not being found in the Bible. The statement he makes in his works clearly indicates his feelings towards the papal conclave;That Christ is the only eternal high priest, wherefrom it follows that those who have called themselves high priests have opposed the honor and power of Christ, yea, cast it out. (Meyer 1912, 2007 , 2007) By no means did he shy away from controversy, but in his belief in ‘truth’ and his understanding of humanity, did he engage in writings of change, and politics, and distributed them commonly even in Rome, where his works were proscribed, the prelates still treasured his books, devoid of true acquaintance that he indeed authored those works they so loved. 1.1 WHO WAS HE? ‘God has granted me,’ said he, ‘f rom my boyhood to devote myself to the acquirement of knowledge, both human and divine. ... I acknowledge myself to be a great sinner before God, though I have not lived an immoral life, and on no occasion has discipline been exercised upon me.’ (REV. WM. M. BLACKBURN 1868) Born in the Year 1484, in January at Wildhaus, Switzerland, Ulrich was named after his ‘Ammann’1 Father, Ulrich the senior. His Uncle Bartholomew Zwingli also the Dean of Wesen, came and baptized him. Ulrich was born in a family of eight sons and one daughter. Ulrich was the third. As a young boy, living in the mountains, and had the chance to feel the presence of God in his surroundings. He would watch the animals and the people, and listen to tales from his grandmother, until at nine, from a suggestion by his Uncles, his father took him to Wesen, and laid him in the hands of his Uncle Bartholomew with the words; â€Å"You have put lofty ideas into Ulrich s head, and now I have brought him, so that you may try What he can do† (REV. WM. M. BLACKBURN 1868) In the spirit of the school of the times in Wesen, Bartholomew Zwingli, seeing that the education at the common schools was not good enough, contacted his friend the master of St. Theodore George Binzli, at Basle. Here, Ulrich grew faster in knowledge that he made new enemies in the older boys, at the age of thirteen, he was sent to Berne, where later after there was a trial by the monks of Dominica to convert the young bright mind, he was sent to Vienna In Austria, where he met two new friends that would help him grow in leaps and bounds. In such dedication, Ulrich Grew a devoted catholic, raised in the values and commissions of the church, and it can be said that he never really faced the world of corruption and sin in such a way that salvation would to him make a big impact than another reformer, born only a few weeks earlier, Mr. Martin Luther of the Lutheran reformation. There is no saying, that in his †Å"safety† at Basel, Bern and Vienna, from where upon receiving his qualification in Arts, he joined the service of the Roman Catholic Church, Ulrich was far protected from facing the temptations of this world in so much that his tilt towards the ‘females’ was strong enough when he faced the sleaze. This was one of the conflict points that Ulrich had with the

Australian law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Australian law - Essay Example If a professional adviser is found to knowingly having provided or failed to provide information that exposes the advisee to incur any losses or damages on their part, this considered to be a breach of duty. All professionals are generally held to an established and reasonable standard of basic care and professionalism. Professionals are generally required to have the necessary learning and skill that is seen to be commonly processed by members who happen to be held in good standing within their basic profession.2 However, any lack of the proper degree of training, failure by the professional to attempt to follow up on a client’s progress, failure to remain appropriately conversant with any new emerging discoveries in the field, or failure to refer to a specialist in the event that it proves to be necessary can all be seen to constitute of negligence.3 As exemplified in the line of reasoning followed in the Hedley Byrne ruling, when an adviser communicates information to an ad visee in order that the information might be used for a generally described or particularly specified purpose, and the advisee acts on this advice to his detriment, the adviser is found to fundamentally be guilty of negligence.4 Effects of Donoghue V Stevenson (1932) A decision by the British house of commons in 1932 concerning the alleged presence of a snail inside a ginger beer bottle is commonly perceived to be the best known judgment in the entire common law world. It is widely regarded as the primary foundation law of negligence throughout the entire British Commonwealth.5 Although the ruling of Donoghue V Stevenson (1932), was initially mostly applied to judgments pertaining to manufacturers and the duty of care that they happened to owe the various consumers of their products it was eventually seen to have wider relevance beyond manufacturer liability. In the ruling, Atkins was seen to assert that a duty to exercise case was actually owed to all persons who might be directly affected by one’s actions or omissions that happen to be called in question.6 This is seen to critically affect the liability of all professional advisers as in their event that they provide questionable information that eventually proves to be detrimental to the advisee, they are then effectively held viable for court action. The Effects of Hedley Byrne v. Heller (1963) The Hedley Byrne v. Heller (1963) greatly impacted the overall liability of professional advisers as it was the first decision to recognize the possibility of there being a liability for want can be perceived to be purely economic loss that is not dependent on there being a contractual relationship, for negligent statements. This was seen to affect advisers as any information that they may happen to give while not bound to any contractual agreement can also be seen to create duty of care as it might be relied upon by the advisee in determining whether to enter into a contract.7 Recent Developments in Australi an High Court There have been a number of recent developments in Australia pertaining to the case of professional negligence, in Astley v Austrust Ltd,

Intro to humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intro to humanities - Essay Example This construction was designed to be harmonically ordered so that it reflected the harmony of life. Beyond this type of geometric design comes the combination of practical and aesthetic qualities as the Acropolis (which literally means "high city") was placed on the highest spot in Athens so that its people could retreat there in the case of invasion from the outside. It was a place of both literal and metaphoric sanctuary. Much of the design of the Acropolis is massive in nature, but there are also smaller buildings which may be seen as a form of decoration. For example, there is the Temple to Nike Athena (the Athena of Victory) which commemorates a vital victory over the Persians. It is small in size, but perfect in proportion, as if the Greeks were attempting to show that it is the quality, in geometric perfection, that is more important than its size. The various works of art which once existed in the Acropolis, few of which are still there in their original form, show that the Acropolis was designed as a kind of living history of the mythology of Greece. For example, the porch of the maidens commemorates the mythological contest between Athena and Poseidon over who would be the patron of the new city that had sprung up there. It is perhaps a suitable commentary upon the difficulties involved with keeping the Classical Humanist ideals alive that much of the surviving works of ar

School Life in the 1950s Essay Example for Free

School Life in the 1950s Essay School Life in the 1950’s was harder than today because the facilities were few and inadequate. Teachers were stricter and corporal punishment was still in use. They had fewer subjects and wealth, discrimination, sexism and racism meant they could only do certain subjects. After World War 2 there was a baby boom and as a result in the 1950’s schools were quickly filling up as the children enrolled. The enrolments increased as much as 30% over the ‘baby-boomers’ decade. In the year 1950 there were 166 437 existing elementary and secondary schools in the USA to educate over 29 million students. As the amount of students increased, the schools and resources declined. It was reported by the Office of Education in 1953 that there was a shortage of 345 000 classrooms, meaning overcrowding in 60% of America’s classrooms and up to 20% of schools failed to meet basic safety standards (statistics- www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3468301830. html 6/08/2013) School facilities were even more unpleasant for the coloured people of America. Their schools were separate from the white people and they were poorly funded by the government. â€Å"By 1950, the inequality in educational achievement between white students and minority students had increased since 1900, when very few Americans or and race or gender attended high schools, and formal education was only marginally a factor in national economic and social life†- historians Mondale and Patton. (www. illinoishistory. gov/Illinois%20History/Jan05-21Vargas. pdf 14/08/2013). This all changed in 1954; when a father named Mr Brown took his case to the United States Supreme Court declaring his daughter should be allowed to go to school with white children. â€Å"Mr Brown was upset that his daughter had to walk over a mile through railroad yards to get to a black school when a white one was only seven blocks away† (www. livinghistoryfarm. org/farminginthe50’s/life_12. html 14/08/2013). The United States Supreme Court declared a â€Å"Separate but equal† system (desegregation) in schools and made a start on ending discrimination in other institutions. The country school buildings were usually â€Å"made of wood with weatherboards outside and tongue-and-groove timber for the interior walls. Most schools were elevated on stumps to provide a rudimentary play area underneath, which was usually concreted. The rough-hewn stumps would be painted with tar to deter white ants, and constant checking of stumps, walls, toilets and even toilet seats for termites was part of the head teacher’s job†. Up the front of the classroom there were â€Å"two large blackboards, almost square in shape, fixed to the wall. Sometimes an extra blackboard would stand on an easel as well. A wooden cupboard with doors, known as a ‘press’, held all the class books and teaching materials. There was usually no other shelving† (www.starfieldobservatory. com/Nambour/Schooling. html 14/08/2013). The school facilities in 1950 were basic and inadequate and the students and teachers had to make do with what they had. The schools of 1950 were lacking equipment but one piece of equipment was most certainly not lacking in most schools and that was the cane or ruler. Teachers used the cane to spank the disobedient and troublesome students and it was usually very effective – â€Å"I really can’t remember kids sort of stepping out of line very much because they knew that they would be getting disciplined severely. There was very little leeway, but then again, there were very little problems† – Student in 1950 (www. angelfire. com/falcon/hist232/interviews%20l. html 14/08/2013). The main reason students got spanked were: â€Å"talking or being disruptive in class, not lining up properly or being rambunctious either inside or outside the school† (www. angelfire. com/falcon/hist232/interviews%20l. html 14/08/2013). Teachers could cane across the hand or across the buttocks or often slap around the head without fear of punishment, as the offence was â€Å"caused† by the child. If the offence was viewed serious enough the student went to the headmaster for ‘6 of the best’ with a heavy cane. â€Å"They used the cane a lot, usually first resort not last. She said it was normal for girls to get the cane in front of all the class with skirt, or as it was for her, gymslip raised up. They could get 2, 3, 4 strokes in front of class, occasionally some got 6 strokes. But if it was thought serious they were sent to the headmaster. Always bare off headmaster, skirt up knickers down. Six minimum, could be up to 12. She said it was normal to see someone being caned† (http://www.experienceproject. com/stories/Used-To-Get-The-Cane-At-School/2211915 16/08/2013). There was no appeal against that system of punishment and many parents believed the teacher was acting in the child’s best interests. Other methods of punishment were intimidation, strapping, removal from class, loss of privilege, writing lines and verbal put-downs were all regularly used. As stated before, the class numbers were increasing so teachers had to teach more students, meaning discipline was becoming more stringent as the teacher tried to keep the class in control. The 1950’s was the time of the cold war and there was a great tear of nuclear war. In certain areas of America the ‘fallout’ tests were being brought in where the students were required to go through a fake atomic bomb attack and they would find refuge under their desks (little did they know this wouldn’t protect them from radiation! ). It was more for the teacher and parent’s piece of mind. Teachers of 1950 were sterner and more stringent than today, corporal punishment was in use making sure students did all their work and behaved in the right manner. The main subjects taught to high school students in the 1950’s were reading, writing, arithmetic, history, biology, domestic science or home economics and woodwork, â€Å"Social sciences, history, geography, sociology, economics, political science, and psychology† (http://www. viu. ca/homeroom/content/topics/programs/Curriclm/ss1950. htm 16/08/2013). Some more advanced subjects like music, trigonometry, Latin or Spanish and algebra, were added to the richer schools as it was rare to find a decent and qualified teachers. In nearly all schools it was â€Å"necessary† for girls to do domestic science and learn the skills of cooking and needlework. For the boys it was â€Å"necessary† for them to do woodwork or woodshop and learn the skills of craftsmanship. Girls couldn’t do the ‘boy’ subjects and vice versa. Science was taught theoretically and there was rarely a chance for them to do experiments. Subjects were taught in a ‘chalk and talk’ system where the teacher would stand up at the front of the classroom and talk to the class and write the topic information on the chalkboard. The students would listen and copy the work into their books. It wasn’t very common for students to do practical work and field trips were very basic. In the out of the way country schools teachers had to teach many subjects and most didn’t just have their certain subject they specialised in, meaning the teachers most of the time weren’t fully trained to be teaching some subjects and were giving out false information. (http://www. livinghistoryfarm. org/farminginthe50s/life_12. html 16/08/2013). The black people schools had limited teachers and facilities. Most of their schools just had the basic subjects and it was only after 1954 when the Supreme Court announced desegregation did this change and the black people were allowed to go to school with the white people and have access to their assortment of subjects. â€Å"The subjects taught in elementary school were maths, reading, social studies, science, art and music† (http://library. thinkquest. org/J002606/1950-60S. html 14/08/2013). Although music was usually just a basic sing-a-long with the teacher and it would happen once, maybe twice a week. The schools in the 1950’s didn’t have the variety of subjects we have today and it was limited even more because of many social issues such as racism, sexism and families wealth. School life was harder in the 1950’s because of the lack of facilities and their poor conditions, the students had to cram into overcrowded dingy classrooms and the coloured children had to walk miles to get to their black people schools. Schools were stricter and corporal punishment meant teachers were allowed to hit the students on the hand or over the head and parents let this happen as they believed it was good for the their child. The assortment of subjects choices available to the students in the 1950’s was limited and became even less as social issues such as racism, sexism, wealth and discrimination got in the way. The children and teens of 1950’s had to put up with an inadequate education system nevertheless many went on to become successful in business and life. Bibliography Anali Vargas, ‘Some Major Differences Between High School in the 1950’s and Now’-Page 4, www. illinoishistory. gov/Illinois%20History/Jan05-21Vargas. pdf, August, 2013 Going to school in the 1940’s and 50’s, www. starfieldobservatory. com/Nambour/Schooling. html, August, 2013 The 1950’s: Education: Overview. â€Å"American Decades† http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3468301830. html, August 13, 2013 Farming in the 1950’s: Education in rural America http://www. livinghistoryfarm. org/farminginthe50s/life_12. html, August 2013 Vanessa Lockstein, Ontario School discipline, 1950-Present www. angelfire. com/falcon/hist232/interviews%20l. html, August 2013 Schooling in the 1950’s. http://library. thinkquest. org/J002606/1950-60S. html, August 2013 Senior High School: 1950 http://www. viu. ca/homeroom/content/topics/programs/Curriclm/ss1950. htm, April 2005.

Is Halls Encoding Decoding Model Still Useful Media Essay

Is Halls Encoding Decoding Model Still Useful Media Essay Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse was written by Stuart Hall in 1974, which was critically acclaimed in mass communications research and paved the way for many academics to build upon the theoretical model of encoding and decoding between audience and receiver. Messages are sent and received between the audience and the receiver, but the meaning of the text is dependent on the audiences cultural background, to accept, reject or negotiate the text with a margin of understanding, (Hall: 1974). This analysis of the model of research will examine the usefulness of Halls theory on contemporary mass communications research, and will follow the next generations of audience research and the application of the model in current media today. Firstly it is necessary to recognise that the encoding decoding model has much older theoretical roots. One of the main theoretical roots of the model (critical theory) referred to the post 1933 emigration of scholars from the Marxist school of applied Social Research in Frankfurt to the United States (Mcquail: 2000). The school was established to understand the failures of Marxism, and Stuart Halls essay examined the mass media as central to the culture of capitalism with meaningful discourse, this is relevant to the success of the model which appears critically popular in looking at capitalism with a predominant media. Secondly the theory readdressed the themes of the Use and Gratifications theory examining audience power over the media rather then mediated effects on the audience (Katz: 1959). The theoretical study later concluded that audiences use the media to fulfil there own needs and gratifications (Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., Gurevitch, M.: 1974). Halls theory represents a similar model with elegant simplicity, to make it a key text, (Mcquail: 2002). Importantly Halls model focuses on groups rather then the individual which is more useful for looking at mass communications dominance due to social class and cultural heritage. Both the political and theoretical foundations of the model have implications on its relevance today as its usefulness is paramount to a mass media dominated society and the driving relationship between audience and media. The model itself described by Hall is, The institution -societal relations of production must pass into and through modes of language for its products to be realised. This initiates a further differentiated moment, in which the formal rules of discourse and language operate. Before this message can have an effect it must first be meaningfully decoded. It is the set of decoded meaning which have an effect, influence entertain, instruct or persuade with complex perceptual cognitive, ideological or behavioural consequences (Hall, 1974: 3). Hall (1974) suggests four decoded meanings from this model, the dominant code of preferred meanings, the professional code transmitting a message signified within in a hegemonic manner, the negotiated code of adapted and oppositional elements and the oppositional code, clear understanding but with a connotative inflection and rejection for audience, (Mcqual: 2002). This segregation of groups was tested by David Morleys The Nationwide Audience in 1980 which complimented Halls research but importantly gave birth to second generation ethnographic research. This was praised by Morley (1992) where he described how Halls model gave rise to decode media messages and sparked emphasis toward a new phase of qualitative audience research, gender realities and media consumption. Ethnographic research predominant in the 80s examined how television was a social resource in family dynamics and the relation of media in everyday life, rather then decoding one programme through a single medium. Fish wrote that one studies the every day life of a group, and relates the use of (a reception of) a programme or a medium to it (1979: 329). This quality of research transcends further into areas such as gender and communities in which Halls model can not disseminate. Third generation audience research offers a constructionist analysis of contemporary media in the sense of how we are aware and conceive our roles with the audience and reflexivity of our understanding of ourselves as the audience. Radway (1998) emphasized the audience point of departure subjected to television and our self reflection of the media and our knowledgeable participation is where audience research lies. Essentially second and third generation research explored more deeply into social constructivism, which compliments audience media relationships. Although Hall was praised by Nightingale (1996) for the model researched media linguistics and social semiotics to combine research methods and genre in new ways. The audience understanding of linguistics and there self representation through genre is a critical area of contemporary audience research. After the third generation of audience research, Schroder (1994) described the turn towards ethnography and the everyday, as a threat to write the media as the focus of research out of existence. Political research addressed later, will demonstrate this to be untrue and encoding/decoding remains useful in social and cultural class on a broad scale. Nightingale (1996) criticized the model for the assumption that only dominant culture is produced through television and the modernity of the model should recognise the cultural hegemony distributed through society. Fiske (1997) described, the characterization of the television text as a site of a struggle between dominant ideologies working to produce a closed text by closing off the opportunities it offers to resistive readings, and the diversity of audiences who, if they are to make the text popular, are constantly working to open it up to their readings. Audience participation has increased dramatically in contemporary television, addressing the dominant reading and offering opportunities for varied outcomes. The rising popularity of reality TV shows is a good example of a larger audience participation, which will be addressed later on. Before looking at the changing media landscape and the issues that affect the use of the decoding model in the close present. It is first necessary to pay attention to David Morley. In The Study of the Nationwide Audience, Morley (1980) described members of a given sub-culture tend to share a cultural orientation towards decoding messages in certain ways, similarly Hall (1981b) described individual readings of messages will be framed by shared cultural formations and practices (p.51). This study used Stuart Halls encoding model and successfully identified dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings based on cultural background. The limitations of this were later noted by David Morley (1992) in his critical postscript in Television Audiences and Cultural Studies where he acknowledged his terms of class (middle and lower) are descriptive labels that do not divulge the detailed ethnography of the people studied. He also describes The Nationwide Audience as scratching the surface of c ultural practises that could range from religion to biology. Therefore we can acknowledge that the model lacks the detail desired to penetrate the cultural depth of the audience, but the model can disseminate by social and cultural class on a broad scale. The Nationwide Audience was defined in relation to texts rather then mediums (Holmes: 2005) but audience medium interaction was also examined in Morleys postscript. Critically the audience medium changes the way the audience receives the text. The internet has been the largest rising social medium in contemporary technology and is very different from television. Television is considered to be an acoustic medium like radio, in which sound represents the privately experienced equivalent of a social world characterized from all directions ( Holmes: 2005, p.114). The Internet presents a world of information, a virtual reality linked with broadcast networks, interactive communication, and a definitive need for the audience to participate. The internet and online broadcasting were not present at the time of the original study forming an argument that Halls model is outdated as it does not account for changing mediums and New Media content consumed by the audience. New genre has allowed reflection on old mediums acquainted to their ontological power (Holmes: 2005). An example is the spectacular increase in active audience participation in reality TV, founded on a principle of imaginary substitution; and audiences viewing a representation of themselves. Using Nightingales assumption that the model assumes only dominant culture is produced through television; reality TV rebuffs a dominant understanding through the audience participation. Critically as Halls model arguably only accounts for a dominant ideology, it has extremely limited use in looking at audience participation and influence. The ITVs X factor audience has an estimated 10 million viewers, and there are various reality TV voting shows such as big brother, that arent just primetime TV, but can dominate the front page of many tabloid magazines reaching a predominantly larger circulation of people then television. Third generation audience research best describes the audience participation, in there active role in the media in determining the outcome of the represented. Social constructivism defines reality TV, and a dominant hegemony is arguable defeated. Halls model integrates determination and freedom via the producer and consumer, but arguably disappoints in its linearity. Murdock (1989) criticizes the models overemphasis of the rational dimension of the response. Comparing the basic nature of the model to Lasswells comment (known as the Lasswell model) Who (says) What (to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect recited before Hall, accounts for the medium and the effects within research, justifiably explaining the linear nature of the encoding mode in comparison. Modern communication research needs further consideration of the medium. Although Lasswells model can be seen as a transmission of communication as opposed to mass communication it is arguably more useful then that of Halls in allowing for current new media interactivity and the medium. Murdocks description of the overemphasis of unilateral response is justifiably irrelevant in large groups, in which it is useful to examine mass communication from a political perspecti ve. We previously mentioned Halls model can penetrate social and cultural class on a broad scale and mediated politics can theoretically be applied to the encoding model. The conservative government will have most support from the upper social class; typically bankers and businesses that support the privatization and socio-economic freedom of the individual agreeing with the dominant message delivered through the media. This message would understandably be rejected be trade unionists and the lower class that live in less privileged economic conditions. The middle classs are the negotiable reading, and are essentially the battleground for government votes. Thatcherism and the conservatives long stint in power from 1979- 1996 can be examined in relation to encoding and decoding the mass audience, similarly to Tony Blairs acknowledgement of the model in Labours reign from 1997-2010. During Margaret Thatchers reign the traditionalist capitalist ideology, family values and patriotism presented through the media were a success in cultural hegemony. It can be argued that Thatcherism was successful due to its ability to address the concerns of ordinary people through its articulation of right wing politics The study of this is described by Gauntlett (2000) who says In studying the media and gender, one could use this approach to see how the media might make certain formulations of masculinity, femininity and sexuality to be natural, inevitable and sexy (p.30), Certainly Margaret Thatchers formulation of ideology expressed certain values onto the British public that permeated their culture. Recapping on the value of Halls model in mass communication as a meaningful discourse in capitalist culture, the application to politics and the media is evidence of its use. Hall (1996) also argues Thatcherism successfully maintained support of the working class through popular authoritarianism. It can be seen the British people submitted to the psychological message of the driving capitalist machine and arbitrary nature of political power. The Falklands War is a great example of how the hegemonic embodied populism to remain in power. The ability to be able to look back and examine governmental power, political strategy and articulation of the people is vitally important for understanding the nature of our media, culture and public and can be used by government and historians to shape future policies and projections. A large amount of credit must go to Halls model that can textualize and open up the coding used between audience and public and represents an important academic angle f rom which to do so. Although Stuart Halls model is based around theories of mass communication, Dicks (2000) applied Halls encoding/decoding model to a local heritage museum based in South Wales with the understanding that heritage and the museum visitors can be studied as a form of social communication. Heritage is examined as a cultural communicative practise, linked to the vernacular aesthetic of the people. The social model of communication looks at the practises of production and consumption in relation to politics, economics and culture, (drawn from the framework of Stuart Hall). Initially the heritage site, (which was being built in the early 90s) dedicated to the miners strikes felt the Conservative government had projected a Disney model of narration to the heritage site that didnt reflect the community feel, thus as local historian was able to get involved in the development process, outlining the encoding element. When the public visited the museum they were asked a series of questions before , and after there interactivity with the museum. Generalising the findings presents Hallss theory in accurate modern context of dominant, oppositional and negotiated responses to the decoding of the information presented due to economic and cultural heritage. However they should not be simplified into this manner as the detail of the answers given, present a larger scope of negotiation from the public, due to the museum not actually presenting a dominant hegemonic view of the miners strikes. In this sense, the question is how did the visitors negotiate with the negotiation? Essentially using there own social-cultural class to deconstruct the narrative. Concluding the findings of the article, the encoding aspect of the museum content presented a clear divide between the government and local idea of the aesthetic and values of the museum, and decoding is representative of cultural and economic means but does not necessarily descend from hegemonic measures passing scope for more negoti ation. The article has clearly used the model to an intelligently critical viewpoint of an audience subject to heritage with large significance thus cementing its usefulness in this element of modern society. If the model can be used to deconstruct our perseverance of heritage and reveal political and cultural means of the audience, it has another credible use. Importantly the model was able to be adapted to reflect more audience freedom and negotiation reflected in contemporary audience theory today. It is now necessary to revisit many aspects of Halls model, tying in the theoretical, alongside politics, the changing media landscape and the wider scope of knowledge. Firstly, taking a political stance, the continuities between Thatcherism and New Labours political projection were documented by Hall (1998), as the authoritarian populism of Britain was echoed in the New Labour rhetoric under Tony Blair. As we previously covered the theoretical roots of the encoding model stem from emigration of scholars from the Marxist school of applied Social Research, and Labour learnt a lot with its affiliation with Marxism. Tony Blairs contribution to the magazine almost certainly contributed to his understanding of how to modernise his party and use the media effectively as a dominant mass communication tool. Where the Use and Gratifications model failed in Marxist academia, Halls model successfully justifies mass media dominance. If we revisit the third generation audience research we can see a link between the constructionist viewpoint and the findings from the heritage museum. Participants in the heritage museum research were able to self identify there role in the research and offer a more negotiated viewpoint, as such there is greater audience understanding of there identity in shaping the outcome, and the ability to use the encoding model with more modern research giving it greater use. Referring back to Nightingales criticism of the model, that it assumed only dominant culture is produced through television. The heritage site had no dominant message and yet the model was able to be used to negotiate readings and audience understanding. The model was able to do this because it still posed relevant for disseminating social and cultural class but its real findings and the examination of further audience negotiation compliments its ability to embrace the audience understanding of third generation research. Whilst it was concluded modern television such as reality TV produced flaws in Halls model, one would assume there would be new documented research on the progression of New Media and the distribution of programmes through changing mediums and a diverse virtual world of information. There is not such a wealth of information out there which asks larger questions as to whether the encoding/decoding model has been cast aside with changing media dynamics. One of the most important recent media developments is the rise of social media. One of largest and most predominant media campaigns in western politics was Barack Obamas presidential campaign in 2008. Meerman Scott (2007) believes this was won due to Obama being the candidate that mostly strongly embraced social media. The encoding model does fall short of being able to connect to interactive media, user generated content and networking that is not subject to a mass dominated message, but instead the articulation and communication of m any individuals independent of thought. Obama didnt pursue an authoritarian message with his campaign to be mediated across the web, but many individuals wrote multiples blogs raising awareness online. This has given me the viewpoint that mediated liberalism and the freedom of audience control has rapidly increased due to social media. Halls model is relevant in predominant media, it will not transcend into the online social forum. Similarly the role that the audience plays online is very much what people do with the media, (echoing the Use and Gratification model) and attempts to cast aside dominant ideology or reading. Social Media is technically the most recent revolutionary form of media in which the encoding model appears to fall short in its application of audience understanding. It can however be concluded that there is very little academic research on this topic thus far to determine the model in this form. Conclusively, Stuart Halls model has taught me, in regards to politics and the media, it is best applied in context of the media dominance of society and has clear use and purpose in analysing recent UK governments and can contextualise the relationship we have with the autonomous power above us. The model has limited use in modern television such as reality TV and the changing media landscape, and falls short of the social media revolution and the powerful nature of the audience online. The model itself though, does transcend the ethnography and constructionist nature of the research that followed the model, and its ability to be applied to a local heritage site and successful disseminate an audience, proves it can still be useful in modern society. Similarly the social and cultural decodings of the model in mass audience research have been justified and complimented by various researches undertaken.

Short Story Example | Extreme Kidnap

Short Story Example | Extreme Kidnap Something clicked and my senses turned on; heart pounding, mind wide awake, fists ready for action as I started to hear the rush of wind and a propeller outside, a 12 seater Cessna Caravan. I could see two of my best friends with duct tape around their feet and seated at the back of the cabin next to the luggage compartment. I turned around towards the front of the plane. I could see blood on the ground; I felt the back of my head, and it was wet, sticky wet. I looked further past the blood. My eyes stung from the concentration, but I saw a man lounging on a red seat next to the aisle with a pistol pointed at me. I wiped my eyes to lessen the sting; it helped a little bit. I thought this was all a dream as I attempted to stand. I dragged a knee up, levering myself into vertical. I swayed as I looked at the mans face. It was dirty with red rings under his eyelids. His black hair was lank and greasy. He stood up and waved his gun towards the back of the plane. I continued to stagger to wards him, but something stopped me as I tried to take another step. I looked down to see my friend prostrate on the ground with his hand on my ankle. Tears were forming in his eyes. What was I doing? Im in a plane with people who have guns and two friends who have duct tape around their feet and I am walking towards my death? As I turned around, someone grabbed me from behind and forced me towards the back of the plane. Pain snaked across my upper arm and shoulder. My body was screaming out in agony as I tried to twist away, but all that happened was more pain. A blond haired man with a huge freckle of his chin forced me to sit with my back against the cargo door. Not too far away was the door that was used for exiting the plane. It had a simple red handled lever that was used to open the door. I glanced outside to see if there were any houses down on the ground but no, there was still only the Australian desert. From what I could see there were only small shrub bushes with occasional gum trees. There was no hope of escape. Another man appeared from the cabin carrying three items of baggage; they were a backpack of a sort. He approached us and calmly stated Thank you for being our experiment. We have some clients that want some fun with guns. They are placed on the ground and if they find you or see you they will shoot you. I began to panic. My heart was beating faster. As I looked across at my friends and they were trembling I began to realise what the backpacks were. They were parachutes. I told myself to remain strong and I gave my friends a reassuring pat on the shoulder. The blond haired freckle man spoke this time, Simple as this, you put on these backpacks and jump. I was shoved out the plane with barley enough time to put my parachute on. . It felt nice to be outside putting aside the fact that I was falling towards the ground at an astonishing rate. My lungs lurched out of their normal place right into my mouth, or so it felt like it. It was the biggest whoopsy I have ever had. I pulled the straps tight around me, and then I pulled the rip cord at the front. A small chute about the size of a kids plastic swimming pool opened up. My heart sank and I had the worst feeling in my life. I heard a tearing sound. I looked up and thought the mini-chute was tearing apart, but no, something forced its way out of the bag and pushed against my back. I saw a huge black object about the size of an Olympic swimming pool open up. I slowed down to a steady pace and all was calm, surprisingly. I scanned the sky for my friends, there was nothing except for the wispy white clouds and WHOA!! I exclaimed out aloud, as a large dark object whistled in front of me. It was Jake. I realised he didnt know how to open the chute. I screamed out, Pull the strings! It appeared that he didnt hear me, but after what seemed an eternity a parachute opened. I breathed a sigh of relief. I looked around, beneath, above and beside me. There was no one else, other than Jake, to be found. Could Frankie have fallen past me and crashed on the carpet of brown and green spots? I refused to belief that, and squinted my eyes to look across the sky where the plane was. I focused harder and thought I could see my friend. To confirm my thoughts a mushroom blew up in the sky. How on earth are Jake and I going to find Frankie now? Jake and I had levelled with each other in flight. As we neared the ground, which was about 50metres away, I tensed up for a hard landing. Jake glanced across at me, a nervous look on his face. I shouted out Aim for the clear patch and run when you hit the ground! Jake held up his hand and put his thumbs up. I looked up at the inside of the parachute to see if everything was fine, landing spot was okay, head still pounding but okay, legs sore and stiff; I was ready. In the last few seconds as I came down I started to run in mid air, Jake was doing the same. 4 metres, 3 metres, 2, 1, 0, SMASH, pain shot up my legs, but I continued to run. I slowed down, my parachute folding in on itself, scratches starting to bleed, dust blowing everywhere and legs collapsing under me. I lay there for a moment thinking over what had happened today or yesterday. Bike riding with my friends, kidnapped, drugged, woke up in a plane, forced to jump and now, apparently, prey in the middle of the Australian desert. I dragged myself up and dropped the parachute on the ground. I limped over to Jake who was lying face down on the dark red ground. Checking his breathing, I rolled him over. He had blood dripping out of a cut, just under his chin, but otherwise was okay. I went over to the parachute and tore a strip of fabric of it. As I wrapped the cloth under his chin and over his head, I had to chuckle a little bit. He looked a little like red riding hood. Jake sat up and said, I dont think I will ever do parachuting again in my life. Same here, I replied. I continued in a more serious manner, Okay lets move out, we have no idea how many people are trying to kill us and we have to find Frankie. We got up and began to walk away from the landing site, towards Frankie. The terrain was flat but it was not desirable. There were small knee height bushes covering every bit of land, we couldnt see the ground and I was afraid of being bitten by a snake. There were a few taller shrubs that were my height, but were sparsely spaced out. There were also a few gum trees that I could see in the distance and nothing else of importance. There was an eerie silence; there were no birds, cars engines, horns or people yelling. The silence was totally opposite to the sound of Perth, where I live. We continued our journey towards Frankies landing spot. Both of us had walked 2miles all ready. We came upon a gum tree, it was a large tree and it provided a lot of shade. We stopped and sat for a rest, my throat was dry as parchment and it hurt. My legs were also shaky from lack of food. The sun was getting hotter. It must be near midday I thought. All of a sudden we heard leaves rustling, Jake and I jumped into the nearest bush, because we thought it was someone with a gun. My heart pounded, and prickles went all over my body and started pressing into my skin. Out of the surrounding a voice yelled. Oi! up here. Sweat was pouring out of all my sweat glands, I lay down as flat as I could, it was uncomfortable and I was really scared. I couldnt see my friend and wished the best for him. Then the voice yelled out again, Help me Im stuck in this tree. I looked up without getting out of my hiding spot. In the gum tree I saw Frankie dangling with his parachute snagged on the higher branches. I crawled out of the bush, being careful not to cut myself again. I hoped to my feet and yelled in a happy voice, Frankie! Frankie yelled back, Of all the open shrub land I landed in a tree. I began to laugh and say, Well we landed in the only spot where it has clear ground. Jake came across to where I was standing and glared up and said, How are you going to get down? You are about 2 stories high, dangling in the air with no branches nearby. Frankie shouted back, Ill jump, but first Ill drop this down to you. He reached around and grabbed the zip on his bag and yanked it down, he pulled out a grey plastic shopping bag. He carefully dropped it to the ground; it went clunk and a crackle. I went over and picked the bag up, I glanced inside and there was three one litre mount Franklin bottles. I moved the bottles around and saw a flash of bright red; I reached in more and pulled out three big mars bars. About time I got some good news, I said aloud. Look at below said Frankie as he released the strap and jumped. He landed on the heavy side but was okay. We all sat down and pulled out the water bottles and had a drink. It felt nice, clean crisp cold water running down my dry throat. I had already drunk more than half of the water, but I stopped because we had to ration the water. We got up and walked west. According to Frankies watch by lining the hour hand with the sun, and halfway between the minute hand and the hour hand was north. Head for the ocean was our thinking. We walked for ages, my legs are sore and sweat is pouring out of my back. The terrain was changing there were more mounds in the dirt and uneven ground. There were more trees with greener leaves. While we were walking along taking sips of our water we came across a small gravel cliff. We all began to climb down, however I slipped on the gravel and tried to grab the nearest plants, but I ripped them out as I fell. I clawed my hands against the edge of the rock face, but I couldnt grab anything. I was increasing my speed; it was a 3 story building drop and I was approaching the bottom. I looked down it rounded of a little bit. It flashed through my head as if it were less than a second. I hit the bottom, my legs skidded out from the soft sloping gravel and I hit my head after my hands tried to lessen the impact. I cried out in pain as I yelled for my friends to help me. I lay on the ground with pain coming from my leg, ankle and head. I felt giddy and the world spun around me. Then a supporting hand lifted my head and propped me against a tree nearby. My friends came into view; there were tears in their eyes. I reached over to touch my leg which I couldnt feel. I couldnt see that well so I was going by touch. I ran my hand from my hip down to my knee, over the knee cap, halfway down my lower leg then I reached a bump in my leg, I continued to run my hand down but it wasnt just bent it was broken. It was lucky that I couldnt feel much pain because I would be crying out if I did.

Humor as a Form of Cultural Expression Essay -- Culture

Humor as a Form of Cultural Expression How can one look at a culture and understand its origins, its values, its accomplishments and failures? Through art, poetry, or other literary, or scientific advances? Maybe even in its political standpoints? All of these methods are acceptable. There is one I did not mention in the above list however. It can be considered trivial by some, but I think it is also important. Perhaps we can understand a culture by its humor. Even on the surface the jokes of a country generally reflect its habitat, attitude, and its people. In the US for instance, most jokes you hear on late-night television would probably be political ones, bashing this political figure or the next. Why is this so? Perhaps because Americans have strong feelings about the politics in their country, and have the right of free speech. Because of the former the jokes come about, and because of the latter they are aired on national television. As for reflecting the environment, another popular collection of American jokes usually starts with the words â€Å"A guy walks into a bar ...† Just by looking at this â€Å"prefix† we can see that many Americans spend a lot of time in bars. Thus we see the usual â€Å"environment† of all important occurrences in the daily life of an American. In the USSR, most jokes would take place in a store or marketplace, because that is where people spent most of their time -- waiting in line s. A joke is as much of a national expression as folk stories, tales and legends. Except those three talk about past times, and the joke is current. I originally come from the former Soviet Union, and there the joke was an even more popular media than television, art or books. It was not censored by the government, whi... ...es in both cultures. For example : â€Å"In the meat department of a supermarket, a customer is asking : ‘Don’t you have any fish?’ The reply is : ‘No. We don’t have any meat. They don’t have fish in aisle 7’.† This type of joke would not travel very far in the US because not many people would understand it. It was much more effective when there actually was no fish or meat in the stores at the time I heard it. You wouldn’t have this problem in the US (unless there was some terrible war or another such calamity). This joke never came about in the US. It (hopefully) never will. What’s more, it doesn’t catch on, because it takes special conditions to understand this type of sarcasm. They are funny. At times also sad. But jokes have to get credit for the benefit, and insight they can provide. We cannot overlook them. But on the other hand, don’t take it too seriously.