Paradise Lost Censorship and Hypocrisy free essay sample

I love movies. I especially adore those films with an artistic, literary quality that is timeless and classical. In my experience, Italian movies seldom fail to evoke such feelings in me, and Cinema Paradiso was no disappointment. This heartwarming story about a little boy’s love affair with movies, and his subsequent coming-of-age in the repressive environment of ecclesiastical censorship and hypocrisy stirred great emotion in me, as I expected it would. The young Toto made me feel his awe as he attempted to see the forbidden film images hidden from him by his friend Alfredo at the behest of the town priest. The issue of censorship ran deep throughout the film. I believe censorship can actually provide a valid function in a community in some circumstances and situations, such as the protection of children from harmful imagery, literature or speech. Pornography, for example, can and should have its availability limited only to consenting adults. We will write a custom essay sample on Paradise Lost: Censorship and Hypocrisy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Falsely holding oneself out to be someone else, fraud, is also certainly not a protected form of free speech and should be censored. As a staunch civil libertarian, I have always believed that communities should set their own standards on censorship as much as possible. However as Rosenblatt (2002) points out in his persuasive essay about Cinema Paradiso, without the neutral and objective oversight of outsiders – such as the United States Supreme Court – even well-intentioned censorship can become repressive. Even in the movie, little Toto’s friend Alfredo felt that the local priest’s strictures were repressive. He told Toto, â€Å"You leave [the village] or you will never find your life in so narrow-minded a place. † The priest’s attempts to protect the town from movies’ love scenes were presented in a comical manner in the film, and certainly they were ridiculous, but not only for the way the scenes were produced. The censorship struck me as hypocritical and nonsensical if viewed as necessary to protect the morality of the community. For example, very early in the film we see young Toto stealing peeks into Alfredo’s projection booth. The boy sees many of the very scenes he is not supposed to be seeing. Later, he views by candlelight some of the frames the censor/priest demanded Alfredo remove from the films. But Toto does this in full view of his mother who seems more concerned with the fire hazard Toto creates than in his viewing of forbidden imagery. Clearly the priest’s attempts to protect Toto from the sordid scenes were ineffective. In at least one place in Cinema Paradiso, the omitted kiss scene was followed immediately by violent slapstick comedy. The teacher at Toto’s school severely beat and emotionally abused a young man named Boccia because he was poor at math. Toto’s mother physically abused Toto when she discovered he had spent the milk money on movies. In both cases, it seemed that no one had any problem with physical violence, even against children. Frequently in the movie several men in the audience laughed and jeered at the missing love scenes in the movies they were watching, knowing exactly what was missing from the film. It struck me as hypocritical that a community would see fit to strike scenes of love – kissing – from movies (even though everyone knew exactly what was being struck) while having no problem with actual physical violence. Lastly, I found it hypocritical that this town’s people would publicly vilify a family for being nominally â€Å"Stalinist† or â€Å"Communist† while ignoring the actual Stalin-esque repression in their midst. The scene in which the people wanted very much to see the movie playing at the Cinema Paradiso, but were turned away, was a good example of this. The filmmakers clearly wanted to portray the inappropriateness of the town’s hypocritical censorship and repression because they gave us such powerfully symbolic clues. As a result of Alfredo’s defiant act of projecting the movie into the street for the people, he inadvertently started a fire that burned down the old theater and cost him his sight. The man who defied the censorship of the town, symbolized by the refusal of the cinema’s owners to allow people in the street to see the film, and who provided them the vision of the movie (and Toto’s vision of becoming a filmmaker) – lost his vision. And his vision he lost in a fire, an intense symbol of purging, repression, or censorship.

Scrivener 3 Dont Use it Until You Read This!

Scrivener 3 Dont Use it Until You Read This! Scrivener 3: Don't Use it Until You Read This! If you’re familiar with the writing tools provided by Literature and Latte, you might already know about - and be using - Scrivener 3.But if you’re a Scrivener 2 user who’s hesitant to make the switch because of Scrivener’s steep learning curve, or if you’re a Windows user who’s simply waiting for Literature and Latte to release a compatible version of Scrivener 3, we’ve got some advice to help you make the decision - or just tide you over.Before we start talking about the new functionalities on offer, let’s quickly cover what Scrivener actually is. 📚 Debating whether or not to switch to Scrivener 3? This review might help. What is Scrivener?Scrivener by Literature and Latte is a word processor for Windows and Mac, designed expressly for writers - fiction and nonfiction authors, screenwriters, journalists, academics, and more.One of the issues many writers of long texts face is navigation: assembling all of their research and information in a way that makes it easy to access what they need, when they need it. Scrivener helps with this, offering writers the tools to organize concepts, notes, research, photos, videos, documents, and more.Fun fact: What does a scrivener do? Back in the day, a scrivener (or scribe) was someone who could read and write, and made their living writing or copying material on behalf of others. How to Write a Book: The Ultimate Guide Read post Making the callScrivener is known for its feast of functionalities - but also its steep learning curve. If you struggle to stay organized while writing a book, its many tools might just be the ticket to keeping you on track to the finish line.However, if you just want a place to write - but are hoping to format as you do - consider giving the Reedsy Book Editor a try. It doesn’t offer outlining or research tools, but it will leave you with a professional-looking manuscript at the end. Or if you’re not done your book-writing software window-shopping session yet, check out this list of six book-writing softwares - other than Scrivener!Have you used Scrivener 3 - or any of its earlier iterations? Let us know what you liked about it or any struggles you faced in the comments below!

How To Calculate Experimental Error in Chemistry

How To Calculate Experimental Error in Chemistry Error is a measure of the accuracy of the values in your experiment. It is important to be able to calculate experimental error, but there is more than one way to calculate and express it. Here are the most common ways to calculate experimental error: Error Formula In general, error is the difference between an accepted or theoretical value and an experimental value. Error Experimental Value - Known Value Relative Error Formula Relative Error Error / Known Value Percent Error  Formula % Error Relative Error x 100% Example Error Calculations Lets say a researcher measures the mass of a sample to be 5.51 grams. The actual mass of the sample is known to be 5.80 grams. Calculate the error of the measurement. Experimental Value 5.51 gramsKnown Value 5.80 grams Error Experimental Value - Known ValueError 5.51 g - 5.80 gramsError - 0.29 grams Relative Error Error / Known ValueRelative Error - 0.29 g / 5.80 gramsRelative Error - 0.050 % Error Relative Error x 100%% Error - 0.050 x 100%% Error - 5.0%

Integrated Marketing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Integrated Marketing Strategy - Essay Example Introduction In any form of business, the domain of marketing is regarded as quite significant and one of the prominent activities to be conducted in promoting as well as establishing the intended brand within the target market. It is important to note that for any business to promote or to convey information about its products or services to the targeted customers, the tool of marketing must be essentially put into efficient use. Contextually, it has been observed that companies communicate with the customers with the help of various tools of marketing, which comprise of advertising and other promotional activities to make them aware about what the business is offering to them. Unarguably, without proper marketing strategy, the success of business is quite likely to become highly uncertain and will probably remain unaccomplished upto a larger extent (Lamb & et. al 2008). Contextually, the primary intention of this report is to frame an integrated marketing strategy to promote Bullet Proof Vests as a newly launched product in the targeted market. Overview- Integrated Marketing Communication Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is conceptually explained as an unconventional domain of marketing management that involves the implementation of conveying succinct and all-inclusive information about the proposed brand across numerous and diverse marketing channels. It is defined by experts as an integrated approach of marketing, which is designed with the intention to ensure that all the communication activities in the domain of marketing management are applied in a unified form involving various other beneficial channels of communication (International University of science and Technology, 2013). For strategizing the promotional framework required in the launch of the product i.e. bullet proof vests, some of the tools of IMC including advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations, internet marketing, personal selling and publicity will be imple mented. These tools will together work towards the accomplishment of the set goals, which in this case is to promote the features of bullet proof vests to the targeted market and convince or encourage the potential buyers to purchase the same. Promotion Mix Strategy Promotion mix strategies mainly include two forms of approaches, which comprise pull strategy and push strategy, used according to the marketing intentions and product features to convey the information regarding products and/or services to the potential purchasers (Lamb & et. al 2008). Applying the push strategy approach, the product i.e. bullet proof vest will be promoted to the customers directly with the help of various tools of advertising during its initial introductory stage. It is worth mentioning in this context that application of a push strategy in the initial stage of the product launch will help it in gaining a percentage of market shares, countering the already existing competitive brands. In the subsequent phase, depending on the response from the customers towards the product, the pull strategy approach will be applied to encourage the customers to seek for the product from their end owing to its growing demand and preference in the market. Notably, as the armed forces and soldiers will be the targeted customers of the product, due attention will be provided towards quality

Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Proposal - Essay Example This means that students may have to reschedule their arrival in the early morning even if their classes are in the afternoon session just to get a better parking spot!! Further, parking space provided for faculty members is 3-4 decks high and lies partially unoccupied due to its better parking space Vs vehicles ratio. And if students use these slots during rush hour, they are penalized through issue of tickets or towing away of vehicles even if these slots were vacant. Some students prefer to park their vehicles in the off-campus parking slots like Starbucks when their classes are closer to such parking lots than student's parking area. Unfortunately, students having classes at West campus or the forum area cannot do this! Similarly, some faculties like business have their classes closer to Beaver stadium, but is it possible for all university students to change over to business faculty simply to avail of this advantage! This is an unnecessary benefit for some students which also needs to be streamlined. This acute problem of parking facility for the students often creates unnecessary anxiety in terms of finding a parking slot at the last moment, lack of parking slot during the rush hour, waiting for a bus/walking down all the way and delays on such accords leading to students being penalized for coming late, feeling of a bias among students due to underutilized parking slots for faculty members and lack of interest by the university authorities to resolve the matter. This paper aims to suggest workable solutions to the problem and thereby help them stay motivated and happier while pursuing their studies at the university. THE SURVEY With a view to finding out whether this problem is unique to this author or the case is same with all faculty members, the undersigned conducted a basic survey of 200 students on this subject. The common view was that there exists an unreasonable and acute parking problem for the students of this university which needs to be resolved on due priority. The essence/terms of reference and outcome of the survey are appended below for a quick glance by one and all: 1. Do you think the university suffers from a parking problem Ans. Yes - 145/200 2. Where do you park usually Ans Campus - 130/200. 3. Would you like to park on campus Ans. All 200 students responded with a big YES. 4. Which of the following areas is the best area for rebuilding a parking deck a) Blue area b) Red area c) Yellow area d) Black area e) Green area Ans. Black area - 70/200. 5. Which available parking deck is the most convenient one to convert a) Park 1 b) Park 2 c) Park 3 d) Park 4 Ans. Park 2 - 80/200 6. If all solutions fail due to monetary issues and/or long term solutions, are you interested to help implement a point system Ans. Yes 145/200 7. Are you interested in being part of a student organization that will proceed and help make results happen Ans. Yes - 100/200. BUILDING/CONVERTING A PARKING DECK FOR STUDENTS As is evident from this survey, Black area and Park 2 parking deck seem to be popular and convenient choices for providing parking facilities for the students. However, the final decision as to where the parking deck should be provided is up to the committee in charge of making such decisions. While one deck can be constructed at Black area, it can be supplemented economically by converting one faculty deck for use by the

Working Capital Analysis of Wal-Mart Essay -- Business Management Fina

Working Capital Analysis of Wal-Mart Every business decision is associated in one way or another with the financial condition of the organization. The results of a working capital analysis will assist in the determination of organization ¡Ã‚ ¦s ability to remain in a particular line of business. The primary focus of Team C ¡Ã‚ ¦s analysis of Wal-Mart, Inc is its current and future financial condition. The most imperative areas that are found in the Capital Structure Analysis Report fall into the following categories: Working Capital Management, Valuation and Investment, and Cost of Capital. The company ¡Ã‚ ¦s operational processes within each area can be examined and related financial data reviewed. Once the financial data is collected and calculated potential areas for improvements can be identified and corrective or innovative measures can be implemented. As in all businesses, which include Wal-Mart, it must be considered that there is always room for improvement. Working Capital Management In order to fully understand the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s financial position a financial manager must consider the amount of net working capital available. The net working capital is the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Companies normally have a positive net working capital. The components of working capital change continually within the cycle of operations. (Brealey, 2001) Therefore, an effective manager will monitor the cash conversion periods to determine the length of the production process. The longer the process, the longer the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s money will be tied up in the process. The two elements in the business cycle that normally absorb the most cash are inventory and receivables. The main sources of cash are payables and equity or loans. Speeding up the working capital cycle will generate more cash for the company. www.planware.org This management of working capital will allow the company to maximize its use of existing cash flows as well as leverage additional sources of working capital. Underperforming Company Ratios Although Wal-Mart is performing well overall and remains a leader within the retail industry, the company is not without opportunities for improvement. An analysis of the financial ratios for the company over the last three years as well as an industry comparison has identified areas in which the company could enhance its ... ... 3.03 3.26 3.59 Payout Ratio_______________________.19__________.17__________.23____ Table B Industry Averages_____________________________________________________ Fiscal Year 2001 2002 2003____ Leverage Debt Ratio 1.58 2.2 .53 Times Interest Earned Ratio .75 1.78 2.46 Liquidity Current Ratio 3.1 2.8 2.6 Quick Ratio .6 .5 .4 Net Working Capital .195 .07 .195 Efficiency Asset Turnover Ratio 2.23 2.27 2.2 Average Collection Period 12.6 10.4 8 Inventory Turnover 5.24 5.38 5.73 Profitability Net Profit Margin 3.7 2.8 3.97 Payout Ratio_______________________ 32.4__________34.3________34.6___ Tables are a combination of the following resources: www.walmart.com, www.reuter.com, www.biz.yahoo.com, UOP library resource Dun and Bradstreet industry ratios, and www.bloomberg.com.

Culturally Competent Nursing in an Ever Changing Diverse World Essay

In nursing and healthcare the issue of culture is more pronounced than anywhere else. This is because many people various ethnic, religious, racial and cultural backgrounds come forth to hospitals and healthcare centres in search of health solutions. Due to these cultural disparities, patients often fail to receive quality services because of practices that are lacking in cultural competence. Cultural competence in nursing and healthcare refers to the efficiency with which a healthcare provider is able to offer quality service in a cross-cultural setting thus enhancing the system’s or institution’s capacity to function in effective manners (Dolhun, E. P. et al 2003). Culture influences an individual’s values, perceptions, beliefs and opinions. It influences how patients respond to healthcare givers and the medication prescribed to them. Therefore it is very important that nurses and other medical practitioners seek to improve their awareness towards the issues raised by cultural diversity in order to improve on service delivery. This paper examines ways in which a nurse can be more culturally competent. It also examines the opportunities in the work place and nursing school that requires culturally focused health practices. Additionally the paper discusses the issues of self-assessment and client assessment that is geared towards the delivery of culturally competent health solutions. Importance of Culture to Nursing. The US is comprised of the most culturally diverse population. A big percentage of the world’s ethnic, religious and cultural groups are represented in this population. This has created a most unique opportunity as well as challenge to many organizations in the service delivery sector. This is because people from all cultures get ill at one point in time and they have to seek treatment. Nurses are thus presented with patients from very diverse cultural backgrounds. Culture influences how different people will respond to the different ways of health service delivery, interventions and treatment (Dolhun, E. P et al. 2003). It is therefore important for nurses to move towards achieving cultural competence in order to effectively deal with the challenges that come with the cultural reality. Because of the demographic situation in America service providers are under pressure to provide more culturally correct services. The nursing profession cannot be left behind and therefore the need to comply with the changing needs is overwhelming. Language limitations are also another issue of concern in attaining cultural competence. Ethical Factor One ethical principle that guides nurses in their endeavour to provide culturally appropriate care is the appreciating that everyone regardless of their cultural persuasion is entitled to receive quality health care. Cultural differences can influence the caregiver’s prejudices and bias towards a patient (Galanti G. A. 1997). In a similar way a patient can misconstrue the caregiver’s actions and words. This can serve to lower the quality of care given to this particular patient. Professional ethics require that there be no form of discrimination in the provision of health care but in a situation where there is prejudice on either party, then the quality of care is compromised. Similarly what is considered ethical may have serious consequences when viewed from a cultural context. A fitting example is when the doctor feels obliged to divulge some information to a patient or a certain member of the family, because in some cultures it is believed that giving certain information to a sick person is unacceptable, the doctors ‘ethical’ actions may be viewed in very bad light Nurse’s responsibility Nurses are usually supposed to care for the general well being of a patient, they ought to be able to understand and empathize with the patient in order to cater for their physical and emotional needs. On an individual level, a nurse has a responsibility to learn the practices that are in accordance to cultural competence. It is important that nurses should have an attitude that goes further than just learning acceptable cultural behaviours. Nurses must be motivated by compassion to the patients and driven by moral responsibility (Tervalon M. Murray-Garcia J. 1998). This allows them to display a genuine concern and is thus motivated to internalize harmonious attitudes towards achieving cultural competence. In a hospital setting a nurse is required to be able to anticipate the issues that may arise due to cultural disparities and lack of proficiency in certain languages. They are also to understand the others’ points of view as well as appreciating the strengths and weaknesses of these points of view. In addition to this, respecting the cultural differences is key to the ability to provide culturally appropriate care. Since the issues raised by cultural diversity are multi-faceted in nature, they require a holistic approach that calls for a total overhaul in the nurses’ ways of thinking. There is no one culture that is the standard of what is good or bad and therefore an open mind is important as nurses move towards delivering health care that exemplifies cultural competence. Achieving this kind of competence is only possible if one comes to self-awareness and recognizes their own values, beliefs, opinions, prejudices and biases (Dolhun, E. P. 2003). From here, they can be able to understand how they respond to different points of view from other. Inorder to come to self-awareness one needs to examine their own cultural and environmental backgrounds. An underlying ethnocentricity is part most people where one is protective and to an extent defensive when it comes to cultural differences (Switzer, G. E et al 1998). However in the nursing practice each nurse should be flexible and work towards developing skills of responding to varied cultural settings and situations. Nursing Schools Similarly in nursing schools one is required to meet most of the aforementioned standards. In addition to that communication skills are developed in school. Learning to communicate effectively in a cultural context entails being open-minded, respectful and shunning any form of prejudice or bias (Robins, L. et al 1998). It is a great opportunity to learn form and about other cultures. Other communication skills that are essential are listening skills that enable one to establish a rapport with the others. Language skills also play an important role in communication and as such each student nurse has a responsibility to learn other languages. Ofcourse it is not possible to learn all the languages there are but one can do their best and that is what is required of them. In the same way nurses should have skills that would enable them to assess the patient in a cultural context. This would entail finding out as much detail on the patient as possible. It would help to understand their ethnic background, socio-economic class, religion, age group and other social entities that they identify with. Learning about their experiences could also aid in establishing biases. Impact of culture on health care In the year 2010 more than 45% of all patients in the US will come from minority cultures. This is due to immigration that is the greatest contributor to the cultural diversity (Tervalon M. Murray-Garcia J. 1998). The health sector has realized the reality of these facts and medical practitioners are now given incentives to encourage them to take up learning on cultural diversity. This is changing the entire medical profession. Many initiatives have been put in place in order to bridge health differences that exist between minority groups and the white Americans. The existence of cultural difference may impact negatively on the care given. Cultural factor do affect the response to the different methods of treatment and diagnosis. Some ideas are perceived differently in different cultures and in some extreme cases family members can react in ways that may seem bizarre in the western world. Conclusion The issue of culture is increasingly attaining great importance with the ever-changing cultural mixture. The provision of healthcare is now taking cognizance of the effects of culture on the delivery of these vital services. It has been realized that cultural differences have been an impact on the quality of care given. Nurses and other medical practitioner are now under increased pressure to attain cultural competence in order to achieve high standards of quality. This paper opines the achievement of an all round cultural competence is a long journey. It will take a collective as well as an individual effort to achieve. Nurses have a personal responsibility to seek to understand the cultural factor. Additionally each one of them needs to appreciate their moral duty to seek self-awareness inorder to understand their own behaviour in response to other people with a differing opinion. Respect and a non-judgemental attitude are important if one is to overcome the ethnocentricity that is part of every human being. This awareness cultivates interest and inquiry. Once this point has been reached cultural differences will be viewed as learning opportunities that will spur personal growth. Reference Dolhun, E. P. Munoz, C. and Grumbach, K. (2003). â€Å"Cross-cultural education in U. S. medical schools: Development of an assessment tool. † Academic Medicine. Galanti G. A. (1997). Caring for Patients from Different Cultures: Case studies from American hospitals. 2nd ed. University of Philadelphia Press. Philadelphia, PA. Riddick S. (1998). Improving access for limited English-speaking consumers: A review of strategies in health care settings. J Health Care Poor Underserved. Supp vol 9: Robins, L. S. Alexander, G. L. , Wolf, F. M. , Fantone, J. C. , & Davis, W. K. (1998). â€Å"Development and evaluation of an instrument to assess medical students’ cultural attitudes. † Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, Switzer, G. E. Scholle, S. H. , Johnson, B. A. , & Kelleher, K. J. (1998). â€Å"The Client Cultural Competence Inventory: An instrument for assessing cultural competence in behavioral managed care organizations. † Journal of Child and Family Studies, Tervalon M. Murray-Garcia J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. J Health Care Poor Underserved.