Looks and Love Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

Looks and Love Before I left home for college, my group of friends and I sat down for one last serious heart-to-heart. Sometime during our conversation, the question of college choice arose. Emotions escalated as we realized how far apart we would be in a short time. "Why did you choose to go to MIT?" they asked, "Why couldn't you just stay home at a state university?" Wanting to lighten the mood, I replied, laughing, "That's an easy one...the guys, of course!" And after the initial uproar of laughter died down and the comments about geeks and scrawny computer nerds subsided, I said, "I'm serious." I was. Where else would I find an intelligent and genuine guy who would be mature enough for me? When I arrived in Massachusetts and classes finally started, so did my "man mission." Most of the men I met blew the boys back home out of the water, and one lucky day, I peered past my twirling pink pen and found Him. The more I learned about Him, the more enamored I became. Yet I, a usually outgoing and assertive young woman, felt uncomfortable approaching this wonderful person in that more-than-a-friend kind of way. The worst part about the situation was that I knew exactly where my uneasiness was coming from. Unlike the guys at home, where seventy percent of the young male population had black hair and dark brown eyes, this guy was blonde and fair-skinned, a stark contrast not only to the male population back home, but to me. I am not a racist person, but the petty idea that this guy did not share like features with me, hindered me from appreciating what we did share and made me more aware of the differences between us. So where then, did this silly idea of single race relationships come from? Why did He an... ...zines remind me that this relationship would not be the most socially accepted or ordinary thing to do. But it is ordinary. I know I've fallen for this guy because of his humor and quirkiness, his intelligence, his kindness, and his character, things that I should be looking for. So now, I sit here in my baggy calf-length skater shorts and bright orange hooded sweatshirt and stare across the seats, focusing on his neatly ironed khakis and dark blue dress shirt, and think that our hypothetical relationship would die quickly. I'm still that closed-lipped girl from the beginning of the story when it comes to my feelings because I don't want to be rejected, and for some reason I feel like we might not be right for each other, even though I know we are. And it depresses me that somehow, our ad-driven society is probably convincing him of that same exact thing.

The Great Gatsby: The Sympathetic Readers Essay -- Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby:  Ã‚   The Sympathetic Readers You can easily become very sympathetic to a character by how the author portrays him or her in a story. In The Great Gatsby the main character is an ostentatious bootlegger who pines for one thing, a married woman. Somehow, the author swindles the reader into being sympathetic for Gatsby throughout the entire novel. Fitzgerald makes the reader compassionate by showing how Gatsby had extravagant parties for anyone who wanted to come, how he struggled to get ahead in life, and how he endeavored for Daisy's love.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Gatsby had an exuberant and lavish party almost every night. His house was full of people, some of whom he had never met before. "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there." (45) Some may think Gatsby was just trying to swagger. However, if this was the circumstance he would have just invited the people he wanted to show off to. To hold these prodigal parties Gatsby may have obtained money from racketeering but he still used it appropriately. He had dignified caterers, brilliant and luminous lights, scrumptious and exquisite food, and a grand orchestra at all of his parties. Gatsby let people have a great time at his expense. "I like to come," one guest said. "I never care what I do, so I always have a good time. When I was here last a I tore my gown on a chair, and he (Gatsby) asked me my name and address-inside of a week I got a package from Croirier's with a new evening gown in it." This incident was not even Gatsby's fault, but he was kind enough to pay for a brand new, exorbitant dress. Despite Gatsby's ex... ...sby fabricated that he had been the one driving the car. He waited outside Daisy's house just to make sure Tom didn't aggrieve Daisy.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The dictionary defines "great" as an adjective that means remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness, full of emotion, eminent, distinguished, grand, markedly superior in character or quality, noble, remarkably skilled, marked by enthusiasm, used as a generalized term of approval. All of these terms together though can not adequately describe Gatsby. Nick declares, "They're a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." Nick vocally expresses his admiration for The Great Gatsby. The reader is compelled to agree, conjuring up all of the sentiments of the very definitions of "great". Despite some of the methods and antics utilized by Gatsby, in the end we all became sympathetic readers. The Great Gatsby: The Sympathetic Readers Essay -- Great Gatsby Essays The Great Gatsby:  Ã‚   The Sympathetic Readers You can easily become very sympathetic to a character by how the author portrays him or her in a story. In The Great Gatsby the main character is an ostentatious bootlegger who pines for one thing, a married woman. Somehow, the author swindles the reader into being sympathetic for Gatsby throughout the entire novel. Fitzgerald makes the reader compassionate by showing how Gatsby had extravagant parties for anyone who wanted to come, how he struggled to get ahead in life, and how he endeavored for Daisy's love.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Gatsby had an exuberant and lavish party almost every night. His house was full of people, some of whom he had never met before. "I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there." (45) Some may think Gatsby was just trying to swagger. However, if this was the circumstance he would have just invited the people he wanted to show off to. To hold these prodigal parties Gatsby may have obtained money from racketeering but he still used it appropriately. He had dignified caterers, brilliant and luminous lights, scrumptious and exquisite food, and a grand orchestra at all of his parties. Gatsby let people have a great time at his expense. "I like to come," one guest said. "I never care what I do, so I always have a good time. When I was here last a I tore my gown on a chair, and he (Gatsby) asked me my name and address-inside of a week I got a package from Croirier's with a new evening gown in it." This incident was not even Gatsby's fault, but he was kind enough to pay for a brand new, exorbitant dress. Despite Gatsby's ex... ...sby fabricated that he had been the one driving the car. He waited outside Daisy's house just to make sure Tom didn't aggrieve Daisy.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The dictionary defines "great" as an adjective that means remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness, full of emotion, eminent, distinguished, grand, markedly superior in character or quality, noble, remarkably skilled, marked by enthusiasm, used as a generalized term of approval. All of these terms together though can not adequately describe Gatsby. Nick declares, "They're a rotten crowd. You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." Nick vocally expresses his admiration for The Great Gatsby. The reader is compelled to agree, conjuring up all of the sentiments of the very definitions of "great". Despite some of the methods and antics utilized by Gatsby, in the end we all became sympathetic readers.

Applied Social Psychology and Causes: The Case of Control Arms Campaign

During the course of discussions on topics on Social Psychology, I had a realization on the importance of Social Psychology as a school of thought. It dawned on me that the social-psychological school of thought has its relevance on how individuals perceive, create and recreate relationships within and among groups.One of the most practical applications of the range of topics within this course is in asking what makes the individual tick in a particular group. Personally, social psychology’s relevance lies in asking: what drives the individual to act in such a way within a group?In class, we have been bombarded by a mà ©lange of ideas and concepts that range from complex interpretations of social actions, to trivial and too obvious actions of the individual within the context of his social interactions.With that said, this paper focuses on the relevance of applying social psychology in social activism especially in the areas of advocacy and campaigns. Specifically, I would li ke to focus on the individual’s support for a particular cause which in this case is an international treaty.The assumption that I am making in this paper is that the different theories discussed in class are not fragmented concepts to deal with but are all helpful in making social psychology relevant in reality. With that said, the discussion here attempts to integrate the concepts to make a coherent framework with which to approach campaigning for an international treaty.Advocacy and Campaigns: The Arms Trade TreatyControl Arms (2007) stated that, â€Å"There are at least 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world.† The leading group campaigning for global measure on arms explains that around two-thirds of these firearms are in the hands of civilians. This implies that if we want peace, addressing the issue of arms proliferation is a very huge leap towards lessening gun-related deaths and in achieving world peace. However, the campaign is not without its s etbacks.Until now, no global agreement on international arms transfers exist, although the relationship is clear vis-à  -vis the high number of guns available for civilians and deaths. (Control Arms, 2003). Small arms and light weapons are considered as the new â€Å"weapons of mass destruction,† because guns kill people—innocent civilians, women and children. Guns fuel greater violence and it creates fear and trauma on communities.Americans are better off than our African and Asian counterparts because we are at peace. Ironically, we are one of the biggest producers of weapons for warfare and the biggest of which is guns.Applying Social Psychology Concepts on Advocacy and CampaignsOne of the initial weaknesses of this campaign is in the lack of public support for it. In the United States, the reactions on an international treaty that regulates arms transfers from one country to another differ greatly. It is bipolar: the pro-guns versus the anti-guns. It is also a cri sis of public perception: between what is popular and what people typically approve.A.  Ã‚  Ã‚   On NormsCialdini (2003) presents what I call a ‘social form of schizophrenia’ when there is a discrepancy between what people do and what they typically approve of—which are two entirely different characteristics. Furthermore, Cialdini proposed that norms determine actions, and thus, the prevailing norms on gun culture determine people’s behavior towards it.

Examine the Key Ideas Associated with Law and Punishment

Examine the key ideas associated with law and punishment Law and Punishment go hand in hand. There are Laws, which are the system of rules which a particular country or community recognises as regulating the actions of followers, and there are punishments, for when a member of said country/community breaks the rules. Punishment is defined as the infliction of a penalty or to cause pain for an offence.Most of the time it is not a choice as to whether you are part of a law-following community because almost all countries in the world have some kind of law-system and often the minute you turn the age where you are legally responsible or step off the boat, plane or train you are subjected to their laws. The Biblical views on punishment have often been based on the old testament teaching ‘an eye for an eye’. The bible also lays out punishments for certain crimes that appear to follow this teaching. Except that there are many punishments in the bible that seem to be out of pro portion to the crime e. . â€Å"whoever curses his father or his mother will be put to death†. There are many problems with this statement for example it does not state how old the son/daughter has to be to deserve this punishment, it seems to imply even a 4 year old who does not necessarily know what they are saying can be put to death for cursing their parents. An eye for an eye is also relevant in today’s laws, it is the basis of retributive justice that is present in our society. Retributive justice is the idea that those who have done the crime should somehow pay back for what they did.Rachel’s said â€Å"People deserve to be treated in the same way that they have (voluntarily treated others)† This seems like a fair way of treating someone because why someone should be allowed to do one thing and then not expect to be treated in the same way? But some punishments that are retributive e. g. capital punishment do not seem to benefit society and there i s a risk of the punishment becoming revengeful not retributive. Retributive justice also causes a problem because it might make capital punishment a legitimate approach to punishment.I. e. If a person murders it is right for them to be killed. And It also can lead the legal system to instead of appearing like someone is being made to pay back what they have done wrong to looking like the legal system is being hypocritical i. e. we are showing society that it is wrong to be violent by being violent to wrong doers. This is not how we should be teaching people to not be violent. The punishment also must not be disproportionate to the crime e. g. sentencing a small child to death for stealing a sweet from a shop.Some forms of punishment e. g. fines may be disproportionate because to people with money a fine does not make any difference but to someone who has just enough money or just below the money they need for necessities it can be a massive problem, but on average I think retributiv e measures helps to make the punishment be proportionate to the crime because the person can be treated the way they treated others. Deterrence is another form of punishment. It means that we should punish for crimes in order to deter others from committing the same crime i. e. f we know what the punishment for an act is we are less inclined to do it. However there are problems with this because it assumes that the perpetrator had intent and full knowledge of what they were doing was wrong but often violent crimes happen in the heat of the moment and are not planned and those violent crimes that are calculated are often done by those people who are mentally ill. Also, why should be punish someone for the sake of someone else? Reformative justice is becoming more popular in today’s society and is the attempt to turn the criminal into a normal law abiding citizen.It is often based on the idea that everyone has an intrinsic value simply because they are human and the improvement of humans is good. According to deontology this is good because rehabilitation prevents people treating others as means. There is also a utilitarian argument for this because reformative justice improves the general quality of life in society. I also would argue that reformative justice is also trying to right the inequality between the rich and poor. People from less well of backgrounds are more likely to commit crimes due to them having fewer opportunities and less education.Poorer people are also more likely to come from violent backgrounds and therefore are more likely to be violent themselves. Therefore reformative justice helps make up for this lack of opportunities by offering classes inside prisons for example. Although there are many good things about reformative punishments, there are also many problems. Reformation takes away the responsibility for our actions and it does not attempt to right the wrong. This causes problems in itself because if there is no ‘punishm ent’ other than reformation then there is no incentive for people not to commit crime, in fact there is almost an incentive to commit a crime!And why someone in prison should be getting opportunities that people outside the prison do not get. I would like to think that there is good in everyone but it would simply be impractical to think that we can rehabilitate everyone as some people are simply too far gone and do not want to change. Hobbes philosophised about why we want/need laws in society and he came up with an idea called the social contract theory. This idea was based on his notion that government is an agreement between a group of people where they agree not to hurt each other.This is fuelled by the motivation of self-interest which according to Hobbes is pertinent because human beings are selfish creatures and therefore seek collective protection. i. e. If I promise not to hurt you and you promise not to hurt me then neither of us gets hurt and we’re both hap py. And this is what Hobbes believes to be the basis of our desire to keep the laws set out by the state – we should avoid chaos because it is not in our best interests therefore we should keep the laws. Kant had a similar conclusion i. e. that we should keep the laws but for a different reason.Kant said that we should ‘act so that you treat humanity, both in your own person and in that of another, always as an end’ i. e. we should keep the laws so that we do not treat others as means to an end. His idea of kingdom of ends states ‘act in accordance with the maxims of a member giving universal laws for a merely possible kingdom of ends’ where the kingdom of ends is a perfect community where all members respect each other as ends in themselves. This is what we should strive to achieve, and to be successful at this we should keep the laws of the community.Therefore we should keep the laws and to keep the laws means that we must punish those that break t he law.. Evaluate the view that objectivity and relativism pose problems for the concept of law and punishment. Objectivity states that there are ethical principles that are always wrong or always right and they are normally established a priori i. e. without experience. Therefore as there are certain things that are always wrong we need a law to stop people from doing it. This law may be objectively right and its punishment for breaking the law may also be objectively right.Objectivity might support retributive justice; Retributive justice is when someone pays back for their crime. This could support objectivity because it needs to be imposed with the consistency that objectivity provides therefore you could argue that Retributive justice only works with the objectivity and as retributive justice tends to be favoured in western societies perhaps objectivity does not pose such a problem with law and punishment. Having said this there are still the problems it does cause.Objective et hical principles are established a priori therefore we cannot know them through experience. If we do not know them through experience, how can we truly know if something is right or wrong and therefore how do we know if a law is right whilst using objectivity. Objectivity also does not allow for individual cases, it runs the risk of using a ‘one size fits all’ policy towards law and punishment and whilst we do need some consistency amongst crimes, one size does not exactly fit all because not every crime is exactly the same!Normative relativism states that truth and morality is relative to the country/society that one is in and therefore we cannot criticize other cultures as to how they do things. With regards to law and punishment this leads us to the face that there are no definite truths or morals that can be applied in every situation around the world so Punishment is determined according to the country and, if we take it relativism further, according to the circums tances of the case.Hobbes took a relativist view because he said that justice cannot be fixed, and each country/community has different ideas of what law and punishment should be all we should do is aim not be in chaos, not because it is wrong in an objective sense but because it does not serve or self-interest. Relativism may be a good thing because it allows each country to organise punishment as they see fit and there is merit in the systems that other countries have for example some people believe that Iraq was justified in the hanging of Saddam Hussein even though in our society the death penalty is not used.However it does have problems because it means that all forms of punishment are right as long as it is accepted by society e. g. it would be right to hang a small child for stealing sweets if society thought it was the correct punishment. If punishment is decided relative to the circumstance and there is no consistency we could end up with a justice system where only some p eople would be punished and this could easily lead to corruption, sexism and racism within the punishment system.It also means that there may be little point of having punishment because if only some cases lead to punishment then punishment would be pointless! It would serve no deterrent or retributive purpose. Objectivity and Relativism both have merits and cause problems for law and punishment and I do not think either can work solely on their own because they have too many problems by themselves, but on the other hand I do not know if it is possible for Objectivity and Relativism to work together.Perhaps if the laws are objective but how we punish people is relative to each country, case and persons involved. For example although killing may be objectively wrong it may not be appropriate to treat a child who killed someone, an adult who killed someone by accident and an adult who killed someone out of hate all In the same way although they have all broken the same objective rule.

Standard Deviation and Gulf View Condominiums

Case 2: Gulf Real Estate Properties. Please provide a Managerial Report that includes: 1. Appropriate descriptive statistics to summarize each of the three variables for the forty Gulf View condominiums 2. Appropriate descriptive statistics to summarize each of the three variables for the eighteen No-Gulf View condominiums 3. Comparison of your summary results from #1 & #2. Discuss any specific statistical results that would help a real estate agent understand the condominium market. 4. A 95% confidence interval estimate of the population mean sales price and population mean number of days to sell for Gulf View condominiums.Also, interpret the results. 5. A 95% confidence interval estimate of the population mean sales price and population mean number of days to sell for Gulf View condominiums. Also, interpret the results. Also, consider the following scenario and include your responses in your Report: 6. Assume the branch manager requested estimates of the mean selling price of Gulf View condominiums with a margin of error of $40,000 and the mean selling price of No-Gulf View condominiums with a margin of effort of $15,000. Using 95% confidence, how large should the sample sizes be? GULF VIEW CONDOMINIUMS List Price Sales Price Days to Sell 95000 475000 130 379000 350000 71 529000 519000 85 552500 534500 95 334900 334900 119 550000 505000 92 169900 165000 197 210000 210000 56 975000 945000 73 314000 314000 126 315000 305000 88 885000 800000 282 975000 975000 100 469000 445000 56 329000 305000 49 365000 330000 48 332000 312000 88 520000 495000 161 425000 405000 149 675000 669000 142 409000 400000 28 649000 649000 29 319000 305000 140 425000 410000 85 359000 340000 107 469000 449000 72 895000 875000 129 439000 430000 160 435000 400000 206 235000 227000 91 638000 618000 100 629000 600000 97 329000 309000 114 595000 555000 45 339000 315000 150 15000 200000 48 395000 375000 135 449000 425000 53 499000 465000 86 439000 428500 158 No Gulf View Condominiums List Price Sales Price Days to Sell 217000 217000 182 148000 135500 338 186500 179000 122 239000 230000 150 279000 267500 169 215000 214000 58 279000 259000 110 179900 176500 130 149900 144900 149 235000 230000 114 199800 192000 120 210000 195000 61 226000 212000 146 149900146500 137 160000 160000 281 322000 29250063 187500 179000 48 247000 227000 52 Let me know if you have any questions†¦ Answers (1) Descriptive statistics to summarize each of the three variables for the forty Gulf View condominiumsList Price |   | Sales Price |   | Days to Sell |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Mean| 474007. 5| Mean| 454222. 5| Mean| 106| Standard Error| 31194. 293| Standard Error| 30439. 72954| Standard Error| 8. 256078| Median| 437000| Median| 417500| Median| 96| Mode| 975000| Mode| 305000| Mode| 85| Standard Deviation| 197290. 03| Standard Deviation| 192517. 7534| Standard Deviation| 52. 21602| Sample Variance| 3. 892E+10| Sample Variance| 37063085378| Sample Variance| 2726. 513| Kurtos is| 1. 0113289| Kurtosis| 1. 183621479| Kurtosis| 2. 022026| Skewness| 1. 0958146| Skewness| 1. 159387914| Skewness| 1. 077642| Range| 805100| Range| 810000| Range| 254|Minimum| 169900| Minimum| 165000| Minimum| 28| Maximum| 975000| Maximum| 975000| Maximum| 282| Sum| 18960300| Sum| 18168900| Sum| 4240| Count| 40| Count| 40| Count| 40| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 63096. 412| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 61570. 16398| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 16. 69949| (2) Descriptive statistics to summarize each of the three variables for the eighteen No-Gulf View condominiums List Price |   | Sales Price |   | Days to Sell |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Mean| 212805. 6| Mean| 203188. 9| Mean| 135| Standard Error| 11536. 51| Standard Error| 10345. 38| Standard Error| 17. 98402| Median| 212500| Median| 203500| Median| 126|Mode| 279000| Mode| 179000| Mode| #N/A| Standard Deviation| 48945. 28| Standard Deviation| 43891. 72| Standard Deviation| 76. 29972| Sample Variance| 2. 4E+09| Sample Variance| 1. 93E+09| Sample Variance| 5821. 647| Kurtosis| -0. 08524| Kurtosis| -0. 46407| Kurtosis| 2. 215301| Skewness| 0. 543955| Skewness| 0. 304181| Skewness| 1. 360547| Range| 174000| Range| 157000| Range| 290| Minimum| 148000| Minimum| 135500| Minimum| 48| Maximum| 322000| Maximum| 292500| Maximum| 338| Sum| 3830500| Sum| 3657400| Sum| 2430| Count| 18| Count| 18| Count| 18| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 24339. 92| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 21826. 4| Confidence Level(95. 0%)| 37. 94296| (3) Comparisons The mean sale price of gulf view condominiums is greater than that of non gulf view condominiums. The mean number of days to sell gulf view condominiums is less tha that of non gulf view condominiums. The variation in the sale prices of gulf view condominiums are more than that of non gulf view condominiums. The variation in the number of days to sell of gulf view condominiums are more than that of non gulf view condominiums. (4) GULF VIEW CONDOMINIUMS 95% confidence interval for po pulation mean sales price is 45422. 50 ±61570. 16 =(392652. 34,515792. 6) 95% confidence interval for population mean days to sell is 106 ±16. 70 =(89. 30,122. 70) (5) NON GULF VIEW CONDOMINIUMS 95% confidence interval for population mean sales price is 203188. 90 ±21826. 84=(181362. 05,225015. 73) 95% confidence interval for population mean days to sell is 135 ±37. 94 =(97. 06,172. 94) (6) GULF VIEW CONDOMINIUMS Confidence level = 95% z= 1. 96 s=192517. 75 E=Z*s/vn = 40000 n = (1. 96*192517. 75/40000)^2 = 88. 99 The minimum sample size is 90 GULF VIEW CONDOMINIUMS Confidence level = 95% z= 1. 96 s=43891. 72 E=Z*s/vn = 15000 n = (1. 96*43891. 72/15000)^2 = 32. 89 The minimum sample size is 33

Television Broadcast News: Credible information or Merely Entertainment?

In today’s journalistic world it is sometimes difficult to decipher between news broadcasts rendered as credible information as opposed to merely entertainment. It is safe to say that the media does have a responsibility in reporting the news truthfully and with honesty. As we begin to look more closely on the role of the News Media, local and national, we will find many interesting facets of the broadcasts to be analyzed. It is also expected that the media deliver news that is detailed, informative and credible.Unfortunately the content of the information sometimes broadcasts has other insignificant focuses such as, news regarding celebrities, entertainment (especially here in Los Angeles so close to Hollywood) and other tragic but unnecessary news. The content seems at times unimportant, weak, and falsely dramatic rather than a factual honest and necessary report of important occurrences local, national and international. At times the news seems more like a dramatic soap ope ra rather than news. Competion and monetary gain seems to drive the media to serve information that can be sometimes manipulated or sometimes just simply inappropriate.Another facet of the news media is the status of female anchors and reporters on network and local newscasts, which will be examined in this paper. It is important to note that the media has been known to be a field influenced by gender, racial and ethnic biases. These important topics will also be examined. It seems that the News Media is not very particular in choosing quality journalism these days. Some exceptions do exist although it seems that shows which function as informative shows are merely just entertainment and tabloid-like journalism.Such shows include, â€Å"Entertainment tonight†, â€Å"The E channel† programs, â€Å"Inside Edition†, and â€Å"Access Hollywood† to name a few. Even reality shows like â€Å"Cops† which are credible and reflect real life experiences are p ackaged for entertainment and sensationalist viewing. Also, when analyzing the role of local and national television broadcast news we still need to view the content of these programs with a grain of salt. News broadcasters are more influenced by events that will cause an immediate impact and sensational effect on the viewers than actual, credible and significant news. It is common for news broadcasters to begin the news  with such broadcasts covering such events as a â€Å"Wild Pursuit† or freeway car chase.Or, other such glamorized topics may include the arrest of famous actors or musicians whom have committed crimes. The O. J. Simpson case was a perfect example of such media frenzy or, the famous pop musician George Michaels being arrested for masturbating in the Beverly Hills Park restroom. How can the media choose to cover such insignificant events when the local areas, the nation or the international community has so many other important social, economical, political and humanitarian problems and events that are hardly addressed.Also, when we pursue to analyze the credibility of broadcasters, how are we sure that the information given to us is factual? Are we to believe everything that CNN reports is untainted and free of excessive nonfactual events and information? It would be justified to question the source of reported events and news stories. There has been so many times in which different views and different versions of the same story have been reported by varying news channels. Therefore it is sometimes difficult to decipher between fact or fiction and credible information or merely entertainment.It is also interesting to note that the media tries to maintain an air of social and political correctness when it comes to choosing its journalists although certain biases still due exists in the journalistic field. It is only in recent times that the news media has decided to hire more ethnically diverse journalists. Also in a field that had bee n mostly dominated by men, in recent times we have seen the hiring of more female anchors, reporters and journalists. Sometimes broadcasters use attractive journalists to gain the interest of the viewers.One of the most important TV news personalities of the last 40 years has been the famous Barbara Walters. She is one of the first women to gain acceptability and credibility from television news viewers. Also Christian Amanpour remains the first female TV broadcaster in our history who commands the same kind of respect as the long line of father figures that started with Murrow and continues with Rather, Brokaw and Jennings. Women journalists such as Walters and Amanpour have gained respect and stardom through many years of hard work and struggle through journalism.Nowadays, historic news stories have become the journalistic fast track to celebrity. And this happens so routinely that the search for the new media stars automatically built into coverage of the events themselves. Withi n hours of the attack on the World Trade Center, you could already hear people in the media world asking, â€Å"Who’s going to be made by this one? † Such celebrity came to female anchorwoman Ashleigh Banfield, a 33-year-old Canadian-born journalist when on September 11, Banfield covered groundzero in New York for MSNBC.Standing firm as she became coated with ash, network executives were so dazzled by her on-camera savvy that, although she had almost as little international knowledge as our president, they jetted her off to Pakistan, where she began anchoring the week-nightly news show â€Å"Region in Conflict. † Since then, she seems to have been everywhere for the cable channels covering a variety of important news stories and issues. A similar story occurred when Andrea Thompson made headlines when she recently revealed that she was quitting ABC’s â€Å"N. Y. P.  D Blue† to do a three-month tryout at the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N. M. to become a TV anchorwoman.Shortly after Andrea Thompson was hired by the CNN as an anchor. The 39-year-old actress and model has said that she believes her skills as an actress are transferable to TV news, even though she does not have any background in journalism. Although it’s not a matter of acting the news, it’s hard to fake a journalism background if you do not have one. Again this proves how today’s news media functions more as entertainment than credible responsible journalism.Some may say that it does not take any journalism skill to read a news script, and most stations want an appealing person, so why not have a pretty person reading a copy of the news? Personally I believe that this is unfair to other journalists male or female who have pursued a career studying and experiencing modern journalism. It is unfair to hire â€Å"sexy† or â€Å"sexual –attractive† journalists to report the news when the most important factor is the conten t and truthfulness of the news itself. It may be appropriate to flaunt ones sexuality in the fictional soap opera or fictional TV show arena, but not in the modern journalistic forum.Gender and sexuality should not be a factor. It would be hopeful to expect the News Media to cover more events with greater importance and significance to all people rather than to use journalism as a form of entertainment for the masses. Furthermore, it seems to me that the actual event and truth in media shouldn’t be tainted by such factors such as gender, ethnicity, age or how one presents him or herself physically, the events and news topics covered should speak for themselves, not the other way around.

An Analysis of Dark Nights Harvey Dent

The Two Faces of Harvey Dent Just like the proverbial adage of love and hate, superheroes and villains have a very thin line that separates the two. The I Ch’ing offers the Yin and Yang arguing that good cannot exist without evil. The question arises to try to determine what exactly makes someone a villain or a superhero. There is often a personal or emotional connection that the authors and film directors tries to convey so the audience can identify with the characters. Sometimes, fictional characters are made to seem obviously one-sided. Shakespeare wrote, â€Å"Villains that were plainly evil without any explanation which then made it clear who the protagonists were. † This kind of character does not satisfy human curiosity and reasoning. The question still remains at the end which continues to gnaw at our intellect. In the film, Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, the writer tries to answer this question with the character of Harvey Dent, otherwise known as the villain Two-Face. Harvey Dent comes out in the second film of a grittier and darker version of the legendary comic superhero Batman series. Much of the audience is well-versed in the Batman villains so the character Harvey Dent comes out as the morally incorruptible, by-the-book District Attorney of Gotham city; the revelation of his duplicitous nature is inevitable because of how principled he is when it comes to fighting crime. Usually, those people who are so polarized on one side tend to fall the hardest to the other side. Nolan uses the character of Rachel, Dent’s love interest, a sort of love triangle with Bruce Wayne (Batman’s alter ego) to explain his true emotions. Using the different personality theories, the question can be answered with more satisfaction. Myers-Briggs has a dichotomous scheme of how people are configured while Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs sets up stages of a person’s life. Ultimately, Freud’s Superego, ego, and Id identify the level of maturity that a person demonstrates. These theories expose the character of Harvey Dent and how a hero can become a villain because of his inherent traits, life experiences, and bad choices. The inherent traits that lead Harvey Dent into a spiral of shame can be explained by Myers-Briggs dichotomous chart of personality types. Harvey Dent starts out in the film in the spotlight, brand new leader of Gotham City as the prosecutor. He is a role model of principles and law. He is unflinching and unwavering in his ambition and fight against crime. Dent tends be extraverted in his personality. He likes being in the spotlight. He likes things to be black and white because he is a very principled man. Dent does not like to make deals with criminals and he makes it very clear to everyone that he will not be bribed in any way. He will not bargain which seems like a characteristic that he was born with. He is very straight forward with people. If he does not like someone, he will make it known to that person right away. On the other side, his affections for Rachel, the deputy district attorney, are apparent as well as the audience sees them out together besides their professional relationship. (Dark Knight) The audience can tell that Dent is very meticulous and logical sometimes appearing cold but his internal passion for what he believes drive him to do the things he does. The law is his guide and he does not let emotion get the best of him until the Rachel dies because of the choices of others. Dent is an easy target because of these traits. He is very predictable. â€Å"Live to see yourself become the villain, or die a hero,† says Dent after he lives. Dark Knight) Only he lives by principle while others live on emotion. He makes it very clear after Rachel that he will no longer be controlled by his principles. This inherent disillusionment alters his outlook on life and he becomes the other extreme. By the time, he dies in the movie; he abandons all reason and goes with his emotions of apa thy and revenge. Harvey Dent’s struggle with dealing with Rachel’s death can be further explained by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He begins as the highest level with self-actualization where he can truly serve the will of the people and the law. But, the experience ultimately is too much for him to deal with. Above all, he has fought for the safety of himself and the people, but since he could not protect the one he loved, he cannot face losing anyone else thus his revenge leads to blood. The ideals he stood for go out the window and he punishes the wrong people. He is blind to morality after this tragedy. He has no distinction between right and wrong, a good person and an evil person. In this sense, Nolan wanted to show the audience how certain experiences affect people and no one can control every situation or circumstance. It all becomes luck and fortune which somebody like Harvey Dent cannot accept. Thus, because of these experiences of pain and regret, he cannot move on in his life and make the proper decisions of his rank and person. He falls and ultimately pays his own price by his flip of the coin. Freud’s theory of subconscious levels seems to depict the choices that Harvey Dent makes that lead him to become a villain rather than stay a hero. After the death of Rachel, Dent could have mourned and moved on in his life, but his selfish desires of revenge compel him to make bad choices that harm innocent people like the Gordon’s family. In a sense, his altruistic nature at first seemed all too clean and perfect. The audience all knows no one can be that perfect and be a human being. His true selfish nature comes out that it was really all for his egotistical gratification and when he was hurt, then everyone should also suffer. Nolan tries to reach the audience with Dent’s emotional pain. Most people are not sure whether to like and support Dent or hate him for being so weak and selfish. He is actually dishonoring the memory of Rachel by being a villain. In the end, he could have done the right things but he chose to take the darker path. This then shows how the line is not a very wide line between good and evil. It is all the choices that people make that make them good or evil. Harvey Dent is a character that is a facade of good and evil. Everyone has a choice to be good or evil throughout their lives. All human beings go through difficult times; it is how we deal with it that makes us who we are. Nolan tries to capture that theme with Harvey Dent. The different personality theories help explain the fictional character to better understand ourselves.