Hotel Rwanda Rwanda Reaction Paper - 1046 Words

Summer 2012 Summer 2012 A partial requirement for RS2 A partial requirement for RS2 â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† Teresa Gonzales Yulo BEEN 4 A Reaction Paper on the movie â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† Teresa Gonzales Yulo BEEN 4 A Reaction Paper on the movie â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† 08 Fall 08 Fall Hotel Rwanda describes the rivalry between two ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Both groups shared the same language, culture, territory, customs and beliefs but had different physical features and belonged to different ‘classes’. On the 6th of April 1994, the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed when their plane was shelled by rocket fire as it attempted to land at the airport in Kingali, Rwanda. The assassination of the Hutu†¦show more content†¦He finds that his conscience wont allow him to watch as the innocent are slaughtered, and before long, the hotel has become a well-appointed refugee camp. Some sees Paul as a traitor putting his life in danger. The predicament of his guests grows more precarious every day, but despite good intentions on the part of a journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) and a UN peacekeeping colonel (Nick Nolte), the rest of the world is not eager to intervene and stop the massacre. For me, the main theme of this movie is writing a wrong that is so terrible in nature that everybody is just unwilling to take a stand. The wrong is so unabashedly violent and righteous that everybody is willing to take a step back and wait for somebody to handle it. In this movie’s case, all hope was on the UN. However, only the foreign nationals initially got the aid of the UN. The nationals were left to figure things out on their own. In this case, Paul Rusesabagina became the unlikely hero. Doing the right thing at that time proved to be dangerous on himself and his family. It would have been easier for him to sell his soul rather than go against the majority movement. And yet, he did go against the tide and did the right thing by using his cool intellect and calm manner of dealing with his staff, the military, the militants and the rest of his family members and neighbors. Seeing death being done is bad enough. I can only imagine how devastating that can be. Ho wever, I understand hisShow MoreRelatedHotel Rwanda Rwanda Reaction Paper1034 Words   |  5 Pagesfor RS2 â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† Teresa Gonzales Yulo BEEN 4 A Reaction Paper on the movie â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† Teresa Gonzales Yulo BEEN 4 A Reaction Paper on the movie â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† 08 Fall 08 Fall Hotel Rwanda describes the rivalry between two ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Both groups shared the same language, culture, territory, customs and beliefs but had different physical features and belonged to different ‘classes’. On the 6th of April 1994, the Presidents of Rwanda and BurundiRead MoreMy Personal Reaction On Hotel Rwanda Essay933 Words   |  4 Pages Hotel Rwanda Introduction In this essay I will write of my personal reaction on the movie Hotel Rwanda. This movie left me with a plethora of mixed emotions. Yet, it taught me many lessons on life and the world. From its historical background to its most recent movie filmed in 2004. Background Information Mille Collines was the main setting of this movie. It was a four-star hotel located in Kigali, Rwanda where Americans, French, and many more tourists would go for a calm oasis. KigaliRead MoreThe Impact Of Economic Growth On The World And The Environment3597 Words   |  15 Pagesof income for the long term; Dubai began investing heavily in infrastructure and services. Increasing capital at a rate not seen before, completely changing the landscape from desert with small houses and fishing boats, to the colossal landscape of hotels, skyscrapers, shopping malls that we see today. Between 1975 and 2008, Dubai’s economy grew by a factor of 11 with economic growth of over 10% in some years according to (Scott, 2014). By using the capital acquired from oil sales, Dubai is a perfectRead MorePost Natural Disaster : Transitional Shelters2889 Words   |  12 Pagesexpected for countries, which have undergone such traumatic stress, to become flooded with volunteers, church groups, and individuals/small groups who wish to lend a hand. The issue is: the country is struggling to organize their government, people, and reaction plan. It leaves limited time to communicate to millions of small groups. Small groups who are devouring limited resources and necessitate direction. Transitional shelters do not require previous experience with transitional settlement or reconstructionRead MoreThe Effects of Conflict Management on Employee’s Performance10925 Words   |  44 Pagesproject is my original work and has never been presented to any other university or institution of learning for award of a degree, diploma or certificate. Ng’ang’a Nancy Wangari Signature†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Date†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The research paper has been submitted with the approval from my supervisor. Mr. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Signature†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Date†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ DEDICATION To my loving parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ng’ang’a, and my lovely siblings because of their timeless effortsRead Moreeffect of workforce diversity on employee performance in anorganization6665 Words   |  27 Pagesin-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image. Prejudiced views between cultures may result in racism, in its extreme forms; racism may result in genocide, such as occurred in Germany with the Jews, in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis and, more recently, in the former Yugoslavia between the Bosnians and Serbs. 2.2.2 EXPECTATION STATE THEORY Expectation states theory is a social psychological theory first proposed by Joseph Berger. Most recentlyRead MoreRole of Media in Tourism9761 Words   |  40 PagesTelephones:  [Office:  256†414†3771775]  Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  [Mobile:  256†078†2588846]   Email:  nupap2000@yahoo.com                  Paper  Presented  at  the  4th  International  Institute  of  Peace  through   Tourism  (IIPT)  African  Conference  on  Peace  through  Tourism  at   Educators’  Forum,  Uganda  (Kampala).                        Organized  by  the  International  Institute  for  Peace  through  Tourism   (IIPT),  United  States  of  America  (USA),  Held  At  Serena  International   Hotel  and  Conference  Centre,  Kampala,  Uganda,  May  19†22,  2007            Abstract   The  objectiRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pages978-1-4399-0269-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4399-0270-7 (paper : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4399-0271-4 (electronic) 1. History, Modern—20th century. 2. Twentieth century. 3. Social history—20th century. 4. World politics—20th century. I. Adas, Michael, 1943– II. American Historical Association. D421.E77 2010 909.82—dc22 2009052961 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library MaterialsRead MoreEssay on Fall of Asclepius95354 Words   |  382 Pagesmuch as Thomas. His hair was a dark red colour from a botched dying job. Both of them had rather pale skin. Yeah, Lucas replied with enthusiasm. Just like the supplier said, they are completely authentic. They are also sharpened. Let a piece of paper fall on it and it will split into two. Have you tested to see how tough it is at cutting solid objects yet? Costing a few thousand for each sword, I rather not. It was hard enough to get these blades. You have to be a very good friend withRead MoreBhopal Gas Disaster84210 Words   |  337 Pagesissues see www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/indepth/term/2542. A comprehensive collection of these up-to-date news clippings, research papers, lab studies, reports, documents, opinions and court judgments etc have now been made available by the Centre for Science and Environment at www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/2544. Links to selected CSE research papers and lab report. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/webexclusives/factsheet_1.htm http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/292685 http://www

Gerne Will Ich Mich Bequemen Free Essays

Johann Sebastian Bach composed this piece. This piece is part of the St Matthew Passion, BWV244. It is a musical composition from the Passions written by Bach in 1727. We will write a custom essay sample on Gerne Will Ich Mich Bequemen or any similar topic only for you Order Now The St Matthew Passion is written for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra. Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici) is the libretto of this composition. This is a scared music. Only 2 out of 4 or 5 setting of the Passions survived. Bach was a devouted Christian, so he composed it for Good Friday. Gerne will ich mich bequemen (Gladly will I am comfortable) is the title of this piece. The context of the song is based on biblical story and it is in German text. It is in Da capo aria form where A section is repeated. The instrumentation for this aria are 2 violin which intermingle between the melody and a basso continuo. Bach give more variation to the melody by switching its mode from major to minor mode. This alter its emotional significance completely and is used to provide vivid contrast. The idea of a change of mode in a melody implies some harmonic considerations. He exploited harmonic variation to marvelous effect in this piece. This shown in the starting of the piece in G minor in the ritornello section and then it modulates to D minor at bar 25, and it is back to G minor at bar 65. The first section of the piece starts with a Ritornello and then come the aria. After the aria, there is the ritornello section again which use the first half of the Ritornello, this can be found in bar 24. Bach often writes pieces for human voices that can fit in instrumental idioms for example the Ritornello section at the beginning of the piece and where the bassist starts to sing, the melody is similar. This is how Bach imply his knowledge into his work. Symbolism, symmetry and mathematical relationships can be found in this piece : whenever there is this word â€Å"Kreuz† which mean cross, Bach will always have a sharp in it. The sharp (#) represent + (cross). This is one of the way he uses symbolism. Word painting can be found in this piece in bar 61 â€Å"trink† (drink) the melody is going up with chromatic melodies, Bach wanted to portrait the action of drinking. The piece only have 2 dynamic throughout the piece which are : piano and forte There are lots of Diminished 7th chords in this piece which is not common in Baroque period, during these time, Church plays a very important role in music, they believe that dissonance is not a good sound to praise the god. Bach uses these chords and sudden modulations to accompany Jesus’s apocalyptic prophecy. The recitative often set the mood for a particular passages by highlighting emotionally changed words such as â€Å"Gerne† (gladly). There is a bit of development in the B section but we doesn’t conclude that section as a development section because only part of the melody and rhythm change, we still can see the same use of Fortspinnung in the B section. Fortspinnung (spinning forth), it was conceived in 1915, it is the development or â€Å"spinning out† of a short melodic motif to form a complete phrase, often using sequences or intervallic change. It is much used in the Baroque period rather less in the Classical period. In this piece, Bach tries touch upon many basic human problems such as love, hatred and betrayal. The story itself is given to the Evangelist. Sometime Bach put his signature in some of his composition. His signature can be found in bar 65. How to cite Gerne Will Ich Mich Bequemen, Essay examples

System Thinking is Critical in Solutions - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Write about theSystem Thinking is Critical in Developing Solutions to Sustainability. Answer: Introduction The research essay will discuss the applicability of system thinking approach in dealing with the complex problems. System thinking is different in comparison to traditional thinking because it focuses on the inter relationship between the different components used in the system (Jenkins and Andenoro, 2016). The relevance of system thinking approach will be discussed in dealing with the problem of Domestic Violence. Now-a-days, several countries are facing domestic violence problems. Domestic violence is a root cause for many other problems in the system. This is an alarming situation and traditional methods are failed to find the solution to this problem (Benson, 2017). In this essay will check whether system thinking approach will be beneficial in sustainability challenges or not. A system is a set of different parts which are interrelated to each other which as a single unit works for a single goal. The research will help in understanding the argument whether system thinking is useful in developing a solution to sustainability challenges. System thinking mainly puts an eye on the individual part interrelationship between these parts can produce a definite solution for different problems in the society (Benson, 2017). The problem like Domestic violence is considered as the wicked problem in society. Since system thinking is a very long discussion so here will talk about the counter arguments. System Thinking Is Critical In Developing Solutions to Domestic Violence System thinking has been founded by Professor Jay Forrester in 1956 (Benson, 2017). Early there was another thinking approach known as traditional think. It is much different between the modern or system thinking approach and traditional thinking. Traditional analysis or Traditional thinking approach aims at what is being studied while system thinking looks for an interrelationship between the different parts of the system (Benson, 2017). Today world is moving towards the globalization or in simple our world is going advanced day by day which creates a lot of problem in our society and system thinking can help to resolve such problem. Generally, there are three parts of system thinking which are as follow: first is the purpose, second are elements, third are functions. The first part of system thinking aims to describe which system thinking has been adopted (Jenkins and Andenoro, 2016). The second part lay emphasis on different elements which are working together for a common goal in system thinking (Coker, 2016). Lastly, there is need to see the interrelationship between different elements like how they have connected what result they are giving (Benson, 2017). System thinking focus on how one constituent of the system will interact with another constituent of the system. The nature of system thinking makes it enable to solve the complex problem faced by the society. System thinking is very useful in dealing with the problem which involves interrelationship between different politicians to solve the complex problems, recurring problems which cannot be solved by early efforts (Coker, 2016). Sustainability challenges are also called the adaptive challenges because they have pre established protocols and procedures which cannot be implemented in such situation. There is no defined procedure or approach to deal with most wicked sustainability challenges. System thinking can be useful in changing our previous mental thinking to deal with the problems of sustainability because it contains process, technologies and set of skills (Jenkins and Andenoro, 2016). The argument that the mental thinking using system thinking involves certain steps first knowing the issue using dynamic thinking and system as cause thinking second is Building understanding which is done by using operational thinking, scientific thinking and generic thinking third is Communication using emphatic thinking. The problems which arise or may arise at that time are always the simpler one (Laing, 2016). Sometimes it is so complex to deal it in a different way with system thinking. Now, as it is observed that the critical system thinking plays important role in adopting a foremost method in solving some of the wicked problems how it finds the interrelationship between different parts of the system, the issues or the problems that have to deal with in the society (Laing, 2016). One such issue will be discussed with the resolution of such issues using system thinking. When it is discussed about the wicked problems it identifies such that complex problem whose solution is result of different elements (Mahajan, 2011). Domestic violence is considered as the wicked problem because it has all the features of a wicked problem. Wicked problems are not stable, no clear solution and socially complex in nature. Domestic problem is rated as a complex problem because there are various interconnected variables and elements attached to it (Mahajan, 2011). The increasing family rates are equally affecting both personal life and society in which ones live. Now obesity is affecting the health of young children and adults. This domestic violence problem causes severe effects on the individual health as well as mental torture effect social behaviour some times which cause crime. But firstly will define domestic violence (Azoulay, 2013). Multiple forms of abuse characterize the experience resulting in physical and sexual and or psychological damage, forced social isolation, economic deprivation, or behaviour which causes the victim to live in fear. The term family and domestic violence usually refer to abuse agains t your partner, while family violence is a broader expression containing family and domestic violence and the abuse of children, and other family members (Azoulay, 2013). Not only on elders but it also affects the children mentality as the children growing up in a violent environment and they experience ongoing and pervasive fear, worry, confusion, self-blame and exposure to multiple insidious forms of violence and abuse. In spite of the seriousness of Domestic violence problem, the police and socialist organizations are considering as a simple problem and trying to change individual behaviour rather that to solve them (Azoulay, 2013). They do not want different ways to solve such problems because it is complex as well it has complex solutions as well since the behaviour plays important role change in behaviour is very important for an individual to compete with such problem. System thinking can provide ways to deal with the complex problem like a domestic problem and it will be a new beginning for the social awareness in our society (Rubin, 2008). The system approach has been very useful in dealing with various family and domestic violence such as binding up the relationship so to reduce the possibility if separation, secondly mental health and control because it has a high risk serious mental problems. This approach has a brilliant history of past 50 years (Rubin, 2008). A system has seen the problems from a different view to find out interconnection between different levels. A system thinking approach also considers the importance of different circumstances and condition under which the problem has arisen has been different in every form and the impact of those circumstances during the implementation phase (Wendt, 2014). When dealing with wicked problems under system thinking approach even a small change in one element or part can make a big change on the other elements. In dealing with domestic violence problem the first task of the persons who are responsible dealing and finding solutions for such problems to see what is the root of that problem (Wendt, 2014). Many social activists avoid discussion with individuals over violence problem because they have large work load, less knowledge about the practices used for domestic violence problem and minimum resources. The activists need to change their approach while dealing with domestic violence problem (Wilcox, 2006). Since, it is a complex problem and people who had a responsibility to make people aware need to have the information about best practices to deal with violence problem. They need to counsel the victim people in the effective and improved way. They can reduce the complexity of the domestic violence problem by focusing on the process rather than outcome. They need to improve their communication with the patients because many victims or people who involved are informed remain uninformed about the prevention techniques (Wilcox, 2006). Some it has seen that such violence happens it is considered as a personal or family matter and activist cops or any other hesitate to interferer, this is due to different government law and rules which do not allow anyone to interfere in i any personal matter of any individual but on the other hand any such thing happens same laws has strict punishment but rarely the persons are aware of this and activist should deal with them (Wilcox, 2006). One method is to access the risk, study the current behaviour of people, convincing them for a change in behaviour, set goals and help them in combating against the barriers. The main objective of system thinking approach is to create an atmosphere which encourages communication, feedback, and improvement. A social awareness team consists of experts can take the responsibility to increase the awareness about effect and consequences in the minds of people how to extend it can damage them. It is required to make such a perspective environment which will see domestic violence as a wicked problem rather than considering it as a simple problem (Ahmad, Soskolne and Ahmed, 2011). The system of methodologies presented two dimensions to understand this problem. The first dimension talked about nature of the system which is changing from simple to complex and second dimension talked about the relationship between the participants. On the basis of overall research, it can be system thinking app roach has provided multiple methodologies to generate knowledge, finding interrelation ships between different elements and reducing the impact of the violence problem. Today we to involve system thinking approach in the course of the higher education programmers (Ahmad, Soskolne and Ahmed, 2011). The inclusion of system thinking approach will enable students to see the complex sustainability challenges from complex views of the society. The teachers need to show the students practical application of system thinking by applying system thinking in the design of course syllabus. In the essays discussed about the domestic violence challenges but sustainability problems are not limited up-to domestic violence problem (Ahmad, Soskolne and Ahmed, 2011). Teaching concepts of system thinking will help students in dealing with environmental problems also. Conclusion: In this research essay, we had seen what system is and how it works. Since it deals with the problems with the elements which are interconnected has a complete process to solve them. An example of domestic violence how is caused, what are the consequences of it and how this problem has to solved by system thinking process. Some of the recommendation about this system thing approach. Since system thinking has been applied to those problems which have no definite solutions (Wendt, 2014). It is easy to work on the problems if the boundaries of the problem have been decided and studied that system thinking approach is very useful in dealing with the problems of sustainability because this approach looks the things from a macroscopic view rather than seeing a shorter picture. Finally, we can system thinking is very much useful in dealing with sustainability challenges. The traditional method used for dealing with the problem of domestic are not providing an effective result, this problem is growing continuously at a rapid pace (Wendt, 2014). Government and police need to give their time and effort to develop various objectives for applying system thinking approach in dealing with the problem of domestic violence. Many countries have successfully adopted the system thinking approach to deal with the complex problem. Many countries have selected various factors and relationship between different elements to deal with the problem of domestic violence (Wendt, 2014). Though people are using system thinking from last 50 years still the experts said it is a time consuming process with no limitations. References Ahmad, W., Soskolne, C. and Ahmed, T. (2011). Strategic thinking on sustainability: challenges and sectoral roles.Environment, Development and Sustainability, 14(1), pp.67-83. Azoulay, A. (2013). Potential History: Thinking through Violence.Critical Inquiry, 39(3), pp.548-574. Benson, D. (2017). Domestic Violence and Protecting Children: New Thinking and Approaches, Nicky Stanley and Cathy Humphreys.The British Journal of Social Work. Coker, D. (2016). Domestic Violence and Social Justice.Violence Against Women, 22(12), pp.1426-1437. Jenkins, D. and Andenoro, A. (2016). Developing Critical Thinking Through Leadership Education.New Directions for Higher Education, 2016(174), pp.57-67. Laing, L. (2016). Secondary Victimization: Domestic Violence Survivors Navigating the Family Law System.Violence Against Women. Mahajan, P. (2011). Critical Analysis of Domestic Violence Act, 2005.SSRN Electronic Journal. Rubin, L. (2008). A critical interdisciplinary analysis of domestic violence intervention.PsycCRITIQUES, 53(8). Rubin, L. (2008). A critical interdisciplinary analysis of domestic violence intervention.PsycCRITIQUES, 53(8). Wendt, S. (2014). Social Work and Domestic Violence: Developing Critical Reflective Practice.Australian Social Work, 67(3), pp.452-454. Wilcox, P. (2006). Communities, care and domestic violence.Critical Social Policy, 26(4), pp.722-747.

Night Essays (433 words) - Satmar, Borsod-Abaj-Zempln County

Night In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, it talks about the holocaust and what it was like being in it. The Germans were trying to make the German race the supreme race. To do this they were going to kill off everyone that wasn't a German. If you were Jewish or something other than German, you would have been sent to a concentration camp and segregated by men and women. If you weren't strong enough you were sent to the crematory to be cremated. If you were strong enough you were sent to work at a labor camp. With all the warnings the Jewish people had numerous chances to run from the Germans, but most ignored the warnings. The numerous chances the people of Sighet had to leave was significant that if they would have just left, none of this would have happened to them. One of the first warnings they had was when Moshe the Beadle came back from escaping the train. He was telling his story to everyone that would listen. The story was about how they made "the Jews get of the train and climb into lorries." (page 4) He also talked about how they murdered people for no reason at all. But most of the people in Sighet just ignored Moshe and thought he was making everything up. The second warning was that the people of Sighet ignored was on the radio. The first radio announcement said "the Fascist party had come into power. Horthy had been forced to ask one of the leaders of the Nyilae party to form a new government." (Page 6) The next day there was another radio announcement that said "German troops had entered Hungarian territory." (Page 7) this made everyone a little bit scared for a few days but not for long. Optimism was soon revived. The people were saying that the Germans wouldn't get to there city. When the Germans arrived in Sighet the people didn't realize what was going to happen, they just thought that they were in Sighet for something else. They thought of the Germans as nice people that wouldn't hurt them. Later after the Germans had been there for a while, the Germans sent all the Jews to ghettos. The ghettos were surrounded by barbed wire but the people did not fear anything. As you can see these warnings were pretty big. It is a wonder as to why no one believed any of this was going to happen to them. Through all of this the Jews were sent to concentration camps, many were killed, few survived.

The Morality Of Science Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays

The Morality Of Science Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays The Morality Of Science The Morality of Science Lesley Hubbard June 14, 2000 There are two parallel stories in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, one of attempting to discover the secret of life and the other of forcing nature to open her secrets to man (Neal). This novel can be looked by combining those two stories into a theme of the scientist who seeks to play God and what happens to him in his quest to create life from death. When looking at the book in this regard, the reader discovers the dangers inherent in defying the natural order, (Neal) and the potential consequences of scientific discovery. Victor Frankenstein, fascinated with scientific exploration in the physical world, embarked upon an experiment that forever changed his life and that of his family and friends. During his studies away from home, Victor foolishly decides that he will play God. I will pioneer anew way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation (Shelly p. 47). What lies behind Frankensteins scientific projects is obviously an attempt to gain power (Damyanov). Victor devotes himself to his task of creating life from death for a period of two years without once considering the implications of the result of his experiment. Thoughtless Victor built in no safety controls, no device to assure that only good actions would be performed (Neal). Shelley warns us of the dangerous division between the power-seeking practices of science and the concerns of humanists with moral responsibility, emotional communion, and spiritual values (Damyanov). Victor invested so much selfish care and time into his creation and never thought of the implications of his success. As if almost seeing into the future, Shelly gives us a warning to consider the final effects of scientific exploration and experiment (Neal). Neglecting all moral implications of his creation, Victor completes his work. Victor never imagined that his success would create horror instead of joy and immortality. It was a dreary night in November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils (Shelley p. 56). How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form (Shelley p. 56)? Even when Victor came to the realization that his success in creating his being had become an abhorrence, he took no responsibility in trying to remedy his actions or take care of the creature. Victor emulated Gods actions when he created the being (Neal). He had hoped a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me (Shelly p. 52). Unfortunately for Victor, the exact opposite resulted. Victor was responsible to his creation as a father is to a child, but only tried to escape the creatures wretchedness. The creature has been left to his own devices to either become part of society, or to live alone in hiding, suffering, and pain. Victor awoke the day after witnessing his creature come to life in a horrifying form and in finding the creature had disappeared, basically goes on with his life. Frankenstein does not take on the moral responsibility of remedying his disastrous creation until years later when it returned to him. Years after the creatures birth, he has learned to speak and write, and sets out in search of Frankenstein; his creator, his father. He has discovered that no man will treat him with any dignity or compassion or love and desires to find this from his creator. After realizing that he cannot recover these feelings from Frankenstein, the creature requests that Victor create another being; a female form of himself, a true companion. When confronted by the creature, Victor seems to realize for the first time the moral implications of what he has done. Wretched devil! You reproach me with your creation; con, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed (Shelley p. 96). The creature, also realizing how wrong Frankenstein had been in his attempt to become God, exclaims to him, How dare you sport thus with life? (Shelley p.96)? Victor eventually agrees to create a female companion for his creature. While working on her creation, Victor becomes more acquainted with

Causes and Symptoms of Eyestrain

Causes and Symptoms of Eyestrain Eyestrain is fundamentally caused by straining one or more of the eye muscles. Most commonly the strain is in the ciliary body, the eye muscle responsible for accommodation, typically by keeping it in one position for a long time, visually concentrating on one thing or one distance for too long. The eyes tend to strain faster from focusing on near distances as opposed to far distances. Switching between distances rapidly can hasten the strain as well. Symptoms of Eyestrain The Mayo Clinic lists the following possible symptoms of eyestrain:   Sore, tired, burning, or itching eyesWatery or dry eyesBlurred or double visionHeadacheSore neck, shoulders, or backIncreased sensitivity to lightDifficulty concentratingFeeling that you cannot keep your eyes open Common Causes Some common activities that can cause eyestrain include using a computer or other electronic device, reading, watching television, and driving. In addition to activities that cause you to focus the eyes for long periods, some environmental factors can add to the stress placed on your eyes, such as low light levels,  fluorescent lighting, a bad viewing angle, a poor ergonomic computer setup, low screen contrast levels,  glare, brightness, and dry moving air from a fan or air conditioner. Some personal factors contribute to eyestrain as well, such as poor and uncorrected vision, stress, fatigue/tiredness, and poor posture. What You Can Do Of course, as a problem caused by overuse, youll want to incorporate breaks into your work or activity thats causing the eyestrain or limit your  screen time if possible. Improve the lighting in the room, such as using soft light or task light thats not glaring into your eyes or onto a TV or computer screen. Using eye drops can help relieve dryness, as well as using a humidifier and positioning yourself or the air vent to limit air blowing directly on you. At Your Computer Station If work at a computer is a problem, position the monitor so that the top of the screen is at or below your eye level, at an arms length away from you. Staring can be a problem, drying out your eyes, and people dont even realize it. Make sure youre blinking enough. Every 20 minutes or so, look away from the screen and focus on something in the distance. You can cut sunlight glare on the screen with a device that goes over the screen, or cut glare from lighting in the room by closing blinds or shades and using a desk lamp to the side rather than fluorescent lights above and behind you. You also can blow up text on the screen for easier reading, and adjust the monitors settings to cut brightness. Keep the screen clean, as dust cuts contrast, and dont put a monitor right in front of a white wall. Glasses If you need glasses and have to work on a screen daily, your eye doctor may recommend eye exercises and corrective lenses (contacts or glasses) that have a special coating to reduce glare from screens. If you drive a lot, sunglasses with UV protection can help reduce strain as well.

Treaty of Versailles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Treaty of Versailles - Essay Example Thus, the Germans came to feel that they were tricked and betrayed into surrendering during a war that they did not believe they were losing. This is the main reason that they hated the treaty. It was drafted and approved without the input of the German people. No consultations were made with Germany. Instead, Germany was forced to accept all of the terms of the treaty under duress. The treaty, which was drafted at the Palace of Versailles by David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson, known as the Big 3, were the only ones who had the power to decide what the treaty would contain and how Germany would be instructed to respond to it. Lloyd believed that Germany should be treated in such a way that it would serve as a barrier to the rise of communism. Clemenceau, elt that Germany should be prevented from being able to declare another war, which was the view of the French public, who were directly involved in the German-Prussian war. While Wilson, representing the interests of the United States, hoped that the treaty would represent European reconciliation2. While the desires of the big 3 were met, Germany was left to silently seethe and protest the contents of a treaty that it never agreed to. One of the main problems that Germany had with the treaty, was the way that Reparations were listed. Although the word â€Å"guilt† never actually appeared in the treaty, the Germans felt that they were forced to admit guilt under the â€Å"War Guilt Clause†. This caused the country to become open to financial remunerations for their war crimes in the amount of six million six hundred pounds. Germany was also forced to accept total blame for the war 3 In the process, the countries that comprised the whole of Europe was redefined, with Germany suffering from population and land loss in the process.

Meth Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Meth Study - Essay Example Hence in a long term user of methamphetamine, there is the likelihood of having experienced methamphetamine in its various forms (Christophersen, 2000) Methamphetamine can be administered through several routes inclusive of smoking, snorting, orally and intravenously using its crystalline form (Methamphetamine Information: history of methamphetamine). Effects of methamphetamine use could vary depending on the route of administration. For example when crystalline form of methamphetamine is used intravenously, there is a rapid increase in blood pressure. Repeated intravenous use of methamphetamine could thus enhance the risk of arteriosclerosis (Berankova, Habrdova, Balikova & Strejc, 2005) These two factors increase the relevance of the history of the misuse of methamphetamine in a long term user, in studies related to methamphetamine misuse. This is the main limitation in methamphetamine misuse studies, as reliable history may not be available. According to Colfax (2005), confusion is demonstrated by individuals addicted to methamphetamine. This means that reliable history of misuse cannot be got from the concerned individual. Tests and analysis of blood and urine are not capable of providing sufficient information relating to the history of the misuse. This limitation on the availability of sufficient and reliable information makes it difficult to correlate reliably the results available to the toxic effects demonstrated by the long term use of methamphetamine (Berankova, Habrdova, Balikova & Strejc, 2005) Ferri (2006), points out that methamphetamine has a highly and almost immediate addictive nature. Animal studies confirm the highly addictive nature of methamphetamine and indicate the effects of the long term use of methamphetamine. Results from animal findings have led to the hypothesis that long term use of methamphetamine causes reduction in the dopaminergic activity. This drop in dopaminergic activity is believed to be due the

Why people supported Roosevelt in the 1932 election Essay Example for Free

Why people supported Roosevelt in the 1932 election Essay Use source A and your knowledge of the period to explain why people supported Roosevelt in the 1932 election. During the 1920s America was the most prosperous country in the world, throughout this period of prosperity the government in power was the republicans. The republican policy was basically non-involvement with the nation, allowing the rich to get rich, and the poor to get poorer. They continued with this policy even when Wall Street crashed in 1929, and (rather short-sightedly) went into the 1932 election with this policy. One of their slogans was that prosperity was just around the corner. People supported Roosevelt in the 1932 election, mainly because he was making it plain that their policy was to work with the main population of America. He said that he expected everyone to be as involved, and work as hard as if they were defending their country from attack, however in this war the enemy was depression. The republicans had a policy that expected prosperity to be easily attainable one of the reasons why the people supported Roosevelt was because promising the opposite. He not only had criticisms but also had solutions to the problems as well. Roosevelt used all the techniques possible to win votes. His speeches were effective and used catchy slogans like New Deal. He said popular things in his speeches, such as: I am waging war against Destruction, Delay, Deceit and Despair In this quote he could mean: Delay the continual delay of economical healing strategy employment. Deceit referring to the false republican claim that prosperity is just around the corner. Despair the way that the republicans had left the people of America in the cold by. And finally, Destruction the problem about loss of American pride. Speeches, like in all political campaigns, had a big part to play in winning votes. Roosevelt was a good speaker, and source A is a superb example of his brilliant speeches. He was telling the population what they wanted to hear. He was admitting that beating depression would be a difficult struggle, but he was up to it if they gave him the job. The way that he admitted it would be difficult made him appear humble, a quality that none of the other politicians had, it also made his objectives seem more realistic. When trying to win votes he was appealing to the ordinary person.

Impact on the People of Nigeria by Muslims, French and British Essay

Africans have been migrating through out the continent, including Nigeria, long before there was even written record. Because of this, there has always been an extensive amount of inter-mingling between various ethnic groups, making it difficult to actually trace back who came from where. Aside from this amalgamation, there has been a huge impact on the peoples of Nigeria by outside forces. In particular, three major groups that had a major impact were Muslim merchants from across the Sahara, British slave traders and eventual colonizers, and the French and British Christian missionaries. The combination of these three groups has had both an economic and cultural impact on Nigeria that is still present today. External penetration of Nigeria started as early as the 9th century AD when Muslim merchants from western Sudan, Maghreb, Tripolitania and Egypt started traveling across the Sahara with camel caravans in search of trade. Over the course of the next six centuries, Islam became accepted widely in the north, especially among the Hausa and Fulani, and not only as a religion. It also imposed a central government, segregated the sexes, influenced language and script, and established a hierarchical class system that was not there beforehand. Islam did not spread south because of the dense tropical forest that divides Nigeria into north and south. This also caused the two regions to â€Å"develop† at different rates because while the south was still alien to Europeans, the north was expanding culturally and economically because of its deep involvement with the trans-Sahara trade routes. The peoples of the south remained untouched by Europeans until the 1470’s when Portuguese explorers, under the inspiration and guidance of Henry the Navigator, arrived and traded spirits, cloth, guns and gunpowder for slaves. The Portuguese did not really have much of a cultural effect on the indigenous people (besides the slowly diminishing population). This is because they rarely traveled farther than the coast, if they even left the ships. Eventually the British ships were dropping anchor along Nigeria’s coast after Britain realized the extent of the profits the Portuguese were making and what they could reap from slavery. By 1712 they had established a slave monopoly along the west coast. Chiefs and African slave traders brought slaves to shipside in exchange for Eu... ...t of Nigerians resorted to migration when fighting didn’t work. It is ironic how when one country tries to take over another in a forceful manner, it is met by some form of resistance but if the country introduces itself through trade it is accepted with open arms. The Muslims did not intend to rule over anyone. They were there to make deals and trade goods. Muslim conversion was gradual and voluntary and spanned over six centuries. There is little evidence about wars between Muslims and Nigerians. Also, many Nigerians are proud to be part of the Muslim culture in the north, even if they are from the south, because of its historical tradition, distinctive architecture, useful language, Islamic faith and because it is an alternative to white European culture. The British were the ones that forcefully took people’s land and family members. They were accepted at first, but they betrayed the trust of the people and exploited them for Britain’s gain for over 400 years. Many educated Nigerians today feel that if it weren’t for the slave trade and colonialism, they would be living in a much more modern and progressive country at this time. It is no wonder that they resent the British.

Health promotion Essay

The 21st century poses vast challenges for public health, with environmental threats, cultural diversity and an ever aging population. The role of health promotion is as important as ever, within this assignment I will look at the issues we face and the techniques used to alter public perception and behaviour. One definition widely highlighted from the World Health Organisation states that health is ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well being’ (WHO 1947). This definition encompasses the indicators of poor health but does seem to view health as something that is quite conventional and static. This can be contrasted to a definition from Parsons who defines health as ‘the state of optimum capacity for an individual for the effective performance of the roles and tasks for which they have been socialised’ (Parsons 1971). Here we are viewing health as something maintained to the standard needed for us to perform our lifestyles. Health promotion is of great apprehension not only for the NHS but also many other groups that are involved in health care such as social, environmental and welfare practices. At its core is the intention of empowering individuals and communities to allow greater control of their health by providing information, education and support. Varying methods and strategies are used to change people’s perceptions of health, with the aim of working toward the creation of stronger communities and improved future health for all. The health belief model emphasises the function of beliefs and perceptions in human decision making. Originally developed by Rosenstock in 1966 it looks to predict patterns in health behaviour, such as willingness to partake in vaccinations and act upon health advice. It suggests that the factors that govern an individual changing their behaviour are based around an assessment  of how feasible change is and the benefits provided. It puts forward the idea that people need relevance or a trigger to initiate decision making (Naidoo, Wills 1994). This model incorporates Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy. This suggests that an individual must believe they have the capability and insight to see an intended behaviour change through (Bandura 1991). The empowerment model seeks to expand the individual’s capability to control their own health. This model facilitates a move toward change by building an individual’s sense of worth and identity, allowing them to indentify their own health concerns (Naidoo, Wills 1994). It aims to develop decision making and problem solving skills, giving the individual the tools needed to see changes through with independent thought and action. This model can be very effective for young people who sometimes struggle to make independent decisions and are susceptible to peer and environmental pressures. There is a strong relationship between employment and health. The main negative being occupational ill health, this can be an issue for many people working within manual job roles, as well as people working in stressful high pressure environments. It’s shown that having little or no control over work processes and being in lower positions can contribute to ill health (Marmot et al 2006). Unemployment is of a greater risk to ill health than employment, moving people into work can be seen as a health promotion in its own right. Employment brings higher living standards, more disposable income, improved confidence and wellbeing. Gender is still a large determinant, men generally work in more manual roles and take poorer care of their health overall. Loosing work can actually double the risk of a middle aged man dying within the following five years. Evidently there are strong links between employment and men’s wellbeing. Men over the age of 65 are also three and a half times more at risk of developing coronary heart disease than women (DH, 1998). Men’s life expectancy still lags behind that of women and within Europe there are large inequalities in life expectancy. These differences are greatest in men, where as the difference between the best and worst countries for male life expectancy is 17 years, for women it is 12 (BBC, 2013). Clearly there ar e health inequalities within gender that need to be addressed. The promotional campaign stoptober is clearly targeted toward working classes; the majority of the subjects pictured are in uniforms that are associated with lower paid roles. There is evidence to  suggest that smoking related deaths are higher amongst poorer social classes (ASH, 2006). The branding used is very simple and appeals to people’s logic through the use planning, note making and goals toward quitting. This appeals to the individual and gives a greater sense of empowerment and personal involvement in the process of creating change. The campaign seems to utilise the stages of change model, the process is broken down into stages and encourages involvement in the planning process. Initially encouraging the participant to write down why they are taking part (contemplation) and then take part in a planning process (preparing to change) along with accepting extra support (Prochaska, DiClemente 1992). Evidence from studies shows that when people are involved in a planning process there is a higher probability they will succeed (McLeod, Clark 1993). There is no mention of the harms of smoking and shock tactics are not used. Raising awareness of the dangers is clearly not enough and more personal tactics are used. With addictive habits highlighting the negative consequences does not seem to help create behavioural change, clearly ‘short term gratification is a greater incentive than long term harm’ (Nanidoo, Wills, 1996, pg 182). There is a very collaborative feel behind the promotional material with comments like ‘you’re not in this alone’ and ‘were with you all the way’. There is clear intent to show that the task of quitting is achievable and by anyone. As Bandura states ‘seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to succeed’ (Bandura 1994). This is clearly a core strategy of this campaign, when we see someone succeeding this helps to increase own self efficacy. Health has broad range of definitions and many see health as an all encompassing ideal state. Some however acknowledge that a functional state of health can be achieved despite the presence of illness or disease. The role of health promotion is to help people work towards their personal health potential, at the same time reducing the strain on services. With the recent rises in poverty there is clearly demand for new and effective health promotions. Stoptober meets these needs well by using tried and tested health promotion techniques. It is an effective and socially relevant campaign and last years figures of ‘160 000’ quitters speaks volumes on its success. Word count 1100 References ASH (2006) Major Online Mapping Project Shows ‘Iron Chain’ Between Smoking and Deprivation http://www.ash.org.uk/media-room/press-releases/major-online-mapping-project-shows-iron-chain-between-smoking-and-deprivation. (Accessed 02/11/13) Bandura, A. (1991). Self-efficacy mechanism in physiological activation and preventing behaviours. Cambridge University press Bandura, A. (1995). Self-efficacy in changing societies. Cambridge University Press BBC (2013) European men lag behind in life expectancy. (Online). Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21760905 (Accessed 03/11/13) Boseley,S. (2006) Iron chain links smoking and poverty. Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/09/smoking.socialexclusion (accessed 02/11/13) Current Nursing. (2012) Stages of change model (Online): Available at: http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/transtheoretical_model.html Davidson, N. Lloyd, T. (2001) Promoting Men’s Health: A guide for practitioners. Harcourt Publishers Naidoo, J. Wills, J. (1994) Health Promotion: Foundations for practice. London. Bailliere Tindall Marmot,M. Wilkinson, R. (2006) Social Determinants of Health, 2nd Edition. Oxford. Oxford University Press. NHS, Smokefree. (2013). Sto ptober. (Online).Available at: http://www. http://smokefree.nhs.uk/stoptober/. (Accessed 25/10/13) NHS, Smokefree (2013) Stoptober (leaflet) (Accessed 14/10/13) Ogden, J. (2012) Health Phychology: A Textbook. Berkshire. Open University Press. Prochaska J, DiClemente C, Norcross, J (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to Addictive Behaviours. American Psychologist, Vol. 47, No 9 Tones, K. Tilford, S. (2001) Health promotion: Effectiveness, efficiency and equity. Cheltenham. Nelson Thornes WHO, (2013). World Health Organisation. (Online).Available at: http://www.who.int/en/. (Accessed 23/10/13)

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the planning and implementation of a process whereby a company can recover from a catastrophic information technology failure. The three main categories of disaster exposure include natural threads and hazards (including hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and fire), technical and mechanical hazards (such as power outages, gas leaks, accidental or deliberate Halon discharges, or chemical spills) and human activities and threats (like computer error, loss of records, vandalism, sabotage or epidemic) (Rike, 2003).The goal of disaster recovery planning in information technology is to restore access to business data and system resources as quickly as possible, as well as to minimize data loss and physical resource loss. Disaster recovery must address each of the main categories of threat, assess the likely impact and the chance of occurrence of each one and plan reactions and facilities accordingly. Disaster recovery is not only important for the IT-based company, but for any company which is vulnerable to natural disaster or malicious attack.Proper planning of a disaster recovery framework will increase response time, minimize data loss and speed recovery and regained access to data and computing resources. Disaster recovery planning for information technology includes: data assurance with a proper backup and restore procedure; network continuity; intrusion detection and response; proper facilities planning including air conditioning, fire detection and control and environmental sensors; and personnel training in order to ensure proper response.A business's disaster recovery framework may extend beyond its information technology into facilities management, human resources and other operations. Disaster recovery is a relatively new facet of information technology planning which has rapidly become more important as businesses have become more dependent on technology resources. Many modern businesses come to a standstill without their technology ba se, and this can be devastating to the business. Rike (2003) noted that 93% of companies which suffer a major data loss go out of business within five years following that loss.However, according to Rike, many companies are unprotected from this danger – two surveys noted that only 35% of small and midsize businesses have a disaster recovery framework in place, while only 36% of all businesses and government offices have such a framework. Disaster Recovery Case Studies One of the first discussions of disaster recovery in information technology occurred after the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. Garland and Morimoto (1996) provide an account of the outcome of the Kobe University disaster recovery framework on their IT infrastructure, as well as the effects of the earthquake itself.The Kobe earthquake, referred to as the â€Å"Great Hanshin Earthquake Disaster†, struck the Kobe area in the early morning hours of January 17, 1995. Aftershocks and fires worsened the damage c aused by the earthquake, cutting off communications and electricity to the region. Transportation routes were completely blocked due to collapsed roadways and damaged rail lines. The earthquake, which measured at 7. 2 on the Richter scale and left almost 5,400 dead as well as 400,000 homeless in its wake, was one of the worst disasters that have occurred in modern Japan.The university, where the authors were teaching at the time, lost two professors and thirty nine students, as well as all its laboratory animals. Data loss was extensive, and computing equipment loss was exacerbated by physical damage caused by falling furniture and books. The university's telephone and fax connections were completely cut off. However, despite the damage to the university's infrastructure and community, Internet connectivity was able to be restored within a few hours of the earthquake.The resulting email access (there were no extensive Web-based resources at the time) allowed students and staff outsi de communication, a means to reassure loved ones and provided a connection to government disaster recovery resources. University personnel also used cellular phones, a then-nascent technology, to connect to the outside world. Kobe University was using the best available technology at the time, which allowed for quick recovery of the lightweight machines.The IT personnel at the university noted specifically that the hardest-hit IT resources were the older-style, stationary, heavyweight servers and storage units, rather than the newer equipment which was designed to be moved and handled. Specific successes of the Kobe University disaster recovery included: use of alternate routes of communication, broadcast communication to all personnel involved (including students and staff), fast restoration of outside connectivity, setup of alternate email access points and gateways to continue to provide communication and the use of more robust, newer hardware resources.Some of the problems with the university's disaster recovery were lack of system-wide backup plan leading to widespread data loss, insecure physical premises leading to damage, including fall damage to computer equipment placed inappropriately close to other hazards and environmental system failure leading to the death of the lab animals. Because Kobe University is the first instance of formalized study of disaster recovery in information technology, there are a number of questions which arise from the planning and execution of the recovery.What are the priorities of the business or organization when planning? How do you put into place organization-wide policies, such as data backup, which reduce the risk of failure? How do you deal with facilities and functions (such as public utility infrastructure) that are out of your control? A more recent demonstration of the importance of disaster preparedness and recovery was Hurricane Katrina, in 2005.Chenoweth, Peters and Naremore (2006) analyzed the disaster prepa redness and recovery response of a New Orleans hospital during the hurricane and the flooding that followed. East Jefferson General Hospital, located in Jefferson parish, was one of three hospitals in New Orleans to remain open during and after the storm. The hospital planned for a two to three day emergency situation; staffers brought appropriate supplies for only a few days.There were over 3,000 people, including staff, patients and community members, as well as a handful of pets, sheltering at the hospital by the time the storm hit New Orleans on August 28. The hospital's IT staff worked quickly to move critical equipment out of harm's way – they moved data center equipment to upper floors and PCs and other equipment away from windows, printed out hard copies of patient records, contact information and other vital data, and set up a hospital command post with PCs, telephones and fax machines for outside connectivity.The hospital itself did not sustain a high degree of phys ical damage in the storm, in contrast with Kobe University. However, the infrastructure of the city itself was virtually destroyed, with electricity, telephone and water cut off, roads blocked and food and drinking water supplies tight. The hospital was isolated from the rest of the world for over a week as external recovery crews worked. East Jefferson Community Hospital did have a written disaster recovery framework in place prior to Hurricane Katrina.According to Chenoweth et al (2006), the IT department had a hot site arrangement with SunGard; weekly backups of the hospital's data were stored in a local tape vault, occasionally retrieved for safe storage in SunGard's offsite facility in New Jersey. Unfortunately, the evacuation of the vault's staff left the tapes inaccessible. During the storm, the hospital lost first grid power and then generator power; communications were lost as the Bell South CO, then the onsite CO, and finally the hospital's Cox internet cable connection we nt down.The rapidly changing situation, according to the authors, forced a reprioritization of IT resources and efforts from internal systems maintenance to restoring and maintaining communication with the outside world. The IT staff found a usable dialup line and set up email access using some of the PCs on-site; they also leveraged spotty cellular service and messaging services to maximize communications, which allowed them to coordinate with rescue teams and officials and arrange for food, water and generator deliveries. The internal telephone system was also utilized to maintain communication throughout the hospital.A secondary concern to the hospital, according to Chenoweth et al (2006), was its employees; particularly, circumventing the normal payroll system, which was inaccessible, in order to provide funds to employees who were suffering high expenses due to evacuation. This was accomplished by using the Internet to provide a funds transfer to each employee approximating the ir last paycheck. Similar workarounds were created for accounts receivable, with employees manually entering charges and emailing them to the system provider for processing.The hospital's outsourced IT provider also had its own issues to deal with; it had to locate missing employees (which was accomplished within three days by using a broadcast approach of Internet connections and message boards and contacting family and friends of the staffers; this is in contrast to many other companies, which were still struggling to locate employees by November) and prevent employee burnout by arranging for relief staffers. East Jefferson Community Hospital's IT infrastructure was back up and running only a week after the storm hit, and began providing patient services immediately.Its disaster recovery framework, as well as quick thinking in repositioning the framework when it became clear that it did not match the profile of the disaster it was supposed to counter, was a clear factor in the hos pital's fast recovery and return to service. Following the experience during Katrina, the hospital's IT staff investigated its disaster recovery framework and cited a number of changes which should be made, including increased emergency communications capacity, maintaining high-speed Internet access and implementing an automatic switching mechanism should one generator go down again.Disaster Recovery Framework Design The experiences of Kobe University and East Jefferson Community Hospital clearly indicate the need for robust disaster recovery planning. While disaster recovery is not always a matter of life and death as it was in these two cases, it can often mean the difference between a company that recovers successfully and one that is driven out of business by a critical failure. How can a company begin to develop a disaster recovery framework, and how extensive does this framework need to be?Benton (2007) suggested that the disaster recovery framework must begin with a formal bu siness impact assessment. This assessment draws on the knowledge and experience of the IT staff and the CIO to determine what the critical pieces of IT infrastructure are for a given company. A business impact analysis (BIA) is a way in which the contribution or importance of a given business resource can be analyzed and expressed in dollars and cents terms, in order to allow corporate officers to determine the correct emphasis during disaster recovery.The BIA also includes subjective observations of the resource's importance, giving an overall view of the organization to the decision makers. The second piece of the decision-making process is the risk analysis. What kinds of disasters are likely, Benton asked, and how much damage are they likely to cause should they occur? Exactly how likely is a disaster to happen? Benton urged caution on this question; as he pointed out, the risk of being unprepared is potentially far greater than the cost of preparedness.Rike (2003) discussed the risk analysis that should be performed before beginning a business inventory analysis and disaster recovery planning. Risks should be analyzed in three different dimensions: the type of risk, the likelihood of the risk and the magnitude of the risk. Rike divided risk types into three general categories: natural threats and hazards, technical and mechanical hazards and human activities and threats. Rike noted that it is not always possible to predict some types of disasters, such as human activities, while some activities, such as common weather phenomena, can be planned for in advance.The third dimension of risk analysis is the magnitude of the potential risk. Rike identified three categories of magnitude: community-wide disasters, such as the Kobe earthquake and Hurricane Katrina as discussed above; localized to a building or a group of buildings, such as water leak or electricity outage; or individual, or only affecting a single organization, department or worker. A disgruntled w orker sabotaging data exemplifies this situation. Rike (2003) outlined a proposed schedule and method for designing a disaster recovery framework.The first step, obtaining top management buy-in and support, is critical in order to fund and implement the disaster recovery framework. It is also necessary for top staff to be informed of disaster recovery procedures because they will be ultimately responsible for its implementation. The second step Rike suggested was to establish a planning committee staffed with personnel from facilities, information technology and other critical departments who will be responsible for planning and implementing the policy. The third step in Rike’s method is to perform a risk assessment and conduct a BIA.The risk assessment should include determining the type of risk the behavior is subject to and its likelihood, the consequences of each scenario, the estimated cost of each scenario, replacement cost of data, equipment and staff recovery versus d isaster framework implementation, and the potential risk of the worst-case scenario occurring. Rike’s fourth step is determination of critical business facilities – business equipment, connectivity through Internet and phone lines, internal phone system, fire and fumigant systems and other facilities required to continue to operate.This step also includes the determination of disaster recovery procedures and documentation, vital records and personnel. Step five is the procurement and preparation of disaster recovery facilities, including offsite storage facilities, inventory of critical documents, policy and procedure manuals, master lists of staff contact information, vendor information, account numbers and other vital information, and a review of security and environmental systems. Step six is preparation of a written framework, taking into account the information gathered in steps one through five.Rike recommended that a standard format and software package should b e used to write the framework, rather than a customized solution. The framework should then be reviewed on a frequent basis to ensure continued alignment with company business and goals as well as changes to potential risk. The final step in Rike’s methodology is to test the written framework in order to make sure it is feasible. In order to begin developing a disaster preparedness framework, Benton suggested a company-wide IT inventory, detailing application, storage and server assets.These assets could then be ranked into categories depending on the importance of the business application and replacement cost of the equipment. There are two main ranking criteria. Recovery time objective (RTO) is the optimal maximum amount of time between disaster and service resumption. Recovery point objective (RPO) is the maximum amount of allowable data loss. Benton recommended a multi-tier system; at the top level should be no data loss and minimal downtime, or an RTO and RPO of close to 0, reserved for mission-critical services and business units that provide immediate revenue for the company.Business units should then be ranked in descending order according to their revenue generating potential and criticality. At its lowest level, Benton suggested that the RTO could be extended out to 72-96 hours. Rike (2003) identified key questions to use when conducting the BIA, including â€Å"how would the department in question operate if online systems were not available? † and â€Å"what is the minimum space required for the department to operate? † Benton prioritized two critical preplanning steps for disaster recovery.The first was data consolidation, or optimizing the protection of data by assembling all critical data in a single location for ease of backup and recovery. This can be established by use of a centralized file server in a small organization or use of a SAN or NAS scheme in a larger one. The second prerequisite, which can be more complicated than storage consolidation, is server consolidation. This step can be complicated because the performance profile of servers can vary, and processing and network access can vary between them. Benton further discussed the complexities of disaster recovery of data.Among the problems he noted are difficulties with logical consistency and order of recovery. If standard file backup technologies are used, these backups may not be logically consistent when they are recovered because they will be recovered to a slightly different point in time. Newer snapshot technologies can alleviate this problem, however. Another inconsistency issue is data replication, which may be interrupted when the write heads lose power. Finally, order of recovery will be important because some applications and servers will be dependent on other servers being restored first in order to maintain logical consistency.Benton also noted that disaster recovery should be maintained separately from periodic backups and arc hival procedures, because data storage procedures for periodic backups and archival procedures may not be adequate or appropriate for disaster recovery. Finally, Benton remarked that hardware designated for disaster recovery should be exercised in a non-emergency situation in order to ensure that it is properly configured and connected. Rike (2003) recommended a course of action in the event that the disaster recovery framework needs to be put into action following a physical disaster.The first step in Rike’s method is to perform a damage assessment in order to determine the scope and type of damage, the size of the area affected and what assets have been damaged. Rike’s second step is damage control by environment stabilization. In the event of physical damage, the damage can become permanent very quickly. Rike suggested that the physical environment must be stabilized by drying the air, removing water and soot particles, restoring air conditioning and whatever other cleanup can be performed.She suggested that material such as power generators, sump pumps to remove standing water, high-powered fans, plastic sheeting, absorbent materials and other cleanup equipment should be kept on hand in order to speed environmental stabilization. Once the environment is stable, Rike prioritized activation of the emergency team as defined in the disaster recovery framework, and then restoration and cleanup; this cleanup can in some cases be performed by business staff, but in some cases, such as a toxic spill or mold contamination, should be handled by specially trained professionals.While Rike discussed physical disaster recovery resulting from primarily natural or mechanical threats, Patnaik and Panda (2003) discussed data recovery from a malicious attack, addressing the human threat perspective. Malicious attack on data and application resources can come either from within the business (most often from a disgruntled employee) or outside the business (hacker s or industrial spies). As Patnaik and Panda noted, it is not necessarily possible to distinguish a malicious attack from a legitimate data transaction.According to the authors, requirements for protecting data from malicious attack include protection from unauthorized users, detection of hostile activities and damage recovery. Unfortunately, as the authors noted, in the case of a database storage system it is not always possible, even with these precautions in place, to catch all potential malicious transactions. This is particularly problematic when the malicious actor is someone who has trusted access to a system. If a malicious transaction is committed to the database, it is then seen as legitimate and may be propagated to other areas of the database through normal interactions.In order to prevent this spread, a quick recovery is required. Unfortunately, the authors noted, the size of database logs often precludes a fast recovery, due to extended periods of time spent accessing and applying the logs. In order to remedy this, Patnaik and Panda proposed a partitioned or segmented log solution which allows recovery of a malicious transaction to access only one of the log segments in order to perform recovery, rather than the full logs. This increases recovery time by an order of magnitude over applying the full redo log, according to the authors.Disaster recovery is a relatively inexpensive method of assuring business continuity in the wake of a natural, physical or human event or attack. The costs of not having a disaster recovery framework is, as Rike (2003) noted, extremely high – 93% of businesses which suffer a major data loss go out of business within five years. The experiences of Kobe University and East Jefferson Community Hospital demonstrate the value of a disaster recovery framework, as well as the importance of examining priorities when deciding on the framework.While physical premises may be covered by insurance in some cases, the same is not typically true for data, institutional knowledge, continued business and personnel. In order to implement a data recovery framework, one can follow Rike’s (2003) methodology, beginning with gaining the support of senior staff and the appointment of a disaster recovery planning committee, performing risk analysis, a BIA, and determining and putting in writing a disaster recovery framework and finally testing the framework to ensure its viability.These steps will help to protect the business in the event of a disaster, whether it is natural, mechanical or human in origin, and whether it is localized or community-wide. Research Proposal In order for a business to determine whether a disaster recovery framework is appropriate for their business, as well as to analyze the relative risks and costs of implementing a disaster recovery framework and replacing lost business assets and personnel in the event of a disaster. Following steps three and four of Rike’s methodology will provide a determination of utility of a disaster preparedness framework for a given business.In order to perform this analysis, the assent of senior staff members should be obtained. This analysis can be conducted in the following manner. First, perform Rike’s third step, that of risk analysis and assessment. This assessment should evaluate the potential threat to the business and its effects in three dimensions: type of threat (natural, mechanical or human), magnitude of threat (individualized, localized, community-wide), and likelihood (certain, likely, unlikely, extremely unlikely). Questions that should be asked during this risk assessment include: What is the natural environmental pattern of the geographic area? Is the area subject to earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes or other natural phenomena?†¢ Are current environmental control provisions such as Halon systems and fire detection systems up to date? †¢ How likely is attack by a human threat? Does the co mpany tend to have disgruntled workers, or no? How much access does any individual worker have to the data and application servers? †¢ What is the replacement cost of data, equipment and staff versus the cost of disaster recovery framework implementation? What is the potential for the worst-case scenario to occur?After the risk analysis is complete, step four of Rike’s methodology, determination of critical business resources, should be implemented. This step includes asking the following questions: †¢ What is the minimum amount of servers, Internet connectivity, communications capacity, space, documentation, data and staff the company can continue to operate on? †¢ Who is the critical staff? What is the critical data? How many single points of failure are there?Step four of Rike’s methodology, the business impact analysis or BIA, is the final method of analysis in determining the benefit of the disaster recovery framework to an individual organization. The BIA examines each aspect of a business’s function and determines which functions are critical to the business’s continued operation, as well as which functions can be brought back online after the most critical operations are stabilized. This examination should include all facets of a business, including seemingly unimportant functions such as facilities management, janitorial access and human resources records access.Business functions should be ranked on a matrix of direct and immediate benefit to the business, determined by their immediate monetary value as well as subjective perceptions of importance. Using a combination of a risk and cost analysis to determine the likelihood of risk occurring and the cost of implementation versus non-implementation, a business needs analysis to determine critical business requirements, and a BIA to determine critical business functions, it will be possible to determine whether a disaster recovery framework makes sense for a gi ven business, as well as what type of disaster recovery framework should be implemented.It is the author’s contention that disaster recovery planning makes sense for every business, and should be implemented at a level that will ensure business continuity and hasten recovery should a disaster occur. Customization of disaster recovery planning should be done using the risk, cost and business needs analysis to create a framework that will allow the business to secure its own interests in the event of a small or large disaster.No disaster recovery framework is perfect, and there can always be situations that remain unconsidered, as East Jefferson Community Hospital’s experience showed. However, having an initial disaster recovery plan in place made it easier to reprioritize resource allocation when there were unexpected issues. As von Moltke remarked, â€Å"no plan survives contact with the enemy† – but that is no reason not to plan.

Creating a Promotional Package for a New Film Essays

Creating a Promotional Package for a New Film Essays Creating a Promotional Package for a New Film Essay Creating a Promotional Package for a New Film Essay Essay Topic: Film Pulp Fiction The Godfather The task was to construct a promotional package for a new film. This has to include at least four stills from the film, a video cover and a poster we chose this brief as it gave us the chance to use a different medium from our as project and also we believed this brief would enable us to perform well. Though further promotional items such as magazine articles (reviews etc) could also be included. The A2 practical differs from the as in that the A2 project uses a different medium (digital cameras rather than the film medium. The A S project was to create the opening few minutes of a thriller. I was put into a group with two other students-Conrad Cayabayab. The original brief was to create a promotional package for a film (as above). The first thing that we needed to decide was what genre the film would be, as this would be important in deciding how the film would be represented in the package also it would confine the narrative within the parameters of that genre. After this we had to make a decision about the narrative of the film, the narrative would be needed to determine what the stills would show and what the poster and video would contain. We thought that the narrative should have an east London setting largely because this would be easier for us to take our pictures. Though we thought it would be a good idea not to make to many shots were location was distinct, this was because we didnt want to make the mass audience feel excluded. Although the film was to be the gangster/gang genre we knew that we would have to adapt it to the east end (The typical Italian-American style wouldnt suit east London as the iconography wouldnt fit) therefore films like Goodfellas . We also knew that due to the age range of actors that would be available to us (approx. 18-20) that we wouldnt convey a realistic image if the actors were wearing realistic London/Paris made suits. Therefore we thought that we could adapt the narrative around a local gang of young working class people. Another factor that is quite common among many traditional gangster films is that gang members are exclusively white. We decided that it would be a more accurate representation of east London if there were mixed races involved in the narrative. When we decided on the basic outline for our narrative we began to research a wide range of gangster films looking at poster images and stills from various films including the Godfather and The Untouchables. (see booklet) when we done this we outlined a few ideas for photos that we would like to take(see booklet). Once the planning had been finished we had to undertake the practical side of our project. When we came to take the photos we had difficulty at first organising our time so that everyone turned up on time. Once this problem had been sorted out we had little trouble taking our pictures. Whilst taking our pictures we realised that some of our original ideas would not be as effective as we had hoped or would be too difficult to get a decent photo. We decided that some shots that we decided on later on would be more useful we were able to change our plans as we did further research and gained experience through taking pictures. Some of these shots suited our purpose better than our planned ones such as the one of Simon with the gun cigarette (see booklet) though this has an intertextual element (it looks like a scene out of Pulp Fiction) When we finished taking all of the images that we needed we had to alter the photos. We used Paint shop pro and adobe photoshop to alter our photos. A problem that we encountered when we came to edit our images was that some were too dark and even after editing they were still too dark or the editing deteriorated the picture quality too much. After we had discarded the photos that were unusable we had to decided which four photos to use for our still images. We knew that we had to use photos that were either action photos or would make an impact on the audience. After we had done this we started to make the cover for the video. The cover would need to include further images from the film on the back along with a synopsis of the plot on the back, also it would need to contain a certificate rating, film duration, and quotes from newspapers such as the guardian and film magazines such as Empire. We decided to use two images on the back of the cover as this would leave enough room for the text that was needed while giving the potential audience something that grabs their attention. We decided that to make the cover look more professional we would scan in a bar code and a list of credits from another film(12 monkeys) the writing is to small for the difference to be discernable-as it was on the original. We wanted the front cover to look distinctly different from the poster so we thought that we should put a different character on the cover also in a striking pose. We thought that one of Conrad either with weapons or staring with sunglasses would be appropriate. The function of a promotional package for a film is to sell that film and the ideas that go with it to the potential audience. The purpose of the Poster is simply to draw peoples attention to it, it needs to be eye catching and memorable in order for the cinema going public to remember the poster and thus influence their decision about what film to watch. The video cover not only has to grab peoples attention but then hold it for them to buy it, also video covers will need to be striking because they will be sold as one title amongst hundreds of others. The importance of selling the film is slightly reduced in the stills, which gives them more room to use iconography to sell ideas about the film rather than just trying to attract the attention of the audience. For this reason, the stills are allowed to be more reflective of the narrative than the poster and to some extent than the video cover, (the video cover contains a synopsis of the plot). The poster is very effective at gaining peoples attention. This is because there is a striking image but since it has been edited, (using the cut out option on adobe photoshop) the image is not clear and the audience will feel compelled to take a closer look at the poster. We decided to use the image of Simon holding a gun and smoking as it has a very stylised iconographical connotations of violence. Also as Simon plays one of the main characters Bubba it sets his role out as an integral. Part of the narrative. We Wanted the image of Bubba with a gun smoking to be the image that people think of when the film is mentioned. The picture of Conrad on the video cover is also very striking we opted for this for several reasons. The first reason was that we wanted to show that the film was not just about the exploits of Bubba but, other characters also hold an integral part in the narrative Conrad who plays a character of the same name represents Bubbas main obstacle in that he wants out of the gang and Bubba being the leader doesnt want that to happen. We use a stereotypical image of an east Asian male (ninja) because it gives the audience a familiar image. This is because audiences feel safer when they see something that they expect to see. However this may cause some problems with regard to genre as it could be compared with the martial arts genre. We decided to use more ambiguous pictures on the back cover to make the audience take a closer look at what is happening. The top picture is of a drug deal taking place next to a dark alley the bottom is of mark assisting in a gang related kidnapping in order to help out Conrad. The synopsis grabs peoples attention and also is set within the parameters of gang films typical narrative of a struggle by one or more people to get out of the culture and make a better life for themselves whilst someone is trying to stop them(boyz n the hood) The first still is that of Simon with the gun smoking (the image that the poster was based on) we did this because we wanted this image to be the main one that the film is associated with. This clearly represents Bubba as a violent character who is in a position of power. This is because the picture was taken as a point of view shot from someone who Bubba is threatening with a gun. Having power is a classic trait of gang leaders in both gangster and gang movies. The second still of Conrad with swords is similar to the front cover of the video. We used this simply to give a representation of violence also it shows him as a strong character but also shows that his mentality is still in gang culture. The third still is of Bubba holding a gun to a rival gang members head while the gang member holds a knife to Bubbas throat. We decided to use this in order to show an action scene. This image works because it shows a confrontation, also it again shows Bubbas power-he is holding a gun while his opponent has a knife the gun obviously being a more powerful weapon. The fourth still is of Mark (Aris) on his own looking sad/angry. We used this image to represent Marks character. As Mark is a sad character and generally alone in the narrative this image reflects that well. The narrative follows the convention that a film starts at the beginning then has a middle then the end. The theory of Bordwell and Thompson that narrative follows a pattern of cause and effect. This theory is particularly relevant to gang films as the narratives often work on tit for tat violence between different gangs or gangs and the police(eg Conrad wants to get out of the gang so Bubba takes action to try and keep him in the gang). Though originally we had set out to create a Gangster movie in the Godfather vein as our production advanced it became clear that the images we had took deviated far enough from the traditional gangster movie that it was now a gang movie. The difference between the two is that Gangster movies are more stylish and the characters wear expensive suits where gang movies deal with the working/under class. Our film does contain some elements of the traditional Gangster movie particularly the poster but on the whole, the film is of the gang genre. I felt that our promotional package would stand up quite well when compared to the other films. Our poster uses brighter colours, and a image that has been editied using Photoshops Cut-out tool, making it stand out over other films of the Gangster and gangland genre. If it was to be compared with the poster of The Godfather, the latter uses darker, moodier imagery and a sharper, clearer picture. The photo for our film is more reminiscent of action films such as Pulp Fiction. People would notice this over other films on the market due to the striking differences, namely the aforementioned differences with the imagery and colour, but also in the way that the cover of the video is bright red, whereas colour to the video sleeves of Gangster films are usually black or darker blue. The picture of Conrad has no distinguishable background from the main red of the red, to make the violent nature of the film stand out and so the viewer is left in no doubt as to what type of film it is, despite the differences in the style of the video cover. The swords he is holding show a bit of variety from the usual gun-related style of films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Reservoir Dogs. This will make the film more appealing to people who are tired of the current Guy Ritchie-inspired trend of British gangster movies. The masculinity and violence implied in the picture at the front of the video case would make the film appeal to a typically male audience, that is not too high in excess of the 18 age certificate in the video. However, it does not stray from all the conventions of films of this genre, to make it clear to the potential audience that it is a gangster film. The poster shows shot shows Bubba pointing a gun straight out of the camera, at the audience. This makes him very reminiscent of Samuel L. Jackson, in Pulp Fiction, and the cigarette and gun have similar iconography to a lot of elements of Quentin Tarintinos films. There is a lot of reasons why the film industry would be interested in a film such as this. Due to the variety of ethnicities involved in the film, it will appeal to a wide-range of backgrounds, thus not alienating a particular ethnic group. This would appeal to a film company because it could feel that its films are satisfying a wide audience. As the actors are reasonably young, the film may appeal to a young male audience, who would enjoy seeing a Gangsters film starring a group of people their age. Also, with the success of Guy Ritchies Lock, Stock nd Snatch British gangster films, these type of films are currently a very popular trend, and would appeal to a wide range of socio-economic groups, most young males below the class A group would be interested in viewing such a film. Once we had completed our promotional package, we presented the end products to an audience. For the most part, the response we got was quite positive. In particular, the poster got a very good reaction. Th e audience said that the unconventional image was striking, and led an air of ambiguity that enticed them into wanting to know more about the film. The video cover, on the other hand, got a mixed response. Although people generally agreed that the main image on the front was striking, and caught their attention, many people thought that the image had connotations of a martial arts film. People felt the pictures on the back worked reasonably well. They felt the picture of Steve and Aris kidnapping a girl was affective, as it showed the crime and the action involved in the film, which leaves people curious as to what happens as the narrative develops further. People also commented that the video sleeve was red, which made it stand out against other films, which usually have a very dark or white sleeve colour. People found the still of Bubba smoking (the still image which the poster was derived fromof the) effective, as it reminded them of similar films in the genre, such as Pulp Fiction. The pictures made him look aggressive and powerful, while the gun pointing in the direction of the camera struck people as being very personal. We had one comment that the photograph looked comical, and was too similar to Quentin Tarintinos famous iconography used in his well known crime films, and could be seen as being formulaic The second still of Bubba and the rival gang member was also well-received. People thought it was a dynamic image that showed the toughness of the characters, as they show no fear in a dramatic stand-off, and the constant aggression in their day-to-day lives. It shows that they live their lives in a cycle of violence, because of the revenge and anger involved in the gang warfare. It also gives people a good idea of what they would expect to see in the film, by sticking to the common codes and conventions used in the film genre. The third still was not as well-received as the others. People once again felt that this was representative of a martial arts film, and not of the type of film it was intended to portray. People did say, however, that it reflected a strong character, one who is not afraid to use violence, and can handle himself with weapons. The fourth still was of Mark. This had a mixed responses, as some people felt that the picture was not captivating, and showed little of the plot, or about the character involved. It does, however, portray the character as miserable, due to the sombre mood of the photograph, and as lonely, due to the fact that he is walking on his own, with nobody around to protect him in the violent atmosphere the film is set in.

The Broken Window Fallacy

The Broken Window Fallacy If you read the news, you may have noticed that journalists and politicians often like to point out that natural disasters, wars, and other destructive events can boost an economys production because they create demand for rebuilding work. Granted, this may be true in specific cases where resources (labor, capital, etc.) would otherwise have been unemployed, but does it really mean that disasters are economically beneficial? 19th-century political economist Frederic Bastiat offered an answer to such a question in his 1850 essay That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen. (This was, of course, translated from the French Ce quon voit et ce quon ne voit pas.) Bastiats reasoning goes as follows: Â   Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation- It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glaziers trade- that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs- I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen.It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented. In this parable, the thirty people telling the shopkeeper that the broken window is a good thing because it keeps the glazier employed are the equivalent of the journalists and politicians who say that natural disasters are actually an economic boon. Bastiats point, on the other hand, is that the economic activity generated for the glazier is only half of the picture, and its, therefore, a mistake to look at the benefit to the glazier in isolation. Instead, a proper analysis considers both the fact that the glaziers business is helped and the fact that the money used to pay the glazier is then not available for some other business activity, whether it be a purchase of a suit, some books, etc. Bastiats point, in a way, is about opportunity cost- unless resources are idle, they must be shifted away from one activity in order to be shifted toward another. One can even extend Bastiats logic to question how much of a net benefit the glazier receives in this scenario. If the glaziers time and energy are finite, then he is likely shifting his resources away from other jobs or pleasurable activities in order to repair the shopkeepers window. The glaziers net benefit is presumably still positive since he chose to fix the window rather than carry on with his other activities, but his well-being is not likely to increase by the full amount that he is paid by the shopkeeper. (Similarly, the suit maker and book sellers resources wont necessarily sit idle, but they will still suffer a loss.) It is quite possible, then, that the economic activity following from the broken window merely represents a somewhat artificial shift from one industry to another rather than an overall increase. Add into that calculation the fact that a perfectly good window got broken, and it becomes clear that its only under very specific circumstances that the broken window could be good for the economy as a whole. So why do people insist on trying to make such a seemingly misguided argument regarding destruction and production? One potential explanation is that they believe that there are resources that are idle in the economy- i.e. that the shopkeeper was hoarding cash under his mattress before the window was broken rather than buying the suit or the books or whatever. While it is true, under these circumstances, that breaking the window would increase production in the short-term, it is a mistake to assume without sufficient evidence that these conditions hold. Furthermore, it would always be still better to convince the shopkeeper to spend his money on something of value without resorting to destroying his property. Interestingly enough, the possibility that a broken window could increase short-run production highlights a secondary point that Bastiat was trying to make with his parable, namely that there is an important distinction between production and wealth. To illustrate this contrast, imagine the world where everything that people want to consume is already in abundant supply- new production would be zero, but its doubtful that anyone would be complaining. On the other hand, a society with no existing capital would likely be working feverishly to make stuff but wouldnt be very happy about it. (Perhaps Bastiat should have written another parable about a guy who says The bad news is that my house got destroyed. The good news is that I now have a job making houses.) In summary, even if breaking the window were to increase production in the short run, the act cannot maximize true economic well-being in the long run simply because it will always be better to not break the window and spend resources making valuable new stuff than it is to break the window and spend those same resources replacing something that already existed.