Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Essay

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Essay Example At the same time, the novel depicts the contradictory state of Spain, which was at that time engulfed by the uneasiness of a period of change, and Cervantes correspondingly attempted in "Don Quixote" to ponder over issues of human nature and morality during this time (Cascardi, 2002, pp. 58-79). Even though a new European literature emerged after the Renaissance, romances about chivalry, with stories about the defense of the weak, romantic women, and, of course, brave errant knights and their good and fantastic deeds, were still much popular at the time of Cervantes, who opens his narration with the establishment of this fact: ". . . there lived . . . one of those gentlemen who keep a lance in the lance-rack, an ancient shield . . ." (Cervantes, 1999, p.13). In this regard, from one side "Don Quixote" contains a powerful parody of such romances, as Don Quixote seeks to establish ideals of chivalry. During his 'battles' for chivalric principles he mentions romantic ideals even in his most absurd undertakings. At the same time, the story of Don Quixote nevertheless offers a certain standard of honor which could be applicable for Spain that had to face wars and results of its own development. From this point of view, Cervantes offers these values to a society that had abandone d them. Thus, Cervantes not only correlates his work with a literary tradition of his time, but also employs numerous debates about literature, poetry, etc. contained in the novel as a means to uncover the shifts in the contemporary intellectual milieu. In general, "Don Quixote" undertakes an in-depth examination of the potential of literary narration. Indeed, the initial part of the book parodies the genre of romance, the second section of the First Part pretends to be a historic document, and the Second Part of the book is again different because it is composed as a traditional novel. Here Cervantes, along with a fictional historian Benengeli, is present in the novel as a character. This complex narrative composition tends to confuse readers who may find it difficult to differentiate between the plot itself and the alleged factual base. However, this approach of the author very well supports another important theme that permeates the book and concerns the problem of sanity, as it is perhaps impossible to fully understand the mixture of madness and sanity of Don Quixote who on one hand could impress us as a very intellectual man as ". . . he relished . . . complicated arguments . . . like: The ability to reason the un-reason which has afflicted my reason saps my ability to reason. . . " (Cervantes, 1999, p.13), and who on the other hand was demonstrating throughout the novel the inability to understand the simplest facts of life. In this regard, he stays mysterious throughout the story so that for readers it is hard to find a proper way to interpret Don Quixote as a character. Moreover, Cervantes at some points suggests that in fact Don Quixote is really aware of the real state of things around him, but he rather had chosen to neglect the world and to ignore possible results of his often pernicious deeds. When in the end Don Quixote unexpectedly claims to be sane, one may suspect that throughout the story he was at least to some degree only pretending to be insane. Alternatively, this controversy may serve as a precaution that even intelligent

How can insurance be used to decrease healthcare costs and increase Essay

How can insurance be used to decrease healthcare costs and increase quality of care - Essay Example The quality of the treatment is another problem that needs consideration. Most of the uninsured and low-income groups are not in a position to get good quality healthcare. The present essay is intended to study a brief history of healthcare industry and to analyze problems and reasons for the high costs associated. The proposals that are put forward for the reformation of current state of healthcare system also would be analyzed so as to reach a conclusion on the best strategy to be adopted so as to decrease the costs of healthcare and to increase the quality of the healthcare. The health insurance plans began in United States of America during the civil war that took place during 1861 to 1865 (Murray, 2007). At that time only accidents that was caused during transport and that too through either rail or steamboat had any coverage for insurance. Since then more and more plans, which provided coverage for most of the illness were added and in the year 1847, Massachusetts Health Insurance of Boston offered the first group policy with a lot of benefits. Individual disability and illness policies were issued by 1890. Arguments or cry for modern group health insurance plan was started in United States only in 1920s and by that time it was far behind many of the European countries. But there was no political pressure for such a law. Reformers started to ask the cost of medical care instead of wages lost due to sickness mainly because the former was much higher than the latter in as early as 1920s. During this period itself the health care available to poor people in the country was quite inadequate. The first company to offer health insurance coverage for all its employees was General Motors (Murray, 2007). The depression that gulped the country in 1930's resulted in more insurance coverage for unemployed and aged people. There was no priority for healthcare insurance at that time. Blue cross, which is a non-profit organization, began to offer health insurance in a number of states during this period. In Blues every one irrespective of age or sex or their disease conditions were charged the same premium. Since the Blues were created by hospitals, potential patients were encouraged to sign up (Noah, 2007). It was in 1940's that the present practice of employer-based system of health insurance was first offered (Noah, 2007). This was in an effort to combat the wage and price controls during the Second World War. The labor unions urged for better benefits and tax-free employer sponsored health insurance. The employers had to attract their employees and so they offered whatever that was asked for. Prepaid group healthcare was started at this time. President Truman was a proponent of national health program plan in which the government would be the payer of the whole of the American society. At that time it was opposed by American Medical Association and the law or bill could

Programme Schedule Essay Example for Free

Programme Schedule Essay It should be noted that although I have used Sky One as an example of a typical evenings viewing on Sky, this ignores the other channels available through the satellite broadcaster. But in doing so I am illustrating the channels provision in terms of target audience, rejection of a public service ethos (to educate, inform and entertain), and its ability to house hour after hour of populist programming on one channel (complimenting Sky One is a mass of channels providing a wide range of programming (see Sky World and Family Pack, appendix 2)). What is obvious from this comparison is that the public service broadcasters are providing a schedule which caters for the widest possible audience, within the structure of two channels (BBC1/BBC2/RTE1/N2). There is the argument that, instead of attempting to provide an output representative of the whole of its audience, which on the face of it seems impossible, it should specialise into more defined areas. Some complain that money being spent on paying comedians for programmes such as `Have I Got News For You` (Friday 21:00, BBC), could be better spent on this specialisation, however those arguments often come down to ones particular taste, rather than any informed argument. What is it that public service broadcasters provide, which are deemed in the `public interest`, that those without such a remit fail to provide? It can surely not, as outlined previously be choice. Diversity, a term often associated with public service broadcasters, is no longer solely applicable to the latter as diverseness is arguably a product of greater choice. It could be argued however that the choice and diversity available from terrestrial public service broadcasters is of a higher quality and is therefore of greater value to an interested audience. The pluralistic nature of public service broadcasting requires that they take into account the sociocultural segmentation of society, but this is often difficult because of the limited terrestrial channel space available. However, what it does do is provide a common domain, arguably important in the context of social interaction. The ability of the audience to discuss for example, the previous nights episode of Eastenders (BBC1) in the playground or at work should not be underestimated. It could be argued that a wider range of viewing could bring a greater level of social ideas and concepts, yet this ignores the `information rich/information poor` argument, and the resulting divide which has yet to be addressed. The digression by both RTE and the BBC into digital media does not, in the current climate, resolve the problem of catering for such a large audience on a limited broadcasting frequency, simply because digital television is not widespread enough at this time. The conundrum for both organisations therefore, is that in order that they become both more diverse and competitive, their energies must go into the creation and promotion of their digital services so as to have a foothold in the future of digital broadcasting. And here lies the rub, At the moment there does not exist a platform solely intended for the broadcast of the BBCs digital programmes. It is available through NTL, Sky and ITV Digital, and therefore, the BBC is indirectly promoting the formats that have reduced their audience share and contributed to calls for its privatisation. The argument hinges on how the PSBs intend to supply their digital services in the future. They may provide a set-top box through which their channels can be received, or fund their place on the current EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), available through SkyDigital. RTE will begin broadcasting on the SkyDigital platform from April 2002, which has emphasised its intention to fulfil its public service remit by extending its audience reach to as many parts of Ireland as possible. However both NTL and Chorus, (cable companies operating in Ireland) have complained that RTE paid a reported i 6 million for its inclusion on the SkyGuide EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), whereas RTE is hosted for free, and importantly, compulsorily by the two cable operators. If Chorus Digital were to pull the plug on RTE, the low subscription rate would not cause significant damage to the public service broadcaster. However, NTL, who have a much higher subscription, and therefore attract more advertising, offers a greater problem. If NTL removed RTE from its output, advertising revenues would fall dramatically, indeed, it has already fallen in 2001 by i 12 million; 15. 5 million less than projected for 2002 and RTE would inevitably become bankrupt. But in doing so, NTL would almost certainly have its licence revoked, which it would appear, provides the greatest chance of survival for RTE. As I have discussed earlier, the introduction of satellite broadcasting into the UK and Ireland has had a detrimental impact upon the public service broadcasters viewing figures. The information below illustrates the year-on-year increase and uptake of cable and satellite subscription, paralleled with a year-on-year decrease in the BBCs viewing figures. RTE has been grouped in the same category as cable and satellite, however RTE would represent only a fraction of the increase. (NB. Shares before 1996 have been rounded to nearest whole number)

Internet Memes and Political Participation

Internet Memes and Political Participation Internet memes: As a new form of political participation 1. Introduction The term â€Å"meme† has been emerged in various spheres in a few studies, and it has been discussed with some applied research and cultural research (Hofstadter, 1985; Dawkins, 1976; Blackmore, 1999; Chesterman, 1997). As the basic unit of culture, meme plays an extremely important role in the reproduction of culture. Given this orientation, some researchers started to address and explore the relationship between meme and politics, argue that meme has a positive effect on the development of political. (Shifman, 2013, Milner, 2013). In the 21st century, the rise of digital media has changed the information dissemination ecological, as well as the way of thinking of people. With the advance of social media and digital technology, meme theory also need to adapt the new environment and focus on the present convergence for new field. Accordingly, the new branch of meme study has come out, which is internet meme. In this Internet age, a memes ability to reproduce and spread is grad ually expanding, thus highlighted increasingly as the dominant force in transmission media, and playing an increasingly important role in the public domain in terms of the news public opinion and political communication. What’s more, websites like Know Your Meme, 4chan, Reddit and Tumblr are meme manufactures which have helped people produce thousands of memes. The internet meme has raised the pace of social political awareness and community building in cyberspace. Shifman (2013) defines that internet meme has three functions in terms of political participation: as forms of persuasion or political advocacy, as grassroots action and as modes of expression and public discussion. This paper builds on existing knowledge in the fields of internet meme, based on Shifman’s work and combines with other’s studies to demonstrate that internet meme is a new form of political participation. At the same time, this paper will illustrate it from three aspects: as a persuasion way in election, as a resistance of people (collection action) and as a public discourse of political issues. Body What is a meme? The definition of meme in The Oxford English Dictionary is: an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, especially imitation. The term â€Å"meme† was created by Dawkins in his book â€Å"The selfish Gene† in 1976, when he tried to explain the culture evolution. He defined it as â€Å"small units of culture that spread from person to person by copying or imitation† (Dawkins, 1989). In addition, he analogized meme with biological gene, considered that meme also evolved through coping(imitating), variating and selecting, like gene transmits its genetic information to the next generation. A clear difference between these two is that genes are the genetic factors of biology, while meme is the derivative of culture. Besides, gene propagates through heredity, a physical process to replicate but meme through imitating, which is a mental process. In his work, he indicated that meme has three characters: 1) Heredity, the process of meme’s diffusion is heredity. For example, when one religion or belief is propagating to others, the religion as a meme is acquired by people and copied to their mind and continuing passed along to believers. 2) Variation, the contents of meme by imitated are not the same, they could be changed. For instance, when people telling a story to others they will add or delete some details, which results in variation. 3) Selection, the ability of diffusion is varying from different memes, some are easy to spread while some are not, they are competing when being propagating, which is like the natural selection in biologic theory (Dawkins, 1989). Despite some researchers criticized that Dawkins has limited the culture in the sphere of biologic and simplified human behavior later, it cannot be ignored that his efforts on the research of meme, which accentuates the realization of cultural gene. Next, Douglas Hofstadter put forwarded a new interdisciplinary subject â€Å"Memetics† in 1985. This subject is based on the perspective of Darwinian evolution to study the content of the mind, aiming to explore the social evolution model of cultural information transmission (Hofstadter, 1985). Since then, the meme concept has been discussed and accepted by various of subject: phycology, physiology, anthropology,  linguistics and so on. For instance, Daniel Dennett, an American philosophy who agreed with the concept of meme, and applied it into his book â€Å"Consciousness Explained† and â€Å"Darwins Dangerous Idea† to interpret the mechanism of spiritual evolution (Vasiliki, 2014). Furthermore, Finland linguists and translation theorists Andrew Chesterman, combined meme with the British philosopher Karl Popper’s idea about the schema of knowledge evolution, established the translation theory framework of the system by a descriptive study on the translation standard and strategies (Chesterman, 1997). In 1999, Susan Blackmore (1999) considered meme as an independent replication factor in her book â€Å"The Meme Machine†, suggested that whatever the form of memetic information is, it could be regarded as meme when it can be copied by imitate.   Based on the previous studies, this paper adopts Shifman’s (2013) idea and apply it to the analyze. She describes the meme constituted with two principles: 1) looking at diffused units as incorporating several memetic dimensions namely, several aspects that people may imitate; 2) understanding memes not as single entities that propagate well, but as groups of content units with common characteristics. 2.2 What is an internet meme? Meme has been widely accepted and applied to several subjects which has mentioned before, but it only gets attentions of mass media researchers until 21 centuries (Davison, 2012). According to Shifman (2013), she defines an Internet meme as: 1) a group of digital items sharing common characteristics of content, form, and/or stance; 2) that were created with awareness of each other; and 3) were circulated, imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by many users. Generally, in the digital media era, the advancement of Internet and social networks enable people to acquire more information and accelerate the information exchange. With the advent of web2.0 and platformlization, meme is actively involved in the process of information dissemination, in terms of longevity, fecundity, and copy fidelity have been enhanced through internet, which regard as the three basic properties that help meme to spread successfully. For longevity, it is attributed to numerous archives, which can store data indefinitely not rely on memory. For copy fidelity, it mainly because the digitization allows lossless information transfer compared to traditional media. For fecundity, due to the infrastructure, it can achieve the swift diffusion of any given message to numerous nodes. These facilitates the creation and exchange of user-generate-consent, which emerges participation (Shifman, 2013). Apart from this, easier access to the Internet enables people to receive mounts of information every day, in comparison to the limited information acquiring approaches in the past. Also, the speed of transmission is no longer limited by the movement of individuals. Hence, it is necessary to pay more attention on internet meme, exploring its role on constructing shared values in contemporary digital cultures. As Shifman (2013) claimed, the internet meme has three properties in the web2.0: 1) A gradual propagation from individuals to society. In other words, memes could shape the mindsets, forms of behavior, and actions of social groups. People can easier sharing and communicating in digital era, which facilitates the process of spreading memes from person to society; 2) Reproduction via copying and imitation. In the digital world, people can spread content by forwarding, linking, or copying, they can use some software like Photoshop and application like Snapseed to imitate and remixing instead of reproducing as well; and 3) Diffusion through competition and selection. The internet magnifies the competition and selection of meme. On the one hand, it allows researchers collect data and track the process of meme evolution. On the other hand, it offers users an opportunity to understanding and knowing the preference of choice relating to meme diffusion (Davison, 2012). It is always mentions viral when talks about internet memes, their differences and similarities are the major parts of meme research. This paper does not go in further with details about this, but indicates the mainly difference between viral and internet meme is that viral is consisted of single units while internet meme is a collection of text. In order to better analyzing, this paper focus on the images form of internet memes, takes some images as example to illustrates the idea. Based on the studies of Knobel, Lankshear (2007) and Kuipers (2005), internet memes can be divided into two categories: recycled images and macros images. Recycled images have a template which build by numerous imitations and stable images which include original content and are passed along with transformation or not, as presented in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Macros images usually constitute with a single image overlaid with a white text written in capitals and express the humorous note, as presented in Figure1.3 and Figure1.4. Figure.1 and Figure.2 Figure.3 and Figure. 4 2.3 Internet memes as a new form of political participation In recent years, internet meme has been constantly evolving into the political participation. This appeared to be attributed to the digital media. First it offers the opportunities for people to become the subject of expression, and then reducing the cost of political participation, especially for the young generation who are less likely to engaged in political activities (Anduiza, 2012). Second, public and political events are more likely to be exaggerated than in the past with rapid spread in the internet. Last, the so-called image politics according to Wilson (2000), image symbols have more vitality and tension than words. Since the visual impact has more strong effects on emotion and could save the time for reading too much words, it is extremely easy to be used to participate in discussing political issues, especially in sensitive areas. For this reason, the exaggerated effects and interesting composition of meme makes its transmission have powerful appeal, which makes the combination of both of them play the role of two-way gain. Therefore, internet meme has built the bridge between citizens and political, as a new way to deconstruct by the form of image with humor to gains serious political, build a unique participate system (Hristova, 2014). This paper classified this political participation into three sub-items in terms of facilitates political participation according to Shifman’s work: 1) As a persuasion way in election; 2) As a resistance of people (collection action); and 3) As a public discourse. Following will combining cases to analyze these three functions (Shifman, 2013). 2.2.1 As a persuasive way in election Social media allows users to publish their opinions or ideas so that their friends, family, and strangers can read these posts and comments back. And it is has been demonstrated that people are more likely to believe in their friends and family, which makes the online ideas become more convincible (Shifman, 2013). As a consequence, internet meme through social media could influence people for their psychological cognition, behavior patterns and guide their recognition (Tay, 2015). As politics move to the Internet where more and more voters get their news and information with the trend of digital technology. The politicians and their companies start to consider taking advantage of internet meme to create great political profile with their personalities and campaign slogans. In this way, enabled mobilizing voters outside of official political discourses. A few studies consider politicians who appear â€Å"cool† in the eyes of ordinary citizens to be rare successes (Tay, 2015) The 2008 American Presidential election is known for being the first modern Internet campaign, Shifman (2013) chooses the â€Å"Obama Girl† video as an example of memes as political persuasion, explains that the video become widely popular due to it just focus on a praise of Obama not talks about specific political issues. Here, this paper uses The Hope Meme in 2008 American election as an example to analyze. This meme is the depiction of Barack Obama by artist Shepard Fairey (Figure 5), it has thousands of replications and then a vast number of users participated in creating their own replications (Figure 6 and Figure 7). This meme portrayed Obama as the ideal candidate and introducing a vision for the country, which triggered peoples approval (Foster, 2014). Subsequently, Obama’s supporters enjoying creating new versions of the Hope Meme itself to show their stance (Seiffert, 2017). With the propagation of the hope meme, a climbing mount of people acknowledge the appearance of Obama even they do not participate in, they can see the images in social media through their friends or families. Moreover, Obama’s campaign posted a LOLcat a few days before the 2012 election (Figure 8) to call on people to vote. This meme combing with the internet culture, the lol culture and cute cat, make people perceived as Obama is proximity to the ordinary people. The fact is, Obama is a popular figure referred to in Internet memes, involved discussions and supportive commentaries (Tay, 2015). Figure.5 and Figure. 6 Figure.7 and Figure. 8 To give another example is the 2012 American election, between Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton. On April 4, a meme containing President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton posted on a Tumblr blog. It imagines an exchange between them, and Obama asking â€Å"whatchu doing?†, she responds, â€Å"Running the world† (Figure 9). In this image, Obama is lying down while reading, and seems relaxed, Clinton has a solemn expression, and is busy with work. The post got a lot of attention and received thousands of notes. Clinton becomes a synonym of respectability, and a representation of female empowerment. Since then, her supporters involving into this internet meme and imitate their own picture by change the text or content. (Figure 10 and Figure 11). The meme became a major part of Hillary Clintons positive cultural revival as a political figure, which was already seen as particularly powerful in the 2016 presidential campaign. This has made her a viable candidate (Tay, 2015). Figures 9, 10 and 111 These examples have illustrated the use of internet memes as a persuasion way referred to political participation. As an active social software, internet memes have a place in the political expression of new media with the linking, forwarding and imitating, which increased the exposure of political figures. In the presidential election, candidates in the media show the image of appearance, and in the narration part is partly deciding the success or failure of his election (Foster, 2014). Politics in the media society is becoming more and more a performance, an act of creating an image. 2.3.2 As a resistance of people (collection action) Indeed, most of political memes are generally resistant to nature, and as weve seen, resistance itself is a critical mass mobilization. Shifman (2013) defines one function of memes is as grass-roots action with the example Occupy Wall Street online movement. The â€Å"Pepper Spray Cop† which shows a police officer spraying protesters with pepper spray. The â€Å"We are the 99%†, becomes one of the main visual markers of the on-the-ground Occupy Movement after it spread quickly online. They serve as a call to action for the protest to continue. Shifman indicates that the power of organization is declining, instead being replaced by massive, mobile social networks, which is collective action (Milnerï ¼Å'2013). The background of the developing collective action cannot be separated from the remarkable rise of internet memes. First, the threshold is low and there is no need for technological skill to express and participate. Besides, image meme helps these protests go deepe r with the visual effects. The most important thing is that internet meme allows the citizens to participate in collective action and at the same time can retain their individuality, since one of the character of meme is alter (Anduiza, 2012). There are several studies has worked on the Occupy Wall Street, this paper will apply the collective action in Facebook between China mainland and Taiwan in 2016 as a case study. This is the first internet meme and political participation refer to collective action have been combined in public view in China. In January, Ziyu Zhou, a member of the south Korean womens group, was accused by the artist An Huang about Taiwans independence on Weibo, leading to a wave of public opinion against Ziyu Zhou. As the incident continued to heat up, then Ziyu Zhou issued a video on Facebook to apologize for the previous uproar. Celebrity Gengxin Lin forwarded the apology to video, and said apologized too suddenly and didnt have time to memorize the manuscript, which caused Taiwanese netizens and Chinese netizens started a debate in Lins Facebook. A few days after, it is said that 20 million Chinese young people have started a collective action to Facebook of Taiwan’s three media homepage. Noncitizens take internet meme as main expression, showed a high degree of organization, to resist the independence of Taiwan (Tang, 2016).   As showed in Figure 12, Figure 13 and Figure 14, these memes are from the China mainland, people try to use the beautiful scenes from China mainland and some ironic words to resist the supportive of independence of Taiwan. The contents of these meme are from traditional Chinese slogans, events with Chinese characteristics and political propaganda themes. On the one hand, it evokes the value recognition of people. On the other hand, they combined with familiar things of public, which will have a greater influence on transmission. The most important thing is, there are millions of people participate in this action, and post millions of images on Facebook, the homepage was full of images which is powerful and spectacular. Figure.12 â€Å"invite Taiwan people to enjoy the beautiful China mainland scene.† Figure.13 â€Å"Follow me: Taiwan has been Chinas territory since ancient times. You dont know its okay. Figure. 14   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Dont talk with a picture† These internet memes from the mass production by organizing, and hide the emotional expression in the images, aim to use it to gain the attention occupation and presents people’s political stance of resist. According to sharing and remixing, transfer it into collective action, reflects the ability to participate in narrative construction and civic organization. Therefore, memes can be used as a tool of political participation in terms of turn the public opinion fragmentation into collective action (Tang, 2016). 2.3.3 As a public discourse of political issues Social media is considered to be more effective in terms of information diffusion comparison to traditional media, it expands the source of information and knowledge for people. People not only are the receiver of the political information in network environment, they also are a political message of reproducing and disseminator, which means everyone is likely to be the news publishers, and likely to be receiving information. The advantages of digital media including openness, virtualization, interactivity and timeliness build a great environment for the public discourse, and helping people freely communicate and express their opinions. Therefore, net citizens are keen on discuss politic issues through digital media. The richness, floating and uncertainty of meme allow everyone revolve around the image to construct the legal qualification and compete for their statements, thus it is easy to be used to participate in discuss sensitive political issues (Hristova, 2014). They are now been a part of our internet culture, participating in a larger media and material ecosystem that helps shape the political identity and political union. Meme could be a catalyst for political discussion (Shifman, 2013). Compared to the past people have to talk or write articles to show their political stance while now they just can use an image. Like the Pepe the Frog, it becomes a Nazi Trump supporter and Alt-Right symbol (Figure 15). It attracts not only people’s attention, but also political discussions by its powerful visual impact. Some notable examples are: The 2015 General election of United Kingdom, the image of eating of candidate Miliband, which is different from his appearance on newspapers, evokes a vast number of imitation of people with parody and ridicule (Figure 16). After that, many politicians actively to follow the trend, post out their own eating images to get attention and discussion. This meme is similar to the Sihao Bai in 2014, the mayor of New York city. He used a knife and fork in an undisciplined manner in an image (Figure 17), which made people questioned his ability to govern because he has a more powerful appearance in newspaper than this image. Back to the Occupy Wall Street case, the We are the 99% meme. It is widely popular in Facebook and has numerous replicators. At first, most of them are from the 99% people to support with fixed images, annotation or remix (Figure 18). Gradually, the 1% people participate in and post their own images with the text â€Å"tax me† or â€Å"redistribute† (Figure 19). At the same time, they got mounted of comments along with (Milner, 2013). This meme engages in multiple discussions and arguments on Facebook. Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 19 With the propagation characteristics of memes, public discourse is totally different than the past. The increasing of complex hotspot issues duration, degree of attention and transformation mechanism, a serial of crisis involved in, the more complex issues appear at the same time including and the increase of average time of the single issue are catalyzing the public discourse with political issues in digital era. In another way, internet memes as a political catharsis, it represents a strong demand of citizens for political participation. Significantly, when people engaged in this discussion rather than sharing or forwarding, it has more powerful since it empowers citizens to share their opinions of political stances (Shifman, 2013). 3. Conclusion In the era of media, the process of political participation can be well deserved to internet meme, which from the bottom to top, allows people to have the chance to get involved in political activities. The three basic characters of meme including heredity, variation and selection have been enhanced in digital media, and that is the major reason why the internet meme could leave a great influence on political participation. From one hand, internet meme as the persuasion way mainly reflected on the political elections, help politicians to build positive image thus get voter’s approval. From another hand, it allows ordinary people to resist through mastery of dominance on the spread of images, not only can modify the content of the meme, also can undertake production and innovation. Besides, it offers a new way for net citizens to seek affirmation and self-expression in political communities. The future study of internet meme could focus on the effects, like how to measure the effects of internet memes on elections or collective action. As a new way to participate in politics, internet meme has its own advantages and it is deserved to study in the future. References Anduiza, E., Jensen, M.J. and Jorba L., eds. (2012). Digital Media and Political Engagement Worldwide: A Comparative Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Blackmore, S. (1999).The Meme Machine, New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Chesterman, A. (1997).  Memes of translation. 1st ed. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Davison, P. (2012).  The Language of Internet Memes. Dawkins, R. (1976).  The selfish gene. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., pp.189-202. Foster, B. J. (2014). Its all in a meme: a content analysis of memes posted to 2012 presidential election facebook pages.  Dissertations & Theses Gradworks. Hofstadter, D. (1985).  Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers. Hristova, S. (2014). Visual memes as neutralizers of political dissent.  TripleC (Cognition, Communication, Co-Operation): Open Access Jo,12(1). Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). Online memes, affinities, and cultural production. In A new literacies sampler (pp. 199-227). New York: Peter Lang. Kuipers, G. (2005). Where was King Kong when we needed him? Public discourse, digital disaster jokes, and the functions of laughter after 9/11. The Journal of American Culture, 28(1), 70-84. Milner, R. M. (2013). Pop polyvocality: internet memes, public participation, and the occupy wall street movement.  International Journal of Communication,  7(1), 2357-2390. Seiffert-Brockmann, J., Diehl, T., & Dobusch, L. (2017). Memes as games: the evolution of a digital discourse online.  New Media & Society (2), 14614448177Tay.G (2015). Binders full of LOLitics: Political humour, internet memes, and play in the 2012 US Presidential Election (and beyond). European Journal of Humour Research 2 (4) 46-73. Shifman, L. (2013).  Memes in Digital Culture. The MIT Press. Tang,J.T (2016).The political participation and collective action of the online community in the case of Facebook. University of News (3),96-101 Vasiliki, P. (2014).  Satirical User-Generated Memes as an Elective Source of Political Criticism, Extending Debate and Enhancing Civic Engagement. University of Warwick. Wilson, K. (2000). Image politics: the new rhetoric of environmental activism.  Journalism & Mass Communication Educator,  55.

The Real Macbeth :: essays research papers fc

Say â€Å"Macbeth† and the first thing that comes to mind is probably the play by the famous playwright, William Shakespeare. This classic story has become a mainstay of high school English literature classes around the world. However, few people realize that there was a real king Macbeth who lived long before the Shakespearean character evolved. In fact, the only verity of historical truth in the play is King Duncan’s death at the hand of Macbeth. The â€Å"real† Macbeth was not exactly as weak and unsuccessful as Shakespeare portrayed him. The â€Å"real† Macbeth had reasons for murdering Duncan, had a successful sovereignty, and had a very different defeat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The real Macbeth was born a grandson of King Kenneth II who ruled from 971-995. His father was Finlay McRory who was a Mormaer (lord) of Moray. His mother’s name was Donada but it is unknown whether she was the daughter of King Kenneth II, Kenneth III, or Malcolm II. He married Grauch (â€Å"Lady Macbeth†), a descendant of King Kenneth III, who ruled from 997-1005. Lady Macbeth already had a son, Lulach, by a first marriage to another Mormaer of Moray.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Becoming king in eleventh century Scotland was not strictly hereditary. There was a practice called thanistry. This meant that nobleman chose kings from a large selection of possible kings called thanes. In theory, thanistry should have worked. But in practice, what often happened was that the strongest and most cunning of the thanists would rise to power. As a result, the best person did not necessarily become king because thanistry encourage open conflict as well as the assassination or reigning kings and other thanes (Scotland 4). But, the â€Å"real† Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan I in 1040 in a battle, was seen more as a good move than as a catastrophe. Duncan’s rule in Scotland was not the golden age as described in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In truth, Duncan was described by Arthur M. Gunn as an â€Å"impetuous and spoiled young man whose six years of kingship brought glory neither to Scotland nor his family.† (Famous Scots 2) This differed from the public fury that was scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth when innocent King Duncan was murdered in his sleep.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Unlike, the Shakespeare Macbeth, the real Macbeth was a powerful and successful king who ruled for seventeen years. He had enough power to leave on an expedition to Rome in 1050 and then return to reign seven more years. That was a remarkable achievement in those times. Contrasting, Shakespeare’s Macbeth had a very unsuccessful monarchy. He is so caught up in his guilt that he doesn’t have time

The Problem of Poverty: Welfare in America Essays -- Poverty Essays

The Problem of Poverty: Welfare in America For centuries, nations, cities, and individual families have dealt with the problem of poverty; how to remedy current situations and how to prevent future ones. For most of history, there have been no government controlled poverty assistance programs. The poor simply relied on the goodness of their families or, if they did not have a family, on the generosity of the public at large. In the United States, this situation changed in 1935 with the passage of the Social Security Act. The Social Security Act has seen many successes, but it also faces many critiques of its structure and function. In the past, most governments did little to actively aid their poor population. This duty was understood to fall on the families of the poor individuals, charity groups, and generous individuals. Some governments aided their needy in indirect ways. One of the first government-mediated assistance programs was passed by the English Parliament in 1601 as the Act for the Relief of the Poor. This act s et up local 'parishes' that were responsible for taking care of the poor in their own district. However, the government provided no funds to facilitate this program?the parishes were responsible for levying and collecting taxes to finance their programs. Though it would be considered a very primitive form of welfare by today?s standards, it was a large step toward government-mediated welfare compared to the English system 250 years before that. In 1349, Parliament forbade charity on the grounds that it might encourage laziness. Since then, public attitudes have changed about the responsibility of the citizens and the government to provide for the assistance of the needy. Limited federal assistance was given to war veterans and their families beginning during the Civil War, but large scale assistance to the general needy community was not available for almost 75 more years (Komisar 48). A large contribution toward the assistance of the poor in the United States came during the Progre ssive movement around the turn of the century. Activist groups championed not only workers rights in the form of unions, but also the right of every citizen to have access to decent living conditions (Komisar 67). The Progressive movement slackened during the prosperous ?20s, but the social welfare issue was forcefully placed back into the public con... ...banks could meet the needs of the increased number of people who seek their services. Although it is probably impossible to achieve complete freedom from poverty, society need not sit idly by in the face of such a monumental challenge. Indeed, it is the public duty of each individual to aid in the improvement of the lives of poor persons around the nation and around the world. Large-scale, complex systems such as the one now in place in America, only serve to create an inefficient, costly effort that could be achieved with less manpower and fewer dollars. Government oversight and subsidizing of private contributions toward the elimination of poverty is a far more efficient, adaptive, and economical way of working toward the eradication of the problem of poverty. Bibliography Garfinkel, Irwin. ?Welfare?, World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc., New York, Vol 21, pp. 191-193, Â ©1988. Komisar, Lucy. Down and Out in the USA: A History of Public Welfare. Rev. ed. Watts, Chicago, Â ©1977. Patterson, James. America?s Struggle Against Poverty, 1900-1980., Harvard Press, Boston, Â ©1981. Segalman, Ralph. Poverty in America: The Welfare Dilemma, Greenwood, Los Angeles, Â ©1981

Plastic Ban

Plastic Ban 101 We never know the worth of water till the well is dry (Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732). There are garbage everywhere. Water forms are polluted and underwater beauties are damaged due to different activities of humans. Do we still have to wait for the worst to come before we make a move to conserve and protect our environment? The earth where we are living is now at risk. This statement is supported by the survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) during the first quarter of 2012.They found that 66% of Filipino adults say the rising world temperature is dangerous (consisting of 37% extremely dangerous and 29% very dangerous) for the environment. Twenty-seven percent say it is somewhat dangerous, and 7% not dangerous/not dangerous at all. Though many Filipinos know that our environment is in great danger, another survey that questions ,†How often do you make a special effort to sort glass or tins or plastic or newspapers and so on for recycling (ALWAYS , OFTEN, SOMETIMES, NEVER, or RECYCLING NOT AVAILABLE WHERE I LIVE)?The result is: 31% of Filipino adults say always, 24% often, 31% sometimes, and 9% never. The remaining 5% claim that recycling is not available in the place where they live. One solution is available; banning plastic bags in the country. The House of Representatives approved HB 4840 or the Plastic Regulation Act of 2011. This act would require the phase out of non-biodegradable plastic bags within three years and the placement of a plastic bag recovery bin at each store or cluster of stores.However, SB 2759 or the Total Plastic Bag Ban Act of 2011 is still pending in the Senate. Is this really the solution to the issue in our environment? Banning of plastics will surely be a great help, but there will always be two sides of a story, how about the consequences of the act? First, a great number of Filipinos are working in plastic-manufacturing companies, they’ll be jobless once the bill is passed.If this compa nies will be closed, it also has a great impact in the Philippine economy, resulting to numerous protests from different business groups. â€Å"The business groups, including the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Philippine Industry and Philippine Exporters Confederation, put out a full-page advertisement in major newspapers yesterday to denounce the plastic ban.The other business groups are the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Pollution Control Association of the Philippines, Samahan ng Pilipinas sa Industriang Kemiko, Association of Petrochemical Manufacturers of the Philippines, Packaging Institute of the Philippines, Polystyrene Packaging Council of the Philippines, Philippine Plastics Industry Association, Metro Plastics Recycling Industries, Philippine Association of Supermarkets and Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association. The plastic ban does not protect the environ ment at all. It leads to more paper use, which means more trees cut and higher water and power use. The environment is worse off,† the ad stated. † (Desiderio, Louella D. â€Å"14 business groups oppose ban on plastic bags† The Philippine Star 1 Sept. 2012) These factors are the reasons why the SB 2759 or the Total Plastic Bag Ban Act of 2011 is still on the way in being a law.On the other hand, if the bill will be passed, it will be a great help in protecting the environment. One solid evidence is the town of Los Banos in Laguna. According to the former mayor Caesar Perez, the solid waste management program drastically curbed the garbage problem in the municipality. â€Å"Los Banos has successfully reduced its waste by 75 percent. † However, discipline remains the core ingredient of the program, Perez noted. Without it, he said, no initiative would have succeeded. Ang tao naghahanap ng pagbabago. Pero ang hindi nila alam, ang pagbabago magsisimula sa bawat isang mamamayan,† he added. (LAMENTILLO ANNA MAE YU â€Å"Ban on plastic bags slowly gaining momentum† August 28, 2012 from http://www. gmanetwork. com/news/story/271569/news/nation/ban-on-plastic-bags-slowly-gaining-momentum) Our ancestors lived without using plastic bags, there are many alternatives like bayong, reusable bags, net bags, etc.Plastics also are dangerous, even those â€Å"degradable plastic bags† that may degrade in two to five years but this issue remains unclear. â€Å"Degradable plastic bags merely perpetuate ‘throw-away’ and ‘dispose-as-usual’ mentality as it gives the wrong impression that discarding them the habitual way is okay since they degrade anyway,† said Greenpeace campaigner Beau Baconguis. â€Å"This raises, at least, two problems: littering and continued production of plastic waste,† she added. â€Å"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves†. David Orr I choose to support the banning of plastic because the use of it primarily attributes the occurrence of natural calamities. Little of us do know that we, ourselves contribute in triggering such phenomena. There isn't any problem with the plastic itself, but the way or the manner of how people use it spells out the grim result of irresponsibility of disposing plastics. So, better to lessen the factor that causes the occurrence of floods and other calamities we should start by completely vanishing the use of plastic.