...An essential part of American identity is the assurance that our children can inherit a greater quality of life than we were subjected to. James Truslow popularized the phrase “American Dream” in his book Epic of America, published in 1931. Truslow stated that the American Dream is, “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement… [A] dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” In essence, the American Dream is the philosophy of upward mobility. It is the opportunity to make individual choices without being limited by class, religion, race, or ethnicity. Since it’s origin, this idea of the American Dream has not coincided with the American reality shown through the segregation of class, race and ethnicity, unhappiness in the home, and the failure of public education. Immigrants during the Industrial Revolution were exposed to unjust treatment and stifled growth in society, women in the 1950s faced an identity crisis spawning from the materialized idea of perfection, and at the turn of the century public education showed poor performance on the worldwide scale. The industrial revolution marked a turning point in the history of the United States of America, impacting...
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...Is american freedom a myth or reality? The question of American freedom excited scientist through the centuries. Numerous investigative articles were written providing a number of arguments to prove their position for and against were set in order to express personal and collective point of view. Yet in the nineteenth century the question of American domination in the world economics was set: “Shall the American people continue their resistless march toward the commercial supremacy of the world? Shall free institutions broaden their blessed reign as the children of liberty wax in strength, until the empire of our principles is established over the hearts of all mankind?” (Albert J. Beveridge, 1). The commercial domination of the United States caused contradictory feelings in the hearts of Americans and people of the whole world. The same time the words of admiration and the honest governmental policy. The country that is brining democracy to the whole world: “America is a new kind of society that produces a new kind of human being-confident, self-reliant, tolerant, generous, future-oriented-a vast improvement over the fatalistic and intolerant human beings that traditional societies have always produced, and Islamic societies produce now” (Dinesh D’Souza, 2005). He is considered Americans to be the outstanding nation of those who set for democracy and eager to set the nations free (from terrorism, for example, if we speak about Islamic countries). According to Albert Beveridge...
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...first told hold it represents the reality of Native American history. A stagecoach is traveling through a desolate valley, when the passengers suddenly and without provocation find themselves surrounded, threatened, and eventually attacked for no reason by “injuns” on horses carrying guns and bows and arrows. Movies of Native Americans traveling in large groups circling wagons ready to attack innocent people played a pivotal role in promoting the image of the savage untamed Native American. While at the same time, the white settlers were portrayed as moral humans only trying to protect their land and their family from the brutal and savage Native Americans bent on killing as many white settlers as possible. Of course, there were conflicts and deaths, but very few were the result of hostility between settlers and Native Americans. When Native Americans tried to defend themselves and their land, settlers or troops attacked them. We learned from “Major Problems in the...
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...Salesman” tells the story of Willy Loman, a salesman who lives in the past because he cannot handle his downward-spiraling reality. When he realizes he is not a great salesman and his sons will not follow in his footsteps, he becomes angry and reverts to his better memories to cope. This proves to be fatal. 2, Is Miller using the story of Willy to send a message? If so, what do you think that message is? Willy’s story gives us the message to move forward in life. If people only look back instead of moving forward, they are not really going anywhere. They cannot change what has been, but are able to change where they are going. Change in inevitable and Willy Loman cannot accept that things need to be different if the method usually used is no longer effective. When one becomes obsessed with their memories and wishes for what could have been, sometimes actual memories are mixed with fantasies, creating a new memory that did not actually happen. One can forget their truth and therefore, not be able to move on. 3, Are there any themes that surfaced in the play? A theme from the play is the telling of truth. Dishonesty only causes troubles and more dishonestly because one lie always leads to another. As stated above, if lies are mixed with personal truth, the realness is lost, but the event cannot be replayed, so it is irreverent to lie to oneself. The American Dream theme that Willy Loman, and he represents the middle class working men. He struggles to provide financial security...
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...rescue six American ambassadors out of Iran. CIA took advantage of the political crisis happening in Iran. “The Iranian government, incredibly, was trying to encourage international business in the country. They needed the hard currency and a film production could mean millions of dollars.” (Bearman, 2007). Therefore, CIA came up with the plan of producing a fake sci-fi movie flick in Iran. In the film Argo Ben Affleck was chosen to play the lead role of Tony Mendez. A considerable part of the movie Argo focuses on the Canada’s role in the escape. Canada received complete credit for rescuing these American ambassadors. In the reality Canada was actually given recognition for rescuing Americans out of Teheran. The scenes in the movie Argo successfully portray the fear of American ambassadors. As demonstrated by this dialogue “Don’t f**king shoot anyone. You don’t wanna be the son of b*tch who started the war. They need an hour to be classified. I need you to hold. If you shoot one person, they are gonna shoot everyone of us in here” (Affleck, 2012). This dialogue demonstrates the fear of American ambassador. These six Americans were in the same state of fear during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Another portion of the movie focuses on creating the fake Identities of six of those ambassadors. Mendez needed a real production company to make his fake movie plan look real and also because he had make fake cover identities for these Americans look real (Bearman, 2007). In reality and movie...
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...despair” (175). If this is the case then the entire novel seems to be one eternal winter. Or one could consider summer in comparison to winter, as the season of suicide, and no matter what the season, the world in the novel is a cruel, dark, hopeless place. The world is viewed in the novel as a sort of wasteland from which mankind has attempted to escape, moving to Suburbia seeking perfection and thus salvation. Only perfection is an unrealistic goal, and is therefore naturally unobtainable. Part of the American ideal of happiness is to strive for the unobtainable. The suburbs only exist as an attempt to cover up reality, hiding problems, worries, anxieties, realities, and skeletons behind the monotonous lawns, and closed doors. This theme is repeated throughout the novel. For example, in the line that reads: “What my yia yia could never understand about America was why everyone pretended to be happy all the time” (175). Perhaps Eugenides is encouraging us to question this American Value of perfection and perfect happiness. “Old Mrs. Karafilis…lived in the basement waiting to die”...
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...John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher whose ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy and greatly influenced both the American and French revolutions. His contributions to philosophy include the theory of knowledge known as empiricism, which addressed the limits of what we can understand about the nature of reality. Locke held that our understanding of reality ultimately derives from what we have experienced through the senses. The political implications of his theories included the notions that all people are born equal and that education can free people from the subjugation of tyranny. Locke also believed that government had a moral obligation to guarantee that individuals always retained sovereignty over their own rights, including ownership of property that resulted from their own labor. We may remark, in passing, that the modern theory of the transmutation of species is nothing but an application of Locke's teaching that species have no objective reality. Let us also note the important fact that this extreme nominalism closely approximates extreme realism. Scholastic nominalism denies the reality of species, and absolutely affirms the reality of individuals to the exclusion of everything else. In this sense Leibniz is a nominalist. English nominalism, from which the theory of transformation takes its rise, denies not only the existence of species, but also the stability of the individuals themselves. All things, says Locke, besides their author, are liable...
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...Postmodern Approach to Social Constructivism Laura Romine Liberty University Abstract As the world looks at the reality of communal exchange, thumbing back to historical debates of empirical and rational schools of thought, delineations from dualism to social interchange and collaboration refine hypothesis’ of undisputable truth. Reminiscent of the psychoanalytic movement with greats such as Freud, Jung and Adler, therapy, more of an art than science, and current day philosophies drive which models influence today’s truth. Reality is fashioned by language, how we feel, act and think, revealing “stories” we tell the self as contextual meanings. These beliefs now evolve one’s creation and truth. The therapist, joining in recognition of new perspectives, empowers and helps the client see that forward progress is strength within oneself. In a social constructivist point of view, the therapist detaches from the expert status of defining the problem. From family therapy and the multicultural lens, therapists now challenge cultural factors that, in turn, shape the client’s perceptions in the format of brief therapies. Keywords: brief therapies, collaborative, family therapy, social constructionism Postmodern Approach to Social Constructivism In the 21st century a paradigm shift motivated the field of psychology to unlock a fresh world view revealing the objet d'art of collective exchange. Referring to the modernistic creation of self, it is said that the anthropological...
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...Reality template Since I was a child I had a dream to one day rule the skies flying at speeds only a handful of people got to experience. To be as agile as a hawk and have the might of a lion, I strived to be immersed in the "national culture that glamorises soldiers" this was my reality, or was it? With little concept of war and death, had I merely been brainwashed by a society driven by hate in order to become the next gen in "homicidal technology"? Whilst we think we can determine our own reality, this may prove to be impossible in the modern world. Wherever we go we are surrounded by technology that allows us to be instantly connected to information from around the world. Where “currency” in the words of Thomas Jefferson is “free flowing information” but how free flowing is it actually? We are continuously kept in the dark by the forces of the media who sift and filter information as they please in order to make our “world a better place”. It ultimately leaves us in complete ignorance of the horrible costs and consequences of war. In order to avoid being lured into a false reality by the spins sold to us by the media, we as a society should aim to seek out alternative independent journalism ... And the ability to question the truth of existing media sources. Most of Western society today has been constantly deceived with illusions of personal freedom, we are so complacent that we just assume that everything that is conveyed to us by the media is true. Hence this...
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...Sam Collins Film Essay: 2012 question: Analyse how symbols are used to present an idea or ideas in a film Shutter Island by legendary American director Martin Scorsese is an elaborate labyrinth of a film. It's ever changing plot line and deeply emotional scenes make it compulsory viewing for any avid film goer. Scorsese has constructed this intricately woven film by using various film techniques the most significant of which is symbols. In the film symbols are used to present many different ideas to the audience. Scorsese who is a modern film icon constantly uses symbolism throughout his films to convey subtle ideas to the audience without them knowing. Three different motifs or symbols are used in the film to achieve this result. Water is firstly used to present the idea reality or truth; while fire is used to represent the idea of Teddy's' fantasy. ward "C" is used the film is used to represent the idea of Teddy's mental instability to the audience. These symbols are used throughout the film but primarily in three, firstly water in the opening scene. Fire is used in the scene where Teddy supposedly finds Solando and Ward C in the scene where Teddy is exploring the anoles to find Laeddis' cell. These symbols in combination create a very profound cinematic involvement for the audience and makes Shutter Island, a modern classic. The story begins on a steamboat heading towards the ominously secluded Ashecliffe mental hospital off the Boston, Massachusetts shore in 1954...
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...Magical Realism Granville Scott Nelson Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Abstract Magical realism is a Latin American genre in which the author takes an ordinary storyline and inserts an unnatural character or sense of being. This paper will show the difference between magical realism and fantasy or science fiction. Magical Realism From my reading I now understand that magical realism is adding an unrealistic feature or character to an otherwise ordinary story. Magic realism is a term used to describe a mingling of the mundane with the fantastic. “Magical realism is not speculative and does not conduct thought experiments. Instead, it tells its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective.” (Rogers, 2002) If an author is telling a familiar story and he adds a twist such as a winged horse or an individual who has been alive for two hundred years, that is an example of magical realism. The difference in magical realism and fantasy is that the story is very natural and true with a surreal object and fantasy is just that, fantasy. The term is best described by Baker in her 1997 writing: While realism itself is a chronically unstable term, realist writing is usually understood to be that which draws on a set of narrative conventions designed to create the illusion that the story on the page is real or true and corresponds in some direct way to the ordinary world of day-to-day life...
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...More Than One Reality By: Ethan Caldwell Reality is kind of like a memory. Everyone has their own different ideas of what it should be but none are necessarily the truth. For example two people who were both in the great depression could have totally different thoughts on the difficult times. While one could have lived on the streets struggling every day to find food and water, the other could have been among the few rich people and lived in luxury. Both of them would have very different memories about how times were back then. The same goes for reality. While we all might agree on what is real or not our thoughts on reality could be on different sides of the spectrum. The definition of reality is “the state or quality of having existence or substance.” If something is real to me then that’s my reality and same goes for someone else, so who’s to say that there isn’t more than one reality and why is humanity so interested in reality? I believe that humanity is so interested in reality because we are naturally curious. They say curiosity killed the cat and I believe that saying is very true. We as humans always want our questions answered be it a simple question like two plus two or a complex question like what is reality with no real answer yet. This curiosity is just part of our nature and it can lead to obsessions. Some people are so obsessed with finding the answer to questions that they devote their whole life to it and this obsession consumes them. Even if we...
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...“it’s all relative” is rapidly becoming the mantra of many Americans’ worldview, and is no longer just a cultural idiom used to express a difference of opinion. Within a society enthralled by self-satisfaction—seeking to propagate political correctness, tolerance, and an increasing rejection of authority—the concept of subjective truth is preferable to the narrow framework of objective morality. Rather than seeking absolute truth, information that accurately corresponds with reality, many are content reducing the essence of truth to a matter of personal preference. Unfortunately, this dangerous and deceptive philosophy has crept into every facet of the human experience in America, and the spirit of relativism has even infiltrated the Christian Church, an institution founded upon the doctrine of absolute truth and objective morality. This essay will explore the fundamental principles of relativism/subjectivism, showing the philosophy to be logically inconsistent, while demonstrating its incompatibility with Christianity. A Definition of Terms Before conducting a systematic analysis of relativism, a distinction between...
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...Overcoming the Demons Robert Motherwell’s painting, In Plato’s Cave V, has a much deeper meaning and purpose than the composition and brushwork may reveal. It is merely a black canvas with hints of white, or light. Motherwell displays this ‘cave’ in which men were born and raised, only knowing shadows and darkness. This was their reality. They believed this was life, and that it was all the world was about. Until one man was freed from the cave, and saw that it was all a lie. That it was nothing but an illusion. I believe this is what Motherwell is trying to portray in his painting. He is hinting at how our world that we live in is an illusion, just like the shadows on the walls were to the men of the cave. I think he is trying to show that everything we believe about the world is a lie. One thing that I do know is that we are all comfortable of what we know, we like it that way and some of us wouldn’t want to know if this was in illusion. The men in the cave were like this. They didn’t listen to the free man, they were actually mad at the guy who brought him out of the cave. If I was told that my life was an illusion, I’d definitely be intrigued, but I wouldn’t want to know more into it. This is because I am happy and I’ve grown up believing that this is my world, so even if it is all an illusion, it’s my illusion. When the ‘prisoner’ being held behind these cave walls saw the real world for the first time he saw color and at the same time he could touch trees, flowers...
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...Global Warming: Fact Or Fiction Thesis statement: One of the most debated topics in America today is Global Warming. Regardless of whether or not it is fact or fiction, the American public needs to pay more attention to growing scientific evidence, and make a greater attempt to ensure a prosperous future. I. The Problem A. The Problems Are Just Beginning B. Man Is Having An Affect II. The Ecosystem A. The Domino Affect B. A Few Degrees Of Consequence III. Not Just Hot Air A. Crying Wolf B. Uninformed Public IV. The Real Problems A. Short Term Ideals B. Selfish Americans C. Religion D. Big Bussiness V. What Can Be Done A. Think Long Term Global Warming: Fact or Fiction? Most skeptics of Global Warming have said and will say again, “The earth has taken care of itself for millions of years. It goes through cycles from time to time. It doesn’t matter what humans do, Mother Nature is stronger than us all.” Although these opinions have some truth and relevance in the argument against the reality of Global Warming and its effects on the planet, it also seems incredibly short sighted to not explore the emerging data that has continued to grow in recent years supporting the idea that humans do indeed have an affect on how the planet and her inhabitants will continue to live and grow in the years to come. With advances...
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