Monday, January 27, 2020

Representation In Wag The Dog

Representation In Wag The Dog The movie entitle Wag the Dog was about the way in which media plays a significant role as regards to the president of America in a political trouble, having been accused with the issue of sexual misconduct, the obstacle occurred two week to election. However as an object of getting the president re-elected, the presidential advisers Conrad Brean (played by Robert De Niro) a political spin doctor together with Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) the secretary, who was ask for help to engineer a way and means to divert the news of scandal, Leading to contact the expertise of Hollywood producer Stanley Motts (played by Dustin Hoffman) a specialist in such savage. As we can see that, the sitting was dark and mysterious as Conrad recommend untruth contradiction of imaginary crisis and Conrad assign Motts to construct a patriotic cam paign centered around war in Albania, just too make sure they distract American away from the focus of the political misconduct from the real issue. With help of media manipulation techniques that America is at war with Albanian. Motts like any class of person in this they age, can only dream of the recognition and honor that he will receive for the master piece he will surely create, not knowing that, this narcissistic behavior will lead to his demise. In the other hand we can see that, in our contemporary society conspiracies like this goes in everyday life where people can eventually used you to achieve their goal, and also dump you. However, the plan of Conrad suggesting Albanian was not anything more than choosing a country that was insignificant, unknown and not of any affairs to America, for that reason is ti dy. As stated in the movie, Anne Heche the secretary to Conrad says that she knows nothing and in response Conrad says, They seem shifty, standoffish this shows his fickleness of choosing Albania. Conrads reply to the assistant is not dissimilar to the present day definition of a bully, where the bullies in school pick on the weaker children, in this context America is the bully as they are picking on Albanian. It is blatant to observe that Conrad and Motts had the same ideology in creating a war to divert the controversy away from the public. As the saying states, Great minds think alike and birds of a feather flock together. As any other politician in our contemporary society, Conrad knows how to play the game as he offers Motts a position of being an ambassador, however Motts wants to do it for the fun of it. This shows how manipulative a politician can be to get/her way by mentioning ways of giving them a reward which in this case was the position of an ambassador. However, whatever politicians say may not always be true, as in their line of work; they always spin the truth to favour themselves. Conrad uses spin and promises of rewards to motivate Motts to inspire him to produce his fake war. From this, we can see say that Conrad is referred to as the presidents spin doctor because the president relies on Conrad to diffuse the situation and limit the damage caused by the allegation, cem enting Conrad, relationship with the president. We can see that during the building of the war, Motts uses a young America inspiring to be an actress to play the role of an Albanian girl. In the construction of the scene to re-enact a war zone, the girl was holding a bag of chips instead of the specified white kitten requested by Motts. The bag of chips is very significant in this story as the white kitten was later edited into the scene using power of modern technology. We can see that, this is a testament to and a great example of the ability of the media representation to broadcast a story, with accompanying video footage in which the public takes as real, and not knowing that what the media does report is dam lies but not of this is the truths. It makes it shows clearly to us how easy it is to play around with images using modern technology without the publics knowledge. Also the white kitten that was edited in the scene is to signify innocence, peace and purity onto the public and make them more interested in the lost girl at war and not the presidents sex scandal. We can already see how the media quickly changes peoples minds into another dramatic concern at hand, similar in our contemporary culture where we get saturated into certain advertisement, such as an advert for Disneyland where we live in a hyperreal world and both realities of the media and the real world are blurred in as one. Furthermore, we can also see another signs of media representation is been shown within the movie where Conrad and Anne are having a conversation with a CIA agent claiming that the Albanian war is all a hoax. We can see how Conrad spins and twists the information on the CIA agent to change the whole statement convincing him that the war is real. In the other hand, we can see another side of Anne as she retreats in her involvement with the operation, showing cowardice as she know the penalties that she may face. Also another sign of innocence, peace and purity was shown during the producing of the war where a young Albanian girl offers the president an offering, of help her and her mother. At the same time, the president offers his coat to the young girls mother to indicate that he is given her shelter and sympathize towards her emotions due her suffering in the war. This implies that the fake war has immediate be graded as victory and also the talk of the city and not the president s o-called sexual misconduct with the girl scout. And this is so common in our contemporary culture with media representation, for instance, when an advert is been displayed on television by advertisers, the actual meaning is undermined, thus making an embellishment of the truth and reality associated with the reason of the advert, the media image makes the advertisement look realer than it is, just to arrest the intelligence of the populace so as to gain money or proper attention from them. So therefore, that is why Motts always stated in the movie that, This is nothing connoting that as a film producer, one is to be prepared for mishaps that may occurred in the line of producing and find ways to develop the original idea to convince the public that the war is still alive. The way in which he says, this is nothing, he ways was very calm about it as he knew what he was doing being a Holly film producer, similar to how Hollywood producers would act in the present day. He named it as Act Two where we witness the development of the war hero Schumann. The music used in the movie has both a military tune and a national tune. By a military tune, it is that it has a 2 by 4 rhythm signifying that the military are marching onto war or during war as shown at the begging of the movie and during Schumanns funeral. This gives the impression of hard looking and fierce men with their chest out and shoulder upright and also being tidy. At the same time, there is a national tune that is sung by a choir similar to the style to the song of the late Michael Jackson with various artists known as We are the world. This connotes the patriotism that is reveal through the songs. This is done to make the public fall in love, affect their emotions and feel proud to be an American as well as to make them forget about the sex scandal controversy. During Schumanns funeral, as the casket is being carried off by other soldiers, there is a dog planted to portray the loyalty and faithfulness that the dog has towards Schumann. As the funeral takes place, Motts feels uneasy he wanted to expose all the truth hence the phrase, let the cat out of the bag as he wanted to expose all that happened and celebrate his skill at the realism and effectiveness of his deception in fooling the public, the spin doctor Conrad order his men to execute Motts as he was going to expose the ugly truth, this shows us, how the game is played and the extreme measure taken in politics in order to wad the dog. We can clearly how Conrad used Motts to produce his war and when he was no longer required he was disposed of. This shows how manipulative Conrad was when necessary and any spin doctor will do what it takes to create the agreed version of the truth by any means necessary. It is better to keep a secret than to let it out because one cannot trust anyone b ut especially in this case, politicians as they can be unreliable. However, from the above starting of the film there was this passage that states; why does the dog wag its tail? It is implies that, a dog is smarter than its tail, but if the tail were smarter, the tail would wag the dog. Therefore the tail symbolizes persons that have power over the media, and the dog that allow itself to wagged through its own tail is representing the United state citizens. In conclusion to this movie, the term wag the dog and content of this movie means to purposely deflect attention away from something that is very important to that of less significant. This is exactly how the media and politics operate in this day in age. The politician uses the media as the vehicle to catapult insignificant events and stories into mainstream public knowledge, in the hope of burying the real and important issue, which the public should be focusing on.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

My Position in Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs Essay

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I would like to see myself in the fourth level. I must say I am already fulfilled when it comes to physiological, safety, and belongingness needs. As I grow old, I realize my needs and as I become mature I started to aim for satisfaction. I have a very supportive family and I could say that I have gained a lot of friends along my journey whom I can consider as part of my success. I am no longer a child to aim for belongingness nor too old to aim for self actualization, I am still on my quest for achievement and reputation. Even though, I have already finished my college education, I still have a lot of plans for my future. Just like what Marlow’s say about the â€Å"needs† of a person, esteem needs talks about the pride. I must say I am already in the stage where I am aiming for other’s recognition and respect. Since I have a strong belief that respect and reputation are gained not only through kindness, I am still planning for more not only to have them but also because those achievements are what I consider as real success in one’s life. In my two decades of existence, I have learned to value the achievements that I have gained and aim for more as I grow old. When a person desire for independence and competence, I must say that that is the time when he or she is already satisfied with his or her other needs. That is what I feel for myself right now. I have learned to mingle with different kinds of people for more knowledge, go to different places for adventure, and face adversaries to win every competition. I won a lot of friends but I have also encountered a lot of enemies on my way to what I called success. Maybe because I have been considered as competent and a dreamer, what I already have right now seem not enough for me to be satisfied. I think that is because I am still young to stop and be satisfied for what I have gained in my short journey of life. I also think that being a member of a family of achievers gives me an inspiration to dream more and go further than what I have already accomplished. The prominent people around me give me encouragement to make all my plans reachable. Apparently, my goal in life and my perspective of satisfaction rely heavily on my quest for independence, respect, and reputation. I have realized that I am already satisfied with other needs in life and those things that I want to do today reflect what I want to be in the future.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Li & Fung Case Study

Li & Fung is an export trading company from Southern China that was founded back in 1906 by Fung Pak-Liu and his partner Li To-Ming. Li & Fung grew from a traditional export trading company to global supply chain management company it is today. After the passing of Liu, To-Ming decided to sell his shares. After both graduating from Harvard, Fung’s sons, Victor and William took over the company in 1974 and moved it to Hong Kong. The Fung brothers were both highly intelligent individuals. They used new ideas and innovation to turn the company into a more professionally managed firm that went public in 1992 (MacFarlan, 2005). Li & Fung manages the global supply chain for high volume and time sensitive consumer goods for large companies such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Avon, The Limited and Warner Brothers (MacFarlan, 2005). The company operates in 40 economies and employs over 20,000 people worldwide (MacFarlan, 2005). I think part of the success of the company was that the brothers worked so well together. They each had their own strengths. While Victor was more of the strategic thinker and thought long-term, William focused on the operations and making money. As the CEO of the Group’s e-commerce stated a combination of both thought leadership and execution, with the unique relationship between Victor and William cementing the entire organization Although the company was spread out with different offices around the world they provided a centralized IT, financial and administrative support out of their Hong Kong office. However they had a decentralized corporate structure so that they were easily able to keep up with the up and coming fashions because as we know the styles are constantly changing. Li & Fung also had a very competitive compensation package and had bonuses that were based on profits which was different than other companies that had more restrictions. Along with the internet revolution, Victor and William were fast to understand and adapt to the changes brought on by new technology. By 2000 the company wanted to extend its supply chain via the Internet. Prior to this the only thing that was done was through an internal Intranet. This did expedite the orders but only with the manufacturing plants since they were able to track their orders. It also helped increase the speed of the orders because they did not need to send someone a sample to inspect via regular mail. They were now able to view the item online and approve it. Two years later they launched extranet sites so they were linked to their key customers and were personalized to meet the customer’s needs. This helped streamline all communications since their customers were able to track the progress of their orders. The only issue was all of the software development was outsourced and was not handled by Li & Fung’s employees. Management was aware of the success the extranets were having and finally started to consider looking at their online options. When looking at their options they wanted to make sure that they were doing it from within the company and not outsourcing. Michael Hsieh, president of LF International Inc. had met with John Suh, CEO of Castling Group which was an Internet start-up company. Suh was someone that Li & Fung needed in order to successfully start up their online side of the business. The confusing part with this is it was going against what Li & Fung had said about not outsourcing and keeping it within the company. They wound up working with the Castling Group and bringing them on board as part of their management team. John Suh stepped down as CEO of Castling and became CEO of lifung. com (MacFarlan, 2005). All in all they hired about 20% of Castling Group employees so it was not as bad as it first seemed. The good thing with hiring this outside company is the experience that they bring to the table. Since it was a new team they focused on team building to build the trust within the team especially with how fast they needed this project to move. This helped the employees work well together to get this project done. I feel that what helped them move along was the trust they had with the companies they were already dealing with because they had proved to them that they were more than capable and also focused on value and loyalty. The company put their customers first. They still believed in the old-economy know how. Another thing that made them stand above some of the others is when Li & Fung started to focus on the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This was decided after they did some market research. These smaller companies want the same options as the larger companies when ordering their products. Lifung. com allowed the smaller companies to at least get some options for customization unlike other online companies. Usually the smaller companies are not able to compete because they do not have the options to customize their product as much. By lifung. com being flexible and innovative it allowed them to reach even more businesses. In addition to focusing on SMEs, Li & Fung should focus on acquiring or merging with competing firms. The company should try to get into markets in developing countries such as India. It would also be beneficial for the company to try to break through into new products that are complementary to clothing such as footwear. Overall, the company been successful with its online company. They made the customization options easy for the customers. The customers were able to complete their orders twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. We all know how important it is for customers to have the flexibility and easy access to the internet as well as the ability to have access to orders at their convenience. Throughout its growth, the company stayed focused on the understanding of information systems and technology which enabled them to stay ahead of their competition.

Friday, January 3, 2020

William Wordsworth A study of his poetry and its...

William Wordsworths poetry is characteristic of poetry written during the Romantic period. His pantheism and development of ambiance, the thoughts and feelings expressed and the diction Wordsworth employs are all symbolic of this periods poetry. In this paper, these characteristics will be explored and their Romantic propensities exposed. This will be done by utilizing a wide selection of Wordsworths poetry spanning the poets lifetime. His experiences are certainly mirrored in the subject matter of his creations and because of the inextricable link between Wordsworth the man and Wordsworth the poet, the poems discussed in this paper have been separated into three sections. The first section will deal with poems from the Lyrical†¦show more content†¦In the Prelude book I he describes life as a baby in his nurses arms, hearing and being drawn to the music of the river Derwent. His childhood follows along a similar theme of communion with nature. Indeed natures influence on the spirit is the underlying theme of his poems in Lyrical Ballads. Then at the age of seventeen, after the deaths of his parents in 1778 and 1783, Wordsworth was separated from his five siblings and sent away to school at St. Johns College in Cambridge. There his life was simple and unencumbered. Vacations were spent in walking tours around England and on the continent with friends. It was on these excursions that many of the ideas expressed in Wordsworths poetry began to take shape. His deep appreciation of nature developed into a more sublime, spiritual communion. The Revolutionary YearsIn 1791, Wordsworths poetic life began in earnest. He revisited France where he came into brief contact with a Frenchwoman, Annette Vallon, by whom he had a child. His reunion with his daughter is beautifully depicted in his sonnet, It is a beauteous evening, calm and free.On this visit to France, Wordsworth became engrossed in the literary work and philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Because of this influence, he developed strong republican sympathies and became absorbed in the revolution out of genuine concern and sympathy for the French people. In 1793 he returned to England where the excitement of the revolution quickly descended into