Prestige Telephone Company Essay Essay Example

Prestige Telephone Company Essay Essay 1. Identify the costs that are relevant to the analysis to stop Prestige Data Servicess: Relevant costs in the analysis by Prestige Telephone Company determination to stop Prestige Data Services include: fixed costs which must be absorbed by the parent company ( Prestige Telephone ) upon shutdown ; outstanding Prestige Data Services debts ; costs of retraining maintained employees ; costs associated with outsourcing informations services antecedently provided by Prestige Data Services ; chance cost of utilizing infinite rented to Prestige Data Services ; selling costs attributed to geting extra Prestige Data Services clients ; costs of increasing promotional activities of Prestige Data Services. In add-on. Prestige Telephone Company should see the qualitative cost of reduced employee morale which may ensue upon closure of Prestige Data Services. We will write a custom essay sample on Prestige Telephone Company Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Prestige Telephone Company Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Prestige Telephone Company Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Care costs 2. Justify why each of the costs in point 1 is relevant: The costs listed supra are all relevant because they each vary with the shutdown determination. ? Fixed costs which must be absorbed by the parent company ( Prestige Telephone ) upon shutdown: Payroll. charge. aggregations. and other corporate services were provided by Prestige Telephone in return for an sum from Data Services based on rewards and wages. These fixed costs allocated to Prestige Data Services must now be accounted for by the parent company.? Costss of retraining employees: If employees are retained by Prestige Telephone. rewards and wages that were antecedently incurred by the Data Services line will hit Prestige Telephone’s budget. Besides. new accomplishments will be required of employees retained by the company every bit good as attach toing preparation disbursals.? Costss associated with outsourcing informations services antecedently provided by Prestige Data Servicess: Prestige Telephone will still necessitate the services Prestige Data Services supply and therefore will necessitate to outsource them. Since Prestige Telephone was utilizing a monetary value cap based on estimated informations use in 1999. they were efficaciously acquiring discounted informations service rates from the subordinate. If Data Services is shut down. the company might incur much higher service disbursals.? The care cost is relevant because if Data Services is shut down the company will no longer incur this costs. therefore it needs to be considered as a cost the parent company can extinguish.? Opportunity cost of utilizing infinite rented to Prestige Data Servicess: If Prestige Telephone decides to close down the Data Services Company. the parent company will lose the $ 8000 monthly rental fee paid by the current subordinate. Additionally. Prestige Telephone must see the chance cost of leasing the infinite to another company or service that may supply them with more income.? If Prestige Data Services is shut down. selling costs attributed to geting extra Prestige Data Services clients and promotional activities will no longer be necessary.? Termination of Prestige Data Services employees as a consequence of shut down may cut down the morale of any maintained employees or employees of the parents company. Prestige might see reduced productiveness or increased turnover as a consequence. 3. Identify the costs that are NOT relevant to the analysis to stopPrestige Data Servicess: Costss non relevant to the determination are done for costs such as the costs of developing Prestige Data Service employees. investings in the IT substructure. and any owned Prestige Data Services Equipment. In add-on. the fixed part of the electricity costs is non relevant. Depreciation costs are besides non relevant. The rentals for computing machine equipment are non-cancelable and therefore may be considered sunk costs because Data Services is expected to cover the costs associated with the rentals prior to being shutdown. However if Prestige Data Services is unable to pay off the rentals. these costs will go relevant because the parent company. Prestige Telephone would be responsible for debts owed. 4. Justify why each of the costs in point 3 is NOT relevantFixed cost: Costss of equipment and fixtures are incurred whether or non Prestige Data Service continues to run. Even if the subordinate company is shut down. these fixed costs must still be taken into consideration. Some costs. such as electricity. whether used or non. will be charged for a certain basic sum every month and hence should non be considered relevant. Depreciation is non relevant because cost of equipment is a sunk cost. There is no important salvage value for the equipment. 5. Identify the grosss that are relevant to the analysis to stop Prestige Data Servicess: Grosss relevant to the analysis to stop the operation are commercial gross revenues gross which includes computing machine usage and other. 6. Justify why the grosss in point 5 are relevant:The grosss in point 5 differ across options. In other words. these grosss are straight tied to Prestige Data Services. If the production capacity of Prestige Data Services decreases to zero. all the gross ensuing from these operations will besides diminish to $ 0. which decreases the subsidiary’s part to its parent company. 7. Identify the grosss that are NOT relevant to the analysis to stop Prestige Data Services. The gross of Prestige Telephone and the gross from intercompany Gross saless are non relevant to the determination. 8. Justify why the grosss in point 7 are NOT relevant.As we explained in point 6. all grosss from Prestige Data Services will alter depending on the determination. As the production capacity is varied. all the grosss will change. These alterations show the expected overall consequence on net income. Gross at Prestige Telephone will non change based on the determination to close down Prestige Data Services because Prestige Telephone’s gross is non tied to the operations of the subordinate. From the position of the Parent Company. Intercompany Gross saless are a gross watercourse for the subordinate. but an equal cost to the Parent. therefore it doesn’t impact the balance sheet of the parent company. 9. Is Prestige Data Services truly a job to the parent company. Justify your reply. Prestige Data Service is non a job to the parent company. This is chiefly because: —Prestige Telephone will necessitate to absorb Prestige Data’s relevant fixed costs.—Prestige Telephone will hold to pay higher rates for services antecedently provided by Prestige Data Services. Regardless of possible sunk costs such as equipment rentals ( $ 95. 000 ) . Prestige Data Service positively contributes to the parent company. Additionally. if Prestige Data Services were to bear down Prestige Telephone the same rates ( $ 800 per service hr ) it charges for commercial services. the company would non be runing at a loss. If these commercial rates are considered competitory so the subordinate is salvaging its parent money. Furthermore. there are several schemes that can be implemented to increase the concern value of Prestige Data Services. such as cut downing computing machine use. 10. Fix monthly income statements for January. February. and March which back up your reply to item 9.

Cheyanne Jessie - Cold-Blooded Murderer

Cheyanne Jessie - Cold-Blooded Murderer On August 1, 2015, 25-year-old Cheyanne Jessie of Lakeland, Florida called police to report that her father, Mark Weekly, 50, was missing and her daughter Meredith, 6. She was arrested and charged with their murders less than 24 hours later after their bodies were found decomposing in a neighbors storage shed. Here are the latest developments in the Cheyanne Jessie case. State to Seek Death Penalty in Cheyanne Jessie Case Sept. 9, 2015 - Polk County prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty in the case of a 25-year-old Florida woman who is charged with killing her father and her daughter. Cheyanne Jessie could face death if convicted of the deaths of her father Mark Weekly and her daughter Meredith. Jessie has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence. She is being held without bail. According to Polk County Sheriffs investigators, Jessie took a gun and a knife to her fathers house on July 18 and shot her father and stabbed her daughter. She left the bodies on the floor of the house for four days. Police said she returned to the house July 22, scraped their remains off the floor with a shovel and put them into plastic storage bins, which she later hid in a storage shed that belonged to the landlord, who was on vacation at the time. Prosecutors did not say specifically why they plan to seek the death penalty. Woman Charged With Murder of Her Father and Daughter Aug. 2, 2015 - A 25-year-old Florida woman has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after she called the police and reported her father and daughter missing. Cheyanne Jessie is accused of killing her 6-year-old daughter Meredith and her 50-year-old father, Mark Weekly. Authorities said the motive for the murders was almost as horrific as the crime itself: the single mother, who works as a cashier at a big-box store, didnt want her daughter interfering with her relationship with a new boyfriend. Nothings more horrific than the murder of a child, except when its done by a parent, and thats what we saw, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd at a press conference. Sheriff Judd became emotional as he displayed Jessies mug shot for the media. This is the face and this is the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer, Judd said. She not only murdered them, but left them in the residence for many days until it became painfully evident she had to move them. Judd said Jessie showed no emotion during interviews with investigators and she continued to go to work at a nearby retail store while the bodies of her family members were decomposing. We cant understand in our minds how someone could murder their 6-year-old baby girl and murder their dad, Judd said. But thats exactly what she did and she showed no emotion. Killed on July 18 From evidence found at the crime scene and the storage shed, and from information gained in interviews with the accused, investigators pieced together the following timeline: On July 18, Jessie dropped her daughter off at her fathers house. Either later that day or the following day, she got into an argument with her father over the child and she killed both of them. Does she think shes going to lose this boyfriend, which she desperately wanted, because of her daughter? Judd said. For whatever reason, not only does she take her daughter to her father but ultimately murders both of them. Puts Bodies in Storage Shed Judd said Jessie returned on July 22, four days later, and used a shovel to remove the decomposing bodies from the house into a Chevy SUV. She put the bodies into bags to hide them, something she learned from watching the television show Criminal Minds, she told investigators. She took the bodies to a storage shed about 200 yards from Weeklys house that belonged to his landlord. The landlord was vacationing and out of town. When relatives began to ask questions about the whereabouts of Weekly and Meredith, Jessie began to launch an elaborate missing persons story. She said her father had received a recent diagnosis of cancer and that he ran off to Georgia to spend his remaining months with his granddaughter. Things Dont Smell Right Jessie used her fathers cellphone to text her boyfriend, pretending to be Weekly, saying that he had only a year to live and wanted to spend it with Meredith. In the texts, Weekly granted Jessie and her boyfriend permission to take his house and possessions, but when Jessie reported all of this to the police, they became suspicious immediately. Things dont smell right. Literally. They dont smell right, Judd said. Judd said at Weeklys house there was a foul smell that Jessie tried to blame on rotting meat left in the kitchen sink and on a dead raccoon under the porch. Police were not able to locate the dead animal. What they did find, after getting a search warrant, was slash marks on a blood-soaked couch and a rug covering a bloodstained floor. They also found the bodies in the nearby shed. Claim Self-Defense As the interview continued, Jessies story began to change throughout the day, Judd said. She claimed she acted in self-defense. Jessie told investigators that her father tried to stab her, but she was able to defend herself using martial-arts training that she learned from her new boyfriends father. The man later told police that he had no knowledge of martial arts. She supposedly gets the knife away from her father after hes fighting and slashing at her, and accidentally stabs the 6-year-old, Judd told reporters. None of the evidence supports any of this. Judd said throughout the interview, Jessie did not shed a tear over the deaths of her father and daughter. He said a gun and a knife were used in the murders. Jessie has a previous arrest in another state for assaulting and boyfriend with a knife.

Leading and Managing in Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Leading and Managing in Organisations - Essay Example The theory, exchanged the follower and the leader to take place in achieving the normal performance goals. This form of theoretical exchange involves the following dimensions, contingent rewards, active management through exception, passive management via exception, and Laissez-faire. According to the contingent rewards, the transactional leaders connect the goal of the workers to their rewards, clarify the expectations, and offer the necessary resources (Wood 1992). In active management by exception, the transactional theory actively monitors the subordinates work, and watch for the deviation standards. Another dimension is passive management by exception. Here the theory, interferes when the standards of leadership are not met. Consequently, in Laisses-faire, the leadership theory, offers an environment where the subordinate will get the various opportunities in making the decision. The leaders themselves abdicate the roles and avoid carrying out decision and the group tends to lack the decision. Some of the assumptions underlying the transactional leadership theory include; the workers are motivated by the punishment and rewards, the subordinates need to obey the guidelines from the superior, and the subordinates are not motivated (Valle 1975). They need to be controlled and monitored closely so that their work can be carried out. The implication of the transactional theory is that the leaders tend to overemphasize on the short-term and detailed goals and the standard procedures and goals. They fail to make efforts in enhancing the generation and creativity of new idea (Petri 1991). This form of leadership technique tends to work well where the problems of the organization are clearly defined and simple. The leaders believe in not rewarding or ignoring the ideas that do not confine the existing goals and plan. In this theory, the transactional leaders are effective in directing the effective decisions, which are meant to

Chessington World of Adventure, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chessington World of Adventure, - Essay Example And if they involve themselves in fun filled group activities, it will surely relax their mind and will bring down their stress levels to bare minimum. This is where the concept of amusement or theme parks comes into the picture. Even though, in amusement parks, there will be physical activities, it can be carried out in a relaxed and fun filled way. So, it will surely relax the physical and the mental part of the body. Because of this role, the amusements parks will be flocked by many people. Thus, it becomes an important duty of the amusement park administration or management to maintain the park optimally. That is, they should provide all the necessary facilities and features, with quality and safety inbuilt in it. So, this paper will analyze Chessington World of Adventure Chessington World of Adventure is a theme park located on the Surrey town of Chessington in United Kingdom. It is considered to be enjoyable place catering to the needs of people of all ages. Inside, Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo, there are ten different park areas, each with their own unique theme and rides as Beanoland, Chessington Zoo, forbidden kingdom, Land of the Dragons, Market Square, Mexicana, Mystic East, Pirate cove, Toytown and Transylvania. In recent years it has become increasing popular for an organisation to produce a mission statement and/or its ‘vision’ that sets out the purpose and general direction for the organisation (Mullins). The main mission of Chessington park is: ‘†¦create an unforgettable place of adventure for our guests and provide our customers a great day out †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ With this mission as its main plank, Chessington World has put into actions its different departments to run the company successfully. The different departments, which are aiding Chessington to actualize its mission, are marketing department, followed by Human Resources, Finance, Quality, Customer Service etc. Among the many departments, which

Impact of New Media Technologies on the News

Impact of New Media Technologies on the News This essay argues that new media technologies have impacted on the structure of international news. As development of new media technologies is not a linear progression (Logan, 2010), what constitutes ‘new media technology’ changes from time to time. The exact definition of new media is arbitrary as television back in the 1950s is considered the new media but at this present moment, it no longer is. Recognising the transitory of the term ‘new media technologies’, I agree with Logan (2010)’s definition of new media technologies as digital, two-way interactive media with ‘the ability to combine text, audio, digital video, the Web, email, chat and a cell phone’ (ibid, 2010: 5), which is different from electric mass media such as TV or Radio posit by McLuhan in 1964 (ibid, 2010). As Shapiro (1999) articulates, â€Å"the emergence of new, digital technologies signal a radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources † (cited in Croteau William, 2003: 322) reinforces my support on the statement that new media technologies have impacted the structure of international news. Therefore, in order to illustrate my stance, I will discuss how the functionality of new media technologies, specifically mobile devices and the social media platform- Twitter have impacted the structure of international news in terms of its news production and distribution. Furthermore, I will look at the wider discussion sphere as to how new media technologies have impacted the media environment with relations to the structure of international news. As media coverage on international news according to Moeller (1999) focuses mainly on war, famine, pestilence and human misery issues, I will be using the case studies of 7/7 London Bombing and the Israel-Gaza conflict as examples. First of all, this essay argues that the functionality of new media technologies like smartphones have impacted the structure of international news in terms of news production. With the increase to access and ownership of new media technologies, in this context culture production tools, â€Å"today everyone is a reporter† (Utley cited in Holms, 2001: 126). Smartphones are typically defined as mobile phones with advanced capabilities such as internet access, camera function, voice and video recording (Smith, 2011). These capabilities within a mobile device, I argue are potential mediated tools for news gathering, enabling ordinary citizens to generate their own news content especially in times of unfortunate event. For example, during the 7/7 London bombing incident where journalists were denied access to the sites of bombings, the public capture images and videos of the bombing attacks using smartphones (Allan, 2007). These photographs and videos captured by ‘people who are not professional journalists and are unrelated to news organisations’ are what Wardle Williams (2008) defined as user-generated contents (UGC). With relations to the 7/7, news agency and organisation like Reuters and Sky News initially have no confirmation of what was going on at London’s Liverpool Street station (Allan, 2007). Instead of obtaining news material from professional journalists, evidences of this breaking news came from UGC captured by eye-witnesses (Allan, 2007). This demonstrates that in times of emergency, producer of international news rested in the hands of whoever has the means of cultural production (Beckett, 2009). Realizing the difficulties entering the site of incident, BBC News site publicly solicit photos and statement of witness (Allan, 2007) and as a result, received over thousands of news materials. As such, this proves that the functionality of new media technologies like that of smartphones has enabled the production of UGC, thus aff ecting the production of international news which are formerly generated ‘exclusively’ by professional journalists (Beckett, 2009). Due to the functionality of smartphones that connects users to the Internet, this essay moves on to argue that social media, another form of new media technology has impacted the structure of international news in terms of news sourcing and distribution. Hahn (2013) asserts that BBC journalists’ referral to Twitter has increased by 500% between 2010 and 2012. As opposed to traditional international news sourcing which rely on the four global news agencies namely Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters and Agencia EFE (Belair-Gagnon, 2013), Twitter has become a valuable source of reportage for modern journalists (Hermida, 2010). BBC News editor agreed that social media help journalists to see what people were seeing and experiencing in real time (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). For example, updates of 7/7 bombing documented by citizens on Twitter allow news organisations to come up with a precise timeline of the attacks. Furthermore, amateur journalists who are on the ground in t imes of emergency sent texts on to Twitter and further spread it across other social media like Facebook, Instagram and MySpace through actions of ‘re-tweeting’, re-blogging’, ‘sharing,’, and ‘tagging’ (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). This decentralized distribution of international news to not only official news organisations but also other unofficial avenues like that of social media is a sign of how new media technologies have impacted on the previously vertically distributed international news (Goode, 2009) by changing it into the present day horizontally shared model. However, I acknowledge that there have been concerns over the quality of UGC and legitimacy of tweets used in international news reporting (Bowman Willis, 2003). For example, in the event of the 7/7 bombing, mainstream media misreported the number of explosions, causing many to thought there were six explosions but in actual there were only three (BBC News, 2005). Despite the uncertainty over the authenticity of the information extracted from social media, mainstream media still adopts the ‘publish then filter’ journalistic style (Kperogi, 2011). As messages on Twitter often consist of unsubstantiated rumours whenever there is a major breaking news event, such unverified news source may jeopardizes a media organisation’s corporate ideology such as that of BBC’s ‘being impartial and accurate’ (Hermida, 2010). Nevertheless, despite such risks, BBC still broadcasted a ‘shaky’ video clip taken with camera documenting the real-life sto ry event of commuters being trapped underground (Allan, 2007). This is probably due to public’s demand for minute-by-minute report (Belair-Gagnon, 2013), especially in times of emergency like that of 7/7 has changed the traditional structure of international news of presenting news as a whole. Owing to globalization, flow of information has speeded up and with global communications infrastructures that links distant communities across the globe, new media technologies supply us news feeds across the world (Terry, 2007). As such, this essay argues that despite the controversy over the inaccuracy and low quality of news sourced via new media technologies, UGC remain valuable to newsgathering in times of crisis (Belair-Gagnon, 2013). After looking at how new media technologies have impacted the structure of international news in terms of production and distribution, I further argue that new media technologies has caused a ripple effect to the wider international news media environment. This statement is supported by Kperogi (2011)’s assertion that the new media technologies have challenged the ‘dominant cultural hegemony’ of global media organisations. For example, the emergence of citizen journalists which is the resultant of new media technologies have become the watchdog of mainstream media (McQuail, 2008), thus indirectly affecting the structure of international news. Meraz (2011) further contends that as contemporary cultural production tools have been ‘democratized to the masses’, the increase in citizen journalism has contributed to the creation of panopticon effect where mainstream media are under the surveillance of citizen monitoring (Stones cited in Meraz, 2011). As a m atter of fact, citizen journalists who are generally perceived to uphold the notion of ‘freedom of expression’ (Krumsvik, 2010) often question the editorial structure of international news which they condemned as narrow, homogenous and pre-determined by news agencies (Holm, 2001). As the Internet has allowed media users to bypass traditional gatekeeper in publishing news (Holm, 2001), citizens are being given an opportunity to create a networked public sphere that deviates from the hegemony public sphere. For example, the creation of Twitter-sphere and the use of hashtag ‘#’ (Butcher cited in Hermida, 2010) such as #GazaUnderAttack demonstrate a deviation from the Western international news that deliberate structure Israel as the only victim in the Israel-Gaza conflict. As such, I argue that the prominent usage of hashtag demonstrates how new media is used to provide narratives of war from a marginalized group’s news angle. As the intention of contem porary journalists practice is to provide independent and wide-ranging information that a democracy requires in news reporting (Bowman Willis, 2003), Goode (2009) reckons such journalistic practices poses challenge to mainstream corporate media. Therefore, new media technologies have empowered citizen journalists the ability to challenge the spreading of the dominant Western worldview on the structure of international news. In order to mediate the contestation from citizens as discussed above, international news organisations such as CNN, BBC, ABC, Fox News and MSNBC initiate corporate-mediated citizen journalism projects such as iReport.com, UCG Hub, i-Caught, uReport.com and FirstPerson.com. (Belair-Gagnon, 2011; Kperogi, 2011). This incorporation of citizen journalism in the mainstream media offers ordinary people the opportunity to contribute unedited, unfiltered and uncensored UGC (Kperogi, 2011), reflecting news organisations democratic practice in news structuring. Furthermore, news organisations also solicit public’s opinion for example, BBC uses SMS poll to gather audiences’ heterogeneity views (Lee-Wright, 2010). This connotes news organisations, in the face of new media technologies advocate open conversation, transparency as well as encouraging heterogeneity of opinions in structuring international news reporting (Belair-Gagnon, 2011) by recognizing the usefulness and credibili ty of UGC (Bruns, 2007). Nevertheless, I argue that this adoption of corporate-mediated citizen journalism is a double-edged sword that on one side, seemingly advocating citizen journalism but on the other hand, retaining the dominant hegemony ideology. As Jurrat (2011) asserts, structure of international news can never be free of hegemonic control. Kperogi (2011) further points out that the very creation of corporate-mediated citizen journalism in actual represent hegemony cooptation of citizen journalism. This statement is reflected through Moeller (1999)’s assertion that international news reporting have always made references that resonates and emphasizes the Americans in mainstream news channel. This is because media globalization is dominated by Western transnational media corporation and as such, allowing the West, particularly the United States to exert hegemony across the world (Terry, 2007). For example, even though UGC are gathered in CNN’s iReport.com, the selection of these UGC is still subjected to the control of gatekeeper (Kperogi, 2011). Such highly editorially controlled news suggests that homogeneity opinions are still very much preferred (Lee-Wright, 2010), thus implying that media cultural imperialism still exist. News help stronger countries influence weaker ones. For example, in the Israel-Gaza conflict, CNN and Fox News presents the Hamas group as terrorist organisation, framing the idea for audiences that US support for Israel is justified. Being one of the superpower in the media industry, the spreading such homogenous media content worldwide (Terry, 2007) is undeniable, branding Hamas or rather Palestinians as terrorists. Furthermore, there may even be a possibility of media domestication (MacGregor, 2013) where actions of altering video and text supplied by making it relevant to local context such as modifying news angles and omitting irrelevant material. For example, the way how the current Gaza war is narrated conforms to the Western’s dominant hegemony ideology of framing the Hamas as terrorist organisation instead of showing how Palestinians being victimized. Such deliberate framing I argue, gives the US authority the justification to supply ammunition to Israel. This essay concludes that new media technologies have indeed impacted on the structure of international news in terms of its production, where news organisations have become reliant on user-generated content and its distribution, where previously vertically distributed news have become horizontally distributed. Besides that, social media, Twitter in particular has emerged as a powerful tool for reporting breaking news stories and generating stories angles (Belair-Gagnon, 2011). Even though there have been speculations over the usage of UGC and Twitter feeds, I argue that these new media technologies still have positive significances in the structure of international news. Discussing on a wider spectrum, new media technologies have further advocated the manifestation of citizen journalism which proves to pose quite a challenge to the hegemonic structure of international news. Nevertheless, I concede that the dominant Western ideologies of media organisations though being contested, re main dominating in this global media landscape. As a conclusion, in this globalized technological determinism society, technology is the impetus in the development of cultural production, in this context, the structure of international news.

Moving Towards Totalitarianism in Our Pursuit of Social Justice Essay

Moving Towards Totalitarianism in Our Pursuit of Social Justice Pursuit of various visions of social justice probably accounts for most human misery. What's more, the historical pattern that has emerged has been one whereby one form of injustice is replaced by one that is far worse. Russia's 1917 revolution expelling the Czars, and their injustices, ushered in Lenin, Stalin and a succession of brutal dictators who murdered tens of millions in the name of the proletariat revolution. The injustices of Chiang Kai-shek were replaced with those of Mao Tse-tung; Castro's ousting of Batista or Ayatollah Khomeini's toppling of the Shah of Iran produced regimes far more brutal. In Africa, after independence, the injustices of colonial powers were replaced with those of brutal dictators. The slaughter of nearly 200 million poor souls, not including war deaths, during the 20th century, was a direct result of pursuit of visions of social justice such as income equality, promoting the common good and fighting the so-called evils of capitalism. As if by design , measures taken to produce what was seen as the good society lowered both the common man's human rights protections and his standard of living. By contrast, after the American revolution, we laid the groundwork that produced the world's freest people. However, for most of the 20th century, we have been losing ground. If you ask the question which way are we heading - away from totalitarianism or towards it - there is no question that, by tiny steps at a time, we are heading towards totalitarianism and arbitrary governmental abuse and control. Some Americans are naive enough to think that the oppression seen in other countries can't happen here. But let's not forget that the countr... ...t determine what is or is not moral conduct. In Nazi-Germany, there were laws that required the reporting of a person hiding a Jew. In our country, the Fugitive Slave Act made assisting runaway slaves a crime. In apartheid South Africa, hiring blacks for certain work was illegal. In the former East Germany, assisting people in their efforts to escape to the West was illegal. Would any decent person demand that any of these laws be obeyed? Decent people must always ask: Does the law have a moral basis? Liberty is not mankind's normal state of affairs. Liberty is fragile. Our liberties are under siege because most Americans are ignorant about our Constitution and its philosophical underpinnigs. Thus, we fall easy prey to political charlatans and quacks all too ready to exploit this ignorance in their quest for power and to satisfy popular visions of social justice.

Character, theme and narrative in the soap opera Essay

From watching one particular episode of the famous soap ‘Eastenders’ I was able to attain plenty of information and reference to certain areas of a soap. There are specific codes and conventions to particular narratives that are easy to identify. Obviously in each soap, the same sort of things occur and the audience can recognise this, thus such an appeal for soaps. In this single episode of ‘Eastenders’, the themes included are easily identifiable as being part of a soap. It includes all the drama in everyday life within one session of 30minutes. We are able to see potential fights, arguing, loving and a typical ‘goodie’ and ‘baddie’ scenario. Also there is mention of wedding and divorce, evidently showing mixed emotions. Furthermore, a noticeable feature of Eastenders is that there is a comic relief – as there is a build up of suspense and tension, then a scene change to ‘Patrick’ who supplies the audience with moments of laughter, along with a small selection of other characters. Location is an immense feature to Eastenders. There are a number of places you anticipate to be featured in each episode – the Queen Vic pub being the most notorious. Also within one street (square) there is 6 places of work – all featured in this one episode. The jobs all being inter-gender and featuring different types of characters who play different roles with a wide range of age gaps. Ie. Garage, launderette, cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, E20 nightclub and a B & B. In this 30 minute slot, which in Eastenders’ time is one full day – from early morning to late night, we are able to see the pub closed, quiet and busy. Also when the pub is featured, the concentration is only on a conversation involving just two people, although you can hear other characters in the atmos, they are not seen. This is where camera angles become important. ‘Over the shoulder’ shot is most commonly featured throughout when showing a clip of two characters talking. Also whilst in the middle of a conversation there is a sharp camera swap to a close -up view of the person speaking, which only last for a few seconds. These are things that the audience take for granted but need plenty of thought and trials. There is only one point in the episode where one person is shown alone – this being Peggy Mitchell who is talking to herself and allowing the viewers to empathise with her and share her emotions. She is a dominant family-heading female who is stressing her unhappiness to the viewers. This is when we see a wider range of camera angles used as the photographers want us to see her differently and also let us see the setting and background which is a clever tactic so we can recognise where she is and what her method of thinking is. Also the cameras seem a similar distance away from each character, and this means they never raise their voice and throughout the same volume of speech is enforced. A synopsis of what is actually happening in the episode is a number of storylines revolving around each other – most of them having some sort of link or connection. The storylines are as follows : * Phil Mitchell after his disturbed ex-wife Lisa and his baby * A triangle love situation between Little Mo, ‘comical’ Billy and ‘Mr. Nasty’ Trevor. * Sonia’s relationship with both Gus and Jamie * Janine’s flirting and misleading – this linking into events occurring in the bed and breakfast. * Tom’s mental state of mind * Jim Brannan losing his job and Ricky in desperate need of one There is also other small ones developing but these are the main pinpointed ones. The storylines are age specific, therefore aimed at a wide range of viewers. In addition to this as storylines build up and characters become uneased in the episode, there seems to be no atmos/background music to dramatise the situation, which is a convention often employed by soap-makers. No music at all is used throughout the episode, excluding the catchy and easily remembered theme tune at the beginning of the soap. Also the mini-cliffhangers at the conclusion of the soap is followed by the distinctive tune. This soap, like most others has no graphics used or clear use of modern hi-tech technology. There is just a simple, straightforward map of the East end of London at the beginning with the River Thames flowing through. This being very eye-catching and appealing. On the whole it is obvious to see that one 30minute episode of a soap can include so much detail, information and thought.