...Video-games are notorious for vulgar language and particularly trash talking on account of the players. For my field notes I decided to research the trash talking culture of video games in a competitive environment along with the ritualistic complaining of its competitors. To study trash talking I enlisted my friends Jack, Carter, Colton, Scott, and Amy to play the competitive fighting game Super Smash Bro’s Brawl together while recording the results. Jack is an Asian-American born in Louisville and Carter, Colton, Scott and I are all Caucasian male college students born in Indiana and Amy is also Caucasian and we are all in our early 20’s. We all met during our Freshman year on the same floor in Eigenmann Residence Hall and became friends and often play video games together. What I found through analysis of my recordings is that during the competitive video game experience most conversation revolved around ritualistic complaining and swearing in the form of trash talking to establish a connection among the participants that served to bolster camaraderie. Ritualistic complaining, as outlined in Deborah Tannen’s Conversational Signals and Devices, is the process by which conversational partners exchange complaints under the meta-message, or the underlying meaning, of solidarity sending the each other sympathy as if to say “your not alone” and “I feel the same way” (165). This form of ritualistic or shared complaining was one of the most dominant factors of the conversation...
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...University of Phoenix Material Effects of Mass Media Worksheet Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following: |Questions |Answers | |What were the major developments in the |In the 21st century, rabid fans could turn their attention to a whole swath of pop stars | |evolution of mass media during the 20th |in | |century? |the making when the reality TV program American Idolhit the airwaves in 2002. The show was| | | | | |the only television program ever to have snagged the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for | | |six | | |seasons in a row, often averaging more than 30 million nightly viewers. Rival television | | |network | | |executives were alarmed, deeming the pop giant “the ultimate schoolyard bully,” “the Death| | ...
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...ultimately resulting in laws abolishing discriminatory hiring and education practices. Possible research paper topics may focus on the role of individuals or groups that affected the outcome of the movement. The contributions of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, the Weathermen, the Brown Berets or Jesse Jackson to civil rights demonstrations and legislation may be appropriate paper topics. 2.Cultural History ◦Social studies classes often explore the contributions of certain cultures in history. Focus on Native American culture by writing about the Trail of Tears, Paleoindian tool development, cooperation between colonists and Native Americans, the effects of the reservation system or Native American participation in the U.S. military. Other possible social studies papers may focus on Mayan culture, scientific advances in early Islamic cultures, the creation of the pyramids in ancient Egypt or the ways in which European traditions shaped American culture. ◦Sponsored Links ▪ITT Tech - Official Site Tech-Oriented Degree Programs. Education for the Future. www.itt-tech.edu ◦ 3.Personal Freedoms ◦If you are interested in political or social issues, consider researching a particular issue that affects personal freedoms. The legalization of...
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...Visual media plays a big part in American culture. Television itself has made an impact on what we look at as right and wrong in our culture. As a small child I can recall watching programs such as, Roseanne, The Cosby’s, and Full House to name a few. These programs represented what family life was or could be like and they were models of what Americans do or should live like. Programs like Saved by the Bell, or 90210, surely influenced teen behavior and sparked fads and fashion. We primarily idolized these figures and television and it became very much a part of who we were, and are today. Television also impacts the way we get together as a family. Certain programs such as American Idol, or a sports program, are known to bring groups of people together, whether it’s a weekday night in front of the television rooting for the best singer, or sitting in a crowded bar or pub shouting out obscenities at the opposing team. Reality Television is becoming a widely accepted past-time, which is a big influence on our culture. Everyone has that famous person or celebrity whose style represents them, or who they struggle to be like. Reality television is an invasion in the lives of real people, and as Americans I feel that we are totally consumed with others people business. Reality TV is a first class ticket into other people’s business. The social influence of visual entertainment can be negative, but it can also be positive as well. You have certain programming aimed towards children...
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...information. We communicate verbally and nonverbally. These forms of communication may vary from culture to culture. We use a common spoken language to communicate with one another but it is essential to learn the language in a cultural setting to clearly understand each other. Non-verbal communication includes, but is not limited to, touch, eye contact, volume in our voices, facial expressions, posture, gestures, proximity, sounds, physical appearance and even the clothing we wear. Uniforms, for example, may be associated with the occupational status of an individual; a businessman may wear a suit, and a farmer wears overalls, and so on, each of which implies sets of relationships with the rest of the world. Our attention is usually focused on the study of verbal communication, but non-verbal communication also plays an important role in human interaction. We may use non-verbal communication to emphasize what we are saying verbally or to express our emotions lying beyond the verbal element. Among cultures and nationalities there are differences between verbal and non-verbal communication. Body language for example deals with the use of hands, arms and especially with the face. Facial expressions, such a smile, rolling of the eyes and arching of eyebrows, even breathing, may tell much about the person’s momentary feelings. For example, a person from a Mediterranean culture may use his hands excessively, or add body gestures to express their anger, whereas in Japan a...
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...We see it everyday in horror films, in books, maybe even in our nightmares. It’s something that our culture is truly terrified of. The dead, but not just the dead around us, the dead taking over a living person and speaking through them. In United States culture this idea is truly horrific and the kind of thing that makes up nightmares; we are not fans of the idea of the dead coming back at all let alone possessing someone. Now if you go to India and visit the Sora, there is any entirely different view on this. In Sora culture, the dead are part of the world we live in and they do possess the living, but this is celebrated. For them it’s an honor to have the dead speak through them the whole event is a spiritual experience and all of the village listens and honors what is said. The two reactions are polar opposite which may make it seem in...
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...constitution or law. The Williams Committee defined pornography as sexually explicit representation which has the function or intention of sexually arousing its audience, and according to the Merriam Webster dictionary pornography can be in the form of movies, pictures, magazines, etc., that show or describe naked people or sex in a very open and direct way in order to cause sexual excitement. Pornography appears to have few friends in high places. Governments generally censor and restrict it. Most religions abominate it and others seem at least to frown upon it. Academics for the most part find it distasteful, if not offensive or even heinous. Pornography over the years has been viewed taboo, both in subject and in content. Almost all cultures across the world have sects within them that are offended by pornographic content. This content is expressed in movies,...
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...rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press by our constitution. Yet censorship still exists. We are told censorship is necessary, but at what cost? National security and public interest, are these valid reasons? Why must the government decide what is best for me to read or watch in a cinema or in the privacy of my own home? Sure, we must protect our youth, but that is a parent's responsibility, not the government's. I can understand censorship based upon national security; we can't go around selling all of our secrets without a major threat to our government and our way of life. Censorship is a way of controlling the population. This is exactly why we have laws that forbid random censorship. Some censorship is necessary in every culture, but only a minimal amount is required. Australians love freedom. The rest of the world regards us as one of the most liberal nations, which is why restrictive censorship is so out of place here. Censorship is a way of limiting the freedom we so love. Censorship affects everybody on...
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...Portrayal of Women in Rap and Music Videos :: 4 Works Cited Length: 1724 words (4.9 double-spaced pages) Rating: Blue Price: $24.95 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way for this continuous cycle ends, is if the fight and protest comes from the women themselves. Men are the problem in the objectification of women but in order for it to stop, women need to step up and take control of the situation. Women need to act sooner rather than later because in recent years the rap industry has become more and more sexual. Ra... ... middle of paper ... ...Society 113 (2000): 255-69. JSTOR. 29 November 2009 . McLune, Jennifer. "Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women." Perspective on Contemporary Issues. 5th...
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...evaporation of all the dreams of greatness, of nationalism, liberation from colonial thraldom, disease, ignorance and poverty, and of pan-Africanism nursed in the heady days of Independence celebrations. The four despots caricatured in the play are Field-Marshal Kamini (late Idi Amin, deposed president of Uganda), Emperor Kasco (Jean-Bedel Bokassa, former Emperor of the Central African Republic), Benefacio Gunema (late President Macias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea), and General Barra Tuboum (late President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo). They are in New York to attend the General Assembly of the United Nations. In response to the Secretary-General’s request for a work of art representative of each member nation’s culture, say, a miniaturized bust of the president, they sit for a life-size group sculpture on Kamini’s suggestion and in what appears to be a vivid demonstration of the old African spirit of communalism but which, as events later show, is its outright bastardization. While seated, they engage in grim banter on the nature and dynamics of power, its privileges and trappings which they want kept sacrosanct, its various characteristics, and its specific manifestations in the countries over which they rule with a rod of iron. There is a hidden struggle for power...
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...The Case of “El Diablo” E-Book MAN 104: Ethical and Moral Issues in Business and Management “NO, I WOULD NOT.” The Chartoff Publishing is as good as any other commercial publishing house doing business, to release their own e-book, the El Diablo Series as long as it is legal. And if they do not, then they should consider drafting a new Articles of Incorporation for the rebirth of a new business. And since I am the one making the call, yes, we might just do that. Changing the Articles of Incorporation might sound far too drastic and exaggerated for the purpose of resolving the ethical dilemma of the subject case study but it is enough to drive the point home. There was no very clear indication on how vulgar or obscene the El Diablo series might be, neither there were excerpts nor a detailed plot with which to accurately judge the potential harm and influence it might cause to its audiences. However, the hints are sufficiently suggestive to reason that releasing this product to the market would be a serious breach on different ethical standards as well as to one or two models of ethical resolution. The objective then of this paper is to perform an overall analysis on various factors at play that would justify the decision of “not selling the product” as ethically correct. The approach is to plot the arguments that support the alternative decision, that is—to sell the product and indicate why this would not work. And this is assuming people would care to do an...
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...The Good the Bad and the Ugly of Charles Bukowski For the multitude of works yielded and published and his reputation as the underground mystic of contemporary culture, one would expect his works to have attracted greater scholarly attention and an inclusion within the canon a certainty. However, most likely to the delight of the maverick poet, this was not the case. Bukowski’s work was deeply individualistic and sought not to pander to any crowds, conventional or non conformist. Akin to Sigmund Freud’s description of the artist, the writing was the channel for a clamorous and arguably perverse soul. While the form of his writing subverted literary trends, Bukowski, as Harrison puts it, “is the only major post-War American writer who has denied the efficacy of the American Dream”. His disillusionment with such ideals of consumerism and family is largely attributable to a nightmarish upbringing in LA, a feature which implicitly resonates through all his work. Ham on Rye, dampens the extremities Bukowski suffered through his sardonic sense of humour, though is still very much characterized by derision for others, isolation, the wrath of the father, the toils of school and work, a horrifying case of acne vulgaris and the birth of his chronic alcoholism. The one light which bypassed such burdens was his discovery of the LA public library which sculpted his literary voice. He shunned traditional literary lore for darker more cynical texts wrought in emotion rather than pretence...
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...Week 1 * Do you trust the government to do the right things most of the time? It’s all really based on you opinion * a 2000 study of undergraduates showed that 64% did not trust the government Why do we care if people are turning out to vote? * Voter turnout is a sign of political efficacy as well as engagement * People who are engaged are more informed, more likely to communicate with their representatives, more likely to advocate for their interests, and hold public officials accountable for their actions. Political culture * The people’s collective beliefs and attitudes about government and political processes * What is it that binds us together as Americans? * Our political ideologies * Our political values – liberty, capitalism, equality, consent of the governed, individualism Ideology * Political ideology is an integrated system of ideas or beliefs about political values in general and the role of the government in particular * Ideology provides a framework for thinking about politics and policy preferences Ideologies * Modern liberalism is associated with ideas of liberty and political equality: * Tend to favor chance in social, political and economic realms to better protect individuals and produce equality What is the constitution? * Fundamental principles of a government and the basic structures and procedures Two US Constitutions * Articles of confederation ( 1781-1789) * Constitution of...
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...sixties Americans saw the rise of the counterculture. The counterculture was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, was embraced by the decade’s young Americans. It included rejection of conventional social norms, reaction to political conservatism of the Cold War period and to extensive Military intervention in Vietnam, and the rejection of racial segregation (lect.,”Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll”, week 6). Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country. One of the most powerful counterculture movements in the sixties was the civil rights movement. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act to end racial discrimination in employment, institutions like hospitals and schools, and privately owned public accommodations. In 1965, congress returned suffrage to black southerners, by passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Foner 2009). In the case of Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional(Foner 2009) . Because of the civil rights movement in the sixties, minorities gained more rights than they had prior to the 1960s. During this time, a group of writers became known for jump-starting the rebellion of the youth culture. They...
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...Why we swear: reasons and effects of swearing Swearing is part of daily life and it is used not only to show aggressive feelings towards others, but also as Hoeksema and Napoli (2009: 612) state, “flavors our speech.” However, this is not the whole story. Jay (2009: 154), for example, considers swearing as a method to communicate certain emotions in a more effective way than by simply using non-taboo words. The author proceeds on the assumption that no human being is born with the ability or knowledge of swearing but that one learns about taboos through social communication, thus, inheriting a system of swearing and etiquette (2009: 154). In other words, children seem to learn a culture-based system of expletives and their special socially given connotation through a transfer from other members of a linguistic community. Moreover, this process is said to take place at the start of language learning (Fägersten 2012:...
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