My Beautiful Mind Essay

Living with Schizophrenia â€Å"The mind is indeed a beautiful thing. It is the reason for our ingenuity, artistic originality and maybe even our humanity. What happens however when the mind works against us? When it tricks us into believing that what is not real to be the actual, destroying our sense of being? † (Angelo) We see this played out firsthand in the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. in â€Å"A Beautiful Mind. † The film was directed by Ron Howard and starred Russell Crowe, who plays John Nash, Paul Bettany, who plays Nash’s imaginary friend Charles, and Jennifer Connelly, who plays Nash’s wife Alicia. The movie â€Å"won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. It was also nominated for Best Leading Actor, Best Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Scoreâ€Å" (A Beautiful Mind). â€Å"A Beautiful Mind† â€Å"presents itself as a biography of the flesh-and-blood John Nash. And in fact, it is really only a flashy, sentimental Hollywood movie, inspired by a few particular details of the John Nash story. (Overstreet) This review is accurate in this description, director Ron Howard delivers a brilliant master peace but it is not all fact. For instance, John Nash never had visual hallucinations and he divorced his wife and later remarried. Though it is not an accurate representation, John Forbes Nash, Jr. did suffer from schizophrenia. John Forbes Nash, Jr. , or John Nash as he is referred to in the movie, was born June 13, 1928 in Bluefield, West Virginia where he was raised. Nash took classes from Bluefield C ollege while still attending Bluefield High School. After graduating from high school in 1945, he enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on a Westinghouse scholarship, where he studied chemical engineering and chemistry before switching to mathematics. He received both his bachelor's degree and his master's degree in 1948 while at Carnegie Tech. † (John Forbes Nash, Jr. ). The film begins as Nash is attending Princeton University for his postgraduate work in mathematics and writes his thesis on non-cooperative games which he later receives the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. In the movie Nash gets a job at Massachusetts Institution of Technology after graduating from Princeton. It is at MIT where Nash meets his future wife, Alicia, and falls in love with her and she remains his faithful mate even through his maddening episodes of schizophrenia. The film differs from reality in many instances, his love life being one of them. In reality Nash had a trivial relationship with a nurse by the name of Eleanor Stier, they had a son together and named him John David Stier. After the child was born Nash abandoned both of them and went through a homosexual stage, in the mid-1950s he was â€Å"arrested in a Santa Monica restroom on a morals charge related to a homosexual encounter† (John Forbes Nash, Jr. ). This was said to have caused him to lose his job at MIT and caused him to want to get married. Only now is Alicia brought into the picture, a student of his at MIT from El Salvador. John Forbes Nash, Jr. and Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde get married in 1957 and two years later Alicia admits John Nash to the mental hospital. In the movie he is tackled by two men and a third, Dr. Rosen, administers a sedative and they haul Nash away in their car, all while students and teachers are watching. Schizophrenia is described as being a â€Å"mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. † (Schizophrenia) Normally it occurs in young adulthood and manifests itself in auditory hallucinations paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, while visual hallucinations are possible they are extremely rare and John Nash Jr. said that he only had auditory hallucinations. The visual manifestations in the movie were only to intrigue the audience and to clarify the sincerity and the reality of the disease. Schizophrenia is a very rare disease, affecting half of one percent of the population of the world and scientists and doctors know little more about it presently than when John Nash was diagnosed. While knowledge of schizophrenia is scarce people have found some useful treatments such as Insulin Shock Therapy and certain medications such as Typical Antipsychotic and the newer Atypical Antipsychotic, we see John Nash undergo the Insulin Shock Therapy in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Insulin Shock Therapy however has been replaced by newer and more effective medications. The Typical Antipsychotics are the pink pills that Nash takes after his hospitalization. He says these medications make it hard for him to focus and he cannot respond to his wife so he stops taking them. This only causes further pain when Nash’s hallucinations all come back. Nash eventually learns how to cope with these hallucinations and just ignores them. In conclusion, the movie â€Å"A Beautiful Mind† is a very inspirational film that fills the audience with we and intrigue as they watch Nash learn to live with schizophrenia and attempt to remain a viable part of society. John Forbes Nash Jr. has influenced economics, mathematics, and physics, he taught at two major universities, he got married, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and he showed millions that it is possible to do all these things while living with schizophrenia. Works Cited Angelo. â€Å"Beauti ful Mind, A (2001)† MovieFreak. com – The Film Palace. 13 January 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. Overstreet, Jeffrey. A Beautiful Mind (2001)† Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter, Inc. 12 May 2004. Web. 04 March 2010. http://www. rottentomatoes. com/m/beautiful_mind/ â€Å"A Beautiful Mind (Film)† Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 04 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(film) â€Å"John Forbes Nash, Jr. † Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 04 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash,_Jr â€Å"Schizophrenia† Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 01 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Schizophrenia

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Australia is known all over the globe for several reasons. The natural beauties of the country and the wild life are always on the top of the list. But when thinking about Australia there are two super structures that come to mind, The Sydney Opera House and The Sydney Harbour Bridge. In this short report it can be found small history along with a short description about the Sydney Bridge.II. Main Body II. 1 History The first plans to build a bridge actually goes back to year of 1815, but it wasn’t until 1922, after being delayed manly because of the WWI, that the parliament approved the laws for the construction of this massive structure. The actual work didn’t begin until 1924 and took 8 years, a 1400 men work force, and several tragic accidents to finally finish it (Australian Government).The official opening ceremony was on 19 March 1932, were the Premier of New South Wales was supposed to cut the ribbon, but a man in military clothe riding a horse, slash the ribbon before the ceremony began, declaring the bridge opened in the name of the people of Australia. II. 2 Description Also known as the â€Å"Coathanger† by many residents of the city of Sydney, the Harbour Bridge is, until the date, the world’s largest, but not longest steel arch bridge.This 53,000 tons structure is located in the Sydney Harbor, uniting the Central Business District (or CBD) at Dawes Point with the commercial and residential areas in the North Shore at Milsons Point (Wikipedia 2010). The bridge is about 500 meters long. Today carries eight traffic lanes, two rail lines, one in each direction, a pedestrian pathway on the eastern side and a cycleway on the western side of the bridge. The arch summit is about 135 meters above the average harbour water level. There are four pylons at each end of the arch that weren’t part of the initial design and they don’t actually fulfil any structural purpose.These structures were added latter on to improve the appearance of the bridge, but now they were all put into use, the most famous being the one located in the south east of the bridge. This particular pylon now holds a three stories museum with the bridge history (Wikipedia 2010). III. Conclusion As can be seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge not only works as a mean to cross the harbour in a more efficient way, but it has become one of the most important landmarks of Australia, thanks to its architecture, beautiful views and tourist attractions.It doesn’t matter if you’ve been there or not, when somebody talks about Sydney, is almost inevitable but to think about this structure. ?IV. Bibliography Wikipedia 2010, Sydney Harbour Bridge, viewed 2 December 2010,   http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge

Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Dissertation

Post-occupancy evaluating of low income housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Dissertation Example 13 Pictures(3) Showsthe region of Ha’il, with the pleased of the project. 13 Pictures(4) Site plan of the Al-Ghazalah project 13 Pictures(5) Site plan of the Al-Ghazalah project 15 Pictures(6) Ground floor plan 15 Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Low Income Housing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Chapter 1 Introduction Housing demand is one of the most important issues and challenges that face developing and developed countries (Al-klyfh, 2009). These countries have tried to solve their housing demands with different policies. Some policies and proposals have met the needs of different levels of society. One of these economic classes is called the low income group that encompass some Saudi Arabian people with low annual income. To address the issue on housing income, the government tried to establish residential complexes, an introductory concept and still under trial. This paper will focus on low income housing post occupancy evaluation as the main issue. The housing policy will b e assessed using the post-occupancy evaluation method (POE). However, before investigating the Saudi Arabian policy, it is important to investigate the different international policies for low income housing. 1.1. International policies for low income housing Many institutions, international agencies and local communities around the world have for many years now addressed poverty, increase standards of living,as well as provide adequate shelter for the poor (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, 1987).These UN programs were allocated in 155 countries and have established national centres that work directly with various local government agencies (Tiesdell, 2004). Important processes that have been followed are: a. Secure possession of the land. b. Provide public facilities and services. c. Finance low-cost housing d. Provision of construction materials. e. Community participation. f. Cooperation with the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Tiesdell, 2004) . A review of socio-economic policies indicates that there is a growing interest in the issue of housing for the poor by civil society organizations and governments of many countries. A limited review on Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom low cost housing will be included due to time constraints. 1.1.1. Affordable Housing in the UK Housing policies in Britain has local planning authorities mandate developers of housing projects to provide a certain percentage of affordable housing for low income groups (Tiesdell, 2004). The two aims are as follows: a. Social: sustain a mixed community in terms of income and social level and reduce illegal settlements that lack basic services b. Economic: shoulder part of the burden of financing in order to allow beneficiaries provided with lower prices than the market price or rent housing (social security) at less than the prevailing costs. UK housing, however, did not meet stated objectives, such as acceptance from high-income and middle classes due to preference

Miscommunication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Miscommunication - Research Paper Example Although the cultural exchange that he enjoyed between Australian culture as a function of his own native culture was almost invariably a pleasant and beneficial one, the nuanced levels of meanings that English and his native language provided meant that oftentimes he could not express himself in the correct way or took statements that would otherwise be harmless in English to mean something more sinister than they actually meant. Although this was not the norm, it happened to a large enough extent during my early childhood and adolescence to be a defining characteristic of my life as it related to living at home with my father. Although this brief analysis will point out specific instances in which the aforementioned factors have worked to provide situations in which miscommunication broke down and implied levels of meaning were unable to be successfully conveyed, it should be clearly understood by the reader that this is not meant to cast any type of aspersion onto the character of my father or exhibit any type of intellectual or developmental shortcoming that he may have experienced (Sweeney et al 2010). Rather, this man was the formative foundation for what I consider myself today and an intellectual in every sense of the word; he merely suffered from the fact that he came to a different country and a different culture later in his life and had difficulty acclimating to the new language structure and voca bulary as quickly as a younger person might have. One particular example I remember with a great deal of clarity was concentric around a compliment that my father was attempting to give to a woman he had met. My father was always attempting to strike up conversations with what most people would consider â€Å"strangers†. However, due to the fact that my father never met a â€Å"stranger† in his entire life, he actively sought to engage anyone and everyone in some type of conversation or verbal exchange. This was doubtless partly born out of his

Employers Liability for its Employees Sex Abuse Case Study

Employers Liability for its Employees Sex Abuse - Case Study Example The case involved an employer who operated a care facility for mentally disabled children. One of the employees in the facility sexually abused a child. The supreme could of Canada held that the employer was vicariously liable for the unauthorized, intentional and wrong act of the employee. The Supreme Court issued a two-part approach to test whether an employer should be held vicariously liable. The test is as follows: 1) The court shall openly assess whether the liability should be imposed against the employer, rather than obscuring the decision under semantic discussions of scope of the employment and mode of the conduct. 2) The court shall assess whether the wrong act is sufficiently connected to conduct authorized by the employer to warrant imposition of liability on the employer. Where there is sufficient connection between the offence and the authority granted to the employee, vicarious liability will be enforced on the employer to serve as adequate remedy for the plaintiff and as deterrence. In determining the sufficiency of connection, the court shall consider the following factors: In addition, in the case of sexual assault, John Doe v. Bennett in which a Parish priest (Bennet) of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Newfoundland, Canada abused several young boys who were under his care for thirty years while serving as a parish priest. (White, 2005). The Canada Supreme Court upheld the decision of a lower court and ruled that, the Roman Catholic Diocese was vicariously directly liable for the actions of Bennet. Therefore, from the legal provisions and cases aforementioned, it is evident that the defendant (principle) in Curry’s case scenario is vicariously liable for the misconduct of his/her employee, curry if the application of the second part of the Bazley test in Curry’s case is anything to go by because: Firstly, the employer afforded Curry the opportunity to abuse his power in that the job description of the

The Family of Tata Corporate Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Family of Tata Corporate Strategy - Essay Example Ideally, there is supposed to be a group brand allying all the parties to the corporate development of the company as a whole. The pros outweigh the cons since there is a likely fight for market domination and a stated, Tata does not need 42 brands to be able to compete with other established companies like Mitsubishi. It requires one strong brand that will be competitive in the market. One of the advantages of re-uniting and corporately trying to achieve the brand strategies is that there will a tendency to achieve the brand recognition and loyalty by the customers. Formation of the many separate brands according to the owner taste is that there will be a tendency of the brands to confuse the customers. The customers who were even used to one brand in the market will now be divided toward which brand to follow. Another reason why there should be a high level of unity in the brand creation is that there is maintenance of the image of size and quality. The corporate brand will be foun ded on the basis of economies of scale and will be relevant in the creation of the general image of the company (Wu, Palepu, & Khanna, 2006, p. 2). It will be seen as a strong company based on an established business to the business. Reliability is created when there is a loyalty shown by the customers based on the strength of the company. There are also adverse cons in the proposed corporate branding. There are different companies with different share values on the company. Therefore, here will still be misunderstanding given that the business laws are indicative of the fact that anyone owning more than 51% of the shares owns the company. Therefore, much as the brand will be the same, binding and corporate, there will be every level of disintegration leading to a slow progress if the company. Building Of Equity Interlocks Among the Tata Companies Tata companies have investments in very many business interests. The equity interlocks it has generated over he many years of its existen ce are evident of the abilities it has generated. If the companies are closely held by contractual agreement, there will be a situation in which all the company management team will put the focus of their efforts on the development of the company strategies. There might also be situations when some agreements are based on mutual consensus. Mutual consensus however is not part of the company operations given the case of Tata and the much strife. It is therefore not easier for a company faced with the situation as it is at Tata to build a group brand. If it is build, there will be a large business empire in operation and will require an absolute corporate operation for there to be success. The advantages of the interlocks are diverse. First, there will be a cost leadership, product differentiation and focus strategy as far as market positioning is concerned. When this happens, there will be a creation of an economy of scale in the company in which case Tata will have low access to inp uts as far as costs are concerned (Doole & Lowe, 2008, p. 278). These inputs are a reference to all factors of production in land, capital, labour and entrepreneurship. Therefore, he interlocking in the company improves the competitive position of the company. However, this interlocking takes away the autonomy of the individual companies in the interlock brands. Each brand usually carries its own advantages and the

First World War and the Poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

First World War and the Poetry - Essay Example The poets of this period reacted in a number of ways to the war. Some of their poems deal directly with war experiences. They spoke about their fortitude and the emotional trauma that they suffered. Some addressed the futility and horrors of the war; while some expressed the loss of loved ones. The woks of poets like Edward Thomas Isaac Rosenberg, and Wilfred Owen illustrate the horrors of the war in great detail. Having a first hand experience of the war as soldiers, these writers understood the meaninglessness of the war. They realized that other than destruction there is nothing to be gained from the war. They demonstrated the same in their poetry. In Edward Thomas' poetry titled The Owl, the poet illustrates the wretchedness of the aftermath of a war. The soldier is tired, hungry and needs to rest after surviving the war. After having food at the inn, the soldier lays down to rest. But the memories of the war haunt him and he becomes restless. He realizes that war did not bring anything other than destruction and loss of lives of fellow human beings. This agitation is further heightened by the cry of the owl: The cry of the owl embodies the misery of all the soldiers who lost their lives. The owl seems to be lamenting the death of those who lost their lives. The soldier's awareness of their deprivation awakens a sense of remorse in him: Another of his poems titled The Rain, illustrates how the war can damage one's sense of worth. Feeling solitary amongst the dead bodies that are lying all around, he experiences a void which can never be filled. He is preoccupied with death which he knows is imminent: "Remembering again that I shall die" (Jon Silkin 91). The deaths have hardened him. There is no love in him. He is: "helpless among the living and the dead" (Jon Silkin 91). He does not feel any pity for the dead. His life as a soldier makes him cynical. He considers death to be a blessed condition rather than be alive with a sense of such worthlessness: "If love it be towards what is perfect and/ Cannot, the tempest tells me, disappoint"(Jon Silkin 91). Another poet who illustrated the horrors of war is Isaac Rosenberg. His poems deal with the sufferings of the soldiers. He looks at the war from the view point of a soldier. Rosenberg 'painted' what he saw and experienced; his poetry contained the colors of light/shade and the contrasts of night and day of the battlefield landscapes he constructedin his poems. These painted poems also contain a philosophizing about life andcivilization. (Trevor Tasker). Isaac Rosenberg's poem Returning, We Hear the Larks shows a soldier's preoccupation with death

ISMG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ISMG - Essay Example Atkins, and many others in the MDCM IT department were already aware of this. MDCM, Inc. Strategic IT Portfolio Management, Page 2. During the meeting there were many options made available to the IT department. The IT department would implement new strategies in an effort to cut costs, and save the company money. McMullen has found blame for the companies loss of revenue in the previous five quarters on the IT department. McMullen hired Atkins to begin an assessment of the IT department, and to help the company begin posting profits again as soon as possible. Atkins began his position with an internal audit of the IT department. Some of the options discussed in the meeting were to create a company email. Every personnel who needed to communicate would be given their own email address. With a just one email address for everyone in the company this will filter out possible important information being filtered to the junk folder by the recipients email provider. The company was going t o an overhaul the computer system within the organization. The company was going to update all computers throughout. Every computer would then operate with the same operating system. With the computers operate with the same operating system the computer would be compatible with each other. Currently there are computers with four types of operating systems. The computers are not compatible with each other. ... The company will also create a website. The website will allow customers to order products directly from the site with no need to contact a representative in the organization. The website will allow a customer to leave an email message, and to contact the company if necessary. The company will implement new strategies for the different offices too effectively, and efficiently communicate with one another. The company will cut some of the labor force. The United States division of the company currently has the largest work force. The company will begin to eliminate some of the jobs. Every position the company eliminates will help the company save money. The company wanted to assess the situation, and develop the most effective solution to the company’s current situation. The company will use the savings of cutting some of the positions and appropriate the funds to the Information Technology department. Atkins requested an increase in the budget for the IT department. The compan y found they could not increase the current budget of the IT department without cutting costs elsewhere. The company, Atkins, and the leaders of the IT department have developed the strategy to cut some of the positions and re appropriate the funds to the IT department budget. With the extra funds available to the IT department the company will be permitted to implement the strategies, and recommendations made by Atkins, and other leaders of the IT department. When the company implements one network, this will be beneficial to the company. There can possibly be a strong financial gain to incorporating one network. In having only one network, the associates in France will communicate more efficiently, and effectively. The network will be one, so there will be no compatibility

Globalization's impact on the spread of infectious diseases Annotated Bibliography

Globalization's impact on the spread of infectious diseases - Annotated Bibliography Example ue of racism in Toronto as the people from East Asia where the virus had initiated from started being isolated and discriminated against as a result of the virus and them being different. The Asians were segregated from the Canadians and the increase in racialization spread even more and the effects are still being felt to date. The conclusion from this article is that globalization has increased the spread of infectious diseases thousands of miles away from the area of origination and this is leading to other unwarranted and unwanted effects such as racism. The race that the infectious disease originates from is discriminated against and segregated as well as blamed for the spread of the disease or infection just like the Chinese were segregated by the Canadians in Toronto even though the disease spread as a result of interaction and connectedness but leads to inequality. Brown, T. (2011). ‘Vulnerability is universal’: Considering the place of ‘security’ and ‘vulnerability’ within contemporary global health discourse. Social Sciences & Medicine, 72: 319-326. The global health standards have been and continue to be affected by the increase in the multiple threats of the infectious diseases all over the world. With global connectedness and interactions increasing, there traditional border defenses and securities are weakening and hence allowing people the movement all over the world hence continuing to spread the infectious diseases everywhere. What this does is to increase the vulnerability of the people and exposing them to more diseases, spreads the panic over the diseases and eventually becoming an epidemiological threat to the health of the people. Fighting of these diseases has become even harder for the world because of the increase in environmental degradation, intensive farming practices, rapid urbanization as well as misusing of antimicrobials. All these contribute to the humanity becoming more vulnerable to the diseases and dying in

Practicing the Backward Roll in the Gymnastics Term Paper

Practicing the Backward Roll in the Gymnastics - Term Paper Example Back rolling is usually a difficult rolling process because of the neck. This is more so for the young children. This is because a child’s head in comparison to the rest of the body is usually larger than that of an adult person. Therefore, a child requires a greater amount of push from the floor in order to perform the back rolling technique. This happens in order to help them clear their heads from the floor while preventing the unnecessary injuries to the neck. However, as an instructor, there is a need to ensure that the students have enough abdominal strength in helping them lift their hips over their heads. The students also need to have enough arm strength in order to help them push their heads from the mat. This will help them to relieve some stress from their necks. Rick Feeney (1990),   explains one of the skills of backrolling which involves the placing of the mats in a V-formation for the back rolling technique. It helps to serve several functions: 1. To protect the head from injuries 2. It teaches the students how to roll in an exact straight line 3. It teaches the students how to push using their hands and arms   However, as a rolling instructor, there is need not rush your students to perform the back rolling technique, especially on flat mats until when the students are ready to perform it. However, when they perform this skill, there is a need to help them lift their hips up an over their heads. Consciously keep the pressure from their necks. The back rolling skill is a great technique to master because it usually helps the students to develop strength and agility. It also assists the learners to grasp the technique of safe fall.   However, spotting a back roll in students takes a little more practicing than any other rolling. First, the students need to start in a squatting stance. Next, make sure that their chins tackle forward while their hands are by their shoulders. Their palms need to be facing the ceiling in this area. However, there is a need to stand slightly behind your students, as well as their sides.

Maos domestic policies Essay Example for Free

Maos domestic policies Essay Essay Question: To what extend do you consider Maos domestic policies more successful than his foreign policies? Between the years 1949 and 1976 China was in a faze of changes, which varied in good and bad, the way roller coasters vary in ups and downs. Mao Zedong was the Chairman during those years whom one could make responsible for numerous successes and failures in China. His domestic and foreign policies were the causes of millions of deaths, economic highs and lows, unhappy peasants and many more factors which harmed and helped China to build up and backwards after feudalism had been removed from China. The Five Year Plan, which was a duplicate of the plan that Russia used to overcome the countries misery, took place between 1952 and 1956 and was a success for entire China. The Hundred Flowers Campaign, which Mao started in 1957, is known to be one of his greatest failures and resulted in chaos, along with the collectivisation plan in the late 1950s and early 1960s and the Great Leap Forward Mao failed to help his country. As he supported the Korean War in the 1950s Chinas budget decreased my thousand of millions of Yuan. This foreign policy was a disaster for China and even though several domestic policies were introduced, none of them could really keep China and its masses in population contend. Due to the support China had provided Korea with many more people died. If Korean had not been supported by Chinas budget, then one could argue that not as many people would have been killed the Korean War. Maybe the number of deaths could have been reduced to half a million or so, one can only speculate, yet it is clear that this foreign policy did not do any good, but much more harm. It did not only destroy human lives, it also harassed the Chinese budget and as a result made China very weak. PRC Expenditure in Percentages of Total Budget: As is shown on the table in 1950 the percent of money which was taken away from the budget is 41,5 %. This is almost half of the entire Chinese budget. Most of this money supported the Korean War and helped Korean to defend itself. By 1957 this percentile had gone down, but all most every other one went up. For an example 51,4 % of the Chinese budget was being used to support the economic development. This is a vast amount of money needed to support the economic development of a country. Even though this foreign policy supported Korean, it was and opposition for the donator, China. The Five Year Plan can be viewed purely as a success. Mao was impressed with what Lenin had accomplished with it and decided to do the same. Mao and the PRC, People Republic of China, build up the same Five Year Plan as Russia and succeeded. The National Resources Committee, NRC, had already taken care of several industrial ideas, which Mao had, and they were also the ones who had total control over the industrial investment sections. During the Five Year Plan a significant amount of migration took place. Families moved from the countryside into the large cities to find jobs at factories. One major factor that makes the Five Year Plan a success is of the inflation, from which China had been suffering for many years, which Mao achieved to decrease. It dropped from over 1,000 percent to nearly 15 percent and was a result of a raise of taxes and a change of the Chinese currency from the Chinese Dollar to the Yuan. Not only did the PRC want to focus on the production of steel, coal and petrol-chemicals, but also on transportations such as the Chinese automobile. An event, which is a perfect example to demonstrate the successes of the Five Year Plan would be the construction of a road and railway bridge, which crossed the Yangzi River, which can be seen as a contribution to the modernization of China. By 1952 the PRC had introduced their goals of what they wanted to achieve during the Five Year Plan. Their targets were to produce at least 555,000 bicycles by 1957, yet instead they produced more than 1,740,000. Also, they planned on manufacturing 4,000 trucks, but they achieved to produce more than 7,500. However magnificent this all sounds and how proud China must have been, if Russia had not helped China to industrialize, they would have never been able to compare themselves with the Soviet Union after their Five Year Plan had Worked so well. Meaning, China was not as successful as Russia had been, because China got the Soviet Unions support, whereas Russia made it on their own two feet. However, one should give credit to Mao for the Five Year Plan, because this was one of his only successful domestic policies and it gave China a better economic position in the world. The Hundred Flowers Campaign, which was a domestic policy, introduced in 1956, was probably Maos greatest Failure during has dictatorship. When Mao became the Chairman in 1949 he strict freedom of speech policies, since he did not welcome any other political opinions other than those of communism. In 1956, Mao Zedong decided it was time to allow people in China to speak their minds free from fear of persecution by the government. Mao wanted to encourage free speech and healthy arguments. This was introduced with the phrase let a hundred flowers bloom. With this he wanted allow the expression of diverse ideas. Mao colleagues to stop this policy, due to the fact that Stalin had lost power in Poland and Hungry through this policy. However, he pressured boldly forward. After some time thing got out of hand and Mao replaced it with the anti-rightist operation. Mao sent intellectuals, layers and even teacher to the countryside, had them humiliated publicly, or let them be assassinated. The Hundred Flowers Campaign was a disaster. Thousands were killed because they had their own opinion and expressed it freely, just the way Mao had provoked. When Mao said: It is only by using discussion, criticism and reasoning that we can really foster correct ideas, overcome wrong ideas and really settle issues. and then killed the majority of those who obeyed his new policy, one must ask oneself, what he really intended with this. One could argue that Mao did not create the Hundred Flower Campaign to get feed-back and criticism so that he can improve the countries situation, it is thought that Mao introduced the Campaign to find those who had something to say against him and his ideas in a quicker and more efficient way than before. In conclusion, Mao became more powerful, however, be betrayed his own country. This is how one can see where his domestic policies were much less successful than his foreign ones. With his foreign policy mention earlier, he provoked death due to a war, whereas in his domestic policies he provoked death due to his own ignorance and utter ruthlessness. Once one has made one mistake, it seems as though one has released a chain of reactions. At least this is the case for Mao, because his next mistake was not far from his last one. The Great Leap Forward, which took place in 1958-1962, was a hardship on the peasants. Even though China had modernized and industrialized there were still many problems to come. Although Mao stood upright for equal treatment of all humans and even though Mao and his family were peasants, he set up a list of strict rules for the peasants to obey. This was a result of the following. Mao realized that not enough food was being produced and brought to the cities, because of the migration that took place in the Five Year Plan. Too much of the population was now working in the factories and the economic planner concluded that this was the fault of the peasants. Since the peasant families were increasing rapidly each month, too much grain was going to the individual families, and thus, Mao decided to put the peasants under strict central control and direction. During the great peasant revolution Mao had given the serfs freedom and the land that once belonged to the landowners now belonged to them. However, the Collectivisation Plan changed everything. Now the peasants were not working for themselves anymore, but for the government, to prevent another shortage of grain in the cities. Chinas agricultural land was split into 70,000 communes, each consisting of 750,000 brigades, each made up of 200 households. The setting of prices, distribution of products, farming methods and the sales were all controlled by the PRC. Since the targets of grain production of the government were so high, there was not much grain left for the people. Hunger and death was well known during that time, and millions had died of starvation. Alone in Tibet 20% of the population had starved to death. The main problem of this crisis was that nobody told Mao about these happenings, because they were all afraid to undergo the same destiny as all the others who told him the bad news. However, one man did find the courage after all and open his heart to Mao. Mr. Peng Dehuai was the minister of defence, and decided to let Chairman know about the disasters that were going on. He was dismissed and sent to the countryside. By now nearly all of China was afraid to say anything against or even to him. The Collectivisation system pulled China down more than ever. In 1958 200 million tons of grain were being produced, but in 1962 less than 160 million tons were produced. A similar thing happened to the meat production. In 19584,3 million tons of meat were being manufactured and by 1968 only 1,9 tons were being produced. Maos plan had once again not worked. Almost thirty million people died in China from his domestic policies, however, his foreign policies did not cause such harsh consequences for anyone. One must look at the success of the domestic and foreign policies from three different perspectives. One, the Chinese citizens perspective during Maos dictatorship, two, Maos own viewpoint, and three, the perception of the success of todays people. The Chinese people of that time lived the changes, the success and most of all the failures. Like in many situations, the negative things were paid more attention, due to the harsher memories, which are well in mind. The people suffered, lost family members and were tortured mentally and physically. Even though Mao became like a God for them after the Little Red Book was published in May 1964. It was a book of quotations from Mao and was there to give the Chinese citizens a better view of what he was doing. Mao was feared and therefore obeyed. From Maos point of view, things seemed to be going great because be barely received feedback from his colleagues, because they were too afraid of him as well. The fear, which developed through out the years came from the punishment that people had to undergo. The rumours of what was happening did not even have to go around the country; the majority of the people saw the humiliations and various other punishments with their own eyes. Anyhow, Mao was partially not informed about the millions of deaths that were occurring, therefore he was probably satisfied with his work, and believed that he was successful. Then, if one looks at the overall damaged he caused with his domestic and foreign policies one can see that his domestic policies were much less successful than his foreign policies. If Mao would still be alive today he would possibly realize his mistakes and would think similar to the perspective of today. Mao was a man with visions and ideas, which he thought to be most important. However, he did more harm then did he help people with his domestic and foreign policies. One can even consider his foreign policies more successful in some ways, because his support in the Korean War did not kill as many people as his domestic polices resulted in killing. Nevertheless, one mustnt generalize everything. One must also look from different perspectives such as Maos for an example. He was often left uninformed about what was really going on in the country; therefore he was most likely felt successful. The peasants had a much different point of view due to the more authentic experiences they had to undergo. But by looking at the situation form the modern eyes of today, one can clearly see the successes and failures of Chairman Maos dictatorship. His domestic policies were less successful than his foreign policies due to the numbers of deaths. It seems as though Mao released a chain reaction of mistakes as he did his first one with the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1957, and that there was no way of stopping it.

Challenges to Kingstons Tourism Industry

Challenges to Kingstons Tourism Industry Kingston has many natural, heritage and infrastructural assets that lend themselves to the development of urban tourism and, at one time, was viewed as a viable tourist destination. The citys history, however, indicates a level of creeping neglect and social turmoil which has led to what is today, an almost non-existent tourist presence. However, it is the social problems that are faced by Kingston, in the form of poverty, crime, and violence, that form the strongest arguments in favour of the development of tourism infrastructure in Kingston. It argued that these are merely symptoms of the greater problem of social exclusion and the lack of economic opportunities for the community at large. Therefore infrastructural development that leads to the creation of sustainable employment opportunities is required. The citys current dependency on manufacturing and related industries has failed to provide the growth or economic benefits required, particularly since the liberalization of the Jamaican economy and the removal of trade protection. Jamaica has not been competitive, neither as a low cost producer of manufactured goods nor as centre of excellence in any particular manufacturing process, not even when compared with its Caribbean neighbours, such as Trinidad and Tobago. It is therefore unlikely that this sector will be the engine of future growth required to provide the people of Kingston with the economic and social benefits required. Conversely, Jamaica has gained significant comparative advantage in tourism, even though its capital city has not been central to this thus far. Many cities in the US and around the globe, facing decline in their manufacturing or primary industries, have embarked on a similar development path and like these cities, Kingston has few available development options. However, research suggests a positive relationship between investment in infrastructure and between performance as well as between tourism and welfare. The writer suggests that properly managed tourism infrastructure in Kingston has the potential to provide significant benefits to its citizens. There is, however very little indication that tourism development in Kingston is high on the agenda of tourism policymakers. The Tourism Master Plan, while acknowledging Kingstons assets, does not make it a priority and merely passes the responsibility to the UDC. Additionally, while a number of papers, studies and plans exist that relates to various sections of Kingston, and some of these do acknowledge the tourism potential, there appears to be very little co-ordination of these initiatives and no central body that is responsible for guiding the achievement of the various plans. It is recognized that the successful development of tourism in Kingston requires the involvement of the central government, local government, the private sector and active participation of the community. It is suggested that while the government will have some role to play in the provision of basic infrastructure, the major investment in tourism infrastructure should come from the private sector. Beyond this however, the government needs to create the environment to encourage this private sector investment and act as facilitator to the development by addressing such issues as: Creation of the tax regime that would facilitate the development Development and encouragement of the capital markets Legislation to facilitate removal of derelict buildings and facilitate city cleanup Inner city housing solutions that provide good living conditions for the community Assessment and address of social and environment issues Provision for security of citizens and assets Tourism planners need to have a clear understanding of the key drivers that affect the demand for tourism products and extensive research may be required into the key factors affecting the major sources of tourists that would gain value from visiting Kingston. Markets include the, dsts VFR, CariEuropean markets, which are not heavily penetrated by the present offerings of resort towns, would make ideal initial candidates markets to be studied, applications of Butlers Area Life cycle Model to the destinations in Jamaica may be useful as it is possible that the creation of Kingston as an alternative location could strengthen Jamaicas strategic offerings. This is especially important as the resort towns approach the later stage of the life cycle and over-capacity becomes a more significant limiting factor for tourism growth an issue. At present, the governments ownership of the national airline Air Jamaica arTe Jamaica UTban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) and the ownership and operation of the Norman Manley International Airport make it an active player in the provision of tourism transportation in Kingston. In addition to its ro as policy setter and regulator the government will and therefore require fulg of the factors affecting the tourism demand and s tourism transportation. It is anticipated that Kingston will become a major cruise shipping destination and this will potentially raise issues and conflicts with the container shipping industry. There is little doubt that crime and of the major issues facing the markets acceptance of Kingston as a viable destination. However, , it is important that this is not used we do not use this as of investment. It is noted that in Jamaicas crime against tourists is relatively low and it is also noted that other countries that have high crime levels, are considered as viable tourist destinations. While the hosting by Jamaica of the semifinal of the Cricket World Cup in 2007 will may not be judge a shining success either financially or as a catalyst for tourism, the hosting does provide a number of lessons which need to be utilized in the future. It cannot be denied that the use of such events to Kick Start tourism in Kingston, if properly planned and managed could be an important part of the tourism planners strategic tool kit. A Strategic Plan is required In the writers opinion there is a clear need for a Strategic Plan for the development of Kingston; a component of which should be the development of tourism. This plan must have as one of its deliverables; the formulation of a clear vision for tourism in Kingston. This vision must be shared among the stakeholders including, national and city Government, the relevant Public Sector bodies, the private sector and the community. A clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Kingston as a potential destination for tourists is required and in this regard it is important that the discourse on crime and violence and the impact on tourism is clearly understood. A significant output of the strategic plan should be a full inventory and assessment of the existing attributes, tourism assets such as attractions, potential attractions and infrastructural assets in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA). This will need to be compared with the desired assets and infrastructure to determine the required investments. This investment is likely to be very significant and, given Jamaicas current fiscal constraints, is not likely to be accommodated in the present budgetary environment. The discussion of PPII does touch on infrastructure financing, though it is recognized that creative and innovative ways need to be developed to finance the development. A key issue, which must be fully considered, discussed and evaluated in the strategic plan is the issue of Leadership and Politics. While this has not been discussed in detail in this paper, it cannot be ignored as it represented a common theme in a number of the case studies that were reviewed, including St Louis, Baltimore and especially Montreal. Additional Research Required It is recognized that it is beyond the scope of this paper to consider all the applicable areas that require consideration. There is, for example, significant scope for new research to be carried out in order to understand the attitudes of the community, in Kingston and Jamaica generally, towards the active development of tourism in Kingston. It is important to determine whether the community will view such developments as being positive, viable and beneficial to them. and therefore we wish to , the the benefits that will the stakeholders in the unity will expect tain from delivering that value to the tourists and, the positive and negative social and environmental impacts that re expected to result from increased tourism and the related development need to be answered? There is also a need to carry out research into the potential markets mentioned earlier before embarking on significant infrastructural or marketing expenditure. Additional data on what type of tourist may be targeted, where they will come from and what value will they get they will get from would be beneficial to future developers.

Media Reaction to Muhammad Cartoons

Media Reaction to Muhammad Cartoons Research Objective: A quantification of social dynamics and ethics in global society. It is the aim of this project to assess the relative reaction of newspapers and their readers to the publishing of the Muhammad cartoons in various parts of the World. Since the Muhammad cartoons will obviously have generated the most anger in the Middle East and North Africa; we have chosen to ignore those major regions. The regions we focus on are: The United States of America Great Britain and Europe The Nations of Scandinavia The Left Bank The Indian Sub-Continent The Far East and South-East Asia The United States and Great Britain, of course, get special mention because of their position as leaders of the Free World / leaders of the War against Terror; and are by implication, leaders of the West who would possibly be (and indeed were) blamed for the publishing of those images (with their flags burned) regardless of their complicity or lack thereof in the publishing of the images (no main stream American or British paper republished the cartoons; and all government officials condemned the publishing of the same as a lack of sensitivity towards the Muslim population of the World. The Scandinavian countries of course, have been some of the most passive and anti-War in the past; and stood together as a matter of principle on this issue, and well see their reactions as well. The Left Bank to me comprises of the French and Germans; and all liberal forms that were not directly involved in the original conflict. France and Germany were a bit divided, with the ministers in power slowly backtracking and calling for calm; while the newspapers and opposition politicians lambasted the protests and called for their governments to condemn the negative reaction to the printing, as anti-democratic. We live in India of course, which also happens to have the worlds second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, and it would therefore seem odd to not take into account the views professed here; as also in the region around us. China is an upcoming Great Power and is highly influential in Asia, and we have so considered the reactions from the Far East and South-East Asia as well. That answers the who? of our paper; but we have not quite covered the why? yet. We said that this is meant to be a quantification of the social dynamics in a Global Society. What does that entail? Well, a multitude of objects to be honest; all of which are inter-linked, across the realm of the socio-political and the economic. While it is still early in the stage to measure a fall out; we believe that it may be possible to extrapolate on the Raw data we gathered from our content analysis, by which we can posit some possible ramifications for Governments and Businesses alike, and the Press too. The basic questions we ask ourselves in the analysis, then? What was the nature of the defense / consternation the Press involved itself in with relation to this issue? Was the language used inflammatory, did it attempt towards peacebrokering, did it make a definitive stand? What was the stand that papers took? What was the reaction the public gave to those points of view? The answers that we found were then funneled to add specific weight to our proposition, to contradict it, or to re-evaluate it. The Proposition: That Democracies furnish the Press with certain rights to publish that must not be curbed (the tabloid press is a different matter—it is the mainstream Press we discuss here). That newspapers tend towards biases or political tilts is undoubtedly undeniable, and newspapers must not be open to government censure in the matter of press freedom. While it is imperative that newspapers publish with responsibility to all share-holders; which in the field of Mass Media implies subscribers and second-hand (re-issues, internet) readers. What were trying to establish is what negative effects such stories can have upon the circulation of national newspapers and the reaction of the public to them; and on the portrayal of either to the countries they deal with. There are multiple possibilities of where this research could be used—in social dynamics as we mentioned, in assessing press freedom or quantifying media ethics; and also in more basic analyses like the reaction of people to such incidents, (such as the boycotting of Western-made products in many parts of the Muslim world) not even getting to protests involving mass flag and effigy and product burning We will discuss this further in our conclusions Subjective Analyses The United States of America: From the voyages of Columbus-to the Oregon Trail —to the journey to the Moon itself —history proves that we have never lost by pressing the limits of our frontiers. —George Bush, 20 July 1989 Firstly this starts off with a bit on the Post 9/11 reactions and observation of Americas response to the tragic attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001. There are two principal features of American nationalism, both of which were evident in the response to 9/11. These are, in spirit, to a great extent contradictory but they often run together in American public life. The first is a certain element of American messianism: the belief in America as a city on the hill, a light to the nations, which usually takes the form of a belief in the force of Americas example. But at particular moments, and especially when America is attacked, it moves from a passive to an active form: the desire to go out and actually turn the world into America, as it were, to convert other countries to democracy, to the American way of life. In principle, the desire to spread democracy in the world is of course not a bad thing. But there are two huge problems with it. One is that because this element of American messianism is so deeply rooted in American civic nationalism, in what has been called the American Creed, and in fundamental aspects of Americas national identity, it can produce and after 9/11 did produce an atmosphere of debate in America which is much more dominated by myth than by any serious look at the reality of the outside world. Myths about American benevolence, myths about America spreading freedom, myths about the rest of the world wanting America to spread freedom, as opposed to listening to what the rest of the world really has to say about American policies. The second feature that cuts across this American messianism, however, is what can be called the American antithesis, that is to say, those elements in the American nationalist tradition which actually contradict both American civic nationalism and the American Creed. These elements, which are very strong in parts of America, include national chauvinism, hatred of outsiders, and fear and contempt of the outside world. This is particularly true in the case of the Muslim world, both because America has been under attack from Muslim terrorists for almost two generations now, but also because of the relationship with Israel, and the way in which pro-Israeli influences here have contributed to demonizing the Muslim world in general. This results in an incredible situation: on the one hand and there are here particularly the neo-cons the Bush administration who want to democratize the Muslim world, while on the other, neo-conservatives do not even bother to hide their contempt for Muslims and Arabs. Sometimes you hear, and even read, phrases like, The only language that Arabs understand is force, Let them hate us so long as they fear us and so on. This is utterly contradictory: people saying they want to democratize the Arab world but displaying utter contempt for Arab public opinion. Of course this is not just a moral failing, or a propaganda failing. It also leads to practical disasters, like the extraordinary belief that you could pretend at least to be introducing democracy, and on the other hand, you could somehow impose Ahmed Chalabi on Iraqis as a pro-American strongman, and that somehow the local population would line up to salute you and happily accept this. The extent to which this is fundamental to t he American national identity and is widely believed to keep Americans together means that it is very difficult in this country to challenge these myths When it comes to the newspapers in the United States there are those which take up a much more liberal stance while there are those that are hard and not targeted but go to the extremes of the phrase the land of the free. The one positive point of the country is that when it is said that there is freedom of speech, there is a lot of it, and because of which one has seen, documentaries (although on a single persons mindset) such as Fahrenheit 9/11 which although is extremely, targeting the Bush Administration but also reveals to the world the inner working of the worlds most powerful nation. In this Write up references taken up were from six American newspapers namely; The New York Times The Boston Globe The Chicago Tribune The Washington Post The Los Angeles Times Newsweek Magazine In all 18 articles from these newspapers have been analyzed to give out an opinion of what American nationalism is and to what extent is it prevalent in some leading newspapers in the United States of America. Among the Newspapers taken up and the articles under reference a pattern can be seen that everyone follows each other and that only a few dare to twist the use of words to mention of names of officials and other people of importance. With the current invasion of Iraq and the ever growing resentment against the Americans by the Muslim World a majority of the articles will be based on Iraq, the Middle East, and terrorism and on the Muslim world. Since the attacks on 9/11 America has been in a never ending battle with terrorism, along with allied support from various other countries in the world. But does it justify its actions, the Invasion of Iraq, The bombings in Afghanistan, The claims of nuclear threat, even targeting Saddam Hussein. Is this all truly in the best interest of the world or just a game for the worlds most powerful nation. Where millions of people in these areas have lost their lives, damage of property estimated in millions, use of weapons in large quantities, destroy ing nations.. Although these steps have already been taken by the U.S. it was now up to the newspapers in the country to report out the activities taking place in the war zone in which their country was playing a major part. As far as one can see, the newspapers do not seem to play a one-sided role or seem to tilt to a particular side but with reports from all angles in the battlefield and the repercussions back home one gets the feel that the newspapers are sensible and have a definite role which is positive in the world today. With a large cloud of disbelief and hatred and disgust looming over the Americans along with the outbursts of the Muslim community, today the American media and that of the world play a vital role in maintaining the stable atmosphere that we have today. The newspapers, one of the most powerful mediums of spreading awareness plays a pivotal role and an extremely delicate role keeping in mind sentiments of the various communities in the world. Seems to me like most people wo uld be able to grasp the difference that being patriotic means loving America, while being nationalistic places America, which can do no wrong, above other nations. The former is good. Its healthy. It promotes pride in ones nation. The latter, however, is not good. Its very unhealthy. It promotes arrogance to the point of hostility. Arnold Toynbee once said Great empires do not die by murder, but suicide. Would one say that its where the United States is heading? Europe: Report: British newspapers and British reactions The cartoon strip published by Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, depicted the prophet Mohammed with a ticking time bomb for his head sparked widespread protests and violent demonstration across Europe and Asia. The drawings were originally commissioned by Jyllands-Posten from Danish artists after an author could not find an illustrator to depict Mohammed in a biography of the Prophet. The Danish cartoonists submitted a range of images, all banned by Islam, which strictly forbids depictions of the Prophet to avoid encouraging idolatry .One depicts a grinning, knife-wielding Mohammed flanked by two veiled women. Another, which appeared on the front page of Die Welt in Germany, and in La Stampa in Italy, shows the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban, topped by a hissing fuse. The Spanish newspaper ABC used a photograph of the original Danish newspaper, with its 12 cartoons. Die Welt also ran an editorial regretting a decision by the Dani sh newspaper to apologize for the upset caused. The Jyllands Posten has not apologized but its editor, Carsten Juste, said he would not have printed them had we known that it would lead to boycotts and Danish lives being endangered. These episodes of protests and demonstrations have raised heightened debates on the limits that the press should adhere to. And to defend their rights to freedom of expression, some newspapers went ahead and reprinted the inflammatory comic strip. The result was just as expected, with individual rights at loggerheads with the rights of the press, the world watches as the fire spreads slowly yet steadily over different parts of the world. London witnessed some violent protests where people took to the streets and embraced the Al-Qaeda and calling for the beheading of non-believers. Following this reaction, the liberal Muslims, that constitute the majority of the Muslim population in London, were left aghast and quickly took to the street making clear they were not around to incite mindless violence. The organizers had carefully chosen banners which had simple messages like united against islamophobia, united against incitement, mercy to mankind and Mohammed, symbol of freedom and hono r. Amongst the crowd were a number of white people who were opposing the sudden rise in violence. A rally held in Trafalgar Square on the 11th of February was backed by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. From among the crowd, a Mrs.Brka said, if you slap someone once, then okay, but if you slap someone 10 times, they will do something about it. This was in reaction to the reprinting of the comic strip by newspapers across Europe. Most of the violence that spread across the globe was completely reactionary and most were incited by imams who vehemently preached of the Jihad against the west. The press too held their own in defending their freedom of expression. In France the front page of the France-Soir tabloid carried the headline Yes, We Have the Right to Caricature God and a cartoon of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian divinities floating on a cloud. Inside, the paper re-ran the Danish drawings. The appearance of the 12 drawings in the Danish press provoked emotions in the Muslim world because the representation of Allah and his prophet is forbidden, it said. But because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, France Soir is publishing the incriminating caricatures. The protests during the later part of February in London were simply gatherings of Muslims from all over London in a bid for peace and tolerance Scandinavia: Report Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Finland In this part of the project well try to understand what had happened in Denmark with regards to the drawings on the prophet Mohammed. The problem with the cartoons in its basic form is that an author of a childrens book needed drawings for his book, but was afraid to do so because Islamic law prohibits depiction of Muhammad and when the cultural Editor of Jyllands Posten got wind of it he opted to use this as a catalyst for discussing Freedom of Speech and therefore he had a number of artist draw up some cartoons of how they imagined Muhammad. This did stir up some debate in Denmark but not really that much, except for a few Muslim who felt really offended and tried to get the Danish population to acknowledge their outrage. This however did not happen and therefore they decided to journey to several Muslim countries with a file containing the drawings and several other cartoons of Muhammad which were said to be even more offensive to the typical Muslim, and some might argue that without these added drawings the response would have been less drastic. After having spoke to a number of Danes, Norwegians and a few Finnish people the majority of the consensus was that they didnt want the government to exercise any apologies to the Islam world because as they say in Scandinavia the countries are all about opting for the freedom of speech. As Michael says They have a right to their voice But they dont seem to understand that the Danes have the right of free speech The problem was that the Danish people do not understand the respect some other people might have towards religion in other parts of the world, since we do not take religion as much more than some traditions and rituals that you go trough in life. And some other parts of the world dont understand the Danish pride of having the freedom to say/do whatever they want. Danish people stands very steadfast on the issue of freedom of speech, and will not tolerate that other people interfere with that, just because they were offended by some humorous drawings, which have been seen in many other cases, also with other religious figures. As Kasper Kataoka mentioned in his questionnaire, We know that Denmark is one of the most open and accepting countries in the world. There are a lot of Muslims and other foreigners living in our country, including myself. So when we se e people in some far away country, yelling about Denmark being the devil, being a intolerant country and treating Muslims bad, while they are tramping on our flag, burning buildings and causing all kind of obscene violence then we lose even more respect. A real big problem was the role of the Imams, those from Denmark have been traveling around the Muslim world, showcasing homemade pictures with a pig face and a praying Muslim being taken from behind by a dog. These imams traveled around to cause an upset; long after that the real pictures had actually been posted in the papers. Some of the pictures were even published in Egyptian papers long before people started protesting, and nothing happened back then. So what we believe is the reason for the escalation of the whole situation, is that the Muslims might have felt surprised by the western world for some time, and now they suddenly had something they could rally around. If there was an easy answer to this, it would already have been done. But communication is what is needed mostly. The fact that the Danish prime minister turned down a talk with the Muslim ambassadors in the start was a stupid move. Now all who are able to see a bit open on this subject, and is able to do something, should. Talk with people on the other side whatever side you are on, try to get some more understanding of why everything is happening, and try to make the people around you understand. Also the Danish Muslims have a big responsibility to spread out the word to their fellow Muslims, of how the Danish community is. This is already being done it seems. In Norway things seemed to be a little more different the main newspapers VG and Dagbladet were the ones who showcased these imagery and a quick response from Truls revealed that, I had no reaction to the cartoon, as they are commonly used in Scandinavia. such drawings are meant to start a discussion, not fighting This is what is reflected in most of the answers given by the Norwegians in that they all didnt anticipate the level of response that they got. But many feel that there shouldnt have been any sort of apology and that the Norwegian embassies should not have been burnt. As Truls says Diplomacy goes before everything to solve problems. Religious leaders who are ignorant and are lacking in knowledge should be replaced. Whereas those present in the chilly areas of Finland hadnt seen it through newspapers since it was never published in any paper. But they did get to see it through the internet sites. Most of them didnt even care enough to respond well and showed no real signs of interest or wanted to raise their voices. As teemu from Finland says An apology is an easy thing to do, especially if it solves problems this big. Even if they didnt mean to cause this, you still apologies. Usually you apologies someone when you accidentally step on their foot or something. That was the extent of their level of co-operation. So we see that from the study undertaken that the people werent really interested in knowing what was happening, most of them in Denmark hadnt even seen it in the papers. But many would have gone out of their way to gain some more insight into the whole ordeal. Many of the youth that I spoke to didnt know what the big fuss was about the drawings and some of the youth in Norway even thought it was like a war between Christians and Muslims. (In their own words: Islam world vs. Western world) To an extent it would see arrogant to us the way they responded but as mentioned, they didnt even feel the need to apologize. The newspapers were clearly advocating the freedom of speech and they paraded those values of theirs which they think actually symbolizes Scandinavia. Many of the newspapers in Denmark and Norway felt that they hadnt done much wrong and that the Muslims were overreacting to the whole issue. Another important note would be that the papers had actually apologized for their work and extended an apology as well, but the Muslims didnt seem to care too much as they wanted the governments to say sorry for the work of a newspaper. If the drawings were indeed meant to induce a discussion then why is it being used to induce violence in people? France and Germany / Liberal Reactions: The liberal defends the right to speech, the right to freedom, the right to the freedom of expression above all others. Personal or collective offense is subjective and of lesser importance than the right to air discourse that could degenerate to an offensive level. Benjamin Franklin once said that societies willing to give up little freedoms for a little more security deserve neither freedom nor security. The newspapers I have referred to in my analysis are: Le Monde, France Der Spiegel, Germany Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany Das Bild, Germany The Economist, Great Britain The Guardian, Great Britain The International Herald Tribune All newspapers are set in a strongly liberal tradition, and therefore exemplify the debate that perhaps lies at the heart of this misunderstanding and hatred. The West, set in its liberal traditions allows for Press Freedom like the Arab World just does not. Many Arabs found it shocking that Governments in the West cannot control what is published and what isnt by the Press. What was interesting here, however, were articles carried by Der Spiegel which were more sympathetic to the Muslim cause (one should remember, that though France and Germany are more liberal and stringent supporters of journalistic freedom; they hold the largest Muslim populations (France via immigrants from North Africa and Germany via Turkish Immigrants) in Europe. Mass Media Research This section will be short for now; as a large part recurs in the final analysis, as the position taken by the Left Bank is largely the view you might associate with this paper as well The conclusion will deal with liberal views, the political ramifications of taking a stand on an issue like this; and the economic fallout. The Indian Sub-Continent: Times of India Friday, February 10, 2006 On Friday, February 10th 2006 The Times of India published an article attributing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who condemned the publication of the controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons and advocated all steps to be taken to calm down the situation. He termed the articles as insensitive, offensive and provocative also stating that he was not against freedom of speech or expression. Sunday, February 12, 2006 This article told the story of the Muslim Protest march in the state capital. Carrying placards and raising anti-US and anti-Denmark slogans, they demanded that the respective governments apologize for hurting the religious sentiments. It was Maulana Sher Mohammed Madrasa Varisaya who interpreted the act as a violation of the religious liberties of believers of God. He demanded the United Nations to intervene and formulate an international law for prohibiting the repetition of any such act. Monday, February 13, 2006 Police fired tear gas and baton-charged about 7,000 students protesting the Prophet Mohammed cartoons on Monday in northwestern Pakistan. The crowd threw stones at Edwards College, breaking windows and causing other damages at the prestigious school founded by Christian missionaries during British colonial rule. The article claimed that the Muslims were angry because Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet. Under Pakistani laws, insulting the prophet or Islams holy book, the Quran, can be punished with the death sentence. Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Gunfire and rioting erupted on Wednesday as more than 70,000 people joined Pakistans biggest protest yet against Prophet Muhammad cartoons, burning movie theaters, a KFC restaurant and a South Korean-run bus station. Three people died and dozens were injured in two cities, police and witnesses said. The rioters ransacked the offices of the Norwegian mobile phone company Telenor, three cinemas and offices of Mobilink — the main mobile phone operator in the country, witnesses said. Thursday, February 16, 2006 Tens of thousands of Pakistani Islamists wielding sticks and waving green flags rallied in Karachi against cartoons of Prophet Mohammad on Thursday, the latest in a wave of protests in which five people have died. A branch of US-based Citibank, and an office of the German company Siemens, hung black flags to mask their logos, as did a Christian hospital and several cinemas on the rallys route. Saturday, February 18, 2006 At least 11 people died when Libyan police opened fire on demonstrators attempting to storm an Italian consulate during a protest against the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, Italian state television reported. Dozens were injured in the protest outside the Italian consulate in Benghazi, reports said on Friday. All the victims reportedly were Libyans. Sunday, February 19, 2006 Pakistani authorities arrested more than 100 activists of Islamic Jamaat-e- Islami (JI) and put its chief under house arrest ahead of an anti-cartoon demonstration. The Times of India more or less covered the violent protests that have rocked many parts of the world after the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in several countries. They have focused mainly on Pakistan, the country which is largely dominated by Muslim population, followers of Islam. The articles have been solely matter of fact, stating incidences how they have occurred. There have been subtle expressions of sentiments, like the TOI has covered mostly the riots and the arrests of Islamic activists in Pakistan. Hindustan Times February 10, 2006 The Hindustan Times were deeply alarmed at the repercussions of the publication in Denmark several months ago of insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and their subsequent re-publication by some other European newspapers and at the violent acts in reaction to them. They stated that anguish in the Muslim world is shared by all individuals and communities who recognize the sensitivity of religious belief. February 10, 2006 This article gave us a brief about how the cartoons came into being, with the creators being threatened by the Islamic extremists. They also covered from where the article became a case of international conflict. They also spoke about the Danish: Then a group of Danish imams took the cartoons to West Asia. Complaining of press bias, they distributed the drawings — and, some say, fabricated a few of their own to ensure that unrest would be sown. Also stating that the Arab elites got into the game. Then ended as most articles did, on the victimized Muslims side. February 13, 2006 Vir Sanghvis candid expression that the silence of liberal Muslims was adding fuel to fire found favor with surfers. Like Sanghvi they chose to sprinkle their argument citing the recent incidents involving the offensive cartoons of the Prophet in Danish newspapers as well as MF Husseins nude paintings of Mother India. February 11, 2006 It talked about the latest religion vs. freedom of expression controversy: the fuss over the Danish cartoons that featured the Prophet Mohammed. Vir Sanghvi said do statements that cause religious offence fall in the same category? To argue that they do, we would have to prove that they caused damage to the safety of the religious faith (the national security parallel) or that they affected the way the faith was perceived by society, or even lowered its standing. But surely none of the people who complain about insults to religion accept that the slights can have these consequences? Is the safety of Islam threatened because a Danish newspaper carries a cartoon? Is Islam so weak a religion that a couple of cartoons can cause the world or society in general to think less of it? Clearly not. So, Im not sure on what grounds we could abridge the right to free speech when it comes to religion. If India is not to become a soft state, then we must stand up for liberal principles. We must stand up to the rioters, arrest those who foment violence and never, ever, give in to the blackmail. The Hindustan Times covered both sides of the coin. It gave us a whole idea about how the problem occurred, who was responsible and who instigated the whole process. It gives us both sides of the problems, framing it as mere as a Danish author wanting to publish it in her book. The Far-East and South-East Asia Major Newspapers in China/Hong Kong The China Daily is an English-language daily newspaper published in the Peoples Republic of China. The Communist Party of China-controlled state-run publication has the widest print circulation (200,000 per issue) among Englishlanguage newspapers in the country. The editorial office is in north Beijing, and the newspaper has branch offices in most major cities of China as well as in several foreign capitals. STANCE: China Daily was set up in 1985 and several journalists on the new paper supported the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. . The editor of China Daily, Zhu Ling, told foreign editors that the papers editorial policy was to support the policies of the Communist Party and only to make criticism of authorities if there was deviance from Party policy. CONTENT ANALYSIS: There were few editorials on the issue in the Post, which in itself says a lot, which shows how much importance was given to the issue in China/ Hong Kong. Other than the customary report, a certain report is interesting: A top Taliban commander offered a reward of 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who kills the person responsible for blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed This might not be directly indicative, however the inclusion of this article, which was ignored by other newspapers worldwide shows that China is not very p Media Reaction to Muhammad Cartoons Media Reaction to Muhammad Cartoons Research Objective: A quantification of social dynamics and ethics in global society. It is the aim of this project to assess the relative reaction of newspapers and their readers to the publishing of the Muhammad cartoons in various parts of the World. Since the Muhammad cartoons will obviously have generated the most anger in the Middle East and North Africa; we have chosen to ignore those major regions. The regions we focus on are: The United States of America Great Britain and Europe The Nations of Scandinavia The Left Bank The Indian Sub-Continent The Far East and South-East Asia The United States and Great Britain, of course, get special mention because of their position as leaders of the Free World / leaders of the War against Terror; and are by implication, leaders of the West who would possibly be (and indeed were) blamed for the publishing of those images (with their flags burned) regardless of their complicity or lack thereof in the publishing of the images (no main stream American or British paper republished the cartoons; and all government officials condemned the publishing of the same as a lack of sensitivity towards the Muslim population of the World. The Scandinavian countries of course, have been some of the most passive and anti-War in the past; and stood together as a matter of principle on this issue, and well see their reactions as well. The Left Bank to me comprises of the French and Germans; and all liberal forms that were not directly involved in the original conflict. France and Germany were a bit divided, with the ministers in power slowly backtracking and calling for calm; while the newspapers and opposition politicians lambasted the protests and called for their governments to condemn the negative reaction to the printing, as anti-democratic. We live in India of course, which also happens to have the worlds second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, and it would therefore seem odd to not take into account the views professed here; as also in the region around us. China is an upcoming Great Power and is highly influential in Asia, and we have so considered the reactions from the Far East and South-East Asia as well. That answers the who? of our paper; but we have not quite covered the why? yet. We said that this is meant to be a quantification of the social dynamics in a Global Society. What does that entail? Well, a multitude of objects to be honest; all of which are inter-linked, across the realm of the socio-political and the economic. While it is still early in the stage to measure a fall out; we believe that it may be possible to extrapolate on the Raw data we gathered from our content analysis, by which we can posit some possible ramifications for Governments and Businesses alike, and the Press too. The basic questions we ask ourselves in the analysis, then? What was the nature of the defense / consternation the Press involved itself in with relation to this issue? Was the language used inflammatory, did it attempt towards peacebrokering, did it make a definitive stand? What was the stand that papers took? What was the reaction the public gave to those points of view? The answers that we found were then funneled to add specific weight to our proposition, to contradict it, or to re-evaluate it. The Proposition: That Democracies furnish the Press with certain rights to publish that must not be curbed (the tabloid press is a different matter—it is the mainstream Press we discuss here). That newspapers tend towards biases or political tilts is undoubtedly undeniable, and newspapers must not be open to government censure in the matter of press freedom. While it is imperative that newspapers publish with responsibility to all share-holders; which in the field of Mass Media implies subscribers and second-hand (re-issues, internet) readers. What were trying to establish is what negative effects such stories can have upon the circulation of national newspapers and the reaction of the public to them; and on the portrayal of either to the countries they deal with. There are multiple possibilities of where this research could be used—in social dynamics as we mentioned, in assessing press freedom or quantifying media ethics; and also in more basic analyses like the reaction of people to such incidents, (such as the boycotting of Western-made products in many parts of the Muslim world) not even getting to protests involving mass flag and effigy and product burning We will discuss this further in our conclusions Subjective Analyses The United States of America: From the voyages of Columbus-to the Oregon Trail —to the journey to the Moon itself —history proves that we have never lost by pressing the limits of our frontiers. —George Bush, 20 July 1989 Firstly this starts off with a bit on the Post 9/11 reactions and observation of Americas response to the tragic attack on the World Trade Center in September 2001. There are two principal features of American nationalism, both of which were evident in the response to 9/11. These are, in spirit, to a great extent contradictory but they often run together in American public life. The first is a certain element of American messianism: the belief in America as a city on the hill, a light to the nations, which usually takes the form of a belief in the force of Americas example. But at particular moments, and especially when America is attacked, it moves from a passive to an active form: the desire to go out and actually turn the world into America, as it were, to convert other countries to democracy, to the American way of life. In principle, the desire to spread democracy in the world is of course not a bad thing. But there are two huge problems with it. One is that because this element of American messianism is so deeply rooted in American civic nationalism, in what has been called the American Creed, and in fundamental aspects of Americas national identity, it can produce and after 9/11 did produce an atmosphere of debate in America which is much more dominated by myth than by any serious look at the reality of the outside world. Myths about American benevolence, myths about America spreading freedom, myths about the rest of the world wanting America to spread freedom, as opposed to listening to what the rest of the world really has to say about American policies. The second feature that cuts across this American messianism, however, is what can be called the American antithesis, that is to say, those elements in the American nationalist tradition which actually contradict both American civic nationalism and the American Creed. These elements, which are very strong in parts of America, include national chauvinism, hatred of outsiders, and fear and contempt of the outside world. This is particularly true in the case of the Muslim world, both because America has been under attack from Muslim terrorists for almost two generations now, but also because of the relationship with Israel, and the way in which pro-Israeli influences here have contributed to demonizing the Muslim world in general. This results in an incredible situation: on the one hand and there are here particularly the neo-cons the Bush administration who want to democratize the Muslim world, while on the other, neo-conservatives do not even bother to hide their contempt for Muslims and Arabs. Sometimes you hear, and even read, phrases like, The only language that Arabs understand is force, Let them hate us so long as they fear us and so on. This is utterly contradictory: people saying they want to democratize the Arab world but displaying utter contempt for Arab public opinion. Of course this is not just a moral failing, or a propaganda failing. It also leads to practical disasters, like the extraordinary belief that you could pretend at least to be introducing democracy, and on the other hand, you could somehow impose Ahmed Chalabi on Iraqis as a pro-American strongman, and that somehow the local population would line up to salute you and happily accept this. The extent to which this is fundamental to t he American national identity and is widely believed to keep Americans together means that it is very difficult in this country to challenge these myths When it comes to the newspapers in the United States there are those which take up a much more liberal stance while there are those that are hard and not targeted but go to the extremes of the phrase the land of the free. The one positive point of the country is that when it is said that there is freedom of speech, there is a lot of it, and because of which one has seen, documentaries (although on a single persons mindset) such as Fahrenheit 9/11 which although is extremely, targeting the Bush Administration but also reveals to the world the inner working of the worlds most powerful nation. In this Write up references taken up were from six American newspapers namely; The New York Times The Boston Globe The Chicago Tribune The Washington Post The Los Angeles Times Newsweek Magazine In all 18 articles from these newspapers have been analyzed to give out an opinion of what American nationalism is and to what extent is it prevalent in some leading newspapers in the United States of America. Among the Newspapers taken up and the articles under reference a pattern can be seen that everyone follows each other and that only a few dare to twist the use of words to mention of names of officials and other people of importance. With the current invasion of Iraq and the ever growing resentment against the Americans by the Muslim World a majority of the articles will be based on Iraq, the Middle East, and terrorism and on the Muslim world. Since the attacks on 9/11 America has been in a never ending battle with terrorism, along with allied support from various other countries in the world. But does it justify its actions, the Invasion of Iraq, The bombings in Afghanistan, The claims of nuclear threat, even targeting Saddam Hussein. Is this all truly in the best interest of the world or just a game for the worlds most powerful nation. Where millions of people in these areas have lost their lives, damage of property estimated in millions, use of weapons in large quantities, destroy ing nations.. Although these steps have already been taken by the U.S. it was now up to the newspapers in the country to report out the activities taking place in the war zone in which their country was playing a major part. As far as one can see, the newspapers do not seem to play a one-sided role or seem to tilt to a particular side but with reports from all angles in the battlefield and the repercussions back home one gets the feel that the newspapers are sensible and have a definite role which is positive in the world today. With a large cloud of disbelief and hatred and disgust looming over the Americans along with the outbursts of the Muslim community, today the American media and that of the world play a vital role in maintaining the stable atmosphere that we have today. The newspapers, one of the most powerful mediums of spreading awareness plays a pivotal role and an extremely delicate role keeping in mind sentiments of the various communities in the world. Seems to me like most people wo uld be able to grasp the difference that being patriotic means loving America, while being nationalistic places America, which can do no wrong, above other nations. The former is good. Its healthy. It promotes pride in ones nation. The latter, however, is not good. Its very unhealthy. It promotes arrogance to the point of hostility. Arnold Toynbee once said Great empires do not die by murder, but suicide. Would one say that its where the United States is heading? Europe: Report: British newspapers and British reactions The cartoon strip published by Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, depicted the prophet Mohammed with a ticking time bomb for his head sparked widespread protests and violent demonstration across Europe and Asia. The drawings were originally commissioned by Jyllands-Posten from Danish artists after an author could not find an illustrator to depict Mohammed in a biography of the Prophet. The Danish cartoonists submitted a range of images, all banned by Islam, which strictly forbids depictions of the Prophet to avoid encouraging idolatry .One depicts a grinning, knife-wielding Mohammed flanked by two veiled women. Another, which appeared on the front page of Die Welt in Germany, and in La Stampa in Italy, shows the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban, topped by a hissing fuse. The Spanish newspaper ABC used a photograph of the original Danish newspaper, with its 12 cartoons. Die Welt also ran an editorial regretting a decision by the Dani sh newspaper to apologize for the upset caused. The Jyllands Posten has not apologized but its editor, Carsten Juste, said he would not have printed them had we known that it would lead to boycotts and Danish lives being endangered. These episodes of protests and demonstrations have raised heightened debates on the limits that the press should adhere to. And to defend their rights to freedom of expression, some newspapers went ahead and reprinted the inflammatory comic strip. The result was just as expected, with individual rights at loggerheads with the rights of the press, the world watches as the fire spreads slowly yet steadily over different parts of the world. London witnessed some violent protests where people took to the streets and embraced the Al-Qaeda and calling for the beheading of non-believers. Following this reaction, the liberal Muslims, that constitute the majority of the Muslim population in London, were left aghast and quickly took to the street making clear they were not around to incite mindless violence. The organizers had carefully chosen banners which had simple messages like united against islamophobia, united against incitement, mercy to mankind and Mohammed, symbol of freedom and hono r. Amongst the crowd were a number of white people who were opposing the sudden rise in violence. A rally held in Trafalgar Square on the 11th of February was backed by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. From among the crowd, a Mrs.Brka said, if you slap someone once, then okay, but if you slap someone 10 times, they will do something about it. This was in reaction to the reprinting of the comic strip by newspapers across Europe. Most of the violence that spread across the globe was completely reactionary and most were incited by imams who vehemently preached of the Jihad against the west. The press too held their own in defending their freedom of expression. In France the front page of the France-Soir tabloid carried the headline Yes, We Have the Right to Caricature God and a cartoon of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian divinities floating on a cloud. Inside, the paper re-ran the Danish drawings. The appearance of the 12 drawings in the Danish press provoked emotions in the Muslim world because the representation of Allah and his prophet is forbidden, it said. But because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society, France Soir is publishing the incriminating caricatures. The protests during the later part of February in London were simply gatherings of Muslims from all over London in a bid for peace and tolerance Scandinavia: Report Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Finland In this part of the project well try to understand what had happened in Denmark with regards to the drawings on the prophet Mohammed. The problem with the cartoons in its basic form is that an author of a childrens book needed drawings for his book, but was afraid to do so because Islamic law prohibits depiction of Muhammad and when the cultural Editor of Jyllands Posten got wind of it he opted to use this as a catalyst for discussing Freedom of Speech and therefore he had a number of artist draw up some cartoons of how they imagined Muhammad. This did stir up some debate in Denmark but not really that much, except for a few Muslim who felt really offended and tried to get the Danish population to acknowledge their outrage. This however did not happen and therefore they decided to journey to several Muslim countries with a file containing the drawings and several other cartoons of Muhammad which were said to be even more offensive to the typical Muslim, and some might argue that without these added drawings the response would have been less drastic. After having spoke to a number of Danes, Norwegians and a few Finnish people the majority of the consensus was that they didnt want the government to exercise any apologies to the Islam world because as they say in Scandinavia the countries are all about opting for the freedom of speech. As Michael says They have a right to their voice But they dont seem to understand that the Danes have the right of free speech The problem was that the Danish people do not understand the respect some other people might have towards religion in other parts of the world, since we do not take religion as much more than some traditions and rituals that you go trough in life. And some other parts of the world dont understand the Danish pride of having the freedom to say/do whatever they want. Danish people stands very steadfast on the issue of freedom of speech, and will not tolerate that other people interfere with that, just because they were offended by some humorous drawings, which have been seen in many other cases, also with other religious figures. As Kasper Kataoka mentioned in his questionnaire, We know that Denmark is one of the most open and accepting countries in the world. There are a lot of Muslims and other foreigners living in our country, including myself. So when we se e people in some far away country, yelling about Denmark being the devil, being a intolerant country and treating Muslims bad, while they are tramping on our flag, burning buildings and causing all kind of obscene violence then we lose even more respect. A real big problem was the role of the Imams, those from Denmark have been traveling around the Muslim world, showcasing homemade pictures with a pig face and a praying Muslim being taken from behind by a dog. These imams traveled around to cause an upset; long after that the real pictures had actually been posted in the papers. Some of the pictures were even published in Egyptian papers long before people started protesting, and nothing happened back then. So what we believe is the reason for the escalation of the whole situation, is that the Muslims might have felt surprised by the western world for some time, and now they suddenly had something they could rally around. If there was an easy answer to this, it would already have been done. But communication is what is needed mostly. The fact that the Danish prime minister turned down a talk with the Muslim ambassadors in the start was a stupid move. Now all who are able to see a bit open on this subject, and is able to do something, should. Talk with people on the other side whatever side you are on, try to get some more understanding of why everything is happening, and try to make the people around you understand. Also the Danish Muslims have a big responsibility to spread out the word to their fellow Muslims, of how the Danish community is. This is already being done it seems. In Norway things seemed to be a little more different the main newspapers VG and Dagbladet were the ones who showcased these imagery and a quick response from Truls revealed that, I had no reaction to the cartoon, as they are commonly used in Scandinavia. such drawings are meant to start a discussion, not fighting This is what is reflected in most of the answers given by the Norwegians in that they all didnt anticipate the level of response that they got. But many feel that there shouldnt have been any sort of apology and that the Norwegian embassies should not have been burnt. As Truls says Diplomacy goes before everything to solve problems. Religious leaders who are ignorant and are lacking in knowledge should be replaced. Whereas those present in the chilly areas of Finland hadnt seen it through newspapers since it was never published in any paper. But they did get to see it through the internet sites. Most of them didnt even care enough to respond well and showed no real signs of interest or wanted to raise their voices. As teemu from Finland says An apology is an easy thing to do, especially if it solves problems this big. Even if they didnt mean to cause this, you still apologies. Usually you apologies someone when you accidentally step on their foot or something. That was the extent of their level of co-operation. So we see that from the study undertaken that the people werent really interested in knowing what was happening, most of them in Denmark hadnt even seen it in the papers. But many would have gone out of their way to gain some more insight into the whole ordeal. Many of the youth that I spoke to didnt know what the big fuss was about the drawings and some of the youth in Norway even thought it was like a war between Christians and Muslims. (In their own words: Islam world vs. Western world) To an extent it would see arrogant to us the way they responded but as mentioned, they didnt even feel the need to apologize. The newspapers were clearly advocating the freedom of speech and they paraded those values of theirs which they think actually symbolizes Scandinavia. Many of the newspapers in Denmark and Norway felt that they hadnt done much wrong and that the Muslims were overreacting to the whole issue. Another important note would be that the papers had actually apologized for their work and extended an apology as well, but the Muslims didnt seem to care too much as they wanted the governments to say sorry for the work of a newspaper. If the drawings were indeed meant to induce a discussion then why is it being used to induce violence in people? France and Germany / Liberal Reactions: The liberal defends the right to speech, the right to freedom, the right to the freedom of expression above all others. Personal or collective offense is subjective and of lesser importance than the right to air discourse that could degenerate to an offensive level. Benjamin Franklin once said that societies willing to give up little freedoms for a little more security deserve neither freedom nor security. The newspapers I have referred to in my analysis are: Le Monde, France Der Spiegel, Germany Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany Das Bild, Germany The Economist, Great Britain The Guardian, Great Britain The International Herald Tribune All newspapers are set in a strongly liberal tradition, and therefore exemplify the debate that perhaps lies at the heart of this misunderstanding and hatred. The West, set in its liberal traditions allows for Press Freedom like the Arab World just does not. Many Arabs found it shocking that Governments in the West cannot control what is published and what isnt by the Press. What was interesting here, however, were articles carried by Der Spiegel which were more sympathetic to the Muslim cause (one should remember, that though France and Germany are more liberal and stringent supporters of journalistic freedom; they hold the largest Muslim populations (France via immigrants from North Africa and Germany via Turkish Immigrants) in Europe. Mass Media Research This section will be short for now; as a large part recurs in the final analysis, as the position taken by the Left Bank is largely the view you might associate with this paper as well The conclusion will deal with liberal views, the political ramifications of taking a stand on an issue like this; and the economic fallout. The Indian Sub-Continent: Times of India Friday, February 10, 2006 On Friday, February 10th 2006 The Times of India published an article attributing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who condemned the publication of the controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons and advocated all steps to be taken to calm down the situation. He termed the articles as insensitive, offensive and provocative also stating that he was not against freedom of speech or expression. Sunday, February 12, 2006 This article told the story of the Muslim Protest march in the state capital. Carrying placards and raising anti-US and anti-Denmark slogans, they demanded that the respective governments apologize for hurting the religious sentiments. It was Maulana Sher Mohammed Madrasa Varisaya who interpreted the act as a violation of the religious liberties of believers of God. He demanded the United Nations to intervene and formulate an international law for prohibiting the repetition of any such act. Monday, February 13, 2006 Police fired tear gas and baton-charged about 7,000 students protesting the Prophet Mohammed cartoons on Monday in northwestern Pakistan. The crowd threw stones at Edwards College, breaking windows and causing other damages at the prestigious school founded by Christian missionaries during British colonial rule. The article claimed that the Muslims were angry because Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet. Under Pakistani laws, insulting the prophet or Islams holy book, the Quran, can be punished with the death sentence. Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Gunfire and rioting erupted on Wednesday as more than 70,000 people joined Pakistans biggest protest yet against Prophet Muhammad cartoons, burning movie theaters, a KFC restaurant and a South Korean-run bus station. Three people died and dozens were injured in two cities, police and witnesses said. The rioters ransacked the offices of the Norwegian mobile phone company Telenor, three cinemas and offices of Mobilink — the main mobile phone operator in the country, witnesses said. Thursday, February 16, 2006 Tens of thousands of Pakistani Islamists wielding sticks and waving green flags rallied in Karachi against cartoons of Prophet Mohammad on Thursday, the latest in a wave of protests in which five people have died. A branch of US-based Citibank, and an office of the German company Siemens, hung black flags to mask their logos, as did a Christian hospital and several cinemas on the rallys route. Saturday, February 18, 2006 At least 11 people died when Libyan police opened fire on demonstrators attempting to storm an Italian consulate during a protest against the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, Italian state television reported. Dozens were injured in the protest outside the Italian consulate in Benghazi, reports said on Friday. All the victims reportedly were Libyans. Sunday, February 19, 2006 Pakistani authorities arrested more than 100 activists of Islamic Jamaat-e- Islami (JI) and put its chief under house arrest ahead of an anti-cartoon demonstration. The Times of India more or less covered the violent protests that have rocked many parts of the world after the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in several countries. They have focused mainly on Pakistan, the country which is largely dominated by Muslim population, followers of Islam. The articles have been solely matter of fact, stating incidences how they have occurred. There have been subtle expressions of sentiments, like the TOI has covered mostly the riots and the arrests of Islamic activists in Pakistan. Hindustan Times February 10, 2006 The Hindustan Times were deeply alarmed at the repercussions of the publication in Denmark several months ago of insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and their subsequent re-publication by some other European newspapers and at the violent acts in reaction to them. They stated that anguish in the Muslim world is shared by all individuals and communities who recognize the sensitivity of religious belief. February 10, 2006 This article gave us a brief about how the cartoons came into being, with the creators being threatened by the Islamic extremists. They also covered from where the article became a case of international conflict. They also spoke about the Danish: Then a group of Danish imams took the cartoons to West Asia. Complaining of press bias, they distributed the drawings — and, some say, fabricated a few of their own to ensure that unrest would be sown. Also stating that the Arab elites got into the game. Then ended as most articles did, on the victimized Muslims side. February 13, 2006 Vir Sanghvis candid expression that the silence of liberal Muslims was adding fuel to fire found favor with surfers. Like Sanghvi they chose to sprinkle their argument citing the recent incidents involving the offensive cartoons of the Prophet in Danish newspapers as well as MF Husseins nude paintings of Mother India. February 11, 2006 It talked about the latest religion vs. freedom of expression controversy: the fuss over the Danish cartoons that featured the Prophet Mohammed. Vir Sanghvi said do statements that cause religious offence fall in the same category? To argue that they do, we would have to prove that they caused damage to the safety of the religious faith (the national security parallel) or that they affected the way the faith was perceived by society, or even lowered its standing. But surely none of the people who complain about insults to religion accept that the slights can have these consequences? Is the safety of Islam threatened because a Danish newspaper carries a cartoon? Is Islam so weak a religion that a couple of cartoons can cause the world or society in general to think less of it? Clearly not. So, Im not sure on what grounds we could abridge the right to free speech when it comes to religion. If India is not to become a soft state, then we must stand up for liberal principles. We must stand up to the rioters, arrest those who foment violence and never, ever, give in to the blackmail. The Hindustan Times covered both sides of the coin. It gave us a whole idea about how the problem occurred, who was responsible and who instigated the whole process. It gives us both sides of the problems, framing it as mere as a Danish author wanting to publish it in her book. The Far-East and South-East Asia Major Newspapers in China/Hong Kong The China Daily is an English-language daily newspaper published in the Peoples Republic of China. The Communist Party of China-controlled state-run publication has the widest print circulation (200,000 per issue) among Englishlanguage newspapers in the country. The editorial office is in north Beijing, and the newspaper has branch offices in most major cities of China as well as in several foreign capitals. STANCE: China Daily was set up in 1985 and several journalists on the new paper supported the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. . The editor of China Daily, Zhu Ling, told foreign editors that the papers editorial policy was to support the policies of the Communist Party and only to make criticism of authorities if there was deviance from Party policy. CONTENT ANALYSIS: There were few editorials on the issue in the Post, which in itself says a lot, which shows how much importance was given to the issue in China/ Hong Kong. Other than the customary report, a certain report is interesting: A top Taliban commander offered a reward of 100 kilograms of gold to anyone who kills the person responsible for blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed This might not be directly indicative, however the inclusion of this article, which was ignored by other newspapers worldwide shows that China is not very p