Playing Upon the String of Emptiness Essay Example for Free

Playing Upon the String of Emptiness Essay Nowadays, the search for something new has been greatly pursued. The availability of resources helped individuals to innovate. It impels them to work beyond the existing rules and surpassing limitations, be it in the field of music, architecture, literature, etc. The modernity of this world brought upon by globalization made it easier to reach cultures. Cultures that were bound by their physical territories before have been accessible because of modern technologies. This easy, unlimited exposure provides endless ideas and innovations that bring about different works of art. For Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, this infinite flow of innovations or novelties offers unrestricted venues for artists to produce their works—venues that are free from rules and do not conform to a certain set of standards. According to him, this poses a threat to the morality of society as well as of the artists’. He argued that novelty is an art with unlimited freedom and thus equates to a soulless art. This perspective was explained in the context of Russian’s struggle with communism which Solzhenitsyn directly experienced. He focused on the deterioration of arts’ standard after the fall of Communism, specifically with literature. Due to the given freedom, arts do not fall under a set of standards, causing the artistic value to suffer. He then related that Communism promoted a new society. To be able to build a new one, the old cultures and traditions should be thrown away: To start a new world is to start from scratch. Solzhenitsyn then compared this situation to the literary artists in his country. They were writing outright criticisms of every aspect of Russian roots like language, religion, and traditional cultures—a move that was so desperate for a change to be made by who he termed as ‘desperate innovators’. The author disapproved of forgetting the roots of any artistic work, for this is important in the development of a new face of art. Solzhenitsyn does not believe in the aggressive step of aiming forward in the arts starting from nothing. Novelty becomes relentless with the absence of ancient roots. It is an unintelligible art with no significant value to the world—an art without a purpose and is useless. Solzhenitsyn cited what kinds of arts were produced because of the frantic novelty frenzy. The arts arising from novelty does not have that spiritual connection from the artist with the world. Since the ‘great cultural tradition’ has been detached, the spiritual grounds that were developed from it are missing as well. Arts were not produced for a greater purpose anymore. Thus, it does not emanate a higher sense of value for the world. It is reduced to a mere display without a profound significance. It was from the author’s observation that the absence of artistic limits has resulted in irresponsibility and apathy. Solzhenitsyn mentioned the ‘what do you care’ attitude of the Russian writers who created literary works when the censorship has been lifted after the downfall of communism. This kind of artistic mindset alienates the welfare of its audience. The line between right and wrong has become thinner, its boundaries blurry and sometimes interchanging. The arts, according to Solzhenitsyn, have been turned into more of a personal ambition of the artists rather than an intentional product of passion and love. He stressed that artists do not bring the world as the subject; they are the focal point. The arts became a movement of personal interests of the artists. Novelty becomes like a venue for affectation. Going back to Solzhenitsyn main argument, novelty became ruthless because it eradicated the classical foundation of arts. Arts cannot push for development if its foundation will be forgotten. It would be more disruptive if it will be forced to progress aggressively without any fundamentals to back it up. Alexander Solzhenitsyn sees novelty as a cause for a more individualistic nature rather than being communal in interaction. He was alarmed by how the current generation responded to old traditions. These traditions were treated as something useless and irrelevant in the present. Novelty was portrayed by the author as something anti-cultural and antagonistic of anything universally accepted. The saying ‘to each his own’ in arts or in general constitutes obscure distinction between good and evil. Another supporting factor for Solzhenitsyn’s argument is that this particular freedom attached with novelty developed into a negative relativity. This has been embraced by young artists who turn self-expression into a lack of sensitivity with regard to the effects of their work to other people. Social responsibility slowly ceased to exist anymore. Artistic freedom has always been believed to be helpful in maximizing an artist’s work. However, Alexander Solzhenitsyn presented an opposite view. The freedom vested on the artist implies a threat of producing an art with is a much lesser value. With no artistic limitations and no principles to follow, art becomes less of a recreation instead of serving a higher purpose. Solzhenitsyn emphasized the need to take the cultural tradition into account because without it, progress will be impossibly successful. He sees novelty as a trend resulting in chaos—socially and morally disruptive. It promotes an individualism that is obviously selfish and divides humanity even more. Innovations should be created for the benefit of others. Arts may be a compiled output of an individual’s unique skills and talents, but there will always be a responsibility attached to it because people get to grasp these works. An art is a huge factor in contributing to the formation of an ideology in a society. It is a powerful tool to propagate a message that can reach a huge number of people. Hence, Solzhenitsyn sees its development as critical because this will determine where the world will be heading to. The world will not be able to move forward without revisiting and considering the past. The cultural traditions within human society should be embedded for development. It is an important basis to learn from past mistakes and to improve on the present. It can be seen that Solzhenitsyn somehow views relentless novelty as the anarchism of art that will later on transcend into society. He mentioned the absence of laws in the process of arts and the lack of absolute truth. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn provided the view of novelty enclosed in a reckless handful of freedom and a lack of traditional grounds. He presented it as something negative because he had witnessed what it did to his people especially to the younger generations. As an artist himself, the author poses a huge concern on what kind of directions the arts would take since he knows the powerful influence of it to the society. He hopes to spread his view to make the younger generations be exposed of what history has brought the Russian country and what were its implications. Solzhenitsyn firmly believes that through history, it may shape the new artists to work for a greater purpose for humanity.

Technology and tourism

Technology and tourism Introduction Facebook is not a book with your face on it, Tweeting is not the sound of a bird in the early hours of the day, blogging is not something which is related to loggers in a forest; but who would have said that these terms would have actually revolutionised the world that we live in? Social media has had an imperative influence upon the social structure of most individuals. Even though many might utilise such web based tools for personal amusement, the vast marketing opportunities offered by these systems has been increasingly recognised in various industries, amongst which one finds the tourism industry. Technology and Tourism Growth within the travel and tourism industry is driven by a multitude of factors. These factors are determinants towards the practice of tourism and are categorised as four distinct but yet interrelated environments. These environments are the competitive environment, socio-cultural environment, political environment and technological environment. One can say that the tourism and travel industry has been one of the most successful in utilizing the Internet to market its products. Reaching out to possible consumers through the use of the internet has significantly changed the purchase of tourism services and products and changes in technology have created new opportunities for leisure and tourism organizations. Nowadays it is not simply about having an updated website with information on it, but we have moved on to another level whereby tourism destinations, organisations and companies utilise social networks and e-tourism to promote, advertise, showcase and most of all keep consumers abreast of any updated information in seconds. Whilst offering the possibility to provide new products and re-enforce markets, the use of technology has also led to substantial cost reductions when marketing a product or service. As a result of improved technological systems, one is to consider the benefits various components in the tourism supply chain have achieved: Central reservation systems in hotels; accounting programs and yield management services allowing accommodation providers to compare actual demand with predicted demand; Online transportation booking systems are some examples of these advancements made possible through the creation of online software and programmes. But a current issue which will be addressed in this assignment is the use of social media and networking within the tourism industry. Over the past four years the University of Wollongong in Australia has conducted a series of research studies on the subject of travellers and the internet. Featured on their Facebook webpage, an interview with associate Professor Ulrike Gretzel, from The Institute for Innovation in Business and Social Research (IIBSoR) at the Faculty of Commerce, discusses how social media has influenced travel decisions and the marketing perspectives of destinations. â€Å"Our studies find that a majority of travellers think that social media contents are more up-to-date, more fun to read, more interesting, more relevant, more comprehensive, more specific and more helpful in making decisions than information provided by tourism marketers† Featured as one of the sections in the ITB World Travel Trends Report 2010/2011, Social Media is signalled as one of the current travel and tourism trends. Earlier in 2009, Ms. Isabel Bommer, amongst other key note speakers at ITB Berlin had addressed the topic of ‘Market and technology trends in digital travel sales and explained how: â€Å"in the main travel markets, the Internet is a targeted way of becoming the most important channel for holiday sales, information and recommendations† And further describes that nowadays, two out of five reservations are completed online and more than half of all European travellers (55 %) uses the Internet for information about their travel destination, travel providers and special offers†. The development of Web 2.0 has facilitated communication, sharing of information and enhanced collaboration over the World Wide Web. This phenomenon engages participation from viewers and internet users on a free cost basis and thus there are no restrictions as to who can use these channels, when and how. In the article titled ‘The Challenge of Social Networking for Associations by Peter Jackson and Michael Collins, what is referred to as the ‘Digital/Online evolution is described as having taken place in defined stages over the last decade. First ‘the need for a website and ‘email communication was embraced, second was to ‘offer online services such as e-commerce and booking online, third the surfacing of Web 2.0, and now the Social Networking phenomenon. This change has allowed business and objectives to be measurable. This in turn has aided towards analysing, learning and executing demand strategies within the work field. During this years ITB fair ,Rohit Talwar, CEO for Fast Future Research, described in his presentation titled ‘The Future of the Travel Industry-Scenarios for 2020 that there will be an evolution towards â€Å"deliver(ing) personalised service choices through immersive, tactile and Multi-dimensional technology interfaces†. Thus technology will continue to play an important role within the tourism field and a new platform for destination or tourism marketing and branding is being built through the development of social media and enhanced social networking. Defining Social Networking and identifying the technological mediums through which Tourism providers and their products are showcased â€Å"Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighbourhood subdivision, if you will† I consider this particular definition as being relevant to the tourism industry due to its reference to the word ‘communities. Tourism is, in itself, a practice which involves individuals. Whether you are a tourism provider or consumer, the human resource is at the basis of this industry and community relationships are created and nurtured through its practice. Through social networking, one is given the opportunity to participate in gaining information, whilst being entertained. If we are to consider the various programs or channels through which social networking takes place, the following medium have gained recognised importance for potential tourists as well as tourism providers around the globe. Review Sites are an example of a user garneted content (UGC), more commonly referred to as a Consumer Generated Content. Consumers are given the opportunity to share their brand experiences and in so doing assist others into making more informed decisions and recommendations. An example related to the tourism industry is TripAdvisor, an online review site which features advice on hotels, flights, travel guides amongst other things. Individuals submitting reviews can upload their images of their vacation, write personal opinions about a hotel, restaurant or establishment visited, whilst portraying their views. Even though one can argue that there is no ‘filtering of reviews submitted, and that certain reviews might be more to the detriment of the provider rather than to their gain. For over ten years, TripAdvisor has earned the reputation of being an invaluable resource for travellers; enabling online users to rate and review travel related experiences and assist prospective tra vellers to make informed decisions. High rankings also result in an achievement for the particular provider and certificates such as the ‘Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence which was given to the Grand Hotel Excelsior in 2010 make viewers acknowledge that the hotel is trustworthy when it comes to customer expectations. Another hotel which has been awarded the prestigious 4.5 stars out of five for excellence by this same review site is the Hilton Malta. These achievements are newsworthy as hotels, such as both the Hilton Malta and the Grand Hotel Excelsior help raise Maltas international reputation as a tourist destination in the world wide scenario. Blogs are a vehicle for marketing and advertising an event or ‘happening. Through the exposure of information, customers are allowed to interact by providing their comments and suggestions. In the tourism industry, blogs can be utilised to inform viewers about successful accomplishments. A case we could use for this particular example is the blog of the Excelsior Grand Hotel utilised to inform viewers about their award from Trip Advisor, whilst thanking their customers for their loyalty and belief in them. Informing customers and potential customers about new events, promotional activities, special offers ,amongst other things, can lead to repeat business and also new business alike .The possibility of uploading images and videos, as in the case of review sites allows the destination or tourism product to become more visual and thus appealing. In an article titled ‘The Social Revolution, journalist Sarah Lee explores how the growth in the social networking arena is leading to an online marketing revolution diversifying the channels and methods through which marketing takes place. Lee lists social networking sites such as ‘Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Plaxo, YouTube, Twitter, WAYN, and Flickr.as being the most popular types of Web 2.0 websites falling under the ‘Social Networking framework. She also shares the views of various hoteliers and industry advisors on this topic and quotes one of the directors of Turner PR, Ms. Angela Berardino as stating that â€Å"In travel, social networking evens the playing field so small hotels can compete with bigger brands. Small hotels can perform better on social networks as they tend to have more personality and are unrestricted by the confines of the corporate marketing strategies of larger brands.† The article goes on to explain how hotels should view their reviews and what is being said about them over these sites. It is now no longer possible to base customer ratings upon hotel room questionnaires since most visitors resort to social networking sites to post their photos, share experiences (whether good or bad) and showcase what their holiday was all about. So hotels, as mentioned in the article, can improve their operations and develop a better knowledge and understanding of their services and products through these reviews. Understanding the importance of Social Media in the tourism field So far, we have identified and listed the various channels through which social media takes place. As associations, organisations, and destinations recognise the importance of keeping abreast with this new opportunity within the marketing field of tourism, it is important to outline the constraints of such medium alike. Social media is ultimately about a service; a service which incorporates information, contact and transactions, entertainment and the creation of relationships. This idea was outlined during a workshop held in February 2010 by the MICE segment within the Malta Tourism Authority. Ms. Karin Elgin-Nijhuis, from TEAM Tourism Consulting, headed a two day workshop programme which was aimed at informing the hoteliers about the subject of Social Media. The over ruling challenge described by Elgin-Nijhuis is that peoples travel decisions are not only structured by a destinations brand image, but also by the recommendations which are spread through word of mouth or ‘mouse. Opportunities will arise as more potential travellers will learn about ones product. So whilst we are seeing a shift in the ‘traditional sales and marketing methods, online e-tourism is offering travellers a primary source of information. Demand patterns are changing as knowledge of destinations and tourism and travel options are increasing and being showcased. Thus destinations and tourism providers have to adapt and develop new skills towards using technology to their benefit. To conclude, it is important that we acknowledge that marketing tourism or a destination brand is not solely about positioning, but rather a practice that requires specialisation, efficiency and effectiveness in order to improve the possibilities within the tourism field which are now limit-less.

A basic Introduction of Culture and its meaning

A basic Introduction of Culture and its meaning The word culture is generated from Latin word of cultura which means care, or cultus that means civilization. (Harper 2010) It can be defined as complicated system of behaviors that share and practice by a given group of people or society. This includes beliefs, values, knowledge, laws, habits and material objects. (Andersen and Taylor 2007) Cultural and society are intertwined and they cannot be separated from each other. Society refers to groups of people who stays in the same region and follows the same laws executed by their countries. (Kendall 2010) Hence, people in the same region will normally perform the same culture. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) Some socialists view culture as a way of life (Mohanthy 2005) regards to people ways of thinking and behaving. (Macionis 2005) Culture also refers to activities or symbols that created and adopted by people to deal with certain issues in order to survive in their environments and accepted by their society. (Brym and Lie 2007) Further, it can also be a tool to unite the society so that everyone can rally together by having the same culture, same direction. (Andersen and Taylor 2007) For example, Malaysia is famous as rich cultural heritage because of having different races with diverse cultures that bring people together (Boey 2007) especially through the latest One Malaysia concept. (Bernama 2009) Culture is shared and transmitted from generation to generation for future guidance. (Kendall 2010) Different cultures will be shared when there are various races and ethics groups. (Andersen and Taylor 2007) This can be explained further by the culture of distributing red packets during Chinese New Year by Chinese. This culture of giving red packets does not only share by Chinese in fact it has been adopted by Malays in distributing green packets during Hari Raya celebration. (Faroukaperu 2010) Thus, culture is learned and not born instinctively. (Andersen and Taylor 2007) Next, culture is changing all the times and different across to places. People nowadays tend to change their cultures based on their preferences. For example, people nowadays will wear black apparels during Chinese New Year even it is prohibited by their traditional cultures. People in US will kiss and hug as their way of greetings which is totally different from Malaysia where there will be no intimate actions in greetings. This shows that even the same actions can bring different meanings when it applied in different countries because of their distinguish cultures. (ibid) Contents of Culture Part Two There are two different types of culture, which are material and non-material cultures. Material culture refers to crudely (Ferrante 2008) or human made items that can be seen, wield, and share by society. (Kendall 2010) They are important as evidences to prove the existing of previous, current and oncoming society. (Epitacio and Palispis 1996) Contrarily, non-material culture can be defined as intangible concepts that will affect on how people behave. (Kendall 2010) This consists of symbols, language, values, beliefs and norms that created and followed by particular group of people in society which I will discuss below. (Epitacio and Palispis 1996) Symbols The presence of culture is because of human capability to invent and access symbols. (Popenoe 1989) Symbols are type of tangible objects or ideas that people appoint them with denominations or purports. (Ferrante 2008) Symbols permit people to categorize their experience and extrapolate from it. This can be shown by the symbols of daddy and mummy that cannot be simply address to anyone. As the baby often heard the words, thus he knows who he should address these phrases to. (Brym and Lie 2007) Symbols can also create patriotism, likeable or hatred because they are represented by certain tangible items. For example, national songs can stand for nationalism, roses represent likable and weapons represent hatred. Next, white colour of gown and garments are usually worn by bride and bridegroom because white stands for pureness. People might also use symbols to show their status in the society, for example the car BMW is a symbol of affluent and wealthy. Hence, whenever we see someone driving BMW, we will automatically categorize that people as rich. (Kendall 2010) In addition, symbols of gestures that seem sinless can sometimes offend people with different cultures. The thumbs up gesture that usually express excellent can be troublesome in Australia as it means up yours. They have to remember that there are different symbolic meanings in different society and new symbols can be created anytime. (Macionis 2005) Language Language is a type of symbols that permit people to share their concepts, allow them to consider wisely before interact with people. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) There are verbal and nonverbal languages. (Kendall 2010) Language is considered to be the most important symbol in expressing our past, sentiment and lore because it is straight forward and easy to understand. (Popenoe 1989) Some socialists alleged that language can be used to differentiate human from animals. (Epitacio and Palispis 2007) Scientist Steven Pinker has claimed that language is what naturally born by human beings. (Brym and Lie 2007) Although animals do not communicate with each other by language, they do have the ability to learn but with limitations. For instance, parrot that will follow on what the trainers train it to be. But yet, their memories are definite and they do not have the capability to understand the meaning of its. Therefore, animals cannot pass the messages to their progeny unlike human. (Kendall 2010) Language and culture are inseparable. As children learn their language, they will understand more about their culture and participate fully into it. The sense of belongings to their own culture can be created and through language they can share the bygone and world after tomorrow. (Ferrante 2008) Through language people can realize others experiences and mistakes to ensure no repetition on the same failure. (Epitacio and Palispis 2007) Each language has their own vocabulary, pronunciation and ways of constructing sentences. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) For example, English language people will construct a sentence in the subject-verb-objects (The girls are playing Barbie dolls) which is different compare to Korean subject-object-verb (The girls Barbie dolls are playing). Korean and Chinese will first address their family surname but western people will only address their family name after mentioned their own name. (Ferrante 2008) Sometimes the same words can also pronounce differently by using American or British slang. Further, vocabulary for tomatoes is known as pomodoro in Luigi and agvabiya in Shoshanna. These clearly show the using of languages can categorize the society people are in (Brym and Lie 2007) and to shape unity within the groups. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) Nevertheless, Sapir-Whorf Thesis was proposed in 1930s by linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf regard to the relationships between experiences, concepts and language. (Brym and Lie 2007) This hypothesis claimed that the language people use will shape their perspective of actuality about how they look the world (Anderson and Taylor 2007) and no languages will have the same thoughts of actuality. (Popenoe 1989) However, many scientists found this thesis exaggerated the relationship between language and people concept, ways of behaving. They do agree that the language could affect their behavior and perception but will not ascertain it. (Kendall 2010) Language also being used to differentiate gender and this can be shown by example of word masculine used to describe he as strong while feminine is used to represent she as coward. (Brym and Lie 2007) However, as time passes, many vocabularies that previously only refer to men has changed as many women nowadays are highly educated. For example, the word chairman in the past has amended to either chair or chairperson in organizations. (Kendall 2010) Values and Beliefs Values represent the perfect manners to decide the desirability regard to justice, correct versus wrong and good verse bad. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) Values are intangible notions that could form the perfectionism of society. (Popenoe 1989) Meanwhile, values also shape a persons behavior (Anderson and Taylor 2007) and people will use their values as models to evaluate the attitude of someone. (Kendall 2010) As claimed by Talcott Parsons (1951), values are imbibed by people since they are small through their parents or environmental factors. (Popenoe 1989) Thus by evaluating the attitudes of someone, people can determine the fundamental values on what they learnt in the former. (Epitacio and Palispis 1996) Values are reciprocal with culture. (Macionis 2005) Some cultures will value more on individualism whereas some will value more on group. Seen in this light, we can realize people in US value more on individualism as they more focus on their personal achievement rather than sharing it with others. This is totally different with Korean that is ready to share their joyful with others and they tend to be more unity. (Ferrante 2008) Furthermore, values have mutual relationships with beliefs. Beliefs are notions and concepts that bind people together and what they perceive it should be. Some socialists claimed that beliefs are the fundamental for values and guiding people to pass through their lives even though sometimes it might be wrong or sinful. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) Cultural beliefs and values do not only influence people viewpoints but could shape their ways of behaving. (Macionis 2005) Another example to prove that beliefs and values affect the attitude of people can be seen from Kwakiutl group who have the habit of distributing their wealthy to their people or even to their competitors. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) They believe by doing such a way their people will stay loyalty and offer them helps whenever they are in troubles. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) However, values contradictions always occur due to the conflicts of ideal and real culture. Ideal culture refers to the culture that someone should practice in society while real culture is what eventually adopted by people. (Kendall 2010) This can be seen by the example of China tainted milk powder by Sanlu Group that happened previously. Their only concern in making profits and ignored customers safety has shown the contrast of ideal and real cultures adopted by business. (BBC News 2008) (Refer to Attachment 1 page 15 to 16) Norms Norms refer to cultural expectations regard on what actions to be carried out when facing issues. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) Norms also act as standards to provide guideline about what are right and wrong, what should be done or forbidden by society. Even though it almost the same as values, but norms clarify how people should behave while values only provide ideas and concepts regard to behaviors. (Kendall 2010) Thus, norms can also form people attitude and decide the stability of society. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) There are formal and informal norms. (Ferrante 2008) Formal norms are rules that have recorded and must be obeyed while informal norms refer to situations that will happen everyday. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) For instance, the compendium given to high school student is a type of formal norms and student ought to follow the rules stated. Informal norms can be seen by normal routines such as brush your teeth early in the morning and before you sleep without the necessity to remind. (Ferrante 2008) Norms also consist of prescriptive and proscriptive norms in which the former declare what actions are correct and the latter record conducts of wrongdoings. (Kendall 2010) US sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) has introduced norms of folkways and mores. According to him, it is informal norm that will give us discipline (Ferrante 2008) and will not have any serious circumstances even if someone breaks it. (Popenoe 1989) For example, someone is violating the folkways when he dyes his hair into green. Even though other people might view him as insane or mad, but his act never intrude anyones life and will not affect the society. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) Next, mores are important to govern the ethically of behaviors (Brym and Lie 2007) that could influence the stability of society if someone breach it. (Kendall 2010) Unlike folkways, people who commit mores will be punished more seriously, such as imprisonment or even sentence to death. This normally applies to criminal cases such as murder that against by laws. (Ferrante 2008) Incent taboo is an example of crucial mores that prohibit from having any sexual desire and intimate relationships with person that have the same kinship. (Kendall 2010) The violation of this taboo can bring unexpected shameful and punishments such as imprisonment, whipping or both can be executed at the same time. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) To sum up, folkways will determine either polite or impolite while mores will differentiate correct or evildoings. (Macionis 2005) Laws have implemented for modulating and governing people attitudes and actions. (Epitacio and Palispis 1996) Laws are part of formal norms that compile and sanction by state government. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) Most of the mores are laid under criminal laws with more serious penalties (Epitacio and Palispis 1996) while civil laws are basically for handling cases about arguments. (Kendall 2010) However, laws are sometimes flexible and pamper to certain acts which might seen as illegal. This can be shown by the example where most Chinese will have the habit of gambling during Chinese New Year. Even though gambling is an illegal behavior but many polices will just close one eye because they refer this as a way on how Chinese society share their joyful during their festival. (The Star 2006) (Refer to Attachment 2 page 17 to 18) Lastly, sanction can also be applied for the intention to compel norms and it can either be positive or negative. (Popenoe 1989) Positive sanction refer as recompenses that someone will receive by doing adequate conducts whereas negative sanctions will be administered when someone did something guilty. (Kendall 2010) The degree of sanctions will rely on how strong the norm is being concerned. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) However, there are formal and informal sanctions. (Popenoe 1989) Formal sanction only occur when someone in the high status with power involve in decision making process. An example of formal sanction can be viewed by the Muslim Malay model that has to receive sanction of canning because of her violation in drinking alcoholics drinks. (Mail Online 2009) (Refer to Attachment 3 page 19 to 20) Nonetheless, informal sanction is a control to assure the compliance of people or society to certain norms. For example, society in Aguaruna adopts custom of reciprocity. If someone does not interact with others, the individual will be isolated and no one will assist them whenever they need helps. (Gutierrez 2002) Material Culture Besides only referring to physical and tangible items, material culture also covers the process of utilizing skills for producing items (Brym and Lie 2007) using ingredients such as raw materials, or even invent through existing objects. (Kendall 2010) This clearly shows that material culture cannot not be isolated from technology that refer to the literacy and wisdom to invent, introduce, alter and convert something to maximize its usage. (Macionis 2005) Sociologists also called material culture as artifacts due to its breeding and usage by human. (Popenoe 1989) Material culture plays a significance role because it shows the advancement of technology in enriching people life. In fact, material cultures are interdependence with non-material cultures because archaeologists can only analyze and identify the non-material cultures through the dig up artifacts left by former society. (ibid) However, sociologist William F. Ogbum claimed sometimes cultural lag can occur due to the inability of non-material cultures to pursue with the progress of material culture. (Kendall 2010) Example of cultural lag can be shown through the technology of cloning (material culture) that is possible to clone human with the same genes, characteristics, shared values and norms. However, many people banned this technology because it is differs from their religion beliefs (non-material culture) that everyone has to pass through the process of death. (BBC News 2006) (Refer Attachment 4 page 21 to 22) Material culture can be concluded as instruments to form human beings and vice versa. (Popenoe 1989) For example, iPhone has grabbed abundance attentions when it was first presented in the market and many people has buying it. Functions of this high end technology gadget (material culture) will be fully utilized and discovered by their buyers. Thus, material culture will form how human beings reacted meanwhile the desire of human beings to use high technology gadget nowadays have made many companies join in the fray to devise this kinds of material cultures. (Catanzariti 2009) Countless material cultures have also introduced through the advancements of technologies in the fields of Internet, telecommunication and transportation such as aeroplanes, computers. (Kendall 2010) Part Three Social Conflict perspective claimed culture as social item (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) because the inequality of privileged groups or society to govern social life and exploit others. (Kendall 2010) It is so called as conflict because it only benefits and focus on powerful groups. (Popenoe 1989) According to Karl Marx, ideas play an important role in society and thus the concept of ideology which is the shared culture beliefs emerged in order to remain their status and authority. (Kendall 2010) This can be supported by the example of ideology in ruling class where bourgeoisies, the upper class of Marxian culture have authority to exploit the lower class, proletarians either politically or economically. (Popenoe 1989) Therefore, conflict theory asserted that culture is a type of authority in society because it is overrule by strong and wealthy groups of people or institutions. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) These groups of people could use non-material culture such as idea to influence and change people behaviors. (Kendall 2010) For example, the contents of the newspaper would filter before publish to society if it is financially supported by private organizations. They could also convert critical bad news into minor case so the reputation of the organizations will not be affected. Thus, the cultural items that produced are not necessary correct and mostly only meet the demands of this privileged group that willing to pay. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) Conflict theory also construes culture as it will be slowly dominated by affluent big players in capitalist economic industry. These big players will gradually control and diversify their business for example by buying over other company to remain their biggest potion in the market and slowly insert their influences to society. It has been claimed that the more successful the business is, the more market the business is holding and the easier the business in affecting culture of others. Sociologist refers this as cultural hegemony, which is the only and biggest power in play. This cultural hegemony has the authority to rule everything because most culture beliefs made by these powerful people are known to be correct and perfect. (ibid) Moreover, this theory analyze concept of cultural capital that define by French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1984) as the lore and wisdom that own by upper class, such as the activities of playing golf and sailing that distinguish the standards of social class. (Brinkerhoff et al 2008) The reason is simple, upper class people will use their knowledge (cultural capital) to invest their money and gradually enhance their social and economic position. Therefore, the rich will becomes richer and the poor will becomes poorer. When they have more money, they will be more respected and people will start listening to them. (Anderson and Taylor 2007) Some conflict theorists even conclude that former popular culture that originated from the public are slowly unadopted by people due to the creation of new popular culture. This can be shown by games of whirligigs and kites that were previously played by children have no longer been seen in todays century. We will be noticed that city children nowadays only play games entertainments like PS2, Internet and mobile phones. This clearly showed that the advanced games (new popular culture) have superseded the former popular games and culture. (Kendall 2010) Besides that, it also evokes the inequality in the term of gender and certain human rights. (ibid) For example, women will be described as weakness and timid whereas men will be defined as reverence. Gay and lesbian also addressed as deviance and absurd. All these inequalities have caused pressure that lead to right revolutions, a process of achieving victory in executing even rights under the legislation. Hence, women, gay, lesbian and many other rights have created in order to protect these vulnerable groups and maintain the stability of society. Examples of increasing women participation in workforce especially in Singapore have proven that women are changing and they can decide their own future. (Chang 2009) (Refer Attachment 5 page 23 to 24) Iowa is also the first state to legalize gays and lesbian marriage in order to enhance their pride in status. (The Associated Press 2009) (Refer Attachment 6 page 25 to 27) Nevertheless, many Muslim nations still unable to accept homosexuali ty and they are still being discriminated by people. (Brym and Lie 2007) In a nutshell, this social conflict theory do not illustrate the equally distribution of human necessary but more emphasize on the relationship between culture and its disparity. (Macionis 2005) Conclusion Culture can be concluded as the characteristics of society. As the world becomes borderless, cultures easily transmit and share by people from different society. Every material and non-material culture also plays their roles in maintaining harmonization between one another and unites people together. (Kendall 2010) Thus, it is important to know and understand our own cultures (Newman 2008) and pass them to our next generations to ensure its long-lasting. (Brym and Lie 2007) Word Count: 3283 words Attachments Attachment 1: China Sanlu Group tainted milk powder Chinese baby milk scare severe Published: 2008/09/13 11:36:43 GMT  © BBC MMX The number of Chinese babies known to have fallen ill with kidney stones as a result of contaminated milk powder has risen to 432, officials have announced. This is a severe food safety accident, health ministry official Gao Qiang, said. Those responsible would be severely punished, he added. Later, it was announced that 19 people had been arrested. Tests showed the milk powder contained the industrial chemical melamine. One infant has died. The new scare revived memories of a fake baby milk formula scandal four years ago in which at least 13 babies died. Vow to punish As of 12 September, there are 432 cases of kidney stones in the urinary systems of infants according to reports from health departments nationwide, Gao Qiang said. None of the milk powder was exported to other countries or regions, Mr Gao said. Only a fraction of the milk powder was sold to Taiwan for food processing, he added. Gao Qiang said the Sanlu Group had been ordered to halt production after its products were found to be responsible. We will severely punish and discipline those people and workers who have acted illegally, Mr Gao said. Melamine is a toxic chemical used in plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products. New Zealand-based dairy product company Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd, a part-owner of Sanlu, ordered a recall of about 700 tonnes of powder contaminated with melamine believed to be in circulation. Melamine has been used by Chinese suppliers of animal feed components to make them appear to have more protein. It was linked to the formation of kidney stones and kidney failure in pets in the United States last year, leading to thousands of deaths and illnesses. A fake milk powder scandal in 2004 killed at least 13 babies in the eastern province of Anhui. Investigators found that the milk given to these babies had no nutritional value, and the resulting scandal triggered widespread investigations into food safety. Story from BBC NEWS: Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7614083.stm The above news is used to show the differences between ideal culture and real culture in real business situation. Attachment 2: Gambling Saturday March 11, 2006 The adverse effects of gambling Tel: (03)2260 1954/ 2134 or email Information in this article is courtesy of the  Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation(MCPF) Gambling is illegal in Malaysia unless it is being operated under a government licence or permit. Among the gambling activities that are considered illegal include: Gambling in the house Gambling in public places Illegal lottery Illegal bookmaking Slot machines/ jackpot/ turfking/ fruit machine Hawking lottery results Gambling can easily develop into a compulsion for some of us. When this happens, it becomes a serious problem not only to the individual but also to society at large. The harm caused by those who are hooked on gambling usually spreads to the family and community. Many problem gamblers often experience stress-related physical and psychological ill health. Problem gambling is like a disease to society and may bring these consequences to the individual who indulges in it: Wastes time, which otherwise could be used for something more constructive. Lose huge amounts of money, which leads to stress and disharmony in the family. One could become a dishonest person who has to constantly worry about debts. Gambling may be a cause of bribery. Work becomes secondary or in some cases, totally neglected. Health is also neglected by forgoing food and drink. As a last resort, some may turn to criminal activities or illegal moneylenders to cover losses and continue gambling. When a person becomes obsessed with gambling, s/he will do anything just as long as s/he can gamble. Theres always the risk of getting caught and being charged in court. Those who gamble will risk losing everything. The consequences of problem gambling can be avoided by getting involved in other more beneficial activities. Among the suggestions to prevent one from gambling is to focus on spiritual development, take up sports or a hobby, or do some charity work. Some of us resort to illegal moneylenders when we are strapped for cash, which is dangerous and unadvisable. Here are some suggested steps to take to avoid being victims of these loan sharks: Do not be lured by promises of quick money Do not be easily fooled into signing a form or contract by a salesperson Victims should be bold enough to make a police report, revealing all information they have on schemes like these, to aid the authorities in catching the perpetrators. Story from The Star Online. Source: http://thestar.com.my/fightcrime/resources/story.asp?file=/2006/3/11/resources/20060316165242HYPERLINK http://thestar.com.my/fightcrime/resources/story.asp?file=/2006/3/11/resources/20060316165242sec=resourcesHYPERLINK http://thestar.com.my/fightcrime/resources/story.asp?file=/2006/3/11/resources/20060316165242sec=resourcessec=resources The above news is being used to show that gambling is illegal in Malaysia even though it has became a norm or habit to Chinese society since ages ago. Attachment 3: Punishment of Canning for breaking Sharia Law Malaysia delays caning of Muslim model for drinking beer until after Ramadan By  Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 9:25 PM on 24th August 2009 A Muslim model who is to be caned by Malaysian authorities after being caught drinking beer will have her punishment postponed until after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno originally had been scheduled to enter a womens prison today before being lashed six times with a rattan cane some time this week. However, Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, a legislator in charge of religious affairs, says the caning will be carried out after the current Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.   It began Saturday and will end in mid-September. He says the decision was made at the last minute for compassionate reasons on the advice of the Attorney Generals office but insisted that the punishment had not been cancelled. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, insisted she is ready to be lashed six times with a rattan cane next week for breaching the countrys Shariah law, which forbids Muslims to consume alcohol. I want to respect the law, Kartika said.   Who am I to question the Islamic authorities laws? That is beyond me. I never cried when I was sentenced by the judge. I told myself, all right then, lets get on with it. But if youre going to cane me, then do it in public. Miss Shukarno, 32, was sentenced to six lashes by an Islamic court after she was caught with alcohol in a raid on a hotel nightclub in eastern Pahang state last year.   Amnesty International had urged authorities to immediately revoke the sentence to cane her and abolish the practice of caning altogether. Caning is a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and is prohibited under international human rights law, it said in a statement. But Miss Shukarno has even asked for the caning to be carried out in public to send a clear message to Muslims that they should shun alcohol. Prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi said: It is a good punishment because under Islamic law a person who drinks commits a serious offence.   He added that a rattan cane lighter than the one for men would be used, and that its purpose was to educate rather than punish.   Muslims, who make up two-thirds of Malaysias 28million population, are governed by sharia law. Although most alcohol offenders are fined, they can also be caned.   Womens rights groups attacked the penalty as being too harsh.   Yesterday the court set a one-week period starting next Monday for the sentence to be carried out in a womans prison, Saiful said. Prison authorities will decide when to cane her during that period. He said Kartika will remain in prison during that time and will be released as soon as possible after the caning is carried out. Caning, administered on the buttocks, breaks the skin and leaves permanent scars. Kartika said earlier that she wanted authorities to cane her as soon as possible so she can resume her life with her husband and children.   Most alcohol offenders are fined, but the crime also carries a three-year prison term and caning. Non-Muslims are governed by civil courts, which also impose caning for offens

Pushing the Limits :: Personal Narrative Papers

Pushing the Limits Late one Friday night in the fall of 1995, while I was hanging out with the girls, my laughter stopped short as Jenny Williams’ large grandfather clock struck one time loudly throughout the old farmhouse. Our laughter and fun came to a halt. My parents’ curfew as well as my school driver’s permit curfew had long expired. Curfew would not have been an issue that night because most fifteen-year-olds would have been at home in bed. Because of my right to drive, my pride in being one of the few freshmen with their school permit came with its own benefits as well as consequences. The privilege to drive to school and back was a privilege easily taken advantage of. One of my rule breaking attempts was driving home from Jenny’s house at 1:00 in the morning. The plan to get home quickly almost backfired and I was almost stuck in a sticky situation, literally! I raced around Jenny’s cluttered house looking for my large wood carved key chain. I knew I needed to make fast tracks before the clock hands worked their way any farther. I found my keys at last and I was racing to my car. My competition with the undefeated clock was soon to begin. I started the engine and took off with the radio blaring like a foghorn, and the accelerator floored. I was about 15 minutes northwest of my house, but I was attempting to cut those minutes in half. As I approached Wellman, I pictured the late shift policeman, Jack Wright, sitting in his car at the town park parking lot just waiting to pull over and ticket some immature teenager like me. I decided to take a short cut down a dirt road, which would allow me to cut some time and avoid any unfriendly policemen. I charged away in my lightweight, manual, gray Chevy Spectrum that I liked to call â€Å"Junior.† While speeding along to Tom Petty’s, â€Å"You Wreck Me Baby,† I had not noticed the shower of mud flying from my cardboard-looking hub capped wheels. The thought crossed my mind to turn back, but the tires had already begun to spin hopelessly like a hamster’s wheel. I realized that turning back towards a possible cop was not an option. This road was not about to let me maneuver a three-point-turn-about either.

King Philip’s War Essay -- History Historical Essays King Pillip

King Philip’s War In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead.(Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that was both devastating to the lives and the landscape of New England, as well as the ideologies of both the Indians and the English Puritans that inhabited this land.(Lepore 18) King Philip’s war was not the basic Indian war that plagues American history. It was not the first archetypal Settler vs. Savage conflict, and nor would it be the last. King Philip’s war was a terribly violent and destructive conflict, which was sparked by the desires of maintaining cultural identity and preserving power and authority, both in societal and religious capacities upon what one believed to be his land. (Leach 21) Saying that this conflict left all of 17th century New England in a state of confusion is far more than an understatement. With nothing won, and terrific loss, the early Americans, both English and Indian, were unsure of their own, as well as each other’s identity. This crisis, whether they are aware of it or not, has impacted Americans and their ideologies of themselves for hundreds of years. (Lepore 18) The Puritans came to this New World roughly forty to fifty years before this conflict began, but the guarantee of this conflict arrived in the same boats as they did. Something often misunderstood is that the Puritans themselves were not separatists, in fact they left England with the firm desire of staying English, maintaining their cultural identity, and remaining faithful and true to the majesty of the homeland. They had left England with the desire of religious freedom, and with hope of having somewhere to practice freely and safely within the boundaries of English oriented society, but free of the sinful and heretical p... ...n, and made an outstanding effect on the development and cultural identity on New England. It altered the mind set of an expanding and driven people, and established a strong enough foundation for an ethnic debate that has been a constant throughout most of American history. These social, political, and cultural effects are what make this war such an event worth noting. As was stated before, this was neither the first, nor was it the last of the Indian wars in developing America, but it is the only one to expel such consequences and to so greatly effect the landscape that is American history. Works Cited Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American History Volume II: The Settlements. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936. Drake, James D. King Philip’s War: Civil War in New England. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. Leach, Douglas Edward. Arms for Empire: A Military Hitory of the British Colonies in North America. New York: Macmillan Company, 1973. Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins or American Identity. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Mather, Increase. The Day of Trouble Is Near. Cambridge Mass, 1674, 21-23.

Newborn Exam

The government initiatives to reduce junior doctors’ hours within the NHS Plan (DH 2000) have increased the call for midwives to expand their traditional role and take on some of the tasks that in the past have mainly been carried out by junior doctors (Kings Fund 2011). Having been working within the community setting as a midwife for the past three years I was interested in extending my role in order to provide more holistic care for my caseload of clients and their babies.Holistic care for mothers, babies and their families is highly recommended within the midwifery profession and is known to provide an improved experience for women (Changing Childbirth (DOH 1993a) NMC 2012, NICE 2006). The Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) is one element of the UK National Screening programme and is offered to all parents for their baby within 72 hours of birth and then repeated again at 6 weeks of age, usually by their GP.This role is one of the tasks that has been highlighte d where midwives can expand their role (Marshall & Raynor 2010). The trust where I work has recently introduced community clinics where parents can take their baby in order to have the newborn examination performed, therefore allowing early discharge home from the unit enabling early family bonding. With this in mind I commenced the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination course.Screening has been used within the NHS for many decades and is a process that enables the health professional to highlight healthy members of the population that could potentially have a health related problem (UK National Screening Committee 2008). The NIPE is a head to toe examination that will enable a practitioner to detect in an apparently healthy baby any abnormality that can then be referred onto the appropriate professional for further investigation.This can then improve the newborns future health by providing early intervention and prevention of further complications (DOH 2009). It particularly focu ses on the eye, heart, hips and testes in the male infant. The importance of these particular areas is of great significance to the baby’s future health. An undetected congenital cataract may lead to the child being blind in that eye. A missed heart defect may not be diagnosed until the parents present with a very unwell or even dead infant.If developmental dysplasia of the hip is not treated early enough following birth it could lead to several episodes of major surgery or even disability in the future. Bilateral undescended testes can lead to problems with future fertility. There are many issues surrounding the NIPE that are argued about within the literature Green and Oddie (2008) question whether the NIPE provides the population with and improvement to overall health or if it just gives the parents reassurance that could in the future be proved wrong, due to the NIPE being a screening tool and not a diagnostic test.Within the content of this essay I will be critically ana lysing the NIPE and some issues around this topic focusing particularly on the examination of the hips. Since being a midwife, and a mother, I have always found this part of the examination most difficult to watch someone perform as it appears to be uncomfortable for the baby. Therefore on commencing the course I have been aware of the discomfort it appears to give the newborn and also the distress this could in turn cause for the parents.I will also be looking into the issues regarding which professional is best qualified to be performing the examination and also if there are any benefits or risks as to the place that it is undertaken. When I am performing the examination I will mainly be alone in the community setting either at a children’s centre or within the home environment, so therefore it is imperative that I am aware of any limitations this may present for the baby, parents or me.As previously mentioned there is a growing trend within many obstetric units for midwive s to carry out the NIPE examination. Within the trust that I am based midwifery led clinics are held on the post natal ward and also within the community for the sole purpose of performing the newborn examination. Bloomfield et al (2003) discussed where the examination should take place and found differing opinions. The benefits of being in hospital were noted to be that medical back up was available and it was more convenient for further immediate referral process.Community examinations were thought to be more likely to enable the parents to ask questions and mention concerns due to the relaxed environment. Following the Maternity Matters report (DOH 2007) advocating that women should have a greater choice for place of birth the home birth rate has increased and is continuing to do so. It is therefore ideal for community based NIPE facilities so that women do not have to attend hospital at all following a home birth.On reflection the examinations that I have witnessed and performed unfortunately seem to have been a way to speed up the postnatal discharge procedure therefore freeing up beds within the unit and not due to providing a more continuous midwifery led experience for the parents and baby as Hutcherson (2010) found. The ideal situation would be to perform the examination on the newborn belonging to the mother you have seen through antenatal care and will be caring for post natally therefore providing continuous care for your personal caseload of clients, as discussed by Baston & Durward (2010).The patient satisfaction and overall job satisfaction in this case scenario would be high for all involved but unfortunately I feel in practice will be a rare occurrence. Eventually I believe that in our trust when there are enough trained midwives within each geographical area the possibility of a midwife performing newborn examinations on babies within the teams’ caseload is possible. This far from being the ideal scenario is the closest it will probabl y get to the holistic care sought after by myself and many other midwives.The EMREN (Evaluation of Midwife Role extension in the routine Examination of the Newborn) study carried out by Townsend et al (2004) looked into aspects of the NIPE one of them being whether a midwife was as capable as a senior house officer when carrying out the NIPE and discovered not only that this was the case but that the mothers satisfaction level may be increased if a midwife performed the NIPE and that also money may be saved by the NHS.Having observed SHO’s, appropriately trained midwives and advanced neonatal practitioners (ANP) performing the NIPE I felt that the midwives and ANP’s communicated far more effectively with both the baby and parents therefore better fulfilling the communication aspect of the competency’s indicated by the UK National Screening Committee (2008). They also provided more detailed information on parenting and public health issues during the examinations which should be an integral part of the NIPE (Baston & Durward 2010).There has been much interest recently into whether pulse oximetry should be part of the newborn screening for congenital heart defects. The UK National Screening Committee is at the present time looking into whether this should be included within the NIPE as part of the screening for congenital heart defects in the newborn. It has been recommended in recent studies and has found to increase the detection rate of congenital heart defects (Ewer et al 2011, Chang 2009). Within our trust I have seen this performed on three ewborns following their NIPE, due to nasal flaring, slight cyanosis and a raised respiratory rate, all have proved to be within the normal range. The saturation monitors are present in the units’ clinic rooms where newborn examinations are performed but the community midwives working in children’s centres or at home do not have access to a monitor. Therefore this could be cause for con cern for parents of babies that are being examined in the community. This then presents the ethical dilemma that newborns are being offered a different aspect within the NIPE depending on where it is carried out.Powell et al (2013) found that parents were happy about having the pulse oximetry screening carried out on their newborn but questions need to be asked if they would prefer to not have it done in favour of the NIPE being performed more conveniently within the community. Ewer (2012) discusses the benefits of introducing pulse oximetry monitoring but without any mention of community based NIPE, or newborns that were born in the home environment. Another concern that I have witnessed and am aware of is not having access to all the antenatal notes of the mother within a community setting.On two occasions the mother has been discharged without the appropriate paper work or has not brought it to the clinic appointment. Obviously within the unit the antenatal and labour notes are e asily accessible, within the community if the mother hasn’t the appropriate information then the parents word must be taken. Having all information relating to the antenatal and interpartum periods is an essential part of the midwives role when performing the NIPE. The practitioner must be aware of antenatal and interpartum occurrences to be able to fulfil the competence set by the UK National Screening Committee (2008).When first undertaking the NIPE’s I found the examination of the hips the hardest part of the procedure, mainly because the baby would quite often cry and struggle a little and this would cause the parents to be distressed and concerned. I also, in the past, as a midwife and mother observing this procedure felt uncomfortable. Having now done a larger amount of these examinations and reading and understanding the relevant literature find them easier to perform. Screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip is based n the fact that if not picked up in the newborn could create the need for major surgical procedures in later life also with a poorer future outcome, Dezateux & Rosendahl (2007). Developmental dysplasia of the hip used to be widely known as congenital dislocation of the hip but has been renamed since the 1990’s. The factors behind this change are that it is now recognised that the condition is not always ‘congenital’ and rarely ‘dislocated’ and more likely to be ‘displaced’, Bracken et al (2012).The definition of developmental dysplasia of the hip is very obscure as there are varying degrees and it quite often develops after birth, overall it describes a disorder where the hip joint is unstable and occasionally dislocated. The hip joint consists of the femoral head, the rounded end of the bone which sits within the cartilage of the socket joint known as the acetabulum. There are thought to be different factors as to why the hip joint becomes unstable. At around seven weeks gestation hip formation has already begun, problems can start to occur then.If the femoral head is wrongly positioned from the start it could result in the formation of a too shallow socket. During pregnancy the hip joint can be affected by external and internal forces, for example oligohydramnios, lack of foetal movement due to foetal conditions, breech presentation (Hurley 2009, McDonald & Jenkins 2008). The incidence of developmental dysplasia of the hip varies in the literature, at birth it is thought to be 1-20 in 1000 but the majority of these stabilize without any treatment within the first few weeks of life, bringing the incidence down to 1-2 in 1000 (Campion & Benson 2007).The incidence is higher in female babies, it is believed due to the female newborn being more susceptible to the maternal hormones therefore the joints are more relaxed, Hurley 2009. It is also more prevalent if a sibling or parent has had developmental dysplasia of the hip, McCarthy et al (2005) and McDo nald & Jenkins. Other factors mentioned by McDonald & Jenkins (2008) include first born infants, multiple gestation and occurring in the left hip more frequently than the right.

Cyber Bullying Essay

I watched a close friend of mine in high school become the victim of cyber bullying. She slowly started drifting from her friends, her family and other people close to her. She changed the way she looked at herself, other people, and the overall world. Depression is one of the largest known symptoms or effects of bullying in general. Some other effects could be the idea of low self-esteem, along with self-worth. The idea of having no trust in other people, or the world is another common symptom. Many people say that there are not immediate or long term effects to cyber bullying, but I argue that cyber bullying has immediate effects which some can be long term, and in extreme cases life altering. One person could end up changing someone else’s life forever due to say one text message, tweet, or Facebook post. The real question is, were the kids of the days of face to face bullying better off than the kids of our age, the age of cyber bullying? Depression, takes a toll on everyo ne’s life in all different aspects. Depression affects your mental health. The thoughts are always putting you down, which will in turn affect your self-worth. When people are always putting you down, saying you’re not good enough for other people, or yourself. Depression may be one of the most severe effects of cyber bullying; it can turn into something much more serious, such as suicide. People don’t always realize how much they can hurt another person with just actions or words. Cyber bullying, in my opinion could be much worse than just face-to-face bullying. At least, when bullying could only occur face to face, you were safe in your own home, away from your personal bully. Now within the age of cyber bullying, someone could continue to harass you even once you’re away from them. Which I feel adds to the victim of the cyber bullying’s affects. Your self-worth is very important to a person, and when you’re being talked down to, on a daily basis, you become a â€Å"self-fulfilling prophecy†. When this happens, you begin to believe all the things people are telling you, you become the person they were telling you are, even when you truly aren’t. The idea of not trusting being able to trust other people, along with people you’re close to in life, is a sad idea. You should be able to trust people in your life, people you’re with every day. When you’re unable to trust the people in your life, you begin to revert into yourself. Reverting into yourself is the idea of not being able to tell anyone else the way you’re feeling or your thoughts. Along with this idea comes a sense  of being overwhelmed to a breaking point. Being this overwhelmed in life is unhealthy, for your social health. Your social heath may not seem like an important aspect of health, but it tends to be, although it isn’t as important to some people as it is to others. Some people need to be very social, and need to be around other people. Other people don’t n eed that constant sense of company. For the person who needs that constant self of company, this is a lot more dangerous because if their social health becomes damaged enough, their mental health will also become damaged, which in an extreme case could lead to depression. Also, not being able to trust anyone around you, could turn into a question of self-trust, because you being to question your own judgment with who you choose to give your trust to. One example of cyber bullying and its effects is an ABC Family Original Movie, Cyberbully. Taylor (Emily Osment) is a high school student who finds herself as a target of cyber bullying surprisingly, by her fellow students on a popular social networking website, Cliquesters. After Taylor’s little brother hacks her account and writes an abusive status that gets her classmates to start posting insulting comments, calling her a â€Å"slut† and a â€Å"whore. After Taylor finds out what her classmates think of her, she doesn’t want to go to school anymore from the very beginning of her cyber bullying. As the rumors and bullying get worse, Taylor’s friends turn against her. Now, Taylor is without any friends; feels alone and worthless. At this point, she wants to commit suicide, an d continues to make an attempt. Once Taylor posts the suicide video, her best friend comes to be by her side and help her. Once her best friend gets there, Taylor was struggling to open the pill bottle. Realizing her best friend came to be by her side, she noticed she isn’t alone. After taking anti-depressants and having one on ones with her doctor, along some of her treatments, her doctor recommends Taylor to attend a teen therapy support group. Surprisingly, the recommended support group truly does help her. After the support groups, she felt somewhat better but she will never completely heal from cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is always there and will never completely go away. As in the movie, cyber bullying isn’t only lasting during the incidents; it’s a life-long issue. The victim will always live with the effects of their in a sense, torture. Most people assume bullying is a once in a life time experience, that it’s only lasting while the person is living through it,  this isn’t true. Especially with cyber bullying, it stays on the internet forever. Regardless, if someone deletes the pictures, the comments, the posts, it stays there forever, in the history of the internet. It’s always in the back of the person’s mind that these things are out there, for everyone to see. I personally believe that the â€Å"old days† of bullying were less psychologically damaging. Of course, every person who is a victim of any sense of bullying will always suffer from their experience. The old face-to-face bullying isn’t out there to be viewed day to day for the rest of the existence of the internet like the new online bullying. Once your face-to-face bullying incident is over, and you leave your attacker, it’s over with for that day. There won’t be any reliving this exact experience once you’re in the safety of your own home. Whereas, with cyber bullying, even though the person may not want to, they will tend to look back at the posts, comments and pictures, to see how many people have viewed this specific incident over and over again. With every view, like, and extra comment this specific thing digs deeper and deeper into the victim, it’s not becoming more public, more and more by the second. Which do you think is worse, experiencing it face to face, or your embarrassment being public to every person who has access to the internet? According to the New York Times, an innocent twelve year old took her life due to cyber bullying a long with physical abuse. Due to social networking, such as Kik Messenger and ask.fm caused Rebecca Sedwick to lose her self-esteem and most importantly, she lost herself. She was told to â€Å"drink some bleach and die† and â€Å"go kill yourself†. One of her bullies turned all of her friends against her so she had no one to either lean on, cry to nor talk to; this is what made her realize she was all alone and she started to hate herself (www.nytimes.com). Rebecca isn’t the only girl who this has happened to. Some statistics show that over twenty five percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet and over half of young people do not tell their parents when cyber bullying transpires (www.bullyingstatistics .org). Rebecca was somewhat smart, she told her parents what was going on online and through text messaging but her parents help, wasn’t good enough. Cyber bullying is definitely worse than regular bullying. When someone gets  bullied, the victim can run to their home or to a safe place; in cyber space, that safe place doesn’t exist. In England, a survey was taken with children of ages between eleven and nineteen, statistics show that twenty three percent of girls and fifteen percent of boys have been a victim of cyber bullying while six percent of girls and eight percent of boys have admitted that they cyber bullied others. Thirty one percent of girls and twenty percent of boys have witnessed cyber bullying but did nothing about it. Fifty four percent of girls and thirty percent of boys admitted they have known someone who has been a victim while thirty three percent of girls and fifteen percent of boys also admitted they knew someone who has cyber bullied. Shockingly, thirty percent of girls and forty eight percent of boys have never experienced cyber bullying (O’Brien, 6). This survey was taken in 2006; you can only imagine how much the numbers could have possibly changed to 2013. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be cyber bullied? I always wondered what it would feel like to not have a safe place to be until the middle of my freshman year; I became a victim of cyber bullying. It was the worst experience of my life and I’m still scared to post things on social media. Nothing is worse than feeling alone and empty. When I was a freshman in high school, a website called formspring.me became popular. Formspring.me is a website where anyone with an account can ask people questions anonymously. Most people on this website can be extremely personal, abusive, and cruel. While surprisingly, others can be helpful. I know I’ve made mistakes in my life, everyone has, but I was viciously attacked online to where I would cry every night. I was told to â€Å"go die, no one would actually care† or â€Å"please kill yourself†. Most of my messages were mostly the same and I was so unsure as to what to do with myself. I was bullied in school and online and I had no place to feel safe. I figured no one wanted me to be around, and everyone else’s life wouldn’t be any different if I wasn’t around. I felt this way until my cousin came to my house to talk to me. She made me feel like I was loved and not alone; she later brought in my entire family where I started to feel I used to before I was a victim. My family made me feel that I have a purpose in life and I was brought into this world for a reason. I am definitely not the same person I was. Even though cyber bullying is a vicious form of mental abuse, I believe it has made me a better person, stronger. Many people claim that cyber bullying isn’t as bad of an issue as old fashioned face to face bullying, that there are no long lasting effects, that the person doesn’t suffer as much. That’s wrong, cyber bullying is in reality worse than old fashioned face to face bullying. The person, (victim) can’t get away, they’re harassment is always there, always lurking waiting for the computer to be turned on, or social media to be checked on the smart phone. Cyber bullying doesn’t end, it stays on the internet forever, it’s there for other people to always see. Victims of cyber bullying tend to commit more suicide, suffer from long term depression, and socially isolate themselves more frequently than the victims of physical (face to face) bullying do. In conclusion, cyber bullying affects a person much more detrimentally than physical bullying will. With cyber bullying the harsh words of the person are always there to be viewed, not only by the person being put down. Anyone with access to the internet has access to the downgrading things being said to this person. The suicide thoughts and reminders of the degradement are always there for the person to look back on, which in turn, makes the person agree with what’s being said about them. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the person now feels that that’s the way they feel, they become what is being said about them. The effects of bullying only last as long as the reminders, and with cyber bullying, they never go away. Works Cited Alvarez, Lizette. â€Å"Felony Counts for 2 in Suicide of Bullied 12-Year-Old.† New York Times. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. . â€Å"Cyber Bullying Statistics.† Bullying Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. . O’Brien, Niamh, and Tina Moules. Pastoral Care in Education: An International Journal of Personal, Social and Emotional Development. London: