Who am I, is a question that can be said to be getting more difficult to answer in this day and age. Identities are shaped in part based on how a person wants to shape it. The case of Frida Kahlo provides an excellent example of how self identity can be constructed to a degree by how a person chooses. Although Frida was the daughter of a German immigrant and a person of Spanish descent she still largely identified herself as a Mexican. President Obama of the United States is another example as he was the son of an African immigrant and a White woman, he chooses to identify with the African-American racial group. With the advent of the Second Media Age the ability to shape identities as a person chooses to do so, has grown in ways that might have been unthinkable even 100 years ago. No longer does a person’s identity have to be ground solely on the basis of racial classification or ethnicity, but the manner in which a person chooses their identity has grown far beyond that.
The American Heritage Student Dictionary defines culture as “The arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought at a particular time.” As Krug said, self, culture, and technology not only reflect but create each other. The technological advances of the internet have led to massive changes in American culture. Terms like tweet and google which refer to internet functions have entered the vocabulary. People spend hours working on their internet profiles and searching for work on the internet. The internet is used now for banking, social networking, shopping, music, movies, school, researching, news, maps, and many more things that were formerly handled offline. The culture of this country has grown with the changes brought on by the internet, as the culture of the internet has grown to mirror the culture of America. These changes in culture and technology have as could be expected lead to a change in a how a person views their self and constructs it.
The modern self though is not purely shaped by one’s own desires. Particularly in this time outside forces and events beyond one’s control helps to shape a person’s identity. It can be argued that the modern self in the Western World is more constrained and manipulated than at any time in human history. In modern America, people are bombarded by advertising and images from advertisers who are trying to build brand loyalty from consumers of ever younger ages. The internet allows advertisers to directly tailor advertising messages to us based on the sites we have visited. In the year 2000 only ten media conglomerates controlled more than two-thirds of the annual worldwide revenue of the entire communications industry. (Steger, 2003, p.76) These media conglomerates play a vast role in what we watch and even how we think. As Krug said what we think of as choice is actually just wearing the clothes differently, as conformity in thought seems to grow more by the day. Not having the right thoughts or not being politically correct can be disastrous in many careers.
The quotes by Morgano and Barr given for this assignment are closely interrelated. The internet as a form of communication is more open than any form of mass communication available. The internet provides a platform for people to stay in touch with friends and family, but also gives them the opportunity to meet other people that it would otherwise be mostly impossible to connect with without the net. Consequently some people feel free when on the internet talking about their selves and speaking with others. They can construct their identity in a way that may be fact or fiction for all to see on the internet. But, as Morgano mentioned some employers have used internet sites to see how potential employees really are when those people let their guards down. The internet lets these employers see these people in a way how they generally never would be able to. And with people posting information about their selves, an employer can see if a person is truthful, lying, or hiding information that they might not want a potential employer to know. Social networking sites have thus become one of the best ways to do a background check on someone and find out partially who a person really is.
Identity as an issue is an issue that will continue to change in the years ahead. Technology has brought great changes to how we view and can view ourselves. The ways in manipulating identities and changing them will continue to shift as technology and culture changes.
Reference
Barker, Chris. 2008. Cultural Studies Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Steger, Manfred. 2003. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Analyzing Orchestra Conductors
Of the 5 orchestras I chose, 4 of them are in the New York area and 1 of them is in Boston. They all shared the same characteristics of having White males as the conductor.
The Astoria Symphony Conductor- Silas Nathaniel Huff- White Male
Long Island Philharmonic Conductor- David Stewart Wiley- White Male
American Symphony Orchestra Conductor- Leon Botstein- White Male
Brooklyn Philharmonic Conductor- Michael Christie- White Male
Boston Civic Symphony Conductor- Max Hobart- White Male
In analyzing the data compiled in Part 1 from the entire class the results were out of 52 conductors 44 of them were White while 1 was Black, 4 were Hispanic, and 3 were Asian. 47 out of the 52 conductors were males, with only 5 conductors being females. The orchestras profiled were from throughout the country with there being no chance of a regional bias coming out through the numbers. The numbers showed that no matter from what part of the country an orchestra was it was likely that the conductor/musical director would be both white and male. In deciphering why such a small number of women and minorities make it to the positions of conductor and musical director there are many factors to consider from a lack of training programs to prepare women and minorities to a position leading some of these orchestras, to exposure to classical music itself, to a tradition that would prefer that the leaders of orchestra are White males. All of these might account for the lack of women and minorities among the numbers of orchestral conductors. Another more controversial idea might be the idea that perhaps the reason for the lack of women and minorities among conductors is a lack of ability in comparison with the white males who dominate the field. If not that perhaps a lack of ability exists for the women and minorities who are qualified to be orchestral conductors but the numbers are so small hence their lack of representation. The numbers show that for a non-White male to even make it far in the field of conducting takes extraordinary work.
The lack of women and minorities among the ranks of conductors in the United States is one that is proven both a casual glance and an in depth study of numbers. The lack of women conductors is also an issue in Britain where apart from Jane Glover in the Royal Academy of Music, there are no women in any of the higher positions in the orchestras of that country, while in Lisbon, Portugal half of the 6 conducting jobs that are available feature women in those roles. This shows that given the chance women can rise to the top of the conducting field given the proper opportunity in the biggest cities.
Minority conductors face added pressures that women do not face with the foremost of them being racism and lack of opportunity. According to black musician Aaron Dworkin classical music has yet to even being to confront the issue of racism. In an analysis of 200 symphony orchestras in the U.S. in 2000, 1.4% of all musicians were black and 1.9% was Latino which was actually a declining number from the early 1990’s. For minorities to even aspire to being the leaders of orchestras the actual number of minority musicians must go up. Another thing that would have to be addressed in creating higher numbers of minority conductors especially among blacks is to increase their exposure to an art medium that has traditionally not seen black participate in it.
The stereotypical view of orchestral conductors as an upper class white male is part of the reason for the lack of women and minorities among orchestral conductors. Classical music is a music that is strongly tied to tradition, and the traditional elements of classical music have never seen women and minorities go far. The music played is often times music composed by European males such as Mozart and others. In Italy Julia Jones becoming the first women to conduct Wagner was a major thing due to the perception of Wagner music perhaps being beyond the reach of a woman to conduct. The traditional view of women as not being strong enough to lead and command men is a giant problem for women hoping to rise up in the ranks. The upper-class traditions of classical music also work well to bar many minorities especially blacks from getting involved in classical music from the outset, since blacks have been traditionally at the bottom of the class scale in the United States. All the upper-class trappings that are associated with the music are beyond the reach of many blacks and unless there are school programs are some kind of endowment program being used for blacks, many of them are never exposed to classical music.
References
http://bostoncivicsymphony.org/
http://www.astoriamusic.org/
http://www.americansymphony.org/
http://www.brooklynphilharmonic.org/index.html
http://www.liphilharmonic.com/index.html
The Guardian. Accessed from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jan/22/women-conductors-julia-jones
The San Diego Union Tribune. Accessed from http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16conduct.html
The Free Library. Accessed from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Classical+music:+Black+and+Latino+musicians+hope+to+change+the+image+...-a0157950599
BBC. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/news/do-men-hog-the-podium/BBC. Accessed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7612180.stm
The Astoria Symphony Conductor- Silas Nathaniel Huff- White Male
Long Island Philharmonic Conductor- David Stewart Wiley- White Male
American Symphony Orchestra Conductor- Leon Botstein- White Male
Brooklyn Philharmonic Conductor- Michael Christie- White Male
Boston Civic Symphony Conductor- Max Hobart- White Male
In analyzing the data compiled in Part 1 from the entire class the results were out of 52 conductors 44 of them were White while 1 was Black, 4 were Hispanic, and 3 were Asian. 47 out of the 52 conductors were males, with only 5 conductors being females. The orchestras profiled were from throughout the country with there being no chance of a regional bias coming out through the numbers. The numbers showed that no matter from what part of the country an orchestra was it was likely that the conductor/musical director would be both white and male. In deciphering why such a small number of women and minorities make it to the positions of conductor and musical director there are many factors to consider from a lack of training programs to prepare women and minorities to a position leading some of these orchestras, to exposure to classical music itself, to a tradition that would prefer that the leaders of orchestra are White males. All of these might account for the lack of women and minorities among the numbers of orchestral conductors. Another more controversial idea might be the idea that perhaps the reason for the lack of women and minorities among conductors is a lack of ability in comparison with the white males who dominate the field. If not that perhaps a lack of ability exists for the women and minorities who are qualified to be orchestral conductors but the numbers are so small hence their lack of representation. The numbers show that for a non-White male to even make it far in the field of conducting takes extraordinary work.
The lack of women and minorities among the ranks of conductors in the United States is one that is proven both a casual glance and an in depth study of numbers. The lack of women conductors is also an issue in Britain where apart from Jane Glover in the Royal Academy of Music, there are no women in any of the higher positions in the orchestras of that country, while in Lisbon, Portugal half of the 6 conducting jobs that are available feature women in those roles. This shows that given the chance women can rise to the top of the conducting field given the proper opportunity in the biggest cities.
Minority conductors face added pressures that women do not face with the foremost of them being racism and lack of opportunity. According to black musician Aaron Dworkin classical music has yet to even being to confront the issue of racism. In an analysis of 200 symphony orchestras in the U.S. in 2000, 1.4% of all musicians were black and 1.9% was Latino which was actually a declining number from the early 1990’s. For minorities to even aspire to being the leaders of orchestras the actual number of minority musicians must go up. Another thing that would have to be addressed in creating higher numbers of minority conductors especially among blacks is to increase their exposure to an art medium that has traditionally not seen black participate in it.
The stereotypical view of orchestral conductors as an upper class white male is part of the reason for the lack of women and minorities among orchestral conductors. Classical music is a music that is strongly tied to tradition, and the traditional elements of classical music have never seen women and minorities go far. The music played is often times music composed by European males such as Mozart and others. In Italy Julia Jones becoming the first women to conduct Wagner was a major thing due to the perception of Wagner music perhaps being beyond the reach of a woman to conduct. The traditional view of women as not being strong enough to lead and command men is a giant problem for women hoping to rise up in the ranks. The upper-class traditions of classical music also work well to bar many minorities especially blacks from getting involved in classical music from the outset, since blacks have been traditionally at the bottom of the class scale in the United States. All the upper-class trappings that are associated with the music are beyond the reach of many blacks and unless there are school programs are some kind of endowment program being used for blacks, many of them are never exposed to classical music.
References
http://bostoncivicsymphony.org/
http://www.astoriamusic.org/
http://www.americansymphony.org/
http://www.brooklynphilharmonic.org/index.html
http://www.liphilharmonic.com/index.html
The Guardian. Accessed from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jan/22/women-conductors-julia-jones
The San Diego Union Tribune. Accessed from http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16conduct.html
The Free Library. Accessed from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Classical+music:+Black+and+Latino+musicians+hope+to+change+the+image+...-a0157950599
BBC. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/news/do-men-hog-the-podium/BBC. Accessed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7612180.stm
Minority and Women conductors
The lack of women and minorities among the ranks of conductors in the United States is one that is proven both a casual glance and an in depth study of numbers. The lack of women conductors is also an issue in Britain where apart from Jane Glover in the Royal Academy of Music, there are no women in any of the higher positions in the orchestras of that country, while in Lisbon, Portugal half of the 6 conducting jobs that are available feature women in those roles. This shows that given the chance women can rise to the top of the conducting field given the proper opportunity in the biggest cities.
Minority conductors face added pressures that women do not face with the foremost of them being racism and lack of opportunity. According to black musician Aaron Dworkin classical music has yet to even being to confront the issue of racism. In an analysis of 200 symphony orchestras in the U.S. in 2000, 1.4% of all musicians were black and 1.9% were Latino which was actually a declining number from the early 1990’s. For minorities to even aspire to being the leaders of orchestras the actual number of minority musicians must go up. Another thing that would have to be addressed in creating higher numbers of minority conductors especially among blacks is to increase their exposure to an art medium that has traditionally not seen black participate in it.
The stereotypical view of orchestral conductors as an upper class white male is part of the reason for the lack of women and minorities among orchestral conductors. Classical music is a music that is strongly tied to tradition, and the traditional elements of classical music have never seen women and minorities go far. The music played is often times music composed by European males such as Mozart and others. In Italy Julia Jones becoming the first women to conduct Wagner was a major thing due to the perception of Wagner music perhaps being beyond the reach of a woman to conduct. The traditional view of women as not being strong enough to lead and command men is a giant problem for women hoping to rise up in the ranks. The upper-class traditions of classical music also work well to bar many minorities especially blacks from getting involved in classical music from the outset, since blacks have been traditionally at the bottom of the class scale in the United States. All the upper-class trappings that are associated with the music are beyond the reach of many blacks and unless there are school programs are some kind of endowment program being used for blacks, many of them are never exposed to classical music.
References
The Guardian. Accessed from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jan/22/women-conductors-julia-jones
The San Diego Union Tribune. Accessed from http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16conduct.html
The Free Library. Accessed from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Classical+music:+Black+and+Latino+musicians+hope+to+change+the+image+...-a0157950599
BBC. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/news/do-men-hog-the-podium/
BBC. Accessed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7612180.stm
Minority conductors face added pressures that women do not face with the foremost of them being racism and lack of opportunity. According to black musician Aaron Dworkin classical music has yet to even being to confront the issue of racism. In an analysis of 200 symphony orchestras in the U.S. in 2000, 1.4% of all musicians were black and 1.9% were Latino which was actually a declining number from the early 1990’s. For minorities to even aspire to being the leaders of orchestras the actual number of minority musicians must go up. Another thing that would have to be addressed in creating higher numbers of minority conductors especially among blacks is to increase their exposure to an art medium that has traditionally not seen black participate in it.
The stereotypical view of orchestral conductors as an upper class white male is part of the reason for the lack of women and minorities among orchestral conductors. Classical music is a music that is strongly tied to tradition, and the traditional elements of classical music have never seen women and minorities go far. The music played is often times music composed by European males such as Mozart and others. In Italy Julia Jones becoming the first women to conduct Wagner was a major thing due to the perception of Wagner music perhaps being beyond the reach of a woman to conduct. The traditional view of women as not being strong enough to lead and command men is a giant problem for women hoping to rise up in the ranks. The upper-class traditions of classical music also work well to bar many minorities especially blacks from getting involved in classical music from the outset, since blacks have been traditionally at the bottom of the class scale in the United States. All the upper-class trappings that are associated with the music are beyond the reach of many blacks and unless there are school programs are some kind of endowment program being used for blacks, many of them are never exposed to classical music.
References
The Guardian. Accessed from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jan/22/women-conductors-julia-jones
The San Diego Union Tribune. Accessed from http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16conduct.html
The Free Library. Accessed from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Classical+music:+Black+and+Latino+musicians+hope+to+change+the+image+...-a0157950599
BBC. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/maestro/news/do-men-hog-the-podium/
BBC. Accessed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7612180.stm
Monday, June 7, 2010
Jackson Heights
Originally written in April 2010
Demographic change in New York City neighborhoods has been a constant fact of life in the history of New York City. Very few neighborhoods maintain a constant ehtnic composition over a long period of time. The neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens is one of the neighborhoods that went undergone a demographic change from being a White neighborhood for much of its existence to being called New York City’s most diverse neighborhood by Time Out New York. This in itself is a surprise as the creator of Jackson Heights planned the neighborhood with the purpose to keep out minorities. Jackson Heights is part of the Queens Community District 3 which also includes the neighborhoods of East Elmhurst and North Corona. From 1990 to 2000 the non-White Hispanic population numbers dropped from 28.4% to 15%. The percentage of people of Hispanic origin increased from 43.7% to 57.5%. The Asian population increased from 11.5% to 13.5%, and the Black non-Hispanic population decreased from 15.5% to 10.5%. 46.4% of the population was not proficient in English according to the 2000 census. 74.6 of people who were not proficient in English spoke either Spanish or Spanish Creole at home. 65.4% of the foreign born population is from Latin America, and 19.8% coming from Asia. The country with the most nationals in the area was Ecuador with 15.9% followed by Colombia at 14.7%. The majority of the population is from the ages of 25-44 which is 34.8% of the population and the next largest age range is 45-64 which 20% of the population is. The birth rate was 16.6 per 1000 in 2000, the death rate was 5.2 per 1000, and the infant mortality rate was 6.7 per 1000 in 2000. The median family income of Jackson Heights in 1999 was $43,197 which was lower than the median family income of the entire Queens County which was at $48,608. Only 4% of Jackson Heights residents were on public assistance. Jackson Heights is also home to a growing gay community that has been growing in numbers since the 1960’s. Jackson Heights has its own Lesbian and Gay Pride Day with an annual summer parade. Jackson Heights is home to the second largest gay community outside of Manhattan.
Jackson Heights got off to a different start from the other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. Unlike those neighborhoods Jackson Heights was never its own town, Jackson Heights was created from the visions of a real estate developer. The Queensboro Corporation purchased 325 acres of farmland near Jackson Avenue in 1913 and named the development Jackson Heights after the avenue. The neighborhood was built on the vision of garden apartment houses. For most of its early existence Jackson Heights was a predominantly White neighborhood, and Jews, Catholics, and Blacks were barred from these apartment houses. Restrictive covenants would later be struck down as illegal and the 1968 Fair Housing Act made discrimination based on race in housing illegal. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act eased the restrictions of immigration to the United States from non-White countries and would play a big part in the future of Jackson Heights. In the 1960’s a large number of Latinos started moving into Jackson Heights. One of the appeals of Jackson Heights was its location as Jackson Heights has the 7 train running through it providing close proximity to Manhattan and buses that take people from Jackson Heights to 5th Avenue. What made Jackson Heights unique among other NYC neighborhoods is that unlike neighborhoods such as East New York, the influx of Latinos in the neighborhood did not lead to a rapid demographic change and move from the neighborhood. Jackson Heights never experienced the mass panic selling that white flight and blockbusting that occurred in other areas and that would usually be followed by a collapse of the neighborhood. Jackson Heights was actually able to obtain new white residents in the 1970’s and 80’s. Another way in how Jackson Heights was unique is that it was not an area targeted for these ethnic changes in the way how other neighborhoods were. It has even been suggested that the diversity in the neighborhood prevents segregation occurring again with one dominant racial or ethnic group.
Colombia is the home country for a large portion of the current residents of Jackson Heights. Colombia is frequently mentioned in media reports for negative things that have gone in the country. Colombia is a country though rich in culture, with a diverse population, and a rich culinary and artistic heritage that draws on African, European, and native traditions.
According to the CIA World Factbook Colombia is the home to 43,677,372 people. The median age of the population is 27.1 years old, and the birth rate is 18.09/1,000. The infant mortality rate is 17.37 deaths/1,000 live births. 74% of the population lives in urban areas, and 90% of the population is Catholic. 58% of the population is mestizo, 20% is white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% mixed Black/Amerindian, and 1% Amerindian. 46.8% of the population is living below the poverty line. The life expectancy at birth is 74.07 years, and 90.4% of the population is literate. Colombia is the world’s leading producer of coca derivatives, and also produces heroin and marijuana. The violence in Colombia has at times threatened to spill into other countries and is one of the leading causes for their citizens to leave to go to other countries or the United States. As mentioned, more people have been displaced from their homes in Colombia than in any other country outside Africa with the majority of them being black.
Roosevelt Avenue in which runs in Jackson Heights through Elmhurst is known as Little Colombia. This area is the heart of the Colombian New York and is known for its wide culinary features and its slice of Colombian life in New York. The area provides services for documented and undocumented Colombian immigrants with legal services, wire services, and other tools to help them. The area though has also received a lot of negative attention. Much of this attention was due to a 1993 New York Times Article describing the area as an area where major drug dealers operated, who were also involved in money laundering and prostitution. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that 90% of its money laundering investigations in the New York area was traced back to Jackson Heights. Wire services and travel agencies were also propped up by drug dealers. Roosevelt Avenue was described as filled with brothels, and 60 brothels alone were counted on Jackson Avenue. Little Colombia also made headlines due to the murder of journalist Manuel de Dios Unahue who wrote articles detailing the drug cartels, Unahue was killed on the orders of the cartels. The crime associated with the Roosevelt avenue drug dealers led to many whites in the community claiming that Roosevelt Avenue was not part of Jackson Heights. Community groups began to fight back against the drug dealers and prostitution centers leading to a reduction of the public presence of prostitution and leading to many of the major drug dealers relocating elsewhere. Despite this Roosevelt Avenue is still viewed with a negative perception by others, mostly the older whites in the community.
References
The New York Times. [Cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/17/nyregion/window-immigrant-crime-jackson-heights-drugs-dirty-money-prostitution.html?pagewanted=1
Maly, Michael. Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic neighborhoods in the United States. Temple University Press, 2005
The New York Times [cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/11/nyregion/seven-indicted-in-1992-slaying-of-a-journalist.html?pagewanted=all
CIA The World Factbook. [cited April 3,2010] Accessed from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html#top
Reuters. [cited April 3,2010] Accessed from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN05469226
TimeOut New York. [Cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/features/60591/new-yorks-most-diverse-neighborhood
New York Magazine December 31, 1973-January 7, 1974. Page 34
Demographic change in New York City neighborhoods has been a constant fact of life in the history of New York City. Very few neighborhoods maintain a constant ehtnic composition over a long period of time. The neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens is one of the neighborhoods that went undergone a demographic change from being a White neighborhood for much of its existence to being called New York City’s most diverse neighborhood by Time Out New York. This in itself is a surprise as the creator of Jackson Heights planned the neighborhood with the purpose to keep out minorities. Jackson Heights is part of the Queens Community District 3 which also includes the neighborhoods of East Elmhurst and North Corona. From 1990 to 2000 the non-White Hispanic population numbers dropped from 28.4% to 15%. The percentage of people of Hispanic origin increased from 43.7% to 57.5%. The Asian population increased from 11.5% to 13.5%, and the Black non-Hispanic population decreased from 15.5% to 10.5%. 46.4% of the population was not proficient in English according to the 2000 census. 74.6 of people who were not proficient in English spoke either Spanish or Spanish Creole at home. 65.4% of the foreign born population is from Latin America, and 19.8% coming from Asia. The country with the most nationals in the area was Ecuador with 15.9% followed by Colombia at 14.7%. The majority of the population is from the ages of 25-44 which is 34.8% of the population and the next largest age range is 45-64 which 20% of the population is. The birth rate was 16.6 per 1000 in 2000, the death rate was 5.2 per 1000, and the infant mortality rate was 6.7 per 1000 in 2000. The median family income of Jackson Heights in 1999 was $43,197 which was lower than the median family income of the entire Queens County which was at $48,608. Only 4% of Jackson Heights residents were on public assistance. Jackson Heights is also home to a growing gay community that has been growing in numbers since the 1960’s. Jackson Heights has its own Lesbian and Gay Pride Day with an annual summer parade. Jackson Heights is home to the second largest gay community outside of Manhattan.
Jackson Heights got off to a different start from the other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. Unlike those neighborhoods Jackson Heights was never its own town, Jackson Heights was created from the visions of a real estate developer. The Queensboro Corporation purchased 325 acres of farmland near Jackson Avenue in 1913 and named the development Jackson Heights after the avenue. The neighborhood was built on the vision of garden apartment houses. For most of its early existence Jackson Heights was a predominantly White neighborhood, and Jews, Catholics, and Blacks were barred from these apartment houses. Restrictive covenants would later be struck down as illegal and the 1968 Fair Housing Act made discrimination based on race in housing illegal. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act eased the restrictions of immigration to the United States from non-White countries and would play a big part in the future of Jackson Heights. In the 1960’s a large number of Latinos started moving into Jackson Heights. One of the appeals of Jackson Heights was its location as Jackson Heights has the 7 train running through it providing close proximity to Manhattan and buses that take people from Jackson Heights to 5th Avenue. What made Jackson Heights unique among other NYC neighborhoods is that unlike neighborhoods such as East New York, the influx of Latinos in the neighborhood did not lead to a rapid demographic change and move from the neighborhood. Jackson Heights never experienced the mass panic selling that white flight and blockbusting that occurred in other areas and that would usually be followed by a collapse of the neighborhood. Jackson Heights was actually able to obtain new white residents in the 1970’s and 80’s. Another way in how Jackson Heights was unique is that it was not an area targeted for these ethnic changes in the way how other neighborhoods were. It has even been suggested that the diversity in the neighborhood prevents segregation occurring again with one dominant racial or ethnic group.
Colombia is the home country for a large portion of the current residents of Jackson Heights. Colombia is frequently mentioned in media reports for negative things that have gone in the country. Colombia is a country though rich in culture, with a diverse population, and a rich culinary and artistic heritage that draws on African, European, and native traditions.
According to the CIA World Factbook Colombia is the home to 43,677,372 people. The median age of the population is 27.1 years old, and the birth rate is 18.09/1,000. The infant mortality rate is 17.37 deaths/1,000 live births. 74% of the population lives in urban areas, and 90% of the population is Catholic. 58% of the population is mestizo, 20% is white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% mixed Black/Amerindian, and 1% Amerindian. 46.8% of the population is living below the poverty line. The life expectancy at birth is 74.07 years, and 90.4% of the population is literate. Colombia is the world’s leading producer of coca derivatives, and also produces heroin and marijuana. The violence in Colombia has at times threatened to spill into other countries and is one of the leading causes for their citizens to leave to go to other countries or the United States. As mentioned, more people have been displaced from their homes in Colombia than in any other country outside Africa with the majority of them being black.
Roosevelt Avenue in which runs in Jackson Heights through Elmhurst is known as Little Colombia. This area is the heart of the Colombian New York and is known for its wide culinary features and its slice of Colombian life in New York. The area provides services for documented and undocumented Colombian immigrants with legal services, wire services, and other tools to help them. The area though has also received a lot of negative attention. Much of this attention was due to a 1993 New York Times Article describing the area as an area where major drug dealers operated, who were also involved in money laundering and prostitution. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that 90% of its money laundering investigations in the New York area was traced back to Jackson Heights. Wire services and travel agencies were also propped up by drug dealers. Roosevelt Avenue was described as filled with brothels, and 60 brothels alone were counted on Jackson Avenue. Little Colombia also made headlines due to the murder of journalist Manuel de Dios Unahue who wrote articles detailing the drug cartels, Unahue was killed on the orders of the cartels. The crime associated with the Roosevelt avenue drug dealers led to many whites in the community claiming that Roosevelt Avenue was not part of Jackson Heights. Community groups began to fight back against the drug dealers and prostitution centers leading to a reduction of the public presence of prostitution and leading to many of the major drug dealers relocating elsewhere. Despite this Roosevelt Avenue is still viewed with a negative perception by others, mostly the older whites in the community.
References
The New York Times. [Cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/17/nyregion/window-immigrant-crime-jackson-heights-drugs-dirty-money-prostitution.html?pagewanted=1
Maly, Michael. Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic neighborhoods in the United States. Temple University Press, 2005
The New York Times [cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/11/nyregion/seven-indicted-in-1992-slaying-of-a-journalist.html?pagewanted=all
CIA The World Factbook. [cited April 3,2010] Accessed from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html#top
Reuters. [cited April 3,2010] Accessed from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN05469226
TimeOut New York. [Cited April 3, 2010] Accessed from http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/features/60591/new-yorks-most-diverse-neighborhood
New York Magazine December 31, 1973-January 7, 1974. Page 34
Thursday, June 3, 2010
2008 Financial Collapse
Written in May 2009
The recent financial collapse in 2008 was one of the worst financial disasters in American history. Billions of dollars were lost and the economy was ruined. Several lessons have been learned and can be learned on how to make sure such collapses never happen again.
The main characteristics that led to the financial meltdown were a lack of oversight, organizational hubris, and a lack of strategic renewal. Some companies such as Bear Stearns featured managers that had no idea of what employees were doing and were too absorbed in making money. There was no diagnosis in what needed to be upgraded, what changes were needed coming down the line, and a management concerned with keeping their positions. There was no strategic renewal, no shared diagnosis, and no change since it seemed that the good times were going to last forever. By the time the need for effective change was diagnosed at these organizations it was too late for these organizations.
The financial collapse of 2008 was one of the dark moments in American business. The collapse showed the need for companies to always be aware of future collapses and downturns despite the good economic period a company might be going through. The failure of being unaware can be catastrophic not just for the company but also the American economy.
The recent financial collapse in 2008 was one of the worst financial disasters in American history. Billions of dollars were lost and the economy was ruined. Several lessons have been learned and can be learned on how to make sure such collapses never happen again.
The main characteristics that led to the financial meltdown were a lack of oversight, organizational hubris, and a lack of strategic renewal. Some companies such as Bear Stearns featured managers that had no idea of what employees were doing and were too absorbed in making money. There was no diagnosis in what needed to be upgraded, what changes were needed coming down the line, and a management concerned with keeping their positions. There was no strategic renewal, no shared diagnosis, and no change since it seemed that the good times were going to last forever. By the time the need for effective change was diagnosed at these organizations it was too late for these organizations.
The financial collapse of 2008 was one of the dark moments in American business. The collapse showed the need for companies to always be aware of future collapses and downturns despite the good economic period a company might be going through. The failure of being unaware can be catastrophic not just for the company but also the American economy.
Thoughts on CEOs
Organizations sometimes have the feel as if their only motivation and the only reason for their existence is for the sake of profit. Some organizations have gone through unethical and even illegal means simply for the sake of profit. John Mackey of Whole Foods who was nominated for CEO of the year is one CEO who has remembered that organizations are beholden to multiple stakeholders and doing nothing for the other stakeholders simply in the pursuit of profit can put their teams on risk.
Currently the American marketplace is set against companies who have a reputation of being greedy. Whole Foods under Mr. Mackey has taken great strides to ensure that his organization does not have that reputation as they have taken the unusual step of capping executive pay. They have taken the rare step of ensuring strategic renewal in a down economy while not laying off a single employee. Mackey has appreciated that creating a state of congruence where the company has a positive reputation with the public can help the company beat a down period. Mackey’s policy of making sure the employees have health benefits can only increase his view in the eyes of his employees especially at a time when many companies are cutting the health benefits of their employees.
Being a successful CEO is not exactly an exact science. Going to school and having the highest level of education does not ensure competence as a CEO, as some CEOs with the best education have failed miserably and other CEOs such as John Mackey never finished college and have been extremely successful. Leadership takes the ability to properly diagnose the organization and lead the organization to the best of its abilities. John Mackey has done this with Whole Foods and become one of the best CEOs in the nation.
Currently the American marketplace is set against companies who have a reputation of being greedy. Whole Foods under Mr. Mackey has taken great strides to ensure that his organization does not have that reputation as they have taken the unusual step of capping executive pay. They have taken the rare step of ensuring strategic renewal in a down economy while not laying off a single employee. Mackey has appreciated that creating a state of congruence where the company has a positive reputation with the public can help the company beat a down period. Mackey’s policy of making sure the employees have health benefits can only increase his view in the eyes of his employees especially at a time when many companies are cutting the health benefits of their employees.
Being a successful CEO is not exactly an exact science. Going to school and having the highest level of education does not ensure competence as a CEO, as some CEOs with the best education have failed miserably and other CEOs such as John Mackey never finished college and have been extremely successful. Leadership takes the ability to properly diagnose the organization and lead the organization to the best of its abilities. John Mackey has done this with Whole Foods and become one of the best CEOs in the nation.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Colombia
A brief country overview of Colombia
Colombia is the home country for a large portion of the current residents of Jackson Heights. Colombia is frequently mentioned in media reports for negative things that have gone in the country. Colombia is a country though rich in culture, with a diverse population, and a rich culinary and artistic heritage.
According to the CIA World Factbook Colombia is the home to 43,677,372 people. The median age of the population is 27.1 years old, and the birth rate is 18.09/1,000. The infant mortality rate is 17.37 deaths/1,000 live births. 74% of the population lives in urban areas, and 90% of the population is Catholic. 58% of the population is mestizo, 20% is white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% mixed Black/Amerindian, and 1% Amerindian. 46.8% of the population is living below the poverty line. The life expectancy at birth is 74.07 years, and 90.4% of the population is literate. Colombia is the world’s leading producer of coca derivatives, and also produces heroin and marijuana. The violence in Colombia has at times threatened to spill into other countries and is one of the leading causes for their citizens to leave to go to other countries or the United States. As mentioned, more people have been displaced from their homes in Colombia than in any other country outside Africa with the majority of them being black.
Reference
CIA The World Factbook. Accessed from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html#top
Colombia is the home country for a large portion of the current residents of Jackson Heights. Colombia is frequently mentioned in media reports for negative things that have gone in the country. Colombia is a country though rich in culture, with a diverse population, and a rich culinary and artistic heritage.
According to the CIA World Factbook Colombia is the home to 43,677,372 people. The median age of the population is 27.1 years old, and the birth rate is 18.09/1,000. The infant mortality rate is 17.37 deaths/1,000 live births. 74% of the population lives in urban areas, and 90% of the population is Catholic. 58% of the population is mestizo, 20% is white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% mixed Black/Amerindian, and 1% Amerindian. 46.8% of the population is living below the poverty line. The life expectancy at birth is 74.07 years, and 90.4% of the population is literate. Colombia is the world’s leading producer of coca derivatives, and also produces heroin and marijuana. The violence in Colombia has at times threatened to spill into other countries and is one of the leading causes for their citizens to leave to go to other countries or the United States. As mentioned, more people have been displaced from their homes in Colombia than in any other country outside Africa with the majority of them being black.
Reference
CIA The World Factbook. Accessed from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html#top
Mexico and Indonesia
Country comparisons of Mexico and Indonesia
Mexico
GDP Per Capita $13,500 country comparison to the world 83
Infant mortality rate: 18.42 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world 110
Median age total: 26.3 years
Life expectancy total: 76.06 years country comparison to the world 71
Type of government: federal republic
Major religious groups: Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant 6.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 13.8%, none 3.1%
Degree of Religious Freedom: Mexico provides freedom of religion with restrictions, and generally has less freedom of religion as compared to other countries in North America.
Indonesia
GDP Per Capita $4000 country comparison to the world 155
Infant mortality rate 29.97 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world 74
Median age total: 27.6 years
Life expectancy total: 70.76 years country comparison to the world 137
Type of government: republic
Major religious groups: Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other 3.4%
Degree of Religious Freedom: Indonesia does not provide for freedom of religion in its constitution and the social regulation of religion in Indonesia is extremely high even when compared to other Southeast Asian countries. Religious persecution in Indonesia is measurably high as well.
References:
Central Intelligence Agency. 2009. "The World Factbook". Retrieved May 2, 2010 at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook .
Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. "National Profiles". Retrieved May 2, 2010 at http://www.thearda.com/internationalData .
Mexico
GDP Per Capita $13,500 country comparison to the world 83
Infant mortality rate: 18.42 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world 110
Median age total: 26.3 years
Life expectancy total: 76.06 years country comparison to the world 71
Type of government: federal republic
Major religious groups: Roman Catholic 76.5%, Protestant 6.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 13.8%, none 3.1%
Degree of Religious Freedom: Mexico provides freedom of religion with restrictions, and generally has less freedom of religion as compared to other countries in North America.
Indonesia
GDP Per Capita $4000 country comparison to the world 155
Infant mortality rate 29.97 deaths/1,000 live births country comparison to the world 74
Median age total: 27.6 years
Life expectancy total: 70.76 years country comparison to the world 137
Type of government: republic
Major religious groups: Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other 3.4%
Degree of Religious Freedom: Indonesia does not provide for freedom of religion in its constitution and the social regulation of religion in Indonesia is extremely high even when compared to other Southeast Asian countries. Religious persecution in Indonesia is measurably high as well.
References:
Central Intelligence Agency. 2009. "The World Factbook". Retrieved May 2, 2010 at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook .
Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. "National Profiles". Retrieved May 2, 2010 at http://www.thearda.com/internationalData .
Monday, March 1, 2010
Do We Need A New Internet
Originally written in Fall 2008
Do We Need A New Internet
I did my search on whether we need a new internet. Nowadays there is a lot of concern about internet security and the vulnerability of networks to the attack of hackers. The New York Times had an article on February 14, 2009 by John Markoff discussing whether perhaps the best solution to protect the internet from those seeking to harm others is maybe to start over and build a new internet. Criminal gangs from different parts of the world have released viruses wreaking havoc on computers all over the world, and the anonymity of the internet sometimes makes it hard to track down criminals on the web. With all the advancements that have been made in internet security, others are still finding it easy to limit the progress that has made. Even the American military has found themselves the victims of hackers in the past. Researchers at Stanford believe the time has come to start over and build a new more secure network similar to the internet now but more secure. The big difference and it is a big one is an end to the anonymity that the internet provides. Such a thing would have far-reaching changes to the internet and for the first time in the history of the internet and put potential limits and controls on the internet. There is also no guarantee that hackers would not undermine the new version of the internet, and it potentially would give hackers an even bigger target and goal.
References
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/weekinreview/15markoff.html?_r=1&hp
Do We Need A New Internet
I did my search on whether we need a new internet. Nowadays there is a lot of concern about internet security and the vulnerability of networks to the attack of hackers. The New York Times had an article on February 14, 2009 by John Markoff discussing whether perhaps the best solution to protect the internet from those seeking to harm others is maybe to start over and build a new internet. Criminal gangs from different parts of the world have released viruses wreaking havoc on computers all over the world, and the anonymity of the internet sometimes makes it hard to track down criminals on the web. With all the advancements that have been made in internet security, others are still finding it easy to limit the progress that has made. Even the American military has found themselves the victims of hackers in the past. Researchers at Stanford believe the time has come to start over and build a new more secure network similar to the internet now but more secure. The big difference and it is a big one is an end to the anonymity that the internet provides. Such a thing would have far-reaching changes to the internet and for the first time in the history of the internet and put potential limits and controls on the internet. There is also no guarantee that hackers would not undermine the new version of the internet, and it potentially would give hackers an even bigger target and goal.
References
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/weekinreview/15markoff.html?_r=1&hp
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Globalization
The December 13, 1999 issue of Businessweek Magazine stated, “Globalization is about the triumph of markets over government. Both proponents and opponents of globalization agree that the driving force today is markets, which are suborning the role of government.” One of the areas where globalization has had a tremendous impact is in the area of culture. Culture is itself one of the most important areas of human life, every human being is born into a group and that group in turn has a culture. Globalization has been praised or derided in bringing together a global culture and ending the distinct characteristics of individual cultures. Some others claim globalization is an process that has been ongoing since the dawn of human civilization and that new technology has just simply changed the speed in which globalization is occurring and the processes of globalization are inevitable and actually beneficial for cultures and diversity in particular.
The American Heritage Student Dictionary defines culture as “ The arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought at a particular time.” By this very definition it means that culture is not something that is stagnant but something that can change with the passage of time. With increased globalization many people fear that their cultures are changing and giving way to a new global culture. The rise of the internet and the United States' position as the world's most dominant economic and military powerful nation has led to the rise of English as the world's dominant language. Many languages have died out or are expected to die out in the future. In the year 2000 only ten media conglomerates controlled more than two-thirds of the annual worldwide revenue of the entire communications industry. (Steger, 2003, p.76) MTV which is part of the Viacom family broadcasts on every continent spreading American culture throughout the entire world. American movies, music, restaurants are found all over the world and some people are very weary of this. In particular the American movie industry not only dominates the American domestic market but also many different foreign markets. Tyler Cowen uses the example “ A Frenchman rents a Hollywood movie. A Thai schoolgirl mimics Madonna. It is commonplace that globalization is subverting local culture” (Cowen, 2002).
Globalization itself is sometimes a very controversial word. The very definition and characteristics of globalization is often debated leading to different meanings. For a definition of globalization Manfred B. Steger who is a Professor of Politics and Government at Illinois State University states, “Globalization refers to a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant” (Steger, 2003, p.13). Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, Roland Robertson states, “Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole.” Jan Nederveen Pieterse states in perhaps the most comprehensive definition of globalization, “Globalization is an objective, empirical process of increasing economic and political connectivity, a subjective process unfolding in consciousness as the collective awareness of growing global interconnectedness, and a host of specific globalizing projects that seek to shape global conditions” (Nederveen, 2004, p.16). The ongoing processes of globalization have changed the economic nature of the entire world. Real time updates can lead to stock transactions processed from any part of the globe. The financial happenings of one part of the world are deeply felt in another part of the world. Manuel Castells called it a state of interdependence. This has also spread into the cultures of various parts of the globe.
Tyler Cowen in his book “Creative Destruction” argues that globalization leads to more diversity and choice in the cultures of the world rather than sameness. Cowen comments that cultures have always borrowed from other cultures to strengthen their own culture. Cowen in fact points out that globalization has helped various cultures thrive and get stronger instead of simply stagnating. Cowen also makes the statement, “Market growth causes heterogenizing and homogenizing mechanisms to operate in tandem” (Cowen, 2002, p.16). Cowen points out in the example of the music of the former Zaire how it was heavily influenced by Caribbean, American, and African influences. The music of Cuba had a profound impact on the music of Zaire and heavily influenced it especially. The Latin group Fania All-Stars concert in Kinshasa in 1974 was one of the biggest concerts in the history of Zaire. Cowen also mentions how the global interactivity helped art forms such as steel band music of Trinidad which was performed on discarded oil drums. Cowen also mentions the effect that global interactivity had in extending and preserving past culture such as the carpets of Persia and throat singing in Mongolia.
Of course many people are opposed to the effects of cultural globalization and are fighting to preserve and maintain their cultures. The government of France for example spends approximately $3 billion a year on cultural matters and employ 12,000 cultural bureaucrats to preserve French culture. (Cowen, 2002, p.3) In Canada, Canadian artists are guaranteed a certain percentage of radio play. Other countries fear the rise of American cultural dominance and put restrictions on American imports. And religious extremists in Middle Eastern lands fight to keep their lands and religions pure. Al Qaeda terrorists struck a blow against cultural globalization with the destruction of the World Trade Center and attack on the Pentagon on 9/11/01. These people blame America for the increasing secularization of their nations and the subversion of Islamic ideals. One of the manifestations of these feelings were during the worldwide outrage over cartoons done of the prophet Muhammad. The current American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led many people to join terrorist forces and battle against the hated Americans and their ideals. Manfred Steger writes about one group of people called particularist protectionists who, “include groups who blame globalization for most of the economic, political, and cultural ills afflicting their home countries or regions (Steger, 2003, p.114). Some Americans fear the influx of immigrants in this country and their seeming refusal to assimilate into the mainstream American culture.
In conclusion cultural globalization is very controversial and has its supporters and detractors. Human beings have always exchanged ideas throughout human history and only time will tell what the future holds with the current nature of cultural globalization.
The American Heritage Student Dictionary defines culture as “ The arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought at a particular time.” By this very definition it means that culture is not something that is stagnant but something that can change with the passage of time. With increased globalization many people fear that their cultures are changing and giving way to a new global culture. The rise of the internet and the United States' position as the world's most dominant economic and military powerful nation has led to the rise of English as the world's dominant language. Many languages have died out or are expected to die out in the future. In the year 2000 only ten media conglomerates controlled more than two-thirds of the annual worldwide revenue of the entire communications industry. (Steger, 2003, p.76) MTV which is part of the Viacom family broadcasts on every continent spreading American culture throughout the entire world. American movies, music, restaurants are found all over the world and some people are very weary of this. In particular the American movie industry not only dominates the American domestic market but also many different foreign markets. Tyler Cowen uses the example “ A Frenchman rents a Hollywood movie. A Thai schoolgirl mimics Madonna. It is commonplace that globalization is subverting local culture” (Cowen, 2002).
Globalization itself is sometimes a very controversial word. The very definition and characteristics of globalization is often debated leading to different meanings. For a definition of globalization Manfred B. Steger who is a Professor of Politics and Government at Illinois State University states, “Globalization refers to a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant” (Steger, 2003, p.13). Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, Roland Robertson states, “Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole.” Jan Nederveen Pieterse states in perhaps the most comprehensive definition of globalization, “Globalization is an objective, empirical process of increasing economic and political connectivity, a subjective process unfolding in consciousness as the collective awareness of growing global interconnectedness, and a host of specific globalizing projects that seek to shape global conditions” (Nederveen, 2004, p.16). The ongoing processes of globalization have changed the economic nature of the entire world. Real time updates can lead to stock transactions processed from any part of the globe. The financial happenings of one part of the world are deeply felt in another part of the world. Manuel Castells called it a state of interdependence. This has also spread into the cultures of various parts of the globe.
Tyler Cowen in his book “Creative Destruction” argues that globalization leads to more diversity and choice in the cultures of the world rather than sameness. Cowen comments that cultures have always borrowed from other cultures to strengthen their own culture. Cowen in fact points out that globalization has helped various cultures thrive and get stronger instead of simply stagnating. Cowen also makes the statement, “Market growth causes heterogenizing and homogenizing mechanisms to operate in tandem” (Cowen, 2002, p.16). Cowen points out in the example of the music of the former Zaire how it was heavily influenced by Caribbean, American, and African influences. The music of Cuba had a profound impact on the music of Zaire and heavily influenced it especially. The Latin group Fania All-Stars concert in Kinshasa in 1974 was one of the biggest concerts in the history of Zaire. Cowen also mentions how the global interactivity helped art forms such as steel band music of Trinidad which was performed on discarded oil drums. Cowen also mentions the effect that global interactivity had in extending and preserving past culture such as the carpets of Persia and throat singing in Mongolia.
Of course many people are opposed to the effects of cultural globalization and are fighting to preserve and maintain their cultures. The government of France for example spends approximately $3 billion a year on cultural matters and employ 12,000 cultural bureaucrats to preserve French culture. (Cowen, 2002, p.3) In Canada, Canadian artists are guaranteed a certain percentage of radio play. Other countries fear the rise of American cultural dominance and put restrictions on American imports. And religious extremists in Middle Eastern lands fight to keep their lands and religions pure. Al Qaeda terrorists struck a blow against cultural globalization with the destruction of the World Trade Center and attack on the Pentagon on 9/11/01. These people blame America for the increasing secularization of their nations and the subversion of Islamic ideals. One of the manifestations of these feelings were during the worldwide outrage over cartoons done of the prophet Muhammad. The current American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led many people to join terrorist forces and battle against the hated Americans and their ideals. Manfred Steger writes about one group of people called particularist protectionists who, “include groups who blame globalization for most of the economic, political, and cultural ills afflicting their home countries or regions (Steger, 2003, p.114). Some Americans fear the influx of immigrants in this country and their seeming refusal to assimilate into the mainstream American culture.
In conclusion cultural globalization is very controversial and has its supporters and detractors. Human beings have always exchanged ideas throughout human history and only time will tell what the future holds with the current nature of cultural globalization.
The Nuclear Age
The late 1800’s and early 1900’s were an exciting time in the world of science. Many long-standing beliefs were shattered and the knowledge gained by scientists went up tremendously. New theories and new discoveries were constantly pushing the boundaries of science and a whole collective of contemporary scientists were behind this. The discoveries and theories which had been worked on were perfected and brought to light in 1945 when the atomic bomb was perfected and two atomic bombs were detonated over Japan. The work of creating the atomic bomb was the result of years of scientific work in a perfect marriage with political forces.
Isaac Newton’s theories were for hundreds of years held as dogma in the world of physics. In 1896 one discovery which helped lead to the atomic bomb and a complete change in the direction of physics was made by Henri Becquerel when he accidentally discovered radioactivity which he found while working with uranium. At the time awareness what constituted the makeup of an atom would make huge strides in 1897 when the electron was discovered by J.J. Thomson. In 1905 relatively unknown Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity which led to major changes in the outlook of the science world with the new understanding of the relationship between matter and energy. This theory changed the course of physics at a time when it was thought by most scientists that most critical areas of knowledge were already known and there was just a few more areas of knowledge on which to expand. Other key discoveries were soon to come including in 1911 when Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus of the atom. In 1913 Niels Bohr published the theory of atomic structure which described electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom. In 1919 Ernest Rutherford became the first person ever to artificially create a nuclear reaction when he changed nitrogen into oxygen. In 1920 Rutherford would first issue the idea of the neutron which was later proven to exist in 1932 by James Chadwick. The neutron being proved to exist was the final puzzle in knowing the atom. In 1929 American Ernest Lawrence created the cyclotron which sped up how protons could be hurled at atomic nuclei; this tool would be of major use during later nuclear experiments. In the same year of 1932, John Cockroft and Ernest Walton became the first to split the atom. In 1934 Italian scientist Enrico Fermi irradiated uranium with neutrons and thought he had found new transuranic elements. In reality what Fermi had done was produce the world’s first nuclear fission and provide further proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity of the relationship between matter and energy, but no knew that until later when in 1938 German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman conducted a similar experiment and sent their results to Lise Meltner who confirmed nuclear fission. Nuclear fission had the capacity to unleash large amounts of energy and for the world political scene in 1939 which was a world that was on the brink of war, these developments held major possibilities for military power.
Germany in the early 1900’s was a hotbed of scientific activity. Several of the top scientists in the world at the time were of German origin or lived in Germany including Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Klaus Fuchs and other top scientists. Germany was also a pioneer in coordinating scientific work along with military work. German scientists developed several chemicals in a well coordinated effort during World War 1. Many of the top German scientists though were Jews, and Germany was a hotbed of anti-Semitic thought. The anti-Semitic sentiments in Germany would reach a crescendo in 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in Germany. Persecution was soon to follow for Jews and several top Jewish scientists would leave the country after the Nazis took power. Hitler in his first years in power took steps to rearm Germany and prepare Germany for war. In 1939 work started on a German project to build an atomic weapon. In that same year Jewish scientists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard sent a letter to American President Franklin Roosevelt advising him of the German work to build a nuclear weapon, and advised him to start working on such a project. This would eventually be the catalyst for the top secret Manhattan Project.
In 1939 Europe when Germany invaded Poland, Europe erupted into the Second World War. This war which also raged across the Pacific was the first war to feature wide scale bombing of cities and featured the heaviest use of aircraft in any war up to that time. The United States was not in the war at the time but was a strong backer of Great Britain in the war, who were making plans on building a nuclear weapon of their own. As a result of the letter of Szilard and Einstein, American President Franklin Roosevelt created a uranium committee to conduct experiments of uranium. This committee would recommend government funding of isotope separation research as well as funding research Fermi and Szilard were doing at Columbia University on nuclear chain reactions. In 1940 in Britain, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls created a memorandum that for the first time had a theoretical viewpoint of how an atomic bomb would work with the use of uranium 235. This memorandum also suggested that the bomb could be used similarly to the other bombs which were of use at the time. In 1940 plutonium was also produced for the first time ever which would be a key component in the first nuclear bomb.
In 1941 things would kick into overdrive for the effort to build a nuclear weapon. On December 6, 1941 President Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Manhattan Engineering District later to be known as the Manhattan Project. The next day on December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States was officially drawn into World War II. On December 11, 1941 Germany declared war on the United States. The United States and Great Britain would become Allies not just on the battlefield but also in sharing scientific information. Scientific work in the U.S. continued on atomic research in 1942 at different sites but without a central leadership until September of 1942 when Leslie Groves was put in charge of the Manhattan Engineering District now called the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was now placed under the control of the U.S. Army. The goal of the project was now to speed up process in creating a bomb as soon as possible to be used in World War II. The hope was to have a bomb ready for use by 1945. J. Robert Oppenheimer was appointed as scientific director of the project. The project was then to be headquartered from Los Alamos, New Mexico with most of the work in to building the actual bomb conducted from there as well as sites located in other parts of the country. During that same year of 1942, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard who had been working on a nuclear pile in Chicago, managed successfully complete the world’s first working nuclear reactor. The pile technology would be later used as the prototype for the first regular nuclear reactor in Hanford, Washington in order to produce plutonium. At the same time the decision was made to heavily expand uranium production which would be headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In July 1943 experiments would begin at Los Alamos and shortly after Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi would also become added to the Los Alamos team.
In 1944-45 things were moving fast on both the war front and the Manhattan Project. The German army was now taking heavy losses and many German cities and research facilities were becoming lost by Allied bombs. But, the United States suffered a huge blow in April 1945 when President Franklin Roosevelt died. Vice President Harry Truman became president and found out about the Manhattan Project which was so top secret that even he had no knowledge of it. In May 1945 Germany would surrender and end the European theater of World War II. The war picture was now focused solely on Japan in the Pacific Theater. The United States had taken an island by island approach in the war with Japan that proved to be effective but at the same time had cost many American lives. The only thing left for the U.S. to win the war was a full scale invasion of Japan that was estimated to cost perhaps one million American lives. At this same time the atomic bomb was coming to fruition and the bomb was ready to be tested. The decision had been made in 1944 that the bomb would work best as an implosion device and to solely focus on using a plutonium bomb rather than uranium. The feeling was that a uranium based bomb was so sure to work that it was better to focus on the more difficult plutonium bomb. The plutonium bomb was designed to use explosives to bring the nuclear core to criticality. There were a wide range of predictions leading up to the days of the eventual testing of the bomb, among them fears that a nuclear explosion could ignite the atmosphere. On July 16, 1945 the time was finally right for a nuclear weapon to be tested. The test was a complete success and the bomb exploded had an explosive force of 18.6 kilotons. The nuclear weapon and all the research that Szilard, Bohr, Fermi and several others had worked on for the past years had finally come to fruition and a nuclear weapon was finally ready to be used in warfare against other human beings.
The atomic weapons created by scientists were a tremendous success. Their use in war led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and leveled two Japanese cities. But, the success of the weapons showed how scientists could build on the work of earlier scientists and lead to fantastic results. It also showed that with science working hand in hand with the government the possibilities for science to reach were endless.
References
Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1986.
http://www.3rd1000.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.3rd1000.com/nuclear/cruc18.htm
http://www.atomicarchive.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Timeline.shtml
http://www.atomicarchive.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/index.shtml
Isaac Newton’s theories were for hundreds of years held as dogma in the world of physics. In 1896 one discovery which helped lead to the atomic bomb and a complete change in the direction of physics was made by Henri Becquerel when he accidentally discovered radioactivity which he found while working with uranium. At the time awareness what constituted the makeup of an atom would make huge strides in 1897 when the electron was discovered by J.J. Thomson. In 1905 relatively unknown Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity which led to major changes in the outlook of the science world with the new understanding of the relationship between matter and energy. This theory changed the course of physics at a time when it was thought by most scientists that most critical areas of knowledge were already known and there was just a few more areas of knowledge on which to expand. Other key discoveries were soon to come including in 1911 when Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus of the atom. In 1913 Niels Bohr published the theory of atomic structure which described electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom. In 1919 Ernest Rutherford became the first person ever to artificially create a nuclear reaction when he changed nitrogen into oxygen. In 1920 Rutherford would first issue the idea of the neutron which was later proven to exist in 1932 by James Chadwick. The neutron being proved to exist was the final puzzle in knowing the atom. In 1929 American Ernest Lawrence created the cyclotron which sped up how protons could be hurled at atomic nuclei; this tool would be of major use during later nuclear experiments. In the same year of 1932, John Cockroft and Ernest Walton became the first to split the atom. In 1934 Italian scientist Enrico Fermi irradiated uranium with neutrons and thought he had found new transuranic elements. In reality what Fermi had done was produce the world’s first nuclear fission and provide further proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity of the relationship between matter and energy, but no knew that until later when in 1938 German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman conducted a similar experiment and sent their results to Lise Meltner who confirmed nuclear fission. Nuclear fission had the capacity to unleash large amounts of energy and for the world political scene in 1939 which was a world that was on the brink of war, these developments held major possibilities for military power.
Germany in the early 1900’s was a hotbed of scientific activity. Several of the top scientists in the world at the time were of German origin or lived in Germany including Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Klaus Fuchs and other top scientists. Germany was also a pioneer in coordinating scientific work along with military work. German scientists developed several chemicals in a well coordinated effort during World War 1. Many of the top German scientists though were Jews, and Germany was a hotbed of anti-Semitic thought. The anti-Semitic sentiments in Germany would reach a crescendo in 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in Germany. Persecution was soon to follow for Jews and several top Jewish scientists would leave the country after the Nazis took power. Hitler in his first years in power took steps to rearm Germany and prepare Germany for war. In 1939 work started on a German project to build an atomic weapon. In that same year Jewish scientists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard sent a letter to American President Franklin Roosevelt advising him of the German work to build a nuclear weapon, and advised him to start working on such a project. This would eventually be the catalyst for the top secret Manhattan Project.
In 1939 Europe when Germany invaded Poland, Europe erupted into the Second World War. This war which also raged across the Pacific was the first war to feature wide scale bombing of cities and featured the heaviest use of aircraft in any war up to that time. The United States was not in the war at the time but was a strong backer of Great Britain in the war, who were making plans on building a nuclear weapon of their own. As a result of the letter of Szilard and Einstein, American President Franklin Roosevelt created a uranium committee to conduct experiments of uranium. This committee would recommend government funding of isotope separation research as well as funding research Fermi and Szilard were doing at Columbia University on nuclear chain reactions. In 1940 in Britain, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls created a memorandum that for the first time had a theoretical viewpoint of how an atomic bomb would work with the use of uranium 235. This memorandum also suggested that the bomb could be used similarly to the other bombs which were of use at the time. In 1940 plutonium was also produced for the first time ever which would be a key component in the first nuclear bomb.
In 1941 things would kick into overdrive for the effort to build a nuclear weapon. On December 6, 1941 President Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Manhattan Engineering District later to be known as the Manhattan Project. The next day on December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States was officially drawn into World War II. On December 11, 1941 Germany declared war on the United States. The United States and Great Britain would become Allies not just on the battlefield but also in sharing scientific information. Scientific work in the U.S. continued on atomic research in 1942 at different sites but without a central leadership until September of 1942 when Leslie Groves was put in charge of the Manhattan Engineering District now called the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was now placed under the control of the U.S. Army. The goal of the project was now to speed up process in creating a bomb as soon as possible to be used in World War II. The hope was to have a bomb ready for use by 1945. J. Robert Oppenheimer was appointed as scientific director of the project. The project was then to be headquartered from Los Alamos, New Mexico with most of the work in to building the actual bomb conducted from there as well as sites located in other parts of the country. During that same year of 1942, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard who had been working on a nuclear pile in Chicago, managed successfully complete the world’s first working nuclear reactor. The pile technology would be later used as the prototype for the first regular nuclear reactor in Hanford, Washington in order to produce plutonium. At the same time the decision was made to heavily expand uranium production which would be headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In July 1943 experiments would begin at Los Alamos and shortly after Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi would also become added to the Los Alamos team.
In 1944-45 things were moving fast on both the war front and the Manhattan Project. The German army was now taking heavy losses and many German cities and research facilities were becoming lost by Allied bombs. But, the United States suffered a huge blow in April 1945 when President Franklin Roosevelt died. Vice President Harry Truman became president and found out about the Manhattan Project which was so top secret that even he had no knowledge of it. In May 1945 Germany would surrender and end the European theater of World War II. The war picture was now focused solely on Japan in the Pacific Theater. The United States had taken an island by island approach in the war with Japan that proved to be effective but at the same time had cost many American lives. The only thing left for the U.S. to win the war was a full scale invasion of Japan that was estimated to cost perhaps one million American lives. At this same time the atomic bomb was coming to fruition and the bomb was ready to be tested. The decision had been made in 1944 that the bomb would work best as an implosion device and to solely focus on using a plutonium bomb rather than uranium. The feeling was that a uranium based bomb was so sure to work that it was better to focus on the more difficult plutonium bomb. The plutonium bomb was designed to use explosives to bring the nuclear core to criticality. There were a wide range of predictions leading up to the days of the eventual testing of the bomb, among them fears that a nuclear explosion could ignite the atmosphere. On July 16, 1945 the time was finally right for a nuclear weapon to be tested. The test was a complete success and the bomb exploded had an explosive force of 18.6 kilotons. The nuclear weapon and all the research that Szilard, Bohr, Fermi and several others had worked on for the past years had finally come to fruition and a nuclear weapon was finally ready to be used in warfare against other human beings.
The atomic weapons created by scientists were a tremendous success. Their use in war led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and leveled two Japanese cities. But, the success of the weapons showed how scientists could build on the work of earlier scientists and lead to fantastic results. It also showed that with science working hand in hand with the government the possibilities for science to reach were endless.
References
Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1986.
http://www.3rd1000.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.3rd1000.com/nuclear/cruc18.htm
http://www.atomicarchive.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Timeline.shtml
http://www.atomicarchive.com [cited December 12, 2009] Available at http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/index.shtml
Because Of Race: How Americans Debate Harm and Opportunity In Our Schools
Schools are one of the major agents of enculturation in America. Many kids spend more time in school with their peers than their own parents and a lot of their life outlook is influenced by what they learn in school. Language problems are one area that can have a major impact on how a child can perform in school. The book that I chose for this report was “Because of race: how Americans debate harm and opportunity in our schools” by Mica Pollock. Through this book it is possible to take a look at some of the greater inequality issues surrounding education in America.
Mica Pollock wrote this book concerning her two years in working for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office For Civil Rights during 1999-2001. During Mica’s time in this position her main job was to analyze racial inequalities in the education system while speaking with people from all levels of the education system from parents to administrators. This book is a biography of what it was like to work in that system and the problems and hopeful remedies that must be taken to remedy America’s educational system to make it equal. The book while mentioning problems due to language does not go far in enough in addressing solutions not just for Spanish speaking students and students speaking African-American Vernacular English. One example is when the author mentions immigrant parents having the same amount of time to speak as English speakers in one case. The problem was that the immigrants had to have their words translated and in the time lost in translation they didn’t have the equal time of the English speakers. More in-depth analysis would have been appreciated on cases such as this. The writing style and tone of the book show that it was intended to be read by educators, politicians, and parents who are concerned about the education process. The author’s approach to the writing of the book is to rebut four distinct arguments commonly made about discrimination in schools and to then proceed to show how flawed those arguments are. The author’s approach is both descriptive of actual situations and then using those situations to prove theoretical points. The author does this by arguing against those rebuttals which are often used to argue against change and show what the realities of the situation in the schools actually are. The principal conclusions that the author makes are primarily that the work of the civil rights era is far from complete and that the failure to realize this has made people put up obstacles in the face of creating remedies for the shortcomings that exist in the American educational system. This book also strives to point out that by analyzing the rebuttals that have been made to ensuring full equality, Americans can come to understand the work that must be done yet to ensure equality. The author supports the conclusions reached in the book by presenting several cases she and others and OCR dealt with firsthand and showing how the prevalent attitudes she seeks to dismiss are wrong. The book itself is well written and discusses several institutions and concepts that generally do not receive a lot of press coverage in the United States such as Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Department of Education’s OCR. The author’s position in actually working with the cases mentioned in the book gives the book added authority but also at times does reveal bias. The author’s defense of the OCR while she was working there does not have the same feel as it would have had if the OCR was analyzed a third party writer with no ties to the agency. In overall terms this book is extremely effective in getting the message out to its intended audience. The book’s room for improvement lay in making the book a little longer by about 50-100 pages with more analysis on different subjects.
American courts struck down the separate but equal laws in schooling in 1954 and The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Despite how long ago these measures were taken there is still a lot to go into ensuring that American public schools are equal for all. By pretending or dismissing this assertion it does not ensure that the public schools have equality. This is the very message that Mica Pollock is making and one that must be taken to heart by all Americans.
Mica Pollock wrote this book concerning her two years in working for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office For Civil Rights during 1999-2001. During Mica’s time in this position her main job was to analyze racial inequalities in the education system while speaking with people from all levels of the education system from parents to administrators. This book is a biography of what it was like to work in that system and the problems and hopeful remedies that must be taken to remedy America’s educational system to make it equal. The book while mentioning problems due to language does not go far in enough in addressing solutions not just for Spanish speaking students and students speaking African-American Vernacular English. One example is when the author mentions immigrant parents having the same amount of time to speak as English speakers in one case. The problem was that the immigrants had to have their words translated and in the time lost in translation they didn’t have the equal time of the English speakers. More in-depth analysis would have been appreciated on cases such as this. The writing style and tone of the book show that it was intended to be read by educators, politicians, and parents who are concerned about the education process. The author’s approach to the writing of the book is to rebut four distinct arguments commonly made about discrimination in schools and to then proceed to show how flawed those arguments are. The author’s approach is both descriptive of actual situations and then using those situations to prove theoretical points. The author does this by arguing against those rebuttals which are often used to argue against change and show what the realities of the situation in the schools actually are. The principal conclusions that the author makes are primarily that the work of the civil rights era is far from complete and that the failure to realize this has made people put up obstacles in the face of creating remedies for the shortcomings that exist in the American educational system. This book also strives to point out that by analyzing the rebuttals that have been made to ensuring full equality, Americans can come to understand the work that must be done yet to ensure equality. The author supports the conclusions reached in the book by presenting several cases she and others and OCR dealt with firsthand and showing how the prevalent attitudes she seeks to dismiss are wrong. The book itself is well written and discusses several institutions and concepts that generally do not receive a lot of press coverage in the United States such as Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Department of Education’s OCR. The author’s position in actually working with the cases mentioned in the book gives the book added authority but also at times does reveal bias. The author’s defense of the OCR while she was working there does not have the same feel as it would have had if the OCR was analyzed a third party writer with no ties to the agency. In overall terms this book is extremely effective in getting the message out to its intended audience. The book’s room for improvement lay in making the book a little longer by about 50-100 pages with more analysis on different subjects.
American courts struck down the separate but equal laws in schooling in 1954 and The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Despite how long ago these measures were taken there is still a lot to go into ensuring that American public schools are equal for all. By pretending or dismissing this assertion it does not ensure that the public schools have equality. This is the very message that Mica Pollock is making and one that must be taken to heart by all Americans.
Mama Lola A Vodou Priestess In Brooklyn
Misconceptions of a group’s culture can sometimes lead to prejudice and mistrust of an entire group due a mistaken view of that group’s culture. Haitians in the United States have been victims of fears and misconceptions due to the religious practices of vodou which are shared by a majority of the population, and also due to many other factors which include accusations of spreading diseases like rape and the poverty that many Haitians live under. Haitians who have fled this country in boats have also led to a negative view of Haitians. Cross-cultural research can help break down the walls between different groups and help gain a better view and understanding of a group with a different culture. The book that I chose for this report was “Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn” by Karen Brown. This book shows how removing the walls between cultures can not only lead to understanding between different cultures but also acceptance of the culture.
The book “Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn” while recognized primarily as an ethnography, tells several stories at once to form several interesting narratives. It not only contains the biographies of Mama Lola and some of her ancestors, it also gives an in depth look at some of the central characters of the vodou religion, and also some of the rites and practices of the vodou religion. The book also tells of Karen Brown’s story the author who is a White American and her growing involvement and initiation into the vodou religion. This also acts as a backdrop to talk about the growing Haitian presence in America, and the struggle of Haitians to keep their families and religious practices alive in America despite facing persecution and misunderstanding regarding their beliefs while still holding ties to their homeland in Haiti. Among the important themes of this book was in its telling of how vodou empowers Haitian women and gives them self assurance and self-reliance that makes Haitian women different from other women. And also the struggle for immigrants to hold onto their cultural values and systems despite living in a country that can be hostile to their cultural values.
The main story of the book relates to the story of Mama Lola’s life. Mama Lola’s life is very intertwined with her serving of the spirits and the book also thus contains an in depth look into the vodou religion. The story is not a complete beginning to end narrative as it starts off from one specific time period and in other chapters the narrative jumps to different time periods. This makes it at times difficult to understand what is going on in the story or to ascertain as to how and why certain things happened. Karen Brown also in some chapters writes of herself from a first person perspective while in other chapters she writes of herself from a third person perspective which can be confusing when it happens. Karen while making herself an important character in the story vaguely mentions certain problems going on in her life but speaks nothing further of it. The book is not her story but her bringing up of her problems would at least suggest a little more details about herself as she gets more involved with vodou and Mama Lola. This also adds to researcher bias as Karen is not a detached observer to most of the events she describes but also a willing and sometimes central participant in some of the events she describes. The book also in the account of the lives of Alourdes’ ancestors’ also seem very light in historical accuracy but are told in a way to focus on the morals of a story, which with the exception of the ancestors’ narrative strives for accuracy. The book strove more to describe what was happening while not spending much time on the results or success of what happened.
This book’s story is very personal to me, because although I was born in America I am a first generation descendant of Haitians. Many of the terms and perspectives held by some of the Haitians described by Brown are familiar to me. I can picture being in the houses and areas described both in New York and also Haiti. I am also a descendant of vodou priests from both sides of my family, and I easily picture and know the attitudes and thoughts of people like Mama Lola and the other characters. But, both of my parents are not into vodou and have never discussed any of the tenets with vodou with me so I am a stranger to many of the practices described by Brown. Vodou is often explained by Protestant Haitians as a religion of serving Satan. There is also a view that vodou itself is responsible for Haiti being as backwards as it currently is now. Vodou practitioners on the other hand have relayed a different view of this. This story not only opened my eyes to parts of Haitian history that are unknown to me it also expanded my knowledge of a religion that many of my family members still hold dear. It also helped to break down misconceptions that I hold about vodou and allowed me to come to a greater acceptance of a religion that if I was born in my homeland I would have had a better knowledge of. The book also helped me to see how vodou affects Haitian culture so thoroughly that it affects even those who don’t practice vodou. The vodou mindset in Haitian culture expands deep in basic Haitian culture even if you’re not into it, and that helps me to look at Haitian culture and vodou being intertwined. I never realized how much I had in common with the mindset of vodou practitioners as I always thought that my not being a vodou follower, I had very little in common with those who were followers.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has the highest rate of AIDS infections in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti has been beset by corrupt governments and insurrections ever since Haiti gained independence from France. Few Haitian leaders have ever managed to finish a full term in office without being overthrown or killed. Women in particular in Haiti face many severe problems from a high rate of child mortality to deaths in childbirth, rape, and many other problems. In a country where life is so difficult, many especially women turn to vodou for solutions with life’s problems. Vodou unlike many other religions actually empowers women instead of affirming a second class status. Women could be in charge of their own temple and make their own decisions unlike in most Christian denominations that do not allow women to take any kind of leadership positions. Mama Lola in her service of the spirits became an empowered women similarly to her female ancestors. In looking at lists like “The 100 Items of the Pancultural Adjective Checklist” (Matsumoto, p.153, 2008), we can see that many of the adjectives that are male associated can easily be used to describe Mama Lola. In religions such as Christianity women are taught to be subservient and wait on God or a man to solve their problems. In vodou women are taught that if they are seeking something they have to go out and get it their themselves. Before the women’s movement in the United States this would have been a radical idea in the United States. Karen herself born under the typical Western image of women must also change her mindset and become more of a go getter as she progresses in the vodou religion. The vodou religion also allows the women to view the world from a female based viewpoint. Mama Lola had a matrilineal view of her ancestry with only one male having an important role in her family tree. Mama Lola also expected her daughter to carry on her legacy and continue the family tradition. Mama Lola also followed the spirits her female ancestors followed and did not pay too much attention to the spirits followed by her male ancestors. There was acknowledgment of the male spirits but they were not as important as the female spirits, which mirrors Haitian society where many households do not have a male father figure around even though they are generally desired. The female spirits and the female priestesses do not have the time to sit around and wait for the effects they desire but they have to make a conscious effort to make it happen. Self-reliance and self-assurance are stressed for the women in vodou as well as Haitian culture in general. The women who must sell goods in the market to feed themselves and their families have no one to rely on but themselves and their spirits. An independent attitude must be fostered to know how to sell properly and keep others, especially jealous ones out of their business, similarly to how the female spirits foster an independent attitude. Vodou morality also does not condemn women for doing what they deem necessary to help themselves or their children. Normally under Christian moral guidelines women like Mama Lola would be wrong for committing prostitution or taking many lovers at a young age. Under vodou morality staying true to a person’s character is considered moral. For a person like Mama Lola doing whatever it takes to feed her children is morally acceptable under vodou.
One of the more interesting conflicts that Mama Lola and other Haitians faced in living in America is the loss of family ties and the struggle to maintain those ties. While vodou does promote the independent self and helping practitioners to fight for themselves, at the same time it acknowledges the need for interdependence. The spirits themselves are part of family groups that are important to them, and the followers of the spirits generally look for strong family ties. A big struggle for Mama Lola is to tie the religion that places so much emphasis on Haiti and the family members who lived there and bring it to America where those ties do not exist. In America also Mama Lola and her daughter Maggie are very tied together and feel entirely dependent on each other. Success and continued good luck is also dependent on remaining aware of doing what is owed to the spirits. While affirming independence to be successful in life requires a proper combination of independence and interdependence. Not having that interdependence either with the spirits or the family would only be disastrous in the long run.
Another perspective in which to look at the story is the larger story of immigrants keeping their culture in the face of adversity. Throughout the story it is frequently mentioned that Mama Lola and several other vodou followers keep their practices secret to avoid scrutiny. This goes in hand with Haitian culture where people with differing views to the status quo particularly in politics must keep their views hidden or face repercussions. Also in vodou itself, for large sections of Haitian history vodou followers had to keep their beliefs hidden. Under the French days of slavery, vodou was forbidden and followers had to cloak the religion. Into the days of Haitian independence vodou was also outlawed and shunned by the upper class and Roman Catholic clergy. Haitians thus had vast experience in managing to practice vodou while remaining undetected. So in New York, Mama Lola and other Haitians were well practiced in how to avoid unwanted attention. The 1980’s, the time period which was the time period when a large portion of the events in this book took place was also a tough time for Haitians in Haiti and America. Large numbers of Haitian refugees were fleeing to the United States on dangerous boats and facing repatriation to Haiti if caught. The overthrow of Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier only increased the number of refugees coming to America. Haiti received attention due to the large numbers of Haitians who had AIDS and political violence rocked Haiti in the late 1980’s. This news would leave to a negative perception about both Haiti and Haitians such as was shown to Maggie. Personally I can also attest in school in New York City in the 1990’s I can also recall myself and other kids being made fun of for being Haitians. It was a big insult to even call another kid a Haitian, and Haitians from Haiti were derided as boat people and other cruel terms. As shown in the story Mama Lola still maintained her practices and beliefs and considered it a great skill to be almost invisible with her practices so that she did not have problems with others.
Another method of analyzing this book is by using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development in analyzing the growth of Mama Lola. There was not even information given in the book to examine whether exosystem and microsystem had an impact on Mama Lola’s development. Macrosystem is especially useful in Mama Lola’s development. The larger cultural values and beliefs had a direct impact on Mama Lola. She absorbed the values and beliefs of her culture and used it directly to guide her life. Her entire outlook on life is guided by the value system she learned growing up. This affects her so much that it can realistic for Karen to call Mama Lola a Haitian living in America, while her daughter Maggie who spent the first 12 years of her life in Haiti was an America who grew up in Haiti. Growing up and living in Haiti had made too much of an impact on her to change even with living in New York for over 20 years. Haitian culture is at times a hierarchal culture with strong emphasis being placed on social class. Mesosystem can be seen in playing a strong role in Mama Lola’s development. Her interactions with her children, her religious disciples always showed and reaffirmed her status. She dealt with people in a manner consistent with what a person of status in Haitian culture would be expected to. Her role as the primary financial and spiritual power in her family obligated her to behave in her specific manner. The chromosystem component seemed to be of little value for Mama Lola. The changing sociohistorical influences in her life seemed to do little to change her. The political upheaval in Haiti and life in the United States actually seemed instead to strengthen her resolve and hold on to her culture and beliefs. Cultural change among Haitians and vodou is slow and near nonexistent.
The story of Mama Lola is not just the story of one Haitian voodoo priestess but also the story of Haitian lives in America. Haitians in America have faced adverse challenges in America while at the same time striving to remember their homeland and provide for family members still living there. Careful analysis of this story can lead to a better understanding of how to understand different cultures and break down walls that exist in America today.
References
Matsumoto, David & Juang, Linda. Culture & Psychology 4th Edition. Wadsworth, 2008.
http://www.wehaitians.com/aristide%20populist%20appeal%20dwindles%20in%20haititi.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
Brown, Karen. A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn Updated and Expanded Edition. The University of California Press, 2001.
The book “Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn” while recognized primarily as an ethnography, tells several stories at once to form several interesting narratives. It not only contains the biographies of Mama Lola and some of her ancestors, it also gives an in depth look at some of the central characters of the vodou religion, and also some of the rites and practices of the vodou religion. The book also tells of Karen Brown’s story the author who is a White American and her growing involvement and initiation into the vodou religion. This also acts as a backdrop to talk about the growing Haitian presence in America, and the struggle of Haitians to keep their families and religious practices alive in America despite facing persecution and misunderstanding regarding their beliefs while still holding ties to their homeland in Haiti. Among the important themes of this book was in its telling of how vodou empowers Haitian women and gives them self assurance and self-reliance that makes Haitian women different from other women. And also the struggle for immigrants to hold onto their cultural values and systems despite living in a country that can be hostile to their cultural values.
The main story of the book relates to the story of Mama Lola’s life. Mama Lola’s life is very intertwined with her serving of the spirits and the book also thus contains an in depth look into the vodou religion. The story is not a complete beginning to end narrative as it starts off from one specific time period and in other chapters the narrative jumps to different time periods. This makes it at times difficult to understand what is going on in the story or to ascertain as to how and why certain things happened. Karen Brown also in some chapters writes of herself from a first person perspective while in other chapters she writes of herself from a third person perspective which can be confusing when it happens. Karen while making herself an important character in the story vaguely mentions certain problems going on in her life but speaks nothing further of it. The book is not her story but her bringing up of her problems would at least suggest a little more details about herself as she gets more involved with vodou and Mama Lola. This also adds to researcher bias as Karen is not a detached observer to most of the events she describes but also a willing and sometimes central participant in some of the events she describes. The book also in the account of the lives of Alourdes’ ancestors’ also seem very light in historical accuracy but are told in a way to focus on the morals of a story, which with the exception of the ancestors’ narrative strives for accuracy. The book strove more to describe what was happening while not spending much time on the results or success of what happened.
This book’s story is very personal to me, because although I was born in America I am a first generation descendant of Haitians. Many of the terms and perspectives held by some of the Haitians described by Brown are familiar to me. I can picture being in the houses and areas described both in New York and also Haiti. I am also a descendant of vodou priests from both sides of my family, and I easily picture and know the attitudes and thoughts of people like Mama Lola and the other characters. But, both of my parents are not into vodou and have never discussed any of the tenets with vodou with me so I am a stranger to many of the practices described by Brown. Vodou is often explained by Protestant Haitians as a religion of serving Satan. There is also a view that vodou itself is responsible for Haiti being as backwards as it currently is now. Vodou practitioners on the other hand have relayed a different view of this. This story not only opened my eyes to parts of Haitian history that are unknown to me it also expanded my knowledge of a religion that many of my family members still hold dear. It also helped to break down misconceptions that I hold about vodou and allowed me to come to a greater acceptance of a religion that if I was born in my homeland I would have had a better knowledge of. The book also helped me to see how vodou affects Haitian culture so thoroughly that it affects even those who don’t practice vodou. The vodou mindset in Haitian culture expands deep in basic Haitian culture even if you’re not into it, and that helps me to look at Haitian culture and vodou being intertwined. I never realized how much I had in common with the mindset of vodou practitioners as I always thought that my not being a vodou follower, I had very little in common with those who were followers.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has the highest rate of AIDS infections in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti has been beset by corrupt governments and insurrections ever since Haiti gained independence from France. Few Haitian leaders have ever managed to finish a full term in office without being overthrown or killed. Women in particular in Haiti face many severe problems from a high rate of child mortality to deaths in childbirth, rape, and many other problems. In a country where life is so difficult, many especially women turn to vodou for solutions with life’s problems. Vodou unlike many other religions actually empowers women instead of affirming a second class status. Women could be in charge of their own temple and make their own decisions unlike in most Christian denominations that do not allow women to take any kind of leadership positions. Mama Lola in her service of the spirits became an empowered women similarly to her female ancestors. In looking at lists like “The 100 Items of the Pancultural Adjective Checklist” (Matsumoto, p.153, 2008), we can see that many of the adjectives that are male associated can easily be used to describe Mama Lola. In religions such as Christianity women are taught to be subservient and wait on God or a man to solve their problems. In vodou women are taught that if they are seeking something they have to go out and get it their themselves. Before the women’s movement in the United States this would have been a radical idea in the United States. Karen herself born under the typical Western image of women must also change her mindset and become more of a go getter as she progresses in the vodou religion. The vodou religion also allows the women to view the world from a female based viewpoint. Mama Lola had a matrilineal view of her ancestry with only one male having an important role in her family tree. Mama Lola also expected her daughter to carry on her legacy and continue the family tradition. Mama Lola also followed the spirits her female ancestors followed and did not pay too much attention to the spirits followed by her male ancestors. There was acknowledgment of the male spirits but they were not as important as the female spirits, which mirrors Haitian society where many households do not have a male father figure around even though they are generally desired. The female spirits and the female priestesses do not have the time to sit around and wait for the effects they desire but they have to make a conscious effort to make it happen. Self-reliance and self-assurance are stressed for the women in vodou as well as Haitian culture in general. The women who must sell goods in the market to feed themselves and their families have no one to rely on but themselves and their spirits. An independent attitude must be fostered to know how to sell properly and keep others, especially jealous ones out of their business, similarly to how the female spirits foster an independent attitude. Vodou morality also does not condemn women for doing what they deem necessary to help themselves or their children. Normally under Christian moral guidelines women like Mama Lola would be wrong for committing prostitution or taking many lovers at a young age. Under vodou morality staying true to a person’s character is considered moral. For a person like Mama Lola doing whatever it takes to feed her children is morally acceptable under vodou.
One of the more interesting conflicts that Mama Lola and other Haitians faced in living in America is the loss of family ties and the struggle to maintain those ties. While vodou does promote the independent self and helping practitioners to fight for themselves, at the same time it acknowledges the need for interdependence. The spirits themselves are part of family groups that are important to them, and the followers of the spirits generally look for strong family ties. A big struggle for Mama Lola is to tie the religion that places so much emphasis on Haiti and the family members who lived there and bring it to America where those ties do not exist. In America also Mama Lola and her daughter Maggie are very tied together and feel entirely dependent on each other. Success and continued good luck is also dependent on remaining aware of doing what is owed to the spirits. While affirming independence to be successful in life requires a proper combination of independence and interdependence. Not having that interdependence either with the spirits or the family would only be disastrous in the long run.
Another perspective in which to look at the story is the larger story of immigrants keeping their culture in the face of adversity. Throughout the story it is frequently mentioned that Mama Lola and several other vodou followers keep their practices secret to avoid scrutiny. This goes in hand with Haitian culture where people with differing views to the status quo particularly in politics must keep their views hidden or face repercussions. Also in vodou itself, for large sections of Haitian history vodou followers had to keep their beliefs hidden. Under the French days of slavery, vodou was forbidden and followers had to cloak the religion. Into the days of Haitian independence vodou was also outlawed and shunned by the upper class and Roman Catholic clergy. Haitians thus had vast experience in managing to practice vodou while remaining undetected. So in New York, Mama Lola and other Haitians were well practiced in how to avoid unwanted attention. The 1980’s, the time period which was the time period when a large portion of the events in this book took place was also a tough time for Haitians in Haiti and America. Large numbers of Haitian refugees were fleeing to the United States on dangerous boats and facing repatriation to Haiti if caught. The overthrow of Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier only increased the number of refugees coming to America. Haiti received attention due to the large numbers of Haitians who had AIDS and political violence rocked Haiti in the late 1980’s. This news would leave to a negative perception about both Haiti and Haitians such as was shown to Maggie. Personally I can also attest in school in New York City in the 1990’s I can also recall myself and other kids being made fun of for being Haitians. It was a big insult to even call another kid a Haitian, and Haitians from Haiti were derided as boat people and other cruel terms. As shown in the story Mama Lola still maintained her practices and beliefs and considered it a great skill to be almost invisible with her practices so that she did not have problems with others.
Another method of analyzing this book is by using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory of Development in analyzing the growth of Mama Lola. There was not even information given in the book to examine whether exosystem and microsystem had an impact on Mama Lola’s development. Macrosystem is especially useful in Mama Lola’s development. The larger cultural values and beliefs had a direct impact on Mama Lola. She absorbed the values and beliefs of her culture and used it directly to guide her life. Her entire outlook on life is guided by the value system she learned growing up. This affects her so much that it can realistic for Karen to call Mama Lola a Haitian living in America, while her daughter Maggie who spent the first 12 years of her life in Haiti was an America who grew up in Haiti. Growing up and living in Haiti had made too much of an impact on her to change even with living in New York for over 20 years. Haitian culture is at times a hierarchal culture with strong emphasis being placed on social class. Mesosystem can be seen in playing a strong role in Mama Lola’s development. Her interactions with her children, her religious disciples always showed and reaffirmed her status. She dealt with people in a manner consistent with what a person of status in Haitian culture would be expected to. Her role as the primary financial and spiritual power in her family obligated her to behave in her specific manner. The chromosystem component seemed to be of little value for Mama Lola. The changing sociohistorical influences in her life seemed to do little to change her. The political upheaval in Haiti and life in the United States actually seemed instead to strengthen her resolve and hold on to her culture and beliefs. Cultural change among Haitians and vodou is slow and near nonexistent.
The story of Mama Lola is not just the story of one Haitian voodoo priestess but also the story of Haitian lives in America. Haitians in America have faced adverse challenges in America while at the same time striving to remember their homeland and provide for family members still living there. Careful analysis of this story can lead to a better understanding of how to understand different cultures and break down walls that exist in America today.
References
Matsumoto, David & Juang, Linda. Culture & Psychology 4th Edition. Wadsworth, 2008.
http://www.wehaitians.com/aristide%20populist%20appeal%20dwindles%20in%20haititi.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
Brown, Karen. A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn Updated and Expanded Edition. The University of California Press, 2001.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The Godfather Part II Film Review
Written on November 6, 2009
Films are often used and viewed as diversionary entertainment, but films often have the power to provide an excellent look into American society. The power of language, its use and what its use entails is often a critical factor in how immigrants get along in America. The use of language and its mastery can relate power and weakness among immigrants. The film, The Godfather Part II is an excellent example of the use of language and its effects on immigrants. The sociolinguistic situations of the film provide an excellent examination to see how language use affects immigrants.
For immigrant groups coming to the United States, language is power. The inability of an immigrant to learn English can often leave them with a feeling of powerlessness and in a second class state. The immigrants generally then stick together to their own group where their language is dominant, as with the Italians in the turn of the 20th century, and Puerto Ricans and other Latino groups later on. Adjusting to and learning a new language can be tough especially for older immigrants, as language is learned more easily during the first years of life.
The Godfather Part II tells two stories, one of a young immigrant named Vito Corleone’s rise to power, and the other of his son Michael Corleone’s bid to keep the family power. Early in the film an important scene occurs that shows a connection between language and power. At a public ceremony for Michael Corleone’s son, a United States senator badly mispronounces the Corleone name. But, in a later one on one meeting with Michael Corleone, the senator not only pronounces a dislike for Italians, he also proceeds to pronounce the Corleone name perfectly. He thus showed that not only could he properly pronounce the name, he deliberately mispronounced the Corleone name as a sign of disrespect and to assert his power over the Corleones, who come from a stigmatized ethnic group.
In the film’s progression where Vito is a young poor man, he never speaks English. English is used as a language of emphasis to declare emphatic points, while everyone speaks mostly Italian. The first time Vito uses English it is when he uses the words, yeah and sure, as he goes out to commit his first crime. Vito’s partner Clemenza addresses him in English in giving him instructions showing his power over Vito. A turning point in the film and Vito’s life is when he takes a turn from being a subordinate to his crime partners is when he addresses them in English for the first time basically asserting himself as the power among his group. Vito then uses English as the language he speaks when making assertive claims. Vito from then on uses English as the language he needs when making dominant statements, and others use English toward him in a subordinate role. As a rich man English the dominant language of the country becomes the language he uses to establish and reinforce his dominance over others.
For the later characters of the film such as Michael Corleone on the other hand Italian is rarely used. As a more refined American born member of society he uses English. Frank Pentangeli on the other hand who is portrayed as a more crude non upper-class member of society speaks Italian at times frequently code switching with English. When Michael speaks with Frank at a point he also breaks off into speaking in Italian. Michael’s use of Italian here does not signify a loss or shift of power as it would have for his father, but simply reaffirms his status as a member of the ethnic group despite his upper class lifestyle. When Michael though does speak to his mother in Italian later on, due to his feeling of losing his family it signifies a moment of weakness. Michael is unsure of whether he is doing the right thing and English normally the language of power and confidence can do him no good in the situation.
The Godfather Part II is a film that shows the significant role between language and power among immigrants and others in America. The shifts and usage of the language can mean much more if you really take a look into the meaning.
References
Bonvillian, Nancy. Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages
5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
Films are often used and viewed as diversionary entertainment, but films often have the power to provide an excellent look into American society. The power of language, its use and what its use entails is often a critical factor in how immigrants get along in America. The use of language and its mastery can relate power and weakness among immigrants. The film, The Godfather Part II is an excellent example of the use of language and its effects on immigrants. The sociolinguistic situations of the film provide an excellent examination to see how language use affects immigrants.
For immigrant groups coming to the United States, language is power. The inability of an immigrant to learn English can often leave them with a feeling of powerlessness and in a second class state. The immigrants generally then stick together to their own group where their language is dominant, as with the Italians in the turn of the 20th century, and Puerto Ricans and other Latino groups later on. Adjusting to and learning a new language can be tough especially for older immigrants, as language is learned more easily during the first years of life.
The Godfather Part II tells two stories, one of a young immigrant named Vito Corleone’s rise to power, and the other of his son Michael Corleone’s bid to keep the family power. Early in the film an important scene occurs that shows a connection between language and power. At a public ceremony for Michael Corleone’s son, a United States senator badly mispronounces the Corleone name. But, in a later one on one meeting with Michael Corleone, the senator not only pronounces a dislike for Italians, he also proceeds to pronounce the Corleone name perfectly. He thus showed that not only could he properly pronounce the name, he deliberately mispronounced the Corleone name as a sign of disrespect and to assert his power over the Corleones, who come from a stigmatized ethnic group.
In the film’s progression where Vito is a young poor man, he never speaks English. English is used as a language of emphasis to declare emphatic points, while everyone speaks mostly Italian. The first time Vito uses English it is when he uses the words, yeah and sure, as he goes out to commit his first crime. Vito’s partner Clemenza addresses him in English in giving him instructions showing his power over Vito. A turning point in the film and Vito’s life is when he takes a turn from being a subordinate to his crime partners is when he addresses them in English for the first time basically asserting himself as the power among his group. Vito then uses English as the language he speaks when making assertive claims. Vito from then on uses English as the language he needs when making dominant statements, and others use English toward him in a subordinate role. As a rich man English the dominant language of the country becomes the language he uses to establish and reinforce his dominance over others.
For the later characters of the film such as Michael Corleone on the other hand Italian is rarely used. As a more refined American born member of society he uses English. Frank Pentangeli on the other hand who is portrayed as a more crude non upper-class member of society speaks Italian at times frequently code switching with English. When Michael speaks with Frank at a point he also breaks off into speaking in Italian. Michael’s use of Italian here does not signify a loss or shift of power as it would have for his father, but simply reaffirms his status as a member of the ethnic group despite his upper class lifestyle. When Michael though does speak to his mother in Italian later on, due to his feeling of losing his family it signifies a moment of weakness. Michael is unsure of whether he is doing the right thing and English normally the language of power and confidence can do him no good in the situation.
The Godfather Part II is a film that shows the significant role between language and power among immigrants and others in America. The shifts and usage of the language can mean much more if you really take a look into the meaning.
References
Bonvillian, Nancy. Language, Culture, and Communication: The Meaning of Messages
5th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
Media Ethics and Journalism
Written on Novemer 17,2009
In 1981 Janet Cooke a writer for the Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for a story about a 8 year old heroin addict. A few days later the story broke that Cooke’s story was a fabrication. In May 2003 it was discovered that Jayson Blair a writer for the New York Times had been plagiarizing and fabricating stories. In recent years in America the issue of Media ethics in journalism has been a frequent issue that has been brought up due to serious scandals like the ones mentioned threatening the integrity of Media institutions.
In discussing ethics in the Media it is important to note that the Society of Professional Journalists which has been in existence since 1909, has already established a code of ethics. Among this code of ethics is an obligation to seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable. The problem though with this code of ethics is that it is voluntary and not necessarily subscribed to by all journalists. Some commentators like John Merrill are of the position that the media is essentially unethical. This position is true for some media people, but I would make the argument that the vast majority of media people are ethical and looking to uphold high standards of journalism, since the entire credibility of journalism rests on a credibility with readers. Journalists from the International Federation of Journalists have launched an Ethical Journalism Initiative. Journalists have sensed that the growing sentiment about unethical journalism is affecting their field, and they are working hard to bring a higher standard for journalists to adhere to. The use of digital media has jumped in the journalism field and sometimes the news being distributed via social media is unverified as happened in the Iranian Election protests of 2009. Journalists have looked for ways to ensure that the digital media conforms to ethical standards of journalism. Journalists who have been found to fabricate or misrepresent stories have been forced out of the field or punished in various other ways no matter how esteemed as Dan Rather at CBS found out.
The power that the Media holds in America is significant. Scandals brought out in the press have helped take down government administrations and ensured that democracy is working correctly. It only makes sense then that standards exist to make sure that the press is working ethically. Under a free press system as the one here in the United States there is not too much that the government can do to ensure Media ethics in journalism aside from whether journalists break the law, but consumers and owners of Media outlets have to be the ones to ensure that the media is working ethically. Consumers have continually spoken as public esteem for the press has been continuously falling for about the last 20 years. The public has also spoken with their usage of traditional media outlets which continues to drop. For the Media to continue to ensure the public trust constant vigilance is necessary to make sure journalists are trained in the right way from the very beginning to uphold a standard of ethics and for it to carry over in their professional work.
Sources
Richardson, R. (Fall 2009) Accessed from http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101912
Gottlieb, Stephen F. Accessed from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9213/media.htm
The Mindanao Examiner. Accessed from http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080813195638
Leach, Jan. (Fall 2009) Accessed from http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101899
Dennis, Everette & Merrill, John. Media Debates 4th Edition. Thompson Wadsworth, 2006
In 1981 Janet Cooke a writer for the Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for a story about a 8 year old heroin addict. A few days later the story broke that Cooke’s story was a fabrication. In May 2003 it was discovered that Jayson Blair a writer for the New York Times had been plagiarizing and fabricating stories. In recent years in America the issue of Media ethics in journalism has been a frequent issue that has been brought up due to serious scandals like the ones mentioned threatening the integrity of Media institutions.
In discussing ethics in the Media it is important to note that the Society of Professional Journalists which has been in existence since 1909, has already established a code of ethics. Among this code of ethics is an obligation to seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable. The problem though with this code of ethics is that it is voluntary and not necessarily subscribed to by all journalists. Some commentators like John Merrill are of the position that the media is essentially unethical. This position is true for some media people, but I would make the argument that the vast majority of media people are ethical and looking to uphold high standards of journalism, since the entire credibility of journalism rests on a credibility with readers. Journalists from the International Federation of Journalists have launched an Ethical Journalism Initiative. Journalists have sensed that the growing sentiment about unethical journalism is affecting their field, and they are working hard to bring a higher standard for journalists to adhere to. The use of digital media has jumped in the journalism field and sometimes the news being distributed via social media is unverified as happened in the Iranian Election protests of 2009. Journalists have looked for ways to ensure that the digital media conforms to ethical standards of journalism. Journalists who have been found to fabricate or misrepresent stories have been forced out of the field or punished in various other ways no matter how esteemed as Dan Rather at CBS found out.
The power that the Media holds in America is significant. Scandals brought out in the press have helped take down government administrations and ensured that democracy is working correctly. It only makes sense then that standards exist to make sure that the press is working ethically. Under a free press system as the one here in the United States there is not too much that the government can do to ensure Media ethics in journalism aside from whether journalists break the law, but consumers and owners of Media outlets have to be the ones to ensure that the media is working ethically. Consumers have continually spoken as public esteem for the press has been continuously falling for about the last 20 years. The public has also spoken with their usage of traditional media outlets which continues to drop. For the Media to continue to ensure the public trust constant vigilance is necessary to make sure journalists are trained in the right way from the very beginning to uphold a standard of ethics and for it to carry over in their professional work.
Sources
Richardson, R. (Fall 2009) Accessed from http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101912
Gottlieb, Stephen F. Accessed from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9213/media.htm
The Mindanao Examiner. Accessed from http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080813195638
Leach, Jan. (Fall 2009) Accessed from http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101899
Dennis, Everette & Merrill, John. Media Debates 4th Edition. Thompson Wadsworth, 2006
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