The Tragedy Of Creon In Antigone Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper Sophocles # 8217 ; Antigone presents a changeless battle between the Torahs of work forces versus the Torahs of the Gods. Creon is so swallowed by his ain pride that his point of view can non be trusted. The Chorus, whose prejudice alterations with the narrative, elucidates a more accurate perceptual experience of the drama. Creon is the tragic hero of Antigone as a consequence of his irreverence towards the Gods, taking to the decease of his household. Unlike other Grecian calamities in which the hero has no control over his destiny, Creon, although displeasing the Gods by reprobating Antigone, is defeated by fate in his effort to liberate her. While destiny had long earlier sentenced Creon to his ain actions, the drama s perceptual experience that he about escapes calamity, makes him that much more deplorable. The general perceptual experience of Creon as scoundrel is shifted as the Chorus elucidates that he is so the calamity. We will write a custom essay sample on The Tragedy Of Creon In Antigone Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Along with its switching opinon in the drama, the Chorus remarks on proper behavior as viewed by the multitudes in Ancient Greece. Zeus hates with a retribution all bluster, / the mighty self-praises of work forces. ( lines 140 and 141 ) The impression that work forces should be reverent to the Gods is the antithesis of what Creon ab initio embraces. The power is yours, I suppose, to implement it / with the Torahs, both for the dead and all of us, / the life . ( lines 238 to 240 ) Creon s accepting the supposed power to implement both the life and the dead reveals him as accepting a false high quality to the Gods and therefore cholers them. The Chorus, in boding the narrative, relates its current events to those of its yesteryear. at last that madman / came to cognize his God / the power he mocked, the power / he taunted in all his craze / seeking to stomp out / the adult female strong with the God ( lines 1058 to 1063 ) This anecdote is a retelling of a past myth in relation to Creon s present twenty-four hours battle. The apprehension that Creon s mocking and twit of the Gods is extremely dissaproved of by the Chorus fortells that he will anger the Gods. It is besides foretold that the lunatic who attempts to kill Antigone will come to cognize his God. The power of this prefiguration accentuates the common vision that Creon is confronting a tragic terminal. Creon s calamity is underscored by the Chorus concluding words of the drama, The mighty words of the proud are paid in full / with mighty blows of destiny ( lines 1468 and 1469 ) This integrating of the constructs of pride and blue destiny amounts up Creon s tragic fate. With the cognition that his pride and actions caused the deceases of those he loves, Creon is fated to a life entirely, made wise excessively tardily, therefore doing him our tragic hero.

Karl Marxs Paradigm of Unbridled Development

Karl Marxs Paradigm of Unbridled Development Free Online Research Papers The Marxist Political Economy and The Paradigm of Unbridled Development A look at how Marxist principles explain the sweep of globalization over the world economy, its implications, and how ultimately it will lead to capitalism producing its own grave diggers from a displaced middle class. Few populate the realm of those who retain their relevance more than a century after their deaths. Though many are read, studied, and emulated rarely do the great thinkers produced from the Enlightenment and into the nineteenth century have ideas applicable to the modern world. Since their writings there have been three complete waves of democratization that have transformed the political landscape of the world, a world that was populated with monarchs and empires when they wrote about, analyzed, and observed it. Of the thinkers who retain a degree of relevance fewer yet have begat revolutions, modes of political analysis, and even techniques of literary critique. Then of course, none of them foretold the mass globalization, advent of free trade, and grandiose expansion of the capitalist free market or of its downfall as did Karl Marx. Karl Marx utilized the dialectical method, a system adapted from Hegel as a ‘Young Hegelian’ and used by Aristotle before Hegel. Hegel was of the belief that society was rife with contradictions, a condition occurring when two social variables are incompatible to be in coexistence for the long term that would lead to harmonious resolutions. These resolutions would provide a great deal of unity and tranquility in Hegel’s view. Karl Marx was of the belief that society was indeed comprised of a grand system of contradictions, but differed in that he felt that these contradictions resulted in conflict which would eventually spur into violent revolution and change, particularly in the capitalist system. Marx introduced a great deal of historical analysis and found that all economic systems since recorded history began have involved class divisions and economic inequalities where wealth is appropriated upward from a lower class to a ruling class. Slaves created wealth that was appropriated to masters, serfs generated wealth to lords, and the lords would use this wealth in conjunction with the advent of private property to become capitalists, or the bourgeoisie, who exploit the labor of wage workers or the proletariat. With these class distinctions come contradictions that eventually weaken the system and lead to its change into another, more compatible system. Marx saw this as a long running evolution that would eventually create a classless society and mode of production which he saw as communism. Integral to his study of capitalism is his perception of the aims of capitalism, which is ostensibly to take capital, invest it into creating a product, and selling that commodity for more than it took to manufacture it taking into consideration the costs of raw materials, facilities, and fuel which are static charges and the variable cost of wages paid to the workers who operate the means of production, which they do not own. That money is then reinvested to create more capital, and the cycle is repeated until losses exhaust the capital and one falls from the high ranks of the bourgeoisie or until one dies. What this creates, according to Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 is alienation for both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat is alienated from the goods it creates which Marx saw as an essential part of labor, the ability to enjoy the products of one’s labor. As Marx states it: â€Å"The product of labor is labor which has been embodied in an object, which has become material: it is the objectification of labor. Labor’s realization is its objectification. In the sphere of political economy this realization of labor appears as loss of realization for the workers; objectification as loss of the objet and bondage to it.† (Marx, 2002, p. 833) Also, the worker is alienated from other human beings as capitalism, in Marx’s view, has created a system of exchange where human relationships are replaced by cash transactions; this idea is elaborated in 1876’s Capital with the concept of the fetishism of commodities where goods take on meanings not inherent to the product itself and human beings begin treating others as objects. And the worker is alienated from the capital that they generate, which has been appropriated upward to the bourgeoisie. This system of upward appropriation of wealth eventually creates two classes after the middle class fades into the proletariat which possesses interests diametrically opposed to that of the bourgeoisie. Marx was a historical materialist, seeing the superstructures of society stemming from material relations and the impact of economic systems upon social institutions. As the bourgeoisie will be in charge of creating policy by the very nature of democratic politics, and thus will have a great degree of control over the education system, education, on the level of state provided education, becomes a source of indoctrination and a means to subordinate the proletariat. The bourgeoisie also manipulates religion and creates social constructs to both subordinate the proletariat and create infighting within the proletariat. In essence, the proletariat is a group living in similar economic conditions, as are the bourgeoisie, therefore they comprise a class in themselves. However, until they gain class consciousness and realize that they have interest in contradiction to those of the bourgeoisie they are not a class for themselves. This is a point of contention that the bourgeoisie take s eriously and have deployed a number of tactics to prevent the proletariat from becoming a class for itself such as the doctrine of predestination in Puritanical sects of Christianity. This doctrine stated that one was destined, upon birth, to go to heaven or hell and that this fate was irrefutable and not subject to change. The job of the worshiper was to work hard for signs of their fate, these signs were interpreted as financial success and thus the protestant ethic that Weber would explore was born. (Chomsky, 2006, pp. 110-156) The bourgeoisie also use race, ethnicity, and difference of religious preference to their advantage. A prime example is today’s struggle over immigration in the United States where mostly blue collar workers adamantly and sometimes violently resist the influx of Mexican immigrants because they are, in their view, taking their jobs. What this creates is a struggle within a class, the proletariat, that prevents them from discovering their mutual position in opposition to the bourgeoisie and to recognize the shared exploitation that they are being subjected to. Racial prejudices that gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and like groups kept the proletariat fighting against itself. That is why, in Marx’s view stated in the 1848 Communist Manifesto, in order to establish a classless society private property, religion, and the family due to its inherent financial obligations that facilitate ones subjugation by the capitalists must be abolished. Marx saw capitalism as a necessary step to communism, a system that had put into place the infrastructure, machinery, and facilitated the acquisition of knowledge in order to build a flourishing capitalist system. He cited the United States as an optimal breeding ground for a revolution of the proletariat, where the working class would rise as one and overtake the bourgeoisie, seizing their property and thus the means of production due to its advanced state of democracy and its innovative farming techniques, abundance of natural resources, and modern infrastructure. The problem is that the revolution did not occur here. V. Lenin interpreted Marx’s work and applied it to Russia, which was a Czarist Agrarian society at the time. Aside from not being the optimal economic climate in which to stage a proletariat revolution, Lenin interpreted the revolution to be led by elites who would establish a strong central government to subordinate the people and, more or less, force them into a classless society. After Lenin’s death, the Soviet Union was born and the communist party, to which Marx was inextricably tied via his writing of the Communist Manifesto in 1848, lost a great deal of relevance and support and became villiafied, particularly in America. Numerous third world countries would follow suit and, going by Marx’s model, predictably failed. This leads many to state that Marx himself has lost his relevance. What they fail to see is that these so called Marxist revolutions were launched on perversions of Marx’s work, interpretations that ignored large tracts of his works particularly anything written after the Communist Manifesto. Particularly what many fail to recognize is a central contradiction in the capitalist system that will, at some point in time, lead to its implosion if a proletariat revolution fails to dismantle the system beforehand. The contradiction is this. In order for a capitalist to be successful, he must put less money into a product than he gets out of it. Thus, as the product sales for more than raw materials, overhead, and labor put together then the amount paid to laborers in wages falls far short than the total exchange value of goods on the market at a given time. Eventually, once there are no new markets to conquer, the findings of which made capitalism a viable system to begin with starting in the late 15th century with the dawn of mass exploration, and no new labor markets to exploit then the system will reach an end from which there is no return. There will be an inevitable mass surplus of goods, which is unsatisfactory in a capitalist system because in a market where supply exceeds demand, price falls. When price falls, profits disappear and so too do the capitalists. The bourgeoisie knows this and thus much of the economic policies of the last twenty years can be explained through Marxist interpretations. The need to expand both markets for goods and for labor has created the paradigm that is commonly referred to as globalization and has created a vocabulary all its own with terms like free trade zones, outsourcing, and the transnational or multinational corporation. The bourgeoisie used their influence to make all of this legal by creating systems outside of the system that transcend borders like the World Trade Organization that work to propagate the transnational corporation and explore more native peoples living in abject poverty in the wake of failed pseudo-Marxist revolutions in South America, Asia and Mexico. Particularly of importance in America, NAFTA was passed in 1994. NAFTA, or the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed companies from America and Canada to relocate into Mexico along the northern border. Previous to the passage of NAFTA, there were factories called maquiladoras along the border of Mexico, however they were restricted to producing textiles as part of the Bracero program in 1964 which intended to develop the region. After NAFTA, all companies were permitted to move into the region. Today over three thousand factories exist in the maquila region. They produce items ranging from textiles to petrochemicals and automotive parts. Work hours are extraordinarily long. The typical maquiladora work week ranged from sixty-five hours to eighty hours, depending upon the type of factory and the type of work being done. This accomplishes two things, it allows for cheap production of goods as workers are rarely paid overtime, and even if they are it occurs long after the point at which American workers would be paid and it installs a younger workforce with a lower degree of longevity at the factory. The longer a worker is in the factory the more likely he or she is to demand a wage increase or attempt to unionize. (Sciences, 1999) Wages are also remarkably low. The typical maquiladora worker makes about $1.00 per hour, substantially less than the manufacturing sector average within Mexico and far below American wages. Furthermore the cost of living in Mexican border towns is comparable to small towns in the United States. Thus the wages barely, if even, cover expense of living and certainly do not allow for any extra capital that could be used to buy luxury items, invest in the infrastructure of the community or to develop the local economy. The bourgeoisie is actively attempting to install a permanent proletariat. The conditions are similar in over eighty free trade zones throughout the world, and apparently enough new exploitive labor markets were not secured as congress passed CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2007. (Durazo, 2000) In America the consequences have been two fold. Immediately and most recognizable to Americans is the expanded availability of goods that are, in the short term affordable. However, everyone from Lou Dobbs to Noam Chomsky has pointed out that the middle class is disappearing and that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing, and has been since Reagan’s deregulation policies of the 1980’s and the launch of the neoconservative movement which holds free market capitalism and the trickle down theory of economics, which suffers from the camera obscura fallacy. As cheaper labor markets appear, corporations, despite of their intentions, are forced to move to areas where labor is cheaper in order to compete and to be as profitable as their competitors. Thus, the capitalists are themselves alienated from their species as, in order for them to survive as capitalists, they must exploit the labor of proletariats to the greatest degree possible. ( (Weller, 2006)) At any rate, this diminishing of the middle class pushes more and more into the ranks of the proletariat. With a new segment of the proletariat having seen the capitalists in action it becomes more and more likely that they will become the grave diggers that Marx predicted that capitalism would ultimately create. (Marx 2002) So, although it seems as though Marx might be irrelevant, if one looks closer they can observe that he was simply ahead of his time and that the economic and resulting political crises that he foresaw have a groundwork in place to come into effect in the relatively near future. Though this analysis has framed the ideas of global trade and free market capitalism in Marxist terms, Marx’s analyses of society can be applied to a myriad of social problems such as crime, poverty in general, or even serial monogamy via the fetishism of commodities. Unfortunately the popular perception of Marx in America has been marred by the stains of the Soviet Union and other pseudo-Marxist movements. The heavy hand of the bourgeoisie that has suppressed, historically, a great number of expressions of Marxist thought, has helped to keep the shutters closed so that the light cannot shine on the problems for all, the proletariat, to see. Chomsky, N. (2006). Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. New York: Metropolitan Books. Durazo, L. (2000, June). Maquiladora Information. Retrieved May 18, 2007, from Projecto fronterizo de Education Abiental. Marx, K. (2002). Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Manifesto of the Communist Party. (S. M. Cahn, Ed.) London, UK: Oxford Press. Sciences, F. f. (Director). (1999). Free Trade Slaves [Motion Picture]. Weller, J. B. (2006). Supersize This: How CEO PAy Took Off While Americas Middle Class Struggled. Center For American Progress . Research Papers on Karl Marx's Paradigm of Unbridled DevelopmentAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePETSTEL analysis of IndiaRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanTwilight of the UAWBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraQuebec and CanadaThe Effects of Illegal Immigration

Global operations and logistics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global operations and logistics - Case Study Example Each and every store of Home Depot operates with the concept of large warehouse style buildings. The largest store of Home Depot is situated in Union New Jersey. The organization achieved huge popularity due to its â€Å"do-it-yourself† concept. According to the concept, the home owners and several individuals generally purchase home improvement products and tools. Then they repair or improve their home on their own. The organization not only prioritizes their customer service through this concept but also provides effective clinical and practical workshop training and development to the customers in order to enhance their customer service process. This â€Å"do-it-yourself† concept helped the organization to retain their existing clients. In addition to this, Home Depot got success to attract new customers through effective customer service (Ferrell and Hartline, 2008, p.584). The owners of the organization encouraged the sales associates to develop strong relationship with the customers to maintain their leading position in the competitive marketplace. This report will analyze the logistics and customer service activities of home depot throughout the years. Moreover, the study will discuss about the merchandising, store operation and vendor management activities of Home Depot in order to draw an effective conclusion. Historical and Current Development in terms of Production, Operation and Marketing For the first 20 years, Home Depot became popular and well recognized due to its focus on customer services, significant sales growth rate and dynamic entrepreneurial spirit. Initially, the organization used the concept of big box format stores. All the customers could find and purchase all the necessary home improvement products. They introduced â€Å"Do it yourself† concept to enhance their customer service. The owners of the organization encourage the sales associates to take care of the satisfaction level of the customers to develop a signi ficant client base (Paper, 2007, p.39). Home Depot organized several effective workshop training and development programs for the customers to fix home problems by their own. These strategies helped the organization to secure their leading spot for 20 years. In 2001, CEO Nardelli changed the product development and distribution process due to rising cost, falling sales and stiffening competition. The organization started to provide specialized goods and services to the smaller professional customers. The CEO had the intention to attain professional business growth. Nardelli implemented several change strategies to improve the productivity. He motivated headquarter of Home Depot to recruit talented and skilled associates to bring more specialization. Moreover, he appealed for simplification of the job function of each and every store associate. He also worked hard to standardize the logistics activity. Introduction of the concept of â€Å"inventory velocity† helped the organiz ation to track their stocks effectively. CEO Nardelli made a decision to employ 227, 000 associates to reform its in-store operation activities. In spite of achieving significant growth rate, CEO Nardelli tried to make some changes in business operation to secure future growth rate. Organizations like Walmart implemented advanced technology in their business operation

Role of Line Managers in Human Resource functions and Roles Essay

Role of Line Managers in Human Resource functions and Roles - Essay Example This report will focus on discussing the role of line managers in human resource functions. As part of going through the main discussion, this report will incorporate HR theories related to effective recruitment and selection process, flexible job options, effective reward systems, and strategic training programmes that could effectively increase employee satisfaction and overall business performance. Based on several real-case scenarios, this report will evaluate whether or not the HR managers in each of the case scenarios were able to meet the role of HR function. Job analysis is referring to the process of defining a particular task and responsibilities (Stone, 2005, p. 10; Bartlett, 2000). Aside from identifying the human abilities, skills and/or educational qualifications and experience needed in enabling a person to successfully perform the job, the line manager should consider job analysis as an important component of an effective recruitment As part of attracting competitive individuals to join the team, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group exerted extra effort to improve their recruitment selection process (NatWest 2009). In line with this, the line manager of NatWest had to assess the job applicant’s skills and past work experiences in performing the demands of the available job position. In line with this, Nelson (1997, p. 40) explained that one of the prerequisite in hiring a highly competitive employee is to analyze a particular job description such as the skills and personal traits that has to be fulfilled by the job applicant. According to Hacker (1997), â€Å"a poor recruitment decision can cost a company the amount equal to 30% of the company’s First-year earnings†. Since the act of recruiting a wrong person is very costly on the part of the company, the line manager should be careful when assessing the applicant’s acquired skills and part work experiences based on the job

Industrial Chemicals Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Industrial Chemicals Company - Essay Example Also if the company should expand its existing business it should bring out new and varied products in the market. This is possible only through R&D. The R&D team of ICC keeps on conducting research to introduce new products in the market. R&D is also required in the company to produce chemicals with less cost in order to grab more markets. The R&D team in the bioprocess development produces the products that are used in the field of biotechnology. It also works in a unit that develops vehicles for the transfer of pharmaceutical products. The biological group of the R&D is actively involved in the development of pharmaceutical products. The basic strategy of the company is the production of chemicals and related products. In order to maintain better market share in the future the company should introduce better products according to the change in the market trend and requirements. (Q.2) Would operating unit control of our key R&D growth programs enhance or mitigate our chances of meeting our goals That is should R&D be organized as cost SBUs within each of the operating units What amount and type of R&D, if any at all, should be done at the corporate level SBU is also called Strategic Business Unit. ... ICC should definitely make R&D a strategic business unit as R&D is the core success factor of the company. If this is introduced as a specialized activity ICC can improve the profitability at an alarming rate. It is seen that at the corporate level a commercialization group operates to provide solutions on commercializing the new invention. The new invention based products are the actual driving force of ICC. Therefore a corporate team of senior executives must be formed in order to monitor its activities. (Q.3) I know there'll be pressure to level off our R&D spending across the company, including corporate R&D. We've got to make sure we get more for our money in terms of prioritizing those efforts to go after the most promising commercial opportunities if we're going to achieve our goals in biotechnology! How can we be sure we're prioritizing these efforts toward increased commercial success That is, how do we evaluate the effectiveness of both the R&D cost SBUs in the operating units and corporate-level R&D The company can be sure that it is prioritizing the biotechnology sector for commercial expansion if it gives specialized attention to the R&D activity in biotechnology. Mere research is not enough for the company. The researched and developed products and technology has to be commercialized for monetary prospects of the company. Especially the biotechnology sector is where new and improved developments are needed in terms of the market scenario. When the company can patent any product developed by them the profits will considerably increase. The research team should have to be made more specialized for the activity. (Q.4) How does the fact that ICC operates in several different countries affect the

The Convergence of Business and Technology

The Convergence of Business and Technology While technological convergence is no longer a new idea, the fascination with the subject lies with the capabilities and applications of both hybrid and brand new technological platforms and the ways previous stand alone industries, have been reconfigured and thereby mobilised to provide enhanced service delivery. Such convergence pertains to the â€Å"digitisation of communications and the ways discrete media formats have become accessible to other media forms; have been further factors in this process† (Saltzis, 2007). In technical terms, Saltzis (2007) reminds us that â€Å"the new technologies convergence can be attributed to developments in digitization, bandwidth and compression; as well as interactivity. Moreover, the rapidity and pervasiveness of technological convergence has seized the entrepreneurial imagination and arrested the attention of economic rationalists, with respect to â€Å"the devices used by institutions within the communications and media industries, as well as the information they process, distribute, and exchange over and through these devices† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37). Such convergence also focuses upon the â€Å"integration of or interface between and among different media systems and organizations, made possible by the development of new technologies† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37). With this being said, a more fertile field to explore, derives from the recognition that while technology continues to converge, so does the corporate world. The nub of this issue is the nature and extent of the link between these two types of convergence, and the nuanced ways in which one shapes and is shaped by the other. Corporate convergence, according to Babe (1996:284-285) refers to the â€Å"mergers, amalgamations, and diversifications, whereby media organisations come to operate across previously distinct industry boundaries.† Babe extends this explanation stating that corporate convergence refers to the non-technical features of convergence, which also â€Å"contribute to the blurring of industry boundaries† (Babe 1996: 284-285). Examples he cites in the 1990’s from his Canadian context include â€Å" Time Warner combining book publishing, music recording, and movie making, not to mention cable television, (while) Rogers Communications, Inc. engage in n ewspaper and magazine publishing, long-distance and cellular telephony, cable television, and radio/television broadcasting† (Babe 1996: 284-285). While it is self evident that â€Å"corporate convergence promotes and is promoted by technological convergence† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37), closer attention is warranted to examine the nature of the promotion and the ways these two significant convergences influence each other. It is illuminating as we do this to itemise dimensions of technological convergence, to begin to pinpoint the areas of synergy between technology and corporate enterprise. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has been helpful in its examination of convergence, by singling out ‘device convergence,’ ‘network convergence,’ ‘service convergence’ and ‘regulatory convergence’ (ITU 2008). While the ITU cites examples of devices include mobile phone, camera and internet access device, network examples include fixed-mobile convergence and next-generation networks (ITU 2008). Moreover, service convergence is exemplified by voice services over th e internet; not to forget regulatory convergence for broadcasting and telecommunications, citing the example of the Office of Communication (Ofcom) in the United Kingdom (ITU 2008). The view of convergence from the corporate stakeholder, according to Andriole (2005:28), is ideally a â€Å"multi-disciplinary, anticipatory, adaptive and cautious† one, no longer about â€Å"early adoption of unproven technology,† but instead about questions of â€Å"business technology acquisition, deployment and management† (Andriole 2005: 28). The sense that the momentum has changed within the corporate sector, prompting corporate leaders to be ready to have ‘convergence conversations’ is clearly articulated by Andriole (2005). It is advocated that companies will benefit by thinking in terms of â€Å"business technology convergence plans† (Andriole 2005: 28). Instead of technology being a footnote or a discrete department within a corporation, through its own array of convergences, it now occupies a central position in underpinning corporate cultures. As a response to this generational shift in consciousness, business planning now closely consults with technological providers, shaping corporate decisions and goals. This change of thought led spawned a new series of business planning questions, which demonstrate some of the links between technological and corporate convergence. Questions which illustrate this include: â€Å"‘How does technology define and enable profitable transactions?’; ‘What business models and processes are underserved by technology?’; ‘Which are adequately or over-served by technology?’† (Andriole 2005: 29) Now when strategic planning is tabled as an agenda item within companies, the matter of technological capabilities is taken seriously, as corporations realise that sidelining technological innovation, is a stepping stone towards giving away market edge to one’s competitors. Indeed, Andriole (2005: 30) forewarns of the perils of business technology segmentation. Instead of a new business initiative being conceived then asking what technological capability exist to support it, Andriole (2005: 30) argues that technologists must be present as part of the materialisation process of a company’s development goals and strategies. One fundamental area a business model which values efficiency and effectiveness is the calibre of the internal and external communications systems and infrastructure. In the 21st century business context of global interfacing, communications which are â€Å"pervasive, secure and reliable† (Andriole 2005: 30), are a base line issue. The incentive to acquire such state of the art systems is one factor driving further technological convergence, as the market demand fosters technological innovation to bring market edge to communications. The airline industry is a practical case in point, with specific international airlines branding being fostered by the level of their onboard entertainment systems for travelling customers. Some international airlines have invested heavily in this component of their corporate identity to enhance their market niche, displaying convergence through the multi-media, multi-channel video and music on demand, personalised entertainment systems, which now permit replay and play back functions (Yu 2008). We are reminded us that a large area of compatibility and synchronicity between technological and corporate convergence relates to the classical knowledge networks, such as universities, corporations and investors, who derive great benefits from convergence, finding more penetrating ways to exchange information and knowledge, their primary resource Saltzis (2007:2). Additionally, since political, economic and financial power is derived from shared information, the value of corporate convergence to the stock markets and to companies is self evident. In relation to the priming of information flow via the synergy between corporate and technological convergence, some observers are beginning to draw attention to the sociological trend that knowledge, through these processes, has become less of a community resource and increasingly a commodity. As information is commodified, it is packaged to target specific interest groups and economic stakeholders, who prize specific knowledge for specif ic outcomes, in terms of client need and demand. This instance of the knowledge super highway shows that knowledge can be ‘positioned’ within the market with greater precision through convergence, yet , in so doing, may easily lose its original contextual underpinnings that imbued it with richer nuances of meaning in the first place. This phenomenon is perhaps no more evident than in cable television, where networks and individual channels are devoted to specific content delivery 24 hours a day. The downside of course, is that information must be assimilated rapidly on the take up side by the media corporation, just as it is foisted upon the consumer with a ‘forced- feed’ pretext, to make room for the next feed. Information, through such convergent capabilities, that permit ‘bites’ of knowledge to be digitally transferred globally and instantaneously, allows knowledge to be stripped of the framework in which it emerged, just as it is quickly, y et superficially digested by the global consumer. When information held the status of being a community resource, rather than a global commodity, it could be used at the will of the consumer, for their own determined purpose, rather than the commodified purpose preselected by the respective media conglomerates that perpetuate the promulgation of endless information. Further challenges to technological and corporate convergence trends, apart from dilution of meaning due to the multiplicity and potentially splintering of sources, according to ITU (2008) concerns, â€Å"content distribution and management, sustainability and scalability, innovation management, competitive dynamics, tariff policies, network security, regulatory coherence and consumer protection† (ITU 2008). While the broadening of avenues for content distribution has the allure of versatility, the revolutionary distribution of music in the past decade illustrates the potency of convergence, threatening to undermine the very industry it was seeking to promote. I-Tunes and other legal internet based distribution pathways for music radically altered the income and revenue streams derived from popular music providers globally. While the consumer was benefited through the open door of access to music, (just as the educational market was reconfigured once educational corporations b egan to exploit the potentialities of online delivery of educational content at school and university level), the demand for live music globally initially declined, yet has now been buoyed up by the benefits of enhanced global exposure, on account of the global penetration capacity of online music. Another aspect of this link that has pressurised corporations like never before has been how to safeguard the integrity of informational, entertainment or intellectually creative products, once they are so widely available via the world wide web. The proliferation of cloned products has the tendency to diminish the quality, reputation or demand for the original. Corporations have had to weigh the benefits of more universal distribution, against this tendency to have the integrity of a product compromised. This, in one sense has been as much about re-education of the consumer, who remains driven by the desire for quality in many instances, overlooking the detracting influence of You-Tube look alike musical bands renditions of hit singles by either reputable or promising new talent. Patently, issues of security remain paramount, in this race towards virally changing convergences, whether it is the protection of personal data by entertainment companies, the finance sector or an individual relying upon social networking websites to foster their new relationships. Banks reputation for safety once built at the store front only, to remain competitive amid their market rivals, has now shifted to the quality and integrity of their web presence. This same notion extends of course, to an ever growing margin of the retail sector, and the sporting sectors, who realise that within the 21st century era of the new media users, the ‘digital native’ populations will increasingly rely upon web based sources for their interfacing with the world. Ironically, even large scale media conglomerations recognize the technological convergence can allow the operator of a mobile phone with a camera component, to drive world changing conditions, in the event that anybody happen s to be at the right place at the right time, and films an international crisis on the telephone, then posts it on the web, embarrassingly before a major news corporation has the time or the infrastructure to outrun them. This realization has brought a new sense of recognition from major news broadcasters, to the power and penetration of websites like You-Tube, creating in journalists a scrutinizing eye for such alternate culture havens to assist the construction of mainstream breaking news stories. The future looks bright for the ongoing convergence of technologies and corporate agendas. We are reminded of the profound benefits of the digitization revolution, yielding â€Å"enormous gains in transmission speed and flexibility over earlier forms of electronic communication,† (Mosco McKercher 2008: 38) â€Å"extending the range of opportunities to measure and monitor, package and repackage entertainment and knowledge† (Mosco Mckercher 2008: 38). Nonetheless, the need to balance economic welfare and human welfare continues to be of concern, and one of the many implications of the increasing reciprocity, between technological and corporate convergence. In the field of media journalism news production convergence, Klinenburg reiterates that convergence facilitates a more rapid confluence of sources impinging upon an event or a story, yet it also intensifies the pressures upon the journalists time to â€Å"conduct interviews, go out into the field, research and write† (2007: 128). The processing time available at the human level continually diminishes, and when the technical speed is permitted to eclipse the human processes of digestion of knowledge and subsequent reflection, the result may ironically, in spite of a seemingly infinitely greater number of sources, be inferior, less news worthy and more insubstantial, than in would have been if the journalist had to rely upon more traditional methods of crafting a story to be broadcast or published. While we have such warnings of convergence being manifest as a â€Å"concentration of technological ownership, in the form of the global media conglomerates† (Saltzis 2007), occurring in tandem â€Å"at the three levels of networks, production and distribution† (Saltzis 2007), it is prudent to be cogniscent of the fact that such monopolization can create an hegemonic corporate empire, allowing such media outlets to in effect be massive funnels for particular ideological positions. Divergence of ownership, on the other hand, may be a way to democratise control and use of these powerful message delivery mechanisms, yet without inbuilt check and balance systems, the corporate stakeholder will rarely consider that their over- influence in the market place of ideas is detrimental to society. Since convergence researchers are ambivalent about the relative degree to which the â€Å"conglomeration of the global media has been the causal factor of technical convergence, or whether it is its by-product† (Saltzis 2007), there remains much to scrutinize, as we more globally to a yet more convergent means of conducting business; as well as producing, disseminating and consuming information, for diverse purposes. Saltzis’s observations seem pertinent in the final analysis. While the â€Å"benefits of these transitions include the merging of consumer bases; the creation of synergies with shared resources (utilising economies of scope and scale); as well as cross-promotion, the instability of the global media system, with its intense competition, advertising, peer-to-peer file sharing technologies, have established significant challenges for both the music and film industries† (Saltzis 2007). The matter of e-regulation is, as Saltzis asserts, â€Å"in its infa ncy† (2007), with many more competing political, economic and ethical questions to consider, as the global market place continues to converge. Bibliography Mosco, V. McKercher, C. (2008) The Laboring of Communication: Will Knowledge Workers of the World Unite? Rowman Littlefield Saltzis, K. (2007) Corporate and Technological Convergence (Lecture 8): New Media and the Wired World MS2007. International Telecommunications Union (2008) World Telecommunications Policy Forum 2009 ‘Convergence’, accessed December 13, 2008 from http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/wtpf/wtpf2009/convergence.html Yu, R (2008) Airlines Upgrade Entertainment in Economy Cabin USA Today retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-05-05-inflight-entertainment_N.htm December 13, 2008.

Jihad: Moving Beyound Cultural Biases and Misconceptions Essay

The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as â€Å"a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief† (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may re asonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or â€Å"holy wars.† While there is no precise definition of the term, the meaning of Jihad is far more complex. In fact, the term Jihad generally refers to the struggle one must undertake as one â€Å"strive[s] in the path of God† (Church 110). That struggle is defined both externally and internally. As so, they are classified in terms of an external struggle with enemies or non believers, or an internal struggle with oneself to reject greed and temptation. While popular opinion has been misconstrued to see Jihad as a malevolent, violent action; a serious investigation of the term’s historical and religious background reveals a multi-defined word. An examination of the Jihad’s etymological context will lend a k... ... As Americans, we must approach Jihad with sensitivity, an admission of our ignorance on the subject, and an earnest attempt to properly educate ourselves. Works Cited Church, Kenneth. â€Å"Jihad.† Collateral Language. Ed. John Collins and Ross Glover. New York: NYU Press, 2000. 109-123. Engineer, Asghar Ali. â€Å"The Real Meanings of Jihad.† December 2001. 1 October 2003.Husaq, Nina. E-mail to the author. 19 October 2003. Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror In The Mind Of God. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (6th Edition) Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1999.Rogers-Melnick, Ann. â€Å"Jihad Misused, Misunderstood.† Post-Gazette 23 September 2001. 2 October 2003. The Qu’ran. LXI:11, p.398; IX:41, p.149. Witham, Larry. â€Å"Muslims See Wordplay as Swordplay in Terrorism War.† The Washington Post. 24 July 2002. 3 October 2003.