CIS assigntment #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CIS assigntment #2 - Essay Example There are different types of Malware present in the market and they are used by their attackers to perform different activities. Some of the malware present in the wolrd of computers to day include: Viruses – These can be said to be one of the oldest malwares that have been present in the world of computers (Brodkin, 2013). Viruses are programs that have been designed to replicate themselves so as to spread from computer to computer causing havoc wherever they infect. They affect the computers they infect in a number of ways including changing the behavior of the computer, erasing data and stealing information that may be stored on the computer. Viruses embed themselves onto other program files in the computer and are activated when the user attempts to open the infected file (Brodkin, 2013). They can be spread through a downloaded file that contains the virus which is transferred from one computer to another. Trojans – These malware is named after the Greek mythology of the Trojan horse due to their innocent appearance to the user so as to avoid suspicion of the actual danger that they yield (Brodkin, 2013).Once they are activated however, they are able to achieve a number of attackers on the Personal Computer such as causing continuous irritations such as unrelated pop up windows to more harmful acts such as the deletion of programs and the creation of backdoors into the computers files. The fact that Trojans present themselves as harmless programs make them harder to detect and a user may be more vulnerable to this form of malware. Remote Access Trojans (RATs) are those that can create a backdoor system that allow the hacker access to one’s computer and is even able to send commands via root access capabilities (Brodkin, 2013). Backdoors – These are programs that are designed to allow the creator undetected access to a computer system once they have been installed. Backdoors can be used by hackers to steal information from a server

Morning Bike ride Essay Example for Free

Morning  Bike ride Essay Go to the sports centre and first do a certain sport like badminton, racket ball or swimming etc as this will work on the aerobic system. After doing this go to the gym and do whichever circuit you have been given by the trainer. Should hopefully work on aerobic/cardiovascular system, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility.  Evening  Nothing: go and play with your friends or just rest! Week 5: Fifth week  Thursday  Morning  Paper round: As this is my job, I kind of have to do this. The cycling helps to build up the leg muscles and improves the aerobic system. Could do time trials when on the way there and back and try to improve my time each day. Bike ride: aim to do 3 hours bike ride around Froyle, Bentley, Binsted etc (suggestions only) and pace yourself to reach the 3 hours. Dont worry about getting up to early because its a Saturday and your next activity is at 14:30; but dont forget lunch!  Afternoon  Go to the park to play football or basketball at the park. This way you can enjoy yourself whilst doing an aerobic activity with some anaerobic working (sprints etc) could also go and find the boat and go rowing down the river and work on your upper body strength so undercuts will be easier to save. Row down to Binsted or further. Could also go cycling. Aim to be working for at least 5 hours. Evening  Weights: Firstly do 150 bicep curls, 15 sets of 10 reps as this will help with me stick and glove save. Next do 40 quad thrusts (I think thats what theyre called!) as this will help with my kick in hockey and let me clear the ball further and faster. Afterwards do 90 (9 sets of 10 reps) sit-ups with the 22 lb dumbbells as this will help keep the correct head, knee, tip-toe position throughout the whole match. Lastly do 50 (5 sets of 10 reps) press-ups as this will help with muscles around the arms and the arm muscles. Friday  Morning  Paper round: as this is my job I kind of have to do this. The cycling helps to build up the leg muscles and improves the aerobic system. Could do time trials when on the way there and back and try to improve my time each day.  Afternoon  Go to the sports centre and first do a certain sport like badminton, racket ball or swimming etc as this will work on the aerobic system. After doing this go to the gym and do whichever circuit you have been given by the trainer. Should hopefully work on aerobic/cardiovascular system, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Evening  Nothing: go and play with your friends or just rest!  Saturday  Morning  Bike ride: aim to do 3 hours bike ride around Froyle, Bentley, Binsted etc (suggestions only) and pace yourself to reach the 3 hours. Dont worry about getting up to early because its a Saturday and your next activity is at 14:30; but dont forget lunch! Afternoon  Go to the park to play football or basketball at the park. This way you can enjoy yourself whilst doing an aerobic activity with some anaerobic working (sprints etc) could also go and find the boat and go rowing down the river and work on your upper body strength so undercuts will be easier to save. Row down to Binsted or further. Could also go cycling. Aim to be working for at least 5 hours. Evening   Weights: Firstly do 150 bicep curls, 15 sets of 10 reps as this will help with me stick and glove save. Next do 40 quad thrusts (I think thats what theyre called!) as this will help with my kick in hockey and let me clear the ball further and faster. Afterwards do 90 (9 sets of 10 reps) sit-ups with the 22 lb dumbbells as this will help keep the correct head, knee, tip-toe position throughout the whole match. Lastly do 50 (5 sets of 10 reps) press-ups as this will help with muscles around the arms and the arm muscles. Sunday  Morning  Nothing to do! Stay in bed or get up and do whatever.  Afternoon  Go to the sports centre and first do a certain sport like badminton, racket ball or swimming etc as this will work on the aerobic system. After doing this go to the gym and do whichever circuit you have been given by the trainer. Should hopefully work on aerobic/cardiovascular system, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Evening  Nothing: go and play with your friends or just rest!  Monday  Morning  Paper round: as this is my job I kind of have to do this. The cycling helps to build up the leg muscles and improves the aerobic system. Could do time trials when on the way there and back and try to improve my time each day.  Big Bike ride: get a few friends together, a packed lunch and bikes to go on a 10 hour bike ride (Inc lunch)! Try not to have to many rests but also dont over exert yourself though! Afternoon  Big Bike ride: get a few friends together, a packed lunch and bikes to go on a 10 hour bike ride (Inc lunch)! Try not to have to many rests but also dont over exert yourself though!  Evening  Weights: Firstly do 150 bicep curls, 15 sets of 10 reps as this will help with me stick and glove save. Next do 40 quad thrusts (I think thats what theyre called!) as this will help with my kick in hockey and let me clear the ball further and faster. Afterwards do 90 (9 sets of 10 reps) sit-ups with the 22 lb dumbbells as this will help keep the correct head, knee, tip-toe position throughout the whole match. Lastly do 50 (5 sets of 10 reps) press-ups as this will help with muscles around the arms and the arm muscles.

Financial and Management Accounting: Payroll Services

Financial and Management Accounting: Payroll Services Financial and Management Accounting Case Study: Payroll Services 1. IMPACT ON THE CHARGE PER TRANSACTION: The payroll department is incurring a total cost of  £590,000 at present. The charge per transaction is  £236 (see fig 1 Appendix A) which is the charge applied each time a salary transaction is completed i. e the salary is transfered. If the lump sum is paid to the staff to switch over to the monthly payment system, it is forecasted that it will generate a saving of  £20,000 in Pay Costs while the services and supplies costs are likely to decrease by  £3,000, thereby bringing it down to  £98,000. The recalculated total or full cost will be  £ 567,000 per financial year. In the new scenario the charge per transaction is reduced to  £226 thereby showing a saving of  £10. On analysis of the figurework it will not be advisable to have these workers shifted over to the monthly payment system as the figures suggest that bulk of the workers are under the monthly payment system. The authority will have to pay a lump sum of  £500,000 to the workers when they shift over to t he new system, however in retrspect the cost dished out now will be recovered in a very long time because the savings being made by the authority on different facets of the payroll department are not significant enough. Apart from the savings it does represent harmonisation of the company however there are other aspects to be considered. Bulk of the workers are under the monthly payment arrangement and having the weekly workers under that scheme might cause confusion in the payroll system. However there are some finer points to take into consideration. The ending of the weekly wage payment system might have an adverse effect because the workers who are being offered to shift over to the monthly payment system will still be working on weekly basis. The difference only being that their salaries will be paid on a monthly basis. Alongside these workers there are other workers who are employed on a monthly basis, they work on a monthly basis and recieve their salaries on a monthly basis. If the authority wants to keep the weekly and the monthly workers apart and not mix up or confusion between the two, it would have to operate two different payroll departments. There would be one department keeping the records of staff working on a weekly basis but all of whom will be paid a monthly salary and the second department within the payroll section to keep record of the staff workingon a monthly basis who also get paid on a monthly basis. Operating two separate departments would therefore mean that all the costs associated with the running of the payroll section will be much more than what they stand at now. The increment in the cost is therefore a mojr factor to consider. Considering this the weekly staff should not be asked to transfer to the monthly system. The fact that the authority will probably have to run two departments within a department complicates things and also increases the cost factor which is what the authority is geared towards saving. The government is also urging all the authorities to save on the cost side of things and make the authorities economically more viable. Therefore on the basis of the analysis and considerations it is advisable that the authority should not seek to transfer their weekly staff over to the monthly payment system. 2. FINANCIAL APPRAISAL OF OPTION 1 AND 2: In this case we are faced with the scenario of two options having different lifespans associated with them. Option 1 has a lifespan of 4 years while Option 2 has a life span of 6 years. Facing this situation we will carry out the financial appraisal on the basis of the equal annual cash flow method whereby the option with the lowest cost will be chosen. The Equal annual cashflow supposes that the cashflows generated as an annuity. In case of annuities we use the annuity factors rather than the individual yearly discount rates to calculate the present values of the cash flows. Whereas in the equal annual cashflow method the annuity factor is the total of all the yearly factors for the duration of the project and in this case the lifespan of the payroll system being put in place. Equal annual cashflow = present value of costs/annuity factor for N years at R% Therefore for option 1: The equal annual cashflow = 916,454/2. 3299 ( Looking at the annuity tables) i. e =  £ 393,345 ( see appendix B for figures) and for Option 2: The equal annual cashflow = 1,453,231/2. 7967 i. e =  £ 519,623 Therefore on the basis of the analysis we will chose the option 1 as it has the lowest equal annual cashflow. There are a few limitations with the calculations involving cashflows and capital costs. These cashflows do not take into account the fluctuation of the interest rate and assume it to be constant over the lifespan. In isolation from authority Bs proposal we will chose the first option as it has the lower equal annual cash flow. It is feasible on the basis of the calculations to select option 1 and put it into practice. Hoewever there are limitations to the equal annual cashflow method. This appears to be a nice idea however in reality it does not add value to what we can determine from the other methods. The other methods will also yield the same result and therefore adding no extra information for us to make a decision. The equal annual cashflow method can be used alone when other methods yield nothing and this is the last resort for carrying out an financial apprasial. As f ar as the aritheticinvolvedin this method it is no more complicated that the other methods and is no more advanced than the traditional methods. There are limitations to this methods which leave a lot to be desired. This method ignores the influence of inflation and fluctuation in the interest rate. However it is possible to overcome these limitations by adjusting for the these factors. The cashflows can be adjusted for inflation and the fluctuating interst rate in the real world. Firstly a discount rate shoul be selected that is already adjusted for the inflation and includes an allowance for the inflation. Secondly the cashflows can be expressed in real terms whereby meaning that the anticipated inflation rate can be excluded from the discount rate. In other words the first method provides us with the nominal cashflows while the second method gives us the real cashflows at a real discount rate. The second method excludes the anticipated inflation rate from the discount rate which follows the prudence concept of accounting where the costs are over estimated and the profits are underestimated so as to avoid disappoinmtment later and to cover for the contigencies. 3. DISCUSSION ON THE PROPOSAL: Authority Bs proposal is to transfer As payroll function to B. The cost associated with this  £380,000 for the next financial year. Evaluating on the cost basis only the Authority A should go ahead with the transfer because the cost proposed by authority B is less than the cost calculated for authority A which is  £393,345 on the equal annual cashflow method. Authority B has also suggested that in fututre if more authorities join in the cost would be lowered progressively in the following financial years. Based on the calculation and authrotiy Bs proposal the authotiy A its payroll function to authority B. In order to carry out an investment appraisal of the proposal there will be a few items other than the cost. We would need the reduction in the cost due to the shifting of the payroll. We would also require the reduction in cost due to less staff being employed. Reduction in service and supplies costs. However we would also need to know the cost incurred due to the redundancy o f a number of staff due to the payroll being transfered. The knowledge of all these costs would enable us to make a much better informed desicion on whether or not to transfer the payroll to authority B and whether it would be beneficial in the long run. These financial appraisals have a limitation which is that they donot incorporate inflation however inflation can be adjusted for when carrying out the financial appraisal. The net present value can be adjusted by two ways to take inflation into account. Firstly a discount rate can be used which incorporates inflation. secondly the discount rate can exclude the inflation rate and the cash flows acan be expressed in real terms. The transferring of the payroll from one different authorities to a central one might result in too many job losses and redundancies which again will be against the governments agenda. The government would certainly not like to contribute to unemployment. In this case this can be solved by spreading the unemployment over different authorities and not increasing the burden on one authority or for that matter a few authorities. The government should also try and create more jobs so as to accomodate these redundancies. APPENDICES APPENDIX A: The cost for operating the payroll section is as follows: Payroll costs:  £216,000 Services and Supplies:  £101,000 Accomodation: £ 45,000 Capital Charge: £228,000 Full Cost: £ 590,000 The charge to the Budget Holders is:  £590,000/2500 =  £ 236/Transaction. (fig1) The cost for the payroll after paying the Lump sum: Payroll Costs:  £196,000 Services and Sipplies: £ 98,000 Accomodation: £ 45,000 Capital charge: £ 228,000 Full Cost: £ 567,000 The charge now to the Budget Holders is:  £ 567,000/2500 =  £ 226/Transaction(fig2) APPENDIX B: OPTION1 START OF YEAR CAHSFLOWS YRCASHFLOW PV @ 8% 1 £ 830,000 830,000 2 £ 33,000 28,290 3 £ 36,300 28,815 4 £ 39,930 29,349 TOTAL 916,454 OPTION 2 START OF YEAR CAHSFLOWS YRCASHFLOW PV @ 8% 1 £ 1400,000 1400,000 2 £ 22,000 20,369 3 £ 24,000 20,575 4 £ 24,000 19,051 5 £ 24,000 17,640 6 £ 24,000 16334 TOTAL 1,453,231 BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: 1. Mott, G. (1993) Investment Appraisal 2. Pike Neale (2003) Corporate Finance Investment 3. Drury, C Management and Cost Accounting, 6th edition Thomson (2004) 4. Williamson Duncan Cost and Management Accounting (1996) Prentice Hall

An Independent Cuba :: Cuba Politics Political Cuban Essays

An Independent Cuba Fidel Castro’s belief of a Cuba libre was not only his; many Cubans envisioned an independent Cuba, ‘A Cuba that could have been’. Plenty felt the urge to raise their voices and prove their discontent and patriotism to the world, but what could have been remained a silent whisper. Furthermore illiteracy and ignorance encircled a big chunk of society one which could not comprehend the causes and effects of such a term as ‘imperial’. In Thomas G. Patterson’s Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Nixon is quoted expressing that Castro is "either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline." (Paterson 257) His assumption was most probably correct "Pazzo recalled that Castro did not want to appear as one more Latin American leader ‘sold out’ to imperialism." (Paterson 257) Cuba’s history is revealed in numerous writings like Marifeli Perez-Stable’s The Cuban Revolu tion: Origins, Course and Legacy ,and other documents which will be used to support the idea that Cuba was not a victim of it’s own rebellion, but one of a ‘wrong leader’, if one might say, and a harsh and complicated past. In addition the United States’ imperialism caused that many succeed and even more undergo horrendous treatment, illiteracy and inadequate lifestyles for the US own benefit. This caused the Cuban revelation, so why still ask why. In Perez-Stable her antagonism towards the United States is fairly obvious. The US was controlling a huge amount of Cuba’s income. Cuba needed the income to rebuilt the farms and mills after the Depression. The United States gave the capital necessary to reconstruct but remained in charge of the land. During this time 75% of the land was held by 8% of the farms. "US capital promoted economic reconstruction but undermined national control of the economy. Trade reciprocity favored US imports,weakened existing industries, and discouraged new ones. More than 350 Cuban-owned establishments closed their doors early in the 20th century" (Perez-Stable 17 She also quotes Manuel Rionda, a planter who wrote: "So the Cubans, the real Cubans, do not own much." It’s an unpleasant thought that after so much blood shed and so many patriots that gave their lives to free themselves from an authoritarian and also dictatorial government (Spanish rule), they must continue to work and sacrifice for a government disguised as democratic and almost perfect. When they are truly parasites that only mean to deindustrialize Cuba and are as authoritarian as the rest. An Independent Cuba :: Cuba Politics Political Cuban Essays An Independent Cuba Fidel Castro’s belief of a Cuba libre was not only his; many Cubans envisioned an independent Cuba, ‘A Cuba that could have been’. Plenty felt the urge to raise their voices and prove their discontent and patriotism to the world, but what could have been remained a silent whisper. Furthermore illiteracy and ignorance encircled a big chunk of society one which could not comprehend the causes and effects of such a term as ‘imperial’. In Thomas G. Patterson’s Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Nixon is quoted expressing that Castro is "either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline." (Paterson 257) His assumption was most probably correct "Pazzo recalled that Castro did not want to appear as one more Latin American leader ‘sold out’ to imperialism." (Paterson 257) Cuba’s history is revealed in numerous writings like Marifeli Perez-Stable’s The Cuban Revolu tion: Origins, Course and Legacy ,and other documents which will be used to support the idea that Cuba was not a victim of it’s own rebellion, but one of a ‘wrong leader’, if one might say, and a harsh and complicated past. In addition the United States’ imperialism caused that many succeed and even more undergo horrendous treatment, illiteracy and inadequate lifestyles for the US own benefit. This caused the Cuban revelation, so why still ask why. In Perez-Stable her antagonism towards the United States is fairly obvious. The US was controlling a huge amount of Cuba’s income. Cuba needed the income to rebuilt the farms and mills after the Depression. The United States gave the capital necessary to reconstruct but remained in charge of the land. During this time 75% of the land was held by 8% of the farms. "US capital promoted economic reconstruction but undermined national control of the economy. Trade reciprocity favored US imports,weakened existing industries, and discouraged new ones. More than 350 Cuban-owned establishments closed their doors early in the 20th century" (Perez-Stable 17 She also quotes Manuel Rionda, a planter who wrote: "So the Cubans, the real Cubans, do not own much." It’s an unpleasant thought that after so much blood shed and so many patriots that gave their lives to free themselves from an authoritarian and also dictatorial government (Spanish rule), they must continue to work and sacrifice for a government disguised as democratic and almost perfect. When they are truly parasites that only mean to deindustrialize Cuba and are as authoritarian as the rest.

Absolute Essay

â€Å"There really are [or are not] ‘absolutes’ upon which a universal truth can be based that can be applied for establishing ethical behavior in business. † The world of business would be such a chaotic place sans universal truth that can be applied to establish ethical behavior. If they are no â€Å"absolutes† then everything else is relative; that state of being depends on how many factors and those factors include how one feels on a certain issue, the norms in a society that one lives in, the definition of right and wrong being subjective, and religious beliefs. In the instance where an individual will act as they feel and not per universal absolute truth, then the individual may decide not to pay for the services rendered to them or merchandise that they procured because that is how the individual feels about the situation even if the renderer of service or seller may feel that they ought to be paid for their services or goods. They feelings in this case are only true to them and not the buyer as the buyer has a different feeling about the situation. In the case where the norms of a society dictate the ethical behavior of a society, it would also mean that there is relative subjectivity to the whole notion of ethics as societies can have norms which are not at all right as seen in the case of the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. The Hutus were a majority (85%)of the population and through political propaganda they were incited to kill the minority Tutsis (14%). 800,000 people were murdered in the name of tribal cleansing and at that point in time it was alright for a Hutu to kill a Tutsi as per what had become the norm. The entire world condemned this sordid act even though it was relatively â€Å"right† in the Hutu society. This might sound extreme but it only shows us a norm in a society does not make it a right thing to be done. The same applies for business in that what is a norm for business in one society would be considered gross corruption in another and also what might mean integrity in one society would be condemned in another as lack of business acumen as in not being able to accept business opportunities regardless of how the can be obtained. We cannot therefore base ethical behavior on societal norms and behaviors and not to say that they are not any of those norms that are acceptable and of very high standards that could very well be ethical, however the The definition of right or wrong if treated as relative subject will influence the way one perceives issues in terms of being ethical or unethical. When right and wrong is relative it means what might be right for one might just be wrong for me, there is no absolutes. A classical example is the Nigerian immigration as it purportedly used to be in past, this writer does not have first hand knowledge of the said instances. It is said that when one travelled to Nigeria, one could not get their passport stamped by the immigration officer if they did not put some money in the passport. The officer would hand one back the passport and advise them that there is a †page† missing in the passport. The â€Å"page† meant a dollar bill. For people who grew up in that tradition it was an expected thing to do and that was how it was supposed to be supposedly but for a foreigner, say an American, that would be so wrong a thing to do because in the USA, that is corrupting a public officer and that is a crime in itself that one could go to jail for. There is the issue of religious beliefs and religion and lack thereof. It is said that religious beliefs help to foster stronger ethical behavior, as religions tend to be black and white on what is wrong and what is right. Yet there are different religions and needless to say the different religions have different sets of ideals whether it be ethics or morals. To highlight that is the tragic case of Sept11, 2011 when the USA was attacked by the Muslim terrorists. These terrorists according to what they believed, they were doing the right thing and had been taught so that when they die like that they are martyrs of their religion and they will go to heaven for doing the will of their God. Beliefs in the different religions vary and notwithstanding those without any religion, it is reasonable to say that in this case it is relative as in what a person believes in. If there has to be consistency in any transaction of business, there therefore has to be absolutes upon which a universal truth can be based that can be applied for establishing ethical behavior. It should not matter how one feels, what norms are in one’s society, how one defines right or wrong, and what one’s religious beliefs are. There are absolutely ethical elements in all the above that can be applied to all business ethics to enhance the ethical behavior but there definitely should be a standard that is universal and expected to be followed by all involved in business. It is so fundamental because it is the basis on which all business is going to be transacted upon. One cannot go into business with a partner who will run one out of business or someone who will not do what they say they will do and do it right.

Formal Diary Entry Essay Example

Formal Diary Entry Essay Example Formal Diary Entry Paper Formal Diary Entry Paper Dear diary, I was reading one of the latest teenage magazines today. I find them rather interesting and informative because they are full of very compelling articles about role models in sport and culture. In this generation. There was a very amusing article on a singer called Mile Cyrus. She is an interesting character. It is amazing to watch what happens to young celebrities, as they get older. Often, after many years in the spotlight, some celebrities appear to develop a very undesirable image. Mile was always a very good role model towards young people but now she shaves her head ND has a few too many tattoos. : There was also a very enlightening article on Ian Thorpe. Ian Thorpe is a fantastic swimmer and I admire him greatly. I was amazed to read that he is 192 centimeters tall with an incredible arm span. No wonder he was such a good swimmer! He used to have depression when he was younger man. Its quite astonishing to see that he broke 22 world records during his very successful career while battling depression. Ian has been treated for depression since he was a teenager. He was quite embarrassed about his condition so he kept it a secret, even from his parents. He also had a very minor alcohol problem. Before his first race at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, he was very unhappy and drank a lot of alcohol to make himself feel better. He has also suffered from suicidal thoughts and didnt believe that he could ever recover. It wasnt until several years after his retirement that his mental health improved. Over the years, Ian Thorpe has been a very successful swimmer. He won multiple Olympic medals and won many awards such as the 2002 World Swimmer of the Year. When he was only fourteen years old, he was selected to represent Australia in he 400-meter freestyle. This made him the youngest male to ever represent Australia! He is traveled around the world during his career and has been to many places such as London, Tokyo, Paris and New York! A high profile coach quoted that he was the greatest swimmer the world has ever seen. He is also sponsored by Aids, Santa, Tellers and Seven Network. It was would be quite breathtaking to see your face on billboards and front covers of magazines all over the world. In 2007, he qualified for the World Championships selection trials, but unfortunately e had to withdraw from the competition because he had bronchitis. He then had glandular fever and afterwards he broke his wrist, which was unfortunate because he was hoping to return to the Commonwealth Games after his retirement. No wonder he was finding life so difficult. During all this, he then had to put up with the media asking questions about his sexuality and whether he was homosexual or not. I find it incredible that people can be so intrusive when it comes to celebritys private lives. That someday I will be as good as him. Until tomorrow diary, Maggie

Mistakes and Misquotes on Memorials and Statues

Mistakes and Misquotes on Memorials and Statues Designing a building or memorial is hard enough. What happens when the work also includes words? Suddenly the focus shifts from visual to verbal as the artist and architect agonize over typography- making language visible. Words, quotations, and lists of names and dates must convey information and, ideally, flow seamlessly with the design. Hopefully the words will also be historically accurate. How do architects grapple with the challenge? Do the words to be inscribed influence the overall design? Or, do the demands of the design alter the text? Here are some examples of this design challenge. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial: The 1997 memorial dedicated to the life, times, and words of Americas 32nd president incorporates over 20 quotes into its design. From March 15, 1941, inscribed in stone behind a seated FDR and his dog, Fala, are these words: They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers...call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order. The inscription is accurate, although an English teacher may frown on using all capital letters and using parentheses when square brackets are more appropriate. Accurate inscriptions, however, did not save the FDR Memorial from sins of omission. Most noticeable, Roosevelts disability from polio was initially disguised until a wheelchair was eventually added. Less noticeable, however, was the omission of one of FDRs most famous lines: Yesterday, December 7, 1941- a date that will live in infamy.... is a line not found within the 7.5 acre park in Washington, DC. Inscriptions at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial: According to some critics, architect Dr. Ed Jackson, Jr. ran afoul of the truth when he helped design the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC. The 2011 Memorial included words from Dr. Kings 1968 sermon known as The Drum Major Instinct. Toward the end of that rousing sermon, King said: Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Amen!). However these were not the words engraved on one side of Dr. Kings statue. The architect had agreed to shorten the quote so it would fit in the space that the sculptor had allotted. Dr. Kings words became: I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. Poet Maya Angelou, who was a member of the Council of Historians for the Memorial, expressed outrage. She asked why the words of the slain civil rights leader had been paraphrased. Other critics joined her in saying that the the shortened quote alters its meaning and makes Martin Luther King appear arrogant. Dr. Jackson argued that designing a beautiful monument required abbreviating some of Kings words. For him, aesthetics trumped authenticity. After some resistance, officials eventually decided to remove the historical inaccuracies from the Memorial. The National Park Service had sculptor Lei Yixin fix the disputed quote. Inscriptions at the Jefferson Memorial: Architects John Russell Pope, Daniel P. Higgins, and Otto R. Eggers faced a design challenge similar to the MLK Memorial. For the 1940s-era Jefferson Memorial, how could the prolific writings of Thomas Jefferson be fairly represented under one dome? Like the architects of other memorials, they opted to edit famous quotes from Jefferson. Panel 3 of the Jefferson Memorial reads: Commerce between master and slave is despotism. But, according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello.org, Jefferson originally wrote: The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Indeed, some of the inscriptions carved in stone at the Jefferson Memorial are composites created by patching different documents together. Inscriptions at the Lincoln Memorial: When architect Henry Bacon designed the 1922 Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, he combined a mammoth 19-foot statue by Chester French with historically accurate inscriptions of speeches written by Lincoln. Imagine, however, if Bacon had taken short cuts. What if Lincolns famous words With malice toward none, with charity for all became, With malice...for all? Would the shortened version change our perception of Abraham Lincoln? The opposite wall of the Memorial contains the entire, unedited text of Lincolns Gettysburg Address. If the architect had desired to save wall space, he might have shortened the speech to: that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not. What story would the revised quote tell about the great leader? Inscriptions at the US Supreme Court Building: Supposing that architect Cass Gilbert had been cramped for space when he designed the 1935 U.S. Supreme Court building. Imagine if he wanted to avoid the wordy balance and scale metaphors. Couldn’t he simply remove the word Equal from Equal Justice Under Law? Does the meaning change by simply saying Justice Under Law? Inscriptions at the 9/11 National Memorial: The 2011 National 9/11 Memorial in New York City took nearly a decade to construct. The project might have been completed more quickly if the architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker hadnt spent so long on the arrangement of nearly 3,000 names around the fountain parapet. Could they have left out a few? Would editorializing change the memorials meaning and impact? Inscriptions at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, felt that politics had eclipsed the veterans, their service, and their lives. She kept the memorial design elegantly simple so that attention could focus on the names of the men and women who died. Over fifty-eight thousand names are arranged in the chronological order of their deaths or MIA status from the Vietnam conflict. The height of the stone slowly rises and falls, as does any story of conflict. At first, few die. Then escalation. Then withdrawal. The story of the Vietnam conflict is gracefully and visually told in stone with room enough for each citizen soldier. Questions For Designers: Was poet Maya Angelo correct to condemn architect Ed Jackson, Jr.? Or, do architects and artists have the right to change the wording in historical documents? How important are written words in the language of architecture? Some would argue that architects who are inarticulate with words also might be inarticulate with design.

the Red Violin essays

the Red Violin essays The Red Violin offers some interesting messages about the universality of the language of music. The acting and sets are spectacular, and the actors through the eras do very credible jobs of playing the magical violin. Lastly, the secret of the red violin's color turns out to be an apt symbol for the level of commitment that true musical devotion demands. "The Red Violin" takes its audience on a journey spanning five countries and three centuries. As the violin passes into five principal lives, each tells a story of both hope and greed. Violin maker Nicolo, set aside his best violin as a gift to his unborn child. His wife Anna inquires from her housekeeper and Tarot reader about the child's life. Anna is instructed to choose five cards. As each card in interpreted, we follow the "life" of the violin as it interacts with each person who eventually possesses it. Through the tragedy of Anna and her child's death, we learn the card reading is also for the Red Violincall it Bussotti's other child. Hope turns to grief as the perfect violin is all that remains of everything dear to Nicolo. Painting the violin red, he pours his anger into it. He wanted to leave as his legacy a child of great musical capacity, and through the embodiment of his violin, he did. The Red Violin resurfaces in an Austrian monastery where it chances into the hands of a prodigy of exceptional abilitysix-year-old Kaspar . In 1792, the monks summon Georges, a master of the period, to groom the child. Just as Kaspar is to perform for the patron Georges has arranged young Kaspar's weak and frail heart fails him at his pivotal moment and promise turns to setback in a heart beat. In 1893, in Oxford England, gypsies playing the Red Violin beckon the ear of the flamboyant romantic musician Frederick Pope. Feeling aroused to play, he summons his lover, the novelist Victoria Byrd. Seduced by the travels her novel propels her on, Russia becomes Victoria's next con...

Destination Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Destination Management - Essay Example The London underground is identified as the oldest underground railway existing throughout the world. London can be said to be in the consolidation of destination development. As mentioned it is rich in both natural and artificial attraction's sites. Besides that it has vigorous tourism advertisements and promotion activities that are part of destination management efforts. For instance, visitlondon.com outlines the lined-up activities' events within London that appeals to people around the world. Visitors continued to flock to London, and it is said to attract 27 million visitors who stay overnight annually (Beesley-De, 2013). 2. Approach to destination management Basically, destination management involves three main phases, including development planning, marketing and management. Development planning involves assessing the potential of the destination, consultation and investment. Marketing involves research, target market, mix and planning, and visits and yield. Management involv es protecting resources, quality assurance and sustainable growth. Achieving these means competitive tourism to a destination. However, it must be underscored that destinations are dynamic and always evolving (Swrabook, 1999). This means that London is a continuously evolving destination that will have something new or rebrand itself to appeal to as many visitors as possible. As indicated above London boasts of some of the most visited tourism sites around the world. Besides it has the necessary facilities and amenities that support tourism. However, this success and sustainability of the same can only be achieved through consolidated efforts. There is a team responsible for development planning, marketing and management of London as a destination of tourism. This team comprises of appointees from the government of London and stakeholders in the tourism sector. This team is charged with identify what London can offer both naturally and artificially. The work of this team can be easi ly seen from the official visitor's guide identified as visitlondon.com. Here a visitor can discover London, know things to do, where they can stay, travel information and special offers. This makes London one of the most organized tourism destinations that receives a high number of visitors in Europe and worldwide. 3. System of governance London is home for two levels of government the local and national government. However, it is the local government that is responsible for administration. The local government administration is divided into two tiers-a local tier and a citywide, strategic tier. The great London Authority (GLA) coordinated the citywide administration whereas 33 smaller authorities coordinate local administration. The GLA is made up of two elected arms of government the Mayor, who occupies an executive office and London assembly check mayor’s decisions and can reject or accept the mayor’s proposals annually (Beesley-De, 2013). The command market system operates in London. The government owns and operates a significant portion of the factors of production. Infrastructure, including roads, airports, seaports and the underground railway system are owned and controlled by the government. At the same time, major tourism attraction sites as identified above are

Discuss the claim that the press in the 20th century became a medium Essay

Discuss the claim that the press in the 20th century became a medium of advertising, whereas the press was free in the 19th century - Essay Example However what is currently the case has never been like the one which used to be so in the 19th century. The press of modern times relies more on placing the advertisements rather than giving the readers something to read about. In other words, it is more interested in propagating advertisements than the news and reports on which the readers are focused. There is now an aspect of compromise when it comes to putting a news report and the newspaper editor thinks of placing an advertisement on the specified place for the report so that he could earn more and bring more revenues for his newspaper or magazine. This means that the unethical attitudes are pretty much apparent in the whole contexts of press and these need to be adjusted in a manner which could balance the benefits as well as make the news reports and analyzes visible in between the pages of the newspaper or magazine. With the advent of advertising trends with expensive placements in between the pages and inserts coming into the whole equation, visibility of these advertisements is a significant feature of their placement. Thus there is a greater amount of concentration as far as these advertisements are concerned when one compares the same with the case that was applicable in the 19th century. Back in those days, press used to be fair, without the tension of placing any advertisements or paid notices. But now the case has totally changed since the press is bent upon making more money out of their media vehicle and thus it knows it can play with its advertising strategies and exploitation means in order to usurp money and the like from the advertisers but what it forgets at the end of the day is that the readers generally do not appreciate these efforts. It is also a fact that the routine stuff is absorbed in a manner by the readers so that they become used to the very same kind of

Fashion Designer versus Stylist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fashion Designer versus Stylist - Essay Example Suffice it to say, that lots of TV-stars and celebrities prefer having their personal stylists, who is always ready to create a fantastic image for them. As for the fashion shows, they are, as usual, above all praises. Designers are to satisfy the most sophisticated clients, there are notorious for the ability to create the masterpieces of clothing, which never keeps you indifferent. Nevertheless, most of us do not distinguish between the professions of people connected with fashion industry. We just apply to these people and trust them during the procedure of creating our perfect style without looking deeply into their tasks and the peculiarities of this or that job. Stylists, designers, whatever, we know that their vocation is to make us more beautiful and thus, self-confident. But it is hard to imagine that, in case of need of a gorgeous dress, you will address the stylist at once, as well as it is impossible to dress your hair at the Fashion House. It is obvious that both fashion designer and fashion stylist belong to the same sphere of activity; their efforts are directed to satisfying the aesthetic tastes of various people, they bring beauty, refinement and preciosity in their lives. These professionals work with the same materials, communicate with the similar categories of people, they are to monitor the world’s most popular trends and respond to the particular needs of the customers.

How does Barthes' The Death of the Author help illuminate the themes Essay

How does Barthes' The Death of the Author help illuminate the themes of Goodnight Desdemona(good morning Juliet) - Essay Example It does not have to be necessary that both texts are in the same category or addressing similar subjects. The most important thing to note is that they give the audience the ability and opportunity to understand various concepts better than if they did not bother reading them both. Ideas of two authors can be either similar or contracting with each other, but still, drawing reference between them remains a good reason why two texts can be read together. The advantages of reading two texts together and drawing references cannot be underestimated, as revealed by two texts, Barthes’ â€Å"The Death of the Author† and â€Å"Goodnight Desdemona (good morning Juliet)†. ... She came into this conclusion after she realized that if wise fools had been used in the plays instead of the real fools who had been used, they would automatically lose their tragic element. Although she is clever enough to realize the fools in both the two texts, she does not realize the fool in in the death of the author, the author points out that there are those readers who will properly understand the every word and the duplicate as well as hear the voice that the characters are speaking in the text. By this he meant that the most effective leaders are those that can read in between the lines and understand the hidden meanings of the author without any hardship. An effective reader can make out the culture of the characters, their behaviors and the kind of relationship that they exhibit even without these details having to be revealed in open by the text. This definition perfectly suits the character of Constance, who deductively comes into a conclusion that the characters in t he two tragedies by Shakespeare were fools (Barthes web). In drawing her conclusion therefore, she feels that a change of the characters would significantly change the type of the texts. From this analysis, the definition of a reader by Barthes effectively helps in the illumination of the theme of reading my MacDonald. Another theme that can effectively be illuminated by the text the death of the author is the theme of criticism. Criticism can be defined as positive or negative close scrutiny of a text or a book to reveal the effectiveness of the author in addressing the particular topic in his mind. Positive criticism looks at the positive side of the text and where the author successfully tackled their point while negative

China and minimum wage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

China and minimum wage - Research Paper Example The 1994 labor act specifies that work done after the normal standard working time shall be paid as overtime. The overtime, however, should not exceed three hours in a single day (Chiewping, 2009). Wages should be paid to workers on a monthly basis and in a legal tender. Wage deduction and late payment of workers is firmly prohibited. The labor law on article 48 specifies that the statutory minimum wage should be sufficient enough to sustain the needs of the employee. In March 2004, the ministry of social security and labor in China executed the minimum wage doctrine. The regulations were developed to establish a framework for adjusting and calculating the minimum wage (Zhao, 2010). The guidelines stated that the government should adjust and determine the cyclic minimum wage for full time employees by considering the following factors: An extensive collection of minimum wage levels exists across the whole country since local conditions determine the calculations. Coastal regions are characterized by high minimum wages due to their economic strength. The western provinces together with the central regions on the other hand are characterized by low minimum wages. In an attempt to attract migrant labor force, governments in remote regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet have established high minimum wages levels. On May 2013, Shanghai recorded the highest monthly wage level with Shenzhen closely following behind. Anhui region located in the central province recorded the least minimum wage (Chiewping, 2009). Regulations endorse that 40 to 60% of the regular monthly wage should be set as the minimum wage. Local governments should also embark on the task of carrying out an adjustment review regularly. In the middle of the international economic crisis in 2008, however, the government froze all the increases made on minimum wages (Yongnian, 2013). In

What is European football clubs' rationale for investing in youth Essay

What is European football clubs' rationale for investing in youth academies - Essay Example The training for the team is also based on age as well as the organization goals. AFC Ajax was able to establish a new organizational structure where there is no traditional leader in the Academy or a departmental structure. Instead, the organization is based on biological processes of development labeled as wheels. The first wheel known as the Onderbouw ranges from age 7-12 and are assigned a Technical Manager; the second wheel is the Middenbouw ranging from age 13-16 with an assigned Technical Manager as well; the third is the Bovenbouw from ages 17-20 with a Technical Manager; the fourth wheel is the Operations which manages administrative matters for the academy; and lastly, is the wheel Technical Management which includes three technical managers as well as a liaison with the First Team and the academy in order to preserve the culture. The team covers all the age groups with some teams also assigned five year old children. These teams go through different stages of development, including athletic, technical, tactical, and social development. No significant emphasis on academic development is however established for the children, especially as their training is incorporated into the daily activities of the students who are picked up from their school and taken to the academy. The development of the players is also based on their gradual physical growth and development. Initially, those under the age of 8 are trained in a 4:4 30 x 20 m field 3 x 1 m goal. Their focus is on passing, movement, and finesse. From ages 8-12, they are taught team spirit with 12 year olds already training three times a week. The focus of their training is on passing, receiving, technical training, positional plays, heading, and making goals. From 13 to 16 years, their training mostly focuses on short games and running activities, including training on passing the ball over short distances. Fifteen year olds are also trained five times a week. Their

How does Barthes' The Death of the Author help illuminate the themes Essay

How does Barthes' The Death of the Author help illuminate the themes of Goodnight Desdemona(good morning Juliet) - Essay Example It does not have to be necessary that both texts are in the same category or addressing similar subjects. The most important thing to note is that they give the audience the ability and opportunity to understand various concepts better than if they did not bother reading them both. Ideas of two authors can be either similar or contracting with each other, but still, drawing reference between them remains a good reason why two texts can be read together. The advantages of reading two texts together and drawing references cannot be underestimated, as revealed by two texts, Barthes’ â€Å"The Death of the Author† and â€Å"Goodnight Desdemona (good morning Juliet)†. ... She came into this conclusion after she realized that if wise fools had been used in the plays instead of the real fools who had been used, they would automatically lose their tragic element. Although she is clever enough to realize the fools in both the two texts, she does not realize the fool in in the death of the author, the author points out that there are those readers who will properly understand the every word and the duplicate as well as hear the voice that the characters are speaking in the text. By this he meant that the most effective leaders are those that can read in between the lines and understand the hidden meanings of the author without any hardship. An effective reader can make out the culture of the characters, their behaviors and the kind of relationship that they exhibit even without these details having to be revealed in open by the text. This definition perfectly suits the character of Constance, who deductively comes into a conclusion that the characters in t he two tragedies by Shakespeare were fools (Barthes web). In drawing her conclusion therefore, she feels that a change of the characters would significantly change the type of the texts. From this analysis, the definition of a reader by Barthes effectively helps in the illumination of the theme of reading my MacDonald. Another theme that can effectively be illuminated by the text the death of the author is the theme of criticism. Criticism can be defined as positive or negative close scrutiny of a text or a book to reveal the effectiveness of the author in addressing the particular topic in his mind. Positive criticism looks at the positive side of the text and where the author successfully tackled their point while negative

What is European football clubs' rationale for investing in youth Essay

What is European football clubs' rationale for investing in youth academies - Essay Example The training for the team is also based on age as well as the organization goals. AFC Ajax was able to establish a new organizational structure where there is no traditional leader in the Academy or a departmental structure. Instead, the organization is based on biological processes of development labeled as wheels. The first wheel known as the Onderbouw ranges from age 7-12 and are assigned a Technical Manager; the second wheel is the Middenbouw ranging from age 13-16 with an assigned Technical Manager as well; the third is the Bovenbouw from ages 17-20 with a Technical Manager; the fourth wheel is the Operations which manages administrative matters for the academy; and lastly, is the wheel Technical Management which includes three technical managers as well as a liaison with the First Team and the academy in order to preserve the culture. The team covers all the age groups with some teams also assigned five year old children. These teams go through different stages of development, including athletic, technical, tactical, and social development. No significant emphasis on academic development is however established for the children, especially as their training is incorporated into the daily activities of the students who are picked up from their school and taken to the academy. The development of the players is also based on their gradual physical growth and development. Initially, those under the age of 8 are trained in a 4:4 30 x 20 m field 3 x 1 m goal. Their focus is on passing, movement, and finesse. From ages 8-12, they are taught team spirit with 12 year olds already training three times a week. The focus of their training is on passing, receiving, technical training, positional plays, heading, and making goals. From 13 to 16 years, their training mostly focuses on short games and running activities, including training on passing the ball over short distances. Fifteen year olds are also trained five times a week. Their

The Power of Words Essay Example for Free

The Power of Words Essay For those of you who like to create, you know that you are never fully satisfied with what you produce. Sure it may get the grade or suffice for what you planned to accomplish, but the thoughts circling what you could have done differently or ways you could improve can grow in the back of your mind. Maybe after investing great measures of effort and time, you are Done  by the time you’re done; don’t want to think about it, just want to move on. But maybe you go back, and go back, and go back, and can’t stop dwelling on things you could do or change to make whatever you made/produced/created manifest the ideas in your mind in a more accurate way. Well, that is how I feel about what I write. Since coming home for the summer, I’ve revisited old papers and essays for further refinement and fine tweaking just because I think it’s fun (and because I’m a perfectionist, whoops). So some of the essays I post are more loved and tended to than others, but today I am posting the first essay I wrote for the Nonfiction Writing class I took this past spring at KU. It’s come a long way since then, and I’m certain I will pay it a visit again in a few weeks or months and mix things around yet again. One day I love it and am happy with the progress I’ve made, and another day I am frustrated by my inability to express exactly what I want how I want. But that’s just the way it is, I suppose! so all that to say, here are some thoughts on the power of words, which just so happens to be the clever title of my essay. Boom. Feedback welcome! The Power of Words The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. -Proverbs 18:21 Long before I began, words existed. Even in my infancy, I babbled indistinct jargon to empty air. As a toddler, my parents spoke to me and urged me onward as I struggled to coerce meaning into form. With great exertion, I studied the shape of their mouths and attempted to recreate the sounds myself. Through practice, frustration, and failure, I learned words. But after nearly two decades of befriending new words, there are still words left unlearnt. Each new introduction excites, confounds, and embarrasses me all in one breath. When I shy away, they beckon me to understand. Thankfully, the words are gracious to those who delight in their discovery. I live to encounter them; to be empowered by them. However, I have failed to remember this until just now, and this fresh remembrance peels the scab of a wound I’ve left untreated for far too long. No amount of stitches could seal up this wound. My hands wrung together, willing the searing fire to subside, willing to forget the sting of the blade. But the penetration of a double-edged sword permits no man to walk away unscathed. I am no exception. The memory of my injury echoed and swelled in my mind, piercing me deeper and fiercer with each remembrance. Any compliment offered to me was like putting a cold compress on the head of a patient in need of heart surgery: a kind gesture, but naive at best. No earthly remedy can heal the wound caused by a rash remark, a reckless word, a biting tongue. The words reverberated, transcending both time and space, tossing a pinch of salt into the festering puss with each visit. In one blazing breath, the levee was breached. Insecurities gushed forth from moments past to moments present. The words washed over me again and again and again, throbbing to the rhythm of a familiar pulse. Worthless. Ugly. Insufficient. Outcast. The faces of the ones who introduced me to these words flooded my mind. The playground bully, the jealous friend, the past love interest, the inconsiderate classmate – one by one, their faces appeared and circled around me, each breathing their own kind of fire. They etched their scorching words onto my memory and my heart. Each recollection brought a new wave of hurt. Their flames engulfed me and I stood defenseless. Perhaps these dragons were right about me. Perhaps I was what they said. My knees began to buckle beneath the weight of some sort of self-hatred or bitterness. But just before I collapsed to the cold kitchen tile, my mother’s arms encircled me from behind and secured me in an embrace. Her hushed whispers traveled through my ear into my aching sides, tenderly dressing my wounds with honey. Gentle reassurances momentarily cooled the scorching fire which ravaged my thoughts. My mother’s sweet lips massaged my burns as nourishing balm. Maybe I wasn’t as worthless as they said. Though words have destroyed me, they have also restored me. But sometimes my scars whisper to me in the middle of the night, reminding me, ushering me into the dragons’ lair where I am taunted by each rash remark, reckless word, or biting tongue that has ever wounded me. Even as a child, I understood the weight of words and the value in speaking responsibly. I remember shutting the door of my fourth-grade classroom, double-taking to ensure no one was watching, and skipping along the empty hallway in search of the nearest drinking fountain. My eyes danced until they rested upon the rusted spigot. Suddenly, my innocent skip-to-my-lou developed into a nutcracker’s march. I swung my arms and stomped my feet to the beat of a distant war drum, stifling giggles at my own theatrical display. I was hilarious, giddy, free. At last I lowered my lips, gently twisted the nozzle, and felt the cool water trickle down the back of my throat. After several gulps, I straightened my back and my eyes zeroed in on a laminated poster taped to the wall. It portrayed a crying girl with her back turned from a group of laughing schoolchildren. My heart sunk as I read, â€Å"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.† What a lie, I thought. Why else would the girl be crying if she was not hurt? Who wrote this? Though I stomped back to my classroom, it was not a giddy stomp as before. I felt indignant at the injustice done to the crying girl in the poster. Even as a fourth grader, I knew words were far more powerful weapons than measly sticks and pebbles. I suddenly wished I was Mary Poppins and could leap inside the poster and watch the clip-art scene come to life. I would parade right towards the menacing pack of bullying children, stand on my tippiest-toes, and wag my finger in their mocking face. How could they not see the hurt they caused, the damage they’d done? The artist of this poster flippantly dismissed the girl’s hurt – dismissed my hurt. Obviously, he has never entered the dragon’s lair; or perhaps, he has but is simply trying to forget. Perhaps he hopes that denying his injuries will ease the pain they bring. The very thought caused my own scars to burn. Rage pulsed through my body as I thought of the daggers digging deeper into the crying girl’s subconscious – into my subconscious. Feeble. Pathetic. Weak. I could see the fire on the bullying children’s breath as their words melted into her ears. Though pressed down upon on all sides, her dragons bid her to stand strong as they prodded her with white-hot prongs and secured their perpetual mark. I’ll bet her scars whisper to her at night, too. To dismiss a reckless remark is to remove responsibility. This flippancy severs the cord of accountability between speaker and speech. As the mediums of our messages transitioned from slabs of stone to paper to screen, the weight of a word lost its wonder. Consider the scribe. He pauses – an ancient practice – before dipping his pen into his jar of thick, black ink. Fully aware of the repercussions of an error, he painstakingly paints each stroke with precision. He lives in an age unacquainted with a backspace key and where few can afford the price of an error. But today, a text message mindlessly tapped out is just as soon deleted. Even this sentence was reconsidered, revisited, and revised. Our ability to communicate no longer springs from our dexterity of thought but the agility of our thumbs. Our words are no longer preserved in a weighty stone tablet. Instead, they are typed, deleted, and retyped – in a two pound, portable tablet – then launched into cyberspace to be received and deleted from an already cluttered inbox. But why not? We are entitled. We have rights. Does not every tweeted and retweeted thought deserve merit merely in its right to be said? Is it politically correct to correct a politically incorrect statement? I never can tell. Our cry for the freedom of speech made passage for the freedom from speech and the careful tending that should accompany it. Our tongues run rampant – never checked nor balanced. We demand our right to speak, but our flapping mouths pay no heed to how we speak. Because an error or offensive slip of the tongue incurs only minimal – if any – cost, our words are many and close between. I fear I also am the rambling type. The filter between my head and my mouth is shorter than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I wonder if I even have a filter or if it got lost somewhere long ago in some prattling speech. Maybe I forgot I have one and, thus, never use it. In any case, I discover amusement in meandering the trail of my own thoughts and relaying my journey to others. I have never suffered from a scarcity of words. On the contrary, I am their abuser. I am apt to respond when spoken to and likely to speak until stopped. But the scribe towers over me, soliciting silence. â€Å"If you love the words, you will treasure them,† he cries. When words are many, error is not absent. Even a fool who holds his tongue seems wise for he at least holds the appearance of revering the sanctity of a word well said. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words wield the power of life and death. One flippant remark on how one should eat cake turned nation against queen and then off came her head. By the power invested in one man’s announcement, two lives are joined and beget more life still. On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a bearded, honest man issued a proclamation declaring that all persons held as slaves would be then, thenceforward, and forever free. A deceitful dictator once told a big enough lie so frequently that his followers ran camps where with the aim of teaching the world to decipher beauty in piles of misshapen bodies. When Sophie Scholl spoke out against that lie and called German youth to cast off their cloaks of indifference, the dictator silenced her once and for all. By the word of a King, a dream stretched over the expanse of history and cried for the equality of the emancipated. By the word of the King, dry bones rose from the grave and walked out of their tombs. The Word from the very beginning sighed that it was finished and up from the deep the dragon prince relinquished his keys. With reverence comes escape. At some point or another, I began to regard the words as my slaves. I made them toil on my behalf. Beneath my whip, they labored without rest. Though they were exhausted, I trafficked them through the night and forgot to feed them breakfast in the morning. I believed their usefulness to me fulfilled their purpose. I considered them as nothing more than a spoken sound, a written conglomeration of lines and curves and dots, existing only to serve me – the â€Å"autonomous† man, the benefactor – and my appetites. But today I realized I will soon be dead – be it in sixty years or in the morning – and the words will live on without me just as they did before me for the word and the Word cannot die.

Understand The Two Concepts Culture And Civilization Sociology Essay

Understand The Two Concepts Culture And Civilization Sociology Essay This essay will attempt a brief review of the history of the concept culture and its relationship with the concept civilization, in order to understand the two concepts, without making any claims towards offering anything new in the analysis of the chronological account of how the definition of culture changed over time.  [1]  Instead, the essay will attempt to explore the harmonies and dis-harmonies in the utilization of the two concepts, as a way of coming to terms with immanent ruptures and continuities which were explicated in various ways in which the logic and lexicon of these concepts were deployed in the different anthropological traditions over the years. From the outset, I would like to mention that I almost abandoned this particular topic because of the difficulties I encountered in finding a concise definition of, mainly the concept of culture. When, after several weeks of reading, it finally dawned on me that actually there was none, it all started to make sense that the subject of defining the concept of culture has never been closed and was never intended for foreclosure. This meant that understanding how the concept was variously deployed was as important as appreciating the manner of its deployment, especially in ways in which this was always associated with the concept of civilization, whose definition was more straightforward. The notion of Culture: Following a very unsuccessful search for a concise definition of the concept culture, it dawned on me that Terry Eagleton and several others was after all correct when he said that culture was one of the few very complicated concepts to have ever graced the English language (Armstrong, 2010: 1; Eagleton, 2006: 1; Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952). Culture was a very difficult concept to define because the evolution of its etymology and its deployment varied in different contexts and anthropological traditions, both contemporary and classical. Its meaning in one setting was often contested in another. The word culture was first used in America  [2]  , and in etymological terms, its contemporary usage has its origin in attempts to describe mans relationship with nature, through which resources were extracted. It depicted the outcomes of extraction of resources from nature through a process of labor, for example, through crop farming and livestock production (Eagleton, 2006: 1). It was in this sense that the concept was first formally deployed in the 19th century in Germany, where the word used was Kultur, which in German referred to cultivation.  [3]  The early German usage of the word culture was heavily influenced by Kant, who, like his followers, spelled the word as culture, and used it repeatedly to mean cultivation or becoming cultured, which subsequently became the initial meaning of civilization (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 10). The way the concept was first used in modern English borrowed from the usage first made of the word by Walter Taylor, which dates back to 1871 , although according to Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 9), Taylors use of the word culture, which was borrowed from German, was similar to the way the word civilization was used in Germany. The above sense in which the concept culture was for long deployed depicted it as an activity or occupation that entailed a materialist dimension related to the extraction of resources from nature. Coming from Walter Taylor, the modern scientific sense of the word culture no longer refers primarily to the process of cultivation, but more generally as a manifestation of customs, beliefs and forms of government (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 10). The latter sense signifies some abstraction to the transcendent and divine realm of spiritualism. Over time, the concept was also deployed in other ways that depicted it as an entity (Eagleton, 2006: 1). There was also a sense in which the concept of culture also depicted the transformation that took place in societys experiences with changing technologies of production as capitalism developed, although this understanding was quite often deployed in racist terms to differentiate between less industrialized nations of the non-west from the more ind ustrialized European societies. It is true, as observed by Eagleton that the relationship between nature and culture was such that nature produces culture which changes nature (Eagleton, 2006: 3). In this sense, there is a part of nature that is cultural, and another that is not. The part of nature which is cultural is that part which labor transforms, for example, into works of art, monuments, skyscrapers (or building structures) or cities. Such products of culture are as natural as rural idylls are cultural (Eagleton, 2006: 4). Because culture originally meant cultivation, or managing the growth of crops, which means husbandry, the cultural therefore would imply that which was within ones means to change. As pointed out by Eagleton (2006: 4), the stuff to be altered has its own autonomous existence, which then lends it something of the recalcitrance of nature in much the same way as the extent to which culture transforms nature and also influences the rigorous limits nature imposes on the cultural project. To this extent, I am in agreement with Eagleton (2006: 4-5) that the idea of culture signified a double rejection, of, on the one hand, the representation of culture as an organic (biological) determinism; and, on the other, as an interpretation of culture as an embodiment of autonomous spiritualism. To this extent therefore, culture rebuffs naturalism and idealism founded in biological determinism by insisting that from the point of view of culture, there was also a representation within nature which exceeded and dismantled nature. It also represented a refusal of idealism because even the highest-minded human agency had its humble roots in our biology and natural environment. The resulting contradiction from this rejection of naturalism (emanating from organic determinism) and idealism (as a result of autonomy of spirit) led to a contest between what had actually evolved and what ought to, which transfigured into what Eagleton described as a tension between making and being made, between rationality and spontaneity (Eagleton, 2006: 5). Consequently, although the relation between humans and nature was important to an understanding culture, in this paper, I consider the social relations between humans and nature in the course of extracting from nature, through which humans change nature to be the most important. This is what is central to understanding the concept of culture, which makes it possible to view it as a systematic way of life and living, that humans consciously develop that is transferred from the past to the present and into the future. It depicts some semblance of historically assembled normative values and principles internal to social organizations through which a diversity of relationships are ordered. In this way, it is possible to see how culture becomes an abstraction of itself, in its own right, which does not reify culture as a thing as this essentializes culture. I am inclined to agree with Armstrong (2010: 2) in her definition, which presents culture more as a process of meaning making which i nforms our sense of who we are, how we want to be perceived and how others perceive us. The above said, we also need to recognize that while culture is important, it is also not the only factor that shapes social relations between humans in the course of impacting on nature in ways that change it. Several other social, economic, political, geographical, historical and physical factors come into play. It is necessary to recognize that culture, which embodies as much as it conceals its specific history, politics and economics; is, as also pointed out by Franz Boaz  [4]  , not inert. It is an inherently Boasian conception to view culture as extremely dynamic; as having life, and existing in a continuous state of flux, as new notions of and about culture continues to emerge. This means that cultures cannot be expected to be static and homogenous. As new cultures emerge, tensions are usually generated. The totality of any culture and its individual trait cannot be understood if taken out of its general setting. Likewise, culture cannot also be conceived as controlled by a single set of conditions (Benedict, 1934: xv). It is also Franz Boaz  [5]  who noted that culture is some form of standardized or normative behavior. An individual lives in his/her specific culture, in as much the same way as culture is lived by an individual. Culture has a materiality that makes it manifest in diverse patterns implying that it meaningless to try and generalize or homogenize about cultural patterns (Benedict, 1934: xvi). Thinking of culture as socially constructed networks of meaning that distinguish one group from another implies not only a rejection of social evolution but also an endorsement of cultural relativism, which is also a Boasian tradition.  [6]  Boaz  [7]  rightly argued that perspectives that view culture in evolutionary terms tend to end with the construction of a unified picture of the history of culture and civilization, which is misleading. Tendencies which view culture as a single and homogenous unit, and as an individual historical problem is extremely problematic (Benedict, 1934: xv). I consider the distinctive life-ways of different people as the most basic understanding of the notion of culture. Cultural relativity is a recognition that different people have cultures and life-ways that are distinct from those of others. The notion of civilization: The concept of civilization, like culture, also has a complex etymology. By 1694, the French were already using the verb civiliser, and referred to the polishing of manners, rendering sociable, or becoming urbane as a result of city life (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). The French notion of civilization referred to the achievement of human advancement manifest in certain customs and standards of living. The French considered civilization as the end point of a process of cultivation that took place over centuries (Elliot, 2002). The English lagged behind the French.  [8]  In 1773, Samuel Johnson still excluded civilization from his dictionary, preferring civility, and yet civilization (from the word civilize) captured better the opposite of barbarity than civility. The English subsequently adopted the concept of civilization deriving it from the verb to civilize and associated it with the notion of civilizing others. The 1933 Oxford Dictionary defined civilization as: A developed o r advanced state of human society; a particular stage or type of this (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 12). By the 18th century, the word civilization in German was associated with the spread by the state of political developments akin to the German state to peoples of other nations. It was somewhat similar to the English verb to civilize (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). For the Germans and English, the concept of civilization invoked an imperial political agenda that was apparent in the way they deployed the concept. The harmony and dis-harmonies in deployment of concepts of culture and civilization: The evolutionary thinking about culture and civilization in the philosophy of Durkheim: Among the scholars who attempted a very rigorous narrative intended to distinguish between culture and civilization was Émile Durkheim, whose writings were first published in 1893. In trying to come to terms with the complex division of labor and associated behavioral changes that occurred with the industrial revolution in England, Durkheim, argued that inside modern industry, jobs were demarcated and extremely specialized, and while each product was a specialty, it entailed the existence of others in form of the labor they input into its production. As society evolved from agriculture to industry, so did culture of the pre-industrial era give way to civilization associated with the conditions of progress in human societies. Durkheim extended the concept of division of labor from Economics to organisms and society, from which its association with culture was derived, arguing that the more specialized an organisms functions were, the more exalted a place it occupied in the animal hierarchy. For Durkheim, the extent of division of labor in society influenced the direction of the development of the evolution of mankind from culture to civilization (Durkheim, 1984: 3). Durkheim used division of labor to make the distinction between culture as a preserve of the pre-modern mediaeval society and civilization as belonging to the modern industrial society. Durkheim argued that all societies are usually held together by social solidarity. In the pre-industrial societies, where social bonds were based on customs and norms, this solidarity was mechanical while in the industrial societies, which were highly individualistic, the solidarity was organic, and social bonds were maintained by contracts which regulated relations between highly individualistic beings. To Durkheim, societies transition from relatively simple pre-modern societies to relatively more complex industrial societies (Durkheim, 1984: 3). Durkheim argued that division of labor influenced the moral constitution of societies by creating moral rules for human conduct that influenced social order in ways that made industrial societies distinct from the pre-industrial ones. It created a civilized, individual man, capable of being interested in everything but attaching himself exclusively to nothing, able to savor everything and understand everything, found the means to combine and epitomize within himself the finest aspects of civilization. For Durkheim, tradition and custom, collectively defined as culture were the basis of distinction of the simpler societies which defined their mechanical form of solidarity that they exhibit. The modern societies, according to Durkheim, were characterized civilization (Durkheim, 1984: 3-4). Durkheim advanced an essentially Darwinian argument. In the biological determinism of Durkheim, it is argued that the shift from mechanical to organic solidarity was comparable to the changes that appeared on the evolutionary scale. Relatively simple organisms showing only minimal degrees of internal differentiation ceded place to more highly differentiated organisms whose functional specialization allowed them to exploit more efficiently the resources of the ecological niche in which they happened to be placed. The more specialized the functions of an organism, the higher its level on the evolutionary scale, and the higher its survival value. In similar ways, the more differentiated a society, the higher its chances to exploit the maximum of available resources, and hence the higher its efficiency in procuring indispensable means of subsistence in a given territory (Durkheim, 1984: xvi). There were fundamental contradictions in the perspectives of Durkheim. If Durkheim denigrated culture to the pre-modern, and viewed society as developing in evolutionary terms to the industrial, it could be assumed that he also believed that the solidarity which was associated with the industrial society was better. What then explains the fact that Durkheim was deeply convinced of and concerned about the pathology of acquisitiveness in modern capitalist society? Durkheim did not believe that the pathological features of the industrial society were caused by an inherent flaw in systems built on organic solidarity. Rather, he thought that the malaise and anomie were caused by transitional difficulties that could be overcome through the emergence of new norms and values in the institutional setting of a new corporate organization of industrial affairs (Durkheim, 1984: xxi). For Durkheim, the flaws in industrial and class relations did not mean that the pre-modern characterized by culture was better. That the class conflicts which were inherent in the industrial society and were associated with the structure of capitalist society would be overcome by the emergence of a new corporate society in which relations between employers and employees were harmonized. Beholden to none of the political and social orientations of his day, Durkheim always attempted to look for a balanced middle way (Durkheim, 1984: xxii). The contemporary play of relationships between culture and civilization has, to say the least, rendered wanting, the ideas which were advanced by Durkheim. For example, if culture is a preserve of the pre-modern, what explains the pervasiveness of barbarism within civilized formations of the industrialized world? Can we have culture in societies that are characterized as civilized or with civilization? Or are societies that are said to possess culture devoid of civilization? The contradictions in the etymology and deployment of concepts of culture and civilization: The usage of culture and civilization in various languages has been confusing. Websters Unabridged Dictionary for English defined both culture and civilization in terms of the other. Culture was a particular state or stage of advancement in civilization. Civilization was called advancement or a state of social culture. In both popular and literary English, they were often treated as near synonyms, though civilization was sometimes restricted to advanced or high cultures (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). As early as the 1950s, there were some writers who were inclined to regard civilization as the culture of urbanized societies characterized by cities. Often, civilization was considered a preserve for literate cultures, for instance, while the Chinese had civilization, the Eskimo were seen as in possession of culture (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). The English language distinction between civilization and culture made in the past was different from that made in the German language. In German, civilization was confined to the material conditions, while the English expression sometimes included psychic, moral, and spiritual phenomena (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). The German Kultur also referred to material civilization, while culture in English over time came to mean something entirely different, which corresponded to the humanities. The German Kultur also related to the arts of savages and barbaric peoples, which were not included in any use of civilization since the term civilization denoted a stage of advancement higher than savagery or barbarism. These stages in advancement in civilization were even popularly known as stages of culture; implying that the word culture was used synonymous with the German Kultur (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). In English, culture was a condition or achievement possessed by society. It was not individual. The English phrase a cultured person did not employ the term in the German sense. There was a sense of non-specificity in the way in which the concept culture (Kultur) was deployed in the German sense (Krober Kluckhorn, 1952: 13). From its etymological roots in rural labor, the word culture was first deployed in reference to civility; then in the 18th century, it became more or less synonymous with civilization, in the sense of a general process of intellectual, spiritual and material progress. In Europe, civilization as an idea was equated to manners and morals. To be civilized included not spitting on the carpet as well as not decapitating ones prisoners of war. The very word implied a dubious correlation between mannerly conduct and ethical behavior, which in England was equated to the word gentleman. As a synonym of civilization, culture belonged to the general spirit of Enlightenment, with its cult of secular, progressive self-development (Eagleton, 2006: 9). Form my reading of the literature on this subject, it was not clear at what point culture and civilization begun to be deployed interchangeably. Suffice to mention, however, that in English, as in French, the word culture was not unconditionally interchangeable with civilization. While it was not entirely clear, between the two concepts of culture and civilization, which predated the other, they both shared a transcendental association with the notion of cultivation, as something which is done to (or changes in) humans in the course of exacting labor upon nature to change it, that leads to the development of human qualities to suit the needs of collective humanity. Culture, which emerged in German from the notion of Kultur, which meant cultivation, appeared as a form of universal subjectivity at work within the particularistic realm of our separate individualities. For Eagleton (2006: 8), it was a view of culture as a component of civilization which was neither dissociated from socie ty nor wholly at one with it. This kind of focus also portrayed an essentially Kantian notion of man as becoming cultivated through art and science, and becoming civilized by attaining a variety of social graces and refinements (or decencies), in which the state had a role to play. This Kantian conception therefore distinguished between being cultivated and being civilized. Being cultivated referred to intrinsic improvement of the person, while being civilized referred to improvements of social interrelations (interpersonal relations), some kind of ethical pedagogy which served to liberate the collective self buried in every individual into a political citizen (Eagleton, 2006: 7; Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). There was a sense in which the concept of civilization had an overwhelming French connection (coming from the concept civilizer), in the same way culture was associated with the Germans (from the concept Kultur). To be described as civilized was associated by the French with finesse with regards to social, political, economic and technical aspects life. For the Germans, culture had a more narrowly religious, artistic and intellectual reference. From this point of view, Eagleton (2006: 9) was right when he observed that: (i) civilization was deployed in a manner that played down national differences, while culture highlighted them; and, (ii) the tension between culture and civilization had much to do with the rivalry between Germany and France. I am reminded here of Eagletons famous phrase that: civilization was formulaically French, while culture was stereotypically German (Eagleton, 2006: 10-11). Towards the end of the 19th century civilization and culture were invariably viewed as antonyms. If, however, the description by Eagleton (2006: 9) of French notion of civilization as a form of social refinement is acceptable, then one can also accept Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 14) description of civilization as a process of ennobling (or creating nobility) of humanity through the exercise by society of increased control of the elementary human impulses. This makes civilization a form of politics. In the same light, I also agree with Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 14) that cultures German connections link it with the control of nature through science and art, which means culture embodies technology (including equipment) as well as knowledge systems (including skills) relevant for subduing and employing nature. The implications of the above are two-fold: (a) culture and civilization, can not be looked at as antonyms or binary opposites, in the sense in which evolution theorists would want us to view the relationship between these two concepts with culture as being akin to an inferior status while civilization is ascribed to the superior; (b) both tend to depict not only elements of normativity in advance in life-forms, but also constantly improving internal conditions of the internal elements of these concepts that define humanity which they embody. There is a way in which the elements embodied by these concepts depict superiority in their respective life-forms. Even when there are tendencies for overlaps in the elements depicted by these two concepts, for example, their association with politics, art, technology and urban living, there is a sense in which both concepts cannot be viewed as stages of development one from the other. It appears to me that Eagleton viewed civilization as a value-judgmental concept that pre-supposed an improvement on what went before, to whatever was not only right, but a great deal better than what was (Eagleton, 2006: 10). Eagleton was also non-presumptive when he pointed out that historically, the deployment of the term put it within the lexicon of a pre-industrial European middle class, which used the concept to justify imperial ambitions of mercantile and early industrial European capitalism towards those they categorized as of inferior civilization (Eagleton, 2006: 10). This fact has to be borne in mind if the concept when the concept is deployed today. Culture on the other hand, required certain social conditions that bring men into complex relationships with natural resources. The state becomes a necessity. Cultivation was a matter of the harmonious, all-round development of the personality. Because there was overwhelming recognition that nobody could do this in isolation, this helped to shift culture from its individual to its social meaning. Culture had a social dimension (Eagleton, 2006: 10). Whichever was, between culture and civilization, the progenitor of the other, there is a dual sense in which these concepts appear linked by their enlightenment era roots; and also not linked at the same time. I agree with Eagleton that civilization sounds abstract, alienated, fragmented, mechanistic, utilitarian, in thrall to a crass faith in material progress; while culture seems holistic, organic, sensuous, autotelic and recollective. However, I have reservations with Eagletons postulation of, first, a conflict between culture and civilization, and secondly, presentation of this conflict as a manifestation of a quarrel between tradition and modernity (Eagleton, 2006: 11). One of the greatest exports from the Enlightenment era was its universalism. Post-enlightenment political philosophy contributed significantly to critiques of enlightenments grand unilineal narratives regarding the evolution of universal humanity. We can look at the discourse of culture as a contribution to understanding the diversity inherent in different life-forms with their specific drivers of growth. Increasingly, it had become extremely perilous to relativize non-European cultures, which some thinkers of the time idealized as primitive (Eagleton, 2006: 12). In the 20th century in the primitivist features of modernism, a primitivism which goes hand-in-hand with the growth of modern cultural anthropology emerged, this time in postmodern guise, in form of a romanticizing of popular culture, which now plays the expressive, spontaneous, quasi-utopian role which primitive cultures had played previously (Eagleton, 2006: 12). While todate the concepts civilization and culture continue to be used interchangeably, there is also still a sense in which culture is still deployed almost as the opposite of civility (Eagleton, 2006: 13). It is not uncommon to encounter culture being used in reference to that which is tribal as opposed to the cosmopolitan. Culture continues to be closed to rational criticism; and a way of describing the life-forms of savages rather than a term for the civilized. If we accept the fact that the savages have culture, then the primitives can be depicted as cultured and the civilized as uncultured. In this sense, a reversal means that civilization can also be idealized (Eagleton, 2006: 13). If the imperial Modern states plundered the pre ­-modern ones, for whatever reasons, is it not a statement of both being uncultured and lack of civility, quite antithetical to what one could consider as civilization of the west. What sense doe it therefore make to posture as civilized and yet act in an uncultured manner? Can viewing culture as civilization, on one hand, and civilization as culture, on the other hand, help to resolve the impasse in the contemporary deployment of these concepts? One fact is clear, either way; it has potential to breed postmodern ambiguities of cultural relativism (Eagleton, 2006: 14). Alternatively, if culture is viewed, not as civilization, but as a way of life, it simply becomes an affirmation of sheer existence of life-forms in their pluralities (Eagleton, 2006: 13). Pluralizing the concept of culture comes at a price the idea of culture begins to entertain cultural non-normativities or queer cultures, in the name of diversity of cultural forms. Rather than dissolving discrete identities, it multiplies them rather than hybridization, which as we know, and as Edward Said observed, all cultures are involved in one another; none is single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogeneous, extraordinarily differentiated, and non-monolithic (Eagleton, 2006: 15). Attempts to valorize culture as a representation of particular life-forms associated with civility can also be perilous. There is a post-modern sense in which culture can be considered as an intellectual activity (science, philosophy and scholarship), as well as an imaginative pursuit of such exploits as music, painting and literature. This is the sense in which cultured people are considered to have culture. This sense suggests that science, philosophy, politics and economics can no longer be regarded as creative or imaginative. This also suggests that civilized values are to be found only in fantasy. And this is clearly a caustic comment on social reality. Culture comes to mean learning and the arts, activities confined to a tiny proportion of humanity, and it at once becomes impoverished as a concept (Eagleton, 2006: 16). Concluding Remarks: From the foregoing analyses, it is clear that understanding the relationship between culture and civilization is impossible until we cease to view the world in binaries in which the West (Europe) was constructed as advanced and developed with the non-West perceived as primitive, barbarous and pagan. Historically, the Wests claim of supremacy was always predicated on their provincialization of the non-west, whose behavioral patterns were judged from the experience of the West, and characterized in generalized terms as traditional customs and therefore culture. I agree with Benedict, that the West did all it could to universalize its experience to the rest of the world, even when this experience was different from that of those from the non-west (Benedict, 1934: 5). Assumptions of the mutual exclusivity of culture and civilization in society are premised on perceived irreconcilability of values and beliefs. Religion was always used in the West to posit a generalized provincialism of the non-west. It was the basis of prejudices around which superiority was justified. No ideas or institutions that held in the one were valid in the other. Rather all institutions were seen in opposing terms according as they belonged to one or the other of the very often slightly differentiated religions. In this con