6. Modern society is a slave to fashion. Comment.
“Models catwalk down the runaway in clothing newly design for the new season, critics look on judging the clothing range while the media flashes away”, it’s just another typical fashion show scene. However the world can be liken to this fashion show, fashion in a larger sense referring to a prevailing customs, usages, and styles. And just like the fashion industry is enslaved by the unspoken rule of giving the people the newest trends, the people of the world are also being enslaved. Enslave in the sense that they are being compelled to follow what is popular and the common fad, in other words, in fashion.
Some people may argue that every human has a will to choose and decide. Just like the models of the fashion show can choose to take up the contract or not, the modern society is allowed to decide whether to follow fashion. Humans are made as thinking creatures, they contemplate and decide. In choosing fashion they do the same, and they are free to stop following fashion the moment they want too. For example, people choose to buy the latest designs of clothes, for most people, it is a conscious choice when they pick up the apparent apparel and pay for it. In no sense is the person being forced to buy it, but more often than not it is because of the liking for the product. Fashion in the larger sense can be likened to the analogy, people decide to follow it by no force, but due to conscious decision and liking. Thus, the modern society is not a slave of fashion.
Others may also argue that the modern society does not entirely follow fashion. Thus, if they do not follow fashion, they cannot be a slave of fashion. Like in the fashion show, some pieces of clothing fashion are questionable and not of the common fad. In similar aspect is the breaking away from social norms in the world. Within a changing the world, people are slowly starting to break away from what used to be considered as social norms, traditions and what is commonly accepted no longer has a hold on people. This is seen in the example of family units. Family units, commonly seen as the basis of society, are changing. Through the passage of time, the world is starting to see a change in family structures. There is a break away from the traditional father being the breadwinner, and the wife staying to take care of the home. More noticeable is the reversal of these family roles in some modern family. Furthermore, there is also an emergence of completely new family structures, for example the same sex marriages, which would have been deemed unacceptable in many cultures in the past. This shows that people are going against the trend set and are resisting the influence of fashion to stick to what is common and famous, thus they are not slaves of fashion.
However, this influx of a break away from the social norms is an influence by the masses. It happens due to the change in thinking and the acceptance of the people to such changes. Simply, due to the acceptance of such new ideals by the masses have path the way for these changes. In such sense, one can arguably say that the change can be considered as a new fad instead of a resistance against fashion. These people only see themselves breaking away from one fashion, but do not see themselves moving to the next. Unnoticeable, as the effects of fashion are subtle, and we have displayed its effects unknowingly in our daily lives. From picking out cloths to wear, we pick something we want to be seen in. “does this match my top?” the simple question we ask while picking out dressing tells a lot. It means we want to be seen in something acceptable to public eyes, we want to be fashionable. The trends we follow ultimately carry on into all parts of our lives. From a survey done by The Pew Internet and American Life Project. Half of the teens surveyed say they sometimes fail to use proper capitalization and punctuation in assignments, while 38 percent have carried over the shortcuts typical in instant messaging or e-mail messages, such as short forms and emoticons. Overall, 64 percent have used at least one of the informal elements in school. The students following the trend of shorten form writing in blogs, text messaging, Facebook and other non-academic writing ultimately followed into their school work. Thus, the subtle effects of fashion have enslaved us, even without our knowing.
Also the modern society is a slave to fashion due to celebrity influence. Celebrities can be deem as the fashion designers of the modern world. They are the people who have influence on the lives people lead, as people follow them as the role models of society. For example Disney’s pop-star Miley Cyrus, better known as Hannah Montana has recently made her way into 2008’s TIME 100, Times magazine’s firth annual list of the world’s most influential people. Interestingly enough, the entertainer is the youngest person ever in the TIME 100, more likely due to the youth votes she has received. This shows firstly, that even a young teen can be in a place of influence due to the celebrity status and secondly that young children, even pre-schoolers are not spared from celebrity idolisation. Showing that age is not a barrier in the enslavement of fashion, from the young to the old people model their lives after celebrities they admire and get caught up in following them. Thus the modern society has fallen prey to the enslavement of fashion.
Furthermore, the media has helped spread the influence of fashion. In the fashion show, the media spreads the information to the public, with pictures and write up. Likewise, our media has helped spread the fads and trends to the people. People are constantly being bombarded by the media, sensational news are played and replayed over and over, subtly telling the people to follow them. And with success, this news is greatly sought after. “My son did say the word paparazzi the other day, and he’s only 2.” a quote by Gwyneth Paltrow, shows the attention given by the media to celebrities, in a bid to find sensational stories that people take interest in. with the demand of such news being high, it can only mean that it’s what the people want to hear, and what they hear they shall follow. The power of the media with respect to fashion can also be seen in the rise of the MTV generation and the rise of pop culture. Indeed, the media has brought the culture to the public and under media influence did the people start following these trends and fads. Thus the modern society has become a slave to fashion due to the inescapable influence of the media.
In conclusion, one can tell that it is hard to escape from the clutches of fashion. In the increasingly modernize world we live in, fashion has become an invisible force that moves people to make certain decisions, and it looks like the enslavement of fashion is here to stay. While the lights are turn off and the fashion show ends, everyone leaves still as elaborately dressed, just like the show had paraded to the streets. For none would like to be caught in anything less then stylish, even if it’s considered comfortable to them, the world is the same.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Essay plan.
Should drama be compulsory in school?
Intro:
Drama - ranging from theatre in education to drama in education, incorporates ideas such as morals and history such as Shakespeare.
Sides: compulsory / not compulsory.
Points:
Positive aspects of having drama as a compulsory subject:
1. Learning of aesthetics and appreciation of the arts.
Learning drama may enable students to understand and better appreciate the arts better making society a more civilized one.
2. Stimulates the student’s minds.
Drama is a subject which is flexible and free style whereby students expressed themselves in ways that they deemed fit engaging their creativity and help to stimulate their minds. In addition, unrehearsed dramas also stimulates students’ critical thinking.
3. Cultural exchange.
By studying other types of dramas ranging from Chinese opera and shakespears” plays, students may be able to understand and appreciate other cultures.
Counter argument:
1. Drama is a normative subject and making it compulsory may go against the objectives of drama as students will be forced to learn through route learning and may be more focused on passing the subject rather than being stimulated and being creative.
2. Though drama may allow students to appreciate the arts better, such skills though important may not be able to help the economy of the country which may be more important especially in developing countries. Shifting resources from drama to other subjects such as maths and Science would be more worthwhile to the country and its economy.
3. Instead of appreciating other cultures, some students may not take the plays seriously and may show disrespect to other cultures and make fun of them.
Exception
4. Raises issues of society.
However, making drama compulsory may actually benefit society as a whole. Students will learn issues mentioned in plays such as Macbeth and Oliver Twist that relates problems of society like poverty and widening income gaps though expressed during the age of industrialization is still being experienced today. Students studying such plays may be more aware of the issues of society and may act upon these issues. But this is only just an exception.
Conclusion :
In conclusion, drama should not be made compulsory as doing so would undermine the learning objectives of learning drama. Students may be less inclined to learn and appreciate the arts, developing countries may have difficulties to kickstart the economy and students may make fun of other cultures which may be detrimental to the country’s reputation and bilateral ties should drama be made compulsory?
Intro:
Drama - ranging from theatre in education to drama in education, incorporates ideas such as morals and history such as Shakespeare.
Sides: compulsory / not compulsory.
Points:
Positive aspects of having drama as a compulsory subject:
1. Learning of aesthetics and appreciation of the arts.
Learning drama may enable students to understand and better appreciate the arts better making society a more civilized one.
2. Stimulates the student’s minds.
Drama is a subject which is flexible and free style whereby students expressed themselves in ways that they deemed fit engaging their creativity and help to stimulate their minds. In addition, unrehearsed dramas also stimulates students’ critical thinking.
3. Cultural exchange.
By studying other types of dramas ranging from Chinese opera and shakespears” plays, students may be able to understand and appreciate other cultures.
Counter argument:
1. Drama is a normative subject and making it compulsory may go against the objectives of drama as students will be forced to learn through route learning and may be more focused on passing the subject rather than being stimulated and being creative.
2. Though drama may allow students to appreciate the arts better, such skills though important may not be able to help the economy of the country which may be more important especially in developing countries. Shifting resources from drama to other subjects such as maths and Science would be more worthwhile to the country and its economy.
3. Instead of appreciating other cultures, some students may not take the plays seriously and may show disrespect to other cultures and make fun of them.
Exception
4. Raises issues of society.
However, making drama compulsory may actually benefit society as a whole. Students will learn issues mentioned in plays such as Macbeth and Oliver Twist that relates problems of society like poverty and widening income gaps though expressed during the age of industrialization is still being experienced today. Students studying such plays may be more aware of the issues of society and may act upon these issues. But this is only just an exception.
Conclusion :
In conclusion, drama should not be made compulsory as doing so would undermine the learning objectives of learning drama. Students may be less inclined to learn and appreciate the arts, developing countries may have difficulties to kickstart the economy and students may make fun of other cultures which may be detrimental to the country’s reputation and bilateral ties should drama be made compulsory?
Friday, January 4, 2008
Reasearch on Political Systems
1. Republic
2. Democracy
3. Communism
4. Socialism
5. Dictatorship
brief guide to the various political systems -http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/street/pl38/sect2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_system
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/TCH.CHAP31.HTM
Political/Military issues:
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/weblinks/poli.html
1. Republic
2. Democracy
3. Communism
4. Socialism
5. Dictatorship
brief guide to the various political systems -http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/street/pl38/sect2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_system
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/TCH.CHAP31.HTM
Political/Military issues:
http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/weblinks/poli.html
Monday, September 10, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Poverty
"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty" [Aristotle] Do you agree?
Aristotle once said, "The mother of revolution and crime is poverty."
This is true to some extend. As it is not wrong to agree that poverty can cause people to commit crimes and revolution. Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence. This state can be fuel for crime and revolution, however it is also wrong to attribute all crimes and revolutions to poverty.
Revolution as a cause of poverty can happen when poverty causes anger and frustration. Often, people get caught in a poverty cycle, as they have little money to invest in education or business that would help them out of the cycle. Thus they see the rich getting richer, while they are getting poorer. Soon they would feel discontent and unjustly treated. This feeling could cause them to rise up to a leader with a common goal. Take the 1911 Revolution in China for example, 90% of the population were poor peasants, being treated as worthless by the middle classes and their landlords. The government did little to help, and there were regions where many peasants literally starved to death. This cause them to become increasingly discontented about their situation in life and thus they gave their support to extremist groups instead of the government, paving way for a revolution. It is the lack of food, shelter, medicine, and other necessities that causes discontent. And as the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man. Soon it would be easy that a simply rallying such people, provoking them, and it can turn into a riot, and with leadership, revolution.
Poverty can also cause crime. As poverty deprive one of their basic necessities and so a survival instinct kicks in. the person even left with a last option to rob or steal to get his basic necessities, would probably use it to keep his survival. A person can also commit a crime to support his love ones and his family. To them it is an attractive option as; crime can pay well and fast. A poor man with a dying daughter, who needs an operation, is highly probable of committing a crime to get the money for the operation.
Another reason why poverty can cause crimes can also be the lack of education for the children. In poor families, there is no money for a child to be sent to school. As such could spend his time roaming the street and mixing around with bad company. It is worst when both parents are working to support the family and there is no one to watch the child. A child grown up in an unhealthy environment with a lack of education has wrong values that can drive him to committing crimes.
However, not all revolution is caused by poverty. Revolution can be cause a number of other factors. Such include a hunger for power, a want to spread new ideology, discriminations, discontent with the government. Usually in a revolution, there are many factors that cause it to start and cause it to be successful. Looking back at the same example, the 1911 Revolution in China. Another reason for the revolution was the discontent of the middle class, they were deeply unhappy with the way the country was run and felt it was backward and inefficient. Also corruptions persist making it hard for someone to succeed on merit. Thus the middle class waited for a chance to rid China of its inefficient ruling family. As such, poverty may not be the sole reason for all revolution.
Similarly, not all crime is caused by poverty. Just by looking at the cases of the police, it can be known that not just poor people commit crimes. Celebrity criminals include, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Ryan O'Neal and many many more, these people are far from poor, and still they commit crimes. There can be many other reasons for crimes. Crimes can be cause by rage, and in folly. Crime can be committed by people addicted for its trill. A rich man who probably can afford more then 50 of the item he stole probably stole it for the trill or the fun of it, just for the feeling. That same feeling is addictive enough to make him do it again and again, till he gets caught. Others commit crimes out of love; crimes of passion. Also, crimes such as consuming drugs, drink driving, rape, child abuse, sexual assaults, are crimes hard to be associated with poverty. Drugs and alcohol are probably one of the last few things a poor man would spend his money on unless he is already addicted to them. As such, crime cannot be totally attributed to poverty.
"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty." true to a certain extend. With knowing what poverty can cause, the issue now should be how to help those in poverty and what can society do to solve it.
Aristotle once said, "The mother of revolution and crime is poverty."
This is true to some extend. As it is not wrong to agree that poverty can cause people to commit crimes and revolution. Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence. This state can be fuel for crime and revolution, however it is also wrong to attribute all crimes and revolutions to poverty.
Revolution as a cause of poverty can happen when poverty causes anger and frustration. Often, people get caught in a poverty cycle, as they have little money to invest in education or business that would help them out of the cycle. Thus they see the rich getting richer, while they are getting poorer. Soon they would feel discontent and unjustly treated. This feeling could cause them to rise up to a leader with a common goal. Take the 1911 Revolution in China for example, 90% of the population were poor peasants, being treated as worthless by the middle classes and their landlords. The government did little to help, and there were regions where many peasants literally starved to death. This cause them to become increasingly discontented about their situation in life and thus they gave their support to extremist groups instead of the government, paving way for a revolution. It is the lack of food, shelter, medicine, and other necessities that causes discontent. And as the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man. Soon it would be easy that a simply rallying such people, provoking them, and it can turn into a riot, and with leadership, revolution.
Poverty can also cause crime. As poverty deprive one of their basic necessities and so a survival instinct kicks in. the person even left with a last option to rob or steal to get his basic necessities, would probably use it to keep his survival. A person can also commit a crime to support his love ones and his family. To them it is an attractive option as; crime can pay well and fast. A poor man with a dying daughter, who needs an operation, is highly probable of committing a crime to get the money for the operation.
Another reason why poverty can cause crimes can also be the lack of education for the children. In poor families, there is no money for a child to be sent to school. As such could spend his time roaming the street and mixing around with bad company. It is worst when both parents are working to support the family and there is no one to watch the child. A child grown up in an unhealthy environment with a lack of education has wrong values that can drive him to committing crimes.
However, not all revolution is caused by poverty. Revolution can be cause a number of other factors. Such include a hunger for power, a want to spread new ideology, discriminations, discontent with the government. Usually in a revolution, there are many factors that cause it to start and cause it to be successful. Looking back at the same example, the 1911 Revolution in China. Another reason for the revolution was the discontent of the middle class, they were deeply unhappy with the way the country was run and felt it was backward and inefficient. Also corruptions persist making it hard for someone to succeed on merit. Thus the middle class waited for a chance to rid China of its inefficient ruling family. As such, poverty may not be the sole reason for all revolution.
Similarly, not all crime is caused by poverty. Just by looking at the cases of the police, it can be known that not just poor people commit crimes. Celebrity criminals include, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Ryan O'Neal and many many more, these people are far from poor, and still they commit crimes. There can be many other reasons for crimes. Crimes can be cause by rage, and in folly. Crime can be committed by people addicted for its trill. A rich man who probably can afford more then 50 of the item he stole probably stole it for the trill or the fun of it, just for the feeling. That same feeling is addictive enough to make him do it again and again, till he gets caught. Others commit crimes out of love; crimes of passion. Also, crimes such as consuming drugs, drink driving, rape, child abuse, sexual assaults, are crimes hard to be associated with poverty. Drugs and alcohol are probably one of the last few things a poor man would spend his money on unless he is already addicted to them. As such, crime cannot be totally attributed to poverty.
"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty." true to a certain extend. With knowing what poverty can cause, the issue now should be how to help those in poverty and what can society do to solve it.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Research
Research on Lookism, Ageism, Disablism and Discrimination against Foreigners (Xenophobia).
Lookism :-
Discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance.
In the former context, lookism relates to preconceived notions of beauty and cultural stereotyping based on appearance as well as gender roles and expectations. Important economic considerations include the question of income gaps based on looks, as well increased or decreased productivity from workers considered beautiful or ugly by their co-workers.
Ageism :-
Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by US gerontologist Robert N. Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, patterned on sexism and racism.
Ageism commonly and most likely refers towards negative discriminatory practices, regardless of the age towards which it is applied.
Disablism :-
Ableism is a neologism of American coinage, since about 1981. It is used to describe inherent discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled. An ableist society is said to be one that treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, which results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby inherently excluding those with various disabilities.
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers.[1] It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe fear or dislike of foreigners or in general of people different from one's self.
Lookism :-
Discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance.
In the former context, lookism relates to preconceived notions of beauty and cultural stereotyping based on appearance as well as gender roles and expectations. Important economic considerations include the question of income gaps based on looks, as well increased or decreased productivity from workers considered beautiful or ugly by their co-workers.
Ageism :-
Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by US gerontologist Robert N. Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, patterned on sexism and racism.
Ageism commonly and most likely refers towards negative discriminatory practices, regardless of the age towards which it is applied.
The following terms are subsidiary forms of ageism:
- Adultism is a predisposition towards adults, which is seen as biased against children, youth, and all young people who aren't addressed or viewed as adults.
- Jeunism is the tendency to prefer young people over older people. This includes political candidacies, commercial functions, and cultural settings where the supposed greater vitality and/or physical beauty of youth is more appreciated than the supposed greater moral and/or intellectual rigor of adulthood.
- Adultcentricism is the "exaggerated egocentrism of adults.
- Adultocracy is the social convention which defines "maturity" and "immaturity," placing adults in a dominant position over young people, both theoretically and practically.
- Gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population.
- Chronocentrism is primarily the belief that a certain state of humanity is superior to all previous and/or former times.
Ageism is said to lead towards the development of fears towards age groups, particularly:
- Pedophobia, the fear of infants and children
- Ephebiphobia, the fear of youth.
- Gerontophobia, the fear of elderly people.
Disablism :-
Ableism is a neologism of American coinage, since about 1981. It is used to describe inherent discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled. An ableist society is said to be one that treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, which results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby inherently excluding those with various disabilities.
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers.[1] It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe fear or dislike of foreigners or in general of people different from one's self.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
June blog task.
Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility.
In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?
Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.
In Singapore's multi-racial society, where there is culture and religious pluralism. It is important that there is maintenance of racial and religious harmony. A disparity or conflict within the races would be chaotic and result in many undesirable consequences. Thus it is important that Szilagyi view on freedom of speech be adopted.
Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility. He sees the need of freedom of expression, but believes that in order to protect the collective interests of society, there must be social responsibility. He also believes that in present times, it is difficult to strike a balance between individual and collective press freedom. Also as the society changes and the world evolve, so would the limits of the freedom of speech. However, the press still has to serve public interest and be responsible.
This is a more conservative and common stand to adopt; to allow freedom to a certain limit. However this is still a relevant and usefully method. It allows for the control of what reaches the people, helping to regulated what the people reads or hears. This is important in maintaining the delicate balance in Singapore. It is important that there is a limit to the freedom of speech, as free speech can invoke unhappiness into the hearts of the unintended listeners, or people who simply do not wish to hear such words. Unhappiness can often result in anger and a need for revenge. Often, this comes into the form of conflict. Conflict in itself has many forms; a serious matter would result in armed or physical conflict, which includes riots and fights. Another result of such unhappiness stirring in the heats of the people is distrust. In a nation such as Singapore, having conflict or distrust would be detrimental because of the small size of the country, and the importance of people as the main resource in the country.
However, Singer's view cannot totally be ignored. Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. He believes that people have the right to air their views, and that they should not be condemned for their views. Instead they should be confronted with evidence. He feels that if people are imprisoned for expressing views, they would feel that this is so because they cannot be refuted by evidence and argument. To him, this method can be used as a temporary emergency measure to stop propaganda, but when there is no longer any treat, freedom of expression should be allowed to exist. Without this freedom, human progress would come to a standstill.
Singer's view comes as an insight as it is a less common view in such a topic. Undoubtedly, his views seem possible and workable in the society. It also makes sense as education is the key in changing the mindsets of the people. Blocking them by law or limitations, does not mean that they would not have views of their own, neither would it keep these views out of small talks between people. As such, only when face by true evidence would they accept and change they view. However, this view should be held to a more open society, where people show are more acceptance to others views and would willingly oppose each other to defend their stand in a polite and unaggressive manner. If not the, such different views would be able to spread faster like wildfire and raise disharmony between the people. Thus, this is not a sure work method, and do have its limitations. Furthermore, if it fails, the results would be disastrous.
Therefore, due to the multi-racial and multi-religious type of country that Singapore is, it is safer to adopt a more conservative stand on this issue. Thus it is important to focus on social responsibility. To put in place a social responsibility is to put in place protect for the people and for the country.
Articles: http://www.freewebs.com/vivloh/juneblogtask.htm
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