Friday, January 31, 2020

Propaganda, P.R., and the News Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Propaganda, P.R., and the News - Essay Example It will also explain the propaganda techniques used by the U.S government in post war 1 and discuss why some techniques were too arrogant towards government’s action. The First World War popularized the word propaganda and provided it with a negative implication; since all the key nations participated in the war used new approaches of modern propaganda to organize their populations for the conflict. In the US, the effort was chaired by President Woodrow Wilson in the development of the CPI (Committee on Public Information) as a key propaganda ministry. The major theme of the Committee on Public Information was to improve the United States involvement into the war with the aim of establishing a world which is secure for democracy. This notion was particularly established by the leading scholar of the period, Walter Lippmann, who was 25 years old by then. Lippmann was interested majorly with the upholding of the nation’s capitalist system in the face of increased resistan ce, ideological opposition, and unrest, feeling that the field of science would require being employed to democracy, where social scientist and social engineers would give the current with a background upon which a latest stability might be achieved. Because of this, Lippmann proposed the need for information and intelligence control in what he referred the development of consent. The major intellectual of the period then became mainly concerned with the matter of propaganda during time of peace, having experienced its success during war. According to Lippmann, propaganda has desirable and legitimate role to play in the democratic system. He further noted that public was a confused herd of meddlesome and ignorant outsiders, who must be maintained as interested spectators of activities, and separated from the actors and the powerful themselves. Edward Bernays, the founder of public relations got his beginning with Wilson’s Committee on Public Information during the First World War, asserted that the intelligent and conscious manipulation of the organized opinions and habits of the masses is a crucial element in the democratic society. According to him, those who control this unseen approach of society form an imperceptible government that is the true proper ruling power of the nation. Bernays pointed out that modern society was conquered by few number of individual who understand the social patterns and mental processes of the masses. This was consistent with the Lippmann assertion of a sequential result of the manner in which the current democratic society s arranged. Hence Barneys borrowed from Lippmann the concept of engineering of consent. According to Lippmann, influencing nations thinking with propaganda is not an easy task; it takes a higher ability concerning how public opinion works and how such opinions can be made to unite beliefs. Therefore, the political leaders should use the propanda techniques to achieve their political desires the same w ay American did. During the First World War, the CPI (Communication on Public Opinion) attained this through making planned emotional appeals, demonizing Germany by connecting the warfare to the aims of different social groups and through lying outright. The CPI propaganda naturally appeals to the heart but not mind. Emotional protest is a preferred technique of propagandist, since every emotion

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Romeo And Juliet 9 :: essays research papers

OVERVIEW ON ROMEO, JULIET, NURSE, MOTHER AND FATHER (JULIET’S) ROMEO: In the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, we see many aspects of Romeo’s personality and character. There is a link between all of his personalities; they are all severely extreme personalities e.g.:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the start of the play, we see that he is a ‘wet drip’ he is depressed and miserable because of his infatuated love for Rosaline but it is unrequited love from Rosaline. This mood of his goes to the extreme- he does not go out during daytime only at night, he weeps, and he locks himself out from all light and talks of his misfortune.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After this, he is happy and joking around in the square, this creates a huge affect in change of nature in his personality. Romeo was the one who started off the joking with “Here’s goodly gear A sail, a sail'; This is not usually like Romeo, as all the joking and micky taking is left to Mercutio. You might expect on Romeo to be prying on everyone who walks past because of the messenger, but instead he is joking – this might be because he doesn’t want anyone else to know about the marriage OR that he is to excited. Shortly after this, he changes back to serious when he is talking to Nurse about the marriage.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He still is joyful towards the marriage scene and at the marriage scene he takes the extreme again - he acts like he has not seen Juliet for years, they can’t wait to get there hands on each other – kissing, Friar Laurence had to separate them. Once they are married, he visits Tybalt and Mercutio in the square; he is misunderstood by Tybalt when he says how he loves him. Mercutio reacts with laughing thinking that it is a wind-up and Tybalt is annoyed and wishes to fight, Romeo refuses and Mercutio steps in and fights – this leads to his death.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Romeo becomes violent and aggressive in this scene; he wants Tybalt killed no matter the cost. Tybalt was shocked when he saw the blood on his sword which suggests that he did not mean to do it, and it was really in a way Romeo’s fault for coming in the way but he doesn’t realise this. When he and Tybalt fight he kills him (we cannot be sure if it was by mistake when Tybalt fell on the sword because Shakespeare does not say).

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

History & stories of success Essay

History is shaped by stories of success and failure in foreign policy. What we however fail, as the public, to really perceive is the cause behind the success or failure of an operation. The reason behind either situation lies in the investigative work thousands of agents, analysts and governmental officials conduct. Intelligence is a very essential source of valuable information for the governments who base their actions mainly on these reports. But what happens if the intelligence and analytical work is wrong? What are the possible consequences of conducting a foreign policy operation based on wrong intelligence? Is it possible that intelligence can be in this way intentionally misrepresented to serve the goals of a policy that would otherwise not have been approved of by the public as some conspiracies claim? And what kind of real life intelligence failure events has history known as a direct result of false information? Intelligence failure can have disastrous consequences on large numbers of people and hurt both the image and well-doing of a nation. The most renowned cases of intelligence failure in recent history are the WMD false reports in Iraq, the 9/11 intelligence failure to prevent the event and the famous war of Vietnam whose failure has and continues to brand the American foreign policy as doubtful. Each of these events has had its impacts on the regular lives of millions of people both in the United States and in places as far as Afghanistan and Iraq. And each of these events has lead to the death of thousands of American citizens, soldiers and millions of foreign citizens. Could this have been avoidable if the intelligence did not fail? Intelligence in its broadest definition is information and in the case of politics it means information that sheds light on the field of national security threats. It follows therefore that intelligence gathering is essential to the functioning of any country and in the case of the United States as a world super power, it is critical and existential. But as stated before intelligence failure has damaged the image of the United States in an almost un-repairable manner. The wrong reports about the presence of WMD in Iraq for instance lead to the killing of hundreds of thousands and the destabilization of a region that has become as a result the hotbed of terroristic activity. Failing to gather the intelligence needed to know beforehand about 9/11 and be able to prevent it lead also to the death of thousands of Americans and the invasion of Afghanistan; an action whose consequences is too detailed to go into now. Vietnam is an older case but remains nevertheless interesting to look closely at since the consequences of the intelligence failure in this case lead to the death of millions and a war that went on for twenty five years. It is ironic to reflect on the fact that this started with a wrong report from the intelligence agency, something that has lead the conspiracies to target the United States for creating cheap excuses to invade other countries and thereby damaged it international reputation. The Vietnam War was fought between the communist North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam that was supported by the USA. The war was a war between capitalism and communism. It was a war between the Soviet Union and the United States. It was a struggle for world wide power between two superpowers engaged in a heated competition that has come to be characterized and termed as the era of the Cold War. The USA declared to have entered the war to prevent communism from taking over the south of Vietnam but historians and political analysts have since then come up with critical arguments on how the war initially started based on wrong intelligence. President Johnson was officially granted permission to attack the Vietcong after the intelligence received about a supposed second attack on U. S naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin. The attacks actually never happened and the war was thus based on a false report. The Tonkin incident lead to major US involvement in the region that would continue for another quarter of a century. The intelligence reports were simply misinterpreted. The intercept that apparently proved the second attack was wrongly translated according to recently published records of the account. The Vietnamese word â€Å"military operations† can also mean â€Å"long movement† and what the intercept actually refers to is not a second attack on U. S naval vessels but just the presence of two North Vietnamese patrol boats at a distance. What remains critically confusing in the aftermath of such an explanation is the government’s response to the event. Johnson moved the USA into a war that lasted for years and cost billions of dollars and thousands of American and Vietnamese lives on the foundation of a wrong and unverified intelligence report that has come to be one of the most embarrassing intelligence failures in U. S history. The question is how could this happen? How does intelligence failure occur? Intelligence failures can be categorized into several groups. Overestimation of information is the first case. The exaggeration of a report can lead to wrong conclusions and thus an intelligence failure. This happened in the Tonkin. The opposite case of underestimation of intelligence where the governmental agencies misinterpret the information and therefore give the enemy an opportunity to stay a step ahead is also possible. Over-confidence is the third case. The USA displayed too much confidence in the perfection of its intelligence system and its ability to win the war quickly. Overestimation and over-confidence lead to the disastrous war of Vietnam that could all have been preventable if the intelligence was verified accurately. Intelligence failure can be caused by several factors all affected by the political atmosphere and sentiments regarding the target of the intelligence. Prejudice and fear can obstruct the judgment and bring about an underestimation or overestimation of the enemy’s potential and intentions. This is how intelligence failure occurs and its consequences are the best exemplified in the case of Vietnam, Iraq and 9/11. The results of misinterpreted or missed intelligence can cause a lot of damage to a country and the United States as a world power needs to pay extra attention to the effectiveness of its intelligence regarding the effects a wrong foreign policy move can have on its status and power. References Grier, P. (2008). Declassified study puts Vietnam events in new light. Retrieved July 1,2009, from http://www. csmonitor. com/2008/0109/p04s01-usmi. html Goodman, MA. (2008). Failure of intelligence: the decline and fall of the CIA. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Reynolds, P. (2004). Long History of intelligence failures. Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/middle_east/3883605. stm

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Definition and Examples of Syntactic Ambiguity

In English  grammar, syntactic ambiguity (also called structural ambiguity or  grammatical ambiguity) is  the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words, as opposed to lexical ambiguity, which is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word. The intended meaning of a syntactically ambiguous phrase can generally—although not always—be determined by the context of its use. How Ambiguity Leads to Misunderstanding Syntactic ambiguity generally results from poor word choice. If care is not used when selecting phrases that taken in a connotative rather than a denotative context may have more than one meaning, or if the sentences in which theyre used are not properly constructed, the results can often be confusing for readers or listeners. Here are some examples: The professor said on Monday he would give an exam. This sentence means either that it was on Monday that the professor told the class about the exam or that the exam would be given on Monday.The chicken is ready to eat. This sentence either means the chicken is cooked and can be eaten now or the chicken is ready to be fed.The burglar threatened the student with the knife. This sentence either means that a knife-wielding burglar threatened a student or the student a burglar threatened was holding a knife.Visiting relatives can be boring. This sentence either means that the act of visiting ones relatives can lead to boredom or that visiting relatives can sometimes make for less than scintillating company. Using Speech Cues to Decipher Syntactic Ambiguity In Cognitive Psychology, authors M. Eysenck and M. Keane tell us that some syntactic ambiguity occurs at a global level, meaning entire sentences can be open to two or more possible interpretations, citing the sentence, They are cooking apples, as an example. The ambiguity is whether the word cooking is being used as an adjective or a verb. If its an adjective, they refers to the apples and cooking identifies the type of apples being discussed. If its a verb, they refers to the people who are cooking the apples. The authors go on to say that listeners can figure out which meaning is implied in spoken sentences by using prosodic cues in the form of stress, intonation, and so on. The example they cite here is the ambiguous sentence: The old men and women sat on the bench. The men are old, but are the women also old? They explain that if the women sitting on the bench are not elderly, when the word men is spoken it will be relatively long in duration, while the stressed syllable in women will have a steep rise in speech contour. If the women on the bench are also old, these cues will not be present. Syntactic Ambiguity in Humor Syntactic ambiguity is not usually something one strives for in clear communication, however, it does have its uses. One of the most entertaining is when double meanings are applied for comedic purposes. Ignoring the accepted context of a phrase and embracing an alternative meaning often ends in a laugh. One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I dont know.—Groucho Marx The ambiguity here is who was in the pajamas, Groucho or the elephant? Groucho, answering the question in the opposite way of expectation, gets his laugh. A lady with a clipboard stopped me in the street the other day. She said, Can you spare a few minutes for cancer research? I said, All right, but were not going to get much done.—English comedian Jimmy Carr The ambiguity here is does the woman mean she expects the comedian to actually conduct research, or is she looking for a donation? The context, of course, implies that shes hoping he will make a contribution. He, on the other hand, goes for the punch line instead, purposely misunderstanding her. Its a small world, but I wouldnt want to paint it.—American comedian Steven Wright The ambiguity here is lies within the phrase small world. While the adage, Its a small world is generally accepted to have one of several accepted figurative meanings (what a coincidence; were not so different from one another, etc.), Wright has chosen to take the phrase literally. Comparatively speaking, the world—as in the Earth—may not be as large as other planets, but it would still be a Herculean chore to paint it. Sources Eysenck, M.; M. Keane, M. Cognitive Psychology. Taylor Francis, 2005