Film JFK Narrative

Sample details Pages: 18 Words: 5541 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Cinematographic Art Essay Type Narrative essay Topics: John F Kennedy Essay Did you like this example? Both films, for example, pore over minutae that may or may not be significant (umbrellas opening in JFK, a dropped thickshake in The Thin Blue Line) to draw the viewer ever more deeply into the world of the crime scene. Yet neither film stops at a simple recitation of facts: both look at the States role in events and suggest an explanation for the alleged cover up. In JFK, this is Stones highly controversial suggestion that the CIA and the military-industrial complex had a vested interest in seeing President Kennedy dead because he was shortly to scale down Americas involvement in Vietnam. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Film JFK Narrative | Film Studies Dissertations" essay for you Create order In The Thin Blue Line, two related theories are suggested for the official insistence on trying Randall Adams: firstly, that David Harris account had the advantage of providing the police with an eye-witness, while if Harris was himself the murderer, no reliable witness existed; and secondly, that Harris could not be tried as an adult, thus robbing the District Attorney of the much-sought death sentence for the murder of a policeman. These theories are communicated through devices commonly associated with fictional narratives, such as a highly evocative musical score (Phillip Glass music for The Thin Blue Line invokes a melancholy sense of helplessness, while John Williams score for JFK has a more urgent tone, suggestive of furtive conspiracies and forces careening out of control). And both counterpoint different modes of filmmaking as they do so, contrasting invented material filmed in a classical Hollywood style with documentary or faux-documentary footage. The similarity in effect of the two films fast-paced juxtaposition of styles is striking, and suggests Stones approach may have been influenced by Morris work. Yet while both films have an over-riding concern with the filmmaker uncovering facts, that might be called the outer narrative, each constructs a contrasting relationship between the narrative and documentary elements within the text. In JFK, Stone uses an interior narrative of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) investigating the case. While Garrison is essentially a surrogate for the filmmaker, so that the film cannot be considered as the story of Jim Garrison,3 this narrative is provided moments that function simply as character drama with little or no relationship to the larger argument (such as Garrisons arguments and reconciliation with his wife, or a Norman Rockwell moment4 with his children). This, then, is an example of classical Hollywood-style fictional filmmaking. This is then ruptured by the moments of documentary and faux-documentary that expand on Stones argument as it is being expressed by Garrison. This includes what we might call genuine documentary material: the Zapruder film of the assassination and archival photographs (such as of Kennedys autopsy, or the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle). It also includes a large number of re-enactments, which are very often presented in a simulated documentary style (grainy or black and white film stock, hand-held cameras). This faux-documentary material is often juxtaposed with the genuine documentary material in a manner that blends the two together (the Zapruder footage is matched by staged footage using similar film stock, and the autopsy photographs are intercut with shots of a wax dummy of Kennedy). The Thin Blue Line shares the same outer narrative (filmmaker investigating), but the inner narrative (the story of Randall Adams) is not constructed in a classical Hollywood style. Instead, it is told through one of the standard modes of documentary filmmaking identified by Bill Nichols5: direct address by participants in an interview format (with the interviewer removed through editing). As with Stones film, this inner narrative is supported by evidence, but again the mode of presentation is reversed: the principal method used to support the witnesses testimony is through reconstructions of the crime scene that, while stylized and fragmented, are constructed as a miniature classically constructed narrative. This nesting of different modes might be tabulated as follows: My point, however, is that the films differ in mode, but use mirror-image forms of the same structure. JFK is primarily a fictional film, which employs a documentary style when re-enacting speculated events. The Thin Blue Line is primarily a documentary, but employs a style borrowed from fictional films in its re-enactments. If the two films share so much in common, and slide so fluidly from documentary to fictional modes so quickly, does this suggest the difference in the two forms might be largely cosmetic? Fiction can be used to express truths about the real world, and the documentary is can be used in ways that obscure the truth or construct falsehoods. If the fundamental difference between fiction and non-fiction is taken as the link to the real, and it is shown that documentaries and fictions share similar relationships to the real, then the two forms start to look more alike: not the same, exactly, but similar. JFK and The Thin Blue Line, by this way of thinking, are then only superficially different types of movies. They share the same structure and the fiction versus documentary dichotomy is more like a difference in genre than a fundamental distinction. This is not to invest the superficial crossover of techniques between the two forms with a significance it does not posses. Documentaries are not fictions just because The Blair Witch Project (1999) does such a good job of pretending to be a real document, or even because Rats in the Ranks (1996) works so well as a narrative. Rather, the downplaying of the documentary / fiction division is based upon a deep-seated cynicism about claims to truth in documentary. That there is such reluctance to accept truth at face value in documentary should not be surprising. Early or classic film studies was based largely on arguments about the relationships between film and reality. While this debate is too detailed to fully explore, it is important to touch upon briefly because much writing upon documentary echoes the arguments of these early writers. The direct link to reality might be seen as a defining feature of the documentary, but it was also seen in the first half of the century as one of the defining features of the film medium itself. The cinema appeared to be an even more perfect method for mechanically reproducing reality than the still photographs that preceded it. This added urgency to arguments of aesthetics that centred on whether the role of the artist was to attempt to recreate the real world, or rather to interpret or even transcend the real.6 These arguments were therefore central to classic film theory and resolved into two broad strands of argument that echo the aesthetic positions described. Thus writers such as Siegfried Kraceur and Andre Bazin had approaches that emphasised films role as a mirror to the real. Of more interest to the current discussion, however, are early anti-realists such as Rudolf Arnheim. In his Film as Art, his defence for cinemas status as serious artistic medium (rather than a mechanical process) is built a round a series of explanations of the way in which film differs from the real.7 Three dimensional surfaces are projected on a plane surface. Perception of depth is lost. In the black and white cinema with reference to which Arnheim formulated his thesis, colour is eliminated. Lighting distorts. Editing interrupts the flow of time and creates artistic possibilities through the use of montage. Non-visual stimulus is absent (or, after the coming of sound, limited), and even the visual world is limited by the edge of the screen. This catalogue of distortions is, for Arnheim, the very basis for the creation of aesthetic systems by which films can signify meanings. After establishing the above points, he sets about demonstrating how each of these limitations in depicting the real is used as a method of artistic expression8. Subsequent film theory moved beyond Arnheims formulations, but has tended to take them as a given in the sense that few would still argue that the central project of film is limited to the reproduction or reflection of reality. Given that such formulations are at the foundation of later film theory, it should not be surprising that they were echoed when subsequent theorists turned their minds to issues regarding documentary, and particularly its relation to the real. Nol Carroll attributes much of this writing to a backlash against premature claims by proponents of direct cinema that their method of cinema provided unmitigated access to the real.9 These documentarists attempted to avoid the filmmakers intervention and interpretation, reacting to the overt imposition of a viewpoint present in traditional Griersonian forms of documentary. However, as Carroll puts it, [d]irect cinema opened a can of worms and then got eaten by them.10 It was quickly argued that direct cinema was every bit as interpretive as Griersonian documentaries. For the distortions of reality that were identified by Arnheim are equally present in documentary cinema, but with different implications. Instead of being the unambiguously positive means to artistic expression, every limitation of the medium is instead a problematic point of mediation by the filmmaker. The limitations of the film frame, for example, force choices upon even the most non-interventionist direct cinema filmmaker. And with every choice the filmmaker is placing the film at a greater distance from reality. Carroll quotes Eric Barnouw making this point: To be sure, some documentarists claim to be objective a term that seems to renounce an interpretive role. The claim may be strategic, but it is surely meaningless. The documentarist, like any communicator in any medium, makes endless choices. He [sic] selects topics, people, vistas, angles, lens, juxtapositions, sounds, words. Each selection is an expression of his point of view, whether he is aware of it or not, whether he acknowledges it or not. Even behind the first step, selection of a topic, there is a motive It is in selecting and arranging his findings that he expresses himself; these choices are, in effect, comments. And whether he adopts the stance of observer, or chronicler or whatever, he cannot escape his subjectivity. He presents his version of the world.11 Such an argument certainly seems to cast doubt over the potential for objectivity in documentary cinema. Carried to an extreme, it is the presentation of a version of the world rather than the world itself that can be seen as rendering documentary a form of fiction. Either way, the prospects for documentary truth in such a model seem grim indeed. It should be noted that Carroll puts little faith in such an approach to documentary, and his counter-argument will be returned to. Before doing so, however, it is worth noting that more recently, Carroll has drawn the distinction between what he calls the selectivity argument (recited above) and more global postmodern scepticism of claims to truth.12 The latter is based not in the assumptions of classical film studies, but rather the wider discussions about the way any human discourse imposes meaning and structure on real events. For example, historical accounts impose a narrative structure onto events to make them intelligible, and a distinction must be drawn between the real events (which actually occurred) and the account (which lacks an independent historical existence): The states of affairs and events the historian alludes to do have a basis in historical reality, and the historians claims about those states of affairs and events can be literally true or false. But the narratives in which those states of affairs and events figure are inventions, constructions, indeed, fictions. The narrative structure in the historical recounting is not true or false; it is fictional.13 This point of such an observation may seem a little obscure. If the narrative structure imposed in a historical account is considered independently of the statements of historical fact that it is used to explain, then of course it must be considered fictional. If, however, a documentary text is considered in its entirety, then it is open to questioning about the validity of the historians factual claims (including analysis as to whether the narrative structure is an accurate or fair way of interpreting the real events) in a way that fiction is not. Certainly the argument is here being posed by Carroll (albeit following Michael Renov and Hayden White) as a prelude to arguing that it is unsupportable14. However, Carroll also refers to an alternative model for looking at the link between non-fiction and fiction, mounted by Bill Nichols in his book Representing Reality, which is more subtle and worth dealing with directly. Nichols, unlike the other theorists alluded to by Carroll, does not argue that documentaries must be considered fiction. He recognises that the existence of an external, real-world referent is an important distinction that cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. The world of a fiction film is a unique, imaginary domain, but the world of documentary is different: Instead of a world, we are offered access to the world.15 This claim to representation of the real means that documentaries are not simply narratives: they are also argumentative, if only in the sense that they make claims (even if only implicitly) about what is true. They are therefore a fiction (un)like any other.16 However, Nichols remains troubled by these claims to truth. While the documentary is distinguished from fiction by its links to the real, this representation is rendered problematic by the apparent impossibility of rendering truth objectively. Documentaries, while not fiction, share with fiction those very qualities that thoroughly compromise any rigorous objectivity, if they dont make it impossible Objectivity has been under no less siege than realism, and for many of the same reasons. It, too, is a way of representing the world that denies its own processes of construction and their formative effect. Any given standard for objectivity will have embedded political assumptions In documentary, these assumptions might include belief in the self-evident nature of facts, in rhetorical persuasion as a necessary and appropriate part of representation, and in the capacity of the documentary text to affect its audience through its implicit or explicit claim of This is so, isnt it?17 Nichols argument is reminiscent of those strands of theoretical thought that view ideology as an inescapable and all pervasive force. Documentaries do make claims about the truth that are open to evaluation, but unfortunately, according to Nichols, our institutional mechanisms for assessing such claims are themselves suspect. If such an approach is accepted, evaluation of the arguments made by Oliver Stone and Errol Morris might be highly problematic. Carroll, however, is not willing to concede that any of these arguments establish either that non-fiction is a form of fiction, or that objectivity is impossible. Firstly, he argues that the cinema does not posses any unique tendency towards bias compared to other media. The same arguments about selectivity that Barnouw raises with respect to film are equally applicable to other media and fields of enquiry.18 The particular causes of distortion may be different, but any historian for example may select, manipulate, interpret or emphasise aspects of their material just as a documentary maker can. Thus if non-fiction film is said to be subjective due to its selectivity, so must any field of human enquiry, such as history and science. In the earlier of the two articles I have discussed (written in 1983), Carroll is confident that such a wide-ranging scepticism would not be seriously proposed.19 As we have seen, by 1996 that was exactly the argument Carroll was responding to. Nevertheless, in 1983 his defence against the selectivity argument is based upon the notion of objectivity. In any given field of argument, at any given time, there are patterns of reasoning, standards for observation, and methods for assessing evidence which are used for getting to the truth.20 A piece of research is considered objective insofar as it abides by these norms. Likewise, non-fiction films may be assessed against similar codes, and will be considered biased or subjective if they fail to meet them. That selectivity may make bias possible, or even likely, does not preclude the possibility of a film according with established standards of objectivity. The obvious differences between the real world and the filmed presentation prevent film from substituting for lived experience, but they do not prevent documentaries from being objective. This central assumption of this argument that there are standards of objectivity that can be used to judge the truth is exactly the assumption that we have seen Bill Nichols question. Carroll, however, disputes all of Nichols contentions that are cited above. Firstly, he does not accept that objectivity demands that a film call attention to its processes of construction. After all, the fact that a non-fiction film is constructed is understood by any audience and does not need to be spelt out. Self-reflexive analyses of the filmmaking process or the authors own subjectivity might be a feature of many recent documentaries, but for Carrol this is an artistic device, rather than a necessary benchmark for objectivity. Nor does he accept that any standard for objectivity has embedded political assumptions, even accepting Nichols very broad definitions (outlined above) of what constitutes a political assumption. A belief in the self-evident nature of facts, for example, might be a political assumption when the facts being presented are politically charged falsehoods. Yet the acceptance that some claims of self-evident truth are suspect does not mean that there can be no self-evident facts. With regards to rhetorical persuasion, he argues that films can either eschew such devices altogether (he cites nature documentaries as an example),21 or employ rhetorical structures in the service of objective discourse. Similarly, he regards the implicit claim that this is so, isnt it as present in virtually any assertion and hence neither a political assumption nor a barrier to objectivity. Carrolls approach to these arguments about the prospects for truth or objectivity in documentary is often to return to examples where the truth claimed by the documentary seems clear and uncontentious (as with his common use of nature documentaries as discussion points). The linking thread of the arguments he presents is that the theorists he criticises have mistaken the difficulty in presenting objective truth for an impossibility, often by focussing on exactly the texts where the truth is most problematic.22 It is worth returning to The Thin Blue Line and JFK at this point, since these films both explore events that are subject to considerable conjecture. Neither could be accused of assuming the truth about these events is self-evident (quite the opposite), yet both nevertheless ultimately make vital factual claims. As noted already, these claims question state-sanctioned verdicts, and both films led to a public discussion that forced official re-examination of the cases: The Thin Blue Line forced the retrial of Randall Adams, while JFK contributed to the passing of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which appointed an Assassination Records Review Board (AARB) to re-examine unreleased information about the assassination.23 More than a decade later, with Randall Adams freed from jail, it seems fair to say that Morris case has been widely accepted as true. Oliver Stone, too, has been partially vindicated by subsequent re-examination of the case, with records released by the AARB that support some of his allegations (such as tampering with records of Kennedys autopsy).24 Yet, despite such small victories, and acceptance by many filmgoers of Stones theory of the assassination, JFK remains subject to fierce scholarly criticism of both its methods and conclusions that stands in contrast to the reception of The Thin Blue Line. Linda Williams, in her discussion of the two films, dismisses JFK as paranoid fiction,25 and the widespread condemnation of Stones film by both popular and academic press is well documented.26 Clearly this has much to do with the nature of the case Stone discusses. The Kennedy assassination, for obvious reasons, is a much more familiar event and one that had been the subject of considerably more public discussion than the Randall Adams prosecution. Furthermore, while The Thin Blue Line avoids underlining the political implications of its own conclusions, JFK is explicitly critical of the government and media, calling the assassination a coup detat and coming very close to suggesting former president Lyndon Johnson was involved.27 However, the difference in the reception of the two films cannot be explained simply through reference to the argument each presents. Within the very similar structures outlined at the start of this essay, there are also crucial differences that also explain much of the negative response to Stones film compared to Morris. In his consideration of JFK, Robert Rosenstone notes that there are considerable constraints over the depiction of historical events on the screen.28 In particular, he sees the need to invent detail and compress events to shape a narrative as a limitation that must be negotiated by any historical film. While he is referring to narrative features such as JFK, his argument is equally applicable to the summaries of and suppositions regarding events in The Thin Blue Line. This argument has clear overtones of the discussions of documentaries distortions of truth through selectivity that have already been cited. Like Carroll, Rosenstone argues that when a historical filmmaker such as Stone invents or compresses events, he or she is exercising the same type of discretion that the author of any written history must.29 Such inventions can be considered true (at least to a point) in the sense that they can be verified, documented, or reasonably argued. The problem, notes Rosenstone, is that the verification must occur outside the world of the film. When Stone argues in JFK that President Kennedy was about to withdraw troops from Vietnam, the information is justified by reference to a real memorandum (National Security Action Memo 263), but a fictitious character makes the reference. Assuming no foreknowledge of the case, the audience has no way while watching the film of even knowing that the memorandum really existed, let alone being sure that it supports the conclusion Stone draws. If Stones conclusion is to be examined, the audience must go beyond viewing and read the relevant documents (or scholarly discussion of them) for themselves. If they do so, they will, as Rosenstone states, be undertaking the same kind of critique and review that a work of written history is subjected to. This process of measuring a film against standards of objectivity is exactly that which Carroll highlights as the means of linking non-fiction films to the truth. Stone has actively sought to enter into such debates, mounting extensive defences of the historical accuracy of JFK and his other works.30 That JFK was so controversial was perhaps partly due to the fact that audiences do not necessarily judge films within such evaluative frameworks: unlike the target audience for written history, they may assume that what they see is true and not enter into the debates as to the films veracity. Even assuming an engaged, sceptical audience, however, it is also the case that Stones film does not make the separation of truth from fiction a straightforward task. I have already suggested that the film possesses three layers of exposition: an outer narrative (Stones case), an inner narrative (Garrisons story), and evidence (presented as documentary material and re-enactments). The inner narrative story of Jim Garrison (which is likely to be understood by most audiences as at least partially fictional and not taken as literally true) is often weaved seamlessly in with the evidence (more likely to be seen as Stones presentation of true material). Garrison, for example, meets the mysterious Mr X (Donald Sutherland) in Washington, who outlines a hypothesis about who killed Kennedy and why. This calls forth a series of re-enactments of high level discussions between officials that are weaved into Mr Xs account. The narrative is calling forth evidence, but the difficulty with this sequence is in separating what material is a fictional narrative device, what is speculated, and what is documented truth. For example, are we to accept that Garrison really did meet an anonymous official who told him this information, and take that as evidence that Stones case is true? Or are we to take this as simply part of the inner narrative, a method of presenting evidence? As mentioned, Mr X talks in detail of a real memorandum in order to put Stones case that Kennedy wished to withdraw from Vietnam. An audience might correctly surmise that the existence of such a memo (putting aside its meaning) is a documented fact. However, this quickly leads into discussions of the reaction to this memo within high levels of the government, and the point at which history slides into speculation in this sequence is by no means readily apparent. The re-enactment portions of the sequence are presented in a stylised style using black and white photography, but this does not flag them as conjectural, since Stone switches between film stocks throughout the film without drawing such distinctions. (Elsewhere in the film, for example, the Zapruder film of the assassination, is alternated with simulated footage shot in the same style.) The effect of these aesthetic decisions by Stone is to confuse the boundaries between non-fiction and fiction in a way that makes application of objective standards for assessing truth difficult. The audience can only infer which sections of the film are intended to be read as non-fiction and subject to such examination. Written in October 2001 for the Melbourne University subject Ethnographic and Documentary Cinema. Notes 1. This is the concluding sentence of Eric Barnouw, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film, (Oxford University Press, New York Oxford, 1993, 2nd Revised Edition), p. 349. 2. The list of similarities between the two films that follows draws partly on Linda Williams, Mirrors without Memories: Truth, History and The Thin Blue Line in Barry Keith Grant Jeanette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video (Wayne State UP, Detroit, 1998), p 381. 3. The films Garrison, for example, has access to information the real Garrison did not, in order to allow Stone to communicate it to audiences. For example, In the movie we attributed to Garrison the information about Shaws background but in real life Jim did not have access to that information at that time. (Oliver Stone audio commentary, JFK DVD, Region 4 Special Edition Directors Cut release, Warner Brothers, 1 hour 28 mins approx.) 4. This phrase is Stones own: JFK audio commentary, op. cit., 2 hours 10 mins approx. While these scenes are also used to communicate information about the larger case, this is an example of narrative efficiency, and does not contradict my point that they do contain aspects (such as the melodromatic touch of Garrisons children asking Dont you love us any more?) which function simply as domestic drama, with no relation to the case against Clay Shaw. 5. Nichols has revisited and slightly reformulated these modes over time, but they can be summarised as expository (ie voice-of-God documentaries that use direct address to tell the audience a truth), observational (cinema verite style films that aim to observe events without participating), interactive (interview based films that allows for direct address by participants, while allowing for filmmakers interaction through questioning), reflexive (films that draw attention to the documentarys own methods), and performative (stressing an individual, subjective position, while downplaying objective or referential aspects). See Bill Nichols: The Voice of Documentary, Film Quarterly 36, no 3 (Spring 1983); Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (1991, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis), Chapter 2; and (for the perfomative mode) Performing Documentary, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture (c. 1994, Indiana UP, Bloomington), pp 92-106. 6. This point and the subsequent discussion of classical film theory draw on the discussions in the anthologies Gerald Mast et al. (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1992), pp. 3-7, and Antony Easthorpe, Contemporary Film Theory (Longman, London New York, 1993), pp. 2-5. 7. Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Faber Faber, London, 1958), esp. pp. 17-37. 8. Ibid., p. 37-114. 9. Nol Carroll, From Real to Reel: Entangled in Nonfiction film, in Nol Carroll, Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), p. 224-252. (Originally published in Philosophic Exchange in 1983, and will be cited in future as Carroll (1996/1983) to distinguish it from his piece in Post-Theory cited below). Reference to direct cinema is p. 225. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., p. 226. Carroll is quoting from the first edition of Barnouws Documentary, citing p. 287-288 of that edition (Oxford University Press, New York, 1974). The nearest equivalent to this quote I can find in the third edition (op. cit.) is at p. 344. 12. Nol Carroll, Nonfiction films and Postmodernist Skepticism in Nol Carrol David Bordwell (eds.), Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies, (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1996), pp. 283-306. 13. Ibid., p. 288. Emphasis is Carrolls. 14. Carroll is frequently belligerent about the texts he discusses but is particularly so about Renovs Theorizing Documentary, describing it as a state of the art compendium of received thinking about the documentary film, and dismissing Renovs argument as a red herring. Ibid., p. 285 291. 15. Both quotes Nichols, 1991, op. cit., p. 109. Emphasis is Nichols. 16. This is the title of the second part of Nichols book. How helpful this argumentative nature is as a distinction between fiction and documentary (and how unlike any other form of fiction documentary can be said to be) is debatable given that fiction can be every bit as argumentative as documentary (as JFK demonstrates). 17. Ibid., p. 195. 18. Carroll (1996/1983), op. cit., p. 226. 19. Carroll: I mention this because I do not think that commentators who conclude that the nonfiction film is subjective intend their remarks as a mere gloss on the notion that everything is subjective. But that, I fear, is the untoward implication of their attack. Ibid., p. 226. 20. Ibid., p. 230. See also Carroll, 1996, op. cit. pp. 283-285. 21. Carroll, 1996, p. 294. 22. See, for example, Ibid., p. 293, regarding film scholars focus on art-documentary. 23. Michael L. Kurtz, Oliver Stone, JFK, and History, in Robert Brent Toplin (ed), Oliver Stones USA: Film, History, and Controversy, (University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 2000), p. 166-177. Reference to AARB is p. 174. 24. Ibid., pp. 175-176. 25. Williams (1998), op. cit., p.381. 26. See Susan Mackey-Kallis,Oliver Stones America: Dreaming the Myth Outward (Westview Press, Colorado and Oxford, 1996), pp. 39-44. Also Kurtz (2000), op. cit., pp169-170. 27. Stone tends to downplay this highly charged suggestion, denying he implies it in his audio commentary for the movie (op. cit., 2 hours 18 mins). However, the exchange between Garrison and his deputy Broussard at the same point of the film is as follows Garrison: This was a coup detat with Lyndon Johnson waiting in the wings. Broussard (shortly after): Boss, are you calling the president a murderer? Garrison: If Im so far from the truth why is the FBI bugging our offices? 28. Robert A. Rosenstone, JFK: Historical Fact / Historical Film, in Don Kunz (ed.) The Films of Oliver Stone, (Scarecrow Press, Lanham London, 1997), pp. 199-205. 29. Ibid., pp. 203-204. 30. See, for example Oliver Stone, Stone Responds, Part III of Toplin (ed., 2000), op. cit., pp. 217-298. 31. Williams (1998) op. cit., p. 386. 32. Ibid., p. 381. Bibliography Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Faber Faber, London, 1958) Eric Barnouw, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film, (Oxford University Press, New York Oxford, 1993, 2nd Revised Edition) Nol Carroll, From Real to Reel: Entangled in Nonfiction film, in Nol Carroll, Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), p. 224-252. Nol Carroll, Nonfiction films and Postmodernist Skepticism in Nol Carrol David Bordwell (eds.), Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies, (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1996), pp. 283-306. Antony Easthorpe, Contemporary Film Theory (Longman, London New York, 1993 Gerald Mast et al. (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1992) Susan Mackey-Kallis, Oliver Stones America (Westview Press, Colorado and Oxford, 1996) Bill Nichols: The Voice of Documentary, Film Quarterly 36, no 3 (Spring 1983) Bill Nichols, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (1991, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis) Bill Nichols, Performing Documentary, in Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture (c. 1994, Indiana UP, Bloomington), pp 92-106 Robert A. Rosenstone, JFK: Historical Fact / Historical Film, in Don Kunz (ed.) The Films of Oliver Stone, (Scarecrow Press, Lanham London, 1997) Robert Brent Toplin (ed), Oliver Stones USA: Film, History, and Controversy, (University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 2000) Contains the following referenced material: Michael L. Kurtz, Oliver Stone, JFK, and History, pp. 166-177. Oliver Stone, Stone Responds, pp. 217-298 Linda Williams, Mirrors without Memories: Truth, History and The Thin Blue Line in Barry Keith Grant Jeanette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video (Wayne State UP, Detroit, 1998) Filmography The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988) JFK (Oliver Stone, 1990) Related Items For more on documentaries, see my reviews of Mondovino and Fahrenheit 9/11.

Obesity How Obesity Affects Your Life - 938 Words

How Obesity Affect Your Life? Bassam Zedan Jefferson Community and Technical College How Obesity Affect Your Life? In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last three decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. Obesity effects the individual carrying the extra weight around, of course, but it also affects society as it is left up to the government and other health care facilities to address these issues and treat them. Fast food causes people to become overweight, and there are some effects of being overweight. First, the reason the obesity effect your life is fast food. Does fast food cause obesity? In short... yes. While it is certainly not the only cause, in conjunction with other factors, fast food restaurants are a big part of the obesity problem. There are many types of fast food restaurants, contain more energy, total fat, saturated fat. As a result of these less healthy ingredients, eating fast food has been found to be directly associated with both being overweight and exceeding the recommended levels of fat and sugar. The low cost of fast food encourages people to choose it over more expensive healthier food, which is a big reason that lower-income individuals are more likely to be obese. American people spending $4.5 billion a year on potato chips, and $3.1 billion a year on candy and gum. 45 present of adult American Americans eat out on a typical day, and one third of them chooseShow MoreRelatedObesity As A Disease Essay1378 Words   |  6 Pages(36.5%) of adults in the United States are obese. Obesity is defined as a weight that is higher than what is considered as a healthy weight. Body Mass Index (BMI) is used as a screening tool for overweight and obesity. According to the World Health Organization, worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. 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Time I Experienced Failure Free Essays

When i was in 9th grade I almost failed my history class and I was concerned about my gpa as well. Coming into 9th grade I thought it was going to be really easy in 9th grade but I think the real problem was that I was not focused At that time i really didn’t know what gpa was and when i got to 10th grade after the first marking period i had a 3. 0 gpa, i didn’t expect that because in the first period of my 10th grade year i did really well but then i was told the reason it was low was because of my 9th grade year. We will write a custom essay sample on Time I Experienced Failure or any similar topic only for you Order Now Sometimes I wish I could go back to 9th grade and redo the grade. History class was not the only class that I was worried about because I was just passing some of the other class as well. After the first semester my parents, teachers were all concerned about me and their attention just gave me more pressure to do good. If i could just go back in time to fix the problems I had that year I really think that would help me get a better gpa and make me a better student. After my 1st semester in high school all my teachers and parents paid lots of attention to me which really just scared me because I really didn’t want to repeat that history class again. When I look back I just think to myself why did I fool around in that class and not pay attention. Every assignment I got couldn’t be completed because I didn’t pay attention and when the teacher asked me for I said no. I felt like my teacher thought I was dumb because he recommend to put me in a lower history class next year but I know he was just doing what was best for me. I felt like nobody believed in me and thought what would happen when I move on in high school because it’s going to get tougher and tougher every year and I have to be prepared. There was trouble at home as well because my parents were really upset and thought what if i can’t go to college. My parents were afraid, if my bad grades continued it would be hard for me to get in college. After my first semester they decided that change was needed so they took my all game consoles, phone and everything till I improved my grades. My parents were at my school during my course selection, they weren’t happy when my teacher recommend me into a lower history class, I wanted to change the recommend and move on to next history class with my friend but my counselor and parents thought I should go a to lower history class. After a while I persuaded them into letting me move on but I had to pass history class this year or I would have to repeat same history class. That day I made a promise to myself that I would study my heart out to pass history class. Things were tough but I knew what I had to do to pass history. I had to stay after school to get help but it was worth it because at the end i passed history. I created lots of practices quiz, flashcards to help me through the class. I still use those strategies to this day, I am sure that’s the reason for my success in my classes. During this time my parents were pushing me to do better and they weren’t that happy because I passed history by 2 percent. Going into 10th grade I knew i had to get better grades which is what I did, I made lot’s of changes during the time which was necessary. I set goals to accomplished through every semester in 10th grade. In 9th grade I was scared to ask questions because if i said something dumb people would laugh at me but in 10th grade I didn’t care who laughed at me and asked lots of questions. All these things made me a better person and student. In all, I wanted to redo my 9th grade but in honesty if i didn’t have that year in my experiences I would have never learned from the mistakes. I would have never pushed my conscience to try harder and don’t give up. 9th grade was a rollercoaster ride but at the end I came out successful. How to cite Time I Experienced Failure, Essays Time I Experienced Failure Free Essays When i was in 9th grade I almost failed my history class and I was concerned about my gpa as well. Coming into 9th grade I thought it was going to be really easy in 9th grade but I think the real problem was that I was not focused At that time i really didn’t know what gpa was and when i got to 10th grade after the first marking period i had a 3.0 gpa, i didn’t expect that because in the first period of my 10th grade year i did really well but then i was told the reason it was low was because of my 9th grade year. We will write a custom essay sample on Time I Experienced Failure or any similar topic only for you Order Now Sometimes I wish I could go back to 9th grade and redo the grade. History class was not the only class that I was worried about because I was just passing some of the other class as well. After the first semester my parents, teachers were all concerned about me and their attention just gave me more pressure to do good. If i could just go back in time to fix the problems I had that year I really think that would help me get a better gpa and make me a better student. After my 1st semester in high school all my teachers and parents paid lots of attention to me which really just scared me because I really didn’t want to repeat that history class again. When I look back I just think to myself why did I fool around in that class and not pay attention. Every assignment I got couldn’t be completed because I didn’t pay attention and when the teacher asked me for I said no. I felt like my teacher thought I was dumb because he recommend to put me in a lower history class next year but I know he was just doing what was best for me. I felt like nobody believed in me and thought what would happen when I move on in high school because it’s going to get tougher and tougher every year and I have to be prepared. There was trouble at home as well because my parents were really upset and thought what if i can’t go to college. My parents were afraid, if my bad grades continued it would be hard for me to get in  college. After my first semester they decided that change was needed so they took my all game consoles, phone and everything till I improved my grades. My parents were at my school during my course selection, they weren’t happy when my teacher recommend me into a lower history class, I wanted to change the recommend and move on to next history class with my friend but my counselor and parents thought I should go a to lower history class. After a while I persuaded them into letting me move on but I had to pass history class this year or I would have to repeat same history class. That day I made a promise to myself that I would study my heart out to pass history class. Things were tough but I knew what I had to do to pass history. I had to stay after school to get help but it was worth it because at the end i passed history. I created lots of practices quiz, flashcards to help me through the class.I still use those strategies to this day, I am sure that’s the reason for my success in my classes. During this time my parents were pushing me to do better and they weren’t that happy because I passed history by 2 percent. Going into 10th grade I knew i had to get better grades which is what I did, I made lot’s of changes during the time which was necessary. I set goals to accomplished through every semester in 10th grade. In 9th grade I was scared to ask questions because if i said something dumb people would laugh at me but in 10th grade I didn’t care who laughed at me and asked lots of questions. All these things made me a better person and student. In all, I wanted to redo my 9th grade but in honesty if i didn’t have that year in my experiences I would have never learned from the mistakes. I would have never pushed my conscience to try harder and don’t give up. 9th grade was a rollercoaster ride but at the end I came out successful. How to cite Time I Experienced Failure, Essays

Organizational Goals and Objectives Free Sample for Students

Questions: 1.What does this Capability Entail? 2.Why would it be Important for a Human Resource Manager to have this Capability? 3.Assume you are applying for a Graduate HR position, and Demonstrating this capability is one of the key Selection Criteria. What Evidence could you provide to Demonstrate you possess this Capability? Answers: Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) is a national association representing people management professionals and human resource. AHRI has developed a Model of Excellence. It explains the behaviors and capabilities of an excellent HR manager. This model includes 7 major capabilities required for an HR practitioner. They are such as: Business driven A strategic architect An expert practitioner An ethical and credible activist A workforce and workplace designer A cultural and change leader A stakeholder mentor and coach Among all these, 3 major capabilities have been selected and 3 following questions have been answered. These three capabilities are such as business driven, workforce and workplace designer and cultural and change leader. 1.Business driven This capability entails that HR professionals have to be business oriented. They have to assess the skills and knowledge required for a job and analyze the performance outcomes of employees. After that, they need to communicate and use this information to establish and maintain working relationship and network. Barak (2016) stated that human resource professionals must have to work according to the organizational goals and objectives. They have to develop trust and confidence among employees so that they can provide maximum effort on their job. Workforce and workplace designer This capability entails that HR professionals have to respond in accordance to the challenges of workforce development and design. De Lange et al. (2015) mentioned that, HR professionals have to emphasize on performance management in their work force designing so that they can meet organizational objectives. In addition, HR professionals have the responsibility to make appropriate job analysis and design, reward, retention and reward strategies that can provide an efficient and talented workforce to an organization. Cultural and change leader This capability entails that HR professionals have to be the leader of culture and change management decisions. Hence, maintaining cultural balance in the workplace, resolving cultural conflicts and taking change initiatives are significant part of the job roles of HR professionals. Fullan (2014) stated that in order to increase the efficiency of the workforce, HR professionals have to summarize their cultural decisions in short statement. As the cultural and change leader, HR professionals have to modify or redesign their hiring practices to reflect their stated values. They also need to develop matrices (applicable to every employee) to analyze between good and bad performance. Stone and Deadrick (2015) stated that, in order to remain clear about the cultural and change decisions, an HR manager needs to develop written standard. 2.In order to meet all the organizational goals and objectives, within a given frame of time, an HR professional has to be business driven. It will help the HR professional to understand an organization and its strategies Moran et al. (2014). It will also depict the stakeholder management and help the HR manager to build strong relationship with both employees and customers. They have to gather, analyze and communicate essential information with employees to enhance overall performance of the organization. Storey (2014) added by saying that, HR professionals need to provide regular feedback to employees to increase their confidence and trust. It will help the HR managers to get positive outcome from critical conditions. Fullan (2014) mentioned that, it is one of the major task of an HR managers to increase efficiency of the workforce. In order to do that, an HR professional has to be a good workforce and workplace designer. There are certain factors on which the HR professional has to emphasize. They are such as designing and development of hob posts according to organizational objectives. Developing proper standard and guideline for hiring, retaining and rewarding employees can help to develop a skilled and talented workforce for an organization. Proper workplace design and development can help to solve conflicts arise in the workplace and enhance communication between stages of the workforce. Sparrow et al. (2016) stated that, it can help to enhance overall efficiency and productivity for a company. Ulrich et al. (1995) stated that, majority of the multinational organizations have to face cultural conflicts as employees come from different cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, Moran et al. (2014) mentioned that majority of the employees of any organization resist to any kind of change in the workplace. It is the responsibility of the human resource professionals to resolve all the cultural conflicts occur in a company and to take change initiatives. Fullan (2014) stated that HR professionals need to make their employees understand the benefits and emergence of change initiatives. They have to develop policies to resolve any cultural conflict occur in an organization. Written guidelines need to be developed in order prohibit any kind of discrimination related with culture and religion. Polices need to be developed in order to hire employees only on the basis of their qualification, skills and experience rather than cultures and religion. 3.I am applying for the position of Graduate HR and I think that I posses all these capabilities. Previously, I worked as HR manager in company Tesco. I am providing evidence from my previous job experience for all these three capabilities: Business driven I organized meeting with employees after every 3 months to communicate about the organizational goals and their performance objectives. I assessed performance of employees in every 2 months and provided feedback on their performance. I always encouraged employees to take challenge in their job and tried to boost up their confidence. Workforce and workplace designer I helped to develop appropriate standards and guidelines to hire employees. I advised my senior managers to rules for hiring employees. It was mainly based on qualification and experience rather. I helped to develop standards of behaviors that every Tesco employee has to maintain at the workplace. I advised to develop hourly incentive policy for over time working. Cultural and change leader I helped to develop a plan to provide behavioral and communication training to all Tesco employees so that they behave properly with each other. This training program was 30 days long. It helped to reduce the cultural conflict occurred in our organization. During my 2 years of experience as HR manager in Tesco, I had taken various change initiatives. For example, I had taken initiative to increase CSR activity of TESCO. We had developed an environmental protection campaign to increase awareness among our employees and customers about the harmful impact of using plastic bags on the environment. References Barak, M.E.M., 2016.Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications. De Lange, A.H., Kooij, D.T.A.M. and Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M., 2015. Human resource management and sustainability at work across the lifespan: An integrative perspective.Facing the challenges of a multi-age workforce: A use-inspired approach, pp.50-79. Fullan, M., 2014.Leading in a culture of change personal action guide and workbook. John Wiley Sons. Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014.Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016.Globalizing human resource management. Routledge. Stone, D.L. and Deadrick, D.L., 2015. Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management.Human Resource Management Review,25(2), pp.139-145. Storey, J., 2014.New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. Ulrich, D., Brockbank, W., Yeung, A.K. and Lake, D.G., 1995. Human resource competencies: An empirical assessment.Human Resource Management,34(4), pp.473-495.

Soviet Union and de-Stalinization Essay Example

Soviet Union and de-Stalinization Essay Soviet Union Leaders in the Post Stalin Era Kareem M. Khalil Fall 2010-2011 Lebanese American University Outline I. The Soviet Union: a. Background about the Soviet Union from 1917-1953. b. Vladimir Lenin. c. Joseph Stalin. II. Nikita Khrushchev: a. Rise to power. b. De-Stalinization. c. Reforms and domestic policies. d. Foreign Policy. e. Expulsion from power. III. Leonid Brezhnev: a. Rise to Power. b. Domestic Policies. c. Brezhnev Stagnation. d. Foreign Policy. e. Death. IV. Yuri Andropov: a. Rise to Power. b. Domestic Policies. c. Foreign Policy. V. Konstantin Cherenko: d. Policies and short office term. VI. Mikhail Gorbachev: e. Domestic policies f. Foreign policy. g. Fall from power. h. End of the Soviet Union. VII. Conclusion Soviet Union Leaders in the Post Stalin Era The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, simply referred to ask the Soviet Union, was a socialist state that spread from Northern and Eastern Europe to various parts of Central Asia. It dated between the 30th of December 1922 and the 26th of December 1991. Until its collapse in 1991, it consisted of almost 15 constituent republics that are acknowledged today as: â€Å"Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan† [ (Rosenberg) ]. The father and founder of the Soviet Union was no other than Vladimir Lenin who managed to set the foundations of the USSR after overthrowing Tsar Nicholas II in November of 1917, and finally establishing a Soviet government in 1922. We will write a custom essay sample on Soviet Union and de-Stalinization specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Soviet Union and de-Stalinization specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Soviet Union and de-Stalinization specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer After asserting himself as the â€Å"Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the Soviet Union†, Lenin began planning and implementing new policies and ideas that would affect the USSR, alter and influence the rest of the world even after he passed away. McCauley (1993) describes some of Lenin’s policies during his reign as the following: nationalizing all banks and important business enterprises, distributing lands to peasants, reintegrating several states into Bolshevik Russia, and exporting the communist ideology. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin was appointed as the â€Å"General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). † Stalin, and through outsmarting and slowly banishing his opponents, managed to establish a totalitarian regime and appoint himself as the supreme leader of the Soviet Union in the late 1920’s. Stalin’s period in office was both devastating and costly to the Soviet Union in especially in its domestic policies. Stalin’s five year economic plan (the rapid industrialization of the USSR) produced remarkable results, but cost the lives of around â€Å"14. 5 million peasants† (â€Å"http://www. moreorless. au. com/killers/stalin. html, â€Å"), and reaped the lives of almost twenty million people and deported over twenty five others from their homes. Stalin’s gruesome and horrendous rule ended when he died on the 5th of March, 1953. Stalin’s sudden decease left an important void in which many were eager to fill. The outcome of Stalin’s death resulted in a system of collective leadership. The key figures of this communal rule were: â€Å"Nikita Khrushchev, Lavrenti Beria, Nikoli Bulganin, Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and, Lazar Kaganovich† (http://www. fortunecity. com/victorian/riley/ 787/Soviet/Khrushchev/Krushchev. html). During this period, the struggle to instigate a premier to head the Soviet Union faced many turbulences and changes. At the beginning, Malenkov assumed power as acting Premier, and Khrushchev undertook his predecessor’s (Stalin) position as First secretary of the CPSU. Subsequently, and by 1955, Georgy Malenkov was forced to relinquish his position as Premier, and was substituted by Nikoli Bulganin (who was supported and favored by Khrushchev). After Stalin’s death, his successors proceeded to diverge from the latter’s cruel and violent strategies. Surprisingly, and in a six hour speech in the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev criticized and condemned Stalin’s bloody reign. This step forced a considerable amount of pressure to the First Secretary as McCauley (1987) describes, especially with his compatriots in the collective leadership circle. Two assassination attempts later, and a failed expulsion scheme set by Kaganovich, Molotov, and Malenkov against him, Khrushchev still managed to strengthen his power furthermore. Ironically, and in 1958, Nikoli Bulganin was forced to resign by the same man who favored his appointment, and Khrushchev assumed both the position of Premier (on the 27th of March) and First Secretary of the CPSU. Although Khrushchev worked closely and for many years with Stalin, nonetheless he was unusually dissimilar to the latter. Unlike Stalin’s harsh manner and look, Volkogonov (1998) describes Khrushchev as more of a forthcoming, pleasant, humorous, and energetic individual. Their differences are undoubtedly noticeable as Khrushchev embarked on a new policy of De-Stalinization, set to cross out Stalin’s bloody history from the Soviet Union’s international image and its people’s minds. As part of his new policy he began with renaming all the cities that carried Stalin’s name and all pictures and statues of Stalin were destroyed (as not to leave any mark to be a remainder of him). By doing so, Khrushchev managed to obtain an approval from the West and appear as a prominent and distinguished leader than his predecessors, in which Stalin would have almost certainly never acquired or achieved. In his domestic policy, Khrushchev set in motion various agricultural, administrative, and industrial reforms. In the farming sector, he launched his virgin land campaign that sought to improve and â€Å"develop the country’s virgin land and forests† [ (Sakwa, 1999) ], but his strategy proved disastrous. On the administrative level, Khrushchev began with abolishing the courts undertaken by several governmental agencies. He carried one to make the Central Committee assemblies public and open to a large number of Soviet Officials to speak freely in, and used this to his advantage since any declared opposition to him would be shunned out by the large number of his supporters. In the industrial sector, he tried to decentralize ministries and transform them into local councils to become more receptive to any problems or urgent requirements, but these councils did the opposite of what they were anticipated to do. In spite of his decent image with of the West and his more peaceful and reformist approach in the USSR, perhaps little change occurred in his military-defense/foreign policy. He sought after upholding a powerful Communist Eastern bloc. This is clearly revealed with the Warsaw Pact that was set together during his rule. Furthermore, the cold war tension peaked during his reign specifically at the incident of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which he was utterly disgraced and was forced to withdraw the Russian arsenal from the isle. Following his major failures, and by 1964, Khrushchev was ousted out of office when he was vacationing, and was replaced by another collective leadership composed of Alexei Kosygin, Leonid Brezhnev, and Nikolai Podgorny. However, and between all the members of the â€Å"troika† (three members of the collective leadership system), Brezhnev was the most prominent and influential figure. This reason may be attributed to the simplicity of Brezhnev’s character. In his book â€Å"Autopsy for an Empire†, Volkogonov (1998) portrays the latter as a traditional, team player, and influential figure able to rally large support to his views in any path he desired. Perhaps the characteristics Brezhnev enjoyed enabled him to further rise over his two fellow rulers, and ultimately break free and become the USSR’s sole executive. Throughout his rule of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev implemented a policy to protect and sustain his rule as General Secretary of the CPSU, but at the same time brought about important reforms despite his conventional mentality. Kelley (1987) explains that Brezhnev, like Khrushchev, wanted to leave a mark in history, therefore he attempted many policy reforms. What made him different than other leaders was that Brezhnev acted carefully with every step he took n a certain field while balancing it with another field. Consequently, and by doing so, he was able to handle his critics and avoid any conflict with them and promote a balanced progress. Brezhnev’s domestic policy first focused on Soviet industries. His plan was to merge different factory â€Å"associations† whereby weaker factories could be reinfo rced by stronger ones in order to hasten the process of modernization [ (Kelley, 1987) ]. He then carried out to abolish the decentralization plans carried out by his predecessor Khrushchev His other important reforms stemmed from the agricultural sector. Brezhnev kept on the principle of collective farming, ordered all Soviet owned land to be increased by a half a hectare, and introduced new machineries to further facilitate and accelerate production. Despite Brezhnev’s intense investment in agriculture, that particular sector was faced with many droughts that affected production. The result of such disasters forced the USSR to â€Å"import large quantities of grain from Western countries† [ (http://countrystudies. us/russia/14. htm) ]. A key feature of Brezhnev’s rule, was the economic stagnation (referred to as the Brezhnev Stagnation) that the USSR’s economy passed through in the mid 1970s. The economic progress had reached its peak during that period, and began to go into stalemate. This can be attributed to several factors being: decreasing standards of living, the small numbers of unemployment that resulted in workers working less and getting paid nonetheless, and the abuse of the Soviet population to the cheap consumer goods and government services. With regards to his foreign policy, Brezhnev’s priority was to reassert the communist influence in the neighboring communist states â€Å"by undermining the influence of China† [ (http://countrystudies. s/russia/14. htm) ]. China was a growing communist influence in the Asian region, and Mao publicly denounced the Soviet foreign policy at the time. The relations between the USSR and China severely deteriorated to an extent that the armies of both countries went to a small confrontation. On the Eastern side Brezhnev created the â€Å"Brezhnev Doctrine†, as a result of some events that took place in Cz echoslovakia. Notably in 1979, Brezhnev declared war against Afghanistan (to enforce a communist government) and the issue remained unsettled until the 1980’s. Several important treaties were signed by Brezhnev at that time including: The Treaty on the â€Å"Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons†, â€Å"Strategic Arms Limitation Talks†, â€Å"Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty†, â€Å"Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. † These treaties helped ease the rising tension of the Cold War Khrushchev initiated and delay the ongoing arms race. Perhaps the most important accomplishment of Brezhnev detente period was the signing of the 1975 Helsinki accord, which strengthened the communists in the Eastern Bloc and raised more antagonism against the US and the West. On November 10th 1982, Brezhnev passed away, and his successor would be Yuri Andropov. The two most notable heirs to the General Secretary of the CPSU position were Konstantin Cherenko and Yuri Andropov. In this short race for to gain the executive position, Andropov had apparent advantage. â€Å"After fifteen years of leading the KGB† [ (Mrose, 2010) ], he possessed a prolonged experience in both foreign and defense policies and had the advantage to gain support and form a strong and large to replace Brezhnev. Therefore on the 12th of November 1982, Andropov was elected to be the next leader of the Soviet Union. Although his term lasted about fifteen months, his policies and some notable events should be mentioned. Brezhnev’s rule resulted in massive corruption amongst several Soviet officials, and as a result, Andropov’s first policy was to reintroduce party regulations to counter this phenomenon. Furthermore, Andropov wanted to â€Å"boost labor discipline† (http://countrystudies. us/russia/15. htm,†). To further explain this point, we refer to the section about how workers became less efficient in Brezhnev’s rule, therefore Andropov provisioned and implemented new rules to regenerate a strong workforce. On the foreign policy level, his rule witnessed even more decline with the U. S especially after the Soviet’s shot down a Korean commercial airplane and killed all its passengers (one being a U. S senator). Perhaps his most important success was finding Mikhail Gorbachev and advancing him towards a higher ranking in the Communist regime. Andropov passed away on the 9th of February, 1984, and was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko. Although Andropov’s wishes was for Gorbachev to replace him, Chernenko (and after a long series of deliberation) was elected to become the new leader of the Soviet Union on the 13th of February, 1984. Kelley (1987) describes the process in which Chernenko reached power as way for the old members of the central committee to preserve their interests on one hand, and because younger member did not figure out their stable path in politics. Due to his very short stay in office, old age, and illness; Chernenko did not have any notable foreign or domestic foreign policy plans. Perhaps the most important event of his time, was the initiation of Gorbachev to replace him. Chernenko passed away on the 10th of March 1985, and was replaced by the final leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, on the same day. Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest elected General Secretary to assume command in the history of the USSR. Volkogonov (1998) describes him to be the 2nd famous worldwide leader Soviet leader after Lenin, and the most contemporary individual amongst them. Gorbachev launched a wide scale reform policy that affected different sectors of the country. His strategy could be summarized into the following: reorganization, more freedom, democratisation, and hastening economic growth. The first goal one Gorbachev’s agenda was to introduce better scientific and technological means and methods in industry and agriculture. Through this means, he aimed at eliminating the long economic stagnation present since the Brezhnev era He soon realized that his aspirations will not have the desired effect unless he changes the political system from within. Therefore Gorbachev replaced several key and old Soviet officials with new energetic and younger ones. He went on to issue laws that control quality production goods, to render the sale of low-grade products. Throughout his industrial/agricultural reform phase, Gorbachev did not abandon his predecessors’ idea of a central planned economy, and tried to promote and strengthen it even more. With regards to reorganizing party ranks, democratisation, and reducing government control, Gorbachev’s second step was to dissolve the Soviet Supreme rule within itself. What began as changes in members of the Central Committee and keys ministries, evolved to draft plans of multi-candidate elections and assign non- party individuals to several governmental ranks. In 1989, he established â€Å"the Congress of People’s Deputies† (a new legislative body) in an attempt to lighten the government’s grip. Gorbachev was elected to become the head of state in the same year (General Secretary position was no longer the supreme executive position), and in 1991 he was elected to become the President of the USSR. Gorbachev’s policy of giving more freedom to the Soviet citizen’s was a new method of rule. For the first time perhaps in the USSR’s history, he decreed private ownership laws that enabled individuals to possess their own businesses. He carried on to divide the government owned airlines at that time to several autonomous airlines. Surprisingly, Gorbachev paved the way to a vast and wide â€Å"freedom of speech† policy to the Soviet citizens. This was used as a tool to silence the conservatives who opposed his reforms. Gorbachev’s new motto with regards to foreign policy was â€Å"new political thinking in international relations† (Holloway, 1988). He first began with normalization of relations with the West and especially the United States in order to reduce Cold War tensions. By doing so, he also wished to enhance both economic and diplomatic relations with the West to reach his goals, rather than confrontation or isolation. This step also helped him promote his domestic policies of reform because the United States at that time had the solution to many of Moscow’s problems. n the December 1987 Washington Summit, both countries met to endorse the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In 1990, the Washington summit was held between the two nations where both countries showed willingness to participate in improving relations on many levels. In addition Gorbachev pursued more diplomatic means with t he United States with regards to arms control. In 1991, both states met in Moscow to sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Furthermore, Gorbachev enhanced the Soviet Union’s relations on many sensitive fronts. He engaged in process of improving the relations with China, after the crisis in the Brezhnev era, and succeeded in doing so. The first Soviet-Chinese summit was held on May 1989. Gorbachev carried on to improve relations with Europe where he gave an important speech on the 7th of July, 1987 where â€Å"he insisted on the sovereign right of each people to choose their own social system (â€Å"http://www. country-data. com/cgi-bin/query/r-11378. html† , 1996). Finally, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 in accordance with the agreement signed by the US, Pakistan, the USSR, and Afghanistan in 1988. As much as Gorbachev’s foreign and domestic policies seem constructive, yet they yielded several disastrous results. The economic policy brought about by the government resulted in several food and supply scarcities. The decentralization and loosening the governments grip policy outcome was the disintegration of the Soviet Union within itself, and many of its former states declaring independence. Soon enough, and after severe weakening of the Soviet Union, the August coup of 1991, and the creation of the â€Å"Commonwealth of independent states†; Gorbachev dissolved the Soviet Union nd Boris Yeltsin became the first president of the non-communist Russia. All great empires must come to an end as history as clearly shown us. Its fair to say that although the communist ideology was promoted as the best alternative to the imperial and capitalist means, its implementation was not close to its teachings. As shown in the above, each leader in the long chain of command in the S oviet Union partially or to a high extent drifted away from the original thoughts of Lenin. Each had his own goals, ways of thought, and policies that he projected in different means. Some even went to the extent of shunning the original foundations of communism and rejecting and insulting old leaders. They all had their different agendas, they just hid behind the shadow of the regime in order to reach higher ranks, implement their goals, and leave their own mark in Russian and international history. Bibliography (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. fortunecity. com/victorian/riley/787/Soviet/Khrushchev/Krushchev. html. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://countrystudies. us/russia/14. htm. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://countrystudies. s/russia/15. htm (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://countrystudies. us/russia/17. htm (2001, May 23). Retrieved from http://www. moreorless. au. com/killers/stalin. html. Holloway, D. (1988). Gorbachevs new thinking. America and the World 1988 , 68 (1). http://countrystudies. us/russia/17. htm. (n. d. ). http://www. country-data. com/cgi-bin/query/r-11378. html. (1996, July). Kelley, D. R. (1987). Soviet politics from brezhnev to gorbache v. New York: Praeger Publishers. Mccauley, M. (1987). Khrushchev and khrushchevism. Great Britain: School of Slavonic and Eat European Studies, University of London. McCauley, M. (1993). The soviet union: 1917-1991. London and New York: Longman. Mrose, C. (2010, November 12). Retrieved from https://www. libertycentral. org/today-in-history-yuri-andropov-assumes-power-in-the-soviet-union-2010-11 Rosenberg, M. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://geography. about. com/od/countryinformation/a/ussr. htm. Sakwa, R. (1999). The rise and fall of the soviet union 1917-1991. New York: Routledge. Volkogonov, D. (1998). Autopsy for an empire. New York: The Free If you need a kind of write my essay online help with another paper topic, contact us right now!

Future Of E-Commerce Essays - Retailing, E-commerce, Free Essays

Future Of E-Commerce Essays - Retailing, E-commerce, Free Essays Future Of E-Commerce 1 The Future of E-Commerce Future 2 THE FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE There are varying opinions regarding the future of e-commerce. Despite the fact that online sales are growing exponentially, some analysts believe that e-commerce is heading for a fall. Laurie Windham justifies her belief that as time goes on, sales will decrease instead of increasing. Windham believes that net consumers are very different than mall shoppers and catalog shoppers. Furthermore, she says that dot-coms are responsible for ruining their own chances to sell because they have spoiled customers to the point that consumers expect cheap prices and freebies and if they don't get them, they just move on to another site. E-commerce, Windham says, is a fickle world with little, if any, customer loyalty (Fortune, 2000). Windham found some interesting differences between online shoppers and traditional shoppers. For instance, 34 percent of online shoppers describe themselves as comparison shoppers but only 8 percent of traditional shoppers describe themselves as comparison shoppers. Another comparison is that only 1 percent of Web shoppers say they hate stores but 10 percent of traditional shoppers say they hate stores (Fortune, 2000). Web shoppers are by and large comparison, price-sensitive consumers. Future 3 Windham, who spent two years studying the consumers who purchase online, said that as nonusers begin to use the Web for purchasing, they will be less adventuresome than people already making purchases online. They will also be slightly older than the norm and they will be more fearful and cautious about privacy and security. In other words, as nonusers begin using the Web to shop, they will be a more conservative group than current users. It is probable they will also be less fickle and more loyal to brands/stores (Fortune, 2000). Windham pointed out that there were numerous problems with people receiving exactly what they ordered online during last holiday season. Based on that, she suggested sales may be lower this year (Fortune, 2000). Surveys conducted after the last holiday season suggested online shoppers would continue shopping online. One survey, for instance, indicated that more than 90 percent of consumers reported that shopping online met or exceeded their expectations. Eighty percent said they would increase their online shopping in 2000 (Rutledge, 2000). Studies found that consumer confidence in using the Internet for shopping reached very high levels, which were due to a number of factors. Positive comments from family and friends were one of the factors that swayed more people to utilize this option. Better selections from online stores also made the experience more satisfying. Finally, Future 4 secure credit card transactions played a major role in increasing sales (Rutledge, 2000). Consumers were enticed to try shopping on the Internet by the massive marketing campaign last year for both dot-com stores and retail stores online. More than 70 percent of Net shoppers said they bought from e-commerce sites that offered free shipping. Another 54 percent said they were enticed by the discounts offered for their first online purchase. Forty percent used online coupons and 25 percent responded to the offer of free gifts for their online purchase (Rutledge, 2000). The Direct Marketing Association projected that sales generated from catalogs and the Internet would double in the next four years, reaching $3.33 billion (Entrepreneur, 2000). A study by Jupiter Communications agreed saying that sales would increase this holiday season. This study reported that holiday shoppers would spend almost $12 billion in online purchases between November 1 and December 31 this year, which represents a 66 percent increase over the same time period last year. The increase between the 1998 and 1999 holiday seasons was 126 percent. There is a slowdown in the degree of growth but it is still a substantial increase (Kontzner, 2000) The Gartner Group predicted a much larger growth this year. They projected sales of $19.5 billion. This group also believed that dot-com stores and retail stores online Future 5 would not spend as much money on advertising this year. Instead, they will spend

Mirror by lucy grealy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mirror by lucy grealy - Essay Example Society is an organization where people share common ideas as well as economic and social infrastructure. In a society people should support each other and they also have to maintain a good relationship. Usually, there is a social and emotional bond between the people of a society. But due to the harsh experiences in her life, Grealy forms a different concept of society. She accepts society and the nature of truth in her appearance because she accepts the correlation of her face and herself. She forms a repulsive image of the society where people are not cooperative and supportive. She accepts the fact that her face is ugly but she internalizes this fact and continues to live on. She also understands that the image shown in a mirror or the social mirror is not real. She believes that the society lacks values and people do not take notice of any values. Nature did not give Lucy beauty, which was a popular social demand. This was due to the fact that she had to undergo chemotherapy fro m a very young age. The society in which Grealy existed, failed to show empathy towards her. They were not able to accept Grealy as she was. They never bothered to help her.

Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Case - Essay Example Similarly, another female speaker from a falling company was given the chance to address the graduates. According to the author, this female speaker was given the opportunity just because the company she was working with was almost collapsing, which is a representation of women leadership (Kantor, par. 1-4). The entire graduation seemed like a comparison of the men and women achievements in the school as well as the working world. The author is trying to bring out the issue of women being labeled as failures both at school and at work. This is the reason she has given the example of the two women speakers at the graduation. From the entire story, the author has communicated the manner in which females are treated differently from their male counterparts. At one point, the reader is made to understand that the number of male students enrolling at the Harvard Business School is much higher than that of females. Also, the number of male professors is very high compared to that of female professors, a situation that would make some female lectures opt for a different environment. For instance, some of the school alumni such as Sheryl Sandberg would admit that the school was worse during their times. No one was allowed to talk about the things that take place within the school since everything was â€Å"dirty secret† (Kantor, par. 10-14). The issues that made a majority of the students as well as the alumnus to dislike the school were due to the differentiated treatment that was being given to the students. For instance, the school ranking was based on the level of student participation in class. How ever, the majority of the tutors being male would discriminate against the female students. This, on the other hand, would adversely affect the female students’ grades at the end of every semester and also at the end of their courses. The majority of the students, as well as

Academic Poster ( Mental Health) in the uk Essay

Academic Poster ( Mental Health) in the uk - Essay Example Physical problems such as stomach problems, tremors, blackouts, and hangovers occur. Psychologically, the drinker is irritable and can be moved to angry outbursts (Livestrong, 2015). The costs of alcohol misuse are high. Before taking a drink, it is important to ask whether or not, the risk of becoming addicted and succumbing to the problems linked to alcoholism are worth the gains achieved through alcohol consumption. Based on the four stages of alcoholism, it is important to stop drinking as soon as it is apparent that you are at vulnerable to alcohol addiction. This realization should occur in the first stage or the adaptive stage of alcoholism. All efforts should be made to quit consumption of alcohol during this stage. As the alcoholic progresses, it becomes harder to quit until the conclusion stage where quitting might not make a difference since the alcoholic’s body and mind is likely suffering irreparable damage and death is imminent. Ideally, the drinker should recognize a drinking problem early on and make a determined effort to abstain. It is best not to wait until you hit rock bottom as rock bottom could mean a custodial sentence, harm to othe rs. o.oneself. Excessive drinking or drinking ‘more than the recommended limits of alcohol consumption’ (NHS, 2013). The government has established alcohol consumption limits that are believed to pose minimum health risks to those who want to drink. Keeping within the guidelines’ limits should mean the risk of harm is reduced, if not eliminated. Recommended Limits : Women should drink at most, 2-3 units (175ml glass of wine) daily. Men should at most drink 3-4 units (pint of beer, lager or cider) daily (NHS, 2015). However, Nichols, et al. (2012) reveals that even keeping within these limits will not prevent exposure to chronic illness due to alcohol consumption. Mental Health Issues: Alcohol interferes with the brain’s neurotransmitters and exposes alcohol misusers to depression,

History of Communicative Language Teaching

History of Communicative Language Teaching Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a method of teaching second and foreign language. This method highlights interaction as both the technique and objective for learning a language. In addition, it is known as the communicative approach to teaching foreign language or simply put, the communicative approach. CLT was said to have originated from Britian during the 1960s. I served as a replacement to the popular method known as Situational language teaching which is based on the structural view of language. Linguist Noam Chomasky criticized the structural linguistics because it was not enough to cover syntax since there would be infinity of sentences that could be said. What Chomasky proposed that a set of parameters must be created that would be able to generate all the possible sentences in a language. This criticism of Chomasky gave rise to a couple more proposals in language teaching and the communicative approach is the one that has prevailed. Likewise, communicative language teaching also came as a response to the prominent method of learning a language, the Audio-lingual Method, and as an application of the notion function syllabus. Audio-lingual demanded itself as peoples need to learn foreign language skills during and after War II. It is closely connected with behaviourism, thus making drilling, repletion and habit formation its central elements of instruction. The notion function syllabus is a way by which a language learning curriculum can be organized. Here, the instructions are assigned, unlike Audio-lingual, but in terms of notions and functions where a notion is a specific environment where people communicate and a function is a unique objective for a speaker in a given environment. There are certain practices under the communicative approach. For one, the communicative approach has it that, meaning is paramount. Language learning aims to achieve communication. Effective communication is sought. Drilling may occur and pronunciation is focused on. Any tool which helps the students learn is recommended. Communicating in the target language is encouraged from early years. Whereas translating text may be used at a very lower level. Likewise reading and writing may be started early as well. The L2 linguistic feature is learned through engaging in communication. Communicative competence is considered the main aim. Language is created by individual often through trail and error. Fluency and acceptable language is the main goal: accuracy is examined in context. Students are expected to interact with other people such as through pair and group work. The teacher may not determine the language the students use. The communicative approach gives a great support for students to use the target language in various contexts and functions. Its primary focus is on creating meaning rather than developing perfectly grammatical structures or acquiring native sounding pronunciation. This means that the success of learning a foreign language can be evaluated in terms of how one has developed his or her communicative competence, which can be defined as the ability to apply formal knowledge as well as the sociolinguistic aspects of a language on ones proficiency to communicate. Communicative approach has been characterized as extensive teaching method and not just one with clearly defined sets of classroom practi ces. Because of this, it is usually identified as a list of general futures. One of them is David Nunans (1991) five features of communicative learning teaching. They are: 1) learning to communicate by interaction in the L2; 2) presenting of authentic texts into the learning situation; 3) giving opportunities for people to concentrate on both language and the learning management procedures; 4) enhancement of learners own personal experience as important contributing elements to classroom learning and 5) linking language learning inside classroom with language learning activities outside. Nunans list has been claimed by many advocates of the communicative approach particularly by those who are very concerned in language learning inside and outside the classroom. This board definition makes it such that any teaching practice that aims to help students develop their communicative competence in practical and usable contexts is considered as a form of instruction. A communicative approac h environment would often have pairs/group work where participants are required to discuss and work together. It is known for fluency based activities that encourage the development of confidence, role plays where they can practice and develop language functions and the sensible use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities. The communicative competence as Hymes (1972) devised it, made some important shifts in ESL teaching regarding teaching materials design and teaching methodology. Communicative competence presented in the 1970s and eventually applied these changes in ESL teaching field. Chomsky (1965) presented the terms competence and performance in modern linguistics (Canale and Swain, 1980). Chomsky claimed the term competence refers to the linguistic system, whereas performance basically involved in the perception and production of speech. Hymes (1972) claimed that the competence-performance description devised by Chomsky did not deal with the appropriateness of the socio-cultural significance of an utterance in the situational and verbal context where it is applied. According to Hymes, there are rules that should be understood along with knowledge of grammar rules. Hymes (1972) refers that without these rules, the knowledge of grammatical rules would not be effective in the language spoken. Therefore, Hymes suggests a conception of competence.

Inclusion or Exclusion in The Crucible Essay -- Essay on The Crucible

Much of The Crucible by Arthur Miller was about being part of a group. What is it to belong to a group? Is it really that simple when someone says, "Either you're with us or you're not"? Yes, it is that simple. Belonging and exclusion in any situation are two sides of the same coin - you can't have one without the other. In any organization or group, people are bound together by a community of interest, purpose or function and if you do not believe in these same things, then you are not a part of that group. In an organization or group, you have to ask yourself, "What is it to be a part of this particular group, what does it take to belong?" It takes following the rules of the group, agreeing with their purpose, obeying their authorities and the ability to go the length for their cause. In The Crucible, if the characters did not abide as part of the group, the Christian Church, then the consequences were fatal. The Crucible told of what is was to be a scapegoat i n their society and what it took to defend themselves from becoming that scapegoat. To remind people in an organization why they belong takes continued focus on a common goal or common belief. By having one main function, a group is generally more effective than if everyone has different ideas and outlooks on specific topics. However, to keep everyone on the same page, the members of a group need to accurately know where they stand in reference to their goal. One way to do this is through social facilitation. This is the concern of self image through the presence of other people. It's a concept that allows members to know the acceptable opinions of the group. Someone who agrees to the ideas set out from the organization. "Group polarization is the concept of changing personal opinions to extremities after a group discussion.(Johnson 13)" This concept eliminates members who aren't sure what they think of the group's purpose. They decide that either they agree completely or they disagree completely. Either way it means they decide if they are in or out after the group discussion. A common goal is one way to distinguish and separate the devoted members from the questionable individuals in a group. High cohesiveness is an effective tool in the success and effectiveness of an organization. However, in order for ... ... truth, denying her involvement as a witch, but be hung anyway for "lying" under oath. On the other hand, an innocent victim could lie and confess her involvement as a witch, accuse another witch instead and be let "off the hook". However, if the innocent victim lied and confess, but wasn't willing to turn in another witch, she would be hung anyway. (Starkey, 17) This created quite an ironic situation coming from a Christian based community of purity and holiness. Exclusion is about scapegoating and denying the truth or reality to oneself. A scapegoat is a person made to bear the blame for others, an escape from dealing with one's responsibility. The scapegoat lets one rationalize bad situations and blind oneself from the reality of that situation. No one saw the reality in Salem and no one even tried. They were all too caught up in trying to find someone else to blame for their fears and problems. However, organizations tend to do that too. They create an opposition or enemy so they can use it later to their own advantage, making themselves seem more powerful. So the question goes back to, "Are you in? Or are you out?"