ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
The arguments against euphemism in George Orwell’s essay account inadequately for how we must guard ourselves against offensive terminology in the 21 st Century. This piece was written in the mid twentieth century and some of the author’s assertions do not hold water today. Illustrations from the passage At some point, Orwell (par 13) discusses the proliferation of meaningless words in literature and art. He claims that artists tend to overuse certain words to the point of making them meaningless. Examples cited here include ‘living quality’ and ‘peculiar deadness’. In modern times, one can question this argument owing to the respectability accorded to users of such terms. In poetry, plays and other forms of literature, writers deliberately use these so-called meaningless words moderately. The overall effect is an added beauty to literary pieces that endears them to readers. The author criticizes the use of readymade phrases because they are a sign of laziness. Users, writers or politicians may easily be spared from thinking in their writings if they use them because these kinds of phrases already have preset meanings. At the end of it all, such writings end up being ambiguous and even ugly (Orwell, par 19). For example instead of using the word “I think” some politicians would rather use the readymade phrase “in my opinion it is a not unjustifiable assumption that..” (Orwell, par 19). While this argument may seem plausible, one must consider the extreme end of the scale. If a writer or speaker was to be entirely logical and concise, his writing or speech would be dismissed as boring and lifeless. A literary piece that contains only simple words would not elicit a lot of reaction from audiences because people are naturally attracted to doses of rare diction. Orwell (par 23) believes that insincerity is an obstacle to the use of clear language. He claims that most people would prefer hiding their true intentions through the use of long idioms and words. He affirms that when two political groups disagree, the easiest option is always to hide behind these euphemisms. These assertions may be partly true but they are rather sweeping. Orwell (23) has not considered the possibility of satire or deliberate drivel. Some authors may achieve clear writing but still be insincere; others may simply choose to deceive. The story ‘Peter Pan’ consists of very unrealistic claims but it is still quite clear. Also, certain narrations may lie to audiences in order to cause them to use their wit. Not all writings have to be sincere but they must be clear. As such, Orwell’s argument against euphemism may not be appropriate in such cases. In the short essay, Orwell (29) believes that this poor use of euphemisms is curable if society makes it unfashionable to use pretentious words. He even cites examples of phrases that were slowly removed from the English languag
Introduction The period between the year 1980 and 2008 was marked with a desire by states world wide to reduce their involvements in social and economic activities; use of state machinery to deregulate labour and financial markets; elimination of borders and barriers to stimulate commerce and investments. This was intended to allow for labour mobility, capital, goods and services. Application of such policies in health sector implied that the government had to reduce her responsibility for the health of its citizens; there had to be greater need for market diversification; national health services had to be transformed into health care systems that were insurance based; need for privatization of medical care; patients had to be referred to as clients; everyone had to be responsible for their own health; health promotion had to be looked at in the perspective of behavioural change; and personal responsibility had to be increased by addition of social capital to the endowment.Efforts have been made by various administrations to implement such policies. Policies have got greater bearing on the health of the citizens. Social seclusion, early (childhood) life, stress factor, social support, work-life balance and transport (mobility) are among community factor. Problems like unemployment, addiction, and food are also among the highly investigated social determinants of wellbeing (Navarro, 2009 p.3).). This essay will focus on food as a social determinant of health. Access to healthy food has of late become a political issue due to the fact that the forces of demand and supply greatly determine the availability of food. A person’s general well being is enhanced by good diet and consistent supply of food (Wilkinson and Marmot, 2009 p.26). Lack of variety of food to choose from and food shortages cause malnutrition and occurrence of deficiency diseases. Ingestion of excess amounts of food can also lead to heart and circulatory system infections, diabetes, cancers, eye infections, obesity and tooth complications. Food availability and inadequacy have gross implications on human life. In the public health perspective, availability of healthy and nutritious food as well as their cost is the major concern. Epidemiological change from infectious to chronic diseases has been sanctioned by economic growth and improvements in housing and sanitation. In parts of Western Europe, many people adopted a lifestyle where they took more calories of food that had generous supply of fats and sugars hence an increase in the number of people suffering from obesity. At this point in time obesity became the poor mans disease than the rich. World food trade has of late become a very big business venture. The industry players have come to a consensus on the tariffs too be levied, the trade, and common agricultural
Conservatives in the United States of America have made a great contribution to the politics since the end of the Second World War. Gregory Schneider identified the following features belonging to conservatives, “respect for tradition, republicanism support, Christian religion and the upholding of the rule of law” (Schneider 19). There are social conservatives and liberal conservatives as well. Conservatives have a firm admiration for the founding fathers of the nation. Most conservatives are for the status quo and against any form of revolutionary change. It has been noted that the American Revolution disrupted all the forms of conservative links and regimes (Schneider 19). Hartz attempted to provide a practical explanation for the liberal tradition of America by relating it to the history of the Europeans. This relation, according to him, primarily relied on the absence of feudalism in the United States of America and secondarily on critical influence of European ideas, particularly those of John Locke. Hartz revealed a great deal about the current state of the liberal American tradition and customs that America could give rise to the concept of liberal society. He saw a liberal tradition as a central one to the American experience home and abroad. Hartz’s liberal tradition in America has continued to influence how Americans think about their history and traditions. The conservatives and the radicals have embraced Hartz’s analysis to support their devotion to defense of property rights and individualism. The liberal tradition in the United States of America is a historical document that is inadequate in analysis because it is too static and flat. Hartz dwelt much on the matters of psychology and democracy and ignored the roles played by ethnicity, ra
Google Inc is one of the most successful global organizations in terms of growth, financial stability, and marketing. The American multinational company deals with cloud computing, internet search, and advertising technology. Its founders are Sergey Brian and Larry page. The most important components of Google’s business plan are marketing, products, mission and vision, financial strength, and management. Any successful company has a succinct vision and mission statement. A vision is an inspiring and brief statement of what a business intends to achieve in future whereas a mission statement outlines the organization priorities and ambitions. According to Pinson (2004), the mission of Google is “To Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”p.108. Basing on its large market share and tremendous growth, Google is one of top companies in the world that have achieved their goals. The area that Google needs to improve when it gets into a foreign market is the clause of making information universally accessible because some country have very strict rules pertaining sharing of information over the internet and would prefer some information to be kept confidential. For instance, Google had problems with the Chinese authorities because of making information accessible. As such, it should develop its strategies basing on information sharing policies of foreign countries (Campbell, Hamill, Purdie, &Stonehouse, 2004). Marketing is important for any organization because it assists in developing marketing plans and strategies aimed at retaining old customer base and penetrate new markets. The marketing strategy of organizing global information has played a key role in the monetary success enjoyed by Google. Google’s goal is to trap a large share of online market. This marketing goal has been achieved through Google’s focus on applications, search, and ads. The search engine is the key arena through which Google has achieved good results thus fulfilling its vision. Advertisements through online marketing tools have enabled Google to expand its sales volume and the organization has managed to attain a competitive edge against its competitors through new streams of product channels and programs. In addition, the strength of Google’s marketing strategy has increased the number of its user through developing numerous advertising avenues, international markets, channels, and products. This is imperative in assisting Google in testing new online strategies in order to adopt good ones or drop bad ones. If Google wants to get into a foreign market, it should consider how its users would react to how their private information and personal data are being utilized by the company to test results. This problem may be solved by ensuring that customer information is encrypted and by reducing the effectiveness of its SEM and SEO add –ons in countries where privacy and confidentiality is important and well guarded (Pinson, 2004). For any successful company, there is need for product development and improvement in order to remain competitive in a dynamic global marketing environment. Google has many products and services. These are sea
Cultural studies of different societies reveal how media culture brings forth common norms, socio-political ideologies and issues in the current period. For instance, media in different countries are often expressing their views in a liberal or conservative manner. Notably, one can deduce the identities and opinions of the world from the media performances and actions. Some of the media platforms that instill cultural behaviors on their audiences include films, radios, newspapers, and televisions. Media have significant influence on society, as they influence people’s understanding, interpretation, and criticism of different messages; they help in giving meanings to different information. Evidently, media give suggestions on one’s view or perception of the world even though there is indispensable need for thinking for oneself or independent thinking. Through cultural studies, one is able to critically examine and scrutinize issues from different cultures without anticipated discrimination. Currently, media have promoted the concept of multiculturalism where all cultures have their worth and the same recognition. In terms of gender and race, cultural studies have ensured that people alter their earlier perceptions on these groups. For example, media culture has made it possible for equal representation of female-gendered members and other marginal voices among the divergent races of the world. Clearly, cultural studies sensitize all persons on how to encode discriminative acts, thus empowering individuals to develop resistance to such operations. Since media encourage divergent opinions, it has informed society on all frameworks and components of life. On production and political economy, media firms have tended to produce systems in a specified format. For instance, they have inculcated special features like talks and shows, which have dominated the US television production. On the political economy, Capital Cities, GE, and Tisch Financial Group adopted Reagan’s slogan of conservatism and military adventures in managing their newly acquired media houses in the 1980s. In this context, media culture reflects the ideologies of the ruling economic class, albeit intense struggle among the social classes. On textual analysis, media culture assigns different symbols and tags to their films and comedies. Markedly, some of them follow conflict resolution model by inculcating resolutions to endless miseries in life and including negative and positive aspects of social behaviors. Evidently, media culture tries to instill in society the benefits of kind acts and roles of all gender in the present world. Besides, class, ethnicity, and gender shape how different audiences receive and encode messages. The factors, as mentioned earlier, have to apply multi-perspective and multi-cultural approaches in understanding the significance and effects of cultural studies in society. In this aspect, media culture has paid appropriate
Abstract This paper examines the movement of enlightenment and then whether the existing state of affairs requires a reformation or whether it is adequate. The present state of affairs is examined by analyzing the socio-economic state prevalent in various states and in the conclusion, it has been determined that dew dawn of “enlightenment” is required for the betterment of the common man. The basic definition of enlightenment is that of a movement thaws started in the 18 th century against the traditional doctrine and it was done to enforce intellectualism and philosophy. This movement also resulted in the removal of the power of the then extremely powerful church. As a result of such a movement, the common man became more important and as a result, there was complete restructuring in the order of things. The moral code of behavior was replaced by a doctrine of reason and logic; hence arts and trade greatly flourished during this period. If the order of the world of today’s was observed, it could be seen that though we live in a democratic system in which we have the right of choice more than ever- yet we are still bound as we were during the era of the church in certain ways. When certain nations are attacked by others without the consent of the entire world, the law of supremacy comes into play. The new world order can be perfectly explained by the neo-colonial system in which one nation asserts itself on the rest of the world. The common man though is much more enlightened in a lot of ways than the common man was ever during the 18 th century, yet still faces a lot of exploitation-exploitation which is done in the name of “protection” and sovereignty. Burdened by a number of taxes amongst many other issues, the common man allows the government a free hand which results in certain unfavorable policies getting implemented. In certain nations, dictatorship still exists. An example of such a nation is that of the isolated one; North Korea, where people cannot dare to voice an unfavorable opinion about the dictator as a result of massive oppression. The common man has lived for decades in such a system and hence, it is way past time that enlightenment was allowed to flourish in the spirit that it was allowed to during the 18 th century. In today’s world, certain establishments with vested interests have taken charge of major economic forces allowing the exploitation of the oppressed. As a result, many African nations, after decades of oppression by the colonial states, continue to face exploitation at the hands of certain companies. Such companies favor the better off and as a result, the divide between the richest and the poorest is on a rise around the world. More and more people continue to fall below the poverty line while some flourish at their expense. Nations like Pakistan, India, and even the United States have been found on the list of some of the most corrupt nations in the world. The so-called politicians, who are chosen by the people, continue to exploit the people and oppress them while the common man suffers. Debt is taken in the name of development and the funds squandered by these sam
The Proof of Concept exhibition is a recent photo exhibition of photographer Robin Fox, who in the exhibition shows photos which are exploring the concept of synaesthesia via the electrical signal equivalence. Actually the pictures focus mainly on the process of conversion of sound electricity to visual electricity. In the process use of different instruments like oscilloscopes and laser projectors of different types are shown. Robin Fox is one of the most renowned photographers in recent times and his photos of abstract things have created a stir in the photographic World. The subject and concept of the exhibition is as unique as it can be and the gallery is the best place where the photos can be exhibited. Diffused lighting and pastel shaded walls really add to the mystical effects of the magic of the energy conversion that has been represented in the pictures. Every photo is facing a light from the ceiling and this is probably adheres to the fact that the medium only requires a single source of light and it is enough for creating a persistence of vision and finally consents with the algorithms of sound that are dealt here. The linear sequence of the series is nothing but a silent witness of a huge energy changing process. There are seven pictures in the series of photos. In our discussion we choose one of them. If we look at the picture it will appear that the photo consists of a circular ray of fluorescent lights, which is joined by many small light rays from the centre. As it is one with a black background, it appears to be more illuminated. But, the picture is a scientific marvel if we look at it closely (Skrebowski 2009). In this segment of discussion we will discuss about the picture of Robin Fox which is entitled Proof of concept . Like all other pictures exhibited in the exhibition, the photograph is also a Type C print. It is of 118 X 166cm in the size. Like all the other photos in the series, this is also an exploration of the area of synaesthesia along with the electrical signal equivalence. The basic idea of the picture is to capture the conversion process of the sound electricity into visual electricity and that provides the fluorescent effects of the picture. As the back ground is dark, it seems that the conversion and power of energy are beaming out from the photograph. Here the artist used two mediums both audio and the visual ones to get the desired effects while taking the photograph and the main aspect of using both the mediums is that both of them actually require a single light source and they try to move it with enough speed to create the effect of persistence of vision. This process allows the light to go through the recording medium, which is the film and creates those unique effects. The photograph, along with all the other photographs represents after-images as the photographic terms tell (Philli
Introduction America has a tradition of communal justice that has always been influenced by the legal group Since the 1980s. Death penalty has a strong favour as a means of punishment despite efforts by the anti-death penalty group to oppose it (Zimring p.137). In as much as these oppositions claim to be in defence of morals, it is only fair that death penalties be administered to situations that warrant such because this also improves security, safety and prevents the possibility of recurrences in future. Administration of the death penalty in the US The process of conviction begins when the police suspect and arrest a person for the suspected crime. This is preceded by the trial for the confirmation whether a victim should be bailed. This is followed by further trials in case of appeal then conviction after which penalty is decided by the judge. This process proves that thorough procedures are followed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a suspect is undoubtedly guilty and that this penalty is applicable to them. Most of the American citizens support the death penalty as a mode of punishment because it does not discriminate and considers the degree of crime before justice is pronounced. This opinion is significantly supported by the horrifying incidences that have been reported over the past decades. For instance, the case of Timothy McVeigh who was penalized to death after killing 168 people through a bombing in 1997 is a serious one that deserves death sentence. Such situations create fear among the members that closely interact with these criminals. The presence of such people in the community even when they are done with other forms of a sentence is a threat to the safety. The fact that they tried to inflict pain once makes hard to convince that it would not happen again (Guernsey, p.16). However, death sentence can be waved for victims who murder less than five people as in the case of Capano who murdered Anne Marie Fahey. The sentence was changed from death to life imprisonment. In such cases, it might not be fair to penalize with death, but with mass killings of more than five people then death sentence is not too much to penalise (Guernsey, p.28). Death sentence is fair for the extreme cases of murder when there is wrong conviction. This should be the first consideration before the death sentence is enforced on a suspect. This is because if it proves to be wrong in the future, then the damage is irreversible and an offence to human rights. Therefore, when all the necessary procedures are followed, and it is proved that the person is guilty as charged, and then punishing to get rid of these awful and brutal crimes for once and for all is advisable. This is because it not only works to punish the crime but also perfectly buries the possibility of that person causing a similar harm in the future. Conclusion Death penalty should be practised but only in certain situations like in the case of Timothy McVeigh who saw many people dying. A person who in his right mind commits such a crime may prove to be a threat to peace and safety, therefore, for the sake of this peace; death sentence should