| Papers [127-132] of 3120 :: [Page 22 of 520] | | Go to page : <— 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 —> | |
|
|
"Linguistic Syncretism and Language Ideologies", 2008.
A review of Miki Makihara's article, "Linguistic Syncretism and Language Ideologies: Transforming Sociolinguistic Hierarchy on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)."
772 words (approx. 3.1 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 27.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper discusses Miki Makihara's in-depth case study of the way in which diglossia has operated with respect to the Rapa Nui language on Easter Island. It discusses the content of the article, "Linguistic Syncretism and Language Ideologies: Transforming Sociolinguistic Hierarchy on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)" and its importance. The paper then compares Makihara's article alongside Charles Ferguson's original article on diglossia, "Sociolinguistic Perspectives: Papers on Language in Society."
From the Paper
"Makihara's article is, of course, very interesting alongside Charles Ferguson's original article on diglossia (Ferguson, 1996). In particular, Makihara's expansion on Ferguson's conceptualization of diglossia is instructive. Ferguson's concept showed how one language can co-exist with another in situations where, typically, one is resigned to being a more casual, personal and devalued one, while another is typically valued as being more beautiful, spiritual, intellectual etc. Although Ferguson showed that this situation does not necessarily result in the prior or devalued language facing extinction, Makihara shows how two languages can be diglossic together in one syncretic language, used across contexts, functions and speakers and can actually, and most importantly, serve to uphold and preserve the original language against the odds."
| |
|
The Effects of Violence on Children, 2008.
An investigation into whether violence on TV affects children.
939 words (approx. 3.8 pages), 9 sources, MLA, $ 33.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper examines whether or not television violence affects children, putting forward different arguments from different sources and presenting the results of research carried out in recent years.
From the Paper
"The statement that violence on television causes violence in children is a political statement and not necessary the right way to describe the problem. While the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry produced a statement linking television shows as a link to violence and aggressive behavior; the author does not agree with this statement and believes it is a political statement (Arvidson, 12). Arvidson believes the issue of media and violence in children is more complicated than simply saying that the media causes violence in children. "... because not all children are exposed to media violence will act aggressively" (Hurst, 8). The fact is that just watching television or news does not necessary cause a person to go out and commit violence. In fact, thousands of viewers can watch the same television show and only one or two may express violence after the show. Some of the problems with the argument that media causes children to be violent is that it does not distinguish between different age groups or the time length in which the person saw the movie, news, or etc. (Arvidson, 14). However, this point of view about not children watching violence will become aggressive is true. One of the problems with violence and the media is that children often do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality."
| |
|
Terrorism and the Media, 2008.
This paper examines the media's negative portrayal of the Weather Underground anti-war group during the Vietnam War.
2,042 words (approx. 8.2 pages), 8 sources, APA, $ 64.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
The paper explains the media's direct or indirect role in spreading the message of revolutionaries. The paper discusses the Vietnam War era and focuses on the Weather Underground anti-war group that received indirect negative media coverage since they were seen as dangerous and irrational radicals. The paper shows how the Weather Underground's efforts to end the war tended to be counterproductive, because their radicalism discredited the entire anti-war movement at a time when it needed to gain support from average Americans, not alienate them.
From the Paper
"In order to recruit members and intensify pressure on the government, revolutionary movements need to spread their message of resistance to the public at large, either directly through the media, or indirectly, by taking action against the government so the media will be compelled to cover it in newspaper accounts or radio and television news broadcasts. During the Vietnam War era, the most prevalent approach adopted by anti-war organizations was indirect use of the media by staging huge demonstrations and rallies, which the media would be compelled to cover."
| |
|
"Myspace: Your Kids' Danger", 2008.
A rhetorical and semiotic analysis of a CBS news item, "Myspace: Your Kids' Danger: Popular Social Networking Site Can Be Grounds For Sexual Predators," by Sandra Hughes.
3,101 words (approx. 12.4 pages), 7 sources, MLA, $ 90.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper presents a rhetorical analysis of Sandra Hughes' CBS news item, "MySpace: Your Kids' Danger? Popular Social Networking Site Can Be Grounds For Sexual Predators." It aims to move beyond the implicit and relatively superficial review of the text to a fuller understanding of how the text creates meaning, how it helps the reader to construct knowledge and how it sways us to take action. The paper specifically looks at how the language of this article works.
From the Paper
"Visually, the story is arranged as a headline, a smaller-font secondary headline, and then twenty-two paragraphs, this for a story containing not quite 650 words. Immediately below the headlines, half of the reading column is taken up by a graphical image showing a computer in silhouette with transparencies of several young children, mostly girls, and several of them using cellphones. Below the graphic is a quote, suggesting the danger the article warns of. The effect of the graphic, the quote, and the headlines is to draw readers to the story that follows, a story that opens with three suggestive vignettes about children being approached in a sexually explicit manner on the Internet. Two of the three teenage girls described in the opening vignettes were murdered."
| |
|
"Amusing Ourselves to Death", 2008.
A book review of Neil Postman's, "Amusing Ourselves to Death".
1,484 words (approx. 5.9 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 49.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
The paper critically examines Postman's argument in "Amusing Ourselves to Death" that television is very bad for the cultivation of a thoughtful, rational public that can actually think on its own. The paper posits that, while a well-written text with many good ideas, it is also marred by over-zealousness and by a longing for the past that too often ignores how modern-day technology can actually benefit children whose style of learning may not be well-suited for the "traditional" pedagogical approach.
Outline:
Introduction
Synopsis of the book
Analysis
Conclusion
From the Paper
"Postman begins his book by arguing that, in an increasingly commercialized and visual society, people are now shaped by the strength of their artifice (their appearance) and not by the strength of their ideas (7). The medium that was dominating America in the 1980s - and is even more dominant today, more than 20 years after Postman penned his work - is now a visual, visceral one involving images and iconography instead of words (9). Simply put, our culture no longer privileges the written word but privileges fleeting, evanescent images that come to us through (in most instances) the medium of television."
| |
|
Donald Trump: A Representation of Capitalism, 2008.
This paper utilizes pop cultural figure Donald Trump as a case study in which to contrast capitalism and communism.
1,155 words (approx. 4.6 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 39.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
The paper applies the ideological framework of the theory of communism, specifically as expounded by Karl Marx in "The Communist Manifesto" to the contemporary pop cultural figure of Donald Trump. The paper focuses on Trump's appearances in the television series "The Apprentice" and also includes relevant background on Trump himself. The paper then shows how Trump, with his wealth of private property and his interests advanced with the willing aid of the mass media, best exemplifies some of the most prominent and popular qualities of capitalism in both its positive and negative aspects.
From the Paper
"Probably no single individual best personifies the capitalist frame of reference as does billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump. He came into the public light in the 1980s, and became one of the first celebrity businessmen of recent times, working in a field in which most businessmen preferred to keep a low profile and stay out of the public eye as much as possible. The mass media willingly accepted Trump's self-promotions and played him up as the archetypal capitalist and "self-made man." From the standpoint of Marx, a relevant critique would begin by noting that despite the myth of individual achievement contained in this persona, Trump in fact came from a very successful family, his father having already been a multi-millionaire real estate developer in New York City (Slater 44.)"
|
|
|
